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I had never watched the movie enemy of the state so I was a little confused at the in certain parts but overaal I think it was a good movie. I think the opening scene where the guy is killed was a good way to open up the movie and gain my interest. I liked the whole way that the guy with the video was some way tied with Will Smith because of georgetown. I think overall my favorite scene was the one when the agents are trying to get a hold of the tape containing the evidence that would basically end him. The different shots and stuff really made the scene. I think that this takes it back to the control the government has. Im not sure if it all works how it was shown in the movie but its kind of weird to know that a few clicks and knowing a few things about one person can open up so much more. Jack Black was able to find a whole lot of information about Will Smith just using the business card that the agents found. Maybe at times this making all this information so easy to get will be helpful but what if at times government officials are just able to use them to their advantage just like in the movie? 

The first thing I want to say is that the movie was pretty good. Sure it had a few minor flaws that I couldn't help but notice, but it did a great job portraying the effects of surveillance technology that the NSA has put in place for us. And to top it all of, the movie was scary to say the least. 

I already knew about how the government already has the technology and power to keep tabs on whoever they feel needed to be monitored. But actually seeing how they operate is scary. Michael Westen (Burn Notice) definitely makes it look easy. I can't help but feel a little more paranoid than I was before watching the movie. The way that the people that you are suppose to trust and depend on will break in your house and turn against you in the slightest moment is ridiculous. The one question that lingered in my mind throughout the entire movie was: How much freedom are we willing to give up in the name of safety? It reminded me of prison in a sense where everyone is monitored, whether you like it or not. 

In the film, they focused more on the bad egg of the government. It really brought home the idea that in the wrong hands, the surveillance technology available can be used against us. And in a way, it seems that the film is saying that anyone in the government has the ability to cause harm with said surveillance technology. I understand the concept of safety (especially national saftey), but how much is too much? There should be a limit on how much access of information someone has on you. Because if not, do we actually have "freedom?" 

First off, let me just say, I don't mind the government protecting their country. That is one awesome thing, but I don't think that it's right for them to invade in a innocent citizen or permanent resident. I'm not a considered a citizen, but I am a permanent resident and I'm already going through a lot with the United State alone, so imagine someone else. What if I was from Afghanistan or something, would they accuse me of being a terrorist right off the bat? Probably would. That's what you call discrimination. I don't think the voting members really thought about anything when the bill came across. They were just doing this because the attack was very hurtful. Yeah, they thought about their country, but they didn't think about other innocent souls from the third world. 

The main purpose of this act was for the government to spy on American, which in this case is used through technology. In this link, it talked about how most Americans thinks that is this bill is about catching the predator, but in reality, it's about them. I think that the Patriot Act is good for criminals and ACTUAL terrorists, but if they're using their "tools" on innocent people, then I don't agree. When I was watching the Enemy of The State, the government were using their special "tools" for their own personal reasonings, not for their country. I guess, I could just say that the government should be more fair. Don't get me wrong, safety is very important to every human being, but then again, no one is ever safe everyday of their life. Why does the government always want to have control and more power? I think everyone is equal, except the president. He has more power of making a change and moving us forward. If it wasn't for power and control, would we be in the position that we are in now? Shouldn't us citizen have the rights to say yes or no to invading our privacy? Are they really protecting us or harming us in a certain way? I think it's best for me to say that I agree and disagree with the Patriot Act. 

After watching Enemy of the State, I must admit I am a scared of what the government is actually capable of.  In the movie the government had absolutely all the power in regards to its citizens. The people had no privacy in their home, work, and etc. If there was a top secret government issue anything would be done to handle it without a disturbance. When the NSA officials raided actor, Will Smith's home they had no consideration for him or his family. Clearly, they can care less as to who gets hurt in the process of solving the problem. They killed innocent people and along with disturbing the peaceful environment. I believe if Will Smith would have gave them the tape in the beginning they would have still most likely killed him anyway. As innocent as he was, it didn't matter to National Security. They wouldn't have trusted his word anyway. 

Personally, I think how the government invaded the people's privacy was unnecessary. I believe their should be a balance but to an extent. Similar to crime shows, they hack your phone records, cross referencing people, and bank statement. I think that is okay but when you go beyond those boundaries it becomes a problem. I rather the government see who I've been talking to versus them tapping into my phone call. I find that to be so drastic. We as citizens should have the right to live privately. 

