In The Heat Of The Night: Leah Shifrel          

SLAP SCENE  

This scene has many different aspects to it, including racism, humanism and astonishing direction.

The scene starts with Gillespie and Tibbs driving through Endicott’s cotton field and looking out of the window and seeing what we think Tibbs could have been. Gullispie says “None of that for you, huh, Virgil.” The sheriff is indicating that he believes that Virgil is arrogant. But what we see on Virgil’s face is that he is not arrogant but that he seems ashamed of his people. We then see Tibbs and Gillespie drive up to a big mansion, which in its size and classical form, harkens back to the Old South and to the days of slavery.  This further emphasizes Tibb’s feeling of emotional disturbance. As they walk to the front to the front door, we still a little statute of a smiling jockey in blackface, a symbol of racing. Gillespie pats its head. Tibbs stops, we don’t even see his face. Gillespie then asks Tibbs if he knows something the sheriff doesn’t, showing that perhaps Tibbs has more power than Gillespie.  

A black servant then guides them to the greenhouse. When they get there, Endicott asks if they’d like a drink. Gillespie says no, but then Tibbs then says “Yes, something soft,” showing that maybe Tibbs is trying show he is equal to these white men and can also use a black servant. Endicott compares a type of flower that needs a lot of care to “the negro,” which attempts to put Tibbs in his place, countering the way Tibbs sees himself.  He then says Mr. Colbert, the victim, didn’t understand that. He’s implying that Colbert brought it upon himself because he treated the black man too well. Tibbs smiles at that because he thinks Endicott showed his hand and are a possible suspect.

Then he tries to nail Endicott to the murder by having Endicott say, in front of Gillespie, that the soil in the pot is called “fern root,” the very piece of evidence Tibbs found in the car. Endicott asks why they came.  The rooster crows just as Endicott realizes that Tibbs and Gillespie see him as a potential suspect. Tibbs then asks was Colbert in the greenhouse last night, about midnight. Endicott, angry that a black man could ever accuse the most powerful white man in the town of murder, Endicott slaps him. Tibbs, out of anger of being disrespected and being classified as every other black man, Tibbs slaps him back.

Gillespie doesn’t know what he is going to do about it because he’s caught between Tibbs and Endicott, he’s caught between his prejudices and his new respect for Tibbs.

Out at the car, Tibbs asks for more time and says “I can pull that fat cat down and bring him right off this hill.” Gillespie says, “Oh, boy, you’re just like the rest of us, ain’t ya.” The sheriff means that Tibbs is being judgmental and almost being racist, just not to blacks but to whites. Because Tibbs thinks because Endicott is mean, nasty, owns servants, looks down upon blacks and is “a fat cat” that Endicott killed Colbert. But Gillespie has pointed that he’s suspecting someone based on his own prejudice. This shows that Tibbs is not just an angelic black people to save all these black people but that he is human and prejudiced just like everyone else in our world. Tibbs now must overcome that prejudice to figure out the real murderer.

The soundtrack to this scene is well done. It starts with the theme song,  “In the Heat of the Night,” as we’re going through the cotton field.  Quincy Jones’ soundtrack to this Cotton field adds an attitude of work to Norman Jewison’s direction.  The slow, rhythmic, soulful song fits with the cotton pickers.

The cinematography in the scene is very traditional which fits with the theme of this scene of a man who can’t escape tradition versus a man who is defying tradition.

RUN LOLA RUN                                      

BY LEAH SHIFREL

Run Lola Run is a film that addresses the concepts of chance and the butterfly effect. Lola has a goal which she clearly sticks with throughout the film. Her boyfriend Manni left money he owes a drug dealer on a train, and the bag was picked up by a homeless man. Lola’s goal is to get the money Manni owes the drug dealer, and she wants to do this out of her love for Manni. All her actions in the film are to achieve her goal. Her methods are different from anything that is normal. There are no rules or guidelines. If people she cares about die, she gets to start over. If an outcome is undesirable, she starts again, much like in a video game. She gets three trials.

The butterfly effect occurs when a small action causes a large event. In Run Lola Run, this happens on numerous occasions. For example, Lola, for the duration of the movie, runs. When she runs, in all three trials she passes an old lady with a stroller. The first time she bumps into her, and the woman yells at Lola. Then we see the woman’s future in a flash forward, where her baby is taken away from her and she is an alcoholic. In the second trial, Lola passes the woman without bumping into her, and the woman is seen in a flash forward winning the lottery.

In the third trial, Lola passes the woman and we see in a flash forward that the woman ends up running away from her husband and finding religion. In each trial, just by having Lola encountering this woman in different ways, the woman’s future is completely altered.

Another example of the butterfly effect -- and there are several in the movie -- takes place when a young man on a bicycle pedals past her and asks if she wants to buy his bike. A flash forward shows him being beaten, going to the hospital and marrying his nurse. In the second trial, the man on the bike is shown pedaling past her. The flash forward shows him killing himself. In the third trial, the man on the bike races ahead of Lola. He is then shown stopping for lunch and meeting the homeless man who took Manni’s money. He sells the bike to him.

