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CONTENTS
About the Authors v

Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxiii
CHAPTER 1
Looking at Movies 1
Learning Objectives 2
Looking at Movies 2
What Is a Movie? 3
The Movie Director 6
Ways of Looking at Movies 6
Invisibility and Cinematic Language 8
Cultural Invisibility 10
Implicit and Explicit Meaning 11
Viewer Expectations 13
Formal Analysis 15
Alternative Approaches to Analysis 20
Cultural and Formal Analysis in the Star Wars Series 23
Analyzing Looking at Movies 28
Screening Checklist: Looking at Movies 28
Questions for Review 29
CHAPTER 2
Principles of Film Form 31
Film Form 32
Form and Content 32
Form and Expectations 35
Patterns 36
Fundamentals of Film Form 40
Movies Depend on Light 40
Movies Provide an Illusion of Movement 41
Movies Manipulate Space and Time in Unique Ways 43
Realism, Antirealism, and Formalism 49
Verisimilitude 54
vii
viii Contents
Cinematic Language 55
Looking at Film Form: Donnie Darko 57
Content 57
Expectations 57
Patterns 58
Manipulating Space 59
Manipulating Time 60
Realism, Antirealism, and Verisimilitude 60
Analyzing Principles of Film Form 61
Screening Checklist: Principles of Film Form 61
CHAPTER 3
Types of Movies 63
The Idea of Narrative 64
Types of Movies 67
Narrative Movies 68
Documentary Movies 69
Experimental Movies 74
Hybrid Movies 81
Genre 82
Genre Conventions 85
Story Formulas 85
Theme 85
Character Types 86
Setting 86
Presentation 86
Stars 87
Six Major American Genres 88

Gangster 88
Film Noir 90
Science Fiction 93
Horror 95
The Western 98
The Musical 100
Evolution and Transformation of Genre 102
What about Animation? 105
Looking at the Types of Movies in The Lego Movie 109
Analyzing Types of Movies 113
Screening Checklist: Types of Movies 113
Contents ix
CHAPTER 4
Elements of Narrative 115
What Is Narrative? 116
Characters 120
Narrative Structure 124
The Screenwriter 129
Elements of Narrative 129
Story and Plot 129
Order 134
Events 136
Duration 136
Suspense versus Surprise 140
Repetition 141
Setting 142
Scope 143
Looking at Narrative in Stagecoach 143
Story 144
Narration and Narrator 144
Characters 144
Narrative Structure 146
Plot 147
Order 147
Diegetic and Nondiegetic Elements 147
Events 148
Duration 148
Suspense 149
Setting 149
Scope 149
Analyzing Elements of Narrative 151
Screening Checklist: Elements of Narrative 151
CHAPTER 5
Mise-en-Scène 153
What Is Mise-en-Scène? 154
Design 155
The Production Designer 155
Elements of Design 156
Setting, Decor, and Properties 157
Costume, Makeup, and Hairstyle 160
Lighting 166
Quality 167
Lighting Ratios 168
Direction 169
x Contents
Composition 171
Kinesis 176
Approaches to Mise-en-Scène 178
Looking at Mise-en-Scène in Sleepy Hollow 181
Lighting and Setting 182
Costumes, Makeup, and Hairstyle 184
Analyzing Mise-en-Scène 186
Screening Checklist: Mise-en-Scène 186
CHAPTER 6
Cinematography 187
What Is Cinematography? 188
The Director of Photography 188
Production Terms and Tasks 188
Cinematographic Properties of the Shot 190
Film and Digital Formats 191
Black and White 193
Color 194
Lighting Sources 198
Lenses 199
Framing of the Shot 201
Implied Proximity to the Camera 204
Depth 207
Camera Angle and Height 209
Eye Level 209
High Angle 210
Low Angle 210
Dutch Angle 211
Bird’s-Eye View 211
Camera Movement 211
Pan and Tilt Shots 213
Dolly Shot 214
Zoom 215
Crane Shot 216
Handheld Camera 217
Steadicam 217
Framing: What We See on the Screen 218
Open and Closed Framing 220
Framing and Point of View 222
Speed and Length of the Shot 223
Speed of the Shot 223
Length of the Shot 226
Special Effects 227
Looking at Cinematography in Moonlight 230
Analyzing Cinematography 233
Screening Checklist: Cinematography 233
Contents xi
CHAPTER 7
ACTING 235
What Is Acting? 236
Movie Actors 237
The Evolution of Screen Acting 242
Early Screen-Acting Styles 242
D. W. Griffith and Lillian Gish 243
The Influence of Sound 244
Acting in the Classical Studio Era 246
Method Acting 249
Screen Acting Today 251
Technology and Acting 256
Casting Actors 257
Factors Involved in Casting 258
Aspects of Performance 258
Types of Roles 258
Preparing for Roles 260
Naturalistic and Nonnaturalistic Styles 262
Improvisational Acting 264
Directors and Actors 265
How Filmmaking Affects Acting 266
Framing, Composition, Lighting, and the Long Take 267
The Camera and the Close-up 270
Acting and Editing 272
Looking at Acting 272
Michelle Williams 275
Analyzing Acting 278
Screening Checklist: Acting 278
CHAPTER 8
EDITING 281
What Is Editing? 282
The Film Editor 283
Functions of Editing 285
Fragmentation 286
Juxtaposition and Meaning 289
Spatial Relationships between Shots 292
Temporal Relationships between Shots 293
Duration, Pace, and Rhythm 297
xii Contents
Major Approaches to Editing: Continuity and Discontinuity 300

Conventions of Continuity Editing 301
Shot Types and Master Scene Technique 302
The 180-Degree Rule and Screen Direction 303
Editing Techniques That Maintain Continuity 304
Match Cuts 304
Point-of-View Editing 307
Other Transitions between Shots 307
Jump Cut 307
Fade 308
Dissolve 311
Wipe 311
Iris Shot 312
Looking at Editing: City of God 312

