6 - Sound City and Searching For Sugar Man

6 - Sound City and Searching For Sugar Man [UPDATED]

Rachel, Vincent, Jordan & Jamieson

Introduction

The following movies are documentaries that focus on Music and Sound. The first film shows the rise and fall of famous recording studio Sound City. It describes the importance of music production and the meaning of being a musician. The next film, Searching For Sugar Man, is about the mysterious artist Rodriguez and the search for him. We see the impact and influence music has on many people and the life of an enigmatic artist.

Sound City

Sound City is a 2013 documentary film produced and directed by Dave Grohl, about the history of at taped based recording studio Sound City Studios located in Van Nuys, Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. Sound city is responsible for more than 100 certified gold and platinum albums. This little recording studio was most popular for its unique analog Neve recording console and had a good reputation for recording drums.The film tells the story of the studio from its early days in 1969 until its closing in 2011. During that time many artists from all over such as Nirvana, Kyuss, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty and Slipknot recorded groundbreaking music at Sound City studio. In 1991 Dave Grohl recorded the album Nevermind with the band Nirvana at Sound City Studios. Dave was so inspired he decided to create the documentary after he purchased several items from the studio, including the Neve 8028 analog mixing console, when the studio closed in 2011.

Out of the multitude of issues that were raised in this film, only a select few really stood out among the others. First off, the general principal of what real music is and who real musicians are these days compared to how it was back in the day. Also, how music was recorded just a few years ago was a complete different process that required a much more developed skillset and how the value of it all has gradually disappeared. All these aspects are presented in a variety of ways throughout the entire movie. We are shown the very beginnings of recording music, the tools and devices that were used at that point in time and the amazing evolution of it all. What really made this movie special and possible for us to connect on a personal level is the fact that we are seeing and somewhat experiencing many people’s journey to fame. Witnessing them come through the adversity and accomplishing their dreams and doing something they love. It is something we can all relate to because we all have dreams that we wish to make come true and be successful in what we love doing. Therefore, this adds a certain heartwarming touch to the film. The weekly topic was soundscapes; music, noise and silence. It is quite amazing how those three key aspects can make all the difference in a movie. For example, when each famous musician was being interviewed there was one of their songs playing in the background. It was placed there to try and help the viewer recognize who they were seeing on the screen. Also during the movie when some musicians were on the road driving to Sound City studios, there were some traffic sound effects to help the viewer’s imagination go just a little bit further. The main concepts that were discussed in our class were music and time. We discussed how music and film are the main art forms in which time plays a central role. Film and music are a time-based art. Neither is capable of functioning without it. These concepts are specifically applicable to this film because very frequently in the movie we find ourselves going back in time and seeing footage or images that were taken over 20 years ago. The music that goes along with the image is what really sets us in that time and space. Needless to say, music or sound is irrelevant without time. Sound must exist in time. There is no such thing as still sound like there are still images. I guess you could say time doesn’t only wait for no man, time waits for nothing at all.

The sound city movie is much more than a documentary about small time recording studio in Southern California, its the true story of how great music is made. How some of the greatest musicians of all time started at the bottom and made it to the top. What made sound city so special to these musicians? What lead them to create such wonderful music? There surrounding of the drum room, the relationship and acceptances of each other and their combination of talent lead to many platinum records. Sound city made music history, without it we would not have the great music we have today.

Searching For Sugar Man

This very well made film was basically like a journey through the discovery of who Rodriguez really was by the people of a country that were captivated by him. It is simply a celebration of the life of an underrated musician. The main thing we did retain from the film is how the music industry tries to trounce people who appear weak. Rodriguez was a wanderer, a grounded and humble human being who perhaps appeared as a loner. Sadly, those traits led him to not receiving any royalties from his album sales in South Africa as the labels knew he was worthless in America and knew nothing about his fame abroad. At the end of the film, it says he gave all the money he earned from the concerts in South Africa to friends and family. If you consider, that in most cases money is extremely important in order to be a good provider, it proves that the music industry is extremely unforgiving and that you must fight to get what you want unless you see life like Rodriguez, and enjoy living the simple life.

