Category: Cinema

Introduction: Racism and How It Is Reflected in Africans in America

Racism (a human anti- homogeneousness), more than any other sentimental tool of sectionalism, has placed humankind on a point of worry- especially as depicted in black and white hatreds; what can best be described as black/white social wars. These hatreds have continued to be issues to reckon with in America for centuries particularly since the beginning of black slavery. America has pronounced racial issues, not just black and white incompatibilities but also disputes involving Asian-Americans, Native-Americans, Latin-Americans, and even European-Americans. However, differences between white and blacks are most frequent and intense; and at times could involve assaults, xenophobic exclusions, imperialism, and legal imposition of sanctions. The implication of this is that for centuries, America has been in a dilemma and chaos; certain races are considered true human more than others based on their place of origin and body color- a situation that is best likened to what Orwell related in Animal Farm:

&all animals are equal but some are more equal than others (Orwell 1945).

Indeed, racism could be pictured as some humans are more equal than others, and Africans in America have attempted to identify this human-natured aspect.

The documentary has rightly identified the institutionalization of black slavery as the backbone which has supported black and white racist issues the most in the US. It notes that black slaves were looked at as mere properties- that could be bought, used and sold at will.

Before slavery was institutionalized in the US, Africans and Non-Whites who migrated to the US became colonized and were considered as equals who served in sharecropping together with whites. This was only set apart after slavery took over trafficking. According to Meltzer:

After the institution of slavery the status of Africans was stigmatized, and this stigma was the basis for the more virulent anti-African racism that persisted until the present (Meltzer 1993, 73).

Africans in America therefore has presented a revelation of the institutionalization of human anti- homogeneousness particularly as it is the case with the US.

Africans in America: The Transformation Synopsis

Quite a historic story as it is, the four series of Africans in America presented from WGBH-Boston reconsiders the institutionalization and personalized nature of how the US inherited slavery. It also discloses and invites third parties to consider the realities about slavery and racism which schools might have failed to identify with. The fist volume of this series dwells the time 1450-1750 when Portuguese searching for gold discovered Africa and began capturing a number of workers from there. This brought about Northern American colonies rapid advancement as well as that of the Caribbean. Studies conducted by Ronald on the issue relate the transformation at this instance to be:

&the several concurrent transformations in America, including the slow, deliberate process in which indentured servants became slaves for life, the transformation of free colonies into slave states, and the loss of hope among Africans who began to realize that their children would inherit the scourge of slavery (Ronald 1993, 108).

The first of the series exhumes the situation as it was before slavery began to haul Africans to their New-Worlds. It also exhumes economic situations that nurtured slavery at the time. The series is maximally dependent on existent imageries as well as on factual accounts in the reenactment of the drama. The series has equally identified present-day perspectives/interpretations that have become very necessary in promoting a common culture in the United States. Bassett Angela narrates the story that also includes Barry Unworth, Colin Powell, and Edgar John in the cast- where as Orlando Bagwell executively produces the series.

A Reflection on Africans in America

As a documentary movie, Africans in America are confronted with several hindrances and raises the doubt as to whether such a medium offers the most accepted platform for the exploration of the subject-matter. The peculiarity of the subject-matter makes the presentation specific and demanding. From Trefferts point of view:

Of course, all film derives its power from its visual effect; the medium is in general less suited for analytical discourse than those that depend on the written word (Treffert 2000, 97).

Based on the fact that the movie is a narrative of non-celebrated people who existed before the existence of movies, there is the challenge of accentuation caused by the non availability of factual footage. It has become very difficult to tell what the movie should present.

The series has however dealt with the issue of what to show by presenting various differing images that, in a sum, have expressed a sturdy-mosaic of enduring long sufferings. The series is expressed by Perdue in the following:

There are still shots of paintings and landscapes; moving shots of rippling water and fields of wheat; occasional re-enactments of dramatic events; and interviews with 35 talking heads, mostly historians (those who appear most frequently are Margaret Washington, David Blight, and Norrece T. Jones Jr.) but also public figures (Colin Powell) and writers (Chinua Achebe) (Perdue 2003, 383).

At instances where possibility permits, the series is directed towards conducts of pronounced individuals who have a place in history- quite a few in episodes one and two. Bassetts narrative of the story is done in a solemn manner, whereas Bernice ensures the provision of plaintive music. When this production is placed side by side with a movie such as Rain Man; where an articulately edited quick-paced movie with lots of distinct and highly captivating pop-music portrays autism as an essential element for shaping societys view, there is always a point for reconsidering the production (Kael 2000, 72).

