Media Making Part 4

Globalization eliminates choices for people by decreasing diversity. Coke and McDonalds have done this. It’s easy to see what we have doe in restaurant chains in the U.S. by saying we have a variety of restaurants but really most are not authentic. For a homework assignment, my boyfriend had to find an authentic Mexican restaurant. It was not easy. Finally, he found one and the owner had lived most of his life in Mexico. He told us that restaurants like Taco Bell use the same vegetables but prepare their meat quite differently. He said that his business was family owned and he and his sister-in-law were the main chefs. Their radio played Spanish songs in between news spoken in Spanish. A lot of the menu was in Spanish. I think that part of the reason we lose diversity is because people may be afraid to adjust or try new things. You have to step out of your comfort zone and ask questions. So much familiarity to certain companies may be more appealing than a new experience. When you hear or watch Taco Bell ads, you know what to expect because they are identical in menu, appearance. Our visit to an authentic restaurant was a small one. But if everybody really thought about it they really don’t go for authentic Italian, Mexican, or Chinese that often. We live in a fake reality with globalization and this idea of everything being the same. Here is a picture of a Taco Bell taco and an authentic Mexican taco.http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/crunchy-tacowebjpeg.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/81/220583510_9d009e2556.jpg

Media Making Part 3

One topic discussed in this section, is sex abuse towards women in the media versus real abuse. It is about whether or not there is a relation. In film, documentaries Dreamworlds 3 and The Merchants of Cool blame media culture either concerts or music videos with attacking women. At one of Bizkit’s concert, four women reported to being raped. Now, I do not like his lyrics. I find them disturbing and hateful. There are extremists and maybe they listen to his music because they are sick and want to do those things. It is very tense and frightening. But, I believe there is a huge difference between going to a concert to listen to music versus attacking someone else. I’ve always felt rape is not really about sex. It is about the pleasure of overpowering someone else. Victoria Secret ads give the idea of women being teasing and wanting to be used if you see it that way. It is a different means than vulgar lyrics but you could argue they have the same purpose. I do not believe the media has that much power to control someone’s conscience. If so wouldn’t have all the men raped women that night. I believe that this world has a fair share of crazies that believe other people exist for their use. Ted Bundy, the Craig’s list killer, Scott Peterson, to name a few. We are not drones, people have reason and free will. Here is a trailer to the Ted bundy movie. Acting out murder and suspense is far different than killing 35 women in real life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IRJTTmv8CY

Children and Book Bans

Part II of Media Making discusses how popular books can be controversial. Working at a library, I run into this every so often. One book mentioned in this section is the Harry Potter series. Once, a little boy asked me where they were. I showed him and he was so excited when I handed him the first in the series. Then, his mom came down the aisle asked what book he had. Reluctantly he told her. She told him to put it back immediately. She turned to me and said, “We’re Christian. We don’t read those kinds of books.” She turned and left with her son. Well, I happen to be a Christian too. Anyone that has looked at the books knows they are not about really about sacrificing animals or blood or dark arts stuff. Actually, the books have a very Christian message. You can survive great and multiple hardships and your sacrifice can save others. Hello-that’s a Christian message. Not to mention a very human message. Small girls tend to flock to the Disney fairy tales. But every so often a girl asks me for the old tales which have dark content and don’t sugarcoat everything. I see parents open to it and others tell their children they wouldn’t like it. When children are so young and haven’t tasted much, I feel that they should be given the chance to try and pick out what they want. News flash to over protective parents the world is not a Disney fairy tale and sooner or later your child will find that on their own.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVByHK_ZHUE ( A clip showing that how J.K. Rowling's mother's passing influenced the Harry Potter stories and not dark arts)

Media Making Part 1

Oral culture has always been fascinating to me. Dr. Murray asked us in my Fairy Tales in Literature and Film class could we ever possibly trace back to the original story teller of a classic tale. No. It’s like the chicken and the egg when you think about discovering the origins of a story. Written fairy tales came from oral ones. Now, the Grimms recorded tales but altered them adding layers of medieval, religion, and Nordic references. Everything past down and did not come from sole Germans but the Norse, the French, and the Celts. The Grimms did not want to be associated with the French and Italians. It wanted to be purely German. Writers can educate in a way that oral culture cannot compete. When people are literate and attend school, they read history and loose the oral tales of their grandparents. We know for example that Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492 and with him brought “civilization”. Writing about this event can be very formal and just show statistics of how many people lost their lives to illness or cruelty. We lose the oral tale that removes the pain the people endured or how their lives were forever changed. Families destroyed. We only get one side of the story. Today, we can get our information from a variety of sources but if so much of the news in controlled by a few interest groups, how does the variety of means matter if they are basically identical. This picture shows a number of media outlets but after viewing documentaries in Visual Communication, I understand that they are owned by a handful of companies.
http://www.tv-streams.info/channels1.jpg

