Section B - Captain Fantastic (Ross, 2016)

Question 1

Define Active Spectatorship

Answer 1

Audience questions/engages with the text and it’s message Arthouse indie film, encourages audience to think for themselves

Question 2

Define all 4 possible readings in Hall’s Reception Theory

Answer 2

Dominant Reading = audience interprets and agrees with intended meaning Negotiated Reading = audience interprets intended meaning, but doesn’t quite agree with it (makes up own mind) Oppositional Reading = audience interprets intended meaning, but doesn’t agree with it Aberrant Reading = audience doesn’t understand intended meaning

Question 3

Define Uses of Gratification Theory

Answer 3

Media has no power over audiences Audiences choose media they want to consume Audience creates own meaning - text = ‘open’ to individual interpretation

Question 4

Define Modernism

Answer 4

Art movement associated with industrial revolution, machines replacing humans. Aim create artworks that better reflected modern society Focus on innovation/experimentation in forms, materials and techniques

Question 5

Define Postmodernism

Answer 5

Belief that new approaches needed to understand the present. Boundaries between fiction and reality blurred Playfully, nostalgically and respectfully acknowledging the past Audiences removed from conventional emotional link they have to subject matter, gain new view of it

Question 6

How are extreme long shots used to create meaning in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 6

Opening shot- establishes and romanticises nature. Much smaller shots of urban landscape - claustrophobic Wide bird’s eye shots - passive spectatorship

Question 7

How are shots repeated to create meaning in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 7

Ben’s close-ups in rear view mirror repeated throughout film: establishes how he is somewhat distanced from his family, needs to connect to them

Question 8

How is hair symbolic in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 8

Ben shaves beard as a sign of being a changed man, no longer stubborn and will protect his family Bo shaves his head -> mark change in lifestyle & identity

Question 9

How the family’s costumes create meaning in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 9

Funeral scene - mourners dressed in black, whilst they wear bright, colourful clothes and unusual outfits (Zaja’s gas mask). Jacks calls Ben “some hippy in a clown outfit” - Shows how they celebrate life when someone dies, when the rest are very upset Binary opposition between them and the mourners, and between Ben and the church

Question 10

How does lighting create meaning in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 10

Harsh lighting on basketball court when Bo and Rellian discuss Ben Contrasts naturalistic lighting in rest of film - blackness -> gravity of difficult conversation, whether their dad is “dangerous” or not

Question 11

How narrative in ‘Captain Fantastic’ creates meaning?

Answer 11

Film book-ended with ‘rite of passage scenes’ that contrast the family and mainstream lifestyles - Start, Bo eats a deer heart on his 18th birthday, covered in mud body paint - End, Bo goes off to Uni after getting a pep-talk from his Dad

Question 12

How editing creates passive spectatorship in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 12

Matt Ross (on avoiding conspicuous editing): “Only afterwards say “wow that was a oner. They never cut”. I don’t want to notice that when I’m watching. I want to feel the intention of it.” - Wants film to just be viewed as a story, not a construct

Question 13

How Ben’s hallucinations create meaning in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 13

Hallucinations of Leslie breaks film’s editing techniques, other-worldly Visual softness, choral religious music, lighting effects make her appear, fade away and re-appear like an angel. Ben sees her as an angel watching over his family

Question 14

How music creates meaning in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 14

Bagpipe music on bus suggests army -> battle. Ben - “So they know we’re coming.”

Question 15

How theme of acceptance presented in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 15

Rell wants to be like rest of society, unlike rest of siblings: “Why can’t we celebrate Christmas like the rest of the world?” - Plays violent video games with his cousins - The others try to ‘rescue’ him from his grandparents’ house Bo wants to go off to University, hides letters from his father. Scared of what he would think

Question 16

How theme of parenting presented in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 16

Film explores different parenting approaches and challenges them Ben is liberal, kids think for themselves, but outcasts from society. Harper’s kids are included in society, but are stupid brats Ultimately, kids decide how they want to be raised, choosing their father over their grandparents People looking for alternative to raising city kids - what values do you want to teach your children?

Question 17

How theme of gender presented in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 17

All kids perform same tasks, taught same skills: roles not gendered in film Closing scene implies integrate into mainstream society - Zaja has “feminine” costume and styling for 1st time in narrative

Question 18

Which animation studio influenced ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 18

Ross: “I wanted to create something that was psychically hopeful. I think Pixar does this very well. Their movies are emotional without being empty. They’re sentimental but they earn it.”

