Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

This movie starts out with a trip to Vegas and the main character's crazy ways. He walks and talks crazy and has a cigarette in his mouth most of the time. The two main characters show how some men live their lives, out of control and to excess. They get their way and walk around in a drug induced state. I like how they take care of each other and Gonzo is concerned about his friend. These are the only masculine traits I see in the movie.

Final details--Science Bldg 185, 7-9pm, Thurs.

The first part of the final will be largely similar to the midterm with identifications and short essays and will be available online until Friday at midnight.  


The inclass portion will be an essay that will ask you to repond to some element from the book we used for our text, Heroes, Antiheroes, and Dolts.  I'm not specifiying what specific element or statement from the text you might be discussing.  What I did ask, though, or rather allow, is that you go through the latter chapter (post Fifties) and cull particular quotations you find signficant and bring them with you.  In your essay you'll be able to use those quotations for support or to refute--whichever fits in your view.   If you have further questions, comment here or email me.

Denzel Washington Biography

Denzel Washington:

Born: December 8, 1954

He was the son of a Pentecostal minister and a beautician and a former Gospel singer.

He attended Fordham University, receiving a BA in Journalism

Actor, Director, Screenwriter, and Film Producer

Getting onto the screen: He was cast as Dr. Philip Chandler in the medical drama TV series, St. Elsewhere, on NBC from 1982-1988.

This series pushed the envelope thematically. It was one of the first to address AIDS publically.

Film Career: Washington was a front-running, leading actor in the ‘80s and ‘90s, though his career seems far from over.

Actor Trademarks:

He commonly plays roles of real-life figures.

Example: Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas, and Herman Boone.

He really gets into his roles by extensive preparation. Many times, in real-life, he will take on the duties and responsibilities that his character really has for an extended time. Example: When preparing to play a boxing role in the movie The Hurricane, he worked out for a year with L.A. boxing trainer Terry Claybon.

He directed: Both of these films are based on true stories

Antwone Fisher

The Great Debaters

Awards:

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world [1990]

First African-American actor to receive two Academy Awards

Two Golden Globes

Tony Award

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for Mississippi Masala.

Director:

Mira Nair

Born: October 15, 1957

She was born in India and attended Delhi University and later she attended Harvard.

Film Career: She began acting then later turned to directing.

Many of her films have a central theme dealing with interracial relationships like we will see in Mississippi Masala. Many of the elements we see in her films are a reflection into her own life. She married a native Ugandan, Mahmood Mamdani in Uganda when she was researching for tonight’s film in 1988.

Currently she resides in New York where she teaches in the Film Division of the School of Arts at Columbia University.

Some of her other works include:

Salaam Bombay! (1988)

The Perez Family (1995)

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996)

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Vanity Fair (2004)

Amelia (2009)

She was offered the job of directing Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix (2007)

She was nominated for numerous awards and has won over 23 various awards including:

1988: New Generation Award

1988: Lilian Gish Award (Excellence in Feature Film), Los Angeles Women in Film Festival

2002: UNESCO Award

FOR Mississippi Masala:

1991: Golden Osella (Best Original Screenplay), Venice Film Festival: Mississippi Masala (with Sooni Taraporevala)[24]

1991: Critics Special Award, São Paulo International Film Festival: Mississippi Masala

1992: Best Director (Foreign Film), Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Mississippi Masala

Movie Overview:

Release Date: February 5, 1992

This story was inspired by the observation of many motels in the Deep South that were owned and operated by Asian Indians who had arrived in America via Uganda where they had lived for several generations. She learned about that in 1972 all Asians Indians were ordered to leave Uganda by the leader, Idi Amin.

Unlike most Hollywood movies or television shows, Mississippi Masala avoids stereotypical portrayals of minority members.

You will not find in this film an Indian-American who speaks English with a thick accent and runs a 24-hour convenience store, or an Afro-American who hangs around street corners all day long and collects unemployment benefits. Instead, we see minority members being portrayed as real human beings with feelings just like anybody else's.

