Being John Malkovich Grp 1

Being John Malkovich

Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ahIGLNNwo

About the Movie: Being John Malkovich (1999) written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze.

Lead actors consist of:

- John Cusack as Craig Schwartz

- Cameron Diaz as Lotte Schwartz

- Orson Bean as Dr. Lester

- Catherine Keener as Maxine Lund

 “Being John Malkovich.” IMDb, IMDb.com,www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/fullcredits 

A summary of the movie:

The movie starts off by introducing us to a couple, Craig and Lotte. They live in rather poor conditions in New York, as Craig is a skilled yet floundering puppeteer, and Lotte an animal lover with many pets to take care of. Due to their financial struggles, Lotte implores Craig to find a job, and he is hired as a filer by the eccentric Dr. Lester at LesterCorp, which is located on the curious 7½  floor of their building. There he meets a woman by the name of Maxine with whom he falls deeply in love, but is decisively rejected. However, one day at work, Craig finds a small hidden door that turns out to be a portal that brings whoever enters it into John Malkovich’s mind for 15 minutes. He informs Maxine, and she decides to use the opportunity and manipulates Craig into helping her start a business which lets people use the portal to access Malkovich’s consciousness. Everything goes as planned until Maxine and Craig’s wife, Lotte, fall in love while Lotte is in John Malkovich’s brain. Craig's mental state rapidly deteriorates due to jealousy as he wants to have Maxine for himself. Craig snaps, and captures and confines Lotte, so that she may ask Maxine to meet with “her”, while in reality Craig is the one in the body. During one of these times, Craig discover he is able to control Malkovich’s body. Lotte manages to escape and informs Maxine of what is going on, and believes that he is able to control Malkovich as he is a master puppeteer. Maxine, however, is simultaneously intrigued and aroused by his ability to control the body, ditches Lotte for Craig. John, now possessed by Craig , and Maxine, end up marrying and together use John Malkovich’s money and identity to further themselves. “John” redirects his career and becomes a puppeteer, gaining them fame and recognition. We then jump eight months forward. Maxine is pregnant and John-Craig is world famous, but you can see that Maxine is not happy. Meanwhile, Lotte and Dr. Lester (who revealed his knowledge of the portal) have hatched a plan to get Craig out. However, after the plan goes awry Lotte goes on a murderous rage and tries to kill Maxine. After a thrilling chase through Malkovich’s consciousness, Lotte has her cornered. However, right before Lotte goes through with it, Maxine explains to her than she had realized too late that Lotte was the one who she truly loved. Her baby, in fact, is actually Lotte’s as she had gotten pregnant from a time when Lotte was in the mind of Malkovich. Thus, together they decide to leave behind their former lives. Together they leave Malkovich to be taken over by Dr. Lester (after Craig is kicked from the body) and go live together as a couple. In a last ditch effort to get Maxine back, Craig tries to reenter Malkovich’s body, but inadvertently locks himself into “John”’s( Lotte’s) child, Emily, who is the new vessel for the portal, and is stuck there forever.

Cinematic Techniques

Throughout the movie, as one would expect in a film, many different cinematic techniques are used.
Cinematic techniques are methods that are implemented to add to the appeal and depth of a movie.
These include things such as framing, camera movement, and costumes. In reality, a movie would be hard pressed to even be
a movie if it didn't use any. As examples, we observed editing, sound, props and lighting.

First, lets begin with editing. Editing is what is used to modify and attach different scenes
together in smooth or appealing ways. This can include short takes, long takes (unfolding in real time),
cross-cutting (two scenes of action taking place at the same time), etc. We can see examples of editing
anywhere in any movie, and this one is no exception. For example, at time 54:38. During this scene,
Craig is in bed kind of demoralized from learning that his wife and Maxine are attracted to each other,
and not to him. This scene is shot in a multitude of short takes put one behind the other.
It is used to show how long Craig is lying in bed as well as illustrate that he is in a state of deep thinking and, in a way, depression.
Another one is at time 1:19:19. During this time we see cross-cutting, two scenes of action taking place at the same time.
These two scenes are: Lotte at Dr. Lester’s house and Maxine accompanied by John who is inhabited by Craig.
These two contracting scenes merged together allows the audience to visualize, at the same time,
the two opposing sides of the story on one side we have Lotte planning to force Craig to relinquish his grip on Malkovich’s
body so that she may take it. Meanwhile, we have Craig about to celebrate his success.
This adds suspense in tension as it keeps cutting back and forth and makes the audience wonder which side will prevail.

