Stranger than Fiction & Postmodernism

Stranger than Fiction

The film Stranger than Fiction is certainly strange... Starring Will Ferrell, Stranger than Fiction tells the story of a man named Harold Crick, who is the unknowing character in a tragedy author's newest novel. The film opens with Harold Crick's morning routine being narrated by an omniscient voice, a voice that the audience is aware of, but one that the character is not supposed to acknowledge. The funny thing about this film, is that our protagonist is completely aware of the unseen narrator. What sounds crazy to the other characters of the film when confronted by Crick about the disembodied voice is actually very pressing and concerning to Harold.

Seeking the help of therapists and friends who all assume that this is a sure sign of schizophrenia, Harold becomes hopeless and utterly frustrated. He realizes that the voice is narrating his every move, leading him to believe that he is indeed part of someone's story. But who's story? And, even if he were a character in a story, why is it that he can hear the narrations while no one else does? Considered a postmodern film, Stranger than Fiction toys with the way that most modern films and stories are constructed. The fact that Harold is fully aware of the narrator breaks the literary fourth wall that never gets broken in any sort of structured story or film. It is safe to say that Stranger than Fiction is not a story about a man who has gone crazy, but it is a story about story telling itself.

After seeking the help of a literary expert, university literature professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), helps Crick piece the odd narrations together. The biggest mystery is who and how: who is narrating Harold Crick's life, and how is he hearing it? After Crick learns from the narrator that his inevitable death is looming, the situation becomes much more urgent. It is now essential that Crick finds out who this narrator is, so he can speak with her and try to stop her from narrating his death. While consulting with Jules Hilbert one day, he hears a familiar voice on the television while an old recording of a talk show interview with author Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) is playing. He recognizes Karen's voice as the same voice that has been narrating his every move. Once he realizes that Karen Eiffel is indeed the person he's looking for, he sets out to find her. After the long process of tracing her down, he locates her office where she has been writing her newest tragedy novel, Death and Taxes, A.K.A. Harold's life. Completely shocked to see that the character she created is real and standing right before her, Karen feels a sudden sense of guilt, knowing that she was about to kill a real, live person.

After endless nights of thinking up ways to rewrite the book in order to keep Harold alive, Karen Eiffel manages to end her book without a death. Harold does come out harmed, but alive. This movie is ironic in more ways than one: we would never expect the main character to be aware of the voice narrating their story, let alone actually interact with them and convince them to rewrite the ending. Stranger than Fiction pokes fun at the structure and the cliches of modern films. With most films having a clearly defined genre (comedy, tragedy, horror, romance), Stranger than Fiction does not exactly give one, obvious view on life. It does not make the lives of its characters out to be comedic or tragic, but rather asks the audience whether or not they believe life is a comedy or a tragedy. This film goes against everything we know about traditional films as an audience, and certainly has a mind of its own.

Fight Club & the Fight Within

The film Fight Club starts off "en media res", when we are shown a scene of our main character at gunpoint in a hostile situation. But we are soon rewound back to the beginning where the main character, who remains nameless for now (Edward Norton) walks us through his simple, ritualistic and mundane life. We are introduced to him as he narrates through his everyday life: going to work, and coming home to his small, but heavily furnished condo as he explains that he is an impulsive IKEA shopper, a bizarre but not overly extreme habit. Oh, and let's not forget about the pleasure he gets from attending weekly group meetings for cancer victims, alcoholics, etc. In the beginning, our protagonist seems fairly normal, but as the film continues, we begin to see a drastic change in the mood and behavior of this character who was once so composed, so put together and calm.