On the other hand, male Anglo-Saxons, who rarely appear in the movie, receive a different treatment. Whenever they make an appearance, something terrible occurs. For example, we will see a crazy driver screaming and shouting at Demetrus after he rear-ended his car; a cold and uncaring banker who threatens to repossess Demetrus' van if he fails to come up the loan payment; the police brutality heaped on Demetrus and Mina during their arrest; teenagers who play loud music and trash their motel room; and an unreasonable customer who complains about the high motel room rates. (Su)

Mississippi Masala- In Hindi: spicy… keep an eye open to the metaphor! =)

Hitchcock, North by Northwest

Cary Grant's character was quite different than his character in Philadelphia Story. He let a woman led him around and almost get killed, but he looked great in his suit. He had a image to keep up and he did it in this movie. He also got the girl at the end through a twist of fate. The scene at Mount Rushmore was something. I have been there and I didn't see how people could climb around the faces. I wondered about the title until I saw the Northwest planes and fiqured it out. It had a great ending and Cary Grant played his masculine role well. He is still looked at today as one of Hollywood's leading male actors.

Jonathan Demme - Director of Philadelphia

Robert Jonathan Demme was born on Feruary 22, 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York. He is known for directing The Silence of the Lambs in 1991, Philadelphia in 1993, The Manchurian Candidate in 2004 and Rachel Getting Married in 2008. He also produced the last three movies. He won an Oscar for Silence of the Lambs, and it won "in all major categories, including Best Picture and Best Director." (movies.yahoo.com.) He is five foot ten. He was divorced to Evelyn Prucell. Now he is married to Joanne Howard and has three children. The children are Josephine Demme, Ramon Castle Demme and Brooklyn James Demme. His mother Dorothy Demme was in some roles in several of her son's movies. She died on November 20, 1995.



He has some trademarks like: he regularly casts Charles Napier and Chris Isaak in his movies. He makes sure the characters look directly in the camera. He often uses New Order songs in his movies scores. He also uses the steadicam a lot with handheld shots interspersed.



Here is some trivia. He cast a lot of the same actors in his movies, including Denzel Washington, Paul Lazar, Ted Levine and Tracey Walter. Eight of the actors he directed where in Oscar nominated performances; they are Mary Steerburgen, Jason Robards, Christine Lahti, Dean Stockwell, Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Tom Hanks and Anne Hathaway. Four of these people won Oscars for acting in Demme's movies; they are Steerburgen Hopkins, Foster and Hanks.



Here are some personal quotes. "I don't think it's sacrilegious to remake any movie, including a good or even great movies. I think what's sacrilegious is to make a bad movie, whether it's a remake or an original. It's what I always tell my actor friends, anybody who's in this, the (business), you've gotta try to hold out and only do the scripts, do the material that offers you the opportunity to do your best work. Because if you do stuff that doesn't give you that opportunity? Your work's not gonna be good. And you're gonna suffer in the long run from that. So I don't care if it's a remake if it's a great script with parts in it that can sttract fatastic actors, God, you know, to make the movie." (IMDB)



Here is another quote: "I was really hooked on movies at a very young age. The Manchurian Candidate (1962), along with Seven Days in May (1964), Fall-Safe (1964), and Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. (1964) were this quartet of anarchistic black-and-white American movies, each of which did things that you just didn't do in American movies, especially in the realm of irrevernce toward politics and government institutions and the Army. I was what, 16, it was shocking, it was thrilling and, interestingly, it predated my exposure to the French New Wave so, in a way, this was the American, a certain kind of new wave in American movies." (IMDB)



Jonathan Demme was a very energetic versatile and optimistic director of movies that are character driven. He started making B movies in the 1970's like "Caged Heat" in 1974 and "Crazy Mama" in 1975 to become one of Hollywood's most acclaimed filmmaker. He directed ten movies after "Crazy Mama" and before "Silence of the Lambs".

"Though many viewed the director's decision to film "Philadelphia" (1993) as a mea culpa in response to the charges of homophobia in "The Silence of the Lambs," which were leveled by members of the gay press who decried the complex sexuality of the film's killer, Demme had actually been working on the project with openly gay screenwriter Ron Nywsaner as early as 1988. Nonetheless, the moving courtroom drama dealing with discrimination against gays and PWAs (People with AIDS) was a landmark in mainstream Hollywood history. Greeted with mixed reviews, "Philadelphia" provied an attention-getting and Oscar-winning role for Tom Hanks as the afflicted homosexual lawyer who loses his job when he becomes symptomatic from AIDS. Depite some acclaim, the film was criticized for lacking the strong character development, mischief and sense of the unexpected that characterized Demme's best work." (movies.yahoo.com)

He directed many more films after this. One was called "Beloved" that starred Oprah Winfrey. He directed a remake of the 1962 thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" in 2004. In 2008, he directed the family drama "Rachel Getting Married" which starred Debra Winger and Anne Hathaway.

