Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Laurel Canyon

Laurel Canyon was a much more entertaining movie than The Piano! I liked the movie. It was only predictable to a certain exten. I was wrong about how I thought it would end. From the beginning, when Sam pulls his car up and looks into the window to the car next to him I knew that something was going to happen between him and Sarah. It also did not take long for me to guess that there would be something between Alex and Ian. However, I had predicted that Alex and Ian were going to sleep together and so were Sam and Sarah. I’m glad that I was wrong. Alex started out as being the quiet, innocent smart girl that quickly said “no thanks” to drinks and drugs. Throughout her stay at Janes house, she lightens up and goes beyond her innocent boundaries. I don’t blame her at all for being a little rebellious. She obviously is not into the same lifestyle as Jane and her friends but why not experiment? I wasn’t surprised that she did, because her life with Sam isn’t exactly exciting at the time and it doesn’t seem fulfilling either. Now lets be honest, Sam and Alex have a bleak sex life together. Once they move into Jane’s house not only does their sex life disappear, but they only get to see each other right before they go to sleep. With Sam, Alex is safe and they are in a serious and mature relationship. It is quite obvious that Alex is not completely comfortable with Sarah and Sam becoming all buddy-buddy. Alex is spending all of her time at the house and Sam is spending all his time at the hospital. Ian is constantly flirting with Alex and why would any girl not accept it? He has the bad boy image and on top of that, he has a British accent! By barely seeing Sam, she naturally is attracted to the bad boy, Ian, as a rebellious fling. However, I was glad that the director did not have the two sleep together because I feel like that would have been way out of her character. As for Sam, I feel like his feelings towards Sarah were similar to Alex’s feelings towards Ian. Sam is obviously attracted to her, she is more accomplished than he is and she has an accent (which I found annoying, but he probably liked). Its clear that Sam is not accepting his mothers behavior (which is nothing new for him), but now Alex is starting to become influenced by her as well. Sam is in a vulnerable place in his life, which is why he begins to give in to Sarah. He is missing good sex from his relationship with Alex, and wants to fall into bed with Sarah. I was very impressed with the directors’ choice in not having Sarah and Sam sleep together, and for having Alex and Sam end up together. I felt like the director portrayed the men and the women equal in this movie. Alex and Sam cheated on each other only by kissing and nothing more. Both the men and the women were making equal mistakes and bad choices.

Laurel Canyon

Laurel Canyon was a film that I found to be easier (in fact, much easier) to follow than The Piano. But, like The Piano, Laurel Canyon has many, if not all, characters that are dynamic. Sam is the psychiatrist who has a bright future in the field of psychiatry. Sam seems very clean-cut in the beginning (and basically is throughout the course of the movie. However he runs into some slip ups when he gets close with his colleague who works in the same hospital as he. This is surely not the committed man we observed in the beginning of the movie. His girlfriend is much worse. She, also, seems very clean cut and determined in her work (especially on a dissertation she is writing.) However, this all seems to change when living with Sam's mother for a couple of days. She begins to dramatically alter her behavior, by smoking marijuana, drinking more, and even becoming slightly promiscuous with her boyfriends mother and her lover, who is a musician. The musician was the one who mainly caught Alex's eye. It gets to the point where the three are about to engage in a threesome- until Sam's mother stops it. In the beginning of the movie, she was portrayed as someone wild. She changes by getting control of herself and stopping the sexual threesome before it even started. The only character who doesn't seem to change is the musician, who until the very end still had his charisma and sexual energy. What makes the characters even more dynamic is that they go from "normal," to not being themselves, and going back to "normal" again by getting back together (Sam and Alex.) So all in all, most of the characters experience some kind of change in this movie. We do not know the results of what happens and that is pretty much the only thing that disappointed me about this movie.

Laurel Canyon

I really can’t categorize Laurel Canyon as a “chick flick” because it doesn’t have a mainstream feel to it. If anything I would consider Laurel Canyon to be a coming of age/identity story. It is definitely a lifetime channel type film. Lifetime always shows movies that have a really loose plot, like you can tune in any time doing the movie and you cant be sure that you didn’t really miss anything important. I felt that way about Laurel Canyon. As long as you knew Alex was curious, Sam was frustrated and Jane was new age hippie-ish nothing else was important. Alex had apparently been raised in a really sheltered atmosphere. She spent all her time studying and socializing with people from the academic world. Having never experienced such a free flowing lifestyle like Jane’s it only makes sense that Alex was intrigued. In a way I feel as if Sam should have expected Alex to react in one of two ways to her “new environment”. Alex would either A) become more isolated and shield herself from Jane’s antics by working more and more on her dissertation. Or B) Alex would be intrigued by Jane’s lifestyle and want to participate. Sam should have been able to see that Alex was slipping into Jane’s world after she spent long nights in the studio and got high with the crew. Then again perhaps Sam was so self-involved that he wasn’t able to track his fiancée’s progression to the lifestyle of the careless. When Sam opened up to Sarah he told her that he didn’t want to be lost like “people with loose ends”. Everything in his relationship with Alex had direction. His sex life had directions, her work was structured, his job had simple purpose. The lack of a typical mother-son relationship stems from Sam’s desire to distance himself and not “sink” into the world that his mother revels in.



