What does Davies, in his essay, mean by “false consciousness” and how does it manifest in the film?
Question 1. – Locate two (2) instances of discontinuity through montage in Battleship Potemkin (that you locate without the help of the informational video) – How is Marxism related to the theory of montage? – Why is Battleship Potemkin different in terms of its structure and characters from most films we watch today? Think particularly about the number of characters and the way they are framed as well as how the action progresses. – How is the style of Soviet montage a precursor of the cinema of today? Try to find 2 examples of film clips online that use some principle of montage (whether metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal, or intellectual). Try to lock in on the nature and effects of this montage. Please do not just post anything–think a bit about how montage is used in the sequence you choose. Question 2. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sptKbtXIn4o ) – What does Davies, in his essay, mean by “false consciousness” and how does it manifest in the film? – Briefly discuss any gender subtexts of the film–both as it manifests in Antibes, France (where Diouana goes to work) and in Dakar, Senegal. Does Sembene treat men and women as equals? Why or why not? – Why does Davies see as the brutal ending of the film as problematic? Do you agree? Why or why not? – Discuss one characteristic that aligns this film with neorealism, and one that pushes it out of this category. – Locate and unpack any allegorical dimension(s) of Black Girl – What does Nichols mean by “double consciousness” in his discussion of Black Girl? Question 3. – Discuss the allegory at the heart of Killer of Sheep. – Killer of Sheep is sometimes said to have a “documentary” quality about it. Locate at least 2 instances of this quality in the film. – Find 2 instances of different uses of music in Killer of Sheep. How is music used in each instance? Is it re-enforcing the image? Is it ironic? How? – What, according to Burnett, were he (and by extension his cohort, which is referred to as the “LA Rebellion”) trying to do in relation to the representations put forward by Hollywood (representations discussed in Nichols’s chapter on “Race and Ethnicity in Film”? How is the STYLE of the film related to this goal? Use at least 2 visual examples embedded as screenshots for full credit. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ5kGuIGSrQ)
