Blog Post 11/19 Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris Scene Analysis

In class, we discussed the bedroom scene at 58:54. The one-sided dynamic between Gil and Ines in terms of affection is displayed clearly here. Gil is looking for affection, pulling Ines in. Ines is visibly not interested in cuddling with her partner and immediately deflects Gil's attempt at intimacy. The first hotel room scene (8:22) is a precursor to the later bedroom scenes. Gil and Ines are not on the same page about their plans for the trip and their feelings about the other couple. Ines is focused on the logistics of hanging out with this other couple and defending Paul and his intellectual capabilities. For half the movie, when it is shot in the present, Gil is completely under the control of Ines. Always following along on the activities Ines wants to do. Gil is his own man when he visits the past; that's why he is so enamored with it.

Comments

  1. Alison LillaNovember 19, 2018 at 3:40 PM

    I thought that scene was shot well. You can tells there's a lot of tension, particularly how Inez pulls away. It seems like Gil doesn't try that hard keep Inez with him, like he's a passive character, and Inez is the major force.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 25, 2018 at 7:29 AM

    I agree that Gil was clearly uncomfortable in many scenes throughout the movie when interacting with Ines, both in private and in public. It was interesting learning in class about the dynamics of how the scene is filmed and how simply which way a character moves off the screen has such a strong implication on the tone of the movie. In these scenes where Gil is uncomfortable as seen in his face, his uncomfortable emotions are magnified given his positions in the scenes and that he leaves these scenes through the left side of the screen. You mentioned that Gil seems completely in control of Ines, but I think the fact that he is so uncomfortable proves that he is not in control and that is why he is so enamored with his past, where he was fully in control.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 25, 2018 at 1:32 PM

    That is a very good point that you bring up. This scene helps portray the dynamic of Gil and Inez's relationship. I also find it interesting how you connected the hotel scene from the 8 minute mark to the one described in this blog post, at the 58 minute mark. This makes a lot of scence and is an intriguing connection.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Group B Blog Post

I felt like analyzing Midnight in Paris was one of my most enjoyable classes of the year personally. It was good to get away from literature and briefly touch on film for a change, so I enjoyed it. From the article we only really talked about topic, the left to right duality with left being "good" and right being "bad". Just in that one paragraph alone, so many film elements were mentioned and what they mean to the film. There are too many to talk about in just one blog post, but his class must have been intense analyzing all of the aspects he brought up. One of the film perspectives was the idea of dominance when someone is higher on the screen and this was reflected a lot in the movie. Gil's fiancee was often shown towering over Gil because she always got what she wanted in the movie and was a negative influence on him. Something else I found interesting was the color contrast in the movie. When he was in his regular life, everything was light and almost bland...
Read more

Norman Mailer on Boxing

All -- I've attached a message from a colleague of mine below; a more tragic end to this piece than to the Ali pieces. SS Here's another piece of boxing belles-lettres I've never forgotten: Norman Mailer -- who also wrote about the Rumble in the Jungle and features in that documentary, When We Were Kings  -- on the death of Benny Paret: Paret was a Cuban, a proud club fighter who had become welterweight champion because of his unusual ability to take a punch. His style of fighting was to take three punches to the head in order to give back two. At the end of ten rounds, he would still be bouncing, his opponent would have a headache. But in the last two years, over the fifteen-round fights, he had started to take some bad maulings. This fight had its turns. Griffith won most of the early rounds, but Paret knocked Griffith down in the sixth. Griffith had trouble getting up, but made it, came alive and was dominating Paret again before the round ...
Read more

Iliad Blog Post Group B

The presence of divine intervention and the role of fate are themes that really struck me as we read the selected passages of the Iliad. Examples of divine intervention appear in the very beginning of book one when Chryse prays to Apollo to plague the Achaeans. Apollo answers his prayer and the Achaeans start to die of the disease. The presence of the Gods in the Iliad plays a major role in the plot progression. Athena also appears by Achilles size in book one and prevents him from killing Agamemnon. If the mortals were left to their own devices and the Gods didn't intervene with the plot then this piece of literature may have turned out much differently. The dream that Zeus sends to Agamemnon in book 2 is interpreted as a sign of fate, yet it is just a trick to harm the Achaeans. The interests of the Gods in the lives of the mortals are what drive the narrative forward. If Hera had not sent Athena to stop the Achaeans from sailing away, then there would most likely not be a story ...
Read more