Welcome to the analysis of Hostel . Buttons at the bottom of each post enable navigation through the parts of the analysis.
Hostel is a 2005 horror film written and directed by Eli Roth. It stars Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eyþór Guðjónsson, and Barbara Nedeljáková.
The first thing that is of interest to us in this analysis, involves the character Kana (the Oriental woman). She has her face partially burned off during a torture session; this is symbolic of the Oriental concept of losing face. A person who has lost face has lost the respect of others; this is what Kana fears will happen to herself, due to the fact that she has had her beauty ruined. Thus, she commits suicide (by jumping in front of a moving train).
Moving on to another character, there are a pair of related scenes involving Oli. At one point during the sauna scene, he is shown with a mock face drawn on his bare buttocks just before he sits down. Then in a later scene, after he has been killed, his decapitated head is shown sitting on a chair. In a sense, the former scene predicts the latter one, within the context that both scenes convey the idea of a face being sat upon (i.e., if someone were to sit in the chair with the head on it, they'd be sitting on Oli's face).
Another pair of scenes involving one event seemingly predicting another, is the Amsterdam brothel scene followed by a later scene in the building in which the torture chambers are located. In one of the rooms in the brothel, a female worker is sitting astride a male client while he's laying on his back, and she's shouting at him and slapping him. Then much later, in the torture building, there is a conversation between Paxton and Natalya, during which Paxton calls Natalya a "bitch", and she responds by saying, "I get a lot of money for you, and that makes you my bitch." In both this scene and the sauna scene, a woman is effectively treating a man as if he is 'her bitch'.
a. Poster for Hostel:The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, the publisher, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, or the graphic artist.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Hostel analysis - part 4: The movie's underlying theme
CATEGORY: MOVIES
In the previous post, it was described how Paxton's interaction with the American businessman suggests that he has acquired, to some degree, the mentality of a torturer. By the time the movie concludes, Paxton has become an actual torturer, this being signified by his cutting off of two of the Dutch client's fingers (to get revenge for this client having earlier killed Paxton's friend, Josh). With the action taking place in a train station restroom, Paxton subsequently dunks his victim's head several times in a toilet bowl, then kills him by cutting his throat.
The overall picture is that gradually, as the movie has progressed, Paxton has gone from being tortured, to getting the upper hand with a torturer, to acquiring the mentality of a torturer; and finally, to torturing (and killing) someone. We see that Paxton has gone through a process whereby he has effectively 'switched places', from tortured to torturer. This switching between tortured and torturer is, in fact, part of the underlying theme of the movie, and in the below, we will 'combine' this theme with something else from the film, and then determine what the film's overall message to its audience is.
There is a scene early in the movie in which Paxton and Josh have entered the hostel for the very first time, and are standing at the check-in desk. It can be seen that the movie Pulp Fiction is playing on a TV set sitting on a countertop near the desk (see screencap at left). Pulp Fiction was directed and co-written by Quentin Tarantino; and, Tarantino was also involved in the making of Hostel (he was an executive producer for the film). Thus, the members of the Hostel audience, by watching Hostel, are doing something that some of the characters in Hostel (including Paxton) are here doing, by watching Pulp Fiction: watching a Quentin Tarantino movie.
The audio of Pulp Fiction, as it is shown on the TV set in Hostel, has been dubbed to suit the natives of the foreign country (Czechoslovakia) in which the hostel is located, such that it is playing in their native language. There are no English (or other) subtitles being displayed on the TV screen, and Paxton, who notices this, comments by saying, "great - no subtitles." Then later, in the room where he is about to be tortured, Paxton begins pleading with his captor in German, and we, the audience of Hostel, are shown no subtitles. Putting these two scenes together, it can be seen that there is some relationship being established between the characters in Hostel, and the members of Hostel's audience.
