Part 3. Reflection of Director's Strategy

            Any movie that involves mass flooding that causes death and horrible damage to everything sets the tone immediately. Director, Benh Zeitlin, broke all the rules and successfully created a masterpiece with a powerful message or two. Originally, Zeitlin made it clear that Hushpuppy understood nature as belonging to a food chain. Bigger things eat smaller things but eventually it changed to show that there is balance in nature and things happen for a reasons. That is why Zeitlin used the flooding and the aurochs and the terminal illness to show nature's path. In an article where Zetlin was interviewed by National Geographic he said, "it's not just about survival but allowing each other to go on". I feel like this connects with the story of Noah's Ark. God had to allow some to live in order to repopulate the earth and put his faith into them hoping that good would come from it.
             Zeitlin's use of myths intertwined in the movie portrays his messages more clearly. Mainly being the cycle of nature and understanding it. Zeitlin wasn't trying to be scientific in his use of filming the movie. Things happened just because. There didn't need to be a reason behind it because to a young kid that is how their mind works. So overall the way the movie was structured was from the mind of a child just trying to understand everything in her own way. Also going back to my connection with Noah's Ark, I believe any deluge myth always have powerful messages and Zeitlin's use of flooding brings that to the light. Nature equals power, that's why there are so many stories that use the power of nature to embed messages into.
 


http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/17/the-story-behind-beasts-of-the-southern-wild/

Part 2. Analysis

            Beasts of the Southern Wild shows a strong connection with deluge myths. But considering they are all relatively the same story I chose to analyze Beasts with the story of Noah’s Ark from the Bible. Beasts uses many bits and pieces of Noah’s Ark to intertwine with the outline of the film. I will explain and compare the relationship between text and subtext through analyzing visuals and aspects of Noah’s Ark. The story has been rewritten before in other movies such as Evan Almighty or the movie that came out in 2014 called Noah's Ark featuring Russell Crowe. There are also many other movies filmed for Noah's Ark and even ones for children. 

            Beasts heavily emphasizes the importance of water in the movie even though it destroys everything. Just calling where they live the Bathtub reflects their home and life. In the beginning they comment how beautiful it is where they live. But they also point out what is making their home ugly with the factories and pollution. They get their food from the water and enjoy its presence. They appreciate for little and live to the fullest each day. Like I stated in my proposal blog, the most obvious connection is the flooding. In Beasts, a storm hits at night causing dangerous flooding in the bathtub. Ironically, their home is literally called the bathtub. Which a word that we would understand as a tub filled with water. Why do they name it a bathtub if flooding is considered bad? I think it's because they live off the water from the sea, the fish they eat and call it beautiful. They see it differently than the rest of the World. There they feel free and pure from the World's cruel intentions. Water in most cases is used to purify which is why God called upon the rains to rid the Earth of sin and purify it once again. The bathtub is their pure sanctuary surrounded by water and away from everything else. It is still their home no matter what so they accept the flooding. They don't want to leave their home and give up on it.

          There's another connection when Hushpuppy's father tells her to get in the "boat" when the storm hits. This way if their home floods she will be safe and float. The movie transforms the use of a small box/boat to the connection of the Ark. After the storm subsides they come out of their home through the ceiling to survey the area. You also see a dog come out with them shows another connection referring to animals also surviving. The movie actually shows animals quite a lot.

