Heathers

A cynical satire of the dramas and hierarchies of high school. We see Veronica, the lead character, thrust in the frustrations of popularity and the stress it brings upon her life. J.D., the seeming rescuer, turns out to be a deadly psychopath with more problems than anyone else we see. It brings to light the various issues that come along with high school life, putting them into a view that is, in a way, frightening.

During the film, I felt that the lack of a stable adult presence contributed much to what the students were experiencing. Veronica's parents are made up of a mother who sounds like an informative recording and questionnaire and a father who is, as said by Veronica herself, an idiot. J.D.'s father is an egotistical madman who blew up his mother. Even at the school, the teachers' biggest worries when a students kills them self is when school should get let out early. What are the students supposed to think when all they have is a teacher telling them that they should embrace killing themselves.

Speaking of killing ourselves, a lot of the film focuses on teen suicide. Everyone talks about why they did it and how expressive their suicides are. In reality, no one actually killed themselves besides J.D. at the end. no one goes past the point of investigating what happened and instantly glorifies them. Even the police take a rather apathetic stance towards the deaths, just accepting what they find as reality. Now the students are also in a society that doesn't seem to care as well.

Both these and more allow J.D. to go on a power trip using Veronica. We try to see him as a good guy and yet he steadily drops into a being a darker person. His supposed desires sound someone righteous but his methods are insane and destructive. After he's gone, Veronica goes and takes the red scrunchy that's symbolized power in the film. However, instead of taking the place as "number one", she talks to the girl who's been mocked and shunned the entire movie. In a way, she can make J.D.'s goal of breaking down the school hierarchy a reality but in a useful, positive way.

This film brought forth some of the horrors of high school and in many ways, we could relate to it. The way in which this film hits home, is that it creates a story that is believable for the real world. Though over dramatized (or maybe not), the experiences in the film occur every day in schools. It lets us look back at our own high schools and think about them in a new light (or once again, maybe not).

Shaft

Yeesh, late start on this one. My bad, combination not being here and forgetting when I finally got back. ANYHOO...

How is masculinity viewed? As times and styles change, so do how we view eachother and ourselves. The changes between the old and new versions of Shaft help to show how these views have changed over time. It shows the a more defined ideal of what is viewed as being a man and what that desirable person is like for the time.

In the original version of Shaft, we see your typical "Love Machine". Finishing the job while getting laid along the way. That pretty much explains his character throught the movie pretty well. When asked by another officer where he was going, he simply responds "To get laid, where are you goin?" and then laughs. He displays his sexuality very openly and it intimidates others. It was mentioned about how he reacts (or doesn't) to the gay bartender. I don't feel this was so much of his possibility of being open to homosexuality, but that he was so sure of himself sexually, he had no reason to be affected by it. Not to say that means he doesn't have a tough side to him as well as sexual. He clearly states in various ways not to screw with him and doesn't back down to anyone.

I haven't personally seen the 2000 remake of Shaft, but thanks to the reading and the power of the internet, I have a basic idea at least. In this version, he is definitely showing a much more violent side. A lot less love and a lot more screw you. The idea of masculinity is leaning much more on the tough side. Living in this time, we can see that in a lot more movies today. We see the hero as the tough guy who can beat up everyone else. It shows that we as a society view things differently than back during the time of the original Shaft. Samuel L. Jackson is often viewed as that tough guy in movies so it makes sense why he was chosen to play a tougher part. It's a stark contrast to the nature of the original Shaft.

However, what caught my attention alot was the idea of differences between race. I think the scene with the pen and the mug expresses the movie for me. When they point eachother out as being not so white or black, kinda shows that they're not as different as we make them out to be. I honestly saw the most difference in the black community itself. We see Bumpy as the richest character in the film which conflicts with how we often see things. Regardless as how he obtained his money, he lives a much more luxurious life compared to many living on the streets. I'm not really sure how I should close this, so you can just close it yourself, SHITTY! (bleh, that was stupid even for me)

Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point, with its naked women and racial violence, is indeed an exploitation movie. It pushes some of the moral boundaries that other movies weren't willing to cross. Kowalski was a desirable character for the time, doing his own thing, not getting slowed down by "The Man". We learn about his past and his misfortunes and try to look into his character but it still remains difficult to understand him. In the end, he kills himself in a blockade set up by police leaving us asking, why?

