Sugarcane Alley

I liked Persepolis a lot more than I liked Sugarcane Alley. I think the reason I liked it more was because Persepolis was in English rather than reading throughout the entire movie. I could also relate to Persepolis a lot more because I am a teenage girl. I remember going through puberty and it felt like I had changed overnight. I thought Marji’s story was a lot more interesting and relatable to. It gave me a good idea of what it would be like to live in Iran during that time period. Joes’ story was a little bit drug out and boring. Although I feel for him and overall the message is interesting I feel that they could have wrapped up the overall message of the story quicker. His story does inspire people to change old traditions and make a new path for themselves. Getting his education was one of the most important things in his life and nothing was going to stop him from getting it. He is more inspiring than Marji because she is portrayed as a college girl experiencing new things.

In our class discussion we asked each other that if we were to watch a movie from a different perspective if we would have felt differently about the situation. I would say yes. Every person has a different story and viewing the different perspectives the audience would grow towards the main character in most situations. This could be true for Sugarcane Alley as well. Maybe if we saw the story from a little white boy’s perspective about how he wants to help Jose then we would probably side with the little white boy.  As human’s most of go to what is morally right in any story, therefore we judge one side and pick the side that seems the most “right” to us.

Man on Wire

I thought Man on Wire was a very interesting movie. Although I like it, I feel like they drug it out to be too long. I think they should have told about his previous events very briefly, and then gotten to the point of the twin towers. He is a very animated character; I think his accent helps his character. Just by listening to him talk about it we can tell how passionate he is over this subject. It is insane that the friends that helped him create this magnificent even are not even on talking terms now because of what he did after the event. This proves that he is obsessed with wire walking because he just threw away his lifelong friends for some random girl. That part of the movie was very strange and surprising. Although is it strange, I think that part of the story is needed to tell the whole experience. This movie was created after 9/11 happened. I think they avoided the 9/11 subject all together because it would have distracted the viewers from the story. They would be giving a different story than they wanted to by telling the emotions they had from 9/11. That could be another reason why they didn’t include 9/11; maybe their emotions are too strong to talk about what happened. He had signed his name at the top of one of the towers. Now his signature is probably dust. That has to make him emotional because that is the only proof they had besides the video and now that piece of evidence is gone forever.

Edward Scissorhands

Women In the movie Edward Scissorhands are certainly portrayed as having gender roles. They are viewed as stay at home moms and housewives. They are all supposed to be picture perfect. They gossip, judge each other, and all compete to be the best. None of the housewives take risks. Peg is different than the normal housewives because she does take a risk. Bringing Edward home definitely brings attention onto Peg. They all see her as crazy and different. She is not the average "cookie cuter" housewife because she does something very different as in taking Edward home. The gender roles of the women in this movie are not the same as today's women. Most women in today's society have jobs and are not the average stay home mother anymore. I do believe that women were this way at one point. I think Burton portrayed women in this way to make the movie more dramatic. Edward may cause the drama, but the women blow it out of proportion and really cause the drama to effect the family. Edward is so different because the town is all the same. If he were in a town of unique people the movie would not be the same.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Knowing how much effort and time went into the making of The Nightmare Before Christmas definitely changed my perspective of the movie. After watching the movie and before the video of how the movie was made I just thought that it was an alright movie. But after seeing what actually goes into making the movie I was very impressed. I now realize that The Nightmare Before Christmas is a piece of art and a film. I respect Tim Burton and the rest of the crew a lot more after seeing the concentration needed to produce this movie. Three years is an incredibly long time; making all of the characters and changing them so many times for one facial movement is amazing. In life, I believe people do appreciate things more after they experience them for themselves. People always say to me that golf is not a sport or that it is easy and non tiring. I challenge those people to 18 holes of walking and carrying a bag and afterwards they always apologize. I don't appreciate people who play the guitar as much as I should. I am positive that if I took the time to learn how to play I would definitely appreciate the instrument and the musician more.

Night of the Living Dead

The movie Night of the Living Dead is most certainly different from most zombie movies I have seen. The zombie's physical features are probably the most different between movies. In zombie movies today, zombies are slow, limp, and weak. They do not really lift things or tear things down. In the movie The Night of the Living Dead the zombies pound things down and look a lot stronger. They are still slow but don't look as limp as today's zombies. They also look more realistic and like regular humans. Their faces are normal versus today's zombie movies that make the zombies look more dead. In the tv series The Walking Dead, the zombies are very gory and look as if they are deteriorating by the minute. With today's special effects and technology, producers can now make the zombies more "zombie" like by having their bodies be open, showing their ribs and jaws. The Night if the Living Dead is also different from The Walking Dead because the living dead survivors have communication with the outside world compared to the walking dead survivors that are portrayed as the only survivors left and on their own. The Night of the Living Dead is the granddaddy of zombie movies and will continue to set the stage for future zombie movies.  

The BIG Obsession (blog)

The obsession of being “the best” shows up in every movie we have watched so far. The dark Knight, Proof, Singing in the Rain, and the Prestige all have characters that cross the line of commitment and start to become obsessed. My definition of committed would be making small sacrifices in life for something one cares about or wants to achieve. Obsessed in other terms would be making large sacrifices which have the potential to hurt one’s self or their family just to achieve their goal or want.

