電影《賽道狂人》影評：Ford vs Ferrari: The Note of Hollywood Film Style and Culture

Hollywood, the place where dreams come true. People come to this world's most creative and adventurous field to explore the most advanced film industry. It is the place to spread American tradition and culture to other countries, and because of their culture export, the global audiences are easy to engage and adopt Hollywood films. Today, Hollywood cinema still contains huge American cultural values that influence the international commercial and cultural market deeply. This journal-type blog is going to take one recent Hollywood film Ford v. Ferrari (2019) as an example, providing key information about this film production; introducing the story and main members of this film crew; discussing the style and narration of Hollywood cinema, and illustrating the representations of the film Ford v. Ferrari (2019).

First of all, the film Ford v. Ferrari (2019) is the story about the American motor company Ford won the racing competition in the world with Ferrari. The Ferrari racing cars are dominated by the early 1960s’ world motor industry. In the same time, the American motor company Ford’s boss Henry Ford II is mad about the sales of the Ford cars, because of the decline of the sales puts their company in danger. Therefore, Henry Ford II starts to seek a way to save the company. He finds that to make the racing cars which use the car they made to win the Le Mans 24 hours racing can earn many reputations and big sales for their company. They choose the professional technician and best racing driver as a team. Finally, they win racing. The film contains a long and detailed story that has many story plots in it. It is 152 minutes long and is the action, adventure and drama film. The film was released on November 2019. It won the 2020 Oscar Best Achievement in Film Editing and Sound Editing also nominated the Best Motion Picture of the Year at the same time. Hollywood itself has a significant feature, which is 「Hollywood’s commercial aesthetic recognizes that to make money, you have to spend money and that the reputation of a movie is enhanced by the conspicuous display of its production budget」 (Maltby, 2013, p.113). Ford v. Ferrari (2019) had a huge amount of budget, nearly 98 million US dollars, but it is just not a quite huge budget production for Hollywood commercial film nowadays. Overall the film totally earned 230 million US dollars globally, which was the success in the global market.

The director of Ford v. Ferrari (2019) is James Mangold. He made some of the famous films, such as Knight and Day in 2010, the Wolverine in 2013, and Logan released in 2017. The two protagonists from Ford v. Ferrari (2019) are world-famous. Matt Damon, he graduated at Harvard University as an English major. ‘The Bourne’ series films (2002, 2004, 2007 & 2016) are Matt Damon's most recognizable films. After that, he became one of the famous actors in Hollywood. He won the 1998 Oscar’s Best Writing, Screenplay written directly for the screen. He also nominated many times for the Best Performance and Best Actor in Oscar. He was playing the role of the American car designer Carroll Shelby in Ford v. Ferrari (2019). Christian Bale, who played the role of the British sports car driver and racing engineer Ken Miles. Christian Bale’s world-famous films Batman trilogy (also known as Dark Knight trilogy) (2005, 2008 & 2012) directed by Christopher Nolan was saved the Warner Bros’ Batmen series of productions from the trough. Meanwhile, these series films made resonate with global audiences, which proved the dark-themed narratives worked in superheroes film and change the way of superhero narration after 9/11 in Hollywood (Feblowitz, 2009). He won the Oscar’s Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in 2011.

Next, the style and narration of Hollywood films will be discussed. As Jack Valenti (1993) states, 「moviemaking is a marriage between art and business」 (p. 87). Hollywood cinema is the place where produces a higher budget and most mainstream film production. The Hollywood film combines the aesthetic elements as an art form and the commercial goals as a business platform. 「Hollywood’s aesthetic practices serve a commercial purpose. In Hollywood, commerce and aesthetics are symbiotic, or in the industry’s current terminology, synergistically intertwined」 (Maltby, 2013, p.11-12). Therefore, when people talk about Hollywood film it is going to contain the American culture, firm art, and their business model. In addition, Hollywood film narrative is dominated in film studies recently. As we know, the most important part of the film is the story. 「The aim of the film is the story that is told and the way it is told」 (Maltby, 2013, p.454). Through the history of Hollywood cinema, especially the classical Hollywood cinema in the 1920s to 1960s, they had a specific style of storytelling. The narrative of classical Hollywood films is 「a chain of cause and effect with the character being the causal」 (Mullarkey, 2008, p.34) role. Susan Hayward (2013) considers Hollywood as a viewing platform assists in a causal relationship. He also thinks that the characters are leading the storytelling. For Hollywood, the narrative norms of most films are the extension of the previous Hollywood film traditions and norms and generally followed the mainstream narrative approach which becomes the general structure of the films internationally, especially for commercial films (Bordwell,2006).

