A film blog for students of my classes at Santa Clara University. Use this blog to discuss the films we are studying, classic films, current releases or production issues you encounter while making your own films.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Street Fight documentary part II
What is the story of this film? What is the theme of this film and how does the story relate to it?
The stoy of this film is a struggle between two candidates for the office of the mayor of Newark, New Jersy. At least that is what is on the surface. The story is really about the divide between old and young, old politics and new polictics, old race realtions and new race relations. The movie brutally exposes the corruption of the incumbent. The young contender, Corey Booker, fights against scare tactics and the utter control of the incumbent, Sharpe James. James has a Praetorean Guard of police and government officials who try to stop Marshall Curry from filming at James' speaches and who shut down businesses who support Booker.
The theme of this film, related to the story of corrupt and old versus new and progressive is, I beleive, cultural belonging. There is a deep discussion of who qualifies as a legitimate member of the neighborhood and local culture. Many in the film see Booker as an over educated outsider. James even goes so far as to call him 'white' because of his education. This is obviosuly not fair. Booker and his supporters make clear that they believe that the goal of all people and of thier community is that everyone should have the oportunity to be educated and successful. Education does not mean you trade who you are and become someone else. You only inrich who you are.
This is the story of Cory Booker running for mayor against Sharpe James. Sharpe was mayor in Newark for over 30 years and used his power to manipulate individuals to not vote for Booker. This film reveals the corruption that occurs in politics and in particular in the major election in Newark in 2002.
The theme of this film is overcoming corruption and trying to take back power from the man on top in a moral way. Throughout the film, Sharpe tries to constantly undermine Brooke's campaign by threatening individuals that support him and defaming his name publicly. Brooke has to fight back in a way that is moral and not vicious like Sharpe, gaining supporters slowly but surely. Sadly, he does not win the election, but he comes back the following election season and wins.
The film Street Fighter is about the political race between Cory Booker and Sharpe James for mayor. James has the upper hand in the political race since he has 30 experience has the marry of Newark. The theme of this film is corruption and the fight to overcome that corruption. Like Brennan said above, I agree that the film is also about the division between old world politics and new world. The story follows Bookers struggle to fight the good fight and to not stoop to the level of James. Bookers unfortunately does not win the title of mayer, yet I think the story was a really important on to tell, which is about staying true to yourself, knowing who you are as a persona and following/sticking to your beliefs.
The film "Street Fight" is the story of the political battle for the 2002 position of Mayor in Newark, New Jersey. This election is a face-off between incumbent mayor Sharpe James, and Councilman Cory Booker. The film follows the election from the perspective of Booker and his supporters. We are shown Booker as Newark's savior who has come to relieve the crippling city from the harm that James has brought upon it. James has been mayor of the city for two decades. During this time, unemployment has risen, the numbers below the poverty line have grown, and James' personal salary and assets have grown as well. We are taken to the battlegrounds of the city where we find a complete division of the people, torn between the two candidates. After a hard fought battle, James is victorious once again, but not before Booker has dealt a damaging blow to his reputation and trust. The film ends with Booker eventually becoming mayor over James in the next election in 2006.
The theme of this film is a classic one: good versus evil. This may sound hard but this is exactly how the two candidates are portrayed in this film. Booker is the perfect man. Tall, dark and handsome, he is repeatedly called a "choir boy" for his good morals, upstanding values, respect of townspeople, passion and drive to gain the best for Newark. James on the other hand is seen as a complete villain. He steals from the poor to make himself rich while his city rots beneath him. He runs smear campaigns against Booker, uses extreme exaggerations to push his case, and even pays actors to come and show support for his cause so people will vote for him. This film's title says it all, it is a street fight in every sense of the word.
