Anastasia

Anastasia is the most badass, sassy, witty, and underrated princess, and it is mostly because she is not a Disney princess. In this film everyone has a different body type and that didn't take away from the story line or how attractive the characters were, and in fact I would argue they were more relatable and I enjoyed the story more. I think it is really important to have a princess and a potential role model that young girls can aspire to be. This woman was not weak or privileged even though she was a princess. She was still beautiful and kind and strong but with an awesome personality. She was never afraid to speak up for herself and she had all the sass. Other characters as well, did not follow the stereotypes that Disney films fall trap to. The main romantic interest was a scheming con artist and he was very smart. He had street smarts and a lot of book smarts but Anastasia surpassed him in a lot of activities that were stereotypically for males. Another character, Sophie, was presented as beautiful and charming even thought by society's standards she would have been considered overweight. Instead, she had more confidence than any other character in the movie.

The Robber Bridegroom

The story "The Robber Bridegroom" is one of the lesser known stories by The Brother's Grimm. It follows the story of a young girl who is at the age of marriage and who's father decides to give her away to the first "decent" bachelor who came along. Long story short, the bachelor convinces the girl to visit him at his house before they get married and it turns out he is in a group of cannibals who kidnap women and eat them in their basement. The main girl is trapped in the basement and watches this happen. On her wedding day she exposes him in front of everyone by presenting the pinky finger of the girl they ate the night before, that just so happened to land in her lap. A movie idea I have based off of that is about a woman who is a busy cop and does not have time for dating. Her mother is always trying to set her up with men, but she is always too busy to go. Then one night, after he mother is relentlessly bothering her about a family friend who's son is single, she finally agrees to meet him. The night of, she gets off of duty late and calls her mom because the guy isn't home and her mother tells her that it is alright  and that she can go on in. The rest follows the story line of the Grimm's version, basically.

The Weekend

The weekend is the Senior Film that I was on for film practicum. while this wasn't my first film set on campus, it is the one thatI was most excited to be on. It was mostly because of the story. Just reading the script brought me close to tear. The story follows a girl who suffers with depression and goes to her aunt's for the weekend after her father dies. She learns about how depression runs in their family and that her aunt suffers with it and that her mom commits suicide because of it. The final scene was on (I wasn't there for the last day of shooting because there was just a skeleton crew) was extremely emotional. The main girl had just attempted to commit suicide and she was talking with her aunt about how alone she felt. When I first heard the story idea I was skeptical on how he would get the message across and evoke the strong emotions that are associated with depression. But when I go to the end of the script, I cried just a bit as well as on set during the lst scene. I can only imagine how high the emotions would have been on the third day in the bathtub scenes when the girl imagines herself committing suicide.

Middletown

The play Middletown was very thought provoking and although I only saw it twice, each time I noticed something new. My favorite character was Craig. At first, he is seen as a simple character and comic relief, and in some ways he is. But I can only imagine how hard of a character he was to portray. While Jon, who was sober, has lost all hope, Craig is a drunkard, yet he still was searching for some light. First, he looks for it in alcohol, next in drugs, but it isn't until he dances that he surpasses these earthly things and for a moment he experiences try joy. The beautiful thing about this specific scene is that it's all his. The nurse that comes after it finishes has no idea what has just happened or the emotion behind it. The world keeps turning, never knowing what's just happened. But to Craig, something has just happened, and he was beautiful. He was able to transcend reality without alcohol or drugs and not feel like a disappointment, but like he, for a second, succeeded and was worthy, or even just worth something and he was proud of himself; he did something worth being proud of.

When Marnie Was There

Movies by studio Ghibli are great because they are for every age range. They actually take time to delve deeper and aren't afraid to create messages that other children's movies are too scared to tackle. They have a surface tale that a child can somewhat relate to,or at least sympathies with, but also a more mature message to send that older individuals can both empathize with, but also learn from. In this movie, the surface story is about a little orphaned girl who doesn't have a lot of friends and goes to live with relatives in the country and visits a magical house and finally makes a friend. If one were to dig deeper into this movie there's a lot about dealing with loss and death and depression, feeling invisible, or unloved or as if you were a burden. Later on in the movie we find out that Marnie was actually Ana's grandmother and that she was neglected and abused as a child, and she took this negative thing and tried to be a better parent, and although her daughter had never appreciated all Marnie had tried to do for her, she still put everything she had into Ana until she eventually passed . This movie teaches unconditional love, but also brings up issues of child abuse and grief and turns it into a beautiful story.

Chemo Limo Part 2

The next part of the song is the woman waking up and we find out that she is actually a mother. 

"When I woke up

My kids were being quiet

I knew it was a dream right away

I called the limousine company"

I've interpreted this to mean that when she "wakes up" she is actually dead and watching from the "other side." The limousine company is called to carry her casket away.

"Then I got dressed

I dressed the kids as well

The limousine pulled in

And we piled in"

The kids are getting dressed for the funeral of their mother.

