del Valle, American History X

The movie American History X attracts groups of insecure young individuals, who feel alone, and have personally experienced the loss of someone by a minor, to Facism/Nazism. Like in the White Supremacy article, it attracts those who start to relate to the movie, and believe all the stereotypes they see. In this movie, Derek’s father was murdered by an African American, and afterwards, Derek felt upset and angry, and didn’t know what to do with that anger, so put it towards being racist. It wasn’t until he met Cameron, that he focused this anger, and began racist hate crimes. In the scene from the picture, it is tightly framed, bringing you closer and more personal with Derek, so you can see how he’s feeling. It shows you that he is almost happy and proud of what he did, but then, at some point, realizes that it might not have been worth the consequences.

del Valle, State of Play

Because corporations have many supporters to thrive, they also have a lot of money, and with the combination of those two, they have a lot of power. So, if a corporation chooses to act as an individual using the entire corporation’s power, it has more power in the democracy. This is a problem and undermines a democracy, because it then gives the power, opinion, voice, and vote of many people to only one person, which means that one person who leads a corporation can affect the government/democracy in a big way, by influencing and changing the opinions of the many followers. Similar to what PointCorp does in the film.

del Valle, Easy Rider

In Easy Rider, I think the primary political message is that America is afraid of people or things that are different, and that they do not accept “aliens”. In this scene from the movie, Jack Nicholson explains that aliens don’t come to America because they wouldn’t be accepted, but only because America sees people who feel free to be themselves as threats to the country. More importantly, this movie says that America isn’t truly “free”, because it doesn’t accept those who are different and using their “freedom” to be themselves and express themselves. In this scene, we are not in an intimate place, but we are personal, because we are learning about the character’s life and opinions, but we aren’t actually part of it. The two characters are also in personal not intimate in relation to each other, because they are close friends, and are learning a lot about each other, but they are not in any way intimate with each other.

del Valle, Traffic

I think the war on drugs is winnable on the political level only. If drugs were legalized and regulated, the government would thrive on the profits. However, even if it were legalized, the individual and social levels would still be negatively affected. Although drugs would be regulated through the government, people would still be selling them on the streets, therefore, street crimes would still happen, and individuals who’s loved ones are lost in this would still be affected, and, even if legalized, people would still run the risk of becoming addicting, which is another way it would affect the individual. Also, there would still be gangs involved in selling drugs on the streets, which would mean there would still be a push to join these gangs in certain societies.

Oria, Traffic

It is almost impossible to win a war on drugs on a political or social level. The only somewhat winnable war on drugs is on a personal level, but even then it is still hard. If you look at the movie, it is clear that even on a personal level it is hard to win. Once someone becomes addicted to drugs it is hard to get off of them, especially when you are addict to the drugs that the girl was using. Those were some seriously hard drugs that she was on. When she was put in rehab, she runs away the first time. She ends up sleeping with her dealer to get drugs. Her father tries to keep everything under control but it is next to impossible to control someone else’s actions. One only has control over their actions. If a person does not want to stop using drugs, then there are only two options: either put them in jail or put them in rehab. Then again you can just leave them be and allow themselves to ruin their own lives. In all honesty I think that the war on drugs is next to impossible to win. People are going to do whatever it is they want to do. You can try to retrain them and put them in rehab but if there is a will, there is a way. So if someone wants drugs they are going to find a way to get them. This mentality goes both ways though. If an addict is willing enough to quick drugs, then all hope is not lost, it can be done.

Train Spotting McLemore

The movie Trainspotting introduces us to a topic that has been touched on already this semester, drugs. This time we get to see the dark life that is the druggie. In traffic there was a brief look at how the Junkie lives, but in Trainspotting that is all we see. Even though the drugs play a major role in the film that is not entirely what this blog is about. What this film makes me wonder even more is the value of friends. At the core this is a movie about what a good friend is, and at the end it was hard to decide if Renton was a good or bad person.
This film ends with Renton stealing £16,000 from his friends. He gives this long speech about how this is last criminal act, and that he is going to change his act. This gives the audience the feeling that Renton is about to completely change his life and go the straight and narrow. This is the natural thought because you want Renton to succeed, but does he really deserve to? Renton has ruined everything that he has come into contact with, maybe with the exception of Dianne. He is the reason Tommy is dead, he introduced his friend to heroin so he could get money to pay for heroin. Throughout the movie Renton always seemed to take a step forward, but they would be followed be a thousand steps backward. This then makes me question his final actions. How are we to know that he will not blow all this money on heroin? Renton is a generally bad person, and it is difficult for me to believe that he will change.

