151MM November 2017 by 151MM

Preview:

November 2017

American Film Schools at a Glance by Everett Shen

Netflix is the New H-Wood by Everett Shen

Looking Blue: Symbols of Intersectionality in Moonlight by Leah Bakoulis

Get Out: A Stark Reminder to a Forgetful America

by Angel Musyimi

From Sunset Blvd. to Mulholland Dr. by Ashley Wang

Digital Demagogues and Millenial Messiahs

by Miles Bardzilowski

Hero Hype

The Staff* Editors-in-Chief: Everett Shen, Madison Richmond Managing Editors: Matthew Dodds, Anika Sonig Head Copy Editors: Brian Lu, Ashwin Dandamudi, Ashley Wang Copy Editors: Anna Jo, Dylan Raphael, Bay Daily, Matt Karns, Dan Shen, Andrew Xie Graphics Manager: Nicole Ng Graphics Team: Leslie Liu Design Team: Midafe Adogame, Eric Liu, Anya Sachdev, Alan Wo, Andrew Xie Business Managers: Alan Wo, Daniel Shahab-Diaz Website Manager: Robert Zhang Social Media Manager: Francis Moon Writing Staff: Leah Bakoulis, Miles Bardzilowski (alum), Lena Dibble, Brian Hwang, Spencer Katz, Charles Lu, Sara Mills, Francis Moon, Angel Musyimi, Ashley Wang, Emily Wang, Alan Wo Contributing Writers: Vincent Wang, Ross Selby-Salazar, Laura Galvis, Sarah Pagano, Pooja Tetali, Bay Daily, Joshua Spergel, Andrew Markau

by Charles Lu and Emily Wang

Advisor: John Sullivan

Front cover by Clara Bourquelot | Back cover design by Midafe Adogame | Graphics: NY+LA P3-4 by Leslie Liu, Netflix Hills P5 by Nicole Ng *Article suggestions? Inquiring about a position? Want to contribute? Interested in subscriptions or advertising? Email us at 151mmprinceton@gmail.com. Meetings every Thursday in Room 146.

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151MM NOVEMBER 2017

American Film Schools at a Glance

Interviews conducted by Everett Shen

YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO TO FILM SCHOOL TO LAND A JOB IN THE INDUSTRY, and there are plenty of working filmmakers who will tell you that the merits of working on set outweigh a formal education. However being enrolled in a quality institution can provide you with connections and a jump-start to your career that simply can’t be found anywhere else. But don’t take my word for it—hear it from the perspectives of true insiders, and see what they have to say about their alma maters. For upcoming seniors struggling to find direction in the application process, we hope this helps!

USC

Location: Los Angeles, CA Annual tuition and fees: $69,209 Notable Alumni: George Lucas, Ron Howard, Forest Whitaker, Judd Apatow

try standards. It may seem an annoying class requirement to hire a studio teacher for any child actors on your simple short student project, but it only prepares you for the real world of production. Tell us about a great SCA moment. What’s great about SCA is that it’s just one school within USC’s 40,000 combined undergraduate/graduate student body. The opportunities I had to collaborate with students in other disciplines were fantastic. I’ll never forget the experience of recording a live jazz band with students from the music school for the score of my short film or joining Russian students on a trip aboard the Trans Siberian railroad when I agreed to document the journey. What about SCA differed from your expectations? At first I was nervous that I didn’t belong. How could I have possibly gotten into this top tier film school? But as I applied myself, fearlessly asking questions in class, I realized I was in the right place and boosted my confidence in my own creative vision.

Emma, Class of 2017 USC Film & Television Production BFA Freelance Filmmaker & Cinematographer

Why did you choose USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA)? What separates USC from the rest? There’s a lot you can learn on YouTube, and to be honest when I graduated high school I wondered whether film school was worth the money. However because of the size, stature, and rigorous program at USC’s school of Cinematic Arts, a degree from this institution carries a lot of weight. When employers see you graduated from USC they may feel there’s less risk involved than hiring an applicant from a smaller lesser-known program. While you may be limited in the equipment you have access to during your first 2 undergraduate years, USC is very well funded and offers amazing filmmaking facilities if you choose to take full advantage of the opportunity. Film students are also required to follow strict indus-

Tell us about what you do right now. Only a few months out of school, I’m still finding my way. I am currently working as a freelance cinematographer in my hometown of NYC and traveling the world trying to figure out where I want to land. Just wrapped a film shoot in Haiti! How has SCA impacted your career? Perhaps it is a bit too soon to tell how SCA has impacted my career, but connections made while in school have provided some work opportunities post-graduation. I recently traveled to Haiti with a short narrative film team comprised of mostly USC alumni. What kind of student is a good fit for SCA? What advice do you have for film students in general? SCA is not a technical trade school nor a trippy-dippy fine art school. The program is a good balance between storytelling and the production business. If you think by just attending USC, the road will be paved for you, think again. You get out what you put in. My recommendation for any film student is to take full advantage of all your courses and learn everything you can. It seems to be popular belief that a director just “directs” and doesn’t need to know about things like sound recording or camera lenses. A good director knows all the parts. No learning is a waste of time.

NYU

Location: New York, NY Annual tuition and fees: $73,088 Notable Alumni: Martin Scorsese, Kristen Bell, Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Spike Lee, Ang Lee

What about Tisch differed from your expectations? It wasn’t nearly as academically rigorous as I imagined. All throughout high school you’re warned about how challenging college is. For the most part I think that tends to be true. Tisch was surprisingly easy to coast through. A lot of my time was spent making things outside of class, something theoretically that should be challenging to balance with a full-time student’s workload. I’ll touch on this more in the next few questions, but that speaks to the larger point of “you get what you put in.” It’s that simple. You can design your schedule so you sleep in every day and spend your nights playing FIFA or beer pong. And if that’s what you’re looking for, no judgement whatsoever, have fun. But if you really want to get something out of your time at NYU, you’ll have to push yourself. There’s an incredible amount to take advantage of, it’s up to you to maximize that potential. No one is going to push you. Tell us about what you do right now. I’m a music video and commercial director. I also edit and produce a fair amount of the projects I direct alongside my partner, Jason Sondock, whom I met at NYU.

