In Your Backyard

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Articles about the war in Iraq are written from a variety of viewpoints ranging from those of American soldiers, Iraqi citizens, news personalities, and all other categories of people. The subjects of the articles I read could not be more different. One article focuses on a mother of an Iraqi soldier, while the other one centers on a citizen of Iraq.

“No mother ever sends an adult into battle,” states Newsweek’s article about the war. The Iraq war affects everyone, but no one is more affected than the family of a soldier. From a family member’s perspective, the cause for the war in Iraq is not worth loosing a loved one. I believe that most people in this country feel that way. According to polls within the last few years, most Americans do not approve of loosing their fellow citizens in this war.

TIME magazine focuses their article around a school-bus driver from Baghdad. This focuses more on the destruction that has taken over Iraq and it’s once beautiful cities. Hearing about the war from an Iraqi’s point of view really makes you realize how tragic the war has been. Americans are sending our families and friends away to go to war, but in Iraq the war is in everyone’s backyard. Just try and grasp how you would feel if this was the case in America.

Fantasy Films and Escapism

Over the past ten years, American culture has been bombarded with fantasy films ranging from The Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter. There doesn't seem to be an end to this influx either; three Harry Potter movies are currently being planned. The genre of fantasy also extends to the superhero world as well. Even though the ever popular Spiderman franchise has come to an unsatisfying end, a new Batman film a of as well as an Iron Man film are planned for release this summer. When analyzing this issue, its rather difficult not to wonder why the American public has such a fancy for this farfetched genre.
One obvious (yet still completely valid) assumption is perhaps Americans are looking for a medium to escape the difficulties of reality. It is important to note that it is commonplace for superhero films and other fantasy flicks to saturate the list of top grossing films for their respective year. Personally, I feel as if this assumption is completely true. I am not afraid to admit that I look at fantasy films as a way to escape reality. I recently had the opportunity to watch the newest Harry Potter film. While watching this movie, I put myself in the shoes of Harry and truly felt as if I was in their own world. For those two or so hours, I almost forgot the hardships of reality and was whisked away into a fantasy world, almost as if I had just dreamt. I forgot about homework, pledging a fraternity, and even some family issues that I am currently having. I felt refreshed.
Specifically, looking at the success of the Harry Potter franchise (which consistently grosses a very large sum of money), perhaps the American public identifies with Harry. Harry Potter starts out in the franchise as a young British boy who finds out he is destined to become a wizard. After this epiphany, he is whisked away to a fantasy world where he learns how to fulfill his destiny and destroy his arch nemesis, Voldemort. Personally, I feel as if Harry represents the modern American dream. When watching, people want to be Harry and, like him, successfully destroy their enemy. Ties can be drawn to the situation with Iraq where people dream of ending terrorism and establishing peace in the middle east. Perhaps Voldemeort represent this idea of terrorism.
I could elaborate much further on many other popular fantasy franchises, but the key idea is that people use these films to forget about the hardships of reality. One can only wonder if that these movies are simply allowing people to turn a blind eye to the war in Iraq and become less aware of global events. Regardless, I see no end to the popularity of fantasy films in the near future and believe that the movie market will continue to become supersaturated with these films.

Aequitas and Veritas

The Boondock Saints is a movie that takes place in Boston, MA. In the movie two twins become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian mob in self-defense. The brothers receive a message from above, and set out to rid their home city of Boston of evil. All the while an FBI agent is after them for their arrests. In the end, during the credits, the people of Boston are asked by the media, “Are the saint’s, as the two brothers are called, good or evil?”

A deeper commentary on society is revealed during the ending credits. Are the saints good or evil? People are arguing at the end, some say good some say evil. I feel this represents much more than just this movie. In the war in Iraq we are doing the same thing. We are killing to prevent others from being killed or harmed in any way. This is no different than the movie. The brothers McManus were killing high profile mob members. President Bush is killing high profile Terrorists and dictators. Each are harming people and running operations that provide illegal funding.

People seem to find war and murder to be two different things. In reality they are extremely similar if not the same. Killing is killing. We are not killing in self defense when it comes to Iraq and the brothers were not killing in the movie in self defense with the exception of the initial murder. Personally I feel the killings are justified. The tattoos on the twin’s hands speak words. One says veritas the other says aequitas which mean truth and justice respectively.

Spiderman... Deeper Meaning

Personally, I am a scary movie buff. I love watching new and old scary movies and seeing what is the new in. Obviously in the new movies gore is the new in, this was stated in the article about SAW. I believe that this is because there’s a mental wanting to see how much gore a person can take. This is also a reflection on news in our society. There is so much explicit material that is aired over the news stations that there is a need for more gore than usual in movies.

