Everything is Dust in the Wind?

The Lone Prospector in The Gold Rush begins his search for gold wobbling on the brink of an icy ledge, blissfully unaware that he is within easy grasp of a ferocious bear.  His quest ends as he is in a cabin that is teetering on a cliff, one step away from upsetting the precarious balance and plunging him and his fellow prospector to the icy abyss.  Along the way he is nearly shot, almost eaten as he is mistaken for a chicken, and reduced to eating his own boot (not the mention cruelly played with by a woman he is fond of).  What is the film say about the human condition?  The search for wealth?  About kindness and cruelty?  Is life all vanity of vanities?  Or are we more than dust in the wind?

From the Gutter to Gold

In The Gold Rush Charlie Chaplin's character of the Lone Prospector heads to Alaska to find his fortune looking for gold.  He never finds any himself but is almost killed several times, chased by a fellow prospector who thinks he's a chicken, and eventually makes it rich when a storm blows his cabin to the site of another prospector's claim.  At the end of the film, he comes home in style sporting fine clothes as he travels on a luxury ocean liner.  He's the prefect embodiment of the "rags to riches" story -- or is he?  What is the movie telling us about this story?  What is is saying about  how people acquire (or try to acquire) wealth?  What is it saying about success and the prestige that comes from it?

Birth of a Controversy

D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation is considered a landmark American film that ushered in many of the hallmarks of classic Hollywood cinema. It is preserved in the National Film Registry and is listed in the top 100 films of all time by AMC cable channel and the AFI (American Film Institute). Yet it is also a film which advocates white supremacy and lionizes the Klu Klux Klan. Can such a film truly be great? Why or why not?  What about other films such the Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will a film that trumpets Nazi ideology and celebrates Adolph Hitler? Do political and moral statements matter in an artwork? Or is it enough to be technically and artistically brilliant? Can an artwork's message trump its style?

Birth of Sci-Fi?

Some commentators have dubbed Méliès's film A Trip to the Moon the first science fiction movie.  Not all critics, however, agree.  Tom Gunning, the author of our essay on that film, argues for the contrary view.  He states, " 'Science' fiction implies a certain sobriety and serious concern with scientific and technological possibilities. . . .  But Méliès cannot take his scientists seriously at all, introducing them first as wizards with pointy hats, figures out of fairy pantomime . . . (70).  What do you think?  While you may not be able to judge whether this is the first of its kind, you can make a judgment about whether or not it qualifies as science fiction.  Compare this film with other science fiction movies you have seen.  How is it the same?  How is it different?  Can we call it a science fiction film, a precursor of such films, or something entirely different?