Breakfast at Tiffany's and Fashion

I have decided to change my topic, once again, to researching movies, specifically Breakfast at Tiffany's, and how they have affected fashion and culture.

claim: This movie shows that fashion is a big part of American culture and people enjoy living lavishly. I will show how this movie in particular has affected fashion throughout the decades and possibly created a big advertisement for the jewelry company, Tiffany & Co.

evidence: Throughout the movie, the main character, played by Audrey Hepburn, is dressed in clothes that have a "classic" look, which has inspired a lot of the designs and styles of fashion even after the movie. From her jewelry to her shoes, these pieces can be seen in many of today's stores and high fashion magazines. Another piece of evidence to look at in this movie is the significance of the store Tiffany & Co. It gives the store romantic appeal, which is possibly why people like to give Tiffany's jewelry to their loved ones as gifts.

purpose: The purpose of this movie is to show that people can change from their materialistic lives to falling in love with someone who doesn't have much. In the movie, Audrey Hepburn is basically a gold digger, and in the end, she falls in love with her neighbor who is just a struggling writer and doesn't have much money. But it also shows the significance of material things at the same time because of the store Tiffany's and how that brought them together.

audience: This movie was made in 1961 and was based on a novel by Truman Capote. The audience back then was probably people in their 20s and what not. But today, people of all ages have seen this movie. People see it as a "chick flick" so probably more females watch it. People who are interested in fashion are also a big part of the audience.

I don't know if I did this AB right. =/ I'm hoping I did, since this is my 3rd one. Basically, I want to look at this classic movie having an impact on fashion and make a connection between fashion influencing movies, or movies influencing fashion.

Infernal Affairs/The Departed

Infernal Affairs
NOTE: The Departed is a remake of Infernal Affairs
I decided to make my annotated bibliography on Infernal Affairs instead of both sources for now.

1. My main focus is going to be on Infernal Affairs for now, and compare certain aspects of it to The Departed. Either comparing genre, content, or character.

2. The director Andrew Lau felt neutral about the remake, there were some parts he liked, and some parts he didn't. His co-director Alan Mak wasn't impressed with the movie; he thought it was too similar to the original, and didn't like the happily-ever-after ending.

3. The purpose is to compare how the two movies are tailored to their audience. How Martin Scorsese makes The Departed appeal to an American audience while Andrew Lau makes Infernal Affairs appeal to a Hong Kong audience. I will focus on content, style, score, and differences or similarities in storyline. I will mainly focus on Infernal Affairs rather than The Departed since it is the original.

4. Infernal Affairs is aimed at a Hong Kong audience who have different tastes than an American audience. Around the time the movie came out, Hong Kong cinema was nearly dead, and this movie helped to revive the industry. The Departed was tailored for an American audience who likes their happy endings.

The Film The Killing Fields Provoking Thought and Action

1. Main claim/thesis idea of source/author of source: Director Roland Joffé and writer Bruce Robinson reveals the atrocities of Pol Pot’s regime. The Cambodian genocide is often overlooked, concreting it through film and aesthetic means makes the issues apparent.

2. Evidence: History of the Khmer Rouge :On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge thought that they could free their people from the conflict in Vietnam which was quickly beginning to reach into their country. The leader of this regime, Pol Pot, had Cambodian citizens evacuated from the cities and put into the countryside, supposedly for their own safety (http://www.nndb.com/films/744/000032648/). Players in success of film: “The film's screenplay, by first-time scripter Bruce Robinson, was adapted from Pulitzer Prize-winning NY Times reporter Sydney Schanberg's The Death and Life of Dith Pran from The NY Times Magazine. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Sam Waterston), Best Director (first-timer Roland Joffe), and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Bruce Robinson) and won three Oscars: Best Supporting Actor (Haing S. Ngor), Best Cinematography (Chris Menges), and Best Film Editing (Jim Clark)” (http://www.filmsite.org/kill.html).

3. Purpose: The story of war, survival and friendship brings to light the issue of the Cambodian genocide in the 1970’s to a greater audience. The power of film allows awareness and a genuine interest in supporting justice.


4. Audience/ Use of source: The public, historians. Falling under the clusters of art/action and public/counter publics, the topic of human rights and how an art form provokes thought and action was really interesting. The form of film and its resonating significance was therefore the ideal frame in which I could analyze some type of injustice. At first, it was really hard for me to find a topic that I was really interested in, so from the forum, I decided that the passion for the topic had to be personal and worth spending countless hours researching. Since my parents are from Cambodia and experienced the cruelty of the Cambodian genocide, I think the project would be worth a lot more if it delves into family history. Thus, I decided to pick the film The Killing Fields as a starting point in which I could further research an injustice and an “art” that critiques the cruelties.