SCENE 3 Ain't no Mountain High Enough
So two weeks in, and we've had a nutty space comedy from the 80s and a spaghetti western from the 60's. This week our film and project will take a little different turn as we take a look at a film with war as it's backdrop.
I don't know how many of you find yourselves scrolling through channels and many times when you hit TCM, you'll see a random black and white war film. It is really staggering the number of war movies made from the 30's to 60's but it shouldn't be surprising given how much of the world at that time was either involved in war or fresh off finishing one.
While the sheer quantity in war films is not as great as it once was, you still do find it as a periodic set piece for new stories. Our film this week takes us from the storming of Omaha Beach throughout Normandy as we follow a squad from the horror of that day on a certain quest. I'm of course talking about Saving a Private Ryan.
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I remember the first time I saw this in theaters. The opening 20 minutes or so is really something. It is a very sobering picture of how brutal and intense WWII could have been those days.
So your first question is probably how in the world a war film relates to WDW. While not deadly, if you've ventured through FL on a hot summer day and all the landmines of strollers, and made it through unscathed, you certainly feel victorious. In the film, WWII is merely the backdrop for the story of Tom Hanks and his men trecking through battle zones in the search for one man, private ryan. Due to unfortunate circumstances, his 3 brothers were all in the war as well, but each has recently died in battle.
WDW has a set of its own brothers, the mountain brothers if you will. In its infinite wisdom, management has decided to axe all 3 of them (space, splash, big thunder). You are tasked with creating a new iconic mountain attraction with any theme or backstory you desire that would work well, regardless of land, etc. There's really no restrictions here. Just have fun with it.
As an alternative, if your studio squad is up for it, you can cross into WDW enemy lines and attempt to save one of the 3 mountains instead, but to do so, you'd have to completely reimagine the attraction (ride vehicle, story, show building, etc) essentially using the ride in name only.
See you at the movies!
