Cinemablography

In Theory

Science Fiction

The Depth of One-Dimensionality: An Analysis of How Culture Misinterpreted the Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Written by Sarah Grace Stevenson

On July 15th of this year, a film critic named Nathan Rabin published an article titled, “I’m Sorry for Coining the Phrase ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl.’” The opening tagline captures the lamentable premise: “In 2007, I invented the term in a review. Then I watched in queasy disbelief as it seemed to take over pop culture.” After many months of absorbing myself in this A.V. Club[1] writer’s conception, seeing this article was aggravating. Long before the 15th of July, my investigation had quickly led me to conclude that Rabin’s term is valuable, and he should feel no need to say sorry for presenting the idea of the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl.” The analysis to follow will untangle audience responses to this modern linguistic invention, as well as elucidate the inherent complexity of dialogues about one-dimensionality. From the beginning, an underlying goal of this study was to argue why Rabin’s term is profound despite culture’s deficient assessment; my objective has now intensified, as I take issue with Rabin's compulsion to retract his statements and offer an apology.

In 2013, director Richard Linklater completed one of the most compelling and innovative trilogies to ever be released, the Before trilogy---consisting of Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013). The trilogy, which stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, centers around the lives of two strangers, an American man (Jesse, played by Hawke) and a French woman (Celine, played by Delpy), who initially meet on a train bound for Vienna. The trilogy brilliantly follows these two characters through the duration of 18 years, focusing on their relationship, along with their extensive talks about their trials and their Generation X. The trilogy uses Real Time (meaning the plot and story directly follows the length of the actual film) and has direct influences from the French New Wave. See what exactly these influences are and how director Linklater managed to create one of the most aesthetically impressive trilogies in film history.

Edison & Company: A Tribute to Cinematic Magicians

Four groups of Messiah College students in Fabrizio Cilento's Film History class collaborated to produce a series of short films in homage of another early innovator in filmmaking: Thomas Edison. In this collaborative project, students experience the process of crafting a "magic show" using moving images, and discovered the brilliance of the storytelling and editing techniques conceived by the pioneers of the art form.

Still Alive: Phoenixville Remembers The Blob at Blobfest

The Blob is still alive. After fifty five years of attempting to freeze the amorphous monster, The Blob still provokes audiences in Phoenixville, PA to run out of the theater in fright.

Laughter as a Menacing Motif in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master

By Sarah Stevenson, Jake Dore, Max Sacra, Michael Hoffman, Caroline Phillips, and Noah Sheir

Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams deliver mesmerizing and unnerving performances in The Master, exhibiting the dynamic struggle for control. Under P.T. Anderson’s direction, we find comedic elements within the acting and subject matter while still cognizant of the verbal and behavioral eeriness, and this creates a distinctive uneasiness as we grapple with the complexity of the characters.

Ageless: The Film Careers of Amour’s Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva

By Scott Orris

Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva are back. The critically acclaimed actors of Michael Heneke’s 2013 Academy Award winning film Amour have successfully reemerged as stars in their eighties. Trintignant 82, who is best known for roles in films such as; A Man and a Woman, (Claude Lelouch, 1966) The Conformist (Benardo Bertolucci, 1970), and Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994) has not appeared in a film since Janis and John, (Samuel Benchetrit, 2003). Riva 86, (the oldest Academy Award nominee for best actress) who’s role as Elle in Hiroshima, mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) won her international recognition, has recently been in Le Skylab (Julie Delpy, 2011) and Can’t Say No (Iliana Lolitch, 2009). Debuting in 1956 and 1959 respectively, Trintignant and Riva’s parallel rise to stardom, was due to their instinctive ability to portray emotionally complex characters in several influential films of the French New Wave.

