What is the American Dream?

9.55pm

Tuesday 12th of February

Middlemore House

King's College

What is the American Dream?

What is the American Dream? Is a question that was posed for prep tonight, so I did what most 21st century people do I googled it! Up popped American Dream, Pursuing the American Dream and then the 1950s Suburban Dream. 

Reading through the results I came to these conclusions regarding the American Dream.

The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, these ideals include, freedom, opportunity for prosperity and success achieved through hard work. Basically work hard do well and you will have the perfect happy life. The quote defining the American Dream popped up several times through my searching. James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The idea of this perfect life is set in the foundations of America dating back to the United States Declaration of Independence which states that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights". As time went on the idea of a perfect lifestyle captured immigrant’s hearts and the idea grew blossoming into a cultural motif- repeated over and over in different settings and shapes.

After World War II prosperity set into America as consumerism took hold creating the most prosperous economic times in American history. With victory from the war settling in and money weighing down their pockets Americans were continuing to strive continuously for the American Dream. The return of various veterans shortly after the war created a boom in housing development, America went on a complete building spree and with the baby boom on its way prosperity continued to unfold neatly complementing the four million babies being born each year.

The residential housing demand produced "cookie cutter" modern homes that were simple affordable duplicates made out of dry wall instead of plaster; they were cheap and able to be built fast. The GIs were interested in these deals, Three out of five families became homeowners and suburban living became a national phenomenon.” - Domestic Engineering (Oct. 1981)

American History is littered with idealist searching for the American Dream including Martin Luther King Jr in his letter from Birmingham Jail, his interpretation of the ideals were equality amongst Americans. "We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands...when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence."

In conclusion the American Dream took root in America from the time of the First Constitution of America it has grown and become interpreted in differing ways giving hope to the struggling and working class and continuing to pull Americans towards success.

 Kath Bowden :)

Timeline - Here is the link to my interactive timeline

Here is the link to my interactive timeline regarding the early 1940s to late 1960s:


Click here for my timeline !

Rebel Without a Cause - First viewing analysis

Rebel Without a Cause

Directed by Nicholas Ray in 1955

Year: 1955

Director: Nicholas Ray

·       Settings

o   Police station

o   Jim Starks house

o   Dawson High school

o   Grifith Observatory

o    Bluff- where the chickie run takes place

o   Judy’s house

·       Transportation:

o   Car

o   Bike

o   Walking

·       Dress:

o   1950s casual

·       Observations

o   Judy’s parents sleep in separate rooms.

o   Red jacket to symbolise how rebel jim has changed from the start of the movie to fit the trends no longer conforming to his parents.

o   Milk, - product placement american drink shows inocence.

o   Television is shown in the background – shows how television was important

o   Mother always wants to move to show how she continues her search for the American dream.

·       Props

o   Toy clanging monkey

o   Knife – “I thought only punks fight with knives”

o   Tray of food that father drops, showing how he is loosing his manhood, “I better clean it up before she sees it.” “Let her see.”

o   Mothers pinafore that father is wearing.

o   Read jacket to symbolise how rebel jim is rebel

o   Milk, - product placement american drink shows inocence.

o   Television is shown in the background – shows how television was importatn

o   Painting of a woman that Jim kicks in.

o    

·       Cinematography:

o   Thir person shots

o   180 degree shots

o    

·       Music:

o   Clanging of the monkey- non diagetic

o   Foot steps – diagetic

o   Taunting, aluding to something more nefarious is going to happen.

·       Characterisation:

o   the Protagionist- Jim Stark

o   The antagionist - Buz Gunderson

·       Males

o   John or Plato

o   Jim tark

o   Policemen

o   Frank- Jim Stark’s mother

o   Buz Gunderson

o   Judy’s father

·       Woman

o   Judy

o   Jim’s mother

o   Jim’s grandmother

o   Judy’s mother

o    

·       Conflict

o   Conflict between Jim and his parents “you’re tearing me apart”

o   Conflict between Jim’s mother and Jim’s Father – the mother is treating the father badly , "What do you do when you have to be a man?"

o   Conflict between  Jim and police officer when jim tries to hit him

o   Conflict between Plato and the police for killing the puppies

o   Conflict between Buz and Jim Stark

o   Conflict between Judy and her parents because they treat her to old, she wants to be young “girls don’t kiss there fathers? Since when ? since they got to be 16?”

