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During the Second World War, the United States government incarcerated American Japanese ancestry and their immigrants parent
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04.04.14
During the Second World War, the United States government incarcerated American Japanese ancestry and their immigrant’s parents. It is approximately 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Manzanar; one of ten internment camps that U.S. had relocates them to detain the arrived Japanese from all over States during the wartime. For many of Japanese, Manzanar became an experience that won’t be forgotten.
Nearly 500 barracks organized to 36 blocks, Shared men’s and women’s toilets and showers, a laundry room and a mess hall. Japanese had to live in these non-suitable soldiers camps where dust covered every utilities inside and outside the war relocation center. Since most of the Japanese used to live in California and Washington, Manazar’s climate seems to be unaccustomed for them, where summer temperatures soar high and winter temperatures fall below freezing.
However, many internees attempted to adapt with the bad situation they are living in by establishing essential facilities like churches, temples and boys and girls clubs. In fact, they transferred Manzanar to a small modern American town in that time. Jeanne Wakatsuki was the youngest member in Wakatsuki’s family, a family that lived with the epic of Manzanar. A new era for Jeanne and her family has begun.
Jeanne’s Papa and Mama, as she used to call her father and her mother, Papa was interesting in collecting fruits from the trees located inside and around the camp, while Mama worked as a dietician in Manzana’s hospital. Woody, Jeanne’s brother, worked at the general store while he waits the army to induct him.
Kyio collects arrowheads and sell them to old men, and Ray plays on a local football team. Jeanne and her sisters begin to occupy themselves with multiple activities and hobbies. Therefore, Jeanne’s family has been adapted with Manzanar’s life conditions.
In 1945, The Supreme court ordered to close the Manzanar camp and the U.S. government starts to distribute loyalty statement for the Japanese inmates. The statement considered two options for them, “YES YES” or “NO NO”, picking “YES” means permission to live in America, while choosing “NO” means deportation to their homeland, Japan.
Jeanne’s family was divided in terms of loyalty to America. After Hiroshima being totally bombed by the American army, Jeanne’s father was confuse about which path he will take, he has to determine his family fate, thus he had an intense debate with his son Woody, as Woody has a stream loyalty to America, while Japanese dignity and identity strongly appears in Papa’s emotions. At the end, Jeanne’s father made his forced decision; he chose to continue his life in the United States as well as his family, where they could have a decent life, after farewell to Manzanar.
Citation:
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Farewell to Manzanar (New York: Random House 1973).
Film Critique of ‘The Town’
The Town
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Film Critique of ‘The Town’
‘The Town’ is a movie about crime, which takes place in the city of Boston. The film focuses on how crime is a major issue in the town where the movie was shot. It also depicts how people engage in crime as a means of obtaining money without having to work for it. The movie is about a group of men who engage in crime, as they believe it is a means to enrich their lives. The movies storyline is extremely interesting, as it has made use of many creative elements of film. The structure of the film is easy to understand as every scene flows smoothly. A person can follow the film even if they did not start watching it from the beginning. The director of the film made sure that the film followed a chronological order, also known as a sequence of events (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011).
The story takes place in the city of Boston, in a town known as Charlestown. There are four friends who have known each other for an extremely long time. The friends are known as Desmond Elden (Dez), Albert Magloan (Slain), James Coughlin (Jem) and Doug MacRay. Most of the people in their neighborhood engage in criminal activities, and they are not spared from this as well. Upon making plans, they decide to rob one of the banks in their neighborhood. Meanwhile, their robbery plan does not go as planned, and they take a long with them Claire Keesey the bank manager. They are extremely lucky to escape the bank and evade being captured by the law enforcers (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Soon afterwards they release their hostage and unknown to them; she has marked one of the robbers. She clearly remembers that among the robbers, there was one who had an extremely distinctive tattoo. At the end and the beginning of the film, there is a voice narration that makes the audience know some facts about it. Conflict in the film is witnessed when Doug views Claire as an obstacle to achieving his desires. Since the latter has crucial information regarding the robbery, it might jeopardize the gang’s position and freedom. It is extremely ironical that despite Doug not becoming a hockey player, Claire gave the stolen cash to a hockey foundation. The money was spent on an issue that made Doug to engage in crime.
