GUEST ESSAY: Determinism verses Free Will: The Mythic and Secular Architecture of "Minority Report"

By Truman Hood

Minority Report is a dystopian warning of a police-state, big brother-esque surveillance society that has experienced a complete destruction of free will. This central idea of the film is told not only through exposition throughout the film, but also by the built environment where the storytelling architecture assists in creating a narrative of a self-fulfilling prophesy. The built environment of Minority Report conveys how humans have abandoned the belief that their fates are determined by greater powers than themselves, such as gods or karma. Instead of mystic powers responsible for the repercussions of those actions, the contemporary worldview shifted.

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, Home Media, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 16, 2019Washington State UniversityComment

GUEST ESSAY: Authority in Architecture: An In-Depth Look at "The Adjustment Bureau"

By Hannah Thayer

The concept of only being able to move a predetermined number of ways within buildings, and within life, is challenged in The Adjustment Bureau. The people in the adjustment bureau are able to defy what architecture is and how it rules us by traveling through space using only doors; they open a door and choose where it leads to. Architecture has no authority over them as they get to use buildings how they see fit and use them to their space-traveling advantage. The built environment can be very demanding and incredibly intimidating. This movie addresses the idea of what is out of our control and how far are we willing to go to get it, while using the built environment to emphasize just how small we really are in the grand scheme of things.

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, SPECIAL, Social MediaDon ShanahanDecember 16, 2019Washington State UniversityComment

GUEST ESSAY: "Cidade de Dues:" A Manipulated Reality of Favelas

By Omar Cardoza

In 2002, Cidade de Deus, otherwise known as City of God, was released in Brazil. It did not take too long before the film became internationally acclaimed, in fact this film was nominated for multiple Oscars although it did not win. The film’s narrative, filming techniques, and setting provide for a compelling argument that the whole story is in fact a true depiction of the favelas Brazil. Films and cinema can be a means to generate discourse between a reality presented to us through the screen and the actual reality of the world. This can cause changes not only to the individual but through enough exposure to a broader audience can cause changes at the societal level and “is extremely important and carries tremendous responsibility since believing that films can shape the collective imagination can (re)affirm or deny a preconception or even reinforce…”

GUEST ESSAY: The Plague of Exile in "District 9"

By Steven DiGiorgi

After analyzing Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 (2009), the setting of the film capitalizes on the post-colonial setting in Johannesburg, South Africa. What we viewed in the film as a representation of South Africa’s past, through an alternative perspective that identified the oppressed African people as aliens, known as the ‘Prawns’. The isolated community of District 9 represents oppressed living conditions for the millions of people negatively affected during the Apartheid rule (1950-94) (Weaver). For half a century, the South African people had faced dehumanization and discrimination by xenophobic Europeans. The caricature of the European colony was portrayed as the private military, MNU. They followed a typical method of a dystopian society, where power was diverted from the people to the hands of the government.

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, Home Media, Independent Film, Foreign Film, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 13, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: Time-Transcending Architecture in "The Lake House"

By Tessa Cleary

“Home is where the heart is” is an expression used to portray the feeling that someone acquires in a building but is realistically used to describe the way they interact with the space around them. The house that was constructed in Alejandro Agresti’s The Lake House, is a prime example of how a building can be considered successful architecture but lacks the interconnectivity that a home needs with the dweller. Years ago, people would stay in their home almost the entirety of their life usually due to things like lack financial stability, inability to move or neighboring family ties. Now it seems as though it is very common to move from place to place throughout the span of one’s life. When someone moves around frequently, it makes the house they dwell in less special because of the lack of time spent in that place to create memories and connect with the space and the people who live in it.

