Themes and Thoughts on Mexican Cinema

Mexican Cinema (Amores Perros, Like Water for Chocolate, Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth, La Zona)

Novo Cine Mexicano (New Mexican cinema) was born at the start of the 1990’s.

Used; Flash-cuts, enhancement through grading, colour distortion, and other radical post-production techniques.

New Mexican cinema themes;

·         Issues of gender and women’s roles, including women’s relationship between work and family life, empowered women, women with no-traditional lifestyles, sexuality and the place of women in history.

·         Regional themes that consider the relationship of the rural and the urban Mexico, and possible the most significant of the Mexican themes- the Mexican Us border.

·         Ritual and modernism are centred around religion and the economy, with neither being portrayed as a particularly positive force. Linked to this is spiritual and material desperation, where little offers salvation or relief from the emptiness of life.

·         Political issues both national and international, but also regional, and even the politics of small-town living. This is a theme that sires beneath much of what happens in New Mexican cinema, and is implicit in many of the stories.

·         Disintegration- of society, of values, of morals, of institutions, of norms. This again is a key theme that is at the heart of most of the work in the latter half of the period. Social meltdown and the inability to react effectively to it runs through a number of the films and has crossed into the internationalized Mexican cinema.

·          Sci-fi and new horror/thriller has become an emerging theme of the latter half of the period, possible sparked off by the success of del Toro’s Cronos, and its link to and historical staple of Mexican cinema.

·         Sexual unfulfilment, and AIDS awareness. Both are ‘difficult’ subject for a country mired in religious doctrine and superstitions.

Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)

Pan’s Labyrinth is set in 1939 just after the Spanish Civil War.

Themes;

·         Exile- del Toro regards himself as an exile. Ofelia is exiled to the real world.

·         Sacrifice + Redemption- Ofelia sacrifices her life to get her happy ending.

·         Choice- We are defined by our choices. Go into the underworld, eat food, save life.

·         Parallel Universe- real world and fantasy world, but which is which. Reality=ground Fantasy=underground.

·         Lapsed Catholicism- shaped by his upbringing. Parables, moral stories. Mocks church.

Like Water for Chocolate (Alfonso Arau)

·         Feminist- women breaking domestication, patriarchal society is handed down from society to society by the women in the film. Mama Elena is the one constraining them, trying to marry off her daughters. Emphasis on domestic roles, cooking, this is all Tita is brought up to do, she turns this round to her advantage. Cooking becomes a tool for making others do things, she adds tears to the wedding cake and that makes everyone very sentimental of their old loves. She uses rose petals to make everyone full of desire. Magic realism. Food is passion.

Amores Perros (Alejandro Inarritu)

3 storylines all based on modern Mexico. The way it portrays Mexico is very gritty and realistic. About national identity, wanting to leave to America for a better life.

Themes of Amores Perros;

·         Migration-

·         Mexican machismo-

·         Capitalism- Low wages, generated poverty which often leads people to turn to crime.

Vuleria- She is in the cut throat world of modeling. When she has an accident that leads her to lose her leg she is rejected by the industry because she is not good looking enough anymore.

Gustavo- He is a business man who pays El Chivo to kill his business partner who is also his half-brother. First seen taking a bribe in the back of a police car, obviously corrupt.

·         Machismo- Male youth is preoccupied with machismo. Susana’s husband, Ramiro, is brutal to her, he also shoots and robs people. Octavio goes round with his brutal dog Coffi, he has dog fights and stabs Jarocho and shoots at people while in a high speed chase.

·         Family in Crisis- Catholicism, Amerindian and Aztecs combined. Don’t use contraception, abortion is banned, lots of young pregnancies. Octavio lives with his mum, brother and the brothers wife Susana. Absence of father is a theme. Octavio seduces Susanam brother and sister in-law. Daniel abandons his family for childless Valeria. Her father is abscent back in Spain. Left his family behind emotionally. El Chivo left his daughter + wife to become a radical fighting against capitalism. Mary, daughter believes he is dead. He tries to get in touch with her but can only leave a message on her machine.

