High School All Over Again

The final screening of the year was Perks of Being a Wallflower, a film directed by Stephen Chbosky. To put it short, this coming of age story is a complete roller coaster of emotions. It starts out focusing on Charlie, all we know is he is a socially awkward kid who has a hard time making friends, and it is his first day of high school. He goes to shop class and there is a student who makes fun of the teacher, his name is Patrick. Patrick has a stepsister named Sam. Sam Charlie and Patrick all become good friends and Charlie begins to fall for Sam. As the movie progresses, Charlie continues to have flashbacks of his Aunt Helen. All that is revealed is that Aunt Helen played a huge role in his life. Sam Charlie and Patrick go to a party and Charlie gets high on accident and finds his new friend Patrick in a bedroom with a football player. Patrick tells his that it is a secret and he cannot say anything. He reveals to Sam that his only friend committed suicide, which we can now assume that is why Charlie is a little timid and reserved. At the end of the party Patrick makes a toast to Charlie as officially becoming a wallflower like the rest of them.

Patrick toasting Charlie

As we get more and more insight into the characters lives, it becomes clear that Charlie and Sam really like each other. They just have different plans for their lives, Charlie wants to be a writer and is only a Freshman and Sam is graduating with dreams of attending Penn State. They share a kiss on Christmas Eve, Charlie’s birthday. Sam tells Charlie that the first person to kiss him should be someone that loves him. This confuses Charlie because the next time he sees Sam she has a new boyfriend. Towards the end of the movie, the two are alone again and Sam touches Charlie’s leg. This sends us into a flashback of Charlie’s childhood and we learn that Aunt Helen sexually abused Charlie as a child. This is when I sat back and was in awe because I had no idea of this, and did not expect that turn of events. It explains why Charlie is the way he is. Charlie returns home and is contemplating suicide and wakes up in the hospital. He receives visits from his family and friends and the story ends joyfully.

The movie takes the viewers back to high school. It gives such an accurate depiction of the average high schoolers life. There are all the stereotypical cliques in one movie. No matter where you were in high school, you were represented. That is why I find this movie so powerful. I think it is a great film that everyone should watch and take time to just sit and think and reminisce. All the drama and problems we faced not so long ago were all in one place for us. I really enjoyed the film and will definitely re watch in the future.

I am extremely happy with my decision to take this course this semester. I appreciate Dr. Schlegel for introducing me to movies I have not seen or had any interest in seeing, or even heard of before. The knowledge I now have about film and the history of film really made me open my eyes and realize there is such beauty in film, and it goes far beyond what I thought before this class. I am much more open to trying new movies and am looking forward to expanding my film knowledge. Thank you for a great semester!

Auteur Theory: JJ Abrams

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams, born June 27,1966 in New York City was raised in Los Angeles. His parents were Television producers. He made his first film at the young age of 16, a low budget film called Nightbeast. He decided to study film at Sarah Lawrence University where he graduated in 1988 and co-wrote his next movie, Taking Care of Business. He is best known for his hit movie series, like Mission Impossible, the Star Trek reboot and the Star Wars reboot. He also directed TV series such as Fringe and Lost. There are many people who claim it is difficult to apply auteur theory to JJ Abrams, but after watching multiple of his films, I believe there is a certain style and a different feeling of an Abrams directed work. I will be focusing mostly on the Star Wars films and the series, Lost. While the two do not seem similar whatsoever, when you look at the direction of them, you can tell he put an “Abrams style” on them.

A lot of people watch his movies or shows and it is always discussed how successful they were, and how much they enjoyed them, but never actually give credit to the director. When you sit back and look, this man had to take a series as big as Star Trek and Star Wars and had to appeal to the same fan base as the fans from the 60’s and 70’s, but also bring in a younger generation of fans. At 42, he directed the reboot of Star Trek. “The director was credited with adding a youthful energy to a film franchise that many thought had run its course, and the movie became one of the biggest box-office hits of the year.” The difficulty and pressure that was put on him is insurmountable. I think most of the success of the reboots is due to the direction by Abrams. The whole idea of auteur theory is the director has their own style and create their own story. There will often times be many themes that are recurring in many films by the same director, JJ Abrams is no exception to the phenomena, there are many themes that can be seen in many of the works by him.

When you watch a piece from Abrams you will notice a strong female lead. For example, in Star Wars, you see Rey, the centerpiece of the new trilogy. She is supposed to be the heir to the Jedi. You also see the main antagonist, Kylo Ren, happens to be the son of the female lead from the original trilogy, Princess Leia. In the show, Lost, Kate is a focal point in the show, someone who has to hold her own on a mysterious island. It also goes without saying, that most works by Abrams are high-tech, suspenseful and filled with action.

Lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren: Star Wars

Bar fight scene: Star Trek

Another signature of Abrams is the music he uses. A lot of the time it is composer, Michael Giacchino. His music is present in many of Abrams films, and he is the main composer in Lost and Fringe. This is a big part of auteur theory, the same actors or same composers. Next time you watch anything by Abrams be sure to listen for Giacchino’s music, there is a good chance he performs the score.

