Delving back into my thoughts four and a half months ago, I had no idea that the Global Peace Film Festival (GPFF) and our Peace Through Film class would have such an impact on my mindset and motivations. Because of my previous involvement in the Sydney Film Festival (SFF), I had a small inkling of what the GPFF would be like, but I was not prepared for the effect it would have on my attitude. Additionally, it was incredibly refreshing to be introduced to film writing, which was previously a foreign subject to me. Although I am a lover of movies and an avid watcher, I rarely take the time to truly assess the filming techniques used and the power of good actors. The assignments in this course and the GPFF gave me a greater appreciation for the …show more content…
While general narratives are always exciting, the GPFF documentaries spoke to a deeper personal level that allowed for enhanced understanding. Several of the films at the SFF were beautifully made narrative features, but lacked any overarching themes that allow for this understanding. Just the overall aspect of peace creates an entirely different atmosphere, one that is devoted to the betterment of society. After viewing Sustainable, and especially after seeing Newtown, I felt a personal duty to positively change the way I viewed and acted upon certain subjects or events. True to their mission statement, the power of the GPFF is their ability to have this effect on attendees. With the simple changing of a viewer’s mindset, the world is one step closer to peace, and that is what the GPFF is all …show more content…
I am happy that this opportunity allowed me to see the differences between festivals and the distinctive personal outcomes that each conjured. With the help of the class assignments and the films at GPFF, I have turned into an active viewer that is starting to notice the little nuances of film. The conversations and actions I saw after the GPFF festival were exactly what I was looking forward to when I started this class. I witnessed committed students and professors who were eager to rouse change and action. Whether it was the sharing of Newtown information on Facebook or the minds that were changed after watching Sustainable, I saw a difference after the GPFF that I had not seen with the SFF. I am very pleased that I was given the chance to work with this festival and the chance to broaden my film writing skills. I am looking forward to being an active participant in the 2017 Global Peace Film
The literary analysis essay for A Separate Peace entitled Chapter 7: After the Fall notes that Gene’s brawl with Cliff Quackenbush occurs for two reasons: the first reason being that Gene was fighting to defend Finny, and the second reason being that Quackenbush is the antithesis of Finny. Cliff Quackenbush calls Gene a “maimed son-of-a-bitch”, since Gene holds a position on the team that is usually reserved for physically disabled students, and Gene reacts by hitting him in the face (Knowles, 79). At first, Gene remarks that he didn’t know why he reacted this way, then he says, “it was almost as though I were maimed. Then the realization that there was someone who was flashed over me”, referring to Finny (Knowles, 79). Quackenbush is “the adult world of punitive authority personified”, his voice mature, his convictions militaristic (Chapter, 76). Quackenbush reminds Gene of the adult world and all of the things that Finny and Devon protected him from, such as war.
...a Rae article that, “moviemakers are in the movie business, not the social change business”. Although they talk about film specifically, any medium of entertainment could still apply to this statement. This cycle of production is unhealthy, but if the process works, why fix it?
I realized that sometimes it is fine for things to just be, and I don’t know why. Much of the film has to do with how we think, and what we do in private. Collectively, through these moral and ethical acts (or lack thereof) we can impact the public. Also, by sharing these thoughts and concepts with the public in the documentary, it can affect our thoughts and actions in our private lives; I know it has, at least for myself. One of the earliest topics in the film that I took note of was the ethics of certain matters, in a way that I had never considered before.
A responsibility is something for which one is held accountable. Often people say that one is responsible for one’s own words and actions; if something happens as a result of something one does one is responsible for it. But is it possible that something could be the result of various actions from different people who are therefore equally responsible, or is there always one person who is most responsible for the incident at hand? Such a situation where this question is relevant is present in the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles. In the novel, the main character, Gene, ponders his responsibility for the death of his best friend, Phineas or Finny. After reading Gene’s account of the events that led to Finny’s death the reader may observe that there are three people who are all partially at fault for Finny’s death. Gene, a classmate named Brinker, and Phineas all had something to do with the incident, but who was most responsible for it?