This film is about a political race in Newark, New Jersey and the struggle between Cory Booker and Sharpe James in their fight to become mayor. I find that the theme in this film is identification in relation to politics-- in this case, what it means to "be black" and understand the struggle. The story relates to the theme because Booker is constantly trying to prove himself as a black man to the black community. Many times, the opposing residents of Newark comment on how he is "basically white" or is a "white republican" or "backed by Jews." Sharpe constantly excludes him from the black community by questioning his struggle-- because he is educated and light-skinned, he must not fully understand them and thus, cannot help them in the ways they truly need. Sharpe constantly plays on the fears of a marginalized group who (obviously with a history of slavery behind them) does not want to hear that Newark is "being sold" to white republicans. Though this film focuses on a political battle, on a wider scale it comments on the divisions within the black community between those who want to move forward and will elect an individual based on merit and the content of their political ideologies and those who would rather stick with the familiar because of the desire to be understood by someone in leadership and/or the fear of exploitation (both being valid viewpoints, in my opinion).
On the surface this film tells the story of the battle for mayor of Newark, NJ between incumbent Sharpe James and newcomer Cory Booker. It is a fight for race, truth, and freedom in a City that has been lied to by its political leaders for years. The story is told from the POV of a filmmaker involved with the Booker campaign so Booker is painted as the protagonist while James is the antagonist. I think the theme of this film is the struggle for truth and meaningful change in deeply ingrained political machines. Truth vs deception is found everywhere- with James' many lies highlighted to emphasize his ruthless character, whereas truth is associated with Booker in positive light. The filmmaker himself if motivated by his quest for truth and openness as he struggles to gain access to James' campaign and fact check the information he hears a bout. It is a commentary on how how fair politics should look (Booker) vs how many parts of our deceptive current political system look (James). The the theme and story combine to create a dramatic and engrossing narrative that plunges the viewer headfirst into the conflict and characters
I believe the story of this film is about Cory Booker running for mayor and the struggles he goes through running against Sharpe James, the previous mayor of Newark. I think that the theme of this film would be corruption. James uses his power to basically manipulate the public with lies about Booker to make himself look like the better person. The public has been filled with so many lies on top of lies on top of lies and thus the reason I choose to not be involved with politics.
Street Fight is documentary directed by Marshall Curry that follows the campaign for Mayor of Newark, Jew Jersey between candidates Cory Booker and Sharpe James. Booker is a City council member who studied law and grew up in Brick Towers, one of the worst laces to live in the city. Sharpe James, on the other hand, has had 30 years of mayoral experience. The film follows the campaign from knocking on doors to the final dramatic conclusion, where Sharpe wins again. Through this process, Booker emphasized his advantage of living in a bad neighborhood because he knows from experience how the government neglects this aspect of the city. He wants to be the one to change this. Sharpe, however, abuses the power he has gained from his past years of mayor and influences the government to help sabotage Booker's campaign by taking down flyers and closing down local businesses that supported him. In the end, Sharpe petitioned to run again to following race, but his petition is denied and Booker finally receives his glory.
I believe the theme of the film consists of multiple factors, such as the corruption of the government, racism, and the effects of power. The film portrays the struggles African Americans face, visibly shows the government attempting to ruin Booker's chances of winning, as well as shows how power affected Sharpe's actions and behavior.The story exemplifies these themes completely by demonstrating to the audience proof of each of these facts and provides us with a new perception.
Street Fight tells the story of first-term city councilman Cory Booker and his campaign for the mayor of Newark, New Jersey against the incumbent Sharpe James. Filmmaker Marshall Curry takes us to the heart of the action and the drama in the city's streets, where we see Booker interact with locals, as well as shocking accounts of James's people and the police trying to literally tear Booker down. They demote his supporters who work for the city and physically tear down his campaign signs. The themes of the film include government corruption and race, which relates directly to the story because a major plot point in the film is where James accuses Booker of not being "actually black" or basically a "white republican." He questions Booker's African Americanness, which is wrong on so many levels. This makes us more invested and sided with Booker, and helps to paint James as the clear antagonist.
