Film Class Midterm (Quiz)

We have a midterm exam or quiz if you will in 13 days. This included with your homework accounts for 50% of your grade. This is what you should prepare. First, know the meanings of following words or expressions. I will provide the words and definitions. You just need to match.

1. Pay homage to

2. Misanthrope

3. Bird's eye view

4. Conformity

5. Cookie cutter neighborhood or school

6. Clique

7. Myth

8. Noble Savage

9. Angst

10. Match cut

11. Misogyny 

12. Genre

13. Tracking shot

14. Opening credits

15. Pulp fiction

16. Chronological

17. Washed up

18. Tracking shot (2X)

19. Nerd/dork

20. Basket case

21. Foreshadow

I will also ask some questions about what happened in the movies.

If you came to every class, this won't be a problem for you. I will

have a paragraph question as well. In my opinion, a paragraph is

five or move sentences.

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Gen X

People born between 1965 and 1980. It’s my generation. People say it is the rudest and most intolerant generation which worries a lot about conformity or being the same as everybody else.

You can see it her, when they call her strange. They don’t trust people who are unique.

They will return to their cliques on Monday and pretend they don’t know each other.

Next two genres: western (cowboy) and war

Terms to think about:

1.   Misanthrope: somebody (usually highly intelligent) who hates other people and humans in general

2.   Misogyny: hatred and bullying of women (usually by men)

3.   Narrator: person who speaks to explain the plot (but you don’t see them). This person is normally a character in the movie.

4.   Foreshadow: when we are given hints / clues about what will happen later

I want you to write down the first voice over (what the narrator says) because I think it is a good example of foreshadowing.

5.   Soundtrack is written by the guy from Radiohead, but it is not like Radiohead at all. They won the Oscar for the music.

All four main actors and actresses were nominated for an Oscar too.

6.   Homoerotic: subtle gay or lesbian themes

7.   Every time the brother talks about Bronco Henry, the other brother ignores him. Why?

8.   In the story, the misanthropic brother majored in Classics at Yale University and graduated first in his class. Romulus and Remus: it is the story of the founding or start of Rome. It is a myth. Stories we use to explain when we don’t have or understand science.

Why Are They Called the Breakfast Club?

 

Please look up the idea “fragment” for writing.

Want to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast. Every sentence needs a

S. V. O. The best sentence is the simple sentence. I have corrected a lot of fragments in this class.

Chronological order.

1.    Butch is a little boy. A soldier who served with his dad in the Vietnam War brings him a wristwatch.   The plot structure is bookends. The diner starts and ends the movie, with the stories in between.

Genre: Drama, dark humor (comedy), coming of age

Themes

Conformity: when the society forces you to be the same as other people; David Bowie is the opposite of conformity: “Turn and face the strange.” People conform because they are afraid of being noticed.

Cookie cutter: everything looks the same and built the same; this is a metaphor for a cookie cutter we use for cooking

Cliques: the different groups in a school (power)

The narrator is talking about cliques.

1.    Jocks: good at sports: athlete

2.    Nerd/Dorks: not strong, but good at studying (often bullied)

3.    Skaters or punks; rebels; criminal

4.    Cheerleaders: prom queen; princess

5.    Rockers or headbangers

6.    Weirdos? Basket case

Theme: Adults who don’t understand

Theme: Power tripping teachers who want respect but have not earned it

Opening Credits

Why is the student punished for giving an opinion and asking a question? The teacher asks: “Does anyone have questions?” When Bender then asks a question, he is punished.

Idiom: “You mess with the bull, you get the horns.”

In literature, the theme: “The myth of the noble savage.” When someone from a rich, industrial country meets someone from a poor, non-technological place and assumes they know more about things. Actually, the latter person might have wisdom which leads to asking questions that cannot be answered.

Notice how the janitor responds to Bender’s irony and questions compared to the teacher.

