1. When talking about film, by describing a movie as explicit it means that the messages that are trying to be communicated in the film are literally what the director wants you to think. When the director does this he or she is telling us what type of opinions to form on a certain topic. We could be watching a thriller and so that we wont be expecting something funny, the director might add a serious tone, mood, atmosphere in every scene. For example, the "Ghost Writer" directed by Roman Polanski. One of my favorite movies it tells the story about a "ghost" that writes the memoirs of a the British Prime Minister Adam Lang who is being accused of a horrible thing. In the movie every scene reveals a new clue which forces the audience to focus and just watch the movie in order to understand the emotions and how they develop into a final climax.
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A movie poster of the
film "Semper Fi". |
When a movie is implicit, then the director tries to obscure what the meaning behind a film really concludes too. I believe this is done in order to allow for the audience to develop their own interpretation. These type of movies are not set out to impose a specific message to someone, but maybe a general theme that the director wants the audience to think about. Perhaps these themes are predominant in society and the director is trying to raise awareness for the viewers in order to attempt at propelling a movement. For example in the movie "Semper Fi: Always Faithful" a documentary directed by Tony Hardmon and Rachel Libert was about a Marine who lost his nine year old to leukemia and when he learned that his marine base camp water systems were polluted then he thought he found his answer. "This dramatic, heart-breaking documentary is both a searing look at the military's betrayal of its own." The directors here most likely captured the theme of whether knowing how safe you really are when in your home country.
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| Ewan McGregor |
2. Ewan McGregor has the typical ideological package that is predictable. Throughout his movie career whether it was the "Star Wars Epsiode I - The Phantom Menace" or "Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones" or "Black Hawk Down" or even "The Ghost Writer," McGregor's role stayed the same throughout his movies. His role revolves around a charismatic human that is kind but also has some power or influence in the movie. Whether it is a strong authority that he commands or a small influence in the movie, his involvement with the other characters is significant. Ewan McGregor is a human emphasizing irony, he is sweet and caring but at the same time is a cunning person that finds his way to the truth. He always serves what represents justice or the goodness in the movie he is starring in and always has something relevant and important to add to move the plot of the story to its final resolution.
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Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan Kenobi in the movie
"Star Wars - Attack of the Clones". |
Ewan McGregor is charismatic, intelligent, right (he represents justice), mysterious (has a background that we never know about), student (is always learning things throughout his journey's in whatever film). His next role that he would star in would most likely be the same. Patterns don't change so easily. In his next role Ewan will use his cunning nature, his intelligence to help drive a story forward. His kind charismatic nature will persuade or even seduce characters he interacts with in order to gather the knowledge he needs in order to get what he wants or to get it for someone else who might need the information. His facade is deceitful and yet know one can see past this giving his character an upper hand in whatever role he is in.
3. "Air Force One" directed by Wolfgang Peterson was one of my all time favorite movies. Its a "breathtaking, gripping, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat entertainment!" I admit that the first two or three times I have watched this movie that this statement is true but after that I have watched this movie at least twenty times and just simple enjoy the story and the idea of a terrorist high jacking the presidents aircraft Air Force One. After twenty or so times I am still impressed with the movie, the sense of patriotism, and fending off the bad guys with guns that have trapped innocent lives is heart pounding and just keeps you (well me at least) coming back.
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After knocking out the first terrorist in the movie Harrison
Ford (POTUS) starts taking out the rest of the terrorists
one by one. |
The star character I have come to enjoy is Harrison Ford, he is the President of the United States (POTUS) and what the director has done is add a significant background that made the audience love him. In the movie, POTUS has a background of flying rescue helicopters in the air force during the war in vietnam, his military background is impressive and is the main factor that keeps him alive when he decides to stay on the plane and give the people in the white house and on the plane a fighting chance.
We are being asked to accept the value of patriotism in the movie "Air Force One." Obviously when times of hate are predominant in society and your country is at risk then there is always a chance to make a stand against evil. Even if it is not on a large scale like killing a terrorist, there is always a way to help your country.
