Horn, John. "The Land of Baz." Newsweek 137.22 (2001): 58 Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.
Summary: This article is about all of the complications that went on during the filming of Moulin Rouge. It talks about how Fox Studios was nervous that the film was going to fail and how they originally refused to let him add the absinthe fairy and also for him to play with the trademark, but how everything eventually worked out. His team was known as the "Baz Circus" because everything was so chaotic, but how Baz could convince anyone of anything. It talked about how he gave 110% to every part of the film which made it have the success it had.
Evaluation: This was a useful source, because it talked about Luhrmann and what was going through his mind. It showed the chaos from the production and how his crew saw him. It gave a different perspective.
Reflection: This article will be helpful in my research paper, because I am focusing more on the behind the scenes and Baz Luhrmann's point of view rather than just the melodramatic aspects of the film. It gives me more of an idea of what happened during the production.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Source # 3
O'Flaherty,
Diane. "Moulin Rouge." Australian Screen Education 31 (2002):
78. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Apr. 2015
Summary: In this article, it discusses many things from the film Moulin Rouge! from analyzing "truth, beauty, freedom, and above all things, love" and also analyzing the plot, genre, sub-genre, point of view, types of shots and visual effects and the reasoning behind it, and many more. The article talks about how the "cutting and interpolating" of the shots to make a sequence were done purposely to make the scenes, specifically the "Le Tango de Roxanne" scene, more dramatic and to tap into the feelings of the main character. When reading this part of the article, it made so much sense to me, because especially in the tango scene, the craziness of the shots and how it would flip back and forth from Christian to the Unconscious Argentinian and NiNi dancing, and then to Satine with the Duke in the Gothic Tower, and it would get faster and faster and with the music, it makes you have that uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach and like the world, inside the film at least, is getting crazy and is coming crashing down, and that is exactly how Christian was feeling at that very moment when Satine was supposed to be 'spending the night' with the Duke.
Evaluation: I think that this is a useful source, because it talks about the film as a whole and truly analyzes it rather than focusing on one specific part.
Reflection: This article would be good for my research paper, because I am focusing on the reasoning behind Baz Luhrmann's directing techniques and why he chose the things he chose for the film, and this article really helps.
Reflection: This article would be good for my research paper, because I am focusing on the reasoning behind Baz Luhrmann's directing techniques and why he chose the things he chose for the film, and this article really helps.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Source #2
van der Merwe, Ann. "Music, the musical, and postmodernism in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge." Music and the Moving Image 3.3 (2010): 31+. Academic OneFile. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
Summary: In this article, it discusses the use of music in the film Moulin Rouge! and the style techniques of director Baz Luhrmann through the music. It basically talks about how Luhrmann used postmodern songs in a film that was supposed to be set in the 1899. It also talked about how the music and different songs function as a narrative and dialogue. They all tell a story and make sense rather than the characters just bursting out into song.
Evaluation: I think that this is a useful source, because it really focuses the different techniques Luhrmann uses through music and how he uses that to create a story. Compared to my other sources so far, this one is different, because it has one specific focus: the music. I think it is reliable, because just by watching the film you know how important the music is to the story. Without it, the film would be a mess. The songs tell the story like it says in the article.
Reflection: This article fits into my research very well, because it sort of goes along with the focus of my paper. My focus for my paper is the style of Baz Luhrmann and how he creates another world in his films that almost do not seem real, and this article shows how music is definitely part of that. Music is a very important and dramatic factor to this film and this source would be very useful to me.
Summary: In this article, it discusses the use of music in the film Moulin Rouge! and the style techniques of director Baz Luhrmann through the music. It basically talks about how Luhrmann used postmodern songs in a film that was supposed to be set in the 1899. It also talked about how the music and different songs function as a narrative and dialogue. They all tell a story and make sense rather than the characters just bursting out into song.
Evaluation: I think that this is a useful source, because it really focuses the different techniques Luhrmann uses through music and how he uses that to create a story. Compared to my other sources so far, this one is different, because it has one specific focus: the music. I think it is reliable, because just by watching the film you know how important the music is to the story. Without it, the film would be a mess. The songs tell the story like it says in the article.
Reflection: This article fits into my research very well, because it sort of goes along with the focus of my paper. My focus for my paper is the style of Baz Luhrmann and how he creates another world in his films that almost do not seem real, and this article shows how music is definitely part of that. Music is a very important and dramatic factor to this film and this source would be very useful to me.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Source #1
Åström, Berit. "Referred Pain: Privileging Male Emotions In Narrative Instances Of Female Physical Suffering." Journal Of Gender Studies 20.2 (2011): 125-137. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Mar. 2015
Summary: In this article, it brings up 3 specific films, including the film I will be researching, Moulin Rouge! It discusses the males' emotional suffering over the females' physical suffering. In the article, specifically the Moulin Rouge areas, it talks about how "the heroine must sacrifice herself sexually, yet the hero’s emotions are the ones that are in focus." It discusses, with many examples, how the female's suffering is referred to the male mind, like how Satine is living as a prostitute and must sacrifice herself to the Duke, yet the storyline is set mainly around Christian's emotions and his love for her and his suffering.
Evaluation: This article was useful, because it is analyzing how these films were made, especially Moulin Rouge! I think that it is a reliable source, because it is a scholarly article and written by someone who is in the Department of Language Studies at Umeå University in Sweden. I think that this article may be a little bias, because it only talks about how the films only look at the males emotional suffering and not the females. Most of the time that is true, but not completely. In Moulin Rouge, it shows Satine's emotional suffering when she gets sick and eventually dies.
Reflection: This research was helpful to me, because it has a lot of information on Moulin Rouge! and how the story works and how melodramatic it really is. It hasn't really changed my opinion on the topic, because everything that they talked about were things that I noticed when watching the film.
