Movie Suggestions

If I had to choose another movie to view in English 339, it would have been the Godfather. This movie would have fit right in with many of the other films that have been viewed so far this semester. The main films it would have went well with were Goodfellas, Scarface, and even Double Indemnity. All of these films incorporate similar themes and have close story lines.
One of the main things that these films have in common is violence. There are murders in all four of these films. Godfather has many people die in it due to gang wars. Goodfellas is the same way in that people are killed because the gang needs it to be done. Scarface is another gangster film and involves many killings. Double Indemnity is the only film that is somewhat different. This film is not about gangs, but it does involve murder and violence.
The other thing that these films have in common is the use of cars. These films rely on scenes that use cars and there are many important happenings that occur in cars. All the films except for Scarface have murders take place in the car. Cars are almost used in every scene of these films, lots of driving around and talking.
These similarities combined with the fact that it is one of the most recognized movies of all time is reason enough to show Godfather in class. It is a film that most people can enjoy. Even though it is a gangsters flick, it is not bloody or gory at all. This film shows all aspects of the lives of gangsters: taking out rivals, running businesses, and family life. If I had to choose between Goodfellas and Godfather, I would choose the later. Most people would probably do the same.

Boyz In The Hood

Boyz in the Hood was a very interesting movie, in that it lesson being taught. This lesson was that violence and gangs were not the solution to your problems, the only way to get out of their horrible situation was through school and special talents like Ricky. While teaching this lesson the film was going through the lives of a few characters. Each of these kids had different roles. Some were gang members, athletes, or school smart. As the film went on, the audience was able to how their decisions affected their time in the hood and their futures.
I really enjoyed the mix of the characters, it showed with a small sample of people the options they have to get out of the hood. The variety of characters made it easy to understand the story and the situations that they were in. Although I did not like a few of the characters, such as Ricky and Doughboy's mom and the crackhead lady who let her kids wander the streets. These women were just sad to watch because they were not doing anything to help their kids have better lives. Ricky and Doughboy's mom just sat at home and did nothing and was going to tag along on Ricky's football career. The crackhead mother just wanted drugs and her kids meant nothing to her, this would just make it easier for these kids to get into trouble and get right back into the cycle.
In the introduction to the movie on Tuesday, I was under the impression that this movie would be all about gangs, especially the Bloods and the Crips. Although there were scenes with gangs, there were no mentions of the names. This movie was mostly about the struggle of the main three characters and their pursuit to get out of the hood and do something with their lives. The only thing that made me sad was Ricky getting shot. Other than that, the movie was pretty good.

English 341 Review

This class has probably been one of my favorites while I have been here at WSU. There hasn't been a day where I have not looked forward to going to this class. The books that we have had to read are interesting for the most part and the discussions are very entertaining to say the least.
Although I really enjoyed the class, I would have liked it if there had been more assignments or other things to do with the reading. I feel like this would have kept me and the others in the class on top of the reading and more willing to participate in class discussion. Another thing that could have made the class better was less chit chat from the ladies of the classroom, I know we were supposed to be discussing, but not what drinks we had over the weekend.
Other than that I really liked the class and could not have asked for more. You as the teacher were very helpful if we had questions and kept the mood of the classroom light which I appreciate. If I have friends who ask about this class I would definitely recommend it to them. But if I could make just one change, it would be to take out Almanac of the Dead, this book is very hard to get into and difficult to follow.

Prison Writings

After reading this book, I have decided that I really like the layout. One of the things that I like about it is that at the beginning of the book it goes over the court case. This allows a reader who otherwise would not have known about Leonard Peltier and his story, to catch up and be able to go right into the actual book. It was nice having seen the film of this story in class, because I could get both sides of the story, instead of just the defendants side as is in the book.
Once the case is gone over at the front, it goes into the story after Peltier is convicted. Life did not seem very fun. It is hard to read Peltier's troubles in prison and then look at the picture of his cell. It is interesting to me that he can have so many personal belongings in his cell. From the looks of it, he is at a minimal security prison, which seems weird since he was charged with two counts of murder. To me it seems as if the government is saying here have a nice place to live since we screwed you over.
The main thing that won me over was the chronology in this story. I like it when a story is easy to follow and there is not a lot of hopping around. I really enjoyed these last two books more than the first three. I don't know if it is just me, but the picture of Peltier really reminds me of Ron Jeremy. It is just the long hair and the creepy mustache.

