Academic literature on the topic 'Motion pictures Australia Plots, themes, etc'

Orientador: Renata Soares Junqueira
Banca: Fabiane Renata Borsato
Banca: Wiliam Pianco dos Santos
Resumo: O cineasta português Manoel de Oliveira (1908-2015) é reconhecido mundialmente pela sua estética cinematográfica singular. Uma de suas principais características é a relação intrínseca que os seus filmes ostentam com as artes de uma forma geral, como a pintura, o teatro, a literatura, a arquitetura, a escultura, a música e o próprio cinema. Do teatro podemos notar o peso da palavra proferida. Com mais de 50 filmes em sua carreira - longas, médias e curtas-metragens -, o realizador nos presenteou com diálogos antológicos que nos instigam a refletir sobre os mais variados dilemas que perturbam o ser humano. Além disso, a sua distinta estética apresenta traços épicos que causam um distanciamento entre o espectador e o que é mostrado na tela, já que, muitas vezes, seus filmes se mostram realmente como filmes, como espetáculos. Tendo isso em mente, e sublinhando alguns filmes em que os diálogos são imprescindíveis, como em Um filme falado (2003) ou em O gebo e a sombra (2012), para citar apenas dois, é interessante examinar a eloquência do silêncio em Belle toujours (2006), obra em que os diálogos existem e são importantes, mas que recorre à quietude das personagens, em planos fulcrais, para sugerir um significado maior do que aquele que qualquer palavra seria capaz de indicar. Outrossim, a mise-en-scène é composta por elementos expressivos e muito significativos, os quais parecem gritar e dar voz à mudez. Em vista desse silêncio que causa estranheza a nós, espectadores, e que se ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
Abstract: The Portuguese film-maker Manoel de Oliveira (1908-2015) is known worldwide for his singular film aesthetic. One of its main characteristics is the intrinsic relation that his films display with art forms in general, such as painting, theatre, literature, architecture, sculpture, music and cinema itself. From theatre, we may notice the weight of the uttered word. With more than 50 films in his career - feature films, medium-length films and short ones -, the director gifted us with anthological dialogues which instigate reflection about various dilemmas that affect the human being. Furthermore, his distinctive aesthetic exhibits epic conventions which create distance between the audience and what is shown on screen, since his films are several times assumed as films, as spectacles. With this in mind, and underlining some films whose dialogues are crucial, as in A talking picture (2003) or in Gebo and the shadow (2012), to name but two, it seems interesting to examine the silence eloquence in Belle toujours (2006), masterpiece in which dialogues exist in their importance, but the film invokes the characters' quietness in fundamental shots, to suggest a deeper meaning than any other possibly indicated by words. Moreover, the mise-en-scène is composed by expressive and very meaningful elements, which seem to make muteness loud and give voice to it. In face of this silence that causes us, the audience, strangeness and that shows itself meaningful, this work aims to analyse how it... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
Mestre

More certified-Canadian feature films were shot in Canada in 1979 than in any other year. The height of what has become known as the "tax-shelter boom," 1979 stands as a remarkable moment in the history of the Canadian cinema, with 70 features shot in a year in which Hollywood produced only 99 films. The extant history of the Canadian cinema has largely ignored this moment, and in this thesis I argue that the slim treatment of the period by critics represents a "received wisdom," consistently repeated, but seldom scrutinized, and that this received wisdom is representative of the culturally nationalist impulse which has coloured the entire historiography of the Canadian cinema. Because many of the films produced during the boom were in the style of Hollywood genres, the "received wisdom" presents the entirety of the tax-shelter boom as a cultural and industrial near-disaster for the Canadian cinema, and this thesis, partly a revisionist history, explores not only those conclusions, but also provides critical discussion of them.
I begin by presenting the received wisdom, the existing account, on the period. This is followed by a chapter which situates the tax-shelter boom in a history of state intervention in the feature film industry. Following this, I provide analysis of the contexts surrounding the tax-shelter boom, including critical discussion of articles and reviews from the contemporaneous popular press, and of the industry discourse. I then turn my attention to the texts themselves, which the received wisdom more or less ignores, and provide three thematically-organized chapters of textual analysis: the first organized around readings of gender and genre in the films, the second on the prevalent theme of "selling out," which is central to numerous films of the period, and a third chapter which explores the place of Quebec in the films of the period.
The thesis concludes with an analysis of the material effects of the government policies which led to the boom, and concludes that in this respect too, the received account of the period---once again, as a failure---needs to be reexamined.

