It is evident that Twin Peaks offers different levels of complexity and in doing so opens up possibilities of using different copying strategies in understanding its paradoxes, riddles, and its perplexing plot architecture. It invites viewers to find meaning where there is none, to experience cognitive inconsistencies and offers more questions than possible answers. Because of the show’s textual qualities further research on the effect of cognitive dissonance is suggested. The diversity in narrative complexity in the television serial is paralleled with its hybridization of genres and distortion of temporal and spatial aspects. The simplistic world of the detective genre is juxtaposed with dramatic elements and the existential atmosphere typical of film Noir, including mental pathological aspects and multiplication of characters. Thus constructed perplexingly Lynch’s show invites viewers to actively navigate and orientated inside and outside the storyworld, in order to effectively interpret surreal, unusual events that somehow amalgamate to create meaning. In addition, it invites viewers to cognitively and narratively map the show’s plot architecture.
The only real way to truly understand a story is to understand all aspects of a story and their meanings. The same goes for movies, as they are all just stories being acted out. In Thomas Foster's book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, Foster explains in detail the numerous ingredients of a story. He discusses almost everything that can be found in any given piece of literature. The devices discussed in Foster's book can be found in most movies as well, including in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, “Pulp Fiction”. This movie is a complicated tale that follows numerous characters involved in intertwining stories. Tarantino utilizes many devices to make “Pulp Fiction” into an excellent film. In this essay, I will demonstrate how several literary devices described in Foster's book are put to use in Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction”, including quests, archetypes, food, and violence.
Was Eleanor mentally healthy or unhealthy? In the book The Haunting of Hill House, written by Shirley Jackson, the main character was Eleanor Vance. She was a 32-year-old woman that showed signs that she was mentally unhealthy. After receiving an invitation to stay at Hill House from Dr. Montague, a stranger to Eleanor and the rest of the invited guests, she made the carefree decision to accept the invitation to the comfortable country home (2). She felt as though Hill House was her calling, even though she had never laid eyes on the property and had no knowledge of what to expect. There was no way to know if the doctor could have been a psychopath that wanted Eleanor for some crazed morbid “experiment,” yet she had
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a thrilling film filled with mystery and suspense. However, Hitchcock left many unsolved issues at the end of this film. In contrast, when comparing Vertigo to more recent films of similar genre’, mysteries are usually always solved and thoroughly explained by the end of the film. Ironically, Hitchcock’s failure to explain everything to the audience in Vertigo is one of the film’s best attributes. This lack of knowledge allows the viewer to use their own imagination and speculate as to what might or might not have become of certain characters.
The Catcher in the Rye is a story about a boy, Holden Caulfield, and a few days of his life as he goes to New York near Christmas. He has been kicked out of four distinguished high schools for his poor grades. From the beginning of the story it is visible he is very pessimistic and has a negative outlook on almost everybody in the book. It is because of this that I do not judge people based on his opinions of them. Holden’s brother died three years before the story starts, and his death might be the cause of some of his personality. At the beginning of the book, he is getting ready to leave the all-boys Pencey Prep in a few days. His roommate, Stradlater, is going on a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl whom
Shakespeare’s work has been adapted throughout the ages, these adaptations can be found in almost every popular show and movie. One recent and quite popular television show that has Shakespearian elements is Breaking Bad. This show is a dark drama of Walter White a man who has lung cancer that becomes a drug kingpin to provide for his family after he dies, along the way he picks up a high school drop out as a sidekick, Jesse Pinkman. Walter and Jesse become the Iago and Othello in this variation, Walter’s deceitful and manipulative ways prove to indeed constantly manipulate Jesse to do his bidding. Shockingly similar to the way Iago manipulates Othello; these parallels between Breaking Bad and Othello become more and more clear with explanation and analysis.
The television show Lost displays many of the key traits found in postmodernism works. The show follows the lives of survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island somewhere in the south pacific. There, they must negotiate an unknown monster, an unpredictable group of prior occupants, strange, other worldly inhabitants, polar bears and each other, as they attempt to survive and attract rescue. In this basic synopsis of show it is clear that the show incorporates a large degree of generic hybridity, from the show’s outset it has exhibited elements of science-fiction, mystery, drama and the action-adventure genre. This is even prevalent in the show’s advertising, the varying genres that show exhibits can be found in an early trailer for the show’s first season that originally aired on Channel 4 in 2005, directed by surrealist artist David LaChapelle. The trailer features th...
