The Outsiders: Movie vs. Novel

                     While I was watching The Outsiders, I had a tendency of comparing it to the original novel that I read in high school. There were a few differences, but most of the story line was pretty much the same. Overall, both the movie and the book teaches individuals valuable moral lessons.

            The book is more of a coming-of-age novel, while the movie focuses on the characters’ loss of innocence. In both the film and the novel Ponyboy is narrating the story, but the film only briefly glosses over the characters’ relationships. For example, Darryl and Soda Pop are minor characters in the movie where the audience is given very little insight into their lives. This is also the case for the other characters—with the exception of Ponyboy. Dally’s death, for example, loses a lot of its impact because the movie doesn't give the audience much of a chance to get to know him. Johnny’s character has a great impact on the movie, but the book gives the audience a greater chance to know him as well. While on his death bed in the movie, Johnny’s appreciation for life is hardly noted; in the book, this scene actually has a great impact on Ponyboy. The story line of the movie and novel are the same, but the novel goes much more in depth when introducing characters.

            Although there is less detail, I believe the movie does give the same valuable lessons as the novel. It changes peoples’ perspectives on life and teaches friends and families to cherish and appreciate their loved ones. The Greasers teach the audience that although they are the “outsiders” in their town, they have each other and that’s all that matters. They each have brother-like bonds, which causes them to always have each other’s backs. Darryl, Soda Pop, and Ponyboy, specifically, teach the audience that hardships are not impossible to overcome. The brothers lost their parents at a young age, but Darryl found a way to overcome that struggle and take care of his two brothers. All of the gang teaches us, most importantly, to not take the time we have with our loved ones for granted. Johnny and Dally both died at a young age, which reminds us that life is short. We learn that some battles just aren't worth fighting for; instead, we should appreciate our time with friends and family.

            I think the movie night definitely enhanced my views on the movie. By watching it with others and discussing our thoughts, I had the chance to see the different perspectives that others had. I also enjoyed hearing the different lessons that people learned from the movie. Overall, the movie night was a great experience.

Mean Girls

Mean Girls is a pop culture classic.  When hosting the movie night with my group, it wasn't hard to try to get friends to come watch their favorite pop culture film.  Hosting the movie night was vital in finding and talking through all the interpersonal conflict that arises in the film.  While most of the conflict is easy to identify, it helps to have  many eyes looking out for it.

When talking about the different conflicts in the film and how they could be resolved,the main idea was that all of the issues in the movie could be resolved if the plastics knew how to better express their emotions, and work collaboratively to express conflict.

The movie itself shows how high school can really be, but on a more dramatized level.  It appeals mainly to the younger generation, but can appeal to the older generation as well.  Overall, the movie night project was a success, and really opened my eyes to the way conflict can be handled and interpreting in movies.

"Any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet. He just needs the right broom."

Interpersonal conflict is something that occurs in every relationship, as it is inevitable when there is a disagreement between two people. There are many different ways in which we deal with these conflicts, as every conflict style is different. In Hitch, there are many different examples of this as the characters explore the world of relationships and dating. Alex Hitchens or simply "Hitch" is a professional "love expert" who coaches men in how to win a date with the women of their dreams, and prepares them for a long-term relationship. Albert Brennaman, an accountant who is smitten with his celebrity client, seeks out Hitch in hopes he can actually initiate a relationship with Allegra, who didn't even know he existed. Hitch reluctantly accepts, as he knows it would be one of his most difficult cases because of Allegra's celebrity status, and Albert's awkward and nerdy personality. While coaching Albert, Hitch finds himself falling for Sara, a gossip columnist more interested in her work than pursuing any relationships. Hitch continually pursues Sara, only becoming more attracted to her when she sees through many of his tried and true methods of initiating dialogue with her.

