Thursday, May 26, 2011

American History X

Movies are one of the best known pastimes for our generation and they bring big sums of money for the people who make them.  When someone asks what your favorite movie is, thousands of different titles rush through your head.  When someone asks me that question, only a certain few hit.  My favorite movie of all time is probably American History X.  This movie isn’t a comedy, which most people would think I would choose.  This movie has so many emotions all mixed into one.  It has the main message which is what life is like to be part of the Neo-Nazi skinhead society.  The main character, Derek, is looked at like a God amongst the rest of the skinheads.  Most of the film takes place in black in white, to show that the movie is in past tense.   Derek is thrown in prison for stomping someone’s mouth into the curb, when they guy was caught breaking into his truck.  This movie centers on a dysfunctional family of alcoholics, missing father, and a little brother. The reason that Derek hates black people so much is because his father died in a house fire, which he thought was caused by just black people.  The movie is one of the most intense movies I have ever seen, and one of my favorite.  When a movie is so realistic and can give you chills the way this one does, it has to be good.  I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a good movie. 
“So I guess this is where I tell you what I learned - my conclusion, right? Well, my conclusion is: Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it. Derek says it's always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can't top it, steal from them and go out strong. So I picked a guy I thought you'd like. 'We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.'” 

Monday, May 2, 2011

Advertising Animals?

Is advertising really for the greater good of the product?  Or do all of the customers see the company that’s producing the product as pigs?  Well I personally believe anyone who takes advertising that seriously has issues to begin with.  Advertising is to catch people’s eyes and put the product in mind for when a person is need of a product of that sort.  In class we watched a video called “Killing Us Softly 2,” and then afterward we discussed it.  In class I thought it was pretty funny how some of the people in class got upset with how companies advertise.  Like I said, advertising is to catch someone’s eye, not to show what people do with their product or what their product symbolizes.  Ads that appeal to me are the humorous ads.  If an ad is funny, it will stick in the mind and I will most likely discuss the ad with someone else.  Ads don’t discuss me.  I have honestly not seen an ad that has made me upset of disgusted.    The one part in the ads I do not like is when all the ads are the same.  Yes, we all see the sexual ads, yes we see the funny ads, but when is someone going to come out a make something we haven’t seen yet.  The funniest add out there isn’t funny enough.  Companies, get creative and make people want to buy your product!