NOTES FROM LECTURE ONE: THE HAUNTING
BASIC INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL:
How to look at film:
In theory, a film has many aspects (e.g. lighting, camera angles, music, tropes, narrative style, etc.), which can be varied. Each part of the film that can be altered, and these alterations can be used to bring about an effect in how we see what is going on in the film.
This course is about basic American themes as they appear in films. In some senses, we are going to look at American films as though they were “foreign”. What can we say about an “American” way of looking at the world? This involves the concept of “culture” or shared learned behavior, in the terminology of anthropologists. “Culture” however is defined differently by different social scientists (see below).
For example, the film we are showing today, “The Haunting” there is an anthropologist, named Dr. Markway. The occupation of people in the film is a variable which may have meaning. Why does the film maker choose an anthropologist? (In fact, Dr. Markway is more a parapsychologist than an anthropologist! This says something about what some Americans think anthropologists do – that they are involved with the exotic and bizarre and hence with the supernatural in trying to prove its existence. In part, watch the film to see how the anthropologist is depicted and what it implies about the understanding of what anthropologists do.
Secondly, view the film in terms of its general topic. What message or question does the film raise or examine?
Analysis
We can divide the classes basically into to parts and then try to integrate them. The first part is “What is the story about, and how does it reflect some aspect of American culture”; the second is “What film techniques are used in the film?” Third, how do these techniques get used to advance the story or build emotional responses in the viewer?
TERMS:
Anthropology: the study of humans
Physical anthropology: study of people as biological organisms
Linguistics: study of language
Archaeology: study of past cultures from their material remains
Ethnology: cross cultural comparisons
Ethnography: a writing or description about a particular culture.
There are films which depict these four subfields – Trog (God help us, with Joan Crawford) has a physical anthropologists, Fireball with Barbara Stanwick has a linguist (as does My Fair Lady); archaeologists abound in most “Mummy” films, in the Indiana Jones films and so on. The cultural anthropologists are usually seen as studying exotic people and exotic things as happens in say Krippendorf’s Tribe or in this film, The Haunting (original version)
Text and subtext: Something akin to “plot” and “theme”. Text is that actual words spoken, while subtext is an underlying meaning
The basic idea behind this course is that while much cultural material can be found in the text, cultural themes are unavoidably expressed, in the subtext of the films. In viewing a number of films we will try to isolate some of the cultural patterns found in these films and show how that film makers take positions about them which are revealed through their manipulation of the variables in the film.
SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TO THINK ABOUT
What are anthropologists?
Anthropologists are social scientists who study all aspects of humans. Some are more interested in people as physical beings. These are physical anthropologists. Some are more interested in culture – these are called “cultural anthropologists” and they come in a set of three subdivisions: archaeologists – people who study cultures of no longer existing societies from their material remains; linguists who are concerned largely with language, and ethnologists who look at different cultures, cultures in the world.
What do we mean by culture?
Without getting too complex, culture is often described as “shared learned behavior”, But just what, for example is actually shared? Many people in a given culture have divergent views on matters, indicating that the culture is rather amorphous. Other researchers think that there is variation is along a “theme”. For example some Americans are very religious and others are not. What does that say about “American culture”? It is clear that there are some aspects of American culture which it shares with other “western cultures” and others that it may in fact share with all human societies.
This prompted the anthropologist, Clyde Kluckhohn, to say (in pre-PC days) that “in some ways all men are like all other men; in some ways all men are like some other men; and in some ways all men are like no other men”.
The definition, “shared learned behavior” will suffice for the moment. It is important to remember though that cultures are integrated, and can not be understood from one person’s attitudes or behaviors. We notice for example that many Americans are very religious and others are atheistic. We also notice that some westerners are very “pro” science, while others are somewhat against it. The same could be said for the Japanese for example. This does not mean, however that Japanese and American culture must be the same. One major difference is that in America religion and science are often on a collision course, while in Japan they are not. The arguments that have happened in the America about the teaching of evolution and creationism do not happen in Japan even though their mythology has a story about how the world is created which is different from the one scientists hold.
Different societies have different cultures, and the same societies may have different cultures at different times in their history. This is to say that cultures are not static but evolve over time. This relates to film in that at different time periods in the history of film, some aspects of the culture have been different. Hence films remade in different times have different emphases and sometimes no longer “fit” the culture as well as they did earlier.
How do film and culture interact?
This is a complicated question and not easily answered. When we look at “world cinema” it is clear that the film makers’ cultures have an impact on both the way they see the world and the way in which they structure and shoot their films.
In this course, we are looking at American films and hence American themes will be there.
How is this relevant to the course?
The basic goal of the course is to expose the themes in the films and to show how the film maker, using film techniques expresses the theme and their own position about it.
The Film: The Haunting
Before the Film
There are two reasons for showing THIS film in this course. First, since the course has an “anthropological” component to it, the film involves an anthropologist. Anthropologists are generally not well understood in America. They are generally confused with archaeologists (who may or may not be anthropologists). Archaeologists are the most often depicted and appear as heroic grave robbers in films like those with Indiana Jones, or any of the “mummy” films. Physical anthropologists, ethnologists and linguists are rather rare, but occur occasionally with some confusion.
Anthropologists are often thought of as doing “exotic” things – running off to strange locations and dealing with people who have strange and bizarre customs! In this film, the anthropologist, Dr. Markway, seems unclear on what anthropologists do, and links dead bodies with souls and religion in rather strange ways. In fact his interest in the supernatural is far more typical of a parapsychologist!
