For What Kind of Man Would I Be?

 

genre: comedy, documentary, horror

Directors: this is a female director. She won the Oscar/Academy Award for this movie. She also won it for The Piano.

The lead actor, lead actress, supporting actor and supporting actress were all nominated for an Oscar, but lost.

The soundtrack (music) won the Oscar too. Listen to how the music, which is stark, matches the landscape. The composer is from Radiohead.

We need to know about the idea of myth. This is before science how we explained the world. Usually, God or gods did everything.

Gay

Straight

The movie has homoerotic ideas / themes. It also has straight themes.

It takes place in Montana in 1925.

This movie is also about revenge.

The narrator or voice over will foreshadow this movie is about revenge.

Foreshadow: give a hint about what will happen later

“When my father passed, I wanted nothing more than my mother’s happiness. For what kind of man would I be if I did not help my mother? If I did not save her?”

 

Why does his mother need to be saved? The hint is his mother is in a bad situation.

Tracking shot: the camera follow

Misanthrope: hatred of other people, usually a smart person who thinks the world is stupid

Misogyny: hatred of women

Phil and George

They talk about this guy Bronco Henry three times in the movie. Every time Phil talks about Bronco Henry, George ignores him or does not like it / the topic.

What is the importance of the comb?

The ancient Romans believe that Rome was started (founded) by two brothers, Romulus and Remus. 753 B.C. Myth. They were raised by a wolf mother. Romulus murders Remus.

He is a cowboy. Why does he know about Roman history?

He has a black man working for him. So, he is a fair man.

Myth: what he says about Bronco Henry now is impossible. Watch his brother’s reaction to this story

Jealousy

 

 

Banjo

Small river: creek, stream, brook

Socio economic: different positions in the society

Maid: clean and cook

Ominous: foreshadow, we know something  bad will happen

He called the son Miss Nancy.

Gold digger: marry someone just to get their money

 

 

 

Random versus Meaning

The first time I saw the Internet, I was in graduate school.

 

No Country for Old Men. The American wild West was very dangerous 150 years ago. It was lawless. You had to be a good fighter, dangerous man, killer, etc., in order to survive.

 

2007. But it is set in 1980. It is directed and written by the Cohen brothers. Also, it is based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy, who is an excellent and original author.

 

That guy in the movie is unexpected. He is poor and leads a simple life, but we find out he is quite trained at survival, guns, etc. He was a soldier in the Vietnam war, in the marines.

 

We need to talk about camera work from time to time. Match cuts in film are to move from scene to scene. Or to show time progressing. They take two similar images and match them. The rug / carpets melts to the field. They have similar texture and colors.

 

Random is the opposite of purpose or meaning. He tells her to call the coin flip heads or tails. If she wins, she can live. She says she won’t. It is him, not the coin. Coin tosses are random. They don’t kill. He does and he is crazy.

 

Match cut to this psychotic guy that is impossible to kill randomly getting hit by a car.

 

When I read Cormac McCarthy, I need to use a dictionary a lot. I have to look up the landscape vocabulary he uses. The names of different rocks and how the land changes shape. I think the director gets this idea and makes the land a character. There is no music because they you to hear what’s coming from the land and the noises of it.

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

 

Homework: Explain the following. 

·              I think the old sheriff is disillusioned. Do you agree? Why is he retiring?

·              I said Lleywelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) is an unexpected character. What I mean is he surprises us, the viewers. How?

·              Why do you suppose there is no music in No Country for Old Men? Do you agree with the director’s decision to avoid music? Explain.

I Don't Know What to Make of That

 

If we say, I don't know what to make of that, it means I don't understand. It is folksy, like someone in Texas might say. 

Homework: Remember you have to do three assignments. The first  choice is Pulp Fiction. Write one sentence to describe each scene. I think there are seven or nine scenes. Write them in the correct chronological order.

1.              An army friend of Butch the boxer’s dead father delivers a watch to him.

We are almost finished Pulp Fiction. The movie will end with the scene that it starts with. The diner scene. This is called Bookends.

 

Why is he calling him Ringo? He is making fun of him. He is calling him cute little guy. Ringo is the drummer in The Beatles

 

 

 

I want to watch a different genre of movie each time. This time let’s watch a Western movie. It’s a cowboy movie

The directors and writers of this movie are two Jewish brothers. The movie is also a picaresque. This is when the hero / protagonist must travel, go on a journey, etc. to escape danger. The protagonist usually does not have much money and gets into a lot of adventures.

 

 

Narration. Voice over. It is used to explain the movie. Some filmmakers do like it. They think the movie should explain itself. The narrator went to Harvard University. His roommate at Harvard was Al Gore, the Vice President of America. Can you hear his accent. It is a Texan accent. Texas is more conservative. They still have the death penalty.

Why did he shoot the bird on the bridge.

Psychotic.

Dorks

 

We won’t take a break. Movie techniques.

I said before this movie is not in chronological order. First, second, third, fourth. First, next, after, finally.  Why is it out of chronological order / linear order. Our lives are chaotic (crazy, not organized). The movie is trying to show this by messing up the time order. Why is the watch important to this idea of chaos in our lives? Why does the protagonist (main character) care so much about the watch?