Where I see parallelism in other movies the most are the superhero movies. Spiderman is the prime example. It is a known fact that people like to see good triumph over evil all the time, especially when their country is in a war that has drained everyone and does not seem to have an end in sight. This is where people look in other spots such as Spiderman to have the underdog win the fight. Most people subconsciously correlate Spiderman with America and the Green Goblin Osama Bin Laden or Sadaam Hussein and like the fact that Spiderman (America) finally triumphs over the Green Goblin (Bin Laden or Hussein). This is where I see even children having a small understanding of politics and what is going on right now.

Happy Ever After?

I've noticed a trend in romance movies. They aren't all given the typical fairytale ending with the happily ever after. I think that this is important because girls are led to believe that there's a perfect guy out there for them and that when they find them, nothing can go wrong. They call it a fairytale for a reason. I think that it's a good thing that the movies are being more realistic by showing that they will face some struggles along the way but only true love will really make it. One movie in particular that I'm thinking of is Enchanted. In the movie the girl is looking for her happy ever after with her prince when she is thrown into the "real world." She only met this prince once and the next day they are to wed and be in love forever. She doesn't understand when she has to come to grips with reality because she's never been exposed to it. They do face some struggles, though unrealistic because the Prince's stepmother turns into a giant beastly thing. In the movie she kind-of does get her happy ever after because she is with her true love but it doesn't show them married immediately. I think they wanted it to give the impression that love takes time and if it's real it will wait. I also think that people have become so obsessed over finding their "soulmate" that they will go to extremes to find them. We have so many online dating sites and other ways to meet people. I find it interesting that people are willing to give out so much information over the internet when we talk about how many people stalk and harass others via internet. I think that it's risky even if the sites are "secure" or they are selective as to who is allowed to use it. I think people have become so desperate to find the one and to find them right away. What's the rush? Should we just let our soulmates come to us instead of constantly searching? Will we miss them if we are too busy looking to realize that they are right in front of us? Is this a huge issue or is this just people trying to belong and be happy like we always have?

David Lynch and the good kind of violence

Is it wrong to like films that contain things that most people consider to be disturbing? David Lynch is one of my favorite American directors and I believe that his work reflects a good amount social issues at the current time periods from which the emerged from. His films Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Muholland Drive, and Inland Empire are all extremely unique works that all contain fairly disturbing material. But Lynch does not exploit his content for negative reactions without a cause, when someone sees something that provokes negative feelings they almost instantly feel uncomfortable. Lynch uses these images when he wants to the audience to know something is clearly bad. He will do this for certain characters and places in his films as to clearly label “good” and “bad”. I think this is a clever film technique of Lynch. He uses psychology to his advantage; it is an effort saving technique that many other filmmakers use aswell.
Many folks believe violence’s present in films to be a bad thing, but what they are missing is that not every director is putting it there for frivolous purposes. Many times violence is used to provoke a distinct emotion reaction that many directors take very seriously. Not every director is trying to pollute the minds of the youth, many are trying to just express their art and violence is necessary to the message.

"Over the Hedge"

I'm not sure if "Over the Hedge," a Disney film would be considered immensely popular amongst the 18-24 year old audience, but I think overall it was a pretty popular movie, usually anything produced by Disney is. In the movie there was the obvious theme of deforestation and the buildup of suburban housing environment. The animals were all awoken from winter hibernation to find that there were houses built on what used to be there home. The animals were talking about how their food supply was already low and lacked variety as far as nuts and berries and such, they were chewing on bark from trees trying to make the best of what was available. Later on in the film, an animal comes along who intrigues all but one of the animals in the group, he tells them of the things that lie over the hedge in the community. After venturing over the hedge a few times, the animals begin to accept this outsider as a part of their close-knit family.
Later in the film, the animals find out that the outsider was simply using them to help him collect the things he needed to repay his debt to a predator bear. During a conversation with the predator bear, the bear makes a statement about using people in your life to get what you need and then continuing on with life as a family of one. There is an epiphany moment.

I think that in our society, living for self is the reason for the way society has developed. I wouldn't say that it is good or bad, but often times when someone if living for themselves, they over look the impact that they have on those around them. Being mindful of what one says and does and then sticking around to see the impact is the key to life. That is where I think a lot of the problem lies, people don't take the five minutes to see the impact of their actions on others. I believe that if people saw the big impact that something little can have, they would be more cautious of it. In this society using others as a stepping stool is often the chosen path to success. If people would put their greed aside for a split second they would realize that there is much more to be gained in a group than individually.

In relation to the "Scream" and "Saw" articles, the idea of the helpless, lost woman, seems more to be part of the horror film formula then it is a proof of societies view of woman. I do believe that films are generally depictions of the ideals of everyday life, but I also believe that at times there are certain things in movies that create the illusion that what is being depicted is real life. People then take this into the wrong context and because it becomes so familiar and is seen so much in the movies or on television it seems as if it actually is a depiction of life; when in all actuality it is just the formula for movie success.

