Essays on Film

A close introspection of the genres of fiction and documentary forms of cinematic works would make one comprehend that the two types of films are different yet similar in many ways. For example, one can take into consideration the Japanese fictional film, Rashomon (1950), directed by Akira Kurosawa. This film tells the same story with three different perspectives (of three different characters of the film) and the narrative is constructed by the chronological portrayal of the three versions of the same occurrence. In contrast, the documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk, directed by Rob Epstein tells the story ...

Technology has indeed evolved over the years and continues to influence every facet of our lives. The advent of new technology has been a powerful force in molding the way humans interact as well as how society operates in general. Most people will think of technology as a combination of complex high tech machines such as computers but that is only one part of it. Furthermore, changes to way of life due to technological changes can be mild or drastic depending on how society receives it. For instance, the use of personal and business email has significantly reduced the ...

Blade Runner is an iconic film that was directed by Ridley Scott in 1981 and based on the novel of Philip Dick "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". The film in its two-version interpretations became one of the style-forming movies of the 1980-90s, and also gave rise to the Hollywood tendency to screen anti-utopian stories of Philip Dick. The deep problematic canvas of the film that is based on the idea that a person's conceptions regarding the world and his place in it can appear to be intentionally falsified by third parties, entities or intelligent, received subsequent development in ...

The Soviet montage style in filmmaking is a critical aspect, the films that were made during the movement were very influential and ushered in a new era of filmmaking, with the central aspect of the style being editing. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one film that contributed to the film history and how films were made. Examining the film, and rewriting it with the Soviet montage style would make it more interesting, especially with the collision montage. Collision montage is a technique where the shots are edited such that they are conflicting with one another instead of being ...

The film "About Baghdad" depicts the lives of the ordinary people who have gone though a devastation of their country, who have lost their loved ones and who still manage to survive. Over the years, the USA population was bombed with media information how the war that was led in Iraq was a fight for democracy, for the freedom, but the film showed the other side of the truth. The numbers of causalities that echo every day in the news headlines have become real persons who fight through life and manage to live despite the lack of elementary necessities ...

Modern roads were developed in the XX century at the time cars became affordable for the Americans. As the society develops and people invent more advanced technologies the life gets more and more convenient and safe. It concerns roads as well. A modern road should be safe and provide the traffic safety. The road engineers should think about how to reduce the possible harm on the highways from traffic collisions. The construction, design, and regulation of the roads should be well thought out. Highway design is always based on the landscape principles and engineering principles of grade cross-section, right-of-way, ...

Abstract

The film Heaven and Earth (1990) is a historical film about the rivalry between daimyos Kagetora and Takeda in Japan. The film shows several dramatic battles in which Kagetora and Takeda took part. At the same time, there is no true view of the causes of the rivalry and the personal aspect of the battles is overestimated. Nevertheless, the film is based on many historical facts and especially the battles, in particular the tactics applied by the warlords, were shot professionally. Thus after watching the film Heaven and Earth the perception of the rivalry between Kagetora and Takeda may ...

Cities in Cinemas: “Gone Baby Gone” by Ben Affleck

Gone Baby Gone is a film from 2007 and it is about the dark side of humanity, selfishness, but also about caring and about being moral and righteous. These themes are present in the film Gone Baby Gone and the film is successful in depicting major social and family issues. The story follows child kidnapping, two private detectives, the police and their attitude towards what means to do the right thing. The protagonist is a private detective, Patrick and he is a man of high integrity and moral standards, focused on doing his job consciously. The dark side of ...

Gone Baby Gone is a thriller movie that involves a working call neighborhood in Boston. However, it follows unhappily the footstep of two other crime movies in Boston, where it only depicts the famous characters as inherently unworthy and assumes their neighborhoods on one that involves a lot of crime scene in which everyone seems guilty of something since they all involve themselves in ‘ugly’ or ‘evil’ acts (Goldsmith 54). The adaptation involved in crime scene novels does the writing and makes the movie a typical hard-boiled motion picture to the point of being overcooked. For this reason, Gone ...

