Lucio Good Night and Good Luck

There are amazing similarities between the events which took place in the film Good Night and Good Luck to what was going on in 2005 during the film’s release. The movie is set in 1953 with all the horrors of Hitler and World War II still fresh in the minds of the American people. American media was antagonizing anything and anyone whom they believed to be a threat to American society, specifically the communists. Senator Joseph McCarthy simply used this fear for his own personal gain, falsely accusing hundreds of people of being communist. Because of the general American fear and animosity towards communists, very few people were willing to speak against him. This McCarthyism is all too similar to the events which took place in 2005. After the horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the American people gained a similar fear and animosity towards terrorists, Muslims, and pretty much every middle-eastern country in general. Thus, George Bush was able to use this fear and heightened sense of American patriotism to his own advantage. Just as McCarthy shouted terrorist, Bush shouted WMDs, both accusations being void of any real proof or confirmation.

Lucio Inglourious Basterds favorite character

My favorite character would have to be Colonel Hans Landa. He captures my attention from the beginning of the movie in the first scene. The performance of Christoph waltz is magnificent because he is able to portray a very unique character in Landa. Like the majority of Nazi officers Landa has a hatred of Jews, but he is completely aware that he has no real reason for this hatred. He knows that what he does is wrong yet he does it anyway because he truly enjoys it. There are absolutely no rationalizations in his mind about his actions. And one more thing, he is extremely intelligent and very good at what he does. The first scene of the movie is what best demonstrates these attributes. In this scene, Landa manages to be absolutely despicable yet brilliant at the same time. That is what makes the scene so intriguing to me. Landa approaches the house in his uniform with his crew. Their uniforms symbolize their unity and authority over everyone else and bring fear into the eyes of the citizens. Landa, however, enters the house alone to question the family. I think this means that he is the head of the group, but it also symbolizes that he is somewhat different from the others. He sits down at the table and is brought a glass of milk while the others stand around him. This demonstrates even more his power and the fear he brings out of others. He interrogates the family about their neighbors who were Jewish, but he is aware the entire time that the Jews were being hidden in the house. He went along with his deceiving smile and false friendliness to trick and manipulate the man. In the end, he gets the man to admit what he was doing and kills the Jews hidden in the floor, but one escapes

Lucio W.

In Oliver Stone’s W., George W. Bush was portrayed from the very beginning as being lost or without a meaning. He was always getting drunk, and he quit several of his jobs while his brother was succeeding with high expectations for his future. W. never got the approval from his father that he always strived for, so he ultimately decided to run for public office as a way to prove that he was worthy of his father’s respect. I think that W.’s entire career as a politician was strongly influenced by his relationship with his father and his need to prove that he is capable of doing anything his father can do. Oliver stone portrays W. as someone who truly wanted to help the country but was just too dumb to do so. Most of what W. did as presidency was strongly influenced on him by someone else. One of the most interesting scenes in the movie, which takes place near the end, displays this idea very well. The scene is a dream in which he is in a chair in the center of a room being judged by his father. His father repeatedly tells W. how disappointed he is in him. In this scene, I think W. comes to the realization that not only was his presidency governed by his father but his entire life was as well. After all that W. has done he still feels like he is a failure in the eyes of his father and in the eyes of the American people.

Lucio The West Wing

Throughout this entire episode, everyone working in the West Wing for public relations is frantically trying to solve one issue after another in order to maintain or uphold the identity of the president and his office to the people of the United States. This show accurately portrays the many issues that our government and even ourselves have to deal with everyday including religion, immigration, abortion, and many more. There was so much going on that everyone seemed to be lost and confused over how it was going to be solved, but then the calm and collected president finally walked in to save the day. He spoke about many issues, but the most interesting issue to me would be the immigration problem. Cuban immigrants were coming illegally to the United States in boatloads, and most Americans were furious about this. Everyone working for the president was trying to put a stop to the Cubans in order to maintain public support. The president himself, however, recognized that these people just want a better life with more opportunity. The Cubans left their lives behind and risked everything to come to the United States so they deserve to stay and have a chance at a better life. Immigration has always been a very big political and is still today regarding the U.S.-Mexico border. Many citizens want to close all borders, but I believe everyone deserves a chance to become a citizen. The United States is after all a country built upon many generations of immigrants who come for more opportunities.