jbarnes101

[jbarnes101]

Shadowfiend

What’s up guys and welcome back to another blog post by yours truly once again but today I have some unfortunate news. As of today this’ll be my last blog of my semester, I know I know it’s really shocking and upsetting to you all I get that and in all honesty I’m pretty sad myself that this is my final blog post because I really enjoyed connecting, sharing my thoughts, and gaining feedback from you guys, you guys are amazing and thank you for sticking by my side til the end. But anyways this blog is really gonna bring your spirits up as this one is my number one favorite and this is really different from the rest of the blogs I’ve done in the past because today I’m going to be creating my very own superhero. That’s right guys, I’m going to be creating my own superhero for the very first time in my life and this is going to be exciting for me because when I was little I used to pretend I had super powers and of course I was in a superhero film after watching so many X-Men films and shows, literally the X-Men franchise was hands down my favorite superhero films growing up and to this day I still support the new X-Men films even though a few of them were a flop but I still show my support. Hopefully one of these days someone or a friend of mine could make my hero come to life through artwork, that would literally be awesome.

Now that I have all of your divided attention, let’s take a look at your next future hero in development. We’re gonna take a bit of a look into the life of Cayden Garcia, a Filipino-Puerto Rican mix also goes by the name known as Shadowfiend. His name may sound villainous to some people but trust me he has a good heart with a bit of a rebellious side to him. Cayden is mostly affiliated with the X-Men but his life before discovering his mutant ability was much more different before leaving past life behind. Growing up in the suburbs of New York wasn’t always easy for our middle class 18 year old teenager as he navigates through life in High School and life at home but that’ll all start to change soon. Moving towards the life at home, Cayden was the son of Dion and Vannessa Garcia, with his father being an entrepreneur and owning his own business and for his mother being a nurse at their local hospital. Cayden also has a 13 year old little sister named Angelina and they get along somewhat well but Angelina always gets most of the good attention and she gets to do whatever she wants. As for Cayden he never really got that type of attention even when he was little, his parents always pushed him to pursue what they wanted for him and it was never what he wanted in life. His parents would also teach him on how to behave a certain way around others even if it means to keep him out of trouble and they’re also super religious as well. Cayden would also have quite the imagination when he was younger as he’d always wished he had a brother, mostly a twin. He decided to make up an imaginary twin brother so whenever he felt lonely, he would play along with his imaginary brother. When it comes to life outside home, Cayden had a part time job at a boutique store in their town. Cayden didn’t really have any friends at least not anymore. When he was little he had only one friend named Darwin and they would always spend time with each other from Elementary School to the beginning years of High School. They were really close but as they got older, Darwin started to distance himself away from Cayden and hang around with his new group of friends after rumors we’re spreading accusing Cayden and Darwin for being a couple and since then, Cayden chose to be a loner but how can a good looking guy like Cayden stay all alone? Of course for every High School story there’s always gotta be a school bully and that bully is the school’s jock Ivan. Ivan would always harass Cayden for being so weird, teasing him about his sexuality, and for not having any friends. The harassment would go even as far to physically beating up Cayden and insulting him for being a homosexual even though nobody knows. The school, his peers, and not even his own parents would step in to help him as much. Cayden would also soon start to realize and come to terms about his sexuality because of how often he’d feel some type of way around other guys that he finds attractive and start developing secret crushes but little did anybody know was that one time Cayden had his first kiss and it was with a boy from his school and Cayden enjoyed every minute of it. One night as Cayden got off from work he decided to walk home and as he was walking he ran into Ivan and his friends. Cayden would try to avoid them but Ivan and his group would soon catch Cayden walking all alone so they decided to walk towards him but that signals Cayden to start running. Ivan and his group would start pursuing after Cayden and they managed to catch up to him. Ivan would soon tell Cayden that he knew his secret about the boy he kissed because the boy ended up being Ivan’s cousin and the whole kiss was a setup. Ivan and his group would soon start yelling out homophobic slurs towards Cayden and they would start to beat him while he lied on the ground helpless. Next thing you know, a shadowy figure appears behind Ivan that would soon throw him along with his friends to the ground. Ivan and his friends cower in fear as they all saw the shadowy figure standing before them which made them all back up and run away. The shadowy figure would soon turn his attention towards a shocked Cayden and would resume to walk towards him but Cayden would slowly back away. The shadowy figure meant no harm to Cayden as it would offer a hand to help him up. Cayden would notice something familiar about the figure's appearance as the shadow would have the same curly black hair and the same athletic body type as Cayden but the shadow looked more like a dark shadowy figure with white soulless eyes more than an actual human. Cayden would soon realize that the shadowy figure was himself. He couldn’t believe that his own shadow would come to life but it seems as though his shadow would be much more like a twin he had hoped for but the only problem is that the shadow couldn’t speak. Cayden would secretly start to bond with his shadow and one thing he learned is that the shadow was more of a rebel than himself. The shadow and Cayden spent so much time together that Cayden never bothered to show up to school after the whole incident with Ivan which sparked Dion and Vanessa’s suspicion after they found out Cayden hadn't been in class and him sneaking out. One night as Cayden decided to sneak out again, Dion and Vanessa caught him and demanded an explanation for his behavior lately. Cayden tried to make up a small little lie but they could see right through him and started interrogating him and demanded the actual truth. Cayden wanted to tell them about his ability but he knew how they’d react so he decided to do the unthinkable in order to protect his secret. Cayden inadvertently came out to his parents that he was gay and told them he going to see a boy. Both the parents were shocked but not in a good way as Dion was furious and that he never raised his son to be that way but as for Vanessa, she cried and said how disgusted she was towards her son. Cayden grew even more furious and started an all out argument with his parents but with one wrong word, Dion ended up slapping Cayden which made someone even more furious. The shadow appears and starts to choke out Dion but Cayden manages to calm the shadow down and tells him to let his father go. Cayden’s parents stood in fear of what appeared in front of them and that was when Cayden decided to tell them about his power and the shadow. Dion and Vanessa were even more appalled by their son and accused him with dealing with the devil’s work and the shadow was possessing him. Cayden would deny his parents but they didn’t wanna listen as they threatened to exorcise the shadow out of him. As Dion and Vanessa left without saying another word, Cayden made the decision to pack all his things he needed and run away from his life and from his family along with his shadow. A distraught Cayden never wanted to look back.

