Politics and sentiment don’t mix. Those are words that we tell ourselves to try and form a distinction between the two but inevitably, they end up coming together in the end. Its the same thing as saying that you shouldn’t mix politics and religion. As for me, I agree. Those things should be kept separate. Politics and sentiment is something that should be kept separate as well but more often than not that is not the case.
You could almost break it down to the age old argument that women should show emotions and that men shouldn’t. It basically comes down to that. The women in Marji’s family show their emotions because they believe that it isn’t a weakness. The men or more specifically her father, say that you shouldn’t show emotion and that to do is an act of weakness. The funny thing is that all throughout the movie we see signs of her father’s emotions. When she leaves the first time he is crying. The funny thing here is that he is the one crying and the mom is stoically looking on. Also when she calls home Europe, when he is talking on the phone you can hear the worry in his voice and the concern for his daughter. But I think that this particular trait is something that all father’s have. They try to be tough and with sons I believe that they do a better job of holding together that tough persona. But with daughters, I believe its a little harder to do so. Not having kids myself I can only speculate but I think I’m closer to the truth than most fathers care to admit. I’ve seen evidence of this first hand though from the guys I work with and even from some of my own friends that have started their families.
As for what Marji believes, I think that she wants to believe that they don’t exist but her experiences with her family has led her to believe otherwise. Just like how she wants be a prophet at first and then she wants to be a communist, Marji’s aspirations are influenced by the decisions of those around her. I also think that her mother and grandmother would agree with my thoughts on this as well seeing as how they are both older and wiser than both me and Marji. Having seen the best and worst of people, I think that their thoughts on the matter are probably not too far from my own.
It could be that I’m wrong in my assumption that they don’t believe that the two shouldn’t mix but based on the book and the movie, it could be that they think that the two should work together because if you try to hold one away from the other, the one that is held back comes back stronger than before and ends up doing more harm than good. You could almost use the argument that it would be better to have the emotion there and not need it than to need the emotion and not have it.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Glengarry Glen Ross
The absence of women in Glengarry Glen Ross is something that most people don’t particularly take notice of at first. Its one of those things that you might think about while you’re watching the movie but you don’t really stop to think about it until after you’ve watched it. In my case, after I watched it the first time, when I went back and thought of the movie, I honestly thought that because of the things that happen due to the women in the play or movie, they were in there and I just couldn’t remember them. Now obviously, that isn’t the case. True enough, they do influence the happenings of the movie but they do it without actually being in the movie itself. You could look at this one of two ways. The first being that Mamet is showing his sexist attitude and purposely leaving women out of this film. The other way to look at this is by thinking that he is showing the audience the power that women have over men. Almost like he is paying homage to them.
The fact remains that it is because of the women that the dramatic events unfurl in this story. Without each of them, this story would not have been possible. If it hadn’t been for Levene’s daughter, he never would have been desperate enough to steal those leads. It also seemed to me that Levene ended up being the most influenced by the women in the play. First with his daughter, then with the “ex,” then with Mrs. Nyborg, and finally by Mrs. Lingk. Truly, the only other man affected by a women would be Roma and even that interaction isn’t as bad as it could be or as bad as Levene’s. In his case he only loses a sale which in turn loses him a car as opposed to Levene who ends up being arrested for his troubles.
If you think of the role of women in this movie as a sort of “guiding hand” it makes it easier to see how the events of those men are affected. As for the women themselves, they never really do anything is so major that it is plot changing. They simply say something or do something that in turn causes a ripple effect throughout the rest of the characters. Lingk’s wife is perfect example. She tells him that he can’t buy the land so he goes down to the office to cancel the deal. Just from this one action, the rest of the character’s lives are changed. Levene is sent to jail, Roma loses his car, Moss we don’t ever learn what happens to but we assume he is arrested too, and Aaronow, we don’t really learn what happens to him, but he and Roma get a bite to eat and we hope for the best because he was the only decent character in the whole movie. As I said earlier, it is a lot easier to think of the role of the women as a invisible hand because truthfully, that what it is.
The fact remains that it is because of the women that the dramatic events unfurl in this story. Without each of them, this story would not have been possible. If it hadn’t been for Levene’s daughter, he never would have been desperate enough to steal those leads. It also seemed to me that Levene ended up being the most influenced by the women in the play. First with his daughter, then with the “ex,” then with Mrs. Nyborg, and finally by Mrs. Lingk. Truly, the only other man affected by a women would be Roma and even that interaction isn’t as bad as it could be or as bad as Levene’s. In his case he only loses a sale which in turn loses him a car as opposed to Levene who ends up being arrested for his troubles.
