Group Project - Movie

Posted by jastwood on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 23:41 in

Movie Projects

I figure we can just bounce ideas around in here. Here are some of my mine:

1. Apocalypse viewed from Satan's or one of the damned's view points.

2. Something to do with zombies?

In either case I was thinking about just tons of people being part of it, looking dammed or dead or what not. Perhaps taking an ad out in Craig's List and just getting tons of volunteers to film some place. Seeing as more people will be going to Hell (in revelation) than Heaven, maybe we could just have hoards of them harassing or bothering "the blessed."

Silent, B&W Dark Comedy

If anyone's interested in doing a black and white, silent dark comedy, let me know and we can form a group.

--
Dan
dblondel@hunter.cuny.edu

Posted by dblondell on Sat, 03/01/2008 - 18:47

Movie News?

Hey, I just sent out an email to the listserv but I wanted to post it here to in case I messed up the email, which is entirely possible given my grip of technology (and spelling).

Hey All,

I know there was some discussion on whether or not to have a collaborative project involving the entire class, particularly a movie. I thought it might be cool to all have separate vignettes that form a semblance of whole. We could each incorporate our fields of interesting and/or our views on Apocalypse (sex, death, Revelation, etc.). Is anyone up for this or have any other ideas pertaining to a class project? Seeing as the deadline for the summary for the Project is due Wednesday perhaps we could all write a short paragraph (roughly a fourth of a page?) about some ideas or directions for a short film. If we could do this by Monday night perhaps we could work out a project or vote on one idea and just make one film? Let me know what you guys think, in the mean time, I do believe I will get started on my section. Enjoy your collective weekends and start preparing for 2012.

Posted by jastwood on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 01:45

I like this idea. I'm going

I like this idea. I'm going to have a rough draft of my project description up here on Monday.

Posted by rbenmoshe on Sun, 03/02/2008 - 16:29

Small groups w/ vignettes

Here's how I replied to Jesse's email incase anyone isn't getting the emails:

How about breaking up into groups of 2 or 3 and doing the vignettes that way? The groups could be divided up based on similar movie ideas.

--
Dan
dblondel@hunter.cuny.edu

Posted by dblondell on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 02:22

Lena's idea about "opposites

Lena's idea about "opposites the same" is a good one in light of the discussion by Juergensmeyer of Rene Girard's concept of mimesis. See his discussion at the bottom of page 213. I raise this as a way to "encourage" you to ground your great ideas for the group projects with analysis--which the proposal for next week should include in terms of the rationale of the project.

Posted by lquinby on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 20:49

Scott, Dan, Jesse, Not sure

Scott, Dan, Jesse,

Not sure if you guys started talking video specifics last class, but if not (or if so) would you want to try and meet up sometime in the next week (potentially this weekend if we all could) to get some of our ideas and thoughts on paper to try and start formulating our proposal and script? Let me know what you think. (I also think we should get some shots soon before its get warmer since cold city streets at dusk/night with the people all bundled up may be a nice visual to use at some point.)

Posted by shoughteling on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 06:42

The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone could be a good source of inspiration for the movie. I know that's a very vague statement, but it could turn out to be a useful one.

--
Dan
dblondel@hunter.cuny.edu

Posted by dblondell on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 02:17

I like this idea, TZ is very

I like this idea, TZ is very good and self contained, short movies with powerful messages, well the old ones anyway. I also think Irony, often found in TZ, is a welcome tool in discussing the Apocalypse

Posted by jastwood on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 01:48

Mel Gibson's Satan in The

Mel Gibson's Satan in The Passion of the Christ is played by a woman, but he said he was seeking an androgynous figure. Here she/he/it is:

Posted by lquinby on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 21:27

Knowing Mel Gibson's

Knowing Mel Gibson's personal views, was satan also supposed to be Jewish? Is this also a common theme in Chrisitian Apocolyptic views? I feel like it is, judging by some of the rhetoric.

Posted by jastwood on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 19:52

Satan would not be

Satan would not be represented as Jewish per se, but rather as a prime foe of God, a powerful cosmic force. But anti-Semitic representations of various religious denominations often cast Jews as particularly susceptible to Satan's ways, as pawns of his devious rejection of the divine.

