As we learned in class The 400 Blows was based on Francois Truffaut's childhood. I feel that it is a real fairy tale. The ambiguous ending let the audience decide what happened with Antoine once he escaped to the beach. Antoine was not like Oliver. In the end we know that Oliver has a happy ending. He ends up finding the truth about his family, he's awarded an inheritance, and he lives a happy existence with Mr.Brownslow in their little home in the country. Ultimately, he overcomes adversity with the help of the one adult he was able to trust and who loved him. Antoine didn't have that. He had to overcome adversity all by himself and I think therein lies the true beauty of this fairy tale. the root is that these stories are about children who find their own way to break free from the rules of a game that works against them in every way. They were poor, they came from broken households, they had very few options but they rose above it. The moral of these stories teach us that with or without a person by your side, no matter what circumstances you grew up in ,every person has the power inside them to better their situation. I can only imagine what happened to Antoine but if he truly is Truffaut he grew up and became successful.
The 400 Blows and Oliver Twist are both stories of survival. They are stories about boys who take charge and escape from the horrible situations they were born into. This first point really highlights the connection to the coming of age element in fairy tale stories. We talked about how blood is symbolic of loss of innocence with girls blossoming into womanhood. The 400 Blows and Oliver Twist give the male perspective. It is common for boys to prove their manhood by overcoming obstacles and coming out as survivors. It's like a test of manhood that I think these films portray vividly. In the following blog I would like to discuss some of the similarities and differences between the two films. 1. History I think these two works are significant for their historical value. They are set during transitional periods in human history, The 400 Blows took place immediately following World War 2 and Oliver Twist took place in the middle of the Industrial Revolution. I have come to think of these two boys as symbolic of their respective nations during this time. The post WWII world was in tumult. There was a global restructuring of power and this was when the forming of the United Nations was underway. Many of the colonies started rebelling against European imperialists and fighting for independence. Likewise, Oliver Twist depicts the eternal battle between the classes. This was the forming of modern capitalism. There were no child labor laws yet established and the wealthy manufacturers didn't think of the people they employed as human. They were seen only as a source of cheap labor and were horribly exploited. I view the fact that these two stories are set around children as symbolic of the new trying to overcome the old, rebellion against the establishment.
2. Steal to Survive Antoine and Oliver are both forced into thievery. Oliver is forced to become a pick pocket for Finch when he escapes his small town and flees to find better luck in London. Antoine steals milk, money, a typewriter, and his father's Michelin guide. Although it seems Antoine is choosing to make bad decisions of his own accord ultimately for both boys it comes down to survival. If Oliver doesn't go with the other boys and steal he will have no food, no place in a group which means no emotional security, and no place to stay. Antoine wants money so he can runaway from his abusive home, that's why he steals the money from his mom and tries to pawn off the typewriter but, when he runs away the first time he steals the milk because he has no money for food.
3. Frenemies - The Artful Dodger and Rene Every story always has a moral to it and watching these two films made me think of the phrase "beware of the company you keep". Although Dodger and Rene are central to the development of the lives of the main characters and without a doubt if the main characters had not had these two wing men at their sides their lives would have been bleaker that doesn't negate the fact that they also lead them to suffer unnecessarily. Companionship is good and essential for developing good mental health. Rene was Antoine's only "real" friend. Antoine's happiest moments in the film were with Rene but Rene was a bad influence. Rene is the one that convinces Antoine to skip school and talks him into stealing the typewriter. When Antoine gets caught trying to return the typewriter he goes down alone. When Rene see's Antoine's father yanking Antoine out of the building and yelling at him Rene stay's silent, doesn't admit to a thing, and doesn't step in at all. The Artful Dodger was Oliver's savior. He was the one who befriended Oliver and gave him food and a place to stay. He took Oliver under his wing. In the film Dodger taught Oliver how to take monograms out of handkerchiefs. However, it was because of Dodger's actions (a.k.a getting caught stealing) that Oliver gets taken to court due to a case of mistaken identity and would have been sent back to the workhouse were it not for the intervention of Mr. Brownlow.
4. Physical and mental abuse
In both films children experience physical and mental abuse by the adults around them. Antoine overhears his parents fighting about him. He is constantly accused of being a liar and a troublemaker by his parents and his teacher. Throughout the film his interactions with adults isn't pleasant. He is either getting reprimanded, hit, or being tugged around. The same is true with Oliver no one thinks he is a good kid. At the workhouse he is scorned when he asks for more food. He gets passed around from place to place until he willingly chooses to remove himself by running away. Once he gets away he is still ill treated. He gets threatened to death by Bill Sykes. He later gets shot. Throughout the film he is yelled at and tugged around.
Film Elements
The approach to shooting the film were completely different. The 400 Blows is experimental and raw. The 2005 Oliver Twist is a big Hollywood production, everything is heavily edited. Everything about it was elaborate, the costumes, the sets. The Oliver Twist movie used color to set the mood of a particular scene whereas The 400 Blows, being a movie shot in black and white used music to convey a particular mood/ emotion. For example, In Oliver Twist, mostly all of the scenes use darker colors, lots of brown, gray, black, blue, green for scenes set in the complex where the pick pockets stayed and when Oliver was at the workhouse. However the scenes where Oliver was staying with Mr. Brownslow were brightly lit and used bright colors, lot's of white and pastel type of colors.
The 400 Blows used lot's of non -diegetic sound so that in the rare instances that they used diegetic sound it was very obvious and it made you pay attention to that particular scene. I noticed that they played music in the scenes where an extreme of a particular emotion. Either sadness or happiness was being shown. For example, In all of the scenes where Antoine was able to be free, in a wide open space, being happy an upbeat song would start playing. Likewise, in the scene where Antoine is being pulled way in the back of a police car and you can see the tears running down his face a melancholy song would start playing, a song that used a lot of wind, string, and piano. It would make us feel that much more for him.
Final Thoughts
There are many other comparisons to make, importance of space and freedom in these films are also important themes. We see Antoine's space gradually become smaller and smaller. When Oliver leaves the workhouse to become and undertaker's apprentice he is relegated to a small sleeping space under a desk. Both boys fight to the very end to get their freedom. As I said in the beginning the stories are stories of overcoming adversity and I think that is a very positive message and certainly one that is universal.
