Monday, December 10, 2007

Aliya Shah - Final Project

An Evolving Era

Through the course of our history, art has served to bring a sense of peace and harmony during periods of poverty, war, and human suffering. Unlike any other form of art, film captures the hearts of millions of people through the creative uses of sound, color, artistic styles, frames, as well as various artistic themes. Uses of such elements mentioned above, brings out human emotions by capturing images that we, as a society, can strongly relate to. People have enjoyed watching films to see a picture beyond an ordinary frame. Throughout the decades, films have provided us with laughter, fear, depression, peace, and/or pure entertainment.

However, the role of film started to gradually change between 1960 through 1980. This period in American History may be painted as a period with tremendous social, political, and economic turmoil. The art of film gradually became a popular form of reflection of the harsh truth of such times. Hollywood Studios branched out from their emblematic Studios that catered to a particular form of film. Specifically, Hollywood Studios made films that were rated safe for everyone to view as it had once been during the Classical Hollywood period. As times were changing, so was the film industry. Specifically, the film industry began losing money drastically. As such, they desperately needed to catch the attention of the evolving audience. One of such ways was to attract the counter culture generation.

Within the midst of this era of the political and economic turmoil, film school graduates were seen as the hope for the future of Hollywood. They were youths themselves and could best relate to the emotions and ideas of the public. As they graduated from film schools around the country, Studios hired them as their last resort of hope. They were given a particular privilege that no film makers had previously received, which was the freedom to produce films with an unrestricted, uncensored subject matter. These new lights of hope within Hollywood were known as the Movie Brats, and the era itself became known as New Hollywood.

The Movie Brats embraced this opportunity by producing films with creative and unique ideas as seen within Hollywood for the first time. They set out to represent the voice of the American public, which had long been suppressed. They depicted the truths of events such as the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and many more that left a significant impact on the country. They showed the way the American people were thinking and what they hoped for the future. Within this era of New Hollywood, films openly used previously taboo subjects such as drugs, sex, nudity, profanity, violence, and racial conflicts. The Movie Brats felt a sense of relief and honor to be the one's that finally broke beyond that wall of the public versus the government. Within his book, the author David Cook states “ The sense that oppressive forces were at work against individual liberty, and the law could not protect its citizens from them , was central to the subgenre of 1970’s film noir”(Cook, 197).

This paper will examine two films from this era by analyzing different aesthetic and stylistic qualities that reflected two highly significant historical events. The analysis will focus on comparing and contrasting themes, story lines, characters and their point of views, and the effect it left on the audience. The main focus will be the impact that it left on the country by re creating these two events that will forever remain in memories of the American people. The impact of these events influenced two well known Movie Brats, one of which was Francis Ford Coppola with his film "Apocalypse Now" and the other was Alan J. Pakula with his film "All the President's Men". The paper will analyze the influence of these films, specifically, the influence these films had on the American people, and the change that brought about the end of the war as well as the age of scandal.

The historical events occurring within the period from 1960 thru 1980 had a significant impact on the American culture. Many protests and peace marches were taking place to bring back the safety and security of the American Dream. Universities were teaching the movement brought about by the great Martin Luther King who hoped to bring peace and equality by ending segregation and providing hope for the future. However, as positive changes were occurring, such changes were halted as: (1) the public was informed of the assassination of President Kennedy; (2) the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.; (3) the U.S. intrusion between the battle amongst the North and South Vietnam and (4) the role of United States in the conflict between North and South Vietnam as some believed that the United States caused more bloodshed than accomplishing the goals set forth in their involvement in Vietnam.

As a consequence, the United States lost trust from its own citizens. Such distrust was deepened due to political scandals, such as the Watergate discovery that the leader of the country was behind it. Nixon had campaigned in 1968 presidential elections that he would end the war in Vietnam and bring peace with honor. He did not have a plan on how to end the war, but got himself elected and failed. As a result, the war continued for another five years, coming to an end in 1973. This period also followed with serious economic downturn with recession, high inflation rates, which marked this an era of protest and change. The American public felt unsafe within their own country feeling a sense of anger, rage, mistrust, and confusion. They were desperately seeking to voice their concerns to a government, which they felt, did not care to address the concerns of the American people. They became infuriated and could not decide of an effective method that would bring about the change and peace they desired.

