Shannel Henry
Dr. Brennan HUMN 1002
4/15/2014

Baby Face

In the 1930s the United States was experiencing a depression era. This era known as ,The Great Depression, had a great effect on the movie industry. Films began to focus on sex, violence, infidelity, and promiscuous ways to target new audiences, mainly the males. The other types of genres like horror, gangster, and musical were still high in Demand during this era also. Social realism came about, which is a style of art that focuses on the ugly realities of the modern life and sympathizes with the working class people, especially the poor. The movies that were being produce during this time was to interest the men, which cause the movie producers to give women the lead roles and takeover the movie screen. A movie example is the film Baby Face. Baby Face, a movie directed by Alfred E. Green shows how women took over the ‘Big Screen’. This movie is based on Lily powers, who is played by Barbara Stanwyck, and how she moves up through her social class and financial status. She uses her beauty and her intelligence to get what she wanted from the men that she came into contact with. An example of her getting her way is at the end of the movie, when she wants the bank to fund her 15,000 to have a fresh start, but instead they gave her a new position at a firm in Paris. This is basically her getting her way because she has her new start from the scandal. Social realism is portrayed because every man that she met sympathize with her and her life story. An example of this is when she has an affair with a co-worker and his boss finds out and he disapproves because she is apart of the poor class. So he gives her a promotion so she wouldn’t be in the lower class any longer. From this point on she started moving up in life.

Shannel Henry
Dr. Brennan HUMN 1002
4/15/2014

Detour
In the 1940s and early 1950s the movie industry began to produce movies that were based on crimes. They are also known as Film Noir, which were psychological thrillers and suspenseful. These movies had dark lighting and voice over narration and characters shifting identities. The movies that had these elements in them, they made you feel like you were trapped in fear and in paranoia ( Sklar 253). A movie that has these elements is Detour. Detour was produced in 1945 and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. This movie is a great example of a Film Noir. It has a lot of voice over in here. An example is at the beginning, when a man plays a song that he doesn’t want to hear, then everyone walks out the scene and the camera zooms in on him and you start to hear his voice but his lips is not moving. This element is portrayed throughout this movie. Another example is when he thinks he killed Mr.Haskell, and then he starts back driving you hear what he is thinking. When he is doing his voice overs, the camera zooms in on him in the lighting gets darker and then resumes to it normal lighting. This element happens at the beginning of the movie in the diner scene. Then throughout the movie it has regular lighting. When watching Film Noir movies, the movies portrayed people feeling trapped in paranoia and fear and not being able to tell guilt from innocence. An example of this is when he thinks he killed Mr.Haskell, he knew that he was innocence but he was paranoid that the police would think he did it on purposes. He leaves his body on the side of the road and drives off. Then he switch his identity with Mr.Haskell because he feared that someone could identify him if the police came looking for him.

Shannel Henry
Dr.Brennan
HUMN 1002
4/15/2014
Raiders of the Lost Ark Media technologies were thriving in the 1980s such as video cassette recorders, video games, VCRS, and cable deliveries. The film industry were demanded to produce something better. Postmodernism in films consisted of a more realistic sound and image. Films were focusing on what was more visually appealing rather than the story plot. Self-conscious story telling played a major part in postmodern films. Raiders of the Lost Ark, produced by Steven Spielberg, whose name was associated with “blockbuster”, is an example of a postmodern film. In the introduction of the film the soundtrack is very thrilling and suspenseful. The music and sound effect prepares the audience for an adventure throughout the movie. An example of the movie paying close attention to the sound effects is when the men whip their whip lashes. This movie is the start of “high-concept” films. “High-Concepts” films were known to thrilling, loud, and flashy. An example of flashy, is when the Nazi are killed by the bolts of lights, which had an flashy effect. This would have been the turning point in the previous movies but in this movie it was the falling action. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a great example of postmodern, because the visual and sound pleasure and a more realistic soundtrack. This movie capture every sound effect throughout this movie.