Wedding Crashers

To meet a different woman every week you what be surprised what some men would do. John (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) are two best friends that know how to rock any wedding.  Both men work as mediators and crash weddings as a hobby. Whether the wedding is someone that these men know or may not know if the bridesmaids are hot they will be there. The two men use the atmosphere of the wedding and the women as a way to womanize them. Special wedding rules is the code that both men abide by until John falls in love with one of the bridesmaids without even sleeping with her.
After the wedding both men get invited on a trip with the brides family because the family becomes pretty fond of both men despite the fact that nobody exactly knows where these men derived from. Even though Jeremy tags along on the trip he feels as though John is breaking the rules they originally came up with to catch some girl which is not cool. Claire (Racheal McAdams) and John began to have chemistry that  is evident to the whole family including Claire's fiancee Sack (Bradley Cooper). Sack doesn't appreciate John attempting to make moves on his fiancee so he does research about John and Jeremy. As soon as Sack found out all the evidence he needed on the two men he made sure to tell the whole family leaving John and Jeremy pressed with a reasoning to why they were even there. Lies couldn't save John or Jeremy and with that the family kicked both men off of the trip. Throughout the trip Jeremy also falls for someone himself and breaks the rules Claire's sister Gloria (Isla Fisher). While John was chasing after Claire all the time Jeremy and Gloria were flirting here and there themselves.

John becomes love sick after being casted away by Claire's family and doesn't know how to handle possibly missing out on the love of his life. Eventually Claire and John meet again and actually talk about what happened and why. With Claire not truly loving her fiancee and having love for John made her decision of leaving Sack easy. Both men found love and began to engage in true mature relationships. I'm sure John and Jeremy never thought that one particular wedding would change their lives for a lifetime.
The symptomatic meaning behind wedding crashers is the social context of believing that to be looked up to as a man you can't be faithful in a relationship. These men in this movie look at crashing weddings and sleeping with bridesmaids as something that is "cool" and "fun". In reality growing up and becoming a real man does not include this type of actions. The two women (Claire & Gloria) change the whole perspective of how these men view women. Although the process of how the men got to that point was out of the ordinary, it still happened and both men learned to appreciate and value women in a better way than before.

Sources:

Vaugh, Vince, and Owen Wilson, perf. Wedding Crashers. 2005. New Line Cinema. DVD.

IMDb. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2011. <www.imdb.com>.

Mise-en-Scene

Imagine being the most unpopular kid in high school and having one chance to change it all with a bottle of alcohol. The deal sounds too good to be true right? That's what Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) thought too, so there was no doubt in these teenagers minds that they wouldn't get the alcohol for the popular kids, so they thought. Besides not being cool Seth and Evan also have other problems with themselves that they want to fix before going to college. They both are virgins! To a teenage male still being a virgin in high school is a big deal and somewhat embarrassing from their perspectives.

 Getting alcohol and being under age can be extremely hard if you don't have an adult on your side willing to purchase it. Seth and Evan even went as far as buying a fake ID to do so. The adventure that Seth and Evan go through just to obtain this alcohol will keep you laughing. The two teenage males end up running from the police all for a bottle of alcohol. The plan was initially that Seth and Evan would purchase the bottle of alcohol that would help the two ladies (Jules & Becca) become more interested in having sex with them because they would be drunk. This idea certainly did not go far because it was never successfully completed. Even though Seth and Evan did eventually obtain the alcohol they never lost their virginity they did realize how much they would truly miss each other when they both went their separate ways to college.

Most of the setting of the film takes place at a high school and also at a party towards the end. The clothing throughout the film seem kind of retro and older fashion but on the con trier the characters were  also using cell phones so it is somewhat difficult to name an exact time period. The film never mentions an exact time or location of where the film was suppose to take place. The lighting throughout the film that was used the most was frontal lighting because we as the audience rarely saw any form of shadows. Top lighting was used a lot for the scene where the police officers and Fogell began to perform car tricks with the police car. The scene where Fogell shoots a gun for the first time has some implements of frontal lighting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7EV50zaEh8

The costumes and make up and this film definitely fit the characters. The high school students were dressed as such, it wasn't hard to determine who was a part of the "in crowd" and who was not. The popular kids had on clothing such as Lettermann jackets that showed that they belonged to some sort of team at school. The kids who weren't popular had on clothing such as high risen pants like Fogell aka Mc'Lovin (the last name on the fake id) who happened to be a close friend of Seth and Evan who also helped obtain the alcohol throughout the film. The teachers, police officers and other people with a form of title also were clothed appropriately to fit there role.

Sources:

Cera, Micheal, and Jonah Hill, perf. Superbad. 2007. Sony Pictures. DVD.

youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2011.

