Movies

In film, the vision that the viewer sees and the story that they are given to interpret depends on several variables. The music, set, costuming, dialogue and lighting all play an important role in the accurate portrayal of the time period, mood and emotion that the screenwriter is trying to convey. The person that ties all of these elements together, along with countless others that make a film a work of art, is the director. A films director is the real visionary that takes individual pieces and weaves them together into an actual film. Jonathan Demme is one such director that creates detailed characters and moving stories. Combining the elements of camera angles, character details and background, and dramatic elements, Demme creates unforgettable life experiences and characters in Philadelphia and Rachael Getting Married.

Both films introduce the viewer to the main character in the same way. In each, the main character upon which the film focuses is introduced in the middle of an action. The viewer is introduced to them with no background information and without even knowing their full name. In Philadelphia, the viewer is made aware of the name of the company that the lead character, who is a lawyer, is representing before we actually know the lawyers name. He is seen in a legal proceeding, then at a clinic, then conversing with coworkers all before the viewer finds out his name. Demmes use of this technique serves to place the viewer in the middle of the characters life, which makes the character all the more compelling. Philadelphias Andrew Beckett, the viewer gradually learns, is a homosexual man that has contracted AIDS. But before we learn that, we identify with him as an ambitious, friendly young man. Demme possibly did this to make the viewer like the character before revealing his gender or his illness to prove the point that individuals with AIDS are just as likeable and humane as those without the disease. His method serves to make the viewer put themselves in Becketts shoes and be more sympathetic to his situation.

The film, at its core, is about Beckett and his struggle with both his disease and his law firm, which has fired him after learning of his illness. He feels that he was set up, that the firm partners framed him to have an excuse to fire him and that he was wrongfully terminated just because his coworkers found out he has AIDS. Andy enlists the help of Joseph Miller, played by Denzel Washington, a lawyer himself who wants nothing to do with being associated with an AIDS victim or the gay community. After taking the case, Miller comes to regard Beckett as a friend and champions his cause. The film shows how Beckett fights his former employer for damages and a settlement to justify his wrongful termination, while also illustrating how he copes with the increasing complications of AIDS. The film paints a very human picture of the struggle to be treated fairly and equally while also showing the viewer what dying of AIDS feels like both to the infected individual and to their family and loved ones. The film does not focus on AIDS or give the viewer in-depth information about the disease itself, and it is clear that Demme did not intend for the film to inform the viewer about AIDS. While it does address some misconceptions that were common at the time, it does so while addressing the issue of discrimination and hatred against people with AIDS and homosexuals.

Demme juxtaposes the two characters in several ways that make it clear how different the paths of their lives and their beliefs really are, making it all the more profound when they become friends and care about each other. Early in the film, Beckett is rushed to the hospital for an AIDS related illness. The viewer sees him have to fight to get the attention of a doctor that is assigned to treat him, the doctor dismissing Becketts partner as not being immediate family, and attempting to dissuade him from asking questions by requesting to run more tests. Beckett has only his partner for company, and he is seen as solitary, isolated and afraid. The action then shifts to Miller, who is at the hospital because his wife is about to give birth to their first child. Miller is swarmed by congratulatory friends and family, the delivery room is filled with gifts and flowers, and Miller is elated and happy. The scene serves to place Miller and Beckett at specific places in their lives and gives the viewer a clear image of what each is looking forward to. Miller is at the hospital to celebrate a new life, while Beckett is there because of his own impending death.

Demme also employs close camera angles to convey emotion in Philadelphia. Through these close shots and tight angles the viewer feels Becketts emotions in the scene. This technique is utilized early when Beckett is given a high-profile case by the firms senior partners and the camera focuses in on the firm presidents face when he is speaking to Beckett. Here, the viewer feels scrutinized and self-conscious, like Beckett would have felt. Later, during the trial when Beckett is suing his former employer, the camera again focuses in tightly and works to make the viewer feel Becketts emotions. Beckett is struggling with complications from his disease and is on the verge of passing out, but is fighting to continue on so the days proceedings wont be interrupted. The camera focuses in on the defense attorney questioning Beckett at a slanted angle, while her voice becomes distorted and echoed. This technique makes the viewer feel dizzy and confused, as Beckett must have felt. Demme frequently uses camera techniques like this to give the viewer a better understanding of what the character is feeling. He employed this technique in both Philadelphia and in Rachael Getting Married, and the result is that the viewer is given a closer perspective on two unique characters that some viewers might not otherwise have been able to understand.

Demme uses subtle character actions and gestures to make big statements in both films. In each, small physical movements or facial expressions convey clear messages to the viewer. In Philadelphia, the transition of the relationship between Beckett and Miller can be seen in two scenes focused on the action of their hands. When Miller first meets Beckett, he reacts to finding out that Beckett has AIDS by subtly, but very obviously, taking his hand deliberately out of their handshake, looking at it, and wiping it on his pants. Later, when he wipes his face with that same hand, he demands that his secretary make him a doctors appointment. This hand gesture is small, but it conveys a clear discomfort for being around people with AIDS. Later, when he starts to see Beckett as an individual that needs help instead of just an AIDS victim, there is another subtle gesture that indicates this transition. In the law library, Beckett passes him a book across the table. The camera focuses on Becketts hands offering the book, then on Millers hands hesitating, then accepting. This small gesture signifies that he is willing to put himself on the same level with Beckett and recognize him. When Beckett is dying in the hospital, this focus on hands is repeated when Miller puts the oxygen mask back on Becketts face, then holds his face in his hands. They have become friends, and Miller feels no shame or hesitation in touching Beckett now.

Demme employs many of the same techniques in Rachael Getting Married. A drama like Philadelphia, the film introduces the viewer to the main character as she is in the midst of action. She is leaving somewhere, later revealed to be a mental health facility, to go somewhere, later revealed to be her sisters wedding. She is not Rachael, as the viewer might immediately conclude, but Kim, Rachaels sister. As in the previous film the viewer is inundated with bits and pieces of information but left to understand the whole character throughout the film. There are mentions of anorexia, a modeling career, drug abuse, incarceration, vehicular homicide, and arson within the first few minutes of the film, but the viewer is given no immediate understanding of how these all relate to Kim, the films main character. It is gradually revealed that she is a recovering drug addict who feels guilty for the death of her younger brother, who drowned when she drove the car off a bridge because she was high. The film paints an emotional picture of a family torn apart by guilt and grief over the loss of the boy and Kims troubled past and present. This painful story is set against a joyous occasion, the wedding of Kims sister Rachael, and made more chaotic by the inclusion of Rachaels fiances family and all of their friends. Again, Demme possibly introduces the viewer to Kim in bits and pieces so that the viewer can come to relate to her and understand her instead of immediately disliking her or misunderstanding her because of her drug use. Even a viewer that has no personal connection to addiction or drug abuse can understand Kims emotional ties to her family, thereby seeing her as a person and a human being.

Demme again uses distinct camera angles and close shots to give the viewer a better understanding of his characters emotions. The most obvious of these is perhaps the rehearsal dinner, in which there is a lot of talking, music and toasting the guests of honor. Throughout this event the camera repeatedly focuses in on Rachael by herself and the expressions on her face. This conveys to the viewer that Rachael feels isolated and alone even though she is in a room full of people, and that she feels sad at being physically and emotionally segregated from Rachael and the rest of her family. This use of camera angle gives Rachael a voice in a scene where her actual dialogue is scarce.

Music is another technique that Demme uses in both films to convey emotion and drama. In Rachael Getting Married, Rachaels fiance is a musician and music has obviously played an integral role in their relationship together. At several times the presence or absence of music serves to convey how the characters are feeling. The rehearsal dinner includes musical performances by several of the couples friends and loved ones. In the absence of music, one guest giving a toast mentions Rachael and Kims dead brother, Ethan. This mention makes the sisters both stop smiling and find themselves on the verge of tears. Though it is not clear at this point who Ethan is, it is clear that he was important to both girls. Their isolation from one another is signified in the way that each is visibly upset, but neither turns to the other for comfort. The music has stopped, so the room is quiet and the viewer is forced to focus on their obvious grief. In a climactic argument between Rachael and Kim they finally begin to address Ethans death while musicians rehearse outside. Both women yell for them to stop playing, then find themselves unable to discuss the emotional subject in silence. This is evident again at the wedding reception. Music is being sung from variety of artists inside the reception, but outside Rachael is again alone and outside the music and celebration. She is seen lighting a candle and sending it floating across the water. This could be a memorial to her lost brother and signify her guilt over his death. She is alone, and her feelings and those of her sister are markedly separate.

Demme employs this musical technique in Philadelphia, though not giving music quite so significant a role in the lives of the characters. The theme song, sung by musician Bruce Springsteen, is played at the films opening and in various parts of the film and conveys a feeling of brotherhood and community to the viewer. This is in stark contrast to Becketts experience of discrimination and isolation from the men that were supposed to be his friends and colleagues. More emotional, however is the scene between Beckett and Miller featuring Becketts favorite opera. In what was supposed to be a strategy meeting to prepare for court Beckett stops to turn up his favorite aria and explains it to Miller. He weeps as he translates the Italian lyrics for Miller. It is revealed that the opera is about the renewal of life after tragedy and that life should always be appreciated and lived to the fullest. Beckett and Miller are shown in separate close shots, with Beckett visibly moved by the music while Miller sits and watches, still and composed. His face does not change, yet the viewer understands from his reaction after the aria is over and his words to Beckett that he understands what the piece means. He leaves Beckett and goes home, kissing his newborn daughter and hugging his wife. There is no music, only silence, and it is understood that the message of the opera has reached Millers heart.