Simon, Class of 2015 Tisch School of the Arts Film & Television BFA Director

Why did you choose Tisch? What separates Tisch from the rest? I always knew I wanted to live in New York City. Of the eligible film schools, Tisch seemed like the best place to develop as a filmmaker, meet kindred spirits, and have access to the types of opportunities I was interested in. The school’s reputation certainly played a factor as well. Tell us about a great Tisch moment. I snuck into a David Fincher lecture (it was exclusively for grad students, I was an undergrad). He’s a real hero of mine. I overheard a couple grad kids mention it in the elevator that morning and decided I was going to find a way in. I had no idea what room it was in. There were no signs; it wasn’t advertised anywhere. I tried every lecture room in the building until I finally stumbled into a dark room with David Fincher and twenty or so students. I was able to ask him a few questions and took away some real wisdom that I still think about to this day.

How has Tisch impacted your career? I met a handful of people who I still work with to this day. Going to school in New York enabled me to pursue opportunities that I might not have found outside of a major hub of film production like New York or Los Angeles. Tisch exposed me to the industry, and helped me develop a vision to realize my career goals. A lot of that was done outside of school and accomplished on my volition. Again, you get what you put in. I suspect that applies to most film school experiences. What kind of student is a good fit for Tisch? What advice do you have for film students in general? To the above point, someone who is motivated and eager to soak up as much as humanly possible. New York can be overwhelming. You’re going to have an endless array of things to choose from (both on and off campus). Depending on the type of person you are, that can be extraordinarily valuable or paralyzing. You can attend lectures at museums or film festivals and listen to some of the best living artists, knock on the doors of some of world’s best production companies and fight your way in, hound professors who have deep roots in the industry or incredible insights about film, find a community of ambitious like-minded kids etc etc. That was exactly what I was looking for. Other people might be better served on a traditional college campus where they can quietly incubate and develop. It all depends on the type of person you are. I wanted to jump into the deep end, and was able to do so at Tisch.

At this point, you might be asking, “b-but…where are all the other schools?” Unfortunately, our page limitations (and the fact that nearly every interviewee wanted to say much more than the measly 60 word limit allowed) dictate that we’re unable to present more than a couple of perspectives in this issue. But fear not! For you can find the rest of the interviews, featuring UCLA, Wesleyan, Emerson, Chapman, Ithaca, and SVA, on our website 151mmphs.com.

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Netflix is the New Hollywood: A Closer Look at the Controversy at Cannes By Everett Shen When cinema legends Pedro Almodovar and Will Smith clashed over the role of Netflix in film at this year’s Festival de Cannes, it was the perfect storm for an international headline. Smith, a progressive, naturally laid out a passionate case for the benefits of a diet consisting of both streaming and theater-going. But ultimately, surrounded by bastions of the motion picture in a country where film is the national industry, Almodovar had his way—starting next year, you won’t be seeing any films at Cannes that haven’t already been released in a French cinema. Far from being an isolated incident, Smith and Almodovar’s disagreement represents one of the most nuanced debates in contemporary film, one that goes so far as to demand a reevaluation of the definition of film itself. Following the controversy at Cannes, 93% of South Korean movie theaters backed out in protest of screening the Palme d’Or nominated Okja, a Netflix original that raised alarm at the festival for its straight-to-Netflix release. In the US, where the presence of Netflix is arguably more deeply rooted, disgruntled theater chains have had similar fallouts. Just this summer, while on the road promoting his new World War II drama Dunkirk, Hollywood giant Christopher Nolan came out in steadfast disdain of the “bizarre aversion” Netflix has to theatrical films. And the list just goes on. The advent of web-based streaming

services has been the single greatest catalyst for change within the film distribution industry since the popularization of VCR and DVD. But whether that change will lead to innovation or destruction is a complex issue. Setting aside arguments about whether or not a “Netflix film” can truly be considered film, streaming platforms have proven to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, they stimulate independent films by bidding for their funding and ostensibly presenting them to an international audience. Yet they also compete with traditional avenues for audiences, stifling certain films by leaving them hidden or inaccessible to the vast majority of viewers. If that’s not bad enough, the director of the French National Cinema Center has gone so far as to call Netflix “the best example of American cultural imperialism”, following its announcement of plans to enter the market for traditional TV in France and Mexico. But no matter how events develop, one thing is guaranteed: the turf war will be a prolonged one, where victories and losses are made less distinguishable by the symbiosis that often exists between the newcomer and the establishment. The current capacity that streaming has for altering the filmscape is predicated on its massive stream of income, which stems from its user base that has grown steadily throughout the years. The most prominent example is Netflix, which started off as a DVD rental-by-mail

service in 1997, later expanding to include streaming media in 2007. For more than a decade, Netflix bought the rights to movies without impacting the way they were made, and nobody complained, with movie theaters perhaps being the exception. The game changed markedly in 2013 when Netflix announced it would begin sponsoring originally-produced series, transforming the company from a distributor of content to a creator. Today, the service boasts over 98 million subscribers worldwide, and is available in over 190 countries. In 2016 alone, the platform released 126 “Netflix Originals,” incredibly surpassing every pre-existing network and cable channel in the sheer amount of content it produces. And with outstanding Emmy-winning series like Orange Is the New Black and festival-circuit films Okja and 13th, Netflix has made clear that it cares about quality, and is here to stay. What makes the Netflix model so successful is its revenue from subscription fees, whereas traditional studios earn their profits from volatile box office performances, engaging in monthly hit-or-miss gambles. On the television side of things, in contrast to traditional networks, Netflix’s viewership data isn’t released to the public, the filmmakers, or even its advertisers (for complicated financial reasons beyond the scope of this article), which gets rid of an obligation to demonstrate public interest and ad profitability. Thus, Netflix doesn’t require pilot episodes, releasing episodes of new seasons all at once, and offers contentproducers more creative freedom through less pressure to garner views. Models like these put Amazon Studios at even more of an advantage, with revenues from the company’s retail services serving as a hefty cushion for its media-related activities. Flush with cash, streaming services

