Film Essay

Patrick Fair
Film Essay

Reading is a passive measure of learning. Information can be picked up and received from the text, however the impression it creates is not necessarily powerful. However to watch, the viewer is able to literally See what is happening. It forces the viewer to engage and interact with emotions, forming passionate ideas and thoughts about characters or ideals expressed. Therefore watching movies allow the viewer to empathize with the characters and history generating personal thoughts and opinions on the subject that reading alone can’t provide.

            When books attempt to capture ideas of characters, the expression of these ideas becomes ambiguous. Differentiating between who says or thinks something becomes a difficult task dropping interest levels. However, through the use of film, viewers are able to attach ideas to faces and imprint this knowledge in the mind. This is because watching is an active mode of learning. The viewer is forced to engage with the screen. There is some limitation on which movies are appropriate. When selecting a film, one must juxtapose power and accuracy. If the movie is bland, then the viewer looses the required engagement, but if the movie isn’t accurate or true, then there is no purpose to watch it. Glory perfectly encompasses this balance of power and accuracy. The viewer is introduced to an interesting character, Robert Shaw (played by Matthew Broderick) on his quest to lead the 54^th regiment of Massachusetts. This was a landmark event, because this was one of the first all black regimes in the Civil War. To add emotion to the film, the director chose to portray some events in a fictional manor. To paraphrase The Civil War Memory,  a large portion of men in Shaw’s regime were free men, not the runaway slaves that the movie depicts. I believe that Ed Zwick choose to make this decision to further the notion that Shaw was unable to empathize with these men in the beginning of the film. To portray these men as runaway slaves gives Shaw unfamiliar territory because the African American men he was friends with were rich free men. Other discrepancies with the film and the historical accounts were minor, like the direction the men attacked from. All of these examples are proof that movies aren’t just made for entertainment of the viewer, but for the education and realization of history in an honest scope.

            To paraphrase Ed Zwick (the director of Glory) The strength of the film is clear because it was able to withstand the most crucial force that acts upon movies, time. This alone is proof that when the time and effort is put in backed up by research, directors are able to capture the truth and display it in a meaningful manor teaching in an interactive and progressive way.

http://cwmemory.com/2009/10/23/the-54th-massachusetts-regiment-in-myth-memory-and-history-2/

http://www.historynet.com/basking-in-two-decades-of-glory.htm

Practicing Incorporating a Quotation

"The slaves are bewildered by the whip-wielding Scythians, lose their fighting spirit, and flee in terror. [...] A slave has the soul of a slave and lacks the manliness to fight for his freedom, especially if a master never deigns to treat him as a man." An Except from ash brook a website from Asheville college

The authenticity of the writer of this editorial is questioned by the absurdity of the argument and the exaggeration that the author when he uses words like "Scythians" to describe the ideal Southerns in the movie Glory.

I learned that to paraphrase I need to ignore the urge to write complicated, but instead to clearly portray an idea

This is what Mrs. Lawson wanted me to learn today:

• only use a quote when it adds power and style to my writing
• Always make it clear, from context, that i understand the full meaning of the quote.
• whether i quote or paraphrase, always be transparent about the source and how I'm using it.
• if i use another author's exact words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks and give credit.
• If I use another author's presentation of facts or ideas. but put their ideas on my own words, i better have a good reason for doing that, and i MUST give credit.
• Hyperlinking is so easy, there is no excuse for not being transparent about my sources

I get it, and I am ready to write.

Paraphrase Practice

""By inaccurately depicting the 54th as a regiment of former slaves, Glory reveals the deeper truth that blacks in general were not the natural slaves that Southerners believed them to be and that abolitionists feared that they might be. “Who asks now in doubt and derision, ’Will the Negro fight?’” observed one abolitionist after the assault of the 54th against Battery Wagner. "

This is an excerpt from an editorial on Asheville University

Co-Authored with Trey Honeycutt

Glory wrongly portrays the 54th regiment of Massachusetts as runaway slaves but this turns out to be a good thing. What it does, is it shows us that African Americans are not "natural" slaves, contrary to the beliefs of southerners of that time. A questioning of the battle readiness of the black soldiers was silenced after the attack on the Battery Wagner. 

Empathy and Sympathy

Whilst comparing empathy and sympathy I struggled to understand the two. I comprehended the literal definition however I felt as if I could not apply these subjects to my life. I struggled to remember times in which I was needing the comfort and support that empathy and the care that sympathy provides. I had never lost anyone close or encounterd a mental obstacle that was so monstrous that I needed support, but thinking about this made me question why it is that i could not find an severe memory. I knew my life wasn't perfect and not always happy, so i had a dilemma. Why can't I associate myself with these simple concepts, The problem was that i failed to realize that a major event does not have to occur to have a strong sense of empathy. Empathy apply to everyone and all situations. To truly understand empathy think of a situation where someone has a emotional feeling recognizable by those around him, that feeling of joy, love, sorrow, or pity that you share with that person, the emotional connection, that is empathy. To be sympathetic is to feel sorrow for him.  Theresa Brown simplified this life concept in her book I Thought It Was Just Me. To be empathetic is to "see" things in the way of others. To shove away your problems and think about their problems.