Part 1 - In American author's 2009 book, The Help, the primary thesis is the relationship between Black maids and white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s. The story is really told from three perspectives, Aibileen and Minny are Black women, both maids, and Skeeter is the nickname of Eugenia Phelan, daughter of a prominent White family. Skeeter has just finished school and hopes to become a writer. In general, the relationship between the Black maids and the White employers is six sided: On one side we have the White employers who have three views: 1) Their personal and private beliefs that can range from extreme scorn and bias to kindness regarding race; 2) Their public persona that must have the "proper" attitude about Blacks and "the help," and 3) Their employer attitude, which is condescending and parental. The Black view also has three segments: 1) Their personal and private beliefs that usually range from understanding not all Whites are the same and an extreme love and empathy for the White children for whom they care; 2) The public persona that is deferential, polite, and stoic to their White bosses; and 3) Their attitude and view among the Black community, which usually separates the "poor and ignorant but rich" White souls from the Black view of family and common sense. All in all, the relationship is contentious, phony, and based on economic advantage.
Based off Charles Webb’s 1963 novel by the same name, The Graduate is an American romantic comedy/drama released in the United States on December 21, 1967 starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, and William Daniels. The film was directed by Mike Nichols, produced by Lawrence Turman and the screenplay written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham. The film was produced by Lawrence Turman/Mike Nichols productions starting in March of 1967. Mike Nichols has also directed other well known films such as Catch-22 (1970), Working Girl (1988), and more recently Closer (2004). The film was distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures nationally and United Artists internationally. AVCO Embassy Pictures studio, founded by Joseph E. Levine, the films executive producer, also claims production/distribution for other hit films such as Godzilla, King of Monsters! (1956), The Fog (1980), and Prom Night (1980). The movie was well received due to its $104 million dollar box office opening tab. The score was produced by Dave Grusin and the songs written by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
During the end of the 3rd Century, the Playwright Plautus wrote many of the first Roman comedies. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical comedy film adaptation of Plautus's comedies.Set in ancient Rome, many aspects of Roman theatre, including stock characters, were included in the film’s production. While the film is based off of multiple comedies, Plautus's Pseudolus character Calidorus is nearly identical to the film’s Hero. During the time Pseudolus was written, the Crisis of the Third Century led to up to 25% of Roman population being comprised of slaves(Southern). Of the many stock characters Platus included in his comedies, Calidorus/Hero, the son of Pseudolus’s owner and the stock character adulescens, best
Apocalypse now illuminates the horror, and the atrocities of what war can cause. It showed how one can go in a normal citizen and return unable to make contact with the world without feeling out of place. As the characters move forward into metaphorical fog and darkness,the film introduces the idea that war reels in a darkness hidden within. In the first scene Willard is introduced as an already broken man, he’s back from his first tour and already feels compelled to start his second. Questions about his sanity begin to rise, how far has he been pushed off edge? Shattered mirror, and divorce papers by his side only maximizes the realization of how distant he is from his old self. This illustrates how war is capable to change an individuals
People are always stereotyping and racial profiling others over their skin color. In the documentary Us Against The World, Rodrick Rhodes an African American former NBA player is hired as the head coach of Cordia high school. Rhodes is welcomed in the beginning but soon discriminated by the townspeople and school board members. Cordia high school wasn’t the best at basketball but when Rhodes was hired they went 20-9 and soon won the 2016 All A’s Basketball Championship. After they won the championship Rhodes’s contract was not renewed because he was accused of recruiting players from different schools.
In the movie Wit, Vivian Bearings is a well-known and accredited professor that teaches 17th century poetry. Vivian is diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She is convinced to try an experimental chemo treatment; which ends up failing. During the movie Vivian narrates her experience with her, chemo treatment, the medical staff, and the different stages of dying. Other supporting characters include Dr. Kelekian, the lead doctor who informed her of her diagnosis, Dr. Jason Posner, the clueless fellow and Susie, her sympathetic nurse. The complete lack of professionalism and bedside manner from the doctors and hospital staff is what stands forefront in this film. While hoping for a successful
Ordinary is the best and the worst word to describe August 4th, 1992 in Grand Haven, Michigan. Ordinary was the Coast Guard Day festival going smoothly just as it did every year. Ordinary was the townspeople celebrating at the festival or staying home and enjoying their day off. In the Borne house, ordinary was the children watching their cartoons in the living room. It was Carolyn finding some way to occupy her time by cleaning. It was Kevin being the normal workaholic at his desk with the smooth jazz records playing loudly to keep him company. It was Erin starting on her history assignment due the next day, despite having the past two weeks to work on it. What happened that day, though, was decidedly the most unordinary occurrence to
After reading the class notes for this film, I felt curiosity to watch this movie since I love films about love. Moreover, it was heartbreaking the scene where the men were trying to immigrate to another country due to the fact it involves dangerous obstacles while in that journey. Additionally, it felt good to know that there still good people in the world able to help others like the swimming professor who helped the boys from Iraq even though he could get in trouble because of the absurd law that it was forbidden to help immigrants. Furthermore, it was lovely to see how hard the boy was trying to be reunited with his girlfriend Minna, that he was able to risk his life for it. Also we could realize how much the swimming professor
“The New World” is a movie that was released in 2005, and was directed by Terrence Malick. This movie is set in the area we now call Virginia, in the year 1607. During this time, Jamestown was being formed by British settlers. The movie covers the formation of Jamestown. In this movie, there is a spin on the typical Jamestown story. “The New World” focuses mainly on the relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas. The two are followed through multiple plights and various other situations. The film, “The New World” is not a historically accurate representation of John Smith and Pocahantas` relationship, or even the Jamestown settlement.
