Science fiction movies are becoming increasingly more popular, possibly because people feel the need to escape from the mundane repetition of modern life. Since there are dozens of science fiction(sci-fi) movies being released every week, some people might enjoy watching an older sci-fi movie, whether it’s for nostalgia or simply because they enjoy that version more. One such classic is Independence Day(96), which went to theaters on July 3rd, 1996, cleverly one day before the day the movie is named after. Susan Sontag states,” A typical science fiction film has a form as predictable as a Western”(326). Science fiction movies are like painting by the numbers, Susan Sontag’s point can still be applied to almost any science fiction film in the past twenty years. Two days before the Fourth of July, an alien spaceship arrives at Earth and begins to send smaller ships to several major cities across the world. While …show more content…
One such instance is related to Sontag’s third point which she explains that in the nation's capital, “conferences between the scientists and the military take place” while a “national emergency is declared” with reports of “news broadcasts in various languages”(326). With Jeff Goldblum being the scientist and Bill Pullman being the military, as commander in chief of the US armed forces, meet to have the scientist reveal that the aliens are having a countdown to annihilate the cities they hover over. Soon after this realization the President orders the evacuation of every major US city, unfortunately he is too late, the aliens have already begun their attack. Although, the news broadcast montage is replaced with rapid scenes of various cities being destroyed by the alien ships. Unsurprisingly, Independence Day follows Sontag’s point down to the letter, unable to dodge the inevitable
... the fall of 1983, a US national television network took advantage of the uneasy feeling of the American public and released the television movie “The Day After”. A film that depicted the eventual extinction of humankind after a full-scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union, more than 100 million viewers watched the movie during its initial broadcast. Though fictional, it effectively alarmed multitudes of US citizens, and reportedly even startled Ronald Reagan himself.
The day nuclear war started marked the day when hundreds of major United States cites, such as Orlando, Tampa, Omaha, Washington, and countless others, were destroyed. This day “was known simply as The Day. That was sufficient (Frank123).” “People… inclined to split time split time into two periods, before The Day, and after The Day, the time off, what then seem...
American War of Independence – At Sea, The Long Beach Island Massacre http://www.awiatsea.com/incidents/25%20October%201782%20The%20Long%20Beach%20Island%20Massacre.html (June 21, 2011).
Literature and film have always held a strange relationship with the idea of technological progress. On one hand, with the advent of the printing press and the refinements of motion picture technology that are continuing to this day, both literature and film owe a great deal of their success to the technological advancements that bring them to widespread audiences. Yet certain films and works of literature have also never shied away from portraying the dangers that a lust for such progress can bring with it. The modern output of science-fiction novels and films found its genesis in speculative ponderings on the effect such progress could hold for the every day population, and just as often as not those speculations were damning. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis are two such works that hold great importance in the overall canon of science-fiction in that they are both seen as the first of their kind. It is often said that Mary Shelley, with her authorship of Frankenstein, gave birth to the science-fiction novel, breathing it into life as Frankenstein does his monster, and Lang's Metropolis is certainly a candidate for the first genuine science-fiction film (though a case can be made for Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage Dans la Lune, his film was barely fifteen minutes long whereas Lang's film, with its near three-hour original length and its blending of both ideas and stunning visuals, is much closer to what we now consider a modern science-fiction film). Yet though both works are separated by the medium with which they're presented, not to mention a period of over two-hundred years between their respective releases, they present a shared warning about the dangers that man's need fo...
“If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything” – Robert Zemeckis. Back to the Future is an American Classic that is on the minds of people around the world with images of Doc Brown’s shiny time travelling DeLorean. In 2007, The American government acknowledged the importance of the movie Back to the Future and its relativeness to American culture by introducing it into the National Film Registry. This award officially certified the movie in being a “culturally” important work that will be preserved for all of time, there by deeming it as a significant non-traditional “cultural media” in American society.
