ZooScope

Tag: Fantasy

  • The Jungle Book. Dir. Jon Favreau. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2016.

    Man vs. Nature in The Jungle Book (2016) The Jungle Book is a film that essentially explores the relationship between man and nature through the portrayal of different animal wills and how they respond to one another, forming a variety of tensions and friendships. This unfolds through the story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves in the…

  • Beauty and the Beast . Dir. Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise. Buena Vista Pictures. 1991.

    Ostensibly, the transformation of a dog into a footstool in Beauty and the Beast operates as a humorous pun.[1] Visually, it works: Sultan in footstool form is around the right size, his tassels stand in for a head and tail and his decorated legs make convincing paws. Furthermore, the transformation of a dog into a footstool plays on…

  • Ponyo. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Toho. 2008.

    ‘What? She is captured by a boy? This is very bad. Is it already dead?’ yells Ponyo’s father Fujimoto when realising his precious daughter is being kept as a pet fish. The line raises an interesting question, does cinema represent animal domestication as kidnapping or an addition of family member? Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fantasy film Ponyo retells…

  • The Little Mermaid. Dir. John Musker and Ron Clements. Buena Vista Pictures. 1989.

    Ariel, a headstrong 16-year-old mermaid, has dreams of living as a human on land, despite her father, King Triton’s, constant reprimands regarding her desire for human/animal (mermaid) interaction. With the help of her friends, Flounder (a loyal, although cowardly, tropical fish), Sebastian (a red Jamaican crab and servant of Triton), and Scuttle (a foolish seagull…

  • The Witches. Dir. Nicolas Roeg. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc.. 1990.

    Only undeceived individuals might be able to tell a witch from an ordinary woman, for their most dangerous power is the sophisticated art of deception. “Real witches dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women; they live in ordinary houses and they work in ordinary jobs” (Roeg 1990, minute 2:25), Helga Eveshim…

  • Monsters, Inc. Dir. Pete Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich. Buena Vista Pictures. 2001.

    Lovable monsters like Sully and Mike of Pixar’s Monsters, Inc (Docter, Silverman and Unkrich, 2001) manage to make the monster world not so scary. Despite their initial employment as professional children ‘scarers’ for the Monsters Inc. corporation that uses scream- energy to power Monstropolis (the film’s monster-inhabited society), the pair prove themselves to be more…

  • Avatar. Dir. James Cameron. 20th Century Fox. 2009.

    Set in the year 2154, Avatar (Dir. James Cameron, 2009) follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic ex-marine who is given the opportunity to take part in a program on the distant moon Pandora. Pandora is inhabited by a wealth of creatures and biodiversity, as well as the desirable mineral ‘unobtanium’ which the humans are attempting to…

  • Babe. Dir. Chris Noonan. Universal Pictures. 1995.

     Babe’s belief in his capability to function within his new identity role as sheep-pig is shattered when he learns his true purpose as bacon for the farm. Deflated of self-worth and betrayed by ‘The Boss’ he descends into a torrent of psychological self-harm, unable to eat at the prospect of his failed ambitions. [1]

  • Mighty Joe Young. Dir. Ron Underwood. Buena Vista Pictures. 1998.

    Film provides a platform for racial stereotypes to indoctrinate its viewers and relay social prejudices. Lester and Ross argue that ‘the predominant juxtaposition of images of blacks and social problems- welfare, crime, poverty, drugs, violence…implicitly helps to activate long-existing stereotypes of blacks as sambo and savage’ [1]. The black African poachers in Mighty Joe Young…

  • Charlotte’s Web. Dir. Gary Winick. Paramount Pictures. 2006.

    Based on the classic children’s story by E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web (2006) follows the journey of a runty piglet, Wilbur (Dominic Scott Kay), saved by the farmer’s daughter Fern (Dakota Fanning) and raised on the nearby farm. Wilbur remains friendless until he meets Charlotte (Julia Roberts), the spider who lives in the barn. Although initially…