"The doctor he asked which way we were headed

I said, Sir, let's just go west and he listened obediently,"

West oftentimes symbolizes death and on to the afterlife.

"Sophie only wants to listen to radio BBC

Michael sat on my knees and whispered to me

All about the meanies

Jacqueline was being such a big girl

with her cup of tea looking out of the window

And Barbara

She looks just like my mom"

The woman who died from cancer is seeing and imagining these interactions with her kids. I imagine Jacqueline to be the oldest and she is the one who has to accept the responsibility of taking care of all her younger siblings. The comment about Barbara looking like her mom, it is believed that the cancer was hereditary and the woman's mother had it and died from it and Barbara probably carries the gene as well.

"Chemo Limo" Regina Spektor: part one

In the song Chemo Limo, it tells the story of a woman who has cancer and is talking to her doctor about chemotherapy. It starts with the lines, 

"I had a dream
Crispy crispy Benjamin Franklin came over
Baby-sat all four of my kids"

And in these lines are referring to that fact that she does not know if she's going to live and she only hopes that her children will be well taken care of. The Benjamin Franklin she is referring to in these lines are of the hundred dollar bill variety.

"Then in my dream
I told the doctor off
He said if you don't want to do it
then you don't have to do it
He said the truth is
You'll be okay, anyway"

She continues with calling her story a dream because in reality when she talks to the doctor, as in most cases, the chemo is necessary and often the cancer isn't cured. And the part where she said,"I told the doctor off," was probably what she really wanted to do deep down, but never would have done in real life.

"Then in my dream
Crispy crispy Benjamin Franklin and the doctor
Went and had a talk with my boss
Something about insurance policies
They kept the door closed at all times
I couldn't hear or see

When they came out they said
You'll be okay, anyway
And I smiled cause I'd known it all the while."

This next part covers her having to deal with the medical bills of all her treatments and again with the theme of it all being one big dream, everything ends up being alright and there's nothing to worry about. Again the Benjamin Franklin symbolizes money.

"No thank you no thank you no thank you no thank you
I ain't about to pay for this shit
I can afford chemo like I couldn't afford a limo
and on any given day I'd rather ride a limousine"

In this part, the music changes and it's more staccato sounding and this helps shift this song to reality. She says that she can't afford a limo (as in the hearse that would carry her casket).

"No thank you no thank you no thank you no thank you
I ain't about to to die like this
I can afford chemo like I couldn't afford a limo
And besides this shit is making me tired...
You know I plan to retire some day,
And I'm gonna go out in style
go out in style"

In this clause she is saying that she can afford chemo more than she can afford to die, and that she'd rather go through he pain and live because she has dreams for herself.

Kubo

Let me just start by saying the art for this movie is absolutely beautiful. The stop motion was flawless and I love how delicate the hair was and the wind like effects they manged to recreate were so life-like. I love the skeleton dude and how it could have so much detailed movement and flow so smoothly and how they juggled all the different characters fighting and jumping around. the two evil sisters were really creepy, but I like how they made it so you could tell they were wearing  mask, but it kept you kinda guessing even though they were stop motion so it was literally faces they used. I was a bit confused on the significance of the monkey and the beetle as animals in the Asian culture. I wasn't quite sure why those particular animals were chosen to represent Kubo's parents. When I was watching this movie, it was almost difficult to focus on the actual story because the images were so mesmerizing. I did, however, notice theme between being human  and being "more than." It was calling out society and their praise of perfection, rather than embracing what makes us different and imperfect and human and seeing the beauty in that. This beauty in it's purest form is love. I loved how at the end Kubo's grandfather was given a chance to start over and become a new better person, and the forgiveness and grace he receives from the towns people despite his past.

Hello Everyone :)

Hey all! My name is Justine and I'm super excited for this class. I'm a film production major, but I like to dabble in other areas of interest as well. I love to write stories almost as much as I love reading them, which is what sparked my interest in film in the first place. I hope to become a great story teller and increase my depth in learning, so that I can apply that knowledge to the stories I create.

Aside from from film, I also enjoy art, writing, and music. While I'm not very good at two dimensional art such as painting or drawing, I do enjoy sculpture; particularly ceramics. I love throwing on the wheel and I'm the best at making giant plates, however I have done some of those really small pieces that are about the size of a quarter. I also enjoy a little bit of watercolor as well. Those were way more difficult than the plate because they kept falling apart. My music tastes spans all different genres from 50's jazz to k-pop to 90's alternative to really folky indie music and everything in between. As for writing I prefer historical fiction, fantasy, and some more grotesque work.

I'm a pretty upbeat, yet sarcastic person, but  don't too offended because it's all in good sport. I like hiking, biking, and a good rock wall when it comes to getting active and I'm most competitive when it comes to board games. I have two younger sisters 9 and 6, and an older brother age 26 who currently lives in Georgia.

That's just a little bit about myself. I hope to learn more about you all as well and that we have a great year together!