Comparative Study Sources

Full Metal Jacket: 

https://filmexaminer.wordpress.com/2018/03/24/the-journey-begins/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=je
https://www.gradesaver.com/full-metal-jacket/study-guide/themes
https://www.academia.edu/7517085/Kubrick_s_ship_of_fools_The_representation_of_psychosis_in_five_films_by_Kubrick

Whiplash: 

https://micheleramsey.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/whiplash-the-hyper-masculine-mentor-myth-misogyny-homophobia-and-more/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=je
https://www.thepopcornmuncher.com/2015/03/09/analysis-whiplash-foxcatcher-machismo/+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=je
https://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2015/01/20/get-buddy-rich-or-die-trying-whiplash-music-and-masculinity/+&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=je

Masculinity: 

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0048.xml
https://www.academia.edu/6110690/Masculinity_in_Film_The_Emergence_of_a_New_Literature

Masculinity PDF 

Comparative study notes

How the Sphagetti Western allows for innovation in film genre’s by inspiring a innovative narrative structure format?

  • Propps characters, anti heroes
  • Film Structure
  • Where they become similar, auteur theory, directors ideas in story
  • Western to a Western Sci-fi
  • Where Cameron innovates and evolves from Leone’s structure

Propps Characters

Man with No Name=Sarah Connor, the hero

Tuco= T-800(Arnold Schwarzenegger), the helper

Angel Eyes=T-1000, the villain

Gold=John Connor, the dispatcher, the prize

General=Miles Bennet Dyson, The donor

Bounty Hunters=Dr Peter Silberman, False heroes

Similarities, refers to man with no name as Clint and T-800 as Arnold

The two movies main characters can be seen as clear parallels to each other accept for the Gold and John Connor what represent ideally the same things but are visualized as different.

Clint and Sarah are their movies main characters despite being in ensemble casts are standouts through being the two characters who keep the film grounded. Both are serious characters who overcome difficult situations in the film with Clint walking through a desert with no water and Sarah in a mental asylum. However both are these anti-heroes where the audience sees their true personalities despite both clearly trying to hide who they truly are, these glimpses can be seen by Sarah going to kill Dyson in front of his family while Clint committing fraud, from saving criminals from hanging who he gave into the law. The idea that both characters are not truly heroes but act out in heroic emotions show. The fact they are these flawed action heroes appeal clearly in the movies and has been clearly used by Terminator 2 to differentiate their cast as much as possible.

Clint: Last night. You see in this world there’s two kinds of people my friend – those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.

Sarah: Fucking men like you built the hydrogen bomb. Men like you thought it up. You think you’re so creative. You don’t know what it’s like to really create something, to create a life, feel it growing inside you. All you know how to create is death and destruction -!

Also both need a distinct style to show their true identities

An antihero or anti-heroine is a main character in a story who lacks conventional heroic qualities and attributes such as idealism, courage and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions that are morally correct, it is not always for the right reasons, often acting primarily out of self-interest or in ways that defy conventional ethical codes.

Tuco and Arnold are similar to each other by the idea you don’t know if you want to trust either character as Tuco is a bandit who continues to rival with Clint while Arnold is a replica of the first films previous villain and you don’t know if he will change sides. While both characters become more human further into the movie by the idea that Tuco becomes a friend to Clint while Arnold becomes like a father to John in the movie. As well both are used for a comedic affect.

Angel Eyes and T-100 are presented as the same person as both are emotionless killers who are tracking down the main characters. Both also represent the Law in the movies.

The ending scenes between both have similarities by how its standoff between three characters. The villains both die with both ending in a pit. While the only big difference is Clint shoots the noose before Tuco is hung while Sarah lets Arnold destroy itself.

a lean, mean survivalist with a cold, raspy voice-Voice

Comparative Intro Draft

Masculinity in Film has been present throughout mediums existence and has had multiple variations in history, one example of this would be in Full Metal Jacket, directed in 1987 by Stanley Kubrick, the story follows Davis, a private in the United States Marine Corps as he goes through basic training and his subsequent deployment to Vietnam during the Vietnam War. One character that shows this trait of masculinity is the character of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, In the movie Hartman is presented as cruel, brute and sadistic. This corroborates with the character of Terrence Fletcher in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (2014), where Fletcher is a teacher at a prestige music academy and often torments and frequently pushes them too far. Both characters in their respective movies are used to drive the narrative forward, with Hartman trying to ready the recruits for the harsh reality of Vietnam and Fletcher with his belief that musicians need to be pushed beyond their bounds. Both characters share traits that are considered ‘masculine’ and both of them are in positions of authority, so I decided to ask how much does the authoritarian masculinity of Fletcher from Whiplash and Hartman from Full Metal Jacket to drive the narrative. 

Feminist film theorists and ideas

The most notable example of a feminist film theorist is Carol Clover, who studied the portrayal of females in the horror genre, particularly focusing on the ‘final girl’ and the significance of the idea to the slasher film genre. She argues the necessity of such character to the horror genre, defining them as “the embodiment of what a woman should be”. She justifies the need for protagonists in horror to be female, by suggesting that the surviving character needs to experience abject terror. Therefore the typically male dominated horror audience would reject a horror film showing abject terror as part of a male character.

However, she also argues that the ‘final girl’ isn’t necessarily a true representation of feminism because the characters would becomes masculinized in their final showdown with the antgonist through “phallic appropriation” (taking up a weapon – typically a large knife or chainsaw against their male antagonist).

Blade Runner and retrofitting

Retrofitting is when a new film uses aesthetics and tropes that are associated with an earlier era – it is often used to pay homage to films of a certain era. A prime example of retrofitting is the neo – noir movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s because these films were often set during the 70’s and 80’s but they often had an unmistakable 1940’s aesthetic despite being set in later time periods.

Sin City (2005, directed by Robert Rodriguez) was released recently and this is an example of the way that modern films use the aesthetics that are associated with the 40’s.

Blade Runner was released at the height of the popularity of film noir – it is a prime example of how filmmakers have appropriated the style of the 40’s and used them in other contexts – the film is set in 2019 but the style of the mise en scene is directly inspired by the classic noir films of the 40’s and it can be argued that even the basic plot outline of the film was taken directly from films like The Maltese Falcon , which involved hardboiled detectives solving various crimes , all while their fundamental moral values are thrown into disarray due to the presence of beautiful women who are often duplicitous and they have an underlying reason for the pursuit of the male lead. In Blade Runner , all of the retrofitting is a deliberate homage to the classic noir films of the 1940’s.

Rachael (Sean Young) her hair and clothes are directly inspired by the clothing and hairstyles that the women wore in the traditional film noir films in the 1940’s