CAPTAIN FANTASTIC NOTES

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

Spectatorship + Ideology

Independent film - Production context

SPECTATORSHIP

- Passive

- Active

- Dynamic interaction with film narrative

- Uniformity or diversity

- Preferred, negotiated, oppositional and aberrant readings (reception theory) 

- Impact of different viewing conditions on response

- The analysis of narrative, visual, musical, performance, genre and auter cues

IDEOLOGY

Ben Cash

- Liberalism/ progressiveness

- Anti-establishment

- Liberal education

- Power/ freedom

- Questioning and rebelling against status quo

 

Jack Bertrang

- Tradition and convention

- Status quo/ authority

- Traditional education

- Order and conservatism

- Conserving and preserving status quo

- Working within the system

HUNTING A DEER SCENE

- Tense feeling due to the absence of sound. 

- Sudden bursts of sound, uncomfortable feeling. 

Fairly passive to begin with as it starts with a calm atmosphere. We then are sutured into it due to the sudden bust of sound; as we then try to understand what these children are doing and why they are doing it. This makes us an active spectator as we now try to find out all hidden and different messages that are spread across the scene. 

SWEET CHILD O' MINE SCENE

- Very bright colours compared of the surroundings.

- Contrapuntal music - sad occasion but happy celebration. Expressing different beliefs. 

- Close-ups help with the intimacy. 

- Rebelling against the social normalities.

- The bright colours help the spectator side with their freedom. 

Within the Sweet Child O' Mine scene, where the family cremates their mothers body, they are all subverting the societal expectations by expressing their freedom via their singing and dancing. This urges the spectator to be active as we view their ways of life to have more meaning than we first thought. Due to watching and being involved with their story throughout, our spectator passivity is now changed to active as we are relieved that they are able to 'be free' with their actions. This scene sums up the resolution to the film, how the family have managed to survive the oppressive society and live via their own methods of freedom. This gives the spectator a sense of comfort as this end to the struggle is very satisfying as the family are able to live their lives, free of any rules and regulations. This expresses the differences between a world of traditions/conventions to a world of anti-establishment and freedom. We follow Ben cash as this scene focuses solely on how they have managed to escape the order and conservatism of the population. 

The bright coloured clothing juxtaposes the dull and bleak atmosphere around them, emphasising the binary opposition of good vs bad. The vivid shade of their clothing evokes a sense of warmth and comfort when viewing this scene, urging the spectator to side with them. However, the drab and gloomy colours in the setting, connotes a dark and distressful tone - suggesting that the world outside this family is the main cause of oppression, forcing the spectator to side against society. The flaming fire in the middle could emphasise how they are letting go of the past and the societal values, and moving forward with their life of expression and freedom. 

The excited and joyous facial expressions that all the characters have on their faces, emphasise the excited and cheerful tone that surrounds all of them. This provides the spectator with a sense of fulfilment as we have experienced this hard journey, and this has all payed off. Furthermore, Ben looks around all his children and smiles; emphasising how impressed he is with his family and their joyous occasions. All the facial expressions that they have are very similar, expressing how close they are as a family. This explains to the spectator how their closeness is ultimately their strength in surviving the social expectations. 

STUART HALL

- Cultural theorist/ Political perspective/ Marxist ideologies.

- Representations are never transparent or authentic. 

- Never a 'window' on the world.

- Meditated 'reality'.

- Dynamic and active spectatorship. 

Negotiated

Negotiating a reading which both accepts and rejects aspects of the film's messages/ values

Aberrant Readings

De-coded or interpreted differently to the intended messages/ meanings.

CHOMSKY'S IDEOLOGIES

Embedded within Ben's ideologies (his values) is a deep suspicions of how society treats individuals - a system which work against the interest of most everyday people - his motto indicates this: 'power to the people' and 'stick it to the man'. 

Contained within this rejection of power, are strong echoes of the political views of Noam Chomsky - someone whom the family revere directly (Chomsky day).

Political activism against corporations and capitalism - wealth is in the pockets of the minority, at the expense of the majority. 

