Collegebound

The Graduates is a film that tells the story of Latin American students and some of the struggles that they go through. The editing of the film is very well done. The visuals of the film work well with the story and structure of the film. The visuals do not needlessly illustrate what the voice-overs are stating. The editor of the film revealed that the necessary amount of footage required to make a documentary is about 400 hours of film. It is the editor’s job to find a story within these 400 hours of the students living their daily lives. Sometimes this process is eased by the director giving the editor the best 20 hours of the original 400 hours of film. The problem with this is that it is the best 20 hours of film according to the director. It is possible that the director may have cut out very relevant or powerful scenes.

The struggles that the students undergo range from typical teenage problems to gang violence. Examples of such typical teenage problems are fitting in and teen pregnancy. Although Latin-American students must deal with these situation more often than their Caucasian counterparts, the film should not have only focused on Hispanics. It brings up the idea that Hispanics are less than human. The film is similar to a zoo because the students are followed and studied similarly like animals are studied and followed around at the zoo. If the film focused on various ethnic students including Caucasians, it would send out the idea of equality. Students of different social and financial status could go through similar teenage problems, but this gets left out in the film because it focuses solely on Hispanics.

Aside from the film’s choice to focus on Hispanics, it does accurately illustrate the problems that plague most minorities students today not only Hispanics.

The Multiverse

People have always questioned whether or not there is more than one reality in existence. David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive presents this idea by illustrating two different realities but using the same actresses to play different characters in each reality. In the first reality, Betty and Rita randomly meet because Rita sneaks into Betty’s aunt’s house. Betty then decides to help Rita figure out her past and identity. Although they make some progress uncovering Rita’s past, they do not succeed in uncovering the whole truth The failure to find Rita’s identity is one of the things that connects the two realities.

In the second reality, Rita and Betty are both actresses. Although the actresses are the same ones who played Betty and Rita, they are now named Diane and Camilla in this reality. Camilla seems to be a huge success as an actresses, but Diane appears to be a complete failure. Diane is also in love with Camilla, but Camilla does not love her back. Their relationship connects the two realities because Betty/Diane loves Rita/Camilla in both realities. The presence of their relationship in both realities brings up the idea of fate because they are somehow connected across separate realities. However, the two drastically different realities concerning their relationship indicates the idea of choice. Betty has a good friendship with Rita, but Diane has a terrible relationship with Camilla. One reason that explains the differences between the two realities is the freedom of choice. Diane gets trapped by her love for Camilla and it eventually leads to her suicide. Meanwhile Betty embraces her love for Rita and develops a meaningful and positive friendship with her. Diane chooses to keep going after Camilla even though it is leading her down a destructive path. Betty chooses to help Rita without knowing who she is or what kind of problems she can bring into her life. Betty makes selfish kind choices whereas Diane makes selfish evil choices. The second reason why the realities differ so much is due to the issue of identity. In the first reality Rita does not know who she is and is completely dependent on Betty. In the alternate reality, Diane loses herself in her love and worship of Camilla. Since Diane does not know who she is, she ends up being miserable. Her entire life including her relationship with Camilla is destroyed because she does not know how to be on her own or her own person. Although Rita and Diane have no sense of identity, they experience the harsher fates in their respectively realities.

Tarantino’s a Series of Violent Events

Violence is a major component of the Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Each of the main character has some experience with violence. Butch’s family seems to be cursed with violence because every man for the past three generations has fought in a major war. Butch is the first one who has not had to fight in a war, but he still enters into an occupation which prospers from violence, boxing. Throughout the course of the film Butch is trying to escape the cycle of violence that has plagued is family. However, to escape this viscous cycle Butch must fight fire with fire. It is because that he is using violence for the right reasons that he is able to succeed in the end and escape. Tarantino illustrates that Butch will succeed in his quest through the mise-en-scène of the shot when Butch is leaving the apartment complex. Butch is leaving the confines of his old life symbolized by the gate and enters into a new life.

Similar to Butch, Jules decides that he no longer wants to be a violent man anymore after witnessing the miracle. Not only does Jules quit his job as a hit man, he also spares the life of the robbers. Due to him taking the miracle as a warning and changing his ways, he is allowed to live past the events of the film.

Vincent on the other hand is a different story. Although he witnesses the miracle same as Jules, he does not consider it a miracle. He repeatedly states that it was a freak occurrence and refuses to heed it as a warning. Vincent decides to continue his life as a hit man and by the end of the film is killed by Butch. Tarantino adds in a small comedic element in the scene depicting Vincent’s death. As Vincent is waiting to be killed by Butch, there is a quick shot of the pop-tarts coming out of the toaster right before Vincent is killed. Vincent is toast just like the pop-tarts are toasted.

