How do you choose films?

A film is a plastic that contains a thin flexible strip that is used for exposure of movies, for instance, a compact disk. The three most recent films I have seen in the theater are “the eagle huntress, the love witch, and the fantastic beast and where to find them.” After I initially heard about these films I chose “the eagle huntress” film because of the recommendation from friends. “The fantastic beasts and where to find them” I chose this film for the reason of its action and drama I found on it in the movie shop. “The love bitch” is a film I choose for a reason that it was advertised in a movie shop.

The recent movies that I have watched on DVD are “the dawn of the planet of apes, God is not dead, and condemned.” I chose “the dawn of the planet of apes” because of a good review of the movie. “God is not dead” is a film I chose for the reason that it is an inspiration movie. “Condemned” is a film I chose for the reason that it was a recommendation from friends. I choose to watch the three films on DVD rather than in theater for the reason that I was unsure of the quality and unwilling to risk the money for a ticket. In general, I decide to wait for these films to come out on DVD because in the theater it is expensive to get a ticket as I compare to the price of purchasing a compact disk.

Given that there is a lot of information about both the new and old films that are available on the internet for instance tons of movie review site, I, therefore, trust Netflix source most to give me an idea of the film before I decide to watch it. The reasons why I trust Netflix as a source to get the information about films is one, Netflix source has superior information which predicts whether new content will be successful and also give the when the film it will be released. The second reason of why I chose Netflix source is because it has a massive scale which distributes video and information fairly negligible to more user which make to lower the charges of the film. The third reason of choosing Netflix source to view information of film is because Netflix has a destination for niche contents which allow Netflix to fix a reliable price that I can afford (Lee).

‘The Godfather’

The ‘Godfather’ is a great American film by Francis Ford Coppola and it portrays an image of modern American culture. The film introduces a family which is made up by father and children. The father is known as Don Vito Corleone (The Godfather) and he has three sons, one adopted son and one daughter namely: Micheal, Santino, Fredo, Tom Hagen (adopted son) and Connie the daughter (Puzo, 2002). The Godfather is the leader of the mafia family and one day he attends his daughter’s wedding together with his sons. Godfather is a character who likes maintaining peace to those who love peace but he is also ruthless to those who acts against his will.  He follows the traditional values though there is a confrontation between old and new ways of living (Puzo, 2002). A war emerges when the Virgil Sollozzo (drug seller) wants protection and support from the Corleone family and then he plans to give them a reward after selling the drugs.  When he takes the drug issue to Don Corleone, he rejects the idea and refuses the offer.  Since Sollozzo is not pleased by the Don Corleone moral act, he advises his hit men to kill Don but he survives from death and gives his son Michael the leadership to fight against the Sollozzo illegal acts (Puzo, 2002).

Michael is a hero who holds outlaw values in the entire film.  He does not have experience like his father but he struggles to fight his enemies and to maintain the old values.  Remember that Michael is the young brother who goes to fight for Americans in WW1 while his father is the leader of Mafia family and plays the role of maintaining law and rules.  After his father is shot, Michael feels that he must revenge and finish the Sollozzo and McCluskey who plans to kill his father (Puzo, 2002). Later, his father is hospitalized and Michael goes to visit him.  While in hospital, he notices that Both McCluskey and Michael are planning to kill his father. Michael takes the matter to the police station and finds that the McCluskey (police) has taken the bribe and instead of investigating the matter he breaks Michael’s jaw (Puzo, 2002).  At this point, the heroic nature of Michael is explicit in that he takes a strategic plan to kill Sollozzo and McCluskey. He requests them to have a small meeting in one restaurant to discuss the matter. Michael had already hidden a gun in the bathroom and so he leaves both Solozzo and McCuskey   in the dining room taking the meal and enters in the bathroom to take the gun. After few minutes Michael shots the two men on the head.

Michael is an outlaw hero who is controlled by individualism and self-determination, and a character whose actions benefits the family. This is because, there is a strong bond which unites the Corleone family and the violence is a result of the family unity (Puzo, 2002). After the death of the two men, Michael goes to Sicily and after two years he learns that his brother Sonny is killed.  He feels that he must go back to Newyork to find out the cause of deatrh. After his father’s death, Michael kills Michaelkills Tessio and Carlo Rizzi since they had planned the death of Sonny.  This shows that Michael loves his family and he commits the crime to ensure that there is safe (Puzo, 2002). Michael is an outlaw hero because he knows the right and the wrong things but he acts against the law and kills the criminals.

Reference

Puzo, M. (2002). The godfather. New York: New American Library.

Dark Themes in Films

After the world war, American film industry started to produce films with negative themes and in contemporary American culture, the film industry is producing film noir with respect to past myths and ideologies (Belton, 221). I have watched many American films and found that they all portray negative themes and they reflect negative issues which cause disgust despite the American culture define them as entertainment films. For example, Touch of Evil (1958), Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and Double Indemnity (1944) are film which I have recently watched and they represent dark themes and are associated with evil, disillusionment, paranoia, moral corruption among other negative features. For example, the first film opens with a bomb explosion in U.S/Mexico border where occupants are killed. The second also talks about a death at night where a woman runs at night half naked. The last film portrays a negative theme of death where Barbara Stanwyck plans on how to kill her husband Fed MacMurray (Spicer, 1).

During the war period in America, the film industry started to produce noir films which were rooted from sociohistory films and literature such as hard-boiled novels. The literature portrayed a different world and represented a traditional of realism through detective fiction.  In addition, German expressionism was associated with French poetic realism it played part in the development of noir film. At this period, American adopted German popular stylistic style which was associated with dark themes of the world (Belton, 221). In contemporary America, the film noir brought a transitional change from pre-industrialization to industrialization. The transformational changed the American identity and this resulted into crisis on issues of national identity. There was a driving power which controlled mobilization and national unity. Since the power in maintain unity was based on groups rather than individual, there was kind of disillusionment which blocked unity and led to postwar (Belton, 223). Thus, film noir is popular in contemporary world and by portraying the negative themes it tends to present the American culture in the society. Its narrative features give a vivid explanation of confrontation as a result of diverse ideas, social and moral problems. Generally, it is not normal for people to watch uncomfortable and horror films but the films touches the lives of American people following the consequences of postwar. After the second war, America was free but it lost its freedom during the postwar as a result of economic and political system. The wealth and power created a materialist society and portrayed widespread crime, global war resentment and Red Scare. The reasons why people like watching film noir it because it portrays the dark themes of the war era and the films touches an important aspect of life (Belton, 228). Note that films are associated with culture and people use the film as a mirror which reflects the dominance culture of American society.

