Final Paper

In my final paper I am going over the main themes of blazing saddles which is sexism and racism. For a movie that was made in 1974 it still has relevent things to say about both issues. Some of these things are the treatment of minorities, belife in stereotypes, and judgeing a person on his merit and not apperance. I also may talk about how this movie was written by a multi racial team. Mel Brooks a white man and Mr. Pryor. That though mite not be in the paper though.

Blazing saddles

The second most important theme in Blazing Saddles is that of sexism. They manner in which the film address is it is by going over the top with it. Mel Brooks and the others writers of this film make it obvious that they are addressing sexism.n The theme can be seen in characters such as Lily who is a"show girl", and the goveners secritary. These characters are the tipical archatype for the roles that they play. In the film it also shows how stupid the men are when they abide by these stereotypes.

Blazing Saddles

In blazing saddles the main theme of the movie is Race Relations. Most of the movie revolves around Barts interactions with the towns people. In the movie people that are racist and intolernat are shown as being foolish. The viewers of the movie see this in the first scene of the movie when the blacks are working on the rail road, and the scene when Bart first comes to town. Through out the movie people only become less foolish when they learn to become more tolerant.

Blazing Saddles

In my search for why blazing saddles is a significant movie in western lore I learned many things about the movie I did not know. The fist and most shocking thing I learned is that Blazing saddles was nominated for 3 acadmey awards, and though it did not win any it won other awards like best comedy, and best screen play by other awards groups. Blazing saddles is also proteced by the libray of congress as a cultural, historical, or astitical work that is of importence. I also never looked at the time in which it was made. It was relesed in 1974 and the moive has many racial and ethnic slurs in it. These slurs are ment to show the tenshions of race reltations not only in the west but in the gernral culture at large.

Blazing Saddels a parody of the west.

In the Moving Blazing saddles there are so many things that I could make a presintation on. I thnk that the most noticeable one would be the theme of race in the west. The relationship between the towns people and their new black sheriff would be soming good to present on. I could show how over time the people slowy came to accept the sheriff a little bit.

Smoke signals paper

I think that may write my paper on the theme of fire in the movie, or the role that victors father played in the movie. If I was to use the latter as a topic I think my thesis would be how do people forgive their fathers. The only other thing i could think of would write on would be to compare the movie to Alxie's poem how to write a great american indian novel. That in it self could leed to some interesting topics.

Smoke signals part 2

For being an indepentant film I think somke signals is very well writen, and has a good production value. I like the fact that the movie balences the serious and comidic scenes in the movie very well. The movie doesnt get to serious or become to much like a comdey. I saw this balance in the scene were Victor cuts his hair and then drives with Thomas back to the rez. The beging of the scene is very tense because of what has just transpired in the scene befor it. This tension is relived when Thomas trys to tell the story of how Arnold took him to Dennys. I think that this would be a good movie to write a paper on because of all the issues that it address in it.

Smoke Signals part 1

Ok for this movie i have one main question. What is the significance of Victors dad cutting his hair and not letting it grow out any more? I can tell that it is important, but i have no clue to its true meaning. One thing that stood out to me was the way that they used the sterotypes to make jokes, about there history. The second is when the two girls ask if Victor and Thomas if they have there passports, and Thomas says that its the U.S why woudl they need a passport, and the girls responce was to say that the U.S off the reservation was just like another county. To me this shows the gap between Indian culture on a rez, and the culture of the gerneral population of the U.S

Alexie

In this story Alexie gives a very discriptive view of life on the "rez". This story like the poem from him we read shows only the negative aspects of life on the reservation. He shows how things like poverty, and alcoholism cause daily struggles for the people there. His writings of these things did not suprise me much, because we have talked about most of these things in class. Alexie has been one of my faviorte autors to read in this class, because I think that when he writes about the Indian culture and way of life it is more real to me because he himself is an Indain.

Fleur

Ok first of all I would like to apologize for not blogging in a couple of days.
Fleur as a story to me was one that was easy to read and easy to follow, but I still cant understand what the short story is about. The fact that it's diction is easy to understand and the story flows well really makes me wonder what i missed. I've read the story multipule times and i still cant figure it out.

