• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.133-142
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• 2012

The Purpose of the study is to identify the aesthetic of anxiety and horror in Roman Polanski's films, focusing on , , and . Polanski's films, of which main concern lies in veritable human under the circumstance of the closed space which is stained violence and horror, present a tendency of instability and brute force in the same age and individual's enervation and solitude isolated from the value of society. Eventually, it steadily deals with the origin horror of being. In this study, I analyzed Polanski's special feature of directing centering on three facters, such as visual storytelling, space design of isolation and enervation, and accompanying sight as a visual point of suspense. The style of Polanski's films, based on the classical priciple for suspense construction and variegated image making, shows that the incapable individual's awkward suffered in the closed circumstance, the strength of horror from the unknowable outside, and human's belief broken by brutal violence. These commonly connect to the theme of Roman Polanski's films.

• English & American cultural studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.71-90
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• 2009

David Harris argues that mass media suppress counter-hegemonic factors in order to reach audience. According to Harris's theory, the success of the film "Tess" depends on its effective adaptation from Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891). Tess (1979), directed by Roman Polansky, casting Nastassia Kinski for Tess, was acclaimed as a professional and commercial success, awarded with various prizes. Hardy's aim at criticizing Victorian English social and moral standard through Tess appears obscure in Polansky's film which focuses on the aesthetics of human body and capital. Polanski's Tess with urban white beauty does not emerge victimized by poverty, which the late twentieth century audience under the capitalist umbrella may abhor. To examine his use of music, sound effect, visual images by means of camera operation—angles, distances, close-ups and frequent movements—light and color, and mythic elements in the film, show Polansky's sharp perception of his contemporary audience's desire and conscientious work upon it.