The story of the film "Street Fight" is how a young African-American councilman, Corey Booker, runs for mayor in the city of Newark, New Jersey against an older African American and 16-year incumbent, Sharpe James. The filmmaker tries to cover both sides of the race but he is constantly denied and pushed out of covering Sharpe's campaign. Therefore the story follows Corey Booker and his team as they run a very grass roots, door-to-door campaign to try and garner the support to not only change the longstanding powers in office, but the future of the city. The film almost has this good versus evil aspect to it. On one side you have this young, well-educated "choir boy" in Booker, and on the other side you have this sneaky tyrant who spends his free time with governors and senators in Sharpe. There is also this overarching theme of David versus Goliath and upsetting the establishment. The film opens up showing Booker confront people who have no idea who he is and showing the horrible conditions of his campaign offices. The film follows his journey and in the end he fights a very competitive race gains the support of the large community including prominent figures like Spike Lee and Cornel West, and he comes up just short of winning the position. When not covering Booker, the film shows Sharpe and his dirty politics as he controls the police, feeds the media lies, ships in "volunteers" from Philadelphia, and has his henchmen constantly deny the filmmaker access. The audience gets a good picture of the political scene in Newark and shows all the powers at play when it comes to running for mayor.
The story of this film is Cory Booker running a campaign for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is running against the incumbent Sharpe James, who has been in public office for 32 years already and is favored to win. Cory, meanwhile, is a graduate from Stanford, Oxford, and Yale, who's parents were immigrants, who sees how James' policies have favored certain companies and harmed the the lower class. With this in mind, a filmmaker captures Booker's campaign and the hardships as they encounter as James uses the police and scare tactics to get people to stop supporting Booker. The themes of the film are power/control, race, and political corruption. James' campaign tactics, such as scare tactics outline the power and corruption themes, as he tries any thing, without holding back, to get the win. Race is also a main point, as James is black as well, and he capitalizes on this and how he grew up to frame Booker as "whitewashed".
The documentary, Street Fight, is a story about Cory Booker, a politician and his campaign to become the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. The man he is running against, Sharpe James, had been in the office as mayor for the previous 16 years, is a product of Newark, and uses questionable tactics to ensure he wins every election he has competed in. Cory on the other hand is a student-athlete of Stanford University, received the Rhodes scholarship and earned law degree from Yale. He disagrees with Sharpe's policies he has implemented during his tenure as mayor, seeing how they favor the wealthy and do not give the lower income families the same opportunities. The themes that control this film are race, political corruption and power. It interesting, I see the athlete in Cory come out throughout the film with his competitive drive to beat Sharpe James and overcome all of the scare tactics he used to throw Booker and his team off course.
The story of "Street Fight" is about Cory Brooker an accomplished young black man who is running for the Mayor of Newark. He and his team come across many difficulties as they strive to win the election, one of the issues being the corruption of politics and the race issue of who is more black/fit for the role of mayor. His opponent Sharpe Jones who has been in office for over 30 years has a great deal of love from the city which later on turns to disappointment as they realize they have been lied to. The them is clear: good vs bad. Cory is a lighter skin African American who has had an amazing education and who wants to see positive change within his community. He is chastised for his lack of color, and for his too well off up bringing. We see him go out of his way and live in the worst housing projects to make a point " If government officials lived in the bad parts of cities, see how fast the city would change". While we have Sharpe James the " man we all grew up with" he is shown to lie in the faces of people, saying that Cory bought the election with 10 million dollars when on the official site ( which the public has access to) it says Cory only has 2 million. Sharpe is charismatic but too many people trust him and believe all his lies. We see how people focus more on tearing the opponent down rather than emphasizing the good they will do to the city if they win. A majority of the time it was Sharpe and his team lying about Cory. What really got me was on election day how all of a sudden there weren't enough ballets, how the power wasn't working in some location, how elders who were voting had people go inside and help them with their ballot. All corruption!
Street Fight is a documentary chronicling Newark's mayoral race between Cory Booker and Sharpe James. The film opens the audience's eyes to the political corruption that takes place in the race. Booker, a young law graduate, has to contend against Newark's reigning mayor of 16 years. Though the film tries to cover the entire story of the race, the audience primarily undertakes the perspective of Booker and his team. The film is really their story. Throughout the movie race, violence, and honesty in politics comes into question. I think that the theme of this film is ethics in politics. Some of the tactics that James uses in order to keep his position as mayer are questionable, and racism is an underlying theme that fits into the ethical nature of this film.
