“A true outlaw finds the balance between the passion in his heart and the reason in his mind,” reads Jackson (Jax) Teller, vice president of the Sons of Anarchy, from his father’s memoirs (1.3). The idea that violent criminals can be dark heroes – is the core reason why Sons of Anarchy attracted a diverse audience of four million total viewers for its Season Two premiere, with a little more than two million of those viewers being adults between the ages of 18 to 49 (Seidman). Keeping crime-family genre audience in mind creator, writer and director Kurt Sutter appeals to those who possess a thirst for justice but whom also appreciate the connections of a family or club environment. Airing on the FX network which piloted similar genre shows like Rescue Me and The Shield, the Sons of Anarchy revolves around Jax Teller’s constant struggle between the current state of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original Chapter (SAMCRO), and his father’s idealized reflections of what he hoped the club could become. …show more content…
The Sons of Anarchy is a response to 21st century larger than life issues such as the growing tension in the Middle East, and directs focus to more personal issues: family, friends, and home (SoA Class Wiki: Season 1). Reminding its viewers to address their own personal issues before concerning themselves with global politics, the Sons of Anarchy merges two seemingly different genres, family and crime drama, as illustrated through relatable characters such as Opie and Jax. This genre fusion appeals to a broad audience demographic by undercutting the harsh realities of a motorcycle gang with the tender loving moments of family miracles as a powerful rhetorical device while subtly referencing an establish piece of
The Breaking Bad television series has been memorable to viewers due to its diverse plot and stirring scenes. Vince Gillian incorporated Scholes matrices of power into his piece. Rhetoric has played an important roll in Breaking Bad, pathos, ethos, and logos have brought this film to another level. Allowing a sense of emotion, logic and credibility, within each episode. The series has been culturally relatable to viewers and the visually fascinating. Through narrativity the series has offered us intense plot lines and climaxes that are hard for viewers to resist and keep people watching. Through rhetoric analysis you are able to see the significance of Scholes matrices of power in Vince Gillian’s film, Breaking Bad.
Boyz N the Hood was a film created to convey an anti-gang message as well as to provide societal members an in-depth look at life in “the hood” so he or she can expand their culturally awareness of identifying societal issues (Stevenson, 1991). Upon the debut of “Boyz N the Hood” violence erupted at theaters across the nation, resulting in multiple shows pulling the film from scheduled showings to alleviate future violent behaviors (Stevenson, 1991). The film profoundly illustrates the realty of the events revealed within the storyline that frequently occur on a daily basis within every impoverish community; however, is overlooked by the individuals who are not directly involved and or affected (Leon-Guerrero, 2016) Children of lower socioeconomic status often are raised in ghetto neighborhoods where they often witness, crime, violence, gang activity, abuse, and drugs (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Ghetto communities envelop tumultuous cycles of violence and substance abuse creating a pervasive occurrence within the residents of the community. This is prevalent in lower developed communities that unfortunately many children and the youth populace indirectly inherit and sadly conform to, as there are no other means to an end for them (Leon-Guerrero,
Is High School football a sport, or is it more than that to some people? Recent newspaper headlines include such items as coaches abusing student athletes; fathers of athletes murdering coaches, and mother’s disabilitating cheerleading candidates to assure their daughters make the cheerleading team. In Odessa, Texas high school football is a major contributor to the society of a small town in Texas society. Every Friday night, 50,000 people fill the stadium to see high school students put their lives on the line to win a football game. H. G. Bissinger writes a novel called Friday Night Lights, about a year in 1988 where High School players prepare and play on the High School team, and what an impact they have on a small city in Texas.
The protagonists in the documentary, the bra boys' (surf gang), are presented by the antagonists (the media and the police) as a violent surfer gang. The filmmaker does this by using original news reports and police interviews highlighting that they are violent outlaws. However, from the Bra Boy’s perspective, their group is “brotherhood” who just love to surf.
Picture Manhattan in 1860, a time before the city had been dolled up and gotten ready for the silver screen, before the glamour and allure took over. Amsterdam Vallan (DiCaprio) is a young Irish man that migrates to the USA at a young age. Amsterdam’s story takes place in Five Points District of New York, a filthy and dangerous part of the city before it was deleted form history. As a young boy Vallan witnessed his father’s murder at the hand of William Cutting or Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis) during one of their many gang wars. As Amsterdam’s story progresses along side The Butcher they become inseparable, but Amsterdam had ulterior motive. Ultimately, Amsterdam attempts to betray his new found ally in order to avenge his father’s death. Historical accounts of events are almost always synthesized by the storyteller; in the case Gangs of New York Martin Scorsese tells of Five Points, The Dead Rabbits Riots, and The Draft Riots, but is his fictional story accurate through history?
This vicious group gets its respite from the Mexican government by hunting for scalps in return for bounties in Chihuahua and the overlying regions. As their horrors increase day by day, and as death keeps visiting them in the vast Wild West, the gang’s thirst for gore goes into overdrive and they turn against the same people they were t protect. Under the philosophical guidance of Judge Holden a vicious, sly pedophile and murderer, the gang reaches a point of no return in their belief that their work is
The Song “American Idiot” by Green Day uses techniques to engage the audience to interoperate the issues. Green day through their style of music convey issues such as the medias over powering effect on society, greed and the division of the United States of American over political issues. Green Day’s negative stance on the issues through these techniques conveys the audience to agree with the main issues being focused.
