Old boy reception

Cult reception

Complex narrative

The narrative is quite complicated, with lots of characters, plot twists and flashbacks to the past.

Octopus symbolism

The octopus scene shows that oh needs to eat something alive to feel alive, therefore he orders the live octopus and eats it

Powerful film- depths of the human heart

Age consent

The age of consent was changed , so in the remake, oh is trapped in the hotel room for 20 years, instead of 15 because of the age of consent

Negative western reception

The film was dumbed down for the western audience because they were worried that the controversial subject matter would alienate western fans.

Harming animals-

Octopus eating is culturally okay in Korea 

Sadomasochism

Puerile

Doesn't not reach the standards of a puritanical minority

Age consent

Style over substance

Adolescent target/audience

Hollywood remake receptions

CHN- less morally amibigous ending

Commodities morals (capitalistic greed

Alignment

Hammer scene

Ending

How can certain types of film affect viewing experiences?

Paragraph 1

Three certain types of films: Intellectual, Provocative, Throwaway.  Example of reception theory

. Intellectual film will challenge the spectator, dealing with important and complex subjects that need full attention. 

. A provocative film will create a reaction to the spectator, for example shock or anger in order to convey a message.

. A throwaway film is a film that relies largely on spectacle and visual imagery to entertain the spectator, there is not much to think.

The viewing experience for a spectator differs in three different types of readings

. Preferred Reading- accepting the messages conveyed in the film and agreeing with how the film is presented (etc, aligning with the characters, engaging with the narrative)

. Negotiated Reading- the viewer accepts the messages encoded into the film but does not engage fully with the film as a whole. 

. Oppositional Reading- the viewer doesn't agree with the film's message or meaning and engages with the film via a different interpretation. 

How would a black spectator react to Django Unchained?

How would a black spectator react to Django Unchained?

Django Unchained is a spaghetti western film set in Texas during the slave trade. It is directed by Quentin Tarantino and features Jamie Foxx as the eponymous Django, a former slave who now works as a bounty hunter, who is also looking to free his wife Broomhilda who is a slave. In terms of spectatorship, the film is set in a stylised post modern past which combines the horrors of slavery with the fantasy like nature of spaghetti western genre in a black comedy style. The film has been criticised for its treatment of racism and slavery.

In terms of how a black male spectator would react to the film, the film has been criticised for its depiction of slavery. Spike Lee, a black male film maker criticised the film saying it was 'disrespectful' and that ''american slavery was a holocaust, not a Sergio Leone spaghetti western'' In Django Unchained, the most prominent black character is Django. However since Django is playing the main character of a western, he is a character motivated by vengeance and the want to free Broomhilda, he doesn't care for the other slaves. There is no type of brotherhood or companionship, especially in the scene where Django pretends to be a black slaver where he treats them even worse than the other white slavers. It could be argued that Django is playing a white person's role in the film since he lacks any sympathy for the slaves. Django's only intention is to free his wife and he does this by killing dozens of white men and slavers. Django's actions are not intentional but symbolic of freedom over slavery. Another main black character in the film is Stephen, the house slave, which is an even more exaggerated example of a white villain character played by a slave. Stephen antagonises Django the instant they meet indicating the lack of brotherhood or familiarity despite the racism occurring in the film. In terms of representation, if the role of black men in the film is played by white character roles from a spaghetti western, there is little for the black male to identify with themselves in the film. They can't identify with Django because he has no sympathy for the slaves, as is the same with Stephen.

Bell hooks oppositional gaze of films when it comes to black male spectator is that as a rebellious gaze, the black male would watch a film so they can look at white women with a imaginary phallocentric power over the cinema, similar to Mulvey's male gaze. By applying this to Django, there is almost no sexual content in the film so bell hook's theory doesn't apply. However considering that bell hooks theory of a rebellious gaze stems from the idea of black being punished for gazing at white women, the films theme of revenge against white men with dozens of white men killed by Django, this could be the rebellious action that appeals to the black male spectator as part of bell hooks's theory about the gaze.

In terms of how a black female spectator would react to the film, the main female character film is Broomhilda, Django's wife. Broomhilda plays essentially the damsel in distress, as a character role. Her purpose in the film is to be rescued by Django and she seems weak and vulnerable. When she sees Django for the first time, she faints. She is unable to lie to Stephen as she is nervous and she is locked away by the slavers after Django shoots up Candieland. Broomhilda is playing the stereotypical damsel in distress, and also shows signs of her playing a white character role in the typical spaghetti western type role, for example, speaking german.

