Salesman Response

The film I’m choosing to post my response to is Salesman, which was directed by Abert and David Maysles. This is not a foreign film (it is shot in various locations across the United States and is in English) but I do believe that it showcases a culture that is foreign to me, which is the commission-based salesman industry of the 1960’s. To be more specific, the four men showcased in this documentary are bible salesman. They are Paul Brennan (The Badger), Charles McDevitt (The Gipper), James Baker (The Rabbit), and Raymond Martos(The Bull). These men have a difficult task at hand. Their task is to persuade people into buying an expensive bible. They have quotas to meet every week, so there is a great amount of pressure around to meet their quota and to sell as many bibles as possible in order to earn more money. The salesmen are allowed to accept various forms of payment, including check, cash, COD, or a payment plan. While the payment options are very flexible and work to the advantage of the salesmen, the product that they are marketing is extremely expensive to the average American consumer for what it is, a fancy bible.

According to DollarTimes.com, $1 a week in 1968 would equal $6.47 in 2011 and $49.99 (the price of a bible in 1968) would equal $323.21 in 2011. That is awfully expensive for any book so naturally it’s a hard sale to make for these men. We see precisely how hard it is throughout the duration of Salesman as the camera is following each of the salesmen through their presentation. From the doorstep, into the house, and through the signing papers everything to do with the selling process is shown. I realized that this can often be a grueling process of trying to convince a person into buying something that they normally wouldn’t buy. The process could be especially challenging when the potential consumer actually wanted the product but couldn’t afford to make the commitment. The Maysles brothers document this entire process in a very direct way, almost like a fly on the wall. Before and after a long hard day at work, these men are subject to meetings with their boss. The boss is hard-nosed and seems very willing to fire those who don’t see eye to eye with him or those who make excuses for their lack of sales. When the boss was speaking to each of the four salesmen it almost seemed to me like he was talking down to them. He was very short, would interrupt, and wasn’t taking any excuses for an answer.

I’m sure you can see how these men have such a difficult task at hand. Their job is to sell what I would consider to be an over-priced book to mainly Catholic households who often can’t spare the money for a bible. On top of this, they have a boss who is very demanding and challenging to deal with day in and day out. I saw how this occupation can wear an individual down thanks to Salesman’s central character, Paul Brennan, who is nicknamed “The Badger.” He went from meeting his sales quota every week to not even coming close. He becomes visibly discouraged and uncertain about his future as a salesman. At one point during the film, he begins to talk/sing about jobs that have a pension and hints that he would love to have a pension himself. In addition to him having a difficult occupation, he has to deal with the struggles and hassles of life on the road. He lives out of a suitcase, stays in motels, and travels across the country. Keep in mind that he has to maintain his own vehicle, which presents more problems for him.

It’s a very sad and depressing look into a variety of subjects, including American business practices and the relationship between business and religion. The central character, Paul, seemingly works so hard with little reward. That probably doesn’t sound incredibly tragic but it is to me since I found myself identifying with Paul. He was a good man with good intentions but he was falling short of his goals that he set in his career. He was so discouraged by his performance that I think he was starting to regret his choice of becoming a salesman for the company he worked for. It’s truly hard to watch because there is nothing glorious about their work, but you can’t look away because the characters are so intriguing that I became attached to them. I felt sorry for all of the salesmen, but in particularly for The Badger and The Gipper because they seemed to be having the most trouble making ends meet. I didn’t feel nearly as much sorrow for The Bull, who was always shown having successful sales and was never caught bad-mouthing the company.

Overall, I feel like the Maysles Brothers did a great job putting together this documentary. It made me think about my future career and what I needed to do in order to avoid ever feeling like Paul Brennan. I don’t want to be sitting around in my 40’s wondering if I made the right career choice. I want some sort of job security and commission-based careers don’t offer that. With commission-based sales there is an opportunity to make a lot of money but there is also the opportunity to come away from long hours of work empty-handed. Salesman impacted me to never consider commission-based sales as a career option.

Shortbus Response

It was obvious to me after watching only the first few minutes of Shortbus that it is going to be an extremely explicit and controversial film. The big debate about this film is the use of real sex, which is contrary to most American films where sex is not displayed so openly. Films in America generally hint at sex and sometimes will have "sex scenes" where it's clear that individuals are having intercourse but actual penises and vaginas are usually never shown. The single American mainstream film that I can recall having similar sexual footage is Boogie Nights with Mark Wahlberg where Wahlberg plays an upcoming male porn star. Boogie Nights was pretty shocking to me during my only viewing (around 7 years ago) but if I remember correctly it doesn't even come close to the level of explicitness that we are exposed to in Shortbus. During this film we see real footage of real sex throughout the film's entire duration. Depending on whom you ask, this film could be labeled as "pornography." While everyone is entitled to their own views and opinions I would have to disagree with those who would label Shortbus pornography.