The Shining Syndrome

Stanley Kubrick uses the characters from The Shining to illustrate several different points. Focusing on Jack, Kubrick shows the audience the importance of love, selflessness, and forgiveness. Jack claims to love his family and states how much he loves Danny, but his actions speak differently. Even before getting to the hotel, Jack has already injured Danny in the past. He claims that it was just an accident, but he still dwells on the incident. This is partly due to his wife because she has not let him forget about what he did to Danny. Not only does his wife not forgive him, Jack does not seem to have fully forgiven himself. This is revealed to the audience when Jack is talking to the ghost bartender. As he explains the events of the past to the bartender, he is trying to make an excuse for what he did to Danny and relates it as an accident. Regardless of whether or not it was an accident, Jack’s emphasis on the fact that it was an accident indicates that he is ashamed of himself for hurting his son. Jack’s inability to forgive himself stems from his selfish nature. This is made apparent to the audience by the disconnect between Jack and his son. Whenever Jack and Danny are filmed having a conversation, the dialogue sounds so dry and lacks the expected affection a father and son should have for each other. Jacks’ selfish nature is evident in his unwillingness to take his son to the hospital and his focus on himself and his “responsibilities” to the company. By this point in the story Jack has been completely overtaken by the demonic presence of the hotel. However, Jack is able to be possessed due to his lack of love, forgiveness, and selflessness towards himself and his family.

 

Family Matters

Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather excels in all of the components of film. However, the character of Vito is very interesting.

The first time that the audience gets to see Vito is after a slow zoom out of a man asking Vito for help. However, Vito’s back is towards the camera. This informs the audience of Vito’s power and importance. Although Vito is not the focus of the shot, he is still in it. This occurs many times throughout the film while Vito is having conversations with people. Even though Vito is not speaking at these times, his mere presence is important enough that it must be represented.

As the film progresses Vito’s character is slowly revealed to the audience. This is usually achieved through dialogue coming from Vito himself to another character. The audience witnesses one of these scenes in the beginning of the film as well. When Robert is begging Vito for help with his acting career, Vito speaks plainly with him and asks him if he visits his family. This shows how much Vito values family. Another scene which reveals a piece to the Vito Corleone puzzle is the time he is speaking with Michael in the yard. Michael has gone to see Vito to check up on him and for advice. During their conversation, Vito tells Michael that men cannot be careless. Vito says this because they are speaking about Fredo, Michael’s older brother, and his lack of maturity. Vito also explains to Michael that he never wanted Michael to end up in the family business. Although Vito never wanted Michael to be in the family business, he tells Michael that he does not regret what he did. He equates getting a regular job to being a puppet and informs Michael that he was supposed to be a puppet master instead of a gangster.

Vito is unquestionably dangerous but by the end of the film Coppola has managed to show the audience that Vito is also honorably and very caring of his family. He isn’t perfect, he is just human just like we all are.

Crazy Good

The opening credits to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho are very interesting and informative about what the audience should expect in the film. Many of the credits are off centered and the music is very unsettling. The fact that the credits were off centered indicates that we are going to be dealing with someone mentally unstable, Norman Bates. The eerie music indicates that something tragic is going to happen, this being the death of Nancy.

The sequence involving Nancy’s flee makes very good use of metaphorical props. The metaphorical props specific to the car lot scene are the two men. Not only are they impeding her exodus, they are part of the gender that has held her and all women back at this time. During this sequence, Hitchcock creatively uses the voiceover to inform the audience what is occurring in Nancy’s world that Nancy is not present for. The use of the close-up shots of Nancy as she is driving demonstrates that Nancy is trapped and doomed since she began her flight. The other indicator of Nancy’s fate is the eerie music that has been continually playing throughout the entire film. No matter how good things may appear to be the music is always the same. This could possibly serve as a warning to the audience that no matter how good things may seem to be, you must always be ready for the worst because life is unpredictable. While on the topic of Nancy’s fate, it is interesting that she was murdered in her attempt to flee. Had she just been caught by the police, she would have just been sent to jail. Instead she receives a much worst punishment. This is possibly because it was not just a robbery but it was also a breach of trust with her job and boss. After having worked there for 10 years as her boss indicates in one of the voiceovers, she decides to steal from the company. Also she could have just been killed by a psycho because he was a psycho and not because she actually deserved to die.

The Sum of its Parts

The scene beginning with this shot is very well done due to the expert work of Fritz Arno Wagner and Fritz Lang.

 

The cinematography and props throughout this scene really improve the viewer’s experience. When Hans is watching the little girl through the window, it is very disturbing to see his reaction. After he regains his composure, we are presented with a shot showing only the left half of Hans’s body. The other half of his body is made visible to us through the window of the shop which acts as a mirror. Seeing the image of Hans and his reflection presented in this way suggests several aspects about his character to the viewer. The first obvious piece of information is Hans’s fractured psyche. This is depicted by the simultaneous shooting of Hans and his reflection. The second piece of information is that Hans has always been crazy because it is part of who he is. This is represented by the two halves of Hans. One half is real and seems normal. However, the other half is insane and evil. This evilness is revealed to us by the darkness of Hans’s reflection. It is much harder to make out details in his reflection than in the actual image of Hans.

