11.28.12

Today, Professor Diaz came in to talk about cinema. One pretty interesting thing Professor Diaz mentioned was that movies are just a bunch of pictures that are played at a fast speed, sort of like a flipbook. It is pretty amazing thinking about movies in that way. I really enjoyed her lecture because she taught us how to analyze all films. Even though I wasn’t too fond of Manhattan, I can respect why other people enjoy it through the mise-en-scéne.

During the analysis of Manhattan, I noticed so many things that I wasn’t paying attention to and missed when I watched it for the first time in class. I thought it was clever that the background was used to show how Isaac was separated from the other characters. Something so small as a picture frame shows Isaac’s separation from the other characters during the dinner scene in the beginning. The empty spaces in the scenes reflect the questions the characters don’t want to address such as “What is the meaning of life?” and “Is there a God?” These observations made me think of the movie in a deeper, more intellectual way that I didn’t before.

Today’s lecture has taught me that I can use everything in a movie to back up my opinion about it. Everything in the movie is put there, for a reason, just like the details in a novel so, anything can be used to support or refute an argument. I think this is why you begin to notice more and more about a movie each time you watch it. I know after today’s class I will be looking at every little detail in a movie to use as backup for my opinion.

-Amber G