10/27/17

Today in class we started with two "I will be able to..." statements. The first one was to evaluate the way audience impact a director's decisions, and the second was to apply an academic lens to my study of film. We continued afterwards to a question Mr. Rivers posed to the class. "How or why does audience matter to Jordan Peele. He then played three minutes of the interview that spoke about “minorities being too aware of race”, “we’re seeing racism where there isn’t racism”, what it feels like to be aware of these subtle interactions, subtle racism. I also wrote down about how it was allowing a non-black audience relate to fears that black people experience and to make sure everyone knows that there is a threat of racial violence just around the corner. The main point thought, was to get the entire audience in touch with the fears inherent of being black in this country as a starting point. After giving us time to think and discuss among our tables, Mr. Rivers opened this to the class. A few of the points made and written on the board were; "Wanted to appeal to a broader audience including all races and making things closer to normality", "He’s targeting both audiences", and that "Trayvon martin was alluded to in the interview. This brings up the racist issue at the time beause of dealing with the deal of an unarmed, young black man."
Mr. Rivers then brought up the idea of cinematically versus academically. This is how cinimatically is analyzing how craft affects the product, whereas academically is analyzing how the product functions in a field of study. He then delves deeper into this question by showing the class the opening scene of Jurassic Park.  First we talked in our groups, and then it branches out to discuss with the class. What was put on the board was a connection of choices to what they do, i.e. Intense music creates suspense and a feeling of dread, or quick cuts creates chaos and disorientation. Then he showed something with an academic lens to it.
Dr. Robin Means Coleman, University of Michigan (from Horror Noire)
"Killing a black man early in the film establishes the superiority and the horribleness of the monster
If the monster even kills of brothers, then the white man who ultimately defeats the monster has to be intellectually superior, racially superior. That’s the hierarchy in horror films"
After reading a full version of this quote, he showed us the opening scene to Get Out. Once again, it started with a table discussion, and then branched out to the entire class. Some of the points that were put on the board were; "He’s the only person in the shoot which creates unease, isolation, and vulnerability. This shows the internal fear of a black man alone" or "The song Run Rabbit Run which creates a contrast of the happy tune mixed with the violent imagery. It shows discrimination and the black versus white mentality".