Lucio Easy Rider

The movie Easy rider is a wonderful criticism on the superficial and hypocritical views of society in the 1960’s. My favorite scene in the movie is when they are all sitting by the fire and George smokes marijuana for the first and goes on a rant about UFOs and aliens. Though he is talking about a ridiculous idea, what he is saying about the government or “our leaders” actually makes sense. Especially during the 60’s, the government would keep us in the shadows and only reveal to us the polished “politically correct" truth. George states, “[Our] leaders have decided to repress this information because of the tremendous shock it would cause to our antiquated system.” The media was constantly showing us the “perfect” lifestyle and the “American dream.” They were flooding us with ideals and beliefs that were acceptable to modern society, all the time claiming that this was free America where you can do and be whatever you want The south is the perfect setting for a movie like this, because these ignorant people are some of the biggest hypocrites alive. They want to believe they are free, but they are just living for money, power, and respect from their peers. As a result, they are forced to live within the confines of the “antiquated system." The alien society that George was talking about was in a way his idea of the perfect or free system. It is the true free, community where there is no racism, no stereotypes, and no ideas forced upon people. As George stated, “They don’t have any leaders, because each man is a leader.”

Rivera: Easy Rider

Ahhh...Easy Rider. The film that reminded Americans what should be important in life; freedom and equality for all men. The freedom to live a life without being imposed upon by "The man" or governments telling you what the norm is and how one should live his life. Okay, I realize this is slightly exaggerated, but the point is still certainly there. With words, its not as easy to explain what the characters in Easy Rider were riding away from, unless it is told through an exaggeration. That is what George Hanson is getting at when he discusses the aliens that live among us. Hanson describes the society, from which the aliens come from, as being highly sophisticated and advanced; there is no form of government, they rule themselves and have no worry of war or hate, and are completely self sufficient. Hanson is obviously eluding to what he, as well as Captain America and Billy and those similar, are aiming for. They want a life that is based on love; one can see this film is influenced by the Port Huron Statement of 1962. The most common way the film displays this message is through the use of wide camera shots of the vast, natural, terrain that the characters pass by on their journey. The film's cinematography glorifies natural landscapes to show how beautiful it all can be. The scene that I feel is most important as far a mise en scene is concerned, is a scene where Captain America is standing alone on the side of a road; he is standing in some grass and one hand is outstretched touching the grass. At one point the frame is focused on only his hand and the grass (not marijuana grass as would be believed due to the rest of the film). So, the shot includes: hand, grass, backdrop being natural desert terrain. This is very symbolic of the nature of the film because it shows man finding simple beauty in a very natural setting. The frame is intimate, allowing only these three elements of focus. Despite the intimate framing, the density of the shot does not appear to be cluttered, or remains a low-density shot, which allows for the feeling of freedom to remain. The shot takes place during the day so it is brightly lit, keeping the moment of discovery and "naturality" real. As you can see, this scene exemplifies all of the elements that can be found throughout the film, and it is done not with words, but with an image, as is most of the film.

Turner State of Play

Privacy is necessary for democracy to flourish because democracy is government by the people. If people cannot protect their privacy from the government because they do not have the power to do so, then the citizens don’t have freedom. The United States is founded on allowing citizens to have freedom. Being watched or tracked by the government, and not having privacy, shows that the government and corporations have an undemocratic power over individuals.

State of Play had the rhyming element of helicopters. The helicopter at the beginning of State of Play shows how Point Corp is able to keep an eye on everything. The helicopters are shown above, giving a feeling that people have no control over the surveillance company. Also at the beginning of the movie, we see Sonia walking, and it looks like someone is hiding and watching her. This proves to be true. We later find out that PointCorp was behind what happens to her. When Collins is at the press conference after finding out what happened to Sonia, he breaks down crying. Immediately the press goes crazy and rumors begin that he has had an affair with Sonia. Just because of this, his image is ruined and he won’t be known for what he did for the country. All of these first scenes are related to privacy. Sonia is being tracked and has no privacy which leads to her death. Initially Sonia was sent to spy on Collins by PointCorp. Collins, is a political figure and is often in the media, and therefore has no privacy.

thompson trainspotting

Life as we know it is done of our own choices and decisions. These decision and choices reflect how we live the rest of our life, but we have to power to change our future. We have the power to become and strive for the things that we truly want and want to become in life.

