Film

Many of the predominant concepts in the film Boyz N The Hood are best viewed from a sociological perspective. The film tackles friendship, parenthood, violence, revenge, and conflict as part of the human condition, all in the context of “the hood” (the black neighborhood/community). Other less dominant concepts are racial prejudice, drug abuse, abuse of power, gentrification, sexuality, and equality in education.

The problems of parenthood, violence, conflict, sexuality, drugs, power abuse, and discrimination are all too real; the relevance of these problems as depicted in the film resonates with today’s modern society. Although some aspects of the film have exaggerated implications for the average American neighborhood (such as the sound of police cars, helicopters, and shooting which are often heard in the background, and the commonness of extreme violence), the issues depicted are actual and immediate for many Americans.

One scene highlights the prejudicial attitudes of some white people to blacks: During the first part of the film when the teacher calls Tre’s mother, Reva, instead of discussing Trey’s situation, the teacher needlessly asks whether or not Reva is employed, to which Reva answers that she is both employed and studying to get her master’s degree. The teacher seems to respond to this condescendingly, saying, “Oh, so you are educated…” This shows how some white people automatically assume that blacks are either unemployed on uneducated.

This exchange makes the viewer think: Would the teacher have asked the same questions had the mother been a white person? In slum neighborhoods teeming with illegal immigrants, problems with inequality and violence seem to abound. Particularly, the Latino communities in the U. S. seem to be experiencing the same issues as that of the blacks. This includes the prevailing racial prejudice, the income disparity between racial groups, and the dangers of living in violent neighborhoods.

The quiet town of Santa Rosa, California, is a prime example of an idealistic community in which many Americans in the 1940s would have considered to be a wonderful place to settle down into and raise a family. Alfred Hitchcock sought to portray this idea through his film titled, Shadow of a Doubt, which he produced and directed in 1943. The original screenplay is written by playwright Thornton Wilder.This film revolves around the strange relationship between Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Newton (Teresa Wright) and her mysterious Uncle, Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotton), whom she was named after, and how his secret of being a strangling psychopathic murderer affected this relationship. By examining the film’s Mise en scene, narrative structure, and camera movement, one can see the various ways in which Hitchcock uses suspense to extensively convey how young Charlie begins to grow strangely suspicious of her cryptic guest, Uncle Charlie.This is significant because through these elements Hitchcock is then able to successfully illustrate and present Shadow of a Doubt as a classic example of film noir.

Originating from France, the term Film Noir literally means ‘black film’ in French. Mainly developing in the early 1940s, the style of Film Noir became popular among American Cinema, post World War II. Though there is no exact definition of this term, there are key elements in which constitutes a film to be considered a Film Noir.The elements usually include unique canted camera angles, low key lighting, which creates gloomy settings and ominous shadows, sexual insinuation between characters, cynical persons, acts of violent crime, foreboding background music, and in many cases, a fatal woman, also known as femme fatale, meaning fatale woman in French. With all of these components combined, a dark atmosphere of pessimism is then created within a film which makes it out to be a ‘black film’. Camera Angles Film noirs have unique camera angles in which distinguishes t from other film styles. Specifically, a key scene which depicts this is when detectives, pretending to be Uncle Charlie’s friends, show up at a street corner to spy on Uncle Charlie.

Starting off by using a deep focus shot of the two detectives and Uncle Charlie passing them by, Hitchcock forms a great sequence of scenes in which the two detectives chase Uncle Charlie through city blocks. A notable shot is when Hitchcock cuts to high-angle, also known as a ’God shot’ or ‘bird’s eye view’ allows the audience to see the chase from very high elevated angle.The next cut shows Uncle Charlie disappearing behind a building, stumping the cops. Hitchcock then uses a panning shot to rediscover Uncle Charlie who is blowing smoke from a cigar and watching the baffled cops from the same angle from which the shot is being taken. Dark Lighting Low key lighting is one of, if not the most, crucial concept of a film noir. In Shadow of a Doubt, lighting plays a key role in effecting how the mood and atmosphere of a film develops. Hitchcock intelligently presents this technique through the first two main scenes of the film.

