Essay #2

    In Persepolis the grandmother said, "Be true to your culture" to me this means that she (persepolis) needs to follow the traditions of her culture. Meaning don't branch out and be different. Do as you're told, and follow the path that was made for you. But Persepolis didn't follow what her grandmother told her at first. She got into the wrong crowd and started making poor decisions. Such as getting into drugs. So she didn't necessarily listen to her grandmother.
   Another protagonist would be Olive from "Little Miss Sunshine". She was true to herself more than anyone. She did what she really wanted which was a beauty pageant. Even though she didn't really fit in. She followed her heat and he desires even if someone else didn't believe in her or put her down. When her dad said she would get fat if she ate the ice cream, she still ate it because she wanted to and no one could stop her. Even though the rest of her family was there on her side supporting her, although that will ALWAYS help.
   But overall most of the protagonists throughout the films we watched stayed pretty true to themselves. Yes they had their ups and downs but overall no one could stop them from what they really wanted to do whatever that may be. This should be a lesson to all though, to follow your dream because no one can stop you but yourself. Don't give up because you can achieve whatever you put your mind to.

Essay #1: Create a Cultural Bridge

    The character i choose to relate to myself was Olive from "Little Miss Sunshine". I believe we have a lot in common. Yes, its probably because we have basically the same culture but i believe it goes deeper than that,  it goes to character. I believe we have a lot of the same morals and perspective on life and people. Olive is roughly eight or nine years old compared to me, being sixteen almost seventeen. This could mean either she acts older than she really is, or I'm just young at heart, OR a combination of the two which i personally think it is.
   First I'll start by comparing our families, which are so similar its scary. Our families consist of four immediate family members, a mother, father, brother, and then Olive and I. We are both middle class families who struggle to get by. In the movie the family cant afford to take a plane to the beauty pageant  so they drive. Our family is similar in that aspect. My dad has to fly a lot for work so he get those trips free, but he's going by himself. We can barely ever go on trips where we all fly. We might go once a year or less depending on what the situation is for why we are flying. We would drive but neither of our cars would work. My dad has an SUV that guzzles gas and my mother has a Volkswagen  beetle that can only fit four people without there stuff. But Olives family has a Volkswagen Van from the hippie age so it get better gas mileage but throughout the trip more and more things go wrong with it and it breaks down.
    The father is trying to start up his own business by coaching people on how to be better. My mother does basically the same, she is a leadership consultant/coach. But her business actually profits whereas Olive's fathers business doesn't. And then Olive's mother brings in most of the money just like my dad does.
    She (olive) has one sibling who is an older brother. He's a bit of a bully but that the job of a brother, but deep down and a lot of the time it shows that he really cares for and love Olive. For me i have one full related sibling and he's also my older brother and same goes for him, he loves me but picks on me big time. So we bother have two parents that fight (not necessarily in a bad way) and one older brother.
    In Olives family the grandpa is a huge drug addict. Drugs are a big part in this movie. Because eventually the grandfather dies of an overdose. The same thing happened this year to my family but instead of my grandfather it was my favorite cousin who overdosed, so this movie really hit home in that aspect.
    Then Olive has an uncle who is suicidal and has to depend on their family to help keep him safe for awhile. It was a little harder for me to relate to this part. But it just shows that family is always there for you. Which also goes for my family (most of the time). For example, my grandfather is basically blind and partially deaf, but he still has big violin gigs. So my family takes turns driving him so he can keep doing what he loves.

    Our character is the same. We bother love life and try to smile all the time. We both go for what we want no matter what the obstacles are. We do what w love. Where we're told we cant do something we prove that person wrong. Sometimes we look silly and embarrass ourselves but our families are always there to back us up.
   Olive and I have a lot in common from family to our own moral characters. We are from two totally different parts of the United States. But we're still so much alike. It goes to show, no matter where your from or where you live, as a kid and a teenager there are still so many people like yo and in some what of the same situation you are in.

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is one of my overall favorite movies, i have seen it before this time and i love it. Its a movie about an American family who are going through tough times but try to but that all aside to go on a road trip in an old fashion van so their 9 year old daughter can participate in a beauty pageant.

This movie does a great job of portraying American culture. Many of the issues in the movie are issues most American families have in one form or another.

