ZooScope

Tag: Romance

  • Wuthering Heights. Dir. Andrea Arnold. Curzon Artificial Eye. 2011.

    Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic 1847 romance/tragedy novel Wuthering Heights highlights the desolate and savage nature of the moors in which the love story takes place, and the violent nature of those who live within them (notably Heathcliff). This wildness is conveyed to the audience through the use of animals, particularly violence against…

  • Bambi. Dir. David Hand. RKO Radio Pictures. 1942.

    The story of Bambi has captured the hearts of many ever since its release back in 1942. The main character, Bambi is a sweet, newborn mule deer when he first graces the screen, and earns the love of many with the lovely antics shared by him and his friends. The most memorable scene however, is…

  • Twelve Monkeys. Dir. Terry Gilliam. Universal Pictures . 1996.

    Do you want a second chance, Cole?” In other words – Do you want your body experimented upon to benefit our research again, Cole? The film cuts to a scene where Cole is injected and pinned to the time machine… or rather, torture machine. Cole never gets to answer the question – he has no…

  • Gone Girl. Dir. David Fincher. 20th Century Fox. 2014.

    Stereotypically, cats are represented as sly, sexy, intelligent, manipulative and mysterious creatures, and all of these characteristics are embodied in Gone Girl’s (dir. David Fincher, 2014) complex anti-heroine Amy Dunne. In order to understand Amy’s immensely complicated character, who only exists in flashbacks during the film’s opening scene, the film projects Amy’s character onto her husband Nick’s…

  • Wolf Children. Dir. Mamoru Hosoda. Toho. 2012.

    Wolf Children describes the maturation of two werewolf children, Yuki and Ame, and their human-being mother, Hana, with great sensitivity. The werewolf children struggle between their two identities – human and wolf. They can turn into either of them whenever they want which implies that it is their responsibility to choose which identity they will…

  • Beginners. Dir. Mike Mills. Focus Features. 2010.

    Beginners (2010) follows a middle-aged man named Oliver and his father’s dog, Arthur, a Jack Russell Terrier, after his father has passed from cancer. Arthur is portrayed in a very non-animalistic way. He never barks, only really making a sound when he is crying as Oliver tries to leave him at home alone. Arthur just…

  • Mulan. Dir. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Buena Vista Pictures. 1998.

    Disney’s Mulan (1998) takes on a Chinese folktale of a woman who takes the place of her father in the fight against the Huns who have recently invaded China. The film follows the adventures and troubles of Mulan, a young woman who breaks the stereotypes of Disney’s classic princess, as well as the expectations which…

  • The Squid and the Whale. Dir. Noah Baumbach. Sony Pictures, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Destination Films. 2005.

      The Squid and the Whale is a film all about conflict. It tracks the divorce of a couple of New York intellectuals and the effect it has on their two sons. The film opens with a line from the younger boy, Frank; ‘mom and me versus you and dad,’ cleverly summing up the central…

  • How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Dir. Donald Petrie. Paramount Pictures. 2003.

    How to Lose a Guy in 10 days is a romantic comedy about a magazine writer, Andy, who is conducting a social experiment that involves her acting in very cliché forms of crazy to see what it takes to really drive a man away. However, Andy’s target, Ben, is an advertising executive that wants to take…

  • The Shape of Water. Dir. Guillermo Del Toro. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2017.

    The Shape of Water is a fantastical love story set during The Cold War about Eliza, a mute cleaner at a government laboratory, who falls in love with a hybrid amphibian-man who was captured from the Amazon by the film’s villain, Colonel Strickland. General Hoyt wishes to exploit the amphibian-man to Western advantage in the Space…