Homework (due next class):
48 Comments
Stacy Fernandes
10/20/2018 11:21:04 pm
Film: Silence of the Lambs
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Turese Anderson
10/21/2018 03:47:49 pm
Yeah, I agree that a lot of the villain parts were hard to take seriously. The 'overly effeminate trans person' thing they did made the performance kind of over the top and Disney Villain-esque.
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Mariam Zagub
10/23/2018 05:02:25 pm
Yeah I agree that I normally don’t watch films like this, but this one wasn’t too bad. I don’t know if it’s because it’s an American 90s film that uses somewhat corny and X-Files-esque film techniques to try to scare its audience, or if it was because of the way the villain was portrayed in the film. Either way there were parts that were a bit funny and awkward to watch, which I appreciated since I absolutely hate horror films.
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Turese Anderson
10/20/2018 11:50:01 pm
I really really don't like horror movies. Like at all, so for the beginning of Silence of the Lambs, I was pretty distracted from any plot by the constant nervousness of 'oh man, it's going to get scary soon, when will it be scary'.
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Abigail Magat
10/21/2018 02:45:57 pm
I also got into the movie during the middle. I felt like it was a little slow in the beginning then the climax happened and everything from there was just rushed. It seemed like everything just went into full drive and now they're telling the whole story in like half an hour. But overall, it was an okay movie. I felt like it was more thriller than horror though.
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Stacy Fernandes
10/21/2018 07:55:37 pm
I don't like horror movies either. Though, I thought this movie wasn't really horror, it was more unsettling as a thriller/mystery. I honestly thought something awful was going to happen to Clarice as she was running at the beginning of the film. I guess horror films have conditioned me to expect things like that. Thankfully this movie didn't have too many gruesome kill scenes. I thought the characters were great. The plot did start off slow, but it all came together by the end of the movie.
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Russell Lee
10/22/2018 08:05:59 pm
The movie, for me, retained its horror lens by the ominous music, camera cuts, and topics intertwining sex and mutilation. In all honesty, horror movies just make me want to cry and bundle up in a ball. I'm not too keen on horror movies but I sometimes like the sensation and urgency horror brings to me. I'd just rather not sit through 2 hours of it.
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Tiffany
10/22/2018 10:50:02 pm
I agree with what you and all the replies said about the pacing being kind of slow at points, but engaging in the middle. I think the camerawork and angles really contributed to the unsettling mood but the pacing really killed it at times, which is unfortunate because for a horror film I found it to be really well developed complete with plot and character arcs.
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Luc Pogue
10/23/2018 05:38:56 pm
I hate to disagree, but I thought the pacing was actually quite good. The whole point is that you're left in suspense, and I felt like the stakes remained high for the entire movie, and I never really thought it dragged. There were long moments of buildup which I think is totally necessary for this kind of film-- it's a bit of a psychological thriller and not really a horror, so I think the pacing reflects an emphasis on suspense over fear. I do agree that it had really nice plot and character arcs though!
Abigail Magat
10/21/2018 02:40:07 pm
I chose Silence of the Lambs because I feel like everyone has watched it but me. Overall, I thought it was a good movie but a little small at some parts. But I noticed that there are lots of aspects to the movie such as the way Buffalo Bill kills his victims and the connection of the Death Moths, where you may not notice the connection or significance throughout the movie because of how separate and slow it seems but it comes together later. The movie takes you through the plot just like you’re also trying to solve the mystery alongside Clarice. There’s always twists and turns when you least expect it. What I didn’t like so much was it felt like Hannibal was just more of a side character, where he just gives information and they try to give him a story by his escape.
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Michelle Nguyen
10/22/2018 11:00:31 am
Touching upon what you said about the themes of sexuality and gender in the movie, you'd be surprised to know there's a lot of academic literature about the movie and its ties with those themes (I actually wrote an essay about this). In my research, I typically found articles that praised Clarice's portrayal of a strong female character, but I was surprised to read one that made an argument that Clarice was not a good portrayal. Essentially, the argument was that in order to be "strong", she had to present as "masculine" instead of "feminine", which is seen throughout the movie as she puts up a "front" when dealing with Hannibal Lecter. Of course, that's just one opinion, and I feel that my view of Clarice is more aligned with your view.
