In a 1948 essay, Alexandre Astruc, a French film critic during the French New Wave film period, used the term “caméro-stylo,” which means “camera pen.” In fact, many of the terms related to film came from this time period. In addition to terms, auteur theory, or the thought that some film directors, for example directors John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock, were also authors came about. Two aspects of film that help with the art of storytelling in film are the mise en scène and the cinematography, both of which work hand in hand. Marie Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis, two film professors stated in their book Film: A Critical Introduction that “The mise en scène develops character, supports themes, and creates moods.”(Pramaggiore/Wallis 88) This technique involves the use of setting, the human figure (which includes casting, figure placement, costumes, and character transformations), lighting, and composition. Cinematography deals with camerawork and special effects. The Matrix, a science fiction film directed by the Wachowski brothers and released in 1999, deals with many themes all enhanced through mise en scène and cinematography. One theme in particular shown through these two aspects is authority. Determining authority and how a character responds to it can be noticed through the mise en scène and cinematography.
Along with The Matrix, the films Kick-Ass directed by Matthew Vaughn and No Country for Old Men by the Coen Brothers will compare how mise en scène and cinematography is used. The use of setting in The Matrix is similar to Kick-Ass while in “the matrix” but is very different to that of No Country for Old Men. In The Matrix and Kick-Ass, the film takes place in a big city. The Matrix also takes place on an aircraft while in No Country for Old Men, the setting is out in Texas more in the middle of nowhere and smaller cities.. Also, objects, such as newspapers or bills, are used help determine setting too. Sometimes a character specifically mentions the year or something, for example when Morpheus tells Neo that “the Matrix” takes place in 1999 but they live in 2199.On use of objects stating the year is in No Country for Old Men when Anton Chighur played by Javier Bardem has a quarter and states that it took 22 years for the quarter to get to where he was. Along with the setting, quarters are used by Anton to determine someone’s fate, which will be mentioned later. Also, in Kick-Ass, the popularity that Kick Ass, Dave’s alter ego, receives helps Dave stay being Kick Ass until his girlfriend does not want him to be Kick Ass anymore.
Before acknowledging how other objects are used in the films, let’s start with the characters. Characterization is a big role in supporting themes in fiction. Each of the films, there are character’s who listen to the authority. Films would be dull and not very exciting if every character respected authority. Instead, films have at least one character that pushes the boundaries and does not care about the authoritarians. For example, in No Country for Old Men, Anton Chighur gives the action/thiller genre that would otherwise be seen as just another western where the good guys win due to his disregard of authority. Another way characters can be viewed as a non-authoritarian is through alter-egos. In The Matrix, there is Tom Anderson/Neo and in Kick-Ass, there are many alter egos but the main character is Kick-Ass, which is the alter ego of Dave Lizewski.
The use of alter egos not only makes a story but also adds a sense of the character wanting a different life but still want his or her old life. For example Neo is Tom Anderson’s alter ego, along with Kick Ass being Dave’s. Both Tom and Dave are reputable citizens living their lives by the books, or the blue pill. On the other hand Neo, a computer hacker, challenges authority but realizes that there still is an authority and makes note of it so he does not get caught. Kick Ass, meanwhile, is a superhero and does nothing illegal but is being watched by Big Daddy and Hit Girl similar to the way Morpheus and Trinity watched Neo at the Beginning of The Matrix. Both Neo and Kick Ass could be compared to the red pill. Saying that the two are the red pill, each had to make a choice: Neo’s was whether or not he wanted to live in “the Matrix” and be “free” and for Kick Ass is was to be a Superhero, though this choice came up a many times for Kick Ass. With the choices made, these two characters each finished the job that was started for them. Neo came on to Morpheus as “The One” and at the end of the film the other characters could see what Morpheus meant because he, along with Trinity, saved Morpheus, but ultimately it was Neo who saved the day. As for Kick Ass, Hit Girl needed to save him from the bad guys, or Frank D’Amico and his crew, before Kick Ass could be the one who, in the end, killed Frank D’Amico, which was the goal for Hit Girl and Big Daddy. Each of these shows that authority could be summed up but the red and blue pill. The red pill stood for going down the road less traveled and the blue pill stood for going by the books. Of course both Neo and Kick Ass had a sidekick, per say, but they also had that one guy who helped them realize what they needed to do.
