“If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” This is an audacious statement, especially with all the diversity life has to offer, within what context could a person persuasively use this statement? Stereotyping has been a problem in history. However, the consequences of stereotyping the repetitious nature of life has resulted in many original and useful transformations. While stereotyping is well known for its roots tied to ethnic background, race, sex, and even social class, we must not forget that stereotyping pays its ties apart from people. Film, as we know it today, has gone through many transitions to get to its impressive status quo. It is hard to imagine a film with no color and no sound. This was the norm in the early 1900s. Directors …show more content…
Considering the film’s budget was $2,540,000, this musical made an impressive profit for its time. This would equate to a quarter of a billion dollars in today’s money. Singin’ in the Rain brought about impressive revenue due to its density and subjectivity. This film could easily be a child’s favorite film due to its eye-catching musicals and light-hearted comedy. But it could also be on adult’s favorite film list due to its thought-provoking depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s and character development. In this film, we follow four performers as they transition from role taking in silent films to “talkies”. After a rival studio has immense success with its first talking picture, the characters decide they must transform their next Lockwood and Lamont film into a talkie. The viewer is engulfed in the passion and consistent nature of these characters. The need for personal satisfaction and public service rather than monetary gain is also relevant. Soon after, they realize the lead female actress cannot sing. This problem was irrelevant when they were performing in silent films. After a satire of this actress’s career, the movie is completed with another actress’s voice and their premiere of The Dancing …show more content…
Singin’ in the Rain was co-directed by Stanley Donen and the star Gene Kelly himself. Gene Kelly not only starred in and directed this film, but he also choreographed much of this film himself. This autobiography of Hollywood in 1920s received only two Academy Award nominations. These were Best Supporting Actress for Jean Hagen and Best Musical Score by Lennie Hayton but did not win any awards. Apart from its monetary recognitions, Singin’ in the Rain is often widely chosen as one of America’s top ten films. Considering the facts that Debby Reynolds had no dance experience before she made the movie, Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor had never met prior to working together, and even the fact that Kelly had a fever when he filmed the legendary “singin’ in the rain” number, this musical is cinematic art. “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” has been proven false by Gene Kelly and his team through the rejuvenation of entertainment in this unforgettable
After watching the movie "Even the Rain", I was impressed how deeply it was thought out. With this film, I realized that people are ambiguous, and in different situations may not act the same way, showing the character from an unexpected side for others, and for himself. Also that history always repeats. Are hundreds of years old and forgotten, Read in dusty books suddenly is played at you through the window.
Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
The period between early 1940s to mid-1960s or so, alternatively, the period between when the musical Oklahoma! (1943) was produced till the time when Hair (1968) was produced, is usually referred to as the Golden Age of the American musical (Kantor, 2010). It is during this period, that most of the noted titles such as “Carousel”, “South Pacific” etc. were produced. 1940s and early 1950s were dominated thoroughly by MGM musicals, while the late 1950s and 1960s belonged to Broadway. Initially, the musicals of this era had simple plots, unchallenging themes, with romantic or comedic characters and lots of singing and dancing. But towards the end of it, the plots were sophisticated, serious with singing, dancing as well as dialogue. In this paper, I choose to elaborate more on the musical – Arthur Laurents’s West Side Story. In the first part of this paper, I discuss the plot, songs and other aspects of the musical such as the awards etc. Later on, I explain how this musical revolutionized the theatre and the cultural effects it had on Americans. Finally, I conclude in the end the historical importance of this musical piece.
Andre, Judith. “Stereotypes: Conceptual and Normative Considerations.” Multicultural Film: An Anthology. Spring/Summer 2014. Eds. Kathryn Karrh Cashin and Lauren Martilli. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013.
Shusterman, Richard. "Moving Truth: Affect and Authenticity in Country Musicals." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 57.2 (1999): 221-33. EBSCO Host. Web. 12 May 2014.
Singin’ in the Rain adheres to these conventions, chronicling Don Lockwood’s transition into a new age of film. The threat of a prematurely ended career truly challenges Lockwood, while Lina Lamont acts as corporealization of this antagonistic force. The resolution sees the acquisition of Lockwood’s goals: The Singing Cavalier proves successful, and he goes on to star in a film with Kathy, a true romantic interest. Lockwood’s drastic transition from an imaginary high-pro...
