Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Race Movies

Reading the chapter 4 of America On Film, i know about the race movies .
(from AOF, Race movies are independently produced black - cast films which were distributed to black movie theaters from the late 1910s to the 1950s .) 









Its very disappointing to read African Americans were not allowed to enter trade unions to learn skills such as editing or cinematography . That's why there are usually inferior technically.
I feel like it was completely unfair .I think everyone should get the opportunity to learn if they are talented or get the passion. The right to learn should not be decided by the race . Race is just nothing other than a color .
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Third Cinema

A few days ago, we learned about Third Cinema in class a few days ago.And I do find some information from the Internet.

According to Wikipedia,  'First Cinema' is to be the Hollywood production model that promulgates bourgeois values to a passive audience through escapist spectacle and individual characters. 'Second Cinema' is the European art film, which rejects Hollywood conventions but is centred on the individual expression of the auteur director. Third Cinema rejects the view of cinema as a vehicle for personal expression, seeing the director instead as part of a collective; it appeals to the masses by presenting the truth and inspiring aggressive activity.

Third Cinema Movies may not be the most popular movie catalog we watched as usually we watch those First Cinema Movies or Second Cinema Movies .It is because sometimes,we love watching something fancy and can be far away from reality.For example , maybe we watch the romantic love story in the Paris .What I am trying to carry out is like we love watching something nice . All the perfect background makes us wish we were inside the movie.Then what about Third Cinema movies ? Personally , I feel like we should watch in order to know how's life in those less well-developed country .Some director nowadays may film those places with aesthetic aspect .So I think it can be another kind of Arts.

Third Cinema movies are usually film in the third world such as Africa ,Asia or either Latin America.
Those places usually encounter with colonial and imperial in order to shape the economic and political power structures .Those films can usually show the historical background ,politics or culture of the places.

I think watching those kind movies can be beneficial to the attitude towards our life .Of course , nowadays ,most of us live in the modern city .But when the time ,we watched the movie from those third world country , we can know how lucky we are instead of just taking everything for granted.We have clean water ,sufficient food and safe shelter .Actually ,we are completed blessed.Besides,we may get more ideas about the historical and political background of those countries from them.Third Cinema movies  should be shown in the school because it is educational yet can be entertaining.










Information :http://thirdcinema.blueskylimit.com/thirdcinema.html
http://www.bugbog.com/images/main/china_travel_guide/hong_kong_travel_guide.jpg
http://www.mapkreke.com/blog/wp-content/haitihurricanejeanne.jpg
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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Thriller Movies and Horror Films:Make Your Heart Beat fast

Thriller Movies are definitely one of favourite movie genre .

Thriller is a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.The primary subgenres of thrillers are: mystery, crime and psychological thrillers (Definition is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )Actually,i am kind of chicken-hearted and i cant sleep at times because of that at times.But still ,I enjoy watching them .


Orphan (2009 )
Oh my god !It 's all about that little creepy girl .I really like that movie A LOT !It definitely meets all the requirement of a good thriller movie.It is with unexpected ending , creepy bloody scene ,and suspecting issues.I 'd strongly recommend if somebody who likes thriller .

Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre. (Definition is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
What Lies Beneath (2000)

It is a supernatural horror-thriller American film .It makes people think and bring them into another world .Besides , what i like about that is it doesn't contain lots of cruel or bloody scene .The director use another methods to create the creepy and suspecting atmosphere.

I like thriller movies while i don't like horror movie that much .But nowadays ,we can find a lot of mixture of these two types.
Maybe it's because of my belief ,i trust there are ghosts in the world .
Every time , after watching horror movies ,i 'd have a lot imagination about them .And the image about ghosts are really creepy to me .Instead , we can usually find psycho people or crime in those thriller movies ,on the top of that ,they are still human -being .I don't believe there are so many psycho people in the world .






http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/47/Orphanposter.jpg/220px-Orphanposter.jpg

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The First League :Lina Wertmüller

Reading over the AOF ,we realised Lina Wertmüller is the first female woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing .In order to know more about her ,i did a research about her background.

