Thursday, March 19, 2009
Entry 7
The film American East was about Muslims living in Los Angeles in a post 9/11 United States. The most heartbreaking character was the cab driver and aspiring actor. During the film, he asked his pregnant girlfriend to marry him because he thought he was in a more stable position having gotten a part on a TV show for which he was scheduled to appear seven times. However, the script was completely rewritten and he was left to play the part of terrorist. Though it obviously bothered him, he said he would do the part. However, after agreeing to do this, he tells his agent that he won't do this sort of part again. As the film goes on, the actor is recognized in a coffee shop by some rather stupid young men who think that he really is a terrorist rather than consider that what they saw had been a promotion. After quite understandably yanking their chain by saying he really was a terrorist, he ends up being arrested and missing his chance to audition for a part that he really wanted. By this point, the character is quite understandably depressed and fed up. After loosing his job as a cab driver because his boss needed somebody who would work full time, he tries to explain to the director of the television show that he was uncomfortable playing the part of a terrorist only to have the entire situation devolve into a hostage situation where he is eventually killed. The worst part is that his pregnant fiance was speaking to him on the phone whenhe is shot by a sniper.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Film Analysis
Rebecca Beaudry
HIS 3105
Film Analysis
March 19, 2009
The 1999 film, The Mummy takes place in Egypt during the 1920s. This film tells the story of an ancient Egyptian priest and his attempt to break free from the curse he was under and bring the woman he loved, Anck-su-namun back to life. The heroes of the movie accidentally aid Imhotep, the priest, in breaking free of his prison only to spend the rest of the film attempting to right the wrong they had committed.
The film opens on Anck-su-namun and Imhotep together. It quickly becomes apparent that the two are having an affair. This is confirmed when they kill the Pharaoh so that Anck-su-namun can be free of him. Unfortunately, they are caught and Anck-su-namun kills herself after telling the guards that it was she who killed the Pharaoh. This was done with the intention of having Imhotep bring her back to life, however, in the middle of the ceremony, Imhotep and his fellow priests are caught. Their punishment for this crime was to be mummified alive in the case of the priests and in the case of Imhotep to be buried alive with a swarm of flesh eating beetles after his tongue was cut out.
The next seen is set in the early 1920s, where the French Foreign Legion preparing for a fight in the ruins of the fictional Egyptian city of Hamunaptra. It is later revealed that this particular group was so enamored with the legend of Hamunaptra that they walked all the way to Egypt from Lybia in search of it. After the French Foreign Legion looses the battle, the main male character, Rick O’Connell wanders off into the desert. From there, he eventually ends up in Cairo where an artifact he had stolen from Hamunaptra is stolen from him in a bar by the brother, Jonathon, of the female lead, Evy Carnahan.
Realizing that this the artifact is important and that within it is a map to the legendary city of Hamunaptra, which was supposedly the City of the Dead, an ancient burial ground, Evy insists on meeting the person who had originally possessed the artifact. Eventually, she is forced to barter with the lecherous Egyptian warden of Cairo Prison to free Rick before he is executed. Said warden then pushes his way into their expedition to Hamunaptra to ensure that he receives his portion of the profits.
Throughout this film, the Medjai, a group of warriors desended from the secret guard which protected the Pharaoh killed by Anck-su-namun and Imhotep follow the heroes and alternately attempt to stop the expedition to Hamunaptra and aid the heroes of the film after they accidentally free Imhotep. It is Ardeth Bay who aids Rick, Evy, and Jonathon. Though Ardeth Bay is by far the most competent character in the film, it is Rick and Jonathon who, despite their blunders and bumbling save the day.
In the opening scene, it becomes apparent that Anck-su-namun is concubine of the Pharaoh. The impracticality of her clothing, or lack there of is amazing. She spends her only living moments in the film wearing a loincloth and lines of ink painted upon her body. The Pharaoh knew Ank-su-namun had cheated on him when some of these ink designs upon her arm had become smeared. Neither he, nor any of the other characters stopped to think that the only way Anck-su-namun could avoid smearing the ink was to stand. To sit or lay down, or even to lean against a wall would have hopelessly smeared the ink. Even accidentally moving her body in the wrong way would have smeared the ink.
