Fight Club

When I think about deeper social meanings in a recent Hollywood blockbuster, the first title that comes into my mind is Fight Club. At a first glance, the movie starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter is a story about gratuitous violence and anarchy. The bloody fight scenes seem to follow the pattern described in the article about Saw, which states that the commercial quality of a movie is nowadays directly proportional to the amount of blood and gore in it. However, Fight Club, based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, tends to engage viewers into deeper issues, with a great deal of satire and dark humor.

To a deeper extent, Fight Club is mainly a critique of modern-day consumerism. The main character and narrator (Edward Norton) grows tired of his posh lifestyle and daily routines. While battling a bad case of insomnia, he develops an anarchistic alter ego, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), whose main occupation is manufacturing soap, a product which can be used to make powerful explosives. Paradoxically, soap, an essential element of people’s hygiene and well-being, is transformed into a powerful weapon against consumerism. The first target is the narrator’s cozy apartment, which is mysteriously blown up (later in the movie we find out that the narrator a.k.a. Tyler Durden did it himself). The club started by the “two” characters is only a means of recruiting followers for “Project Mayhem”, which has the final goal of blowing up the headquarters of several important corporations in the city. This would be a decisive blow to the heart of consumerism, an operation dangerously resembling the 9/11 attacks. Since Fight Club was released in 1999, when the Twin Towers were still standing straight, one can only infer that the people who saw Fight Club or read the book back then didn’t really pay attention to its concealed warning message. Moreover, the structure of club where ordinary men go to release their anger through one-on-one fighting on a Saturday night is based on that of most clandestine organizations, terrorist or non-terrorist. The club has a clear set of rules, a hierarchy and a paramount requirement to be kept secret (expressly stated in the first two rules). Towards the end of the movie, the club gains an almost religious following and the nameless narrator, along with his alter ego, receives cult status.

The most interesting character of the movie, however, is Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), who has a decisive influence on the narrator’s life. He meets her in the support groups he attends to get relief for his insomnia and quickly notices that she doesn’t have any problem recommending her for any of those groups(at one point he sees her in a testicular cancer support group). Her presence is deleterious for his sense of relief, and because of her, his insomnia rebounds. As the article about Scream states, women are often perceived in culture as the “root of all evil”. In Fight Club, Marla triggers the narrator’s split personality and all the problems stemming from that.

Pirates

A new cult phenomenon has been born-- Pirates of the Caribbean. Filled with action, adventure, and love, the trilogy has anything and everything that a person would want in a movie. The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, and At World's End all are on the list of the top 30 highest grossing films of all time at 26, 6, and 23, respectively. These movies have made Disney a lot of money, where it had been awhile (in my opinion) since they had put out a decent movie (I think the last decent movie they made was Toy Story). I'm sure many of us have not thought of the underlying stories that exist in the three movies, but there are many.

For starters, if you think about the the title At World's End there are various meanings. During the last few minutes of the second movie, Tia Dalma challenges the fact that Sparrow is dead, and asks the other characters what lengths they will go to to get Captain Jack Sparrow back. Since they will have to go to the end of the world and back, in order to get him back she discusses the hardships that they will have to face. Furthermore, when Captain Barbossa comes back, it leaves the audience confused because wasn't he shot dead at the end of the first movie? Barbossa and Sparrow have something in common because they both die, then they both are able to come back alive.

This scene has a spiritual level of interpretation-- when Tia Dalma discusses the worlds end, going there and back, she uses symbols to indicate something else. When she talks about the journey, she is talking about the journey of life; dying, then going beyond death, such as resurrection. These events are very similar to the final chapters of the gospels, from the Bible.

In addition, there are many similarities between Jack Sparrow and Jesus. First, Sparrow faced a similar death to that of Jesus; Elizabeth betrays Jack, by chaining him to the ship, in order to save the others. She also lies to the others by telling them that Jack chose to stay behind. In regards to Jesus, he was betrayed as well by one of his close friends-- Judas. Additionally, Jesus' life is given up, so that many others could be saved. Furthermore, only Jack knew that Elizabeth betrayed him; the same thing happened to Jesus, he was the only one that knew that Judas betrayed him.

Forrest Gump and the 90s Generation

One product of the 90s that many people can appreciate is the movie Forrest Gump. You may be thinking, "Forrest Gump is a historical account of a personal anecdote. Of course it has a political context!" However, I am not going to elaborate on the Vietnam War, the beat generation, or Watergate. I will rather discuss the implications this movie has on the 90s generation and the mentality of that generation.

