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Qn. 7. The Gleaners and I Documentary
The term gleaner, in essence, is a term that refers to a now-defunct component of a possibly female agricultural farmer and worker who was successful in medieval France. The “I” in this case is the filmmaker who documented the cinema, and she is Agnes Varda. The film made by Agnes was the reason for a radical transformation in the filmmaking industry. It gave rise to not only documentary filmmaking but also poetic cinemas in the 1960s and 70s. This essay will focus on how Agnes managed to raise questions amidst the tense political environment, providing accurate details and specific production scenes. Besides, documentary films are common ground for people to express culture and political inclination or concerns in the case of investigative documentary films. In Agnes’s film, she partly focuses on food security and wastage (Agnès Varda et al.). However, she extends his thoughts to demand consumption, especially in capitalist societies.
Moreover, the documentary Gleaners and I attempt to teach its audience the importance of social, economic, and political issues in connection to poverty and globalization, culture, and social stratification. It is evident in the film that Agnes created a world rich in multinational association and an economy that was redolent with human emotions and medieval experience. In my argument, despite the unconventional twist it might take, it is clear that I the documentary, Les flaneurs et glaneuse (Gleaner and I have his form of politics and tactics staged, techniques, and mode of delivery in the media production staged as well. Besides, the film is thoroughly saturated with cultural and political consequences.
On the other hand, considering Millet’s chef-d’oeuvre, the documentary presents gleaners in a very sympathetic manner that describes how biased the information was since his political stance was already known. Regarding the documentary ethics, the producer and other executive producers should be as loyal and truthful as possible so that viewers can enjoy and follow the story either for academic purposes or recreational and entertainment needs, just like the documentary animal world narrated by Bill Burrud between 1967 and 1972. The documentary tells the viewer exactly what and how it is no alteration. That honesty should have been present in Agnes’s literature.
Nonetheless, the main subject in the film is the act of gathering leftover crops from the field after harvest, only gleaning. Agnes demonstrates how the medieval country people used to clean everything and anything from grapes, to apples, to Millet, to potatoes, and even maize. Most importantly, some urban gleaners salvaged remnant food in bins and vegetable stalls. Funnily enough, another gleaner is walking around with cameras and recorders filming the less fortunate. She is Agnes Varda herself, and this is a very high calibre of intimacy (Agnès Varda, et al.). Gleaning, according to Agnes, was considered a useful activity. It was helpful in the sense that there was no need for throwing food and finding them as wastages. The scene proves it where she interviews a wide range of people of different cultural backgrounds, the interviewees associated wasted with hanger, and there was no need for allowing food to rot a lot of people yet starve to death.
Moreover, The Gleaner and I are probably far from highlighting what occurred in the Medieval French period. It is mesmerizing the film was considered an environmental movie, yet it is evident that the people were scavenging from the bins. It was put in a way that the gleaners were considered environmentalists since they were scavenging remains of food and farm produce. This is unethical and inhumane, that is why this is regarded as a political stance or rather environmental or green politics. Agnes’s thoughts can be understood in a way that she disagrees with considering the audience’s expectations; for instance, she demands that the conventional society should learn the medieval forms of conserving the environment and keeping farms and towns clean.
The scene where Agnes meets Claude by coincidence at the potato field and then allows him to park her trailer where he lives; is one of the very many episodes when the focus gets shifted from gleaning to terrifying poverty and pain streaking low standard of living. The two talk about realities of life, living conditions they face, and the inability to get sufficient supply of water, electricity. Living in trailers is a hard life that to for any individual to sustain life, he had to beg at the streets and pick garbage. Besides, the cameraman films Claude while Agnes keeps the conversation going, he narrates how he is an alcoholic, and the whole of his family is nowhere to be traced or seen. The film was shortened, which shows the movie was longer. The narrator made sure to capture the life of Claude by asking him his girlfriend, who made a series of comments about the profiling and incompetency of the current regime, the then era.
In conclusion, The Gleaner and I attempt to address the issues on food security and its contributors who are the green politicians, farmers, manufacturers, and producers. In addition, it focuses on those who work day and night to ensure food is available in the markets and stores for consumption. That is the retailers and those in the hospitality sector. However, the consumers are, in the long run, personally held responsible for food wastage. That is us, the audience, and the viewers.
Qn. 8. Notions of Chungking Express play in its treatment of the love stories
Considering the film and cinematic composition of Chungking Express, it is essential to acknowledge the cultural crises and social transformation that occur as a result of colonization and decolonization of Hong Kong. In my view, I would highly consider the film, a film that used a stunning visual style, dramatic lighting and colours, and cryptic shot composition and skilful incorporation of love scenes. In the Cop 223 story, she received a very lousy fool’s day. On April 1st, he received a breakup message from her girlfriend. What bothered him to the wall, was that in exactly one month from the day, he had anticipated celebrating his birthday and was not sure how he would honour it (Kar-Wai Wong). He was left with the option of accepting and moving on and keeping her hopes high, that it was just a silly prank his girlfriend pulled on him.
