Blog Response--Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a film about many things, but overall, it is about the theme of isolation and focuses on one particular loner in a big city who can be construed as an antihero. It is a film that draws from many genres: the Western, horror, noir, and was also influenced by the films of the Italians (DeSica, Rosselini, Fellini).

Discuss in at least two paragraphs, the themes of isolation and/or the antihero and how Scorsese’s film is influenced by the different genres and by the Italians.

Due: January 3

Blog Response--Amarcord

Because I've been sick ever since we finished this film, I'd like to apologize for the tardiness of this assignment.

This should be easy. Choose a scene in the film and analyze it in depth. Be sure to discuss its sociocultural influences, why you chose the scene, and how the scene relates to the film as a whole. Your response should be thoughtful and along the lines of what you will do next month. Be thorough.

Due: Wednesday, 12/21

Blog Response--La Strada

Roger Ebert says:


"It is Quinn's performance that holds up best, because it is the simplest. Zampano is not much more intelligent than Gelsomina.

Life has made him a brute and an outcast, with one dumb trick (breaking a chain by expanding his chest muscles), and a memorized line of patter that was perhaps supplied to him by a circus owner years before. His tragedy is that he loves Gelsomina and does not know it, and that is the central tragedy for many of Fellini's characters: They are always turning away from the warmth and safety of those who understand them, to seek restlessly in the barren world."

Fellini has given us a film about outcasts. How do the roles of these outcasts reflect on each other? Do you see any signs of redemption? Choose a character and examine how that character redeems him or herself and how that character is presented as an outcast by society. Be mindful of all of Fellini's symbolism! Do this in at least 2 hearty paragraphs.