JerryDr. Patrick GonderFilm and Society4 November 2008Race and Humor in Martial ArtsIn the summer of 2001, a large crowd of people came out to the movie theaters and they didn’t stop talking about the movie they had watched. Children would mimics the actor’s performance making their parents laugh; the movie was Rush Hour 2. However, the leading role of the movie was not a traditional looking actor like Brad Pit or Tom Cruise; the main actors were Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. One was Asian and the other was African American. It was incredible because everyone knows how difficult it is for minority actors to survive in Hollywood. The movie was not only a successful buddy cop movie, but it also became the highest-grossing martial-arts film of all time. Rush Hour 2 features co-stars who are Asian and African American, which don’t seem to be harmonized. In Rush hour 2, Jackie Chan is seen as being a strong martial artist with plenty of humor. This is one of the reasons why he survived and r (1978). However, in the eighties, Chan added humor and displayed morals, well-intentioned, a little silly normal guy who makes himself vulnerable to friends, but becomes invulnerable and strong to enemies. He often has mercy upon his enemy if his adversaries ask forgiveness. These movements let the audiences recognize that he was really strong but also friendly.Furthermore, Chan is well-known as the most famous action star that doesn’t need a stunt man because he has never employed a stunt man for himself. When a bomb explodes, he needs to throw his body at a huge truck or whatever dangerous situation, he was in the place whereas other stars didn’t. For instance, Chan makes the audience understand that he is enthusiastic and willing to sacrifice for his work because he includes deleted scenes that show audiences him performing the stunts at the end of his movies. This makes the audience impressed because he puts himself in danger, even though he is a big star.Moreover, Chan often doeharacter cartoon like Mickey Mouse.In conclusion, it is too difficult to settle in Hollywood for Asian actors. Unlike Asian actresses, Asian actors must need a prominent persona or talent in order to attract white and American audiences because stereotypes of Asian men made by the Hollywood system make Asian characters timid, talkative, and weak. As audiences take the fact into consideration, they need to feel how successful Jackie Chan’s persona is. He is not just a martial artist or an action star with humor. He is the one who ranked top on two different cultures between the western and eastern worlds. He is a cultural icon who represents integration.Jackie Chan Wagging His Tail toward White Dominated CultureWhat if the fastest hands in the east meet the biggest mouth in the west? It will depend on situations. Physically, it would be spit on the hands or the mouth would be hurt. In Rush Hour (1998), two different cultures, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker meet and harmonize to solve the e and the culture leader against western culture. In Rush hour, the movie shows Chan positive personas to attract to American spectators. First of all, Chan’s persona is dedicated. For example, inspector Lee (Chan) stops by America to save daughter of Hong Kong consul Han from Hong Kong. Second, Chan shows his persona as a moral man. For instance, inspector Lee makes an effort to protect ancient Chinese cultural treasures although he is beaten by adversaries. Last, Chan is really good at his acrobatic stunt and martial arts style. The spectator who likes physical action would be impressed by his real action style.In Rush Hour, Chan would compromise white dominated culture and would not be offensive to anyone in the western world. First of all, people would associate Chan as a martial artist in humor, but nobody would think that he has male sexuality. For example, many martial artists show their male sexuality such as Jean-Claude Van Danme and Steven Segal. Even though martial arts filmifferent classes in the movie. Even though Consul Han looks like a high class, he doesn’t have a power. For example Consul Han is always followed by F.B.I agents two: white men. Moreover, Inspector Lee (Chan) should be subjected to Consult Han, and Detective James Carter (Tucker) should be subjected to a dean of police, a white man. Besides, the boss of the Asian gangs is a white man even though he has a Chinese name, Jin Tao. In other words, the movie says that Chan who is the representative of Asian as the fastest hand in eastern world meets Tucker who is the representative of Africa American as the biggest mouth in western world. There is white dominated culture behind them.In short, Jackie Chan is the only alive success in Hollywood film industry as an Asian male. As compared to other Asian actors, their popularity was confined to Asia. Jet Li whose popularity would be par with Chan in Asia is quickly gaining popularity in the western world, but he didn’t attract to American spectaT 6