To put the point clear, mutated neuroligin- 3 molecules was used in a particular study as an extraction for testing mice from human genomes and infected mice where afterwards tested to access how social they interacted with uninfected ones- the infected mice were caged together with uninfected ones. It was realized that the infected animals retracted from interactions sooner than uninfected littermates. The infected animals were able to locate a relocated podium easier than the rest  probably as they sort to retract from social interactions. The importance of this analysis to US is that understanding movies psychologically would improve how people socialize.

Africans in Americas expression of racism could show an inauguration of a familiar and erroneous media stereotype. However, very often, movies are produced to express psychopathology due to the fact that such expressions exude the mysterious aspect of drama. In movies such as Forrest Gump (1994) or I am Sam (2001), there is the distortion of the reality of racism. Appropriate definition and usage of ups and sounds for a particular movie is equally very essential for achieving an objective of conveying an intended message to viewers. It would have been excellent for the documentary to incorporate ancient African Music such as is played in Soweto, among the Zulus, in Nigeria, among the Tivs, and so on.

As a whole, it can not be denied that the entirety of the episodes have expressed some kind of appreciable strength. The various episodes are a far wider reaching medium for expressing the slavery story as may be compared with other media such as prints. The series preset a few instances of inaccuracy, how these may not be of a worry to any person or persons except they have a deep interest in history. As illustration, the documentary supposes that a compromise of Missouri was responsible for a halt of slave-freedom, and has failed to mention the application of 1820s law on federal territories. However, there is an excellent usage of thirty-five talking-heads; a number of them have been accomplished person in slavery history.

Conclusion

Africans in America has four serial components and was first presented at PBS in the year 1998. It is a trace of Africans path to the US through slavery. The series was penned by Fayer Steve and takes approximately 360mins. Presently, the issue of racism in the US is on the verge of a turn, even though expectedly the turn might not be so dynamic. In the entire series, there is a great reminder of black resiliencies.

The hatred which erupted in America based on the color of ones skin is not positive for the general interest of humanity. One movie which can be compared with Africans in America, which has had a very strong message of unity, is Remember the Titans starring D. Washington. The success of the latter is based on its adaptation of football as a common ground of bringing the interest of people together.

Reference List

Kael, Peter Longman. Rain Man at Metacritic.New Yorker: Guya House, 2009.

Meltzer, Milton. Slavery: A World History. New York: A Da Capo Press, 1993.

Orwell, George. Animal farm. England: Secker and Warburg, 1945.

Perdue, Theda. Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South. Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2003.

Ronald, Takaki. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1993.

Treffert, David Anuh. Extraordinary People: Understanding Savant Syndrome. Omaha: Backinprint Universe, 2000.

Introduction

The film, The Chess Players gives a detailed analysis of the events that took place before the infamous Indian rebellion that occurred in the year 1857. During this period, religious leaders who focused mainly on pleasure and spiritual practices governed different societies and communities in this region. Traditional chess was a common form of leisure associated with many wealthy people. The purpose of this paper is to describe what this game symbolizes in the targeted movie.

The Game of Chess in the Selected Film

The British manage to overthrow the leader of the identified Indian Awadh or kingdom due to poor coordination and his inability to pursue the needs of all followers. In the film, the viewer learns more about the interesting story of Mir Roshan Al and Mirza Sajjad Ali who appear to be obsessed with an ancient form of chess known as shatranj (The Chess Players). The Nawab or leader of this community remains extravagant, thereby finding it hard to control or oppose every intention the British undertake to overthrow him.

With the above kind of leisure, the viewer observes that many people are unable to oppose the seizure of the Awadh kingdom by the British soldiers. The described noblemen abandon their relatives, wives, and friends and decide to hide in a remote village that has not witnessed the unfolding events (The Chess Players). The rulers appear to have detached themselves from the challenges many people continue to face.

From this representation, it is evident that the director of this film uses shatranj to symbolize several elements or things that define the targeted society. The first one is that it depicts the kind of disorganization that many people in Awadh experience. This is true since its leader appears to prefer pleasure instead of protecting his followers (The Chess Players). Those who embrace this game do not have enough time to follow the aims or activities that matter in their lives. They also fail to consider activities that can meet the needs of different community members.

The second aspect is that chess depicts the inability of the ruling class and elites of Awadh to collaborate and address things that matter the most. Since the two noblemen presented in this film embrace shatranj more than anything else in their lives, they end up losing numerous opportunities and resources (The Chess Players). Consequently, their dedication to shatranj is what makes it easier for the British to colonize Awadh and acquire different resources.