·         No Nostalgia- Gustavo is going to meet El Chivo for the first time, told he had once been a left wing Guerilla. Gustavo asks if he was a Zapatista ho were right wing guerilla. Mexicans have lost and forgotten their past. Society has lost moral framework and is living only in the now uncaring of past or future. Morality free world without consequences.

Telenovelas; (how it connects to Amore Perros)

·         Highly passionate and determined way the key character pursue their desires.

·         Forbidden nature of their desires- Infidelity, incest.

·         Episodic

·         Mexican National Pride

·         Criticism of the rich- Daniel + Vuleria fall from grace. It humbles the rich.

·         Emphasis on class struggle- main characters of telenovelas are people who want to move up and become rich by luck not work or skill. Octavio’s dog fights. Ramiro’s robberies. El Chivo  makes money by killing people.

·         Third-worldism- Mexico identifies with other poor countries rather than aspiring to be America. Making a virtue out of being poor- Develop_Developing_Third World. Mexico likes to portray itself as a third-world country so America sympathizes and gives them money but doesn’t work. Humbles the rich.

·         Victimism-  Like victims, suffering, no happy ending, failing and being punished- no happy ending, just more misery. Octavio’s dog is shot, money he’s saved is stolen by Susana who runs away with her husband leaving Octavio. He gets in a car crash and El Chivo steals his money as he is unconscious. Vuleria’s career is cut short, her father will say she deserves it. El Chivo fails as a father because he can’t contact his daughter. El Chivo walks off into the dessert.

·         Identity- Mexican, tex-mex, Christian, Pagan, Spanish and Amerindians.

Film is highly regarded in Mexico, international success, put Mexico on the map, received dozens of nominations for prestigious awards which no Mexican film has done. High international profile. 20 million dollars grossed worldwide. Higher than any other film. Mexican film industry, more investment. We tend to be despairing of out actors and directors who go to Hollywood wheras Mexicans are proud of this. Take Mexican techniques and bring back Hollywood ideas and money. Focuses on national pride.

Film shares characteristics of telenovelas.

Vuleria’s apartment is sterile, cinematography emphasizes the empty space of the apartment, unlike Susana’s cluttered house. Blue or green hue to colouring, sterile and cold, empty life. Green is madness in Hollywood, which Vuleria has a hint of.

Themes;

·         Representation of Mexico city- only one shot with a recognizable building, brief shot of Latin American tower in distance. No shots of business centre. Other shots are more generic. Synecdoche- the use of part to represent the whole. Generic shots of poor areas represents the area of Mexico. Director has done this deliberately to cause spatial disorientation within audience. Sense of utter chaos of the city. Opening scene also represents utter chaos, no concern or respect for others.

·         Representation of home- Domestic interiors signify class and characters state of mind. Octavio’s bedroom, broods a lot, simmering with resentment, blue hue. Susana and Ramiro’s room has a red hue because of the sex and violence that happens in it. Working class interior are cluttered, overcrowded, chaotic, claustrophobic and inescapable. The wealthy interiors are spacious and uncluttered, ordered and under control. Cinematography, close-ups mostly in Octavio’s house where as Daniel’s is usually in long shots. Sympathy for Octavio and identify with him, distance from Daniel.

·         Sound-No music for about the first half an hour, all sound is diegetic. More realistic. 4 car crashes shown all with different sounds, 1^st realistic (horns, swearing etc…) 2^nd subjective (mix of diegetic and non-diegetic, expressionist, identity with Octavio + Jorge) 3^rd Vuleria getting wine, intercut with El Chivo (pop song, car music, ‘Sweetheart, Sweetheart I love you my Sweetheart.’ Distance us from Vuleria, irritating.) 4^th El Chivo’s perspective, stalking victim (Mariachi music, happy and upbeat, interrupts, romantic, popish songs as he is about to shoot. All non-diegetic sounds stop as the car crashes and become diegetic sound.