JerryIntroduction to FilmDr. Patrick GonderExam #3Narrative of American BeautyThe narrative of American Beauty (1999) follows a straight forward and linear chronology because “the selected events and actions proceed one after another through a forward movement” (Corrigan & White 234) in the movie narratives. The movie begins with an afterlife monologue as a first-person narrator from Lester Burnham. Lester views himself as being dead already; it intimates that Lester will be dying at the end of the movie as a deadline structure. The plot is based on the three-act structure. The first act is that Lester has a conflict with his family. He has been stuck in the monotony of a boring job that doesn’t need him and a family who doesn’t respect him. Corrigan and White say this is “the presentation of a situation or a circumstance” (248). The second act is Lester’s family straying from the right path to find their own lives. They use wrong solutions such as Lester crushing on the friend of his s “the resolution of that disruption” (248). In contrast to typical Hollywood films, the family doesn’t get back to normal as Lester is killed by Fitts, Lester’s neighbor.The narration of American beauty is mostly objective because the narration develops with each character’s perspective. For example, each character is looking for difference. Lester is looking for the tonic of his life, Carolyn wants a successful life, Jane wants love with her boyfriend, Ricky, and Ricky is looking for the beautiful, which other people don’t understand like a flown plastic bag by the wind. Eventually, they gather at the same time and same place.American Beauty follows an omniscient narration as “narration in which all elements of the plot are presented from many or all potential angles” (241). As compared to normal omniscient narration that” knows what’s important and how to arrange it to reveal the truth about a life or a history”. However, American Beauty doesn’t show the solution to the audience likrict as Fitts family. Fitts’ family is extremely patriarchal and Fitts fits into the narrative as an archetype of the macho man. He is a typical conservative man as a stereotype of the old marine veteran. American Beauty uses the gay couple, the secondary character, in the movie to form a character grouping. As Fitts organizes his family with his force, the movie illustrates a social hierarchy. Fitts’s wife shows consequent character depth as her husband’s treatment makes her mentally ill and weak. The movie script slowly peels the layers away to show what these families are beneath the surface.American Beauty is the paradoxical expression of a suburbarn middle class American family and it is in a classic Hollywood narrative style. For example, the plot is not only the sequence of actions in chronological order but also the story has resolution, closure for characters and situations.Nevertheless, American beauty lets the antagonist appear at the end of the movie. However, the antagonist the antagonist is. For example, the gay couple looks like the happiest family in the movie. Fitts reveals his gender as a regressive character development even though he never stops blaming gay people. Lester shows his progressive character development as he tries to turn everything back to normal, but the movie doesn’t allow it. Eventually, closure is created by the death of Lester, and it means the destruction of a patriarchal system in modern times.As I’m a documentary film maker, I’ll make a documentary film about the Korean War and the reaction to the recognition of the young Korean generation who never experienced the war. The structure of the documentary will be with expositional practices as a normal documentary film. I‘ll describe that the memory about the Korean War is fading away from the Korean people with examples such as an interview and survey of Korean people. I will also question them what whether is a reasonable or not to forget the war as imaginative practice, whicfe than sixty years ago as metaphoric forms.Technically, I’ll often use asynchronous sound as non-diegetic in the film. I’ll contrast many photographs and multimedia images from different views such as positive view, negative view, and have logical theories about people who have experienced similar war, and moral notion as a cumulative exposition.The documentary needs to “use expositional strategies to present information or perspectives without the temporal logic of narrative and with little explicit explanation or commentary” (267). Unlike most of the war documentaries, I’ll use various cinematic abstracting techniques and rapid editing because the objective audience is the young Korean generation. I will interview three kinds of people. Those that are American veterans who survived the war, The old Korean generation who have been helped by people over the world, and the young Korean generation who are ignorant of the war to contrast their different points of view as a contrastive ex.
