1. The Discipline of D.E. and Mala Noche have one obvious similarity. Black and white film was used as the medium of choice for each of them, aside from the scenes with Walt filming Roberto and Johnny with his own camera and the footage in the end credit sequence. Both films relied heavily on voice over narration to drive the narrative along, even though their narrative styles differed greatly. As for other sound design characteristics, The Discipline of D.E. rarely, if ever, used any diegetic sounds and strictly relied on non-diegetic narration from an unknown source, aside from one short use of dialogue towards the end of the film from Wyatt Earp, but Mala Noche made obvious use of diegetic sound with the use of the music from the record player in Walt's apartment, the gun shots fired by Johnny when the guys go on a joy ride, and the use of some spoken dialogue between the characters. Still, a great portion of the film's sound comes from non-diegetic narrator's commentary from Walt himself. Mala Noche was edited and filmed in a much more traditional way to correspond with the linear, with varied shot sizes and shot distances, even though there was a heavy reliance on close-ups of objects, which could also be seen in The Discipline of D.E. In contrast, The Discipline of D.E. relied much more heavily on quick cuts and various matches on actions to drive the non-linear narrative forward. Lastly, Mala Noche had a much more stylized lighting scheme that played with the concepts of white versus black and often used shadows to mask actions or character expressions, especially during night scenes.
2. Mala Noche has a linear narrative similar to many Classical Hollywood narratives. The story moves forward in time following the life of one main protagonist, Walt Curtis, as he deals with his unrequited love for a young Mexican man, Johnny. Like many Classical Hollywood narratives, there is a tremendous amount of conflict as Walt deals with the fact that Johnny is not homosexual and actually comes across as homophobic most of the time. The only time the linear aspect of the narrative is broken is to display a flashback that shows Johnny and Roberto's experiences on the train that brought them to where they are currently residing. However, this flashback does not act as a jarring shift in time as the film cuts back to the conversation between Walt, Betty, and the two boys. The rising action of the story drags on for most of the film before Mala Noche reaches its climax with the shooting death of Roberto. Then, in Classic Hollywood style, the film wraps up the conflict with its form of a resolution as Walt eventually tracks down Johnny. However, in a difference from the typical Classical Hollywood narrative, this film does not end happily. The romantic feelings that Walt feels for Johnny are never reciprocated, and the film is left open-ended.
3. By finding unique and sometimes unusual stylistic techniques that one enjoys using as a form of expression within films, or within any other media, and repeating these techniques over and over again, one can create a thumbprint of sorts within the chosen medium. This thumbprint, as long as it breaks away from the norm, will act as a stamp of authorship. Moreover, those in minorities are more likely to adopt styles that break away from the norm in order to further distance themselves from the majority.
4. creation of alter egos: when the author plants a character within a film that represents his/her personal thoughts/feelings/affiliations/etc.
silence: refraining from blatantly stating one's feelings on a matter and choosing to stay silent instead.
repetition: in the sense of camp or parody, it would mean copying in an attempt to humiliate or make fun of some other work/author, but at other times, it is meant as copying/mimicking the authorship stylings of another author.
recombination: taking something that already exists and reshaping it to fit the author's own ideals.
inversion: placing minorities/"others" into the spotlight when dealing with cultural, political, and other issues within the stories being authored.
accentuation: placing a substantial amount of emphasis on an idea in an attempt to build it up and make others view the concept differently.
5. The point that Staiger makes when she compares critical speculation about the intent of using Shakespeare in My Own Private Idaho with Van Sant’s own comments about his use of Shakespeare in the film is that authorship criticism can vary greatly from the true intent of the works of the author. Van Sant did not intend for his work to make a commentary on the previous works of Orson Welles or William Shakespeare, as the critics seem to believe. The references and intertextual connections were merely plot devices for his own work. For Staiger, Van Sant's comments about My Own Private Idaho reassure her that he is not trying to make a commentary or pay homage to any cultural icons with the intertextual references within his films. He is merely using cultural connections as plot points and plot devices to bring his stories together and move his narratives along in a way that works best for him as an author.
6. The relationship between Van Sant's use of intertextual references and his "post-gay" stance, according to Staiger, is rather simple to explain. His intertextual references are used in order to keep his characters from simply being the stereotypical queer character studies in the sense of homosexuality. Very rarely are his characters simply homosexual characters. Instead, they have other character flaws or struggles to overcome such as race relationships, poverty, generational differences, and other issues that can be connected to on a human level regardless of sexual orientation. This allows Van Sant to have the undercurrent of homosexuality in his films that is obviously important to him, even though not on a dominant level, but mainly allows him to focus on many other facets of the "post-gay" societal problems that the average gay, middle-class male might not face.
7. Staiger argues that ironical repetition is Van Sant's foundational authorial tactic because his works often, though not always, re-contextualize plots found in other films with Van Sant's characters inserted into them. In fact, basic narratives are often used as the entire foundation of his films. However, the films he "uses" for the sake of repetition present a profound irony when placed side-by-side with Van Sant's. This is Van Sant's chief authorial tactic because he even goes so far as to mimic an Alfred Hitchcock film shot-for-shot, as in his remake of Psycho, and even copies his own plot line before adding in a new character with Finding Forrester, which was mirrored after Van Sant's film Good Will Hunting.
8. Van Sant's casting choices for his remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is obviously an example of the tactic of inversion for two very clear reasons. At the time, and even to this day, Vince Vaughn was seen as the type of guy who is obviously heterosexual and has his relationships with various Hollywood actresses in the tabloids on a regular basis. As far as I know, he has never been suspected of having homosexual relationships, whereas Hitchcock's casting of Anthony Perkins was to the contrary. There was a great deal of controversy surrounding Perkins' sexual orientation, which lent itself differently to the story's connection to the mother figure and so forth. Also, by casting Anne Heche, who was infamously going through her "lesbian phase," Van Sant was able to shift the dynamic in the relationship between Marion and Norman. The reputations of the two leading actors casts the characters in a completely different light than the original movie's cast did. He inverted the two main roles, as far as sexuality was concerned, while keeping the rest of the movie nearly identical to Hitchcock's version in an attempt to stamp his authorship on the story.
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