In HCOM 214, we've learned one of the best ways to avoid conflict is to be honest and use effective methods of communication with each other. Although Hitch and Sara waste no time in getting to know each other, he leaves out big details of himself, mainly his position as a "date doctor", which leads to a big conflict between the two when Sara finds out. One of the main interpersonal conflicts in this movie is Hitch's lack of communication with Sara, as his guarded nature makes him appear shallow and egotistical. If they had had effective communication from the beginning, the conflict and heartbreak felt by both Sara and Hitch could've been avoided completely. Albert and Allegra's relationship also could've benefitted from this type of approach as Allegra actually fell for Albert because of his true personality, as opposed to his suave facade crated by Hitch.

The most prevalent interpersonal conflict theme in Hitch is miscommunication. Because each main character is too focused on achieving acceptance from their significant others, they forget to focus on what they're doing to actually get there. Hitch's confidence wouldn't allow him to be honest with Sara, and Albert was too ashamed of his personality to be himself, although it was what Allegra was attracted to after all. Once the characters learned all of these secrets about each other, they were able to work past the conflict and communicate in more effective ways. The movie then ends with Albert and Allegra getting married, and Hitch and Sara continuing their relationship.

Outsiders

Ellie Soriano
HCOM214
April 2, 2015

Movie Night Assignment

                The greasers in Outsiders all had their fair share of problems, all of which affected their interpersonal communication with others including their friends, family and enemies. The prompt my group decided on doing discussed what would be different about the movie and how the characters would benefit if they took a course on interpersonal communication.

            In class my group presented all of the main boys problems, those boys being Dally, Ponyboy and Johnny all of whom had similar problems. The three of them were very prone to violence due to their situations and despite their age, they were all very capable of violent acts.

            In the beginning, it was apparent that they would all run into trouble in their lives, especially since the beginning scene was Ponyboy getting mugged by a rival gang. As the movie progressed I felt sorry for the boys considering they all had family issues and I believe that is where the roots to all their problems begin. If Johnny had a better family that didn’t abuse him, he might’ve been more inclined to make better choices. The same goes for Ponyboy whose brothers could’ve handled arguments better and given Ponyboy more guidance so he wouldn’t stray in making good choices in life. The lack of family in Dally’s life is definitely the cause of a lot of his problems, if he had a family to care for him, he would have definitely had handled a lot of situations better as Sodapop pointed out later on in the movie.

            There were moments in the movie that were outraging, most being ones that involved Cherry and the Socs. The Socs are very stuck up and spoiled, the way that they pick on the greasers, more specifically Johnny and Ponyboy, are what I see as unforgivable and I believe that they could use interpersonal counseling to find better outlets for their boredom than beating up poor children. Cherry was a very rude young lady, despite what little kindness she showed, she still ended up ignoring Ponyboy in the end and I think she should give herself more self-respect in order to do what she wants to do rather than what everyone expects her to do.

            I think the movie was most impactful for families, siblings and very close-knit friend groups and that the movie teaches to cherish those that you have and are close to you. Even though all of the greasers are ‘outsiders’ they still have each other and I think that that means that bonds among friends and family will always be very important. When I watched the movie with my friends and group members, we all enjoyed the movie very much but were all in agreement as to how the greasers and all of the other characters could’ve handled situations better if it were to be in real life. Seeing as to how many problems the greasers have and how poorly they handle situations, a lot about the movie would be different if they learned how to cope better. However, it wouldn’t be a good movie if they were all perfect and had no troubles.

Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen!

The most quotable comedy of our generation, Mean Girls,  has outstanding examples of interpersonal conflict and communication issues throughout the entirety of the movie. The movie is based off of revenge and back-stabbing; the new girl Cady arrives at a new school and is introduced to Janis and Damien, who expose her to "the plastics" (Regina, Gretchen, and Karen). Cady attempts to take down the plastics as part of a plan developed between herself, Janis, and Damien, but ends up becoming obsessed with the popularity she gains by pretending to be a plastic. With Cadys growing popularity throwing Regina to the past, the lead plastic develops her own plan to take Cady down, throwing North Shore high into a havoc.