The first scene introduces the character of Uncle Charlie. This scene starts out with a medium shot of Uncle Charlie wearing a fine, dark colored suit, lying stiffly on his bed smoking a cigar, inside his dimly lit apartment. This is where the technique of low key lighting can first be seen. As the light shines through the curtains, a series of shadows is then casted upon Uncle Charlie’s face as well as on the furniture inside the apartment complex. This scene elaborates even more so on the concepts of dark lighting and shadows when Mrs.Martin (Constance Purdy), the landlady, comes into the room and speaks with Uncle Charlie. Referring to him as Mr.

Spencer she informs him about two men who came looking for him; later in the film these two men turn out to be detectives. As Mrs. Martin begins to leave, she pulls the blinds to completely shut them, thus creating an even darker setting. By the uncanny music that begins to play right after Mrs. Martin does this, along with a simultaneous close up shot of Uncle Charlie’s face in darkness, allocates that Hitchcock was trying to implant the idea thatUncle Charlie was a dark figure. By using this type of lighting, along with Uncle Charlie’s coarse voice, and emotionless expression, Hitchcock successfully generates this eerie feeling. The use of low key lighting in this film can be further seen with the second main scene where Young Charlie is introduced.

This scene begins with Young Charlie lying on her bed, pondering thoughts, in the same posture as Uncle Charlie was in the first scene. The lighting in this scene is very bright compared to Uncle Charlie’s apartment.Young Charlie throughout her scene unconsciously keeps her face out of shadows. For example when Young Charlie’s mother, Emma Newton (Patricia Collinge) comes back from doing errands, she sits on Charlie’s bed quite abruptly and directly casts a shadow upon Young Charlie’s face. Young Charlie then sits up immediately in a sense to avoid having her face be in a dark shadow. What is so significant about this scene is how Hitchcock is able to adequately present the style of film noir’s main purpose of contrasting light and dark aspects while portraying the characters persona at the same time.For example, Uncle Charlie can be quickly seen as playing the role of the antagonist, the villain, because his face is constantly covered by a shadow, this can be seen not just in the first scene but throughout the entire film.

As for Young Charlie, because her face is frequently illuminated by light all throughout the film, one can say that she is the ‘good’ guy, the savior. The main difference between the two scenes is that the low key lighting effectively creates different types of shadows creating two different types of moods.In Uncle Charlie’s apartment, the light that shines through the windows produces more sinister shadows because of the overhanging trees and partially closed Venetian style blinds. In the second scene, the mood of Young Charlie’s room is more uplifting because the windows are more opened allowing more light to be let into her room. Also her lacey curtains create a flowery and more appealing effect when casted upon the wall, which lightens the mood and allows the audience to view her as a good and righteous character contrast to Uncle Charlie’s character.Hitchcock purposely parallels these first two scenes together to show not only that the two characters are opposites of each other but also that the two share a close relationship. Sexual Insinuation Aside from low key lighting, film noir also has a tendency to suggest sexual tension and insinuation between characters in its style as well.

The relationship between Uncle Charlie and Young Charlie at first was admirable, but over time it augmented into a much closer relationship, almost even a sexual one.When Uncle Charlie arrives on the train in Santa Rosa, Young Charlie is ecstatic and even goes out of her way to make him feel comfortable; she even insists on Uncle Charlie staying in her room. More specifically, this could be seen in the scene where Uncle Charlie showers the family with gifts, giving Young Charlie a special emerald ring, this particular scene is shot in both medium close up shots and medium long shots. Located in the kitchen of the Newton residence, Young Charlie is falling into a deeper admiration of her uncle.Though Young Charlie does not say anything about being lovers in anyway, she still suggests that there is something more to their relationship than family relations. This is assumed from when Young Charlie says, “We’re not just an uncle and a niece. It’s something else.

I know you. I know you don’t tell people a lot of things. I don’t either. I have a feeling that inside you there’s something nobody knows about . . . something secret and wonderful.

