The 2006 released film Stranger Than Fiction is one of the most intelligent and thought-provoking films to have come out of Hollywood in recent years. Starring Will Ferrell in the lead role, the cast includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah and Emma Thompson in support roles. This essay will confine itself to comic aspects of the film and pick out 3 types of comedy evident therein. Considering that the plot structure as well as the unfolding narrative is unusual vis-a-vis run-of-the-mill Hollywood fare, one has to broaden the analysis beyond major comedy genres.
Firstly, the most pronounced comic aspect of the film is its sense of ‘irony’. Unlike other genres of comedy like slapstick, madcap, satire, etc, ‘irony’ tends to work subcutaneous to the narrative. As a result, only an audience with a refined taste for humour can identify and appreciate it. But the very premise of interplay between ‘fiction’ and ‘reality’, that too as it unfolds . . . Read More
Category: Media Studies
Reading Response to Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is a popular science book published in 2005. The subject is the ‘human adaptive unconscious’, which is the cognitive phenomenon behind quick, frequent and automatic processes in the mind. Gladwell’s central thesis is that our minds can make fairly accurate judgments, without consuming much time and information. Gladwell goes on to present several supporting evidence to back up his thesis. These include verifiable cases from the domains of gambling, speed dating, strategy video games and malpractice suits. And I have to admit that most of them are quite convincing.
Gladwell describes the phenomena as ‘thin-slicing’, which humans employ most of the time as a way of de-cluttering the mind from the abundance of information available to it. According to Gladwell’s thesis, ‘thin-slicing’ is as good a strategy (if not better) than comprehensive analysis of an occurrence/situation. Hence, spontaneous . . . Read More
Pablo Picasso: A Political Life
Pablo Picasso is one of the pre-eminent artists of the twentieth century, having mastered various art forms such as painting, sculpting, print-making, ceramic-making and stage designing. Alongside Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp, Picasso is considered to have revolutionized plastic arts in the early part of the twentieth century. He is also credited with co-founding the Cubist movement and constructed sculpture. The invention of collage is also attributed to him. Although Picasso is a house-hold name across the world, his political views and affiliations are not as well-known as his artistic accomplishments. His political commitments have been one of the most underexplored areas of his life and work. (Kiaer, 2003, p.395) But new scholarship and evidence from exhibitions identify the political facet of Pablo Picasso. This essay will argue that though not much publicized or documented Picasso held strong political beliefs. This is evident from the events of his personal life and the . . . Read More
Neil Postman’s Defending the Indefensible
Neil Postman’s essay titled ‘Defending the Indefensible’ appears in his seminal book ‘Conscientious Objections’, in which he critiques aspects of our culture that we’ve taken for granted. The essays in the book address quality of life issues related to advancing technology, new media and declining education standards. Defending the Indefensible pertains itself to one facet of our society that is particularly problematic, namely, the education system. Postman reckons that the education system should cultivate the faculty of ‘critical intelligence’ in pupils. This would enable them to question cultural and social norms and find rational alternatives for flawed practices. But unfortunately, the prevailing education system only seems to make students subservient to existing norms.
Postman suggests a list of seven intellectual tools through which students can decode the implications and hidden assumptions in the language presented to them. According to Postman, a . . . Read More
On Orientalism featuring Edward Said
Orientalism, a concept coined by the renowned American intellectual Edward Said has attracted praise and controversy in equal measure. While remaining Said’s definitive scholarly work, its thesis is a condensation of themes found in his other works such as The Question of Palestine and Covering Islam. To be concise, Orientalism can be defined as the synthetic study and analysis of Oriental philology, linguistics, ethnography, etc. It also encompasses the interpretation of Eastern culture through the discovery, recovery, classification and translation of the canon of Oriental texts. (Windschuttle, 1999, p.32) While this is the idealized definition of Orientalism, Said redefined the term to mean a distorted and prejudiced account fo Eastern culture and tradition as projected by imperialistic Western scholars.
