Social commentary. That is a major aspect in films of every time period, region, and genre. This includes the world of animation, such as in the film we previously watched Fritz the Cat. That animated film focused heavily on the social issues of the 1960s and early 70s, while the film Fantastic Planet (1973) is an allegory for racism, rebellion, colonization, and the arms race that has negatively affected the human race over the last few hundred years. The narrative in the film is a classic story of rebellion of the oppressors by the oppressed. However, Fantastic Planet is very different due to the setting, which is a surrealistic alien planet, and the style of animation.
Notably, the film was developed at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, which is prevalent in the themes of racism and rebellion. The Oms (humans) are shown early in the film as a primitive group that are enslaved by the Draags, until they resist and grow their desire for freedom. Throughout history, this story of revolt by the oppressed is seen in every culture, especially during European colonization. The American and Indian colonies experienced is by the British Empire in the past, whereas the Civil Rights Movement just occurred in the United States a few years prior to the release of the film. The portrayal of the Oms
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The Oms in the film are resistant to the more organized and civilized rulers, which resembles the counterculture scene of the 1960s. The youth in 60s developed an anti-establishment mindset that caused tension between them and the older generation that were set in their old ways. The Oms grow in size and in knowledge, like the rising 60s youth, causing them to defy the old way of living, similar to the movements due to the 60s counterculture. The Oms also are relatable to the 60s youth because of the outsiders aspect and how the two are fed up with the way they were treated by their
It shows that Negros were able to purchase their freedom and purchase the freedom of their family members. It shows a sense of equality in the way that free blacks could go to court and potentially win cases against white farmers. Free blacks owning slaves and indentured servants, some of which were white, could also be seen as equality. It also shows how free blacks had a thought of a future in the way that they drew up wills in which their family members were granted land and livestock. Knowing that white farming landowners and free blacks lived together in a sense of harmony goes back to the main theme of Myne Owne Ground. It shows that slavery is indeed an embarrassment to our nation. Knowing that blacks and whites were able to live together, trade, and be civil towards each other shows that slavery was unfounded and not
“Their struggle has been a struggle that every black person went through, one that grew from the seeds of slavery and took hold in a post-civil war America, when blacks gained their freedom (Shadow Boxing - The Journey of the African-American Boxer (Great Documentary), 2012).” It was interesting to learn from the movie that “reconstruction is a defining moment in African-American history in which blacks gained political rights in the south. With these rights, whites saw the blacks gain social equality. Fearing what they saw, whites brought a quick end to reconstruction. (Shadow Boxing - The Journey of the African-American Boxer (Great Documentary), 2012)." It would be interesting to interview people from the past to ask them why they think it 's okay to treat African Americans like that. It made me wonder what white people were thinking in the past. It brought tears to my eyes to learn that blacks quickly lost their new found freedom and lynching
...change for much of the United States. Slavery was abolished by the thirteenth amendment and blacks were afforded full rights by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, which was a revolutionary change compared to just a few years before. Although blacks were legally equal citizens, they were not treated as such. Racist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and White League, oppressed blacks through blatant violence and intimidation. Although blacks were politically equal, they were socially inferior. The Freedmen’s Bureau was not as successful as it could have been and was of little us to most blacks. It only perpetuated the place of blacks in society as working for the white man. Although the constitutional changes to black’s rights were very revolutionary, there was very little revolution in American society with blacks remaining as lesser than any white man.
Every film can be related back to socially significant issues that occurred during the time it was released. It’s a snapshot of the issues during that time period. Film is not created in a vacuum. As described in our textbook, film “Conveys “the temper of an age of a nation” as well as that of the artists who produces it” (Belton 22). Films tend to reflect current society, country ideals or beliefs in order for the audience to relate. Some of those techniques used include, the American dream, family, corruption, divorce, and crime. If a director decides not include current social issues than it becomes harder for an audience to relate to the film because they will not be able to connect to the characters and get into their shoes. One film that encompasses all of these current social issues is American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013). This film is a melodrama because of the context and social issues this film deals with. American Hustle has a social significance to today’s current culture, society, beliefs and social issues through the use of the American dream, corruption, divorce, crime and family.
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...
Recently, there is a spike of historical films being released lately. One of the films is an Academy Award nominee for “Best Picture,” Selma. The film, Selma, is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. The film shows the struggles of the black community face with the blockage of their voting rights and the racial inequality during the civil rights movement. Selma is about civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. heading to the rural Alabama City, Selma, to secure the voting rights for the African American community by having a march to Montgomery. It shows the struggles from what the African American community had to endured during the 1960s. Selma shows a social significance to today’s current events, specifically
In doing this it creates this idea around Omelas as this happy, peaceful utopian society that seems wonderful to live in. There are no cars or advanced technology like central heating or washing machines but the people in Omelas are happy and live in comfort and they don’t base this happiness on technology or possessions like today's society. This is because they life on the principle of what the narrator says in par. 2 “Happiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary” but even though they people of Omelas follow this ideology, they still live a complex life like we do in our society. “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” challenges our country's economic style of government from capitalism to communism economics. This is shown in the “economy is not based on competition - so no stock markets or advertisements” (James's, 93) for products that they make. This challenges our economic style of government because this is the total opposite of how our economy works, in a capitalist economy, anyone can start a business and with the right hard work they can become as successful as they
During the period after the emancipation many African Americans are hoping for a better future with no one as their master but themselves, however, according to the documentary their dream is still crushed since even after liberation, as a result of the bad laws from the federal government their lives were filled with forced labor, torture and brutality, poverty and poor living conditions. All this is shown in film. First, after emancipation, federal laws revived slavery into new form. After slaves were freed during post- civil war, the whites especially those in the south faced problems in running their plantations; since there was no free labor force from slaves, and also some whites who had never owned slaves saw the African Americans as undesirable competition. I think the laws enforcements eventually became the method through which slavery of blacks take its new form.
In the end, what Halberstam is doing in her essay “Animating Revolt and Revolting Animation”, is providing a new way of thinking. Not just about the animated films she discusses, but also about humanity as a whole. Films such as Toy Story, Over the Hedge, and even Finding Nemo are used to represent a new utopia for children where they can escape the troubles of reality that are created by those that they are surrounded with. And other films such as March of the Penguins , that are used to rework humanity. Altogether,
explains how equality and freedom is sadly not what the African-Americans of Harlem experience. For
One of the first major themes of the book deals with civil rights. The events that happen during this decade are what lead to the civil rights movement of the early 1960’s. Which eventually turned into the Civil Rights Act of 1965. When most people think about the civil rights, most people think of Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, SLLC etc.
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universal understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society, using sound and editing.
and many more. These films have shaped the behaviors and characters of both the feminine and masculine species in the society.
Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s. This movement started in centuries-long attempts by African slaves to resist slavery. After the Civil War American slaves were given basic civil rights. However, even though these rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment they were not federally enforced. The struggle these African-Americans faced to have their rights ...
Smith, Michelle J., and Elizabeth Parsons. "Animating Child Activism: Environmentalism And Class Politics In Ghibli's Princess Mononoke (1997) And Fox's Fern Gully (1992)." Continuum: Journal Of Media & Cultural Studies 26.1 (2012): 25-37. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.