The Black Girl - Beca G.

Pair C of photographs juxtaposes the influence of Parisian/Francophile culture in Senegal, as opposed to the strong political message that Diouana’s boyfriend is sending when he is standing in front of the separatist movement’s flag.

In the first photograph, the pair is huddled over a magazine, their bodies very close signifying a close bond. The picture in the magazine is a white French woman holding a baby, and it is sort of a popping image in contrast to the very dark skin of Diouana and her boyfriend. The way that Diouana has her hand placed daintily on the side of the magazine signifies that she is fascinated about the lifestyle that is being presented to her, yet her boyfriend’s pose with his hand covering the picture, shows that he does not really buy into the French lifestyle. His body language is also more angular and aggressive, showing that out of the two of them, he has perhaps more power in the situation. However, in the events of the film, he is still unable to keep Diouana from leaving for France.

In juxtaposition, the way that Diouana’s boyfriend is standing aggressively in front of a flag depicting a liberation movement’s leader, obviously gives away that he is not fascinated by French culture like his girlfriend. The boyfriend is so clearly against it, not only in the way that he gets upset when Diouana decides to go, but also in the way that he grows angry when she wears the dress given to her by the mistress. He does not appreciate the way that she so gleefully disregards his feelings about the French and their rule over the Senegalese.

2001 - Jen Peaslee

There are a few things that set 2001: A Space Odyssey apart from other sci-fi films of the time. For instance, just browsing through the trailers and Wiki pages of films like War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still make it clear that for the most part, the preoccupation of the time was meeting invading alien forces and going to war with them (as some people have pointed out, this reflects upon the fear of Communism that was pervading society during those years). Or, if they weren't going to war with invading forces, then the aliens were coming to deliver some sort of warning about Earth needing to shape up its ways.

2001 is a bit different in this respect, because there really isn't any kind of invading force in this movie. If anything, the largest explicit threat comes from the computer, but that's a man-made problem, not an alien one. In fact, holy muffins, there are no aliens in this movie. There is that weird monolith thing (or...things?), but according to Wikipedia (yeah, that's right) that's an extraterrestrial machine, not an actual alien. The absence of aliens is pretty damn uncommon for a sci-fi flick.

There is another major difference that I felt helped make this movie stand out amongst others, and that's the first section with the monkeys. Which, by the way, was either my favorite or my second-favorite part (tied with the computer drama). I totally could have watched an entire film about monkeys evolving. And it was just so interesting that 2001 started with a look back to our past and making it sci-fi, rather than just starting with a futuristic view of the world.

There is still the idea of a "warning" present in the film, I believe. Or maybe not even a warning, but I did get the sense of a "look at where relying too much on technology/evolution will lead you - murder" message in some parts of the film. But the end makes it seem more like a natural, cyclical progression - starting with the Dawn of Man and ending with a new Dawn of Man - rather than an outright warning. Kind of complicated, though, so I could be way off.

2001 - Bradley Strickland

Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey never explicitly gives us its themes or explanations of the plot. It does not even follow the standard plot line of classic film and literature. Instead it is ambiguous and symbolic – this is what makes it a mythological documentary. It seems contradictory; the film emphasizes time while venturing into the infinite where time fleets before our eyes; it details the accomplishments and understanding obtained with new technology while recounting the new problems, complexities, and destruction that arises with its inception. The film, in all, documents the progression of the human race from its birth to its death and rebirth. But it also shows the sense of adventure and exploration associated with an epic. Even the title is an allusion to mythology by using “odyssey.”

Despite its ambiguity, the film gives us both a warning and hope as a race in our journey towards technological progress and the infinite. He shows us that though technological advancement and destruction are inevitably connected, so is rebirth to destruction. This is why I believe that Kubrick was trying to show us something different than what Walker describes as mutation. He is showing us the inevitability of rebirth after destruction. It seems that the Star Child is in essence the continuation of the human race – a definite birth in an infinite world.

Walker’s themes remark on man’s intelligence. Kubrick seems to tell us that despite our evolution we still move towards death and destruction (and as Walker claims a mutation of this death into rebirth). Both the apes and the men were affected by the presence of the monolith. However, as technology progressed, we too began to seek to conquer more than just the ape tribe nearby; we began to look towards space. But as soon as we began our quest into the dark unknown, our technology revolted against us. It left us nearly dead forcing us to in turn revolt against it. With our quest still not complete we pushed on towards the infinite transfiguring ourselves to make it to a mutated future - a future that has reverted to the past. However, our inevitable destruction is then coupled with an inevitable rebirth.

The anxiety and fear motivates much of the works within the science fiction genre. 2001 is no different. Just as Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove was prescribed from the nuclear scare, 2001 rose out of the unknown fears associated with the space race. The film’s reoccurring black monolith is the embodiment of these fears. It represents the future and the deep, dark unknown. But Kubrick is careful to detail the importance of the monolith in that it provides direction and points us to something. Does it push us to become better? We see the death of both the apes in the beginning and the astronauts aboard the Discovery. However, unlike several other films within this genre, 2001 also gives us hope. The monolith is always paired with a dawn of hope. And destruction is paired with rebirth. Perhaps, he is trying to tell us that our end is inevitable, but so is our rebirth. Born again, innocent as a child, bound to commit the same mistakes as the race before it.

2001 - J. Miley

I have to say that I disagree with Walker’s analysis. Not to a large degree, only slightly. While he says that only the first portion deals with evolution, I believe that the entire movie deals with this theme. 2001 begins with a sequence dealing with apes and it is here we see a very important evolutionary step in process, technology (specifically that of the weapon). The bone is proved to be good at smashing things and we then see the consequences- apes die because the bone was discovered. It’s no wonder that from the bone we transition to orbital nuclear defense systems (though we do not know that is what this is when we see it).

I would then say that the next two themes of Walker’s (exploration and revolution) are in fact the same section and part of the same theme, again that of evolution. We see how far man has come. We see how far the technology that began in the first section has progressed with the circular space station and the HAL 9000. Again, we see the consequences of these discoveries- Frank is killed.

I would also say that Walker’s last two themes (transfiguration and mutation) are part of this evolutionary theme. Here, Dave comes into contact with the obelisk we see the consequences- he turns into a giant fetus, but before that he ages and it can be easily assumed that he dies.

