Director's Motifs
Some Reoccurring Images And Symbols I've Found In Some Retro Movies
I'm a bit of a movie fan and over the years of watching and re-watching some of my favorite movies I started to notice some similarities in images or dialogue that make the film specific to that director, making it easier to spot their work. Sometimes it's subconscious and sometimes it's intentional but some directors have reoccurring symbols and images in quite a few of their movies.
I'll start of with a small one. Director Sam Raimi is the director of the Evil Dead series and the new Spiderman movies. I know Spiderman is not exactly retro but there are some similarities to his earlier work. In Army Of Darkness and Spiderman they share almost an identical images. In the both movies the hero of the story is on the brink of defeat and the antagonist is on the verge of stabbing them in the face with something sharp, only to be abruptly stopped at the last second and over powered.
Also in the first Spiderman Peter parker says Tally-Ho right before he swings on his web for the first time, Raimi also used this line in a similar circumstance in Army Of Darkness when Ash swings on his rope back into his fight with the Deadites.
Raimi often references The Three Stooges and other classics in his movies and I think this may have been a nod to the swashbuckling heroes from back in the day, even though the phrase has not stood the test of time.
Next on the List is Time Burton, you can spot a Tim Burton movie from a mile down the road just from his art design but beyond that I noticed the reoccurring image of someone shedding their "disguise". This suits Burton pretty well as he is an Oddball himself and probably felt at a time he needed a disguise to fit in sometimes, so perhaps subconsciously he's used this image in his movies.
Jack Skellington tears off his Santa suit after the complete failure of his version Christmas
Edward Scissorhands tears off his businessman disguise after his forced attempt into regular society has gone terribly wrong
And to a lesser extent Pee Wee near the end of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Burton's first movie, Pee Wee tears off his Nun costume that he wore to get onto a TV show so he could finally re-capture his bike and return to being happy.
I'll start of with a small one. Director Sam Raimi is the director of the Evil Dead series and the new Spiderman movies. I know Spiderman is not exactly retro but there are some similarities to his earlier work. In Army Of Darkness and Spiderman they share almost an identical images. In the both movies the hero of the story is on the brink of defeat and the antagonist is on the verge of stabbing them in the face with something sharp, only to be abruptly stopped at the last second and over powered.
Also in the first Spiderman Peter parker says Tally-Ho right before he swings on his web for the first time, Raimi also used this line in a similar circumstance in Army Of Darkness when Ash swings on his rope back into his fight with the Deadites.
Raimi often references The Three Stooges and other classics in his movies and I think this may have been a nod to the swashbuckling heroes from back in the day, even though the phrase has not stood the test of time.
Next on the List is Time Burton, you can spot a Tim Burton movie from a mile down the road just from his art design but beyond that I noticed the reoccurring image of someone shedding their "disguise". This suits Burton pretty well as he is an Oddball himself and probably felt at a time he needed a disguise to fit in sometimes, so perhaps subconsciously he's used this image in his movies.
Jack Skellington tears off his Santa suit after the complete failure of his version Christmas
Edward Scissorhands tears off his businessman disguise after his forced attempt into regular society has gone terribly wrong
And to a lesser extent Pee Wee near the end of Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Burton's first movie, Pee Wee tears off his Nun costume that he wore to get onto a TV show so he could finally re-capture his bike and return to being happy.
Michael Bay is an easy one, I could probably just show a series of explosions but there are a few moments in his more recent films that are similar. First would be a large piece of machinery flying over someone's head in slow motion.
He also uses the gimmick of objects falling off the back of trucks in chase scenes quite a bit. I am not a fan of Michael Bay but I do enjoy his car chases and when I see this image in his movies it reminds me of when I was little and if I were being chased I would throw objects behind me in the hopes of tripping up my chaser. I apologize in advance for the limited amount of retro here.
The Coen Brothers are known for having off the wall characters and superb dialogue. They often borrow stories from old movies and books but there's a couple of symbols they keep using from themselves.
The bag of Money is nothing out of the ordinary in movies, Hitchcock referred to things like this as the "MacGuffin" of the film which basically means the thing that moves the plot forward that the characters are always searching for. The Coens have used a suitcase of money as their MacGuffin a few times.
Next would be the image of a large or intimidating man behind the desk, usually with a pretty good view out of the window behind them I might add. I don't know if the have some experience feeling like they were at the helm of an intimidating man in their lives or they just like the image of a man being angry or loud behind a desk but this is another image they use quite a bit.
I've decided to end the article with a big one. Francis Ford Coppala, the director of the Godfather movies decided at the beginning of the series that he would use an orange to symbolize death or the threat of death so here is a small compilation of the death orange.
Directors do these types of things all the time whether they mean to or not. Lots of movies out there are indisguishable from each other because of the lack of care put into the production but with these director's and more they really put a piece of themselves into their movies because it's there passion. Now there's alot I didn't get to and perhaps I even missed some with the aforementioned directors so please feel free to tell me any others you've noticed or remembered from your favorites.
He also uses the gimmick of objects falling off the back of trucks in chase scenes quite a bit. I am not a fan of Michael Bay but I do enjoy his car chases and when I see this image in his movies it reminds me of when I was little and if I were being chased I would throw objects behind me in the hopes of tripping up my chaser. I apologize in advance for the limited amount of retro here.
The Coen Brothers are known for having off the wall characters and superb dialogue. They often borrow stories from old movies and books but there's a couple of symbols they keep using from themselves.
The bag of Money is nothing out of the ordinary in movies, Hitchcock referred to things like this as the "MacGuffin" of the film which basically means the thing that moves the plot forward that the characters are always searching for. The Coens have used a suitcase of money as their MacGuffin a few times.
Next would be the image of a large or intimidating man behind the desk, usually with a pretty good view out of the window behind them I might add. I don't know if the have some experience feeling like they were at the helm of an intimidating man in their lives or they just like the image of a man being angry or loud behind a desk but this is another image they use quite a bit.
I've decided to end the article with a big one. Francis Ford Coppala, the director of the Godfather movies decided at the beginning of the series that he would use an orange to symbolize death or the threat of death so here is a small compilation of the death orange.
Directors do these types of things all the time whether they mean to or not. Lots of movies out there are indisguishable from each other because of the lack of care put into the production but with these director's and more they really put a piece of themselves into their movies because it's there passion. Now there's alot I didn't get to and perhaps I even missed some with the aforementioned directors so please feel free to tell me any others you've noticed or remembered from your favorites.
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