Article Review

Article Review I review such article as “Gender Flux: Transatlantic Influence on Fashioning the Cross-dresser in American Silent Cinema” by author Ricardo E. Zulueta. It has been published in the journal “The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture” in 2015. It should be noted, that until now, there is no single view of the nature of gender. On the one hand, gender is associated with the models, which are developed for the scientific description of the problems associated with gender issues. On the other hand, gender may be considered as a social phenomenon, which is created by people in ...

The use of cityscapes in cinema began in the mid-1920s with Berlin being the birth city of these new types of movies. Since then, cities have provided a production site as well as consumptions and distribution sites. The usage of cities in movies also assists in explaining different emerging issues within the modern urban society. Using cities as sites for shooting movies allows an understanding issues of the public sphere and social space (Mennel 32). Employing city landscape when shooting movies also help in promoting an understanding of modern aesthetics. Linklater’s movie Before Sunset tells a romantic story ...

Forwarding and countering are the techniques used for successful academic writing. The main goal of this essay is to show how Robert Rosenstone uses these techniques for discussing the works of other scholars. In order to achieve this goal, the information about these techniques was studied carefully and the chapter of Rosenstone’s book was examined. The first essay Rosenstone encounters in his chapter Mainstream Drama, is written by Gerda Lerner. In her essay, she analyzes three different films. Lerner tries to judge the films properly, but the essay goes back and forth between the variety of different judgments. ...

Introduction

This paper provides a review of a movie named “Training day” and critique of the movie in the light of the RLR and RLP theories of leadership. Denzel Washington is the main character in the movie “training day” who acts some leader. His made up name is Alonzo. He is a rebellious leader who has some villainous characteristics inside him. Alonzo is a cop in the Los Angeles police department. He always displays some unusual attributes while he is on duty.

Critique of the Movie

As a matter of fact, Alonzo is of the view that justice is not served on the court ...

The critique Isabel Christina Pinedo makes an effective comparison between the classical and the modern approach of making horror films and highlights a few differences between the two. In this regard, Pinedo highlights that both of these approaches show the starting of the film in a similar fashion. In both the classical as well as the modern approaches, the story begins with the violent disruption that is caused by a monster which can be seen as supernatural or alien. The plot matures around the monster’s destruction and the people’s response to the same. The movie sees climax ...

Film Analysis Paper # 1 (Before Sunset)

The meeting of Celine and Jesse has taken place after 9 years, since their romantic walks through Vienna, and they seem to be complete strangers. Each has his own life, he possesses favorite books and the family, where the laughter is not heard; she has a friend, in which she is not sure. They met, complained to each other, remembered last meeting and talked a lot. Both became older, both are passionate about some particular things in life. They do not live in misery and are alive and well. While watching the movie, it is easy to see the ...

Selected Approach: B

Question: Does this representation create, reinforce or challenge stereotypes? Challenging Gender Stereotypes in Shonda Rhymes’ “Scandal” Throughout the history of television, women have been presented as passive and submissive, and have been constructed as sexual objects. However, more recently, groundbreaking television series have begun to break the gender stereotype by presenting female characters in strong, authoritative roles which were usually reserved to men. Shonda Rhymes’s “Scandal” fits in this trend, centering upon Olivia Pope, a unique character who challenges the stereotypes by presenting an empowered African American woman. However, Olivia is only one of a series of masculine ...

There can be no denial of the fact that the novel, Great Expectations, is one of the finest works of literature. The novel has intrigued the literary critics as well as the avid readers alike, and it is deemed among the most famous literary works in the history of literature. The stalwart author, Charles Dickens goes on to exude his literary quintessence and aesthetic appeal in this novel that has left a lasting mark in the minds of one and all owing to its content and portrayal. Indeed, this novel in context is one of the most apt literary ...

The works under consideration are Tania Modleski’s “The Terror of Pleasure: The Contemporary Horror Film and the Postmodern Theory” (1986) and Isabel Cristina Pinedo’s “Postmodern Elements of the Contemporary Horror Films” (1997). Both authors dwell on the peculiarity of the role which contemporary horror films play in postmodernist culture. They also try to list the key features of horror films and explain in what way they reflect the philosophy of postmodernism. Both Tania Modleski and Isabel Cristina Pinedo start their dwelling on the topic with theoretical and historical background of postmodernism as a cultural and social phenomenon. ...

