Analyze the documentary and take a closer look at gun control in the United States of America. Determine if the various images and graphics used helped to accurately tell the story and further inform the viewers.
Usually in cinema bigger girls and women are often cast into supporting comedic roles. They are often loud, blunt, and lazy. Even when they are cast in lead roles the story often involves their size in the some way. There have been exceptions though, for example Hairspray and possibly Spy due out this summer.
How is this trope utilized? Are any other forms of media that subvert this trope?
Rebel Wilson and Melissa McCarthy are two of the best comedic actresses we have these days, and they're consistently relegated to the Funny Fat Girl role. Or, if not Funny, then at the very least Vulgar. These days, the Vulgar Fat Girl seems to go hand-in-hand with the Funny Fat Girl—because a fat person's sexuality is hilarious, obviously. (Yes, that was sarcasm.) – Andie9 years ago
You could talk about how some say when a "funny fat girl" or man have lost weight due to the entertainment world expectations, they become less funny. Is this true and why is this something that occurs? – silvam9 years ago
How many (physically/mentally) disabled characters have you seen out there? How do other characters treat them? How much attention is paid to their disability? Are they portrayed as more complex?
That’s a bit of a loaded question since it greatly depends on what you mean by more complex. Like any other issue surrounding the politics of identity, the answer is fairly complicated. Paul Longmore has identified a number of common tropes from physical deformation used to suggest a deformed soul, to the notion that coping with disability is primarily an emotional rather than physical struggle in narratives that depict character’s overcoming their disabilities. In some films physical disability is depicted as a mark of otherness or abnormality while other films challenge or nuance this paradigm. Freaks (1932) is a commonly cited example that seems to attach physical disability to monstrosity only to question that connection. There have been some recent interesting cases in popular film. The How to Train your Dragon films, for example, feature a number of characters with prosthetic limbs, but the issue of disability or otherness is never raised. – Miriam9 years ago
I think there have been growing numbers of disability in Film and Television especially tv shows that focuses on adolescence lives. From the 2009 skins to Glee. They are definitely portrayed as a more complex individual, but again all individuals are complex in their own way. I think some people might think they are apart of the story as a token disabled character to add more diversity to the story but I think some of them did really good jobs on humanising the character. There are so much more that comes into a person than one thing. even though being disabled brings a major definition to a person but that doesn't mean they have less sides compared to regular people. – bernadettevina9 years ago
It would be worth looking at actors who have portrayed characters with disablilities who have disabilities themselves. RJ Mitte as Walt Jr. (Breaking Bad) immediately springs to mind. Mitte has cerebral palsy, but his character on BrBa is more affected by it; I think that would be worth going into, This could be compared to actors who don't have a disability; Eddie Redmayne for example obviously doesn't have motor neuron disease but still managed to portray Prof. Stephen Hawking and MND brilliantly. I know these are two "mainstream" examples, but I feel they're good ones nonetheless. – Jamie9 years ago
In trauma work, I find that people can get stuck in grief and loss. I see value in films that that can be viewed and then critically applied to their individual situation so they can see the vitalization from that transformation. Any current fil suggestions that would be helpful in this process?
Hi, whilst I don't have any films that spring to mind at this moment, I did come across an interesting article from a woman who experienced sexual abuse for many years growing up. She said that Nabokov's Lolita really allowed her to come to terms with her painful experience because it juxtaposed incredibly monstrous acts of child molestation with beautiful scenery and gorgeous writing. Sometimes it is the works of art that seem contrary to a persons own suffering that resonate the most strongly and provide a platform from which people who have suffered any type of emotional trauma can overcome. – Coltrane939 years ago
During my undergrad, I wrote an introductory English paper on the Japanese people finding healing following Nagasaki and Hiroshima through Godzilla (1954). There is some interesting scholarship in regards to the imagery included in the film and decisions made by the filmmakers to have the scientist defeat the monster. I am not able to find the original paper, but I do remember using Steve Ryfle's "Godzilla's Footprint". There are scholars who argue Godzilla is much more than just a monster movie. Now obviously it would be a difficult film to use as it sort of applies to one specific situation, but it might be interesting to do a bit of reading on it!
– AloraP9 years ago
From former wrestlers to reality tv stars, how and why do they transition into cinema. Is this transition successful or doomed to failure?
