For Wednesday, your homework is to find three (or two, if you write about them in a comment on this post) interesting interpretations of some aspect of a text (book or movie). These interpretations could be ones you got from someone else, or they could be your own. (Assuming they're not yours, let us know where you got the interpretations--your friend, an article, a website, whatever.)
One way to think about interpretation is that it involves applying to a text an outside framework or paradigm, or seeing it through a particular lens. For example, you can look apply to "Bartleby" a religious framework, or a political framework, or a philosophical framework , etc. Or, for a non-Bartleby example: examining Twilight within the framework of domestic abuse leads to interesting interpretations.
NB: If you choose to write the interpretations you find on a piece of paper, you need to write down three of them; if you write them in a comment on this post, you only need do two.
In Harry Potter, you can interpret Snape's adoration for Lily to be either romantic or pointless. In my personal opinion I believe caring for Lily's son years after her death solely because his love for her prevails is the definition of romantic. His devotion for a son that isn't his and of a woman who loved another is rare. However, some also might think this kind of dedication is pointless. Considering there is no hope that they will be together in the end and there is no apparent need for Snape to keep on protecting Harry, why would he do it?
ReplyDelete-Julianna Goldring
In the Hunger Games, one can interpret Catniss's hunting as rebellious or as a necessity. From the point of view of the rulers of her district in the book, she is being a rebel and if caught should be punished. She would be convicted of hunting on land that doesn't belong to here all though it is right next to her home. In my opinion her hunting is a necessity for her family because they are restricted from making enough money to buy sufficient food, so without the extra foods she brings back from the woods, her mother and sister would probably starve.
ReplyDelete-Kate Rhodes
In the movie, Dark Knight, the actions of Batman could be interpreted as that of a hero or that of a villain. Batman is considered a hero in Gotham City by the people, because he has been cleaning out the streets from the mob, drug dealers, criminals of all sorts, etc. By doing so Batman is taking care of the crime without the help of the police. Thus the people of Gotham City consider Batman a hero due to all his noble actions done to help the city. While the people may think Batman is a hero, the police force of Gotham City consider him a nuisance because his methods of dealing with criminals is not exactly legal. Although Batman does help out the police force of Gotham City quiet frequently, they still consider him almost a villain or criminal. Batman being a vigilante is able to do things that police want to do but can't do to laws. Thus the Gotham City police view Batman as a villain, because he is not abiding by the laws when he goes out and deals with criminals.
ReplyDelete-Ayan Noyan
in the Lord of the Rings series, the environment in which the book takes place can be interpreted as designed for a fairytale or mythological setting in which the good contrasts sharply with the bad, such as that of the deep, ancient forest verses the steel fortress were one of the main antagonists lives. It,can be seen as a social commentary about the industrialization of Britain which occurred during Tolkien's life.This can be seen in the same setting, with the forest representing nature, and the fortress representing industrialization.
ReplyDeleteIn the Harry Potter Series, Voldemort's death at Godric's Hollow can be interpreted as either an inevitable situation or an (not so tragic) accident. Voldemort, knowing he would be defeated by a young, Harry Potter, took the liberty of looking for the boy in hope to stop the prophecy from ever coming true. As Odysseus and Oedipus have showed the modern reader, this is never a successful attempt. The Night at Godric's Hollow where Voldemort was finally defeated by baby Harry could have potentially been avoided. Voldemort did die, thus fulfilling his prophecy, but this was because he set out to kill the boy who would soon kill him. Was it an accident that Voldemort had chosen a particular time and place to invade the house? probably. It probably was not marked on a calendar, just jumped on an impulse. So, did his fatal death depend on the accidental timing of stumbling upon Harry or was it completely inevitable from the start? If Voldemort had arrived a few minutes later or a week later, the destruction of his somewhat human self could have potentially been avoided, so the situation could have depended on his timing. Or, you know, on the Prophecy.
ReplyDeleteCoincidence? or Destiny?