The Graduate, a film directed by Mike Nichols in 1976, is a film that has influenced the way I view the world. It is a story of a college graduate, Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman), who finds himself trapped in the superficial or “plastic” world around him. Because of this, he feels trapped, depressed, and insecure about his future. This makes him an easy target for Mrs. Robinson (played by Anne Bancroft), the middle-aged cougar and wife of his father’s business partner. At Ben’s Graduation party, Mrs. Robinson manipulates Ben into driving her home and coming into her daughter’s bedroom, supposedly to look at her daughter’s picture, where she appears before him naked offering herself to him. Ben refuses her at first, but when Ben feels like he cannot escape the pressure of his future, he decides to start an affair with Mrs. Robinson as a way to mentally escape. Ben continues to meet Mrs. Robinson at night until he realizes
Although countless people convince themselves they are open minded, they may actually have enclosed themselves in a prison of ignorance. For example, spending the majority of time with friends who share a common upbringing sounds satisfying, but it does not provide much variety of experience and exposure to new viewpoints and ideas. Simply reading a book, such as an autobiography, or seeing a movie set in a different time or place, can illustrate multiple viewpoints and diverse experiences. For example, the movie The Way (2010), is the story of a man whose son dies while hiking the El Camino trail in the Pyrenees of France and Spain. The father decides to complete the pilgrimage himself in honor of his son and learns about himself and
Analyze This is a hilarious, feel good movie about two men from different backgrounds living completely opposite lifestyles. Through a series of very funny, random and bizarre moments they form a memorable friendship together. The movie came to theatres in 1999, was directed by Harold Ramis and included a cast full of some of Hollywood’s brightest stars. It begins with two gangsters leaving a café, discussing their plans to attend a meeting involving the countries major crime bosses. One gangster goes back in the café to get a toothpick and at the same time the other gangster is killed from a drive-by shooting. The movie’s plot is based upon the surviving gangster seeking out a psychiatrist to help with his emotional
If a film fails to capture the theme it attempts to portray, then what is the film actually about? One would hope a film titled Transcendence would provide a unique and original story for its audience. Instead, Transcendence is plagued with a weak script and terrible acting. The film is difficult to follow due to its lack of flow and the cinematography feels dated, filled with cheap CGI (computer-generated imagery) effects and poor lighting. The solid cast and a promising new director unsuccessfully captured the overall message of the script. In a movie where “love” serves as the main motive behind the main characters’ actions, one can’t help but notice the movie itself felt cold and emotionless. The plot twist at the end of the movie not only clashed with the main character’s actions, but it also failed to muster up a significant emotional connection to the audience.
UNITY is a 2015 documentary movie which explores how mankind can be transformed from the idea of living-by-killing into living-by-loving. It is a unique movie about empathy for all, in other words, all "expressions of life", going beyond all the things that separates us based on country, race, culture, believes, values, religion, and beyond what we perceive as opposite or different. It sheds light on the fact that when we feed on our differences, it only leads to war. I chose to watch and write about this film because of the cosmopolitan ideas it represents and its message of love, tragedy and hope. It appeals to our greater human understanding and call on us to end violence and war. It uses visuals from hundreds of short videos and pictures of original events in history from different sources and generations. Globalization has created some of the biggest threats to global peace, and this film captures it in a wonderful way to make a positive point. Kwame Anthony Appiah the author of Cosmopolitanism, in his book also shares this believes as depicted in the movie when he reflected on what he called the second strand of cosmopolitanism in his introduction; "the recognition that human beings are different and that we can learn from each other’s differences”. A concept the director of this film "UNITY" envisaged for the world. Cosmopolitanism combines a sense of genuine responsibility for other human beings as human beings with a deeper sense of commitment and accepting that we