I’ll find it out. ” After she says this, Uncle Charlie takes her hand in his and places a ring on her finger.In a way, this is representing a union between the two, and in a sense he is expressing his love for her. Though only lasting for a few seconds, one could see how disturbing Uncle Charlie’s staring at Young Charlie is while she examines the ring. Though this is a prominent example of their strange relationship, there are multiple instances throughout the film that exposes their peculiar connection as well. Cynicism In a shot before this scene, Uncle Charlie is presents gifts to Emma, in which he also provides one of his speeches that express his cynicism.In this speech, directed towards Young Charlie, he describes how the world has changed for the worse, “Everyone was sweet and pretty then, Charlie.

The whole world… Wonderful world… Not like today. Not like the world now. ” Uncle Charlie’s character is a keen example of a cynical temperament in a film noir. Hitchcock presents Uncle Charlie’s views of the world to be very pessimistic through the speeches that he bestows upon Young Charlie. The second and maybe the most important speech Uncle Charlie makes is at the scene at the dinner table, when Emma inquires of what his lecture is to be about when he presents in front of her women’s group.In this particular speech, Uncle Charlie is very pessimistic, ranting that “The cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands, dead, husbands who’ve spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives.

And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands, drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and all night, smelling of money, proud of their jewelry but of nothing else, horrible, faded, fat, greedy women. As he gives this speech, the camera zooms slowly into a more close up shot of Uncle Charlie until he finishes his speech, forcing the audience to pay attention to the seriousness and significance of his cynical character. Because of this speech, Uncle Charlie can be seen as a widow hater, but this speech may possibly even explain why he targets widows as his victims. The hatred that Uncle Charlie has leads to anger, which then leads to acts of crime. Acts of Violent Crime Just like low key lighting, the premise of crime is one of the main significant key elements that make a film noir, the film style that it is.Shadow of a Doubt is based mainly on the relationship between Young Charlie and her uncle, but what drives the plot of the story is crime itself. The purpose of the comedic dialogue between Young Charlie’s father, Joseph Newton (Henry Travers), and their neighbor, Herbie Hawkins (Hume Crony), throughout the film not only serves as comic relief but it is also there to implement the ongoing theme of crime.

The biggest crime that affects the movie is Uncle Charlie’s murder of widows because it is the basis of the series of problems that occur throughout the film.Since this was a significant factor in the plot, its’ scene had to be equally fitting as well. This scene is very important because it incorporates the purpose of crime in this film noir and it also displays Hitchcock’s use of various shots and montage to portray the intense suspense. This specific scene is when Young Charlie is extremely suspicious of her uncle and races down to the library, before it closes, to ensure that her uncle is not a criminal. Hitchcock first uses a dissolving shot to show Young Charlie leaving her house and entering the city.The dissolving shot allows the audience to recognize that the shots are still in sequence even though each shot may be of a different setting. Next, Hitchcock uses a tracking shot to follow Charlie face forward as well as from the side, running to the library.

After the tracking shot, fine editing is seen through the rapid cutting that was used, which gave a thrilling and suspenseful feel to the scene. Next in the library, Young Charlie opens up a newspaper and through the ‘point of view shot’ Uncle Charlie is in fact the ‘Merry Widow Murderer’ as she connects the headlines to the emerald ring he gifts to her.These scenes build suspense but the foreboding music in the background adds the definite mood of the scenes. Foreboding Music Music is very important when it comes to how a scene is portrayed by the audience. If the director wanted a scene to be scary, then eerie music would have to play in the background, but if the desire was for the scene to be in a pleasant mood, a more cheerful song would be used. By portraying suspense in this film noir, music is the definite key in affecting how the audience depicts the characters.By using the same example previously mentioned for low key lighting, the parallel scenes of Young Charlie and her uncle are prime examples of who they are as characters as well.

The music in the background played a major part in this as well, though many times it goes unnoticed. For Uncle Charlie’s scene, when the blinds are shut, a shadow is casted upon his face and eerie, creepy music begins to play. For Young Charlie it is the total opposite, where more pleasurable music is placed in the background. At the beginning of the film there is a scene consisting of elegantly dressed men and women dancing to a waltz in a ballroom.This scene may be puzzling at first, but as the plot progresses, a better understanding of the film progresses as well. This specific scene re occurs a total of four times throughout the film, always accompanied by a haunting song, composed by Franz Lehar, called the ‘Merry Widow Waltz’. This particular music score is significant because it acts as a motif for Uncle Charlie’s guilt, for every time he hears this haunting song he would feel paranoid and fear.

