Film studies: signs and postmodernism

Résumé du document

‘L.I.E: Long Island Expressway. You got the lanes going east; you got the lane going west. You also got the lanes going straight to hell...' Thus opens L.I.E., a film about a fifteen-year-old boy who becomes involved in an unusual relationship with a much older man. Here, the first words of dialogue imply a precise context for the story that is to follow. Indeed, we know that the action will be set in the wealthy New York City suburb of Long Island. We can also expect the film to tell us more about this boy's life, such as where he lives, how he lives, what his friends and parents are like and why, according to him, some lanes go ‘straight to hell'. S. Sontag has suggested that film differentiates from print media in the sense that ‘it establishes a proper context for the use of images' (Sontag, S. 1975: 66). In effect, film seems to be a successful medium for the representation of socio-cultural aspects of life since it allows the audience to read signs in a continuous and perhaps more explicit form. However, the conception that ‘ the value of signs in film depends on the social context pertaining at the time the film was made, at the time the film is seen, and by whom it is seen' (Bignell, J. 1994: 193) also adds to the signification of signs.

Extraits

[...] We are also given clear indications concerning Howie's father. We see a poster in Howie's bedroom: Blitzer, better builders' which implies that Marty Blitzer has his own business, just as we discover that he always wears a tie and carries building plans and a business case, which is ironically the only thing that is ever laid on the kitchen table. We later learn from the television newsreel that he is the typical corporate crook, which are a very common breed on Long Island. [...]

[...] Film studies: signs and postmodernism ‘L.I.E: Long Island Expressway. You got the lanes going east; you got the lane going west. You also got the lanes going straight to hell . ' Thus opens L.I.E., a film about a fifteen-year-old boy who becomes involved in an unusual relationship with a much older man. Here, the first words of dialogue imply a precise context for the story that is to follow. Indeed, we know that the action will be set in the wealthy New York City suburb of Long Island. [...]

[...] Bibliography Barthes, R Mythologies. London: Vintage, p.26. Berger, A Media Analysis Techniques. 2nd edition. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA, p Bignell, J.1994. Media Semiotics : An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University press, pp. 187-194. Branston, G. Stafford, R The Media Student's Book. [...]

[...] Maurice's first reaction refers to the Le Quesnoy's money and how it could help the Groseille. In fact, this is what the Le Quesnoy were hoping for as they offer money and electricity to the Groseille in order to have Maurice live with them and give him education he deserves'. We are aware of the change in social class for Maurice when he comes out of his new private school with a clean haircut. However, we are also made aware of the financial situation of the Groseille when we see Mrs Groseille spending money on taxi rides and movies, resulting in their being in financial difficulty once again . [...]

[...] In La Vie est Un Long Fleuve Tranquille, the affluent Le Quesnoy family, and the Groseille family, who is part of the underprivileged legacy of the closing of the coalmines in northern France, see their lives disrupted when they discover that two of their children, Maurice and Bernadette, were exchanged at birth. Two of the Groseille children, including Maurice, miss school and steal while another is seen coming back from prison. The family does not pay the electricity, which is paradoxically owned by Mr. Le Quesnoy and his family who, on the other hand, live in a large, bourgeois house. [...]