-Danielle Balanov
In mean girls, you can interpret the reasons for the character's actions in many ways. It might be easy to look at it and see right away that they are just mean high school girls who get caught up in popularity and the need for approval. Another Way of seeing their actions is that Regina George, follows similar approaches as a dictator might. She uses her popularity as a bribe/propaganda just as a dictator might do to persuade the people around them. She takes advantage of this ability and takes it too far. You can also see these actions of Regina George that she has a disability that causes her to need control over everything and when she doesn't get what she wants, she will take things beyond necessary just to gain control of the situation. When this loss of control reaches her towards the end of the movie, she cracks and goes crazy. This craziness can be explained by her disability that may never be known by her or the people in danger of encountering her.
ReplyDelete-Chloe Fishman
In Harry Potter, you can see Harry's reasons for seeking out Voldemort as revenge or a fight for the greater good. Harry has plenty of reasons to hate Voldemort on a personal level because of the murder of his parents, god father, and friends. You can also see it as Harry being a very mature, liberal individual because of the way he seems to be fighting for the greater good and risking his life for others. He also manages to raise his own army of mostly other teenagers to fight against an old idea of how magic should rest solely in the hands of the pure bloods. Is Harry a revenge driven, hormonal teenager, or a person with a very deep understanding of right and wrong?
ReplyDelete-Bianca Dempsey
In the book "Looking for Alaska" the character Pudge falls in love with the crazy, fun and sometimes bitchy Alaska Young. Pudge having been a loser with not a single friend at his public school decides to attend a boarding school where he find a new group of friends. They smoke, they drink and man do they prank. When Pudge falls in love with Alaska he is also falling for the mischief, the crazy side of himself.He runs around always hoping that she secretly loves him. It can also just be seen as love and how you can love someone with all your heart but it not be returned. Also Alaska brings up the last word of a poet "when will i get out of this labyrinth?".This is brought up through out the book and specifically when Alaska dies in a car accident. is the labyrinth life? or death? or as Alaska believes it is suffering, what happens in between birth and death. I ask myself why is the labyrinth so bad, yes there are twists and turns but thats life.
ReplyDeletemarisa najarian
In the book "The Godfather" written by Mario Puzo you can attribute Sonny's outlandish and aggressive behavior to many different things. One could attribute it to Sonny's aspirations of becoming a Don when Don Corleone dies. Carrying forward with that idea Sonny could have went to attack Carlo Rizzi (husband of Connie Corleone) to prove to the Don that he shares the belief that family is the most important thing. Another perception of Sonny's aggression could be a cry for attention from his father. Sonny has always felt that his father has favored his brother Michael more than him and Sonny could be acting out so his father would pay him more attention.
ReplyDeleteIn the story The Jungle by Upton Sinclair you can see that there is an interpretations between having spirit in your body to achieve a certain goal or to fight a certain obstacle in your way. The story is about a family who comes from Europe because they heard about the “American Dream” of working hard and walking up the social ladder and succeeding.
ReplyDeleteWhen the family finally comes to American they have this “American” spirit of working hard and getting a good job buying a house putting the kids in school learning how to become the average American family in the society. As they work hard they realized it’s not that easy and that they need to work even harder. They realized that they are never getting enough money to pay for rent for food etc. and soon they realized its winter and everyone is getting sick. Their American spirit is dyeing out and they don’t have any more spirit of living. One interpretation that I thought of is when someone gets sick with Cancer at first that person has the sprite to fight and succeed and life on with his live but after a while he always goes to the hospital to get treatments and in the end these treatments never succeed and his spirit of living goes down and his spirit of fighting and achieving this goal of living a normal life gets lower and lower just like the family that wanted to achieve the “American Dream."