Winning hearts and minds

In Iraq, the US has been making a huge effort to bring stability and peace. The people responsible for the violence are the largely the Iraqis themselves, attacking their own people and our troops. These terrorists have a huge amount of resentment towards the US, and view us as their mortal enemy or even an enemy of God. What they have to realize is that the US is trying to bring peace, but they are blinded by their own hatred.

In war, yes, we are supposed to kill our enemy, but we are not fighting a conventional enemy. We have already broken the borders and occupied the country. In WWII, this would be a victory. But in Iraq, the populous in general is against us. We don’t have an enemy that we can drop 10,000 bombs on and call it a day. Beating this enemy can be done in two ways: killing every militiaman, or getting them to want peace. The killing is obviously very necessary, but we have to be careful not to kill civilians if we want any Iraqis to like us and the government we are creating. This is not just a war against a country; it’s a war against an idea. That idea is using terror, with weapons and radicalism, to gain power over others. We’re not just killing enemy troops, but also killing the terrorist ideology (or, trying, or, wishing we could). Now that we’re in Iraq, we have to be seen as peacekeepers and protectors who care for the Iraqi people; if we didn’t, we would’ve left years ago.

Planning our airstrikes, which are very lethal and effective, is important to showing that we’re acting for peace. If we pummel every target we want, many civilians will die, and there will be even more hatred toward us, which will cause more loyalty to terrorist organizations. Planning a bombing isn’t perfect, but it’s better than what’s happened in the past. Minimizing casualties will instill less bitterness in citizens nearby. But when it comes to desperate situations (US troops outnumbered and in danger of being pummeled), more brutal acts are permissible to save our soldiers. This war on terrorism is more complicated than other wars we’ve fought. No treaty or surrender from a leader can end it; we have to end it in the mind of every Iraqi and terrorist.

"21" The Movie

I recently watched the movie 21 and I know this movie really takes a look into our society today. Most moviegoers probably don't see how the film gives off some deep commentary, either because they are so used to what I am about to say, or because they are just some excited about what goes on. In the movie a boy who is trying to get into Harvard Med has some trouble because it costs 300,000 dollars for his schooling. He is so intelligent but just doesn't have the money. He makes close to minumum wage at his job selling and fitting clothing for people. He uses his intelligence which shows off in his calculus class to a group of kids and his teacher who are involved in blackjack that go to Las Vegas every weekend to cheat the system and win thousands of dollars. Their are only 52 cards in the deck, and they use a system of counting cards when they are flipped up to keep a count in their head so that they always come away on top, and know when to bid more money.

The idea of cheating the system is the whole idea behind the look at society as a whole. People are constantly looking for the easy way out more than they are in doing things the right way. This movie is directly related to this idea. Maybe the people in the audience are just so used to this way of our society that they don't even think about it anymore. Thats how our society does things these days. Whatever happened to hard work. It's easily covered up by the quick and easy way. Counting cards might not be illegal but it sure is the quick and easy way.

What about some of Will Ferrell's movies like Talledega Nights and Blades of Glory. In both movies he makes fun of the sport or does something that is normal. How many pair skaters are man and man? None. And being a nascar driver and trying to win everything in Talledega Nights is totally making fun of nascar drivers. It's easier to knock them down or make fun of them than to try and be them.

The Sandlot

The movie The Sandlot was about a kid who moves into a new town and meets a group of friends all of whom love the sport of baseball. They spend every day playing ball in a vacant field and simply enjoy life. Scotty Smalls, the main character is shy but learns to come out of his shell when the rest of the group makes him more comfortable with his move. There was only one problem with playing baseball where they did, and that was Hercules. Hercules was a massive dog that was chained up behind the fence that the boys hit balls over. Once the ball went over the fence it was never seen again. One day Smalls brings a ball to play with one day and they hit it over the fence. Little did he know he grabbed a signed baseball by Babe Ruth. When the boys find out he played ball with this infamous players signed ball, they give him an earful. The remainder of the movie they spend time trying to find ways to get the ball without getting mawed by the massive k-9. At the end of the movie they end up knocking on the door of the man's house who owned the dog. He told them he played with Babe Ruth and gave them a better ball signed by the entire team.
This story could possibly be saying more than just kids trying to recover an important baseball from a backyard. The dog represents an aggressive figure, for instance a terrorist. The group of friends represent the American army who tries to end terrorism. The baseball represents a common winner and whoever retrieves the ball wins the war on terrorism. The boys are very courageous to try and go over the fence and grab the ball. Similarly American troops are courageous in going to Iraq to try and fight a war against terrorists. Scotty Smalls is like a new soldier who just enters the army, shy and unknowing of what lies ahead for him. This movie just like the movies represented in the Scream movie review shows that certain things have an impact on people's reactions. The ball was very important to Smalls because it was his step father's ball. In the Scream movie review it showed how mothering had an effect on how their children grew up in horror movies. Smalls knew his step dad would be mad so he had to get the ball no matter what. Movies can tell a hidden story sometimes and if you look beyond the actual picture shown, you can learn a whole lot more.

