Final

Feelings can really get in the way sometimes. Sometimes, all anybody wants to do is run away from their life and whatever they are feeling at any given moment. But films provide an escape without any running. By watching a cathartic film, the viewer is transported into someone else's problems, feels the release of said problems after experiencing them with the characters, and by the end of the movie it is as though their own problems have disappeared. A movie with mimesis doesn't quite have the same effect on the viewer's heart, but does have a similar effect in their mind. In representing the real world, whether it is for the sake of social change or simply for the sake of imitation itself, a memetic film provides food for thought as an option to escape the surface of the real world by looking deeper. The films Almost Famous, American Beauty, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind all exemplify both of these ideas. The three movies not only provide catharsis and mimesis for the viewer, and do so through a variety of film techniques.

In Almost Famous, the main characters go through a lot. To make everything feel more personal to

the viewer, a lot of the film is very closed form. In particular, the scene on the bus after Russell and William have been picked up from the party is very immediate to the viewer due to its closed form nature. Everyone is singing, everyone is rejoining each other through music, and nobody is upset anymore. This can feel very cathartic to a viewer. For most, it is the favorite scene of the movie. The function of the music is to bring everybody together, and as an audience member, being able to go through this experience of finding their friends again through the music along with the characters, this scene is very touching and cathartic. The emotional appeal of the music is also there, making the whole scene feel upbeat and happy, despite coming after a low moment. An interesting choice that was a part of this scene was to bring the background music more into the foreground of the scene, pulling everything together and making everyone a cohesive whole. Another very cathartic moment in the movie is

when Penny discovers that Russell, who she thinks is in love with her and who she is in love with, has bet her company in a card game in exchange for fifty dollars and a case of beer. She is very hurt by this information, and William immediately feels ashamed for volunteering it. This scene is very pertinent to some who have gone through something similar, finding out how much they are really worth to someone they thought they loved. The shot is kept tightly framed to keep her close to the audience, and it is a reaction shot to what William has said. Her tears, and her wiping away the tears, keep the movement in the scene minimal, but it is just enough to bring the viewer to the edge of tears with her. But knowing that someone else understands the feeling of rejection, the viewer will feel relieved despite the intensity of the scene. Now, while there is intensity in the film, there is also a sense of lightness, everyone acting with a devil-may-care attitude, without having a care in the world. This is where the mimesis comes in. The girls that trail after the band refuse to call themselves groupies, and say very adamantly that they are Band-aids. They are honestly just really, really big fans of the band, and they are following the band because they love it. It is unclear from the movie whether or not there are actually people like that, but even if there aren't, this aspect of the film is mimetic. The girls

get to follow the band everywhere, get to go to the same parties, hang out with the same famous people, be a part of all that comes with being a part of rock. The music genre itself feels free and uninhibited. In this shot with Penny, it shows how her life as a Band-aid is full of warm colors and comfort, but her expression shows how even her life, which may seem ideal, has its problems. The dominant contrast of the empty glass and the bottles of alcohol in the foreground add to that feeling of unhappiness in the shot. The band doesn't treat the girls very well, and that is the part of the mimesis of this film that begs social change. The movie uses the girls to portray how women are often used in the entertainment business, and that underlying current throughout the film provides a critical look at the world of entertainment and inequality. The movie Almost Famous makes the viewer can feel at home with the band while still questioning their morals. This makes for not only a cathartic film to wipe away all worries but also a film that makes the viewer question the real value of entertainment. 

American Beauty feels more like realistic cinema than Almost Famous, probably because very few people have actually gone touring with a rock band but many people live in a little suburban neighborhood and are stuck in a boring, dead-end job. This film is also more mimetic than cathartic, since it gives the viewer a lot more to think about than it gives them emotions they would like to experience. At the very beginning of the movie, there is some cutting to continuity with establishing shots to show the simple little street, with its stereotypical little families that are all hiding dark secrets. One of the images shown in the cutting to continuity shots shows Carolyn Burnham in her

garden, with her matching shears and shoes and the perfect red roses she is cutting. She looks as typical a suburban mother as can be - loosely framed with a nice lawn and a minivan, nice makeup, cutesy apron and a little basket for the roses. She is even being friendly, waving to the neighbors. After seeing this altogether too-perfect image, the viewer is then shown how nothing that looks this perfect can actually be this perfect. This image can symbolize most of the movie - a boring, seemingly perfect family that actually has rotting roots of affairs and lies, like the American Beauty rose. The perfection juxtaposed with the horror within also gives the movie an impersonal, open form feeling that causes more mimesis than catharsis throughout. Anything that involves the neighbor boy, Ricky Fitts, is mimetic. He doesn't see the world the same way everyone else does. He watches everything through the lens of his camera, and yet he is the