Philadelphia and Rachael Getting Married were made roughly fifteen years apart, yet each resonates with the viewer equally. Neither seems dated or irrelevant, and each conveys an understandable, relatable story to the viewer. In each, compelling characters with tragic yet vibrant lives are brought to life in a mix of music, intriguing character detail and careful use of dialogue and back story. Demme has brought both films to life using elements of music, compassion and character development in each that allow the viewer to understand the perspectives of characters they might not otherwise understand or even like. It is Demmes skill as a director and his creative use of all the elements of film that make both of these movies films to be watched, deeply felt, and appreciated.

Lewis Carolls (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) Alice in Wonderland is a classic tale written in 1865 about a young English girl named Alice who stumbled into a world called Wonderland that is full of peculiar things and inhabited by peculiar beings from a frantic white rabbit to an ill-tempered queen with a penchant for demanding the heads of anyone who displeases her at the slightest.  The story, though nonsensical as it appears to be,  has made quite an appeal to both children, his intended audience, and (even) adults.  It was so popular that nearly 20 years later, he wrote a sequel titled Alice through the Looking-Glass (mirror).  The novel went on to be published worldwide and has gained appeal.  As technology allowed for movies to be made, it has depicted in film and television several times beginning with the first (silent) film in 1903.  since then, there has been a plethora of film and television versions of the novel and perhaps the most famous and recognizable version of this classic story is the full-length animated version made by Walt Disney in 1951 which continues to be very popular today.  In 2010, by far the most recent version, Tim Burton directed his version titled Alice in Wonderland which combines both Lewis original novel and his sequel, Alice through the Looking-Glass .

The purpose of this paper is to make a comparison and contrast of Caroll original novel to the film made by Burton.  The original novel by Caroll shall serve as the basis of the comparison and contrast.  In essence, the comparison and contrast shall be based mainly on the plot and the characters.

Plot
Carolls story begins with a young girl named Alice who was sitting along a riverbank with her sister when she saw a white rabbit frantically running and muttering being late.  Out of curiosity, she followed the rabbit down a hole, fell through it and came to a totally strange world which she could barely understand because of its peculiarity.  Such as taking a certain food or drink that can cause her to shrink or increase in size (Caroll, 5-7) plants that behave strangely talking creatures such as hookah-smoking caterpillar who comes off as being rude to her at first (Caroll, 31), the grinning Cheshire Cat that can disappear and appear at will and whenever it disappears, its grin lingers on and has sort of become the closest thing to a friend for her in Wonderland when everybody else appeared to be hostile to her though his advice to her can be rather perplexing (Caroll, 48-49).  There is also the eccentric (Mad) Hatter who does nothing but serve tea all day because he claims he is cursed to stay frozen at 600 pm which is tea time eternally, which they would call the  un-birthday  party in the Disney version (Caroll, 55). She has gotten tired of the pointless riddles the Hatter and March Hare incessantly throw at her, that she walked away, remembering the warning from the Cheshire Cat that the Hatter is truly mad.

Perhaps the other most peculiar character Alice has encountered in Wonderland would be the Queen of Hearts whose name alone strikes fear in the hearts of her subjects who are primarily playing cards.  The Queen has a notoriously foul temper and is easy to anger at the slightest displeasure which would prompt her to shout,  Off with his head  to the poor unfortunate soul.  Alice found the Queens activities to be peculiar such as playing croquet where flamingos are the mallets, hedgehogs for balls and her card-subjects serve as arches who tend to behave in the Queens favor lest they lose their heads literally should the Queen lose (Caroll, 65-67).  Another peculiar event Alice observed is the trial of the Knave of Hearts for stealing the Queens tarts. Alice is flustered on the way the proceedings are going and it does not help that she is growing in size which angered the Queen who gave her familiar order to have Alice decapitated but Alice stood firm and told them they are nothing but a pack of cards.  The story ends with Alice being woken up back to reality by her sister and left along the river bank to ponder what has happened (Caroll, 105-107).

In Burtons film version, he combined the plot of the original novel by Caroll and its sequel.  It is also worth noting that this is a film made by Tim Burton, who is known for giving his films a  Gothic touch  which is his trademark as seen in his earlier films such as Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride and A Nightmare Before Christmas and Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street where the atmosphere or tone of his films are often gloomy or quirky to the point of being bizarre. His version of Alice in Wonderland is not spared from this treatment.

The plot is somewhat different from the novel.  The story is set more than 10 years since Alice first set foot in Wonderland.  Alice Kingsleigh (played by Mia Wasikowska) a 19-year old woman who is set to be married to a man she does not love and be stuck in what she feels would be an unhappy married life.  She spots a strange white rabbit running frantically and curiosity made her follow it and she fell into a hole landing in what she thought is Wonderland but turns out to be Underland where everything appeared to look grim and gloomy which is consistent with Burtons style.  The peculiar thing about this story is that, although Alice has encountered the same creatures she met before, she could had no recollection of everything and it is as though she is visiting WonderlandUnderland for the first time and getting acquainted again although most of them do remember her and were quite surprised she is not the same Alice they used to know (Burton).

Whereas in the novel, she is depicted as a sort of a  tourist,  in Wonderland, in Burtons movie, she discovered she has a destiny to fulfill   to free the land from the tyranny of the Red Queen (played by Helena Bonham-Carter).  In the first novel, Alices nemesis is the Queen of Hearts who rules over playing cards.  The Red Queen is based on the character in Carolls second sequel whose kingdom, based on this novel, is a chessboard.  But in the movie, Bonham-Carters character is an amalgamation of the two queens as seen in her dress.  The Queen is still foul-temepred as before but as mentioned by Alices Wonderland friends, she has become tyrannical and she even had her husband, the King of Hearts, executed (Burton).  

Alice reluctantly leads this  rebellion  of the other Wonderland creatures after stealing the Vorpal sword from the Red Queen and it is here in the film, viewers are introduced to the White Queen (played by Anne Hathaway), another character in Carolls  second novel.  The White Queen is the sister of the Red Queen but is the opposite where the latter is always on the offensive, the former tends to retreat or hold back.  Nonetheless, the White Queen made Alice her champion as she confronts her sister in a battlefield that looks like a chessboard without the other pieces.  The battle pits Alice against the Red Queens champion, the Jabberwocky. The Red Queen turned down a chance for peace by her sister and the duel commenced and Alice, after gathering courage, manages to kill the Jabberwocky.  The White Queens forces emerged victorious and the Red Queen was exiled to the Outlands.  The White Queen gave Alice a vial of the Jabberwockys blood which will take her home when she drinks it and she did.  Upon arriving back in her (real) world, Alice is completely transformed into someone who used to be hesitant to being decisive as she dealt with her problems and did not marry.  Instead, she became an apprentice to Lord Ascot and was engaged in helping out in business ventures (Burton).

Characters
Alice. The difference between the two as they are depicted in the novel and film are different.  Whereas Alice is a young girl, barely an adolescent, in the novel.  She is a blooming young woman in the film.  Typical of any child or young girl for that matter, the girl Alice (novel) is very curious about everything which was what prompted her to follow the white rabbit down the hole and into Wonderland.  As stated before, Alice here is more a tourist, taking in the peculiar sights and sounds of Wonderland and it shows whenever she would fumble and make mistakes for someone nave and innocent but in the end, one can see that despite her young age, Alice shows pluck and defiance when she stood up against the Queen of Hearts during the trial and did not compromise her beliefs.

In the film, Alice, the young adult, appearing confused and has not yet come to terms on what she wants in life.  This is something that could be said to be typical of people her age as they gradually shed off their childhood and adolescence and enter into a stranger world of adulthood and face challenges they never faced before and in one case, it is the prospect of being married.  What is surprising here is that when Alice returns to Wonderland, she does not remember everyone though they remember her and it was only at the end when everything came back to her.  But by the time Alice returned to the real world, she is completely transformed into a full-fledged adult with a take-charge attitude, a similar trait she exhibited in the latter part of the novel though an adult here, which is how the story ended in the film and it sees her pushing forward to newer horizons as opposed to the novel where she sat along the bank being dreamy.

The Queen of HeartsRed Queen.  In the film, the character is an amalgamation of both characters that appear separately in Carolls two novels with the Queen of Hearts in the first novel and the Red Queen in the second.  The mood and attitude is pretty much the same in both the novel and film as characterized by the familiar line of the Queen,  Off with his head   Another difference is in the film, the Queen is given a name   Iracebeth, a play on the word,  irascible  which is synonymous for quick-tempered.  Another thing to note is that in the two novels of Caroll, the Queen of Hearts and Red Queen are distinct characters.  One reason for the confusion is attributed to the Disney version of the story where it combined the two characters into the Queen of Hearts whereas Burton followed it though calling her the Red Queen.