Now if someone is seen as threatening its hard to say what the right thing to do is. Do you invade their privacy to get answers or do you respect it?  That is a very difficult question. I have no idea how to answer it. Part of me is saying check them! Then other part is saying but what happen to respecting ones' privacy? I don't exactly now what I would do to even handle that situation because its such a contradiction. We want to catch the bad guys but we also want to respect our people. I learned that you can please everyone so we have to compromise somehow. 

Cecelia Baez, Enemy of the State Response

OH MY GOLLY. Let me say, that movie was good. Aside from that it EXTREMELY changed my perspective to what I believed about the privacy I claim. At first, there wasn't much refusal with allowing the government to look through my life. It doesn't bother me, I have nothing to hide. But that movie only led me to go against ONE thing.. even the ones who are watching us, may need someone to watch them. And them someone to watch them, and someone to watch them. I found it funny, how, someone from the government could cut off surveillance from themselves, but we can't. People who have the power in stalking other people, can use it to their advantage. And that's something horrible. I'd rather have a terrorist attack, then have someone extremely important INSIDE the government, turn against and betray their own country. Because with that power, they could up with a more devious and deadly plan than someone outside the country. So it scares me. We can't monitor everyone in the world. Especially the people who are doing the monitoring. Privacy is respected and not respected no matter where we go or what country we are in. That has been the case for years with abiding the law and giving us freedom. As long as I am allowed to continue to fulfill my dreams, I could care less about anything privacy that the government finds out about me. They can't ruin my life over possible illegally downloading a book. IN all honesty, I feel they have more important things with "terrorism" to do, than with me. Unless I'm guilty, than I don't care. But I do care about how you truly can't trust anyone. I find it hilarious.. well deviating that ONE powerful man could severely ruin the life of an ordinary man because of a video. He could take advantage of his power and kill the innocent because he can. and he could hide it without anyone knowing it was him. Honestly, thats horrible. &Even though it's a movie.. I'm more than sure that something like that could have happened. It makes me scared.. it makes me freaked. That if I mistakenly had something important, but didn't know about it, they could ruin my life. For their own greed? I say either take extreme charge over who is IN charge, or just find another way to help the country with danger. But it truly scares me, thinking my government is more of a threat to me than the real killers in the world. 

Cecelia Baez, Short Video Response

My absolute favorite  video that was viewed during class would have had to be the old man and his blockage towards reality. At first glance of the film, I began to think that his wife died during 9/11 and that his whole life he never knew what happened. Abe brought up that he realized it wasn't because of his wife dying, but the towers that fell in which helped him to see the light of reality. Aside from the sad love story of an old man, which touched my heart, I saw that the act of 9/11 opened the eyes of many individuals. It opened the eyes for truth, reality, and that doesn't mean for just terrorism schemes from other countries. I allowed people to value each others lives, and allowed people to actually LIVE, because you never know when something like that could happen again. It faced us with reality that we don't live in the best or worst country. That aside from our bubbles we are always in war being one… or the top country in the world. That there is more than the next party, or the next crush, but doing something with your life. That's what I felt towards it. I also believed that finally seeing the light, isn't always the high light of anyones day. Some individuals cannot take the truth. The old man wheeping for his love, that he finally realized was gone, it hurt. He could finally move on.. but it hurt. Some people are happier not knowing what happen. I take that example from the Children who were unable to grasp the true meaning of 9/11. I think of it.. would it really benefit them or hurt them to see how cruel or sad the world could be? Would I really want my children to know that terrible things could happen like that, or allow their innocent minds to learn things later in life. It;s touching.. and confusing :)

Where do I even start? I guess I could say that I like all the videos but not all of them struck me in a certain way. But I can definitely say that each director used their brains very intellectually. To start off, I want to say that the video with the little kids was the most heart warming one because of the characters. I just want to point out that I think serious movies with little kids are more effective. The reason why is because it shows you that not only does the event affect us adults, but it also has a role in a 7 year's old mind and heart. When we first watched this video, no one knew what the children were saying so we started to use our visual techniques and tried to comprehend what was going on. When the children were putting mud into the bricks, I thought that they were just really poor and it was child labor. We can forget that the little girls were so cute and talkative. Not the point, but I thought that they were just talking about things that little kids do. Come to find out, I was totally wrong. The way the director used the children was so strong. When we were able to understand what the children were saying, it shocked me and made me giggle because all they were talking about throughout the entire movie was about someone dying. It was also a strong piece because they involve religion into the script. They were taught that God has a cycle. He creates the human beings, destroys them, and then makes again. I thought that was interesting because they're so used to people dying and whatnot. That's not how a kid's mind should be like. I think at this point, I didn't really care about the camera angles, I just cared about the script. And the script just took me to a whole different mindset.