This film felt absolutely magical. It revolves around the life of a musician who never really got his shot to fame, or so we think? It starts off by showing us people who got to work with him in the music industry. They all have nothing but good to say about him and his work. The film then shifts to South Africa where we meet a man called Stephen Segerman. He reveals to us that Rodriguez is in fact a star in his home country and that in the 1990’s, he made it his personal mission to go look for Rodriguez, or at least find information about him, since nobody knew anything. What made it so special is in the character that is showed on screen. Rodriguez’s humble thinking towards his success and quiet mysterious attitude makes you think about the way you see life. It definitely made us come to the conclusion that it isn’t material things that make you happy, but how you feel in your heart. We felt like he really understood that life is much bigger that just one person’s ambition and goals and that it’s much better to live in the moment and enjoy the little things than to live in regret over not doing big things that are very hard to achieve.

Beautiful music is created in one place and it causes a storm in some place far away. The way this theory affected the people locally and in South Africa is a testament to the type of person Rodriguez is. The person that was seen in America appeared as a humble quiet loner of some sorts. Not much of a selling point for big record studios who were most likely interested in someone who was more extroverted and charismatic. In South Africa tough, all they had to go by is a simple picture and this amazing music so they had no prejudice towards the type of person he really was. In the end, the people of South Africa fell in love with him to the point where everything he did and said was beautiful to them. We think that the films message is that looks can be deceiving and can change everything. It’s also fascinating to see that the city of Detroit has a lot in common with South Africa. In one place, you had a very hard-working city that appeared to live through a lot of poverty and in the other; you had a great struggle to oust an evil racist government who imposed control its population. Both of these situations represent a state where people are living in fear and despair. We think that the reason South Africans love Rodriguez so much has to do with the lyrics they can identify with and the gritty soundscapes that represent the dark and somewhat miserable things they have to live trough.  

Analysis

Within these two movies, we get to experience how music is created, represented, and also influential to people's lives. In Sound City, we see the many musicians and the effort put into the music created in the studio. Everyone in the studio work their best to achieve a sound everybody is unanimously pleased with. They all love what they do and they make a bond with each other. In Searching For Sugar Man, Sixto Rodriguez's music resonates with the environment he grew up in. His songs were stories of misery and sorrow. Elsewhere, the album Cold Fact became a driving force in giving the South African citizens the idea of being anti-Apartheid. These two movies display how powerful music can be to just the right listeners and musicians. We learn, through their actions, that music can be influential to us as it is to them.

Dave Grohl in Sound City speaks of the the human element in music that was hindered by the evolution of music recording. Advancing technology makes it seem like instruments are downgraded to a computer that does everything for a producer. Dave Grohl, multi-instrumentalist, invokes that music should be played together with friends and fellow musicians. He shows this by showing jam sessions in his own studio. Although this approach of show over tell is somewhat cryptic, it is effective in making the viewer think over it. In Searching For Sugar Man, the film makers explore the life of Sixty Rodriguez and his lifestyle of always giving back. By interviewing the people close to him, they represent the musician as a man with everything to give. Unbeknownst to him, he was also a cultural icon to South African citizens. No one could deny the joy of the audience in Rodriguez's concert in South Africa, 1998.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYMZY9hO8d8#t=4167

(Rodriguez's concert being stopped momentarily because of the joyful shouting of the crowds.)

The film makers dare to challenge our understanding of music and musicians. Is music as simple as pressing buttons on a computer? How much work is put on a single album? Is music only about the sales? They elaborate to great detail on the ordeal and skill needed to play. They elaborate on the great storytelling abilities of the artists. Lastly, they display the possible impact a single artist can make. The film makers choose to teach on the endless possibilities of the world by using one of the oldest medium in civilization. They prove to us that there might be some things that we do not know yet in how we can influence the world to change. To us, music is a source of happiness and an escape. As Marilyn Manson once said, music is different from the media in its way of allowing the listener to hear what he wants to hear. We see music as the great escape from being told what to do. In drowning our ears with sound and blocking out the outside world, we begin to explore our mind's joys.

There's a saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Many things may pass by in an individual's life, but they will always have that one passion that drives someone to strive forward in their life. After all that's said and done, we will all thank whoever gave us that passion. In Sound City, Dave Grohl associates it to the Neve Board. For the South Africans, it was Sixty Rodriguez. Each individual will have different passions and each one will have a different impact. This is how we, the viewers, relate with the passion of the musicians and the fans as shown in the documentaries.

Conclusion

To conclude, we can see how music can bring people together in harmony and peace. It's not about the money or fame, but rather the way it affects people. It can come from different places and sounds, yet it can always relate to others for widely different reasons. To decide on what music is up to all of us individually.

