The Hunger Games Movie

                                                  The Hunger Games Movie vs the Book by Feminist Frequency

The video I chose to watch had to do with the hunger games and its comparison of the movie and the book. As Hunger Games first movie was released in May 2012 which contained a fresh, dynamic, young female protagonist. The video talked about the differences in the movie from the book and how women can lead successful films, just like the lead of the Hunger Games movie. Anita Sarkeesian who is the producer of Feminist frequency and also made this video, states that there were two big concerns with the book and the movie, which was violence and sexualization, but it appears that the movie chose to limit these violations. Also, she goes further describing the protagonist of the movie and other characters as well. Anita states that Katniss is a very young protagonist female character that appears in an American movie and she states that she hasn’t been such a thing in the last years. Anita also mentions the race had played a big role on how the protagonist was chosen, she states that the protagonist was mentioned to be a straight black hair and white skin girl, and no other girls were allowed or couldn’t audition, especially women of color couldn’t even make it to the auditions. Anita closes the video expressing that the movie was showed multiple events happenings, multiple expressions, emotions feelings that you could actually understand but in the movie, there was no attempt to humanize the career tribute.

In my opinion, I would say that in the first sight the Hunger Games look like they idealize the women, and treat her as a hero, but is that really the reason? Because Katniss it is treated and shown as a her just because she refuses to follow the traditions of femininity or the roles of a women. Even though there is a fact that in this movie the female is the Hero, it looks like, though, as it is shown the femininity as weak and sometimes even dangerous. While watching the movie a while ago, it looks like Katniss acts in a manly manner doing heroic things, and the movie puts her into a feminine position but is she that chooses not to act as such. Because to be a hero you obviously need to obtain weapons, to fight and to protect, which are masculine actions.  In addition, Katniss as a female that she is needs to dress up very well to obtain sponsors and this is not something expressing or showing her own gender identity or what other choices she wants to make.

Anita also mentions how there are some scenes in the movie where it is shown a man dressing a feminine way to show that times have changed but at the same time it doesn’t look like it.

What I want to say is that the character’s sex of the protagonist is made clear in the movie, but the gender is kind of in the air. Thinking about this I could see a lot of stereotypes on how the female is supposed to wear dresses and to behave in a feminine manner and not considering their feelings or choices and just pointing fingers when it is not likable. Connecting it to the gender sex and sexuality the movie contains to some stereotypes that affect these concepts and not are really open to the public to understand, but tend to be more hidden from the audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AilblBXlWU

Im locked up..they won't let me out

Film has always been an outlet for me. My father being a film producer would take me to classes with him at Hampshire and later on at Columbia. I watched him make films with meaning and purpose, to tell stories of those that did not get the recognition that they deserved.  I witnessed first hand the power of film and media. I made my first short film at 7, with one of my closest friends Alexis. There was no script, formal set or even great actors. We just went with what we were feeling at the time. At 7 why were we feeling like convicts? I am not sure, but the opening scene was me behind bars staring into the camera, with tears running down my eyes to show the pain. The bars were the second floor metal banisters and the hand cuffs were socks. Needless to say our creativity was on another level.

Why at 7 years old were we making movies about being in jail? Is it because something we watched that may not have been intended for us? Popular culture in 80's and 90's were to watch shows on crime. You had shows like Cops, and Law & Order that people were loving. But the effects of watching these shows have left more of an impression on us than we think. Did we think that maybe it was cool to creative violence and punishment for entertainment?

I anticipate learning more about the consequences of consuming unhealthy and uncensored media. I want to understand why our beliefs, culture and values are depicted in what we surround ourselves with.

White Zombie

The movie White Zombie was made in 1932; it was directed by Victor and Edward Halperin. This movie is considered to be the first full length zombie film and has been described by critics as the model of all zombie movies. It had box office success, was very popular. The plot in short is the following. Madeleine Short arrives to Haiti to marry her fiancé Neil Parker. On the way to their friend’s, Charles Beaumont’s house she met an evil voodoo master, Murder Legendre, who, grab Madeleine's scarf.  Charles Beaumont, the friend of the couple, loves Madeleine and asks Murder's supernatural assistance. Murder converts Madeleine to zombie using her scarf and she almost kills Neil being in zombie condition. But when Bruner knocks out Murder, he breaks Murder's mental control over his zombies and Madeleine. She awakens and embraces Nail. Undirected by Murder the zombies topple off the cliff. Charles also falls to his death.

Through the lens of racism – there is only one black character in this movie, the coach, though the story takes place on Haiti. Through the lens of Hegemony theory – it is obviously the product for elite taste. The Castle, where all characters live, its furniture, cloths, servants, etc. – everything is designed according to taste of elite. So the movie itself is a product of pop culture, but made by elite standards and for elite. Through the lens of feminism this movie can’t pass Bechdel test. There is majority of male characters. The only female character has no personality at all; it’s just object to gaze. Madeleine beautiful face is shown by numerous close ups but it is impossible to say anything about her personality. She is an object of three men desires and nothing else.  Female servants are shown briefly, it is impossible to tell anything about them.