A good film does more than entertain or fills seats at cinema. It has power to change hearts and minds. The film industry has grown and evolved rapidly since its inception in the early 1900's. Over the years, it has gained the intention of every culture in every part of the world. Film industry is a big business and is much more than entertainment. Film has the capacity to change the world.
In this entry, I will explain about films that have been hugely influential and bringing change in areas from climate change to gay rights.
The first film that I am going to discuss is The Day After Tomorrow directed by Roland Emmerich. This movie is about Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist is largely ignored b U.N officials when presenting his environmental concerns. His research proves true when an enormous superstorm develeops. setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world. He then trying to get his son, Sam who is trapped in New York with his friends. Jack and his crew must travel by foot from Philadelphia, braving the elements to get to Sam before it's too late. According to Yale researcher, this film help increase awareness on climate change and encouraged people to consider how their actions could help prevent environmental crisis.
The second film is Philadelphia directed by Jonathan Demme. This movie is about Andrew Beckett who a lawyer hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness's telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller, the only lawyer willing to help. In court, they face on of his ex employer's top litigators, Belinda Conine. In the early1980s, it can be difficult for anyone who didn't live through the start of the AIDS epidemic to understand just how much stigma , fear and misunderstanding surrounded the disease. When this movie was released in 1993, it helped change perceptions of Americans that felt people who living with AIDS should be placed in quarantine and should be identified with tattoos. This movie was the first Hollywood film to tackle the issue of AIDS and homophobia.
Last but not least, is Rosetta directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. This movie is about a 17 year old Belgian girl named Rosetta who lives in dilapidated trailer that has no running water, with only her indigent and alcoholic mother for company. After losing her job at a food processing plant, she struggles to find work in a bid to avoid falling into the same traps as her mother, but got rejected at every turn. Only Riquet, who works at a waffle stand, seems to care about Rosetta, but even that budding friendship has a price. The movie not only touched critics, it won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. At the same year Belgian policy maker voted through "Rosetta's Law" to protect the rights of teenager workers in the country.
The conclusion is movies have the capacity to influence society, both locally and globally but the society itself and people's reactions to those trends influence the movies. In other word, the influence can be positive or negative.
Source:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107818/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200071/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/08/10-movies-that-changed-the-world/
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