The leader of the gang known as Doug suspects that Claire might recognize them and finds a way to be her friend. He disguises his true intentions with her, so that he can obtain information regarding the robbery. Their friendship progresses further into a relationship that is a hidden secret from the gang members. Even Jem who is the one with the tattoo, and even the best friend to Doug is not aware about what is going on. Claire and Doug begin to know more about each other and one learns that Doug almost become a professional in the field of hockey. Claire even tells him about the tattoo that she saw and Doug makes attempts to ensure that she does not report the matter to the police. The relationship between Claire and Doug turns out to be deadly, dangerous, and even romantic. They are not aware of the path that they will take will ultimately dictate their future.
The main characters in this film are Ben Affleck as Doug, Rebecca Hall as Claire, Jon Hamm as the FBI agent, Blake Lively as Krista, and Jeremy Renner as Jem. The other actors in the film with notable roles are Slaine as Gloansy, Chris Cooper as Stephen, among others. Ben Affleck is known as among the best actors in Hollywood and he does fail to prove this point in the movie. He easily steps into character and one would easily relate some of his other movies. Affleck’s character is known as being a star as he always fits in well in all his movies. Furthermore, his life is of interest to many of his fans who are obsessed with him. Another notable character actor is Blake Lively who is known to assume any role she is given. She easily convinces that she can play the role of a single mother as well as Doug’s former girlfriend. All the actors in the film acted in accordance to realism. This means that they chose to portray the film as being real. Furthermore, Boston is known for many bank robberies and this would pose as one of the many robberies that occur regularly. The audience of this film is extremely thrilled by the acting that has taken place in the film (Ross, 2002).
The characters have proven that they are indeed capable of fitting well into their roles. Anyone who has thought of a gang would probably have the same image as the gang in the film. The gang members live normal life’s when they are not engaging in crime. This is proven by the fact that Claire and Doug had a relationship yet the former had no idea about the latter’s occupation. One can clearly see a difference when the actors are various different scenes. Ben Affleck is one of the directors of this film as well as an actor. Since he had a rapport with the actors, in his character as Doug, directing was made easier. This is because he knows the different scenes more as he is with the other actors when they are playing out their roles. For a long time, Boston has been known for the numerous robberies which take place frequently. The film has been portrayed in a similar manner as if it occurred in real life. The acting is above standards and some actors have been nominated for their superb acting skills. An example is Jeremy Renner who was nominated for awards such as Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011).
There are various instances whereby it s easy to notice that the mise en scene played a great role in enhancing the cinematography. An example of such a scene is when Jem and Doug escape with money while disguising themselves as police officers. After they have obtained the money, they escape in an ambulance while in the form of paramedics. Thus the scenes mise en scene is the ambulance, police uniforms, the cash and money room. They have all been put in strategic locations for the purpose of making the scene flow well. The items make one to anticipate what will happen in the scene. For example, the ambulance represents the gateway car, while the cash represents a means of freedom.
Ben Affleck ensured that the film had three heists which took place in a sequence. The heists have been used to show the different turning points in the film. Furthermore, as one watches the film; they notice how the film escalates at various points. One easily finds themselves deeply engrossed and wanting to be part of the film. Some of the words that can be used to describe the opening heist are efficient, brutal and lean. This is because the action which takes place in most parts of the film is introduced. The camera shots have been effectively used to bring about clarity and kinecticism. More than half of the scenes in the film are fast motion especially when the gang is involved in crime (DeMaina, 2009). On the other hand, the romantic scenes between Claire and Doug are in slow motion. The latter ensures that the audience is aware about the various scenes and their relevance. The camera used in the film is subjective whereby one can know the emotions of the characters. This is despite them not being present when the film is being shot.