Other characters.  There are several other characters that appear in the film that are not on the first novel such as the Jabberwocky, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and the White Queen but are principal characters in the second novel.  Not even the Jabberwocky or the White Queen appeared in the Disney version. The others make a  return  in the film such as the Caterpillar which has a name (Absolem), the Cheshire Cat, March Hare and (Mad) Hatter who are firmly on Alices side in the rebellion against the Red Queen.

Conclusion
Tim Burtons film combines the characters of Carolls two novels and it is apparent he had taken a leaf from the Disney animated version and gave it his trademark  gothic touch.   Furthermore, Alice as depicted in both the novel and film somehow possess the same spunk despite the difference in age and this became apparent in the latter part of the story.  In the film however, it turns out that Alice is hardly a demure girl as one might expect of someone living in the Victorian era but showed that she is equal to any man after displaying grace and courage in her duel with the Jabberwocky.  Even though she is a child in the novel, Alice still displayed courage when she talked back to the Queen.  Nevertheless, this is what makes Alice in Wonderland, whether a book or film, very interesting and timeless.

Fraternities are a staple in university life in the United States and even have made significant contributions as well originally created to promote and recognize academic excellence, social networking has become the major contribution of fraternities not only in American college life, but also in American society as well.  Although some of the older prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth have similar student clubs that are unique to their own institutions such as Porcellian at Harvard, Skull and Bones at Yale, eating clubs such as Ivy at Princeton the predominant form is found in the Greek system, fraternities whose names are made up of Greek letters, founded at one college or university which would later spread to other campuses. Some of the larger bodies now have numerous chapters across the country.  Initially, some fraternities, started out as a academic and social clubs but have evolved into an honors society, with chapters established in major institutions, to which students are elected for academic achievement.

There are also other similar societies with Greek-letter names that honor achievement in academic fields as well but through the years other similar organizations have been formed as well and have adapted the  Greek  system in naming their fraternities.  The reason for their existence is primarily for creating social networks among students.  They offer benefits ranging from mentoring, course offerings, and even looking for housing on and off campus.  Best of all, these fraternities help open doors to many opportunities through the networks established which would serve one well during college and even beyond campus life after graduation where one can interface with fraternity brothers (or sorority sisters) nationwide.

Movies on Fraternities
Hollywood has made several films that centers on fraternities and similar organizations and most of the recognizable ones are comedies such as Animal House, Old School, and Revenge of the Nerds. Such movies can help provide a glimpse to the uninitiated on what it is like to be in a fraternity to confirm or disprove certain  myths  that go on inside it.  One common denominator one would see in the films is that Greek-letter fraternities tend to be  wild  and rowdy as all three films show to the point that the participants get drunk or sometimes high on drugs that they would do outlandish things (Landis  Kanew  Philipps).  One example of a wild party that went out of control is in Revenge of the Nerds when the Alpha Betas were so drunk, they accidentally set fire to their fraternity house, which led them to turn on the  nerds  by taking over their dormitory (Kanew). In Old School, Mitch (Luke Wilson) wakes up to find out he slept with a high school student following a wild party the previous night where he was too drunk to remember and later found out she is the daughter of his boss at work (Philipps).  While it is true that fraternities hold such activities to relieve the pressure of the rigors of college life, the wild parties are exaggerated as real-life fraternities adhere to university policies on decency and propriety.

Another feature of fraternities shown on films is the initiation ceremonies, sometimes called hazing or pledging.  In one scene in Revenge of the Nerds, Nick (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert (Anthony Edwards) were trying to get into the Alpha Beta Fraternity and were subjected to a somewhat humiliating initiation ritual as they were stripped to their underwear and made to answer questions that made them uncomfortable and when the interrogators were not satisfied, they doused them with cold water and ejected them from the dormitory in that condition (Kanew).  In reality, One insider who had been there and done that stated that hazing should never be a part of the pledge process in a fraternity or sorority (Lynn). Schools have established policies against such practices.  They do however, permit initiation rituals that are wholesome and in an environment that supports positive choices.  It can be inferred here that  hazing  carries rather negative connotations though they do permit initiations rituals that conform to school policies.  Nevertheless, comedy films tend to show these bizarre rituals for entertainment and thereby adding to the myth.

Another feature of these fraternity movies is when rival fraternities are  at war  with one another.  This is seen in Animal House between the Omega Theta Pi and Delta Tau Chi who are the underdogs in the film.  The Omegas conspire with the Dean to have the Deltas charter revoked because both despise the Deltas for their unorthodox and seemingly obnoxious ways which goes against the norms of the college.  After being marginalized and later on discredited, the Deltas fight back and eventually have their dignity and self-respect restored.  The end of the movie tells what became of the characters following their  graduation  from college.

In Revenge of the Nerds, it is the Alpha Betas against the Lambda Lambda Lambda or Tri-Lambs.   The Alpha Betas are made up mainly of the colleges football squad and as the name (Alpha) of their fraternity suggests, they regard themselves as superior owing to their physical prowess and proceed to demonstrate it by oppressing the freshmen who are  nerds  first by ejecting them from their dormitory and oppressing and humiliating them in every way possible.  The nerds of the Tri-Lambs have had enough that they retaliated by doing a  panty raid  on the sorority house of the Alpha Betas girlfriends by planting hidden cameras which they used to spy on the girls dressing and undressing.  They also played a nasty prank of the Alpha Betas by mixing strong liniment on their athletic supporters.

In Old School, it is the fraternity against the school administration as the college dean (Jeremy Piven), a childhood acquaintance of the three  older  frat men (Farrell, Wilson and Vaughn), is trying to discredit them and see that they are ejected from campus.  This was done mainly out of a personal grudge against them.  They got back at him by exposing his attempt to bribe the student council to have them removed.  The dean got fired and their fraternity was reinstated (Philipps).  As stated above, these things are avoided in the name of decency and propriety as well as maintaining order on campus.

Conclusion
Despite the comedic scenes in the movies, the fraternities featured in the three films are consistent to the goals of fraternities in creating social networks and work alongside the school administration in promoting its mission vision.  If there is one other thing one will notice about fraternities from the films is that not all fraternities have open-door policies and are very selective on who they want to accept.  It is not also shown here that fraternity members also pay dues as means to meet the needs of the fraternity as they turn out to be non-profit organizations that rely on the  charities  of its members which also includes the alumni.

If there is another common theme that these movies show which is consistent to reality, is that it does promote brotherhood or camaraderie among fraternity members.  It is seen in the films that fraternities tend to draw people from all walks of life and it has served a glue that unifies them and they discover their hidden strengths which enable them to cope with the odds.  In reality, this is what fraternities do through their social networking, they help build character, especially the  good  ones and as stated earlier, open many doors which would serve a member well in campus and beyond and this lasts a lifetime.

Argentina recently passed a media bill that will play a vital role in transforming the media ownership providing an allowance for democracy.  The senate has already approved the bill, which could open the airwaves to the community with a 44 to 24 vote. The passage of the bill has been fought by the Media in an attempt to preserve their control over news and information. The passage of this bill was met with celebrations outside of congress, where thousands of government supporters, union representatives, human right groups and artist converged as it gave room to democracy of the media.

Domestic Market Share of the Media Ownership
Today, a third of the licenses are of commercial groups, a third for government and a third for non-governmental organizations. Therefore, the bill has created a distinction between the freedom of press and the freedom for private media ownership.

According to Fox  Waisbord (2002), the media fragmentation of ownership began in 1980 when the military came to power. Before that, in 1976 the government was unwilling to privatize the television station. Because of distrust of the private media, the military preferred to spread the control of television and radio among the branches of the armed forces. They controlled the media they restricted the report of sensitive government information. Moreover, the military carried out in-human acts to the journalist who could not adhere to their rules. This included silencing them as and carrying out assassinations. Trigona (2009) points out that 12 journalist were assassinated and over 30,000 disappeared. However, the Menem government finally agreed to privatize the stations in 1983, with only minor reforms taking place.

Since 990.the expansion of the media gadgets ownership such as radios and television in the households has continued to rise, as there was an existence of 35 million video cassettes recorders and two-million satellite television subscribers, auctioned the television stations that had been nationalized earlier in 1970. This suggests a media landscape, which is substantially different from the years of early 1980s.

This growth has continued to the late 1990s as it is estimated that there are more than 15 million subscribers in the region. The two media behemoth resulted from the presence of the larger companies consuming the smaller companies in areas where cable development was originally fragmented in numerous companies. These two major media behemoths include the Clarin group and CEI group dominated most of the markets. The entry of United States trade agreement paved way in Argentina in 1994.

There is a new law in the Argentinas government that is regulating the broadcast and cable television as well as other media services. The law has established a new regulatory authority for broadcasting in Argentina, the Federal Authority of audiovisual communication services (AFSCA) to replace the existing broadcast regulator.

The key provision of this law include
To divide the radio spectrums for broadcasting services into two third for the government services according to the ratio of 111 with the non-governmental and the commercial providers of radio and televisions.

To regulate a single entity of network radio and television stations. The effect is that large commercial media groups will have to sell radios and broadcast television licenses to comply with this limitation.

To regulate the production of radio and broadcast content to a 70 percent and 60 percent respectively. Cable television networks must have a channel produced by them but cannot have more than one.

To demand of the cable television networks to include channels of the coverage area of services. This plays a very vital role in promotion of local tourism, local musicians, and local culture.

To create a registry for foreign channels and impose a law that shall require these channels to have rights over the production of Argentinas films.

