A film that follows the 3 act rule is “The Parent Trap”. This movie’s plot is centered on two girls who discover they are separated twins and try to reunite their broken family. The first act focuses on the girls discovering that they are related. The act develops with the girls pulling pranks on each other and slowly finding similarities between them. The camp wars and pranks soon lead to the girls realizing that they are indeed twins and that their families are nowhere near perfect. The act peaks when they decide that they must secretly get their parents back together. Thus, the second act begins. The girls switch places and meddle in each other’s lives. They continue to try to bring the parents together secretly by reminding each parent of their old spouse. However, at the end of the act the father and mother discover what the girls are up to so they agree to meet and switch back. The third act begins and develops when the family is reunited and the twins have to convince each parent to reconnect with each other. This becomes incredibly hard when the father reveals his marriage plans for another woman. Therefore, the final act concludes with the parents deciding to stay together and the girls celebrating their victory. The timings for the acts are very similar to the plot chart that Professor Ramirez-Berg presented, they are about 1/3 of the movie each.
Sunday
Thursday
7th Blog
A sitcom or situational comedy is a genre of television show that has a consistent set of characters that encounter different humorous problems within their same environment. A characteristic of sitcoms is that a problem or problems arise in the show and are resolved within that show. The shows are not connected and do not leave a “cliffhanger”. If one were to just watch a single show they would have watched a solid episode and would not have to watch the next shows to resolve problems in the earlier ones. It functions within the sitcom genre because if each show left problems unresolved it would become a series. In which each show would be connected and problems would not be resolved until the end of the season.
This characteristic of sitcoms is illustrated in many shows such as Friends, I Love Lucy, and The Simpsons. I Love Lucy was a successful sitcom because the characters dealt with new difficulties every episode in their common environment. For example, Lucy is always trying to squeeze her way into stardom by appearing on Ricky’s TV program. She often meddles with Ricky’s work to find a way to get on TV. In the Vitameatavegamin episode Lucy finally finds a way in but cannot appear on TV for long because she is too drunk. I Love Lucy episodes are humorous and leave the audience satisfied after one episode because everything has been resolved in the end of the show.
Sunday
Blog Post 6
An important aspect of the media from the 1920s and 1950s was the star system. According to professor Straubhaar: “the star system was the film studio’s use of star’ popularity to promote their movies… The star system was important advertising and promoting movies. It encouraged viewers to go out and watch movies just because their favorite celebrity was starring in it.” This strategy was developed from the idea that the public is more likely to watch a movie with an actor that they are more familiar with than a new one. Big movie producers such as MGM used the star system to build a certain actor’s reputation, make them very well liked, and use them to make many movies through their studio. The studio produced films that could gain public popularity and keep the demands high. A prime example of MGM using a star actress to sell their movie is Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz. She was a star of the time and was in many movies, she easily became familiar to the public eye.
Blog Assignment #4
“All in the Family” was striking controversial during its air time because it exposed certain topics such as homosexuality to a fairly conservative audience. At the time, society was wary about the effects of the television and when a show such as this releases ideas that could cause unrest, it became worried. “All in the Family” was different at the time because while other shows depicted happy families and romances, this show questioned topics and issues that many would not expect the entertainment industry to air. It was the same because the way they framed homosexuality was in conservative and discouraging way. By using Archie’s character to act repulsed by homosexuality, the show catered to the majority who were against homosexuality. Many shows today do not dwell on whether homosexuality is right or not; shows use it for comical relief or just teach the audience to accept it. Contemporary shows such as “Gossip Girl” air shows with characters debating over how to react to it, and in the end the right way is always acceptance.
courtesy of youtube.com
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