Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Introduction: The ballad of Ricky Bobby begins as most stories: with the formation of the hero.  The audience is introduced to his rather odd circumstance of birth and his negligent father.   The audience is introduced to the success of Ricky Bobby’s career, which is very superficial.   The introduction peeks when Ricky pops open his champagne bottle after winning the race.

Complication: The new, French driver Jean Girad challenges Ricky to a race and defeats him.  This complication peeks and causes Ricky to hallucinate that he is on fire.  Ricky crumbles and feels like he has lost his sense of identity, who no longer knows who he is, unless he is driving.

Ricky regains his confidence (after his father comes back and teaches him how to drive) and realizes that he is in love with his former assistant Susan. After the build up Ricky races at Talladega against his arch-nemesis Jean Girad.  The final climax could be seen in the final few moments when Ricky and Jean race on foot towards the finish line. 

The final resolution peeks when both drivers Ricky and Jean are disqualified from the race and Cal; Ricky’s best friend wins.  The formerly broken friendship is repaired and the family is all reunited at the local Applebee’s.

The Importance of Being the Fourth Wall

            The “fourth wall” is a characteristic of sitcom television, as well as realistic theatre.  By creating a wall between the audience and the actors a barrier is achieved that separates reality from the world, created on stage.  Sitcoms, created out of the world of vaudeville theatre also use this technique to make their viewers forget the worries of their real world and distance themselves from reality.  The fourth wall is also useful for the technical crew of television.  By creating a wall that is never seen by the audience the camera crews are able to have a spot to film.  It also allows for people, such as directors, producers etc., to directly view and control the scene, which is being filmed.  One interesting point that Mr. Tain made was that often times the fourth wall is typically where the television should be in the room; almost as if we are the television, the entertainment for the characters.

One of my favorite sitcoms, That 70’s show uses the fourth wall continuously.  That 70’s Show follows the more traditionally comedy sitcom set up by placing nearly all of the scenes in the settings of homes, the main one being that of the main character- Eric Foreman.  The room probably most essential to the characters lives’, the basement, is set up so the fourth wall is exactly where the television should be.  This set up follows for other rooms such as the Foreman’s living room as well as the Pinciotti’s. By keeping the fourth wall, as well as other traditional styles of sitcoms, the viewers are able to feel as if they really were watching a show from the seventies, instead of one filmed a few years ago.

Lions, Tigers, and Film- Oh my

In this shot, the director Victor Fleming introduces and orients the audience with the vastness and adventure that still awaits Dorothy and her friends.  By using a long shot Fleming shows the trials (the field of poppies) and the journey ahead before they arrive to the emerald city, their much-anticipated destination. 

In the second shot Fleming shows each of the characters and their worried, fearful reaction to the “wizard” of Oz.  Not only is the audience able to see the wizard’s brain working, they are also able to view the body language and disappointment in Dorothy thanks to Fleming’s use of the medium shot.

In the last image, Fleming’s short shot places emphasis on the action of the Wicked Witch of the West who is trying to work her magic on Dorothy’s infamous ruby slippers.  By zooming in Fleming places a emphasis on the “special effect” of the witch’s magic, as well as the power of the red slippers.