Each of the three segments deal with technological evolution (the bone, HAL, the obelisk) and the consequence of discovering each of these is death. But in a sense, new life is then birthed through that death. We don’t see these evolutions but apes become humankind, Dave reaches Jupiter, Dave returns to Earth. In all this, a clear message that “technology is dangerous” is evident. But if that danger is weathered, something new and potentially wonderful can come out of it. It is a gamble every time something new is invented.

2001: A Space Odyssey - Amber Merrell

It makes a lot of sense to me that 2001: A Space Odyssey reflects the worries of the late 60s United States society. This movie touches on many controversial topics that have stirred the emotions of many people throughout the country. By looking at the themes that Walker proposed, it can be seen that each section of the film relates to a different sensitive topic in the society’s culture. The first section, evolution, has always been a highly debated topic. Those who believe in creationism and those who believe in evolution have battled for the majority opinion. As more evidence to support evolution comes to light, the more society seems to fear the prospect that humans evolved from lesser apes. Along with this acceptance of evolution comes implications concerning the “natural,” animalistic, and sometimes violent behavior of primates, including humans. This fear of naturally violent tendencies is illustrated in the scene where one group of apes attacks and kills an ape that is trying to invade upon the group’s watering hole.

The exploration and revolution sections of the movie illustrate the society’s anxiety over advancing technology. As humans create more technologically advanced equipment, machines, and even artificial intelligence, there is a growing fear that our own creations will turn against us. This can happen through either mechanical or electrical failure. It is also feared that robots and artificial intelligence, as this movie shows, will make the decision to revolt against humans. There has also been a growing fear that humans will become too reliant upon and confident in our technology. In the film, this is shown by how much control HAL has on the vessel. He controls the life support systems, the pods, and can observe everything that goes on onboard the ship. Thus, when things go poorly, there are not many options left for Dave. He even has to risk his life just to get back on the vessel because HAL will not let him through the hanger doors. Because the 9000 units had never been wrong before, it was very unexpected to encounter problems with HAL. This illustrates the fear that our overconfidence in our own creations can be dangerous and even lethal.

The transfiguration section of the movie shows how humans are anxious about the unknown. This part of 2001: A Space Odyssey depicts a strange sort of reality where time and space seem to jumble together. The confusing scenes in this part of the movie are characteristic of how ideas of the universe and of time itself can seem overwhelming and discomforting. The mutation section, to me, seems to reflect anxiety over issues such as embryonic and stem cell research. Experimentation with embryonic cells began in the late 1800s to early 1900s. These advances were very limited but they set the stage for later developments. In 1951 scientists cloned a frog embryo. Stem cell research came into popularity in the 1960s and resulted in great controversy over the ethical issues concerning the topic. The end of the movie, which depicts an embryo next to the earth, very artistically brings this controversial and anxiety-filled issue into the movie. Thus, 2001: A Space Odyssey illustrates the concerns and anxieties of the 1960s U.S. society.

2001- Jessica S.

I think that many of the previous established science fiction themes in the genre dealt mostly with the idea of the ‘visitor from outer space’ coming to warn humans that the Earth was going to be destroyed if they didn’t listen to these other-worldly robots or war machines. The story in Forbidden Planet seemed the most similar to 2001 in the respect that it has an unknown phenomenon (such as the black monolith, in a sense) that creates significant changes to the layout of the story as it progresses. I think that Kubrick’s faithfulness to scientific realism significantly changed the way that 2001 was perceived, simply because that element of realism helped to solidify the awe and terror behind the journey into space. This realism also came through very strongly in “To Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite”, because it exemplified Bowman’s terror as he is traveling very fast through the tunnel of light with no sense of time and space. The use of the monolith as a looming enigma in all of these segments in itself gave off a sense of fear, because we as the audience are sort of conditioned throughout the film in such a way so that when we see the monolith, we know that the segment will change, but also that we will be taken to a new kind of ‘dimension’ in the world of the film. I think that Kubrick wanted to challenge the classical phase of the science fiction genre by getting rid of the ‘visitor from outer space’ theme that was so prevalent in other films and focus more on the absolute mysteries of space and time by using a mysterious object to demonstrate change, awe, and in some sense the hesitation to want to change and progress.

I thought it was interesting that Kubrick juxtaposed time in such a dynamic way in the last segment with the use of neoclassical decoration vs. Bowman’s sense of his own time period and intellectual progress. With the appearance of the black monolith transporting us to the view of the Star Child in the end, it’s like we’re meant to start over with the year 2001, as though humans had gone as far as they could go with Earth as it was, and the Star Child was going to create a whole new ‘world’ that emerged from the black monolith.

2001 - Atlee Watson

Well firsts, 2001 has been described as perhaps the most thoroughly and accurately researched film in screen history with respect to aerospace engineering. 2001 one attempted to anticipate the future so that the film would be authentic as possible. Some of these devices exist today like voice-print identification, chess-playing computer, personal in flight entertainment, flat screen TV monitors, and voice controlled computing. When making 2001, it seemed that Kubrick wanted to make the film as close to the future as possible. It even stepped outside of the classical phase of science fiction. In war of the worlds, the aliens are depicted as a near human species, but this is not so in 2001. While Kubrick wanted to use humans for the convenience of the film, it was decided that true aliens would bare no resemblance to humans and that aspect would represent a falsehood to the film, so they decided to not use a human like alien.

This impacted the established world of science fiction greatly. From this point forward, in many cases, aliens were no longer humanoid, but true creations and representations of what alien life could possibly be, which is open to all interpretation leading to a wide variety of aliens that we can think of today (Ewoks, klingons, etc.) Also, the depiction of HAL, while still not as sophisticated, was thought to be possible in the future, and it seems as though we are headed towards the creation of a HAL 9000. This film set a new precedent for science fiction. It influenced directors such as Spielberg and George Lucas and had effects on their films, like E.T. and Star Wars.