The Departed

For those that are familiar with The Departed there's a couple issues that could be looked into more thoroughly. For instance, does the corrupt nature of state police forces relate to any type of American Terrorism? In a more detailed thought about it, does America secretly train troops such as Billy Costigan (Leo DiCaprio) or Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) for illegal affairs such as stealing, killing, or international terrorism?
There is a lot of talk about terrorism that is inflicted on the United States, but there's never talk about the United States terrorizing other nations. The Departed takes a deeper look at the corrupt forces that we as a nation may be involved in. The life of Billy Costigan in The Departed is a complete lie. Basically his role is to be a spy and to take a look at deeper affairs that Massachusetts State Police uses while trying to hunt drug lords.
Like the sadistic role that mothers play in movies such as scream, I would argue that the corrupt nature of police takes a hint into illegal affairs that the US may get into. Of course we have spies, and of course we have corrupt officials, but I think there might be a relation with US illegal activities through movies such as The Departed paralleled to the hidden meaning of mothers and horror films.
When we see thriller movies such as The Departed and take a look at what US forces can do to "spy" I certainly believe that it parallels some sort of US international terrorism. Does the US take the lives of lost individuals and train them to perform secret operations that would be unmoral for the government to approve? I think the answer is yes, and that connections can be made through films like The Departed.

Violence in GrindHouse

Violence, inarguably, is one of the easiest vehicles that the film industry has at its disposable to increase a movie's chances at being successful. Recently, I saw the movie GrindHouse. I won't even bother going into a plot explanation on this one, because there really wasn't one. It was basically an incredibly long movie that left you questioning the integrity of your own body. Granted, much of the special effects were cheesy and low-budget, as the film was a homage to the mass-produced shock films of the 70's and 80's that were screened in shoddy, run down theaters referred to as "grindhouses". This cultural reference was probably the only redeeming quality that the film possessed. However, I think that the fact that movies depicting such incessant violence and gore are in existence says something about our society in general, about the role that violence plays in our modern lives.
Media, as in photographs, pictures, blogs, movie, etc..., are really nothing more than abstractions from reality. They allow us to do indirectly experience events, emotions, and predicaments, without feeling the true consequences of the experience. The same argument could be made about our entire culture. The advancement of technology and society over the course of history, aside from making our lives much easier, has been a series of increasing developments upon abstractions from reality. Warfare is a perfect example of this. With each new weapon, the wrath inflicted upon humanity as a result of its use increases exponentially, while the actual physical interactions between the those who get fucked over and those who do the fucking over are diminished. I highly doubt that similar emotions are shared between someone who kills one person with a knife compared to a person who drops a bomb over a city in the Middle East. As our emotions exist only as a result of our senses, is it possible that the remorse felt by our actions are lessened if they are realized by fewer of our senses? Has this then been the aim of our weapons technology? Or has the main motivating factor been a desire to one-up the opponent? Either way, something's not right.
If Western Society has subconsciously driving at alienating ourselves from personal experience, than violence in our media says something about Human nature; we crave it. Our society today has an unusual exposure level to real, direct violence. At the very least the youth of our Society does. It seems to me that throughout the course of History, violence has been much more prevalent than it is in modern times. Perhaps not so much prevalent as universal. Our country seems to be divided between those who do and don't experience violence, whereas the norm throughout History, with obvious exceptions, has been that the population as a whole has been affected by violence in one way or another. So how do the masses of our country who live comfortably in suburbia with their mid-budget sedan, shopping mall addictions and semi-conscious outlooks on life get their fix of violence? They go to the box office, buy a movie ticket, and sit through a movie; getting the methadone that they need for our culture's addiction to violence.

The Last King of Scotland

The 2006 Academy Award winning movie "The Last King of Scotland" directed by Kevin MacDonald was based upon a Giles Foden's novel that depicts the story of a young scottish doctor who travels to Uganda to escape from the "normal" life of Scotland and becomes the personal physician to the Ugandan dictator, only in the end realizing that he must escape from Uganda.  

This movie appeals to the the aspirations of a young men but can also be appealing to those of the young adult who yearns for adventure, experience, and ultimately a lesson in life. Nicholas Garrigan, who has just graduate out of medical school, is eager to start something different. He blindly decides where he wants to go as he spins a globe and as he points a finger to stop it, finding that it has landed on Uganda. 

