Wait, Wendy and Lucy is Considered a Chick Flick?

Well, I had no clue, after watching the film and prior to starting this blog post, that Wendy and Lucy, is supposed to be a chick flick. But in any case, Wendy and Lucy is an obvious antidote to the traditional chick flick. First thing's first: taking into account that our reading for today lists such films as The Devil Wears Prada and The Princess Diaries as chick flicks, one obvious difference is the class of the main characters (assuming that the main characters of the latter films are upper class, as the reading suggests). Wendy is far from upper class, as is seen in her roughly $500 budget for her drive to Alaska that is shown with the pedestal shot of the money spent/the money left. Aside from that, she is sleeping in her car, and is driven to shoplift due to her lack of money, which is, of course, a vital part of the plot. Now, I haven't seen them (well, I did see The Princess Diaries as a wee lad at some point or another), but I'm guessing the main characters of traditional chick flicks do not have any of the same troubles as Wendy, nor do they really have to worry about much of anything, except for their own materialism. Meanwhile, Wendy spends the whole film just trying to get by, and find her dog in the process. And then, there is the heartbreaking ending, in which she decides to let Lucy have a nice life, rather than trying to keep up with feeding her, and all of those other taking-care-of-dogs responsibilities. The film sets a really great example for, well, anyone who watches it, as far as what is really important in this weird thing called life. It works as an antidote in its not falling victim to the classic chick flick, filled with expensive objects/"perfect" people that Hollywood likes to showcase.

I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow

I want to look at the scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou? in which the film's protagonists, calling themselves the Soggy Bottom Boys, are in the recording studio recording what is soon to be their hit, "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." The scene, beginning at roughly 23:00, when the characters walk into the studio, opens up with a conversation in which George Clooney convinces the blind man to record them. During this conversation, the camera cuts back and forth between the Soggy Bottom Boys and the blind man. It then cuts to a shot of the characters (predominately Clooney) inside of the actual studio, where they are recording their diegetic song. At about 25:13, the camera cuts to a shot of the blind recording engineer, emphasizing his enjoyment of the song that they are playing. I think it is really interesting that the Coen brothers chose to show, whether deliberately or not, the reflection of the protagonists in the window. It made the scene feel more real than had it cut to a shot from inside the control room. The most interesting shot of this scene is when the camera cross-cuts to, and then zooms in on the song being recorded on a record. The quality of the music changes, because of the move to a different room, and it adds a new layer to what is happening in the scene.

Overall, I believe this scene was highly original and important to the film. The Coen brothers had a strong focus on the music used within the film, and "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" played a vital role in the freedom of the protagonists, so it makes sense that they would put an emphasis on this scene. Not to mention, it is a fun scene to watch in general, with its multiple cuts to different parts of the recording studio and with how animated the protagonists are while performing the song.

The Magazine Scene in My Own Private Idaho

I was pretty confused (and I believe rightly so) when the magazine scene came about in My Own Private Idaho. I just assumed that the film was cutting to a new scene - which it is, obviously - but when Keanu Reeves broke the fourth wall, I was surprised, in an awesome way. I think the scene was incredibly fresh in its approach. It gave the film a whole new layer and fully captured my attention, as I wanted to see where the film was going with it. It proved to be a fantastic way to introduce Keanu's character and his feelings on what he does. Then, not only did Keanu break the fourth wall, he pulls Mike into the scene, on his own cover of a magazine, along with others on their own. I thought it was a fantastic way to explain some of the concepts of the film in a non-traditional way. Instead of simply adding in a scene full of dialogue between the two characters and others that happened to be around, Van Sant created - well, I am not sure he completely created it - but he found a fresh way of propelling the story forward, that I am sure caught most viewers' attention the same way it caught mine.

Plenty of films have made use of breaking the fourth wall to interact with their viewers, but My Own Private Idaho did it in a way that was new and fresh for the time, when it was released. It was extremely useful in providing some background on Keanu Reeves' character and showing how he differed from the other characters in the film, particularly Mike, the character that he goes on the road with.