The Hero
The movie Con Air is a motivational movie. It is an action movie that can appeal to almost anyone. There are many factors in this movie and when combined all together, they give the movie a sense of unity. The theme and the purpose are similar and are intended to attract a wide variety of viewers.
The main theme of Con Air is heroism. Of course, as in most movies, the main character of Con Air displays many heroic acts. Cameron Poe is stuck on a plane transporting hardened criminals. The criminals take over the plane, forcing Poe to play the hero and “save the fucking day” as he so delicately puts it. For example, when Johnny 23, a serial rapist, attacks a woman guard in attempt to change his name to Johnny 24, Poe stands up and refuses to let the rape occur. Poe also displays his courage by refusing to give up or get off the plane until he successfully saves the innocent lives on board. Poe is not the only hero. Vince Larkin, an officer of the law also displays many acts of courage. He refuses to shoot the plane down because of the innocent victims on board. Another prisoner, Garland Green, a brutal serial killer, displays more courage. When he comes across a young girl playing alone outside her house, he has a chance to turn her into a victim. But, remarkably, he does her no harm. Not the typical heroic act, yet it still applies.
Similar to the theme of heroism, is the purpose of Con Air. The purpose of this movie is to inspire people to do the right thing even when stuck in the worst environment. And what could be worse than Poe’s environment. As he describes it, “They somehow managed to get every creep and freak in the universe on this one plane, and then somehow managed to let them take it over and somehow managed to stick us right smack in the middle.” Yet he still manages to repair the damage done. Garland Green was also place in a vulnerable position, and he somehow manages to refrain from his killer instincts. These acts of heroism within the theme are effectively used to portray the purpose of inspiration.
Add together the theme, purpose, and plot of this movie, and the total would create an effective movie with the capability of attracting a large audience.
Heroism may be a thematic issue as well (Polashuk, 2007). Oscar Wilde is trying to be a hero for his partner, Douglas by standing up to Lord Alfred Douglas of Queensberry about their relationship and feelings for each other. This causes issues, especially for Wilde who is taken to court and put down by Alfred of Queensberry.
People do not have to fly to be hero, it takes much more. Many heroes of today are shown to have supernatural powers that makes them acquire amazing abilities, flying, super strength, skills to manifest anything, the list goes on. Our heroes in the present time are perceived by the audiences' mindset to have special powers but there are times where being a hero does not need to have all the extra tricks. Thomas, a character in The Maze Runner is thrown unconsciously with no memory into a place of the unknown called the Glades, consisting of only teenagers inhabiting the area. He would soon find out the whole place is bordered by a big wall that closes by night and day to protect them from the maze that are filled with demonic machines that will kill on sight. This begins his adventure, eager to learn what is out there and willing to become a maze runner which is equivalent to being a tribute for the greater good in their little homemade society. Having powers might help to become a hero, but in the dystopian novel The Maze Runner, by James Dashner, his protagonist Thomas demonstrates the hero journey in a more natural way by crossing the threshold, meeting a mentor, and lastly having tests, allies and enemies.
Mark Twain best described courage when he said that, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear” (Twain). Both in The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and Watership Down by Richard Adams, the authors deal with the topic of courage and each share a similar view on it as this quote. Indeed, both authors suggest that courage is not accumulated simply by acts of heroism, but rather by overcoming fears and speaking one’s mind as well. These books are very similar in the way that bravery is displayed through the characters in an uncommon way. Firstly, an example of bravery
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to show the genre of the film and how it is meant to be perceived. All
The film’s story does not simply shines forth, but is also the foundation of the plot. The film’s plot makes the traditional guidelines applicable...
When looking through many different movies, and lyrics I chose the movie Con Air, starring Nicolas Cage. Cage portrays Cameron Poe, an ex Army ranger who has just returned from the Gulf war. Right from the start Poe is faced with adversity. His return was not what he had hoped for. After he had spent time with his wife, Poe decided to call it a night, however a local gang decided to start a fight while they were leaving the parking lot. Poe easily wins the fight due to having such extent training in the military. After the brutal fight scene, he ended up killing one of the assailants on accident. This is where the movie takes a sudden turn for Poe. He is charged for that act, even though it was in self-defense. We next find Poe at a high-security prison where he is to spend the next 7 years. Throughout that time we learn about his new daughter Kaci who is Poe’s major purpose for getting out of jail. He gains a new friend in his cellmate Baby-O. After many years in prison, Poe learns that his pardon was granted; all that separates him from being with his family is one flight. Little did he know the plane would be filled with crazed convicts trying to overtake the plane.
Although the theme of flight is seen throughout the book, for some characters it is even more. For many of the characters, including Kirsten and Tyler, flights are vital to explain character development. Tyler, who is the son of Arthur Leander, is interesting, because unlike most of the other flights of the book, his is away from normal “civilized” society and into disorder. In the book, he decides that the life that is agreed upon by almost all, where humanity must rebuild from the disaster that had occurred, was the wrong path- and that the correct one was an ideology where God had chosen the best to survive. Putting aside the many issues with his plans and beliefs, this is a great example of how an antagonist in a story rather than a protagonist
This information was presented in form of a movie in a campaign dabbed “Make a Movie, Make a Difference”. This information was enlightening as high school students engaged in movie production to addre...
People can feel better about themselves after watching these types of movies. Using these elements together, it makes the movie better, but not only that, but each element helps each other out in the scene to make it a very good movie
powerful in a film like this as it can bring up the rating of the
Going to the movies is an experience that everyone can enjoy, and while most people have an idea of what genre of movie they are partial to, there are some movies that will appeal to almost any crowd. I recently took my two nieces, ages ten and thirteen, to see the 2014 musical Into the Woods, and in the audience there was a large group of teenagers, a couple families that had brought their preteen and teenage children, and even some adults that had gone to see it for their own enjoyment. There are numerous aspects of a movie that can catch a person’s attention, and the film producers of Into the Woods knew exactly how to draw in the desired crowd. In order to do this, the filmmakers used both ethos and pathos to appeal to their intended preteen, teenage, and adult audiences.
and allow the audience to experience the story and the film in a different way.
...movie that I fell in love with. But most of all I love how the story line is a great overlap into the cinematically engaging movie. There is a great use of camera, timing, shots and story line that are portrayed in this movie without being too overwhelming. This allows the audience to relax during the movie and just take in the scenes as a story from reality. To this day, and even still doing this paper I still come to find different aspects of the movie that I missed the previous times I have watched it.
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.