5- Samsara and koyaanisqatsi

       by Julian, Madie and Raja          

        

Everyone has a different taste and a different perspective towards movies. Most movies are fiction movies, which deal with fantasy, magic, drama and emotion. The movies we will be talking about today are non-fiction, specifically documentary movies.There are many different types of documentary films, there are certain types of documentaries that are more common, such as nature documentaries and war documentaries. Then there are some obscure types of documentaries, movies that are more often than not on the artistic and unique side of the spectrum, the movies we will be discussing today, "Samsara" and "Koyaanisqatsi" very much fit into that category.

We may have seen many documentaries in our life but “Samsara” was almost definitely the most strange, yet original documentary we had ever seen.. “Samsara” is a Sanskrit word for “continuous flow“, or the repeating cycle of birth, life, and death. It was filmed in 25 countries on five continents over five years. It was shot in 70 mm format and the length of this movie was 136 minute. “Samsara” is the beautiful and sometimes disturbing documentary which offers a look at birth, death and re-birth by showing the morbid atmosphere of churches and cemeteries.

The movie relies on nothing but images and music to tell its story. The story is about the circle of life, anything which was born will die and be reborn. Samsara takes the opportunity to show us the life styles of people in countries we often would not see. The film showed us the worldwide suffering, poverty, greed, violence, lust, war, and financial success. In the middle of suffering and death, we can see that there are passages to rebirth or human transformation. We also saw the filmmaker used elaborate images to show the practices and rituals of Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and Jewish people. “Samsara” shows us the creation and destruction never stops. As the movie starts, we saw Tibetan monks making a circular sand mandala and it shows creation but at the end, we see its destruction. It represents the message of “live in the present moment and enjoy it completely. “

                                          

 It showed a huge difference between eastern and western sides of the world. In the west, the people worked like robots, a fast life with no pause and a good life standard, but on the other side, in east, the people worked where rich people dump their garbage. The film was special itself. It showed the most beautiful images of our world and most striking images that made us shocked. We also see some striking images in this movie, such as people searching in garbage dumps, people mining incredibly toxic sulfur, islands amidst turquoise water, prostitutes in Thailand and factory making sex dolls, etc... We see beautiful places like Dubai where rich people living a great life but on the other side in Africa; people did not have house or clothes to wear. We also see the meat factories and how they treat animals. It is all because what we eat and it raises the quantity of meat factories so they kill more animals for our food. Even though there were no words or subtitles to explain their story, the images explained everything very well. The music was a great support for the image to better understand. The soundtrack helped explain the situation and gave us an idea about the image and we felt that image. The filmmaker did not wanted to be omniscient about his movie so he chose music as his voice. Samsara is not just a movie; it is an experience to know the reality of our world and difference between our lives. It has some beautiful image and most striking images that you would ever see example: - On one side, the people were living a good and rich life but other the other hand, the people were working where others drop garbage which explain the different life style of people. Each image explains the realism. It explains the reality of our world which we do not know. It shows us everything we do, it affects others. It also tells us everything has an end. Once a church was a beautiful place but when it’s time came, It got ruined by flood and so too will the place we call home. Once everything was so perfect and beautiful but everything comes to an end and this is how the new life starts. 

In class we learned about the four dimensions of film editing, which are separate but very often intertwined. The first of them being Graphic Relations, shots linked by graphical similarity, in their shapes our colours, or even the movement of the shots. An example of this is the scene where slums are shown, with all the houses in complete disarray, there seeming to be no order, the scene shown after this is the jail cell. The colours are all very one tone, which is very different from all the colours of the slums shown before. The inmates are dancing, where there seems to be complete order and control.  Rhythmic Relations are when the film maker will edit the the length of shots so that certain images will go by very fast or very slowly, this can change the effect certain images have on an audience. Spatial Relations relate two separate images to eachother through points in the story or just through similarity or difference between the images shown. We compare these in our mind since they are shown in direct correlation with eachother. The last dimension is the Temporal Relation, which is when the film maker will edit the time lapse of images, making them slow down, speed up, go in reverse, or repeat themselves, this is often used in flashbacks. As an example of this, we have a scene where a man is being buried in a casket shaped as a gun, symbolizing death in a gun fight, and the next scenes we see respectively are a gun manufacturer producing hundreds of guns as if they were nothing, and the effect of guns on a man who survived a war. A lot of these sorts of images can be attributed to the Kuloshov effect, which states that one image can be shown before another image to produce a specific reaction, even when the second image is the same, if the first is something different the audience may interpret the second image as something else. The paradigmatic and syntagmatic axis' are two elements of film making that go together to give similar effect as the kuloshov effect. The paradgmatic axis' is described as "what possible meanings are attached the images" and the syntagmatic axis is respectively "relationship between co-presence creates significance" meaning putting the two scenes together creates a specific reaction or emotion. An example of this in samsara is the images of slaughterhouses preparing animals, which cuts to a scene where people are eating fast food inside of a restaurant.

