Wasp by Andrea Arnold is a short film that follows an English mother and her children. It starts out by showing the mother and her children walking up to a neighbor’s house and the mother getting in a fight with another mother over something that their kids had been in a fight about. On their way back the mother runs into an old friend who asks her to go out that night. She lies to him and tells him that those kids aren’t hers and that she will meet him that night. It is apparent that they don’t have much money because of how they are dressed and how little food they have where they live. The mom cant find anyone to watch her children so decides to bring them along and make them take care of themselves while she enjoys herself inside of the bar with her friend. She clearly doesn’t care that much about them because she leaves them out there all night with no food. It is also obvious that the man (her friend) just wants to have sex with her. In the beginning when they are walking down the stairs the camera movement makes it seem frantic and rushed. The camera is never really steady and it is always moving and progressing the scenes.
Trine Lindberg: “Wasp”, directed by Andrea Arnold is a short film about a woman and her struggles of being a mother of four young kids. It’s not until 05:18 that we are shown a close up of a wasp. This caught my attention because of the title of the film. I expected something to happen involving this wasp, but nothing did in fact happened. However, the wasp comes back at 19:03. It’s the following scene that makes the wasp fundamental to the film. The mother is with a sleazy guy named David, and she has left the kids alone outside the bar. While the mother is hooking up with David in his car, the wasp flies into her baby’s mouth, and the kids start screaming. Because of the wasp, and the accident that almost happened, the mother wouldn’t have came running back to her kids. I liked the film because you can really see the struggles of the mother. She is very broke, which we are visually told by the shabby and old neighborhood they live in. She is also looking for food in the kitchen, but can’t find anything but bread with mildew on it. She asks her kids to eat sugar, and to share it. The baby is also constantly crying because he’s hungry. I think Arnold did a great job with the storytelling of this film.
Kayla Cassese: In Andrea Arnold’s, Wasp, a lot of chaos and emotion is shown through not necessarily the actions or dialogue of the characters, though that does play a role, but through the camera angles and lighting as well. While you see that the mother struggles with the typical trials of being a single mom, she also seems to struggle with the parental aspect as a whole. She seems rather young and especially young to already have 4 kids which might be the reason why she’s so willing to leave her kids on their own so that she can meet with a man she hasn’t talked to in years. Clearly, she relies heavily on the previous version of herself because she is uncertain whether or not Dave will accept what’s become of her. From the minute he is introduced to the audience, she begins lying about her life; denies the fact that she’s a mother, won’t let him pick her up, etc. The children know exactly what is going on but they choose to see past it because they love their mother. She sacrifices what is important to her family, things like food and safety for her children, so that she can impress a man from her past by buying him a drink and nearly having sex with him in a car. The chaos of the camera and the glare of the lighting give the film a very unique look in that it really helps the audience to interpret the scenes their own way. To me, the clip of the girls running with the baby doll stroll and the actual baby represented the idea that the craziness and commotion physically portrayed through the baby doll is what the actual baby feels like when he is neglected by his mother and left in the care of his sisters. I think Arnold did a great job directing this film and definitely left me wondering what exactly was going to happen with Dave now that he found out the truth.
Julie Bowman: Andrea Arnold holds nothing back in the film "Wasp." The camera movements give a lot of insight into the chaotic and intense rage and confusion of the characters. The camera never stays still. It is close-up and personal with the crazy lives of this family. The story is frustrating to sit back and watch. From the opening fight, to the kids watching the mother eat all of the food, to having to watch the kids sit in a parking lot all afternoon and evening, it can make the audience want to jump through the screen and do something about it. The film shows a sad story and Arnold holds nothing back-- the film is pushed to extremely uncomfortable levels. It is hard to watch a wasp go into the baby's mouth without wanting to help the poor child and wonder why in the world someone would put that into a film. No one in the story is happy. The kids are left out in the street like the trash they eat, and the mother is too busy living her own life to care about her children's lives. When the film ends with the car driving off, viewers wonder what happen to the mother and Dave, and if the baby is really okay. Arnold definitely went beyond all comfort zones when creating this tragic, chaotic short film.
Shelby Anderson: "Wasp" is a short narrative film that tells the story of a negligent mother and her four children. The physical appearance of the wasp is fairly brief. It occurs first in the midst of the mother's negligence with her four children before she decides to go out. It sort of parallels her complacency with her children in the half-hearted motions of the wasp, and also parallels her feeling trapped in being a mother just like the wasp is trapped in the window. The wasp later appears when it is a threat to the young baby. The aggression of the wasp parallels the sudden spark the mother feels for protecting her children. Character development plays a huge part in this story. It is clear what kind of mother the mother is because of the behavior of her children, how she parents her children, and even the type of guy she's trying to impress (a kinda chunky dude who lives with his mother and whose car doesn't start). It was interesting to see her shift in character throughout the film. Additionally I liked that the ending was sort of up in the air. What were they going to talk about? Who knows, but it was nice to leave up to interpretation.
Keran Jiang: “Wasp”, directed by Andrea Arnold is a short film about a single woman with 4 children. The camera is not very stable. Through some details of the woman, i can see this family is poor and rude. Children also dirty and sad. The first scene is the woman is fighting with her neighborhood. It gives a lot of insight to the woman. The films atmosphere is nervous and repressed. When I look at woman tell these children not eat too much food, then these children use their hands to eat careful. I think this woman is not qualified mother. She thinks her children are burden to blocked her dating with the man.
