Film discussion .docx - Discussion Post 1 I am taking Film...

Discussion Post 1
I am taking Film 101 as a NUPath class under Difference and Diversity. I have taken a class
similar to this when I was in high school where we watched more classical well known movies
such as Pride and Prejudice, Room, Dead Poets Society and many more. I like watching movies
during my free time. During quarantine I was able to watch a ton of movies and tv shows from
different genres. Usually before watching a movie, I always search up and see what the ratings
are on IMDB and read the short summary about it. When analyzing movies, I tend to look at
how they create the storyline in terms of camera quality, effects and more. There are other
times where there are differences between the movie and the book. I remember in middle
school we read The Hunger Games and after we watched the movie, we did a little analysis of
scenes that were missing and if it is similar to the book. I prefer watching the movie rather than
the novel because I feel like I understand more of the storyline and the message it tries to
convey. There are certain films that have characters with which I can relate to with in terms of
their personality traits. During quarantine, I felt I was like Rapunzel as I had really long hair and
trapped at home and was not allowed to go anywhere. After a few months I felt like I needed to
see the world again and try to find things to do in a safe environment during a pandemic.
Movies that are based on a true story have told me something new about the world. Those type
of movies provide life lessons and a back story of what someone has been through and how
they were able to overcome their problems such as The Greatest Showman and Titanic. To a
certain degree, I feel like films from a different language help me feel aware that I am watching
a film. When watching movies such as Bollywood movies I feel like I am immersed in the movie
as it tells the story through scenes and subtitles as well. When also watching La Jetée, I
remember just being focused on it as I needed to understand what it was about through the
subtitles and moving images. It does feel like you are reading a book but not only are there
words but there are also movement and action in the films. I look forward to hearing everyone’s
thoughts and views about the rest of the movies we will be watching this semester.
Discussion Post 2: The Formal & Social Study of Film
This week, we started off by learning about the formal and social study of films and this can be
seen in La Jetée and Birth of a Nation. Even though they were two different types of movies, it
shows a great example of the Social Imaginary. From Bill Nichols’ definition of Social Imaginary, I
thought at first it was more of a fictional aspect but it was more to real life stories. When
watching Birth of a Nation , I found it really interesting how it shows some aspects of American
History. I did find it a bit confusing since there was not really a dialogue but the characters were
mouthing some words. Luckily they did have scenes where they were telling you what exactly