Although most, if not all, of the main characters from Mean Girls could benefit from taking our HCOM class, I'm going to just talk about Cady to save some time. If Cady were apart of our class she would realize that she tends to have a more avoidance style of dealing with conflict. She doesn't express her true feelings of resentment to Regina, or her true feelings towards anyone really for that matter. Cady let her new-found 'plastic' persona take over her and allowed it to dictate her life; much like Regina to Gretchen and Karen. Had Cady, or even Janis or Damien, used the aggressive style we learned about in class to deal with their issues towards Regina by flat out expressing their dislike, there would have been no need for Cady to try and infiltrate the plastics.

Power is the most apparent interpersonal conflict theme throughout Mean Girls. Ultimately every main character is fighting for more power than the other at one point during the movie. The lead plastic, Regina George, expresses her thirst for power direct and indirect applications, persuasiveness, and collaboration, while also using all three types of power (personal, relational, and situational). She demonstrates personal power with her conniving ways of taking down Cady and her fellow plastics once Cady (and Janis and Damien) had basically kicked Regina out of her own group. Relational power is seen most easily with the nature of the plastics; Regina has complete control over every thing they do, right down to what they wear on what days. Then situational power is shown with Regina simply by the fact that she seems to hold power over some of the staff members at North Shore high, as well as the entire student body.

Let's do it for Johnny, man!

          When I watch movies like The Outsiders, I seem to find myself thinking one thing throughout the entire movie, "I wish i was from that era!" I know it's crazy to process and think about but i have always had an interest toward old movies or the "back in my day" times. I've always been fond of the greaser / higher class  lifestyle, i don't know what exactly brings me to having these thoughts, it could be the fashion, the fact that it seemed like a simpler time, the music that was around in that era, the entertainment that happened in the towns, or the fact that it seemed like a era where the "happy days" were shown in general. Knowing myself, if i have the chance to escape this world i live in now for a little while, especially in an era that i could find myself relating to, i would take it in a heartbeat and that is exactly what i did when i saw the list of movies we could choose from for the movie presentations.
           It's a little funny considering the story-line of the movie was not anywhere in my memory considering when I watched the movie for the first time I was in about fifth or sixth grade and to be completely honest, that was a time where i was happy to just be doing something other than work in class; hence why i didn't really know the plot of the movie. Being a younger age, I remember reading the book with my class and it was interesting to get a feel of both aspects considering that the book normally always more detailed, the movie itself was a blur but seeing it come into my education again made me want to give it another opportunity to know and understand all it has to offer me rather than me just having a free day by watching a movie.
         The Outsiders is a movie that portrays the rivalry between two gangs; The Greasers and The Socs. The two gangs have always had unsettling issues with each other being that they have different social standings and that they would rather have it the way it already is than come to a mutual understanding. The Greasers and the Socs come in real contact with each other when two of the youngest greasers are hanging out at the park late at night and some of the Socs show up drunk looking to start trouble with the two boys; since they were trying to be nice and walk some of the Socs girls home from a drive-in movie. Things begin to take a huge turn when all the boys start fighting and get a hold of Ponyboy and start drowning him in the fountain! That is when Johnny brings out his knife and goes to help Ponyboy but instead ends up killing one of the Soc boys. Unfortunately, before you know it, all members of the gangs are involved and more conflicts rise to the surface. The two greasers have to escape town but go to Dally (greaser friend) to ask for help, which of course he helps them considering that they can go to jail for being young and killing someone. Johnny and Ponyboy leave town without telling anyone which leads to family issues that they have to deal with later.
         The two boys go to a safe zone but end up having to go back considering that Johnny gets in trouble when he tries to go safe kids from a church that is burning down, but in reality, he's trying to kill himself, but Dally and Ponyboy help him out. They all get set to the hospital where Johnny is in critical condition and Dally is checked up on as well, having Ponyboy being the only one that came out alright. This brings all the greasers together to do rumble with the Socs, being that Johnny is on the bricks of dying from the condition he put himself in. He later dies but remember to tell Ponyboy to "stay golden", when Dally finds out about the death, he doesn't take it well to the slightest! He actually goes crazy (literally!), he grabs his guns (with no bullets) and decides to go rob a liquor store and points guns to every one's faces but doesn't shoot causing the cops to starting going after him and eventually gets shot by them just when the boys try to rescue him. This of course brings the greasers closer than ever making them realize they need to have each others back and keep each other in check from then on.
        The Outsiders will always be one my favorite movies from that era because there are just so many life lessons that can be learned from, for example: violence not being the answer, avoiding your issues isn't going to make them go away; they will only catch up to you and get worse, that communication is really important, dealing and taking care of yourself is more important than anything because you have to live with the person you become for the rest of your life. Although the movie doesn't end the way i want it to, it definitely left a window open to all the different possibilities that can come to life because of what all the boys dealt with personally and as a group of greasers. I personally always take these movies to be something great because it always has different takes or perspectives on them. Being that i am taking HCOM 214 right now, it shows all the mistakes they made and how if they could go back and fix it, i would know how to help them in order to not have what happened in the film to happen because they would have learned different methods and skills to resolve the issues.
        This movie was a great selection for me, not just because I'm fond of it but because you never really focus on a old film the first time (especially when your little) so having to watch it a second time really makes you open your eyes and mind to seeing the greatness of it all whether it's the groups, the characters individually, or the movie as a whole. The Outsiders is a movie worth giving the time to because you never know when a group like the greasers and the Socs might teach you a lesson on what not to do if you're ever imagining yourself in an era they lived in. As Johnny Cade likes to say: "Stay golden, readers, Stay Golden"

