All language subtitles for The.Power.of.Film.S01E01.1080p.WEB.H264-RABiDS

♪♪

Man: Use the Force, Luke.

I stick my neck out
for nobody.

Well, darling, look out,
'cause my hair is coming down.

Always do the right thing.

That’s it?
That’s it.

I got it.
I’m gone.

Suber: There are certain films
that people keep going back to,

over and over again.

I'm gonna make him
an offer he can’t refuse.

Films that were not
only popular in their day,

but that continue
to be popular.

You talking to me?

And my question is why?

It’s not about what I want.

It’s about what’s fair!

They call me Mister Tibbs.

I’m in love with you.

Snap out of it!

Rosebud.

I’m Howard Suber.

For over five decades,

I’ve taught thousands
of aspiring directors,

producers, screenwriters,
and scholars

the patterns and principles
I’ve found

in America’s most memorable
popular films.

Join me as we discover
the power of film.

♪♪

Who are you?
You.

Who are you?

What are you?

These are the two
fundamental questions

that determine how we act,

how we relate
to the world we inhabit.

We find the answers

to those questions
we ask ourselves in stories.

From his footprint,
he looks like a big fella.

And stories are what we go
to movies to see.

They pardoned
Frank Miller.

We are a storytelling animal,

and it may be one of the things
that defines us.

We have desires, fears, hopes,

but we feel the way
our long-distant ancestors felt

about the experience
of life as a human being.

"The Godfather" is 50 years old,

and yet it seems like a film

that could have come out
this year

because the issues
"The Godfather" deals with

haven’t changed.

Woman:
What are you doing here?

You’re not supposed
to be here now.

I’m Michael Corleone.
This is my father.

My story...

your story,

all of our life stories...

There’s nobody here.
What happened to the guards?

...revolve around feelings.

I’m sorry,
but you will have to leave.

Lack of power, loss,
triumph, humiliation,

insult, injury,
and ultimately death.

Boy: [ Laughs ]

If people still identify
with Michael Corleone,

maybe it’s because his world
feels like our world.

So, who are you?
What are you?

To a large extent, you are
a compilation of memories.

Memory is the most powerful
thing in human existence.

Sam: ♪ As time goes by... ♪

Sam, I thought I told you
never to play.

♪♪

We choose what films
we want to remember.

And we choose them because
there’s something in those films

that transcends the moment
it was released.

There are principles
that cause people

to keep them in their heads

and be able to recall them
decades later.

I’m here to stop you,
One-Eyed Bart! Oh!

But popularity is not enough.

Lots of films
make a lot of money

in their initial release.

They can make
over a billion dollars.

But most of those films
nobody wants to talk about,

let alone look at again
a year later.

This whole series

is based around memorable
popular American films.

I’m talking about films
for which, objectively,

there’s a cultural consensus.

You read me, Hal?

I’m responding
to other people’s responses.

And so, if you tell me
you don’t like "The Godfather,"

my reaction is I don’t care.

It’s on everybody’s list.

But if I’m talking
about memorable films,

I have to be talking
about the past.

And history is biased.

During most of the history
of American film,

we have had few major characters
from non-white races,

non-male heroes,
different sexual orientations.

Oliver!

...because they were
not allowed

to be on films
as strong central characters.

So, I’m going to talk
about some films

from the last decade or so,

and hopefully they represent
changes long overdue

in the American film industry.

I love you, Margaret.
I love you, too.

In the thousands of films
that I’ve taught...

I’ll take this.

...I keep seeing
certain elements

appearing over and over again

and seeing the relationships
of the parts to the whole.

The patterns can be as simple

as scenes of parents
tucking their children into bed,

or the patterns
can be more complex.

And as I often say,

I’m in the pattern
recognition business.

So, let’s go way back,
nearly 2,500 years,

to the ancient Greeks,
what are generally considered

the greatest dramas
in Western history.

Ask yourself, "What do
these works have in common?"

Even if you don’t
know the works.

"Oedipus Rex," "Antigone,"
"Medea."

See any pattern?

Let’s jump ahead

to the Elizabethan period’s
Shakespeare.

"King Lear," "Macbeth,"
"Hamlet."

You see any patterns so far?

Let’s jump ahead
to what is often called

the greatest American play,
"Death of a Salesman."

In contemporary times,

what’s the most popular
and memorable play?

