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A Filmmaker's Guide to: Pathetic Fallacy

Film Studies (Pt.11)

By Annie KapurPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Pathetic Fallacy

What is it?

Well, it is when the 'exterior' of a film (weather, architecture, shapes and space) can represent or infer a certain mood to the narrative. For example: dark and rainy can represent the emotion of sadness. Or, many straight and jagged lines in the architecture can represent rage and/or tension because of the lack of fluency and swiftness in design.

In literature, this is normally done using the weather. Different states of weather representing different atmospheres, moods and emotions. The weather and the temperature changing with each turn of emotion towards the climax of the story. For example: coldness and rain should be worrying but things like sun and heat are probably not so much so.

What about in film?

In film, it can be easier to recognise than in fiction because of the physical side of film that shows us the atmosphere rather than allowing us to picture it ourselves. In film, atmosphere first has to be established through setting the scene, then it has to be solidified by utilising the scenery in some way and finally, it has to either be destroyed and rebuilt into something else or it needs to be reinforced via something else happening atop this atmosphere. It is complex but the whole thing can actually be done in one scene.

Watchlist:

- The Woman in Black (2012)

- The Exorcist (1973)

- The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

- Gothika (2003)

- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

If we want to look at an example which does not so much use the weather as it does the architecture and spatial awareness of the characters (large vs. small spaces, narrow vs. wide spaces) then the movie "Voice from the Stone" starring Emilia Clarke has often been cited as a good film to watch in order to see architecture, furniture, space and sound in action for pathetic fallacy. Using them correctly and enhancing the correct ones in order to create feelings of being lost, feelings of claustrophobia and even threats of suicide.

The film does a good job at showing us the different aspects of the outside impressions of pathetic fallacy with architecture being the main point as the film is set in Italy. However, if you want to view how the inside of a house can have an impact on the way we see pathetic fallacy with little influence of the weather upon the scene, then "The Woman in Black" (2012) is possibly the best option as it is set nearly entirely indoors at the time the film solidifies the impact of the pathetic fallacy and we become more and more introduced to the 'woman'.

In film therefore, there are a multitude of ways we can view pathetic fallacy and so, we will look at some easy reading you can do around the subject including novels you can read in order to learn about its impact upon a story/narrative.

Further Reading:

  • Bronte, E (1992). Wuthering Heights. 2nd ed. UK: Wordsworth Classics.
  • Dickens, C (1993). Bleak House. 2nd ed. UK: Wordsworth Classics.
  • Hill, S (2016). The Man in the Picture. UK: Profile Books.
  • John, J (2019). The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Literary Culture. 2nd ed. UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Rodensky, L (2016). The Oxford Handbook of the Victorian Novel . 2nd ed. UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Shields, C (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle. 2nd ed. UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Thoreau, H.D (2016). Walden. UK: Penguin.
  • Zunshine, L (2015). Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Literary Studies. UK: Oxford University Press.

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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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