Elephant (2003)

On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High shoal dear(p) Denver, Colorado, two senior students embarked on a massacre, killing twelve students, one t individu all toldyer, and injuring over twenty more than students. The two troubled students then committed suicide. It is the fourth deadliest school massacre in United States history. The artistic style elephant in the room is used as a metaphor to describe an obvious truth that goes un put upressed, or simply ignored. eachone knows it is there, but no one will say what needs to be said, or cognise the problem that is in front of them.Gus Van Sants, Elephant, is a cinematic response to the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. Van Sants open-ended treatment of the Columbine event is one example of how his creative system is able to focus the social complexity behind the incident, and stimulate curiosity from the audience. This style of rent stairs far past the traditional boundaries to the point, demonstrating that this is only scratching the surface, suggesting that there is much more depth than what is shown in or eccentric view.Elephant refuses to adjust to conventional views of cause and effect, and instead weaves an inescapable spell on its audience with its classifiable long takes, diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, and an interweaving, realistic narrative organize, all contributing to its remarkable visual harmony and an everlasting unrestrained affect on those who witness it. One creative strategy that Van Sant employs throughout the movies entirety is its distinctive, but unique long takes. This unconventional right smart of filling helps determine the atmosphere of the scoot as a whole.Van Sant takes the audience on a trance equivalent journey as the camera follows each character around the school. The action is moved along by the continual course of the camera tracking behind varied students as they navigate the school halls, cafeteria, library, and football field. During these lo ng takes, the audience is given the perspective of a passive witness to the action as it unfolds unavoidably. As a result, it becomes a slow-moving film with a snowballing and powerful impact. As Van Sant puts it, No cutting is better than cutting.A fabricated story isnt as good as something thats more organic(Van Sant). These long scenes are repeated, but through the eyes of distinct characters each revealing a new perspective of the scene, which increases the sympathy for these students who have no idea what is coming, but was already revealed to the audience. With these distinctive and realistic long takes, the scenes become preserved in the audiences memory due to what seems like a first hand experience of the traumatic event.Another key component to this movies inescapable spell that it places on its viewers is the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Throughout the movie there is always a constant sound, whether it is the echoes of voices in the hallways and console ro om, or the sound of Beethoven playing beneath the diegetic sounds. The use of these diegetic sounds help execute a more realistic perspective for the audiences. As they follow behind each character closely, Van Sant gear ups sure to add every little detail he can to ensure that the audience gets as raw and as authentic of a view as possible.For example, the group of young girls in the cafeteria or in the footlocker room, there are no sound affects added, what you see is what you hear, creating a naturalistic atmosphere. As another way to increase the tension, Van Sant strategically places the non-diegetic sound of a mild playing classical music to create an ominous mood in the selected scenes. There are only a few scenes at which the piano is played, and it easily goes unnoticed. The sounds of classical music playing beneath the diegetic sounds places the audiences in a dreamlike state, as all they can do is sit back and watch as the story unfolds.The interweaving and realistic narrative structure of this film helps show the multiple points of views of this tragedy, giving the audience the ability to become the ideal imaginary commentator and feel as close to the real thing as possible. After reviewing the film, Manohla Dargis of the LA Times states, Every so often, Van Sant repeats a scene from another perspective, as if he were winding back time, and decelerates the wide awake to put the film into slow motion so we can pay witness to this heartbreaking animation, to the brio of these children.I think this is why Van Sant made Elephant he wants to honor the lives of the Columbine dead, to remember all the kids in their radiant, burning life. (Dargis). The same scenes are replayed multiple times from different perspectives to show the magnitude of the situation, and just how powerful what is taking place really is. Instead of casting big name actors, Van Sant casts regular soaring school teenagers, who improvise their dialogue to make it seem as realis tic as he could.By retentiveness this narrative structure away from the glamour and artificiality of classic Hollywood films, Van Sant allows the story to unfold of course and is able to preserve the films true meaning, which is to focus on the traumatic event that is right in plain view, but yet no one wants to address. Throughout the film, the audience is given an in depth expect at what took place that tragic day. As far as authenticity, this film is as realistic of an indication as there can be without dipping into the glamour of Hollywood, and distortion for the sake of a better script.This film is as real as it gets, and it is because of the creative, non-traditional style that Van Sant employs throughout it. There are several different elements that go into creating this film, such as an interweaving narrative structure, or the use of creative and unique shots that help make it extremely impactful. Some elements can be seen with the naked eye others require a little bit m ore intellect. Regardless of whether or not the audience can see why this film is more creative and spell bounding than the next, they at least know something is there like the elephant in the room.