Forrest Gump is a fictional account of a man with a mental disability who seems to be a part of every major political event between the 60s and the 90s. He witnesses Elvis before his rise to fame. He earns a purple heart for bravery in the Vietnam War. He peeks out his window and witnesses the scandal at the Watergate Hotel. His action packed life is a stark contrast from the mundane and unremarkable period known as the 90s.

America's most memorable events of the 90s were dull at best. The Gulf War, Princess Diana, the east coast/west coast hip hop rivalry, and a sex affair in the White House sum up the biggest headlines of the decade. The news, as I saw it, wasn't newsworthy at all. But the filming of Forrest Gump filled a void in humdrum America; it told us that, with good intentions and a big heart, life will unfold favorably for you. In a world of pessimists and doubters, even a disabled man can prove that he isn't "the stupid one". Although you may not meet world leaders or play college football, life (which is like a box of chocolates) will work out, though with uncertainty.

The story is by no means likely. I will liken this movie to a fairy tale for adults disillusioned by a world with seemingly "no purpose". Eat, drink, sleep, have sex, what have you, but there are no great wars, evils, or issues to combat in the 90s. This movie was a "feel good movie," but it achieved that in a different way; he didn't win the girl, slay the dragon, or save the planet from a giant meteor, but he tackled American society's vibrant issues with an immaculate moral code that teaches us all to "do the right thing." This movie struck a chord to a disenchanted generation wishing for the world to raise another momentous challenge for America (and for America to ultimately prevail as it always did).

The world has since changed, and America isn't "winning". Politically charged movies criticize, instead of glorify, the United States. The public would rather view a cheap cookie-cutter horror thriller than a good "pick-me-up" like Forrest Gump. Perhaps this change in taste reflects on the changing view of Americans towards their own country. In the 90s, we were winners; today, we are the subject of ridicule and laughter. I hope one day we will be able to come back to that period of calmness and reflect on "the good old days." But for now, we have a war, a stagnant economy, and a political power shift to attend to.

Murder Suicide

Two major stories from CBS and our neighbors from across the pond at the Guardian involved soldiers committing murder and suicide. CBS did a story soldiers who return committing suicide. It stated that soldiers who came back from Iraq were five times as likely to kill themselves as a person who hasn't gone to Iraq. The soldiers committed suicide in various ways from hanging them selves with garden hoses to shooting themselves to jumping off bridges. The story is slanted against the government and especially the VA (as it should be). The Guardian did a story on soldiers being brought up on murder charges. Funny thing soldiers in a war zone being brought up on murder charges, but apparently killing innocents and killing those deemed not innocent makes a difference to the government if not the almighty. This article is somewhat slanted against the soldiers, but when its considered a massacre its kind of hard to blame the villagers. Those bastards shouldn't have got in the way of the bullets just doesn't have quite the right ring to it. These articles are opposite in the focus of sympathizing with the soldiers and calling them monsters. They also differ in the country of their origin. The article sympathizing with soldiers was American while the article berating them was British.

Children of Men

Children of Men is a movie from 2006, which I believe portrays the vulnerability of human life. The movie was about how mankind is on the verge of extinction because women are no longer able to conceive and bear children. The world is in utter chaos, especially in the wake of the world’s youngest person, at age 18, dying. The setting is in London, which is trying to control the random attacks within the city, while stopping refugees from weaker nations who are trying to enter. Everything seems hopeless, until Theo (Clive Owen), through his ex-wife and rebel leader, Julian (Julianne Moore), meets a pregnant young woman named Kee. After, Julian is killed protecting the Kee, Clive takes it upon himself to ensure Kee’s safety while trying to reach scientists who, through Kee, can save the future of mankind.

In a world where everyday our existence is uncertain due to threat of war and terrorism, I believe that Children of Men has great significance. I believe the world in despair and hopeless likens Iraq, which has been oppressed for decades. There seems to be little hope for change and all seems as if it may come may come to an end. Then there is Theo, who I believe symbolizes America. Theo risks his own life, and eventually dies, to help save Kee, who could represent the rebirth of Iraq. Through the bleakness, Theo is the hero who saves mankind from destruction. What is interesting about Children of Men is that it was released in 2006, when Saddam Hussein was executed. Many Iraqi people were happy about the death of the dictator, believing it would be a change, or rebirth, of the country, which would become a democratic nation. Another interesting aspect of the movie was that Julian, a woman, was the rebel leader, who sacrificed her life for the sake of Kee and humankind. I believe that this can be likened to women’s involvement in the Iraqi war, which is something relatively new. Military women are strong, like Julian, willing to put to their lives on the line for the future of America, Iraq, and the world.