The Opening Sequence 313
Sharpening the Knife 313
The Chicken gets the Gist 314
The Chicken Escapes 315
The Chase, Part 1 315
Parallel Editing 316
The Chase, Part 2 316
The Standoff in the Street 316
Analyzing Editing 317
Screening Checklist: Editing 317
CHAPTER 9
SOUND 319
What Is Sound? 320
Sound Production 321
Design 322
Recording 323
Editing 323
Mixing 324
Describing Film Sound 324
Pitch, Loudness, Quality 324
Fidelity 325
Sources of Film Sound 326
Diegetic versus Nondiegetic 326
On-screen versus Offscreen 327
Internal versus External 328
Types of Film Sound 329
Vocal Sounds 329
Environmental Sounds 331
Music 332
Contents xiii
Silence 338
Types of Sound in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds 340
Functions of Film Sound 343
Audience Awareness 344
Audience Expectations 345
Expression of Point of View 346
Rhythm 347
Characterization 348
Continuity 348
Emphasis 349
Looking at (and Listening to) Sound in Orson Welles’s
Citizen Kane 350
Sources and Types 352
Functions 352
Characterization 353
Themes 355
Analyzing Sound 356
Screening Checklist: Sound 356
CHAPTER 10
FILM HISTORY 357
What Is Film History? 358
Basic Approaches to Studying Film History 359
The Aesthetic Approach 359
The Technological Approach 359
The Economic Approach 360
The Social History Approach 360
A Short Overview of Film History 361
Precinema 361
Photography 361
Series Photography 362
1891–1903: The First Movies 363
1908–1927: Origins of the Classical Hollywood Style—The Silent Period 366
1919–1931: German Expressionism 370
1918–1930: French Avant-Garde Filmmaking 372
1924–1930: The Soviet Montage Movement 373
1927–1947: Classical Hollywood Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age 376
1942–1951: Italian Neorealism 380
1959–1964: French New Wave 382
1947–Present: Movements and Developments in
International Cinema 385
England and the Free Cinema Movement 386
Denmark and the Dogme 95 Movement 387
xiv Contents
Germany and Austria 388

Japan 389
China 392
The People’s Republic 392
Hong Kong 393
Taiwan 394
India 394
Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African Cinema 396
Algeria 396
Egypt 396
Iraq 396
Iran 396
Israel 397
Lebanon 397
Palestine 397
Latin American Filmmaking 397
Argentina 397
Brazil 397
Cuba 398
Mexico 398
1965–1995: The New American Cinema 399

Looking at Citizen Kane and Its Place in Film History 404
Analyzing Film History 406
Screening Checklist: Film History 406
CHAPTER 11
How the Movies Are Made 409
Money, Methods, and Materials: The Whole Equation 410
Film and Digital Technologies: An Overview 412
Film Technology 412
Digital Technology 415
Film versus Digital Technology 416
How a Movie Is Made 417
Preproduction 417
Production 418
Postproduction 420
The Studio System 420
Organization before 1931 420
Organization after 1931 421
Organization during the Golden Age 422
The Decline of the Studio System 424
The Independent System 426
Labor and Unions 427
Professional Organizations and Standardization 428
Financing in the Industry 429
Contents xv
Marketing and Distribution 431

Production in Hollywood Today 434
Audience Demographics 436
Franchises 436
LGBT Movies 437
African American Movies 438
Foreign Influences on Hollywood Films 438
Looking at the Future of the Film Industry 438
Analyzing How the Movies are Made 441
Screening Checklist: How the Movies are Made 441
Glossary 443
Permissions Acknowledgments 457
Index 461
PREFACE
Students in an introductory film course who read Look- A Focus on Analytic Skills
ing at Movies carefully and take full advantage of its me-
dia program will finish the course with a solid grounding A good introductory film book needs to help students
in the major principles of film form as well as a more make the transition from the natural enjoyment of mov-
perceptive and analytic eye. A short description of the ies to a critical understanding of the form, content, and
book’s main features follows. meanings of movies. Looking at Movies accomplishes
this task in several different ways:
An Accessible and Comprehensive Model Analyses