Bibliography: (IMDB) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001129/bio

(movies,yahoo.com) http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800018279/bio

Phialadelphia movie production

Philadelphia

Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film that was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia.

It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme.

The film stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.

It was inspired in part by the story of Geoffrey Bowers, an attorney who in 1987 sued the law firm Baker & McKenzie for unfair dismissal in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases.

The film won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Hanks), and Best Original Song ("Streets of Philadelphia").

It was also nominated for another Best Original Song award for "Philadelphia", as well as Best Makeup, and Best Original Screenplay (Ron Nyswaner).

This film's protagonist, Andrew Beckett, is listed at #49 among the heroes on the American Film Institute's list of the Top 100 Heroes and Villains.

The film was ranked #20 on American Film Institute’s 100 Years... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies

The film was the first Hollywood big-budget, big-star film to tackle the issue of AIDS in the U.S. and signaled a shift in Hollywood films toward more realistic depictions of homosexuals and lesbians. According to a Tom Hanks interview for the 1996 documentary The Celluloid Closet, scenes showing more affection between him and Antonio Banderas were cut, including one with him and Banderas in bed together. The DVD edition, produced by Automat Pictures, includes this scene.

The family of Geoffrey Bowers sued the writers and producers. A year after Bowers's death, producer Scott Rudin interviewed the Bowers family and their lawyers and, according to the family, promised compensation for the use of Bowers's story as a basis for the film. Family members asserted that 54 scenes in the movie are so similar to events in Bowers's life that some of them could only have come from their interviews. However, the defense said that Rudin abandoned the project after hiring a writer and did not share any information the family had provided. The lawsuit was settled after five days of testimony. Although terms of the agreement were not released, the defendants did admit that "the film 'was inspired in part'" by Bowers's story.

The location is chosen in Philadelphia is because Philadelphia is called “The City of Brotherly Love”.

In the prologue of the movie, there is a store on the street named “condom nation”, if we put that together, we can read it as condemnation. It shows the peoples attitude toward homosexuality and HIV at that time.

Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107818/

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0CE1DC163CF931A15751C1A965958260

Dissemblance

The main issue finally of the Wheeler’s firing of Andy was his dissembling (in their view), that he wasn’t who he purported to be, that he pretended to be one of them when he wasn’t.  Once he was exposed, they scramble to assert their difference from Andy, which suggest they fear the lack of difference there really is between them.  Visibly, we watch the firm interact in all-male enclaves of the top floor offices, boardrooms, and bath house, which look remarkably similar to contexts some might imagine Andy.  All the more reason for their quick action to distance themselves from him once he’s discovered.

            Andy’s testimony that Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards) was the lawyer he thought he most wanted to be like, indicating it was actually Andy who was the one deceived, that Charles let him down when Wheeler revealed his truly small, vicious, and essentially unlawful (a true cut by another lawyer) nature.  The final ignominy is the firm’s contention that they saw nothing of Andy’s illness and so couldn’t have been discriminating against him on that basis.  Their lead (Mary Steenbergen) puts a mirror up to Andy and forces him to admit the lesions he asserted they saw weren’t really all that detectable;  Joe Miller (Denzel Washington)  asks Andy to take off his shirt to reveal what all know.  Many (except Andy's family and, signficantly, Joe) look away, especially those former fellow lawyers in the firm, refusing to acknowledge, to see, the apparently Medusa-like sight of Andy’s lesions and ravaged body, which the film audience only sees reflected in the mirror Joe holds up for Andy.

