Boyhood

Boyhood

Camera Shots/Angles/Movement

1. In one scene, Mason is now a teenager, taking pictures of his school's football game. In between taking photos of the players and actual game, Mason turns his camera towards the net, blocking the ball from hitting him, and also the stands where you can see a happy crowd, cheering the team on. The camera then shifts from showing Mason to Mason's perspective through the lens of the camera. The audience becomes Mason's camera and he points it around, capturing a few artistic shots. I thought that turning the viewers into the camera was an effective way of grabbing one's attention. As an audience, we get to become Mason for a few seconds and really see what he wants us to see, which is not something that happens very often in the film.

Another scene where camerawork was used effectively was when Mason comes home late and is greeted by his second stepfather on his porch. In the scene, it is clear that his stepdad had been drinking and is very angry with Mason. He begins disciplining Mason, which is nothing out of the ordinary. However, for the first time, Mason stands up to him and essentially tells him off, arguing the all-too-typical "you're not my father." Every time the camera cuts to Mason, it seems to be using the handheld technique, perhaps to show the drunken state of the stepdad. When the camera cuts to the stepdad, as if Mason were looking at him, it is clear that a tripod was used to steady the camera. This effectively shows the difference between the state of mind of both characters. Even  though Mason is younger, he seems to have it together more so than his stepfather.

2. I think that the camera could have been used better in a scene that was fairly early on in the movie. In this scene, the two children are spying on their mother and father through the upstairs window. Their divorced parents are arguing outside and it becomes clear that their mother is forcing their father to leave. Samantha grabs a pair of binoculars to watch the dad as he turns for his car. The kids pass the binoculars back and forth, looking into them. I think that the camera should have done a point of view technique, zooming in on the father every time a child looked through the lens. That way, the audience could be put into the child's shoes, as they are later in the film when the audience becomes Mason's camera whenever he looks into it. Instead of this POV technique, the camera continues its consistent medium shot of the father. I almost felt that the binoculars were unnecessary without the POV shot, which would have benefitted the scene, in my opinion.

3. This movie is incredibly realistic, something that the director was really pushing for. Because of this, there is a lot of handheld and POV camerawork, that puts the audience into the movie, bringing each scene to life. Realism is a very important aspect of this film. If the movie were more Hollywood and used a tripod in every scene, I feel as though it would be boring. A movie about a boy growing up into a young man, from ages 6 to 18, where the boy is actually the same aging character is an incredible idea. However, the movie would not have been as successful if it were any less realistic than it is. Nobody wants to see another Hollywood coming of age film that is picture perfect and nothing like their personal life. There are just so many movies like that already. Boyhood really captures audiences because of its relatability.

4. Boyhood is an incredible story about the life of a maturing young boy. The movie is based on its realism and ability to be relatable. A similar movie that I watched recently was Napolean Dynamite that focuses on a young man and his strange home and social life. In both films, a lot of handheld camera work is used to show certain scenes, especially ones that involve movement, as realistic. There is also no real plot line in either film. There is no specific rising action, climax, and falling action as seen in most other films. Instead, both movies kind of take things day to day, showing the typical activity of both characters' lives.

MYST: Matilda

Matilda

After recently rewatching Matilda for the first time in a decade, I realize that the movie is very well-done. As a little kid, I obviously never paid close attention to the editing of a movie. However, after viewing this film and realizing how brilliant some of the scenes are, I reward this movie with 4 DiDomenicos.

Summary
Matilda is a children's movie about a young girl who never "fit in" with her, well, trashy family (to say the least.) Her parents only care about money, looks, and living the seemingly high life. Matilda is virtually invisible to them. Her father is a used car salesman who constantly rips people off and her mother is a neglectful "housewife" who spends her days out of the house playing bingo and shopping. When Matilda grows old enough, she has to beg her father to send her to school. It is there that she meets her wonderful teacher, Miss Honey, who is likely the first adult to truly be kind to Matilda. Miss Honey is the one to realize that Matilda is absolutely brilliant. However, after Matilda's father sells one of his notoriously awful used cars to the evil principal of the school, Ms. Trunchbull, she is enraged. While chaos ensues, Matilda also must deal with something much bigger than the all-too-horrifying adult problems: her magical powers! Because what's a good children's movie without a bit of magic?

