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The Landlord (1970)

Explore the unique vision and cinematic effects in 'The Landlord' by analyzing Spike Lee's auteurism, shot composition, recurring themes, and biography. Delve into genre classification, cultural reflections, and the concept of whiteness in cinema. Discover satire's role in conveying social commentary.

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The Landlord (1970)

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  1. The Landlord (1970)

  2. Review: Shot composition & Mise-en-scene • Shot • Long Take vs. Long Shot • Establishing Shot • Panning vs. Tracking • Three Point Lighting • Low Key Lighting • Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic sound • Parallel Editing

  3. Auteur • What is an author? • Who is the author of a film? How do you ascribe authorship when it comes to film? • Media critics have developed the notion of the auteur as the person who is most responsible for the films’ overarching vision. His/her vision transcends the industrial system in which they are placed and understanding their perspective can enrich our understanding of any one of their works. E.g. the director, the producer, writer, etc. • From your reading for this week, who do you think is the auteur of The Landlord (1970)?

  4. Spike Lee as an “Auteur” • Some scholars have combined an analysis of a directors’ shot composition with analysis of their biography, and recurring themes to describe the unique vision that unites their body of work. • Biography: • Born and raised in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. • Black Middle Class • Child of a jazz musician Bill Lee • Lover of the musical • Themes: • New York Neighborhoods—e.g. Crooklyn (1994), Red Hook Summer (2011), Clockers (1995) • Interracial relationships, platonic, eruptive and otherwise—e.g. Jungle Fever (1991), Do The Right Thing (1989) • Black revolution and Black politics—e.g. Malcolm X (1992), • Staging of conflict in and through music—e.g. Clockers (1995), School Daze (1988) • Signature Cinematic Effects: • “The Dolly Shot”—Malcolm X (1992), Clockers (1995) • Interweaving of music into the narrative—e.g. Clockers (1995) • Confrontational Direct Address—e.g. 25th Hour (2001) (36:07)

  5. Genre • A category or type used to describe a media text. • How do we deduce what constitutes a genre? • Genres share: • Common film genres: • Melodrama • Horror • Science Fiction • Comedy • Western Iconography Settings Costumes Events Protagonist Central Conflicts Style (Visual and Editing) • Genres are a contract between producers and consumers about what constitutes the category. Thus as audiences change—and are differently conceived, so critics definitions of genre shift. • At their most significant, genres tap become a kind of cultural ritual—revealing deeply held cultural values. • Genres do not have to be mutually exclusive. Sub-genres and hybrids do exist. • To what genre does The Landlord belong? Support your answer with evidence.

  6. The Searchers (1956)

  7. The Searchers (1956)

  8. Imitation of Life (1934)

  9. Imitation of Life (1959)

  10. Imitation of Life (1959)

  11. The Exorcist (1975)

  12. The Shining (1980)

  13. The Walking Dead (2010-)

  14. whiteness • Richard Dyer: “In the realm of categories, black is always marked as colour…and is always particularizing; whereas white is not anything really, not an identity, not a particularizing quality, because it is everything—white is no colour because it is all colours.” (Dyer, “White”) • “To be everything and nothing, is the source of [whiteness’s] representational power.” (Dyer, “White”) • In films whiteness is associated with “order, rationality, rigidity, qualities brought out by the contrast with black disorder, irrationality, and looseness.” (Dyer, “White”) • George Lipsitz: White is “the unmarked category against which difference is constructed” but “whiteness is invested in like property but it is also a means of accumulating property and keeping it from others…White Americans are encouraged to invest in whiteness, to remain true to an identity that provides them with resources, power, and opportunity.” (George Lipsitz, Possessive Investment in Whiteness, vii-viii)

  15. Cultures of Dissemblance • “By dissemblance I mean the behavior and attitudes of Black women that created the appearance of openness and disclosure but actually shielded the truth of their inner lives and selves from their oppressors.” (Darlene Clark Hine, “Rape and the Inner Lives of Black Women”)

  16. Satire • “In black circles, the humor is not derived from the typical joke process. It flows from the participants’ commonly held satiric view of the world and themselves. Humor in these instances is not based on unexpected twists or reversals, on the contrary, it is derived from an acknowledgement of the shared ironic attitude underlying the quip.” (Mel Watkins—On The Real Side) Satire-constituted by aggression, judgement, play and laughter. The Essence of satire is that it perceives some absurdity inherent in the logic of some position and…draws the absurdity out and isolates it so that all can see it.” (G.K. Chesterton)

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