A Critical Reflection of The Blair Witch Project
Perhaps one of the most influential modern horror films, The Blair Witch Project pioneered an entirely new subgenre of horror films in 1999- the found footage film. The Blair Witch Project uses simple yet effective set design and dream like sound editing to highlight the gradual mental decay of main character, Heather Donahue over the course of the story to illustrate a dramatic shift in the orientation. This, along with the first hand experience offered by point of view camera positioning allows the audience to experience the terror associated with horror and the demonic alongside the main characters as the film progresses As the main characters- Heather Donahue, Josh Leonard, and Mike Williams
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Most of the scenes rely on the setting rather than any type of design or manipulation, allowing the naturally frightening location of the secluded forest to contribute to the terror felt by both the characters and the audience. When scene design is heavily incorporated, such as in the final scene in the witch’s house, the design is expressed through subtleties that have been established earlier in the film. Symbols and children’s handprints on the walls of the decaying house imply that the house that Mike and Heather find themselves in during the last scene is in fact the house that the children from the townspeople’s stories were killed in.
The first person point of view camera angle also allows the audience to experience the strange and terrifying events that take place within the film by allowing them to adopt the perspective of the characters in a way that cannot be accomplished with traditional film making techniques. This adoption of perspective allows the audience to identify with the characters on a personal level, making them open to the notions of orientations and ideas that seem ridiculous, such as continuing to film regardless of the terrifying events that take
The text is very descriptive and loaded with symbols. The author takes the opportunity to relate elements of setting with symbols with meanings beyond the first reading’s impressions. The house that the characters rent for the summer as well as the surrounding scenery are introduced right from the beginning. It is an isolated house, situated "quite three miles from the village"(947); this location suggests an isolated environment. Because of its "colonial mansion"(946) look, and its age and state of degradation, of the house, a supernatural hypothesis is implied: the place is haunted by ghosts. This description also suggests stability, strength, power and control. It symbolizes the patriarchal oriented society of the author’s time. The image of a haunted house is curiously superimposed with light color elements of setting: a "delicious garden"(947), "velvet meadows"(950), "old-fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees"(948) suggest bright green. The room has "air and sunshine galore"(947), the garden is "large and shady"(947) and has "deep-shaded arbors"(948). The unclean yellow of the wallpaper is
Witch hunts blazed across Europe over the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries not just killing innumerable innocent people, but stripping women of much of the power they had once held, and changing society's perceptions of women all together. The economic hardships, religious rivalries, and troubled politics of the time made accusing your neighbors of witchcraft convenient. Where there was war and poverty, or merely bad luck, peasants would assume witchcraft and rush to blame an old, defenseless woman in trials which involved unbelievable cruelty and horrible sadism. As religion and the Catholic Church began to complement and perpetuate the increasing hysteria, European society as a whole could do nothing but
The reason why these two documents were chosen was because of my beliefs in witches, and my interest in the contradiction between good versus evil. Also, another reason why this subject was chosen was because I have study the Salem witch trials back in high school, so I already knew something about the subject matter. The theme that connects both “Insufficiency of Evidence Against Witches” and “Wonder of the Invisible World” is that both Increase and Cotton Mather were both puritan ministers that participated in the Salem witch trials. In addition, both father and son had different views on how the trials should be handled.
The creaks of the swaying rope were loud in the deafening silence. The victim’s life was hanging on a thread—just like the noose around her neck . . . . In Salem Village, the year 1692, twenty men and women were accused of witchcraft and was executed accordingly. Many historians are still bewildered at what exactly caused the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. There were a few possible origins of the hysteria; however, jealous, young, single women; sexism against women; and lying little girls stand out as the main sources.
Twenty four people died during the Salem Witchcraft trials of 1692, and at least a hundred more were sent to jail under the accusation of witchcraft. These trials first began when Betty Parris, Ann Putnam, Mercy Lewis, and Mary Walcott were behaving oddly. The girls dashed under furniture, contorted in pain, and hallucinated, among other things. The people of a small Massachusetts colony called Salem panicked, not knowing what was causing the girls to act so oddly. There were three major reasons why this happened: childish behavior, religious beliefs and personal tensions between the two sides of the colony.
