...Starring: Douglas Fairbanks (The Duke of Arnoldo/The Black Pirate) ; Billie Dove (Princess Isobel ), Anders Randolf (Pirate Captain); Donald Crisp (MacTavish); Sam De Grasse (Pirate Lieutenant) Studio: Elton Corp. , distributors: United Artists Details: Silent w/ English intertitles, two-tone Technicolor and B&W, 1 hr 22 min Notes: * final kiss w/ Princess Isobel > Mary Pickford * longboat crew >> sailors from USS Arizona • The fight choreographer is the great Fred Cavens. He and colleague Bob Anderson are almost single-handedly responsible for the best sword fights on film from the 1920s to 2000. Cavens was fencing master for every important Zorro from Doug Fairbanks (1920) to Tyrone Power (1940) to Guy Williams (1957-1961; Disney). After Cavens’ death, Anderson took on the next great Zorro: Antonio Banderas. Read BEFORE watching the movie. Bennett, Carl. “The Black Pirate (1926)”[review]. Silent Era. 2010. Web. 22 Mar 2014. http://www.silentera.com/video/blackPirateHV.html (Read article in left sidebar & review of Blu-Ray Disc.) • First major featured film produced in Technicolor • A black & white film was also shot in case the Technicolor fails • Filming in Technicolor was expensive and requires a vast amount of lights on the set and special camera lens prism. Used both technical color camera and black and white cameras side by side during the filming. • The first objective of the color process is the used...
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...absence of reliability or perception of the narrative. "Whether due to age, mental disability or personal involvement, an unreliable narrator provides the reader with either incomplete or inaccurate information as a result of these conditions." [1] As Wayne Booth once stated: "I have called a narrator reliable when he speaks for or acts in accordance with the norms of the work, (which is to say, the implied authors norms) unreliable when he does not" [2] . We are consumers of narratives which has given us the ability to identify unreliable stories. However as "theoreticians, we are less well able to say what constitutes unreliability and how it is detected". [3] Shutter Island is a film adapted, from a novel, by Martin Scorsese; the film is within the film noir genre, with an unreliable narrator that, as result, plays with your mind and makes the film appear to be very ambiguous. Shutter Island is clearly shown through the perspective of a fallacious narrator. A narrator's job is to reveal what is real in the narrative and, comparable to tellers in reality, the narrator may have it incorrect or would rather disclose what they deem to be true. "On this model we perceive narrative unreliability when we perceive a disparity between the intentions of the implied author concerning what is true in the story and the intentions of the narrator concerning what she would have the reader believe." [4] Shutter Islands' narrative follows this idea as throughout the film, the...
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...firstly explaining the idea of mementoes and totems. A “totem” is an object that the characters in this film keep with them in real life and in the dream world. It is identified as something unique, heavy and that only the owner is allowed to handle. Its purpose is to provide the dream-invaders a way of knowing whether they are in the dream world or in reality. If a totem is expected to fall, or operate in a certain way, then any change in this indicates that you are in a dream. Most importantly, Auxier says that this serves as “a point of connection between what you’re experiencing within yourself (beliefs, perceptions, assumptions) and the way the world really is.” (Auxier, 282) The idea of a “totem” allows for continuity of time in the narrative, it acts as a guide when discontinuities are found. Furthermore, both films attempt to explore the same problem, the continuity and discontinuity in our experience, and how discontinuity affects our ability to know the truth about the world we live in. Between the time passing and the way we experience it, lies a gap; however this is where memory comes into play. Memory is the way we see our world (through our past experiences) therefore we carry it around everywhere we go, and with every new experience, we use memory as a point of reference. Our past...