Summary: In this article, it brings up 3 specific films, including the film I will be researching, Moulin Rouge! It discusses the males' emotional suffering over the females' physical suffering. In the article, specifically the Moulin Rouge areas, it talks about how "the heroine must sacrifice herself sexually, yet the hero’s emotions are the ones that are in focus." It discusses, with many examples, how the female's suffering is referred to the male mind, like how Satine is living as a prostitute and must sacrifice herself to the Duke, yet the storyline is set mainly around Christian's emotions and his love for her and his suffering.
Evaluation: This article was useful, because it is analyzing how these films were made, especially Moulin Rouge! I think that it is a reliable source, because it is a scholarly article and written by someone who is in the Department of Language Studies at Umeå University in Sweden. I think that this article may be a little bias, because it only talks about how the films only look at the males emotional suffering and not the females. Most of the time that is true, but not completely. In Moulin Rouge, it shows Satine's emotional suffering when she gets sick and eventually dies.
Reflection: This research was helpful to me, because it has a lot of information on Moulin Rouge! and how the story works and how melodramatic it really is. It hasn't really changed my opinion on the topic, because everything that they talked about were things that I noticed when watching the film.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Possible Research Topics
1. Keeping Up With the Kardashians: reality tv, and how things are staged in order to make their lives seem more dramatic. Every little thing is blown out of proportion in every episode.
2. Moulin Rouge: film,every part of it is melodramatic. The music is very, very dramatic, and also the omniscience is very important, because throughout most of the film, we know that the lead girl, Satine, is dying yet she is hiding it and is not telling the person that she loves, and then finally of course right as they finished their show and they are taking their bow and they can finally be together, she falls to the ground and dies. Timing also plays a huge role with that.
3. Pretty Little Liars: tv show, the entire show is complete chaos. Every little thing goes wrong. This is one thing where the promos for the upcoming episode make it look a lot more dramatic than the episode actually is.
2. Moulin Rouge: film,every part of it is melodramatic. The music is very, very dramatic, and also the omniscience is very important, because throughout most of the film, we know that the lead girl, Satine, is dying yet she is hiding it and is not telling the person that she loves, and then finally of course right as they finished their show and they are taking their bow and they can finally be together, she falls to the ground and dies. Timing also plays a huge role with that.
3. Pretty Little Liars: tv show, the entire show is complete chaos. Every little thing goes wrong. This is one thing where the promos for the upcoming episode make it look a lot more dramatic than the episode actually is.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Moral Occult
In the Melodramatic Imagination by Peter Brooks, he mentions
the “moral occult” and how it is frequently used throughout melodramas. Since
melodramas are so overdramatic and so exaggerated, it is very easy to spot the
moral occult, because everything is handed right to the audience. Of course in
the film, things are hidden from the different characters, but everything is
out in the open to the audience. Peter Brooks explains that the moral occult is
“spiritual values which are both indicated within and masked by the surface of
reality” (Brooks page 5). It is so important, because it allows the audience to
know everything that is going on. It gives the viewers anticipation, because
they know of the things that are happening behind the backs of the characters,
but they are just waiting for the character’s to find out and that makes the
story that much more dramatic. When there are secrets and lies are being told,
the more time passes the more drama comes, and with melodramas, the character
usually find out toward the end. So, the viewer is there waiting for a long
time to see all of the drama unfold and it keeps their attention throughout the
entire film. For example, in the film Leave Her to Heaven, the viewer knows
that the wife is psycho the whole time even though the husband and her sister
don’t really know. Also, we know that she deliberately fell down the stairs
trying to kill her unborn child, yet her husband thought it was an accident and
that she had a miscarriage. There is so much information that is being held
back from the characters of the film, yet none of it is hidden from us.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Film: All That Heaven Allows
The film All That Heaven Allows is about a widow named Cary
who falls in love with a much younger man, Ron. They were from two different
worlds, Cary coming from wealth and Ron who is very free spirited and lives in
the countryside. The way the director, Douglas Sirk, shot the film, whether it
was the dramatic music or the position of the actors or the props in the scene,
it all flowed together very nicely and it had that extra drama that melodramas
need. In the book Melodrama, by John Mercer and Martin Shingler, it says “Cary
is frequently depicted surrounded by meaning-laden objects in her luxurious
domestic environment” (Mercer and Shingler 53-53). In class, we used the term
“cluttered” and I liked that. Cary’s house was very cluttered and full of
things. Then Ron, on the other hand, barely had anything. He had almost nothing
but himself and his trees and he was content, but then here is Cary in her
mansion with all of her fancy things and she is very unhappy. I like how Sirk
included the scene where Cary was coming upstairs from the basement, because
she wanted to get rid of some of the “clutter” from around the house. It showed
how after meeting Ron and falling in love with him, her mindset of things were
starting to change. As a whole, I truly enjoyed this film. Although it was from
a very long time ago, it was not boring to watch like most of those kinds of
films are. Everything was very interesting and all of the drama that happened
kept me intrigued the whole time. Altogether, this was a great film.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
"Melodrama/Melodramatic"
Uses of the terms and examples:
- A melodrama is a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions" (Merriam-Webster).
- "Though the plotting is a bit too transparent and the ending shamelessly melodramatic, readers will enjoy the excitement"
- "Brothers still has a fondness for chaos, veering fromthe silly in one scene to the melodramatic in the next."
- Some examples of Melodramas in pop culture are television shows such as The Bachelor, Pretty Little Liars, Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, and soap operas like ER, Days of our Lives, and General Hospital. Examples of Melodramas in Literature are The Great Gatsby, and also The Crucible.
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