comparative context essay
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and Milos Foreman's One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (OFOTCN) were both extremely successful films despite their very contrasting contextual backgrounds. The differences in production were political, institutional, and social. In my opinion both films perfectly reflect the context of their different times in film history. OFOTCN is a film about a sane man who is placed in a mental hospital. Vertigo is a film created towards the end of the golden age of film about an ex detectives intrigue in his newest case.
Institutionally, Vertigo was filmed during the Golden Era of cinema with what was known as the studio system. In this time in the 1950's, cinema was very cheap and popular and around 800 films a year were being released from hollywood despite the time and effort being much larger to create films. As Cinema was extremely cheap and popular, a movie such as Vertigo starring big stars was guaranteed popularity from audiences and was guaranteed to make profit. For this reason, Alfred Hitchcock had a contract with one of the few studios who would give him a very large budget for the film. Therefore Vertigo's long tension build up, large city location and exciting (for the times) cinematography clearly reflects the institutional time of which it was created; the unnatural high key lighting reflects this era of film. These film techniques which Vertigo uses were used clearly throughout Hitchcocks career - building towards his name as an auteur.
OFOTCN was filmed in a time period much after Hollywood's popularity declined due to its repetitive positive narratives. More popular films were heavily by European independent directors as people had become in a way desensitised from tragedy due to the war. Films were more heavily based on realism seen through the natural lighting. OFOTCN was created on a low budget outside of a studio set but in a real mental institution - this heavily represents the realism being created in the film and reflects the context of the time.
Socially, Vertigo was created not long after the second world war. Whilst men were sent out to war, women had had taken a large step towards social equality as they were left doing all the work in the country. This supposedly made many men feel self conscious about their masculinity. Vertigo manages perfectly to reflect this damage through Scotty's disability after his dangerous encounter. His Vertigo reflects the damage to men in society and the way that he has been manipulated by a woman -which was a dreaded rare thought to men of the time - shows the gaining of social power of women.
For OFOTNC socially, Milos Foreman was Czech and had lived under communist control. The film clearly reflects this through the fear of Nurse Ratchett controlling the patients and leading them to not vote to watch the game despite internally wanting to. The use of cinematography such as zooms and her being in centre screen connotes the type of dictatorship Foreman would have lived in. McMurphy seems to reflect a freedom fighter in a way against the communist regime - it could also be seen that McMurphy represents an American who knows freedom being forced into the controlled communist society. Both Americans and trapped communists were very keen on showing the darkness and fear taking place in the communist countries - The USA wanted to show the harshness of this society as it was during the cold war. Race equality is also greatly touched on in a similar manner to Vertigo, the empowerment of the Black workers is used to represent a sort of anger felt by the workers who at the time were forced to go to war straight after gaining equality. The rude tone and performance mixed with the use of cursing "he can't hear a fucking thing" is used to show the abuse of power that has underlying anger due to political aspects in society towards African American people.
The narrative of OFOTCN does not reflect its production context as it was all filmed in a real mental hospital and it had many comedic aspects towards serious matters. Many people at the time of the film found it very insensitive and had complaints about the film. The film also used method acting and no 'movie set' to create realism to the viewer. This differs from Vertigo where the film is entirely controlled by Hitchcock. The actors had no freedom and almost the entire film was shot on set. This was normal of the contextual period. Hitchcock's entire control of the film is one strong reason as to why he is considered an Auteur on a much larger scale than Foreman.
In my opinion both films heavily reflect the contextual production of the films however during the 1950's when Vertigo was created, the production was extremely specific and therefore it is clear that it reflects the time period. However, the new age of Hollywood was extremely unpredictable and most films were individual in their own aspects and varied differently. Therefore it is unmanageable to compare the narrative of OFOTCN to the new hollywood era - the narrative can be compared more to post was European films eras such as the French wave.
Institutionally, Vertigo was filmed during the Golden Era of cinema with what was known as the studio system. In this time in the 1950's, cinema was very cheap and popular and around 800 films a year were being released from hollywood despite the time and effort being much larger to create films. As Cinema was extremely cheap and popular, a movie such as Vertigo starring big stars was guaranteed popularity from audiences and was guaranteed to make profit. For this reason, Alfred Hitchcock had a contract with one of the few studios who would give him a very large budget for the film. Therefore Vertigo's long tension build up, large city location and exciting (for the times) cinematography clearly reflects the institutional time of which it was created; the unnatural high key lighting reflects this era of film. These film techniques which Vertigo uses were used clearly throughout Hitchcocks career - building towards his name as an auteur.
OFOTCN was filmed in a time period much after Hollywood's popularity declined due to its repetitive positive narratives. More popular films were heavily by European independent directors as people had become in a way desensitised from tragedy due to the war. Films were more heavily based on realism seen through the natural lighting. OFOTCN was created on a low budget outside of a studio set but in a real mental institution - this heavily represents the realism being created in the film and reflects the context of the time.
Socially, Vertigo was created not long after the second world war. Whilst men were sent out to war, women had had taken a large step towards social equality as they were left doing all the work in the country. This supposedly made many men feel self conscious about their masculinity. Vertigo manages perfectly to reflect this damage through Scotty's disability after his dangerous encounter. His Vertigo reflects the damage to men in society and the way that he has been manipulated by a woman -which was a dreaded rare thought to men of the time - shows the gaining of social power of women.
For OFOTNC socially, Milos Foreman was Czech and had lived under communist control. The film clearly reflects this through the fear of Nurse Ratchett controlling the patients and leading them to not vote to watch the game despite internally wanting to. The use of cinematography such as zooms and her being in centre screen connotes the type of dictatorship Foreman would have lived in. McMurphy seems to reflect a freedom fighter in a way against the communist regime - it could also be seen that McMurphy represents an American who knows freedom being forced into the controlled communist society. Both Americans and trapped communists were very keen on showing the darkness and fear taking place in the communist countries - The USA wanted to show the harshness of this society as it was during the cold war. Race equality is also greatly touched on in a similar manner to Vertigo, the empowerment of the Black workers is used to represent a sort of anger felt by the workers who at the time were forced to go to war straight after gaining equality. The rude tone and performance mixed with the use of cursing "he can't hear a fucking thing" is used to show the abuse of power that has underlying anger due to political aspects in society towards African American people.
The narrative of OFOTCN does not reflect its production context as it was all filmed in a real mental hospital and it had many comedic aspects towards serious matters. Many people at the time of the film found it very insensitive and had complaints about the film. The film also used method acting and no 'movie set' to create realism to the viewer. This differs from Vertigo where the film is entirely controlled by Hitchcock. The actors had no freedom and almost the entire film was shot on set. This was normal of the contextual period. Hitchcock's entire control of the film is one strong reason as to why he is considered an Auteur on a much larger scale than Foreman.
In my opinion both films heavily reflect the contextual production of the films however during the 1950's when Vertigo was created, the production was extremely specific and therefore it is clear that it reflects the time period. However, the new age of Hollywood was extremely unpredictable and most films were individual in their own aspects and varied differently. Therefore it is unmanageable to compare the narrative of OFOTCN to the new hollywood era - the narrative can be compared more to post was European films eras such as the French wave.
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