This film strictly examines the three parts of the human unconscious that have direct affects on the way in which we act. The id, the personality that is present with us from birth, is impulsive, primitive and will do anything to fulfill the needs and wants of the body and mind. Many criminals or bullies are generally driven by their impulsive ids. The ego, which is the part of our personalities that helps us make sense of and deal with reality, sort of gives us a sense of rationalization; it almost keeps the id in check, seeing that we go about fulfilling the needs of the id in sensible, appropriate ways. The last component of personality, the superego, is what's considered our conscience. It helps us decipher right from wrong, and gives us a sense of judgement. The way in which the id, ego and superego relate to this film is that the film examines the unconscious impulses that govern male behavior: the need to fight, the desire to prove themselves and assert their independence from the rest of mainstream society.

Our unnamed protagonist, we realize, is mostly driven by his ego. As said above, he is composed, remains professional at his job and leads a seemingly normal life, until he meets our outrageous, id-driven character, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). He encounters Tyler Durden one evening while on an airplane. The two converse and we learn a little more about Tyler: he is a maker and seller of bar soap (not super crazy), but is also cryptic, witty and mysterious. Our main character is intrigued by Tyler, he finds him rather fascinating, and they exchange numbers. After his flight home, our character returns to find that his condo has been caught on fire and burnt down. With nowhere to go, he remembers Tyler, gives him a call, and the two meet up outback of a local bar. After Tyler offers our protagonist a place to stay at his home, we are introduced the filthy, dilapidated conditions of his house, which happens to be located in the middle of nowhere. The house is large, dingy and we can obviously tell that little care is taken, which is not surprising due to Tyler's carefree,"I don't give a damn" nature.  It is at this house that Tyler and our main character form the ever-famous Fight Club

With Fight Club comes an important message that Tyler wishes to advocate to the club's members, and especially our main character. The message is to not conform to the mainstream society, break away from normality, be original and independent. The funny thing is, in the attempt to promote originality and independence, the members of this club end up following, depending on Tyler's words and actions. Aside from the fact that the message trying to be portrayed in this film is completely contradicted by the turnout of the club, I must say I agree with Roger Ebert's Fight Club article, and his idea that the gratuitous violence of the film completely overshadows any profound meaning the film might have had. The club offers nothing to its members but a series of senselessly violent, impulsive acts that disrupt society. But of course, what's to expect from a club called "Fight Club"?

It can be said that Fight Club itself represents our main character's own internal fight within his own mind. How? Because we see him change drastically from this clean-cut office worker to this bestial monster who begins to get enjoyment out of beating the crap out of other people. He and Tyler become one in the same, so much so, that it is uncanny just how alike they are... As said above, our main character, who was once ego-driven, turns into this extreme id-driven person. That is exactly the struggle he is facing: the balance between his id and his ego. Throughout the film, we really don't see any presence of the superego, which would explain why Edward Norton's character has such a difficult time drawing the line between right and wrong, rational and irrational. Although difficult to derive from the endless chaos of the film, it is clear that the "fight" in Fight Club is not about fighting others, it's about fighting yourself

Do the Right Thing: Race & Racism in America

Do the Right Thing, Directed by Spike Lee, is a story of an average Brooklyn block composed mainly of minorities. The neighborhood is predominantly African American, but there are mixes of Latinos, Asians and Caucasians as well. The film centers around Mookie (Spike Lee), a young, African American man who works hard as a delivery boy for the neighborhood pizzeria, Sal's Famous Pizzeria. While Mookie's struggle is working hard to try and support his girlfriend, Tina, and their son, Hector, this is not the central story of our film, but just one of the many little side-stories that we witness, among all the other personalities and daily bouts of the other characters. In fact, Spike Lee exposes us to a multitude of different characters throughout the film, characters that each contain significant symbolization and important messages about race and the way it is perceived in American culture.