Epic Thriller

Going to the movie theater is not necessarily one of my favorite things to do, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy movies. I simply don’t get excited over movies like some other people do.

One movie that I jumped on the bandwagon and got excited about was the movie 300. All of my guy friends were beside themselves when this movie came out. They enjoyed it because of typical reasons, violence and sex. However, 300 has an appeal that goes deeper. It is about the epic hero. Guys can relate to this movie because it is a fantasy of everyone’s to be a hero.

There is political meaning in the movie as well. Some will argue that 300 is pro-war propaganda. During the United States’ time in Iraq, which many Americans are opposed to, 300 glamorizes warfare. In the movie, the Spartans say that the greatest honor is dying for your country. This movie subconsciously makes the viewer believe that war is not as gruesome and scary as it actually is. Is it just a coincidence that this movie came along at this time in our nation’s history?

The Horror of Being Pregnant

A movie that I saw recently, that we even discussed last term in class, was Juno. The movie makes humor of a serious issue onto itself, as well as politically: teen pregnancy. The actress Ellen Page does an amazing job portraying a tom-boy who got pregnant and decides to keep the child and give it up for adoption. While I’m sure the director and writer of Juno didn’t intend to show bias with their movie, they definitely showed something.

Juno being the tom-boy she was, she tired to play off the fact she was pregnant, wasn’t a big deal. While she may have succeeded for some time, there was a point in the film where she showed how vulnerable and scared she really was. As she was driving home from meeting with her child’s adoptive parents (Where the potential father admitted feelings for her) she pulled over her car and broke down crying. I feel at this point she realized the weight of her situation. She was going to have a child at 16 years old, the father of her child wasn’t really anything more than a goofy, immature relationship, the parents she thought her child would have are breaking up, and she was alone.

At that point in the movie, Juno was just like a million other people in the world, she felt lost and alone. Socially, this film, depicted a much larger audience than, I believe, it intended to.

While the films Scream and Saw do not have a direct connection to Juno, they share a connection in that other huge issues are presented without intention. Scream discussed the maternal abandonment, while Juno discusses teen pregnancy; but, they both address (within a deeper commentary or not) the hardships of both issues and how they ultimately make the victim feel alone.

Comic Relief

Although horror movies seem to be "in", a lot of people, such as myself, don't like this genre of film. I personally have nightmares after I see a "scary", as me and my roommates call it. I have to close my eyes through the gory parts and look through my hand. I think the movie Knocked Up is a perfect example of how people need some comic relief. It is about a woman who meets a guy at a bar and they have a one night stand. About a month later she finds out she is pregnant and is keeping the baby. Although the couple has only been out once, they make an effort to date and have the baby together. I think the movie was hilarious and just what people want now and days post 9/11. I think it also comments on the pregnancy issue, because you see a lot of celebrities now having babies.

Other good films that have been quite popular recently are Juno and Superbad. I think although many people might like to be scared, my roommate says it's a lot more fun than comedies which are stupid and not funny. Other people prefer a good laugh to get their mind off all the violence in the world.

Impact of the "War on Iraq" on me.

Skimming through the required details for the first blog entry assignment, I was not happy. The topic was about the 'War on Iraq', which is a very controversial topic, and sometimes I fear that I may get too emotionally charged with the matter, which has left me avoiding all thought or talk about "it", as much as I possibly can. However, since this happens to be a required part of the course, I devoted some thought to the topic and decided to share my two cents worth in this blog.

I am not an American citizen and perhaps that may explain my ‘different’ outlook regarding the War on Iraq, but in any case, I have always believed in the wide possibility of resolving conflicts without a war unless, it is absolutely vital. This outlook partly comes form my heritage, because my country India, had achieved independence from its colonists through non-violence or 'Ahimsa'.

Nevertheless, the War on Iraq has affected me and my family, and in a wider circle of influence my country. The most apparent affect has been in the energy sector. The War on Iraq has caused an astonishing increase in the price of Petroleum, Oil and Lubricant (POL) products. When the War on Iraq initially began in 2003, the international price for a barrel of crude oil hovered around $30, but now that figure has escalated to over $100, which is a three-fold increase in price in just 5 years! India has an annual import of POL products that are worth $26 Billion and this accounts to 30% of the total import items. It's rational and logical to see that the increase in global oil prices directly impacts the overall rate of inflation in my country. In addition, the War on Iraq has also affected the tourism industry of my country because of its geographic sensitivities and thereby, the country is being robbed of valuable revenue, which would have helped boost the domestic economy by bringing more cash inflow into it.

