Blog 5

http://www.pierce.ctc.edu:2061/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=puya65247

Recap

“’Not properly human’: literary and cinematic narratives about human harvesting”, by Henriette Roos, discusses the effects of human harvesting through film and words. Although it doesn’t really pertain to the movie I chose to write about, “Seven Pounds”, it does raise many concerns about human harvesting. Human harvesting is basically when immigrants are brought into this country and they are completely used. When I say used, I mean they are not cared for properly or appreciated as they should be. They are paid less than anyone, and do the work that nobody will stand to do but them. Though that is an important topic, it isn’t the topic I should be talking about. The only quote that truly related to “Seven Pounds” (the first quote in the notes) shows that there is more than one mind that knows the value of an organ donor these days. The fact that the three candidates were competing for the most “heart-rending” story is almost a direct relation to the movie “Seven Pounds”, where Will Smith looks for the seven people with the best intentions and morals to give them his organs. That can raise many questions and thoughts about the movie as you watch it next. The rest of the essay was mostly about movies and texts that show the harms of human harvesting, which doesn’t relate to the movie.

 

Notes

“The Dutch media company Endemol, creators of the now international money-spinning show “Big Brother”, advertised a new production. A terminally ill cancer patient would decide on stage and before a worldwide audience which one of three desperate candidates could present the most heart-rending story and thus “win” her healthy kidney. That the show turned out to be a “hoax” aimed at raising awareness of donor shortage and recruiting potential donors, changed much of the initial outrage professed by other, less successful, television stations into disappointed complaints.”(1 Context and Concern)

This passage from the essay relates to “Seven Pounds” very well, as it shows how little people that are donating organs compared to the amount of people who truly need them. The fact that the three candidates were competing for the most “heart-rending” story is almost a direct relation to the movie “Seven Pounds”, where Will Smith looks for the seven people with the best intentions and morals to give them his organs.

“Recent court cases in South Africa involved doctors attached to a respected medical school, who formed an international syndicate trading in human kidneys; a new Maria in Egypt is turning that country into the regional hub for the human organ trade … the charges seem endless.” (Context and Concern)

This quote shows the varied people that are trying to help with organ donation to those in need, even opposing the laws of government if they must do so.

“the ancient acts of trading, robbing or killing to obtain the desired object seem more successful for the present. (Context and Concern)

This quote shows an obvious pessimistic view of our present way of dealing with organ trade coming from Henriette Roos.

“regarding someone else as not properly human, dehumanises us all.”

This shows that we cannot look down at others, as it stoops up lower than them.

 

Sicko!

Sicko is basically another controversial Michael Moore film, but the topic is now health-care. He relates to all of the viewers by using is sarcastically amusing way of telling the audience that their health care sucks. He points out that there are in insane amount of holes in an insurance plan. When you are covered for insurance, and that covers you for a particular accident, the company will deliberately not have told you that there are many other fees that must be paid. Is this good for our economy, or just for the government?  The loop-holes in insurance contracts bring in an absurd and unprecedented amount of profit, which then goes to the government to do what with it? We think they’re spending it on useful plans and weapons or international affairs, but they tend to blow the money away to the politicians. A very easily depicted scene, where Michael Moore is leading the boats at the bow while standing next to a flag with a face of deep thought, hints a powerful man. The fact that he is in the front boat, standing at the bow shows that he is a leader. The fact that his face is so concentrated shows that he takes his subjects seriously, but, as any film director must do, he uses comedy. Most importantly, he stands next to an American flag. This symbolizes that he has great persuasion of the minds of U.S citizens, and can be a voice for those who cannot express themselves. Somewhat like a hero some might say! If this was changed into an essay, I think that it would be much less effective due to all of the facial expressions and imagery that you would miss. The movie shows a clear perspective of his thesis.

Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11: How One Film Divided a Nation

This essay was basically a summary of a book that critiqued Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. The movie was one of a controversial topic about Bush’s administration. “Moore’s intent was to ‘raise questions about the Bush administration’s policies’ toward Iraq and the war and to influence the election.” He definitely raised questions, stirring up several biased opinions around the nation. There isnt much to write about with this essa, unfortunately I wasted my time reading the #3 most relevant essay(also written on the board), which gave me absolutely nothing. This whole class period was wasted unfortunately, and now I have 5 minutes left. There are a few quotes from the essay that are somewhat significant: 1) “Moore incorporated primary sources, that “had received relatively little attention in the mainstream media prior to the movie’s release,” and how these sources, while stirring up a whirlpool of controversy at the time, foreshadowed the human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib, and the nation’s growing dissatisfaction with the war, as voiced through Lila Lipscomb.”

this showed the affect the movie had on the nation and the world.

