It’s Friday night, I’m done with my blog post of doom, and somehow I find myself in front of my computer wanting to write another film blog post. For my international cinema class, we watched Fallen Angels on Wednesday afternoon. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Every time I clear my head of everything else that’s going on, this film creeps in. I’m writing about it, but I don’t quite know where to start. I know that not all the students in my class had such a passionate reaction …

Alas, my only blog about Vertigo was cut cruelly short due to a sudden strike of inspiration. But fear not! For now all shall be revealed. Hopefully.

Carmen, I’d like to apologize for any confusion I may have caused with my discussion of the Vagina Dentata theory. I have not been saying that I believe this theory, or that it’s psychologically/socially valid, just that it’s an interesting viewpoint to examine. I believe that it is very important to examine different perspectives, especially when I don’t necessarily agree with them. This is a psychoanalytical film theory, and not even a very widely supported one, as is plainly stated in Freeland’s essay. But this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t …

Dr. Campbell, you should be absolutely thrilled, because–finally–I am going to talk about Vertigo. But just a little, for now. I figure it’s best if I deal with little chunks of the film at a time, because I want to be thorough. In fact, this entire post is going to cover just one scene. Ready?
THE GRAVEYARD SCENE:
First, let’s examine the way in which Madeleine is framed in each of the P.O.V. shots.

Notice any similarities? In nearly every single shot, she is in the exact center …

Yeah, yeah. I know I promised two posts ago to get serious about Vertigo, but…aahh! Sharks! This is what I do in place of sleep, apparently. I realize that I’m going really crazy with this sharks + YouTube thing, but I’ve noticed so many fascinating connections! Anyway, here are lovely trailers for the Jaws movies. It’s interesting to see how they change between films, and the affect that time has had on them, especially the more recent ad for Jaws, redone in a fairly comical way.[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/qxbgpUoSNdk” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” …

I know I’ve done a lot of joking about shark movies in relation to the ‘toothed vagina’ theory (which, as Dr. Campbell pointed out, is actually an established psychological theory called Vagina Dentata that the author of my FTC essay was apparently unfamiliar with), but as a long-standing fan of ridiculously bad shark movies, I think they raise many important questions. Our society is fascinated by sharks. Why? Is it just the thrill of fear and the unknown? Or is it something more than that? The media have certainly capitalized …

So I was wasting spending my morning on YouTube, on a quest for clips from shark movies. And found, instead, this amusing trio of TV commercials:

These are splendid, but wait! There’s more! I found another video along the same vein as the Hitchcock version of It’s A Wonderful Life shown in class by Megs…”Must Love Jaws”. As if we needed more reasons to love YouTube.
And finally, for those …

This isn’t directly related to what we’re discussing in class, but I find myself very intrigued by this ongoing blog discussion about art and its value. After this post, I’ll give my full attention to Vertigo.
Call me morbid, but ever since I first glimpsed the painting “Watson and the Shark” (by John Singleton Copley) when I was about 6 years old, I’ve been in love with it. I don’t even know why, but perhaps this is a good opportunity to explore the effect it has on me, and on others …

Beth’s post got me thinking about art again, and I’d like to explore, briefly, the connection between happiness and quality or depth of art. It was mentioned that artists rarely seem to be happy, and the more tortured they are, the greater or more intense their work is. But the more important question to ask is “Do we tend to view more serious artwork as ‘greater’ simply because it has more depth and intensity?” Are we trivializing ‘happy art’ just because we have decided that it cannot possibly be taken …

The debate in class today affected me far more than I expected it to. The discussion of ‘true love’ almost brought me to tears, something that is generally extremely rare. I felt so emotionally invested in the exchange that I simply couldn’t handle participating directly in it. Many issues were raised and discussed, some of which I agree with but most of which made me realize how much I truly dislike the characters in this book. Also how incredibly cynical I’m becoming, but that’s a separate issue. I ended up …