Silence is Golden There are many films symbolizing society and their unreasonable norms. My discussion of this essay is in fact addressing a larger matter of addressing films that symbolize avarice and racism. The Box Man by Nirvan Mullick tells an eerie story of a man's encounter with a mysterious cardboard box.Carrying a similar style, Strange Fruit by Shimi Asresay and Hili Noy tells another eerie story of a father and son's peaceful daily routine being interrupted by an unfamiliar boy of a different color. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the morals both absolute and important to this society and its past of segregation.While it is true that silent films are not always popular, it does not necessarily follow that its delivery can be …show more content…
In the previous paragraphs, Strange Fruit reflected assumptions of different races and religions while The Box Man reflected the harm of getting what is wanted, both holding the unique style of individuals assuming that they are aboves consequences and, of course, learn their lesson. The delivery of the style was mostly brought by color and brightness, the darker it was the sinister it became. Both endings may have had dark endings but lead viewers to very important morals. These morals tie into each other perfectly because of the racial and ethnic disparities of neighborhoods. In the far sides by the cities, known as the “ghettos,” there are many gangs who pursuit violence against each other over property. But it’s not just property anymore, it’s also addressing who rises to the be the top gang in the city. The issue rises with young adults bringing themselves to become gang members just because it’s tied into their family and/or they wish to be successful, it’s just as a business student pursues a career to become a business CEO. The overall ideas brought from both films perfectly describe how much avarice and distinction tied together becomes what is commonly known as anger and hate
Film Noir, as Paul Schrader integrates in his essay ‘Notes on Film Noir,’ reflects a marked phase in the history of films denoting a peculiar style observed during that period. More specifically, Film Noir is defined by intricate qualities like tone and mood, rather than generic compositions, settings and presentation. Just as ‘genre’ categorizes films on the basis of common occurrences of iconographic elements in a certain way, ‘style’ acts as the paradox that exemplifies the generality and singularity at the same time, in Film Noir, through the notion of morality. In other words, Film Noir is a genre that exquisitely entwines theme and style, and henceforth sheds light on individual difference in perception of a common phenomenon. Pertaining
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
...ily instead of able bodied Americans (who they would have to pay 5 to 10 dollars per hour) are struggling in the job market. From this it can be concluded that a specific message that both films possess is that change is good and it is an essential element towards development. That is the reason why documentary film maker Michael Moore emphasizes in his documentary those American companies are required to hire Americans. In the film “Pleasantville” a great example of the above theme occurs when Jennifer points out two teenagers as proof that the citizens of Pleasantville have an abundance of potential, according to her they simply do not know any better. Two teenagers can be seen having a conversation, they seem to be engaged in a conversation but it is simply not going anywhere, but as they both begin to get physically closer the girl’s bubble gum develops colour.
This week’s readings of the reviews of Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ and Marilyn Fabe’s “Political Cinema: Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’, raised a number of questions regarding not only the moral issues the film addresses but also the intention of the artist. This dialectical opposition, which Pamela Reynolds suggests “challenges the audience to choose” (Reynolds, p.138) between the narrativized hostility shown between that of the hero and villain. More specifically Lee’s portrayal of violence vs passive opposition. This can be perceived through Lee’s technical employment of contradictory quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcom X at the conclusion of the film, which not only highlights this concern but also deluges further into themes of political opposition. Marylin Fabe discusses this where she states that Spike Lee’s film carries a “disturbing political message” (Fabe, p.191). Arguably, ‘Do the Right Thing’ acmes themes of racism (Black vs White); with underlining motifs of imperialism (colonisers’ vs colonised), psychoanalytic (power vs powerlessness) and even Marxist theory (ownership vs public space/consumption), with Clarence Page stating that Lee provides a “public service… (not trying) to provide all the answers, but raising the questions.” (Reid, P.144). In saying this we explore this concept of the role of the artist, with Georgopulos stating that the role of the artist is to create a consciousness within the audience by revealing a fraught set of truths about the human condition. Thusly, the reactions and responses to the films reveal Lee to be successful in conveying his intentions, which back in its zenith, explored this issue of racism in a way that had rarely been seen, and presented the ways in which t...
Nichols, John. ""Counbtering Censorship: Edgar Dale and the Film appreciation movement (critical essay)."." Cinema Jouranl. Fall 2006.