Hundreds of illustrative examples and analytic readings
Overview of Film of films throughout the book provide students with con-
crete models for their own analytic work. The sustained
Recognized from its first publication as an accessible in-
analyses in Chapter 1 of Juno and the Star Wars saga—
troductory text, Looking at Movies covers key concepts in
films that most undergraduates will have seen and en-
films studies as comprehensively as possible. In addition
joyed but perhaps not viewed with a critical eye—discuss
to its clear and inviting presentation of the fundamen-
not only the formal structures and techniques of these
tals of film form, the text discusses film genres, film his-
films, but also their social and cultural meanings. These
tory, and the relationships between film and culture in
analyses offer students an accessible and jargon-free in-
an extensive but characteristically accessible way, thus
troduction to most of the major themes and goals of an
providing students with a thorough introduction to the
introductory film course, and show students that looking
major subject areas in film studies. In the Sixth Edition
at movies analytically can start immediately, even be-
three chapters in particular—Chapter 5: Mise-en-Scène,
fore they learn the specialized vocabulary of film study.
Chapter 6: Cinematography, and Chapter 8: Editing—
Each chapter also concludes with an in-depth “Looking
arguably the “core” of the text, have been thoroughly
at . . .” analysis that offers a sustained look at a single film
revised by Dave Monahan to be even clearer, more ac-
through the lens of that chapter’s particular focus. A new
cessible, and more enlightening than ever before.
analysis of Moonlight in Chapter 6 and significantly re-
vised analyses of Stagecoach (Chapter 4) and City of God
(Chapter 8) join existing analyses to provide clear models
Film Examples Chosen with for students’ own analyses and interpretations of films.
Undergraduates in Mind
Interactives
From its very first chapter, which features sustained Interactives developed with Dave Monahan provide stu-
analyses and examples from the Star Wars series and dents with hands-on practice manipulating key concepts
Jason Reitman’s Juno (2009), Looking at Movies invites of filmmaking and formal analysis. Students can work
students into the serious study of cinema via films that at their own pace to see how elements such as lighting,
they are probably familiar with and that they have, in all sound, editing, composition, and color function within
likelihood, seen outside the classroom prior to taking a film. A new interactive for the Sixth Edition features a
the course. Major films from the entire history of cinema 3D rendering of the set for the famous cabin scene from
are also generously represented, but always with an eye Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush. Students are able to
to helping students see enjoyment and serious study as move freely around the virtual space with their “cam-
complementary experiences. era” to attempt different shot set-ups and compositions.
xvii
xviii Preface
Available in the ebook and on the Looking at Movies stu- produced in the aspect ratio of the original source—will
dent website, these features can be accessed at digital serve as accurate reference points for students’ analyses.
.wwnorton.com/movies6.
Five Hours of Moving-Image Media
Video Tutorials The ebook and student website that accompany Looking
A series of video tutorials—written, directed, and hosted at Movies offer five hours of video content:
by Dave Monahan—complement and expand on the
book’s analyses. Ranging from 2 to 15 minutes in length, • The twenty-eight video tutorials described above
were specifically created to complement Looking
these tutorials show students via moving-image media
at Movies and are exclusive to this text. Because
what the book describes and illustrates in still images. they are viewable in full-screen, they are suitable
The Sixth Edition offers one new tutorial on the Star for presentation in class as well as for students’
Wars series that expands on the in-text analysis. Help- self-study. In addition to the longer video tutorials,
ful as a quick review of core concepts in the text, these there are also over fifty short-form animations
tutorials also provide useful models for film analysis, based on illustrations in the print text.
thus helping students further develop their analyti- • A mini-anthology of thirteen complete short films,
cal skills. Available in the ebook and on the Looking at ranging from 5 to 30 minutes in length, provides a
Movies student website, these tutorials can be found at curated selection of accomplished and entertaining
digital.wwnorton.com/movies6. examples of short-form cinema, as well as useful
material for short in-class activities or for students’
analyses. Most of the films are also accompanied by
Screening Checklists optional audio commentary from the filmmakers.
Each chapter ends with an Analyzing section that in- This commentary was recorded specifically for
cludes a Screening Checklist feature. This series of lead- Looking at Movies and is exclusive to this text.
ing questions prompts students to apply what they’ve
learned in the chapter to their own critical viewing, in
class or at home. Accessible Presentation;
Effective Pedagogy
The Most Visually Dynamic Among the reasons that Looking at Movies is considered
Text Available the most accessible introductory film text available is its
clear and direct presentation of key concepts and unique
Looking at Movies was written with one goal in mind: pedagogical organization. The first three chapters of the
to prepare students for a lifetime of intelligent and per- book—“Looking at Movies,” “Principles of Film Form,” and
ceptive viewing of motion pictures. In recognition of the “Types of Movies”—provide a comprehensive yet truly
central role visuals play in the film-studies classroom, introductory overview of the major topics and themes
Looking at Movies includes an illustration program that of any film course, giving students a solid grounding in
is both visually appealing and pedagogically focused, as the basics before they move on to study those topics in
well as accompanying moving-image media that are sec- greater depth in later chapters.
ond to none. In addition, pedagogical features throughout provide
a structure that clearly identifies the main ideas and pri-
Hundreds of In-Text Illustrations mary goals of each chapter for students:
The text is illustrated by over 750 illustrations in color
and in black-and-white. Nearly all the still pictures were Learning Objectives
captured from digital or analog film sources, thus en- A checklist at the beginning of every chapter provides a
suring that the images directly reflect the textual dis- brief summary of the core concepts to be covered in the
cussions and the films from which they’re taken. Unlike chapter.
publicity stills, which are attractive as photographs but
less useful as teaching aids, the captured stills through- Extensive Captions
out this book provide visual information that will help Each illustration is accompanied by a caption that elab-
students learn as they read and—because they are re- orates on a key concept or that guides students to look
Preface xix
at elements of the film more analytically. These captions Writing About Movies
expand on the in-text presentation and reinforce stu-
dents’ retention of key terms and ideas. Written by Karen Gocsik (University of California, San
Diego) and the authors of Looking at Movies, this book
Analyzing Sections is a clear and practical overview of the process of writing
At the end of each chapter is a section that ties the terms, papers for film-studies courses. In addition to provid-
concepts, and ideas of the chapter to the primary goal ing helpful information about the writing process, the
of the book: honing students’ own analytical skills. This new Writing About Movies, Fifth Edition, offers a sub-
short overview makes explicit how the knowledge stu- stantial introduction-in-brief to the major topics in film
dents have gained in the chapter can move their own studies, including an overview of the major film theories
analytical work forward. A short Screening Checklist and their potential application to student writing, prac-
provides leading questions that students can ponder as tical advice about note-taking during screenings and
they screen a film or scene. private viewings, information about the study of genre
and film history, and an illustrated glossary of essential
Questions for Review film terms. This inexpensive text is available separately
A section at the end of each chapter tests students’ knowl- or in a significantly discounted package with Looking at
edge of the concepts first mentioned in the Learning Ob- Movies.
jectives at the beginning of the chapter.
Beyond the in-text pedagogy, the abundant resources
that accompany Looking at Movies are designed to help Resources for Instructors
students succeed.
All of the following resources are free to adopters of
Looking at Movies and can be found at wwnorton.com/
instructors or by clicking the Instructor Resources tile
InQuizitive: A game-like, media-rich, at digital.wwnorton.com/movies6. Contact your local
interactive quizzing tool sales representative for access.
Students in an introductory film course are already mo-

Interactive Instructors Guide
tivated to watch movies and discuss them with their
This searchable, sortable site for instructors contains
classmates. But they sometimes struggle to learn the
over 1,000 resources for class preparation and presenta-
essential terms and concepts that make those conver-
tion, including all of the video content from the student
sations more analytical and interesting. InQuizitive is
site, hundreds of downloadable images, Lecture Power-
an engaging, adaptive quizzing tool that helps students
Points, suggestions for in-class activities, clip sugges-
master important concepts and gives them support where
tions from the popular Clip Guide, and more.
they need it most.
Clip Guide
An invaluable class-prep tool, the Clip Guide suggests a
Enhanced Ebook wide range of clips for illustrating film concepts covered
in the text. Each entry in the Clip Guide offers a quick
Looking at Movies is also available as an enhanced ebook overview of the scene, the idea, and crucially, time-
free with every new copy of the print book. This ebook stamp information on exactly where to find each clip.
works on all computers and mobile devices, and embeds The Looking at Movies Clip Guide includes suggestions
all the rich media—video tutorials, animations, interac- from not just the authors but from a wide range of teach-
tives, and more—into one seamless experience. Instruc- ers, offering a broad perspective of insightful teaching
tors can focus student reading by sharing notes in the tips that can inspire and save valuable prep time.
ebook, as well as embed images and other videos. Re-
ports on student and class-wide access and time on task Test Bank
also enable instructors to monitor student reading and Each chapter of the Test Bank includes 60–65 multiple-
engagement. choice and 10–15 essay questions (with sample answer
xx Preface
guides). Questions are labeled by concept, difficulty, and

Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Coursepacks for Learning

Management Systems
Ready-to-use coursepacks for Blackboard and other
learning management systems are available free of
charge to instructors who adopt Looking at Movies.
These coursepacks offer customizable quizzes, chapter
overviews and learning objectives, and links to media.
***
Looking at Movies is not just a book that is supplemented

by media. Looking at Movies is made of media. For more
information about how to make the most out of Looking
at Movies, see “Five Steps to Getting the Most Out of the
Looking at Movies Digital Resources” on the following
page.
Preface xxi
Five steps to getting the most out of the
LOOKING AT MOVIES DIGITAL RESOURCES

