6070's Blurty
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Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in
6070's Blurty:
| Thursday, May 31st, 2007 | | 9:52 pm |
CLASS EVALUATION
For those of you who are not going to be in class on thursday or feel you just need to get something off your chest immediately, please post a response to the following ANONYMOUSLY!
Looking back over the term, what are your overall thoughts towards this class? What did you feel you got out of this class (if anything at all)? What did you like best about it? What did you like least? Did you like the film selections? Suggestions?
What else do you think Mr. Leibner needs to know? | | Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 | | 3:21 pm |
The Final Exam
You are to compare two films we have watched this semester with each other. You may analyze a character or a theme or an idea that the two films share which is worthy of further elaboration.
Afterwards, you are to explain what makes these films different from films today and how it would be presented in a film of 2007. What made these films "unique" or "special" to the era which created them.
This is a THREE PAGE 750 word essay. Typed, double spaced and proofread!!!
Due Friday or in my mailbox Tuesday, June 5. | | 3:19 pm |
THE EXORCIST (1973)
Such a powerful film that still has impact today. We started with "The Sadist" and finished with "The Exorcist".
What gives the film its strength? What makes it different from other horror films you've seen? What makes it different even from horror films today? How does the filmmakers make the film "realistic"?
You might describe what images and sounds create the effects of the film. | | Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 | | 10:10 pm |
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1976)
Authority Vs. Individualism.
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is more than the story of one Inmate against a Nurse. It is about what it means to be "free". Randle P. MacMurphy, a free-spirited con with lightning in his veins and glib on his tongue, fakes insanity and moves in with what he calls the "nuts." Immediately, his contagious sense of disorder runs up against numbing routine. MacMurphy takes it upon himself to "liven things up." He has no idea the dangerous game he is becoming involved with.
What does it mean to be "crazy"? What does it mean to be "sane"? Mac is the rebellious inmate of a psychiatric hospital who fights back against the authorities' cold attitudes of institutional superiority, as personified by Nurse Ratched. It's the classic antiestablishment tale of one man asserting his individuality in the face of a repressive, conformist system--and it works on every level. Unlike a lot of films pitched at the "youth culture" of the 1970s, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest really hasn't dated a bit, because the qualities of human nature that Forman captures--playfulness, courage, inspiration, pride, stubbornness--are universal and timeless.
What scenes stood out in your mind? What characters? How did the film make you feel? What were the bigger metaphors of the film? Who wins at the end? Which "system" is victorious? Why? | | Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 | | 2:57 pm |
TAXI DRIVER (1976) TAXI DRIVER comes at a time in America when it was unsure of its direction. The Vietnam War had just ended disasterously with the country losing its first war in its history. A short while before, President Richard Nixon was forced to resign the Presidency of the United States over the Watergate scandal where he lied to America about his involvement. People were feeling let down by the institutions of the country and didn't know who or what to trust. The upheaval of the 1960s had given way to even more uncertainty about where the country would end up. Things that people used to put their faith in were no longer as solid as Americans once hoped. New York City cab driver and Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle constantly, almost obsessively, reflects on the ugly corruption of life around him, and becomes increasingly disturbed over his own loneliness and alienation. He hates what he sees: "Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets." In nearly every phase of his life, Bickle remains a complete outsider, failing to make emotional contact with anyone. Unable to sleep night after night, Travis haunts the local pornography emporiums to find diversion, and begins desperately thinking about an escape from his depressing existence. Only two people are allowed to touch Travis's life. One is a young woman named Betsy, a Presidential Candidate's campaign worker, who he attempts to romance. This turns horribly sour when he takes her to a porn movie on their first date. The other person is a 12-year-old prostitute named Iris who he wishes to get off the streets. His inability to connect to others drives him to the brink of madness. Why does he attempt to kill the Presidential Candidate who is promising to make the country better? That failure causes Travis to go after her pimp in one of the bloodiest film finales ever seen up to that point. The film is narrated by Travis, clearly a parnoid, delusional, borderline psychotic. He is as "unreliable" a narrator as possible and we are forced to live in his head and see the world through his eyes. In the '70s, many films featured characters you wouldn't think of Tom Cruise sort of heroes who are obviously who you are supposed to root for. Given the fact that Travis is so clearly quite disturbed, you may want to reflect on the incredible irony of the film's ending. What was the point for the film's director, Martin Scorsese to end it with Travis appearing as the hero? TAXI DRIVER is studied by many film students for its realism, its unflinching look at life's dark underbelly, its grim dramatization of modern American loneliness and ambiguity. You may want to go to a site where all the stars talk about the experience of making this film. GO to Video section http://www.amctv.com/article?CID=2278-1--0-3-EST | | Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 | | 12:58 am |
CHINATOWN (1974)
This "detective movie" is more than a detective movie.