Editing
Because Matilda is a children's movie, there are many scenes that are meant to hold a child's attention. In order to do so, very interesting editing was used. During a few scene shifts, I noticed not-so-typical transitions were used. For example, after a scene when Matilda's family goes to a nice restaurant and all hell breaks loose, a fun, triangular transition is used to cut to the new scene.

I also noticed a bit of a fisheye lens used with a close up when the antagonists (Matilda's parents or principal) are speaking down to Matilda or simply yelling. This is most likely used to intimidate the audience– who again, is most likely young children.


Specific Scene
In one of my favorite scenes from the movie, Ms. Trunchbull is screaming at a class for god knows what (this is a daily thing with Ms. Trunchbull). As the yelling escalates, Matilda decides to take things into her own hands and begins to use her magic against the principal. However, her magic ability to move items with her eyes takes a bit of concentration on her end. So, as the screaming continues, a close up of Matilda's eyes is shown, with a very stern look on her face. The camera then jumps to a water glass with a newt inside of it (from a previous prank on Ms. Trunchbull.) The camera jumps again to Trunchbull's furious face then again to Matilda's concentrated look and then again to the water glass, this time shaking a bit. This pattern continues with the jumping back and forth until Matilda's powers have grown strong enough to flip the cup of water (and lizard) upward so the newt lands directly on Trunchbull's chest. Matilda's eyes immediately relax, showing her job was done and Trunchbull, in turn, has a mental breakdown, losing it at the sight of the newt crawling towards her face.

This scene reminded me a lot of the scene from Juno that we examined in class. In the Juno scene, a teenage girl has just walked into an abortion clinic after learning from a protestor that unborn babies have fingernails. As the main character tries not to let that bother her, the camera jumps to scenes of women using their fingernails, eventually making Juno run out of the clinic and ultimately have the baby. In both scenes from the very different movies, the camera does a lot of jumping back and forth between shots. As the jumping progresses, the speed in between the shots quickens, giving the viewer a sense of urgency and anxiety. Paired with suspenseful music in Matilda, the scene really grabs the viewer's attention and proves to be quite humorous if you stick around through all of that Trunchbull screaming.

Short Term 12

Short Term 12

1. A young girl named Jayden is welcomed to the Short Term 12 facility about 15 minutes into the film. She is clearly unhappy that she is there and isn't comfortable around any of the other kids yet. Grace tries to make her feel less alone by drawing with her in her new room. A long shot shows the two girls, facing each other on opposite sides of a bed. The girls are juxtaposed, emphasizing their different states of mind. Grace is supposed to be in control and the "rock" to the children, while Jayden is thought to be very at-risk and internally suffering. However, they are participating in one common activity: drawing. This could be foreshadowing the similarity of their situations at home. This is also only scene of its kind, showing that Grace really connects to Jayden on a different level than the other kids. 

Another great use of the camera was in the scene when Grace had to get Luis out of bed. Since Luis was refusing to wake up, Grace playfully uses a water gun to motivate the boy. In the scene, Grace is clearly the dominant character, as the directer uses a high angle, showing her looking down on Luis. This is not meant to make Grace look menacing, or too powerful, but rather enforce her dominant motherly role. Luis responds by looking up at Grace from his bed, showing that he is not the character in charge, much like a child is not in charge of his parent. 

2. A scene that I thought could have benefited from better camera work was Marcus' rap scene. The lyrics of the rap are very powerful, but I thought the camera work was lacking. Unlike when Jayden read her octopus story to Grace, the camera only focuses on Marcus and not Mason's reaction, like it did with Grace. The whole rap is filmed with one shot, focusing on Marcus' profile and a blurry Mason in the background. I think that Mason's reaction should have been filmed since he was there in the room experiencing the same moment the audience was. Had we seen Mason, viewers might have a better sense of how to feel about the rap. Even just a quick shot of Mason's sad face would have been beneficial to this scene.

