Arriaga 1 Angelica Arriaga Mr.

Newman English: Rhetoric 101 16 October 2013 Violence Breaks Loose Explicitly detailed violence in film was not common until Arthur Penn challenged this characteristic as his filmmaking career was reaching its peak during the 1960s through the 1970s. In the course of that time, he created Bonnie and Clyde, a movie that not only touched the younger generation, but also transformed the American film industry. The plot of this movie is set in the early 1930s, where two nobodies, Bonnie (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde (Warren Beatty) get their pictures in the paper by killing people. Throughout their journey, humor and romantic comedy becomes an offset for the great violence that reoccurs within the film. Pauline Kael and Penelope Gilliatt, two critics of The New Yorker, discuss their own opinions of the films success. Although they have different styles of tone, Kael and Gilliatt both agree that Penns filmmaking skills created a movie worthy of its time and how violence shaped the new era of movies in American cinema. In their reviews, Kael and Gilliatt both note that without Penn and his screen writers, the movie would not have been a huge success. In Gilliatts review, she states that Penn meant to make the film theatrically remembered by its attitude towards violence that is thoughtful and piercing showing that he successfully added the right amount of graphic violence without taking away from the film. In Kaels perspective, she agrees that Penns ability to use the kind of American poetry that glorified the life of crime made way to a new era of films that would change movie history. They also agree that the reason the movie would gain success is because

Arriaga 2 of the films ability to connect with a generation that is fascinated with senseless violence and the involvement of two characters that gave birth to a new breed of killers. Gilliatt refers to the characters as performers that absorbed the audience with their facetious behavior that shed a new light to violence films. She also says that Penns use of the hilarious outbursts combined with violence and comedy was a new introduction to American cinema. It was because of Penns use of praised bloodshed and crime that pushed a new generation to enjoy seeing the world as insane and love the bomb. (Kael) Both critics understood that the film was new and exciting, but each had their own approach in portraying their message. Kael makes her points with the use of questions in order to develop her deeper and more profound writing. She introduces her style of writing at the start of the review by asking How do you make a good movie without being jumped on? She is then able to transition into overelaborated statements of how we have our own connections that make the audience feel alive during the movie. Her style of writing is set up that way because she does not dumb down to adjust to her less intelligent audience. Kael also expresses her opinions in a strong matter so that her audience either agrees with her or against her: once something is said or done on the screens of the world, once it has entered mass art, it can never belong to a minority, never again be the private possession of an educated or 'knowing group'." Kael's criticism, challenged the reader to view certain perspectives her way, but Gilliatt's judgments were less didactic and more inviting. Gilliatt wasnt that interested in the whole story of the movie, but rather with the people that made the movie worthwhile. Her review mainly targeted on the summarization of Bonnie and Clyde, while occasionally adding her own input. She addresses Bonnie and Clyde as gay, too easy to scar, and avidly gregarious: versions of performers, living in a pepped-up present

Arriaga 3 with sickeningly little idea of what is liable to happen next. She brings attention to how the movie is full of scenes of giggling and showoff, but the moods belong to the characters, not to the film. This shows how Gilliatts writing didnt demand the audience to think a certain way, but instead Gilliatt indirectly requests her audience to create their own intellectual opinions of the film. Gilliatts main focus was to create a review that would be understandable with all of her audience, and to not write in complicated statements. Within the review, Gilliatte goes into depth of the movie without a sense of aggressiveness in her tone that promoted the film as a history changer. Arthur Penn set the standard for the new face of American cinema to become more open in involving violence and sex. Bonnie and Clyde was able to defeat the barrier of violence in films with creative approaches that we see imitated in today's cinema. The movie itself shows Penns artistic style that made way to the infamous Depression Era gangsters, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, sympathetic lovers that are both symbols of power and freedom. Although the graphic violence that Penn portrayed in Bonnie and Clyde shocked many people, the movie was still able to appeal to the general population. This was the perfect time for American cinema to break the tradition of the usual 1950s civil violence. Due to the films success, movies such as The Godfather, Apocalypse, and Taxi Driver were able to emerge as America changed socially and culturally as the limits of what was acceptable for people to view were pushed.

Arriaga 4 Work Cited Kael, Pauline. "Onward and Upward with the Arts." New Yorker. Cond Nast., 7 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. Gilliatt, Penelope. "The Party." The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
Purpose (25): Successful (A+ thru B):
Demonstrates a superior understanding of two critic s reviews of the same film and shows how they agree and differ about various aspects of said film Utilizes point-by-point or block format effectively in the analysis

Genre (25): Successful (A+ thru B): Contains a thesis in the last sentence of the intro that effectively captures the areas that are being compared and contrasted. Demonstrates a sophisticated evaluation of the films regarding the aspects chosen for analysis

Design/Layout (25): Successful (A+ thru B): Uses a 12-point, Times New Roman font with a double-spaced page Includes a creative title, appropriately placed and formatted headers, heading, and page numbers A Works Cited list is included on its own page at the end that includes both reviews and possibly the film

Audience (25): Successful (A+ thru B): Uses vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and usage appropriate for a college audience Assumes a level of intelligence and sophistication for the audience Offers an intriguing mix of comparisons and contrasts in an intellectual way

Stance (25):

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Successful (A+ thru B): Demonstrates an understanding of each critics stance through textual support Includes a consistent tone that presents the critics reviews fairly