Sample Essays

Example 1 The film Scarface, codirected in 1932 by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson, and later remade in 1983 by director Brian DePalma, follows the story of an immigrant gangster as he rises through the ranks to achieve money, power, success, and ultimately, his own demise. While both versions of the movie are similar, in that they follow the same basic plot outline, emphasizing the main characters ambition, greed, hubris, and violence, they are also very different, making use of cultural and contemporary issues of the era in which they were filmed to better drive home themes and take the viewer on a tour into the psyche of a man whose desire for power brings him to the top, but ultimately leads to his demise. In both the early 1930s and the early 1980s, the United States witnessed a strong influx of immigrants. Both films use this historical fact to portray the human desire to rise above the hand dealt them. As history has shown, immigrants are often left with lower paying jobs, forced to struggle with the threat of poverty, and cast aside as lower class citizens. (Not perfect but strongly written with a clear thesis) Example 2 It is tempting to think of the genre of romantic comedy as uncomplicated or unsophisticated. The formula is straightforward; two primary characters interact in various comedic and dramatic ways that create tension until at last they find resolution and live happily ever after. Underlying the slapstick pranks and playful romanticism of these comedies exist the values and mores of the culture from which the film came. The romantic comedy genre of filmmaking is a mirror by which the accepted social conventions of relationships in a given society can be observed. Example 3 They build a ten foot wall and give us a five foot ladder. This quote, delivered by an old acquaintance of Leroy Nicky Barnes in the biographical 2007 documentary Mr. Untouchable, sums up the general mentality in 1970's Harlem that the film highlights, much like the dramatic feature film of the same year, American Gangster. These films focus on the rationalizations these criminals had for being involved in their profession as opposed to the effects they had on the community. Each film focuses on a different prolific African American crime lord of the time, Untouchable on

Barnes and Gangster on Frank Lucas, and portrays each in a largely favorable light. Both films seek to portray these men not as the reason for the demise of Harlem in the 1970's, but as businessmen with incredible intelligence and leading glamorous lives to be envied. Denzel Washington's Frank Lucas is instantly likable in American Gangster, but more than that, the script and cinematography convey a glamour in what he does by highlighting his life of luxury over the lives he affects with his drug business. There are a multitude of scenes in-which Lucas is shown with beautiful women and enjoying all the material wealth so many dream of, including front row seats at a title boxing match and a birthday party at a beautiful penthouse. Example 4 Boyz N The Hood and Menace II Society films accurately depicts life in the hood and everyday obstacles that influence many African Americans behavior and outlook. They have a common theme - that black on black violence needs to be put to rest (no pun intended). Boyz N The Hood starts the film off with several facts stating One out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetimemost will die at the hands of another black man. It then begins the film with a STOP sign alluding that black on black crime needs to stop. Menace II Society suggests this through its ongoing crimes and payback. Boyz N The Hood also shows that this gangster mentality ruins the lives of the innocent and successful; as suggested by Rickys death. Example 5 For my essay I will compare and contrast the themes in It Happened One Night and Platinum Blonde, both films directed by Frank Capra. In both, a lowly newspaperman plays in the big leagues with a woman of high society after providing his paper with breaking news concerning the lady or her family. Both films demonstrate the artificiality and silliness of glamour and glitz and stress instead the importance of common sense and true, down-toearth love. It Happened One Night is definitely the more entertaining of the two films, and its spoiled child of privilege Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) has more spunk and personality even from the opening minutes of the film. I found Platinum Blondes heroine a flat character by comparison. Example 6

Charlie Chaplin remains, arguably the best known figure of the silent screen. Well, not Chaplin precisely, few would recognize him out of makeup, with his prematurely silver hair and purportedly blue-violet eyes. The character we all know is his Tramp, the character he would portray for a quarter of a century. We all imagine him, waddling past with his bamboo cane and bowler hat, the shoes of a clown and pants three sizes too large, coupled with a vest and coat stretched tightly across his small frame. We think of the Tramp as the classic Trickster character from myth, in the vein of Brer Rabbit, Puck or Hershele Ostropoler. However it occurs to me that most Tricksters never change, never evolve. If we look at Chaplins films, we see there is a definite change in behavior. The Tramp that wanders onto the screen for the first time in 1914's "Kid Auto Races in Venice" is not the same Tramp we see working as a street cleaner "City Lights," nor is he the same as the "Little Jewish Barber" of the "Great Dictator."