14 comments:
The stoy of this film is a struggle between two candidates for the office of the mayor of Newark, New Jersy. At least that is what is on the surface. The story is really about the divide between old and young, old politics and new polictics, old race realtions and new race relations. The movie brutally exposes the corruption of the incumbent. The young contender, Corey Booker, fights against scare tactics and the utter control of the incumbent, Sharpe James. James has a Praetorean Guard of police and government officials who try to stop Marshall Curry from filming at James' speaches and who shut down businesses who support Booker.
The theme of this film, related to the story of corrupt and old versus new and progressive is, I beleive, cultural belonging. There is a deep discussion of who qualifies as a legitimate member of the neighborhood and local culture. Many in the film see Booker as an over educated outsider. James even goes so far as to call him 'white' because of his education. This is obviosuly not fair. Booker and his supporters make clear that they believe that the goal of all people and of thier community is that everyone should have the oportunity to be educated and successful. Education does not mean you trade who you are and become someone else. You only inrich who you are.
This is the story of Cory Booker running for mayor against Sharpe James. Sharpe was mayor in Newark for over 30 years and used his power to manipulate individuals to not vote for Booker. This film reveals the corruption that occurs in politics and in particular in the major election in Newark in 2002.
The theme of this film is overcoming corruption and trying to take back power from the man on top in a moral way. Throughout the film, Sharpe tries to constantly undermine Brooke's campaign by threatening individuals that support him and defaming his name publicly. Brooke has to fight back in a way that is moral and not vicious like Sharpe, gaining supporters slowly but surely. Sadly, he does not win the election, but he comes back the following election season and wins.
The film Street Fighter is about the political race between Cory Booker and Sharpe James for mayor. James has the upper hand in the political race since he has 30 experience has the marry of Newark. The theme of this film is corruption and the fight to overcome that corruption. Like Brennan said above, I agree that the film is also about the division between old world politics and new world. The story follows Bookers struggle to fight the good fight and to not stoop to the level of James. Bookers unfortunately does not win the title of mayer, yet I think the story was a really important on to tell, which is about staying true to yourself, knowing who you are as a persona and following/sticking to your beliefs.
The film "Street Fight" is the story of the political battle for the 2002 position of Mayor in Newark, New Jersey. This election is a face-off between incumbent mayor Sharpe James, and Councilman Cory Booker. The film follows the election from the perspective of Booker and his supporters. We are shown Booker as Newark's savior who has come to relieve the crippling city from the harm that James has brought upon it. James has been mayor of the city for two decades. During this time, unemployment has risen, the numbers below the poverty line have grown, and James' personal salary and assets have grown as well. We are taken to the battlegrounds of the city where we find a complete division of the people, torn between the two candidates. After a hard fought battle, James is victorious once again, but not before Booker has dealt a damaging blow to his reputation and trust. The film ends with Booker eventually becoming mayor over James in the next election in 2006.
The theme of this film is a classic one: good versus evil. This may sound hard but this is exactly how the two candidates are portrayed in this film. Booker is the perfect man. Tall, dark and handsome, he is repeatedly called a "choir boy" for his good morals, upstanding values, respect of townspeople, passion and drive to gain the best for Newark. James on the other hand is seen as a complete villain. He steals from the poor to make himself rich while his city rots beneath him. He runs smear campaigns against Booker, uses extreme exaggerations to push his case, and even pays actors to come and show support for his cause so people will vote for him. This film's title says it all, it is a street fight in every sense of the word.
