Blog Post #7

 

In my opinion, I think this film is about the exaggerated feelings we get throughout life. What I mean by that is that everyone in the movie had some kind of “crazy” issue, and I believe they each represent the different ways we may feel or act throughout our lives, except they presented it in a very exaggerated way. Some themes in this movie were that being crazy is okay, finding someone like you is what true love is, family always sticks together, and follow your gut feeling with true love and decision making. I have seen this movie before, and I must say that it was definitely more appealing the second time around. I think I got more out of the film the second time I watched because the first time I saw it I really thought it was this super strange movie. I was not a fan before we watched it in class. I think this movie is considered a good film because it brings out the crazy in all of us. Deep down we are have our own type of crazy and I think a lot of the time we try to hide that part of ourselves. I think this movie is a good movie because it reminds its viewers that being yourself, no matter how weird or crazy, is perfectly normal and encouraged. All of the running scenes stand out to me as being extremely important because I think it symbolizes many different things. Number one, it symbolizes that in the beginning of the movie Tiffany was chasing Pat, but then at the end of the movie Pat was chasing Tiffany. I also think it symbolizes where a lot of us stand in life. We don’t really ever truly no where we are going or where we are supposed to end up, so we pick a path, sometimes follow people (whether they are wrong or right for us), and eventually we end up where we are supposed to be. Applying this movie to my research throughout my process in writing inquiry 2, I will definitely try to look at the hidden messages in all of the versions of the titanic and see if there are any roc curing themes that might contribute to why people enjoy titanic movies so much. After watching the film and reading the articles, I have found that I need to look at the deeper meaning of the versions of the titanic instead of just trying to guess why people always remember the 1997 version. 

Annotation #5

Martinez, A. Lee. “The Definitive Titanic 2 Review.” aleemartinez.com. N.p., 26 Apr 2011. Web. 26 Feb 2014.

This review is a “sum-up” of the movie Titanic 2, which came out in 2010. I wanted to get a review of this movie because it is another remake of the tragedy that is the sinking ship. I also want to accumulate other reviews of the many other versions of the titanic. This reviews talks about the high and low points for the movie and explains why it was a stupid idea for a film to begin with. I did not realize that the film Titanic 2 is literally about another ship called Titanic 2 that ultimately crashes and sinks just like the original Titanic did. I think comparing the reviews of this movie to that of the reviews from the 1997 version of Titanic will really help me build an argument as to why the 1997 version is the one every one remembers. I will be able to use this source to compare the two movies and hopefully a few others. 

Annotation #4

Ebert, Roger. “Titanic Movie Reviews & Film Summary.”Rogerebert.com. N.p., 19 Dec 1997. Web. 26 Feb 2014.

This source is just simply a movie review from Robert Ebert. He has been a movie critic for many, many years and I chose this review because he does not just state why he enjoyed the movie or why other people would enjoy the movie, but he talks about the timeline of the film and exactly what he sees as he is watching. Also, as he is describing what he is watching, he it talking about how that may or may not have been good for the film and he will sometimes explain how certain parts of the film reflect upon the producer and director. All in all, Ebert gave the 1997 version of Titanic four our of four stars. He enjoyed the movie because of how well the movie truly reflected what happened the night of the ship sinking. He even mentioned how hard it would be to make this film well, which is why he was so impressed with the details and efficiency of the film. I can use this in my paper because it will allow for me to know and understand how critics of that time thought of Titanic. 

Annotation #3

“TITANIC on Film & Television.” http://www.jimusnr.com. W & G Productions, n.d. Web. 23 Feb 2014. <http://www.jimusnr.com&gt;.

This website consists of a list of films about the titanic, movies featuring titanic, movies inspired by titanic, and series about titanic. This website will be useful to me because it will allow for me to express how huge of a deal this topic is for American’s since it took place in 1912. For some reason, Hollywood has decided to make dozens of different films and series about the titanic. But why? That is what I want to write my paper about. Why is this tragedy so popular among American’s in ever era of time? This website will allow for me to explain to my readers how many times the story of the Titanic has been told. It will help me express the popularity of the shipping of the ship. The source is unlike any of my other sources because it doesn’t necessarily tell me anything about the film or about the popularity of the film, but it presents me with a list of every film or series based off of the shipping of the Titanic. It will help me tremendously. 

Annotation #2

Ansen, David, et al. “Our Titanic Love Affair.” Newsweek 131.8 (1998): 58. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

This article talks about the popularity of the film during the time it came out, what kind of audience the film brought it, and how the film is relevant to modern audiences. It was written in 1998, which I like because it allows me to look at how these audiences looked at the Titanic when it first came out. This source is very similar to my annotation #1, but it comes from a different perspective compared to the other article. They both talk about audience, but the first one talks about women and this one talks about modern audiences and the audience in general. All in all, it touches on why the film was so popular, which allows for me to talk about why the tragedy is such a big hit in America no matter what decade it is. This will also allow for me to compare the popularity of the 1997 version to the popularity of other films and series that are about the Titanic. 