-Shira Hartman
In the movie "Catch Me If You Can," Frank Abagnale is a con man. Throughout his life he posed and disguised himself as people and made lots of money as a result. Throughout the film an FBI investigator played by Tom Hanks tries to catch and arrest Abagnale. In the end of the movie, Abagnale is arrested and is being flown to his home town to a prison. He manages to escape the plane and go to his childhood home. What can be interpreted in different ways is that his home is the first place the investigators would look to find him. Abagnale knew that by going there, he was going to get caught again. Abagnale could've been going there just for one final look, a check-in on his family. But if was able to escape the plane and FBI custody, why not keep running? Was it because he was completely resigned to being done as a con man and he was ready to go to prison? Or did he want to see his family that much that, really, nothing else mattered to him?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wikipedia, a certain Paul Kennett has this to say about Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club: "because the narrator fights himself in front of his boss at the hotel, the narrator is using the fights as a way of asserting himself as his own boss. These fights are a representation of the struggle of the proletarian at the hands of a higher capitalist power and by asserting himself as capable of having the same power he becomes his own master. Later when fight club is formed, the participants are all dressed and groomed similarly, allowing them to symbolically fight themselves at the club and gain the same power." In my opinion, this opinion is an example of serious tunnel vision, and also is contradicted by the scene where Tyler's brainwashed disciples make soap for him to sell as rite of initiation.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I noticed that the book focuses a great deal on gender, particularly masculinity and the role of men in society. In the context of the book, the revelation that the destructive, remorseless Tyler is in fact the mild-mannered narrator's alter ego could be interpreted as a statement that modern society is emasculating to men who are not in positions of control, and that the subconscious urge to violent rebellion is universal among these men.
George Orwell's iconic novel, written in 1948, "1984" follows a futuristic society in the year 1984 in which the government controls every aspect of the individual's life and the true nature of society is veiled by elaborate propaganda which manifests itself in every corner. Winston, the protagonist, can be viewed either as a martyr or as a pathetic individual whose rebellion is futile and whose death proves nothing in the face of the government. Winston's entry into martyrdom was my initial interpretation of the novel. The reader latches on to Winston because he often reminds us of ourselves: an individual who struggles to live out his own desires within the constraints imposed by society. For example, Winston wants to have emotional connection with someone (opposing the rigidity of society), so he fosters one with a woman named Julia in secret. We relate to his actions and his human desires, so we are heartbroken when he dies in the end. Winston serves as the embodiment of our collective wants and stands up for them against the oppressive power of the government and the powerful illusion of "Big Brother." One can look upon his death and say that even though he died and succumbed, he fought the whole way for his individualism until survival became more important than humanity. This is the detail which leads us to the second interpretation. One can view all of the actions/events I have described above as being futile and foolish. Winston lives in an over-regulated, controlled world in which the odds stacked against him are a thousand to one. The government has entire ministries of workers (one of which Winston is a part of) which maintain this iron fist over individual desires. Winston, based on his profession in the Ministry of "Truth" should know well that his rebellion will result in his death, therefore his actions futile and he ultimately accomplishes nothing. At his death, his identity is scraped away so that no soul recalls him. So all of his rebellious actions, did he die for them as a martyr, or does his existence even matter at all?
ReplyDeleteAnna Parkhurst
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is about the young protagonist Holden Claufield's adventures in New York City. This book is as popular as it is polarizing. One interpretation of this book, from a religious standpoint, is that Claufield is a sacrilegious character and his actions and thoughts within the book should not be read by students. The almost complete opposite interpretation of Holden is that he is a "saint", whose critiques of society should be held in high regard and acted upon.
ReplyDeleteCorey Grill
The 1987 movie, Wall Street, by Oliver Stone is essentially about insider stock trading, one trader's struggle to the top, and the moral questions he faces getting there. It stars Michael Douglas, and the now infamous Charlie Sheen (tiger blood, anyone?) The movie's message about capitalism and greedy corporatism can be interpreted in a number of ways. I think, considering it's a movie about money and "Wall Street," looking at it through a capitalistic lens is most insightful. Specifically, I think it's curious to debate whether the movie is for, or against, capitalism -- Does the movie endorse capitalistic ideals or does it warn about capitalism and the consequences of greed? I think looking at Michael Douglas and the character he plays, Gordon Gekko, can help us resolve questions of greed, which the movie brings to light. In the movie, Gordon Gekko famously says, "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A." However, in real life, Michael Douglas (who plays Gordon Gekko) later refuted his character's stance when questioned. So, I find it interesting that in real life Mr. Douglas things the greed brought about by capitalism can be very dangerous, yet the character who he plays completely exemplifies greediness to it's utmost.
