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COM 361 Final
Moretti Bildungsroman
Moretti argues that this genre survives and thrives not because it resolves that contradiction, but because it contains it—offering a compromise between the desire for personal growth and the need to fit into society. The Bildungsroman shows how modern individuals learn to live with this contradiction, making it central to modern culture
Bakhtin Problems
Bakhtin says Dostoevsky doesn't just represent characters — he lets them speak for themselves, each with their own worldview. Instead of one truth dominating (as in most traditional novels), Dostoevsky's works stage a dialogue between truths, making his novels fundamentally dialogic rather than monologic.
A bildungsroman film is a type of movie that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the main character from youth to adulthood — essentially, a coming-of-age story. The term bildungsroman originates from German literature, but in film, it refers to stories that chart a character's personal development, self-discovery, and maturation over time.
Key Traits of a Bildungsroman Film:
Focus on a young protagonist – Typically a child or teenager who is still figuring out their identity and place in the world.
Emphasis on inner growth – The story revolves around emotional, intellectual, or spiritual growth, not just external action.
A journey or series of formative experiences – These shape the character’s understanding of themselves and the world.
Conflict between the individual and society – The protagonist often struggles with societal expectations or norms.
Ending with maturity – By the end, the character gains insight, maturity, or acceptance of themselves and their role in life.
How Dazed and Confused fits the Bildungsroman genre:
1. Transitional Time = Coming of Age
The film is set on a single day and night, but it symbolizes a larger transition: the move from high school to adulthood (or from middle school to high school, in the case of younger characters like Mitch). It captures that in-between state where characters are figuring out who they are and where they fit.
2. Formative Experiences
Even though not much "happens" in the traditional plot sense, the characters go through pivotal experiences: hazing rituals, peer pressure, first tastes of freedom, awkward social interactions, romantic encounters, and drug use. These moments are small but formative—they shape the characters' identities.
3. Personal Growth (or the lack of it)
The film doesn’t end with major resolutions, but we see subtle shifts:
Pink (Jason London) faces a moral decision about whether to sign a pledge to stay off drugs. His resistance shows a growing sense of self and values.
Mitch (Wiley Wiggins) experiences his first steps into adolescence—he flirts, drinks, and smokes, starting to define who he wants to be.
Others, like Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey), are stuck in a kind of arrested development, showing what happens when someone resists growing up.
4. Society vs. Self
The film deals with peer pressure, authority figures (like coaches and parents), and societal expectations. Characters must decide whether to conform or rebel—a classic tension in bildungsroman narratives.
Menippean satire is a literary and philosophical genre that critiques mental attitudes, worldviews, or ideologies through a mix of humor, parody, absurdity, and philosophical dialogue. It often blends high and low styles, jumps between different tones or formats, and favors ideas over characters or plot.
Key Characteristics of Menippean Satire:
Satire of Ideas – Unlike Horatian or Juvenalian satire, which mocks people or societal flaws, Menippean satire critiques mindsets—like hypocrisy, blind belief, or intellectual arrogance.
Nonlinear or Fragmented Structure – It often has a chaotic or episodic feel, with sudden shifts in tone, style, or perspective.
Philosophical and Comedic – It blends deep questions with absurd or grotesque elements, making the critique more indirect but more imaginative.
Mix of Genres and Voices – Can include prose, poetry, dialogue, fantasy, parody, and metafiction all in the same work.
Carnivalesque Tone – Inspired by the carnival tradition (think Bakhtin), it often includes debasement, inversion of norms, and mockery of authority or seriousness.
Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022), directed by George Miller, is a strong example of Menippean satire, though it’s wrapped in fantasy and romance. At its core, the film critiques modern and ancient worldviews—especially around desire, storytelling, logic, and love—through a mix of surrealism, humor, and philosophical conversation.
Here's how it fits the Menippean satire form:
1. Satire of Ideas, Not People
The film doesn’t target specific individuals or political systems—it targets ideas:
The rational, scientific worldview of the protagonist Alithea (a narratologist who distrusts fantasy).
The blind pursuit of desire, represented by the Djinn's centuries of granting wishes that never bring true happiness.
The limits of storytelling—how we try to make sense of chaos through narrative, but often still end up lost.
The Djinn’s stories are about emperors, scholars, and lovers, but the real subject is how human beings are trapped by their desires and illusions.
2. Philosophical Dialogue
Much of the film is structured as a conversation between Alithea and the Djinn. They discuss love, loneliness, science, myth, belief, and the power of stories. This Socratic, idea-driven structure is a hallmark of Menippean satire.
3. Mix of Genres, Tones, and Styles
The film shifts between quiet, intellectual hotel room chats and vivid, mythic flashbacks across centuries.
It jumps from magical realism to romance to history to surreal dream-logic, refusing to stay in one tone.
Visually and narratively, it blends the high and the low: ancient Ottoman palaces and London apartment blocks, sensual pleasures and lonely minds.
