The Editing in Farewell My Concubine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Editing in Farewell My Concubine - Essay Example When characterizing the film in regards to its technical elements one notes that despite its elaborate mise-en-scene and epic subject matter, the film is shot and edited in a very straight-forward and direct manner. This essay specifically examines elements of editing in Farewell My Concubine and considers the means by which they contributed to the film’s meaning and overriding style. As the film opens the camera follows Dieyi and Xiaolou, in full opera garb, as they enter the vacant auditorium. The film cuts to a shot situated from high in the crowd and the viewer is put in the place of the audience. The juxtaposition of these shots has the effect of first giving the viewer the impression of an upcoming grand performance, and then subverting their expectations with the shot from a distance. It immediately creates a sense of isolation and emotional impoverishment; this is further enforced as the viewer soon discovers that the two performers haven’t performed together since the Cultural Revolution. During this opening scene director, Kaige largely refrains from editing shots together, instead of allowing the scene to develop. Some viewers might immediately be disrupted by this more ‘art film’ style approach, but by not cutting with the frequency the director situates the viewer as an actual member of the audience. The long scenes also establish the film overarching tone as somber and slightly cerebral. Farewell, My Concubine also makes notable uses of montage editing to condense time. While it’s become clichà © for many films to develop an entire sequence of shots that are spliced together to give the viewer the impression of time’s passage, director Kaige has a subtle technique that adds considerable poignancy to the film. After Xiaolou has been forced to sit outside in the snow with a board on his head, the film cuts to the troupe of boys standing outside in the cold reciting  lines.  

Jonah: A False Prophet or a Prophet with a False God? Essay -- Religio

Jonah: A False Prophet or a Prophet with a False God? The Jonah narrative is a story often told to children to emphasize that it is wrong to run from God and there is no way to escape from God. However as adults we see that there is more to the story. There are many ways to interpret the Jonah narrative and the character of Jonah. Readers may even read the story with an anti-Semitic view if they judge solely from their first impressions of Jonah. We see a man who flees, a man who is angry with God, and a man who pouts under a bush and wishes to die. From all this we may conclude that Jonah is selfish. If we read beyond the surface impression and pay careful attention to the narrative and Jonah's words and not just deeds, we see a more spiritual concern in Jonah's heart. He is not concerned about what people think of him but what people think of God. During Jonah's time, conditions were not very stable. Political, social, and religious disorder reigned in Israel. Syria had recently won a war and taken over Israel. The relationship between Jonah's homeland and Nineveh, the capital of Syria, were strained and bursting with animosity. Israel itself was in a state of turmoil, trying to adjust to the loss of their power and independence (Winard 538). In his article "Jonah: The Wayward Dove", Richard Stamp charges Jonah with extreme nationalism. "We see a rather obnoxious man who is disobedient to God and seems to be a bigoted nationalist of the worst kind" (Stamp 80). Jonah's frustration with God shows that he would rather see the destruction of more than a hundred and twenty thousand souls than acknowledge that God can be merciful to the foreigners of Nineveh. His anger over God's mercy towards this wicked city is used to ju... ...aracteristics in all his actions. Jonah is never concerned about what people think of him but what people think of God. Works Cited Fretheim, Terence E. The Message of Jonah: A Theological Commentary.Augsburg Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1977 Martin, Hugh D.D. The Prophet Jonah: His Character and Mission to Nineveh. The Banner of Truth Trust: Highgate West Hill, London , 1958. Myers, Jacob Martin. The Book of Joel; The Book of Amos; The Book of Obadiah; The Book of Jonah. John Knox Press: Richmond, Virginia, 1959. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: (NRSV)Oxford University Press, 1991. Seiden, Chaim. "Why does Jonah Want to Die?" Bible Review 15 June 1999: 4. Stamp, Richard. "Jonah: The Wayward Dove" The Expository Times Vol. 111 Dec.1999:80-82. Winward, Stephen F. A Guide to the Prophets. John Knox Press: Richmond, Virginia 1969.