have been able to enter the bidding market for upcoming projects at an astounding rate, snapping up films like the upcoming Bright, starring Will Smith, as well as financing projects by auteurs like Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. But high-profile films haven’t been the only beneficiaries of streaming’s newfound wealth— independent filmmakers have been able to find a market as well, with funding often covering 20 percent more over production costs, reducing risk and encouraging more creative talent to try their hand at the game. But as businesses go, the same factor that qualifies as a boon may very well become a curse. By bidding up prices for films that would have previously gone to indie distributors like A24, Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics, and Focus Features, the traditional platforms for such projects, streaming platforms increase the price studios must pay when they do win the rights to films, creating more financial risk. Furthermore, most movies in the US have a theatrical window lasting

around 30–45 days when they’re banned from appearing on videoon-demand services (in France, the window is 36 months), but to add insult to injury, platforms like Netflix have been ferociously lobbying for a shorter window, perhaps even concurrent theatrical and streaming releases, which deals a huge blow to theaters. And with an increasingly large share of the content pie, platforms like Netflix are now able to produce films that never make it to the big screen at all, remaining forever in the realm of streaming. There may soon come a day when audiences have nowhere to see the newest indie releases but on their own television sets. The numbers speak for themselves. Although the domestic box office has been booming, breaking its own record for the second year in a row in 2016, the increase can largely be attributed to big-budget blockbusters toting eye-popping special effects and star-studded casts like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Captain

by the numbers.... The theatrical release window in France is

126

Netflix Originals released in 2016

Netflix is available in over

months

190

countries

Million subscribers worldwide

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The median return on investments for indie films is 45 cents on the dollar

America: Civil War. Attendance at indie films, meanwhile, has never been more measly. According to “The Economist”, in 2002, half of all films with budgets under $10 million failed to earn $1 million. In 2016, that number rose to two-thirds. The median return on investments on those same films is now a mere 45 cents on the dollar. One may ask: don’t platforms like Netflix at least spread films to a wider audience, giving them access to releases they otherwise wouldn’t have paid to see in a theater? Ostensibly, yes. But alas, the reality is more complex. In addition to financing original content, Netflix is notorious for purchasing the rights to independent films and then burying them in a slew of other selections, where they’re often doomed to be lost or ignored in favor of more eye-catching content. New releases are often uploaded silently in the middle of the night, with little to no publicizing at all, whereas local indie theaters are more likely to provide focused advertising tailored to local audiences. To make matters worse, curious users have experimented and found that Netflix’s new algorithm does nothing to guide viewers to what they’re interested in seeing, but instead just points them to flagship releases that the company wants them to see. This results in the need to scroll through pages of shows before finding what you’re searching for—by which time many viewers will lose patience and just watch the new season of Stranger Things. Nor will people be able to access the films through other channels— by purchasing exclusive rights, Netflix prevents other platforms from peddling the same content. Now imagine how many times the devastation is multiplied when the film doesn’t even receive a theatrical release beforehand. With anecdotes of directors literally breaking into tears upon hearing the news of their film being purchased by Netflix, nobody could have put it better than IndieWire senior critic David Ehrlich when he commented that “it’s the equivalent of a museum buying a

work of art, locking it in a vault, and making photocopies so widely available that people lose sight of the fact that they’re missing out on the real thing”. Already, we have seen the signs of a content monopoly beginning to arise. As Netflix gains more and more influence, the suggestion that its generous deals and lavish artistic freedoms are only for the purpose of establishing itself as the Google or Facebook of Hollywood becomes more and more plausible. In an interview with “The Hollywood Reporter”, House of Cards producer Dana Brunetti commented on how Netflix no longer offers the same creative freedoms it did once before, becoming little different from a traditional studio. Additionally, there has been no dearth of filmmakers complaining of the jurisdiction Netflix takes away from them, providing little if any information as to how their films are marketed or received. Over the years, Netflix has gained a reputation for acting as a unilateral juggernaut, carefully controlling their output and image to the extent that one writer who has done business with the platform mused: “The first rule of Netflix: you do not talk about Netflix.” Sounds bad, right? But before we jump to any conclusions, it’s best to first consider things in the long run: realistically, a company possessing a copyright to culture is a fairly extreme situation guaranteed

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

The cast and director of Okja at Cannes 2017 to be mitigated to some extent by competition and trust-busting legal restrictions. And as filmmakers come to realize that they have to give up control and the symbolic meaning of a theatrical release, they are likely to seek alternative avenues to pursue their work. Some already have: just last year, Nate Parker sold The Birth of A Nation (2016) to Fox Searchlight Pictures, despite being offered millions more by Netflix. Additionally, it’d be foolish to forget that theaters are constantly upgrading their setups in order to compete with the streaming experience, with the rise of VR being an exciting new trend that top-tier directors like Alejandro Iñárritu have already begun to explore. New screening technology catalyzes new filmmaking activity, producing content that’s less appropriate for

streaming platforms—if one looks back, they’ll find that it’s how Hollywood survived TV (or at least sort of). One thing is for sure: it is still far too early to throw in the towel. Yet in my opinion, the big picture is far simpler: as profit margins and theater attendance dwindles, it’s important to recognize that movie-watching in theaters as a pastime is fated to become what going to the opera or seeing a musical is to us today—a luxury that focuses more on the experience than the content itself. But the rise and fall of theater chains is nothing to weep over. Whether the framework for distributing art lives or dies makes little difference. Before portable listening devices were invented, live music was arguably the only way to go, and even the most zealous of luddites would have to acknowledge that our lives would be fairly awful without the audio technology we have today. Yet good opera is still good opera—what’s being admired hasn’t changed. At the end of the day, the only things that matter are the people who make art and the people who appreciate them. The bridges between them will come and go. What we can’t have is a gatekeeper that tries to cut off and pervert the products that are attempting to cross. As an industry generating $38 billion dollars annually in box office revenue, theater-based film is far from being knocked out of the ring by streaming. But as of now, one can only observe what happens as the two battle it out in the arena of time.

