Easy Rider is a movie in which 3 men went on the road in an attempt to discover themselves and celebrate their freedom. While on the road, they encountered alot of problems. What is freedom? Do they ever truly find this freedom? Is anybody free nowadays and was anybody free in the 1960s? This movie somewhat embodies the way America reacts to challenges and change against conformity.

The beginnings of the movie were a little boring to me until my favorite little character came in Jack Nicholson as George Hanson. The name is horrible but I guess it fits the time. He’s a nerdy drunken lawyer and also the first to die. What I wonder is why he was the last person to join the free rebellious group and the first person to get killed off? I think Nicholson’s character kind of made me like him because he kinda symbolized an all American man who acheived Americans’ number one dream of being a football player, drinking his problems away, and being a wealthy man. He is exemplary of the all around American man because he displays this sort of pattern of hegemonic masculinity. Although he had all of those things going for him, he began to realize he wasn’t really sure what he was doing with his life so he fought to know more about the world hence the reason he joined the two bikers. That became somewhat Hanson’s own goal along with the others, to have their own rules and live by them whether against the law or not. He seemed to be the more calm and sane one and the most knowledgeable. But I guess we must revert to the “all good things come to an end” saying and just realize that he experienced peace, love, and happiness gone wrong.

After he was killed the only things that I can remember are the halluceinations of his buddy and their little females and them getting killed by being shot. This movie to me shows a carefree lifestyle which is what we all wish we could do nowadays. We wish we could go on with life without thinking or worrying about money or stressing over money. These 3 riders just ride along carelessly without a care in the world free from restrictions. Its hard nowadays to be free like that with the standards of living being so high and with so many people living to be so old that we have to support. I liked the background kinda played a part in explaining what was going on. I also enjoyed the songs because they were a little crazy. They kind of told the story. Even if there wasn;t any dialogue we’d know what was happening. The only problem I had with this movie is how slow it went. Other than that it was a good movie displaying these Americans’ goals to go on a hiatus from the worries of life.

As I watched the movie I picked up on some things and also wondered about some smaller things:

1. What was it on the street that they were looking at and jumping back from? Was it important or just a little comedic moment?

2. What was the significance of showing their halluceinations?

3. Why were their only 3 guys riding? Why didn’t any females join in? Behind every man is a woman and in every hippie type movie there was at least one woman with the group of guys why not in this one?

4. How did the concept of long hair for guys become associated with freedom?

In the beginning of the movie The Birds, there was nothing really going on. The lady was like a bird lady or something. She obviously liked birds because she seemed to hang out in the bird shop which is where she met Mitch. Alfred Hitchcock did a good job of foreshadowing the actions to come. One by one things began to happen. The first foreshadowed appearance was the bird swooping down on her while she was paddling her boat across the lake to Mitch and Lydia’s house. The second appereance of the bird was at Anne Hayworth’s house when it smacked into the door while Melanie was at her house. Funny how none of the birds came out attacking untile the blond haired Melanie Daniels came to the small town. Why weren’t they attacking before then before she came? Did she really bring the birds with her?

We pick up again with hardly nothing going on. Melanie spent the night at Anne Hayworth’s house and Melanie was invited to a party at Mitch’s house. During the party, the kids are attacked by the birds for no apparent reason. They were just playing and having fun and the birds attacked. It made me wonder why? What for? Was it because they were waving their hands too much or something? What could have caused it? Is Hitchcock trying to warn us to be aware because any creature or animal can turn on us at any time or to be more specific birds can? Then when they went in the house and things calmed down and the kids went home, Ms. Melanie Daniels stayed at their house and again the birds attacked. This time they all came through the chimney. How and why would they come down through the chimney? These were some smart birds for all of them to all decide to come through there (the producer made the birds look smarter than they usually are seen). For no reason the birds attacked some man down the road’s house and pecked his eyes out and broke all of his windows out. Why? Did he once kill birds? Did he have some birds in his house caged up? What was it?

I liked the movie Psycho, and the other movies I did not know too much about. When I read a little about them they didn’t seem as interesting as the movie I actually like watching and have watched several times called The Birds. I used to be afraid of it myself as a kid like Hitchcock was I am guessing. I watched it in the dark as a kid and it scared the living daylights out of me and had me afraid of birds for a while. If they swooped too close to the ground or if these were a flock of them near me I became afraid, but I guess some of us eventually get over those fears. Seeing it now does not scare me instead I laughed at the film and moreso enjoyed it more than anything and that was a few years years ago when I watched it. I figured it would be nice to see it again, and something interesting for others who have not seen it to watch as well.

Some people usually say first impressions are the lasting impressions. Whatever impression you give to a person the first time is what they will forever remember about you. My first impression seeing Alfred Hitchcock actually talk is that he was someone weird and a little scary. Why? He was weird to me because he talked soooo slow, but I guess it only seemed that way because he was so proper. He seemed to really like making disturbing criminalistic films, but he didn’t seem to be afraid of them and affected by the things in the films like he wanted his audience to be. His masterpieces for suspense are based on his inner fears especially as a child and staying connected to them somehow. He explained that his first scare was his childhood fears which he released in his work. Hitchcock tends to dramatize things. For example, he talked about how getting a ticket is suspenseful because it is like a punishment. He was afraid of punishment which is why he never got his license. To me that was something stupid to be afraid of but everybody has their own fears not everyone is afraid of the same thing or things. However, Hitchcock could obviously make anything look a bit scary in his films by as he says “using elements of complete order and throwing in elements of disorder.” That is what helped him to bring the audience closer to the films. He makes the films from the point-of-view of the individual actors and makes the situation look more realistic. His goal was to transfer the menace from the screen to the mind of the audience until the anxiety became unbearable and it reached climax to scare them. That is why he is probably considered the master of suspense even though most of films were not scary to me, but moreso just interesting to watch.