Now, people might tend to view the above reasons as being trivial, but then I have another important reason to hold my case. Ever since India has shown strong, positive indications of support to the UN community and particularly to the US on the 'War on Terror', the instances of extremist terrorism in India has risen with increasing ferocity each time, and this is against the best interests of the country. My countrymen are at the wrong end of the gun, so to speak, due to no fault of theirs'.

Reflecting on what I have gathered from the papers and heard on the news, the people of the United States of America are, by and large, confused and frustrated with the War on Iraq. This I think, at times translates into a backlash against immigrants and other ethnic groups, which look and feel "middle-eastern". I have personally been at the receiving end of this, and even though I do not give too much thought to it, I know it's like an old scar, that never quite manages to disappear. The newspapers tell me that the right steps are being taken to consider ending the War on Iraq. I don’t know how things will work out in the future but, I sure do hope that five years down the line the world will be a much better place to live in.

Cost of Air Strike in Iraq

Yes, I do believe that the US Military needs to work with these engineers. As you said, the US Military wants to kill. These people are their to think about the other parts other than the killing. They have to go through what the building is made of, how many people will die, who will die, how long it will take, and other things. While the US Military just has to kill other people and hopefully save themselves. The engineers also have to think about who they can kill and who they can not kill, which building they can and cannot strike, and if these things are the right things to do. The engineers are exactly like the military, striking people and watching them die, but they just take it to the next level by thinking everything out one step at a time.

Gore Fest

As far as gore is concerned in being the main appeal to horror movies is for the weak minded of our society. A good horror movie is not just disembowelment or dismemberment. Horror comes from what could actually happen to someone or unavoidable doom and attempting to put a clever plot on it in a movie.

People raved over the Saw movies. People raved over it because of how gory and more original it was. At least they saw the originality, but the true reason for it actually being a good horror film is the genius behind the plot. The movie did not consist of people just trying to escape. As the movie progresses and they try to escape the world projected evolves as more is figured out and many images of dismemberment, not just a gore fest.

Another although bloody yet genius, by its time unoriginal, horror flick was The Descent. This movie was more so was a true horror movie should be because most of the events that happened are possible to happen or things people actually fear in reality. For instance, more of the fright in the one of several cave movies from that year came from the scenes where people were either about to get crushed by the cave or overcoming some other obstacle. The rest of the movie then plays with the viewers fear of the dark, what they cannot see and furthermore their helplessness.

The fascination with a movie based on gore is like today’s fascination with completely idiotic and nowhere near funny teen movies. Mindless movies for mindless movies. Given, some of the teen movies do deserve credit for, like the horror films, have a sense of genius to the plot or concept of the movie. Originality is scarce. All either genre shows in audience turn out is the degradation of society, and the continual lowering of standards. This is seen through most aspects of today’s society. Someone had commented on a previous post about fads in dieting. My response was that most people today are like cattle; they see a line and join it.

Lord of War

A film that I recently saw titled “Lord of War” showed me a different side of war. The side of arm suppliers who make millions off putting people’s lives on line with the arms that they supply. “ Lord of War” is about the rise and fall of Yuri Orlov played my Nicholas Cage, from his early days in the early 1980s in Little Odessa in Ukraine, selling guns to mobsters in his local neighborhood, through to his ascension through the decade of excess and indulgence into the early 90s, where he forms a business partnership with an African warlord and his psychotic son. This movie made me think how people who do not get two square meals a day had access to the latest guns and other means of warfare. I think something on these lines must be going on in Iraq too. How these militants get high tech warfare equipment so much that they give even the U.S. Army a keen fight still remains a mystery. I am pretty sure someone in the higher echelons is involved when these multi- million arm deals take place. It is amazing how human lives have become so devalued that no consideration is given to it for the sake of money. Yuri Orlov supplies arms to remote parts of Africa which can be likened to someone doing the same thing in Iraq. The element of corruption cannot be ignored when these things continue to happen on a regular basis. Even the poorest countries have the latest arms and ammunition. In my opinion, the battle needs to be fought not only on the battlefield but in these areas also. Terrorist activities will surely diminish if something can be done to curb illegal arms dealing.

