Final Part 3 - Reflection

I think that Zhang Yimou, the director of The Road Home, chose to incorporate fairytales and myth in the plot because it was a way of showing the innocence of Zhao Di’s love when she was younger, and was also a way of having Zhao Di express her feelings when she was older – so we as an audience understood why she was experiencing so much grief at the loss of Luo Changyu. The fairytale is demonstrated by showing the present time at the beginning of the film in black and white, but then making the transition to color with Zhao Di’s memories of how she fell in love with Luo Changyu, and then back to black and white when she finishes telling the story. I thought the transition between black and white and color in the film effectively demonstrated their love story and how their fairytale both began and came to an end when he passed away. Using this strategy added to the emotional journey that we, as an audience, felt while watching the film; seeing their fairytale journey allowed us to view their struggles and hardships, as well as gain insight as to why Zhao Di and Luo Changyu fell in love with each other. It was extremely enjoyable to watch overall.

Final Part 2 - Visual Style Analysis

Enchanted and The Road Home have many similarities including the characters love story, and the symbolism throughout each film.
 

Symbolism is relevant in both films through the use of the color red - it represents the hope each of the protagonists has that they will get to be with the person they love. In The Road Home, Zhao Di falls in love with the new school teacher, Luo Changyu, and wears a red scarf each time she goes to visit him at the school. Her red scarf symbolizes the hope she has that he will notice her. Later on in the film, Luo Changyu gives Zhao Di a red barrette before he has to return to the city. The red barrette demonstrates that Luo Changyu reciprocates her love for him and that he hopes she will wait for him to return. In Enchanted, Giselle is tempted with a red apple before she gets married to Prince Edward. She’d been having doubts about getting married to Prince Edward and the apple represents the life she wishes and hopes she will have with him. As the film progresses and she develops feelings for Robert Philip, the apple later comes to represent the hope that they will be together and that he will reciprocate the feelings she has for him.

The characters behavior is also similar between both films. In The Road Home, Zhao Di and Luo Changyu develop a close and intimate relationship with each other, but when Luo Changyu is summoned to return to the city she becomes sickly distraught at him not being around anymore. This despair causes her to fall ill until he returns to her. In Enchanted, Giselle focuses her efforts on helping Robert with his relationship with Nancy by showing him small ways he can demonstrate his love for her. As she spends more time with him she realizes that its Robert she has feelings for, not Prince Edward, and when she attends the ball she becomes distraught when she realizes that they won’t be together. Queen Narissa takes advantage of her vulnerability and convinces her that everything will turn out okay if she eats the apple. Once she does, Giselle falls into a deep sleep from which she can only be awoken by her true love. These two love stories are similar to each other because both protagonists’ fall ill when they realize they can’t be with the person they love most. It’s only when their love interest returns to them that they can wake up.

 

Visual Style:

The visual style is similar in the way the directors portray each film. In The Road Home, the director uses black and white to represent the present time, and color to represent the memories and flashbacks Zhao Di is having as she recalls the life she had with Luo Changyu. In Enchanted, the director uses animation to represent Giselle’s past life, the life she will soon leave behind, and the use of real people to represent her new life and the one in which she’ll find the person she truly belongs with.

The color scheme in The Road Home and in the animated scenes in Enchanted is vibrant and full of life (warm color palette), which demonstrates the desires and good feelings they once had. To demonstrate the present time, the director of The Road Home showed the scenes in black and white, and in Enchanted the director portrays the real world (when she first appears in New York) as dull and lifeless so it was almost bordering on a black and white color palette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The visual style between both films is also similar in the way the characters are viewed by others, specifically by their love interests. Both Robert and Luo Changyu look at the protagonists with affection, which is demonstrated in the shots below. Both Giselle and Zhao Di are looking away from their love interest, whereas their love interest is completely focused on them. The directors choice of a close up for these scenes allows the viewer to see the expressions and emotions on each characters face; this demonstrates the love story between both characters.

 

 

 

Pan's Labyrinth Featured Blogger Question

Prior to entering the Pale Man’s room, the faun warns Ofelia not to eat or drink anything off the table, no matter how tempting it may be. Despite successfully collecting the knife from the cupboard, and the warning not to eat or drink anything on the Pale Man’s table, Ofelia decided to eat a lush red grape anyways - blatantly ignoring the faun’s warning.

1. Why do you think Ofelia chose to eat something off the table?

2. What do you think would have happened if she hadn’t eaten something off the table; was this action critical towards her completion of the three tasks?