Back in Black (Font)

I'm back.  I took the week of the Fourth off, and i hope you did as well.
I've read your comments, and I will be responding to them as the summer dwindles. I urge you to encourage those who have signed up for the course and haven't posted to this little thing to do so.

This week is extremely easy.

What have you seen this summer?  Did it have any deeper meanings or was it just something with explosions that kept you in the air conditioning for two hours?  Film is literature, and it possesses some of the same ability to move people..Your reply should be concise and succinct.  Include the title, director, and top billed stars,  Give a one-sentence summary and your thoughts.  Please mark spoilers so that others can have a fair chance.

See.

Easy.

This is a clip from a very important film. Boyhood

 

A fine choice for a Midsummer Eve.

A few thoughts on great literature

AHEM.

May want to tell others.  This is a grade.  No fooling.

Choices, choices, choices...

For this installment I would love for you to read the short story from your packet entitled "The Story of an Hour".  It's quick and, if you lost it, it's all over the internet.  Read it and, without looking up sources to see what others think, give your impression of the protagonist in no less than 150 well chosen, gem-like words.  

 

 Here's a trailer or two relating to the subject at hand

Oops, one is actually the full film.

Stereotypes in Pop Culture

When we discuss pop culture, we are discussing art that was created to be consumed by the masses.  This means e are discussing music, film, television, comics, novels and other texts.  It is a powerful tool, but it  can also be used to demean and belittle people.  Sometimes this happens unintentionally.  For instance in the 1984 film Sixteen Candles, women, save for the protagonist, are almost all portrayed as self-involved, substance abusers.  Many of the female characters are almost psychotically materialistic.  This is an attitude that was echoed in many of the famous films and series of the 1980s seemed to popularize this image of women.  Most significantly a number of male comedians based large pieces of their acts on misogynistic depictions of women.  Eddie Murphy rather famously presented a rage filled screed against women in his hugely popular concert film RAW. 

What hurtful stereotypes have been perpetuated by pop culture in  your opinion?  Give an example for each gender and explain it using a piece of pop culture.  How does this image adversely affect people in real life?

Opening Volley

  Since a portion of your assignment is the investigation of film, this first call and response post will be relatively easy.  I want each of you to tell me what your favorite film is and why exactly you think it's a worthwhile piece of art.  I also want you to apply the Bechdel Test to it.  Explain why it does or does not pass the test. 

Word.

"The Cask of Amontillado"

Though the stories and authors are divided by many years and two very different sensibilities.  The truth is that the protagonists of both "A Cask of Amontillado" and "A & P" are similar in many ways.  How many?  Well, let me count the ways, young waverer. 

Both Sammy and Montresor have inflated senses of their value to the world at large.  Fortunato is a class apart from Montresor and only the promise of a rare vintage lures him into his vault.  "Queenie" is oblivious to the attentions of Sammy.  Sammy for his part is delusional as he quits his job and ruins vanilla ice cream forever. (He may improve it.  Your mileage may vary.)  Montresor also fails because Fortunato is never aware of why he is being killed.  The fact is that Fortunato takes up space, rent-free, in Montresor's head and lives there for at least half a century.

These two figures are archetypical poseurs.  They are late to the party of whatever their aim is.  Sammy could be chivalrous, but his view of women as objects and "types" marks him as a misogynistic loser.  Montresor is a pale imitation of nobility.  In fact, he puts one in mind of the protagonist of Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder. That character always sought respect and plotted the deaths of his betters all for naught.  he was a rightful laughingstock, just like Montresor. 

Attack with impunity, indeed.

PEACE!