2010s Holy Girl

The reason the Holy Girl was selected for the film was because the subject matter the film portrays. The film was selected due to the nature of the film being somewhat dark because Amalia gets molested by Doctor Jano and confuses it for something involving her spiritual awakening. Amalia also believes that Jano is in need of saving from eternal damnation in hell. This film is important because the film involves Amalia quest to save the doctor and also she seems to develop an infatuation with her molester. The film is important because in a way it involves the Catholic faith and issues of molestation but, it could also be used to discuss how the church had issues confronting molestation in the past, now a days the church has tried to push these issues under the rug, which should not be the case. These issues of molestation and faith must be dealt with because if we do not confront these past issues, they will continue to haunt those tormented by these past conflicts. The film was also selected because another issue today is a breach of doctor, patient agreement regarding the issues of feeling their patients. Janos kind of uses Amalia’s trust of him against her and uses her sexuality for his advantage. Amalia later begins to show signs of supposed feelings for the doctor, now wanting to use her newly developed sexuality against the doctor, who used his sexuality against her. Another important issue the film confronts is the issue of dealing with sexual maturity and coming of age, Amalia learns of sexuality and it begins to prosper against the backdrop of the film. Amalia learns of her sexuality which they typically avoid talking about in a setting involving the church. This was also shown for the mature, dark subject matter exhibited in the film, Amalia learns about her sexuality and power, she has.

Unit 11 Babadook

The concepts of gender and horror have long been intertwined. Gone are the days where women can’t do anything but scream and be murdered in the shower by a cross-dressing, mother obsessed serial killers. Now women in horror can fight back and not just be sex objects or annoying characters to be killed off, an example of this would be Shelly Duvall in the Shining as an example for both cases. Amelia in the Babadook first refuses to accept that her, son has seen the creature and doesn’t believe that it’s after them. She is a prime example of the old horror trope, that she is an ignorant woman that refuses to believe the supernatural horror that is attacking her and her son. Amelia realizes that her son’s fears are real and manifesting upon her, when after she rips up the book, it rematerializes in front of her, after she rips up the book and even burns it. Amelia then becomes the possessed host for the creature that’s been tormenting her, and he makes her kill her dog, like the book predicted. Amelia’s son uses her possession against her and makes a trap for the Babadook in the cellar, making Amelia vomit the monster out of her. This gives rise to Amelia getting the courage inside of her to stop being defenseless and break the stereotype of horror female, and confront the demon to save her family. Amelia banishes the demon from her home but later it’s revealed that she has the demon captured in the cellar, so it can’t hurt her anymore.

Unit 10: 2000s Dogtooth

The scene I chose to analyze for the shock value of the film is the scene where Christina tricks the older sister into giving her cunnilingus. The scene is really graphic and the only reason Christina wants this sexual favor from the sister is that, she is dissatisfied with intercourse with the brother. The scene starts with Christina and the sister being centered in the frame, they are both wearing plain clothes. The music is quiet, which adds to the awkwardness of this scene in particular. The shots for this scene are most wide-angle, and then they focus on close ups of each of the girls. Christina is using her experience with the outside world, to take advantage of the sister for a headband. It’s even worse because the sister actually agrees to it, and only because of a piece of fabric. The way this scene is presented as close up, personal and awkward only adds to the feeling of voyeurism and disturbing image that the viewer experiences unlike in American cinema. The acting in this style of new-wave Greek cinema adds to this aspect of voyeurism because it’s actual physical acting and doesn’t rely on edited or censored scenes that are often present in cinema from America or many other countries where standards of censorship apply. While this scene is certainly somewhat hard to watch, it’s interesting in the fact that it is so different from the mainstream cinema I’m used too. Although this wave of cinema is certainly fascinating for experiencing a different and less censored version of cinema.