1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

As ironic as it may sound, but Gone With the Wind is actually one of the first movies to begin the "Golden Age" of cinematography. I say ironic because it is a movie, I believe, should have been made twenty years before. This is but one story that could be told about Gone With the Wind. Another thing that could be said is that its another book made into a movie, many were found during this time. Gone With the Wind also helped break down racial barriers in the movie industry. Hattie McDaniel, the woman who played Mammy, actually won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, but was not able to attend the movie's premiere a sign that the movie industry and the US still had its prejudices toward African Americans. 

2) Find a related article (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) and summarize the content.  You may use the library or the Internet. 

The article discusses Clark Gable's fight to desegregate both the set of Gone With the Wind and maybe even the south. His crusade begins with a single individual, a friend of his by the name of Bluett who was an actor, singer, dancer who got a role as an extra on Gone With the Wind but was uncredited. Later, the two would fight for desegregation in the wash rooms. In the south the wash rooms were segregated but when a protest failed to desegregate them Clark Gable reportedly called up the higher ups and threatened his lead role status and the bathrooms almost instantly became desegregated. Clark would attempt to stand up for the African American actors one more time when they could not attend the premiere of the movie, which took place in the south. Clark wanted more of an out pour, but it was reported that Hattie McDaniel told him that it was alright because she did not want it to escalate.  

Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Clark-Gable-Desegregates-Gone-With-The-Wind-Movie-Set

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class.   How did the article support or change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

Gone With the Wind, a satirical film about southern plantation owners, was one of the first movies to place a leading African American role, Hattie McDaniel, in a good light. She is seen to run the house and the family. So if this is the case why did the producers segregate behind the scenes when it appeared the were desegregating the business on the screen? In my opinion, the movie was made to mock the slave system; this is poorly done in the movie because some of the slaves were not as powerful as they should have been. I had hoped that everything about Gone With The Wind would be progressive and not some of it.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.  I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.

Gone With The Wind in my own opinion is an all around bad movie, its as simple as that. The movie, itself, should have been made twenty years prior. The problem with the movie is that if it was attempting to satire the southern plantation owners it fell short when their slaves actually seem to enjoy being servants. If the three slaves simply protested more, rather just Mamie who ran the household, a more foreseeable satire could be seen. The script was awful and even the overly dramatized cinematography shots are too much even for this movie. All aspects of this film are not enjoyable, the only good thing that came out of this movie was Clark Gable's attempt at desegregating the set.


Plagiarism Statement:  Attach this to the end of every journal assignment.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 

1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 

2) ( x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 

3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 

4) ( x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 

5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 

6) (  x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 

7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 

8) (x  ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper. 



Name: _________Alex Lukasiuk_____________________________  Date: ________10/21/2014__________

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

The class, prior to the film, primarily discussed the works of primarily Ford and the evolution of the western genre. From its roots in New Jersey/New York in "The Great Train Robbery" "westerns" would move out west to match their genre ambiance. Ford would go on to make several westerns that circled around a hero, more than not John Wayne, who started out to be the quintessential "good guy" but would eventually evolve, until the end of the westerns during the seventies. This evolution would become that of an anti-hero who the obeys by his own moral code and leaves the justifications of his actions to the audience watching the film. "Stagecoach" was primarily, because it was an earlier film, a movie with the "known good guy" who may have only followed by his own moral code but still had an obvious role as the "good guy" in the film. 

2) Find a related article (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) 
and summarize the content. You may use the library or the internet. 

The evolution of the western can be measured up into three different waves, according to the article. The first wave of films came from the original westerns, the silent westerns that would define the genre for its first thirty years. "The Great Train Robbery" becomes the poster movie for the genre until the creation of the "talkies". The second wave comes from the beginning of the talkie westerns including "Stagecoach" which saved the dying genre; these movies would re-create the genre. The third wave is that of the adult psychological westerns during the post war era. These movies introduced themes like the antihero where the line of good and evil was frayed. After this wave the genre began to die out, most likely due to the end of the rural-urban transformation period. During this time, there was no need to see westerns when many people had lived in suburbia for years.

Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the 
related article but do not plagiarize any content.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/magazine/11schatz.html?ref=magazine&_r=0

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the article support or 
change the way you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?

The article adds on to the reasons why we needed the western genre in a post war time. The article points out the rural-urban transformation, that took place after World War II, became the reason behind the rural simpler time known in westerns. " By the 1960s, the western had peaked both as a viable Hollywood commodity and as a national myth to ease America's rural-urban transformation, in part brought low by a combination of market saturation and generic exhaustion."

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a 
result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article. I am less 
interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I 
am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director. 

"Stagecoach" flat out saved the western genre. For this reason alone "Stagecoach" should be held at a higher standard than other films. Beside that point the film itself was quite good, it is a Ford film so the script can be a bit dry at points, but the idea of the movie was a fun, exciting one. "Stagecoach" created movies like "The Searchers" "The Rio Bravo" and the spaghetti westerns. "Stagecoach" almost reaches back to the old silent films, how John Ford was taught in the art of filming, because of this we get the up close action shot of John Wayne and scenes like this. 

Plagiarism Statement: Attach this to the end of every journal assignment.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 1) (x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any 
other class. 2) (x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other 
classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 3) (x ) If I used any passages word for word, I 
put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 4) (x
) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in 
the text of the paper. 5) (x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally 
read. 6) (x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in 
another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 7) (x ) I did not 
so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 8) (x ) I 
checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and 
ideas used in my paper. 

Name: ____________Alex Lukasiuk__________________________ Date: ________10/7/14__________