Freaks: A Controversy of Human Nature

                I would have to say Freaks is purely a melodrama rather than a horror film. My reason for this is because when it comes to horror movies your monster is hunting a victim for no defined reason. A perfect example of a human monster like this is Michael Myers from Halloween the character is defined as someone who kills for the sake of killing. Sure it is shown initially that he started killing as a child when he saw his older sister having intercourse with her boyfriend; though throughout the film we only saw one other case of him killing under that condition (possible plot hole?). Instead the main plot has Michael stalking and trying to kill the protagonist Laurie Strode for no defined reason.

                Another example of a well defined human monster is the character the Joker from the Batman comics. This is a man that has gone way beyond the bounds of society and has only one motive in life which is to spread violence and chaos for the sake of violence and chaos. There is no clear sane motive so by society’s judgment this kind of particular character would be judged as a monster.

                In contrast with these monsters in this movie the freaks they had a defined motive revenge it doesn't matter if they are physically deformed, this is a very 'human' motive. It is not defined as much as their actions are monstrous but more along the lines of humans animalistic nature. If I could explain a small example think of a suburban area that has two rival gangs; let’s say one of the gang members is nearly killed by the opposing gang, with their sense of unity they will retaliate against said gang with violence. Or let’s take a historical perspective on this such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria which allowed Austria-Hungary to declare war against Serbia which led us to World War I. 
             
             It is with these reasons I consider this film more of a pure melodrama film then one that is associated with horror.

Sherlock Jr. Analysis

The type comedy that is displayed within Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. is slap-stick comedy; it is a form of a comedy that relies more on physical humor rather than comedy that has modern references that is presented within contemporary comedy. I can relate back to my early exposure to slap-stick comedy with some of the older Three Stooges segments such as their famous disputes between Moe, Larry, and Curly which would then result in physical violence between the three characters; this type of comedy does not make the audience ‘think’ it is simply there to make them laugh. Where contemporary comedy will have an audience think about modern issues or references.  Material that could be used for this type comedy now in days would be the NSA leak such as a father could say, “I like knowing my government is spending resources to look at text messages I send to my daughter asking when is she coming home from school.”

Some examples that can be used to defend Keaton’s modernity, self-reflexivity, evolution of the comedy medium, and cinematography are such as with the scene when Keaton’s character sleeps with a translucent version of himself separates from his physical body. His self-reflexivity is involved with him being able to quickly adapt to any physical situation that is presented in front of him; such as when Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. persona was driving the car after rescuing the love interest they were heading towards a lake the assembly of the car underneath slides off however when he presses both the front and back brakes where they then to use the frame of the car as a makeshift boat within the lake.

Introduction

My name is Joseph Pfaltzgraff, I am a senior majoring in computer engineering technology. I am taking this class since 20th century movie were actually the first movies I ever saw as a kid they left a big impact on my life. For example some of movies I watched consistently in my youth was Goldeneye, Robocop, the Original Star Wars series, the Karate Kids trilogy, and the Indiana Jones trilogy. As I continued to watch these movies I became more and more interested in how they were able to accomplish some of their practical effects. For instance I thought it was very clever in Raiders of the Lost Ark for the famous head melting scene they made layers of a gelatin mold over a mold of Ronald Lacey's character, Major Arnold Toht in a screaming position and having it exposed to a heat lamp thus each of the gelatin molds would melt leaving nothing but the mold within the frame of the shot. I always had an appreciation for these practical effects considering all the wonderment of these effects for movies now in days is gone with the overuse of CGI effects.