Scary films make people to become desensitized and their behaviors become more aggressive. Film noir diminishes the emotional reactions, people become less sensitive toward violence and there a high probability that such people behaves aggressively as their emotional component is reduced.  I used to watch films regularly such as ‘The Big Sleep’  ‘Out of the Past’,’ The Third Man’, ‘Lift to the Scaffold’ and ‘Blood Simple’. These films have really disturbed me since the themes they portray affected me (Spicer, 1). Though they are referred as entertainment films, they are full of violent acts. Particularly the film called ‘The Big Sleep’ is disturbing as it is about murder and betrayal where an investigator is called by General Sternwood and he is told to blackmail Carmen who is the young daughter. To cut the story short, the story affected my emotion as I increased resentment and dared to do anything just to imitate what I watched in the movie.

Work cited

Belton, John. American Cinema/american Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.

Spicer, Andrew. Film Noir. Place of publication not identified: Routledge, 2016. Print.

Map analysis project using six analytical perspectives for the Titanic film

Introduction

Visual communication can be easily analyzed using the analytical perspectives which include personal analysis, historical, cultural, technical, generic and stylistic analysis (Berns, De & Hasebrink, 2007). The media that shall be analyzed by this paper is the Titanic film and every detail shall be covered.

Titanic’s background

Titanic is an American epic film that was acted and published in 1997. The film has some characteristics of a drama as well as represents a disaster. The film is composed of three main stars that include Leonardo Dicaprio who is regarded as the most handsome, Billy Zane who is known to be dashing, and the elegant Kate Winslet (Hallin & Mancini, 2004). The film presents a fictionized account of the sinking TMS Titanic which followed a forbidden romance all through between a first class woman and a third class gentleman who was an artist (Barker & Austin, 2000).

Thesis statement

This is a visual analysis paper that will put the Titanic film into the respective concepts of map analysis using the six analytical perspectives from the beginning to the end.

Statement of the problem

The visual analysis is investigating the extent to which college students of between the age of 19 and 21 have been influenced by the perception presented in the movie concerning love. The movie has perceived that it is better to love and lose rather than failing to love (Barker & Austin, 2000).

Analysis of Titanic using the Six analytical perspectives

Personal perspective

• Titanic was indeed a historical event that occurred in 1912 and the film has been the most powerful tool that has helped people to understand exactly what happened in 1912.

Historical perspective

• The word Titanic has a meaning of immersing or colossal. It is the title of the film and reflects the sinking of the ship, the experience and the film itself.
• The word has also appeared in more than 100 movies since the experience of the sinking ship in 1912 (Barker & Austin, 2000).
• The core message of the film is beyond romance and heroism because it addresses the experience of the entire century and the accomplishments that were experienced at that time (Barker & Austin, 2000).

Technical perspective

• There were several technological advancements that resulted from the making of the film when the incidence was being recaptured.
• During the English period of tenment, there were technological discoveries that were made in order to come up with the ship-like Titanic (Barker & Austin, 2000).

Cultural perspective

• 319 passengers were first-class, 269 were second class and 699 were third class (Barker & Austin, 2000).
• The society of the 20^th century is reflected by the ratio between the classes.

generic perspective

• Majority of the travelers were poor
• The rich were considerably small in number
• Generic differences were perceived not to hinder social life

stylistic perspective

• Cameron the storyteller ha used distinguished techniques of to connect history and fiction.
• He created a smooth and unique movie going such that no one could afford to miss the next minute.
• The story teller also portrays the importance of using the plot forces to present the historical perspective (Koldau, 2012).

References

窗体顶端

Koldau, L. M. (2012). The Titanic on film: Myth versus truth. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

窗体底端

窗体顶端

Barker, M., & Austin, T. (2000). From Antz to Titanic: Reinventing film analysis. London: Pluto Press.

窗体底端

窗体顶端

Hallin, D. C., & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and politics. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge University Press.

窗体底端

窗体顶端

Berns, M. S., De, B. K., & Hasebrink, U. (2007). In the presence of English: Media and European youth. New York: Springer.

窗体底端

Feminism in sport and film

“A million dollar baby”

The film was produced in 2004 in America which was directed by Clint Eastwood who was a boxing trainer. He was underappreciated and his mistakes have been haunting him from his past and had a great quest to help an amateur boxer realize and achieve her dreams in order to become a professional. Maggie was a poor 31 years old waitress who was from a low class dysfunctional loser family from Ozarks (Eastwood, 2004). She shows up in a Los Angeles gym that was owned by Frankie who also operated it in order to make a difference through boxing. He was old and a bad tempered trainer who did not agree to train Maggie as he argued that she was too old to start boxing as a career. Nevertheless, Maggie works tirelessly despite the hitch which made Frankie friend encourage and offer to help her. Reluctantly Frankie agrees to help her (Eastwood, 2004). Maggie was able to clinch first round wins for Frankie which resorted to bribery from other managers in order to have Maggie content for the welterweight class which left her with a broken nose in the first round. Socially and culturally boxing is generally accepted as seen as a male dominated field which many would not consider embracing as a career especially for women who was of Maggie’s age (Eastwood, 2004). Her mother was overweight, her brother was jailed, her sister a single mother who only continue to lie about her child being alive in order to continue receiving the government aid.

