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Post by Laharls_Wrath on Dec 7, 2009 15:38:45 GMT -5
damn
I hate these
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Post by Chromeo on Dec 7, 2009 15:40:47 GMT -5
So I'm guessing you do history...
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Post by little j ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ ✔ on Dec 7, 2009 15:41:41 GMT -5
You wrote an essay on the connotation of the word "govern".
Writing assignments are some of the most useless things.
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Post by Laharls_Wrath on Dec 7, 2009 15:42:00 GMT -5
"do history"?
I'm taking AP U.S. history
but I dont really like US history...
I'm more of a math-science oriented person
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Post by Chromeo on Dec 7, 2009 15:43:55 GMT -5
Right. Just wondering because we get to choose subjects when we're 14... Why I chose sociology I'll never know.
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Post by Laharls_Wrath on Dec 7, 2009 15:46:40 GMT -5
I also wrote a pretty crappy essay on Lost
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Post by Laharls_Wrath on Dec 8, 2009 16:51:39 GMT -5
Speech v2
· President Jackson should be praised for his actions against the Second National Bank
· The Bank was a corrupt institution
· Refusing to issue loans to Democrats during Adams’ second campaign for president
· Yet it still received special privileges like being exempt from paying state taxes
· Jackson defeated the “Hydra of corruption”
· Some may say Jackson had no right to destroy the Bank
· Yet they are simply wrong
· The Second National Bank was created using the president’s implied powers
· President’s have long since been using implied powers
· Monroe created the Second National Bank and Jefferson making the Louisiana Purchase
· No one wished to impeach them
· It has long since been established that the use of implied powers is acceptable
· Why did the federal funds need to be kept in the Second National Bank?
· The Second National Bank is a privately owned institution, it is not part of the government
· Or are we here because it is suddenly unconstitutional for the president to use his power to veto the re-charter of the Bank?
· This charge is preposterous and is merely an attempt to smear the name and reputation of a great president
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Post by Laharls_Wrath on Feb 5, 2010 15:40:03 GMT -5
Speech v2 · President Jackson should be praised for his actions against the Second National Bank · The Bank was a corrupt institution · Refusing to issue loans to Democrats during Adams’ second campaign for president · Yet it still received special privileges like being exempt from paying state taxes · Jackson defeated the “Hydra of corruption” · Some may say Jackson had no right to destroy the Bank · Yet they are simply wrong · The Second National Bank was created using the president’s implied powers · President’s have long since been using implied powers · Monroe created the Second National Bank and Jefferson making the Louisiana Purchase · No one wished to impeach them · It has long since been established that the use of implied powers is acceptable · Why did the federal funds need to be kept in the Second National Bank? · The Second National Bank is a privately owned institution, it is not part of the government · Or are we here because it is suddenly unconstitutional for the president to use his power to veto the re-charter of the Bank? · This charge is preposterous and is merely an attempt to smear the name and reputation of a great president My group was the only group to get Jackson acquitted that day... |
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Post by Laharls_Wrath on Feb 5, 2010 15:42:48 GMT -5
~
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Post by Chromeo on May 3, 2010 10:13:47 GMT -5
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Tails82
Lord of Terror++
Loyal Vassal
still...sipping?
Posts: 34,369
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Post by Tails82 on May 7, 2010 11:22:50 GMT -5
The film Meet John Doe was released in 1941, as America was transitioning from the Great Depression to World War II. War was already underway in Europe, and the threat of fascism was a very real danger. These concerns were reflected in Meet John Doe. Like many of Frank Capra’s films, Doe portrayed a typical American going up against corrupt businessmen, politicians, and labor leaders. John Willoughby, a former baseball player, ends up in the center of national attention but soon realizes he is being used by the wealthy oil magnate D.B. Norton to deceive the public. The film addresses the importance of a free press, raising concerns that the wealthy could buy out the media and use it to advance their own message while stifling the other side. Norton buys The Bulletin as his first step into entering the political scene. He uses the John Doe movement to his advantage, and decides to fund the clubs even though he knows that John’s original letter is a fake. When Norton’s true intentions are revealed, John decides to take a stand despite Norton’s threats to destroy him and the entire John Doe movement. John is a representation of the common man, willing to go up against the undemocratic forces that threaten free American institutions. John Doe represents neighborliness and Populism, and while John Willoughby does not originally agree with the Doe speeches written for him, he eventually comes to realize the importance of the ideas in these speeches. Meet John Doe expresses the message that the common man can unite to confront the challenges facing America and work together for the betterment of society.
