What are the characteristics of contemporary American independent films? Please be more detailed, thank you

Independent film comes from English "dependent film", also known as independent film, which is a concept corresponding to Hollywood mainstream movies. As we all know, the development of film into a mature industry is basically completed in Hollywood. After the big studio system, star system and genre film model were gradually formed, the Hollywood film industry was basically mature. Hollywood has become the center of the world film industry, and its position in the United States is even more out-and-out, becoming synonymous with the film industry. However, the characteristics of movies can't be measured by business alone. From the day of its birth, film has been continuously explored and practiced as an art form and a tool to express ideas. Of course, from the overall history of movies, the Hollywood film industry has played a vital role in the promotion of movies all over the world, but overcorrection is inevitable, and the excessive development of the film industry will inevitably damage the development of film art. Therefore, a group of artists began to create movies with their own funds without considering commercial interests, which is dubbed "independent movies."

Independent films originated in the United States in the 1960s. At first, they just rebelled against the Hollywood production system. However, with the development of the film industry, independent films can no longer be distinguished only from the production system. Nowadays, independent films are more similar to "author films", showing some inherent characteristics in form and spiritual core. It doesn't matter whether it is included in the film industry system by the producers. In other words, the so-called "independent film" should be examined more from its artistic and ideological characteristics. As for the production system, it is only a reference index. If a film can be created according to the artist's free will from the beginning, and the producer only appears as an investor and does not interfere with the specific content of the film, then neither MGM's The Lion nor Paramount's Snow Mountain will affect its status as an independent film.

Today, independent film has become a widely accepted concept. In fact, there are so-called "independent films" all over the world. Broadly speaking, as long as the film creation is outside the national mainstream (commercial/official) film system, it can be classified as an independent film. This has also caused the quality of independent films to be uneven. According to the creator's personal level, it may be either excellent works of art or shoddy garbage. But relatively speaking, the most developed and successful area of independent films is the United States, where commercial films are the most developed. Therefore, taking American independent films as an example, we can have a relatively comprehensive and in-depth understanding of independent films. Of course, from a purely conceptual point of view, documentaries and cartoons can be counted as independent films, but in fact, independent films generally only refer to feature films. Here, we also refer to the "independent film" in the sense of drama and film.

Pluralistic soul

The United States is a pluralistic society, where all kinds of cultures, ideas and values can find their place, which is also an important reason why American independent films emerge one after another. Of course, the mainstream "authoritative" voices still exist, but for artists who are keen on independent film creation, those voices are just "cow shit". All they have to do is make their own voices. For independent films, what matters is not what you say, but what you say.

This open and diverse cultural form also directly leads to the openness and diversity of American independent films. There are basically no restrictions on the themes of American independent films. Politics, violence, eroticism, science fiction, crime and even inexplicable dreams can all be the themes of independent films. Therefore, it is difficult for us to cover independent films with a specific genre-the classification methods of those genres are usually only effective for Hollywood commercial films.

The pluralistic characteristics of independent films can even be confirmed by their creators. If you look closely, you will find that independent film directors often come from different races, classes and regions, and they each have their own best subject areas. These fields are intertwined, forming a complex landscape of American independent films. For example, John Cassavetti, the "father of American independent films", was born in a Greek immigrant family. The Greeks attached importance to family concept and family relationship, which naturally influenced Casaveti's creation. Therefore, in his works, we can clearly see his meticulous observation and torture of American families, which runs through Casaveti's works. It is this reflection on the family and the various relationships brought by the family that goes deep into the hearts of the characters. The famous Woody Allen was born in a Jewish intellectual family in Brooklyn, new york. This family environment makes Woody Allen's works sincerely exude an intellectual atmosphere. Therefore, we can see that he is always criticizing. From annie hall to Melinda and Melinda, Woody Allen's sense of intellectual responsibility has never subsided. Spike Lee, who was also born in new york and is also a big-name director, stood in a completely different angle. Because of the color of his skin and race, Spike Lee's films have become a lingering theme clue, and the background of ordinary families makes Spike Lee's films full of street flavor. The superposition of the two makes Spike Lee's film style completely different from Woody Allen's. Both of them are new york City, but in the eyes of the two artists, they are different. His father is Hungarian and his mother is Iranian, which makes Jia's films more exotic. Obviously, the non-Christian way of thinking contained in Jia's works is related to his family background, especially his Iranian mother. David lynch's turbulent childhood life and his life experience in the slums of Philadelphia always make his works full of dark colors and fear of corruption and violence, which is completely different from other directors' styles and is called "Lynch Doctrine".

