Melody Kia UCSB 2010 Goin Down the Road and Double Happiness Imagine yourself as not belonging in your own home, never feeling that you belong. The films’ “Canadian-ness” lies in the way the characters and cultural types are expressed in the cinematic features such as the narrative, characterization, setting, dialogue, mise-en-scene and the lighting of both films. Both of these films present main characters searching to find the Canadian dream of success, but are faced with the limitations of their own backgrounds that expose the films’ Canadian styling’s. The main characters in Goin Down the Road (dir. Shebib, 1970) and Double Happiness (dir. Shum, 1994) are all foreigners in their own country and the Canadian narrative brings this out. …show more content…
As Christine Ramsay points out in Canadian Narrative Cinema from the Margins: ‘The Nation’ and Masculinity in Goin Down the Road, many critiques saw the film as portraying “Canadian men … always imagined as victims and losers.” This in and of itself would seem to fit the Canadian thematic representation of men, such as Max Renn (James Woods) in Videodrome (dir. David Cronenberg, 1983) who actually was successful at the beginning of the film, but ruined his life and fell to the bottom of society through his sexual perversions and killed himself. But, in Goin Down the Road, the characters are moderately successful in their Maritimer hometown and seek further success in Toronto, the big city. Their problem is rooted in their lack of education and despite their drive to succeed they fail
Essentially covering the same timeline the chapters differ by covering different thematic content. Chapter Two largely deals with the rationing and price control Canadians faced during this period. The key aspect of the culture surrounding these policies Mosby discusses is the remarkable popularity of these measures and the implications of that popularity on Canadian culture and politics. The argument is made that the measures lead to an enjoyed level of equality and unity amongst Canadians from disparate backgrounds. This idea of national unity is also supported by the central topics of Chapter Three in which Mosby tackles the concept of the “housoldier.”
“Iron Road” has successfully shown why Chinese workers came to Canada in the 1880s as well as the challenges they confronted. Most of the film’s storyline occurs in China, where it uses the point of view of a Chinese peasant called Little Tiger, to display the daily struggles of the Chinese. The setting is full of war and destruction, thus destroying many farms resulting in famine and poverty. This has resulted in peasants having insufficient funds to support themselves and making them live in unsanitary living spaces. As a result, this gave the workers more reason to move to Canada as there was also better income and resources there. However, once they arrived in Canada, they discover that the conditions there weren’t as good as they thought. Although they had a better income than they did in China, there was a lot of discrimination, dangerous working conditions and horrible living spaces. There was worse pay for the Chinese workers and they had to do the most life-threatening jobs like working with explosives as well as working on the side of a cliff with no harnesses. Throughout the film, “Iron Road” has used the setting, characters and point of view of a Chinese peasant to show that there were horrible conditions and chaos in China, as well as the racism, dangerous working conditions and poor living space the peasants faced in Canada.
During the end of the 3rd Century, the Playwright Plautus wrote many of the first Roman comedies. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical comedy film adaptation of Plautus's comedies.Set in ancient Rome, many aspects of Roman theatre, including stock characters, were included in the film’s production. While the film is based off of multiple comedies, Plautus's Pseudolus character Calidorus is nearly identical to the film’s Hero. During the time Pseudolus was written, the Crisis of the Third Century led to up to 25% of Roman population being comprised of slaves(Southern). Of the many stock characters Platus included in his comedies, Calidorus/Hero, the son of Pseudolus’s owner and the stock character adulescens, best
America in the 1960’s was a time of turbulence and chaos. A nation divided in the midst of the counterculture movement that was sparked by a generational split and fueled by the Vietnam War, America was struggling for change. The New Hollywood took these issues into account and translated them onscreen. Films of the New Hollywood centered around the protagonist, often depicting them as an anti-hero, who suffered from alienation and conflict within society. In the film ‘Easy Rider’ these themes are exemplified through its reinvention of the Western genre. Dennis Hopper uses this film as a way to convey ideas of the Western by placing into a modern setting that embodies the feeling of 1960’s America.
Dealing with the theme of assimilation, Hester Street, set in 1896 was a depiction of the immigrant Jewish community living in the Lower East Side of New York City. Throughout the film, we see the challenges the Jewish immigrant characters endure when their “Old World” traditions, practices, and ideas were juxtaposed with the “New World,” American values. Thus, Hester Street highly endorses the characters’ acceptance with assimilating to American values. Furthermore, the film also showcases the resistance and complications to assimilation as some characters try to maintain their culture.