Thirdly, shatranj can signify the inferiority of different Indians living in the selected society. They ignore every important thing in life even though they are rich and have adequate resources. This misbehavior is what eventually costs them their freedom, thus being unable to achieve their objectives in life (The Chess Players). The desire to play chess in a different village that has not experienced turmoil or conflict is a clear indication that many Indians in the depicted society are unable to confront foreign rule or pressure from the British.

Conclusion

The above discussion has analyzed the concept of symbolism and how filmmakers use it to deliver the intended message to the viewer. Shatranj depicts the leadership inadequacies, primitiveness, and disorganization that made it possible for the British to colonize Awadh. Consequently, this kind of portrayal explains how such an addiction led to the loss of freedom in India.

Work Cited

Ray, Satyajit, director. The Chess Players. Kino Video, 1977.

Introduction

Dazed and Confused is a 1993 film directed and written by Richard Linklater. The film is a coming-of-age comedy with an ensemble cast of future Hollywood stars. The budget of the movie was only $8 million in America. Nevertheless, it was later recognized as a cult film. Dazed and Confused represents a vivid and picturesque depiction of teenagers the last day in school in unique narrative techniques that deviate from the conventions of Classical Hollywood Storytelling.

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Richard Stuart Linklater is a well-known American screenwriter, producer, director, and actor. As has been already mentioned, the cast of the film was represented by the future stars, namely Jason London, Milla Jovovich, Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, Adam Goldberg, and others. The action takes place in May 1967 in the imaginary Lee High School in Texas (Macor 150). The last day of school of freshmen and seniors is depicted in the plot. The freshmen are worried about avoiding humiliation and paddling from the seniors while the latter is aimed at hazing kids to keep with traditions and looking for new places for partying (Murray par. 4).

The narration of Dazed and Confused differs from the Classical Hollywood Storytelling. The Classical Narrative Structure is the most widely-used and standard technique of narration for films. A three-act format is a core element of it. It presupposes that the action starts from the Setup, where all characters with their goals and problems are represented. Usually, that is the part where the main antagonist and protagonist are introduced. Then comes the Development of the story, where a particular conflict takes place. Finally, the climax and the closure of the story are called the Resolution (Classical Narrative Structure par. 1-7).

The purpose of Richard Linklater was to make an original and truthful representation of teenage life. Thus, he created both a sincere and ironic story that was referred to as the teen pic genre (Johnson 28). Even more, the director rewrote the rules, putting the plot in a one-day narrative structure (Sharf par. 4). The following techniques enhance the overall execution of the story as far they exemplify Linklaters personal and creative vision. The most significant alternative storytelling technique is the employment of the ensemble plot. Thus, there are different stories of the characters, and all of them are described as equal. The second alternative technique is the so-called anti plot. The main features of anti-plot are anti-structure, non-linear time, and loose causalities. All of these are typical for the Dazed and Confused. The Hub-and-Spokes ordering of the events may be regarded as the third alternative technique only to some extent. There are a lot of protagonists and storylines, but all of them converge not on the same event, but on the same problem. They all render the issue of teenage life. One more important technique concerns the usage of music. The characters are disclosed through the special music chosen for every particular protagonist (DArpino par. 5). The fifth narration method consists in the fact that the typical classical storytelling structure of focusing on the actions deviates. The whole picture is focused on characters and conversations between them. The sixth technique is conducted with the help of formulaic narratives deviations. Finally, the seventh technique is the creation of a unique feeling that somebody is constantly watching though there are no adults who control teenagers.

Conclusion

The deviations of the Classical Hollywood Storytelling employed in the Dazed and Confused assisted Richard Linklater to achieve his primary purpose. The director was aimed at the most realistic and vivid depiction of teenage life and using the alternative narration styles he made a film that became cultic.

Works Cited

Classical Narrative Structure n.d. Web. 2015.

DArpino, Adam 2015, 21 Things You Might Not Know About Dazed and Confused. Web.

Johnson, David. Richard Linklater. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2012. Print.

Macor, Alison. Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids:Thirty Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas. Texas: University of Texas Press, 2012. Print.

Murray, Noel 2014, Keynote: The teenage utopia of Dazed And Confused, in 10 screenshots. Web.

Sharf, Zack 2014, 6 Times Richard Linklater Expertly Played With Narrative. Web.

