E.T.

7 Paragraph Analytical Paper: The Western

The Searchers:

As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.

The Searchers, an American Western that was directed by John Ford in 1956. John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, who is a former civil war soldier. The beginning scene shows Ethan who is returning home to visit his brother Aaron. The family shows him a warm welcome as he makes his return with stories and some presents. They also show other characters such as Debbie who plays a major part later in this film.

 Ethan’s brother, Aaron, and his family are killed by Comanche Indians. We later find out that Debbie is still alive and is being held captive by the Indians. This sets the plot up for Ethan Edwards to embark on a journey that takes several years to find Debbie. He is accompanied Martin Pawley who plays his sidekick. They go through a journey of mishaps and encounters with these Indians as they are in search for the girl. The two men end up finding Debbie several years later, who now is one of Scars wife’s. She ends up not wanting to go back to her old life so Edwards and Pawley escape the Indian camp but Edwards is wounded. They decide to try one more time to rescue Debbie while attacking the Indian camp. During the attack Scar is killed and Debbie is rescued.

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is also an American Western, similar to the movie, The Searchers. George Roy Hill directed the film in the year 1969. The movie’s main character, Butch Cassidy who is played by Paul Newman and his partner the Sundance Kid who is played by Robert Redford. Butch Cassidy is the leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang who is notorious for robberies in the West. The Hole in the Wall Gang is planning on robbing the Overland Flyer. The first time they rob the train, it is a piece of cake for them, but the second time they encounter a few problems. After blowing up the whole train cart they are scared away by law enforcers on horses. Butch and the Sundance kid flea to Bolivia where they continue to rob banks. They continue to be scared off by the men on the horses. The last scene, both Butch and the Sundance Kid are cornered into a town. Both shot and injured take refuge in one of the town houses. They unknowingly charge towards the whole Bolivian army while thinking they are only up against a handful of men while trying to make a final stand together.

Both The Searchers and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fall under the genre of the Western. In both films there is a common theme of man verses wild. In both movies the main characters are going after something they want. While the two films are very different, they both embrace the ideas of a traditional western. The Searchers focus on the idea of the West being the new American frontier and the conflict between the settlers and the natives.

In Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid women are often objectified, and the main character Butch is one who is sleeping with many of these women. Most of the women in this movie are prostitutes or are often looked as objects instead of people or human beings. There is a scene in the film where Butch and The Sundance Kid exchange one of the girls with no problem. Butch Cassidy says “He is stealing her away.” and The Sundance Kid simply responds by saying have her and then goes back inside. The sole purpose of women is that they are objects of lust.

These two movies are classic examples of an American Western and show how two very different movies can fall under the same genre. I really did like these movies because although they were different than movies I do see today, I really did like the moral of the stories. It was a nice change of pace to see a different genre.

Bibliography

Berardinelli, James. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." ReelViews. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2012. .

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 

1) (x) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 

2) (x) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 

3) (x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 

4) (x) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 

5) (x) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 

6) (x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 

7) (x) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 

8) (x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper. 

CHECKLIST FOR EDITING

1. (x) An introductory paragraph clearly introduces the subject. A topic statement is evident within the paragraph. The position taken is clear. If the position is unclear, -put a question mark in the margin.

2. (x) The next two paragraphs each have a single or main claim. Note each claim in the margin in a 3-4 word phrase. If you can't identify the claim, put a question mark in the margin. If two or more claims exist and tend to diverge from a coherent thought, put a question mark in the margin.

 3. (x) The same thing holds for the next two paragraphs on the opposite side of the issue.

4. (x) The four paragraphs above all focus on the issue at hand; they do not wander off into irrelevant territory. If any paragraph wanders, put a question mark in the margin.