Persuading viewers to think about their actions as to how they can improve this dilemma. Burtynsky 's projects have completely flipped my perspective of how humans consume the resources around them, slowly collapsing from our own demise. It made me want to change my lifestyle choices to help better and slow environmental change.
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
John Knowles writes a compelling realistic fiction about the lives of two teenage boys throughout the start of World War II in his novel A Separate Peace. Peter Yates the director of the movie plays the story out in a well organized theatrical manner. There are similarities and differences in these two works of art. However; there are also similarities.
Brenda Shoshanna once stated, “All conflict we experience in the world, is a conflict within our own selves.” This quote recognizes how much conflict influences our everyday lives and personality. The wise words were especially true for Gene, the main character in A separate peace, who let his battles with other characters and the society of his time become his own internal battles. In John Knowles’s novel, A separate peace, all the types of conflict are shown through the main character Gene.
This documentary as nominated for the Best Feature Documentary Academy Award. It showed the world the actual crimes and events that were happening in society that otherwise would have been overlooked after the initial shock. The moral, values and importance of these events being spread by mass communication can lead to awareness and hopefully avoidance of familiar events in the
In today’s world we tend to be caught up in our own personal bubbles. We don’t realize what goes on outside of our world and the myriad of subcultures that exist. The main problem with this is, once we become aware of the people that live outside of our culture and our norms, we tend to not understand their lifestyle and think that they are abnormal or psychotic. Through the various documentaries that we have explored this semester, I have experienced a change in emotion and thought. Every documentary we watched did not make sense to me. However, I realized that once you really dig deep and try to understand these people and their motives, you can uncover the way they affect our society.
Throughout the documentary historical videos and photos are incorporated of the gathering of activists and volunteers
...g to overuse and misuse of resources on a massive scale. Yet, as dismal as our current position, we also have the capacity to change. Our institutions and industries have the potential to promote the most humane virtues of equality, fairness, camaraderie, wisdom and ingenuity all within the guidelines prescribed by our planet. It is incumbent upon us to provide the will and the resolve to see that they do so. History has shown that it won’t happen without our persistence and dedication. Perhaps next year, our footprints will be the major topic of discussion in our media. There is my wish for the New Year.
It helped me better understand the struggle that mom and pop shops are having to stay in business due to the rise in Walmart’s throughout the United States. It gave me a different perspective on the topics relating to the course because this is greatly influenced by those with money and the power they have to in fact buy out any other offers that may be presented to those that own these large pieces of land where Walmart’s are continuing to try to build more and more Walmart’s. This video showed me how much commercials and television in general manipulates you to believe that Walmart is doing good in the society when in the end it’s all about the amount of profit that the 1% receives. Some of the strengths of the film was letting the viewer see how Walmart is affecting these families on a daily basis from deciding whether to eat or go to the hospital. When you don’t know if you are going to eat or not on any given day shows the impact that Walmart has on a tremendous amount of families. For the amount of profit that a corporation like Walmart has do not treat their employees with the opportunities for a raise, vacation time, and the opportunity to step up and make a difference. It inspired me to make a difference within the people that work there that I know and also educate those that might not know as much as I know about Walmart
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.
The importance of ethics when making a film is paramount. They exist in the filmmaking world to “govern the conduct [because] no hard and fast rules suffice, (Nichols, 2001). As Bill Nichols has argued, the essential question to consider when making a documentary is “How Should We Treat the People We Film (Nichols, 2001)?” The welfare of the people who participate in the film is vital to recognise because they are “cultural players rather than theatrical performers, (Nichols, 2001)”, they are conveying is real life according to them. Each of their movements and words are not scripted, and are real. A filmmaker is documenting their actual lives because they believe that the value lies in presenting something of interest to themselves and to its audience. It is because of this reality that the issue is much more important because it “adds a level of ethical consideration to documentary that is much less prominent in fiction filmmaking, (Nichols, 2001).” People are portraying their real selves and are not masked by a personality that has been asked of them to depict by a director. What must also be considered is how attending to the ethics of filmmaking is the benefits that it holds for the filmmakers and the audience. “Ethica...