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...Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Men or Children? The gangster is a fictional story written by Colson Whitehead in 2008. It is a short story about African- American teenagers and its setting is in Sag Harbor, in 1985. The story begins with a question, “When did you get out?” The opening question emphasizes the title of the story on a particular notion to the reader. In the fictional story, the gangster, Benji and Reggie are twin brothers of ten months apart. They grew up together inseparably in every aspect. It was common for them to be seen together and when they were not, people always question them on where the other is. High school and puberty brought the difference between them physically. They would be seen away from each other severally, and they even looked different physically with Benji being skinny while Reggie looked chubby. Benji and Reggie are brought up in an upper middle class family, and their parents own a beach house in Sag harbor where they go to during the summers. In the summer of 1985, Benji was 15 years old, and Reggie was 14 years old. During the summer when the whole family left for their beach house, the boys would be left alone for some time when their parents went back to the city to work during the weekdays. Benji and Reggie are described, in the story, as Siamese twins when they were young, describing their inseparable nature. This is clearly brought out by the language used as quoted “Where is the surgeon, who is gifted enough to...
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...Conversion narratives are crucial to World War II films. They were a regular part of Hollywood movies featuring cynical, self-centered antiheros who only cared about themselves. The selfish hero in the face of absolute need converts to a selfless wartime activist dedicating time and resources to the cause and war effort. Casablanca, released in 1942, is a film that portrayed the consequences of having to convert to war. The movie can be seen as giving purpose to war and encouraging the American people to support the mobilization of their troops. The need to convert to war was imperative at this moment in time. Casablanca brilliantly explained to Americans the reason for the fight through the fictional conversion of Rick Blaine and corrupt Vichy police Captain Louis Renault to self-sacrifice and war. The opening scene for the movie sets up establishing shots of imprisoned Europe. A roundabout refugee trail sprung up in order to get to Lisbon, which was the disembarkation point to the new world. The narrator, in a newsreel format, says people looked for freedom in the Americas. The Moroccan city of Casablanca attracted people from all over as many refugees were trying to get out of Europe. They wait in Casablanca. The first scene shows Casablanca as a very police state with a great military presence. The busyness of the exotic open market the camera frame shows the city as being very walled in. People are trapped and they can’t move or go anywhere. The murder of two German couriers...
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...alternative filmsMainstream films can best be defined as commercial films that are made by major entertainment studios or companies that are owned by international media conglomerates. Because of better financing, these films can afford more expensive actors, wide releases, and are sold at popular retail stores. This has become known as the studio system. Films made by major studios or companies that are not owned by a media conglomerate but are distributed by a company owned by a media conglomerate (see Lucasfilm) are also considered to be mainstream and are often referred to as mainstream independent films. Companies that are completely independent, such as Lionsgate, also produce mainstream films, from a cultural standpoint, but independent of the studio system. The alternative to mainstream films are sub genre films that appeal to a certain audience, such as African American films. Low budget films, art films, and experimental films are often the starting point for entertainers who wish to enter into the mainstream circuit or a sub genre circuit. Mainstream films are targeted for all cultures and audiences, with the dominating culture and audience being the primary marketing focus, while sub genre films are marketed towards only one specific culture and audience. Mainstream films often recruit talent from all film genres and backgrounds. Alternative media are media (newspapers, radio, television, magazines, movies, Internet, etc.) which provide alternative information to the...
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...experienced nearly every day. Peer pressure is defined as getting forced into something that was not wanted by other people, friend or not. It is considered a form of bullying. In the story Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, is a personal narrative of what happened to him when he was a police officer in Burma, India. Peer pressure was what made him make the decision he did and due to that he has to live forever with the consequences. Certainly, we have all fallen to some form of peer pressure. Peer pressure can greatly influence decisions, always...
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...Compare and Contrast The theme I chose to centralize my paper on is race and/or ethnicity. I will compare and contrast two poems: “Child of The Americas” by Aurora Levins Morales and “What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren’t) by Patricia Smith. Morales is a woman if mixed race; Puerto Rican and Jewish, while Smith is African-American. We all want to think that someone’s race or color of their skin wouldn’t determine how they are treated or how they are perceived, but this is not the case. When talking amongst friends about someone they do not know we often describe them by using their skin color. And when meeting someone new one of the first questions we ask is “what race are you?” or the harsher “what are you?” Both of these poems give the reader a look into the mind of two young women of different races, one being mixed and the other being an African American, and how each girl views herself. The poem, “Child of The Americas” by Aurora Levins Morales, the reader looks into the consciousness of a young multi-racial woman. Morales herself is a multiracial woman “Puerto Rican-born and Jewish American Aurora Levins Morales is a poet, essayist, historian, and activist” (Fiandt, 2006). Morales’ poem talks about finding ones identity. Morales starts her poem off by stating that she is an American “she does not claim any single identity beyond “American” and this “American” includes the multiple races and nationalities that have entered the Western hemisphere”...