Despite the fact that contraception as a phenomenon has been in existence for centuries, it was the introduction of the pill contraceptive that stirred a sheer outrage in the United States. While the idea of planned parenthood was understandable and acceptable at the time, the concept of a pill as the means of birth control did not sit well with the American society.

Though the significance of the acceptance of the specified medicine is often overlooked, it is the introduction of the famous pill that was a major step forward in promoting the prochoice view on the issue and advocating womens rights all over the country, as the movie The Pill shows in a very graphic way.

When it comes to identifying the reasons for the unwillingness of the American society to accept the pill and admit women to their right to make a choice concerning childbirth, one must mention the lack of general awareness on the topic. Indeed, as the movie shows, manifesting itself in complete lack of concept about sexual relationships in general and what these relationships may lead to in particular: There was this smoldering something that we were all supposed to know about but had no way of getting the information (The Pill 00:00:45).

Locating the reasons for the pill to get such a negative social response from nearly the entire population of the United States, one must admit that the personal idea of purity and proper sexual behavior had little to do with the reality  in fact, it had insultingly little to do with the latter. These were the Puritanism views in the American society of the time and the what-would-the-neighbors- think attitude (The Pill 00:01:39) that defined the attitude towards the concept of childbirth control and the idea of using a pill as the key tool for it.

The pill, therefore, was not only the means of introducing a more careful parenthood planning system into the relationships of a husband and a wife, but also a tool for shaping the sanctimonious morals that the society of the time was powered by. Therefore, the revolutionary suggestion that Gregory Pincus came up with could be viewed as a salvation for women all over the USA.

Though the scientist is mostly credited for promoting the idea of using the hormone progesterone as the main ingredient of a birth control pill, he, in fact, should be praised for a different kind of innovation  before Pincus came up with the idea of using the hormone for birth control, the effects of progesterone on the female body had already been known, yet, much to the researchers surprise, the GD Searle Company was doing little with it (The Pill 00:20:12).

This does beg the question whether the prohibition of the pill, which was issued in the encyclical on the subject matter, was intended for the moral fabric of the Catholic people to remain intact, or for the church to refuse from providing women with their rights.

The controversy of the decision is that the Humanae Vitae speaks of marriage in lyrical terms (The Pill 00:42:58), i.e., provides a view of sex that respects the human person (The Pill 00:43:03), yet simultaneously denies women their basic human right in making a choice in the specified domain.

Because of the importance of the change that the introduction of pills as contraceptives has made to the lives of millions of women all over the United States, it must be viewed as a giant step in fighting for womens rights in the USA, as the movie shows rather convincingly. The movie has shown that the issue has been topical for quite a while and is not going to become any less significant any time soon. In the 21^st-century wake of the fight for human rights, though, major changes may occur to the public perception of the pill.

Works Cited

The Pill. PBS. New York City, NY: American Experience. 2003.

Introduction

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. The protagonist, Shaun, is having a troubled period in his life. He split with his girlfriend and wants to make up with her, but this day dead people raise and everything goes out of sync. This film is considered to be a mixture of two genres  comedy and horror, so it includes the conventions of both.

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In the majority of comedies, some deficiencies, foibles, or frustrations of life lie at the root, which can be seen in the Shaun of the Dead. The main character faces a lot of problems. He gets temporary work in an appliance store, but the staff does not want to treat him seriously, so his girlfriend Liz suggests he change this job for a better paying one. Liz and he cannot find a common language in the latter days. She believes that Shaun neglects her and does not want to find more time for their relationship. The cause of this turns out to be his lightheartedness and irresponsibility, as the man forgets to book a table for them to make peace. Moreover, trying to keep the relations with mother Shaun arranges a dinner and forgets to buy her some flowers. However, the protagonist does not seem to be agitated by this. His attitude and actions are not that of an ordinary man, which attracts the viewers attention and makes them try to predict possible solutions. These unpleasant events also form the starting point for the film and contrast serious and funny things vivid.

The invasion of the living dead is described in the film. Zombies, horrible creatures, who used to be peoples relatives, friends, and colleagues returned to life in order not just to kill, but to eat them or communicate a virus to them. Such events can be the beginning of the apocalypse, which entails no human being left on the Earth. The theme and the development of the action are common for horror films. It is claimed that zombies occurred due to beliefs of the Voodoo cults and then spread into literature and movies. Today this subject attracts youth, so the director and the writers did not go wrong by choosing and modifying it.

So the film is focused on the macabre events, which is to horror fans liking. All stages of zombie onset are described. At first, this situation is claimed to be an ordinary disease, but soon nothing can hide the truth. So the streets are full of monsters, the characters try to beat them until they lose, the military saves the situation, and peace returns to the city. If all these were not interlaced with comic episodes, the film could be considered a real horror.