The character Super Soul tends to act as a guardian angel to Kowalski throughout the movie. However, once the radio station is attacked, he lies to Kowalski about the police. From this point onward, we notice that the man Super Soul has listening to the police radio and giving information goes from being black to white. This almost represents that Super Soul sold out and is now controlled by "The Man". The guardian angel who was helping to lead Kowalski to freedom is now no longer free himself.

We spoke about Kowalski as being an anti-hero, my view of him came out slightly different. Though he's speeding and evading cops throughout the entire movie, I never saw him as an actual bad person. All I noticed were the old stories of him being a hero and how he was still kind to strangers on the road. He seems more like a misunderstood hero lost from society rather than your traditional anti-hero. I think in that way, it made it so he is more likeable by the viewer.

Though Kowalski's death at the end almost seems pointless, it does represent a possible deeper meaning for Kowalski. All his life, he's been losing things against his will. Driving his car into the bulldozers was his last act of freedom, rather than allowing himself to be caught, meaning he ended everything on his own terms. However, though his death is violent, they did not make it out to be gruesome. All there is to be seen is the exploding car. In the end, we do not see a body, nor blood, just a smile.

Dr. Strangelove

Right off the bat, I like the fact that this movie called a nightmare comedy. If I had heard that before watching the film, I would be thinking like a really bad horror movie that ends up being funny. However, there is nothing that could better describe this film than nightmare comedy. Given the time period this came out, they really were making fun of everyone's worst fears. I was actually amazed that they were able to get away with it, with it being such a touchy subject for the time. However, the way that everything was done made a lot of ideas look funny rather than scare people.

When we look at the Cold War, we see two nations with the capability of ending the planet through nuclear weapons. Yet in the film, they make the phone conversations between the two leaders seem like small talk between two friends like the world isn't on the brink of destruction. They make it seem like noone is concerned about the possibility of nuclear war and it makes the idea less imposing. They make it seem like it's not something worth worrying about so it's backwards thinking compared to how the world is afraid of nothing but that at the time.

The other thing about the film is the way juxtaposition to make nuclear war not seem so bad. The way they use the clips of nuclear explosions at the end mixed with the song that doesn't fit makes it seem almost peaceful in a way. When we think nuclear war, it's the end of the world, but they make it like "Oh it's not so bad." They also make certain ideas in the film confusing in the film through similar methods. When the commander rides the nuke to it's target, whooping and cheering, it makes us feel like he's had a great success and done a great deed for the country. However, when you think about it, that event single handedly could end the human race so he was technically cheering in causing the single most destructive event in the world. Suddenly, we can't really decide who's the good guy anymore. We always view America as the good guys and after this, it kind strains that idea so we aren't really sure what the good guys would actually do in this situation.

One of the things this film manages to do is point out the futility of the cold war. I think this could be seen today with the Iraq war. The reasons for being there are rather obscure at this point so people might not be able to see the point anymore. Similar to the cold war, it just has the potentional to end a lot without any actual reasoning.

By today though, it's easier to watch this movie and see all the humor in it. However, at the time of the cold war, this still had the potential to scare everyone who saw it but in its own way that's a good thing. It managed to point out many of the problems of the cold war while still maintaining a humorous nature. That's a very difficult thing, especially for how serious the time was so they should be applauded for their efforts. I certainly enjoyed the movie for what it was and can see myself watching it again in the future. It's a fun movie that you can pull a lot from and has a rightful place in movie history.

"Mein Führer...! I can walk!!"