1880s.The movie revolves around the perspective of Little Tiger, and the struggles she encounters. It consists of engaging illustrations that effectively explain the push and pull factors compelling the Chinese to leave China as well as demonstrated the many struggles endured in Canada. The film displayed many different perspectives of the Chinese, through the filthy setting, and each of their individual financial struggles and conflicts. This also explains the sudden compulsion to move to Canada, as the income was better, the environment was cleaner and they would be properly fed and tended to. China was not the best place to live in during the 1880s. Due to
The movie “Gone with the Wind” is about a rich southern girl named Scarlett O’Hara and her life hardships set during the time-period of the Civil War. In the story, Scarlett is forced to watch helplessly as her family’s wealth and lives fade as the confederacy loses the Civil War. Even though, the movie is mainly centered on the dilemmas of Scarlett’s love life, there are many historical accuracies that immerse the viewer in the southern mindset as well as the timeframe. The portrayal of class structures and the confederate attitudes before the Civil War are both accurate and engaging details that the movie successfully implements. In the film, these examples are displayed mainly through the dialogue and setting.
Glory Road is a film based on a true story starring the 1966 Texas Western Miners basketball team coached by hall of famer Don Haskins. The story of Glory Road is not an average sports movie, but the link between the sport of basketball back in the 60s as well as the history of racism. Don Haskins was a high school girls’ basketball coach who got the opportunity to coach the typically all white-men’s basketball team at Texas Western University. At this time football was king at the school and thriving, while the basketball program scraped by with limited recruiting funds. The spectacle of this team changed when coach Haskins recruited seven African American athletes and at this time, this act was unheard of, and it took the country by the storm representing the evolution in society of racial discrimination in the movie.
Canada like Laurence, was forced to face the hardships involved with growing up. However, the black marks in history does not define Canada , it is how Canada learns from their mistakes and moves forward. Laurence explains through her microcosm of a prairie town that along with growth comes the formation of perspective that will forever affect one's future decisions .
In this essay, I will offer up my analysis on the film Mulholland Drive directed by David Lynch. The best way to describe this film would be that it is an enigma. I had no idea what to make of this film on my first viewing. After watching the film a few more times I believe I cracked the code. Lynch is known for not speaking about the meaning of his films.
The pivotal scene that will be thoroughly represented and analyzed is from the movie 8 Mile, directed by Curtis Hanson, and released in 2002. 8 Mile is a semiautobiographical film based on the life story of the iconic rapper Marshal Mathers, or better known by his stage name Eminem, and how he began his journey into the hip-hop industry. In this film, Eminem plays himself, as the main character named Jimmy Smith Jr.; however, throughout the course of the movie, he is referred to as Rabbit more than anything else. Rabbit lives in a very rough part of Detroit known as 8 Mile, in a mobile home with his single alcoholic of a mother. Their financial situation is dire and Rabbit decides he needs to find a different occupation. Rabbit works at a factory to barely make ends meet; however, the amount he makes is abysmal compared to what he needs. Rabbit has a passion for music, specifically rap. However, this is a challenge because at the time the rap genre was predominantly occupied by African-Americans. Despite this, Rabbit continues on in his pursuit of making a name for himself in the rap industry. He enters rap battle competitions in hopes of getting noticed. He runs into a group of local amateur rappers known as “Leadaz of tha Free World”. The leader of this group is named Papa Doc and he is portrayed to be Rabbits greatest adversary. Rabbit and Papa Doc both make it to the final round of the rap battle competition and that’s when the pivotal scene
Film analyses: using structure/form and theme analyses of the film. Collecting Kurdish films specific to the ones that relate to my topic. Yol, “The Road” by Guney would be used for this purpose as this film would make a significant statement related to my topic; also the title of Yol is a appropriate to the film Yol The road, the mining behind this is very powerful because the road closes but can never come to an end, Heidegger 1958 philosophy is a quote that can be used in relation to the film title. Another film I would be using is A time for drunken Horses by Ghobadi.
In Howard Hawks’ film from 1948, Red River, was a story of a journey to the South West to create a great new life in hope to start a successful business in the cattle market. The drive to go West was based off of rumors that promised opportunity, land to be settled in. This was the case for many frontier men, but is considered rather naive to sacrifice your future based on word of mouth. Later the group gets hit head on with the difficulties and hardships of going to a land where you know nothing about. First off, the land that the leader of the group, Dunson, claims is his land is actually owned by the Mexican’s that was patented by the king of Spain. Dunson anticipates a draws and kills the Mexican guard. This action is presented necessary
The western movie I pick is John Ford’s movie Stagecoach (1939). The movie is about a group of people traveling together by stagecoach from the town Tonto to Lordsburg. The people traveling together are a diverse group of people. All of them have the specific motivation for going, but they all share the same goal reaching to Lordsburg. The characters are Dallas who’s a prostitute, Mrs. Lucy Mallory who is the wife of the Army Cavalry officer, Ellsworth Henry Gatewood who is a banker, Hatfield who is a gambler, Samuel Peacock who is whiskey salesman, Doc Josiah Boone who is a alcoholic doctor, Buck Rickabaugh who is a stage driver, Marshal Curley Wilcox who is a marshal riding shotgun, and Ringo Kid who is an escaped outlaw.
There was no real Canadian connection with this novel, except the author being Canadian. I could say that it was a basic theme of multiculturalism, but I don 't think that really applies to this book. Next time I 'll pick a more "Canadian" author.