Week 2 Collective Dossier Assignment

Area of Investigation: Narrative/How the story of a foster child's life is told in Naked Childhood (and The 400 Blows)

Music/sounds:

In Naked Childhood there is the complete lack of any type of non-diegetic music. This removes any type of forced sympathetic feeling that the spectator has towards Francois. He creates all of this trouble in his life (like torturing the cat and stealing money) and the spectator can understand that it is a way for him to deal with being a foster child. Pialat does not try to use music or sounds to convey pathos towards Francois. The lack of non-diegetic music provides the film with a very documentary and realist view that strays away from a fictional story line of a foster child. Pialat tries to represent Francois’ story in a very realistic manner to try to convey the emotional hardships that a foster child has to encounter as he moves to different families. The lack of music allows the spectator to see Francois’ raw emotional journey without the outside influence of the filmmaker. This is in complete contrast to The 400 Blows where music plays a large part in the film.

In The 400 Blows, dramatic and romanticizing music is played throughout the entire film. It provides the spectator with a very sympathetic view of Antoine’s situation. The non-diegetic music focuses and presents Antoine’s situation within his family. He is rejected and downcast by his mother and father. His teacher is constantly punishing him and his behavior. Antoine eventually gets sent away because he has caused too much trouble for his parents and teacher. Throughout the film, Antoine is shown to commit pranks, steal, and even runaway; yet, with these acts, Truffaut provides the non-diegetic music to romanticize and allow the spectator to sympathize with Antoine’s situation. Antoine has been constantly rejected by the adults within the film. The music allows the spectator to feel pathos and compassion towards Antoine and his rejection as a child. The music helps to show Antoine’s emotional journey throughout the film and it provides a way for the spectator to understand the difficulties that Antoine has had to face.

http://ia331235.us.archive.org/1/items/400BlowssoundClip/400BlowsSoundClip.wav