500+ words.
[Use at least 1 citation from our book or links below]
“To understand those American films of the 1950s that seem most interesting decades later requires a careful look at the differences between the clear values on their narrative surfaces and the more complicated social and psychological questions beneath…”
-Mast & Kawin, A Short History of the Movies
1.Use Mast & Kawin’s concept of “surfaces and subversions” to explore Bigger Than Life. Describe and identify some of these tensions and contradictions between the film’s text and subtext…
2.How does director Nicholas Ray – having little control over the script and final cut – use style to express or emphasize meaning beneath the surface? Use & cite some of the film’s bold stylistic choices as examples.
B Kite on Bigger Than Life:
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1412-bigger-than-life-somewhere-in-suburbia
Adrian Danks in Senses of Cinema: http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/cteq/bigger-than-life/
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader capsule:
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bigger-than-life/Film?oid=2010216
Sample Solution
