Author Archives: mahrligmc

How Zoom University Changed My Viewing Habits

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My viewing habits have drastically changed within the past month in quarantine.  Whereas before I would hardly watch any form of media during the week, due to the access to Addlestone library that kept me on task, focused and deathly afraid if I picked up my phone my friend would throw it across the room.  I would usually utilize youtube throughout the week for educational purposes- such as how to get that perfect crease in my Air Force dress blues that have been thrown in the bottom of my closet a month before. I would save my movie/ TV show/ and youtube video watching for the weekend, usually watching a movie every Friday and Saturday night.  Recently, I have just gotten exposed to Disney movies on Disney+ as I never watched them growing up so I have been watching things like Monsters University and Ratatouille. If I was particularly busy that week I would use this time to watch the films for this class as I enjoyed them just as much as other films I would have been watching.

After COVID-19 hit and I was forced to the confines of my mother’s house, I have noticed a huge change in my viewing habits.  I no longer watch any movies outside of this class- particularly because of how much school work I have and spend all night doing.  My viewing habits are now a reflection of what my brother and mom want to watch and guilt me into watching. We usually watch one episode of either Survivor or 90 Day Fiance/ 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days every other day.  I do love these shows but I would typically not watch them if I were in my own apartment due to not having cable, and rather wanting to utilize my time more productively.  Although my media intake has not increased that much through tv and movies I have become seemingly addicted to Tik Tok- a platform similar to vine where you can watch one minute long videos that usually have sound or music dubbed behind them.  I believe my mind has convinced me these short videos don’t take up too much time of my day like a movie or Youtube would, but it is easy to lose track of time and if you add up all the short breaks I use and watch videos, I probably spend 2 hours a day on there.

I Thought He Had Cancer

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This was one of the most impactful scenes to me in the movie that truly shows how this system works. Not only are these women being used by the Madame and the whole system but these women are made to believe that they have to take on the burden of sending tons of money to their families.  Joy was made out to believe that she had to send tons of money for her Father’s cancer treatment but upon Madame’s return from Nigeria, she learns that her father is healthy and her brother has a new shiny car.  Joy is being used by her family so that they can live comfortably in Nigeria while she has to do all the work and be used in order to scrape by with all that she owes every week.  In Joy’s case if her family was in fact lying to her, she could of taken the man’s money to live with him and gotten out of this situation sooner.  This aspect plays into why it is so hard to break out of the system.  Joy is sending all of her extra money to her family, who claims they are in such need of it, when in reality they have luxurious things that Joy does not have herself, which causes her to not have money stored away for when she is finally free. This causes the women in her situation to be more attracted to becoming a madame themselves because it’s a business that they know and can make a lot of money doing.

 

Just Another Day on Lampedusa

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At first I was very confused by the addition of this scene into the movie.  What does this fisherman/diver have to do with the refugees and migrants of the island of Lampedusa, but upon looking deeper into this scene and others like it you can see that this movie is not only about the migrants but the island as a whole.  The movie does not include any interviews with the people of Lampedusa but through this scene and those like it you can see the simple life that these people live. You can also see how the people just seem to go throughout their days as they normally would with no real acknowledgement of the migrants and hundreds of people dying right off their coast.  The fisherman and other people from Lampedusa talk only about their problems, bad weather not allowing them to go fishing and not being able to breathe due to anxiety. From first look this seems very selfish and you can see how entitled these people are but from further examination, ignoring these things might be the best thing for these Lampedusans as they are surrounded by death and can not do much themselves to change that fact or help the situation.  Instead of letting this situation overwhelm their lives, they just choose to go about their days whether that is productive in dealing with the migrant crisis is up to interpretation however I think it is a way for them to deal with this trauma.

 

Alone in a Field of White

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These two images both showcase being lost and isolated in various forms.  Although the penguin in the top clip chose to walk away from his pack, he is still lost and destined for an unfortunate future as the researchers are not allowed to help him.  The researchers in the bottom clip are simulated being lost and caught in a storm that is not their choice. I think being lost is a common theme in this movie as most the people interviewed or talked about felt lost before they came to Antarctica and didn’t really have a home.  Some people were sneaking into other countries in sewer pipes even.