Applying bell hook's theory to Django in terms of black female spectator is that bell hook's believes that black women are not represented and that black women are aware of a lack of black womanhood in film. She writes that black women are used to enhance and maintain white women as object of the phallocentric gaze and that cinema is not a pleasurable experience for the black women . Bell hooks states that in order for a black female spectator to enjoy a film, black females must view films with a oppositional and critical gaze. This is how black female spectators have a rebellious gaze by an almost interrogation like attitude towards the film. Applying this to Django and the character of Broomhilda, the black female will probably not identify with Broomhilda who is largely unseen for the majority of the film and is shown as a weak, vulnerable damsel in distress. However, Broomhilda is seen in the film
as the only desirable woman in the film by Django and Dr King Schultz, who literally slams the door in
the face of Calvin Candie's white sister mid conversation with him. This means that Broomhilda is not
represented to enhance and maintain white woman, it is instead the opposite. Another scene that indicates Broomhilda is the only desirable women in Django's eyes is that he keeps fantasising about her during the film, where she appears behind trees or in the water when Django is washing. This type of critical and analytical view of the film is demonstrative of bell hook's theory about the black female spectator and how they enjoy the film.

In conclusion, a black spectator would find Django Unchained a difficult film to initially identify with. The film's genre is a western and all the black characters in the film are playing the white character roles of a western. There is nothing in these characters specifically aimed at the black spectator to align with. Instead if the film is read from a symbolic level, with Django killing dozens of white slavers and Broomhilda the only desirable women in the film rather than any of the white women, it allows the black spectator to identify with them.

Essay plan brokeback mountain

Plan essay for how will different audiences react to brokeback mountain.

How would different audiences respond to brokeback mountain

Introduction

 

Depends on sexuality, homosexuals spectator more likely to be aligned, heterosexual spectators may struggle to relate to the film.

Butler

Butler says gender is a performance, a social construct in the mind in the way you act, talk and dress, not something you are instantly born with.

Brokeback mountain shows two men struggling with their hypermasculine roles as Cowboys with families. Although they are both homosexual inside.- closeted.- when Ennis has sex with his wife from behind after his relationship with Jack.

Jack is the feminine one in the relationship, Ennis is the masculine.

Jacks wife is more manly than him- has reversed gender roles

Homosexual spectator would align with Jack, since even though he can't openly express his homosexuality due to the society of the films time period, he is much more comfortable with his homosexuality and femininity than Ennis. Heterosexual spectator is more likely to align with Ennis because Ennis gender role in his head is that he is a masculine straight man which they can align with but his relationship with Jack obviously changes this and causes inner conflict for Ennis. 

I'm not a queer y know example

Rucus

Rucus says that a homosexual spectator has to adopt the position of a woman in a film to get any pleasure from it. 

Examples

Binoculars looking at Jack and Ennis wrestling- literal voyuerism

Naked showering but Jack is out of focus and Ennis isn't looking at him, the men aren't sexually objectified

Jack is feminine in relationship- loud, playful, wrestling, more emotional- reflected in his later marriage

Ennis is masculine- quiet, detached, aggressive, - when angered, lashes out, - Jack, man who calls him an asshole when he crosses the street, his wife

Homosexual spectator may not align with the film as much as they would if they viewed the film from a queer gaze perspective. They can still get pleasure from the film by empathising with the homosexual relationship from their own personal experiences. Instead, a heterosexual male spectator may find that they align with Ennis since they may find they have similar personalities to him. A female heterosexual spectator may identify with Jack in the same way.'

Apply Judith Butler and Derek Rucus

Apply Judith Butler and Derek Rucus to 500 days of summer.


Judith Butler says that gender is a performance constructed and reinforced through media and culture. It doesnt matter about your physical differences gender wise, its about how you think and the way you act. Applying these to 500 days of summer shows that the two characters of the film, Tom and Summer have subverted gender roles. Tom is quite feminine whereas Summer is quite masculine. However Butler would argue that the two gender roles in a relationship have not been subverted but just attached to opposite genders since her theory suggests that gender is a performance construct.

