Tag: HAR: Imagination/Representation
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Shrek. Dir. Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson. DreamWorks Pictures. 2001.
Shrek (2001) is a film that invests in the fairytale tropes found in literature to create humour. Characters are typecast and stereotypes are flung at the audience in the beginning scenes of the movie. This is important for establishing the roles of animals in the film, because most of them, being objects of fairytale discourse, are…
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Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. 20th Century Fox. 1999.
One of the most important scenes in David Fincher’s Fight Club[1] is when The Narrator meets his ‘power animal’ in the cave whilst in meditation. Although it’s only a very short sequence, the penguin represents changes we see in The Narrator’s character throughout the film, which are relevant to the dramatic plot twist near the end. The…
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Ice Age. Dir. Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha. 20th Century Fox. 2002.
Set twenty thousand years ago, at a time when animals were migrating to warmer climates, Ice Age follows the story of three animals. Sid, a sloth, is left behind by his family, and meets Manny, a mammoth, who he decides to follow. They come across a human settlement which has been attacked by sabre-toothed cats.…
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The Jungle Book. Dir. Wolfgang Reitherman. Walt Disney. 1967.
The Jungle Book (1967) Walt Disney Synopsis Having been raised by a pack of wolves, with a black panther and a bear as your two closest companions, you would think you would have no troubles, but for Mowgli this is untrue. The Jungle Book is a Disney adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name, following…
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Tangled. Dir. Nathan Greno and Bryon Howard. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2010.
A modern twist on the traditional fairytale story of Rapunzel, Tangled is an edgy take on a timeless classic. Disney’s 50th animated family film is a fantasy, fairytale, romance, comedy and musical. Set in a fantasy kingdom far-far away, the King and Queen’s baby daughter Rapunzel is stolen by the evil Mother Gothel, who wants to use…
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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Dir. Wes Anderson. Buena Vista Pictures. 2004.
Wes Anderson’s fourth full-length film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, details the life of oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou following the death of his professional partner and best friend. The film, like many directed by Wes Anderson, ultimately became a cult classic, but not before being met with serious criticism from film critics. The dissonance…
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Gates of Heaven. Dir. Errol Morris. New Yorker Films. 1978.
Figure 1: The original cinematic release poster for Gates of Heaven. Eighty-Five minutes of predominantly medium close-up shots without narration with a focus, superficially at least, on the pet cemetery business. You may think that the initial prognosis for Errol Morris’s 1978 debut Gates of Heaven is bleak; indeed you would be in good company.[1] Morris’s fleeting between concepts led…
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Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske. Walt Disney Studios. 1951.
‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a 1951 animated musical about a young girl, named Alice (Kathryn Beaumont), who follows a white rabbit in a waistcoat (Bill Thompson), down his rabbit hole, to fall into a fantastical world where she must overcome constant confusion and bewilderment, as this world becomes ‘curiouser and curiouser’. She meets a myriad…
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My Neighbour Totoro. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli. 1988.
My Neighbour Totoro is a Japanese animation film produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was released in 1988 and helped bring fame and recognition to Studio Ghibli as a viable film production company. The film begins with Kusakabe Tatsuo and his daughters Satsuki and Mei moving to the countryside in order…