Sunday, March 2, 2014

Journal 2 Gold Rush




1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.  

In class we discussed Charlie Chaplin's career, and a general summary of silent films. We learned that his films were so poplar, that as he sighed with a new studio, his pay increased more and more. He regularly acted as actor, producer writer, and director. With other popular artists, he formed the United Artist film studio.



2) Find a related article and summarize the content.  (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet.  We will discuss suitable references in class.  Cite the article and copy the URL to your journal entry. You should also mention the title of the article and author directly in the answer.  Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.  


"The Gold Rush (1925)THE SCREEN; Charlie Chaplin's New Comedy" by MORDAUNT HALL is an original film review from August of 1925.  The review starts of with the author summarizing the night of the premier and the feelings of the film from those in attendance and how Chaplin was nervous, and then relieved when everyone enjoyed the film. After that, the article goes in the typical summary of the plot, and the reviewers feelings on the film. 



3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.   How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?  

The author of the article makes it a point to point out how nervous Chaplin was before the film started, and how relieved he looked when it was over and everybody laughed and applauded. And from what we learned in class, the film was very expensive for the time and Chaplin had a lot invested in it. The way I thought about this and other silent films is that it didn't take much acting, because there were no lines to read. The way the author of the review raves about the performances showed me that the performances in these films mattered to the people back then and I now realize that it is just important it was.



4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of 4 things: the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.  I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.  

This film is proof that the newer special effects filled blockbuster is not always better. I think that it is amazing the story he is able to tell with the technology they had at the time. I was surprised from the class discussions that films of the day cost as much as they did. I think that this film also proves that it was harder to be funny and  make people laugh in the silent era, because you had to rely on emotions and sight gags to appeal to the audience rather then verbal jokes.

The article also said a lot about how much of an event Charlie Chaplin films, and films like his were to the public. It's hard to believe crowds of people sitting in a hot UN-air conditioned room for almost three hours at midnight, like the way audience did back then. I feel it shows that his films were akin to the big blockbuster summer hero movie, that we experience today.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM
    
1) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.
2)  If  I reused  any  information  from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly  explain that in  the paper.
 3) If  I used  any passages word for  word, I  put quotations around those words, or used  indentation  and  citation within  the  text.
4) I   have not  padded the bibliography.  I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.
5) I have  cited in the bibliography  only  the pages I personally read.
6) I have used  direct quotations only in  cases where it  could not  be  stated in another way.I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.
7) I  did  not so over-­‐use direct quotations that the paper lack interpretation  or  originality.
8)I checked yes on steps 1-­‐7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.
 
 Name: ______Marc Ennis___________________________
Date:  ___03/02/2014_________________________
 
  
Work Cited

Hall, Mordaunt. "The Gold Rush (1925) THE SCREEN; Charlie Chaplin's New Comedy." The 

New York Times 17 Aug. 1925. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.

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