In the movie Trainspotting we meet four boys who are addicted to heroin. These boys proclaim and accept that they have chosen a drug over life. A life that could have been filled with goals and aspirations. The drugs gives them a temporary and artificial fulfillment. This fulfillment replaces the realities of life. This drug is also an excuse for them not to deal with society and things such as work and family. At the house where the boys would get high, there was a girl who lived there. We see her transition as she becomes more involved with heroin. We see as time continues on in the drug house, there is always a baby present. The girl ,who is the mother of the child, becomes an addict. The boys are awaken by her scream as she finds her abandoned baby dead in the crib. Personally, I thought that this was going to be the scene where everyone gives up heroin or the movie then goes into another direction. Not only did the movie not change directions, but Renton and the mother both take another hit of heroin to "take away the pain". The political message in this film is that we all have the same opportunities as the next person and sitting around blaming things like the government will get us nowhere. Renton and his friends all had their own justification about clean life and/or their life paired with heroin. The catch is, no one ever tried to change their own destiny.

In this scene, Renton is justifying again. Diane is a person who would be truly genuine to Renton. On their first night, she proclaimed to him how he truly was (in a manner of a plan to be with him) and he absolutely feel for it. In this scene, Renton looks uncomfortable but with still passion in his eyes. Renton truly likes Diane, but justifies his reasonings for why they can not be together. This shows how in Renton's world he wants things, he wants life but like everything else, he pushes them away giving his reasons for why things can not happen, and not once did he blame it on himself.

Armentor State of Play

The corporation as an economic entity can become so powerful that its influence stretches into politics. Many systems of government rely on corporations, for instance the United States found corporations to be so vital to the country's success that in recent years the government began bailing out or buying out corporations to ensure their stability. Fascism, although a brief but influential stain on modern history, was rooted in ideals of Corporatism. As it is clear how vital corporations are to governments, let us look into how they fit into the world of State of Play. The suspect and all-powerful corporation in the movie is the defense contractor PointCorps. As may be the case with most corporations, PointCorps' lust for mad profit ensured their decline in morality because of their malicious means of attaining such profit. PointCorps intent of monopolizing the countries whole defense and surveillance system is a telling example of the dangerous powers that a corporation could attain. For by definition, the corporation can act as an individual, excusing the parties in power of liability, thus harboring a culture of ego that translates into nefarious deeds. PontCorps feels such political immunity that they even utilize the work of assassins, a bold move blinded by greed. If one thinks that these ideas of corporate control of politics only exists in fiction, they need look no further than last years Supreme Court case that made these issues far more relevant. As of last year, corporations can donate an unlimited amount of money to politicians and their campaigns. The downfall of this is clear...corporations will no doubt increase lobbying and cash flow to politicians who will suit their interest. This move by the Supreme Court compromises our democracy because it turns the common voter into an irrelevant entity, why suit the interest of a community when you can bankroll off of the interest of a corporation?

Curtis, "Don't ever tell anybody that they're not free."

The political message of the 1969 film Easy Rider is that true freedom can only achieved by those who allow themselves to simply be. The pseudo-philosophical musing is totally appropriate when pondering the scene in which Jack Nicholson's character George Hanson notes, "This used to be a hell of a good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it... They're not scared of you, they're scared of what you represent to them... What you represent to them is freedom... It's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in a market place." What Hanson's spiel means is that Americans talk about the value of freedom everyday, but rarely do we ever honestly exhibit our liberty. The United States National Guard broke up anti-war movements in California, the Vietnam War has been going on for five years, and there's been a draft lottery. The year 1969 was the perfect opportunity for Americans to showcase their democracy and liberation. But with our own government reprimanding us for speaking against its injustices, it is understandable why someone would be afraid of living to their full, free potential.

In the scene, Hanson and his new buddies Wyatt and Billy are shrouded in darkness, only lit by the minor, warm light of the campfire. There is only the diagetic sound of the campfire crackling, the animals roaming about in the wilderness around them, and the heavy breathing of Hanson and Billy. The soundtrack is simply the bare necessities because there needs to be an emphasis on Hanson's words. And there cannot be any emphasis; it needs to be natural. Music and other nondiagetic sounds influence the viewer far too much, and since Hanson is blatantly stating the political message of the film at this point, the track needs to be clean. Also, the dim lighting shows the raw honesty to the scene. Any scene can be done in hyperlighting to make it flashy and extravagant, but that was not the point for this scene. There needed to be a focus on the sincere meaning of Hanson's words and of his character. Had we seen Hanson share his thoughts in the daylight of the following scene, his words would have meant much less. Lighting can really change how perceptive an audience is to a certain scene. The emotion in this particular scene required the audience to feel trusting and empathetic towards the trio, hence the low light.

All in all, the film spotlights the imbecilic nature of the people who do not like Billy and Wyatt. The people that are afraid of the rebellious Wyatt and Billy are ignorant and violent. They are from small, rural, Southern towns in Louisiana and Florida. They are what would be known as rednecks and hillbillies. They are usually men, "free men", who make homophobic and racist comments at Wyatt and Billy for no good reason.