Intolerance and violence are interconnected, as they are both acts of passion and hate. There is a fine line between the two and they can often become one. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Intolerance is itself a form of violence.” Intolerance has shaped the violence in our society for years and should not be overlooked as it is one of the most controversial and imperative issues that needs to be resolved. Pleasantville, directed by Gary Ross, and Do The Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, are two admirable films that explore the world of intolerance and violence. In Pleasantville, the colorless town has their world turned upside down as people and things begin to gain color through unknown knowledge that has recently been introduced. As a result, a powerful window-breaking scene is shot where the “noncoloreds” destroy what can be considered the safe house of the “coloreds”. Similarly in Do The Right Thing, the main character, Mookie, breaks the window of the white-Italian pizzeria, owned by Sal, as a result of a brawl that ended in the death of a Radio Raheem, a young black man. With these scenes, both films raise the controversial question of, “What was in fact the right thing to do?” Gary Ross and Spike Lee both examine the world of intolerance through a violent scene, in which Ross portrays it as a clearly unacceptable action through his use nondiagetic sound and camerawork, while Lee leaves it up to the viewer to decide through his uses diagetic sound and camerawork, but is perceived by me as the right thing to do.
It is evident that Western Cultural values are diffused worldwide through the movie industry. The films are controlled by western funding and reflect Western perspectives vividly. Between the lines in the scripts, filmgoers are urged to link the Western culture and “whiteness” with positive-hence legitimate-values and accept whites dominant position. Film is a powerful medium, thus movies were created with emotional designs on the individual audience in order to control his or her mind hence Hollywood serve as the functional means for establishing the concept of white supremacy. Hollywood movies are therefore the main instruments for establishing the whit supremacy mind-set that automatically triggers the message that whites are far superior than any other race. Ideological hegemony theorizes the way in which relationships of domination and exploitation are embedded in the dominant ideas of society. To the extent that dominant ideas are internalized, they induce consent to these relationships on the part of the dominated and exploited. Blood Diamond and In the Heat of the Night are two distinct movies where the movie makers present us with two different ideological concepts, Both films portrayed the white and non white consciousness. Blood Diamond they attacked their own race as In the Heat of the Night the whites attacked the non whites . Blood Diamond showed this in a more violent way then In the Heat of the Night did. The conscious of both films were power and authority. The blacks in each of these films are seen as secondary characters which is usually a way of promoting the supremacy of whites . The movie Blood Diamond discusses the complexity of conflicts with bringing western group intt Sierra Leone. This concept also trie...
...ent from the silent era of film, overt racism of ethnic minorities was blatantly apparent within the film medium. However, presently this overt racism however has shifted into a more subtle segregation of casting and racial politics within the film medium. It seems that both the problem and the solution lies in the Eurocentric domination within the Hollywood film industry – and it seems that it still remains challenged to this day.
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
Almost a century has passed since two revolutionaries have been born to change the world: television and drugs. It is clear that both drugs and television made their way to society at the same time, but it doesn't seem that obvious what is that made them escalate together. Some studious people say that it may have to do with the presence of drugs in the media, but it remains a mystery. In 'Crack and the Box' by Pete Hamill, there is an intention to explain the reasons to this phenomenon. Hamill accuses television to be the instigator of drugs. However, his statements fall into contradiction because the effects of television watching cannot be compared to those of drug consumption.
Society is faced with various problems that hinder the development of its communities. These issues affect the society in a numerous of ways and has a major effect on the citizens of the community as well. Social adversities causes grief and is also the cause of crimes and other miscellaneous activities that occur in inequitable areas. In the film, Fruitvale Station, there are abundant amounts of these adversities and societal issues that are illustrated. Fruitvale Station is a great example of a film that shows accurate social issues that occur in today’s society. The movie demonstrates issues of inequality, racial prejudice, gang involvement and also unemployment. It also shows how the people who are forced to live with these issues, fight for survival to maintain to see another day.
Films are made to both entertain and educate, offering sources not only of joy but also knowledge and information. It is widely assumed that films, Hollywood movies in particular, mainly provide visual pleasure and happiness, as well as inviting them to make affective investments into the plot of a film. However, more than just a visual aesthetics, films, a major element of societal multicultural education, can be perceived from an educational point of view as acting as a functional educational tool, exercising enormous power to influence the ways mass audiences think, talk, feel, behave and desire. In this sense films hold the power
Many acclaimed auteurs have attempted to show the universality of darkness, from Robert Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Modern films, from Se7en to American Psycho to No Country for Old Men contain the same cynical message, displaying the prevalence of such gloomy perspective. Artists are continually fascinated with exploring the topic because it grounds a larger human worldview, founded on skepticism and uncertainty. It questions people’s inherent morality, struggling with the fundamental belief in innate societal morality and implicating an underlying depravity. If such a misanthropic view proves to be correct, then the world is indeed a twisted
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 universally 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.