Argo: Orientalism, Globalization & the Sci-Fi Phenomenon of the 70’s
By Rolando Vega, Serena Dixon, Emma Huntington, and Ashley Wood-Tiner

How did Argo (Affleck, 2012) storm the awards season this year and rise to win Best Film at the Academy Awards? Was it the true to life events it depicted within its scenes? Or was it the unique core of the film that revolved around a sci-fi film within a film wrapped up in a suspense/thriller? One can be sure that it didn’t win because of its adherence to the real events that inspired the film.

Looper: Closing the Loop

By Heidi Sheppard, Nathaniel Nene Mendoza, Rebecca George, Robert Strimboulis, and William Martel

At first glance Looper (Rian Johnson, 2012) appears to be a typical science fiction film. Whether it be the floating motorbikes or the time travel, it would be easy to assume that the main purpose and drive behind Looper is merely the spectacle of the extraordinary. However, unlike many science fiction films Looper uses the genre as a vehicle allowing the audience to explore deeper psychological messages, which address what it means to be an original, and how our actions affect our future.

Moon: Reevaluating Reality
By Kyle Kull

Reality is not easy to explain, yet Duncan Jones created Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009) to try to define the term. The story takes us through the short life of a clone named Sam Bell and the conflict he faces when his identical clone appears on the space station that was previously only inhabited by Sam. Both clones deal with the question of reality by evaluating the world in which they reside. This plotline, along with the time setting of the film and Jones’ use of the miniatures, help answer the problem of actuality. In the end, we understand that reality lies in the beliefs of the people involved.

The Fear of Disappearing
By Olivia La Bianca

Technological advancement is perhaps the most common theme in science fiction, and is presented in both positive and negative lights. In films such as Independence Day (Roland Emmerich, 1996), the technological advancements depicted in the United States’ underground military bases and the alien technology preserved in Area 51 are presented in a good light, and ultimately result in the humans successfully defeating an invasion from outer space. However, more often than not, technology is vilified as something volatile.

Children of Men:
The Last One to Die, Please Turn Out The Light
By Heidi Sheppard

A world without children is a world without hope. As humans we depend on a sense of purpose, a motivation and longing for a greater good that will continue on after our lives have been lived to the fullest. The absence of a future generation presents the numbing realization that what we do today will never been seen or appreciated by tomorrow’s world. This is perhaps one of the most saddening and hopeless ideas to entertain . . .

WALL-E: For All Ages, For the Ages
By Huy Nguyen

Imagine yourself being in a group of friends who organize movie nights every weekend. It's your turn to host this week and, being the hardcore animation fan that you are, without any hesitation you decide to pick WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008) for the movie night. Your friends arrive at your place with excitement, until they learn of what they're in for. The boys laugh at you and tell you to grow up; the ladies are a little bit nicer, but you can tell they definitely aren't impressed. The show must go on, however, so your friends reluctantly honor your decision and begin to watch the TV screen as a trash-collecting robot appears. Ninety-eight minutes later, you have successfully added new members toyour animation fan group.

District 9:
The Legacy of Wikus Van De Merwe
By David Wingert

In District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009), Earth has made contact with aliens. However, rather than attacking mankind or treating it like a lab experiment, these aliens are here due to unfortunate circumstances and simply wish to coexist with us. Unfortunately, coexistence serves to be just as problematic as invasion and racial segregation is the result.

Minority Report:
The Question of Free Will & Fate
By Mark Trinkle

Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002) stars Tom Cruise as John Anderton, an agent of a division of the government known as PreCrime. This division uses the abilities of three individuals, the precogs, who are able to see the future (precognition) to prevent murders from occurring. This concept was adapted from Philip K. Dick’s short story. . .

Changing the Magic Trick:
The Prestige and its Roots in Steampunk
By David Wingert

The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006) is a clear example of the steampunk genre in films. The story takes place during the Victorian era and deals with matters of the machine, both its usage and what it could mean for the individual artist or the “magician” who uses it. As the careers of Robert Angier and Alfred Borden progress, these matters of the steam-powered machine remain at the forefront. This is a time where originality is weakening and steam powered machines are growing.