2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, U.S.A., 1968, 160 minutes)

As we noted the other night, the narrative structure of Kubrick's 2001 seems quite different from the classical paradigm outlined in our book and illustrated by plots such as that of Buster Keaton's The General. In a 1969 interview, Kubrick complained that many films at the time seemed to have trouble escaping this three act structure, which he rightly attributed to the stage, one of film's precursors. Instead, he proposed, "[a] film is—or should be—more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings." Awe, we're told, is among the feelings Kubrick intended to evoke in 2001. Perhaps mystery. He also described 2001 as “A mythological documentary.” The five images below illustrate the five themes of the film as proposed by Alexander Walker, who refers to the sections as "invitations to meditate on the nature of man’s intelligence—namely evolution (the dawn of man), exploration (men in space), revolution (the computer’s mutiny against its masters), transfiguration (man in a cosmic ride into a new time-space dimension) and mutation (the Star Child)." Walker's "themes" are useful for identifying a structure, but they don't necessarily explain the themes' significance. For this week's post, consider this proposed structure and make an effort at articulating what their significance might be, perhaps in light of Kubrick's reference to "mythology" and Taine's suggestion (noted on page 399 of our book) that a society's anxieties are expressed in its art. You're welcome to challenge and revise Walker's structure. Alternatively, you might consider the ways in which 2001 represents the science fiction genre in a revisionist phase. That is, how does it challenge or question what may have been previously established conventions of the genre? For examples of science fiction in its Classical phase (in which conventions are established) you might look at clips from films like Things to Come (1936), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), War of the Worlds (1953), or Forbidden Planet (1956). How does 2001 differ significantly from these films in its representations of space travel, alien intelligence, the future, etc.? Looking forward to your comments!

La Noir de... - J. Miley

Pair B, first we see the obvious juxtaposition of the two different types of “face coverings.” On the woman we see a symbol of modern life and the fashion world, sunglasses. Sunglasses as we know then were not invented until the 1920’s and are thus a relatively recent invention compared to what the child wears. The child, a boy, wears a traditional African mask. These masks have been around much longer than sunglasses and hold a much more significance purpose in the culture. Whereas the sunglasses shows a fashion conscientiousness that is prevalent in western culture, the mask shows a reverence for the past. Whereas the sunglasses are merely a cosmetic device, the masks were use in religious ceremonies to contact the dead. That, however, is not its use in this shot. In the scene where the boy is wearing the mask, he is following Diouana’s former boss, Frenchman, acting as a kind of ghost on behalf of Diouana. This could suggest that all of Africa will haunt the man as this national icon chases him away. This would fit in with the idea of unity that was being fostered at the time.

The second thing that we see is how the background affects the shot. Behind the French woman, we see a building. Her head is framed by a window (i.e. a way out of the poverty-stricken life in Dakar). The boy, however, is standing in front of a chain-linked fence (i.e. a wall that keeps the Senegalese in their poverty). This goes a long way to show how each group sees the other. The Senegalese see the French as a way out their world and a passage to a more modern life. One the other hand, the French virtually see the Senegalese as slaves that they will be able to keep chained up.

Sembène illustrates both of these ideas to teach the Senegal populace. First, he contrasts the outside world with the African to hopefully promote unity. But more importantly, he tries to destroy the illusion that the Senegalese would have about escaping to that modern world.

La Noir de... -Amanda Carman

Pair B:
A major thematic element and motivating force throughout the film is pride, manifested in the personal pride of both Diouana and the mistress and, in a more abstract sense, the pride of the Senegalese as a whole.  The primary symbol for this pride, I feel, is the mask.  Diouana wears the mask as she is proudly celebrating her new job and hands it over to her employers when she takes the position.  In Senegal, the mask is just one of many relics displayed in the home, just as Diouana is just one of many servants in their employ.  However, once she moves to Paris, her mask is displayed prominently on the wall, the only relic of Senegal, and almost takes on the appearance of a hunting trophy.  Similarly, Diouana is the only servant in the Parisian apartment, and she is on display for the guests of her employers just as much as the mask is.  When she can't stand being a trophy for the family any longer, Diouana takes the mask back.  She and the mistress fight over it, and she is ultimately the victor.  As a parallel, she and the mistress fight over her duties; the mistress refuses her food if she doesn't work and she refuses work if she is not fed.  In this battle of pride, too, Diouana is the victor; she slits her throat in their bathroom so that there can be no mistake of how she felt about them, and she will live in their memories forever.

Though Diouana is a victor in the battle of pride, pride itself is not shown in a positive light in this film.  The pride of the mistress is the most obvious example.  She is driven by the need to keep up appearances in the house and in her family, and class distinctions are apparently very important to her.  She comments on Diouana's style of dress as being too formal for her station, and toward the end has her take off her heels so that she may remember that she is a maid.  Diouana is not the only victim of criticism; the husband must also bear rude remarks on his habits, particularly his drinking. Because of this all-encompassing need to keep up appearances, the mistress is at odds with everyone around her and is never truly at ease with herself through the film.

Diouana is also a victim of her own pride.  She meets a man shortly before leaving for Paris but when she's with him her mind is so preoccupied with fantasies of her soon-to-be elevated lifestyle that it prevents her from forming a real connection with him (I would argue that making love because he was pouting is not a real connection).  More importantly, her pride ultimately kills her.  To be sure, she made a profound statement with her death and, in the battle of pride, taking the money and leaving would have let the mistress win, but I'm not sure the benefits of winning this battle really outweighed the cost.  Taking the money and leaving would have been more humble, but she would also have been able to experience all the things she came to Paris to experience, and she would have had the chance to create a better life for herself.  If Diouana's experience is meant as a synecdoche for the experience of Senegal as a whole, particularly in response to the difficulties of creating a post-colonial identity, it serves as a warning not to let attachment to pride and tradition slit the throat of independence.

These images highlight the theme of pride as a constraint, contrary to independence.  The mistress in the first picture is wearing the European equivalent of a mask: large sunglasses which obscure her features and, in a way, mark her position in society.  Her lips are pursed, as they often are when she is displaying her dominance, and she is proudly faced almost full front.  Her head, however, is locked in a frame, giving it a trapped feeling in an otherwise open space.  The second picture features the mask, the symbol of Diouana's (and Senegal's) pride, also faced almost full front, but this character is in front of a chain-link fence, a fence style often associated with prisons or cages.

Black Girl by Greg Weinstein- Pair D

The contrasting relationship between these two images falls under the conflict of the white race decimating African and/or third world cultures and treating them as a prize or a conquest and the native peoples fight to gain their culture back. In the first picture, the white couple place the mask they were given on a mantle along with the rest of their relics that they had taken. This is contrasted with the other picture as Diouana is fighting with her Madame over the mask, as she has adapted to modern culture, and now she is fighting to gain back her culture and her sense of self. They are also contrasted due to their time placement in the movie. The first picture happens at the beginning of Diouana's work with the couple as she is beginning to see what is going on with their world and then the second picture happens near the end right before Diouana kills herself because she is stuck. She doesn't want to go back to her place and live in a one room hut, nor has her dream worked out the way she wanted. She is still just that woman sitting on the corner waiting for something to happen with the other women, not apart of her culture and not apart of theirs.

