Activity 1. Vocabulary study - use a dictionary to define the following words.
cad: seemingly/apparently charming
wits: ? by his brain
woo: seduces
fleece: steal
desert:
drop names: pretending
fabricate: inventing
pull off:
seamstress:
milliner:
plain-looking:
feigns: pretends to be surprise
taken aback:
reel in:
blandishments:
blanch:
comsummate:
brooch: a jewel
Activity 2. Plot: put the events in the proper sequence.
Plot
Act I
4____ A. Georgia(?) and Adelaide talk in separate monologues - George describes his role as a gigolo and Adelaide talks about her inheritance.
9____ B. The next day they meet in the park and things happen fast - Georgia(?) declares his love, asks for her hand in marriage, and she accepts without much questioning.
7____ C. The next day, George bumps into her by chance and invites her to lunch as he plays the perfect gentleman.
2____ D. He says that his suits are attractive to women.
6____ E. George enters the shop behind her and asks about the green hat in the window - the seduction of Adelaide has begun.
10____ F. They are married in a coastal resort, book into a hotel, play cards the whole night long but do not make love because Adelaide carries a lot of emotional baggage from the past.
8____ G. Adelaide is touched and accepts his invitation.
1____ H. We first meet George who tells us he wears expensive clothes, just like those worn by the upper class of England.
5____ I. The action really starts with George walking down Edgeware Road and coming face to face with Adelaide outside the clothing shop.
3____ J. We meet Adelaide who tells us she works in the back room of a clothing store as a milliner.
Act II.
7____ A. She dreams about opening a clothing store together; it would be the perfect fit for them.
4____ B. George makes excuses and convinces Adelaide to take a bath.
2____ C. Saying he has a headache, George does not go to the post office with Adelaide, but returns to the room, hoping to escape with the money and brooch.
10____ D. Unfortunately for her George does the unthinkable.
8____ E. George hesitates, Adelaide prepares to leave, he tries to get her money back, and he becomes angry.
5____ F. Adelaide realizes her brooch is not there and confronts George about his lies, telling him to stop pretending.
6____ G. She takes on an assertive role: she wants to stay with him rather than her parents and proposes a plan to him.
3____ H. But for some unknown reason, George returns to the room to leave the brooch and as he is leaving a second time comes face-to-face with Adelaide.
9____ I. Adelaide decides to stay when she learns about George's troubled past.
1____J. After Adelaide wakes up, she and George head to the bank to withdraw her inheritance and she writes a letter to her family.
Activity 3. Writing and discussion: in small groups.
The elements of plot, theme, character, setting, point of view and style contribute to the overall effect of the play:
What is the writer's purpose? to entertain? to be thought provoking? to state an opinion? to play on the reader's emotions?
What is the writer's tone? Is the writer being ironic? sarcastic? humorous? serious? tongue in cheek?
How does the story begin? Does the writer establish setting or emphasise the background of the situation? Is the character given more emphasis than the setting? How much detail is supplied?
How does the story develop? Is it told through a series of blocks moving rapidly through time and space, like flash backs and flash forwards? Is it being told chronologically?
How does the story end? With a twist or surprise? With a build up to an inevitable climax or are you left hanging, being forced to supply your own ending based on your reading of the little blocks of action the writer supplied?
Who tells the story? Is the story being told through the eyes of a character involved in the action? Is the author standing outside of the action and observing? Is the author observing but within the action?Check the use of the pronoun... if it is I, me, my, our, we then the author is a character within the story. The story is being told in the first person.If the pronouns are: he, she, it, hers, his, they, them, their the author is outside of the action and observing as if he/she was God. This is known as the Eye of God technique.Another way of telling a story is as a series of thoughts, each thought block building up an impression or action. The thoughts can be told in a logical order or as they seemingly occur to the character... at random. This is known as the stream of consciousness technique.
What is the language and style like? The impression the writer wants in the story will be affected by the language he/she tells the story in or has the characters use. The language is important to develop the character and action. The realism of the dialogue will influence our reading of the story and our attitudes to the characters involved.