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This research regards the mystery on cinema, noting and questioning its typological statute; pointing out its relationship with the following typologies: whodunit, noir, and suspense thriller; and observing the building up of mystery on screenwriting. More specifically, we pose the question: which elements, noticeable since the script, contribute to the understanding of these films as mystery films? Therefore, our corpus comprises three screenplays: Rear Window (1953), Chinatown (1973) and Memento (1999). The screenplay’s analysis is supported somewhat by the work of Jule Selbo –– researcher and screenwriter who studies genre as a tool for writing feature-films ––, and also looks for noticing (A) which situations in these scripts alludes to the mystery universe and the genres related to it; (B) which are the emotional effects provoked on the spectator by the use of genres (C) how could the genres that crosses a script be related to the film’s relevance on its time? The concept of genre adopted comes mostly from Rick Altman, who understands the generic kind in historical perspective instead of seeing it as a fixed category. Altman’s semantic-syntactic approach makes possible the observation of elements that contribute to the analysis of the screenplays mentioned above, summing up to Selbo’s approach. The bibliography also contains names as Raphaëlle Moine, Thomas Schatz, David Bordwell, Edward Buscombe, Steave Neale –– authors that explore the genres in various directions. Beyond them, we found help on a diverse range of authors and researchers, who enriched the discussion. We believe that the relevance of this research is related to the few numbers of works in Brazil regarding the mystery’s statute, as well as to the scarce academic studies related to the practice of screenwriting
Esta pesquisa volta-se para o mistério no cinema, notando e questionando seu caráter tipológico; assinalando sua imbricação com as tipologias do whodunit, do noir e do thriller de suspense; e observando a construção do mistério na etapa de roteirização. Mais especificamente, pergunta-se: quais elementos, presentes desde a etapa do roteiro, contribuem para a apreensão desses filmes enquanto filmes de mistério? Para tanto temos um corpus composto por três roteiros fílmicos: Rear Window (Janela Indiscreta, 1953), Chinatown (Chinatown, 1973) e Memento (Amnésia, 1999). A análise dos roteiros apontados se fundamenta no trabalho de Jule Selbo –– pesquisadora e roteirista que estuda o gênero enquanto ferramenta para a escrita de roteiros longa-metragem –– e busca observar (A) quais situações nesses roteiros remetem, de forma mais imediata, ao universo do mistério e dos gêneros a ele relacionados; (B) quais as relações afetivas que são despertadas no espectador a partir dos gêneros; (C) de que forma os gêneros que perpassam tais roteiros relacionam-se à pertinência dos respectivos filmes na sua contemporaneidade. O conceito de gênero aqui adotado é o de Rick Altman, que entende as categorias genéricas em plano histórico e não como formas imutáveis. A abordagem semântico-sintática do autor possibilita o apontamento de aspectos que contribuem para a observação dos roteiros em questão, complementando a abordagem de Selbo. Os referenciais teóricos da pesquisa também envolvem outros estudiosos como Raphaëlle Moine, Thomas Schatz, David Bordwell, Edward Buscombe, Steave Neale — autores que trabalham o gênero cinematográfico em suas diferentes dimensões. Além disso, encontramos respaldo em importantes nomes da história do cinema. Acreditamos que a relevância da pesquisa liga-se à escassez, na universidade brasileira, de trabalhos relacionados ao estatuto do mistério, bem como à raridade de estudos teóricos que se relacionem à prática de roteirização