Maggie’s success did not come easily as she had to train at least five hours every day. The training was extensive as she gained 19 pounds I muscle that was aided by her trainer. The extensive training left her with a life-threatening infection which she did not tell Eastwood about it would have been out of charter for Maggie (Eastwood, 2004). A paternal relationship was established between Frankie and Maggie who did substitute for his estranged daughter that made Frankie reject several offers that were in connection with big fights. As Maggie continued to experience success she thought of giving her mother a good life by buying her a house since they were poor but she was criticized for imperiling the government aid as everybody was laughing about her back at home. The film has an entire character of Eastwood with his estranged daughter as throughout the film they really don’t get well together.  This created a great chance for Maggie to bond and experiences the fatherly love (Eastwood, 2004). The film is seen to empower a female protagonist by showing how she overcame the economic diversity that had affected her life by beating the gender stereotypes.

There is the greed of power as her family is portrayed in a manner that is full of suspicions. She says that her family trouble comes by a pound and it is something that she has to leave with. At the end of the film, her family cartoonist act is seen when they arrive at Maggie’s bedside in order to ask her to sign of her assets to them before she dies so that they can be able to go to Disney land shows oppression to Maggie (Andris & Frederick, 2007). As a family, they should have been there to support her and allow her to sigh of at her own free will rather than asking her.   Her mother’s act of rebuking the house in the name losing the government aid and that she will be required to get job shows oppression to the government. This is because the funds they are been given can be used to support another family or be diverted to other meaningful projects. The embodiment is seen in Maggie’s family is seen to be more materialistic as they value money more than life and they are willing to lie about anything so that they may get financial support from the government (Cornell, 2009).

The film has strongly shown how Maggie a woman follows her dream with great passion, determination, faith and strength and hard work will go a long way in beating all the odds (Eastwood, 2004). Her act has shown that as a woman anything is possible so long as we are willing to work for it which creates a great thrill and earns great admiration to many. There is woman empowerment as there is beneficial growth, strength, independence a life option and victory that makes life worth living. There are struggles, pain conflict and bitterness but all these can be conquered. The film has also shown some weakness as it is loosely based on the life of a real person. Maggie was never allowed to own her success as the real power was given to Frankie (Eastwood, 2004). On a stretch of the imagination, it is not possible to say that the film is entirely feminist as it only had a female boxer but filled with Eastwood character. If I was the director I would have brought a different slant in the film by to explore why and how a woman would view the world in such a manner rather than just accepting it in the way it is given in order to broaden the female aspect.

Reference

Andris, S., & Frederick, U. (2007). Women willing to fight: The fighting woman in film. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars.

Cornell, D. (2009). Clint Eastwood and issues of American masculinity. New York: Fordham University Press.

Eastwood C (2004). Million dollar baby. Retrived from  http://123movies.to/film/million-dollar-baby-5394/watching.html

            Old Boy by Chan-Wook Park

            Horror cinema is grounded on a play amid revealing and withholding visual information between expanded and restricting our vision.  Old boy manipulates this general tension due to the unorthodox and meticulous mise-en-scene as well as its composition.  The movie utilizes mythical, philosophical, and psychological theme in including repressed desires, love, feelings and morality.  The profound content is however not presented in a direct strategy in the whole movie.  In the film  composition and mise-en-scene is the major  element which the director utilizes to  subtly visualize and  connote the  profound concept of the  film and the  narrative in a manner that is subtle such as the utilization of  metaphors which are used in literature.

Graphics and colors images are utilized to represent characters as well as their general fates. In this film, five colors are majorly utilized on costumes, props, and sets.  The utilized colors are black, red, green, as well as violet.   Amongst the colors the most interesting color is violet. Violet is a Sooo-A.  The violet color can be viewed in a triangular shape pattern on supports the director utilizes objects such as box, umbrella, handkerchief and envelope. Purple or violet has symbolic images which represent feminine, death, elegance as well as feelings which are repressed. All the images are therefore linked to the concept of Soo-A.  After she dies the generated trauma impairs and imprisons Woo-Jin psychologically. The utilized triangular shaped patterns which are connected to the purple color are the general visual representations of the developed psychological twisted nature of Woo-Jin.  The Most interesting section is that the room’s wallpaper where Mi-Do is held for her own safety is of similar color with distinct patterns. The film’s director would have utilized a similar color as the character changes and becomes a parallel character at the end.  Based on the perception of the protagonist a character is just an object of repressed desires and sensations. However, the director utilized this concept to show the images of salvation and hope on the character thus he utilized a structure that is crystal. Cinema memory, memory is essential in elaborating distinct nuances of the memory and the understanding of cinema (Susannah, 336).  The cinemas are thus used to generate a narrative that is not straightforward but instead reveals fewer reflections (Susannah, 336).

O-dae-su, the major character has been imprisoned in a room which is dark and narrow for 15 years without the understanding of why it happened (Chan-wook, 8:45).  When the character is released from the room, he begins to establish the individual who was responsible for all his mysteries of the incarceration as well as abduction and the notion behind his act.  Besides the thematic concept  of the film  than  vengeance is worst than Oblivion  the film is effective in  revealing the fact that an individual’s thoughtless tongue can generate catastrophic  impacts  for the  mentioned individual as well as the person who is characterized by speech.  When the major character O-dae-su is in school he is able to witness a relationship that is incestuous that is between suah and Woo-jin (Chan-wook, 12:45).  He communicates about his witness to his own friend and urges him not to tell the story to anybody else.  The story spreads to the whole school after the story had been blabbered to the general school thus generating an additional rumor.  As the result of this mistake and the rumor Suah commits suicide after the sensation of a false pregnancy. Woo-jin develops an urge of plotting a vengeance on O-dae-su for what he did to him. He accomplishes this by making him develop a relationship with his own daughter (Chan-wook, 32:42).  After the realisation of the happening O-dae-su begins to beg him not to reveal the context of this relationship to his daughter by getting rid of his tongue, and later craves to attain forgiveness for what he did.  The completion of this scene explains the statement that Woo-jin had communicated to O-dae-su when the movie begun.  The statement held that a sand grain and a mass rock are at the end mutual because they are both bound to sink when inserted in water.  This, therefore, meant that whether it is a rumor that is malicious or the use of a term without giving many thoughts it is bound to hurt the other individual  who is aimed by the act which may result in death.

