FINAL COMPARISON ESSAY

A comparison between two films directed by George Lucas.

Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones 

vs 

Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

A renowned director and producer of his time. He is best known for the two chart-topping grossing films: space opera Star Wars, and archaeologist adventurer-cum-professor Indiana Jones in collaboration with Steven Spielberg. Lucas is one of the film industry's most financially successful directors/producers with an estimated net worth of 3.2 billion US dollars, making him one of the most successful directors in history I have ever known alongside Orson Welles. His success was inspired by film directors that FILM101 course has been teaching about which included Sergei Eisenstein and even the infamous Joseph Campbell. Both Star Wars and Indiana Jones revolve around Joseph Campbell's monomyth which is incorporated into his films, which was his major inspiration for 'The Force'. The phrase "May the Force be with you" ended up in America's Top 10 quotations of all time. This is just one of the few reasons on how George Lucas is inspirational to me and to many other film directors in the world. Three areas would be compared and contrasted in Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones. and Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; the mise-en-scene, Sigmund Freud's theory, and their narrative structures.

Mise-en-scene

George Lucas is famous for being the one of the pioneers of science fiction movies. The film Star Wars made its debut as the first real science fiction movie because of its unique mise-en-scene structure, and not to mention his faze about aliens and out-of-the-earth ideas bound together by his passion for cinematography. When the first Star Wars was released in 1977, most of its set design is mainly done with small little models with the camera doing a close up to make it look like a giant model. As such, many small models of starships and flying battle stations can be made with ease with a black screened backdrop to stimulate outer-space. The dark side of the Force dwells greatly in Star Wars, because Lucas wanted to implement film noir. Film noir was also still influential at the period of time. The infamous Darth Vader dominates the universe with the Dark Side of the Force, while donned in his all-black costume and cape which symbolizes pure evil, not to mention that his Death Star and all his spaceships are all hanging suspended in the deep dark space. This gives a very melodramatic feel to the audience. Expressionism can also be seen in Episode II of Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker faces Count Dooku in a good vs evil lightsaber standoff. Anakin slices off the power cable which turns the whole room dark, only the glow of lightsabers flashing as they clash with one another. The camera does an eye-level shot, where the faces of Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku were only illuminated by the soft flashing glow of the lightsabers swinging everywhere. Anakin uses a blue lightsaber, and Dooku use a red one. The colour of the lightsaber symbolizes different levels of power. Blue colour is a soft colour, hence the weaker Anakin Skywalker wields it. Dooku is far beyond Skywalker’s league, hence his menacing red glowing lightsaber. Star Wars can be seen as a dawning of the dark times and war.

In Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, things are a little bit different. One reason is that Lucas acted as the story writer, and being the executive producer. He worked alongside Steven Spielberg in collaboration because both of them are crazy about extra-terrestrial beings and both their minds are filled with the same ideas that worked out perfectly in the Indiana Jones series. The filming of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull took place in Connecticut, Hawaii, and Peru, hence this differs entirely from Star Wars as most of the scenes were taken outside the studio rather than in the studio itself. For example, the chase scene, where Indiana and greaser Mutt Williams were running away from the soviets, took 10 days to film that 1 minute chase scene. But there are similarities as well between these two movies. Matte Paintings were used to create illusions of enviroments that are impossible to build, visit, or recreate. Such as the Abandoned City in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and the background of Space in Star Wars. Another similarity is that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull uses CGI, or Computer Generated Images. Although Star Wars do use CGI to also create shots of laser guns firing, and the infamous light saber, do keep in mind that the CGI technology has evolved greatly over the years. Therefore, Lucas was able to use CGI to create jungle leaves, waterfall backdrops, and the horde of ants killing a soviet. Compared to the 1977's Star Wars where CGI was only limited to creating laser beams and explosion effects.

