25th Hour Movie Analysis Essay

1. 25th Hour, directed by Spike Lee, presents men partially in a typical way. The typical representation of men in Hollywood film defines them as being aggressive and powerful. They are expected to bear pain silently, suppress their emotions easily, and dominate their women. Also, typical males usually don’t pay any attention to their sicknesses and try to prove their masculinity to others. However, the movie includes a hegemonic negotiation of emotional outbursts over the traditional image of masculinity. Therefore, the main character, Monty, is a famous and respected drug dealer who spends his last day of freedom. He is presented as being powerful throughout the movie because he was living the American dream, driving an expensive car, owning a fancy apartment, having a beautiful, exotic girlfriend and hanging out in luxurious clubs. Although he is independent, being a provider for Naturelle and living an expensive life, he depends on drugs to maintain his power. Monty’s apartment has hardwood floors and tall windows facing the brownstones across the street. There are some black-and-white photographs, lining the walls, and the largest photo, hanging above the sofa, represents Brogan’s Bar; the design of Monty’s apartment shows his power and wealth that came from drugs. Monty’s costuming and appearance illustrate his classy personality. His black and shiny shoes, sober and dark clothes, stylish and well-groomed hair reflect his past glamorous and wealthy life. Although Monty is going to prison in 24 hours, he suppresses all his emotions and sufferings. He walks slowly with Doyle, his dog, and reflects quietly on his life. The length of these shots is around fifteen seconds and shows his masculine insensitivity for the last day of his freedom. When he goes to the Coventry Preparatory School, he looks at his team picture smiling at his past happy memories. Monty goes to talk to Jacob about a change of plans as nothing has happened; he is very calm and doesn’t show any emotion. He even notices Mary saying that she looks cute. Monty tries to pretend that everything is fine, being indifferent and not affected by his imprisonment. Also when Naturelle asks him to talk to her, he answers as if there is nothing to talk about. Montgomery tries to show that he is emotionally powerful to overcome his fear of going to prison. Moreover, when Frank beats Monty, the latter ignores his pain and doesn’t even want to go to the doctor. He is getting prepared mentally and suffers in silence, as he would have to endure prison pain without complaint. Additionally, the traditional male expects to control females, and Montgomery dominates Naturelle throughout the movie. For example, when Montgomery comes home and they walk on the stairs he walks first and Naturelle follows him. He is in a dominant position and the woman just follows and listens to his concerns. Throughout Naturelle and Monty’s conversation Monty is shown in low camera angles, which present his power and control over his girlfriend. On the other hand, Monty shows indifference to people but inside he is furious and terrified. The hegemonic negotiation of traditional masculinity is presented because Monty also shows some emotional breakdowns showing his weakness and powerlessness. This is a more modern representation of masculinity similar to 1950s American films. There are several film form elements that present men as being weak. Monty doesn’t emulate his father but he follows his masculine instinct. The music emphasizes the hidden emotions and feelings of Monty and of other characters affected by his imprisonment. The music provides a very powerful perception of anger, fury, regret, and sorrow. It is in perfect equilibrium to Monty’s inner feelings. For example, from the opening scene the music played represents tension and sorrow and although the tempo changes constantly it is still in relation to Monty’s reactions and emotions of his last day of freedom. After the opening scene, Monty is sitting with his dog getting harassed by a drug addict; the mise en scene of this scene illustrating Monty behind bars foreshadows his future as being lonely, sad and weak. The high camera angles of Monty show him as fragile, humble and vulnerable. The depressing, gloomy and dark weather accentuates his vulnerability. Also, although he is dominant over Naturelle he cares about her future and tells her to forget about him. His strong, exterior armor is cracked by his emotional outbreak during Monty’s washroom monologue. In a collage of over-exposed images of different stereotype people, Monty curses and blames every group, and race for his downfall and for his wealth greed. More importantly he curses himself saying:† No, fuck you Montgomery Brogan† (25th Hour). He finally understands that it is not the society that is accountable for his actions but he is, and it is time for him to pay for the choices he made throughout his life. Therefore, this scene reveals his sensitivity and emotional pain. It presents how love for life can flip into hate. The dark light and self- reflection of Monty resent his inner fury that is ready to explode, while the intense music highlights Monty’s personal rage. Therefore, there’s a bright and heroic strength to Monty, together with a charismatic and sympathetic side, but also a quiet desperation and sorrow in Monty’s last hours of freedom. Monty’s friend, Jacob is presented as a simple teacher that has a crush on his rebellious teenager. He is unable to cope with his feelings. His character is a hegemonic negotiation of traditional masculinity because he is afraid of being judged for his feelings. He acts passively and seems weak in front of females. He is emotional and humble in front of Mary; but he is white so he doesn’t challenge the patriarchal dominance. High camera angles of Jacob show his inferiority and humbleness over other characters. His poor costuming represents his simple personality because he feels guilty for being born rich. When the bell rings and the class lecture is over, Jacob remains alone; a close up of his face show his deep emotions. In the teacher’s lounge scene, Jacob is presented as being stressed and unable to take control over his life. His glasses represent intelligence and rationality, as the typical representation of male. Jacob is afraid of expressing his feelings, so he is lying his friend Frank about his feelings for Mary, saying that Terry a colleague professor likes her. He even tries to make a good impression over Mary stating that he likes a young DJ. In the club Jacob can’t resist Mary’s seductions and he kisses her. The red lights accentuate the danger Jacob is going through. He acts frantically and the mixed song â€Å"but it’s alright â€Å" highlights Jacob’s feelings. He made the choice of kissing her, and his choice will be reflected throughout his life. On the other hand, Frank represents the typical representation of men. He is rich, powerful and successful. He works as a Wall Street stockbroker and is ready to take risk in order to achieve success. His costuming and makeup present him as a male that cares about his appearance and tries to create an impression on people. The mise en scene of his work environment presents a very busy, stressing and hectic workplace but in order to succeed he has to endure the hardship. When he talks to Jacob about Monty’s imprisonment he is very hard on Monty but realistic. He says that the friendship with Montgomery will end after that night; the music, the dark setting and visualization of the devastating Ground Zero depict the cruel reality. Some close ups of Frank portray his emotions and guilt concerning Montgomery’s prison years. Frank tries to make Naturelle feel guilty but doesn’t take into account his mistakes of not helping Monty. As other typical male who throw the guilt to everyone else except himself.  