Chance is a consistent theme in Run Lola Run. We see that Lola has really good luck -- almost to the point of her situation being supernatural. In every action, there seems to be some sort of chance outcome. For instance, in every trial there is an ambulance and a pane of glass being carried by workmen. In the first trial, Lola has the money in her hands and is around the corner from Manni when she ends up by the  ambulance, which narrowly misses crashing into the pane of glass.

In the second trial, Lola passes the ambulance and asks to ride in it, which distracts the driver, causing him to crash into the pane of glass. In the third trial, Lola enters the ambulance from the back of the vehicle as it avoids the pane of glass.

Another example of chance occurs in the third trial when Lola places the same bet on a roulette table twice, winning the money she needs for Manni against all odds. In addition, in the second trial, Lola robs her father’s bank to get the money for Manni. The police are called and are outside the door, waiting to nab the thief. But because she looks young and innocent, they mistake Lola for a passing pedestrian and let her walk on.

Run Lola Run’s overarching message is that life is random and everyone deserves a second chance. This is clearly throughout the film with the butterfly effect and the recurring theme of chance.  

Misogyny Within Horror Films by Leah Shifrel

Recently, horror films have been criticized as misogynistic through victimization, sex, and death. Although the film industry attempts to represent a feminist persona through a final girl, it fails due to the previous girls killed. As a result, the horror film industry has sunk to a new low. As  author Kiri Blakeley says in a Forbes magazine piece, “The ’90s was a banner decade for female empowerment in the movies in many genres. Think of the smart, independent, buff, ready-to-kill-if-necessary women from Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Thelma and Louise. Since then, it’s been a bit of a backward slide, say experts.”

Why do horror films still portray women as helpless victims in 2016? Unfortunately, society still sees women as sensitive and vulnerable. Horror films portray women as victims because the audience is supposed to be afraid for the women in these films. As film critic Plexico Gingrich says “The films are effective partially because we are inclined to see women as victims and we want to see them rescued or defended, which the films deny us until the very end.”

In contrast to earlier horror films, the genre today often includes a woman who does not need to be rescued by a man but in the end is able to save herself. This is known as the “final girl.”

So isn’t having a final girl in a horror film a feminist act? My response is no -- not if other women had to die in a sexual way before the final girl saves the day. The girls who die in order to make the appearance of a final girl possible have typically had sex, whereas the final girl is typically a virgin. The subtext of a lot of horror films, then, is that having sex as a 20-something-year-old is a terrible act, and being a virgin should be rewarded. “Every time you have sex, or are even attracted to someone, you indirectly acknowledge your eventual death,” Gingrich says.“Horror films tend to emphasise these connections between sex and death by doing things like having big strong men with giant knives chase pretty young girls….Once you show someone having sex, you pretty much have to kill them. Sex and death: you can’t have one without the other!”

It is not a surprise that most horror films are made by men. The perspective of these films, then, is strongly influenced by the male point of view.  "Horror reflects society. What we probably need are more thoughtful horror films that speak directly to female experiences.” says Emine Saner in the Guardian newspaper. In other words, the film industry needs more women directors and writers in making horror movies.

Why should we care? Why not just accept that these are just movies?  Audiences are influenced by the screen. When audiences repeatedly see women killed and abused in sexual ways, it this behavior becomes acceptable. Society thinks it’s OK to treat women as weak and vulnerable, and the need for powerful female role models and a feminist persona disappears..

 http://www.ruthlessreviews.com/22644/women-in-horror-movies/

THE RACE TO EQUALITY IN HOLLYWOOD

By Leah Shifrel

           

When the Oscars were first established, they represented the unification of the film industry. Now, that industry once again faces controversy. The fight is public and divisive. And it centers on race.

Out of the 20 actors nominated in the 2016 Academy Awards, not one is black. Why is this?

The problem starts with the roles written for African Americans. In most films in which there is a main character who is black, the theme is race. The films Selma, The Help, and 12 Years a Slave, for example, have African Americans in leading roles and all are historical films about race and oppression.

We rarely see an action or adventure movie with a black actor in a leading role. This is because the film industry caters to its post popular demographic: Young white males. In fact, almost one-quarter of movie-goers are between the ages of 25 and 39, according to movieguide.org. This is the highest percentage of movie-goers. In addition, 50 percent of all movie-goers are male, and 58 percent are white.

So what’s the solution? Screenwriters should create films where race does not matter. The protagonist’s race is irrelevant. For example, in Flight, which starred Denzel Washington, an African American, the pilot could easily have been another race. The theme of the film did not focus on race but instead looked at other issues. And Denzel Washington was nominated for best actor.

In contrast, Matt Damon, who is white,  plays a strong, determined astronaut in The Martian. This role could easily have been played by Jamie Foxx, who is black, or another strong actor of color.

Historical dramas are important and when done well, beautiful. But black actors should have more opportunities to play fictional people in films that address issues other than race.

At a time when race is becoming a divisive issue in Hollywood, it would be in the best interest of the 

film industry if screenwriters, producers, casting directors, directors and studios were to open their 

minds to a new genre of film that is color blind.