Cayden may look like he was on his own but the only person or thing that stood by his side was his own shadow. For being on the run, that gave Cayden and his shadow the perfect opportunity to bond and learn a little more about his ability. As they jumped from train to train, our 2 runaways ended up in another town called Chester and eventually upon arrival, Cayden started to feel hungry. Cayden spotted the town’s local diner and felt so much relief after smelling the delicious food after walking in. He was eventually seated and he couldn’t take his eyes off the food from the menu but he decided to order a simple meal in order to satisfy his cravings. The wait wasn’t really long judging by there weren’t that many people in the diner and once the waitress delivers the food, Cayden started to chow down like there was no tomorrow. Nothing was left on Cayden’s plate and he started to feel full but once the check came back to him, he soon realized he didn’t have enough money and once the waitress found out she had no choice but to alert her manager and call the police. Cayden starts to panic and proceeds to run out of the diner. While running away as quickly as possible, Cayden would happen to run into a man in a wheelchair but he doesn’t pay any mind to him and just proceeds to run. While coming to a stop, Cayden would rest in a peaceful forest within the town. After a few minutes of rest, Cayden would eventually hear a noise coming close by which made him stay on high alert but he would soon come to realize that it was the man in the wheelchair who followed him. The man wished no harm on poor Cayden and would take notice that he’s been through a rough patch. The man would introduce himself as Charles Xavier and that he was the headmaster for Xavier’s School for gifted Children also known as The X-Mansion. Xavier would go on to tell that Cayden was born with a gift, a genetic trait called the X-gene. Cayden couldn’t process what was happening or how Xavier found out about his abilities but Charles would explain that he has been watching Cayden for some time with the power of Cerebro, a machine that detected mutants all over the world. Xavier has been searching for Cayden and he wanted him to come join his school but Cayden felt a little reluctant on why Xavier would help him. Xavier would go on to tell him that he has abilities as well and he would show him that he could communicate with Cayden in his head notifying that Xavier is a telepath and he would also go on to tell him that there are other students at his school who are just like Cayden with different abilities looking for an education and also learning on how to control their abilities. Cayden would agree to travel with Xavier back to the school and once they get there, Xavier promised Cayden a clean shower, a room, fresh clothes, and food as well. When they arrived at the school, Cayden couldn’t believe the amount of kids his age younger and older were just like him but of course he had to be cautious on what he was about to walk into. While given the grand tour Xavier introduces another mutant by the name of Jean Grey who was also a telepath and she manages to have a talk with Cayden encouraging him to stay and explaining on what to expect at the school, some mutants would have the opportunity to go on missions, and what they would do to help him understand and control his ability. Cayden for once felt like he belonged somewhere and made the final decision to stay at The X-Mansion. Through time while Cayden was given the education he was promised, he manages to get better with his classes while also training up on his abilities as well. Cayden even started to learn sign language after it was given to him as a recommendation in order for him and his shadow to communicate better. Cayden even realized after so much learning he has the power of dark manipulation as well as teleportation and he would soon come up with his very own codename called Shadowfiend. Through time, Cayden even got the help from Charles Xavier to design his own X-Uniform. The uniform would consist of a full body sleeveless suit with the colors of red and black on it along with black leather gloves with of course an X on the front part of the suit plus a personal touch by Cayden a black leather jacket to go along with it to wear over the suit and black boots. After training up on his abilities, Cayden was finally invited to go along on his first mission with another group of mutant youngsters called The New Mutants. Cayden couldn’t believe after all the hard work he’s put into the X-Mansion really paid off and now his next new move is to help protect others and even help other mutants that are out in the open world struggling to make it through life just like he did. Cayden also wanted to set an example and send a message by explaining “no matter who you are or what you are, there will be a place where people won’t accept you but if you keep moving forward and work hard, there will be a place where people are just like you and you’ll feel more loved and welcomed”. If something were to ever happen to Cayden/Shadowfiend, he knows he would’ve left behind a legacy of proving that anybody could be accepted anywhere no matter what you look like or who you chose to be in life. Always choose the right path and don’t let anyone dictate your life on who you want to be.

