The Muppet Movie is a highly self-aware musical comedy that challenges the concept of reality in the background of the film while delivering a classic road trip comedy that is highly reflective of 1970’s culture. The film begins with the muppets entering World Wide Studios to watch a screening of their first film, The Muppet Movie. The audience then focuses on the frame film that the characters are watching, which tells the story of how the muppets “more or less” met. The story begins with Kermit the Frog singing the opening number, The Rainbow Connection, alone in his swamp when a lost man advises him to go to Hollywood and become a star. Along the Way, Kermit meets Fozzie Bear, a failing stand-up comedian, who also dreams of heading west …show more content…
Furthermore, the film excels in its musical score by providing quirky songs that not only keep the plot from lagging, but also convey the narrative in a clever way. Exemplifying this feat is the song “Moving Right Along,” which disguises itself as an upbeat buddy-buddy road trip melody, while containing off hand comments to portray to the audience that Fozzie and Kermit have no clue where they are going or what they are doing. Above all, although it is often easy to forget, the mastery of puppetry needed to film The Muppet Movie is easily and undeniably the most impressive part of the film. The characters are relatable and sympathetic, despite being muppets in a world of humans. The film, despite its innovative and whimsical atmosphere, struggles with cliche jokes and a linear plot that left little room for surprise. Additionally, more meaningful interactions between characters would aid in making the argument that Kermit uses in the climax, that the muppets are a family of sort, more compelling. Most inter-character dialogue was usually used to deliver a …show more content…
The muppet movie tackles the struggle of trying to become something outstanding in America, and settling for nothing less than perfect, and makes use of a variety of cinematic techniques to accomplish the task. Within the plot itself, evidence of Kermit’s vision of the American Dream is evident when he argues with himself in a dream sequence, and asks himself if he still believes in “the dream.” His realization that he does allows him to come to the understanding that he made a subconscious promise to himself that he would go to Hollywood, to pursue something greater than the swamp he called home. In the sequence, it is also implied that Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, and the other muppets made a similar promise to themselves, that they all believe in the same “dream” of becoming something out of nothing. The classic message of the American struggle is emphasized by costume/prop choice of distinguishing certain characters as muppets and others as humans. Throughout the film, no character is treated differently because they are puppets as opposed to humans (although some characters are treated differently because of the animals they represent,) but every muppet met in the film has aspiration to become something more than they are now. This choice underscores the films message that there are some people
Disney's Pinocchio has been a long time favorite of American culture. However, time has changed and so has our culture. We are no longer described or categorized by being white, European, primarily heterosexual, Protestant, and bourgeois. I have to argue that that stereotype is still in effect. As times have changed so have our people and their values. Now, we are described as "The Melting Pot" of religions, race, sex, and class. Pinocchio was fitting for the culture of 1940 but as for now it not so appropriate. Industrialism, Capitalism, and the ruling bourgeoisie are the themes in this movie not only because they probably reflect Walt's own life but American life as well. Americans were thrust into the Capitalist ideal in the Post War years and I feel Pinocchio reflects that ideal.
One movie that pertains to the family adolescent life cycle is The Goonies. Not only is this movie a cult classic, but it also gives a great perspective on an adolescent’s life cycle. This movie revolves around a group of kids in search of a way to save their home from the rich towns people. While on this search they stumble on treasure map from the infamous “One Eyed Willy”. Thus begins the adventures of the Goonies on their mission to save their homes.
In the movie, E. Kimmel who is a leader who is certain that his base will be attacked. He does everything in his power to prevent this from happening. However, Roosevelt took no action receiving a dispatch saying “this dispatch is to be considered a war warning negotiations with Japan, and have leashed an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days”. “Kimmel received this report about an hour before the Japanese planes arrived but he chose not to go to general quarters due to the fact that there had been a few false sub sightings and , he wanted to confirm the Wards report before acting on it. This is a contradiction to how he acts in the movie. Prior to the attack, the Japanese pilots are shown putting on head bands, and dinking sake. “This was performed by Kamikaze pilots, and there was one incident during the attack, it was not planned until after his plane was damaged.
Poor Kids is a documentary that highlights a major issue the United States is suffering from. This issue is known as poverty, more specifically, childhood poverty. This documentary views the world through the eyes of children that are subjected to lives of poverty due to the poor financial state that their parents are in. Life is very rough for these children and they must live their everyday lives with little to none of the luxuries most people take for granted. Poor Kids sheds light on the painful fact that there are children that starve every day in the United States.
When we typically think of racial tropes in popular culture, we often don’t look towards animated G-rated movies. The film The Princess and the Frog released by Walt Disney Animated Classics in 2009 created by John Musker, Ron Clements and Rob Edwards is a perfect contemporary example of a film that shows images of pre-constructed racial tropes. Though Disney has produced multiple films based on past fairy tales, The Princess and the Frog was the first animated Disney princess film that featured an African American woman in a leading role. Often times regarded as a turning point in Disney’s movie production career, the film’s representation of African Americans proves to be regressive of racist politics surrounding the 21st century. The design
The movie “Walkout” is about the school system in East Los Angeles in the late 1960’s. During this time Mexican Americans were treated unfairly and were seen as second class citizens. The story goes through the different aspects that Mexican American/ Chicano students had to put up with within their own schools. They wanted and deserved equal education, but were constantly shut down by the city. This movie contains the four characteristics of Mexican American Art, which is what gives this movies such a strong and meaningful message.
