Jedi

“Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli” Film influences our lives in multiple aspects. New films are released every day; however, only a great film can make a lasting impact on society. In 1972, America was faced with national cynicism and an ever-changing cultural view, due to the Watergate Scandal, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Equal Rights Movement for women. Francis Ford Coppola made a bold move by producing a film called The Godfather, which detailed the inter-workings of the Mafia in a…

While the boys’ vision tapered quickly, their enthusiasm, for the most part, did not. “Tell me,” John would ask, “what do you see?” Rather than lie and say something like “Oh, not much,” we described sights as best we could. We didn’t want him to feel like he was missing out. But he was. We’d have magnified the loss, however, if we’d held back. In Yosemite, where we traveled for many years in a row, I found myself saying, “John, about a hundred yards away there is a grey wolf. His hair is…

This i It, or This was it, or that was it? Either way something was it. I had successfully made it through my first year of Junior High and my first year at Sequoia Union. It was the worst year of my life. Especially at the beginning of it all. Now what I’m about to tell you seemed like it happened along time ago compared to the difference from then and now, not to say it wasn’t a while back, yet it feels as though it were yesterday. At the beginning of this entire story, believe it or not, I…

Joe Muti 11/26/17 Professor Carmen FTV The Good, the Bad, and the Wookie Akira Kurosawa’s Influence on Sergio Leone and George Lucas The post war renaissance in Japan had a great influence on contemporary American filmmaking. Viewing Akira Kurosawa’s films, one will see his influence on modern filmmakers such as Italy’s Sergio Leone and America’s George Lucas, through storytelling, cinematography and character development. Akira had a unique and genius style of creating new movies from classics…

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, STAR WARS captured the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world. It sparked people’s imaginations. It gave them a glimpse into a strange, fantastic world far more technologically advanced than our own. People wondered if the technology in STAR WARS could ever be realized in our world—if we would ever reach that level of advancement. But for years after the release of the original STAR WARS in 1978, people’s hopes and dreams for…

Have you ever been watching a movie, or playing a game, that had you so immersed, you needed to remind yourself this was a fantasy? Storming the beaches of Normandy, traversing the galaxy on an Imperial Star Destroyed, or slinging through downtown Manhattan next to Spider-Man, all different mediums of film, television and video games have the power to integrate their audiences into their world, and create an exciting and enjoyable experience. When fanfiction develops, techniques are employed…

Mythology can be very complicated but at the same time fascinating. Author Joseph Campbell, studied myths and made a claim that almost all myth have the same ideas. Also so that heroes adventures are nearly identical in their shape. The hero’s Journey is different stages of adventure that can be found in movies, myths, and religious rituals. George Lucas’s science fiction film Star Wars and Aldous Huxley novel Brave New World clearly displays hero’s journey. In the film and novel, Luke Skywalker…

Since experiencing Disneyland from the objective perspective has grown stale, lately I’ve been viewing it through the subjective lens and pondering the events there more symbolically. When I do this, I usually pay attention to whatever seems to stand out in my mind. Broken Systems In the past few days, Rachelle and I have encountered a lot of rides breaking down. At one point yesterday, it seemed like almost half of the rides at the California Adventure park were non-operational. Maybe the…

3. Bleeding Edge: waiting to be reassembled The ‘Word’ is definitely an interesting concept in The Crying of Lot 49, simply because of the myriad of analyses and meanings it received (cf. Grant 2008; Schaub 2013). What perhaps then is even more intriguing is its reappearance in Pynchon’s latest novel, Bleeding Edge, almost half a century later: ‘[Maxine is talking in DeepArcher to an enigmatic woman, after September 11. The woman says:] “Only here to have a look. Find out how long I can stay…

Ever since Titanic was released during the holidays, studios have looked at the holiday season as a prime spot to release huge movies. Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Avatar, and Titanic have all seen gigantic numbers during this time of the year. This makes Winter the new Summer for movies. Sure, there are now Avengers films being released at that time, but December is where they roll out the films that could be nominated for awards. If you take a look at this holiday season — I have taken a…