The American dream has always been in a constant state of political slander. Whether it be when the original thirteen colonies were established under British rule, causing an outcry among many of our early founding fathers, as well as the immigrants that lived within the chaos itself, or perhaps something more recent like the election of Donald J. Trump. Millennials, a demographic that gave rise to the age of social media, who stretch the topic of free speech to its utmost potential, say that…
MOVIE CHOSEN: American Beauty American Beauty, a movie directed by Sam Mendes is a movie about taking a break from our ordinary day to day lives and becoming aware of the beauty around us while redefining what ‘beauty’ means to different people. It presents a satirical critique on the images of ‘beauty’ and ‘success’ portrayed by media and society which we internalize and strive to achieve leading to feelings of insecurity and confusion. By following a postmodernist approach, the director…
who are either on or below the poverty line. There’s John, Sheila, Ronald and James and they all are struggling with poverty and face life’s challenges. The american dream is seen as only accessible to the rich, when really it is to everyone. The film supports the idea of the american dream. One person in the documentary that achieves the american dream is James. He started out working at a race track and would tend to the horses. James had to give up going to college to help his family who were…
is no doubt that fast food is causing major problems for many Americans today. In response to this, an ordinary man, Morgan Spurlock, decides to experiment with the effects of eating too much fast food from as an experiment.Supersize Me, Spurlock decides to eat only food from McDonald’s for thirty days to see how it would affect his health. Spurlock starts out healthier than an average man for his age and size. Throughout the film, his health gradually degenerates and eventually reaches…
American Teen This movie depicted a small town in the mid-west. A generalized all American town. They did, however, tell us where the movie took place – Warsaw, Indiana, and Colin’s father stated that Warsaw is an affluent community. If this movie was filmed in New York City I feel that you would have had a more diverse group of individuals. New York City is a melting pot of different classes and you would have more culture being brought to the table. In my opinion, the kids that grow up in NYC…
the beginning of film, movies have always had a large social impact on American society. When the Kinetoscope first came out it allowed viewers to see pictures in motion, soon those pictures were turned into silent black and white films. As movies progressed to sound and then color pictures, the culture changed as well. These changes were brought on by events, such as, the great depression, World War II, and civil rights movements. Finally, technology drove changes in the film industry with…
The title of of this class, Modern American Families, is an interesting one that can be discussed in various ways. The choice to watch films from several different eras was enjoyable. I elected to write a paper on the films we viewed in class and the themes they brought forth regarding “Modern American Families”. The two themes that I feel were most prevalent and important were courtship and marriage along with domesticity and gender roles. These are general topics, but I will dig deeper into…
ican life to overseas audiences. A great deal of films in the nineteen forties and fifties portrayed a variety of religious issues. However, it would be wrong to link this to the government or the cold war. The idea that it is not attributed isnt alarming because hollywood is known to make money off of religion. Many of these films provided an outline for comtemporary social and political issues. Some explicitly encouraged film- goers to see the Cold War as a conflict in which capitalism,…
short time after the time period in which the Quiet American takes place the United States becomes involved in Vietnam conflict, leading to the Vietnam War. Many saw this war as a chance for the United States to save Vietnam, ultimately the United States would go into the war with pure intentions. Many found after the war that those intentions were no longer there, and our country had caused more destruction by becoming involved. It took many Americans till after the damage had been done to…
Gremlins is the name of this film, and the title suits the film excellently. It is during the wintertime in Kingston Falls. One genre isn’t enough to choose from, so I chose American Horror Comedy because there is comedy throughout all of the film, but only towards the end does it start to become a horror film. William “Billy” Peltzer was a main actor portrayed by Zachary Gilligan. Now Billy's sidekick, Kate Beringer, is played by Phoebe Cates. Gizmo isn’t human, but his voice is spoken by Howie…