Comparing Le Jetee, the short, and 12 Monkeys, the full-length movie

    Hey, blog! It's me again, today, I'll be comparing a short and a full-length film for my research. I'll be examining La Jetée and 12 Monkeys.

    I watched a video that compares 12 Monkeys and La Jetée, and it discussed how the feature film naturally extends the short, building on the original ideas. The video also touched on how both films explore the inevitability of certain events. In La Jetée, the short film, the protagonist is caught in a loop, unable to change the outcome. In contrast, 12 Monkeys takes this concept further, with the main character attempting to prevent a catastrophic event. The way time is portrayed in both films is crucial to their themes, and the video highlights how this theme is central to both works. The video also showed me how manipulating time plays a critical role in storytelling. Time travel is a central theme in both films, but La Jetée uses photography to reinforce the unchanging nature of time, while 12 Monkeys builds on this with the ability to alter past events. This taught me that time manipulation not only drives the plot but can also add emotional depth to the story.

    The article I read covers a similar comparison. One major takeaway for me was how adapting La Jetée into a full-length film allowed for a deeper exploration of memory and identity. While La Jetée focuses on the implications of time travel using minimal visual language, 12 Monkeys expands on these themes and introduces others, such as mental illness and the nature of memory. The article also discusses the difference in how the protagonists approach time. In La Jetée, the main character is a passive victim of time, while in 12 Monkeys, the protagonist actively tries to change the past. This shift results in a major narrative change. La Jetée emphasizes fate, while 12 Monkeys focuses more on human agency. The article points out that 12 Monkeys follows a more conventional narrative structure compared to the photo montage style of La Jetée.

Another key takeaway from the article was how each film uses its respective medium. The photographs in La Jetée and the film in 12 Monkeys both symbolize the passage of time, with still images conveying stillness and urgency conveyed through motion.

That's it for today's blog! Until next time, Karina logging off.