The Popular Subconscious: A Question of Morality and the Capabilities of the Human Mind

In my film research script, I want to study something having to do with the treatment of the subconscious in popular films that are meant to appeal to a wider audience.

So far, the films I am looking at are

Paprika by Satoshi Kon (Japan 2008) or Perfect Blue (1998) by Kon

High and Low (1963) or The Bad Sleep Well (1960) Japan, both Akira Kurosawa

Inception by Cristopher Nolan (US 2010)

Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock (US 1958)

I find that these movies are "mind-trippy" in a way that the average viewer can generally grasp without being a TOK student. I like this because it shows an important part of the Hollywood films/non-Hollywood counterparts, as in what makes blockbusters work; the knowledge curve combined with something that draws people in with the want to know what they do not know, to be tricked and then figure out the trick in a way that they can debate with others over. Also, the questions and ambiguities of morality are very important in the films listed; this makes audiences question their own morals, what is in their own subconscious, helping to interest the audience by making them question their own definitions of morality. That is what makes such movies so critically acclaimed while being so very popular among the general population; the appeal of a "grander-than-normal-life" world that relates and shows the issues we face in our everyday world, forging a personal connection between the viewers and the film as a whole, especially its characters.

As such, I developed the following research question:

Compare and Contrast the ways in which the subconcious in relation to morality and perception of the truth is explored in an audience-aware manner across these films from two different time periods and two different countries.

Now I understand that is a very rough question so far, but that is what I am most interested in through these movies so far.

Here are some of my comparison diagrams, but it is hard to combine the four films together in one diagram without it being a venn diagram of some sort.

Vertigo

Inception

-use of double identity signature of Hitchcock -use of special effects that were relatively advanced at the time to of the film to show the psychosis of the characters -plays with the viewer’s mind on which character is in the right and who is in the wrong -the main character has a psychological issue, as in a fear of heights, that leads to more psychological issues, as in the longing for the female character -slowly reveals what is true in the film, not telling the viewer relatively clearly until the end

-uses perception of what is reality and what is a dream; something that the audience can relate to -also the audience can relate to wanting a dream to become reality; the world-building necessary speaks to the audience to interest them, as if they are acting out their own dreams, and even more than they can imagine -connects such a fantasy world to the real world, real hopes and dreams, like with Cobb wanting to return to his children -yet appeals to how people want to escape into a world that they can control, just like Cobb and Mal did for a long time in their own world, but then leaves the question "If it was you, would you leave it?" This attracts viewer emotionally -heavy use of action sequences that "blow the mind" to interest the viewer in that regard, for this is a very long movie, to make the movie goers think, but still have the familiarity of an action film -the ending serves to make us question whether or not its good that Robert Fischer had that catharsis with his father through inception, for it was good that he was able to reconcile with his father, but that reconciliation was false, untrue, done for an impure reason. Does that make such a feeling of good-will bad for Fischer? In general? That is left up to the viewer, and that is part of why this movie is so popular, at least I would think.

Paprika

High and Low

-examines rampant dreams coming into reality -seems like newer movies focus more on the dreams rather than morality, at least in Paprika, but Inception has a more undercurrent issue of morality; its not the main issue of the film, but effects the main issue in certain ways, especially in respect to DiCaprio's wife, but not so much the corperate son

-morality issue with the question: do you still “do the right thing” even if it will hurt your loved ones financially? -powerful presence of the main character, a person who seems to have a very sound mind with few "follies"; sets him up for a downfall -movies in 1950s, 1960s could not have too many special effects, so it seems like an emphasis on something that can be portrayed in a familiar situation of sorts; a dream land would be harder to orchestrate, though possible at the time, though not necesarily wanted One of the greatest cops-and-crooks films ever made, High and Low is a combination of immensely powerful psychodrama and exquisitely detailed police procedural -James Roche, Netflix

My three areas of interest are the persona of the main character, the world of the characters and special effects.

Persona of the Main Character

Vertigo	Inception	High and Low	Paprika
-the main character is James Stewart, an actor who gives of a strong, respectable vibe that appeals to the audience; he is the everyday American man who evokes a sense of familiarity and respect -still, despite his appearance, he has a major flaw; his acrophobia	-the main character is very mysterious, letting the viewer know very little at the beginning -the viewer is drawn into his character by his love of his children, his seeming grounding in reality	-Mifune has a strong, authoritative appearance -he seems very grounded in reality, not so much about h	-seems to be very confident -a female lead, with high power in her world and outside of it

The World of the Characters

Vertigo	Inception
-normal world, San Fransisco -goes between the city scape and the country side	-dreams can be contoled and infiltrated by other people

High and Low	Paprika
-the world is normal -Japan in the early 1960s, but the corporate world that few people know of; it has a certain glamor in the way that most people	-dreams and the real world collide in this movie

Special Effects

Vertigo	Inception	High and Low	Paprika
-very limited to show the pathos of James Stewart’s character -also, technology of the time was limited, but could show how the character was losing his mind at an important shift in the film, with the swirls and	-this movie is heavily reliant upon special effects to portray the worlds of the characters and the conflicts displayed -much of the action and movement of the story relies on the special effects in the “dream” world and how the characters can manipulate that world	-this movie uses no special effects that I can see -this is important because it shows how the crew wanted the story to portray morality in a more “human” and comprehensible-using-societal-convention ways.	-high use of technology because it is animated; used with a very colorful design with extrodianary images abound of the dream world -some camera angles shown would be very difficult to achieve with normal filming techniques

These are basic; I have seen the most of Vertigo, and I have seen parts of High and Low and The Bad Sleep Well. I plan to will see if I can get copies of Perfect Blue and Paprika.