ReplyDeleteAtonement by Ian McEwan is a story about a young girl, who witnesses a crime that she does not fully understand. In her attempt to do something about it, she ultimately irreparably changes the lives of two people, and will forever spend hers, trying to atone. One way to interpret this story is that is is about a battle between truth and lies and how no matter how gruesome and moving the truth may be, lies are always more powerful. A second interpretation (wikipedia) is that true atonement is not only wrong, but also impossible to recieve, we can only hope right the wrongs for others, but never for ourselves.
ReplyDelete-- Gabby St Pierre
In Romeo and Juliet, written by Shakespeare, the love relationship between Romeo and Juliet can be interpreted to be either romantic or stupid. They both threw away their lives for their own loves and it later brought the peace between their families. But, their deaths seem pretty much stupid and reckless because it took only 5 days from their meet to their deaths. In fact, they were younger than me when they died for loves: Romeo was 15. Juliet was 13. It seems nonsense.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Oh
The show Fringe can be seen either as a prediction of the future, a statement about "common sense", or complete fiction. It's based around the idea of fringe science, which is improbable science. Science that might be possible later. They show various different examples including shape shifting, chimeras, empaths, and more. This could be seen as the creators thinking of things that people now see as ridiculous and questioning how impossible it actually is. Just as years ago stem cells were thought of as fiction, and before that the idea of flying. They could be trying to open peoples minds to what may be the future. To the things that are now fiction, but might later be "common sense".
ReplyDelete-Sam P
Ps. I had tried to submit this this earlier today on my phone but the text box froze.
In Ethan Frome, Ethan's character is reminiscent of the murderers of Poe's short stories. The reason for the actions of these men is that they know it's wrong, and therefore feel an unexplainable urge to do it. Ethan is married, and knows that it's wrong to be in love with Mattie. Despite this, he continues to seek out ways of spending time alone with her. Ethan can also be viewed as a "player." He only married Zeena because he wanted something from her (he needed a caretaker for his mother) and as soon as this service is no longer needed, he no longer feels any attachment. Ethan is ungrateful for his wife's sacrifices and move on to pursue a new, younger, prettier girl with little cpnsideration for his wife's feelings.
ReplyDelete- Claire Meyerovitz
In Kathryn Stockett's, The Help, the main character Skeeter stands up for the rights of African American maids by writing a book sharing their stories. When she chooses to go against society to stand up for what she believes in, she is seen as a type of activist. In my opinion, she can also be seen as a Jesus type figure who helps out others that are treated as lesser, but are the same. She acts upon the injustice and decides to risk everything to have their stories be known.
ReplyDelete-Lindsey Pearlstein
The movie Saving Private Ryan, is an incredible take and the tragedies of war and the value of a human life. The concept of life and death is huge in the movie. The movie can be interpeted as a herioc mission of rescue or an ironic showing of the horror of war
ReplyDeleteJane Austen's Pride and Prejudice can be interpreted as both a highly feminist novel as well as an anti feminist novel. In they feminist light, one looks mostly to the main character, Elizabeth Bennett. She is a smart girl who is completely capable of self preservation within a harsh society. The most feminist aspect of her is her unwillingness to marry for means. Her sustaining her own happiness despite any needs of her own, her families, or pressure from her family is a move of a strong women as she indicates that she can live life in the way that best suits her. However, Pride and Prejudice can also be seen as an anti-feminist novel. The majority of the female characters are put in a weak position and negative lighting. THe majority of her sisters are silly, immature, and uninterested in much beyond getting married. Her only sister put in a positive light is Jane, who is kind, simple figure, but not interested in any independence in life. Her mother is a ridiculous women who puts marriage above all else. Some other negative women include Charlotte, who is shy and married solely to avoid lifelong independence, Lady Catherine de Burgh, the only lady with significant power and an extremely rude and intrusive women, Caroline Bingley, a conniving and selfish person, and Georgiana Darcy, who is emotionally fragile and in constant need of protection. So, although the main character of the book and her entire plot line is quite feminist, especially for the time, overall Austen's masterpiece is quite discouraging to feminism, though both views can be seen.