                In the movie Proof we see Catherine’s dad be crazy and how she reacts to him being insane. Catherine eventually becomes so interested in the question of “if she crazy”; that she crosses the line of committed and becomes obsessed. Catherine sacrifices her sanity to figure out whether she is crazy or if she is just imagining it. She is so obsessed with not being crazy she clings to the only person who will tell her that she is sane. Throughout the movie the audience is not quite sure if Hal is helping Catherine for the right reasons or if he wants to get close to her so he can publish the proofs. Catherine does trust him but is a big part of that because he tells her that she is normal? Catherine’s sister treats her like she is just like her father and completely insane. This makes Catherine even more interested in whether or not she is crazy. Towards the end we even see Hall start to wonder if Catherine wrote the proof or if she is just a little wacky. Eventually she has flashbacks proving that she was indeed the one who wrote the proofs, which convinces the audience that she is not crazy. Although the audience knows that Catherine is not crazy is she convinced?

                The issue of being obsessed also appears in The Dark Knight. In The Dark Knight Batman is portrayed a the best hero ever. I think because of the city’s expectations, Bruce Wayne is obsessed with being “good” and having good morals. I would describe Wayne as obsessed more than committed because he sacrifices himself, his body, and every day of his life to protect Gotham from evil. We see him lose his sanity in the scene with the Joker and him in the jail. He puts a chair in front of the door so nobody can stop him; he pins the joker up against the wall and seriously considers killing him. This is completely against Batman’s morals of never killing anyone. Bruce Wayne’s whole life is based around the safety of Gotham. If he were committed rather than obsessed he would not risk his life, and he would eventually say “that is enough”. In the movie we don’t see him once give up or just say “I’m done”. He is clearly obsessed with his reputation.

                High Noon is very similar to The Dark Knight in reasons like one guy is trying to save the whole town from evil and that one guy sacrifices everything just so he can save the town. In High Noon we see Will Kane get married at the very beginning of the movie and put down his badge as the town’s Marshall. All the sudden he hears a rumor that Frank Miller is back in town. He and his new bride leave town but in fear of his town’s safety, Kane returns. He could have easily said “I’ve done enough, and I’m retired now”, but he doesn’t. This puts his new relationship in jeopardy. This is the first example of Kane being crazy. He sacrifices his brand new marriage in order to keep his town safe when he is not even the Marshall of the town anymore. When Kane returns he tries to gather up men from the town to help him fight Frank Miller. The men one by one all back out on Kane. He is betrayed by his own people even though he himself is very brave about fighting Frank Miller’s gang. This would be the perfect opportunity for Kane to back down. Although most normal people would back down at this point and leave town; Kane stays and ignores the fact that he is the only one who will be fighting against the Millers. This is the second example of Kane being obsessed with protecting his town. He sacrifices his safety by fighting them all by himself. Kane is even wounded in the fight but doesn’t give up. He eventually defeats them with pride. At the end of the movie we see Kane break his obsession of fighting for the people because once he defeats Miller he throws his golf star badge into the ground and leaves town with his new bride Amy.

Out of all of the movies we have watched, the theme of obsession definitely comes through the movie The Prestige the most. In my opinion, all of the magicians in this movie are obsessed. They all want to be the best at what they do. Borden is portrayed as the most obsessed. Borden (Alfred) has a twin brother (Fallon), they switch back and forth living as the magician and living as the assistant; they also switch roles playing Borden in real life. It would take so much energy to live a double life basically just for one trick. I couldn’t imagine sharing a husband with my sister. Do they not get jealous over each other? When one of the brothers gets his fingers shot off, the other brother cuts his off as well just to continue the illusion. In the beginning of the film we see Angier’s wife get killed because of the knot Borden tied. Does this event make Angier obsessed with getting revenge? I believe so. Later on in the movie (right around 1:34) Angier has a quote saying “I don’t care about my wife, I care about his secret.” This clearly shows that Angier is obsessed with magic and revenge. To say such an awful thing about his recently deceased wife says that his sanity is long gone. We also see Alfred say awful things to his wife. When Alfred's wife asks if he loves her or not he replies with "No, not today." The Prestige is a perfect example of people becoming obssessed by risking their family and their own lives for that obsession.

                Throughout these movies each one of the character seem to become obsessed with different things. Is this real in life too? Do people become obsessed over their careers? Over what they do or don’t want to be portrayed as? I believe this is very much true in life. People spend more time with their coworkers than they do with their family members. People should asked themselves in life if they are committed or obsessed.

The Prestige, Genre!

The Prestige is a very exciting, dramatic, mysterious, and a thrilling experience. Because this movie has so many different aspects, it is difficult to categorize this movie in just one genre. If it were up to me I would categorize this movie in mystery. Throughout the whole movie the audience is trying to figure something out. The Prestige also leaves the audience with many questions after the movie. Yes, the movie is dramatic with the wife and the girlfriend but I believe every movie has drama in it or else it would be rather boring. There is not enough drama in this movie to consider it a drama. With every movie having drama in it, the genre "drama" is too broad for a movie like The Prestige. Because of all of the excitement in The Prestige, I would classify it as a thriller after a mystery. The audience never knows what is going to happen next and the movie always has the audience on their toes. I jumped many times during this movie because of all the unexpected action. Overall, I would consider this film to be a thrilling mystery because of all of the excitement and questions brought up before, during, and after the movie.