Samson and Delilah
Introduction
"Samson and Delilah", directed by Warwick Thornton is a powerful film about two aboriginal teenagers who go through many challenges including alienation from their culture, substance abuse, and violence. Thornton uses the techniques of props, cinematography, and hair and make-up to get across his main ideas of the harsh realities that many Aboriginal youth face.
The first technique that Thornton uses to show the deeper ideas of the harsh reality that young Aboriginals face, and substance abuse, is the technique of props. In particular the petrol can, which is used to show substance abuse. For example in the very first scene when we see samson for the first time we also see the can full of petrol. We see Samson get out of bed and sniff petrol before he does anything else in his day. This shows the audience that sniffing petrol is part of his daily routine, and suggests that he is quite addicted. It also means that the audience immediatly associate Samson with anything to do with petrol throughout the film. Our suspicions of Samson being heavily addicted to petrol are confirmed as the film progresses, because most of the time that Samson is on camera he is clutching a can or bottle of petrol. This shows the audience that Samson is completely addicted to petrol. By making the protagonist of this film a young, petrol sniffing Aboriginal, Thornton is trying to shock the audience and give them a good insight into substance abuse amongst Aboriginal youth in rural towns, and the devestating effects that it has.
The second technique that Thornton uses to convey his ideas of rejection and isolation of culture is cinematography. He conveys these ideas with the use of two long shots. The first long shot is of Samson looking down on his village from a hill. The long phisical distance that Samson is looking down at his village, shows the emotional distance and dissconnection that he feels from his home and culture. His expression and body language shows that he is confused and angry. Thornton is showing the audience, through the use of the long shot and Samson's emoyions and body language, the cultural alienation that many Aboriginal youth face. The second shot that Thornton uses is a long shot of Samson with his back to his village, walking away. This shows he is no longer just feeling detatched from his culture, but is phisically turning his back on his culture and walking away. Thornton is showing the audience the reality of the decisions that some Aboriginal youth have to make on a daily basis. He is also showing us the things they do such as substance abuse and phisical and sexual violence when they are not intouch with their culture and don't have a safe environment to live in, or good role models around them. Thornton uses cinematography to show the audience the realities of rejection and cultural misplacement that many Aboriginal youth face, and the decisions and actions that they make when they turn their backs on their culture.
The final technique that Thornton uses to show his ideas of phisical and sexual violence against young Aboriginals is hair and make-up. He conveys his ideas of violence to the audience letting us see Delilah after she has been abducted, raped, and beaten. When we see Delilah she has been badly beaten. She has a hugely puffed up eye, so puffed up that it is closed. This has been acheived by putting silocon over her eye, and then tissues under the silocon. There is heavy bruising around her eyes and cheek. This has been done by applying blusher and foundation. She also ahs blood on her teeth, this has been done using stage blood. By showing the audience Delilah after she has been so badly beaten, Thornton is showing us the results of phisical and sexual violence that many young Aboriginals deal with after they have turned their back, or been isolated from their culture.
In conclusion "Samson and Delilah" is a moving and painfully realistic film that depicts the struggles and obstacles faced by many young Aboriginals everyday in rural Australian towns. He has used the techniques of Props, Cinematography, and Hair and Make-up to get across his deeper ideas of substance abuse, seperation from culture, and phisical and sexual violence, that many indiginous Australians face in small outback towns. By making the main character in this film a realistic Aboriginal teenager who is an anti-hero and a petrol addict he is confronting the predomanantly white middle class Australian audience about the darker side of things that some Aboriginal youth face, and making them aware of these realities so that the audience can hopefully go out and actively take action, to change some of these realities for the better.
"Samson and Delilah", directed by Warwick Thornton is a powerful film about two aboriginal teenagers who go through many challenges including alienation from their culture, substance abuse, and violence. Thornton uses the techniques of props, cinematography, and hair and make-up to get across his main ideas of the harsh realities that many Aboriginal youth face.
The first technique that Thornton uses to show the deeper ideas of the harsh reality that young Aboriginals face, and substance abuse, is the technique of props. In particular the petrol can, which is used to show substance abuse. For example in the very first scene when we see samson for the first time we also see the can full of petrol. We see Samson get out of bed and sniff petrol before he does anything else in his day. This shows the audience that sniffing petrol is part of his daily routine, and suggests that he is quite addicted. It also means that the audience immediatly associate Samson with anything to do with petrol throughout the film. Our suspicions of Samson being heavily addicted to petrol are confirmed as the film progresses, because most of the time that Samson is on camera he is clutching a can or bottle of petrol. This shows the audience that Samson is completely addicted to petrol. By making the protagonist of this film a young, petrol sniffing Aboriginal, Thornton is trying to shock the audience and give them a good insight into substance abuse amongst Aboriginal youth in rural towns, and the devestating effects that it has.
The second technique that Thornton uses to convey his ideas of rejection and isolation of culture is cinematography. He conveys these ideas with the use of two long shots. The first long shot is of Samson looking down on his village from a hill. The long phisical distance that Samson is looking down at his village, shows the emotional distance and dissconnection that he feels from his home and culture. His expression and body language shows that he is confused and angry. Thornton is showing the audience, through the use of the long shot and Samson's emoyions and body language, the cultural alienation that many Aboriginal youth face. The second shot that Thornton uses is a long shot of Samson with his back to his village, walking away. This shows he is no longer just feeling detatched from his culture, but is phisically turning his back on his culture and walking away. Thornton is showing the audience the reality of the decisions that some Aboriginal youth have to make on a daily basis. He is also showing us the things they do such as substance abuse and phisical and sexual violence when they are not intouch with their culture and don't have a safe environment to live in, or good role models around them. Thornton uses cinematography to show the audience the realities of rejection and cultural misplacement that many Aboriginal youth face, and the decisions and actions that they make when they turn their backs on their culture.
The final technique that Thornton uses to show his ideas of phisical and sexual violence against young Aboriginals is hair and make-up. He conveys his ideas of violence to the audience letting us see Delilah after she has been abducted, raped, and beaten. When we see Delilah she has been badly beaten. She has a hugely puffed up eye, so puffed up that it is closed. This has been acheived by putting silocon over her eye, and then tissues under the silocon. There is heavy bruising around her eyes and cheek. This has been done by applying blusher and foundation. She also ahs blood on her teeth, this has been done using stage blood. By showing the audience Delilah after she has been so badly beaten, Thornton is showing us the results of phisical and sexual violence that many young Aboriginals deal with after they have turned their back, or been isolated from their culture.
In conclusion "Samson and Delilah" is a moving and painfully realistic film that depicts the struggles and obstacles faced by many young Aboriginals everyday in rural Australian towns. He has used the techniques of Props, Cinematography, and Hair and Make-up to get across his deeper ideas of substance abuse, seperation from culture, and phisical and sexual violence, that many indiginous Australians face in small outback towns. By making the main character in this film a realistic Aboriginal teenager who is an anti-hero and a petrol addict he is confronting the predomanantly white middle class Australian audience about the darker side of things that some Aboriginal youth face, and making them aware of these realities so that the audience can hopefully go out and actively take action, to change some of these realities for the better.