ReplyDelete~Rebecca Krane
The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, chronicles the life of a man transformed into a bug. On take on this is that he wasn't really a bug and that the true Metamorphosis was when Gregor realized his position in his family was one of an insect, working hard for his family while they laze around. Some claim that this realization leads to a great shock and mental illness. Others see something quite different. It can be claimed that Gregor's transformation represents a move away from conformity and towards his own independence and humanity. This argument claims that Kafka is making a statement about humans being like bugs, mindlessly striving along and that Gregor's transformation in fact made him more human rather than less. ~Marie Kolarik
ReplyDeleteThe Wizard of Oz is a film that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. On the surface, it is a classic adventure story of a little girl who helps her friends to find what they need. However, the presentation of the film lends itself to many different interpretations. One alternate interpretation that I had of the film was that it was a depiction of class conflict and racism. Each of the groups in the film is kept quite separate, and the ideas of good and evil can appear skewed. Belinda, the “good” witch can be seen as a racist, hating her darker counterparts, along with their armies of blue monkeys. Overall, color is largely stressed with each separate group (even the idea of the emerald city gets at this). Though she may seem kind hearted and good at first glance, Belinda’s air is somewhat pompous and haughty, almost as if she holds herself above those around her. A second possible interpretation of this film is simply about seeing it in a different light. Oz, the unfortunate old gentleman (characterized as a snake oil salesman outside of the dream world) can be seen in a much darker light. Rather than a pitiful old man with a kind heart, he can be seen as a manipulative cheat who simply scams those around him. He is a direct representation of a type of man known for swindling in the old west. He is both a cheat and a liar, and even in the little girl’s dream spends his time cheating and lying until discovered by a dog, of all creatures. By looking at the movie in this light, the character Oz is transformed from a misunderstood (and deep-down kindly) old gentleman to a nefarious trickster bent on scamming everyone from the needy (characterized by the lion, scarecrow, and tin man) and even a child.
ReplyDelete-JD Nurme
In Calvin and Hobbs, the realness of imagination is sometimes more true than reality. In the comics where only Calvin can see his best friend, and he turns into a stuffed animal when its from the point of view of the parents. It notes how much imagination is lost as people grow older.
ReplyDeleteIn All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Harriot it is the story of an outsidder, the struggles he faces being accepted into the close knit community of the dales. James must find out how to understand the farmers slang and gain their trust as a vet. This is true for many new comers, the big group forms an US and Them and are often very unaccepting of outsiders into the group.
Ella MacVeagh
The movie Inception has many interpretations and has been speculated by many after its release. One interpretation is that the entire movie is how it seems. Those who believe in this think that over-speculation is unnecessary and leads to false conclusions. Another belief is that the entire movie is the dream of the main character (Cobb) and that he is trapped within a dream and struggling to separate the dream world from reality. Neither of the interpretations are more right than the other and the movie is supposed to raise speculation in the mind of the viewer. The movie as a whole, however, can be seen as a parallel to the making, and viewing of films. When you are watching a movie, you feel like you are experiencing a story and that you are actually there in the realm of the movie. When the lights come on at the end you feel like you have been torn from the fantasy. To use a term from Inception, it is as if you have received a "kick" and have woken up from your dream. Also, the practice of inception (planting an idea inside of somebody's mind) can be paralleled by the movie industry planting ideas and feelings inside of film viewers.
ReplyDelete‡Jamie Lamoureux
One interpretation of a text is autobiographical for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Like one of the main protagonists, Mikael Blomkvist, Stieg Larsson, the author, was an investigative journalist who dealt with neo-nazis (Larsson's specialty as a journalist). Blomkvist gets a very positive portrayal as a purveyor of justice and as a well off, attractive man, so this would seem to be a flattering portrait of himself. According to Wikipedia, Larsson observed the gang rape of a woman named Lisbeth when he was younger and didn't do anything; by embodying himself as Blomkvist he could potentially help make himself feel better by "crusading" against this rape.
