Media Bias And The Media - 1365 Words

Media Bias In today’s society, remaining connected and knowledgeable of current events and the newest trends is vital to staying ahead in business, education, and social standing. This information is supplied to everyone through the internet, newspapers, television, and radio. One can tune into stations such as CNN, NBC, Fox News, Al-Jazeera, and many others (â€Å"SQs of Media Outlets†). In order to meet the needs of viewers, readers, and listeners, the ideal media system would contain accurate, quick information, with a purely impartial view on the facts as they are known. However, this modern media system has not maintained an objective view, pushing opinionated and slanted reporting onto the population in order to create profit and gain customers. The exploitation of information media for personal gain has created a toxic and inaccurate present, constant in today’s society. To understand what state the modern media system is in, one must firmly understand what bias is. Media bias is present â€Å"when a political belief or commercial interest distorts the level of reporting† (â€Å"Media Bias† 1). If a political station provides positive or accurate information to only one side, then the station can be considered biased. Another form of bias is known as sensationalism. Sensationalism is the creation of panic or fear by over-reporting or over-inflating individual news stories, often blurring facts or reporting speculation as facts. A modern and familiar example of mediaShow MoreRelatedMedia Bias In The Media1474 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout America’s infantile years, the media solely consisted of the printing press, but as a result of industrialization, commercialization, and professionalization, it now extends into the world of technology, reaching far more Americans than ever before. Media can be defined as collective outlets f or mass communication. In today’s society, massive amounts of media are consumed in a plethora of forms: newspapers, magazines, television, Internet, and social media. The 2007 U.S. Census Bureau s StatisticalRead MoreMedia Bias And The Media980 Words   |  4 PagesChurchill The â€Å"roots† of bias in the media date back to the nineteenth century, and criticism about bias partly reflects a controversial idea about what exactly is the media’s role and purpose. Newspapers and television alike are suppose to exist to relay objective, factual information gathered and communicated by journalists and reporters. By definition according to wikipedia, media bias is bias or perceived bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of eventsRead MoreMedia Bias And The Media1042 Words   |  5 Pagesor the method for reporting them is termed as Media Bias. It is some of the time said that media tailor the news and as opposed to introducing the truths it shows different purposes of perspectives and sentiments. Media inclination is pervasive or broad and it defies the guidelines of news-casting. Media Bias is seen in just about all the nations on the planet and the bearing and level of its effect differs. Some of the time the impediments of media may likewise be translated as inclination. SuchRead MoreMedia Bias And The Media1531 Words   |  7 PagesPeople who perceive media bias will factor in the news source when they attempt to formulate opinions of ideological bias in the news content. This idea is called the hostile media phenomenon or hostile media effect. In a groundbreaking study in 1985, researchers, Vallone, Ross, and Lepper, postulated that when there is a controversial issue, a partisan is more likely to perceive bias against their viewpoint, even if the information is coming from an objective news source. The causes effects of theRead MoreMedia Bias And The Media1353 Words   |  6 PagesMedia has been playing a significant role in our daily lives by developing our personalities, enriching our knowledge and providing us with different sorts of information. It has a tremendous power in framing cultural guidelines and shaping political dissertation. If the information pr ovided to the U.S. citizens is distorted, then they cannot make informed decisions on the matters of public policy. Thus, it becomes vital to the American democracy that the news media and its institutions remain unbiasedRead MoreMedia Bias And The Media1402 Words   |  6 PagesMedia has become an integral part of the lives of both Americans and people all around the world. It has its influences on different aspects of a person’s aspect on life. Many political analysts have looked at the influence of media on elections, especially as the media has become more prominent in the world. With technology becoming more and more a n integral part of the daily life of a person, this subject will become that much more relevant. We live in a time where almost every person in the developingRead MoreThe Bias Of The Media1317 Words   |  6 Pages There is no getting away from the fact that the media is biased it is just which side of the aisle that they are biased to that I believe is the main question that needs to be answered. The progressive liberal side screams bias whiles the conservative army also scream bias so is there really bias in the media. I will take a look