Film Studies

The primary aim behind making movies is to visually communicate the cultural ideas, while leaving the articulation of the movies’ themes to a wide range of receptive audience. Although a particular film genre and its identifiable iconography can traverse across national boundaries, yet comprehending and understanding the intended message of a particular film still calls for a quite a bit of premonition and intelligence. An American scholar in the field of Japanese cinema, Donald Richie states that contrary to a few nations like France and the United States, motion pictures have been regarded as a highly reputable form of ...

Mad Max: Fury Road is set in a post apocalyptic wasteland in Australia. The protagonist Max (Tom Hardy) is assisting Furiosa (Charlize Theron) as she searches for her homeland alongside her fellow prisoners. In pursuit of them are Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his cult of road warriors. The film is directed by George Miller and scored by Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL. The scene is one of the many chase scenes in the film. At this point, Furiosa is seeking safe passage through a canyon that is controlled by a gang of savage bikers. She tries to barter ...

“The Moped Diaries” is one of those short films that can be appreciated loved by many different audiences. However, it is difficult for the audiences to say what they like about this film. To explain why this film is so popular is an even more difficult task as a description may not do it justice. While there are many elements about this film that make it so interesting, the fact that it is a bit on the quirky side. There is slight humor when there should not be such as when the entire family is looking at their motor ...

In this paper, we will try to explain how the montage is linked to the images in the movie, because each image is associated by audience with a specific film. In addition, editing directly affects on the narration in the film. We will research the articles of the three different authors, Rudolf Arnheim, Andre Bazin and Sergei Eisenstein, which relate exclusively to the montage. In addition, we will analyze the film “Fist of Fury” in terms of art of montage. Let us start with Rudolf Arnheim. In his book called “Film as art”, he describes that the main thing ...

Remember the Titans (2000)

What does this statement mean to you – “Attitude reflects leadership?” Explain your answer!

ANSWER: “Attitude reflects leadership,” in the movie “Remember the Titans” (Yakin), mean that dispositional beliefs, values, and feelings of players was dictated by their leader’s own attitude. In the directive (task) dimension of leadership, a leader helps his team players achieve their goal through one-way communication using motivational speech, for instance. Examples include giving direction, defining goals, attaining a goal, and evaluating an outcome. In the supportive (relationship) dimension of leadership, a leader assists his members by means of two-way communication to feel comfortable among themselves. In the effective dimension of leadership, a leader ...

Winter bones

Teardrop Dolly is one of the main heroes of well-known book and movie «Winter bones». He is uncle of Ree Dolly who tried to find the way out of dramatic situation in her life. It is quite interesting to notice how her attitude to Teardrop evolved through the plot. Firstly, she was scared of him always looking as nightmare then after some events she started to see the real Teardrop who appeared to be the only person she could trust. He has amazing character that is impossible to understand without deep analysis. His three blue teardrops done in jailhouse ...

The Cloud for Digital Photography

CONVENTIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: STORAGE & MANAGEMENT ISSUES The advent of photography in late 1830s (Roosa, n.d.) has mandated later introduction and development of memory storage methods. The capacity for cameras to preserve in photographs personal and collective memories has made permanency a more urgent issue as photographs became household collectibles. Moreover, as development methods improved, older photographs (developed using outdated methods) required more maintenance during storage, particularly photographs produced by acetate negatives, chromogenic color film, polyester film and instant color print processes (Roosa). The deterioration of photographs by poor environmental storage conditions, poor storage enclosures, inadequate handling and shelving conditions, and ...

Children of Heaven

The film Children of Heaven is Iranian film released in 1997. The main theme in the film is family love and sacrifice they make for each other. The other important themes are dignity in poverty and effort that people make in order to survive as well as the contrast between urban and rural areas. The family is consisted of the parents, a son and a daughter and all of them are good people who happen to be poor and live in a poor neighborhood in Tehran. They are honest, hard-working and represent the society which is selfless and caring. ...