Koyaanisqatsi is a very rare kind of film, most of the genre has been created my artists who work on shared projects. It is a documentary that offers no words or narrative of any kind, and lets the meanings and messages of the film be interpreted completely by the individual viewers. The film has no plot, rather opting for many panning shots of cities and landscapes across the United States. The film sets its tone with music combined with the images chosen for that music. It is the first movie in a trilogy, the trilogy consisting of Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi. Koyaanisqatsi is the best known of the three, considered a cult classic. The films imagery is vast and different, ranging from cityscapes to deserts. In my eyes, the main issues of the film were about how human life is effecting the world around us, mostly for the worst. We are no longer connected to nature and no longer value its importance to us. The name Koyaanisqatsi itself is Hopi Indian for "Life out of Balance". The very first images we see are of cave drawings, showing some of the first ever recorded human interactions with nature, and we see how long our actions can last. Rather than showing the contrast and differences between American Indian society and more modernized US society, the movie gives more of a feeling of humans versus no humans, with a possible bias on the side of no humans. The message is left to your interpretation and yet youd be hard pressed to see something other than what Godfrey Reggio wants you to see. The soundtrack, composed by Philip Glass, is beautiful and very well fitting with the images to make you feel a certain way, even if you are given the impression of a unique experience. Some of the more heavy imagery to me were the images of bombs and tanks, which are very different from the images of nature, symbolizing corruption and destruction opposed to peace and harmony. The amount of shots and detail that went into this film is probably what stands out the most for me, the sheer amount of footage and places shown in this film are staggering. The amount of awards this film has earned is not very surprising considering its very high praise. Koyaanisqatsi leaves me with my own thoughts in ways many documentaries fail to do, I feel movies like this are an important subject to be studied and discussed and if done correctly can be a way to get a very very powerful message across without forcing it too heavily on your audience, while I dont think there ever can be a film that is completely unbiased, this genre comes very close in my opinion. The film itself shows many examples of temporal and spatial relations, there are many examples of natural areas being portrayed, then images of cities and man made environments appears over the natural areas, giving a sense of time passing and humans taking over and even destroying the environment. An example of rhythmic relations is when the large passenger plane is being filmed, it stays on screen driving towards the camera for a while, showing the immensity of the plane and really giving the audience the idea of strength. There are several people shown up close, being filmed just standing there and looking into the camera, as a picture this would seem normal but when people are looking right into the camera and doing nothing while being filmed, we get a sense of deeper though going on, possibly anxiety or sadness even. An example of graphic relations and rhythmic relations together is when we are shown many cars going by at night, and then the sun rising. The cars going by is sped up considerably so that their headlights form a constant red light going through the streets, the image is then contrasted when it cuts to the sun raising quickly, but still much slower and much more powerful looking than the artificial light caused by the cars. This fits as well into the paradigmatic and syntagmatic axis', with the car lights being shown first and the sun being shown second. The car lights alone could make you think that what humans have done is amazing, many many large manmade vehicles moving fast in a rhythm, but when contrasted to the image of the sun, seems small and insignificant, the sun being much larger, much brighter, and ever-present.

Samsara and Koyaanisqatsi are both similar movies because they are both beautiful and are an overall look at life and the world in general. They also use no dialogue or a narrative but instead rely on music and images to tell the story and set the tone and mood.

While these movies are both similar in terms of style and story, Samsara and Koyaanisqatsi are both different. Samsara is different from Koyaanisqatsi because while Koyaanisqatsi was filmed in 22 places and most of the places were in the USA, Samsara was filmed in 25 different countries and 5 continents and it took 5 years to make while Koyaanisqatsi took 6 years to make.

Both Samsara and Koyaanisqatsi are also different in terms of storytelling. The name Samsara means “continuous flow” and the film is about birth, life, death and rebirth. On the other hand, Koyaanisqatsi is about “life out of balance” and relies on the music and environmental imagery.