Wasp by Andrea Arnold is a short film that follows an English mother and her children. It starts out by showing the mother and her children walking up to a neighbor’s house and the mother getting in a fight with another mother over something that their kids had been in a fight about. On their way back the mother runs into an old friend who asks her to go out that night. She lies to him and tells him that those kids aren’t hers and that she will meet him that night. It is apparent that they don’t have much money because of how they are dressed and how little food they have where they live. The mom cant find anyone to watch her children so decides to bring them along and make them take care of themselves while she enjoys herself inside of the bar with her friend. She clearly doesn’t care that much about them because she leaves them out there all night with no food. It is also obvious that the man (her friend) just wants to have sex with her. In the beginning when they are walking down the stairs the camera movement makes it seem frantic and rushed. The camera is never really steady and it is always moving and progressing the scenes.
ReplyDeleteTrine Lindberg: “Wasp”, directed by Andrea Arnold is a short film about a woman and her struggles of being a mother of four young kids. It’s not until 05:18 that we are shown a close up of a wasp. This caught my attention because of the title of the film. I expected something to happen involving this wasp, but nothing did in fact happened. However, the wasp comes back at 19:03. It’s the following scene that makes the wasp fundamental to the film. The mother is with a sleazy guy named David, and she has left the kids alone outside the bar. While the mother is hooking up with David in his car, the wasp flies into her baby’s mouth, and the kids start screaming. Because of the wasp, and the accident that almost happened, the mother wouldn’t have came running back to her kids. I liked the film because you can really see the struggles of the mother. She is very broke, which we are visually told by the shabby and old neighborhood they live in. She is also looking for food in the kitchen, but can’t find anything but bread with mildew on it. She asks her kids to eat sugar, and to share it. The baby is also constantly crying because he’s hungry. I think Arnold did a great job with the storytelling of this film.
ReplyDeleteKayla Cassese: In Andrea Arnold’s, Wasp, a lot of chaos and emotion is shown through not necessarily the actions or dialogue of the characters, though that does play a role, but through the camera angles and lighting as well. While you see that the mother struggles with the typical trials of being a single mom, she also seems to struggle with the parental aspect as a whole. She seems rather young and especially young to already have 4 kids which might be the reason why she’s so willing to leave her kids on their own so that she can meet with a man she hasn’t talked to in years. Clearly, she relies heavily on the previous version of herself because she is uncertain whether or not Dave will accept what’s become of her. From the minute he is introduced to the audience, she begins lying about her life; denies the fact that she’s a mother, won’t let him pick her up, etc. The children know exactly what is going on but they choose to see past it because they love their mother. She sacrifices what is important to her family, things like food and safety for her children, so that she can impress a man from her past by buying him a drink and nearly having sex with him in a car. The chaos of the camera and the glare of the lighting give the film a very unique look in that it really helps the audience to interpret the scenes their own way. To me, the clip of the girls running with the baby doll stroll and the actual baby represented the idea that the craziness and commotion physically portrayed through the baby doll is what the actual baby feels like when he is neglected by his mother and left in the care of his sisters. I think Arnold did a great job directing this film and definitely left me wondering what exactly was going to happen with Dave now that he found out the truth.
ReplyDeleteJulie Bowman: Andrea Arnold holds nothing back in the film "Wasp." The camera movements give a lot of insight into the chaotic and intense rage and confusion of the characters. The camera never stays still. It is close-up and personal with the crazy lives of this family. The story is frustrating to sit back and watch. From the opening fight, to the kids watching the mother eat all of the food, to having to watch the kids sit in a parking lot all afternoon and evening, it can make the audience want to jump through the screen and do something about it. The film shows a sad story and Arnold holds nothing back-- the film is pushed to extremely uncomfortable levels. It is hard to watch a wasp go into the baby's mouth without wanting to help the poor child and wonder why in the world someone would put that into a film. No one in the story is happy. The kids are left out in the street like the trash they eat, and the mother is too busy living her own life to care about her children's lives. When the film ends with the car driving off, viewers wonder what happen to the mother and Dave, and if the baby is really okay. Arnold definitely went beyond all comfort zones when creating this tragic, chaotic short film.
ReplyDeleteShelby Anderson: "Wasp" is a short narrative film that tells the story of a negligent mother and her four children. The physical appearance of the wasp is fairly brief. It occurs first in the midst of the mother's negligence with her four children before she decides to go out. It sort of parallels her complacency with her children in the half-hearted motions of the wasp, and also parallels her feeling trapped in being a mother just like the wasp is trapped in the window. The wasp later appears when it is a threat to the young baby. The aggression of the wasp parallels the sudden spark the mother feels for protecting her children.
ReplyDeleteCharacter development plays a huge part in this story. It is clear what kind of mother the mother is because of the behavior of her children, how she parents her children, and even the type of guy she's trying to impress (a kinda chunky dude who lives with his mother and whose car doesn't start). It was interesting to see her shift in character throughout the film.
Additionally I liked that the ending was sort of up in the air. What were they going to talk about? Who knows, but it was nice to leave up to interpretation.
Keran Jiang: “Wasp”, directed by Andrea Arnold is a short film about a single woman with 4 children. The camera is not very stable. Through some details of the woman, i can see this family is poor and rude. Children also dirty and sad. The first scene is the woman is fighting with her neighborhood. It gives a lot of insight to the woman. The films atmosphere is nervous and repressed. When I look at woman tell these children not eat too much food, then these children use their hands to eat careful. I think this woman is not qualified mother. She thinks her children are burden to blocked her dating with the man.
ReplyDelete