Mary and Max was a really funny experience to watch; I decided to analyse it through the lens of the readings I have recently done about representation. I want to approach this in a theoretical sense to help be develop the theory behind my own story. Even though it is a stop-motion animation using small models, with a cartoonish aesthetic, it deals with VERY adult subject matters. The story revolves around two central figures; a young Australian girl and an older American man, who become unlikely friends. Where at first i thought the film would follow a very simple plot line and have a hopeful message and happy ending; it had lots of ups and downs in pace and story, like an emotional rollercoaster to watch!
Max's character has asbergers syndrome as we discover part way through. This brings to the forefront questions of representation: how do you portray a character with an invisible disability? It run the fine line between being very specified, and appealing to wide audience also. It does this mainly through black humour, where we can sympathise with Max's every day struggles while also being amused (but not in a cruel way I don't think). The fact that it uses both 3rd person narration and 1st person (where Max and Mary read each others' personal letters aloud) probably makes it easier to understand life through Max's PoV, and through literal narrative description rather than through visuals alone. I think that it is definitely a benefit of having narration in a story; and I am not quite sure yet whether I want to incorporate it in to my own yet. I will have to see how easy it is to tell the story through visuals, and if I need any aural aid for this.
The lighting and colour schemes changes between the two characters' environments, representing the way they view the world around them. For Max, New York is scary and grey and bleak. It shows how I can use colours, lighting, and the surroundings of the characters to reflect the storyline, emotion and characters' personalities, rather than just relying purely on their actions.
Representation of women comes through the depiction of Mary's growth through adolescence to womanhood. She goes through a great deal of self-loathing and deprecation, which she describes verbally and we can see in her actions and reactions to her own situation. As a child, she is not in control of her place in the world. She is controlled by her family, her age, her location. Later in life she begins to grow her independence, and be more assertive.
