Film Review : ' Precious Plum '

Parody is the imitation of style of some person, place, or thing. The Butter Battle

In today’s society, a minstrel show would unquestionably be pointed out as a racist act. However, if stereotypes were used in comedic TV shows it becomes more uncertain as to whether or not it is appropriate. With the popular use of satire in the current pop culture, the line between racism and harmless satire is harder to define. Shows like Family Guy play on a lot of racial stereotypes but do not always receive attention on those jokes. The show is often written off as just a raunchy animated show, so people expect the outrageous humor and take the jokes less seriously. Racist jokes has been muddled with satire by putting it in a comical context and in a different medium such as animation. There needs to be a more defined line between

The article “Toddlers in Tiara’s” by Skip Hollandsworth based off the popular TV show Toddlers and Tiara’s, converses the sexualization of the girls who participate in American beauty pageants. Hollandsworth parleys the effects beauty pageants could possibly have on those who participate in the pageants, such as development and emotion problems. Using the appeals of logic, emotion and ethics in a serious and informative tone he persuades his audience of parents, pageant participants and viewers of the widely known TV show the negative effects of being an American Beauty Pageant contestant. Hollandsworth gains credibility by referencing the opinions of different professionals and authorities. Before the death of JonBenet many Americans didn’t

toward a person, a country or even the entire world. (Literary) Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines parody as “a piece of writing, music, etc., that imitates the style of someone or something else in an amusing way.” The Schirmer Encyclopedia of

And, yet...since comedy is an exaggeration of everyday life, does that mean there are people who actually go around doing things like that? Meet Shawne Merriman. Yes, the very same Shawne Merriman

Are Logos, Pathos, and Ethos used in these comical videos? By definition, these rhetorical devices are the tools of persuasion and appeal to the readers, they are used to establish credibility, a logical appeal, and an emotional interest, or ethos, logos, and pathos, respectably. In each of the videos, the use of these rhetorical strategies is very questionable, but ultimately find an effective way to have an appeal on the audience, through comedy. Personally, most of videos that we watched seem to not be very argumentative at all and are mostly satire.

A very interesting movie On Golden Pond. Not only learning as you get older there are a lot of changes as well when exploring your adolescent’s years. Confusing, anxiety, anger, and a lot more feelings that occur throughout the journey to late adulthood. The movie was mainly on the characters Billy, Chelsea, Ethel, and Norman who were viewed dealing with biological, cognitive, sociological experiences while dealing with obstacles of family struggles.

The film Precious Knowledge takes a deeper look into the defense and fall of the Ethnic Studies program within the Tucson Unified School District. During the standoff, as Arizona lawmakers bombarded the students and educators with threats and false claims. A major question surrounding the film is whether or not this program’s failure was preventable. Jeff Biggers approaches the situation from a politically centralized point of view, having written for The New York Times, The Nation, and The Washington Post, as well as, working with MSNBC's “All In” with Chris Hayes. Biggers writes the review “Arizona’s Precious Knowledge: Blockbuster New Film Chronicles Ethnic Studies Battle” where he looks at the bureaucracy behind the film rather than

from drawing in viewers all over America. Media outlets such as TV shows, newspaper articles, magazines, websites, blogs and social networking sites have covered the program and expressed mixed feelings towards it, which adds on to the amount of controversy on the treatment of children on television. Many television programs including news and talk programs have all noticed the Toddlers & Tiaras controversy and have weighed in on the topic. One such example I would like to refer from is an online talk show called ‘The Young Turks’ where a discourse between two host debate on the issue of a 3 year old girl name Paisley, who dressed up as Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, on the streetwalker scenes as a prostitute. Paisley, who likewise won the pageant, arguably seems to tell viewers, especially young girls that wearing a cut-out dress complete with over the

The Supreme Court defined parody as “a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or work for comic effect or ridicule .” Basically, parodies must comment upon or criticize the original work. Parodies can be considered as fair use but not all qualify as fair use, it is determined by a four-factor test in Section 107 of Copyright Law. Weird Al Yankovic (aka Weird Al) is most known for his success as a parodist, making light of songs by contemporary artists. Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise” parody faced some controversy regarding permission but the real issue is if it should be considered a parody at all.

