Topic 3 - Alphaville

Lecture-

The Lecture this week was a screening of a French new wave movie called "Alphaville" at first impression all i could think was that it appeared to be a rip off combination of perhaps the original mars attacks and the Maltese falcon with its story line being based on an unbelievable plot line which at the time would have been completely avant garde. The story was based on the premise of a computer controlling a society in another galaxy, in which it controlled human emotions as well as a multitude of other common human features. Women as a gender were classed separately to men usually referred to as objects or purely sexual beings. But as the movie continued its abstract plot line began to make more sense, perhaps the purpose of the movie was to not confuse you but to make you see that there is a new vision coming something so incredibly unbelievable in the world of film. In terms of structure the movie followed your general structure with your beginning middle and end, although i didn't view the end it was in my opinion obvious that he would save the girl after the extreme length he went to to get her free. To sum it up the movie was as good as could be expected for a movie of that time, but in the context of when it was created it did show great potential to lead the world in the new wave direction.

Tutorial-

I will admit that I use new communication technologies a lot, varying from: my computer, cellular phone, iPod, DVD players and television. I may be part of a small percentage of people who does have the ability to watch tv, listening to an iPod, use the internet and talk on the phone at the same time. In relation to friends I have on the internet, a large cluster of my current friends I met in person briefly first and we exchanged “MySpace” pages and then I became good friends with them. Some people I know purely on the internet but have still made a strong friendship them on the basis of talking online. Being only 18 years old I’ve been using these communication technologies maybe since I was 9-10yrs old. I first began the internet in primary school to talk to my friends on MSN, l but before that was taught to touch type in primary school. Privacy appears to be a current issue on the internet currently with predators and people posing as individuals who they clearly aren’t. To combat the abundance of weirdos on the internet I have a private MySpace page and only accept people I know. I still use new communication technologies currently and will most likely continue to in the future.

Readings-

This weeks reading was an array of information regarding the in class screening, varying from IMDB to critical essays it all appeared to be based on how impressive this movie was viewed as at this time. As i had written above in regards to the lecture it did appear like the movie was an opening into a new direction for movies of that era and after reading these sources it appears correct.