The son being a teenager hates his family and is counting down the days before he can go get his flying license and leave them all behind. The mother is the one who brings in most of the income because the father is in some sort of mid-life crisis and is trying to create a presentation about 9 steps to some type of self goal so he can sell to make money but more so that he can feel like he did something big and accomplished something. But that whole plan falls through and he gets no money. Then theres the uncle who is suicidal and gay. And is forced to live with them for awhile until he is no harm to himself or others.

Theres also the heroine addicted grandpa who puts the 9 year old girls dance routine together, but when staying over in a hotel dies after snorting some heroine, so he doesnt get to see her dance. And you can obviously tell that the daughters favorite person is her grandpa.

 

Then theres the 9 year old girl who is over weight and doesnt fit in the beauty pageant at all. But only because shes a real girl. She doesnt barbie doll herself up. And in the end she makes an embarrassment of herself but the family sticks by her side and dances with her, that way its fun and theyre all being goofy.

The Kings Speech

The Kings Speech was a GREAT movie!! It was easy to understand the plot line because the movie was in English. I also enjoyed it because its a movie that has just recently come out of theaters. This movie is about how the King of England has a stutter, and what great lengths they go to, to fix it in time for him to make an important speech on how England was now at war with Germany.

This film showed us inside issues for this family of Royalty. The King can be related to the President of the United States. Because they are both in charge of making decisions on their counties behalf. The difference is we get to vote for our President whereas if you are King that means you are born into it, you have no real choice in the say, Royalty is in your blood.

This movie just goes to show that everyone has their challenges, and its who faces them and tries to overcome them who are the brave ones.

Another thing i noticed was that the King and Queen but mostly the King had to wear certian outfits places, such as a military uniform with all sorts of badges and things. But the President of the United States only has to wear a nice suit/tuxedo.

The Last Train Home

The Last Train Home is a Chinese film. About a mom and a dad going home to visit their mother and children for the Chinese New Year. Which is one of the biggest human migrations in the world. The reason they live away from their children is so the kids can go to school and get an education while the parents work full time.

This film follows this lower class family and brings to light the struggles they go through just to see their kids and keep them in school. But the daughter doesn't like that, she doesn't like her parents anymore and goes against their wishes and quits school and gets a job. Everything their parents didn't want, everything they were working for went down the drain. The Daughter becomes shunned by the family.

The working conditions are very poor. And the jobs they had were sewing clothing for Americans, and things of that nature. So they are very different jobs and working conditions then here, in America.

This movie showed how crazy and crowded it gets on Chinese New Year. They parents barely got tickets to go see their children for a few days. They had to wait for days to finally get tickets, and when they got on the train it was overly crowded and they could barely find a place to store their luggage

The Bet Collector

The Bet Collector was a film jam packed with Philippine culture. The neighborhood was built with little allies connecting everywhere, and all the houses were connected. The main woman that was focused on lived in a house, but the front of it was a store that the family owned and ran. But you cant make enough money off of that so she was also a person who takes peoples gambling bets and numbers. This was a neighborhood filled with poverty. But I thought it was really cool that everyone knew Amy (the main woman) most likely because they placed bets with her but still.

The clothing was also something i noticed to be part of culture. It was the type of clothing you get so you at least have something to wear. It wasn't fancy at all, t-shirts and jeans most of the time. And the shirts got dirty real fast because the roads were dirt, everything was made from dirt.

The Language was another big part of the culture. They spoke Spanish but they also could speak some English if i remember correctly.

The climate was hot and muggy, humid and rainy. Nothing like in Minnesota except maybe in the summers. And everyone was prepared for those climates.

Kitchen Stories

Kitchen Stories was a movie based in Norway. Its a odd concept to a movie plot, but overall the movie was really quite sweet. You just have to be patient, because it grows a little long. But its about these men from Sweden who come to Norway to observe Norwegian men and there habits and everything in their kitchen.  Folke Nilssons is a researcher who is assigned to study the habits of Isak Bjørvik, an older gentleman. But the thing is if you are and observer/researcher you are not allowed to talk to the other man because you will disrupt his habits and the study will be ruined. You could see the Swedish culture in Folke Nilssons food choice, which was a nasty looking fish and a few other things.

The landscaping was much like Minnesota, it had many pine trees and it was snowing. And if you weren't told differently you might think it was Minnesota.

Overall this was a very cute movie but there weren't very many comparisons you could make because there wasn't much dialog in the beginning.