at the mass media most specifically cable news and syndicated talk shows to prove the point that bias in the media is more a myth that the leaders of each side preachesRead MoreThe Bias Of Media Bias1820 Words   |  8 PagesI. Introduction While there have been several studies on how people perceive media bias, few have been conducted to determine how to combat incorrect identification of media bias. To combat this lack of knowledge, we created an experiment to determine if gaining knowledge about media bias through two different treatments enables people to identify, rather than perceive, media bias. The first treatment is a list of tenants that the liberal and conservative ideologies maintain on specific issues.Read MoreMedia Bias2516 Words   |  11 Pagesthat plagues us everyday without us even realizing it is media bias. We see it in the news. We see it on our favorite sitcoms. We read it everyday in the paper. Yet, we really dont recognize it when we hear it or see it. Media bias is evident in every aspect of the media, yet the problem is that we dont even recognize it when it is right in front of our faces. Are the impressions that we form about individuals a product of the media? Do we form certain opinions about particular types of peopleRead More Media Power and Media Bias Essay995 Words   |  4 Pages The powerful media barons have always altered broadcasts to achieve their personal or corporate agenda. What purpose does the media serve now? Measuring Bias on Television by Barrie Gunter has elaborated on the idea that news was originally set up to act as a nati onal tool to stir thoughts. But is it? No! Is the media even enlightening the public now? After careful speculation of mass media and the communication world, I am under the impression that broadcasts have been used to entertain, frighten

The Negative Effects Of Slavery On African Americans

Slavery was a sad event that African Americans had to go through in America starting in the sixteen hundredths. Slavery was bad because African Americans were kidnapped from Africa by Slave Traders and put on slave ships that enslaved African Americans. The Atlantic Slave Trade is the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people. Mainly from Africa to America and then, Africans were sold into slavery. Innocent African Americans were captured and beaten almost to death in captivity by the slave traders. Can you imagine the pain and horror African Americans went through while enslaving? Slavery is a negative event that should not be honored or relished! Innocent African Americans were taken away from their families. Can you†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Schooling was not an option for enslaved children, and, in most states, it was illegal to teach enslaved Black people to read and write.† (Dawkins,2014, pg.2). How evil is that right? stopping African American s from learning how to read and write. A quote from Frederick Douglas, â€Å"The ability to read and write was the first step towards freedom.† I agree, with this quote because education is an important ability to have as an African American. Knowledge empowers us to do whatever we set our minds to do. That is the beauty of having knowledge so, the fact enslaved African Americans could not experience knowledge is sad. Truly is heartbreaking to realize enslaved Africans could not get an opportunity to read and write. That’s why I value my education and never take it for granted. Can you imagine seeing innocent people being abused daily? This unfortunately happened too enslaved African Americans while in slavery. African Americans were abused nonstop for no reason at all. â€Å"Slaves were chained together and marched to the coast. Sometimes this could take many days or weeks. Slaves who did not move fast enough, or showed any sign of resistance to the traders, were whipped. Those who were too weak or sickly to complete the journey at the required pace were left to die.† (â€Å"Black Peoples of America – Effects of Slavery on Africa†,2016). I do not understand how innocent Africans were whipped because they did not move fast enough orShow MoreRelatedTheme Summary : Abolition Of Slavery 978 Words   |  4 PagesTheme: Abolition of Slavery Image: Photograph Depicting Boy Tied to Post The image viewed and analyzed for the purposes of this assignment is representative of an excellent piece that contributes to the abolishing slavery theme. The picture portrays a young man who can’t be much older than eighteen years in age shackled to some type of pole or post. The young man is of African-American descent and he appears to be dressed in some sort of prison garments. His pants are dingy and faded with a patternRead MoreSegregated Children in the United States Essay1689 Words   |  7 Pagessegregation had taken over American cities and towns. Segregation is the act of setting someone or something apart from other people or things. In America, African Americans were segregated from White people. Segregation was a result of the abolishment of slavery twenty-five years before. Whites still wanted to feel superior to the Blacks, and without slavery to chain them down, they decided to begin segregation by establishing Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws segregated