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Oreste Turchetti
10/23/2018 01:22:42 am
I liked how the plot takes you through to solve the mystery as well, the twists and turns made for great reveals. The movie limits what it shows the viewer which I think did a great job at increasing suspense. Towards the end, the scene where they intentionally mislead the viewer with the SWAT raid vs Buffalo Bill answering the door at a completely different house was a great example of this. As Bill gets ready to open up, the scene with the SWAT members keeps escalating until the viewer realizes they aren't at the same place, meaning that Clarice is unaided and unaware in the house of a serial killer. I just think this movie is great at building tension.
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Javier Arias-Romero
10/23/2018 02:09:41 pm
I also found the theme to be very interesting. I felt like there was a lot to unpack with the symbolism, implications, and overall significance of the theme, but I could not really articulate it in my mind. Michelle's response confirmed my suspicion, given by the fact that mentions that academic literature regarding the themes of sexuality and gender exist. I can see where many recent portrayals of disturbed serial killers draw from this film.
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Cassiel Chadwick
10/22/2018 10:53:24 am
I watched The Wailing - with friends, at that! By the time it ended, we were all groaning in frustration. The movie's twisty, doubling back on itself and relying on plot tricks to keep us invested. And yet it lacks narrative cohesion, which seriously hamstrings its ability to maintain an emotional throughline for the audience.
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Judith Kim
10/22/2018 10:45:21 pm
Though I was frustrated with all that was happening, I think all the twists and chaos/confusion added to the atmosphere of the film. The ambiguity in the ending and the supernatural elements helped make this film something I surprisingly enjoyed and hated at the same time. I hate not knowing, but I also like thinking and interpreting :)
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Eric Hernandez
11/21/2018 12:41:00 am
I agree with your point on the twists and confusion. While I'm not a big fan of cheap twists and tricks, I thought it demonstrated an attempt by the writers at least to create a complex story. To me, horror films with an straightforward and predictable plot are the worst, so even when twists are done badly, all I can say is "Hey, at least you tried". At least the production value was good!
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Michelle Nguyen
10/22/2018 11:16:02 am
Initially, I intended to watch The Wailing, but I was too scared to sit through the whole movie after watching the trailer. Instead, I watched Silence of the Lambs, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. My favorite scene is near the end when Buffalo Bill is stalking Clarice in his house. That first-person shot of Clarice's perspective in nightvision is one of the coolest shots I've ever experienced in a movie. Since I've watched it more than once and even written an essay about the movie, I think I have a good idea about how I want my characters to act.
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10/23/2018 12:01:12 am
I do agree with you about the relationship between Clarice and Hannibal. The doctor knew how dangerous Buffialo Bill was if he was still alive. And seeing an opportunity to not only to stop him and to escape with the subcontious help of a rookie detective if he played his cards right to approach her, he took it. The end result was him escaping and having an old friend for dinner. That line alone brought a siver down my spine.
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Tiffany
10/22/2018 07:21:00 pm
I watched Silence of the Lambs.
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Monserrat Lopez
10/23/2018 01:37:49 am
Hi Tiffany,
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Sean Tseng
10/23/2018 01:38:39 pm
I also love the TV adaptation! It's unsettling and deeply disturbing in a way that makes me feel like I can't look away even if I don't necessarily want to see. In comparison, the movie felt kind of tame to me, but of course still enjoyable to watch. I also definitely agree with your analysis of Hannibal, how he's most terrifying because he's almost like an ally by the end of the movie. You forget what he's capable of because he's so unassuming and well-disguised. I felt this most clearly when I began rooting for him at the end because Dr. Chilton is such an easily despised character. I had to remind myself that killing Dr. Chilton would be a monstrous act, and that was how I knew Hannibal had gotten under my skin and past my radar. It's quite disarming in a skillful way!
