After hearing the few final presentations of personal canon selections on Thursday, my initial reaction that pretty much everyone's interests also interested me despite how different their interests may have originally seemed. I had personally had experience with a few of the texts that my peers shared. Such as; The Pursuit of Happyness, The Lorax, and a little bit with Bruce Lee. I can say that with these three that I were familiar with I could share in my classmate's excitement for these because I loved the Pursuit of Happyness, I enjoyed watching the Lorax and had seen two Bruce Lee movies, which I also enjoyed. There were a couple texts shared that I was not familiar with, like House of Cards, Scandal and The Road. Although I had not really had any experience of much knowledge of these after hearing the point of view of the people who had and hearing their love for them it did actually spark my interest.
Blog any reactions you had to the inquiry 3 presentations. Did any of the texts you heard about sound interesting to you? Were there any you already knew about? What do these texts tell you about the differences or similarities between you and your classmates? What might account for these differences or similarities?
I was actually surprised to find that most of the texts shared did actually sound pretty interesting to me. There were a few that I had already heard of like, The Grateful Dead and Steal Magnolias. But even though I had heard of these it was still nice to get more information on them and hear someone else's point of view and their own experiences with texts that I am familiar with. I think that listening to my classmate's canon selections show me that even though you may have slightly different interests than some other people, them sharing their interests and experiences may open you up and spark interests My working thesis for my paper is ". Although there were many movies of it’s kind Rainman seemed to get more attention, better reviews, became better known and turned into the classic it is today."
About My Draft: I wasn't really sure how to start and introduce my essay, so I'm not entirely sure that the introduction works very well. Also, I wasn't sure how to turn the theme and purpose of my paper into a good, solid, working thesis statement. I'm not sure if the paper flows very well or is organized in a good way. And finally, I know the paper ends very abruptly, that is because I wasn't sure where else to go with the paper, or how to end it at all. I plan to put a lot of work into crafting a better thesis statement, organizing my paper better and finding a way to wrap up my paper and have a nice concluding paragraph. http://grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3986
This article talks about how the director, Hoffman, the screenwriters, and producers all got oscars for this film. It calls it a "crazy plot where and odd couple converge" which I would agree sums it up quite nicely. They talk about how the crazy plot and the relationship work together well to make the audience believe it and have a connection with the film. It then just goes on to an overview and summary of the plot line. I can use this article to add more supporting evidence of my main theme and show how the plotline seems odd but I really think that it gave it a sense of reality. I could use this article to show how successful the movie was with all of its awards. Also, this article did a good job of showing how the relationship was so realistic and relate-able to people and I can use this as a an example of a potential reason for the movie getting a lot of good reviews and becoming a classic. http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/digitalwatch/rainman.shtml
This article has a lot of information that is closely related to my main theme for my paper. lists a large group of movies that came out that year that were in their opinion great films and they weren't nominated for best picture and Rainman was.. It talks about how the concept of Rainman wouldn't seem like it would work out as a movie but came together brilliantly. It also says that Rainman has an almost identical storyline to many other moves from the past couple years of 1988, which is exactly what i plan to write about. The article talks about reason that this film seemed to stand out from others despite having extremely similar plot lines and concepts. I can use this article to support my main theme and give some more potential answers the question "How does Rainman stand out as a classic with so many other similar movies coming out at the same time" which is the main point of my paper. This article gave great insight to potential answers to that question such as the directing, the brotherly bond, the relationship, the acting and more. http://www.csmonitor.com/1988/1230/lfl30.html
This article gave some very useful and interesting insight that I hadn't yet found out. The article says, "four major directors, including Steven Spielberg and Martin Brest, dropped the project" before the final director, Barry Levinston took over. The article says it was hard to find a director because people thought the characters would be unlikable since they aren't your typical "heores" but Levinston could see his vision of their relationship being beautiful. I think that this article really helped me understand how the movie really came together so I can explain that in my paper. Also, I can use this article to explain how the main characters were first seen to be unlikable but the director Levinsto and the actors Cruise and Hoffman came together to create and extremely likable, real, genuine relationship between two extremely different people. I can use this article to support my idea that maybe the relationship between the two brothers could have been a major point that made the movie stand out. http://www.7mpictures.com/rain-man-blu-ray-review/