Looking at Movies offers a wealth of resources for students and instructors. This one-page guide is intended to
help instructors incorporate these resources into their course.
HIJK New to the Sixth Edition, Use interactives to help students understand
InQuizitive is Norton’s game-like quizzing tool. filmmaking decisions. Six interactives found at
InQuizitive uses interactive question types and rich DIGITAL.WWNORTON.COM/MOVIES6 provide stu
media to help students understand key film terms dents with hands-on practice manipulating key con-
and concepts from the book. InQuizitive is adaptive, cepts of filmmaking and formal analysis. Students can
so students receive extra help on the concepts they work at their own pace to see how elements such as
might be struggling with, and it integrates seamlessly lighting, sound, editing, composition, and color func-
with your learning management system, making tion within a film. A new interactive for the Sixth Edi-
it easy to track student progress. A code to access tion features a 3D rendering of the set for the famous
InQuizitive is found in every new copy of Looking cabin scene from Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush.
at Movies, Sixth Edition, or students can purchase Students are able to move freely around the virtual
access at DIGITAL.WWNORTON.COM/MOVIES6. space with their “camera” to attempt different shot
set-ups and compositions.
Make sure your students know about the
ebook. Students can get all of the great content Use the Interactive Instructor’s Guide (IIG) and
of the print book enhanced with animations, video Norton Coursepacks to plan and prep your
tutorials, and links to interactives with the Looking course. This searchable, sortable site for instructors
at Movies, Sixth Edition ebook. All students who contains over 1,000 resources for class prep and pre-
purchase a new print book get automatic access to the sentation, including all of the video content from the
ebook. Students can purchase the ebook at DIGITAL student site, hundreds of downloadable images, Lec-
.WWNORTON.COM/MOVIES6 as a standalone prod ture PowerPoints, suggestions for in-class activities,
uct for just a fraction of the cost of the print text. clip suggestions from the popular Clip Guide, a 700+
For instructor access to the ebook, contact your question test bank, and more. Finally, Norton Course-
Norton sales representative. packs for Blackboard and other learning management
systems are available free of charge to instructors who
Incorporate exclusive Looking at Movies video
adopt Looking at Movies. Norton Coursepacks allow
content into your course. Students can find over
you to plug customizable quizzes, chapter overviews,
five hours of video content at DIGITAL.WWNORTON
and links to media right into your existing online
.COM/MOVIES6, including twenty-eight 5-to-30-
course. For access to the IIG and Norton Coursepacks,
minute video tutorials on key concepts in the book,
contact your Norton sales representative or request
written, directed, and narrated by Dave Monahan.
access at WWNORTON.COM/INSTRUCTORS.
These videos are ideal for in-class presentation or for
assigning to students for at-home viewing. In addi
tion to the video tutorials, the site also offers over
fifty short animations and a collection of thirteen com
pete short films.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a book seems very much at times like the col- recording and design. A number of talented university
laborative effort involved in making movies. In writing and community friends helped create the new Camera
this Sixth Edition of Looking at Movies, I am grateful as Moderator module that re-creates a scene from Char-
to my generous partners at W. W. Norton & Company. lie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush. Mark Eaton modeled the
Chief among them is my editor, Pete Simon, who has set, furnishings, and props; Mark Sorenson designed
thoughtfully guided and improved every edition. Other the costumes; Michael Rosander and Anthony Lawson
collaborators at Norton were Thom Foley, senior project played ‘The Lone Prospector’ and ‘Big Jim McKay’;
editor; Benjamin Reynolds, associate production direc- Stephanie Galbraith did make-up; and Boston Dao set
tor; Carly Fraser Doria, media editor; Alex Lee, media the lights. Brittany Morago scanned the actors, assem-
editorial assistant; Cooper Wilhelm, media project ed- bled the various digital components, and developed the
itor; Rachel Truong and Pat Cartelli, media designers; software for the interactive.
Kimberly Bowers, marketing manager; Gerra Goff, asso Thanks, too, to Melissa Lenos (Donnelly College), who
ciate editor; and Katie Pak, editorial assistant. It has been authored the questions and feedback for the exciting
a pleasure to work with such a responsive, creative, and new InQuizitive feature and who produced the lecture
supportive team. PowerPoints for this edition; to Kevin Sandler (Arizona
My sincere thanks to my longtime mentor Richard State University), author of the instructors’ Test Bank
Barsam, who wrote the first two editions of Looking at and Coursepack supplements; and Richard Wiebe (Uni-
Movies before I joined him as co-author for the three versity of Iowa), who authored the Clip Guide.
editions that followed. Richard’s knowledge and love of Love and thanks to my family: Julie, for her patience
cinema permeate every chapter in this book. Each new and support; Iris, for teaching me about narrative gam-
word I write is in service to his original vision. ing and contributing an illustration to the new Star Wars
I would also like to thank the faculty, staff, and stu- tutorial; and Rae, for helping me to look at all movies
dents of the Film Studies Department at the University with fresh eyes.
of North Carolina, Wilmington. My colleagues Todd
Berliner, Glenn Pack, Sue Richardson, Mariana John-
son, Elizabeth Rawitsch, Shannon Silva, Andre Silva, Reviewers
Tim Palmer, Carlos Kase, Chip Hackler, Terry Linehan,
Georg Koszulinski, Lexi Cavazos, Alex Markowski, and I would like to join the publisher in thanking all the pro-
David Kreutzer contributed expertise and advice, as did fessors and students who provided valuable guidance as
university colleagues Dale Cohen, Richard Blaylock, and I planned this revision. Looking at Movies is their book,
Myke Holmes. Film Studies students Christian Wheeler, too, and I am grateful to both students and faculty who
Greg Guidry, Shanik Ramirez, Austin Chesnutt, Connor have cared enough about this text to help make it better.
Lummert, Alexis Dickerson, Garrett Farrington, and Thoughtful and substantive reviews from the follow-
Brendan Murphy—as well as alumni Charles Riggs and ing colleagues and fellow instructors helped shape both
Kevin Bahr—served as research assistants. Charles Riggs the book and its media program for this Sixth Edition:
contributed invaluable research and ideas to the revi- Drew Ayers (Eastern Washington University), Claudia
sion of chapter 11. My colleague Aaron Cavazos deserves Calhoun (New York University), Kathleen Coate (Nor-
special thanks for his postproduction contributions to mandale Community College), Laurene DeBord-Foulk
this edition’s new media additions, including the new (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Ryan Friedman (Ohio
Star Wars formal analysis tutorial. Aaron created the State University), Anna Froula (East Carolina Univer-
animation and motion graphics and supervised the sound sity), Robert S. Goald (University of Nevada, Las Vegas),
xxiii
xxiv Acknowledgments
Sarah Hamblin (University of Massachusetts, Boston), Neil Goldstein, Daryl Gonder, Patrick Gonder, Cynthia
Matthew Hanson (Eastern Michigan University), Peter Gottshall, Curtis Green, Michael Green, William Green,
Lester (Brock University), Shellie Michael (Volunteer Tracy Greene, Michael Griffin, Peter Hadorn, William
State University), William Molloy (Brookdale Com- Hagerty, Mickey Hall, Stefan Hall, Cable Hardin, John
munity College), Matthew Montemorano (Brookdale Harrigan, Catherine Hastings, Sherri Hill, Glenn Hopp,
Community College), Kensil Bradford Owen (Califor- Tamra Horton, Alan Hutchison, Mike Hypio, Tom Isbell,
nia State University, San Bernadino), Jennifer Proctor Christopher Jacobs, Delmar Jacobs, Mitchell Jarosz,
(University of Michigan), Paul N. Reinsch (Texas Tech John Lee Jellicorse, Jennifer Jenkins, Robert S. Jones,
University), Jared Saltzman (Bergen Community Col- Matthew Judd, Charles Keil, Joyce Kessel, Mark Kessler,
lege), Kevin Sandler (Arizona State University), Mark Garland Kimmer, Tammy A. Kinsey, Lynn Kirby, David
von Schlemmer (University of Central Missouri), Phil- Kranz, James Kreul, David Kreutzer, Mikael Kreuz-
lip Sipiora (University of South Florida), and Katherine riegler, Andrew Kunka, Nee Lam, G. S. Larke-Walsh, Cory
Spring (Wilfred Laurier University). Lash, Elizabeth Lathrop, Melissa Lenos, Leon Lewis, Mil-
Since the First Edition’s publication in 2004, the pub- dred Lewis, Vincent LoBrutto, Jane Long, John Long, Al-
lisher and authors of Looking at Movies have depended bert Lopez, Jay Loughrin, Daniel Machon, Yuri Makino,
on constructive criticism and good advice from the hun- Travis Malone, Todd McGowan, Casey McKittrick, Ma-
dreds of scholars and teachers who have used the book in ria Mendoza-Enright, Andrea Mensch, Sharon Mitchler,
their courses over the years. The following people all had Mary Alice Molgard, John Moses, Sheila Nayar, Sarah
a hand in shaping previous editions of Looking at Mov- Nilsen, Stephanie O’Brien, Jun Okada, Ian Olney, Hank
ies: Rebecca Alvin, Sandra Annett, Edwin Arnold, Antje Ottinger, Dan Pal, Mitchell Parry, Frances Perkins, Chris-
Ascheid, Dyrk Ashton, Tony Avruch, Peter Bailey, Scott tina Petersen, Gary Peterson, Klaus Phillips, W. D. Phil-
Baugh, Harry Benshoff, Mark Berrettini, Yifen Beus, lips, Alexander Pitofsky, Lisa Plinski, Leland Poague,
Mike Birch, Robin Blaetz, Richard Blake, Ellen Bland, Walter Renaud, Patricia Roby, Carole Rodgers, George
Carroll Blue, James Bogan, Laura Bouza, Katrina Boyd, Rodman, Stuart Rosenberg, Michael Rowin, Ben Rus-
Aaron Braun, Karen Budra, Don Bullens, Gerald Bur- sell, Kevin Sandler, Bennet Schaber, Mike Schoenecke,
gess, Derek Burrill, James B. Bush, Jeremy Butler, Gary Hertha Schulze, David Seitz, Matthew Sewell, Timothy
Byrd, Ed Cameron, Jose Cardenas, Jerry Carlson, Emily Shary, Robert Sheppard, Rosalind Sibielski, Robert Sick-
Carman, Diane Carson, Donna Casella, Robert Castaldo, els, Nicholas Sigman, Charles Silet, Eric Smoodin, Jason
Beth Clary, Darcy Cohn, Megan Condis, Marie Connelly, Spangler, Michael Stinson, Ken Stofferahn, Bill Swan-
Roger Cook, John G. Cooper, Robert Coscarelli, Bob son, Molly Swiger, Joe Tarantowski, Susan Tavernetti,
Cousins, Angela Dancy, Donna Davidson, Rebecca Dean, Edwin Thompson, Frank Tomasulo, Deborah Tudor, Bill
Marshall Deutelbaum, Kent DeYoung, Michael DiRaimo, Vincent, Richard Vincent, Ken White, Mark Williams,
Carol Dole, Rodney Donahue, Dan Dootson, John Ernst, Deborah Wilson, Elizabeth Wright, Suzie Young, and
James Fairchild, Adam Fischer, Craig Fischer, Tay Michael Zryd.
Fizdale, Dawn Marie Fratini, Isabelle Freda, Karen Ful- Thank you all.
ton, Paul Gaustad, Christopher Gittings, Barry Goldfarb, Dave Monahan
6TH EDITION
LOOKING AT MOVIES
Citizen Kane (1941). Orson Welles, director. Pictured: Orson Welles.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Rian Johnson, director. Pictured: Kelly Marie Tran and John Boyega.
LOOKING AT MOVIES
CHAPTER
1
2 Chapter 1 Looking at Movies
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
nn appreciate the difference between passively watching
movies and actively looking at movies.
nn understand the defining characteristics that distinguish
movies from other forms of art.
nn understand how and why most of the formal
mechanisms of a movie remain invisible to casual
viewers.
nn understand the relationship between viewers’ 1
expectations and filmmakers’ decisions about the

form and style of their movies.
nn explain how shared belief systems contribute to hidden
movie meaning.
nn explain the difference between implicit and explicit
meaning, and understand how the different levels of
movie meaning contribute to interpretive analysis.
nn understand the differences between formal analysis
and the types of analysis that explore the relationship 2
between culture and the movies.
nn begin looking at movies more analytically and Movies shape the way we see the world
perceptively. By presenting a gay relationship in the context of the archetypal
American West and casting popular leading men (Heath Ledger,
Jake Gyllenhaal) in starring roles that embodied traditional notions
of masculinity, Brokeback Mountain (2005; director Ang Lee) [1] in
Looking at Movies fluenced the way many Americans perceived same-sex relation
ships and gay rights. In the 13 years since the film’s release, LGBT
characters and story lines have become increasingly commonplace,
In just over a hundred years, movies have evolved into and the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. Recently,
a complex form of artistic representation and commu- even popular horror films have contributed to the cultural conversa
nication: they are at once a hugely influential, wildly tion on a number of social issues. Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017)
[2] confronts racism and privilege; The Purge (2013; director James
profitable global industry and a modern art—the most
DeMonaco) and its three (so far) sequels examine America’s gun
popular art form today. Popular may be an understate-
culture; and Don’t Breathe (2016; director Fede Alvarez) is a critical
ment. This art form has permeated our lives in ways that portrait of urban and social decay.
extend far beyond the multiplex. We watch movies on
hundreds of cable and satellite channels. We buy movies
online or from big-box retailers. We rent movies through
the mail and from Redbox machines at the supermarket.
We TiVo movies, stream movies, and download movies obligations—a form of escape, entertainment, and plea-
to watch on our televisions, our computers, and our sure. Motion pictures had been popular for 50 years
smartphones. before even most filmmakers, much less scholars, con-
Unless you were raised by wolves—and possibly even sidered movies worthy of serious study. But motion pic-
if you were—you have likely devoted thousands of hours tures are much more than entertainment. The movies
to absorbing the motion-picture medium. With so much we see shape the way we view the world around us and
experience, no one could blame you for wondering why our place in that world. Moreover, a close analysis of any
you need a course or this book to tell you how to look at particular movie can tell us a great deal about the artist,
movies. society, or industry that created it. Surely any art form
After all, you might say, “It’s just a movie.” For most with that kind of influence and insight is worth under-
of us most of the time, movies are a break from our daily standing on the deepest possible level.
What Is a Movie? 3
Movies involve much more than meets the casual ment”), originates from the name that filmmaking pi-
eye . . . or ear, for that matter. Cinema is a subtle—some oneers Auguste and Louis Lumière coined for the hall
might even say sneaky—medium. Because most movies where they exhibited their invention; film derives from
seek to engage viewers’ emotions and transport them the celluloid strip on which the images that make up
inside the world presented on-screen, the visual vocabu- motion pictures were originally captured, cut, and pro-
lary of film is designed to play upon those same instincts jected; and movies is simply short for motion pictures.
that we use to navigate and interpret the visual and aural Because we consider all cinema worthy of study, acknowl-
information of our “real life.” This often imperceptible edge that films are increasingly shot on formats other
cinematic language, composed not of words but of myr- than film stock, and believe motion to be the essence
iad integrated techniques and concepts, connects us to of the movie medium, this book favors the term used in
the story while deliberately concealing the means by our title. That said, we’ll mix all three terms into these
which it does so. pages (as evidenced in the preceding sentence) for the
Yet behind this mask, all movies, even the most bla- sake of variety, if nothing else.
tantly commercial ones, contain layers of complexity To most people, a movie is a popular entertainment,
and meaning that can be studied, analyzed, and appre- a product produced and marketed by a large commer-
ciated. This book is devoted to that task—to actively cial studio. Regardless of the subject matter, this movie
looking at movies rather than just passively watching is pretty to look at—every image is well polished by an
them. It will teach you to recognize the many tools and army of skilled artists and technicians. The finished
principles that filmmakers employ to tell stories, convey product, which is about 2 hours long, screens initially
information and meaning, and influence our emotions in movie theaters; is eventually released to DVD and
and ideas. Blu-ray, streaming, download, or pay-per-view; and ul-
Once you learn to speak this cinematic language, timately winds up on television. This common expecta-
you’ll be equipped to understand the movies that per- tion is certainly understandable: most movies that reach
vade our world on multiple levels: as narrative, as ar- most English-speaking audiences have followed a good
tistic expression, and as a reflection of the cultures that part of this model for three-quarters of a century. Of
produce and consume them. course, in this century, that distribution chain is evolv-
ing. Increasingly, movies are released simultaneously to
the theatrical and home-video markets. Companies such
What Is a Movie? as Amazon and Netflix produce original films for both
theatrical release and their streaming services. In 2017,
Now that we’ve established what we mean by looking at Netflix produced two big-budget feature films that were
movies, the next step is to attempt to answer the decep- released directly to its streaming subscribers: Bright (di-
tively simple question, What is a movie? As this book will rector David Ayer) and Okja (director Bong Joon-ho).
repeatedly illustrate, when it comes to movies, nothing Regardless of their point of origin, almost all of these
is as straightforward as it appears. ubiquitous commercial, feature-length movies share an
Let’s start, for example, with the word movies. If the other basic characteristic: narrative. When it comes to
course that you are taking while reading this book is “In- categorizing movies, the narrative designation simply
troduction to Film” or “Cinema Studies 101,” does that means that these movies tell fictional (or at least fiction-
mean that your course and this book focus on two differ- alized) stories. Of course, if you think of narrative in its
ent things? What’s the difference between a movie and a broadest sense, every movie that selects and arranges
film? And where does the word cinema fit in? subject matter in a cause-and-effect sequence of events
For whatever reason, the designation film is often is employing a narrative structure.

For all their creative
applied to a motion picture that critics and scholars flexibility, movies by their very nature must travel a
consider to be more serious or challenging than the mov straight line. A conventional motion picture is essen-
ies that entertain the masses at the multiplex. The still tially one very long strip of images. This linear quality
loftier designation of cinema seems reserved for groups makes movies perfectly suited to develop subject matter
of films that are considered works of art (e.g., “French in a sequential progression. When a medium so compat-
cinema”). The truth is, the three terms are essentially ible with narrative is introduced to a culture with an al-
interchangeable. Cinema, from the Greek kinesis (“move ready well-established storytelling tradition, it’s easy to
in some form, cultural differences often affect exactly

how these stories are presented. Narrative films made
in Africa, Asia, and Latin America reflect storytelling
traditions very different from the story structure we ex-
pect from films produced in North America and Western
Europe. The unscripted, minimalist films by Iranian direc
tor Abbas Kiarostami, for example, often intentionally
lacked dramatic resolution, inviting viewers to imag-
ine their own ending.1 Sanskrit dramatic traditions have
inspired “Bollywood” Indian cinema to feature staging
that breaks the illusion of reality favored by Hollywood
Are video games movies? movies, such as actors that consistently face, and even
For the purposes of this introduction to cinema, the answer is no.
directly address, the audience.2 This practice, known as
But video games employ cause-and-effect narrative structure, char
breaking the fourth wall, refers to the imaginary, invisible
acterization, and a cinematic approach to images and sounds in ways
that are beginning to blur the line between movies and gaming. Ti “wall” between the movie and the audience watching it.
tles such as The Last of Us (2013) feature complex stories and incor The growing influence of these and other even less
porate noninteractive movie-like scenes (known as cutscenes). Of familiar approaches, combined with emerging technol-
course, unlike a conventional movie, the story in a video game can ogies that make filmmaking more accessible and afford-
be shaped by its audience: the player. But viewers can also choose
able, have made possible an ever-expanding range of
to watch a video game in the same way they watch a film. Some
independent movies created by crews as small as a single
players record their journey through the game’s story, then post the
linear viewing experience on YouTube as a “walk-through” that in filmmaker and shot on any one of a variety of film and
many ways resembles a narrative movie. But is a walk-through a digital formats. The Irish director John Carney shot his
movie? If not, what is it? If so, is the recording gamer a character, a musical love story Once (2006) on the streets of Dublin
director, or simply a surrogate? with a cast of mostly nonactors and a small crew using
consumer-grade video cameras. American Oren Peli’s
homemade horror movie Paranormal Activity (2007) was
understand how popular cinema came to be dominated produced on a minuscule $15,000 budget and was shot
by those movies devoted to telling fictional stories. Be- entirely from the point of view of its characters’ cam-
cause these fiction films are so central to most readers’ corder. Once received critical acclaim and an Academy
experience and so vital to the development of cinema Award for Best Original Song; Paranormal Activity even-
as an art form and cultural force, we’ve made narrative tually earned almost $200 million at the box office, mak-
movies the focus of this introductory textbook. ing it one of the most profitable movies in the history
But keep in mind that commercial, feature-length nar of cinema. Even further out on the fringes of popular
rative films represent only a fraction of the expressive culture, an expanding universe of alternative cinematic
potential of this versatile medium. Cinema and narra- creativity continues to flourish. These noncommercial
tive are both very flexible concepts. Documentary films movies innovate styles and aesthetics, can be of any
strive for objective, observed veracity, of course, but length, and exploit an array of exhibition options—from
that doesn’t mean they don’t tell stories. These mov- independent theaters to cable television to film festivals
ies often arrange and present factual information and to Netflix streaming to YouTube.
images in the form of a narrative, whether it be a preda- And let’s not forget the narrative motion pictures clas
tor’s attempts to track and kill its prey, an activist’s quest sified broadly as television. Cable networks and streaming
to free a wrongfully convicted innocent, or a rookie ath- services now produce high-quality cinematic programs
lete’s struggle to make the big leagues. While virtually that tell extended stories over multiple episodes. The
every movie, regardless of category, employs narrative only things that distinguish a movie from series such
1. Laura Mulvey, “Kiarostami’s Uncertainty Principle,” Sight and Sound 8, no. 6 (June 1998): 24–27.
2. Philip Lutgendorf, “Is There an Indian Way of Filmmaking?” International Journal of Hindu Studies 10, no. 3 (December 2006): 227–256.
What Is a Movie? 5
as Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Netflix’s Stranger