The Inter- Workings of Big Hero 6

Allen Manalili

HCOM 214

Blake Roger

The Inner- Workings of Big Hero 6

            In the movie Big Hero 6 the main character is Hiro. Hiro is accompanied by an inflatable healthcare companion named Baymax. Baymax was invented by Hiro's older brother named Tadashi. Unfortunately, Tadashi had died in a fire trying to save his college professor Callaghan.

            Throughout the movie there are several conflict concepts that are either being applied effectively of ineffectively in order to resolve a conflict. Hiro learns that someone was responsible for the fire at the science convention, and it was not an accident. Tadashi died in an act of valor attempting to save the life of his professor, but it so happened that professor Callaghan had instigated the fire in order to steal Hiro's invention. Hiro had invented something call micro- bots, and one is able to control them to do practically anything with their mind. Eventually, Hiro would be overwhelmed by his emotions and anger/ revenge would dictate his near future actions. As a result, Hiro removed Baymax's healthcare chip in order to destroy professor Callaghan. Baymax's sole and primary purpose is to help and heal people when they are hurt or in distress, but Hiro had failed to take all the circumstances into retrospect. This led to all his team and professor Callaghan either dying or getting injured from trying to stop Baymax.

            Professor Callaghan was also blinded by the emotions of revenge. He stole Hiro's micro- bots in order to have revenge on a man named Allister Krei. Allister Krei had created a teleporting device that had got Callaghan's daughter stuck in another dimension. As a result, Callaghan wanted to destroy all that Allister Krei has strived and worked for.

            Another conflict concept that the main character Hiro had encounter was the despondence of loss. Due to the death of Hiro's older brother Tadashi, he had decided to isolate himself from the rest of the world. In doing so, Hiro had a negative snowball effect on his aunt and his new friends at college. Hiro was really cared about by his friends and they all worried about Hiro and his emotional distress because he was so ecstatic that he had gotten accepted into the college of his dreams.

            The movie Big Hero 6 also has a similar conflict concept to that of the movie Spiderman.  In this movie, Peter Parker''s (Spiderman) uncle Ben tells him, "With great power comes great responsibility." In Spiderman Peter Parker abuses his powers by wrestling other goons in order to win money. Eventually, he would utilize his spider powers to save the city. In Big Hero 6 Hiro first decides to use his intellect by bot fighting. In the city of San Fransokyo, bot fighting is illegal. Because of Hiro's older brother, he decides that he want to put his intellect towards benevolent regards. Hiro would then assimilate from becoming an illegal bot fighter to providing justice to his city that professor Callaghan would have destroyed. In both of these movies, a significant figure in the main characters' lives offered priceless advice that would end up with a metamorphosis  for the main characters. Unfortunately, these great characters would have to die. In the end, "Great power comes with great responsibility." - Uncle Ben.