most grounded person in the film. Ricky makes the viewer think a little harder about everything they see, and everything he sees throughout the film. The kinetic symbolism of him raising or lowering his camera is him raising and lowering the shield between him and the rest of the world, which he usually has up. Here, he is also symmetrically framed between Jane's and Angela's heads, showing how he is thought of as either crazy or amazing throughout the film. When the viewer sees him, they are forced to wonder how he can possibly see things so differently from everyone else, but when he explains it to Jane, the audience understands a little more how even though people that seem very different at first are different from everyone else, it's not necessarily a bad thing. And it's not like he doesn't have feelings. He changes how the viewer sees Jane, just by loving her. She is closed off from everyone at the beginning of the film, but as it progresses the audiences sees her coming out of her shell more and feeling a more personal connection with her. In one scene where

she and Ricky are together and he is filming her, she mentions how much she hates her family. This is a very intimate setting, and the way that the shot is handheld and grainy and is all just one take of her talking to the camera and the person behind it makes it intimate to everyone. Even though the dialogue is very juvenile, the feelings hit home. Something about how innocent being a teenager is makes it feel more personal. Also, the way that she is framed dead center even when she moves around and how it zooms in on her face when she is talking gives the viewer a sense of how Ricky is so devoted to her, and that also makes the scene feel more intimate. All of American Beauty feels close to home, because the viewer doesn't know whether or not their next-door neighbors have secrets as dark and as dirty as the ones in the film. But the movie does also provide feelings to work through and an odd sense of relief when those feelings have run their course.

The only truly formalistic film out of the three is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. True, American Beauty has its formalistic moments, but at heart it is realistic. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a story told in reverse, though the film itself is still running in linear order. And, of course, it is about love. The audience gets to watch the couple fall back in love as Joel's memories are erased, moving backwards through their entire relationship. Essentially, the entire film is a series of flashbacks that are also running in backwards order. The last scene to get erased is the day they met.

It has the two of them together on a set of stairs leading to the beach, and she goes up and steals some of his food right off his plate, like they already knew each other. Clementine, with her bright name and her colorful outfits, brings life to Joel's gray world. Here, framed symmetrically and side by side in a dialogue shot, the difference in their personalities is painfully obvious. Even the things they talk about seem far too different. How could two people as dissimilar as these two possibly get along? But they do, and this memory, rather than being awkward, is looked back on with fond remembrance for that day they met and shared some food. The viewer may be remembering the story of how they met their significant other, or the promising meetings of a new partner than grew to be sour and unpleasant memories as time went by. However, in the context of the movie, this scene in particular is heartwarming. Another scene that causes the viewer to recall a lot of memories and feelings is when

Joel and Clementine go out to the ice for the second time in the movie but the first time in their relationship. The shot remains a close-up, whereas before (or after, depending on the perspective of the timeline) the shot was the iconic aerial shot to show them flat on their backs on the cracking, thin ice. But here, where their relationship, though just beginning, was still solid, there are no cracks to be seen, and they are sharing a nice, quiet moment alone on the frozen river. This may bring to mind memories of a similar excursion where the viewer had never felt happier, or, conversely once again, a memory that was very nice at the time but now may be wished to go away. Much of this movie depends on the perspective of the one watching it and whether or not they have been hurt by love in the past. But this film does have a mimetic aspect to it. Clementine and Joel both go to get their memories erased. In this helpless-feeling high angle shot of Joel, the viewer is left to feel

uncomfortable and, though perhaps not confused as they have seen why he wanted to go through with it, a little thoughtful. Is there really any relationship that absolutely nothing but negativity was gained from? Should erasure actually be an option, would anybody want to go through with it? In society, many people may do something like this as a rash, quick decision, but that doesn't make it a good one. The viewer has to question the society of the film and the society of today, all because of the movie's questions of whether or not someone should be erased. By the end of the movie, it would even seem that erasing someone from their memory has no effect on true love. But Joel and Clementine agree to try again, and that is inspiring to any failing or failed relationship.


Almost Famous, American Beauty, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind provide not only a lot of feelings but a lot of deep thought to sift through once they are over. All three of the films are very cathartic, dragging the viewer along through thick and thin with the characters and giving the viewer different experiences to replace the problems they are feeling in their everyday lives. But the films also provide a lot to think about with their portrayals of everyday life and hopefully inspirations to people to make social change. These three films are excellent examples of how something as simple as a movie can be well-made and thoughtful and feeling. Movies are a very good vehicle to promote things like social change to the world. Movies also always are there to offer a way for anybody to feel better about their own life by slipping into someone else's for a bit. Movies simply have their own special magic to transport people to different places and different times.