Blade Runner was released in 1982 and the director of the film is Ridley Scott. The main topics in the movie are the depiction of a dystopian world where people live in a hyper reality that is empowered through the scientific advancement and generated through media. Another topic is love and women who are femme fatales because love has survived and has a place in the new world order. The third important topic is courage as well as integrity of the protagonist of the film who is Blade Runner and has the task of hunting down and executing replicants, ...

We would like to analyze the movie “Children of Heaven” (1997) and more precisely the issues, raised in it (IMDb). This film, produced in Iran, is a very thoughtful picture, raising a lot of social and moral issues. If you look at the film from a philosophical point of view and if we dig deep enough, we will see that this movie is about the true moral values, about the sense of responsibility to the family, about a true self-dedication for the sake of the whole family. Here there are raised the questions that everyone, even the kids, must ...

In Majid Majidi’s “Children of Heaven”, released in 1997, Ali and Zahra lead viewers through the old streets of Tehran, in an adventure to solve the problem of a lost pair of shoes. For western viewers, the film offers the perfect opportunity to become acquainted with the Iranian culture and the Oriental atmosphere of the old streets which pervades many of the scenes is fascinating. The filmmakers create a realistic picture of the Iranian capital and identify both the most beautiful, and the most disturbing aspects of urban life in this country. As the film progresses, the viewers ...

This story resembles the example of successful romantic comedy which is concerned about the life of the people after the death when some of them, who has committed the suicide, meet at the way-station in order to exchange the experience and thoughts. The main idea of the film and message delivered by the editor is that everyone should have the worthy life. At the same time, the person should enjoy the life given, while it is highly important to find the person worth loving in order to add value to the personal life. Symbolism plays the important role in ...

Sinem Saban and Damien Curtis’s “Our Generation” is a documentary film released in 2010 which discusses the ongoing fight of Australian aboriginals to preserve their culture , their freedom and their lands, in the context of governmental pressure to give up land rights in exchange for education, housing and other services. The filmmakers succeeded in presenting a comprehensive picture of the complex issues affecting Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory today. The success of this film is based upon its reliance on witness accounts, and in particular, on the testimony of ordinary people from aboriginal communities. The footage from ...

Cultural and Creative Industries

Cultural and creative industries mean various economic activities concerning the creation or exploitation of information and knowledge. They have been an essential part of people’s lives and social advancement. These spheres are closely connected with production of things and ideas nobody knew about before. Cultural and creative industries are based on an intellectual activity of people. Innovations help to reduce cost of productions and to design new highly developed goods. They are the engine for progress and development of human thoughts. Nowadays, the role of cultural and creative industries start to be more and more important, and the ...

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Overview Fast forward. There is a woman named Susan Collins. She wrote a book. Actually a whole series of books. People read them and liked them. Probably some executive in Lionsgate read it and liked. So they decided to make a movie out of it. Actually a series of films. The first movie “Hunger Games” was a success but the director – Gary Ross said to have a very tense schedule so Francis Lawrence was invited to film the sequel. For those who have seen both movies – the difference is obvious. It is also obvious that Francis Lawrence like his ...

When photography arrived about 150 years ago, it was considered as a documentary medium because of the exact replicas of the subject. The technologically advanced cameras and development of photojournalism led to the development of realistic photos. Those photographs were considered a witnesses of reality as they expose the facts of life (Mullen 6). Gradually, manipulation in photography was looked upon to necessary to display the subject accurately. This was because the event was not self-explanatory or clear in photographs at times. Thus, the photographer was compelled at times to edit those images. Documentary photography is seen to belong ...

Introduction

Netzly (2000) defines special effects as the process of turning the imaginary events of a film look so real. This can be achieved mechanically through makeup and visual manipulations of images. In the early years of film production, special effects were manually done but in the current generation, both visual effects and makeup can be achieved through the use of computer generated imagery (CGI) (Netzly, 2000). Use of specialized materials like silicone to creatively transform a film cast into what the director envisages and in accordance with the theme of the film is the work of the makeup and ...

