'Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans' and 'The Notebook'

It is impossible for the individual who values freedom to be exultant in a society that is underpinned by rigid conformity. In the Novel “Nineteen Eighty Four” by George Orwell, a totalitarian future society is portrayed, through a man whose daily work is rewriting history and tries to rebel by falling in love. Whereas The film “Pleasantville” directed by Gary Ross, Two teenagers find themselves in a 1950’s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change the complacent world the portrayal how a dystopian and a utopian society, contest the value of time. The ironic comparisons are seen through

This essay is based on films of the same story, told in different ways, with emphasis, themes, meaning and interpretation shaped or shaded by the situation of the storyteller; the cinematic mise-en-scene. Based on the same story, the films reveal and reflect the film-maker’s social norms and views, emerging from their different national contexts. While exploring the two films, this essay will examine elements of film language or semiotics: color saturation (or black and white), sound, setting, type of camera angles used; repetition of visual motifs (Metz, 1985). The two films explored were made in the 1960s. Neither film is American, yet both reveal influences and reflections on American cinema and American power; the Western film, adherence or detracting from Hollywood Classical cinema tropes, i.e. close-ups, shot-reverse-shot, POV, depth of field (Bazin, 1985: 128-9). The two films are Kurasawa’s Yojimbo (1961) and Leone’s Fistful of Dollars (1964), from Japan and Italy, respectively. How are they different; how similar? Why do they use the same plot,

“The Notebook” directed by Nick Cassavetes in 2004 tells the story of a couple’s fifty year long love affair and its trials and tribulations. The film begins in a nursing home where an old man (Noah) reads a book to an old lady (Allie) suffering from Alzheimer’s. Noah, a poor country boy, and Allie, a rich city girl, meet

Advanced Higher English Assessment: Outcome 1 An Analysis on the use of Setting and Characterisation in ‘Fight Club’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’ to Develop Character and Explore the Themes of Violence and Power. In ‘Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk and ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess both effectively develop character through the use of setting and characterisation. In ‘Fight Club’, the novel starts with an unknown narrator who is describing his home in great detail.

In “A Century of Cinema”, Susan Sontag explains how cinema was cherished by those who enjoyed what cinema offered. Cinema was unlike anything else, it was entertainment that had the audience feeling apart of the film. However, as the years went by, the special feeling regarding cinema went away as those who admired cinema wanted to help expand the experience.

The movie The Notebook, directed by Nick Cassavetes and released on June 5th 2004, is a captivating love story, which takes place in the 1940’s. Through filmatic elements such as Cassavetes choices of cinematography, editing, narrative, mise en scene, sound and music, he creates an extremely believable story of two teenagers in the 1940’s who fell in love over the time span of one summer.

One of my personal all-time-favorite movies, The Proposal¸ directed by Anne Fletcher, is a drama/romance that illustrates “two people who weren’t meant to fall in love” (Lieberman, 2009). The following movie trailer assists in outlining the storyline of the movie and how a series of unforeseen events can change animosity into romantic love.

“The purpose of this paper is to write about the similarities and difference of two movies: The Choice and The Notebook. Nicholas Sparks really knows how to set a romantic/emotional, but also creates a very predictable love story plot-line. You could predict the ending before the movie started with only knowing who the movie was based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. There is always a boy who falls for a girl and has to work extremely hard to get her. Then, something happens, but in the end they are always together. The Notebook and The Choice both show how life is about choices, you have to fight for what you love, and the good guy wins; but, in The Choice the ending will leave you wanting to know more about these characters and their story and that is why The

The film "The Notebook" is a 2004 romantic drama set along the coast line of South Carolina in 1946, directed by Nick Cassavetes. This film is an American love story between two young adults, Ally and Noah, which had fallen for each other over a short summer break and was torn apart due to financial differences that were looked down upon by Ally's parents.