Black girl- Angela, Jung

This movie makes us think about class differentiate and equality right to live. She had to earn money for her family and herself. Before going to France, she dreamed she can live in beautiful environment. I thought that the era that this movie was made had severe class difference. In that time, most black races had to work under the white class people.

I was shocked when I saw the last scene in this movie. Because I couldn’t understand her suicide.

When her master gave her the money, she didn’t receive that. Actually, while she is working in master’s house, she wanted to travel France and to buy pretty dresses and accessories. But at the last, she rejected to get the money. I thought the reason is that in repetition to work for upper classes, she realized that although she can buy the things that she want to buy, she cann’t change her status. At first, she wanted to buy the stuffs that she wanted to buy and to go beautiful places, but she realized that is not important any more in her life. She knew that black people always to stay under the white people, so she despaired about that.

I can understand her disappointed mind, but I think that her choice was wrong. Her behavior was very passive. She should have acted more independently, although she couldn’t the class structure.

In these days, we still sometimes have problem how can we look upon the people equally who has various status and races, but the differentiate between white people and black people almost disappeared. The person who live in this places all has the right to be treated equally and to live happy.

La Noir de... - Amber Merrell

I am choosing to write about pair B. These two images are very interesting to me because both characters depicted are wearing a type of mask. The picture of Madame shows that she is wearing sunglasses and makeup. These act as her own type of mask. The boy is holding a mask up to his face. Both characters are hiding themselves in some way. I find it curious though, that Madame is most concerned with hiding her eyes while the boy’s mask has holes for the eyes, thus making the eyes the only way to view what is underneath. Because eyes are often considered a gateway into a person, it can be interpreted that Madame is trying to hide her true self, while the boy is trying to focus attention on the eyes, perhaps to cause a sense of guilt in Monsieur. This also illustrates how Madame is guilty of poor treatment of Diouana and must thus try to hide her eyes which might reveal her guilt. The boy, on the other hand, has done nothing wrong and may wear the mask that allows access to his eyes, clear of conscious.

The background of each image is also telling of the situation. Behind Madame is a clear scene devoid of hardly any interesting features. It is a cold, hard wall behind her. Behind the boy, however, is an open scene of the village. This is a scene that is alive with people, which makes it more warm than the stark wall behind Madame. This contrast shows that the boy is alive with a rich history and life while Madame lives in a more superficial, deadened world. The fence behind the boy also shows the repression of his people and their history of enslavement.

Black Girl - Craig Walters

I chose Pair A because the subject matter of the two is very similar, however the image of the main character hold a much different value between the two. In the first the main character is seen in French styled clothing. She has large diamond, or pearl, earrings while having her hair perfectly wrapped under a designer scarf (or something of the sort, not quite a fashion expert). Whereas, in the second shot, she is freed of these material things and allows for her hair to hang in its normal fashion making her seem more natural, or as Sembene was probably going for, African. Also, in the first shot, she is much darker than she is in the second. The high contrast in the first shot while being confined to an all white setting, much like the was permanently confined to the apartment in general, shows a dramatic difference from her skin color making her seem unnatural. This unnaturalness is highly emphasized throughout the movie as she was the only black person portrayed in France in this movie. The second shot is much more diffused as it was shot in a much lower key. This shot brightens up her skin much more while allowing many more features of her face to be seen making her seem more naturally human.

La Noir de... - Bradley Strickland

Sembène uses his film, La Noir de…, not to push a radical social change of Senegalese culture rejecting all things French. Rather, he suggests that both places need each other. He tells us that Senegal is an educationally and economically impoverished country that blindly worships France. This place needs French assistance to develop. On the other hand, he shows us that France is obliviously to all things African and is in desperate need for a cultural lesson. His solution to solve the crisis in Senegal and France is a heterogeneous one that involves a new understanding by both cultures. The film’s symbolic mask of the film is at the interface of this problem (Pair D).

The first image shows us the objectification of Senegalese and the rejection of this culture among its people. As Diouana gives this mask to the French couple she is in essence giving away her cultural identity in exchange to come into their home and join the French culture. However, the couple had a different plan for her. As they are seen admiring the real thing, one can only suspect that much of the other art in the room is fake “airport art.” The long shot gives us a sense of depth to their collection including a painting of a woman who is wearing both a Senegalese outfit and an eerily similar dress to Diouana. They are happy to have the exotic culture represented in their home and use Diouana to fulfill this. When she wears heels or looks like she is going to a party, she no longer fills her role. This is why the lady gets so upset. One may wonder if the mask represents her maintenance of her social class. We wonder if having the mask and having an exotic African maid allows her to be seen as a privileged woman among the French. This is seen through a Frenchman wanting to kiss her and that she is forced to cook a food which the lady mistakenly believes to be Senegalese.

The second image is a reversal of the relationship. Diouana wants her cultural pride back. However, Diouana looks unnatural dressed in the white French dress and so does the lady fighting for the Senegalese mask. These women are struggling in both a physical and a figurative sense for something. Diouana realizes her disappointment of her too idealistic French life and fights to keep her Senegalese cultural pride. However, the lady too wants this exotic mask. This suggests she is unhappy with the boredom of her own culture and seeks to fulfill this void with another culture. The high angle of the shot seems to add a great deal of confusion and disorients the audience. It allows us to see the tension of two opposing cultural forces. Furthermore, it allows a full view of the face of the mask as well as the ironic French magazines lying on the floor.

It seems that Diouana is only fighting to keep the culture of Senegal. However, as seen through her suicide, she knows that the place itself is in need of desperate help. She does not want to go back to an illiterate and unemployed world of Senegal where everyone wants to be French, but she does not want to remain enslaved and exploited for her culture to France.

La Noire de... -Jessica S.

Both the photos in Pair D were moments in the film that I thought probably had the most tense and subtle emotion behind them over anything else throughout the entire film. Not only does Diouana’s mask represent her pride, it also encompasses her freedom from life in Senegal, while still holding on to a nostalgic piece from home. Even though Diouana looks forward to a better life in France and gives the mask to the couple as a token of her appreciation and gratitude, that mask remains an integral part of her life in France though its meaning begins to shift as we progress through the film and Diouana starts to feel more trapped and servant-like rather than free-willed and independent.

