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The Green Mile

The Green Mile a film about  prsioners on death row and their relationship prison guards.  A black man,Duncan, with extrodinary super natural powers was accused of raping and killing two young white girls, even though he did not do it. We later discover that another prison mate who was on death row for another crime was the one who commited this awful crime. Another prisoner was brutally excuted by a power hungry, unhappy prison guard. Paul, a regualar cell block guard, who witnesses Duncan preform certain miracles has developed a trusting relationship with him and finds out that Duncan is not responsible for the rape and murder.

I feel that this movie protrays how power can be misused and turn people bad, but there are also some people who uses their powers for good, and to help. Another strong point made in this movie is that thier are truly kind people in the world, even if they have been wronged they can still turn around and help the people that once wronged them.  Duncan was a strong peculiar black man, so it wasn't hard to see why he would "commit the rape and murder". but one of the cell block guards, Paul, saw more of him then any stereotypes, or other guards did. An Angry, stupid black boy. Paul had seen Duncan resurrect a mouse, heal the warren's sick wife, and healing Paul's urinary tract infections proving that Duncan valued life and just wanted people to be happy. But unlike Duncan, there are some like Percy, and regular prison guard had gotten carries away with his powers. Percy was the governor's wife's nephew and loved to brag to people about it, and tell of his power. He tried to use his 'family's power' but it did not work in the prison. Percy took his anger out of the soon to be dead prisoners, but he went to far once he brutally killed prisoner Jeter. Jeter was sent to the electric chair and Percy did not wet the sponge so Jeter face was set on fire and Percy did not even think twice to put water on Jeter who was screaming in pain. Instead Percy ran away.  Everyone kept to themselves after that because no one tried to help put Jeter out of his misery. I find it funny how people use their powers to harm others instead of helping others. People like Percy who misuse power, because he is sadtistic and lonely people are not very fond of him. Where as Duncan even though he is mistreated he still helps people because he knows it is the right thing to do.

 

The Wanderers

The Wanderers is a movie about different race gangs in highschool. These kids have their own gangs. There are italian, black asian, latino, skinheads, irish, and any other gang you can think of. One part in the movie all the italian gang members and all the black gang members are in a class together. The teacher tells them to name racial names towards eachother. One guy started off with N*****, then one black gang member say greeceball. They named about 15 racial names towards eachother and ended up getting into a fight over it. the teacher was trying to make a point that everyone is the same. No one is better than one another. At the end of the movie The italians and the black gangs play a football game betweeen eachother. Its sorta to see who is better than who and to gain respect. The toughest gang of them all are called the Ducky Boys. They are all white. they do not talik and they live in a poor part of the town. They have the biggest gang of them all and everyone is terrified of them because they wont beat you up...they will kill you. at the end of the football game all the ducky boys show up. The black and italian gangs team up at fight the ducky boys. They all come together and work together and win.

-Alex R.

The Name's Bond, James Bond

    When I think of a rugged Individual I think of James Bond. James Bond is someone who doesn't need anybodys help and can usually get the job done. James Bond has been played by many actors over the years, but my favorite has been the 2000 Bond played by Daniel Craig. The most recent Bond movie was Skyfall. In this movie James Bond is portrayed as an old man playing a young man's game. He is "washed up" or "over used". He is no longer at the top of his game and is even losing confidence in himself. The only person who still has faith in him is Em, his boss. James Bond has usually been portrayed as the lady killer, smooth criminal type. He is the one you call when you want to get a job done and you want it done right. James Bond is a trained assassin/spy who works for a British organization called MI6. In Skyfall, Bond is sent to recover a stolen list of all the MI6 operatives. The list is valuable because most of the operatives can't afford to have their cover blown. In one scene of the movie Bond is being debriefed and has to say the first word that comes to mind after a word has been spoken to him. They go over a few words and then the word Murder is asked. Bond, being the witty guy he is, says, "Murder? Employment." By Bond saying this it shows that he is a tough guy that has been killing so long he no longer sees murder as a crime, but as a job. James Bond is self reliant and usually trusts his gut over everybody else's judgement. James Bond is a great example of a rugged individual.

Go See Skyfall!

This Week's Assignment: Romanticism and Rugged Individualism in American Pop Culture

Your assignment for this week on the blog is to write a cultural analysis of Romanticism and/or Rugged Individualism in a work of present-day American pop culture.  The work you are analyzing should be a specific film, TV show, book, song, etc.  And you will need to provide specific references to the work (quote specific lines or lyrics, specifically refer to moments in the story, etc).

For a complete breakdown of the assignment, see pages 168-169 of your packet or click here.

In an extended blog post, you will be arguing how the work of culture you have chosen reflects or helps shape the ideologies of Romanticism and Rugged Individualism in present-day America.  In other words, what characteristics does it share with Romanticism and/or Rugged Individualism?  

