CONTEXTUAL STUDIES

The scene begins with two men and women in a graveyard, drinking alcohol. The clothing in the scene is a key aspect for the text to convey the time period and the attitudes surrounding it. One man is wearing brown leathers, a headband, and a necklace with bones on it, reminiscent of the stereotypical attire of the native American. The other man is wearing a navy blue bomber jacket, aviator glasses, and red white and blue stripes on his arm. These both convey the message that the film centres heavily around American values and the conflict within it's culture.

The two women wear large fur coats, this, and the heavy makeup relate to the style and iconography of the late 60's, suggesting the film also centres around the values and culture of this era in America. However, the dishevelled look of the women, and the fact that they're drinking, smoking, and sitting on a curb outside suggests that it's a representation of the ruin of 1969 America.

This impression comes from the fact that 1968/9 was the thick of the Vietnam war, university protests, and assassinations of those in power such as kennedy and martin luther king. This anarchistic attitude contributes to the themes and values that are reflected in the appearance and personalities of the characters. The drug taking and exaggerated sexuality of the two pairs also reflect the contextual themes surrounding 1968/9 America; The Beatles along with Woodstock encouraged a carefree, peace oriented, musically centred era of Americans known as hippies. The main traits being drug taking, and anti establishment attitudes, which connects to my former point.

This is emphasised with the diegetic sound of the machines whirring in the background continuously. this ambience of industry and the fact that they sit on the steps of a ruined set of houses suggests that the ideals of the 60's, and the American Dream of the working man has failed.

There is no verbal confirmation that the pills they take are LSD, or that they're even pills, but this is suggested through the camera shots. After they take the pills, the camera remains static, but every few seconds, there's a shot of a camera tilting up the side of the house very slowly, the higher the camera goes, the lighter the shot, until eventually there's a lens flare which fills the frame. This insinuates that the characters themselves are becoming 'Higher' due to the drugs they took.

The religious connotations such as the low angle of the young woman against the sky saying; "I believe in God, the father almighty" suggest that the characters (or America's) values have underlying connotations of faith that they're suppressing or ignoring. This is emphasised by one of the men responding; "Shut up". The contextual evidence comes from the brutality of the Vietnam war, such a the massacre of My Lai, where nearly 100 civilians were killed by US troops. The Phoenix Program, a series of extreme interrogations on the Viet Kong, including gang rape, electrocution, and beatings operated by the CIA, was another 1968 event that could be considered unholy and suggest that the USA had abandoned it's christian values.