Derek Rucus says that a gay male spectator can only derive scopophilic pleasure from men. If applied into 500 days of summer, an example would be when Tom looks over the cubicle to see Summer. He is looking directly at the gay male spectator with a romantic gaze. Another example is the bus scene where they all look at Summer and her measurements

Queer Theory/Gender

Queer theory challenges

Judith Butler- apply her theories to spectatorship.

Male and female behaviour roles are not the result of biology but are constructed and reinforced by society through media and culture.

500 days of summer
men might not align with Tom because he is playing to feminine gender role. they may not align with Summer because she plays to masculine gender role.

Any behaviour or representation that disrupts culturally accepted notions of gender.

1950's- police actively enforced laws that prohibited sexual activities between men.
.  Sexually abnormal and deviant
1967- homosexuality is decriminalising in UK (2009 for India)
In parts of Africa and Asia. homosexuality is punishable by death.
.1977- WHO refers to homosexuality as a mental illness and not taken down until 1990.
.Civil partnership legal in UK in 2004.


Brokeback Mountain (2006)

Success of this hollywood film is an indication of more progressive attitudes to homosexuality.
The film challenges two quintessential traditional images of american masculinity- the cowboy and the fishing trip.
However, it can also be suggested that the homosexual relationship portrayed here is represented as tragic- a long way from the idealised heterosexual relationships in mainstream Hollywood films.
As the film is set in the 1950's, some would also argue that this suggests issues of homophobia belong in the past.

Gender trouble is evident everywhere in mainstream media.
Queer theorists suggest this is evidence of a move towards increasing tolerance of sexual diversity.

When a gay personal watches a homosexual film, it brings a much more emotionally charged element to the spectator. It is the emotion of empathy because of coming out and breaking out of the sexual norm. The gay audience have allegiance  to the empathetic character.

Theorists Notes

Kaplan

. Kaplan argues that the spectator aligns with the male in film. She argues that the spectator must make a conscious decision to align with the female in film.
. This theory therefore can link to my previous point, as the spectator wants to align with Summer, he/she must make a conscious decision to do so.
. For example, one may align with Summer consciously as she does not gain a voice, however if we only view the film through the subconscious male gaze, the spectator may not align with Summer, as the audience cannot hear her perspective.
. One may adapt to a negotiated reading of the film; if the spectator is not white, male and straight.
. If the audience take a conscious decision to take a woman's perspective, then the reading of the film is negotiated.

Mulvey

. Based upon the theories of Freud, Bellour and Metz, Laura Mulvey focuses on the male gaze and how women are the subject of the film, only there for visual pleasure.
. Summer is introduced through close ups of her body: the narrator describes her average height etc, making her an object of viewing pleasure only. The narrator goes on to explain ''The Summer effect'' in which displays of voyeurism are presented. Example is the bus scene. An allegiance may be formed with Summer and the female spectator.
.When Tom has sex with Summer for the first time, the next morning he breaks out into a dance sequence in the middle of the street. Although this is a comical part of the film, it displays the male gaze on a large scale, a large celebration of Tom conquering Summer with his penis, making Summer the subject and Tom regains his masculinity.
. Male spectators would feel allegiance with Tom due to the fact he has gained a sense of power over the women, confirming to the stereotypical Hollywood film.

Williams

The female gaze becomes the dominant gaze, the strong female character is usually punished and there is a struggle to align with them, because of their break out of the conventional role. This isn't applicable to 500 day's of summer. In the film, Summer is strong, independent and isn't intentionally looking for a relationship. She doesn't get diagetically punished but she gets punished in terms of spectator response. The scene where she talks about her past lovers shows she is dominating him sexually, as well as the conversation. So diagetically, Tom is punished because Summer gets married to another man and he ends up depressed. For example, the scene where he criticises her appearance in the same way he complimented her appearance earlier in the film. At the end of the film, the day counter resets to zero when Tom meets Autumn, which could indicate the cycle of punishment is going to happen again.

How far does a spectator's gender affect their viewing experience in contemporary cinema?