JerryIntroduction to FilmDr. Patrick GonderDecember 11, 2008Destruction of a Patriarchal System in American BeautyA girl mentions “I need a father who’s a role model”. Her boyfriend asks “Want me to kill him for you?”. She replies “Yeah, would you”? This would be a shock to every father if they were to hear it from their daughters. These are lines from American Beauty (1999). At least once in their life, American people think about what “American Beauty” is. Some people would think of American Beauty as a typical gorgeous woman who is blonde, white, and has blue eyes. Some people would think of it through living in harmony with nature and would be satisfied with it. A definition of American beauty in the dictionary is a type of rose bearing large, long-stemmed, purplish-red flowers (The American Heritage Dictionary). American Beauty is a story about these three definitions and a male patriarch who doesn’t know one of them. American Beauty breaks the typical father figure who earns inco highpoint of his day is masturbating in the shower. He has lost the joy from his life, so he doesn’t know what he has to live for. Moreover, Burnham has a crush on his daughter’s friend and he quits his job. Such conduct is against the father’s traditional identity, which includes being responsible and fulfilling obligations. Also, Carolyn, Burnham’s wife, frustrated with her relationship with her husband, begins an affair with Buddy Kane, a successful man. Her actions reflect materialism rather than the mother’s traditional identity. This would include taking care of the children and assisting her husband. The last, Jane, Burnham’s daughter, hates her father and asks her boyfriend to kill him. This goes against the daughter’s role which should be to love her parents in a traditional sense. Jane’s actions may be caused by Burnham’s lack of patriarchal authority. When Jane shows her hysterical behaviors to Burnham, he educates her as indecisive father figure. Even though Burnham doesn’sive as the head of the family. The gay couple as second character looks like a happy family as compared to Burnham’s and Fitt’s because the couple always shows their unity. For example, the couple doesn’t lose their joy when they are running and visit Fitt’s house. However, the movie would be denounce that they advocate gay rights movement or they devalue the American people because the movie doesn’t show another family which is happy and keep their dignity.There are also two father figures in the movie. One is Burnham and the other is Fitt. He tries to respect other family members’ opinions and behaviors, but his father figure is not functional because the others don’t respect him. Sometimes, Burnham seems to be innocent and victim of changing in social system as the movie often goes with Burnham’s first-person narrator and shows spectators him, a man of sentiment. Burnham is the man who causes his dysfunctional family. Caroline just looks for the man who has a successful life and shd respect him. However, Fitt’s family members are scared of him and just obey his rule. As Ricky decides to leave his family and his mom lets him leave, his role as a father figure is also dysfunctional. As Fitt’s masculinity turns into his homosexuality, the male patriarchal role is destroyed. Furthermore, the movie asserts that the father figure or mother figure do not have to be a male and a female, as shown through the gay couple being the finest family in the movie.Last, American Beauty talks more moderate and new father figure in the modern times through Burnham because he is not a traditional father figure. Sometimes, Burnham acts like a child such as buying the 1970 Pontiac Firebird for himself, smoking a weed for his joy, and trying to have a sex with Angela, his daughter’s friend. When Burnham gives up his obsession with Angela, he doesn’t stop for her virginal purity. Burnham stops for his daughter because she would be upset. At the point, Burnham would try to back in traditncome came from my mother because my father lost his business when I was young. However, my mother never let him to do the housework. Furthermore, my family’s members agree that the father figure should be working and patriarchal. We believe the social structure will be destroyed if the father figure and mother figure are broken.In short, American Beauty shows that a modern family can exist without a strong patriarchal figure, and people’s paths end with a dead end and they are not able to turn back. Also, the movie spectators would worry about the Burnham’s family’s life after the movie because they are dysfunctional family and “Dysfunctional families are most often a result of the Hyperlink "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism" o "Alcoholism" alcoholism, substance abuse, or other Hyperlink "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction" o "Addiction" addictions of parents, parents' untreated Hyperlink "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness" o "Mental illness" mental illnesses/dia,
