John Patrick Shanley’s screen adaption of “Doubt” poses a problem many face in the journey of leadership—how does a leader navigate through times of uncertainty? In personal leadership, the challenges faced will oftentimes create doubt and ambiguity. It isn’t rare for a leader to come across technical, ethical, or moral obstacles that need to be crossed with tact. As this film so articulately illustrates, how a person questions says a lot about who they are and how they lead. This film also depicts how, in the pursuit of what is right, it takes courage and assertiveness to shrug off the inevitable onslaught of peer criticism. “Doubt” ultimately shows us that while life can be divided between black and white, loyalty and justice, it is the murky …show more content…
gray area in between—the steadfast questioning—that forges a leader. “Doubt” immediately introduces us to two conflicting characters who contrast not only in appearance, but in strengths and personality. Sister Aloysius is an older woman whose every value mirrors the beliefs of the Pre-Vatican II era. At first glance, Sister Aloysius looks stuffy and strict, but as her character unfolds, one can see that she is astute, discerning, and passionate—when she has a goal in mind, she will do anything to reach that goal. On the other hand, Father Flynn is noticeably younger, especially since his values appear to be more liberal and tolerant. When we first meet Father Flynn, it is evident that he is charismatic and knows how to win over a crowd. However, as this story progresses, something about Father Flynn’s character feels off—though this may be because we are viewing the dialogue through the filter of uncertainty that both Sister Aloysius and Sister James provide. As “Doubt” unravels further, we witness Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius clashing against each other with heated words, even though the narrative never directly mentions the problem at hand. Though Father Flynn is Sister Aloysius’ superior, it doesn’t stop her from believing he is up to no good; Sister Aloysius eventually accuses Father Flynn of developing an “inappropriate” interest in one of their students, Donald, the school’s first and only black student. Sister Aloysius is absolutely relentless, and is pushed to very edge when her suspicions are confirmed by Sister James’ questioning of Donald’s odd behavior—though his mother’s shame-filled refusal also pushes Sister Aloysius off the edge. The film finally culminates in Aloysius and Flynn’s final standoff—it is a battle between lightness and darkness, and the film leads us to believe that Sister Aloysius won with her final words. Sister Aloysius—though she is brash and quick-witted—does what all leaders aspire to do in moments of gray ambiguity—she holds on steadfastly to her beliefs, even though there is a chance she could be completely wrong. As for the film itself, it is appealingly made, with noticeable amounts of color and an attentive use of light.
These aspects of the film play an important role in ensuring that the characters and the narrative are understood. For instance, the contrast between Sister Aloysius and her superior is made even more evident with the covert choices in color scheme. This is most noticeable when Aloysius is confronting Flynn in her office—the room is a dark, almost emerald green, and the only points of light can be found from the lamp on her desk and from a small window. The especially dark atmosphere in this particular scene adds to the ambiguity and haziness that both Sister Aloysius and the audience are feeling at that moment. Delving deeper into the idea of color scheme, the color green is also typically a neutral color, and does not convey either anger (like red) or sadness (like blue). In a scene where angry words are being thrown back and forth between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius, it is interesting that the color of the room is a neutral green. The use of this color—which is used frequently in scenes with Sister James—most likely points to the fact that as viewers, we will never know whether Sister Aloysius was right; like Sister James, we are caught in the neutral middle between two, compelling arguments. Another aspect of this film that manages to strike a chord with the audience is the use of camera angles. Not only does the camera focus on the characters’ faces, it also utilizes canted angles, which illustrate the shifting balance of power that exists between Father Flynn and Sister Aloysius. Both of these camera details allow the audience to gain a better sense of what each character is feeling and thinking. Though we can’t know exactly what the characters are thinking, the angles of the camera imply that there is some amount of private knowledge lurking in the back of both Father Flynn’s and Sister Aloysius’
minds. Shanley never reveals whether or not Father Flynn is guilty, but the film provides evidence for both opinions. Ultimately, Shanley’s adaptation of “Doubt” illustrates how doubt itself is an important aspect of leadership—being able to question the things everyone else challenges is a sure sign of mental strength and capacity, even if a conclusive end isn’t reached. As Shanley himself stated, melodramas are “like life”—there is a great struggle and everything is left unresolved.
