elemental movie review

elemental movie review

Analyzing the Impact of Elemental Themes in Modern Cinema: A Scholarly Review

1. Introduction to Elemental Themes in Film

Since the commencement of the age of exhibition, members of society have enabled the prolific rise of global cinema by investing funds in exchange for the temporary transferal backstage into the lives of characters that they have been paid to become emotionally invested in. Indeed, the profits from the exhibition of the first film produced using Edison’s invention gave birth to the modern movie studio establishment and allowed for discoveries made within the electricity laboratory to be reinvested into regularity, projection, and photography research. However, a clear school of thought has persisted that the creation of commercial entertainment serves only its own financial interest, much as it did for Barthélemy Thimonnier’s sewing machine that was destroyed by clothiers before the garment of progression could be created.

In an unprecedented period spanning from May 2008 to April 2012, audiences worldwide were given the opportunity to witness the progressive creation of a modern fairy tale universe entirely on the silver screen. The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has, in part, been due to its inception, cultivation, and faithful execution of elemental themes derived from decades of source material. When viewed through a scholarly perspective, it is in the eye of the beholder to note and draw social, political, and religious connections to the elemental aspects that are imbued or re-imagined within these characters, their stories, and character interactions. This review of literature does not presuppose that the analysis of any one film’s elemental themes may be unique to the film in question. Researchers are invited to explore additional cinematic entertainments with a similar focus in future publications, as this exploration is intended to provide a foundation for others to build upon.

2. Theoretical Frameworks for Analyzing Elemental Symbolism

Inevitably, enigmatic symbols often appear to exist in a world on their own accord, relating only to the connoisseur, to the viewer who is more or less educated in the context of works of art and able to access the hieratic logic. Roland Barthes in particular cast an analytical light by recognizing the Atlas as a unique kind of writing, revealing recurring symbols that had been metaphorically appropriated by the filmmaker in order to suggest something over and beyond what was simply being portrayed on screen.

In ‘The Film Sense,’ Eisenstein also described his own approach to the narrative qualities of films without using modern terminology to express his ideas: the emotion of a film’s image immediately appears when it strikes the spectator. The director should take advantage of this shock effect, build an emotional tautness “…with the elevation of the circumstantiality of the image to the level of a cinematic frame”. Although decades later, both Propp and Barthes structured identifying symbols and defining themes, images, articulating the producer’s intent when using them remains essential: Some key problems of the functioning of symbols stem from the structural organization of reality itself; insignificant signs do not have wholly insignificant meanings.

3. Case Studies: Elemental Themes in Iconic Films

The Wizard of Oz also has rich elemental themes. Water controls Dorothy’s dreams. Water plays into the image of the storm, her farmhand childhood, and the fact that she is a child. The farmhands themselves each represent elemental themes in the form of scarecrow, tin man, and lion. Additionally, the house gets turned up and down and dried out. The red letters also have the importance of fire as an elemental motif. Despite all these characters and motifs, the Wizard of Oz becomes the self-proclaimed disembodied head: another elemental symbol of fire. The Wizard is less, not more than the original symbols. The other magic ultimately turns out to be the boots. Each of these characters has a deflationary or otherwise diminished quality in the plot, and very few of them come close to realizing the elemental meaning of the characters they represent.

Casablanca, as one of the most iconic films of all time, is oozing with elemental themes that guide the plot and character development. One such element is fire. Ilsa wears a huge, fiery gem that only makes sense in the context of fire. While the brightest reds in the film, Bogie’s fiery tie, the lights of the bar, the beautiful red dress of the woman who almost got shot, and the lights of the truck fleeing with the letters are all light in contrast to the darkness of night. Greed is also displayed in terms of gold. The suitcase full of letters and Ugarte’s justification for the murder of the couriers bring up the relevance of gold. The letters themselves also speak to the elemental theme of metal. The heaviness and intensity of gold is linked with the stiff wind of politics.

4. Critical Reception and Interpretations of Elemental Motifs

With the increasing interest in theme-based inquiry, we can reflect on the motivating purpose of this study with the idea that elemental motifs are also a form of thematic meaning in film. Which and why these six elements are there in the first place varies from film to film, but the fact that elemental motifs are there is there, as most thematic notions rise above the level of individual choices and are posed as deliberate, conscious beliefs and are thus made as an integral plan to the functionality of the cinema film entertainment experience. The major purpose of the research is this: to evaluate the scholarly context of elemental thinking and thematic knowledge as well as their narrative and conceptual concepts in the field of cinema film analysis. We will discover if all the elements as depicted serve thematic intentions in the first place, we will discover.

The idea of elemental aspects within films is certainly not new and is not limited to only cinema. The central theme is that the elements and elemental motifs have a profound effect on human life and hold meaning and significance that we collectively acknowledge. This sensitivity to elemental aspects also means that we can derive meaning from film experiences, and that meaning can go beyond mere sensual stimuli. Workers in the tradition of theoretical and philosophical accounts of elemental beliefs also take the position that when film experiences help to establish or further authenticate belief in such faith, the acceptance of deliberately created cinematic illusions actually assists the advancement of the plot or narrative action in meaningful ways. To truly understand and evaluate the thought of elemental meanings in films, we must consider film faith or thought in the context of a wider conversation, including the many non-film sources by which elemental cognition has been revealed, spoken, or depicted.

5. Conclusion: The Future of Elemental Themes in Cinema

In our interconnected and excessively industrialized world, facing the dark shadows of inconsideration and the lack of harmony with nature requires an awareness of the natural signs of the environment. The recent pandemic has, unfortunately, demonstrated that ignorance of the fragility of the world creates conflicts and disasters. Thanks to the contribution provided by the elemental themes in cinema, we should realize the importance of life, become aware of the dramatic occurrences, and understand the beauty, magic, and unexplainable aspects of the natural world. However, in order to strengthen the relationships with the environment in contemporary times, undergo the necessary transformation of vision, and find oases of silence within hectic city life, we need complete and stimulating movies that encourage subjects to embark on a new human and social path. Informative aesthetics, dramatic insights, and the adoption of an innovative design approach to verifying the relationships permeating the elemental themes offer cinematographic materials that can initiate an engaging conversation about the time of truth.

This review concludes by contemplating the future of the fascinating concept of elemental themes in modern cinema, a concept that has been marginally approached by previous scholarship and that is mostly based on theoretical discussion. While most scholars in this review have explored the concept of elemental themes in cinema production from an isolated perspective, we believe that the understanding of the different elements as a part of basic thematic units in cinema allows us to make consistent cross-references between the elements to gain a better understanding of the compelling relationship between insatiable human ambition and the natural world. Hence, this review conveniently connects the different stereotypical characters and premises involving elemental themes and discusses their portrayal in present cinema as well as the impact and impulse on examining the human condition from a wider perspective than the content level. Similarly, we emphasize the significance of the contemporary themes in production, as the analysis of recent tendencies could provide unique and coherent findings that contribute to the trend.