The ending of the Shaun of the Dead is unexpected. The fact that the main hero is playing with his zombie friend, just as if he was a normal human being, is that of fun and surprise. It combines some elements of horror, as Edgar is dead and will never become the person he used to be, and comedy, as the situation, seems to be very delightful and joyful. It shows that nothing changed their free-and-easy lifestyle.

Conclusion

Thus, conventions of comedy and horror can be found in the Shaun of the Dead. They underline the peculiarities of the film and help the director to bring the idea to life by enhancing the overall execution of the screen story.

Introduction

The passenger is one of the best science fiction or sci-fi movies of the year 2008. It is very interesting in that it carries very comparable themes and plots into a far distant future of the year 2818. This twist is certainly not uncommon to the genre, but the ease with which the story flows, and the plot woven together with the main story in In this case is very interesting.

Summary

The story starts with the main character Jim waking up from cryogenic sleep or suspending the animation. He then realizes from the onboard robots and androids that he woke up about a century before his expected time. At first, he doesnt understand the malfunction that leads to his sudden awakening, but later on, in the story he does. He leads a hopeless life for over a year regularly drinking with his newfound best friend, the Android Arthur. He then finally decides To rig the cryogenic pod belonging to Aurora, whom she has admired all along.

The action sets the course of the drama that follows. Aurora believes that it was fate that brought them together developed feelings for him, she later has the rude awakening to learn that fate had nothing to do with the circumstances that led to them ending up together. She and Jim break up and stay about a whole year without proper communication only the occasional arguments here and there when they did meet.

At some point towards the end of the year, the story changes as we see Aurora losing her interest in writing, and even her painting become quite depressing. Jim on the other hand also undergoes a behavioral transformation as she seeks to patch things up with his former lover. He rigs up the golf cart adding more battery power and installing bigger wheels. He drinks less and is very receptive to the woman whose heart she broke just as he thought to propose to her with a golden ring he had made her.

On one day as they were on their routine, the intercom came alive, and a third human voice ran through the public address system. Gus had also awakened from suspended animation. His pod had also suffered the same catastrophic failure as Jim. Jim and Aurora meet him, and he opens the command center explaining the impossibility of turning the spaceship back to Earth. He then describes his role in the ship and his history as a spaceman then proceeds to help them initiate the diagnostic utility to help them figure out the problem they were facing and the possible solution. He later learns that his space travels have had a catastrophic toll on his health and would die in three days. He decides that the only acceptable way for him to die is by his terms and ejects himself off the ship into outer space.

After his death, Jim and Aurora discover their main problem that also threatening to blow the whole ship, killing them and the other passengers who are still unaware of the impending danger around them. They eventually find a way of salvaging the vessel but them rebooting the central computer that controls the onboard systems makes the computer think it has arrived at its destination thus starting ejecting the pods. They later manage to fix this and to have done that, Aurora discovers that she loves Jim and confesses her love and forgiveness. Jim says that she missed, and they hold hands as they stare off into the stars.

Scientific realism

This scientific realism is visible in the setting and context within which the story takes place. There is a lot of interaction with science from the onset of the story. This interaction is the medium for all that happens in the main thing. It in itself represents a critical part of the overall screenplay without that the significance of the plot can be lost. The realism can is visible in the presentation of the authors ideas and his explanation of the surroundings. Scientific realism creates a fusion in the mind of the audience between the real world and the fictitious scientific world that has been established by the author.

First-person narration

The first-person narrative is visible throughout the play and is indeed the prominent mode of narration. The screenplay has very few characters and, for this reason, there is a lot of conversation presented in the first person. The narration is the primary way we get to learn about the characters feelings and emotions. The experiences of love that were experienced by the character of Aurora were communicated using the first-person account.

The story within a story

The style of having a story within a story has been present a few times in the story. It is essential in providing background information that helps the reader and viewer in character formation. It helps in understanding the characteristics of the individuals in the screenplay. A good example of this is in a the-the story about guys where he informs Jim and Aurora about his background. How from the age of sixteen he has worked in space And why he refers to himself as a spaceman.

Distancing effect

This literary effect has been visible in that the writer has been observed distancing himself from the decisions of the characters choosing instead just to present them as a vague figure. A good example of this is the way Jim corrupted the pod belonging to Aurora so that she can wake up. It is only until later that one understands his logic and reasoning that it was out of a lover. This literary device as applied in this context leaves the reader or viewer with a moral dilemma of whether to support the main character or not. This decision and withdrawal are necessary as they helped this screenplay by thickening the plot.

