Intro: It is the summer of 1962, and although the entire human race is concerned about the Cuban Missile Crisis, fourteen-year-old Lewis is absorbed by flying saucers. Why? Don’t just state this without providing some justification from the text. Louis Nowra’s ‘Summer of the Aliens’ is an account of the events and relationships which formed Lewis’ emerging sense of self. Told without sentimentality, Lewis’ story is one of wonder and terror as he comes to terms with the aliens within us all. Furthermore, ‘Summer of the Aliens’ is an autobiographical recount of Lewis’ life, with links to the modernist movement of Expressionism. According to Czech historian, Antonin Matějček, Expressionism is used in order to, “...to express oneself... “ through recounting the past from a subjective viewpoint. The themes which are exhibited in Act I Scene III include sexuality and normative standards of living. great, but what do you mean by this last phrase? Setting (Syntax required) The stage setting incorporates a wide use of …show more content…
symbolism what symbols? to convey meaning what meaning exactly?. The key aspect of the staging was to confine the stage into a small section. Why? Justify your choices. This would be achieved by using wall dividers to form a triangular room, whereby the vertex of the wall is on centre stage. The use of featuring a confined room symbolises the state of a typical Australian housing commission, whereby living spaces are claustrophobic. Furthermore, the stage lighting of the scene is an amber colour in order to depict the time period of the summer of 1962. In addition, the sound of cicadas (an Australian insect) will also be simultaneously played while the scene is being performed. This enhances the knowledge of the audience, to be able visualise what an Australian summer would appear like through the various senses in the body. good On the right wing of the confined room is a ‘worn-out’ chair which is Stan’s seat; this element depicts the state of the house. Alongside the chair is a transistor; this theatrical device brings the outside world into the estate, whereby the pressures of the outside on the suburban world lead to fear and aggression into the atmosphere of the scene. Moreover, an expressionistic artwork of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion will also be included in order to emphasise the spiritual nature of Mrs. Irvine through symbolism. The artwork is located above a tabernacle (Catholic prayer table) which is positioned to the left wing of the inner-sector of the confined room.What’s the point of the expressionistic crucifix? Is her version of Christianity a bit warped? Body: Nowra explains that the play was based upon a semi-autobiographical interpretation of his life in, "This play is a black hole of fiction, surrounded by a halo of truth. It has many autographical elements and although there are many factual and chronological discrepancies, I have tried to keep true to the emotional chronology of my youth... memory is remembered emotion, not facts." This is evident in an instance where Lewis is confused about his sexuality. According to ‘The Twelfth of Never’ (Louis Nowra’s Memoir) he openly confesses that he was a bisexual in his teenage years. In order to express the theme of sexuality in ‘Summer of the Aliens’, Lewis wears tight, worn-out shorts, alongside sandals and a white tight singlet in order to symbolise his confusion of his sexuality as well as his low socioeconomic status. Mrs Irvin (development required) In continuation of the transformation, Mrs Irvin is dressed in a black robe which completely covers any flesh (other than her head), symbolising her faith toward Catholicism. The use of wearing a robe also defers against the normative standards of living whereby women usually wore dresses which exhibited a small proportion of flesh in order to attract male attention. Mrs Irvin’s character is similar to that of Nowra’s portrayal of Stan, as she is also an exaggerated caricature of ‘hyper-femininity’ where she is solely dependant on a patriarchal God. Isn’t this a bit contradictory? She wouldn’t be hyper feminist, but subservient if a Catholic from the 50’s In concluding the scene, Mrs Irvin begs to God through worshiping a piece of St Thomas’ relic by concerning recreation in “...one child, that’s all… just one sharing of our flesh…”. In the transformation, Mrs Irvin delivers this dialogue in a sorrowful tone as she pleads at an expressionistic artwork of Jesus’ crucifixion (on top of the tabernacle) whilst simultaneously holding St Thomas’ relic firmly in her hands. In order to explicitly achieve this result, workshops were accomplished under the Stanislavski system of developing drama in order to achieve an incredibly high level of physical and mental concentration from the actors. The workshops incorporated a use of constructive feedback whereby the actors were able to develop on their issues in order to perfect the outcome of the transformation.You have to give details of the workshop. You must also give equal weight to Dulcie in the scene. It’s her defiance that drivers Mrs I even further into the strange