Well guys what do you think? I know it looks pretty long but that’s just the fun of it on what creative ideas came up in my mind and plus I wanted to send you guys off on a long blog post anyway just so you guys don’t feel upset as much since this is the last time you guys will ever hear from me. For Cayden I wanted to create a superhero that looks like me so that way I didn’t have to think on appearance as much and as for his ethnicity and sexuality, I felt as if there wasn’t much on Filipino superheroes or even LGBTQ+ superheroes as well so why not create another character to fit into that sort of category but also Cayden’s life would be much more different from mine. I also made the decision on making Cayden’s powers which is inspired by one of my favorite Mortal Kombat characters, Noob Saibot. Well guys that’s the end of the road for me again thank you guys so much for sticking with me on this short blog journey. Hopefully this’ll inspire others like you guys to write something creative as well like I did. On a final note, stay safe and stay creative. Love you guys so much. Thank you and goodnight!

[jbarnes101]

Forgotten & Overlooked Animated Films

Hey all my lovely people and welcome back to another JJ’s Corner Blog and for today’s post we’re going to be diving into a different category again this week and that category would be animation. For this I was able to watch only two animated films which were called Fantastic Planet from 1973 and Watership Down from 1978. Many audience members would also presume these 2 types of films were either forgotten or overlooked and judging by my research, these 2 films received good ratings from audience members and critics so it would be a little confusing as to why people would make that assumption but in all honesty from me I have never heard of these film in my life, not even the people around me have heard of these films either which probably answers my question as to why people would think these type of films are forgotten is because Fantastic Planet was a french film and Watership Down was a british film. These sort of films manage to get across many different questions that needed to be answered like what are the 3 themes, did anything represent a historical event within these films, and more revolving around Fantastic Planet and Watership Down.

