How far do the films you have studied for this topic offer an analysis of the social issues they present?
The films i have studied, La Haine, Chungking Express and City of God all portray an analysis of the social issues that affect the cities and the characters that are presented in the film. In the opening of the City of God, we are presented with extreme close ups of a knife cutting and killing chickens. This can be seen as a representation of how life in the favelas in Rio De Janeiro, showing with the close ups that life is on a 'knife edge'. This illustration of the social issues analysis's how dangerous favelas are, where life expectancy for men is extremely low, due to crime and the gangs. Moreover, the fast, non-diegetic samba music, a stereotypical Brazilian sound, again points to how the problems and the social issues are typically Brazilian. However, the fast music could also be used to highlight how fast paced life in the favelas is, suggesting a key social issue is the lack of roots because no one can stop still in the favela, because, like the chicken, shown with the handheld, quickly cut shots; everyone is being chased. This successfully analyses a key social issue that, in a sense, everyone is being hunted, whether it's from the gangs or the police; and that their is no escape from the favelas.
then i will expand on to saying how their is no escape etc etc........
Compare the challenges presented to the spectator by different experimental and expanded film/ video works.
Spectators of experimental cinema are often challenged due to differences with it and the mainstream. The purely abstract Stellar by Stan Brakhage, challenged me as on first viewing it appears completely meaningly and had dismissed it as a purely aesthetic film.
