The Name Hollywood - Essay Example

INTRODUCTION: The “Hollywood” traces to the ample stand of native Toyon a meaning “California Holly”. The name Hollywood was coined by H J Whitely (the father of Hollywood) who came up with the name when he and his wife Gigi were on Honeymoon this is according to the memoir of Margaret Virginia Whitely. Hollywood is a district in Los-Angeles California situated West North West of downtown California. Because of its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movies and movie stars the term Hollywood is commonly used as a metonym to describe movies that have been created and done in America. The first studio in Los Angeles area was established by the Selig Polyscope Company in Edendale with construction beginning in 1909. Director D W Smith and his troupe were sent to the west coast by the Biograph Company and the started filming in downtown Los Angeles later they decided to explore further and the traveled eight kilometers to the small village of holly wood where they shot the first film to ever be filmed in Hollywood called “The old California”. Soon after that the movie industry grew in an enormous magnitude to what Hollywood is today. Much of the movie industry has dispersed to the surrounding cities such as Burbank and Westside Los Angeles though significant auxiliary industries such as props, editing, post production, effects and lighting companies remain here in Hollywood today. Though Hollywood productions are intended to make money its biggest contribution to the society is that it is a big source of education to the masses who are film and movie lovers in the world teaching them on the on goings in the world and also putting light to how many historical events came about by depicting a mimic of how the actual events were undertaken. Movie Case Study ‘All quiet on the western front’ is 1930 war film based on the Enrich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. It is a realistic and harrowing account of world war 1. The film begins with a military parade followed by a rousing speech by a schoolmaster (Kantorek) convincing his young students to enlist in the army in a bid to save their fatherland. The young enlistees are then seen in basic training “aching” for action. Training is conducted under Himmelstoss a strict disciplinarian whom is widely disliked by all the recruits. After a period of little more than marching drills the recruits are informed that they are going upfront in the battle fields. The cadets arrive at the combat zone by train which is in a state of mayhem with soldiers everywhere, incoming bombs, and horse drawn wagons running around. One of the Cadets is killed before they even reach the battle ground and this causes one of the soldiers (Behn) a lot of worry. The new soldiers are assigned a unit composed of old soldiers that are not very accommodating. The new soldiers are very shocked to find that there is no food available at their post since they had not eaten anything since breakfast but they find that their new unit had gone for two days without any food though they have sent out a scrounger to locate something to eat. He comes back with a slaughtered hog for food a meal which the new soldiers have to buy using cigarettes. For their fatherland the young soldiers are sent out on night duty where they travel by truck to their destination and the driver drops them off telling that if there will be any of them left by morning there is going to be someone whom will pick them up. The young soldiers receive some instructions on how to deal with incoming shells by an old soldier called Katczinsky telling them that if they saw him flop they were to follow him but only try to do it faster than he did. Flares light up the skies as the enemy attempts to spot them and soon Behn is blinded by shrapnel and he runs around screaming until his killed by machine gun fire. Back at the trenches the other soldiers play cards as the fight off rats that are eating their food and gear. One of the soldiers (Kemmerich) looses control and runs out of the trench getting injured. The young soldiers are eager to get out and go fight the enemy but the enemy seems to have overwhelming firepower, suddenly there is a break in the bombing and the soldiers are ordered out to fight a loud rumbling can be heard as the enemy the French approaches the Germans use machine guns, grenades, and hand rifles to mow down the enemy, many of the enemy (French) succumb to the attack but the still get to the trenches where hand to hand combat with bayonets begins. At great cost the German soldiers are able to get to the French front line but they are unable to hold their position and they are ordered to fall back to their previous positions. The men from the second company return from battle and line up for a meal having lost a number of their comrades the demand for even the share of their fallen comrades but the cook declines and an argument ensues. But an officer arrives telling the cook to offer them the whole amount and serve him a plate also. As they eat they hear that they will be back to the front the next day and they begin discussing on the causes of the war and the general causes of war. The plot continues showing tribulations faced by the soldiers who sustain serious injuries some losing their lives and others their limbs. One of the soldiers (Paul) makes a brief trip back to his home only to find his mother ailing. He