ENGL 280 - Intro to Film

  As a black young woman watching this film, walking out of the theater I felt liberated. “It takes time to become free of the lies and their shaming effects on the black mind.It takes time to reject the most important lie: that black people can’t do the same things that white people do…unless a white person helps them” the epiphany that struck our protagonist and the whole audience after Kwane Ture spoke. As a person raised on Spike Lee’s work, he has never been shy on speaking about race and social issues. The aspect that makes Spike Lee’s work so amazing is that, no matter when it was made, his topics are universal and timeless. He also knows how to tackle sensitive topics in such a manner that is sophisticated and comedic. His writing flows and everything seems natural because not only is he talking about a subject, he is actually writing a story, something some filmmakers forget about. They get so caught up with the technicality and the scenes but not enough with connecting th...

Malachi Jay Bruno ENGL-280-01 Blackkklansman: Wake up America Blackkklansman, released in 2018 and directed by Spike Lee, is an intensely emotional film that forces the viewers to come to a necessary realization; there is still hate in the world, and the need for the Black Lives Matter movement. We start the movie by meeting Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) who landed a job with the Colorado Springs Police Department as the first African-American policeman in the city's department. Not long after working for them, he asks his sheriff to be promoted to an undercover detective in order to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and expose their cataclysmic plans and ideas towards those who do not fit their standards of a human being.  This was my favorite movie that we watched this semester, I haven't felt the emotion and anger in any other film I'd seen. Blackkklansman is extremely relevant to where the world is today, with the topics relating to race and the Black Lives Matter mo...

The fun thing about rules and structure is when they can be played with, toyed around, broken just because it can. A change of pace, setting, lighting, camera work, script anything that typically has a formula to it can at times benefit by being messed with. Experimenting with what's already there to mix things up, especially when a story can be further expanded by these changes helps to change pace of something that can be repetitive or known. I don't think Slacker as a movie would have worked if the director Richard linklater had the film set up differently. Slackers didn't have a main character or story line that it followed. Instead choosing to bounce from person to person in this Texas town, you'd get passed onto another individual as the previous one came into contact with them or was near them. I've never seen a pass the torch kind of narrative, but it worked for this case, the focus to me was more on in a way world building. We got to see little bits of thes...

Cormac Clune  It'd be easy to watch Slacker and think that the film is pointless. The film doesn’t have a main character, it comes off as aimless, and it doesn’t have a story.  I think that hidden behind its uneventful exterior is an example that showcases real filmmaking craft, accomplishing exactly what it sets out to do. Slacker is a movie that seeks to document a specific place at a specific time, this time being Austin Texas in the late ’80s and early ’90s. However, unlike a documentary, Slacker is entirely fiction. It's through great attention to detail with fantastic writing and performances that the film can transport the viewer. Despite the film's mundane exterior, scenes are written, rehearsed, and acted out with a kind of effortless precision. You get the sense that these scenes were blocked and rehearsed well. attention This style would later be further developed by Linklater’s subsequent movies. ‘Dazed and Confused’ and the ‘Before Trilogy’ are great examples o...

       Hello! I decided to keep this blog post relatively informal since I don’t have any missing assignments, but I couldn’t NOT talk about this movie. First of all, I thought it was a really cool perspective on 90s culture. It was cool to hear what people were talking about and what was “relevant” at the time. When I first started the movie, I thought Linklater’s character was going to be the main character and I really didn’t realize we were switching characters until the one guy was arrested. Hahah.. Oops. But, once I realized what this film was, I was immediately interested. I have never seen a film like this before. I really loved everything about it. The fashion, the conspiracy theories, the willingness to just talk to new people about anything: all of it was so fun to watch. Especially during COVID, I was thinking about how much I missed genuine human interaction that isn’t through the screen of my computer. Overall, this film was something super unique, and...