Americ ans, by the color of theirRead MoreSegregated African American Children Essay1050 Words   |  5 Pagessegregation had taken over American cities and towns. Segregation is the act of setting someone or something apart from other people or things. In America, African Americans were segregated from White people. Segregation was a result of the abolishment of slavery twenty-five years before. Whites still wanted to feel superior to the Blacks, and without slavery to chain them down, they decided to begin segregation by establishing Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws segregated Americans, by the color of theirRead MoreRacial Equality And Opportunity For African Americans911 Words   |  4 PagesEven after slavery was erased from the lives of African Americans, something rather equal to slavery was introduced. Sharecropping was what they called it and although it didn t fool all African Americans, it still resembled the same practice of slavery itself. Equality and opportunity were the main words that would have African Americans develop faith during the time period of 1865 to 1905. Of course, lives of African Americans continued to be painfully raw in disguise. On December 18, 1865, ThaddeusRead MoreThe South after Slavery1659 Words   |  7 PagesSouth After Slavery It is no secret that slavery was a huge part of the southern part of the United States for a very long time. Life below the Mason-Dixon Line was forever changed because of slavery and the effects it had on Americans. It is hard for this generation to imagine the discrimination because America is such a melting pot today. There are still some people who discriminate today, however, it is nothing compared to what it was several years ago. Although slavery was a negative thing inRead MoreFrederick Douglasss Narrative and Its Influence1209 Words   |  5 Pagesconvincing the crowd of the wrongs of slavery and that slaves can become as successful as Douglass did. Douglass was born in Maryland in 1817, as a slave. He educated himself and was determined to escape from slavery. He tried to escape slavery once, but it was unsuccessful. He later made a successful escape of slavery in 1838. Douglass told his story about his own life in order to describe a slaves’ life as one. Bringing up his own parents was a way of explaining how slavery avoids slaves from having ordinaryRead MoreThe Consequences Of The Peculiar Institution863 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom the scars that slavery in America has written on African American DNA. The fruits of slavery produced the internalization of negative: mentalities, inferiority of identity, and images in black media. The peculiar institution, also known as slavery, has perpetuated the slave’s mentality amongst black Americans . Before becoming enslaved and dehumanized in America, they black slaves were people. African people. Slave masters first had to enslave the minds of the African people to create slavesRead MoreMajor Themes Of Us History During Slavery Essay1607 Words   |  7 Pages Major Themes of US History During Slavery During creation, God made man and gave him the free will to do and act according to as he pleases as long as it is in agreement with His teachings. Fellow human beings could not have control over their fellow men because it was against God’s will. A state whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune is known as slavery. The history of slavery dates back to creation times where the Israelites were taken asRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Caged Bird By Maya Angelou882 Words   |  4 Pagesfought for desegregation of African Americans. This poem parallels the oppression that African Americans were fighting during this time period. In â€Å"Caged Bird†, Angelou builds a strong contrast that shows the historical context of discrimination and segregation through the use of mood, symbolism, and theme. The mood of â€Å"Caged Bird† changes drastically from stanza to stanza. Angelou’s specific diction choices help to reflect the change from being positive to negative with some elements of hopeRead MoreSymbolism of the Title a Worn Path891 Words   |  4 Pagesbecause she’s a worn old woman. Her appearance isn’t the only thing that’s worn, her life path is also. Phoenix has lived and gone through a lot during her lifetime. She’s been through the civil war, has lost a grandson, and has gone through times of slavery. She’s experienced enough things in her life, so she isn’t really afraid of anything and does not care for much. These events in her life have caused her to being to lose her mind and go crazy. Example of this is in the beginning of the story when

Drama Films Free Essays