At the start of the movie, POTUS makes a statement, he states his new policy at some sort of dinner in Moscow and he states that America will no longer negotiate with terrorist:
"Tonight I come to you with a pledge to change America's policy. Never again... will I allow our political self-interest to deter us from doing what we know to be morally right. Atrocity and terror are not political weapons. And to those that would use them, your day is over. We will never negotiate. We will no longer tolerate and we will no longer be afraid. Its your turn to be afraid." The speech that is made is longer than this and even this quote is long all of it is relevant. It outlined the central conflict that would occur in this movie. I am being manipulated because when this speech was made it was difficult to get the applause going because people weren't sure as to why POTUS would make such a radical change in policy at a festive event. As the audience we don't know if what he said was a good thing or not but we later determine that by staying strong to his policy he was able to regain Air Force One (temporarily) and kill the terrorist that threatened the safety of the American people he represented.
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| Harrison Ford who plays POTUS is to the left. |
Obviously in a movie like this, if your American, then the director would highlight the Americans in the movie in a good way while making the bad guys someone other than Americans. This tool is used to influence how we should be feeling towards the terrorists and allows to get a better sense as to how they got there names.
If the director tried to predict what the viewers might like than there is a good chance that his or her assumptions would be wrong and therefore, after building all sorts of sets, the director has not only wasted everyones time but also money. The chances of success for the film would definitely diminish and would end up being a catastrophe. When predicting what the financier would like, you could just end up loosing all funds for your movie and fail as a director. Usually a financier must like what he or she in financing otherwise there is no point in putting money into it.
4. Movies are made to suit the time period they were created in. Obviously times change and by that I mean that ideologies on political and even religious matters alter and therefore set a whole new standard. These standards are the bases of movies and directors understand that the general audience knows already these standards and therefore they can incorporate it into there movies and attract more viewers. I can not think of a changed film narrative because I don't watch as much movies as I would like too.
5. Films can change your ideologies and perceptions of situations because we often like movies we like and we let that love for the specific genre we enjoy to influence our opinions. Comedy is a good example, because they usually address topics that people don't feel comfortable talking about. When you put a serious topic and mix it with humor you can lure in the audience with humor because it makes them pay attention to the details that make the topic funny. The problem with comedies is that it generally adds a negative tone to a controversy or global, international problems. So we can deduce that based on the type of genres, that form of movie narrative can influence our beliefs in a negative or a positive way. Genre affects ideologies.
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The Petty Officers are performing an "out at sea" test to
test how they will manage as a team if stranded in the
middle of the ocean. They have to find there way back to shore. |
6. Suspension of disbelief can be defined as a test to see what we know can be done in real life based on our experiences. Although we might not have experienced or been to a certain location, if it seems natural than audiences generally accept it as probable and therefore does not turn off the viewers. Unless if its Sci-Fi where it is meant to be so and draw in the viewers with an extraordinary world. An example of a film i just watched was "The Guardian" a movie revolving around how epic the life of a coast guard rescue swimmer can really be. The instructors tell there petty officers that when jumping out of the helicopter to go and rescue someone from the ocean that you must be at twenty feet otherwise, if your to low than the waves will take away the helicopter into the ocean and if its too high than its like the rescue swimmer is falling on a bunch of rocks and even higher will kill them. Now, I personally don't know if that's true since I have never jumped out of a helicopter but since an expert is telling me then I am compelled to believe especially since it is a matter of life and death.
7. The financiers of the media providers can most likely and probably have influenced our opinions without knowing it. Do to the fact that they are paying for the productions, there threats of removing finances have probably dictated photography, music, and films in order for them to send out a message even if as a viewer
we don't know what is really going on. An example since I don't know any others is from the article and it is "In 1994, Italy voted into government a party (Forze Italia) founded only months before. The success of its leader, Berlusconi, in such a short time was helped by his ownership of several TV channels which promoted his party during the campaign." And it was an interesting note to think about who is really influencing our ideologies and beliefs. Also, I believe that our opinions would change drastically merely because we would know who told us the info.