The Sigmund Freud theory

It is of no doubt that characters in Star Wars do portray strong essences of Freud, especially in the character Anakin Skywalker and a little in Obiwan Kenobi. Speaking from the same scene of where Skywalker and Dooku were having the lightsaber battle, his master Obiwan Kenobi earlier has instructed him not to take any drastic actions because Skywalker was still inexperienced, but Skywalker refuses to listen and gives in to his id and flies in to initiate on Count Dooku. Obiwan tries to save him, and fights with Dooku instead. Dooku thwarts Obiwan with words such as "Surely you can do better than that" and "Master Kenobi you disappoint me, Yoda holds you in such high esteem". These words were suppose to injure the ego and let the id take over. The taunts worked, resulting in injuries from cuts from Dooku's lightsaber that renders Obiwan immobile. Then during Skywalker's solo standoff with Count Dooku later, Dooku slices off Skywalker's hand, while taunting him that he does not know the power of the dark side. Skywalker is a person that is full of hate, jealousy, and pride. In fact, throughout the entire movie from start till the end, Skywalker has been showing many signs of disobedience and arrogance, ignoring his master's orders and acting his own way. We can say that master Obiwan Kenobi metaphorically symbolizes Skywalker's super-ego, but Skywalker continues to ignore the 'super-ego'. Ultimately, it was his id that dominated over his ego and super-ego that led him down the path of the dark side.

It is said that Freud's theory revolves around the conscience, preconscience, subconscience in the mind. Kingdom of the Crystal skull does just that. In fact, the Alien Skull literally toys with the mind. Oxley, an old colleague of Indiana, goes missing prior to giving an encoded message to Indiana on where to locate him. Turns out, Oxley has found an Alien Skull that contains mystical psychic powers that emits electromagnetic fields that messes with the head. Oxley is then hypnotised by the skull, with an order to return the skull to Akator, where an alien spaceship crashed centuries ago. When the soviet finally caught up with Oxley in Akator, the leader of the soviet Irina Spalko took the skull and looked into it, demanding to know every secret that the alien possess. Her head then burst into flames. We can critique that alien knowledge prys deep into our unconscious mind, the only part of our mind that we have no access to. The unconscious contains all the material we cannot think or express. It is full of powerful drives and instincts. It is the locked basement — full of violent demons and forbidden urges (Freud). From this, we can conclude that Lucas powerfully conveys Freud's theory through the audience.

To sum it up, Star Wars shows that Anakin Skywalker is weak in his super-ego and gives in a lot to his id, which is how the Sith Lord is able to twist his mind and lures Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull confirms the use of Freud's theory by showing Indiana Jones, Oxley, and Irina Spalko's infatuation towards the skull, which represents out id. We can say that the Crystal Skull strongly represents the Freud in us, give in to temptation(id), it will ultimately kill us; know the balance(super-ego), and it might save us from death.


Narrative Structures
Star Wars will always begin with its non-diegetic signature prologue credit roll. It explains what happened in the respective previous episode and a little peek on what's gonna be shown in current the movie. It begins with a flashforward showing a bounty hunter releasing a drone that scouts outside of Princess Amidala's room, and releasing a robot bug that is programmed to inject poison into the princess and kill her. Lucas attempts to immediately instill tension into the audience by showing this scene, and successfully pulls it off. Star Wars Episode II ended with a Jedi council meeting, to state that the clones were ready for war, and the phrase "Begun. the clone wars has" by Yoda. Another flashforward was used at the end of the movie, showing all the clones lined up ready for battle.

In Indiana Jones IV - The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the narrative displays the obvious immediately onto the protagonist and the antagonist, with a tied-up Indiana and the soviets surrounding him. The soviet leader Irina Spalko then monologues about the how she and her researchers were chasing after a mystical skull and how important it was for her to obtain it. Later Indiana makes an escape onto a truck, with the soviets hot on his tail. The recurring theme of chase scenes seem to happen as a motif in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The climax however was only located at the end of the movie and not in the middle as most movies are structured, which is the part Irina Spalko gets her head and eyes burned, which portrays Indiana Jones being vindicated as she stole the skull away from him. Here the melodrama is obvious, and there is no reversal to it. Then the movie ends with Indiana Jones seeking closure with his ex-lover by marrying her once more.

The difference between these two movies is that they both begin and end differently. The climax in Star Wars Episode II happens in the middle of the film and does not display closure, instead it flashforwards to show that the next episode is going to include war. However, the climax of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull happens right at the end before closure, and has the closure with Indiana Jones marrying his ex-lover.


Conclusion
Here we see two different movies being compared and contrasted, produced by the same director, together with a little help from Steven Spielberg, to produce two of the greatest movies of all time. But if we break down its elements, we can see that they are still constructed by the very elements that FILM101 class teaches. I see Eisenstein, Fritz Lang, George Melies, and how the movie is structured, all at the same time. For me, I will never watch movies the same way again. Because now I am infused with knowledge from this class on how to be critical on our analysis of the movie from beginning till the end. On a sad note, George Lucas is retiring after he releases his last movie Red Tails, but I'm sure that he will make his place in the history book of film arts alongside the greatest producers and directors we learned in FILM101.





