Imagine the world is invaded by aliens. Some of them eat humans, some live among humans, and others live outside of our world. You don’t know it, but many of the people who have shaped our lives and our culture aren’t even human themselves. This is the world of the 1997 film Men in Black, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Men in Black is a sci-fi comedy about a group of enforcement agents defending and regulating aliens from invading Earth. But if you take their costume off, Men In Black can be seen as far more than a comedy about space aliens. Under the lens of postcolonial criticism, the film reveals itself to be a veiled, political commentary on immigration. A lens is a way for us to look at a piece of literature in a whole new depiction that we may not have thought of the first time we had read or watched a piece of literature. Through the postcolonial lens, I can see the movie as a biased contrast between the immigrants and the immigration police. Interpreting the movie through this lens allows me to see that the Men in Black are the immigration police, and are considered to be the protagonists of the film. On the other hand, the aliens, or immigrants when looking through the lens, are the antagonists of the movie; The Men in Black protect the US from bad aliens, giving immigration police the positive reinforcement of the brutal evictions immigrants received in the 90s. The first scene is set on the border of Mexico. The border police, who is waiting on the street,
The film Malcolm X was released in 1992. In the movie, Malcolm X is portrayed by Denzel Washington. It is a biographical drama that depicts the life and legacy of African American civil rights leader, Malcolm X. One theme that I found to be very evident throughout this film is evolution. To evolve means to gradually go through a major change. This film effectively captures Malcolm X evolving from a troubled teen with a rough childhood into one of the most influential and powerful leaders of all time.
I Am Not Your Negro is a 2016 documentary film based on the unfinished manuscript titled ‘Remember This House” written by James Baldwin. The manuscript was supposed to be about the lives, the impact these three men had on America and the assassinations of his three friends; Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Baldwin never had a chance to finish this before he died in 1987 with only 30 complete pages.
In the short film, “The Negro Soldier,” the whole focus was to get African Americans to join the military. With the use of propaganda, the U.S. government hoped to promote getting African Americans to want to fight for their country. It hoped to instill patriotism in them. It showed that Germany and the Nazis had no respect for them and considered them the scum of the earth. It also portrayed them being accepted as equals into the American society. It was used to make them think they were wanted and play a major role in the success of the war against germany. And to ultimately make Germany and the Nazis look like the bad guys (destroying their monuments) instead of the racist America they lived in. It also portrayed African American soldiers prior contributions in previously fought wars as pivotal moments in American history. It made it seem like they were the reason for those victories. It also explained how the African American soldiers were honored with tributes, memorials, medals and parades for their service in the military. In the ongoing WWII, it was said that there were three times the number of African Americans soldiers in WWII than in WWI. Also, many more were getting commissioned and attending West Point and OCS (Officer Candidate School). African American men that were once printers, tailors, entertainers are now soldiers in the Army as gunners, tankers, radio operators, mechanics, quartermasters, and infantrymen. They were now the backbone of
The Film I Am Not Your Negro is a 2016 Documentary that depicts the key events of the 20th Century African American History. This documentary was inspired by James Baldwin’s thirty-page unfinished manuscript. The manuscript was going to be his next project in which he called Remember This House. The manuscript was to be a personal explanation of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, in 1987 James Baldwin passed away leaving the unfinished manuscript to be forgotten, well that is what some thought. Now master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the manuscript James Baldwin never finished. The outcome is a fundamental examination of race in America, using Baldwin's original thoughts and materials to make the project possible. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of Black Lives Matter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for. Though this is the main thought of the documentary there are many key features that make this film much so about whiteness in American History and now.
To be honest, the documentary “Tapped” made me question every single purchase I have made from a big corporation. The film exposed the severe corruption behind what is widely thought to be a generally trusted and genuine industry. Firstly, I was completely unaware of the water mining occurring in small communities. Having lived in a desert for my whole life, where there is not an abundance of freshwater, I fortunately have not had to deal with big corporations invading my home and community, and stealing water from public property. The biggest problem with this, however, is that the citizens living in these communities are totally oblivious to the wrongful actions of these big companies. In my opinion, it should be a requirement that all
Warping you into Manhattan’s Five Points, an area in New York City upon which seemed as a place with no law during the mid-19th century. The drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York, provides us an account of the anarchy that occurred; following the life of a man named Amsterdam, the son of a popular Irish-American leader, Priest Valon. Supported by the extraordinary acting performances by Daniel Day-Lewis (aka Bill the Butcher) and Leonardo DiCaprio (as Amsterdam) the film is a massive achievement.
Over my educational career I have not learned much about the Black Panther Party, most of what I have learned was from watching videos and documentaries on Malcolm X. I never learned a whole lot about them though my schools. The little that I did learn was that they were a more aggressive group that tried to show force by caring weapon. Other than that I had never been properly informed about how they started and what they stood for. After watching this video it has changed my entire perspective on the movement.
The film grants audiences to gestate their understanding of the movie and the manner experiences antiquated regarding racial violence and prejudice. The ineptitude of history implies to the intellectual chattels that chronicles and culture can have on all progeny. Malcolm Little would ultimately revolutionize into his worst adversary, that entangled with the decisions he would subsequently make. Malcolm's philosophic mentality and provocation with death was indicative to his life. The remarkable depiction in the film pronounced the indubitable fortitude and essence of the audience.
