Rocky vs. Creed “Get to the chopper!!!!” Said by the great Arnold Schwarzenegger, is one of thousands of famous quotes heard in cinematic films. Movies have been around for decades and are constantly evolving within each movie. In the book Everything bad is good for you by Steven Johnson, he claims how watching different films and television can actually be more beneficial compared to traditional reading. The classic boxing movie Rocky (1976) and newly released and sequel boxing movie Creed (2015) demonstrates Johnson’s claims clearly. The movie easily enhanced the story in ways a simple book could not do. The filming style forces the audience to feel what the boxer is going through and feel all the pain that every punch causes. The viewing …show more content…
In Rocky, we clearly see this as Rocky “Italian Stallion” Balboa struggles to walk up the 72 steps in front of the philadelphia museum of arts. Whereas in Creed, we see Adonis “Hollywood” Johnson Creed have success in his first boxing match as he will have success in his final fight. Johnson claims that this idea for movies to leave behind clues or cues throughout the entire film to let audience keep track of what's gonna happen, it is called “ Flashing Arrow.” Another term Johnson uses to describe the rising difficulty in television storylines is the disappearance of the “flashing arrow”. Flashing arrows act as “a narrative signpost, planted conveniently to help the audience keep track of what is going on”. For example, in typical slasher films, the audience knows that leaving a door unlocked leads to “unwanted visitors”. The unlocked door acts as a flashing arrow. In recent years, there has been a shift in reducing the number of flashing arrows causing “the cognitive labor you are forced to do filling in the details”.Television shows based in a hospital do not take the time to explain every medical term used; the audience is expected to grasp their meaning through context. In recent years television shows, the reduction of flashing arrows leaves the audience to discover plot twists for …show more content…
With the additional “collection of distinct strands” to the episodes, the public became willing “to tolerate more complicated narratives”. This allowed the audiences to comprehend more storylines and characters as well as linking different episodes, improving their cognitive skills. In television shows like The Sopranos multiple threading is a common tactic used to provide information to the audience in an interesting way. Johnson explains, “The narrative weaves together a collection of distinct strands-sometimes as many as ten, though at least half of the threads involve only a few quick scenes scattered through the episode”. He believes that due to the rising technology in pop culture the audience is conditioned to comprehend the increasingly difficult plots developed with multiple threading. Essentially, then, Johnson’s theory of “multiple threading” is based on the increase of narrative complexity through
In his essay, “It’s Just a Movie: A Teaching Essay for Introductory Media Classes”, Greg M. Smith argues that analyzing a film does not ruin, but enhances a movie-viewing experience; he supports his argument with supporting evidence. He addresses the careful planning required for movies. Messages are not meant to be telegrams. Audiences read into movies to understand basic plotlines. Viewers should examine works rather than society’s explanations. Each piece contributes to Smith’s argument, movies are worth scrutinizing.
2. According to Sobchack, contemporary screen violence greatly differs than portrayals of violence in years past. Today, violent scenes are careless and lack significance because we as audiences have become calloused and desensitized to any acts of violence. She states that there is “no grace or benediction attached to violence. Indeed, its very intensity seems diminished” (Sobchack 432). Senseless violence, gruesome acts, and profound amounts of gore are prevalent in movies today, and because even this is not enough, it must be accompanied by loud blasts and noise, constantly moving scenes to keep audiences stimulated and large quantities of violence for viewers to enjoy what they are watching. Decades ago, it was the story that was engaging to audiences and filmmaking was an art.
I thought Sling Blade was written and filmed well. It did get slow in parts, but overall it kept my attention. I picked up on minute details that on a regular basis I wouldn’t have. This paper made me see the underlying aspects such as the music, lighting, and script. It made me pay attention to what the characters were saying and how they were relating. I now look at film in a new light. I don’t just watch the surface. I dig deeper and watch for everything.
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
Steven Johnson wrote an article for the New York Times in which he argues that back in the days, television shows use to have a very simple plot which was easy to follow without too much attention. It was just an other way to sit back and relax. However, throughout the years, viewers grew tired of this situation and demanded more complex plot lines with multiple story lines that related to recent news topics. He takes the example of the television show “24”. “24” is known for being the first show which its plot occurs in “real-time”, it is also known for not censuring the violence of its topics. It is a drastic change from what Johnson states as an example “Starsky and Hutch” where basically each episodes was only a repetition of the last one. Johnson also believes that there is a misconception of the mass culture nowadays where people think the television viewer wants dumb shows which in response makes them dumber. Johnson does not agree, for him, television shows such as “24” are “nutritional”. He also states that sm...