Beauty pageants have been around in America for decades; however, they have not gained notoriety until the show "Toddlers and Tiaras" aired on national television. The airing of "Toddlers and Tiaras" has brought child pageants to the attention of many Americans. Not many people were aware of what took place in beauty pageants, but ever since the show debuted in 2009 there has been an intense controversy about children as young as newborns being entered into pageants. Some people say that pageants raise self-esteem and teach responsibility, whereas others say that pageants are necessary and children should take advantage of their youth. Although pageants teach etiquette and communication skills, ultimately they carry a vastly high

In the film, Precious is a sixteen-year old girl who leads a rather lonely life, for she has no friends and is obese. Her father is a negligent and sick father, who rapes her from time to time, and has been doing so before she could even learn to crawl- since she was three years old. The film shows Precious in her second pregnancy, with both of them as results of her father’s vicious acts. Her mother is possibly the worst and unimaginable character. Naturally, mothers are expected to be supportive of their daughters, but this is not the case with hers. Her mother is a mean woman, who abuses her in every way possible- physically and emotionally especially. She hits her with steel kitchenware without any provocation. All these harsh realities make her to adopt an unhealthy lifestyle and habits like eating junk food and leeching off the welfare they are provided with in their poor conditions. However, the most adverse effect of the abuse is the psychological effects. Her mother’s articulation of her life is that Precious is worthless and will fail in the world. Precious lives in the Harlem ghetto of New York City. Precious is an illiterate sixteen-year old who does not know how to read or write. Her mother, Mary, is

There is an average of 5,000 beauty pageants a year with over two million contestants who sign up to participate. “Toddlers and Tiaras” is a show on TLC that first aired in 2009 and is dedicated to the viewing of child beauty pageants. The show shadows the process of getting ready and the performance of the three young girls in the contest (Padmore, 2016). The ages of the girls range from only a couple months old to young girls of around fourteen or fifteen-years-old. The juvenile individuals were pictured wearing skimpy little outfits including bikinis and short shorts with a crop top shirt. The show had an average of 1.3 million viewers every week (Padmore, 2016). That is 1.3 million people, including men and child rapists, watching these little girls wearing little or next to nothing dance around the stage. Speaking from a personal standpoint, I have watched “Toddlers and Tiaras” and have witnessed a children’s beauty pageant in person. What I saw was something I could never forget. I watched

The film Lust,Caution was released in 2007 and was written by Hui-Ling Wang and was directed by Ann Lee. Lust,Caution is a dark, tensed and speculative thriller. As the movie opened in a mahjong-game in Shanghai in WWII-era, we met Mrs. Mak, who was a undercover role played by Chia-Chi Wong(“Wong”)( played by Tang Wei), a serect agent of the puppet government of Japan Mr. Yee (play by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) who was the assassinated target of Wong. Wong belonged to a troupe of drama students(“the troupe”) from Hong Kong University who plan this assassination. Lust, Caution, the next creation after Ann Lee had won the Best Director for Brokeback Mountain at Academy Award, was less known to the western world due to the cultural and language barrier. However, this is another master piece of Ann Lee which did not only demonstrate his capability in transforming literature into motion picture, but also deeply discussed the conflict among love and ambition. Lust, Caution was adapted from a short novel by one of the greatest Chinese authors in early 20th century, Eileen Chang. Among all the works of her, Ann Lee has considered Lust, Caution as the one with the most elements and frames for a film. He said, “when I read Eileen Chang’s novels, especially Lust, Caution, I believed she was inspired by movies, and structured the story as a movie.” Even though the movie directed by Ann Lee and the novel written by Eileen Chang presented their art and message in different forms,

The TLC Show, “Toddlers and Tiaras,” is not an accurate representation of all that goes into preparing children for pageants. The show dramatizes the mostly the negative side of childhood beauty pageants. It depicts competitors that want to win strictly based on appearance. Despite the bad reputation that beauty pageants have, they equip young men and women with skills and opportunities such as chances to win scholarships, improving self-confidence and promoting social skills.