Koyaanisqatsi shows the audience a journey around America showing landscapes and cities and Samsara does the same but on a bigger scale because it shows places around the world. Samsara shows how people live a good life in places like Dubai but also shows people that don't have food or clothing. We get to see different cultures from different places. We get to see things such as sex dolls being made and how food is made from animals and babies being baptized which goes with the themes of birth,life,death and rebirth. The filmmakers of both these movies were translated their ideas well to screen because of the cinematography and the places they showed and the pacing was good in Samsara but the pacing was too slow in Koyaanisqatsi. The filmmakers of Koyaanisqatsi didn’t really challenge our view of the world because not much was shown but the filmmakers of Samsara did challenge our view of the world because it introduced ideas and cultures.

Both Samsara and Koyaanisqatsi show life everyday on earth but the biggest difference between them is that Koyaanisqatsi is focused more on America while Samsara is about life everyday on earth around the globe.

Both movies are very beautiful in a cinematic way but Samsara is recommended more because it shows a lot more of the world then Koyaanisqatsi does and Samsara is more entertaining then Koyaanqatsi because while Koyaanisqatsi does have beautiful imagery, it can be really boring and dull in some scenes due to it sometimes focuses on one setting too long. For example, for the first twenty minutes of the movie,it focuses on mountains and the sky a little longer then it needs to be. Samsara on the other hand, jumps around from place to place and it shows more culture then Koyaanisqatsi.

Personally I was more invested in Samsara then Koyaanisqatsi because I wanted to see what Samsara would show next while watching the movie, but I was not that invested in Koyaanisqatsi.

What we can learn about ourselves through Samsara and Koyaanisqatsi is that we all see the world is beautiful, but we may not know much about it because we are not introduced to new cultures and new ideas very often. We can also learn that there is both good and bad in the world in many different forms, not always completely subjective. These films, particularly Samsara, make us think about how we see the world ,but also makes us think about what we don’t see about the world which relates to society in general because sometimes we think we know about the whole world when we really don't know as much as we probably should about the world outside of us.

Both Samsara and Koyaanisqatsi are really well made and beautiful non-fiction movies but we recommend Samsara more for showing more places and cultures. Samsara is one of the best non-fiction movies we have seen in a while because Samsara is a documentary showing us the world and different cultures in a unique way. Samsara is not only one of the most original documentaries we have seen but also one of the best movies to watch if we want to see open ourselves up to life beyond our bubble. Samsara is enjoyable for anyone with different tastes towards movies whether its fiction or non-fiction.

                                               

4 - The Celluloid Closet & The Reel Injun

by Brittany, Brittany and Gabriela 

The Celluloid Closet

The Celluloid Closet is a 1995, American documentary film directed and written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. The film is based on the 1981 book of the same name written by Vito Russo, he wanted the book to be entertaining and reflect on positive changes that have been made to the present. The film was made to show how the church did not want anything non conservative to be shown in Hollywood movies for many viewers to witness .This film represents the different stereo types people had in the 20th century. The film was exclusively on gays and lesbians and how they were looked upon through film.

 A law formed by the church was passed, so that nothing inappropriate and non conservative would be shown in any movie or television show. Gays and lesbians in the churches eyes was seen as non conservative and they would not be allowed to express emotion or even say that they were gay or lesbian on the screen. After the law was passed some film makers could find little holes in the new law and make the characters act and seem a certain way. The documentary interviews many men and women who were in the Hollywood industry to comment on many film clips and their own personal experiences with the treatment of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender characters in film. The film maker interviewed many characters and actors such as Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Harry Hamlin and many made good points about the film, saying just because you played a gay or lesbian character in a television show or in a movie did not mean that you were gay or lesbian in real life, because movies is all make believe.

The following link is a trailer from The Celluloid Closet explaining what the film is about.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL_vrb4-6_0

The popular films of the 20th century could only hint at homosexuality and often portrayed gays negative characters, or insidious villains. The film makers would often make fun of gay people making the gay man look very feminine on screen and making him act weak, often called then the sissy. After awhile more and more people started to accept gays and lesbians and that they should be shown on the screen, not to be forgotten and left in the background. Hollywood took out all the rules accept one, the rule about sex being on the screen. Finally Hollywood could show gay and lesbians and stereo types in their movies without being hesitant and gays not coming of out the closet, so to say. At the end of the documentary many viewers have a better idea on how gay and lesbians were treated in films in the past. We discussed in class that many people were through off on how gays and lesbians were treated and how the church really looked down on them, saying if you were gay then you should just die because you would not be accepted in society. The stereo types in the film are seen as a negative because no one should be judged on what sex they prefer.

