The modernist film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and the post-modernist film La La Land (2016) demythologize the romantic musical genre by separating the once infatuated romantic leads of each respective film in order to refute the genre’s idealistic myth that achieving one’s dreams always occurs perfectly with the lover they originally shared them … [Read more...] about Genre Evolution of the Romantic Musical
S.C. vs. ‘SC: an Investigation of the Relationship between the University of Southern California, and South-Central Los Angeles
The University of Southern California has been my dream school since I was a freshman in high school. At fourteen years old, a family friend asked me what my dream career was, and I told her that I wanted to be a film director. She then recommended that I go to USC, because it’s the best film school in the world. So, I worked tirelessly throughout high school to affirm … [Read more...] about S.C. vs. ‘SC: an Investigation of the Relationship between the University of Southern California, and South-Central Los Angeles
Prisoner Reentry & Employment: Re-evaluating Self-Efficacy
In the United States, a large number of prisoners face urgent employment barriers for reintegration upon their release. The United States imprisoned the greatest number of its citizens than any other country, and it houses approximately 25% of the world’s total incarcerated population (Welbeck 1). No other country at the current moment or in the recorded history has put these … [Read more...] about Prisoner Reentry & Employment: Re-evaluating Self-Efficacy
Films as Politics: Bigotry and Stigmatization in Thrillers
Throughout the adolescence of an art style, the various forms of creation evolve in a variety of ways. Some stay relatively the same throughout the decades and some change rapidly. Over time, the filmic thriller genre intensified, which is particularly noticeable through the films of Alfred Hitchcock. In Rebecca (1940) and Psycho (1960), both of the principal antagonists are … [Read more...] about Films as Politics: Bigotry and Stigmatization in Thrillers
America, Incorporated: A Navajo Tale of Energy and Power
The slow, red hum of morning dances through the mountains, the valleys, across the wide open plains of northern Arizona, through the spacious blue skies and sparse white clouds watching over this mesa. Few noises stifle its waves. The desert is frontier land, inhospitable, “the loneliest land that ever came out of God’s hands,” as observed by Mary Austin, a western settler, in … [Read more...] about America, Incorporated: A Navajo Tale of Energy and Power