Ever since I was a little boy I have always been interested in film, whether it’s watching the newest episode of Spongebob Squarepants or watching the 2015 Academy Awards I have always been fascinated by motion pictures, and more specifically good motion pictures. Most people when they go to see a film want to see lots of explosions and bad guys getting beat up, when I go to a movie I try to pay close attention to the cinematography and the acting performances for each of the characters. The thing I love the most about film is the way a film can capture a person and completely transport you to a whole new place mentally, while telling a great story. Filmmakers and their works of art have made changes to the way people look at the world by …show more content…
In the beginning films were all silent except for some music and black and white. Movies really started to get big with the release of Birth of a Nation in 1915. Birth of a Nation is an prime example of how film can influence an entire nation and poison the minds of millions. Some view this film as something furthering the cancer of the united states know as racism, which it is, but what it also parades is how an good story portrayed in the correct fashion can be instrumental in an major social movement. Birth of a Nation portrayed African Americans in the united states as beasts and the film blamed them for the civil war and many other of America's problems at the dawn of the twentieth century, and people really believed it. Although it is a film the glorifies segregation in american, it also is a prime example of the way motion pictures can get into peoples minds and completely change the way they view a subject. You can also see examples of this in many other films like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey released in 1968, with Kubrick’s use of special effects and convoluted subject matter this film made humans question their very existence, to this day experts debate the true meaning to this film. In 1972 Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather was released , this picture opened peoples eyes to the other side of America that we don’t see on TV, the world of underground crime, and American fell in love. All throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s “gangsters” took over the movie screen with films like Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and Scarface (1983). There was just something people loved about seeing bad guys getting away with doing bad things. Just another example of how an good story told in the right way can make people fall in love, no matter how gruesome the subject matter is. You can
Silas Lynch, who is presented as the antithesis of Ben Cameron and the main villain of the film, represents the dangers of letting a black person have freedom and power. Lynch, who has been told by Austin Stoneman that he can be the equal of any white man, uses his new political influence to terrorize the white population of Piedmont, and to supplant his black biased agenda over the traditions of the south. In one of the more outrageous scenes of the film, Lynch’s black supporters actually block white voters from reaching the ballot box during an election, effectively denying the historical struggle of African American voters to gain proper suffrage rights by reversing the roles in the film. This scene is also used to make the viewer feel sympathetic toward the Ku Klux Klan when they deny African Americans the ability to vote at the end of the film. At the beginning of the reconstruction period, Ben Cameron feels powerless and frustrated.
The change in the U.S. can be said to be a social revolution. People were growing sick of the same old movies, they wanted a change and Hollywood needed to deliver or else they would lose their audience to the TV. In the early 60's, the studios were still afraid of the blacklisting so the films were still very safe. An example of this is the film Sound of Music (1965). This was a film about a musical family that needed to escape the Nazi presence. Although the movie is based on a true story, they still follow the same old idea of a nice family, who must escape from the clutches of evil. Basically, the movie is saying good guys win and bad guys always lose. Sure this how most films are made but there is no sense of change, no differences in the style or way it was made. Since there was no change, the public was not interested. The TV was much more convenient and kept the publics interested.
To put it simply, there is nothing more I would rather do than influence how people see good and the bad in our world, and to me there is only one medium for that, film.
