Welcome, everyone!
This is not the first official blog assignment (it will be posted tomorrow at some point). Rather, this is an opportunity for you to jot down your thoughts about the film clip we watched in class Friday. I mentioned that it was intentional on my part that I screened that particular movie (Cloverfield, 2008) and clip on 9/11, though I don't want to prompt you much more than that. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts and/or critical observations about the clip, or the film in general, if you've seen it.
In case you'd like to see the clip again, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkFcHUvyJ-k
Again, this is not an official assignment, so it won't be graded. Think of it as a type of "soft opening" of our blog. Keep an eye out for our first official assignment tomorrow.
See you all Monday!
Matt
I thought it was funny that the people were just taking pics of the Head of Liberty. You k now that some big event just happened and there could be after shots, yet you decided that it is more important to take a pic of the event. It is interesting that the monster was never fully seen. Life was just normal for everyone at the party and here coming a creature to challenge way they are living. Before everyone was worried about normal stuff, now they are questioning if they can and what exactly is that thing that is acting them.
ReplyDeleteThere seemed to be a lot of big plans, life changes and issues being discussed that seemed important and a lot of commotion, but after a large explosion nearby and a mass panic, everything that seemed so important was suddenly insignificant. After an unknown attacker wreaked havoc within a few seconds everything else on everyone's minds was suddenly wiped away and reality was changed. The mass panic and fear had consumed everyone's mind regardless of where they were and what they were doing Perhaps it was a metaphor for how things were in the wake of 9/11, similar to how Godzilla was inspired by the emotions and fear caused by the attack on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the male characters' first instincts after seeing the news report was to "go get a better look from the roof". Yes I'd be curious but getting a better look at the scene would not be the first thing I wanted to do. I also agree with Reed that as soon as terror came about everyones personal problems were pushed aside and suddenly they all were sharing the same problems/fears of the attack. This brought about panic but also some unity within the city. Some of the people were collaborating to get down to the street level or run away. I am curious to see how this might bring the "love story" into play.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of chaos and confusion during the clip of the initial attack seems fairly similar to footage of the 9/11 events. Buildings are being destroyed, rubble is falling, streets are clouded with dust, and in both cases, Cloverfield and 9/11, the damage and destruction is caused by some unseen monster. 9/11 there were the planes that crashed into the buildings but it had happened so fast many people had no idea what caused it (maybe just caught a glimpse) and in Cloverfield the monster is constantly hidden by buildings and dust so that we only catch glimpses of it until the end of the movie where it is finally shown. A conjecture could be made that for both cases the driving force behind the event is unknown and only once enough time has passed for people to process the situation and what has happened that the true monster is revealed.
ReplyDeleteObviously Cloverfield is a callback and tribute to the Japanese daikaiju movies of the late 50s and early 60s, but this influence is worth noting because of the parallels that can be drawn between that era in Japanese society and our current, post-9/11 America.
ReplyDeleteGodzilla was a response to the nuclear bomb. Cloverfield is a response to the attack on the WTC. The monster literally rips the head off of the Statue of Liberty; that's not a subtle metaphor.
The monster is never fully revealed. It comes from seemingly nowhere, and its appearance baffles the city's leadership and causes mass chaos in the streets. In the film's actual narrative, it disrupts the main character's ability to travel and to find happiness in starting a family with the woman he loves. It's a personification of everything we see as terrorism, in the same way that Godzilla was a destructive, otherworldly force representing the atomic bomb.
It's no secret that superhero movies are the new big thing. It's a bit off-topic, but I think it's important to consider, because it's another parallel to Japanese society in the early 1960s, with the rise of Sentai and manga. Why do we care so much about superpowered human beings? Is it a response to fear, like the Cloverfield monster? What does it mean when Iron Man, in his CGI suit, is flying to Afghanistan and destroying tanks? What's the ramification of Batman delivering a speech about how he has to operate outside the law in order to obtain true justice? It's tough to think about, but there's a connection there to the same emotions that motivate making a film like Cloverfield.
Cloverfield's found footage hook lets us experience tragedy, loss and chaos in a romanticized way without anything actually being at stake, and that's part of its power as a monster movie.
Every time I see monster movies like this, makes me think how small we are. Our figures are so insignificant and fragile. However, we always think humanity is the greatest in this world. In the meantime we create monsters to trigger our nerves, to scare ourselves, to remind that we are nothing but a living creature in this planet.
ReplyDeleteI found it extremely sarcastic when the people in the movie turn the TV on to see what was going on. The news claimed that there was a “big earthquake” happened near the harbor. We like to jump into the conclusion without thinking or seeking for the truth. However, the main characters went to the top to get a better view of what was happening. Curiosity drives us to figure out the truth also lead us to dangerous.
In the whole movie the monster were only seen partly, which greatly arouse the viewers’ curiosity. Human’s instinct is to search the unknown and to revel the mystery. There was a scene in the movie; the head of the statue of liberty fell in the crowd. People who were around it started to take pictures of the head instead of running away. They were scared and shocked but there were something else was stronger than fear that driven the people to stay and took photos.
This reminds me of the quote from H. P.Lovecraft: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
What was the thing that grater then fear? I think is unknown.
The clip from Cloverfield was reminiscent of the reaction that people had to what was happening moments after the events of 9/11. Complete panic, no one knowing what exactly is happening in their city. The monster specifically attacks New York, rips the head off the Statue of Liberty, then goes on a rampage through the city. It bares a striking resemblance to the 9/11 attacks and the way Americans feel about that day. The film is similar to the 1954 Godzilla, and the way that the Japanese had felt about the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Also similar to the 1954 Godzilla film, the monster is not fully shown until the ending of Cloverfield. Up until that point the audience is only shown the aftermath and destruction that the monster caused.
ReplyDeleteI dont know personally I don't like this clip. I think it is a boring and uninteresting representation of a monster, and does not do justice to the idea of what a monster is. But that could be just because I have seen the whole movie and find it very uninteresting. Looking at this from a academic standpoint however I do see a lot of interesting things going on in the clip and how it relates to the attack on 9/11 at the world trade center. The clip takes place in New York, we can see this because of the decapitated head of the statue of liberty. The monster from clover field attacked as quickly and as abruptly as the attack on the world trade center. The found footage style filming of the movie could also be a homage to the many found footage type clips filmed of the world trade center attack on 9/11. The everyday person would not feel the same way about airplanes as a survivor of 9/11 would because we did not see an airplane crash and take the lives of thousands. The director of cloverfield lets the everyday person experience the monstrosity of 9/11 clearly by representing the attack with a huge unknown monster instead of an airplane since to a 9/11 survivor the airplane that struck the world trade center could've been easily seen as a monster.
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