global film Flashcards
pans labrynth intro
(Del Toro, 2006, Spain)
film is a gothic fairytale based on the post war repression of Francos dictatorship in North Spain.
Del Toro captures the brutality and userpation of the spanish civil war through the character Vidal.
Yet he also celebrates the power of the human imagination throgh the character Ofelia
Parasite intro
Bong Joon-ho was inspired by Del Toro’s work.
(Bong Joon-ho, 2019, South Korea)
The film was multiaward winning, being considered by many critics as the best film of 2019. It was the first non-English speaking film to gain recognition at the academy awards.
The film carries universal themes of; class division, social mobility, and materalism.
South Korea was influenced by America to become a capitslist country. However, this created a massive gulf between the upper and lower class.
Joon-ho exposes the limited class mobility as a consequence of capitilism in South Korea, as North Korea remained a comunist country.
pans labrynth: para 1
Del Toro’s pale man scene reveals key context, as Toro references elements of Gaya’s work, the Catholic church, and Franco’s dictatorship.
Toro uses colour to create a contrast between the real world and the fantasy realm.
The real world, Toro uses cool tone colours like blue or grey, in order to capture the bleak, prisonlike atmosphere Ofelia and those supprssed by Franco endure. While for the fantasy realm he uses warmer hues like oranges and red, arguabky this may represent an element of security and comfort in Ofelias imagination, even though it can be dangerous.
When Ofelia enters the fantasy realm, the camera moves away from her revealing the vast catacones, churchlike hallway.
Pans Labrynth: Para 2
The Pale mans layer has a warm orange hue, this could symbolise either danger, or when Ofelia and her parents reunite the room is orange, symbolising that she’s on the right path to reunite with them.
The camera follows Ofelia before panning to the table of gluttonous food; the pan mirroring Ofelia’s wondering eye.
At the head of the table sits the Pale man. We can establish a link between the pale man and Vidal as both sit as the head od the table, with gluttonous food, conveying their control and authority.
Toro was influenced by Gaya’s painting, when creating the pale man, they used CGI, make up, and costume to heighten the pale man’s monsterous look, with a realisitc touch
Pans Labrynth: Para 3
Theres insert shots to paintings of the Pale man eating children. Toro used the film as a direct critique of the Catholic church, and the years of abuse they inflicted onto children.
Theres also an insert shot of a pile of shoes, which is a direct reference to the holocaust, and Hitlers disctatorship, cermenting this link between the pale man Vidal.
Parasite: Para 1
Interestingly, Bong Joon-ho uses his camera work of dollyshots, ped shots, and downward angles, he then pairs this with his use of mise en scene, using lighting, faming, and space to create a divide between the Kim and Parker family; highlighting the massive gulf that divides the two families.
As one family has wealth and social mobility, and the other is poor and lacks social mobillity
Parasite: Para 2
In the opening scene. we’re in the Kim families house which is a basement. Bong Joon-ho establishes this by having the camera at a low angle looking out of a boarded window onto a dingy street, which creates a frame acknowledging us watching, and establishing our roles as observers.
To the right also hangs crusty, old socks, creating a mudane, dull setting. Joon-ho uses a ped shot to recognise their poor quality of life.
The pedshot stops on the eldest son Kaiwoo who sits by the window trying to get wifi. The camera then tracks Kaiwoo, finding his family, and wifi, revealing a cramped, dull, yet chaotic living space.
The only room with wifi is the bathroom, Kaiwoo and his sister Kijung climb up and sit by the toilet in order to get wifi.
The tolet being raised above them creates an ironic tone on how disadvantaged they are.
Parasite: Para 3
Contralily, the first time we enter the Parker families house we track Kaiwoo, and as he walks up the streps, which symbolise him climbing to wealth and higher status.
This is also the first time we see Kaiwoo see sunlight; as many of the basements had little to no windows, highlighting the basic necessities the lower class lacked.
When we enter the Parker’s family house we’re astonished by the room and space, this is also present on Kaiwoo’s facial expressions.
Bong Joon-ho creatively uses the windows of the Parkers house to once again highlight the contrast of the life money can buy you of a life without bars, which contradicts the Kim’s family’s view.
Parasite: Para 4
Bong Joon-ho’s use of angles is also interesting. By having the Kim’s at a lower angle, but have them looking up to the Parker family creates an irony as this original view of idolism is quickly turned into jealousy.
The Parker family being at a high angle, looking down on the Kim’s also builds irony as their unaware of what they’re capable of.