"Hamilton."
See any pattern?

Well, I’m in the pattern
recognition business.

The most memorable popular works
going back 2,500 years

are the names of characters,

and the works are essentially
character studies.

[ Applause ]

Now let’s turn to movies.

"Citizen Kane."

"Godfather" one
and "Godfather II."

"Lawrence of Arabia,"
"The Graduate,"

"Taxi Driver,"
"Forrest Gump," etc.

Why do you have so many stories

named after
the central character?

Which is to say,
the single individual

who bears the title of the work
is whose story it is.

Why?

Because my story
is the story of me.

I’m at the center of my story.

I’m the hero, if you will --

sometimes the villain --
of my story.

And when we see a story
in which a single character

is what the story is about,

we instantly understand.

One of the crucial elements
in writing drama is empathy,

being able to project yourself
into the other person.

"Psyche" is the Greek
term for soul,

and it’s not so much
the psyche of the character

that filmmakers focus on.

It’s the psyche of the audience.

Okay, I’ve thrown out
a bunch of titles

that span 2,500 years.

What else is a pattern?

Nearly all of those works
deal with a family,

and whether it’s a biological
family or a surrogate family,

that’s the most important
social unit in human society.

That’s one of the things
that made

"The Godfather" series
unique.

Francis Coppola originally
declined to direct the film,

even though he was
in dire straits financially,

because he said, "I don’t want
to make a gangster film,

especially one
about Italian gangsters."

Well, "The Godfather" series
is certainly about gangsters.

Aaah! Aaaah!

It’s also,
as the title suggests,

it’s about a family.

But what are the psychological
elements that define a family?

Loyalty, nurturing,
mutual protection and support.

And they share memories,
both good and bad.

But inevitably,
they also quarrel.

It’s all-out war. We go to the mattresses.
Some of the other families won’t sit still for all-out war!

Then they hand me Sollozzo!
Your father wouldn’t want to hear this!

This is business,
not personal!

Suber: ...and have differences

that threaten
to destroy the family.

You're my older brother,
and I love you.

But don’t ever take sides

with anyone
against the family again.

Ever.

"The Exorcist,"

another gigantically
popular film...

[ Snarling, screeching ]

...is a horror film.

Can’t deny that.

Aaaah!
Let the enemy have no power over her,

and the son of iniquity
be powerless...

...of one of the most powerful
horror films ever made,

but it’s equally about a mother
trying to rescue her child

who has been kidnapped
by a demon.

Amen.

"One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,"

which a lot of people think of
as being simply a film

about the oppressed inmates
in a mental institution,

but it’s about
a surrogate family.

On the one hand,
from the standpoint of biology,

nobody’s related to anybody,

but they develop
that relationship,

thanks to our hero
Jack Nicholson,

in one of many roles like this.

Jesus!

I mean, you guys
do nothing but complain

about how you can’t stand it
in this place here,

and then you haven’t got
the guts just to walk out?

What do you think you are,
for Christ’s sake,

crazy or something?

Well, you’re not.
You’re not.

You’re no crazier
than the average asshole

out walking around
on the streets.

And that’s it.

He takes the inmates
out on a boat to go fishing.

What are you laughing at,
Martini?

You’re not an idiot, huh?

You’re not a God damn
looney now, boy.

You’re a fisherman.
[ Laughs ]

He frees them
from the prison they’re in.

He gives them faith
in their own potential --

the greatest gift
one human being

can give to another.

They’re gonna be
trolling this place

for six months
looking for dead bodies.

What else is a pattern?

It isn’t always on the surface
and declaring itself,

but deeply embedded in virtually
all memorable stories,

let alone films,
is the element of loss.

In "Star Wars,"
Luke Skywalker returns home

to encounter
his first great loss.

♪♪

Loss appears almost invariably
in memorable stories

because it’s one
of the principal experiences

we all have.

It’s a fundamental aspect
of being a human being,

and we don’t talk
about it a lot,

but we feel it.

Loss is an important element

of "Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind."

You hear me, Chiron?

Loss is an
important part of "Moonlight."

I hear you, Mama.

Loss is an important
part of "Toy Story."

Loss, in fact,
is an important part

of virtually
all of the Pixar films.

Nemo! Nemo!

No! Please, no!

Suber: In fact, loss is
an important part of Disney,

which owns Pixar.

