{"id":40664,"date":"2020-06-09T14:02:19","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T11:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learning-mind.com\/?p=40664"},"modified":"2023-03-17T15:13:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T12:13:00","slug":"terrence-malick-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learning-mind.com\/terrence-malick-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Terrence Malick: the Intriguing Movies and Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terrence Malick’s movies are unique<\/em>, but they are also divisive. You either like them or you don\u2019t. Some will think Terrence Malick’s movies as groundbreaking, insightful, and moving pieces of work, whilst others may believe they are pretentious, laborious, and unengaging.<\/p>\n

So why do Malick\u2019s films have such a polarising reputation<\/strong>? This article will help you understand why this may be the case. But it will also illuminate the profound philosophical themes that Malick is pushing forward, and illustrate how these ideas may be able to help us on a personal level. This will be predominantly explored through his fifth feature: The Tree of Life<\/em> (2011).<\/p>\n

But first, we should find out who Terrence Malick is<\/strong>. We can then start to understand his cinema after understanding his life.<\/p>\n

Who Is Terrence Malick?<\/h2>\n

Terrence Malick was born on the 30th of November 1946 in Ottawa, Illinois. He had two younger brothers called Chris and Larry. Larry tragically committed suicide at a young age, and Malick\u2019s experience of this has been expressed and explored through some of his films.<\/p>\n

He studied at Harvard College and gained a B.A. in Philosophy, before undertaking graduate work as a Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. Malick left Oxford without finishing his studies and eventually returned to the USA, taking up a post teaching philosophy at MIT. Malick appeared to be constantly concerned with the philosophical study of phenomenology<\/strong>. Phenomenology is the study of human experience in the world and the way certain things are exhibited to us through our human perception. It is the study of the structure of consciousness and experience.<\/p>\n

Philosophers who he was particularly engaged with included Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. He even translated Heidegger\u2019s The Essence of Reasons <\/em>from German to English and had the translation published in 1969. Malick was also taught by the philosopher Stanley Cavell whilst studying at Harvard. Cavell was an intense follower of Heidegger.<\/p>\n

Malick is first and foremost a philosopher. He experienced tragedy in his early life and committed himself to the study and understanding of philosophy. The structure and facets of individual experience were his primary concern. All this weaves into his filmography to create the oeuvre that he has today.<\/p>\n

Malick started his career in film as a scriptwriter, revising scripts before eventually writing and making his own features. We can now see what may have influenced Malick\u2019s films and the ideas that they address. Next, we need to see what it is about Terrence Malick’s movies that make them a Terrence Malick’s movie, and why they are so divisive.<\/p>\n

What makes Terrence Malick’s movies a Terrence Malick’s movie?<\/h2>\n

There are several aspects to Malick\u2019s movies that create the stir or dislike amongst audiences today. He entered the cinematic arena in the so-called \u2018American New Wave\u2019 of Hollywood in the 1970s with Badlands<\/em> (1973) and Days of Heaven <\/em>(1978) –\u00a0 these are his most conventional films<\/strong> and probably least controversial.<\/p>\n

A 20-year hiatus followed until Malick returned with The Thin Red Line<\/em> (1998) and The New World <\/em>(2005). He then followed this in creating a collection of more ambiguous and experimental films<\/strong>, starting with The Tree of Life<\/em> (2011) up until Song to Song <\/em>(2017). A Hidden Life <\/em>(2019) is a historical war drama and is his latest film.<\/p>\n

There are elements of Malick\u2019s films that remain constant and present throughout his body of work. However, the variations and development in his style led to his films being quite difficult to watch and engage with for some. His profound philosophical themes regarding life<\/a>, meaning, love, and existence (amongst others) are present. It\u2019s just that the way he presents them through the medium of film can be quite an acquired taste.<\/p>\n

We can assess Malick\u2019s films and explore these matters through three significant elements. Then we can understand how and why Terrence Malick’s movies can be of profound help and importance to us all<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Narrative Structure<\/h3>\n

The conventional narrative structure of a screenplay is a three-act structure consisting of a beginning, a middle, and an end. Events play out in a clear format so that the story is shown in an engaging and captivating way, and so that there are satisfying character arcs. But this isn\u2019t true of all screenplays and all films.<\/p>\n

Some writers like to change the narrative and reshape it into something that isn\u2019t traditional. A non-linear narrative is an example of this (when events or scenes don\u2019t happen in chronological order), but the story can still be followed and there are characters that we can empathise with.<\/p>\n

The criticism against Terrence Malick<\/strong> is that the narratives of his films become increasingly hard to follow as we progress through his oeuvre (excluding Badlands <\/em>and Days of Heaven<\/em>, which are the closest of his films to a conventional structure). They become almost plotless<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is seen more explicitly in his latest films, for example, The Tree of Life<\/em>. Here we see Jack (Sean Penn) in modern-day grieving for his brother who died at the age of nineteen. Jack is now a grown man and the film intersperses between the modern-day, Jack\u2019s flashbacks of his childhood and various rhapsodical and fantastical scenes expressing his thoughts and consciousness<\/a>. The film delves into huge questions like the meaning of life<\/strong>. There is even a sequence presenting the formation of the universe.<\/p>\n