References

^ George Lucas Biography (1944–)


Campbell, Joseph (June 1, 1991). The Power of Myth. Anchor. ISBN 0-385-41886-8.


^ Scott Huver (2005-04-28). "One-On-One with George Lucas". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 2005-09-07. Retrieved 2007-07-20.


^ Fischer, Russ (January 17, 2012). "George Lucas Ready to Retire From Blockbuster Filmmaking". /Film. Retrieved January 17, 2012.


^ George Lucas Instructional Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts.


^ George Lucas Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Rick DeMott. Monday, March 13, 2006. Animation World Network News. Retrieved 2011-12-26.

ET.22 - The Hero's Journey

Here, I'm about to make a comparison between Spirited Away and a film which not a lot of people might have seen.

vs

Yes its The Emperor's New Groove, one of the most legendary films I ever seen as a kid. I'll elaborate a little about the plot in case anybody hasn't seen this movie. If you have seen this movie, you can skip the following 4 paragraphs.


The film starts off as a narrative, of the person who voiced the main actor himself - David Spade. It's about a young emperor named Kuzco of the Inca Empire who is pampered as any spoilt brat and is everything that you would wish not to have in a child; arrogant, stubborn, proud, witty, you name it. He then summons Pacha, a peasant in a village, to inform him that he is going to build a summer home on the site of Pacha's home, thus rendering Pacha and his family homeless. Pacha attempts to protest, but is dismissed immediately. Meanwhile Yzma(pronounced yiz-ma), Kuzco's advisor, and her dim-witted right-hand man Kronk, attempts to poison Kuzco in order to gain control of the empire. But the poison turns out to be a llama potion, turning him into a llama instead.

After knocking Kuzco unconscious, Yzma instructs Kronk to dispose of Kuzco by bagging him and dumping him into the river, instead two small inner-Kronks conscience, an angel and devil Kronk, argues with each other that throws Kronk into confusion, in the end he throws the bag onto Pacha's cart as Pacha was leaving the palace. Kuzco wakes up in Pacha's village and accuses Pacha of kidnapping him, forcing Pacha to lead him back to the palace. But Pacha disagrees, only agreeing if Kuzco builts his summer home someplace else.

Kuzco feigns agreement with Pacha's demand, and Pacha leads him back toward the palace. They stop at a roadside diner, and Yzma and Kronk arrive shortly after. Pacha overhears Yzma discussing their plans to kill Kuzco, and attempts to warn him. Kuzco, doesn't believe him and returns to Yzma, only to overhear Yzma and Kronk discussing that they are seeking to kill him, and that the kingdom does not miss him. Kuzco realizes Pacha was right, but Pacha has left. After a repentant Kuzco spends the night alone in the jungle, the two reunite with Pacha having forgiven Kuzco. They race back to the palace, with Yzma and Kronk chasing them, although temporarily impeded to their frustration by Pacha's family, until the pursuers get hit by lightning and fall into a chasm.

Kuzco and Pacha arrive at Yzma's laboratory only to find that their pursuers somehow got there first. Kronk changes sides after a vicious tongue-lashing from Yzma who insults his cooking, and gets dropped down a trapdoor. Yzma summons the palace guards, forcing Kuzco and Pacha to grab all of the transformation potions they can and flee. After trying several formulas that convert Kuzco to other animals, and then back to a llama, they escape the guards (but not Yzma) and find they are down to only two vials. Yzma accidentally steps on one of the two, turning herself into a tiny kitten. She still almost manages to obtain the antidote, but is thwarted by the sudden reappearance of Kronk. Kuzco becomes human again and sets out to redeem himself, building a small summer cabin on the hill next to Pacha's home at the peasant's invitation. Meanwhile, outdoorsman Kronk becomes a scout leader, with kitten-Yzma forced to be a member of the troop.

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A hero with a thousand faces - Joseph Campbell. Non-other than the figure behind most themes of today's movies. So what similarities can be seen in these two movies that can be made with Campbell's recurring pattern of the monomyth?

The Initiation - Call to adventure.

This is the moment where a very-much-parent-dependent-Chihiro crosses the tunnel. Her adventure begins the moment sunlight dawned upon her face at the opposite end of the tunnel. Her parents snooped around, eating food that mysteriously appeared. Then the adventure begins, where her parents are turned into pigs, and she is stranded on the spirit world with no idea how to return home. For Kuzco, its the moment where he gets turned into a llama. He then finds himself in Pacha's village and demands to be taken back to the palace. That is the turning point for him, because being an emperor, it's the first time he doesn't get what he asked for and then walks off on his own into the wrong and dangerous direction. Pacha then follows behind secretly and save him from many a danger.