It attempted to be a bigger film about American society. In 1974, Americans watched the first president of the United States resign because he was caught lying and would have been impeached. They also learned that the military had consistently lied to them about the Vietnam war.
Stories about America's past also came out and it looked like our history wasn't nearly as perfect and as glorious as people were taught in school.
In Chinatown, a private eye named Jake Gittes comes face to face with the corruption that built not only Los Angeles, but America as well. It is all about money and power. Who has it. Who stays in control. Who can buy "the future" as Noah Cross puts it.
The most famous scene in the film is the revelation of "My sister!/my daughter!" The incest is the nasty rape of decency and the "innocent" child is the one thing Noah Cross and his daughter battle to the death over. You can discuss the metaphor of this if you want. What sequences stood out for you and why? What feeling did this film leave you at the end? | | Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 | | 12:51 am |
CABARET (1972) And as for me, I made up my mind back in Chelsea, When I go, I'm going like Elsie. Start by admitting From cradle to tomb It isn't that long a stay. Life is a Cabaret, old chum, Only a Cabaret, old chum, And I love a Cabaret! This musical is very different from the musicals of yesteryear like OKLAHOMA, or SINGING IN THE RAIN or WEST SIDE STORY. Cabaret seemed naughty and decadent and definitely R-Rated. The Kit Kat Club in Berlin starting in 1931, is the setting of the story. American show girl Sally Boles has big dreams of becoming a movie star and seeks out men who might be able to help her. She has no compuction at all of sleeping with anyone. Brian is a British scholar who seeks to make his own way in Germany. He knows he is gay but nonetheless starts an ambiguous relationship with Sally whom he has fallen in love with. The backdrop of the story and perhaps the most important are the twin elements of the musical numbers at the Kit Kat Club hosted by a very menacing appearing M.C. Also, we see the rise of the Nazi party in the background--always the background, but their ascension does affect what happens in the story. America was a very confused country in 1972. The Vietnam War still raged. Protests continued. Richard Nixon will win a second term in office. There seemed to be no light out at the end of the tunnel. America seemed to be under assault and the "bad guys" were winning. What struck you about this film? What scenes stuck out in your mind? Why? p.s. Here are the lyrics to the song "Cabaret". Great words... http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/cabaret/cabaret.htm | | Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 | | 3:33 pm |
PINK FLAMINGOS (1972)
This film is very famous. Well, infamous.
It is one of the most notable "independent" films ever made. It was made so far outside the Hollywood system. John Waters, from Baltimore, lived with the characters you see in the film. They were not normal people and Hollywood would never put any of them in a film. Waters "democraticizes" the film process by showing these extremely, and pointedly, "unglamorous" stars.
The script, well, it purposely tries to disgust you. It purposely challenges your assumptions of what can be shown in a film. It purposely wants to provoke you into feeling. The film is a comedy, but it does bring up some serious issues about art. Waters believes art's primary function is to shock and disturb and make you feel new things. How does PINK FLAMINGOS do that?
In the early '70s, not just politics were being challenged but even how people look at the world and the images that Hollywood itself fed to the public. Who were we as a people? Were we really as disgusting and horrible as the people in the film? Or are these people a dark, twisted notion of what is a family and our individual sexual fantasies? Or our collective national "id" put on trial or made a mockery of?
Divine became world famous because of this role and John Waters launched an extremely successful, irony of ironies, Hollywood career as a director. | | Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 | | 7:48 am |
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
This is more than just a futuristic gang film.
Stanley Kubrick is making a social satire about human behavior. The film's bigger idea is how important choice is to what it means to be human. If you take away human choice (even if it means the choice to be bad and do horrible things), do you take away what it means to be human? When the movie first came out now 36years ago, it was extremely controversial because of the sex and violence and sarcasm displayed throughout. Many people LOVE this movie. Many people HATE it.
