Thursday, April 3, 2008

CT 205: JOURNAL EIGHT

Gummo - Harmony Korine, 1997

JOURNAL EIGHT: DUE APRIL 08th
STORY (chapter eight)

Compare and contrast the qualities that typify realistic and formalistic narratives by analyzing an example of each. How can a viewer be certain the narrative content matches the narrative style of a film? View the two clips below. Discuss the narrative content and narrative style of each.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Kyle Dabrowski said...

Gummo doesn't use a voice over like Dogville to give narration the voices of the characters in gummo do that enough for us, Where as in Dogville we have to be given some insights into what is going on. Gummo is realism while dogville is formalism so dogville needs the Voice over narration to help the viewers along.

Anonymous said...

The qualities that tipify realism and formalism is fact that they are both menat to give off a certain perception. To me both are a forms of magic. The illusion created by realism by using straight forward shots or non altered shots is to give the impressiontthat it reely happened and to make it belevable. Formalism takes reality and puts a spin on it, which causes the perception of what is real and ficton is altered and left questioning which parts of the film actually occured, if any. The narrative content between Gummo and Dogville is Gummo is realism and doesn't necessarily needs narration to explain whats going on because the scene explains itself. Dogville is formalism because it is a made up surrounding with many strange things going on at once and to keep up, the Narration aspect was necessary to explain what is going on.

Yung D said...

The movie Dogville is definitely formalist for it has the action being in sync with the narrator. The narrator explains what we see in the shot and this make the film extremely formalist. The movie Gummo is a realistic styled film because the movement through space and the sound is actually coming from the characters for us to understand the what is going on in the story. Gummo didn't need voice over like Dogville to get the viewers to understand the movie.

Keston said...

In Gummo, the directors use a realistic approach by using space and diagetic sound in the film. It does not have voice overs unlike Dogville. Dogville is a formalistic film which uses a voice over to explain the actions of the characters. This is a formalist approach.

Anonymous said...

Amandeep,
In the clip Dogville it seemed to me that nothing was really going on. The reason why this might have been is because there was not really anything to catch my attention, the lady was quiet at one point, there was no sound neither any talking from the characters themsevles but there was a voice from the background of the clip discussing what was going on in the opening seen. I would have to say this clip is a form of formalism.

In the Clip Gummo I would have to say it is a form of realism. The reason for this is because in the opening seen you hear the water and this is something that is really happening, it basically caught my attention. Afterwards the boys mom then comes in and puts the shampoo on his hair and again this is something that is really happening.

Anonymous said...

scene I saw. The chain scene around the actresses neck, from slavery maybe but not believable in modern times. So i would class that as formalism (AD)

Anonymous said...

Gummo, from the scene that I saw it is realism why? because yes while taking a tub bath one can eat or drink in the tub, we tend to wash our hair while taking a shower but can also be done while in the bath tub, so i wold say that all that was shown was real these things can happen from time to time. The camera gives the audience a wide shot of all that is in the room, so we kind get a feel and put our self in the place of that bathroom. The dirty water in the tub, that is a different story, but i guess all what once you have been sitting in it for a while it will get dirty but not that dirt.
scene I saw. The chain scene around the actresses neck, from slavery maybe but not believable in modern times. So i would class that as formalism (AD)

Iddan said...

Both realistic and formalistic narratives are manipulated and have patterns, but realistic narratives try to hide this by making events seem random, like real life. Formalistic narratives, on the other hand, does not hide these manipulations, but instead makes them more obvious. The clip from Gummo uses the realistic narrative style. There are a series of seemingly unrelated, random events. Dogville uses a formalistic narrative because it gives us the plot at every stage, telling us that this is obviously a story.

Anonymous said...

In Doggville the narrative content is strictly formalistic,the narrative and gave mood to the theme of the story. The play form gives the viewer a different feel to the story-line but it does capture you in by the acting skills and focus on the characters at hand no other elements where going on on stage at the time the actors were setting up the scene. But in the composition of the Clip of Gummo there is a form of realism that tells a story about the changes a child makes while taking a bath. The clip gave a small narrative and insight to the characters mind state and set up at home.
It is a really realistic point of view but outside of the home the two boys speaking it was more of a funny realistic ora between the two boy characters.