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An analysis of the two main representations of woods in the Blair Witch Project.
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
00:04
if you’ve ever walked through the woods
00:07
at night you know the feeling there’s no
00:09
escaping it your eyes constantly screen
00:12
to check a little further into the
00:14
darkness making sure there’s nothing in
00:16
front of you or behind horror films have
00:19
capitalized on this sinister ambience
00:22
from the deep murkiness of the forest to
00:25
cabin in the woods gnarled trunks of
00:27
trees seem to be a common trope
00:28
throughout every level of the genre the
00:31
endless dark of the woods drives viewers
00:34
to the edge of their seats its mangled
00:36
branches and deep recesses provide a
00:39
perfect playground for all of our
00:41
darkest fears to run wild the deeper the
00:44
characters and ultimately we travel into
00:46
the woods the further they are from
00:48
safety and the closer they are to harm
00:51
the backwoods wilderness of the Blair
00:54
Witch Project epitomizes this forested
00:56
landscape found in many horror films the
00:59
1999 found-footage phenom demonstrates
01:01
that the woods in horror movies are
01:03
represented both as a place of leisure
01:05
and danger the movie initially relies on
01:09
America’s cultural understanding of the
01:12
forest as a playground but gradually
01:14
replaces that pristine image with an
01:16
older pre Thoreau vien fear of the
01:19
wilderness one that paints the woods as
01:21
malevolent so the forest in the Blair
01:24
Witch Project shows two contracts of the
01:27
American wilderness that have deep and
01:29
sometimes troubled histories the film
01:32
begins by quickly characterizing the
01:34
three protagonists as naive and reckless
01:37
in relation to the outdoors Heather also
01:40
talks nostalgically about hiking in the
01:42
woods
01:42
let your favorite thing to do on a
01:45
Sunday
01:47
it used to be drive to the woods and go
01:50
hiking and most of the group’s actions
01:53
during the first half of the movie are
01:55
headstrong and confident how they’re
01:58
constantly repeats that she knows where
02:00
she’s going and claims that you can’t
02:03
get lost in America these days
02:05
this assumed confidence of knowing the
02:07
wilderness plays into the American
02:09
mythology of the forest as a national
02:12
playground for these young people the
02:14
woods can’t possibly be threatening
02:16
because it exists for their pleasure and
02:18
discovery throughout the movie however
02:20
the group’s bravado slowly drains as
02:23
they begin to understand the malevolence
02:25
of their surrounding landscape in most
02:27
cases this fearful recognition of their
02:30
environment bows to the surface at night
02:32
consistent use of dim lighting and
02:34
off-screen sound highlights the darkness
02:36
between the trees this lets the mine do
02:39
most of the heavy lifting and works to
02:41
exacerbate the horror of what could be
02:43
waiting just beyond the white there are
02:45
roughly 10 paranormal moments spaced
02:47
throughout the film which provides us
02:49
with a constant string of tension out of
02:52
these ten moments seven occur at night
02:54
and used the forested landscape around
02:56
the film crews tent as a primary driver
02:58
of fear this particular scene where the
03:01
tent visibly shakes and the crew sprint
03:04
through the trees as a means of escape
03:06
best represents the pre romantic mind
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set in motion each tree and branch
03:20
throughout the shots are cast in harsh
03:22
light blending them in otherworldly feel
03:25
on top of that the majority of the frame
03:27
lies in shadow where at times is
03:29
completely black which hands the work of
03:32
crazy monsters over to our imagination
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by forcing us to build our own
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nightmarish visions of what could be
03:39
lurking in the bushes movie constructs
03:41
the woods as a place of violence and
03:43
knowable terrors instead of one where
03:46
you might enjoy a weekend hike
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ultimately the Blair Witch Project draws
03:50
upon a wilderness construct that views
03:52
the woods as vicious in order to undo
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the safety of forested land that many
03:57
white Americans have come to an
03:59
while the depiction of the forest begins
04:02
as a benign space for recreation and
04:05
discovery in the beginning of the movie
04:07
by the end the film firmly plants the
04:10
woods as a place of violence and fear to
04:14
this end the Blair Witch Project paints
04:16
the woods with hostility undoing the
04:18
American myth of wilderness as ours as
04:21
safe and as a playground in its place
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the film establishes a much more
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sinister idea of the woods one that held
04:29
a weight for many humans before the rise
04:31
of romanticism and national parks woods
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that struck fear and people because it
04:37
was unknown and dangerous everyone
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thanks for watching I’m trying out new
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end cards this week so go ahead and
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check them out over here
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hopefully they look good and work you
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can go and click on them and they should
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bring you to my YouTube page or my
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patreon page also I will not be making a
05:00
video next Friday but I’ll be back two
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weeks from now so I’ll see you then bye
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video.