Final Short Film

https://youtu.be/RozDQfYDbUY

Genre-bending movie trailer

https://youtu.be/Q662rX3nF_M

Cornelius

1) In a short paragraph, describe the video you just experienced.

• We just watched a short video advertising Cornelius. Cornelius is a man dressed in white, standing on a dock as people gaze at him, feed him food, and touch a square of flesh on his stomach under a flap that opens up. The people seem to be in awe and wonder over being in the presence of Cornelius, and he just stands there with a blank face (slightly smiling at times). I cannot tell if this is a joke, if the intentions of the Cornelius Foundation are pure, or if this is just a satire on religion itself.

2) Have YOU ever experienced Cornelius?

• I have not personally met this man.

3) How would the community of Lakewood Ranch benefit if Cornelius visited our town?

• I feel that the people would feel that it was a hoax and turn their noses up to the opportunity to meet Cornelius. Therefore, unless he was known worldwide, he wouldn’t affect Lakewood Ranch. But, if he was known worldwide to bring joy to the towns he stops in, I feel that the people visiting him would feel a sense of betterment after experiencing Cornelius.

4) In order of preference, upon meeting Cornelius, what would you do?

    1-See Cornelius: I would have to see him when I’m in his presence, as he is a living being as well.

    2-Touch Cornelius: Maybe I would Touch Cornelius’ hand, or the flap on his stomach, but only if there is no flu going around.

    3-Feed Cornelius: If it were required, I would feed him a chip or something small.

5) Ask yourself, Why Cornelius?

• Cornelius is a man who is comfortable being looked at, fed, and touched by strangers, so he is the perfect fit for the job of traveling around to communities and letting people do just that.

P.S. Now that I have looked at the channel that posted that video, I have realized that it's a comedy channel and that it is satire.

The Sixth Sense Discussion Questions

1. Early in the movie, we discover that Cole's parents recently divorced. He’s attached to things that belonged to his dad (the glasses, the broken watch, and the gloves he wears because the house is so cold). Similarly, within Cole’s "tent," he has a set of religious statues. What do you think motivates him to collect these things? How were these things helpful to him as he dealt with "the ghosts" or with his classmates? When has physically holding onto something helped you get through a difficult time?
1. The fear of the ghosts motivates him to collect the statues. He wonders if religion will protect him from the scary ghosts (they could be from Hell, he doesn’t know), and he’s willing to turn to it rather than have nothing, if there’s a chance that these statues’ heavenly light will scare off the ghosts, or put a godly shield around him to protect him. His dad’s things didn’t outwardly protect him, but they might have helped him cope with his dad’s departure, other than protect him from the cold, or make him feel loved. Personally, I haven’t had a time in which holding onto physical things helped me through a dark time. 
2. Think about the day in the classroom when Cole objects to the way his teacher is looking at him. Talk about the feeling Cole has of being a freak, of being told he doesn’t fit in. Even if you don’t know anyone who thinks they see dead people like Cole did, can you identify people you've met or seen who others might consider freaks who don't fit in? What does this movie have to say regarding our treatment of others who may feel as though they don’t fit in?
1. Cole is deeply disturbed of the way his classmates and the people around him treat him, as if he’s a freak who doesn’t fit in, especially because he can’t help it. To him, the ghosts that torture him are real, but the others around him just can’t see it. When he interacts with the ghosts in public, the others think he’s crazy because they can’t see the ghosts and they can’t ever dream of feeling the way he feels. I know a few people that have been bullied because they’re too short, or they’re too ugly, etc. On treating others as freaks, the movie has an underlying message that we don’t know what “freaks” are going through, so we shouldn’t poke fun at them for something they can’t help.
3. Does Cole realize from the very beginning that his psychologist is also a ghost?  What details support your answer to this question?
1. He does, because it is shown that he can tell ghosts apart from humans (such as when he sees the lady on a bike who got hit by a car). A prominent scene that proves he knew that Dr. Crowe was dead was when they met for the second time in Cole’s house. He didn’t talk to Dr. Crowe at all in that scene (Cole “didn’t want to talk” to Dr. Crowe for a reason), in fear of his mom coming in from the other room and inquiring on why he was talking to the walls.
4. What finally helps Cole deal with his encounters with the dead? Is that different than what might help us deal with our encounters with the living? (Remember the question that is asked throughout the movie: Do you have something to tell me?)
1. His interaction with the little girl who initially scared him changed his interactions with the dead from terrifying to understandable. Although seeing the ghost of the little girl for the first time, with blood and vomit all over her, scared him to bits, he then went back to her after a few minutes and interacted with her. (She is shown to have said, “I’m feeling better, now.”) She then gives him her final wish and asks him to carry it out for her. That final wish foiled her mom’s plan of killing her and then killing her sister. Doing that made Cole realize that the ghosts aren’t trying to scare him for no reason, they want something from him. This can be compared with our interactions with the living… people don’t just interact with you for no reason, they most likely want something (like a teacher wants your answer to the question to signal that you’ve learned the content, or a fast food worker wants your order to make the food and get your money). Dr. Crowe, in asking Cole if he wanted to tell him something, wanted Cole to tell him his secret, one that would unlock what mental illnesses he had, or what troubles he was going through.
5. When Cole and Dr. Crowe are finished with their sessions together, Cole says to his mom "I’m ready to communicate with you now--to tell you my secrets." What changed in Cole so that he was finally able to talk to his mom more openly? When you have fears or secrets, whom can you tell?
1. His interactions with the ghosts changed, and it made him realize that it wasn’t just a curse he had, he had the power to help people. It made him feel wanted and needed. Not just a freak who was lonely and haunted all the time, who had no one to confide to. He never told his mother because he didn’t think that she would believe him when he told her his main secret- that he could see ghosts. Now, he realizes that seeing these ghosts isn’t such a big deal, and it doesn’t really make him a freak. He learned that he doesn’t have to be scared all of the time, and that he should let off steam by telling his mother whether she believes him or not (And she does!). When I have fears or secrets, I tell my parents, and they talk them through with me and make me realize that they aren’t all that bad.
6. Dr. Crowe asks Cole, "If you could change something, anything--what would it be?" What would you change in your own life if you could?
1. If it were beyond the limits of reality, it would be to be immortal and I would worry about the rest later. However, if I had to choose something within the boundaries of reality, I would choose to have a super memory, so I could memorize coursework for tests (to excel in school and jobs), memorize events and things I have to do (so I don’t fall behind in life), memorize multiple languages (to communicate with billions of people and earn a few bucks translating while doing so), etc.