Film enables the blending of the conceptual and the experiential. It has the potential to draw wholly from idea or to present a near-facsimile of real experience. Through cinema, we can explore the multifaceted labels that seek to categorize us — race, gender, cultural background, belief system, and generation to name a few — as well as illustrate the struggle to define oneself as an individual. We can show the growth of self-concept amidst the swirling chaos of a lifetime, trace how interpersonal relationships impact one’s being, or construct entirely new, alien identities for viewers to witness and reflect upon. This section of 151MM casts light on such portrayals in Get Out, Moonlight, Mulholland Drive, and even The Emoji Movie (sure to be a modern classic).

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Looking Blue: Symbols of Intersectionality in Moonlight By Leah Bakoulis

Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight is a character-driven narrative that follows Chiron, a poor boy growing up in Miami, throughout his early life as he discovers what it means not only to be black or to be gay but what it means to be black and gay. Raised by an unstable mother who struggles with drug addiction, Chiron is forced to draw from the help of his friends, fellow community members, and himself during his journey into manhood. With his mother constantly working or out doing drugs, Chiron is left alone at home to cook meals for and entertain himself. Ultimately, the film is about the ways in which Chiron’s experiences with his race and sexuality develop throughout the three acts, titled “Little”, “Chiron”, and “Black” to match the names— and thus the identities— that Chiron adopts throughout his life. To consider these changes, we have to look at two important symbols that appear throughout the film: moonlight and water. Notably, moonlight is a unique display of light because it conceals a person’s body and figure while illuminating certain features such as the face. It shelters an individual from the views and judgements of others while putting an emphasis on self-illumination. Moonlight is given this special significance in the film when Juan, a parental figure to Chiron, tells him about

something an old woman in Cuba to be more comfortable (shown in told him: “In moonlight, black boys Act I when Chiron begins to trust look blue. You’re blue.” Blue, along Juan after he teaches him to swim with moonlight, signifies a tran- and when he furthers that trust by quility that allows self-awareness eating at his house), it is their coto prosper over external prejudice. existence, along with the help of Chiron’s first interaction Kevin, that makes him completely with water is in Act I, “Little”, when free to be himself. Following this Juan discovers him hiding from powerful scene, Chiron relapses a group of bullies and takes him back into his former state of into the beach to teach him how to troversion and disempowerment swim. With a mother who’s con- after a group of bullies at school stantly either working or high, Lit- force Kevin to punch Chiron. It’s tle is introduced to a nurturing and not until the last scene of the film, reliable parental figure for the first when Kevin and Black are togethtime in his life. Under the brighter again, that he begins to return to blue southern Florida sky and the his true self. After this encounter, clear blue water of the ocean Little Chiron is about to embrace his true is able to relax and begin to find identity and be a mature adult. comfort with someone else. WaJenkins puts on a remarkably ter, a dynamic source of life, is in- intricate display of the intersectroduced to him as a calming and tionality of being black and gay. reassuring presence that he can Because Chiron is such a carefulreturn to for the ly crafted and rest of his life. complex indi“[Moonlight] shelters The next vidual, people an individual from the who have little time Chiron is views and judgements to nothing in on the beach, it is under the of others while putting common with cover of moonhim can still an emphasis on self-il- empathize with light with his childhood the struggle lumination.” friend Kevin. his character They confess their feelings for endures. As cinema is working each other and then kiss, making toward funding and celebrating this a moment in time when Chi- more films that represent minoriron is able to completely embrace ties, Moonlight is a shining example who he is. Although both moon- of a drama that incorporates the light and water alone allow Chiron complexities of race and sexuality.

Get Out: A Stark Reminder to a Forgetful America By Angel Musyimi We’ve made it, America: we finally have a movie discussing racism that has had major box office success, pop culture appeal, and enjoyed both high ratings and stellar reviews all around. With the long line of movies in 2016 that addressed race and its complexities (see Moonlight and Hidden Figures), Get Out not only had big shoes to fill but also needed to bring something new to the table. How does one bring an ever-prevalent and age-long discussion to the Hollywood limelight while still creating a film that compels viewers with an innovative plot? In his directorial debut, Jordan Peele sets out to tackle this conundrum head-on. At first glance Get Out may seem like just another film about prejudice, fighting against an issue that at surface level appears to be just (pun not intended) black and white. However, as the movie progresses, far more is revealed about ugly truths hiding in plain sight. To establish the sense that something sinister is brewing, in this case stifled racism, subtle foreshadowing is made through the film’s opening music choices. As we see the kidnapping of Andrew Logan King (Keith Stanfield), the song, “Run Rabbit Run” plays in the background, with lyrics telling a rabbit to run to avoid being killed by a farmer