ReplyDeleteAnother interpretation of a text (somewhat of a joke) from the website Cracked.com suggests that in the movie Drag Me to Hell, the reason the main character Christine is continually tortured is because of an eating disorder that she refuses to accept. While this isn't obviously emphasized in the movie, Christine is shown to have been very fat as a young girl. As such, Christine deprives herself of food while she bakes food for others, and lies to her boyfriend about having lactose intolerance when she really doesn't. When Christine is tortured, it inevitably revolves around eating, like when an old women starts biting her face and when a cake starts oozing blood. Because of her self denial, she is forced to suffer, so they moral is, don't get an eating disorder because you could end up being tortured by demons.
~Daniel Krane
My interpretation of the movie Inception is that the all of the movie was just a dream. According to moviefone.com, Inception was all a dream: "We are never once shown reality. Every frame of Inception is a dream. Whose dream? My money is on Cobb, though it is conceivable that Cobb is simply the subject and that he is in someone else's dream." Cobb is the main character in Inception.
ReplyDeleteAn interpretation of the movie Fight Club is that it portrays fascism. According to Wikipedia, Flight Club portrays fascism: "Without his testicles and with female breasts Bob has become the extreme metaphor for middle-class, male-led panic in the postmodern era, a setting that features a recasting of the same factors of interwar German angst: dehumanization through (post)modernity and its technology: international economic and geopolitical instability; and lack of trust in social and political concepts and/or the national identity and role." Bob was a professional bodybuilder who used so much steroids that he lost his testicles and grew breasts.
-Jared Videlefsky
In one of Franz Kafka's unfinished novels, The Castle, the reader follows a land surveyor to a remote snow-covered little town where the land surveyor known only as K. has been called upon to work in the well known but illusive castle that overlooks the town. From early on in the book we see that K. is being led on a wild goose chase. He is informed that his services are not needed and that a land surveyor was only called upon in the first place due to an unheard of clerical error in the castle. Despite being told point blank that he is not needed and should return home, K. lingers and attempts to gain admittance into the castle regardless. I believe that there are three possible interpretations of K.'s actions in this novel. The first and probably the most obvious would be that the castle represents K.'s masculinity and he is determined to regain it by making his way into the castle. Earlier on in the novel when his leg was ripped from his body while searching for the castle by boat, we can start to see the possibility of the “search for masculinity” interpretation taking form. K. quickly decides that he must hunt down the castle at all costs and he nails a gold piece to the mast of his yacht for whichever mate is first to spot the castle. K. is truly obsessed with regaining his masculinity and will do anything to find the clearly phallic castle that stole his leg. Finally he confronts the castle and it destroys his ship, killing everyone on his yacht including the famed and aforementioned Winston Smith. All of this blatant phallic imagery proves definitively that the search for masculinity was a central idea behind Kafka’s unfinished masterpiece. One of the lesser-known interpretations is that Kafka’s novel was written to satire the Russian bureaucratic government in place at the time. The difficulty that K. faces in everything that he does and the perpetual formalities that confront him make it impossible for him to get anywhere, and at times it feels as though he has taken steps backwards on his way to the castle. The silly and often absurd protocols of the castle show the ridiculousness of such a bureaucracy and many would argue that along with the loss-of-masculinity interpretation, the comparison to the Russian bureaucratic system may even be plausible, as far fetched as it might seem. The final interpretation that one could make if one hadn’t already realized that the castle obviously symbolizes K.’s lost masculinity through repetition of penis imagery, could be that K. is a diagnosable, deranged obsessive compulsive who has become completely enthralled by the possibility of being accepted into the castle. He abandons his previous life and any form of work. He starts living out of a school building with his only focus being to gain entry into the castle. He truly becomes obsessed with the idea but does he ever actually get anywhere? No. Kafka was to busy being dead to finish the book so we never find out if the castle even exists except for when it bites off K.’s leg and kills Winston Smith in a horrible yachting accident in which K. was the only survivor. Those are three possible interpretations. Oh and was the castle supposed to represent heaven as a divine idea that can neither be confirmed nor denied as existing? Also no, because clearly the castle represents K.’s lost masculinity, i.e. obviously it’s supposed to represent a penis.