In the first shot from Pair D, the focus is projected onto the couple as they begin to discuss the mask’s authenticity. What I never noticed when watching this scene during the film was the painting centered just above the couple’s heads, right over the mask. It’s a painting of two African women, where the one on the left is wearing a dress that seems it might’ve come from a different culture, and the one on the right seems to be wearing what looks like traditional African clothing. In juxtaposition, it looks like the woman on the left is probably carrying something on her head as though she may be working, while the woman on the right is free from work. This painting on the wall clearly references Diouana and her overall state after she enters the couple’s home in France- she thinks she will work and be happy and live a popular lifestyle, but she quickly finds out that she would have just been better off if she’d stayed in Senegal. The way that the painting of ‘Diouana’ is centered just above the mask that’s being closely scrutinized and guarded by the couple suggests in a sense that even though the couple treats her as though she is a slave to them, she’s still ‘over’ them as long as she has her pride and her sense of personal freedom.

We start to see that this isn’t the case and that once the mask is out of Diouana’s hands, her sense of individuality starts to disappear and she loses all will to fight back for herself and try to make things better. In the second shot of Pair D, we see Diouana as she tries to symbolically take back her freedom and take control of her life, but the mistress tries to prevent that and keep her down. The pictures on the floor of the second shot also help symbolize her sense of freedom that she had in Senegal with her boyfriend, but are also threatened to be stepped on and crushed, in a sense, by the fight between Diouana and the mistress. Even though Diouana wins in the fight to keep her mask, it doesn’t console her enough to forget about her failed dreams of a new life in France. She knows that as a person, as an employee, she will always be put down and degraded for who she is and what the couple thinks of her, and the weight of that is too heavy for her to cope with.

Breathless - Jen

What really set this film apart from the others to me was how much more realistic it felt than the other movies we've seen in class. There were really several contributors to this, like Patricia's decision to turn Michel in (which, by the way, sucked) or the casual dialogue used throughout the film. But more than anything, the character of Michel was what made this film so totally unique and very realistic, at least to me.

I know a lot of people did not like Michel, but I was very much drawn to him. He was a bit of a womanizer, and hot-tempered (hey, let me just shoot this cop for like no reason), and he was immature and silly. On the other hand, he was adorable and loving at times. The point is that he wasn't just a good guy, or a bad guy, he was like a normal person who did bad things but also did good things.

The scene where he is in Patricia's (hotel?) room illustrates this to me the most clearly. The way he hides under the blankets/sheets a couple of times, the way he tells Patricia not to pull a long face and then demonstrate what he means, the way he pulls up her skirt again...all of these things felt much more realistic to me than Peter Warne's flirtation with Ellie Andrews or Jeff and Lisa working to catch a murderer. It felt more like a documentary or like I was actually there, just standing right beyond the view of the audience, and I really appreciated that style.

Black Girl - Jessica Nguyen

The first set of photos (A) are clearly opposite in the way she is posed and dressed. She is facing the opposite direction in each, along with being dressed in a "classy, French" way in one photo, and having the looser fitting clothing and natural hair in the other. The photos could represent her ideas about coming to France and her reality. The first photo is from earlier in the movie when she first gets to France; she is still dressing up- wearing heels, having her hair done, and wearing earrings- in her beliefs of being part of a "cosmopolitan world." In the later photo, she has been working in France for a while, and it is apparent how her hopes and dreams of fashion and such have disappeared, as she begins dressing in more casual wear and not bothering to fix her hair, but instead letting it stand out naturally.
These two pictures could play towards the native audience of the film because of the depiction of her wanting to be part of the elite French world with shopping and parties and to get away from her native home of Dakar where they are poor and don't have these things, to returning to a more agreeable way of dressing for someone from Dakar who takes pride in their native roots and who they are. It may have the audience stop and examine their own lives and how they see the world: do they want the things they don't have- the perception of a better life somewhere else- or are they happy with who they are and the things they have and where they live?
The girl in the film was obviously not happy with either world and decided to end her life because of it.

Grand Illusion - Jen

I found these two characters to be the most interesting and heartbreaking. They were friends in a way, or at least they could have been in the damn war hadn't gotten in the way. So what's the illusion here? I would argue that it ties into the idea of friendship...the illusion is that one of these two men - Rauffenstein - thinks that he can have a cordial and respectful relationship with the "enemy," or Boeldieu, mostly because of their similar social statuses. And how does this mise en scene reflect this?

Well, the subsidiary contrast is the flower - although others have pointed out that it's the symbolic dominant, which I would agree with. It is mentioned as being the last flower in the fortress, just like Rauffenstein feels that Boeldieu is the last man with class who he can relate to. And when Boeldieu dies by Rauffenstein's hand, Rauffenstein cuts the flower. So even though my eyes were not immediately drawn to the flower, it's what stands out in my mind as being the most important part of this image.

This is a medium shot, which is used to emphasize relationships. Furthermore, the distance between the two men can be categorized as "persona," as they are more than 18 inches but less than four feet away. They appear to be comfortable with this distance. The men definitely have a bond, but despite the medium shot and personal distance being used to emphasize this bond, there is still an illusion present, due to Rauffenstein later shooting Boeldieu (not exactly the actions of a friendship).

RIFF - Jen

I went to see the experimental film block, pretty much by accident, but it turned out to be a happy accident. It was interesting to compare the films. I felt like some filmmakers were trying too hard (the last film apparently lasted only like ten minutes, but it honestly felt like thirty), but that was balanced by the impressive techniques of other films.

It's hard to say which was my favorite. There was one about a dominatrix, Fragments of the World, that I found intriguing. I liked how you only ever saw her wearing white or black (white when she was out during the daytime, and black when she was working as a dominatrix, of course), and the clothing style worked to reflect her mood at the time. And frankly, I felt that film was very realistic and unafraid to show the gritty reality that sometimes we don't want to face.

But maybe overall my favorite film was Sunday. It was part live-action, part...something (claymation, but not? I don't know.). It gave a cool story of the last day in the life of this total slacker and it was really creepy but kind of adorable at the same time. I was hooked. I also spent a little bit of time talking to the creators after the showing and they were pretty tight, down-to-earth kind of people.