Exit Through the Gift Shop:
How the Existence of New Media Affects the ‘Existencilism’ of Street Art

In Banksy’s 2010 film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, the renowned street artist allows the audience to experience the interworking of the underground street art culture. Part of the allure of film is the visibility it gives to the underground street art culture: the mysteriousness, the shadows, the secrecy, the illegality, and the pseudonyms. Audiences tap into a realm that is unknown or, at most, only whispered about. Exit Through the Gift Shop not only explores the draw of the underground culture but also how easily it can be tainted with fame and exposure in the mainstream. It takes very little for an underground movement to be spoiled and, like photos being processed in a darkroom, the art of the underground is damaged once it is brought into the light.

Digital Storytelling Project: This is Italy.

At the heart of every journey, there are foods, landscapes, art and lifestyles. Follow our journey into the warm and beautiful culture of Italy as we explore the Tuscan life through these four distinct aspects. All footage was taken from students in Messiah College's May 2012 Italy Cross-Cultural course: Italian Cityscapes.

Catfish: The Untold Story of Facebook

Social networks are changing human interactions in a way that was previously inconceivable. Our ideas of friendships, romantic relationships, privacy, and even our own identities are transforming through our use of New Media technology. In the film Catfish (2010, Joosh and Schulman), the protagonists are faced with such issues as they traverse the frontier of online relationships. They quickly learn that people often aren’t how they portray themselves on Facebook, something that I have also found to be true. The film raises questions about the importance of an ethical use of social networks and the implications that can follow when used for other intentions. Catfish reveals the complicated nature of Internet relations and gives us a glimpse into our increasingly computer-mediated futures.

"Come and Dream with Me"
Hugo: Nostalgia for the Origins of Cinema

Hugo (2011) is a modern yet nostalgic Martin Scorsese (1942 - ) adventure film, following a young boy and girl in early 1930s Paris as they try to solve the mystery of George Méliès (1861-1938), the innovative film genius. Before displaying his surviving fantastical films, the French filmmaker tells his audience, “My friends, I address you all tonight as you truly are; wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, magicians... Come and dream with me.” The 84th Academy Awards ceremony seemed to beckon its audience to do the same; it invited us to savor the magic of cinema, for it was a festival of nostalgia, honoring films that pay tribute to the early days of movie making and spectatorship.

A Legacy Intertwined:
Christopher Nolan and his Dark Knight

Over the years there have been many cinematic interpretations of many different superheroes. Since the 40’s these characters have been seen on screens both large and small around the world. Batman, as one of the first, and most popular, comic book super heroes, has had more than his fair share of cinematic interpretations over the years. In fact, he’s had more films and TV shows made about him than any other comic book super hero. As of the 2000’s, the super hero movie has really come into its own, with films like X-Men and Spiderman 2 showing that comic book movies can be taken seriously. It was only a matter of time before another interpretation of Batman was on the way. Director Christopher Nolan brings the character of Batman to the screen with an understanding of the classical roots of the character.

Explosive Beginnings:
The Hurt Locker Opening Scene

The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009) is an award-winning film that captured the attention of many filmmakers and audiences. It’s a film about an Army bomb squad in Iraq during the war that must find and disarm bombs in order to protect people. It’s a dangerous job that the main character Sgt. William James takes on. The Hurt Locker focuses on their struggles and victories in Iraq and portrays the life of the Army pretty well. The film not only tells a good story, but also uses many techniques of film to make a wonderful and brilliant movie. The very first sequence in the film portrays these elements of film technique and adds to the meaning of the film as a whole.

Pixar: Bringing the Pixel to Life

Pixar Animation Studios has a short history compared to most other Hollywood motion picture studios. Despite its short existence, Pixar has established itself as an industry leader in CGI and completely digital animated feature films. We’ve decided to take a deeper look at the impact that Pixar has had on the industrial and economic history of animated film.