The scene with the penguin helps reveal why the researchers are there, there is a great unknown as to why some animals act the way that they do and why this animal would just get up and leave, a question many would ask why these researchers left their life to go to Antarctica.  These two shots also use varying camera angles that contrast the two pieces and feelings of being lost. In the first clip with the penguin they use a close up of the penguin when he is with the pack followed by very wide and long shots as he is walking into the abyss. With the researchers on the bottom there isn’t a big wide shot like the penguin that shows they are truly lost.  There are some wide shots but the frame is generally crowded and you don’t get the same feeling as the penguin alone with the backdrop of mountains.  This could be because the researchers are not truly alone.

We’re Germans now

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Hüseyin in this GIF is having a nightmare about becoming a German with his wife, Fatma and conforming to German culture in the process of losing their Turkish heritage.   This theme of adapting to culture and the fear of losing culture and cultural memory is very prevalent throughout the film and shown through this clip. For instance, in this clip Fatma is shown wearing traditional German clothing and eating a huge meat drumstick which frightens Hüseyin and further pushes him to wanting the family to return to Turkey for a vacation to see where they came from.  This culture can be seen throughout three generations and how with each generation things are forgotten and each generation is more assimilated to the German culture. It brings about the larger question of what makes you what nationality you are, or rather what makes you German and what makes you Turkish. Upon receiving their passports, the two now have surrendered their Turkish citizenship but they do not identify completely as Germans but rather somewhere in between where there is no label for what you are.

 

Bawnjorno

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Throughout the film performances are being put on by various characters to ensure the success of operation kino.  Due to the German speaking bastards being caught, these Americans have to portray Italians in order to get into the premiere of the film.  This scene built up all the tension from before because the cover that was in place was once very believable and is now at the hands of unqualified Americans.  This meme pokes fun at not only the circumstances that the bastards are in but the fact that Americans are really bad at speaking other languages without using the American alphabet and accent.  You can tell with how Col Landa is mocking their accents in this scene when he makes them repeat their name several times egging them on to put everything they have into it. Col Landa himself shows that he speaks Italian which shows the audience not only how clever he is as a man but how screwed the bastards are and the eventual death that occurs with Bridget.

 

Your Number Please

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This scene is particularly interesting in the terms of refugees and performance throughout the film.  To start this scene, Georg is playing the role of Weidel, the poet that died at the beginning of the movie.  Throughout the clip we see why it is important for him to play this role if he has any hopes of leaving this port town.  When he mentions the name Weidel he is immediately brought back to see a different man and given transit passes. This shows how corrupt the refugee process was and how one had to have money and know people if they ever wanted to get out.  If he had not known this person he would have been simply categorized and given to the next person to wait in line for like the other characters we see in the waiting rooms throughout the movie.  Another interesting part of this clip is the number that the worker is insisting on.  It is written on a small ripped up piece of paper and he requires to see it before saying anything.  When he does see the number he does nothing with it but throw it in a desk making it seem not important just another way to try and delay the process if people loose their number.

The camera angles in the clip switch pretty rapidly between shots of Georg’s face and the workers face allowing the audience to see everyone’s reactions but also create a tension on if his playing of Weidel is going to do anything for him or if he will be caught impersonating someone else.  This adds to the suspension of this scene both of the performance aspect but also what will come to the refugees and what processes do they have to go through.

You Are What You Eat

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The scene that I wanted to dive deeper into is in the beginning of the film when Greenberg turns to Mr. Rawitch and tells him “what you are, I wouldn’t eat.”  What is interesting in this scene is that it is the first major clue that Mr. Greenberg, besides his name, is a Jewish character and is performing ethnicity throughout the film.  The line is inferring the Mr. Rawitch is a ham, which in the acting industry means that he is very dramatic and thinks he’s the most important character. Although Mr. Greenberg does not mention him being a ham, he gets the reference right away, signalling that the characters know that he is Jewish.  This is one of the three main hints that he is playing a Jewish character in the film and the one that sticks out the most to me. In this scene the camera is centered straight on at the two actors, but instead of Mr. Rawitch looking at Mr. Greenberg he is looking at the camera which reinforces what Mr. Greenberg is saying.  He is always trying to get screen time and or thinks he is better than the other characters and won’t look at them unless they make claims about him. After Mr. Rawitch comes back saying “How dare you call me a ham,” the camera cuts quickly to another part of the stage which doesn’t let the joke or line linger and receive an audience reaction as much as it would otherwise.  I think this technique makes you think about the line more than you would have given there be a pause there and it doesn’t give room for the line to be perceived as a joke but rather characterization that factors into Mr. Greenberg’s final monologue and his performance in general.