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...simple cinematographic technique that allows the audience to experience the characters every move. This movie was written by Michael Blake and directed by Kevin Costner who also is the lead actor throughout the film. Other actors include Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney Grant, and Floyd Red Crow Westerman. The story starts with a wounded Civil War soldier about to have his foot amputated when he makes an attempt at his life by stealing a horse and running recklessly across the open battlefield nearly getting shot. The build from this scene is that the soldiers fighting see his act of desperation and encouragement and a distraction and use the fact that the enemy is so focused on shooting him off his horse that they never see the final attack coming. The end of this scene Kevin Costner throws up his arms and glides with the horse like they were one in a full gallop and is deemed a hero and the general not only gives him the horse(Cisco) but also lends his personal surgeon to save his foot. This is the start to a beautiful and emotional story that builds into a love story between the soldier, a white Indian woman, and the entire Lakota tribe. The bond between the soldier and...
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...The Boondock Saints I chose to view and analyze the film The Boondock Saints. There were many different elements I focused on while viewing the film. These elements were broken down into the following categories: narrative, theatrical elements, cinematography, editing, sound, and the overall experience. I will begin with stating my personal interpretations and my own understandings of the narrative. Throughout the film there are two main characters. These two characters are Irish brothers that share a deep sense of their Catholic religion. Their names are Murphy and Connor McManus. Murphy and Connor are two ordinary men who are put in an extraordinary situation; Connor risks his own life to save the life of his brother. The situation starts from a bar fight with two Russian mafia soldiers. The Russians lose the fight with the two brothers; the next morning they come after the McManus brothers for revenge. Murphy and Connor kill the two men in self defense and go to the police station. While in the holding cell, they are given a message from a spiritual force to rid the world of evil men. From that moment they devote themselves to a battle between good and evil. Another important character is David Della Rocco, also known as the “Funny Man” or just Rocco. Rocco is a package boy for the Yakaveta family Italian mafia. The head of the Yakaveta family is “Papa” Joe Yakaveta. “Papa” Joe sets up Rocco in a situation to have him killed; Rocco finds out about “Papa” Joe’s plans and...
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...arguments usually question or celebrate the transgressive potentials of the book (Giroux; Mendieta), or address issues of masculinity brought into the fore by their literary and cinematic representations emergent in the same decade (Tuss; Friday). However, few, if any, have addressed the literary aspirations of the text and its author. Although none of the approaches to the thematic concerns of Fight Club are unjustified, in the argument that follows I will suggest that conclusions drawn and critical judgments passed have been hasty, and not only failed to take into account the formal aspects of story-telling, but that the narrative features of Palahniuk’s text have largely went unexplored, and constitute a blind spot of the reception. Critics condemning or acclaiming the novel, and, indeed, many a cultic reader of Palahniuk ignored Fight Club as a literary narrative, and have inadvertently been repeating the catchphrases of the text, either reinforcing or trying to undermine what they have understood as their meaning. I see the significance of Palahniuk’s fiction and the literary event of Fight Club’s publication in somewhat different terms. Palahniuk’s emphasis and continued insistence on minimalism suggest that his fiction is properly understood as belonging to a literary tradition whose evaluation remains troubled and, for a large part, unsettled. Nevertheless,...