Irony

The story also employs irony as a style that is visible in the end. The seemingly irrational decision to awaken Aurora is the main reason that helped her survive and assist the other passengers on the ship. The irony of a weak and irresponsible decision bringing about triumph to the greater good sums up the plot.

My opinion

My opinion is that this play does a good job of delivering the intended plot to the audience. It is very cohesive and properly engaging. The only point of concern is the ending as most readers will not understand what happens at the end of the play. The conclusion certainly works well as an element of suspense, but it certainly doesnt feel like it. It just ends too abruptly. Nonetheless, the plot of love in space has indeed been realized.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the fusion in the story between science betrayal, and love has been very integral in achieving the objectives of literary devices other related items. It makes the story interesting and thoroughly entertaining.

Purpose of the Documentary Habitual Sadness

Habitual Sadness is a documentary that gives a record of historical events in Korea. It serves as a reminder of the humiliation, oppression, and harassment that women experienced during the two world wars. Japanese men sexually oppressed Korean women during the Second World War. In this documentary, women who underwent this oppression share their painful memories with the rest of the world. The documentary, therefore, gives evidence of the strength of Korean women; they survived the oppression. They were very old during the filming of the documentary.

Kang Duk-Kyung, one of the comfort women, hopes that everyone will watch the film because it may encourage many people to help the comfort women. She adds that they feel hurt, and vows to fight the Japanese until they are all dead. These Korean women are seeking compensation from their government for the pain and suffering they experienced during World War II. They also seek acknowledgment for the role they played in the world war, and are afraid that they might die before the government meets their demands. The women made art, which they displayed at a museum in a communal home where they lived.

They made paintings as a way of expressing their pain. This art shows the rest of the world the pain and humiliation they experienced. It also prompts other women to fight for their rights. Advocating for womens rights will help curb future sexual oppression and slavery.

Lack of Feature Films on Comfort Women

Filming the experiences of comfort women in Korea is very difficult. This difficulty comes about because the women still live in shame and pain. They are not ready to share their stories with other people since it is humiliating. In my opinion, the lack of feature films on common women is because of the ill-treatment they received from the people of Korea. Due to their experiences, their consideration as objects of sexual pleasure and not as victims of oppression and slavery is to be expected. In addition, I tend to think that the comfort women cannot entertain treatment as objects again since it caused them pain and shame during the war.

The isolation of the comfort women is also a contributing factor to the nonexistence of films on comfort women. I think the isolation makes them feel unwanted and outcasted of the community. The isolation alienates them from the rest of the world. They struggle with emotional distress resulting from shame and the pain from their experiences. Based on the analysis of Korean movies with female roles, I have learned that the roles did not empower women but rather, show women the consequences they might face if they overstep boundaries. Telling their experiences brings back the pain they have been trying to forget.

Major Issues in the Film

The documentary, Habitual Sadness, shows the problems that women faced all over the world during World War II. In Korea, women were ashamed of what Japanese men did to them. The film reveals how some women died due to venereal diseases, while others served as shields for the Japanese soldiers. Many other women died from regular rape. These experiences were shameful and humiliating. The women did not even want to go back to their families because of this shame. Their families and the Korean government did not pay any attention to them. They lived in poverty in a home that a Buddhist charity built for them.

No man wanted to marry any of these women due to their experiences. They conceived and bore children because of rape and sexual slavery. Worse still, they remained illiterate, and no one listened to their pleas despite demonstrating for two hundred days in front of the Japanese embassy. These women are heroes and survivors of political war and should receive fair treatment.

The Lives of Others is a film released on 23^rd March 2006, written and directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck. Having been brought up in a divided Germany, East and West Germany, Donnersmarck relates well with this film and its authenticity. Importantly, the film bases its plot on the aftermath of the cold war, a significant period in Germanys history characterized by various forms of discrimination. Germanys split into different occupation zones with neighbouring countries supporting different factions for individual benefits, the film presents a divided country and comprehensively details cultures in conflict.

Plot-wise, the film explains the aftermath of Nazi Germanys defeat by exploring various consequences that the two factions, East and West Germany, went through in their bid to control one another. The film explores control and management tactics by socialists and capitalists and the resulting consequences to the public. In addition, the film addresses the need to reconstruct trust, harmony and integration of views and practices from historical, political and economic divides.