Motsinger-- Easy Rider

Riding down a highway in the middle of the country, Wyatt (A.K.A. Captain America) and Billy the Kid leave New Orleans to continue their journey and try to get away from the idea of George Hanson's death. Unfortunately their journey and lives came to an end before they and the viewers of Easy Rider were ready. Two hicks driving a pick-up truck and wielding a shotgun killed both Wyatt and Billy for an irrational reason: they were different.

My blog has two pictures attached to it to compare and contrast Wyatt's, Billy's, and George's idea of freedom with the pick-up truck hicks and the hicks who killed George. Both views agree that freedom is a good thing, but Wyatt and his companions are much closer to understanding the true definition of freedom-- being able to dress, think, speak, and act in ways that are comfortable for the individual. The hicks seemed like they were probably farmers, or at least some sort of blue collar workers who would agree with Thomas Pain's quote "that government is best which governs least," but they still do not understand the full implications of freedom. Freedom allows the individual to express himself or herself in positive ways, but in return may seem different and uncomfortable for surrounding persons. This means in order to appreciate true freedom, one does not have to agree with another person's point of view, but it does require a person to tolerate, to a certain degree, said point of view.

As far as mis-en-scene and character appearance, it is interesting that Wyatt wears a leather jacket with the American Flag on it and drives a motorcycle with the American flag on it as well. The director tied Wyatt's calm and all around good personality with the director's view of how a true free American should act. One may notice the heavy shadow, as well as the pitch black shirt on the hick holding the shot gun; both of which could represent the malignant, dark, and violent traits that create and nourish ignorance within the mind and soul of human beings.

McElvaine Trainspotting

The political and social message in the film, Trainspotting, is that people will use any excuse to victimize themselves and to justify that victimization. The film centers on aWho group of men who blame their addictions and problems on the state of their country and the town in which they live. Throughout the film, the men say that they have nothing better to live for than heroin. The film is kicked off with a narrative from Mark Renton saying, "Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?". Later in the film, Renton says that he hates being Scottish because they are "the lowest of the fucking low, the scum of the earth, the most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization." All of the addicts in the film have lost faith in their government, in society, and in each other and the only thing that they can count on is heroin.But, rather than striving to make changes in their lives they choose a stagnant, poisonous state of being and blame their situation on their surroundings. Mise en Scene is used to portray this sense of being trapped on many occasions throughout the film. A specific example is when Renton overdoses on heroin and hallucinates that he has sunken into the carpet. For the remainder of the scene, we see Renton's world with red carpet lining either side of the shot to symbolize Renton's detachment from the world.

This film does impart somewhat of a positive message to its audience, however. The film leaves the audience with the knowledge that they have the power to choose life. We all have the option of choosing a family, a job, a future, happiness, and that if we choose drugs and addiction we are choosing to become victims.

Cassimere State of Play

In the film State of Play, the company Pointcorp is said to be able to “do whatever the hell they want.” They company is planning to centralize homeland security by acting without jurisdiction or approval from the public. The company undermines democracy by going around the system put in place to protect our rights and represent the views of the majority. Since Pointcorp is a company, it can act as an individual, which means that whatever they do, the public does not have to approve or even know about. In the scene where Cal finds out that Pointcorp gains around $40 billion a year from the war in the Middle East and from their domestic operations. When Cal speaks to his unnamed source at the fish market, he realizes that this company is involved in much more than the public is currently aware of and that it can essentially do whatever it wants. The main goal of this company is, of course, making a profit. In this scene, Cal realizes that Pointcorp can and will do everything in its power for this purpose. This fact is scary, especially since it almost means that the American government is going behind the backs of its people in order to be able to do what they feel is necessary in order to protect the country.

Roulakis - Traffic

The Wakefield family is a wealthy family that lives in Ohio. This family includes a prominent father figure who is not only a judge, but now the head of the President's Office of National Drug Control. Though this movie is about drug trafficking, it shows how and why drugs are a part of each character's life. Robert Wakefield's daughter, Caroline, is sixteen years old, at the top of her class, and an honor student. Throughout the film we slowly see how her experimentation with drugs turns into an addiction and eventually leads her on a path that could destroy her life. Her addiction, and her father's persistence to stop the drug cartel's in Mexico end up impacting each other's lives more than they could imagine.