The film Jindabyne, is a story about death, marriage, and race in an Australian town in New South Wales called Jindabyne. In the film, four men go fishing, and one of them discovers the dead body of a young indigenous girl. Instead of reporting what they found to the police immediately, they decide to stay and continue fishing. They decide that there is nothing they could do for her, so they tie her legs to a tree and continue with their fishing, reporting the death only when they return home. After they are done with their weekend of fishing and report the incident, conflict starts, as the men are criticized for not respecting the dead. Through the story of the town’s reaction to the four fishermen’s response to the dead girl, the movie shows Australia to be fragmented and divided over white-indigenous relations.
I have very good sight. One moment they were white, the next red, the next blue. Then I got it. They were a woman’s dresses”. At first, I did not pay attention to the colors of the dresses, but then I realized the pattern of colors in order. In this case, I believe white represents light, goodness, and pureness. The red represents anger, blood and possibly murder. The last but not least, the color blue that represents wisdom, loyalty, and truth. It seemed to me that the author used colors symbolizes the story from the beginning to the end. I believe it is a hint for us to what to expect and what not to since Jeffries was right all along the
On October 14th, 2016 in class we watched “Two Spirits” by Lydia Nibley. Basically the film explored the cultural context behind a tragic and senseless murder of the main character. Fred was part of an honored “Navajo” youth who was killed at the age of sixteen by a man who bragged to his friends that he was nothing but a “fag”. While walking home from a carnival he was chased by one of his friends. Once his friend caught up to Fred, he pulled him down from a mountain and smashed his head with a heavy rock. Fred laid there for five days straight where two young boys found his body lying there. He was labeled as a “two-spirit” who was possessed of balancing masculine and feminine traits. In the film, there are two parts that are put together effortlessly like the people it discusses. Most of the documentary focuses on Fred’s murder, but the real issues in the film were those of the lesbian, gay, and transgender community and how its members were viewed in a
“Society of broken promise, economies war citizens whores, political pimps leaving us flat on our backs, creating today waiting for the promise land” (Trudell). The U.S government intends on taking what they want from the Indians with resistance. John Trudell, who was a Native American wanted his voice heard. He spent a decade moralizing to stand up to politicians and to appeal the reason for why he did not trust nor approve of the political system. “The government has been literally the most bloodthirsty, brutalizing system ever imposed upon this planet, that is not civilization” (Trudell). The film proclaims Trudell to demonstrate the appeals of persuasion to reinforce the message to viewers exposing the mistrust upon Trudell and government officials, which, consequently, manipulates the viewer to question whether the government is full of broken promises or want to acquire ultimate control over society associating with the American Indians utilizing the land and their
Sex, love, depression, guilt, trust, all are topics presented in this remarkably well written and performed drama. The Flick, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Annie Baker, serves to provide a social commentary which will leave the audience deep in thought well after the curtain closes. Emporia State Universities Production of this masterpiece was a masterpiece in itself, from the stunningly genuine portrayal of the characters of Avery and Rose, to the realism found within the set, every aspect of the production was superb.
Julie Taymor’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus has many theatrical elements that aid in creating an interpretation of the written play. One of the most prominent elements that Taymor uses is color. Taymor uses color to develop Shakespeare’s characters. Many times throughout the film, color is used to represent a character’s mood or their hidden agenda during a scene. We also see color used to represent good versus evil. The three colors that are most widely used during the movie to show symbolism and imagery are black, white, and red. While there are some references to color in the written text of Titus Andronicus, Taymor’s use of color allows the viewers to see a more clear representation of mood, tone, and character. The colors may be used in costume or in setting. Regardless of how they are used each color plays a large role in distinguishing the tone that is being set for a scene or character.
