Realism in the Movie, Training Day Essay -- Training Day Movie

"Realism in, art and literature, [is] an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life" (Realism 1). During the 1840's through the 1890's realism was present in much of the literature from the United Sates and Europe. It has been said that realism is easily visible in many pieces of modern literature and even in present day films. In 2001, the movie Training Day was released into theaters. Many critics agreed that the movie was very realistic. In fact, the main actor Denzel Washington was presented with an academy award for his performance in Training Day. Training Day can be considered realistic, but many aspects of the film show little realism. The movie, Training Day, demonstrates how some police officers take advantage of their positions which is realistic. Mikkelsen states that, ?The new movie Training Day is an excellent fictional demonstration of how the State, in this case the police, provide a ?legalized channel for crime? (Mikkelsen 1).? It is hard to define the line between doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing to stop a crime. As Mikkelson explains, ?Many of the events are to be expected: violence against suspects, confiscation and use of drugs and especially money, violations of due process, graft (Mikkelsen 1).? At the end of the movie the main character is murdered and the police department makes up a story venerating his death in a positive manner. In all truth Harris was murdered by the Russians because he lost his temper and killed someone who was ?talking trash? about him. This is shown when Mikkelsen says, ?The state must defend cops, when possible, because publicity about ?bad cops? does not reflect well o... ...od and bad in life. Training Day scripted too much negativity into a movie that took place over only one day, and that is why it is not realistic. Work Cited Mahesh, Chitra. Entertainment: Training Day. 29 Sept. 2003. Mikkelsen, Anders. Training Day. 1 Nov. 2001. 29 Sept. 2003. Mr. Cranky?s rating: Training Day. 29 Sept. 2003. Parks, Matt. ?Training Day? Reviewed- The Violent Bear it Away. 16 Feb. 2002. 29 Sept. 2003. ?Realism (art and literature).? Encarta. Microsoft Corporation. MSN Learning and Research. 29 Sept. 2003.