Robert Wakefield believes that he can win the war on drugs on both a political and social level. He speaks to the public, travels around the country and even to Mexico to meet with important political figures that could help him "win" this war. However, he never looks at his own home and how what he really needs to do is look at how drugs are effecting him and his family on an individual level. In the end, he realizes that it is the only way that he can win the war that's almost impossible to stop. He was so busy trying to stop all these powerful and corrupt people, that he and his wife did not even realize how bad their daughter's addiction to cocaine was getting. Eventually, at the end of the movie when Wakefield is giving a speech for the press at the White House, he realizes that a war on drugs was actually in his own home, and that he couldn't contribute anything to his country before helping his own family. During Caroline's second time in rehab, the audience can actually tell that she is willing to get better and is happy that she is getting help. After she gives a touching speech the camera falls onto her father who is asked to respond to her speech and he says, "My name is Robert. And my wife, Barbara and I are here to support our daughter Caroline. And we're here to listen." This is when I believe the Wakefield family has won the war on drugs - on an individual level.

Roulakis - American History X

Though I believe the intent of the movie American History X is to show that Fascism/Nazism should not be tolerated, there are a few scenes which show WHY people are attracted to it. The main reason is that it gives people a sense of power, and it's widely known that whenever people are given power, they love to run with it. A scene that shows how Fascism/Nazism could be attractive to young people in particular is when Derek and his friends play basketball against a group of black men and the winners get to take over the courts. Though the "whites" start to struggle, Derek eventually comes in, takes his shirt off displaying his enormous swastika tattoo, and simply just looks like a strong leader. He speaks eloquently, turns out to be a great basketball player and he leads his team to victory. Young teens are taught that being the leader of an organization is a great, strong thing to do, and Derek has the characteristics of a strong leader. Though he leads an evil organization, in this scene particularly, it looks like he's doing something good. What makes this scene even more attractive is that Danny, who is a young teen, is inspired by his older brother's actions. We know this because the scene is one of Danny's memories, and as he is describing what happened on the court that day he talks about how great of a place Venice Beach used to be before all the black gangs took over and it became a violent place. This scene makes Derek not only look like a hero to Danny, but to the entire community.

Lucio American History X

Disgruntled lower class young people looking for an Identity or someone to blame for their problems are the most susceptible group to neo Nazi groups. The black people become the scapegoats for all that is bad in their lives. The racism becomes a way to vent their anger. More often than not, this group of people tends to be rather ignorant. In many cases they are just plain stupid, but in some cases they just don’t know or are too stubborn to pay attention to the real truth that is surrounding them. I think this is the case for Derek and his brother. They grew up in an environment of bias towards African Americans, as their father was a racist himself. He was outspoken and was dominant over his wife, who was not racist. He passed down his beliefs, ideals, and attitude to his sons. His death also triggered the Nazism in his sons. They were obviously upset about the passing of their father, and needed a scapegoat.
A very important scene that shows disgruntled youth are prone to racist violence is the one in which Derek curb stomps a black man and is arrested. It was black and white which emphasizes the fact that Derek is white and he is black and that is all there is. It showed Derek’s face up close and at a personal level, but never really showed the face of the black kid that close. This signifies that his racist acts of violence are initiated on a personal level anger and vengeance. The black kid’s face is not shown because Derek does not care or think of him as a person. He is simply venting his angst upon that person and his entire race.

Lucio Traffic

I believe that the way the war on drugs is going now; it is unwinnable at the individual and political level. Individuals have the power to overcome their addictions, but this is obviously very difficult especially under the circumstances of most addicts. Theoretically, it would seem that the war on drugs would be winnable on a personal level, but this is realistically impossible as many people are not strong enough to conquer their addictions. The war on drugs raises prices, and keeps addicts in a cycle of poverty rather than discouraging drug consumption. According to the movie traffic, the war on drugs is also not winnable on the political end. The drug business is just too big and organized to shut down. For example, in the movie one cartel was using the police and the war on drugs policy to shut down a rival cartel. It is all about the business and the money, and in a world where this kind of corruption is possible, the war on drugs will never be won. There is a lot of money in drug smuggling, and people sure do love money so they are willing to take the risks for the very large reward. Even the seemingly innocent Mrs. Allaya turns to drug smuggling when she realizes she likes being rich. She is turned by greed. As long as addicts remain, cartels will remain. As far as history tells, there will always be addicts. The vicious cycle is already in motion, and it would be extremely difficult, if at all possible, to stop.

Dealing with drugs,starting at your front door.

In traffic we can see that the spread of drugs is because of people doing drastic things to spread it. We can also see to stop this from going any farther than it already is impossible. The people spreading the drugs don't do it because they want people to have a good time, or to enjoy life in a way, they do it because the money that comes with it makes them do it. There is big money when it comes down to being a drug dealer to the point where anything you want you can have. You don't need an education, all you have to be is street smart and its an easy way out of having to go through many years of college and still being paid less then any drug dealer would make. The money is the motive as Lil wayne would say and there is people that fall into the traps of the drug dealers and become addicted and their life becomes way worse then how it was to start with.