I also like the video with the guy who was accused of being a terrorist because he's not a typical American and the way that the government treated him was not cool. I wasn't originally from America and I would be super pissed if the government did that to me. USA is known for their freedom, speech, and to bare arms. Where was his speech in this movie? They didn't even give him a chance to say anything. They just assumed that he was a terrorist because of his race and it just so happened that he was there during the attack. America was accusing him of something that he's not and created this big issue about him, and after 6 months, they want to act like nothing happened and call him a hero. I think that America should be less judgmental towards people because not everyone is a criminal. And ANYONE can be a hero. Just because you're white, it doesn't make you a hero. 

Lianna Jordan

Public Enemy of the State Reflection

 

      Everything started with a video of a murder and fights for possession. This movie made me realize the importance of the government all together. I learned that not only congressman but people will do what ever it takes to make it through. An example from the movie is when Reynolds kills Hammersley because of his firm opposition for the passing of new legislation that would expand the power of intelligence. The movie was good and I learned that the people on the inside have a lot of power and are able to access a lot of powerful information, which again makes them powerful. They killed Roberts girlfriend and frames him for her murder.

I have watched this movie before, but I never really paid attention to concept of it and the meaning behind it. I just thought that Will Smith's character just has something that the "bad guys" wanted, which was the tape. For some reason, I just didn't think that those guys were part of the government. But now that I know about the bill and what was the point of the movie, it was a bit more interesting. For the past day or two, we've been talking about the 9/11 and how it affected us all individually. And I thought it was interesting that the congress man said "When buildings stop blowing up, people's priorities tends to change." It made me think about how people didn't really care much about the government and how our world is working, but once the 9/11 attack happened, it was like a slap in the face for everyone. I thought it was interesting how the director used all different types of cameras and cameras angles. Because of that, it put me in the position of knowing what it feel likes to be part of the government and knowing that our government is constantly watching us 24/7. There's not one angle that the camera cannot catch. "This little bitch is not going to be the final chapter of my life" says Reynold Brian. He's saying that he wants to use everything possible to get what he needs. But I mean, is he doing this because it's the right thing to do or is it because he doesn't want anyone to know what he did.

Here's the thing that got me really confused. I didn't understand why Reynold Brian killed the other white crusted man. Not only that, but if he's part of the government. Aren't you suppose to obey the laws and do the right thing? And the right thing is to not murder someone! I feel like he was so guilty with what he had done and it caused him to lose himself and his men. The rule is that if you kill someone, you go to jail. Since he's part of the government, I'm going to assume that he knows that rule. And since he's part of the government, he should know better. Anyways, I just don't think that he shouldn't promise to do the right thing for his people if he's doing criminal things. I'm all for the USA to defend their country and make it stronger, but if they're using that bill to invade in innocent people's privacy, I don't think that should be part of the bill. Everyone deserves to have their own privacy. It's their information and I don't think anyone should know but themselves or their family members. Also, invading someone's property is not cool either. You are not allow to invade someone's house if you don't have a warrant or if the resident is not home. That's their property, not yours. Let's just say, I'm not all for someone invading my privacy, but if you get my permission, then I really don't care.

Watching the film made me concerned about the power that is held by the government and politicians. That power can be very dangerous because it can fall into the wrong hands, and be used by a person with their own agenda. The power of such surveillance methods can really be useful for monitoring and capturing criminals and terrorists, but the film portrayed how it could also be used to ruin an innocent persons life. If there is any lesson from the film it is that the surveillance technology should be monitored and restricted to trusted officials.   