In Uganda he initially works in a small clinic tending to the needed of the Ugandan people. By some rare occasion he encounters the General Idi Amin, and fixes his hand, impressed by his skill, his unflinching bravery to take his gun and shoot a wounded cow, and most importantly his nationality (Scottish), Amin offeres Nicholas to become his personal physician. 

After a while Amin and Nicholas become very close friends. Amin showers him with gifts, women, and seemingly all that life has to offer. Nicholas in turn not only takes care of his personal help, but guides him in political affairs as Amin asks for advice on state matters. Nicholas does not realize that Amin is a violent, power hungry individual. Shielded by the materialistic gifts and sensual pleasures, Nicholas does not see the violence and oppression that engulfs Uganda. Soon enough, he notices what treachery Amin has commited, and feels guilty for he has unknowingly helped him commit such horrible crimes of murder and torture. Nicholas world seems to crash around him as he sees all the violence and evil around him. 

Series of events that take place that solidify the fact that Amin is evil. Gruesome scenes are shown which involve massive mounds of dead bodies that Amins militia have killed that strike deep within the heart. Nicholas love, and ironically one of the wives of Amin, is disembodied as her legs, arms, and head is detatched from her body and her stomach is cut open, for she was pregnant with Nicholas baby. In a fury, Nicholas decides to kill Amin by poisoning him. 

As this is taking place hundred upon hundreds of people are being murdered, and the hospital where Nicholas works is the only place where people can refuge and find safety. Unfortunately, Nicholas plan goes to shambles and he is unable to kill Amin. Nicholas is found out to be a traitor and is hung by skin and left to die. Luckily, one of his fellow doctors and friend risks his life to save him, as he cuts him down and sends him on one of the refugee planes back to civilization but most importantly away from Uganda. 

This movie illustrates evil and torment as Scream does although on a different level that not only educated America on the horrors of genocide and the harmful effects of ignorance. It shows how adventure and thrill can be not what you expect as an exciting journey turns out for the worst. 

Oceans 11

In the past 10 years there has been a few film's which almost young adult can say they have seen or heard of. One of the few is Oceans 11 starring actors and actresses such as George Clooney, Bernie Mac, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts. Won 3 awards and gained 17 nominations. The story surrounds Danny Ocean (George Clooney) getting together a gang of ten men including Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) along with others to pull off the biggest heist ever known. They rob three casinos all owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) and take $150 million dollars.

The movie was successful and is still well remembered. Throughout the whole movie one almost dreams to become one of the characters to be Danny Ocean. Getting revenge on one of the most powerful and wealthy men in the world. Having the ability to pull of a heist that was unheard of just with a group of 10 others. Going through the planning and discussions. His life is a never ending thriller and he has everything set for him. We all at one point wish we could do the same. Doing what we want and getting away with it.

One of the reasons this movie was so appealing was that some of the characters did apply to the common man. Being a go happy funny movie. It was the typical good guy against bad guy with the twist. This time the good guys were the actual criminals robbing a bank. But by the end of the movie, you think these guys aren't so bad at all and if I could I would have taken there position.

Letters from Iwo Jima

I recently watched the movie Letters from Iwo Jima directed by Clint Eastwood. When I rented this movie I just assumed it would be a good gory war movie like so many others I had seen. To my surprise this movie was anything but, and showed people dying less than most other war movie you can see. On the average you have the one army running headlong into machine guns and mortar fire suffering severe casualties to try and accomplish their goal. In this there was one scene that showed people grenadine themselves, but this was different, it showed a different part of war. The thing I found interesting about this movie is how it wasn’t biased in the least. In general most war movies represent one side as being inherently good and the other as inherently bad. This movie based mostly on the Japanese side of the battle on the small island of Iwo Jima showed both sides in the same light. Towards the beginning of the movie they show how the Japanese could both civil and in some cases nasty. Later on after continuous attacks by the American air force you see their spirits change and they show how their culture influences them, at this point in the movie they know they cannot win the battle and they decide to die in a respectful manner according to their culture. The hold grenades to their chests and kill themselves. At this point in the movie I had felt one way about the people on the island, these people representing the culture, after this I felt completely different about their actions. Later in the movie you see more from the American side of the battle. Normally you would think that they are going to be portrayed as the heroes in the movie they will do everything right but that’s not how Clint Eastwood decided to portray them. They shoot a Japanese soldier waving the white flag, and then later they do the right thing by helping Japanese soldiers who have been injured. All together this movie told a great story and told the full story not just from one sided point of view. This was different than most other movies of this kind and I found that very refreshing.