Things are the length of the narrative and the original
intended viewing device. These longer narratives are se-
rialized over the course of many episodes, but those epi-
sodes can be binge-watched sequentially like a very long
movie. The quality of the writing, acting, cinematogra-
phy, and editing rivals—and sometimes exceeds—that
found in theatrically released feature-length movies.
No matter what you call it, no matter the approach,
no matter the format, and no matter the ultimate dura
tion, every movie is a motion picture: a series of still im-
ages that, when viewed in rapid succession (usually 24
images per second), the human eye and brain see as fluid
movement. In other words, movies move. That essen-
tial quality is what separates movies from all other two- Is virtual reality a movie?
dimensional pictorial art forms. Each image in every The answer to that question is no, but it is certainly something. Virtual
reality (sometimes abbreviated as VR) immerses viewers in a sim
motion picture draws upon basic compositional principles
ulated three-dimensional environment. Instead of watching a linear
developed by these older cousins (photography, paint- series of moving images on a separate and finite two-dimensional
ing, drawing, etc.), including the arrangement of visual screen, the VR viewer wears a special headset that makes it appear
elements and the interaction of light and shadow. But as if she is surrounded by a digitally animated environment or a space
unlike photography or painting, films are constructed captured in 360 degrees by a specialized camera. Like a movie, a
from individual shots—an unbroken span of action cap VR experience can be curated by technicians and artists: they can
provide us engaging and spectacular things to look at. But virtual
tured by an uninterrupted run of a motion-picture
reality cannot control exactly when and how we see those things.
camera—that allow visual elements to rearrange them- For example, a movie can choose to show us a close-up detail in a
selves and the viewer’s perspective itself to shift within character’s expression at a particular moment and in a precise way
any composition. that conveys specific meaning and elicits a particular emotional re
And this movie movement extends beyond any single sponse. A viewer shown the same thing as part of a VR experience
shot because movies are constructed of multiple individ- would not necessarily be close enough to see the detail and could
even be looking the other way at something else at the moment
that particular detail emerged. Innovative filmmakers and artists are
already finding exciting new ways to tell stories using the immersive
qualities of virtual reality. Those VR experiences will employ many
cinematic elements, and they will certainly make for fascinating view
ing, but they won’t be movies—at least not the kind we are exam
ining in this textbook.
ual shots joined to one another in an extended sequence.

With each transition from one shot to another, a movie
is able to move the viewer through time and space. This
Cultural narrative traditions joining together of discrete shots, or editing, gives mov-
The influence of Sanskrit dramatic traditions on Indian cinema can ies the power to choose what the viewer sees and how
be seen in the prominence of staging that breaks the illusion of re that viewer sees it at any given moment.
ality favored by Hollywood movies, such as actors that consistently To understand better how movies control what au-
face, and even directly address, the audience. In this image from the
diences see, we can compare cinema to another, closely
opening minutes of Rohit Shetty’s Chennai Express (2013), the lonely
bachelor Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) interrupts his own voice-over nar
related medium: live theater. A stage play, which con-
ration to complain to viewers about attractive female customers fines the viewer to a single wide-angle view of the ac-
who consider him only a “brother. ” tion, might display a group of actors, one of whom holds
a small object in her hand. The audience sees every cast The other primary collaborators on the creative
member at once and continually from the same angle team—screenwriter, actors, director of photography, pro
and in the same relative size. The object in one perform duction designer, editor, and sound designer—all work
er’s hand is too small to see clearly, even for those few with the director to develop their contributions, and the
viewers lucky enough to have front-row seats. The play- director must approve their decisions as they progress.
wright, director, and actors have very few practical op- The director is at the top of the creative hierarchy, re-
tions to convey the object’s physical properties, much sponsible for choosing (or at least approving) each of
less its narrative significance or its emotional meaning those primary collaborators. A possible exception is the
to the character. In contrast, a movie version of the same screenwriter, though even then the director often con-
story can establish the dramatic situation and spatial tributes to revisions and assigns additional writers to
relationships of its subjects from the same wide-angle provide revised or additional material.
viewpoint, then instantaneously jump to a composition The director’s primary responsibilities are perfor-
isolating the actions of the character holding the object, mance and camera—and the coordination of the two.
then cut to a close-up view revealing the object to be a The director selects actors for each role, works with
charm bracelet, move up to feature the character’s face those actors to develop their characters, leads rehearsals,
as she contemplates the bracelet, then leap 30 years blocks performances in relationship with the camera on
into the past to a depiction of the character as a young set, and modulates those performances from take to take
girl receiving the jewelry as a gift. Editing’s capacity to and shot to shot as necessary throughout the shoot. He
isolate details and juxtapose images and sounds within or she works with the director of photography to de-
and between shots gives movies an expressive agility im- sign an overall cinematic look for the movie and to vi-
possible in any other dramatic art or visual medium. sualize the framing and composition of each shot before
and during shooting. Along the way, as inspiration or
obstacles necessitate, changes are made to everything
The Movie Director from the script to storyboards to blocking to edits.
Throughout this book, we give primary credit to the mov- The director is the one making or approving each
ie’s director; you’ll see references, for example, to Patty adjustment—sometimes after careful deliberation, some
Jenkins’s Wonder Woman (2017) or to Guillermo del times on the fly.
Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017). You may not know On the set, the director does more than call “action”
anything about the directorial style of Ms. Jenkins or and “cut” and give direction to the actors and cinema-
Mr. del Toro, but if you enjoy these movies, you might tographer. He or she must review the footage if neces-
seek out their work in the future. sary, decide when a shot or scene is satisfactory, and say
Still, all moviegoers know—if only from seeing the that it’s time to move on to the next task. In the editing
seemingly endless credits at the end of most movies— room, the director sometimes works directly with the
that today’s movies represent not the work of a single editor throughout the process but more often reviews
artist, but a collaboration between a group of creative successive “cuts” of scenes and provides the editor with
contributors. In this collaboration, the director’s role feedback to use in revision.
is basically that of a coordinating lead artist. He or she
is the vital link between creative, production, and tech-
nical teams. The bigger the movie, the larger the crew, Ways of Looking at Movies
and the more complex and challenging the collabora-
tion. Though different directors bring varying levels of Every movie is a complex synthesis—a combination of
foresight, pre-planning, and control to a project, every many separate, interrelated elements that form a co-
director must have a vision for the story and style to in- herent whole. A quick scan of this book’s table of con-
form the initial instructions to collaborators and to ap- tents will give you an idea of just how many elements
ply in the continual decision-making process necessary get mixed together to make a movie. Anyone attempt-
in every stage of production. In short, the director must ing to comprehend a complex synthesis must rely on
be a strong leader with a passion for filmmaking and a analysis—the act of taking apart something complicated to
gift for collaboration. figure out what it is made of and how it all fits together.
Ways of Looking at Movies 7
1 2
3 4
5 6
The expressive agility of movies