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry has come a long way from the homeless man who once lived in his car. The comedian/actor/film writer is extremely talented and in his films, it definitely shows. Tyler Perry has made 18 films not including the plays that all usually have some type of deep symptomatic meaning. His movies are usually categorized as drama/comedy. "Daddy's Little Girl's" is a great example of how Perry combines drama and comedy together.
"Daddy's Little Girl's is a very cultured movie that a lot of African American men can relate to in particular and definitely have a significant meaning at the end. The film is about an African American man named Monty (Idris Elba) that wants full custody of his daughters. The mother, Jennifer (Tasha Smith) is unfit and dates the biggest drug dealer in the neighborhood that constantly puts his daughters at risk of danger. Monty definitely does not agree with these circumstances and wants to put an end to it all. To make ends meet Monty begins to work for a limousine company that assigns him to a lonely single lawyer, Julia (Gabrielle Union).  Julia portrays herself as a stuck up black woman who has a huge problem finding her soul mate.
One day while escorting Julia home Monty receives a phone call stating that his daughters almost burned down his apartment and received injury themselves as well. With information stating that the children were left at home unattended while their father was at work forced the hospital to get child protective services involved which makes it even harder for Monty to get any kind of custody. Monty is a poor African American man that is barely making it throughout life does not have money to hire a good lawyer so Julia decides to take his case and help him get his kids back. Jennifer inspired Julia to help Monty obtain full custody of his daughters because she had witnessed how horrible Julia treated the children and Monty. With the help of Julia Monty eventually did receive full custody of his children and his daughters would grow up in a safe environment with their father. (IMBd)

The symptomatic meaning behind this film can be looked at from many different ways. The social ideology of this movie measured up to statistics. When most people look at the ghetto of a typical black neighborhood, the problems presented throughout this movie were accurate. A loving father wanting custody of his children usually would be something that is looked down upon because most believe that the mother is and should be the primary care taker of children. In a situation that happens, less than often the mother is unfit and justice was served.
The significance of this film is the love that a man has for his children are unconditional. If Monty did not want to obtain his children for the right reasons this would definitely be evident. The mother Jennifer did not truly have her children’s well being at heart; it was evident that she did not care how a mother should care for her children. The meaning behind this film tells the audience that fighting for what you believe in and standing by your world can work in your favor if you just put your mind to it. Monty did just that and got all three of his daughters back from their mother.

Sources:

IMDb. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2011. http://www.imdb.com/.

Elba, Idris, and Gabrielle Union, perf. Daddy's Little Girls. 2007. DVD.

Implicit & Symptomatic Meaning

The movie Bride Wars is a film about two best friends who have dreams as children to get married at an ideal venue at the Plaza Hotel. Coincidental both women get proposed to by their boyfriends on the same day and of course both women want to have their weddings at the Plaza Hotel but realistically one of the women will have to give up their dreams of having their wedding at the venue. The Plaza Hotel is a very popular place to have a wedding and the only two avaliable spots proves this. Not only are there just two avaliable spots for the rest of the year, both of the times are the same as well. Neither one of the women want to give up their dreams of having their wedding at the Plaza Hotel and they make this evident throughout the movie. (IMDb)
Both women work extremely hard to sabotage each others wedding since they both agreed to not attend each other's wedding because of the wedding date and location (The Plaza). This also played a huge role in the decision making that their friends have. Having the same friends in the same circle began to cause a critized loop because both women would talk about each other to their mutual friends, this was just one of the things that these woman do to annoy one another.  Emma delibrately sent Liv chocalate everyday to her office to make her gain weight so it would become difficult for her to fit into her wedding dress. Liv sabatages Emma spray tan by changing the color of the tan to an extremem burnt orange. The list of these sabatoges goes on and on.

Liv (Kate Hudson) is a lawyer that has a very dynamic attitude. Every since both women were little girls

Liv has been the one that always mostly got what she wanted under most of the circumstances. Emm(Anne Hathaway) is a teacher that is more laid back and less confrontational than Liv. Emma wants to prove to Liv that she isn't a push over and that he deserves her wedding at the Plaza more than she does. The funny comedy is a film that I definitely reccomend watching, it will keep you at the edge of your seat wanting more.

The symptomatic meaning of a film deals with the signifigance of the film as a whole feeding off of social and historical contexts. The signifigance of this film doesn't become evident until the end when Liv and Emma fight in their  wedding gowns at Liv's wedding because Liv replaces Emma's wedding song with a wild college video of Emma. While fighting both women began to cry and realize that a wedding is one day of your life but a friendship is a life time. Thinking about how long and far these two women have came together while knowing one another plays a huge factor in why fighting is not worth it when valuing a relationship on any kind.
The implicit meaning is basiclly the interpretation of the film in general. The interaction between the two women and the content of their relationship when the feud first began with the women. Both women came off as very individualistic and determined. The determination of these women was the main concept of the film, when you want something as bad as The Plaza it proves that you never know the lengths that you may actually go to get what you want.

Sources:

Hathaway, Anne, and Kate Hudson, perf. Bride Wars. 2009. Fox 2000 Pictures. DVD.

IMDb. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2011. <www.imdb.com>.