Even if it is the same subject type, different independent directors often have different perspectives and opinions. Take sex for example. In Woody Allen's Collection of Sex, the nonsense farce deconstructs the traditional sexual mode, and the gag joke replaces the original serious discussion. In order to carry this farce to the end, Woody Allen even played a chattering sperm himself (God, only this guy can think of it); In Soderberg, sex has become a symbol of contemporary spiritual crisis. Therefore, in Sex, Lies and Videotapes, sex is distorted and will only make people anxious, but it will never be as easy and funny as Woody Allen. By Greg Agrak's Three Beds in One Bed, sex has become an effective way for young people to flaunt themselves and publicize their individuality. It is neither heavy nor funny, and even there is no ready-made model, which almost leads to a kind of "sexual nihilism"; In Richard Kohn's short films of independent films, all sex is abnormal and deformed means of self-expression, which is totally decadent ... In short, the directors of independent films have their own styles and themes, which are mixed together and become the overall landscape of independent films.

Of course, although diverse, there is still a relative center. Geographically, the center of American independent films is in new york, which may be ironic: new york is the economic center of the United States and even the whole world, and it is the place with the strongest commercial atmosphere. How can anti-business independent films breed? The main reasons are as follows: First, culturally, Hollywood belongs to the Pacific cultural circle on the west coast, while new york belongs to the Atlantic cultural circle on the east coast. The cultural differences between the two places laid a cultural foundation for the prosperity of independent films in new york. Secondly, from the economic point of view, although new york is economically developed, the center of the film industry is in Hollywood, and new york cannot and cannot establish a commercial film system, which also reserves living space for independent films; In addition, as a huge city, new york's cultural consumption is diverse and multi-level. A single Hollywood commercial film can't satisfy many tastes of The New Yorker, and the emergence of independent films just fills this gap. However, with the development of independent films in recent years, new york's central position began to shake. I believe that in the next few years, American independent films should show a decentralized development trend without center.

black humor

The black humor in American independent films is more of a kind of sad humor, as the spiritual sustenance of those marginal and bottom people. The emotional effect caused by this kind of humor is either pity for oneself or ridicule for those hypocritical "big bosses". The main representative of the latter is Woody Allen, an intellectual independent film director, who is good at exaggerated and playful comedies, and most of them subvert tradition and authority, especially his early works, such as Banana, Collection of Sex and Make a scene in Science City, which satirize and parody Hollywood political films, erotic films and science fiction films. However, these taunts and parodies are by no means worthless and cheap jokes, but they are always thought-provoking and make people feel a little sad after laughing. In Woody Allen's middle and later works, this kind of black humor has developed greatly. It is no longer just aimed at Hollywood, but at the whole society and human nature itself. For example, in Stardust, Everyone Says I Love You and Bullets Fly Across Broadway, the deep-rooted concepts such as humanity, love, violence and happiness have replaced Hollywood and become the target of Woody Allen. Although it sounds a little mysterious, Woody Allen's brilliant comedy skills can always shake out unexpected burdens and make the audience laugh. Even Stardust, the most obscure film regarded as Bergman's tribute, can clearly see Woody Allen's self-mockery. In this film, he imitated the technique of European art movie master so much that he was ridiculed by film critics as Woody Allen's "9 1/2", but Woody Allen not only accepted this evaluation, but also took it as himself with peace of mind. Of course, the satire on Hollywood is a theme that Woody Allen will never forget, the most representative of which is The Purple Rose in Cairo, which satirizes and confronts the fantasy created by Hollywood film industry. The great contrast between the real world and the movie world in the film is also the source of all kinds of gimmicks and jokes in the film. This is undoubtedly a contrast between the real life and the exaggerated and whitewashed life in the film, thus posing a fierce backchat to the film industry. The historical background of the Great Depression is also an important condition used by Woody Allen to deliberately emphasize the contrast on and off the screen. This is one of Woody's most important works, and its thinking on the film itself makes it have a unique charm that has been immortal for many years.

