Rose Wilder Lane

Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin. In 1893, this short story was published as “The Father of Desiree’s Baby” in a magazine. Madame Valmonde and Monsieur adopted Desiree for the reason she was found abandoned when she was just a little girl. As she grew older, she found the love of her life, Armand as they had so much love for one another. They had a child, and as soon as they had the baby, the relationship turned out to be bitter and complicated. After a few months passed, Armand and Desiree…

The overall aim of this essay is to compare the film Sin City with the classic style of film noir to see if there are any differences or similarities between them. The analysis focuses on four concepts that I believe are the most classic film-noir associations. Lighting, Femme fatale, a dark world and the protagonist. Already in the first scene a couple of things are established. The first scene is part of a side story that we only get to see in the beginning and again at the end of the film,…

Even though film experts still debate what genre it best falls into, the 1950 Billy Wilder-directed film Sunset Boulevard is, in many respects, the archetypal film noir, and is also widely regarded as one of the most brutally honest depictions of Hollywood, by Hollywood. One of the biggest reasons Wilder’s film is viewed as such an exemplar of the film noir movement is its innovative use of lighting effects. Use of lighting can make or break a black-and-white film much more than it can one in…

The Stairs of Life In the first act of life, people crawl on all fours. In the second act of love and marriage, they walk on two legs. In the third act of death, people walk with a cane, and eventually meet their untimely demise. Similar to the sphinx’s riddle in Oedipus Rex, Our Town, written by Thornton Wilter, includes these major themes in each scene of the play. The first act includes the theme of small town life where the story takes place in New Hampshire in a small fictional town known…

Hollywood movie goddess Angelina Jolie Workout and Diet Plan Born on June 4, 1942 in Los Angeles, California, Angelina Jolie is one of the most popular and celebrated American actress and filmmaker. Ex-wife of wealthy Hollywood star and producer, Brad Pitt and mother to six children (three children are adopted), Jolie is a woman of substance who is known for her work for humanitarian causes. She has been leading actress of many Hollywood hits - Tomb Raider, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wanted, Salt and…

Our Town is clearly a representation - and largely a celebration - of small-town American life. Nearly every character in the play love’s Grover's Corners, even as many of them acknowledge its small-mindedness and dullness. Its sleepy simplicity, in fact, is its major point of attraction for many characters. Dr. Gibbs, for instance, who refuses to travel, thus cultivates his ignorance of life outside of Grover's Corners in order to remain content within it; his son, too, decides not to go away…

The opening scene of Rear Window (1954), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, acts as a prologue of the film: we are introduced to the space where much of the narrative will take place, to the protagonist, his background, and his neighbors through entirely visual means. Hitchcock created an entire film from the rear window of a Greenwich Village apartment symbolizing a certain “movie-watching” experience. Hitchcock uses mise en scène to show how the film is going to progress, uses camera movement…

This essay will provide an overview of a clip from the beginning of the movie Double Indemnity. The clip has a runtime of two minutes and thirty-three seconds and contains five shots in total. This paper will provide an in-depth analysis of each shot in the clip. It will examine the types of camera angles used, the lighting direction and the composition of objects and figures on the screen. The elevator encounter between Walter Neff and the Watchman in the first scene is a two-shot captured at…

In Los Angeles, California in 1926, Norma Jean Mortenson was born to Gladys Baker. Norma grew up damaged by foster homes, neglect, and abuse as a result of her mother's mental instability. Despite her troubled childhood, she managed to become a successful model and screen actress later in her life. Norma would change her name to Marilyn Monroe, and become one of the most famous stars of the 20th century. Her rise was rapid, but so was her downfall. She became increasingly unstable.…

Complex characters such as Norma Desmond and King Lear are often used to display the effect people have on other’s realities and beliefs. In Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder and King Lear by William Shakespeare, complex characters are used to demonstrate how permissive relationships can create the false reality and ultimate madness one may endure. In Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond experiences a sheltered life that leads to a state of insanity. While much of this insanity comes from her own…