"Daughters of the Dust"

Daughters of the Dust, a film by Julie Dash explores the theme of the importance of knowing one's heritage and using it as a way of recognizing the importance of family and tradition. This theme is surfaced from the use of the setting, costumes, and the acting/blocking style. The setting of the film for instance, is on an island not far from the shores of the mainlainds of South Carolina and Georgia. For the bulk of the film, most if not all of the action takes place on the same beach. This is significant because much of the plot involves characters either wanting to leave the island for good or coming back to visit. However, the beach is a common ground for al of the family members both old and young who share most of their time together there. In several recurring seens, characters run across the sands of the beach in enjoyment showing how the island symbolizes the strand that links them all together as family.
Dash also uses costumes to emphasize the importance of family tradition and essentially, unity. We see this through the repetition of the color white in all of the costumes. From the youngest children to the oldest, all of the characters where some form of white. For instance, the girls wear long plain white dresses as well as their mothers. The young boys wear white shirts and the men wear dark pants ad white shirts. This choice of color in their costumes shows to be a visual representation of the family's togetherness and suggests that unification is a significant part of the Gullah culture.
Lastly, the stylistic acting and blocking used in the film further employs this same theme. The style of acting is very theatrical throughout the film. Specificaly during a scene where Nana, the matriarch speaks to the rest of the family about leaving their values behind to start a new life on mainlands and how that shouldn't forget about their strong heritage. During this scene, her words are filled with conviction and wisdom and are expressed through her poignant body language. In the same scene, one of the male characters, Eli dramatically falls to the ground in rage and reaches out his arms while exasperating his deep emotions and crying. The theatrical styled acting in the film is used as a medium to express the characters since of pride in their heritage and their constant need to be unified.

"High Fidelity" A look at Structure

In Stephen Frear's, "High Fidelity" the structure of the film plays a significant role in the revealing of the storyline. One very significant element of the storyline is that it is non-linear. The main character, Rob Gordon plays as a narrator from an omnicient perspective. He tells the various stories of his bad relationships from age 14, through college, and into his adulthood. The plot unravels in such a way to reveal Rob's unsuccessful relationships through his eyes. The structure of the film appears to be linear in the beginning, but jumps into extended flashbacks when Rob starts to recall a past relationship. Another significant part of the structure is how Rob narrates because he addresses the audience directly several times by looking directly into the camera when he's talking.
The non- linear format of the film, makes it easier to understand why he has such problems in his relationships, although it is difficult for him to understand. It seems that he recalls things in his past to reflect on why his love life has become what is is at the present time. Since the story us essentially told through the perspective of Rob, it alters the perception of how the audience interprets the plot and more importantly, the other characters that are in his life. He looks at everyone through two perspectives, his conscious and his subconcious. It is through his subconscious that he addresses his real thoughts to the audience, but almost never to the other characters whom he encounters. So, there is almost a textual and contextual storyline to the film. Essentially, it suggests that his love life is unsuccessful because of the choices he makes and the way he treats the women he's with. As reflected in the structure of the film, his love life is filled with twists and turns that dont end well for him.

''Me, You, and Everybody We Know"

After watching, "Me, You and Everybody We Know", I realized that there were several things that I both understood and misunderstood about the film. There were also some aspects that I found to be very interesting. The film seem to have several recurring themes as well. One being that peoples relationships with one another aren't always as engaging or deep as they would like them to be. A primary example of this is shown through Richard's relationship with his two sons. For most of the film it seems he tries very hard to get their attention by talking and spending with them despite their careless efforts to do the same with him. It seems he desires their affection amd wants to give them attention but they do not care to be intimate with him. Even when they wont talk to him, he still forces them to go out on a walk with him. Another theme that surfaced was the idea of people feeling free to say exactly what they feel, expressing their raw feelings without being direct or intimate. Essentially, the film suggests that people use filters and barriers through language in order to cover truth so as to get satisfaction without the need of another's approval. This was shown primarily through the dialogue between Richard and Christine who's relationship is very unusual. When these characters encounter eachother there is usually and awkward or confusing exchange of words, leaving one or both feeling lost.
One technical aspect that I notice really enhanced the overall tone of the film was the continuous use of predominantly natural lighting. I also noticed that pink was a color that continuousy reappeared and seemed to be a motif that represented curiosity. Christine is surrounded by this color, in her clothes, her shoes, and even in here home. I feel that she is a very curious character, because of her inquiries and the way she pursues Richard. I also noticed the soft, dreamy piano music which wa splayed throughtout most of the film which seemed to play on a tone of curiosity as well as innocence. Birds were another motif, although I haven't drawn any conclusions about what they represent in the film besides a lost hope of some sort. One thing that I realized about this film was the prolonged distance and disconnection between the characters. For most of the film, most of the characters seem disconnected from the others, and looked to be perfect strangers in an odd world. It wasnt until the latter part of the film that connections started to be revealed between characters.