Do the Right Thing certainly has a lot to say about race, racial stereotypes and interracial relations, and Lee shows us this through the variety of characters he has provided: we have Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), a large Black man who we rarely ever see speak, but instead carries around a boombox that constantly replays a song called Fight the Power. Radio Raheem is probably the most perplexing character out of all of them: he is someone who has little to say, but has such a large impact on the people who surround him, especially Sal, who is annoyed by the constant blaring of his music. Another interesting character is Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), another Black male, spastic and always looking to instigate any type of uprising. My personal take on Buggin' Out was that Lee used him to represent the stereotypical, loudmouth Black guy that everybody loves to hate. We see Buggin' Out make attempts throughout the film to start protests and arguments, but no one in the neighborhood really pays him any mind. It can be argued that Lee has taken each of his characters, and used them to symbolize the different "types" of racial stereotypes we see in our society: the fruit-vending Asians, the loudmouth Latinos, the argumentative Blacks and the hotheaded Caucasians.

When Lee takes these characters and mixes them together in a Brooklyn block, we see trouble occur and tensions rise. These tensions are results of racial differences (or in-differences), but there is really no predominating race that is the victim of these tensions, as they are all victims of each other's violence and insults. As Roger Ebert mentions in his article on this film (1989), Lee "made a movie about race in America that empathized with all the participants. He didn't draw lines or take sides but simply looked with sadness at one racial flashpoint that stood for many others.". Lee did exactly this, because throughout the film, it is hard to truly pity just one race, because we get a sense of the struggles faced by each group: Sal (Danny Aiello) and his son Vino (Italians) trying to cope with the ignorance of their neighborhood customers, and especially Vino who has no qualms about the fact that he is racist, the Blacks who are continually misunderstood and remain mostly unheard by the people around them, and the Asians and Latinos who are mere bystanders of the neighborhood issues.

After days of intense heat and boiling tensions, Buggin' Out, who has still failed to make himself heard among his community, decides that he is displeased with Sal and his pizza shop for having only pictures of white people on the store's wall of fame. With the help of Radio Raheem, who is also against Sal for telling him to shut his music off, assists him in going to Sal's and starting a riot. Insults are exchanged, and Sal calls the two the unthinkable "N word". Riled up, Radio and Buggin' physically assault Sal, while Mookie attempts to break them up. Soon enough, after a ruckus has been made, the entire neighborhood gets involved in the altercation, and a mob breaks out in the pizza shop. Fists are thrown, cops are called and chaos has broken out everywhere, so much so, that Mookie must throw a trashcan through the window of the pizza shop with the hopes that the crowd might settle down, but this only incites the incident more, until it carries on out into the middle of the street. The tragic ending to this senseless violence is the death of Radio Raheem, after he has been shot by a cop, and the demise of Sal's Famous Pizzeria, after it has been burnt down to the ground.

This film actually has quite an ironic title, because throughout, no one has really "done the right thing", the only exception being Mookie, who did the right thing in his own way by trying to restore some peace and sanity at the scene of the mob when he broke the window. It can be said that Mookie had the right intentions all along, but in a society where everyone is against each other for reasons that are uncontrollable (i.e. race), it is not difficult to get caught up in the turmoil of the world, because it is and always has been all around.

Boyz n the Hood: What it Means to be a Man

Boyz n the Hood is an intense film that sheds light upon the issues of the world, and not the foreign issues, but the issues that are closest to home, right here in America. What is a coming-of-age story for our main character, Trey, is the story of a fatal ending for two other characters, close friends of Trey, endings that were almost inevitable based on the violent circumstances of the neighborhood setting where our story takes place.

The soul-touching story begins with Trey as a young boy. He has spent most of his life up to about age ten living with his mother, but under her decision, is made to go live with his father, Furious, in the "hood". On decent and agreeable terms with one another, Trey's mother and father discuss that this decision is best for Trey. His mother states that Furious, as his father, is the only one who is capable of teaching him how to "be a man". Here, in this line, lies the central question that we as an audience must keep in mind while watching this film: What do the characters and their individual mannerisms and choices tell us about being a man? What, can we infer, is their idea of what a real man is? For years, masculinity has been defined by a man being big, tough, assertive and aggressive. A real man, in the eyes of society, is someone who shows no weakness, no vulnerability.

