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My thesis at the begining of this assignment was: Is the movie Boondock Saints society’s view of vigilantism. As I wrote more and more on this topic and did more and more research I started to see a pattern with movies in general. I noticed that movies are often used to make society aware of a problem and to effect us on an emotional level which in turn attaches us to that problem emotionally. Movies like Erin Brokovich, Boondock Saints, Brave One, Blood Diamond these movies are about a big problem that society as a whole or a smaller society somewhere else is facing: Crime, corporate America’s lack of moral obligation, and funding masacures through illegal trade. We see the attempt of these movies to show that their views are societies views, for example Boondock Saints ending in a interview mode asking society what they think of the “Saints”, which most say they agree with. Erin Brokovich brings about the problem of corporate America poisoning a small community, killing many just to cut costs, then using its lawyers to get away with it. We see that media is constantly used to express peoples views and to attract people to a cause. We hear it in music: Tupac’s “Changes”, Marvin Gay’s “Whats going on?”, and Bob Dylan’s “License to kill”, so why not expect it in film. Movies gross millions of dollars in a couple of days, so it would be crazy not to use movies to attract the masses.
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There are several movie made each that have no meaning to them at all with the only purpose of entertaining us. Movies like Pinapple Express or Superbad have no real meaning behind them, they just tell a funny story. With media of today it is hard to find sources that are completely un-bias of one side or another. Producers of films can skew the message out of proportion by not explaining both sides to the fullest. Demonizing one group of people and making the other look like saints when in all reality they are both just as bad as the other group of people. Leaving the message in the hands of the director. It is his choise if he wants to make a film that is non bias or if he wants his film to show one group in a bad way and the others as saints.
Comment by sanspach01 May 21, 2009 @ 6:36 pmok, so I see two possible focusing questions; is Boon Dock Saints societies view on vigilantism? and Do movies form our opinion about events that are happening in society? I think that movies have been used from the begining of time to form opinions of society as a whole. in the princess and the frog hand out the other day we looked at Disneys use of characters to form opinions and also reaffirm the whiteness of societies or at least Disneys view of how things shouls be. They did this with Donald Duck during the war to promote the war with germany and then establish friendships with mexico. Movies these days al have some form of product branding in them. to me it’s the same thing. Movies convey an idea to us but they aren’t asking for an opinion. they are saying “this is how it is” If a movie portrays something that isn’t acceptable to us it causes us to think about the wrongness of it and think about it to form our own opinion. So some of what we get from movies is positive and some of it isn’t. It depends on the intent of the movie and the message, if there is one, that is trying to be conveyed. The only thing missing from your blog is any focus on the positive aspects of movies and the messages they put out. we know that there’s always a message, but they aren’t all from violent movies and or the music we hear. I have to see this movie it sounds good. My son saw it and he thought it was pretty good.
Comment by btorell May 21, 2009 @ 6:39 pmThough it’s true that many films have no definite meaning beyond basic entertainment even Superbad and Pineapple Express have lessons learned if you should choose to look for them. Movies are a great medium to broadcast an issue out to millions of viewers. I think the only problem is that even when they know an issue is real and sympathsize with it on screen, it very rarely transcends into actually helping out with the problem. It may help them form an opinion or draw attention, but short of documentaries or indie films I havent seen many blockbusters made for the problem. Broadcasting the problem just so happens to be profitable.
Comment by connormills May 21, 2009 @ 7:31 pm