Content-wise, the film is explained in German, giving it contextual relevance to the primary audience. It rhymes with the political context of Nazi Germany during the cold war and the socio-economic patterns at the time. By presenting Wiesler as a Stasi Officer and his role of spying on Georg Dreyman, a playwright, it explains the political environment in Germany during the era of the cold war. Theme wise, true human nature and freedom of conscience are brought out as necessities of a productive and morally upright society. The groups presentation on the content and dialogues aspects was to the point and elaborates on the literary aspects for content and comprehension.

The lives of others is linear in that the audience understands each section and subsection in real-time. The lighting and camera choices are surrealistic and the scenes presentation augments the prose of the storyline. Editing and sound effects during the interrogation scene create a situation of anguish, fear and duress to the suspect who demanded a little sleep to get him together. Lighting and background music supplement the fundamental meaning of the film whereby dull bluish and orange tints express scenes of torture, rage and traumatic incidences. Deeply-voiced tracks and heart-throbbing sound effects supplement the facial makeups and emotional swings that develop the sequential integration of diverse socio-political and economic divides during the time.

The groups film screening manifests the content and the technical integration of the social and political diversities of divided Nazi Germany. Integrating the social aspects of welfare dictatorship by East Germans with parliamentary democracy by West Germans is manifested in the exchange of words and views about leadership and the welfare of the political divides. For example, the Eastern faction is presented as a calm section from their warm greetings and dialogues compared to the Western faction characterized by rage, emotional turmoil and discriminative grief directed towards the leadership. In addition, the interrogation scene manifests the dictatorial aspects combined with the biased and discriminative view on innocence and true human nature at times of fear, grief and disillusion in diverse political and social contexts.

The groups presentation brings forth a unique definition of the lives of others on a conceptual and contextual basis. Literature manifests its role in addressing the true nature of human beings concerning different socio-economic and political platforms, and this film tells it all.

Background

The United States leads the war on terror and works hard to ensure every American and people from different parts of the world enjoy their freedoms. The war on terror has seen Americans die or get injured as they struggle to maintain peace within and outside the territories of this country. Gold Star Children is a movie produced and directed by Mitty Griffis Mirrer after experiencing the challenges of the effects of terrorism. She has done other noble activities and organized events that help victims of war to recover from the shocks of the losses they experienced. This discussion explores how Mitty Griffis Mirrrer has portrayed the tribulations that children experience and how they manage them after their parents are killed in wars.

Summary

This movie portrays the lives of two generations that experienced war during different times. The main characters include a woman and young girl that lost their parents during the war in Vietnam and Afghanistan respectively. They meet and interact and this enables them to share their experiences and realize that there is life after the death of their loved ones. These characters demonstrate the challenges women and children experience when men leave their families to go and fight for their countries.

The woman experienced serious challenges and the effects of the Vietnam War made her stressed. She was unable to share her experiences with anybody because she feared being stigmatized. The local community at that time had anti-war sentiments; therefore, she kept quiet most of her childhood times to avoid being victimized by those that did not support the war. On the other hand, the young girl shows the challenges children experience in modern American society where parents that work in the military abandon their parental responsibilities and risk their lives to fight the war on terror in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Cierra Becker is among the children that suffer the losses caused by the American governments decision to attack terrorists in foreign countries. The movie has various scenes of police officers, cemeteries, children, and women and they portray the events that take place in modern American society.

The tone used by the narrator shows the fear, desperation, and pessimism that are associated with the war on terrorism. However, the producer gives hope to children that have lost their parents to war and shows that they can overcome their loneliness by sharing their experiences with other people in society.

Analysis and Opinion

Most American soldiers have suffered as a result of their commitment to ensuring America becomes the safest country in the world. However, this has cost their families a lot by robbing them of their heads. In addition, children like Cierra Becker become stigmatized when they realize that their parents paid the price of insecurity in America or other countries. There is a need for America to ensure the security of its soldiers is given adequate attention.

There is no need for its soldiers to die in other countries, yet this does not guarantee that there will be security in America. In addition, children and parents left by soldiers killed in wars should understand that these victims demonstrate their patriotism. It is important to explain that the war on terror will not be won by sitting in offices and issuing orders, but by fighting terrorists from any location in the world.

Introduction

The movie, 12 Angry Men showcases the trial of a young boy, who is accused of stabbing his father and causing him death. Throughout the play, the jury can follow through the actions of 12 men, who compose the jury. All of these men come from different backgrounds and the most astounding feature of the movie is in the manner that the experiences and personalities of these members of the jury influence their initial perception of the case. The personal bias and past experiences of jurors number 10, 11, and 3 are brought on focus, as they serve to inform the biased notions they have toward the accused. The film is an expose and indictment of the American jury system, which purports to uphold a strong sense of lack of bias and infallibility.