He had a way of dealing with stress; she bought a lot of snacks with expiry dates of May 1st, which was his birth date. The primary intention was to consume all the junk before his birthday, the symbolism being the expiration date being the day he will finally move on after consuming all his sad feelings (the junk food). Eventually, the month reaches, and she spotted a lovely lady whom he thought could be the source of his happiness once more. He fine-tuned the lady romantically. Finally, the woman agreed to go with him to the hotel room in the room nothing much happened, the lady was too tired to catch up with him, and he was too heartbroken to make any bold move, so he ordered take-outs and paid for room service leaving the lady alone in the hotel.
From nowhere, Cop 223 received a happy birthday text from the mysterious girl she supposedly left at the hotel room the previous night. We see that the male version is portrayed as someone who has feeling, and no amount of makeup emotions can work. In the same scene, when May met the waiter Faye, we are treated to the extraordinary scenery of the History of Hong Kong city. In the film, it is explained that Hong Kong did not have a voice during the pre-colonial history, just like cop 223 have no view after the breakup (Kar-Wai Wong). The symbolism of China and Britain, fall out and disagreement during colonial negotiations, Britain withdrew from the talks without notice. The same way the breakup was done with an agency.
Overall, Wong’s cinematic city is a perplexing interplanetary that rubbishes any tranquil mapping. It starts with the confusing floor plan at the beginning of the film when both the Chang’s and the Chows move in on the same day. This coincidence creates anarchy as the movers regularly annoy by moving furniture to the wrong couples’ apartments and have to redeliver it to the other wing of the building. The traffic in this enclosed space only adds to the sense of incomprehension. The building is not only disorienting to the movers but also the audience. The filmmaker confuses the viewer more by not following a consistent camera position while filming the scenes. In some prospects, we see Mrs Chang’s studio apartment on the left side of the hallway, but in some other scenes, it appears on the right. For a moment, one thinks that he or she knows where the apartment is located, but in the next minute, one only becomes wholly lost again. Sometimes, illogicality seems to be deliberately placed in the film to muddy the waters (Kar-Wai Wong). The sense of bafflement is auxiliary promoted through the charismata’s and charms of the actor’s undecided affiliation as Wong plays with the audience’s expectations. Between Mr Chow and Mrs Chang, many scenes that show intimacy only turn out to be performances. The seduction and the breakup scenes are inserted into the film without any warning, which raises questions whether the returns are pieces or real feelings.
Nevertheless, the pop culture, as expressed in Chungking Express shows inclusivity and appreciation of culture since the embracing of American Pop music, raised a lot of life in the movie. The enthusiasm created in the film shows the pop-culture exotica from Japans point of view. Even though the movie setting is pure, “Hong Konglish” the environment is made in a way that the audience feels more of western than eastern. The actors listen to hip hop songs, eat American food, the most imagery is McDonald’s coffee, refreshments served on paper cups, expensive alcoholic drinks from the western region and changed English accent. It is fascinating to see a culture not dominant in your area being filmed by a filmmaker from a different city. This brings and fulfils Marchetti’s argument that Hong Kong is a centre of unity and postmodern, embracing all forms of culture. This further strengthens the economic relationship between countries.
Historically, we see Chung King explaining a little bit about the French wave and the influences it brought to postmodernism. This scene is particular to Jean-Luc Godard, who shares his growing interest in embracing American Pop Culture. Nonetheless, Wong was more of a leisure and desire seeker than a provocateur. The film shows a referential quality of picture that expresses the development of a new era of filmmaking. And the way his characters conventionally deny each other’s feelings shows that the movie is more of a benchmark of its unique sensibility. The historical alienation of Hong Kong is also shown in the back screen to explain the significant political transition the Hong Kong nation has had in the past (Kar-Wai Wong). Nevertheless, the historical interpretation of some scenes in the film can be concluded to be based on Wong’s personal history. For example, the part when he enjoys himself, this is when he first visited America in real sense.
Moreover, the movies consider time in the following ways. The actors from the second story reappear in the background of the first story, which takes place simultaneously. Wong played with the setting in a way that it is hard to notice it in the first instance. Also, it is noticeable that Wong likes to fulfil his plays with medieval histories; he uses fast-forward and fast motion to indicate that time has passed. The movie set is in the current situation. There are significant distances in the Wong film that shows the languorous space of desire and the world as it is. In conclusion, Wong tends to mention the assertion that human life falls in a circle like the pattern of repetition and routine.
Works Cited
Agnès Varda, et al. “The Gleaners & I (2000).” IMDb, 7 July 2000,
www.imdb.com/title/tt0247380/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2020.
Kar-Wai Wong. “Chungking Express (1994).” IMDb, 14 July 1994, www.imdb.com/title/tt0109424/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2020.