It is evident that there is effective use of sound in the film. The most notable sound is dialogue which takes place in most of the scenes. Through dialogue the film becomes more interesting as one is aware of what is taking place. In the beginning it is through dialogue that one obtains information regarding what the film is about (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Furthermore, there are various sound effects that give more value to the film. Since this film has action, the sound effects make it lively as well as dramatic. When there was a fire fight, sound effects were utilized to make the scene dramatic. The film’s narrator is Ben Affleck and he does voice over’s from time to time. This helps in further understanding what is taking place in the film.
The film’s director displays that he has technical competence in his work as a director. Furthermore, this is the second film of the same genre to be directed by Ben Affleck. His other movie is ‘Gone Baby Gone’, which was directed by him in the year 2007. The film is almost similar to ‘The Town’ in that they both have elements of crime. Like his other film the approach used by Affleck in story telling is nontraditional. The latter is effective in crime and action films to make more interesting to the audience (Stam, 2000). Affleck wants to ensure that the audience knows about the crime in form of bank robberies which often takes place in Boston. Furthermore, the lives of people, especially that of gang members and their families are known. As the film comes to an end, Doug disappears to Florida while some of counterparts are murdered. He attempts to show that at any point, something’s have to and end. In the film he refers to the gang being disbanded through the available means.
The film is applicable to many aspects of the modern society. This is one of the reasons why the film was written and produced for its intended audience. Crime which is a menace in society is shown and how in the end it is disastrous. Greedy people, who do not want to work and obtain money lawfully, will in the end pay dearly. They risk losing their lives, going to jail or being on the run as fugitives. Blake lively’s character as a single mother is one that is common to many young women in the United States. The latter often tend to hang on to the father of their children despite not having a meaningful relationship. The film is rated ‘R’ meaning that is for mature and older audiences. Drug usage and violence are some of the elements that are present. S
Affleck raises some issues which are considered being controversial such as crime and single mother hood. It is film that addresses the mentioned issues that affect most Americans. The film setting is in Boston which is known for its high crimes rates. One wanders if the director wanted to highlight this plight for people to know more concerning issues of crime in Boston.
The film’s genre is crime drama. It also belongs to the sub genre of a crime movie. It also has other elements of gangster, romance as well as thriller. This is the reason why it is referred to as a genre film. It has used filming styles that are suited in making it a crime and dramatic film. The Town fits best in the genre of crime as that is what is present in three quarters of the film.
Finally, the gang does not exist any longer as the members disappear in different ways. The do not get the opportunity to enjoy the money that they had stolen. Instead, Clair gives the money to charity and thus it seems that it was a waste of time stealing. The relationship between Doug and Clair never materialized as he went to Florida and left her. Affleck wanted to put the paint across that crime does not pay. The result is that the criminals remain suffering and in a state of despair. Through using the formalist approach, it is evident that the film made use of all the film techniques needed to have an enjoyable movie (Stam, 2000). The themes that are evident are Crime, Drug Use, Excessive Violence, among others. The themes bring out the meaning of the movie, and make it a film that has to be watched. Indeed, Affleck as well as his cast deserve praise for this exceptional film. It is through winning awards that a film’s success is sometimes measured and this applies to this film. It has been nominated for prestigious awards in the movie industry. Some of the films critics were not impressed by the role played by Blake Lively; they wished she had a better role like that of Clare.
In conclusion, the film ‘The Town’ is a great film directed and acted by Ben Affleck as well as the other cast members. The film is lists among the best crime films of recent times. It is in the same league as the movie ‘Heat’ directed by Michael Mann. The film deserves more praise as compared to criticism as it has followed most of the elements of excellent films. In the future, other directors should attempt to make films that are of benefit to society as well as being entertaining. Indeed, ‘The Town’ is a movie worth watching as it is interesting, dramatic and mind blowing.
