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Social concepts in movies essays
Essay on movie genre and social commentary
Essay on movie genre and social commentary
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The representation of political motivation and action in Barry Levinson’s film ‘Wag The Dog’ allows the responder diverse and provocative insights into both the events of the film and the political worlds they reveal. Through the presentation of a ‘behind the scenes’ perspective on a political campaign, Levinson reveals the complete fabrication of a truth, constructed for public consumption and motivated by the desire for political power. The constant link between the political forces in the film, represented by Conrad Bean and the forces of the media, represented by Hollywood producer Stanley Motss comments on the role of the media in the manipulation and construction of reality and the production element behind it. On the other hand, the …show more content…
The motivation behind Schumann being both to maintain the public’s distraction from the President’s indiscretions and to inspire blind patriotism. Schumann’s construction is undertaken as absurdly as the Albanian girl scene, again using a sentimental plea to encourage emotional investment with the words “courage, mom”. Although Levinson challenges the morality of political motivation to a greater extent as it is revealed that William Schumann is in fact an imprisoned sex offender. Regardless of this revelation, Schumann goes on to be worshipped as an American hero, a direct comparison to the President, who’s alleged sexual assault of a child is the entire purpose behind the fake war distraction. Levinson presents the presidency as morally bankrupt. This undermines the politcal force of an institution that is supposed to be regarded with the highest honour and forces the responder to question the extent the government will go to remain in power. This by extension challenges the integrity of the democratic system in its …show more content…
However in this case, media is being used as a vehicle for divergence rather than mere acquiescence. The campaign poster depicts two children in a classroom setting, one holding a ‘Kinder Surprise’ chocolate and the other holding an assault weapon and reads “One child is holding something that’s been banned in America to protect them. Guess which one.”. The visuals of the poster achieve an immediately disturbing impact from the juxtaposition of a young girl in a classroom setting paired with a gun almost her size, making the gun appear much more severe than in its usual context. Additionally, the size of the chocolate egg, fitting right into the boys palm in comparison to the magnitude of the gun emphasises how the chocolate feels natural whereas the weapon seems even more foreign. The classroom setting also has a particular resonance for an American audience, due to a high incidence of school
Violent Media is Good for Kids, by Gerard Jones, is an article which makes many claims to support the argument in which a controlled amount of violence could be beneficial for a young, developing child. Even though the topic of this article can be controversial, the claims serve to support the argument in many noteworthy ways. It is written in such a way that it tells a story, starting when the author was a child and works its way to his adulthood. In this case the author uses, what I believe to be just the correct amount of each rhetorical strategy, and fulfills his goal for writing the article. This argument is interesting and at the same time, effective. Throughout the analyzing process logos, ethos, and pathos are searched for and scrutinized.
Guns do protect us, but they can also be very dangerous to us if used improperly, for instants when a teenage boy went to school and shot one of his classmates looking for revenge against a librarian. Books on the other hand aren’t as dangerous to us, but they can put thoughts in children’s heads if the book is very graphic. There is no need to h...
Advocates for gun sense and gun control, Non-governmental organization(NGO) Moms Demand Action’s public service announcement(PSA) presents the idea that we should control the usage of guns and be sensible with the usage of guns. Specifically, this PSA specifically focuses on the exposure of gun violence to young children in America, and want to prevent this matter. Moms Demand Action persuades a wide-ranging demographic through the use of meticulous rhetorical devices such as characterization, mood, setting, shock value, juxtaposition, and ethos. Within this PSA, Moms Demand Action has effectively used characterization. The focal point of this PSA is two children sitting down in a library, presumably
The purpose of any and all texts is to criticise our society, whether that criticism is found in a novel or a film. This is established in the novella ‘Animal Farm,’ written by George Orwell and the film ‘V for Vendetta’ by James McTeigue. Both of these texts analyse the way society is managed and how the population can permit this management. The abuse of power for self-gain, is inevitable in all totalitarian societies. This is evaluated in both Animal Farm and V for Vendetta through their representation of these societies and the individuals that lead them.
...ssibly help more than harm. Experience has taught me that when a child walks in fear of expressing their feelings they bottle up all of their emotions; simply because they’re afraid of the consequences. Teaching children to appropriately use and appreciate violent media will help them build confidence, “power, and selfhood.” (Jones 287) He successfully executes the use of rhetorical methods and offers solutions to the opposing viewpoint. Jones’ consistent use logical and emotional appeal entices the reader and effectively persuades; this clearly substantiates his deserving of the top persuasiveness prize.
One of the most interesting features about today’s media is that it connects many individuals in perplexingly short amounts of time. Through constant streaming, society has become extremely vulnerable by allowing themselves to be engrossed by the presented reality. The outcome is unsuspecting citizens that are mentally deformed by the adverse lies told to them. Gary Shteyngart exploits this reality through his successful novel, Super Sad True Love Story (2010) in which he creates a fictional world focusing on consumerism and commercialism. This fictive work creates an environment of secrecy in which the government actively displays more cover-ups and less controversial activity. Similarly, but to a much larger extent, Peter Weir’s film The Truman Show (1998) presents a city consisting of theatrical illusions surrounded by
When 2 young men, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting spree in Littleton, Colorado, killing 15 people, including themselves, there was a public outcry for censorship of every type of entertainment and changes in gun laws despite Eric Harris’s journal entry titled, “Last Wishes” asking that no one be blamed, other than himself and Klebold, for the massacre (“As You Were”, par. 2). After the 1999 school shooting now simply known as Columbine, a “Newsweek” pole showed that, “about half of all Americans want to see the movie industry, the TV industry, computer game makers, Internet services and gun manufacturers and the NRA make major policy changes to help reduce teen violence” (Alter, par. 1). According to Dave Cullen in his article “Let the Litigation Begin” several lawsuits were filed against the parents of the two boys responsible for the shooting spree claiming that Harris’s and Klebold’s families, “breached their duty of care” by allowing their sons to amass a cache of illegal weapons (Cullen, par. 5). Although the boys’ parents denied such allegations, they settled out of court for $1.6 million (Cullen, par. 5)...
