MINUTES: December 6, 2004

We had five presentations in this class.

The first presenter was David Ledbetter. He did his paper on Nosferatu (1922), directed by Tod Browning, and Dracula (1931), directed by FW Mernau. He had three powerpoints. The first was called “Fight for the Rights” which compared the four major Dracula movies from the US. He said Dracula 2000 sucked, 1992 was one of the best, 1979 was descent, and 1931 was pretty good. The second PowerPoint was called “Horror Heavyweights”. It compared ten of the big, most famous monsters. It was humorous. It was as follows: Freddy, Jason, Frankenstein, Chucky, the Boggy Creek creature, Mike and Sully (from Monsters Inc.), The Wolf Man, Nosferatu, Orcs (from Lord of the Rings), and Rosie O’Donnel. His final PowerPoint was entitled “Battle of the Bloodsuckers, Dracula v. Nosferatu”. A point worth noting from this part of the presentation was that the 1931 Dracula has a stronger sexual overtone than does Nosferatu. Also, the stories are basically the same with minor differences.

The second presenter was John. He did his paper on Enemy at the Gates (2001) directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and Stalingrad (1993), directed by Joseph Vilmaier. He also had a PowerPoint. He first gave us a history and background explaining how and why the Germans attacked Stalingrad. There were many maps in the PowerPoint. The battle of Stalingrad was important, because it is considered the turning point of the war. The Russian offensive took place from Nov. 18, 1942 till Feb, 6 1943. The Germans surrendered in mid January. He had a few points listed which he talked about. They were, Distance, Men, Organization, Divine (or divinity that the German soldiers felt they had), Soldiers, and Cold.  He showed us many pictures of the destruction, then a PowerPoint section on Enemy. His points there were Disorganized to Organized, Propaganda, Russians v Germans, Understanding of War, and Urgency to Win. At the end he gave us some interesting facts about the Battle. One I thought particularly interesting was that for each square kilometer, 2,000 bombs had been dropped there. In his conclusion he then drew a good comparison between the films.

The third presenter was Adreana. She compared Europa Europa (1990) directed by Agnieszka Holland, to David (1979) directed by Peter Lilienthal. Both were representations of two young Germans trying to flee persecution. David is a slow movie, with less bright colors. David is the son of a Rabi. She said the movie was rather confusing. On the other hand, Europa Europa is a newer film, and has brighter colors. There were three aspects that made the films different: Editing, Sound, and Color. She said the protagonist, David, seems confused. She showed a clip form each movie. In the one from David the music in the background was more dreary and classical. It portrayed David in a black coat walking around. In the clip from Europa Europa, the song was more drastic, rapid, and changing. This clip was sadder because his girlfriend was in it crying and begging him not to go. One issue raised in both movies which seems very important is the issue of circumcision, as David was always forced to hide himself in front of others.

The fourth presenter was Julie. She did her paper on Wings of Desire (1987) directed by Wim Wenders, and City of Angels (1998), directed by Brad Silberling. She gave us a handout from which everything she talked about was discussed. The first part had the poem which began the film by Wenders, and was woven throughout. She said Silberling had put this poem into his film via a little girl who dies in the opening scene. The rest of the handout has pictures and interesting facts comparing each movie.

The fifth presenter was Daniel. He also did his paper on Enemy at the Gates and Stalingrad. He explained the plots of the movies first. For Stalingrad, he said it had five main characters. It begins on the beach in Italy, and then the troops are called into Stalingrad. It was mid-winter in Russia. The beginning focuses on battles and the end focuses on characters and how they are deteriorating. Disparity would be a central theme.  For Enemy he said the focus was on one guy, the sniper, Vassili. He gets sent to Stalingrad and meets a reporter. He then kills five soldiers, and the reporter gets his story, and Vassili becomes a hero. In the end a German sniper is brought in and Vassili kills him. He showed two clips, one from each movie. The clips form Stalingrad showed the true disparity of the soldiers as they struggled against the vast and endless snow. One is shot accidentally by the general. In the clip form Enemy the soldiers seems scared of the general as he asks their opinion. One soldier says “give them hope”.