Faces

Appropriations of successful texts often make critical changes to the original novel for a variation of intentions. These changes often reflect the cultural values of the time period and upon analysis the similarities and differences between the cultures are revealed. The film Mary Reilly (1996) is a recent appropriation of the 1886 classic novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stephen Frears, director of Mary Reilly, has cinematically and creatively chosen…

In AMC's Breaking Bad finale, the deuteragonist, Jesse, screams the words "Say you want this." as he holds his former partner Walter at gunpoint. The room's walls are stained with the blood of their enemies; the litter of fresh corpses scattered around the living space. In this violent scene containing the gore of organized crime, the production and distribution of drugs is portrayed horrifically. The horror lies in the truth of the horrific events that result from the dealings of drugs, the…

“Sometimes you don’t realize you’re drowning when you’re trying to be everyone else’s anchor,” -Unknown. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s prominent novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a dispute between good and evil is present throughout the outstanding book, especially in Henry Jekyll and his struggle with the two sides of life. Dr. Jekyll seems to be endeavoring to find himself and figuring out who he truly is, but loses himself and falls from grace in his lifetime. Not everyone is…

There are multiple types of archetypes that are present in all forms of literature. In the book, “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck, he demonstrates each archetype in a different character. There is the hero, the innocent, the wise man, the femme fatale, the outcast, the villain, and the caretaker. Some common characteristics of the Innocent are that they are pure, full of virtue, honest, and full of positive energy. Since they are so innocent and likable, they are often taken advantage of,…

In Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde the classic reading is that the two characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde symbolise the struggle between good and evil in each person.Yet, in an age where the view of criminality shift the focus from lower classes to higher classes, created a change in perspective where men's reputation was not as easily kept as it was before. Therefore, another reading of the text is that it exposes the changing late Victorian society…

WILLY WONKA- SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY DISORDER About the character Willy Wonka is one of the main characters in Roald Dahl’s famous books, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The character was portrayed by Gene Wilder in the 1971 film adaptation, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2005 film adaptation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Both the films and the books describe Willy Wonka as a phoenix-like man who…

Throughout the novel The Perfume- the story of a murderer, the author Patrick Süskind explores and displays his protagonist Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s journey from an orphan to the greatest perfumer in France with an array of different ways, ranging from an animal to a God. Süskind uses a variety of literary techniques such as zoomorphism, allusions, and imagery to reveal Grenouille’s fickle disposition. Consequently, the effect of making divine, animalistic and childlike comparisons of the…

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson’s, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is probably one of the best known works to come out of the Victorian Era. This short novella griped the audiences of the late nineteenth century Britons, and its popularity has not wavered. You would be hard pressed to find an average person who does not know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 1894 Joseph Jacobs wrote that “it stands beside The Pilgrim’s Progress and Gulliver’s Travels as one of the three great…

The Dark Knight is the story of the infamous “Batman” and his iconic rival the “Joker” in which the two fight for the power over the city. The Joker’s character is described as a “sociopathic, killing clown” because his actions and his scars have such an impact on anyone he crosses. Both roles are classified as incognito. Mysteries consume the ones who watch this film as to what is the actual story behind the scars? Or was the joker actually an unethical hero? And especially the most asked, what…

In more ways than one, the Batman and Joker are very similar. Though one fights for justice and the other is pure comical chaos, they are the same, that is why they never truly end each other and will continue the endless cycle they are stuck in. While some would disagree with this, others say that the Bat is just as insane as the joker, maybe even more. There are times in comics, for example “The Killing Joke”, that have more or less proven this point. For example, at the end of the comic,…