American Splendor
Essay Preview: American Splendor
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American Splendor tells the story of a middle-aged man named Harvey Pekar who became a comic book writer. It tells of his journey becoming a writer, his love life, battle with cancer, and all the other things along the way.
. The film starts off at the time when a depressed Harvey worked as a file clerk and not really knowing what he was doing with his life. One day at a garage sale he meets an artist named Robert Crumb who suggests they should join forces and make a comic book. This gives Harvey something to do to make his life worth something. He ends up meeting his biggest fan (Joyce) and they end up falling in love. Soon after that he develops cancer. He eventually battles through it and in the end Harvey and Joyce adopt his friends child.
This film is definitely not a traditional Hollywood narrative. What stands out the most to me is its Reflexivity. This is easily seen right from the beginning and throughout the whole film. The film uses techniques such as shifting modalities and Mise-en-abyme to bring out its reflexive qualities. When watching a non-reflexive film, people are taken into the movie. They forget they are actually watching a film. But when watching a reflexive film one is being called to attention that they are actually watching a film.
This movie shifts modalities more than any movie Ive seen. The film starts off on a porch with a few kids trick or treating for Halloween. Three of the boys are dressed up as super heroes and one boy is not wearing a costume. We find out that boy is Harvey Pekar. The movie then flashes forward to a time when Harvey is older, around in his forties. Here is where the narration begins. It is also where the movie first shifts modality. It achieves this because there was no narrator in the opening scene and we feel as though Harvey Pekar is actually talking to us. We start to get a sense of the movie and get to know about Harvey Pekars life. We are made to believe we are going to be watching a narrative on this man with him as the narrator, which basically is what the movie is. But there is an interruption and modality is shifted once again. The movie reveals itself to show Harvey Pekar was actually narrating a movie being made about his life. You hear somebody say “cut” and it shows Harvey on a set. We then learn more about him as another voice is asking him questions. This has a very documentary feel to it. The movie shifts back and forth between these modalities. Another shift in modality is when animation is used. They show Harvey in cartoon form as he was drawn in his comic books and bring him to life. They also use animation to depict the passage of time just as a comic book would. So thats why I think the directors chose to do that was so we could really get a feel of the comic book. The most obvious shift in modality which definitely has the most reflexive feel is when Harvey passes out in his room it then goes to a blank white screen with Harvey talking to us, telling us a story. That is definitely not seen in a lot of films. I thought the shifts