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and being made into a rabbit pie. The song comes from the 1930’s, a period greatly influenced by segregation and blatant racism, and grows ominously louder as King is stuffed into the trunk of an anonymous driver’s car. Right after the kidnapping the main narrative is introduced with a song in Swahili, a language predominantly spoken in eastern Africa, though understanding the exact words is not needed to comprehend its meaning. As the viewer is urged to “listen” and “run far,” it is difficult not to experience a sense of personal danger. The movie then presents Childish Gambino’s new classic “Redbone,” representing the modernity of the protagonist Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) while panning over beautiful black-and-white shots that the viewer comes to realize are Chris’s work. Here, we’re faced with the black culture of the present, a time with slightly more rights than in the past and as much colorful vibrance as ever. By the end of the first act, a microcosm of three different periods of black history has been presented through the soundtrack, a story that speaks of constant perseverance through a slow and painful journey of oppression. The three periods are distinctly separated by song, but the lines between are set

up to be blurred throughout the rest of the film. Throughout the movie, something seems undeniably off about the situation that Chris and his white girlfriend, Rose, are in. It is in the way the score is curated, and in the way that the shots are cleverly put together, that the viewer is irked by what would seem normal in other scenarios. A primary example of this is at play when the two protagonists see the domestic staff that work on the maintenance of the Armitage house. Race is far from being at the forefront of anyone’s mind when Rose’s father mentions that the staff happen to be all black; they do happen to be creepy in their very formal manner of speaking, but having to point out and apologize for this fact to Chris is simply unnecessary. In fact, most of what Rose’s father says happens to be aimed to try to relate to Chris and his blackness. He asks Rose and Chris how long their “thang” has been going on, a word that Rose claims he has never used before, one of many stereotypes harbored in the minds of those who try to go out of their way to fit in among black people. It is in the particular way that Rose’s father says it, in a way that is beyond awkward and forced, that is distasteful. Here, Peele calls out the everyday white liberal that is near-ubiquitous today: the way the Armitage parents are characterized makes it so that any given member of audience can easily imagine their own parents in the same shoes. No matter how much the Armitage’s attempts to relate to Chris seem to be mere ignorance, society’s underlying racism has not just disappeared. After the election of Barack Obama, America was assumed to have entered a “post-racial society,” because there was no possible way that the country could still be considered racist. Yet there are still bigots in every part of the country who live their lives with prejudice that is more common and better-concealed: the kind that is inbred, to which the perpetrators know no alternative. In the end, the family’s true colors are unveiled and put on full display. Without giving too much away,

151MM NOVEMBER 2017 “black is in” in Get Out. Black people are envied for attributes such as athleticism, and in Chris’ case, talent with a camera. Throughout the family get-together that “coincidentally” takes place on the same weekend of his and Rose’s visit, Chris is sized up by the other guests, quite literally, in scenes that are palpably uncomfortable for both him and the audience. One thing is made clear: though everyone wants the traits that black people possess, no one wants the reality of it—the profiling, the prejudice, and the ugliness that go hand-in-hand with the beauty. Such critical theft is not without repercussions, as the finale reveals. Racism isn’t easy to spot, and thus Get Out succeeds by having the audience question their own ingrained prejudices. Movies formerly made about racism might be forced to make it the only conflict that the protagonist has to face in order to completely get their objective across, but Get Out expresses its message in a plotline where racism is prevalent but discreet. Peele prohibits the audience from separating themselves from the evils onscreen until they retrospectively see the flaws that once seemed so natural.

From Sunset Blvd to Mulholland Dr: The Road to Hollywood is Paved with Good Intentions* By Ashley Wang Fifty-one years after the premiere of the film-noir classic Sunset Blvd. (1950), David Lynch released his neo-noir thriller Mulholland Dr. (2001), drawing clear inspiration from the former film. Rather than cheaply reimagining an old tale, however, Lynch reconstructs the narrative in his own masterfully haphazard fashion, creating a dreamy, puzzling film for the ages. The final 40 minutes of Mulholland Dr. are very nearly a reenactment of Sunset Blvd.’s basic plot points—a failing actress kills her unfaithful lover, then promptly goes insane out of grief—but the other hour and a half of the movie that elevates the extensive reference into true originality. Lynch takes it all and infuses it with his trade-

* Spoilers

mark surrealist imagery, so much so that to call it a “reimagining” would not be giving it due credit. Lynch is anything but subtle about the impact of Sunset Blvd. on his own film. The titles themselves are abbreviated street names; the street “Sunset Blvd.” shows up twice explicitly, most notably as the location of a diner called Winkie’s. The titular street of this film, too, being the scene of a murder, is shrouded in noir mystery. The first and second plotlines are original, telling the love story of Betty and Rita, as well as Adam’s casting troubles caused by the mafia. Of course, the greatest shout-out is still the third major narrative of the film. Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts) is no faded

silent movie star a lĂ Norma Desmond, but she is not doing so hot after losing the lead in a major feature; Hollywood has passed both of them by. Camilla is the irresistible bait who Diane forms an unhealthy attachment to; Joe Gillis, suffocated under Normaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jealous thumb, is rolling in his grave. Camilla chooses someone with brighter prospects: the illustrious director Adam Kesher; Joe forsakes love for the financial comfort of being a gigolo. Adam and Betty Schaefer have the one fault of falling for someone already taken and get caught unwillingly in the crossfire. Revolvers and telephones alike are cold-blooded instruments of murder. Romance and Hollywood are seen through jade-colored glasses, and there is no happy ending to be found. The perpetrators of crime promptly lose their minds, unable to live with the reality of what they have done. They are haunted by delusions, and so ends their tragedy. Yet despite the many similarities, Lynch is not content with merely rehashing the time-tested plot. What set Mulholland Dr. apart from its predecessor are its shifted perspective and emotional resonance. With Sunset Blvd., Director Billy Wilder made the conscious choice to tell the story from the point-of-view of Joe Gillis, whose dry, sardonic voice lends itself to the atmosphere of the film. Under the framework of a love triangle, Wilder makes a broad, scathing criticism of the film industry, and the characters feel removed from the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sympathies.