The Path of Trial

Once the hero cross the threshold into the special world, they must brave through the life-changing obstacles and overcome challenges be it physical or mental challenges, and ultimately crossing the finish line with the prize back to the real world. Chihiro begins her quest to get her parents back and in order to return to the human world. She is stuck in the spirit world and must beg for a job in order to survive there. After finally given a job by Yubaba, the dictator of the spirit world, then steals Chihiro's name and changes it to Sen. Haku warns her that she forgets her real name, she will forever be trapped in the spirit world. In Kuzco's case, its during the journey that Kuzco and Pacha pave towards getting back to Kuzco's castle. The whole process of Kuzco travelling with Pacha indicates his gradual change in his attitude as he slowly befriends Pacha, which includes Pacha saving him from jaguars, falling down waterfalls with them, sleeping in the jungle, meeting with Pacha's family. All of these were happening while simultaneously avoiding Yzma and Kronk that were in hot pursuit of them.

In conclusion, the signs of Chihiro losing her name and becoming Sen, and Kuzco being turned into a llama, both indicate a change about the coming-of-age. Chihiro seems more grown up now, and Kuzco being more sensitive and well-mannered with a sense of humility.

The Return - Return with the Elixer

In Spirited Away towards the end, Chihiro rode Haku in Dragon form while flying away from Zeniba's house back to Yubaba. Chihiro passes the final test that Yubaba gave to her, she and Haku ran hand in hand towards the bridge, only to part with Haku. In The Emperor's New Groove, it was literally 'the elixer'. The race to the potion that changes Kuzco back to human was at it's peak, where Yzma and Kuzco were both fighting each other for the potion as there was only one vial of it. Finally Kuzco got it, drank it, and became human again.

We can say that Chihiro returned to the living world with a transition of her being a crybaby to , becoming a person who could now handle her own world in the spirit world with a little newfound love, and Kuzco with general lessons from being an arrogant, snobbish, selfish jerk into becoming a responsible, caring and humble person. Henceforth these two heroes have returned with their own elixers, and therefore able to return to their original worlds respectively.


To sum it up, the hero's journey, is never AND never will be an easy one. A hero's journey is one that requires a deep change in the heart and mostly forgoing things that matter to you most. Sometimes, you will always think that you are going through it alone, but they are not aware of the allies that they may encounter during the ordeal. The hero will always need backup, in order to come out of the battlefield alive. Not every outcome of the hero's journey may be victorious, but sometimes what's more important is the process in which the hero had gone through in the effort of change.

Allies may assist in your plight towards change, but the journey is ultimately your own - Josh

ET.23 - Spirited Away as an Anime.

So as Chairman Rey grew up in the 'dark' ages, I will 'enlighten' him as he commands.

Spirited Away

This is the first anime movie shown in the FILM101 course, and probably the last. Despite it being potentially the only anime ever to be shown, it strikes me deep compared to every other movie screening I've ever seen. Well for one reason, it's one of the earliest anime films to be developed. Instead of using computer technology to animate the movie, it's made by painstakingly drawing slide after slide. The quality was surprisingly remarkable and it even outshines most anime shown around the world even today. It's good to take a break from all the Noir films being shown lately, and see something colourful for a change.

Thus, how does this anime set itself apart from other anime? For starters as mentioned, the method of developing this anime only by hand. Asides from that, we must keep in mind that this is a very early form of animation. Also a little bit of 'girl finds guy, girl loses guy, and girl gets guy back'. The story and plot is based on a journey of to-and-fro like most movies shown in FILM101 course, and also a journey of 'growing up'. Many other animations can be compared with much similarities such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Finding Nemo, Hansel and Gretal and many more. Spirited Away falls under the genre of 'movie animation' and must not be confused with other types of genre like 'animation series'. Because this is a Japanese anime(anime originated from Japan anyhow), it shows bountiful forms of rich Japanese culture, living, and its myths of different ghosts and spirits that dwells in the spirit world. Mise-en-scene, choreography are not present in this genre particularly, but it retains other plot characteristics such as protagonists, antagonists, the journey, and Joseph Campbell. 