For extra credit, bring a visual into your blog post – either a still image or an embedded video – that exemplifies the Romanticism or Rugged Individualism in your work of culture.  You might also want to provide a link to places where the reader can find more information about the work.

Examples of Romanticism and Rugged Individualism are everywhere, and many works of culture actually combine both ideologies, such as the latest Batman:Dark Knight series of comics and films:

 

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Everytime I hear about same sex marriage I either think of gay/lesbian family/friends or the movie I Now Probounce You Chuck and Larry. The movie is about a guy who loses his wife and his kids are about to be taken away, so he and his friend pretend they are gay to keep domestic custody of the kids. Chuck and Larry soon realize how certain situations cans be hard for gays, whether it is getting married or having a simple conversation. No in today's society the "issue" with gay marriage has evolved over the years. Back then gay people didn't make a big fuss (or their fuss wasn't really brought to America's attention) about same sex marriage. Now since everyone wanted to be treated equally as the rest gays are protesting for same sex marriage. Personally I have mixed feeling but I am leaning more on the for side. I do believe that marriage between a woman and man is sacred and should not be broken, but I also believe in love. I feel that everyone deserves love and happiness no matter what they believe or how they look, and nothing should be about to stop that love. In the movie Chuck and Larry met loads of gay couple in order to "be gay" and some of the thing they discovered gave them a chance to see the other side. So in the end I am for gay marriage.

Family Guy

This show Family Guy shows the bad side of americans lives and how they live their lives.When you have a long day its best to sit down and have a good laugh.

This give America a good a since of humor and models  people in their own way good or bad.I think the amount of humor the person has determines how the person grows up . This show is how you look at the world with a funny twist.

The America life style is revolved around the T.V most people. Please in enjoy the video.

 

Parody on South Park

Tim M.

One of the episodes in South Park uses a lot of Parody. The African American race is  being made fun of .  Every black person in town is really rich.  Richer than the Whites in the community.  They took a sterotype and totally flipped it around.  It's parody because all the black's may be rich but in reality this is not true.  They are immitating the syle of an author or work for commic effect and ridicule of others. 

 

Is that really me?

    Tyler Perry is a actor, writer, producer, and  director of stage plays, movies and T.V shows, he is also a African American. His character Madea has made many people laugh and excited to go to the shows and see what she is going to do next. Although many of his projects are made to make people laugh, and move their hearts, what is it really saying about race in America? Some can even argue there is and underlined stereotypical message about women in some of his work as well.

    Is this what people think of me, that I am a mad Black women? Now there are stereotypes about what the majority of black people are like, some might say they are loud, ghetto, rude, bitter, obnoxious, illiterate and many more. I think the reason some people believe these things is because of bad a experiences they have had with a black person and instead of singling them out as being one ignorate person that they came apon, they group black people as a whole of acting this way. I for one do not think i match and of these stereotypes, I do know some people that has some of these qualities however I would not chalk that up to race, I would say they are a product of how they grew up and their family life. If i did not grow up in the place that I did with the people I did I might not be the same person.

If a person has not been exposed to people outside of their race and they watch alot of Perry's work they might beleive that this is truely what a black person might act like. Due to the fact that alot of his characters have taken on the sterotypical roles. I think a lump some of his films perpetuate racial sterotypes. I feel as though he can have some more movies and characters that send a different message, i also beleive that he can have different races in his movies and not solely african americans.

I am not saying that i do not enjoy Tyler Perry's films, i think that he is brilliant at what he does. He gives African Americans the chance to act in films that they might not have had the oppurtunity to do if he did not make the jobs for them. However i do think that he needs to rethink some of his characters and how they protray the african american culture.

For Colored Girls (And the black girls sterotype)

 
This Tyler Perry original movie was about several African American girls in New York who are all interconnected due to and series of unfortunate events. An all black cast in this movie these girls are all basically every stereotype ever thought of by african american females as  whores,clueless,male dependent, lonely,ignorant,nosey.they were never portryed as a strong powerful woman that they were.By the director being African american I would believe that he would understand this an break the mold.The male counterpartsin this movie we just as poorly portryed as the female roles they were thought of as abusive and lying,sneaky,violent people this movie helped put everything racially thought of in this movie.As a whole this movie  was amazing I just wish that african american roles went so poorly chosen. 

Madea, the Symbol of the Typical Black Woman?

Tyler Perry, other wise known as Madea,is a global symbol of the typical African Amercian woman.  Being naturally agressive, yet at the same time caring to others in the house hold.  Being a man of great sense of humor, could his symbol be seen as a racistal figure as well? think of Madea from another race's point of view, how would you react towards black females knowing they could be like this symbol and be aggressive at any moment? would you be afraid to aproach said females?  These are the questions that come along with modern day society. 

