the EMPIRE masterpiece #131
FOUR LIONS
2010. OUT: NOW CERT:15 WORDS: ANNA OLNEY-SMITH A comedy…about terrorism? Queue the unconvincing stares. Four Lions, at first (disbelieving) glance, seems like another dark satirical comedy that falls short of expectations and raises more disappointment than laughs. The director of this ground-breaking film, amidst the other flops of its kind (think ), is Chris Morris; who, along with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong wrote the film itself. Morris has recently amassed an impressive body of work in the UK as a satirical writer, director, actor and all-round prankster, and is perhaps best known is his current-affairs TV satires Brass Eye and The Day Today, or in his most recent appearance as managerial madman
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Insulting? Controversial? A gritty piece on the conflicting ideologies of terrorism? Hilarious, even? You may be surprised to hear it combines all of the latter. Four Lions tells the hilarious story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. The story centres on the cleverly-crafted character of Omar (played by the outstanding Riz Ahmed), a jihadist with a loving wife and child who yearns to be chosen for a suicide mission, along with his like-minded but hapless comrades; his bumbling klutz of a brother Waj (Kayvan Novak); and white-convert Barry (Nigel Lindsay) an egomaniac and a hothead. Meanwhile, dim-bulb Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) is busy training crows to fly around with bombs strapped to them (hilarity ensues) and late-comer Hassan (Arsher Ali) is a rapper-terrorist wannabe – who interrupts a public meeting by pretending to be a suicide bomber, only with party poppers instead of explosives. Sounds like a mishmash of characters? Somehow Morris makes it work - the actors seem to expertly play off each other and create such a powerful comedy, you’ll find yourself laughing, feeling guilty about laughing, then laughing some …show more content…
What makes it a comedy, and a successful comedy at that, is the careful choice of topic Morris makes. He focuses his satirical wit not at all on the doctrines of Islam, but simply at the activity of suicide bombing itself. It is not treated with the nervous, shocked respect generally found on the news or in drama, but rather cheerful disdain. This is a film in which suicide bombers are not martyr-warriors, or powerful enemies to be hated and feared, but rather, ridiculous fools. In this film, everyone is stupid. The suicide bombers themselves are stupid; the police hunting them are stupid (ending with a mix up between the Honey Bear and a Wookie) and even the clever protagonist is the most stupid of
Three dimensional art is defined as media which “occupies space, defined through the dimensions of height, width and depth” (SAYLOR). These art works can be geometric or organic in nature (NORTON). Three dimensional art forms include sculptures, crafts and architecture. Three dimensional art form is fascinating to me because of the amount of realism and beauty it embodies, as well as for its functional and aesthetic value. For this assignment, I chose two beautiful pieces that illustrated the characteristic of three dimensional art and the processes it took to produce them. The first art work I want to analyze is a sculpture done by an Iraqi artist from Kalhu (modern day Nimrud) entitled, “Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions” (Sayre, 420).
In 2013, just shy of my 17th birthday, I planned a day trip with two of my friends to see The Phantom of the Opera in New York. At this point in my life, I was entirely unaccustomed to large cities, such as New York City, and felt excited to experience the bustle I expected. While in the city, a woman informed me about methods to avoid the crime so intertwined with life in the city and introduced me to the concept that, just as New York City held many attractions for tourists, it also held some dangers as well. This idea takes pride of place in Edward Jones’ short story, “Young Lions” and its discussion of Caesar Matthews. As I learned a few years ago, the city truly contains amazement for those experiencing it, but, like all things in life,
...dness but comedy was used as an emotion. When Michael was going to make a "citizens arrest" at the banks, there was comedy there, sort of like sarcasm which is known to sway a person's thoughts if it is funnier in the sense. The whole movie really shows a lot of emotions and tries to persuade our thoughts on the government with it.
In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:
I chose to view the movie Lion, a movie based on the book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley. This movie is about a five-year-old boy, Saroo, living in a poor, rural area in India. Saroo convinces his older brother Guddu, to let him tag along and find work in a nearby city. Saroo ends up trapped and alone in a decommissioned passenger train that takes him to Calcutta, over 1,000 miles away from his home.
