Melville viewed the Civil War as a bloody battle between brothers. His poetry shows the true side to the Civil War, without all of the grandeur and pageantry that other authors have used to describe battles. I believe that his feelings on the war were that it was, like every war, an old mans war that was fought by young men. This can easily be seen in his poem The March into Virginia. Melville wrote, “Youth must its ignorant impulse lend-…
In both independent and mainstream cinema, viewers and critics are usually most aware of how females are represented and portrayed. However, it is also important to consider how men are represented. There are many different types of masculinities within our modern society, but one hegemonic idea still reigns supreme. The films of Todd Haynes challenge the idea that there is only one accepted masculinity and prove that there is in fact a hierarchy of masculinities. Haynes’ films, such as Poison and Dottie Gets Spanked, show how, while not as widely accepted, there are more kinds of masculinity than straight, white, middle-class man.…
Thomas C. Foster says that “irony trumps everything” (244). There is a deep irony to Harper Lee’s novel when it comes to the attitude of the townspeople towards the actions of Adolf Hitler in Germany and the Tom Robinson case that’s happening right in their backyard. Cecil Jacobs comes to class with a news article in hand that discusses the persecution of the Jews in Germany. Then Miss Gates describes that the United States is a democracy, while Germany is a dictatorship. She continues by saying, “over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody.…
After the end of World War II, American life in the 1950s was supposedly calm and harmonious. Americans moved out of the cities and into the suburbs along the “smiling sunbelt.” Many people became homeowners, the birth rate drastically increased, and most women became stay-at-home moms. However, not all aspects of American life conformed to such ideals. The films Pleasantville and Edward Scissorhands critique the 1950s and depict how the era was actually not an age of conformity.…
In the short story, "A visit to Grandmother," William Melvin Kelly express the idea of "irony trumps everything" (Foster) by depicting the struggle Charles went through as he realizes the truth is different from what he expected. Kelly expresses the idea of "irony trumps everything" by first showing the readers how Charles, Chig's father, dislike going back to the grandmother's house and how much he dislikes his brother, GL, he has been so convinced of the fact that he is unloved by his mom. (Kelly) This all propose that Charles might not stand the truth of which his mom loved both of her sons. For Charles, it is shocking that his mom didn't love GL more than him, he was scared that his life would be destroyed if what he had believed for thirty…
Some Like it Hot deliberately ignored the film regulations of the time, and told the unruly tale of two men who dress as women and join a traveling girls band to escape the mafia. In the process, the two men learn much about what it was like to be female, subverting the expectations of gender identity of the 1950’s. The film draws much of its humor through the entertaining juxtaposition of the male and female genders. The large and masculine frames of the two adult men in dresses are matched and compared with the iconic Marilyn Monroe, whose character is interestingly and fittingly named “Sugar.” Being arguably the largest sex symbol in the 1950’s, Monroe’s presence alone indicated the underlying sexual and gender-based commentary.…
This scene depicts the women in an almost-pornographic way which is a familiar concept to many people. The 150 virgins make sexual comments towards Galahad and drape themselves around him in a sexual manner. The scene is therefore comedic to the audience because they understand the way the women are acting towards Galahad and can connect it to the way women act in pornographic material. The final scene that utilizes familiarity as…
The genre of teen films was born in the 1950’s but became a fixture in pop culture following on the heels of movies from John Hughes in the 80’s. The genre of teen films encompasses movies that are directed towards a teen audience and are generally also about teens. They encompass essential components that reflect the teen experience: a defined social hierarchy that is usually disrupted during the course of the movie, conflict stemming from rebellion, and a romantic interest. All of these are often used to display a coming of age process. Mean Girls is one of the defining movies within the teen film genre because of the way it takes the clichés of the genre and uses it to create a story that is perfectly representative of the genre because it plays off of all other teen films.…