Many films may seem different but some films manage to have the same exact themes in order to get a point across. For Fantastic Planet and Watership Down I believe the 3 themes that were shown in the film were teamwork, discrimination, and finding peace. For teamwork in Fantastic Planet, on both sides for the Draags and the Oms it looks as if that both sides were going to fight and in order for them to do that is to gather up each member from their own society in order to gain the upper hand and for the Oms it also looked like their was a different community within the Oms called the Hollow Bush Thieves and at first they didn’t get along with the Oms in the big tree but once the Draags started the first assault on the Oms, the Hollow Bush Thieves had no choice but to work together with the Oms in the big tree to prevent their kind from being wiped out. For Watership Down, A group a rabbits were migrating to a safe haven after one of the rabbits named Fiver sensed their was big a danger that were to occur to their original home and of course it was difficult to move around in open fields and through the woods as a small animal while dangerous predators like cats, dogs, birds, other dangerous rabbits from the Efrafa Warren and humans are lurking around but that didn’t stop Hazel or Bigwig from helping other rabbits to safety as they find a new quiet home away from all the chaos. For discrimination in Fantastic Planet, The Draags really treated the Oms like house pets, they made some pretty nasty remarks by calling them vermin and pests, and they also had a several Oms of their own and they treated them like actual police dogs when they were searching through the Om community to wipe out the Om population. For Watership Down, of course we have the natural predators attacking the rabbits because when it comes to the biggest and most vicious animals, they always prey on the little and weaker animals and also the humans didn’t really care about the little animals and the environment so they caused more danger to the rabbits and their habitat. For finding peace in Fantastic Planet, The Oms were able to gain the upper hand when they gained more knowledge and control over the Draags and once that was taken cared of the oms demanded peace from the Draags and the Draags and the Oms were able to bury the hatchet and found a new way of learning knowledge from each other. For Watership Down, after navigating through the woods and the open fields, the rabbits have finally found a new home away from danger and were to build a new community by rescuing other rabbits. For these 3 themes it makes sense for these films to be paired together as they feature the same concept but yet they still end up different.

Even in the film industry there are films that feature a lot of historical events and there are those that don’t feature it but it seems to showcase as a hidden meaning. For Fantastic Planet I did see more on the common issues that still occur til this very day like racism, animal cruelty, and human rights as well. Like for example, the way on how the Draags treat the Oms like they aren’t part of their kind, how they keep the Oms as pets and how they treat them, and also the demanding of peace between the Oms and Draags. As for Watership Down, I didn’t really see much of anything that pertained to a historical event, nothing but survival is all I’ve seen throughout the film. Many films do have the tendency to showcase a meaning whether it be from a historical event, a personal experience, or based on a true story from the media.

Many people have so many questions when it comes to these 2 films and of course there’s always an answer. In the film Fantastic Planet their were certain Oms who refused to educate themselves and certain ones that would but in the end they all come together to sort their differences out when they fight a common enemy and that route made them more successful because once that they saw that the Draags were wiping out the Om population, the Oms’ only choice to beat the Draags were gaining more information on them, what makes them so strong and do they have a weak point. In Watership Down there is an “intellectual” character and then we have an “anti-intellectual” character. For the intellectual character I believe that title should go to Hazel because he’s more of a leader towards his companions, he’s brave, he’s more intelligent, he cares about every other rabbit that’s also in need of help, he never gives up, and he encourages his fellow rabbits to work together to build up their community. For the anti-intellectual character that title is definitely going to General Woundwort because he’s ruthless and gives no pity to anybody even the ones that disobey him, he’s also very violent and which made his associates fear him as well as he punishes them if they commit to mutiny within his community. There are organizations and groups in modern day society that could relate to one character like for instance, Hazel and The Humane Society of the United States because the HSUS is an organization based in Washington, D.C. that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal cruelty and the reason why I make this comparison is because of how Hazel protects his group of animals from dangerous predators and helps them to safety as does the HSUS does the same thing but in our reality.

Well guys another blog down and hopefully this one was as good as the rest of them, thank you guys so much for reading up. Catch ya in the next blog post, have a good day guys👍🏽!!!!

[jbarnes101]

Irreversible

Hey guys we’re back with another JJ’s Corner Blog and today we’re going to be doing something different from the last 2 blogs I posted before. That’s right we’re going to be talking about only one movie for today and this is all going to be a review. I was given a choice between a few movies but I decided to go with the movie Irreversible. Irreversible is a french 2002 classic movie directed by Gaspar Noé that features two men going by the names of Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel) where they roam the streets of Paris at night as they are seeking justice after a person named Le Tenia who brutally raped Marcus’ girlfriend (Monica Bellucci). While on the search for Le Tenia, it seems as though Marcus and Pierre are gonna have a long night searching for the assailant as they have barely any evidence of what he looks like, where he’s located, and where he was last seen while also causing and running into trouble. As the film itself was a stand alone with no book inspiration, this movie will get you on the edge of your seat and make you start to wonder what is happening at first but as the movie goes on you’ll start to understand Gaspar Noé’s creative direction with the film.