ReplyDelete-James Wronoski
Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino, provides room for interpretation as we observe the changes of mobsters Jules and Vincent (Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta) as well as corrupt boxer Butch (Bruce Willis) in a convoluted yet undeniably entertaining story of drugs, sex, and violence. According to Metaphilm.com, the twisted story line leaving the watcher guessing as to what happened at what point in time, symbolizes the nihilism of humans as we self destruct trying to find direction and meaning in our lives. Metaphilm.com also notes that the constant pop culture references in the film indicate the way in which the characters try to grasp reality. This vacuum in their lives which results from a lack of purpose fills itself with power over others, and in the case of Vincent and Jules, their lives are given purpose by Marcellus Wallas. What he wants done, they do. They are told to acquire a mysterious brief case, and though we never find out what's inside, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters to Vincent and Jules is that Marcellus Wallas wants it, which instills it with value. This again points to the nihilism of humans. If Jules and Vincent had direction in their lives they would be able to tell if getting the briefcase was worth the murder of several people. We believe that Jules cares deeply about the bible, and spirituality as he recites the same lines...
ReplyDelete"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children.
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."
... before he pops a cap in somebody at the request of Marcellus Wallas. However at the end of the movie we realize that this, one of the few things in the movie that provide structure, and a moral code to his life, is actually meaningless to him and it is just a facade he puts on to hide from himself that he truly is lost in a world without rules.
I believe that the story line acts not only as a method of "destabilizing" the framework of the movie and thus the world within, but also to make the other bazaar occurrences seem much more subtle and realistic, in turn pushing the watcher into a nearly fantastic series of events, but making them all the more believable. As you watch the movie, the scenes pass quickly enough that as one ends, you are still trying to find out where chronologically it began. This leaves little room to process the meaning of what's happening until after the movie is over. In this way, you are desensitized to the crazy scenes with drug overdoses and rape and focus more on the finite scenes like at "Jack Rabit Slim's", the old fashion restaurant. This seamless welding between the fantastic and the realistic provides an analogy to religion. Much like how ancient civilizations, and many modern day people, use(d) religion to explain every day occurrences, the characters use surreal violence and the guidance of a seemingly all powerful being (Marcellus Wallas) to explain what they do not understand.
-Mike W
Colby Ko (i'll bring in a copy just in case this you don't get this comment on time)
ReplyDeleteMulan's "I'll Make a Man out of You!"
The hammed up, Disney fiction of Mulan is known to many as a girl, posing as a male, getting down to business to defeat the Huns. Mulan (the feminine figure) surmounting of the gender role of a soldier (traditionally male) is especially recognizable in the military training camp where their commander first impression is, “did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons?” Mulan’s small figure represents female inferiority insecurities say “I’m never going to catch my breath…” and how that inhibits him/her from being equal to “a man” when marching with a stick across on his/her shoulder with imbalanced weights at either end. This scale-like device, representing imbalanced gender roles, is gradually balanced throughout the training to the point where she is actually leading the men on marches. Given this motivational picture, the lyrics underscore the illusiveness of this gender equality saying that it’s “mysterious as the dark side of the moon… huah!”
Mulan's "A Girl Worth Fighting For!"
Though the woman’s rights argument is the most apparent, Mulan also deals with broader issues of general happiness. As the soldiers go off to war and are consumed by long marches, the embody the get rich fast craze that the U.S. was undergoing in the late 1990s (Mulan was made in 1998). Everyone was so awed by quick money like that found in the dot-com bubble (starting around 1995) that they were consumed by their jobs. However, just as the soldiers glaze over and dream of a girl (a symbol for the intangible happiness), workers at the tail end of the roaring nineties began to reevaluate why they were toiling as they tried to find “a girl worth fighting for!”
One way to interpret the book The Giver is that it's a book about how society should be. Given that fact, it'd be easy to see how and why that is. The book is about a completely uniform society with Climate Control and such.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to interpret this book is as society as it COULD be, in which case most people would agree that it is not the ideal while very few would say that they would like to live in a society without real emotions and such.
Josef Shohet