Silent Generation

insecticidal properties. In World War II DDT was used to control malaria and typhus among civilian troops. It was later used as an agricultural insecticide and as it popularity increased, it gained commercial use. In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book tracing the environmental impact of the nationwide spraying of DDT and the ethical concerns of releasing large amounts of potentially toxic chemicals into the environment without fully understanding their effect on human and animal…

Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song (1971; Sweetback hereinafter) is a low-budget, 97-minute-long independent film written, directed, produced and scored by Melvin Van Peebles (b. 1932). Its production is considered a watershed in the history of US filmmaking. Sweetback’s firm stand on racism in the movie industry and the wider US socio-political context is still pertinent today as the racist ideology is disturbingly still with us today. Hence, the importance of revisiting Sweetback to unpack its…

In the book Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson the thesis was that pesticides were harming the environment and wildlife, especially birds. Carson focused her attention on the pesticide DDT, which was first made in 1874. DDT was used heavily during World War II to try and control the diseases typhus and malaria. So she presented research that pesticides can cause cancers, other ill effects and how they can gather in animals bodies through a process called bioaccumulation. Rachel Carson was a…

Among the numerous great silent film directors, the three that are commonly mentioned surrounding that discussion are Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. Having seen a greater amount of Charlie Chaplin’s wonderful work than the others, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd most certainly still got my consideration. In spite of every one of the three delivering awesome pieces of visual artwork, they shared some comparable attributes, but they each had unique differences which contributed…

In ‘Music and the Silent Film’ by Patrick Miller the writer comments that from the earliest days of the cinema, commercial films were accompanied by music. From the fairground nickelodeons where player pianos churned out popular favourites to the glittering movie palaces where large orchestras accompanied the images on the silver screen, film music flourished. Music for the movies not only heightened the emotional response to a picture, but also served the practical purpose of drowning out the…

almost feel the vibration from how loud it is. Chaplin was able to produce and star in silent films and he still was able to get his point across. Today when people watch a movie, there are multiple colors and sounds. It would be weird to people if it was how it used to be because people are used to the new changes. Life on the streets influenced Charlie Chaplin, his character “The Tramp” helped him become a silent film star, and Chaplin’s style was adored by to the public for his sense of humor…

actor to a diligent director. Two films he participated, The Thief of Bagdad and Don Q, Son of Zorro, which brought the idea of swashbuckling into Hollywood for the first time and was continued to carry on by acting and directing, are landmarks in silent film industry. While I was amazed by his vividly-portrayed swashbuckling characters and his athletic charisma, I was also curious about the man behind his mask on the screen. What was his story? The early 20th century was the beginning of the…

I. Introduction a. Background information parathion and use of pesticides in the 1950-1960s b. Information about the environmental movement that happened after the book was published THESIS: In the excerpt from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, she states that the use of spraying pesticides is not worth the damage done because of the poison's widespread damage to nature and farmers' ignorance to the dangerous effects parathion has on humans and their worker's lives. II. Body Paragraph 1 a. Carson…

D. W. Griffith is one of the most well-known individuals in the silent film era. According to Jon Lewis, his movies are mostly about intransigent racism or miscegenation. However, because the nature of racism in some of his work, it is understandably hard to appreciate the man for his craft. D. W. Griffith’s silent films are often Victorian melodramas with full of innovations to shot types in combination with editing to create compelling sequences. One of D. W. Griffith’s more recognized works…

live orchestra to the silent film “The Mark of Zorro” directed by Fred Niblo made the film more thrilling. The bold music brought on a new approach to the humorous silent film. After viewing it, I now believe that all silent films should be viewed accompanying a performing orchestra or band of some sort. I loved how it offered an alternate source of not only entertainment, but information synchronized with moving images. Without the exhilarating background music, silent films seem tedious…