Femme Fatale Separate from eerie music, expressionistic lighting, and distinct camera angles, Femme Fatale is character/persona, who is essential to the styles of film noir.In French, the term means fatale woman, which is supposed to represent dangerous dames in film noir style films whom are the antagonists that are fatal to the male protagonists, but this concept is slightly twisted in Shadow of a Doubt. Though Young Charlie is not the antagonist she is still fatal to the leading male character, who is Uncle Charlie. This is shown in the scene where Young Charlie is trying to figure out the problem of the back stair case in which Uncle Charlie sets up a trick with the intentions of hurting Young Charlie because she knows that he is a psychopathic murderer.Shot with close up shots, this scene displays Young Charlie’s growth and courage she develops throughout the film. With minimal lighting, very dark shadows are casted, especially upon Uncle Charlie’s figure. Young Charlie strongly states to Uncle Charlie, “Go away, I’m warning you.

Go away or I’ll kill you myself. See… that’s the way I feel about you. ” So in the end, Young Charlie is the femme fatale of this film noir, killing the Merry Widow Murderer. In conclusion, Shadow of a Doubt is an outstanding example ofAlfred Hitchcock’s work as well as the writing of Thornton Wilder.

By placing secret motifs and symbols throughout the film, Hitchcock is able to portray the evil and darkness taking over the Newton residence in the innocent and wholesome town of Santa Rosa. This depiction shows how much thought and work was put into the production and the art of making this film. By employing innovative lighting techniques, divergent camera angles, the element of suspense, and other central components of film noir, Shadow of a Doubt easily became an early American film noir classic.

The film Elysium strategically constructs theories of social inequality through an abundance of ways. That is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. You can also argue that through the ideologies of social status, immigration and health care, Elysium in fact does closely relate to the context of our modern day society as well. Social conditions in the time and place of the movie “Elysium” vary from the wealthy who isolates themselves in a space station above planet earth from the poor in the Diseased City in Los Angeles on the diseased planet earth.

The wealthy live at a high status of life on that planet while everyone else in the city of los Angeles have very limited access to money and almost nobody can afford to get themselves to the City of Elysium where they have pretty much unlimited access to everything. The social conditions depicted in the movie are much different than the social condition in which we live in today. In todays society if an illegal immigrant comes to the US in critical condition, help is still appointed for them in our hospitals where as in the movie Elysium, the wealthy did not want to give access of complete rehabilitation to anyone who was not a legal citizen of Elysium.

Elysium had the power to rehabilitate anyone from any sickness where as the young girl is healed of her critical leukemia at the close of the movie. We can relate this to the same problems in which we encounter in our society today where illegal immigrants are being separated from their families in warehouses with caged in fences as they are treated like prisoners, even though that is not the image they want individuals to have in their heads. Children are being separated from their parents because just like in today’s modern day prisons, they cannot mix the adults with the adolescents. This is an enormous global issue as we try to figure out how to accompany all these people without having any widespread global issue.

The ideas of social mobility are immensely noticed throughout the entire film, as we see the homeless and diseases people of Earth try to achieve this upward social mobility to a better life on Elysium. The predominant driving factor in Elysium to achieve a higher social status is access to improve medical facilities. This is the main driving force in the entire movie as everyone on the diseased planet earth must try to seek help to get themselves in a better social status in means of recovery and not remain peasants in a place with literally no opportunity.

The only opportunities given to people on earth are extremely demanding factory jobs working for the higher-class individuals who are given access to the space station of Elysium and are in fact considered legal citizens. As Max is granted his society on Earth for much better living conditions for the future, in the end of the film he winds up sacrificing his own life in order for all individuals not granted legal citizenship on Elysium to be finally granted the legal citizenship they have been waiting for and they can finally fulfill there lives of being part of the higher social status they have been denied for decades.