Finally, this section will illustrate the presentation such as plots, characters, language, background, and the point-of-view of the audience use Ford v. Ferrari (2019) as an example. he presentation of the film Eagle vs Shark (2007) will be illustrated. Maltby (2013) states that 「Hollywood has persistently produced movies that blur distinctions between entertainment and politics」 (p. 293). We can find in the Ford v. Ferrari (2019), the director intentionally presents the political elements in the film. For example, when Ford vice president Leo says to Carroll, he doesn’t want Ken to be a racing driver because his personal image has a negative influence on the company’s face. However, when they lost their first world racing game, Carroll realizes that the bureaucratism is deeply influencing the development of Ford company. This bureaucratism exists through the whole film, even in the end, Henry Ford II still asks Ken to slow down to wait for other Ford’s cars to pass the finishing point sides by sides, which makes Ken lost the game, and causes Ken died at the end of the film, because of he wants to test the terminal speed of his racing car, which he did achieve during the racing. The hierarchy of the member of the Ford company is clearly demonstrated.

Like a typical Hollywood action film, family support is a necessary part of the film. we can see his wife and kid are always situated by the sides of Ken. In addition, masculinity is highlighted in the film. The plots show that Ken and Carroll are keeping their dream, or we can say ‘American dream’ (as the tagline shows on the poster above, 「they took the American dream for a ride」), and never give up on the racing, even risk their life. For example, Ken teaches his kid on the airplane runway, Ken points the end of the runway and talks about the purpose of the racing and the principle of the life to his kid, which kind of the man’s conversation. Additionally, the film sitting in a period of time with the negative financial situation, this is because, at the beginning of the 1960s’, America faced the economic recession started in April 1960 (Amadeo, 2020). Therefore, we realize that Ken’s motor repair shop going to close down, and Ford’s downsizing. Moreover, this film keeps following the classical Hollywood narrative. This film has determined narrative structures. The film follows a coherent and predictable morality and outcome. The film also abides by the Hollywood 「stair-step」 narrative construction role, which means 「each story event has an effect which causes the next event」 (Bordwell et al., 1985, p.17).

In conclusion, the film Ford v. Ferrari (2019) is a great film that adapted from true biography with a few dramatic elements in it. the film brings us to have a sense of the Hollywood style and American culture. The film has both thought-provoking principles and an exciting entertainment atmosphere. It requires us to rethink the value of the dream, reputation, and lifestyle we are pursuing. Also, Ford v. Ferrari (2019) is typically a Hollywood feature film that represents the American national culture. Therefore, we can assume film as a culture carrier that allows us to dig out more about their social ideology and the cultural trait.

Filmography

Batman Begins. (2005). Christopher Nolan. (Dir.). Warner Bros., Syncopy & DC Comics. Warner Home Video. (DVD, 2006).

The Bourne Identity. (2002). Doug Liman. (Dir.). Universal Pictures & The Kennedy/Marshall Company. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. (DVD, 2003).

The Bourne Supremacy. (2004). Paul Greengrass. (Dir.). Universal Pictures, Motion Picture THETA Productions & The Kennedy/Marshall Company. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. (DVD, 2004).

The Bourne Ultimatum. (2007). Paul Greengrass. (Dir.). Universal Pictures, Motion Picture THETA Productions & The Kennedy/Marshall Company. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. (DVD, 2007).

The Dark Knight. (2008). Christopher Nolan. (Dir.). Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Syncopy & DC Comics. Warner Home Video (Blu-ray & DVD, 2008).

The Dark Knight Rises. (2012). Christopher Nolan. (Dir.). Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, DC Entertainment & Syncopy. Warner Home Video. (Blu-ray & DVD, 2012).

Ford v. Ferrari. (2019). James Mangold. (Dir.). Chernin Entertainment & Twentieth Century Fox. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. (Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray & DVD, 2020).

Jason Bourne. (2016). Paul Greengrass. (Dir.). Universal Pictures, Perfect World Pictures & The Kennedy/Marshall Company. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. (4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray & DVD, 2016).

Knight and Day. (2010). James Mangold. (Dir.). Twentieth Century Fox, Regency Enterprises, Pink Machine & Tree Line Film. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. (Blu-ray & DVD, 2010).

Logan. (2017). James Mangold. (Dir.). Twentieth Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment & TSG Entertainment. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. (Blu-ray & DVD, 2017).

The Wolverine. (2013). James Mangold. (Dir.). Twentieth Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment & Donners’ Company. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. (Blu-ray & DVD, 2013).

Reference

Amadeo, K. (2020). History of recessions in the United States. The Balance. Retrieved from: https://www.thebalance.com/the-history-of-recessions-in-the-united-states-3306011

Bordwell, D. (2006). The way Hollywood tells it: story and style in modern movies. CA: University of California Press.

Bordwell, D., Staiger, J. & Thompson, K. (1985). The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960. London, England: Routledge and Kegan Paul. p. 17.

Feblowitz, J. C. (2009). The Hero We Create: 9/11 & The Reinvention of Batman. Inquiries Journal, 1(12).

Hayward, S. (2013). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. London, England: Routledge.

Maltby, R. (2013). Hollywood Cinema. (2nd ed.) Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing.

Mullarkey, J. (2008). Refractions of reality: Philosophy and the moving image. NY: Springer. p. 29-57.

Valenti, J. (1993). ‘Hollywood, the Rating System and the Movie-Going Public,’ USA Today magazine, 122:2580 (September 1993), p. 87.