Along the way help is needed to determine what way someone wants to take in life. For Neo, Morpheus led him out of trouble from Agent Smith and then gave Neo the choice of the red pill and the blue pill although Morpheus made the red pill sound better, but that’s because he had strong beliefs about it being the better pill. The Morpheus of Kick-Ass was Big Daddy, except Big Daddy did not take Kick Ass under his wing the same way Morpheus took Neo. Morpheus led Neo to the light, or in this instance the Oracle but Big Daddy traced Kick Ass and told him that he and Hit Girl would be there if need be. Similarly Big Daddy wanted to avenge his wife’s death just as Morpheus wanted to “free” the world, so both leaders had strong beliefs that would not be stopped under any law. This being said both of these two characters surprisingly were held captive but it took the strength of their “sidekicks,” Hit Girl and Neo, to save them from the enemy, Frank D’Amico.
Although sidekicks seem like a small, non-important role, Trinity and Hit Girl show how this role otherwise sidekicks can get the job done. For these films, sidekicks really show how authority can just be forgotten about. Trinity shows this disregard of authority and also throwing a stereotype out the window in the beginning when she says she’s the hacker even though most would perceive the hacker as being a male. Hit Girl shows the disregard of authority when she tells Kick Ass to not leave any evidence around because the police can easily trace who was responsible for what happened. These two wonderful sidekicks not only helped with getting rid of the enemy but also made it possible for the enemy to be deterred. Trinity and Hit Girl both did the major damage by killing who ever became a problem for Neo or Kick Ass, showing that authority can be disregarded to get to the main goal of destroying the enemies.
The enemies, Agent Smith for The Matrix and Frank D’Amico for Kick Ass, were both very authoritative. Agent Smith was the authority but Frank D’Amico was the authority for his drug operations, which that in itself is resisting authority. Both these enemies strongly believed that they would come out on top by getting help through ways that are not very suspicious. For example, Agent Smith had the help of Cypher. Using non-suspicious people shows that even the authority needs ways to get to those who do not follow the laws. Frank D’Amico used his son Chris, whose alter-ego is Red Mist, to get Kick Ass to point to who was helping him killed Frank’s men. One last similarity between Agent Smith and Frank is that each held someone hostage. Agent Smith holding Morpheus hostage was the showed that he knew how to get to be the high authority but he also underestimated the strength and will Neo had to save Morpheus. Also, Frank D thought he won but he did not know Hit Girl was wearing a bullet proof vest, so she saved that part of the day and proving even the highest authority can be surpassed.
Each side for each film had side kicks: Neo and Morpheus have Trinity and Kick Ass and Big Daddy have Hit Girl. On the other side, Agent Smith has Cypher and Frank D has Red Mist. The appearance of Cypher and the way he questioned taking the red pill were ways to notice Cypher was up to something before the actual scene where it was shown that Cypher was on Agent Smith’s side. No Country for Old Men also used appearance to point out the bad guy in the crowd. Both Cypher and Anton Chighur, from No Country for Old Men, had an accent different from where they were located. For Cypher it was a foreigner’s accent and for Chighur it was a more of a mid-western accent instead of a Texan accent. Also Cypher had facial hair and no one else in The Matrix did. A similar appearance difference went for Chighur, he had a mop top with all dark clothes rather than the short neatly combed hair with a flannel that is normal for a western film. Of course the difference in appearances is what someone determines if people would be on edge due to the judging that goes on. But Red Mist was only known as a bad guy because he stated he could get Kick Ass to get the real masterminds. The use of Cypher questioning his choice also showed that he question the authority that Morpheus has and made it easier for the audience to see what side Cypher was really on.