Family environment and the press are two major influences resulting in the recent tragic school shootings. As much as society continues to focus the killing rampages on factors such as television and music, what children are exposed to in reality contributes to the violence. The most recent school shooting in Michigan involved a six-year-old first grader who killed a classmate with a .22 caliber pistol. The news coverage had vanished after two or three days, and I was left wondering what had happened. Considering the fact that the media wore the Columbine incident out, I wanted to know why they did not pay more attention to this school shooting. As evidence did arrive, it was discovered that the child lived in a household where cocaine, heroin, and many other illegal drugs were commonplace. Also in this “home” guns were easily accessible to the child. Children growing up in this type of environment certainly are likely to be held accountable for future violence. Even though I am against the news media presenting too much school violence, Americans should have been deeply disturbed by this shooting because of the child’s young age. The Michigan shooting should have enlightened Americans to the dilemma we face in this country. Two weeks after the Columbine High School shooting, information on the mass murder was still being broadcast on television. The press was feeding young viewers ideas on how to kill their classmates. News was reported how the teenage murderers acquired information regarding building bombs, obtaining guns, smuggling guns into the school, and proceeding to kill their classmates. A mentally unstable teenager could simply watch these news reports and write a book entitled, “How to Slay Your Classmates”. This onslaught was ridiculous and the news coverage should not have been permitted to continue for countless weeks. Society has determined three reasons on which to blame the shootings. First, the nation blamed it on television’s violent programs. Following that, Americans gave the music recording companies the evil eye as well as attacking the gun manufacturers. All of these reasons involve material objects that are unable to think for themselves. Televisions and CD players do not control themselves, people control them. Finally, boundaries controlling the television programs children view should be set by the parents. The same explanation applies to firearms. How can it be a gun’s fault that a person killed another human being?
This brings about another issue: children’s protection from this kind of content. More needs to be done to protect children’s eyes from inappropriate things on the TV, billboards, music, and other forms of media. Unfortunately, because society has gone as far as it has today, it will be very difficult to take a step back and re examine the effects violent media will have on children. People seem to care less and less about what children see. The need for protection from this type of content relies solely on the parents. Parents must take it upon themselves to guard their children against things on the media that they should not be seeing. Parents should be given different options with technology to help monitor the content their kids are allowed to see and what they are
Consequently, our media, which provides us with important information or gives us entertainment, also takes part of the violence of school shootings. Violence media and entertainment might not affect some, but psychologically damage others. From video games to the local news, we see violence in forms, bringing fear, entertainment, and awareness. After the Sandy Hook attack drills were taken place in elementary and
The novel, Animal Farm, is a well-known allegory written by George Orwell. As a satire of the Russian Revolution, Orwell portrays the rise of a cruel dictatorship and the mistreatment of the general population under it. Like the Communist government in Russia, the government in Animal Farm employs the use of many manipulative tools, especially propaganda. Propaganda was used by the pigs throughout the book, deceiving many of the animals. As this story shows, propaganda can enable governments to bend people to any purpose. By spreading positive messages about Napoleon, persuading the animals that Snowball is an enemy, and convincing the animals that they can’t survive without the pigs, propaganda helped give rise to a vindictive and selfish totalitarian government.
Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a fable about rulers and the ruled, oppressors and the oppressed, and an idea betrayed. The particular meaning given will depend partly on the political beliefs- “political” in the deepest sense of the word. The book is there to be enjoyed about how human beings can best live together in this world. The novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, successfully combines the characteristics of three literary forms-the fable, the satire and the allegory.
By the time a child reaches the age of one, they see about 200,000 acts of violence on television. (Nakaya, 3). The Media has been becoming more and more violent over the years. A poll in an issue of Times Magazine, from 2005, showed that 66 percent of Americans think that there is an abundant amount of graphic acts of violence on televisions (Nakaya, 18). People are exposed to thousands of acts of violence through video games, television, and movies. Many studies show that media violence increases violent behavior in in humans. Studies show, violent video games, and graphic television have physiological effects on children. The government has very few regulations on media violence. Some people believe the government shouldn’t limit content because others might be insulted by its material. Media violence is such a broad topic and has such a large presence in daily lives, so we cannot simple get rid of it. The Federal Communications Commission stipulates, “By the time most children begin the third grade, they will have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of a television set.” Even though the government shouldn’t censor the media, Media violence is becoming a serious issue because it is becoming more violent, it makes people behave violently, and it has little regulations.
Censorship of the media for children is necessary, but should not be handled by government or other groups. Instead it should be directed and controlled by parents. Censorship for children is necessary because the average American view’s 100,000 acts of violence on TV before reaching t...
...onditions that ensure an adequate counterbalance increasing consumption in some cases, end up having a negative effect on children. Children learn best through demonstration followed by imitation, with rewards for doing things the right way. While not all are affected the same way, it can be said that, in general, violence in the media affects attitudes, values and behaviors of users. You run the risk that children end up understanding that it is reasonably practicable to resort to violence. The fear is that the models of aggressive behavior can be considered suitable. Thus, in an investigation, a good proportion of children (third) defined as normal acts of violence they had seen him mightily little. It is not; here is a risk of direct imitation, but rather a change in terms of reference: where extreme violence appears to be normal any more light may seem harmless.