·       Themes

o   Rebeling

·       American Cultural Landscape

o   Men/ masculinity

o   Must seem tough, they are represented by there leather jackets, jim changes from nice suits and a product of his parents then on to conformity wearing jackets.

o   Jim wants his father to stand up for himself , not wear the pinny.

o   Mum was above jimmy dad at the bottom, reversal of gender roles

·       Suburnian housing

o   Cookie cutter, very similar to eachother, wooden houses .

o   Class systems

o   Middle class but with with different levels, eg. Maid and old people living with them.

o   Men had a flick knife.

o    

·       Judy/ females

o   Dressed in a-line skirts with a tiny waist. Very sterotypical looks, small and petite, compared to black maid- who is unarticulate and out of place.

o   Men drove woman around to prove gender roles.

·       RED

o   Judy’s coat anad lipstick

o   Title

o   Jims jacket.

Helpful Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebel_Without_a_Cause

http://dramatica.com/analysis/rebel-without-a-cause

http://cinetext.philo.at/magazine/reviews/john_barker_-_rebel_without_a_cause.html

http://kingsmediancealevel3.blogspot.co.nz/

                       

What did I learn today? Sound Techniques and Filming

Friday 1st Feb
10ish p.m.
Middlemore House
King's College


Today in media we went over sound techniques and watched a movie clip from Jaws a scene where a shark eats a small child. We studied different sound techniques and talked about how pleonastic sound is used heightening increasingly creating fear and unease, its like the duh nuh duh nuh duh nuhhh DUH NUH DUH NUH DUH DAH! (terrible example I know) For prep we were asked to write out all the techniques but I did that yesterday.
Then we all got into groups and were given a video camera and three things that we had to we had Zoom in/ Zoom out, 180-degree rule, and undiagetic and diagetic sound. The people in my group were... I really must remember there names.. Hugh D'arcy, Sorya, and me! We tossed up for awhile what to do but basically we did a 45 second  clip outside it was a bit of a fail but quite fun!
We basically had a monologue with a 180 degree shot that cut over the shoulder on both sides, the sound was pretty bad and for non diagetic sound Hugh said "wow media is pretty awesome this year" and then again through voice over, the diagetic sound wind and the cicadas in the background. Then we zoom in slowly on Sorya's face as she winks sarcastically at the statement. We used iMovie to edit which was quite good experience as I am completely clueless so far. Everyone laughed and we watched some others which were quite similar.

Film Techniques that we used:

Zoom in/ Zoom out : I think that everyone knows what Zoom in and out is, but it is a basically slow close up on an object and a slow withdrawing image.

Undiagetic : Sounds such as voice overs that aren't natural and are added in during the editing process, such as voice over and a theme song.

Diagetic Sound : Sounds that have been naturally created and come with the environment and setting such as cicadas and chatter.

180-degree rule: so I understand this but it is a tad hard to explain so here is what wikipedia says and then i will try explain more..I hope..

In film making, the 180-degree rule^[1] is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. If the camera passes over the axis, it is called jumping the line orcrossing the line



Soo its quite late but i will try explain..
In this shot it is a two person mid shot where the camera remains in one place and the two people stand opposite each other with the camera only zooming in from opposite over the shoulder shots if you can imagen a restaurant scene with tow people sitting at a table they are only viewed from three angle and only from one 180 degree side so for this example below only on the green side. Comment if im wrong thats just how i get it at the moment. :)

Diagram to explain the 180-degree rule.

So this is what I learned today... goodnight!

KTB