As the film jumps forward into Trey's young adult life, we see him still associated with the same group of friends that he encountered upon moving in with his father, friends that have been good to him, but not so much good members of society, with the exception of one scholarly young man, Ricky. While Ricky and Trey try their best to avoid getting caught up in the drama of their violent neighborhood, we see the two take a different approach to becoming men; unlike the rest of the boys, Trey and Ricky are respectful, smart, goal-oriented and disinterested in the violence around them. We can certainly agree that Trey is lucky to have Furious as his father, due to the fact that from an early age, Furious has put into perspective for Trey that drinking, drugs, sex and violence will get you nowhere in life. Furious has instilled values and morals in Trey, and because of this, Trey is far better off than group that he hangs around with. But even with these values and his refusal to partake in the same violent lifestyle as his friends, can we agree that Trey is less manly or even manlier than them? That is up to us as an audience to decide, and the fates of these seemingly manly characters almost help make this decision for us.

Towards the end of the film, after Trey is in a good place with his long-time girlfriend, and Ricky is on his way to a university with a football scholarship, things take a turn for the worst and tragedy strikes when Ricky, the unsuspecting victim of the violence in the hood, is gunned down and killed. Filled with hatred and rage, all of the boys, including Trey, set out to find Ricky's killer and deliver the same fate that he has brought upon Ricky. But as Trey is about to leave his house with his father's gun, Furious intervenes and reminds Trey of the consequences of his actions: a lifetime in jail, even death, and of course, the ongoing cycle of violence that he would only be contributing to if he retaliated. After rationalizing Furious' words, Trey takes a step back and decides that he wants no part in continuing the violence, that taking the life of Ricky's killer will only create more animosity within the neighborhood.

Although Trey was able to come to his senses, it is not to say the same for the rest of the group, who continued to hunt down the men responsible for Ricky's murder, and killed them as well. There is a moment, about a day or two after the group seeks revenge when Trey and Dough-boy, the "leader of the pack", discuss that although Ricky's killers were dead, things still are and always will be just as unjust and messed up as they ever were. We learn that no true satisfaction was ever gained by Dough-boy and their group from putting on this "tough guise" and fighting fire with fire. We can then decide not only which character we feel qualifies more as a real man, but which character considers their actions to be truly manly as well: Trey, who will eventually overcome the grief of Ricky's death and move on with his life, or Dough-boy, who is not only filled with sorrow for his murdered brother, but guilt and disappointment as well. In fact, towards the end, captions on the screen reveal that Dough-boy himself ends up dead. Someone who once played the act of a person that was invulnerable and tough has now endured the same fate as his unfortunate brother.

 

Tootsie (1982) on Gender Roles & Stereotypes

Tootsie (1982) - Challenging or Reinforcing Gender Roles and Stereotypes?

Tootsie is the story of a male actor, Michael Dorsey, whose plan to cross-dress in order to obtain a role on a popular soap opera goes completely haywire. Michael's roommate, a director, and a student of Michael's from his acting class are collaborating to put on a play. In order to put on the play, the three need to find a way to make eight-thousand dollars. Feeling discouraged and futile, Michael's student, Sandy, almost decides to give up and move back West. Michael encourages Sandy to stay, and he then takes it upon himself to find a way to make the money that they need. After we see Michael get into all these ridiculous characters for auditions in order to get work as an actor, it turns out that no matter how much he dresses up, he just isn't right for any part. After feeling a little discouraged himself, Michael then comes up with what he believes to be a brilliant idea.