I cannot stress how much Joseph Campbell's influence is found in this movie, particularly because he influences almost all of the movies up till today. Dragons for instance. "All heroes are one hero" - The Journey, speaks loudly in Spirited Away. This is not just some cheesy movie as Miyazaki describes, instead he wanted a character in which people may look up to as a heroine, hence Chihiro. Alongside heroes are Haku, Lin, Kamaji, Zeniba, the Polluted-river Spirit, all contributes to Chihiro's return back to the living world. The thesis for Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces also included the monomyth which can be found in this movie. The labyrinth, which Chihiro and her parents are led into, is the 'abandoned amusement park', the Spirit World. In it are dark forces and monsters the hero encounters; Yubaba, Yubaba changing Chihiro's name to Sen in order to trap her in the spirit world forever for instance. The final battle; Sen must choose which of the pigs are her parents. Conquering the final battle and return to the real world with new knowledge; the crossing of the river. The 'elixer' being brought back; the hairband that ties her hair up made by Zeniba and No-Face.

 "Kamikakushi is a verdict of 'social death' in this world, and coming back to this world from Kamikakushi meant 'social resurrection'." - Reider, Noriko T

Kamikakushi literally means "spirited away". The term 'spirit away' simply means to remove without anybody noticing. Just another way to put Joseph Campbell into the picture. Kamikakushi in Japanese folklore, is used to refer to the mysterious disappearance of a person that happens when an angered God takes a person away. But instead of a God, the Kamikakushi journey for Chihiro is from an obnoxious young girl growing up to be a teenager, losing her identity and gaining a new one but remembering her old name from the goodbye card, losing her parents, and later getting them back, and ultimately leaving the spirit world knowing and experiencing what love is, only to leave it behind when Haku says: "Don't look back". I could see a different girl from when she first walked into the tunnel, and back out.



Miyazaki did not create this anime for the sake of just making a movie, Spirited Away was made from an inspiration of a bath-house nearby his home. He had always wondered what was behind a mysterious door next to a bathtub. He made up several stories about that door, one of it inspired Spirited Away. The buildings seen in Spirited Away are also based on buildings near his hometown. This story is very much based on the theme 'coming of age'. Yubaba steals Chihiro's name and changes it to Sen, in Japanese folklore it means to kill her past, hence she is unable to return the way she came from, and can only move on to adulthood. Thus, she must overcome the challenges and obstacles similar to the tribal rites-of-passage format. Beneath the coming-of-age theme lies the truth about the Japanese's post-war era. Just like Chihiro who seeks her past identity, the Japanese were trying to make amends and and reconnect past values during the period when Spirited Away was about to be released. The spirits found in the bath-house were all figments of Japanese's mythical creatures and ghosts of the Japanese culture. I recognize most of them like No-Face and the Jumping Lantern from Zeniba's house from Doraemon comics, which is another Japanese anime and comic hit. So it pretty much sums up that this film is 100% Japanese from head to toe.

What do you think that makes anime so popular?

Since anime does not rely on actors or sets to make a movie, it found a place as its own genre. Anime can be made according to one's imagination, hence the producer can create images that normal actors and mise-en-scene cannot produce. In other words, anime serves as drawings vivid imaginations being put into motion pictures with things such as monsters, actions, and special effects that normal studios are unable to produce through live actors. Anime mostly focuses on the topic of love and journeys and it allows audience to bask in its presence of eye-opening animated cartoon pictures and beautiful music. Most young people are attracted to anime because of these reasons. Indeed, anime has lovely music soundtracks, including the ones in Spirited Away. On a lighter note, some old people are obsessed with anime because they find themselves unworthy of the living world in any way, thus deciding to trap themselves in the world of anime because anime possesses lifelike images of anything they can fantasize about, leaving most of them in limbo of their fantasy. Hence, in Layman's terms, anime is popular also in terms of fulfilling the fantasies of any kind that man wishes to have.

I am not a hardcore anime fan, but I see anime as a respectable form of genre and I find great pleasure in viewing different types of anime. I do not know many types of anime movies, but I do know some anime series such as The Law of Ueki, Naruto, Bleach, One-Piece. I only like The Law of Ueki and Naruto, but not Bleach and One-Piece. But I digress. Law of Ueki has significantly shorter set of series compared to the others. Many other movies and series such as Pokemon, Digimon, Beyblade are all my childhood shows I watch during Saturday and Sunday mornings before there was Astro. If you wish to seek more anime you could take a look at Popular Bookstores CD sections or even just Google them.



Work-cited list.