here's another interview with the director. she talks about jane's character and how she was inspired to create certain roles.

mOTHER

Movies about infidelity disturb me

Laurel Canyon

Is it just me or do the morals of the characters in this course seem to get progressively worse?

Along with the theme of female directors, I noticed (at least in the two movies we have watched so far) a theme of fear and/or lack of commitment. In The Piano, Ada has a daughter with one man, is married to another, and sleeping with yet another. In Laurel Canyon Sam and Alex struggle with the curiosities of being with new and different people in new and different situations while in a relationship. Throughout the movie, I got the sense that Sam was trying to get away from his past and his mother’s lifestyle unsuccessfully. I think that his worst fears were realized when Alex got sucked into her lifestyle and began experimenting with drugs and sex. However, by getting roped into a relationship with Sara, Sam is also perpetuating his mother’s habits and being unfaithful to his girlfriend, as she is to him. I wonder if Alex’s initial suspicions of Sara (I think she began getting suspicious when they had coffee and she said she lived in The Valley- where Sam wants to apartment hunt) pushed her to become involved with Jane and Ian.

Another aspect is mother-child relationships and the perpetuation of the reality that your children never turn out exactly as you would imagine or want. This relationship is somewhat contorted between Sam and Jane, as Sam does not have the kind of mother he would like to, he wishes that she would be more normal and subdued, while Jane’s opinion on Sam is more unclear short of her desire for him to have fun and relax. The scene with Wyatt and his mother is a perfect example of this truth, though. He is a typical rebellious teen who is angry at his mother for wanting so much from him, whereas his mother only pushes him because she wants the best for him and wants him to turn out well. Wyatt rebels against his straight cut mother by doing drugs and being a hooligan. Sam rebels against his hippie swinger mother by going to medical school and trying his best to be normal and typical. In a way, Wyatt and Sam play each other’s opposite in this movie.

-Cynthia

the piano

The Piano was a movie I enjoyed, I think it had a great theme and a great plot line behind it. There were indeed many symbolic interpretations to this movie. This movie was a little confusing for me, but I think I got the jist of it. If I were to watch this movie again, I would be able to pick up on many things that I didn't pick up on watching it for the first time. Some movies just take a few viewings before they can be truly understood (one of which I can recall is the movie Heist.) One of the things that confused me was the place in which it was set in. I couldn't tell if it was Australia or New Zealand, as both were colonies of Great Britain during the 19th century time era. As for the characters, I think all of them were dynamic. For instance, the "husband" was seemingly very accepting and patient at first. We were given an image of almost a nice man who treated his wife with respect. He changed by chopping her finger off (blunt I know.) Ada appears to be a very proper woman at first, extremely proper even. This changes as she is willing to prostitute herself for her piano. The daughter seems to be very close with her mother and very innocent. She changes by basically betraying her mother for what she considered to be "proper." In doing so, she got her mothers finger chopped off by the husband. This actually really angered me when I saw that her daughter would do that. I think it was also ironic that she was wearing those angel wings when she did so (at least, from what I can remember.) All in all, the movie was good, I'd watch it again- just to get exactly what I missed.

Multimedia Gloss Mother

Laurel Canyon


The most interesting aspect of Laurel Canyon was the relationship between the carefree, hippie-ish mother, Jane, and her son, Sam. Jane is far from the typical mother in the way that she is completely open around her son, even exposing him to her sexual life and her heavy drinking and pot smoking, and she is not responsible in the way that is expected of mothers. Therefore, Sam rebels against this lifestyle, as is evident in his uptight, closed-off nature, and his desire to pursue a responsible, upstanding career in psychiatry. I thought it was interesting that he didn't rebel in the conventional manner of sex, drugs, and rock n roll, since this was the very thing he was rebelling against. However, I think it was the mark of a female writer-director, Lisa Cholodenko, that Jane wasn't portrayed in a negative fashion, in fact, she was portrayed as mostly positive, since she was a likable, vibrant character. Although she definitely was not a responsible mother and had some regrets in the way she raised Sam, it is still clear that she is unapologetic for her lifestyle choices. I think this is because as a woman, Cholodenko realizes that there is more to woman's life than simply being a mother, and she shouldn't have to sacrifice everything for her child. However, I think it is acknowledged that some degree of responsibility and sacrifice is required to raise a child, and this is something which Jane did not fulfill. However, a male director would have made her into a negative character for these reasons, but from a woman's point of view, we see Jane in a more complex way. Another illustration of this is the way that Sam deals with one of his patients, who is rebelling against his uptight, controlling mother by experimenting with drugs. Sam tells the mother that she needs to be less angry and more understanding. This shows that he appreciated the emotional openness that his mother does have, and so he isn't completely resentful of his upbringing.

