When You're Sad, Eat Cake!

Marie Antoinette: A Film Critique

For my elective this term I am taking a class called Ollywood, which teaches me about the production elements of camera angles, and how to critique movies. The first action project for this term was to pick a movie and critique it based upon some of its pre-production elements. I chose to review Marie Antoinette who is played by Kirsten Dunst, one of my favorite actresses. What I found most challenging about this project was critiquing the movie because I had to pay attention to specific certain things, and that was so hard because I just wanted to watch the movie. What I enjoyed most was finding a new movie that I love.

"Let them eat cake" by onscreenfashion.com.

Sofia Coppola is the screenplay writer and director of Marie Antoinette (2006), the movie is,  very creative, flashy, fashionable, and adorable production design throughout. The movie starts off with a 14 year old royal Austrian girl, named Marie who is leaving her own country to live with her new fiance, French Prince Louis XVl. She’s scared because she is leaving her family behind to go to a country that she knows nothing about! Plus she is marrying a prince whom she has never met, after only having seen a picture of him. She ends up marrying Prince Louis, and is getting used to her new royal life-style. The man responsible for her marriage is Louis XV, the current king of France, who is Louis XIV's grandfather. The king has a mistress named Madame du Barry, who has a very wild personality, with her dark lipstick, which is why the film’s costume designers dress du Barry in wild colored dresses, and high stilettos. No female royalty like her because they see her as trash and a favorite of the King. In her bold, seductive clothing, du Barry asks “Why do they look at me that way?” After the old King of France died, Louis XVl became king making Marie Antoinette the new queen. At this time, Marie was still trying to conceive a child with her husband, but he didn't seem attracted to her in that way. This increasingly frustrated the queen who would say to her friends, “Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness.” From this quote, it is clear that Marie cared about what her people wanted, and wanted to make everyone around her happy. France wanted their king and queen to create an empire to be ruled by future royalty, so finally, after seven years of marriage, Marie and Louis had their first child--a girl named, Marie Therese.

Marie and Louis wasted so much money throughout their lives as royals, instead of helping the masses of people in their own country, who were literally starving. Instead of improving the lives of her people, Marie would hire famous designers to make her dresses, heels, and she would also have a makeup artist do her hair and makeup. Her dresses are pastel colors like baby pink, duck egg and mint green, which matched the interiors of her house and the variety of cakes, and macaroons. She always had the most fabulous and expensive dresses in the movie, and would also buy dresses for her friends. Marie and her crew would have so many different kinds of treats and desserts; they would throw huge parties and just have fun. Louis would also spend money on games and going out with his friends. My favorite scene in the movie is when Marie is purchasing all of the luxury items she can, trying on hundreds of dresses, shoes, and even costume wings and eating tons of cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates. I love how music is playing in the background of the scene, without it having a lot of dialogue (throughout the whole movie), just showing a lot of facial expressions and activity in this scene. I think this lack of constant talking between the characters made the movie interesting because you don’t need the characters to speak a lot to understand and see what's going on. I love how you just get to watch Marie indulge her own lavish life, not worrying about anything but herself. I love how she is so innocent and just wants happiness for ” everyone” in her circle of rich friends.

The set design for the movie was perfect because it was actually filmed in France, at the Palace of Versailles where Marie and Louis actually lived. I think that Coppola’s use of the real French palace made the movie really come together. The costume design was amazing as well. When I think of the 1700-1800's, I think of big, fancy dresses, fun accessories like wings, and the women looking beautiful, and that is exactly what Marie Antoinette showed. Marie room was so big, with floral wall paper, a queen-sized bed, and a huge chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. The room had a door that led to another room, where Marie and her friends would have tea parties. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie! It was amazing getting to watch and just see Coppola’s vision of what Marie Antoinette’s life was really like!

What Can Be Genius?

My winter class that I am taking is called Five Faces Genius, which is about the beauty and challenges of life, through personal creativity and genius. In the first unit called Life of Genius I learned about how people are geniuses no matter what background, country they're from, or race. Every person has their own unique way to be creative and be a genius. For our first action project we had to pick four people that we think are creative, research their backgrounds and see what made them genius not including what they do for a living. I picked four famous people because I felt like it would be much easier because I can do a lot of research to find out more about their personal lives. What I found most challenging about this action project was doing the research because I had to find things I think made them geniuses. What I enjoyed most about this project is how it all came together because I worked very hard on it!

