Jesus' Son

Jesus' son was an interesting film because it had very realistic scenes that played with reality. The movie contained scenes where you couldn't always tell what was going on, or if it was real. Sometimes I wondered if something was really happening to character or it was just in his mind. Some things I knew weren't real, like when he stuck his hand through the glass window. This scene was very odd, but it showed the character's emotion of wanting help or to reach out to someone.

I like the fact that this movie plays with reality, because it is used for many things. One it can be used to show how a drug addict sees the world, and how he or she deals with everyday struggles. Two, it can be used to symbolize something in the movie. If the director wants to show how the character feels, he can just show something happening to him that doesn't really occur. This will let you understand better what the character is thinking.

I see similarities between this movie and the movie "Stay", in which many scenes play with reality. These scenes have a powerful effect on the audience. The movie "Stay" also uses a lot of symbolism to show what the character is thinking and how he feels. If you watch one of these movies thinking its going to be a normal narrative, it might be hard to understand. But if you watch one of these films with an open mind, and look at things more symbolically you can understand better what the film was mean’s to say.

Clue..less!

As I got ready to watch the film for Monday night, I started to think about the movie and why it was so memorable in so many people's minds. I tried to watch the film as critically as I could, and tried to breakdown what made this such a good film. The characters really stand out in my mind. They all were strong points in the storyline, even if they were small parts. The writer gave each character a very identifiable image. An image that we can remember a friend being like in high school, or even one we could recognize as being oursleves. The characters all had their little missions or conflicts in life that needed to be resolved, and many of them helped eachother resolve them. We all remember what life was like in high school and the "big deals" that were going on in our lives, in this film we can remember and laugh at them.

The characters stand out in my mind also because of who played them. I think the casting director should also be thanked for finding actors that fit the characters perfectly. How could we imagine anyone else but Alicia Silverstone playing the part of Cher. The friends of Cher, the father, the teachers, they all seem to be mean't for their roles.

The film is so well received, popular, memorable, because of the strong characters and better actors in the film that we can all remember clearly. A story made this a movie, but the actors make it a good film.

Eve's Bayou

Eve's Bayou, what a great film. I really like how the story came from a child's point of view. As discussed in class, someone mentioned that using the child's perspective we feel differently about some of the main characters. The father's character would usually be greatly despised, yet in this movie we somehow feel sad for him. We see another side to the father, instead of his just his adulterous ways. We see him as a warm, loving father who is caught up in a bad lifestyle.

The child's perspective also brings the audience back to their childhood in a sense. As a child we see our parents are our role models or leaders, and because of this we think they are indestructable or perfect. We can all reflect back to when we saw something not so perfect in our parents, and remember how we felt. Feelings that made us not forget this time when life was not so easy. This movie does a great job of recreating the child's view, thoughts and feelings.

I think what else made this a great movie was the complexity of many of the characters in the film. The father who has the best of everything, but still wants what is not so good. The mother who turns a blind eye to her husband's after work activities. The sister, sourcer who can't marry. The child Cisely who has emotional trouble with both her parents, and a young child Eve who wants her father dead by way of a voodo doll. They all interact with each other in different ways, and make a very entertaining and unique story.

Women Directors

I think it was interesting in class how we discussed how women directors are stereotyped on the type of films they make. I never really thought about how we can so easily characterize women directors as making sensitive or feminine films. It happens with race too, people assume that a particular race will make certain types of movies or music because of the color of their skin. It should not be surprising when we see a film that typically a women director wouldn't direct, because ultimately the female director is first and foremost a director. We need to leave preconceived thoughts at the door and take the movie or song for what it is, a great piece of art.
Because of these preconceived thoughts, women directors can't just make a good movie, they have to make a great one. Because they not only have to impress among other female directors, but standout among male directors too, to get recognized amongst the Hollywood mainstream. They have to work twice as hard, so that they will not be thought of as a great female director, but as great director period.
Wanda was an interesting film in that the main character was not very likable. In one of the first scenes we see her abandon her children, and see her live a not so glamorous life. Throughout the film we see her as a passive par taker in her own life, she seems lost and has no direction. The long takes that Loden uses in the film takes us to the place where the character lives, a very dark and depressing world.

Voyeurism and Sensationalism in Film

Hitchcock had a fetish for blonde women, as we see in the film Vertigo. There is a current fascination with blonde women in contemporary film. One young woman in class said something along the lines of, “we want to look at pretty things and pretty people.” We see “eye candy” everywhere go; “eye candy” has become the standard in pop culture, particularly in contemporary films.
When watching films we often root for the protagonist, because we want him to achieve his goal and get the girl. If he doesn’t, we are upset because he didn’t get what he “earned.” The fetish for attractive people definitely exists in Hollywood Cinema. Just because it’s become the standard, doesn’t mean that the standard is justified.
As we discussed in class many people enjoy watching films, because we can escape our own lives and watch someone else’s. This pleasure in looking is called voyeurism. It happens when we the audience looks at someone else’s life, through a fictional character on screen. Most of the time, the main character in a film has many relatable qualities, so most of the audience can root for the main character through their on-screen conflicts, and imagine themselves in the character’s shoes. So as the character feels hurt, the viewer also feels that emotion. The audience can travel on an emotional rollercoaster with the character throughout a film. Watching someone else’s life played out we become like a “peeping tom”, seeing things we might not usually be allowed to see in our own lives.