To limit the percentage of foreign ownership in local radio and television broadcast to 30 percent as long as non-Argentina based ownership does not result in direct or indirect control of the company.

To allow only the two existing telephone companies to offers the so-called triple play of phone cable television and internet services.

Convergence of the Media
Convergence of the media in Argentina has been brought about by forming a number of communities grouping. Coalitions have been formed of more than 300 groups, which include unions, community media organizations, and human rights groups. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner played a critical role of presenting the bill to change the dictatorship law on March 18th 2009. Many journalists actors and media figures have supported the presidents initiative called audiovisual communication services (SCA), which states that the airwaves belong to the community as they are patrimony of humanity and should be administered by the state with democratic criteria.

The SCA law calls for several fundamentals changes to media legistration. The most important aspect of the law mandated that 33 of airwaves to be reserved for non profit groups. This could ensure that community associations, non-profit, and pro universities have guaranteed access to broadcast licenses.

Communities, media and grassroots organizations will have to compete with all non-profit entities in order to win the spaces opened by the law. This term opens the door for private associations, funded by co-operations and church groups to compete with community media groups. The other criticism of the law includes lack of registration for funding for community media and guarantees for indigenous representation in local media.

Outside of congress, the convergence of the media can be clearly seen by the community media groups from national network alternative media broadcast live video and radio programming , they have hang a banner that reads  Even though we are not inside the law, we exist.

Film in Argentina
According to The Canadian trade commissioner service (2010), there are quite a numbers of film viewers who have continued to increase. Despite the increase of viewers, a high percentage of the population prefers movies produced in the United States. 49  of the films in Argentina were produced in United States, 24  by Argentina, 9  by France and 3 by Spain and only 2 were Canadian. Concerning viewing 82  preferred American movies, and 9  would choose Argentine movies.

In the movies shown in the movie theatre, 24  are Argentine and 76  are foreign. This is also seen outside the movie houses only 18  of movies are Argentine and 82 foreign while on Television 8 are Argentine and 92 are foreign.

Exhibition of Argentina Movies
The media in Argentina produces literacy program in the way that teaches how knowledge and social identities are produces in a variety of sites. Media education is based on how questions can be deconstructed to understand between knowledge, representation, values and identities. It hold the principle of making students cultural producers who can read different media text ad create them. This is why this media education is termed as cultural producers.

The national ministry of education has created an education program that coordinates various initiatives between the media and the school across the country. This program has its media industries as it main partners. All the initiatives count on the participation of television channels, radio stations, photographic companies newspapers and cinema.

However, one cannot work with media education without the media, and it is therefore necessary to involve the media in the debates and the projects. The media in cooperation with the ministry of education discusses media and educational issues with the industry.  In this way, the media has become directly interested in what education has to say.

Export of Argentinas Movies
Most Argentinas films have been co- produced with a number of countries such as Spanish, French as well as other international multinational films. A number of new regulations have extended subsidies for local production to co- production companies, thus creating new opportunities for foreign companies.

The objective of this paper is to analyze the character of John Scottie Ferguson, the police officer who developed acrophobia or fear of heights and later on turned into a private investigator, in the film Vertigo. This paper also aims to impart to its readers the concept of deception in the film, the ways in which it was manifested in the story and how it affected and changed Scotties life.

Deception refers to the act of deceiving or misleading to bring about false representation, fraud or cheat. It does not always imply intention or aim because it may also be accidental. The act of deception can also lead to unlawful gain and advantage.

The title of the film Vertigo refers to a type of dizziness wherein there is a feeling of movement even while you are stationary. Scottie experiences this sensation or vertigo when confronted with heights. In the film, Scottie developed acrophobia from his job as a police officer when he witnessed a colleague die from a fall while fulfilling police duty. That single incident had left him a major trauma which later on caused him deception. Apparently, another character in the story had taken advantage of Scotties weakness and used it to accomplish a plot in order to save himself.

Any disorder can have a huge impact in ones life. It can set limitations and cause weakness. Worse, it can be used by selfish individuals to spare them selves from trouble and come up with a misleading story, or any other way to their advantage. A persons disability and weakness can become the source of his deception. It does not only impair his physical and mental state but also causes him to be left blinded. A person who is affected with a psychological condition, such as acrophobia, sometimes fails to see the truth because of the limitations imposed on him by his condition. This is exactly what happened to Scottie. His acrophobia had been used by another character to come up with a plan that will give Scottie misleading conclusions about an accident. As a result, he carried the burden of guilt in his heart and kept on blaming himself because his psychological problem had hindered him from saving the woman he had learned to love. He became a prisoner of his fear.

Just like Scottie, a lot of people are also suffering from different kinds of fear and trauma brought about by certain events in their life. Such psychological condition can cause paralysis of ones disposition. The feeling of helplessness arises in some situations wherein one has to face his fear but is unable to do it because even if the heart is willing to, the body and the mind cannot find the strength to do so. However, at some point, it is very important for every person to conquer his fear and find a way to overcome it. This is the only way to gain freedom and to keep people from taking advantage of his weakness and disability.

Fear can prevent a person from seeing what lies beneath. It can deprive him of his rights and peace of mind for the wrong reasons. Deception is easy to plot amongst people who are afraid and paralyzed by their fear. Scottie, despite being a strong-willed and intelligent person had fallen into the pit of deception because of his psychological condition or phobia. However, the truth has its own way of manifesting itself. Scottie, despite being blinded by his emotions for the woman who deceived him, had managed to discover the truth. His intelligence and memory of specific events that occurred in his past had shed light to the real identity of this woman. That discovery had finally freed him from the guilt, lies and deception that engulfed him. From this event, it is clear enough to state that fear, phobia, trauma or any related psychological disorder may occur to anyone but does not necessarily impair a persons judgement or perception of what is really true. Even if the truth is kept and replaced with deception, it will never cease to be the truth regardless of the circumstances. This is one important moral of the story.

Taking advantage of a persons weakness is not the only form of deception that is manifested in this film. Another act of deception was when the woman took advantage of Scotties strong feelings and emotions for her in an attempt to cover up the truth. Physical illness, mental incapacity and fear are not the only factors that can weaken a man. His feelings and emotions can likewise cause him weakness and blindness from the truth. Sometimes, when you a love and care for a person deeply, you see beyond what is obvious. You stop entertaining negative thoughts about this person. This is one of the natures of humans. Their feelings can be strong enough to erase any doubts and hesitations from their minds. That is why it is always being said that a person who is in an emotional state is blinded and paralyzed by his feelings. Scottie had apparently been played on in the story when he was led to believe in lies. The woman whom he loves had deceived him twice. She had taken advantage of his weakness in order to accomplish a plot and his feelings in an attempt to cover up who she really is. Regardless of what the woman felt for Scottie, whether it was true affection or not, she still played a major role in deceiving him that had caused Scottie to put the blame on him self and wallow in guilt and fury for his helplessness.

Deception can happen to anyone and it comes in many forms as well. It can happen within families, workmates and friends. No matter how smart you are, there are people who can see right through your fears and weakness and they are capable of deceiving you in many different ways, at times, in a positive way but oftentimes, in a negative way. People are not the only ones who can bring about deception your feelings, beliefs, principles, perspectives, ambitions as well as certain circumstances in life can also be deceiving. There are even times when what may seem right is actually wrong and what you feel would be good for you can actually be bad. You just have to rely on yourself in order to find out what is really more important  to find out what is true or to be contented with what you know. You also have to accept that sometimes, you have to perform difficult measures at the expense of your own happiness just to extract the facts and come face to face with the truth  if it is only in this manner that you will find a sense of freedom and peace of mind.

Being a victim of deception, in itself, is like being kept in the dark and being deprived of truth. In the movie, two examples had been clearly stated. The first one is that, a person can be deceived based on his incapacities and fear and the second one is that, a person can be deceived based on the strength of his feelings. In the movie, both had been encountered by Scottie who happened to be a smart, strong and sensitive man who is highly capable of being rational. Yet, despite all these qualities, he became a victim of deception and was not spared from its consequences.

Based upon the meaning of deception, it can either be intentional or accidental. The fact that Scottie had been used as an accessory to come up with a misleading story and had been led on to believe a lie is an example of intentional deception. Nothing had been accidental in Scotties case.

Deceit does not always imply a negative intention. It can, at times, also be used to protect another individual and spare him from pain and having a ruined life however for the wrong reasons. Applying this concept of deceit in the story, Scottie had been a victim of one of the worst kinds of deception when his acrophobia was used by another character in order to mislead him. His second encounter of deception, which was with the woman he loves, was mainly to protect him and spare him from the pain that the truth holds.

However, near the storys end, Scotties emotions became far stronger than his acrophobia. He was able to conquer his fear and did not experience vertigo on his way up a staircase. His hunger for the truth overcame his fear and he finally got what he wanted only to lose everything again in the end  the woman she loves and most likely his regained strength. These points remain to be questionable at the end of the movie. It is up to the viewers point of view on how they will assess the ending and its implication to Scottie.

In conclusion to the aspects of the film that were discussed in this paper, it is necessary to regard the many faces of deception. It can happen to anyone under any circumstance. A persons fear and feelings can keep him from seeing what is true. However, conquering your fears and not allowing your feelings to get the best of you will allow you to see clearly. You can always end up saving yourself from deception. In the movie, Scottie had been a victim of deceit for quite some time. However, because of his hunger for the truth and refusal to remain troubled by guilt, he was able to fight off his fear and sacrifice his own feelings only to lose again everything he gained.

