Film Analysis Essay on Bound

Abstract

It is with no doubt that films are now the primary form of entertainment in most households. Be it on a busy weekday or a weekend; movie theatres are now flocked to capacity with enthusiasts hoping to catch something on the big screens. Going to the movies is a culture that is more common among the young generation but is slowly catching up with the elderly too. The rapidly growing industry has led to the expansion of theatre halls and also more investment going into production of film and other related materials. In turn creation of employment not only for the actors but a vast majority of people working behind the scenes has come in hand in hand with the growth of the film industry. Hollywood, the home of the United States film industry is a crucial player in the film sector worldwide. Movies are not only entertaining but educational and a mirror for the society we live. Through movies and film, we can tell a lot about the community that we live in, starting from our way of life to the relationships that we are in among other aspects of social living, it is all depicted in movies in one way or another. Kids are now growing up in an age where the film is easily accessible, and this will, therefore, have a significant influence on the kind of people that they get to be in future. This thus goes to show the significance of this industry and the seriousness with which it should get handled.

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Introduction

"Bound" is an American film that got released in 1996 directed and written by "The Wachowskis." This was the first movie for the Wachowskis to direct having drawn their inspiration from Billy Wilder in telling a story fueled by both violence and sex. The film is a crime thriller about a lady violet who escapes from her relationship with her boyfriend Caesar and gets into an affair with a former convict Corky. Together, the two women device a plot to steal some money from a mafia gang.

Business

In 1996, the Wachowskis released their first movie to write and direct, "Bound." The movie premiered on the 31st of August 1996 showing at the Venice film festival. Production of the movie got financed by Dino De Laurentiis and was made on a tight budget of $6million with assistance from economic crew members among them renown cinematographer Bill Pope. Bound was released by the Republic pictures featuring the original theatrical trailer and sound commentary by the cast and directors. In the united states, the film was estimated to gross about $3.8 million earning around $900,000 which amounted to 23.7% of the gross total in the first week and showed in 261 theatres. The film ranked at 161 for all the movies released in that year in the USA according to Box Office. The motion picture association of America (MPAA) rated the movie R due to its intense violence, sexuality, and language. Other countries in which the movie was rated R include the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Bound went ahead to win various accolades including the award of the grand jury mention at the 1996 Los Angeles festival. The film went ahead to win another honorable mention at the international film festival of Stockholm and also the 1997 GLAAD media awards among other accolades.

Genre

Bound is a thriller film mixed with romance violence and adventure which tends to capture the attention of the audience right from the beginning. The movie gets filled with scenes hard to ignore ranging from sex, violence, crime among others. The movie starts with a lady (Corky) who is from jail moving into an apartment where she is to begin her job as a plumber and painter. The plot thickens quickly whereby Violet who lives next door with her partner Caesar stumble upon Corky in the elevator. Violet is attracted to Corky, and their affair starts shortly after. Caesar who launders money for the mafia is a violent man, and this makes Violet want to start a new life for herself away from him. She confides all this to Corky who is at first wary of her. Afterward, the two women plot a scheme to steal the mafia's money which gets estimated at around $2million.

In this early development, we can already see betrayal, hate, mistrust and some unusual social behavior in the lesbian relationship between Corky and Violet adding more twist to the plot. The directors can overcome the typical stereotypes that most people have when they see a woman on the street. For example, Violet gets portrayed as a bisexual woman who is attracted to both men and women. These stereotypical assumptions on sexuality are proved wrong in this film that goes to show different people want different things thereby twisting conventions using film noir as a genre. Some executives at other studios tried to convince the Wachowskis to change Corky's character into a man's, but they rejected this idea. This was essential in avoiding common movie cliches in which the relationships portrayed are those of straight couples. Having a lesbian couple star in the film was an unexpected twist which made the plot and development of events even more thrilling. The directors were therefore successful in avoiding some common movie obviosities.