4. Carnivalesque and Absurd Elements
The Djinn's tales are full of:
Grotesque or exaggerated characters (like the gluttonous Sultan or the paranoid princess).
Absurd situations (being trapped in bottles for centuries, lovers hiding from society).
Inversions of logic—like the Djinn, a supernatural being, being more emotionally vulnerable than the human academic.
These elements mock both ancient and modern delusions—how people believe they can control love, fate, or meaning.
5. Disruption of Traditional Plot
This is not a hero’s journey or a clear-cut romance. It’s a story made up of nested stories, fragmented memories, and unresolved desires. There’s no neat moral or ending—just a recognition of human contradictions.
The body genre is a term used to describe a category of films that center on the physical body—specifically its transformation, manipulation, or destruction—as a key narrative and thematic element. These films often explore issues related to bodily autonomy, identity, mortality, sexuality, and physical limits. They tend to focus on the visceral, tangible aspects of the body, with graphic depictions or symbolic representations of bodily experiences.
Key Characteristics of the Body Genre:
Physicality as a central theme – The body itself becomes the focus, whether through intense physical transformations, violence, illness, or sexual expression.
Exploration of bodily limits – Films often push the boundaries of what the body can endure or transform into, highlighting vulnerability, decay, or extraordinary abilities.
Sensory engagement – These films often aim to elicit a visceral reaction from the audience, focusing on the sensation of the body (pain, pleasure, discomfort).
Body as metaphor – Beyond physicality, the body can symbolize broader concepts, such as alienation, trauma, or identity.
Types of Body Genre Films:
Body Horror – Focuses on grotesque, disturbing transformations or violations of the body. This subgenre is known for graphic depictions of mutilation, mutation, or disease. Classic examples include:
The Fly (1986) – A scientist’s body gradually mutates into that of a fly after an experiment goes wrong.
Videodrome (1983) – A TV producer begins experiencing strange physical changes, symbolizing the erosion of reality and identity.
Slasher Films – Often combine horror with physical violence, focusing on bodily injury as a central plot element. These films explore the fragility of the body and often treat it as expendable in the pursuit of fear or terror.
Halloween (1978) – The killer Michael Myers methodically murders his victims, making the human body central to the horror.
Sexualized Body – Films that explore the body’s role in sexual identity, expression, or desire, often pushing boundaries of acceptable or taboo sexual representations.
Crash (1996) – Characters are sexually aroused by car accidents and the bodily damage they cause.
Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) – A coming-of-age film where the exploration of physical intimacy is central to the emotional growth of the characters.
Zombie Films – These films often depict reanimated corpses, focusing on the decay and decomposition of the human body. Zombies challenge notions of life and death, and their deteriorating bodies often symbolize social breakdown or loss of individuality.
Night of the Living Dead (1968) – Zombies become a metaphor for the fragility of life and the threat of bodily destruction.
Physically Transformed Bodies – These films may not focus on horror or violence but on fantastical or supernatural transformations of the body, such as those in science fiction or fantasy genres.
The Mask (1994) – A man’s body is transformed by an ancient mask, granting him unusual powers.
Tusk (2014) – A man is transformed into a walrus by a deranged doctor, exploring the disturbing idea of bodily change and loss of humanity.
Themes Explored in the Body Genre:
Identity and the body: How our physical form impacts or defines our sense of self. Films often explore the disconnect between the body and mind, or how transformations affect one’s identity.
Mortality and decay: The body as something fragile, decaying, and ultimately destined for death. This can be seen in zombie films or body horror.
Bodily autonomy and violation: The exploitation or violation of the body is a key theme, particularly in body horror or films dealing with sexual abuse or violence.
Sensuality and pleasure: The exploration of sexual and physical pleasure is another significant theme, often presented in provocative or boundary-pushing ways.
Physicality and Bodily Tension
Carry-On emphasizes the physicality of its characters, especially Ethan, who is thrust into a high-stakes situation that tests his physical and emotional limits. The film's pacing and direction highlight the physical toll of stress, fear, and moral conflict, portraying Ethan's bodily responses—sweating, trembling, and exhaustion—as he navigates the escalating crisis. This focus on the body's reactions underscores the film's engagement with bodily experiences and vulnerabilities.
Bodily Autonomy and Moral Dilemma
The central conflict of the film revolves around Ethan's compromised bodily autonomy. Blackmailed into smuggling a dangerous substance, Ethan's physical actions are dictated by external threats to his loved ones. This loss of control over his own body reflects broader themes of bodily autonomy and the ethical implications of actions taken under duress. The narrative explores how physical actions can be coerced, manipulated, and how the body becomes a site of moral conflict.
Bodily Exposure and Vulnerability
Throughout the film, characters are placed in situations where their physical vulnerabilities are exposed. Ethan's interactions with the antagonist, The Traveler (Jason Bateman), often occur through a Bluetooth earpiece, creating a sense of psychological exposure. Additionally, the confined setting of the airport and the looming threat of disaster heighten the characters' physical and emotional vulnerabilities, making their bodies central to the unfolding drama