Letters from Iwo Jima

I recently watched the movie Letters from Iwo Jima directed by Clint Eastwood. When I rented this movie I just assumed it would be a good gory war movie like so many others I had seen. To my surprise this movie was anything but, and showed people dying less than most other war movie you can see. On the average you have the one army running headlong into machine guns and mortar fire suffering severe casualties to try and accomplish their goal. In this there was one scene that showed people grenadine themselves, but this was different, it showed a different part of war. The thing I found interesting about this movie is how it wasn’t biased in the least. In general most war movies represent one side as being inherently good and the other as inherently bad. This movie based mostly on the Japanese side of the battle on the small island of Iwo Jima showed both sides in the same light. Towards the beginning of the movie they show how the Japanese could both civil and in some cases nasty. Later on after continuous attacks by the American air force you see their spirits change and they show how their culture influences them, at this point in the movie they know they cannot win the battle and they decide to die in a respectful manner according to their culture. The hold grenades to their chests and kill themselves. At this point in the movie I had felt one way about the people on the island, these people representing the culture, after this I felt completely different about their actions. Later in the movie you see more from the American side of the battle. Normally you would think that they are going to be portrayed as the heroes in the movie they will do everything right but that’s not how Clint Eastwood decided to portray them. They shoot a Japanese soldier waving the white flag, and then later they do the right thing by helping Japanese soldiers who have been injured. All together this movie told a great story and told the full story not just from one sided point of view. This was different than most other movies of this kind and I found that very refreshing.

Good Media/Bad Media

It’s not really fair to criticize or applaud the media during different periods of time because the only way that audiences are able to know that a source is publishing something false or biased is because there was another source at that time providing them with more reliable information. For instance, America currently acknowledges fox news as a news source that presents facts with a republican bias. But the reason why we know that is because that there are other sources telling us this. I believe it is important for the media to have these various perspectives because that allows us check facts and make sure we know what we’re being told is true.

Traffic

The movie Traffic depicts many intertwining stories that are involved with drug trafficking. From the supplier to consumer and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) The main players of each of these parties has a closer connection to the other more so than they think. For instance the head commanding officer of the DEA is strict within his family. His daughter isn't happy with her life at home and something like this may have been her reason for trying drugs and eventually becoming addicted to it.

This movie shows the close and sometimes frighteningly surprising relationship between cause and effect. How one thing leads to another, and how one thing can directly effect another. In real life this happens all the time. When you think you're solving one problem but actually causing another. I remember a lot of speculations that went out about the War in Iraq being all about oil. I even remember hearing on the news "Operation Iraqi Liberation" and saying to my self, "doesn't that spell out O.I.L?" And too this day the prices of gas hasn't gone down.

This is true within media as well. Some people think that making horror movies more grotesque would scare away customers, but some daring (or disturbed) movie makers decide to try and push the envelope on gore. More times than none this invokes and even greater audience, It's funny, people enjoy being freaked out and grossed out. How this works, we may never know. Just shows that things often turn out differently than one would imagine.

Blades of Glory

Blades of Glory is obviously a movie about skating however on a different level it is a movie where two extreme opposites, that completely despise each other can come together to work as one and live in harmony with the help of a middle man for a common goal: the Gold Medal. We can look at this on a political stand point by comparing the two extremes: Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. In the end of 2005 an unlikely pair came together for a common goal: to ease the suffering of so many in the wake of Asia's devastating tsunami. The two have come a long way since running against each other in 1992, where Bush once called Clinton a Bozo while on the campaign trail. Bush said, "You can't go through life with a great deal of bitterness in our heart over something that happened 15 years ago." At Bush's request, the two visited the region and raised money for rebuilding homes and lives ravaged by the tsunami, which left more than 200,000 people dead or missing. They both raised more than $100 million for Hurricane Katrina relief in Louisiana and Mississippi. Clinton said "Where we can find common ground and do something for the future of the country and for the future of our children and grandchildren, I think we ought to do it." Even though they were once foes, they are now friends and really have learned a lot about each other and their shared interests. Blades of Glory so ironically relates to Bush and Clinton because Jon Heder and Will Ferrell were competing against each other and whenever they saw each other they weren't happy, however as time progressed they decided that they both wanted the same thing and decided to work together to make their goal happen. They decided to put their differences and ignorance behind them to work together for something they both felt so strongly toward. This can compare to the Saw and Scream readings by the deeper interpretation that I decided to do. I wanted to take it at a different angle and explain how it politically relates to former presidents, since the presidential elections right now are such a hot topic, even though those two won't be running.