The next technique is sound. Sound can be found in three primary forms: diegetic—part of the film
Non-diegetic-outside the film but heard by us (ie. music), and internal diegetic—from the point of view of one character.
For non diegetic, at 23:43, during the scene where Craig puts on a puppet show of he and Maxine having an intimate moment,
there is a song in the background. This song is slow, dark and in the classical genre.
The song helps illustrate to the audience that Craig is longing to be able to have a real world
relationship with Maxine. We also have diegetic sound- (36:37). In this scene,
Craig shows Lotte the door and the tunnel that lead to John Malkovich's brain.
The sound playing sound like blowing air as well as similar sounds to cars but in a constant way.
This adds to the spooky, or uncanny aspect of the dark tunnel and allows the audience to relate with why Lotte is nervous to enter.

Our third technique is lighting, which includes things like low-key, high-key, shadows/light,etc. At the very beginning of the movie,
during the opening scene, the main actor is putting on a puppet show. During this performance, the lighting is very dark and practically
only the puppet’s face and hands are illuminated correctly. This shows the audience that the center of the scene is in fact the puppet.
Also, this in a way foreshadows how puppeteering is going to play a vital role in the film. At 1:05:46, John is being paranoid about
Maxine calling him Lotte as well as about the fact that he said things that didn’t come from him. The lighting is like a sort of
spotlight on his head and hands. His hands are holding each other which is a common sign of anxiety and on his face, the audience,
due to the specific lighting, can see his weary expression. As an outsider, the audience knows the truth but it adds to the anticipation
of what will happen later on in the movie.

Lastly, we have props. They are all throughout the movie, thus we can find many examples.
At time 1:01:10 Craig pulls a gun on Lotte after he talks to Maxine about the connection between the two women.
This gun represents Craig losing control of his emotions and being pushed to the breaking point. It increases suspense within the movie and,
in a way, makes the audience as well as the characters involved take Craig more seriously. The puppets, though props, also play a huge
role in the movie. They illustrate a perfect world where feelings can be expressed openly.
They also represent a sort of way for the characters, mainly Craig, to share exactly how
he feels towards certain people or situations. However, it comes to a shock to the audience when in
the last few minutes of the movie, Maxine is seen caressing Lotte’s puppet and apologizing.
Even though she is smiling in all public appearances, she isn’t truly happy but she feels like she
isn’t able to speak her truth so she confesses to the puppet.

Characters:

There are numerous different important characters throughout the movie, two of which stand out as the main characters that seem to be the most important in the film.

The first character is Maxine. Her personality is that of one who enjoys the attention of others. She seems to also be one to not truly show how she feels on the inside. She spits up a facade of a strong and independent person for most of the movie. Maxine seems to be someone who appreciates controlling other people. When she learns that Craig is controlling Malkovich, she realises that she can control Schwartz as he loves her, and it spikes her interest. However, as the movie progresses we seem to be able to see her more vulnerable side and it begins to show the audience how she really feels. These different traits show that this character is self centered, and makes sure that most of her actions result in a positive outcome for herself, regardless of others. For example, when Craig shows her the tunnel, she seems to be more interested in the financial gain that could come from the popularity of the attraction rather than the possible consequences of this discovery. In addition to her self-centered side, she shows clear signs of being extremely manipulative, especially towards Craig. As the movie progresses, the audience sees Maxine controlling the people around her, ironically, making her seem as though she is the real puppet master in the movie.