How To Write the great american indian novel

In Alexies pome how to write the great american indian novel he makes many good points about the template of how writers make Indian novels. When he talks about the Indian as a hero and how he must be a half breed, and must be from a horse culture in my mind it made me think of the movie Hidalgo. In that movie the writers did follow most of the things that Alexie said. The main character was a half breed from a horse culture, his grandmother was a tragic indian figure, he had a secret and it was slowly revealed, and when he had moments of introspections he was always alone. This movie was a big hit and got nominated for a couple of awards. So this lends credince to the claim that Alexie makes in the title.

Cowboy

I think that the diologe at the beging of this short story make it a little hard to read and follow, but I think that it also makes the story more beliveable. The choice of languge that the author uses makes the speaker sound as if he is uneducated. This story remindes me of a good friend that of mine that owns cattle he descibes his cores and what he does in much the same way. This story gives the reader a good idea at what modern day cowboys do every day.

The Good The Bad and The Tuco

Out of all the times I've seen this movie I just thought of Tuco as a one dementional character. Now watching it I realize that he is much more than just a comic figure in the movie. During this viewing I see now that Tuco is kind of a tragic figure in the movie. This can be shown in the conversation with his brother were he says that he only had two choices of what to do with his life, and since he didn't want to leave his family to become a priest he chose to become an outlaw. At this point I think that i fell sorry for Tuco because nothing goes right for him everything that he has done so far in the movie has ended up in failure.

The Good, the bad, and the ugly

In this viewing of the good the bad and the ugly I noticed some thing that I never have before. I've seen this movie 4 times yet I never thought about the significance of Blondie's horse. Just like the singing cowboys had there trademark horse so did he thats how tuko was able to identify him in the saloon/hotel. I also think that it is funny that tuko keeps bringing up the two kind of people in this world. He does this and yet we are clearly seeing three differant types of people. I also think the name of the movie gives credance to that idea there are not only two types of people but three the good people the bad people and the ugly people. The viewers start to see in this viewing that tuko turned to a life of crime not because he was evil but it was one of only two ways for him to improve his station in life.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly part 1

On Friday when the class watchend the good, the bad, and the ugly, it wasn't my first time seeing the film, but it was the first time I realized how differant it was campaired to the movies of John Wayne, and the other cowboy movies of the mid 2oth century. The good the bad and the ugly broke many of the cowboy movie traditions that we talked about, and some that we didn't but i have noticed in my viewing of westerns. The sceen were angle eyes shoots the man through the pillow broke the rule about you couldn't have a gun fire and a person being shot in the same frame. This may not be a perfect example as the pillow was covering his head so we didn't see him actully being shot but his body was still visable and was thrashing around before the shots then went limp after them so as to give the impression of death. The second thing that i noticed was that the "good" was introduced last after all the other actors. This is a change because in most westerns the hero is introduced first or close to the begaing of the movie not 15 to 20 min into the movie.

Also i would like to ask the question why did the Italians make westerns, and why are other cultures around the world so intersted in Cowboys. I have my own ideas on this. Just like we as a culture are fasinated by the samuri of Japan, and the Knights of europe I think that that other cultures look at the cowboy the same way. It was something that they didn't have in there culture the cowboy is something that is unique to america and almost nowhere else so thats why people from other countries are so fasinatied by them.

fruther ideas for essays

Other ideas that i have for essays are the evolution of the cowboy. We started off reading dime novels that didn't really have a method on what a cowboy hero should look like or act. The perfect example is cali Joe he was dressed in all black but road a white horse. The lone ranger on the other hand dressed in all white and rode a white horse. The acts of the cowboy seemed to go in an ark through out the years. The cowboy starts out as an outlaw (cali Joe) and then moved onto the noble actions of the lone ranger and the singing cowboys then the cowboy devolves back into an outlaw with some of John Wayne's characters and with Clint Eastwood with his role in the dollars trilogy.
The second idea is a look at the cowboy code and the movie cowboys Vs. the reality of what history says happened.

Essay topics,

Well with an essay coming up I think that i have at leas three good topics for an essay. My first topic would am expose on the outlaw hero in westerns. For this topic I could use the examples of Cali Joe, ethan from the searcher, and clint eastwood in the dollars trilogy. The second one would be the attire of the western hero from the black garb and white horse of Cali Joe to the all white dress of the lone ranger, and the all black of zorro. The third and final topic is the question can some one make an original western any more, has it all been done and can the method be improved upon.