string(75) " about racial tensions and eventual violence during a hot Brooklyn summer\." Drama Films are serious presentations or stories with settings or life situations that portray realistic characters in conflict with either themselves, others, or forces of nature. A dramatic film shows us human beings at their best, their worst, and everything in-between. Each of the types of subject-matter themes have various kinds of dramatic plots. We will write a custom essay sample on Drama Films or any similar topic only for you Order Now Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre because they include a broad spectrum of films. See also crime films, melodramas, epics (historical dramas), biopics (biographical), or romantic genres – just some of the other genres that have developed from the dramatic genre. Dramatic themes often include current issues, societal ills, and problems, concerns or injustices, such as racial prejudice, religious intolerance (such as anti-Semitism), drug addiction, poverty, political unrest, the corruption of power, alcoholism, class divisions, sexual inequality, mental illness, corrupt societal institutions, violence toward women or other explosive issues of the times. These films have successfully drawn attention to the issues by taking advantage of the topical interest of the subject. Although dramatic films have often dealt frankly and realistically with social problems, the tendency has been for Hollywood, especially during earlier times of censorship, to exonerate society and institutions and to blame problems on an individual, who more often than not, would be punished for his/her transgressions. Social Problem Dramas: Social dramas or â€Å"message films† expressed powerful lessons, such as the harsh conditions of Southern prison systems in Hell’s Highway (1932) and I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), the plight of wandering groups of young boys on freight cars during the Depression in William Wellman’s Wild Boys of the Road (1933), or the lawlessness of mob rule in Fritz Lang’s Fury (1936), or the resourcefulness of lifer prisoner and bird expert Robert Stroud (Burt Lancaster) in John Frankenheimer’s Birdman of Alcatraz (1961), or the tale of a framed, unjustly imprisoned journalist (James Cagney) in Each Dawn I Die (1939). In Yield to the Night (1956), Diana Dors relived her life and crime as she awaited her execution. A tough, uncompromising look at New York waterfront corruption was found in the classic American film, director Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront (1954) with Marlon Brando as a longshoreman who testified to the Waterfront Crimes Commission. The film rew criticism with the accusation that it appeared to justify Kazan’s informant role before the HUAC. Problems of the poor and dispossessed have often been the themes of the great films, including The Good Earth (1937) with Chinese peasants facing famine, storms, and locusts, and John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940) about an indomitable, Depression-Era Okie family – the Joads – who survived a tragic journey from Oklahoma to California. Martin Scorsese’s disturbing and violent Taxi Driver (1976) told of the despairing life of a lone New York taxi cab driver amidst nighttime urban sprawl. Issues and conflicts within a suburban family were showcased in director Sam Mendes’ Best Picture-winning American Beauty (1999), as were problems with addiction in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000). Films About Mental Illness: Two films from different eras that dealt with the problems of the mentally ill and conditions in mental institutions were Anatole Litvak’s The Snake Pit (1948) with tormented Olivia de Havilland’s assistance from a psychiatrist, and Milos Forman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) with Jack Nicholson as a rebellious institutional patient who feigned insanity but ultimately was squashed by Nurse Ratched and the repressive system. Bette Davis played a neurotic and domineering woman in John Huston’s In This Our Life (1942). Sam Wood’s Kings Row (1942) examined the various fears and phobias in a small-town. Repressed and prohibited from consummating her love with Warren Beatty, Natalie Wood exhibited signs of insanity in Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass (1961). Another teenager (Kathleen Quinlan) felt suicidal tendencies due to schizophrenia in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). And 1930s-40s actress Frances Farmer (Jessica Lange) tragically declined due to a mental breakdown and subsequent lobotomy in Frances (1982). The repressed emotions and tragic crises in a seemingly perfect family were documented in Robert Redford’s directorial debut Best Picture and Best Director-winning Ordinary People (1980). Films About Alcoholism: A hard look was taken at alcoholism with Ray Milland as a depressed writer in Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (1945) and Jack Lemmon (and Lee Remick) in Blake Edwards’ Days of Wine and Roses (1962). An aging alcoholic singer (Bing Crosby) desperate for a comeback was the theme of The Country Girl (1954) – the film that provided Grace Kelly with a Best Actress Oscar. Susan Hayward acted the decline into alcoholism of 1930s star Lillian Roth in Daniel Mann’s biopic I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955). More recently, Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway played the parts of two fellow alcoholics in Barbet Schroeder’s Barfly (1987). Films about Disaffected Youth and Generational Conflict: Juvenile delinquency, young punks and gangs, and youth rebellion were the subject matter of Dead End (1937), Laslo Benedek’s The Wild One (1953) with biker Marlon Brando disrupting a small town, Richard Brooks’ The Blackboard Jungle (1955) with Glenn Ford as an idealistic teacher in a slum area school, and Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955) with James Dean as an iconic disaffected youth. Race Relations and Civil Rights Dramas: Films that were concerned with race relations included Hollywood’s first major indictment of racism in producer Stanley Kramer’s and director Mark Robson’s Home of the Brave (1949), the story of a black WWII soldier facing bigoted insults from his squad. Then, there was John Sturges’ Bad Day At Black Rock (1955) about small-town Japanese-American prejudice uncovered by a one-armed Spencer Tracy, Stanley Kramer’s The Defiant Ones (1958) with Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier as bound-together escaping convicts – and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) about an inter-racial couple (Sidney Poitier as WHO doctor John Prentiss and Katharine Houghton as SF socialite Joanna Drayton) planning on marrying who needed parental approval from Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (in their ninth and last film together). Also, In the Heat of the Night (1967) featured a bigoted sheriff and a black homicide detective working together to solve a murder, and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) – about racial tensions and eventual violence during a hot Brooklyn summer. You read "Drama Films" in category "Essay examples" Strong indictments toward anti-Semitism were made in Elia Kazan’s Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) with writer Gregory Peck posing as a Jew, and Crossfire (1947) about the mysterious murder of a Jew. The Japanese film classic from Akira Kurosawa titled Rashomon (1951) examined a violent ambush, murder and rape in 12th century Japan from four different perspectives. Courtroom Dramas: See also AFI’s 10 Top 10 – The Top 10 Courtroom Drama Films Courtroom legal dramas, which include dramatic tension in the courtroom setting, maneuverings between trial opponents (lawyers, prosecutors, and clients), surprise witnesses, and the psychological breakdown of key participants, were exemplified in films such as the following: * William Dieterle’s film noir The Accused (1948), with Robert Cummings defending college professor Loretta Young’s self-defense murder * 12 Angry Men (1957) with Henry Fonda and eleven other jurists in a tense deliberation room * Billy Wilder’s intriguing and plot-twisting Witness for the Prosecution (1957) based on an Agatha Christie play * Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959) with James Stewart as a defense lawyer for accused murderer Ben Gazzara * Compulsion (1959) the Navy court-martial trial based on the Herman Wouk play of the same name in The Caine Mutiny (1954) – a film with a memorable performance of Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg * the historic Scopes Trial battle in Inherit the Wind (1960) pitting Spencer Tracy against Fredric March in a case brought against a schoolteacher for teaching Darwinism * the social drama regarding the Nazi war crimes trials in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) with Burt Lancaster as a Nazi judge defended by Nazi defense attorney Maximilian Schell in a 1948 court ruled by Chief Allied Judge Spencer Tracy * the defense case of a black accused of rape in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), adapted from the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel by Harper Lee about civil rights In addition, director Robert Benton’s Best Picture-winning Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) focused on the subject of a nurturing father (Dustin Hoffman) trying to win a child custody case with divorced Meryl Streep. An Australian film, Breaker Morant (1980) was another tense courtroom drama – the true story of soldiers in the Boer War who were used as scapegoats by the British Army. The award-winning drama, Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict (1982) featured Paul Newman as an alcoholic, has-been Boston lawyer fighting a case of medical malpractice against James Mason. Glenn Close defended lover/client Jeff Bridges in Richard Marquand’s who-dun-it Jagged Edge (1985). Assistant DA Kelly McGillis defended the bar-room gang-raped Jodie Foster (an Oscar-winning role) in The Accused (1988). A Soldier’s Story (1984) examined racial hatred in a 1940s Southern military post in a dramatic courtroom murder/mystery. And A Few Good Men (1992) portrayed the courtroom conflict (known for its catchphrase: â€Å"You can’t handle the truth! â€Å") between established Marine Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson) and two young Naval attorneys (Tom Cruise and Demi Moore) regarding the circumstances surrounding the hazing (â€Å"Code Red†) death (by asphyxiation due to acute lactic acidosis) of Private Santiago – a Marine stationed at Guantanamo Naval Air Station in Cuba. Jonathan Demme’s AIDS drama, Philadelphia (1993) examined discrimination against AIDS and the legal defense of an AIDS sufferer (Tom Hanks) who was fired. Political Dramas: Political dramas include Frank Capra’s two political tales – State of the Union (1948) with Tracy/Hepburn, and his classic story of a naive Senator’s fight against political corruption in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Conversely, the