Tommy’s Film Blog

 The ending of Captain Fantastic shows that the two main opposing ideological forces throughout the film, Ben and Jack, have reached a compromise. We see the children sitting around a table doing homework, which shows that they are all now in a traditional schooling system. This was Jack's main concern earlier in the film, as shown through an argument between him and Ben. This point is reinforced by the line of dialogue: "The school bus is here." We also see Ben sitting at the table watching his children do homework, which shows that he is still able to be involved in his children's lives, which we may have doubted earlier in the film. The fact that he is happy with this compromise is shown through him smiling at his children with pride. Some viewers who sided with Ben throughout the film may also see this compromise as a negative ending. This is because Ben has essentially sacrificed his previous values for the sake of his children. This is a negative ending to these

 Rural Life vs Urban Life Communism vs Capitalism Modernity vs Tradition Progressivism vs Conservatism Atheism vs Religion Homeschooling vs National Curriculum Multiculturalism vs Monoculturalism Freedom vs Security Open Mindedness vs Closed Mindedness Environmentalism vs Productivity

 What Did Jack Do? is a surreal short film written and directed by David Lynch. It's shot in black-and-white and centres around a detective, played by Lynch himself interrogating the titular character, who is a monkey that is wanted for murder in a locked down train station. This of course puts the film into the narrative category of  a narrative that portrays a conflict between two characters, which in this case is between Jack and the detective. It is also in the narrative category of films that include enigmas, as the entire film is essentially an enigma. The majority of the film uses a shot-reverse-shot between the detective and Jack. This builds tension as they are shown on equal footing in this argument, with the space between the cuts reducing with each line. Despite this, a lot of the dialogue in this film is incoherent and nonsensical. This heightens the enigma that the film creates as there are large portions of the film where we are unsure of what either characters are t

 The first funeral scene in Captain Fantastic is very traditional, specifically to Christians. Personally, I would say that the film presents this funeral as very neutral. We are not made to feel any particular way about this ceremony at first. However, when Ben and his children enter the funeral in very colourful, eccentric attire to contrast with everyone else wearing black, this quickly changes. Though it is left up to the audience to interpret how they feel about this. Some audiences who have a more traditional view on death and funeral services will find this uncomfortable and disrespectful. However, others who are less traditionalist and see death differently because of this, as well as people from different cultures with different traditions around death may have a different viewpoint on this scene. This is reinforced by the scene's use of film form. As they walk into the funeral, the camera cuts to different reactions around the room, and while some reactions are very clear

 The Bill of Rights scene focuses on the social/political idea on how to raise children and the education system. In this scene, Ben is approached by Dave and Harper as they state the idea that "kids need structure and stability" and that they need to go to a "real school". While Dave tries to calmly explain this to Ben, Ben is extremely dismissive of this idea. Harper is much more aggressive when trying to get her point across. In this scene, the debate is mainly between Ben and Harper, with Dave acting as a middle man, despite being on the side of Harper. This argument utilises shot-reverse-shot between the two opposing parties, and while Ben is made to look powerful by being calm and composed within his own close-up, Harper is made to look like the irrational one as she must share a shot hiding behind Dave, and as we can tell by her movement and tone of voice, she is very irate and impatient, which signals to the audience that she is of lesser understanding of th

 One interpretation that I have of the short film, "Connect", is that the protagonist's connection with the man is only imagined by her. This is due to the woman's imagination throughout the film clearly being shown through the businessman shooting a woman for her seat, as well as the musical sequence towards the end. Since this is from her point of view, the audience are made to feel the same way as her, even if it is potentially making someone feel uncomfortable.There is no clear distinction in the style of filmmaking between these moments of imagination and reality as the mise-en-scene, including lighting and cinematography remaining largely the same, meaning that it's hard to tell whether or not this is truly the case as it is from a very subjective point o view. Another reason as to why I hold this interpretation is due to the fact that the man at points in the film looks visibly uncomfortable by the woman touching his hand. This is reinforced by the fact tha

  Feature Establishing protagonist -  We know that she is tired of the hostility of public transport. We also learn about her imagination. as she finds beauty in something as mundane as a bus commute. Establishing other characters -  From his posture, we can tell that the man is also tired of public transport. However, as we see this only from the woman's perspective, we are made to believe that there is a connection between him and the woman. This may not be the case, and it could be the woman interpreting their interaction with each other as romantic. Establishing location- We can see from the Oyster cards and bus interior, that this is set and was filmed in London. Creating Enigmas- We are confused as to why the businessman shoots the woman just to take her seat, and also as to why no one reacts to this. We are also confused as to why everyone stands on the bus and dances, looking directly at the protagonist. What enigmas are created near the end of the film?- One enigma created