3. Throughout this film, the director uses handheld camera techniques, giving the movie a shaky feel. While some movies, like The Hunger Games, really overdo the shaky effect, making them almost difficult to watch, I think that Short Term 12 used it perfectly. The overall tone of this movie is dark. It's a drama about underprivileged and at-risk children. Because of this, the hand-held camera made the film feel authentic and real. I think that a film regarding such a serious topic should be less "Hollywood" and polished, as we discussed in class. This camera technique made me feel as if I was standing right there in the room with these kids as they were going through their hard times. It made the emotional scenes all the more captivating.

4. While the plot of the movie The Hurt Locker is completely different from that of Short Term 12, both films use the steady-cam/handheld camera technique very nicely. Both movies have to do with very serious and dramatic topics. By using this camera technique, viewers are really put into the characters' shoes and feel as if they are in the movie. This helps to build suspense or even emotional connection to the characters, both of which are important to the overall experience of viewing those two films.

MYST: Black Swan

Black Swan

A friend recommended this film long ago, near it's release date, but I never really got around to watching the whole movie until now. After finishing Black Swan, I can confidently say that I loved it and award the movie with 5/5 DiDomenico's.

The Camera Work
The camera work is brilliant throughout this film. With a mix of carefully thought out shots, angles, and movements, the director was really able to grab the audience's attention time and time again. On many instances, the camera movement reflects how the character is feeling during the scene. For example, in the very opening scene, The camera is very steady as it follows the legs and feet of a ballerina at work. As she continues to gracefully dance, the camera steadily pans out, successfully capturing the elegant dancing. However, as the music of the scene shifts from light ballet music to a more menacing tune, the camera movement shifts from steady to hand-held. This gives the audience an uneasy feeling, as if something if off. As the suspenseful sound and camera movement build up, a dark figure suddenly emerges, walking towards the ballerina as she continues her routine. It then becomes clear that the ballerina is practicing for her audition as the swan in an upcoming show. The dark figure is the darker side of the well-known ballet. It was very simple to piece that together because of the contrasting camera movements that reflected the contrasting personalities of the lead role in the black swan ballet.
In another scene, camera angles are used to highlight the dominance of the ballets director. He is notorious for sleeping with the ballerinas he casts as the lead, so many of the girls feel they must impress or seduce him. Because of this, he has much power over them, since many of them are so desperate to be the lead. When he first enters the scene, the camera shows him higher up than all of the ballerinas, who are warming up. He looks down on them, watching their ballet skills. As the ballerinas begin to notice him, they are filmed from a high angle, looking up at him, to show they are inferior.

Key Scene
I chose to analyze the last scene of this film because of it's brilliance. This scene is what brings the whole movie together and beautifully concludes Black Swan. Minutes prior to this scene, Nina, the main character/ballerina, comes to terms with her madness. After arguing with a rival ballerina, Nina stabs her to death and hides her body in the bathroom of her changing room. Nina later comes back to the changing room only to be greeted by the supposedly dead ballerina. Upon finding an empty bathroom, Nina has the realization that she actually stabbed herself  and that the argument never even happened. She quickly wipes away her tears and decides that the show must go on.
During this final scene, Nina is shown as the innocent, white swan running up stairs, being following by spotlight. This could be foreshadowing her death as the lights looked as if she was running up towards heaven. As the camera zooms in on Nina, it shows more and more of her wound. The once small blood stain is suddenly growing rapidly in size, showing the severity of the situation. Nina then leaps to the white swan's death, which was also the death of her innocence as seen in an earlier scene when she passionately kisses the menacing director of the play. After she lands on the safety mat, concluding the ballet, all of the other ballerinas and the director come over to congratulate her on her near perfect performance. The director leans over her, covering up her now large bloodstain. He is dressed in a black tuxedo in contrast to her white swan costume. This suggests that the director was the reason for Nina's emotional/mental breakdown. He put too much pressure on the innocent girl and made her unravel by the end of the movie. Nina knows that she is dying but she doesn't care. Her whole life became that ballet, and when it ended, so did her life. Her final dying words are "It was perfect," which are very powerful as she looks up towards the bright lights. In the beginning of the movie, Nina was shown as a very nervous and innocent girl. She even expressed her worries about her dancing ability when she nervously says "I want to be perfect," with her head looking down. By the end, she achieved her goal and really killed off the innocent, shy girl she used to be.