award-winning, potent story of a corrupt politician was dramatized in Robert Rossen’s All the King’s Men (1949) with Broderick Crawford as the rising politician. Alexander Knox starred as President Woodrow Wilson in Henry King’s epic, big budget bio Wilson (1944). In Otto Preminger’s Advise and Consent (1962), stars Charles Laughton (in his last film), Franchot Tone, and Lew Ayres portrayed scheming Senators during Henry Fonda’s crisis-threatened Presidency. The controversial The Manchurian Candidate (1962) questioned the Cold War brainwashing of a Korean War hero. Michael Ritchie’s The Candidate (1972) examined the harsh reality of the campaign trail with political hopeful Robert Redford starring as an attorney running for the Senate. Oliver Stone’s conspiracy-centered drama, JFK (1991), attempted to disprove the theory that President Kennedy’s killer acted alone. Journalism, the Press and Media-Related Dramas: Dramatic films often center around the theme of journalism, the world of reporters and news. Often regarded as the best film ever made, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) was an insightful character study of a newspaper magnate. Alan J. Pakula’s All the President’s Men (1976) was a docu-drama of real-life journalists Bernstein and Woodward investigating the Watergate scandal. Sidney Lumet’s Network (1976) with Peter Finch as a despairing newsman was a critical look at TV news, while Sydney Pollack’s Absence of Malice (1981) told about an over-earnest journalist (Sally Field) and a wrongly-implicated defendant (Paul Newman). James L. Brooks’ Broadcast News (1987) focused on the world of network news shows, editors, and reporters. Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd (1957) showed how a down-home country boy (Andy Griffith in his film debut as Larry â€Å"Lonesome† Rhodes) could be transformed into a pop television show icon and political megalomaniac. Through the eyes of a cameraman, Haskell Wexler’s docu-drama Medium Cool (1969) covered the corruption and events surrounding Chicago’s 1968 Democratic Convention. In Peter Weir’s The Year of Living Dangerously (1962), Mel Gibson played the role of an Australian journalist working during the time of President Sukarno’s coup in mid-60s Indonesia. And in Oliver Stone’s Salvador (1982), James Woods played the role of a photographer in war-torn El Salvador. WWII Homefront Dramas: Dramatic films which have portrayed the â€Å"homefront† during times of war, and the subsequent problems of peacetime adjustment include William Wyler’s Mrs. Miniver (1942) about a separated middle-class family couple (Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon) during the Blitz, Clarence Brown’s The Human Comedy (1943) with telegram delivery boy Mickey Rooney bringing news from the front to small-town GI families back home, John Cromwell’s Since You Went Away (1944) with head of family Claudette Colbert during her husband’s absence, and another William Wyler poignant classic The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) with couples awkwardly brought back together forever changed after the war: Dana Andrews and Virginia Mayo, Fredric March and Myrna Loy, and Harold Russell and Cathy O’Donnell. History-Related Dramas: Films that have dramatized portions of the American past include W. S.  Van Dyke’s San Francisco (1936) on the eve of the 1906 quake, John Ford’s Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) with Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda facing marauding Indian attacks at the time of American independence, Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York (1941) with Gary Cooper as the gentle hick-hero of the WWI trenches, the gothic drama of a turn of the century family in Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and of course Gone With The Wind (1939) during the Civil War and Reconstruction Eras. Exquisite, nostalgic family dramas include John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley (1941) – a flashback of Roddy McDowall’s childhood in a Welsh mining village, and George Stevens’ tribute to a Norwegian immigrant mother (Irene Dunne) raising h er family in San Francisco in I Remember Mama (1948). Sports Dramas: Dramatic sports films or biographies have created memorable portraits of all-American sports heroes, individual athletes, or teams who are faced with tough odds in a championship match, race or large-scale sporting event, soul-searching or physical/psychological injuries, or romantic sub-plot distractions. Fictional sports films normally present a single sport (the most common being baseball, football, basketball, and boxing), and include the training and rise (and/or fall) of the underdog or champion in the world of sports. Typical sports films (with biographical elements) include the sentimental biography of the Notre Dame football coach, Lloyd Bacon’s Knute Rockne: All-American (1940). One of the best films ever made about pro-football was Ted Kotcheff’s North Dallas Forty (1979) which examined the brutal fact of labor abuses and drug use in professional football – loosely basing its story on the championship Dallas Cowboys team. The tearjerking made-for-TV sports film Brian’s Song (1970) used professional