·         Imagery- Film stock was deliberately adjusted to emphasize silver content, more silver more contrast so less detail. Some colours in the film are desaturated, bleached out, skin looks paler. Reds and blues are enhanced and more saturated. Couldn’t use natural light because of silver content. Realistic story, non naturalistic filming. Second storyline has more green hues. (Octavio + Susana- hand held with rhythmic moving, can be effect or induce illness.) (Daniel + Vuleria- static camera, during the course of the story the camera gets lower.) (El Chivo- edgy, voyeuristic camerawork. P.O.V, hiding from El Chivo. Constantly reframing the character. ‘sees everything through blurry eyes.’.)

Characteristics of Mexican cinema;

·         Use of editing to enhance meaning-

Montage- contrasting images together to create new meaning.

Jump cut- abrupt, cut out action, don’t see it but the action is conveyed. (Car crash in Amores Perros)

Flash cut- Very brief flashback (Beginning of Pan’s Labyrinth and the beating in La Zona.) Reversing the frame showing blood going back into Ofelia’s nose.

·         Manipulation of colour-

Amores Perros-uses silver colouring edit to manipulate the colour. Bleachers the colour and cools it down. Enhances the documentary realist style.

Pan’s Labyrinth- Cold and warm colours contrasting.

La Zona- blue filter, less sympathetic, looks cold during the meeting. Flashback is faded.

·         Use of modern/contemporary music- Sets the time, link to emotion through music. Realism. More convincing as representations of the present.

·         Verisimilitude- realistic motivations, continuity editing, don’t notice the joins. Fantasies or realistic narratives. Eyeline match.

·         Neo-realism- Only for Amores Perros and La Zona though. Focuses on real people, real issues. Realistic language- Chilengo (form of Mexican Spanish). Shot on location using natural lighting. Documentary.

·         European art house cinema- Distinctive of old Mexican cinema but inspired by European art cinema, draws on the stylistics of Italian Neo-realism. Second influence is Pedro Almadovar, has produces and financed some of the Mexican films (P.L + D.B.B) Personal film making, directors projects. Very personal projects unlike Hollywood. Co-production involves people in Spain, same language, Spanish cinema has a much higher profile.

·         Use of fragmented narratives- Don’t have a single storyline but two or more parallel or intersecting storylines. (A.P) darts about the world in Babel.

·         Use of international co-production- Mexican cinema has been Internationalised. To make new Mexican cinema survive they would have to bring in money and appeal to a wider audience. Made films set in Spain (P.L + D.B.B). By setting them in Spain it attracted Spanish audiences and through Almadovar it attracted European art cinema fans. That is what has persuaded International stars to be part of Mexican films (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchet in Babel, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro in 21 Grams) Brings in money and audiences. Builds up the directors profile. Made films partly in Spanish and partly in English. Set partly in America partly in Mexico, on the border.

Not always the same. Some magic realism, some gritty realism. Some more colour effect some less. Still differences in the characteristics of Mexican films.

Themes of New Mexican Cinema;

·         Choices

Moral and political choices. Ofelia has to make choices such as whether or not she goes into the toad tree. Choses to undertake tasks, needs courage (Mexico needs it.) Key from frog- new society, new world. Pale man, doesn’t have to go there, chooses to eat fruit. Not easy being a heroin, we are tempted. Pale man has stigmata and he represents the oppression of the church. Chooses not to sacrifice her baby brother and sacrifices herself instead. Engraving ‘In your decision lay your destiny’.

The doctor chooses to take drugs to the rebels. Kills a tortured rebel to stop his pain and torture. Sacrifice. Didn’t want to give up the names of the rebels.

Mercedes helps the rebels, tries to escape, cuts his face. Chelsea grin. Seals her fate, she has to run. Vidal is unemotional and macho, stitches own face. Mexico is still backwards and unstable. No law and order.

·         Parallel Universes

Real world vs. fantasy world which reflects the rich and poor divide in Mexico. Biggest problem for Mexico is migration, because of the poverty and gang oppression. Two communities don’t really meet but they do in Amores Perros and La Zona. Captain Vidal holds a banquet while others starve.

·         Excile

Being in the wrong place.

·         Family in Crisis

Amores Perros- No fathers in the film. Daniel and El Chivo have abandoned their children, one for another women the other for political activism. Susana’s mother is a drunk and leaves her baby unattended. Ocatvio seduces his own sister in-law showing no respect for family. Ramiro abuses and cheats on his wife. El Chivo prefers dogs to people. Vuleria doesn’t want her dad to know she has had an accident as he will say it’s her own fault. Susana’s father is never mentioned.

