Analysis of Mission Impossible
The film ‘Mission impossible’, directed by Brian De Palma, was
released in 2001 staring the likes of Tom Cruise, Jon Voight and
Emmanuelle Beart. It is and action-thriller, based on the story of an
American agent, who, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must
discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organisation.
The film stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt (protagonist), part of a crack
squad of intelligence operatives, based upon the 1960’s T.V series. It
incorporates vast amounts of action within a complex and clever
storyline. The films target audience would most probably be younger
people (13-26) or people with a modern lifestyle as the film’s content
is fast and exciting, as well as being technologically advanced. The
film’s certification of P.G. also effects this audience bracket as the
younger viewers must be considered.
The film begins with a title sequence consisting of all the main
characters, shots of a burning fuse which represents a lack of time in
conjunction with the theme of the film and a selection of intriguing
action shots extracted from the film. The opening scene of the film
directly evolves you as the audience in a current mission of the
secret organisation in which a victim is being lured into a fake
situation and then drugged by the operatives. This enables the viewers
to be instantly part of the action of the film’s theme.
Representation of the hero plays a big role in this action/thriller
and is used for a variety of reasons. In this particular story the
hero is the character of ‘Ethan Hunt’ who shows a collection of
typical heroic characteristics throughout the film as well as playing
within the typical ‘hero’ story line. The character goes through a
series of challenges throughout the film surviving them all and then
finally achieving his goal. The hero is always played so that the
audiences become attached to him and the story allows the audience to
develop hatred for those working against the hero.
Certain symbolic techniques are used in the film to demonstrate the
In the short story “The Hunter” the author Richard Stark introduces Parker, the main character of this book. The main character is a rough man, he’s a criminal, a murderer, and even an escaped convict. He’s described as crude and rugged and though women are frightened by him, they want him. Parker is not the classic criminal, but rather he’s intelligent, hard, and cunning. In this story the author carefully appeals to his audience by making a loathsome criminal into a hero, or rather, an anti-hero. The author, Richard Stark uses ethical appeal to make his audience like Parker through the use of phronesis, arête, altruism and lastly the ethos of his audience.
In Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess, 2004), the character known as Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) is quite a unique fellow. His quirkiness and eccentricity are what make him as a character; they are the primary traits of his personality. Keep in mind, however, that he is not the only odd character in the film, but he has his own peerless way of defining himself separate from any other character(s). This effect is achieved through certain cinematic techniques that director Jared Hess utilizes in order to bring out Napoleon’s persona in ways other than simply “guessing” who he really is. Rather, these techniques “explicitly imply” certain character traits; they are like clues that allow one to see the character just as the creator intended. Through mise-en-scene, sound, and acting and performance, Napoleon Dynamite emphasizes and comments on the character of Napoleon, defining his physical and social nature.
In “A Brief Encounter with the Enemy” by Said Sayrafiezadeh, Luke, a pessimistic soldier, walks down memory lane as he travels the path to get to the hill during his last recon. He remembers appreciating nature, encountering and writing to Becky, the first time he’d shot a gun, and Christmas leave. Luke identifies the moment when he realizes that he had joined the army for the wrong reason, after crossing the bridge his team built in order to cross the valley, and at the same time dreading the return to his former office job. Boredom and nothingness destroy him mentally as he waits for enemies to appear. When the enemies finally appear, he shoots them down and goes home the next day. Sayrafiezadeh proposes that expectations don’t always equate
To fully appreciate the significance of the plot one must fully understand the heroic journey. Joseph Campbell identified the stages of the heroic journey and explains how the movie adheres meticulously to these steps. For example, the first stage of the hero’s journey is the ordinary world (Campbell). At the beginning, the structure dictates that the author should portray the protagonist in their ordinary world, surrounded by ordinary things and doing ordinary tasks so that the author might introduce the reasons that the hero needs the journey in order to develop his or her character or improve his or her life (Vogler 35). The point of this portrayal is to show the audience what the protagonist’s life is currently like and to show what areas of his or her life are conflicted or incomplete. When the call to adventure occurs, the protagonist is swept away into another world, one that is full of adventure, danger, and opportunities to learn what needs to be learned. T...
