2. STARTER TASK
 Note down three films or scenes that you
consider shocking
 Write a sentence describing why you found
the scene/film shocking
 What was your initial response to the film?
 Did the shocking factor wear-off after
repeated viewing? If so, why do you think
this was?

3. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Identify key Term:
 Shocking Cinema
 Analyse both Un Chien Andalou and
Reservoir Dogs and identify what makes
them shocking
 Evaluate the use of shock in Stanley
Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket & A Clockwork
Orange

4. „SHOCKING‟ CINEMA
 What is ‘Shocking’ Cinema?
 Shocking cinema does not just refer
to scenes of gore, horror, and
violence
 As we have seen early cinema-goers
were shocked simply by the sense of
realism created in early films
 However, most people’s initial
response when discussing shocking
cinema is to think of graphic sexual
violence or violent content

5. „SHOCKING‟ CINEMA
 List the range of ways in which you can see film as being
potentially shocking - Give an example for each
 Compare your list with a partner
 How are your lists similar or different?
Shock comes from both a films content and
form
It can depend on the actual content of the
film or the way in which the scene is
constructed

6. UN CHIEN ANDALOU
 Watch the opening for Salvador Dali’s Un
Chien Andalou consider the following:
 Without discussion with class-mates
note down your initial personal
response to the sequence.
 What is shocking about this
sequence? (content)
Une Chien Andalou
 Why is it shocking? (form) (1929) Surrealist
short film by S.
Dali. It uses ‘dream
logic’ in its
narrative flow

7. UN CHIEN ANDALOU
 The opening eye-slitting subject matter is clearly
shocking and designed to elicit a specific
emotional response from the audience, but so is
the construction of the scene
 The way in which the use of close-up’s and
Both!
editing is used, cuttingmust rememberof thefor
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women with her eye beingyour open to the
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actual eye cuttingYou must support all points
shot is designed to heighten
the shocking nature of the analysis of both
with scene
 The suddenness of the eye-slicing does not
CONTENT &
allow for anticipation or mental preparation for
FORM
the spectator
What is more important in the creation of
shock?
Content or Form?

8. RESERVOIR DOGS
 Watch the ear-cutting scene from Quentin
Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and make notes
on the following:
 How does the sense of shock differ from
that of Un Chien Andalou?
 Consider the use of the micro elements Quentin Tarantino’s
film caused
controversy for its
 Both scenes consider whether the nature of use of violence and
was banned in
shock changes after repeated viewing Australia & New
Zealand

9. EXAM NOTICE!
 In your exam answers you should discuss
films or scenes that also create an
„emotional shock‟
 Always make sure you are considering
both the content and the form of the
scenes we study
 Try to decide on the nature of the
emotional response experienced and
the intensity of that experience

10. SUDDEN SHOCK
 Shock is usually caused as something
sudden and unexpected so that the audience
is caught unawares
 It is worth noting that this is not always the
case and that shock is sometimes achieved
through a long, drawn out fashion
 Watch the following scene from Stanley
Kubrick’s Path‟s of Glory
Paths of Glory
(1957)
 Consider both the form and content in the
creation of shock – how is this different from Dir: Stanley
Kubrick
that of the other films we have seen?

11. PATH‟S OF GLORY
 Kubrick makes the inescapability of the
execution by the firing squad in Path‟s of
Glory unbearably painful as he gives the
experience of shock not as something
sudden but as something of prolonged
intensity

12. VIOLENCE

13. VIOLENCE
 The violence in A Clockwork Orange is
considered shocking and repulsive because of
its brutality
 Violence can startle an audience, surprise us
and take us by surprise
 But consider another possible emotional
response:
 The Tearful response
Have you ever had a tearful response to a film?
Why was this? How did the form and content
contribute to your response?

14. SEXUAL CONTENT
 As with violence there are various types of
sexual material that might be seen as
shocking and may create a certain
emotional response
 There are plenty of examples of this, the
most shocking (in my opinion) comes from a
French film called ‘Irreversible‟
 Watch the following sequence and note
down why this scene is considered to be Irreversible
shocked audiences
shocking?
with its gratuitous
violence and ten
 What are your personal feelings towards minute anal rape
this sort of violence? scene

15. RELIGIOUS / POLITICAL / CONTEXTUAL
 Moving away from violence and sexual content,
it can be argued that the most shocking
elements in films are not actual incidents
portrayed, but the ideas that are expressed and
underpinned in the events
 American History X for example is about
extreme right-wing politics and racial violence
that most audience groups would find disturbing
Watch the following sequences and identify
the different ways in which spectators could
react

16. AMERICAN HISTORY X
 The content of the film is straight forward and
easy to understand
 However, does the form of the film suggest
the way in which the filmmakers ultimately
wished their film to be understood?
 Spectators are likely to respond in different
ways – could a Nazi skinhead gain their own
gratification from watching this film?
 Is that shocking by itself? Or should spectator
reaction not concern the filmmaker?

17. SHOCKING CINEMA
 Choose one of the scenes we have viewed today and
answer the following question:
“How is the experience of shock
created in your chosen extract?”
You must consider both
Form & Content
 Now repeat the exercise with scenes of your choice
from both Full Metal Jacket and A Clockwork Orange