Annotation #1

Each blog entry should provide a citation for the source, summarize the source, and briefly analyze it in terms of how it relates to your project as a whole. Shoot for around 150 words per posting—keep in mind that any writing generated in your annotations can be used in your paper. If you’re thorough and productive in your discussion of your sources and synthesis of your research, you will have a much easier time writing the paper. 

KRAMER, PETER. “Women First: `Titanic’ (1997), Action-Adventure Films And Hollywood’s Female Audience.” Historical Journal Of Film, Radio & Television 18.4 (1998): 599. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

This article was written in 1998, which I like because it was relatively recent to the time Titanic came out in theaters in December 1997. This article hits on many different aspects of the film. It talks about the audience on the film and what the means for the final product, how it did in the box office, what the process was like when making the film, and a little bit about why people liked or dislikes the film in general. It relates to my topic as a whole because I want my paper to be about how the Titanic is still a subject that interested the general public. I want to talk about why the sinking of these ship is of interest to us and why it is continuously a good time to make a movie or a series about it. This article helps me achieve that goal because I can analyze the audience of the 1997 film “Titanic,” and compare that to audiences now and audiences of earlier Titanic movies and series. I can also use this article to look at how audiences responded to the film just weeks after it car out in theaters. That will allow me to look at why people enjoy the film and the sinking of the ship in general. This is particularly long article, but I think I will be able to pick it apart and use some of the information in my paper. 

Blog Post #6

I was unaware that back when World War I was going on, there were movies made as propaganda for the war effort. It makes me wonder if people back then knew it was just propaganda, or if they truly thought it was just another movie coming out for them to enjoy. When thinking about Inquiry 2, this reading makes me think about the reasons films are made. For example, I am writing about Titanic for my Inquiry 2 paper, and it makes me wonder why the Titanic was even made. Why was it made in 1995? Why did the story need to be retold? What was the director/producer trying to get across to viewers? The Titanic, I believe, has not been redefined. I also do not think that it could ever be redefined. I think this because the film is based off of a true event, something that happened in the beginning of the 20th century. I do not think viewers of the Titanic are going to change as time goes in. What I mean by that is the audience of the Titanic are not going to changed their views on the crisis all together as generations pass. 

Blog Post #5

• For Inquiry 2, I am thinking about analyzing the movie “Juno.” I have never seen it before, but I know a lot of people that have and they seem to have liked the movie. I want to work with this movie because I know it is about a young girl getting pregnant and I think I can make the argument that a movie like this would not be made in any other decade. It was way more socially acceptable to have a baby before you’re married in this day and age. If I had to pick a film that is not from the Best Picture list, I would choose to work with Saving Mr. Banks. I have not seen this movie either, but I heard it was good ad I think because it is all about how the movie Marry Poppins came about, I can explain pretty easily why people enjoyed the film. I am not sure what direction I aging to take with either of these movies, but I think the more we talk about the more ideas I will come up with. 

Blog Post #4

• As I work on finishing Inquiry 1, I will work more on elaborating on my already developed ideas. I have many symbolic instances to talk about, however, I need to be more descriptive. The weeks spots of my essay are the fact that I have no title, and my organization is a little off. I need to move some sentences around to make sure the whole paper flows correctly. As of right now, without any further revisions, many paper is organized as the following: An introductory paragraph that sets up the scene; in the second paragraph i talk about how Katniss is feeling in that scene and how here environment is symbolic; in the third paragraph I talk about Gale and how much of an impact he has on Katniss in that scene and throughout the rest of the movie. In the fourth paragraph I talk about some more symbolic features about them hunting together, and then I have a conclusion paragraph to sum up the whole paper. I know that I need to move a few sentences around to make the organization of my paper more accurate, and I plan on working on that before I turn the final paper in next week. 

Blog Post #3

I believe that the “Soft Rain on a Hot Mind” was a better close read. This is because the author goes extremely in depth to what symbols are expressed throughout the book. This author talks about the symbols themselves, what they mean, how they are supposed to make the reader feel, and how the symbol foreshadows something else further in the book. I think this author did a much better job summarizing the book than the author of “A Changing Identity” did, only because once I was finished reading the essay I still didn’t really know what the plot was for the book. However, in “A Changing Identity,” the author include many details and talked about symbols that were thrown into the book. 

I will use some of the techniques the author did in “Soft Rain on a Hot Mind” such as, a quick summary of the book (but not too much to overwhelm the reader), imagery was explained thoroughly enough for me to understand what part of the book she is picking apart, and the details of the symbols; not only what the symbol means for the rest of the book, but what the symbol is supposed to mean to the reader.