Rachel's Media Criticism Blog Posts

The Aesthetic Form of Cats

  In 2014, Disney debuted its cinematic version of the popular Broadway musical, Into the Woods. This Sondheim original is a dark satire musical featuring well known storybook characters such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack from Jack and the beanstalk. The musical intertwines the characters stories into one, showcasing each fairytale but giving them more of a realistic ending. The way Sondheim had written the musical, he utilizes the outer-directed tasks of art, which refines society and culture by offering the ideal, see into the present to reveal our world and to cope with the labors of life. He does this through showcasing fairytale stories which offers society and culture the ideal. For example, when Cinderella gets to go to the ball, or Jack gets the magical beans would be offering the ideal. When things take a turn, and these characters face reality, is when the audience can see into the present to reveal the real world. For example when Cinderella is having ...

       The Netflix film, Cuties, is known for its controversial scenes that have been brought to attention by angry viewers on social media.  The movie was originally a French film directed by Maïmouna  Doucouré who’s individual conscience of the film was not taken properly by viewers. Her true individual conscience of the film was to showcase the influence of social media on young girls, especially preteens. It is because of the provocative scenes of young girls dancing inappropriately and taking pictures of their private parts on camera that caused these scenes to become objects of moral judgement. Audiences in America are taken back by these scenes because of how uncommon it is to see things such as this on the big screen than in France where the film was first shown.       Most of these complaints came from Netflix’s financial supporters, which would be its subscribers in the United States. Although the film is not a Netflix Original...

  The famous NBC television series, Friends, is a sitcom about six twenty to thirty something year old friends living in Manhattan, going through life at that age together. Although popular during its time, Friends is well known for bringing back the nostalgic feeling of the 90’s in this binge watching of series era. But among those who stream Friends are Gen Z’ers that find the show humorous and relatable, especially within the personality traits of the characters. It’s these archetypes that make the show relatable to those of all ages that are watching the show. What makes Friends so relatable, is how each character can resonate with one person personally as well as relate to people’s friend groups. For example, Monica can be seen as the caregiver, because she is always looking after her friends, especially Rachel as viewers see in the first episode. She is always there when a character has a problem, and they always seek her for comfort or advice. Monica’s brother, Ross can b...

  The controversial Netflix film, Cuties , has not only been one of the most controversial films produced by Netflix, but one of the most analyzed because of society’s view on the film. Although the film may include some provocative shots of 11 year old girls dancing inappropriately, the film is much more than that.  The film’s storyline is originally based on society’s influence on young girls and the influence of social media. As said by a Netflix spokesperson, “Cuties is social commentary against the sexualization  of young children.” Throughout the film, 11 year old Amy is trying to figure herself out and along the way becomes friends with the fierce and outgoing group, the cuties. Seeing how the cuties seem so confident and their true selves, Amy is determined to find that confidence within herself to fit in and become a “cutie” herself. This makes her hungry for attention, whether it be from the cuties themselves, kids at school or older family members. Through her ...

  The HBO phenomenon, Euphoria , is known for its glittery makeup, Emmy award winning acting and the most popular cinematic videography. The cinematography utilized within Euphoria is best known for its storytelling capabilities. In the opening scene , we go through a montage of Rue's memory of her childhood as to how she became addicted to drugs.  The scene starts with a focused shot of Rue’s mother with the background blurry, but then gains focus on young Rue. This is to insinuate to the viewer that we are looking at things from Rue’s past from her perspective. Throughout the montage, we see scenes starting with zooming out to give more of a perspective to Rue’s state of mind during that moment of her life, as well as a series of pan shots when she is moving from one room to another. Particularly in the scene where she begins to start taking her mother's pills, the transition would be her opening and closing the cabinet on various different days, utilizing the spatial m...

       In this new age of Disney films, the main event seems to be live action remakes of Disney renaissance films such as The Jungle Book, Lion King and Cinderella. One of the most popular remakes of the Disney renaissance movies would be the Beauty and the Beast remake, featuring Emma Watson as Belle. In a review made on theatlantic.com, David Sims dives deep into how this “Tale as old as time” was told worse . The story of transformative love, and learning to see someone’s inner beauty is a tailor-made Disney movie at heart. The 1991 original film is one of Disney’s greatest animated works. But in the 2017 edition of Beauty and the Beast to Sims “feels particularly egregious, in part, because it’s so slavishly devoted to the original; every time it falls short of its predecessor (which is quite often), it’s hard not to notice” (Sims,1).      Sims mentions the added time to the remake due to extra songs which execute a little more of a back story to...