Another major aspect of the film was the way in which Sam's girlfriend, Alex, was pulled out of her quiet academic lifestyle towards the partying lifestyle of Jane and her boyfriend Ian. However, I thought this was a kind of cliched storyline, and the way it was resolved left a lot of questions, like as to whether she actually enjoyed her experimentation, because at the end she went back to the same lifestyle. I thought Sam's relationship with her was more revealing, especially the fact that he was uptight sexually with her. He even used the excuse that he was tired, which was a definite gender role reversal, and again a sign of a woman's direction. Sarah's forwardness in pursuing him was another example of this. Sam's uptightness about sexuality could be seen as a response to his mother, but I think it is also a result of female direction, because his motives (and Ian's, which fulfilled the typical rock star cliche) were less clear than the women's. I don't know if this is because Cholodenko wanted to show that men are less open with their emotional motives than women, or because she was less sure of how to portray this herself. I also thought the ending was extremely open to interpretation as well. Sam's going in the water of the pool was an obvious symbol of a rebirth or new beginning for him, just as Alex's sexual experimentation in the pool was a sign of her initiation into a new realization of her sexuality - the water was like a weird kind of baptism. But beyond that, I think that the ending was too open ended to have any real effect. It seemed like him and Alex would work out their issues and stay together, but this was not entirely clear, and there was still the entire issue of Sarah completely out in the open. It seemed like a cop out, as if Cholodenko did not know how to end the film, and so left it that. I thought it was a somewhat disappointing ending for a film that was otherwise interesting for its unconventional female characters and questioning of traditional gender roles.

Laurel Canyon-mother son relationship

Watching Laurel Canyon for the billionth time, I thought I couldn't come up with anything new about the movie. But when presented with the term mother, I began to examine the relationship between Jane (Frances McDormand) and Sam (Christian Bale). As soon as the movie starts, you realize that the dynamics of their relationship are different from other mother-son relationships. Yes, she is not the typical mother. Yes, she does drugs. Yes, she can be seen as promiscuous. But Sam never says anything nice about her even though she is an amiable, at least, to people other than her son. With that being said, being a likable person doesn't make one the best mother. She is a person who is a free-spirit. It may have not been the best way to grow up, but Sam doesn't let her forget that. Jane has indeed messed up in the past. Sam, although seemingly grown up, acts like a child. He hasn't grown past his broken childhood. Sam insists that his mother has a development problem when frankly, he's just stuck on the fact that his mother didn't act like the person he wanted her to. She may need therapy as he says after he finds his girlfriend, Alex (Kate Beckinsale) in an unusual situation, but if she needs therapy, he needs it too. He is a product of his mother's upbringing afterall.
Sam's complaints in the beginning of the movie set the stage for what occurs in the movie. Alex is set up to be curious of a woman who she is told is a horrible human being, but when she meets Sam's mother, she comes to a different conclusion. Her confusion from what Sam said and what she sees creates more curiousity to find out what Jane's whole world is about, plus the fact that she's never experienced something so unstructured and unconventional. Yes, because of Sam's upbringing, he has become jaded of his mother and all that is associated with her, but that carries onto all other aspects of his life, especially in his relationship with his fiance. That is only natural, and anyone could see that if anyone knows anything about psychology.