The second character would be Craig Schwartz. This character is quite shy to start off with and doesn’t seem to have the best communication skills. He uses his puppets as a way of expressing and venting his true emotions. However, as the movie unfolds, he develops a liking for Maxine which takes him out of his comfort zone and turns him into someone more outgoing. He seems to be someone that attaches himself onto people quite fast as since from pretty much the first time he met Maxine, he was obsessed. Finally, at the end of the movie he follows an unrequited love towards a Maxine and it shows that he is in fact quite a jealous person. Along with being a hopeless romantic, Craig manifests himself as a bitter, resentful and selfish man. These traits can be seen numerous times throughout the film, such as when he expresses envy towards a famous puppeteer, and especially during the scene where he locks up Lotte in the Chimps cage due to his jealousy towards her relationship with Maxine. The defining factor of Craig Schwartz was his transformation. Although he begins the movie as noone special, he doesn't seem to far off from the average artist who’s down on his luck. By the end of the movie though, he has completely gone off the rails from a mix of fame and his attachment to Maxine

Universal themes explored in the movie:

One major theme of the film Being John Malkovich is identity and how one's lack of identity makes them feel alienated by society. The characters in the film continue to go back into the mind of John Malkovich because they want to experience the word with someone else's eyes. Specifically, we can see this theme evolve with Craig. Identity begins with Craig’s fascination of puppets, and the idea of being someone else. Later on in the film when Craig takes over the mind of John Malkovich, he is taking over his identity and being the “puppeteer” to John Malkovich's mind. Craig struggled with his identity, so when he took over the mind of John Malkovich, the physical appearance and behavior of Malkovich resembles a lot of Craig’s body. It is easy to compare our lives with others and wishing and wanting what they have.  This lack of fulfillment leads us to be unsatisfied with our lives, and we become disconnected with our identity and the world. Craig got to fulfill his dream as a puppeteer inside the mind of John Malkovich, which he was struggling to do in his real body. Craig enjoyed being somebody else because he got to live the life he really wanted.

Another theme explored in this movie would be manipulation. Throughout the movie Being John Malkovich we see the characters exploit each other on multiple occasion, to further their personal goals. The most obvious demonstration of manipulation is when Maxine and Craig use the portal to John Malkovich mind without his consent to make a profitable business. Maxine also manipulates Craig into doing whatever she wants. As he is madly in love with her, she takes advantage of the situation and of Craig. For example, she uses Craig’s ability to control John Malkovich so that she can marry Malkovich and get all of his wealth. In addition to this she also exploited Lotte’s feelings, yet leaves Lotte when she spots what she thinks is a better opportunity. Maxine is like a “puppeteer” in the sense that she has Craig and Lottie attached onto strings and she is manipulating them. In the end after taking advantage of both characters, however, she realizes that losing Lotte was not worth it as she had truly fallen in love with her.

The last theme that is shown in this movie is greed. Throughout the movie we see some characters like Maxine and Craig who have a strong selfish desire for fame and power. It begins with Craig and Maxine using the portal for their own benefit like earning money. This process then continues and becomes a greater issue when both Craig and Lotte decide to take over Malkovich’s body in order to use his fame. They completely ignore the fact that they are stripping a man’s chance of ever making a single decision for himself for the rest of his life. In a way both characters steal a life and this realization does not even faze them because their main priority is the fame that they would get. An example that focuses on Maxine is the fact that even though she knew Lotte loved her and she reciprocated strong feelings she prioritized fame over Lotte by marrying Malkovich. Another example that however focuses on Craig is similar the previous one. Craig loves Maxine but even with knowing that she has been kidnapped he takes a while and debates whether he should allow her to die or allow his fame to die. In a normal situation anyone who isn’t greedy and who truly loves their partner would not have taken so long to decide like Craig did.

( 1959 words)

The quality of the movie:

The film Being John Malkovich explores the idea that you could be inside another person’s mind, to see and feel what they do, and in this case, said person happens to be the actor John Malkovich. This is an unusual and intriguing concept; it brings up the question of what does inhabiting someone else’s body may feel like? The fact that this movie is able to make one question things that are often not considered, or taken for granted, adds to the quality of the core ideas of the film. The odd and straight-forward dialogue helps create a slight confusion and discomfort as one watches the movie, as well as playing upon the absurdity of the whole thing. These feelings allow the viewer to experience the movie in a similar way as to how the characters experience the events in the movie. In other words, the characters are as confused and bewildered as the viewer, which allows for empathy, while it also simultaneously distances the viewer, creating an interesting point of view . On the other hand, this also makes the movie become much more for a niche fan-base. The absurdity (like the PTSD chimp), confusion (the constant moving and shifting) and unnaturalness of the whole thing is indeed interesting, but can easily turn off a viewer if it is not to their taste. It caricatures the characters, and makes the the movie blunt, but engaging to the right people. Craig is the stereotypical creepy guy who makes puppets, Maxine represents a gross exaggeration of the kind of women who use others’ feelings to further themselves,  Dr. Lester is the picture of the standard nice but perverted old man, (considering the rest of the film it is not unreasonable to assume that it is probably not a coincidence that his name is rather similar to “molester”), and so on. In conclusion, although the film is not an objectively bad movie, it is for too narrow of a fan-base for it to really stand out as an excellent movie. Thus, we rate it ⅗.

