I'm not here any more

I stopped posting on this blog because of the GFW(Great Fire Wall)...
Blogger很早以前就被国内封锁 所以10年就停博了 转战WP
没想到现在WP也被封了

没精力再转了 暂时就现在WP 然后再备份吧

GFW = WTF...

The Real in The Debt

Thought Piece On “Stereotype, Realism, and the Struggle over Representation” by Shohat and Stam

MACS 361: Film Theory and Criticism

Fall 2011

Professor Sarah Projansky

      Shohat and Stam discussed the meaning and function of cinematic Realism in their article, and raised the issue of self-representation concerning language use in Hollywood film. Using The Debt as an example, I will further their arguments, and illustrate my understanding of “the real” in cinema—there is no absolute real but the re-presented real; it is a textualized real, perceived by audiences.

      Shohat and Stam assert “although there is no absolute truth [in cinema], no truth apart from representation and dissemination, there are still contingent, qualified, perspective truths in which communities are invested”(179). This is what Mikhail Bakhtin called “artistic representation”; they are “textualized” and “themselves social and historical” (180). The Debt is an example. First, the anti-Nazi or anti-war-criminal theme is “social and historical”, and sympathized by audiences, which is one reason for its recurrence in cinema (e.g. The Reader). Second, on the question of how real a film is, the audiences are smarter than we think. In The Debt’s case, the plot and characters are apparently fictional; however, the spirit of bringing Nazi war criminal to trial is real. Instead of asking for the real-life prototypes for the Israel Mossad agents, audiences might be more interested in the question if there were emissary action of crusading against Nazi war criminal historically—considering how people would respond to the notorious evil of Nazis postwar with background knowledge of espionage, the basic plot of The Debt seems legit—so the answer is probably yes. And this is all what matters; this is “the real” to the audiences. Thus, no matter how fake the plot and characterization are, they can be recognized and accepted. In this sense, although the story is not real, The Debt “succeeded” in re-presenting the real.

      Yet, The Debt also failed in Realism on a basic level—if one cares to observe—the language. Shohat and Stam bring up the fact that Hollywood films are always in English no matter in its own (American) stories or those of other nations. As a result, Hollywood language, namely English, “becomes the model of ‘real’ cinema” (193); this is particular true to audience whose first language is not English—I myself am an example. Although I know German as a third language, I often feel more comfortable with English-speaking even it is a German film. Partially it is because my English skill is much better. But it is more of that, in the context of globalization, the dominant Hollywood cinema makes me have this impression that (foreign) films are supposed to be in English, which functions as a world language, and even better with some American accents. Applying for The Debt (2011)—it is a remake of an Israel film in 2007 and tells stories of Israeli secret agents, which is supposed to be in Hebrew. Instead, it is mainly in English with pretended accent (because of characters’ identities), and the castings are English-speaker actors and actresses. Then there is an immediate question—which version of this film is more authentic, or more real? Conventionally, the Israeli version should be more authentic because it is the original, and the Hollywood version is already unreal on language in the first place. Yet, without watching both versions because of a language preference, I really could not choose a “more real”. Lastly, to say the least, I would not really think of “the linguistics of domination” as an issue on representing “the real” if I hadn’t read the Shohat and Stams’ article before watching, as I would had been too immersed in the film.

      As a summary quoting Shohat and Stam, “spectators themselves come equipped with a ‘sense of the real’ rooted in their own experience, on the basis of which they can accept, question, or even subvert a film’s representations” (182). In other words, we all know there is no absolute real in cinema, and Hollywood filmmakers also know that we know that –that’s where they approach to re-present the reality in the way we might feel more believable or more comfortable.

“Texting while driving”-- Attractive and Effective

English 200

3/5/2010

     
    As we all know, vehicles are essential to American’s daily life, which follows with the driving safety problem. “Texting while driving”, which has caused and has been blamed for numerous deadly traffic accidents in the past few years, is obviously not a wise idea for drivers. Unfortunately people are not aware of the severity of this problem and many of them still do it, especially young drivers, the group for whom texting is part of normal, everyday communications, making texting while driving more likely. Aiming at this serious and nationwide issue, the political cartoon called “texting while driving”, whose author was Mike Luckovich, a former “Pulitzer Prize” award-winner for Editorial Cartooning, was published at Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2009. 