Fantasy vs. Reality

One of the box office’s best series in the last decade is Harry Potter. Harry Potter is just about a young wizard that has the power to save the world. Nothing that has occurred in the world can connect to the movie, but the movie can relate to the minds of many children. In a world with such chaos, people wish they can be like Harry Potter, the savior of the entire world. Because of all the problems and how hard reality actually is, Harry Potter gives people a fantasy world where everything is perfect.

The only way to relieve the pain of 9/11 and other terrorist acts is to live in a fake, pretend world. Harry Potter and many other fantasy movies and series, such as Lord of the Rings, also give the feeling that everything will be fine. The world will end up being peaceful and evil will be destroyed. The problems that plague us daily are forgotten due to the hype and the feelings that we feel after watching the movie. The two hours that we spend watching the movie provide us with weeks of thoughts and things to talk about that keep our minds off of the problems today.

Liberal against Conservative

One recent occurrence in Iraq was a major battle between marines and insurgents for control of the city, Tikrit. In analyzing this incident, I decided to view articles from CNN, which is thought to have a liberal bias, and FOX News, which is thought to contain a conservative view. I was hoping to find a noticeable difference in the way the both articles presented the battle. CNN’s article was about how things were going in Tikrit, while FOX News had an article about how the fighting was fizzling out.

I thought it was interesting how CNN hadn’t posted an article on how the fighting was beginning to cease, while FOX News had. One might conclude that a liberal station, which usually portrays the war in the worse light possible, would rather have an article detailing the fight and causalities. CNN’s article begins with a description of the American forces that enter the city and the type of resistance that they encountered. T he article also described how many people were killed in the fighting, which could be thought of as a subtle way of implying how the war is causing pain through loss of life. I thought it was interesting how the article also described the mission of American troops as “attack and destroy any type of regime forces.” This makes the American infantry seem as though they are simply out to kill anyone who stands in their way. For example, “restore peace or order to the area,” might have been a different way of describing the mission, but I believe CNN purposely choose their statement to reinforce their view of the war. The article never described the mission as successful, even though American forces recovered seven captive American soldiers. The rest of the article describes how CNN reporters were shot at when they entered Tikrit and how the city is still unsafe. I believe that this was mentioned, even though it didn’t really relate to the battle, was mentioned within the article purposely to show that the battle didn’t really cause much progression in the area.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/13/sprj.irq.tikrit/index.html

“U.S. Marines overran loyalists staging a last stand Monday at Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, ending the major combat phase of the Iraq war.” That was the first line of the article from Fox News, and already, one can note the conservative bias. Let me start by noting the use of the word overran, which implies that American troops effortlessly dominated the resistance. According to FOX, this was the last stand, portraying the insurgents as being on the verge of complete defeat. Then, the article implies that this is the end of combat in the Iraq war, which I believe is very unlikely. There was a quote from a soldier about how there was little resistance from the insurgent, which was much different from CNN’s article, which described Iraqi tank resistance and fierce firefights. I particularly enjoyed FOX New’s description of how Iraqi people eventually emerged from their house into the streets to “enjoy a beautiful spring afternoon.” This is a clear display of bias, portraying a scene where innocent people are able to come outside and enjoy themselves due to the efforts of the American troops. One quote within the article said that the city was a ghost town when the soldiers first arrived, but later resident starting coming outside and embracing the troops, even showing them where the Saddam loyalist were, one even saying, “Long love the United States.” Clearly, this article wished to portray American troops as the “good guys” or “heroes.” The article ended with a description of how nearly all of the resistance has fled the city and how people of Tikrit were on the side of American troops, even offering a peace negotiation.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,84047,00.html

Collateral Damage

I think it is vital for the I think its vital because just as he said there was a building that needed to be destroyed but unfortunately it was right next to a hospital in Baghdad. The engineer does a process that allows the bomb to explode the intended target by imploding it as to exploding it. This causes the building to collapse on itself where it does not shatter and have a lot of collateral damage t the other buildings around it. These bombs can be extremely accurate. Just as the speaker said he was so angry that the laser guided bomb that was dropped in a different situation that landed three feet away from the intended target. A laser-guided bomb due to the engineering skills will be extremely accurate. Again it is not without fault in the instance of the Ali case. The engineers look at the construction density, who’s supposed to be there, the materials that its made of, the damage done and if the civilian casualties exceeds 30 deaths the attack has to be approved by the president and his administration in a collateral damage estimate. While it is horrible that there are going to be deaths that are unintended by the military it is a small price to pay for the amount of lives that will be taken by those high profile people that the bomb is intended for. I feel that it amazing that they can analyze the sun angle and the building structure, camera angles and such to find out where a target, such as
Saddam is at a certain time and how far he could have gone since then.

