City of God

Themes
-Violence
-Poverty
-Competition for power
-Dominance
-Male oppression
-Submission of females
-Revenge

Representation of National Culture
-Ethnic diversity
-Corrupt through society

Style
-Realistic
-Introverted
-Orange to reflect the heat of Brazil

Messages
-Regional identity shapes personality and motives

Key Scenes
-Ideas of the submission of women is portrayed in the scene when Benny is shot dead and Angelica is ordered to leave the scene. Due to her vulnerability, she obeys Lil Ze. Another scene that demonstrates the submission of women is near the beginning of the film where two women are talking about how their husbands and dominant in sexual activities and that they usually have to obey their requests at will.
-Violence is shown throughout the whole film to show how extreme conflict between gangs were, although I think one of the most significant scenes is at the end of the film when the Runts brutally kill Lil Ze', showing that age is not a factor or restriction in terms of violence in 1970's Brazil.
-Poverty is shown in "City of God" in the sense that the whole film is set in the slums to show the poorer side of Brazil and how it affects the lives of the inhabitants
-Competition for power is shown in the scene where Rocket is doing a voice-over, about the apartment with all it's previous drug dealers and the unravelling of Lil Ze's plan to take over all the main drug businesses
-A scene that shows the theme of revenge is when Otto kills Knockout Ned to avenge his father who was killed by Knockout Ned

Friday 6th June 2014

How are the films unique to the country's identity?

-Culture belief society context shapes the film that can convey ideas and messages to the audience.
-Governments fund global films to inform people of culture and raise awareness
-France created cinema, deliberately to reject American cinema - invading another country through culture

World/Global Cinema vs Hollywood Cinema
-National Cinema is a type of world cinema that challenges stereotypes/dominant cultural ideologies for it's own identity. The identification of a country
-"Amelie" doesn't address major issues in France; ideology

Pans Labrynth = Spanish Film
City of God = Brazilian Film
La Haine = French Film

Tuesday 3rd June 2014

Exam prep
-2 texts, comparative study
-How the country of the film is trying to say something

1) Know how these films were received (imdb)
2) Research country and culture
3) Have a portfolio of the background to the three films
4) Understand what national cinema is; How is it different to foreign films? Investigate the background to the three films

La Haine
City of God
Pans Labrynth

Research the directors

National Cinema is about reality
-Analyse key scenes
-Collect examples of themes and style
-Textual detail