What scenes and sequences stand out? How did director Stanley Kubrick use the camera and photography to what purpose? What about the use of color? What about how music plays off the images you see in the film? You can explore how Kubrick uses images of sex and violence in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE to tell this story. Consider how the tone of the film, Alex's narration and how the story resolves itself. | | Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 | | 3:32 pm |
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971)
This movie from 1971 looks at America that no longer existed. The story is set in the tiny, dying town of Anarene, Texas, where the main-street movie house is about to close for good, and where a pair of high-school football players are coming of age and struggling to define their uncertain futures. There's little to do in Anarene, and while Sonny engages in a passionless fling with his football coach's wife, his best friend Duane enlists for service in the Korean War. Both boys fall for a manipulative high-school beauty Jacy, who's well aware of her sexual allure. But it's not so much what happens in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW as how it happens--the film so effectively capture the melancholy mood of a ghost town in the making. As Hank Williams sings on the film's evocative soundtrack and the film's moody black and white photography appears like a sad but unforgettably precious moment out of time.
The film follows the lives of both the kids and the adults. There's a reason that the movie focuses on the adults in the town, as well: Jacy's mom, coach Popper's wife, Sam the Lion - these people used to be Sonny, Duane, and Jacy at one time, and their hopes and dreams were put on hold just to live comfortably and safely in Anarene.
What did you think of the movie? Did the movie seem honest to you? Were you shocked by what you saw in a black and white movie? How honest was the film about love and sex? What were your thoughts about the film and how did the world of the adults contrast with that of the kids. What do the adults know that the kids do not? What does the future hold for the kids? What happened to the America of the John Wayne movies? | | Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 | | 5:39 pm |
THE PLANET OF THE APES (1968 -- The Damn Original!!!)
Many people believe the year 1968 was the most volatile year in American history. Student protest over Vietnam began to reach its zenith. People were beginning to question the authority of the government in ways they had never done so before. Peopole began to believe that the US government was actually lying to its population.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated within two months of each other. The Black Panthers were formed believing that there was no peaceful way whites in society were going to give up their power and offer blacks and other minorities justice. Other problems like pollution, the population explosion, the continued Cold War with the Soviets had people seriously believing that the human race was on the edge of destruction.
This film acts as a wonderful metaphor. Choose some aspect of the film and discuss how culture relates to it. Analyze DEEPLY how the very idea of culture is portrayed in this film and how it affects our psychology. What "truths" are revealed about "human" nature? Explore all the parallels you see in this film to our lives and psychology. | | Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 | | 8:17 pm |
THE GRADUATE (1967) In 1967, the country was about to teeter on the brink of a revolution. Having survived the JFK assassination, the slide into the Vietnam War began to divide the country. Many began to wonder if the war was worth it. Students on college campuses began to organize and protest. The very meaning of America started to be questioned. Youth began to have their own culture. Rock 'n Roll became the dominant music and form of expression. Old Values were beginning to be questioned. Drugs and sex became more prevelant in the world of young people. A conflict between the parents who lived through World War II and their children begins to manifest itself. THE GRADUATE was extraordinarily influential when it came out. It revolutionized how many people looked at an American drama and redefined what a love story could be. There are many things interesting about the film. The opening song is "The Sounds of Silence" with lyrics that would never have been in a movie made a decade before. What else makes this film so different from the other films you've seen so far? How does the confusion of the 1960s reveal itself in what you are seeing on the screen in the guise of the characters Benjamin, Elaine and Mrs. Robinson? This film also is unique in how it looks. Its cinematic style is also revolutionary. The camera is almost a character as well in The Graduate expressing Benjamin's outlook on life in WHAT we see through its lens. Please comment on its use of photography, sound, editing or even the story itself. What came to mind when you saw these things and WHY did the filmmaker choose to include them? In other words, what was the effect on the viewer about HOW this film was put together? How does the style of the film echo the themes of alienation. Oh yeah...if you want, you can check out the screenplay to THE GRADUATE on-line! Would-be screenwriters study this script and it is immitated often! http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/8200/graduate.txt | | Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 | | 12:35 am |
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964)
This film came out right at the start of the phenomenon called Beatlemania. There has never been a musical explosion like it. It was not just the Beatles. There were other bands in the British Invasion as well, the Beatles being the most famous, but they brought over a powerful youth culture which will affect the rest of the decade.
