S

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

(2016)

COMPONENT 1

SECTION B GROUP 2: INDEPENDENT FILM

(AMERICAN FILM SINCE 2005)

Areas of Study

S Spectatorship (key area of study) – active and passive

responses

S Film Form – how it positions the spectator into

understanding meaning

S Meaning and response including Representation

S Social, cultural and political contexts

S Production and institutional contexts

BEN FUNDAMENTALLY BELIEVES IN LIBERAL,

LEFT WING VALUES BUT IS REPRESENTED

STEREOTYPICALLY AS A ‘GRIZZLY ADAMS’

TYPE OF CHARACTER - DISCUSS……

PRODUCTION CONTEXT

S Personal vision – Director Matt Ross (best Director in Un

Certain Regard, Cannes, 2016 = critical success)

S Independent production (political themes, issues) –

Viggo Mortensen only ‘well known’ actor as Ben

S Acknowledges the socio-political zeitgeist – U.S politics

split into left and right wing, Trump etc.

S Intertextual references to The Mosquito Coast (1986)

S Production context – limited budget ($5m)

FILM FORM

S COSTUME IMPORTANT IDENTIFYING THE FAMILY AS OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE MODERN WORLD

S WIDE, ESTABLISHING SHOTS OF THE WILDERNESS CONNOTE ‘OTHERNESS’

S LONG TAKES EMPHASISE BEAUTY OF NATURAL WORLD IN BINARY OPPOSITION TO JACK’S EXCLUSIVE, GATED ‘TRUMP TOWER’

S NATURAL LIGHTING ENCODES REALISM

BEN AND THE FAMILY ARRIVE AT LESLIE’S

FUNERAL – COLOUR AND USE OF

CONTRAST IS IMPORTANT. THE

SPECTATOR FEELS…….

REPRESENTATION AND

IDEOLOGY 1

S IN CONTRAST WITH HIS LIBERAL IDEOLOGY, BEN ARGUABLY EMBRACES PATRIARCHY

S CAPTAIN FANTASTIC BOTH CRITICISES MODERN CAPITALISM WHILE ALSO UNDERSTANDING ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY?

S ‘NOAM CHOMSKY DAY’ REFECTS ANTI CONSUMERIST IDEOLOGY (SEE GLOBAL ‘BUY NOTHING DAY’) – BEN DESCRIBES COKE AS “POISON WATER”

REJECTION OF

MAINSTREAM VALUES

REPRESENTATION AND

IDEOLOGY 2

S CONSERVATIVE, UPPER CLASS REPUBLICANS

ARE REPRESENTED BY JACK, LESLIE’S

FATHER IS THE ANTAGONIST

S KEY POINT – IS ENCODED POLITICAL

IDEOLOGY DILUTED BY HYBRIDISED

COMEDY GENRE CONVENTIONS?

S COLLECTIVE IDENTITY WITHIN THE FAMILY

IS CHALLENGED BY RELLIAN

REPRESENTATION AND

IDEOLOGY 3

S GENDER ROLES ARE NEUTRAL BUT USING

TODOROVIAN NARRATOLOGY IT IS IMPLIED

THAT BY EMBRACING MAINSTREAM

CULTURE AT THE END OF THE FILM, THIS

WILL CHANGE

S AMERICAN SOCIETY IS SCRUTINISED

THROUGH BEN’S OBSESSION WITH

CHOMSKY – DO YOU FIND THE FILM’S

ENDING POLITICAL IN ANY WAY?

REBELLION

SPECTATORSHIP 1

S EMOTIVE NARRATIVE – THE SPECTATOR IS POSITIONED INTO HAVING TO FEEL, BUT ALSO HAVE AN OPINION

S LESLIE’S ILLNESS AND SUBSEQUENT SUICIDE FRAMES SPECTATORSHIP

S COMEDY IS A LIGHT HEARTED ANCHOR THAT UNDERPINS KEY SCENES E.G. THE AIRPORT TOILET (AUDIENCE PRESSURE IS LIFTED WHEN FAMILY START TO LAUGH)

SPECTATORSHIP 2

S BEN AS PROTAGONIST ASKS THE

SPECTATOR TO MAKE JUDGEMENTS AND

INTERACT WITH NARRATIVE EVENTS

S REPRESENTATION OF THE FAMILY ENSURES

AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION WITH

SOMETHING THEY CAN RELATE TO

S THE SPECTATOR DRAWS ON HIS/HER OWN

REFERENCE POINTS IN MAKING

JUDGEMENTS

WICKER MAN PAGAN

BEAUTY

SPECTATORSHIP 3

S COMEDY DILUTES WHAT COULD BE A

VICIOUS CRITIQUE ON AMERICAN SOCIETY

– “EVERYONE IS SO FAT, ARE THEY SICK?” IS

MORE HUMOUR THAN SOCIO-POLITICAL

COMMENT

S NARRATIVE OUTCOMES ENSURE ANALYSIS

THROUGH MEANING AND REPONSE – WHAT

HAPPENS NEXT TO THE FAMILY?

EVERY FAMILY NEEDS A

TOILET