Movies
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The first chapter of Inglourious Basterds is titled “Once upon A Time in Nazi-occupied France” and this signals that we are in the realm of a fairy-tale, and “wish-fulfillment fantasy” as Quentin Tarantino said. Lt. Aldo Raine, an American with Native American roots, assembled a group of Jewish Nazi hunters, saying that each one of…
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“I think they built Hollywood on the West Coast because they were always dreaming of a New World. When they arrived here, the only way to keep dreaming was to make movies. Film was the fourth dimension.” – Denis Villeneuve In the introduction to his work Nomos of the Earth Carl Schmitt wrote that the…
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At the start of his career as an animator, Hayao Miyazaki worked at studio Todei Doga in Tokyo. He quickly became disillusioned with it and almost quit the company. He later recalled: “Had I not seen The Snow Queen during a film screening hosted by the company labor union, I honestly doubt that I would…
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Popular movies and TV shows are not merely forms of entertainment, they come into being at a particular time in the history of a civilization, and often mirror its preoccupations. Be it technological advances, visions of the future, or power politics, they need to trigger some familiar sentiment in the popular awareness, to become hallmarks…
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Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill is made to be seen in one sitting since only thus can the whole bloody affair be fully grasped, as what it truly is. Vol. 1 is highly aestheticized, we see the Bride on a killing spree seeking vengeance, eliminating the Deadly Vipers under Bill’s command. Vol. 2 ties the whole…
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1. Kill Bill: Vol. 1, dir. Quentin Tarantino (2003) Besides the nine killed at the wedding, The Bride barely survives the beating and Bill’s shot in the head. She is in a coma for four years and is repeatedly raped in the hospital while unconscious. She awakes, and goes on a revenge streak against the…
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In the opening sequence of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: The Space Odyssey “The Dawn of Man”apes are seen fighting over resources, more concretely, a hole filled with water. We see the violent beginnings of human race in the pre-historic times, and in the famous scene the very piece of bone which is used to beat down…
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In Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part One, under the influence of melange, spice which can be found only on Arrakis, Paul sees the visions of a holy war, and in shock, tells his mother: “It’s coming. I see a holy war spreading across the universe like unquenchable fire. A warrior religion that waves the Atreides banner…
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In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring the Fellowship is stranded at the Redhorn Gate, trying to defeat Caradhras, as depicted in Peter Jackson’s 2001 movie. The hobbits started freezing due to a heavy snow storm, the situations was dire: ‘Give them this.’ said Gandalf, searching in his pack…
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Hias, the prophet, speaks: „ I look into the distance, to the end of the world. Before the day is over the end will come. First time will tumble, and then the earth. The clouds will begin to race, the earth boils over; this is the sign. This is the beginning of the end. The…