            The theme can best be explained by the scene where O-dae-su kneels with the aim of cutting his tongue using scissors in order to expiate his own faults.  The director utilizes mise-en-scene in the scene in order to enhance the theme’s convergence.  O-dae-su gathers his courage’s and picks the scissors, wrapping them using a purple handkerchief where the complex patterns of geometry are developed (Chan-wook, 48:45).  The utilization of the geometric patterns is effective in developing the thoughts that O-dea-su is a difficult individual in comparison to other individuals in the society.  The disparity of O-dea-su with other individuals in the society would thus refer to the involvement that is inevitable in the vengeance cycle which mainly involves his general rumor responsibility. This is the enclosed by the school environment where the event took place and the incestuous relationship which was manipulated with his daughter as a result of the vengeance by Woo-jin. Another mise-en-scene utilized through the prop is the use of scissors. The act of cutting O-dae-su’s tongue by the use of scissors is a clear representation of his deep and sincere regret in regard to his own wrong utilization of tongue. This is the extreme determination that he shows of not desiring to make the same mistake as well as the desperate desire to acquire clemency and forgiveness.

Editing additionally contributes to a communication of the film's thematic concept which helps the audiences to understand the plot development of the film.  Through the editing continuity, especially action matches and match cut, the film’s director smoothes the time transition and then establishes shots coherence which is based on logic.  In the scene where O-dea-so cuts his tongue, the director matches his actions which involve placing the tongue between the scissors blades and then chopping it across the presented double shoots (Chan-wook, 47:15). The director is able to make the presented action to seem as if the motion happens in uninterrupted nature.  The smooth shots connection is effective in establishing tension to the required degree and then shifts to the following scene in a very short time.  This helps the plot in developing clearly and coherently without making the film’s audiences to experience any unclear scene or to experience boredom.  In this manner, the clear plot development is effective in enabling the audiences to feel both sympathies as well as empathy for the major character in an explicit way.  This is because the audiences can comfortably place themselves in his position and be able to experience both his agony as well as the internal conflict which includes sudden guilt realization and the general moral that it was not necessary to say the unnecessary terms to his friend.  This, therefore, helps to understand the film as the director utilized effective editing to be able to generate a clear communication between the audiences and the film. The audiences can, therefore, be able to feel how the movie has accomplished to deliver its thematic concept through the use of editing features.  This has thus been crucial in developing a clear plot for the film thus making the concept be more open to the audience.

The use of diegetic sounds has also been effective in developing the theme.  This is mainly because when O-dae-su picks his scissors and places them in his mouth the background music which is the final waltz plays in the background.  As O-dae-su places his tongue in between the scissors blades and begins to scissor his own screaming and the sound of the chopping blades is reduced and the background music volume is lowered a bit (Chan-wook, 48:50).  A slow and a plaintive sound the string instruments is utilized in order to reconcile with  O-dae-su’s  miserable circumstance in that he is necessitated to beg Woo-jin so that he do not have to tell the certainty to his daughter. His screaming and the sound of the scissoring act generates and sends a message  that the thoughtless speaking consequences based on others is disastrous in un-imaginary form and must, therefore, be avoided at all costs.

Cinematography which generally includes angle and shot addresses a particular section of the film’s theme that based on whether an individual speaks about others with a specific objective or none, the mentioned terms will later be on everybody’s tongue and this will cause suffering from the rumors that are inflated.  Through O-dae-su close-ups shots on his hands as well as his eyes, the film’s director is able to catch his enmity and momentary hesitation towards Woo-jin (Chan-wook, 50:45).  His glaring eyes and his shaking hands made him seem as if he was communicating the fact that he was only speaking based on what he saw and he did not hold any negative intention when he did it.  This, therefore, shows that the fact that his intention was not bad he could not be able to predict that such a catastrophe would happen and he is sorry for his act as he regrets what he did.  However, in the next scene, the back of his suffering and kneeling is taken at a high eye view camera angle. The angle of the camera is therefore able to generate the logic that woojin is the general victim to whom O-dae-su is expected to genuflect and request for his compassion regardless of his guilt size and responsibility.

The director utilizes a lighting scene that is green in contrast to other scenes which are natural lighting in order to make the situation dramatic.  This is mainly because green is often unusual when utilized to describe the normal existence of individuals.  The lighting therefore communicates that O-dae-su has been deprived the right to live his normal life. The lighting therefore is effective in highlighting O-daesu’s disparity with other individuals in the society because he is not entitled to normal living based on his prior sin of gossiping.

            Work Cited

Chan-wook Park. Oldboy. 2003. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/

Susannah, Radstone. Cinema and memory. Pdf

Bollywood

            Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is an Indian movie that was established in 2001 by Karan Johar as the director while the producer was his father. In English the movie means that at times there is happiness and at times there is sorrow. The main aim of writing this film was to induce nostalgia among the emigrant Indian audience. Bend it like Beckham is a movie that was written by Guljit Bindra and Gurinder Chadha who was also the director in 2002. Bollywood in simple terms refers to a Hindi movie industry in Mumbai which was primarily known as Bombay and thus the name Bollywood. All films from Bollywood productions have similar features.  Rich feature among the characters is a common feature in Bollywood and this is portrayed in the two films.  For instance, the plot of the movie involves the a rich family that has two sons, where one of the son is adopted but according to their father, Raichand, he likes his two sons to live together with him and his wife as a family. Strictness among the parents and rebellion that involves some characters migrating to another country and this is portrayed in the films. For instance, in Kabhi’s movie, Raichand expected them to get married to girls of their choices and start their own families. Fights within the scene are an aspect of Bollywood movies. For instance, Rahul, the adopted son falls in love with Anjali who is a poor girl from India and this displeasure his father to a point that they argue and fight. This therefore forces Rahul to leave from his house to Britain where he settles down. However, his brother who is the real son of Raichand after Rahul left, his father decides to pay him all the attention. The plot of the movie involves a family drama where the strict Indian couple who lives in London restricts their daughter, Jess from playing organized soccer even though she has attained 18 years of age. In the course of playing soccer, Keira notices the excellent skills of Jess and convinces her to join for her semi-pro players (Korte et al 173).

