masculinity is a major theme in this film, as it reflects the position on men within working class slums. masculinity can be seen as heightened and often presented superfluous aggression.
With reference to two scenes from City Of God, explore how the film represents masculinity as being aggressive.
Scene: 1:42:20
Through
the husband’s performance and his instant use of physical aggression,
masculinity is presented as aggressive and exaggerated. Most people from the
audience would react in a calmer way, rather than resulting in physical abuse
and killing. The fact that the only words the husband uses are offensive and
derogatory amplifies his uncontrollable aggression and lack of rational
thinking.
The camera positioning further illustrates his
dominance and violence, as it only focuses on him rather than on his wife. This
suggests that he has more power over his wife and is more important to the
story, as well as the image that the director wanted to convey, which is that the
favelas are violent places where people lose all morality and humility due to
the depravity of crime.
The
camera is also positioned outside the room and further away from where the
violence is occurring, hinting that aggressive masculinity is accepted in the
favelas as the audience isn’t allowed to intervene and are therefore made to
feel helpless. The feeling of helplessness that is forced onto the audience coincides
with the same emotion felt by women due to the aggressive masculinity expressed
by men in order to uphold the patriarchal system which is present in the
favelas. Therefore aggressive masculinity is represented as oppressive and misogynistic.
Ok, you have made some very good points but your answer is a little vague. By this I mean little things like using character names and the lack of film language used.
ReplyDeleteIf we look back at the AO's:
AO1 - Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of elements of film - Editing, Mise-en-Scene, Cinematography...
AO2 - Apply knowledge and understanding elements of film to analyse films - What effect do these elements have on creating meaning (understanding) for the audience?
Both of the AO's need you to be using a wide variety of film language in order for you to meet them successfully.
So, what I would like you to do is watch the two scenes you are analysing and note down anything you notice in each of them for: Editing, Sound, Mise-en-Scene, Cinematography
Then from the information you gather, think about how that might help form a representation of masculinity.
Once you have this post it on to here. We can then look at your answer structure.
All the best
Mr Cooper
Caitlin, do you have your amended response for me to mark? The mark I have recorded at the moment is way below your target grade. You can do better than this.
ReplyDeleteAll the best
Mr Cooper