Pride and Prejudice essay †a comparison of Elizabeth and Lydia Essay

Elizabeth Bennet is the second eldest of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five daughters. Lydia is the youngest. The only thing these two siblings seem to have in common is their family. The girls contrast starkly. Lydia Bennet has a rather childish and fun loving disposition. She comes across as a little lacking in intelligence and her own father even goes as far as to call her ‘one of the silliest girls in the country.’ As well as saying that she is ‘silly and ignorant like other girls’. Elizabeth on the other hand is mature, kind, compassionate and rather more in her fathers favour than her younger sister. He seems particularly fond of his ‘little Lizzy’ and tells his wife that she ‘has something more of quickness than her sisters’. Throughout the novel the girls opposing personalities are demonstrated. Lydia’s flirtatious and frivolous ways are very apparent at the beginning of the novel through her behaviour towards the soldiers. Elizabeth’s wisdom shines through at the first ball in the novel, when she overhears Mr Darcy describing her to Mr Bingley as ‘tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me’. Elizabeth however takes this on the chin, and instead ridicules him by recounting the story to her friends and laughing at his rudeness and arrogance. Her conduct is admirable, a lesser girl would have been devastated to hear herself described in such an unflattering and uncomplimentary way, and in this instance we truly see her good manners and sense of maturity. Both Elizabeth and Lydia are confident and outspoken girls although in rather different ways. Lydia tends to say exactly what she thinks without much consideration, whereas Elizabeth’s words are always thoughtful and quick witted. Her observance and good sense make her mostly a consistently accurate judge of character. For example she recognises the inappropriate behaviour of some members of her family, like her mother and Lydia, and feels embarrassed. Also she realises Mr Collins unsuitability for her and refuses his proposal, despite it offering her notable financial stability. She also takes a dislike to Lady Catherine De Bourgh, regardless of her influential position, and stands up for herself and her family. However, in the case of Mr Wickham and Mr Darcy, her perception was originally misguided, but later she recognises her mistakes. Lydia on the other hand does not have such a sound sense of judgement. She believes that Wickham genuinely loves her and will marry her, when his intentions were only to elope with her. She was so gullible that she ran away with him and her only saving grace was Mr Darcy forcing Mr Wickham to enter into marriage with her. Lydia rushes headfirst into her affair with Wickham and claims to love him, although in reality she barely knows him. Elizabeth is completely different to her sister and by no means hurries into her romance with Mr Darcy. She demonstrates at several stages in the novel that she does not want a pretentious and shallow relationship or marriage for practicality, but wants to find a true love match. Her cousin Mr Collins is very admiring towards Elizabeth and asks for her hand in marriage. The acceptance of this proposal would have offered Elizabeth a sound life as Mr Collins had ‘a good house and very sufficient income’. But having no physical or mental attraction to the man, Elizabeth tells how, in regard to his proposals ‘it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them.’ Mr Darcy also asks for Elizabeth’s ‘acceptance of his hand.’ At the stage when he makes his first proposal to Elizabeth she believes him to have wronged Mr Wickham and feels a ‘deeply rooted dislike’ for him and so declines his proposal. In this instance she follows her heart, despite Mr Darcy earning ‘ten thousand a year’ and having a very respectable status and estate. Neither Lydia nor Elizabeth really conform to the expectations of the society that they live in. They are both different to the mould of average women of the setting, but in their own ways. Lydia is less discreet than her elder sister and certainly makes a name for herself with her flirtatious and attention seeking tendencies. She is only fifteen years of age and many people scorn her for socialising with men, attending balls and such like. Lady Catherine De Bourgh is a prime example of this and tells Elizabeth that it is ‘very odd’ Lydia being out at only fifteen years of age. Another far more scandalous way in which Lydia does not conform to the values of her society is her elopement with Wickham. She runs away with him to London without a single care for her family or the disgrace it might bring to their name. She believes all that he tells her unquestionably and is certainly very niaive. She is ignorant with regard to her family’s feelings and her actions outrage her father and cause her mother to be ‘taken ill immediately’. It places their home in ‘such confusion’ and forces Mr Darcy to pay out a substantial sum of money to the penniless Wickham. Lydia’s behaviour was not the norm and Elizabeth tells how her ‘conduct has been such as neither you, nor I, nor anybody can ever forget’ which implies that the elopement has tarnished the Bennett name lastingly. At the time the novel was written, women were expected to become ‘accomplished’ in things such as art, music and reading. Elizabeth is suitably talented at playing the piano and ‘has a good notion of fingering’ and Darcy tells how ‘no one admitted to the privilege of hearing’ her ‘can think of anything wanting.’ She is also ‘a great reader’ and so all in all is quite an accomplished girl. Lydia though does not, as far as I can tell, show much talent or interest in the areas of music and arts. She seems rather preoccupied with the soldiers in neighbouring Meryton, clothes, balls and gossip. Although Elizabeth is generally well liked and highly thought of, she does not completely live up to expectations in her society. As I have discussed previously she doesn’t, like most girls of the time, consider money an important enough reason to marry and hence refuses two marriage proposals. In this period, women were considered second class citizens in society, as equality had not yet been established between the sexes. This makes Elizabeth an even more remarkable character as she is by no means intimidated by Mr Darcy and is intelligent and assured enough to tease and mock him, questioning his actions and picking him up on his past wrongs. Her disposition is so confident that she has enough conviction to stand up for herself and express her views cleverly regardless of the company she is keeping. This is demonstrated when she stands her ground when confronted by Lady Catherine De Bourgh, telling her in no uncertain terms that her prospective marriage to Mr Darcy is none of her business. In the period that the novel was written, this would not have been considered acceptable conduct as Lady Catherine is of much higher social status than Elizabeth. Lady De Bourgh explains how she has ‘not been accustomed to language as this’ and goes on to ask Elizabeth – ‘do you know who I am?’ Elizabeth also causes a minor stir when she walks three miles from Longbourne to Netherfield. It was unusual for ‘ladies’ of the time to walk so far unaccompanied – they would usually have taken a carriage. This is a way in which Elizabeth takes a subtle stand and resolves to do as she pleases regardless of what people may think. Miss Bingley tells how Elizabeth seems to ‘show an abominable sort of conceited independence.’ The main character of the novel is Elizabeth Bennet and much of the story is portrayed through her eyes, leading the reader to favour her. She is the heroine of the novel and the main narrative is her story in particular. I think that Jane Austin meant for her to be a particularly likeable character, as she shows admirable and dignified conduct throughout. She is the sort of woman that many people would aspire to – she has intelligence, beauty, talent and is a kind and compassionate sort of person. She does not allow herself to simply be dictated to, but has the strength of personality to do and say as she sees fit, and for these reasons I think that she earns almost all readers approval. I do not think that Jane Austin intended us to approve of Lydia. Her behaviour certainly was not approved of by the characters in the book as she acted without any consideration for others. She was self centred, reckless and stupid. However, I do not think that Lydia is a bad character that we are meant to strongly dislike, but on the contrary, we are meant to be entertained by her antics. She adds a touch of scandal to the story making it all the more interesting and in the end it is her carelessness in not thinking before she speaks that lead to Elizabeth and Mr Darcy finally uniting. The two sisters are very different indeed and are both portrayed to opposite extremes. Elizabeth’s responsibility and great qualities are magnified by Lydia’s outrageous behaviour at the other end of the scale. I think that without Lydia’s character Elizabeth would not seem quite so exemplary, and without Elizabeth to live up to, Lydia would not seem such an immature and thoughtless character. I personally prefer Elizabeth and I think this is a feeling that most readers would share. I think she is an ideal role model who overcomes many obstacles to find truly deserved happiness in the story. Although I don’t particularly dislike Lydia, I think that she is a silly and annoying character who lacks all the inspiring qualities possessed by her older sister, Elizabeth Bennet.