In the Article “There is More to Life Than Being Happy”, the Author explains how happiness all depends on the attitude of the person who is in the situation. Smith argues that any people have wrong ideas of happiness and where to find it and that reflects on their current life situations. She uses Viktor Frankl’s, a Jewish psychiatrist, experience inside of a concentration camp and what he found once he released to prove her viewpoint. The author uses Smith writes using rhetorical devices pathos, ethos, and perspective to persuade readers that there is more to life than the pursuit of happiness. Summary…
Vampires, werewolves, and monsters of all kinds have been prevalent in the horror genre, but the monstrous-feminine is comparably different. Whereas male monsters shock and terrify the audience through violence and bodily transformations, the female monster is horrifying in relation to her sexuality. The horror genre has frequently perpetuated patriarchal ideologies with scenes objectifying women using the ‘male gaze’ and punishing women for any kind of sexuality. Brian de Palma’s 1976 film adaption of Stephen King’s novel Carrie is no different.…
Mindy Kaling in her personal narrative, “Types of Women in Romantic Comedies who are not Real,” criticizes the movie industry in a humorous way. Kaling uses her love and extensive knowledge of Romantic Comedies to begin to expose the unrealistic images of women that Hollywood immortalizes. She provides extensive details throughout her essay to prove her overall point. Kaling applies allusions, segmented organization, and sarcasm to prove the improbability of these women in real life. Mindy Kaling frequently incorporates allusions in her essay.…
The repetitive screen time for Paulette’s Beauty Parlor illustrates the fatuous stereotype that women simply go to beauty salons for gossip and to discuss the opposite sex. It is easily understood that the scenes involving the beauty shop empower women and unite those of different body types, skin tones, class, and archetypes, especially Bend and Snap; however, it is still palpable that the hair salon scenes are purely parts that perpetuate stereotypes.. As reported in Jennifer Scanlon’s editorial, “It was an all-female society--no man would dare enter the place--and here, if nowhere else, women said what they thought about men” (qtd in Scanlon). Although media should extol the empowerment that films and musicals provide for females, the cliched concepts throughout the span of the performances chiefly display negative assumptions about femininity. For example, during the scene revolving around Bend and Snap, the fact that Elle taught Paulette such a move was simply to attract a UPS delivery man named Kyle.…
The article, ‘Film Bodies: Gender, Genre & Excess’1 by Linda Williams explores whether the forms of sex, violence and emotion found in the genres of pornography, horror, and melodrama (specifically the woman’s weepie) respectively, are as gratuitous as my film scholars and critics believe them to be. Setting out to disprove this idea, Williams’ investigates and compares the form, function, and system of the three genres. Ultimately, William’s central claims reveal the value in the supposed excess of these three genres that benefit a spectator in a variety of ways. Seeking to argue her idea, Williams’ firstly uncovers why elements of these genres are regularly deemed as excessive. This is presented with the contrast of Classic Hollywood and…
Summary and Reaction to ‘There’s More to Life Than Being Happy’ Emily Esfahani Smith’s article ‘There’s More to Life Than Being Happy’ (The Atlantic: June 2013) discusses the ideas in a book written by Viktor Frankl, a prominent Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist who was a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl concludes that camp prisoners who had found meaning in their life were more satisfied and therefore more likely to survive. Those that had merely been happy in life found it harder to keep a good morale and were less likely to survive. Smith goes on to cite many different sources that give statistics as to how more and more Americans are finding happiness in their lives, but no true meaning.…
Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, is one of the more popular comedic works of its time. The movie showcases genres of romance, crime and comedy while creating an obvious juxtaposition of male and female characters. The movie highlights central themes regarding gender and sexuality. Marilyn Monroe’s character represents the quintessential cinematic female fantasy, as she represents the seemingly all too innocent, naive, sensual and sexual female representation that she has been largely popularized by. In spite of the movies light comedic angle it showcases some relevant beliefs on the pervasive attitudes around female relationships, sexuality, gender norms roles and values.…