  Kasimer Clark ENG 280 Wisniewski Blackkklansmen As purely entertainment, Spike Lee’s 2018 film, Blackkklansmen delivers in heaps. The film itself balances a sharp comedic wit with a much deeper and important premise. With strong performances from its lead and supporting cast, the movie can be held in equal esteem on its entertainment and social commentary merits. The film follows the exploits of Ron Stallworth, the first African American detective on the Colorado Springs police force, as he infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan. With this premise, Spike Lee adapts a true story from the past to comment on the world of today. As we are shown explicitly at the end of the film, Lee shows that the racism touched upon within the film is just as alive and well today as it was then. But within the film’s narrative itself, Lee references the real world through dialogue. One of the most prominent uses of this is shown in the words spoken by David Duke, tying back to statements made by the preside...

  BlacKkKlansman is easily my favorite film that we’ve watched so far.  The way Spike Lee tied past with the present was done brilliantly, especially considering racism in America is still prominent today.  I loved the political references in the movie, and the nods to the Black Panther Party from the 1960s.  One of my favorite aspects of this film is how the narratives of Flip and Ron gave two contrasting perspectives on how racism affects both groups of people. The scene that stood out the most to me, was the cross cutting between the KKK initiation ceremony and the BSU meeting.  On one hand we see a group of people mourning, dressed in primarily dark clothing, and holding on to each other (emotionally & physically) like family.  While on the other hand, we see people celebrating, wearing all white robes, and bonding over a common belief.  The striking part is when the camera cut back-and-forth as Jerome Turner told the college students about the...

 It’s impossible to talk about BlacKkKlansman without talking about its social commentary. Asking BlacKkKlansman certain questions shows how deep Spike Lee threads his social commentary into the movie. Where did it come from?  BlacKkKlansman is a film directed by Spike Lee. It draws its inspiration from a real-life story of Ron Stallworth as he infiltrated the KKK in the early 1970s. I use the term inspiration when it is an understatement. Many of the things seen in the movie actually happen in the real-life investigation. Ron Stallworth did have phone calls and take a picture with David Duke, he did use his real name to infiltrate the KKK, and he really did start the investigation from a Klan ad in the paper. While there might not have been a bombing and a student union love interest, most of the events in the story are very true to life. The movie comes from a place of reality and struggle. BlacKkKlansman not only comes from a place of past reality and struggle but also a pl...

 Cormac Clune Watching the Ending of BlacKkKlansman I initially felt that the ending montage was unnecessary and an example of the film hitting the audience over the head with its message. However, as I thought about it more I feel that this sequence is effective in the film's context and helps to convey the movie's thoughts on racism in America. The film challenges the idea of approaching the civil-rights movement as solely a historical interest. For most of us, we learn about the concept of racism in American through History class. The idea that all of this stuff is in the past can falsely convey that the process of racism in America is over and that we’ve moved past these issues.  The movie approaches this idea by presenting us with a sort of false ending. Another film would be content with Stallworth telling Duke his true identity as the end of the film. But BlacKkKlansman keeps going and ends on a depressing note, as Stallworth and Patrice are confronted by the Klan. Then...

  Jacquelyn Heinen Matt Wisniewski ENGL 280-01 November 21, 2020 Blackkklansman: A Current Event Comparison The film Blackkklansman directed by Spike Lee is definitely my favorite film that we have watched so far this semester.  This film was about a African American detective , Ron Stallworth, that went undercover to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan.  Stallworth then gets a partner, Flip Zimmerman, and together they attempt to take down the KKK.  This film was set in the 1970s and any viewer could tell by the outfits choices made for the cast, as well as so many common things from the seventies.  This entire film was based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, by means of his memoir and successful infiltration.  It was made in 2018 and the premise of the movie is still so directly correlated with today’s world and society.  Movies that are timeless like this one, I always take to liking.  The film Remember the Titans is another film that...