In my opinion it is necessary for the US military to have these engineers to determine the structure of the targets to calculate how they will fall down, thereby estimating the collateral damage. If it weren’t for these engineers there would be an inordinate number of civilian deaths that were completely unnecessary. In the cases of Dresden or Tokyo if they had these engineers determining potential damage there would have been far less unneeded deaths. The fact that the army is implementing low collateral weapons in addition to high collateral weapons makes civilians that much safer. I feel that the war while it is going to happen should only take out the dangerous targets and not the civilians that are in the wrong place at the wrong time. How would I or any one who reads this feel if the military killed a crowd of 1000 people just because one of them had a drug resistant strain of tuberculosis.

The nature of Horror movies

The movie, ‘Diary of the dead’, which was screened this year made the film critics think that another version of the Cloverfield has made a mark. This is story is about a young group of students who run in to real life zombies while they were on an educational trip to record their own horror movie. The camera action which has been introduced is different from the rest of the movies but it is similar to the attempt made by the visual director of Clovefield. The advertising of the movie through trailers has been done effectively as it grabs the audience’s attention to take them to a new side of horror.

The incidences they face is totally unexpected. As the script of the movie unfolds, the tension which creates in the viewer’s mind gets more and more intense scene by scene. This is story rather proves the fact that mothers are dreadful creatures in the horror movie industry. It is when one family becomes zombies and mother is trying to kill her own daughter. The deadly nature of the use of women signifies a lot of things in a horror movie. This is why the directors use women as a form of creating the deadly revulsion in a movie. This is obvious to anyone who has seen the movie ‘Shutter’.

Hot Fuzz!

Hot Fuzz was quite the great movie: full of funny moments and lots of action. In the movie, a talented British cop in London is reassigned to a small town because he is so good that he makes the other police look bad. This small town has the lowest crime rate, but as it turns out, the town is run by a cult of old people who kill anyone who disturbs their peaceful town and try to make it look like an accident. The cop doesn’t know who the killer is, and keeps trying to figure it out with his partner. No one in the town is helpful to his investigation, and he eventually ends up in a shootout with all of the old people in town after he discovers their cult. The story is pretty ridiculous and funny, but offers some insight, I think, into Iraq.

The cop who investigates suspicious accidents in the village can be likened to the US. In Iraq, we have displaced Saddam and are working to establish order, but also have a mission to eradicate terrorism and stabilize Iraq. In the movie, the cop makes a few friends, but has to fight an uphill battle to find out anything in his investigation and root out the killers. This is like how the US has invaded a country with an entirely different culture, and seeks to root out terrorists. We’re like complete strangers to them, and many organizations are comprised of ordinary people, who secretly engage in terrorist activities (i.e. the guy who plants a roadside bomb and then goes back home to dinner with his family). The terrorists have huge support in the society, and don’t operate out of a hole in the ground, but out of their own homes.

In the movie, the cop eventually arrests or kills all of the cult members, and the town is safe for everyone again. In Iraq, we removed their source of peace: Saddam. It’s obvious that he was a cruel leader, but car bombs weren’t going off everyday under his rule. Now it’s up to us to restore peace again, hopefully sooner rather than later, with our economy hurting and Iran posing itself as a threat to peace worldwide.

Transformers

Alien robots from another planet try to destroy each other in civil war that eventually travels to Earth. Optimus Prime and the Autobots are the "good guys" that have come to defend earth and protect human-kind from Megatron and his Decepticons. It was almost as if our planet was helpless to defend itself against this advanced extra-terrestrial threat. A device, the All-spark, gives either the Autobots or the Decepticons becomes the object of destruction that lead the aliens to our planet. The similarity here in our current world would be to that of a country trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, no one wants them to have it. Like the majority of countries in the world, the Autobots would rather have this weapon destroyed, than to have it fall into the hands of evil. The fight drags in the secret government organizations and other branches of military to help aid the Autobots destroy the all-spark. The all-spark is placed into the custody of a human who is trusted and had befriended the aliens. Optimus Prime tells the human if all else fails, to place the all-spark in his chest to destroy it, however it would destroy himself as well. After a brutal and highly destructive battle, the all-spark is destroyed when a human risks his own life and places the the all-spark in Megatron and destroys both. It shows while technology and power are quite dangerous, nothing can replace the heroism and emotion that exists in humanity. The Autobots, who owe their lives to a human, don't leave the earth to be destroyed if more Decepticons come, they choose to stay and protect. It can be likened to how the United States is currently trying to help stabilize the Iraqi state. It may not have been our war, but we are there now and we appear not to to be backing out until safety and peace is completely achieved in Iraq. The Autobots didn't have to come to earth, but they did and without their help help I doubt the humans would have been able to defeat the Decepticons.