Shapes of stories

3 movies that follow Kurt Vonnegut’s shapes of stories:

(THESE CONTAIN SPOILERS) 

1. American Beauty- From bad to worse
1. The movie starts with an estranged family… the father just goes through his boring job and life, the mother is unsuccessful at her job, the two have fallen out of love, and their only daughter hates them both. This is the below average start. The father then has a mid-life crisis fueled by an extramarital crush on his daughter’s classmate, quits his job, and blackmails his boss. The wife has an affair with her business rival, and gets really into guns. The daughter becomes detached from her best friend and the world in favor of the boy next door. In the end, the father, after working to become a better version of himself, gets shot, and the wife has to live with the fallout as the daughter and the boy run off. The movie ends with the family becoming even more estranged, and having to cope with the father's death. This is the infinite downward spiral. Things never get better throughout the movie, although the characters tell themselves that it is.
2. Crazy Rich Asians- Boy meets girl
1. The movie starts with a young couple, Rachel and Nick, in New York. They both are happy with each other, successful at work, and have a comfortable home life. This is the above average start. They travel to the boyfriend’s hometown of Singapore to attend his friend’s wedding. He forgot to mention to her that his family is one of the richest in Southeast Asia, and that he is a very sought after bachelor. He is happy to see his extended family, but they are very hostile towards Rachel because she’s a commoner among the elite. She attends a bachelorette getaway but is shunned and insulted… the fact that she’s dating the heir to the very rich family puts a target on her back. Even worse, his mother really wants to shoo her away, because she thinks she isn’t fit to become part of their family, just a dumb American whose Chinese roots have been done away with. A the wedding reception, his mom reveals that Rachel was conceived from an affair, and that it would cause a scandal if they were to marry. This upsets Rachel and she flees from the reception. She doesn’t speak to Nick for a few days due to the trauma she had been put through, but in the end, he catches her on a flight back to America, proposes to her, and they party in Singapore. Happily ever after! This is the infinite happiness curve.
3.  The Sixth Sense- Man in hole
1. The movie starts out above average, with a happy young couple who had just been gifted with a prestigious award. Their relationship is great, their jobs are great, their house is great… and then one of the husband’s past patients returns with a gun and shoots him. This is where the downward spiral begins. He is presumed to have recovered afterwards, but his wife is distant, and he has a new troubled boy to work with. Upon spending time with him, the child psychologist realizes his symptoms and personality resemble that of a patient who shot him because he didn’t help the patient enough. Then, the boy tells the psychologist that he sees dead people, and upon looking further into the patient, the psychologist finds this to be true. Throughout the movie, the boy is haunted and bullied by ghosts and other kids who find him to be an outcast (respectively) and he has a strained relationship with his mother (as seen with the bumblebee pin, and the fact that he hides his abuse from her), but the psychologist advises the boy to listen to the ghosts instead of running away from them. He does this once, and it brings justice to a little girl (Who initially haunted him) whose mother killed her to gather attention, and it foiled her mother’s plot to kill her sister. This is where the upward curve begins. The boy is now at peace with his condition, and the kids finally stopped bullying him. His mother and him have a normal relationship again, all thanks to the psychologist. While it is revealed that the psychologist died in the beginning and was a ghost all along, it’s still positive because it shows that his wife wasn’t just ignoring him, he literally died and she was mourning his death. When he learns about this, he lets go of her, which is sad, but it is happy in that he is content with accepting reality and letting life run its’ course.

