Reflection on The Piano and the Polyvalent World Cinema
Film: The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993, 117 minutes)
Readings: World Cinema, Ch. 10: Polyvalent world cinema; Jane Campion’s The Piano, Introduction (Harriet Margolis)
Write a 700 to 800-word response that critically reflects on this week’s film and at least one reading from the week. Relate the film and reading and connect them to the broader themes of the course. Your response should demonstrate your understanding of both the film and the reading. Do not simply summarize the film. You must include a full and proper works cited page and use proper in-text citations for all sources in your response, including films. Below are some questions to serve as prompts for reflection. You do not have to address all of these questions in your response.
What are the central arguments made by the films and/or the texts and how do they relate to each other?
What social, cultural, political, or historical issues are brought into focus in the films and how?
What themes emerge from the films or texts and how do they relate to the broader themes of the class?
How do you personally connect to these themes or issues and how do the films and readings help you understand them in new ways?
Describe the film language in technical terms and discuss how it frames the film’s main themes.
Critical Reflection on The Piano Film
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Critical Reflection on The Piano Film
Jane Chopin directed the film The Piano. It is an example film that deals with the complex issues in society. Further, identifying and understanding these issues makes individuals start resonating with the themes from broader perspectives by assessing the societal, cultural, and personal dimensions. The main arguments in both the film and the text include power dynamics arguments around identity, desire, gender roles, and the struggles for an agency that has a patriarchial society. The film has a connection with the themes through the characters that are used in the film. An example is how the life of Ada McGrath is explored. McGrath is a mute woman sent into an arranged marriage in the 19th century. The setting was in New Zealand. McGrath is sent into the marriage with two possessions: Flora, her young daughter, and a piano, which is the most prized possession that McGrath had. Throughout, McGrath was silent and had a deep connection with the piano. The film’s central message is to highlight the challenges of communication and expression (Piotrowska & Tyrer, 2019). Ada was sent to an arranged marriage, and she was not happy; therefore, it elaborates on quests regarding autonomy, which needs to protect women because women's voices and ideas are suppressed in most cases. In the text, there is the theme of rebellion and resistance, which is similar to McGrath's silence. The reading narrative focuses on resistances and rebellions that the Na’vi had against intruders in their land. These communicate the need to fight