1950 vs 1970: singin in the rain

The 1950's movie Singin’ in the Rain starring Gene Kelly we see a laid back carefree performance of the song as a man in love happily skips through the streets as it is raining. The lyrics tell us just how happy he is for having developed feelings for this girl. This performance of Gene Kelly represents the innocence of 1950’s love. We believe the lyrics as Gene Kelly sings them because during that time period, love was taken seriously and people were more conservative when it came to loving another person. The 1950’s was big on romance, and respect. This was a time when women were more respected. In return, women tried their best to be the perfect “housewife”.

In the 1970’s A Clockwork Orange we see a different approach. The character Alex sings “Singin’ in the Rain” while raping/molesting a woman. Here we see how the song contradicts the character’s actions. Then again we need to reflect of the time period we’re referring to. We’re talking about the 70’s…aka the “sexual revolution”. This was a time were people lived more freely, and a lot of people wanted to rebel by using hard drugs. There was an overall change in people’s behaviors during the 70’s because of sex and drugs. As bizarre as the scene is in A Clockwork Orange, I think it perfectly explains the lifestyles people chose during that time period.

earthquake.

Since my parents have never seen Earthquake, I had to ask my grandparents what they thought of it. They told me that during the 1970's when Earthquake was filmed, there weren't a lot of movies that had the action and effects that this movie has (well at least out of the movies they watched). They said that this movie really did panic people and that the movie clearly showed how people's lives were destroyed because of this 7.1 scaled earthquake (people of all classes in society).  In this movie we get to see the use of special filming techniques where the director uses the human body as a scale of measurement. I thought it was interesting how in the clips we watched in class, we could clearly see what scenes were filmed using small scale models such as cars, bridges, etc.

Abel Gance & George Méliès

Abel Gance (1889-1981)


Abel Gance was known as one of the most important figures in the development of cinema art. As a child, he was growing up in France where anti-Semiticism and class prejudices existed. Therefore being part Jewish, proletarian, and illegitimate was working against him. By the age of 19 he became an actor, and by 21 he had created his how production company, and directed his first film La Digue. His success didn't stop here. As he created more films he introduced magical properties in some of his works by adding mirrors to create distorted effects. He also introduced a film editing style to France that was first developed in America.
Above all, Gance was mostly famous for his three major silent films. One of them being Napoleon
Gance's film Napoleon was is known for its incredible historical representation as well is its new innovated style of filming. This particular film advanced the technique of cinematic language far beyond any single production of the decade. Gance's goal in this film was to "make the spectator part of the action" he did this by using rapid montage and the hand-held camera extensively. This made the film appear to be more realistic as if it was actually happen right in front of the viewers eyes.


George Méliès (1861-1938)
Méliès was also known as a crucial pioneer to the expansion of early cinema. He was a magician as well as the owner of Theatre Robert-Houdin in France. After viewing Lumiere Cinematographe on December 28, 1895 he soon bought his own motion picture camera and began creating his own films. After buying custom made processing equipment, he began combining his two passions; magic and film. He then introduced the idea of "trick" films where he has people appear and disappear. He was extremely innovative with the use of special effects. His best known film was "A Trip to the Moon", it was one of the most epic trick films and everyone saw it as such a success, but financially it didn't do as well as Méliès thought it would. Along with the trick films, he also discovered a lot of other different components in the film industry such as : using multiple exposures, time lapse photography, and hand painted color in his films.

1920's: Jazz Era & The Stock Market Crash

When and where did Jazz originate?

In the 1870's an African-American jazz group called The Jubilee Singers toured in different areas performing for white audiences. This was the beginning of African-American music groups performing live for audiences in America, and Europe. Because The Jubilee Singers were so successful, there influence began to spread among the areas they would perform in.
In America during the 1900’s, jazz became more and more popular within the South. New Orleans was known for their "Ragtime" jazz. As jazz grew in the South, people began to see these jazz performers at nationwide icons. (Some examples of these iconic jazz performers were: Scott Joplin a.k.a "The King of Ragtime", Jelly Roll Morton

Blackface Performers:

In the 1840-1900's people would attend shows that were known as "Minstrel Shows"; these shows would nowadays be considered an extremely racial form of entertainment. These Minstrel shows had both black and white performers also known as "blackface" performers. In the shows the white men would paint their faces black and perform as if they were African American men. They did this by adopting a certain appearance as well as persona that was supposed to resemble that of an American man. Minstrel shows would absolutely not be accepted in today's society and I am sure it is a part of America's history that most are not proud of.

Stock Market Crash/Great Depression- late 1920's
In the late 1920's there was a huge economic tragedy; the stock market crash. Unfortunately the crash was caused by a wide variety of components. In the early 1920's people started having new "outlooks" on life. The party scene became more intense for both men AND women. Women focused on becoming more rebellious and it started becoming a time where everyone wanted to "modernize". This was a huge time for consumers; families started buying more appliances and began living life the easy way. Businesses were booming and people found that the stock market was a good way to get wealthy. Unfortunately in October of 1929 the stock market declined 90% which led America into the squalor of The Great Depression.

Madame Butterfly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E387c5RAhK4&feature=related

 
I actually enjoyed this representation of Madame Butterfly. I thought it was an interesting choice to portray the significance of this opera in a version that included dolls. This version was realisitic enough that you could still clearly understand what was happening. I liked how Madame Butterfly kept the music player with her while her husband was gone to give her comfort. The music closely narrated how Madame Butterfly was feeling throughout the story during the happy times and the sad times. We heard happy music when she was making love to her fiance and sad music when her love returned with another woman and ripped their son out of Madame Butterly's hands and took him away. We then see how she falls into depression and how her life soon starts to fall apart.

In class we have watched a series of other Operas two of my favorites were:



La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi:
This opera was about a female names Violetta who was a prostitue. She soon falls in love with Alfredo and at the same time he falls in love with her. She lets her love's father convince her that she needs to leave Alfredo alone and face the fact that she is a prostitue, and will never be able to stay with just one man.
 
Don Giovanni by Mozart:
In this opera we saw how Don Giovanni is sexually tempted by multiple women, and how he gets satisfaction from "conquering" these women. When he becomes tempted by Donna Ana, he kills her father (the mayor/the commandant) when he tries to stop Don from seeing his daughter Donna. The message we recieve in this opera is to never repent for things you have done in your life (even though the outcome may have consequences).