Magnolia Film Analysis

This movie should be classified as a psychological movie. It focuses on characters from the past and present, and which paths you may take to create your future. The film has close ties with religious issues, as well as personal issues of salvation. In this film review, Richard Stanwick goes into great detail about the characters and how they affect the themes of the film. "In the desolate modern American landscape of the human condition, tormented and incomplete people in bondage to their historical past deal with regret, are forced to confront their selves, regress, and are redeemed after various ludicrous miracles from the sky (torrential rain, the curse/blessing of Exodus frogs, falling humans, guns), by accepting themselves, their need to be saved by others and the necessity to "wise up"." The film focuses on people's choices and denial or acceptance of one's current situation. As you look into the thoughts and feelings of each character, the psychological approach can be the best way to understand the ending of the movie, and the separate plots as well.

HERO-Distorted History

This article explains how American critics differed from Chinese critics at first glace of the film. Americans seemed to enjoy the choreography, while the Chinese critics felt the ending was politically incorrect. The article was written by Sophie Beach from China Digital Times.

Hero-Awesome Cultural Film

So most of the reviews and links I checked out about Hero all mentioned how the film brought a great representation of China's culture during this time period. Here is a review that is somewhat credible, but held more relevant information about the film and time. "Within those ten steps holds an earth-shattering tale of love, honour and duty, a story that moves beyond the reaches of history." The rest of the review just gives an overview of the plot and the acting. It was found on themoviebox.net...

Ming-Dynastic

Okay so this website I am not too sure about. It looks like the time period, however I dont remember there being a Ming in power. However, this site does give a review of the politics of the dynastic period in China. "In history, China's dynastic substitution was mostly the results of usurpation, mutiny or foreign invasion, except for Yellow Turpans of Eastern Han Dynasty and Red Turbans of Yuan Dynasty." The site gives information about the certain people in power at the time and the transitions each king/leader brought to the country. The article came from the Washington Post... ENJOY!!!

Chinese History

During the time period the film was based off of, the government was in rough times. It was in a transition between republican and communism versus the dictatorship of their kings. "The dynastic system was overturned in 1911, and a weak republican form of government existed until 1949. In that year, after a long civil war, the People's Republic of China, with a Communist government, was proclaimed. " This article gives a brief history about the time period and it came from Compton's Living Encyclopedia on America Online (August 1995)

3Kings Review........

"Unexpected in its wicked humor, its empathy for the defeated and its political concerns, this is writer-director David O. Russell's nervy attempt to reinvent the war movie and a further step in the evolution of an audacious and entertaining filmmaker. " This review includes thoughts about how Russell creates a different approach to a war film. He presents the problem of a war within a war very delicately allowing the ciewer to sympathize with both sides. The review came from Kenneth Turan, A Times Film Critic.

Post Desert Storm 1991

"Of course, President Bush the elder and other U.S. officials encouraged the uprising, and during the first week of March, rebellions spontaneously broke out in several major cities in southern Iraq, including Basra, Nasiriyah, Najaf, and Karbala. " It seems like Bush created more conflict toward these countries by interfering with their problems. With good intentions, his hope to liberate Iraq led to confusion amongst the public, and more punishments given to the people that Hussein ruled. The article was written by William M. Arkin as either a response to a Washington Post article, or the actual article itself. It looked like a blog setup, but I wasn't able to tell which organization he was affiliated with. Read on yo!!!

Russell Interview

David O Russell has an interesting view on life. He speaks and illustrates themes relating to everyday society and politics. He touches on important subjects in a way that the audience can relate to a character. After connecting with one of his films, it is obvious that he is trying to reach an audience of people that are all in the same boat. His honest directing allows us to see the truth of some issues, as well as address a point intelligently with evidence for each side to debate. From this quick interview he seems like a humble, average citizen trying to make a point. His auora comes off very comfortable and relaxed. "This interview took place in Russell’s home in Los Angeles. Specifically, it took place on a pair of beanbag chairs, as his dog, Fred, repeatedly licked our faces and farted during key moments in our discussion. Russell suspects this was entirely intentional." The person interviewing Russell is Eric Spitznagel who wrote this article for The Beleiver. Spitznagel also contributes to writing for other popular magazines such as Playboy and Esquire. The interview is short so check it out!!

INTERVIEW!!-Richard Kelly-Donnie Darko

This interview is pretty cool. It made me think that he made two possibilities of the film. There was a part about the director's cut that he mentioned would explain the themes in more detail. His intentions behind the film are discovered after analyzing the film, which makes it necessary to watch it more than once. Kelly quotes, "There are always questions (laughing). I think the film is designed that way to provoke an audience to think." He wants the viewers to interpret the movie themselves with slight themes that are open to interpretation.

INTERVIEW!!-Richard Kelly-Donnie Darko

This interview is pretty cool. It made me think that he made two possibilities of the film. There was a part about the director's cut that he mentioned would explain the themes in more detail. His intentions behind the film are discovered after analyzing the film, which makes it necessary to watch it more than once. Kelly quotes, "There are always questions (laughing). I think the film is designed that way to provoke an audience to think." He wants the viewers to interpret the movie themselves with slight themes that are open to interpretation.

