This article articulates several problems with seeing a film from the eyes of a child as the protagonist, in how most films normally portray their younger characters. Lopate quickly summarizes the plots of two films he sees as distinct in their treatment of child protagonists, and then elaborates on the problems of representation that child-focused films offer. His primary argument is that the narrative generally stays too close to one character’s viewpoint, giving the impression that the director shares every sentiment of the child, and often glibly gives the children the moral upper hand. His second criticism is that children are just vehicles for the adults’ own fantasies of  “purity, spontaneity, victimhood, and indomitability,” preventing the audience from seeing the situation objectively. Finally, he mentions how camera focus on one character results in a narrow-minded, claustrophobic portrayal of the outside world rather than the expansive, objective film should, in theory, present. He also mentions briefly how children are commonly grouped as simple emblems of joy or martyrdom. 
    Lopate brings up many interesting points, several of which are relevant to Vigo’s film, and several of which Vigo actively goes against. For example, Vigo willfully and consciously gives his children the moral upper hand, because for him, the children represent a pointed opposition to the adult concept and possession of power, one that they can battle with whimsy, playfulness, imagination, creativity, and dream. However, Lopate’s second argument that children are simply vehicles for the adults’ own fantasies of “spontaneity and indomitability” is a very valid point which challenges my thesis quite excellently. If an adult such as Vigo is still the one writing and directing the film, is the film not just a portrayal of adult fantasies, rather than children’s? Even Agee agreed that the children in the film were not a comprehensive view of all childhood. Perhaps the adult behind the camera is using the children as a vanguard for his own conception of a revolution? Vigo, however, has a noted personal and emotional stake in the filmmaking. As an anti-authoritarian, he believes that the school system can only be opposed by those who are subject to its prison-hold on their imagination, the children, of whom he identifies with most, because of their symbol as oppressed which he empathizes with both personally and politically.

full citation: Phillip Lopate. "When the 'I' In a Film Is a Child's." New York Times (16 Mar. 1997): 13. EBSCO MegaFILE. EBSCO. University of Pennsylvania Van Pelt Library, Philadelphia, PA. 2 Dec. 2008 .

    Brion, Denis J. “Pluralism: Rashomon and Contested Conceptions of Criminality.” (2006) Washington & Lee Legal Studies Paper No. 2006-11.

    This paper is a Legal Studies paper written by Washington and Lee student Denis Brion in September 2006. In his paper, he uses the film Rashomon as the basis for his argument about pluralism in human perception carried into the various degrees of criminality. The film depicts four different reports of a violent crime in twelfth century Japan, told by three participators and one witness. These four perspectives are the extended to elaborate on the four modes of criminality and the four levels of individual human consciousness using the California Supreme Court case Taylor vs. Supreme Court as the specific case study. By providing a deep analysis of the aesthetics within the film Rashomon, Brion contends that the United States judicial system works as well by aesthetic acts. He begins by providing a close textual analysis of the four different storytellers in the film: the bandit, the woman, the man, and the witness. In parallel, he then goes on to closely evaluate the Taylor vs. Supreme Court case. Brion then extrapolates his argument into the subject of human nature playing its role in each case. After describing the four levels of consciousness alluded to above, he writes, in a phrase with which Kurosawa would surely agree with, that “perception is a hypothesis; and the reality we perceive is an interpretation.”

Primarily, this paper is extremely useful in a study of Kurosawa’s film Rashomon since it provides a scene by scene close textual analysis of the four different reports shown in the film. Furthermore, it provides a unique insight into the deeper human nature described in the film. Finally, its emphasis on a legal studies perspective in the discussion of the paper provide an important view on the nature of crime in the film, a point that is often overlooked in the greater narrative of perception.

Similar to other sources, Richie emphasizes the relativity of truth in Rashomon. But, after a comprehensive analysis of the different versions of the story that are told, Richie comes to a conclusion slightly different from other analyses: "No one - priest, woodcutter, husband, bandit, medium - lied. They all told the truth." In this he says that Kurosawa doesn't question what truth is in the film, he questions reality.

In other words, what can define reality considering that everything is based on the subjective truth perceived by humans? To an individual who is emotionally distraught, reality changes and the line between illusion and reality is blurred.

Not only that, but Richie argues that one of the main points of Rashomon is that sometimes, humans are unable to distinguish real from unreal. It's not that they don't want to, but extenuating circumstances make them incapable of doing so. In the case of the wife, she is traumatized and disconcerted after the bandit takes advantage of her and after she is disowned by her own husband, she is led to believe that she killed her husband. To her, this is the truth, although to the audience it is just a perception of reality. Consequently, Richie attributes this condition to the natural weakness of humans; that they must unconsciously deceive themselves of the truth.

Richie's argument is an extreme one - it relies too much on the weakness of humans as being unable to judge reality. Perhaps he doesn't not want to admit that humans can be deceitful, which could lead the characters to portray the events differently as well. With his argument, reality is an illusion; he avoids the possibility that humans can consciously distort reality (lie) for self-preservation.

    Michael R. Frontani clearly tells the story of the making of The Beatles in his book entitled The Beatles: Image and the Media.  Chapter 2, "Intorducing the Image", is about how "Beatlemania" came to be.  Frontani discusses the immediate success of The Beatles in the British music industry, but also the less-known resistance of their American label, Capitol Records, to promote The Beatles' music in the United States prior to the band's American success.  According to Frontani, Capitol Records was hesitant to spend a significant amount of money promoting The Beatles in the U.S. in 1963 because of the previous British pop musicians, such as Cliff Richard, who despite popularity in England, had failed commercial success in the states.  Finally, however, with The Beatles' new single "I Want To Hold Your Hand", Capitol took the risk that made "Beatlemania" an international phenomenon and sent the new single to number one on the Billboard chart on February 1, 1964.  The music industry was never the same.  The Beatles made their United States television debut eight days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, a night that would solidify the fact that The Beatles, with their mop-top hair-cuts and thumping beats, were the new faces of pop culture.

    This chapter is incredibly significant for my thesis because it explains how "Beatlemania" came to be, and more importantly why "Beatlemania" made it to the silver screen.  Frontani makes a point of emphasizing the craze that went along with The Beatles' first trip to America.  "The Beatles returned to New York.  Four thousand fans were at Kennedy Airport to welcome them back, and to see them off as they departed for England."  With several facts like these, Frontani creates a sense of how overwhelming The Beatles' popularity was in America, let alone in England.  He also points out that a number of well-respected sources, such as the New York Times even wrote articles devoted to the discussion of The Beatles' haircuts and "Beatlemania" as a "cultural event."  Clearly the pop culture of 1964 revolved around The Beatles, therefore it comes as no surprise that the film industry would take advantage of this.  The result was A Hard Day's Night, a film that would portray a day in the life of the band and give their fans an up-close view of each of the "Fab Four."  A Hard Day's Night was a way to make money off of the immense popularity of the band, and therefore, a successful coming together of the pop cultures of both film and music.

Cited by Gitelman Always Already New.
Focusing on the period from about 1880 to 1905, Jonathan Crary examines the connections between the modernization of subjectivity and the dramatic expansion and industrialization of visual/auditory culture.

Cited by Paulin - discussion of Wagner's 'concrete remaking of the spectator's experience' at Bayreuth, in a way that anticipated the coercively 'attentive' conditions of cinema spectatorship. 

Breaks the connection between movies and reality into different works and makes points about each one of them. These worlds include: Staged, Storied, Scene, Social, Lived, Personal, and Film. Addresses issues such as authenticity and perception and expression.