Saving Private Ryan

Here it goes, were finally comparing the similarities and differences of Saving Private Ryan, Stripes, and 1941. To start off with, they all happen to war/military based films. However 1941 is a full blown comedy that is basically about the Japanese that wanted to attack Hollywood from inside a submarine out in the Pacific Ocean whereas in Stripes, as it was also a comedy, seemed to have some more serious parts in it and, in my opinion, was more interesting than 1941. Last, but definitely not least, we have Saving Private Ryan. Saving Private Ryan is definitely not a comedy; in fact it is very dramatic as it is intended to be. Saving Private Ryan also happens to be very gory due to the fact that it is a war movie. So, from what I remember seeing, these are the comparisons between these three movies.

                Of these three films, in my opinion, the more/most powerful one would definitely have to be Saving Private Ryan. I say this for many reasons and these reasons start with the fact that Saving Private Ryan is far more way realistic. As for 1941, the intentions of the characters in this film were very unrealistic. 1941 is unrealistic because of the whole idea of the Japanese’s intentions of attacking Hollywood from inside a submarine that is out in the Pacific Ocean. Once again, last but not least, we have Stripes a movie that was intended to be a comedy but had a few forms of being realistic. These few forms of being realistic include the part of the basic training. So overall, these are my ideas of these films and how I view them.

Racism in Film

Okay, here it goes, a topic we’ve been circling (like eagles) for a while now; racism in film. This topic within itself can be portrayed in two ways; realistically and unrealistically. Now, before I say anymore about this topic, I must say something that I believe I have said before in previous blogs and that is that I am not racist in any way what so ever and I never could be. So now, back on topic (if we look at this realistically), films take actors and stories and put the two together and BOOM you’ve got a film, and what I’m trying to say is that it’s like playing the telephone game, the film either gets the story right or wrong and either way, it gets put out in the open. So this is how it can either be realistic or unrealistic. The film can either be right or wrong and Hollywood makes it famous.

            So as for racism in film being unrealistic, it can either be over exaggerated or the opposite. As for it being over exaggerated, the n word might get thrown around like there’s no tomorrow and saying it is the only way to save one’s life. However, along the lines of the opposite, Hollywood might totally sugar-coat racism and portrays it as something that isn’t much of an issue and never was in the first place, but it is a problem and always has been as seen in all the films that we have watched recently.

            Now, for answering the prompt, yes, I do think that the stories would be different if they were told from a racially different point of view. I say this for many different reasons and some of these different reasons include the fact that different people have different experiences. As for the first question, yes, if Spike Lee was white, the story would be told from a different point of view there for making the story different. And as for the second question for the prompt, yes, I do think that the story would be different if it was told from a different point. I say this because, what I saw that was very evident in the film, the story of Schindler’s List only took on a Jewish standpoint and left out other details of the holocaust. And, last but not least, comes the third question to the prompt and, once again with my opinion, I think that Glory would also been told differently if it was told from a different point. And those are my opinions on what I think.    

Racism in Sports

Racism in Sports

                Racism in sports can be portrayed just as anything else can; realistically or unrealistically. One way that I look at racism in sports is like the way I look at the Civil War, as I am not racist; it’s a fight between unaccepting people and people that just want to be accepted. In war and sports, its one team or side against the other and in both, blood, sweat, and tears are shed as one tries to prove their reasoning. However in war, people get killed and die. I used this comparison of war and sports to portray how I look at the way racism in sports is presented.

                Anyone that watches sports or knows a lot about them knows that racism still occurs to this day and because of it, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears are shed. For example; in 42, our main character (Jackie Robinson) gets hit in the face by a baseball and starts bleeding (he shed blood), he plays baseball in the extreme heat to keep up with his team (he she sweat), and he kept facing racism which caused him to cry (he shed tears).

                Racism, just like any other social issue, still occurs and shows it’s self in sports today just as it did years, and even decades, ago. However, as I see it, sports are a way to not only safely release anger, but they are also ways for people of different races to bond. Unfortunately, for how I see it, sports do not eliminate racism; they just put it on hold.

                Another issue within sports, but I don’t think it really deals with racism, is should professional athletes be looked up to as role models? My answer is no. Why not you might ask. Well its quite simple actually, it’s because everybody makes mistakes whether they’re intentional or not.

 That’s my opinions on these topics. The End.  

A change of Heart

                In both It’s a Wonderful Life and The Family Man there are many similarities and differences that are made. These similarities and differences vary greatly between both movies. I say this for many reasons and these reasons will be described as I continue throughout this blog.

I am going to start off with the similarities that both movies portray. In both movies, the main character has friends, but is portrayed as to being all for themselves. Another thing that is shown in both movies is that our main characters are men. Does this mean something? I think not. Also (in both movies) both of our main characters (protagonists) have business careers. As the similarities of both of our movies come along, so does more similarities. In the beginnings of both movies our protagonists are not in intimate relationships, but (however) this changes throughout the movies. So, as you can probably guess, both of our protagonists get into intimate relationships. Another thing that both of our protagonists/ main characters has in common in these movies is that they both have guardian angels. Last, but definitely not least, is the fact that both of our main characters/protagonists work for investment companies.

Alright now we’re in the differences between both movies. So, to start off with is that even though our main character in It’s a Wonderful Life is a business man, he did not choose to be. Whereas in The Family Man, our main character has chosen to be a business man and is even negatively passionate about his job. Another thing about The Family Man is that our main character is president of an investment house.

Well as you can see there are many differences between It’s a Wonderful Life and The Family Man as there are also many similarities. Done.

love actually

In my opinion, Love Actually was a very confusing movie. I say this for many reasons starting with the fact that the movie its self bounced around a lot. I also got confused by the story lines of each story and just as I thought that I began to understand the story, boom, it moved to a different story. I did like that each story ended up being intertwined with all the other stories. I also liked that each story, or the story as a whole, had a happy ending.

My least favorite part was when the one man in the one story had cheated on his wonderful wife with a girl that was probably not even half his age. Along with that part, the wife found out and was completely heartbroken; devastated, and even for Christmas he still continued to cheat. However, along with me having parts of this movie that I disliked, there were also parts that I did like. These parts that appealed to me the most include all of the happy endings, being intertwined, and the cute romance. I am usually not one to be greatly into romance, well typical romance. To me typical romance is a couple having an expensive dinner then walking on the beach afterwards to the setting of the sun. Blah. To me, a “romantic” date would be riding a four wheeler through the mud (or a horse), then for dinner would be ordering a pizza, and, last but not least, my significant other and I would just sit and talk. Just talk for hours on end. However that is not how any of the stories in this movie are portrayed there for being that I don’t “relate” to any of the stories in this movie. To sum it all up, the movie ws confusing but good.