Posted by lquinby on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 21:11

Satan

I agree that Satan shouldn't be the classical red monstrosity with goat legs and horns. Satan and the Anti-Christ should be more symbolic or perhaps just more human. I keep thinking about when we talked about how the old testament sometimes portrays God as a dualistic character, that is representing good and evil. Perhaps Satan and/or the Anti-Christ aren't much different? No person is a 100% evil or a 100% good, so maybe the same applies for Gods, demons and angels. Good and evil are just points of view; this also ties into our new book and how one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.

Posted by jastwood on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 17:39

Opposites the Same

I'm a big fan of if God and the Devil or Jesus and the Anti-Christ have a face off in the movie, that they be played by the same person, only with a different hair style :)

Posted by hmarvin on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 14:54

Making Movies

Some thoughts on making a movie about hell, devils, and zombies. Themes of evil, the devil, Satan, and zombies have a film legacy that can be built on for your group project, to be sure. But I want to stress that these projects also need to take into account the analyses that we are reading and doing in the course--perhaps as a note of caution (and not to dampen imagination). Films, especially of the sensationalistic type, tend to willy-nilly mix themes up. Your projects should be more careful in that regard.

The question of evil is known as theodicy, which is the pursuit of understanding what constitutes evil and how it arises. Religion is one avenue of discussion of the topic--but the concept of evil (as well as hell and Satan) differs dramatically from culture to culture. Zombies, for example, emerge out of the syncretic religion of the African-Carribbean culture under oppressive colonial conditions--and do not simply equate with Christian Fundamentalist belief. In other words, hell (and these other themes) has a history that you might want to investigate for your film--and for your research essay, should you want to work in concert with your group project. Take a look at Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan, for further exploration along these lines.

As Roy points out, psychology offers a set of explanations about this (you will read more of this in Strozier). Kirsch gives us historical ways to think about these themes in relation to particular cultural concerns, and political theory illuminates the power dynamics at work in putting forward notions of what or who is evil at any moment. I say this to encourage your critical acumen along with your creativity. You might discuss with each other which avenue of thought best fits your film goal.

At our conference in March, one of the presenters is b. h. yael, who has a series of short videos that are re-enactments of certain apocalyptic films. You will be able to talk to her about your ideas when she is here. She and her co-director do this by taking a well-known film and an easily recognized clip from it and then do a scene by scene counter version, usually with a switched gender role. For example, a woman enacts the scene played by Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now in which he is dressed in briefs and drunkenly smashes the mirror. Another has a woman playing the role of the astronaut in 2001, as Hal the computer is being dismantled--but the scene is a kitchen instead of a space craft. The third is the first 8 minutes of the Passion of the Christ, in the Garden, and yael plays Jesus and yours truly is Satan.

Posted by lquinby on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 20:04

is b.h. yael also a canadian

is b.h. yael also a canadian activist? because all the videos I'm finding are activist videos, many of which are centered around israeli-arabic conflicts.

honestly though, I just want to see you as satan.

Posted by rbenmoshe on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 21:35

Yes, she is a Canadian

Yes, she is a Canadian activist film and video maker, but the one I am in, entitled Verbatim, is probably not available on the "open market." I'll see if I can find a DVD copy (I have only a poor video copy), but at the moment she is in Mumbai showing some of her work, including the ones you mention. I think I am mildly convincing, having tried to replicate Mel Gibson's Satan, also played by a woman, but ours was with a significantly lower budget--which was part of the ironic take on his film.

Posted by lquinby on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 22:07

hey there. I think that

hey there. I think that would be a fantabulous idea. Is our satan going to be pointlessly evil like a "skeletor" or will be discuss the freudian causation of his evil-ness?

also, when I read "seeing as more people will be going to hell," I thought about a new yorker cartoon I once read (which I can't find online for the life of me) that pictured a man contesting to an angry wife, both robbed in white on a cloud somewhere in heaven. The toon reads "I just feel like we'll know more people in hell..."

Posted by rbenmoshe on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 03:04