http://abcnews.go.com/wnt/personofweek/story?id=1446477

Minimizing the Damage

When it comes to war, I believe that a nation has a responsibility to ensure that no innocent lives are lost. In the war in Iraq, there is no reason why civilian lives should be considered expendable or necessary, like in WWII, because we now have the technology and intelligence to make informed decisions on our airstrikes. In WWII, we were at were with a much stronger enemy, with technology close to our own, so we felt that we were at risk of losing more lives, whether it be military or innocent live due to another strike like Pearl Harbor. Now, we are fighting a war against people who have little means of technological, using weaponry leftover from battles many years ago. There is no organized military with the intelligence to inflict major damage to our armed forces or country, so there is no real need to take innocent life. I think that military should do all that it can to keep civilians safe, such as projecting the type of bomb, angle of the drop, and time of attack, to minimize the damage to innocent. For example, when bombing an area where major terrorist leader were suspected, the military did all that it could to make sure that the hospital across the street was not damaged. Even though some innocent people may die, they must take into account that it is necessary to take out terrorist leaders who could essentially cause more loss of life if they were left untouched. It is a very tough decision, but I feel that it is necessary as long as too many innocent lives aren’t lost. This is why I felt it was appropriate that there was a single digit number, that if estimated loss of civilian life was higher than, then the okay must be given by the president. Sure some would say no innocent people should be killed, but that is impossible. The terrorist must be taken out or else they would do more harm to American troops and Iraqi people. It is obvious that the U.S. is doing all that they can, such as creating low collateral weapons, and I believe they should be commended for their efforts to save human life. I absolutely agree about how difficult it is to make the decision about conducting an airstrike, like when a small group of Americans are outnumbered by a large enemy force and there is no time to gather intelligence on loss of innocent life. However, this is when it is necessary, like with WWII, to save the lives of our American soldiers, and as sad as it is to say, we must value their lives more than the lives of innocent Iraqi people. Still, I think that the American government is doing all that it can to minimize the damage.

Effective Bombing?

From my miniscule knowledge, I do believe that during a war bombs fall, and when bombs fall they explode, and when they explode, people in the neighboring area of explosion have a greater probability of death. However, just as in every case, there are exceptions to each ‘theory’. The war that rages the Middle East is quite a different from ones previous in the history of men. The art of war has changed with technology but the basic principle of one army vs. another still stands. This modern war in the Middle East proves otherwise. This war against terrorism is not between US troops and the enemy. This enemy is very complicated, ranging in all ages and genders, but most significantly no uniforms! How are US soldiers supposed to right an army that does not exists, how do people expect American soldiers to wage war against entire countries, if not regions of the world. I think it is crazy that this interview deals with talking about how bombs explode. How can we say that one building is a target, and the one less than five feet away not a target? This enemy of terrorist hide in one house to another and recruit entire towns to aid their cause. When Americans get the signal that one building is a target, they drop bombs. Yes the neighboring buildings might get destructed and the people in that area will get hurt. People may argue that these people might be innocent and they do not deserve to be hurt by these bombs. But from the prospective of American soldiers, how can they only destruct the target? These terrorist are unlimited in numbers, they have full support of their towns. I think that if a person is truly innocent, then they should pack up their home and take their family to another country where they do not have the risk of being killed by American bombs. War is a ugly thing, people die, it cannot be avoided.

Talking about horror film

Recently I haven't seen any movies, so I''l have to go along with the articles. In most movies the mother alway saves the day. Child in trouble, cops can't do anything leave it to the mother. She'll go in and do what it takes to save their child. These kind of things can happen in real life. You've heard the stories about how the mother lifted a car to save their child etc. The truth is a angry mother is the worst thing that can come chasing after you. This is more true it the wild. My cat is crazy. You touch her kitten you might lose a hand. Mothers are crazy beast if you try to take one on.

The other cliche in the horror movies as discussed in the "Scream" article is that the good girl is the one that lives. Maybe ther're just trying to stress the point in order to survive in everyday life you should try to be as good as possible. I've never heard of someone getting killed, because they act kindly to someone, the ones you always hear about getting shot are the ones who have attitudes about everything and everyone.

Concerning gore, I guess people will see what they want to see. Watching gore may put us back in our animalistic state. Just proving the point that we are not better than the other animals, ;ike we believe we are.

Fight Club

In the movie Fight Club, the narrator leads a very lackluster life. He is an insomniac who works for a car company in an office building. He is obsessed with furnishing his apartment and buying a nice wardrobe in hope of satisfaction in life. He attends support group meetings because he says the crying helps him get better sleep at night. One day, the narrator meets Tyler Durden, a soap salesman. Tyler is very chaotic and hates the consumer culture. One night, the narrator and Tyler came upon the idea of fighting as a hobby. If felt good to them, and others saw them fighting outside the local bar in the parking lot and became interested. "Fight Club" was the name they gave it, and its popularity grew rapidly. Fight Club was moved to the basement of the bar and was expanded to every night of the week. Ever since the narrator started the club with Tyler, he felt more alive than he had ever been. Others joined the club for the same reason; to feel alive. Fighting was something that let people express their evil side or be involved in something evil.

