Analysis Of The Movie ' Trainspotting '

In 1980’s Scotland, socioeconomic conditions and morale suffered due to the implementation of Thatcher policies, placing the lower class in a deplorable state of hopelessness. The film Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle, depicts the plights of young heroin junkies during the Thatcher Era in Edinburgh. The film’s focus is not heroin addiction, but rather, uses the silver screen as a platform to portray the depressing impact Thatcherism had on Scottish socioeconomic conditions as conveyed through the protagonist, heroin-addicted Mark Renton. Trainspotting illustrates that the social struggles of the Scottish lower class during the Thatcher Era are significant contributing factors to cause Renton to become a heroin user in order to escape the depressing and monotonous existence to which he is subjected.

While watching the movie "Paper Planes" it is rather obvious the director of the movie, Robert Connelly, has some very strong views about certain issues. He has strong views about winning or losing, and it is clear that he thinks it is more about having fun than winning. Connelly has views on other issues as well, such as problems between fathers and sons. There are also some themes in the movie about moving on with past and focusing on the present and the future. He uses various techniques to prove his points to the viewers. One of these is to have two characters, one that has the same concerns as him, and is likeable, and the other who is the exact opposite, and is dislikeable. These make it clear to the viewer that he has strong views.

Fruitvale Station depicts the real-life case of Oscar Grant III, a young unarmed black man shot in the back by a white police officer on January 1, 2009 in Oakland. The movie begins with cell phone footage of Oscar Grant’s death recorded by bystanders. Grant’s life was tragically cut short due to a white man’s racism and stereotypical perception of a young black man. The BART police officer Johannes Mehserle abused his authority and shot Grant for no other reason but hatred and racism. At the time of the shooting, Grant was unarmed and pinned on the ground in handcuffs. The movie then walks you through the last twenty-four hours of Grant’s life. As you watch the movie and research the aftermath of Grant’s death you a forced to ask yourself a few questions; why does the media have the right to take away Oscar Grant’s humanity? Where do we draw the line between racism and holding others responsible and will the public’s perception of black men and women ever change? Lastly, we must focus on how this case and others impacts African American society and culture. We also must focus on the necessary changes African Americans must make in order to survive in a world that does not value black lives.

“Here’s Johnny!” A famous line from The Shining, when Jack Torrance goes mad and is hacking at the bathroom door with an axe to mutilate his wife, Wendy and son, Danny into many little bloody pieces for disobeying him. The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick. Jack Torrance played by Jack Nicholson, quits his job as a school teacher and takes a job as caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado during the winter, hoping to cure his writer 's block. He moves in along with his wife, Wendy portrayed by Shelley Duvall, and his telepathic son, Danny played by Danny Lloyd. Danny is later told that he has an special telepathic ability called shining, hence the title.

The 1971 Mel Stewart film, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, is about a little boy named Charlie Bucket, who is very poor and wants to do something to help his family. The movie starts by showing that there is a contest going on for people to win a special tour through the factory of Wonka Chocolate Company and a lifetime supply of chocolate. There are only five special golden tickets hidden inside products from the Wonka Company. When the five people have found the tickets, there is a big gathering on the day of the tour with big crowds of people and news people too to see Mr wonka come out from his factory to greet the winners. When the children and their parents are inside the factory the children sign a thing saying they will not steal or take information or do bad things and they all go on their way for the tour. Right away, it all seems very strange with coat hooks that move and weird size doors and rooms. Inside of the factory is very much a different world. The workers are small orange men who sing songs telling about the behaviors people should not have.

The Civil War devastated families all across the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people died and for many years after, the nation was still divided and trying to figure out how to move forward. Irene Hunt learned of stories of the Civil War from her grandfather who served in the Civil War. Hunt’s book, Across Five Aprils, relates to her childhood because this novel is nothing but a story of the war from one family. This book hit home hard and revealed concepts of realism by examining the effects the war had on everyday life.