This wouldn't be the first time I've watched the movie and I can say the movie's amazing. It gives the audience a sense of awareness that they are not alone. They can be tracked and located almost wherever they are with the modern technologies we all carry with us on a day-to-day basis. And it shows you, part of what the government can do and the powers they possess to track an individual or his/her family down. 

The movie portrays the government agency, as a whole group of corrupts or at least the followers under the commands of the corrupt NSA leader. And as every other movie goes with their consequences, the individual they're tracking down and trying to rid out, becomes more and more clever with the help of a former NSA Agent. The longer they track them the consequences become bigger, as the agency begins to unfoil and exploit their dark matters. The dark projects they've been conducting and not showing to the public. 

Would I let the government spy on me? Of course not, spying is already a word that offends its victim or specified target. Clearly I wouldn't ever let it happen, but that would only be a reality if they weren't under my radar. The government possesses so much power, there's almost no way to know that maybe they have be boxed in and processing my personal informations with all the security clearance they have. 

I believe that the level of access can be what they have now, but none of them are to be revealed or released if the person's not an impending threat or imminent. Just like personal informations or room numbers are not permitted to strangers from hotel lobby employees. 

"Those guido mother fuckers"... This sentence does three things. First and foremost its an insult and a derogatory substitute for Italians. Second its a generalization that just because the men looked and seemed Italian that they were in fact "Guido Motherfuckers". Finally its an bias opinion that judges a group of people based on their appearance and actions.

This sentence was used in the second scene of the movie Enemy Of State when a man describes his beating. Now the part that I get caught up on is the generalization. All Italians aren't "guidos" just as all blacks aren't gangsters, all jews aren't rich, and all muslims aren't terrorists. However especially in America generalization occurs even more so then racism (speaking in modern day). These generalizations aren't just by the uneducated or ill-witted either many of our most powerful leaders have the same stereotypical mindset as the character who used the phrase I quoted above. 

Privacy is an important right that helps protect against stereotypes. Take away privacy and people will be judged on even their most intimate moments. 
Intimacy is not to be taken lightly but neither is violence. When muslim terrorists attacked the world trade center they burned an image of their religion being evil in the minds of the American people (with a little help from the Bush administration). The American governments response was to take away privacy to ensure that all citizens were constantly kept in some sort of check. However when you take away that privacy, you also take away all of the intimacy that goes along with it. Also taking away privacy leads to a constant judging and in the eyes of the wrong judge something as harmless as "eating to much bubba ganush (the daily show reference)" can be considered a red flag.


 The American government does not like red flags.... especially if you look anything like the people of the country who just bombed their big buildings. 



(Sorry I know I kinda left the topic of Enemy Of State but I feel like what I wrote needed to be said) 

Im disgusted of the fact the government is tapping our phones. I understand certain things need to be done but theres a certain amount they got to do. The fact they search the guy house and put spy equipment in my point of view was over board. I feels although as a citizen we should have our privacy and rights. I believed that they went over board with the tracking down.

This was an amazing movie, with out our class I would have never know about it. 

Though out the movie I was completely interested. They painted the government as "trying to help" but though the eyes of a citizen who is targeted it seems that the government just didn't know when enough was enough. 

How pathetic is it that they had to use black mailing to cover up their own dirt. This is a reason to never do something you are ashamed of or ever will be. During the film it seemed like there was no end to how much information was or could be uncovered by the NSA. 

Brill spoke of machines that monitored words during a conversation, it seems like a better idea then humans listening in on our conversations but what would happen if I say some thing is "da bomb" technically that would be a monitored word. Would this mean that I would know be under surveillance. 

The government needs to be capable of finding 'terrorist' but that does not mean that American citizens should have to give put their freedom, especially with out permission asked. 

The film that touched me the most was the one directed by sean penn. The film caught my attention in the first minute just by showing the setting. I felt like i was in a sort of time machine seeing the way the older man's apartment was set up. He was older and a lot of the things in his house and even some of his mannerisms were very old fashioned which was interesting to see when it was related to something that had happened in a more modern time period. The film was able to grab my attention in many ways and make me really feel for the man with use of the music, camera angles, effects and dialogue. The dialogue i think is what got me most because the man's actions and speech were so dark to a point of almost insanity throughout the film and that really threw my emotions around. Sean penn has an amazing style of directing and it was shown very well through this piece.