Question 19

Political contexts of ‘Captain Fantastic’

Answer 19

Running for president: Trump = right wing, Sanders = left wing, Clinton = moderate Left and right wing selling different versions of anti-establishment Ben and Jack represent ideologies viewpoints - both dislike that, as Ben says, “the powerful control the lives of the powerless”

Question 20

Institutional contexts of ‘Captain Fantastic’

Answer 20

Sought funding from producer Lynette Howard Taylor at Sundance film festival Success and wide-release due to word of mouth and reviews alone: typical of indie films

Question 21

How ‘Captain Fantastic’ encourages use to think about who we want to side with

Answer 21

Encourages alignment with Ben through is hallucinations of Leslie (close-up P.O.V.s, intimate) Both sides - consider pros and cons of Ben’s and Jack’s lifestyle for themselves. Spectator’s own experiences and ideologies influence their viewpoint Ross: “No one in this film is the villain… (Jack) is antagonistic… but he is not the antagonist” “His love is different but just as legitimate”

Question 22

What is the audience expectation of an indie arthouse film? How does this relate to ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 22

Audience expects left-wing politics Balanced approach of film questions audience’s expectations

Question 23

How does ‘Captain Fantastic’ question American Society?

Answer 23

Kids enter mainstream society and say “everyone is fat” Kids pretend to be a Christian cult to disconcert police officer Recurring quotes = “power to the people”, “stick it to The Man”

Question 24

How is self-improvement portrayed in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 24

Importance of diverse education - kids study academic subjects (literature, politics, quantum physics), creativity, survival skills and physical fitness valued highly. Encourages methodical, structured lifestyle

Question 25

How does Ben’s character develop throughout ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 25

Stubborn, opinionated, caring. Mixed response to him Learns to accept modern society more, and listens more to his children, treating them more like people

Question 26

How does Bodevan’s character develop throughout ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 26

Kind, intelligent, awkward, angry on the inside - wants a normal life. Root for him Argues with his dad until they listen to each other

Question 27

How does Rellian’s character develop throughout ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 27

Rebel child, angsty, angry, goes against his father Tries to leave family, but accepts his family’s lifestyle

Question 28

How does Grandpa Jack’s character develop throughout ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 28

Grieving for his dead daughter - blames Ben for it, wants custody of his kids Foil to Ben - but does accept that the kids want to live with him

Question 29

How does ‘Captain Fantastic’ fit the tropes of a ‘road movie’?

Answer 29

Framing of characters within mirrors: Ben keeps being framed in his rear view mirror Narrative of a quest: quest to stop their mother’s funeral, give her the send off she wanted Exploration of social constructs of home, work and family: different opinions and sides shown on perspective of parenting Iconography of vast, open landscapes: used of both nature and of American highway (contrast)

Question 30

How is spectator alignment created in the opening scene of ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 30

Initially aligned with the deer - motivated shots of eyes watching through foliage. Sense threat deer is facing, fear for it Family covered in mud - monstrous, threatening, less humane -> difficult to identify with. They then go and wash themselves and play in the river. More human, align with them

Question 31

How is grief presented in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 31

Ben straight up tells his kids that their mum killed herself. Treats them like adults, make sure they understand rather than sugarcoat it. Doesn’t tell Rellian off for acting out aggressively Harper and her husband lie to their teenage kids about what happened to Leslie. Tell them she got sick and died, making subject of mental illness taboo Conflict about this in the dinner party scene Different perspectives shown with strengths and weaknesses

Question 32

How do visual cues create spectatorship in the dinner party scene of ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 32

Framing - Ben is framed to be literally dividing the frame. Camera behind him, kids on one side, rest of family on the other. He is dividing this family - active response

Question 33

How do audio cues create spectatorship during Leslie’s cremation in ‘Captain Fantastic’?

Answer 33

Song “Sweet Child of Mine” - we sit back, watch and listen to the performance, enjoy it. Don’t question what we’re seeing: have fun alongside family, passive spectatorship

Question 34

Dominant response to ‘Captain Fantastic’

Answer 34

Audience question their viewpoint, accepts other viewpoints, maybe even changing their own

Question 35

Negotiated response to ‘Captain Fantastic’

Answer 35

Audience question viewpoint, but does not change it to allow new ideas in

Question 36

Oppositional response to ‘Captain Fantastic’

Answer 36

Audience doesn’t question their viewpoint, but further reinforces they are correct