Satoshi, Ando. "Regaining Continuity with the Past: Spirited Away and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. "Bookbird 46.1:23-29. Project MUSE. February 11,2009


Miyazaki on Spirited Away // Interview //. Nausicaa.net (July 11, 2001)


Reider, Noriko T. "Spirited Away: Film of the Fantastic and Evolving Japanese Folk Symbols. "Film Criticism 29.3:4-27. Academic OneFile. Gale. February 11, 2009


Napier, Susan J. "Matter Out of Place: Carnival, Containment and Cultural Recovery in Miyazaki's Spirited Away." Jouenal of Japanese Studies 32.2:287-310. Project MUSE. February 11, 2009

ET.10 - 'M' for Melodrama

M is not Melodrama. What?

I think this pretty much isn't a melodrama. Initially, it was clear that it is a melodrama, till the end where things started to shift. The last 15 minutes of the movie changed my perception towards the entire plot.

Starting of this film, there was much initial indication that melodrama was the main storyline. Shadowy figures indicates expressionism, eerie balloon floating, the ball rolling, leaves the audience in horror and shock towards what might have happened to Elsie. Immediately, we would have known that the child murderer was  that man, obvious to the eye. But as soon as the story unfolds further, slowly it didn't seem like a melodrama anymore. The criminals were working like policemen, to look for the child murderer. The policemen however were behaving like scoundrels in their search attempts repeatedly. This made the police look like bad guys and the bad guys look like good guys. That marks the turn of the melodrama, where it really began to look like the opposite of a melodrama movie.

The end part of the movie, where the criminals brought up a court order under the terrain of the city. There held a trial for the murderer, where he was accused of just being a dangerous person to the outside world. But of what real interest is he to the criminals? He could just be the reason for interfering with their shady jobs out there in the world. He is no different than Safecracker, the judge of the 'criminal court', who murdered 3 people as well. Now here's the catch, the criminal starts to break down, after repeatedly saying that he 'can't help what he's doing'. This is undoubtedly an overused statement in the court. But is it true that he really couldn't help what he was doing? I have my doubts towards him just the same as everybody in the criminal courtroom. I would say to myself: execute him immediately, if left to the asylum, he would deem himself cured once again and break out, and start the vicious cycle all over again. But what if it really was true? That the man was, sick?

If there were professional psychiatrists decades ago, he could have been officially diagnosed with mental illness. But all there was to then were just judgments and accusations based on newspapers and hands-on murder evidences. So this man was sick. As his 'lawyer' has said, "a sick man should be handed over to the doctor, not to the executioner" makes enough sense to say that he was mentally ill. But the crowd continues to ignore that defense statement. So, it seems that the murderer had double personalities, or so he claims. Something like Jekyll and Hyde. An inner voice that haunts him to kill. Maybe nobody could lament the feelings and thoughts that tortured this child murderer that drives him to kill children for the sake of silencing that voice in his head, temporarily. It seems as though he is the victim, and the real murderer is the voice in his head. So is the voice to be blamed? Or who is to be condemned guilty here?

In my opinion, I would truly say that this turns out not to be a melodrama at all. Despite all that has happened, I would still say that this man is a victim of himself. He is not a murderer, his other personality is. But there is no punishment for a different personality, which is probably why the movie is left hanging in the air. A women at the end of the movie said, "this would not bring back our children". As though to say executing him to death would bring back their children. Ridiculous is it not?

Which means most probably they sentenced him to the asylum under state protection.

Guilty or not, I think this situation is no stranger to many criminals out there in this world today. It is always better to be safe than sorry, prevention is better than cure. After all people are not perfect.

ET.04 - Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton

Hai Gais.

After watching both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in action. It took me quite a while to decipher these two jokers of the silent era. It wasn't till I made a comparison between modern day actors, then it hit me.

Lettuce start with the face. Comparisons will be based on both films: The Cure and The General. Beginning with The Cure, Charlie Chaplin enters the world of a spa. The the world in a state of equilibrium, being broken in by an event - Chairman Rey, defines how a drunk Charlie Chaplin is the event being broken into the world. Whereas in The General, Buster Keaton is a trainman who works at the lines, the event breaking the state of equilibrium is when his train gets stolen. There's a significant difference between these two actors' faces. Charlie Chaplin's face is usually in a constant state of change of expression. Buster Keaton usually holds a straight face. I remember Rey asking us about whether we prefer Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton?

