Film Anaylsis Essay
Foushee !1 Victoria Foushee A Quiet Place: A Film Where Sound Speaks Volumes Without a Whole Lot of Volume Foushee !2 John Krasinski’s 2018 film, A Quiet Place, is a horror film that has been praised for being something audiences have never seen before. Because of this, some might even classify it as a “revisionist film” within its genre. According to the textbook written by Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis, a revisionist film is “a genre film that radically modifies accepted genre conventions for dramatic effect,” (456). As for A Quiet Place, its biggest modification would be its usage of sound, or lack there of, to be exact. Director John Krasinski also stars in the film alongside his real-life wife, Emily Blunt, and actors Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds, who play their children. In multiple interviews and press releases, Krasinski has explained that A Quiet Place is in fact a horror film that revolves around the idea of family, however, it is easy to argue that the family, and its physical members, are not the film’s main character, but instead, sound is. There are a few factors that support the claim that sound is indeed the underlying main character of the film, such as: the realization that the audience is not given much information about the family and their background, leaving very little room for character development or connection, and the fact that sound is used strategically to fill the lack of emotional connection, while still being the film’s primary focus of attention. A Quiet Place is unique because it lacks quite a bit of diegetic sound, which is something that has not really been done outside the realm of avant-garde and silent films, and especially in the genre of horror.
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