Ideology

Define ideology

Ideology
A body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class or culture These are present in any human enterprise including filmmaking

Ideology
Art to give pleasure vs. art to teach
Examples
Documentary Propaganda Commercials Pretty Woman

Ideology
Even the most lighthearted film has an ideological perspective - one side is right, more attractive than the other

Ideology
What varies in films is how explicit the ideology is presented

Leni Riefenstahl directing Triumph of the Will

Ideology
Neutral
Entertainment for entertainments sake

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

Ideology
Implicit
Slanted but nobody spells out the moral of the story Must infer what characters stand for Majority of films

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Ideology
Explicit
Job is to teach and persuade besides entertain

Ideology
Stars can tell us what the value system of a film is

Dirty Harry

Training Day

Ideology
Left - Center- Right

Philadelphia, Stand By Me & Rambo

Ideology
Left

Collective and communal Human behavior is learned and can be changed Flexible in judgments Religion & sex are private - often skeptical or critical of organized religion Future = hope Cooperative effort to make progress Identify with poor and disenfranchised - romanticize gangsters & outsiders Global perspective

Ideology
Right
Emphasize the difference among people - respect authority Character is inherited Absolute in judgment Religion accorded privileged status Veneration of the past Open market and competition as opposed to collective effort Identify with the establishment Patriotic Family is sacred

Ideology
Center
Can learn from both sides

Stand By Me

Ideology
Other factors:
Culture

Censored in the Middle East: Syriana & Brokeback Mountain

Ideology
Other factors:
Culture

Ideology
Other factors:
Religion

The Last Temptation of Christ, & The Chronicles of Narnia & The Passion of the Christ

Ideology
Other factors:
Ethnicity

Ideology
Other factors:
Feminism

Ideology
Other factors:
LBGT Sensibility

As Good As It Gets, South Parks Big Gay Al, The Talented Mr. Ripley & But Im a Cheerleader

Ideology
Tone
Manner of presentation and general atmosphere

Elf

Ideology
Acting style Genre Voice-over Music

L.A. Confidential & Battle of Algiers

Ideology
Acting style Genre Voice-over Music

Goodfellas & Dances with Wolves

Ideology
Degree of explicitness? How to tell the good guys from the bad? Use of stars? Cinematic techniques? Is protagonist left, center or right? Cultural values? Ethnicity? Religion? Sex? Women? Genre conventions? Does the film reinforce the characters beliefs or mock them?

Ideology
Harold & Maude, 1971
Dir. By Hal Ashby w/ Ruth Gordon & Bud Cort Total commercial flop when released but became a cult favorite, playing for over 3 years at one theater Black comedy meets antiestablishment sentiment to celebrate the unconventional Originally developed by screenwriter Colin Higgins as a masters thesis

Ideology
Ruth Gordon recalled in her autobiography, Ashby "followed the Gertrude Stein theory: chronology has nothing to do with anything. We shot where and when and what Hal said to. Hal is his own man. Do you care about sequence? Not me. We don't think in sequence, we rarely talk in sequence, we don't rehearse a play in sequence, so why shoot a script that way?"

Ideology
Hal Ashby (1928-1988)
Grew up Mormon Began as an editor (Best Editing Oscar in 1967 for In the Heat of the Night) Edited for Norman Jewison who recommended him to direct The Landlord, his first film Harold & Maude was his second film after the screenwriter saw The Landlord His films are hard to classify Use of music, biting humor & unusual camera placement

Ideology
After a string of offbeat hits, his career and personal life went into decline after the Jaws/Star Wars years no one wanted quirky, thoughtful films Always difficult to work with, he made a string of questionable films after Being There before he died of cancer at 59 Cited by Judd Apatow & Wes Anderson as a major influence