Film Homework Posts

 Both realism and antirealism can both be very effective in film because of the extreme differences in their characteristics. Realism is exactly what it sounds like, real. This is when filmmakers represent things as they actually are in real life. Antirealism, on the other hand, is representing those same things in a fantastical or abstract way. An example given by Barsam is the film, Donnie Darko. In this film, viewers are switched between scenes of Donnie's actual life as a schizophrenic teenager, and his fantastical view of how life really is, most notably, life with a demonic imaginary rabbit. Another example of realism and antirealism can be seen in the film Mean Girls. The main character, Cady, has just moved to a regular high school after being home schooled by her parents in Africa. More than once throughout the film, she is shown observing her fellow students through both realist and antirealist points of view. In her realist view, she sees girls cat fighting in the hallway while in antirealist view, the girls are pouncing on each other and growling just as wildcats in the jungles of Africa would do.

The presentation of a western film most often refers to the “long shot”, or zooming out on a character until they are insignificant to the shot and viewers are more focused on the landscape around that character. In comparison, the presentation of most horror films feature close up shots on the victim of the film. This strategy creates suspense and is most likely accompanied by daunting music, building suspense even further.