Planet of The Apes Stagecoach Scarface Goodfellas Films Journals

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NGF9

Writing

Description

These films we watched in the class, so we have to respond to each film by writing a paragraph or two.


Screening 1: Planet of the Apes (Shaffer, 1968)

  • Write roughly 1-2 paragraphs in response to one or more prompts below:
    • How is this film typical of science fiction, based on your personal knowledge of the genre?
    • How is this film typical of horror, based on your personal knowledge of the genre?
    • What is the purpose or impact of bringing together elements of both genres?
    • What are the film’s major themes?
    • How does the film reflect the period in which it was released? (Major issues of the late 1960s: the Civil Rights movement, rise of feminism, developing anti-war movement, technological advancements, US’s first mission to the moon.)

Screening 2: Stagecoach (Ford, 1939)

  • Write roughly 1-2 paragraphs in response to one or more prompts below:
    • How is the film typical of the Western?
      • Settings, icons, character types, and themes?
    • How is the frontier depicted with ambivalence?
    • How does the film embody the “mythical value” of the genre?
      • Ambivalence toward progress, civilization, and technology
      • Manifest destiny
      • The American dream: promise of the frontier
    • How are Native American’s represented?

Screening 3: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Roy Hill, 1969)

  • Write roughly 1-2 paragraphs in response to one or more of the prompts below:
    • How is this film a Revisionist Western in terms of:
      • Character types: how is the cowboy revisionist?
      • Frontier mythology
      • Reflecting social and cultural changes of the 60s
      • Waning optimism
    • How is the film typical of the Western genre overall?
      • Character types, iconography, themes, ambivalence

Screening 5: Scarface (Hawks, 1932)

  • Write roughly 1-2 paragraphs in response to one or more of the prompts below:
    • In what ways is this film typical of the early gangster film in terms of iconography, setting, character types, and themes?
    • How is Tony's story a "perversion of the American dream" as explained by the readings and lecture?
    • In what ways is Tony a tragic character in the classical sense?
    • How is Tony an extension of Butch and Sundance, the Westerner after the closing of the frontier and mass movement to city life?
    • How is urban alienation expressed in the film?
    • **How does the film undercut its own disclaimer at the beginning? The film purports to aid in solving the scourge that is the gangster; in what ways does the film actually glorify or celebrate or humanize Tony instead?

Screening 6: Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)

  • Write roughly 1-2 paragraphs in response to one or more of the prompts below:
    • How is the film like the classic gangster film? (character types, themes, story patterns)
    • How is Henry a tragic character?
    • In what ways is Henry like Tony as a potential extension of the Westerner?
    • How does the onset of RICO and the greater presence of law enforcement compare to the classic gangster film? How is the police/crime-syndicate dynamic different between the two films?
    • In what ways is this film a "perversion of the American dream," and if so, how has it been updated for a later time period?
    • Ambivalence:
      • What traditions are valued and which ones are derided?
      • Is Henry pulled in opposing directions as a gangster, citizen, parent, husband, etc?
    • 1980s: How does this film incorporate the "greed is good" consumerism of the 1980s into the gangster tradition? Is there more emphasis on greed and consumption? Is it done in a cynical way?
    • Irony: Is Goodfella's ending as ironic as that of Scarface? Is it more or less hopeful and/or cynical?

Screening 7: Film Noir

  • Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
    • Prompt: Write a substantive paragraph in response to one or more of the following:
      • How/when does the film look typically “noir” in aesthetics?
      • What made you feel uneasy?
      • What taboos or social/cultural issues are raised in the film?
      • What prohibited content made it past the Hays Code enforcer?
      • How is the family depicted?
      • How does Phyllis function as a femmes fatale?
      • How does the film look typical of Noir in style?
      • In what ways does it express the themes specific to Noir films?

Screening 8: Melodrama

  • Imitation of Life (Sirk, 1959)
    • Prompt: Write a substantive paragraph in response to one or more of the following:
      • How does the film project a paradoxical view of America, at once celebrating and questioning basic values of the audience?
      • What about the ending is left without motivation or logical resolution?
      • How did Sirk remind us that there’s no simple escape from social realities?
      • How does the set design (setting, props, clothing, hair, makeup, lighting) “speak” for repressed characters?
      • What are some important moment that involved: fragile objects, hard surfaces, claustrophobic framing, and dramatic staircase interactions?
      • What spaces, gestures, actions, objects, etc., are overstylized as reminders of the fakery?
      • How is Sarah Jane different from other characters? How does the film address her experience of being mixed race? In what ways was her performance highly stylized or exaggerated? In what ways does her challenge of navigating race feel incompatible with our current moment? How is it still relevant?

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

RUNNING HEAD: JOURNALS FOR FILM

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JOURNALS FOR FILM
Name
Institution Affiliation

JOURNALS FOR FILM

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Screening 1: Planet of the Apes (Shaffer, 1968)
The world that has been depicted in this movie, in which humans face slavery, torture,
and lobotomy from apes, is a very unsettling and iconic fantasy of the last century in movies.
Most clearly, the film exhibited a chilling purposeful anecdote regarding the matter of racial
clash, featuring the shameful acts of slavery in American history, while likewise addressing the
battle for Civil Privileges in that time frame. An African American character whose skin is
white, Taylor is hunted down and ends up at an Ape Town (Wills, 2017). Here, he is mistreated
by battle-ready apes. He is severely punished by being whipped and beaten by the apes.
Paralleling cruel handling of social liberties dissidents in Alabama in the mid-20th century, jets of
fire hose liquid are utilized in forcing the space traveler into compliance, and silencing any forms
of protests.
In reference to the Cold War uncertainties of an all-out atomic destruction and the ending
of humanity, the movie additionally investigated a salient tragic future for the consideration of
the audience. It anticipated that mankind would become barbaric and savage, distinctly set
against the ascent of different species. It delineated a domain of backward cavern individuals and
cautioned of looming social breakdown.
Screening 2: Stagecoach (Ford, 1939)
The individuals depicted in the movie are generalizations, be that as it may, with the
exception of Gatewood, they secure a profundity and humanity that other individuals from
comparative movies don't have. Ford portrays class awareness and the corruption, lip service,
childishness, and pitilessness of decent "mainstays of society." The themes depicted in the movie
include; Vengeance, Restoration, the community at large, the general society versus personal

JOURNALS FOR FILM

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freedoms, societal classes and respectability (the film depicts a microcosm), sacrifice, growth
and alterations of the emotions, personification, and goals of the characters, creation of the
United States of America and its national features, and themes of new life and transformation.
Setting:
The agelessness, grandness, and tremendous vastness of Monument Valley are
highlighted to contrast the little, poignant, helpless stagecoach and give a terrific foundation to
various ethical concerns. The movie contrasts the insignificant quarrels and societal issues within
the mentor and the brilliant, fantastic scene, which provides suggestions of the presence of more
noteworthy good and spiritual qualities.
Screening 3: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Roy Hill, 1969)
All over, this motion picture is a marvelously created Western about a couple of smiling
antiheroes abiding their time in the western and southern regions of America. Be that as it may,
similar to Butch Cassidy naming his posse after a previous one, an individual so mindful of how
much mythology influences the Western cultures, so too does Roy Hill end up exploiting the
existing tropes of the West, flashing intentionally at his audience while conveying a fanciful
story. The film depicts the picture of bandits traveling to the southern reg...


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