Key concepts relevant to the course:

1) The first connection we found between our course and the movie is the concept seen during the sex robot section. The concept of the reinforcing

effect. This effect is the theory that if a situation is repeated numerous times, it will eventually reinforce the idea that this situation is normal.

In the movie, Craig says “it’s just a matter of practice before Malkovich is just another puppet hanging on my work table”. This shows that

he agrees with this theory. He thinks that if he practices taking over John’s actions and words enough, he will eventually be able to control

him, just like his puppets. This is shown to have been effective at the end of the movie as Craig inhabits John’s body for years in order to

stay with Maxine.

2) The next concept that we came across in the movie is metaphysics. This is a branch of philosophy that deals with concepts such as

knowing, substance, cause, time, space and identity. In the movie this is brought up both directly and indirectly. The first time the audience

comes across this idea is when Craig says “Metaphysical can of worms the portal is”, meaning that there is no known explanation as to

why the portal exist or how it even works. Not only do the people somehow fit inside John Malkovich's head, he isn’t aware of the fact that

they are there until Craig controls him. Another time that the audience catches a glimpse of metaphysics is when Lotte returns from inside

Malkovich's brain for the first time. During this scene she expresses that being inside his head had changed something inside of her and

that she finally knew who she truly was. This illustrates the knowing side of metaphysics as Lotte thinks she has finally figured out who

she really is through this crazy experience. Metaphysics is also something with no basis in reality which is exactly the same as the portal.

3) The last concept seen in class that can be applied to the movie is the concept of the inner self, or the mind. The mind is a state of immaterial consciousness and it is not confined by 3 dimensions as well as animating someone’s body. The reason why this concept links to the movie is that while Craig is inside John Malkovich's head, it is his mind that animates John’s body. As Descartes said, the mind is immaterial which can be seen clearly. In the movie, as the clients enter Malkovich’s brain, all they see are out of the eye sockets and no physical material. During the entire movie the audience questions how Craig can control John’s brain. But, if we bring in the notion of the mind, or inner self, and that is what control our bodies, the idea of someone being controlled by another suddenly becomes less confusing, if one thinks of it as being dominated by nothing more than willpower.

Questions based on the movie's themes:

Is Emily, Maxine's, daughter really Emily  since Craig is trapped inside of her consciousness or is multiple individuals.    

If you had the chance to be in someone else's mind for fifteen minutes, would you do it? yes or no and why? In which individuals mind would you want to be in?

Was Maxine actually in love with Lotte or is she simply using her, since she has been shown to easily manipulate the other characters in the story.

Links to related document.

This article talk about the ethics of manipulation and the philosophical involvement that it presents in the movie. 

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-manipulation/

This articular talk about a study on woman , there success and there motivations . This is liked to the main them of the movie, the lack of self fulfillment that people feel in there life.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/alive-inside/201410/why-aren-t-we-fulfilled 

Work cited

Behance. “Being John Malkovich Poster Design.” Behance,      www.behance.net/gallery/60116609/Being-John-Malkovich-Poster-Design.

 “Being John Malkovich (1999).” Rotten Tomatoes, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/being_john_malkovich.

 Original Film Art - Vintage Movie Posters. “Being John Malkovich (1999).” Original Film Art - Vintage Movie Posters,www.originalfilmart.com/products/being-john-malkovich-quad

 TIFF. “Being John Malkovich”. Tiff network,

https://www.tiff.net/events/being-john-malkovich

3 Out of 5 Stars . data:image/jpeg;base64.

 Christopher Hooton @christophhooton. “'Being JohnMalkovich' Was Nearly 'Being Tom Cruise'.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 26 Nov. 2015,  

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/being-john-malkovich-was-nearly-being-tom-cruise-a6749546.html