Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting, in my opinion was a wonderfully written movie on the struggles and trials of a teenage boy. Will is a janitor at a prestigious college where he spends his free time solving challenging math problems on a chalk board in the hallway. One day to Professor Lambeau surprise the challenging math problem had been solved and the whole class was surprised and anxious to find out who the genius was that solved the equation. When nobody confessed to solving the equation in class, Professor Lambeau was on a mission to find out who this math genius was. Later in that next week, Will was caught by Profesor Lambeau and his encounter with Lambeau changed his life forever.

Professor Lambeau was amazed by Will's math abilities and he did everything he could to spend time with Will and seek about his guidance on how to solve the most challenging math equations. He went so far as to bailing Will out of jail so that he could spend more time with Will. Will new he was smart but at the certain stage in his life he could really careless. He was a boy that went through many hard times in life, growing up without a stable home contributed to the anger issues and the constant failure and trouble that he got himself into. As part of the agreement for keeping Will from being put in jail he was to meet with a guidance counselor named Sean who was Lambeau former college buddy. With the help of Sean the story takes an interesting twist on how Sean a counselor all his life helps Will seek out his problems and Will a teenage boy who nobody thinks has a future helps Sean cope with issues that he faces in his life. The two grow throughout the movie and help one another to get over there challenges and move on with there life's. According to an Article on the Internet it states, "Sean, who seems to be unofficially using the meetings to work through his own life's central travesty, his wife's early death from cancer." So throughout the movie the two men form this bond and this open line of communication. For Will I feel he views Sean as a stable father figure that he never really had growing up as a child.

After reading thourough the book The Art of Watching Film there was a lot of things that I found interesiting that realted to the movie Good Will Hunting. On paget 42 it talks about how a good story is credible and the reasons for why is is credible and one of them is because they tell the story the way things really are. In the film they did not try to cover up who Will was. He was a genious but he struggeled with life and got himself into a lot of trouble because he did not care about who he was, he had no one in his life that pushed him or helped him to succeed so he found no point in trying to better himself. I know a lot of people who droped out of High School because they had no real care but they were the smartes people you ever know. But they did not see a point because they had nobody to help guide them and praise them throughout there journey. So I feel that a lot of people can realate to this movie, because this kind of things happen in life. People go through struggles and hard times and once they get through them the world seems like a better place.

Another interesting piece on the significance of movie titles that I would like to quote from the book is on page 53 it states, "In many cases, the title has one meaning to a viewer before seeing the film and a completely different, richer, and deeper meaning afterward." I believe this statement is so true. Going into the movie I had no idea what the movie was going to be about I thoughy just from the title that it was a about somebody trying to find the will within themselves and they hunt for it. Little did I ever know that the main character in the movie name was Will Hunting. Now after watching the film the title represents to me how Will is trying to better his life and to become good again and to get rid of all his past baggage and start over new. Form a new begging with new hopes and dreams that bring good to him as a person and to his life. I find it so interesting and crazy how film makers put that much thought and time into just the title of the film.

Throughout the film there is also a lot of internal and external conflicts that come about. I not only read this in some Internet articles but also in the book on pages 58 and 59. Will faces internal conflicts with himself not being happy, not seeing a point for living and not feeling that he is good enough to get into a relationship with Skylar because he is afraid to share his past. It took him so long to open up With Sean, about the reason why he was hurting and Skylar he never wanted to take her to his house or meet his family because he was embarrasses of where he lived and he never really had a family. There was also external conflict with Sean and with Professor Lambeau that all helped to shape the theme of the movie. Trying to figure out who you are in this world and no matter what your past may be how happy or how sad it may be there is always a bright future ahead if you can just get over those trials and internal and external conflicts.

In conclusion, I just wanted to end with a quote from the movie that was a huge turning point and eye opener for Will and for me. Wills best friend told him one day something along these lines, "Everyday, I come here and knock on the door and for that 10 seconds I hope that you won't be there, because that means that you would be gone..." And he further goes on to explain how Will has this talent that he was blessed with and that he should go out into the world and use it because he has the opportunity to and he would be pissed at Will if he stayed there just because they were best friends. So his friend was trying to push Will and encourage him to move on with his life because he was smart enough to do so. In the end I loved the movie and I know that I will be watching it many more times.

On The Waterfront

The Movie On The Waterfront opens up right away with the death of Joey Doyle. Talk about a way to start off the movie, it was a nice way to grab my attention that is for sure. Joey Doyle lived in an apartment complex and raised pigeons on the roof of that complex. He worked under Johnny Friendly as a longshoreman, and the rest of the movie goes into depth of a struggle for human dignity. Though this was another black and white movie, I feel that the black and white contrast played a huge role in the themes and ideas of struggle brought throughout the film. It helped me I feel to grasp the tone and emotions of the characters throughout the movie.

Throughout the movie On The Waterfront, there was a lot of different themes, symbols and emotions that helped to shape and bring meaning to this specific era and the battles that people were facing to survive. According to the book The Art of Watching Film page 27 it talks about the movie On The Waterfront under the title struggle for human dignity. It states, " Terry Malloy achieves his dignity by leading the dock workers to rebel against a corrupt union, but Malloy's summary of his boxing career echoes clearly his personal struggle." I not only think that Terry is a perfect example of human dignity and struggle but I also feel that Johnny Friendly dealt with his far share of struggles to. For I was reading an Article on the Internet titled, On The Waterfront the best American film ever produced and it was giving a little background information on Johnny and how he was a man who struggled in his younger years because he was poor and he would do anything he could just to survive and now that he has control and is head of all these longshoreman and he wants to keep his dignity and power that way and not let anyone stand in the way of bringing him down.