football as the backdrop for its sad tale of the death of a Chicago Bears running back (James Caan). Burt Reynolds starred in The Longest Yard (1974) as scandalized ex-professional football quarterback Paul Crewe in prison who must organize a team of convicts to challenge a prison-guard team (and then face the additional challenge of throwing the game). Recently, Cameron Crowe’s sports romance-drama Jerry Maguire (1996), famous for the phrase â€Å"Show me the money! † starred Tom Cruise as a hard-driven major sports agent, and Academy Award-winning Cuba Gooding, Jr. as a football player. One of the best sports biopics was Sam Wood’s The Pride of the Yankees (1942) with Gary Cooper in a fine performance as New York Yankees great Lou Gehrig. In The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), the famed black player who crossed the major-league ‘color-line’ and joined the Brooklyn Dodgers portrayed himself. Director Barry Levinson’s mythical and romanticized film about baseball titled The Natural (1984) featured Robert Redford as Roy Hobbes – a gifted baseball player who led his New York team to the World Series. Ron Shelton, who was an actual ex-minor leaguer, wrote and directed the intelligent comedy/drama Bull Durham (1988) which used as its backdrop minor league baseball to tell the story of a baseball groupie (Susan Sarandon), a veteran catcher (Kevin Costner) and a dim-witted pitcher named Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins). The immensely popular fantasy/drama Field of Dreams (1989) concerned the creation of a ball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield by a farmer (Kevin Costner). Writer/director John Sayles’ Eight Men Out (1988) dramatized the infamous episode in professional baseball of the scandalous 1919 World Series that was fixed – with its final sepia-toned shots of banned ball-player â€Å"Shoeless† Joe Jackson (D. B. Sweeney) in the minors. And Tommy Lee Jones starred as the legendary baseball great Ty Cobb in Shelton’s Cobb (1994). Basketball-related sports dramas are rare: three notable ones were Spike Lee’s He Got Game (1998) with Denzel Washington as the convict father of a promising basketball athlete, David Anspaugh’s Hoosiers (1986) about an underdog 50s basketball team (coached by Gene Hackman) that won the state championship, and Ron Shelton’s play-filled, trash-talking court action film White Men Can’t Jump (1992) with its two basketball hustlers/con-artists (Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes) and their scenes of two-on-two tournaments. Kevin Costner portrayed a talented pro golfer in Ron Shelton’s romantic sports film Tin Cup (1996). And Paul Newman portrayed swaggering, upstart poolshark gambler Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) in the world of professional pool, shooting against the great champ Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). Downhill Racer (1969) starred Robert Redford as an American downhill skier training to become an Olympic superstar. The Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire (1981) told the parallel stories of two English runners (one a devout Protestant, the other Jewish) competing in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Autoracing in the Daytona 500 was featured in the action/drama Days of Thunder (1990). And one of the most memorable ice hockey films was Slap Shot (1977), with Paul Newman as inspiring player-coach Reg Dunlop of a minor-league team. Although a comedy, Caddyshack (1980) was about an elitist country club for golf, a mischievous green-destroying gopher, and a crazed groundskeeper (Bill Murray). Films about boxing are perhaps the most numerous sub-genre. One of the best boxing films ever made, along with Robert Wise’s classic film noirish The Set-Up (1949) starring Robert Ryan as aging boxer Stoker Thompson, was the realistically stark Body and Soul (1947). It starred John Garfield as boxer Charlie Davis who ‘sold his soul’ to unethical promoters but then had a change of heart in the last three rounds of a championship fight during which he was supposed to take a dive. Others included King Vidor’s classic The Champ (1931), an award-winning story of a prizefighter and his young son, Champion (1949) with Kirk Douglas as the young fighter, the brutal boxing drama The Harder They Fall (1956) (Humphrey Bogart’s underrated last film in which he portrayed Eddie Willis – an aging, crooked sportswriter), Ralph Nelson’s Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) with Anthony Quinn as punch-drunk, washed-up professional boxer Louis ‘Mountain’ Rivera, Martin Ritt’s The Great White Hope (1970) with James Earl Jones as black boxer Jack Jefferson, and Karyn Kusama’s independent feminist film Girlfight (2000) with a great performance by Michelle Rodriguez as a struggling Brooklynite and teenage Latino boxer. One of the best films of the 80s decade, Raging Bull (1980) was Martin Scorsese’s tough, visceral and uncompromising biopic film of the rise and fall of prizefighter Jake La Motta with a remarkable performanc e by actor Robert DeNiro. The stylized scenes in the ring included flying blood and sweat, exaggerated flashbulb camera flashes, slow-motion and violent punching sounds. How to cite Drama Films, Essay examples