Duty v. Inclination and Fatalism v. Optimism: Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954)
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
July 6, 2015
Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film, Seven Samurai, is a film in which many of the different dichotomies entrenched within Japanese society are critically and effectively addressed. Through intense character analysis and observation of plot, one can approach these various dichotomies from many d...
Mildred Pierce, She Done Him Wrong, and their Representations of Women in Film
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
May 2, 2015
Throughout this history of mankind, our oral, written, and more recently, visual stories, have assisted with the identifying of oneself in correlation with personal development as well as understanding one's place in society. 1933's She Done Him Wrong and 1945's Mildred Pierce, offer very different not...
8 Films Every Humanitarian Should View
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
April 23, 2015
Around the globe film has been instrumental in bringing awareness to certain issues and even bringing about change. Here is a list of films, both recent and past, that every person who cares about issues surround human rights should take the time to see. All of these films are based off of real life...
The War on Terror: Has it Run It’s Course?
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
April 22, 2015
Fourteen years ago, early on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 , several members of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four planes, three of them successful in hitting their targets, the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. After a tussle in the skies,...
Cultural Fears, Unruly Children, and the Recurring Themes in Horror Films: A Comparison of Child’s Play (1988) and Orphan (2009)
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
April 16, 2015
According to the Holy Bible’s story in Genesis, Chapter 4, which depicts the brutal slaying of Abel by his brother Cain, the concept of violence, in particular, murder is as old as creation. The story suggests that because of sin, the inability to control one’s emotions can lead various per...
George Melies’ Le Voyage Dans La Lune: Innovations in Film Technology, Contributions to Early Science Fiction Film, and a Reading of Dominant Culture
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
April 14, 2015
Throughout the duration of civilization many great cultural movements have taken place that have assisted in shaping and molding the world into the ever evolving product that can be seen today. For instance, during the classical era great thinkers such as Plato Aristotle, and Socrates thrived. During...
American Hustle: The Contemporary Film Noir?
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
April 9, 2015
While many argue that Film Noir is a mode of film that blossomed in the 40’s and 50’s, then died out, just as the 80’s murdered disco, others may contend that Film Noir is a genre and/ or a style. That being said if indeed Film Noir is a style and genre, it reserves the ability to transcend...
Oppositional, Dominant, and Negotiated readings Within Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Rashaan Pace, Impact staff
April 9, 2015
Dialogue, plot/story, and action are key elements which have a profound effect on an audience's cinematic experience, and ultimately sway the manner in which they may interpret and read into a film. Based on the true accounts of Solomon Northup life, and set in the 1841, pre-civil war, antebellum south,...
The Color Purple 30 Years Later: Gender Roles, Repressed Sexuality, Dominant, and Oppositional Readings of Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (1985)
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
April 2, 2015
Political scientist and feminist Jo Freeman once said “ Women learn to see how social structures and attitudes have molded them from birth and limited their opportunities”. Based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel of the same name, Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film, The Color Purple, is the epitome of a f...
#BlackLivesMatter: The New Civil Rights Movement
Rashaan Pace, Impact Staff
March 12, 2015
The United States of America, the birthplace of many revolutionary ideals and documents such as the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution, rendered it’s citizens radical inspiring words such as, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal”, and “ We the...