We first hear Symphonie Espagnole during the introduction to the Cantor, and the relationship he has with his son, Jakie. The Cantor laments his son’s absence on the Day of Atonement as he prays for Jakie to return and sing Kol Nidre, which is traditionally sung in Jewish synagogues on the Day of Atonement. The dense string arrangements here are heavy with longing and further exacerbated as the Cantor finds out Jakie has been seen singing ragtime songs at a local bar. In this entire sequence, Symphonie Espagnole accompanies this friction between the Cantor and Jakie. These two ...

Red Dawn is a movie directed by Bradley, Dan and written by Carl Ellsworth, Jeremy Passmore, Kevin Reynolds, and John Milius that was released in 2012. It is important to note that the film released in 2012 is a remake of a similarly titled film released in 1984. This movie feature prominent actors in its cast including Josh Peck (Matt), Chris Hemsworth (Jed), Josh Hutcherson (Robert), Isabel Lucas (Erica), Brett Cullen (Tom), Connor Cruise (Daryl), and Adrianne Palicki (Toni). In summary, this War film portrays an American City waking up to an invasion by Koreans seen through the paratroopers ...

Sergio E. Avilés’ Einen Koffer is only six minutes long, but it is an effective film with a strong message. The film depicts a Mexican man, hoping to cross the border between Mexico and the United States in the hopes of rejoining his family. He is walking along the large wall that separates the two countries, with a recording of President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 “Tear Down this Wall” speech playing in the background. Comparing the two scenarios of the immigrant’s situation and Reagan’s speech is largely what makes this short film so powerful. The man ...

Social Issues in the Films “Anna Karenina” and “The First Grader”

“Anna Karenina” is considered to be a great historical novel written by Russian world renowned novelist Lev Tolstoy. It is also a film directed by Joe Wright. It serves up all the important issues intertwined with tasty, thrilling, salacious and tantalizing gossip. It is a story with varied affairs, complete with sex, heartbreak and eventually, suicide-by-train (Anna Karenina). Having written the novel during the 1870s, there were lots of political and societal changes in Russia. The novel occurs against the backdrop of liberal reforms represented by Emperor Alexander II in the 1860s. These reforms involved prompt growth and development ...

(Tutor’s Name)

The City: An Overview Montreal is the second largest city in the Canadian province and is situated on the island of Montreal. The city has been the hub of all sorts commercial activities ranging from finance, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, design, technology, tourism, culture, sports, film and global affairs for decades. The city is predominantly French speaking one and is fondly called as the ‘cultural capital of Canada’. The city is highly influenced by the two famous rivers Saint Lawrence and Ottawa. The city lies between the hill-heads of Mount Royal, from which the very name Montreal originated. ...

a, Are you allowed to stream two or more videos simultaneously? When an individual purchases the video, they are allowed to stream their videos through any devices that can work with the streaming service. However, only two videos are allowed to be streamed from one Amazon account. For the rental videos, the same limitations apply except that the watching rights are limited to a time-specific window. b, Are you allowed to watch the same video to several devices simultaneously? Amazon users holder can only a single video to a single device at an instant. Nonetheless, an account holder can ...

A Review Paper on Tribological and Mechanical Properties of Ternary Nitride based Coatings

Chauhan, K. V., & Rawal, S. K. (2014). A Review Paper on Tribological and Mechanical Properties of Ternary Nitride based Coatings. Procedia Technology, 14, 430-437. doi:10.1016/j.protcy.2014.08.055 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212017314000917 The paper reviews the nanotribological researches that are required to create basic understanding of the interracial phenomena on the lesser scale in the nanostructured polymers employed in the storage if magnetic systems and for other commercial applications. In many fields of the electromagnetic and coating applications such as the use in the automobile and the aircraft sectors, the wear and the friction of the moving parts is a critical aspect to be put ...