What images are used? In order to rapidly develop a story the writer relies on the reader recognising particular symbols and references and understanding what he/she intends them to mean, eg. in Maurice Gee's story Schooldays (Maurice Gee - Collected Stories. Penguin Books) the lead character's red hair becomes a symbol for rebellion, challenge and freedom.
What are the characters like? The characters don't have to be fully developed. They need not have a name. They can be identified simply as "the boy", "the girl". "the mother." In other stories it is essential that the characters have fully developed personalities and motivations.
How important is the setting in conveying the ideas and mood of the story?
Activity 4. Work in groups of three and write a different ending to the play lasting approximatey 3 minutes.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Previewing Tryst
Women's Suffrage:
- The Pacific colony of Franceville, declaring independence in 1889, became the first self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage without distinction of sex or color.
- Voting rights for women were introduced into international law in 1948 when the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- New Jersey women, along with "aliens...persons of color, or negroes," lost the vote in 1807, when the franchise was restricted to white males, partly in order, ostensibly at least, to combat electoral fraud by simplifying the conditions for eligibility.
Melodrama:
- English melodrama was influenced by German Sturm und Drang drama and Parisian melodrama of the post-Revolutionary period.
- Beginning in the second half of the 18th century, melodrama was a technique of combining spoken recitation with short pieces of accompanying music.
- The villain was always the central character in melodrama and crime was a favorite theme.
Realism:
- Realism was first crafted into the works of Shakespeare and other early 16th century writers.
- The realist movement began with Henrik Ibsen
- Realism began earlier in the 19th century in Russia than elsewhere in Europe and took a more uncompromising form.
Naturalism:
- Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, sex, prejudice, disease, prostitution, and filth.
- It refers to theatre that attempts to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies
- Naturalistic performance is often unsuitable for the performance of other types of theatre
- The Pacific colony of Franceville, declaring independence in 1889, became the first self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage without distinction of sex or color.
- Voting rights for women were introduced into international law in 1948 when the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- New Jersey women, along with "aliens...persons of color, or negroes," lost the vote in 1807, when the franchise was restricted to white males, partly in order, ostensibly at least, to combat electoral fraud by simplifying the conditions for eligibility.
Melodrama:
- English melodrama was influenced by German Sturm und Drang drama and Parisian melodrama of the post-Revolutionary period.
- Beginning in the second half of the 18th century, melodrama was a technique of combining spoken recitation with short pieces of accompanying music.
- The villain was always the central character in melodrama and crime was a favorite theme.
Realism:
- Realism was first crafted into the works of Shakespeare and other early 16th century writers.
- The realist movement began with Henrik Ibsen
- Realism began earlier in the 19th century in Russia than elsewhere in Europe and took a more uncompromising form.
Naturalism:
- Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, sex, prejudice, disease, prostitution, and filth.
- It refers to theatre that attempts to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies
- Naturalistic performance is often unsuitable for the performance of other types of theatre
Monday, March 2, 2009
Mid-term writing test W09 Final version
"We are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss"
2008 is certainly a shocking year for movie celebration. As we go by the top 10 lists and all prestigious prizes that are given through many galas, I was surprise that it was not necessarily the best movie that was winning. Surely, all movies in nomination were great ones (altough many amazing ones were still missing), but in my opinion, The curious case of Benjamin Button was deserving Best picture more than anything. I will try to persuade you by his content and technical qualities.
First of all, The curious case of Benjamin Button is incredible in his content. The movie, who is actually about time itself, is amazingly timeless. It's an awesome film that will surely pass through time, in comparison of Slumdog Millionaire who is to me the flavor of the months more than the movie of the decade. It is the kind of movie that will affect everyone but in a different way. It is an observation about life and every themes related. Some people will see age, love, time, memory, relation, etc. as the main one, while it is hard to tell because mainly all of this is about life and the beauty related to. The rythm is slow, contemplative and really moving too, something really exceptional in a way, while they do the exploit of doing a 166 minutes movie based on a short story! It is an affecting story that can relied to anyone, going with the fact that it is about life from start to end, so anyone can relied in a way or another.