Class Video with Leonard Peltier

I really enjoy class videos and this video of the story of Leonard Peltier was no different. One of the main reasons why I liked this video is because I am a history major. This story was right up my alley, I love learning about old stories like this where different people or groups had showdowns with the government. The beginning of the video was very catchy, but as the video wore on I became more and more angry with the story and how the government could charge an innocent man in my eyes to a lengthy stay in jail.
The government officials in this documentary pissed me off. It seems to me as if they knew this man was innocent but still made up lies about Peltier and his friends just so they could frame someone for the deaths of their coworkers. One of the officials bothered me in that he was smiling when talking about Peltier being charged and put in jail. It was as if he had been brainwashed or something into believing all the lies that had been made up to frame this man.
Not only was Peltier charged wrongly, but he has been given the shaft. I think it was you who said that Clinton had promised to release him from jail, but he got preoccupied and did not end up doing it. I would be so angry if I was told I would be released and then not let go. I also don't think this is all the governments fault because Peltier knows who killed the officials yet he will not tell the government who. This just seems dumb to me, but I am not an Indian and from what the men said in the video, they don't tell on others.

Two Old Women

This book was probably one of the easiest readings that we have had to do for the class. I also enjoyed this book more than the others so far. This story was interesting in that it was the most like the Native American stories I have heard, in that it has a moral to the story. The other books we have read so far are just written by Native Americans, this one has the feel of a real Native story. I found it mean that the group of nomads left the two old women to fend for themselves, but I also understand the decision because the group did it to survive. I feel that if I were in the situation I would have had a hard time leaving them there, knowing that they were almost certainly goners.
I also think that if the two women were my relatives I would have left them things behind, just like Ch'idzigyaak's grandson left his ax for the women. If I didn't leave anything for my relatives I would feel horrible and probably be haunted of the decision to leave them there.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when the two women hunt a moose. I get the funniest picture of old women sneaking up on a huge moose and then ambushing it and chasing it around. Knowing my grandma's I don't think they would ever be able to get the guts to do something like that.
The last thing that I like about this book was that there was actually a happy ending to it, all the other books we have read have been dark and had unhappy solutions for the most part. These two women are pretty bad ass in my opinion.

Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde was probably the most violent movie that has been shown in class so far. There were many scenes that went over the line set by the Code Committee. Besides breaking the code in many places, the movie was made in color, and based more on history.
The first thing that I noticed when watching the movie was the lack of care for the Movie Code. Even though it said that the shooter and the victim can't be in the same shot, this movie did it anyway. The first time that this happened was when the man who worked at the bank jumped on the get away car and Clyde shot him into the face. Another time was that this happened was when the cops were shooting up the house in Missouri and everyone bails. Buck has to keep the cops from attacking him, so he shoots one in the belly with a shotgun.
Another way that the makers of this film broke the code was through partial nudity and scenes that could be considered sexual. This happens right at the beginning of the film when Bonnie is naked and moving around in her room. Although the audience never sees her naked due to well place props in the room, we can assume that she is naked. There are scenes later in the film that give the audience the idea that sex is happening, like when Bonnie and Clyde are out in the field and then we come back to the scene and Clyde is buttoning his shirt up.
The only thing that I didn't like about the movie was that it was not very accurate. In the film it made it seem as if they were not making (stealing) a lot of money, when in reality they were able to acquire lots of money. Another thing that I didn't like about this movie was that the gang was always hanging out in houses and buildings, a good portion of this gangs time was spent out in the countryside hiding in caves and other things. These hideouts were also where they would hide their loot. I'm not positive on whether the ending of the movie was accurate, because I have heard that the two were going to pick up the mail and were ambushed at the mailbox. I could be wrong but that is what I have heard.
Overall though I liked this movie, it was full of action and had its funny moments. With a little more accuracy with the history, I believe the movie would have been better, but this could be my historian side coming out.

