Sam from Duke & The Movies recently started a very cool blogathon, and the big question we need to answer is:
Extraterrestrial forces land on Earth. Unknowing of our planet and society, you can pick five films from the history of cinema that represent humanity. What titles would you choose and why?
It's very hard to choose, but I would probably try to show the world as an extremely diverse, creative, yet complicated place to be in, also showing realistic movies, as they need to know what is Planet Earth! I will try to make it chronologically, because I think it might help them to better understand Earth and its inhabitants.
1. A historical movie showcasing Ancient times, just so they can see the early stages of the planet and how it all started- it could be Ben-Hur, The Ten commandments, The Gladiator, Troy...you name it! I will choose The Ten Commandments, although I haven't seen it, so I may be wrong, but I think is what I am looking for to show them!
2. A period drama- for their costumes, the story, their manners and the conservative, yet passionate natures of people in those days. My pick: Pride&Prejudice (2005?)
3. A movie from or about the 20s-30s. Since we also need a musical to make them happy after all the previous dramas, I will go with Chicago
4. A movie about life, its trial and tribulations and with a normal, rather realistic scrip. I can't think of anything better than Paris, Je t'aime: multiple stories, great actors, amazing directors, and with believable storylines.
5. The final one would be an action packed, entertaining type of movie that is currently topping the box office. This was pretty hard to decide, since there are big choices like Harry Potter, James Bond, The Dark knight, Lord of the Rings and so on, but I will stick with the current king of the world, as it has a great mix of drama, action, love, comedy and superheroes: Avengers
Not the most original choices, but I think these will help give a basic image of the world they are stuck in! Hope you like it and thank you Sam for the great idea!
YAAAAYYY THE AVENGERS!
ReplyDeleteLove it. Also, the aliens will get scared of all our superheroes, so double-win :D
:)) that would be funny! I can imagine it- weird green creatures with wide-eyes after seeing The Hulk smashing things around! "Oh, we might be in danger"
DeleteI love how you're kinda taking them through history! The two I haven't seen are Paris, Je t'aime and The Ten Commandments! (Personally, the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth PandP mini-series will always top the movie for me, but seeing as we can only show them movies....haha)
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Ten Commandments, either, but I really do recommend Paris, je t'aime, it has so many great stories, I think you will love it!
DeleteI've been saying that each list I've read is diverse - which is true. But THIS, is diverse. Great stuff Diana.
ReplyDelete"The Avengers" is the oddest choice I've seen to date.
Thank you for contributing.
I chose Avengers because of its present success and I think it represents what most people like to watch right now- plus it has a lot of modern times element that can give them a clue of what we can do. Weird, I know, but I would show this to our extraterrestrial friends :)
DeleteThis is by far the list that includes the most interesting choices! Love how each of these films represents something else in cinema.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it, I wasn't sure people would, because the others all choose either very famous and critically acclaimed movies like Taxi Driver or Amelie, or very small, unknown ones. I went for the more commercial, but I stand by them :) commercial is sometimes good
DeleteGreat idea to take them through history. You could kind of do it all in one movie if you showed them 2001: A Space Odyssey or Tree of Life. Neither would be as much fun as this selection though!
ReplyDeleteI don't want to be mean, but I really don't think Tree of Life is a good movie to show aliens: it's too pretentious and not very clear- if I were a green-eyed creature who just landed on earth and never heard of it, I would only understand that the planet has nice landscapes, beautiful women and angry fathers. Maybe I am wrong, but I wouldn't show my ET friends this one. As for 2001: Space Odyssey...well...I haven't seen it yet *tries to hide from all the eggs that are being thrown at her* Sorry!
DeleteNice pics, Diana. Totally agree w/ Ten Commandments though I might swap w/ Ben-Hur. I love your inclusion of 'Paris, Je t'aime.' Since it contains vignettes of different 'slices' of life, it'd be a good representation of what life is all about from different point of views.
ReplyDeleteParis, je t'aime is a great movie, much better than the New York version!
DeleteWonderful pick on Paris Jet'aime! It should amazed the extraterrestrials :D You surprised me with The Avengers there. Nice choices!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked my choice of Paris, je t'aime. As for Avengers, I just wanted to show them what people usually watch these days, plus it has a lot of interesting themes that fit today's environment.
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