Even the best seats in the house offer a viewer of a theatrical production like Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet
Street only one unchanging view of the action. The stage provides the audience a single wide-angle view of the scene in which the title char
acter is reintroduced to the set of razors he will use in his bloody quest for revenge [1]. In contrast, cinema’s spatial dexterity allows viewers
of Tim Burton’s 2007 film adaptation to experience the same scene as a sequence of fifty-nine viewpoints. Each one isolates and emphasizes
distinct meanings and perspectives, including Sweeney Todd’s (Johnny Depp) point of view as he gets his first glimpse of his long-lost tools
of the trade [2]; his emotional reaction as he contemplates righteous murder [3]; the razor replacing Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) as
the focus of his attention [4]; and a dizzying simulated camera move that starts with the vengeful antihero [5], then pulls back to reveal the
morally corrupt city he (and his razors) will soon terrorize [6].
A chemist breaks down a compound substance into Recognizing a viewer’s tendency (especially when sit-
its constituent parts to learn more than just a list of in- ting in a dark theater, staring at a large screen) to identify
gredients. The goal usually extends to determining how subconsciously with the camera’s viewpoint, early film-
the identified individual components work together making pioneers created a film grammar (or cinematic
toward some sort of outcome: What is it about this par- language) that draws upon the way we automatically in-
ticular mixture that makes it taste like strawberries, or terpret visual information in our real lives, thus allow-
grow hair, or kill cockroaches? Likewise, film analysis ing audiences to absorb movie meaning intuitively—and
involves more than breaking down a sequence, a scene, instantly.
or an entire movie to identify the tools and techniques The fade-out/fade-in is one of the most straight-
that compose it; the investigation is also concerned with forward examples of this phenomenon. When such a
the function and potential effect of that combination: transition is meant to convey a passage of time between
Why does it make you laugh, or prompt you to tell your scenes, the last shot of a scene grows gradually darker
friend to see it, or incite you to join the Peace Corps? The (fades out) until the screen is rendered black for a mo-
search for answers to these sorts of questions boils down ment. The first shot of the subsequent scene then fades
to one essential inquiry: What does it mean? For the rest in out of the darkness. Viewers don’t have to think about
of the chapter, we’ll explore film analysis by applying what this means; our daily experience of time’s passage
that question to some very different movies: first, and marked by the setting and rising of the sun lets us under-
most extensively, the 2007 independent film Juno, and stand intuitively that significant story time has elapsed
then the perennial blockbuster Star Wars film series. over that very brief moment of screen darkness.
Unfortunately, or perhaps intriguingly, not all movie A low-angle shot communicates in a similarly hid-
meaning is easy to see. As we mentioned earlier, mov- den fashion. When, near the end of Juno (2007; direc-
ies have a way of hiding their methods and meaning. So tor Jason Reitman), we see the title character happily
before we dive into specific approaches to analysis, let’s transformed back into a “normal” teenager, our sense of
wade a little deeper into this whole notion of hidden, or her newfound empowerment is heightened by the low
“invisible,” meaning. angle from which this (and the next) shot is captured.
Viewers’ shared experience of literally looking up at
powerful figures—people on stages, at podiums, memo-
Invisibility and Cinematic Language rialized in statues, or simply bigger than them—sparks
The moving aspect of moving pictures is one reason for an automatic interpretation of movie subjects seen from
this invisibility. Movies simply move too fast for even
the most diligent viewers to consciously consider every-
thing they’ve seen. When we read a book, we can pause
to ponder the meaning or significance of any word, sen-
tence, or passage. Our eyes often flit back to review some-
thing we’ve already read in order to further comprehend
its meaning or to place a new passage in context. Sim-
ilarly, we can stand and study a painting or sculpture or
photograph for as long as we require to absorb whatever
meaning we need or want from it. But until very recently,
the moviegoer’s relationship with every cinematic com-
position has been transitory. We experience a movie shot,
which is capable of delivering multiple layers of visual and
auditory information, for the briefest of moments before Cinematic invisibility: low angle
When it views a subject from a low camera angle, cinematic lan
it is taken away and replaced with another moving image
guage taps our instinctive association of figures who we must lit
and another and another. If you are watching a movie
erally “look up to” with figurative or literal power. In this case, the
the way it is designed to be experienced, there is little penultimate scene in Juno emphasizes the newfound freedom and
time to contemplate the various potential meanings of resultant empowerment the title character feels by presenting her
any single movie moment. from a low angle for the first time in the film.
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)
The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.
NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.
MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]
MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY
With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER
Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT
SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB
CUTTING THE EDGE

FINISHING THE BOTTOM
LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING
FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE
TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL
NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK
DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG
REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

BEATING THE BARK
WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT
MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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(eBook PDF) Looking at Movies Sixth

Edition 6th Edition

About the Authors v

Six Major American Genres 88

Major Approaches to Editing: Continuity and Discontinuity 300

Looking at Editing: City of God 312

Germany and Austria 388

1965–1995: The New American Cinema 399

Marketing and Distribution 431

An Accessible and Comprehensive Model Analyses

Students in an introductory film course are already mo-

guides). Questions are labeled by concept, difficulty, and

Coursepacks for Learning

Looking at Movies is not just a book that is supplemented

Five steps to getting the most out of the

LOOKING AT MOVIES DIGITAL RESOURCES

expectations and filmmakers’ decisions about the

in some form, cultural differences often affect exactly

as Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Netflix’s Stranger

ual shots joined to one another in an extended sequence.

The expressive agility of movies

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

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