This film is about a political race in Newark, New Jersey and the struggle between Cory Booker and Sharpe James in their fight to become mayor. I find that the theme in this film is identification in relation to politics-- in this case, what it means to "be black" and understand the struggle. The story relates to the theme because Booker is constantly trying to prove himself as a black man to the black community. Many times, the opposing residents of Newark comment on how he is "basically white" or is a "white republican" or "backed by Jews." Sharpe constantly excludes him from the black community by questioning his struggle-- because he is educated and light-skinned, he must not fully understand them and thus, cannot help them in the ways they truly need. Sharpe constantly plays on the fears of a marginalized group who (obviously with a history of slavery behind them) does not want to hear that Newark is "being sold" to white republicans. Though this film focuses on a political battle, on a wider scale it comments on the divisions within the black community between those who want to move forward and will elect an individual based on merit and the content of their political ideologies and those who would rather stick with the familiar because of the desire to be understood by someone in leadership and/or the fear of exploitation (both being valid viewpoints, in my opinion).
On the surface this film tells the story of the battle for mayor of Newark, NJ between incumbent Sharpe James and newcomer Cory Booker. It is a fight for race, truth, and freedom in a City that has been lied to by its political leaders for years. The story is told from the POV of a filmmaker involved with the Booker campaign so Booker is painted as the protagonist while James is the antagonist. I think the theme of this film is the struggle for truth and meaningful change in deeply ingrained political machines. Truth vs deception is found everywhere- with James' many lies highlighted to emphasize his ruthless character, whereas truth is associated with Booker in positive light. The filmmaker himself if motivated by his quest for truth and openness as he struggles to gain access to James' campaign and fact check the information he hears a bout. It is a commentary on how how fair politics should look (Booker) vs how many parts of our deceptive current political system look (James). The the theme and story combine to create a dramatic and engrossing narrative that plunges the viewer headfirst into the conflict and characters
I believe the story of this film is about Cory Booker running for mayor and the struggles he goes through running against Sharpe James, the previous mayor of Newark. I think that the theme of this film would be corruption. James uses his power to basically manipulate the public with lies about Booker to make himself look like the better person. The public has been filled with so many lies on top of lies on top of lies and thus the reason I choose to not be involved with politics.
Street Fight is documentary directed by Marshall Curry that follows the campaign for Mayor of Newark, Jew Jersey between candidates Cory Booker and Sharpe James. Booker is a City council member who studied law and grew up in Brick Towers, one of the worst laces to live in the city. Sharpe James, on the other hand, has had 30 years of mayoral experience. The film follows the campaign from knocking on doors to the final dramatic conclusion, where Sharpe wins again. Through this process, Booker emphasized his advantage of living in a bad neighborhood because he knows from experience how the government neglects this aspect of the city. He wants to be the one to change this. Sharpe, however, abuses the power he has gained from his past years of mayor and influences the government to help sabotage Booker's campaign by taking down flyers and closing down local businesses that supported him. In the end, Sharpe petitioned to run again to following race, but his petition is denied and Booker finally receives his glory.
I believe the theme of the film consists of multiple factors, such as the corruption of the government, racism, and the effects of power. The film portrays the struggles African Americans face, visibly shows the government attempting to ruin Booker's chances of winning, as well as shows how power affected Sharpe's actions and behavior.The story exemplifies these themes completely by demonstrating to the audience proof of each of these facts and provides us with a new perception.
Street Fight tells the story of first-term city councilman Cory Booker and his campaign for the mayor of Newark, New Jersey against the incumbent Sharpe James. Filmmaker Marshall Curry takes us to the heart of the action and the drama in the city's streets, where we see Booker interact with locals, as well as shocking accounts of James's people and the police trying to literally tear Booker down. They demote his supporters who work for the city and physically tear down his campaign signs. The themes of the film include government corruption and race, which relates directly to the story because a major plot point in the film is where James accuses Booker of not being "actually black" or basically a "white republican." He questions Booker's African Americanness, which is wrong on so many levels. This makes us more invested and sided with Booker, and helps to paint James as the clear antagonist.