Here's another thing that sets them apart. Charlie Chaplin has an obvious shuffle in his steps, it is like resembling a clown, which metaphorically, he is. He relies on facial expressions a lot, as well as body gestures. Take for example the rotating doors of the spa. Charlie Chaplin sets the stage ready to make his audience laugh, which is different from Buster Keaton, who DOES NOT purposely sets the stage, he instead goes with the flow which feels  natural. The way Charlie Chaplin walks from left to right indicated he was drunk, clumsy, and disoriented. His first   encounter was the doors, then comes the antagonist. Big man with an injured feet, being toyed around by Charlie Chaplin, which most people might consider 'smooth'. Buster Keaton on the other hand, usually maintains a straight face almost throughout the movie. Even when rescuing his girl from the clutches of the enemy and escaping into the forest, he maintains a constant state of expression, which really appeals to me.

Now how do both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton resemble similar traits? Well for starts, both of them are comedians. Both starts off at a world where everything goes wrong, Charlie for the spa, and Buster for failing to join the army and losing his train. Both meets a girl, loses the girl, and then gets the girl back in the end. Obvious melodrama is portrayed in both films, and good guys always prevail. Both movies end in hilarious moments: Charlie for walking straight into the well, and Buster for saluting many soldiers while kissing his lover.
However, the list for differences go on longer. As I mentioned before, Both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton have different ways to portray their comedy out to the public. Charlie Chaplin always shows SCENES of his intended comedic act, such as the spinning door, tripping over the antagonist, trolling the antagonist and the massage person in the bathroom. A repetitive motive can be detected while seeing the scenes. Buster Keaton however, shows a film which scarily resembles most modern day movies. The story line of The General basically has a motive, a reason to understand how many dots connect in the movie, such as the girl, the train, spying the enemy's hideout, all happen 'unintentionally'. So the natural feel of it gives me a better aesthetic reaction rather than The Cure. Hence, the plot of The General was better than The Cure, just my two cents. And for the random record, Chairman Rey was talking about 2 other comedians which is Jim Carrey and Johnny Depp. Just two random actors came out with. Then, I made a connection, I can conclude that Charlie Chaplin resembles Jim Carrey whereas Buster Keaton resembles Johnny Depp. If you do take a second look, you will see that both their  mirror images do coincide perfectly with one another. Jim Carrey wants his jokes and acts to be noticed by the audience. Johnny Depp seems like he 'does it without even trying'. Which means to say, he does not purposely do it to make the audience laugh, rather its the natural way he does it that makes the act itself funny. So that's how Buster makes most of his actions funny, because the actions itself aren't really funny, but the way he does it naturally and it invokes the laughter in us because of his face, the straight face.

The truth says for itself. I prefer Buster Keaton over Charlie Chaplin. It's because it looks like he does his stuff naturally, thats why its funny. I could point out several scenes. First is when he goes over to his lover's house and the way he leads the kids out of the house. Second is how he cuts the queue repeatedly in order to signup for the war. Third is when he calls his townmates to help chase after The General after it was stolen, and leaves the 'cargo' behind. Fourth is when he gets trapped in the enemy's hideout and rescued the girl, after severing the guard with a blow on his head. Fifth is when he set the bridge on fire, and attempts to jump back onto the train but insteads falls into the river. I could go on and on. Even up till the end he kisses the girl, and waves by all the soldiers who walk by. Giving us an unprepared last laugh. Buster Keaton is a comedian, Charlie Chaplin is a clown.

I love them both all the same. Making people laugh without saying a word in those days were a real skill to master. But all in all, personally I just prefer Buster Keaton over Charlie Chaplin. Preference, that is all.

ET.01 - YOURSELF AS AN AUDIENCE

My first official assignment on Film101. Ta-da.

ET.01 - YOURSELF AS AN AUDIENCE.

As far as I know, I enjoy watching cartoons, movies, and acting performances. On a side note, I do pay a certain amount of attention on noticing details of the movies such as camera angles, effects, and such, which leads me to perform critical thinking. As a Joshua, I do savor critical thinking as food for breakfast. But right now, I hath the call of duty to write down my personal thoughts on the short film - An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge.