Final Film-An Exploration of Horror

As far as group members go, it is our normal group with Crystal Ding, Crystal Dwyer and myself.

Logline: A girl is haunted by her watery past.

A girl is eating dinner in her parents house. We circle around, looking at the empty chair at the table, Worms' eyes view up the chair; look at the family. Complete silence. Her mother suddenly brings up, "So, its been 10 years since, your brother ..." "Yeah mom, I know! Tsk, And we still don't know who killed him..." the girl responds as she looks down to the side. Her parents look at each other.

Sound bridge, water drips as screen goes black. Close up shot of the girl sleeping, then flinching and suddenly waking up to turn off the dripping faucet. She gets up to turn it off, floor creaks. We see her footsteps in close up. She looks in the mirror fearfully.We see the faucet in close-up as she bends over to turn it off. She looks up, back in the mirror and sees her brother behind her, his hair dripping and him pale, and screams. She looks back and he's not there. The mirror is fogged over, in writing there is "Tell Them" or "Tell the Truth." Footsteps sound, mother opens the door and asks, "Did you have another nightmare?". The girl looks back at the mirror, now clear of fog, and says "Yes" as the screen goes black.

Long shot of a pool with the family enjoying itself, and the father saying "Its okay to let your self have a little fun again." She eases herself into the pool and wades out into the middle of the water. She suddenly starts to be pulled down by her brother, triggering her flashbacks to the day he drowned. She remembers playfully pushing him in, but then he begins to flail in the water and she just watches him. Intercut between the brother flailing and the girl being pulled down into the water by her brother. In the flashback, the girl only watches her brother drown. Flash to the present, we see her drowning, but with out her brother pulling her down. Flash to black and show her brother drowning her again. Finally have an extreme close up of her face as she yells, "I killed him!" Flash again, camera looking down at her brother decending into the water in the past and then to the present looking up from the water towards the light with her father bringing her up.

The end.

The genre influences are mainly in the horror genre. The horror genre often depicts characters who are terrorized by some being that that is intending to harm them. The victims are often innocent of any major crimes, but there is also when the victims are the victims of revenge for a maldeed that they did in the past. The later is more like the main character in our story. The girl did not mean to kill her brother, but she is still haunted by his memory, literally.

As far as setting goes, the unsuspecting, quaint setting is important to the genre, for it leaves the viewer with the idea "Something is going to go wrong." The home is a pretty quaint place, but it will have eerie qualities, such as the pictures of the brother and the empty place setting (not like a plate set everynight; the parents don't really need to be as neurotic as the sister). It is also is important to mention the potential creepiness of the water in the setting, for it can always drip and it can represent death, but also life, like with the light reflecting on the water. The conflict is influenced in the way that the characters are plagued by a supernatural being who is haunting them and making them weak, using their natural weaknesses to the advantage of the evil being.

The themes of the lasting guilt of sin, even if unintentional, as well as the potential for redemption when telling the truth.

The machinist and Saw, as well as some of those black box short films will influence our visual style and perhaps the structure of the narrative. In Saw it is interesting how they use a green tint throughout much of the 4th movie, and a blue tint in the ending of the 1st movie. The use of these tints is very creepy, and think that this could work with how there is a major water motif in our movie.



The blue tint makes the frame look very sparse and helps create a sense of fear and apprehension in the viewer.



Very creepy looking scene; could be good for showing a moment of realization, but I prefer a blue tint for our movie.



A character that has been tortured by her past like the character in the machinist is very important, for our character has now forgotten that she killed her brother in the past, but she is still tortured by that past, whether she knows her transgression or not.

Keyboard Tapping- A Short Film Treatement

1. A guy who hates the sound of computer keys clicking falls in love with a girl in the computer class he dreads.

2. A guy walks into his new class full of computers, holding his schedule. Immediately he hears all of the keys on the computer clicking and freaks out. The teacher points him out to a seat. He focuses in on the keys clicking and awkwardly tries to look away towards the door to distract himself. He sees an attractive girl and a leitmotif plays. The girl sits at some computers with flatter keyboards, behind the boy. The boy looks over awkwardly, she returns his gaze, so he looks away. She then notices how much the keyboards next to him bother him, so she commands him to sit next to her, moving the person next to her to his seat. She exaggeratedly taps the keys and says that “See, this isn’t so loud. Get over it. You got OCD or something?” He laughs nevrvously and begins to try tapping the keys. “I’d tap that” he says with a creepy smile. “That’s about all you’re getting” she says, pointing to the keyboard. He gives an awkward yet creepy smile.

3. This film shows character through the sound design with the main character being described by his annoyance about keyboard clicking noises; the story and the change in the main character is catalyzed by sound. Also, subtext is made important at the end in the way that the main character is showing interest in the girl, showing an evolution in the confidence of his character. Also, there is a use of a light motif whenever the boy is looking towards the girl. Sound Bridge can be when the boy hears the sound of a bazinga and then looks over to the sound of the girls phone ringing. The foley work would be in the keyboard tapping, bazinga and the tap on his head. When the girl taps him on the head and tells him and the person next to her to move, then starts the rhythmic match with her closing his binder, picking it up, forcing him up get up, and pushing him down into his seat.