Go to Pot

 

Musicians have this idea called catch and release. It is from fishing. We catch the fish for sport but let it go instead of killing and eating it.

In music, it is when music is terrible on purpose so that the later, sublime, great music will even sound more beautiful.

Master cut / shot: Camera does not move. Things come in and out of the shot.

Idiom: “going to pot”    You try to be handsome/beautiful, charming, fit and healthy, dress well, etc. so you can find a husband/wife. After you get married, you don’t have to worry about this anymore. You can be fat, lazy, a slob dresser.

 

 

If you go to small towns in America, the downtown part is deserted. Not many people go there. Every small town has a street called Main Street. The reason is the big stores like Walmart (that sell cheap garbage that we don’t need anyway – materialism) or Costco, etc. buy up the cheap land out of town to build stores. The people go there because it is easy to park, cheap, they can buy everything in the same place, etc.

Irony: we think something is going to happen while something else is really happening; there is another meaning we missed

The Phoenix is reborn from a fire to a better, second life. Is this a tragedy. They are free now. The mother was a burden.

Trapped in a Small Town

 

Homework:

1.              How is Inglourious Basterds a movie about revenge?

2.              How has the director changed history in Inglorious Basterds?

 

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I didn’t put up a homework assignment last week. I will do that tonight.

I did say everyone can have 20%/20% on the homework part.

Some ideas about What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

It takes place in Iowa in a small town. Iowa only has one city: Des Moines 212,000 population.

1.              Xenophobia: fear of outsiders or strangers. Arnie gets excited though when he sees the campers.

2.              Socio-economic disparity. People in big cities have more money than people in small towns. Most people in small towns never get the chance to go to university. They will feel bitter because they feel they can’t get away or escape.

3.              Mentally disabled brother.

4.              The director is a foreigner. Swedish. Foreigners or first generation (your parents are foreigners) tend to make the greatest directors. Why? Because they grow up knowing they are different and constantly thinking identity. This is called existentialism, or the meaning of life.

5.              Their father killed himself in the basement. That is why Arnie is afraid of it.

6.              This was a theme in American Beauty. Adultery. Sleeping with someone besides your husband or wife. Why do they do it? Does it has something to do with the hopelessness and boredom of life in that small town? Existentialism. Why are we here and what is the meaning of life? It is a common idea in literature, film and art.

7.              He was trapped in the small town. He can’t escape. Is she trapped in the marriage? Is that what she feels?

Twist of fate is a surprise ending – a conclusion to a novel or movie we did not expect. Why do we care? We are watching a movie about history. So, if we know our history, we already know what is going to happen in the end. The director Polanski said music should not match the scene or guide the viewers emotions because then the viewer does NOT have to think. He/she can space out.

 

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Pun: when the title of a book or movie / play has two meanings. Shakespeare loved puns

Gilbert’s surname is Grape or food. We eat grapes. What’s eating you? Means what is bothering you.

Red in literature symbolizes blood and foreshadows death. What is that genre?

Tragedy.

Jealousy is a green eyed monster.

Green symbolizes jealousy.

What fairy tale is going on here?

Foot fetish.

He is afraid he will go on trial after the war and go to jail. Usually, the top guys committed suicide (killed themselves). Some escaped but were later caught by Jewish special agents. This guy is worried this will happen to him.

Catch and release is more of an idea in writing music. The music goes from very loud and even annoying to beautiful and relaxing. John Coltrane’s These Are some of my Favorite Things or Nirvana’s Aneurysm.

Spaghetti Westerns

 Questions for American Beauty Homework:

1. Why do you think the neighbor is so homophobic? Explain.

2. Why does the mother commit adultery?

3. Why is the movie called "American Beauty?"

1.            I forgot to put up the questions from last week. I will do that tonight.

2.            I used to punish students who used AI to write. But I realize I didn’t say I would do this before class started. I also realize that it the way writing will be now. So, in the future, I need to change how I give scores. I can’t do that in the middle of a semester. The homework is 20 percent of the final grade. I will give everyone a full score on this (20 percent).

It was dangerous for French women to date German soldiers, because the French people saw them as traitors. In Holland, they shot the traitors (the men). The women had their heads shaved so everyone would know they were traitors. The narrator is Samuel L. Jackson. 

I wanted to show The Shining, but my external DVD player is not responding. I will get a new one and we can watch it later.

1.        Why is the father so homophobic? Violently homophobic?

Inglorious Basterds are a special unit in the American army during World War II. For America, WWII is 1941 to 1945.

For Europe, WWII is 1939 to 1945.

For Asia, WWII is 1937 to 1945. Actually, 230,000 Taiwanese people died. They fought in the Japanese army.

My wife’s grandpa fought for Japan. My grandpa was a pilot. He bombed the airport in Kaohsiang on July 7, 1945.

Germany murdered 7,000,000 Jewish people. This unit is ten Jewish soldiers; they are specialists. Even though it is WWII, this is still like a cowboy movie.

Spaghetti westerns. Cowboy movies made in Italy.

There is an idea in story telling called the allegory. If you show a famous image, you don’t need to explain. Everyone will know the meaning.

 

Technicolor is an old style of filming, when we first had color movies and not black and white movies. It started around the 1950s. A lot of famous directors still preferred black and white film then as there is more depth.

Jim Bridger was an Indian fighter.

1756 to 1763, England and France were at war in Europe. But both countries had colonies in North America. So there were fighting in North America too. Some Indian tribes fought for France and some for England there. They told the Indians they would pay them for killing French/English.

Tarantino is paying homage to the Italian/spaghetti westerns.

Anachronism: something is wrong based on time and the years

“He went yard.” Home run

The actor was adlibbing.