Said’s scholarship and his personal life are always intertwined because of his background. He was born into a Palestinian Christian family that moved to the USA. This . . . Read More
Media Literacy and Ethics
In Chapter 2 of Converging Media: A New Introduction to Mass Communication, “Media Literacy and Ethics,” we are introduced to the concept of media literacy and how to develop it in ourselves. Explain what media literacy is and discuss how media literate you yourself are. How many sources of news and information do you consult a day? Do you concern yourself with which companies own which television networks, film production companies, newspapers, recording labels, etc.? Do you think about the messages conveyed in advertising?
Media Literacy is a subject that is gaining relevance in the Information Age that we inhabit today. This is because a passive digestion of news content that is offered on a platter is unlikely to lead to a healthy understanding of that content. This is especially true in the highly privatized and commercialized environment of today, where much corporate and political propaganda gets passed on as objective news. Hence, there . . . Read More
Censorship of books and select websites in school libraries: Pros & Cons
Censorship and freedom of expression within school campuses has attracted a lot of debate and discussion over the years. School authorities have a difficult time in ascertaining where to draw the line between free enquiry and moral hazard. It is a surprising fact that in a country with a rich liberal tradition like the United States, there have been over 250 attempts by school districts at book banning in 31 states. This is just in the last 4 years. As shocking as this information is, “over 85% of bans go unreported either due to poor media attention or lack of opposition. The threat of censorship is much greater than it appears at first glance.” (Brenyo, 2011, p.544) The issue of censorship is also witnessed in high school publications, where a perennial power tussle exists between “student journalists decrying potential violations of their free speech and administrators who point to their responsibility to protect the welfare of the student body.” (Jenco, 2008, p.1) While . . . Read More
Play Review: Hay Fever by Noel Coward
Authored by Noel Coward in 1924, the play Hay Fever was first performed the following year at the Ambassadors Theatre. The original cast included eminent actors and actresses from the Jazz Age America. These include Helen Spencer, Robert Andrews, Marie Tempest and Graham Browne who comprise the members of the Bliss family. Most of the action takes place in the Hall of David Bliss’ house, which is located beside River Thames at Cookham, Berkshire. The eccentricities of the four members of the Bliss family become heightened during a weekend, when each of them invites a guest over without consulting other members. The farce and comedy then come to the fore, as the family tries to resolve its internal disputes in the midst of their guests. (Mander & Mitchenson, 2000) This essay will argue that beside the hilarious comedy on offer, the lasting success of the play is due to skillful handling of its production, especially its scenic design and . . . Read More
Paris (2008) by Cedric Klapisch
The movie I chose for this exercise is titled Paris, released in 2008. This is a French language movie that I watched with English subtitles. Written and directed by Cedric Klapisch, the film stars Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris and Fabrice Luchini.
While watching the movie on my laptop computer, I was able to identify some key differences when compared to watching it in a theatre. First of all, I could seat myself in my favourite couch in a laid back fashion with my legs stretched out. Hence, the personal comfort factor was a positive. Watching in a theatre would have required some degree of formal clothing and sitting posture in comparison.
Secondly, the ‘pause’ option offered by movie playing software like Windows Media Player or VLC is invaluable in its utility. When I received a phone call, I could just ‘pause’ the film where it was and continue after finishing the call. This is not possible in the theatre setting. Similarly, I could rewind and . . . Read More
Growth of home theaters, new delivery mechanisms, and alternative viewing devices
With the flourishing of the Internet and vast improvements in network bandwidth capabilities, films produced in Hollywood have also been marketed and distributed through these channels. In the article in question, which was published in www.wired.com in June 2005, George Lucas was talking about a fundamental shift in movie consumption patterns. The film industry in the United States has been on a steady decline since the onset of the Second World War, and this trend is likely to continue in the future too. With the emergence of new avenues for marketing and distribution, including Television and DVD, viewership in theatres is bound to fall further. This point is alluded to by George Lucas.
Lucas further observes that although theatre-going will continue to be a social event in American society, they would no longer see big-budget epics. Despite being the producer of major epic blockbusters like Star Wars series and Indiana Jones, his own recent movie productions . . . Read More