Greed and Politics - political status quo looks after the interests of those who fund them and elect them - never those of the poor. The elite, the media and cultural organisations perpetuate the dominant ideologies serving the interest groups and maintaining the status quo - by controlling information. The so called liberal press is in on this conspiracy. 

Closer exploration of ideologies in Captain Fantastic.

We might accept or reject the film's dominant ideology and this will influence how we form our spectator responses: be passive, active, align with characters, construct specific readings. 

- Preferred readings.

- Aberrant readings.

- Oppositional readings. 

What are the main messages and values of the film?

How are these messages conveyed through the use of the key elements of film form?

Does the film reinforce, challenge or reject dominant attitudes within the society it is made in?

Marxist Ideologies/ Political Ideologies

- Ben's parenting influenced by his values, beliefs and attitudes to American society.

- As an indie film this is more likely to offer alternative views to the 'American Dream'. 

- Ben's views reject the materialistic values which are embedded in one version of the American Dream - determining progress and success via commercial success (Benjamin Franklin - 'time is money')

- Ben educates his children to be fiercely independent, to lean to survive physically and emotionally - his education is wider than the traditional educational curriculum. 

- The depth of their knowledge on wide ranging subjects is admirable: literature, the classics, political science, history, politics, the constitutions. 

- The eldest son has gained entry to all Ivy league universities. 

BEN TAKES CHILDREN TO LESLIE'S FAMILY SEQUENCE (46:09)

- Harper and husband - tells children how Leslie died Vs Ben - who just tells it how it is.

- Harper infantilise's her kids, but Ben contradicts this by putting the kids in the same levels. 

- Ben reflecting Chomsky's philosophy of learning/ language.

- Ideological clash - Ben rejecting nuclear family - middle class values.

- Typical American family - Ben is perplexed by their view.

- The family stand for mainstream America.

- Most people would reject Ben's style.

- Ben pushes his beliefs and boundaries onto family. 

Within the scene where the whole family is at the dinner table, we see a clear distinction between the two very different family's. When Harper and her husband start to tell their kids, with euphemisms, how their aunt died, Ben starts to completely contradict them and tell them exactly what happened. 

WRITTEN RESPONSE

With close reference to the 'dinner' sequence analyse how a critical approach you have studied enhances your understanding of the film's ideologies.

In this written response I will analyse the 'dinner sequence' in order to explore how a particular critical approach has informed my understanding of the ideologies in Captain Fantastic. 

Within the scene, we can see a clear distinction of the differences between the two different family's ideologies in life. Ben told his nephew what the straight facts were, emphasising his beliefs of freedom of thought and speech - traditional values that Chomsky explores. The facial expressions of Ben, emphasise his distasteful attitude towards Harper, as he believes that parents do not have the right to infantilise their children, but to educate them them fully without euphemism: "She had bipolar disorder". We see a clash of values as Harper tries to comfort her kids by conflicting against what Ben has said as she states: "She unfortunately passed away". From the constant shot-reverse-shot between the two characters, we can clearly see to two conflicting values and ways of parenting, and how Ben wants the kids should be brought up without the 'oppressive system' and be free. We start as a passive spectator as they are just peacefully having dinner, until we fully see the disagreement between the two families. This is where we become active spectators, as the tension created from the slow paced editing makes us uncomfortable when viewing upon the two different ways of life. 

In this scene, we are shown how Ben's parenting is mainly influenced by his values, beliefs and attitudes to American society. We see how Ben's views reject the materialistic values which are embedded in a version of the American Dream - determining progress and success via commercial success. We can see from the performance of the children and the ways they act to what Ben states, that he educates his children to be fiercely independent, to lean to survive physically and emotionally - his education is wider than the traditional educational curriculum. Harper completely contradicts Ben, as an ideological clash is presented: Ben rejects nuclear family and Harper promotes this. The framing and composition of the scene presents the family as a more distant and detached, due to Ben's side of the family on the left and Harpers on the right. Furthermore, the colour differences between the two families further expresses Ben's ideologies on Chomsky and how they deserve to be free compared to Harpers nuclear 'oppressed' family.