The question that often gets asked in Film Studies classes is: Who’s your favorite filmmaker? And without any hesitation I can tell that my favorite filmmaker is without a doubt Steven Spielberg? What? Blasphemy, you say! How can you rank Steven Spielberg higher than the likes of Alfred Hitchcock or Jean Luc Godard? Okay, maybe you’re not saying this, but this response was common amongst the UW-Milwaukee film professors. One of my professors had nothing but disdain for Spielberg, claiming that his films were “manipulative.” Which is true, but then again so are the films of Hitchcock and for that matter Jean Luc Godard. In fact, the underlying success to all GREAT cinema is manipulating the audience into caring about the characters that inhabit the screen. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is possibly the most manipulative movie ever made; for the first 45 minutes the audience roots for Marion Crane, completely sympathetic to her plight, and are thus horrified when she is brutally m
This is a blog that is devoted entirely to film analysis. I tend to analyze movies in a historical context. What were the cultural trends at the time? Why was the rationale behind the movie? I also tend to write about lesser-known movies, as there really isn't much more that can be said about most mainstream movies. I hope you enjoy!!!