Assignment 10 – Emely Curvelo

West Side Story was one of the best musicals I have ever watched. I was impressed on how they transformed a Broadway play into such movie. The film is a tragic story just like Romeo and Juliet; two people from a different group fall in love and although they tried to make things right between the two groups, things just don’t work out the way they planned.

In this case the conflict was between two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks whose members are young teens with family issues and therefore have chosen to be put in the streets. Both gangs kept fighting for territory. There are several themes played in this film such as; discrimination, love, hatred, immigration.

Assignment 7 – Emely Curvelo

While I was watching the movie “Gangs of New York” I could not help but watch it from Amsterdam point of view, after seeing the thing he went through as a child; how Bill killed his father right in front of him, I couldn’t help but have some kind of sympathy for him. I was able to easily place myself in his shoes and see why he was so thirsty for revenge. On the other hand, I couldn’t really see things from Bill’s point of view because I did not get his motive; why he was being so cruel with the Irish of the only thing they wanted was to find a better lifestyle in the U.S The fact the he just sat there watching how their home was being consumed by fire for a while instead of telling his man to do something about it quickly made me realize that he really enjoyed watching them (the immigrants) suffer, and to me that just wasn’t right. However, as the movie went on, I was able to see the real side of Bill and that was when I realized his true motive; he had become that man in order to protect what his father had died for (the control over the Five Points).
Nonetheless, the movie did a good job on dramatizing what life must have been like for the Irish immigrants and the difficulties they faced as they tried to be accepted by society- the Natives.

Assignment 8 – Emely Curvelo

Power Point Presentation

Assignment 9 – Emely Curvelo

The trip to the Library of Performing Arts was quite an experience for me. Although I was a little upset that I wasn’t able to see the Sesame Street show because I couldn’t find the place, I was still able to enjoy the tour. One thing that impressed me was the fact that they have information in the library that cannot be found on the internet; we tend to think that nowadays we can find just about everything on it but that day I learned that it’s not always the case. Also, I really like the film section. They have pretty much everything you need to know on the making of whatever movie you can think of. I also like the fact that it was also like a museum; they had items that were used to make other films and music sheets from very famous singers in display. There is no doubt that the Library of Performing Arts is definitely very different from the rest; it is actually a lot more fun than any other regular library.

Assignment 6 – Emely Curvelo

Being at the Tenement Museum was quite an experience, it actually turn out to be different from what I thought. One thing that truly impacted me was how real it felt; the way each apartment was set made me feel as if I was living there at that time. I was able to really get a sense on how people lived back then and the struggles they had to go through. As the tour guide was telling us the stories about each family that lived there I was able to picture them in their apartment doing things around the house. One story that really impacted me was the one where the woman gave birth in that tiny apartment with everyone else around her, I could imagine how difficult it most have been for her to give birth in those circumstances. Also, the museum was just like the movie Hester Street. Both really portrayed how was life like in the Lower East Side. Especially the working conditions were exactly the same, just that in the museum was more vivid. Personally, I feel like the Jews community has changed dramatically since the 1800s. They have somehow become more prosperous and their living conditions is much better now than it was back then.

Assignment 5 by Emely Curvelo

The movie Hester Street is about Jewish immigrants that came to the United States and settled in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In this story we see how the main character Yankle was easily adapted to the “new world”. He became a true American, he changed his style completely; wore American clothing, learned how to speak English perfectly and even changed his name to Jake. Also, he seemed to have left everything behind from his wife and child to the Jewish religion.

Gilt on the other hand was different from Jake. Once she came to the United States it was hard for her to adapt to the new world, for her the traditions of the old country were way more important than the modern world of America. This situation brought conflict between her and her husband Jake. He tries to make his family become more “American” by changing his son’s name and cutting off his hair, for Gilt this was just devastating as she tried to stop Jake from doing it but did not succeed. We see how Jake is constantly avoiding her and telling her she needs to change and be more modern. She begins to change once she met Mamie- Jake’s lover who like Jake became easily adapted to the American culture. Gilt soon starts to learn English and wear more modern clothing as a way to win back her husband, but of course she is not successful in doing that and they got a divorce.

