Film Analysis : Ghandi

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?

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

In Figure 3.10, “Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences” (1792), there are depictions of African Americans. This image shows lady liberty giving books to African Americans who seem to be looking up at her. There is chaos shown in this image and I believe that it depicts how African Americans feel during the Revolution. “Lady Liberty” is sharing different books with African Americans who are both male and female. I think that librarians that were involved with the creation of this image were trying to suggest that African Americans should be given an education also.

In the document, Socialist Allegory, an English illustration the International Socialist and Trade Union Congress of 1896, is using workers in different costumes/facial features, to represent the different nations representing Europe and America at the Trade Union Congress of 1896. All of the countries look in alliance with one another about the ideas of socialism in the image in document 3. In document 4, The War of the Workers, by Rosa Luxemburg, explains the Trade Union Congress of 1896 and the International Socialist, that socialism will be lost if the international proletariat fails to measure the depth of the fall of the socialist proletariat in the present world war. The German workers became the vanguard of the second phase, having built the strongest organization, the one most worthy of emulation; creating the biggest press, gathering the most powerful masses of voters and attained the greatest number of parliamentary mandates. The economic and political class struggle of the working class totally surrendered in Germany, having the most precipitous fall. With the fall of Germany’s troop, the industrial, international socialist was beginning to unspare criticism for yourself as represented in both documents through the working classes. The difference in both documents was the alignment of the nations compared to the mass ruling of Germany over time until the

It represents a majority of ills that afflicted 18th, 19th, and early 20th century America. Through this photograph, one can appreciate how far America has come as a nation in terms of having the capacity to resolve the issues that plagued American society. Further, through this photograph, one can tell how the suffering faced by migrants who came in as slaves played a huge role in creating a better American society.

Rarely has a film impacted an audience and held the test of time as the film Gone with the Wind. I have always been curious if director, Victor Fleming and producer, David O. Selznick and screenplay writer, Sidney Howard knew what they were creating a masterpiece and how this film would have such an enormous impact on audiences for years to come. Interestingly enough there were some who thought the film should not be made, as Irving Thalberg said to Louis B. Meyer in 1936, “Forget it Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel” (Ten Films that Shook the World).

The two images depict how southern whites found various techniques to ensure that blacks could not vote (Doc C). The democrats understood that African American voters would hinder their ability to regain control of Southern politics and would side with the northern republicans, so they created literacy test to deny suffrage and disenfranchise southern blacks. In addition, a petition from Freedmen on March 25, 1871 explicates how Blacks were being mistreated by the KKK (Doc D). Indeed, Freedmen wrote this petition to Congress because it mostly consists of Republicans, and they believed that republicans would be able to create a law that protects them from the KKK’s atrocious acts. Also, a cartoon that appeared in Harper’s weekly delineates the harsh conditions endured by Blacks in the South (Doc F). The purpose of the image is to shine light upon horrendous acts of white supremacy groups such as the KKK so that these acts of violence could be acknowledged and eliminated. Clearly, reconstruction had a lot more downs than up as Southerners acted to limit Blacks’

Xenophobia and fear of Chinese immigrants became catalyst for The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This image depicts the violence, fear, and xenophobia the white Americans felt toward the Chinese for taking their jobs, some of their women, ruining the economy, and coming from another country. What stands out in the visual is liberty sticking up for the Chinese saying hands off America is fairy play for everyone. While the white Americans were against it and Uncle Sam who represents patriotism wants to harm the Chinese. In addition, what is shown is what Chinese are called as well as the possibility of death by hanging. The issues it shows are the threats that the Chinese fact as well as the xenophobia and fear the white Americans feel toward the Chinese. The point of view of the visual is an unbiased view explain the facts of what is happening in the scenario of the Chinese versus white Americans. The message of the image is to bring awareness of the situation and show as liberty said America is fair play for all. What makes this argument successful is its highlight of basic propaganda tactics and demagogic undertones to eternalize Chinese stereotypes and beliefs. There are no weaknesses in the image because it's unbiased and its only presenting facts about the situation.