religious practices. Mrs Irvin’s devout hyper-spiritual dependance to her patriarchal God shows that she is an alien impersonating a human female. This is evident as she doesnt confine to the normative standards of living through her Stan (development required) After his time spent residing in Munich in the 1970s, Nowra was influenced by the Expressionist Movement, which was developed in Germany. According to his memoir ‘The Twelfth of Never’, he idolised the work of American Expressionist playwright Tennessee Williams, whose play ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ featured a character named ‘Stanley’ (known as ‘Stan’), who was depicted as a hyper-male; a patronising, homophobic, condescending and alcoholic character. In comparison, ‘The Summer of the Aliens’ also incorporates a character of almost identical characteristics named 'Stan' as well. An excellent link. The original intention of portraying Stan in the transformation of Act I Scene III, was to dress him in a North Melbourne Kangaroos Football Club (Australian Football League team) guernsey. With the Kangaroos being located in the North of Melbourne, the dramatic choice of wearing the guernsey symbolised the setting being in North Melbourne. Although, it was unnecessary to accomplish this as the club wasn't known as North Melbourne in 1962 (the year the novel was published). Furthermore, the intertextuality between ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Summer of the Aliens’ influenced the decision to dress Stan in an attire which consists of a muscle-neck singlet which is similar to that of Stanley in ‘Streetcar Named Desire’. Confining against the normalities of society is a theme which inhibits Nowra to characterise Stan and Mrs Irvin as aliens.
Similarly, the concept of Normlessness (as expressed by Durkheim) “denotes the situation in which the social norms regulating individual conduct have broken down or are no longer effective as rules for behaviour”. A major mean of relating normlessness to Act I Scene III, is evident through Stan ignoring ‘normal’ behavioural standards by being sexually abusive to Dulcie, violently abusive to Mrs Irvin as well as being verbally violent to Lewis. Louis Nowra’s depiction of Stan is similarly to that of his ‘Uncle Keith’. In an article written by Nowra in The Sydney Morning Herald (‘To Appreciate Our Identity, We Need the Write Stuff’), where he characterises his ‘Uncle Keith’, as being similar to Stan as he is described as being against ‘pillow-biters’ (gays) and an ‘aggressive conformity and brutal indifference to culture or
women’. The characteristics applied by Nowra, portray Stan as being a ‘hyper-macho’ caricature of a male whereby he is in fact an alien impersonating a human male, but not imitating it correctly. This is evident through the expressionistic language device of hyperbole, where Nowra portrays Stan as being a ‘hyper-male’ in, “You ready to join up?...To fight the communists, Cuba, Russia. The start of World War Three. The Yanks will protect us”. Stan is depicted in the transformation as asking the question to Lewis in an assertive tone. Furthermore, Stan responds to Lewis’ comment of, “Join Up?” in an aggressive tone whilst invading Lewis’ ‘personal space’ by pointing his index finger firmly into his chest. In addition, Lewis reacts by stepping backward in order to symbolise him being intimidated by Stan. Through Stan invading Lewis’ personal space, this symbolises that he doesn’t confine to the ‘normative’ standards of living. According to ‘Living Drama’, Australians “...demand the largest personal about themselves and are of the most inhibited when it comes to touch”; this factor shows Stan doesn’t confine and is confused about the normative standards of Australian culture. Moreover it also explains that alcohol affects Stan’s inhuman coldness, lack of emotion and mood swings. All the factors collaborate to lead to Dulcie’s statement that “Stan is an alien” (Act… Scene…) as he is wrongly imitating common characteristics associated with being human. Expressionism Common features associated with the modern movement of Expressionism include either clipped and telegraphic dialogue or expansive and rhapsodic dialogue. Clipped and telegraphic language is a form of dialogue which is brief and concise, whereas expansive and rhapsodic dialogue is enthusiastic and comprehensive. Nowra’s form of expressionism is telegraphic rather than expansive. In ‘Summer of the Aliens’, the extensive use of Australian vernacular tone allows the playwright to clip the character’s speech. The Australian dialect of English is renowned for its liberal compounding of words. With the play being set in a North Melbourne housing commission, this form of dialogue is present in the confinement of consonants and syllables in “...isn’t…” and “...blast’em...”