Regardless of its genre or auteur, every film represents a certain ideology. According to Bordwell and Thompson (503), ideology is a shared system of values, beliefs and ideas that are assumed to be true by a social group. The ideology of a film is to influence a group of society with a pre-conceived mindset, based around the environment of a particular era that it is made in. This essay will focus on the ideological messages in films that took place during the 1950s, for instance, the politics of class and gender, paying reference to the film, All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk. Taking place in a 1950s time frame, All That Heaven Allows features Cary as the point of view of the film. She is an upper-class widow, who falls in love with her gardener, Ron, a younger man of a lower class than her. Their love affair gains much disapproval and criticisms by both Cary’s children and her country club peers, causing her to be constantly conflicted on whether she should continue her relationship with Ron or succumb to the pressure of the people around her opposing their relationship.
According to Seawright in Marxism and the Movies (135), the idea of the American Dream in the 1950s, during the Post-World War II period, was drilled into the society by the government to prevent them from entertaining “new ideas of political structure or socialism”. The American Dream promoted the idea that a wholesome and successful American family was centered on a man who ruled over his family, with a wife that would please him by taking care of the house, her children and, ultimately, her husband while anything that differs from this would bring devastation to the individuals of the family (Seawright, 135). Cary serves as an example of this when he...
... middle of paper ...
...t bothered about the judgments of others towards them. The openness of the refurbished mill and the warmth omitting from the house of Alida and Mick portrays that they are more free to express themselves and their society are more accepting towards them.
Sirk criticizes the ideology of classism by revealing the problems of it.
All that Heaven Allows provides a good platform to criticize and explore the bourgeois and working class of the United States and the problems between politics of classes and gender during the 1950s. Through the relationship between Ron and Cary as well as the feedback from their friends and family, we are able to compare and contrast both the treatment given to the upper and lower ends of the middle class. The different ideologies that Sirk argues in the film allows us to garner a new perspective of the conflicting problems during the era.
Good Afternoon Ms. McCafferty, I made this appointment because I passionately believe that the book, Life is so good written by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman should be on the Carey booklist for Year 9 students. Life is so good is a magnificent part biography, part autobiography of a 103 year old black man named George Dawson who went to school to learn to read and write when he was 98 years old.
Magical, poetic, and awe-aspiring. This is what mere words at its best can accomplish when trying to capture the essence of the painting, The Glory of the Light Within, by the renowned artist, Dale Terbush. This specific masterpiece is representative of Terbush’s art and reveals much about his outlook towards nature. Viewers are presented with a breathtaking scenery and a natural beauty depicted in all its glory in this panoramic view (the painting is 4x5 feet). Indeed, because the well-defined foreground, distinct middle ground, and dim background compose characteristics of a magical scenery, this vista is transformed into an ideal utopia.
I enjoyed reading Disciplined Hearts by Theresa O'Nell because i find that many people today do not know a lot about the Native American culture and what they have been through. Their cultures history is not talked about as much the African American or Hispanic's are. Most Americans know about the hardships that the African American and Hispanics had to overcome to assimilate to the level that they are today. I think O'Nell is trying to talk about the history of the Native American culture because, she believes that the reason that their culture is not well-known because of the fact that they have chosen to keep living like their ancestors and not assimilate to the American culture.
The Dream was defined by having the “best of the best.” In the 1950s, a variety of people had access to the “best” things, and the traditional American Dream was at risk and the new American Dream had begun to emerge. Packard stated that because of the crumbling of the American Dream, people had been scrambling to find new ways to draw lines between the elect and the non-elect. Society has always had a desire to associate people in different categories, whether it be race or religion, and it had gone so far as to redefine what the American Dream truly was, and how to separate who was living it and who was not. However, defining the Dream became difficult when society realized they could no longer separate people by material things. Packard recognized this and stated that in terms of a person’s productive role in society versus his consuming role, class lines had become rigid, forcing a person to advocate for himself instead of buying things that automatically gave him a societal boost. The risk of the American Dream increased and became threateningly out of reach, leaving people in a constant state of what felt like personal
In this essay I will be looking at the topic of the countercultural movement of the 1960’s through counterculture film. The 1960’s were an extremely interesting time in history not only in the United States but all over the western world, as we saw the rise of the counterculture generation. The counter was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation and was embraced in many different ways by the decade’s young people. I have chosen this topic as the 60’s stand out for me as a revolutionary and often misrepresented period in history. The films I have chosen to look at are The Baader Meinhof Complex from director Uli Edel, Woodstock from Michael Wadleigh, Pirate Radio from Richard Curtis, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas from director Terry Gilliam. I chose to analyse these films as I believe they clearly demonstrate the social and political issues of the 1960’s and societies response to them.