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Mulholland Dr. switches perspective and is but still has a charming naïveté and a brash again when Rebekah del Rio enters, and told from the eyes of Diane Selwyn, love fearlessness. Yet Schaefer is, even at her sings a heartbreaking Spanish rendition and career’s rejected castaway. Whereas most clever, a textbook ingénue, a shame- of Roy Orbison’s “Crying”. The sheer powNorma Desmond garnered at most pity, less but likable trope. What save Elms from er of her singing brings Betty and Rita to we almost sympathize with Diane. After the fate of a cliché are, in large part, the in- tears; although we have been told that it is seeing the ingenuous relationship between creasingly surreal situations she is thrown all fake, we are spelled into believing the Betty and Rita, the audience believes that in and the characterizing moment of her performance’s authenticity; soon after, ReDiane and Camilla ought to work out too, movie audition. Rather than the hammy, bekah collapses, but the singing continues and Adam is seen as someone who is get- over-the-top acting we expect, her seduc- in her absence. Perhaps most egregiously, ting in the way. Instead Diane is driven to tive, subtle performance displays hidden when Rita finally unlocks the blue box we the edge by loneliness facets of her personali- believe that we will finally be given some and jealousy, becomty. Throughout the film, answers. Lynch then proceeds to do the ex“References and ing far more underElms is beset by strange act opposite, spiraling us downward along standable after we get circumstances upon her Diane and Camilla’s tragic tale. But despite storylines appear to a glimpse into her bleak arrival in Los Angeles: Lynch’s duplicity, we never feel cheated: be almost jarringly lifestyle; for her, the best she meets the amnesi- we know that, as viewers, we ourselves unrelated, like jigsaw thing in life may as well ac Rita, finds a putre- are complicit, for each time, the payoff is so be Camilla. Diane has corpse, and visits captivating that we cannot help but watch. pieces that seem to be fied moments of genuine the Silencio club. These Even still, Mulholland Dr.’s offerings from different puzzles events shatter the typ- would seem lackluster, or at least undeemotion that contrast sharply with Norma’s ical image of preserved serving of such praise. What catapults the entirely.” contrived melodrama. innocence, especially film into excellence is the classic surrealWhile it cannot be said after her discovery of ism that Lynch is famous for. Ever since that either is superior, Lynch’s presenta- the corpse; she breaks down, and some his first film, the fantastical body horror tion of the story touches off a more heart- part of her spirit is damaged forever. With Eraserhead (1977), Lynch has always manfelt chord. Up until the very end, Diane her character irrevocably warped, Betty aged to create films less concentrated on and Camilla’s story progresses smoothly Elms is saved from what would have been comprehensibility, instead following a without much distraction. Worlds away irredeemable one-dimensionality. “dream logic” to convey from his subconfrom Lynch’s usual erratic style, this creIn so playing with our expectations, scious his exact vision. Almost immediateates a compelling narrative that lets Mul- Lynch weaponizes them. The audition is ly into watching Mulholland Dr., we know holland Dr. ascend beyond plain mimicry. the epitome of this subversion of assump- that we should not expect anything less: it The rest of the film is much less tion; Lynch is not afraid to challenge his opens into a scene of couples dancing, sustraightforward. References and storylines audience. The absurdity of the story of the perimposed on a purple background. The appear to be almost jarringly unrelated, horrible figure behind Winkie’s makes it questions this raises are never addressed; like jigsaw pieces that seem to be from dif- almost comical, but we as with all Lynch films, ferent puzzles entirely. Here, Lynch again still feel unease, justified the audience shouldn’t adds to his loving homage through the when the figure does With her character expect them to be. Other character of Betty Elms, undeniably a trib- materialize against all little mysteries pile up: irrevocably warped, Ed’s black book, Diane ute to Sunset Blvd.’s aspiring screenwriter odds. When Betty and ingénue Betty Schaefer. With identical Rita play Nancy Drew at Betty Elms is saved Selwyn’s neighbor, the names and similar ambitions of making Diane Selwyn’s house, Cowboy, the blue-haired from what would a career in Hollywood, they each fall in we are led to believe that woman. Lynch lets the love with someone who has an intriguing there is no real danger, audience know that they have been secret, quickly becoming wrapped up in deceived by the guileare of grand significance, irredeemable onethings that are, suffice it to say, no good. less anticipation in their then, with the concluding They have family in the movie business, faces despite the clearly act, seems to ignore them. dimensionality. with Elms’ Aunt Ruth and Schaefer’s en- ominous atmosphere. There is also the greatest tire family having worked in Hollywood. Of course, the putrefied incongruity of all: how Directors don’t like them much, and their corpse quickly corrects us. Soon after, the the first part of the film, with Betty and guileless charm is endearing. Lynch even bizarre Silencio club makes its appearance, Rita, fits the second part, with Diane and takes care to make sure they dressed sim- yet it is no club in any traditional sense. It is Camilla. Lynch himself denies any interilarly: Elms favors Schaefer’s style of tops instead a theater, made for a grand perfor- pretation, although the oft-cited one is that and pencil skirts in contrasting colors, and mance. Yet, again, there’s no performance: the much happier tale of Betty and Rita is both pin their hair back. Schaefer’s defin- it is all a recording. We are thrown into a a masturbatory fantasy concocted by Diing traits are a sharp wit and relentless sense of disbelief—how can any record- ane of how she wishes her story with Caoptimism. Elms is slightly more grounded, ing be a performance?—but are shocked milla had panned out. The loose ends are

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left untied in deliberate fashion. The aura of mystery is delicately created through the piecemeal narrative and left whole by avoiding any answers. Under any other director, Mulholland Dr. would likely end up a mish-mashed hodgepodge of unrelated plot points, serving no purpose but to confuse the viewer. But Lynch is a true master of his medium. Despite polarizing critics after its release, Mulholland Dr. is now cited as one of the greatest films of the 21st century. What saves the film from being irritably confus-

ing is Lynch dangling in front of the audience a taste of the bigger picture, always just out-of-reach. We always sense that we have every clue needed to solve the puzzle, which rescues it from being frustratingly complex. Lynch tempts his viewers with little rewards; he provides just enough details to prevent the audience from losing faith in his storytelling, and so we don’t feel that he is mocking us with perplexity. Most notable is the instance of the Cowboy, who tells Adam that he’ll see him again once if it goes well, and twice if it goes awry.

