What's Your Family Tradition?

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, the article “Fun for the Whole Family” (http://www.avclub.com/articles/fun-for-the-whole-family,65326/) seemed very appropriate. The A.V. Club Staff asked other staff and readers of AVQ&A what they and their families do on Thanksgiving. “We can’t all watch football all day,” the article states. So what in the world are we all supposed to do I’d like to know? People with every type of family, big and small, simply wrote what they do with their families after the meal is eaten and dishes are put away. Some responses surprised me, some of them sounded creative enough that I’d like to join in on the tradition. Someone explained their family loved simply playing cards and board games, which I can relate to most. Another man, Marcus Gilmer, raved about his family’s football watching traditions, which I can also definitely relate to! Sam Adams simply wrote, “The Aquarium is awesome” and describes his newfound love for going to the aquarium with his daughter. That might seem a little silly, but I think it is a great, creative way to spend the holiday, especially if you have young kids.

 

Others continue to explain their traditions including playing Apples to Apples and watching Pixar movies. One man points out that the new Muppets film is coming out this Thanksgiving and is thinking about taking his kids to go see it. “Fun for the Whole Family” is a clever article giving people the chance to express themselves and give other people just like them the opportunity to become a little more creative with family get-togethers.

 photo: http://www.gordtep.com/files/2009/11/board_games.jpg

Brief Screening Report

After being bombarded by trashy, poorly made anti-olive signs, the main character of the film Easy A, Olive, played by Emma Stone, is betrayed by her best friend and begins feeling the pressure of her lies. After bumping into her long time crush, Todd, and telling him she’s feeling just awesome, Olive slowly walks away, crushed.  Scene 21 on the DVD follows Olive as she, after telling lie after lie about sleeping around, looks into what seems to be her last resort. Trying to find comfort, she heads to the library to ask for the Bible. To her surprise, the Book is not in the religion section, but on the bestsellers shelf. Figuring it’s impossible to read the entire thing, she seeks out someone to simply listen to her. We see Olive briskly walking through the pews of a church and plopping herself down in a confession booth. She seems relieved and reluctant to begin talking, but after a moment of trying to figure out the “right” catholic words to use, begins pouring her heart out. 

As Olive continues to spill every gory detail, she makes a comment that caught my attention. She says, “I’m not actually doing things people have been saying I’ve been doing. But I’m not denying the accusations. Is that wrong?” She continues, “It was all make believe, No one was getting hurt, but a lot of people hate me now, and I kind of hate me too.” While saying this, the light around Olive changes, almost giving her a certain glow. The shadow of the confessional wall creates a beautiful pattern across her face giving her a calm, ethereal appearance.  Almost in tears, I think Olive steps back for a moment and realizes what she has done to herself by lying. It is almost is a pivotal moment for her because part of her knows she must change. 

photo: http://www.areyouscreening.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/easy-a-2-682x1024.jpg

Roles Women Play

I thought I was a “chick flick” pro before reading Mindy Kaling’s article Flick Chicks (http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2011/10/03/111003sh_shouts_kaling?currentPage=1) I love watching adventure and action movies just as much as the next person, but chick flicks will always have a special place in my heart. Without a doubt, they are the highlight of girls nights and almost vital after a long, terrible day.  Romantic comedies grab the heart and soul of a woman and usually, but not always, leave her believing she too can have her prince charming and be the woman she dreams of being.

Sounds like a good happily ever after, right? The perfect woman finds a perfect man, there are a few bumps in the road, together they find a way to fix it, and they live in perfection with one another for the rest of their lives. I admit to being a hopeless romantic, but that’s just sick. In her article, Kaling breaks down what makes up the typical onscreen woman. Every woman from The Ethereal Weirdo to The Woman who works in an Art Gallery has their own sparkling personality and flaws we have all seen before. I can even relate to the Sassy Best Friend and the Klutz, which allowed me to connect to the article much more.

 I’ve never noticed before, but movie try too hard to display to types of women we want to see onscreen. They are good at it, yes, but I’ve never taken the time to analyze each character.  I never considered how the outside world really looks at women and the roles they play.  This article definitely gave me a new perspective on chick flicks and romantic comedies.

photo: http://www.newyorker.com/images/2011/10/03/p233/111003_r21359_p233.jpg

Journal 2: Reading a Film

The video “Looking at Movies: Film Analysis” http://wwnorton.com/common/flvplayer/?flvid=/college/movies3/film_analysis_lam3.m4v&flvimg=/college/movies3/film_analysis_lam3.jpg&flvw=600&flvh=400&flvauto=false&flvskin=dark, explores how people break down and understand a movie. It compares form analysis and cultural analysis and looks at content versus form. There is so much more to watching a movie than simply looking at a screen and understanding the story line.

(“Looking at Movies: Film Analysis”)

One aspect that I found interesting was the difference between form analysis and cultural analysis. Form analysis basically focuses on what the movie looks like. It reveals everything from camera angle to what the background of the scene looks like, including length of a screen shot, the intensity of sounds, and the lighting of the picture. If done well, the form of the film should be able to pull the viewer into the movie and make it feel like they are there. On the other hand, cultural analysis focuses on the underlying story of the movie itself instead of what it looks like. As “Looking at Movies” points out, films can display our culture’s views on family, women, men, and social order, down to the controversial issue of abortion and how the world looks at pregnancy and child birth. It breaks apart everything from how the characters talk to how they dress and present themselves according to the world’s culture.

Watching this film analysis was extremely eye opening. I’ve never watched a movie and thought of the content and form of it before.  After watching this I feel like I am able to analyze pieces and scenes of a movie and be able to pick out emotions the viewer is meant to feel and what causes them. I don’t know if the film analysis left anything out because it already taught me so much. It is also a good tool to look back on while doing an actual film analysis in the future.