You see what you want to see

"You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal." The Breakfast Club (1985). This iconic film has the right idea, not just about people but about films as well. We see films as they appear to be, we see them as, horror, romance, comedy, and action. The Breakfast Club the story of a group of teens who are nothing alike a first glance, you have the popular princess, the brainy geek who is clearly picked on and or ignored by the rest of the student body due to his brilliance and incapablity to relate to his fellow peers, there is of course the jock who is considered a typical highschool bully due to the fact that he is pressured by his fellow jocks and his father to be tough and to show that the only the strong can survive, there is the "criminal" who is your typical bad boy type with no ambition to succeed and would rather get high due to a abusive home life and then the basket case or the loner who is just her own person and is so use to be ignored by everyone she just pushes them away before they have the chance to push her. None of these characters are a like but they connect in a real way and what makes this film so great is that the audience no matter who they are can relate to the film due to that they themself have felt the way each of the characters has felt. "Identification at the movies suggest a complex process by which we empathize with, project onto, or participate in a place, an action, or a character- whether seperately or as these elements interact ." (pg 19 Chapter 2) In successful films like The Breakfast Club, Inception (2010), The Social Network (2o1o), Harry Potter 1- 7 (2001-2010), Titanic (1997), What is Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Armageddon (1998), and many more films throughout the years that have been successful not only when they were released but also long time afterwards. Each film we can either relate to a character, the story line itself or we feel for that character and the story they have to tell us. We have sympathy for the character when they are faced with something that we know is difficult for them. We watch the characters as they over come or fail at the task ahead of them. In The Book of Eli (2010) Eli played by Denzel Washington is on a mission to get The Bible to the West of the Unites States. The film focuses on his struggle to get to his destination after 31 years of traveling. He is faced with countless obstacles and we feel for him, we feel bad for him. "Identifying with a movie is largely an emotion experience. Like dreams, film can relate to our basic urges, desires and memories." (pg. 19 Chapter 2) Each of the movies that are listed above have those qualities. Some spark a personal memory of ours, or secret desire to: save the world, do something great with our lives, become a actor or artist so we can be a part of the film world, and some spark our urge and desire for love and affection. In today's film industry it is a must for anyone and almost everyone to have a agent. Someone who knows everyone that is important and has the connections to various directors, writers and producers. If they feel that a certain movie is good for their client they will do whatever it takes to get them to the important people that he or she needs to impress. They help shape the movie just like a director does, agents bring in the talent that the audience sees portraying the character they are suppose to relate to or have sympathy for and or they despise them due to the fact that they are consider the villain of the story. They bring the people in and a casting director picks who he or she feels is the best one.