The Godfather

I really enjoyed the Godfather first of all because it’s one of my favorite movies of all time, but I truly think that the first and maybe even the second time you watch it, it’s really hard to understand because there are so many different elements to the movie.

One of the biggest themes of the movies is the theme of loyalty. You can see this in almost all of the characters. Don Corleone feels as though this is one of the biggest attributes to the family; they are all loyal to the family. As the movie progresses you see some of the members of the family begin to go against the family thus tearing the family apart. The main character Michael tries his best to be loyal to his family, but at the beginning doesn’t want anything to do with the actual family business. Because of a lack in loyalty his father is shot and this makes Michael feel the nee to join the family because he needs to protect them and he knows that his brother Sonny is by no means the best man to take over the family business.

This situation can also be considered Michael’s coming of age. He finally grows into what his family wants him to be. He first is a good citizen of the USA, he fought in the war and was not involved in any illegal activity, but after he grows into his position he, by the definition of his family, has come of age.

The second biggest theme of the movie The Godfather is that of “Chasing the American Dream”. Don Corleone first comes to America after his family is killed (we learned this from the opening scenes of The Godfather: Part II) and is in pursuit of what we like to call The American Dream; the freedom to do what you want, practice the religion you want, run the business you want, do what you want. Constantly throughout the film there are characters explaining how much they love America and that all they did was come over here to be able to be a part of it.

Perhaps the biggest theme of the movie The Godfather is that of family. The whole movie the Corleone’s band together to stick together as a family, and family isn’t always your immediate family. The whole mob family of the Corleone’s tries to stick together to the best of their ability even when people begin to betray them. When tragedy happens, it also brings them closer together; it brings Michael into the family business, but sadly tragedy also brings more tragedy. When Sonny tries to defend his sister after she is brutally beaten by her husband, another mob family kills him.

Ultimately, I feel as though The Godfather was a good movie to wrap up the year. It intertwined all the themes we talked about this year into one movie as well as undoubtedly captured our attention.

Social Network

Originally I wasn't excited to watch The Social Network but after just beginning to watch it I found myself being really interested in the context of the movie. I also found that I could really closely relate to the book "Brave New World." A lot of the themes were the same for example the theme of identity was apparent all throughout the movie. The main character Mark Zuckerberg constantly struggled with his identity. He saw himself completely different than other people saw him. For example, he felt like he was a good guy majority of the time where as other people saw his as an asshole. He was someone that would screw them over as soon as possible; he even screwed his best friend over in the process. It was interesting to watch Marls friend groups as well as his personality change throughout the movie. At first he starts off with his close group of friends but after his girlfriend breaks up with him he freaks out and posts something really insulting about her in the internet. That same night they create an app that rates girls on who’s hotter by putting friends up next to each other and so on. After a few week he meets these brothers call the Winklevoss brothers who heard about his genius website and ask him to help create a dating app for the frats and sororities of Harvard. He then very shortly screws them over and begins working on his own app The Facebook. He begins working on the instead of the dating app and the Winklevoss’s get angry and try to sue him but can’t seem to find the evidence to convict him. While working on The Facebook the Napster finds out and offers to help which then makes Mark screw over his own friends just to get this company up and running. So by the end of the movie Mark has no friends and millions of dollars. In court he settles with his best friend as well as the Winklevoss twins but still goes on to become a multimillionaire. This brought us the question in class, “Would you screw your friends over for a million bucks”? The immediate response you usually hear is no but in reality if someone was in the position they most like would. Our world is driven by money and making money so in reality almost anyone would screw their friends over for a million dollars. Hell, some people would even screw over their parents and families for a million dollars. I couldn’t help but hear, “I can just pay them back”. Is that right? Should we be saying things like that? It makes me wonder how messed up our society really is.

Wall-E

When we first started Wall-E I never took into account all the deeper meanings behind it. If you really think about it, it’s would very well be one of the best put together films of the year. It’s animation, comedy, silent film, romance, and action all piled together in one film. It’s crazy to think that something that is just a children’s movie could very well have the most thought put into it than any other movie of this time.

Other than the techniques and style of the movie, I just all around love this movie because it’s one of those movies that just makes you happy and makes you smile while you’re watching it. I really enjoyed how it was almost like a coming of age film for both Wall-E and the human race. Wall-E is essentially the last robot on earth and he just goes about his job piling up trash and stack it. Then, one day something lands on the earth and it is this sleek and shiny new robot that is there on a mission. Her name is Eve. At the beginning Eve and Wall-E don’t get along well. In fact, when Eve first discovers that Wall-E is following her, she tries to kill him with her gun. Soon they become friends and Wall-E is forced out of his comfort zone, but shortly the two fall in love and Wall-E dedicates himself to helping her cause; find proof of life on the ground and help the human race.

In a way I feel like the humans are coming of age as well. You meet the humans towards the middle of the movie and they are stuck in a routine. They travel everywhere in their chairs, drink their meals from cups and in reality are brainwashed to do what ever the computers and systems of the ships tell them to do. When Wall-E accidentally knocks one of them out of their chairs they are almost instantly conscious of their surroundings again. The woman soon realizes all the wrong of the system she has been put into and soon enough majorities of the people begin to realize it. Soon enough, the captain realizes that they actually can go home and tries to over take the ship from its autopilot, but the ship has no problem putting up a fight. Once the humans land on Earth they have gone through a complete change. They were essentially mindless robots but now they are cognizant and are willing to take control of their lives and try to rebuild their society.

I love how the director put in different scenes of sentiment as well as comedy it gave us all a nice break during the serious parts and after all it is a children’s movie so it needed a little comedy. Overall, I really enjoyed the film as well as being able to see the deeper meaning behind it instead of just thinking it’s a children’s movie.