The Movie Jaws During the summer of 1975, North American beaches were quieter than
usual. This wasn’t the result of concern over the damaging damaging
the environment. Beaches were poorly attended because people were
scared. Jaws was enough to keep them away.
While there was hype around it’s release, the extreme public reaction
was less due to marketing. Despite a brutal on-location filming
experience, during which the now-ancient technology that brought the
shark to life broke down repeatedly, director Steven Spielberg
constructed a chillingly frightening film about a wayward and
decidedly hungry great white shark that’s marauding the beaches of New
England’s usually peaceful Amity Island. Great whites aren’t common in
Even though it is most commonly known as of the first modern horror films that has made its way on the top ten highest grossing films of all time, Steven Spielberg’s classic 1975 film, Jaws, illustrates the unquenchable human desire for purpose and wholeness which advocates that adopting the belief of “anatta” or “no-self” is the way to be liberated from this “fragmented state of unelightenment” (Sluyter 97-98). In the bigger picture, the main antagonist of the film, the shark itself, reflects us as individuals according to Sluyter. To be more specific, the shark is meant to symbolize our “fragmented point of view” we have of our lives and our constant search to remedy our emptiness by “trying to concretize ourselves” with impermanent items
The Pacific coast port city of San Francisco, California provides a distinctively mysterious backdrop in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. Unlike many other detective stories that are anchored in well-known metropolises such as Los Angeles or New York City, Hammett opted to place the events of his text in the lesser-known, yet similarly exotic cultural confines of San Francisco. Hammett used his own intricate knowledge of the San Francisco Bay Area - coupled with details collected during a stint as a detective for the now defunct Pinkerton Agency - to craft a distinctive brand of detective fiction that thrived on such an original setting (Paul 93). By examining the setting of 1920’s San Francisco in The Maltese Falcon, it becomes apparent that one of Hammett’s literary strengths was his exceptional ability to intertwine non-fictional places with a fictional plot and characters in order to produce a logical and exceedingly believable detective mystery.
Before watching the movie the “The Hammer” I didn’t know what to expect. I had never seen a deaf movie before and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to understand the movie completely. Watching the movie wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be, and I enjoyed it. The best part about it was that it’s based on the true story about Matthew “The Hammer” Hamill.
Steven Spielberg's Jaws and Ridley Scott's Gladiator The two films being examined are the thriller Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, and the action film Gladiator directed by Ridley Scott. Both directors create epic films; the films are momentous and are designed to manipulate the emotions. A thriller is intended to appeal to basic human instinct to the need of feeling fear and survival. Action movies are designed to appeal to our sense of danger: pace and experience is something we want but don't have in our everyday lives to this extent. Both films are examples of media, which manage to induce you into a certain way of thinking: Jaws into being scared and Gladiator into sympathising and rooting for Russell Crowe in his fight against evil.
Benjamin Segal was an infamous mobster during the World War II era, a time when America was experiencing national unity. The world war was in the back of everyone’s mind. In the middle of all this madness the daily trials of being American were harder than the easier times of today. Benjamin Seigal was a big part of the mob. He was the mastermind behind the great town of Las Vegas. His borderline genius was shown throughout the movie, as well as his borderline madness. Ben Seigal aka bugsy was confronted by many problems throughout his life both the one that set him back was his love for the ladies, which led to his demise.
The movie Titus directed by Julie Taymor a well awarded director who has created many visual arts, made countless thought-provoking choices when directing Titus, a movie based off the book Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare. Titus Andronicus is a tragedy highlighting Titus, a roman general that becomes obsessed with getting revenge with Tamora, a previous prisoner of his and the Queen of Goths. When Taymor directed the film Titus she incorporated many aspects from the present (when the movie was made) and the era the book was written in, during Shakespearean times, to relate to the audience at that time and still remain true to the story. She tried her best to stay as close to the book as possible and portray the characters as well as they could be interpreted. In some illustrations she was spot on and in others she was not.
The film Pan’s Labyrinth, has several common concepts with Joseph Campbell’s theory on heroes in Hero with a Thousand Faces. His theory emphasizes on tests that show their moral and basic instincts for the rite of passage to their threshold, in this case, the underworld. Campbell’s theory is a concept that surrounds an individual’s journey to heroism. This concept pertains to Ophelia due to her circumstances as a child who ventures out on thresholds, tests, and so forth. Campbell’s depiction relates to Ophelia as he describes the levels in which one must attain and accept as a female heroine. Furthermore, his theory exaggerates on the making of a hero to the resurrection in terms of physical and spiritual transformation. Ophelia’s character depicts a hero who has been resurrected as a human. Thus, she begins her journey to cross the threshold, “pass from the everyday world in the world of adventure,” (Campbell). There are many stages in the film that depicts Ophelia’s introduction to the stages of being a hero. More so, it focuses on tasks, which Ophelia must pass or fail in order to determine her role in the film; Princess of the Underworld or just a human soul. This is lead by the faun who simply reassures a place of ‘paradise’ for Ophelia only with her cooperation to listen and follow her morals.
