Section A Revision

The films I have studied have differing connotations of the worlds they are set in. For example in City of God there is a representation of the favelas of Rio and the difference within these communities is portrayed.

A scene, which has created a rift in audiences, which challenges the dominant perspective of Brazil and the favelas, is the Beach scene, which is the only scene in the film that shows the beauty of the native Brazilin landscape. Mostly wide-shots are used through this scene show he lush green Amazonian landscape. This scene is the only existence of tranquillity throughout the film as there is an absence of threat or harm that occurs in this landscape, furthermore the lighting is all natural and bright with the sun beaming on the glistening sands of Rio. This scene differs from the rest of the films bleakness and is the only shot to meet the audiences expectations of Brazilian life.

The beach scene within the film COG, shows the idyllic beach location of Rio, which prior to watching the film, is what we as an audience expect to see. The beach scene represents how this film meets audience expectations through existing ideologies we have upon Rio, such that there are many ideologies people have upon Rio, however the idyllic beaches of Rio are the most recognisable feature of Rio. As a result the film, is reinforcing our current beliefs therefore not challenging us as an audience, and simply offering a POV, which we already had. However, the film depicts the incorrect idea that the within the beach scene, that the problems are removed when the film is shot outside of the favelas, which we know depicts an unrealistic view that the problems within Rio are solely created from the favelas, and not through political influences which created the underlining issues to begin with. 

La Haine challenges the audience expectations throughout the entire film as it was written by Kassovitz to comment on the social position of non-French people in the projects. This being said there are certain scenes that attempt to challenge expectations more than others. The montage scene at the start was used by Kassovitz to present the 'real' Paris and not the unrealistic representation that we are fed through the media and other films such as Amelie which present Paris as bright, beautiful and the city of love. The montage shows real footage of riots and police brutality in Paris over a 10 year time gap but it is edited as if it all happened the previous night. Kassovitz does this to try to link the montage to the storyline as it is based the day after a young non-French male is killed during a riot. There is a certain shot in which a group of peaceful protesters dance in front of the police, not doing any harm but trying to voice their opinion. The shot then cuts to a different shot in which a policeman throws a rock at rioters in the distance. He is seen to be 'dancing' as well but in an aggressive and aggravated way which  proposes that he is actually enjoying the violence. The shots are edited together to look like they are the same event when in actuality they could of been years apart. This attempts to challenge the audiences expectations as they may not have known about the riots as they haven't been shown in the media to the extent that La Haine showed it.

The films that I have studied for this topic, generates debate as City of God and La Haine challenge the dominant ideology of their culture. Even though, the Favelas and criminal activity is notorious to Rio, the film challenges this view with idyllic scenery, which includes the beach scene and the river. La Haine challenges the stereotypical view of France as the opening scene is a montage of 10 years worth of riots. The conflict in France is on-going and presents an alternative view of Paris that is shown in French films and promotional tourist videos.