Movie Article Blog

There were actually two versions of the Malcolm X movie that I actually viewed. The first version was more of a low budget documentary type of movie and the second version was a big theatrical blockbuster reenactment of his life. After reading the article on how most movies are made, I could say that the low budget documentary version was more of a straightforward movie meaning they had no type of little extras or special effects thrown in. The movie was narrated the whole way through from the time Malcolm was born all the way up to the point where he was killed. Another part that I read from the movie article that applied to this one was how most movies don’t really have a moral or meaning to it. Seeing as how it was a documentary movie, I could see why there was no moral because the narrator was just giving the audience an insight on who Malcolm X was and what type of person he was. Another thing that I thought about after watching the documentary was the part in the article where it talked about who made the movie. After watching the documentary it really made me think about that, because you really can’t just say who made the documentary, because in the end its all nothing but random footage taken from when Malcol/m was alive. That scenario kind of conflicts with what the author described in the article on how every movie has a director, because there really is no need for a director since there is no acting involving. The only people involved with this documentary were mainly writers for the narrator and producers to help promote the documentary. Now, when it comes to the Spike Lee version of Malcolm X, It can be said that it is more of a theatrical blockbuster. Spike Lee’s movies have always had some sort of meaningful morale to them. One of the facts that were stated about movies in the article was how they like to express some sort of form of enthusiasm, nightmares, and prejudices. This movie helps to express some of those things mainly because of the way it was directed and wrote. Spike Lee is a director who likes to make movies that are based on the struggle of African Americans in America and how they should learn to better themselves in order to prosper in today’s society. Throughout the movie, the pain that was expressed through the director’s vision was put into effect on Malcolm’s life. They put a strong emphasis on how he grew up and the trials and tribulations he went through to become the political activist that he was. I think putting emphasis on something like that actually coincides to the main point of what the moral of the movie is. I think that goes into the fact of how somebody who could mess up their life that badly and wind up in prison could rise back on there feet and become one of the most famous people in American History. In the end, when I think about it, I don’t think that the movie was meant to be a huge blockbuster like some of the movies that are made around action and suspense. This movie was made to put emphasis on one of America’s greatest political activists and not to spice it up in order to please the eyes of diehard blockbuster movie fans. That Idea is thrown into the last page of the article as to where it says, “If luxury and energy were all we communicated in movies, it would be a disturbing and discouraging thought”. That is true in a sense, because if all movies were made without putting the straight facts on how a real event occurred, everyone in the country would be completely ignorant about what actually happened in the past. All in all, I can say that the article related to my movie experience because it made me think of the direction that the movies were going in especially in the Spike Lee version. The article helped me to understand what type of person the director of the movie could be by just watching what type of acting was involved and also what type of values were put in to help people understand what the director and the rest of the crew were trying to get out. As for how to use the article as a source I would say that I would use it to help describe what kind of movie I was watching and it could help me to decide whether what type of meanings or values that the movie was trying to instill within the audience. Probably the biggest part of the article that could be used as a source would be to tell whether or not a movie actually stood by what actually happened, or if it just went all out and threw in things to pump the movie up a little.