However, as the theory does suggest, due to either different choices or events, the future of the characters in the movies changes completely. In Mr. Nobody, the protagonist’s parents divorce and he has to choose between his mother and his father. It is the fact that Nemo has to choose that opens multiple worlds. In Sliding Doors, whether or not Helen catches the subway at the last moment changes her life completely as well. Lola’s destiny also changes depending on what she chooses to do in front of a problem. The common characteristic of these movies is the power that choices have in influencing our lives. As Wegner argues, “What is’ is in fact surrounded by an infinity of ‘what ifs,’ of other possible worlds, other collective destinies, whose …show more content…
For this reason, the freedom of choice provokes dread and anxiety. The claim that these movies mirror the man’s fear to choose is also supported by the presence of a particular point in the narration that originates parallel worlds. This point was called by Kierkegaard in his analysis the “zero point,” and it is characterized by the fact that the subject is paralyzed in front of different options and is not able to choose. The zero point is the subway in Sliding Door, Manni’s call in Run Lola Run, the divorce in Mr. Nobody, and the plane engine in Donnie Darko. As Kosh says “despair can be described as not willing to be a self at all, or not willing to be the self that one is—willing to be more or less than one is as a self” (Kosch 97). Indeed, they all arrive at a decisive moment that will change their lives forever, and some of them even feel the pressure of choosing and would like to run away. For instance, Nemo has to choose between his father and his mother, and in one version of his life he decides to run away, which correspond to deciding not to choose. However, as the movie describes, even not choosing entail a consequence, which is for Nemo to become a
In his first thought, Greg M. Smith establishes nothing is random within fictional lives. First off, he points out how easy it is to treat films like everything happens by chance, but proceeds to prove this is not the case. We are encouraged to get caught up in the movie’s world. Even a pedestrian of a scene has specific directions to follow. Outfits are chosen at length. Environments are carefully picked for being utilized by filmmakers. Everything in a movie has a purpose and has been edited and reviewed several times before reaching the big screen.
It was incredibly difficult to not to pick one of my favorite films for this project, such as A Clockwork Orange, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and Jaws. However, I went out of my comfort zone and picked a genre of film I’ve never become familiar with- Western. The 1974 film Blazing Saddles was a hilarious frontier/Wild West twist about road worker named Bart, played by Cleavon Little, becoming part of character Hedley Lamarr’s (Harvey Korman) evil plan to out-run the small town of Rock Ridge by appointing an African American sheriff to the massly single-minded small town of racist’s. With the plan to destroy the town to make way for a new railroad, Lamarr is convinced that they town would be so appalled that they wouldn’t stand having an
To be a True Blue Aussie you have to have a mate because “You've to have a mate,” as verbalized by poet Dave Butler in 2013. For in Aussie culture, a mate is a person whose actions speak louder than their words. In Australia, being a mate is a value that is held in the highest respect.
