Avatar and Knives Out Flashcards
Knives Out - Time of Release Audience Context
2016 US Election:
- Immigration was a major political point in both the election and movie
- Joanie and Richard’s fight
- Joanie depiction of left wing ideology, young, female,
- Richard depiction of right wing ideology, old, racist, white, male
Whodunit
Detective film subgenre
Everyone is suspicious
Identity of murderer revealed at climax
Avatar - Time of Release Audience Context
War in the Middle East:
- USA in very costly war
- Similar to Quarritch and army invading in Avatar
- Na’vi represent innocent civilians caught in war
- Soldiers represent real life soldiers
- Hometree falling similar to 9/11
- ‘Unobtainium’ like Oil
Avatar - Explicit ideologies
*Corporate Greed
- Parker Selfridge
- The RDA, a powerful corporation, represents corporate interests that exploit Pandora’s resources without consideration for the planet’s ecosystem or the well-being of its inhabitants.
Avatar - Implicit ideologies
*White Saviour Trope
- Jake ‘saves’ Na’vi from the military - never questioned
*Environmentalism
- Destruction of Hometree
- Issue of environmental destruction never tackled
Knives Out - Explicit ideologies
*Immigration
- Characters’ attitudes toward Marta, and immigration are explicitly addressed, touching on immigration policies and societal attitudes toward immigrants
- Argument between Richard and Joni
*Xenophobia
- “America is for Americans”
- Fear of what is different - immigrants
Knives Out - Implicit Ideologies
*Racism
- forgetting what country Marta comes from implies that “middle America” is racist or uncaring towards migrants
- “Paraguay” “Brazillian”, actually from Uruguay
* Critique of Liberal Hypocrisy
- Family treat Marta as “part of the family”, care for her
- When she does something wrong, they completely switch attitudes
Knives Out - Institutional Context
Development:
- Come off Last Jedi (Poorly recieved)
- $40M budget in 2019
Distribution:
- $500M deal with Netflix for 2 sequels
Consumption:
- $310M Box Office
Avatar - Institutional Context
Development:
- Come off of Titanic (11 academy awards)
- Budget $230M in 2009
Pre Production:
- 13 years to write 5 movies
Production:
- Long, Expensive, Difficult
Post Production:
- Most of the film made within post
Consumption:
- $2.9B at box office over multiple releases
Implicit Ideology
When a media product depicts an ideology as just the way things are
Explicit Ideology
When a media product challenges an ideology presented, questioning or supporting/refuting idea
Avatar - Older Audience
- Vietnam Veterans
- Pandora similar to Vietnam Forrest terrain
- ‘Huey’ helicopters similar design to Choppers in Avatar
- Quarritch personality and dogma similar to real Vietnam Generals
Knives Out - Present Day Audience
- Audiences more ‘woke’ post BLM movement
- New age audience may be more critical of
- Audience may be more critical based on the worse reception of the sequel
- Change in Leadership make the theme of ‘immigration’ less relatable to audiences/prevalent within society
Avatar - Present Day Audience
- Audience more critical of ‘White Savior Trope’ and depictions of white protagonists
- More critical of the depictions of the Na’Vi - uncivilized (similar to how native americans were seen)
- More critical of film based on poor reception of sequel
- Greater pressure on environmental consequences now - audiences can resonate with theme of environmentalism more today
- Present day audience may consume film with less care (over multiple viewings/on a phone), due to increased accessibility
Hitchcockian Thriller
Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension
- ie. The Thrombey Estate (Knives Out)
Shot Analysis: Will Reading
Quick Pan and zoom onto Marta shows her own suprise at the outcome of the will reading
Lighting focuses on ceratain characters, creating drama, hightening tension
Scene paced quickly, quick cuts build tensity
‘Midpoint’ of the film
False Victory/ False defeat
Shot Analysis: Final Shot
Wide Shot, Marta in higher position than Thrombeys
Irony of ‘My House, My Rules, My Coffee Mug’
Expensive cars on Marta’s half of shot, Marta’s trash car on the Thrombey’s side
Blanket around Marta shows comfort
Shot Analysis: Politics Talk
Gold covered mise en scene shows ignorance - ‘rose coloured glasses’ - arent affected by the issue
Richard handing Marta the plate - irony of talking about immigrant welfare
“doing it the right way… like Marta” - irony, Marta is an illegal immigrant
Relevance of US 2016 election
Shot Analysis: Walt Confronts Marta
Tapping of cane - adds tensity
Dark lighting reveals dark intentions - blackmailing Marta
Narrow hallway - claustrophobic - ‘no escape’
Walt standing above Marta - trying to seem condescending
Shot Analysis: Initial Interviews
The central tenets of each main character is introduced through their answers, hinting at their possible role, and connections to others (deception, jealousy)
Marta Vomits when she lies
Knife piece symbolise the inner conflicts between family members
Shot Analysis: Hometree Burning Down
Low Angles, Wide Shots
Fiery dramatic pallette - illicits distress
‘Dark Night of the Soul’ - All hope is lost
Shot Analysis: Jake covered in Wood Sprites
Soft light of woodsprites contrast dark jungle
‘White saviour’ as Jake is the chosen one
Music enhances emotion of the scene