She uses some excuses so as to hide her matches and her secret romantic feelings with her coach, Joe from her family. The aspect of music and dancing are Bollywood features that are portrayed in the two movies. Love is mostly seen in the first scenes but then hatred yields up in the middle and a reunion at the end and mostly a wedding and a group celebration at the last of the scene. For instance in Kabhi’s movie, Rohan has no plans of marrying but his main focus is to bring back his brother and sister in law so that their family can become complete again. At the end there is a wedding celebration (Iyengar et al 41).

            The South Asian culture is highly represented in these Bollywood movies as a lens is interested in the complex and easily overlooked aspects of the identity of the South Asians and their diaspora. These movies have offered a new perception of the South Asian culture and their diaspora communities and have thus contributed towards the transition process of the nation’s culture and the political economy (Ember et al 378). The aspect of family in the movie’s storylines, characters as well as filmmakers helps in identifying the concept identity in the two films. In these two movies, the youngsters must struggle towards finding and creating their identity against the crossroads of the custom and the traditions of their ancestral background and the conflicting norms and their immediate surroundings. This often results to the parents taking it as defiance from their way of doing things (Korte et al 176).   Members of the South Asian are expected to stick together but more than often this does not happen since the minority may undermine agency due to their ambitions. Just as seen in the two movies the families at the start they all want a common thing of sticking together and being united but later the family is broken as the minorities attend to the agency of their ambition and hence breaking off the unity of their families.

            The theme of family is one of the main aspects of these two movies. Basically, family is regarded as the foundation of the society as well as of the nation. Families are of great importance to any culture despite their differences and conflicts. In the movie by Gurinder, the relatives who attend all the celebrations in the Bhamra family are always emphasizing on the importance of family unity. While in KKKJ movie, Rohan is insisting on the family unity by encouraging his brother to come back and the father in the end supports him. Food is another theme that is used by the writers of the two movies and the procedures that are undertaken in relation to preparation of food. The availability of food, its preparation and consumption more than often represents a gathering or a celebration. The gathering is mainly by friends, close and distant relatives, the entire families and friends and this is a symbol of union. The occasion of food comes as a result of enjoying time together as well as discussing issues and problems. In both films, food and dishes represent typical ways of distinguishing the cultures in the films. The use of spices, colors and flavors in their dishes portrays the Indian culture. Celebration is another theme that is seen in the two films. This is evidenced by the occurrence of every event that must be marked by a celebration. There are marriage celebrations in the two films and so many other celebrations that occur within the scenes with a lot of food and music and dances. Fathers in both families of the two films are viewed as strict with strict rules that causes their children to rebel against those rules that form the culture of those families. They are against some practices and they think that their decision is the best hence are against the decisions of their children. Lifestyle and living is another theme that is viewed in the two films where there is the manifestation of the cultural heterogeneity.

This is seen as there is the mixture of a different lifestyles that is of the Indian lifestyle and the British lifestyle in KKKJ movie and the mixture of the London and German lifestyle in the Bend it like Beckham. A good Indian according to Bollywood is one who can speak Hindu language with a familiar accent and a skin color that is similar to that of the Hindu’s.  These features can be evaluated rom one person to another as not all Indians have these characters and the measure of these characters is different.

            Orientalism and Stereotypes succeed on broad view superseding specificities about a specific race, nation and a culture. According to Simpson’s film, Apu is only given a simple identity of being an Indian but in the show there is no evidence of him being given a definite heritage. Orientalism is a form of mythologizing process and the uniformity of any culture is a process of orientalism (Said 70). The less truth the Occident knows on the orient, the easier the process of protecting the myth of India. In the episode where the title states that Much Apu about Nothing offers the viewers an indication of Apu’s home life rather than developing this character into showing the character of India. However, the film uses so much cliché stereotypes of this culture where during his graduation he is awarded with a cobra that is seen emerging from a basket. The ideology the Indian society being homogeneous with minimal regional variation is reinforced by visualizations and the declaration that he is from India. The hegemonic control power of the dominant voice, speaks on behalf of those who are voiceless and those who have no chance to self-define themselves. Just as the orientalism major on the generalization of the racial and cultural topic so does the image of the orient is made ready for the public to consume. For instance, Apu assumes a stereotype trait that makes him to be Indian in the Western eye. While his Hindu religion and practices become a symbol of his ethnicity. His overemphasized accent is another indicator of the Indian identity.

This was fashioned by a white actor who happened to develop the voice from the racist performance of the party film. Apu emerges from a pattern of cultural reduction that contradicts the heritage of India. Apu is not created so as to serve the South Asian self-identification but rather reinforce the way the western actor learns how to identify himself in relation to the ‘other’ perceived character.  The practice of Orientalism in the process of creating the other reinforces the Occident’s personal construction. This has therefore helped in defining the West and hence orientalism is built on the practice of defining through difference.

            Simpson’s film therefore uses orientalism where it comes into play once we encounter with the Apu character and walks away with only less understanding of the realistic culture of the South Asians. However, a greater conviction that Apu is not Western is seen and as he comes to stand as a metonym specifically for the Indian orient, all his unfavorable characteristics are projected on his culture and back at the Occident as an oppositional to its distinction values. In as much as Apu states that he is an Indian American, he solidifies his ideology that even though he technically is an American he can never truly be part of the Occident. Hence the orient status of Apu will forever remain to be in the other category in the United States versus them which is the binary of orientalism.

