Teaching Satire on PB Wiki

My PB Wiki site on teaching satire is now launched. Contents include resources on literary, film, and artworks of satire, as well as explication of satirical structures. Check it out!

Teaching Satire

Critical analysis of film -- American Gangster

Above is the trailer to American Gangster... I will analyze the trailer as a representation of the film, which I did see.

I'd like to analyze this film from a critical discourse perspective, specifically the perspective of race... and then from an audience perspective. I am assuming you've seen the film, and if you haven't you may want to pass and return, once you have...

We'll start with an audience perspective. Three things I look for in a film that I am paying full price for at the theater: 1. Bigness... If I am seeing this film at the theater, something about this film should need to be big. Big sound, sweeping landscapes, action. Quiet dramas, and chick flicks do not need to be viewed on the big screen. 2. Good acting / script. I don't like to have my intelligence insulted by films with bad acting or cheesy scripts. Some comedies get exempted from this rule... but I am looking for some quality, otherwise it can wait for dvd viewing. 3. thought provoking ideas. despite genre, there should be something about this film that I could take away to think further about or discuss with someone else. If I come out of a movie, and there is nothing to really say, I will feel like I've wasted money...

On to the movie at hand:

Bigness: This movie was big in its cast... with both Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe as Best Actor Oscar winners, a soundtrack with latest rappers like Jay Z, and a volatile and sometimes violent setting. 1968, Harlem, based on true story. 2. Acting was great in this film. Crowe plays an intelligent and honest, but kind of dumpy Jersey cop. Washington is a totally polished, yet subtle and rising drug lord. 3. Thought provoking. There are a lot of trains of discussion one could take on this movie. It was very well done, and the social, racial implications are very interesting... as well as a historical piece... I'll talk more about those things below. So, as far as audience is concerned, I found this to be a film that stands to my criticism.

more to come...

Adult cartoon presentation

Here's the link to the adult cartoon presentation:

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=ddf65hks_7444tb

the best band ever...

So, click for the link to my class presentation.

Here's the band website: www.theframes.ie

Here is the link to my youtube playlist... because the embeddable player wasn't doing sound.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2217C3D2E508A628

In the link above, there are two Frames videos and a Rocketboom episode on pandora radio.