Anyway, it was a great experience overall and I'm glad that I went. I would like to attend more festivals in the future.

La Noir De... - Parker Sealy

I am comparing Pair D.

I really liked what Amanda (I think it was her) said about this mask that was represented throughout La Noir De…. I like that she said it represented her pride. I was thinking it represented her true self that was hidden by all of the French clothes and her yes ma’ams’, etc but I think I like the pride thing better even though I guess maybe both could work, I don’t know. For the purpose of this blog, however, I am going to focus on the theory that it represents her pride. In this first picture, the French couple had just received this gift of the mask from Diouana when she started her new job as the nanny. It was like she was handing her pride over to them. It is set up perfectly to represent this. The two in the shot are facing it in a way that they seem to be putting her pride on display and they are two spectators watching the pride, even guarding it, as they appear to be surrounding it. It is also almost centered in between them, which is showing that it is important and something that will be fought over as well. This is the case because the woman wants to keep it all to herself and has no problem stomping all over it while the man tries to go about being calmer and trying to pay her off, etc. They both, however, want the pride. They are also not too close to each other, which shows their different methods of trying to obtain her pride. They are on a different page almost. In the second image, Diouana is attempting to take her pride back from the French woman. She keeps yelling that it is hers and pulling it away but the woman is determined to hold on because what does she have if she doesn’t own Diouana’s pride? This shot is set up in a way that predicts who is going to win this little fight. Diouana is the dominant in this shot, which shows that she will get her pride back and end with her pride. I never thought I would really consider someone killing themselves as being prideful until this movie when, even though it is sad and helpless of herself to kill herself, she still leaves in a neat manner that is releasing for her but painful for years to come for the French couple. The French woman is cut out of this shot a bit as well which shows that she no longer is in control but she is slowly losing grip on Diouana’s pride and will soon have to let go. Through the set up of each scene as well as the narrative context, we are able to see foreshadowing as well as symbolism throughout these two scenes as well as the whole film.

La Noire de - Atlee Watson

For this post, I chose to compare the images in pair A.

I believe that these images show the contrasting styles of France and the formerly occupied Senegal. Despite now that France has now relinquished control of Senegal, the french culture has very much pierced the culture of Senegal where they have begun to adopt french fashion and ideals. The main character loved the idea of France thinking that it was far beyond anything she could imagine in Senegal. She believed that opportunities for her in France would be endless with her mistress. However this was not the case.

In the first image we see how she has adopted french fashion by wearing the clothes that her mistress has given to her. This is interesting because she is mimicking the French people who were controlling her country for so long and in a way it seemed that she idolized them. She did this, but at the same time saw two women walking down the street who were in very traditional clothing and commented on how beautiful they were, but yet she wore the clothes of French woman instead of those from her own country. In the second image she has taken on her more natural self. She has removed the clothes and the wigs and allowed herself to not be transformed by French culture, but to be Senegalese. Both images are placed facing the other which creates an interesting mirrored effect of the same woman. One how she thinks she should be based on colonial ideas still embedded in the people of Senegal, that they should adopt the culture of France and some how fuse it with their own, but the other image is of a Senegalese who embracing her own culture. She is able to be free, at least in her own eyes, to be her self without glorified French ideals to live up to.

La Noire de- Jeremy Brinson

With all the hidden meanings in La Noir de…, it’s tough to find everything in each shot. However, for my grade’s sake, I will give it a try. The photos juxtaposed in pair C have one main message. In the first picture is a close framed shot of Diouana and her boyfriend, shows there unity in wanting of a deeper relationship. The two are reading a magazine article on family life. The blocking has the pair laying side by side with heads leaning towards one another, on a bed with both holding the magazine open in the air with one arm and intertwine their other arm. This positioning illustrates their love for one another and their joint view on where they see their relationship going. Also, you can tell that attention is supposed to be drawn to the magazine because the camera is focused on the picture of the woman holding a baby in the magazine. Moving on to the next photo, there is a drastic contrast in meaning. In this open framed shot, we have Diouana’s boyfriend standing of to a side of the room with a curtain depicting the political leader of Senegal with the word uhuru, which is African for freedom, written throughout. The narrative behind this scene is that Diouana is thrilled to be going to France, but her lover doesn’t approve because he doesn’t want to be separated from her and he fears that she will be subjected to slavery. The prop placement for this shot is perfect. Without words, the beliefs of the man are clearly shown by the curtain and also by his demeanor, which is distance and concern. The decision to make this an open frame shot highlights his indecision on the subject and on his stance in their relationship. While he wants to pursue a life with Diouana, he doesn’t know if he will stay in it with her if she changes when she leaves for France. Though the hints are subtle, I feel they speak the most about the couple than I the rest of the film. The shots are practically back to back in the film, which strengthens the contrast between them.

La Noir de…/Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène, Senegal/France, 1966, 66 minutes)

Among the goals of Third World Cinema are the description of contemporary conditions in post-colonial societies and the encouragement of a new identity among the people of those societies. In Sembène's case, the director turned to film so that he could speak more directly to his audience, the people of Senegal, who were mostly excluded from his literary projects because of the high rate of illiteracy. Sembène himself plays the role of the teacher at the École Populaire in La Noir de…, which should suggest to us the role he saw for himself as a filmmaker, as well. La Noir de… is full of visual comparisons and contrasts that, on their surface, may seem to make a straightforward case about a continuing legacy of dominance and racism after the end of nearly 300 years of French colonial rule, which ended in 1960. But, they also seem to point out contradictions within the Senegalese character that may be intended to encourage a critical self-examination on the part of the native audience. For this week's post, choose one of the pairs of images from La Noir de… and write about the potential meanings of their juxtaposition. Consider the full content of the images (mise en scène) and their narrative context as you develop your response. You might do a little research on Senegal and the African nationalist movements of the period, as well. (You don't have to include the images in your post. Just note the pair you're responding to.)