Paying homage to: this is an idea you will often see in film. When the director copies a famous scene from a famous movie to show respect to that director or the history of film. I am going to show you Tarantino copying / paying homage to Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.

Closeup shot going through the windshield.

Ketchup

Catch up: hurry up

Flashback: memory scene

Heirloom: something that is important in a family but not valuable to others

Cameo: when a famous person goes in a movie for a quick shot or a few minutes only

 

Dorks: nerds, sissy boys, etc.

Don't Be a Square

 

                                                                         A Clockwork Orange

I haven’t decided what movies to watch yet. The first one is Pulp Fiction. I like to do a different genre of film each time. Genre: comedy, science fiction, horror, documentary, etc. Pulp Fiction is a dark comedy. Some people say Film Noir. That is a type of fiction set in Los Angeles before the 1960s. Usually, it involves police and crime. The idea is everything is bad and corrupt. Grades:

Attendance (10%): Come to class. Every hour that you miss of class, I deduct 1% (minus).

Homework (20%): I will give homework after each movie is finished. You must do three homework assignments.

For the tests, I will tell you the words to study. If you didn’t see a movie, you will not be able to answer the test questions.

We don’t take a break.

This movie is NOT in chronological / linear order. First, then, after, finally. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5….

You must think about why the director (Quentin Tarrantino) has done this. Why is the film not in chronological order? You tell me.

Opening credits: tell the actors in a movie; they also set the mood for the movie with music. We will spend time studying them.

Why is the briefcase so important to them? What is in the briefcase?

Look at the combination lock = 666

This is the number of the Devil. Evil number.

Let’s look in other parts of the movie to see if we can find some hints about what is in the briefcase.

Hint 2: Light coming out

Hint 3: The sense of awe people have when they look in the briefcase. They can’t seem to talk about what is inside.

Hint 4: The bandage on the back of the briefcase owner’s neck. M. Wallace.

“That is pride fu(*ing with you. F(*& pride.” Ignore pride because you are old now and you can’t do anything to solve this problem. Foreshadow: hint about something that will happen later in the story. This idea of pride is important to the theme of the movie.

Square: someone who is NOT cool

December 2025 Final Exam Film and Culture

We will focus on three films on the final exam: A Scent of a Woman, Seven, and Nosedive. If you know the following words and phrases, you will do fine:

dystopic, science fiction, column, paragraph, plot, character, theme, colonel, disillusioned, nosedive, misanthrope, information, misogynist, wrath, sin, revenge, infected, similar to, genre, aliens, infected, homoerotic, myth, society, rank, army, riddle, twist of fate, bookends, superficial, vision, future, animation, detective, sentence, creation, insane asylum, jail, hitch hike

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Power of the Dog for two reasons.

First is the bookend idea to start / finish a movie or song.

Both Power of the Dog and Pulp Fiction have bookends.

Remember I said the start of the movie looks like a film reel.

Phil talks about Bronco Henry three times. Every time, George ignores him. He doesn’t want to talk. Phil studied classics in university, or myths, which are stories that are not true. Do you think Bronco Henry is real or maybe he is just Phil’s dream lover.

 

Our last genre is science fiction. There used to be a TV show called The Twilight Zone in 1950s and sixties. It had were short stories with a twist of fate.

A twist of fate is a surprise ending. I think Black Mirror follows that idea. I think the writers of Broken Mirror grew up watching Twilight Zone.

Opening credits: beginning of movie

Nosedive. When an airplane is crashing. It is a dystopia. This is a story set in the future where it is bad or scary. Something terrible is going on in the society.

This episode has my classmate from high school.

Technology is not helping us improve. It is having a bad influence on our psychology, making us stupid, and superficial (shallow).

Are they happy or miserable (very unhappy)? And if they unhappy, but perfect people. 4.8. Why would perfect people tell lies?

Do they really have friends? Why does she have to ask someone she has not seen in many years to be her maid of honor at a wedding?

Are these really friends in the phone?

Will being an honest (true) person get you a low rating? Why?

Picaresque: road trip that the protagonist did not at first want to take

 

Dynamic character: is she a dynamic character?

 

The colonel was a dynamic character. At first, he was selfish and unkind. He was a misogynist. In the last scene, he changes and helps Charlie. And he is respectful to the female teacher at Charlie’s school.

Maybe that was just a good day for him and he was in a good mood. Just because he changed to help Charlie, if we truly look at people, do they really change? How about the next day? Will he stay the same or will he go back to being an unkind, mean old man

If I Were Half the Man I Was Five Years Ago

Scent of a Woman

Here are some homework questions for Scent of a Woman. Remember you only need to do three homework assignments. I will give you a free 25/25% percent for the fourth assignment.

1. Do you think the principal, Mr. Trask, will still give Charlie a recommendation for Harvard at the end of Scent of a Woman? Explain.

2. How does Charlie help the colonel? Tell at least three ways.

3. The autumn scenery reminds us of the four seasons and the changing of seasons. Why is this important to the movie?

4. Is the colonel a hurtful man? Explain.