Bullets Over Hollywood Chapter Summary

In 1940s, California was described as a dream land or a land of opportunity. The literature and film industries of the Los Angeles showed quite conspicuously stability at that time. The image of the Los Angeles was the place of the opportunity and success. In the Nathanael West’s book, The Day of the Locust, the story starts with the actors marching in the Hollywood (West 59). Massive number of people out in Hollywood waiting to be hired or luckily be hired.

“Liberty and freedom were at the heart of Hopper's Americanism, conveying the basic right to live one's life free of external restraints and to privilege independence and individualism over social qualities or collective interests.” Furthermore, Frost shows that Hopper’s representation on the essentials of democracy and capitalism were curtailed. Hopper’s influence upon her readers and popular culture helped impact the denouncement of the “Hollywood Ten.” “When movie industry ownership and management gathered at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria hotel in December 1947 and decided to blacklist the Hollywood Ten, and the five with studio contracts were either fired or suspended.

There is another interpretation that may be made, even though Bruce Chadwick's claim that Civil War movies from the 1950s and 1960s "went West" has some merit. According to certain academics and critics, these movies actually "went south" as opposed to "going west. " This alternative reading highlights how important southern identity and experience are too many of these

An extremely interesting fact brought to light by this film is the vast distances gangs and other subsidiaries of these gangs cover. For example they explained how Los Angeles is divided up by as many as 30 gangs in one are all defending their “turf”. Turf is the term given to a nonofficial area within a defined perimeter. These can include shops, small businesses, big businesses and even street vendors. All who fall within a gangs turf must pay a portion of their total earnings or income to the gang, in return for “protection”.

The three movies – Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Green Berets – are all movies based on the same historical event – the Vietnam war and US’s involvement in it. Yet, they all presented us with different and narrative point of view and authority figures in order to paint their individual values. The movies’ most obvious differences lie within the choice of their narrative point of view. The Green Beret, the earliest one, was directed by John Wayne and he also starred in the leading role. Wayne’s authority and influence in the 1960s was similar to the influence of Tom Hanks in the 21st Century.

‘’ In America ’’, ‘’ Into The West ’’ and ‘’ Brooklyn ‘’ are films that experience extreme loss and migration. These films deal with the internal struggle of the characters as they try to comprehend the losses and struggles they have each faced and their attempts to overcome them. ‘’ When you have a holy thing happenin', you don't mess with it, ‘’(David Edelstein) this is what the director Jim Sheridan said after the screening of his semi - autobiographical film In America. Jim Sheridan is a foundational figure of Irish film with My Left Foot, The Field to name but a few of his exceptional films. Sheridan uses race, family, otherness and Americana in general, to dramatise Ireland’s affinity with America.

Uplifting minority voices through film and text is critical to shed light on social injustices while simultaneously entertaining, exposing audiences to historical realities, and provoking them to understand the struggles of others. An example of this includes Theodore Melfi’s film ‘Hidden Figures,’ which take place during the 1960s, historically known as the era of the ‘Space Race,’ while also tackling the history of Jim Crow Laws, and the impending social reform of the ‘Civil Rights Movement’. ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is written and set during the ‘Roaring Twenties’; an era of prohibition, debauchery, and the ‘Jazz-Age.’ The prose novel, narrated by Nick Carraway, follows Jay Gatsby’s pursuit to rekindle a fleeting romance

CHAPTER THREE AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED CONTEMPORARY HOLLYWOOD WAR MOVIES IN TERMS OF RACISM My goal of this chapter is to analyse selected Hollywood war movies in terms of racism and other racial prejudices. I will examine as follows: Glory (1989) which deals with African American Civil War troops, Windtalkers (2002) which centres around Pacific War and Navajo code talkers, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) which portrays British soldiers in Japanese captivity. The last two movies Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) were shot simultaneously, by the same director Clint Eastwood, and both tell the same story about the invasion of Iwo Jima through the eyes of an American and Japanese soldier. In all those movies, non-white characters are portrayed stereotypically, negatively and face various types of prejudice or racism despite being often equally important to the storyline.

Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.

Lindsay Deutsch (USA TODAY Network) the author of the article “The fascinating Life Of Chris Kyle, and ‘American Sniper’”. This article I thought was a great plot line of Kyle’s life and written to inform readers with more insight about Chris Kyle 's humbling story and the sacrifices he made for his country. I was most taken back by the words regarding his tours and time he invested over in Iraq. Deutsch, states Chris Kyle did four tours in Iraq, raking up roughly 160 confirmed kills as a sniper, making him the deadliest U.S. sniper in history.

Geoffrey Canada does an excellent job of bringing his readers to the streets of the South Bronx and making them understand the culture and code of growing up in a poor, New York City neighborhood in the ‘50s and ‘60s. In his book, Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, Canada details, through his own childhood experiences, the progression of violence in poverty plagued neighborhoods across America over the last 50 years. From learning to be “brave” by being forced to fight his best friend on a sidewalk at six-years-old, to staring down an enraged, knife wielding, “outsider” with nothing to defend himself but nerve, Canada explains the nightmare of fear that tens of thousands of children live through every day growing up in poor neighborhoods. The book

The 1986 movie Top Gun, directed by renowned director Tony Scott, is a movie made particularly memorable due to its outstanding cast, amazing visuals, and character-based storyline. The movie stars acclaimed actor Tom Cruise, who plays the role of wildcard pilot Maverick, and Kelly McGillis who plays the role of Maverick 's instructor and love interest Charlie. The film centres on happy-go-lucky pilot Maverick (as played by Tom Cruise) as he attempts to acquire the highly coveted "Top Gun" award at a US Navy fighter pilot school in California with his best friend and co-pilot Goose (as played by Anthony Edwards). Moreover, Maverick begins to form a romantic relationship with his instructor Charlie (as played by Kelly McGillis).

When director Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down began filming in 1992, Los Angeles was experiencing the worst riots in American history, resulting in the destruction of thousands of buildings and the deaths of hundreds. Through it all, Falling Down was produced on location, providing the world with a skewed, twisted recount of the past. Indeed, Falling Down provides an alarmingly accurate portrayal of the white male self-victimization narrative seen within the years of 1992, 1965 and the future in the character of D-Fens, a frustrated man who hopes for a time gone-by while blaming others around him for his failings. The irony of the film is palpable throughout; a privileged citizen parading the streets with weaponry and anger, terrifying those around him - ranging from the immigrant to the fast-food worker, all of which are far less privileged than D-Fens himself - only to raise his hands in the air as if to say,

The film Boyz N the Hood is a story about life in South Central Los Angeles. The film was wrote and directed by John Singleton in 1991. I chose this movie because of its relevance to the course and how it reflects pop culture in that time period. The opening line in the movie “one out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime” really catches the audience attention (Nicolaides & Singleton, 1991). This movie goes into detail and shows the life of three young males living in the hood of Los Angeles battling a life surrounded by drugs, violence, and questions of race.

Their are many “us VS. them” situations depicted in the film Freedom Writers. The basis of the movie shows the struggle we have in our culture between ethnicities and social classes and overcoming them. One of the “us VS. them” scenarios is the gang VS.