JerryDr. Patrick GonderFilm and Society8 October 2008City Lights in Melodrama & Slapstick Comedy GenreCity Light (1931) is a comedy film directed and written by Charlie Chaplin. The movie is comprised of slapstick comedy and melodrama. Chaplin not only used his own style of pantomime, but he also depended on in-depth character development. This appealed to the heightened emotions of the audience as a normal melodrama did. His comedy was completely harmonized with the melodramatic elements of the film. This harmony allowed Chaplin’s movie to survive against the Talkies, which were motion pictures with sound, whereas other silent comedies were wiped out. The melodramatic elements come from the problem of the Tramp’s poverty. This movie deals with a defect in the capitalist system. Chaplin denounces the capitalist ideology that teaches that everyone can become successful by their own efforts.The plot of City Lights is a love story between the tramp and the blind girl selling flowers on thnism, and a suffering from the Great Depression.The first of these classes is the lower class. The movie shows the lower class through the sorrows of the homeless and the tramp’s life. The movie begins with the scene in which the woman association gives a speech to the public. The scene reflects that Democracy begins in the 20th century. Even though the speaker acts like a normal speaker, the sound from the microphone clangs and makes some noise. The noise represents the failure of Democracy and Capitalism. The curtain rises up and the statue, which is the representative of Democracy or Capitalism, appears with the tramp. The tramp, who is the representative of the working class, wakes up on the statue. In other words, the movie says that Democracy or Capitalism should prioritize the lower class.Moreover, Chaplin indicates his resistance against the Talkies. For example, Chaplin uses the clang sound to satirize when the speaker gives the speech because the clang sound used to be the pr without sound. The tramp represents silent movies, and this shows Chaplin’s defiance against the Talkies. With this film, Chaplin encourages the countless unemployed workers who lost their jobs due to the Great Depression as he acted the tramp role. The tramp is a nice person and never stops being happy. He knows how to enjoy life in spite of poverty. However, Chaplin says that the lower class never climbs the social ladder through the movie. In order to cure blindness of the girl, the tramp works hard yet he gets nothing for his effort. Boxing becomes his last opportunity. Moreover, fortune doesn’t smile on him in spite of his struggling and hard work. Eventually, the tramp obtains money from the millionaire. The movie seems to say that it is compensation to the tramp and the working class. Indeed, he has to go to jail after he gives the money to the blind girl. After he gets out of jail, the tramp meets the blind girl again. Nevertheless, the girl is not blind anymore. The girl recorates to people how capitalist ideology is cold-hearted as the tramp smiles bitterly.The second class is the middle class, but it starts off as poor. Chaplin focuses on the blind girl almost from the beginning of the story. He develops the movie as he adds dramatic irony from the contrast between imagination and reality. When the blind girl imagines falling in love with a millionaire, the movie shows the audience that every working class has a dream to live better. Furthermore, the movie says that once the person rises in class, she can’t unify with the lower class. The movie shows that they can’t fall in love at the end because they are from two different classes.The last class is the higher class. The millionaire is the representative of the higher class. He spends his money rather than work or struggle to live throughout the movie. The millionaire seems to help the tramp, but it is not practical. For instance, the millionaire can get the tramp a job, but he doesn’t. Everything the mn other words, they can’t be brought together in real life due to their different classes.In conclusion, City Lights is the masterpiece that accompanies the Modern Times (1936) which is Chaplin’s final silence film. The movie was produced without sound while melodramas with sound were increasing in prosperity. It emphasized its ability to communicate on a nonverbal level as a character of typical Melodrama. Chaplin not only attracted audiences with the ordinary romantic story but he also appealed to audiences that struggled with financial obstacles and always violently criticized Capitalism. If Chaplin wanted the movie to end happily, the girl would be better to remain blind, and the millionaire drunk. On the other hand, he could express the successful love between the tramp and the girl. However, Chaplin didn’t do that because he wanted to criticize the classes in Capitalism. In City Lights, Chaplin persisted that, no matter what, classes were equal to each other. All of them can beco
