Reflection: “There Will Be Blood”
11 Feb
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After reading the published version of my article in the February 10th, 2010 issue of The Exponent, I am slightly disappointed. The reason I am slightly disappointed is because of my vague description when I am discussing about Industrial Capitalism and Religion in the article. What I originally wrote when I submitted it to Student Publications was “Without giving too much away to the story, director Paul Thomas Anderson presents in the film that even though they are completely opposite they share a common attribute which is greed.” What I meant by “they” was Industrial Capitalism and Religion, but during the editing process I presume the person who was looking over my article thought I meant Daniel Plainview (the main character).
So it was then reworded to say “Without giving too much away to the story, director Paul Thomas Anderson presents in the film that even though both versions of Daniel Plainview are completely opposite, they share a common attribute which is greed.” This is not the case obviously because like I stated earlier in the review in the beginning of the film the character was a hard worker and the audience is led to believe that he is the opposite of greedy. So in the published article it’s sort of contradictory and doesn’t really make any sense. I really don’t blame anyone from Student Publications of this small error because I should have proofread it with a more closer eye before submitting it and I should have been more specific in the sentence.
Other than that, I felt I could have written more on the issues the movie presents since it really is a fantastic film. However I believe that the student body who reads The Exponent wouldn’t be that interested in an more in-depth movie analysis/movie review of There Will Be Blood because it didn’t have a huge main stream appeal back in 2007 to begin with. I’m still pretty happy with everything else I wrote in the article and I can only hope I reached out to at least one person on campus to go check out the film.
- Dan Dreher
Tags: Dan Dreher, Daniel Day-Lewis, February 2010, Movie Review, Northern State University, Paul Thomas Anderson, The Exponent, There Will Be Blood
I count “There Will Be Blood” as one of the most powerful movies I’ve ever seen, and no matter how many times I watch it — I’m up to 10? 12? now — Daniel Day-Lewis still scares me senseless. How actors can let go like that and retain their sanity I’ll never understand. But he is just … volcanic. There were many great performances in 2007, but that, surely, was the greatest and the one most deserving of the Best Actor Oscar.
I like the point you make about Daniel keeping H.W. to maintain his facade of normalcy. That speaks as much to his shrewd business sense as it does to any actual fondness (which I do, at some point, believe he had) he felt for the boy. Like any true psychopath, Daniel’s able to understand what people want and need and play on them. And he understood that he needed to look like a family man to convince settled-down families to sell their oil fields to him.
Thanks for leaving a comment, I really do appreciate it Miss Carter. Like you mentioned, There Will Be Blood is definitely one of those few films out there that you can watch multiple times and it never loses it’s edge.
Great Article!
If I could write like this I would be well chuffed
The more I read articles of such quality as this (which is rare), the more I think there might be a future for the Web. Keep it up, as it were.
I really appreciate the kind words Wendy! I am semi-new to writing reviews about films, but so far it’s been a exciting learning experience for me.