It all began with an episode of the Simpsons. Which specific episode, and in what context the life-altering gag was made is not important. The important thing is that somewhere, in one of the show’s hundreds of episodes and doubtless thousands of witticisms was a movie reference. Realizing that the joke was over my head, I turned to my father. “What’s supposed to be so funny about someone waking up screaming next to a horse’s head?” “How haven’t you seen The Godfather yet?” was his mumbled reply. I was 13 years old. Not exactly prime age for 1970s gangster films, but I had seen the severed horse’s head enough times to get the feeling that sitcom writing was built on these allusions. For a young comedian such as myself, the implications of this realization were staggering. Imagine how many jokes I missed out on because I had not seen the referenced material! I was determined to correct this lack of cultural knowledge. That night, I set out to see every film that would merit a reference in any pop culture medium. I perused the IMDB top 250, AFI’s “100 years...100 movies”, Sight and Sound’s top 50, …show more content…
However, I can see how this breadth of interests might lend to the impression that I’m scatterbrained. You might be thinking, “He’s all over the place!” while I ramble on about old movies, sports cars, rock and roll, and wayward Okies. But within these various interests lies a single focus: connections. If something grabs my attention, I look for connections to things I might also like, and soon a web of related topics surrounds my knowledge of the initial focus. I want to explore every aspect of the things I enjoy, so even the smallest detail can pique my interests and lead to other adventures. And because there are infinitely many relationships between everything in the world, the lists go
Eckstein, Arthur. “The Hollywood Ten in History & Memory.” Film History. 2004. Web. 16 Jan.
" Greatest Films - The Best Movies in Cinematic History. Tim Dirks, May 1996. Web. The Web. The Web.
In this paper I will offer a structural analysis of the films of Simpson and Bruckheimer. In addition to their spectacle and typically well-crafted action sequences, Simpson/Bruckheimer pictures seem to possess an unconscious understanding of the zeitgeist and other cultural trends. It is this almost innate ability to select scripts that tap into some traditional American values (patriotism, individualism, and the obsession with the “new”) that helps to make their movies blockbusters.
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
When deciding what movie to do for this particular paper I faced a few issues. I knew what the requirements were, but I wanted something different and something I could have fun watching and writing as well. So, after looking around and pondering movies for weeks I finally decided on a perfect choice The 60’s directed by Mark Piznarski?
Voytilla, Stuart. Myth and the Movies: Discovering the Myth Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films. Ventura Boulevard: Michael Wiese Productions, 1999.
I believe the reason that, 'The Godfather', is such a great film is because it lets audiences decide whether they like the characters or not. Too many movies made about organized crime begin with some seemingly random act of violence. 'The Godfather', however, lets it be known from the start to judge the characters in the film based on what type of person they are instead of the criminal activities they may engage in.
The Godfather is the “dark-side of the American dream story” (Turan, pp2). The film follows the practices of a fictional Italian mafia family, the Corleone’s. Though most Americans do not condone the practices of the Italian mafia, they cannot deny that Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is a cinematic masterpiece. This film gave insight to a mysterious way of life that the average person does not have knowledge of. As the audience is educated about the mafia they also are introduced to many stereotypes.
Christie, Ian (1 August 2012). "The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. Retrieved 12 May 2014
Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies An Introduction to Film, Second Edition (Set with DVD). New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.
The Godfather is most notably one of the most prolific films of its time. This "gangster" film displayed many transformations of permeating color to give the viewer observable cues in its mise en scene that drew one right into the movie. The dramatic acting set the tone of the film with a score that lifted the viewer right out of their seat in many scenes. The directing and cinematography made The Godfather ahead of its time. The nostalgic feel of family importance and the danger of revenge lets us into the life of the Mafia. Even though no other techniques would have given the viewer a feeling of inside the mob like the mise en scene of the power the godfather held, the characters are reinforced literally and figuratively because the story views the Mafia from the inside out, and the cinematography of the film gives it a dangerous and nostalgic feel.
Piper, Jim. Get the Picture? The Movie Lover’s Guide to Watching Films. 2nd ed. New York, New York: Allworth, 2008. Print.
The jacket blurb on Robert Coover’s creative compilation A Night at the Movies reads: “From Hollywood B-movies to Hollywood classics, A Night at the Movies invents what ‘might have happened’ in these Saturday afternoon matinees. Mad scientists, vampires, cowboys, dance-men, Chaplin, and Bogart, all flit across Robert Coover’s riotously funny screen, doing things and uttering lines that are as shocking to them as they are funny to the reader. As Coover’s Program announces, you will get Coming Attractions, The Weekly Serial, Adventure, Comedy, Romance, and more, but turned upside-down and inside-out.” It is perhaps more appropriate to call Coover’s work a creative compilation as opposed to a novel or even a collection of short stories. A single theme of “what might have happened” runs throughout each of the inclusions, each inclusion being devoted to a particular Hollywood movie. Thus, the text as a whole is united by means of this common thread, but the thread is thin and stretched tightly, resulting in each inclusion having the ability to stand alone as a complete and independent work, related to the others, yet individual. The complete collection may be examined as a work, or conversely, each individual “story” may be considered a finished work to be studied.
Barsam, R. M., Monahan, D., & Gocsik, K. M. (2012). Looking at movies: an introduction to film (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co..
CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON "GODFATHER DEATH", A FAIRY TALE WRITTEN BY JACOB LUDWIG GRIMM AND WILHELM CARL GRIMM