It's all in the ending

Often times in popular documentaries the end result of the story is slightly changed to better suit the positive image portrayed. I'm not sure if this is a documentary but the movie "Friday night Lights" is about a Texas high school football team that loses their best player to injury after they were favored to win the state championship. In the movie the school Odessa-Permian Panthers make it all the way to state but lose to Dallas Carter. In reality, the team doesn't even make the playoffs and after Booby Miles tears his MCL the season goes down the drain. The real question I'm getting at is does the director have the ability to at his own discretion change the events of the movie. I'm not saying that the entire outcome must be changed but often, to make it more exciting they will make the games closer than in reality. The real question is whether or not this is okay to draw in more audience? Do documentaries have to be strictly on the events of real life or can they be fudged a little?

Doubt and Misdemeanors

I chose to examine and compare the shot of Sister James in the garden from Doubt, and of Judah driving in his car from Crimes and Misdemeanors. Both shots are close and have the characters faces in the middle of the shot and both portray them deep in thought and represent the inner struggle and moral dilemma they both are facing.

            Sister James replays evidence in her head and tries to decide whether or not Father Flynn was abusing Donald. Her facial expression is a perfect example of how an actress does not have to speak for her thoughts to be known. She is looking into the sky with a puzzled look where you can tell that she doesn't want to believe that it is true but simply cannot choose. Over her shoulder is shown a statue of the Virgin Marie but its shadow is also shown as dark to represent the lack of clarity in the situation. James however, represents the positive side of moral ambiguity because she is always very kind and has strong morals, while Judah ignores the consequences to help keep his "happy" life afloat.

         The shot of Judah has background dialogue of him talking to himself, presumably his thoughts about his affair and the idea of her murder. What is so interesting is that the director (Woody Allen) doesn't need to include the dialogue and the same picture is portrayed by the imagery. I actually watched the scene with the sound off and Judah's character has the look of someone who is made sick to their stomach by the issue hanging over them. Judah must decide whether to tell his wife of his affair or to take the path of "having her taken care of." The sheer idea of someone dying as  result of him directly is a struggle of moral values vs. personal gain. His fear is that of he goes through with it he will feel guilty and that ends up being correct. After she is killed, Judah begins to feel extremely anxious and guilty to the point where it affects his well being. These portrayals of moral struggle are probably far larger than any we will have to experience but on a bigger scale, these teach us of the importance and sometimes ignorance of moral values for the better of oneself.

Womens Bias

I bias that is commonly seen is the increased want for male workers over female workers. Many feel that men are more equipped or just better workers than women are. Men tend to be more handy and stronger which make them better for Manuel labor. These are some reasons that people prefer men to women in the workplace. This bias can impact their behavior because it makes them discriminate against women and that is just not acceptable. I seriously do not understand this bias because many women are capable of all of the things that men are capable of.

Scariest monster ever

By far the scariest monsters are the ones that are rarely seen. When one is locked behind bars the imagination can take the character to a whole new level of frightening. Hannibal Lecter is in my opinion the scariest monster of all time. No one ever sees the atrocities that he commits so my imagination took it to a whole new level. He is a serial killer who is known to maim and dismember his victims. With this much violence in ones mind, no one truly knows what he is capable of and this makes him even more lethal. While a six headed monster that can breathe fire is pretty ridiculous and scary, many people are able to just shrug this one off because it simply cannot be real. A man who terrorizes people is more realistic and the realism of Hannibal makes him the scariest monster of all time.

Phyllis

Double indemnity

This shot is the first time we see Phyllis and it sets the tone for femme fatale for the rest of the movie. From the moment Neff sees here he is infatuated with her and after hearing that he is an insurance agent she concocts a plan to kill her husband. Walter was simply a victim of circumstance when the sexy and sneaky femme fatale lured him to commit murder. While he has the total image of a classic noir protagonist, if not for Dietrichson he would be nowhere near the trouble he ends up in. She is seen in this shot in just a towel which gives her the provocative advantage and even jokes with Neff about coverage. This is when she first begins to ensnare Neff into her plan. When the murder has already been committed and it is later she thinks about killing Walter. As the Femme fatale suggests she is the heart and soul of a dangerous woman who will use every trick in the book to get what she wants.

Harvey Taking Sides

This frame is a great depiction of the internal struggle of Harvey’s emotions. He has beaten up some kids who had been troubling him and now must apologize to them according to his mother. His indecision is brilliantly portrayed by the split up of sides in the frame, on one side he is understanding and on the other he is emotional. Even if there were no words here we would be able to tell just by looking that he is thinking something over. Also, one half is more darkly drawn than the other to symbolize the meaner and more dark side of Harvey. With half of face darkened out he is given a far more sinister look that easily persuades the reader to know this is the animated and rage filled Harvey. This questioning is of his mother’s own sincerity as she was trying to tell him what to do while she once upon a time supported a communist leader who was unpopular. Generally the sense is that Harvey is a good kid who must keep his emotions under control and in this frame it is just a well drawn example of the internal struggle of emotions that flood his body.