     This black and white cartoon is combined with two equal-sized pictures. On the left side, a man with glasses is sitting in a car holding a cell phone, and the texts “Im txtng while drvng,” within a dialog box at the top that shows what he is doing at the moment. There is another car right in front of him, suggesting there will be a car crash which was not noticed by the driver. From his appearance, we can say he is mid-aged, it showed this visual argument is not only targeting teenagers, but also at some careless adults, which expanded the audience rank. So the primary audience can be identified as relatively young-aged vehicle drivers, which is a smart choice to remind people who see it that—“it’s not just a matter of teens, it could have been you”. On the right side, there stands a tall and skinny man with a hidden face, shrouded in a long hooded cloak wielding a scythe. From this appearance, we can identify him as Grim Reaper, the man who brings death. He is also texting, but simply sent an acronym message “Lol” (meaning laughing out loudly). Reading from left to right, we can easily get the meaning of this cartoon --a man is texting while driving, and he got the message back from Death. It showed the claim and the reason of the visual argument at the same time with humor—do not text while driving, or you will be killed. 

     I think this is a very attractive and effective visual argument. It is superior in Pathos by its dramatic humor and Logos by its suggestive and obvious understandability. It did a great job on catching attentions by showing the connection between “texting while driving ” and death wittily, and sent the strong message “ don’t text while driving” to the primary audience—relatively young drivers. Later in this paper, I will stress on analyzing this cartoon’s simple understandability, profound contrast and humorousness on image, which are also the main successes of this visual argument.

     First of all, the author Mike’s use of type, and layout made his visual argument straightforward and outstanding. Political cartoons are usually mini-narratives and sometimes without textual explanation, which makes understandability very important. To a cartoon with only a few texts like this, audience must read the caption to get a first quick look -- in this cartoon they are apparently SMS (short message service) “Im txting While drving” and “Lol”-- they are in sans serif fonts within two big, quadrate dialog boxes, which are quite well-marked. Then we know it is a texting scene without even reading the whole picture. In the meantime, the layout which consists of two same-sized pictures informs us that the two figures are equals in this situation. Additionally, the order and content of the texts obviously tell us the left man sent SMS first and the right one responded. 

     Secondly and most importantly, Mike’s use of images and color made his visual argument funny, vivid and profound. Let’s clear the logic and train of thought in this cartoon. According to the timeline, “texting while driving” on the left part was the beginning and the cause; meanwhile the color was mainly in white, which associates with light and life in western culture. However, Grim Reaper who signifies death, on the right part, was the response and also the consequence to the left part; in addition, the main color black also associates with darkness and death. If Mike created a multi-colored cartoon, the effect would be much more attenuated.

    In addition, we can see, both the man and Grip Reaper are smiling, and the meaning and differences between their smiles indeed increased the irony and humor—they have nothing to do with their friendship. The former facial smile showed the man’s ignorance, the latter literal smile showed Grip Reaper’s vicious nature and his sneer at his human “friend”. 

    Furthermore, there’s a deeper thought which cannot be seen from the picture immediately, but helped to make the humor come to a climax. Meaning that, the man must know who the recipient is so that he could send SMS, which also means he knew he was sending a text message to the evil Grim Reaper, but he still did it—wasn’t he stupid? This actually coincides with the irony in reality, most drivers know how dangerous and improper it is to text at the wheel, but some of them still do it. 

     In brief, the suggestive images, especially the image of Grim Reaper, portrayed the issue of this visual argument dramatically and humorously. It gave the reader a grin of understanding and a shock of insight; it helped us as both good Logos and Pathos to get the essence of this cartoon, and it’s the key point of its success. Below is a small chart of the analysis of the image and color.

	Cause	Consequence
Image	A man is smiling and texting SMS “Im txtng While drvng” while driving Another car was in front	Grim Reaper respond with “Lol” (laugh out loud)
Color	Mainly white	Mainly black
Literal meanings	The man knew what he was doing and he still did it smilingly An accident was about to happen	Grim Reaper didn’t show his face but literally smiled Death came fast, quiet, and cruelly
Underlying → funny irony	The man must text to someone he knows, which means he knew the recipient is Grim Reaper, which made him an idiot	Grim Reaper’s not stupid, he is not texting and driving '‘Lol” made the humor of the cartoon come to a climax

Conclusion	Texting while driving → death
Claim	Don’t text while driving, because it kills

    Finally, I have to mention that, this visual argument used good Karios appeal at present. In the past weeks, the U.S. Federal government formally bans truckers and bus drivers from texting while driving, and so far 19 states have outlawed texting while driving, and 6 prohibit using hand-held cell phone while behind the wheel. The effect of this political cartoon can be more influential and instructive than it was before.