A short film “Ghost Recon: Alpha” is the background to the game “Ghost Recon: Future Soldier”, released in 2012 (Alaux et al.). The French company, engaged in the video games production, Ubisoft performed the adaptation of the given film. After a bad start of the game Prince of Persia on the big screen, Ubisoft came to a more serious approach to this issue. Ubisoft decided to perform shootings of the acclaimed video game series “Assassin's Sreed” through its own efforts and at its own expense, thereby fully preserving copyright movies. Such a move is quite expected, as this will ...

Introduction

Identifying the key strategies of a successful business venture help the managers know and understand the excellent ideas that they can apply in their own businesses. It also enable the mangers determine the useful as well as the ineffective strategies that need to be modified or simply removed. The managers are able to plan for appropriate actions to achieve goals and objectives, thrive in the industry, and beat competition after assessing strategies and industry/market conditions. This paper will discuss the organizational background of The Walt Disney Company and its strategies that made it successful as well as the industry ...

The setting of this film is set to give the audience a quick glimpse of what live is for all the characters in this film. It is set on a stage in that it opens up to a scene in the household of Oblonsky that shows a pleasant scene far from what transpires after that. The audience gets to understand and comprehend the dramatic changes that take place in the movie by trying to relate the initial scenes of bliss and the inevitable tragedies that happen. The happy moments in the initial stages blur the tragedies that occur in ...

Article Summary and Analysis

In this article, White explores the concepts and logic behind making of horror films. He explains that the concepts used to describe horror films might not be enough to explain the horror itself or the manner in which filmmakers produce the desired horror effect. This does not mean that horror films are merely a sum of the various concepts used in making them. Rather, horror films derive their identities from the combination of the pieces from which they are constructed and the nature of the manner in which the various pieces are combined to cause the desired effect (White, ...

The film is based on the formative days of the FBI when they had limited power and relied more on the other law enforcement officers to do their job. These laws are soon improved to give the force more freedom to operate. It features Davis, a young lawyer who joins the force during the rampant crime era of the wild mid-west(G- Men). The police are portrayed as self-sacrificing as they lose their lives trying to fight crime(G- Men). They are also portrayed as being committed to the course of the law; despite the violence and the influence ...

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the interpersonal reflection after viewing the given video, i.e., “The Class Divided”. The video is based on the exploration of the nature of prejudice. It has been established that in this video, Jane Elliott, a third-grade teacher intentionally developed a specific situation. The situation was mainly aimed at teaching the students about the feeling of feeling discriminated, on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, orientation, etc. The given video is found to be the repeated representation of the classic documentary on the exercise of Jane Elliott, i.e., “blue eyes/brown eyes”. Jane ...

Schizophrenia in films: A Beautiful Mind

Schizophrenia is a disease in which the patients get subjected to hallucinations of hypothetical characters and start feeling them to be part of that hypothetical world. There are films which have portrayed their characters suffering from this disease and explained the consequent underpinnings to the family peace and development of such patients. A Beautiful Mind (2001) is an Oscar winning film that has depicted the real life story of noble laureate, Sir John Nash. Although, the film has its own share of dramatic and cinematic inclusions to demystify the actual sufferings and issues regarding Schizophrenia, still the prolific screenplay ...

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Research Question: How do the apocalyptic tensions in the SF films Things to Come and The Day the Earth Stood Still reflect Sontag’s “Imagination of Disaster?”

Films: Things to Come, dir: William Cameron Menzies (UK, 1936).

The Day the Earth Stood Still, dir: Robert Wise (United States, 1951). In terms of classic science fiction, William Cameron Menzies’ Things to Come and Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still stand firm as examples of the ways in which humanity used science fiction in film to explore the anxieties that came with things like war, apocalyptic destruction, and the possibility of death through our own command of technology. ...

Article critique

Introduction The body of the male, particularly the body of the white male in the article becomes a vessel of display of explosions, beauty, musculature and physical feats. This is the main direction taken by Susan Jeffords in her article, “Screening the Male”, to explore the theory of masculinity. As implied by Susan, the externality of the male body in itself confirms that the outward parameters of the white male body are primarily focused on the capturing the attention of the audience. Consequently, this present an avenue for exploring the dominance of masculinity in Hollywood cinema in line to ...