“Iron Road” has successfully shown why Chinese workers came to Canada in the 1880s as well as the challenges they confronted. Most of the film’s storyline occurs in China, where it uses the point of view of a Chinese peasant called Little Tiger, to display the daily struggles of the Chinese. The setting is full of war and destruction, thus destroying many farms resulting in famine and poverty. This has resulted in peasants having insufficient funds to support themselves and making them live in unsanitary living spaces. As a result, this gave the workers more reason to move to Canada as there was also better income and resources there. However, once they arrived in Canada, they discover that the conditions there weren’t as good as they thought. Although they had a better income than they did in China, there was a lot of discrimination, dangerous working conditions and horrible living spaces. There was worse pay for the Chinese workers and they had to do the most life-threatening jobs like working with explosives as well as working on the side of a cliff with no harnesses. Throughout the film, “Iron Road” has used the setting, characters and point of view of a Chinese peasant to show that there were horrible conditions and chaos in China, as well as the racism, dangerous working conditions and poor living space the peasants faced in Canada.

Hamilton has created a revolution. Hamilton: An American Musical is a musical created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical is based on a book written by Ron Chernow about Alexander Hamilton’s life. The story narrates the founding of the United States. The show is being called a revolution due to its language. Lin-Manuel Miranda is being called this generation’s Shakespeare. They both use modern language to reach their audience. In this case, the language is Rap and Hip Hop. Most broadways show reach fame, Lin-Manuel Miranda manages to capture the attention of not only broadway fans but also captures the attention of non-broadway fans.

No other options are left for the American army, running from the British along side the Delaware River, fighting against deserters, disease, famine, and their major lack of artillery was no help to the cause. On the 25th of December in 1776, George Washington led his army across the Delaware River in New Jersey. In a desperate attempt to win a battle, and help motivate people to rejoin the revolution, Washington devised a plan to attack the Hessians at Trenton on Christmas night. He declared that it was victory or death, they were either going to win the battle, or they were going to die, but retreat was not an option.

New Year’s Day, 2009, a man is brutally shot by the BART Police of Oakland, California. Fruitvale Station, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, took audiences by surprise as it resonated with twenty-two year old Oscar Grant, a man who was shot down by the BART Police. This movie takes viewers on an emotional expedition as it takes a peek into the life and death of Oscar Grant and his family. The struggles of originating from an African-American background become apparent as Oscar Grant struggles with steering away from racial stereotypes and the misunderstandings of racial profiling.

Fruitvale station, is a story about the real life Oscar Grant, a black man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland. This film follows Grant and his last days before the shooting on New Year’s Day. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale station was his first feature film. Coogler expressed that he was interested in making this film because he wanted people to get to know Grant, get attached, so that when a situation like this occurs again, people will care more about that human life (Wikipedia). In addition, the cast includes Michael B. Jordan (Grant), Octavia Spencer (Wanda Johnson), and Melonie Diaz (Sophina Mesa), amongst a few others. However, there is an underlying concept in this film. This film relates back to Double Consciousness and the internal conflict and struggles within African American men.

“Working Girl,” depicts important battles that women are still fighting today, it brings light to the ridiculous judgments and barriers that women had to smash to establish themselves in the business field. The film was written by Kevin Wade and released in 1988, the story is based in New York City from the inspiration of New York commuters and the noticing that many young women were wearing white tennis shoes on their way to work, carrying high heels to change into once arriving to work. Tess McGill, an undervalued and mistreated sectary to the ultimate feministic triumph, Kathrine Parker who steals Tess McGill’s idea for a radio deal for their company, are the main characters. While Kathrine Parker is on a skiing trip and breaks her

Trainspotting begins with Renton’s "Choose Life" monologue in which he argues that he can either have a conventional life or he can try to do something out of the norm. Coincidentally drug-culture is able to act as oppositional to conventions and normality and allows him to follow through with his monologues assertion. Whether he uses drugs to escape conventional life or escapes conventional life through drug use the reality that his addiction has on his life is complete and utterly encompassing.

The movie, The Breakfast Club, is a movie about five students who get Saturday school and become friends as a result of it. The characters were: Allison, the quiet girl who would sit in the back and refuse to talk; John, the troublemaker who always talked back to the teachers; Claire, the popular girl who always got what she wanted; Brian, the nerdy student who only cared about having good grades; Andrew, the wrestler who was only focused impressing his father. While watching the movie, I mainly related to Brian. He is pressured to have good grades by his parents and is labeled as the nerd because of it. I am also pressured to have good grades; however, I am labeled as the smart kid in many different classes, but I’m not classified as a nerd.

In the multi-language comedic drama Mystery Train, the analysis of narrative vs narration, character motivation, goals, narrative complexity, as well as other techniques such as colour, sound and mise-en-scene are useful tools that help the audience understand the social commentary and meaning that underlies the film.