Some of the Most Misunderstood Films of All Time

Compared to painting, sculpture, or music, movies are an extremely young artistic medium. The unique implications of a moving camera compared to a live performance are so vast that it has taken many years for film to fully develop as an artistic medium. It's natural, therefore, that filmmakers should have experimented with a wide variety of different forms and narrative techniques. Imagine their frustration when their movies, which they had carefully written, nurtured through development, and finally released, were vividly misunderstood by the very audiences the films were aimed at. These are just a few of those misunderstood gems.

The Shining

When the talk turns to misunderstood classics, there's hardly a better starting point than the filmography of Stanley Kubrick, who spent the better part of thirty years acting as a sort of one-man misunderstanding machine.

In "The Shining," Kubrick knocked horror fans for a loop by driving them up to a spooky old mansion in the mountains and throwing at them a monster, who turned out to be a normal guy. No rubber suits, no aliens, and not even one car chase were worked into this thriller. Audiences took it as a simple story about an ax murderer. What those audiences overlooked was that the film, and the book on which it was very loosely based, had many kinds of subtext. Author Stephen King has publicly stated that the book was a meditation on his own struggles with alcoholism. Kubrick, for his part, left his own interpretation open to speculation. Entire cottage industries exist to decipher the symbolism in Kubrick's movies, and "The Shining" is no exception. Quite a lot of evidence has been gathered-online, naturally-in support of "The Shining" being an extended metaphor for the domination of the Americas by white Europeans. As usual, everybody is free to interpret the film through their own lens, but one thing "The Shining"isn'tis a simple slasher pic.

Jake Gyllenhaal: A Biography

With the September 20, 2013, release of "Prisoners," fans are lining up to find out everything they can about one of the film's lead actors, Jake Gyllenhaal.

The American actor has roots that are firmly planted in the film industry. He was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. His parents are screenwriter Naomi Foner and film director Stephen Gyllenhaal. He went to elementary school with members of the mega-popular band Maroon 5 and graduated from a private high school, Harvard-Westlake, in 1998, where his classmates included Adya Field and Jason Segal.

Before finding success as an actor, Gyllenhaal worked several jobs, including as a bus boy at the restaurant of a family friend and as a lifeguard. In the latter job, he has been credited with rescuing a swimmer who had been stung by a jellyfish-and subsequently urinating on the stings to alleviate the swimmer's pain.

During childhood, Gyllenhaal was regularly exposed to film and landed his first role at the age of eleven, playing the son of Billy Crystal's character in the comedy "City Slickers" (1991). He was cast for a role in "The Mighty Ducks" the following year, but his parents would not allow him to accept it, because he would have been required to be away from home for a couple of months.

In 1993, Gyllenhaal appeared in "A Dangerous Woman" along with his sister Maggie. His career slowed for a bit during high school, largely because of his parents' objections whenever he'd land a role. It wasn't until he landed a leading role in "October Sky" in 1999 that he saw a glimmer of the success that would become his future. The film is an adaptation of Rocket Boys, the autobiography of Homer Hickam. The role is generally regarded as Gyllenhaal's breakout performance.

Silent Movie Acting - Not Just Melodrama

If you have ever seen some of the old TV comedies there is a chance you may have seen an episode or two where they spoof silent movies. In general the parody consists of a lot of title cards and plenty of melodramatic acting.

In many instances they were not that far off the mark. Some silent films because of the story or a director that lacked imagination would use a ton of title cards to get the narrative across.
Sometimes it's a contest to find out what you will see more of the actor's on the screen or the dialogue cards. It's a given with the nature of silents that there must be a certain amount of explanation so audiences could understand what was going on.

However people like Charlie Chaplin showed what was possible. Chaplin was able to make feature length films let alone shorts with the minimum of title cards hereby demonstrating the power of pantomime to carry the narrative.

And his pantomime did not really consist of wild overblown gestures with bug-eyed facial expressions. Charlie Chaplin's acting could be as naturalistic as any actor that came after him. The same goes for America's Sweetheart Mary Pickford. She foregoes many of the melodramatic tendencies and hones in on more true to life style.

Pickford like Chaplin would from time to time exaggerate their countenance as well as body language but more often than not it was done to create a certain effect and then it was back to the natural.

Douglas Fairbanks goes back and forth between these two worlds in Mark Of Zorro. In one scene Fairbanks as the mild mannered Don Diego Vega meets up with some villainous soldiers who demonstrate to him what they are going to do if they ever catch up with Zorro.