Post 5: Comparative Analysis

Hill, Amelia.  “What Star Wars is About: The Cyclical Struggle of Good and Evil.”  About.  Web.  January 4, 2013.  <http://scifi.about.com/od/starwars/a/What-Star-Wars-Is-About-The-Cyclical-Struggle-Of-Good-And-Evil.htm>  

            Like plenty of works in the past, the battle between good and evil is prevalent in works such as Star Wars and The Fifth Element.  Besides that, both movies are set in a time when space travel and space conflicts are the norm, though one is set in the future while one is set in the past.  Both the main characters in the movie go through the hero’s journey with the call to action and all.  In these two movies, evil is defeated in the end after close calls and even giant spheres, such as Mr. Shadow in The Fifth Element and the Death Star in Star Wars, are symbols of evil.  The characters that represent good are even seen as white figures because in the Anakin is usually seen wearing almost white colored shirts and robs in Star Wars while Leeloo in the Fifth Element is seen for the first time wearing all white.  Darth Vader and Mr. Shadow are both evil villains in the movies and coincidentally they both are in black.

Post 4: Theme

“The Fifth Element: The Apocalypse Takes On An Intergalactic Tone.”  Catholic-resources.  Web. 4 January 2013.  <http://catholic-resources.org/Millennium/ApocFilm90s/element.htm>

            The author talks about how the movie initially looks like an average science fiction film but under that impression lies something else besides all the good visual effects for its time.  The battle between good and evil is a major theme in this film, like so many other works that have been done in the past.  The character Leeloo in the movie represents life and good, she is also first seen in the movie wearing all white.  The evil in the movie is named Mr. Shadow and he is a giant black sphere out in space headed for Earth.  The black color often represents evil and the white color represents good, this movie displays both these symbols.  Humorously, the author then mentions the review of the movie done by Roger Ebert and infers that he completely missed the point of the movie.

Post 3: Review

Ebert, Roger.  “The Fifth Element.”  Rogerebert.  May 9, 1997.  Web.  January 4, 2013.  <http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19970509/REVIEWS/705090303/1023>

Mr. Ebert talks about how the movie was obviously written by a teenager due to how garbled the story line was.  He goes on to say that the movie could have been greater if it had a more “discipline” story line, however he does give the movie some praise for its visual effects.  He states that Star Wars has a well more developed story that has background meaning instead of The Fifth Element that has none of that, this is all his opinion.  But this science fiction movie is not like the traditional Stars Wars/Star Trek style science fictions according to Mr. Ebert.  This unique feel makes that movie decent over all except he recommends people only to see it for its visual effects.  He gives a summary of the movie in his article which he criticizes some throughout his summary but he seems to be missing how the acting was fairly good by the actors or the humor that accompanied the film.

Post 2: Bio

Stewart, Aaron.  “Biography for Luc Besson.”  IMDb. Web.  January 3, 2013  <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000108/bio>
                Luc Besson spent the first part of his life with his parents, scuba instructors, that traveled around that world.  So he spent a lot of time in the water and became fascinated with marine biology.  While still an adolescent he wrote early drafts of some movies such as The Fifth Element.  Of course he wanted to make marine biology his career but after an accident at the age of 17 he was unable to dive no more.  It was only when he moved back to Paris at 18 when he got accustom to urban life and cinema.  He became interested in films and began taking jobs on various films.  When he moved to America he only spent three years there until he moved back to France to form Les Films de Loups, his own production company.  Later the name was changed to Les Films de Dauphins due to his interest in diving.

Post 1: Primary

The Fifth Element.  Dir. Luc Besson.  Perf. Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman.   1997. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 1997. DVD.

                   A futuristic science fiction movie that deals with the battle between good and evil in the 23^rd century on Earth.  A ball of molten rock and fire is heading toward earth and scientist/holy man says that the only way to stop the collusion would be to combine four ancient stones that symbolize the elements with a fifth element that is a being from another world.  However, if the four stones are combined with a being that represents evil then time will cease and everything will die.  The fifth element needs help to complete their mission on stopping evil and recruits a military leader turned cab driver when she literally falls through his cab.  With help from the government, they embark on their mission.