Movie Review on "Beasts of The Southern Wild"

In this term, the first unit, "Pre-Production," allowed me and my peers to dive deep into what it takes to create a film. We watched several movies and discussed their costume designers’ and set designers’ inspiration. We came to the conclusion that movies aren't just a story, it also includes the setting and costumes. This unit made me respect the art of making the movie more. Even though, I hate when some of my favorite movies are called "bad" and "stupid" by critics, I have created my own Movie Review for the film, "Beasts of The Southern Wild."

Tribex. "Beasts of The Southern Wild." (2013)

"Beasts of The Southern Wild" is a film released in 2012. "Beasts of The Southern Wild" is a critically acclaimed movie that took the risk of hiring a 5 year-old girl as the lead. This film is about a little girl who is one with her homeland. She said in the film, "when it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces. I see that I'm a little piece of a big, big universe." This quote summarizes her as a character because her curiosity about the world drives her as a character throughout the film. She tries to interpret her own definition of life by going on a journey to become a man. Her father believes he should teach Hushpuppy to be a man because that’s the only way she can take his place and survive. This excellent drama-filled movie was created & produced by a man named Benh Zeitlin. The setting of the story was inspired by an assortment of different isolated fishing communities under attack by erosion, hurricanes, and rising sea levels. It is a tribute to places with such environments, specifically in Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana. The inspiration of the screenplay was the one-act play, "Juicy and Delicious" from Alibar. Based on real-life inspiration for the film, it is no surprise that the content of the story had to be so strong.

“Beasts of the Southern Wild” takes place in a bayou town in Louisiana, named “Bathtub”. It was filmed at a location in a Terrebonne Parish town in Montegut, Louisiana. The set design was effective in making the film more powerful and meaningful. The town appeared messy and unorganized which was a consistent tone for the entire film. The protagonist of the film, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) is a six year-old girl who is struggling to survive with her dad, Wink (name the actor) in their small community, the Bathtub. Hushpuppy dressed in a ragged white tank-top, ill-fitted jeans, and white tube socks throughout the entire movie shows that she has more important things to worry about than her appearance. However, there is a little flower on her shirt that gives her a sense of femininity despite her father’s persuasion for her to be a “man”. Young Hushpuppy(Quvenzhane Wallis) and her father Wink(Dwight Henry) are struggling to survive in their small community where they live off farmland and fish. Hushpuppy's intelligent mind seems to get her in trouble multiple times throughout the story. She questions how her existence affects the world as she goes on with her life. Her father has different plans for her. He believes that everyone should be a man. Wink gets really sick and refrains from telling Hushpuppy this. Hushpuppy realizes this and starts to remember that she was the one that initially caused the heart failure. She got so mad at her father that one day she hit his chest with force, using both hands and said, "I hope you die and after you die I'll go to your grave and eat birthday cake all by myself." After this incident, Wink got sicker and sicker to the point where they were abducted by the outside people and he couldn't support himself anymore so he wasn't under care of others. After the two escape the outside place, they try to subsist off nothing in the place they once called home. The rest of the story is Hushpuppy trying to make her dad proud one last time by going on a journey to bring him food from a woman who is supposed to be her mother.

The protagonist is in fact, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), the real actor playing the part of Hushpuppy. Quvenzhane is eleven now, but at the time they started filming she was only five years old. The antagonist could be a lot of things, but in my case, I'm going to pick nature. I feel as if nature made everything complex. If nature hadn't caused all these catastrophes, then there wouldn't have been as much stuff going on. It may have even saved Wink's life. Maybe the plot of events is what killed Wink. There was a lot going on.

The setting played an amazing part in making the film more powerful and meaningful. The movie was filmed in Terrebonne Parish town, Montegut. The producer, Court 13 made good use of props in making the land a lot more messy and unorganized. He did a good job because it made me feel as if this film was real, because I can relate. My room is dirty and Hushpuppy's land is her room so we are alike in some cases. I also feel as if the setting and clothes are both equally amazingly presented. The clothes worn in the film are amazing for the plot and fit the characters very well. Clothes describe the people's personalities. Hushpuppy has a flower shirt on showing her feminine side but she also doesn't quite care about her appearance in the movie, so she isn't afraid to get dirty.

Director Benh Zeitlin has not been working on anything new as far as my sources go but I believe this film is a definite MUST-SEE. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars! Very famous movie critics like Roger Ebert gave this movie 4 out of 5 stars. I really believe that this is an amazing film to share with others that are interested in evolution, adventure, love, and curiosity. This film allowed me to feel a lot of empathy for the characters, as if it was based on a true story! Go watch it now!