In his film, “Apocalypse Now” released in 1979, the director Francis Ford Coppola captured the harsh reality of the Vietnam War and brought it to the big screen. As the war had ended in 1975, Francis Ford Coppola immediately began to direct the film. The film took four years in the making as it encountered numerous difficulties, including an original budget of 12 million dollars that eventually cost thirty-one million dollars. As the Zoetrope had refused to finance the remaining portion of the film, Coppola had to find means to finance the film himself. The problems did not just end there. The film was shot in the Philippines and due to a tycoon named Olga, the original seventeen weeks shoot, lasted for a total of 34 weeks. Much of the cast had to be sent back to the United States to wait for conditions to return to normal. The main character Captain Willard, played by Martin Sheen, had been admitted into the hospital under treatment for a collapse from dehydration originally, that later was discovered to have been a heart attack. However, in spite of all the difficulties associated with the making of the film, Coppola was determined to complete it. He quoted within many sources including the director’s cut after the film itself stating:

“I found that many of the ideas and images with which I was working as a film director began to coincide with realities of my own life, and that I like Captain Willard, was moving up a river in a faraway jungle looking for answers and hoping for some kind of catharsis. I thought that if the American audience could look at the heart of what Vietnam was really like, what it looked like and felt like- then they would be only one small step away from putting it behind them”. (Coppola, Apocalypse Now: director’s cut)

Coppola objective remained to create a film experience that would accurately allow the audience to sense the horror, the mental and emotional trauma, and the special effects added a sense of realism through which one can hear and see bombings and explosions. Smoke, fire, and blood along with bridges that were specifically rebuilt to once again be blown up just for the visual effects within the film, were a major portion of the reasons why this film went over the anticipated budget. One can notice that the film has an unpolished look as the lighting and colors captured by the camera are not consistent. During the points in the movie when the troops were bombing over villages and death occurred, the scenes would have reddish to brownish color. The instant the scenes of killing or dying were over, the color returns back to normal colors. One can see that this was a hint these were the images most recalled by Willard, and these were the images he never forgot as he was fighting a moral battle internally of committing murder. The movie is told from Willard’s point of view as how he survived through it, what he felt, and how it affected him.

However, once again referring to the quote by Coppola, any American that lived through this period of time can relate to Willard in many ways. The film consists of voice over narration, where Willard is telling the story as it has already happened to him in the past. The characters moral dilemma and remorse is one that touched the hearts of many Americans. As per the meaning of the title “Apocalypse Now”, the meaning of an apocalypse is a point of revelation or a conflict between good versus evil.

The main character Willard depicted this well as the movie progressed. He felt a sense of the need to complete his duty, but despised himself and the situation he had got in, to a great extent. The camera angles and special effects of the film added to the sense of reality. Angles were shot from a high angle and a crane shot showing the American helicopters flying over a schoolyard in a small village where children were playing as they dropped bombs. This was a particularly emotional moment to view this scene, and think what sort of morals and values some of these men must have had and how the ones with their morals in tact may have been handling the idea of bombing innocent children. The war left a great deal of horror and tragedy. There were low angles shots as seen by the villagers on the land looking up to see American helicopters above them getting ready to drop bombs.

One particular camera quality one may notice is the slow dissolving points where repeatedly a scene is shown with the face of Willard and the war occurring in the background, one may notice the horror in his eyes as the audience is brought within the film to some extent to see what he is so traumatized about as they see the scenes of the death and destruction. This film was intended to target audience that was the regular concerned American public and those leaders in power that did not care to address the concerns of the public. The American people had a fear of never being able to return back to their normal lives with the way the Vietnam War had impacted them. Coppola brought this horror back to the people that did not have an image of what must have happened in Vietnam that will make the war one that can never be forgotten.

Within the final scene as Willard had found and killed Kurtz he hears him whisper as he lies dying on the ground “the horror, the horror”(Apocalypse Now, 1979). As Willard, turns around and walk outside, he realizes the locals are now bowing before him as they now consider him to be their leader. Willard gets on the boat and sails away as he keeps hearing Kurtz’s words repeating in his head “the horror, the horror” (Apocalypse Now, 1979) the screen then blacks out and the film ends. The film makes one feel the intensity of all the content one may have absorbed from the viewing. The horror of the Vietnam War lives on to represent what the American public had suffered through due to the stubborn ways of the leaders of the country.

Similarly discussing, another major event imacting the country, Within his film “All the President’s Men”, director Alan J. Pakula recreates the political scandals that specific individuals including President Nixon and several of his top officials including to lawyers had partaken in. This event was known as the infamous Watergate scandal within American History. The scandal had led to the resignation of the Untied States President Richard Nixon in August of 1974. The Washington Post journalists involved in this case had written a book, which was used as a basis for Pakula’s film. “All the President’s Men” was released in 1976 during a time of great shock to the country as it had just come out of the trauma of Vietnam. Pakula, like Coppola was a film maker that was deeply influenced by political events that were significantly impacted the American way of life. He focused on depicting the actual event as it led to the discovery of the scandal.