German poet Friedrich Schiller once said “Revenge is barren of itself: it is the dreadful food it feeds on; its delight is murder, and its end is despair.” The burning sensation you feel inside when imagining how to get back at someone who has wronged you has tremendous power, and more often than not it leads to hurting yourself more than what was done in the first place. In “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe the protagonist Montresor gets revenge on his dear old friend Fortunato without causing any more pain to himself. The setting of this story is limited to two different places. While they contrast each other in certain aspects the carnival and Montresor family catacombs go hand in hand to portray the implicit meaning of the feud
Within every history class, English class, and even some science classes, the art of storytelling is a primary foundation for human communication and understanding. Whether it be through myths – Greek, Roman, Egyptian, you pick – or wives tales or even Grandpa telling his old war stories, stories have power. Now, through technological advancements in the last 150+ years (thank you Thomas Edison for your obsession), we have film as a mode to tell stories. Fictional or not, films tell a story; they have the power to give you not only entertainment but enlightenment too. Through continuing advancements, filmmakers have the ability to challenge and manipulate the power of the story through creative resistance; by exploring other elements of storytelling via film, filmmakers can create dramatically different films from similar ideas by using a multitude of techniques. Films are even used to create social commentary.
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.
Auteur theory holds that, ‘a director’s films reflect that director’s personal creative vision, as if he/she were the primary author. From the earliest silent films to contemporary times motion pictures have crossed over and both entertained and educated the viewing audience.
It is a common mis-conception that films are merely entertainment, and serve no other purpose than to provide for the viewer a two-hour escape from reality. This is a serious under-estimation of the power, purpose, and potential of film, because film, upon reflection, revea...
‘The New World’ was an intense movie full of war, love, and blood set in the beginning years of America and colonization. Around 1606 a ground of English people set off to the “New World” in search for a colony. They settled in an area in presently known as Virginia. Furthermore, this area was soon called “Jamestown” after the King of England, James I. Jamestown is located in present day Virginia. In the first place, the group of English pioneers traveled on three boats, named Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed. The group landed around mid 1607 and settled in a safer area than where they had landed. The movie starts off with a Native American girl that is on the main land when these Englishman come to their area. Her name is Pocahontas,
Although this gave away the plot of the film it did not make the film
Hollywood’s great influence enables films to cause positive or negative impacts on society. An example of this is D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. Upon its release in 1915, the film created disputes due the way that it portrayed African Americans. The film caused race riots and uproars from African American communities who were enraged by their community’s portrayal. For the first time in film history, a motion picture was screened at the White House, where President Woodrow Wilson said, “It is like writing history with lightning.”
Many people don’t think about it so much, but movies (or just film in general) have become such a big part of our lives that we don’t think much of it because it just feels like a usual part of living. But have you ever wondered why this is, and how far back film started? Movies and film have been around for a long time, have developed in big ways throughout time, and has advanced in such a big and new way to this day.
Across the globe watching movies started as an asylum for the working class, but slowly the ideas being portrayed onscreen have evolved resulting in movie going to become almost religious. Movies have the ability to leave us in awe as a result of their ability to give us a glimpse of a dream, however unrealistic. I myself am a huge fan of the film industry. I started to feel a certain reverence for it because of the way it inspired me to dream and gave birth to my ambitions. This ultimately led to me to go into an in depth investigation of whether I was the only one who felt this way and what affects had been created because of this feeling.
Movies take us inside the skin of people quite different from ourselves and to places different from our routine surroundings. As humans, we always seek enlargement of our being and wanted to be more than ourselves. Each one of us, by nature, sees the world with a perspective and selectivity different from others. But, we want to see the world through other’s eyes; imagine with other’s imaginations; feel with other’s hearts, at a same time as with our own. Movies offer us a window onto the wider world, broadening our perspective and opening our eyes to new wonders.
Movies are a great version of storytelling because they make stories more relatable and memorable. Storytelling is one of the most powerful capabilities humans possess. It can be used to motivate, dominate, and influence people. The scope and power of storytelling has grown immensely from its roots in stories told over the campfire. It now covers every dimension of human emotion and endeavor. This makes stories incredibly relatable and influential in that one can relate to the emotions that are being depicted and can, if wanted to, be influenced by the decision the character made. Before movies were invented, people relied on speaking and “the written word” to hear stories. Each person visualized the story’s characters, sets, and actions differently. Moviemakers have moved a step further in the way of storytelling. They take it upon themselves to physically set up the sets, give faces to the characters, and sh...