When the boat they were traveling upon was burned down by the Medjai, Evy and the other characters had to escape with the clothing upon their back. In the case of Evy, this meant she was in a nightgown. Left with no other choice, she is forced to buy clothing from the locals. Once she dons this clothing, including a veil, she is looked upon by Rick and the lecherous prison warden as a sex object. That is not to say that neither was attracted to Evy before then, rather that putting on this clothing made her all the more attractive to them.
The prison warden is portrayed as dirty, lecherous, and greedy throughout the movie. He barters with Evy for the release of Rick, only satisfied when offered twenty five percent of the cut of the profits made by the expedition to Hamunaptra. However, before Hamunaptra was revealed, he attempted to feel Evy up only to be rebuffed. When Jonathon is describing why he hates camels on the way to Hamunaptra, it is not a close up of the camels they are riding that is shown, but one of the warden, instead. Jonathon’s explanation that camels are dirty, smelly, and that they spit fit the warden exactly during this scene. Later on in the film, it is the warden’s own greed which kills him. Having wandered off from the group, he begins to pry the remains of flesh eating beetles from a wall, thinking them to be jewels. It is one of these beetles which burrows under his skin and eventually kills him.
After his death, Imhotep becomes something of an evil spirit, trapped until Evy accidentally releases him. From there, he goes on a quest to make himself whole using the body parts of the thieves who stolen the jars which held his internal organs. He is aided in his quest by the cowardly Beni, who betrayed at one point or another every major character in the film. When confronted with Imhotep, Beni begins to pray to any and all forms of God, including holding out a star of David to protect himself and praying in Hebrew. Imhotep assumes Beni is a Jewish slave and takes him as his head minion.
Though Imhotep was not originally evil, beyond his regicidal urges, something about how he died and then resurrected himself turned Imhotep evil. He eventually kidnaps Evy and attempts to kill her to bring Anck-su-namun back to life. Eventually, Imhotep is killed by being made mortal by a spell said by Evy and then set upon by the mummies of the guards which had killed him originally.
There are many examples of orientalism in the film The Mummy, from the portrayal of the seductive Ank-su-namun to the portrayal of Imhotep. The heroes of this movie are not Ardeth Bay or the Medjai, who have been watching over Imhotep to ensure he remained imprisoned for generations, but rather the bumbling heroes who loosed Imhotep in the first place.
HIS 3105
Film Analysis
March 19, 2009
The 1999 film, The Mummy takes place in Egypt during the 1920s. This film tells the story of an ancient Egyptian priest and his attempt to break free from the curse he was under and bring the woman he loved, Anck-su-namun back to life. The heroes of the movie accidentally aid Imhotep, the priest, in breaking free of his prison only to spend the rest of the film attempting to right the wrong they had committed.
The film opens on Anck-su-namun and Imhotep together. It quickly becomes apparent that the two are having an affair. This is confirmed when they kill the Pharaoh so that Anck-su-namun can be free of him. Unfortunately, they are caught and Anck-su-namun kills herself after telling the guards that it was she who killed the Pharaoh. This was done with the intention of having Imhotep bring her back to life, however, in the middle of the ceremony, Imhotep and his fellow priests are caught. Their punishment for this crime was to be mummified alive in the case of the priests and in the case of Imhotep to be buried alive with a swarm of flesh eating beetles after his tongue was cut out.
The next seen is set in the early 1920s, where the French Foreign Legion preparing for a fight in the ruins of the fictional Egyptian city of Hamunaptra. It is later revealed that this particular group was so enamored with the legend of Hamunaptra that they walked all the way to Egypt from Lybia in search of it. After the French Foreign Legion looses the battle, the main male character, Rick O’Connell wanders off into the desert. From there, he eventually ends up in Cairo where an artifact he had stolen from Hamunaptra is stolen from him in a bar by the brother, Jonathon, of the female lead, Evy Carnahan.
Realizing that this the artifact is important and that within it is a map to the legendary city of Hamunaptra, which was supposedly the City of the Dead, an ancient burial ground, Evy insists on meeting the person who had originally possessed the artifact. Eventually, she is forced to barter with the lecherous Egyptian warden of Cairo Prison to free Rick before he is executed. Said warden then pushes his way into their expedition to Hamunaptra to ensure that he receives his portion of the profits.