Brief bio on Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks was born in concord CA. on July 9, 1956 at 11:17 AM. He grew up moving around a lot with step families. When his parents divorced, the details of it made them pioneers in that state in marriage dissolution. He remained with his father moving around a lot and was not able to form lasting relationships. He suffered no abuse just a confused childhood. Hanks attended Skyline high school in Hayward CA. where he pursued his interests in basketball, soccer and the track team. He became the loud one, a trick he learned to get attention in the numerous schools he attended (IMBD).He attended Chabot College and California State University in Sacramento. He married Samantha Lewes in 1978 and divorced in 1987, he has two children with her. She died of cancer fourteen years after their divorce. He married his current wife Rita Wilson in 1988 who he met on the set of Bosom Buddies and has two children with her.
Although he was successful in drama at Skyline he was unable to get cast in college. He auditioned for a community play and was asked by the director to go to Cleveland and this is when his acting career started. His first acting job was as Gremio in Taming of the Shrew for $210 a week. Hanks never returned to college but chose instead to learn about theatre at the civic theatre in Sacramento. He returned to Cleveland in 78 and 79 making a name for him. In 1980 he landed his role in Bosom Buddies which lasted two years. Ron Howard called hanks to audition for a secondary role in Splash but got the lead role because he was so good. This launched his film career and kept him busy throughout the eighties. Every Time We Say Goodbye earned Hanks his first million dollar pay check.


In 1993 Hanks was cast in Philadelphia and ended up receiving an Oscar for his portrayal of Andrew Beckett. In his acceptance speech he thanked his gay drama teacher and this was the basis for the film In & Out. The movie Philadelphia was the second movie to address the aids issue and signaled a shift in Hollywood that began to show gay men and lesbians in a more positive light. Even so more intimate scenes between him and Bandera’s were cut but are included in the DVD (TalkTalk).
Hanks remains a force in the film industry. His star has not dimmed, he won another Oscar in 1994 for Forest Gump making him the only man in 55 years to win back to back Oscars, the other being Spencer Tracy (IMBD). In 1994 he did Forest Gump, and as part of his salary accepted part of the box office, a very good move that brought him 70 million. In 95 he did the voice for Woody in Toy Story and Apollo 13. 1999 brought Saving Private Ryan and another chance to work with Steven Spielberg. Saving Private Ryan eventually gave way to the series Band of Brother. In 2005 he was once again on screen in The Da Vinci Code and reprised his role in Angels & Demons. It seems he is unstoppable. The shy confused child has been proclaimed a modern day Jimmy Stewart, being able to be funny, serious and emotional Tom Hanks has defined masculinity as a leading man in many different ways.
Some facts about Tom Hanks.
Dislocated his shoulder when he fell through a rotting floor in a building in Germany while scouting locations with Steven Spielberg for the HBO series "Band of Brothers" (2001) (1999).

Received American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award, presented by fellow Oscar winner Steven Spielberg, the youngest ever to receive that award (12 June 2002).

Is a member of the International Thespian Society (a group supporting theatre for high school students internationally).

Lost 30 lbs. for his role in Philadelphia (1993).

Has been referred to by many as "the modern James Stewart".

His heroic Oscar-winning gay character Andrew Beckett in the 1993 film Philadelphia (1993) was ranked #49 on the Amerian Film Institute's heroes list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villians.

Has been Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch) since 2001.

Cited as America's Favorite Movie Star in Harris Polls conducted in 2002, 2004, 2005, a record number of times as the #1 favorite. Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood are the only other actors to have achieved that feat.

Sold popcorn and peanuts as a teenager at the Oakland Coliseum.

Sources.
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/tom-hanks/biography/125
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000158/bio

Bridges of Madison County: Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep

She was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey. She is considered by many reviewers to be the greatest living film actress. She has been nominated for the Academy Award and astonishing 16 times, and has won the award twice. She first set out with ambitions to become an opera singer. Her first role was in the film Julia where she gave an outstanding performance. The year after she was nominated for her first Oscar for her role in The Deer Hunter. She won the Academy Award for her role in Kramer vs. Kramer in 1979, and for Sophie's Choice in 1982. She is known as a perfectionist in her craft and when to numerous lengths to prepare for her roles. She stared and received praise for her roles in the films; Silkwood (1983); Out of Africa (1985); Ironweed (19870); and A Cry in the Dark (198

8). Just as her career seemed to be fading away in the 1990's, but she quickly regained her star status in 1995 with the hit, The Bridges of Madison County,

which earned her Nominations for best Actress at The Academy Awards, The Golden Globes, and The Screen Actors Guild Awards. A year later she stared as the daughter in Marvin's Room. She is a realist that is credited for saying; "...no matter what happens, my work will stand..."