I can definitely see this trend in people like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, and Andre the Giant. – Erica Beimesche9 years ago
A comparison between those who have successfully transitioned vs. those who did not might be interesting in order to determine if there is a trend. Wrestlers have been mentioned, but others like musicians (Dwight Yoakam), etc. should also be part of the analysis. – pudgeblossom9 years ago
I liked pudgeblossom's point about musicians. Perhaps the best way to focus this topic is to look at the following: 1. Athletes (this goes all the way bacl to Olympic Swimmer Johnny Wisemuller in Tarzan) 2. Musicians/Singers 3. Now we have reality stars – fdemelo9 years ago
Is there enough diversity in superhero culture, particularly in movies and TV shows? Marvel's Agent Carter, for example, contians an all-white cast. Marvel's The Avengers displays a roster of white Avengers. While it's true that Age of Ultron displays War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie), both actors of colour, they did not play significant roles. BUT are they a sign that there is more diversity to come? There is even talk of "white-washing" the role of The Ancient One in Marvel's future Doctor Strange by having Tilda Swinton play an Asian character (possibly). Is it just Marvel? DC's Arrow demonstrates diversity with one of their main characters: John Diggle (David Ramsey) and a recurring character: Amanda Waller (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). DC's The Flash stars Jesse L. Martin and Candice Patton as Joe and Iris West respectively, both actors of colour. Is superhero pop culture in need of more diversity? Thoughts?
Something to possibly touch on: the reaction of the general public when Don Glover expressed interest in playing Spiderman in the reboot (where the role went to Andrew Garfield). – Andie9 years ago
I'm not overly familiar with DC adaptations but I think it's fair to say most superhero franchises could do a better job of diversifying. This goes for race, gender, and sexuality. Progress is certainly being made - with Black Panther and Captain Marvel movies, but more could be done. To add on to the topic of Spider-man a statement had been made that casting was leaning heavily towards a POC to play Peter Parker in the second reboot but when the short list came out, all the actors were white with Asa Butterfield as the lead contender. – Amelia Fairweather9 years ago
This feels reductionist, as if just adding "people of color" to movies would fill a diversity quota. – T. Palomino2 years ago
There are plenty of films that promote social change for LGBT individuals either overtly or covertly. Some use historical events, others subtly integrate strong LGBT characters, and others make LGBT issues a part of the main story. You could do an analysis of films that have done this well versus those that haven't.
I put this in film but it could be about TV shows as well.
I picked LGBT issues as the topic, but you could feasibly do this with any social issue like race, class, feminism, etc.
Mainstream media has definitely been a huge influence in social change, particularly for the LGBT movement. This article could also mention things like viral web videos, such as Prop 8: The Musical & The Gaythering Storm which undoubtedly had an impact on general social opinion by legitimizing the movement with well-known celebrities. – Hannah Spencer9 years ago
I've always thought that it would be interesting to try to apply the insights of Antonio Gramsci on cultural hegemony on topics like this, particularly if it is possible to take his insights while either neglecting or transforming his specific Marxist insights. It might be a good idea to see if anybody else has used this a theoretical way to look at film in the context of LGBT acceptance/marginalization. – Drewsalem9 years ago
Instead of recycling the same idea again and again, I think film studios can start looking at more obscure fairy tales or mythology to adapt. I'm sure there are myriads of them out there, not limited to Ancient Greek or European stories.
You could use the animated film Song of the Sea as an example of portraying a lesser know mythological creatures, with their use of Selkies. – Christina Cady10 years ago
Although quite famous, The Little Match Girl should figure here. There are barely any adaptation of it. True, it's really sad but it's also beautiful. – Rachel Elfassy Bitoun10 years ago
I'm quite partial to Russian folklore, I'd love to see a claymation style adaptation featuring Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Beautiful. – Natalie Sheppard10 years ago
I was thinking about American Gods by Neil Gaiman and how he integrates myths from many different cultures in the book and its sequel, Anansi Boys. Agh the adaptation for this book needs to go forward ASAP! – Arlinka Larissa10 years ago
The Journey to the West has been used a lot, from DragonBall to American Born Chinese. – Kristian Wilson9 years ago
I enjoy all folklore, but one that I've never seen adapted is East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Russian). It might also be worth your while to check out South American, Chinese, Norse, African, and First Nations folklore for an interesting evaluation of this topic. – jennewymore9 years ago
I'd like to see the Juniper Tree adapted somehow. I think maybe an anthology film could work with actors playing several roles, which could be a comment on how most fairy tales characters appear to just be copies of each other. – Jamie9 years ago
