The first movie ever made was in 1888. It’s hard to imagine that between then and now nothing has changed. A lot of aspects go into producing a film starting with the story line and moving on to technology and music selections. Our comparison however is not from the first movie made to now, it is based on movies made in 1965 to now. The first movie I watched this semester was a Rossellini film made in 1954 called Journey to Italy and this movie truly made my cringe. I was so bored, and it’s not because it was in black and white it’s because the story being told was absolutely miserable and boring throughout the entire film. The most dramatic part of the movie was a parade separating the angry couple for less than a minute.

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Before this scene they had decided to get a divorce and now they are losing they’re minds when they get lost in a crowd for a moment. I am a romantic but this is no romance it’s an unhealthy cringe worthy relationship.

My first statement on movies than and now is that they have gotten a hell of a lot more interesting. A movie released in 1967 about a decade later completely changes the pace of the film industry. The movie is Bonnie and Clyde , directed by Arthur Penn and based on a true story. This movie was filmed in color and it makes it hard to believe such a crazy story actually happened. The action, the shots captured are were a huge advancement in the film industry.

 A historical review written by Pauline Kael in 1967 says “…holds our attention by throwing our disbelief back in our faces.”. People couldn’t believe the story being told nonetheless that it had actually happened before and Arthur Penn did an amazing job at recreating the scenes.

Moving on to a movie from 1980, a film by Stanley Kubrick- The Shining. In this movie themes have adapted from thriller to horror and giving gory scenes a whole new meaning. One of the biggest changes of the shining is the bold music being used to emphasize each scene.

In this famous scene the music alone gave me goose bumps. I could’ve watch this with my eyes closed and had still been falling out of my chair. From the first two movies to this one the purpose, vivid colors, theme, and music has all changed and that is only between 26 years. The use of technology had begun to get put to use, the quality of the film is still recognized today. In fact when the film was released The Shining did not please the fans, it wasn’t till a few years later when critics started to praise the work of Stanley Kubrick and that is simply because the film was undoubtedly ahead of it’s time.

Movies have radically changed over time reflecting the greater complexities of our globalized world and american society. Movies create a bold statement, if your looking for conservative try a children’s book. Movies then and now are an art form where writers and directors come together to show what they see or to bring a vivid dream to reality. Over time film genres and styles have changed from sweet romance to juicy horror – reflecting changes in society and technology. Many things can seem to influence a movie however I have noticed direct and indirect mentions of societal issues. Journey to Italy  a sad movie about failing relationships after the war. Bonnie and Clyde is a story taken place during economic decline, no one had money.  The Shinning was a movie based a rough time, war in Cambodia, and more importantly Apollo 13, the failed mission to the moon. The movie released in 1980 had been dark and scary like the hardships being faced in the day to day world. With this hard pill to swallow viewers did not want to accredit the movie, this would mean admitting things were in the gutter at the time.

If we jump forward a few years to a James Cameron Sci-Fi film, Avatar I know we would both agree while capturing an amazing cultural and artistic aspect there is no denying that the film also discusses social and political issues of the passed and modern times.

In both images there is something so different yet it still remains the same and this is the factor of war on the native and indigenous species.

Movies back in the day like Little Big Man and Avatar have the fact of basing movies off of passed or current political issues whilst managing to incorporate art in a way to make the film be seen and have the message be heard and understood. In Little Big Man the side chosen was based on what would keep him alive. However in Avatar once Jake realized what was happening he chose the right side regardless of survival rate. Jake did not believe it was right to destroy and take from the Na’vi, who cherished and protected their lands and their animals to save a planet that destroyed itself. This shows that we evolved to showing what was happening or had already happened to a futuristic view of what was the right thing to do. Not to mention the technology advances, from filming real people in everyday scenery to using advanced CGI technology to create sci-fi characters. Avatar even went through the trouble of creating is very own language. Isn’t that incredible?

Stepping back a few years we run into Pleasantville, a movie released in 1998 and directed by Gary Ross. This movie is mid evolution, a movie that had a technology breakthrough and I’m not talking about CGI but selective color placement rather. This movie was like The Shining in the sense that upon release it was misunderstood and received several negative reviews. It was not until later on that critics understood the deeper meaning to acceptance of change and most critics were rather enlightened.

Technology has changed in many ways from seeing a twenty foot Avatar to a selection in what color is displayed when and where the director chooses. The film industry has done nothing but grow, and yes they make billions but it is because they are passionate about what they are creating. Without the passion for art, history, social and political problems the film industry would not be what it is today.

Changes are made everyday from no phones to cell phones from big old gas guzzling cars to small compact hybrid and electric cars. The point is as a whole human beings are constantly creating new inventions or new ways to do things we have always done and this applies to the film industry. People pay for films because they relate or it causes them to feel a certain way about a topic they may have not even considered thinking about. Whilst discussing problems of the passed or ones they see arrissing in the future directors and writers seem to answer to some of the problems with a solution or create an acceptance among viewers.

The film industry is a very big source of entertainment, however it still manages to educate viewers weather they are young or old. We learn new things everyday and it’s amazing to thing we can do that while enjoying a film. In this film class I have learned the difference between education and entertainment, I have also learned there can be one in the same.

Blue Velvet is one of the films that helped me realize this. Based on the time frame the genre makes sense, with all the drug dealing and death from drugs a movie about gangsters and death made perfect sense. As a kid when I thought about Blue Velvet I oddly thought of inspiration and after rewatching the film I can’t even begin to think about why I would have that in my head. I have learned many things about films and one of those things is how to interpret a film and see the underlying message, nine out of ten times there is some kind of message waiting for you to see or interpret.

Avatar and Solaris are Sci-Fi movies that still managed to get a modern day message across. Solaris made a very clear point that things aren’t always what they seem regardless of what you may want.

The film industry has been and incredible industry that does everything but stay the same. The ideas of film, uses of technology and music change like a storm. The film industry continues to entertain and even educate viewers on problems of the past present and future. I mean look at the movie Wall-E for instance this movie was not and assignment but it is a great example of how film is used to tell a story, stories about things that haven’t happened yet, although a total possibility that is looking to be avoided by getting the word out to the many viewers all of the world in hopes to prevent future tragic mistakes from occurring.

Movies have done nothing but evolve from topic to technology and I am so excited to see where it goes from here.