 Similarities/Differences
I thought that the whole premise of this movie was very similar to that of Birdman. Throughout both movies, the audience must interpret scenes for themselves, deciding whether the main character is losing his/her mind or if the event is actually happening (like when Birdman flies or when Nina grows feathers). By the end, most can conclude that both characters are crazy and the events are mere figments of imagination.
Mila Kunis (the thought-to-be-dead ballerina) really stepped outside of her comfort zone while making this movie. She was mostly known for comedies, including That 70s Show, Family Guy, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall before this film. Kunis did a great job in this drama, something I wasn't expecting from her.

MYST: American Psycho

American Psycho

After watching this movie with my squeamish younger sister–which probably wasn't the best idea– I was able to determine that American Psycho is a 3 1/2 Didomenico kind of movie. While the storyline had me very intrigued with the complicated main character, there were parts that were quite boring or totally unrelatable.  In this film, Patrick Batemen, the main character, is a very confident, harsh, greedy man with similar friends. The movie has an interesting portrayal of the wealthy class, showing them as overly self-absorbed and ignorant. 

The Camera

Throughout this movie, camera shots, angles, and movement play an extremely important role when developing the character of Patrick Bateman. In one particular scene, a prostitute gets up to leave Bateman's bed, where he and an escort are laying. As she takes one last glance at the two, before walking out the door, she clearly sees something disturbing, as shown in the unnerving look on her face. The camera then zooms into the bed, showing blood begin to seep through the beige sheets followed by the escort screaming, indicating that Bateman is at it again. Mid-kill, Bateman notices the prostitute running away and immediately begins chasing her. He disappears for a moment and the camera begins following closely behind the prostitute, catching all of her frantic movements as she tries to find her way out of the apartment. In doing so, she stumbles upon the bloodied bodies of Bateman's previous victims. Suddenly, the sound of a chainsaw emerges and Bateman is shown wielding his weapon. The camera now follows Bateman closely as he darts after his victim. The whole time, Bateman and his victim are shown at eye level to each other–up until now. As the prostitute runs down the spiraling stairs, Bateman, shot from a low angle, peers down at her, calculating when it will be perfect to release the chainsaw. He finally does so, and it hits her dead on. His bloodied face is then shown again, yelling down to his latest victim at the foot of the stairs. He looks pleased with his work as he grins.

It is very common for the camera to follow Bateman, tracking his intense actions. This is done to make the viewer feel as if they are in his psychopathic shoes. The movement also switches to the perspective of Bateman's victim, using the handheld camera method to emulate actions of one running. This builds suspense, further making the viewer feel anxious and uneasy, while being chased alongside Bateman's victim. The camera angles of this movie were not at all what I was expecting. Patrick Bateman, the clearly dominant and forceful role is typically eye level with the rest of the characters. Instead of using low angles to show his dominance, the camera portrays Bateman the same as the other characters. Upon further examination, I realize this tactic was used to make Bateman fit in with his friends, just as he was doing in society. He may have been psychotically murdering people left and right, but his public appearance remained stable. He seemed normal, just as everyone else, which, in my opinion, makes the story even scarier. It suggests that there can be homicidal psychopaths walking among us without drawing any suspicion. 

In the opening scene of the movie, the camera pans through Patrick Batman's apartment. Everything appears to be orderly and in pristine condition. The place is nearly perfect, which is ironic because Bateman's mind is quite the opposite. It is filled with very dark, disturbing thoughts. There is also a very prominent theme of black and white. I figure this is a metaphor for Bateman's life. He appears to be perfect on the outside. He is in shape, good looking, intelligent, very wealthy, popular amongst his friends, and engaged to a beautiful woman, all by the age of 27. To some people, that's the whole package; everything they want their life to be. The good side of Bateman is represented by the white color, eluding to purity and innocence. On the other hand, Bateman is a homicidal maniac with no feelings. People like him are often considered the worst, sickest part of society, which is why the black is also present in the scene. It represents Bateman's dark character. However the two colors are evenly dispersed throughout the apartment, possibly signifying that all of the "good" Bateman has is evenly balanced with the "bad." And as I explained earlier, he has a whole lot of good in his life at the moment. 