            According to Peter Seller’s comical representation of an Indian immigrant, Apu’s last name is an example of mock Indian character whose name is fake and does not sound like Indian. This is because the name has eight syllables that make the name longer and confusing than any other Indian name.  The aggressive Indian stereotype in the performances of the Indian- Canadian comic of Russell Peters is witnessed and these jokes heavily focus on the Indian immigrants as abnormal.

For instance, Peter states that his father is a typical immigrant from India because of his highly pretentious accent which Peter imitates and is in conflict with it and regards it to be a normal American accent (Davé et al 19). He therefore stresses that the Indians are socially backward due to their homophobic attitudes. The Indian accent therefore offers how racial performance of and by the South Asians in American television as well as in film acts is an expression of privilege and variation with regard to racial identity. The progression of the Indian accent such as in the brown face and the brown-voice presentation is not direct but rather teleological as portrayed by the repetition of ethnic stereotypes and also the recurrence of the Indian verbal accents in dissimilar appearances in the films (Davé et al 20). Descriptions of the South Asians and South Asians Americans vary in the British narratives as are seen in the orientalist images.

References

            Davé, Shilpa. Indian Accents: Brown Voice and Racial Performance in American Television and Film. , 2013. Internet resource.

            Ember, Melvin, Carol R. Ember, and Ian A. Skoggard. Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. New York: Springer, 2005. Print.

            Iyengar, Niranjan, and Ayesha Monani. The Making of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Mumbai: Dharma Productions [in association with] India Book House, 2001. Print.

            Korte, Barbara, and Claudia Sternberg. Bidding for the Mainstream?: Black and Asian British Film Since the 1990s. Amsterdam [u.a.: Rodopi, 2004. Print.

            Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1995. Print.

Intercultural communication

Introduction

Cultural communication is important as it aims at sharing of information. Intercultural communication is sharing of information across various different cultures and social groups. The communication process is wide as it ranges from the different social context such as religion, social ethnic and educational backgrounds. The intercultural communication helps solve problems that may arise naturally in an organization (Novinger, 2001). Intercultural communication seeks to know how people from different cultures and countries act, communicate and perceive what is around them in the world. This emphasizes how different cultural backgrounds interact.

            Amelie is a film of a girl who had her childhood suppresses by her father due to her heart defect. Due to the concerns of her father Amelie considered homeschooling for her girl. This denied Amelie any real life contact with other people. As a result of her loneliness, she developed active imagination and mischievous personality (Jeunet, 2001). Amelie social lives worsened when he father withdrew from the society after her mother was killed in a suicidal attack on a church. Later on, when she became a young woman she moved to Paris where she worked as a waitress. As it was the first time to get a direct contact with other people she resorted in her own fantastical world with big dreams. Due to lack of social life and interaction when growing up she had a collection of bizarre behaviors that landed her in few disappointing relationships (Jeunet, 2001). She devoted herself to help people around her. During this time she had to develop various communication techniques as she came into contact with various people who were from different communities and whose culture was different.

Communication between Amelie and Bretodeau is connected by the old box which moves the man to tears because of the memories it holds. This created a ground for reconciliation with his estranged daughter who he never met. This scenario made Amelie happy and gave her a strong drive to embark on her mission (Jeunet, 2001). By helping the blind man Amelie had the perception of helping the man understand by interpreting and describing to him the street scenes that he passes without seeing them. By explaining to the blind man and making him sense how his surroundings look like creates grounds for communication between the two people who barely know each other (Vanderschelden, 2007). Communication with her father also made possible by persuading her father to tour the world and meet with other different people through the help of a flight attendant. Communication was also enhanced by taking pictures of various landmarks across the world. The pictures will show various regions giving an indication of different communities (Novinger, 2001).

Nonverbal codes between people include visual cues such as physical appearance body language and a touch. This communication style also involves the use of paralanguage, frequent glances, and blink rate. Verbal codes such as syntactic, pragmatics and connotation were used by the characters in the film.  This enhanced communication between the characters and also created a sense of understanding as they were from different communities and backgrounds (Novinger, 2001). Amelie and her boyfriends who happen to be a co-worker and a customer in the bar she used to work communicated with both verbal and nonverbal codes. Amelie found the need to communicate with her boyfriend but only from a distance. This means that nonverbal codes were being used in cases where there was no contact (Sadri & Flammia, 2011). The use of gaslighting tactics of communication to the nasty greengrocer resulted into a positive outcome where Collignon was no longer able to through abuses which made Lucien a good-natured assistant take up the grocery. By observation, as a means of communication, Mr. Dufayel was able to begin a conversation with Amelie about his painting. As a painter, Mr. Dufayel had never captured the look of a girl drinking water from a glass. There was communication of Amelie’s loneliness that was captured through the image as several conversations arose between Mr. Dufayel and Amelie (Jeunet, 2001). Through painting and discarded photographs in the photo booth love emerges between the two. It is interesting that Amelie did her communication nonverbally as she avoided direct communication with the people she came across though she was not anti-social (Vanderschelden, 2007). The nonverbal communication seen to exist between Amelie and the other characters is as a result of how Amelie learned to communicate from a young age. This indicates that Amelie was better of communication with nonverbal codes as it helped her understand her surrounding and the different people she comes across. It has also portrayed the French culture can communicate through various methods (Sadri & Flammia, 2011).

The interpersonal skills used by the different characters enable them to understand each other (Novinger, 2001). They created communication channels between them recognizing individual abilities that helped them develop sets of roles due to their mixture of their character traits and the essential information needed. The intercultural communication between the characters creates a successful framework among them as they are able to understand each other despite which region one is from. Amelie was new in Paris and in all cases she came across new people (Vanderschelden, 2007). Even without having them when growing up Amelie found a way to communicate with them which gave her happiness and joy within. She felt accepted which made her pursue her desires to help other people despite where they were from.