Moving on to some symbols throughout the movie I feel there are two major ones that help to shape and bring together the emotions and ideas portrayed throughout the film. The first symbol being the pigeons. The pigeons I feel represented the longshoreman and their work crew. For the pigeons are kept up in a coop and have control under one master and one home to return to just like the men who work the docks. They are cooped up and tied around that one job not having much freedom to say and do what they feel. Terry I feel can also represent a pigeon because pigeon's are fragile and they care about there fellow pigeons, just like Terry is fragile and wants to take care of and stand up for his fellow longshoreman. The hooks that the longshoreman use is the second major symbol that displays how the longshoreman feel. The hooks throughout the movie are draped around the longshoreman's shoulders and that represents the baggage that literally hangs over them day in and day out as they try to work under a leader who is a power hungry man.

Some other interesting pieces of information that I picked up from reading EBSCOhost On The Waterfront article is the relationship between Edie Doyle and Terry Malloy. The article states, "world of men without women." " Their love story, intertwined with his decision to testify, is what makes Terry a man rather then a kid. When Edie follows him into a dangerous alley, a women calling caution after a man, she becomes one of the women of the waterfront community." This was interesting to me and I had to read it a couple of times to really understand an crasp what it was exactly trying to say. But I think what it means is that that with Edie showing care and compassion for Terry and his mission to change the waterfront community it brought Edie a women a part of the community because she supported and cared for her brother who died and she cares for the fellow people and longshoreman of the waterfront community. Also, this article talks again about the meaning behind the film making and a specific scenes that was a turning point throughout the film. It states, "A daylight photo of the alley though which Terry and Edie are chases at night by the menacing truck, for example, illustrates the role cinematographer Boris Kaufman played in creating the claustrophobic feel of many scenes." It showed that Terry's time was running out and that he needed to make the next move in his support to change the waterfront forever. With Edie being there it shows the support that she has for the longshoreman and how they deserve a better life. Aslo sense the movie is in black and white it portrayed the darkness and the feel of doom felt umong the longshoreman. In conclusion, Terry wins over in the end and beats down his stuggle's and gains his human dignity. Thus changing the way the waterfront will be for the rest of time. I feel that I took more away from this film after reading more articles and background information then I did when I first walked away after viewing the film, and I am glad that I did so cause in the end I enjoyed watching the film.

Casablanca

Before watching the film Casablanca and hearing a little history and background about the movie and where is takes place I was a little nervous to watch it thinking that it would be another one of those black and white movies that put you to sleep. Even though I still partially feel this way. The more time that I have to think about the movie the more I can relate it to real life situations and feelings today.

I feel that if I would have had a little background on the movie before watching it, I would have been able to follow along better from the beginning to figure out what the context of the movie was going to be about. In, The Art of Watching Films book page 15 talks about reading reviews before watching a movie. The book states, "Most reviews also mention the elements in the film that are significant and worthy of attention. They may help us place the film in context by relating it to similar films." I feel that if I would have had the opportunity to read a little about the film I would have been able to understand where the thoughts and feelings were coming from throughout the movie. Also stated on page 15 is, "The reviews may analyze the film, breaking it into its parts and examining the nature, proportions, functions, and interrelationship of these parts." There was a lot that was going on during the movie, you had a love triangle, people trying to escape to and from Casablanca and a war that was going on. If I would have known all of this before watching the movie I feel that I would have been able to focus my attention more on what was going on with each character and there important role in the movie rather then trying to follow along with no understanding what so ever.

Being a first time watcher of Casablanca I was able to pull out a few things about the movie right away. The fact that there was a love triangle going on between, Richard "Rick" Blaine, Illsa Lund, and Victor Laszlo that cost Rick Blaine the opportunity to escape Casablanca and flee the country. I also picked up on right away that a war was going on and that you need to watch your back and be careful of what you say and who you say it to. Then the last thing that I picked up on was a true friendship between Sam and Rick and how through all the hard times that Rick faced through his life losing someone that he loved or moving to Casablanca, Sam was always there right by his side, helping him and being there for him every step of the way.

Taking a look back at the book The Art of Watching Film it states on page 3, "Film, expands time and space, traveling back and forth freely within their wide borders." I feel that this line sums up the movie in a way, for the movie starts out in the future with Rick at his Cafe and his daily routine of running the place, with Sam his best friend playing the piano and then the movie flashes back to Paris where Rick and Illsa met and where they shared this big love connection with one another. Then the rest of the movie goes into detail and is wrapped around the fact that Illsa re-entered Rick's life and how those thoughts and feelings that they once shared in Paris came back into play. But, there was a catch because Illsa was married to Victor. Then the movie continues on and ends with Illsa and Victor leaving Casablanca and starting a new life in America. I feel that going back to the statement from the book, if the film did not travel back and forth in time then you would not be able to connect with the characters as much and fine the true meaning behind the love triangle and the situation that the world was in during that time period. All in all, I enjoyed watching the film Casablanca and I feel that if I were to watch the movie again that I would be able to pick up on more ideas and thoughts and feelings that I missed the first time.