I chose this part of the movie because there is allot going on in it with emotion. There is a man that goes by the name of Robert Wakefield and he is in the white house with the simple porpoise to stop the war on drugs, but it is not as simple as he thinks. This has been going on for many years to it and we have came up with options that we that were going to be able to stop it, but no matter how many options we come up with it seems like we cannot do anything about it. Robert works really hard to end this war, but yet the war has came to his front door of his very own house and is inside and affecting his family. His daughter is hooked on drugs and they send her to rehab, but that does not seem to work. The dad yells at her and is very aggressive to her so he can try to show her that what she is doing is wrong, but that does not work ether. We see that things start getting much better for her when her dad is acting much more calmer and is not yelling anymore. So the reason why i chose this part is because if we see this works with a drug addict what can work with a drug dealer. We are very aggressive towards them, but we have never been calm and tried to actually talk to them. So i think if we actually do that we can get somewhere with this and come up with an agreement with the government and the drug dealers.

Rayburn Traffic

The war on drugs is not winnable at any level, because as long as there is resistance to drug use, people will want to do drugs and find ways to use drugs. There are massive hurdles to climb in ever winning a war on drugs, and these hurdles seem to be nearly impossible, particularly with the current amount of funding for the war vs. the demand for drugs in the United States.

One scene that greatly illustrates the futility of a war on drugs on a political level is when one of Wakefield's advisors says that the amount of monetary resources the Mexican cartels have so far surpasses US funding that overpowering cartels is virtually impossible.

Another scene is near the end of the movie, when the DEA Agent tries to put a bug underneath Ayala's table to catch him selling drugs and make him easier to prosecute. This small victory is still not really a victory, because immediately afterwards Ayala and his wife go outside to talk, suspecting that he would have bugged the room. Drug dealers are too good at evading the tactics that could be used by the government to prosecute them, because they are predictable and very limited. As long as these are the most readily available ways to catch drug dealers, the war on drugs really has no chance on a social level.

On an individual level the war on drugs cannot be won until every person is drug-free, which is also virtually impossible. One of the main messages of the movie is that everyone in some way is touched by drugs, and so it seems to imply that on an individual basis, the war cannot be won. Mothers, politicians, daughters and sons, husbands, wives, everyone deals with drugs sometime in their life.

McCay Blog Prompt for Easy Rider and Trainspotting

Choose one scene from the target film for your class and analyze how it reveals the political message of the movie. You should clearly state what you think the political message of your film is and do a mise-en-scene analysis to support your conclusions.

Vucic Traffic

As far as I am concerned the war on drugs is already lost. With nearly half of all high schoolers having tried weed at least once, I highly doubt that the government will ever be able to have control over illegal substances. The war is lost simply because there is such a high demand for drugs and there is so much money to be made off of them. Its also ridiculous that the government can tell us what we can and cant put into our bodies. They claim that it is to save us from ourselves but that was never the job of the government when it was created. The key concept to understand here is that, as long as there is a demand for it, there will always be someone supplying it. Trying to take out the suppliers of drugs does not get rid of the demand. There will always be money to be made as long as the demand is there and, in the scene where Ruiz talks with the DEA agents, Ruiz explains that taking out one drug trafficker will not solve anything because the demand will still exist. Also, the war on drugs to some extent has only made the problem worse. It has perpetuated “drug related” crimes because the more the government has cracked down, the more the underground market for drugs has grown. The black market has and will always exist and though it is a pessimistic outlook, the war on drugs is hopelessly lost.

Vucic State of Play

The problem with major corporations today is that they have a disproportionate amount of influence on our political system. Corporations and the financial power that they have can through huge sums of money behind political campaigns, asking in return for certain privileges or benefits that can be given to them. Political candidates who receive large amounts of funding from corporations then feel obligated to help them out when they are seated in a position of power. What can further complicate things is that in some instances, like PointCorps. in the film State of Play, can act as monopoly’s, gaining more and more power and money with each other smaller corporation it sucks up. PointCorps. acts as the major corporation in the film and we find out much about it in the scene where Cal and Della interrogate Dominic, a member of PointCorps. Essentially what we discover is that PointCorps. is so powerful that they are able to hire spy’s to kill people who pose a threat to the future of their corporation. Corporations are able to provide large amounts of money to political campaigns so it would seem only natural that a candidate would pay more attention to them then to the regular person. The problem is that whats best for the corporation is not whats always best for the nation as a whole. Its a very slippery slope because many politicians rely on the backing of corporations in order to get elected, knowing that without their help they wouldn’t stand a chance. This is the reason for the recent campaign spending acts that have been passed by the supreme court to try and put a cap on this problem.

