people, the “American dream” is having a decent job, a nice family, and a white picket fence in the suburbs. But what actually happens behind that white picket fence? Sam Mendes’ 1999 film, American Beauty, explores what happens behind closed doors of a seemingly perfect and normal family in American suburbia. The film plays on many different emotions; ranging from funny and whimsical to sad and tragic. American Beauty utilizes remarkable cinematography and stunning visual images, realistic characters
necessarily.” But what is real by today’s standards? Does what appears to be normal equal reality? By looking at two different films it seems that the old cliche stands correct. Things aren’t as they appear. American Beauty and The Virgin Suicides give classic examples of how “normal” and “happy” suburban life is anything but. American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes (1999) and The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola (2000), share many of the same themes even though the plots are contrasted
A Once Vibrant Life Gone with the Wind Paul Celan composed his feelings for his mother regarding both her life and her passing in his poem “Aspen Tree.” The entire work is a vessel for his emotions toward her early departure and comparisons of the life she lived with various objects in nature. However, one emblem in particular perfectly represents Celan’s idealization of his mother. It can be argued that Celan uses the dandelion to epitomize his mother’s life because it highlights his themes of
Burnt by the Sun Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun was released in 1994, a year in which over seven decades of communism were undoubtedly still a vivid memory in the eyes of the Russian people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy left them with no choice but to try and disregard their past in order to better accept the many changes that the future would bring. In Burnt by the Sun, however, the director focuses on the characters' human emotions rather than condemn their ideology or
Private Dicks The film Private Dicks (Powers & Spadola, 1999) is a documentary of men discussing their penises while they are naked. They discuss their masturbation history, their penis size, loss of their virginity, and much more. The age range of the men goes from seventeen to seventy, and there is also a large diversity of races. A lot of the men are performers and entertainers, but others are lawyers, attorneys, students, and much more everyday occupations. Not only does occupation vary across
South Korean friends and colleagues are reluctant to admit this, or focus solely on the problems the industry is facing in the future. There may be worries about the future and there may be “ifs” and “buts” about the present state of the South Korean film industry. But we should start out by acknowledging its success. In considering some of the reasons for the recent success of South Korean cinema, two further observations can be made. First, if we pay attention to the international export success
movie, released March 1st 1999, takes place in a very distant future after a war between humanity and machines with artificial intelligence. A young man named Thomas Anderson, who goes by Neo in his nightlife as a hacker, discovers that the world is not all he thought it to be. Neo learns the truth about his world and what he has to do to save it in this action packed science fiction film. The Matrix was released in the year 1999 which has an impact on the theme of the film based on the cultural aspect
The Dressmaker, a film adaption of a novel by Rosalie Ham, is an Australian dark comedy-costume drama directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (2015). The plot centres on the protagonist Tilly Dunnage (Kate Winslet) returning to her hometown, twenty five years after she was accused of murdering a boy in her youth. As she has no memory of the event, Tilly wants to uncover the truth. Using her seamstress skills she transforms the dull fictional town of Dangatar and discovers the accusations against her were false
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation Report (1999), children spend an average of 2.5 to 3 hours on watching television per day. As van der Voort and Walma van der Molen (2000) noted, children learn most readily from visually presented materials, such as videos and films. As a result, mass media has a great influence on children’s development. As noted by Swindler (1986), the contribution of media exposure to the cultivation of children’s values, beliefs, dreams, and expectations cannot be overstated
This essay will investigate a variety of different approaches to using film by both Forced Entertainment and Frantic Assembly. Both companies claim to produce energetic, memorable and contemporary theatre and have both incorporated the use of film in their works. Although Frantic Assembly and Forced Entertainment both produce work that is placed under the umbrella of physical theatre, their ways of working and the work they produce differs from other theatre companies which also adopt this title
FEMINIST FILM THEORY Feminism fundamentally is a critical approach towards gender bias and social campaign for equal rights of all, irrespective of their gender. Feminist point of view in films came into existence due the inadequate and incorrect representation of women. (Shodhganga inflibnet) The concepts like femininity and masculinity are often misrepresented in films. (Smelik, 1999) The feminist approach to cinema asks questions like: How is woman depicted on screen, How are her issues dealt
This essay explores the role and effects of violence in Western films and uses two films from the Western genre to illustrate various uses of violence. According to Scott (2007), the Western has been a popular genre since films were first produced. Their character and depth of meaning have evolved and matured. There are less of them than in earlier decades but they have influenced other genres. Violence as well as other eventual clichés of the genre has been part of the Western and other genres
A Comparison of the Opening Sequence in Two Film Versions of the Novel Great Expectations I am going to compare the first 20 minutes of two film versions of the novel, Great Expectations. One version is by David Lean 1946. The other version is by Alfonzo Cuaron 1999. In Lean's version and Cuaron's there is one big difference and that is that Lean's version is in black and white, while Cuaron's is in full colour. The colour projects a better effect because it is clearer and more understandable
Are horror films bad for us? Well, maybe. Two studies show that prolonged exposure to violence in the media can escalate to hostile behaviors. Horror films contain violence, therefore, they are bad for us. In answer to the question “Are horror films bad for us?” is maybe yes, maybe no. Psychologist Dr. Glenn D. Walters found that there are three primary factors of horror film allure are tension, unrealism, and relevance; universal, subgroup, and personal. Deirdre D. Johnston studied 220 high school
Issues concerning masculinity and sexuality had been a prominent topic across China’s cultural and political agendas, especially given the rise of featuring homosexuality in films during the late 20th century. Arguably, male homosexuality acted as a catalyst in the creation of new representations of “celluloid comrades” or tongzhi previously left unexplored by Chinese filmmakers. On the other hand, it has enticed a society that has deeply engrained cultural norms resulting in cultural violence in
think that’s why the muscular word virile is so important. The overall feel of the the silent film and the film from 1999 especially seem to portray Joan of Arc as more of a virile character, just through her body character and the way she communicate with people, rather than a more ‘girl power’ character which I personally agree with more. I personally didn’t see a huge differences between the three films in the way that she was portrayed. She seemed to be represented as a powerful and religious
male-dominated society: A gender analysis of the film Fight Club Fight Club is a 1999 film based on the novel of the same name, penned by Chuck Palahniuk in 1996. The film was directed by David Fincher, and received extremely mixed reviews from critics. Fincher would go on the win two Academy Awards for best director for his films The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and The Social Network (2010). It was considered to be one of the most controversial films of 1999, and made over $100 million1 at the box
genre films have been produced since the beginning of movie making. Though the word "horror" to describe the film genre would not be used until the 1930’s. This was after Universal Pictures released Dracula and Frankenstein both in 1931. One of the first horror movies created was The Mummy (1932) and it was directed by Karl Freund. The movie was a huge success and many remakes followed for years to come. This film had no official sequels, but rather semi-remakes done over the years. In 1999 the most
Title Fight Club (1999) Genre Drama/Romantic Director David Fincher Screenwriter Jim Uhls Main Actors Edward Norton, Brad Pitt,Helena Bonham Carter The Original books and Author Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk Movie Reviews “Fight Club” The movie was made in 1999 and was in theatre in 18 October 1999 by the Century Fox Pictures and Regency Enterprise. I’ve been watching this movie for about more than 3-4 times and what I found is , the movie genre basicly is romantic and drama but you can only found
most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films