First, let's look at what we would refer to as "pornography." It's generally very direct and to the point. In modern pornography there isn't much of a storyline. Often there is no storyline at all. There are no characters, just individuals who are there to film some sort of sexual intercourse. There is a major emphasis on the use of the body. For example, if you ever walk into an adult video store many of the different genres of pornography are based on body parts (big butts, big breasts, big penises, etc.) The emphasis on the body is so big that many straight pornographic films don’t show the male partner’s face much (if at all.) To sum it up in a few words, what the audience sees is just pure sex and nothing else.

Now let’s take a look at Shortbus. Sure, there is plenty of sexual intercourse (some gay and some straight) but there’s much more to Shortbus than just sex. There are all the elements of your typical film- a storyline, character interactions, emotional expressions, etc. The emphasis isn’t on the bodies of the characters but rather on their emotions and problems. For instance, the character Sofia has never experienced an orgasm before and this clearly distresses her. Throughout the film, the camera follows her on her journey to achieve her first orgasm, which turns out to be a difficult task that she ultimately achieves. Another main character, James, is an ex-hustler who is in a relationship with another man, Jamie. Throughout the film the camera shows James recording himself with a video camera. James acts like he is making a film about his life but eventually we find out that the recording was to be used as a suicide note. He reveals after his failed suicide attempt that he recorded everything to let his boyfriend, Jamie, know that it wasn’t his fault that he killed himself. I could go further in depth about the characters, but the important thing to note is that all of the characters are intertwined and each of them are unique in their problems or struggles to achieve happiness.

So while Shortbus is certainly a sexually charged movie that seemingly holds nothing back from the audience, I find it unfair to label the production something as simple as pornography. It’s simply a film that blends comedy, drama, and sexuality with intertwining characters and an interesting storyline. Shortbus may not be for everybody because of its explicit content (which we don’t see in the mainstream) but it is far from pornography and doesn’t deserve to be categorized as porn.

Three Colors: Blue Response

The subject of this film is obvious from the very beginning. It’s about mourning and loss. It's a very emotionally-charged film that shocks you in the sense that you know you may have to deal with what the main character, Julie, is dealing with the entire film- the loss of a loved one. I have never personally lost anyone in my family or any close friends so I don't understand exactly how it would feel if it were to ever happen. However, after watching this brilliant film helped me better understand what it may feel like largely due to the convincing performance of Juliette Binoche. Throughout the film I felt like I understood everything that Juliette was going through, even though I have never gone through such situations myself. I see a lot of pain and agony, which is what I would expect me to feel if I were in her shoes. Binoche’s performance was so real and convincing that it wasn’t hard to muster up feelings of sorrow for her character.

The camera followed Julie around throughout the duration of the film so I felt like I really got to understand her character. There are several scenes of solitude which I think are accurate and true to the storyline and character. For instance, we don’t need to see Julie crying in her bed in the morning, laying around depressed and slacking around. Instead, we can tell that she is emotionally upset just by her reaction to certain things. To be specific, when Julie was in her deceased daughter’s room she was looking at the blue crystals. It was obvious to me that the blue crystal object belonged to her daughter. Julie felt agony and mourning just from the sight of an object that reminded her of her loss. The camera captures this beautifully with an intense close-up.

One of the elements of the film that helps distinguish Three Colors: Blue from other films is the cinematography. During the beginning of the film there is a shot that is of a tire riding along a road. This scene was shot from the bottom of the car and right away I knew this wasn't going to be your typical film. It didn't seem like a very common shot to me and therefore it intrigued me enough to pay my undivided attention to the entire film's storyline. There was an abundant use of dim lighting. I think this is probably used to help signify Julie's depression and agony over the loss of close loved ones as we usually see her in dark settings throughout the film.

Another interesting thing I found in the cinematography of Three Colors: Blue was the close-ups of the main character, Julie. When I see the close-ups of Julie in most, if not all, of the scenes in the film it is obvious that she is enduring a weight of pain and agony on her shoulders that she is having difficulty dealing with. It’s clear that she is upset and hasn’t “gotten over” the death of her loved ones.

While the cinematography was superb, I have to say that my favorite aspect of this film was the use of sound. The music was used flawlessly at the end of every scene- it was very dramatic and I loved the sound of the haunting string orchestra. In particular, I thought the last five minutes or so of the music was I found the sound aspect of the film incredibly intriguing because it seems like the use of sound isn’t as prominent in your average American film. This is just another one of the many elements of Three Colors: Blue that helps separate it from other films.

Overall, I think this film is truly a masterpiece. Every aspect of the film is top-notch. The cinematography, music, characters, storyline, and the subject all combined seamlessly to create a thought-provoking film about the serious issue of mourning and loss. Three Colors: Blue left me wondering about how Julie could start over and move on or if a happy exist is even humanly possible after such a tragic event and loss.