One of These Days / Cameo

 

Cameo

A famous person in a movie for a short scene, maybe a couple of minutes. Christopher Walken won the Oscar for his role in Deer Hunter, a movie about the Vietnam War. America invaded Vietnam in the 1960s. We said we invaded to stop Communism (the political system in China or Russia, etc.).

This game is called Russian Roulette.

The director Tarantino has Walken doing a cameo about the Vietnam War.

Please put Pulp Fiction into chronological order. This is actually the first scene with Butch, the boxer, as a little boy.

The time order is mixed up in this movie. The watch is important to the boxer Butch. The watch is a symbol of organization in this messed up time order of the movie.

Gimp is a rude way to call disabled people.

She is playing hooky.

Hillbilly: poor and uneducated white people in North America.

Chopper

This chopper scene is an homage to Easy Rider.

The director didn’t go to university. He worked in movie video store.

He knows movies like the back of his hand.

Conformity and cliques in school. The Breakfast Club. Coming of age movie.

Dorks or geeks.

Country bumpkin.

Pulp Fiction: Class Notes March 2023

 Film: Pulp Fiction

Attendance: I give everyone 10% for this. Every hour you miss, I subtract 1%. If you miss nine hours, you fail. Pulp Fiction works similarly to TV or when people go to the movies to watch crap like Marvel. They want to rest and not think.

Pulp is the flesh of an orange. Fiction means not true.

Genre is dark humor or comedy. Funny, but evil.

Trivia: they say f%$k 255 times. John Travolta, perhaps the most famous actor of the 1970s, was washed up. That means not famous or good anymore. He couldn’t get roles in the 1980s. He made a comeback in this movie. Travolta in the

1970s. Opening credits.

1994: Tarantino wrote and directed it. He wrote it while

drinking coffee in the diner which is at the start of the movie.

This movie is not in chronological order. It opens at the end.

Your assignment is to write a sentence to describe each

scene. Then put the sentences in chronological order and

give me.

Vincent (Travolta) says he doesn’t watch TV, implying that it is too stupid for him. But he loves to read pulp fiction = contradiction.

What does 666 represent? It is the sign of the beast

(devil). Tarantino is also paying homage to Stanley

Kubrick. When you copy a famous scene from another

movie to show respect.

1. We have a myth or superstition. You can make a deal

with the devil. He will give you whatever you want,

but he gets his soul. If you want to make this deal,

go to the crossroads.

If we say you are “square” it means not a cool person.

SShe says she is going to powder her nose. 

A cameo is when a famous actor goes in a movie for just

a few minutes.

Good Will Hunting Class Notes from Feb 13

Rules for this class. You lose 1% for every hour you miss of class. If you miss nine hours, you fail. This class is easy to get 90%. Just come.

Please do not sleep in here. This is NOT your bedroom. This is a classroom. I want to do a different genre of film each time: Drama, classic, comedy, western (cowboy), no animation, science fiction, horror, etc. Let us start with drama.

My dad told me a story about a janitor (cleaning person) who worked at the University of Toronto during World War II. He had a grade 10 education. He would clean the radar lab at night. Just by looking at the research, he could understand it. He invented advanced radar. They tested him and he had a 197 IQ.

I think Good Will Hunting is based on this story. The screenplay was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. They won an Oscar. Robin Williams did as well for Best Supporting Actor. He committed suicide nine years ago.

Questions for you guys: Why does Will (the protagonist) feel angst?

What does the title of the movie mean? It is a pun (two meanings). What does the psychologist (played by Robin Williams) mean when he tells Will “It’s not your fault.”  ???

 

Do you hear the Boston accent?

When the camera work in a movie is really good or stylish, we talk about the cinematography. This director is a gay man: Gus van Sant

When you slow down the film speed: slow motion

 

Overhead direct down shot is a “bird’s eye view.”

“Pay homage to” means to copy a scene from a famous movie to show respect to the director. Van Sant is paying homage to Stanley Kubrick and A Clockwork Orange.

 

Match cut. When the last image from the first scene is the same or similar to the first image of the second scene. It gets you from A to B in the movie. 