La Zona- Alejandro rebels against his father. He then runs away from La Zona after Miguel is killed.

Like Water- Gertrudus runs away from home with the rebels liberating herself from her family. The cruelty of their mother. The betrayal of the love between Tita and Pedro and her sister Rosaura. 

Pan’s Labyrinth- The disrupted family of Ofelia and her mother who are introduced to the new father figure. Unfortunately Captain Vidal is a cruel man and wants nothing really to do with Ofelia and just wants to have his male heir born.

·         Violence + Machismo

Amores Perros- Octavio has dog fights. Ramiro steals from banks and stores. Jarocho shoots Octavio’s dog Cofi so Octavio stabs Jarocho.

La Zona- The scene where the young boys go to chase after Miguel, they have weapons and guns and act like the violence is fun. The brutal beating of Miguel. The initial robbery that ends with the death of an elderly woman.

Pan’s Labyrinth- Vidal’s obcession with being masculine. He is overly macho and proves this through violence.

·         Mocks Institutions

Amores Perros- The lack of police and law and order. It is easy for them to commit crimes, robbing and dog fighting, drugs and violence. Octavio stabs Jaracho and is not caught by the police but is chased down by the gang and they shoot at each other out in the middle of streets. El Chivo is an assassin who shoots people in broad daylight and gets away with it.

La Zona- People taken law into his own hands. Become highly corrupt. Police officer can be bribed. The blue lighting in the meeting room. Police corruption.

Pan’s Labyrinth- Captain Vidal takes the law into his own hands. Murders hunters as an example. Also mocks the church, through the pale man.

Like Water- The rebels can come in and just take anything they want.

·         Unresolved Storylines

Amores Perros- Ends with Vuleria unable to work and stuck in her home, don’t know if Daniel will stay with her. Ramiro is killed and Octavio is once again stood up by Susana. And El Chivo is seen walking off into the unknown distance with no real resolution.

La Zona- Ends with Alejandro leaving La Zona because he’s appalled by the murder of Miguel. He is only seen stood at a food stand in Mexico city, don’t know about his future.

·         Role of Women

Amores Perros- Vuleria is obsessed with her appearance. Susana betrays her husband and then robs Octavio. Mum is an alcoholic. No female solidarity, Ramiro’s mum won’t help Susana look after her child. Vuleria is not a liked character.

La Zona- The women have no big influence and are often shown physically and emotionally beaten down by men. The cruel woman on the council is almost heartless in her portrayal.

Like Water for Chocolate- It is supposed to be about the liberation of women through showing Gertrudis escaping her home life to lead the rebels but is also about their restrictions. Tita’s great-grand-niece is shown in the kitchen still even though women are supposed to have been liberated. Tita is repressed from her love and is disallowed to do anything but what her mother tells her too. She has no freedom.

·         Rural/Urban + Rich/Poor

Amores Perros- The difference between El Chivo and Octavio compared to Vuleria and Daniel. The rich poor divide is easily shown. They have money but they are not happy.

La Zona- The fenced community is more rural and well off while just outside the walls is the dank slums of Mexico City. The people who break in are poor and very urban.

Pan’s Labyrinth- The country is poor and on rations while Captain Vidal is hosting a banquet. It is a big divide. They live in a rural area where during hard times they can have anything they need.

·         Emptiness of modern Life

·         Brutal Capitalism

Amores Perros- Dog eat Dog. Dog fights. Octavio represents a vicious form of Capitalism. All about making money by any means. Vuleria is a disposable commodity. Looking where her posters used to be, bars like a prison on her face. Stuck in her life now with no modeling. Gustavo hiring an assassin to kill his brother just to get more money. Wanted to do well, partner stopping him so wanting to get him killed.

How far is the emotional response to mainstream films triggered by specific techniques used by film makers?

How far is the emotional response to mainstream films triggered by specific techniques used by film makers?