Sexism and Disney - 2712 Words

For decades now, Disney Corporation has been providing us with countless films made to delight and amuse children and adults alike. But not all Disney films seem particularly appropriate for their target audience. Many of these films portray violence, gender inequality, and skewed views of leadership roles that seem altogether inappropriate for impressionable young children. Better and more contemporary heroines need to be added to Disney’s wall of princesses in order to counteract years of sexism. Admittedly, many of Disney’s original works are not being viewed by their intended audience. Author of Patricia Digà ³n Regueiro s states, â€Å"it may be of interest to know that in his early cartoons created by Walt Disney were not directed at†¦show more content†¦Once again Snow White is saved not by her actions or words, but by her looks alone. While violence is shown to a far lesser extent in this film compared to others, it is still prevalent. When the Queen orders the huntsman to kill Snow White, she does not ask for a simple death. She orders the man to hack out the young girl s heart and bring it to her (in the original story, she does this so she can eat it. Thankfully, they do not mention that in the movie). Despite being the protagonist, Snow White is never given a chance to lead her own life. From the very beginning of the film, she is always owned by someone else. First her stepmother controls her life, then the huntsman orders her to leave, then it is the dwarfs (sic) who control and care for her well-being, and then it is the prince. Never once does she resist or attempt to go out on her own. By the end of the film, she does not even protest a near stranger kissing her as she sleeps. In fact, she figures that s reason enough to run away with him! Beauty and the Beast is another film with questionable morals. Despite a sixty year time span between the two films, gender relations changed very little. 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Therefore, what they see and hear in Disney movies leaves an impression on them. The first princess, Snow White, was created in a time where each gender and race had a specific role in society. Recently, many beli eve that Disney has come a long way in regards to gender and race since Snow White, as several multi-cultural protagonistsRead MoreControversies with the Walt Dinsey Company1471 Words   |  6 Pagesis, their mind most likely automatically thinks of one word- Disney. Once they think of that there is an array of movies to choose from. The Walt Disney Company has been making its place in this world for almost one hundred years. Over the decades Disney has become a household name whether it be through their blockbuster movies, television channel, books, products, resorts, cruise line or their world famous theme parks. The Walt Disney Company has spread its ideas and products of imagination throughout