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Analyzes significance of 1932 film's sets, camera & characters' movements, lighting.

In Edmund Goulding's Grand Hotel (1932) the main set, the hotel's lobby, has a circular reception desk at its center. Around the desk Cedric Gibbons ... more

In Edmund Goulding's Grand Hotel (1932) the main set, the hotel's lobby, has a circular reception desk at its center. Around the desk Cedric Gibbons designed a bold pattern of alternating black and white squares that resolve into increasingly extended diamonds as the pattern turns into a vortex with the desk as its center. Circular movement around the hub of the desk is the guiding structural principle of the film. This principle literalizes the desk's allegorical standing as the center around which the characters' lives revolve. The film's metaphor of the gigantic urban hotel as a microcosm of life relies on this central point of reference. The Grand Hotel itself is an enclosed world--the scenes are seldom enacted outside it and are always attached its exterior. The building, especially in dramatic process shots of its internal balconies,

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Analyzes 1932 film & 1937 novel & their racist comparison of Africans & animals, superiority of whites, race relations.

This study will discuss how ideas of race get worked out in an analogy between Africans and animals (primates or other animals) in the 1932 film Tarza... more

This study will discuss how ideas of race get worked out in an analogy between Africans and animals (primates or other animals) in the 1932 film Tarzan, the Ape Man (directed by W.S. Van Dyke and based on the characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs) and Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (first published in 1937). The study will consider the ways the two works show how the relations of whites (colonizers) to Africans are similar to he relations of whites to animals. The argument will be that both works are similar in their views on the superiority of the "civilized" whites and the inferiority of both Africans and animals. Whites in both works, in general, see Africans as beings somewhere between animals and whites. Africans are shown to be slaves, servants, and beasts of burden. They are seen as violent, exotic, often emotionless, immature, stupid beings whose purpose

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Life, career, major works of Scottish documentary filmmaker.

John Grierson (1898-1972) made very few films but was one of the most influential figures in the history of documentary filmmaking. As the leader of ... more

John Grierson (1898-1972) made very few films but was one of the most influential figures in the history of documentary filmmaking. As the leader of governmental film units in Britain and the founder of the National Film Board of Canada Grierson's belief in the potential social impact of documentary films set the course for documentary themes in English-language films. His other major innovations were the decision to rely on institutional backing, governmental or private sector, rather than depend on box-office returns and to employ "nontheatrical distribution and exhibition" (Ellis 398). Although Grierson himself abandoned directing early on, his Drifters (1929), the remarkable beginning of the documentary movement in England, remains a vital and interesting piece of work even today and, while showing how well Grierson fulfilled his mission, raises

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Examines the topsy-turvy, ever changing career of pop star Madonna. Focuses on the 1991 film documentary TRUTH OR DARE & various critical responses to it.

Madonna is a pop icon who is known to reinvent herself from time to time, changing her style, changing her look, and changing her image. Image is in ... more

Madonna is a pop icon who is known to reinvent herself from time to time, changing her style, changing her look, and changing her image. Image is in fact very important to Madonna. She started as the Material Girl, mirroring the attitude in her popular song. She reinvented herself as a nastier version of that girl, one who wore underwear on stage and projected sexuality. She also tried to be the dutiful wife and an actress at the same time when she was married to Sean Penn. She became even more overtly sexual after that and alternated between a raunchy stage performance and an attempt to portray a more sophisticated woman in film. In fact, one of the problems Madonna has is that she cannot settle on one image and keep it. This may please many of her fans, but it confuses others and has probably hurt her film career. She is not a bad actress but is also

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Compares Akira Kurosawa's 1957 film to Shakekspeare's MACBETH in terms of use of source material, adaptation elements, plot, character, theme.

