Short Term 12 Film Analysis

Sharon: Good Morning Brisbane. Your back today with your very own host, Sharon Samuel, and today I am joined with the Indigenous rights and cultural experts, Bella Simmons and Sarah Nel. Today on Aboriginal affairs, we will be exploring the representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the Australian docudrama TV film, ‘Mabo’. Released in 2012, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Blackfella films have created a film that reflects the trials and tribulations Indigenous and torres strait islanders had to face. Rachel Perkins, Director of the film ‘Mabo’ helps us recognise the special connection, Aboriginals and Torres strait islander people have with their land. So Bella or Sarah, can you please

Short Term 12 is a provocative movie because it talks about troubling circumstances that are generally not mentioned. In this 2013 movie, which is written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the aftermath of abusive situation are discussed.

Individual’s identity can be formed through significant events but these events can also change and create a new identity. In the film ‘The sapphires’, Kay is introduced as a victim of the stolen generation which changed her life and her identity as she grew up believing she was white. This is evident in the scene where they show Kay with other girls in her apartment in Melbourne. The use of middle angle shot allows the responder to see Kay being assimilated into the white culture which juxtapose the difference in clothing, where and how they live and the way they speak between Kay and Gail and her sisters. As the film progresses, we notice the change in Kay’s identity as she feels the need to identify herself a black. This use of close up

The 2006 feature film Kokoda, was based on the true events that occurred during the Australian war in 1939-1945, between Australia and Japan at Papua New Guinea. The film displays great insights towards the Australian troop members, providing what their thoughts may have been about their situation and the environment around them. But the film is mainly focused on Australia’s troop members, and so fails as a historical source since it didn’t provide the complete story and facts about the battles that occurred at Kokoda, and the troop member’s views that had participated from Japan’s and Papua New Guinea’s army.

There were two different family structures portrayed in Juno, the first was Juno's family which included her dad, step-mom, and little sister. She also briefly mentions her mother who moved away and occasionally sends her gifts, but seems to have no other influence in her life. The second family structure was the couple that Juno decides she is going to give her baby to, this structure consists of the husband and wife and also, Juno since she is giving them her baby. The couple, Mark and Vanessa, play an important role throughout Juno's pregnancy, influencing the plot of the movie. Juno's friends Leah and Paulie, who is also the father of the baby, are also

The film Mosquita y Mari directed and created by Aurora Guerrero is a coming of age story set about Huntington Park in the southeastern part of Los Angeles. It uses tense scenery that seeks to explore what it means to be in a romantic relationship versus a close friendship. Furthermore, upon legitimizing Yolanda and Mari`s relationship the film provokes the audience to ask the question, “If they are queer, what is keeping them in the closet?” This question is most effectively answered by examining how Yolanda and Mari`s ethnicity, locational, and immigrant descendant identities intersect to keep them in the closet.

Dope is a film written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, which depicts the struggles and achievements of Malcom Adekanbi. Malcom, a teenager who is growing up in the Darby-Dixson neighborhood commonly known as “the bottoms” in Inglewood, California, understands who he isn’t, but struggles throughout the movie to figure out who he is. This film brilliantly explains a few reasons for delinquent behavior, including societal need to label and/or define people, which is often decided based on race, gender, socioeconomic status and social standing, as well as how to overcome obstacles that have been placed in front of us, thereby changing the trajectory of our lives. The following quote from the movie given by Malcom explains how labels have made it hard for him to figure out who he is: “For most of my life I’ve been caught in between who I really am and how I’m perceived. In between categories and definitions…. But when you don’t fit in you’re forced to see the world from many different angles and points of view” (Famuyiwa, 2015). Malcom wonders if he’s a geek, a poor black child who doesn’t know his father and is being raised by a single mom, a menace, a drug dealer or is actually Harvard material.