This is the beginning of the "generation gap." The parents of these kids fought in World War II. They built the modern world. They seemed to want to give their kids things they didn't have. They bought into the American Dream and often looked at things without questioning why. This is all going to change with the turbulence of the 1960s. No one had ever seen "kids" like this before. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT captures the world and youth at their most exuberant and most innocent. The Beatles are playful and all those screaming girls seem quaint and cute.
Kids would suddenly grow up very fast. Revolution and fighting in the streets are only a few years away. What are the things you notice about the era through watching this film? | | Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 | | 8:28 pm |
THE SADIST (1963)
Previous horror films were all about monsters...Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolves, Creatures from the Black Lagoon or alien invaders from Mars. Here, the monster is the "normal" guy next door. He is the psychopath that can take your life when you are going to do something as ordinary as go to a baseball game. Your life can end that quickly.
THE SADIST was a classic B drive-in movie made at a time right before the Kennedy assassination. It reflects a world where nothing makes much sense anymore. This movie was too intense to be played in general theaters and is not well known even today. It is more an anthropoligical relic of 1963 that reflects the uncertainty and amiguity of the era.
A trio of mild-mannered school teachers (two men and one woman) are driving to LA to see a baseball match. On their way there are problems with the engine, and they end up on a deserted gas station in the middle of nowhere. While they are fixing the car, they get the suspicion that something not is like it is supposed to be. The suspicion is well grounded. Before they now it, they are taken hostage by giggling thrill-killer Charlie Tibbs and his silent gal Judy. Charley is on the run for the homicide on a whole family and some other hostages, and now want the car so he and Judy can escape. Almost the whole movie take place at the gas station, where Charlie torment, humiliate, torture and kill the teachers while waiting for them fixing the vehicle. The "soda bottle" scene is a classic in suspense.
Charley's baby face and dorky behavior make the ideal picture of a juvenile delinquent psycho, supposedly based on real life killer Charlie Starkweather. This is the start of all sorts of films about psychopathic humans who prey on their victims whether it is THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, SAW or HOSTEL. No one had seen anything quite like this film before. This is an intense, nasty and surprising thriller.
What were your thoughts on this film? How does this film compare to modern day thriller films you've seen? What about this film seemed particularly "old-fashioned"? What seemed modern? What was done in a unique and different way? | | Friday, March 2nd, 2007 | | 10:25 pm |
WELCOME TO HUMANITES 17 On-line Site
Welcome!
To understand history, look at the art humans have created in their era. Hopefully you'll enjoy most of these films and learn not only about the "art" of filmmaking but also examine the psychology of the 1960's and '70s. History and film working in tandem--each mirrors of the other.
Each student must Post a Comment on EVERY film we view! This is required! You can't just write some dumbass loser one paragraph non-specific comment. YOU WILL GET VIRTUALLY NO CREDIT FOR THIS. Instead, you MUST write at least TWO to THREE PARAGRAPHS addressing any of the questions posed...OR comment on some interesting observation you yourself have come up with.
HOW TO POST A COMMENT ON-LINE:
You must type your name at the bottom or your posting or put it in the SUBJECT heading. Mark off the "Anonymous" box to submit. Don't worry so much about spelling or grammar. Worry about the QUALITY of your ideas and remarks. You MUST write at least TWO to THREE thoughtful paragraphs per film! No short response lacking in thought and insight allowed. You can also COMMENT on someone else's posting (this counts too).
With each film, you will get "smarter" about how to "watch" movies. It truly is an art form which you will soon see. The major things you are looking for are STORY (What is happening), TONE (How it's said...the film's "attitude"), and the big overall question: HOW DOES THIS PARTICULAR FILM CREATE IT'S OWN REALITY THAT REFLECTS THE YEAR THE MOVIE WAS MADE. You will play societal and historical anthropologist as you analyze why this movie came out when it did.
Remember, be unique in your observations. Not everyone will see the same thing. Whatever you write needs to be THOUGHTFUL, INTERESTING and WORTH OUR ATTENTION. |
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