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Judith Kim
10/22/2018 10:41:14 pm
The film I decided to watch was The Wailing.
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Stephanie Machuca
10/23/2018 02:10:43 am
I also thought this movie was frustrating! Especially when the dad was just merely scrambling to find answers instead of following through with each individual solution he was given.
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Cassiel Chadwick
10/23/2018 03:24:02 pm
Interesting - what impact do you think Japanese cinema had on this film?
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10/22/2018 11:54:49 pm
I had watch Silence of the Lambs.
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Oreste Turchetti
10/23/2018 01:13:37 am
I watched The Silence of the Lambs for this response. I love this film because of how interesting the characters are. Hannibal and Clarisse are very well thought out, and Hopkins' amazing acting makes every moment of his screentime captivating. His detached quick-wittedness and his inhuman personality is very well done. I had already seen the film so I wasn't surprised by the escape scene this time around, but I remember my first time seeing it and I loved the slow, horrific realization as the body in the elevator swings down and in the next scene the man in the stretcher begins to move. Everything clicks into place even though they don't explicitly have to mention what Hannibal did.
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Jonathan Truong
11/20/2018 08:38:38 pm
Yea I totally agree! Hopkins is one of a kind and I honestly couldn't see anyone else in the role. There's such good storytelling in the film that his true character is allowed to shine through without the use of too much unnecessary exposition.
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Monserrat Lopez
10/23/2018 01:28:30 am
Film: The Wailing
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Stephanie Machuca
10/23/2018 01:58:17 am
The movie I watched was The Wailing and boy oh boy (pardon my language) this shits fucked. I chose it because all of my housemates have seen it and I wanted to be part of the loop. As many others have noted, this movie gets extremely confusing as the end nears. You always think you can trust someone, however the movie quickly makes you take it back because then that person becomes suspicious. I have a theory on the three suspicious characters; the jap, the woman in white, and the shaman. To me they are all at fault. At first I thought that they were being racist against the jap, but as the story unfolded I was like yoooooo he the one playing them all. I really liked how they kept the suspense of the movie and made it a good watch.
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Joshua Mouledoux
10/23/2018 05:28:30 pm
Yeah, I agree that it got unnecessarily complicated towards the end. The film constantly tricked you and switched your opinions on the three dubious characters you mentioned. I feel like they switched it too many times and by the end of the film I was like really, you are actually making the japanese guy the devil after all? it felt like a burned out cheap trick used too many times by the end of the film. One of two plot twists is nice, but a plot made entirely of plot twists is just a mess.
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Sean Tseng
10/23/2018 01:28:01 pm
I watched Silence of the Lambs this week. I'd previously watched parts of it before in a forensics class I took in high school, but high school classes aren't the best settings for movie-watching. The first time I watched it, I wasn't able to catch some of the details and subtleties in the movie. To me, this is a film whose impact is best felt when watched in the quiet. The almost claustrophobic feel of the tight close-up shots and the slow, winding, disorienting pans all contribute to a sense of creeping unease. Hannibal Lecter's voice is also rarely raised, it seems, and each time he and Clarice talk to each other, he seems to be facing the audience, talking in his low, susurrus tone with a feel of unnerving and uncomfortable intimacy. The film is, as mentioned by other students, not a gory, explicit horror movie. The instances of murder are more psychologically disturbing than anything, and the focus of the film is on the psychological dance between Hannibal and Clarice. In that sense, I like how the film managed the existence of two serial killers without feeling too disorganized or scattered. It was an enjoyable movie, though not as thrilling, I'd say, as the Hannibal TV show with Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy. If someone were seeking a relatively low-stakes but satisfying thriller, I'd suggest this film. If they wanted something that would haunt them and something they can't watch at night without feeling thoroughly afraid, I'd recommend the TV show.