It’s one of the reasons

that studio has been
so successful.

"Bambi" --
what is it about,

if not the loss
of Bambi’s mother?

We made it, Mother!

Wait.

Mother!

Mother!

That traumatized me
when I was 5 years old.

The scar is still not healed.

Mother, where are you?!

Why is loss so omnipresent?
Mother!

Because it’s one of
the fundamental human feelings.

We’ve all experienced loss.

We all keep on experiencing loss
until we are lost.

Ricky!

"Boyz n the Hood"
is about being trapped

and how it can lead
to a terrible loss.

The protagonist, Tre,
played by Cuba Gooding Jr.,

helplessly watches
his best friend Ricky,

who dreamed
of escaping the hood,

die in his arms.

Some losses are inevitable,

but the most tragic
are those that weren’t.

[ Voice breaking ] Ricky.

Help me! Help me!
Somebody help me!

What makes us human
is how we feel.

What makes us human
is how we then act

in response
to the way we feel.

Feeling is necessary to action.

And behind feelings,

what are memorable
popular films about?

My answer is power.

♪♪

I don’t necessarily mean
power over other people.

I mean power in the way
it’s used in physics.

Power is the ability
to produce change or prevent it.

To produce change or prevent it.

Power is the fulcrum of drama.

He was onto something.
Clever boy.

Don’t worry, that’s mine.

If you are somebody
who’s unknown

and you have aspirations
to become famous,

such as Ally,
played by Lady Gaga

in the fourth version
of "A Star Is Born,"

at the moment you have

the first inklings
of the desire,

you don’t have
the power to get it.

There’s a friend of mine who,
uh, came a long way to be here,

and she wrote a great song,

and I'd just like
to hear her sing it.

I think it’s
pretty fucking good.

Suber:
That’s what life is about.

"I want...whatever it is."

You have to apply what I call
the GOYA principle,

which is get off your ass.

You have to strive.
You have to work.

♪ Tell me something, boy ♪

♪ Aren’t you tired
tryna fill that void? ♪

It’s not going to come to you

and say,
"I give you this power."

It’s not "The Wizard of Oz"

with a fairy godmother
who anoints you.

You have to work.

Often, you may desire something,

you may work to get it,

and you don’t.

Why not?

Inertia.

Inertia prevents change.

Well, as we will see
eventually...

...for all I care!

...in all stories,

whether
it’s a romantic comedy...

What have I done?

Ow!

...whether it’s a film
about a serial killer...

I’d like to speak
to my lawyer, please.

God damn it!

...the seeking of change

and the preventing of change...

...are what the story is about.

We don’t go to movies
just to see the world.

We got to see a just world,

a world in which
things work out

the way we wished
or desire that they would.

Most film stories begin
with the central character

in a position of low power.

And sometimes they end up
in a position of high power.

[ Cheers and applause ]

But Charles Foster Kane
in "Citizen Kane"

and Michael Corleone
in "The Godfather" trilogy

end up with a lot of power,

but we don’t value
the characters

as much at the end
as we did at the beginning.

Because in movies,

we are not as oriented
towards power

the way we are in real life.

Everybody in the world

knows what
the American value system is.

What is it that,
whether consciously or not,

Americans are trained
to value?

Money,

a big, plush, palatial home,

an expensive car,

and for some people,
a trophy spouse.

I need them to want
to live like me.

You get it?
To live like me.

Although you may say
those are not your values,

I’m assuming you would agree

that most of your fellow
Americans do.

Greed, for lack of
a better word, is good.

Greed is right.

Suber: Many people think
"Wall Street"

glorifies cutthroat competition
and greed.

In fact, what "Wall Street"
is about

is a young guy named Bud

who starts out
wanting to be like Gordon Gekko,

but comes to recognize
that family and loyalty

are more important
than incredible riches,

private jets,
and trophy spouses.

Because young Bud's old man

is head of
Airline Mechanics Association

and working on behalf
of his fellow union members,

and Gordon Gekko is going to
buy that aircraft company

and then fire everybody.

He’s using you, kid.

He’s got your prick
in his back pocket,

but you’re too blind
to see it.

No, what I see
is a jealous old machinist

who can’t stand the fact
that his son’s become

more successful
than he has.

What you see is a guy

who never measured
a man’s success

by the size of his wallet!

