Victim and Creator
Movie using Victim & Creator
Movie using Victim & Creator
Movie using Victim & Creator
Apply the Victim & Creator philosophy to one of the movies listed in this module. Choose ONE protagonist and describe this character's Victim behavior and how he/she transcended obstacles to become a Creator. Often times, there is a pivotal moment in a character's life that allows him/her to rise above the struggle and shed Victim status and become a Creator. I would like for you to recount this moment for me with descriptive prose and supporting examples from the movie.
Choose only ONE character from the movie (even if there are several). This character must change in a positive way and experience a positive outcome. Use this chart to take notes during and after the movie. You will be turning in your notes for this assignment. You can bullet point your answers. Your response does not have to be lengthy. Be descriptive, be specific and focus on only ONE character.
Victim Behavior / Creator Behavior / Positive Outcome
- Self pity
- Denial
- Won't step up to challenge
- Accept personal responsibility
- Believe in him/herself
- Achieve goals
- Feel good about him/herself
- Empowered
"Life as a House" 2001
George Monroe (Kevin Kline) is an unhappy architect whose life is unfulfilled. His ex-wife Robin (Kristin Scott Thomas) has married another man and has a family of her own. George's son Sam (Hayden Christensen) hates his parents and just wants to be alone. One day George is fired from his job of 20 years.
Understandably, he's not happy about this and he destroys all of the models that he's created. He takes one undamaged one and leaves, only to have health problems and collapse outside. While at the hospital, George is told that he has cancer and is expected to live for another four months or so. George, having a new outlook on life, wants to spend the summer with Sam and fulfill George's dream: to build a house together. Sam has problems of his own, though: he is constantly pressured to be a prostitute by Josh (Ian Somerhalder), he does drugs, he is anti-social, and he is emotionally cut off from just about everybody. Sam, instead of spending the summer with his father, wants to spend the summer with his friend and get wasted. But George is determined to complete his dream and practically forces Sam to go with him.
Sam hates spending time with his father, especially since they live in a shack adjacent to their future house. But while there Sam meets neighbor Colleen (Mary Steenburgen) and her daughter Alyssa (Jena Malone), which prompts him to stay. For the next couple of months, George attempts to bond with his estranged son and finally complete his dream house.
"Monsoon Wedding" (2001)
This is the story of a 12 year old Maori girl who knows that she is born to the destiny her grandfather believes died with her stillborn twin brother. I won't spoil the ending (which is hinted at early on) with specifics, but suffice it to say that the story's ultimate lesson is that change is sometimes as necessary a component of living traditions as repetitive ceremony. And that the Maori must ride that "whale" as bravely as their mythological ancestor rode the whale from Havaiki (a satellite island of Tahiti, NOT Hawaii) to New Zealand. Not to destroy or denigrate their culture, but to ensure its vitality and continuity in the cultural matrix of the modern world.
A great lesson in true cultural diversity without preachy slogans or "politically correct" censorship. It should be shown in all the world's classrooms. Keisha Castle-Hughes is unforgettable as the heroine, and richly deserves the Oscar for which she has been nominated.
"Crash" - 2004
Author: David H. Schleicher from New Jersey, USA
"Crash" brilliantly shows through intertwining vignettes, that are often blazingly funny in their brutal honesty and fascinatingly gut-wrenching in their melodrama, how subtle racism (often guised in nervous humor) and overt prejudice (often exasperated by sudden irrational violence and an overabundance of readily available firearms) completely permeate our culture and everyday interactions within society. A hyper intelligent script showcases not characters, but brilliant representations of real people, people we know and pass in the street every day, people not unlike us. People who at first seem to be lost causes in the war against racism (witnessed in Matt Dillon's harried beat cop and Sandra Bullock's spoiled District Attorney's wife) can often become the most unlikely solutions to the problem, while people who ride in on their high horse (witnessed in Ryan Phillipe's noble young police officer) can turn against the tide in the blink of an eye. No one is immune to it no matter how hard they try to rise above it (witnessed in Don Cheadle's quietly tragic detective).
In the end, everyone is flawed, the racism is inescapable, and the audience feels a twinge of sympathy for just about everyone. Perhaps that is what Haggis is hinting at to be our answer. Showing empathy and being able to relate even on the most remote level to every human being out there is the first step to that true brotherhood of man. Because the film offers no real solution, the discussion and discourse it creates in the minds of the viewers is the first step in solving society's ills. We can't tackle everything at once, but we can open a dialogue, and hopefully, one person conversing with another will be the first step to our salvation. It takes a bold film to raise such questions, and an even greater one to compel an audience to talk about the potential answers, and that is exactly what "Crash" accomplishes.
"The Stepford Wives" (2004)
Joanna (Nicole Kidman) and her husband (Matthew Broderick) move to the beautiful upper-class suburb of Stepford, CT, where she soon starts to suspect something strange and artificial about her all-too-perfect female neighbors. Together, they discover that the husbands have banded together to replace their human wives with cyborg copies who are more subservient, sexually compliant and devoid of any distinguishing character traits.
"Kite Runner" (2007)
There is a way to be good again." Based one on of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, THE KITE RUNNER is a profoundly emotional tale of friendship, family, devastating mistakes and redeeming love. In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It's a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day's victory, one boy's fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after 20 years of living in America, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban's iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and take one last daring chance to set things right..
Heres the assighnments 1:
First, Apply the Victim & Creator philosophy to one of the movie characters from the list of movies in this module. Next, go to the Discussion Forum and post Victim, Creator and Positive Outcome information on this protagonist (main character). Illustrate and describe this character's Victim behavior and how he/she transcended obstacles to become a Creator.
You do not need to include several characters. Only choose ONE character
Assighnments 2:
Apply the Victim & Creator philosophy to one of the movies listed in this module. Choose ONE protagonist main character) and describe this character's Victim behavior and how he/she transcended obstacles to become a Creator. Often times, there is a pivotal moment in a character's life that allows him/her to rise above the struggle and shed Victim status and become a Creator. I would like for you to recount this moment for me with descriptive prose and supporting examples from the movie.
Choose only ONE character from the movie (even if there are several). This character must change in a positive way and experience a positive outcome. You can submit your assignment in graph or outline form. You will be turning in your notes for this assignment. You can bullet point your answers. Your response does not have to be lengthy. Be descriptive, be specific and focus on only ONE character.