In cotemporary America, cultural text such as films form many conceptions of race, gender and social for the people who watch them. This paper argues four Key and Peele skits “Substitute Teacher”, “I Said B*tch”, “Phone Call” and “Proud Thug” to challenge and complicate gender norms by highlighting the ways in which gender, race and class are performed in public and private settings. When you critically examine these texts there are stereotypes that underlay the film that are obvious, but are portrayed as comical. The intersectionality between gender, race and class are often addressed in many of these short skits. Often the films or skits engage in patriarchy and the main characters are men. In order to further examine the topic first we must address intersecionality, patriarchy, poverty, and class to grasp a better understanding.
In my opinion, Shrek The Musical was a great play that brought the childhood fairytale story of Shrek to life on stage. The costumes, props, and backgrounds on the set were well made and it was obvious that much time and effort were put into the play. The story of Shrek was brought to life on Broadway and was very realistic and produced very well.
Before the beginning of the movie, cast members will wander around the theater, and yell out various lines from the movie. When the movie curtain starts to roll its way up, you see a bright pair of red lips singing. When the lips appear, people will start to yell out their favorite audience participation lines. One of my favorite spots in the movie to shout out lines would have to be in the very beginning when the lips on screen are singing the song "Science Fiction, Double Feature." The song is full of participation lines and props that people can bring to the theater with them. There is one line that I particularly like that comes from this song and it goes a little something like this; "and from a deadly place it came from (where?) outer space! (Thank you!)." Another example of audience participation/prop use would be when one of the characters, Dr. Scott, goes flying through the walls of the laboratory in his wheelchair. As he is rolling down the ramp from where he flew through, another character, Brad, yells out "Great SCOTT" and that’s when everyone takes the toilet paper they have brought with them and throws it all over the place. Once all the toilet paper has been collected by the cast leader, they pick out one person from the audience and DOUSE them with toilet paper and it’s the funniest sight one will ever see!
The Mark Twain Prize for humor is awarded by the John F. Kennedy Center for performing Arts every year since 1998. This award is given to leading actor/comedian in the American industry. In 2011 Will Ferrell received the Mark Twain Comedy award. This is an analysis of the speech acceptance speech that he gave.
Disney has made it his life 's goal to create home entertainment for both young and old. From the creation of Mickey to his work in films, Disney had made it clear that happiness is something that everyone should have. Disney had also know that animations is not just for the imagination of the children. Early movies such as Snow White and Pinocchio have clear messages for the younger views. “In Snow White- the main characters are victims of injustice who are eventually restored to their rightful place. In Pinocchio, the characters Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket and Geppetto are faced with dilemmas, and their own actions result in them becoming victims of ev...
“There's kind of a Zen aspect to bowling. The pins are either staying up or down before you even throw your arm back. It's kind of a mind-set. You want to be in this perfect mind-set before you released the ball.” Jeff Bridges describes bowling to be black or white; one pin can not both be up and down. However, the character whom Jeff Bridges portrays in the classic bowling noir film The Big Lebowski, the Dude, is far from black and white. Once he was an ex-social justice warrior protesting the Vietnam war, now he is hanging out with a disgruntled Vietnam vet. With a joint in his mouth and a White Russian in his hand, the Dude goes through life without a care, only waiting for his turn to bowl. Throughout the movie, the Dude is dragged into a series of unfortunate events, none of which are his idea. What originally started off with nothing more than a piss-stained carpet spawned into a faux kidnapping and the death of the Dude’s beloved friend, Donny. The plot,
Presently, Disney known for its mass media entertainment and amusement parks technically bring warm feelings to many children and some adults. Personally, Disney elicits magical fantasies that children enjoy and further encourages imagination and creativity. For decades Disney has exist as an unavoidable entity with its famous global sensation and reach. Furthermore, Disney is a multibillion dollar empire with an unlimited grasp on individuals and territories. An empire per se, since they own many media outlets, markets, shops, etc., you name it they got it. However, the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly presents an entirely new perspective on the presumed innocence projected in Disney films. This film exposes certain traits Disney employs and exclusively portrays through its media productions, specifically cartoons for directing and nurturing influence beginning with children. Mickey Mouse Monopoly points out camouflaged messages of class, race, and gender issues in Disney films that occur behind the scenes intended to sway viewers towards adopting Disney values.
Toy Story is the groundbreaking 1995 motion picture developed by Disney and Pixar and directed by John Lasseter. The film was so revolutionary not only because it was the first feature length animation to be created completely by CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) but also, also the film was more rounded in all respects. The characters not only looked more sophisticated and three-dimensional but their personalities were also more human and fewer cartoons like. The film uses a constructed text in order to put across a theme of two very different characters learning to work together beyond their rivalries to rise above a common enemy and work towards a common goal. The film uses characters and imagery very cleverly to portray this theme. The music used in the film is also different to other Disney features. Rather than the characters bursting into song themselves as in Aladdin or Hercules, the songs are played and sung by an outside person (Randy Newman) and reflect the mood and emotions of the characters in a particular scene. For example, the title sequence song “Friend in Me”, when Woody and Andy are playing together, and the scene where Andy’s room has been made over to a Buzz Lightyear theme, “Strange Things” where the song reflects Woody’s confusion and fear not only about the change in his surroundings but also the change in his friends and his own character and self-confidence. The attention to the smallest detail for example the reflections in Buzz’s visor give the film even more realism and depth. The use of unusual and imaginative camera angles, made possible by the use of CGI, also adds to the texture and pace of the film.
In this paper I am going to write about the movie “Grease.” Specifically, on the two main characters Sandy and Danny. I will be describing and analyzing their interpersonal communication, but mainly on the conflict of their communication.