This Link below asks normal people what they think about stereotypes and how they are started. They speak about normal stereotypes and if stereotypes are completely true or just a false accusation.

The Link below is a meeting between three men who speak about stereotypes and their opinions on stereotypes. They speak about how and if stereotypes are true or are they all false.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjcBaMUOIMU

Reel Injun

The movie Reel Injun which was directed by Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, gives the viewers a look of what we believe is factual about Native Americans. It explores one of our main points. One of the main issues that are presented in the film is stereotyping. The movie uses different terms and languages to show film making in Hollywood. An interesting view of the film was in the beginning, when Hollywood was just starting to come out with different movies to give us a visual of what Indians were like, Hollywood’s opinions and views of the Indians weren’t very nice. Generally, they wanted the viewers to get a very unpleasant perspective of them. Showing Indians being more like savages and cave – like people. These cave – like people aren’t even shown as human beings, which is what they are. They gave us the impression of the Indians not having any sense of integrity. It was only recently that the film makers decided to smarten up and make a film or documentary that really documents their lives, truthfully and seriously. Instead of making of lies and basically telling the whole world everything Indians are not. The film makers started to document how the Indians behaved; what their ways of survival were and how they acted in their different tribes, on a regular basis.

            In the movie, there are three types of Native Americans that are presented. The first are the savages. They are referred to as “savages” for a few reasons. The first would be because of their survival needs. Instead of focusing on agriculture, a lot of their focus was strictly on hunting. Because most people see what they want to see, in the people’s eyes this hunting act is linked to savage – like behavior. Another reason would be because of their clothes. The leather skirts and head pieces weren’t what the Europeans wore; to them it looked messy and unrestrained.

            The second type would be Hippie; these are the more spiritual Native Americans. They pay more attention to their rituals and preform a lot of ceremonies. They talk to mother Earth herself a lot and put their beliefs into the open air and speak about freeing your mind.

            The final type would be Groovy; these are the very sensitive happy ones.

            This relates to hegemony because it was the Europeans who were basically deciding what normal was. They didn’t think that the Native Americans were good enough or measure up to the same level that the Europeans were at. The Europeans are rich; they had everything that they wanted. The Europeans don’t have to do far as many things as the Natives do in order to survive. The Europeans were the ones who at the one at the top. They are the dominant ones and shaped the world based on what their view of a normal human being and normal behavior was.

An interesting point which makes the movie special is it was inspired by the childhood of the filmmaker himself. He is an Indian and as a child he loved to play with his friends. That’s when people who lived in the same area as him started to question his culture and how he lived his life. They would ask him very rude questions such as “Do you and your family live in teepees?” They would also ask if he and his family would go around riding horses like cowboys. Diamond was certainly confused as to why these people were making such weird comments about his life and culture. It was only because of these remarks that made him realize that it was TV and movies that were influencing people to think like that. Whatever they saw in the movies had to be true in their eyes. Maybe because the film makers told the audiences that were watching the movies that the information they were trying to portray was true or maybe because they themselves wanted to believe it was true. Just like on so many more items and subjects today, media has always been the leader. It has always taken over actual realism and has knocked it out to fill audience’s minds with information that is not true.

I have always been a fan of films that have been inspired or are based on true stories. This gives the listeners some guidance and direction as to whether the movie is going to be, a movie that is true or fiction because in comparison of earlier times and today, we have learned to not judge as much than we used to, but stereotyping is still very much a part of society today.

My link:

http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/06/common-native-american-stereotypes-debunked/

The following links is a link that represents only a part of the stereotypes that Native Americans experience and are exposed to. These stereotypes aren’t the typical stereotypes that we would generally see and hear about. For example, myself, I have never heard that Native Americans are alcoholics and lazy. Even though in Reel Injun, they don’t specifically use these stereotypes, they demonstrate the same issue. Native Americans are very frowned upon and these stereotypes are just adding to the ones that are already an issue. A general Native American stereotype would be, for example; The Washington Red Skins stereotype in the NFL. The Native Americans were upset about this term and said that it was derogatory because Native American’s skin color has more of a reddish tone to it.  They were upset with this because Washington NFL team just took a name and put it with the Washington football team name, without having any meaning. These stereotypes are still offensive and insulting to Native Americans.