Movies, one can argue, are one of America’s greatest pastimes. Unfortunately, after 9/11, films have become increasingly prejudiced against American Muslims. In movies Muslims are frequently portrayed negatively. According to James Emery, a professor of Anthropology, Hollywood profits off of “casting individuals associated with specific negative stereotypes”. This is due to the fact that viewers automatically link characters with their clichéd images (Emery). For Muslims, the clichéd image is of the violent fundamentalist, who carried out the terroristic attacks on 9/11. As a result, the main stereotypes involved in movies display Muslims as extremists, villains, thieves, and desert nomads. An example of a movie that has such a negative character role for Muslims in film is Disney’s cartoon Aladdin, depict...
comprehends by writing it in a certain point of view. In Rios’ “The Secret Lion,” the first
The book is very comical, but it is also a satire of religion. It is somewhat subtle, not blatantly insulting any religion, but it does show some of its consequences.
Michael Moore brilliantly manipulates the conventions of film to make the audience see and feel these political and moral issues the way he does. Moore, an outspoken loather of the President has shaped his film like a cinematic bullet, with character assassination as his priority. “Fahrenheit 9/11” shows a series of solemn images and sound bites, arranged as a critical history of the President’s actions since he took office, including the abuse of power and use of fear tactics that have been employed for his monetary and narcissistic gains. Regardless of personal political leanings, “Fahrenheit 9/11” is an amazing accomplishment of individual expression and anti-government aggression.
Smoke billows out from a Manhattan skyscraper, damaged by a fiery explosion. This could easily be a scene from 9/11, however we see Batman looking grimly on as a poster advertises the film will be released soon. Clearly this film plays on the fears of terrorism. As depicted in The Dark Knight, the Joker plays the terrorist, while Gotham’s leadership struggles to contain him. The film departs from the superhero ideals of pure good versus pure evil, showing a murky world where moral decisions have to be made in order to stop evil. Because of this, The Dark Knight seems to be an allegory for the War on Terrorism. This paper will look at how the Joker represents terrorism, while Batman represents George Bush and his administration’s War on Terror.
It is amazing how a seemingly educated woman that has won Oscar awards for her documentaries, could possibly be so far off base in her review of the Disney movie “The Lion King”. Margaret Lazarus has taken a movie made for the entertainment of children and turned it into something that is racist, sexist and stereotypes gender roles. She uses many personal arguments to review the movie but offers few solutions. The author is well organized but she lacks alternate points of view and does not use adequate sources. Lazarus utilizes the statement at the end of her review that “the Disney Magic entranced her children, but they and millions of other children were given hidden messages that could only do them and us harm” (118). She makes her point by saying that “the Disney Magic reinforces and reproduces bigoted and stereotyped views of minorities and women in our society” (Lazarus 117). She makes comparisons such as elephant graveyards are like ghettos (Lazarus 118). Other lines of reasoning Lazarus gives us are about Whoopie Goldberg using inner city dialect, the villain Scar being gay, and only those born to privilege can bring about change (118).
In the first scene we observe a Muslim man inside a firearm store, attempting to buy a gun. The owner is a white Caucasian male that presents a negative attitude towards the customer because of his Muslim background. This feeling triggers in the owner, negative attitudes based on the assimilation and stereotypes with the Muslim race. Being immediately associated with the Al Qaeda terrorist group, which was responsible for suicidal bombers that have killed thousand of Americans.
the king of a Pride Land, who is murdered by his brother and then the
...ous and being there can raise concern. These political concerns relate closely with issues addressed in the film particularly with the war in Afghanistan and the threat of terrorism. The senior Taliban leader Ahamd Shah depicts an accurate image of what members of the Taliban are like, which means killing any American who comes into their country.
You can find wide varieties of these crude pieces on the internet, and it is not uncommon to hear them in the hallways of schools, or whispered among students and followed by unjustified giggles. Attempting to lighten the seriousness of things such as sexual assault or terrorism is not comedy, no matter what people may say. Comedy is about laughing with the people being mocked, not lessening the seriousness of their situations. When we try to make ‘jokes’, we must keep one thing in mind: comedy is about laughter and joy. A joke is only funny when it is not blinding us to the reality of cruel