Bordwell & Thompson: Sacrilege, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

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BORDWELL & THOMPSON Sacrilege, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Transcript of Bordwell & Thompson: Sacrilege, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Page 1: Bordwell & Thompson: Sacrilege, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

BORDWELL & THOMPSON

Sacrilege, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Page 2: Bordwell & Thompson: Sacrilege, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

StoryStory is made up from inferred and explicitly shown events.

1. From the starting scene it is inferred that something

has lead up to causing a bonfire we are then taken through the story working backwards which shows us how the bonfire came to be

about.

2. We are then shown the girl who is being

‘burnt’ their reactions to this tells us that she

must have done something bad to

deserve this treatment although we are unsure what at this point. The faces we are shown we

can guess will be characters within the

story.

3. When the girl looks over at the body in-front of her

(regretfully) the audience will start to assume that he was her accomplice in the action which has led them here and

him to his death

4. By the mans reaction to the protagonist and the pastor we believe him to be highly religious since his reaction is so disgusted, or rather we believe he thinks what they’re

doing is wrong.

5. Another inferred event is that at some point the pastor and the girl met and decided to sleep with each other. We

understand from the consequences of this that

there is something forbidden about their love as for the

severity of the punishment.

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Story 6. We are then shown the sequence in which the audience can rather decide happened or are desired events by the people who were shown at the beginning watching her burn. In the sequence she is shown to be having a sexual relationship with them all, in each she

plays a different ‘character’ which suits their own age, personality and situation we would expect them to be in.

If they are desires of the mind the audience will gather each of them are jealous that they didn’t get to spend time with her and aren’t happy with their current romantic life as they

desire her. The ring on her finger infers that she is already taken and married. The audience can then understand that in the story, her sleeping with someone other than her husband would be

adultery therefore the relationship between her and the pastor would be an affair.

7. By being shown the characters interacting and playing certain jobs (sheriff, mechanic, pastor)

the audience can make the assumption that this is a small town with a close community were everyone knows each

others business.

8. In this scene we believe the couple to be married although their

marriage does not seem like it is going ‘smoothly’. As he walks in she closes a book and looks fed-up. He

on the other hand looks guilty. Therefore we believe the two to be

having problems within their relationship.

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9. From the small congregation at the wedding we can confirm that the town is fairly small and the fact they all attend it shows how they all know each other well. The American flag tells us that the location

is in America therefore many small towns in the U.S. are very religious and in this case took the punishment for breaking religion

into their own arms as a collective community.

11. We are shown her walking down the aisle on her own, which could show that she doesn’t have much family living in the town. Some people may infer this is a contribution to her behaviour as she doesn’t have much family support or

guidance. Also when she was been burnt at the end, no one was defending her or standing out that it was wrong.

10. This is the first and only time we see her husband in the video. We do not find out what happens to him and why he isn’t

shown at the end of the video. Although we are shown the pastor who marries them in this shot which is coincidental since the audience have been shown that this is who she cheats with.

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PlotThe plot is made up from explicitly shown events and non-diegetic material.

1. Although we never see the older man who catches the two telling the rest of the town about what he saw, this will of happened in

order for them to gather up a man-hunt. Therefore this is non-diegetic material we don’t see but must have happened for the narrative to move forward. We also do not see how the

man came to be at the window to discover them.

2. We’re not shown the full video of the path the girl takes as she’s trying to

escape, instead we’re shown various places she runs as time moves on (we can tell from the change in lighting)