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Javier Arias-Romero
10/23/2018 02:04:18 pm
Film: The Silence of the Lambs
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10/23/2018 04:10:22 pm
The film I watched was Silence of the Lambs. Overall I thought the film was good. It was the type of film where you have to pay attention to what is going on and pay attention to detail. Throughout the film you have to listen to what Hannibal Lecter says so you can follow and put things together to figure it out with Clarice. The movie wasn’t scary but it did get uncomfortable at times just waiting to see what is going to happen and just feeling the frustration that Clarice is feeling when she is trying to get information from Hannibal. Overall it was a good movie and I enjoyed the story very much.
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Atlas
10/23/2018 05:52:28 pm
I disagree I thought the movie was scary LOL. But maybe thats because I'm bad with thriller/horror movies. Anyways, I agree with your statement about how you have to really listen to what Hannibal Lecter says to figure out some of the more minute details of the story. For example, one of the first things Lecter says is the location of Buffalo Bill– I didn't notice it until I rewatched the scene. I feel like this just shows how Lecter is the true puppet master and manipulator in the entire movie.
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Ma. Rebeca Escamilla
10/23/2018 04:48:51 pm
The Silence of the Lamb
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Russell Lee
10/23/2018 05:07:39 pm
The Silence of the Lambs began as an ultra-scary movie for me. But as the film progressed towards the end, I remembered the essential tropes of movies: that the main characters never die. The ending was still riveting. It just wasn't as thrilling as the beginning. Overall it was cool. I liked Jodie Foster's dynamic as an attractive FBI agent and how it plays out in the male-concentrated profession. The camera angles were cool too; the closeups, the reflections in mirrors, the shots where Hannibal is menacingly staring at Jodie Foster. Sonically and visually this movie was captivating and worth two hours of my life.
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Jesse Ou
10/23/2018 05:52:57 pm
While I enjoyed the film very much, I have to agree with the flaws you mentioned. Some of the suspense was stifled by the simple plot armor of the characters. I wish it was able to maintain the same level of greatness the beginning showed.
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Mariam Zagub
10/23/2018 05:16:44 pm
I watched silence of the lambs and it wasn’t as scary as I’d thought it’d be. I absolutely hate horror movies but this one was kind of corny and also very transphobic. After the transphobic scene I kind of stopped paying attention to it seriously cause that was pretty fucked up. Also most of the movie was building up to something scary but fizzled out when it got there. It kept using close ups of Hannibal and eerie music and suspense to keep its audience on its toes, but when the climax hit it was a bit odd to watch. The fake blood and awful gore of Hannibal attacking the cop was off putting and not really too scary. I guess the reason I liked watching it was precisely because it wasn’t a scary movie. Other than that I feel as if it didn’t do well in its genre. Maybe it’s becuase it’s a 90s film and they don’t have much technique to use, or maybe it’s because it’s an American film and Americans tend to scare easily, who knows?
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Joshua Mouledoux
10/23/2018 05:25:00 pm
I watched The Wailing for my viewing assignment. Now its worth mentioning that I am not a fan of horror. At all. Probably why I watched this assignment during the middle of the afternoon.
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Jonathan (Jay) Truong
10/23/2018 05:31:34 pm
Silence of the Lambs. There wasn't really anything about this movie particularly interesting in terms of unique shots, but I do think that this film opened the way for a lot of discussion in film and media about psychology. Sometimes it's not enough to be scary, you have to be terrifying, and I think this is something that the film accomplishes well through the characterization of Hannibal Lecter. The conversations that occur between Lecter and Starling are definitively striking and serve as natural advancements in the plot and momentum boosters. The usage of symbols such as the death moth and the mask are so iconic that people know about them today without even having watched the movie or reading the book. This film did wonders for the horror community.