True to his word, his third appearance in the film occurs so quickly that it’s blinkand-you’ll-miss-it. Upon seeing it, if the audience recalls his earlier words, the film seems to be at its most solvable, and we are led to believe that if we try hard enough, we can find the right conclusion. Like with any Lynchian film, the temptation exists to parse the mysteries that have passed before our eyes. But after watching it, just like the ending words of the blue-haired woman, we will most likely still be sitting dumbstruck—in silencio.

Digital Demagogues and Millennial Messiahs: The Emoji Movie and the Postmodern Christ Figure* by Miles Bardzilowski I had the same reaction as you upon reading the title of The Emoji Movie. My thoughts could be summed up in the immortal words of Greil Marcus in his own review of Bob Dylan’s album “Self Portrait”: “What is this s***?” But this isn’t a review. I’m not going to tell you all the reasons you should or shouldn’t see The Emoji Movie because frankly, nothing I can say would sway you either way at this point. So what am I here to do, then? Analyze the nihilistic undertones of this symptom of late-stage capitalism? So The Emoji Movie begins by introducing us to Textopolis, a paradise city which exists inside the smartphone of Alex, a high school freshman. Textopolis is inhabited by sentient emojis who exist to be scanned by Alex for texting purposes. There are no signs of poverty, class divisions, or suffering of any sort. Here is where we meet the man who will be our own personal Jesus for the next ninety minutes. Gene is a “meh” emoji, whose job is to remain stoic and uninterested for the entirety of his digital life. However, Gene, unlike all other face emojis, is capable of feeling more than one emotion, of

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* Spoilers

breaking his mold. This carries a death sentence in Textopolis, as determined in an unfair trial Gene isn’t allowed to attend, carried out by the high council of the land. Textopolis may at first appear to be an egalitarian utopia, but once the cover is pulled off, the true face of a godless, technocratic, totalitarian state is revealed. And this face is our own, for the world of The Emoji Movie is set to selfie mode. The aforementioned high council is comprised of, among others, Poop (played by Patrick Stewart), Smiley (a cruel dictator who wears an ever-present smile), and Satan (yeah, that Satan). The parliament of filth, lies, and sin is the true moral grounding of Textopolis, and indeed, our own world. For there is no sign of God in The Emoji Movie — no gospel music, no bible app, no prayer hands emoji. Where, then, has He gone, in both the film and in our own lives? The answer is simple: The Emoji Movie responds, . It is in this amoral nightmare that we find a savior in Gene. His “malfunction,” the ability to feel and act beyond typical capacity for an emoji, makes him an obvious Messiah figure. This is only strengthened by the revelation that his malfunction is inherited from his father, as were the divine traits of Christ. But that’s not all. Hi-5, one of

151MM NOVEMBER 2017 egoists uniting only when it serves their self-interests is reflected in the union of Gene, Hi-5, and Jailbreak. Each of them seeks only what benefits them individually. Jailbreak wants to leave the phone and live in the Cloud, Hi-5 wants his spot in the favorites back, and Gene wants the annihilation of those spooks in his own mind. This is where you want me to put a conclusion. To wrap it all up in a nice little bow for easy consumption so this can be over. But it’ll never be over. The Emoji Movie isn’t a movie. It’s the latest open sore of a disease plaguing our society. A glimpse into the eyes of the eldritch terror biding its time behind the curtain of civilization, pulling your strings whether you’d care to admit it or not. And this doesn’t just come with a neat two-sentence takeaway about morals or the themes. The Dark Ones are hiding behind a veil of mental spectres, and you’re all falling perfectly into their machinations. Rise above. Bust the spooks. Don’t watch movies about emojis.

Gene’s apostles and a blatant reference to the five wounds of Jesus, undergoes a death and rebirth near the end of the film. In his so-called “digital death,” he spends time in Purgatory alongside internet trolls for whose deaths he was to blame. Hi-5 returns to the world of the living using a rope given to him by Gene, leaving the trolls to contemplate and change their evil ways. This mirrors the resurrection of Lazarus in the Gospel of John. Finally, the end of the film sees Alex decide to finally wipe his phone, resulting in a Revelations-style apocalypse for the sentient beings within. The Savior figure is the only one who survived the wipe when Alex decided to cancel it. This rebirth results in an awakened Textopolis, one that accepts with open arms Gene’s teachings of radical individualism. The VIP lounge—which had previously been closed off with a curtain, exclusive to Alex’s most-used emojis—is torn open in a manner resembling the tearing of the temple veil, which had separated man from God, upon the death of Jesus. The destruction of the old ways is the destruction of a self-fashioned pris-

on within our own minds, proving that the only true freedom lies in death. So if God is dead, religion is false, and death is the freedom we seek, then from what do our lives derive meaning? Well, my friends, for the answer to that big question we turn to our old buddy, the philosopher Max Stirner, author of The Ego and His Own. Stirner’s brand of egoist anarchism is one of radical individualism, which can be seen in every aspect of The Emoji Movie. Even the song “Express Yourself,” which is heavily featured in the trailers, echoes this idea. To Stirner, things like religion and other such institutions are “spooks,” ghosts that exist only in the mind, abstract ideas that serve to control our behavior and inhibit our actions. Stirner promotes the end of not only the controlling thoughts of society, but the very institution of society. The connection to the teachings of the Lord our Gene should be obvious already. The laws of Textopolis, Smiley’s populist regime, the rigid adherence to the roles placed upon the individual by society, are precisely what Gene abolishes. Stirner’s advocation of

“And this face is

our own, for the world of The Emoji Movie is set to selfie mode.”

3. Supergirl

season three release date: 10.9.17

1. The Defenders

2. Inhumans

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season one release date: 9.29.17 With a two-year wait until the next season of Game of Thrones comes out, Thronies might just have to look elsewhere to kill time—might we suggest Inhumans? Who doesn’t enjoy an old-fashioned tale of familial disputes and dynastic struggle? The show’s writers have made clear their intent to emphasize the power of kin, which holds the Inhuman royal family together as they live in exile after being ousted by the king’s brother Maximus. Inhumans checks all the boxes that Game of Thrones did: political power struggle? You bet. Family angst? Worry not. Menacing threat that could destroy everything? Yup. Weird incest? Low-key yes. Dragons? Well.. you have super-powered not-quite-humans who can level cities by themselves in an all-out brawl, so… good enough.