High school athletics leave a major impact on everybody that is involved with them. It also can even leave a mark on people who aren’t associated with them. There are many conflicting opinions on whether high school sports are a positive or negative influence on a student’s life. Athletics in high school can have an effect on the community as a whole. In H.G. Bisssinger’s highly regarded Friday Night Lights, high school football is accurately portrayed as the most important thing in Texas; it receives much more attention than academics. Football players are often treated like celebrities; yielding confidence, and at the same time creating pressure.
We've come to a point where television has become so loaded with “vampire-this” and “werewolf-that,” that each show has begun to look like the reruns of another. Luckily, this definitely isn't the case for creator Vince Gilligan's, Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad follows the life of Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston), an ordinary high school chemistry teacher. With a loving wife and teenage son at home, over time, Walter has formed an exceedingly mundane routine for his life. After soon discovering that he had been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, Walter decided to take extreme measures in order to secure his family financially. Eventually, he would descend into a world so dark and utterly twisted, that it would eventually consume him. Walter White became Heisenberg; the greatest drug lord the streets had ever seen. As he ascended in status within the drug cartel, the love and trust he had from his family and friends quickly descended. There are thousands of reasons that explain why millions of people tune into Breaking Bad. This series offers a much needed relief from the Dracula descendents, which frankly, are slowly diminishing any scope of variety existing on television. Because of the outstanding acting, seemingly distorted reality, and uniquely relatable storyline and characters, this hit show tops the charts as the best modern-day television series that cable has to offer.
The influence of the media on women is not unknown, but it was especially prevalent in the 1960s. According to David Croteau and William Hoynes, both professors of sociology, “Media images of women and men reflect and reproduce a whole set of stereotypical but changing gender roles” (quoted in Mahrdt 1) and, as society changes and opinions are altered, television shows adapt. However, the television show Mad Men is unique because it does not show life today, but the life of the 1960s. It shows what life was like for the women who lived during a time when the “feminine mystique” controlled society.
Menace II Society, a film about a young Black man who has lived the “hustler” lifestyle and is struggling to leave it, is a perfect example of deviance as the main character, Caine Lawson, and the characters around him violate many of society’s norms. Throughout the film, the characters swear incessantly, carry around guns and drugs as most people would carry around cell phones, commit street crimes, especially burglary and mugging, on a regular basis, and beat and kill people unscrupulously. The following quote captures just how deviant Caine and the other characters in this film were, “[Caine] went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It's funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when” (Albert Hughes). Why would Caine consider these crimes “funny”, or rather, so insignificant? What caused Caine to become so deviant? The answers to such questions were woven into the plot of the film and will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
The main themes are that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearances. Just because you are rich and belong to a tough gang does not mean you are cruel like the other gang members. You shouldn’t carry any harmful weapons and should not escape from the police.
What lies in the world of politics is a world of fear. Or so for the ones who cross Francis Underwood, the main character in the Netflix original series, House of Cards. As season one starts off, Francis Underwood captures the true essence of what the entire show is about, “There are two kinds of pain. The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things”(Script: reddit.com). As he finishes this line he brutally kills a dog lying on the street, who had just been injured after being hit by a car. He continues on, “Moments like this require someone like me. Someone who will act. Who will do what no one else has the courage to do. The unpleasant thing. The necessary thing” (Script: reddit.com). Through persuasion, manipulation and down right corrupt politics, House of Cards displays a unique spin on the world in Washington, one that some may believe not to be far from the truth.
In the anime, Attack on Titan, the director is able to create and blend different master plots: vengeance by visual editing that places flashbacks at important moments inside the story and camera angles; hero’s quest by visual cuts and transitions from different character points of view; underdog by changing camera angles. Finally, but not least temptation through the use of sound editing with actions scenery and coloring. Narrative elements used by the director inside a film can change the master plot at any critical moment inside a story, elaborating a different story that can vary depending on our way of interpreting and analyzing the world around us. The director may have a general message that he wants to convey through narrative elements as it was previously stated, but we as the audience have the last word in what the film represents even though we obtain the main idea through the manipulation of the narrative elements used by the director.
“Year after year, twenty-something women come to New York City in search of the two L's: labels and love” is the very catchy line that opens the film with Fergie’s ‘Labels or Love’ as the soundtrack and The Big Apple as its introductory shot. The scaling deduced from the bird’s eye-view-point of New York City, showing its Metropolitan atmosphere with skyscrapers and the famous Brooklyn Bridge; to the urbanites of the City; then to the lead actors of the film. A fifteen year-old girl watches the film, mesmerizing the ecstatic city while admiring the skinny white bodies of the ladies. And last but never forgotten, she gets carried away with the funky upbeat rhythm of the song emphasizing “Gucci, Fendi, [and] Prada . . .” That is the introduction of Sex and the City and the focus of its cinematography. With its elements, the movie can honestly influence teenage girls. Yet as much as critics such as Maya Gordon of Psychology of Women Quarterly say how media contributes to the sexual objectification and values women “based on their appearance,” this film should be an exemption.