Wednesday, February 10, 2010

PPT Presentations' post

First I'd like to say I really appreciate this project. I think it is a fun way to share opinions and movies' tastes, but still we had to work around the same topic: parallels and comparison between two epic movies. I enjoyed making my PowerPoint over Harry Potter, but I liked watching those others made too; it was really interesting. I picked three of them that I am going to talk about in this post, for different reasons that I will cover later.




The first one that I picked is Shelby's: Thelma & Louise vs. Lord of Rings.

I think she made great parallels between the movies, about the actual words I mean. She matched adjectives, verbs and names perfectly when she was comparing the two movies. For example I liked how she compares the moment when Thelma and Louise drive off the cliff with Sam and Frodo sitting on the rock stranded on the volcano. Another good one is when she makes a parallel between the two movies showing us how the main characters both wanted to end their life once the adventure is over. Thelma and Louise drove off the cliff and Frodo went on the boat. Plus I thought her symbolism slide was very interesting. She said that when Thelma and Louise shoot the man, when they blow up the truck, or rob the store; it actually represents women's rights. This topic is very important to me. I think nowadays there are still some differences of treatment between women and men, despite what everybody will say. The gender will be a "+" or a " -" to get some jobs, for example. It just makes me want to scream... Anyway, I thought it was a good idea to talk about that. These two women do affirm themselves and they scream freedom. That is the main point of the movie of what it seems in the Powerpoint; and it does make me wanting to watch it - again. Another symbol very interesting is the one about the Fellowship of the Ring, she actually thinks it represents how lots of countries came together during World War II, which is just genius. I didn't think about it watching the movie, I just thought it was a way to show that different people can get together to fight the same cause. I thought what she said was a great idea.



The second Powerpoint I picked is Reece's: Iron Man vs. Lord of Rings.


What amazed me about this one is that I am usually not attracted to this kind of movie; I honestly hardly ever watch them because I don't like them. But the thing is it got me so interested that I found myself wanting to watch Iron Man! You can obviously tell he is passionate by this film. He makes every word very interesting. He leaves the reader/spectator curious, and wanting to find out if it is actually that great by watching it.
The other thing is his PowerPoint was nothing like the others. He made his parallels in a different way than most of the class did. He didn't talk about Lord of Rings that much, but developed what made him think about Lord of Rings in Iron Man instead. He used great images too. A good example is when he covered the camera angles, the pictures perfectly match every shot he describes; I was very impressed. I loved the one in the second slide too, after the presentation slide, showing the two faces of the main hero Stark.
Finally, he did this amazing parallel between Stane and Gollum. Comparing the traitors in both movies was a great idea. We actually find out they are very similar; they both betrayed the hero: Stane by having Stark kidnapped, almost killed, and by developing a suit against him, and Gollum by trying to kill Frodo leading him to Shelob and trying to take the Ring back at the very end. They both died in horrible circumstances too: Stane by in the arc reactor explosion and Gollum in the volcano.



The last one I choose to talk about is Kinsey's: Titanic vs. Lord of Rings.
The first, and big thing that decided me to pick this one is that I am a huge fan of this movie, and I thought Kinsey did a great job. It is very realistic and truthful. I loved how she compared the supernatural forces in Lord of Rings to the technology in Titanic. Indeed, magic is what amazes the viewer in the kind of movie like the trilogy we watched in class; but Kinsey made it clear, technology is definitely Titanic's magic. The luxury and the size of the ship, especially at this time, are incredible, almost out of place. She pointed out some good themes too. There is one common to both movies: stay true to self. Frodo has to fight the Ring that tries to take control of him and turn him into a blind and greedy person; Jack stays the not wealthy but free and true person from the beginning to the end, even after he gave a try to Rose's world.
The last thing I want to talk about is the vast setting. We've study the epic characteristics, and this is a very important one. When you think about it, Titanic is basically set on a ship; we would be expecting vast landscapes, huge castles, long travels through different countries, anything but a boat, at least for an epic movie. But what Kinsey pointed out is they cross the Atlantic Ocean! Is there anything bigger and mysterious than the ocean? Personally it blows my mind, and I actually think it is the perfect setting for an epic movie. When the boat sinks at the end, it is more than the viewer can imagine: being at the bottom of the ocean in the ship, or in the middle of nowhere swimming in a icy water with no chance of survival. It is kind of the effect you want an epic movie to have on you, isn't it? Seeing more than you can handle...










All the PowerPoints I watched were really, really good. I picked those because of special things that I listed that got my attention. They did an awesome job and were really realistic about the movies; at least I know Kinsey and Shelby were... About Reece, like I said he got me wanting to watch a movie that I would have never watched in other circumstances, so it's all good!



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