There are many characters that display different levels of Grit throughout the course of the movie. However between the father-son relationship, Marlin wins the Grit prize because he proves that it is possible to overcome a traumatic experience and although it was extremely difficult he got to the point where he was able to become vulnerable again. He was real and expressed understandable apprehension in situations that he had no control over. He truly deserves the credit because unlike most of the other characters, he has been through a horrific ordeal. Although it is gradual and with some prodding, Marlin develops the Grit it will take to step outside of his fears and embrace the uncertainty that will come with

The most critical factors in influencing the lives of these children as they evolved into adults are temperament and their relationship with their parents. Considering this, I was not aware of Suzy’s relationship with her parents, because that did not give much detail in 7Up, so my prediction of how she would turn out to be was incorrect. I predicted she would be an unmarried woman, with no children, and focused on her education and career throughout her entire life. However, when I wanted the film 56 Up, it painted a completely opposing picture of her. She dropped out of school and had two children by the age of 28 and then another at 35. She also sounds less confident in herself. When she was a child, she had full confidence of

The film Short Term 12 was written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, is based a short film by the same name also created by Cretton, it follows the lives of the children and counsellors of an adolescence foster care facility. The original Short film was highly acclaimed and won the Jury Prize at Sundance in 2009.

Warwick Thornton is an Australian Aboriginal film director that focuses his films on the struggles of Aboriginal people. Thornton was born in Alice Springs and spent most his childhood days living in a small Aboriginal community where he experienced the discrimination against Aboriginal people and the violence that existed in the community. Through experiencing discrimination and violence in his childhood, Thornton decided to learn cinematography to show Australians and people around the world the struggles an Aboriginal person faces and that it is still present in this day and age. Thornton may be considered an auteur as he has his own distinct style of camera work, his hand-held camera and the use of long takes which are both present in his

The 1938 film, “Mamele,” directed by Joseph Green and Konrad Tom is musical comedy-drama that portrays the life of Havche, a dutiful daughter who keeps her family intact after their mother’s death. Havche spends her day cleaning the house and providing food for her family members. She is so caught up on doing household chores that she has little time for herself. More importantly, the film emphasizes on Havche and her family, as she tries to be the mother and take care of her family. Throughout the movie, we witness the struggles Havche overcomes by not being appreciated for the sacrifices she makes. It isn’t until she finds comfort from Schlesinger, a violinist who lives across her. The film also embraces the entire gamut of interwar Jewish

Throughout this class, various discussions and blogs have been used to analyze the different elements of films such as theme, cinematic techniques and genre. It is time to bring all of these separate elements together in the analysis of one specific film, according to class text, “analyzing levels of meaning below the surface story can greatly enhance enjoyment as well as understanding of a film” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014. p. 10.03). There are several different approaches to film analysis including formalist, auteurist, and generic or any combination thereof. Utilizing a genre theory lens, the 1956 film The Searchers will be analyzed addressing contextual information, story/plot, aesthetic choices, social/personal impact and how these areas come together to develop the film.

When looking through Noam Chomsky's five filters I saw a few that apply to this film. The first filter is size/concentrated ownership which in this case would be Rupert Murdoch who owns a big portion of the media and is extremely wealthy. The second filter is advertising, which is the way Fox News chooses to advertise there news is by making it seem like everything is breaking news and urgent. For example there Fox News Alert, whenever you hear that noise your brain automatically thinks it going to be something important when it may not be now since they are poorly choosing what is breaking news.The third filter is Elite Sources and when you have the mostly elite people running your program that are republicans, that’s going to be taken under consideration when delivering certain information. These filters are what keeps a

The historical evidence suggest that the film ‘Kokoda’ is a nearly accurate representation of the events of the Kokoda Campaign in 1942. The film accurately portrays the soldiers’ attitudes, conditions and the terrain of the Kokoda Track although there is a few events missing, such as the Japanese cannibalism, but other than that it is a great short way for anyone to learn about the Kokoda Campaign. It started on the 21st July and lasted until 16th November in 1942. Approximately 625 Australians died, over 1600 suffered from injuries and more than 4000 were suffering from illnesses such as malaria and dysentery. (Australian War Memorial, Date Unknown)