Lastly we have Mamie and Bernstein. On one hand Mamie is a modern girl, doing what ever is necessary to survive in America. Like Jake she left everything behind including her religion. While Bernstein was somehow a modern man who still was able to keep his values, he would work at the same factory as Jake but he was still a religious man. In the end Jake and Mamie go off to make their lives in the new world in their own way, while Gilt and Bernstein do the same except they kept their Jewish believes.

Assignment #4 – Emely Curvelo

Throughout the film we see the different gender roles by John and Mary. At the beginning, they show the typical hard working man doing everything to succeed. Once John meets Mary they got married and we see how John as the man of the house is the one with the responsibility to work and bring food into the household, as for Mary, she quick her job once she became a house wife. Nonetheless, this is exactly the role that both man and woman were expected to play back in the day. Also, we see how Mary’s passive behavior came into light when John decided to go out with his friend to get drunk, leaving Mary and her family to celebrate on their own. There is no doubt that gender roles play an important part in this particular film; the women taking care of what goes on in the house while the man is described as the dominant partner who has to go out and find a way to support the family. However, there was some kind of twist in this particular film, right towards the end of the movie when Mary was about to leave John to move in with her brothers. We see how devastated John became, not knowing what to do without her if she left. Personally, I feel like that this gives woman the same amount of responsibility if not more than what the man has.

Assignment 3 by Emely Curvelo

Personally, I think that Charlie Chaplin did an amazing job with “The Immigrant” short film. He managed to give the film an incredible effect such as the movement of the ship, which at the time was probably very difficult to make due to the lack of technology. Also, he was able to portray immigrants and the things they had to face. One of the biggest obstacles they faced was the economy; we see how Chaplin’s character was playing poker along with the other characters and how angry one of them got after losing, causing him to steal from a crying women just so that he can have another try to get his money back. They also had other obstacles such as sick people on the ship, lack of food etc. for them, America was the land of opportunity in which they would get a fresh new start to a better life. We can see how their faces lit up as they were passing by the statue of liberty but once they arrived they came to know a new reality about the so called “land of freedom”; they were tied up the authorities but due to their social and economic status, Charlie and Edna’s character were given the chance to leave. Once in NYC, Charlie shows other obstacles an immigrant must face like not knowing how to speak English as well as not having enough money to survive.

Assignment #2. By Emely Curvelo

The MOMI Museum has a fascinating way of displaying the development of film. It shows everything from the equipment used to capture film to costumes as well as make up techniques, stage development etc. nonetheless, one aspect the illustrates the fact that “The changes that a moving image medium goes through over time have an impact on the “look” of the image, and on the way it is seen by an audiences,” would be the evolution of moving images. I think it was very interesting how it all began with one simple question about horses and whether it would have all four hooves off the ground during a full gallop. The answer to this question would be in a simple experiment which included a sequence of photographs. However, these photographs showed an interesting discovery; the horse appeared to actually be running when the photographs were shown in a high speed. This discovery had a major impact on the film industry.
Another major aspect that has impacted the look of an imagine and the way it is seen by an audience would be the make-up techniques, and the MOMI has a unique way of showing the entire process. We were able to see the complete make over of Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams; a molded mast glued to their faces in such perfect manner that it retain movement and facial expression. Also, the legs of Natalie Portman which were used as a technique for continuos scenes.

Assignment 1 By: Emely Curvelo

Thomas Edison is one of the best known inventors of his time. In fact, he has over 2000 patents under his name, some of which include the lightbulb, the kinetograph and the kinetoscope. The kinetograph at the time was use to capture film while the kinetoscope was the very first device to produce motion pictures. However, only one person at the time was able to see the footage through a small hole.
These particular inventions inspired many other inventors such as the Lumiere Brothers to develop a movie camera and projector also known as the cinematographe, but unlike Edision’s creation hundreds of people were able to watch at the same time causing their invention to be more popular than Edison’s kinetoscope.
Seeing how other inventors were benefiting from his idea which he wasn’t able to pay for copyright, Edison began to use his competition which included the American Mutoscope and Biograph Pictures saying that they had stolen his ideas for the kinetograph. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that although Edison had patented the kinetograph, he did owned the whole concept of the movie camera but rather the chainwheel the moved the images through the camera.