Auditions are being held for a popular soap opera that would easily help Michael make eight grand in just ten weeks of work. The only problem is the fact that the soap opera is calling for a talented, strong female actor. Desperate and in need of money, Michael does the unthinkable and cross-dresses as his new alias, Dorothy Michaels. With lots of cosmetic preparation, Michael actually becomes convincing enough to pass as a real woman, so convincing, that he nails the audition down at the studio, and is granted with the new role as the hospital administrator. Thinking that he has found the solution to his problems, Michael learns that being a female comes with a whole other world of obstacles. While everyone at the television studio believes that Michael is a woman, he is of course treated as one. But he soon realizes just how much women are disregarded and talked down to by other men in the world, and this begins to spark inspiration for his character. Michael starts to develop Dorothy into a strong-headed, assertive woman who stands up for herself and the rights of women on and off the set. Dorothy is soon idolized and looked up to by the other women on the set. As Dorothy, Michael even begins to develop a close friendship with another actress, Julie, a woman he would pursue further if he were not passing as a woman himself. Here in lies another obstacle faced by Michael in the time that he is cross-dressing: his ability to form and keep relationships.

As a man, Michael begins to form an intimate bond with Sandy, but she soon becomes suspicious of the fact that Michael is never around and how he often becomes skittish when she attempts to see him, the only reason for this being that he is doubling as a woman. While having conflicting emotions about Sandy, Michael is also challenged by the fact that he is unable to act upon his affection for Julie. Throughout the rest of the film, we see Michael's relationships with these two women fail, as he realizes there is no possible way for him to balance playing two genders at once. Another issue occurs after the television studio renews Dorothy's contract for another year, meaning that Michael would have to continue hiding under his false female identity. Consumed by the pressure, Michael radically reveals that he is not really a woman during a live taping of the soap. Appalled by the shocking news, we see everyone's perspectives drastically change after Michael's secret is revealed: Sandy, who is outraged and now refuses to speak to him, Julie, who is hurt and almost disappointed that Dorothy, someone that she has grown to love and trust, is a fake, and the people working at the studio who were once perplexed by "Dorothy's" strong and assertive nature.

So, aside from all this chaos, here lies the real question: does the film Tootsie challenge gender roles, or simply reaffirm them? This could be argued many ways, but it seems as though these gender roles and stereotypes are validated by the actions of Michael as a woman and a man, and others' perceptions of "Dorothy". In the beginning of the film, we learn that Michael has a stereotypical, assertive male personality. He does not let himself get pushed around by others, and he does not let Dorothy get pushed around either. One could say that, after becoming a woman, Michael has a realization about the degrading way in which the men on the set treat the females and begins to develop a passion for the cause of women's rights. But it can also be said that, since Michael is spending the majority of his time as Dorothy, he wishes to be treated with just as much respect as he would be if he were a man. Throughout Dorothy's time on set, she is admired for her low level of tolerance for disrespect and for the fact that she stands up for herself. But could this film be making the statement that there is no such thing as a true, powerful female character? After all, Dorothy is really a man, and in the end of the film, everyone realizes that that is the reason behind her powerful personality. By the end of the film, there is no radical change of heart in anyone's minds about gender equality: after seeing that Dorothy is a man, it gives everybody and explanation as to how this woman could be so powerful, and not because she really was just a powerful, strong woman. It seems as though the statement that this film has made is that there is no power achieved by female means, because in the end, the mind of a male was behind the entire operation.

Thelma and Louise: A Story About Breaking Free

Thelma and Louise is the adventurous, pulse-pounding story of two women who go on a small getaway, that quickly takes a turn for the worst and becomes a fugitive escape. The lives of Thelma and Louise portray the oppression faced by females in a typical, male-dominated society. We see the two women in the beginning of the film fulfilling all the typicalities of feminine stereotypes: Louise waiting tables at a diner, a job that is not uncommon for a woman, and Thelma, the wife of a loud, abusive, misogynistic man, who does not have a say or a place in their relationship other than to do domestic work. Even after being polite and asking her husband what he would like for dinner, he lashes out on her as if he feels that she needs to be put in her place; one could certainly say that Thelma's husband is an enforcer of the female stereotype, because he practically forces his wife into it by ordering her around and disrespecting her.