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...Davy Crockett Gun Craze by Sarah Nilsen In April 2005, sixty thousand members of the National Rifle Association gathered in Houston, Texas for their 134th Annual Meeting. The keynote speaker for the event was embattled U.S. House Majority Leader, Representative Tom De Lay. After his speech, De Lay was joined on stage by Lee Hamel dressed as Davy Crockett in full buckskin attire and a coonskin hat. Hamel presented De Lay with a handcrafted flintlock rifle that he had made for the event with his mentor, Cecil Brooks. The presentation of the reproduction rifle to De Lay is part of a long NRA tradition that began in 1955 when Walt Disney‟s Davy Crockett series first appeared on television. When Charlton Heston received his handcrafted flintlock rifle in 1989, he uttered his famous words, “From my cold dead hands.” President Ronald Reagan and Vice President Dick Cheney also joined the list of those who received facsimile Davy Crockett flintlock rifles from a man dressed in Crockett buckskin attire. This tradition is part of the NRA‟s efforts to represent the gun as a key instrument in the founding of the United States. It secured this ideological representation in part by appropriating the mythology of early American heroes like Davy Crockett. Davy Crockett became emblematic of the gun mythology of early American life. This mythology was synergized by the NRA and popularized through children‟s television to promote a conception of the role of the gun in American cultural...
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...Personal Narrative- Track Competition The moment of truth was upon me. The official times, this includes whom qualified for finals, for the 400m relay had been posted. My eyes scanned the page for the bold letters that spell ANDERSON. As I ran my finger across the page to where the times were posted, my ears began to shut out all outside noises, leaving me alone with the thump of my heart and the inhale and exhale of my lungs. Both began to increase in speed as my eyes narrowed in on the time. My sophomore year had begun and I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to do track this year. Last year I played football in the fall and soccer in the spring. Not really enjoying it, the decision was made to play " real futbol" (soccer) in the fall, leaving the spring sports season open. My friend kept telling me how fun track was, so I decided to give it a try. As the first meet neared, things were going well. I made it onto the 4x100 team making me the third fastest kid on the team. The other members of the relay were Jason Schmidt, Jeremy Willard and Rodney Schmidt. Jason and Jeremy were both the top dogs and Rodney and I were second from the bottom of the barrel. The 400 relay was my best event. We placed in every meet and even took home some medals as the season progressed. As the track year rounded for the home stretch, we had only three more meets to compete in: the Tiger Invitational, regionals, and state. As the Tiger rolled around, there arose a question...
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...and violence remain constant. In this film, we begin with two sequences: a biker gang called The Capsules, led by Kaneda, going against The Clowns and a little boy and a man running from the police in another. The man is gunned down by the police and the boy appears to have telekinetic powers he runs away. Even after most of the Capsules ended their pursuit of the Clowns, Capsule member Tetsuo continues on, only to later crash into the same little boy and suffer a change that grants him similar powers and rage to gain control like never seen before. Spirited Away on the surface is way different from the previous two, telling the tale of Chihiro, a little girl who, while moving to a new town, discovers a small village with her parents and is sucked into a spirit world. In the spirit world, her parents are literally turned into pigs upon consuming the food there, she becomes forced to work in a bathhouse in order to leave and she is slowly...
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...named Offred. Atwood says, “that the novel isn't simply a vehicle for private expression, but that it also exists for social examination.” Which is exactly what the novel serves as when it makes us criticise and reflect on the cracks in our society such as the totalitarian regimes that still reign today, gender inequality and the brutality of people higher up in society. In Gilead there is an obvious totalitarian regime and through the narrative of Offred, Atwood gives us a clear idea of her opinion on that. Offred was once a happily married woman with a daughter but she has now been caught up in the new Gilead totalitarian regime which has taken all that away from her and turned her into a handmaid whose only purpose is to bear children for her commander. The society is so strict that Offred has basically been reduced to a childlike state, she can’t pick what she wears, eats or says, she isn’t allowed basic necessities like moisturiser and she can’t even go to the bathroom unsupervised. The Gilead regime has taken away all of her personal freedom. Societies like these make us reflect on those in our own world such as the situation in North Korea. North Korea is run by a totalitarian regime, it is so strict on the people and they are in a similar situation to Offred as they also being prevented from leaving. This makes us think about how fragile our social structure is and how easily it can be overthrown. Atwood also makes us reflect on how far women have come over the past...
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