In the documentary “Fed Up,” sugar is responsible for Americas rising obesity rate, which is happening even with the great stress that is set on exercise and portion control for those who are overweight. Fed Up is a film directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Executive Producers Katie Couric and Laurie David. The filmmaker’s intent is mainly to inform people of the dangers of too much sugar, but it also talks about the fat’s in our diets and the food corporation shadiness. The filmmaker wants to educate the country on the effects of a poor diet and to open eyes to the obesity catastrophe in the United States. The main debate used is that sugar is the direct matter of obesity. Overall, I don’t believe the filmmaker’s debate was successful.
Throughout the novel, 'The Scarlet Letter,'; Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the themes with various dramatic colors. Of the array are the colors green and gold, where green symbolizes different aspects of nature such as tranquility, security, and gloominess, whereas gold represents all that pertains to luxuriance, serenity and goodness. In certain chapters, it seems as if one color is codependent with the other.
Crane's use of color allows for layers of meaning within each hue. Green, red and gray are used to describe the everyday physical objects in the text's world, and also the landscapes and metaphysical objects and ideas in Fleming's mind. Green is literally the color of the grass, but figuratively the freshness and youth of the soldiers and the purity of the natural world. Red is, overwhelmingly the color of battle, of courage and gunfire and bloodshed. Gray, however, becomes the color of human defeat. Because Crane uses each so carefully and selectively, creating for each several meanings, they take on a significance of their own; each can stand alone to have its own charged meanings.
...der further than what we have in front of us. We want to impose our opinion on everything. We want to relate to it in a way that can only be done through out imagination. So, due to this, when we are not given the flexibility, then the context no longer becomes entertaining. The viewers do not want to be told how to think. Given these points, if they are influenced to believe that Sister Aloysius is a cruel individual like the movie portrays, then at the end of the movie and book when Sister Aloysius says, “ I have doubts! I have such doubts!” they will take that as a confession from her, and be further lead to believe that the accusations against Father Flynn are false. I think John Patrick Shanley chooses specific diction to create a conflict that has no precise resolution,he wanted the reader get lost in story and enter into their own story manifested within.
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses colors to symbolize a character’s inner thoughts and feelings or an objects deeper meaning. He uses colors to symbolize the many different ideas in the book. The colors are used very often as symbols, and the hues create atmosphere in different scenes of the book. Color symbolism is used to convey a deeper message to the readers and help them understand the characters. The novel shows the major themes through the use and explanation of many different colors.
Straight, B. J. (2006). Uncertainy - A fruitful place to be. International Journal of Leadership Studies , 2 (1), 88-93.
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’
The movie “John Q” narrates a story of the financially constrained character John Quincy Archibald who ensures that his nine year old son at the brink of death, secures a heart transplant by any means possible. Throughout the movie, there is a compelling display of the love shared by a family and this is seen in the great lengths John went to save his son, however unlawful. The main characters are John, Michael and Denise Archibald, Rebecca Payne, Doctor Turner and Lt. Grimes.
The emphasis on leaders being not just executives and managers, and that not all executives and managers are leaders, is extremely vital. Anyone can strive to be a leader in whatever organization in which they are involved. Bennis and Nanus claim that leadership is about character, setting the example for how team members treat one other (and in a corporate setting, their clients as well), being truthful and sustaining organizational trust, and encouraging themselves and others to learn. On one hand, it can be easy to see how many people in leadership positions do no match up to these standards of leadership. On the other, it seems a bit like common sense to be truthful to others and to effectively communicate with people who work together everyday. Leaders is an effective tool for summarizing and inspiring leadership not in that it teaches tough strategies and manipulations, but that when looking at an overview of its content, Bennis and Nanus are essentially teaching human relations and human decency. All in all, this book highlights strategies for us all to be better in our lives and our everyday