Water in the Canyon

In the film Laurel Canyon by Lisa Cholodenko water is a major symbol and serves many uses. The body of water of course that is being refereed to is the pool in Jane’s house in Laurel Canyon. Throughout the film, the director manipulates the connotations and properties of water, depending on the situation and character. Water can distort images, making them appear different than they truly are. Water can also provide an escape, and isolate a character. In fact, the pool does literally separate and provide a middle ground between Jane’s house and the recording studio.
Jane’s son, the uptight and moral psychiatrist Sam uses the pool as an escape. While vigorously swimming laps in the pool Sam blocks out the world and isolates himself from the inhabitants of the house (including his own wife). Sam appears to use the pool as a way to diffuse his anger; his character in the film is decidedly passive aggressive.
The musicians, on the other hand use the pool as a place of relaxation, experimentation, and fun. The studious Alex is quickly drawn into this world. For Alex the pool acts as a liberating force, removing her from her ‘ivory tower’. Indeed, at first Alex won’t go near the pool, for fear of getting wet. Eventually Alex gives into the hedonistic pleasures offered by the pool and jumps in. The film’s first ‘threesome’ ensues.
The repeated uses of water in this film, especially the final scene where Sam goes underwater, seem to be a direct reference to the Graduate and its infamous pool scene. Like Sam, Benjamin in the Graduate uses water to isolate himself and escape his parents nags and concerns (what are you going to do with your life?). Also, Benjamin’s characters journey parallels that of Alex. Both characters in the onset of the film are wondering what to make of their lives and have not really ‘lived’. They are naïve and not quite experienced. Then, an older woman with lots of experience presents herself (Mrs. Robinson and Jane, respectively) and complications ensue. Both Benjamin and Alex learn about life, make mistakes, and gain experiences. They learn that you can’t plan your life and you can’t control your heart. Benjamin falls in love with Elaine against her mother’s wishes and Alex experiences attraction to Ian.

Kate Beckinsale is Smokin!

That movie was definitely good. I was in tune the entire film, that says a lot about it in my opinion. You never knew what was going to happen next. One thing I was wondering about was the fact that Christian Bael and Kate Beckinsale are both British. I wonder if the Director wanted it that way. They must have had some connection that made them act well together. I do not know why anyone would consider that a Chick Flick. Maybe I just do not want to admit that I liked it. Frances MacDormand is a great actress. Her character is hilarious.

She is a terrible mother because she wants Alex sexually. That is just against the rules in any society. I do not like how Sam even was considering that Israeli doctor when he has that piece of ass back home just waiting for some loving. That is one thing that is interesting about the course thusfar, both female directors love watching females being unfaithful and sneaky. I do not know if I like that. I have a serious girlfriend, she better not do things that I do not know about behind my back. I get sort of an uneasy feeling about these films because it is always happening. What ever happened to good old fashioned one man, one woman relationships? I feel like they are so hard to come by these days.

This movie was just an interesting idea. Having a weird mother try to seduce have a threesome with her sons boyfriend and her. humm... WEIRD. My guess is that the director smoked a bit of the ganja back in her day as well. Anyway, this movie exceeded my expectations by a lot. I really liked it. I really would not mind in Kate Beckinsale and I got together. I am also excited to see Lost in Translation. I have never seen it and heard great things. See you all tomorrow. Good Flick.

-Nahmias

Laurel Canyon

Laurel Canyon is not necessarily the typical chick flick, but I think it still speaks to women in its own sort of messed up way. Immediately we see that Jane was not exactly the ideal mother, so her son tries to be everything she is not. He thinks his mother, Jane, is crazy and wants to be as far away from her as possible by being as unlike her as possible. He has become very serious and stressed. He worries about his career, his relationship with his girlfriend, Alex, what Alex’s family thinks of him, what Alex thinks of his mother, and he also seems to feel inferior to his smarter girlfriend. It is clear that he wants to keep his girlfriend from his mother because of his insistence on finding an apartment and telling her to stay in a hotel. His mother, Jane, is a very free-spirited, care-free woman who does not take life too seriously and likes to have a good time. Alex is drawn to Jane because she has never seen someone so relaxed and down to earth. Her family is obviously very serious and stuck up, as we see in one of the first scenes, and she is trying to get a taste of the other side. She wants to be bad and go against everything her parents and her boyfriend have been pushing her towards. She is curious about these people who are so unlike her and everything she has known. Her boyfriend, Sam, sees Alex’s attraction to Jane and that lifestyle, yet he is too focused on another woman and his new career to do anything about it. The other woman knows Sam has a girlfriend and has even met her, yet she still tries to seduce Sam and ruin the relationship. In the end, Alex and Sam seem to have both grown after the experience staying with Jane. Sam seems to have grown closer to his mother, and Alex has opened up and seen a new world through Jane and her friends.

Laurel Canyon

The concept of motherhood and how a mother should act was unique in this film. The conventional way a mother should be is responsible, caring, mature, and nurturing. In Laurel Canyon, Sam's mother was the exact opposite. He was the one who had to be mature and in a way nurtured his mother. Although his mother deeply loved him, this relationship took its toll on his personality. He was very rigid and straight edge and that seemed to be in relation to how his mother acted. Although, I was really surprised when she took the more responsible and motherly stance at the end of the movie when she said how she couldn't do that to her son in the hotel room. I think all of the sex scenes in this film were really symbolic. In the beginning of the film it starts off with Sam and Alex having sex. Although, it isn’t very passionate and Sam isn’t pleased at the end. This foreshadows how their relationship quickly gains problems. In the second sex scene Sam turns down Alex by saying he is tired when at the same time his mother is having passionate sex with her boyfriend. This explains how different the paths that Sam and Alex are taking are. When Sam kisses his colleague, it happens the same time that Alex kisses his mother and her boyfriend in the pool. This represents how separated they have become from each other and both their lives are completely separate. I was really surprised in the end how passionate they were after their fight in the hotel. I thought that they would eventually break up since neither of them seemed happy. I think that it there were several hints of a woman director in this film. Women were represented as strong, especially Sam’s mother. Also Alex and Sarah were both depicted as extremely smart and successful individuals.