This study discusses the extent to which Charles Sturridge's Where Angels Fear to Tread, Merchant Ivory's Howards End, and David Lean's A Passage to India have aimed at, and succeeded in, exploring the thematic concerns of E.M. Forster's novels. A brief introductory chapter explains the motivation behind this research, and the choice of critical methodologies used. It concludes with an outline of some of the problems confronting film-makers wishing to explore the concerns of novels. The first chapter, which is devoted to Where Angels Fear to Tread, reveals that while Sturridge is "faithful" to Forster's novel at a superficial level, basing most of his scenes on, and taking most of his dialogue directly from, the text, he does not explore Forster's themes. The facility with which film tells stories proves to be a treacherous trap for Sturridge. His version of Where Angels Fear to Tread is totally vacuous because he failed to develop anything beyond the story -- Forster's "tapeworm" of time (Aspects of the NoyeI41). The causality that Forster calls plot seemed beyond Sturridge's comprehension, leaving his film little more than an endless progression of "and then[s]" (Forster, Aspects 87). Characters are not given their full weight; symbols and leitmotifs are overlooked; the allegorical elements he did recognize, he failed to understand, and thus misplaced, so that the epiphanic moments of the novel are lost. There is no possibility of thematic concerns emerging from a film in which plot, characterization, symbol and rhythm are ignored. Sturridge's apparent inability to understand his source is in stark contrast to Merchant Ivory's sensitivity to Howards End, and their evident familiarity with literary criticism on the work. Chapter two explores the way in which their adaptation smooths out putative flaws in characterization and plot, and uses filmic rhythm and camera work to suggest comments made by the novel's narrator. Almost wholly successful in developing the novel's themes, Merchant Ivory's Howards End does not, however, successfully explore the spiritual dimensions of Forster's novel. Film is a medium capable of great subtlety, but its strength lies in its ability to capture the seen; the unseen tends to evade its grasp. It is in dealing with the unseen that Lean's A Passage to India misses greatness, for in virtually every other respect his version of Forster's masterpiece is superb. Chapter three explores Lean's creative and flexible approach to adaptation, his acute sensitivity to the differing demands of film and novel, and his confident technical mastery. It also explores, however, the emptiness at the heart of his film, an emptiness that is the result of his trivialization of the spiritual concerns of Forster's novel.

This thesis examines the construction of masculinities in the genre of Australian film known as 'car crash' films. A number of film texts are used to examine how representations of vehicular masculinity are validated and how heroism is often associated with mastery of a motor vehicle. It contends that gender-technology relation constructs technology as masculine culture, the automobile often pivotal in rites of passage and manifestations of masculinity because other means to perform adulthood and gender are frequently unattainable. Membership of the masculine hegemony can appear within reach when behind the wheel of a 'hot' automobile that signifies power, freedom, escape, conspicuous consumption and control. The male characters in car crash films look to the streets and to the screen to enact blatent constructions of an overt mechanical masculinity, and the performative journey is mapped.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 2002

The subject matter of mental illness has fascinated artists and writers for centuries. Filmmakers have responded in diverse and innovative ways to the artistic challenge of portraying mental illness. In this thesis, I focus on the representations of mental illness in six recent films from Australia and New Zealand: Sweetie (Jane Campion, 1989), An Angel at My Table (Campion, 1990), Bad Boy Bubby (Rolf de Heer, 1993), Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994), Angel Baby (Michael Rymer, 1995) and Shine (Scott Hicks, 1996). In each film, the protagonist is diagnosed, or treated by others, as mentally ill. Mental illness is portrayed as an affliction which the protagonist struggles to overcome. I argue that these films cultivate a relationship of empathy between the mentally ill character and the spectator. Whereas the related emotion of sympathy involves feeling sorry for someone, empathy involves feeling with that person; in other words, rather than feel for these mentally ill characters, we are invited to feel like they do. (For complete abstract open document)