Fallen Hero essays

Fallen Hero essays Traditional American feature films share the common characteristics of classical Hollywood cinema. In fictional films the main character is often portrayed as the hero that saves the day. However, the movie, Fallen contradicts this conventional way of cinema. The main character is a black detective that does not accomplish his goals in the end, and in turn receives no closure. Through examples of Mise en Scene, point-of-view shots, cinematography, lighting, editing, sound, narrative structure, motifs, and flashbacks one can argue how the role of the customary hero is challenged in Fallen. The character John Hobbes is shown as an everyday family man with a protagonist view of life. His character is often seen in a white t-shirt wearing a cross necklace; two common ideals of an American hero. His point-of-view is clear showing true colors when viewing the rest of the world. This is opposite of the fuzzy, yellowish-green, often birds eye view that Azazel has. The conflicting point-of-views label the characters as good and evil. This example shows ordinary heroic characteristics, however the opening scene foreshadows the fate of the hero without the audience knowing. Through the use of internal diegetic sound the voice of Azazel narrates the whole movie, but the viewer does not find this out until the end when evil lives on. Azazel begins by telling a story about a time he almost died, by flashing back to the events that occurred. The audience, however, hears the heros voice saying this and assumes the hero almost dies. The opening scenes setting and narrative was designed well to trick the audience. The director, Gregory Hoblit, does a pretty good job of making the movie suspenseful without using extreme violence or gruesome beasts. Instead he uses motifs to present an eerie atmosphere when evil is around. The most obvious and effective motif is the use of the Rolling Stones son ...