The following is the review of the movie Clash of the Titans which was released in the United States on April 2, 2010 comprising 106 minutes. The language of the movie is English and has been rated as PG13 due to brief sensuality, violated fantasy action and a few intimidating images.

Shooting of the Movie
The shooting of the movie (filming) started in late April 2009. The location of the shooting was Wales, England and the Canary Islands Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. The film was duplication of the movie Clash of the Titans (1981) starred by Harry Hamlin and Laurence Olivier and was directed by Desmond Davis. The new movie in 2010 was shot using digital 3D. Jason Flemyng had to disguise like a half-monster Calibos as well as half man due to which Flemyng has to bear make-up trailer work for three hours. The shooting hailed the stars from different countries of the world such as Scotland, Poland, England, France, Ireland, etc. Neil Corbould (Animatronics Supervisor) was working on the Bubo for adding feathers on it. Pegasus was used (to reflect flying horse) and the tracking markets were been emphasized using special cameras. Thus, there was a lot happened in the shooting which is limitless to be mentioned.

Actors Role in the Movie
All the stars made significant role in the movie but there is one who made the movie a dominant one and he is none other than Sam Worthington (Persues). Worthington is known as an action superstar and an action performer who has played a vital role in different action movies specially Avatar and TerminatorSalvation. Worthington is interested in performing stunt actions as much as possible. During the promotion of Warner Bros. Picture Film, Worthington said at the LA Press Conference that if you leave a stunt guy in an action movie then you are missing the chance of being successful and hit the box office. He further mentioned that I want to make the audience money worth in the best possible ways I can. For proving this into reality, his actions and adaptation to the scenes were admired and turn the imaginary view into reality. Other than Worthington, there were other stars who performance and experience made the movie a classical one. These stars include Nicholas Hoult, Mads Mikkelsen, Jason Flemyng, Tamar Hussan, Luke Treadaway, Alexa Davalos, and Gemma Arterton.

Set Up of the Movie
The set up of the movie was arranged in quite a different way. A tent was placednearly out of the primary set which was completely covered and wind-flapped. The set was at an ancient place which is considered as a military base where the floor of the area was uncommon and almost unseen upon which rickety chairs were been placed to sit on and perform some roles. While sitting and having some cups of tea and hot water in the unexpectedhotatmosphere, the real feelings of military officials were been felt on the set. Sam Worthington(representativeescort of Warner Bros) walked towards the tent (which was adjusted at the main set up) nearly at 315 pm. Worthington was seemed fearful and horrible because of wearing of a different type of sack-cloth, boots and a kilt (like green tree). With short hairs, guilty face, dirty hands and visibility of scratched cuts at this body, made him really a hell. While appearing in front of the journalists, he was sitting on an uneven wobbly table.

Usage of Lightening in the Movie
The lightening was used in a complex style. An access to red carpet was being provided to attract the lightening. Even in the rainy situation, the cameraman stayed with holding a camera in his hand for hours for filming the events goings and comings. Lightening was little down due to the reason which revealed was the less-paid cameraman with the usage of low-cost camera. The journalists present at the scene were enjoying the rainy weather and buzzing event which let them have a lot of fun during the shooting and lightening. Headgear of warrior was tried by one of the journalists who could not stop having fun with craze and was almost passionate. Apart from group of journalists, the spirits of stars and soldiers were glowing and the set was displayed unevenly which is hardly seen. Thus, efforts of all the accompaniers made a great impact on the London Leicester Square which has ever seen.

Details of the Movie
The following is an overview of the movie Clash of the Titans
Movie Meter            This week popularity up to 200
Director                    Louis Leterrier
Writers                     Phil Hay, Travis Beecham, etc.
Date Released          April 2, 2010 (United States of America)
Desk News                TOP at the Box Office in United Kingdom
Company                   Warner Bros. Pictures
Film Location            Dinorwing Quarry, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom
Sound Mix                 SDDS, DTS, Dolby Digital
Estimated Budget      US 70,000,000 (Seven Million United Stated Dollars)
(Film Shaft, Clash of the Titans Overview).

Often the term auteur director is thrown about when describing the stylistic tendencies that pervade a directors film, whether it is through material, theme, or in style.  Consequently, established directors work within a vacuum of their own previous films, in which they set the tone for the auteur to either repeat or dismantle.  Robert Altman was a prolific director who continually directed for film and television well over three decades, in the meantime, glossing over nearly every genre of cinema with the same tone that became the Altman style.  This is one that can be seen developed and crafted in early works like The Long Goodbye, only later to be casually represented in the mid-career ensemble film Cookies Fortune, and lastly a self-homage in his final piece, the quintessential Altman film A Prairie Home Companion.

The Long Goodbye is one of Altmans earlier films, and in it, he demonstrates a strong implication of style over substance.  The film tries to exist primarily as an excuse to build film techniques, possibly into a story, but more importantly into a neo-noir film.  Altmans version of Phillip Marlowe is a character out of time, living as if film noir (or the 1940s) attitudes of private investigation, let alone everyday life in the 1970s, remained relevant.  The consequences range from quaint to violent, but through it all, Altman catches the characters in a rather detached manner.  He prioritizes extreme long and medium shots, rarely focusing squarely in close up on his characters.  They compliment this by routinely acting without reason (at least to the audience), as even the protagonist seems to be alien to the world he exists in, both in narrative and filmic representation.  

Altmans camera roams throughout the film, keeping the storyline taught and moving and a brisk pace. Nevertheless, the editing appears founded in noir films of the 1940s, Altman is not prone to fast cuts or awkward, rapid editing to demonstrate action.  Instead zooms are used to reveal information catch people speak in the foreground whilst action occurs behind, in the distance.  The act of investigation and secrets that it reveals are reenacted by the camera which occasionally catches action off in the distance or stumbles upon circumstances while paying attention to something else entirely.  The effect is a semi-parody of noir, in which the protagonist stumbles across the solution to a crime by happenstance and dumb luck, but at other times, the action is deadly serious, and it becomes clear that Marlowe, and the thugs he surrounds himself with are not simply noir types, but dangerous individuals found in the real world beyond the noir film.

Cookies Fortune was completed in a time when Altman was amidst refining what would come to be known as Altman-esque.  The film features the trademarks of many of his films, a large cast of established actors, lots of intermingled plot and dialogue, and the gentile gathering of various attitudes and perceptions, to be observed and collected by the audience.  In the case of Cookies Fortune, the setting lies in a small southern town, one of those quaint villages where everybody knows everyone and social constructs like racism and classism are seemingly devoid.  The characters exist in a fantastical world where even tragic situations are handled with aplomb characters reveal trust in one another and the complexity of small town life in a manner that is not obtrusive or didactic.   The film appears divided amongst acts, with eccentric characters like Jewel Mae and Camille become defined in their quirks.  When the sign of the stage production of Salome is billed with Camilles name along with Oscar Wilde, its a subtle reminder of the quiet charm of the movie.  The act is both entirely in character, slightly off kilter, and, in a way, charming as the film in itself.

Altman continues another one of his themes in the film, particularly the overlapping dialogue that unites both characters in frame, as well uniting situational occurrence.  As Camille sets the wheels in motion for Willies arrest, it becomes clear how tight nit the community is, even the sheriff does not believe the story and lets the man stay in a loosely guarded, rather pampered cell. The quaint misc en scene of a decorated, charming prison, accompanied by other cute moments (often orchestrated to upbeat, charming, music) lends an air of whimsy and relaxed, Southern fortuity that demonstrates that Altman can attack a madcap comedy (and part mystery) in a typical Altman structure, where the film comments on itself.

A Prairie Home Companions protagonist, detective Guy Noir, may as well be a typified Marlowe, living in a different, contemporary neo-noirish, observational adventure as he proceeds into the inhabitable stories of the typical Altman characters.  The gang of singers, radio personalities, and theater hanger-ons flood to the Fitzgerald Theater for the final show performance.  The theater is to be closed and the eerie haunt of death and cascading limelight seeps through conversation, misc en scene and direction choices.  The allegory of light is strong in the film and even the haunting overtones of death are softened by the soft crackle of campfire anecdotes and the warm lights of the theater stage.  The characters, through overlapping conversations and tales of the road and stage, reveal how much of existence performance, complicated by resilience on family and loved ones is.  This is revealed in an especially poignant scene between the Jonson families where mirrors frame the family together in conversation while collapsing their space.  They reflect one another in blood and profession and reveal to the audience (who relishes in the reflectivity) the aura of candid nostalgia, as well as perseverance.

Lola Johnsons song towards the films end epitomizes the intersection of family, art, life and death that makes up most of ones existence.  The song is a celebration of the wonderful and the prophetic, at times an elegy, at times a sing-along.  The direction is typical Altman, graceful and fluid, constantly shifting planes between characters, high and low brow.  The style is especially reminiscent of The Long Goodbye, in which the characters are allowed to gracefully exist without competing for the cameras attention.  The effect is natural and fluid as the plot effortlessly switches amongst the stellar cast while remaining as gentle as a big band commercial.  Consequently the film can be viewed as an allegory to Altmans career, in which he encapsulates the entirely of his auteristic style, and packages it around a plot that allows his themes to flourish.