Pakula initially wanted to shoot the film in the original Washington Post building, but due to inconvenience to the workers and lack of space, they had to recreate a set in Burbank, CA for an amount of $450,000. Tremendous effort was placed at the accuracy of recreating a replica set with the exact locations of desks and other office equipment. The protagonists within this film are Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They represent characters that are very intelligent and motivated to find the truth behind the scandal. The story is seen to a great extent from their point of view as it is represented by their book. The theme of the story is once again one of good versus evil. The protagonists are the two journalists fighting to bring down the antagonist the corrupt government officials.

One may notice that this conspiracy film shoots scenes with very dark lighting, perhaps representing the dark time it was reflecting. The re-creation of the Watergate scandal within film was a highly controversial issue as it was displayed to the public. As the truth of the corrupt government was becoming reality, the scenes speed up. Intensity is built as the protagonists become closer to finding the evidence to capture the true wrongdoers. One may feel a sense of victory coming up as the pace of the film is sped up. Many historical sites such as the Watergate, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol, and Library of Congress were filmed within and around to give the film it’s originality and accurately depict the events. As the film begins, the security guard that is walking through the hallway, notices the tape on the door before he notifies the authorities of the break in, is the same guard from the night of the actual event.

One may notice the darkness within the garage scenes as Woodward is getting highly confidential information from his secret source Deep Throat. An interesting point is observed as the topic is uncertain in the beginning of the film, with not a lot of information to write about, Deep throat is seen only in a black shadow with a hint of light shining on the side. One is unable to see him at all. However, as the film progresses and more information are revealed with actual facts to work with, Deep Throat slightly begins coming into the light, and more visible to the viewer. By the time that Woodward informs him at the end of the film of the arrests that had taken place, he is shown very clearly. It was later discovered that Deep Throat was an originally a retired FBI director. The film leaves a sense of paranoia and anxiety for a viewer throughout. Some innovations regarding this film may be noticed with the camera within this film as they were taken from a high angle at many points. For example, as Woodward and Bernstein are investigating records within the Library of Congress, the camera has a close up on them directly from above as it moves further up; it shows the complete structure and architecture of the entire building from a crane shot.

Another point is the extremely dark lighting that gives the audience a sense of secrecy as they are not meant to know what is truly going on until the end. Pakula used a split screen image on many occasions throughout the film.

For example, there were two people of objects in focus, one in the front and one in the background, however, the space in between them was blurred and out of focus. This was highly visible in the courtrooms and office. Audience were given the clues on what areas they should concentrate on to get hints of what the important images are. The main point Pakula stressed within this film were the as Cook calls them “bankable movie stars such as Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford that were commercial successes” (Cook, 37) at that point. He took brilliant actors and placed them in a movie that Americans were going to watch and always recall another turbulent time in history with which many lost their faith in the government. The quality of acting as seen by the two protagonists was very determined to reach a conclusion. They were extremely believable. The end of the film did not show the resignation of the President. It simply ended with teletype lines stating the rest of the events following the film.

These two films had a significant impact on the American public. They both represented the effects on the people of the country, as the leaders of the time were too adamant to bring the peace and stability which they desperately desired. The differences between both films were represented by the special effects, more camera usage for different angle shots, increased use of lighting, more heartfelt emotion within Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” as opposed to the more intellectual content depicting a certain event as it occurred, the theme and significant influence of the time on the film within “All the President’s Men” by Alan J. Pakula. The similarities consisted of a moral struggle. A voice of the American public that was suppressed for a decade to finally be heard as films were recreating the horror and people were constantly reminded that a change must take place. The counter culture with the new filmmakers and use of film, the realities it depicted, and the way the audience responded, lead to the end of the war and scandals within US history.


Works Cited

“Apocalypse Now”. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando. 1979. DVD. Zoetrope, 1979.

Baumann, Shyon. “Intellectualization and Art World Development”. Film in the United States Vol. 66. Jun. 2001: 404-426. JSTOR. Golda Meir Libraries, Milwaukee, WI. 22 Sep. 2007.

Biskind, Peter. Easy Riders Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And- Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. Touchstone, 1998.

Cook, David. Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam 1970-1979. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.

Divine, Robert A., and Brands H.W. “The American Story: History of the United States After 1877”. Pearson Education, 2005.

Horowitz, Josh. The Mind of the Modern Moviemaker: Twenty Conversations with the New Generation of Filmmakers. Plume: NAL. Feb. 20006.

Punt, Michael. “Digital Media, Artificial Life, and Postclassical Cinema”. Condition, Symptom, or a Rhetoric of Funding. Vol. 31, 1998: 349-356. JSTOR. Golda Meir Libraries, Milwaukee, WI. 22 Sep.2007.

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