Sean Jadoo Assignment #12

Assignment #11- Sean Jadoo

The trip to the Paley Center was a fun experience. I was able to learn a bit more about how television back in the early years have changed drastically over the years. Mainly the way they handled the Ethnicity aspect of the american culture. Over the years the way they went about presenting and depicting ethnicity have changed. Television being one of the most relevant forms of media over the years made a huge impact on the lives of people. The earlier showing of television programs had depicted European  immigrants in negative ways. The later on the target went on to target African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and even Native American Indians. Even going further to address the topic of homosexuality in the late 1990’s going into the 2000’s. I got to witness some really old footage and television shows that I have never seen or heard of and it was a truly nice experience.

Assignment #10 West Side Story – Sean Jadoo

Westside Story is a unique movie in itself. The film is basically a musical with Romeo and Juliet type of story going on within it. Taking place in the 1960’s when racism was at a high point especially racism dealing with those who were immigrants coming to America. The film centers around the conflicts between two rival gangs in New York’s upper west side, The Jets and The Sharks. The Jets being all white teenagers and the Sharks being Puerto Rican immigrants. The Romeo and Juliet conflict arises when a member of the Jets Tony, falls in love with a girl named Maria who just happens to be the sister of Bernardo who leads the rival gang The Sharks. Being that the two are from two completely different worlds they weren’t allowed to be with each other which didn’t stop them from loving each other. Things eventually turn to the worse when Tony had killed Maria’s brother and caused an all out war between the two gangs which lead to his death and only then with the help of Maria did the two gangs realize that their hate for each other let a lot of terrible events unfold and due to their guilt they eventually came together at the end. Westside story being an amazing film with fantastic singing and dancing as well as an all around great story makes it a must see for anyone who enjoys a great movie to watch.

Assignment #7- Sean Jadoo

Throughout the film Gangs of New York, there were many different point of views that were shown to give us a broad understanding of how life was like back in that time period. Mainly corruption in the legal systems, the way immigrants were treated as well as how African Americans were treated, Religion was another major contributing factor. All these things were factors that created basis for in a sense who you would be allied with. In Gangs of New York we are shown just how versatile and different each gang was whether it was a gang filled with immigrants, white people, people of the same religion or even colored.

The main thing the gangs fought over was the control of the five points. Whoever controlled the Five Points controlled everything in a way. Gangs would bribe the government officials and politicians with acts of violence and lucrative dealings of money to stay in power and practically have the government in their pockets so that the crimes they committed and all the atrocities the have done would just be forgotten, having the police and others just turn the other way when things went south. In the film the main gang that held all the power were The Natives, upper class white people who looked down on immigrants and colored people like they were nothing but scum. The way people were treated back then was horrid, as soon as they would get off the boat a rock would be thrown at their faces and angry curses and swears being slung at them left in right. Being subjugated to such acts were not the reasons they came to America, they came seeking freedom yet in return they were met with really sad turn of events.

The film Gangs of New York is a really good film and even though it was my first time watching it I can honestly say I wouldn’t have any trouble watching it again or recommending it to someone to watch if they were a bit curious as to how life was like back in the 1800’s.

Assignment #1- Sean Jadoo

The creation of the Kinetoscope and the Kinetograph was credited to William Laurie Dickinson, who happened to be Thomas Edison’s assistant who worked for the Edison Laboratories. The Kinetograph was one of the first cameras being able to capture and record motion pictures. The Kinetoscope was a device created to in a sense “Do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”, Thomas Edison had patented a version of the kinetoscope in 1888. Edison wanted to provide people with objects in motion as a sort of entertainment, so he wanted to produce a vast quantity of these machines which eventually became known as “Peepshows”. The “Peepshows” were only intended for a single viewer because Edison didn’t support the idea of the projector for an audience.

However The Luminere Brothers had created the projector to show film to a larger audience, this projector was later dubbed “The Cinematographe” which became widely popular. Due to the growth and popularity of the projector creating a new form in which a whole audience not just one person could view a film, the kinetoscope lost it’s interest, which in turn led to Edison having to change his views on the projector and follow with the crowd. This led to him purchasing a projection machine which he in turn named the Vitascope.