Natives by Jason Kobl

            Jason Kobl's characters are rich and clearly defined, adding to the film tensions. The father's misunderstanding and disapproval of his daughter's sexuality is ironic when paired with his clearly Native American roots. The Native Americans were a misunderstood and judged people by early settlers. This underlying tension amplifies his judgement of his daughter and causes an increased sympathy for the women's relationship in the viewer.  The mother's unwillingness to hug her daugher's girlfriend sets the tone for the visit, each callous word and gesture highlighting the girlfriend's role as the victim. Not only does the woman's parents keep the girlfriend at an arm's length, but the woman herself becomes cool and embarrassed of their union. The viewer realizes that her discomfort stems from the subtle yet palpable disapproval of the parents. The girlfriend is further shown as the victim through her nervous, yet heartfelt, attempts to connect with the parents, be it her gushing over her love for Lost or attempting to make a religious connection at dinner over the name for god, the viewer can't help but rally into her corner.

            As the film progresses, the viewer notices the daughter's desperate attempts to share her wealth with her parents, and her parent's stubborn resistance of it. Maybe, her parents hold some resentment over her abandoning the place she grew up. For instance, at dinner, the father expresses his daughter's talents and there usefulness in recent town struggles. He follows the compliment by passive aggressively calling her, in essence, too good for the town, having left for New York. This moment definitely reflects some tension surrounding her departure from home, which maybe they assume to be tied to the revelation of her unconventional sexuality.

            In the end, the girlfriend's idealism over coming out to her lover's parents combined with the her lover's seemingly defeated resolution that her parents could never understand and accept them despite their spiritual inclinations drives a wedge through their relationship.

            In regards to creative decisions, I love the way the film starts with the girlfriend walking in the sun sublimely eating an ice cream and ends with the two women standing in the still evening on the train platform. It's creates a beautiful imagistic dichotomy between the hopefulness of the main character verses her eventual disillusionment.

The Anti-Social Network

The tone of this film begins with a purely comedic image of the main character checking in to a social network at a funeral. The character's obsession with Facebook is visually represented by social networking icons and features that have become so embedded in his mind that they've bled into his reality. The ridiculous and fantastic nature is believable and comical at the same time. The viewer believes that although he/she may not know anyone whose obsession has seeped into their daily consciousness, that by no means rules out the possibility of someone existing with a dependency as such.  A powerful scene that Shackleford uses to epitomize our culture's obsession with technology is the main character trolling his social network on his couch, while the arbitrary flash and buzz of the TV entertain the kittens and his smart phone keeps him company on an adjacent couch cushion. This inability to find contentment in one endeavor seems to be an epidemic in contemporary culture. It's sad to watch our main character miss real human connections while his over active news feed like consciousness scrolls from stimulus to stimulus. He ditches his friend at the bar to chase girls, he blows off his responsibilities at work to scroll his news feed, and climactically he nearly squanders a possible love interest all in the name of technological impulses.  I love that the love interest represents the counterpoint to the main character's disconnection from reality. She creates the opposing force in the plot, trying to coerce him from his dependency by convicting him of his futile attempts at omnipresence that are only resulting in his mental absence from the human connection and intimacy he's been seeking via technology.

There's a clear connection between the technology-smitten man and the free spirited girlfriend from Kobl's Natives. Both characters become fixated on things to a fault. The Romeo of Social Media Facebook obsession drives a wedge between him connecting on his date, while the girlfriend's desperate need for her lover's parents approval creates distance between them and seemingly dissolves their union.