Will is embarrassed about being an orphan. Why? Oliver Twist is a novel by Charles Dickens from the 1840s about an orphan.

Tell me some background on the actor Robin Williams.

 

 

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Listen for the Boston accent. It is quite flat. They do not curl the r, for example.

The unabomber used to send letters to rich people who had companies that hurt the environment. The letters would blow up when they were opened. The police could not catch him. His brother turned him in.

“Paying homage to” is when a director copies a famous scene from a previous movie to show respect to that director. Students of film will quickly recognize what is going on. Here van Sant is paying homage to Danny Boyd and “Train Spotting.”

1.  Close-up shot

2.  Bird’s eye view (shot)

3.  Fade

4.  Tracking shot: when the camera follows

5.  Slow motion makes the scene more dramatic (they used for baseball and the batting cage plus the fight scene)

Why does Will feel angst?

Why is Will self-protective?

Why does Will push people away?

Why is Will afraid of relationships?

What does Sean mean when he affirms: “It’s not your fault?”

This is a theme of Good Will Hunting.

The irony of the film is in Will’s destiny. He was unlucky to be an orphan who was abused by his foster parents. But, he was also born with a lot of talent and smartness.

Smart: you are born with this; high IQ

Intelligent: work hard to learn a lot of things

Wise: is like old people who know of things through experience.

Good Will means to be nice to other people. Hunting is his search for what do to in life. Destiny = hunting.

We cannot change fate. That is an Asian idea. It is also a European idea before. We can change our destiny through hard work. Wheel of fortune that we could not get off during the medieval period. Fate must be accepted.

Closing credits: the list of actors shown at the end of a movie

Opening credits: the list of actors, director, producer, etc. at the start of the movie; the opening credits are a form of film art as well; they also set the tone for the movie; they create the opening mood

I will do attendance next week. Every class you miss is minus -2%. If you miss nine hours, you automatically fail. 

Final Exam Film and Society

I will make the test like the mid term exam. You will have to memorize some words. Then match the vocabulary to the meaning. There will be some sentence answers to see if you watched the films. Finally, you must write a paragraph.

Words: angst, pay homage to, match cut, allegory, noble savage, clique, dork, jock, cookie cutter house,

coming of age movie, mundanity, pun, twist of fate, genre, colony, Garden of Eden 

Match cut.

Pun: when a word has two meanings

Hunting is his surname, but he is looking for something.

The first English novel was written in 1688 by Aphra Behn.

The novel developed over the next two centuries until the Victorian Era (1837 to 1901). Most scholars will say this was the greatest era for novel.

And most consider Charles Dickens to be greatest novelist of that era.

1812 to 1870. A Christmas Carol was published in 1843. Everyone in the West knows this story; we watch it every Christmas.

At this time, the West was transitioning from an agrarian society (farming) to the industrial revolution (factories and city life). The cities were dirty, polluted and the people had a terrible quality of life.

They put the coins on the eyes of corpses (dead bodies) so the ghost can get over the River Styx to the afterworld (heaven, hell, etc.)

The protagonist (main character) is named Scrooge. The name has become a word, meaning stingy. He always says “humbug” which is also a word now. It means nonsense.

One of Dickens’ common themes is the mistreatment / abuse of children. In real life, his dad was in jail and he had to work in a boot polish factory (as a boy).

 

 

 

 

Allegory: a writing technique where the author gives us hints to make us think about The Bible. Seven years later: according to The Bible, God created the world in seven days

You will be haunted by three spirits. The spirits will teach Scrooge how to be good or to repent.

Ghosts are often depicted as having to go through an ironic form of punishment or torture. 

Both the psychiatrist and Will are dealing with mental issues. The shrink has depression from his wife dying of cancer and underachieving. Remember he graduated from MIT, perhaps the best university in the world, but he teaches at a lousy community college. Will has issues with angst.