As the little girl is walking, she passes a store displaying a hypnotizer wheel. Its presence is comical because it is warning the audience that we are about to get tricked. This trick occurs when we hear the eerie music as she turns the corner. We begin to get a sinking feeling in our stomachs because we are anticipating her kidnapping and know that we are powerless to prevent it. Finally we see the girl get grabbed by someone. To our relief, that someone is her mother and not Hans. At this point we realize that we have been tricked into expecting the worst due to the simple introduction of eerie music. Then we appreciate comical presence of the hypnotizer wheel.

Post-Modern Times

Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times although funny at times does make some very accurate criticisms about life during that time. The life of a factory worker was not one of ease. Workers could not falter on the task at hand. If one person messed up, it caused people performing succeeding jobs to be backlogged as well. They also had to deal with very dangerous working conditions as seen in the scene when Charlie gets sucked into the machinery. Although it was presented in a comical way, it reminds us that workers had to always be mindful of the machines that they were using or working on.

Besides these day to day hazards, workers also had to be physically and mentally tough to withstand the monotony of factory work. Chaplin comically presented this by pretending he was still on the assembly line even though he was already on break. This funny little dance brings to mind the harmful ailments which occur over time due to monotonous factory work such as exposure to toxic chemicals or carpal tunnel. Aside from these physical ailments, workers could also suffer from mental breakdowns. As seen in the film once a worker had one of these breakdowns, they were no longer of any use to the company. They were just fired and cast aside as just another broken machine.

Despite being made years prior to the present Modern Times offers criticisms about life which still ring true to this day namely the unpredictability of life. For example, when Charlie tried to do a good deed and return the flag to the truck, he ended up getting arrested for leading a protest. Although life takes unexpected turns at times, we just need to keep trying our best. Eventually things will work out for us as they did for Charlie.

Dreaming

In a dream, everything is wonderful and happens according to the desires of the dreamer. Dreams can give people hope and an ideal to strive towards. The negative side to dreams is people may become emotionally crippled if their dreams are not perfectly realized. David Lynch’s Blue Velvet illustrates the death of the American Dream and the destructive nature of dreams with the characters Jeffery and Sandy.

The main character, Jeffery Beaumont, is a college boy who gets called back home after his father fell ill. Since he is his father’s only son, he must take care of the family business while his father is incapacitated. Now that Jeffery is no longer at college, he cannot finish his education. This ruins his chances of upward mobility in society, thus killing his chance at attaining the American Dream.

The importance and power of dreams is conveyed through the repetition of the song “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison. The emotionally crippling and destructive power of dreams is most noticeably with Sandy. After her first official date with Jeffery, she finds Dorothy completely naked in front of Jeffery’s house. Once it is confirmed that Jeffery has been intimately involved with Dorothy, Sandy starts crying and breaking down. The climax of her breakdown occurs when she slaps Jeffery for hiding his relationship with Dorothy. After the conclusion of a phone call conversation Sandy has with Jeffery, she states that “[t]his is not [her] dream” repeatedly. Since her relationship with Jeffery did not turn out exactly the way she dreamed it would, she is paralyzed with pain. She continually cries until she eventually gets pass the un-fulfillment of her dream. Sandy’s reaction illustrates how much pain an unrealized dream can cause.

Although dreams can inspire people and give them hope, they can also paralyze people with pain and cause them to lose themselves. The degree of damage done by an unrealized dream depends on how much a person believes in the dream. Since Sandy has been in relationships prior to Jeffery, she has learned to handle the disappointment of an imperfect relationship. By not believing in it wholeheartedly, she is able to move on and deal with life. Lynch warns his audience to be careful how much they believe in a dream because it might be the death of them.

Man and Machine

Technology has completely changed the way people live. Instead of waiting for weeks or months at a time to receive a letter from someone, people can call each other no matter how far away they are from each other. Years ago this would have just been science fiction, but now it is just an everyday occurrence just like waking up. Man’s relationship with technology is one of the most important issues in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Although technology has improved people’s lives, they have become too dependent on it as seen in Blade Runner.

The film’s protagonist, Deckard, is an ex Blade Runner who is forced into service again. A Blade Runner’s job is to hunt down fugitive replicants on Earth. The only way to determine if someone is a replicant or fully human is to conduct a certain test. This test asks a series of questions that are meant to trigger an emotional response. However, to perform the test Blade Runners need a specific machine. This machine focuses on the eye of the subject and notices any slight changes during the course of the questioning. The irony in this test is that Deckard is using a machine to figure out if the person he is questioning is a machine as well. Throughout the course of the movie, Deckard has multiple confrontations with replicants. The only reason he survives these encounters is because of the gun that he is carrying on him. Without this machine, he would have surely died. However, during his confrontation with Roy, Deckard is not saved by his pistol. Roy is the one that catches him as he begins to fall from the top of a building. Yet again, Deckard has been saved by a machine. Except this time it is the very same machine he was trying to destroy.

Besides Deckard, there are other characters who illustrate this dependency on technology. The people that dance with the snakes use artificial snakes in order to complete their job. This is the only way that they can make a living, and it shows how important technology has become in this futuristic world.  It seems like there is no way for people to live in this world without technology affecting them in some way.