More directly, mocking the little people themselves is a common skill of most independent film directors. For example, the Cohen brothers are among the best. This kind of gentle, humble and slightly weird black humor has become the symbol of the Cohen brothers' works since "Simple Blood" entered the film industry. In particular, Simple Blood is a landmark film in the history of independent films. Its basic characteristics in content and form influenced many American films later, especially a large number of independent films that appeared after the 1990s, and became a trend almost ten years later. However, "Simple Blood" is only the first cry of the Cohen brothers. A few years later, "barton fink" made the Cohen brothers truly famous internationally. At the same time, the black humor of the two brothers is also mature in this work. Barton fink, like Woody Allen, is also full of the Coen brothers' satire on Hollywood, which may be the embodiment of the brothers' personal feelings after The Blood is Simple. For those Hollywood tycoons, Barton Fink's film company owner is their typical representative. Money-oriented attitude enables him to kneel down and kiss a screenwriter's foot, or kick an unqualified employee away, which is inhuman. Of course, the so-called film art is not within his consideration. Later, Hudson's Agent, Fargo and Murder of Green Toes all inherited the black humor style in Barton Fink. With this black humor, the Cohen brothers not only extended their thinking about money and art in the film, but also made them achieve unexpected success in business. It's 2000 years, man. Where are you? It became another milestone in the creative process of the Cohen brothers after barton fink. The film about the escape of three stupid thieves is actually based on the epic Odyssey. In this story, the Cohen brothers made a metaphorical discussion on American history and politics, and traced the historic changes in American democratic politics, religion and people's mentality in the 1930s. In this respect, the film is epic and well deserved. For example, at the end of the film, the black humor of the Cohen brothers finally brought the tragic color of the film to a comedy ending: the flood from the sky rescued three stupid thieves who were about to be executed. The Cohen brothers seem to be poking fun at not only the boss in Hollywood, but also the boss in the Bible.

The same example is quentin tarantino. The American film genius who is obsessed with China Kung Fu is also famous for his black humor style. Since his famous work "Reservoir Dog", this kind of ridicule and satire with gang, crime and violence as the main content has become Quentin's unique symbol. In Pulp Fiction, all gang members are portrayed as nasty, stupid and lacking in normal thinking ability. They often bluff in front of the weak, but when they meet a stronger role than them, they are at a loss, and even willing to accept personality and physical insults to get out of trouble. They are all clowns, which makes people laugh. In Quentin's new work Kill Bill, this "black violence aesthetics" has developed to the extreme. The heroine is waving a mountain city. It is easier to kill a person than to trample an ant to death. This scene is probably Quentin's mockery of Hollywood's abuse of China Kung Fu!

This kind of black humor is also common in jim jarmusch's works. For example, in his Ghost Dog, the protagonist of the film is a black American, and he is a Japanese samurai killer, but Jia has found a big fat man to play this role. It's a fun thing to watch this black buddy hitting the mountain city on the screen, but it's not enough. Jia also asked the killer to contact his master by "flying pigeon passing books", plus hip-hop music. Apart from Ghost Dog Black Boy, Ghost in Heaven, Mysterious Train, Did you see the color of death, and even the recent Canhua, if you carefully taste it, you will find many black humorous scenes. Although Jia's films have always been famous for their coldness, strangeness and alienation from American culture, the black humor in them is truly American.

