Amanda: American film vs. European film

This semester has revealed a whole new understanding of watching and interpreting film. Throughout the semester we have gone in very much depth discussing the films we watched and this process has allowed me to better understand the techniques of creating film and the symbols through which films communicate. My critique and internal processing and reflection of film has greatly improved and further sparked my interest in the artistic expression of film as a whole.

In response to our main course objective of comparing American and European film, the difference essentially comes down to the varying purpose for creating these movies. Generally speaking, I would say that American film is created more so for entertainment, whereas European film is created to actually make a statement. Of course, this is a broad statement and does not take into consideration independent films or those of special interest, but I feel it does accurately represent the state of most movies today.

Stemming off of this large difference, the audience’s role is then changed drastically. In American films the audience is meant to sit back and enjoy the glitz and glamour on the big screen. Hollywood big shots exhibit their masculinity, beauty, and sometimes tears to work for their huge paychecks. Because we are so obsessed with celebrities in America it is hard to separate their personal lives from the characters they portray in films. European films seem much more focused on creating stories about common, relatable characters. In European films the audience is meant to work through the symbols, and thick dialogue to create meaning from the story.

The subject of love is also portrayed radically different. American film is much more cut and dry, and often results in the obvious, ‘happily ever after’ scenario whereas European film seems more realistic. European film also seems to take on the subject of transcendental love much more frequently and accurately. In general, European film seems to understand it’s limitation in expressing the ineffable concept of love whereas American film tries again and again to put cheesy dialogue and story lines around it.