MacLuhan

The picture I put together in  response to the "message is the media" is to point out one of the situations that has come about by the invention of the cell phone. If it is not obvious by what you see than let me explain. Before the cell phone I never heard the argument of why didn't you answer your phone. Because the phone is portable and easy to carry, we can be connected to the world at the push of a few buttons, the flip side is that some now think that because you have that cell phone you need to be available to the world when ever it rings. It is if we have a leash now because the door swings both ways.

Auteur

Robert Altman was an American film director and screen writer known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. The three Robert Altman films I watched were the Ginger Bread Man, Cookie's Fortune and Mash. Was Altman an Auteur? If only watching these three movies of his can I find an overall voice or creative thread that carries through all three of these films? I believe so.

Robert Altman has a unique directing style that is noticeable in all three of these films. His stories although probably provided for him for these more notable films, seem to have a similar theme.

The movies seem to be very character driven rather than the plot. There is a certain intertwining web with his characters that make us forget even the name of the movie. Sometimes it is hard to put together the plot of the movie because there are so many other ways the story could go because we get so involved with intimate stories of the characters.

Things that were in common with all three movies were the focus on the cast driving the movie. As a viewer it was hard to fit these movies into a common category were you might say I've seen something like this before. Not to say that they didn't have a genre,but when the ending came you did not expect the turn out.

Mash was not the same type of movie as the others but the similarity in the overlapping of the characters were similar. they stole the plot of the movie were you didn't even need an ending to the movie because you were experiencing a moment in time with them.

I feel Robert Altman's style of directing was probably unique for it's time because it actually let the characters of the movie be so enticing that if not careful you could lose yourself in them and forget about the overall theme driving the movie.

Lolita

This book was hard for me to read because the language at most times was difficult to decipher but also when I did understand what it was that I was reading I cringed because my morals kicked in and made my stomach churn.
Nabokov writes this book with the intentions of messing with the readers mind. While reading it at first I wanted to put it down and then reluctantly also wanted to find out what happened next which leaves my conflict for another story. I'll have to admit I had to re-read certain sections a few times just to get the gist of it.
Nabokov has written this book in such a way that his words may be disturbing but the way they are weaved together is definitely magical. Although confusing at times for a mild reader, such as myself,  I could not help but to feel sexually activated by the words I was reading and wanted to read more. Readers have often accused the novel of being pornographic because it addresses pedophilia but I don't think this was his intention.
What I could figure out at the beginning was a story about a man who was a respectable and good looking and fell in love at a young age and could never forget the feelings he felt about this young girl even as an adult. The way this young girl made him feel eventually controlled the rest of his life and how he was able to relate to young girls in his adult life. Humbert suffered from what we would call a insatiable desire for young girls but not just any young girls,  nymphets

The gentle and dreamy regions though which I crept were the patrimonies of poets—not crime's prowling ground. Had I reached my goal, my ecstasy would have been all softness, a case of internal combustion of which she would hardly have felt the heat, even if she were wide awake.

Humbert sees himself as a monster but barely can confine his desires. Although he struggles with this, he feels he is harmless because his desires could be met if he could just get close enough and not actually touch the girl.

The Hunger Games

Binary Opositions

upper and lower class
medicine( capital/hi tech- apothecary/mom)
opposing ideology-survival/luxury
Cato-Katniss
natural vs mutations
capital-districts
katniss personality/ carnal-caring
Gale/Petree
warm vs cold weather
careers - tributes
classes between districts


Privileged by the author
Katniss
districts
natural
districts
survival
lower class
tributes
warm

How does the text contradict itself?
The cast of supporters for the tributes have parenting loving qualities but still they send them
off to their death.

Illegal to hunt but all the officials and Peacekeepers don't want them to stop

Context:
              Battle Royale
              Total Recall
              Bone Shaker
              1984
              Harry Potter
              Fall Out/video game
              Metropolis
              Water World
              Lord of The Flies

Expectations:

               Didn't expect happy ending
               Rebellion against the games

Companion Movie: Mad Max
                               Battle Royale