She was borned in Rome with a catholic Swiss family .And when she was young , she was pretty rebellious and she got expelled from a lots of Catholic school.She got into theatre school even though her family disagreed with.After graduated ,the next tens years , she has been trying to be an actresses and directors.
Finally,she was nominated with an Academy Award nomination for best director with the film -Seven Beauties.We watched the part of the beginning during classes.Here is another scene in the film.



It is funny yet clear .From this very short film ,we can realise the personality of the main character and the style of this film.No doubt ,it is definitely a good film .

I am very glad that Lina Wertmüller didn't give up movie because of her family .Her father has always wanted her to be a lawyer when she was young. However ,instead of going to law school ,she got into theatre school and pursuit her dream.After spending years of time making films ,eventually everything is worth and she is definitely a league .

I think we can learn from her .We always have a dream in our life .No matter how people around us think , we just live for ourselves .And do what we want for our life .And then nothing is impossible if we have the belief and we are willing to try .Before Lina  Wertmüller  ,we may not even think of women can be nominated as the men for the best director .She becomes famous and we all learn about her during class as she is already a part of the moive industry and an encouragment of women who are passionate about making films. We should be proud of her.

http://www.dvdnear.com/images/Seven-Beauties-Digitally-Remastered-Edition-B000E3L7L4-L.jpg
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

ARE females always VICTIMS ?

What is the typical Masculinity & Feminist on Screen ? No doubt , probably the males protect the female and save her from risk and danger as superman.It is because males always give others impressions -tough ,strong ,protective ,dominant or unemotional while people think of female like soft ,weak or breakable.Therefore , eight out from ten hero movies end up like that .

Followings are some examples which contain those typical sense.
One of the classic -Spiderman2 (2004) should not be forgotten .
There are several scene inside the movies talking about Mary Jane was caught by Spider-Man's enemies and then the spider man came and save her.Oh yeah .very true ,it does gives a lot imagination to teenage girls ,who dream of having a boyfriend like spider man ,protects and loves them all the time.It has been so hit and hot in America one time and even until now .

Another movie i wanted to mention -Twilight (2008)
I have no ideas how many girl's hearts were stolen by this film.Thinking about the first movie - Twilight
Edwards Cullen saved/helped Bella for a few times . For instance , the time the car was going to hit Bella , Edward stopped the car within a minute with his underlying power . Besides, when Bella was disturbed by a group of gangs ,Edwards came suddenly .And also , when she get caught by James , he was so mad ,fought and killed him finally .All those scene did make him as a hero .

What's more ,actually , male human being is not the only can be created as a hero while fictional monster can be too .King Kong (2005 )I watched this movie three times and i still like it A LOT .I have very great impression about the scene, talking about the dinosaurs tried to predate Anna .King Kong appears in the last minutes and protect her from danger.It did made him as a hero regardless he is a monster .

However , there are always EXCEPTION in the movie world .CAN women be Strong characters ?
Wonder woman (2009 ) - direct-to-video animated film focusing on the super heroine Wonder Woman. Though it is just an animation ,it still gives ideas about how a strong female character can be in a movie .

Oh well ,i don't know if i should talk about this movie as it is kind of horrible and kinky .
But if you re not a fans of horror or thriller films , you better not to watch .But still ,it is a good examples ,
 Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008 )
Unlike spider man , twilight or wonder women ,it is not a fantasy movie .Four people went on a trip together .One was kidnapped while two were killed by psycho "rusty nail ".  Melissa was the only one who can save her boyfriend .She was very brave and joined the danger games in order to save her boyfriend .Finally ,she did .

To conclude , the views towards Masculinity & Feminist still exists in nowadays society and the movie world .
People still like watching the typical story plot .However , it is not a must .Sometimes , we can still find some exceptions .But i believe ,as women are getting higher position in nowadays society than before, more and more movie about taking them as heroes will be produced .As being a woman , i 'm looking forwards to that ;) .