"All the President's Men" is truer to the craft of journalism than to the art of storytelling, and that's its problem. The movie is as accurate about the processes used by investigative reporters as we have any right to expect, and yet process finally overwhelms narrative -- we're adrift in a sea of names, dates, telephone numbers, coincidences, lucky breaks, false leads, dogged footwork, denials, evasions, and sometimes even the truth. Just such thousands of details led up to Watergate and the Nixon resignation, yes, but the movie's more about the details than about their
int. run down ghetto complex in urban nyc. night.Carlito (V.O.)So there I am, alone in the dirty hallway wondering what the fuck is Alex 's problem. Did he really go nuts? This is 1982 and NYC almost declared bankruptcy. It was a time that if things broke, they stayed broken. Poor barrios were like barren deserts filled with vacant stuff. These times were bleak and there I am a teenager trapped in a helpless ghetto. Graffiti entered my life and to me, it was the ultimate. The trashed subway trains were a gloria(opening the door in an annoyed manner)Here 's the damn book Carlito, if you get fucking lice, te jodiste. CARLITO(glances at the book in mystery as he takes it into his hands)This is the book he sent you?GLORIA(sighing)Yep, that 's one of them. I gotta go do some shit, bye.(gloria throws an air kiss and about to close the door)Oh, if I were you, get rid of that TLA sweater - CRS is around the way and you don 't wanna get jumped. CARLITO (V.O.)I 'm staring at the book in my hands as I head down in the deathtrap elevator. I turn the skinny thing over and see the title, 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead. 'What the hell was this? I read a few pages and it spoke about life, how to die, and all this other that made no sense. I was furious Alex would fall for this junk, but what made me more furious is the CRS tags in the elevator 's walls. Angrily, I took a fat Magnum marker and tagged TLA right over it. After walking out the ghetto complex and into the concrete streets, I
In the 1991 film Black Robe, which is set during the 1630s Beaver War in North America, the French make attempts to search for and continue to convert a Huron Indian tribe to Christianity. To complete this mission, the founder of the French settlement in Quebec, Samuel Champlain, sends a Jesuit priest, Father LaForgue, off to find the Indian tribe, and a man named Daniel and a family of Indians, who are a part of the Algonquin tribe, accompany Father LaForgue on this journey.
As a group, we selected The Other Guys, a comedy movie taking place in the New York City police department. The story involves two mismatched detectives that attempt to seize an opportunity in the department. In the movie, The Other Guys, the department is run by Captain Gene Mauch. The atmosphere in the department runs in a way that focuses on two main detectives doing most of the action outside the office. These two-star detectives are Danson and Highsmith, who are played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson. However, a shootout with robbers results in the deaths of Danson and Highsmith, leaving a hole in the department. After mourning the death of the detectives, everyone in the office desires the opportunity to be the lead detectives of the department. The movie follows two of the detectives in the department as they attempt to fill the role of lead detectives. These characters are Allen Gamble, played by Will Ferrell, and Terry Hoitz, played by Mark Wahlberg. Both Allen and Terry have pasts that have been plagued by bad luck. Allen was once a pimp turned detective after being rushed to the hospital from poison ivy in his butt. Terry shot Derek Jeter during the Major League Baseball Playoffs. Even though Allen and Terry have been plagued by bad luck, they hope that making the arrest of all time would turn their life around.
The Black Robe is a movie fixed in 1634 and the retelling of when Jesuit missionaries from France came to what is now known as Quebec City to share Catholicism to the indigenous Algonquin Indians. Samuel de Champlain who is the founder of the settlement decides to send out Farther LaForgue on a catholic mission in a Huron village. Father LaForgue is a young Jesuit priest who also goes by the black robe throughout the movie. LaForgue is accompanied by an assistant named Daniel and a group of Algonquin Indians to guide him to the Huron village. In the eighth scene LaForgue is abandoned when Daniel decides to stay with one of the Algonquin ladies, although the tribe returns to attempt to find LaForgue due to feelings of remorse. A fight broke
The street lights flickered, and unequivocal silence traversed through the dead night in downtown Brooklyn; it was November 2, 1987. A wealthy family of three, named the Owens, had just finished eating dinner. The family left the restaurant and walked down the crosswalk to get to the family’s car. The Owens were all holding each other’s hands with their son Timmy in the middle and the mother and father, Martha and John, on the outside. Suddenly Timmy heard a noise coming from an alleyway saying, “Timmy, come here!” This startled the young boy, but out of the dark shadows came a young girl saying, “Follow me Timmy! Let’s play a game.” Timmy, without hesitating, darted from his parents’ grasp and ran down the alleyway. John
The film, the Untouchables, was directed by Brian De Palma. It was set in the prohibition era, which was right at the start of the 1920’s. Prohibition can be described as a law that made selling and manufacturing alcohol illegal. By putting this law into effect, it actually increased the amount of crime and violence throughout cities in the US. This was ultimately due to the rise in organized crime, also known as gangs. In the movie specifically, it was centered around the rise of the Mafia in Chicago. By looking at the production of the movie, we can see how during prohibition, the Mafia controls everything and the violence ultimately it leads to.