JJ Abrams also really likes to take advantage of a phenomena called a lens flare. A lens flare is when a light is being pointed directly at the camera causing light to scatter on the screen. A lot of times when taking photos this occurs when the camera is facing the sun. We talked about high key and low key lighting during the cinematography unit. What is interesting about a lens flare is it can be seen in both high key and low key lighting. In the video below, you can see there are many scenes shot in low key lighting and a simple flashlight, or a car headlight will give off a flare. By the same token you will see many clips of high key lighting when it is the sun or reflections that give off the lens flare. Abrams uses that on purpose and it has become a signature of his. I find JJ Abrams interesting because he claims he does not have a particular style in filming, but when you analyze what he has made there is all these recurring nuances that is so easy to place as his work. As a fan of his movies and shows it becomes clear to me especially after taking this class, these are all overlapping items in his movies and shows.

When you watch anything by JJ Abrams, you find yourself often times glued to the screen because he puts so much into the movies and shows that the audience cannot get enough. At the young age of 54, Abrams’ resume is already masterful, I am willing to predict he has a lot more pieces of art he is willing to produce and have yet to come out. As an avid fan, I cannot wait for the next time something of his is released, I will be overjoyed to go check it out.

Quotes:

“I feel like in telling stories, there are the things the audience thinks are important, and then there are the things that are actually important.”

“I think you have a passion and an obsession for something when it’s not necessarily ubiquitous.”

I have no style. There are certain people who just have a visual sense that defines their work. You could probably watch 30 seconds of anything they do and you’ll know exactly who directed it. I don’t have that skill.

References:

Augustyn, A. (n.d.). J.J. Abrams. Retrieved November 9, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-J-Abrams

J.J. Abrams. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2020, from https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009190/bio

Get Out NOW

Get Out was a wonderful screening. The movie opens with a scene showing who we later find out is a man named Andre. There is no context immediately following the opening scene until we meet Andre later in the film. It tells a story of an African American man named Chris. Chris is dating a white girl named Rose, who is bringing Chris home to meet her parents for the first time. Little does Chris know that Rose’s family has a history of abducting black people and hypnotizing them for them to work for them and be their “slaves”.

This is a scene of Georgina, one of the previous black people Rose’s family had abducted serving Chris and the rest of the family tea.

In this scene, Rose’s mom asks Chris is he would like to be hypnotized for him to no longer crave cigarettes, which he later does get hypnotized by her. That is when we learn that maybe something is up with Rose’s family, and there may be something strange going on.

In class we discussed Ideology. This movie is a great example of many ideologies in society today. This movie is about a Dominant Ideology, something that is clearly present and widely held beliefs. Obviously, the movie is about racism and how there is an obvious possibility there are situations like these as Chris faces in the movie. Anyone who has been following the news can see that racism is a very evident problem in the country and has been for the last hundreds of years. Jordan Peele, the producer, made this point very clear in the movie and hopefully all the audience members alike felt the same way. This is a real problem that needs to be figured out.

Seen here, is when they are auctioning off Chris like a slave would have been auctioned off.

We also talked about how every film displays some sort of ideology whether it be explicit or implicit. I believe Get Out displayed very explicit ideology. Peele made it very recognizable the black people were not being treated fairly in the film as they are not being treated fairly in real life.

Glory For ALL

This week we watched a spectacular film about the 54th regiment in the Civil War which was one of the first regiments made up of all African-American Soldiers. I have seen the movie previously and watching it the second time around, I enjoyed it even more. I missed a lot of key points the first time I watched. I enjoy war movies a lot and this particular one is definitely towards the top of my list. I think this story is such an accurate representation of life in that time for the African American community. You see how they were all treated even though they were soldiers for the Union Army. A movie like this one with such historical context it is important to get it right.

Because of the historical accuracy, it feels as though you are right there in the war and training with the group of soldiers. The colonel of the regiment, Robert Gould Shaw is perhaps the most perfectly represented character in the film. I think he depicts a lot of people’s feelings toward the African American community in this time. He has to be stubborn on them because they are his regiment, but he also sees them as human beings. The part when he goes and demands socks and shoes is a very touching scene it makes the viewers see that he actually cares about his troops and believes they should be treated the same as a white soldier. That is why I think the film is so great is because it really captures the audience and makes you really feel for these soldiers.

The final scene when they attack Fort Wagner

This scene is one of the most heart felt scenes as your anticipation is at an all time high. A lot of war movies, you expect the soldiers to come out on top after you follow them throughout the whole film. This unfortunately is not the case. All the soldiers and generals die during the attack and the fort was never stolen. The last scene of the movie is Shaw being buried with his troops as per his final wish instead of being buried in his home state of Massachusetts. I love this movie and I believe it is a super accurate depiction of life as an African American in the 19th century.