Turning Points In Film History: Foreword & Intro.

While reading the foreword of Turning Points In Film History I realized that practically everything that was being said by Joe Bob Briggs was absolutely true. Film is constantly changing and it seems that some of the most moving and inspired works of cinema may be forgotten because they simply cannot capture the attention of the average person today as well as a special-effects packed film can. Briggs also discusses the fact that since film was invented in the United States, it has, with few exceptions, “found its highest expression in America”. (Briggs)

The introduction continues this idea as well and states that “most significant events in the history of American film have ultimately affected world cinema in one way or another” (Rausch), but I feel that American film has recently been affected by world cinema in a big way. In recent years there has been a movement in American cinema of remaking foreign films and releasing them in the United States. One of the best examples that comes to mind is The Ring (2002) which was a remake of the Japanese film Ringu (1998). There have been other American films that have been remakes of foreign films and in my opinion, that shows that world cinema has began to affect American cinema and how Americans perceive cinema as well.

I agree completely with Rausch and Briggs, but I also feel that the way in which world cinema has affected American cinema should be spoken of more. The fact is; American cinema has, and will continue to affect world cinema, but it will continue to draw inspiration from world cinema as well.

Opinion and Evaluation

When reading Corrigan’s text, his feelings of how opinion and evaluation influence how we write about film are clear and it is easy to grasp the concept that he is explaining. Everyone has their likes and dislikes when it comes to film, and their opinions on film are usually at the forefront of any writing or conversation, but evaluation of the film is also very important for one to consider when writing about film; otherwise you just sound like a movie reviewer.

One example that Corrigan brings up in his text is the way that people look at and discuss literary adaptations. Some people want nothing to do with literary adaptations unless they are completely true to the literary work and one example of film that has been brought under scrutiny recently is Beowulf (2007). Most people found the film to be quite bothersome because it is only loosely based on the literary work that it is based on with the film-makers taking artistic liberties and adding things and changing characters and so on. I simply look at the film for what it is; a literary adaptation that is trying to draw in a larger crowd than just those who have read the work.

It is alright to express your opinion about any work of film, but if you are going to write about it then you must also evaluate the film without allowing your opinions to control what you are attempting to communicate in your writing.

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