Overview
Part 1)
Black America in the Movies – Question Sheet
Movies; Heat of the night, Philadelphia,Blaxploitation
please answer the following questions in full sentences. Provide thorough/ thoughtful answers. You will have at
Having watched the AMC documentary on Blaxploitation movies of the early 70’s, do you feel that the films helped break down barriers for Black Americans or did the genre create harmful stereotypes?
Blaxploitation films were highly successful, making millions of dollars for the studios that produced them. While they were popular with all audiences, provide reasons why Black audiences made blaxploitation films so popular.
Research the civil rights movement of the 1960s. List significant events that took place from 1965-1968, the years in which In the Heat of the Night was produced, released and awarded best picture at the Oscars.
Does Virgil Tibbs have flaws? Discuss them in detail.
When and how do Gillespie and Tubbs begin to respect each other in In the Heat of the Night? This respect could build over the course of many scenes, and at different times for each character.
It is an entertaining film, for sure, but what lessons and messages do we learn from In the Heat of the Night?
Provide a one-paragraph review of In the Heat of the Night. Did you like it? Explain why or why not.
In the film Philadelphia, Joe Miller was played by Denzel Washington. Why do you think that role was given to a Black American actor? Would it have been as effective to have an actor/actress of a different race play the role? Explain.
Why do audiences like Joe Miller (Denzel Washington)? He has his biases and weaknesses, but we still gravitate towards him…why?
Philadelphia is an entertaining film, but what lessons and message do we learn from it?
Write a one-paragraph review of Philadelphia. Did you like it? Explain why or why not.
Part 2 of the assignment
After watching the following films, what did you see in these movies that make them bona fide westerns? Choose three points for each.
Sergio Leone’s Movie The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme) and then Discussion/ Explain
.
Clint Eastwood’s Movie Unforgiven Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme) Discussion/ Explain
.
Christopher Cain’s Young Guns Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme)
Discussion/ Explain
.
Fred Zinneman’s High Noon Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme)
Discussion/ Explain
.
After watching the following films,
what did you see in these movies that make them a GANGSTER film? Choose three points for each.
Michael Curtiz’s Angels with Dirty Faces Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme)
Discussion/ Explain
.
Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme)
Discussion/ Explain
.
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme)
Discussion/ Explain
.
Barry Levinson’s Bugsy Trope
(a universally identified image and or theme)
Discussion/ Explain
Part 3
blade runner question - Movie blade runner
Questions to Ponder 1. What is the significance of the various animals seen in this film? Specifically, the snake, owl and unicorn.
2. Fancher and Peoples allude to many biblical stories, events and imagery in their screenplay of Blade Runner. List as many of these as you can and indicate their importance in the film.
3. J.F. Sebastian, Tyrell and Deckard are all alone. Isolated. Did you notice this? How does each man deal with this, and how is Deckard able to overcome it?
4. How does Ridely Scott drive home that our future is a bleak one?
5. Discuss the soundtrack and sound effects in this film. Do any particular scenes stand out to you? If you need a reminder, many scenes are available to view on YouTube.
6. There is a lot of Asian influences and imagery in Blade Runner. Why might this be?
7. Look up the definition of film noir. How is Blade Runner Film Noir
Part 4
BATMAN MOVIES
Christopher Nolan’s
The Dark Knight What I liked: and then write What you didn’t like:
1966 Batman OR Tim Burton’s Batman What I liked: What you didn’t like:
Discuss the key changes from the 1966/1989 Batman to 2008 Batman: The Dark Knight and discuss possible reasons why such changes are made.
Part 5
young guns