O Brother Where Art Thou? is a film that will take you on a perilous journey with Ulysses Everett McGill and his simpleminded cohorts. This film may be set amidst the early 1930’s Great Depression era, but it still has a Homer’s Odyssey feel to it. Down in the dusty and highly racial south, Everett recruits a couple of dimwitted convicts, Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O’Donnell, to help him retrieve his lost treasure and make it back home before his wife marries another suitor.
INTRODUCTION “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.” -Chief Justice Earl Warren Separate But Equal, directed by George Stevens Jr, is an American made-for-television movie that is based on the landmark Brown v. Board of Directors case of the U.S. Supreme court which established that segregation of primary schools based on race, as dictated by the ‘Separate but Equal’ doctrine, was unconstitutional based on the reinterpretation of the 14th amendment and thus, put an end to state-sponsored segregation in the US. Aims and Objectives:
In the movie “Friday” it displays a typical day in the ghetto and what obstacles two young black men had to go through just to get through one day. Ice Cube a famous American rapper from LA’s popular 90’s hip hop group NWA wrote this historic black comedic/drama film and along plays the main character Craig Jones. Craig plays the neighborhood hero after a chaotic day where he deals with bullies, his love life, annoying neighbors, and scary drug dealers. The film is based in south central LA in the mid 90’s where Craig and his best friend Smokey who is played by comedian/actor Chris Tucker find themselves in trouble after thinking it would be a typical Friday in the ghetto. Craig a young black man in his early twenties lives at home with his parents is determined to leave the ghetto but there 's just some things holding him back.
Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner is known for its incredible use of very low key lighting, the dark appearance of the film not only exemplifies the futuristic L.A city but also ties the film in with a modernized film noir style. The low key lighting in combination with the neon lights and signs creates a correlation between the light and the dark, this represents the conflict throughout the film between humanity and the replicants. Investigating the lighting throughout the scene when Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, retires the replicant Pris, Played by Daryl Hannah; this scene incorporates a well placed combination of blue, white, pink, and green light to develop a dark but colorful environment. This mix between high key and low key lighting is vital to the visual development of the films central conflict and dangerous mood of the city. The scene opens with Deckard slowly moving through the doorway with his gun drawn as a light blue light rotates past in the background.
The movie “Sleepers” is about four young boys between the ages 13-14 who commit a serious crime by accident. In this paper I will argue why the boys should be dealt with under the Restorative Justice System, and not under the Retributive Justice System. I will also talk about how they would be dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). The four boys are clearly very upset with themselves because they let what they thought would be just a fun prank turn into a violent crime.
In the movie, The Breakfast Club, five high school students spend their Saturday detention together. The popular girl Claire Standish, the athlete Andrew Clark, the nerd Brian Johnson, the outcast Allison Reynolds, and the rebellious delinquent John Bender must put aside their differences to survive their detention with their assistant principal, Mr. Vernon. While in detention, they are told to write about “who they really are” in one thousand words. Throughout the day, they reveal their struggles involving their cliques and their home lives. As the movie progresses, the audience finds out the reason each teen is in detention which brings up a discussion about who they really are.
The story of The Haunting of Hill House is a horror classic. The book and movie depict this terrifying story in vastly different ways. The movie uses cinematic techniques that a book can not portray: music, acting, and props. The book uses imagery, internal monologue, and suspense to peak fear in the readers. Movies are a different way of portraying a story, but movies aren’t always able to depict everything in the book.
The film ‘Good Will Hunting’ directed by Gus Van Sant is a movie which follows the life of Will Hunting who is gifted with astonishing skills for maths but whom suffered with a fear of abandonment. He developed a defense mechanism which affected his ability to create long lasting relationships. An important extract from the movie is the scene ‘ It’s not your fault’. This scene conveyed the impact of childhood traumas, the effects of suppressed emotions and the idea of soulmates. These ideas were manifested through the use of various film techniques, such as camera shots and movements, music and dialogue.
Death of a Salesman has been extremely influential in regards to theatrical performance and it has been performed by multiple different theatre groups. It has also been made into a movie, which has actors such as Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman, John Malkovich as Biff Loman, and Kate Reid as Linda Loman. All of these actors’ performances were true to the character and were extremely realistic. It was easy for the audience to get caught up in the characters that these actors portrayed. Throughout the movie, Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, and Kate Reid all provided an outstanding performance by ensuring that their facial expressions, body language, and emotions always shined through all the while they were creating realistic characters that were easily believable by the audience.
Breathless, originally titled ‘À bout de souffle’, made in 1960 is a movie about a small-time thief who steals a car and murders a policeman. The story is about authorities chasing him while he reunites with an American journalist and attempts to persuade her to run away with him to Italy. Jean-Luc Godard, the director of the movie often quotes, ‘To make a film, all you need is a girl and a gun.’, which is probably the inspiration behind this movie. Breathless was one of the movies that kicked off the French New Wave. Like several of his French New Wave members, Jean-Luc Godard started as a film critic, and wrote for the magazine ‘Cahiers du Cinema’ in the 1950s, when he was in his early 20s.
“Requiem For A Dream” tells the story of hope slowly and surely decaying in the lives of four distinct individuals, dealing with socialization, alienation, mores and even social class to create the scenarios each person faces. From wanting just happiness, down to desiring a better life, these were all corrupted towards the end. Although it is a film exemplifying poverty and everyday lives of the working poor with goals in life, much more sociological issues arise in the film relating to each and every character: Sara, Harry, Marion, and Tyrone. Socialization within society connects the characters to their individual issues that starts their downhill role in the film.
The 1995 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee and originally written by Jane Austen, has timeless elements in its composition. Starring Emma Thompson, also the screenwriter, and Kate Winslet as Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, the movie tells of two heroines and their struggle between balancing idealism and reality. As young, female adolescents of the 1800s, they are responsible for finding husbands that can support them financially; and following their father’s death and loss of money, this becomes even more emphasized. But, they come to struggle when having to choose between what their hearts crave, and what their minds know is best. Elinor’s ideal partner is the initially dull Edward Ferrars, who is discovered to be secretly engaged
There is no denying that the film, Aftershock, directed by Feng Xiaogang is the most bankable domestic blockbusters in mainland China and wins the box office of more than six hundred million in 2010 (Coonan, 2010). It reproduces the grave earthquake took place in Tangshan, Hebei Province on July 28, 1976. Such a 7.8 magnitude earthquake turned Tangshan into ruins in only twenty-three seconds and caused 250 thousands death. The successful release of the film has caused the high attention and intense discussion among the community until nowadays. As an excellent work of contemporary Chinese realism film, it moves audiences through its setting, expression, characters and also the touching plot.
One of the factors that define Inception are the conflicts that appear in the film. A major conflict is the battle between Cobb and society. In Inception, faceless corporations are trying to kill Cobb, while the U.S. government is trying to imprison him because of a crime that he didn’t commit. These are examples of the “person against society” conflict, which can be considered as a characteristic of science-fiction. On the other hand, there is another significant conflict; the struggle between Cobb and himself, because of the belief that Mal’s suicide was his fault.
Requiem for a Dream Requiem for a Dream was directed by Darren Aronofskey. The film portrays a family with many issues. The mother, Sara Goldfarb, suffers from a number of psychological issues that build up over time and land her in a psychotic state. Sara’s son, Harry Goldfarb, suffers from addiction to a number of drugs along with his friend Tyronee and his girlfriend Marion. All of this takes place in New York City where Sara, who is also a widowed woman, lives at home alone.
