Julie Taymor

A good film will show a concept rather than tell it, however, this simple, universal concept is a lot more intricate than it seems. In order to successfully convey a theme through the use of audiovisual techniques outside of dialogue a filmmaker must consider things such as sound, production design, acting, editing, and cinematography. Billy Elliot, directed by Stephen Daldry, is a great example of a film that expertly employs such audiovisual techniques. At face value, one can instantly get the…

This paper will argue that the photographs of the Countess de Castiglione and Emile Zola’s, “The Kill” both present women that rely on their appearances to discern their identities. It will further demonstrate that because of this emphasis on appearances to assert reality, women depend on their body as a mode of expressing the more complex parts of their personalities. To understand the immense attention paid to women’s appearance during 19th century France, it is crucial to consider the role…

The story Harrison Bergeron takes place in America, and in 2081. In the story Harrison Bergeron everybody is equally the same, no one is better looking, stronger, and smarter than everyone else. Also if your better looking, stronger, or smarter than everyone else you would have to wear these things called handicaps which kept you from being better than everyone else. This makes me think that equality isn’t always good. First of all in the story Harrison Bergeron the government tortures the…

Despite offering a different character’s point of view, several of the dramatic techniques resident in Miss Julie are exhibited. Even more importantly, Strindberg again insists on placing the family of the play in the context of a Darwinian battle of the strongest. It is natural for us to expect similarities between The Father and Miss Julie due to the close proximity of their writing, but the points made about Strindberg’s later work help provide an additional insight into the playwright’s…

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr is a science fiction short story that takes place in America in the year 2081. Some of the major characters are Harrison Bergeron and Diana Moon Glampers. Harrison Bergeron is a fourteen year old teen who was imprisoned for going against the law; he was not equal to the rest of society. Diana Moon Glampers is known in the story as the Handicapped General. It was her responsibility to give people their handicaps and enforce the law that everyone is equal. The…

The trigger for sympathy for the eponymous character Miss Julie The inevitability of fate as a motor for drama has been used through the ages and August Strindberg’s controversial play Miss Julie falls into this grouping of literary classics. The eponymous protagonist (daughter of a count and a commoner), is driven by a hereditary need to integrate with the lower class yet simultaneously lord over them. Using her sexuality but also tempted by lowering herself socially, she beds her servant,…

The legend of Erzsébet Báthory’s alleged slaughter of up to 650 Hungarian peasant girls is not terra incognita for film; from 1971’s Countess Dracula, 1981’s Night of the Werewolf, to 2006’s Stay Alive, her tale has been sensationalized and embellished beyond recognition. Often cited as the inspiration behind the vampire subgenre of horror films, the fable goes that Erzsébet (or Elizabeth, as it’s frequently anglicized.), a wealthy Countess of 17th Century Hungary, was a terribly vain and cruel…

“‘And I say to you, that if it is GREATNESS we must destroy, then let us drag our enemy out of the darkness where it has been hiding! Let us shine a LIGHT...so that AT LAST, ALL THE WORLD CAN SEE!’” (Tuttle 2009). This quote creates a huge change in the main character than we see in the short story “Harrison Bergeron.” In both the short story “Harrison Bergeron” and the movie “2081” there are many similarities and differences. One similarity that stood out to me was that Harrison announces a…

Harrison Bergeron is a short story written in 1961 by Kurt Vonnegut, it is set in 2081, in a dystopian version of the U.S. The government feels that everyone should be equal, so they put handicaps on above average people. Harrison was smart, fast, and strong, he also threatened the government, who thought he was under handicapped, he eventually broke out of jail, but was killed shortly after. The Great Awakening occurred in Colonial America, from the 1730’s-1740’s. One of the main ideals of the…

Titus is a film directed by Julie Taymor. This film, adapted from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, premiered on December 24th, 1999. It's set in a modern Rome, perhaps the 1950's, but maintains ancient Roman culture. As in Richard III, music plays a prominent feature in Titus. Taymor, unlike Loncraine, uses music to exaggerate specific emotions displayed by her characters. In the scene where Tamora vows to massacre Andronicus and his family, sinister sounding music interrupts the steady stream…