SSC Film Studies

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 audience’s expectations of Brazilian life.

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 attempts 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 have been years apart. This attempts to challenge the audience’s 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.

This opening scene of La Haine begins with a riot montage that took place over a ten-year period; straightaway this challenges the audience’s typical ideology of French society. The fact that the director uses real life footage gives the audience a more significant effect as he try’s to manipulate us in order for us to take on the message more, how to show how non- French people are targeted not just due to their race but also because of their class. People usually associate French society with love, romance, and culture. As with the film Amelie that will looked at in contrast to this film we see that the people are mostly white, it is very French not may other religions are seen, the director in this film has also digital removed any graffiti that can bee seen throughout the scenes; this therefore gives the audience a false idea of what French culture is actually like. Meanwhile La Haine gives us a more realistic view of what French society is like but because the audience isn’t use to this it challenges our ideologies.

This is shown in particular in the art gallery scene, where the issue of social class is presented. As Vinz, Said and Hubert live in the Les Banlieues, the poorer side of France, they are judged and outcastes at this middle-class event. They become the centre of attention as they are different; they are destructive and don’t speak in a formal manner. The media scene, where a journalist confronts Vinz, Hubert and Said also shows this social issue. The journalists are looking for something specific, which is shown how they reverse backwards and question the trio about the riots. They are looking for under class people, who are associated to be the cause of the riots. Vinz, Hubert and Said are causally taking drugs and sitting in a park showing they are unemployed and have no prospects, which is exactly what the media are looking for. They antagonise Vinz in particular and record the footage, which will be broadcasted later to the public; they portray the underclass as rude and obnoxious. The area around them is bleak and cage like, which represents them as animalistic which is reinforced by the media recording the footage of them. The trio are shot at a low angle to show that this is their environment; this is where they are in control.

Both films La Haine and City of God challenge the audience’s ideology on how these societies are different. La haine gives the audience a more realistic view on how French society actually. Meanwhile City of god gives us a cosmetic view, as it doesn’t significantly focus on how bad the violence is in Brazil society.