Film Analysis Essay, Research Paper

Film Assignment

I have this opinion that America a land of opportunity and also a rat race. Why I say both of them? First, it is because, for me, America is a land of opportunity. Everybody has the opportunity to work as long as they have the willing to work, the work ethic. It s just not everybody has the willing to work because the government will support those people who are unemployed. Like foreign students for example. The INS gives foreign students the practical training permit, so they can use it for working in the US after they finish their school. Even though it s only a one-year permit, at least they have the opportunity to look for a company who is willing to be their sponsor for applying for the H-1 visa. Like in the movie It s a Wonderful Life. When George Bailey got bankrupt, he has another chance to make everything back to normal if he wanted to. However, when we look at the individual social mobility, it makes America a rat race country. Since America is known as a land of opportunity, which will lead into a rat race because people may want to accomplish or fulfil their goal. Everybody is trying to get the highest position in his or her job. Everybody is trying to make higher profit in his or her life. They will do anything to get into that position even though they have to do something illegal, something bad, something deceitful, corruption. Everybody is competing and just thinks about him or her self. Like in the Glengarry Glen Ross, everybody is trying to keep his job there. They have to make the highest profit or they will lose their job, and that makes some of the officers rob the office.

It s a beautiful life is a kind of family movie that has a happy ending. When I watched it, I got so depressed in the middle of the movie because everything happens is just like a tragedy. That is the basic story after all. George Bailey has been dealt a savage blow and is contemplating suicide at his lowest ebb. It takes an apprentice angel to put it all in perspective and remind him that joy in life should never be eclipsed by any setback.

After all how many of us can empathize with a penny pinching self centered old grouch versus a good man faced with letting his family and friends down. Mary looks like she loves her husband so much that she can let her husband down. George is not sent over the edge by what Mary has become but rather that she does not recognize him. Look at his increasing frenzy as he attempts to elicit some kind of recognition. At one point he even grabs her and tries to shake the recognition out of her. Scary stuff. This is what has hurt him the most and makes him realize what he has lost. It pictures a beautiful family where everybody in that family loves everybody. Nonetheless, the relationship among the character in the Glengarry Glen Ross is so bad. They are more affected by the ideal of the individual social mobility. Times are tough at Premiere Properties. To initiate a little incentive among the sales agents, The Boss , comes up with a sales program. The winner gets a new Cadillac and the loser gets unemployed. Jack Lemon, in that movie, needs money for his daughter, who is sick, so he robs the office and stole one of the properties. That shows us the wickedness in the rat race.

I believe Glengarry Glen Ross is more realistic portrayal of American life because It s a Beautiful Life is just a Christmas tale. A calamity befell Bailey on a Christmas Eve, but it ends happily. The story in the Glengarry Glen Ross happens in this real life. Everybody is competing in order to achieve his or her goal. The Jack Lemon character exists in this real life. What Jack Lemon does in that movie can be done by those people who are in the same position. Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes people do something wicked when they want to accomplish their goals.