"Beasts of The Southern Wild" has earned a number of awards including:

• Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival
• Seattle International Film Festival's Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director
• Sutherland Trophy for Most Innovative Debut
• Nomination for Four Oscars, in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director (Benh Zeitlin), Best Actress (Quvenzhané Wallis), and Adapted Screenplay (Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin)

References:
"Beasts of The Southern Wild Movie Quotes," Movie and TV Quotes. Web, November 16th.
"Hushpuppy & Director," FlicksAndTheCity. Web, November 16th.
"Hushpuppy & Wink," HitFix. Web, November 16th.
"Beasts of The Southern Wild," bbfc. Web, November 16th.
"Quvenzhane. A small force of nature," Rogert Ebert. Web, November 16th.
"Beasts of The Southern Wild Info," Wiki. Web, November 18th. 

If Only We Could Define Creativity: Chance The Rapper

In my first action project this term, the first unit, "Life Genius," helped us define what being a creative genius means. We looked at multiple people around the world that were seen as creative geniuses and we even picked our own. This project opened my eyes because I now know creativity is everywhere. Life itself had to be created and many fail to realize this. I found little difficulty completing this project because it's more opinionated. I had a fun time speaking my mind, though!

By personal experiences, I have observed Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, and Eminem create their own styles of music through different inspirations and genres. Some geniuses create things, like how Jonathan Ive created the design of the iPhone. So wouldn’t creating your own style potentially classify you as a genius?

After doing some research, I have learned that Kobe Bryant, Dr. Seuss, and Jerry Lewis all grew up in high middle-class or upper class families. They start off in a pre-made background so they have the resources and connections to do what they want to do easily.

The last pattern I found was that Eminem, Chance The Rapper, and Kanye West also had a hard time getting their careers off to a good start. Since they were so passionate about music, the coming up part was a piece of cake for these three because they kept on grinding and ended up being REALLY famous.

Dan Hyman. "Chance The Rapper." (2014)

Chancellor Bennett (Chance The Rapper) is a Chicago rapper from the South side. He grew up as an average kid with a mother, father, and 3 year younger brother, Taylor Bennett. At the age of 9 or 10, his significant other, Ramie Bonds’ mother got him “College Dropout” for his birthday, the Uncensored version, which later was confiscated by his mother because it was too “dirty.” Later it was returned to Chance as the clean version. This was the first album Chance ever listened to, so Kanye West was Chance’s first inspiration. Years later, attending Jones College Prep, at the age of 18, he released his first Mixtape, “10 day.” This mixtape was inspired by a ten day suspension he received from smoking marijuana outside his school. Not too long after that, Chance released his more popular album, “Acid Rap” in 2013. Following his “Acid Rap” album, his younger brother released his own album called, “Mainstream Music.” As his younger brother gained some recognition for his music, he was arrested for the assault of a college student at a party. Chance the Rapper is currently working on a new project called "The Social Experiment." I think Chance is someone to learn from. He came from less than I did, now he’s sitting on millions, doing what he loves to do. The message is clear: stay dedicated and inspired, and good things will happen. He continues to tour the world and live out his dreams of being a big star, reppin’ his city.

I think Chance brings a lot to the table in terms of uniqueness, variety, humor, flow, talent, and a raspy voice. Chance excels in the music industry with these traits & attributes. In the past, Chance has struggled to catch the eye of someone of any importance. This hurt his chances of having a fast start to his career. Even now that Chance has the fame and the money, many people still continue to say he's "weird" and "not good enough." Chance's music is directed towards certain groups of people. He isn't a drill rapper like a Chief Keef or an R&B Singer like a Jeremih or Chris Brown, but he uses all genres of music to create his own genre that is less appreciated in the industry by those who are used to more "mainstream" tunes. As he did in the past, Chance continues to make the music he likes to play for his fans as he blocks out all the hatred. 

"I think creativity is something that lives in the heart of a person, it can’t have any true definition. It’s just what’s inside of you, how you see the world," said by SJ in my interview with her. Her definition is very relevant to mine because I believe creativity can't be defined as well.

I believe I show three very positive traits: Determination, Skill, and Intelligence. Determination and creativity are two things that could potentially drive each other. For instance, you could be determined to do something creative. You can be determined to do anything. Skills usually define what you might be creative at. If you are skilled in basketball, then maybe a crazy shot or different way of scoring might be interesting or creative to you. Intelligence is the key to creativity. Intelligence means expanding your range to thinking outside the box. 

Sometimes I fail and then don’t learn from it because I am not very crafty with a lot of things. I am determined to work through things and find ways to bypass my problems. The world lacks the knowledge of Resource Distribution. We have the resources but, they are not going to the right places. If I am determined enough, I could definitely help the world, or at least raise awareness of the bad world distribution of resources.

References:
"Nardwuar vs. Chance The Rapper," iamOTHER. Web, November 16th.
"Chance The Rapper," Chancellor Bennett. Web, November 16th.
"Chance Facts," Craig McCutcheon. Web, November 16th.
"Chance The Rapper: Acid Rap," Evan Rytlewski. Web, November 16th.
SJ. Interview Over Phone. November 9th.