The Sixth Sense

Sixth sense synopsis

The movie opens with a happy couple. The husband, Mr. Crowe, is a child psychologist. Suddenly, ones of his old patients, now grown and insane, breaks in and shoots him. Cut to a around a year later, he is waiting for a new patient: a 9 year old boy named Cole who has “mood swings” and “paranoia”. He follows Cole to a Church, where they have a short conversation. He steals some church figurines. Cole is revealed to have a strained relationship with his mom, who loves him very much but wants to understand Cole and help Cole through his problems. Cole puts his Church figurines inside a tent in his room, where he hides from the ghosts that haunt him (usually at night). At school, he gets into a confrontation with the teacher and is sent to the principal’s office. Cole gets repeatedly bullied at school to the point in which he has 2 boys lock him in a scary room at one of their birthday parties. There is a scary ghost in there, and Cole faints. Cole’s mom takes him to the doctor, and they send him home after implying that Cole’s mom is a bad one for overlooking abuse/abusing him. This lets Cole’s mom know that things aren’t actually fine with Cole, and that he has been lying to her this whole time. She wants to mend their relationship, but her bumblebee pin keeps turning up in his bedroom, and he keeps saying that he didn’t do it even though she really thinks he did. Meanwhile, Mr. Crowe and his wife are at a disconnect. She ignores him, cries about their broken relationship while ignoring him, and seems to be flirting with another man. Mr. Crowe is deeply saddened by this, but he feels an overwhelming urge to keep helping Cole (because he bears a personality resemblance to the patient that shot him). Cole reveals to him that he sees ghosts. While Mr. Crowe and Cole talk, Cole sees the dead people everywhere and is haunted by them every day, everywhere. Mr. Crowe suggests that maybe the ghosts aren’t there to scare him, but they want a favor done. A little girl who is a ghost haunts him at night, with vomit and blood all over her. He runs away, but then comes back to her. She asks him to carry out one final wish. He does so, and that wish is to show her father a videotape. The videotape turns from a puppet show into evidence that her mother was keeping her sick to gain more attention for herself. This reveals the mother’s plot to kill the other child, and proves that she was the cause of the main girl’s death. Cole is now at peace with the ghosts, and carries out their tasks when he can. He finally opens up to his mom, and tells her the secret he’s been hiding: that he can see ghosts. He proves this by revealing something that his grandma would only know to his mom. Finally, at the end of the movie, Mr. Crowe comes home to his wife crying over him “leaving her” and rewatching their wedding tape. He then comes to the realization that he’s dead, and that she is crying over him and trying to move on with another man. He then talks to her in her sleep at Cole’s suggestion, and he does just that. His wife, in her sleep, talks to him very briefly and wishes him a good night. He is at peace.

Scenes/details that implied that there was a plot twist: 

• When Mr. Crowe came to Cole’s house for the first time, Cole’s mother never interacted with him or noticed him. Also, Cole always whispered or just didn’t talk in that scene, because his mother would hear him and inquire about why he was talking to no one.
• Mr. Crowe never takes off his coat, and we only see his gunshot wound at the end… sometimes he wore his sweatshirt in his home, but we never saw his actually shirt until the end, and in the ver first scene (in which he got shot)
• Mr. Crowe interacts with Cole so much, and no one ever interacts with Mr. Crowe. A prominent example would be when there was a knock at the door, and Crowe yelled to his wife, “Are you getting it?!” She didn’t answer. I think that the fact that he interacts with Cole so much is the distractor from that fact that he doesn’t interact with literally anyone else.

Cuckoo Video

https://youtu.be/PgqdCZtom6I