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Realism in the Movie, Training Day Essay

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"Realism in, art and literature, [is] an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life" (Realism 1). During the 1840's through the 1890's realism was present in much of the literature from the United Sates and Europe. It has been said that realism is easily visible in many pieces of modern literature and even in present day films. In 2001, the movie Training Day was released into theaters. Many critics agreed that the movie was very realistic. In fact, the main actor Denzel Washington was presented with an academy award for his performance in Training Day. Training Day can be considered realistic, but many aspects of the film show little realism.

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An interesting quote from Mr. Cranky?s movie rating reads, ?I?ve said to several gang bangers, ?Hey, I heard you talking and thought you were Ethan Hawke,? and they?ve responded, ?Yeah, man, I get that a lot (Mr. Cranky 1).?? Not everyone thought the acting was horrible, because Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for his performance. Without the movie it would be very difficult to imagine someone like Ethan Hawke in an environment like the setting of Training Day. This alone was enough to spoil the realism in the movie.

Others argue that the end of the movie is what drags it from being realistic to fictional. Chitra Mahesh from The Hindu newspaper writes, ?Which is why it is unfortunate that such a gritty film with so much realism, would descend to such a pallid climax (Mahesh 2).? The same writer also says, ?Graphic visuals, a violent theme, and ambiguous morals make Warner Bros Inc ?Training Day,? out of the routine. It had the opportunity to be a great film, but the last 20 minutes drag it down to average depths (Mahesh 1).? The author of this article not only believes that the end of the movie made it unrealistic but ruined the plot of the whole movie as well.

Many will agree that Training Day focuses on the negative aspects of life and that is what makes it unrealistic. Sex, drugs, alcohol, violence, state corruption and rape are certainly present in

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