Film Raising Arizona Review Questions PDF

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Professor Jana Schurig...

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1. Describe one of the main characters' costumes and what that costume reveals about the character One of Hi’s costumes was a hawaiian shirt, with a white singlet paired with loose casual pants. This shows how free willed he is and he has nothing stopping him from doing what he wants to do. 2. Identify at least one place where subjective camera angles are used in the film and describe their effect on the meaning of the film. A subjective camera angle is used when the police and FBIs tell Nathan that there are no leads. When Nathan is told that there are no leads, he yells in frustration that everyone leaves leads and that that was their (the police and other officers who were at his house currently) forte. And that's when the camera shoots the dirty tea table with all their “leads”. This subjective angle helps show Nathan’s anger and frustration about the police not being able to do anything let alone find a lead. 3. What is an example of a parallel or doppelganger in this film? An example of a parallel would be when Hi is dreaming about smalls and Florence Arizona screaming as she finds that Nathan Jr. is gone. The filmmaker is alternating between Hi at his home dreaming and Smalls riding along on his bike. It shows Hi’s complicated feelings about the current situation. 4. The Coen brothers are known for having very visual films where meaning is primarily communicated through shot juxtaposition rather than dialogue (even though the dialogue is hilarious). Identify a significant use of composition from the film and explain why it is so. When Smalls is at the place where Gale and Evelle escaped prison, Smalls can be compared to the law-abiding policemen. We can assume that Smalls is a dangerous man with not so good intentions. This is significant because it shows us for once and for all that Smalls is indeed not a good man. 5. According to the information in this week’s reading assignment, is Raising Arizona a High Concept film? Explain. It is a high concept film because it has a narrative that is easily reducible to a striking image. And there are characters who are underdeveloped psychologically but who are strongly defined as visual or social types(Hi). 6. According to the reading Comic Thought, "One way that film comedies communicate serious thought about human values is to stimulate audience reflection on the ironies, ambiguities, and inconsistencies presented in the comedy." What human values are being reflected seriously upon in this film and how do their comic portrayal in the film develop the message being communicated? I think a human value that is being reflected seriously is crime. In the beginning of the film, Hi is seen being paroled multiple times and was brought back to

prison multiple times too. His criminal life was comically portrayed by making it seem funny that he is back again and with his interaction with Ed made it seem even more funnier each time( or was that just me?..) Anyways instead of having the audience’s attention to that fact that Hi is being bad again and being brought back to jail, they turned their attention to the interaction with Ed and the other prisoners. 7. What similarities in style or subject matter do you see between Raising Arizona and Steamboat Bill, Jr.? How has the basic form of Hollywood film as represented by these two films changed/remained the same over the past 60 years? The fact that they had a pair of characters who didn’t have a good relationship (in Hi and Ed’s case, they started off great but once they progressed, their relationship waivered) was the same. And by the end of the film, they brought back together the characters to have a good relationship. And also, in terms of hollywood films, both the films has a plot that was easy to follow....