Hunter Bardin Engl 280 Professor Wisniewski November 21, 2020     Blackkklansman  is a film made by Spike Lee that was released in 2018. It came out at a time where our second civil rights movement in America started to pick up more with events like the Charlottesville White Supremist Protests and onset of more police brutality. The movie helps to reflect the parallels of our society of the 70s to the present day.     The film stars John David Washington as Ron Stallworth who was a real person who actually managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs as a black man. We see as even though he is a police officer he is still tormented by and still faces prejudice from some of his fellow officers even when he becomes a detective at the station. The black student union in the film is also one of the other center points of the film lead by Patrice Dumas. Already we can start seeing parallels with today and how there are still many student groups that sti...

 Cameron Carmichael Professor Wisniewski ENGL 280 01 November 20, 2020 BlacKkKlansman: Just as Relevant as Ever     The film BlacKkKlansman , directed by Spike Lee, takes place in the 1970's following the story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first black man to be apart of the Colorado Springs Police Department, and his journey investigating the Ku Klux Klan in this town of Colorado Springs with the help of his White colleague Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver). Ron starts this investigation after being promoted to detective and attending a civil rights rally and making a call in the paper for the Ku Klux Klan. Mistakenly, he uses his real name after pretending to be a white man so he asks for help from Flip, to pretend to be the white Ron Stallworth. Over the course of the film, tensions rise as there are constant uses of racial slurs towards Black, Mexican, and people of Jewish decent while also having threats of attacks towards Black and Jewish people, and the...

  Kaitlyn Woodard Professor Matt Wisniewski English 280 November 20, 2020     Blackkklansman is a movie that explores serious themes regarding racism through a slightly more comedic and yet serious lens. Spike Lee makes obvious statements about our current political climate and violence regarding minorities throughout the years. With the way he arranges the movie we experience fear alongside our protagonists, experience moments of laughter, frustration, and disappointment with a side of anger.       We follow the journey of Detective Stallworth as he works towards becoming a police officer, in hopes of bettering the system for African American people. This film gives us these triumphant moments and almost fools you into believing everything will be okay however, he keeps us grounded in both subtle moments and in larger scenes. Stallworth suffered and worked his way up to and reassigned into the intelligence division and here is where he concocts h...

  Courtney Woodring Professor Wisniewski Blog Post-Blackkklansman November 20th, 2020 Blackkklansman directed by Spike Lee is by far my favorite film that we have watched so far in the semester. The movie's depiction of racism is straightforward and obvious. Making such a bold movie really made the issue at hand more passionate and intense. Racism is still at the core of America and I believe that this film addressed it in a fascinating, strong but comedic way. Having a heavy plot in terms of there is always something happening just goes to show what the fight against racism is like. I found it rather interesting that we never saw any down time in the film. The only time that we ever see a character actually go to bed is when Felix and his wife do. This might be a far stretch, but to me this symbolizes how the fight against racism never stops and that those civil rights activists never rest. In fact, when Felix and his wife are shown falling asleep, their last conversation befo...

  Chloe Kowalyk Professor Wisniewski Intro to Film 18/11/2020 Blackkklansman, directed by Spike Lee, is a fantastic film. I especially liked how Lee integrated aspects of real protests and fights for civil rights into the film. The clip of the protestors who were run over by a car at the end brought tears to my eyes. I also felt that the clip, in the beginning, was extremely effective. It depicted a crane shot from Gone With the Wind where Scarlett O’Hara is walking through a scene of dead Confederate soldiers. I had to watch this movie for one of my AP English classes in high school, so I jumped up when immediately recognized where it was from. Along with Gone With the Wind, Lee also includes scenes from Birth, which heavily romanticized the Ku Klux Klan. Both films embedded in Blackkklansman are racist and exemplify what Ron and Flip were investigating.  Another aspect of the film I really liked is that it was presented as a comedy. Something as touchy as the Holocaust, the ...