Throughout this film, the Medjai, a group of warriors desended from the secret guard which protected the Pharaoh killed by Anck-su-namun and Imhotep follow the heroes and alternately attempt to stop the expedition to Hamunaptra and aid the heroes of the film after they accidentally free Imhotep. It is Ardeth Bay who aids Rick, Evy, and Jonathon. Though Ardeth Bay is by far the most competent character in the film, it is Rick and Jonathon who, despite their blunders and bumbling save the day.
In the opening scene, it becomes apparent that Anck-su-namun is concubine of the Pharaoh. The impracticality of her clothing, or lack there of is amazing. She spends her only living moments in the film wearing a loincloth and lines of ink painted upon her body. The Pharaoh knew Ank-su-namun had cheated on him when some of these ink designs upon her arm had become smeared. Neither he, nor any of the other characters stopped to think that the only way Anck-su-namun could avoid smearing the ink was to stand. To sit or lay down, or even to lean against a wall would have hopelessly smeared the ink. Even accidentally moving her body in the wrong way would have smeared the ink.
When the boat they were traveling upon was burned down by the Medjai, Evy and the other characters had to escape with the clothing upon their back. In the case of Evy, this meant she was in a nightgown. Left with no other choice, she is forced to buy clothing from the locals. Once she dons this clothing, including a veil, she is looked upon by Rick and the lecherous prison warden as a sex object. That is not to say that neither was attracted to Evy before then, rather that putting on this clothing made her all the more attractive to them.
The prison warden is portrayed as dirty, lecherous, and greedy throughout the movie. He barters with Evy for the release of Rick, only satisfied when offered twenty five percent of the cut of the profits made by the expedition to Hamunaptra. However, before Hamunaptra was revealed, he attempted to feel Evy up only to be rebuffed. When Jonathon is describing why he hates camels on the way to Hamunaptra, it is not a close up of the camels they are riding that is shown, but one of the warden, instead. Jonathon’s explanation that camels are dirty, smelly, and that they spit fit the warden exactly during this scene. Later on in the film, it is the warden’s own greed which kills him. Having wandered off from the group, he begins to pry the remains of flesh eating beetles from a wall, thinking them to be jewels. It is one of these beetles which burrows under his skin and eventually kills him.
After his death, Imhotep becomes something of an evil spirit, trapped until Evy accidentally releases him. From there, he goes on a quest to make himself whole using the body parts of the thieves who stolen the jars which held his internal organs. He is aided in his quest by the cowardly Beni, who betrayed at one point or another every major character in the film. When confronted with Imhotep, Beni begins to pray to any and all forms of God, including holding out a star of David to protect himself and praying in Hebrew. Imhotep assumes Beni is a Jewish slave and takes him as his head minion.
Though Imhotep was not originally evil, beyond his regicidal urges, something about how he died and then resurrected himself turned Imhotep evil. He eventually kidnaps Evy and attempts to kill her to bring Anck-su-namun back to life. Eventually, Imhotep is killed by being made mortal by a spell said by Evy and then set upon by the mummies of the guards which had killed him originally.
There are many examples of orientalism in the film The Mummy, from the portrayal of the seductive Ank-su-namun to the portrayal of Imhotep. The heroes of this movie are not Ardeth Bay or the Medjai, who have been watching over Imhotep to ensure he remained imprisoned for generations, but rather the bumbling heroes who loosed Imhotep in the first place.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Entry 6
So, am I the only one who was disappointed by where we stopped in Aladdin? We didn't even get to his big entrance as a prince, which surely would have sparked much discussion (particularly in the way Aladdin made up his princely name). Anyway, my big issue was the way all the women old enough to be considered sex objects dressed. This essentially amounted to the stereotypical flowing pants and a top which could double as a bra. Admittedly, they all put something on over themselves when they left their houses, but that doesn't change that most of the women in this children's movie are running around in what amounts to a bikini top and a pair of pants. Even Jasmine, the princess, runs around wearing this clothing. They put her in a purple dress that covered a lot more later on in the movie. Why can't she wear that instead of the bikini top and pants? She's a princess, not some cliched harem girl. Why is it a law that Jasmine has to marry a prince before she reaches a certain age? Can't she marry a member of the nobility? An important soldier? And why didn't her father arrange a marriage for her long before this? Surely he would have thought of it by then. Why when she reached that age? Did she become an old maid the day after she turned however old it was? This seems doubtful. Jasmine looks like a teenager.
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