Rivera: American History X

American History X is a film which presents to the audience a very disturbing view of the effect hate groups in America. The film is about a man who forms a white supremacy group in his neighborhood, and his younger brother who follows in his footsteps. Ultimately the older brother, Derek learns the error of his ways, and tries to help his younger brother, Danny, see the same light. Throughout the film the audience is exposed to intense scenes of racist acts including dialogue, violence, imagery, and propaganda. There is one scene in the film, I believe, that encompasses every intent the film is meant to portray.
The film is not shown in chronological order, segmented with black and white flashbacks told through Derek's perspective. It is interesting to note that Derek is associated with a white-supremacy group who hate blacks, and all of his flashbacks are in black and white. This use of color shows two things: the first of which is that the division between the two colors was in his past, that is why this color scheme is only used in flashbacks. The second intent is to how Derek viewed the world at that time in his life; We often refer to this color scheme as "black and white" but in reality, there are varying hues of gray, which is the predominant color. This represents that although Derek believes the world to be as simple as a separation of black and white, he is ignorant to the gray areas of the world. The scene I am speaking about involves Derek as well as a group of other racists attacking a Korean-owned convenience store and assaulting the employees. The individuals attack the black cashier and lay her on the counter covering her in food while stating overly-racial and disgusting remarks. This scene to me encompasses everything the film is trying to portray.For the most part of the scene, the camera is at a very intimate level, making the assault very uncomfortable for the audience, but adding to the feeling of dominance the audience expects the white supremacist to be feeling. It is in black and white, and there is a group of white men encircling a black woman, whom they are assaulting. The men are certainly the dominant in the frame, leaving the black woman as the contrast. The arrangement of the men symbolically represents a state of power and superiority over the woman, who lays there defenseless.
This film does a great job of delivering to the audience a message about the importance of recognizing the issues and difficulties hate-related crimes can bring. The sense of comradeship the white-supremacist feel is an enticing and dangerous aspect of the film. However, I feel as though the film is quite exaggerated, and therefore, quite unrealistic. For starters, the article we read states that most hate groups rarely commit any major crimes against other races, and even went as far as to say that a majority of members do nothing more than read the literature. In doing so, I feel as though it unintentionally feeds into the same stereotypes the film tries to portray as dangerous. As the article states, the black and white characters in the film are text-book cut-outs of their stereotypical basis. Not all white-supremacists are rednecks, and not all blacks speak in slang, are always aggressive, and are uneducated. The film seems to feel that in order to show the affect hate can have on a group, it must first represent the "ideal" characters to fit the stereotypes to place in the film.

Peterson State of Play

Corporations are more than capable of undermining a democracy. They have so much control over the public and their actions. They also have their say so in democracy. The most ironic thing about corporations being able to undermine a democracy is that the government is basically the reason for the all the power that the corporation has. The reason a corporation has so much power is because they help the government. They help fund their campaigns with all of the money that they possess. Then if the politician that they are backing gets elected they have to repay the corporation for helping them out. This is when they are granted with their power. The corporations that have a lot of backing from the government then begin attempting to create monopolies. Once they have enough control, they begin really influencing the people. Like in the movie, PointeCorps uses their power to threaten others. If someone was doing something that they did not like or something that went against them they would hire someone to track them down and basically act as surveillance on the "enemy" and then they would eventually kill them. This is a perfect example as to how corporations have so much power over the public and how they are able to undermine democracy. This also shows that with too much power comes trouble. Corporations become big headed and believe they can do whatever they want. Also, it is all about the money, and if you get in their way they will try to find a way to take you down.

McLemore American History X

White supremacy is a belief that is very attractive to many lower class whites who have to deal with integration in their neighborhoods. This is an unfortunate truth. The movie American History X shows many of these young white troubled Americans an easier way out. It introduces the idea that they should create their own gang, that they are superior to other races, and that violence is necessary for them to be safe. Derek even says that they created their white supremacist gang because the blacks had their own gangs. One scene in particular would be rather appealing to poor white Americans. When Derek and his family have dinner with Murray it is scary how much power he has in that scene. He is allowed to speak openly and freely and completely dominate that scene. Derek is the center of the scene. Anytime anyone else wants to talk Derek cuts them off and once again becomes the center of attention. He even gets violent with his sister when she opposes him. This touches on what was said in the reading about American History X. This is one of the times in the movie that a hate crime is not an extreme act of violence. Derek is simply allowed to put his ideals out there in an aggressive fashion. Now his anger eventually does lead violence, but before that he was basically given a podium to throw out ideas to millions of Americans.