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Luc Pogue
10/23/2018 05:32:05 pm
I watched Silence of the Lambs this week, and I gotta say, it lived up to the hype. I thought the movie was excellent the whole way through, propped up, of course, by two incredible performances by Foster and Hopkins. I went into watching this movie with a very vague idea of it-- I knew that Hannibal was a cannibal, but that's pretty much it. I had no idea that he wasn't the main character, or even the main antagonist, so the plot was admittedly surprising. I was in suspense throughout the entire movie-- I actually planned to watch it in two chunks but ended up seeing the whole thing at once because I wanted to know so desperately what happens. The ending scene with the total darkness and the night vision goggles kept me on the edge of my seat. The cinematography, with full shots of faces and lots of symmetry, was fantastic, as was the set design and locations of grey America. Dr. Lecter's face masks are iconic as well. I'm really glad I finally watched this movie, and now I feel like I can understand so many of its most commonly tossed-around lines and scenes: "put the lotion in the basket," "I'd **** me," "I'm having an old friend for dinner," and the part where Hannibal wears the man's face as a mask. The whole movie was so dang dark and depressing, yet it ends somewhat happily, and is certainly satisfying. Good stuff!
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riley robinson
10/23/2018 05:49:51 pm
This was my first time watching Silence of the Lambs, and I agree with you that it lived up to the hype. I have heard and seen many references to the movie, including some of the lines you quoted, and it was easy to see why the film has had a long-lasting impact. So many aspects of the film were so well executed, and I'm glad that you specifically mentioned cinematography, which is something I hadn't fully acknowledged. That scene with the night vision is a great example of well-executed cinematic technique in the context of a thriller.
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riley robinson
10/23/2018 05:43:29 pm
This week I chose to watch Silence of the Lambs, and I was overall very impressed with the movie in terms of both the plot and the characters. In terms of plot, the pacing, and the sewing together of the many story lines into an interesting and suspenseful narrative was the most prominent characteristic I noticed. Also, not just at a high level, but at the level of individual scenes, there was well executed suspense throughout the film. There is the obvious example of Clarice's encounter with Buffalo Bill. Another example is the scene when Hannibal Lecter kills the guards and escapes. In that scene, the viewer knows what is about to happen, but can't do anything to stop it, contributing to a very suspenseful feeling. The characters were also diverse and interesting. The protagonist, Clarice Starling, is a clever young FBI trainee, who we see evolve into an effective FBI agent. The array of sadistic characters in the film were also something that made it unique from many other dark films I've seen. Not only do we encounter Buffalo Bill; but also Hannibal Lecter, who is a sadistic, psychopathic, genius; and Dr. Chilton, the doctor who torments Hannibal. Overall, the well-executed, suspenseful plot, as well as the diverse, interesting characters, make Silence of the Lambs one of the best thrillers I've seen.
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Atlas Yuen
10/23/2018 05:47:55 pm
I chose to watch Silence of the Lambs because I’ve always heard of how utterly scary this movie is, but I’ve never had the heart to watch it. Throughout the movie, I was often too scared, and as such, would read a couple of lines of the summary on wikipedia before continuing to watch the movie (I didn’t want to wake up my roommates lol).
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Jesse Ou
10/23/2018 05:50:40 pm
I watched Silence of the Lambs. This is a film I've been meaning to watch for a while because everyone I know has recommended it to me. Overall the film was exceptional, although a little too frightening for me, but definitely lived up to the hype that everyone gave it. The interactions between Clarice and Hannibal were uncomfortable and haunting but in a good way, assuming that was all one purpose. The mystery was fascinating and always left me on the edge of my seat. The psychological aspect was also fascinating, and gave a unique take on the subject that I haven't seen often before.
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Nick Michael
11/24/2018 10:39:57 pm
I agree! This film was great. Something I forgot to mention in my comment was Jodie Foster's portrayal of Clarice, which I thought was excellent. If you haven't read it yet, I would recommend reading the book. Maybe you should read it during the day, though, because it can get pretty creepy lol.
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Eric Hernandez
11/21/2018 12:39:01 am
I watched the Wailing.
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Nick Michael
11/24/2018 10:38:30 pm
The Silence of the Lambs
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