Falling Down
The 1993 film falling down provides a look into two separate men’s lives in the course of one day. Although the movie was highly acclaimed for it’s portrayal of the new human situation, the covert and overt racism, sexism, and classism leave a sour taste in this viewer’s mouth. The movie comes across as a lame attempt to show the “White man’s ever growing burden.” The audience is expected to feel a compassion for both lead characters. The message that is supposed to be portrayed is similar to films of today such as fight club and American beauty. All three pointing at what they see as specific flaws yet offering up no real solutions to these problems. With these flaws in this system pointed out Michael Douglas’ character William Foster is held up as a martyr. He is not portrayed as a real villain through out the story.
Both men feel the strain of society the difference is the way each chooses to express this frustration. The first scene both main characters are stuck in a huge traffic jam. Sick of waiting William Foster leaves his car in search of a way to “come home” to his wife. After leaving his car the second main character, Detective Pendergast, is shown commenting that it is his last day on the force. The two are contrasted Pendergast is able to work within societies boundaries while Bill has rejected the society that has rejected him. In this time there is an obvious comparison between the two that will become reoccurring through out the ...
In the book, “The Devil in the White City,” Erik Larson tells the story of two formidable men and their activities during Chicago’s World Fair of 1893. Daniel Burnham is an architect and the fair’s brilliant director. The book takes the reader through the tremendous obstacles and tragedies that Burnham faces in an attempt to create a fair that will give America its fame. However, H.H Holmes is a young doctor, who uses the attraction of the great fair and his charms to lure dozens of young women to their inevitable and tragic deaths. Not only did Chicago’s World Fair of 1893 showcase Daniel Burnham’s success as an able director and H.H. Holmes cunning nature, it changed America as a whole, introduced some lasting inventions, and influenced many historical figures of both that time and our current time period.
In the article “Twoness in the style of Oscar Micheaux” by J. Ronald Green critiques the common theme of twoness which was a common debilitating dilemma for black film in America concerning American Social Codes. African Americans face the possibility of two identities at the same time but somehow resolve individually for her or himself. The point is made that African Americans are American citizens, but are hindered by the color line which sets them up to be positioned to understand two sides to the American hegemony. Hegemony consists of leadership or domination, either by one country or social group over others. American black cinema acquiesced in segregation, placed white cupidity off limits as theme, rehashed white Hollywood stereotypes
The World Fair of 1933 brought promise of new hope and pride for the representation of Chicago, America. As Daniel Burnham built and protected America’s image through the pristine face of the fair, underlying corruption and social pollution concealed themselves beneath Chicago’s newly artificial perfection. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City meshes two vastly different stories within 19th century America and creates a symbolic narrative about the maturing of early Chicago.
In both books, these two gangs decide to have a rumble, a fight with all the members of the two gangs. This is one similarity between these books.
The Chicago World Fair brought about through the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in America has posed significant value and worth to the city of Chicago. Over a six-month period, more than 26 million visitors from all over the world would flock to the fairgrounds to experience the rebuilt and vibrant city of Chicago. The 600-acre fairground would have housed 200 buildings that showcased new food, art, technology, and entertainment. Chicago became known as the White City, a place of freedom, grandeur, and security. But unbeknownst to fairgoers, there was a serial killer among them. While Dr. H.H. Holmes lured his innocent victims to his “Castle”, just blocks away architect Daniel Burnham built up the dream city of Chicago. Both these men operated at the same time in history, simply blocks apart, both creating legacies that carry to this day. Burnham and Holmes are two side of the coin of human nature. In “The Devil in White City” Erik Larson’s juxtaposition of Burnham and Holmes, and the Black City and the White City, contributes to the understanding of human nature, that one cannot be good without having done evil, and that good and evil are viewed as complementary in their mutual dependence.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson tells the story of Daniel Burnham’s World Fair and H.H. Holmes’ murder spree. The tale focuses much on the conflict between good and evil, light and dark. However, the book also goes deeper, utilizing contrast to demonstrate the greed, exclusiveness, and exploitation ever present in the Gilded Age of America.
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
'The Storm' and 'The Story of an Hour' expresses the attitudes of two women's rebirth and liberation. These two stories are alike in several ways. Natures plays a major role in both of these women's lives. Calixta and Mrs. Louise Mallard struggle to find their independence and in doing so the endings are triumphant and tragic.
In the remainder of my essay I will be commenting on many modern films and their use of this trope, and why subscribing to this filmmaking strategy is problematic. The White Savior Complex is a trope where an ordinary ethnically European character meets an underprivileged non-European character. Taking pity on the other characters situation, the White Savior ‘selflessly’ volunteers themselves as their tutor, mentor, or caretaker, to help them rise above their predisposition (White Mans Burden, 2004). The White Savior, at their core, is the application of colonialized ideals, which cast people of colour as incompetent, and hopeless, until the White Savior comes to rescue them (White Mans Burden, 2004). A common destructive trait of this trope involves white people conquering non-white people, and eliminating their culture under the prefix of 4helping them (White Mans Burden, 2004).
The novel The Storm talks about two main characters called Calixta and Alcee, a cauple from the past which relationship did not work because of their differences. Now that they have seen each other one more time, each of them marry and with children, both of them recalling the pass when their passion relationship was at is best. The Storm is symbolizing as a sexual tendency towards humans, in other words the title The Storm, Chopin starts illustrating these sexual prohibitions in her novels. In more specific, when you think of a storm, in terms literary, it’s bound to be related with problems, violent, disasters. In this novel, Chopin manipulates the characteri...
Tension between the African Americans and Caucasians have been present in America since slavery. In the movie Crash (2004), race and culture are major themes that can be seen in the lives of the characters in the film. One character in particular, Cameron, a prestigious color vision director, displays the friction between two cultures. He belongs to the educated, upper class of the Los Angeles area. He is also an African American, yet he seems to have no ties with that class. He has a light-skinned wife, attends award shows, and it appears that his acquaintances are predominately white. When he and his wife, Christine, get pulled over by a racist cop, he experiences emotions of powerlessness and helplessness that he never knew he would experience due to his upbringing and place in society. Cameron goes through a radical transformation where he comes to grips with his background and how he fits into these two clashing cultures.
Chopin's short story, "The Storm," shows the reader some of the controversial issues she wrote about. It was written in 1898 and was one of the last stories that she wrote before Awakening. It tells of the struggles of one woman to find happiness and excitement in her everyday life. The reader really does not get much information on the relationship at the beginning of the story, but one can imagine that it was becoming monotonous and boring. The title itself lets the reader know that this storm is the result of a long chain of events that have built up over time, like a thunderstorm in the middle of the summer comes after many long days of intense heat. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss the events that lead to the apex of the 'storm,' the consequences that follow the decisions that are made, and how this short story could be seen as feministic.
"Crash" is a movie that exposes different kinds of social and multicultural differences, giving us a quick example of how these conducts affect our society. Two of the behaviors observed, are Prejudice and Stereotyping. Identified as the causes of where all the events eradicate.
... supremacist gang, to rioting in an Asian owned grocery store, to finally brutally murdering someone. We observe as family ties become increasingly strained in every way, the viewer can easily conclude that Derek’s racism as well as his eventual influence on his younger brother ultimately contributed to their own downfall. As controversial as this movie maybe for the offensive language and brutal violence, it is a movie that deserves to be seen, and even discussed. It really provides insight into some factors within society that cannot be contained by the law or even deterred by even the harshest punishments. Even though American society is becoming more modernized as time goes by in terms of tolerance, racism will unfortunately always be prevalent in society and inevitably it will also lead some individuals to violently express their distorted mentalities.