Secondly, The curious case of Benjamin Button got undeniable technical qualities that make the unusual circumstances of the movie more than plausible. The technology they used for Benjamin Button was amazing and surely a model that will be followed in the future. They also shown their expertise in recreating time and places. Moreover, most of the artisans under thoses effects were Montrealers, a fact that we can be honored of. Fortunately, the movie was rewarded in thoses categories during the last Academy Awards ceremony. Some people may say that it was categories where Slumdog was not even in nomination, but this is rubbish, Benjamin Button would have won thoses anyway.
In conclusion, The curious case of Benjamin Button, following his content and his technical particularities, was more than exceptional. So as the movie says, we are defined by opportunities, but even if the Academy does not want to see it, Benjamin Button had certainly not miss his. So let just hope that time will change things for the best.
-441 words-
Mid-term writing test W09 original
"We are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss"
2008 is certainly a shocking year for movie celebration. As we go by the top 10 lists and all prestigious prizes that are given through many galas, I was surprise that it was not necessarily the best movie that was wining. Surely, all movies in nomination were great ones (altough many amazing ones were still missing), but in my opinion, The curious case of Benjamin Button was deserving Best picture more than anything. I will try to persuade you by telling some reasons that may have influenced voters instead of cinematographic qualities and by what makes this movie so amazing to my eyes.
First of all, I must say that I really appreciate Slumdog millionaire that was an amazing feel-good movie, altough very manipulator to what it express, what it shows and what he wants us to feel. But well, let say it, the world is not in a good shape. We are in a period of constant changes and reflexions, we are putting more and more attention to our faith and our mistakes and as we go by the failures of our society (following recession and things of that kind), people need to be remind in a way (with dark and depressing movies just like Cloverfield, There will be blood, The dark knight, Revolutionary road, etc.), but they also need to be given hope. That is why feel-good movies exists and normally, thoses types of movies are leads by great message underline with big emphasis (just think of WALL-E (amazing movie by the way) with his ecological message, or Tropic thunder that criticize the failure of the hollywood industry, or the musical Hairspray that was talking about racism). Yes, in bad times, we can not hide it, we all love to watch a feel-good movie to comfort us, and that may be one of the reasons that influenced the voters of the academy. In the same direction, the academy always comes to a point where talented icons needs to be honoured following many past efforts that never got mentionned. Scorsese is a great examples, who finally got recognition in 2007 with The Departed, while it was not necessarily the best film of this year or the best one in his career. Slumdog is following this idea by taking the special place that the academy is now showing: the feel-good movie, let's think of Little miss sunshine or Juno, far better, who had both take this case without ending with the ultimate prize. Well let's say that it was perfect time to let this kind of movie gaining the recognition they were needing.
Secondly, to my eyes The curious case of Benjamin Button, who is actually about time itself, is amazingly timeless. It's an awesome film that will surely pass through time, in comparison of Slumdog Millionaire who is to me the flavor of the months more than the movie of the decade. It is the kind of movie that will affect everyone but in a different way. It is a movie about life itselfs and every theme related. Some people will see age, love, time, memory, relation, etc. as the main theme of the movie, while it is hard to tell because mainly all of this is about life and the beauty related to. The rythm is slow and contemplative, really moving too, something really exceptional in a way, while they do the exploit of doing a 166 minutes movie with a short story! It is an affecting story that can relied to anyone, going by the fact that it is about life from start to end, so anyone can relied in a way or another. In the same point of view, The curious case of Benjamin Button got undeniable technical qualities that make the unusual circumstances of the movie more than plausible. The technology they used for Benjamin Button was amazing and surely a model that will be follow in the future. They also shown their expertise in recreating time and places. Moreover, most of the artisan under thoses effects were Montrealers, a fact that we can be honored of. Fortunately, The curious case of Benjamin Button was honoured in thoses categories at the last academy awards ceremony. Some people may say that it was categories where Slumdog was not even in nomination, but this is rubbish, Benjamin Button would have won thoses anyway.
