#9. Unit Reflection: Movies

1. Aha Moment

I read that 90% of the audience of Tyler Perry’s movie was African American from Tyler Perry’s Money Machine. I was surprised how many African Americans had waited for their own movies. In addition, I realized that most movies and TV shows that I’ve watched were white people centered. Despite the growing numbers of movies and TV shows with various races, most of the important roles are white. Thus, it is quite understandable that Tyler Perry runs his own business related to black community. 

2. Bumper Sticker: Movie is Life

3. Critical Insight

    I’ve learned differences of Hollywood movies and indie movies. However, when I went to the CIFF, I was confused. I saw two movies. The first movie Cinema Sabaya has a simple and relatable plot. The second movie Memoria has a weird plot and was quite experimental. I chose Cinema Sabaya in the movie list because it looked interesting, and I chose Memoria because it was one of the best movies the festival picked and starred Tilda Swinton. I liked both. Cinema Sabaya was fun and emotional, and Memoria was serious and a new experience. However, only the theater where Memoria screen was crowded, and the audience clapped. I thought both were indie movies but sometimes the boundaries were ambiguous. There might be no money for indies but at least authority. 

4. I didn’t know that

  I didn’t know when and how the American movie industry developed. Through watching video and lectures about film history, I learned that most inventions about photography occurred in Europe such as in France and the UK. However, it seems that American movie industry has developed quickly from the 1910s more than Europe. It shows that the U.S. had many resources and a lot of money to make movies at that time. The U.S. was probably making lots of money when other countries were suffering from wars, poverty, and colonialization. Therefore, they could invest in their movie industry and make a lot of movies. People who lived in countries where they couldn’t make well-made movies would love American movies. Thus, I could imagine how American movies and culture could spread all over the world.