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, Home Media, GUEST EDITORIAL, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 12, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: Architecture and Animation with "Howl's Moving Castle"

By Terrance Steenman

To be honest, I never thought too heavily about architecture growing up. I imagine most people feel this way their entire lives. Sure, when we were children there were LEGOs or Lincoln Logs (if you were so fortunate as to have those toys), and with those toys one could build a space of imagination, but rarely do people make the connection that the lessons learned can be applied to the masonry, wood, steel or concrete that shape our daily lives. Constantly in the field of architecture, we are told to think back to a time when we did not have architectural eyes, and to instead view architecture from the lens of the ordinary person

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, Foreign Film, GUEST EDITORIAL, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 12, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: Architecture as Character: “The Hateful Eight” Becomes Nine

By Jake Monroe

Architecture and cinema have formed a relationship through film progression thought the 20th and 21st centuries. This relationship has its roots theater extending beyond the silver screen. Often this relationship acts to create setting, to ground the characters and give them an environment to react to and use to their advantage. It is often used strategically by the filmmakers as a tool for conveying what they set out to tell. At times, however, in the film the architecture transcends the role of place and becomes an active participant in the story at hand. It acts and reacts to alter and progress the story. The Hateful Eight, directed by Quentin Tarantino, is a beautiful example of this kind of architecture in film. I will discuss how the cabin in the film transcends set to become an active character and ultimately have a sense of self.

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, SPECIAL, Social MediaDon ShanahanDecember 10, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: California Dreaming in Concrete Forests of Hong Kong in "The Chungking Express"

by Ruohao Yan

Chungking Express, a 1994 movie about romantic and urban life in Hong Kong, depicts the glamour of the metropolitan life and social issues in Hong Kong. The film director, Wong Kar-Wai, describes two love stories between ordinary citizens. In the first romantic story, a police officer, went by the number “223” broke up with his girlfriend on April fool's day, but he was trying to salvage his relationship with her. A month later, he found that his girlfriend had a new love, so chose to give up and went to a bar to forget. He met a female drug dealer in the bar who was betrayed by her boyfriend. The two spent the night together. However, their relationship did not work out. In the second story, a police officer, went by the number “663”, had been in a depression for a long time due to his breakup with his girlfriend. The film not only highlights the beauty of Hong Kong, but also touches upon the dark side of society

Editorial, Essay, Column, 2019, Foreign Film, Independent Film, GUEST EDITORIAL, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 10, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: The Beginning of ("Her")

By Patrick Marcel Donte Winston

An in-depth analysis of Spike Jonze's 2013 film Her, and its relation to progressing artificial intelligence and architecture. Specifically, I question the need of tech in our society and whether it is a benefit or danger to our societal norms. We see technology quickly becoming more advanced in the past 10 years, but will it become God-like? We see advanced technology as our main source of communication, transportation, living, and more. While being so connected to this tech-driven lifestyle, what if we lost control of technology and can't communicate with it?

Editorial, Essay, Column, Independent Film, Home Media, GUEST EDITORIAL, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 10, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: A Fantastic City of Chocolate

By Asucena Alvarado

In the world, people are producing many films that make our lives more enjoyable, and with each film, we can learn, dream, see the impossible, and believe that anything is possible in life. Even though we know there are some things that are just fantasy, but movies help us to think that everything could happen. A good example of a fantasy story is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where we can see that be humble and kind can give you a reward, but in the real world, we know this is not always true. Here, I want to make a deep research about the film and how the capitalization, the utopian vs dystopian and the past vs present are reflected in this movie, and how it is related to architecture.

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, SPECIAL, Social MediaDon ShanahanDecember 7, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: The Architecture of Hope and Desolation in "Children of Men"

By Jessica Ishizaka

Children of Men poses a future where infertility threatens the human race with extinction. With the death of the youngest person in the world, many extreme groups have risen in order to gain control and take matters into their own hands. Laws are put in place to detain and deport immigrants and to control the citizens of London. The director of the film, Alfonso Cuarón, creates a political atmosphere that is particularly ruthless as he paints the world in a shade of dread and grime. The world and everything in it have been worn down and abused for 20 years, and no one has the ambition to replace or renovate anything since the extinction of the human race is near.

2019, Column, Editorial, Essay, GUEST EDITORIAL, Home Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 7, 2019Comment

GUEST ESSAY: The impact of modern society and the urban environment on anxiety

by Sheng Chen

In the industrial society of the late 20th century, there was consumerism, nihilism, and end-of-life sentiment in the capital world. By analyzing David Fincher's Fight Club, this article will explore the impact of modern society and the urban environment on people's anxiety.

Column, Editorial, Essay, GUEST EDITORIAL, SPECIALDon ShanahanDecember 6, 2019 Comments