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Limitation To Movies -The Hayes Code

Last weekend ,we were required to read and write the summary about THE HAYES CODE.
Therefore ,i did a little bit research about that via the Internet . I was FREAKED OUT as there are so many RULES and RESTRICTIONS .
The Hayes code was created by Will H .Hays and governed the production of the majority of USMP releases.
Basically there are three general concepts about the rules(information from wikipedia )
  1. No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence, the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.
  2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.
  3. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.
No doubt , all the rules he set are positive .They aim to stop transmitting wrong message to the society.
 However ,it does limit CREATIVITY .Now, I want to move on and look at some of the details of the rules in order to get more specific ideas.I take some as examples .



This poster was banned under the code in 1932 .

Scenes of passion were not to be introduced when not essential to the plot. Excessive and lustful kissing was to be avoided, along with any other treatment that might stimulate the lower and baser element.

To my opinion ,its hard to be avoided them in romance . I almost find that is a must when watching chick flick.They are not completed without those scenes since they re like the climax .Those scenes are sensational and affectionate .Luckily , the movies nowadays have been divided into different standards like PG etc for audience with different age. It's better for audience to choose what they want to watch .


Murder scenes had to be filmed in a way that would discourage imitations in real life, and brutal killings could not be shown in detail. Revenge in modern times was not to be justified.
But ,actually ,i agree with this rules .It is because movies nowadays can spread bad message at times .Sometimes, even adults ,they try to imitate the characters inside the movie blindly ,let alone teenagers ,who are maybe less mentally or emotionally mature .Tragedies caused by imitations DID happened before , not once ,not twice .They are numerous .I think one thing it may help is like , usually ,the bad person inside the movie get serious consequence at the end .It would be more educational and help people analyse right from wrong .It can be an inspiration sometimes though.
In conclusion , i think The Hayes Code did give a lot of limitation to movie -making .It has both advantages and disadvantages.Nevertheless, from my perspective , some of them really made sense .It may not be a bad ideas for some of them to exist nowadays .


(pic from :http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Motion_Picture_Production_Code.gif/200px-Motion_Picture_Production_Code.gif
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Joan_blondell_2.jpg/200px-Joan_blondell_2.jpg )
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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Silent Films : Use Heart to listen

Last week, I watched the first silent movie in my life -Nanook of the North.Guess what, if I were not required to finish my homework, I probably would not watch it. Usually, when I heard about silent movies, my first impression of them would be boring. However, it changed my mind .It’s pretty interesting because it is so different from the movies we watched nowadays. I am curious and did some research on silent movies
What is silent movie? It is a film without any synchronized recorded sound and the dialogue is usually transmitted by actors’ gestures, pantomime and title cards.The first narrative film was created by Louis Le Prince in 1888 .It is called Roundhay Garden Scene. It was the world’s earliest surviving film. It talks about people walking around the roundhay garden.

Of course, when comparing with the movies nowadays, they can be less appealing. However, at that time, they are great entertainments for people .A lot people like watching them. Some of them earned the ever highest income in film industry .

One is the most popular one –The birth of the Nation (1915) .There are two parts inside the story--Pre-Civil War America and reconstruction. ( I think we watch a little part of the movie during the class .Personally ,I think it is pretty funny and hilarious .We can tell the body movement and facial expression are kind of exaggerate .Probably , they want to make the audience understand easily .
Another popular silent movie is called The Big Parade, which is produced in 1986. The background of the story is around World War I.A rich boy ,James, joined the US Army regardless of the displeasure of his rich business father .He makes some friends via the training camp , however , all of them are attracted to the pretty lady ,Melisande. And then they fell in love after all challenges but with a happy ending.

Another popular silent movie - Ben-Hur (1925)
That was also the second film which the story is based on novel.
Its a story related to race or christ.

Now , i have another thinking towards silent movies .Silent movies may not be boring .Without silent movies , we may not have the movies nowadays ,as movies were being developed steps by steps .Silent movies maybe a stepping stone towards the success of modern movies.And now , watching back those movies , i find out that they are a sort of ARTS ,which it is special in its own way .No doubt , i think its hard to understand sometimes without the dialouges .However , if i pay more attention to the movies and try to guess .I find out may not be as difficult as i think .


(Image from :http://movieposters.2038.net/p/Nanook-Of-The-North.jpg


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