The French movie shows cultural patterns of where people are open minded are unique in their own way, quirky, and whimsical (Vanderschelden, 2007). This is seen when Amelie wants to get the most of her life after the death of her mother. She decides to free herself, find love and help the people around her.  An act of kindness is also seen when Amelie helps a blind man cross the streets (Jeunet, 2001). Having grown up in isolated childhood can only communicate through imagery metaphors which are a different case from the cultural patterns of the French people. The film portrays the French people as those people who can spread goodness when given a chance. The film also shows French culture as where parents can be protective to their children and they would be rather considered old fashioned and ensure that their children get the best.

Communications in the film were done through the use of schemes, plots, metaphors and tricks. This shows that all the communication in the film was no real communication as it was done in a childlike manner of a cat and a mouse (Jeunet, 2001). This indicates that interpersonal communication in the film was not properly considered and taken seriously. Amelie used one of her games to conceal her identity as she way shy as she returns Nino’s treasured album anonymously. Amelie is also to panic after arranging a meeting in Moulins (Vanderschelden, 2007). This makes her try to deny her identity. As a result, her co-worker is concerned for Amelie well-being after Amelie was made to believe that Nino had been lost to her co-worker. In order to make Amelie pursue Nino Dufayel had to intervene. This portrays a culture of concern where people look after the well-being of other individuals.

The intercultural communication of the French society is similar to that of my culture in that the skills used are to enhance sharing of information and communicating with other people from various groups and other social cultures. The communication techniques involve the understanding of different customs, social norms, standards and patterns (Novinger, 2001). The intercultural communication skill also facilitates the acceptance of the differences between the different cultural groups and how to adapt to them. By used of body language, various items to communicate such as photographs and written information is a common practice in Amelie culture and my own culture (Vanderschelden, 2007). This also creates better grounds for understanding different behavioral norms that exist between different communities whose culture is different.

Conclusion

Intercultural communication plays a great role in how people communicate and how to understand different communities. This involves the development of communication skills that enable people to communicate effectively despite background difference. Amelie portrays her intercultural communication skills well. This shows that one can be able to communicate effectively with strangers and also people with disabilities. The film displays the cultural pattern of the French people who have different backgrounds and environments when growing up. The film shows the importance of developing interpersonal communication skills in order to facilitate human contact in an easier way for mutual benefits.

Reference

Jeunet Jean P (2001) Amelie. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211915/

Novinger, T. (2001). Intercultural communication: A practical guide. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Vanderschelden, I. (2007). Amélie: Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001). London: I.B. Tauris.

Sadri, H. A., & Flammia, M. (2011). Intercultural communication: A new approach to international relations and global challenges. New York: Continuum International Pub. Group Inc.

‘NO GREATER ODDS’ DOCUMENTARY

Staff and the faculty have a great contribution to the student’s lives at the colleges. The film has been equally shared in colleges, at conferences, community, and film festive as well. Community college students find themselves in a situation of financial difficulties, family issues, this happens whilst they are pursuing for better living through higher education (Vargas, 1). These are students who have passed through a lot in their lives and in one way or another success shines on their way. The five community college students by having the heart to share it have earned then the understanding that the only way better just by how the stories end up has the sole dependence on how the story began (Vargas, 1). Triumphs and struggles come with lessons and because of them, there would be no greater odds. Consequently, by the focusing on the mission of access and the conquest of colleges in communities of Southern Nevada have benefited a lot and they are sharing the same for the greater good. By sharing experiences, topical discussions and exploring strategies which would be used to overcome challenges.

Each of the stories is unique and we all know that the number of college enrollment is rising drastically. Do these new groups have the different story? Yes, they have. For the purpose of support and strength, they can be assured of that by the faculty and administration in their institution. This is a reminder to all of you that Community College is very vital especially in regards to higher education (Vargas, 1). They recently visited the White House showing the authorities how they can influence towards attaining affordable access to higher education. No Greater Odds looks at the highlights of what actually community colleges are and also there impacts to many millions of people across different countries.

Reference

            The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

            The last temptation of Christ was produced in 1988 and was directed by martin Scorsese. The film was written by Paul Schrader with credits from jay cocks and Scorsese from the adaptation of the controversial novel by Niko Kazantzakis with a similar title. The film’s characters include Andre Gregory, Hershey Barbara, Keitel Harvey, Dafoe will, Stanton harry and Bowie David.  The film was completely shot in morocco. Similarly to the novel the film represents the existence of Jesus Christ including the involved struggles that come from different temptations that he comes through like depression, reluctance, doubt as well as lust (Kazantzakis and Bien, 4).

            The film is fully accurate about the historical information because in its representation of events and individuals the information is accurate. The historical events are however followed loosely which are recorded in the movie because the events are occasionally altered because of dramatic aims.  For instance from the gospels individuals fully understands that Jesus was a carpenter prior to his beginning of the gospel ministry but this is altered by the film as it demonstrates him different (Clews, 30).  He designs and develops crosses for the Romans who are involved in killing Jews.  According to the scriptures, the baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his entire ministry while in the movie he begins his ministry after visiting the Baptist and the ministry is illustrated after the occurrence of several different events.  Turning water into wine is concurred as his first miracle by those who wrote the gospel while in the film several miracles are conducted prior to the turning miracle. The movie is thus not effective in following the existence of Christ as well as the events which took place in his life chronologically. This would have thus ensured that climatic execution is built by the dramatic events which would not have altered the events (Clews, 31).

            The film illustrates Jesus Christ as a revolutionary as well as a roman’s threat but fails in making the hazard more obvious. The conflict that is illustrated in the movie is confusing because it strays from the historical records of the general life of Christ (Ebert, 222).  The movie assumes that Jesus was fully human who was focused on the earthly pleasures which differ from the offering of the gospel. In the film, the religious leaders were feeling threatened because Christ was involved in opposing many religious laws as well as traditions as he replaced them with fresh ones as well as developing fresh thoughts. None of the instances is recorded in the scripture where Christ was involved in opposing the laws harshly made by the scribes and the Pharisees.  The movie additionally fails in making the death of Christ as a climax event. This is because his hallucination which can also be termed as the last temptation is the climax of the film while he was on the cross. Although the movie was purposed to make individuals generate their own opinions it fails in following the gospel that generating negative opinions from individuals who think that it was blasphemous.  The last temptation is a hallucination about coming down from the cross a living a normal life as a man (Ebert, 223).

