Assignment 3

I'm the kind of person who has a hard time picking favorites. When it comes to movie, I generally tell people that my favorite is The Shawshank Redemption, however I feel as though a lot of people are likely to pick that for this assignment. Another movie that I rank as one of my favorites is Kill Bill: Vol. 1. I'm a big fan of Quentin Tarentino's work because he maintains styles and influences for each film he directs while making each a unique and entertaining experience.

The story begins with a group of assassins walking into a wedding chapel and killing everyone within, or so they think. The pregnant bride survives, although she is in a coma that will last her the next four years. When she wakes up, the baby is gone, and she immediately begins planning her revenge. She knows who her would be murderers were because at one point she was one of them, a skilled member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. The Bride, played by Uma Thurman, makes a list of all five members that serves as the order in which she plans to kill them. As with many of Tarentino's films, Kill Bill has a non-linear plot, so the opening scene shows The Bride taking down the second name on her list. Then it moves to the wedding massacre and her awakening before flying out to Japan to acquire the world's finest katana. The movie ends with The Bride storming a yakuza stronghold and assassinating the first name on her list. By the conclusion, very little is known of the titular character, Bill, other than that he is the head of the DVAS and that he is the father of The Bride's baby. The end is a total cliffhanger, which ensures that people will see Vol. 2.

Kill Bill was produced on a budget of $30 million, which is cheap by today's standards. Domestic box office sales more than doubled production costs at around $70 million, and worldwide it sold over $180 million in ticket sales. The fact that Tarentino is so successful with such a small budget is testament to his movie making skill. One thing that I particularly enjoy about this movie is the soundtrack. All of the music is chosen perfectly for each scene, and really seems like it was written to accompany it. I really appreciate Tarentino's love of Ennio Morricone's work because he fills his movies to the brim with music from old Westerns. I'm also a fan of the fusion of Spaghetti Western and Samurai movie action. It makes for fight scenes riddled with electricity and emotion. I also admire the director's dark sense of humor, as well as the fact that he makes a point to cameo in all of his movies. Tarentino can be seen dancing at the front of the crowd in the House of Blue Leaves extended shot. The sum of this brilliant directing creates one of my favorite movies of all time.

Asignment 2 - Alternate

Bandura's experiment with Bobo doll proves that children are prone to modeling behavior witnessed by adults, including those on television. I think one of the earliest behaviors I learned from television was to read books, though I did not learn it from an adult, or even a human being. The eponymous Jack Russell Terrier from "Wishbone" taught me all about book and the great stories and lessons I could learn if I read them. Most of the shows I watched in my youth were cartoons, and lots of them were adventure based. The most demonstrable behaviors I think I would have gained from watching those only appeared at recess in whatever imaginary game my friends and I were dreaming up. I remember lots of sword fights and shootouts. I believe I was affected more in my way of thinking than in my way of acting by all the cartoons I watched. All the adventures I watched and read about have given me a flare for dramatic moments. I identified with more intellectual characters, which prompted me to increase my vocabulary and to use bigger words. I had to tone it down a bit when my friends started telling me they couldn't understand what I was saying.

Eventually, I did grow out of cartoons, although I don't know that I really learned any more behaviors until "House" started airing in 8th or 9th grade. Hugh Laurie's portrayal of Dr. Greg House had an interesting affect on me. Here was the intellectual character that I usually identified with who employed dry humor, my favorite, to make me and other viewers laugh, yet people on the show didn't really like him. As the show has gone on, his character has been probed and dissected to show his inner misery. So, at the same time I am drawn to this character I am simultaneously repulsed by others' perception of him. I still enjoy his dry wit and sarcastic dialogue, and I also enjoy attempting to analyze people in the way that he does.

In my experience, people are more likely to model behaviors by funny, likable characters because those are the popular characters on TV, and more than anything else these days, people want to be popular and socially accepted. On the flipside, people are reluctant to act like unlikable characters because they are aware of how they are treated within the confines of their show. In many instances, including my own, evil characters or bad guys, depending on their development, are often seen as cool or interesting characters, yet nobody tries to be the bad guy in real life because they watch the character experience their punishment or comeuppance. Essentially, people choose to model behavior that is socially rewarding.