The artifact I chose for my analyst is the movie Pain & Gain directed by Michael Bay. This film is based on true events that took place in Miami during the mid-1990s. The main character, Danny Lugo, is a personal trainer whose life revolved around physical fitness. During his employment at Sunshine gym he becomes acquainted with Adrian Doorbal, a fellow personal trainer. The two realize that their hard work in the gym has led to big muscles and empty pockets. Lugo soon lusts after the earnings and lifestyle achieved by a new gym member he begins to train: Victor Kershaw, who Lugo believes is a crook. Inspired by motivational speaker Johnny Wu, Lugo decides to be a "doer" and hatches a plan to extort Kershaw’s assets by kidnapping and torturing him. Lugo and Doorbal soon realize they need a third member to pull off a job of this magnitude and recruit Paul Doyle, a recently released cocaine-addicted convict who has turned to religion. The three man crew, dubbed the Sunshine Gang, successfully kidnapped Victor Kershaw and extorted his assets. The crew then tried to murder Kershaw but was unsuccessful. When Kershaw informed law enforcement of what happened they believed the story was too far-fetched to be true. The Sunshine gang seemingly got away with all the crimes committed against Kershaw. It wasn’t long until their money ran out and they had to look for another hit to keep their new lifestyle going. The crew then decides to take down a wealthy business man named Frank Grigas. During this second hit, the three men murder Frank and his wife and dumped the chopped up bodies into the everglades. Law enforcement was soon on to the Sunshine gang and made arrest. Lugo and Doorbal were found guilty and sentenced to death for the murders ...
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...ing behavior because the actor is following a higher calling. The higher calling for Lugo is his responsibility to be a true American, a patriot and take from people that he sees as unfit for having nice things.
Danny Lugo and the Sunshine gang were tired of being nobody’s and have-nots. For Lugo and Doorbal a life dedicated in the gym left them without any real accomplishments. They justified kidnapping and torturing Victor Kershaw by believing that they deserved his wealth more than he did. They did not try to find an alternative to the American dream, they just seen someone living it and thought were unworthy. Paul Doyle is dragged into this endeavor but not because he believed that Kershaw didn’t deserve his life. Doyle was pushed into the situation by Lugo, Lugo was blinded by his corrupted view of the American dream and would do anything necessary to live it.
Nelson Johnson, author of “Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City”, is a native of Hammonton, New Jersey. Johnson graduated Villanova Law School in 1974, after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in 1970 from St John’s University in New York, majoring in political science. Johnson began his political career in 1975: being elected to Atlantic County’s Board of Chosen Freeholders, where he served until 1985. Johnson had a successful private practice culminating in appointment to be a Superior Court Judge in 2005. It is interesting to note that Gromley, who nominated Johnson to Superior Court, is featured in his book. Of further interest is that Johnson served on Atlantic City’s Planning Board at the conception of casinos.
Nancy Mairs - Crippled and Strong Throughout this passage , Nancy Mairs uses the word cripple to describe who she is and the beliefs of her condition. She does this by describing her condition in a few different ways: the opinion of others and the opinion of herself. As anyone should, she decides what her title as a person should be and she doesn’t listen or care for anyone’s opinion outside of her own. Her tone is very straightforward throughout the passage.
If a person of authority ordered you inflict a 15 to 400 volt electrical shock on another innocent human being, would you follow your direct orders? That is the question that Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University tested in the 1960’s. Most people would answer “no,” to imposing pain on innocent human beings but Milgram wanted to go further with his study. Writing and Reading across the Curriculum holds a shortened edition of Stanley Milgram’s “The Perils of Obedience,” where he displays an eye-opening experiment that tests the true obedience of people under authority figures. He observes that most people go against their natural instinct to never harm innocent humans and obey the extreme and dangerous instructions of authority figures. Milgram is well aware of his audience and organization throughout his article, uses quotes directly from his experiment and connects his research with a real world example to make his article as effective as possible.
associates more frequently with the lower levels of Hollywood society. This prevents him from climbing
Brian Turner's "The Hurt Locker" captures his personal and painful experiences during his time spent in war and furthermore, express the tragic events he witnessed. Brian Turner's poem is miraculously able to gather multiple first hand accounts of tragic, gory, and devastating moments inside a war zone and project them on to a piece of paper for all to read. He allows the audience of his work to partially understand what hell he himself and all combat veterans have endured. Although heartbreaking, it is a privilege to be taken inside "The Hurt Locker" of a man who saw too many things that should not ever be witnessed by anybody. Turner's words bring to life what many have buried deep inside them which subsequently is one of the major underlying problems facing combat veterans today. Reading this poem, I could not help but wonder what the long term effects of war are on a human being, if it is worth the pain, and how does a combat veteran function properly in a society that is unfamiliar with their experiences?
'The Curse'; by Andre Dubus is about Mitchell Hayes, a forty-nine year old bartender who is witness to a rape. The rape occurs right before closing when five bikers rape a young woman while holding Mitchell at bay. After the rape, Mitchell is distraught over his decision of not making a stronger attempt to help the girl. Police, family and friends try to comfort Mitchell by telling him he made the right decision. However, he continues to feel guilt and self-doubt over whether or not he could have done more in order to prevent the rape from occurring.