And young Bud discovers
that the values

of all the power
that Gordon Gekko has

are not equal to the values

of being devoted
to your fellow human being.

You’re under arrest,
Mr. Fox.

I challenge you

to name three memorable
popular American films

that tell you that wealth
and material possessions

are the most important
things in life.

And we could talk about
a lot of other films

in which somebody acquires
real-world power,

becomes fabulously wealthy,

and they do not come
to a good end.

I'm finished.

This leads us back into
another one of those patterns.

Many of the most popular
and memorable stories,

going back to the Greeks,

do not have a happy ending.

Happy endings are obligatory
for musicals...

...and for romantic comedies,

which are not the same genre
as love stories.

The world’s great love stories
more often than not

end in the separation
or death of the lovers.

Think of "Romeo and Juliet."

Evelyn, put that gun away!
Let the police handle this.

He owns the police.

Suber: "Chinatown."

[ Gunshots ]

The death of the woman
who’s loved by the protagonist.

But it’s not just love stories.

The world of film is filled
with unhappy endings.

With "All Quiet
on the Western Front,"

one of the earliest
blockbuster successes,

our protagonist escapes
from the war,

but only because he’s dead.

In "Do the Right Thing,"

Mookie, played
by director Spike Lee,

witnesses the callous murder
of his friend Radio Raheem

by a white policeman.

In response,
Mookie leads the neighborhood

into burning down
his own employer’s restaurant,

which means
he’s out of a job,

so we can’t say
the ending is a happy one.

But they have taken
a stand against injustice.

In "The Godfather Part III,"

Michael Corleone’s daughter
Mary is killed

by an assassin’s bullet
intended for him.

Even though he won’t die
for several more years,

Michael’s life
is essentially over.

So many movies have
essentially unhappy endings.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I hope I haven’t depressed you
with all this.

Because that’s not
the only thing

that drives us to movies.

There’s another.

It’s what makes
the world go round.

It’s the "F" word.

Fun.

We go to movies,

certainly to American movies,
to have fun.

Whatever the genre,
whatever the plot,

whatever the time period,
we sell fun.

Fun is part of the genius
of America.

Since our beginning,
it’s been one of the things

that other cultures
have made fun of us for having,

because we were not
a serious people.

We told jokes in the most
inappropriate places.

Harold, please.

We have created
some of the best villains

in world history.

Now I’m always smiling.

But we do it with a smile.
We do it with a wisecrack.

We do it with a gag,
which is an American term.

Here’s Johnny!
Aah! Aah!

We have always combined humor

with the most serious
of subjects.

We get it so we’re not
overcome by the tragedy.

We’re laughing,
and laughing blocks pain.

All three of the great
silent comedians --

Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd --

demonstrate this over
and over and over again.

And the audience could say,
"Oh, my God. He broke his back."

Well, if that happened,
it wouldn’t be a gag.

All comedy is based on pain
or potential pain.

The greater the potential
for pain,

the greater the opportunity
to be funny.

In "The 40 Year Old Virgin,"

Steve Carell’s character
gets his hairy chest waxed.

Ohhh! You fucker!

Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
That’s just your job.

Suber:
No pain or potential pain,

no laughter.

There’s something else
I want to mention

that has to do with power.

Not the power of characters,
but the power of film.

♪♪

Part of the power of film

is its ability to use scale
for dramatic purposes.

You walk in,
and there’s an 80-foot screen --

at least in the days
when everybody had to go

to a movie theater
to see the film --

and the camera gives us
a close-up

of this part
of somebody’s face.

And it can be filled
with love...

I love you.

...or hate

or any emotion
you want.

Alright, Mr. DeMille,
I’m ready for my close-up.

Suber:
Great directors understand

the power of the close-up.

♪♪

They understand that close-ups
are so powerful

that you use them frugally.

I’m Angela.
Vickers.

I saw you here
last spring.

The director George Stevens
in "A Place in the Sun"

had these enormous
tight close-ups

of Elizabeth Taylor
and Montgomery Clift.

That’s the first time
anybody ever said that.

You keep pretty much
to yourself, don’t you?

It’s a love story that --
surprise -- doesn’t end well,

and in scenes where
he really wants the audience

to empathize with the character

and to really be involved
in their love,

the camera moves in,

and the lighting
is so carefully sculpted

that those images could go
on a huge billboard,

and people could see it
from a half mile away

and instantly recognize
who those people were

and say, "I want to see that,"

because some human faces

are really just fascinating
in themselves.

