Photoplay (Mary Carpenter)

No matter if you are going to the movie theaters once a day or once a year, it is always been a place were people can escape. Back in the 1910’s, movies were very “black and white”. There colorless films not only portrayed to their look but also how they shot their movies. In “The Kleptomaniac” we are shown a clear story where our minds do not have to put all the pieces together, but is more directed through the story. Although the movie had no words, the photographs and pictures were able to give us the complete narrative. As moves are continually changing, we are finding more and more ways to enhance film. In 1920’s, the film “Sherlock Jr.”, still gave us that clear definition of who is good, and who is bad but we also get a new way of viewing movies. With the shots going in and out, with all different effects, we are able to add all the pieces together and create a story. Still today we are having evolutions in film, whether we are going to watch movies in 3-D or watching old 1920’s movies, we are given the chance to escape and learn something new every time.   

Personality and Character

To be able to pick out the character and personality traits of Malcolm X in the piece “Saved”, one must fully grasp the meaning behind both. In my opinion, character is a collection of traits that define individual people. These traits are molded into people from the very beginning of their lives and shaped by the influences of their respective environments. On the other hand, personality defines the way that someone acts and the motivation behind their behavior. One of the most important aspects to understanding the difference between the two terms is that character is objective as for personality that is subjective or the mask that covers a persons character.

For Malcolm X, growing up in Omaha, Nebraska established a struggle for him to find the balance between character and personality. He was split from his family and experienced societal racial problems at a young age, which resulted in his environment shaping his character. When he moved to New York City, he found himself in an a unfortunate position of hitting the low points in his life, this was his mask, his personality. In every part of Malcolm’s life, his personality was always shifting whether it was at his low points selling drugs and in prison or when he was at his high points in the National Islam group and later on forming his own religious group, it was a continual change. As for his character, the horrible racial difficulties that he experienced in his past are always present. “America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem.” His character is defined by the experiences of his past.

Soldiers Without Swords – Mary Carpenter

      I really enjoyed the film Soldiers Without Swords. The film did a good job of retelling the story of how blacks got their voice by writing in an easy to follow chronological order. The film is very powerful to watch as the black people fight for their rights through their words and actually get their point across. We are now able to look back on these articles and get a real perspective of life during those hard times. The other papers gave a one sided reflection on the world and attacked the blacks. The papers written by the black people kept their publishing’s neutral and didn’t attack any other race.
   The importance of this film is to show people how much the media has an impact and an influence on our lives. After watching the movie, I developed a new meaning for the title “Soldiers Without Swords”. The film lets us know that we can win our battles without the harm, and violence that comes with being a soldier. The media gave the black people a voice to speak about the truth, to tell people who they are and what they do. By getting through all the pain, they held their heads up high and kept pushing through the pain and they won the battle.

“With a pen as their weapon, they were Soldiers Without Swords”

Media and Tragedy in New York

Just this October in New York City, a horrible tragedy occurred when the nanny of three children murdered two of the three kids. This woman was at home with the two kids when the mother was out with the other and stabbed them to death in the bathtub. When the mother returned to her Upper West Side apartment, she came home to the most traumatic scene of her life. Screams were heard all throughout the neighborhood and cops surrounded the area. After this incident, the NYC community had a complete new look on nannies. Parents began to fear about the safety of their children in the hands of their current caretakers. Many resorted to buying cameras to watch over their kids and some nannies lost their jobs; this unfortunate event even made it extremely hard for people to get new nanny jobs. The way the media portrayed this incident created a negative outlook on nannies for years to come.