In 1920, Oscar Micheaux directed the release of an American silent film known as Within our Gates. The film portrayed the existence of racial discrimination and prejudice in the early 20th century. The film is also regarded as a race film, and it was produced during the era of Jim Crow, the Great Migration of the Blacks to Northern and Midwest Cities, and the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan. The director incorporated massive stereotypes that are associated with the black people in the US. The paper will entail a detailed analysis of Within our Gates film by providing ...

What is the difference between a biological and social view of race?

The biological view of race believes that race is determined by biology, the genetic makeup of an individual and their innate characteristics. This can be determined b observing the genetic makeup and taking a look at the chromosomal arrangement of the people belonging to different races. The biological view of view is also influenced by the social view that views people by their physical appearance. The social view believes that race is something that is defined by the skin color of people and the way their hair looks, the shape their eyes are and any other traits that are ...

In the film, “The General” Keaton Buster’s persona and sensibility adapt better to the sense of absurdity, cruelty, and randomness of the modern viewer (The General). The film recounts the story of Johnnie Gray, a railroad engineer under pressure to join the Confederate Army. A group of Yankees steals the train, and Johnnie sets out in its pursuit (The General). Long travelling shots and amazing camera tricks serve as the guiding elements of the film’s comic and visual style. The silent films of Keaton contributed significantly to the development of American comedy. In the films, Keaton utilizes ...

Forwarding and countering are the techniques used for successful academic writing. The main goal of this essay is to show how Robert Rosenstone uses these techniques for discussing the works of other scholars. In order to achieve this goal, the information about these techniques was studied carefully and the chapter of Rosenstone’s book was examined. The first essay, which is forwarded and countered by Rosenstone, is written by Gerda Lerner. In her essay, she analyses three different films. Lerner tries to judge the films properly, but the essay goes back and forth between the variety of different judgments. ...

“One saying: the techniquereproduced object domain of tradition. By making for a unique existence. And in permitting object reproduced Benjamin is saying that reproductions reduce the integrity of the art because the product is no longer authentic. It seems to him that an object is only unique and interesting in its singularity and once it becomes too easy to obtain then it loses its allure. For example, the Mona Lisa it is considered by many to be a great piece of art and there is only one. Which makes it intriguing. Now if the look the woman had was ...

Within Our Gates

Oscar Michaux’s film, Within Our Gates, has become one of the best films that show the real life of African Americans. This movie is an example of cinematic art that depicts difficult lives of people who suffer from discrimination. At the same time, it was thought to be an answer to D. W. Griffith’s movie, The Birth of Nation, that was full with stereotypes about black people in America. The core heroine of the movie is a young woman Sylvia Conrad, whose parents were lynched. She is engaged to a man who is a secret love of ...

After the readings from this chapter, I certainly believe that the film Amistad is definitely a more Disney-esque portrayal of the actual events that happened at this time. Just from what I have read, I believe that these events were more brutal and gruesome than we could ever imagine, and there is no film in the world that could ever be allowed to show these events as true as they happened for fear of censorship laws as well as ratings and offending certain populations. In Zinn’s chapter, five interesting points stood out to me. Firstly, I find it ...

Despite having the trappings of a hard sci-fi adventure story, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is a deeply humanist and spiritual film exploring philosophical and emotional issues in a complex way (Dean, 2015). Central to this are the concepts of bravery and sacrifice: as Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and the rest of his crew take great risks and travel vast distances to save humanity from a dying Earth, the characters all display varying aspects of the human condition, especially related to these very big, complex ideas. As the characters of Interstellar go about their mission and weigh the risks and rewards ...

The Domain of the Documentary by Nichols

Nichols argues that lovers of documentaries are meant to enjoy both the documentary aspects as a film and as a form of philosophy. Therefore, understanding the role that people play when developing solutions for films is one of the main ways through which documentaries have been noted for playing a significant role in enforcing the way people think and what they view. As such, creating numerous problems is developing a love for the documentary. In this context, documentaries play a major role in contributing to our understanding of various problems in the society whereas movies play a role in ...