As we are about to talk about Irreversible let it be known that this film would be one of Gaspar’s iconic films and probably his most controversial film from many other people’s point of view. When you look at Gaspar Noe’s work from the past and recently done you can already tell that it explores many of the same common themes almost repeatedly from the minds of the human experience and his vision on what his work wants to feature that pertains to those themes but for Irreversible I felt like as if this was a start of what Gaspar’s all about judging by when this film was released and how many films he’s worked in the past. For Gaspar he explores a lot of these themes and would always try to tie them together in order to take the audience like me for instance out of their comfort zone while I went into this film completely blind and in true honesty I never seen Gaspar Noe’s work all that much but I’ve heard from other sources and I am familiar with only 2 titles that he’s done before like Love and Climax and that’s another thing about Gaspar, it seems as though he’s not at all shy about throwing something at our face whether it’s something gross, shocking, or uncomfortable to watch. But as for this film, it really struck me with a surprise of what Gaspar’s intentions were when he had this sort of idea and I can see why this film isn’t technically for everyone and why it didn’t win that many awards as I will explain later.

Noé’s work on Irreversible has a very interesting concept since the start of the film and throughout the whole film itself. The way how the film started out for me really threw me off because I thought something went wrong while I was watching it and usually for some of my movies that aren’t on Netflix, I watch them on my firestick instead and I thought I clicked on a bad link but apparently that’s how the film is suppose to start out. As the film started, I was still confused on what was happening but of course I had to stick around and watch because a couple characters were thrown in with no explanation on who they are or what their purpose was but as the film began to process I was beginning to understand what was happening. Our two main characters who are Marcus and Pierre are trying to pursue the person who brutally assaulted and took advantage of Marcus’ girlfriend, Alex. What I really began to realize is that the whole film is running in reverse but it’s in real time as well and that was the part that really caught me off guard because usually we’re all used to watching our shows and movies not in reverse but after thinking about the idea more, I think it was a genius idea. Think about it, this movie was labelled as a drama, thriller, and a crime film and if you mostly think about the crime part, it would make the audience try to solve the mystery and it’s as though you would place yourself as the detective to figure out on what happened and what lead up to these circumstances. Another thing I would like to point out is that I think the flow of the film lives up to the title of it because remember the film went in reverse which also means the crime was already committed and it can’t be undone once it’s over and that I thought was a clever idea. The film also had its fair share of scenes that in my opinion could be a little too much for some audience members, and I do mean too much as in a way I would say some scenes were disturbing, violent, and gross especially with the fire extinguisher scene, now that was brutal but for me I’m not all too worried about those parts I’m just saying that in a different point of view so that way you know what you’re getting yourself into. The camera movement I noticed a lot was sorta annoying for some scenes because some it was just all over the place where I’d barely have enough time to focus on the scene itself but I do love how the camera movement was also synced in with a transition that made the whole tone make sense as it was changing scenery from a different time and also fair warning to those who are affected by motion sickness easily, I highly do not recommend this film for your safety.

The actors for their roles of the film really stuck out to me and they really executed their character’s personality really well. The main guy we see called Marcus played by Vincent Cassel really tapped into his character but for me it is as if Gaspar wanted us to think of him as the hero but in all honesty I didn’t really like how Cassel’s character acted. Marcus to me at first hand strikes me as a person who’s short tempered and doesn’t really care that much about anyone’s safety but himself because during the night when Alex, Marcus, and Pierre went to a party, Marcus allowed himself to have too much fun by drinking, doing drugs, and touching other women while Alex was watching which that caused her to leave the party alone without any source of protection, Marcus threatened to murder a transsexual woman after being a witness and refuses to talk, Marcus assualted a taxi, Marcus also yells out anti-gay slurs through half the film, Marcus also tries to force Pierre out the taxi by smashing the windshield with a pipe, and Marcus didn’t even bother to go to the hospital to check on Alex after the assault. Now for Pierre, I liked him more than Marcus and to me I felt as if people would like Pierre more because Pierre once dated Alex and he felt as if Marcus stole Alex from him, Pierre was more eager to visit Alex at the hospital more than Marcus, Pierre would also try to calm down Marcus to keep the peace, and Pierre would save Marcus from being raped by a man. Usually we would all mainly focus on the #1 main character of a film but for this I felt the side character successfully outshined the main character personality wise.