In Fight Club, the members want to be part of something evil. Just like in today's society, things that are evil get attention and really interests everyone. It seems like nowadays there is more bad news than good news in any newspaper or on any news channel. It is always the negative news stories that get the most attention and coverage. Even tabloids and sensation magazines would much rather have a story about something something controversial a celebrity did than a story about what celebrity is donating to a certain charity. For example, I think more magazines would sell with Paris Hilton getting a DUI on the front cover than a picture of George Clooney doing some community service. People are much more interested in reading about other people's problems than about how good their lives are.

I feel that we like what doesnt happen to us. Just like in Scream, people live the thrill through the movie. They dont want to die like in the story, but they want the excitement and drama that comes with it. Whether we realize it or not, we all want evil.

Cloverfield

Back in the day Japan released a little film called Godzilla. It had clear themes of the west dominating the east. Godzilla generally stomped all over Tokyo's couch much as we had during WWII. The use of the atomic bomb was not left out seeing as that was how Godzilla came to be, a nuclear test. So the east got dominated by the west and the east made a movie basically stating that the west was a bunch of douchebags for generally walking all over the east even though they provoked us into a war. So fifty years later when the east has started to catch up to us to the point where there is potential for them to reach us or even surpass us we come out with a movie about us getting stomped out. Cloverfield is basically a mediocre Godzilla style movie with a Blair Witch Project style filming. A giant monster stomps all over New York City's couch instead of Tokyo's. Everyone dies, they level the city and the end is ambiguous and not at the same time. The city gets bombed but there is a low volume clip after the credits roll that says "somebody help us" and "its still alive." There is no direct connection that the monster came from the east, but the back story from the movie (courtesy IMDB) says that it was disturbed from deep sea oil drilling platforms, so it is related to something that is very big in our economy and something that is going to change, but is still up in the air about what is actually going to happen. So it all ties back to America needing to change its economic policies if it wants to stay on top. Otherwise, China will linger on our block, give the finger to a cop, and set it up to get on top.

John Q

The movie I decided to analyze was John Q. Since one of the main points of the upcoming presidential elections is healthcare, I figured this would be the perfect movie that shows how dissatisfied America is with the private healthcare system. Along with the healthcare portrayal it shows a significant class division among society. The film begins with John Q watching television in bed. Bush is on talking about public spending, the camera then turns to Q's face and you can see it filled with hatred and we instantly understand that Q is not a fan of Bush. Reasons may be because he gives tax breaks to the rich which aids in class separation where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It is also known that healthcare companies paid Bush off to not do anything about the healthcare issues. The class differences that are shown in the film are the doctor patient class division between Q and the surgeon. The portrayal of the surgeon is that he is a good man, however he is corrupted by the system he works for. He basically has no sympathy for Q in any aspect while he is giving the diagnosis of his son. The class difference is shown later when the surgeon is talking to a wealthier patient who just had the surgery that Q seeks. The conversation he has with the wealthy patient is friendly whereas the conversation with Q is guarded and defensive. Another difference is when Q talks to the man in human resources about his healthcare plan and since he is not a full time employee he is only insured up to $20,000 and Q is completely shocked by this. The man can so easily separate himself from showing any sympathy because it shown that he looks that he's well off and doesn't have to deal with that issue. 

Along the same lines of John Q, there was also a documentary by Michael Moore called "Sicko" which reflects how much our healthcare sucks. I remember seeing one man who sawed his ring and middle fingers off by accident and had no insurance because he cant afford it. He chose to have his ring finger reattached because that is $12,000 whereas the middle finger is worth $60,000. There was also a man in the high 80s that was working in the trash area of a grocery store because he gets a discount on medication, whereas most 80 year olds are retired he said that he'd probably be working until he dies because he cant afford medicine otherwise. There were also scenes where people wanted to get implants of some kind and couldn't because insurance said that it was purely experimental and there was another woman that wanted to get the lapband procedure to help her loose weight and insurance said they wouldn't help cover it because she was too overweight, however she wanted it so that she could lose weight so basically the insurance company are idiots. So many people have healthcare benefits subtracted from their paychecks and healthcare still has the nerve to deny coverage over different things, I think if you are paying for it on a weekly, monthly, however many times you should get full coverage. There are so many people that die due to healthcare's negligence on America or making it too expensive for those that need insurance. The part that made me so mad is that in Europe insurance is free! doctors even come to your house! when you go to the hospital you get reimbursed for travel! its just ridiculous how corrupted our world is and healthcare probably will never be free or cheaper here because healthcare is making so much money off of all of us that can afford it. I don't understand that if there is free healthcare (CHIP) for kids, why can't there be a CHIP for adults. Obviously it can be done, but our world is so greedy that they don't want to change it. Hopefully since so many people have seen John Q and how insurance can have such an affect on ones family and even let a family member die, hopefully it can mirror a coming change in American values and hopefully one day change can become possible.