In fact, it is the case that we, the Hostel audience, and the characters in Hostel (in specific, Paxton), are to switch with each other, as suggested by the parallel relationship between the audience and characters implied by the two related scenarios just described. And, as mentioned above, we have already gone over the fact that one of the Hostel characters, Paxton, undergoes a gradual transition from torture victim to torture perpetrator, effectively switching from the former to the latter. By combining these two ideas (that within Hostel of Paxton going from tortured to torturer, and that of the parallel relationship between Hostel and its audience members), we conclude that the underlying theme of the movie is that each of us (as well as anyone else), given the right set of circumstances, could 'switch', from being a torture victim, to becoming a perpetrator of torture (i.e., any person is capable of undergoing the same basic process that Paxton did, given a similar set of circumstances).
In the previous post, it was described how Paxton's interaction with the American businessman suggests that he has acquired, to some degree, the mentality of a torturer. By the time the movie concludes, Paxton has become an actual torturer, this being signified by his cutting off of two of the Dutch client's fingers (to get revenge for this client having earlier killed Paxton's friend, Josh). With the action taking place in a train station restroom, Paxton subsequently dunks his victim's head several times in a toilet bowl, then kills him by cutting his throat.
The overall picture is that gradually, as the movie has progressed, Paxton has gone from being tortured, to getting the upper hand with a torturer, to acquiring the mentality of a torturer; and finally, to torturing (and killing) someone. We see that Paxton has gone through a process whereby he has effectively 'switched places', from tortured to torturer. This switching between tortured and torturer is, in fact, part of the underlying theme of the movie, and in the below, we will 'combine' this theme with something else from the film, and then determine what the film's overall message to its audience is.
The audio of Pulp Fiction, as it is shown on the TV set in Hostel, has been dubbed to suit the natives of the foreign country (Czechoslovakia) in which the hostel is located, such that it is playing in their native language. There are no English (or other) subtitles being displayed on the TV screen, and Paxton, who notices this, comments by saying, "great - no subtitles." Then later, in the room where he is about to be tortured, Paxton begins pleading with his captor in German, and we, the audience of Hostel, are shown no subtitles. Putting these two scenes together, it can be seen that there is some relationship being established between the characters in Hostel, and the members of Hostel's audience.
In fact, it is the case that we, the Hostel audience, and the characters in Hostel (in specific, Paxton), are to switch with each other, as suggested by the parallel relationship between the audience and characters implied by the two related scenarios just described. And, as mentioned above, we have already gone over the fact that one of the Hostel characters, Paxton, undergoes a gradual transition from torture victim to torture perpetrator, effectively switching from the former to the latter. By combining these two ideas (that within Hostel of Paxton going from tortured to torturer, and that of the parallel relationship between Hostel and its audience members), we conclude that the underlying theme of the movie is that each of us (as well as anyone else), given the right set of circumstances, could 'switch', from being a torture victim, to becoming a perpetrator of torture (i.e., any person is capable of undergoing the same basic process that Paxton did, given a similar set of circumstances).
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Hostel analysis - part 3: Paxton gets closer to becoming a torturer
CATEGORY: MOVIES
Eli Roth, director of Hostel. [Image from the Wikipedia 'Eli Roth' page; EliRothIBAug09 by Bev Moser, licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.]
In part 2 of the analysis, we left off with Paxton getting the upper hand with a man who had started to torture him, and then escaping from the room in which he was being held. Paxton proceeds to try and find his way out of the building he's in. While working his way through the corridors, he happens to enter the 'changing room' where newly-arrived clients (again, people who have paid to torture others) don the apparel they will need while torturing, such as aprons to keep their clothing from being splattered with blood. While Paxton is in this changing room, he begins to look around for something with which to disguise himself (by this point he has removed from his head, the helmet/mask disguise mentioned in part 2). He then hears someone else coming into the room, so he knows he must act quickly. He looks in a locker and finds a black coat resembling a trench coat, and a pair of black gloves, and quickly puts them on (the gloves are a necessary part of the disguise because some of his fingers had been cut off while he was being tortured; he doesn't need a mask here, since the room is just for the use of clients, and it is unlikely that any employees who may have earlier seen his face will enter the room).