References
Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, J.(2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA:
Bridgepoint Education Retrieved from: https://content.ashford.edu
Ross, S. (2002). Movies and American society. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Stam, R. (2000). Film theory: An introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
DeMaina, Daniel (2009). HYPERLINK “http://www.wickedlocal.com/melrose/fun/entertainment/arts/x366050607/Melrose-Lights-cameras-action-in-city-as-Ben-Affleck-movie-shoots-locally-this-month” Melrose: ‘Lights, cameras, action’ in city as Ben Affleck movie shoots locally this month”. Los Angeles :Melrose Free Press.
During the late 19th and early 20th century,
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During the late 19th and early 20th century, civil and political rights of certain groups such as the African Americans and the Hispanics in America were restricted (McClain & Tauber, 2018). The period was faced with major challenges that propelled a revolution aimed at fighting for the fundamental rights and freedom of the deprived ethnic communities in a bid to promote racial equality and freedom to all. The civil and political rights are a class of rights that protects an individual’s freedom from being infringed either by the government or other entities such as private individuals and social organizations. The rights ensure that a person is entitled to the participation in the civil and the political life in the country which they are purported to live without any issues of discrimination and or repression.
The civil rights include such rights such as ensuring peoples’ safety and life, protection from discrimination on all aspects such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, and ethnicity (Moeckli, 2017). Besides, the civil rights as well, cover individual rights such as freedom of expression, privacy, and thought as well as freedom of movement. On the other side, the political rights include natural justice in law which stipulates a person’s right to be treated fairly during trial, the right to seek redress, right to participation, assemble, petition, self-defense as well as the right to vote. The civil and political form the original and the main part of the international human rights that is a body mandated to oversee the protection of human rights in the world. During the late 19th and early 20th century, America was faced by major challenges to which curtailed the rights of some ethnic and racial groups in the nation, something which led to the denial of the constitutional privileges.
During the late 19th and early 20th century, African American civil and political rights were restricted in various ways in an attempt to strip off their bargaining powers as they were considered as people of a lesser race and they could never be equal to the whites; an act which intensified slavery in America. One of the ways that the civil and political rights of the Black and other minority communities were limited include slavery. Slavery was the main way in which the Black people could be denied to exercise their rights despite being granted by the constitution, which deemed every person residing in the American soil as equal. During the time, the whites perceived themselves as of being of a superior race, and that blacks were far much less than and to be closer not even equal, the black people needed to be civilized. Since the beginning of slavery, the white masters never believed that the black people could regain their freedom as they deemed them as being mentally deprived and they could only excel under tight supervision, which made it difficult for the African Americans to exercise their rights.
Segregation and racial oppression was the other way that the rights of the black communities were denied exercise of their civil and political rights (Ogbar, 2019). The American constitution clearly states that everyone has the freedom of movement and expression, but during the late 19th and early 20th century, things were different. Blacks were in dire need to gain back their rights of equality, and as a result, they were provided with equal rights with the whites but under parallel programs, notably segregation based on race. Racial oppression oversaw the black people conducting their own affairs in separate places such as churches and schools. The African Americans were forced to build their own schools and churches to avoid mixing with the white people, and in social places such as the hotels, blacks had a separate table where they could converge and eat their meals. There were no mixing of races and thus, segregation, and racial oppression contributed enormously to the restriction of the civil and political rights of the black community in America.
Regarding the freedom of speech, the black community were denied public speeches, and this was done through arrest of the civil rights activists and talking them to prison in an attempt of instilling fear to the other like-minded individuals. The denial of the freedom of expression curtailed the activists’ efforts of preaching togetherness and unity against the oppressor as the white people feared that if the black people were united, they could easily fight for their rights without fear and thus the only way that could be limited was to divide and rule.
