Return to Intro to Film syllabus
Updated 19 February 2007
ENGLISH 114: INTRODUCTION TO FILM, Fall 2006
Section 2: Monday, 6:00-9:30 p.m., Professor Larsson
Week 5, February 12, 2007
See updates on class website, D2L
http://english2.mnsu.edu/larsson/introfilm/114syllsp07.htm
Tootsie (1982)
Producer: Charles Evans, Sidney Pollack, and others
Director: Sidney Pollack
Script: Larry Gelbert and others, from a screenplay by
Murray Schisgal
Cinematography: Owen Roizman
Production Design: Peter Larkin
Editing: Fredric Steinkamp and William Steinkamp
Music: David Grusin
Cast:
Dustin Hoffman Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels
Jessica Lange Julie
Bill Murray Jeff (Michael’s roommate)
Sidney Pollack George Fields (Michael’s agent)
Terri Garr Sandy
Dabney Coleman Ron, the TV director
Charles Durning Les (Julie’s father)
Questions for Discussion:
1. How does the opening montage of scenes set up Michael Dorsey’s character? How does the party scene lead to Michael’s decision to become “Dorothy Michaels”? What are his goals in doing that?
2. How do Michael’s experiences as “Dorothy” complicate his life? What changes occur from those complications? How are the issues and questions raised by these events finally resolved?
3. What does this film have to say about actors’ lives or living in the world of theater and television?
4. How does this film comment on women’s lives and how women’s roles have
been defined by society? What stand or resolution does it bring to those
issues?
5. How is time handled in the movie as a whole and in individual scenes? Are
any of the events presented out of order? Is time stretched out or
compressed in individual scenes?
Narration and Point of View
Narration:
Means by which the film presents the plot elements (through dialogue, acting, mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound)
Point of View:
· Physical point of view: The type of information we are getting
o Subjective—through the character’s perceptions (hearing, sound) or thoughts
o Objective—independent of the character’s perceptions
· Narrative point of view: How much we know compared to the characters
o Omniscient (unrestricted)—we know more than any one character knows
o Restricted—we only know what a particular character knows
Most films involve some mixture of these point of view elements, but some may tend toward one extreme or the other
A Star Is Born and Bonnie and Clyde
· Both films are mostly objective but both often offer “point of view shots” from a character’s perspective at particular moments. The family reunion in Bonnie and Clyde has a subjective quality to it, but it’s unclear that it is from a character’s point of view
· Both films are relatively omniscient. Both present a number of scenes that the main characters do not directly experience or witness, but neither film tells us “everything.”
Tootsie
· Mostly objective, but often has point of view shots from Michael’s perspective.
· Relatively restricted in narration. We do not usually know much more than Michael does at a given moment, although we occasionally see scenes of other people reacting to events that Michael himself does not directly witness
Narration and Plot Time in Tootsie
· Chronological order of events, but some verbal allusions to events in the past
· Duration is compressed several times by use of montage sequences, summarizing events (opening scenes, party, getting ready for work, Dorothy’s rise to stardom, a day at Julie’s father’s farm, babysitting)
· No direct manipulation of frequency
Cause and Effect in Tootsie
· Michael is a gifted but demanding actor, so no one will hire him
· Jeff needs money to produce his play
· Sandy is rejected for role on soap opera
· Michael becomes “Dorothy” to raise money for Jeff and to prove that he can work with others
· Michael’s obsession with getting in character leads to affair with Sandy
· Michael’s life as Dorothy leads to attraction to Julie and closer non-sexual relationship
· Success as Dorothy traps Michael in his role
· Complications reach breaking point with Julie, Sandy, Les and Van Horn
· Going live on episode gives Michael opportunity to resolve job issues by revealing character’s “true” identity—playing on soap opera clichés
· Final resolutions with Julie’s father and Julie
Film deals with contemporary changes in social attitudes toward women and women’s roles, but in the context of a Classical Hollywood Narrative
· Film mixes elements of romantic “screwball” comedy and “backstage” films about show business, but complicates them by complications of gender
· Not first film to raise such issues—Charlie’s Aunt, I Was a Male War Bride, Some Like It Hot, etc.—but influenced by feminist movement of 1970s, changing attitudes about sexual identity (ducks issues about homosexuality)
· As “backstage” film, offers satirical commentary on “method” acting and particular show business types, especially demanding actors and pretentious directors
· Dustin Hoffman has to play three (related) roles
o Michael
o Michael as Dorothy
o Dorothy as “Emily” on soap opera
o Requires physical and vocal shifts, sometimes in single shot