When an American businessman (a client) comes into the room to get ready for his own session, he sees Paxton standing there in a coat and gloves and with a gun in his hand (recall that Paxton obtained the gun from the room where he had been starting to be tortured), so the businessman mistakenly assumes that Paxton is a client. He introduces himself to Paxton, then proceeds to go on at length about how much money he has paid for the opportunity to torture someone and about various other subjects pertaining to torturing, and even a little about his life's philosophy. He then begins to speak in detail about how he plans to conduct his torture session, and he also asks Paxton various questions. Paxton gives brief answers to these questions, answers which are consistent with what a client who has just tortured someone would say.
Finally, the businessman asks Paxton how his session went, i.e., whether it was a short torture session with Paxton killing the victim quickly, or with him drawing out the torture for a lengthy period of time. Paxton initially hesitates upon being asked this, then answers, "Quick." Note that this answer is consistent with him having the gun in his possession, and with the fact that he earlier shot his torturer with it. It makes things sound as if Paxton's brief session with his torturer was actually a session in which Paxton himself was the actual torturer (the American businessman is totally unaware of what actually transpired in the room Paxton was in).
The businessman becomes convinced that Paxton is a client who has just finished a session and is in the locker room changing back into his regular clothing, and that his session went quickly in that he shot his victim a short time into it. The point of this entire scene is not so much that Paxton has fooled the businessman, but rather, it is to suggest that Paxton is now like an actual torturer, in that he has, to at least some degree, acquired the mentality of one.
In part 2 of the analysis, we left off with Paxton getting the upper hand with a man who had started to torture him, and then escaping from the room in which he was being held. Paxton proceeds to try and find his way out of the building he's in. While working his way through the corridors, he happens to enter the 'changing room' where newly-arrived clients (again, people who have paid to torture others) don the apparel they will need while torturing, such as aprons to keep their clothing from being splattered with blood. While Paxton is in this changing room, he begins to look around for something with which to disguise himself (by this point he has removed from his head, the helmet/mask disguise mentioned in part 2). He then hears someone else coming into the room, so he knows he must act quickly. He looks in a locker and finds a black coat resembling a trench coat, and a pair of black gloves, and quickly puts them on (the gloves are a necessary part of the disguise because some of his fingers had been cut off while he was being tortured; he doesn't need a mask here, since the room is just for the use of clients, and it is unlikely that any employees who may have earlier seen his face will enter the room).
When an American businessman (a client) comes into the room to get ready for his own session, he sees Paxton standing there in a coat and gloves and with a gun in his hand (recall that Paxton obtained the gun from the room where he had been starting to be tortured), so the businessman mistakenly assumes that Paxton is a client. He introduces himself to Paxton, then proceeds to go on at length about how much money he has paid for the opportunity to torture someone and about various other subjects pertaining to torturing, and even a little about his life's philosophy. He then begins to speak in detail about how he plans to conduct his torture session, and he also asks Paxton various questions. Paxton gives brief answers to these questions, answers which are consistent with what a client who has just tortured someone would say.
Finally, the businessman asks Paxton how his session went, i.e., whether it was a short torture session with Paxton killing the victim quickly, or with him drawing out the torture for a lengthy period of time. Paxton initially hesitates upon being asked this, then answers, "Quick." Note that this answer is consistent with him having the gun in his possession, and with the fact that he earlier shot his torturer with it. It makes things sound as if Paxton's brief session with his torturer was actually a session in which Paxton himself was the actual torturer (the American businessman is totally unaware of what actually transpired in the room Paxton was in).