        The movie uses a lot of close ups. It focuses in on what is happening which tends to make it look very chaotic and more realistic to the state of their condition. After they emerge from their home that's underwater they use their makeshift boat to see if there are any other survivors. Once again, the reference to using a boat is relevant. The survivors gather together and still stay strong after everything that has happened as if they are a family.
            When outsiders come in to take them to a shelter they all revolt and escape back to their bathtub. The movie is almost backwards. The people who belong in the bathtub see it as their sanctuary even though it may be underwater. All the people trying to help them are only doing it to stop any other attacks or explosions. The aurochs or "hogs" is seen as evil sweeping the land in search of victims. Hushpuppy is the light and saves not only herself but the people. In the movie though, Zeitlin, wanted to show how these creatures used to exist in the cavemen era. Those cavemen paintings were meant to tell people in the future of their past and learn from them to know who they were. No differently from when Hushpuppy is trying to draw her own story inside the box so that scientists of the future will know who they were. People learn from our past history and mistakes. Perhaps the flooding in the film is a reminder of the past mistakes when people continued to sin.
             I think all of this started when her Dad became sick. He handled it wrong and lost himself. She felt like she could fix it and in the end she realized that you can't fix everything but you can start with making small things. I feel like this connects heavily with the teachings of the Bible and life in general. You don't have to change the world. Your small footprint of action is more than enough to bring the good in people. Be kind, strong, compassionate and humble. Even though the movie's story line doesn't fit the exact story of Noah's Ark it still portrays messages that are alike. Flooding equals the result of change. Specifically, the people in the film like Hushpuppy when she understands her place and the her meaning of life.

Final Proposal Essay - Beasts of the Southern Wild vs. Noah's Ark

The world is filled with deluge myths surrounding each country and culture. All showing how the use of floods from a deity or God wipes out civilizations due to upsetting the Gods or by people being evil. The most common deluge story in our culture, comes from the Bible explaining the story of Noah's Ark. God saw only evil in all the people and said that he would call upon all the rains and water to wipe out every living person and creature that walked the Earth. Except for Noah and his family. God saw good in him and wanted them to live so he instructed Noah to build an Ark to save pairs of animals and his family. The flood came and wiped everyone out except for the Ark. Eventually the Ark settled in the mountains and they disembarked to start their new home and to continue the good in people. The reason I'm using this story is because I see a lot of it intertwined within the Beasts Film. The most obvious being the flooding and survival but there are also many other smaller connections to the Biblical text of Noah's Ark.

Cultural/Spiritual Perspective of Water

Even though the movie has many feelings of sadness, I've always enjoyed watching it. I believe its important for people to be aware of other countries conditions and to not think that they only exist in their own little world. When I visited India I learned a lot about their culture regarding their religion, marriage,status and so much more. Watching the movie Water again, only helped those stand out. The movie not only depicts what their culture is like but puts a spiritual twist that involves religion and politics. Narayan and Kalyani's romance that reflects the relationship of Krishna and Radha brings out the spiritual perspective of their religion. Even though it's a movie, all of its messages are true. My favorite scene is when all the women and Chuyia are dancing and playing with all the colors. The way they filmed that scene makes it feel very spiritual and a brief window of joy. Culturally, India is very colorful from clothing to decorations.

Interesting use of Music

Well, considering Mama Mia in itself is a musical it comes to no surprise that the movie continues to pull you through various emotions from the feelings of joy, confusion, surprise and last but not least sadness. Besides this scene, my other favorite scene is "Dancing Queen" which just makes you want to get up, dance and not give a care in the world. But the one scene in the movie that I did choose over the rest was when Meryl Streep (Sophie's Mom) sings a song from a motherly view of her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) before she gets married. The scene and song not only brings a tear to the eye but shows you first hand the meaning of being a mother. At the same time of feeling sad that she has to let her daughter go in the end to be wed, you also feel warmth only wishing that everyone in the World could experience this type of bond. Overall they did a wonderful job stirring emotions and making you want to pick up the phone and call home to mom.

Interesting Special Effects

The movie Inception is full of special effects. But there is one part in particular where Ariadne learns how to build the layouts in the dreams. Here the special effect is showing her move the entire buildings/layout with her mind that ends up above them instead of flat. They slowly have the buildings move and add in noise to actually make it sound like its happening. It makes it very surreal feeling.

Sound/Music of Tsotsi

During the movie, one of its highlights was the music. It was both upbeat and sad. What stood out in this movie more than others was the choice in style of music during certain parts. For instance, there were some scenes where you'd think the music should be a little more aggressive or sad feeling. But other parts that got it spot on was right in the beginning. When Tsotsi and his friends are walking down the street, the music portrays them as "tough" and not to be messed with. But perhaps the culture is different with their music. Maybe they just wanted to share there music anyways and it wasn't as vital to them. Or they wanted to get a reaction of the audience. Overall, we only know that sometimes the music throws off some scenes in the movie.