Although the producers and editors of Bachelor in Paradise have attempted to create a sense of authentic realism for their viewers, their work is in abject conflict with Walter Benjamin’s conception of authenticity. Authenticity to Benjamin, is to preserve the ‘original’ from any technical reproduction. It should be uncontrolled in order to represent the true aura of the work. Regarding Bachelor in Paradise, the original would be represented as unedited footage. However, due to the structure of reality television - storylines need to be interesting and easy to follow - the footage is edited and the contestants are heavily produced. It seems as though Bachelor in Paradise echoes Benjamin’s prediction that film necessitates: “ the desire of contemporary
masses to bring things “closer” spatially and humanly, which is just as ardent as their bent toward overcoming the uniqueness of every reality by accepting its reproduction”. By creating a linear timeline through editing presumably nonlinear scenes, Bachelor in Paradise bolsters the illusion of authenticity especially in regards to the interactive scenes between the inhabitants of the island. The saga of Christen and Jack is presented to the viewer using a variety of methods, such as voyeuristic close-up shots where the audience seems to be observing a private moment. The voyeuristic shots are interspersed with voice-over and interviews with the contestants which provide the viewer with the broader context of the scene and inform them on how it should make them feel. Despite their placement in the storyline these interview scenes are presumably of the contestants reflecting on the moment after the fact, meaning they couldn’t have possibly happened linearly, and had to be spliced together after the events shown had taken place. This discredits the authenticity of the interaction, considering editing the scene in and of itself creates a biased look at what took place. Additionally, we as viewers don’t get to see how this interview was conducted, nor do we know whether contestants were “coached” on certain answers in the name of entertainment, rather than answering based on their authentic experience. Clearly, Bachelor in Paradise relies heavily on the technical reproduction that Benjamin objected to, therefore any authenticity it attempts to impart is easily questioned.
James Baldwin’s novel Giovanni’s Room is titled such for the purpose of accentuating the symbolism of Giovanni’s room. Within the novel Giovanni’s room is portrayed with such characteristics as being Giovanni’s prison, symbolic of Giovanni’s life, holding the relationship between Giovanni and David, being a metaphor of homosexuality for David and being a tomb underwater. These different portrayals of Giovanni’s room are combined within the novel to create an overall negative metaphor of homosexuality as perpetuated by society. These different portrayals of Giovanni’s room are dirty, suffocating and restricting; Baldwin is showing the reader that homosexuality can be understood as all of these things, detrimental as they are. The novel is a reflection upon the common belief in society that homosexuality is unnatural and wrong, causing homosexual men to turn societal negativity into self hatred.
As I read A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner I was engrossed from the first paragraph. Granted I tend to find stories that have a morbid theme interesting. Obsession seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout this short story. The town’s people’s obsession with Emily throughout the years is one; also, Emily’s obsession with holding on to people in her life. There can be times that obsessions can be unhealthy and actually be a precursor to a serious mental illness. People viewing from the outside may not realize the severity of the fascinations until it is too late. I believe that A Rose for Emily is the best short story of the four stories I was assigned because of Faulkner’s ability to take a macabre obsession and set it within a small town story. The story starts off with the obsession of the town’s people with Emily and her family. Even stating that they attended her funeral “out of curiosity to see the inside of her house” (Mandell, 1930), not out of any
As we age, we take a journey though live that is uniquely ours. There is no one else who will have the same experiences that we do. These experiences shape our worldview and from this, we formulate our inherent values. Yet, as we start to face the reality of our own death, we tend to ask ourselves if we lived a good life. The question of a good life comes with sub questions such as we were successful, did we make meaningful relationships, and how will people remember us? The questions that asked need analyzation in order to determine if we have lived a good life and this paper will attempt to figure out what living a good life means.
In a rural Eastern Kentucky, in a town with manly coal miners, a man life was taken. In a documentary called, Stranger With a Camera, the killing of Hugh O’Connor is depicted. O’Conner was a film maker out trying to get pictures from rural spots in Kentucky. He had stopped to take a picture of a coal miner and his daughter, when Holbert Ison pulled up and shot him. Ison, the landlord of the property, felt that O’Connor was trespassing on the land and depicting the people in the wrong way.
What makes a story so fascinating? What draws people attention to read? The elements of setting, point of view and the characteristics of the character of the stories could make the story become more interesting for readers to read. There are a lot of comparison and contrast in the story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Why I lived at the P.O” by Eudora Welty. The similarities and differences that I will be discussing in this essay will be about the setting, point of view and the dominant characteristic of the protagonist. Even though the settings in both of the stories are similar, the differences in the point of view and character characteristic create a very different story. “A Rose for Emily” is told by a group people with each of their own ideas and a third person narrator, whereas in “Why I lived in the P.O” the story is told by a first person female narrator.