The two women then take it upon themselves to leave their mundane lives as they go off on a vacation, a vacation that Louise must persuade Thelma to partake in because her husband surely would not allow it. We see the women all done up and ready to go as they prepare for an exciting trip. We get a sense of relief, a sense of liberation as the two girls make their escape, but they're relief and their freedom is soon taken away. After stopping at a country bar, Thelma meets an alluring, attractive man who woos her into dancing with him. The two begin to hit it off, and we almost forget that Thelma even has a husband back home. At first, this man is such a contrast to Thelma's husband, so much that it could lead us to believe that he story is about a damsel in distress who is soon rescued by a "prince charming" type figure. But we later see his true colors, as the two go outside and the man starts to kiss her. She is resistent of this but he insists and keeps on going, even after she repeatedly begs him to stop. Fed up with Thelma's cries for help, the man becomes even more forceful and begins to rape Thelma. He takes a hold of her, even hits her and forces her down onto the hood of a car. This moment in the film takes us right back to the idea portrayed in the beginning that this film is not about a woman's reliability and dependence on man, but about the way a powerful male society dominates and oppresses its women. Before anything truly horrid happens, Louise comes to Thelma's rescue. She is holding a gun, threatening the man to back away from Thelma. This was a particularly memorable moment in the movie, because despite the usual story line, it is not a man who comes to the woman's rescue, but a woman, Louise. Louise manages to force the man to free Thelma, but even though he has let her go, she pulls the trigger and shoots him. This action marks a major turning point for the film; the two are now guilty of murder, and have no choice but to begin to run away.

"The police will never believe us Thelma, we don't live in a world like that.", a line said by Louise after  Thelma suggests going to the police. The two are now on the run and looking for an escape, as they are the source of a murder. And even though it was committed for defensive purposes, would the police really take the word of a female over a male? Gender puts Thelma and Louise in a tricky predicament throughout the rest of the film as well. For example, Thelma's submissive manner and weakness for men manages to get the two into even more trouble, just as it did in the beginning of the film when she was raped. Thelma befriends a cowboy, this "lone ranger" type man, and insists on Louise giving him a ride across town with them. Reluctant to partake this, Louise agrees and soon regrets the decision she made. After spending some time in a motel, Thelma learns that the cowboy is a thief who holds up stores. When telling Thelma about his routine whenever he performs a holdup, he is cool, collected and almost proud of what he does as if it is honorable. Thelma is even turned on, intrigued by his "bad boy" ways. Another problem soon emerges for the girls as the cowboy steals the large sum of money that Thelma and Louise have traveled all this way to get. He then takes off, and Thelma and Louise are again stuck in a situation.

With no choice but to keep running, that is exactly what the two do. Although the women are in a large amount of trouble, we see a sense of relief about both Thelma and Louise; they may be on the run from a crime, but one could say this escape that they've made symbolizes a woman's escape from the male-dominated, patriarchal world around her. On this journey, there is a change about Thelma and Louise, but most significantly in Thelma. Once a docile, timid and submissive housewife who had no voice in the relationship between her and her husband, Thelma becomes rebellious, spontaneous and independent. Thelma and Louise are not only fighting for and defending themselves, but it seems as though they are doing what they're doing for all women; they become these sort of "feminist crusaders". While on the run, the two pass a rowdy truck driver who makes degrading gestures at them; he does not hurt or threaten them, but the two decide that they've had enough of letting men degrade them. They later meet up with him, pretending that they want to engage in sexual activity, and we see them shoot up his truck with no hesitation or sign of remorse, causing it to explode. Now guilty of another crime, the women are on the run again. They drive further and further until suddenly, the police begin to catch up with them. Almost making another narrow escape, they realize there is nowhere else to go, since they are backed by a squad of police cars, and practically on the edge of a canyon cliff. Thelma and Louise are given the chance to surrender, but why give up now? After all the time they've spent running and fighting, why would they just give up to surrender to men once again? Thelma shockingly convinces Louise to make a drastic decision to drive off the cliff together, finally free from the hostility of their society, and the two drive into one of film's most memorable endings