The Celebration
Use the guide below to write a critical analysis of The Celebration.
Tips for Writing a Film Analysis
There are three basic types of film analyses: character analysis, narrative analysis, and stylistic analysis. You are required to write TWO of the three types of analysis throughout the semester for a total of 2 short essays roughly 250-500 words in length. I offer reflection questions for each of the films that might help you narrow down your topic. These reflection questions, however, are used to guide our class discussion so you are not required to use these particular questions for your essay. What I want to be sure of, however, is that by the end of the semester, I know you can have an intelligent and stimulating discussion of narrative structure, various stylistic elements of film, and character analysis using the proper terminology.
However, just because you are focusing on character development, or plot structure, or a particular stylistic element such as sound, cinematography or editing, does not mean that you aren’t also interpreting the cultural, philosophical or socio-political meaning of the film at the same time. For example, if you choose to analyze the character of Latika in Slumdog Millionaire, you will most likely being interpreting her role as a damsel in distress and analyzing that both in the context of the history of cinematic storytelling and in the cultural context of the Indian tradition of arranged marriage. If you are analyzing the narrative structure of City of God, issues of race and class will surely be integrated into that analysis. If you choose to focus on the editing in Persona, you will probably discuss Bergman’s existential critique of how humans make meaning and construct identities.
Even though this is not a writing intensive course, writing about films helps you understand your own response to a movie better, helps you convince others why you like or dislike a particular movie, and makes connections between the movie and the culture in which it was produced.
Character Analysis:
Before you begin writing, answer the following questions:
—Who are the central characters? Who are the minor characters?
— What do they represent in themselves and in relation to each other? Do they reflect strength? Compassion? Moral indifference? Callousness?
— Are there props or clothing or particular speech patterns that reveal something meaningful about their personalities?
— How do the characters develop throughout the film? What causes them to change?
— How do their actions create a story with a meaning or a constellation of meanings?
— Is there a “spectator surrogate” in the story?
— With whom do you identify? Pay particular attention to how and when the camera puts you in the point of view of a particular character.
—Notice if the story is told from an objective point of view or from the subjective point of view of one or two characters.
— Are there clear-cut heroes and villains or are they drawn in more ambiguous terms?
Narrative Analysis:
Begin by asking yourself how the narrative of the film is constructed. Does it have a storyline? If not, why not?
— Is the story told chronologically, or does the plot rearrange events in an unusual temporal order?
— Is there a reason for that particular plot structure?
—What in the story is left out in the actual plot construction?
— Are there reasons for including some material and omitting other material?
— Does the way the story is told become a prominent feature of the film and thus, a central factor in an analysis of it?
— Who narrates the film? Is there voice-over narration?
— Is the movie concerned with time and history, which might influence how the plot is constructed? Does it use flashbacks or, more rarely, flash forwards?
—What propels the story forward: a mystery, as in Donnie Darko, Memento or Shutter Island? A quest to find something as in Raiders of the Lost Ark? the pursuit of love as in so many Romantic Comedies or something much more complicated?
— Are there formal features, patterns, or organizational structure son the story that stand out? A series of contrasts? Repetitions? Disconnected fragments?
— Is there closure or are you left with serious questions about the story?
Stylistic elements:
In a stylistic analysis, you might choose to focus on a particular aspect of the cinematography, the use of color, the editing style, the use of sound or many other distinctive aspects of the film’s style. Here are a few guiding questions that might help narrow your focus.
— Are there particular camera angles that are favored in the film? High angle shots? Low angle?
— Does the height of the frame correspond to a normal relationship to the people and objects before the camera: are they at eye level more or less? Or does the camera seem to be placed at an odd height, too high or too low?
— Does the camera frame seem unbalanced (canted)? Is this meant to reflect the perspective of a particular character or suggest that the world is out of kilter?
—Do sounds or events often occur off-screen so that we have to infer what is happening beyond the frame of the film or are we allowed to see and hear the main action at all times?
—Is the editing fundamentally continuous and suggestive of a unified world? Are there times when that continuity is disrupted? If so, why?
— Are there scenes where the pacing of the editing is sped up or slowed down to produce a certain emotional response in the audience?
— What transitions between shots are used? Dissolves, fade-outs/fade-ins/wipes?
— Are there establishing shots to each scene or are you left a bit confused as to where you are in space and time at the beginning of a scene?
— Is there a particular point-of-view we are asked to identify with?
— Are there images that seem to have no place in the story? A movie about war might cut inexplicable to an image of tall grass waving the breeze. Is this symbolic? Part of a character’s memory? a way to break from the intense action?
— What is the palette of the film? What colors dominate?
— Do the settings correspond accurately to the genre of the film?
— What role does silence play in the film? Are there sound motifs associated with certain characters?