The story of the film "Street Fight" is how a young African-American councilman, Corey Booker, runs for mayor in the city of Newark, New Jersey against an older African American and 16-year incumbent, Sharpe James. The filmmaker tries to cover both sides of the race but he is constantly denied and pushed out of covering Sharpe's campaign. Therefore the story follows Corey Booker and his team as they run a very grass roots, door-to-door campaign to try and garner the support to not only change the longstanding powers in office, but the future of the city. The film almost has this good versus evil aspect to it. On one side you have this young, well-educated "choir boy" in Booker, and on the other side you have this sneaky tyrant who spends his free time with governors and senators in Sharpe. There is also this overarching theme of David versus Goliath and upsetting the establishment. The film opens up showing Booker confront people who have no idea who he is and showing the horrible conditions of his campaign offices. The film follows his journey and in the end he fights a very competitive race gains the support of the large community including prominent figures like Spike Lee and Cornel West, and he comes up just short of winning the position. When not covering Booker, the film shows Sharpe and his dirty politics as he controls the police, feeds the media lies, ships in "volunteers" from Philadelphia, and has his henchmen constantly deny the filmmaker access. The audience gets a good picture of the political scene in Newark and shows all the powers at play when it comes to running for mayor.
The story of this film is Cory Booker running a campaign for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is running against the incumbent Sharpe James, who has been in public office for 32 years already and is favored to win. Cory, meanwhile, is a graduate from Stanford, Oxford, and Yale, who's parents were immigrants, who sees how James' policies have favored certain companies and harmed the the lower class. With this in mind, a filmmaker captures Booker's campaign and the hardships as they encounter as James uses the police and scare tactics to get people to stop supporting Booker.
The themes of the film are power/control, race, and political corruption. James' campaign tactics, such as scare tactics outline the power and corruption themes, as he tries any thing, without holding back, to get the win. Race is also a main point, as James is black as well, and he capitalizes on this and how he grew up to frame Booker as "whitewashed".
The documentary, Street Fight, is a story about Cory Booker, a politician and his campaign to become the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. The man he is running against, Sharpe James, had been in the office as mayor for the previous 16 years, is a product of Newark, and uses questionable tactics to ensure he wins every election he has competed in. Cory on the other hand is a student-athlete of Stanford University, received the Rhodes scholarship and earned law degree from Yale. He disagrees with Sharpe's policies he has implemented during his tenure as mayor, seeing how they favor the wealthy and do not give the lower income families the same opportunities. The themes that control this film are race, political corruption and power. It interesting, I see the athlete in Cory come out throughout the film with his competitive drive to beat Sharpe James and overcome all of the scare tactics he used to throw Booker and his team off course.
The story of "Street Fight" is about Cory Brooker an accomplished young black man who is running for the Mayor of Newark. He and his team come across many difficulties as they strive to win the election, one of the issues being the corruption of politics and the race issue of who is more black/fit for the role of mayor. His opponent Sharpe Jones who has been in office for over 30 years has a great deal of love from the city which later on turns to disappointment as they realize they have been lied to.
The them is clear: good vs bad. Cory is a lighter skin African American who has had an amazing education and who wants to see positive change within his community. He is chastised for his lack of color, and for his too well off up bringing. We see him go out of his way and live in the worst housing projects to make a point " If government officials lived in the bad parts of cities, see how fast the city would change". While we have Sharpe James the " man we all grew up with" he is shown to lie in the faces of people, saying that Cory bought the election with 10 million dollars when on the official site ( which the public has access to) it says Cory only has 2 million. Sharpe is charismatic but too many people trust him and believe all his lies. We see how people focus more on tearing the opponent down rather than emphasizing the good they will do to the city if they win. A majority of the time it was Sharpe and his team lying about Cory. What really got me was on election day how all of a sudden there weren't enough ballets, how the power wasn't working in some location, how elders who were voting had people go inside and help them with their ballot. All corruption!
Street Fight is a documentary chronicling Newark's mayoral race between Cory Booker and Sharpe James. The film opens the audience's eyes to the political corruption that takes place in the race. Booker, a young law graduate, has to contend against Newark's reigning mayor of 16 years. Though the film tries to cover the entire story of the race, the audience primarily undertakes the perspective of Booker and his team. The film is really their story. Throughout the movie race, violence, and honesty in politics comes into question. I think that the theme of this film is ethics in politics. Some of the tactics that James uses in order to keep his position as mayer are questionable, and racism is an underlying theme that fits into the ethical nature of this film.
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