Cinema & Popular Culture

Cinema & Popular Culture

Question 1

From the short movie “Plastic Bag”, images are used as art when the pictures and the sound are interwoven to create the movie clip. The mythical aspect created in the movie is when a plastic bag is given a personality, a voice, feelings, ambitions, hatred, love and so many other traits and behaviors associated with humans. The story is about a plastic bag that is detached from its owner/maker after a long period of attachment and development of a close relationship. Personally, I would not relate to the story since I do not share the same feeling of detachment as the paper bag does. I think the film creates a moral dilemma since it relates the plastic bag’s maker to God or a supreme being. His quest in life is to be reunited with his maker. He overcomes the worldliness brought his way by the vortex cult in his dire quest to find his maker. Music in the movie plays a role of accentuating the different moods and feelings during the different scenes. A romantic scene is accompanied by soft music while a happy scene is accompanied by exciting music. Happiness in the film is addressed by relating it to music and by creating random and fast movements of the paper bag (Janaro & Altshuler, 2009).

Question 2

The film discusses two friends David and Elgin, who lead a dance group. The dance crew participates in competitions at a warehouse owned by Mr. Rad. David and Elgin’s team dominates most of the dances throughout most of the beginning part of the film. This however ends after an all white team arrives from Orange County, challenges them and defeats them. In announcing their triumph, they state that, “You just mad… because tonight you suckas got served!” (Janaro & Altshuler, 2009). The movie creates a stereotype about dance and the black community. It depicts that black people are better in dancing than the white. The movie also depicts the stereotype that the white crew is the spoilt, rude and evil crew while the black crew is the good one. The black community is portrayed as living double lives since they wear expensive clothes while they claim to keep it real and most of them come from poor backgrounds. The movie also portrays a bit of bigotry and racism since the white crew is portrayed as outright evil. The movie deserves five stars for the dance action and the storyline. It can be seen on the following link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365957/

Question 3

The item I would like a person cut off from civilization to find would be a mobile phone. The person would behold on this strange item’s structure and the small buttons that go in and out once pressed. The person would then be amazed at the sounds the gadget makes. The colors and shape of the phone would also be amazement to the person. If the person happened to listen to the phone, they would hear a stranger talking inside it in a strange language. The phone, I suppose would signify a tool for giving prophecies and communicating with their god. This is due to the strange noises it makes and the person who speaks inside the gadget as god’s messenger. The weird language they speak would signify the language of the god’s which cannot be interpreted by man unless a spiritual leader interpreted it for them. The gadget would be explained as a message from the gods that shows that they still remember their people, have not deserted them, and assure them of constant communication through the gadget with funny buttons, sounds and colors. Eventually when the phone is out of charge, they would assume that the intended message had been delivered and when the gods want to speak to them again, they shall send another gadget.

References

Janaro, R. P. & Altshuler, T. C. (2009). The art of being human: humanities as a technique for living. New York, NY: Pearson Custom Publishing.