Auteur Theory

Auteur refers to a filmmaker who has a personal style and keeps creative control over their work. The auteur theory got derived from Austria's concept of the "camera pen" that argues the director overseeing the visual and audio components of the film under production is more likely to be considered the movie's author rather than the screenplay writer. This is not an ethical theory since both the director and the screenplay writer should both be credited each for their contribution in the making of the film. Bound was the first movie for the Wachowski's to direct and therefore it may not be easy to place the sibling writers within the auteur's theory properly. However, based on some of their later works such as the matrix, V for Vendetta, Speed Racer among others we can say that the Wachowski's lack film auteur. In their debut film directory, i.e., Bound, they decided to focus more on the social cues of romance, violence, betrayal, hatred and moral decadence. However, in their other films that followed the plots and direction was different. For instance, "The Matrix" is a science fiction movie which was a major success winning various awards for the Wachowski's was more focused on science rather than the common social cues in Bound. The directors can, therefore, be seen to explore a wide variety of fields in their line of directing ranging from action to science fiction. The Wachowski's cannot, therefore, get established as auteurs in the film industry. The siblings have worked together in various directing and writing career in different major films and have not been shy about trying out different styles in their directing work. However, with a closer look, one can identify that the siblings are more inclined towards science fiction where they seem to have the upper hand. For example, their Netflix series "Sense 8" is a box office trending movie with an all-time rating of 7.5. This, therefore, goes to show the siblings directing skills strengths in science fiction is much stronger.

Feminist Theory

Women in this film have objectified to a great extent. Starting from the lesbian couple to the gangster women who are up to one crime spree after another, examples of the gaze or objectification are endless. In the early beginning of the movie, we are introduced to Corky a former convict starting a new job. The director here portrays women as lawbreakers or people who need to be continuously monitored by the authorities. Above that, the morals of women have also get compromised. Violet and Corky have unnatural sexual attractions of the same sex. Despite the fact that Violet gets engaged to her partner Caesar, she gets depicted as this lustful woman who goes ahead to seduce the new girl in the apartment and cheats on her partner. Above that she conspires with Corky to steal from her husband and elude with her. Here we can see women as untrustworthy people who are in whichever situation for their own selfish gains (Larson & Janet, 2015: 77-99).

The directors went to a great length to show the flaws of both genders. Men such as Caesar get portrayed as violent individuals who result in chaos to solve the problems that they encounter. For instance, Caesar and his mafia associate beat up and torture Shelly a man claimed to have been stealing money from the mafia. His violence and cruelty force Violet to look for solace elsewhere and ends up finding it in corky. Men get depicted as murderous criminals, for example, Johnnie, the son of the mafia boss, shoots and kills Shelly after they are done torturing him. Also, as Violet explains, Johnnie and Caesar hate each other and don't get along well. Men have also been shown to be manipulative and self-centered. When Violet panics after the money goes missing, Caesar pulls out his gun and makes her stay against her will. He is skeptical that she could have conspired to steal the money with Johnnie and frame him. Such kind of gender implications is precisely similar and relatable to the gender-based crimes we experience from time to time in our society.

Plot Semiotics and Story Language

The plot of the movie is handled in a linear structure. First, we got introduced to two parties around which the entire plot of the story gets developed. Caesar and Violet is the first party, and then there is Corky. Next, there is the beginning of the affair which follows the conspiracy to steal the mafia money. This is followed by Caesar finding the money gone and ends up killing the mafia boss Gino and his son Johnnie. Finally, Caesar realizes that the money got stolen by Violet and Corky, he ties them up and demands to know where the money is. It, therefore, goes to show from the start that the events in the movie flow from one occasion to another. The film revolves around these characters who are at the center of attraction for the key scenes. The unfolding of events is sequential where the occurrences follow a systematic linear order. One dilemma comes after the other, and the characters are seen trying to solve the problems they encounter along the way in an ordered manner.

The movie uses strong language which is not plausible for the moral effect it would have on the unintended audience. There is also explicit graphical content in the film. There are several sex scenes some of which show indulgence in unnatural sex acts between partners of the same gender making the film unsuitable for young viewers. The violence is another area of interest in the movie. Scenes of torture and murder run through the film these were among the reasons as to why the movie was rated R in many of the countries in which it got shown.

Conclusion

"Bound", is an entertaining film with a lot of inspiring ideas that aspiring young directors can learn from. The film clearly depicts the vices in our society and other important factors such as ethics and morals. Albeit a quite clear film, it could be beneficial if presented to the correct audience. The film industry is playing an important role in the shaping of our future generation. The industry, therefore, has the responsibility of ensuring that they release educative materials for the younger generation looking up to learn from them.

Works Cited

Ghiassi, M., David Lio, and Brian Moon. "Pre-production forecasting of movie revenues with a dynamic artificial neural network." Expert Systems with Applications 42.6 (2015): 3176-3193.

Phillips, W. D. "Book Review: George Kleine & American Cinema: The Movie Business and Film Culture in the Silent Era." Media Industries Journal 3.1 (2016).

Walls, W. D., and J. McKenzie. Black Swan Models for the Entertainment Industry with an Application to the Movie Business. No. 2018-04. 2018.

Larson, Janet. "Making Feminist Sense out...