Film makers often use specific techniques to elicit an emotion response from an audience, whether that response is shock, fear, sadness or anger they are influenced by the film makers decisions. One aspect that film makers look at is gender; they know that different film will affect the two genders differently. For example the scene that involves a mock castration in ‘Hard Candy’ will shock men more and create a bigger emotional response from males than it will from females because of the nature of the scene. On the other hand females are more likely to cry or be angered by the scene in ‘Sex and the City’ where Carrie is left at the altar than a male would as it is more of a woman’s nightmare than it is a male nightmare. The film maker will be keeping gender in mind when deciding on the content of their film to know who the emotional response will come from, men or women. However some films do cross the gender boundaries and can create an emotional response in both the genders.  ‘Saving Private Ryan’ is a film that does this because the storyline is based around the war and male bonding which will create upset among males when one of them dies, but it also shows a vulnerability of the males which appeals to a female audience and could create sadness in them too. A recent film that has become well known for its ability to trigger an emotional response in both genders is the animated film ‘Up’ which has had, as reported, grown men crying just as much as women. The scene that is said to trigger this response is a carefully crafted, silent montage of the main characters life with his wife before her death and uses those techniques to create the sadness in the audience.

Another technique used to trigger an emotional response from an audience is the use of narrative and genre conventions. The audience may feel a stronger emotion if they expect something to happen and it does not, for example in the film ‘Titanic’ the audience expects Jack to survive and to live happily ever after with Rose as that is the conventions of a romance film, but instead he dies and she has to go on alone. This creates a higher response as the audience has been trained to expect one thing and is cheated out of the ending they want. Also the use of other narrative techniques such as flashbacks can create a high emotional response, such as in ‘The Notebook’. If the notebook had no flashbacks it would not be as upsetting as the audience would not have as strong a grasp on the characters back story so would not care about them as much, the flashbacks help to create a strong connection to the characters which heightens the emotional response of the audience. Also it can work the other way, in the film ‘Funny Games’ the rules of film are broken when one of the characters rewinds the film and lets it play out differently. The audience is robbed of the satisfaction they are feeling when the female character who has been tortured finally gets the upper hand the torturer rewinds the film and stops her from doing it. It creates a very angry response and a shocked on as well because it takes away the victory the audience wanted, and expects, and replaces it with the bad guys winning.  

One of the main techniques that proves that film makers use of specific techniques trigger an emotional response in an audience is the use of shock. Shock is an emotion easily manipulated by the film maker, for example films like ‘Hostel 1 + 2’ , ‘Saw’ and ‘Ichi the Killer’ are classified as torture porn and use graphic violence, gore and sadism to create shock in an audience. Other films take more subtle approach for example the use of mis-en-scene in the sloth scene in ‘Se7en’ where the two detective walk into a dingy, cluttered room full of pine tree air fresheners.  The shock is set in from the moment they enter the room and comes to a climax when the ‘dead’ man in the bed jumps awake. These are techniques that the film-makers have purposefully used to elicit shock from the audience.

However, even though in a lot of cases the emotional reaction of an audience is heavily influenced by specific techniques used by a film-maker, occasionally there are other reasons. For example context is a very big factor in whether or not an audience member has a specific emotional response to a film. A lot of audience members will be more upset by a film when watching it alone in their own home than they will when watching it in a cinema full of people. In the same way people are often more prone to find things amusing and laugh loudly when they are with other people than they are when they are by themselves. Also an emotion can be altered by over viewing, if a shocking scene (for example the tendon cutting scene in Hostel) is viewed more than once then the viewer may have become more desensitized to it so will not find it as shocking as someone coming to the scene freshly.

Another aspect that stands in the way of an emotional response is the position of the spectator. If someone has experience a certain event, such as the loss of a family member or an emotional break up, then they are more prone to have an emotional response than someone who has not. If a spectator who has never experienced loss watches a film where one of the characters is dealing with the death of a loved one they are less likely to be as emotionally responsive than those who have dealt with something similar in their life. Gender, ethnicity and age can also be a factor, for example a younger audience is more likely to laugh at films such as ‘American Pie’ while an older audience is more likely to be upset by a film like ‘The Notebook’ about an aged couple. Another aspect of the spectators position is whether they are a pre-existing fan or are coming into the film with no prior knowledge. Film like; the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Twilight series and Sex and the City will all have pre-existing fan bases that will have a stronger emotional tie with the character and their situations so will have a stronger emotional response.