            Moreover, the movie fails in giving equal focus on the dual nature of Christ as his human nature seems to overpower his godly one (Conard, 8). Schrader the screenwriter of the film and Scorsese purposed the production to think through the definition of the dual nature of Christ as well as passion. However, their aim becomes more sincere as they affirm faith via the humanism of the film which Christ depicts.  Although the film failed in retelling the entire life of Christ accurately through events it was thus effective in illustrating the real life of Christ.  The movie can thus not be claimed as an offensive scene because it provides a string representation of Christ’s dual existence (Leonard, Bill, and Jill, 443).

            In conclusion, from the movie, it is clear that the film producers made the choice of making the movie a bit different from the gospel in terms of events occurrence for the purpose of expounding the humanness of Christ. Although from the gospel and from the movie Jesus was a full god a full human the movie has focused more on his human side. This is to illustrate the suffering that one must go through in lie.  This is based on exploring the nature of human while still on earth. It was not therefore based on exposing his godly side because without the experience of being a god it is difficult for individuals to understand fully.  The divine qualities have been given more focus on the previous movies which pressured the producers to design it differently in order to expose the human qualities. The film can be described as a challenging movie which illustrates the life of Jesus on the side that is often overlooked.  This helps in evaluating the general perceptions of individuals in regard to Christ.  This additionally helps in challenging the views of people in reference to the world. The film offers an authoritative and an idea-provoking look at a figure of history that transforms the way individuals live and think as well.

            Work cited

            Leonard, Bill, and Jill Y. Crainshaw. Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in the United States. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print.

            Conard, Mark T. The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2007. Internet resource.

            Ebert, Roger. The Great Movies Iii. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Internet resource.

            Kazantzakis Nikos and Bien Peter. The Last Temptation of Christ. Simon and Schuster. 1998. Copyright.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095497/

Clews, Benj. Four Word Film Reviews. Cincinnati: F+W Media, 2010. Internet resource.

            Film Comparison Project

            A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a narrative of an African American family that lived in Chicago in the 1950’s. The family sought of moving into the neighborhood of the middle class individuals even after hearing that one of the neighbors is not ready to welcome them.  The family utilized a portion of the insurance check in paying for the house down payment where the remaining funds were handed to the son to make an investment.  The son later lost all the money and despite this fact the family is still ready to move into the neighborhood. A Raisin in the Sun explores the main theme that is the family struggles that a family has to overcome in order to improve their lives.  The book explores that in order for the family to improve the lives of every individual they have to struggle through the challenges that are subjected from others to them in denying them the general human rights (Lorraine, 1994).

            The film raisin in the sun mainly about dreams as the film presents the characters to be struggling in dealing with the oppression situations which drive their lives.  The individuals struggle in achieving their dreams as every member of the family holds a distinct dream.  Through the oppression that the characters face they put off their dreams in order to survive.  The main theme value and aim of dreams in that family is the most important thing and therefore the biggest dream among the entire individual is building a house that keeps them together despite the challenges that they encounter in life. Family is very crucial and a home makes the family dream more effective (Elina, 2015).

            The major similarity that exist between the film the raising in the sun and the book "A raisin in the sun" by Lorraine Hansberry is that they both demonstrates the  value and objectives of dreams.  Both plays are effective in demonstrating that in order to achieve dreams individuals have to go through challenges and oppression that may make them put off the dreams that they held dear. In both plays individuals struggle in attaining their individual dreams and in the process they lose most of their happiness thus obtaining depression. This is because of the encountered failures in trying to achieve their dreams (Lorraine, 1994). 

            Similarly in both plays the characters are able to realize that although their dreams are important the family dream of building a house in order to maintain their unity is the most essential.  Family helps in strengthening the power of every individual in attaining that what they wish to do.  In play by Hansberry the family son puts off his dream after losing all his investment money and decides to settle for the family dream of moving into a house and stay united.  The importance of family is emphasized in both plays as the characters struggle economically and socially throughout the whole play but they are united by the dream of buying a house (Lorraine, 1994). In both plays the mothers are seen trying to emphasize on the importance of staying together as a family to their children who are held up in the paths of trying to achieve their dreams.   It is thus clear that from both plays that every family individual is a strong person but a family makes people stronger and lessens the hardships that are involved in trying to achieve dreams as it operates as a team.

            Both plays emphasizes about a home being a centrality. The home is illustrated as a force that is galvanizing for the general family as mama sees it as essential in providing unity for the family. However the two plays differs in the manner in which the characters are involved in lives struggles in trying to make their lives better.  In The Raisin Sun by Hansberry the family is faced with oppression from individuals who denies them the basic rights of human (Lorraine, 1994).  This is therefore a great challenge that hinders the family dream from coming true.  On the other hand the film portrays the family to be facing the challenges of individuals holding different dreams that draws a way their happiness because of the failures that they encounter. The play therefore hold that family unity helps in achieving the dreams better as family acts as a source of power that helps in moving forward. This is therefore important in increasing the understanding of the reader. 

            In that although achieving individual dreams may seem as an essential thing without the happiness of the family the struggles are more. From comparing the two pieces an individual is able to understand the importance of a family.  An individual is additionally able to analyze the value of dreams as well as the general objectives of the dreams which are to make life better.  Both plays illustrate clearly the importance of happiness that is mostly stolen away by the life struggles and oppressions which may hinder the capabilities of individuals.  From the play title it is clear that although dreams are put off due to the hardships the family dream will rise in the sun.

            References

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print.

Paige Elina. A Raisin in the Sun 1961. 2015. Retrieved from            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1AUi-d0maA