The representative of the most typical black humor film in American independent films is kevin smith's Shop Assistant. This independent production, which cost only $27,000, is enough to make 1994 and even Hollywood comedies in the 1990s feel ashamed. The story is simple. The main characters are two ordinary shop assistants. Nothing earth-shattering happened in their lives, but the director's ingenuity made the two protagonists experience a series of seemingly ridiculous but reasonable anecdotes: opening a shop without business; Close the shop to play golf, but make a fool of yourself; Going to the funeral, even knocking over the coffin ... the story of this movie happened on the same day. Although there is no direct connection, it is interpreted in detail. The director's ability to make up stories and tell stories is really admirable. The story is ordinary, but full of profound philosophy. In such a series of short stories, the communication between people is constantly reflected, which finally reveals a seemingly simple but often overlooked truth: be kind to your relatives and friends and never forget. The success of Shop Assistant is largely attributed to those wonderful dialogues. Kevin smith is free and unconstrained style, does not avoid meat, and firmly grasps the tastes of young people.

In addition, in independent films, there are often one or several brilliant comedy characters to run through the black humor of the whole film. For example, Tom Cruise in Magnolia, dustin hoffman in I Love Huckabee, samuel jackson in Do What You Should Do and so on. The setting of these roles adds a touch of color to the original serious film, which seems insignificant. In fact, it is a link between the preceding and the following, with an overall structure and a lot of room for expression. So it is also a pleasure to appreciate these characters and watch their actors give wonderful performances.

Freedom, rebellion and violence

For independent films, freedom should be their core feature. Freedom here refers not only to the freedom to get rid of the fetters of business, but also to the freedom to express one's own thoughts. In this sense, the so-called "independent movies" are actually "free movies". Of course, freedom also means breaking the shackles, which means resisting the existing ones. In this way, the unique spiritual connotation of independent films is this kind of "freedom rebellion".

Therefore, we will find that in many independent films, the protagonist is incompatible with the existing social system, and often takes cynicism and freedom as a way of resistance. Take david lynch's Wild My Heart as an example. The hero in the film is such a man and a woman. In order to break through the secular conspiracy and resistance, they stayed together and used all kinds of sensational ways. In this film, Lynch shows the anxiety and depression of modern people with surreal scenes of bloody violence and erotic fantasy. It is full of Freudian psychoanalysis and strange colors, but it also reveals a romantic passion from time to time, which is an extremely different kind of love persistence. "My heart is wild" is also a typical road film and rock film. The most common state of the protagonist is driving on the highway and appearing in front of the world as a rebellious rock singer. The later Lost Highway can basically be regarded as a continuation of My Heart is Wild, and the film's style, features, image techniques and even the protagonist (Nicolas Cage) have not changed. Only this time, the secular pressure of abstract conceptualization in Wild My Heart was concretized into a series of videos that exposed people's privacy. This is an experimental and nightmare film that describes the dark, strange and chaotic psychology of the characters, and it is the strangest and most incomprehensible film in Lynch's films. It is worth noting that apart from the protagonist's rebellion, this naked exposure that goes straight to the heart of the characters is actually a rebellious form of independent films. The artist's release of the characters' hearts through this form is actually a rebellion against Hollywood's false "DreamWorks". This situation is very common in independent films, but it is more obvious and extreme here in david lynch.

But compared with oliver stone, david lynch is much more moderate. At least the violent and surly natural born killers can't be found in Wild My Heart and Lost Road. Natural born killers is probably the most violent American independent film in 1990s. In this film, oliver stone broke all the rules and regulations, and even ignored the audience's feelings of watching movies, and brought the sensory stimulation of violence to the extreme. This is not only a satire on Hollywood, but also a complete counterattack on the dark side of American society and American culture. However, this kind of counterattack is desperate. Compared with society, the power of individuals is always so small that the protagonists can only express their anger and resistance by killing innocent people. Of course, violent Si Tong is not absolutely and unconditionally beautified. When the hero kills a kind old Indian, the attitude of the film obviously turns to belittle him, which is in sharp contrast with the hero portrayal of the hero in the prison riot scene.

