It was a great experience watching two documentaries with two varying styles back to back.  When we watched “Miss Representation” a lot of people critiqued the lack of variety in the women interviewed for the film. In “The House I Live In” Jarecki interviewed such a wide variety of people of differences races, ages, genders and who were in various different positions within the process of the jailing system.

Jarecki interviewed professors, a lawyer, a judge, a jail security guard,  female drug dealer, inmates, family members of the inmates, etc. This gave the film such a well rounded view of the problem.

This film reminded me of “The Battle of Algiers” and the inability to pin point a ‘bad guy.’ Jarecki’s film did the same thing by interviewing such a variety of people. It makes it  impossible to pin point who the enemy or ‘bad guy’ is, so the viewer cannot blame one person. Being unable to place blame encourages people to join the cause and fight against the problem addressed in the film. This brings me back to the idea of a film’s intention.

I felt the intention of the film was to make people aware of the issue. The narrator said that he interviewed a number of people and a majority of them did not know the “drug war” was still going on. If society isn’t aware of the problem, no change will ever come.

In class we discussed films being useful and the idea of intention. This relates to our continuing conversation of the power of film and media in todays society. When I think about the power of experimental film, documentaries or a film created on a low grade device such as an iPhone or flip, I think about the Isis videos. Isis released a video showing eight Syrian soldiers lined up and beheaded. This video had over 1.5 million views. It drew attention to ISIS and the terror it reigns. This video was so powerful and meaningful. It brought this issue to the publics forefront (even though ISIS did not intend it to start the United States to fight against them but to make their own political statement) and proved useful.

I was just beginning the season premier of Mad Men season 7 and the opening clip of the protagonist Don Draper, is a reference to the Graduate! They camera follows Draper on a moving walkway at an airport as people walk quickly by him, with a blank colored wall in the background. This character, similar to The Graduate‘s Benjamin, is somewhat lost, searching for what comes next in his life.

This is a reference to the opening scene of The Graduate as Ben stands on an automated walkway with people quickly walking past him in a hurry to get somewhere.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2015/03/31/Film-TV-tax-breaks-a-huge-waste-of-money-some-believe/5191427823404/

In class we often discuss the money behind big Hollywood films. Professor Sikand made a comment a week or so ago that a majority of films are no longer produced in Hollywood but in other countries outside of the United States. This article discusses that idea the continuous migration of the film industry across seas.

My father is a visual effects supervisor and used to work for a company called Rhythm and Hues. He accepted an Oscar on the same night his company went bankrupt. This was a result of the company outsourcing to India and leaving no jobs for people in the  visual effects industry that lived in America. They outsourced to India because of tax breaks and subsidies. This is also discussed in the article I posted. 

In Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s Miss Representation, a man was interviewed discussing “family hour.” A chunk of time set aside for national television where profanity and inappropriate  material was banned so a family could sit down together and watch  a show appropriate for all ages. 

This concept seems very interesting to me. On one hand why should the media regulate violence and pornography when someone can just watch the news and get similar images that are accounted from real events.  Why should media be limited and regulated when other art forms are not. No on tells a painter his pieces are too provocative to be showcased. I can’t form a formal idea but I can see the other side of the argument that it would be appropriate to have a designated time for “PG” media only. Any thoughts?

Jennifer Siebel Newsom made the artistic choice to add personal narrative to her documentary Miss Representation. 

Newsom uses her personal narrative to introduce the sexist struggle women in America face. This narrative creates relatability and makes the documentary more credible. By expressing her personal connect to the topic at hand, hooks the viewer and enables Newsom to convey her message more effectively.

I came across this article today in the New York Times, and I thought it was very interesting. It discusses  a couple of notable titles from this weeks “New Director/ New Film” festival at the Museum of Modern Art..

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/movies/new-directors-new-films-festival-highlights-bold-narrative-experiments.html?ref=movies&_r=0

Having just watched Chinatown, I felt the mise-en-scene and cinematography in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) somewhat contradicts the movie’s plot. The character’s costumes where rather dull and the only real pop of color was Evelyn Mulwray’s red lipstick. A majority of the shots were static and used a wide lens, with the exception of the occasional close up of a character’s face in a moment of realization. With this said, the story was thrilling and completely heart wrenching; not at all reflected by the stage, costumes, or frame.

*Spoiler*

On a separate note, one of the most emotional parts of the movie was Evelyn Mulwray’s death. What really surprised me and touched me was solemn and sad stare into Evelyn’s bloody face. Gittes’ is calm and very skeptical, even in the face of death and murder and Evelyn’s death is no exception.  The contrast between her death and Gittes’ calmness is heart breaking and powerful, because even though he does not verbally express his emotions, you can literally see in his eyes how truly hurt he is.

Today in class we discussed the importance and wrongful use of media literacy. I strongly feel that media is one of the post powerful and widespread sources of information and entertainment. Unfortunately, present day, a lot of people do not spend the time researching global issues and are solely concerned with local occurrences. It is important to be informed in the going ons across the world and the issues different nations face. Especially in the United States, research is is developing quicker than ever before and we are cultivating, discovering, or creating resources that many other countries do not have access to. This puts us in a position to at the very minimum influence and inform other countries, let alone prevent barbaric and ruthless actions in other parts of the world. With a widespread knowledge of what is going on people are more likely to do something to help others or prevent negative actions. While media can be easily manipulated and can be very opinionated, it is better to know about a situation even a little bit than to be ignorant to what is going on. I feel that without video people would not be well informed because simply, people do not take the time to sit down and read about what is going on.

I found it very interesting in The Celluloid Closet that people kept discussing the realism of films and how they portrayed real life occurrence/ how they affected the way people acted. Tony Curtis said, “Cary Grant taught me hoe to treat a lady, how to dress for dinner..” and a female screenwriter goes on to say that life in Hollywood was “more like the movies than you could ever dream.” Movies effect the way people view certain  things and the way people develop opinions or stereotypes.  Gay and lesbian characters were portrayed as “prissy” and used to create comedy. Back in the early/mid 20th centuries a director could count on a gay character to make an audience laugh. This influenced the way people saw gay men and women in real life. They judged them and felt they were a source of comedy, and were not to be accept seriously.

Movies are can be such a powerful tool without it intending to be.