Hence, one reason for showing the film to expose the problem of “realism” in films. Films often require a “suspension of disbelief”, but sometimes this can become too great and there are problems.
The film also deals with the supernatural – something which several of the films this term deal with. We need to examine the film to uncover the themes involved and see how the film maker handles the filming to express those themes,
In watching the film, think about the variables that a film maker has available to manipulate to give certain emphases and emotionality to the film: lighting, camera movement and placement, sound, music, editing techniques, narrative structure and host of others. The performers, under the guidance of the director are also able to assist in the process by their acting which involves a multitude of variable in the way in which they speak, move and express themselves in many other ways.
After the Film
Starting with the narrative structure, the film starts with a “disembodied” narration, which ultimately is revealed to be Dr. Markway who is talking to the owners of Hill House which he wants to lease for an experiment in parapsychology. He is questioned about his marital status, whether his wife will be there and whether there are women among the people staying there as part of the investigation.
As the film progresses, there is a great deal of discussion about relationships. Like seems to be interested in Theo(dora), Theodore seems to have a lesbian interest in Eleanor (Nell), who in turn is interested in Dr. Markway who, unknown to Eleanor, is married. Sexuality, often in repressed form, is the source of horror in many films is subtle and complex in the film. Theo’s lesbian interest in Eleanor is contrasted with Eleanor’s heterosexual interest in Dr. Markway. Theo’s on-off jealousy over Eleanor’s interest in Markway leads to questions about sexuality and the differences between different kinds.
Eleanor has been in a bad set of relationships with her family – she had been caring for her mother for years. Her mother has recently died, after knocking on the wall for Eleanor to come to her, but this once Eleanor was too tired and failed to go. Eleanor lives with a married sister, her husband and their daughter, who are unpleasant with her. Eleanor longs for something to happen to her, now they she has her freedom as it were.
The house itself has a strange history and a number of people have died in it or on the grounds under unusual circumstances. The builder’s first wife was killed when her carriage crashed into a tree when the horses bolted. This is significant since at the end of the film, Eleanor’s car is “taken over’ and in effect “bolts” and crashes into the same tree, killing her. The daughter of the original owner ultimately dies – well advanced in years – when she pounds on the door for her paid companion who is having an assignation with her boyfriend. (thus paralleling the death of Eleanor’s mother). This links Eleanor quite tightly with people dying at Hill House.
Markway has a number of lines which deal with definitional problems. There are discussions about ghostly and ghoulish;, there are distinctions made between “supernatural” and “preternatural”; there are question about the meaning of words like “haunted” and when Eleanor, slightly tipsy is applying nail polish to her toes says it is “wicked”. Theo corrects her saying she mustn’t confuse “wicked” and “foolish”. The definitions seem to be an important part of the film. Definitions divide the world up into categories and not only say what something is, but also what it is not.
The feeling about the house by the investigators is other that it is “alive”. “Alive” has in a sense, two opposites. One the one hand “dead” is the opposite of alive, but on the other so is “inanimate”. Stones, for example are not alive, nor are they dead. They are inanimate. The film seems interest in the nature of the divisions between these things. The house (which normally would be “inanimate”) is apparently “alive”. The house is inhabited by “ghosts” who are no longer alive. Double oppositions like this are often difficult.
There is also a question about the need to belong – or in a sense – to be properly defined. Eleanor wants something to happen to her. She wants to be an individual and defined as being herself, not just someone’s daughter or whatever. She also wants a sense of belonging.. The question of the individual vs. the family is thus raised parallel to living vs. dead and living vs. inanimate.
How does the film maker achieve the ends in this film.
(a) point of view shots. Right after Eleanor sees the house, the next shot is looking back at Eleanor from the house’s point of view. Immediate the house seems to have some animate quality about it. Theo shortly after arriving says “The house is always watching”.
(b) The camera moves a great deal, making inanimate objects in the background appear to be moving
(c) In one scene where Eleanor looks up at the house, the shot which immediately follows is from the house, at the point where Eleanor was looking, and the camera zooms in on her with such speed that she is nearly “knocked off” the balcony. She says “You have to watch the house all the time”
(d) The camera frequently moves bringing inanimate objects into the frame making them appear to have appeared by their own movement.
(e) The spiral staircase in the library is almost always in motion.
(f) The harp plays by itself
(g) Inanimate objects – carved wood – suddenly take on the forms of faces making them appear animate.
(h) Off screen sounds are common. Luke’s first appearance is preceded by the sound of ice clinking in a glass, and then his shadow and then Luke himself. The noise which terrifies the investigators of something banging on the wall “with a cannonball” are always off screen. Markway and Luke chase a dog which Markway has only heard running outside his door.
(i) Things which happen suddenly on the screen are often not really anything frightening – Eleanor sees her own reflection, Mrs. Markway’s sudden appearance when she opens the attic trap door.
(j) Distortions are used in the lens on several occasions: Eleanor attempts to get in the nursery and the house seems to shift all its angles; Eleanor is seen running, in a distorted hallway which turns out to be photographed in a rather curved mirror.
The narration is, like a ghost, often disembodied. There is a great deal of narration in the film – especially by Eleanor – whose internal monologues become audible to the audience.
The intonation patterns used are aberrant for English, often failing to have a distinctive falling tone contour. The sentence sound incomplete, unfinished and hanging on the air.
LEARNED INNATE
Opposite of learned is taught but also innate.