INTRODUCTION Akira Kurosawa's film Throne of Blood (1957) is a free "adaptation" of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The film has been much honored an... more

INTRODUCTION Akira Kurosawa's film Throne of Blood (1957) is a free "adaptation" of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The film has been much honored and highly regarded, but at the same time the critical reception accorded the film has raised certain questions about the meaning of adaptation, about the degree to which this film can be called an adaptation, about how successful it can be deemed as an adaptation, and about the degree to which one should be expected in making an adaptation to adhere to the text. There are clear differences between a stage play and a film, and the techniques of the playwright and the techniques of the filmmaker are quite different even when they intend to convey the same plot, the same themes, and even the same general atmosphere and tone. Even some of those critics who have praised the film for

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A biography and discussion of the man generally considered the world’s greatest contemporary composer of musical theatre, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Discusses his shows. The paper also includes a brief section of a personal response to Webber.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber Within musical theatre five of the most successful shows of alltime are Jesus Christ Superstar Cats Evita The ... more

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber Within musical theatre five of the most successful shows of alltime are Jesus Christ Superstar Cats Evita The Phantom of the Opera andSunset Boulevard What is even more remarkable than the enormous successand quality of these theatre musicals is that all were composed by oneindividual Andrew Lloyd Webber Without peer as a composer incontemporary musical theatre on both sides of the Atlantic Webber wasknighted in and has been the recipient of seven Tonys three Grammys six

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Francis Ford Coppola's worldview centers around quiet, powerful, violent men making important decisons in dark rooms while the unimportant real wolrd goes on outside, oblivious. Analyzes the films "The Godfather" and "The Godfather II," centering on the activities of the Corleone family.

This paper examines the worldview of director Francis Ford Coppola asit is expressed in two of his most masterful films The Godfather and The Godfathe... more

This paper examines the worldview of director Francis Ford Coppola asit is expressed in two of his most masterful films The Godfather and The Godfather Part Two Although the original source materialis the novel by Mario Puzo and Puzo co-wrote both scripts with Coppola the consistent vision and themes presented in these two films of the waythe world works and the importance of family is very much that of thefilmmaker himself Throughout Coppola portrays a world in which loyalty honor and power

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Analysis of director Douglas Sirk's 1956 social melodrama WRITTEN ON THE WIND. How the film reflects the ideology of its period. Issues of sexuality, gender, materialism. Male/female roles. Relationship between main characters. Plotline. Themes.

Director Douglas Sirk's social melodrama Written on the Windreflects the ideology of its period but the film may also be seen as acriticism of America... more

Director Douglas Sirk's social melodrama Written on the Windreflects the ideology of its period but the film may also be seen as acriticism of American dream of materialism Film critic Roger Ebert calledSirk a sly subverter of American postwar materialism whose slysubversion skewed American popular culture and helped launch a new age ofirony Written on the Wind The s United States is often referred toas a period of stifling conservatism and sexual repression a time of faithin the greatness of material goods

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Three essays are provided: 1) A brief discussion of the Armenian genocide; 2) A discussion contemplating life without the arts; and 3) A discussion of love.

ESSAY ONE Armenian Genocide The genocide against the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks representsone of the first ideologically oriented genocides occurr... more

ESSAY ONE Armenian Genocide The genocide against the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks representsone of the first ideologically oriented genocides occurring during WorldWar I in The Ottoman Empire had suffered from a progressive declineup to this period which spurred on a movement and ideology focusing onnationalism This over-enthusiastic nationalism promoted homogeneity ofculture including one language and one religion The movement wasstrongest among a group labeled the Young Turks a factious group thatbecame determined to depose the Sultan and modernize Turkey The Young

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Examines three movies that address how music and song are used to support the moods, emotions, themes, and characters in three different films: William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Randall Kleiser’s Grease, and Garry Marshall’s Pretty Woman. A synopsis of the plot and themes of each film are also provided. Each film is discussed separately.

Film Essays Introduction There are few films more frightening in the horror film genre thanWilliam Friedkin's The Exorcist In the film the main theme ... more

Film Essays Introduction There are few films more frightening in the horror film genre thanWilliam Friedkin's The Exorcist In the film the main theme is theage-old battle between good and evil In The Exorcist a young girl namedRegan is either suffering from a mysterious and powerful psychiatricdisorder complete with physical manifestations or she is totally possessedby the evil forces of Satan Modern medicine attempts to explain possession with paranoia schizophrenia and other explanations In TheExorcist terror is engendered in viewers because Friedkin