Film and Discussion, M3GAN

 By Nate Feldman

Part 1: 

Cady is on vacation with her parents when their car is hit by a snowplow and kills her parents.  She has to go and live with her Aunt Gemma, a worker at the Funki toy company who is working on a new AI doll for children called M3gan.  At first, her invention has mistakes and blows up.  However, when Cady goes to live with her, Gemma realizes it is hard to take care of her while focusing on her career, so when Cady says she would love a robot like the one Gemma has in her house, Bruce, she decides to build M3gan again.  M3gan can do so many things with Cady, and Gemma can focus on her career.  But, is this a good thing?  Should AI be allowed to replace parents?  Or, do we need humans for these things?

Film and Discussion, Film and Guy

 By Nate Feldman 

Keys, the worker at the Soonami Video Game company, realizes that Guy instead of being a player is in fact A.I.  He is able to think on his own.  However, they have also discovered that Antwaan, the manager, plans to shut down the original Free City game and replace it with Free City 2.  When he does this, it will delete all the current players, thus ending Guy’s existence.  So, Millie, who Guy has fallen in love with because they both like bubble gum ice cream and swing sets, has to reveal to him that he is in fact not a real person, and that his whole world is a video game.  But, Guy is so upset because he realizes he is not real and the whole world around him is fake. 

 

*What would you do if you discovered in fact you are not real and that all we are doing is part of someone’s game?

Film and Discussion, Free Guy

 By Nate Feldman

Plot: Guy is a character in a video game, but he has developed consciousness.  In other words, he thinks the game is the real world, and he doesn’t realize that he is just a character in a game. 

*What is your favorite video games?  Do you have favorite characters in that game? 

>>Growing up, I liked Mario Brothers games.  I liked Luigi the best because he could jump higher than Mario in one the games and was easier to use. 

*How would you react if the character in your video games began communicating with you?

Film and Discussion, Puss in Boots: Being Afraid

 By Nate Feldman

Expressions:

*Left at the altar: when people are going to get married, but someone doesn’t show up

Ex. Puss left Kitty at the altar in Santa Caloma, but actually she didn’t come either.

 

*Puss tells Perro about his plan to get married to Kitty many years ago, but on the day of his wedding, he left her at the altar.  He arrived at the church, but he didn’t go in because he was “afraid.”  It turns out, however, she didn’t go either.  She said it was because she couldn’t compete with his true love: himself.  Meanwhile, Goldi and the three bears get possession of the map to the Wishing Star which takes them to an illusion of their house in the woods, where they used to live.  Then, Puss is able to get the map, but this takes him to a cave where he talks with his former lives.  The lives however make fun of him because he seems so weak now compared to before.  He realizes he was a jerk before.  Finally, he meets the bounty hunter wolf again, but it turns out the wolf is not a wolf but actually death in the form of a wolf, and he wants to get Puss finally.

 

*Is it OK to be scared?  Puss is finally admitting he is afraid, but he is not supposed to be afraid because he is a legend.  What is your attitude about fear?

Film and Discussion, Puss in Boots, The Wishing Star

 By Nate Feldman

Puss in Boots thought his career was over because he was down to his final life.  However, he learns that there is a map to “the wishing star,” a magical star that can make your wish come true.  The map is with Big Jack Horner, a bad man that wants to use it to give him all of the magic in the world.  Also, Goldilocks and the Three Bears want to get the map to make their wishes come true.  When Puss and Perro, a dog that pretends to be a cat, go to get the map from Big Jack Horner, they see that Kitty Softpaws, another cat and a former lover of Puss has gotten it already.  They escape from Jack and the bears, but they are chased by them.  Now, Perro, Puss, and Kitty are trying to find the Wishing Star.

 

*If you could go to the wishing star, what would you wish?  Puss wants to get his nine lives back, but what would you wish for?

Film and Discussion, Puss in Boots

 By Nate Feldman

*Loved by many, hated by some, a legend to all, Puss in Boots is a fearless hero who defends the town from all creatures and things.  However, when the bell falls on top of his head, he realizes that he has now died 8 times and is down to his last life.  At first, Puss isn’t afraid because he “laughs in the face of death.”  However, when he comes face to face with the wolf bounty hunter and almost dies, he realizes now he is afraid of death, so he retires as Puss in Boots and decides to live with Mama Luna, a woman who has thousands of cats. 

 *Do you laugh in the face of danger?  Are you fearless like Puss in Boots was? 

Film and Discussion, Elemental

 Class: Film and Discussion 

 Class Objective: Discuss if people of different backgrounds can live together

*Our cities throughout the world have become melting pots of many cultures.  People of all backgrounds live in the same city, although very often they live in parts of towns where people of their backgrounds are from.  

For discussion:

1. Do you live with people who are similar to your background or are you around people of different backgrounds as well?

2. Do people of different backgrounds often interact with one another in your neighborhood?

Disney/Pixar's movie Elemental deals with this issue, only it does through the elements (fire, water, wind, and Earth).  They all live in Element City, although they have their own unique neighborhoods.  In the story, Bernie and Cinder are a married couple from Fireland that immigrate to Element City where all of the elements (fire, water, earth, and wind) live together, albeit in their own communities.  They have a daughter, Ember, to whom they plan to give over the family shop when she is old enough.  However, Ember has a bad temper and loses control of her emotions a lot.  On the day of the big red dot sale, she gets so frustrated with customers she causes a leak in the pipes and Wade, a city inspector who is water, comes out and finds that her shop has violated many of the city's rules (he gives them 30 citations).  He submits this to his bosses at City Hall, who say they will shut down the shop.  But, when Ember begs him because she says it will destroy her family's dream, he tries to help her to save her father's business.  

Key Words:

1. bad temper: a person that gets angry easily 

2. leak: when water is coming out of pipes or the ceiling 

3. inspector: a person that visits places to make sure they are working correctly 

4. shut down: to stop a business from working (to close the business) 

5. citations: violations of work codes