Personal Reflect

The movie The Celluloid Closet and Reel Injun are both documentaries based on the side effects of stereotyping. The films involve media, culture (lifestyle) and gay and lesbian views in society. Both of the documentaries reflect and relate to the society we had in the past and also the society we have today. Both documentaries explain how much the media, especially in the theatre department have enormously influenced the public’s opinion. Directors had came out with the idea that if they based their story lines with gays and lesbian actors in their movies it would not get the public’s approval or fame if they had brought up the “unknown” sexuality. Directors would make modifications to scenes in their movie based on the media standards to make the public happy and create what they thought was a safe atmosphere rather than make the audience feel “uncomfortable” with a subject not spoken of, or in some cases, not heard of. Many actors were announced that if they played a gay or lesbian role, they would lose their job along with losing their reputation as an actor.

         

In the Celluloid Closet a writer that would create a script about a man confused about his sexuality was quickly changed into a man with “writer’s block.” Susan Sarandon explains to us in The Celluloid Closet, how directors thought of gays and lesbians as a “bad influence.”In The Celluloid Closet, all of the actors that were in the documentary were involved in a gay and lesbian movie or had a personal involvement; they explained to the audience how the anti gay and lesbian phase in society had affected them tremendously. This shows how strong society and media have a hold on the youth and public. Media creates a standard for what is “right” and what is “wrong.” We can learn a lot in both these films as they teach us how nothing in the media and society is completely true.

 In the documentary Reel Injun, you see all the stereo types of Indians (Native Americans) and how they are mislead and presented in numerous movies and films in media. Popular seen actors that had fame started to play big roles for Indians. This shows how society has ruled over the religious and culture of individual rights, by only showing the Americans point of view. The Celluloid Closet and Reel Injun explain to us everybody’s view by explaining how media has pro trade  and hid many truths to movies and TV shows to coincide with media, to create what to them was a normal standard society. The strategies used by the filmmakers in both movies explained to us how media and directors in movies and TV shows were hiding the evidence behind the scenes of how the movie was supposed to be and then how it was made. Therefore, none of what the director created or what the audience saw was completely the real truth, it was mostly lies. The power of the media influenced and shared their opinion and point of view so strongly so that the public would think the same way they did. Assumptions are made very easily in today’s society with all the stereotypes we have had up until today in 2014.        

 

The stereotypes my team and I have commonly made are the stereotypes of gays and lesbians. The stereotypes are mostly the way they act and especially their appearance. Gays act more feminine by paying more attention to what they wear and how they look like and their appearance including hair, makeup, purses, jewelry and many more.  Lesbians act more masculine by paying less attention to their appearance and how they dress by wearing baggy clothes, no makeup which is very often stereotyped today as a “Tomboy.”            

Stereotypes are reversed in sexuality, the female’s stereotypes influence gays and the stereotypes of males influence lesbians. A video called “What is being gay? (According to Society) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJyV85J1VhM explains how the media Fox, HBO, The CW, CBS, and ABC create their own opinion against lesbians and gays that cause the public to be influenced. We see the same thing happening even in today’s society. The short video goes back and forth from past to present showing us how the stereotypes are still very much the same as it was back then when it was brought upon. Gays were seen as very fashionable, too sensitive and dramatic; seem to only care about appearance. Lesbians were seen as not caring about appearance and all about sleeping around and steal their lover from their husbands. Many of the characters that were lesbian or gay ended on a bad note, they were either killed or committed suicide.

  

 Many viewers saw gays and lesbians as the enemy or for having a bad reputation and bad luck.  The video contains assumptions from the media that gays love the theatre and lesbians are vampires.  Most of all, the most main message from all the media is the constant reminder that they do not live “happily ever after” but the worst is brought upon in their life.  We can learn a lot from this video as it explains all the common stereotyping about gays and lesbians in movies and TV shows which are definitely not true or realistic.

Conclusion:

 Stereotypes are seen throughout the world today. Stereotypes are the judgmental opinion of the fame and fortune people in the media business that shove their opinion in our faces.  Since they are viewed mostly in the public’s eyes, people tend to believe everything they say to be true. Stereotyping is a huge issue in today’s society because more people are seeing it happen which influences the public to do it because they think stereotyping is okay. Stereotyping should be stopped because it’s causing people to judge others and think the same way as the media instead of their own opinion.