The pure, simple and naked violence in "natural born killers" is similar to that in quentin tarantino's gangster films. In Quentin's few works, violence has also become a powerful clue throughout the film. Quentin, especially Kill Bill, did not make much effort in narration, but described the violence itself in detail and even made it show some poetic colors. This extreme violence aesthetics is much more comfortable than natural born killers in sense, but there is no difference in ideographic effect.

It is also worth mentioning that Shooting andy warhol, an independent film shot by mary harron of female directors in 1996, is based on real events, and basically uses sketching to retell the events simply and truly, calmly presenting us with a tragic life of a feminist. For andy warhol, a pivotal figure in the history of popular art, the film does not depict too much positively, but focuses on the assassination of Wei Millie, and focuses on the internal motivation of this assassination, pushing Wei Millie, a feminist pioneer, to the foreground. Wei Millie is not a conscious feminist pioneer. Her resistance comes more from her personal experience, and it is precisely because this emotional resistance comes from a deep impulse that it has a stronger and more violent impact. As a college student, Wei Millie's begging and prostitution in the street itself is a rebellion against the system. In this sense, the violence in "Shooting andy warhol" is not violence imposed on andy warhol by Millie, but violence imposed on Millie by American society. As a representative of feminist films, the filming of andy warhol expresses the accusation and resistance of modern American women to the patriarchal society, which means the re-emergence of women's consciousness at the end of last century. In this sense, "Shooting andy warhol" can be regarded as a rebellious work even in independent films, because the male chauvinism resisted and accused by the film is not only common in mainstream Hollywood films, but also in independent films. The success of filming andy warhol also inspired others. Soon after, feminist films such as Boys Don't Cry, The Devil, Million Dollar Baby and so on. Appeared on the big screen one after another and all achieved great success.

Of course, violence is not the only means of resistance. Sometimes, gentleness is also a silent pistol. For example, in Buffalo 66, an independent film written, directed, performed, performed and sung by Vincent Gallo, there are almost no violent scenes. The whole movie only tells us the story of a down-and-out child coming home in a low-key and sad atmosphere, supplemented by faint piano sound, sentimental folk songs and wavering tap dance soundtrack. However, in this seemingly affectionate atmosphere, the indifference and alienation of American family interpersonal relationships surfaced. What impressed me the most was the scene where the protagonist and his parents and girlfriend ate at the same table. The camera deliberately only gives a quarter of the people at the dinner table, and then the next person talks big, and the family embarrassment without communication and feelings is vividly displayed here. In this simple lens clip, the audience can strongly feel the existence of a kind of "cold violence". The so-called "silence is better than sound", although there is no strong body language, in this dull silence, the protagonist has actually published his own rebellious declaration.

Similar to Buffalo 66, Spike Lee's Do What You Should Do also uses the expression of "cold violence". This is a film about race. From the beginning of the film, the sharp opposition between the white and black ethnic groups was clearly shown. However, unlike other street movies, Spike Lee did not let this opposition quickly turn into a strong physical conflict, but hid it, turned the violence into a pile of image fragments, and tried to lengthen the moment when the event happened, thus forming a strong dramatic tension, which made the audience unconsciously involved in the event during the viewing process. In Spike Lee's Do What You Should Do, violent resistance presents a clear development curve. Cook in warm water like a frog, and finally reach a moderate climax. It is neither as warm as Buffalo in' 66 nor as violent as natural born killers. It can be said that Spike Lee's creation is unique. In his hands, violence is just right, rebellious and free.

The pain of thought

It is by no means a mysterious wolf with a big tail. The reason why we use the sour word "the pain of thought" is really because we can't find a more appropriate expression. Jews say that "human beings laugh when they think about God", but there are still a group of people who cling to the reed of thought. As far as American films are concerned, there are no such groups as "art films" and "poetry films", and the ideological and artistic functions of films are mainly undertaken by independent films. Of course, I'm not saying that mainstream films have no ideological and artistic functions, but compared with the pure sensory stimulation of most commercial films, independent films are much stronger in this respect.

