Section B - Popular film and spectatorship

With reference to the films you have studied for this topic, explore in detail two of the key elements that produce an emotional response in the spectator.

Film is fundamentally a form of communication which involves the transmission of messages with filmmakers encoding messages and spectators decoding them. In other words film makers are trying to alter the mind state of other people (the spectator). The film creates meaning by interacting with the spectator producing lots of meanings. This means that we no longer have to consider the single meaning of a film but the many meanings and the relationship between film and spectator.

In a film the process of identification with someone or something is known as Alignment. There are many ways of encouraging a spectator to align with characters including showing the world from that character’s pov, link the ‘film reality’ with reality and using themes or context which might resonate with us e.g. death of a loved one. In Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket the director has gone to great lengths to keep us from aligning with any particular character, instead encouraging us to align with the group. This is shown in the opening scene. The scene shows the group getting their head shaved before being sent to boot camp. Every aspect of the scene works to make them part of a group and not individual. Each character is shot in exactly the same way, each shot is exactly three seconds long and the shot of their hair on the floor means that there is no way to discern who the hair belongs to. Even the action of shaving their heads removes part of their identity, removing their individuality and enforcing that they are now a part of the group.

This is also seen in the Boot Camp first half of the film. The main point of the boot camp sequence is to encourage the spectator to align with the corps and distance them from Private Pyle. Private Pyle is shown to be an outsider. This is shown through cinematography and story. During the boot camp sequence Pyle is shown to be overweight and less physically active meaning that he cannot complete a lot of the obstacles causing him to bring himself, and the group, down. Only Pyle’s negative aspects are shown in the sequence with Hartman punishing Pyle as soon as he steps out of line. We are encouraged to align with the group through multiple scenes where we see them train together and suffer through strenuous training exercises where we pity them, and then we see them be punished for Private Pyle’s constant mistakes and wrong doings.

Allegiance is the loyalty or devotion to some person, group or cause and, like alignment, is constructed by forces outside of our control. We are sometimes manipulated into allegiance with character whose views are ideologically similar to our in the real world. Allegiance pertains to the moral evaluation of the characters by the spectator and is another form of ‘identification’ with a character based on a wide range of external factors such as attitudes towards class, race, and nation etc. A scene which contributes to our allegiance is the Jelly doughnut scene where Private Pyle has hidden a jelly doughnut in his foot locker which is against the rules. For this the rest of the corps is forced to do a continuous amount of press-ups while Pyle is left standing and eating the doughnut. The camera is placed low to the ground so that we are physically closer to the platoon than to Pyle. This along with the fact that they are being punished for something that wasn’t his fault makes us feel sorry for them and then start to dislike Pyle. This scene is then followed with a montage where we see the platoon carrying out several different punishment exercises while Pyle is separated from the group and simply watching. As this continues we continue to get increasingly frustrated with him. The soap beating scene also contributes to our allegiance. The aim of this scene is clearly to turn us completely against Pyle and side with the group in terms of allegiance since Joker gives allegiance to the group and we view Pyle in a similar way to the group since this is their first operation and they isolate the weak link. However my allegiance breaks away from the group at this point as I find the act of the soap beating abhorrent and though I can see their reasoning behind it I feel slightly betrayed by them. This comes from personal experience where I have also been isolated from a group and felt their dislike.

However, by the time we get to the bathroom scene, I no longer have allegiance or alignment with Pyle as he is no longer a human being as he has suffered a complete loss of identity and humanity. Pyle evokes fear into me in this moment. Coupled with the non-diegetic music and the darkness of the cinematography Pyle looks almost demonic and makes me feel afraid for joker and Hartman. I believe that this was Kubrick’s desire, so that we would solidly stick to the group in terms of allegiance.

The theme of ‘Unclear Motivations’ is seen throughout Full Metal Jacket, with Joker himself embodying this theme by wearing a ‘peace’ symbol on his jacket, but ‘Born to Kill’ written on his helmet. Joker’s duality begins at the soap beating scene, if he refuses to beat Pyle then he will be an outcast but he clearly has reservations. Joker is inconsistent and shifts making it difficult to align with something that is constantly changing. The only constant is ‘order’ and ‘the group’. His duality is the key theme of the film and the main reason why we are unable to fully align with him. We view joker as viscous, vile and pathetic.

A Clockwork Orange also creates an emotional response through several scenes. Unlike FMJ the narration (voice over) of ACO is full of emotion and vigour. This instantly causes us to align with Alex despite his rapist tendencies since he is our only guide in this strange new world. It is through shock which causes most of the emotional responses in this film. This is prominent for me personally in the second scene where a homeless drunk man is attacked by Alex and his Droogs. Hearing his singing and then watching as the droogs approach, their shadows stretching impossibly far to completely wrap the man in darkness makes me feel slightly sick especially when they begin to beat him. This is known as a ‘central response’ or an empathetic response. This means that we feel a physical reaction to something and would describe it as “I feel…” This contrasts with an A-central response where we have a sympathetic response and would describe it as “I imagine…” usually a central response would only happen if we know how it feels to be in a situation like that whereas an a-central response is more about imagining how it would feel. But even though I have never been attacked feel a powerful physical response to the attack.

In conclusion, an emotional response from the spectator has been the desire for filmmakers since the beginning of filmmaking as much as spectators have always wanted to feel emotion. This is clear with Kubrick who continues to draw emotion from a spectator in many different forms.