British Hollywood

This chapter used the example of Notting Hill as a hybrid of British and American culture. I thought of others such as Love Actually & The Holiday. In Love Actually, two attractive easy bimbos greet the English characters. They are wearing boots and have an accent like a cowboy. In The Holiday, Cameron Diaz pairs up with Jude Law and Jack Black with Kate Winslet. I admire actresses such as Cate Blanchett that can drop an English accent depending on what fil she is satrring in. Dr. Phipps had an English friend that came here and thought "Arrows Up Ahead" sign meant that there were Indians nearby and you could get shot by an arrow. I thought it was odd to see American stereotyped characters from another country. We're getting a small taste of what our films and TV shows do to ethnic groups everyday. Chinese are masters of martial arts (Karate Kid, Kill Bill), Irish are drunks (The Quiet Man), Arabics are dangerous (Hildalgo), Italians are members of the Mophia (Goodfellas). It seems that each group has their own category and traits. Their race defines what charcter role they will play.
Harry Potter films use English actors that most Americans have seen in other films. Examples: Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Helena Bodham Carter, Michael Gabon, Robbie Coltrane . . .I think that makes them popular because they speak English, people are willing to watch them. People don't have to read subtitles as long as they can understand the accent. I find that I enjoy British crime mysteries more than ours. Becuase they are less graphic and focus on the mystery. Usually, ours are so easy to solve. You can figure out the whole thing in the first ten minutes. I love how it keeps changing and the facts get more complicated within British mysteries. I posted movie trailers for Notting Hill, Love Actually, and The Holiday, you can see similarities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLJri7eueXQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0p8Su3bdHc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYCkFTyADJ0

Foreign Films vs. Hollywood

One issue mentioned is taking foregin films and forcing the Hollywood agenda on them. I did not realize before taking my Screenwriting class that companies such as, Miramax distribute films but do not really take part in making them. Such as Blue, White, Red, Life Is Beautiful, Chocolate y Frezca, and more. I didn’t realize how much Life is Beautiful, one of my favorite films, follows the Hollywood tradition. I recognized right away that Blue felt different. This one is a French film. It has a great deal of suffering for the main character. Her husband and daughter were killed in a car crash. She suffers quitely, there are not moments of anger or rage. She continues to retreat away from life and pull herself away from her emotions. One scene that is very painful to watch is an old woman trying to throw a bottle away. As she struggles, the main character Julie just watches. The scene moves very slowly. I felt that it connects more with real life because when we replay the day we had in our heads, we may think I should have done something or ask why didn’t I do something. She eats ice cream fast because it reminds her of her daughter. This film requires the viewer to watch for the little things. Blue, White, and Red are all very real because of the simplicity and they lack the “overdone” quality of Hollywood. It makes sense to me why Blue is first and Red is last after watching all three. Red seems to complete Blue. One example is that in Blue, the hero allows a cat to kill a mother mouse andher babies. In Red, the main girl aids a pregnant dog and helps her take care of her puppies. To me, Red heals the suffering in Blue. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415Q02HNNDL.jpg

Agents

Covered in this section is Jack Valenti and the MPAA. Not long ago, I would not have known much about the process of how they decide the ratings of films. But after seeing This Film isNot Yet Rated, I know that this group likes to stay in the dark. Now, I know their decision making does not have any rhyme or reason and can limit a film’s potential. I also know that without a rating a film dies in the box office. So the film will probably end up being filtered or altered so the studio can get a better rating. And that the black spot for filmmakers is NC-17.
Another topic discussed is actor’s choice of agents and/or managers. I had read the early MGM from different starlet memoirs owned everything pretty much but their souls. However, MGM did keep them away from a lot of negative press. Judy Garland’s mother was basically her agent. Her mother wanted her to be a star and go above and beyond. So she would often let her fall prey to the studio because Judy was terrified of thought of disappointing her mother. The studio owners kept her for a long time imprisoned with a young girl and a virgin appeal. Everyone for the most part of Wizard of Oz was terribly uncomfortable in their costumes. Garland had to wear a very tight wrapping cloth so it would not appear that she had breasts. Another issue on the set was the scene in which she had a slap the Lion for frightening Toto. They kept shooting the scene over and over because instead of slapping him, she would laugh hysterically. She said she couldn’t bear the thought of hitting him. Then the director had enough and went across the set, slapped her hard in the face, and told her in one or more words that’s how you do it. When she came back from a brief timeout, she slapped the Lion perfectly. Actors and actresses used to be so owned by the studios. It is scary and not the rosy picture you’d associate with a classic film. Or that this role crippled her in a sense because studios did not want her to grow up or marry in real life. The beloved song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlH68k832Ew