As America and other democratic nations of the world were endangered by the threat of fascism, Americans were called to defend their rights and free institutions. In the film, the importance of a free press plays a key role. From the start, where the words “free press” are chiseled off the old sign of The Bulletin and covered over by a new sign, Meet John Doe shows that the free institutions in America are in danger. Reporter Ann Mitchell, who recently lost her job for The Bulletin after it was purchased by D.B. Norton, manages to be rehired after she writes a fake letter to the paper from a “John Doe.” This letter is rightfully believed to be a fake by The Chronicle, a competing newspaper. However, when Norton hears of this he decides to continue with the lie because he believes he could use it to his political advantage. Norton clearly has questionable ambitions, buying out the paper to reflect his message and help him enter into the world of politics. He plans to use the John Doe movement as an independent base for his presidential campaign, even though the John Doe movement is supposed to be nonpartisan. Norton makes an agreement with various businessmen, politicians and labor leaders, promising they will benefit from his election in return for their support. When John learns of this, he decides to tell the truth and explain Norton’s plans to the people, but Norton silences him and ends the John Doe movement. However, the movement begins to pick up again when people realize that, while John Doe may have been a fake, the ideas behind the John Doe movement were authentic.
One of the film’s key concerns is the possible monopolization of the press by those in power, using the media as a tool to manipulate the masses. The people in Meet John Doe are led to believe a lie, and they are told of this lie by Norton only when he decides to turn the public on John and defame him. “Capra often deals with the control and function of mass media…politics and communications are represented in a manner that is anything but reassuring, but in the end a deeply rooted democracy always triumphs” (Sklar, p.182). Capra wanted to show that the common man, while easily manipulated at times, can recognize threats to democratic traditions and join together to stop them. The film appealed to the decency of all Americans, across party lines and class divisions, urging citizens to unite against perceived threats to liberty. John states this in one of his radio speeches: “In our struggle for freedom we've hit the canvas many a time but we always bounce back because we’re the people and we’re tough. A free people can beat the world at anything…if we all pulled the oars in the same direction” (John Doe). With the threat of fascism looming, all Americans were being called to work together and preserve their free institutions. Compared with his earlier films, Capra made the perceived threat clearer in Meet John Doe. “By 1941 Capra had made even more explicit the kind of danger he was talking about: Arnold, the wealthy publisher, industrialist, and politician, now has a private police force” (Bergman, p.147). Norton clearly represents an undemocratic agenda, one which John eventually realizes and cannot stand to help any longer.
While Norton opposes democratic forces, John Doe takes a stand for them. John’s speeches, written by Mitchell, reflect a populist sentiment. “Capra’s characters usually win their battles through the use of oratory, a typically expressive populist expressive form, whereas the ‘wicked’ are associated with the written word” (Sklar, p.182). While Norton uses his paper and the mass media to crush John Doe, in the end the movement returns because the American people could identify with the message John tried to get across. The people related with John Doe because he expressed the importance of community involvement and republican traditions. Biblical references are also made, as Christ is represented as “the first John Doe” (John Doe). John appeals to the strong democratic and religious traditions of Americans, urging them to work together for societal progress. However, there are some setbacks. The crowd is at times fooled, and this can be seen clearly at the John Doe convention, where they are almost instantly turned into an unruly mob when Norton’s men try to incite a riot. “The mass of humanity is not the good neighbor, the trusting people who abound in the more usual Capra film; here it is an anonymous, savage crowd that can be manipulated and deceived” (Sklar, 86). John is silenced and led off by Norton’s police force before he can explain anything.
John attempts to revive the movement after his reputation is tarnished, but this proves to be difficult. Capra even states in his autobiography that there was no definite ending to Meet John Doe for quite some time. “Riskin and I had written ourselves into a corner…we had no acceptable SOLUTION to our story. The first two acts were solid; the third was a wet sock” (Capra, p.303). Capra wanted a positive solution to his film, but finding one was not easy. Four different endings were made. Finally a fifth ending, where members of the John Doe club intervene in an attempt to save John, was made and placed into the final cut. However, Capra was still not satisfied with this. “The last ending was the best of a sorry lot, but it still was a letdown. Was an acceptable ending ever possible for John Doe? I still don’t know” (Capra, p.305). With Norton holding all the power and control over the media, it was very difficult to find a satisfactory ending to the film. However, John is able to find success when the members of the John Doe movement themselves arrive and prove that his efforts were not entirely wasted. The American people could still stay united in defending their free institutions from antidemocratic threats.
At a time when America was emerging from the Great Depression and war was underway in Europe, Meet John Doe sought to reassure its audience that the American people could face any challenge. The film addressed the concerns that a free press could be in danger of possible manipulation and deception by corrupt businessmen and politicians. It also reflected an anti-fascist sentiment, putting faith in the common man and believing that the people, while they could be easily deceived at times, would always stick to their democratic roots and maintain their liberty.
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Post by Laharls_Wrath on May 7, 2010 14:13:28 GMT -5
nice, I like all the quotes (but I don't like the word "very")
should I see the movie?
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Tails82
Lord of Terror++
Loyal Vassal
still...sipping?
Posts: 34,369
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Post by Tails82 on May 7, 2010 16:37:45 GMT -5
I guess. First time I saw it was when the teacher was playing movies in class after the AP US exam ^_^
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Post by Laharls_Wrath on May 7, 2010 17:11:43 GMT -5
hah  |
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Post by MagmarFire on May 12, 2010 15:46:07 GMT -5
Well, I have fan fiction on my FF.net account. Most of it's romance, though.
...What? Don't look at me like that. >.>
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Spinning round and round like the deadly hands of a radium clock. 
