American Experience Film Analysis

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

This trial did not just impact the life of the boys it impacted the life of others, after this trial they looked at how they did all these cases. As the time went on there became more and more fair trails, less biased jury and judges. But it does still exist, racism in court many years later. But the trial from Scottsboro, Alabama with Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Eugene Williams, Andy Wright, and Roy Wright all falsely accused of raping Ruby Bates and Victoria Price was a prodigious part of the way they treated trails against African

What were Edwin S. Porter's significant contributions to the development of early narrative film? In what sense did Porter build upon the innovations of contemporaneous filmmakers, and for what purposes?

The film Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross is about two modern teenagers, David and his sister Jennifer, somehow being transported into the television, ending up in Pleasantville, a 1950s black and white sitcom. The two are trapped as Bud and Mary Sue in a radically different dimension and make some huge changes to the bland lives of the citizens of Pleasantville, with the use of the director’s cinematic techniques. Ross cleverly uses cinematic techniques such as colour, mise-en-scene, camera shots, costumes, music and dialogue to effectively tell the story.

In the United States in 1931, during America’s Great Depression, nine African American boys faced what is now known as one of America’s most tragic trails in history. These young boys were accused of raping two white girls while riding a train through Alabama. This accusation brought forth a mob of white people in the town of Scottsboro. The boys spent years on trial for this. The first trial was thought to have been the final convention, little did they know it was only the beginning. A second trial was held for the nine boys that shook the entire nation. After the second trial a third one was held after the judge suspected that the evidence was not properly examined. The nine young boys, known as “The Scottsboro Boys”, spent their lives in and out of a courtroom and in a cell for a crime that today is known to have never taken place.

Movies that are based on a book are not always the same. In social studies class, we read a book called Our America. The book is about two boys named LeAlan jones and Lloyd Newman becoming reporters and interviewing people in their neighborhood to show people what it’s like in the ghetto life. The movie that went with the book was very different. In the movie and the book Our America, there were many differences such as Principal Williams momentarily becoming an antagonist, Davis Isay was more important, and Lloyd’s life was focused on more in the movie.

The boys of the Scottsboro trials were never treated fairly from the beginning. The whole journey was filled with misconception. The journey began on the freight train, there was nine African Americans on a train car and with them, was a group of Caucasian men. It all started with one of the white males stepping on the hand of one of the blacks. Not too long after, the white males threatened the nine boys to leave the train car (Doc). After the nine black males refused their threat, a fight broke out between all of them. All of the members of the white group were thrown off the train, all, but one. The one that was left on the train went and reported the fight to the train conductor.

the prisoners were lucky enough to escape the being lynched when they were moved into Scottsboro. In this trial, nine young, black boys were charged with the rape of two white girls while on a train. This case was a major source of controversy in the 1930’s. “Despite testimony by doctors who had examined the women that no rape had occurred, the all- white jury convicted the nine, and all but the youngest, who was 12 years old were sentenced to death” (“Scottsboro”). The boys’ lawyer, Samuel Leibowitz, did not even get assigned to the case until the first day of the trial. “If he could show a jury that these nine boys were innocent, as the record indicated, the jury would surely free them. To Leibowitz, that was simple!” (Chalmers 35). However, it was not that simple. Many white citizens would not change their minds about

The Frontline film Separate and Unequal discussed about creating a new school system; however, there are opposition by others who wants to maintain the current school system. If we look at the perspectives of the two groups, it is understandable in why there is support and opposition from the people of the city. The supporters of the new system wants a system that can provide better opportunities for their children without any violence. As the film claimed “the school was not teaching and were only babysitting the children”, which was likely a reason why there was a need for a new school system. With the chaotic and uncontrollable situation in the current system, many supporters have push forward the idea of a new system in a new city. From

The first thing I picked up in cinema class was that the size of the screen can play a huge role in the way the viewer experiences a film. American Honey by Andrea Arnold felt like one of those movies that was tailormade to be experienced to its full potential on the big screen. If I saw this movie at home on a smaller screen, there would be so many things that I would not be able to experience because of the limitation in screen size.

These two facts allow one to state with confidence that at the beginning of the book, the boys were treated unfairly. Towards middle of the book is when justice becomes an important aspect. As we move into the court, we truly get to see all of the unfair moments and unjust components of both the trial and the case. Directly following their trial, their given sentence (death at the electric chair for all but one, who was sentenced to life in prison) was overturned. This coming after the Communist Party of America talked about this case, calling it, “American injustice”, and asserting that, “the Negroes are wholly innocent of the crimes for which they were sentenced.”. This shows that there was injustice in their trial, as the CPA chose to say. As the story goes on, they go through multiple other trials, each resulting in a sentence of either death or life in prison. In the end, they are given their final sentence. A compromise lead to 2 of the boys (the youngest) being set free, though not pardoned. They went to New York. As for the rest of the boys? They were locked away, and each eventually released on parole. This is excluding Patterson, who was given life in prison, which he eventually escaped. One of the boys, Norris eventually formally requested a pardon. It was accepted by George Wallace, who was as the book said, “best known for being an ardent

Fox describes the documentary “American Movie,” directed by Chris Smith, as one of the better attempts at remaining impartial to the subject. The documentary follows

Vincent is destined to be a second class citizen, conceived naturally, rather than in a laboratory. He is born into a world which discriminates against genetics, rather than religion, race or gender. In order to gain access into the Gattaca Corporation and reach his dream of going to Titan he takes on the identity of Jerome Morrow, a person with ideal genes but crippled from an accident. He uses Jerome’s hair, blood, urine and skin to pass all tests and is set to reach his lifelong desire when the mission director is murdered. He inadvertently loses one of his own eyelashes at the scene and becomes the main suspect in the case. The killer is determined to be another of Gattaca’s directors who is initially

There are many different types of film and film genres. A film can fit into more than one genre, but there are some genres that are more general than others. Some examples of film genre are animated, science fiction, documentary, comedy, and historical fiction. Within each genre, there are also specific characteristics that help support themes and story lines within that genre.

American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball, explores the Burningham family’s projection of a “perfectly normal” lifestyle or the “ideal” American family portrayal. This film is about how everything is not as it seems behind closed doors. As the storyline progresses the film adheres to multiple genre codes and conventions to deepen the story arc, this is known as Genre Hybridity as it refers to two or more established genre’s through storyline, etc. (REF TO TEXTBOOK) American Beauty is a hybrid genre text because it conforms to more than one genre this being romance, satire and drama through formal elements such as narrative and screen aesthetic. This can also be further proved by examples of single/hybrid genre texts like The Notebook (2004, Nick Cassavetes), Fight Club (1999, David Fincher) and Bold and the Beautiful (1987 -, William J Bell).