Day: October 23, 2008

I enjoyed the finale of the Singing Detective, and I thought it was interesting how Gambon’s dreamworld helped solve his inner demons. Granted Michael spent half his time applying the novel to his reality, and reflecting on his troublesome past dealing with love, but he found peace in his heart by being a detective. Realizing that he was the root of his problems due to his negativity, an interesting twist in the series occurrs when the two intelligence officers interrogate Gambon in the hospital ward. They ask him who they are, and what their purpose is? For me, this is Michael’s epiphany about which type of detective is best suited for his well being, the two intelligence officers or the singing detective. 

The two intelligence officers are constanly suspicious and unsubstantiated in their work. This helps Gambon’s mind develop incriminating assumptions, like his wife stealing his work, or how the psychologist is trying to barge into his life. These intelligence characters represent Gambon’s fear of trust and happiness because he has been emotionally hurt by his former family and wife. The two men fester negative thoughts in his creative mind; thoughts which bring out the worst in him. However, after his breakthrough standing up, and dream sequence with his former wife about not returning to her the same crabby man, he finds peace. It is neccesary for his old self to die, and in the shootout by his bedside, Gambon’s better half prevails. He decides to be the cool, confident, and calm Gambon. Which only exists in his dreams, and novel, until he is “shot” by his better half in the hospital bed.  

Throughout the entirety of the series I enjoyed the musical style. Not only did it provide an exaggerated sense of the mood that Gambon is feeling, but it established an addtional fantasy world that motivated the szyuhet. For example, in the final episode, Gambon mentions a song to the doctor when trying to stand up. First the camera is positioned on the doctor in the szyuhet, then it jumps to the face of Gambon in the szyuhet, and back to the doctor in the new reality of the joyful fabula. As the medium ranged shot positions itself on the doctor, the audience witnesses him singing the song that Gambon mentions, and one realizes the new subjective reality. Not only does the song emotively aid Gambon in standing up, but it captures his internal mindset in his attempt. This musical style was original and effective     

In our discussion about The Prestige today in class, I found it unusual that some people did not enjoy the magical addition to the end of this film. Personally, I liked the idea of magic overcoming the boundaries of science. Being the first time I veiwed The Prestige, I expected a magic show. However, what I did not expect is the amount of time the szyuhet spends in explaining how magic is not really magic at all, but just an illusion to the eye. No, I am not naive, and I do know that most magic shows are illusions as well, but I did anticipate being entertained in a magical way. As I mentioned today in class, the development of the szyuhet is choppy, but there are clues that allude to the developing “magicalness”. For instance, when Cutter and the lawyer are walking through a dark hallway, and the lawyer inquires about Angier’s magical box. This means nothing at the beggining of the film, but it plants an important seed that is revisited after Angier’s dealings with Tesler. Making one believe that something like a cloning machine is on the horizon.

In class today, I believe Leslie mentioned how the camera acts like a magic act throughout the film. I think this is a great point because the szyuhet develops through a choppy narrative style. Whether it is the journals, or the love stories, or the illusions themselves, the audience is constantly left in suspense awaiting an answer to “the turn.” One witnesses the importance of this narration through Fallon. He is present in many shots at the begining of the film, but his reality as a Bourdon brother is hidden from the veiwer until the end, when the camera shows how the arrangement to create Fallon works. Capturing the two brothers undress and dress to disguise their appearance, the trick is on the audience because the multiplicity of Angier’s “real magic” has already been explained. This illusion of Fallon is the prestige of the film. No one in the fabula, or in the audience, is aware of Fallon’s identity (in my opinion maybe Cutter) besides the Bourdon brother who survives, and Angier; who is lucky to learn of this trick in his dying moments.