First I will highlight the brief journey through the horror genre and the conventions that have developed. Second, I will then show how these conventions are used in the film Jaws. Let’s start with the silent era, an era based on monsters, Frakingstien 1910, Dracula 1912, The Phantom Of The Opera 1925. Without sound, there was a heavy emphasis on make – up, adding to the horror and preparing the first convention, which is the reveal of the monster. Facial expressions and body language played big part in early horror movies as it provided the tension. A second convention was the ‘dark property in the middle of nowhere,’ using isolation as a way to build up tension.
Howard Roark, the protagonist in the classical novel “The Fountainhead”, embodies the perfect man which the author Ayn Rand deemed the world lacked. Howard Roark is a self generated, independently thinking man who under no circumstances genuflected to the demands of society. Dominique Francon believes the world to be based upon collectivization, where the altruistic minds are praised to be the most appealing trait, which often leaves the self satisfying independent people such as Roark unsalaried. Francon has faith that Roark is a creator in the purest sense, never has he let the demands of society and the pressures of the speculators influence his beliefs. Dominique’s love for Howard, but hatred for the world is what drives her to destroy him. Dominique believes that the type of power that she and Howard possess is vital to society and by withholding it she is depriving the world what it needs to survive.
‘Jaws’ a thriller based on the novel by Peter Benchley, the film was directed by Steven Spielberg. In a beach resort of Amity Island, a young girl named Chrissie is the first victim of the shark’s vicious attack, when it strikes for the second time, the police refuse to put out warning about the shark. It then returns and kills again, the mayor orders the local fishermen to catch the great white shark before it kills even more victims. The fishermen are satisfied when they catch a Tiger shark the mayor reopens the beaches despite the warning from the ichthyologist when he suspects it was from a formidable great white shark. Brody and Hooper and the only fisherman willing to join them to catch the great white set out in the fisherman’s boat only coming face to teeth with the enemy. This film is rated as a 15, and has a running-time of 124 minutes. It was made in the USA, the soundtrack to ‘Jaws’ was a famous two-note piece composed by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.
Although many movies try to recount the most important events and biggest accomplishments in history, many of them end up taking the focus away from the real impact of the historical event. Due to the need to create a movie that has drama and an attractive or complex story line. The 1995 version of the movie Pocahontas directed by Daniele Suissa focuses on Powhatan princess Matoaka, known as Pocahontas, and the events that resulted from English colonists settling in Powhatan lands. Although the movie incorporated a few important details of the actual historical event, overall, it poorly represented the lasting effects Pocahontas’s encounter with the settlers had on the history of colonial America.
In spite of Gail Wynand’s individualism and creative spirit in The Fountainhead, he compromises these values in his work and succumbs to the power of the people, believing this double identity to be his only option in achieving the power he seeks. A simple credo governs Gail Wynand’s life: I Do run things around here. Originally a statement affirming his drive to rise above, this assertion quickly becomes a measure of Wynand’s self-worth—a self-worth based entirely upon his power over others. His deep respect for the greatness of mankind and the integral dignity of the independent man is made irrelevant in his life by a single, core fallacy: the futility and inevitable demise of integrity.
The movie Forest Gump was a historical fictional story narrated by the main character, Forest Gump. Forest Gump was born in 1944 in Alabama .He was raised by his mother ,and his father left when he was little .Forest Gump wasn’t your average white boy ,Forest was different psychically and mentally .Forest Gump had to wear leg braces as a little boy because of his back. His mother would always encourage him .even though forest was deemed as an idiot, she was still supportive. Forest Gump was teased in school because of his mental capacity .He befriend a girl in school name jenny ,and she would hold a special place in his heart besides his mother .Forest Gump talks about his life and the historic events that the nation endured. Forest Gump’s mother would always say life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what gonna get.”Throughout forest Gump’s life, he meets new people and he also began to have an impact on peoples lives. Forest Gump goes through life becomes successful in everything he does. Even though many might say forest was slow or stupid, he still managed to finish college become an all-star football player for college. He then goes to the army to fight in Vietnam and becomes a war hero .He always managed to keep Jenny in his life even though they were not together. Forest became successful by starting a shrimp business. Forest recruits lieutenant Dan from the army to be his business partner .Forest becomes a millionaire; however he was still humble and living with his mother. Forest was never involved with women socially nor sexually is .The reason for this because Forest never developed a scene of maturity to enter an adult relationship, and besides being a mother’s boy.
The movie Inside Out (USA): Pixar Studios is a beautiful movie for all ages that is worth watching because it has valuable lessons on the struggles of growing up and dealing with different rapidly changing emotions. The movie starts with the main character named Riley being born with her first emotion: Joy, then later Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness show up. All five, work together in what is called, “Headquarters”, the control center inside Riley’s mind. Pixar and Disney did a wonderful job, they made our emotions into a person that drive us, like in our own self. This is an extraordinary movie for various reasons.