英语电影赏析Chapter 8-Social Drama Film (American Beauty)

Social Drama Film

The genre has two defining conventions:” identify a social ill; dramatize its remedy.” (e.g.) The social problem is usually a contemporary problem and as such the setting is also contemporary. / The social drama typically displays a sympathetic perspective towards the victims of this problem, and is supportive of those who crusade (斗争) against it. / Underlying the social drama is the assumption that the problem, once recognized, can be remedied through well-intentioned social, political, or legal reform.
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Social Drama Film



Drama is a category comprising serious films that portray realistic characters in conflict with themselves, others, or forces of nature. The category is one of the broadest, and so the focus here is on one of the most important kinds of drama ---- the social drama. Much neglected by academic film critics, the social drama nevertheless enjoys considerable currency among scriptwriters and journalistic critics. Social dramas are films whose central narrative concern or conflict is a social problem ---- poverty, inequality, discrimination, racism, or exclusion (排外行为 ), to name just a few possibilities. 4
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Questions





In her book, Stiffed: The Betrayal of American Men, Susan Faludi claims that the traditional ideal of manhood in the US depended upon four factors: (i) a frontier to be claimed, (ii) a „clear and evil enemy‟ to be crushed, (iii) an institutional brotherhood, and (iv) a family to provide for and protect. None of these factors applies, she argues, in contemporary America. How does American Beauty reflect this? Which characters are treated sympathetically in American Beauty, and which are treated unsympathetically? How does this help us to understand the message of the film? How do you think the conventions of the CHNS effect Hollywood‟s treatment of social problems in films like American Beauty? Where else does the rose symbolism occur in American Beauty? Does the idea of a “Crisis in masculinity” have any significance in China? How do Chinese films deal with the problem of the “mid-life crisis”?
Appreciating Cinema
Social Drama Film
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Appreciating Cinema
Social Drama Film
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Contents
Social
Drama Film Questions American Beauty (1999) 1. Synopsis 2. Genre 3. Characters 4. Narrative 5. Style 6. Critical perspectives
3) Finally, there must be a belief that --- if the appropriate measures are taken ---- the problem can be solved. (e.g.)
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Social Drama Film

Social dramas typically follow the following narrative pattern.

~ is often considered to be a depiction of one man‟s troubled passage through a stereotypical mid-life crisis, and at the same time “an assault on the emotional sleepwalking (梦游) that passes for life in the American suburb.”
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Social Drama Film

A social problem is, first and foremost,
1) an adverse condition (不利条件) affecting a significant number of people. 2) It must, however, also be recognized as a problem, and that is something that can only occur if those concerned about the problem have enough power and influence to bring it to public attention.
perspectives of both its victims and its perpetrators (作恶者). And allowing the conflict to develop dialectically.
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Social Drama Film

Social dramas stem from the most noble and honorable motives. / They are attempts to
1) The protagonist is initially unaware of the existence of the problem. As the film develops, the protagonist becomes conscious of the problem and becomes committed to fighting against it. 2) The protagonist is helped in this process by a mirror character who communicates the true nature of the problem and suggests ways of dealing with it. 3) The problem itself is often embodied in the figure of the antagonist. The protagonist finally confronts the problem, is victorious or defeated, and the film ends.
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About American Beautபைடு நூலகம் (1999)

~ was the smash hit (轰动的演出) of 1999, winning Oscars for best film, best director, best screenplay (剧本), best leading actor, and best cinematography.
fulfill the ancient dictum (格言、警句) that
fiction should instruct as well as entertain. /They help us to recognize a social issue that we might otherwise overlook, and show us in dramatic form both its possible consequences and its possible solutions. /And even if they cannot always do that, they at least help “to tell the audience something, to make people think, to initiate a dialogue.”
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Social Drama Film

One of the pitfalls (缺陷) of the social drama is
didacticism (说教). The
best social dramas avoid this by presenting the
social problem from the
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About American Beauty (1999)

It is much more that: ~ is also a controversial indictment (控诉) of the excesses of feminism, commercialism, and the “me-first” philosophy, /a statement to the enduring power of beauty to raise the spirit from its lethargy (昏睡、无生 气), and --- /ultimately --- a story of the soul rebounding (弹回) from its self-imposed misery and stagnation (停滞). One of the chief attractions of the film is its engagement with a host of controversial contemporary issues concerning the concept of masculinity in the post-feminist and postindustrial society.