In conclusion, Best picture does not necessarily means best movie. Slumdog wins becauses following our era we are in, it was meant to, but well, The curious case of Benjamin Button was actually showing a lot more qualities following his content and his technical particularities. So as the movie says, we are defined by opportunities, but even if the Academy does not want to see it, Benjamin Button had certainly not miss his. So let just hope that time will change things for the best.
2008 is certainly a shocking year for movie celebration. As we go by the top 10 lists and all prestigious prizes that are given through many galas, I was surprise that it was not necessarily the best movie that was wining. Surely, all movies in nomination were great ones (altough many amazing ones were still missing), but in my opinion, The curious case of Benjamin Button was deserving Best picture more than anything. I will try to persuade you by telling some reasons that may have influenced voters instead of cinematographic qualities and by what makes this movie so amazing to my eyes.
First of all, I must say that I really appreciate Slumdog millionaire that was an amazing feel-good movie, altough very manipulator to what it express, what it shows and what he wants us to feel. But well, let say it, the world is not in a good shape. We are in a period of constant changes and reflexions, we are putting more and more attention to our faith and our mistakes and as we go by the failures of our society (following recession and things of that kind), people need to be remind in a way (with dark and depressing movies just like Cloverfield, There will be blood, The dark knight, Revolutionary road, etc.), but they also need to be given hope. That is why feel-good movies exists and normally, thoses types of movies are leads by great message underline with big emphasis (just think of WALL-E (amazing movie by the way) with his ecological message, or Tropic thunder that criticize the failure of the hollywood industry, or the musical Hairspray that was talking about racism). Yes, in bad times, we can not hide it, we all love to watch a feel-good movie to comfort us, and that may be one of the reasons that influenced the voters of the academy. In the same direction, the academy always comes to a point where talented icons needs to be honoured following many past efforts that never got mentionned. Scorsese is a great examples, who finally got recognition in 2007 with The Departed, while it was not necessarily the best film of this year or the best one in his career. Slumdog is following this idea by taking the special place that the academy is now showing: the feel-good movie, let's think of Little miss sunshine or Juno, far better, who had both take this case without ending with the ultimate prize. Well let's say that it was perfect time to let this kind of movie gaining the recognition they were needing.
Secondly, to my eyes The curious case of Benjamin Button, who is actually about time itself, is amazingly timeless. It's an awesome film that will surely pass through time, in comparison of Slumdog Millionaire who is to me the flavor of the months more than the movie of the decade. It is the kind of movie that will affect everyone but in a different way. It is a movie about life itselfs and every theme related. Some people will see age, love, time, memory, relation, etc. as the main theme of the movie, while it is hard to tell because mainly all of this is about life and the beauty related to. The rythm is slow and contemplative, really moving too, something really exceptional in a way, while they do the exploit of doing a 166 minutes movie with a short story! It is an affecting story that can relied to anyone, going by the fact that it is about life from start to end, so anyone can relied in a way or another. In the same point of view, The curious case of Benjamin Button got undeniable technical qualities that make the unusual circumstances of the movie more than plausible. The technology they used for Benjamin Button was amazing and surely a model that will be follow in the future. They also shown their expertise in recreating time and places. Moreover, most of the artisan under thoses effects were Montrealers, a fact that we can be honored of. Fortunately, The curious case of Benjamin Button was honoured in thoses categories at the last academy awards ceremony. Some people may say that it was categories where Slumdog was not even in nomination, but this is rubbish, Benjamin Button would have won thoses anyway.
In conclusion, Best picture does not necessarily means best movie. Slumdog wins becauses following our era we are in, it was meant to, but well, The curious case of Benjamin Button was actually showing a lot more qualities following his content and his technical particularities. So as the movie says, we are defined by opportunities, but even if the Academy does not want to see it, Benjamin Button had certainly not miss his. So let just hope that time will change things for the best.
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