I recently watched a film with a fairly similar story. Serial Mom is a dark comedy about someone you'd never expect to be a serial killer. In this movie, the mother of two children murders anyone who wrongs, or even slightly annoys, her family. Both American Psycho and Serial Mom have a very interesting twist on the typical serial killer movie. Both films add in a touch of comedy on top of all  the suspense and gore, which is something I rarely get to see. These movies didn't just attempt to incorporate humor, they were quite successful in doing so. I can honestly say I laughed out loud during scenes of both movies.

Momento

Editing

The Good
The film Momento uses very interesting editing to tell a complex story. In one particular scene, Sammy Jenkis, one of Lenny's subjects of examination for his insurance job, is shown sitting in a chair of a retirement home or hospital. We learned previously that Sammy had the same condition as Lenny, not being able to create new memories, and therefore not knowing what was currently happening. He looks confused and is obviously alone in the scene. After showing this shot for a few seconds, the camera jumps and suddenly flashes an image of Lenny in Sammy's place. He too has the expression of confusion on his face, resembling Sammy. This is a great method of foreshadowing. By the end of the movie, it is revealed that Lenny turned his situation into Sammy's. As it turns out, Sammy had no wife at all. Therefore it was Lenny's wife who had diabetes and made Lenny shoot her with insulin too many times.

Another edit that I loved was Natalie's big scene. The audience is first shown a small clip, so forms an opinion based on that shot. Then, through the next 20 minutes or so of the film, they stick to that mindset. When the second half of the scene is finally revealed, the opinion changes drastically and the viewer develops the feeling of being lied to. It makes the audience not know who to trust, kind of like how the main character, Lenny, feels on a daily basis. In the scene, Natalie is first shown walking into her house all disheveled and bleeding. When Lenny rushes to her side, asking what's wrong, she claims someone named Dodd beat her up, in search of Jimmy's money. Lenny promises to take care of Dodd for her. Jump to a couple scenes later and it shows that same scene, only this time it is played after an immensely important scene. Natalie is shown as a monster in this scene. She goes from the victim to the bully in a very short amount of time. She claims that Lenny has memory loss because of a disease that his wife gave him. In response, Lenny punches her to make her stop talking. That is how she gets the bloody nose and split lip, not form Dodd as originally thought. I think this scene is very important for the movie, showing that you can truly trust no one. 

The Bad (kinda)

In another scene, the editing is very essential to the overall story. Throughout this movie, there had been two different storylines, eventually connecting at the end of each scene. One of those stories was told in color and the other in black and white. At one point of the movie, the two come together and the overall plot finally makes sense to the viewer. In the scene, Lenny takes a picture of someone he has just killed, someone he initially thought was John G. This sequence is shown in black and white. As the polaroid picture he took develops, the color changes along with the photo. When the polaroid receives its color, so does the movie. I thought that this editing brought the two parts together perfectly. While I believe this to be a great scene, I unfortunately found a mistake! In this black and white real-time scene showing the dead Jimmy on the floor, his head is facing upright. However, in the polaroid picture, his head is looking to the right. And, typically, dead bodies don't move! The scene would have been perfect is not for that small editing mistake. 

Concept

As I was explaining before, this movie does a fantastic job of putting the audience into the movie, specifically, into the main character's shoes. In many shots, after watching some jump-cuts and flashbacks between scenes, I found myself confused, just as Lenny was throughout the film. As the movie goes on, and the two storylines are edited together, the viewer learns more and more about Lenny's situation. We learn to not trust anyone and that memory is not as reliable as we may think it to be, especially when we are deciding alongside Lenny whether to trust Natalie or Teddy. The disorienting editing of this movie plays along perfectly with the overall tone. Each scene feels like we are starting a whole new movie, as if we are waking up, as Lenny likes to compare his condition to. 