The Searchers. part 3

Well this movie ended in the way that i expected it to. They found her, she didn't want to go because she thought the indians were her family. Ethan got mad cut her out of his will, and gave all his things to Martin. Martin ends up fighting because his love is about to be married to another man. Ethan's crime almost gets him. The fight scar one final time. Ethan forgives Debbie and they ride happly into the sunset as the movies ends. This Is a typical ending for the typical western. I think that this movie could be used as a templet on how to make other westerns. It had all the things you think of when you think of a western. It had outlaws, loss of family, a love story, a singing cowboy, indians, mexicans, calvary men, and a happy ending. I'm not saying that this is a bad movie I am just saying it is nothing i haven't seen a hundred times before in other westerns. I think that i have become some what jaded to the whole movie genera in general, because i have seen so many. This movie though does help tie into some things i was thinking about doing a paper on,

The Searchers. part 2

With the second watching of the searchers I applaud the film makers for trying to add some complexity to the movie with the addition of the romance/ love triangle for martin. As an avid movie goer i can tell that this isn't going to end well for him and the others involved. The addition of the Comic and tragic figure Look was good at providing a break in the other wise tense feeling set by the directors. What makes Look such a tragic figure is that when the viewers find out she is dead the views feel only a little shock about the death but never sadness. As a flat character though could we really expect anything different. The directors give us a view of what the little girl could be like when the find her. We as viewers get this view when Ethan and Martin are in the fort looking at the girls that were brought back by the calvary, The way Ethan looks at them tells me that he is not going to be happy if he find his kin in the same condition. There is also the questions of race brought up in this segment. The border scenes with the Mexicans show how they were thought of in 1956 you had the drink with Ethan couldn't stomach, the food, and the dancer.

The Searchers.

The Searchers was a Movie made in 1956 staring Americas number one cowboy John Wayne.

This Movie starts off like most other westerns. Man returns home after a long time of war and wondering. When the man gets back not much has changed, but it seems that his return has started a chain of events that leads to the death and or kidnapping of his family while he is away. After the first showing in class I was dissapointed because I had high hopes for this movie, but after one viewing I can tell this is going to be a plain lets watch this guy run around and try to find his missing kin. My number one question with the movie is were did Ethan get all those gold coins. I know it will come back later near the end and we as the people watching the movie will find out that the hero has done some crime that makes him an outlaw hero.

John Wayne

First of all sorry it has taken me so long to blog just got my computer back on friday.

Coming into this segment about John Wayne I thought that i knew a lot about the man know as John Wayne. I grew up with a dad who enjoyed westerns so me and John Wayne had meet before. I had seen his work in classics like the Alamo and war wagon. With only knowing a few of the movies he worked on i dismissed him as just another famous actor playing cowboy. Come to find out i knew very little about the man know as John Wayne. Just a few of the things that I have learned have changed my view of the him. In my research I found out that John Wayne was not a real name it was a stage name used by Marion Mitchell Morrison. When I first found out this I got a chuckle because the most famous cowboy in American film was named Marion. Then I checked out his filmography I was amazed to find out he had participated in over one hundred movies. I having to sit through some of them as a child thought that I had at least seen most of them, but i was wrong I went and took a look at my dads old VHS's and I found out that I hadn't even seen half of the ones that my dad had. He had 60 tapes in all and looking through them I found 2 that really changed my view of John Wayne as an actor. Those two movies were sands of iwo jima and the longest day. These are two world war two movies that were award winning films back in the day. Wanting to know what these two movies were like I dug up the old VCR and hooked it up to the TV and took a look at the movies. Both of the movies are long but they are some of John Wayne's best work. These movies changed my view of him and gave me good feeling about the searchers.

Essay topics

On monday my group and I came up with four very good essay topics based up the dime novel California Joe. Topic one is the idea of the nature of a classic hero vs the outlaw hero that is presented in Cali Joe. The second topic is the purpose of Maggie in the story, We thought that this would be a good topic because in the story she only show up at times and then after that chapter she leaves and is not seen again for a while. The third is the idea of money in the novel. This comes up as an issue because in the book some people call Joe the gold man, and his name California Joe gives off like the forty niner connotation. Even with all these things money seems to have no hold on Joe. The fourth and final topic is the anti climatic ending of the novel compaired with the the rest of the book. In the book up until the final chapter Joe engages in battles were he is greatly outnumbered and still he come out fine. In the final chapter though Joe is killed by one man in the bushes with a rifle. He doesn't even have a chance to fight he dies instantly and thats the end.

