We have started (and finished since I never post) a new film called Citizen Kane by Orson Welles. At the beginning, it was really fast-paced with the whole newsreel scene, but it really caught your attention with all the headlines. It's confusing to watch when we have a DVD player and can stop it any time, so I can't imagine what it was like when people were watching it on the big screen. I love how they almost told you the entire story in a matter of seconds, but it was too fast to really comprehend. After watching a scene, I feel like I have to sit and think about what just happened to understand it.
The film begins with a dark, gloomy place that is Charles Foster Kane's home, 'Xanadu.' He is on his deathbed and whispers Rosebud and drops a snow globe. The camera angle after is shown through the snow globe, which was a really interesting choice. His dying word was 'Rosebud.' The film is a mystery, as someone is trying to figure out what Rosebud meant by interviewing the closest people in his life. The someone (whose name I forget) doesn't find much even from the closest people in Kane's life, showing how surrounded by people he was yet so alienated.
The themes that Mr. Bennett first mentioned in the beginning were alienation, loss of innocence, materialism, and power. The alienation was clear in the beginning as he was the only person living inside this huge castle. He had no one to share it with and wanted no trespassers. Throughout the film, we see that even though Kane is surrounded by so many people and had two wives, he was still a private and secluded person. No one really knew him or what he was thinking. Materialism is pretty obvious since Kane was extremely rich and built structures to try to satisfy himself, including the opera house for Susan Alexander and his paradise home, Xanadu. Even at the end of the film, you see all the statues, things, etc that he collected throughout his life. He had so many materialistic things, but could not satisfy himself and had no one to give them to when he died. Kane himself even says that if he hand't been rich, he might have been a great man.
Loss of innocence was first introduced when Mr. Thatcher came to take Charlie Kane away from his drunk father and his mother who was supposedly trying to help Charlie by sending him away. I really don't get how that's supposed to help. Kane is only a child and is being sent away to live with the bank; his childhood innocence is lost.
Power is also prominent in the film; the gain and loss of power makes up much of Kane's life. Kane, when he first started The Inquirer, was very powerful and everyone wanted to please him. However, as his life goes on, and he starts cheating on his wife with Susan and loses the governor position, his power is deteriorating. Charlie Kane seems to believe he has a lot of power over everyone, as shown when he says that people will believe whatever he tells them to believe in his newspaper. But during that scene, the reality is that he is losing much of his power. Even when he builds the opera house for Susan, his own friend Leeland has his own opinion: that Susan was terrible. Also when his screaming was bleeped out into a car horn noise. What Kane says is no longer held up on a pedestal; now, all he says is just common noise.
During the scene where Kane is making a declaration of sorts, he turns the light off, keeping all the characters in the dark. I liked this scene because Leeland suggested that Kane might not keep to his promises, and sure enough, he didn't. It connected with another scene when Kane receives the declaration in the mail and he furiously rips it up. In the last part of the film, the other people in the film never find out what Rosebud is and just let it go because 'a word can't describe a man's life.' However, we as the audience find out when the sled, named Rosebud, is thrown into the fire to burn. The sled is the last thing from childhood that Kane owns, the time when he was 'innocent' and happy. Even after he gained all this power, wealth, and material things, on his deathbed, he said the name of just a sled from his childhood.
When Mr. Bennett mentioned that people called it the greatest film of all time, I had a bad feeling because whenever someone says that and I watch the film, I end up thinking 'Oh that really wasn't that good.' and I feel disappointed. However, the 'cinematography' (I'm starting to really like this word =D) was great, and I actually did like the film. It was really interesting and even though it's negative, I will deal with it. I'd just like to say that I liked the scene where it was connected with "Merry Christmas..." as Kane was opening his present "...and a Happy New Year" when Kane was much older. I just thought it was cool :P
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
All Quiet On The Western Front [End]
So we have finished watching All Quiet On The Western Front and I haven't posted for a while now. Where to begin on the things we've seen over the past few days?
The scene with the women really showed the effects of how terrible the war was because even though the women had no idea what these men were saying and were ignoring them, once they saw that the men had food, they immediately flocked to them. They were selling themselves just for some bread. That is just not cool.
I think the director made a good choice in using German soldiers instead of American soldiers because this was being shown to an American audience who had prejudices about Germans. Watching this film would have made them see that everyone in war is practically the same. There are just men who are told to fight, but do not want to die. It is similar to the scene where Paul stabbed another soldier. I forgot what country he was from, but Paul realizes that they are both men with family at home and both are human beings not that different from each other.
When Paul returns to the teacher's classroom, he has changed so much from when he had left the teacher's classroom. When he left, he did not know the truth of war, only that it was supposedly a great thing to die for his country. But when he returns, he has seen the horrors of war and that it is not a great thing to die for the fatherland. He realizes that because the teacher has never been in war, it is easy for him to advertise for young soldiers to enlist.
During the ending scenes of the film, Kat is killed. Kat was the only person left that Paul could relate to. I think it's terrible that Paul can't even talk to or connect with his own family because he has been through war. He's very disconnected from society and can't live that kind of life anymore, even choosing to go back earlier. Many of his other friends were killed, and he only has Kat left. Kat says something about how the war won't end till they get him, which of course, is a jinx. He's probably gonna die...really soon. And that's what happens!
The ending scene of the film is with Paul being killed with a sniper while reaching for the butterfly. The butterfly seems to symbolize freedom and change, some things that Paul will never obtain. The scene where the boys are looking back at their old life is replayed, bringing the film to a full circle.
