The African Queen is one of those films that requires very little background knowledge for the average viewer to fully enjoy it. With that said, if one is to appreciate the film to its fullest capacity, they should take the time to learn about the effort, dedication, and sweat that was poured into this film to make it what it is today. The African Queen movie was an adaptation of C.S. Forester’s Novel inspired by an event from 1915 where two motors were taken from London to the deep jungles of Africa to help deal with German Vessels (Meyers). The rights of the film were first owned by Columbia and Warner Brothers who planned to make it a blockbuster hit. Before Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart were cast as the iconic duo, the studios considered …show more content…
His choice to film far away from home was based on the idea that the actors would give a much better performance if the hardships they faced were real, and they sure were. Much of the cast and crew did not anticipate the dangers and illnesses that awaited them in the Belgian Congo to the extent they had faced. Throughout their 7-week trip, most of the cast became sick from contaminated water and Malaria. Hepburn, who ended up suffering from dysentery, got one of the worst cases during the trip and was constantly vomiting between takes (Cosgrove). A few cast members were sent back to England because of how severe their illnesses were. Oddly enough, the only two to not become sick were Huston and Bogart, who spent most of the day drinking whiskey (“The African Queen - Bogart, Hepburn”). The first day of shooting was the most hectic for the group according to Hepburn. Hepburn described the first day as, “Five cars and trucks were needed to take the cast, crew and equipment 3.5 miles from Biondo to the Ruiki River. There, they loaded everything onto boats and sailed another 2.5 miles to the shooting location,” (“History of a Classic”). The filming process took much longer than anticipated because tempers were constantly flaring, the heavy amounts of rain would push filming days back, and the boat itself was frequently breaking down while filming. Though, once they settled on location, everyone began to settle in and enjoy their time soon enough. Of course the only one to truly not enjoy the trip was Bogart who dreaded the below average food, rainy weather, and the jungle insects that constantly pestered him. He usually spent his time in the tent drinking, reading, or sleeping while Hepburn joined Huston on his dangerous hunting Safari’s (????). Bacall was offered to join the two on
When one thinks of Pirates of Penzance many tend to immediately recollect the movie depicted from this play. Visions of Kevin Kline playing the Pirate King, Linda Ronstadt playing Mabel, Angela Lansbury as Ruth and George Rose plays the Major-General. The adaptation of this script was very true to Gilbert & Sullivan style. Varying degrees of comedic breaks, action scenes, and dance sequences definitely kept my interest.
Minstrel shows were developed in the 1840's and reached its peak after the Civil War. They managed to remain popular into the early 1900s. The Minstrel shows were shows in which white performers would paint their faces black and act the role of an African American. This was called black facing. The minstrel show evolved from two types of entertainment popular in America before 1830: the impersonation of blacks given by white actors between acts of plays or during circuses, and the performances of black musicians who sang, with banjo accompaniment, in city streets. The 'father of American minstrelsy' was Thomas Dartmouth 'Daddy' Rice, who between 1828 and 1831 developed a song-and-dance routine in which he impersonated an old, crippled black slave, dubbed Jim Crow. Jim Crow was a fool who just spent his whole day slacking off, dancing the day away with an occasional mischievous prank such as stealing a watermelon from a farm. Most of the skits performed on the Minstrel shows symbolized the life of the African American plantations slaves. This routine achieved immediate popularity, and Rice performed it with great success in the United States and Britain, where he introduced it in 1836. Throughout the 1830s, up to the founding of the minstrel show proper, Rice had many imitators.
When I decided to watch “The Antwone Fisher Story” I wasn’t really sure what I was about to watch. I had never heard about the movie before, but I am up for watching any movie that comes my way. It had a great story about Antwone Fisher’s struggles through life and how it has affected him in present time. How can I use what I have seen in this movie in my future classroom?