Ever since the beginning of time, people have tended to copy off of other movies that they had seen to make their own. There have always been duplicates of movies and films. I have seen duplicates of the movie Cinderella several times with a Caucasian Cinderella and the African American version of Cinderella. I have seen the animated cartoony versions as well as the realistic people versions of that movie. I have seen copies of Beauty and the Beast the realistic version with Fran Drescher from the series “The Nanny” as well. However I have never seen a copy of Snow White that has been worth pointing out nor worthy of being called the same name as that movie. They made the realistic version of it, but it had nothing on Walt Disney’s original. Although Snow White was one of a kind, the graphics were not that good and it was a bit scary. On the good side of things, Snow White seemed to lead the way for future movies to come. Although many after that had different stories and plots, they predominantly had the same concept overall and the same type of animation. I also think Walt Disney’s movie led as a foreshadow for movies to come because some of the characters and general ideas in Snow White obviously began to show up in later individual movies. For instance, the deer in the movie Bambi, a much later movie obviously, seemed to be the same deer that were in the earlier film Snow White. So I guess some of the characters from the movie he liked and decided to use them again except in their own movies. In the end I am left wondering what an alternate ending would have looked like if Snow White did not get the prince how would that have turned out. I also wondered why there was not a Snow White 2 made. There was a Bambi and Bambi 2. There was a Cinderella and Cinderella 2 as well so why not a Snow White 2? Did Walt Disney want to leave us with one happily ever after movie with happiness being the end and no more drama and problems? Did he want us to believe they lived on forever and ever together?

Anyone who has ever seen Walt Disney’s Snow White can never forget the dwarfs song Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to work we go. High is what they were. They were too happy too excited or too mad about nothing. All of the symptoms of getting high. Let’s say a person who normally smokes get a little sick has the coughs or is constantly SNEEZing instead of taking medicine they smoke. They are not at all BASHFUL about what they do. They get a little DOPEd up like Dopey. Then they get a little giggly and HAPPY then if someone ruins their high you get rather GRUMPY. Then later when they come down off of their high they get a bit SLEEPY and if they smoke too much they have to go to the DOCtor before they end up looking like Dopey. He reminds me of the commercial that says “This is your brain on drugs”.  That is my overall overcriticized and overexaggerated analysis of the dwarfs. Their “ho” or rather whore was Snow White obviously. There she was a woman to cater to all of their needs and wants and to take care of them. She whipped them into shape when she came in just like a woman does. There to take care of the household while they men went out to do work outside the home. Characteristics of the breadwinner-homemaker concept in sociology were applied here. Perfect for that era and time.

Before I went to Film History class, I never paid any attention to all the graphics and time taken to make the film Snow White. It probably took alot of artists and a lot of cound directors and just alot of everything. As a child I watched the movie in amazement at the story, the vivid and lively colors, and the dwarfs especially. I never thought about it as the first full-length animated movie. I never thought about how many drawings and redrawings and paintings Walt Disney might have had his crew to do. It probably took alot of work to find the perfect voice for each character as well, but how did they decide which voice would fit great with each character? How did they determine what noises to sychronize with the drawings? How did he decide what kind of personalities to bring out and give the dwarfs? I mean I never would have thought of making a dwarf named Doc. Many of the dwarfs seemed to take on emotions like Grumpy and Happy so why didn’t he continue with making all of the dwarfs emotions? Why choose Sleepy? Why chose Dopey and why did Dopey have two left feet and seem like he was deaf and act like he was on crack?

How did they determine what a talking mirror would sound like? Why does it have a masculine manly voice? Could our mirrors possibly be mean? Makes me a bit scared to walk by my mirror in fear that it might be secretly staring at me and judging me and my body with his wandering perverted eyes….or maybe I am just looking too far into it. So does that mirror’s voice fit because that is what we are used to hearing on Snow White or can another voice other than that work properly and still sound just as good? What was going on in Walt Disney’s mind when he wrote this? Why does Snow White only have a nose sometimes but at others she just has little black dots respresenting nostrils? Is this due to different artists drawing her or what? It made me wonder as I watched her move in different positions and turn and move her head and watch as her nose disappeared. I never realyl looked before, but now I guess as an Art major I cannot help but to pay attention to such small details. Maybe I am being too critical, but I still do love this movie and would watch it one hundred times.  I know now that it took a long time to create so many people and animals with so many different movements and positions. This movie probably took a lot of time and planning because in the end it all fitted perfectly into the storyline.

Nanook of the North was a very action-packed film. It kept my attention all the way throughout the whole movie. It pretty much gave an example of the life of an Eskimo and displays his daily activities. Usually when I watch movie or films about the life of a person I get bored because everyone’s life is NOT interesting obviously. It was a fight to drag a walrus harpooned out of the water which was extremely interesting and which obviously could not have been acted out. The sledding and pulling of such a heavy animal and seeing what they go through to protect themselves and the task and struggle to feed themselves and their families. They pulled tons of weight with a smile. I watched that in amazement. They hustle like any poor person on the street to provide and to keep themselves up. What really got me is the fact that Nanook and the others smiled as do their deadly daily tasks of hunting and gathering. I always wondered how the Eskimos made the igloos stay up and how they made them. That was the most interesting thing for me watching them build the igloo and watching Nanook make a lookout window. It shows how clever and smart the Eskimo people really are and how much they enjoy their lives even in the toughest events such as when he could not get the seal out of the water that he tried to harpoon and bring in. This film is a celebration of the Eskimo people.