Week 14: ISP- Compare Under the skin and Moon
Make a list comparing and contrasting the film language, representation, narrative structure and ideological references/ideas between the opening, key scene and ending of ‘Moon’ and ‘Under the Skin’.
Narrative:
- Montage Editing– Both Under the Skin and Moon use montage editing to show a sense of chaos and build tension. Under the skin uses documentary style footage whereas Moon use this to emphasise Sam’s distress and outrage.
- Alignment– Similarly, we are aligned with the main characters from both films (Laura and Sam) using POV shots and over the shoulder shots. Although our alignment changes along with our sympathy as in Under the Skin we sympathise more for the men she is seducing something, and in moon when we relate to the younger or older Sam.
- Binary Oppositions– One common binary opposition Moon and Under the skin have is the contrast in the use of high key and low key light. In Moon, this is used to give the effect of a harsh, cold and uncaring world whereas in under the skin it shows the difference between the world Laura lives in compared to the mundane life she now has to live. Another opposition is the difference between acceptance and disapproval. Laura is not accepted in her body and uses the idea of fake beauty as a mask to hide behind, while Sam is called an ‘illegal immigrant’ and thought of as crazy as he arrives back on earth claiming to be a clone.
Representation:
- In Moon Sam Bell is shown to be the default worker as his ethnicity is a white male American. This makes him more relatable as the lone protagonist and shows him to be the idealised American worker.
- In Under the Skin Laura is seen to be a desirable and attractive white British female. On the outside, she appears as a typically perfect woman but on the inside, she is not, suggesting there is a subjective view of people where her identity has been replaced by makeup.
Key/ ideological ideas:
- Marxism– Capitalists exploiting the working class- both Sam and Laura are carrying out work for the people in charge but neither are benefiting from it.
- Modernism– the system relies on function of one human so will inevitable fail due to fault human nature. In Under the Skin we see Laura develop a conscious and human emotions which causes her to ultimately stop what she is doing to the men. Similarly, in Moon Sam realises he is being used and protests by knocking the communication jammers down, therefore causing a disruption in the system of work.
- Exploitation of identity– Laura is a feminist critique of beauty, showing that there is a certain need/expectation for perfection to obtain a particular look. Similar, Sam’s identity is exploited as he is the default white American worker and so is portrayed as the idealised man for the job.
- Humanity– Sam Bell has his humanity taken away as his memoires are taken and stolen every time a new clone is produced. Also, Gerty is presented to develop emotions and help Sam showing humanity can also be within machines and that it’s on the inside not outside. In Under the skin Laura’s identity has been taken away and replaced by fake beauty of another person with new clothes and makeup to make her look desirable. From this we learn that humanity is shown from what’s inside rather than out. It raises the question about humanity and the ability to experience human emotion.
- Loneliness– Both Laura and Sam are confined to a life without anyone else. They are treated like objects and used for the gain of others, whilst cut off from the rest of the world.
- Existentialism– Truth of human existence and point of life within our ability to create meaning in our own individual lives.
- Environmentalism– beauty is within nature- Romanticism
Emma Coe Film Studies 