What was up with that dog mask?

The dog mask spooked me. That's why I decided to talk about it. I couldn't upload it, but here is a link to the scene: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/248007/Killer-of-Sheep-Movie-Cilp-I-Wonder.html

The context of the scene is important. It is one of the many scenes in the 1977 (or 1979, or 2007, depending on your sources and criteria) Charles Burnett film, Killer of Sheep, that sees the protagonist, Stan, repairing his sink. His seemingly fruitless attempts at fixing a vital appliance in his home is very likely symbolic of his misguided effort to raise his children to be like him, which does not solve any of the family's core problems. The scene also follows one wherein Stan watched two people steal a television. Though he didn't let them go without a warning of being caught, he himself did nothing to try and stop them. This is because he always focuses more on his own family as the most important thing to worry about, even though it's allowing others to fall victim to the very circumstances he is trying to shield his family from.

After his friends asks if he's going to kill himself, Stan says he won't. His unwillingness to accept his poor financial standing and general downtrodden lifestyle is one of his admirable traits, though his stubbornness is also a curse, as it keeps him from being sympathetic towards others, even his children. When his kid arrives wearing a spooktacular dog mask, he jokes that he might kill him. He symbolically herds his children to their doom like the sheep in a slaughterhouse anyways, so his figurative consideration of killing them seems eerily in character.

While joking about murdering your children is a bit of a red flag in most cases to begin with, it is worse in this context because the child can see and hear him. Stan doesn't care whether his children understand why he says things or how they feel. The only reason he jokingly threatened to murder the kid is because she startled him, and he didn't even flinched, unlike I still do every time I watch that scene.

If anyone thinks they know why it was a dog mask specifically or why it was frightening, please let me know in a comment.

Sheepdog couldn't help from entering my mind.

I Liked Cicadas Before We Watched the Scene in Class.

Put on your fake glasses and step into my time machine. Let's go back to February 20th, 2014, 12:30p.m. Film as a Narrative Art Class. When we started discussing Two-Lane Blacktop, one of the most important scenes we discussed was the conversation about cicadas that occurred 31:23 into the movie. This upset me, as it likely meant that many people were going to discuss this scene in their blogs and mine would stand out less. You see, I wanted to talk about this scene before we were informed it was important, as I felt it was one of two scenes that should be discussed the most, the other being the ending, as these scenes were the only ones that didn't just hold my attention, but fascinated me.

If anyone is still uncertain as to the whether the 1971 Monte Hellman-directed road film was intentionally subersive of expected and well-loved road movie elements, the tagline on the movie's poster should remove all doubt. They have no goal, because "their world is a two-lane blacktop." The movie doesn't have an ending, because their world has "no end." How can it if it has "no beginning"? The film repeatedly does the opposite of everything expected of it.

Two-Lane Blacktop even subverts expectations one might have of it after understanding its attempts at subverting expectations. Instead of long, musical, wide panning shots, there are tight, noisy, almost boring shots from inside of the car, yes, but all of that works towards creating a sense of calmness, the hidden gem that is peace in being aimless. But then, near the end of the first act, the Driver tries to talk to the Girl about cicadas of all things.

"From left: Dennis Wilson, Laurie Bird, and James Taylor." So yes, I'm fairly certain it was the Driver talking in the cicada scene, for those of you who couldn't tell them apart (like I needed two views of the movie to do). He's wearing the same shirt in this picture as in the cicada scene.

The near constant noise in this scene is from cicadas, some of the loudest animals on the planet.
 For most of the movie, the cars are making constant noise. When the Driver asks if the Girl hears the cicadas, a car drives by in the background. The Driver is impressed with the critters' resilience, as they can survive for seven years underground, only surfacing to breed and then die. The cicada must crawl out of its skin first. This is a parallel to the road trippers' tendency to stay in their car, avoiding any responsibilities or goals in life until the Girl comes along, inspiring them with the mercilessly brief goal of sex. They must first stop and exit their car first, just as the cicada sheds its skin.

In other words...

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The Driver is a man with no purpose trying to exit his comfort zone, talk to a woman, and have sex with her. Cicadas are bugs who spend years with no purpose before exiting their skin to try to have sex. Two-Lane Blacktop considers road trippers nothing more than people who have no real purpose outside of petty, temporary goals. The eyes of a cicada are bright like the headlights on a car, if you wanna get really into it.

Easy Rider: Meaning of "We blew it."

"We blew it," says Captain America in response to Billy's declaration of their trip to Mardis Gras as a success.

I did some research and it turns out that not only was the explanation of this line removed from the film, but Peter Fonda and Terry Southern both always refused to even offer clues as to its meaning. This indicates that the line is open ended, up for interpretation. While some may argue that the fact that the line is meant to be enigmatic defeats the purpose of analyzing it, I say that even more meaning can be gleaned from it.

Of all the potential meanings I researched, the following is the one I believe is most likely the correct meaning.

Captain America and Billy had failed a spiritual quest. Along their journey they encounter hospitable people who pray before dinner and remind them of proper manners (such as the rancher's family). Captain America remarks more than once on how impressed he is by the life they built there.

Later, on Sacred Mountain, a hitchhiker they picked up from a Sacred gas station chastises Billy for being disrespectful to their camping grounds. At the hippie commune, which is filled with playing, happy, laughing children, another prayer is held. Here they are invited to stay.

In spite of all the positive spirituality they encounter on the way, they trip on acid, pay prostitutes, and have a very unpleasant time as religious imagery flashes on the screen (meant to represent what they see during their bad trip).

Captain America is on a quest to find meaning, but every time he encounters evidence that there is something more to life than a gas tank full of drug money, he ignores it. He only realizes his mistake when it's too late, and is punished by fate with death for his failure to accept the offer

It is worth noting that the support for this potential meaning of the line, "We blew it," came in the form of evidence presented in an argument that this is a more conservative money than liberal. The spirituality is presented as a positive alternative, and family togetherness is presented in the rancher's house and the hippie commune, the rancher's house even having some traditional manners.