Murder and incarceration are another way to which the exercise of the civil and political rights were restricted among the blacks. In order to silence an uprising, the leaders of the group could either be arrested or killed so that they could not radicalize a good number that was capable of outsmarting the whites. Most of the political activists such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior, who were great influencers and mobilizers were silenced with a bullet as they posed a great threat to the people in power due to their radicalizing ability, inciting the black community against the whites. Political rights, such as the right to vote, were restricted by denying slaves the right to vote so that they could not have or make an impact on the government of the day. One such way the blacks were denied the right to vote is the stipulation that the people who were eligible to vote had to be literate, a characteristic that was not embraced by a large group of the African descent. Through this, they were not able to make any influence in government, especially people from the south.
The motives behind the attempt to curtail the blacks’ civil and political rights were due to the fear of losing the free labor that the slaves used to provide (Domar, 2017). As a result, most of the states in America adopted the black codes between 1865 and 1866, which were aimed allowing the African Americans freedoms to owning properties, make contracts as well as testify in courts only for people who belonged to their race. The primary purpose of the black codes was to limit or restrict the blacks’ labor and activity ensuring that they were still held by their masters by signing a labor contract every year and to which was faced by grief consequences if they were not followed. Such consequences of failing to adhere to the black codes included arrests, forced labor, and beating. Apprenticeship laws forced a large number of minors- that included orphans and those people whose parents were deemed unable to support themselves by a judge, into unpaid labor in the white plantations.
After the many years of oppression among the black people, eventually, there was light at the end of the tunnel. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 brought about equity among the races. The Civil Rights of 1964 provided for the stipulations that barred discrimination as well as the segregation of the black communities in places of SoCal gatherings such as public facilities, education, housing, and places of work (Andrews & Gaby, 2015). The Act led to the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that was aimed at ensuring fair hiring practices among the hiring firms as well as the establishment of a federal community relations service to help the local communities with solving issues regarding civil rights. In addition, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorized the United States Office of Education to distribute financial assistance to the communities that were struggling to desegregate public schools.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also led to the attainment of equality of the races, especially among the black and white races in that it allowed equal voting rights (Sonenshein, 2018). The Act outlawed poll taxes and literacy texts to which previously barred blacks from the south from voting. It also authorized the United States attorney general to send federal officials to the south where blacks were not allowed to vote, to register black voters if the local registrars failed to comply with the law. Besides, the Act also authorized the federal government to supervise elections in districts that had disfranchised African Americans. Due to these provisions, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 transformed political power patterns in the south as by the middle of 1966, more than half a million southern blacks had been registered as voters, and by 1968, more than four hundred black representatives were sent to office.
Despite the great success to restore equity among the races, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights of 1965 were faced with major challenges, especially from the south. The whites from the south were involved in slave exploitation and therefore, could not allow their cheap labor to slip away. The segregationists on the other side attempted to prevent the implementation of the federal civil rights legislation at the local level in the fear that granting the blacks equal opportunities and voting rights would mean a rise in political and policy changes. The two acts, therefore, was a major stepping stone to the achievement of equality among American races especially the immigrants leading to the abolition of the selfish laws by the whites such as the Jim Crow laws.
References
Andrews, K. T., & Gaby, S. (2015, June). Local protest and federal policy: The impact of the civil rights movement on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 30, pp. 509-527).
Domar, E. D. (2017). The causes of slavery or serfdom: a hypothesis. In Critical Readings on Global Slavery (4 vols.)(pp. 43-57). Brill.
McClain, P. D., & Tauber, S. C. (2018). American government in black and white: Diversity and democracy. Oxford University Press.
Moeckli, D. (2017). Equality and non-discrimination. In Equality and Non-Discrimination under International Law (pp. 53-70). Routledge.
Ogbar, J. O. (2019). Black power: Radical politics and African American identity. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sonenshein, R. J. (2018). Politics in black and white: Race and power in Los Angeles. Princeton University Press.