Pair A:

Pair B:

Pair C:

Pair D:

Breathless - Parker Sealy

In Breathless, Godard seems to be veering away from traditional cinematic values by doing something that many classical editors dislike greatly. He uses Jump Cuts. These could have been used for many reasons. Some say that it was used to shorten the length of the film while others believe it to be a part of this “New Wave.” The best example of jump cutting is when they are in the car and Michel is describing Patricia by discussing her neck and her wrists, etc. As he describes each thing, there is a jump cut, which is very slight but still noticeable. This does indeed make the scene shorter but it also does something that traditional editing couldn’t do. It better draws your attention to the scene and gives you a new angle on what is being discussed (literally and figuratively). It seems to draw your attention to Patricia as well as highlights her in one cut while putting her in the shadow and better illuminating the background in another. It also just seems to better grow you accustomed to Patricia because you are stuck looking at her reaction rather than seeing Michel say these things to her. She becomes to main character in this scene and you are able to see her better because it cuts so you are forced to return your attention. It almost jolts you awake to better pay attention. While the thought of jump cutting may seem a bit awkward, it actually really works in this film.

Breathless - J. Miley

To me, the most obvious “attack” on traditional western film design is the way in which Breathless is edited. Traditional film design states that cuts and transitions make sense in terms of time and space. We understand that when a shot follows another in the film that it will also follow it chronologically (i.e. we are further along in the story with each shot). Also, the transitions between these shots is normally smooth. Goddard however, uses a vast amount of jump cuts. From one shot to another, we do not know how much time passed or how much space has been crossed, if any. For example, in the beginning of the film when Michel is driving before he kills the cop, we do not know how much distance he travels how much time passes. This is because while he is driving, the camera often sits in the same spot while the scenery changes without an indication of the time or distance that passes between each cut.

This style of editing can both condense time and expand time, similarly to a montage. While the former is mentions above, the latter occurs throughout the film too and has a much more important purpose. Over the course of the film, we see several instances where the shot is centered on Michel, but instead of being one continuous shot, there are many jump cuts. With each jump cut, Michel is in a different position. This gives his character a very erratic appearance and gives us an interesting look inside his psyche. The man is a sociopath. He kills a police officer and feels no remorse. Goddard gives us a look inside of a mind that could do that with his style of editing. Just like the shots, Michel is broken, unsteady. His thoughts are not seamless but instead jump from one to another at random and we must endure this tumultuous ride, only experiencing freedom when Michel does; in his death.

Breathless - J. Miley

To me, the most obvious “attack” on traditional western film design is the way in which Breathless is edited. Traditional film design states that cuts and transitions make sense in terms of time and space. We understand that when a shot follows another in the film that it will also follow it chronologically (i.e. we are further along in the story with each shot). Also, the transitions between these shots is normally smooth. Goddard however, uses a vast amount of jump cuts. From one shot to another, we do not know how much time passed or how much space has been crossed, if any. For example, in the beginning of the film when Michel is driving before he kills the cop, we do not know how much distance he travels how much time passes. This is because while he is driving, the camera often sits in the same spot while the scenery changes without an indication of the time or distance that passes between each cut.

This style of editing can both condense time and expand time, similarly to a montage. While the former is mentions above, the latter occurs throughout the film too and has a much more important purpose. Over the course of the film, we see several instances where the shot is centered on Michel, but instead of being one continuous shot, there are many jump cuts. With each jump cut, Michel is in a different position. This gives his character a very erratic appearance and gives us an interesting look inside his psyche. The man is a sociopath. He kills a police officer and feels no remorse. Goddard gives us a look inside of a mind that could do that with his style of editing. Just like the shots, Michel is broken, unsteady. His thoughts are not seamless but instead jump from one to another at random and we must endure this tumultuous ride, only experiencing freedom when Michel does; in his death.

Breathless- Amanda Carman

In Rear Window, Hitchcock used a casting decision to make a voyeuristic character both sympathetic and uncondemned by its audience.  Similarly, Breathless employs several techniques to create a complicated sympathetic relationship between the audience and Michel, a police-killer with what appear to be sociopathic tendencies.  Michel is an atypical protagonist; he regularly steals cash and cars, he murders a police officer, he's sexually promiscuous, and he appears to be involved in some manner of larger criminal group or organization.  Unlike Hitchcock, Godard's casting decision for Michel does not instantly generate the necessary sympathetic connection with the audience; even his physical appearance is unconventional and oddly untrustworthy.  Instead, much of the sympathy for Michel is generated by the sympathetic connection the audience has to Patricia.  Unlike many female protagonists, Patricia is neither helpless nor entirely conniving.  She uses sex as a means to an end, but she is also an open and honest character on the whole, which creates a trusting relationship with the audience.  Though her actions toward the end of the movie are reminiscent of a femme fatale, there is something guileless about her that allows the audience to forgive the double-crossing.
Because Patricia has this relationship with the audience, when she forms a connection with Michel the audience also feels this connection.  Before she comes on screen, the audience has no idea how to feel about him; even the editing is designed to confuse and disorient with its frequent cuts during his car theft and murder.  Once Patricia enters the story, the shots become longer and more coherent, cutting more frequently when she is conflicted about her feelings toward him.  Thus the audience takes its cues for its opinion on what should be an entirely unsympathetic character from a very sympathetic character in a complicated and indirect fashion.

Breathless - Atlee Watson

The most interesting attack on traditional film is the main character. It seems that the main character is completely different from all that we have seen previously. In each of the movies before this the main characters have been for the most part respectable, despite some of them planning and carrying out a murder. I guess what I am getting at is that other main characters have had redeeming qualities for their actions (like love) or they had seen the error of their ways and repented (Sunrise). But Michel has no good qualities. He is basically a creep. Godard changes our expectations of what a main character should be. Someone you are rooting for throughout the story, but in this case I was rooting against Michel. I have actually never disliked a character more. Which is not the way you feel about Tom Hanks in many of his movies. Michel promotes a criminal life style. Godard catches you off guard by telling you that you do not have to like the main character and that he could be the worst character. You do not need Clark Gable.

With the character Michel, he is a dog that is always attempting to have sex and steal money from anyone that gives him the opportunity to do so. We didn't see Jim Stewart trying to get money fro Grace Kelly. This changes the entire relationship between the audience and the character and breaks us away from the language of traditional films.

Breathless -- Beca González

In Breathless the audience is definitely shown a more raw, and realistic sort of film. Rather than the smooth cinematic shots that audiences were used to in American films that were highly stylized. There is less attention paid to perfection in the film - with real streets and places being used instead of sets, natural lighting and minimal styling on the actors.

