Sabina Holtby - Reflections on The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The topics covered in class have been very relevant in my life. It amazes me how I walk into class and the lecture before the film is always something that has been on my mind all week. This is especially true of the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I had been working on figuring out my emotions, identifying them and naming them. When the lecture began I was amazed at how the material spoke right into my life.
When the film began I was drawn in by the almost documentary style camera work and the raw reality feel of the film. It was about real people who were struggling to do the right thing and to live their lives the best they could. The interesting thing about the movie was in spite of the feeling of ‘raw reality’ the film was largely psychological, meant to let you feel rather than know. It was interesting to see how the characters minds worked.
It is very frightening to let someone see how your mind works. I discovered this about myself earlier this year, I have always thought that I was afraid of thinking, but I am really afraid of thinking with others. That is one reason we need film and other arts, so that we can feel less alone, like we can know that other people feel the same way you do even if you cannot express it.

Gordon Mallonee - Koyaabusqatsi / not sure if it worked the first tiem

The film Koyaabusqatsi has an interesting approach at gaining the viewers attention and getting the meaning across to them. The film portrays the destruction of nature threw human societal build up. It starts off with showing an image of a rocket taking off into space. There is also an image before the rocket of a painting of people drawn on a rock. It looks very primitive. Then the film shows the beauty of nature through the landscapes of different places. The first interaction with humans is a big tractor work the land. Human culture is based around agriculture and because of agriculture the world has been able to reach levels of human population that it should never have been able to and as a result nature is being taken over.

A good example that the film uses to show that nature if being taken over by humans is when the full moon is shown moving through the sky and is then eclipsed by a skyscraper. This portrays the idea that humans can block out nature and no longer need it to be here. The buildings in different scenes where shown reflecting images of nature in its windows. This gives the impression that the buildings are the new nature, a human made nature. More of this human made nature can be seen when images of cars on the interstate are driving. They all look like worker bees or ants going about their jobs without thinking of anything else.

The aesthetics of the film were very good. The way the music and the images interacted was very in sink. When panning over the landscapes of nature the music was very mellow and flowing. When showing people in a subway or driving on the interstate the music was very sped up and full of energy. When showing nature in the film the colors were always very bright, while most of what was man made, besides the lights, where dull in color and not as aesthetically pleasing. One example of this was when images of different flowers where all lines up in bright colors and then later shown was an assortment of different cars all painted differently.

At the end of the film the images come full circle back to the rocket taking off into space. Then the rocket starts to fall apart and explode and you see the engine falling back to the earth in a fireball. Its just more human destruction that symbolizes what will happen to humans that continue to place themselves over nature.

Matt Brookman RSTD 326

I have been looking forward to this class since I signed up for it. I knew we would be watching excellent films that would make you really think. I can honestly say that due to this class I am able to read into and discuss themes and concepts present in movies better than before this class. I really enjoyed the discussions after the movie to get feedback on how my peers felt or what they obtained from different scenes and in depth looks on religious subjects that were present in the films we viewed. Movies that I would normally think were boring or not exciting enough became very interesting due to the presentations and the readings that were given before the movie was shown. Religion plays a huge part in most human lives, but as we’ve seen now religion also plays a huge role in the movie making business. The suits behind the movies would not produce them if they were not in demand and there was no money to be made off them.

Matt Brookman 300

The field trip we took to the movies was great. I went and saw 300. In the movie a king and three hundred of his men go off and try to hold off an army that is going to attack his people and his kingdom. He is the leader of Sparta. The reason he only could take three hundred men was to get by the politics of his government that voted not to send the army and fight. This as in most cases is due to a few corrupt people that always seem to make things difficult. The king and his men fight off the largest army ever formed up until that point. The men are not only fighting for their home, but as the movie goes on they are fighting their hearts out for each other. This is still true today in are military. Men and women are fighting to protect the person beside them. The king and his men might have been able to fight them off and defeat the Prussian army due to the strength, smarts, and courage of those three hundred men. There was a turning point when an outsider from the three hundred betrayed them and showed the leader of the Prussian army a secret passage that would lead to the death of all the Spartans. The king sent one away so he could tell their story and also prepare for the enemy that would soon be attacking Sparta. I enjoyed this movie as much as any other we saw this semester. I do have to say that it was little different to see the whole cast of actors on human growth hormones to make them in the best possible shape they could get.

Matt Brookman Spirited Away

The film Spirited Away was an animated film we viewed during the last class. I’m not a big fan of animated movies, but I had a feeling if you were showing it that the movie was going to be good and also have a deeper meaning than what we might first think. The movie follows a little girl through a place where spirits go to cleanse themselves. She becomes trapped in this place or alternate world. She begins to go along with the rituals at this place because she is trying to get her parents back because they were turned into pigs after eating all this food that was for the spirits to enjoy. The young girl becomes distracted from her parents to help out someone else. The determination of the young girl ends up changing attitudes of the spirits and others who seem to be humans. Her hard work and determination payoff in the long run because she saves the young boy and got her parents back. I think the message in the movie was focused in on sacred places. The point was to show the audience that certain places are not to be disturbed. I found it similar to that of your experience in or near Japan when the lady smacked you because she felt you were not showing respect for the sacred burials, or that she was just trying to teach you something about the culture and how they view the dead.

Matt Brookman Ground Hog Day

Groundhog Day was a movie with Bill Murray playing the lead actor. He was a news reporter who seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. Bill Murray goes to the town to be there when the groundhog sees his shadow or not. The funny thing is after the first day of covering the event with the groundhog he goes to sleep and when he wakes up it’s the same day over and over again. This repeats over and over and Bill Murray begins to have fun with his situation and also does things to help others. How does sacred time transcend itself was a question we discussed in class concerning the film. The significance of his life becomes more of his concentration as the movie progresses. Throughout this time in the movie Bill Murray’s character goes through a slow transformation in life. The first time I watched this movie I turned it off before it was over so when we watched it in class and discussed certain aspects of the characters and the film I seemed to really enjoy what it brought to the table.

Matt Brookman The Jacket

Matt Brookman The Jacket
The Jacket was one of the first movies we watched in class. The first scene in the movie was a little too much for me to handle. I think it was just very alarming for the first scene. The main actor in the movie seems to be going through some sort of torture and not knowing what was going on made the first scenes hard to watch. It was a lot to do with the director and the way certain images were used. The main character would be placed in a straight jacket and placed in a drawer where he experienced an ecstatic state, or an out of body experience. He dreaded going into the draw until he went through some form of transformation. He was motivated to go back in the draw to save another person. The ecstatic state was similar to Shamans and the choice to save others before yourself was similar to the actions of Jesus. Overall I thought the film was exciting and kept you wondering the whole time.