. The dramatic choice of an aggressive delivery by the actor emphasises Nowra’s dialogue clipping to the audience. This highlights the playwright’s expressionistic recount of the past from a subjective viewpoint. Dulcie Nowra’s expressionism can be seen as telegraphic rather than expansive in Dulcie’s dialogue. This is evident where she simply states, “I don't fight him, he fights me”. Dulcie is telegraphic as she is not comprehensive in the way she explains the flaw between her relationship with Stan. Without expressing the full details of why she doesn’t really associate with Stan, she simply ignores the favour asked by Mrs. Irvine to “...stop fighting”. Her speech is also telegraphic as the dialogue has been compressed in order to avoid explicitly stating the truth. In order to emphasise the clipped speech, Dulcie quietly takes a step back and responds to her mother by swiftly whispering the statement, symbolising her fear of Stan, as a result of the sexual abuse she suffered at his hand. Moreover, Stan’s sexual abuse of Dulcie, justifies Nowra’s decision to allow Dulcie to enter the scene as Stan exits. In order to transform this transition in Act One Scene Three, it was deemed necessary for Stan to grasp his keys and simultaneously say, “Im going to the pub”. As Stan leaves the scene from the right wing of the confined room, Dulcie enters the scene by scanning the room in order to detect if Stan is still present in the room. This is accomplished by only the audience understanding that she is on stage whereby Lewis and Mrs Irvin are simultaneously continuing their conversation without no knowledge of Dulcie’s presence. Only until she is fully confident in announcing that she is “...ready” to leave, is it evident that Dulcie’s mood has been adjusted in order to symbolise her relief that the man who has sexually abused her isn’t present. Conclusion Initially, Lewis and to some degree Dulcie are hooked on science fiction and exhibit a hobby in fantasising that aliens will invade the world by stealth. As changes in people occur throughout Lewis' life, he attends to the matter of aliens invading the world by instead imagining that aliens have taken over the bodies of people. This is evident in Nowra’s memoir (‘Twelfth of Never’) in, “”...my conviction that the reason aliens took over human bodies was so they could adjust to our atmosphere, as if they were using our bodies as protective shells…”
The book opens up with the author talking about his journey home from a summer stay in a cabin in the north. The relevance of this is due to his subsequent stop made at his Aunts house along the way. The author notes that she had a “handsome” set of an edition of Lewis' journals. After acquiring the journals from his Aunt the author states that he read them and frequently discussed them with his Aunt, so much so that they even followed the path taken by Lewis and his group of explorers. All of this leads to explaining his love for the exploration that had taken place so many years ago, with his ending statement saying he felt “privileged” to have spent time with Lewis.
...ct, detrimental attitudes towards women is still seen in Australian society. They are portrayed as nothing more than mere sexual objects of the male’s desire. Enright wrote this play to reveal to the reader how Australian culture is unrefined, must evolve to keep up with change, and has flaws that are detrimental to the lives of youth and the wellbeing of society. How can be that it’s ok to horrifically rape, a fifteen-year-old young woman, and a community thinks nothing of it? How can it be that a male can murder, a fifteen year-old young women, just because she won’t have sexual intercourse with him? I don’t understand this disgusting mindset of this male youth culture. What I do know is this, if this idea of women as nothing more than mere sexual objects is continued in male culture, than acts such as the gang rape and murder of Tracey will be endorsed.
After Jean-Michel Basquiat received acclimation from the public over his unique art, many young, creative and enthusiastic artists emerged beginning Neo-Expressionism, which means the new wild ones. Neo-expressionists would create pieces that incorporated objects we recognize and see on a daily basis such as people and animals in an abstract, yet stirring way. Neo-Expressionists would create with great emotion which could sometimes be in a turbulent manner which is what gives this type of art such meaning and why it caused such a great
Adler, Patricia A., and Adler Peter. Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context, and Interaction. 6th ed. Belmont: Thomas/Wadsworth, 2009.
The German Expressionist movement was a number of movements that began in Germany during the start of the 20th century. It mainly dealt with poetry, painting, art and cinema. The success of expressionist films helped Germany seen as the most technically advanced in the world. The expressionist style can be...
The German Expressionism was a period that came following the devastation of World War I, it came when the people of Germany needed something to claim as their own. The expressionism movement gave Germany just that; it helped them not only in the filmmaking industry, but also in their personal lives. The German Expressionism changed the way we look at and view films. The German Expressionism altered, for the better, the way that films were made back then and the way that they are made today.
