Tag Archives: movies

Presenting at #OzQuest

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This past Wednesday was Quest, which is a day SUNY Oswego commits to celebrating the academic endeavors of their students. Because it is a presentation of research, people may think it is only for the sciences, but many disciplines are involved. As a communications student, I have previously attended many Quest presentations, most of them focusing on the work of fellow communication students. This year I was asked to present my analysis and critique of a popular media text.In 15 minutes with added time for questions, I presented on the race and gender dynamics within Pitch Perfect 2 and how the content could be problematic when representing women and minorities. My presentation was based off of a paper I did for my children, women, and minorities in media class, which I took as part of my broadcasting curriculum. This paper included literature review of different studies and examination of media which I then applied in my own analysis of the movie. For the presentation, I selected the major points of my work and elaborated on them, supplemented by video clips and movie stills.

My thesis slide

As with anything of this nature, critique is subjective. However, I really liked engaging with the audience, and I was even able to elaborate on my thesis and arguments with interested peers afterward. It lead to really thoughtful conversations and evaluation of different work, which I think is one of the main purposes of Quest.

We had a full room with people standing and sitting on the floor when the chairs ran out. This was very fulfilling for me, and felt like a reward for my hard work. People asked excellent questions, and it let me know that they were engaged with my presentation. I would like to thank Dr. Fogel, the professor who asked me to present. Quest was a fantastic experience and a great opportunity to show the work that I do here.

500 Days of Summer Review

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A few months ago, I saw the trailer for the film 500 Days of Summer, and it instantly went on my mental list of movies that I had to see. Although I can’t recall the exact date, I remember that it was supposed to come out sometime in July, and when that date came, I realized that it was only playing in certain cities, and my city was not one of them, unfortunately, which I was pretty upset about, because I had been waiting and looking forward to it for so long. Thankfully, however, it just opened in my city this past weekend, so I finally got to see it.

As a whole, I really liked it. I thought that it was really cute and original. At first, I didn’t like the whole idea of time jumping around so randomly, but eventually, I became used to that, and now, I see it as one of the ways in which it was original. I really wish I could go into all of the ways in which I thought it was original, but if I do that, then I will be getting into heavy plot details, and I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone. I will do my best anyway; this is the type of the movie that is somewhat difficult to discuss and review without getting into plot details, so I will try to be as vague as possible.

I thought that the choice of acting was really good, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom Hansen and Zooey Deschanel as Summer Finn. I really liked the way that Deschanel dealt with the character. Summer Finn is a firm feminist who doesn’t believe she has to give herself to any man, and her firm beliefs sometimes initiate stubbornness in her character, and I personally thought that Deschanel played this out so well. Gordon-Levitt played Tom’s role really well too, the casual, somewhat awkward Michael Cera-like dude that you would just naturally expect to be with a girl like Summer.

The plot follows the two of them who meet at a club and pursue a friendship. However, Tom likes Summer as more than just a friend, and even though the relationship starts to get a little bit more serious, such as the two of them becoming intimate, for example, Summer doesn’t want anything serious with him, and she doesn’t want to call what they have a relationship. Another reason why I found this movie to be original is that you see right at the beginning of the movie that she breaks up with him, but you don’t really know why or if they’ll end up back together or not.

However, my biggest problem with the movie was a personal one, which is why I say that overall, the movie was really good. I honestly couldn’t really connect with it or understand it, because I’m not in the same boat as the theme of the movie is. I am in a very serious, loving and trusting relationship, and I wasn’t really sure what this movie was trying to say. Perhaps, it was trying to say that love is only a fabrication, that it doesn’t actually exist, but I see that as being ridiculous. I offer that as a suggestion, because a line very similar to that is actually in the script. Another message that it could have been trying to convey is that events don’t happen because they are meant to be; everything is coincidence, but I don’t believe that either, so ultimately, I wasn’t really sure what to make of the movie, but like I said, it was really cute. The acting was really good, the soundtrack is exquisite, it’s cute, and the plot is original. Ultimately, it’s a decent “summer” movie.