                    I was very interested when I found out we were going to watch Blackkklansman for this week. I distinctly remember the first advertisements that came out during the runup to the release of the film. My first impression of the film from the advertisements was that it was going to be a buddy cop film about fighting the bumbling KKK. This primarily stemmed from the upbeat music, fast editing and lack of any KKK members shown on screen. After sitting down to watch the film in its entirety, my approximation wasn’t entirely wrong.  The film starts very slow and builds its comedic angle by slowly sprinkling jokes here and there. I really enjoyed the purposefully dated OJ praising, it was positioned in a way that felt natural in conversation but also provided a good punchline by the end. It never reached buddy cop level since Ron and Flip took turns with their screen time, rarely ever sharing the screen but r...

BlackkKlansman , the film by Spike Lee, is set in the 1970’s when an undercover black cop infiltrates the KKK. However, despite this setting based on a real event, Lee has also managed to make the film feel like it has a foothold in the modern day. Rather than just telling a great true story in the 70s, Lee has made it so that BlackkKlansman takes place in two worlds at the same time. First off, the set design and costume design help the movie look and feel strongly in the 70’s category. Ron Stallworth and Patrice Dumas have big afros, as well as many of the other members of the Black Student Union. Ron’s desk at the police station features a rotary phone from which he calls the KKK from. According to the costume designer for the film Marci Rodgers, she did extensive research into the real life Kwame Ture by visiting his college and finding old pictures of him as a student. Thanks to Marci’s research, the characters look like and interact with a world in the 70s. However, at the s...

Malachi Jay Bruno Introduction to Film Growing up, I have always been a dedicated Tim Burton fan, and found a significant other that also praises his work. It was odd that we had both never heard of his version of Hansel and Gretel, even more so, the things that were shown in the film were unlike any form of art or film I'd seen before. Doing a little research on German Expressionism in film opened my eyes to a new world of cataclysm: art with no need for restrictions, and cryptic galore.  German Expressionism began with the banning of all foreign films in the early 1900s, and due to the aftermath of WWI, there were a lot of graphic, unsettling, and violent themes introduced into art. With nightmare-fuel scenes and strange interactions between unloyal characters, it was only natural that Hansel & Gretel could be categorized as such. This film follows the basic plot of the old folk-tale, but it takes strides to alienate the tale and make, what one would call, a "cryptic mas...

                 Many people, including myself, has either heard of or consumed the majority of Tim Burton’s work that has influenced its own vast subculture with his distinct gothic, quirky style and his wonderous world building we are used to. It garners a wide gamut of appreciation to regress back to the early days of an artist’s career to see how they started, what/who inspired them, and how the kind of future melded became a reality. I, personally, have never heard of nor seen Tim Burton’s take on Hansel &Gretel , which is very understandable since it has only ever aired on Disney twice. After watching the film (with the inclusion of Vincent), I can now see how the ideas of German Expressionism affect Burton’s style of filmmaking.             German Expressionism is considered to be one of the most important movements of filmmaking history. It stemmed from a zeitgeist in the mi...

  Tim Burtons: Hansel and Gretel is a story about two siblings escaping a witch tying to eat them. The Disney version put it into a short film. Although for the certain part of the ending, it was a little disturbing as it shows the house melting, then the kids go to see dad. Throughout the scene they talk and then they all jump into the air. I was a little confused on what happened towards the end as they jump in the air, but now understand as they were trapped. I would Recommend this film to everyone, rarely any time a film would be for all audiences.

Hansel and Gretel (1983) is one of the first creations of Tim Burton and also with his partner in crime Rick Heinrichs. Together they both created both this, the short Vincent, Edward Scissorshands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow among other collaborations. Burton at the time of making both shorts worked for Disney as an animator, coming out of CalArts animation with other future Disney animators and also the likes of Brad Bird coming from the same class. Many of these animators were working on The Fox and the Hound (1981) and was one of the last films being animated by the legendary animators known as the “Nine Old Men”. Disney history aside, the double feature of Vincent and Hansel & Gretel really encapsulates the essence of Tim Burton’s style. Vincent being a more macabre, angsty but charming stop motion short shot in black and white with heavy influence from German Expressionism with the wacky shadows and highly stylistic design character and sets that dominate B...