Although each of the objects found within the image represents some of the struggles that were encountered by African-Americans, everyone that is included within the image helps us understand the perspective of those who dealt with the issue of slavery. The figure on the left is a depiction of an Irish-American who lived in New York during the 1860’s. Although the man lived in New York, he was an immigrant and therefore couldn’t make much money. This fact helps explain why he is depicted as wearing clothes that were commonly associated with the working-class. During this time, there was also a stigma against Irish-Catholics throughout the United States due to the fact that vast amounts of them immigrated to the United States following the

In the first section, “ Bourgeois and Proletarians. “Marx highlights his vision of history, focusing on the development, struggle and eventual

An example of this “revolutionary conceptualism” (Ferell, 2012) is observed in Figure 2, a piece of artwork called “The Elders of the Tribe”, by Elizabeth Durack (1953). Overall, the image depicts the elders of a Warlpiri kinship group sitting around a distinctive ground pattern, representing their ancestral origin in Central Australia (Durack, 2015). The wavy and distinctive insignia convey the elders being “swept away by the wind” (Durack, 2015), in addition to the concentric circles, connoting to various spiritual events that occurred at various campsites within the Warlpiri community. Moreover, Durack (2015) further explains that the artwork represented a “conversion from red and white ochre to acrylic medium”, supporting the artistic transition from traditional Aboriginal ground art to Western-inspired acrylic paintings.

The meaning behind the image reproduces visions of social difference, while the image itself produces a scopic regime, which in itself is universal. This visual effect is important in understanding the critical approach to visual culture, taking images seriously, and thinking about the social conditions and effects of visual objects. Is this image telling the whole truth of indigenous protest or is it constructed to show only the side society wants to see? Gillian Rose suggests three modalities that can contribute to a critical understanding of visual images: technological, compositional, and social. The visual technology of this image ranges through an array of media platforms, specifically used in ads for environmental justice. The visual composition takes advantage of the strategically drawn divide between the traditional nature and modern development. The social aspect of this image describes the socioeconomic and political conflict between indigenous groups and developers. This image can be perceived in many ways depending on the audience. A developer may see progress halted by unconventional or even backward views, whereas a western environmentalist may see a traditional tribe's last chance at survival. Personally, I am more concerned with what an indigenous person would see and whether they think of this as a form of cultural

Karl Marx was an idealist. He observed the cruelties and injustices that the poor working class endured during the period of industrial revolution, and was inspired to write of a society in which no oppression existed for any class of people. Marx believed in a revolution that would end socialism and capitalism, and focus on communist principles. The Manifesto of the Communist Party, written by Karl Marx and edited by Frederick Engels, describes the goals of the communist party for ending exploitation of the working class and creating a society in which there is equality in society without social classes.1

Crawford (2012) described many difference characteristics in mate selection which may potentially lead to marriage. She first describes marriage as being institutionalized because the laws (and certain religions) tells you who you can and cannot marry, when you can marry, and the responsibilities to each other while married. Yet people are infatuated with the ideology of love and romance. People choose their partners as individuals and expect to live their marriages according to their own needs and wishes (Crawford, 2012). Something that can explain why people choose to get married can be the marriage gradient. The marriage gradient states that women have the tendency to “marry up” and men tend to “marry down” (Crawford, 2012). This came

Dominant media produces films using generalized, and distorted images of Africa to create the idea of a dark continent in need colonial help, due to native civilization’s inability to live in a functional society. Mountains of the Moon, follows Richard Burton and John Speke, two explorers in search of the Nile. Set in pre-colonial times, this movie constructs images of Africa, perpetuating African’s inability to live in developed societies, and shows their natural inclination to appease British explorers. The Kitchen Toto, tells the story of Mwangi, who becomes a British officer’s kitchen Toto after his father is killed for opposing the clandestine independence movement. This movie shapes inaccurate images of African independence movements, showing those who are not under colonial rule as threatening, malicious, problematic, and incompetent of leadership. A Good Man in Africa tells the story of a British Diplomat, Morgan Leafy, who lives in Kinjanja, a nation recently freed from British rule. This film portrays Africa’s dependence on neocolonial rule through the Kinjanja’s fait, which rests in the hands of Dr Alex Murray, the man who is in the way of Adekunle’s exploitive building project. These three films represent ho western cultures imagination has evoked stock narratives, creating artificial Africas, in dominant media and films, leading to falsified images expanding from pre-colonialism to twentieth century neocolonialism.