discussion
You can improve your life by paying attention to how films use characters and themes to explore human values, virtues, and character strengths.
The ideology of originality in modern day cinema is a debate that is frequently discussed and examined, comparing it to what was considered the ‘Golden Age of Cinema’ in the 1900’s. Particularly regarded are the similar story lines and plots that are overused and are becoming somewhat identical, which can comprise of reboots of existing features, superheroes, etc. Along with the sheer amount of sequels that reoccur frequently even when audiences may not particularly want them, leading to them being ignored or neglected.
As the title indicates, I have epilepsy. If you ran into me on the street, it’s not something you’d be able to tell about me by looking. That’s not how epilepsy works, generally.
In the beginning, there was light. It moved, it danced, it enthralled, but in the end, it was just light. Even in the silent era, exhibitors recognized the value of sound, coming up with a wide array of live and pre-recorded solutions to the problem of representing reality with only one of our five senses (and drained of color at that).
Ever since Jaws hoovered millions of bathers off the hot sandy beaches and into the cinemas in 1975, the Summer Movie Season has been the defacto launch pad for the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of each year. Along with Christmastime, the summer window between May and the end of August is where you would traditionally find the mega-budget sequels and franchises whipping audiences into a deranged frenzy with coffer-drainingly expensive promotional campaigns. So what was Batman vs Superman:
Trailers are ruining movies. Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but they sure are not helping matters. With Batman v Superman right around the corner, the usual fanboy feelings I would be geeking out over are mostly subdued because the trailers have shown so much (i.
Like all social groups, people with disability have been portrayed in diverse ways in Hollywood, from stereotypical representations in horror to genuine inspirations in melodramas. Disability is represented as a metaphor through imagery or characters’ features, or as a direct subject within the narrative. The entire concept of genre is recycled from elements within society, and the relevant features of each specifically labels the disabled into a certain character type.
There has been a historical frequency in film for older men to be depicted in romantic relationships with younger, sometimes much younger, women. This article seeks to examine whether this propensity for older men to be paired with younger women on-screen can reveal something of mainstream cinema’s and, by extension, western culture’s attitudes towards older women, sex and romance. Might more contemporary examples featuring fresh approaches to the age gap be leading us down a new path, featuring a wider range of romantic perspectives?
Much attention has been drawn to Hollywood of late, and several condemnations of its practises issued. While the recent #OscarsSoWhite kerfuffle is certainly indicative of a problem, I think the real issue stretches beyond race only. As a colleague here has pointed out in a recent article, we aren’t all fooled.
Lately, due to the #OscarsSoWhite,#OscarsSoMale and #AltOscarParty campaigns, a lot of attention is being paid to how The Academy, and Hollywood in a more general sense, fails to reward women and people of color for their work. It’s no longer just a group of angry Tweeters: The conversation is actually, finally reaching the mainstream, and more people than ever are paying attention to what is happening during awards season this year.
“Awards bait.” The phrase is bandied around a lot this time of year in the run up to the Oscars. But what exactly is it?
The outcry against this year’s vanilla list of contenders for the 2016 Academy Awards is reverberating across the country with Spike Lee and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith boycotting Hollywood’s most prestigious fete of the year. Even Mark Ruffalo, nominated for Spotlight, considered joining the boycott before ultimately opting to attend the award ceremony. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made an announcement on Friday regarding new diversity initiatives, but I would hardly say that they’re ‘leading’ the industry by placing some restrictions on lifetime voting and finally attempting some diversity recruiting.
As another Hollywood award season gathers momentum, so too do its accompanying controversies and questions. Last year’s Academy Awards were remembered as much for the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite as they were for any of the achievements of film’s apparent best and brightest. This, coming the year after 2014’s Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres knowingly quipped before the Best Picture award was announced that:
Films deal with universal emotions such as love, hate, or sadness. Some deal specifically with grief, whether it be a lover moving on, a friendship ending, or the loss of a parent. Two films in recent years, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2014) and Meadowland (2015), have dealt with the loss of a young child and the effect on the parents.
Walking out of the theater after my opening night showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I felt like I had received a warm hug for two hours. It was comforting to see a director perfectly capture the classic energy and hope of Star Wars for the first time in thirty years.