If I had to choose a rating for Irreversible I would give it a 4 out of 5 in my opinion. I truly do believe this film has the potential of being an original as in the way Gaspar Noé’s creative direction was executed perfectly. The movie itself was amazing but my one only negative opinion would be the way of how the camera movement was executed in some parts because like I said before it really annoyed me when I tried to focus on what was happening but other than that I enjoyed the film and the whole concept of it was amazing as well.

Thank you guys again for the support on these blogs this one was very interesting than the last one and I enjoyed this one much like the 1st blog but anyways see you guys again in the next blog...catch ya later!

[jbarnes101]

Crazy as Closure

Welcome back guys to JJ’s Corner and right now we’re going to be diving into a more serious and familiar topic and that is the portrayal of mental health within movies. There are many different forms of how mental health issues are portrayed within a director’s vision whether it’s talking about how a person deals with it’s mental state or how someone’s mental state is affecting the person themself. I was able to watch and review 3 movies that fit in this certain category which were One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, American Psycho, and Donnie Darko and might I say this was the first time I’ve watched all these films even though I’ve heard of them all before and to be honest American Psycho and Donnie Darko were very confusing but American Psycho was the most. Overall the films were really well developed and each of the films had its very own twist. Many people may not seem to understand a lot on mental illnesses but now with the help of media, films have been revolving around the topic of mental health issues recently like for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, American Psycho, and Donnie Darko they were all showcased in a very interesting way.

Sometimes we all have a chance to escape that main problem in our lives but for these characters it didn’t go according to plan. From the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 2 patience from the Mental Ward named Randle McMurphy and Chief Bromden, they had a perfectly good chance to escape but in that time they didn’t escape when plenty of times it was a wide open opportunity for them but still they didn’t take it. Let’s go back and review why the escape plan didn’t take place. Randle McMurphy was brought in the Ward just so he could get out of working at the farm which would imply to many that he’s lazy and while he notices how the whole setting of the ward feels miserable and depressing all because it’s run by a strict nurse, Nurse Ratched. McMurphy was able to bypass all that and manage to shed a little light on the patience and encourage them by showing them a good time like trying to get the patients to watch the World Series, playing a real basketball game, taking everybody to go fishing, throwing a party, hell he even got one of the patients to lose their virginity to one of the girls that came to the party, but in the end the most important one was that he was also responsible for Chief to escape without him after McMurphy got lobotomized. For Chief, many of  the patience and staff members assumed he was dumb and deaf because throughout the film he didn’t communicate with anyone but when McMurphy arrived and all the fun started happening, Chief finally had a chance to speak but he was only communicating with McMurphy because he thought all the other patients wouldn’t understand him like how McMurphy would. When McMurphy explained the escape plan to Chief, Chief didn’t find the use of leaving and thought it would've been impossible but of course McMurphy had a well thought out plan and was able to grab Chief’s attention. Now as the plan was already set, McMurphy and Chief were ready to leave but something held them back and for that reason I felt as if they didn’t wanna leave because if they left, things would’ve gone back to the way things were in the beginning. Remember Nurse Ratched was the one who didn’t make any of the patients' lives easier and if McMurphy left, she would have higher power over the patients and McMurphy was the main symbol for hope and freedom amongst the patients. We all have a chance to escape our problems at some point and sometimes we don’t but as for McMurphy and Chief, only one was able to escape alive and well in the end.