Costello, Donald P. "The Language Of The Catcher In The Rye." Critical Insights: The Catcher In The Rye (2011): 251-264. Literary Reference Center. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
The acclaimed authors, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, formulate the characters of Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes respectively, to be similar in the way that they analyze, deduce, and connect segments of desperate and often-thought “unsolvable” detective cases. Through their comparable techniques and system of deduction, Dupin and Holmes never fail to trace back their evidence to the scene of the crime. However, due to the vast difference in the writing styles of Poe and Doyle, the audience observes the main characters not as clones, but rather an analogous pair that think alike, but do not act alike. The personalities of Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes, although present are recognizable differences in their actions, continue to
How far would you go to keep your family sheltered and secured? What might you do to monitor your life while you do it? These are the issues brought up in the widely praised TV arrangement, Breaking Bad. The arrangement publicized in January 2008 and finished September 2013 ("Breaking Bad"). The American Crime Drama set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was made and delivered by Vince Gilligan. "Breaking Bad has turned out to be a standout amongst the most examined and respected shows on TV since its initially season… " ("Breaking Bad 2008"). As per IMBD the arrangement has been assigned for 225 honors, winning 142 ("Breaking Bad").
Creative works are organised into a specific genre. Genre can be concisely defined as a set of conventions and expectations which audiences will grow accustomed to over time. Conventions within a genre will limit and shape the meaning perceived by audiences. Through time, as contexts alter, so do values; though conventions remain the same. Some composers make their texts more appealing once they challenge the original conventions of a genre and thus attract a wider audience. By doing this, composers are able to present their audiences with new themes and values relative to their social contexts. Crime fiction has often adapted these processes and has become a genre of its own with intriguing plots fuelling the audience’s inquisitive nature. English director, Alfred Hitchcock (also known as ‘The Master of Suspense’) was an expert in creating the desired amount of suspense within a crime film. He was able to transfer the values of his context on to the silver screen and subvert traditional conventions. Hitchcock’s film ‘Rear Window’ (1954) displays a perfect example of how the conventions of crime fiction can be appropriated to still involve the traditional features of crime. Through his use of exquisite cinematic techniques and immense detail, responders are given the thrill they expect of the genre.
The mystery genre has captivated audiences for centuries, but how has it evolved? In modern days the mystery genre has developed by adding supernatural elements or by viewing the plot from the murderer’s perspective. This is exemplified two shows, Stranger Things and Fargo. Stranger Things and Fargo are both incredible mystery shows; however, Stranger Things is superior. While both T.V. shows are spectacular mystery series, their plots differ and overlap in many ways, they are set in different time periods, and use very different types of cast and crew.
While, early (and modern) detective stories portray realistic settings and follow similar writing formulas, according to Goldman, mystery’s value comes from the reader’s experience and has the “capacity to engage fully and simultaneously all of our mental capacities- cognitive, emotional, imaginative, and perceptual” (264). It heightens all senses collectively, allowing the reader to actively participate in the investigation as the story unfolds. Reading mystery enhances literacy and critical thinking skills, so readers easily recognize basic narrative plot and structure and allows further focus on analysis and interpretation of underlying moral and social
Human 's possess an innate ability to repeat their actions, emotions, and ambitions because they are unchanging and transcend time. Because literature is a reflection of humanity, good, insightful literature calls attention to common, relatable ground. Although a superficial examination of human nature may portray differences, the similarities are ultimately there under the surface; just as David Mitchell uses the Russian-Doll structure of his novel Cloud Atlas to express the transcendent nature of humanity. Each story, although superficially lacking cohesion, contain underlying elements connecting each of them to one another. Ideals held so confidently with the world are called into question within
I defend Morrison’s technique of using flashbacks in the book Beloved. Flashbacks help the story come together, make it more understandable and get into more detail about the character.
Poe was a man so devoted to concealment and deception and unraveling and detection that it was only natural for it to be displayed in his writings. He managed to manipulate setting, character, and dialogue to lead the reader inescapably to the emotional state most appropriate for the perfect murder. Poe does not allow the reader to merely sit back and observe, but makes the reader accompany the detective toward the solution and apply his own powers of logic and deduction alongside those of the detective. Although a crime usually has been committed, the reader's attention is diverted to the baffling circumstances surrounding the crime rather than to the event itself. The tale's climax is the solution of the puzzle, and the bulk of the narrative concerns the logical process by which the investigator follows a series of clues to this solution. Very often the "detective" solves the mystery by means of deductive reasoning from facts known both to the character and the reader.