Friday, January 6, 2012
Alexandra Coppolo: Film Genre: Drama: The Count of Monte Cristo
In our last film presentation of this third quarter, Alexandra has presented us with an interesting representation of the genre of "drama" which often has a blurring of the boundaries among other genres. A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Your task is to relate how the film, The Count of Monte Cristo has accomplished this. How has the presentation by Alexandra enabled you to understand the distinction between drama and other genres of film?
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First of all, I loved this movie! I had never heard of it before Alex presented it, and now I cannot wait to watch it again. I feel like that now with most of projects. I feel like everyone picked amazing movies not just for the genre and requirements of the project, but they were generally good quality films.
ReplyDelete"The Count of Monte Cristo" fit drama perfectly. Like Alex explained, the characters felt very real. What she pointed out that I don't think I fully grasped was the difference between realism and reality. This movie didn't dwell so much on the art of it, like the special effects or grandeur panoramic camera shots. It emphasized greatly on the importance of characterization and how that played into the story, which is what the drama genre is all about. Drama itself deals with very emotional themes, and this movie was jam packed with themes such as: revenge, faith, fidelity, loyalty, and love.
I think the more prominent ones were revenge and faith, that being constant question if Edmond should have taken his revenge. I think the class had a very nice discussion on that question as well, with my personal take on it being that he shouldn't have. I don't believe in revenge as a person myself. I don't think it has any real benefits in life, then again Dr. Pam did bring up a significant point that being that this was a completely different time era. During 2012, you're not going to see people having sword fights defending their honor. Plain and simple, it just doesn't happen that way anymore. I think that is a very good point that Dr. Pam brought up. Also, faith was a huge theme. Was God always with Edmond? My opinion is that yes, he was. Obviously as Christian's we and I myself believe that God is always with us even if we don't want him to be. I think God was always with Edmond, which we see in the symbolism of the film with the writings on the wall. I also liked Sam's opinion that the priest was an "angel" sent by God. I agree completely with that theory, because I believe in angels. The way the priest just kind of popped out of nowhere definitely poses the question whether God sent him to free Edmond or not.
See, now this blog response has me thinking all about the movie again. Clearly, Alex did a great job picking this movie. It fits so perfectly into the genre of drama, even though the movie itself would be extremely difficult to do in a stage production considering the setting of the sea and the great amount of the passing of time. Props to Alex for a great film choice. It is definitely a movie I will see again.
Also as a side note, Albert is probably the cutest character we've seen since Danny, ha ha.
The Count of Monte Cristo makes me almost speechless. I loved this movie! Alex could not have chosen a better film not only because of its great entertainment, but also for how it fits into “drama” so well. Before hearing Alex’s presentation, I really had no idea on what the boundaries of drama were. It actually was somewhat confusing for me.
ReplyDeleteAlong with Alex, Dr. Pam provided a similar definition of drama: “A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes.” The Count of Monte Cristo fit the template of drama through the very realistic characters. They had real, believable personalities, like Edmond and even Fernan. The main characters also dealt with common conflicts, both internal and external, even though they may not be so common today. Edmond dealt with internal conflicts such as love and faith throughout the film while in prison. His external conflict was with Fernan, a former friend of Edmond’s. Fernan betrayed Edmond by putting him in jail and stealing his lover. The person of desire for Edmond was Mercedes, who eventually would return to Edmond’s arms at the end of the film. The main theme in the film was REVENGE. Revenge is not a rarity today (especially in the social form), however physical revenge is somewhat rare. I also believe that sword fighting would not occur in 2012. Other themes such as faith, fidelity, and love were prevalent as well. To wrap this up, the realistic characters were thrown into many “stormy” situations that added to the “drama” that we as viewers generally thrive upon.
I learned from Alex that just what I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Drama film must involve realistic characters surrounded by emotional themes. The Count of Monte Cristo accomplished this brilliantly, with the love triangle established with Edmond, Fernan, and Mercedes. Edmond’s jail time also added to the drama. I think I now have a full, complex understanding of drama film. Thanks Alex!
"The Count of Monte Cristo makes me almost speechless." I couldn't agree more! It was so amazing, yet so believable. Which makes it fit into the drama genre perfectly. I also agree with you saying that the main theme was revenge. I also liked the all capitals, ha ha. It makes it stand out in the best way.
ReplyDeleteI think the love triangle was also a key element that was displayed perfectly.
You rock for showing this movie Alex!