The American Dream started off as propaganda in order to make the American people of the early twentieth century work harder to build a successful economy. The idea of the American Dream is that every American citizen has an equal opportunity of making money along with owning a large house, some land, and having a family with kids. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates that the American Dream, no matter how simple is impossible to achieve. As everyone has their own interpretation of the American Dream, Steinbeck uses George and Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife to demonstrate how the American Dream is impossible to achieve and how important the dream was for people so they could carry on with their lives.
It may start with one simple spark in the darkest of times. When the walls of the world seem as though they are squeezing the life out of you, and you're trapped under the demands and desires of an overwhelming society; when you feel so broken inside, your identity is almost unrecognizable. When this pain feels as if it is too much to bear, it may be that one spark that suddenly lights your world anew and in some cases changes your life forever.
While the film focuses mainly on the theme of media responsibility and covers US’s politics in the early 1950s, it also encircles around other crucial themes such as sexism. This essay discusses about how this film is used as a tool for objectivity, agenda setting, stereotyping within gender, and how these has impacted the characters in the movie and viewers.
Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder in 1950 is based on how Norma Desmond, a huge Hollywood star, deals with her fall from fame. The film explores the fantasy world in which Norma is living in and the complex relationship between her and small time writer Joe Gillis, which leads to his death. Sunset Boulevard is seen as lifting the ‘face’ of the Hollywood Studio System to reveal the truth behind the organisation. During the time the film was released in the 1950s and 60s, audiences started to see the demise of Hollywood as cinema going began to decline and the fierce competition of television almost proved too much for the well established system. Throughout this essay I will discuss how Sunset Boulevard represents the Hollywood Studio System, as well as exploring post war literature giving reasons as to why the system began to crumble.
The American dream has always been a talk amongst the American culture. When people speak of it, they often think back to the 19th century. The American Dream can be thought about when learning information on the Declaration of Independence which states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness this was written by Thomas Jefferson. Despite this, the American Dream is just as relevant to American culture today as it was in the 19th century and in many ways still attainable.
When Mr. Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby,” he described the actions of the human society. In a certain way, not only did he describe and critic the high class but also the lower class, which ended up critiquing the American Dream. The American Dream was a idea give to believe that a human being should pursue being happy, wealthy, and loved which has cause any human being to go in search for this idea. All that is end up being found is the fact of having the illusion of having more material is to be happy than being happy by valuing what you already have.
Of all the 1980’s films, that can be described as “Eighties Teen Movies” (Thorburn, 1998) or “High School Movies” (Messner, 1998), those written and (with the exception of “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind of Wonderful”(1987)) directed by John Hughes were often seen to define the genre, even leading to the tag “John Hughes rites de passage movies” as a genre definition used in 1990s popular culture (such as in “Wayne’s World 2” (1994 dir. Stephen Surjik)). This term refers to the half dozen films made between 1984 and 1987; chronologically, “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Weird Science” (1985), “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986), “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (1987) (the latter two being directed by Howard Deutch). For the purpose of this study, “Weird Science” and “Some Kind of Wonderful” shall be excluded; “Weird Science” since, unlike the other films, it is grounded in science fiction rather than reality and “Some Kind of Wonderful” as its characters are fractionally older and have lost the “innocence” key to the previous movies: as Bernstein states “the youthful naivete was missing and the diamond earring motif [a significant gift within the film] was no substitute” (Bernstein, 1997, p.89). Bernstein suggests that the decadent 1980s were like the 1950s, “an AIDS-free adventure playground with the promise of prosperity around every corner … our last age of innocence” (Bernstein, 1997, p.1). The films were very much a product of the time in terms of their production (“suddenly adolescent spending power dictated that Hollywood direct all its energies to fleshing out the fantasies of our friend, Mr. Dumb Horny 14 Year Old” Bernstein, 1997, p.4), their repetition (with the growth of video cassette recorders, cable and satellite with time to fill, and also the likes of MTV promoting the film’s soundtracks) and their ideologies.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. The American Dream, a long-standing ideal, embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal.
The idea of an American Dream is older than the United States dating back to the 1600’s, when people began to have all sorts of hopes and aspirations for the new, largely, unexplored continent. In 1776 the American Dream was rooted in the Declaration of Independence “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, which among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Where many of the citizens have expanded upon the definition to include things such as freedom, fulfillment and meaningful relationships. Where the American represents the desire to live a better life than the previous generation did, and about giving their children a better life-pertaining to “the system works.” The idea of America being a melting pot where everyone can live peacefully together. This version of the dream is based more on avoiding things such as poverty and loneliness. “The American Dream” has a lot to do with America being a country of immigration, and these immigrants all hoped to live a better life in the new world. There’s nothing dreamlike about how Americans perceive the American Dream. Nothing surreal, or vague, or involving the stereotypical family of four, three bedroom home with a white picket fence, or harried white rabbits in waistcoats. The American dream is simply complex connect-the-dots matter. For many