A lot of times films and media tend to make us audience members judge our own mental health at times. As for American Psycho, this film tends to showcase a way of how the main character could be a psychopath or maybe it’s all in his head. At the end of the film Patrick Bateman says “my pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape, but even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. My punishment continues to elude me and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself”, I think what he means by this is that he knows he’s a psychopath but also not 100% certain and he would even hide his own pain behind his madness that goes on in his head because throughout the film Patrick craves for control and perfection that he would even go as far to killing people who act better than him and even less than him which I also believe that’s a way for him to cope with his pain even after he confessed his crimes but still nobody believed him. Films like this don’t really affect my mental health at all really and I’m a horror movie fan so that really says a lot about me but also I feel like it could depend on the person when it comes to movies like this affecting your mental health but acting out like how Patrick Bateman did, not a good idea. For that I don’t really empathize with Patrick because for one, he literally lets jealousy get the best of him and he goes out of his way to murder people and thinks he could get away with it because he’s rich and craves power and for me I wouldn’t let jealousy consume me nore would I ever result to murder.

Donnie Darko was like I said before one of the confusing films I’ve ever seen but in the end I understood it more than American Psycho. The ending of the movie to me looked more like a prediction of the future of what's to come because remember this film film talked about time travel a lot and the future was in an alternate timeline and for Donnie he dreamt of what would happen in the future and another theory I thought comes from towards the end we get a glimpse inside chapter 12 of and it said “When the manipulated awaken from their journey into the Tangent Universe, they are often haunted by the experience in their dream” and Donnie was already claimed that he had mental issues as many would think, so his mind created Frank and Frank has been encouraging him to do certain things within the dream but in the real world, Frank was never around Donnie and it was all Donnie himself that would’ve caused a lot of chaos. Plus towards the end it repeated the scene where the jet engine fell from the sky and landed on Donnie’s house but this time Donnie was in his room and Gretchen never met Donnie after the accident. At the end of the movie, Donnie was also seen laughing and the reason for that in my opinion I feel like Donnie knows he’s dreaming and he’s going to wake up peacefully because the visions of Frank, the sky was starting to form a storm all of a sudden, and he also loses the girl he loves which he knows in reality he can save her.

For these 3 films they all have a different plot and storyline but they all have an ambiguous ending. Even though these films had such a thought provoking ending, they all still received good ratings and reviews from the public. For me sometimes it would depend on how well they would tell the story in order to give me or anybody else the opportunity to keep guessing what happens so that way an idea could be formed but sometimes I’m not a fan of it because there’s so much I wanna learn more from even if the story has me hooked and at times anticipation can annoy me. I do have to say for both American Psycho and Donnie Darko they both have the same type of similar endings due to how it leaves off with sorta an open plot with so many ideas that would make it seem like if there were to be a sequel or not but for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has a different ending with only 2 ideas where we see Chief escape and we can already tell he plans to live a good life or they catch him and bring him back.

Thank you guys again for you're attention to be honest this might’ve been the hardest challenge for me to review these films because in all honesty I felt like I knew more on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest than the other 2 but I managed to keep you guys posted on this as much as I can but other than that have a good day guys I’ll see you in the next blog.

[jbarnes101]

Examining Youth Culture

So I had a chance to examine and study up on youth culture within several films and tv series from past to present. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term “Youth Culture”, it typically means the way children and young adults behave, how they live, norms, values, and practices they share but it’s much more different from the older generation’s culture. Starting from the fashion trends, music, sports, slangs, and relationships from other age groups which all seem to change as time goes by. I managed to watch shows like Saved by the Bell and Euphoria and also movies such as The Breakfast Club, KIDS, Mean Girls, and Mid90s and they’re all in my opinion represent a perfect example of youth culture from past to present. Throughout watching every story, I came to realize that one of the character’s from one story felt very relatable, every story shared three common themes that still go on even in reality, and how a soundtrack could impact a tv series/film. Youth culture offers a chance for a young person to explore and express their identities of who they really are through time even from the media’s perspective on how they shape youth culture.