Black smoke stained the sky and scarlet blood darkened the earth, as global war, once again, ravaged twentieth-century society. The repercussions of the Second World War rippled across the Atlantic and spread like an infectious disease. As the morality of humankind appeared to dissipate with each exploding bomb, anxiety, frustration, and hopelessness riddled the American public and began to spill into the art of New York City’s avant-garde (Paul par. 4). By the mid-1940s, artists reeling from the unparalleled violence, brutality, and destruction of war found a shared “vision and purpose” in a new artistic movement: Abstract Expressionism (Chave 3). Critics considered the most prominent artists of the movement to comprise the New York School
Specific techniques of German expressionism, such as dark vs. light, religious themes and spirituality, and the use
The link between expressionism and horror quickly became a dominant feature in many films and continues to be prominent in contemporary films mainly due to the German expressionist masterpiece Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari. Wiene’s 1920 Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari utilized a distinctive creepiness and the uncanny throughout the film that became one the most distinctive features of externalising inner mental and emotional states of protagonists through various expressionist methods. Its revolutionary and innovative new art was heavily influenced by the German state and its populace in conjunction with their experience of war; Caligari took a clear cue from what was happening in Germany at the time. It was this film that set cinematic conventions that still apply today, heavily influencing the later Hollywood film noir genre as well as the psychological thrillers that has lead several film audiences to engage with a film, its character, its plot and anticipate its outcome, only to question whether the entire movie was a dream, a story of a crazy man, or an elaborate role play. This concept of the familiar and the strange, the reality, the illusion and the dream developed in Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari, is once again present in Scorsese’s 2010 film Shutter Island. It is laced with influences from different films of the film noir and horror genre, and many themes that are directly linked to Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari shot 90 years prior.
The German expressionism was an avant-garde movement that was more than just a style of creating art or film but it was more of a socio-cultural mindset of people. Expressionism can be seen as a way of approaching or tackling life changes.
In the 1950s, authors tended to follow common themes, these themes were summed up in an art called postmodernism. Postmodernism took place after the Cold War, themes changed drastically, and boundaries were broken down. Postmodern authors defined themselves by “avoiding traditional closure of themes or situations” (Postmodernism). Postmodernism tends to play with the mind, and give a new meaning to things, “Postmodern art often makes it a point of demonstrating in an obvious way the instability of meaning (Clayton)”. What makes postmodernism most unique is its unpredictable nature and “think o...
The German Expressionism movement started in the early twentieth century art world, pre-WWI, presumably from Vincent Van Gogh’s “pioneering expressionist paintings like… Starry, Starry Night”(Encyclopaedia of Art History). It was a purely aesthetic movement at this time that sought to oppose the Impressionist movement, which imitated nature, by imposing unnatural, distorted images. Aspects of those distortions served to convey the emotions an artist held towards their subject. War brought terror. War brought mental meltdowns. War changed the Expressionistic style into a “bitter protest movement”(Encyclopaedia of Art History) as artists “suffered from war-induced disillusionment and were dissatisfied with post-war German
The mutual commitment to society’s rules can be a major unifying force between two individuals in a relationship. Both of these entities know that society will look at them favorably for together conforming to the rules. Thus, they agree to commit to them. Consequently, this desire to conform to the status quo becomes a part of these individuals’ identities. It shapes their sense of right and wrong and influences their everyday actions. However, when one party falters in this commitment the obedient other feels cheated because the image and sense of purpose she/he derived from this conformity is now tarnished. Having lost a major part of their identities the obedient persons use the “shock and awe” tactic and commit an out of character act to force their transgressing partners to contemplate their wrong actions. This theme of “shock and awe” is exhibited in the actions of the character “Stevie” in Edward Albee’s play “The Goat, or, Who is Sylvia?” and N.S.A whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The expressionist movement in German art and cinema was very sensitive to the current state of the country after a huge worldwide conflict. Prior to the rise of the next Nazi Regime, German filmmakers incorporated many aspects to their films that had never been used together before this period of time. M is no exception to
Exhibited in The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham, Expressionism differed greatly from its predecessor, Impressionism. Unlike Impressionism, Expressionism’s “goals were not to reproduce the impression suggested by the surrounding world, but to strongly impose the artist's own sensibility to the world's representation” (Web museum 1). In Expressionism, “the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him” (Web museum 1). Using variety of violent colors and exaggerated lines to express their intense emotions, the expressionists painted the world in a new way.