Other Movies

As far as other movies that have similar editing to Momento, the first that comes to mind is the infamous Wizard of Oz. That movie also does a great job of mixing the black and white scenes with those of color. The black and white is meant to be the realistic scenes, kind of like the black and white scenes in Momento are supposed to show the real-time or present events of the movie. However, the Wizard of Oz has a much simpler theme, only having black and white scenes at the beginning and end of the movie whereas Momento's trade off throughout the film. I also thought this movie had editing like Citizen Kane, with all of the flashbacks. In both movies, flashback scenes are very important to the development of the story and viewer understanding. 

Formal Film Study: Psychological Thrillers

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)                                                  The Shining (1980)
Director: Robert Jonathan Demme               vs                   Director: Stanley Kubrick

Style:
The Silence of the Lambs and The Shining are similar in terms of style. Both movies can be considered thrillers with a psychological twist, exploring the darker side of the human condition. According to Box Office Mojo, both films were budgeted at 19 million, but The Silence of the Lambs did much better in the box office, making a domestic total of $132,742,922, while The Shining only made $44,017,374.  The Shining is a bit slower paced than The Silence of the Lambs. It begins with a "normal" family going to stay at a hotel. It is not until near halfway through the movie that the main character, Jack, finally loses his mind completely, going after his wife and young child. On the contrary, The Silence of the Lambs opens with a student of the FBI Academy receiving an urgent assignment from her teacher and future boss, kicking the movie off with some action. He wants her to interview a convicted murderer/cannibal Hannibal Lecter, in hopes of shedding new light on a recent serial killer investigation involving "Buffalo Bill."
The Silence of the Lambs includes some very interesting camera shots compared to The Shining, in my opinion. I feel The Silence of the Lambs is more of a visual movie, while The Shining really emphasizes parallels and hidden meanings. Because of this, there is more meaning in the camerawork of The Silence of the Lambs than that of The Shining. 
Since The Silence of the Lambs is a movie about investigation, many scenes show characters finding or examining evidence. The camera moves in such a way that the viewer feels like he is looking at a piece of evidence through the eyes of the investigator. There is a lot of panning camera movement throughout the movie, as if someone was turning his/her head towards the object at the end of the pan. This movie also has a theme of looking into someone's eyes. I assume that is because some people believe that the eyes are the windows to the soul, where all truth lies. In a movie about murder investigation, including this "truth" aspect fits into the story perfectly.

Technology:
Both The Silence of the Lambs and The Shining are relatively old movies. I say that with hesitation because 1991 really isn't old in the grand scheme of things, just in the world of technological advancement. Because of this, both movies have fairly simple special effects, most having to do with blood. One of the few special effects that really stands out is The Shining's elevator scene. In this scene, it appears as though gallons upon gallons of blood is pouring out of an elevator door. While the scene may seem very complex, it was actually a pretty simple move on the director's part. The elevator set was actually a miniature version of the real one. That way, Kubrick could shoot as many takes as he needed without ruining a whole room every time. Similarly, Demme incorporated some fake blood during the Hannibal Lecter kill scenes in The Silence of the Lambs.  This is much simpler than the infamous elevator scene, but still considered an important special effect for the story.
As I stated before, The Silence of the Lambs contains many investigatory scenes involving eyes and the act of camera panning to mirror investigation. To do so, the director added many camera shots that were lengthy in duration, following the subject of the scene. The camera seemed to be following the action as opposed to jump cutting between scenes. Similarly, The Shining also contains some longer camera shots. For example, when Johnny's child, Danny, is riding his tricycle through the hallways of the hotel, the camera swiftly follows the trike instead of cutting the shot. This ensures the viewer will relate to the character, being able to put themselves in his shoes(or rather, tricycle seat).