In conclusion, film makers do use specific techniques to create an emotional response in an audience but that response is still dictated mostly by the spectator themselves and what they bring with them to the film.  

                                                                                                                                                                           

How the mis-en-scene and sound create meaning in the ‘What Happened to Your Eye?’ scene of ‘Donnie Darko’

How the mis-en-scene and sound create meaning in the ‘What Happened to Your Eye?’ scene of ‘Donnie Darko’

In this essay I am going to analyse two micro features of a film, mis-en-scene and sound, and how they create meaning for an audience. I will be looking at scene 10 ‘What Happened to your Eye?’ which is near the end of the film, from the 2001 Richard Kelly film ‘Donnie Darko’.

The opening shot shows a fluorescent light with the word ‘Aero’ on it, this relates to the idea of the sky and things being aerial in the film such as the plane and the engine that falls from it. Eerie non-diegetic music is being played which follows on from the previous scene, the music has an almost innocent choir sound to it but with a dark underscore which connects to the scene because of the innocence being the children and the dark underscore being Jim, the paedophile judging them. As the camera moves down the words ‘Halloween Frightmare Double Feature’ are shown, this relates to the use of doubles in the film through Donnie’s schizophrenia and there being two planes of existence, the future that should be and the present that shouldn’t be.

The scene cuts to the darkened inside of a cinema where Gretchen and Donnie sit alone. Two lights are shining on the wall that appear as if they are eyes looking down on Donnie, this links to Frank’s eyes which are a motif within the film and also that Donnie is being watched and controlled, the future is monitoring his actions to make sure he does the right thing. All that can be seen is their faces as the lighting is very dim. Tense music in the background begins quietly and becomes louder as the camera zooms towards Donnie for a close up, this builds the atmosphere that something is about to happen. The sound of increasing banging can be heard coming from the cinema screen adding to the feeling that something is about to happen and building the anticipation of the audience. The cinema screen shows a sequence from Evil Dead with a car pulling up to an old house with a broken fence.

Choir music begins as the camera zooms in on Donnie then pulls out to a long shot showing Donnie, Gretchen and Frank with the dark music in the background. Frank is dressed in a very ominous bunny suit that is dark and metallic looking, very similar to the look of the engine at some points. Donnie asks Frank, “Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?” to which Frank replies “Why do you wear that stupid man suit?” This shows that Donnie is something more than a man at this point he is the living receiver, the one who is chosen to guide the artefact (the engine) back to the primary universe. The background music is still playing with very dark and haunting melodies and the deep sound of a woman’s voice which adds to the ominous and macabre feel of the scene and the situation.

When Frank removes his head piece Donnie instantly looks saddened and confused, this is because he, as the living receiver, still has memories of what he has done in the tangent universe he is stuck in so knows that somehow he is responsible for Frank not having an eye anymore. The look of Frank’s eye in the dark is very similar to the way the lights on the wall look which carries as a motif through the film that the eyes are the windows to the soul and Frank’s are black and lifeless showing he is not really a person but a hallucination of Donnie’s sent to keep him on the right path so he can fulfil his duty and correct the wrong of him not dying.

As Donnie and Frank talk only half of their faces are shown in the light the other is hidden from view. This further explains the ‘double’ situation. There are two universes, the tangent one they are in now and the primary universe which is the restored universe when it is in balance. There are two different Donnie’s, the one who dies when the engine falls on him and the one who lives and changes everybody’s lives in the process. Also there are two Frank’s, one who is Elizabeth’s boyfriend and the other who is the manipulated dead sent from the primary universe to make sure the living receiver does his task in the tangent universe.