There are many examples of dehumanization in this film. The first example is of Kat telling a soldier that even though his friend had died, a body is just a body. Then the scene where Kat himself dies. Kat is dead and Paul is clearly shocked, but the other people in the tent continue playing cards and casually talk about his information. So many soldiers have died in wars and they are just numbers, statistics for history.
The doors and windows that Mr. Bennett keeps talking about are actually very important because they give points of view and sometimes foreshadow. For example, the closing of a door usually means closing an opportunity. Closing the door on Paul seemed to show that he was going to die, but in the next scene, there is an open window with light shining through. This could mean that he was given another opportunity to live. Looking through a window into a scene is much like being on the outside looking in and never being able to do anything about it. You are just a viewer.
So I can't believe we have finished our first movie! Yay! It still isn't my favorite film, but it is definitely a good war film.
The scene with the women really showed the effects of how terrible the war was because even though the women had no idea what these men were saying and were ignoring them, once they saw that the men had food, they immediately flocked to them. They were selling themselves just for some bread. That is just not cool.
I think the director made a good choice in using German soldiers instead of American soldiers because this was being shown to an American audience who had prejudices about Germans. Watching this film would have made them see that everyone in war is practically the same. There are just men who are told to fight, but do not want to die. It is similar to the scene where Paul stabbed another soldier. I forgot what country he was from, but Paul realizes that they are both men with family at home and both are human beings not that different from each other.
When Paul returns to the teacher's classroom, he has changed so much from when he had left the teacher's classroom. When he left, he did not know the truth of war, only that it was supposedly a great thing to die for his country. But when he returns, he has seen the horrors of war and that it is not a great thing to die for the fatherland. He realizes that because the teacher has never been in war, it is easy for him to advertise for young soldiers to enlist.
During the ending scenes of the film, Kat is killed. Kat was the only person left that Paul could relate to. I think it's terrible that Paul can't even talk to or connect with his own family because he has been through war. He's very disconnected from society and can't live that kind of life anymore, even choosing to go back earlier. Many of his other friends were killed, and he only has Kat left. Kat says something about how the war won't end till they get him, which of course, is a jinx. He's probably gonna die...really soon. And that's what happens!
The ending scene of the film is with Paul being killed with a sniper while reaching for the butterfly. The butterfly seems to symbolize freedom and change, some things that Paul will never obtain. The scene where the boys are looking back at their old life is replayed, bringing the film to a full circle.
There are many examples of dehumanization in this film. The first example is of Kat telling a soldier that even though his friend had died, a body is just a body. Then the scene where Kat himself dies. Kat is dead and Paul is clearly shocked, but the other people in the tent continue playing cards and casually talk about his information. So many soldiers have died in wars and they are just numbers, statistics for history.
The doors and windows that Mr. Bennett keeps talking about are actually very important because they give points of view and sometimes foreshadow. For example, the closing of a door usually means closing an opportunity. Closing the door on Paul seemed to show that he was going to die, but in the next scene, there is an open window with light shining through. This could mean that he was given another opportunity to live. Looking through a window into a scene is much like being on the outside looking in and never being able to do anything about it. You are just a viewer.
So I can't believe we have finished our first movie! Yay! It still isn't my favorite film, but it is definitely a good war film.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
All Quiet On The Western Front [Day 2]
Today was the second day of watching All Quiet On The Western Front. We had already been introcued to this film in AP World History last year, and I will admit that I didn't really find it interesting and I may or may not have fallen asleep. However, when we started the film a day ago, I decided that I would give this film another chance and start from the beginning. It's still not my favorite film or anything, but it's interesting. Even though Mr. Bennett stopped the film about a million times to comment on something, it was okay because that's how I learned that directors and writers and everyone working on a film really put a lot of thought into every part of the film, even the small details, like say a small line of dialogue that turns out to be the most important thing. It was also interesting to learn about the camera angles and how the first shot of each scene is really important.
In the film, there was a lot of foreshadowing for things to come like Behn being the only one to stare at the dead man with his vision and later on, he becomes blind and dies. It wasn't shocking that Behn was going to die first, but what was shocking was what the boys had to go through...and they didn't even go into battle yet. I think the characters themselves were shocked that one of their own friends had died so quickly and the officer that was with them didn't even think of him as a human, just an it. People today know that war is usually a horrifying thing, on account of all the books published and all the personal accounts that survivors have made. It really messes people up. It's like a big wake up call to the main characters! They had all thought that war was going to be a great thing, and that they were going to be heroes. I wonder who's going to die next...just kidding! That was a really mean thing to say :P, but we all know it's coming!
SHARON CHOI =D
In the film, there was a lot of foreshadowing for things to come like Behn being the only one to stare at the dead man with his vision and later on, he becomes blind and dies. It wasn't shocking that Behn was going to die first, but what was shocking was what the boys had to go through...and they didn't even go into battle yet. I think the characters themselves were shocked that one of their own friends had died so quickly and the officer that was with them didn't even think of him as a human, just an it. People today know that war is usually a horrifying thing, on account of all the books published and all the personal accounts that survivors have made. It really messes people up. It's like a big wake up call to the main characters! They had all thought that war was going to be a great thing, and that they were going to be heroes. I wonder who's going to die next...just kidding! That was a really mean thing to say :P, but we all know it's coming!
SHARON CHOI =D
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