Americans have become addicted to gaining quick rewards of satisfaction through sports and action because they want to be entertained thoroughly without needing to ponder any hidden meaning so it doesn’t take away from the pure entertainment of the action. In his time, Bradbury was fearful of the way that the television’s empty shows were in invading every home in America. The culture in the novel demands for “everything (to be boiled) down to the rag, the snap ending” (Bradbury 52), leaving nothing for the viewer to ponder; they would rather enjoy themselves “a solid entertainment” (Bradbury 58). The same is true in today’s movies and shows, in which most must contain many action scenes in order to keep the viewer’s attention, and the meaning and symbols must be clearly spelled out for them. This is also why Bradbury includes sports as being the main focus of schools in his story, since th...
As an audience, we become involved in the plot not through learning about characters’ backgrounds and traits. Instead, we learn information at the same time through the mechanics of the plot and editing. We are made to work to understand the workings of the plot. As we watch the film unfold, the editing takes the along for the ride rather than watching from a distance. the audience and characters sweat together as surprises arise in the well-thought out plan and the way the movie ...
It is true that everyone likes a good fight, and they love a great fighter. People for many years have flocked to the theatre to see boxing movies. The most famous onscreen Boxer, Rocky, held the world’s attention for seven episodes. The critical reason is everyone has a battle in life and boxing stories show the battle metaphorically played out on the big screen. These story lines offer hope and encouragement because just as the boxer faces challenges and battles throughout and gets to the ultimate victory, people feel a sense of “I can do this too” after seeing the onscreen story play out.
A set of practices concerning the narrative structure compose the classical Hollywood Paradigm. These conventions create a plot centering around a character who undergoes a journey in an attempt to achieve some type of goal (). By giving the central character more time on screen, the film helps the audience to not only understand the character’s motivation but also empathize with his/her emotional state. Additionally, some antagonistic force creates conflict with the main character, preventing immediate success(). Finally, after confronting the antagonist, the main character achieves his or her goal along with growing emotionally(). This proven structure creates a linear and relatively easily followed series of events encompassing the leading character and a goal.
Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
In the anime, Attack on Titan, the director is able to create and blend different master plots: vengeance by visual editing that places flashbacks at important moments inside the story and camera angles; hero’s quest by visual cuts and transitions from different character points of view; underdog by changing camera angles. Finally, but not least temptation through the use of sound editing with actions scenery and coloring. Narrative elements used by the director inside a film can change the master plot at any critical moment inside a story, elaborating a different story that can vary depending on our way of interpreting and analyzing the world around us. The director may have a general message that he wants to convey through narrative elements as it was previously stated, but we as the audience have the last word in what the film represents even though we obtain the main idea through the manipulation of the narrative elements used by the director.
One can learn from Tony’s mistakes. One can learn that family comes first. Society can also learn that taking shortcuts in life sometimes lead to a dead ends with no u-turns. This film showcases the time line of how a drug lord could rise to power from nothing. This film also shows how that same power one gets from becoming a drug lord could be taken at any time. Studying how to analyze a movie has definitely changed my perspective on how I view movies. I actually look at all the detailing in movies. I look at the camera angles and how they affect the scene. I even start to question why the director did not use a different angle for certain shots. By using film theories and criticism one can generate enough ideas in order to understand the movie better. When a film is being captured the director focuses on certain angles and lights to get the meaning of the scene to the audience. Just like everything in life has a meaning, everything in film also has a comparison meaning. This course has widen my intellect on how movies affect our societies. Movies can play a major role in how we act or how laws are even created. Movies has the same power as music. I say movies has the same power because one can look at a movie and want to become whatever he or she saw in the movie. One major skills that I developed in this course is being able to focus. Before this course, I could not focus on anything at all. I was the type to focus on three or
I suppose you could say history has a way of repeating itself, I mean almost all movies end with the hero saving the day or obtaining his goal. The collective unconscious is like a relationship; as in, sooner or later after a relationship breakup you’ll end up back with that person. The same goes with stories how they always have the same conclusion.
Piper, Jim. Get the Picture? The Movie Lover’s Guide to Watching Films. 2nd ed. New York, New York: Allworth, 2008. Print.