     In conclusion, “Texting while driving” is a great example of visual argument. It did a very good job on getting attention from people who see it, and sends strong message to the primary audience—relatively young-aged vehicle drivers, letting them laugh and reflect to make the right choice. First, it perfectly reveals the potential danger of death by “texting-while-driving” in the use of well-marked type and layout, suggestive images, vivid contrast, and humoristic atmosphere, which made it superior in Pathos. Besides, the obvious understandability of the issue from the image showed the author’s good use of Logos. In addition, it also has a creditable resource—Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an authoritative author—a former “Pulitzer Prize” award-winner, which is a good use of Ethos. What’s more, this visual argument has a good Karios at present in consideration of the texting while driving ban in the states lately. These excellent features together, made it is an attractive and effective visual argument. 

From instructor: A

This is a very well written paper.While there are a couple of places where you expect the reader to do the work of making the connection between the example and the rhetorical elements, you still show a clear understanding of t he material. 

Normally I would advise against charts, however yout chart is effective.

You analyzed this iamge at a deeper level than most would, making the irony easy to understand to the audience.

 

Their Eyes Journal 1

How is Janie's story/Bildungsroman similar/ different from Jane's?

Similar :

1. Their parents died very early, they were raised up by relatives.

2. They were both teased or bullied by peers.

3. They have desire of freedom.

    Both of they didn't realized what they really want and make changes until certain incidents happened—

To Janie, it's her grandma's and the failure of her first marriage.

To Jane, it's Miss Temple's leaving and the boredom of life at Lowood. 

4. They fought for what they wanted through their lives and didn't care other's judges.

5. They were both fulfilled in themselves in the end of the story.

Different :

1. There's also difference in the 3rd similarity (see the underlining sentence earlier): 


Jane is more determined than Janie, she took action (advertising to get a new job) right after her sense of changes in heart.

Janie didn't turn to the shift point until her big fight with her first husband Logan.

I think the reason for this is the difference of their living environment which influenced their disposition → see my following points.

2. Janie's grandma raised her up and cared for her, they inhabit a house in the backyard of a white couple, who were their master and treated them well.

Jane has lived by her aunt's through for a couple of year during her childhood; her aunt's family never treated her well.

3. Janie's teenage life was not as severe and strained as Jane's,

   Janie's temperament is more girly than Jane's.

• Janie went to school and played around with kids; she loved flowers, trees and anything beautiful in nature. She could feel sweetness of life and had dreams. She was not distant from guys and got her (first) kiss at sixteen. Basically, Janie was not a lonely and unhappy person through her teenager life.

• However, Jane was pretty much isolated from the society and people; she had fantasy rather than dreams which is her way to escape from the reality, she immersed herself into studies and school routines.

4. Jane had only one romantic relationship with one person and got married with him in the end.

Janie had three relationships with three men and 2 of them were dead, she was alone in the end.

Jane Eyre Journal 5

       I do think Bronte endorsing colonialist attitudes through her depictions of characters and events in the last part of novel.

1. From the depictions on St. John.

 

      The never-sun-set empire, as a strong colonizer, needed to get knowledge of the colonies and control them by setting rules for them, including the imposition of language, law and culture. “The missionary activity is one of the social practices through which the British established their dominance” (Pg.12)

Bronte gave efforts describing St. John’s greatness for scarifying himself going to India to do missionary job. She beautified St. John’s character and his missionary career, and this actually covered the nature of Britain imperialism’s cultural aggression. 

2. From Bertha’s image and her end in the story

      We have discussed Bertha's characteristics—savage, crazy, “pigmy intellect”, “contamination”, which are all negative compared to Jane's. 

      In consideration of Bertha's origin—as a Creole from a Spanish Town of West Indies (the colony of the U.K), she was totally a devil in Bronte’s description. Bronte does not pay sympathy to Bertha but only stands on Rochester’s side in the novel—Bertha is the beast and the one who gained a marriage by cheating. What’s more, she was locked up in Thronfield and ended up dead by jumping out of the roof.

     What interesting is, there was a rule that widows should sacrifice themselves in India. There was an opinion by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (an Indian literary critic and theorist) that “Bertha's suicide is constructed in a manner that reflects her inferiority through imperialism”[1] , and her self-destruction was an innuendo to Indian widow's sacrifice.

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[1] Issues of identity between Jane Eyre and Antoinette-Bertha in the books Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea http://www.helium.com/items/1067613-issues-identity-between-jane-eyre-antoinette-bertha-books-jane-eyre-wide