Almost Famous (2000)

In the 2000 comedy “Almost Famous,” writer-director Cameron Crowe set out to tell the story of his introduction into the world of rock music. Through its surprisingly human characters, “Almost Famous” captures the young protagonist's loss of innocence and gives viewers a backstage pass into the flaky charm of rockstars.

The storyteller of "Almost Famous" is 15-year-old William Miller, who, on assignment from Rolling Stone, follows burgeoning band Stillwater on tour in 1975. Along the way, he befriends groupie Penny Lane (though she prefers the term "Band-Aid") and Stillwater guitarist Russell Hammond, all while struggling to understand the unwritten code of life on the road. This film would be nothing without the dynamics between William, Penny and Russell. William falls in love with Penny, who has already fallen in love with Russell, who is, in every way, the consistently inconsistent musician they both idolize. As the wisest and most sincere spirit on the tour bus, William helps to ground Russell and show Penny that she is worth more than the vague muse she tries to be.

Thanks to Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson and Billy Crudup, these characters read as real, genuine people instead of caricatures. Hudson and Crudup preach the free-wheeling lifestyle, but in more serious moments, their characters show subtle signs of regret, signaling to Fugit's William that they might not believe everything they're saying, but love the illusion too much to leave. Penny attempts to preserve herself by subscribing to the mystique she has built up around this world she inhabits. She separates the rockstar universe from the "real world," and tells William, "Never take it seriously. If you never take it seriously, you never get hurt, and if you never get hurt, you're always having fun." Russell tells him, "Nobody's feelings are getting hurt here... Everybody understands. This is the circus." William, functioning as the mirror that Penny and Russell must each face eventually, forces truth into both of their lives. After Russell agrees to sell Penny and the rest of the Band-Aids to another band for $50 dollars and a case of beer, William has had enough of their fantasy. "When and where does this 'real world' occur?!" he demands of Penny, and enraged at Russell's callousness, screams, "You guys are always talking about the fans, the fans, the fans... She was your biggest fan! And you threw her away!"

Hudson, as Penny, doesn't falter in her conviction until the moment when William reveals the Band-Aid trade. She tells him he's too sweet for rock-n-roll, and William reacts to her attitude by telling her that she needs to wake up. After the reveal, she stares at him, stunned, but mostly keeps her composure, attempting to play off her broken heart with a joke. With tears on her cheeks, she shrugs and asks William, "What kind of beer?" This scene encapsulates the entire film, because as William says, "I could be very dangerous to all of you! I am not sweet, and you should know that about me. I am the enemy!" It's true: William isn't sweet, he's just honest. Penny's and Russell's existences balance on the freedom of living without consequences, and William's purity threatens their denial.

One of the greatest things about this film is that, for a person who was born long after the storyline's events, the portrayal of the time period feels like a documentary. Even if you never experienced the seventies, the costume design looks authentic and the locations aren't affected by the fact that they were shot in 1999. Each song selection is perfect for the moment in which it appears, from the band's sing-along to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," to the almost-comical use of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" over the shot of Penny getting her stomach pumped after a quaalude overdose. The latter moment is a perfect example of how Cameron Crowe's affectionate nostalgia creates a snapshot that doesn't delve too far into the darkest aspects of the story. Crowe's screenplay is filtered through his own experiences and memories from his time in William's shoes. This doesn't produce the most hard-hitting rock movie, but it certainly relays the events in a personal way, the way he remembers it. Crowe is as unreliable a narrator as Penny is, but that doesn't make his story any less engaging. It becomes timeless. Even in the modern age, the legend of the rockstar lifestyle remains debauched and unsatisfactory, but that doesn't stop plenty of us from wanting to live it.

Bond Essay rough draft - feminism section

Besides the antiquated special effects and grandiose villains, "Goldfinger" still suffers from the now politically incorrect views towards women that were just beginning to evolve in the early 1960s. Admittedly, for its time, the film was progressive in its portrayal of Pussy Galore; Not only was she a pilot with her own fleet of five additional female pilots, but she also held Bond at gunpoint during half their interactions. She was not seduced by Bond until the very end, and even then, Bond had to tackle her and hold her down to get her to kiss him (in a scene that could almost be classified as a rape). Pussy Galore was the exception to the rule, as every other female character threw herself at him. M's secretary, Miss Moneypenny, batted her eyelashes at Bond as she sat on the edge of her desk. Bond sleeps with Jill Masterson, the secondary Bond Girl, in order to get to Goldfinger. She dies in the very next scene, smothered in gold paint by Goldfinger's associates, and discarded after she's been used. The women of "Goldfinger" were just blind toys and blonde distractions for Bond as he strutted through the film.

The most outright example of the film's misogynistic attitudes appears near the very beginning, when Felix Leiter, Bond's friend in the CIA, meets up with him at a sunny resort. When Leiter finds him, a girl in a blue bikini is giving Bond a back massage. Bond sits up, grabs his robe, and says, "Felix, this is Vink," then to the girl, "Vink, say goodbye to Felix." She looks at Bond quizzically. He smiles down at her, says, "Man talk," and then spanks her as she turns to leave. Keeping in mind that these were the early 1960s, it is understandable that women would be portrayed this way, but viewing the movie with that mindset also ages it. This scene could never happen in a modern Bond film. At least, it might end differently, with Vink punching Bond in the face in retaliation.

As opposed to the powerless women of "Goldfinger," the women of "Casino Royale" were never out of control. In parallel to the sex toy demise of Jill Masterson, Bond seduces Solange Dimitrios, the wife of one of the minor villains, in order to gather information about her husband's organization. As they lay on the floor of Bond's suite, and she notes that her husband is a bad man, he asks, "What makes him bad, the nature of his work?" Solange, moving her mouth up Bond's naked chest, replies, "That's a mystery, I'm afraid. I'm also afraid that you will sleep with me in order to get to him." Bond smiles as she calls his bluff, and says, "How afraid?" Solange answers, "Not enough to stop," and they kiss. Granted, Solange doesn't know that she'll be dead and hanging from a palm tree by morning for betraying her husband, but it's worth noting that this time, the secondary Bond Girl openly acknowledged her role in Bond's adventure. This reflects a modern attitude towards women's rights, which is that women deserve the freedom to make their own decisions. In a forward-moving culture, reverting from women's suffrage is much more difficult, and socially unacceptable, than regressing to old gender role stereotypes, which is another reason why "Casino Royale" will age more gracefully.

Meeting in the middle, the villainess Xenia Onatopp of “GoldenEye” – yes, note her last name – uses her gender as her most potent weapon. She seduces whoever needs to be seduced, and once they are in bed together, she wraps her legs around the man and crushes him. In the middle of having sex with one of her victims, he screams, “Xenia, I can’t breathe!” and she just laughs and clamps on tighter. He asphyxiates and dies.