Beasts of the Southern Wild (Zeitlin 2012)
My Initial reaction:
My initial impression of Beasts of the Southern Wild was that it was an incredible film with not only stunning cinematography and all round excellent performances, but a deep moral message and ideology around it. From I took away, in terms of what the film is trying to say, I believe that it is a comment on the social attitudes of different communities and how this is extended through generations with the same mind-set and how their children are brought up to live in the same world as them where change is seen as bad. I also noticed that the film in depth commented on gender roles. An example where I noticed this was when Wink would tell Hushpuppy that she couldn’t cry or influence her to think like a ‘man’ would, making her appear violent and tough as you would rarely see in a child, clearly from where her father suffered the loss of his wife. It also shows how Hushpuppy is physically and mentally strong for her age, demonstrating the reoccurring themes of strength, gender roles and love. The aspect of community is very prominent in this film and their unwillingness to let anything, even natural events like a storm, overcome them. This could be seen as stubborn but in terms of how the community of ‘the bathtub’, they are shown to work together, even if it means destroying their homes and risking their livelihoods. The representation of the environment, with very little technology and all natural resources with manual labour, gives the impression that they live in a remote location even though they are just so many miles off from the mainland which has developed into an urban and highly populated area. This could be a comment on the development of society and its reliance of the natural resources and their own actions, compare to the human reliance on technology and how the world has changed into a man-made place, represented to hold no life or joy. I thought the lack of narrative made the film very interesting, however enjoyed seeing the development of Hushpuppy and Wink’s relationship, suggesting how they co-depend on each other when Wink becomes ill, and untimely how they love and only want to protect each other. Another comment I though was interesting was the use of a handheld camera for the majority, feeling as through we were almost watching documentary or looking into the lives of real people, making it even the more realistic and definitely heightened emotional intensity for me. Lastly, I believe the directors intentions was to make us as a modern-day audience reflect on the representation of community and how in every area of the world this can be different, as well as provoking an emotional response in order to connect and sympathise with the characters. I very much enjoyed this film!
Emma Coe Film Studies 