Two films have proven to be among the most memorable in the long and lauded history of the horror genre. THE WOLFMAN (1942) and SAW (2004) remain two of the most influential horror films of the past 100 years. But, what is it about these two films that allow them to standout so strongly from the thousands of horror films that have been produced over the years There are a number of reasons and that is why a close examination of the two films is necessary. Also, the two films must be put into context with horror films as an entire genre. This is why a look at the complete history of the genre is necessary as well. As such, the genre will be explored from its early days of inception and well into the modern era. From this, the two films will be examined on their aesthetical value and their place in history.

The origins of the horror genre began in the literary realm. There were popular horror novels written over the centuries prior to the 20th century including Stokers DRACULA, Shelleys FRANKENSTEIN, and Robert Louis Stevensons DR JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. Is it no surprise that these same classics would be tapped for subject matter in the early silent films.

FRANKENSTEIN was adapted for the cinema for the first time in the Thomas Edison produced 1910 film version. The film was adapted twice more in 1915 in LIFE WITHOUT A SOUL and in 1920s THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN. Sadly, the latter two films are lost forever. Actually, prior to the DVD release of the 1910 version, only ONE print of the film existed so it came within a hairs breath of being lost itself.

Various other horror classics would be produced in the silent era including adaptations of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE as well as original versions of films based on the legend of the werewolf. However, it would be one film and one spin on the genre that would greatly aid in the genre becoming popular. This would be the emergence of Lon Chaney Sr. as the first horror film star.

Lon Chaney Sr. was not a horror actor per se. He was a major star in a variety of genres. In fact, very few of his film appearances were in actual horror productions. However, his appearance in silent classics such as THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT made him probably the most enduring of all silent movie stars outside of the comedians of the error.
The greatest hit of Lon Chaney Sr. was the adaptation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. This utter nightmare of a film featured a shockingly frightening creature to terrorize audiences. The unmasking scene of the Phantom is among the most frightening of all horror scenes in film history.

The success of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA led to more silent era horror films including the German classic NOSFERATU. NOSFERATU was a product of the movement of German Expressionism which sought to recreate a nightmare scenario in the form of film. This (unauthorized) adaptation of the Stoker novel further aided in enhancing the popularity of the genre into the sound era. The 1931 version of DRACULA capitalized on the success of the Broadway play adaptation and helped launch the sound era of horror. But, do not assume that the road to success of the horror genre was one that was without any bumps in the proverbial road. History shows us this is not the case.

Unfortunately, the horror genre is not one that is commonly praised by critics. Often, classics of the horror film are not dubbed classics until many years after their release. This is because through the prism of history the effective impact of the film becomes clearly visible. However, at the time of their release, horror films are often treated with contempt.

James Whale and Boris Karloff brought the world FRANKENSTEIN in 1932 and it was a tremendous box office hit grossing in the millions at a time when films would have a very difficult time doing so. (Tickers were in the ten cent --range during the era) Criticism of the film was enormous and its amazing artistry was commonly ignored by those that felt it was just too horrifying and garish a film to take seriously. It was also considered too over the top of frightening to be of any commercial value. Most critics looked past the artistry of the film and centered on its more  at the time  salacious components. Such criticism was also levied at the 1932 DRACULA and THE MUMMY. Both were brilliant films and these three  along with BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN  opened the doors for the horror genre to explore into the mainstream even beyond their ability to draw audiences during the silent era.

Unfortunately for the horror genre, there was no first amendment or constitution in Great Britain. In 1933, the British Board of Film Censors banned horror movies in their home country in the interest of the public good. Due to the loss of such a vital export market, Universal shut down its horror movie line sending many actors (Bela Lugosi most notably) into unemployment. The horror genre, for all intents and purposes, was killed off. But, like the monsters it is films, it would eventually rise again as Universal put SON OF FRANKENSTEIN into production in 1939. The success of the film led to further horror productions that were wildly successful in the 1940s. The seemingly most popular of these films were FRANKENSTEIN and MUMMY sequels that were far more cartoonish than their predecessors. Also cartoonish were the monster rallies that featured an entourage of monsters in what were more fantasy-adventure pulp tales than serious horror films.

Why did this happen In the 1940s, World War II was raging across the globe and people were looking for escapist entertainment. The silliness of an Egyptian Mummy showing up in Louisiana (obviously, the bayou is cheaper to remake than ancient Egypt) provided an increasingly younger audience with cheap thrills. It also set the stage for the proverbial cancer that impacts the genre well into the modern era. That cancer would be the crank em out style of filmmaking that plagues horror films.

It is, however, important to point that some of the criticism of horror movies was well founded. Since audiences wanted cheap thrills in a number of instances, poor quality horror films could prove to be very successful at the box office regardless of how awful they were. Such an approach became common in the late 1950s and has remained a poison on the genre to this very day. So, for every one quality horror film, 20 or so extremely awful ones find their way into production.
Does that mean that all horror films of the 1940s were of middling quality No, there was one astounding classic that is actually far superior then a number of the serious horror films of the 1930s and 1920s. This film would be the 1942 classic THE WOLFMAN.

In older TV GUIDE publications, reviews would give THE WOLFMAN and would read The real deal. You could not ask for a more hulking and fearsome werewolf than Lon Chaney Jr. This is true and it is because the film is not so much about the wolf as much as it is about the man.

THE WOLFMAN is not a film about a menacing, rampaging creature. No, it is about the wayward prodigal son realizing he has abandoned his family. It is also about the inability for a father to love his son in the way a father should. This creates a dysfunction in the family that expands and comes to life in the form of the fearsome and menacing werewolf Lawrence Talbot turns into.

In the film, Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns to his home estate to be by his fathers side (Claude Rains) after the unfortunate death of his brother. Lawrence realizes his lack of responsibility led him astray but even as he tries to make amends, the playboy in him causes his amorous advances toward a woman that is engaged. Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers) ignores his advances but Lawrence persists. This leads to the scenario where he places both of them in danger  they are attacked by a werewolf. Lawrence kills the beast but is bitten and becomes a werewolf himself. Now, when the moon rises, he loses control of himself and becomes a rampaging beast. He tries to convince his father of the problem but his father will not listen or believe.

While it is understandable a father would be skeptical of tales of werewolves, the image of the Wolfman in the father-son dynamic clearly is symbolic of dysfunctional relationships. You could easily replace the image of the werewolf with drug addiction, gambling, or mental illness. Essentially, the werewolf becomes the symbol of anxiety and stress that threatens to tear apart the solidity of the family unit.

It is this component that remains one of the most common motifs in the horror film  anxiety. The cathartic experience found in horror films is anxiety, stress, and despair. And no modern horror film typifies this more than the original SAW (2004) was able to deliver in its presentation.

With the detonation of the atomic bomb to end WWII, the horror genre died. The fear of atomic attack rendered the horror genre irrelevant. The era of horror died and the realm of science-fiction emerged. Of course, like the mythical creatures in the horror film, the genre would not stay dead.
In the late 1950s, three events would occur that would bring the genre back Hammer Films released full color frightening adaptations of DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN delivering a level of shock never seen in horror films before AIP Films released the films I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN and I WAS A TEENAGE WOLFMAN which opened the door for a teen audience and the classic horror films of the 1930s and 1940s were released to television capturing a kids audience launching a horror boom that only abated for a brief time in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Unfortunately, the new explosion of horror films saw a significant rise in exploitation. Benignly sleazy during the 1960s, as censorship codes dissolved the horror genre would become far more exploitative than it ever had been before. Films such as THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974), HALLOWEEN (1978), DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979), FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) among others made the horror genre a violent, R-rated realm that boosted shock and anxiety levels in audiences. So, the experience of the cinema attending audience was one of shock and awe. This is why the success of SAW is not surprising. The film greatly boosted the shocking experience through putting the audience through a bizarre psychoanalytical world of serial killer that takes the guise of a savior of sorts.

The film SAW (and its uneven sequels) revolves around a psychotic murderer who places people in various traps designed to teach moral lessons. Those that do not truly look deep into themselves and change who they are cannot survive the traps. That would be about 99 of the people finding themselves in such traps. The stress and the anxiety such victims face carries over into the audience in a dually interactive manner. How is it interactive Basically, the audience will be placed in a position where they can identify with both the victim and the killer in the proceedings.

In terms of identifying with the victim, the audience understands that they all have their own unique flaws and problems. Seeing the victims on display in the film SAW leads them to realize their own problems and their own frailties. This is much like the anxiety that Lawrence Talbot feels in THE WOLFMAN although the absurdist world of SAW is decidedly more realistic since the antagonist is one that is rooted in reality as opposed to a fantasy creature such as a werewolf.

The audience also has a tendency to identify with Jigsaw since many will be somewhat envious of the power that the killer wields. Yes, this may sound like a garish indictment of the audience but there is a segment of it  possibly larger than some assume  that have a desire to crave the power that Jigsaw possesses over others. This does not mean that they wish to harm others. It can often mean that they simply wish to control the destiny of themselves and others. The grim nature of a film like saw presents such control in an explicit manner and THE WOLFMAN presents a decided lack of control in a very detailed manner. However, this notion of power, release, and control is a common convention in all horror films. A powerful monsterantagonist is one that has some control over others. This can prove to be very attractive to a certain segment of the audience.