“Silver Liz as Cleopatra” is a piece completed by Warhol in 1963 and is currently on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. This specific painting portrays actress Elizabeth Taylor as the lead role of Cleopatra, the highest grossing film of 1963. Silver paint, and silkscreen ink and pencil on linen were all used in union to achieve the final result. Here the recurring images of the queen of the silver screen resemble a strip of film or a number of inexpensive and quick snap shots from a photo booth. The representation of Hollywood stars in his works were not an uncommon subject for Warhol as he was infatuated with the world of celebrities. His ability to utilize the methods and techniques...
“The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” is a hilarious comedy, brought together brilliantly by writer and director Stephan Elliot. Tick/Mitzi and Adam/Felicia are two drag queens that travel across Australia on a lavender bus with there transsexual friend Ralph/Bernadette. All three challenge the dominant stereotype of the Australian male. Released in 1994, 14 years into the AIDS epidemic, the film had a phenomenal response around the world and in Australia.
The emancipation of the African slave who was now disconnected from their traditions and way of life after nearly 300 years, is seemingly a great gush from the dam to the ebbs and flows of the struggle. The end of slavery as we know it, presented a ball of mixed emotions among the nation; North and SOUTH. Some slaves were grossly ecstatic to be free. For example, when a slave girl named Caddy, from Goodman, Mississippi found she was free, went to her mistress, flipped up her dress and told her "Kiss my ass!" On the contrary, some slaves were apprehensive of being free. For example, one elderly slave woman reportedly said, "I ain' no free nigger! I is got a marster and mistiss! Dee right dar in de great house. Ef you don' believe me, you go dar an' see." Though most slaves were detached from their families, many managed to regroup and find their love ones after their emancipation and constructed close knit families. Land was an viable means of survival in the minds of newly freedmen and the government was eager to deem lands to the ex-slaves . On January 16, 1865, General William T. Sherman told the freedmen that they will receive the land they were in search of. They were granted the head of each family would receive "possessory title" to forty acres of land. Sherman also gave the use of Army mules, thus giving rise to the slogan, "Forty acres and a mule." Similarly in 1862 the Union military set aside land in Port Royal, South Carolina, which became known as the Port Royal experiment. The freedmen bureau was created to aid newly freed slaves in the transition from bondage to freedom in 1865. After Lincoln's assassination the succession of his Vice president...
In the article of “Exhibiting Intention: Some Preconditions of the Visual Display of Culturally Purposeful Objects”, the author, Michael Baxandall mainly discussed interrelationship within the group of three agents upon their influence and reflect of the artifacts in the museum, and the understanding of culture elements behind the display. In the first part of this paper, I will identify the points of view of the author. In the second part, I will analyze the layout of the gallery, “Imagining the Underground” in Earth Matters in Fowler Museum in UCLA. Several discussion related to the settings of the museum and the article will be discussed interactively. In general, this paper tries to show the robustness and the weakness of Baxandall’s model, which will specified.
It is human nature to tell stories and to appreciate and participate in theatre traditions in every society. Every culture expresses theatre and may have their own traditions that have helped pave the way for how they are today. The involvement of African-Americans has increased tremendously in theatre since the nineteenth century and continues to increase as time goes on. African-Americans have overcome many obstacles with getting their rights and the participation and involvement of Theatre was something also worth fighting for. American history has played an important role with the participation of African-Americans in theatre. Slavery occurrence in America made it difficult for blacks in America to be taken seriously and to take on the characters of more serious roles. With many obstacles in the way African-Americans fought for their rights and also for the freedom that they deserved in America. As the participation of African-Americans involvement within the theatre increase so do the movements in which help make this possible. It is the determination of these leaders, groups, and Theaters that helped increase the participation and created the success that African-Americans received throughout history in American Theatre.
