Final Review Outline

The Road, By Cormac McCarthy (Vintage Books, 2007) &

“The Road” (Directed by John Hillcoat, 2009)

Compare the book The Road with its film recreation.

Discuss the pros and cons of making a book into a film.

Discuss the book’s writing style compared to the writing of the film.

-Cormac McCarthy and Screenwriter Joe Penhall

Did the film stay true to the book?

How is the story affected when the main characters don’t have names?

What is the significance of the book? Does the film have the same qualities?

"COPS" (1989-2010)

Reality television today consists of douche bags on a beach or housewives of who cares making an ass of themselves for a camera crew and a producer. The show that started this reality craze is the complete of opposite of this scripted nonsense. “COPS” has become a staple of American Television, considered one of the first reality shows, it still manages to stay to true to the documentary style that makes it so intense.

Since its premier in 1989, “COPS” has taken us along for the ride as men and women of various police departments around the United States enforce the law. “COPS” is what reality television should be--real. The concept of the show is simple, a cameraman and his subject at work. There is no way to script human reactions during a confrontation with a police officer. The success of “COPS” comes from the unpredictability of humans when authority confronts them. Shot in a cinema verite style, “COPS” uses no narration; it relies on the commentary from the officers to explain their situations. This documentary style television is different then the huge productions we typically see today, there’s only one subject being interviewed making it more personal and easier to follow for the viewer. “COPS” does exploit the differences in social classes by focusing on arrests that happen in poorer neighborhoods. These people provide cheap laughs but when you look the past the surface a lot of this show is tragic.

“COPS” has aired 948 episodes in 23 seasons. Making it one of the longest running shows in television history. Lets see “The Real Housewives of: Orange County” pump out that many seasons. That’s the thing with most reality television today; it burns bright for a few years and then a new show pops up to replace it. The reason that “COPS” has sustained such a long life span is because it can’t be scripted. Shows today call themselves reality and the reason they do so is because that label sells, but behind the camera these people are being told what to do and what to say by producers that know how to make successful television. “COPS” stands alone as the true reality show because it’s premise is so simple. However you feel about law enforcement, “COPS” is a show that all people can get a kick out of. It’s lasted this long because America is fascinated with how these officers conducted themselves when they are forced to control the authority. The term reality should belong to shows that are just that, real.

“Dennis Hopper Plays With An American flag”

“Apocalypse Now” Pagsanjan, Philippines (1976)

Mary Ellen Mark’s photography on film sets is, for any cinema lover, a priceless look at life behind the camera. In 1976 she was on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam epic “Apocalypse Now.” A film that has become infamous as a modern masterpiece and a horrifying example of what can go wrong on set.

Her collection of photographs titled, “Seen Behind The Scene” was published in 2008. It features 264 pages of photography on film sets from “Tootsie” to “One flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” Mark chose 11 photographs from “Apocalypse Now” to include. Two photos feature her on the set.

The most important photograph from this film shows a young Dennis Hopper looking through a tattered American Flag. He is dressed in character, clutching the frayed end of a perfect metaphor about the war in Vietnam and “Apocalypse Now.” The worn flag represents the feelings of Americans after the war. It represents loss and absence. Hoppers character is a representation of the veterans that could no longer cope with reality. He is looking through America. Through the holes that were the social problems facing the returning veterans. “Apocalypse Now” is a journey through the men, specially the men on the boat, each going through a mental separation from reality. This photograph captures this metaphor hauntingly; Hopper is the embodiment of them, holding the spirit of the war in his hand.

Mark usually only works in black and white photography. This is very effective when you’re trying to show heightened emotion. She framed it in a fashion that instantly locks your eyes with Hoppers. A dark blemish in the left corner of the picture adds to the imperfections of the flag, Hopper and the creation of the film.

Mary Ellen Mark’s photograph is significant in several ways; it represents an unforgettable event in American history. It ties together both the film itself and the metaphors within it. The difficulties of making “Apocalypse Now” can be seen in the tears and holes of the damaged flag. This photo is a representation of war and the war of creating art.