There are multiple reasons that individuals or whole societies choose to immigrate, although leading to one ultimate goal, the search for a better life for themselves. Immigration involves the process of moving to another country and can be done either legally or illegally. The entire film individuals are seeking ways to try to become legal citizens of Elysium but because of the way social statuses are split up which is exactly the same scenarios we see going on here in the united states, the social statuses they try to become scribed to are near impossible until someone takes initiative to try and make things right which is exactly what Max does at the close of the film.

These wishes in which the lower status try to reach can be referred to as push factors. Push factors are those which make the person want or have to leave such as to get away from poverty, receive higher income or an attempt to help one’s family. This brings us to another point with pull factors, which, can relate to push factors in a number of ways. Pull factors are the opportunities, which draw people including increased education opportunities, better jobs and a promising future for their children.

Nobody wants to be a part of the society where there living in constant struggle and have to watch other individuals who don’t have to go through any struggles in order to reach a certain level of happiness in life. This brings us back to the main point of the entire film, which resolves around immigration and laws inhibiting people to immigrate to places in which they will be able to achieve happiness not only for themselves but for their families as well.

Immigration is seen as a major problem to most citizens in the United States. As seen in Elysium, societies, typically of higher class, may feel threatened by the arrival of immigrants into their culture. Opportunities may be tarnished such as employment, education and access to health services. Most of the United States feels as if they are being challenged and threatened in a sense by these new ways of diversity along with the feeling of multiculturalism. A huge part of our country revolves around multiculturalism and accepting all races and religions, which I agree with in every aspect. I myself have a friend group. Which is made up of many different races and cultures and if I were to be like the higher-class individuals of Elysium, I would just simply not be accepted socially in any way and would definitely looked down upon by mostly everyone I’m associated with.

Asylum seekers are continually arriving in the United States, searching for an improved holistic life. This is relatable to the ambitions of Max who attempts to force his way into the society that is Elysium. Throughout the film we see Max’s determination to achieve social mobility not only for himself, but also for all the lower class citizens living on Earth. Still in the modern day the contingency to live an extensive and healthy life remains thoroughly uneven.

Differences in socioeconomic status and an individual’s social class, among other things, will decide their access to health care services. This associates with severe issues such as increased risk of disease, disability and premature death, which is much of what the city of Los Angelo’s in the film is made up of. Maintaining a control over health care will enable and provide political and social power not only to what was going on in the film Elysium, but this also pertains to the United States as well.

In conclusion, this film set out to demonstrate most of the common problems in which we deal within society today. I wish everyone could have the opportunity to watch this movie and draw a conclusion on life to where everything and everyone should be treated equal. It’s a lot easier said than done but someone in the near future will have to be capable of granting everyone similar social statuses. The wealthy are always going to be isolated as these individuals make up an immensely small part of our population but these individuals must come to an agreement to share the wealth in order to help those individuals in duress and who are absolutely 100% in need of help in every way possible.

I myself have learned a whole lot from watching this movie and it has already changed my outlook on life. Many important messages were illustrated through the multiple themes of social status in this film and I almost feel as if everyone should come to a conclusion on the multiple points I’ve made in this paper. We as a society can make things better with just a positive outlook on life and being accepting of all individuals, not just the ones we grew up around and are accustomed too.

Adams is a movie about a man that is determined to be a doctor. Along the way, he comes across some issues when he won’t conform to the rest of the medical students.

He is actually a good example of an existentialist. He is his own person within a larger society, or the other students at the school. He follows what he believes in and his life turns out almost just the way he wanted it to. In the movie, there were some quotes: “Look beyond the problem. ” –Arthur Everyone else stares whatever their problem is right in the face and expect to figure out the solution. Arthur tries to say, look past the problem. Focus on the solution.

“See the world anew each day. ” –Arthur

In a way, this is a stoic quote. To not let anything previous to this day affect it. Everyday holds a new adventure and if you are worrying about the past, how are you ever going to enjoy it? “The mental hospital was the best thing that ever happened to me. ” –Patch

In the hospital, he found out he loved to help people.He wanted to listen to people and make them enjoy life. He really found his passion and without the mental hospital, he maybe never would have.