This intimacy
with another human being

replicates the intimacy

of being an infant
at your mother’s breast,

and you’re this far away,
and you lose that.

You get it in sex later,

if you keep your eyes open.

But intimacy in love, sex,

in violence
is very powerful and memorable.

Lecter: You still wake up
sometimes, don’t you?

You wake up in the dark.

You hear the screaming
of the lambs.

Suber: Like this exchange
in "The Silence of the Lambs." Yes.

And you think if you save
poor Catherine,

you could make them stop,
don’t you?

You think
if Catherine lives,

you won’t wake up
in the dark ever again

to that awful screaming
of the lambs.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

Thank you, Clarice.

Thank you.

One of the most important
and often seen

kinds of power
is institutional power.

[ Siren wailing ]

If you’re driving down
the street or highway,

and you look
in your rear-view mirror

and you see
the familiar red light,

as in "Thelma & Louise,"

and the cop comes up to you,

and you notice he has a weapon,

but you don’t really expect,
at least if you’re white,

that he’s going to use it
on you.

You’re more concerned
with his badge.

Hello, Officer.
Is there a problem?

That tin star is a symbol
of where his power comes from.

You want to let me see
your license, please?

He’s got other cops and courts
and everything else behind him,

and he can lock you up
and throw away the key

for a long period of time.

You want to get out
of the car?

The institutional power
of a cop is really high.

Come with me, please.

But as powerful as institutions
are in real life,

we compensate
for that power in movies,

most often by making fun of it

or by proving it
to be irrelevant.

In the old days
of silent comedy,

a lot of the fun
consists of making fun

of the symbols of power.

Stuffy guy in a top hat,
people who are nothing

if you remove
their institutional affiliation.

We don’t really like
institutional power,

especially if we don’t have it.

So, to see people
who are inflated

with their own
institutional power

get their comeuppance
is really satisfying.

In "The Shawshank Redemption"...

I believe in two things --
discipline and the Bible.

...the warden clearly
has enormous power.

Put your trust in the Lord.

Your ass belongs to me.

Welcome to Shawshank.

But we know from the
opening scene at the lineup

that this guy
may have the power now,

but he won’t
by the end of this film.

Open the door.

Heroes are victimized
all the time.

That’s the setup that leads
to the hero acting...

Turn that off!

...well, heroically.

[ Knock on door ]

The hero appears to be trapped...
I am warning you, Dufresne. Turn that off!

...but he doesn’t allow
his victimization to stop him.

He defies that
which has bound him,

and he summons
the greatest power of all --

willpower,

which is often the only power
he or she had.

Saying no, being defiant,

not allowing yourself
to be the victim

or to be victimized
by what happens to you.

The prisoner wishes
to say a word.

[ Crowd shouting ]

In "Braveheart,"

Mel Gibson’s character
William Wallace

is tortured to death,

but he has the willpower
to utter one last defiant word,

one that will make him
a memorable hero to his people.

Freedooooooom!

♪♪

Finally, in our list of powers,

I think it necessary
to mention respect.

But I saved this for last

because respect is something
that other people bestow on you.

Shortly before the ending
of "Schindler’s List,"

after the war ends,
Schindler says...

I could have got more out.

I could have got more.

I don't know.
If I'd just...

I could have got more.

Oskar, there are 1,100 people
who are alive because of you.

Look at them.

And he is rewarded by
Itzhak Stern with a gold ring

that is a sign of the respect
of the inmates who faced death

if it weren’t for his effort.

The film doesn’t end there.

We see a long line
of the descendants

of the Jews
that Schindler saved.

And we are at what we realize

is Schindler’s grave
in the real world.

And they walk by,
and they each put a stone,

because that is a ritual of Jews
when they visit the dead

as a sign of respect.

It is the greatest achievement
to be respected and remembered.

♪♪

Our greatest fear, I think,
is not death.

It’s impotence.

It’s powerlessness.

It’s discovering that we are --

as we will discuss
in the next episode --

trapped,

that we don’t have the power
to change our world,

and it hurts.

And one of the compensations

that memorable popular films
give their audiences

is a great gift,

is the belief that
you don’t have to be powerless.

You can change your world
and your experience of life.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