Media LIteracy Kit MIdnight in Paris: The 7 Skills of MediaLit

Rating: 6/10 (1 October 2012)

While vacationing in Paris, and engaged couple realizes that their views on life are maybe too different. While the couple is going separate ways, the movie focuses on how the man, Gil, is finding himself and falling in love with the city itself and the secrets it has. The characters of the movie were cast well, each bringing something new to the scenes. You can see the relationships the way that some relationships change whether they be for the better or the worse. While I enjoyed the film, I have never been partial to sci-fi aspects in movies. The sci-fi in this film is just the idea of time-traveling. While it was a feel-good film that I thoroughly enjoyed, I didn't find myself getting lost in the story. Midnight in Paris has two groups of people that are quite literally separated by time. The only connector that can jump between the groups in Gil, the main character who jumps from present time to the 1920's (his idea of the golden age); but then again that could make him a whole new group for just himself. One group is from the 21st century, present time. This group includes Gil's fiancée, Inez, and their friends such as the museum Guide. The other group is the characters that Gil meets in the 1920's. He meets the famous author Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso, Dali, and the beautiful Adrianna. The group from the 1920's is very lively and Gil finds himself waiting until midnight so he can go to visit them. He develops a feeling that he belongs there rather than in his own time. Gil is even working on a novel, but having trouble so he asks Ernest Hemingway for help and advice. Gil and Inez go to Paris to have a nice vacation together before they get married. During their vacation, they each want to do completely different things and don't necessarily end up spending all that much time being together or at least happy while they are together. To spend the rest of your life with someone who doesn't want the same things as you, seems unreasonable to not only yourself, but the other person in the relationship. Allen uses this marriage/pre-marriage relationship to move the story along and emphasize that Gil is happier in the 1920' rather than the time period he was born into. We see this relationship falling apart in the movie, but if you look around in the real world, relationships fall apart due to similar reasons all the time. People in today's society are so strong-willed and outspoken that it is often more difficult to find someone that wants all the same things out of life as you. Woody Allen uses this film to emphasize that the present day generation is so focused on itself. We don't really take the time to appreciate the past, such as the 1920's, and everything that was popular at that time. Gil believes he is born in the wrong time and would give anything to live in his golden age, the 1920's. Then Allen goes on to show that every generation focuses on themselves. Adrianna, although she is from the 1920's, wishes she were farther back in time in a different era. Allen shows that appreciation for our history is healthy for individuals in society. While not a fan of the sci-fi/time traveling idea, I enjoyed the lessons that were learned by the main character throughout the story line. And I liked how time travel was used subtly in this film. Midnight in Paris wasn't advertised because of the time travel aspect, it was advertised because of the infatuation with the 1920's. Gil, the main character, sees this era as the golden age, and loves his time spent there more than his time spent in present day Paris. Woody Allen, the director, taught me with the film, that sci-fi doesn't necessarily mean there are going to be aliens and witchcraft present. Escaping to Paris in the 1920's brings Gil a new sense of how to live life and be happy at the same time.