Movies have been around for over a century. In the last fifty years there has been a huge change in several different aspects of film making. One of the changes is the real life issues that arise in films and how society views them. Another change is how technology has evolved over the last five decades. Comparing films such as Voyage to Italy to A Woman Under the Influence and Pleasantville to Avatar will show how society views and technology in film making has changed since 1965.
Voyage to Italy was directed by Roberto Rossellini in 1953. A love story about a married couple who lose their love connection in beautiful Italy. This black and white film shows the lifestyle of couples in the 1950’s. Sleeping in separate rooms was completely normal back then. Some similarities to modern films is the lonely wife, trying to make the best out of a lousy situation. The movie also shared similarity by ending as a happy ending, with the couple in each other arms. The overall story was extremely slow moving with hardly any action. In my opinion, this film would be something to watch to kill the time, but nothing worthwhile. One of the most powerful scenes is when the wife travels to the burial sites alone. She is traumatized by what she sees and without her husband around she is in pure despair. This scene is different than something that would be seen in recent films. The shot of her coming across the dead bodies wasn’t nearly as dramatic or exciting as similar scenes in movies today. I feel that the viewers of the film, when it was released fifty years ago, were used to about that much thrill in a film.
A Woman Under the Influence, directed by John Cassavettes and released in 1974, was a film that touched on real life issues. This film is about a single mother battling mental disorders. The film actually never states what mental disability the mother has, but by her actions it is safe to say that it was either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The mother of two small children is supported by her loving husband until things get too out of hand. The struggles that her husband faces is very unfortunate. This film touched on a very sensitive subject. A subject that wasn’t the main topic of many movies forty years ago. What I really appreciated about this film was the fact that it was the wife who struggled with the mental disorder and the man who took care of her. I feel that in the last few decades this chivalry has lessened. In modern times, relationships and marriages are not the same as they once were. Til death do us part is not how most marriages are any more. The strength this man had was very sad but also very sweet. His love for his wife was not altered because of her disability.
Voyage to Italy and A Woman Under the Influence are interesting films to compare to each other. For example, the relationship between the husbands and wives in each film is extremely different. In A Woman Under the Influence, the husband is very supportive of his wife and he is there for her through thick and thin. Twenty years earlier in Voyage to Italy, the couples showed no affection. They even slept in different rooms as opposed to different beds like the couples in I Love Lucy from the same time period. It is very interesting how in just twenty years, societies acceptance for shared beds and bedrooms have changed. I feel that conservatism lessened over the years. The appearance of color in A Woman Under the Influence also shows change over time. Unlike Voyage to Italy, which was primarily black and white, A Woman Under the Influence was in full color. One thing that was interesting about that film was the fact that there were naked children running around on screen. This is something that would absolutely not be accepted by society today. Child pornography is such a huge crime that even a young female child without a shirt on would be considered taboo and the director along with the crew could face criminal charges. In the 1970’s, sexual abuse wasn’t discussed often publicly, or rarely at all for that matter, which is why it was not a huge deal if a five year old girl ran around stark naked on the screen. Having nude children on the screen in the 1950’s was practically unheard of. That is another change in societal beliefs from the 1950’s to the 1970’s to today.
Technology has also changed dramatically over the last fifty years. Pleasantville was directed by James Cameron in the late 1990’s. At this point in time, blockbuster films were debuting constantly, while smaller independent films rarely made it to the big screen. Pleasantville was one of those conventional blockbusters. Starring Toby McGuire and Reese Whiterspoon, this film was about a brother and sister that got sucked into a 1950’s television show. The teenagers must conform their ways to fit into the town without causing change. However, when change occurred, namely sexual activities, the people started to change as well. This film did a great job combining both black and white along with color. It wasn’t only the technology in the film that stood out, but the message that went along with it as well. The colored and non colored characters reflected what life was really like in the 1950’s with racism and segregation. There is one scene where there is a sign in the window that states, “NO COLOREDS HERE.” This film was very entertaining but also gave a very powerful message that being different is not necessarily a bad thing.
Avatar, also directed by James Cameron and released ten years after Pleasantville, grossed the highest amount of money in the box office than any other film. The computer generated graphics in this film can not compare to any other movie. The story line, on the other hand, had similarities to many films because it was a movie about a man’s love for a woman and the battle he went through to make his dream a reality. Interesting phrasing it that way because the movie itself was based in a fictional land called Pandora. The colors in the film were like nothing I have ever seen before. The fact that this movie was also released as a 3-D version says a lot about how far films have come in the last half century. The technology was so advanced that besides the colors it was hard to tell what was real life and what was created via computer.
Comparing Pleasantville to Avatar is difficult because of how different the cinematography was. In those short ten years, films changed from regular technicolor to 3-D and amazing computer graphics. One thing that was similar about both movies was that the main character had to overcome some obstacle and in the end they succeeded. I feel that these more modern films were more enjoyable to watch because the director was interested in entertaining his audience while telling a story as well. The films from the previous decades were not as visually entertaining as the more modern films. I also feel that by just touching on social issues as opposed to filming movies that were based on real life issues makes for a better watch. Overall, films have changed greatly over time, not only technologically, but also by discussing issues the society faces very rarely. People these days become offended so easily that it is risky to put all the time and money into a film that could have a huge backlash if it focuses on serious social and political views. Most people choose to watch films for entertainment.
Overall, films have changed drastically from 1965 to 2019. While reading other classmates posts over the past three months, I have learned many new things about films I haven’t watched and also from films that I have watched before. It was very helpful to compare what I learned from these films with other students perspectives. Jared, Tamsen, and Julieann picked several of the same films as I and it was very helpful to compare our notes and blog posts to each other. Social and political views are the most common thing I think that have changed, but technology made a huge impact on how films were viewed as well. This class taught me a lot about analyzing different films. Now when I watch movies I actually have an interest in who directed them and look for the underlying message that the movies are presenting. I also think it was interesting how students analyzed the films so differently. It was a very useful class and I hope to use the knowledge I have gained in other classes. I feel that I have learned different writing habits that will help me succeed at other classes. I am very glad I chose to take this course and feel that the benefits I received will stay with me forever.