JerryInstructor Jamie GiffordEng 10922 July 2008The Way How to Retire SplendidlyThe throng of more than eight hundreds in the Redmond conference center, WA stood and cheered, and the thousands who couldn’t get in there were also watching screen of the event online or outside on June 28, 2008. A guy who had stood in front of a mass of the people was still wiping the tears from his face, and bowed his head to the applause. Later, the guy opened his mouth and said “There won’t be a day of my life that I am not thinking about Microsoft and the great things that it’s doing, and wanting to help. So thank you for making it the center of my life, and so much fun.” (Bishop) It looked like the guy’s farewell address, and his figure was splendid because he didn’t only donate as much as he earned but he also would spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation beyond Microsoft which is the worldwide leader in a software company. He was the “Bill Gatey and a school teacher. When Gates was young, his parents wanted him to be a lawyer. However, Gates discovered to be interested in computer programming in his early age 13. Gates wrote his first computer program while he was in the Lakeside school. At that time, Gates kept pursuing to invent computer program. Gates had a partnership with a couple of high school mates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, who became to Microsoft co-founders. In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University with a score 1590 out of 1600 on SAT. While Gates was going to Harvard University, he didn’t only develop his program language called “Basic” but he also met such a good partner “Steve Ballmer” who is now CEO of Microsoft. Two years later, Gates dropped out of Harvard University in order to found his software company- Microsoft- because he wanted to spend his energies to his own company more than Harvard University. Gates and his co-founders embarked on a computer basic operating system called “DOS” as soon as they founf Microsoft to devote himself to charitable work.There may not be few people who admire Bill Gates. People may respect Gates because he is one of the wealthiest guys or one of the most flourishing guys in the world. I admire Gates because he had abilities superior to other people. The abilities were foresight, resolution and judgment. Gates took decisive steps without hesitation when he thought it was necessary, and the abilities were mainly proper solutions for the ways were faced. For example, he dropped out of Harvard University to pursue his dream with his software company because he had believed that personal computers would be on every desktop and in every home. When people set up personal computer in their home, Gates expected what people need in the next step. It was software that would be an essential of the personal computers, and Gates didn’t miss the chance when the opportunities knocked his door. For example, IBM emissaries stopped by Microsoft to discuss a personal comput has a business bachelor. Sometimes, he is called a sagacious business man rather than a genius computer programmer because many people who are engaged in business want to learn Gates’ business mind and his successful case. For Instance, Gates and Microsoft didn’t have an operating system for IBM PC at that time after Microsoft made a deal with IBM about an operating system. As people see Gate’s next step, they could value how Gates was wise. Gates bought an operating system called “86-DOS” which is well known as “Q-DOS” from Seattle Computer Product for $50,000. After that, Microsoft changed name to “MS-DOS” and resold it to IBM for $80,000. It was Gates’ strategy that a merchant sell the product first, and then think of it. When Microsoft reigned over the world as an empire of software companies, Gates’ monopolistic strategy was notorious. For example, Gates and Microsoft completely defeated “Navigator”, which was a proprietary web browser and was popular from Netscape as they put thn the fields of multimedia and entertainment such as M&A (Merger and Acquisition) for NBC broadcast and design of video game departments. However, Gates ignored how internet search system would be important. Eventually, he failed M&A for Yahoo, which is famous internet search engine in a competition against Google – the number one search engine in the world. In other words, Gates showed people that he also made a mistake and he always struggled behind his reputation.Last, Gates is the guy who knows what the millionaires made by a capitalistic economy should do with their prosperities. Gates often publicly mentioned that the millionaires should use their money for the poor because the rich people became wealthy due to the others, not only their talents. Therefore, Gates and his wife established a charity foundation, and he didn’t only support charity but he also supported other problems in the world like an aid for Africa. The entire situation is enough to merit the esteem of the public.