The businessman becomes convinced that Paxton is a client who has just finished a session and is in the locker room changing back into his regular clothing, and that his session went quickly in that he shot his victim a short time into it. The point of this entire scene is not so much that Paxton has fooled the businessman, but rather, it is to suggest that Paxton is now like an actual torturer, in that he has, to at least some degree, acquired the mentality of one.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Hostel analysis - part 2: Paxton gets the upper hand with a client
CATEGORY: MOVIES
One of the most crucial scenes in the movie occurs when Paxton is in a 'cell' (a special room), chained to a chair and about to be tortured with a chainsaw by one of the 'clients' - a man who has paid money to the owners who run the torture 'service'; these owners have innocent people such as Paxton kidnapped, then confined within a building in which individual areas and rooms are set up for them to be tortured (the rooms typically contain chairs and tables, a variety of torture instruments, manacles and/or ropes, and other items a given client may have requested).
The client starts working on Paxton by cutting off some of his fingers with the (running) chainsaw. Then he backs away from Paxton ten or fifteen feet; next, he begins running toward Paxton with the chainsaw outstretched in front of him. Just before reaching Paxton, however, he slips on some wet blood that is on the floor, and falls; the chainsaw, still running, then lands on top of him and severs his leg. Paxton, taking advantage of the opportunity, frees himself from the chair, then shoots and kills the unfortunate client with a gun which has been lying nearby. He then entices a guard, who has been sitting just outside the room, to come into it, and then he shoots and kills the guard. Note that in this scenario, the tables have been turned – the person who was being tortured now has the upper hand.
Paxton knows he must exit the room disguised, so that he will not arouse suspicion while trying to escape the building, should he encounter any of the torture service employees who earlier brought him to the building. He dons a helmet which has been lying nearby; this particular helmet has two pointed horns on top, and is designed such that it has a lower portion which functions as a mask; thus, when Paxton is wearing it, his face is covered, and therefore, no one who works for the torture service and had earlier seen his face, will recognize him while he's trying to escape. Helmets symbolize invisibility;[a] this fits with Paxton wanting to escape unnoticed.
a. Dictionary of Symbols. Ed. Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, Trans. John Buchanan-Brown. London: Penguin Group, 1996. p. 492.
One of the most crucial scenes in the movie occurs when Paxton is in a 'cell' (a special room), chained to a chair and about to be tortured with a chainsaw by one of the 'clients' - a man who has paid money to the owners who run the torture 'service'; these owners have innocent people such as Paxton kidnapped, then confined within a building in which individual areas and rooms are set up for them to be tortured (the rooms typically contain chairs and tables, a variety of torture instruments, manacles and/or ropes, and other items a given client may have requested).
The client starts working on Paxton by cutting off some of his fingers with the (running) chainsaw. Then he backs away from Paxton ten or fifteen feet; next, he begins running toward Paxton with the chainsaw outstretched in front of him. Just before reaching Paxton, however, he slips on some wet blood that is on the floor, and falls; the chainsaw, still running, then lands on top of him and severs his leg. Paxton, taking advantage of the opportunity, frees himself from the chair, then shoots and kills the unfortunate client with a gun which has been lying nearby. He then entices a guard, who has been sitting just outside the room, to come into it, and then he shoots and kills the guard. Note that in this scenario, the tables have been turned – the person who was being tortured now has the upper hand.
Paxton knows he must exit the room disguised, so that he will not arouse suspicion while trying to escape the building, should he encounter any of the torture service employees who earlier brought him to the building. He dons a helmet which has been lying nearby; this particular helmet has two pointed horns on top, and is designed such that it has a lower portion which functions as a mask; thus, when Paxton is wearing it, his face is covered, and therefore, no one who works for the torture service and had earlier seen his face, will recognize him while he's trying to escape. Helmets symbolize invisibility;[a] this fits with Paxton wanting to escape unnoticed.
a. Dictionary of Symbols. Ed. Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, Trans. John Buchanan-Brown. London: Penguin Group, 1996. p. 492.