I am out of time! this essay was a review about a book, written by Toplin, critiquing the movie. Unfortunately it does not provide much.

Movie Review. Comments?

Tarzan was a great movie, as it captured adversity at its best. Tarzan is a notion to the audience that we can all live together in harmony, despite our differences. To the shallow eye, Tarzan is just another animated children’s adventure with some comical gestures. Those who dug a little deeper realized that Tarzan faced a huge adversity; even as a baby, he was very different. Tarzan was raised by the Gorilla, Kala, who found him alone in some sort of a tree house. Because he was raised by gorillas, Tarzan doesn’t know how to act like a human. When he comes across humans (Jane and Professor Porter, led by guide Clayton) he acts only how he knows – grunting, jumping and gesturing. Jane is intrigued more than anything, ends up spending time with him teaching him about his culture, and then they inevitably fall in love with each other. The plot then incorporates the love story and a stifling decision. The animation definitely enhanced the mood of the movie.

The animation of the film was very helpful, giving a realistic fantasy feeling to the movie. I felt as though I was sliding and swinging through the jungle with Tarzan at points. There is no better way to show emotion in an animated film as they did in this particular Disney picture. They embellished the facial features of the characters that spoke emotion. As a child, Tarzan covered his face and body with mud to look more like his family. His mother, Kala (the gorilla), came to him and showed him how he is like them, and when Tarzan saw those features his eyes and mouth grew enormous hinting joy. The sketch-like animation gave deeper, darker outlines of the picture, making it even easier to decipher the thoughts of the characters. A different type of animation would destruct the integrity of the colors and atmosphere. The way the director showed certain pieces of the movie was particularly entertaining.

The director strung events together very well as the transitions were very clean. I especially loved the way he showed the aging of Tarzan. He was first shown as a baby, followed by a child, and then he finally turned into a man in a meaningful way. Terk (his only friend his age) was playing with some other young gorillas and Tarzan wanted to play, but there was one minor stipulation; he had to retrieve an elephant hair. Tarzan leaped into the lake where the elephants were, and went straight into the danger zone to snatch a very valuable hair. Once he got the hair, he was on the road to becoming a man. In a following scene, Tarzan is shown overcoming many obstacles and learning about life through experience. He is transformed into a much older looking character during that scene in a very smooth transition. The director presents a hidden genius factor to the film that contributes massively to the 1999 animated version of Tarzan.

Without the music, by Phil Collins, the movie would be a dry stretch of the imagination. There are several scenes that some could call a montage, which would not have been there without the music. The montage scenes add a rich perspective to the film, where the lyrics are giving away the exact message while the video shows the connection to Tarzan. I am personally fond one of the first scenes that foreshadows the moral of the entire picture. The song “Two worlds”, by Phil Collins, plays while the lost family builds a home in the trees, the parents get attacked by the leopard, Kala finds Tarzan, and Kala takes him home with her. The lyrics of the song tell a story of two worlds coming together as one, as two completely different worlds literally come together as one. I will remember the music for the rest of my life, and is one of the reasons I loved the movie.

I watched this movie as a child and it had a big impact on me, opening my mind to many changes around me. The director of this film is brilliant in attracting the attention of all viewers and entertaining them while still pulling family together with morals and emotional events. There is always a deeper meaning then the previous meaning discovered. In all of its morals, Tarzan leaves endless exploration for any mind. Though I will always love the movie, there is always room for improvement. Is it reasonable to trick a child into interpreting death?

Tarzan is my movie!

“Tarzan” is the movie of my choice. I watched this movie as a child and it had a big impact on me, opening my mind to many changes around me. The animation allows all audiences to be entertained, while not focusing on too serious of a point. Like most Disney movies, “Tarzan” displays fun, action, animation, family, and morals. “Tarzan” was a great movie, as it captured adversity at its best. The man-gorilla of the movie started out as an infant with very adventurous parents who took him with them to a life in the wild, before they would eventually be suggestively eaten by a jaguar. Though that was a frightening thing for children to watch, it still allows the mind to wander and explore new ideas in order to develop faster. There are so many pieces of this movie that truly excite me, I can focus it down to the morals, and how they connected to the story. One moral is to always accept adversity, even at it strangest of times. Tarzan discovered by Jane (the researcher/scientist) was the strangest of sights to a young woman from the city. She responded with outmost curiosity, doing her best to learn the “who, what, when, where, why” and especially”the how”. This gives children and ignorant adults the chance to learn from an exaggerated example of the way to face adversity. Another moral is to keep trying until you succeed, or to never give up. Tarzan is confronted with the very difficult task of being accepted by a family of gorillas as a human. The only two gorillas that like Tarzan are his gorilla mother, and his one gorilla friend of his age. He fights and fights to earn his gorilla father’s respect and finally reaches it as a twenty some year old man that saved his life. Again, a much exaggerated way of showing how much you should fight to earn what you want in life. The director of this film is brilliant in attracting the attention of all viewers and entertaining them while still pulling family together with morals and emotional events.

Commercial Essay

A man walks around a busy city with directions to an acupuncturist in his hand. While looking skeptical about his decision, he still walks with alacrity; he may be running late. The man has no time to decide, and is immediately committed to the acupuncture. The commercial goes on to show the confusion, humor and fear in the man because he is in a situation that he does not want to be in, and there is no apparent way out. Thus, the commercial is very good in keeping the audiences attention, but does it sell the product?

Various camera and strategic television ideas were used in the commercial. Sound was used in the beginning to show the audience that the man on screen is in a busy city with many cars around him. Sound is also used to inform the audience that the acupuncturist is foreign and listens to music on the radio while working. There is also some happy music at the beginning, followed by no music so the audience can hone in on the chaotic situation. The lighting is used to show us that the acupuncturist’s apartment is not a great place to live. He lives in a room that is falling apart and the lights do not light up the entire room, giving a low class feel to it. The lighting changes when the audience is shown the fire and the rat running away, to a dark, eerie exposure of the mood. The camera shots and timing of the shots gave more understanding to the situation. When he first started acupuncture the camera was up close and the shot switched slowly giving a calm feel to it, but when they saw the fire, the shot switched very quickly showing panic in a tense situation. The camera also showed a rat running away from the apartment, as to say that it was afraid of the upcoming tragedy. A mixture of light, sound and camera shots portrayed the idea of the commercial very well, but what was the product?

The product was not shown to a good extent and did not leave the audience showing us much. Perhaps the idea of describing their product is that they can insure you to the wildest extent of the imagination? There was so much going on in the commercial that the audience is already thinking about that too much to focus on the real point on the commercial, to get Centraal Beheer life insurance. The last screen shot was of the words Centraal Beheer, and the contact information. That type of advertising does not attract enough attention to the actual point, but it does provide immense entertainment.

The sense of emotion in the commercial really helped entertain the audience. Fear is portrayed when the man had no more options. He could not go down the stairs, because the fire was already there.  He could not take the needles out quick enough to jump down where the firemen were standing because the needles would take too long to take out, and he would be caught by the fire. The most intense of situations, life or death; so what will he do? The man stands in the window, looks down and around the room, and finally gives up with a slight sigh. Though it was frightening, it also gave a sense of humor to the commercial and made me laugh because he had no way out. He could not yell in order to tell the firemen why he can’t jump down. The poor man was confused out of his mind, and did not have any idea what to do.  His facial expressions and the final sigh signaled the audience to lighten up and laugh. The confusion is drawn from the acupuncturist being foreign, him having to take his clothes off, the fire combined with the needles, the radio, the panic of the foreign acupuncturist, and what decision to make. The commercial was absolutely entertaining and made me laugh out loud.

The commercial as a whole, including the lighting, camera tricks, and emotions of the poor man told a great story. Don’t you think that the commercial was a little too distracting of the main point? Was this commercial really worth all of the money and time if the product did not even get put out there long enough for the audience to remember it?

Blog #1. Commercial. Brenden Yockey

I chose this commercial because it uses sound, lighting, comedy, camera angles, fear, and confusion to sell the product. Sound was used in the beginning to show the audience that the man on screen is in a busy city with many cars around him. Sound is also used to inform the audience that the acupuncturist is foreign and listens to music on the radio while working. The lighting is used to show us that the acupuncturist’s apartment is not a great place to live. He lives in a room that is falling apart and the lights do not light up the entire room, giving a low class feel to it. The camera angles and timing of when it switched angles/shots gave more understanding to the situation. When he first started acupuncture the camera was up close and the shot switched slowly giving a calm feel to it, but when they saw the fire they shot switched very quickly showing panic in a tense situation. Fear is portrayed when the man had to more options. He could not go down the stairs, he could not take the needles out quick enough to be safe from the fire, and he could not jump down where the firemen were standing because the needles would all press though him. Though it was frightening, it also gave a sense of humor to the commercial and made me laugh because he had no way out, could not yell, and was in a very confusing situation. The confusion is drawn from the acupuncturist being foreign, him having to take his clothes off, and the fire combined with the needles, radio, panic of the foreign acupuncturist, and what decision to make. All in all, the commercial grabbed my attention for the full minute and I would definitely think about getting some Centraal Beheer insurance.