Cassimere; Traffic

The War on Drugs is not winnable on any level. If enough people want to have access to something, there are people willing to provide it for them in order to make a profit, regardless of the legal consequences or legal status of the product. The people who run the drug cartels that smuggle drugs across the American border for distribution only care about the money they will be making from it. An example of this in the movie would be the Mexican Military General Salazar, who was using his position in the military to aid his drug trade. If someone has a strong addiction to a substance, they will do anything it takes to get it. This is especially apparent in the movie Traffic when Caroline runs away from rehab and is sleeping around with drug dealers, most likely in exchange for drugs. She essentially gives up her whole life, friends, family, and school, so that she can lie around and get high all day. Of course in the end, she joins a support group and gets clean, but in reality that doesn’t happen for most people who have serious drug problems. As far as the social level goes, if there are drugs out there, at least some people will try them and most likely influence other to do so as well. There will always be groups of teenagers who experiment with drugs, and drug dealers to push drugs on them. The War on Drugs will most likely never be won.

Nguyen State of Play

Corporations that act as an individual are able to ignore restrictions that would normally be placed on a business to ensure the safety of its workers and the interest of other businesses. Many corporations, that gain the status of an individual, promote and sponsor government officials that are favorable towards them. Corporations are able to run the country indirectly or at least able to get away with some actions that are not exactly considered righteous. If this is the case, a corporation that is regarded as an individual could potentially harm others because of its money, power, and influence. If a senator obtained his position by campaigning using a corporation’s money, then that senator has to answer to that corporation, in a sense. It is like the saying, “You scratch my back, and I scratch yours.”

A chilling scene in the movie was of the empty office of Point Corp. It made everything seem a creepy because the company claims to have an office and workers, yet no one is there. The lighting in the offices of Point Corp was bright giving the indication that the plans of Point Corp was slowly surfacing and that Della was getting closer to uncovering the story. Point Corp is making a profit from war by dealing with foreign countries against the U.S. One could go as far as to say that it is treason.

Democracy is often defined as a government by the people for the people. If a corporation with unlimited funds is considered a person of its own, the amount of influence the corporation has almost no boundaries. A business’s goal is to make money. In some cases, a business will do this by any means.

Wilson Traffic

I think that the war on drugs in unwinable simply because of the intelligence of the drug using population. As shown in the film, dealers are coming up with more and more ways of shipping drugs into or out of the country to keep them untraceable. That scene shows a lot about the intelligence of drug dealers, because the dolls are almost completely untraceable to cocaine, yet still they move the product across lines.

On an individual level, scoring drugs is way too easy because of how unenforced the "War on drugs" is on that low of a level. all of the money on the war on drugs is going to stopping it higher up on the chain, like large amounts coming across the boarder, but on the street level, drugs are still highly attainable. socially, there is a draw to drugs. there are people who are desirable as friends, and there are desperate people willing to do anything to gain acceptance that they will turn to drugs, and be accepted because of it. we see the social side of drugs in the film when caroline's friend overdoses. they are in a social setting, conversing and having a good time, free basing cocaine and snorting heroin! it because of all these reasons that i feel the war on drugs is unwinable.

Parsons: Traffic Blog

I do not think the war on drugs is winnable for many reasons. One drugs are so embedded in to our culture that the demand for drugs will never go away. Unless the National Government wants to arrest every dumb teenager who tries drugs and any person who makes their families living off drugs then drugs will always be in our society. There is also the problem that drugs come from other countries, such as Mexico, that the United States can never cut themselves off from. Mexico is (physically as well as economically) attached to us, and unless the United States government wants to sever all ties with the corrupt Mexico government our country will never get away from the supply of drugs they offer.

I think a scene in this movie that is key to show that the war on drugs can not be won, is the breakfast scene where the witness, Eduardo Ruiz, is sitting with the DEA agents Ray Castro and Montel Gordon. Eduardo is obviously angry that he was arrested, but he is also angrier that he is being forced to rat out the drug cartel he works for. He has to testify against a business man in California who is being charged with drug trafficking from Mexico. His life is in danger, and later in this scene he dies because Catherine Zeta Jones’ character gets the drug cartel to kill him. In this scene Eduardo tells Ray and Montel that even though he is helping them bring down one drug trafficker in the United States, nothing will change because there will still be people demanding drugs and there will still be someone supplying it. He tells the DEA officers that even they are working for the cartel because everything is society is linked to drugs. By the DEA bringing down one cartel, they are just allowing the other one to become stronger and make more money and have more power, therefore even the US government is helping fund the drug trafficking between the US and Mexico. This is such a great example of how our society is connected with drugs. The business man in California has tons of money and is a good member of society, but he is doing illegal business and if he is ever put in jail his money, drug money, will not be going in to the economy and the economy will suffer. Everything is our lives is connected with drugs somehow, and that can not change unless radical, drastic measures are taken by the government.