For Private Witt, the idea is found in another world. For Sgt. Welsh, no idea exists -- and he tries to get Private Witt to see as much.
Yet, Malick's point is that such a world does exist. In fact, he begins the film with the prayerful chants of t Continue Reading...
" The narrator of the film asks: "What's this war in the heart of nature? Why does nature vie with itself, the land contend with the sea? Is there an avenging power in nature?" Because it is a war film set during the Battle of Guadalcanal, the film e Continue Reading...
images in the film Badlands by Terrence Malick are often disharmonious, wherein the potential importance of an encountered object evades the thinking, activity, and perception of the characters. It is as if Malick desires for every object in the sce Continue Reading...
As he himself admits, "I have a very grim perspective. I do feel that it's a grim, painful, nightmarish meaningless existence, and the only way to be happy is if you tell yourself some lies. One must have some delusions to live" ("Cannes 2010: Woody Continue Reading...
Music Since 1900
A Survey of Three Works by Ives, Schoenberg, and Barber
In the film Legend of 1900, Tim Roth plays an orphan who grows up aboard the SS Virginian, where he becomes a virtuoso piano player, whose styling rivals the greatest Jazz pia Continue Reading...
Cold War and Film
Generally speaking, the Cold War has been depicted as an era of spy games and paranoia in popular films from the 1960s to the present day, but the reality of the era was much more complex. The Cold War was a period of military and Continue Reading...
Sonnet: Shakespeare's Sonnet 129
I selected this sonnet because it is different from typical sonnets in that it is so angry. Shakespeare is writing not about love but about lust and the awful consequences it can bring to one who submits to it. It Continue Reading...
Baraka -- Post
Ron Fricke's Baraka (1992) is a truly stunning experiment in documentary film. It provides no traditional narrative but instead invites the viewer to feast his or her eyes on the wonders of the world. The opening shots of the imme Continue Reading...
Miller's Crossing gives the best example of the "ethics" of the crime film genre -- beginning as it does with the classic speech delivered by Giovanni Gasparo: "I'm talkin' about friendship -- I'm talkin' about character -- I'm talkin' about -- hel Continue Reading...
Films and Filmmaking
As Spike Lee noted in the 25th Anniversary celebration of his film Do the Right Thing, "the only reason why my generation went to film school was we couldn't get our hands on the equipment" (Macfarlane). Do the Right Thing had a Continue Reading...
Voyna I Mir and War & Peace
A Survey of Voyna I Mir and War and Peace
Both the 1956 American film adaptation of War and Peace and the 1965 Russian Voyna I Mir attempt to bring Tolstoy's epic novel to life on the screen. This paper will compare Continue Reading...