Film/Text/Culture Autoblog -Summer 07

Melodrama, Pornography, and Horror. When we first began examining these three genres as a group I thought it a bit strange. What do these three types of films really have in common anyway?? I can’t really speak for the latter two, but as far as melodrama goes, I suppose you could call me an expert. Any film that evokes gut wrenching tears is probably in my film library at home. From “Brian’s Song,” to “Love Story;” “Terms of Endearment,” to “Life is Beautiful;” I’ve got them all. What does this say about me?? Maybe I need therapy…after all people shouldn’t seek out things that make them sad…should they? Stephanie D.C. Carmichael from Youngpeoplespress.net says that one reason we cry in film is because “All women want to be the Scarlet O’Hara to their Rhett Butler, and until this dream is […]

Original post by ellie

The 1994 version of Little Women, directed by Gillian Armstrong, was my favorite of the three movies seen in class. I like this Jo the best, actually I liked all of the characters of this version better. And to be fair, I think it was because of the style of filming. The characters of this version were suttle in their emotions, but still got the point across. We were able to see closeups of their faces, long shots, and converstions between people. The 1933 version, filmed with a large camera that had limited movement, made the movie feel like a play, which might explain Katharine Hepburn’s over the top acting. I like how in the 1994 version we are able to be right there with the characters, from any angle. It makes their actions and emotions more believable when they are not overacting […]

Original post by khusband

I’m watching the MLB Allstar game and blogging about film…pretty cool…
First off, I have to say what a breath of fresh air the ‘94 version of Little Women was. I have seen it before, but it’s been years. I don’t remember liking as much as I do now. Then again, I’ve had Little Women on the brain for so long nothing seems quite the same as it used to. Anyway, I really enjoyed that movie today. As for Winona Ryder’s portrayal of Jo, I thought she did an acceptable job. As for some people hating her, I must say she did not have that affect on me. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like her. I noticed while reading about this film that Ryder was nominated as Best Actress for and Oscar. Interesting. As for the rest of […]

Original post by kcannon

I thought the first topic I would cover in my blog would be about my presentation from yesterday, as well as the 2.1 presentation.
I’ve been thinking about the “weepie” film that is mentioned in the Williams essay. Today when the question was posed about what movies are “weepie” that we have seen, I really couldn’t think of any. Yes, I’ve seen movies that I’ve shed tears, however I don’t think any movies have truly given me a good cry.
And, hold the phone. A “good cry” – alright, I don’t think I’ve ever really realized what exactly that is saying. I think we’ve all heard it before, in fact, many of us have said it – a good cry. It’s exactly what we were talking about in class today, it implies that the crying is a good thing, in some […]

Original post by malbrooks

What’s the deal with this woman?

Meet Ripliee. She’s an android designed to resemble a human. (For some reason the Japanese are obsessed with building realistic android women…) She’s the result of decades of work, yet it was probably immediately apparent to you that there was something unsettling about her.
How were you able to do that? Because she ran afoul of your amygdala-induced Uncanny Valley.
The Uncanny Valley is a hypothesis concerning the way humans respond to non-human objects. Wikipedia describes the relationship as such:
…as a robot is made more humanlike in its appearance and motion, the emotional response from a human being to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong repulsion.

So once an object crosses a certain threshold, humans involuntarily begin to judge it according to a much stricter set of criteria. At this point, […]

Original post by crain2mn

Three movies based on the same book, and the 1933 version and the 1949 version seem to be the same movie only one is in color while one black and white. I mean, it makes sense that the plot to the movie is the same considering they’re adaptations of the book Little Women.  Naturally, the 1994 version is more entertaining to view (not because of the actors necessarily), because the camera moves more.  Watching a movie where the camera is pretty much stationary can be rather dull, and it makes it easier to zone out.
Some people feel that Winona Ryder as “Jo” was a mistake.  That she is “too hollywood.”  I disagree.  Katharine Hepburn and June Allyson made “Jo” into an obnoxious character, who constantly interrupted others and dominating every conversation “Jo” was in.  I have always been fond of the character “Jo” in the book; she was the character […]

Original post by Amanda

Long story short, I had to stay in a hotel last night with my two year old nephew. As we were sharing a room we had to go to bed early and I couldn’t exactly fall asleep at 8pm. As I was trying to sleep I found myself pondering over our lively and interesting class discussions yesterday (I had a great time, thanks to all who assisted Sarah and I by joining the discussions). Here are a few of my musings:
I feel really torn when we start discussing gender roles and the negatives (or positives) that go along with those roles. As I’ve said more than once, I don’t claim to be a feminist and I truly feel that I have every opportunity open to me. With that being said, I’m not blind to the fact that there is a way in which men and […]

Original post by kcannon

When we were discussing the difficulty of portraying the inner thoughts of a character on film, without using the crutch of a voice over I began to think of what artistically do film-makers do to solve this problem. Early Cinema is full of this problem and gradually film-makers have developed “answers” to this problem. For me the most effective way of portraying feeling and emotion across film without using a voice over goes beyond what can be seen or acted, it lies in the music. Over time film-makers and composers have gotten better and better at creating music that not only allows us to identify with a character, but allow us to sense how they are feeling in each moment. The earliest film that I can truly see this working in the way that it does in most good movies today is in Sergio Leone’s Once […]

Original post by onda