-Claudia Brancaccio

Laurel Canyon and Water

As discussed this morning in class all directors use cinematography in their films to elaborate more on a story. They use certain elements of cinematography to make audiences understand more of where their characters are coming from and the settings they live in. The movie “Laurel Canyon” contained all the elements of cinematography that we talked about including music, makeup, scenery, and lighting as well as the component of symbolism. One such symbol that I felt was present throughout the movies entirety was water. It seemed that every time someone was in the pool outside of Jane’s house they were cleansing or purifying themselves.
The use of water in the film was primarily that of Jane’s pool. It is the thing I was first drawn to when introduced to her house. Also, when Sam and Alex are first arriving at Jane’s house we see them pulling their suitcases along the bumpy stone path. I felt that this was important to recognize because usually people go through a rough time and then cleanse themselves to become pure, which is essentially what happens at the end of the movie with Sam. He goes through a rough time at work with his attraction to Sarah, in addition to walking in on Alex, Jane, and Ian. Also, it is after Sam’s first swim in the pool that we see the relationship he has with his mother Jane. This is important to the audience because up until this point I was confused as to why he called his mother Jane instead of mom. In this scene, the audience is also exposed to the character flaws of Sam. Jane says to him, “why are you always stuck on the negative” and “Are we ever going to have a relationship?” However, conducting this scene after Sam gets out of the pool shows how now that he is “clean” he can address his past with his mother.
The final scene of the movie, where Sam hangs up the phone and ducks under the water, mirrors that of “The Piano.” I found it interesting that in both films the main characters use water as a way to be free. I did not like this ending because I felt that the movie could have gone on further. Yes, it made me question whether Sam lives or not, but I didn’t think it went along with the storyline. Overall, I really enjoyed this film, but wish the ending was different.

Laurel Canyon


The beginning scene in Laurel Canyon is surprisingly sexual for a film made by a woman. Although nudity is not shown, the main character is wearing her shirt during sex, and it uses vivid language, which is something uncommon. Nudity and sexuality is highly present in this movie. Multiple times breasts are shown, but the only scene showing male nudity is in the pool, and there is no skin shown outright except bare butt and a blurry look at the genitals. A scene that uses nudity is when Jane flashes the band. Although it is unnecessary to show her breasts, it also proves how she is liberated and comfortable with her body, something women in the past were unable to be because of social stigma. This is significant because a woman wrote the film. Another scene showing nudity that makes a point is when one of the psych ward patients is standing outside the room with no clothes on, saying “you don’t understand naked.” The filmmaker obviously did this to make a point about the human body.

Just as seen in The Piano, Laurel Canyon looks at fidelity and honesty in relationships. In addition, this movie also shows a scene involving going underwater at the end after a moment of decision or change. Both Alex and Sam both meet people early on in the movie. Although they do not have physical contact, the characters share deeply intimate and personal things and connect on another level. This can be seen by the position of their bodies and the way they look at each other when they talk. The film is shot using close-ups of both faces and objects. This implies an intimacy that is again common in films made by women. When something is important, the shots tend to be very up close to the characters. In one scene, Sam and Sarah are talking face to face in a very open and brightly lit environment. This shows that they are being honest and have a connection. Almost immediately following this scene, Sam and Alex are in the bedroom talking, first with Sam’s back turned, then with both reading while they are talking. This scene, in opposition to the other, is darkly lit and the two are not looking at each other even though they are in a more intimate setting. This is a good example of a filmmaker using space and light to convey their point.

“We don’t want her joining the scientologists or the vegetarians” This comment made at the party is an initial bust on the way people treat and view women. Other than this, women are shown to be in positions of power, Alex and Jane are both intelligent women, one working on her dissertation and was top in her class, and the other a very successful music producer. In addition, Sam’s forbidden love interest is a thriving doctor who is well respected and Jane’s boss Claudia is obviously a big executive at a music company. Again, the theme of women working their way up and being powerful is present.

