B-Rabbit versus Papa Doc The pivotal scene that will be thoroughly represented and analyzed is from the movie 8 Mile, directed by Curtis Hanson, and released in 2002. 8 Mile is a semiautobiographical film based on the life story of the iconic rapper Marshal Mathers, or better known by his stage name Eminem, and how he began his journey into the hip-hop industry. In this film, Eminem plays himself, as the main character named Jimmy Smith Jr.; however, throughout the course of the movie, he is referred to as Rabbit more than anything else. Rabbit lives in a very rough part of Detroit known as 8 Mile, in a mobile home with his single alcoholic of a mother. Their financial situation is dire and Rabbit decides he needs to find a different occupation. Rabbit works at a factory to barely make ends meet; however, the amount he makes is abysmal compared to what he needs. Rabbit has a passion for music, specifically rap. However, this is a challenge because at the time the rap genre was predominantly occupied by African-Americans. Despite this, Rabbit continues on in his pursuit of making a name for himself in the rap industry. He enters rap battle competitions in hopes of getting noticed. He runs into a group of local amateur rappers known as “Leadaz of tha Free World”. The leader of this group is named Papa Doc and he is portrayed to be Rabbits greatest adversary. Rabbit and Papa Doc both make it to the final round of the rap battle competition and that’s when the pivotal scene
The film starts with a black screen before Eminem’s white face appears. Jimmy lives on the opposite side of 8 Mile Road, which separates him from the urban blacks, and makes him a privileged suburban white. His mission in this movie to cross that literal and psychological border (8 Mile Road) and become accepted as a rapper despite his skin color. It is argued that Rabbit’s character is a tourist who ventures into black culture, and on the way, masters their art and dominates their industry (Jennings 2008). Therefore, Eminem, and the director Curtis Hutton, white people writing about an African-American dominated industry, have now commodified the culture (Jennings 2008). This translates to Eminem’s career and his success in the industry. But Eminem’s success is ultimately due to his ability to encompass the characteristics of black culture while maintaining his position as a white male: “affiliations with black masculinity provide cultural acceptance and authenticity, which fuel his entry into hip-hop culture. White masculinity provides mobility, ambivalence from white audiences, and commercial success” (Dawkins 465). Therefore by “walking” the spaces between black and white masculinity and never committing to one, he masters the industry. Somehow he uses both racial characterizations as privileges (Dawkins 464-465).
The film The Green Mile was originally written by Stephen King and later directed by Frank Darabont. It is based on the guards and inmates of a penitentiary’s Death Row during the great depression. There is a certain monotony that comes with working on Death Row and Paul Edgecomb, played by Tom Hanks, has become numb to the fact that he is paid to take lives; that is until John Coffey gets sentenced to death and is sent to Paul’s “green mile”. John Coffey is a very large black man that was accused of rape and murder of two little girls, and in the 1930’s having charges like that brought upon you was grounds for the death penalty, especially for a black man in the south.
In the film Green Mile, different sociological theories and concepts can be useful in considering how societies rule our behaviors in life within different cultural places and times. A theory developed by sociologist Emile Durkheim known as the functionalist perspective profoundly applies through out the film. Concepts that are also seen in the film includes: human agency, norms, folkways, mores, and master status with a few theories and concepts of deviance.
The 2012 movie Argo is based off of a true event in 1979. During the Iranian Civil War, President Jimmy Carter gives the Iranian Shah refuge in the U.S. due to his illness. In retaliation, Iranian activists invade the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran and the staff are taken as hostages. This is famously known as the Iranian hostage crises. Although six of the staff members escape and are taken in by the Canadian Ambassador. Determined to rescue the six, Tony Mendez, who is our main character, from the CIA is brought in because of his expertise. After talking to his son one day while watching a science fiction program on TV, he comes up the idea to go into Iran, under the guise of Canadians
While he does everything he can to overcome this barrier, he makes his rapping about how he is white. Having a white character as the main protagonist changes the message of the movies greatly. Rather than the hip hop movie being about a simple rapper trying to make his way out of the projects, in 8 Mile the protagonist has to prove to the audiences that he has the credibility to be a rapper since he is white. B-Rabbit appropriates black culture by stating that in order to be a rapper he has to fit in with the black poverty, rather than typical white middle class families. “His final rap acknowledges everything that could disqualify him, but he wins the rap battle by first admitting these aspects and then critiquing his opponent. He implies Papa Doc is disqualified as having a legitimate voice despite being Black. The reasons? Papa Doc comes from a stable home and has attended a private school. He dismisses Papa Doc, excluding blackness as significant. He instead asserts his own poverty and class position, resetting the standards to dismiss race. B-Rabbit situates himself as a more authentic practitioner of hip hop, not simply because of his skill, but because also of his poverty and other concerns” (Sanchez 49).