Cleopatra. Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Perf. Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. Twentieth Century Fox Productions, 1963.
with a wasted face, dressed all in black. He sees her at the back of
Brian May and Roger Taylor, in 1970, set the wheels in motion for Queen when they decided to form a band during their college years. Queen started out as a band called Smile who signed with Mercury Records, and included: Tim Staffell, Brian May, and Roger Taylor. Once Tim Staffell left, the group added Freddie Mercury (lead singer) and bassist John Deacon. Freddie Mercury, Farrokh Bulsara, was a fan of Smile and was added on as the lead vocalist. John Deacon began as a young guitarist who was a member of the group called The Opposition. This band was composed of a group of friends, and they were influenced by groups such as The Hollies and Herman’s Hermits. Eventually, Deacon was added to the group that already included Mercury, Taylor, and May. Over time, the group changed their name to Queen. The name Queen was selected by Mercury, and this name is symbolic of power and regality. The addition of Mercury proved to be an essential aspect to the history of Queen’s success. In Queen: The Early Years, Hodkinson writes, “much of what made Freddie also defined Queen: without him they were merely a model rock band with a bent for a commercial tune” (2). The group became well known for their theatrical performances and costumes that were often over the top. “From their international breakthrough in 1976, Queen continually remained one of the best-selling rock acts worldwide beyond Mercury's death in 1991. Their total record sales are estimated at up to 300 million records” (Desler 391). This group was important to the evolution of music and music performance in bands that were to follow them.
The Green Hills of Africa is Hemingway’s second non-fiction work, set in 1933, following the author and his second wife, Pauline, on a big-game safari in Africa. It was first serialized and then published in 1935. The first run was of 10,500 copies selling at $2.75 a piece. While many smaller critics passed their typical glossy review of Hemingway, those at the height of literary criticism bombarded it. Particularly with respect to what Hemingway claimed the novel was. In the foreword of the novel, Ernest Hemingway writes, “The writer has attempted to write an absolutely true book to see whether the shape of a country and the pattern of a month’s action can, if truly presented, compete with a work of the imagination.”1 Fittingly the critical response to Hemingway’s second non-fiction work examined the novel in that respect, as well as in its achievement as a free-standing novel.
African cinema has evolved in multiple facets since postcolonialism milieu. Post-nationalist African cinema has transformed into a more complex network that simultaneously incorporates both global and national issues alike. Modern post-nationalist films aim to aim to repudiate a homogenized notion African Cinema while highlight the diversities in African cinema, unlike antithetical early nationalist variants which portrayed a generalized African identity. These post-nationalist film makers advocate the need for utilizing new film languages and ideals suitable to the contemporary cultural, social, political and economic situations of different African countries. Certain developments have been instrumental to this gradual cinematic evolution
In the slippery terrain created by globalization and cultural brokering, contemporary art made in Africa (and its diasporas) has enjoyed a steady growth in interest and appreciation by Western audiences during the last few decades (Kasfir, 2007). Several biennials, triennials, and scholarly works attest to that, with much of its impact owed to the figure of Okwui Enwezor. However, seamlessly uniting diverse African artists under the untrained Western gaze for the commercialism of the international art circuit – notwithstanding their different cultural contexts and the medium in which they work – is bound to create problems. Enwezor’s and other authors’ sophisticated publications and curatorial works show both the vitality and issues still to be addressed in this field of study (Ogbechie, 2010).
Shot with formal elegance, “The Queen of the Desert” marks the return of the celebrated German director Werner Herzog to fiction, after six years of documentaries, which include the pictorial “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” and the mandatory “Into the Abyss”. Set in the early Twentieth century, the film is a biographical drama focused on Gertrud Bell who drew the attention of the world not only for being a courageous traveler but also for her work as a writer, archeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political officer for the British Empire. Ms. Bell, played with the usual graciousness by Nicole Kidman, feels domesticated and shows an adventurer spirit since an early stage, begging her father to let her go away to anywhere in the world. Her father decides to send her to Tehran, to live with her immoderate uncle, an important figure of the British embassy in that city. Once there, she falls for the charming Henry Cadogan (James Franco), an Embassy worker designated to be her guardian and entertainer.