The Cell: Blog 3

The Cell is a movie from 2000 in which psychotherapist Catherine Deane, played by Jennifer Lopez, is part of testing a new method that allows her to be connected to another person and literally enter that persons mind through her own. She is approached by the FBI to assist in a case in which they are trying to get a confession and other information out of a serial killer who has gone into a coma. His name is Carl Stargher and he abducts women and puts them in a contained area which slowly fills up with water drowning the women in just less than two days. Deane is forced to travel into his mind regardless of the fact that what goes on in his mind threatens to take her own over and force her to believe it is reality. At one point she gets so drawn into Stargher’s mind that a detective, played by Vince Vaughn, has to come into his mind as well to save her from being stuck in the killer’s world and bring her back to real life.

Movies, as stated in the Saw article, allow people to escape reality for a few hours and leave all problems behind. Watching a movie makes a person feel as if they are part of that world on the screen. Once the movie is over it is back to reality. This movie offers an interesting take that plays into the fear of not being able to distinguish what is and isn’t real. I think this makes a connection to the war going on right now or any war really. As we read in the Marlboro Man article, soldiers returning from war often have a problem distinguishing what is real because of experiences they had during their tours. Flashbacks and things that they have been trained to do make the adjustment from army life to everyday life difficult and many never fully readjust.

Fear of the Unknown

Some people consider Cloverfield to be the best monster film in the 21st century so far. When the film was first starting to be adverstised, it went through a series of fake titles. The trailers left the viewer confused and intrigued: they showed horrible scenes of 'something' attacking New York City. The hype was very intense, as word of mouth and media coverage/ monster speculation swept America. No one had any idea what the movie was about. There were no stars in it and the director unknown. So how did the movie do so well?

The basic human instinct of the fear of the unknown. We are in a time where the world is in turmoil. Recent terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq/ the war on terror has most people living in constant fear of the next thing that will happen. This is because we have no idea what will happen, we are scared of what we do not know and try to do whatever we can to figure it out. This is, in my opinion, why Cloverfield did so well in the box office. The film had good reviews and had Americans buzzing. However, the question of what exactly the monster is was never answered. But at least we went out and tried to find out.

2a Articles

To begin I read an article where President Bush said the United States have averted failure in Iraq. There will be not rush to pull out our troops. He has ordered for shorter tours but denies the common request of faster withdrawals from Iraq. He plans to have a comparable size force overseas during his tenure as president. This leaves the rest up to the incoming President. The two biggest threats to America now are al Qaeda and Iran and according to Bush Iraq is the convergence point. Senator Clinton makes a valid point when she says, “he refuses to face reality”. Now the war has waned from a war to prevent brutal dictatorship and imminent danger of WMD’s to “an essential part of a broader struggle against Islamic extremism” Bush has dropped the term of deployment from 15 to 12 months starting August 1st and will stay home for at least 1 year. Bush also tried to quell the criticizers of the financial situation. Defense spending as a portion of GDP is at 4% far lower than 13% under Truman and 6% under Regan. Although according to Bush “this is still a large amount of money, but it is modest, a modest fration of our nations wealth.” The war is now in its 6th year and there is no plan for withdrawal by the current administration. And to add a little side note the national debt is at 306 billion.

To contrast this article I found one on a protest in Charlotte, NC searching for immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. The author states that it will either hasten or cause the deterioration of Iraq. The argument is that by removing Hussein and his administration we overthrew the entire country. The government fell and there is now a void to be filled. There is an obligation to rebuild the country because after all this is our fault. The country will collapse into a civil war with our immediate withdrawal. Iraq has not shown that it is able to sustain itself and now it is up to us to. The thought is that if the leader of the Shiite uprising named Moqtada al-Sadr really wants the US out then he needs to stop fighting American forces thus slowing down progress that has and or will be made because attention is then diverted to him. If we leave Iraq another dictator will take over and possibly pose an even greater threat than Saddam himself.