American Culture/History & Hidden Meanings:
The Shining is a very complex movie involving many hidden meaning regarding the culture of the time and history. The Silence of the Lambs, on the other hand, is fairly straight forward in terms of what it's trying to say. There are many instances in Kubrick's film where he incorporated hidden messages in scenes. One of the most popular is the conspiracy theory of the Apollo 11 moon landing being a hoax. There is a theory circulating the internet that America faked the moon landing to get ahead of Russia in the space race. It is thought that Stanley Kubrick was the director who made the video and pictures possible. Afterwards, it is said that Kubrick felt guilty and wanted to confess his involvement. He apparently did so through The Shining. There are many instances in the film when space travel is brought up. The most blatant would probably be the scene where Danny is wearing an Apollo 11 sweater. In another scene, a picture on a refrigerator shows a spaceship during takeoff. Jack's famous written line, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," is said to intentionally begin with the word "All," looking like A11, as in Apollo 11.  In the food pantry of the hotel, there is packaged powered food, like the kind astronauts eat. Lastly, room 237 of the Overlook Hotel may have been a large part of the movie because Earth is 237,000 miles from the moon. The list of these strange occurrences goes on and on. Is all of this simple coincidence? It very well could be. However, Kubrick was known for being very meticulous while directing his movies and is said to have placed every detail in his sets intentionally.

Another cultural reference is all of the Native American furniture and decorations in the Overlook Hotel. Although it is explained that the hotel was built on an ancient burial ground, it is also assumed that Kubrick is hinting at America's history with the conflict between early American settlers and the country's native people. Throughout the movie, there is a constant theme of red, white, and blue, which is often related to America. In fact, the owner of the hotel even looks like John F. Kennedy, wearing the patriotic colors and also having an American flag on his desk and an eagle statue behind him.
In comparison, The Silence of the Lambs is less a movie about symbolisms and hidden messages. Despite this fact, I have heard that, similar to The Shining, nothing is random. In the scene when Hannibal Lecter warns Starling to not bore him with questions, he goes on to explain that a census taker once pushed him too far with questions. In response, Lecter "ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." Besides the liver/cannibalism part, this may seem like a harmless meal. However, upon further investigation, it is clear that Lecter intentionally rattled off those ingredients to the psychologist FBI trainee. Apparently, those foods could be very dangerous and potentially fatal when mixed with certain medications ranging from depression to multiple personalty disorders treatments. This is a clue that Lecter is off his meds, a very scary thought after hearing about what the psychopath is capable of.

My Discovery:
Both films hint at the fact that women are weak in comparison to men, but eventually get the last say, or, in other words, win. In The Silence of the Lambs, FBI trainee Starling is shown walking through an official building looking for her boss. When she gets into the elevator, she is very clearly the only woman, completely surrounded by much taller, buffer men. She is shown looking up while some of the men are looking down on her, as if belittling her.

Throughout the movie, she is constantly taken advantage of being of her gender. When she first speaks with Lecter, some of the other inmates say very inappropriate and crude comment about her as she walks by. One action even makes her cry, one of the oldest signs of weakness. However, by the end of the movie, Starling has found the culprit and even shoots him, killing him. This defeats the initially assumed stereotype that women are weak, as she comes out victorious. Similarly, Jack's wife, Wendy, is shown as a weak character throughout the film, constantly crying in fear of her crazy husband. When Jack is breaking down the door to the bathroom she is stashed in, she can do nothing but stand there frozen, screaming. She is clearly the victim and the weaker of the two in this situation. At the end of The Shining, Wendy is able to escape the hotel (and the clutches of her psychotic husband) with her son, Danny. Jack is then shown frozen to death. Both of these movies have an overarching theme of female triumph, showing both woman as protagonist characters who ultimately win by the end of the film.

Horror movies tend to be made for males, especially teenager males who happen to have a higher sex drive. Because of this, many of the main characters/victims are young females. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example, one of the first victims is a helpless female, who also happens to be half clothed. Again, in Psycho, the victim is a pretty young woman who is slain while taking a shower. This theme occurs over and over again, however The Shining and The Silence of the Lambs were able to break from the traditional female victim path, which is quite refreshing if you ask me.

I highly recommend both of these movies, if you still want to watch them after all of that ^^^. Roger Ebert awarded both movies with four stars and I couldn't agree more. They get the viewers thinking while also putting them on the edge of their seats. Check out Ebert's reviews here:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-shining-1980
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-silence-of-the-lambs-1991