There are many things that can be used to descibe african american females, but tyler perry likes to stick to the "facts" and "stories" that come along with this culture of females.  In african american households, the female is portrayed as the ruler of the house.  She lays the laws essentially, but at the same time she isn't the ruler. The african american male obeys the females rules but he knows he is controlling, but doesn't need to say so.  Basically speaking, the African american female plays a strong role in her household.

Religon Is War.

Religion is a huge part of what America is and what we as a nation stand for. We have the right to practice any religion we want, other countries don't have this amazing attribute. Religion also makes many people very upset because they don't believe in what certain religions practice. What would happen if every country with different practices tried to change other countries into what they believe. An argument between all of the countries would be first, then one would get tired of arguing and go to war with that group of country. The reason this topic is being brought up is because in class someone stated that war and religon are soon to be hand and hand. I brought up that's a good point because the movie The Book of Eliwas based in the future after a nuclear war wiped out the majority of the population and leaving people left to have to survive on their own and rebuild what was once theirs. The reason for the war was because people wanted to delete religion from the way of life. People and governments started to destroy the bible and hide it's messages from people. This is why the war was started, I believe religion it's self causes many problems in the way people think and what they do. It is also the most touchy conversation for people because not everyone believes in the same way.

Fast Food Nation, Story #3

    Don Anderson decided to not tell his boss whats going on at the meat supplier factory. He makes this decision after having a lunch with the head of the factory and he threatens him about losing his job or even maybe hinting at bringing him or his family harm. He also implies that any of the fecal matter's bacteria would be killed when they grill the burgers. Earlier in the movie he would even eat the burger willingly even though he know about the high amounts of fecal matter in them. With all this in mind, he later decides to return home without word to his boss just implying that they should investigate farther into it at a later date.
    If I was in Don Anderson's position I would most likely do the same as he did, fearing for the need to support my family and all the work I would of went through to get to the point he is at now. I would prevent my family from eating anymore of the food from Mickey's or any fast food chain for that matter. Raising my kids to know how fast food works and why they shouldn't have often or at all. Then maybe after a year or sooner, have passed and the head of the meat factory has forgotten about his threats; I would be able to have someone investigate farther and do something about it, hopefully befitting the company and America since Mickey's has such a huge influence on it.

'Their Eyes' On The Big Screen

I personally think that there could have been more done to capture the themes of Their Eyes Are Watching God.

Obviously films can't cover everything that goes on in the books, but maybe exaggeration of the characters and events will start to put the book to life : familiar faces with personalities from the text.

In the book, Janie's childhood is described in great detail. Her mother's story is also laid out.

I don't recall viewing anything about Janie's childhood or her mother's life. Janie's grandmother is mentioned. Do you think this was just done because of timing issues or how Janie's life as a child and her mother's life is scaled in importance?

What happened to Janie's mother is basically a huge influence on what she looks like, what kind of person she is because of her up bringing...etc.

Please feel free to share your opinions.

Romantisicim Anaylisis

Some of the ways that the movie “color purple” is related to romanticism is that the movie color purple is all of the mistreatment of a housewife who is actually a slave in the household that she lives in. Also the wife is beaten and slapped around, if she doesn’t do what she is supposed to do, such as work and cook. This is related to romanticism: the definition of romanticism is artistic intellectually and literary. This movie the color purple is definitely intellectual because the wife is always trying to use her intellect to satisfy her husband.

            The color purple is not only a good romanticism movie. It’s just an overall good movie. The movie has a lot of feeling. The characters did an excellent job of relating to some of people that watch the movie. The story of the movie is interesting and makes you want to watch it. That’s why my group and I would like to use this movie the Color Purple as an example of romanticism.

The Patriot

I'm sure you all have heard of the movie "The Patriot"  that was released years ago, and it was a great Movie! For those that don't know about the movie, it takes place during the Revolutionary War, where one man has to stand and fight a war after having his son killed. Now he must fight not just to protect his family, but to also protect the freedom of hundreds.

This movie reflects alot about what the class has been covering, not just about the time period in general, but the study about movies the class was doing while watching the movie "The Crucible." In the movie "The Patriot," we see great examples of lighting, sound, camera shots, and motion. Although there is a certain question that most of us rarely if ever think about when watching historical movies such as "The Patriot." The question itself is rather simple and its, "Is this movie trying to teach the viewer about the event, or is it merely trying to entertain the viewer?"

For example, the movie "300" was a fantastic movie that put the movie "Brave Heart" to shame, but was the movie trying to teach the viewer about the event, or is it merely trying to entertain the viewer? In this post, discuses what you think about the question and historical movies such as "The Patriot."