Die Hard, a film directed by John McTiernan, successfully utilized several aesthetics, which offered viewers various meanings throughout the duration of the film. Although the diverse meanings grasped by viewers may differ, it was clear to me that McTiernan effectively applied elements of cinematography and mise-en-scene that resulted in viewers being allowed to interpret a range of different meanings or functions of the elements.
Run Lola Run presents the idea that although events that occur in life seem random and inconsequential, the choices we make have significant effects on ourselves and our surroundings in the future. Tykwer successfully intertwines chance in each run, prompting Lola to face various outcomes. Chance is reinforced through still photographs of the characters Lola encounters on her journey to get 100,000 marks. The photographs provide the audience a glimpse of what their future could become as a result of their interaction with Lola. Fast non-diegetic sound of the camera clicks, enables the audience to feel a sense of urgency, reflecting the idea of chance and that our choices and actions are all linked with the people we encounter.
When becoming a young adult you have a lot of pressure on yourself due to figuring out your future, and it’s not easy when you’re parents are breathing down your neck. You feel lost, confused, and even terrified. In the film, The Graduate by Mike Nichols, the protagonist Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is in this type of situation. Throughout the movie he looks for a meaning to his life and Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) in a way shows him a path to it through love and sex. He wasn’t just going through life like most did, he wanted to be free and do what he wanted not what his parents wanted.
When watching The Hateful Eight it’s clear that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing. There are quite a few subtle nods to the classic horror film as well as some not so subtle similarities. One could watch one right after the other and immediately see the similarities between the two films. While most people would not consider The Hateful Eight a horror film it takes the greatest horror aspects of The Thing and uses them to its advantage. Quentin Tarantino took quite a few ideas from John Carpenter’s The Thing and modified them so they fit seamlessly in to his western film, including actors, characters, and even some music that was originally written for Carpenter’s film but was never used.
I have watched a considerable number of movies this semester so it was hard to choose which one to analyze. It came down to “Remember the Titans” or “Good Will Hunting”. However, the movie that I will be analyzing is “Good Will Hunting”. The reason I chose this movie is that it can be analyzed in many different ways. I will be analyzing different scenes of the movie and analyze them from different angles. I will be analyzing about the symbolism that is happening in the movie. I will be analyzing many different things about the movie. The first thing I will analyze in this movie is the symbolism of things, objects, colors, and
The Movie Crash takes place in Los Angeles, California in the winter time. Throughout this movie, all of the stories connect in one way or another. This movie shows the lives of a diverse population of people, they have different race and social classes.
Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998) is truly a brilliant film. It is very seldom that a film manages to combine the high pace of an action thriller and a deep philosophical subtext without botching it, but Run Lola Run does an excellent job at striking a balance between both. Tackling the very abstract and philosophical concepts of chance and cause-effect, Run Lola Run is truly a modern foreign classic. Tykwer manages to postulate one simple theory through the film, that the simplest of choices can completely change everything. The film is supported by stellar performances from Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu as the protagonist Lola and her boyfriend, Manni. The film’s use of cinematography to add to the narrative, clever use of the aspects of mise-en-scene and explosively-paced soundtrack add a whole new dimension to this film. One of the few German films to be both a critical and commercial success, Run Lola Run is a smart and stimulating film, which demands active watching in order to understand fully. I will now analyze the film comprehensively using three main parameters; the mise-en-scene, the cinematography and the sound.
The movie chosen for this research is “Rush Hour 2”, which compactly contains set of various stereotypes of Asians, African-Americans, and Latinos in American film as well as provides examples of portraying sexuality in movies. It’s a comedy action film; it’s also a classical buddy story with unorthodox for that time buddies: African-American and Asian characters. The movie was directed by Brett Ratner, produced and distributed by New Line Cinema, story written by Ross LaManna and Jeff Nathanson. Soundtrack is written by a famous Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin. The movie was released in 2001 as a part two of a sequel, continuation of a successful story about two detectives, one from Hong Kong and another LA, solving international crimes together. The movie was shot in Santa Clarita California, starring Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, John Lone, Alan King, Roselyn Sanchez, Harris Yulin and Zhang Ziyi. "Rush Hour 2" is rated PG-13 for action violence, language and some sexual material (IMDB). The movie’s budget was $90 million and the box office was around $347.3 million, which is considered to be a huge success for a movie, where both main characters are non-white, which was not the case back in 2001. The movie was nominated twenty one times and won ten awards, including MTV Asia Awards for a favorite movie.
Taxi Driver (1976) follows Travis Bickle’s life in New York after being honorably discharged. The film is a psychological thriller that deals with Travis Bickle’s mental instability and desire to do something meaningful with his life. The narrative centers around Travis’ loneliness and disconnect from society.
"Split" is a rated PG-13 horror movie released on January 20, 2017 that was not only written, but also directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan is renowned in the entertainment business for his movies filled with a great deal of twists and turns. An example of some of the movies that he has written and directed with such a style are "The Sixth Sense" as well as "The Village". Split is no different and bares M. Night Shyamalan's signature style of suspenseful movies accompanied by many twists and turns.