A Place In The Sun

This movie was probably the longest that we have watched all semester. Although it was a long movie, it was full of interesting things. One of the things that I payed attention to while watching the film was the use of music and sound. While listening I found many interesting things. After watching the movie I felt as if George could have done many different things to have got himself out of trouble.
The sounds and music used in this film were used in a very interesting way. Overall, this movie was pretty quiet except for certain scenes that used dog barking and sirens. Other than those two noises, there really wasn't much going on audio wise. Music was another thing that was used uniquely. The times that music was played when George was around his relatives and the rich people, it was classic slower music. This was probably done to show that these people were sophisticated and used to the finer things in life. When George was with Alice though, the music was of a different genre. Instead of slow classical music, it was fast paced, upbeat popular music being played. This was probably done to show that these people were younger and had a different kind of likes and did not feel like they had to stand for the moral standards of others.
Of all the characters in the film, I did not like George, I guess he rubbed me the wrong way. Even at the beginning I did not like him. When he first walked in in that ugly suit he was slumped over. This drove me crazy because I hate it when people slouch when they walk. The other thing was the suit, I could not get over how bad it looked.
As the movie progressed, I grew to dislike George even more. I thought that George should have followed the rules that were set at work and not got involved with Alice. Later, after the two got serious George should have ended the relationship with Alice as soon as he started seeing Angela. People that can date two people at the same time are horrible and selfish.
I also feel that if George would have talked to his Uncle about the situation, he would have been on his side. His uncle really liked George's work and wanted him to be successful at the company. It seems to me that George's uncle would have kept George on after the situation, maybe demoted him, and then fired Alice. These are just things that I thought might happen from watching how people interacted during the movie.
Overall, I thought this film was pretty good. The only thing that I would have liked to be different was the outcome of the case. If I was on the jury I would have had to say not guilty because there was reasonable doubt, or at least the way the movie went there was. It was possible she hit her head on the boat and drowned. George is not responsible for saving her life, even though it would have been the nice thing to do.

Double Indemnity

This movie was one of the most interesting that we have watched so far this semester. There were many different things that made this movie different from others that we have seen. The first difference that I observed was the fact that this movie was narrated. None of the other films were done this way, so this film was unique. Walter came in at the beginning of the movie as an unknown character and started telling his story. During breaks in the movie, it goes to shots of Walter talking into the recorder to tell his side of the story. It was interesting to see how the movie and narrative transitioned into one another.
To go along with the narrative point, the movie was an entire flashback. Walter the main character came into the office and went into Keys' office and started a recording. In this recording, Walter admits to the murders of Mr. Didrikson and Phyllis. He also tells his side of the entire story, so nobody else, mainly Nino. This was the first time that I had seen an entire movie as being a flashback. I had seen short scenes in a movie that were flashbacks, but not the entire or majority of the film.
Another thing that I noticed was the equipment that Walter used when recording. From the looks of it it was a wax cylinder. This is interesting because it shows how old the film was, because wax was used before records were made and recorded on. I might be wrong about this, but they looked like wax cylinders.
When Walter got to the scene where he and Phyllis killed Mr. Didrikson, is where the film got interesting. This film followed the code because it did not show Walter killing Mr. Didrikson, it went to Phyllis' face and you could only hear Walter killing the man. I found it very odd that Phyllis was smiling or smirking when Mr. Didrikson was being killed, it showed how heartless she was. This was also the point where I knew that Walter was in over his head and that he was probably going to be gotten rid of too. Whoever played Phyllis did a really good job, because I really never got the sense that she was a good person or not up to something.
As the film went on, I noticed how Phyllis wardrobe changed. In the beginning of the film she wore a white gown, but as her plans started to develop to kill Mr. Didrikson her wardrobe gained more black and lost the white. I think that this was done to represent her as being evil or that she was not pure. What got me was at the end when she was wearing her white gown again, I thought that that was strange. The only explanation that I could come up with was that she was trying to recreate her first encounter with Walter.
Overall, I thought that this film was pretty good. I liked the fact that it was different from the other films that we have watched so far.