Created by JV, 2014*

My class created a Genius Gallery, showcasing who we think are geniuses. From our gallery I had to pick four people I think are geniuses. The four that I picked are Kanye West, Jay-Z, Michael Jackson, and Dr Seuss. I picked these artists because as a child I grew up on all three of them so it made this project go more smoothly. What I have noticed that all geniuses have in common is several things one being all dropped out of school at a very young age. Kanye West went to Chicago’s American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes. But later transferred to Chicago’s State University to major in English. At the age of twenty Kanye dropped out of college to pursue his musical dreams. Jay-Z went to high school but did not graduate. At the age of fifteen he was a drug dealer, but started getting interested in music industry. Michael Jackson did not finish elementary school, he joined his older brothers group at the age of five, they later became the Jackson Five. By them dropping out of school gave them time to focus on what they were really chasing for, and gave them more courage to become what they all wanted be. I think by them not having a father figure made them all creative because they had to grow up really fast, and be their own man figure in their lives. That taught them to be independent at a very young age because, they didn't have both parents to look after them, so they had to look after themselves.

Another thing that I noticed that all three artists have in common is they all grew up with no father figure. Kanye West is an only child and his parents divorced when he was only three years old. He moved to Chicago with his mother, Kanye's father wasn't really in Kanye's life. Jay-Z grew up with three siblings were raised by their mother, after their father abandoned the family. He never had a father figure in his life. Michael Jackson did have his father in his life, but had a troubled relationship with him. He would physically and emotionally abuse his kids. Even though Michael had his father in his life he never saw him as a father. 

All artists were really young when they first got interested in music Kanye starting rapping when he was in third grade, Jay-Z started making beats when he was only three years old by banging on pots and pans, and Michael Jackson grew up on music because of his father but started singing when he was five years old. They all knew what they loved and wanted to pursue their dreams. No matter what issue they were in they still loved and enjoyed making and listening to music. I consider all these musical artists genius because of their path that they took. They sacrificed a lot throughout their life to be as successful and they are today!

The other genius that I selected from our genius gallery is Dr Seuss, because he is an amazing person! He went through so much throughout his long life and he showed gratitude, success, and passion and to me those are his 3 strengths that got him to what he is known for today (First). He lived through many historical events including the Great Depression, World War 1, and World War 2 (second). During these events he would write many of his children books that are well known today so he can get his mind off all the terrible things that were going on. He would also draw, and collaborate with other authors and during this time he also met his first wife.

Three of my own key strengths that I have is working very hard, caring about people, and appreciating what I have in my life. I find these strengths creative because many people can't have all at once, and I feel very special that I do. These strengths help me so much, and can continue helping me throughout my career that I choose and my future. One challenge that I have faced is believing in myself, and not working hard enough. I would always doubt myself in elementary school and not really care about work, but as I got older and attended GCE my whole life changed because I realized I am a great worker! I feel like many students experience this throughout the world but can't find their spark. I found mine by going to my high school, I think if many other states and countries had high schools like GCE many students would succeed. I got inspiration from my older cousin who went to school and became a Optometrist, she is an amazing worker! I interviewed her because in my eyes she is also a genius. Here is a quote I got from her, “Helping people every day, makes me feel amazing!” My outcome that I would like to see is people finding and realizing that they are genius and the people around are as well. I think many of us don’t realize how smart and creative we are, so it would be nice if the world can all come together and see how awesome each of us are!

Citations:

"All About Dr. Seuss".catinthehat.org. N.P. Web. 2002. Nov 16, 2014. (1) and (2).

"Jay-Z". rollingstone.com N.P. Web. 2014. Nov 14, 2014.

"Kanye West Biography". biography.com. N.P. Web. 2014. Nov 14, 2014.

Vargas, Arielle personal interview Optometrists. 10 November, 2014.

Pictures:

Dr. Seuss. wikipics.com

Jay-z putdollard.com

Kanye West flavorwine.com

Michael Jackson huffingtonpost.com