5. (x) The sixth paragraph weighs the conflicting claims from the four paragraphs above and arrives at a conclusion. Why some evidence is more convincing than other evidence is explained. The ensuing conclusion is clearly stated. Circle it. If you can't find the conclusion, put a question mark in the margin. 6. (X ) The final paragraph returns to what was stated in the first paragraph and, in light of the evidence presented and weighed above, convincingly rephrases the position statement. If the conclusion expected by the assignment is to be 'finessed, justifying statements for the variance must appear here and flow from the explanation in the sixth paragraph of your paper.

7. (x) Is each claim in paragraphs 2-5 supported by evidence? Are there any naked claims supported only by variations of"! believe..."? If so, put a big X in the margin beside that paragraph.

8. (x) Is each claim backed up by a reference? If a claim stands naked of supporting evidence or argument, put a big X in the margin.

9. (x) Does the paper do more than simply but gloriously restate the question? Examine the case study and cross out all ideas that appear in both the case study and in your paper. What remains uncrossed out is your analysis. It should constitute the majority of your paper. If it doesn't, you haven't done an analysis.

7 Paragraph Analytical Paper- Pan’s Labyrinth

Michelle Soriano

7 Paragraph Analytical Paper

Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in Spain during 1944. A young girl story-reading girl is forced into a new lifestyle. Her mother and herself are moving to live with their new army officer father, but finds herself into a new daydream world.

The movie starts with a girl names Ofeila and her mother in a car moving into their new home. Her mother is pregnant and Ofeila is trying to help her mother as the car motion is making her mother feel even sicker. As they arrive to their new home, their new army family and their new male figure in their lives greet them. The mother is escorted in a wheelchair into the house; Ofeila is shy and walks out of the car holding her fantasy books.

It is post Civil War in Spain, 1944, their new male figure is in charge and is in control of medicine and food distribution to the people. As Ofelia is getting to know her new home, she sees a large insect that reminds her of something she once saw in one of her storybooks. She follows it towards the labyrinth, where she is stopped by Mercedes, who is a spy for the rebels and is one of the maids in the house. Later that night she is visited by the insect, which becomes a fairy. It leads her into the labyrinth where she meets the faun, who believes that she is the Princess Moanna, the daughter to the king of the underworld, who left because she was curious of the world above, the sunlight blinded her and erased her memory.

The faun gives Ofelia three tasks to complete before the full moon to make sure that her essence is intact. Her first task is to get a key from the belly of a giant toad, she succeeds and brings it back to the faun. She tells the faun she is worried about her mothers condition, he gives to her a root of plant which starts to make her mother feel better instantly. 

Her second task is to get an ornate dagger from the lair of the Pale Man, who is a child-eating monster who sits alone in front of a feast of food. Ofeila is warned by the faun to not eat anything off the table, she is accompanied by three fairy guides to help her retrieve the dagger. Although she was warned and the fairies tried to stop her, she eats two grapes and awakens the monster. He chases after her and eats two of the fairies, she luckily escapes, but when she brings the bad news back to the faun, he refuses to forgive her and doesn’t give her the third task.

Ofeila’s new stepfather, Vidal, is becoming more and more angrier and crazy and is killing many of his men, including the doctor. On a day that Ofeila is taking care of the root the faun gave her, Vidal sees the root, takes it from her and kills it by throwing it into the fire. Her mother immediately starts to feel horrible and starts going into labor. She gives birth to her new son, but dies after. The faun returns to give Ofeila one last chance, he last challenge is to get new baby brother and bring him into the labyrinth. She steals her brother from Vidal and he chases after her, she makes it into the labyrinth where the faun is waiting for them. He tells Ofeila that he needs the blood of an innocent soul to open the portal to the underworld. Refusing to give up her brother, Vidal catches up to her and takes the brother back and shoots Ofeila and walks away.  

Vidal walks out of the Labyrinth and is surrounded by the rebels, he hands over the baby because he knows he is going to be killed, he asks Mercedes to tell his son what time his father was killed, she cuts him off and says his son will never know of him. She walks away and goes into the labyrinth to go find Ofeila. She walks in to see that she is dead and her body is dripping blood. Ofeila is now in the underworld, reunited with her mother and father and the faun. She has proven to be the princess and is now reunited to her family.