This movie could be typified as a chick flick because it deals a lot with relationships and personal struggles, but has many surprising scenes. Included are the scene in the pool where the three are skinny dipping and end up kissing, and also the scene where Sam and Sara share their deepest desires of what they want to do to each other. This is shocking and very forward, but at the same time not vulgar. Overall, the film was well made.

Wow, once again the movie we watched was directed by a female, however, it was far from a chick flick. This movie was certainly not as sad as “the Piano”, but it nonetheless dealt with issues on marriage and fidelity. In both movies, the leading women were not “married” per say, but they were in seeming monogamous relationships. Yet that fact did not prevent them from experimenting sexually with other people, people other than their partner. But why is that the case? Is there such a thing as love? Or are there simply no hypothetical laws to bind a monogamous pair together? Or are there stronger urges that love?

The movie we saw today, “Laurel Canyon”, was an interestingly risky movie; lots of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Though I have always been aware of such lifestyles, the movie disturbed me a little bit in that way. It had a hard and cold reality about it that was so opposite of the normal stereotypical chick flicks I associate with female directors. In fact neither of the films that we have watched in the past two days have been very “chick flicky” at all. Though neither of the movies are not really that conventionally fluffy, I think that they are more realistic. They don’t give any kind of false hope for the future, and they don’t have happy endings just to please and comfort their viewers. They seem so real to me, because real life doesn’t always end happily.

I also wondered throughout the movie if there was any significances in the colors and scenes. The pool, for example, kept popping up and was a prominent piece of the background. But at the same time there were also bottles of alcohol and cigarettes scattered throughout the entire movie as well. But, one question I had was what was the point of the movie? And was the ending really that sad? Or was there some hope for the future?

The Piano, put together

Despite how surprised I was after watching the film “the Piano”, I was nonetheless moved to reflect deeply about its meaning. To begin, it was definitely NOT a chick flick, though it was written by a female, Jane Campion. Indeed, the film was far from the fluffy predictability that I normally associate with chick clicks, instead it was gloomy, and I’m still not sure whether or not the ending was a happy one.

Perhaps in the end the main character Ada, made a decision that she thought she would find the most joy in, however, will she ever be truly joyful with that life? She will no longer be able to play the piano as she used to, and that is what kept her going through her time in New Zealand. However, maybe letting go of the piano was a good thing, giving her time to love her daughter and new husband. But, does she really love that man? I guess I never got the impression that she was really in love with him. Overall, I found the movie to be very dark and sad, but I did think that it ended with some hope, despite how weak that hope might have been.

I liked the movie, it was certainly on a topic that I was not very familiar with, that time period and that type of situation. It was sad, but interesting, not bad.

After reading the chapter on “the Piano” by Jane Campion, I was a little surprised to learn that when it came out, it was categorized as a “chick flick”. The reason for my astonishment was that before reading that chapter, I would have never classified that movie as a chick flick. I thought it was a sad and kind of dark movie, certainly not light and fluffy, as I normally classify chick flicks. I also found it interesting that “the Piano” was such a big deal during the time it came out. Indeed, I had heard many of the movies and clips that parody and refer to the movie, but I had no idea what they were talking about having never before seen the movie.

Laurel Canyon

I thought that the relationship between Sam and his mother Jane was interesting. It seemed like she had been a loser in the past, but that she really wanted to be his mother while he didn't really want to be her son. He tried to distance hiself from her both physically and socially. He went to school on the other side of the country from her to become a psychiatrist, his girlfriend is all ready an md going for her phd in god knows what, but it's something about fruitfly mating, and the only reason he's even living with her is because his residency is in the area.

Sam wouldn't even have stayed at his mother's house very long, except his girlfriend Alex kept lying about all the apartments she visited. It seemed like he was trying to get away from his mother the entire movie.

It bothered me a little that there wasn't much of a conclusion at the end of the movie either. Sam and his mother reconciled for the most part, but Alex never finished her dissertation and there was still the entire issue of Sam and Sara left entirely unresolved.

Jane Campion

After reading the chapter on “the Piano” by Jane Campion, I was a little surprised to learn that when it came out, it was categorized as a “chick flick”. The reason for my astonishment was that before reading that chapter, I would have never classified that movie as a chick flick. I thought it was a sad and kind of dark movie, certainly not light and fluffy, as I normally classify chick flicks. I also found it interesting that “the Piano” was such a big deal during the time it came out. Indeed, I had heard many of the movies and clips that parody and refer to the movie "the Piano", but I had no idea what they were talking about having never before seen the movie.