Hunter Bardin ENGL 280 Professor Wisniewski November 14, 2020     Fairy tales are often seen as something only for children to enjoy. With the history of Disney making films with bright colors and characters it is hard to not categorize as fairy tales as anything but childish. However, fairy tales can be made for an older audience in mind and still capture the same fantastical feeling. An example of this would be Pan's Labyrinth  by Guillermo del Toro. The film takes both the magical fanaticism of fairy tales and combines it with the gritty realism of the post Spanish Civil War era of Spain.       Set in 1944 Francoist, Spain Pan's Labyrinth  follows the journey of the young girl Ofelia as she tries to make her way back to the underworld while living in a military encampment in the woods. Ofelia's fantastical trials are intercut with the gritty realistic perils of war. You see things like guerrilla battles, capture, and torture. This helps to...

  The day before class on Wednesday the 11th I watched a video by Wisecrack discussing Disney’s effect on culture. Within that video, a topic heavily discussed was how Disney has altered the definition of a fairytale. In terms of the classic tales we have from authors like the brothers Grimm, they are very dark in comparison to the Disney adaptations. For example the adaptation of Pinnochio has a drastically different ending to it’s Disney counterpart. Within the original story Pinocchio is eventually hung to die after succumbing to many vices within his pursuit of becoming a real boy. This ending reflects the story’s moral lesson about morality and making choices to not give into vices and lie with the “OR ELSE!” motif. However Disney goes for making the ending a more sanitized version that the truth will set you free.  With taking these changes into account, we are then given a return to form to the fairytale genre with Pan’s Labyrinth. Compared to the cleaned up and ton...

  Kaitlyn Woodard Professor Matt Wisniewski English 280 September 18, 2020        Guillermo del toro throughout the film, Pan's labyrinth, plays with the idea of time. From the first instance of the reversed scene that kicks off the movie to the use of clocks within the story.        The first instance, the reversal of time on Ofelia's dying body, breaks up the fairytale format and incentivizes the viewer to pay closer attention. From the start we begin to raise questions and can develop our own understanding of the situation. With life being brought into her though to me it implies a sort of energy, that the story lies in what happens before this moment. That we will be focusing on the before instead of the ending of the film which can be viewed as tragic, bittersweet, and/or joyful.         Then there are the clocks in the film. Specifically though I would like to focus o...

Both Guillermo del Toro and Tim Burton bring viewers into a mystical fantasy world. In Pan's Labyrinth   del Toro brings viewers into a fantasy world that is barely different from our own, and truly hidden within our own. Whereas in Burtons Hansel and Gretel short the fantasy world is relatively removed from our own. This removal from our own world seems to be a Burton style. Burton is able to make viewers still feel as though they are enveloped in the film is something so difficult for most directors to do, but something Burton is able to do easily.  Burton's Hansel and Gretel is an amazing first look into what would become his iconic style. In the short the two children and their father feel out of place in a Burton film, as they are normal characters dropped into a Burton fantasy world, where the Stepmother and Witch belong. These two characters are very cartoonish compared to the kids and they live in very cartoon like homes, though the house of the witch is more...

  Jacquelyn Heinen  Matt Wisniewski ENGL 280-01 November 12, 2020 Pan’s Labyrinth: Time is Key Films specifically in stories like Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro have symbolism that are very important to the stories.  Symbolism is often a part of fairytales, but I have never been one to notice symbolism without someone else pointing it out or reeling studying the film.  I noticed that I picked up on the role of clocks in the film Pan’s Labyrinth due to the fact that I had been able to watch this film more than once.  The insight I had by viewing this film multiple times allowed me to realize that clocks were quintessential to Captain Vidal, and the portrayal of him within the film. Right in the beginning of the film Captain Vidal was looking at his watch as Ofelia was late.  This without showing anything but the pocket watch demonstrates that Captain Vidal is very precise and meticulous.  He shows irritation when they are late, and that is a ...