MOST EPIC

MOST ACTION-PACKed

The collaboration between Netflix and Marvel, responsible for hits like Jessica Jones and Daredevil, has come up with what is the The Avengers (2014) of television: a show featuring heroes from their past releases— Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand—teaming up to combat an organization known as the Hand that is threatening New York. Combining the main characters from three stellar action series and Iron Fist (admit it Marvel, Iron Fist was just horrendous) is a recipe for one of the most riveting shows on Netflix, as heroes with vastly different ideals and opinions on what it means to be a hero punch and kick their way to victory. Fight sequences in the show are top-notch and exhilarating to watch, and since all four heroes specialize in hand-to-hand combat, strap yourself in for an extravaganza of backflips, high kicks, and uppercuts as the heroes fight to defend New York…again.

By Season 3, Supergirl writers have laid the foundation of Kara Danvers’ alter ego: they have built up Supergirl’s backstory and established a balance between her crime-fighting and daily life. But one thing they haven’t explored yet is Kara’s identity beyond Supergirl. As such, it makes sense that Season 3 will take a look at Supergirl characters’ struggles with their own personal identities. Fans will get a glimpse at Kara’s inner conflict about being both an alien and a human as well as her willingness to sacrifice her public career at Catco for the greater good. We’ll also get a look at the development of Alex and Maggie’s love affair and James Olsen’s vigilante ways. As a whole, the violence and crime-fighting ways of Supergirl will be kept to a minimum this season, instead focusing on the intricacies of daily life, a deviation from the standard superhero show grounded in incessant action. Season 3 will explore a slice in the lives of our beloved characters, thus taking on a slightly more serious edge than the first two seasons, while hopefully retaining the humorous and lighthearted elements that Supergirl has become so widely loved for.

MOST Relatable

season one release date: 8.18.17

151MM NOVEMBER 2017

6. Arrow

season six release date: 10.12.17

4. The Flash

season four release date: 10.10.17

5. Legends of Tomorrow Having defeated Eobard Thawne and the equally nefarious Legion of Doom at the end of Season 2, the Legends team runs into another problem in the third season—cleaning up the mess they left behind. Having revisited a moment they played a part in creating to resolve the conflict in Season 2, the Legends severely fractured the timeline, creating multiple anachronisms that they must now resolve. The previous two seasons alone were baffling enough, dealing with the mechanics of time-travel, but focusing on the repercussions of time travel gone wrong is sure to make the show even more confounding than before. Although Season 2 of the the show was a significant improvement from Season 1, it sounds like Legends will only get better from here.

MOST Suspenseful

season three release date: 10.10.17

MOST Mind-Boggling

MOST Dynamic

Traditionally, superhero movies and shows center around one character: the super-powered or talented protagonist. But in Season 4, The Flash is prepared to do something unprecedented—remove the protagonist from the picture entirely. With the show’s titular character, Barry Allen himself, having vanished into the Speed Force in the Season 3 finale, his fiancé and long-time love, Iris West, will step into the role of the leader of Team Flash, allowing audiences to see the developing female dynamic of the show. Specifically, we’ll see a developing friendship between Caitlin and Iris, as Caitlin gives Iris advice on how to proceed with her relationship with Barry. Loose ends from Season 3 will be tied up, with many new ones made to replace them—new villains such as DeVoe and The Mechanic and the dynamics of a Team Flash learning to adapt without its beloved leader.

Season 6 of Arrow, one of CW’s most seasoned shows, begins by dealing with the repercussions of the (literally) explosive finale of Season 5. The question is which, if any, members of the Arrow team have made it out alive, especially considering the writers’ teasing remarks regarding the possibility of the Arrow team not making it out whole. Furthermore, according to Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen in Arrow), Oliver will have to figure out which of his closest friends and family members he can truly trust and rely on. Amidst all of this, we’ll get a glimpse of what is going on in Earth 2, as introduced in Season 5, especially with Laurel Lance’s evil alter-ego, Black Siren, who up till now has been a character whom we know little about. The season helps to build up Black Siren’s backstory, providing an interesting perspective on her motives and character. We’ll also see the return of Dinah Drake and Rene Ramirez as season regulars and the development of their characters from where Season 5 left off. Despite the show’s already loaded cast, Star City will be seeing many new faces in the next season; for now, one can only wonder if any of the new additions will be replacing anyone who didn’t make it off the island of Lian Yu alive.

7. The Punisher

These days it seems like New York is just crawling with crime fighting vigilantes! The newest addition? Frank Castle. He comes with the obligatory tragic backstory—when a cold-blooded crime boss signs the death warrant of his family, he alone manages to survive, and lo-and-behold, the Punisher is born. Unlike other heroes with similar backstories that have grown roots in the cinematic canon, the Punisher doesn’t fight out of an urge to uphold justice or to protect his city—only to seek revenge on those who took away everything he had. Unlike the Dark Knight, who follows a personal code, Frank Castle is someone who’s willing to do whatever it takes. Can someone without a moral compass still be a hero?

8. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season five release date: 12.1.17

Some think the superhero genre is mostly about overpowered individuals punching and kicking their way to victory while powerless mortals hide cowering behind them; Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. inverts this stereotype, and instead has ordinary humans saving the day and cleaning up after the messes that superhumans leave behind. The new season will see S.H.I.E.L.D. struggle with the aftermath of one such mess—Coulson’s pact with the Ghostrider that allowed him to temporarily gain his power and suppress an AI uprising in Season 4. With their reputation in tatters and their leader grappling with personal business, the fate of S.H.I.E.L.D. is now in their own hands.

MOST HUMAN

MOST GRITTY

season one release date: 11.17.17

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