Shaft...what a fun ride of a film. I knew I was in for a wild ride just as soon as the intro music consisting with funk was introduced. the actor of shaft was what I would have to say as perfectly fitting for the way that I have heard stories about shaft over the years. I have heard many depictions of shaft, and have com up with expectations that I would have originally thought to describe his character, for instance i thought he was going to be a lot like huggy bear from Starsky and Hutch. I had no idea that he was actually a police officer, and a private eye at that, I always thought he was just some kickin ass black dude with no concrete affiliation with anyone. boy was I wrong.
Now when it comes to the cinematography of shaft, my expectations fell pretty close to what I actually saw onto the screen, except for the intro. I actually really enjoyed that walk sequence which included a lot of long shots far away from the shaft himself just showing him interacting with his environment. I ll get back to that in a moment , but the shots I would have to say were realy nice in that sequence especially when the chorus would say his name and it would be a close up on his face, classic action movie style haha. anyways to get back to what I was saying earlier showing shaft in this certain way( interacting with his environment) really sets the tone for the characters overall "swagger & style" for the rest of the film. I mean here we have this black male walking through the middle of traffic,not giving a shit, in what I believe is New york. that was just seemed like a statement of the character and just set the bar for what to expect.
Alrighty well anyway in the article we have this really rare distinction between the shaft of the 70's and the new and improved shaft of the 2000's. now what I came to take from the article is that these two men, both playing the same character, just don't act the exact way. One acts as if it is his mission to just fight and keep fighting till his mission is complete and the other really carries the whole legend behind shaft of being the ladies man. I really think that this is a very important part to how we look at masculinity today. On top of this the conversation that we had in class broke it down even further to help explain it to us. For example we talked about how the new shaft was just this kung fu guy that just seemed to beat people up for the answers he was looking for just like a Jason Statham...Crank. However the old shaft had this intimidation factor that he threw around in a brilliant way. The 70's shaft new he was bad ass and that's what really made me respect him as a character, which was the whole point of his character doing that. He no matter what the dangerous situation brought always stood up in the face of the antagonist and said " man you ain't going to do shit"....amazing; just the perfect line to say.
Alright well this is the part where I just have to ask a huge question concerning masculinity, through a story of my life. well the other day I was walking around enjoying the weather and I came to a crosswalk with no light just a sign that said pedestrians have the right away, so naturally I walk. in the middle of this walk this guy almost hits me coming about 3 feet away even though you could clearly see me before hand. Anyways he gets pissed and yells out the window and I then yell back at him, basically the point being we might have a problem. Now nothing happened eventually just drove away because of traffic, but my question is what Should I have done? Naturally I felt like going Jason Statham on his ass and wrecking him, just like the media shows today how masculinity is defined in films.However do you think If I pulled a 70's Shaft and just intimidated and stood my ground, would I have had better results than if I were to just fight? Overall could I bring back the techniques in masculinity of the 70's to replace the today's standard of kick ass ask questions later. Think about it.
I liked the fact that you brought up Jason because he is a huge symbol of modern day kick-ass masculinity in film. I really can't stand him but he is a huge part of kick-ass film today. I personally would have walked away because thats just how i am and i don't get angry easily.
ReplyDeleteGood job taking the comparison of old Shaft and his style to the new Shaft and the different style of action heroes today a little further than we did in class. I almost never watch action movies unless my boyfriend makes me so I had no clue where to begin when looking at the similarities and differences.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your real-life story... I would have to say pulling an old Shaft would be much more badass in my opinion, although I don't know how the driver would have taken it. I'm glad you didn't start a fight though... It's odd to think how obnoxious the behavior of action heroes would be in true life!
I like your comparison to Stathom films. Personally I hate Jason Stathom. Its the same film every time. Shaft's intimidation factor commands respect instead of forcing it. I also like your real life story. I think the whole raise one eyebrow and staring menacingly yelling, "Bitch you ain't gonna do shit, just shut up and drive." would be better than dismantling him in public.
ReplyDeletebravo!!
Some awesome things to discuss in this blog. First off, I liked that you brought up the opening sequence. I also thought the introduction was really effective and established his character perfectly. I completely agree that the long shots work great for showing who the man is in relation to his environment. He’s the focus of every shot which forces him to stand out in this large and hectic city.
ReplyDeleteI, like everyone else, liked your comparison to Jason Stathom. In my opinion, Shaft’s character is way more badass simply because there’s something so dominant about not only him knowing how much he can kick people’s asses but them knowing it also. It’s almost if the characters that Stathom plays has to prove to people that he’s tough by beating them up where as Shaft has nothing to prove.
As far as real life goes... I don’t know. I also think that it would be more badass to not say anything and to just give him a look but I really don’t think that would work. There’s something mysterious about Shaft’s presence and power. Something that I’m not sure too many people, if any, could really actually pull off in real life. But that’s what makes Shaft’s character so memorable.
This is an interesting entry for a lot of reasons. I like how you discuss the cinematography, and the long opening scene of Shaft just walking through Times Square--establishing character as well as place. I'd have liked to see you play around with ideas of race and specifically black masculinity a bit more, and how the urban setting is possibly a part of that. Your description of what it's like to be a guy in a confrontational situation is really interesting too. From my experience (and women face confrontations too,) getting physical is generally an extremely bad idea, especially with a stranger, and yelling isn't much better. The whole art of standing your ground has to do with an inner centeredness and self-confidence that develops if you work on it. Studying martial arts for years helped me with that, but any sort of physical practice that's about calming yourself down and staying relaxed inside will do. Barring that, Shaft's probably as good a role model as any! :-)
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