If you think of the role of women in this movie as a sort of “guiding hand” it makes it easier to see how the events of those men are affected. As for the women themselves, they never really do anything is so major that it is plot changing. They simply say something or do something that in turn causes a ripple effect throughout the rest of the characters. Lingk’s wife is perfect example. She tells him that he can’t buy the land so he goes down to the office to cancel the deal. Just from this one action, the rest of the character’s lives are changed. Levene is sent to jail, Roma loses his car, Moss we don’t ever learn what happens to but we assume he is arrested too, and Aaronow, we don’t really learn what happens to him, but he and Roma get a bite to eat and we hope for the best because he was the only decent character in the whole movie. As I said earlier, it is a lot easier to think of the role of the women as a invisible hand because truthfully, that what it is.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Rear Window
The whole premise for Rear Window works really well. Jeffries’s and Lisa’s grows as the movie goes along and we as the audience are allowed to witness it happening. We get to see how Jeffries’s attitude towards Lisa attitude undergoes a dramatic change. We get to see a side of Lisa that we probably would never have seen if not for the circumstances of the film. And finally, we get to see how by working together to solve this crime, they are brought closer together and their true feelings are revealed for each other.
The different apartments across from Jeffries’s apartment and the people that live in there help to serve as mirrors for Jeffries’s and Lisa’s own lives. Miss Lonelyhearts for example. You could make the connection that she is like Lisa in the fact that she wants someone to love and is having trouble accomplishing that. The composer and and Lisa share a common frustration in being unable to accomplish their goal as well. His to write a good song and her to marry Jeffries, although both goals are achieved by movie’s end. Miss Torso is unique in that her and Lisa are both pretty and seem to be waiting or searching for something or someone. The newlyweds and the Thorwalds are both couples that appear fine on the surface but underneath there are problems. The same could be said about Jeffries’s and Lisa’s relationship. But all three have very different endings. The Thorwalds of course being murder and tragedy, we don’t see it but we might make the assumption that the newlyweds get a divorce, and then Jeffries and Lisa live happily ever after, or so we assume.
Throughout the film, Jeffries and Lisa’s relationship is constantly being put to the test. In the end, the events of the movie help to bring them closer together and help to break down some of the barriers that Jeffries had placed in front of Lisa. By having this adventure together, Jeffriess is able to see that Lisa can handle herself and Lisa is able to find out that she can handle a life like that.
Overall Hitchcock did a really good job of making sure that the details in the movie were done right because it is the details that most people seem to take notice of. Its be cause of the film class I took that I say that everything he did in the movie was on purpose, what I mean to say is that nothing was accidental in its placement. For a master of his craft like Hitchcock, the small things that he gets us to notice are probably what he enjoyed the most.
The different apartments across from Jeffries’s apartment and the people that live in there help to serve as mirrors for Jeffries’s and Lisa’s own lives. Miss Lonelyhearts for example. You could make the connection that she is like Lisa in the fact that she wants someone to love and is having trouble accomplishing that. The composer and and Lisa share a common frustration in being unable to accomplish their goal as well. His to write a good song and her to marry Jeffries, although both goals are achieved by movie’s end. Miss Torso is unique in that her and Lisa are both pretty and seem to be waiting or searching for something or someone. The newlyweds and the Thorwalds are both couples that appear fine on the surface but underneath there are problems. The same could be said about Jeffries’s and Lisa’s relationship. But all three have very different endings. The Thorwalds of course being murder and tragedy, we don’t see it but we might make the assumption that the newlyweds get a divorce, and then Jeffries and Lisa live happily ever after, or so we assume.
Throughout the film, Jeffries and Lisa’s relationship is constantly being put to the test. In the end, the events of the movie help to bring them closer together and help to break down some of the barriers that Jeffries had placed in front of Lisa. By having this adventure together, Jeffriess is able to see that Lisa can handle herself and Lisa is able to find out that she can handle a life like that.
Overall Hitchcock did a really good job of making sure that the details in the movie were done right because it is the details that most people seem to take notice of. Its be cause of the film class I took that I say that everything he did in the movie was on purpose, what I mean to say is that nothing was accidental in its placement. For a master of his craft like Hitchcock, the small things that he gets us to notice are probably what he enjoyed the most.
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