The first concept is language (a system comprised of vocabulary and rules of grammar that allows us to engage in verbal communication, Ch. 4, pg 72). The whole movie it was in English, so everyone understood each other. When watching, everyone understood what each other were saying but sometimes they don’t because they are using words that the other side wouldn’t understand. There was this scene where Pat and Tiffany were talking about what medication they use to have during dinner. The wife and husband who invited them didn’t really look at their perspective in a deeper level. People who surrounded Pat and Tiffany sometimes wouldn’t “acknowledge their viewpoint” and this is called perspective taking (Ch. 4,
In the 1680’s and 1690’s there was mass hysteria in New England over supposed witchcraft. The most famous outbreak was in Salem, Massachusetts, hence the name Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, there were young girls who started acting strangely, and they leveled accusations of witchcraft against some of the West Indian servants who were immersed in voodoo tradition. Most of the accusations were against women, and soon the accusations started to shift to the substantial and prominent women. Neighbors accused other neighbors, husbands accused their wives, etc. and it kept going on for a while. There was this nature of evil and the trials didn’t end until nineteen Salem residents were put to death in 1692, more importantly before the girls
Witchcraft accusations and trials in 1692 rocked the colony of Salem Massachusetts. There are some different views that are offered concerning why neighbors decided to condemn the people around them as witches and why they did what they did to one another. Carol Karlsen in her book The Devil in the Shape of a Woman and Bernard Rosenthal in Salem Story give several factors, ranging from woman hunting to shear malice, that help explain why the Salem trials took place and why they reached the magnitude that they did. The theories put fourth by Karlsen of a society that accusations against women as witches explain the trail, and Rosenthals ideas of discourse in the community are supported or partially disproved by
The Salem Witch Trials has been argued as one of the most important and controversial topics in American history. The Salem Witch Trials concluded the war between faithful people and evil people, and brought the long awaited justice to Salem village. Different historians presented varying opinions about the consequences and effects of the Salem Witch Trials. Reverend Samuel Parris played a pivotal role in preaching Christianity as well as eradicating evil from Salem village at that time. Religion was enforced among the people of Salem village, which created dispute against church-members and the non-church members. Moreover, religion created social segregation and disunity existed between these two groups of people. When it was revealed that witches were diminishing the holiness of Salem village, witch-hunt was initiated, and proved to be very effective, resulting in many witches being brought to justice.
Everyone knows about the blood bath that was the Salem Witch Trials, but what not many know is what caused it and how it affected Americans throughout History. In the summer of 1692, it all started. A couple of Puritans thought that their daughters were being influenced by the Devil, but what they did not know is what the doctor said would affect the whole town, and eve their ancestors. Thesis: Many peaceful years after the Puritans’ journey to the new world, trouble arose through the Salem Witch Trials by what happened, what caused it, and the effects.
The film references, not only slasher films, but a wide array of horror fiction. Out of the numerous references to other horror films, one of the most obvious is the cabin, which is likely a reference to The Evil Dead. Another Evil Dead reference comes in the form of one of the monsters, named ‘Angry Molesting Tree’ and among the wide variety of monsters, the references range from Pinhead from Hellraiser to Kevin from Sin City. Near the end of the film, The Director (Sigourney Weaver), who played a Final Girl in the film Alien, mentions that “[the ritual] is different for every culture. And it changes over the years, but it’s very specific.”. The audience is given brief glimpses into other rituals, the most prominent being Japan’s. Japan never went through a ‘slasher film’ phase like the U.S.; instead, Japanese horror films often revolve around the supernatural; usually in the form of pale-white, ghost girls with long dark hair, who torment young victims. “Almost all classic and contemporary ghost stories from Japan operate on onnen (“the idea that some emotions are so strong that their power can extend from beyond the grave”): ...witness Sadako’s character in The Ring, the antagonist in Juon...“. A couple references even seem to predate the advent of film. Some examples include the intro credit sequence, the painting that
Although entertaining, there is a lack of horror sensation. Natalie Dormer plays worried sister, Sara, searching for her twin in the deep Aokigahara Forest. The suicide forest as many refer to it as is located at Mount Fuji’s base in Japan. Jess, Sara’s twin sister has wandered off into the Aokigahara forest on a school field trip only to wind up lost and stranded. As Sarah searches day and night, she comes across many frightening but over dramatic obstacles. Which include, abandoned cabins, ghosts, voices, and holes in the ground. All of which are very notable in every and any mystery movie. The whole movie had a conspicuous plot from the very beginning.
When Making a film a director wants to draw the audiences emotions to the film to make them interested in what is going to happen. The director wants to make sure the audience is putting their emotions into a particular character or event. They can use this to give items importance and help us see who is an important character or if an event is serious or not. They basically tell us how to feel in a situation. They do this with the perspective/focus, lighting, and with the audio.
From 1692 to 1693, twenty people were executed after being accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts, many more died in jail, and around 200 people total were accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Records from the event indicate that the Salem Witch Trials started when a group of young girls began acting strange, claiming they had been possessed by the Devil and bewitched by local villagers. The Salem Witch Trials is a much debated event; historians argue over the motivation and causes behind the trials and executions, not over the proceedings. Each historian approached the Salem Witch Trials with their own brand of logic and interpretation building off of and criticizing the interpretations of their predecessors. No one historical theory can conclusively explain the cause of the Salem Witch Trials because there were too many variables and motivations among the villagers. These historians used the best of their abilities to examine the events of the Salem Witch Trials and the mere fact that there are so many interpretations means there are not certainties when it comes to this historical event. However, a combination of their theories could provide a better picture of the Salem Witch story and the many aspects in determining the outcome of the Salem Witch Trials.
humanity would have come to an end, but that was not so. In 1692 a