...ent from the silent era of film, overt racism of ethnic minorities was blatantly apparent within the film medium. However, presently this overt racism however has shifted into a more subtle segregation of casting and racial politics within the film medium. It seems that both the problem and the solution lies in the Eurocentric domination within the Hollywood film industry – and it seems that it still remains challenged to this day.
I experienced Chicago, the Broadway musical, and because I had seen the movie many times before, I knew all the songs and dances by heart. I loved it, but it was actually the movie that influenced me to become a “Chicago fan.” The movie is based on the 1996 Chicago revival of the original musical version of 1975. It was thrilling knowing that the making of the musical into a mainstream production would increase its accessibility and widen its distribution into all the corners of the world; now there is no excuse for people not to experience Chicago, and though not everyone can go to Broadway to see it, just about anyone can indulge themselves in this dazzling movie in the comfort of their homes. In addition to a fantasy world of singing, dancing and Vaudeville, the film also provides a narrative that is explicitly presented through Roxie’s point of view, creating a counter-human side to Roxie’s fantasy world so that the audience can easily identify and engage.
The hit musical "Singin' in the Rain" may possibly be one of if not the greatest musicals of all time. With it's tale of the film world of the mid 1920's and its creative underlining love story between Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), it provokes the interest of someone who would not generally be attracted to a musical. It is a classic masterpiece that set the standards that musical films of today will be judged by. It is a classic performance by the great Gene Kelly and displays outstanding performances by Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor. As well as starring in this brilliant movie, Gene Kelly teams up with Stanley Donen to make their mark in film history.
The genre i have studied is musicals. A musical is a film which has musical performances from the actors to express their feelings. The films from this genre that i studied are 'Singin' In The Rain' (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 1952), 'Grease' (Randall Kleiser, 1978) and 'Hairspray'(Adam Shankman, 2007). I studied two characteristics of the musical genre (Breaking Into Song And Dance and The Grande Finale) that are shown in the films studied. The identifying characteristics of 'Breaking Into Song And Dance' and 'The Grande Finale" are always seen in musicals. These characteristics are expected to be in a musical by the audience and ultimately make a musical what we predict it to be, a film that expresses characters feelings through song while
“With pop culture apparently suffering from a retro epidemic lately, today’s 60th anniversary of Singin’ in the Rain provides a chance to look back at a film that was ahead of its time in the way that it, too, looked back” (Bahr). Even though it wasn’t all too successful in the awards department, Singin’ in the Rain stuck with audiences because it was so far ahead of its time. It took advantage of all the latest technology while still keeping its “classic movie” feel. In addition, the film implemented both original and well-known songs into the story. This makes the film feel familiar but fresh and new to its audiences. “…Singin’ in the Rain’s jokes and light parodies of actors and Hollywood are still surprisingly insightful and effective” (Bahr). Having been the most researched musical in all of film’s history, it was probably the most correct parody of Hollywood that the industry has ever seen
However, as degrading the stereotypes may be, some directors use these stereotypes to communicate the reality of the situation. For example, when the premise of the plot relates to history of Asian Americans, the inclusion of culture-specific attitudes and accents transforms the movie or TV show in an unidealized perspective of the world. Rather than shying away from what is considered racist, the directors stays true to what is part of society. Therefore, the ethical responsibility is to display these negative stereotypes.
The 2000s/ 2010s brought in a wave of movie musicals- adapted from the stage shows. These brought new audiences into the theatre world, and for the first time in 20 years, brought a love to some of the timeless musicals. With slightly altered songs to appeal to a newer audience, these films brought in much needed money into the industry, with films including: Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Fame- and many more. Together with this, musicals began to push the concept of the songs in them, with a wave of new styles being written. Rap musicals such as ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In The Heights’, Pop musicals including ‘Waitress’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and Rock musicals of ‘American Idiot’ and ‘Spring Awakening’. Together they pushed boundaries of a ‘traditional’ musical theatre sound, and brought in something never before seen. Due to the influence of ‘Rent’, controversial issues and themes began to be explored more, such as Teen suicide, Murder, Ethnic barriers and everything else, which brought with them, a world of opportunities. It was clear that musical theatre was once again showing for a promising
If I had a children in my class with an exceptionality I would keep it