Scorsese's Ideology

I think that M. Scorsese presents in the movies Mean Street, Casino and Goodfellas what he thinks about mafia style of life. In this movie is very clear that the purpose of Scorsese is to give to the audience a portray of the gangster "world". In all these three movies we can see first the benefits and glamour that being part of the mafia gives. Then he presents us how this world works when things go bad. There is no friends, no loyalty,no benefits and no glamour. There is a lot of violence, crimes and no compassion for anybody. I think that Scorsese make the viewer very clear the statement that although in first place it looks very nice and very easy, at the end it have a lot of consequences.

Goodfellas...

The movie of Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas is a great example of the crime/mafia genre. In this movie we can see the formation, development and end of a mafia gangster, Henry Hill, and all the transformation (physical and psychological) he suffers meanwhile. This movie is amazing because we can almost see the entire life of this man who since he was a kid wished to become a member of the mafia. In this movie, as the genre description says, we can see a mafia gang that operates outside the law (specifically bribing the police, etc), stealing and murdering. I think that Scorsese in this movie achieved a deeper representation of the mafia world than in Mean Streets. In this movie, Goodfellas, Scorsese presents the good and the bad of being a gangster, the benefits, but also all the sacrifices and all the anti moral acts that a man have to do to form part of it. I like this movie because in a beginning he presents it as the easy way to get the best, good cars, a lot of money, respect, and a high position in society. Then he presents the moral disintegration of his main character, product of that same “easy” style of life. I think that Scorsese let very clear the meaning that although maybe it looks like very easy and glamorous at the beginning, at the end crime, mafia, violence, steal, etc, let nothing to the people.

Meaning in Taxi Driver

In the movie Taxi Driver we can find more than one meaning through the movie. I think that one of them is criticism to war. The character of Travis, played by Robert De Niro, is a Vietnam War veteran. He also is a lonely and depressed man who fear the scorn from the society and suffers of chronic insomnia. I think about the criticism of war because we know about this life style of Travis after his experience in war, and it is a trashy, sad, and poor style of life.
Other meanings of this movie are about racism, violence, prostitution and society moral decay. The character of Travis began to feel worry about all this forgotten side of society, and he began to take action in order “to make a difference”. With this character and his part of the movie we can see a clear meaning about all this society problems, problems that, as we can also see in the movie, politicians says to be looking for solutions but at the end they are just looking for votes. So trough Travis, Scorsese let a clear meaning about this.

St. Kubrick vs Scorsese

For me a difference between the work of Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick is the way they present their ideas in movies. I think that Kubrick like to emphasize the conflicts and problems in the movies by the use of mise-en-scene (with costumes, décor, etc), while Scorsese uses to presents the conflict in a very natural way. I compare the movie Mean Streets with Clockwork orange. In Mean Streets we can find a lot of messages behind the main plot for example racism but is something that we find out because a simple conversation or commentary. In Clockwork orange when Kubrick wants the viewer to catch something he try to exaggerate it with a high contrast between what is natural or common and what is forced to be noticed, for example the kind of boy that Alex is, is exaggerate with a uncommon costume, make up, décor and colors.

FULL METAL JACKET

Full Metal Jacket is a movie about the war in Vietnam at the style of Stanley Kubrick. In this movie we first see the hard process of become part of the Marines, and then we see the action inside Vietnam War.
One character that attracted my attention was Rafterman. Rafterman was the photographer of Stars and Stripes who decided to go with Joker to cover the action directly from battlefield. One scene in which we can see a big difference between a soldier “prepare to be in battlefield” and Rafterman is the one in which Joker and him were in the helicopter with that rebellious soldier who was killing Vietnamese people. In this scene we can see the reaction of Rafterman. At first time I though that he was sick because he was afraid of traveling in the helicopter, but then I realize that his reactions was because the other soldier was killing innocent people, and he kill them without any feeling of compassion. During the rest of film we can see how Rafterman react at the different situations he had to confront in battlefield. At the end Rafterman had to kill a sniper and save the life of Joker. In this part we can see Rafterman feeling proud and happy of what he did. So we can se an before and after of Rafterman in this movie. Kevyn Major Howard is the actor who plays the role of Rafterman in this movie. By the way he develop his function as Rafterman this character was a credible one and the purpose of Kubrick to show us the transformation of him was asserted.

Clockwork Orange!

Stanley Kubrick definitely has a variety of themes and purposes on his productions. All the movies are very different and a Clockwork Orange is not an exception.
The scenes I selected for this analysis were the ones were Alex and his small gang invades a countryside house, beat the owner and Alex rape his wife while singing and dancing “Singing in the rain”. The first thing I did was look for the lyric of this song, in which the first verse says “I'm singing in the rain, Just singing in the rain, What a glorious feelin', I'm happy again…” The rest of song tells that it is an optimistic song; although around you become dark clouds, you can have the sun in your heart. For me the dark clouds that the song talk about is the pain and suffering that he is doing to that people, and he is singing because he enjoy to do that things. We can appreciate the way he smile and dance while he is singing; he looks very happy and victorious maybe, like if he was doing something very nice. I think Kubrick want that the viewer understand how sick of mind is this boy, and for me he achieved his purpose. The music comes from another production so it is a song not a score composed for the film. Also we can see that the source is onscreen because is Alex directly who is singing it.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A space odyssey is a slow but interesting movie. In this movie Kubrick combines visual effects with sounds rather than with intense dialogues throughout the movie. In my opinion, the music used in this movie was great and help to make the scenes more intense.
The scenes were Dave is traveling by the kind of tunnel with colorful lights is the part that most catch my attention. The way these scenes were edited helps to create a confusing and desperate feeling. First you see the brilliant lights with powerful different colors for a long time. You feel that you are the one traveling through this tunnel. Then suddenly and just for a second you see first Dave expression of panic, then lights again, and then his very open eye. This is repeated for a few minutes and at the end he is in the spatial pod inside a bedroom that has a very classic décor. How he arrive in this room? I don’t have any idea because by the way the scenes were edited you just jump from Dave’s eye to this room.
Other scenes that I found kind of confusing were the ones where Dave is outside the pod but still in this room and he began to explore the place. Then he found an old man eating in one of the rooms, then the very old man in the bed, and then the fetus after the strange black figure appears. It takes a time for me to understand that all of them were the same Dave in different steps of his life. First when he arrived there, then old, then in a deathbed, then back to the fetus. It was confusing because in all the shots appear the previous Dave, so you think there are two persons in the room.