Although they are rather wildly different films in regards to their characters and plot, there is a similar yearning for purpose and search for life’s meaning at the heart of both Harold and Maude (1971) and Before Sunrise (1995). As romantic films, both feature a deep character study of its two leads – Harold and Maude in the former, and Jesse and Celine in the latter – and it is through the exploration of both films’ characters as well as the development of their relationship with one another that this pursuit of a greater understanding of life emerges. The atypical styles of both films also influence the way in which certain themes are portrayed as well as the way in which its messages are presented. Harold and Maude is particularly subversive in its plot and individual characters, featuring a strangely endearing romance between a young depressed man and an 80-year-old enlightened woman. Before Sunrise, on the other hand, is not as strikingly odd in its plot or its leads, but rather in its way of portraying romance in film, as through their long and winding conversations, Jesse and Celine fall in love while spending only a brief time in the company of one another but also knowing each other’s most intimate thoughts and feelings.

When the era of silent films was almost finished, Charlie Chaplin completed his last silent movie, called “Modern Times”. The title of the movie itself gives a hint about the changes that human kind would be facing in the future. While watching the movie, the audience is inundated with the ideas of dehumanization of humans in the factories, the ‘Fordism’ ideology, the struggle to earn bread, and many more. Instead of conveying this powerful social message in harsh and serious tone, Charlie Chaplin has blended right amount of humor to the social drama. Just because of its satirical humor, “Modern Times” is still relevant after almost 70 years since its release and is applauded as the most accomplished work of Charlie Chaplin. “Modern Times”, an entertainment masterpiece, is a political and social commentary about the thriving American industry at the expense of its workers and the social gap between the rich and the poor.

Postmodernism is a concept that has monopolized contemporary theory since the 1960s. It has been widely applied to film theory to review and analyse perspective. Postmodernism is most commonly thought of as a ‘departure from modernism’. It relies heavily on the increased speed of communication and the sharing of ideas; its codes are made up by self-conscious uses of pre-existing artistic styles and media conventions. It also depends on modern society being defined by media culture. In this essay, I will be examining Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999) and how it can be categorised as postmodern. I will be defining what a postmodern film is and review the term using historical examples referenced in the text.

The relationship between film and the American culture is one, which is highly complicated and dynamic. Movie director in Hollywood are constantly influenced by world events to create movies, which entertain, and at times shed light on certain events. Film is also an integral part of our culture because it provides a medium, which can reflect our public’s concerns, attitudes, and beliefs. This report will briefly discuss the interplay between film and the American culture, which is represented in said film.

Some of the most common themes in contemporary biographical films revolve around social life as well as the accompanying problems that living in today's society entails. By making connections to individual personal lives, these films help most people make sense of the world in which they live. In this regard, this paper focuses on the film, The Pursuit of Happyness outlining various cultural issues as well as problems faced by the starring; Will Smith playing Chris Gardner in the movie. Moreover, the paper discusses how such factual films reflect and create popular ideas about social problems.

The essay begins and ends by discussing Ingmar Bergman specifically, which while interesting and at times relevant, is for the most part superfluous in directly dealing with the topic at hand. The mid section of the essay I believe however is acutely pertinent. Elsaesser moves from his original specific focus on Bergman and extends it to European and thus art cinema. He raises the issue of the perceived notion of American (classical) cinema versus European (deviant) cinema. In addressing this issue Elsaesser breaks down the commonalities within each respective cinema. It is in this breakdown that I found this essay not only helpful but also intriguing in it’s novel approach to the topic. He provides the crudest definition of the supposed opposing cinemas as “Quick Hollywood and Slow Europe”. In his expansion of the “slow” nature of European cinema he shows his attentiveness to the components of art cinema. Citing slow delivery of dialogue, less cuts and deep staging as trademarks of art cinema as a whole. He then goes even further than these technical aspects and delves into the shared “self conscious” plot structures, as well as the distinct lack of strong causality in these films. He suggests that art cinema merely sets a different task to viewers than classical, be it discovering a character’s true motivation, piecing together a “scattered timeline” or a having to separate the “real” from the “imagined”. It’s worth noting that “Wild Strawberries” is a film that presents the audience with every one of these tasks. I believe that this essay would not be only useful in answering against the proposed topic but also provides a fresh view on the elements which art cinema is composed