On appearances, John Shirley, a novelist, wrote that “Hacker in this film [The Matrix] are depicted as muscular action heroes in tight leather.” (Shirley 52) Morpheus in the scene where he explains the matrix tells Neo about “residual self image,” which means that how you want to appear is how you’ll appear in the matrix. In Kick Ass there’s a similar effect with the superhero suits, where Big Daddy looks like Batman and Chris hands his dad, Frank D, a list as to what he wants so he can be Red Mist. In The Matrix, Morpheus and Trinity show how they feel authoritative by wearing black, leather coats along with a pair of dark sunglasses. Neo at first just wears dark clothes but it’s not until the end when he wears a trench coat and sunglasses. This shows Neo’s transformation from not believing he is not above authority to believing he can do what he wants no matter if there is an authoritative person, such as Agent Smith. Agent Smith, being the authority for the other side shows it by also wearing dark sunglasses and dark clothes. Along with that attire is an earpiece where you can see the wire behind Agent Smith’s ear, leading to believe he is the all powerful character in the film.
Along with what the characters wore, what their mindset was became important throughout The Matrix. The big part of determining fate for Neo was the red pill/blue pill decision. Of course he chose the red pill, or else this story of believing and learning who you are would not have come about. Sadie Plant a British writer, stated “They[talking about those who went the red pill route] reprogram guilt, deny authority, confuse identity, and have no interest in the reform or redecoration of the ancient patriarchal code.”(Plant 326) The confusion of identity was shown in Morpheus description of taking the red or blue pill, but he made it so Neo would never figure himself out if he took the blue pill but if he took the red pill he would figure his life out and learn who he really is. Although this was not the same in No Country for Old Men, Chighur used a quarter to determine whether or not he would kill someone. For example, if he flipped heads and the person called heads he would let them go, but if they chose wrong or did not choose at all he would kill them. Another determining of fate in No Country for Old Men, which was ignored much the same as Neo ignoring Agent Smith’s offer, was Llewelyn Moss, one of the main characters is told if he kept the money or got rid of it his wife, Carla Jean, would be killed. All these choices, came disregarding the authority, especially Neo’s declining of Agent Smith’s offer that led him to getting bugged.
At the end of the film Neo figures out who he is and believes he can be the one that can save Morpheus. Schirley states “Neo too[first talking about Morpheus] becomes superheroesque as the movie plays out.”(Shirley 53) Shirley has an agreeable statement, especially with as well of a thought out plan to save Morpheus as Neo had. Right before this gun scene is when Neo first believed in himself and found himself out. During the gun scene viewers could see that by how he and Trinity bombarded the U.S. Military to get to Morpheus and save him from Agent Smith and then led a chase to get Morpheus to a phone so he could get back to the Haven.
Two film professors, Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, write how “Andy and Larry Wachowski’s The Matrix kicked off a series of computer special effects movies.” One special effect that became really big was bullet time which stops time so the scene can be seen in different views. One scene this is used is when Agent Smith and his crew shoot bullets at Neo and time is stopped. Doing this in the film allowed for the viewer to not know if either Neo or Agent Smith would achieve, although saying that the story is about Neo and there was cheerful, choir music in the background one can figure out Neo would come out on top.
Many aspects of The Matrix were shown as a resistance to authority. At the beginning, Neo was afraid of getting caught by the authorities but as the film went on he was worrying less about that and more about believing in himself. This is seen through him choosing the red pill, his clothing going from just normal what anybody would wear to him wearing a trench coat with sunglasses. Also, with how Trinity and Morpheus wore black leather put a new meaning to hackers, showing that they do resist authority in order to figure out more about computers. This theme of resisting authority also goes into other films, such as Kick-Ass and No Country for Old Men. Shirley also states “For all intricacies, The Matrix final message is fairly simple: Look around and question what you see. And start with yourself. Know thyself.” Not only did Neo do this, but this getting to know yourself was seen in Cypher and Trinity as well. Cypher it was seen when he was questioning taking the red pill and in Trinity it was seen when she fell in love with Neo, then realizing Neo was “The One.”
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