Sullivan's Travels

This movie was probably my favorite that we have watched all semester. This could also be due to the fact that I love comedies and enjoy laughing. There were lots of things that I saw going on in the movie. Sullivan's Travels had many different parts to it, it had a movie within a movie at the beginning of the film, and then the movie flipped from serious to comedy.
One of the first things that I noticed in the film was the short film at the beginning of the movie. At first I thought it was the real movie, but as quick as it started it was over. But during that short period of time, there was a fight between the two men on the train. One of the men pulls a gun and is shown shooting the man and then the man who was shot has blood coming out of his mouth. Both of these things were against the production code. I don't have the date of this film, but I'm assuming that it was made towards the end of the period where films had to be subjected to the code.
After moving on from the short film, I started noticing weird or odd things in the films. The first of which was when Sully was meeting with his friends/bosses. While they are talking Sully puts on or removes his jacket and you can see that he has his tie tucked into his pants. I was trying to figure out whether it was in style at the time or if it was done to get laughs. I got the feeling that it was more for laughs than anything, because none of the other men wore their ties like that. Later in the movie I noticed how Sully walked with the girl. They never walked side by side or hand in hand, Sully always had his hand firmly grasping the girls arm. It never looked like they were companions, it looked more like she was in trouble and he was walking her to meet someone to be punished. It just looked awkward to me.
Other than these weird moments, I noticed the switching between serious and humor. It was like the movie or producers could not make up its mind on what it was supposed to be. The movie became serious when there were scenes about Sully being a tramp or when he was in jail. The film would switch to comedy whenever he was on the move during his trip to get into trouble, like when he was staying with the creepy lady or during the pool scene.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. I was laughing quite often and I hope that we have more comedies in the future.

Rayona

This story just sickens me. I hate hearing about child molesters in the news and reading about it is just as bad, I know that it is not real but the author is able to capture/depict what took place and it is horribly accurate from what I have gathered from the news and whatnot. I have a hard time understanding how Father Tom was able to get so close to these children without the families becoming suspicious. It is obvious that his position in the church helps, but if he comes out of nowhere and molests Rayona, it just seems that he has probably done it before. If he has done this before, I would think that there would be signs of touching or words said that might give him away, but I guess not. It just seems that kids now are way more willing to come forward and report what happened to them. As the story keeps going, it seems as if Rayona just cannot get away from Father Tom, he shows up everywhere, but this is probably because he is paranoid of her telling people about what he did to her. Rayona from what I have read seems like she just wants to get away and have Father Tom disappear more than she wants to tell on him, but I've been wrong before. Overall, this reading was not very enjoyable due to the topic and I hope that it gets better as the book goes along.