War is a very tough and gruesome thing that people have to deal with even though no one likes it. It takes a special person to enlist and go fight for their country. Someone who's tough and can handle seeing the things they have to see day after day, no matter what just to defend their country. Now imagine being only fifteen and sneaking into the army just to do what's right and needs to be done. It was the mid 1940's while WWII is raging through Europe as Hitler and his numerous followers and soldiers are terrorizing mainly the Jewish population killing millions. Jack Raab, a fifteen year old boy, dreams of being a hero, so when he hears about what's going on he sees it as his chance to be one. Leaving his family in New York with his brothers
The Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research project, that created the United States first nuclear weapon, and led to its creation of the nuclear department during World War II. M.A.U.D. / M.A.U.D. group was created in 1940. Also, M.A.U.D was the secret name given to the group and it came from a phrase in a message from Niel Bohr (Cohen). This group produced a report that said that producing a fission bomb was possible. James Chadwick, a new member of the British M.A.U.D group, later wrote that at that time he realized that a nuclear bomb was able to be built in his lifetime.
What components make a movie successful in cinema? Filmmakers have crafted a formula to successfully deliver the hero narrative. This formula consists of the hero’s journey and archetypes. Hero films typically follow a ten-step sequence to properly set up and execute the hero’s journey. These movies range from stories of transformations, searches, or a journey back home. Archetypes are used to employ character profile as well as add variety and depth to these stories. Ridley Scott directed Alien, in which Ellen Ripley embarks on a journey where she must survive an alien who is out on a murderous rampage and return back to Earth. Alien adds originality to its storyline by choosing a female lead instead of a male, but the film still incorporates the same heroic attributes that make a story successful. In this “going home journey” film, Scott is able to incorporate the hero’s journey and the official hero archetype towards the heroine Ellen Ripley.
Gina Marchetti, in her essay "Action-Adventure as Ideology," argues that action- adventure films implicitly convey complex cultural messages regarding American values and the "white American status quo." She continues to say that all action-adventure movies have the same basic structure, including plot, theme, characterization, and iconography. As ideology, this film genre tacitly expresses social norms, values, and morals of its time. Marchetti's essay, written in 1989, applies to films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rambo: First Blood II. However, action-adventure films today seem to be straying farther away from her generalizations about structure, reflecting new and different cultural norms in America. This changing ideology is depicted best in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), which defies nearly every concept Marchetti proposes about action-adventure films; and it sets the stage for a whole new viewpoint of action in the '90's.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
This study will explore the shape and scope of the Manhattan Project scientists’ political movement between 1942 and 1945. It will examine the messages they brought into the political realm and investigate how they approached political questions. It will further examine why the scientists were unable to influence wartime policy regarding the use of nuclear weaponry.
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.
The launch of the two atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945 will lead to a long
On the morning of August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay flew over the industrial city of Hiroshima, Japan and dropped the first atomic bomb ever. The city went up in flames caused by the immense power equal to about 20,000 tons of TNT. The project was a success. They were an unprecedented assemblage of civilian, and military scientific brain power—brilliant, intense, and young, the people that helped develop the bomb.
“The Mission” is based on a true story that occurred around the borderlands of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the years 1750’s according to the film and history. The Treaty of Madrid of 1750 with the Spanish and Portuguese caused both havoc and death for the people of the Guarini and the members of the Jesuits. The Jesuits, members of the church, tried to bring Christianity and civilization to the natives while keeping at peace with Spain and Portugal. The Jesuits were the teachers for the natives; Teaching them not only the Christian religion but also civilization. Father Gabriel, a Jesuit, is first introduced in the film when he is showing his respects to a former Jesuit priest killed by the natives. He walks through the South American
Provide a paragraph ONLY summarizing your understanding of the film. In this summary, address the main theme or idea of the film as well as any underlying themes that are conveyed during the production. In other words, what primary message was conveyed to the audience IN YOUR OWN WORDS via the production of this film? (Note – I have seen all of these films – thus, this section should be one paragraph only – the majority of your critique should include your responses to Items 3 & 4).