Richard Kelly-Donnie Darko-Brief Bio

"Received only $9,000 to write and direct Donnie Darko (2001)." This is a short biography on the director of the movie Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly. His childhood seems to have a science fiction based theme. His father worked for NASA which may have been an inspiration for his idea. Unfortunatly, the underpaid set and sponsor of the film made the possibilities for more intense effects questionable. With the low pay, it is easy to give props to Richard Kelly for making the movie such an interesting point of view. The special effects and trippy scenes were still well displayed without intense visual effects. The bio also included direct quotes from the director which definatly described his personality and interests. There was a cool part about the old show Mystey Science Theatre 3000, which is such a classic show. He was influenced by the old school sci-fi stuff that the characters mocked during that tv program. His influences explain the simplicity of the directing, as well as the deep thought and artistic point of view brought to the film. This site was found on a movie database. Check it out yo!!

Historical Analysis-Popular Culture

This article has a lot of links that can be used to analyze our contemporary american culture. The copyright was T.V. Reed also connected to an American Studies website/group. The body of the website includes links to film culture as well as issues in our everydays lives (ex. race, class gender, imperialism, sexuality.) Here is a quote describing the main points of the site:
"We cannot understand our present without understanding our past. And we cannot fully imagine change without a sense of how our culture has changed over time. Our ability to understand the improvements in and the limits of current media representations of African Americans, for example, is greatly enhanced by viewing two documentaries that detail the history of African American representations in the mass media, Ethnic Notions and Color Adjustment. "
With most examples of a historical analysis we see how the film or other form of entertainment was perceived through the general public. This site allows you to see the dates and opinions of people living in America during the time each film was shot.

Marxism/Ideological Criticism

This is actually the most informative website I found on the subject. It presents a Marxist view on the topic as well as informs the public on how ideology is used in criticism. It is easy to read because the whole site is presented in a slide form. I think this might have been a project. Either way, it's a good project with simple information.

"The primary goal of the ideological critic is to discover and make clear the dominant ideology or ideologies embedded in an artifact and the ideologies that are being muted in it. "
Okay.... I guess that isn't the best explanation. Here's another one:

¨systems of belief or thoughts
¨the study of the science of ideas "

Hope this helps!!

MORE IDEOLOGY!! WOOOOOOO

"So if you haven't guessed already, what ideological criticism comes down to is criticism which sets out to do political work, and that work, for those of you who weren't reading, is to reveal the workings and effects of particular ideological formations--from capitalist laissez-fairism (the target of Marxist criticism) to patriarchy (the target of feminist criticism). "

Okay another explanation of idological criticism. It's weird how so much of this topic focuses on feminism. I thought it was mostly about political references in films, I guess it also includes the gender issue as well...

Ideological Criticism

So this website is kinda bible-ish... but don't let that discourage you guys! It has some good information about the definition of Ideology and it mentions feminism among other topics. This mostly refers to the bible, however if you ignore the religious stuff and use the text and idea of ideology it is easy to understand.
"Some of the most visible forms of ideological biblical criticism include (among others) feminist criticism and liberationist approaches, although central to every form of ideological criticism is a working definition of “ideology” itself. Frequently in our mass media culture, “ideology” is simply equated with the notion of “political agenda,” “bias,” or even “worldview.”
I mostly just got the impression that ideology has to deal with culture and how we view certain topics with themes.

Silent Film Formalism

This site mentions the history of silent films and how they developed. It also describes how formalism was used considering the lack of sounds. It is interesting how these films are viewed. The styles used to illustrate a scene are enforced through other elements such as the organization used to allow viewers to comprehend the plot...etc

Formalism-Definition

This is also another definition of fomalism to further describe how it is used in films.

Film Terms

This website mentions formalism as well as other film terms we could be using for the rest of the semester and our final paper... This is just to help out the class with the terminology we may find in critical articles.

Donnie Darko-critical article

"Donnie Darko's themes include time travel, existentialism, nihilism, love, and personal sacrifice. The movie's plot suggests various paradoxes that are never fully explained and multiple interpretations of the film's storyline exist. There are some parallels with The Last Temptation of Christ." This website gives a detailed description of the cast, contents, and other film terminology that is useful to identify the themes and purpose of the story. It allows the reader to understand different meanings that have been discussed in the article. The site is a Donnie Darko research page so it contains a lot of information that covers more than just the cast and the finished product. It also includes the director's and author's interpretations as well as music and the production. I couldn't find the author of the article, but it comes from policybers.com or something. Enjoy!!!

Young Frankenstein-Funny or Not?

This essay focuses on the immature content seen in the films. The reviewer bluntly states how the humor is used incorrectly. "YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is a silly, pointless film complete with underlying viciousness." The constant reminder of the "poo" jokes and sexual innuendoes create a tone that can only attract audiences as immature as this movie. Personally, I differ when I think of this movie. It was meant to be interpreted as humorous and provocative. I guess I am one of those immature people that is attracted to movies such as this.