In addition, unlike art films in Europe and other parts of the world, American independent films are rooted in contemporary western cultural soil and are used to directly reflecting people's problems. Regardless of the theme and genre of the film, this deep exploration of human nature and anxiety about the present are common in American independent films.

Take john sayles's Lone Star as an example. The film adopts the theme of gangster films, and combines the factors commonly used in commercial films such as suspense, western and horror. At first, it really makes people feel that this is just an ordinary commercial film, but as the film goes on, the temperament of independent films gradually emerges. The narrative of the story has brought one mystery after another to the audience. As the mysteries are solved one after another, the truth of the matter has gradually surfaced. In this process, the film deeply reflects on the role of politics in contemporary American society and its influence on ordinary people. It can be said that "Lone Star" is essentially a serious political film, covered with a gangster film.

Similarly, Spike Lee's Summer in Sam is an independent film with the theme of crime. In this film, the story is also triggered by murder, and it is promoted by murder as a plot booster. The protagonist of the film is involved in the storm caused by the murder case, but the focus is not on the murder case itself, but on the murder case, and the relationship between people is deeply discussed. With the development of the plot, the murder as the background is finally completely blurred. What Spike Lee wants to tell us is by no means a story of criminal reasoning, but an ethical issue in which family, friendship, betrayal and loyalty are intertwined in the face of crisis. This kind of painful thinking can be clearly felt in Sam's Summer. In fact, Spike Lee himself has no answer. He just pointed out some possibilities to us. I'm afraid what to do is left to the audience to think for themselves.

Sam's summer is similar to gus van sant's The Elephant. In "Elephant", gus van sant also tells this story in cold camera language. Although the whole film focuses on the shooting incident on campus, there are not many scenes that directly describe the incident. Like Spike Lee, gus van sant led the audience to think independently. What he did was to restore the original scene of the incident as truly as possible.

It is also worth mentioning that Mike Figgis's Away from Las Vegas, an independent film full of sentimental colors, brought the audience into the thinking scene set by the director from the very beginning. When you watch from Las Vegas, you will never feel the false excitement of Hollywood DreamWorks, but the real pain. Figgis arranged a love story between a prostitute and an alcoholic for us, but in the film, neither prostitute nor alcoholic has the slightest lack of humanity. On the contrary, what we feel is the suppression and bondage of the two protagonists by the whole society. Here, prostitutes and drunkards are actually just metaphors of status. What the director really wants to say is the anxiety about the current people's life difficulties.

Paul thomas anderson's Magnolia is not just far from Las Vegas. In "Magnolia", the director presents us with a contemporary crowd image of fear, anxiety and decadence. In more than three hours, Anderson skillfully connected nine events that developed in parallel 24 hours a day, taking parents and children, anger and forgiveness, unreal world and real life on TV, expectation and loss, opportunity and miss as the breakthrough points, which truly showed people's confusion and struggle. This modern expression of Magnolia is quite different from Hollywood commercial movies.

The more typical modernist school belongs to Kafka in Soderberg. This film featuring the famous writer Kafka has nothing to do with Kafka himself. Soderberg rewrote the story of a political thriller, and Kafka was just an ideographic symbol he borrowed. The whole film has a compact structure and clear rhythm, which clearly shows us a confused and crazy paranoid inner world. It's amazing that Soderberg's choreography skills can adapt Kafka's story to such an extent.

At this point, there is a movie that has to be mentioned. That's jim jarmusch's "Do you see the color of death? Different from other independent films, this film tells the story of an innocent youth's escape in the United States at the end of 19. In the process of escape, the plot becomes more and more surreal, and the characters' hearts become more and more incredible. The film uses the scenes and atmosphere used in western films, and the exquisite black and white images perfectly reproduce the primitive and desolate west, and also purify the spiritual thinking of the film. When the hero finally lies on the boat and accepts death safely, the film has a sense of redemption. You saw death.