Post 5

Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola is an American director and screenplay writer. She has directed and written Lost in Translation, Somewhere, The Bling Ring and has made adaptations to The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette.  Sofia is the daughter of famed film maker Francis Ford Coppola. Sofia has said that her love of art, fashion and photography has influenced her decisions as a film director.

Sofia has a very stylistic approach to her films, while critics may argue she lacks in depth of story, it’s her artistic touches , fluid camera movements and modern soundtracks that have been important to her films. Coppola writes and directs her films which gives her full control of her vision. She incorporates her real life into films, such as Lost in Translation. From an interview on the David Letterman Show, Coppola talks about writing the film with Bill Murray in mind as a lead actor and said she wouldn’t have made the film if he wasn’t in it. The story was written about her experience being in Japan alone after college.

This is a photo of Sofia when she was featured in Interview magazine

The director was brought up in a wealthy family from her father’s success. The films she makes and the projects she takes on I would say reflects that. To me, the characters in her films, the females specifically, are well off and not too far from Sofia’s upbringing. The Virgin Suicides is a story that was adapted by Coppola in 1999. She took this story that had a male narration and adapted it to focus on the story of these 5 girls. All of the girls came from a private school background and well off. Her 2013 film The Bling Ring tells you the story about five privileged teenagers obsessed with celebrities who break into the homes of the rich and famous. Her role as auteur in her films gives light of an elite class of white women.

“ I TRY TO JUST MAKE WHAT I WANT TO MAKE OR WHAT I WOULD WANT TO SEE. I TRY NOT TO THINK ABOUT THE AUDIENCE TOO MUCH.” —SOFIA COPPOLA

Sofia Coppola has said to  Interview magazine, “I try to just make what I want to make or what I would want to see. I try not to think about the audience too much.”  In 2003, she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director. In 2010, with Somewhere, she became the first American woman to win the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.

From the Linda Nochlin reading “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists” Nochlin says it has to do with the lack of opportunities for women in art, I think this goes for film as well. We can’t assume that great artists are born great and in Coppola’s case just because you’re the daughter of a very successful film maker doesn’t mean you will be the same. Although with Coppola she was always exposed to that but she dipped in fingers into others things before directing but that exposure because of her father I think helped her. According to Nochlin, it is the lack of education opportunities that explains why there have not been great female arts. In the future, as more women get the recognition they deserve we can even out or exceed the playing field.

The following in a link to the interview on David Letterman with Sofia Coppola. She talks about making Lost in Translation and her experience with her muse Bill Murray.

.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9FAdvYmDljU
_________________________________________________________________________________

Works Cited

Nochlin, Linda. "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

"Sofia Coppola." Interview Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.

"Sofia Coppola on Letterman in 2004." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.