In contemporary cinema, gender affects the viewing experience because either inadvertently or intentionally, the construct of a film itself is determined or affected by the gender of the spectator. Popular psychoanalytical theory, for example Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, along with the psychoanalytical film theory of Laura Mulvey, is male-centric and male dominated. An example of contemporary cinema is Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky, a notable director for his use of bleak subject matter in his previous films, like 'Requiem for a Dream' a psychological drama film about drug addiction. In Black Swan, Aronofsky offers intellectual and emotion based responses into his film. Black Swan is full of visual imagery relating to the theorists above on a intellectual level and disturbing imagery designed to shock the spectator, reminiscent of body horror films.

Considering Sigmund Freud and his theories about the suppressed desires of sex and violence inside humans and the importance of parental figures in our psychological and psycho-sexual development, there is evidence of this in Black Swan. Freud suggests that humans, at their very core are driven by sex and violence as two internal drives, nothing else is more important. In Black Swan, we see the protagonist Nina fantasise about lesbian sex with Lily, a rival ballet dancer and then in a later fantasy, kill her with a piece of broken mirror fragment. There are also noticeable parenthood issues in Nina's life, her overbearing mother being one of them. It is evident that Nina's mother never let her grow up or mature into an adult, evidently from the cake scene or the mis-en-scene of her bedroom, with pink walls and bed covers. Freud also suggests the Oedipal complex, which is a boy's sexual desire for his own mother during the childhood development. However, in the case of Black Swan, if we apply this to Nina, a girl, it is the opposite. It is instead the Electra Complex, coined by Carl Jung. However, in the film, we never see Nina's father or any mention of him indicating that Nina never went through this stage of psycho-sexual development which shows her lack of identity and ability to mature, also the strange relationship she has with her dance instructor, Thomas. The film clearly has symbolic imagery linking to Freud but linking Freud to the concept of the film itself, the film also offers pleasure to its human spectators through the satisfaction of the basic drives in humans, sexual and violent with the sexualised women and lesbian sex scene, along with the numerous body horror moments in the film creating the most memorable parts of the film. In terms of gender and its importance to the spectator, Freud's theory is male-centric so any link to the theory will result in that becoming male-centric too.

Jacques Lacan's theory of the mirror stage and self identity is also very important in Black Swan. Lacan suggests the idea of the mirror stage, a key moment in childhood development, the moment of realisation when you realize that what you are seeing is you and how you see yourself as a perception and as a recognition. Therefore in Black Swan, the almost constant symbolism of mirrors and broken mirrors is reinforced through the fact there is nearly a mirror in every shot. Examples of scenes where mirrors are symbolic is the dance hall set, where a wall length mirror reflects Nina's every move in the stage where she is ordered about by the highly aggressive Thomas. Nina also stabs herself with a piece of broken mirror in the film's last scene, symbolic of the lack of identity she has. Building onto Lacan's theory is the idea of fantasy and that we live out our fantasies via the cinema. These fantasies are apparent in Black Swan through the form of hallucinations in Nina's mind. At the end of the film, Nina finally submits to the suppressed desires Freud writes about, engaging into her id and turns into the black swan. Other hallucinations occur in the body horror moments of the fingernail scene, etc where the intention editing removes us from the continuity of the film and makes the spectator aware they are watching a film. Building onto this idea of being aware we are watching a film is the idea that the cinema screen gives us god-like perspective and makes us omnipresent. By making us omnipresent, it might also fulfil the fantasy of wanting god like power in life which is something ultimately none of us have. Whilst Lacan's theory certainly applies to Black Swan, there is little to do with the importance of Gender in it. Unlike Freud's male-centric theory, Lacan's theory is not gender specific.

Laura Mulvey first coined the term 'Male gaze' in a 1975 essay and it has become a key concept in film theory over the past 40 years since. The male gaze is extremely prominent in Black Swan. The film is very voyeuristic, with lots of close ups of Nina, when she is getting a massage on her breast or when she masturbates in her bed. The male character in the film, Thomas is aggressive and overtly sexual to the ballerinas who work for him, particularly Nina. In fact, Thomas's aggression is one of the reasons for Nina's transformation into the Black Swan by satisfying her id. Thomas could be interpreted as a metaphor for the spectator of the male gaze, he is one of the few male characters in the film. Adding to this idea is the wall length mirror in the dance studio which could be symbolic for the cinema screen or the way he sits in the empty audience seats watching the ballerinas practise. 