Meryl Streep on working

with Clint Eastwood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05BfJ8LA9jU

Eastwood on working with Streep:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wOAGGaxaXE

Meryl Facts:

She learned to play the Violin for the role in Music of the Heart, a role that she would replace Madonna in. She has a fear of helicopters. She was educated at Yale University where she studied drama. Graduated from Vassar College in 1971. Before she made it big she started out at The Hotel Somerset in Somerville, New Jersey as a waitress. In high school she was a cheerleader and also the homecoming queen. She originally wanted to go to Law School but when she overslept the day of her interview she saw that as a sign that she was meant to do other things. Meryl also has a deviated septum, which she refuses to get fixed.

What has she done lately?

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Lions for Lambs (2007)

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Doubt (2008)

Julie & Julia (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

It's Complicated (2009)

Sources:

www.IMBD.com

www.simplystreep.com

Courage and Masculinity

The pairing is a traditional one, but one that bears examination and discussion, in part because courage can take so many different forms that have nothing to do with its traditional physical expression.

We had discussion during our session on Mississippi Masala on Demetrius’ flight rather than fight in his relationship with Mina.  This could be interpreted in different ways, depending on how one understands his actions.  The implication seemed to be perhaps he was giving in to social pressure to easily.  I see his actions a bit differently, but regardless of how we interpret his actions here, we see how courage doesn’t always require physical action.  Further, even seemingly courageous acts, something again aligned with a traditionally “masculine” act, such as political resistance, might be viewed in some contexts as the opposite.  For example, Okelo accuses Jay (Mina’s father) of cowardice for openly criticizing Idi Amin because he’s really just afraid to leave Uganda and actually ignoring the danger he’s creating for his family with his outspoken views.  This latter view brings in the complications fatherhood and family introduces to the traditional definition.

In a slightly different fashion, Clint Eastwood’s Dave Garber in Misty is constrained by social convention in retaliating too strongly against Evelyn, especially in public situations.  Evelyn is ingenious in using the masculine against itself to give her the edge.  Notice the look of helpless rage as Evelyn invades his interview with a prospective employer. 

The helplessness comes through even more dire when he realizes the depth of Evelyn’s madness, something he doesn’t have anyway to retaliate or even defend himself against—a distinctly “unmanly” position to extent (though one might also note it is partly derived from his sympathy for her condition, a gentlemanly noblesse oblige).   Evelyn of course depends on it to keep him near.  

The look on his face in an extended dissolve reflects his situation and illustrates a reversal of the usually imposing Eastwood (and by implication “masculine”) gaze.  Suddenly he appears a not so vulnerable, but equally suffering version of the Jefferson Smith imploring look.  

Brief Bio of Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood is a very famous, and iconic Actor/Director. He was born in San Fransisco on May 31 1930. His father was a steel worker, and his mother worked in a factory. (IMBD) Eastwood began his lustrous film career in 1955, and has since stared in more than 40 movies. He has acted in movies, Directed numerous movies, and also acted and directed a number of films. Play misty for me was his first film he directed. He was also the lead role in this film. He also directed such films as bridges over Madison county, million dollar baby.(ebsco) Clint Eastwood is said to have a very unique style, and it is very evident in many of the roles he has stared in. He often portrays a cold, and somewhat silent type character that personifies masculinity, and what can be seen as a heroic figure. It is said that in April 1986 Eastwood fought and won the position of mayor of Carmel California, a city that he was a resident of for 15 years.(ebsco) To me this signifies the type of man Eastwood really is. As mentioned before he is often viewed, and cast in roles that portray a strong authority figure. Eastwood is also very well known for many of his catchy, yet somewhat comedic quotes in his films. Quotes from dirty harry, the good the bad and the ugly, as well as numerous other films can be heard all the time. Clint Eastwood is one of our eras most world renowned actors, as well as directors. He not only has a very amazing sense of creativity in his films, but many of the characters he has played portray a concrete yet dramatic sense of masculinity, and he at the same time some how seems to be able to sticks to his old school style of values.

(ebsco) Clint Eastwood: Small-Town Mayor; By: Roessing, Walter. Saturday Evening Post, Sep87, Vol. 259 Issue 6, p42-45, 4p; Database: Academic Search Premier

(Ebsco)Clint Eastwood; Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 7/1/2010, p1-1, 1p

(IMBD) Clint Eastwood; http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000142/bio