Michael Klare's Blood and Oil Michael Klare has written an interesting and very relevant book, dealing as it does with the politics of oil, US foreign policy, the Middle East, and the causes of terrorism. He writes with a clear purpose and that is to argue that America's "securitization" of oil and its willingness to use military force in order to secure its supplies of oil have been a major mistake. His main argument is that ever since the meeting on the Suez Canal in February 1945 between Ibn Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, and President Roosevelt, that America has supported despotic regimes in the Middle East in exchange for guarantees of oil supply, and that this is a deal, which undermines American commitment to and support for democracy and freedom. Furthermore, Klare believes that unless American policies change dramatically, there is likely to be an increase in conflict over oil, as countries such as China, which is dependent on imported oil (like the U.S.), attempt to secure their own oil supplies. Oil is a finite resource, which will be in increasingly short supply over the next few years, and production may now be near its "peak." In short, he believes that America must act now to move to a post-oil economy, taking exceptional measures to reduce the use of petroleum by motor vehicles and to introduce alternative fuels. ...
Before watching the movie the “The Hammer” I didn’t know what to expect. I had never seen a deaf movie before and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to understand the movie completely. Watching the movie wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be, and I enjoyed it. The best part about it was that it’s based on the true story about Matthew “The Hammer” Hamill.
When you think of the word “poverty” or “poor” what comes to mind? Some think of hunger, minorities, dirty areas, women, and homeless people. What about when you hear the term “abuse”? For most people, abuse means physical; getting beat up or hit. Although abuse can mean getting beat up or hit, there is far more that follows. Abuse can take on many forms like physical, emotional or sexual. The film Precious by Lee Daniels, based on the novel Push by Sapphire, encounters not only the obvious sexual abuse but physical and emotional abuse as well. Precious starts off with Claireece Precious Jones, played by Gabourey Sidibe, at her school in Harlem. She is called to the office because the principal has found out she is pregnant…Again. Kicked out of school, Precious now tries to find an alternative when her principal tells her about “Each One Teach One”, an alternative school. Precious enrolls and goes through a journey with her new teacher, who becomes her closest friend, her newborn son, and her abusive mother. This drama film is brutal, hard-hitting, and very emotional.
In his review of the film “Saving Private Ryan”, N.Cull claims that the film presents… “a realistic depiction of the lives and deaths of G.I’s in the European theatre in World War II”. Do you agree with his assessment of the film? Argue your case.
When I was young the only time I willingly woke up early was on Sunday mornings. I would throw on a robe over my pajamas and run down stairs with my brother to the living room and sit myself in the middle of the couch, which was directly in front of our television. To me the best part of the week was watching the morning cartoons with the family while eating breakfast. We always enjoyed good laughs watching the Coyote try to catch the Roadrunner, and I was jealous of the special powers and military devices in cartoons like ‘X-Men’ and ‘GI.Joe’. The habitual watching of cartoons eventually transformed as I reached my teen years. Instead of cartoons I watched music videos and movies. All of my life I have been growing up with the television, watching and learning from the characters and images on the screen. I realize now that the media greatly effects our lives and the lives of today’s youth, often in ways that we do not realize. In Natural Born Killers, a film written and directed by Oliver Stone he portrays what he believes are the negative effects from the media on America’s youth.
For this assignment I decided to watch/write about the movie The Green Mile. To sum up the movie it starts off as the story of Paul's (Tom Hanks) life as a death row corrections officer during the Great Depression, at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary. One day, John Coffey, a giant black man who was convicted of raping and killing two young white girl. He arrives on death row. John comes off as shy and soft-spoken, from this point I couldn’t imagine that he committed this crime. John reveals powers by healing Paul's urinary tract infection and give live back to a mouse. Percy Wetmore, has recently begun working in the death row inmate’s block; his fellow guards dislike him. Before the final scene of the execution John takes Paul’s hand to show him what really happened to the two little girls. As an elderly Paul finishes his story, he notes that he requested a transfer to a youth detention center, where he spent the remainder of his career. Transitioning this movie into what we have learned in class, I decided to talk about how correctional officers acted in the movie and comparing it to what we have learned in class. I will mention how stress among inmates and staff were shown, personnel matters, and staff vs inmates not relating to stress.
Margin Call depicts a realistic take on what happens inside a Wall Street firm. It is about a company that is downsizing their workers because of a firm’s crisis. One of the victims, Eric Dale, was working on a major analysis when he was laid off. He hands his coworker Peter Sullivan his USB, which contains the major analysis. Peter stays late and cracks the issues and calls his coworkers and bosses in about the financial disaster he had discovered. He had discovered that the company is about the crash. He tries to get ahold of Eric, no luck. He then calls his coworkers Seth Bregman and Will Emerson, who are at a bar and tells them that they need to come back to the office for an emergency situation. After showing the situation to Will, John Tuld, the Chief Executive Officer, quickly hears about it. They all have a conference meeting and decide that the company will sell all of the mortgages, which have little to no value. Once the sale is completed, the company tries to save their reputation by saying that this issue was nonpreventable.
The only person the narcissist will ever pity or feel sorry for is him/herself. If the narcissist believes he/she can get away with doing something (even if it's illegal, immoral, or will hurt someone), he/she will do it. At different times, many high profile individuals are classified as a narcissist in the media. The movie “The Wolf Of Wall Street” demonstrates how a rapid success leads to the narcissistic behavior. “Feel good” holiday movies, usually focus on traditional family values of heroism whereas Martin Scorsese in his film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” does the opposite. The movie focus on lavish life of Jordan but it was a true satire for an individual exploring quick fortune and shortcut of getting rich. Although many critics argue that “The Wolf of Wall Street” focuses mostly on the greed of Belfort, his extravagant luxurious lifestyle and portrayal of women as sex toys and leaves viewer with no moral message, I would disagree, as the film does delivers a moral message that rapid success can cause an individual to develop narcissistic behavior, which eventually leads to destruction and the financial message that will be helpful in investments business.
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