The two movies I chose to watch this week was “The Road to El Dorado” and “The Emperor's New Groove” as my choice of animated films to analyze. The animated film, “The Road to El Dorado” stereotypical representations of race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality are added in children’s films. I see sexuality played out most of the time in these Disney films. There is only one woman, and her name is Chel. There are many single female characters in otherwise male dominated movies who are portrayed as sexy. It is unfortunately very common and reinforces the idea of women as tokens, and the audience will not find stories interesting unless their focus is men’s issues and lives. As soon as Chel appears she is immediately characterized as an object that
America has always been depicted as an amiable place to live in. More than often, foreigners would visualize America as the place where neighbors would greet each other in the morning and have their children play in the back yard with the family dog. However, as with most foreigners, this image was shattered by the adverse environment that surrounded them. One of the biggest mistakes that they failed to recognize was the murder of innocent civilians. These murders were almost always published on the front-page of every major newspaper. As such, Americans have always been interested in the death of others. This is true in the ninetieth and, more predominately, twentieth century. As tales of murders got colder and bloodier, Americans had an instinctive
The Bad and The Beautiful (1952) and State and Main (2000) are films within films that unmask Hollywood Cinema as a dream factory and expose the grotesque, veneer hidden by the luxury of stars. The Bad and the Beautiful, directed by Vincent Minnelli, is a black and white film narrated in flashback form. The films theatrical nature requires more close-ups than wide-screen shots to capture the character’s psychological turmoil. For example, Fred and Jonathan’s car ride is captured in a close-up to signify their friendship; however their relationship deteriorates after Jonathan’s deceit. While the camera zooms out, Fred stands alone motionless. Here, Fred is captured from a distance at eye-level and he becomes ostracized by the film industry and
In the documentary “Fed Up,” sugar is responsible for Americas rising obesity rate, which is happening even with the great stress that is set on exercise and portion control for those who are overweight. Fed Up is a film directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Executive Producers Katie Couric and Laurie David. The filmmaker’s intent is mainly to inform people of the dangers of too much sugar, but it also talks about the fat’s in our diets and the food corporation shadiness. The filmmaker wants to educate the country on the effects of a poor diet and to open eyes to the obesity catastrophe in the United States. The main debate used is that sugar is the direct matter of obesity. Overall, I don’t believe the filmmaker’s debate was successful.
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
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
The film Sunset Boulevard, presented in 1950 is a black and white film. The film is about Norma Desmond an old actress, who has issues accepting that she is becoming old. The main actor in the film is Gloria Swanson, who plays Norma Desmond, an older woman who believes she is still young. Desmond is not content with the fact that Hollywood has replaced her with younger actresses. The next actor Nancy Olson, plays Betty Schaffer who falls in love with Gillis despite being engaged to his friend. The third actor is William Holden who plays as Joe Gillis, who has financial problems and decides to turn himself into a gigolo to earn money. The dilemma with Joe is he does not want Betty to know about his job because he knows he might lose Betty as
Gran Torino is an interesting portrayal of communication dilemmas, spread out across several characters and in particular that of main character Walt Kowalski. After the death of his wife, Walt is bombarded with unwanted attention from several angles and attempts to “deal” with the attention to the best of his ability. There are many examples of communication struggles in the film, but they all seem to follow a similar pattern, and that is distance in time and culture. I’d like to focus on some of these communication barriers between his family, neighbors and priest and see how some of these walls got broken down, or could have been removed more easily.
Sex, love, depression, guilt, trust, all are topics presented in this remarkably well written and performed drama. The Flick, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Annie Baker, serves to provide a social commentary which will leave the audience deep in thought well after the curtain closes. Emporia State Universities Production of this masterpiece was a masterpiece in itself, from the stunningly genuine portrayal of the characters of Avery and Rose, to the realism found within the set, every aspect of the production was superb.
1980. Warner Bros. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Music by Wendy Carlos and Rcachel Elkind. Cinematography by John Alcott. Editing by Ray Lovejoy. With Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd.
The film called Home, a comical animated spin on alien attack thrillers directed by Tim Johnson tells a story about Aliens who call themselves the Boov. The Boov conquer the earth and they relocate the planets ' human population, all except for a little girl named Tip. Tip is a normal teenager with not so perfect hair, a tomboy look alike, sassy and that’s what makes her different. She isn 't just some fake or over enthusiastic girly girl that wants to find prince charming. Oh, is a loveable misfit that wants to be loved but instead is known for being extremely annoying. He lands on earth and finds himself on the run from his own people. When he inadvertently sends a message out of the planet, the Boov fear that
Almost everyone has a favorite genre of film, but how everyone defines their favorite genre can differ greatly. Horror is one of the genres where its definition can be perceived differently by many people. Like all other genres, horror does have rules and traditions that must be included in order for a film to be considered a horror film. These rules and traditions include a protagonist, an antagonist, an escape or escape attempt of some sort, and very influential audio and visual effects.