Golddiggers

I can't lie, this movie had me lost for the majority of it. For the entire movie, I was trying to figure out how the play that the girls were doing related to the Great Depression and for the life of me I could not connect the two. I could see the similarities in that people were struggling money wise and that happy families or couples at the beginning of the play were split up due to the fact that the men where away at war. Other than that, I did not see a correlation.
One of the things that I found interesting about this film was the lack of color. The movies of this time were able to have color. I don't understand why this movie did not use color, it seems as if the color would have added so much. Even though the color was lacking, the sound was leaps better than the previous films, characters could be heard clearly and the songs did not crack and the singers voices were pretty good.
Something that caught my attention was when Brad came over to play his music for the producer and the girls and he started playing the piano. It was clear to me that he did not know how to play the piano and was just pretending to push keys. This seems odd because I do not think that producers had the technology to do sound overs or insert certain music into the ongoing scene. So my thoughts were, was there someone else playing the piano at the same time, or was that entire scene lip-synced? I thought that the lip-sync option would probably been too difficult to lip-sync the entire scene and song.
Other than that, I found the plot entertaining and really enjoyed the prank that Dolly's friends played on Brad's brother and the old man. The woman who was supposed to be the comedian and add humor to the film did that sort of, but it did not really work for me, I found her extremely annoying. Overall the movie was pretty good.

Babyface

This movie was steps above Scarface when it came to sound. There was music, singing, and background sound in many of the scenes of the movie. It really seems as if the producers had gotten the technology down and were able to use it to the fullest. Voices were pretty clear and the viewers could make out the sounds of cars, printing presses, and trains. All of these new sounds happening at once made this movie that much better and seem like real life.

One of the things that I found interesting was the use of irony, in that her name was Powers and all she really wanted was money and power. Then there was the scene early on in the film when she met with the old man. He told her to leave town and take advantage of men to get what she wanted. Lily's response was, "Where am I supposed to go? Paris?" and that is exactly where she ended up going. I'm pretty sure the writers knew what they were doing with these things, but if they did not than that is funny.

The next thing that I noticed was the use of panning upwards. This was done to show the greatness and success of the city. When Lily started to work for the bank, it was also used to show her rise in the company. There were windows with job titles on them, as Lily used her bosses she kept moving up in the company. After using about four to six men she reached the top and was working for the second in command. Lily was always on the move, she never stayed set in one place for long, she was always on the prowl for a man in higher position.

Men in this movie were portrayed as being dumb and easy to persuade into anything. This was done through Lily just having to bat her eyes at the men and she had them wrapped around her fingers. After she was through with the men she tossed them to the side and was cold as ice, especially when those men came back to see her because she was the only thing they had left. Each man got to see how she ruined her former "lovers" life, I just do not understand how man after man could make the same mistake. Someone should have put a stop to it. Overall the movie was pretty good.

Crazy Sisters

After reading this week I have really started to notice just how weird and bizarre the two sisters are. For one thing they found it amusing that when their father died he dried up and weighed about 50 pounds. They joked about how he probably looked like one of the saints who don't decay. I'm so glad that I don't have any relatives like this, because I would be freaked out by the two of them. Another thing that I noticed is that their father was a geologist and study the land around Tuscon and while he had the girls he pointed out things about the land, I feel that this will somehow come back and have something to do with the rock snake of Sterling's tribe. As the book goes on, we have learned more about Zeta and Lecha, it has become clear that Lecha and Seese are very similar. Both of these women have drug problems, have some sort of problem with their babies, and were dependent on men at a younger age. Even though the twin sisters are supposed to be alike, I find them to be very different. Zeta to me seems like the nice and responsible sister, while Lecha is the twin who is care free, irresponsible and somewhat evil. This can be seen through the story of when Lecha leaves right after her son is born and Zeta is left to take care of a baby that isn't even hers. This book is full of messed up characters, I wonder if we will ever be introduced to one.

Scarface

After learning about the 1930's movie code, I was on the lookout for things that should or should not be included in the movie. If I had to rate the movie on how well it followed the code, I would give it about a 50 percent. The movie producers did a great job in not showing the murders of the characters and keeping the murderer and the victim out of the same shot, as well as eliminate profanity. However the part that they did not follow was the showing of guns, trafficking of drugs, and glorification of the bad guy.

One of the other things that I noticed while watching the movie was that there was no music at all. This seemed odd due to the fact that all the other films we had watched were filled with music. The new sounds were great to hear and that might be the reason why there was no music, they might have not wanted to overpower the voices. The only thing that resembled music in this movie was the whistled that Tony did right before he killed someone.

