Without is a very unconventional film, to say the least. It is a film about a girl named Joslyn who is hired to play babysitter for a disabled, mute, elderly man. She is hired by a quasi-atomic family that lives pretty much in the middle of nowhere. As the main character spends more time in a completely isolated and anti-social environment, she begins to show subtle signs of mental collapse. The movie is very unsettling because it is difficult to latch on to the tone of it. It switches between suspense, dark comedy, and horror at times. This ambiguity is reflective of Joslyn's inability to remain attached to her reality as every day presents a new facet of her inner struggles with love, mistrust, death, and solitude.
Egri mentions premise. This is the assumption that the most 'effective' stories follow a changing dynamic in storyline, and presenting a thesis, antithesis, synthesis, and dialectic. All of this is basically to keep the story in check so that the storyline can remain ever-changing and interesting. In Without, the storyline is rather disguised. To the naked eye, the entire film is about Joslyn becoming bored and slightly delusional. But through an applied analysis of premise, I believe it is a commentary on the human psychology. It shows how Joslyn is constantly met with a new problem or issue, most of which are rather distressing in their randomness and lack of connection. She constantly faces a new enemy, but with no strengths in sanity to fall back on, especially with external influences such as the death of her girlfriend and her lack of social connectivity (no internet).
Egri also mentions character bone structure. This is the complex that makes up the character in terms of mental, physical, and contextual traits. This plays a very important part in Without, as Joslyn faces a number of changes to her structure in these three ways. Her mental structure could be seen as a primary focus of the movie: her mental stability has a gradual decrease throughout the entire movie. For example, she begins to question her surroundings and sanity when she awakes with her phone in different spots on different mornings. Her background plays a part as well. Her origin is not discussed much in the movie, but it is safe to assume that she is not used to her situation which is depicted in the film: solitude, unfamiliarity, and debilitated communication.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
10/17/2011
Just about every famous or even slightly substantial story in the history of literature all have one thing in common. A storyline that is interesting; interesting meaning being capable of holding an audiences attention. While what is or isn't 'capable' can be much debated, the fact still stands true that a story is interesting in some context, some time, or some place. The entire tales velocity, manipulation, development, and dynamic to keep the audience engaged. Without change, there would be nothing substantial to keep track of. Without slope, there is no ski.
Vogler asserts that all stories need this 'character arc' in order for them to be compelling. I do agree with this statement entirely. Without a storyline is changing at least somewhat, then the story will come across as mundane and predictable. This is undesirable to read or watch because this is ordinary stuff. Egri also asserts that the arc is a crucial matter in a story's consistency.
To further explain character arc, an example is helpful. In the film Se7en, Somerset is a detective who is nearing his retirement. In the beginning of the story, he is a rather cynical, but grounded individual. He is humble though and still faithful to his precinct. However, after dealing with the sudden Se7en killer, he seems to have reached his final actualization. He is content with his leaving, but he also seems to be a changed man. He still remains cynical, but he ends up retiring wiser and slightly troubled.
Vogler asserts that all stories need this 'character arc' in order for them to be compelling. I do agree with this statement entirely. Without a storyline is changing at least somewhat, then the story will come across as mundane and predictable. This is undesirable to read or watch because this is ordinary stuff. Egri also asserts that the arc is a crucial matter in a story's consistency.
To further explain character arc, an example is helpful. In the film Se7en, Somerset is a detective who is nearing his retirement. In the beginning of the story, he is a rather cynical, but grounded individual. He is humble though and still faithful to his precinct. However, after dealing with the sudden Se7en killer, he seems to have reached his final actualization. He is content with his leaving, but he also seems to be a changed man. He still remains cynical, but he ends up retiring wiser and slightly troubled.
Monday, October 3, 2011
10/3/2011
I enjoyed the story by the girl wearing navy (?) about her brother with autism. I did not get to find her name after class as I had to leave promptly. The whole story is substantial because, not only does it follow a very well balanced storyline and allude to the Heroes Journey, but it is an uncommon story. It could easily be made into a short film because it has such a simple, yet profound lesson to be learned: never assume, know what you're looking for. The only thing I would recommend is that she develop the characters a bit more and introduce the relationship of herself and her brother a bit more beforehand
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