Analysis

A jury made up of 12 highly learned men is tasked with the responsibility of deciding the fate of a poor uneducated boy, who was accused of murdering his father. The provocative film then examines how the deep-seated prejudices, biases in perception, indifference to justice, ignorance, fear, and personalities among other traits of the 12 men of the jury cause them to concentrate on the superficial issues, ignoring the real issues that were involved in the case.

It takes the bravery of one member of the jury (8) to vote not guilty and lead the other members of the jury into deliberation on the nature and facts of the case, which eventually saves the boy (Reginald). Henry Fonda, who is juror number 8, employs the tactics of reason, persistence, and persuasion to turn the decisions and perceptions of the other members of the jury into adopting a not-guilty verdict.

Henry Fonda was an architect and the eighth member of the jury. The liberal-minded Fonda is soft-spoken yet strong with resolve and calm reasoning ability. He is courageous and seeks justice for the accused in a logical, persistent, and persuasive manner. The first form of incriminating evidence against the accused is the switch knife, which the accused was said to have used in committing the murder. To test the validity of this evidence, Fonda visited the shops neighborhood, where the murder took place, and found similar switch knives being sold. Using this finding, he creates doubt in the mind of other jurors, as it emerges that there could have been another person with a similar knife.

The other form of evidence that the eighth juror discredits using logic is that of the two eyewitnesses. The old woman claims to have seen the accused (a blurry image of a boy) leave the scene of the murder. The old man, on the other hand, claims to have heard the accused shout that he would kill his father before he heard the sound of someone falling on the floor above his apartment. The 8^th juror reveals to the rest that the old womans eyesight is not good and as such, could not have made it clear that the person she saw left the scene was the boy.

He also discredited the ability of the old man to hear so accurately a man fall on the floor with his advanced age and possible hearing impairments. The boy defends his alibi, saying that he was at a movie at the time of the crime, but would not recall the name or characters of the film he watched. While the rest of the jury doubts this alibi, Fonda supports it by referring to the boys psychological instability, which could make him lose some of his memory.

Fonda draws from the error of fundamental attribution to further support his not guilty verdict against the boy. The rest of the jurors believed that his threat of, Ill kill you to his father was evidence enough for his alleged crime of murder. To prove them wrong, however, Fonda infuriated juror number 3 so much that he also uttered the same words, which he did not mean. Fonda created an analogy from this experience to prove to the other jurors that the boy could not have meant what he said.

Fonda argues his not guilty stance with such persistence that he was able to succeed in turning the verdict of the other jurors (Reginald). Fonda does not waver or hesitate in conviction as he remained quite consistent against the majority stance. This makes the other jurors think deeply and twice about the issue. Some people like Sweeney believed that if a person was willing to stand by his decision, even if it brought him to ridicule, then the decision was important. It was this kind of consistency and persistence in his belief of not guilty verdict that made the others augment their faith in the same verdict. Fonda is also quite confident of himself throughout the argument. Fonda believes in his resolution that he was doing the right thing, a conviction that made the other members who later joined him on the not guilty verdict stay confident of their decision as well.

Fonda employs a great deal of persuasion to influence and turn the jury in their verdict. He does not attempt to bulldoze the other jurors or intimidate them to turn them. Instead, he uses logic in discrediting the evidence given against the accused. He also used solid facts to persuade the other members. He visited the neighborhood of the scene of the crime and gathered tangible evidence, which he used to discredit the evidence given. Rather than going against the jurors who resisted his not guilty argument, Fonda seeks to influence them by his argument. He lets each jury argue his case (have their moment of glory) before logically discrediting these arguments and making the other jurors share in his point of view.

Conclusion

Fonda gets the other jurors to share in his argument and adopt the need for thorough examination of the evidence rather than making hasty generalizations and assumptions through logical reasoning, his persistence in the arguments, and the effective persuasion tactics he employs. Juror number 2, for instance, logically argues on the impossibility of the accused, who was shorter than the victim, to stab the victim from the top down. In the same way, juror number 3 realizes that the battle he is fighting is not against the accused boy, but against the state of his relationship with his son, which was strained. He gets emotional and accepts to adopt the not guilty verdict thus adopting objectivity over subjectivity in the end.

Works Cited

Reginald, Rose. 12 Angry Men. United Artists. 1957. Film.