makes a brief visit to their school master (Kantorek) only to find him giving another lecture on the glories of war, disgusted he returns to the front to find that only a few of his fellow members of the second company have survived . Just as he is discussing on the situation back home with his comrade Katczinsky, he is hit by an airplane that drops a bomb nearby and Katczinsky succumbs to the injuries this devastates Paul. As Paul is in the Trenches he sees a butterfly and as he tries to reach it a French sniper spots him and shoots him dead… the film ends with a site of the cemetery. ‘The great dictator’ is a film that begins during world war 1 whereby Chaplin acting as an unnamed Jewish private in the army in the fictional state of Tomainia valiantly attempts to rescue an officer named Schultz only to loose his memory when the plane they had taken off in crashes into a tree. Schultz escapes from the plane only to spend 20 years in hospital oblivious of the changes that are taking place in Tomainia. Adenoid Hynkel a character based on Adolph Hitler played by Chaplin is a ruthless ruler who seeks to persecute Jews aided by his ministers. The amnesiac soldier returns to his barbershop in the Jewish ghetto still unaware of the political state and his is shocked when storm troppers paint “Jew” on his windows. In the ensuing scuffle with storm troopers he find a friend and a lover in Hannah a beautiful resident of the ghetto. Meanwhile Schultz who has come up in the ranks recognizes the barber and though surprised to find him a Jew he orders the storm troppers to leave him alone. Schultz raise his opposition to ‘pogrom’ and Hynkel orders him to be put in a concentration camp but he escapes to the Jewish ghetto where he begins to plot how to overthrow Hynkel. Schultz and his barber friend are soon caught up with by Hynkel and are sent to a concentration camp. Hynkel is initially opposed to Benzino Napolini a portmanteau of Benito Mussolini the dictator of bacteria (Italy) and he invites him to Tomainia where they seal a deal. Schultz and the barber who looks like Hynkel escape from the camp wearing Tomainian uniforms And the guards mistake the barber for Hynkel. On the other hand Hynkel coming from a duck hunting trip falls overboard and is mistaken for the barber and arrested by his own soldiers. The barber who has assumed Hynkel’s identity is taken to the capital to give a victory speech where the barber gives a rousing speech reversing Hynkel’s anti-semantic policies and declaring that Tomainia will now be a free nation and a democracy. ‘Foreign correspondent’ is a 1940 American thriller film of a reporter who tries to expose enemy spies’ .Adolph Hitler after a search for a tough crime reporter appoints Johnny Jones under pen name Huntley Haverstock. His first assignment is Fischer the leader of the Universal peace party. On his way to a party held by Fischer in honor of diplomat Van Meer, Haverstock sees Van Meer entering a car that was to take him to the party and he attempts to interview him whereby he is invited to ride along. At the party Haverstock meets Fischers daughter and Van Meer disappears mysteriously and Fischer tells the attendants that Van Meer would not be attending the party though he was the guest of honor as instead he would be in a political conference in Amsterdam. At the conference Van Meer is shot in front of a large crowd and Haverstock commandeers a car chase car to follow the assassins whom leads them to a windmill. While Haverstock is searching for the assassins he finds alive Van Meer but he is drugged and unable to tell him anything. The villains become aware of Haverstock and he is forced to run away. By the time the police arrive at the mill they find that the villains have fled with Van Meer on a plane. Back at Haverstock’s hotel room two spies dressed as policemen arrive to kidnap him and he escapes through the window to Carol Fischer’s room. They later together board a boat to England and on the boat Haverstock proposes to Carol. They travel back to her father’s home where Haverstock sees a man whom he recognizes as one of the men at the mill he tells Fischer and he tells him he will send him a body guard. The body guard keeps attempting to kill him but he fails and as he was trying to push Haverstock from the top of a building, Haverstock moves and the bodyguard meets his death. Carol and Haverstock have an argument she returns back to London here Folliott has feigned the kidnap of Carol together with Haverstock who had taken her to the countryside and Fischer had fallen for the bluff leading Ffolliott to the hotel room where they were hiding Van Meer. Ffolliot distracted Van Meer’s interrogators but by the time Haverstock was arriving Fischer and his cronies had left. The film ends with Fischer admitting to his daughter of his wrong deeds though she still blamed Haverstock of not loving her but he was only after her father. CONCLUSION: The content of these films is not only determined simply by the need to make money but also the education part whereby through these films people who were not born during the times of the world wars and the reign of the German dictator Adolph Hitler can clearly understand how things were at those times. The education part of these films surpasses the need of making money since they will serve as tools to reflect on the history of the depicted historical events for very many years to come. Read More