This lack of perfection lent itself to more authenticity, and I particularly noticed that the lacquered "movie star" look was not in place during the film. The main male character, Michel, is not classically good looking, yet there is still a sense of sex appeal and fierce masculinity that he purveys. But out of all the films we have seen so far, this one has the least "leading lady" actress as the actual leading lady. Jean Seberg is definitely attractive, yet she has very minimal styling in the film. Her outfits are simplistic, with her not wearing a bra most of the time (as noted by Michel). She seems unpolished and realistic - not the heavily made up main female that graced every other film. She is a more believable sex symbol - relatable in the sense that she is not necessarily unattainable to most men like Grace Kelly's character in Rear Window.

The scenes were also cut in a sense that was sort of jarring - choppy like perhaps someone telling a story. The film was not meticulously edited and this also makes it seem more realistic. Real life is not smooth, and neither is this film. This way of doing things complements the story line in a way that smooth editing would not. Michel is a gritty sort of guy, and Patricia seems fated to be dragged along in the jerky way that she is. The shots mimic that, and thus the story seems a little more authentic, with the emotional response from the audience being more subjective to how the film makes them feel rather than tells them how to feel.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and I thought that the acting was excellent. I enjoyed the realistic nature of it, although I was not particularly fond of the ending.

Breathless- Greg Weinstein

The directors of the French new wave attacked the standard cinematic elements that people have come to know from films in ways such as the storytelling and the acting that was employed. For instance, with Godard's movie Breathless the movie does not take the traditional steps to reach it's inevitable, but unforeseen conclusion as at the beginning of the movie we are placed in this man's life without knowing anything about him, and soon find out he is a criminal as he shoots a policeman for seemingly pulling him over for speeding. Right away the audience is jarred at their seats as they have no idea who their main character is, and they now hate him. This begins to slowly change throughout the film, as he gives you no reason to like him, but seemingly by the end you are on his side as the man and woman do not ride off to Italy to live happily ever after, but instead she turns him in and he is gunned down in the streets. And I believe this could only be transferred to the audience by the unknown actor who probably has a little of his character in him. This is a guy who kills, cheats, steals, and I mean if you really look at him he is one of the worst human beings ever put on screen with seemingly no moral ground to stand on until he meets the woman and the narrative and the man come together to play off what they would have you believe will be the happy ending, but the audience get's the justice they need, but might not want anymore.

Breathless- Jessica S.

I think the one of the things that struck me the most about the overall style of Breathless were the mismatched cuts that Godard used. I feel like they might've been used not only to save time, but also to give off a sense of chaos as Michel persuades Patricia to hide out with him in Paris while he waits for his money. In another sense, I also think these cuts can describe Michel's movement throughout the film- he's quick and sudden, always keeping out of sight until the very last scenes.

I also think that Godard's approach to sexual situations in this film were a bit surprising, but not very unexpected. I think overall that theme communicates a strong sense of the characters as they meet again in Paris and their attraction to one another, and I can also see this element being used to push the boundaries of acceptance for this period in film history. The way the characters also interact with a kind of loose narrative bring a stronger sense of realism into their story as it unfolds. I think that all of these elements combine well to help illustrate a deeper meaning behind the surface of the story- maybe to illustrate some of the psychological characteristics behind the characters and their development throughout the film.

Breathless - Amber Merrell

Watching Breathless, I was immediately aware of how the movie focused so heavily on sexual themes. This is definitely in defiance of traditional cinematic values as well as the American movie system. The movie code prevented American film from becoming too sexually explicit. In this movie, however, Godard is very open and obvious with sexual material. The leading male, Michel, makes numerous comments about women’s bodies and what he would like to do to them. He also flipped up a girl’s skirt on the street. Michel makes countless advances towards Patricia and asks her throughout the movie if she will have sex with him. Godard even goes as far as showing Michel and Patricia roll around under the covers on Patricia’s bed.

All of these accounts of overt sexual themes show that Godard was unafraid of pushing the limits of traditional film. His focus on sexuality may also be an attempt at portraying reality. Sex is very prominent in human culture, though it can often be considered taboo. Sexual exploration and exploitation were also common means of expression and revolt for young adults in the 1960’s. Thus Godard uses sex to illustrate realism in the time period.

Beyond the sexual themes, I also found the editing style to be quite interesting. Many parts of the film are very choppy because of the numerous jump cuts used. These cuts are used within scenes so that it seems to cut seconds, minutes, or hours out of the scenes. This can be very disorienting and unexpected to the viewer. This choppy style does not follow with traditional, conventional film making. To me, Godard seems to use these cuts to illustrate the way in which we go about our lives. There are many times when it seems that I have lost minutes or hours out of my day. There are also times that I cannot recall how I have spent my time. This is the way of life for many people in the modern world and Godard shows this in a literal sense with his editing technique.

Breathless - Bradley Strickland

Goddard was tired of being told how to be artistic and bored with being simply a cog in the movie machine. Instead, he decided to reject it all and defy the conventions of his own national cinema. This reactionary group of New Wave directors attacked nearly every aspect of French traditional film.

Breathless is filmed much like a documentary. Goddard rejects the artistic pans and zooms of the studio, a false reality, and embraces the hard, fast real world by filming on open sets and streets. Goddard even rejects the use of artificial lighting and instead allows the film to be naturally lit. Even further, the film uses a jumpy handheld camera to follow a relatively unremarkable criminal, Michel. Whenever he walks, the camera follows unsteadily behind. It is almost as if we are literally Michel’s right hand man. His dialogue even supports this in that in many instances, particularly the beginning of the film, Michel’s voice speaks to us about women and tells us how to drive, all making metaphorical commentary on how to live life. The film seems to document his life as it is without staged dramatizations or obviously scripted lines. It uses our intimacy with the character and the drama of the real world to make us sympathetic towards the criminal. This is even more evident when we see our character betrayed not just by Patricia, but the world.

However, Goddard’s most obvious attack on his national cinema was the utilization of the jump cut. Unsatisfied with the classical editing that dominated French films before the New Wave, Goddard wanted to show that unconventional editing has value and a place in film. In fact, he was confident that other types of editing not practiced in mainstream French studio films may be more effective. His jump cut is very effective in Breathless. It makes us feel disoriented and confused. It gives the impression that something is missing; that there is a void in the space and time of the film’s action. However, these jumps, despite being somewhat annoying, are deliberate and serve to prompt us to think critically or to at least think about the film. We are not being fed everything as in more traditional films. Instead, we are forced to fill these gaps and use our imagination. We actually have to think - as we do in everyday life - not just watch.