I found this article pretty interesting because they really showed both sides. They listed what they personally saw as the positives and negatives which i think could really help me understand the thoughts of people as they watched Rainman. The article says that the movie wasn't an instant hit but it spend many weeks at the top of the box offices and eventually became "one of the biggest hits of 1988" The article talks about how a lot of people alive in the '80's (not myself) have a sort of "warmth" or feeling of nostalgia towards the '80's and Rainman was a sort of movie that celebrated that time period. I can use this article to show why people may have a connection with the movie, as well as tell the few things this article pointed out as minor potential flaws. Also, I will talk about how even though it started off slow, it eventually erupted into the classic, very well-known movie it is today. I can also use the quote of nostalgia towards the '80's as a potential explanation for it success. This article seems to praise every aspect of the movie Rainman. They say, " it is one of modern cinema's great triumphs: believable, unsentimental, often hilarious". It also says that both of the main actors (Cruise and Hoffman) had their stand out roles in this film which shows another good example of why Rainman may have stood out. The article says that the director handled the film "beautifully" which again could add more reasons as to why Rainman stood out more than the other films of similar concepts. It then just gives a quick plot summary.
I could use this article to bring in some good clear evidence that people believe is the reason this move was so good and considered a "classic". The article praised the movie, actors and directors so I could use those three things as examples for my argument. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-12-16/entertainment/8802250649_1_autistic-savant-valeria-golino-director-barry-levinson
This review gives a different view from all the others I've read so far. it talks about how the movie was well-written and directed and had a great acting. They go on to say that it "slips into the 'so what' category" because it is just like the other "buddy films". I found it very interesting that this review wasn't as positive as the others since it also came out in the same year that the movie was released. The article says that the movie "Twins" came out the week before and had almost the exact concept and almost made Rainman seem "stale" and it may have gotten better reviews if they didn't come out so close to eachother I can use this article to show a little diversity in the reactions of the film. I think it will add more to the argument I plan to make that there were many movies with a similar concept that came out close to the same time period. It will help me show that all these movies coming out at the same time actually could have hurt Rainman in some reviews and use this as a prime example. I can use this to show that people thought Rainman was written and directed better and had better acting which helped it stand out. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1988-12-16/lifestyle/0090130066_1_dustin-hoffman-raymond-rain-man
This review is from a newspaper published in 1988, actually the exact same day Rainman came out. My paper's main theme and purpose is to show that many movies came out at this time that had similar storylines and themes as Rainman but Rainman seemed to get more attention and do it the best. This article actually says, "Though there have been many movies about boy's minds in men's bodies lately, none has had a realistic base." Which is a great supporting statement for my thesis and main idea. Some of the movies this article mentions that came out near the same time and didn't do it as good as Rainman are; Big, Vise Versa and LIke Father Like Son. This article refers to the movie as a "man-boy" film because Raymond Babbit who is autistic seems to be "a boy trapped in a mans body" which i believe gives great insight to the thoughts and knowledge of mental disorders in this time period. It shows that people weren't very educated on the topic at the time and this movie seemed to have maybe opened their eyes to the topic. This article also gives insight to and describes the characters so that people can better understand the two main characters lives and their relationship. The article goes on to talk about how the director of the film has a specific different style that fits really well with this movie and makes it much more real and relate-able for people. Also, it talks about the great acting styles of the two main characters and how they go well to their specific characters and together to make the movie fun, easy to watch and understand and much more real. I can use this article to support my main theme and purpose of my paper with specific details and thoughts of the time period of the exact day that the article came out. I can use it to show specifics such as the directors, actors and storyline to show what made it such a great, well-liked movie and made it stand out from the similar ones of its time. |