Finally, in terms of oppositional gazes, the most dominant gaze is the male gaze so the oppositional gazes are the female gaze and the queer gaze. In terms of female gaze, the film has no men to be sexualised in the film, Thomas is the character who sexualises Nina. Therefore there is a lack of female gaze in the film resulting in female spectators to align with the male gaze as per Mulvey's theory. In terms of queer gaze, there is a lesbian sex scene which forms part of Nina's fantasies but in terms of cinematography, this scene is shot much for the male gaze and the usage of close ups reinforces that voyeuristic feel that comes with the male gaze. The film is uncompromising in it's gaze in that it makes you take a male gaze perspective to watch the film and enjoy it.

In conclusion, this example of contemporary cinema, Black Swan, it follows the male-centric theories of Freud and Mulvey. The film is solely focused on the male gaze, with some signs of the queer gaze presented in a voyueristic fashion. Gender plays a large part in the understanding of Black Swan and how it affects the spectator because if the film is constructed with the male gaze in mind, the spectator has no choice but to watch it through the eyes of the male. 

Theorist and 500 Days Of Summer Prezi

Gaze- Nymphomaniac

Male Gaze- Metz Bellour Mulvey- lots of real sex, lots of female nudity, male gaze. Men take pleasure in watching the film, like the man having sex in the film. Real sex makes the film almost pornographic

Submissive Gaze Kapla- Main character is a woman, so they can sort of identify with the character because she has sex with men. However, obviously they may not like how the character behaves (slut) they have to align with the woman otherwise it is just male gaze.

Dominant Female Gaze Linda Williams- Main character takes pride in sexual addiction, belittles men and is selfish, leaves her family and child in order to have sexual adventures.- ends up getting beaten up in an alley at the end of film.

Gazes

Film works on a unconscious level to which reflects child regression and mirror stage

Woman are punished for not having male gaze

Freud and lacan

Voyueristic/sexual/ego- driven

Metz Bellour

Mulvey (male)

Dominant/submissive

Kaplan

(Place in society)

Switch the gaze of the spectator 

Williams argues that dominant women also get punished

Homework: take a contemporary film and apply it to theories

Bellour 

Metz

Mulvey

Kaplan

Linda Williams

How is the spectator affected in 'A Clockwork Orange?'

In 'A Clockwork Orange' directed by Stanley Kubrick, the spectator is affected by being forced to align with the central character Alex, a mentally deranged sociopath. Throughout the film, the spectator watches scenes of Alex performing and enjoying acts of violence and rape. However, Alex is positioned in the film as the narrator in a linear narrative which means we, the spectator see the film from his perspective and sympathise with him. The film is also visually symbolic of Alex's own disturbed and sociopathic outlook on the world.

In the first twenty minutes of the film, The character Alex is introduced to the spectator along with his gang members, which he calls his droogs. The audience is shown Alex and his droogs physically assaulting an old homeless man, they have a brawl with another similar gang in a old casino, they steal a car and drive recklessly down the countryside causing other cars to crash before finally stopping at a old writer's house where they break in, beat the writer crippling him and rape his wife. Whilst the audience watch the scenes, classical music plays over the top of the scenes, for example Beethoven, which when combined with the film's surreal near future setting make the violence seem stylised and strange. This constant stream of violent images with classical music played over them straight from the start of the movie is metaphorically similar to Alex's Ludovico technique he experiences in the film, where he is subject to violent images whilst strapped into a cinema seat. The positioning of this metaphorical Ludovico treatment for the spectator is to desensitise them, much like how Alex is desensitised to violence because he is a sociopath. Kubrick does this because he wants the spectator to reject an association or any alignment with Alex because he is performing violent acts.

It is not until the second part of the film where Alex's develops a physical aversion for violence or conflict after his Ludovico treatment where we begin to sympathise with him. The film's narrative in the second part is similar to how it was in the first part of the film. Firstly, Alex is thrown out of his home by his parents and their new lodger, he is recognised by the homeless man he beat earlier in the film who take his things and beat him. Then, his former droogs, Georgie and Dim, are revealed to become police officers and drive him to the middle of the woods, where he is nearly drowned. This drowning sequence is similar to how Alex throws them into the water during the first part of the film when they are walking across the marina. In pain, he comes across the old writers home who doesn't recognise him at first but after hearing Alex sing 'Singing in the rain' which was sung during his wife's rape, the writer locks Alex in a room whilst playing 'Beethoven's 9th' through speakers, knowing that as a byproduct of the Ludovico technique, Alex is physically averse to the song. Unable to take anymore, he throws himself out of the window in a attempt to commit suicide. This seemingly karmic sequence of events are an attempt to make the spectator align with Alex and feel sympathy for him, for example, the use of non-diagetic sad music during the scene where he is thrown out by his parents. We also see the writer character taking pleasure in Alex's torment when he is locked in the room, mirroring Alex's own love of violence and Beethoven in the first part of the film.

