Neorealism
Brandon Ricardo
Professor Sapphire
11/6/20
Topic 4
Neorealism to me is the harsh reality of life and how everything isn’t rainbows and sunshine. Its the real truth in life for most people and these movies depict what a lot of people go through on a daily basis. In Bicycle Thieves we are shown to believe that Antonio is a good guy until he tries to steal a bike as well showing how when life gets tough people become very desperate and are willing to do anything. Antonio’s financial situation isn’t good as at the time of the film Italy is still recovering from WW2. Antonio’s son Bruno is seen as the innocent child in all of this and I think he is the last bit of hope in this world to turn it around and I believe he is the most important character in the film.
In Killer of Sheep it is slightly different Stan has a job and is able to pay his bills but he finds himself unhappy with the same old same old routine and because of this you don’t see him happy. Some people want a life of adventure and can’t be happy doing the same things over and over again and Stan is one of those people. Stan may not have a harsh lifestyle but his inner demons are what make him sad and depressed. He is finatical structured unlike Antonio but it's the depression that is getting him not the money unlike Antonio. Sometimes people need a change of pace and a new path in life and I believe this is what Stan begs for throughout the film.
I believe Moonlight is the best example of Neorealism as it follows Little a young boy who is gay and is made fun for it convines in a drug dealer Juan and learns the harsh reality of his childhood. His mom beats him and buys crack from Juan, something Little learns from Juan. Then Juan dies and he is a teenager now and is finally happy with a boy named Kevin until Kevin is forced to punch Chiron angered Chirion punches the bully who forced all of this Terrel and is arrested for this. We then skip to Chiron as a young man a drug dealer like Juan and this part of the film is actually somewhat happy as he makes amends with his mother and talks to Kevin again. It's still sad as his life is still not good but he got closure.
Each of these films gives the viewer the sense of the harsh realities of life for some people. It’s not easy for some people to live a happy life because there are plenty of obstacles getting in the way. Antonio with money, Stan with happiness and Little with bad influences and harsh life styles growing up. Therefore Neorealism is the realist you can get in a film because it hits home with a lot of people in this world and shows the truth.
This essay starts out with some strong energy (“truth in life for most people…”), which is a step in the right direction for you. There is a thesis here that can be uncovered and supported with a bit more organization and attention to sentence structure, paragraph topics, and proofreading. The overall flaw in your arguments, however, is that you are focusing too much attention on the evolution of the main characters, and not enough on the systems, settings, and environments that neorealist film seeks to critique. I do not believe, for instance, that Antonio’s strife can be reduced to money, Stan’s to depression, Chiron’s to bad influences—rather such analysis misses the forest for the trees. Neorealism is not sensationalizing, and individuals are always stuck within a larger system of oppression of which they are a singular representative. This is why the young bicycle thief seems just as in the right as Antonio; the criminality of Stan’s friends seems like a viable option; and Chiron’s mother is just as trapped as he is.
ReplyDelete