Cali Joe part 2

The Joe presented in chapters six through ten is much different from the one that was established in chapters one through five. In the first five chapters Joe as a mysterious good natured and innocent youth that is helping people that he doesn't know. Joe in these chapters seems to by the model selfless hero. This view changes after we read of the battle with the Indians. In this battle readers see Joe become "for lack of better words" a savage. He scalps the Indians, steals there horses, and shots them in the back as they try to run away, In these chapters we see that Joe is not the classic wild west hero, but another classic figure of the west the outlaw. On top of all this Joe is also a horse thief. This may not sound like a big act now, but in this point and time in the west it was a crime that carried the weight of death. During this time though readers wouldn't see Joe in the same way to them he was the idea of a hero.

Cali Joe

The dime novel California Joe when read gives the feeling that the story is being told by a old story teller around the fire. This feeling coupled with the fact that the story starts with the question "Who is California Joe?" and then no answer proceeds makes Joe like a mythical figure who seems to be only half real. This is enforced when he is first introduced as a "strange being and his ghost like horse" The mystery about him kind of dehumanizes him to were even when he helps the caravan get back on the right track the people think of him as a spook and are willing to depart from the path he is leading them on. When he does reveal himself fully the people are still fearful because he enters the camp on horseback without a guard seeing him. Yet this fear melts away when the people look upon his face. Joe also seems to have a very capable military mind this is shown when he and Captain Reynolds are making a plan to hold off against the braves. With this last weird event it seems like the author has given Joe mythical powers/qualities that a demi god in Greek literature would have. His dress though reminds me of another hero of the west Zorro. The book describes him as dressed completely in black sitting on a white horse. This is almost identical to a description of Zorro the only thing that is different is that Zorro's steed is a black instead of white. This story so far to me seems like a collection of existing hero archetypes in a new setting.

Contradictions,,, Deloria, and Baum

Deloria's writing clearly shows the contradiction within the American identity between the want to be a civilized nation, and the urge to be completely free. This can be seen even in Baum article were he expresses his want to exterminate the all the Indians to help keep the frontier safe for the "civilized people". In his article he expresses his distaste for sitting Bull and says that Sitting Bull has lost the "proud spirit of the original owners of these vast praes". He wants to exterminate the Indians because in his mind they have lost the spirit that made them great. In his article he shows that he respects the spirit that they once posesed, He later then goes on to say that it was "by justice of civilization" that the whites had become masters of the land. This is a contradiction he respects the Indians for there wild and savage spirit, but says it is the savageness and uncivilized nature that led to there downfall and domination by the whites. This is that same contradiction that surfaces in Deloria's writings.

Zitkala Sa Part 2

In Part 4 big red apples Sa shows how the missionaries education in a "more beautiful country" is slowly changing the way of life for the people. This is shown in the person of Dawee her brother. The changes that he puts into motion are simple like changing the covering of there wigwam from buffalo skin to canvas to big things like getting rid of the wigwam for a log cabin.

Response to Zitkala Sa part 1

In part one of Zitkala Sa's autobiography the feeling of loss that is portrayed is near identical to the one in Helen Hunt Jackson's a century of dishonor. The dialogue at the end of the first story between Sa and her mother is most effective at showing the reader this feeling, and just like in the first reading it deals with the death of the Indian people as a direct result of the advances of the "paleface". The Setting of the passages is near the same. They both take place in the Missouri river valley, but the passages take place at different times. They are however around the same time period.

Response to "a century of dishonor"

In the excerpt from Helen hunt Jackson's " a century of dishonor" she tells the story of the peaceable Poncar Indian tribe, and the governments mistreatment of them. In this excerpt She uses numerous quotes blended in with her own words to tell 60 years of this peoples dealings with the government. Miss Jackson uses words like destitution and desperation to help the reader understand the felling of hopelessness felt on the Poncar reservation. This passage shows the unwillingness on the part of the government to act upon the treaties made with the natives, and the heinous acts committed by the seventh Iowa.