When we tend to watch a film or a tv series, there’s always that one or multiple characters we can all relate to in reality whether it’s through personality, behavior, or style. Out of all the characters I’ve seen and I mean ALL the characters from each story, only one was able to stick out the most that I find very relatable to me and that was Fourth Grade from the 2018 film Mid90s. You’re probably thinking out of all the characters why him? Let me explain, after watching the whole film it’s like I got to know Fourth Grade a lot more than how people would assume who he is at first glance and I felt like I connected with him even more as the film progressed. There was one scene that explained that Fourth Grade was poor and that’s the only difference I find from both of our lifestyles but there’s much more than that. Fourth Grade strikes me as a shy type of character who also keeps to himself at times when he’s talking to someone new because in one scene a girl was trying to make a conversation with him even about his film camera and the video he’s trying to create but he just wasn’t as outgoing as his friends were, he just sat there and didn’t really keep the conversation going it was more like the girl did all the talking and questioning but when he’s around his best friends, he’s more fun, wild, and caring and for me I tend to do that a lot as well like when I’m talking to someone I don’t really know, I’m going to be shy and a little quiet at first but once you get to know me or when I’m around my friends, that’s when I start to break out more and help another out. Fourth Grade is also very creative as well, almost the entire film he was shown recording him and his friends hanging out and skateboarding on his camera but towards the end of the film, he compiled all the footage he caught and made it into his own film. It was also told that Fourth Grade wanted to become a filmmaker but some of his friends didn’t believe him at first because of his stupid personality and that’s something I also connected with him because we’re both creatively bright, we both have a dream in the filmmaking work, and our friends could sometimes see us as dumb but we’re smart when we want to be. Everybody has a relatable fictional character from a tv series or a film because we’re both able to feel a deeper connection with one another just like how I felt when I saw Fourth Grade and got to know more info about him from start to finish.

After going through every series and films I’ve watched back to back, I came to realize that they all have the same common themes within one another. In my opinion each story had 3 similar themes which were coming of age, diversity, and forming friendship. For coming of age, every story featured a younger cast playing teenage roles while their characters are experiencing a change in their lives as they progress through life and half of the stories are set in a high school environment or a hang out spot where teens usually go even in reality. Like for instance, Euphoria, Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club, and Saved by the Bell featured teenage characters while also going through the stages of high school and as for Mid90s and KIDS, they also featured teenagers but they weren’t in a high school setting but they were featured at their most notable hang out spots. For diversity, this is one of the most common themes in youth culture even in reality. Each story would section a certain group of the cast in groups that they would belong in like in Saved by the Bell Zack and his friends don’t like to affiliate with the freshman in high school, in Mean Girls every group had a label for each other and they would only associate with their group peers, in The Breakfast Club one character from a different group was forced to interact with one another as they were in detention, in KIDS the guys would talk about the girls in a very sexual way while the girls talked about how the guys are disgusting, in Euphoria of course each character played one person from a different social group but more likely to interact with each other than The Breakfast Club, and in Mid90s the boys were considered troublemakers just because they’re skater boys and how they mess around a lot like doing drugs, drinking and driving, and causing a scene. For friendships, the characters from most of the stories formed an unlikely friendship. For example in Mean Girls every social group started out hating other social groups but towards the end they all came together and started being friends, in The Breakfast Club they might never wanna be seen with each other but in the end they all started to understand each other and learned that not everyone is different, in Saved by the Bell they were all friendly to one another from start to finish and they always had each others back, in KIDS the boys of course were more interactive with one another and they would even talk to some of the girls and show kindness for reasons, in Euphoria for the main cast for the girls they may look different and act different but they still understand each other and have each others back, and for Mid90s the main kid Stevie was accepted into a group of delinquents and as a reminder he’s a lot younger than the teenage boys but they didn’t care they still accepted him. Every show and every film has a common theme, even if it’s a different plot to the story they all can still relate just by how the story’s been told.

Of course when it comes to a film and a tv series, they always gotta have at least a soundtrack. The reason why I think every show and film has a soundtrack is because it adds more emotion to a scene that is played in front of an audience in order to elaborate on what’s happening in the story. I do have to say for the show Euphoria, in my opinion it could work more if ten of these songs were played in the show like Paris by The Chainsmokers, Rewind by Future Jr, 11 Minutes by YUNGBLUD, Bad Things by Cults, Nostalgic by A R I Z O N A, Fairplay by Kiana Ledè, Get You the Moon by Kina, Girls Just Wanna Have Dub by Chromatics, Guys My Age by Hey Violet, and Lie by Sasha Sloan, I definitely recommend listening to these songs and who knows maybe you’ll feel like you’re in tv series too. The reason why I feel like these songs were to fit in Euphoria a lot more is because they add more of the modern taste to the show and it kinda matches the atmosphere as the show features a lot of love and relationships, tension, and heartbreaks.

Sorry you guys had to witness me ramble on too much I guess I couldn't help it lol but hope to see you guys in the next post. Have a great day!