Oliver Twist is a story by Charles Dickens about an orphan in the 1840s. He is so poor that he has to work in a factory as a boy and is a pickpocket.

Remastering film and better technology allows us to see flaws now in old movies. Flaw is like a mistake.

The Unabomber sent letters to rich businessmen who had companies that harmed the environment. The letters would blow up when opened.

Einstein went to a prestigious school. He was the only one not offered a job at the school from his class. They thought he was lazy, a trouble maker, and cheater.

Scrooge is a stingy person. His name has become a word.

The job interview is paying homage to Trainspotting, right down to the shoes and three interviewers. And the nonsense.

 

Child abuse and personality determination. Your personality is set from an early age.

Science fiction will be our last genre.

The Myth of the Noble Savage

 The myth of the noble savage.

This shows up in literature a lot. The noble savage is someone from a supposedly simpler society / culture. He meets someone from a modern society. The noble savage is not educated but will say lots of things that are true to make the person from the modern society realize his life is empty or that the person from the modern society really isn’t so smart.

In The Breakfast Club, I think the janitor is doing a version of the noble savage.

My father said: “Do not try to understand them. And do not try to make them understand you. That is because they are a breed apart that makes no sense.”

 

Collective society v. individual society.

In a collective society, people want to be a part of a group. In an individual society, people are comfortable being alone. Americans (American myth) like to tell you they are individuals. I think they are more collective though.

In The Breakfast Club, we can see the teacher trying to force these kids, who are different from each other, into a collective organization. The teacher is on a power trip. He tells the students to explain to him who they are. So, he is putting them in a defensive position. The students have a good point. Even if we tell you who we are, you won’t listen.

You have cliques. One guy is from the athlete clique. We call that “jock.” The pretty girl is from the princess or cheerleader clique.

Weirdo clique.

Geek / Dork clique: He studies a lot.

Rebel clique.

Five cliques represented in this movie.

 Idiom: “You mess with the bull, you get the horns.”

Themes:

1.  Power tripping teachers

2.  The boredom of education / school

3.  Questioning authority / ridiculous people in positions of power

4.  The normal weirdness of teachers, because they can’t be fired and they are not dealing with people their own age / teachers losing perspective

5.  The ridiculous behavior of teachers

Cookie cutter school: they all look the same

Cookie cutter house: ditto

Collective versus individual

They treat the students like they are from a cookie cutter. They all need to look and behave the same, to fit in, etc.

Mr. Rogers is famous for being square. Square or goody two shoes is someone who is not cool.

The director is John Hughes. Most of his movies were in the 1980s and usually about teenagers coming of age. Growing up and learning life’s lessons. The movies are normally set in Chicago in the suburbs and about middle class people. They are about normal things. When life is too normal and repetitive, we say mundanity.

I wanted to show My Private Idaho, directed by Gus van Sant. Van Sant also does coming of age movies, about young adults. It is based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I.

I heard this story about a janitor working in the lab at the University of Toronto during WWII. He had a grade ten education. While he was cleaning, he would look at the experiments. He invented modern radar. They tested his IQ and he got 197.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote the screenplay for this movie. They won an Oscar.

Robin Williams won best supporting actor. Minor role. He usually is in comedies. He doesn’t do dramas so much. He committed suicide in 2015.

The Boston accent is very flat. Usually in America, we curl our accent.

Boston is full of Irish immigrants or the ancestors of Irish immigrants.

Pulp Fiction paid homage to A Clockwork Orange with the driving scene.

Good Will Hunting pays homage with the fighting scene. Look at how the music does not match the violence in both instances.

Match cut takes you from one scene to a different shot and place by showing two similar things.

Above are the class notes. I am behind on the marking of your assignments. But, we need to do some work. Answer the following questions for this movie's assignment. You cannot actually answer the first question as the film has not revealed it yet. That means you can hand this in next Monday.

1. What do you think is causing Will Hunting angst?

2. Please give a paragraph biography on Robin Williams. If you cut and paste (plagiarize), I will know it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg