Claude_SocNet_Response

=Tokyo Story [12.01.2011]= Tokyo story was an interesting movie. I think above all it was about the differences in generations and how adult children interact with their parents. The kids of the old couple seemed burdened by their parents. They were too busy to be with them during their visit. I thought it was interesting that when a customer asked the beautician daughter who her parents were she said friends instead of parents. The father also feels dissapointed in his kids. He tells his friend when he is drunk that he is disappointed in his son because he is not the head doctor but one of many. Job status seems to dictate alot for them. Noiko seems to care the most about the parents even though they aren't hers. The movie also touches on losing a child from the war. As far as the camera work goes there were alot of long shots. Long in the type of shot it was and the duration of the shot. It definitely made me lose interest at times. The acting was bad as well. I loved that no matter what emotion they were trying to portray the parents always looked happy. Overall the movie was good and informative not only on the subject matter but on the Japanese culture. =American Beauty [11.10.2011]= This movie is pretty interesting. It brings to light the things that we hide from ourselves and others.The scene that i like the most is the end. Everything has just built up for the wife and for the neighbors father. Right before the main character dies you see a beautiful moment where he is looking at a photo of his family in happier time then he dies. I think the title of the film reflects that scene. I think American Beauty is referring to the beauty of the American dream. The American dream for most is family and oppurtunity. In that moment, looking at the picture, he sees the beauty of his American dream. Which is then shattered by not only his past decisions but also the gunshot he received. This prevented him from attempting to get his American beauty back.

=Rebel Without A Cause [11.10.2011]= This movie was both positive and negative for me. This was the first time I have ever seen a James Dean movie. The only thing I knew about the movie prior to class is that there was a car race scene. I like the theme of the movie. James Dean's character is very much a rebel without a cause. Plato and Judy both had reasons to rebel, whereas James had good parents but was going through the typical rebellious teen years. There was a very weird scene that made me dizzy but it was cool. James lays upside down on the couch and we see his mom come down the stairs from his POV and the camera spirals to the right position. It was a very interesting shot. My favorite character was Plato. I so badly wanted to hug him and tell him everything was ok. I like the transformation that James goes through in the movie. At first he is just rebellious. He feels like he has to defend his honor. And when shit goes down he realizes (we people get hurt) that that isn't how you prove you are a man. I am amazed that everything happened in one day. It logically doesn't seem real but the movie does a good job of making it seem right. =Bonnie and Clyde [11.3.2011]= The way Bonnie and Clyde are portrayed in the film is different than the way that many perceive them from the legend of Bonnie and Clyde. There is the scene where Bonnie is trying to read poetry to the gang and you see a softer side of her. This film definitely romanticized Bonnie and Clyde. The audience doesn't see them as bank robbers as much as they see them as vigilantes, sticking it to the authorities. They embody the frustrations of the common man during the depression. People were starving and penniless. Bonnie and Clyde were there heroes. Of the two, Clyde is the only one shown in a negative light when he neglects Bonnie. The other members of the gang do not have the same luxury of being viewed as heroes. Blanche, probably my least favorite character is shown as a whiny woman, C.W. Moss is shown as a dumb man, and Cldye's brother Buck just isn't anything special. =Grizzly Man [10.26.2011]= This documentary was a lot of things. weird, touching, informative. It's interesting to see how the filmmaker took over and told the story of ted. I have been wondering if the documentary showed him in the light or the way that he would have wanted. I feel that Ted was exploited in this documentary. moments that are private and should be kept to ourselves were shown on the screen. When he was talking about his bad luck with women I felt like crying. I felt horrible that i was seeing a glimpse of his personal life that should not have been seen by me, a total stranger. =High School [10.19.2011]= This documentary was not like most that I have seen. It was not clear what the message or purpose of the film was until you really listen and take a second look at things. There were a lot of close up shots. I liked it, but I don't focus on the hands of people when they are talking. So for me it wasn't a true to life interpretation of how things are viewed. I DID NOT like that there camera kept focusing in and out. That was a problem for me. I think that the documentary was about a lot of things. One is the transition from childhood to adulthood. Another is about conformity and individualism. And another is about how the world looked to young people during the 1960's. You see the beginning of integrated schools, the Vietnam war is occurring, and the ideals of the old days are not progressing in the school as fast as ideals are progressing in the younger generation. I don't know if I would say whether or not the people were protraied fairly. I think they were portrayed however the director intended it to be portrayed. =Walkabout [10.13.2011]= I made a typo in my paragraph I originally typed: I was interested until the Aborigine came into the story. but I meant:I wasn't interested until the Aborigine came into the story. Are you saying the movie becomes less interesting after the aborigine appears? Is it because their movement through the outback seems less purposeful after that? -MH This movie was very confusing and out there. The editing was weird at a couple points. There was one point when the scenes changes with a piece of paper going across the screen. It made no scene whatsoever. Nothing in this film is explained. Why does the father start shooting at his son? Why does the Aborigine do that weird crazy dance for the girl until he dies? What was the point of the ending? There didn't seem to be much of a storyline. I felt extremely upset when the Aborigine died near the end. I couldn't understand what the point of it was. The familiar image of the bricks was confusing too. I didn't understand why we were looking at that. Mostly the movie just lagged. I wasn't interested until the Aborigine came into the story. There were a lot of dead animals. I wonder how many animals were actually harmed in making this. Music played a big part of this movie. It was loud and played up the Australian theme. =Sequence Analysis Prospectus [10.11.2011]= Movie: Deep Blue Sea Scene: 1:15:17-1:16:05

For my essay I plan on analyzing the scene when LL Cool J's character records a farewell video. In Deep Blue Sea there is a lot of action and suspense with the human characters and the sharks. In the scene that I have chosen to write about will develop my favorite character, reinforces the tone of the movie, and shows how the camera is used as a narrator. = = =**Citizen Kane [10.05.2011]**= Citizen Kane is a wonderful movie. I understand why some say that it is one of, if not, the best film ever made. I love the cinematography. The scene where we see the nurse come into Kane's room through the broken snow globe glass was exceptional. I have seen the movie before and the documentary made about Orson Welles and Hearst and it amazes me how much of both men are in this film. I think that if our class has time watching that documentary would be very enlightening for some of the students. The really like the puzzle theme in the film. Looking for the missing piece and then Susie is actually playing with puzzles. I think the writing of the film is good as well. The line the reporter says about one word can't sum up a man is exceptional. I like that the characters are all played by one actor, whether they are young or old. The make up was done very well. When I first say the scene where the reporter visits Susie for the first time I was startled by the opening shot of her face and the thunder in the background it startled me. =**Notorious [10.02.2011]**= There are many scenes in the film that had a great deal of suspense. One of the scenes was when Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant were in the cellar. I was so afraid they would get caught. Especially when Ingrid's character said they were taking a long time. The next scene is when Sebastian realizes that his key is missing. You know that he knows something is up. It is only a matter of time until he finds out about Ingrid's character. Just when you think ever thing is ok he finds the missing broken bottle. Another suspenseful moment in the film is watching Ingrid's character slowly get sick. As a viewer I wondered whether or not she would find out, if one of the American spies would find out. The camera work in the movie is done very well. There are a lot of establishing shots and P.O.V. shots. Hitchcock uses the camera as a narrator pretty well. If one of the characters is looking at something off screen then the audience gets to see the object or person in question. =**Days of Heaven [09.22.2011]**= On a whole I was not very impressed by this movie, but there are a few things that I did like. I will start with what I didn't like. I HATED the little girls voice. It was horrible. With her bad Chicago accent. I really did not like hearing her speak. It gave me a headache. Another thing I disliked was there were a few up the nose shots that were horrible! I did not like looking up the farmers nose when he was wondering who the woman was. I also didn't like how secretive the couple (Richard Greer and the woman) weren't being. If you know that you are trying to trick someone into thinking that you are their sibling don't run off into the open pasture and have sex, or kiss where people can see you**.** Also it looked like their love affair was over when Greer's character left**.** The woman was in love with the farmer. There was no reason for them to kiss right before Greer was supposed to leave for the second time. And they did it out in the open! Also the movie was very drawn out and slow to me. the movie could have been shorter. The being scene with them in Chicago was unnecessary. The movie could have easily began while the three of them were on the train and the little girl doing horrible narration. So a couple things i liked was the storyline. Though I didn't like how it was executed it is a good idea. I like the music too. It really put you in the time period. I also liked the use of of colors. The seasons were accented well. The fire scene was very vibrant. =**Pan's Labyrinth [09.15.2011]**= The biggest parallel, i think, is the fantasy world and the real world. The fantasy world is brighter and more colorful, in contrast to the real world; which is grey and colder. The clothes are also different. The clothes in the real world are clothes that were worn in the 1940's. The fantasy world's clothes are more elegant. The ending scene shows Ofelia in clothes are are not of the time period. The real world seems scarier than the fantasy world. The real world had a war going on. Another parallel is the first task scene. The movie paralleled Ofelia performing the first task with the Captain and his men going after the rebels. Ofelia's goal in the film is to reunite with her father. The turning point for her is when the faun wants her to hurt her brother. She realizes that there are things she is not willing to do. Mercedes goal is to help the rebels defeat the Captain and his men. The turning point for her is when she is caught. Her goal doesn't change but its a pivotal point in her story line. The narration is unrestricted, except for one or two things. We know more than the characters do. We see what is happening with all of the characters. We know that the doctor and Mercedes are informants for the rebels, before the Captain does. The way that we are restricted as that we do not know what the outcome is going to be for the rebels, Mercedes and Ofelia. [Good point. The one group of characters we are restricted from is the rebels. We don't know their plans, or where they are before they rescue Mercedes.] =**Stagecoach [09.8.2011]**= There are two things from Stagecoach that stand out to me. The first is the scene during the battle scene with the Indians. Hartfield realizes he has one bullet left and turns the gun toward Mallory. It looks like he is about to pull the trigger but then he is shot. This confuses me because for the whole movie he is very protecting of her. There is no reason why he should want to kill her. There are two reasons I can think of. The first is revenge on Mallory's father. Hartfield says in the beginning of their journey that he fought under the command of Mallory's father. He could try to kill her to take revenge on him. But that theory is a bit far fetched and Mallory's father wasn't mentioned enough for the audience to be alerted to this. The second theory I have is that he was going to take Mallory out of her misery. That he might have felt that they were going to die anyway so he was going to kill her before the Indians did. The second thing that stands out to me is that they never clearly say what Dallas does or why she was run out of town. I think that it is safe to say she was a "lady of the night". It is interesting how back then they had to elude to a woman being promiscuous not just say it. I really liked the movie. I did not expect to. The only westerns i have ever seen i did not like. But from beginning to end I was interested in the characters and what was going to happen to them. = = =**The Night of the Hunter [09.1.2011]**=

=
There are two things that really struck a chord with me. The first is the depiction of women. Every woman in the film isn't particularly smart, wise, independent or strong willed. The women are shown as simple and easily corruptible. The only exception to this is is the last woman that the audience is introduced to Mrs. Cooper. She is smart, loving, wise and independent**.** She is a stark contrast to the other women depicted. There was a conversation that Mrs.Cooper had with Ruth and she told her that she didn't have to go searching for love. I really liked that moment. It was telling the audience that a woman should know her worth and that she doesn't need to go looking for love in places that will get her hurt. The second thing I really liked about the film was the parallel between children of the depression and the hard times faced in the bible. The movie showed the struggle that many children had to face during the depression. They were parent less, hungry, homeless and ignored. At the end of the movie Mrs. Cooper is saying a prayer aloud. She asks the lord to save the little children. That last line of the film summed everything up for me. Children were going through a lot. Even today some are facing things that they should not have to deal with but as Mrs.Cooper brillantly said in her last line "They abide and they endure."====== = = =**The Social Networ**k Response [08.25.2011]= In //The Social Network// the cultural terms are more striking to me than the composition of the work itself. Which may seem a bit backwards since I am a telecommunications major and editing and production are a big part of my life. But don't get me wrong both are done beautifully in the film. In cultural terms the movie is very significant to society right now. I have lived and am still living through the Facebook generation. So watching this movie and seeing the directors interpretation of significant events is pretty interesting. Like when the girl Christy tells Eduardo to Facebook her during a Bill Gates speech. Afterwards he seemed very enthused that she used the phrase "Facebook Me". Today that phrase is still commonly used. Also the exclusivity of Facebook as it is portrayed in the film reminds me of when I was in high school and only college students were allowed to be apart of the social networking sight. Showing the expansion of Facebook is key to its rise as a social medium. But the composition of the film is also amazing. The scene that shows the Winklevoss's rowing in London is some of the best film editing i have ever seen. The music, filters, close-up shots and all around editing skill were spot on and conveyed the tension during the race and the need and desire for the brothers to win the race. The music through the whole film definitely reflects on the seriousness of the film. The sadness of losing a best friend, the emotions that go with being in two lawsuits, and the beginning stages of something groundbreaking.