The last thing that caught my eye was the amount of smoking that the characters in this movie did. I know that smoking was a lot more popular during this time, but I was wondering whether the cigarette and cigar companies had a role in this, because they used to use famous people to advertise their products. Every time a cigarette was lit, the match was thrown onto the ground, the cigarettes were also thrown onto the ground when finished. This made me wonder whether or not the ground was covered in cigarette butts and matches, and if it was I would feel bad for whoever had to sweep it up.

Overall I really enjoyed this movie. Characters that actually speak did wonders for the story, before sound there was hardly any dialogue shown in the film. This made it hard to get an idea of what was really happening in the movie. The sound completed the film.

Redskin

My bad, I totally lost time and forgot to post before 9. Hopefully this is okay. During the film Redskin, I noticed that there was a lot more text for the viewer to read. Other films that we have watched there really was not any text to read and if there was, it was short. In Redskin there was on average a text to read every few minutes. This increase in reading seemed to me that the producers of the film really wanted the audience to come out of the film with one idea and story. In other movies the story was left up to the interpretation of the audience. I think that this film was one of the first to push movies into more of a narration and one base line.
Another thing that I noticed was that the screens with the text were different. While with the Natives, the screen was larger and it had a design, but with the whites the screen was half the size and only black and white. I really do not understand why this was done, there does not seem to be a reason.
One of the other main things that I noticed was the use of makeup. During the film, the story fast forwards like ten or more years and instead of getting all new actors, the characters were dressed up in makeup to make them appear older. Other movies that were watched before this, there was no makeup used for the characters besides powder to make people's skin color lighter. Wing Foot's father and the other main characters were dressed up in makeup that gave them wrinkles and gray hair, all of this made the tribe members look old. Also later in the movie Wing Foot is out in the desert and he discovers oil. When the whites come looking they find Wing Foot who looks crazed. This is done through dark makeup around his eyes. The makeup also makes him look sickly and close to death.
This film did many different things that I had not seen done in earlier films. This was a very interesting film to watch and was not hard to watch.

Within Our Gates

While watching the film, I saw many interesting things. One of the things that stuck out the most was the use of color for the characters. The main characters in the movie who were black were very light skinned, while those who had smaller parts were darker. Although it may have not been on purpose, the movie gives the view that only lighter colored skinned blacks were educated and important, while the darker skinned blacks were the ones who were uneducated and had small parts. It almost seems like the film was going against what it was actually trying to promote, that is that blacks are equal to whites and need to be educated just the same. What the use of lighter and darker colored blacks, it appears as if blacks themselves were not able to get over the barrier, so how is it that whites are supposed to treat blacks equal when blacks cannot treat each other equally?
Another thing that stuck out about the film was the use of flashbacks. I thought that the use of flashbacks was unique in that many films of the time did not or could not use the effect. What the flashbacks in this film did was fill in the story line later on. This effect helped explain the part where Sylvia decided to leave the South to go to the North to raise money for the school so it could stay open. After this scene I was left with the question of how much money she needed to raise, but due to the fact that flashbacks were used, the film showed a clip where Sylvia got a letter from the school saying that it needed $5,000. This small flashback helped answer my question as well as add to the story.
Both of these things stuck out in my mind throughout the film, they added aspects to the film that I did not expect to see.

First Reading English 341

In the first reading of Smoke Dancing, I was introduced to a technique of writing that I found very interesting. The author switches between characters as he starts a new chapter. Each of the characters are described by the other characters and as a reader you get an idea of how that character actually is, but when you read the story from that person's perspective you see that the character is not always as they seem. In the instance of Mason, he is described by the others as being a "horny" guy and only out for his own good, but when you read his story you see that he is still "horny", but that he wants to help the reservation by cutting them in on his business' profit. Although he may be doing it the wrong way, he has the right attitude. The story and use of characters is very interesting and makes this book an easy read so far.