The Piano

The movie, The Piano, was a shocking account of a chick flick because it was dark and dreary but it still had the makings of a chick flick: romance, emotion, sickness, and destruction of property. It may have not been a conventional romance but it did demonstrate a love that was kept from one character, Baines, for a period of time, which is present in most “chick flicks”. Emotions were stirred by the use of music, lighting, and use of sex scenes, although very explicit. Emotions were provoked by the use of betrayal by the daughter, Flora, of her mother where she ultimately has her right index finger cut off by her own husband for her indiscretions with another man. The characteristic of sickness was demonstrated through the mother’s muteness. In the film, it was seen as a sickness by other characters while it could be seen as a contribute to her character because she overcame the barrier of silence to communicate with others through hand movements, touch and other body movements. The destruction of property in the film was not demonstrated in the most common sense when we think of destruction of property. The destruction of property was done to another human being, Ada. Because of her indiscretions with another man and subsequently being caught is what caused her husband, Alisdair, to cut off her finger and sent it to Baines as a warning not to see her again. This action is to insight emotion from the audience, which it does. It illustrates the magnitude of the husband’s anger towards his wife, Baines and to the piano.

The explicit sex scenes are used to illustrate the primal part of sex and love. At first, it does not have to encompass love but it can eventually as time passes. The use of nude scenes and lack of clothing on the natives also shows how primitive their world is. It suggests that the natives are not as civilized or modernized as others, but the use of the “white” people’s clothes on the natives also demonstrates how the invasion has affected the natives. They are trying to incorporate the new people into their lives but still keep their identity.

Sex and Music

The Piano

As far as the question of sexuality in this movie, I got the feeling that the stereotypical gender rolls gets reversed in the relationsip between Baines and Ada. Originally he is the one lusting after Ada and uses her desire for the piano to force her into being sexual. However, when he gives the piano back, he pines after her and can only think of her. When she visits him for sex, Ada seems to have little reservation about her actions or worries about what it means. Baines, on the other hand, seems to be like a typical woman in how he is so worried about whether he will see her again and if she actually loves him and all. Until Ada sends him the piano key, I definitely felt Baines had much more invested in the relationship.

Another aspect I found curious about the sexuality in The Piano is the lack of monogamy, especially considering the time period. The exact story behind who Flora’s (Ada’s daughter) father is is unknown, and since Ada is betrothed to Stewart it’s highly unlikely she was married to Flora’s father. Then, while she is married and living with Stewart she becomes involved with Baines. There is even brief mention of Baines having a wife somewhere else. It makes me wonder if people didn’t practice what they preached then, or if this is just a curious scenario.

One part I found amusing, and definitely derived from a female mind, was the scene with the Maori ladies and their children sitting around doing laundry and gossiping. This is a typical, timeless activity for ladies. This scene seemed so warm and comfortable to me, you instantly knew that all the people there were close and had grown up together. I found it interesting how open the Maori people were about talking about sex, especially compared to the Europeans who found that sort of thing completely taboo. The Maori characters are definitely more free spirited and open minded, which gives them a more welcoming feel.

-Cynthia
THE PIANO: WTF?!?
I have seen some intense movies with blood, murder, erotic sex, bizarre twists, etc., but none have wowed me as much as the Piano. Even now as I sit hear contemplated what to blog about I have no words to describe how this movie made me felt. The story line itself was very bizarre and I never really knew what was going to happen next. Unlike most of the chick flicks I choose to watch, this film was not predictable. I never imagined that she would throw herself at Baines or that his sick obsession with her would lead to any lasting relationship. She was so dedicated to the memory of her former lover that I never imagined she would give in to Baines. I thought Baines was going to rape her, so when she jumped him I was quite shocked.
I hated the part when the husband cut off Ada’s pointer finger and blood splattered all over the daughters face. That was vulgar and totally unnecessary, and made me think about the woman who wrote this film. What was Campion thinking? Campion portrayed Ada as a bad mother as well, making decisions solely based on her personal needs. I would think that a female writer and director would portray women in a good light, as a good mother and wife, rather than I women with some serious baggage.
I also found it interesting that Campion included male frontal nudity. Tons of movies include women exposing their breasts, but very rarely does the male genitalia get any time in the spotlight. It makes me wonder why men in the movie business think it okay to show breasts in every other shot, but very rarely expose the penis.

The Piano

The beginning of The Piano reminded me of the beginning of another more recent film, Sweet Land, in which a German mail-order bride arrives in a rural part of the United States to meet her new husband. Ada in The Piano and Inge in Sweet Land both have to overcome major communication barriers while they adapt to their new surroundings. The initial similarities between the two movies were very striking, but The Piano quickly diverges as Ada’s relationships with her husband and with George develop. Her initial interaction with her husband was odd – when Ada’s new husband greeted her for the first time he told her that she was smaller than he expected, which seemed to foreshadow the unbalanced and awkward relationship they would have throughout the movie.