It is important to note that a film can be realistic in its content, its shooting style, or both. According to Fabe, “in a realist film the emotional content comes primarily from the profilmic event” (51). We also discussed in class how a realist film is told as a story relatable to our world and coherent in time in space. There are several components of realist shooting style. For example, “films shot in the realist style favor long takes that sometimes last up to and over sixty seconds,” “use a lot of camera movements (panning, tracking, reframing), not to create the dramatic and expressive effects,” but to preserve unity within the scene (Fabe 51). Realist films also “feature deep-focus photography” to allow viewers to let their eyes wander the screen and
In any work, interesting things do not happen to a character because they are the protagonist. Instead, they are the protagonist because interesting things happen to them. This logic is easy to understand—why would we watch a character if nothing happens to them that we do not already see everyday? For many, there is no interest, and, as such, Hollywood and its ilk have sought to focus on the extraordinary, explosive, and loud. Yet overtime—and possibly in a backlash against the growing trends in Hollywood—independent directors have explored the quiet, inconsequential moments of life as their focus, and have found that there is quite a bit to say about the so called nothing plot. By analyzing and comparing three indie films from the last thirty years (Stranger than Paradise, Boyhood, and Man Push Cart), I will argue the moments in film dedicated to mundane, everyday actions
One of the reasons Rick was excited on finding the Toad was because the Toad happened to be considered special to Wilbur Mercer. “Wilbur Mercer is the messianic figure of Mercerism, a religion that encourages fusion with other humans in order to share in suffering and persecution. By fusing with Mercer, humanity is able to draw on the power of the collective in order to survive.” (gradesaver.com) The empathy box was a means of “fusing” with Wilbur Mercer and it was first introduced into the story in chapter 2. John Isadore, a character in the story, is in his apartment and feels lonely and choses to use his empathy box. During his fusion, Isadore is described as feeling community as he works with Wilbur Mercer, climbing up towards the top of this hill which has no end in sight. “This fusion of their mentalities oriented their attention on the hill, the climb, the need to ascend.” (Dick, 22) This experience that
He would leave out all none-essentials in his fictionalisation of reality, Which he staged in the picture plan using twisted points of view and abrupt cropping to evoke an ephemeral, Fleeting expression, capturing brief moments and flashes of movements with his stylistically confident grip I look at the La Goulue poster and qpplaude letrac for capturing so much
On a daily basis, the average American comes across many symbols every day. Symbolism can best be described as a person, place, or object that means something much more than what it is described to be. Colors are great examples of symbolism. The color black symbolizes death and pain while the color grey symbolizes distress and concern. Inanimate object also do present symbols as well. A chain symbolizes a link in relationships while the sun symbolizes spirituality and visibility.
In the end Bruno goes to meet Shmuelat he fence. It was raining and storming that day. When he got to the meeting spot, Shmuel gave Bruno top and bottom of pajamas and cap. Bruno put them on and left his other clothes at the fence then, Shmuel pulled the fence up so Bruno could crawl under. When he got across they both hugged, then started looking for Shmuel's papa. They looked for about a hour and a-half, and Bruno started to not like it on the other side of the fence. So Bruno told Shmuel he was sorry they could not find his papa and it was time for him to go. Right then the soldiers whistle blew and all the prisoners were crowded in a group. Bruno was worried so he asked Shmuel what was happening. Shmuel it was probably the marchers. Then they were forced into a room where no rain could hit them. Bruno held Shmuels had tight and would not let go. Then the room went dark and everything went silent. Mother and Gretel moved back to Berlin. Gretel sat in her room and cried about Bruno. Father at the outwith until soldiers came and he had to go with them.
Hollywood is an interesting entity, it provides the world with entertainment that is exciting, emotional, unique and so much more. At the same time, however, it’s hard not to see Hollywood as a money grubbing industry, full of sleazy deals, awful movies and it has even produced films completely diluted of originality. One style of filmmaking that often gets this label of unoriginality is remakes, which “While genre films, cycles, and sequels… have found their legitimate place in film theory and criticism, the same cannot be said for the remake, which at least since the fifties, has been treated as a less than respectable Hollywood commercial practice.”
The first classification of a paradox is a veridical paradox, which describes a situation that is ultimately, logically rue, but is either senseless or ridiculous. W.V Quine, famous for his classification paradoxes, stated: “I would not limit the word ‘paradox’ to cases where what is purportedly established is true. I shall call these, more particularly, veridical, or truth-telling, paradoxes.” A veridical paradox, although counter-intuitive, can be demonstrated as true, and a famous example of this paradox is in Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedic opera The Pirates of Penzance. In this opera, a man name Frederic reaches the age of twenty-one in less than ten birthdays, but many would argue that this is not possible. He was born on February 28,
From still photographs to motion pictures, filmmaking has come a long way. According to the periodical, Moving on Up, “[Titanic was] one of the first films to use motion capture to animate back ground crowds,” which provided a new cinematic technique to the filmmaking process (Robertson, 2007). It takes a lot of cinematic techniques besides motion capture to make a film these days. The placement of everything that appears in the framing is called mise en scène. Although there are many elements that create a mise en scene, the overall look is important when establishing a theme. Let’s take a look at the second biggest film ever made, Titanic, and explore its very well-known theme of love. There are three cinematic techniques to include lighting, camera framing, and acting styles, which have established and maintained the major theme of love throughout the entire movie.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an interesting fictional film which was adapt from a novel written by Fitzgerald. The film tells that a man whose name is Benjamin was an old man when he was born, with time flying, he became younger and younger. Finally, in the end he died as a baby. I read the book which was written by Fitzgerald before watching this film. After watching this film, I comprehended many philosophies of life and I have some opinions about the differences between the novel and the film.