Why do we fear the unknown? In the process of answering this question, science-fiction genre films successfully capture the history of American society at distinct points in time. The genre is so closely linked to social and historical contexts that its development relies solely on this connection. Sci-fi myths and conventions have remained static for decades, and the only measurable change in the genre lies in the films’ themes (Gehring 229-230). For example, Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) argues that fear of the unknown is a flaw in human nature and criticizes the social paranoia of post-war, 1940s America. Conversely, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) views the human existence through more positive outlook, wherein society can overcome such fear; this optimism reflects the escapist beliefs of the 70s. When juxtaposed, the films’ themes demonstrate the evolution of the sci-fi genre by expressing different social attitudes towards conventions such as foreign beings, unfamiliar technology, and unusual scientists. The films also represent the genre during two major aesthetic periods in cinema—the post-classical and the late modernist eras, respectively—but nonetheless serve a greater purpose in measuring America’s social progress.
Motion Pictures have always had a strong influence in today’s culture, but maybe none as prevalent as Star Wars. Originating with Episode 4 A New Hope, the series boomed from 1977 to 2005 with yet another addition coming in 2015. The strongest of the series was the original trilogy episodes 4, 5, and 6, all generally released in the 1980s. As one of the strongest film francaises still today, it’s impact within the 1980s was only the tip of the iceberg. Children and adults alike still anticipate the new edition of this seemingly endless journey. If any singular film series still holds prevalence in its future decades it is Star Wars: Original Trilogy.
People who enjoy science fiction would enjoy the movie or the short story the Minority Report. This paper is being written to express the differences between the movie and the story. The paper will be written based on the scenes, characters, and the technologies.
Four months and eleven days after Pearl Harbor, the United States attacked the Japanese mainland with long range bombers. This ...
The Day After was an effective way of instilling a sense of both fear and respect for nuclear war into the minds of the American people. By portraying realistic doomsday scenarios that are played out in the lives of relatable families in a small city not unlike any other we would find in America, this film contextualizes the events prior to, during, and immediately after nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia was unleashed onto our own soil.
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt (Roosevelt 1).
On December 7, 1941 the ultimate disaster in the history of the United States occurred. “Pearl Harbor is a lagoon island on the island of Hawaii” . The deep-water Naval Base for the United States Pacific Fleet was docked and filled with United States servicemen. On that calm, Sunday morning the last thing expected was an attack. The United States had deciphered Japan’s code earlier about the surprise attack, but was too late to figure out the location. Since the attack by the Japanese was so awful, many lives were lost and the mindset of America was drastically changed. “2.335 servicemen were killed in this attack and 68 civilians” . Unprepared for this surprise attack, overhead Japanese planes and under water submarines were prepared to do major damage. Bombs were dropped on land, American planes, and ships. One was the greatly known USS Arizona, which sunk within seconds. Overall 9 ships were sunken and 21 ships were severely damaged. Under the command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese successfully damaged the Pearl Harbor Naval Base.
1966 was a turning point in American history. It was the height of the Space Race as well as the Vietnam War. In the entertainment industry, The Beatles had released the album Revolver, the show Star Trek premiered on television, and the play Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was adapted to film. This film was controversial for several reasons, including its depiction of violence and drinking, as well as its theme of sexuality. For a movie to take on such bold scenes and topics requires other bold cinematic choices as well. These choices included casting glamorous actors and actresses in not so glamorous roles, filming in black and white as opposed to color, and using unique cinematic film shots in various scenes. The choices that the filmmakers
In this paper I will offer a structural analysis of the films of Simpson and Bruckheimer. In addition to their spectacle and typically well-crafted action sequences, Simpson/Bruckheimer pictures seem to possess an unconscious understanding of the zeitgeist and other cultural trends. It is this almost innate ability to select scripts that tap into some traditional American values (patriotism, individualism, and the obsession with the “new”) that helps to make their movies blockbusters.
Star Wars (1977) is one of the world’s most successful films of all time. It has made a terrific impact on popular culture since its release. Furthermore, Star Wars changed the narrative and aesthetic style of future Hollywood films. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, illustrates how cinema has evolved since Fred Ott’s Sneeze (1894). Ultimately, this essay will explain the set up of Star Wars and how it connects to cinema history, in the point of views of the: narrative and cinematic style, genre, auteur theory and the global film industry.