Ada has very little control in her life with her new husband. Right after she moves there, the women of the house put her in a dress to take wedding pictures that Ada is very apparently miserable about taking. These are the only women besides Ada with a major part in the film, and they are portrayed as judgmental and condescending, saying things like “There’s nothing so easy to like as a pet and they’re quite silent.”

Ada has very little control in the piano situation in general – her husband trades it with George for more land and then demands that Ada provide George with lessons. When George offers to give Ada the piano back eventually in return for sexual favors, Ada uses the only control she has over the situation to regain her piano. Although it was Ada’s only real way of expressing power or control in the film, the first few lessons with George feel uncomfortably demeaning. As Ada falls in love with George, though, the relationship becomes less unpleasant. It was, however, really jarring for me to see Ada go from seeming so sexually exploited by George to being in a mutually loving relationship with him. George allows Ada more power than her husband does. When he realizes the dysfunction of their relationship, he returns the piano and explains that it belonged to her when her husband gave it to him, and at one point in the film, he shows that Ada has emotional control over him when he says he can’t eat or sleep because of her.

The Piano



Although The Piano is considered a chick flick, it is much different that what one would usually think of when hearing the term “chick flick”. The films that come to mind when describing a chick flick are usually light, romantic comedy, sometimes ditzy teenage girls, or sometimes a woman in about her 30s finding true love. Part of defining a chick flick can be that it is unrealistic, it will never happen to the viewer watching the film, but they always hope that it will anyways. I would not usually define The Piano as being a chick flick because it is sad, dark, depressing, and even at the end, the lightest moment, it still has a melancholic feeling. In some ways if I hadn’t known this was a female director, I probably would not have guessed it. The film did not portray men or women in a positive way. At first I felt bad for Ada, because she couldn’t speak, and she was arranged in an unwanted marriage. All she wanted was her beloved piano. As the movie went on, I began to feel as though she loved her piano more that she even loved her own daughter. She becomes so obsessed with it, that she basically trades sex (making it an affair which is even worse) in order to regain ownership for her piano. Baines spends a large amount of time just listening to Ada play the piano. In some ways, she had a pretty good deal going on. She could spend the day playing the piano while everyone outside thought that she was giving Baines lessons. So why was she so desperate to get the piano back completely? After Ada’s fingers get chopped off, she can no longer play the piano. So even though she is no longer with her husband and she has left the island with Baines, her daughter and the piano, she is still unhappy. Now I’m not saying that she should be totally psyched, because how can you be when your finger was just chopped off? However, attempting suicide is extreme. I’ve heard people say before that they believe suicide is selfish. Everyone has different opinions on this, but I feel like it can be in certain cases and not in other cases. For Ada, although she did not end up finishing it out, it would have been selfish for her to have killed herself. She obviously is unhappy, but she also has a daughter who loves her and needs to be cared for by her mother. She has a man who loves her and apparently she loves him and he would be miserable without her. These are the thoughts that I assumed were going through Ada’s head when she was beginning to see her life slip away. Ada’s husband was portrayed to be very distant from her and then violent towards the end. Baines was portrayed in a negative way also as he in some ways forces intimate relations with Ada in the beginning of their relationship. Baines was seen as having a one track mind-sex for most of the film. These portrayals would give hints that the director is a female. However, Ada is also seen in a negative way therefore it would be hard to determine the gender of the director.

the piano

I found The Piano to be a very interesting film, and in light of the class discussion on chick flicks this film proved to tear down the stereotypical characteristics associated with female films. Instead of the predictable, light-hearted, fairy tale romance of most chick flicks, The Piano is filled with dark and gloomy expressions.
Throughout the movie, the theme of male dominance is portrayed. First, Ada’s father places her in an arranged marriage forcing her to travel to a country which is new and strange to her. Ada has a strong attachment to her piano which she uses express herself, and without it she is silent in a world of sound. Campion further shows how men tend to control women through her husband’s dislike of the piano and his choosing to sell it even when he realizes her love for it. Although eventually Ada grows to love Baines, the man who the piano is sold to, he also tries to control her as well. It is evident that the film comes from a female perspective because Ada follows her heart instead doing what was logical she takes a risk by going to be with Gaines. The film portrays that Ada like many other women are forced to have their feelings barricaded by men. When Ada’s husband wants to prevent her form seeing Baines he locks her inside placing boards on the windows causing her the daughter to look through the holes in the wood in order to see outside. This is also how Ada’s husband confirms her affair with Baines as well. The female point of view is also shown through the fact that although Ada cannot speak and Baines cannot read they are able to communicate in other ways. In the end I believe that Ada realized that the piano was not her only way to express her emotions, and with the piano buried she was able to release her emotions and desires.