The story was basically about a man who was about to be hanged for his crimes. With the ropes and everything at set, the sun was dawning through the mountains. When the camera shifted to a First-Person view of the man who was about to be hanged, I could feel my own heart thumping. It was the same feeling about how I felt facing most school examinations due to the fact I do not study much. Funny but yes, it was kinda like anticipating the end of my own life, tethering at the edge of the plank. Then, it was time. The sergeant stepped off the plank, and down he fell into the river. To be honest I was shocked. Because being me knowing that most hanging would be prisoners choke by the 'hanging' literally. Then I waited to see what happened.. He freed himself from the ropes, which seems much too easy but possible, and started swimming away. The commander ordered his troops to fire at him as he swam as though his life depended on it (literally again). Then I laughed so much, because a shower of bullets firing at him, and not one hit him? And what was the deal with the cannonball that even missed him?... Anyway that was comedy for me. He swam away safely, for me, that was the end of a emotional shift.

Oh, and I forgot. While standing on the plank, he starts to reminiscence. Distant ticking of a clock could be heard, getting closer and louder. He knew he was going to die, and the first things people think of before they die are usually their loved ones.  Critical thinking me immediately says flashbacks are naturally a very powerful element in films. Because they can almost relate to the audience in every possible way. I am a person who flashbacks many times throughout my life. Because I see that every Past I have went through has made the Present possible for my Future. As he went on about the thought of his wife, the embrace, the moment. Then he was brought back to reality when the sergeant took the watch out of his pocket, snapping him out of that 'flashback trance'. 

He got exhausted swimming, so he let himself drift. He begins to see images, spiders, a hairy caterpillar. To me, this somehow symbolizes death. Imagine the show: I Shouldn't Be Alive, but worse. It's like, you cheated death, and yet you are reminded everytime that you shouldn't be alive. I have that effect everytime I see a socket point. Because when I was young, I was too smart for myself. I entered 2 paperclips into a socket point to light up my little experimental circuitry which consists of just one light bulb. Holding it with my bare fingers, I slipped the paperclips into the sockets, and then BOOM!...my entire housing area blacked out. I was in pitch-black darkness, and I asked myself: am I dead?.......As black as...nothing.. I bet you had that 'tensing up' feeling yourself whilst reading that sentence eh? Then, the electricity came back in 20 minutes later. It took me about a good 10 minutes earlier to figure out that I was still alive. I looked at my hands, they were burnt black. So henceforth I was phobic towards glancing at socket points, it reminded me that I really shouldn't be alive on this earth. But by the grace of God I still am.

I was enjoying the reminiscing part, then that feeling disappeared, A big bang from a cannon woke him up from the his trance and he started running away as if something was chasing him. That was funny at first, then my brain was filled with ruriosity. That man was running away from.....nothing?.... I remember a long stretch of trees, he was running through them, occasionally falling. I was utterly confused at that point. I did not understand why. Yes it makes sense that he was trying to escape the soldiers in the beginning, but he was well off and far from them, but why does he continue running even though he was so exhausted? That left me hanging in suspense for a long time. You know that feeling you get when something is happening and you don't have a clue to why it's happening? Yeah that, and it disturbs me a lot not knowing reasons to why things are happening.

Then there was that, he was running into his wife's arms. That moment, where everything didn't matter anymore, just to get to see your loved ones again. That scene invokes a pleasant feeling because of a husband and wife reunion, running into each other's arms, together again. As the moment descended further, the wife's hands caressing up the man's neck, then suddenly, the man looked like he was shot by a bullet from behind. He arched his back and fell to his knees. The whole scene shifted back to the hanging scene. He jerked dead from the rope. I was like, wow. And everybody in the scene were like, "nothing to do here, :walksaway:" kind of thing. So apparently his mind was wandering before the time of his death. I mean, that's exactly what I would do myself. On the brink of death, you have nothing to focus anymore, nothing to think of specifically. I let myself drift  away many times during class sessions, (secret out here), So I do know what it would be like in that man's shoes. But inside me, I applauded towards the building suspense of the entire film, because finally I understood why the man was running blindly and nobody was chasing him, because he was a figment of his own imagination.

As the climax slowly diminished towards the ending, I could see how the process of it diminishing. People were walking away, The camera focusing on the dead hanging man was zooming out. This little occurence, was made into a bigger perspective. All along, we were transcended into the man's thoughts without most of us realizing it. What really impacted me most in this film wasn't about how the suspense was, or how he suddenly died in the end. But more towards knowing life itself that it toys with your mind, so much that it drives you nuts just thinking about it sometimes. And the sad part is, not many people knows it. An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge has opened the doors to my mind once more about how sometimes people are allowed to indulge in their own thoughts, with nobody to restrain you on what you really want to think. In the end, everything that matters till the point of your last breath, is what you view about life's perspective.