Therefore, throughout the movie males are represented in a typical Hollywood way but Spike Lee introduces a hegemonic negotiation where men appear more sensitive, emotional and vulnerable. 2. In the film 25th Hour, female’s representation is stereotypical. Naturelle, Monty’s girlfriend, is presented as the beautiful, loyal and exotic girlfriend. Naturelle might be considered the femme fatale being smart and sexy. Her smartness is reflected in the scene where she is waiting for Monty to come home, she is reading a book; so she is not as naive as people consider her. At the beginning, male characters think that she is the traitor, so she represents a threat for men. Monty has doubts and trust issues towards Naturelle because she knew where the drugs were. However, in the end Naturelle wasn’t the traitor, wasn’t the woman that destroyed the man that provided for her, instead it was Monty’s bodyguard. It turns out that Naturelle’s loyalty and love is genuine, as one of a housewife. When Montgomery comes home from his long walk, he finds out that Naturelle waited for him the whole day, which shows her concern for Monty’s life. She kisses him first and shows her care and affection throughout the movie. While Naturelle and Monty walk inside the apartment, Monty lies down on the couch whereas Naturelle goes first to kitchen, as a feminine instinct. Her fragility is shown when she tries to open the honey jar. Eating raw honey suggests that she is actually sweet and tender. Close ups of Naturelle deepen her emotions and feelings about Montgomery; and in the bathroom scene Naturelle expresses her love and happiness while being with Monty. Her Puerto Rican tattoo shows that although her boyfriend, who was providing for her didn’t agree with the tattoo, she still got it; her action shows her sense of independence while being faithful to her man. Throughout the movie, fetishization of Naturelle’s body occurs. During the bathroom scene, her legs are being fetishized while in the club close ups of her breasts accentuate her sexy curves. The men around her, such as Frank, always admire her; and her costuming and makeup emphasize her sexy figure. She is dressed in short, sexy, red, silver dresses that make her look powerful and sexy. During a flashback of Monty, when he remembers how he met Naturelle, she appears very sweet, innocent, young and with a provocative skirt. Monty admits that Naturelle is the only girl that he slept with and he keeps fantasizing about her. This demonstrates that she is a source of temptation and happiness for Monty. It is happiness because even in his illusionary ending Naturelle is the mother of his kids and he would have a happy life with her. On the other hand, Mary, the young student, is presented as a moist, innocent but tempting girl. She might also be presented as a femme fatale because she represents a threat for the professor. She is smart enough to argue for her marks. She uses her sexiness to make Jacob weak. Her makeup, costuming and tattoo present her as a rebellious and independent woman. She is independent because she fights for her opinions; for example she came to argue about the fairness of her mark. She is playful and tries to seduce her professor. Also, while she was reading a play in the class, Mary is shot in low angle while the professor in high angle; this implies that Mary controls Jacob through her sexiness and Jacob appears as weak and unable to defend himself from Mary’s seductive allure. However, Mary is still innocent because when Jacob goes to kiss her she has her eyes closed waiting for him, this show her inexperience and fragility. Fetishization of her legs and waist appears and Jacob is tempted by it. Therefore, women appear as a source of temptation for the actors and, their representation is stereotypical; Naturelle’s representation implies love and affection for her boyfriend whereas Mary’s representation presents a rebellious and provocative spirit. 3. Hero or victim, there’s no one to blame or honor for our actions than ourselves.  Each person has to take responsibility and hopefully survive the hard life trials. In 25th Hour, the protagonist has to be accountable for his own actions and not blame others for his imprisonment. All the viewers could relate to Montgomery’s situation because at one point we all have to pay for our mistakes even though it mentally destroys us; but we have to be able to isolate the cruel reality from the beauty of living a dream. The film opens with a black sky and two beams of light, which come from where the twin towers used to be. World Trade Center is presented as Ground Zero, an empty, devastating and ghostly space. This empty space reflects the future of Monty’s life because even though he had everything he threw it away, therefore he is responsible for neglecting what he owned. The music creates a more dramatic and mysterious effect. The viewers are expected to act sympathetically to Monty because although he did not perform heroic deeds, he expresses sincerely his feelings. The ending of the movie is as illusionary as Montgomery’s social power; it lasts till the reality takes over. Also, Monty’s father describes the happy and humble life Monty would have if he would not go to prison and run away. It is an illusionary representation of the typical Hollywood end living happily the American Dream. However, it’s just a dream and Montgomery takes responsibility for his actions because he cannot hide or blame others for what he did. Also, the director presents Monty in a smart way as being able to survive in prison, to become enlightened and who knows maybe after seven years to start an honest and simple life. The audience is given the choice of offering to the hero, a second chance, as he offered one to Doyle, his loving dog. The film ends with a road, which suggests that Monty’s life paths depend only on him. Although the weather creates a melancholic state, the presence of green trees symbolizes Monty’s rebirth. Therefore, there is still hope for Monty after he takes responsibility for his life choices. The ending of the movie makes us feel reflective because we start to contemplate over what is wrong or right in life, over what we should praise or value and that we are all heroes and victims, but is our individual choice that makes us distinctive.