The drowning scene shows the karmic nature of the film. Alex
has been made 'to suffer when others have suffered.'

Him doing the same thing earlier in the film.

Depending on the spectators own extra-textual experiences, the character Alex is purposely made to be dislikable in the first part of the film, the spectator is supposed to take a oppositional reading into the character of Alex who clearly enjoys violence and rape along with classical music and is depicted as a sociopath with no moral compass. However the second part of the film challenges this oppositional reading of Alex by making the audience feel sympathetic towards him in that he is submitted to the same violent behaviour that he caused to others in the first part of the film.

The film is also visually distinctive in order to portray Alex as the narrator of the film. The film's stylised violence accompanied with the score of classical music shows Alex's fascination with art and sexual violence. This juxtaposition between art and sexual violence is notable in the fight scene in the abandoned shot. The establishing shot of the scene is a mural of flowers on top of the stage before the camera zooms out to show Billy boy's gang raping a woman. Another example is the scene in Alex's bedroom where it is implied he masturbates to the small crucified Jesus figurines, accompanied with Beethoven's 9th symphony and jump cuts to the hands, feet and genitals of the figurines. The use of stock footage further reinforces that Alex is masturbating to violence.

The mis-en-scene of the film is depicted as surreal and over-sexualised. In the very first scene in the Korova milk bar, the tables in the film are white naked woman figurines on four legs. The costumes Alex and his droogs wear costumes that accentuate their groin. The milk dispensers in the bar dispense milk out of a naked figurines nipple. The masks Alex and his droogs wear during the break in are phallic in nature. The lobby of Alex's apartment building has been vandalised with numerous penis drawn onto the mural,showing a further juxtaposition of sex and art. Another example is the two girls that Alex picks up at the record shop and he has a threesome with them in which is stylised because it is filmed in extreme fast forward. The cat lady's house which Alex and his Droogs break into is full of sexual imagery, including a big penis statue that the cat lady is very protective over. When Alex rams the big penis into the cat lady's face killing her, it is followed by a jump cut of a picture of a screaming woman with two sets of teeth. This sets a subtext in the film because it implies that Alex's parents used to abuse him. Alex's mother has a set of false teeth, and this is the reason why Alex has a lock on his bedroom door, to keep a physical barrier between himself and his parents. This is further implied through the scene with Deltoid on the bed where he grabs Alex by the balls, putting him into a similar position to the Korova milk bar tables, implying this is a place where Alex has been sexualised.

Alex is in a similar position to how the tables
in the milk bar which are sexualised.

In the second part of the film, this violent and sexual imagery is not as noticeable. This is because it shows that Alex has been cured by the Ludovico treatment and that he is physically averse to violence and sexual violence. The use of central and a-central imagining to show the difference between the two parts of the film. For example, the first part of the film features a lot of central imagining. The scene where Alex is drowned by Georgie and Dim features a strange synth noise after every hit from the baton. We also see people getting beaten and women being raped in the first part of the film which is stylised through the use of Beethoven and other classical music used. A example of A-central imagining is when the old writer tortures Alex using the 9th symphony played through speakers. The camera zooms out on his face to reveal his pleasure at the torment accompanied by the classical music. This implies that the old writer has become what Alex in the first part of the film, the same zoom out effect is used similar to the first scene of the film where the camera zooms out on Alex.

the first shot of the film. Establishes Alex as menacing from the get go.

Similar close up. The writer also looks like Beethoven.

It can be implied that after Alex is submitted to the same torture that the Old man is enduring, he recognises himself in his own behaviour and kills himself in guilt or to make the pain stop. This affects the spectator because it makes the film visually different on a sub-conscious level to give Kubrick the affect he wants. He wants the audience to not align with Alex in the first half of the film and then align in sympathy for him in the second half of the film. By taking away the strange and surreal visual imagery that Alex sees during the first half, it makes Alex more associable with the spectator.