The same could even be said of those that find the victim component of the film since it provides a visual experience that complements the helplessness people may feel in their life. This is a perpetual convention that has been with the horror genre since its inception and will stay will it for decades to come. Films genres all produce emotional responses of some sort. Comedies can make you laugh, dramas can make you sad, and horror films evoke fear. Fear is a form of anxiety and the rush of anxious helplessness and anxious dread aids in making the genre perversely popular. Perhaps it is this garish emotional response that is the reason why so many critics fail to take the genre seriously.

Whether or not most critics take the genre seriously or ignore it is irrelevant. The key here is that the genre has proven wildly successful. Some films have even emerged as all-time classics as evidenced with THE WOLFMAN and SAW. Of course, there will be many more classics to come and the horror genre will live forever like many of its undead brethren.

World history is rich with stories of struggles in power, both in the positive and negative sense of the word. Power can appear in a constructive way, as a means of productivity or development, but it could also be negative, like in the form of domination and coercion. The struggle for this power and authority is very evident especially in historical accounts of decolonization, which is a violent phenomenon that takes place with the meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by their very nature where one group intends to impose power and influence over the other while the latter fights to resist this imposition in order to keep its liberation (Fanon). In these events, the world becomes oriented with violent and transforming political acts participated by a colonizing group and a native group who commit acts of insurgencies, or the condition of revolting against the government, and counterinsurgencies, wherein government strikes back to eliminate the root causes and strengths of the insurgent groups.  Two films with plots that significantly represent the culture of decolonization are Braveheart (1995) and V for Vendetta (2006). The stories of these movies narrate the struggle for power and liberation of the natives against oppressive rulers that leads to violent acts of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies.

V for Vendetta is set on a suffering future version of Great Britain that is being ruled by the totalitarian government Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt) and his fascist group known as the Norsefire. The film is about a character named V (Hugo Weaving), an extraordinary kind of hero who planned to liberate his nation from this corrupt and cruel government through his violent tactics and by encouraging the people to join him in the insurgency and rebellion. He wears a Guy Fawkes mask that serves as a tribute to the Catholic activist who planned to blow up the Parliament in 1605. He is also aided by an unlikely accomplice in the person of Evey (Natalie Portman) whom he rescued and later oriented on his ideology and plan of destroying the government that manipulates and destroys their lives. These main protagonists of the story are two unique characters that create the most impact in the film. The movie is violent and brutal cinematically, as the acts of V are most likely seen as terroristic tactics, but are not necessarily so. Vs intentions are clearly motivated and are not only done for terroristic purposes but he uses destructive attacks like merciless killing and bombing of buildings to get his message across.

On the other hand, the film Braveheart follows the adventure of a man named William Wallace (Mel Gibson) and how he began a rebellion against the cruel rule of the English in Scotland. He was a man who dreamed to live a simple life but experienced grave losses because of Englands cruel King Longshank (Patrick McGoohan). One of these losses is the death of his wife. As a result, he organized an army to fight for the liberation of Scotland. He initiated the rebellion and successfully persuaded Scotsmen to join him in the hope of freeing the Scotland from the English rule. The movie presents its message in an equal balance of violence and honesty that makes following Wallaces ideologies in the movie very easy.

Insurgencies in the two films are depicted as liberating efforts against cruel rules of their government. V and William Wallace are two warriors with the same goal of toppling down their current government and freeing the people who have greatly suffered. Yet, they are also both motivated by their own losses and the destruction of their lives. They chose to revenge through a war wherein they encouraged the people of their nation to fight for freedom together with them. Vs ideology is that people should not fear the government rather it is the government who should fear the people. Wallace, on the other hand, believes that they can never have the life they are dreaming of unless they experience real freedom. These are the motivations they used to encourage the people to rebel against the cruel governments. Wallace was fighting to remove the colonizing English from his land while V engaged on his mission to destroy the ruling government of Britain during his time. The difference of the two insurgent plans was that Wallaces attack happened in a real battlefield against the English while V relied on creating an ambiance of terror before engaging on his attacks. Another difference would be the characteristics that V and Wallace posses. V is a dark image, a troubled hero, a mysterious propagator of liberation who never showed his face in the whole film and never revealed explicitly why he is doing such actions. Wallace on the other hand is a very transparent character and has served as an inspiration to many because of his clear and honest intentions. Also, Counterinsurgencies were portrayed in the form of defensive attacks against the insurgents through military and political tactics. Both V and Wallace died in the end of their stories and their deaths were hard to miss. But their goals lived on and where successfully continued by those people they have influenced.

The explicit and implicit political message of V for Vendetta and Braveheart are indeed influential in making people think and reflect of the current political situation of the world. The presentation of the needed violence as a result for properly motivated insurgencies has a big and controversial impact on assessing the reality of todays politics. These powerful, well-directed films indeed represent the violent measures that are taken by natives that were oppressed and have greatly suffered in the hands of their colonizers in order to achieve liberation and freedom.

Surrealism is considered a 20th century invention. From painting to literature, self-exploration of ones dreams and psyche formed the basis of creative thought. In film, a relatively new medium of expression, the concept of an auteur had just begun to develop in the late 1950s in Europe. Autobiographical expressionism was an experimental approach in film and someone like Federico Fellini was egotistical enough to want to exploit it.

In 8, we are bombarded with Fellinis innermost thoughts and desires juxtaposed against a mis en scne that is claustrophobic and disturbing. The opening sequence sets the precedent for what we as the audience feel towards the character Guido (Marcello Mastroianni), a film director suffering from a creative block. The films first scene is set in darkness where the characters are frozen in shock. For the audience watching the film, the disturbing act of voyeurism makes us want to walk away, but find that we cannot. We soon see that traffic is at a standstill the grunts of a man trapped in the car appear to provide titillating entertainment for the trapped commuters. As he struggles to escape, the darkness closes in and the shadows deepen we feel as trapped as Guido. All too soon, Guido is flying above the parked cars and escape into the light for the films first dream sequence.

I could not decide what disturbed me more being trapped in the car or the surrealism in the Guidos dream. Even as he escapes I feel that nothing good will come out of it, but am compelled to follow Guido. On the beach he struggles and eventually falls down into the waves. I found myself falling with him, willing myself to stop, and then being jolted awake when the doctor walks through the door. I was almost relieved when I realized that all that happened before was a dream, but at the same time, I know that the dream was really a premonition. Will Guido fall to his doom in real life or will he manage to escape that fate by acknowledging his failings as a person and strive to change
The opening scene of 8  encapsulates the plot of the film and Fellinis style of filmmaking. Guido is helpless in the face of his directors block and while he may escape, there is no closure. He is trapped not only by his mental block, but also by the relationships in his life. In the scene that follows at the doctors office, the sound of the typewriter in the background appears to taunt the protagonist about his creative block. He moves from the shadows of the office to the bright lights of a bathroom and then an even brighter open space. We walk by smiling faces and twirling umbrellas, confused about how Guido fits into this scene. I wondered if this was real or another dream. I found out that it was both as there is a moment when we see Guidos wife bring him a glass of water before we realize that it is actually one of the staff at the spa who is handing it to him. This sequence, like all others in this film, ends abruptly as if we are told that it is time to come back to reality.

Fellini navigates the physical landscape as easily as he navigates the human psyche through flashbacks and dreams. The real life scenes are mostly shot in tight frames while the dream sequences have long shots and panoramic backdrops. Neither provides a familiarity that we need to associate with the narrative. Typically when you watch a film, you expect to reach closure by the time the closing credits roll. I dont think Fellini intends for us to reach a resolution and is content to leave the field open for further exploration. As an audience of this film, his cest la vie attitude conflicts with our need to understand the character and reach closure. Fellini has other plans for us.

The narrative of the film does not follow a linear path. It is broken in places, going off on tangents before bringing us back to the place where we started. This place should be familiar, but because of our journey into Guidos head, the familiar takes on a surrealism that is unknown. Childhood memories, fantasies and day dreams dominate the protagonists life. We know that Guido is trying to put together a science fiction film but is unsuccessful. It is not his health that is holding him back on the contrary it is the noise in his life. The demands of his harem, mistress and wife, his own anxieties, his need to reach a specific time in his childhood when the world made sense, these are the impediments to his self-expressionism.

Fellini demonstrates these psychical impediments by way of placing Guido in narrow spaces such as hotel corridors, behind columns, between buildings and even in a cemetery where he is surrounded by ancient walls. In the scene where Guido picks up his mistress Carla from the railway station, we first see him sitting on a bench, an insignificant figure under the large iron gates. When he hears the whistle of the train, he moves towards the railing fence. The iron bars of the gate and the iron bars of the railing fence trap him inside. Next we see a close-up of Guidos face next to a pillar. He steps away to walk towards the platform. For a minute he is juxtaposed against the train before he sees Carla waving at him. He stays in that space even as the train moves away. The narrow camera shot reinforces the feeling that Guido is a trapped soul.