One concept that was used in this film was form and content. The form of the movie was expressed in many ways. The way Ofeila was show in the movie to fight with her mother and father. Also how Ofeila has to face the three challenges that are presented to her. The content of the movie is that her small traces of her on Earth are only visible to those who are looking or know where to look.

This movie has received reviews from many newspapers and magazines such as the Rolling Stones.  An article by Peter Travers, he mentions that the movie is for every one of all ages, as long as they are into the gothic twists that scare them senseless. He compares this movie to the director’s previous works such as, The Devil’s Backbone, he says that he prepares you for the impact of watching harsh reality and harsher fantasy bleed into each other. Peter makes an excellent point because in this movie, the entire story is very gothic style, the lighting is dark and the story is even darker. Barry Spector on the other hand wrote an article titled Sacrifice of the Children in Pan’s Labyrinth. In his article he focuses on the movies ties with ancient Greek mythology. He talks about the myths of Ouranos and Chronos who are now the two symbolic of fatherhood.

I didn’t really like this film because I’m not a huge fan of the gothic style, whether it’s the art or films I don’t like it. Also I don’t like movies that deal with the past and history. I like movies that are in the current time era or in the future. When we first started watching the movie, I thought the movie was going to take place in present time Spain and got excited but when I found out that the movie was in the past, I lost interest in it. 

WORK CITED

Spector, Barry. "Sacrifice of the Children in Pan's Labyrinth." Jung Journal:Culture&Psyche (2009): 1-2. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1525/jung.2009.3.3.81?searchUrl=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DPan%2527s%2BLabyrinth%26acc%3Doff%26wc%3Don&Search=yes&uid=3739808&uid=2129&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101299038861>.

 Travers, Peter. “ Pan’s Labyrinth.” December 29, 2006. http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/pans-labyrinth-20061229.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1) ( x) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 2) (x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly

explain that in the paper. 3) ( x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used

indentation and citation within the text. 4) (x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the

text of the paper. 5) (x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 6) ( x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I

cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 7) ( x) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 8) ( x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research

and ideas used in my paper.

Name_________Michelle Soriano______________________________ Date___________________________

Reaction to Team Presentation (Attempt 1 )

The one presentation I liked was group two's presentation. It was very straight-forward and the slideshow was easy to follow. I liked that they used examples from the movie Up, it really showed us exactly what they were talking about.

Team Presentation: Eisenstein (Attempt 1 )

Filmtheory1 120925223610-phpapp02-1 from Michelle Soriano

Most Influential Movie

Michelle Soriano

Most Influential Movie

September 13, 2012

One of the most influential movies I have seen would have to be Avatar. I consider it one of my favorite movies because it revolutionized technology for film and it influenced the advancements for 3D in films. The Director, James Cameron, is such an inspiration. With his previous success in Titanic, he continued his legacy with Avatar. This movie redefines film in such a way that it’s advancement with the technology used in this film makes for an unbelievably great movie.

This film reflects with film theory in many scenes of the movie.  For example, in the scene with the rainforest destruction allegory, it symbolizes that Pandora lives within us. This concept applies to reality that we are destroying nature around us and not preserving its value to us.  Another allegory in this movie is how the characters are preparing for battle to protect their homeland. It’s an allegory for the Iraq War/ War on terror. It reflects the films relationship to reality.

Not only did this movie open my eyes to the reality that it was showing, but the effects in this movie were incredible. Just the way the movie was filmed, with the actors and actresses acting on set in their character-generated outfits was amazing. The graphic effects gave real emotions to the characters. It made them look so real as if they weren’t edited.

Also, the 3D effects in this movie, inspired many other movies to start the rise of 3D films. With the vibrant colors and 3D effects shown in this movie, I definitely consider this to be one of the most influential and interesting films ever.