“Death is not the enemy…indifference is. ” –Patch

When people are dying, showing care is the most important thing. If they don’t know that people care, that makes death so much worse. Everyone is going to die someday. Everyone should just enjoy life. As relating to existentialism, Kirkegaard would have thought that Patch was a good example. He was a part of the group, yet he was his own person within that group.

They headed into a bay full of yacht because one of the survivors owns a key of his yacht in that bay. It wasn’t easy to get in there because you cannot almost cross the roads near the mall because all zombies are around the buses. They have lost a lot of people. They were able to get into the bay but only four made it. They sailed until they reached an island. They were attacked by another bunch of zombies and all of them died. Mr.. Bean won a prize in a raffle. It was a trip too beach in France with some pocket money and a video camera.

He started the trip on a train station and all his misfortunes have started. He lost his money, passport and his luggage. He caught himself with Stephan, Email’s son who is a movie critic in Cannes Film Festival, leaving the train unintentionally. A lot of misfortunes happened to Bean until he was helped by Sabine, an actress in a movie that will premiere in Cannes. They get into the event and Bean, together with Stephan, disguised to get inside the building. The movie seems to be boring so Bean used his video camera to replace the movie with his own video along his trip.

The audience were entertained but the director was poised so he, together with the guards, chased Bean but wasn’t able to get him. Bean unintentionally went in front of the stage and he was applauded together with the director, taking the advantage because they loved the director’s film. Bean went outside and was finally able to get to his destination, French Riviera.

Carter decided to have a bachelor’s party for Scott in Lass Vegas. They met their other friend in there together with the girls Carter paid for Scott.

They got drunk and he next day, one of their friends is lost together with Nikkei, one of the girls that they were with last night. They investigated and went to the places where they possibly are. They saw Kinder, Nick’s friend, and told them that her friend is missing. They didn’t know that they are dead already because of the secret organization for gambling by using human as their medium for betting by killing them. Coot’s friends were caught and Carter revealed he was a member of the secret organization.

Scott was strapped on a chair and Carter enters the “arena” in front of the other members f the organization and there Carter revealed that he wants Coot’s girlfriend. They fought and Scott escaped causing a panic all over the building. Carter was able to escape with a car, leaving Scott in the compound behind the locked gate and the building exploded. Carter went to Coot’s girlfriend and said he was sad for Coot’s death. She told Carter that Scott is not yet dead and then Scott appeared and killed Carter in the garage?

Nick decided to have a new house for his family specifically for his pregnant wife. They bought the house from Chuck and there Nick hired the guy to fix the house because they found molds in the house. Instead of getting it repaired, Chuck destroyed the house and Nick got angry and fired Chuck. He decided to fix the house on his own but it wasn’t easy for him. At the same time, his family was a bit angry to him because of the misery they had. Nick apologized to Chuck and hired him again. This time, Chuck really fixed the house. He helped Nicks wife when she was laboring.

After six months, Nick launches his magazine in front of his beautiful house and they ad a party afterwards. UNIVERSAL SOLDIER Devoured and Coot’s corpses were used for the “Universal Soldier” program to develop a perfect soldier for combat. They were first tested in a hostage taking in a nearby dam. Veronica, a former reporter, wants to know about the program’s secret to get her Job back. She was able to get inside the compound where the soldiers are and discovered that they were some sort of a robot. She was caught by Scott but he was helped by Devoured to escape. Scott chased the two to kill them accompanied by his fellow Unison’s.

Coot’s group was killed but he’s still determined to kill them. They had a car chase. Coot’s truck fell into the cliff. Devoured get his memory back and returned home with Veronica. Scott gets into the house and fought Devoured. He can’t do anything because Scott was overpowering him but was able to fight back because he used the muscle enhancer that he stole from Scott. He killed Scott and was able to save his parents and Veronica.

References

1. Principles Of Literary Criticism (Five Movie Plots and Synopsis) Submitted by: Michael Gee C. Stroller ABE Submitted to: Mr.. Jose V. Cultural