I think Fellinis ability lies not in his cinematic approach but rather in his theatrical one. I felt that there was a deliberate attempt by Fellini to place his characters in such a way that they define the scene and therefore convey the meaning of the narrative as well as the characters frame of mind. In the previous scene at the railway station, Guido looks back when Carla waves to him before stepping towards her. He then walks her out the station while moving to her left then right and then left again, all the while looking around to see if anyones noticed him. This made me think that Guido is not entirely comfortable with the idea of being seen with his mistress and would prefer to move out of the open as soon as possible. Next, when we see them in the bedroom, his confidence is restored behind closed doors where there are no prying eyes.

There is a similar situation where a traditional theatrical devise is subverted. In the scene where Guido is speaking to his father, we see Guido, his back to us, in the bottom right corner, a place normally reserved for characters who feel helpless and vulnerable. On the other hand, his father is facing him, and us, in the top left corner where you would typically find the stronger character.
The production design further invokes the theatrical element. I found myself noticing how the function of the background complemented the purpose of the characters actions. The high painted walls of the spa reminded me of a theater backdrop even as the scene unfolding during a dinner played out like a melodrama. Similarly, the scene from Guidos childhood where he is being bathed and dressed by his aunts is too stark to resemble real life. It has a set-like quality as if Guidos life is playing out on a stage and each character is there to play a part in his formation as a director, nothing more.

The lighting too is theatrical with each scene shot in either shadows or highlights. The interior scenes are mostly dark with the characters faces in shadows, hiding them from the audience. In the exterior scenes, the harsh sunlight washes out the shadows and puts everything in stark perspective. When we first meet Guido he is trapped inside a dark car before being liberated to a sun-drenched beach. In another scene, Guido walks into his hotel room where his wife is waiting. From the shadows of the corridor to the shadows of the room, his wife is hidden from us initially due to the darkness inside. When Guido opens the door to the bathroom, the light from inside doesnt penetrate the darkness of the hotel room. When Guido steps inside the bathroom, the walls are stark white and he is darkness personified in his dark suit.

The entire film is an education in the relationship between the space and character. All the characters denote some element of confusion and deceit, and Fellini uses placement to convey these feelings. This is all the more noticeable when we study Guidos reactions to the situations in which he finds himself. While watching the film, I often found myself thinking that Guido was ambivalent about his life and not just the film he wants to make. The expressions on his face, the way he bites his fingernails and adjusts his glasses, I found these to be symbols of his inability to move forward.

There is something interesting going on in Guidos life, or rather in the way that Fellini plays with Guidos psyche. The film itself is a collection of different episodes that do not appear to have anything in common at first. However, when you look closely you realize that in each situation, Guido is placed in a position of having to face a difficult situation, but he comes out of these in a way that reduces those situations to comedic levels. Almost every scene ends in a playful manner, saturating the real and imaginary worlds of Guidos life and his dreams.

A case in the point is the dinner scene in the spa. The scene begins with Guido shrouded in darkness, walking down the poorly lit corridor towards the elevator. Inside the elevator, he is crowded with other spa patrons before being set free in the open space of the dining area. Here he engages in a tense political discussion, light flirtation, and even takes to the dance floor with his friends mistress. Before this episode ends, the patrons are treated to a magic show that appears to wipe clean the seriousness of the events that occurred earlier. The patrons, dressed in fur and diamonds, are treated to a comical magician that belongs in a circus rather than the moneyed surroundings of the spa. Even the entrance of the magician is incongruous to the setting. In the darkness we see a spotlight behind a man who is in shadows. At first I thought it was Guido the tilt of the hat, the ominous music overture, the posture, all seemed to indicate Guidos state of mind.

As the film had so far moved so seamlessly between dream and reality, I also wondered if this was perhaps another dream. All too soon it becomes clear that this is no dream from the old dame in diamonds wearing a blindfold to the way the magician evokes Guidos childhood memories, we find ourselves wondering what role the magician plays in shaping Guidos destiny. The answer to this question is not readily answered. In fact we have to wait until the end of the film where a carnival-esque conclusion sees the return of the magician and Guidos resolve towards his life.

A defining moment in the film is the scene with the dancer Seraghina. When the scene begins, we are staring down at a young Guido from behind a large statue of a religious figure. The phallic symbol of the raised finger is a precursor to the scene that follows. Guido is invited by his friends to the beach where they watch Seraghina perform the Rhumba I found her dance to be frightening rather than seductive, as was her facial expression. Two priests catch up with the truant boys and Guido is singled out for punishment. In a way, this is Guidos first sexual experience and defines his attitude towards women. Just like the use of the lighting, there are no shades of gray here either. In Guidos mind, women are whores or mothers, but never both. I felt that Guido would not find salvation until he found a way to resolve his feelings in this respect.

The final scene of the film is just as powerful as the opening one. While the latter was rooted in dreams, the former is pure realism. Guido abandons his film project the space ship set is dismantled and the scaffolding begins to fall as Guido walks away. The imagery of the large steel structure above Guidos much smaller frame as it deconstructs evokes similar visual cues throughout the film. In an earlier scene of an outdoor auction, Guido and the guests are dwarfed by a large cathedral. In another scene, Guido is overshadowed by a large statue of the pope. Guido is impotent in the face of lifes challenges, but he is able to walk away from the difficulties that he has created as a result of his complicated relationships with the women in his life.

The magician returns in the final scenes as if to create the resolution. With a wave of his magic wand, we see a photo montage of Guidos wife, his parents, Seraghina, Guidos aunts, his mistress and others from his life. It was not clear to me what the purpose of this scene was. In a way it is Fellinis attempt to reconcile the narrative, but I find it to be a confusing ending. The people in Guidos life are not as we saw them throughout the film they are a stylized version with their perfect hair, big smiles and white costumes. In other words, they do not appear to be real but rather part of another elaborate dream sequence. The voice over about Guido learning from his mistakes and things making sense is too deliberate. He admits that he is still confused and does not know what he is seeking. Guido is staring outside the car window and running his hand through his hair when he makes this confession. It made me wonder what the purpose of the film was if it was not Guidos ability to discover himself through an exploration of his psyche. However, Guido is resolved to being a better person this means reconciling with his wife and his life. I feel that Guido has reached a point where he does not need the comfort of his dreams and can in fact survive in reality.

Fellinis 8  is a thought provoking film, but it leaves the audience as confused as the main character. The closing scene belays Fellinis fascination with psychoanalytical theories, something that is subconsciously part of the narrative. I believe that Fellini deliberately created a film that would allow him to explore his inner self through the characters that he has developed. It appears to be a case of art imitating life or at the very least, real life being an inspiration for art.

American Beauty, the 1999 film starring Kevin Spacey, tells the story of Lester Burnham, a seemingly ordinary,  middle-aged, suburban man and his family.  On the surface, it is the story of a husband and father who undergoes a sort of mid-life crisis.  Lester is unhappy with the drudgery and misery of his boring office job.  And, he is also very unhappy in his home life.  He has a strained relationship with his teenaged daughter, Jane, and his relationship with his wife, Carolyn, a materialistic real estate broker has become stale and lifeless after years of marriage.   Lester loses his job and becomes sexually obsessed with one of his daughters schoolmates, setting into motion a series of events which ultimately lead to his death.  However, American Beauty isnt just about Lester and his family.  The movie is making a larger statement about American life, pointing out both the good aspects and the aspects which are not so appealing.

There are many complex themes in the film, but one which really stands out is the idea that there is a very different reality that lies beneath what we sometimes see.  In the film, there is a very memorable moment when Rickey, a next door neighbor and schoolmate of Janes, talks about why he filmed footage of an ordinary plastic bag being tossed about in the wind.  He says he filmed the bag because he realized there is an entire life behind things, and found that to be beautiful. The idea that Rickey finds this plastic thing so beautiful parallels what the viewer is meant to see in the film.  The suburban lives the Burnhams lead is also very superficial and plastic, in a sense.  It is full of perfectly manicured lawns and the appearance of a happy American families.  But, behind the faade, a much pristine reality exists. Draw back the curtains on their perfect existence, and the Burnhams are really a mess. Their relationships are dysfunctional and they are each, in their own way, deeply troubled.

The Burnhams are not the only ones in the movie who are not what they seem.  Almost every single character is revealed as a sort of fraud, not in a bad sense, but more in the sense that they protect their vulnerable true identity with a social mask, in order to avoid being hurt.  Rickeys father Frank, for example, is not what he seems. On the outside, he is a homophobic, heterosexual Marine Corp Colonel, but he is actually hiding deep seeded homosexual inclinations that he is unable to accept.  Rickey, himself, puts on a pretense for his father.  He plays the role of the dutiful son he thinks his father wants him to be. He pretends he works at a catering service when in reality he is making money selling marijuana.  Also, Janes friend, Angela, pretends to be a super confident and sexually active blonde cheerleader type.  However, it is revealed that, for all her supposed sexual bravado, she is actually a very inexperienced young virgin, scared to let the world see that she is still a frightened little girl in a lot of ways.

Time and again, throughout American Beauty, the characters hide behind the masks of their daily lives. From the other phony real estate agents Carolyn works with, to the pretentious co-workers at Lesters office, everybody is playing a part.  The gay male couple, another of the Burnhams suburban neighbors, are probably the only two characters who come close to being honest about who they really are.  Overall,  American Beauty seems to be saying that we must look beyond the first impression of what we see, if we truly want to see the beauty in most human beings because most of us spend so much time pretending to be something or someone we are not.