The General & Mad Max: Fury Road from Emma Tranfalia on Vimeo.
"My video discussing the comparisons between The General (1927) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), filmed almost one hundred years apart, demonstrates the way both films make machines and vehicles integral characters. Through a side-by-side comparison, viewers see how the passage of time and the creation of better technologies allow for the same original intentions to achieve greater end results. The video argues that besides the plot and characters having similarities, the treatment of machines as characters and necessary parts of the plots appear in both films. Both directors tie their characters directly to the machines, so much so, rarely appears a shot that both are not featured. Also, both directors personify the machines through agency and make them appear as if they move and operate on their own. Keaton’s work in the General exemplifies the self-automation more than Miller because constantly Keaton’s character moves around the train without giving constant attention to the mechanics. Finally, the destruction in both films of the machines makes viewers squeamish because of the over the top annihilation. In my research, I learned Miller found great influence in the work of Keaton: “when I saw that film, I thought, ‘this is someone who’s incredibly careful with the camera and choreographs quite complex events inside the cuts.’” The videographic form allows for both the creator and the audience to draw their own conclusions that may or may not have been intended. In the construction of this video, especially in the final watching and clean-ups, I noticed things about my own argument I did not place there intentionally because both films contain layers upon layers. If I wrote an essay about the same topic, the audience would completely lose the impact of the argument. No degree of description could create the same reactions as watching the clips side by side. When film scholars discuss visual or auditory aspects of a piece such as sound, score, cinematography, or acting, video essays best show the original argument because audiences see for themselves the case. Traditional essays lack the ability to accurately describe certain aspects of the movie because so much of film comes from the experience."