Film

A new Netflix original movie has caused a bit of a stir in the land of social media. A story about a teenage girl that feels isolated because of her height, has faced criticism for its focus on what people think is a rather minuscule issue. Does Netflix owe it to its viewers to produce content that centers around oppressed societal groups? That gives its voice to people that need it? Or is content really just that, meaningless content?

Following the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the beloved franchise faced a substantial backlash from begrudged fans. Aside the criticisms for its slow pace and inconsistent storyline, the film and indeed the trilogy itself have been controversially criticised for its overuse of nostalgia and alleged focus on socially-driven plot details.

Analyse whether the Star Wars franchise has indeed applied an overuse of nostalgia in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi or whether the fanbase is overtly critical of any additions to the film lore.

Why did Phil Connors experience a time loop and what caused it to end? What do the cause and effect of the time loop say about human nature?

We are slowly seeing a rise of all female or at least female dominated films in genres that have not traditionally been female friendly. Traditionally action films, whether they are specifically categorised as Action or Action slash (/sci fi, /western, /crime), have focused on varying interpretations of the masculine lead. Sometimes he is flawed, and sometimes he may as well be a plastic figurine for all the depth of character demonstrated, but always he is strong, determined and takes action, and is accompanied with weak or "temptation" women whose role is to look good half dressed. Yet a handful of recent films are starting to challenge the role of the female action hero.

The supernatural action genre has given us three intelligent, funny, and active women in 'Ghostbusters'. The heist genre laid out eight women of varying skills whose expertise held up against the original male roles in 'Oceans 8'. The sci-fi action adventure has most recently given us three power and diverse roles in the latest 'Terminator'. However, the question is this – does this indicate a substantial change in Hollywood's approach to the representation of women in film, or is this just a trend that will fade away again to be replaced with atypical machoism?

Over the past decade or so there has been a none-too subtle incursion of what once would have been considered pornographic films, into mainstream cinema. Vincent Gallo's 'The Brown Bunny' (2003), Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomanic' (2013) and the recent 'A Thought of Ecstasy' (2017), directed by Rolf Peter Kahl, are three such examples. All feature scenes with, what is euphemistically referred to as, 'unsimulated sex'. Experimental cinema, avant-garde, neo-erotica – whatever label is applied, it seems that some mainstream actors and actresses are prepared to have their names attached to these projects and, in the case of 'Nymphomaniac', even have their faces and torsos superimposed over body doubles, although in the fallatio scene from 'The Brown Bunny' no doubles were used. Discuss whether 'unsimulated sex' in mainstream films can have any actual artistic merit, or is this just another way for controversial directors to circumvent censorship and so push their own sexual fantasies? In a world increasingly bent on instant gratification, are we being desensitised to accept without question the open exploitation of sex in mainstream as 'normal'? Where should the line be drawn?

Todd Philips's Joker film is the most talked about film of the fall. When the film premiered, some critics lauded it as a masterpiece while others expressed dissatisfaction and outrage over the content within the film. With Joker passing $900 million dollars at the box office, it is apt to discuss the factors that contributed to the film's success. With this in mind, did the controversy and outrage circulating around the film provide easy/free marketing for the film and bring attention from mainstream media outlets that otherwise would have spent less time covering and discussing the film?

Analyze the reason why directors use cameos. What impact does it have on the audience? Why is it gaining popularity?

From Kareem Abdul Jabbar to Stan Lee to Stephen King, highlight examples that will look at why the crossover from reality to media is so popular. Big Bang Theory regularly played with this trope with great effectiveness. Why do we love it?

We bookworms grew up with the idea that "reading the book" was better than watching the film/TV version of it. In fact, if we ever messed up with that order we believed we were dishonoring our identity as literature lovers. The reality is, adaptations can be much better than their source material when it comes to making us care about the story. My personal examples are The Princess Bride, The Count of Montecristo, Anne of Green Gables, and Stardust. That being said, I invite you to analyse the elements that may influence how good an adaptation can be compared to its book predecessor: is it the change in structure, the plot pace, the characterisation? I'm curious about your opinion on this idea and if you have more examples that support it.