I feel that each of these articles are very well written. While every paper that is written is going to have some bias I feel that each article did a good job of posing both sides of the issue and comparing their argument with the other point of view. Obviously each author believes that the troops should be withdrawn and they should be left respectively. I think each poses excellent reasons to back up their point. I think the second article is written btter and more logically. We cannot pull out right away or the whole process will collapsa and all our work will be in vain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/washington/10cnd-prexy.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1207875899-jJrJ2woOHsk17sleV++JZQ

http://www.elon.edu/e-web/pendulum/Issues/2004/4_15/opinions/troops.xhtml

BBC and MSNBC

Link 1: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7344038.stm

This first article, from BBC News, reports on Al-Sadr’s influence. He was largely responsible for a lower level of violence recently because of his large following. The article details attacks and fighting that have been going on between his militia and the Iraqi Army, and brings up the killing of his brother-in-law, Al-Nuri. Robert Gates made a statement, saying that Iraqis who participate in the political process are not enemies of the US, but Al-Sadr stated that the US is still his mortal enemy. He is mainly upset that the US is occupying ‘his land.’ This article was straightforward, and gave some background as to the fighting going on recently. The next article offers even more background on the war.

Link 2: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24061832/page/2/

This article is from MSNBC. This one reports that Al-Sadr is bitter over the loss of his aide, Al-Nuri, and gives statements about how much he hates the US and US supporters. After mentioning Al-Sadr a little, the article goes on to describe a lot of fighting that has gone on. It even mentioned that the military used a drone to kill six people. Kind of a scary though, to be killed by a silent, floating robot that you can’t hear coming. The article also gives some history on Al-Sadr, and how an arrest warrant for him (never served) caused lots of violence. Also mentioned was a withdrawal of five brigades (the surge) and lowering the US troops in Iraq to 140,000.

The MSNBC article gave much more information than the BBC article. They were both full of straight facts, but the MSNBC article detailed more of the violence throughout Iraq. The BBC article mostly concentrated on its main point: Al-Sadr is influential and strongly hates the US. The MSNBC article also detailed that, but then went on about attacks and violence. Overall, I would prefer the MSNBC article, so I know more of what’s going on. On the other hand, the BBC article is more to the point, and its goal isn’t to update you on violence, but to get across its main point.

Super Heros

In the past few years every time I look there was or was going to be another superhero movie out. This may be because of the time we are living in. As we continue our war in Iraq and other middle east areas I think these super hero movies will continue. I think this because in every single of these super hero movies there is a bad guy threating the town and then the hero comes and saves the day. Watching these kinds of movies brightens up everyones mood because they hope this will happen to us in the war I believe. They may seem that we are the super hero fixing the town in distress. Or maybe our government is the super hero saving our home town the United States. Many people can look at these differently and find different things but those are the few ways I see why super hero movies are becoming so popular among people these day.

1300 Dismissed In Iraq

So apparently the Iraqi government dismissed 1300 soldiers and police last week for either refusing to fight or performing poorly in the offensive last month against the Shiite Militia.


The article by the New York Times (liberal), sympathizes with the soldiers and police that were fired. they blame the government and military officials for planning the offensive poorly. They even quoted one of the soldiers saying that they were afraid to fight because they felt that the other side was too strong or too brave for them to defeat. This article wants the reader to sympathize with the soldiers rather than the government and country trying to restore security to their country. This article delivers the message that the soldiers morale is very low.


The article posted on-line by Fox News (conservative) shows that the Iraqi goverment is trying to restore order in their military and police force and the dismissal of 1300 soldiers and police was a way to do this. Since their soldiers refused to fight, this is almost a rebellious act against the government and country. Why would you be apart of the police force or military if you refuse to do your duty when the time comes. the artice goes into more detail about the Iraqi government's plan to restore order and security by eliminating the Shiite militia threat, securing oilfields and cutting the Shiites resources. this article sides with the goverment and their movement to restore order, security, and peace to the country.




1) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/world/middleeast/14iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
2) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351183,00.html

The Glass Menagerie

In the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 12, 2008 it reported on Riyadh al-Nouri, a top aide of anti-American leader Muqtada al-Sadr, was assassinated after returning to his office after a prayer service. The article is pretty straight-forward without having that much of an opinion. It is bias on a subtle level, though, as the author seems to comment on how America is just making the situation worse and raising Shiite tension. The author does not specifically blame us, but lets the officials and Iraqis he quotes does. Thus, they do the job for him.
The other report I saw was on the opposite side of the spectrum. Fox News reported on a civilian casualties dying in the green zone, where it was supposed to be safe. Instead of just reporting on it, the Fox reporters seemed to just make excuses and that this was a fluke thing and all was well and it is very safe in the green zone.