The camera cuts to the movie screen as a bright portal begins to open in the centre of it, it looks almost heavenly like the bright light to be seen before death. As the portal opens in the screen the music continues but the sound of a clock ticking can be heard, Donnie is running out of time to correct the situation he is in and make things normal again. The clock begins to chime signalling Donnie has action to do, he needs to move now that the time is right. The portal appears between three images on the screen, a clock, eyes and the moon. This shows that Donnie is running out of time and he has to see and understand what is happening with the engine that is falling from the sky. The screen burns away like paper and the image of Jim Cunningham’s house is shown. Frank whispers ‘Burn it to the ground.’ and has seemingly disappeared from the next shot.

Before leaving Donnie pulls his hood up, this is to hide himself and shield himself from what he is about to do. By cutting himself off from everything then it’s okay for him to commit these crimes as long as he feels it is right, the hood closes away everybody else’s opinions and leaves him alone. As he turns to face Gretchen the side of his face that has been hidden is revealed, he has two sides and he is showing a different one to Gretchen. It allows the audience to understand how Donnie feels about Gretchen as he seems to have a completely different persona for her compared to the way he treats his family and people at school. The scene cuts to Donnie leaving the cinema with the music still playing in the background, the camera pans upwards towards the cinema listing showing ‘The Evil Dead’ which connects to Jim being evil and Frank being dead, and ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ which when taken literally is what Donnie is doing, before laying down his life to restore peace and make others happy, like Christ did, he is doing one last thing that he feels he should which is burning down Jim’s house.

The music changes as the scene cuts to the high school talent show. A very floating and more innocent melody is being played as Cherita dances dressed completely in white showing her purity as a person. The scene then cuts to backstage showing ‘Sparkle Motion’ dressed in silver metallic outfits, which references to the look of the engine as well. Out of the darkness in the corner Jim appears giving him an almost horror villain entrance. He is the unknown bad guy and the irony of him being around children is shown through his sudden appearance from the dark.

The light music is still playing as the scene cross cuts from Donnie stood outside of Jim’s house and Cherita still dancing, the juxtaposition of the two is shown by the light and open clothing Cerita is wearing as she dances under a bright light while Donnie is hidden and wrapped in dark clothing stood with no light in the night so depicts a much darker figure. Cherita’s song ends as she runs off the stage to applause. Jim arrives on stage after her and introduces the new act of young children. The stage is in darkness with flashing photographic lights, this is a subtle hint at Jim’s fixation with children and taking pictures of them. The lights come up but there is still a lot of silhouette showing them in a dimmer light than Cherita, showing them as Jim’s dark thoughts towards them. The song being played is ‘Notorious’ which is what Jim will be, he will become tarnished when he is found out for being a paedophile. Some of the lines also coincide with this, ‘Lay your seedy judgements’ as Jim is about to be judged by Donnie and the by the world when the truth is revealed.

The scene then cross cuts to Donnie’s hooded silhouette as he walks towards a picture of Jim which is bathed in a godly light and looks disturbing against the darkness. The line ‘That’s why I’ve done it again’ is sang just before Donnie is shown, this is Donnie’s second offence, the first was flooding the school. The music slowly fades back to the choir music that has a disturbing feel and is more fitting to Donnie’s character. Donnie begins pouring a flammable liquid around the house making almost graceful dance like movements with his arms, this is his performance while the girls are doing there’s. The scene cross cuts between Donnie and Sparkle Motion showing the difference in the cold look of sparkle motion and the hot colours and fire of Jim’s house. The contrast between the joy and happiness of Sparkle motion where cheering can be heard over the music, and the destruction that Donnie is doing is shown in how Donnie is shadowed while the others are in full light. The scene continues cross cutting between the enjoyment at the school and the wreckage at the house. The painting of Jim is shown curling and burning away giving him the appearance of the devil himself, as if hells fire is judging him as well.

As the scene cross cuts once more to Cherita sat alone it is the contrast between the three that is shown, while Sparkle motion are only young girls there look is tarnished by the eyes of Jim making that scene colder and feel wrong because of the way the children are dancing when a paedophile is hidden watching them. Donnie’s scene is full of flames and anger as he takes his judgement and punishes Jim for what he has done. While Cherita is still dressed all in white and is sat alone, she is a single figure of virtue as she is the only one not touched or effected by these things, she remains innocent but lonely because of it.