Germinal, based on the landmark novel by Emile Zola, presents a startlingly authentic and powerful look into the tumultuous, tragedy-riddled lives of 19th century French coal miners. Forced to endure hellish conditions, risk death and dismemberment, and work from before dawn until after dusk, these men and women had only one alternative to mining: starvation. Germinal is not a happy story, but it is impossible not to sense the realism that pervades the project.
The film opens with the arrival of Etienne Lantier (Renaud) at the Voreux coal mine. An out-of- work machinist, Etienne is willing to do almost anything to make money, including descending into the pit and taking pick-axe to coal. He is befriended by Maheu (Gerard Depardieu),
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As a strike looms, one such woman hopes that this unfortunate turn of events won't disrupt her plans for a lunch party.
Berri's indictment of plight of the miners is at once simple and moving. While Zola's impassioned cry for social reform is at the heart of Germinal, the interactions of the individual characters represent the picture's soul, and lift it above other movies with similar messages.
There is the unconditional love of one man, Maheu, for his family, and the sacrifices he must endure for them. Maheu is a hard worker, and in his heart he believes in the innate goodness of man. He cannot accept, for example, that soldiers brought in to defend the mine would fire on their own countrymen.
Germinal, which cost $30 million to make, is a lavish production, and it's clear that the money was well-spent. The scenes in the mine are remarkable in conveying the desperate circumstances confronting the characters. How many members of the audience experienced an irrational desire to wash away the accumulating coal dust from their own skin?
Aided in no small part by an exemplary cast, Claude Berri has brought to the screen a masterpiece, interweaving personal tragedy and social upheaval against the background of a way of life that would not yield easily to change. There is much that is right about Germinal, and very little that
The Great Gatsby is based upon wealth in the “Roaring 20’s”. The novel itself contains not a single dull moment of the narrators experience in the East, as it reflects people’s aspirations corrupted by greed and money. In addition, the romance between characters can help relate the readers to the novel. The film does a great job capturing almost all the aspects of the novel; through colors and themes. It gives the viewer a clear understanding of how shallow characters get mixed up into complex
As Marx’s states in his theory, when the working class becomes aware of their exploitation, this will result in a revolt lead by the proletariats. The major theories studied by Marx can be used to analyze the characters and situations presented in the film.
(Preview these questions before you watch the film. Take notes as you watch the film, then answer on a separate paper.)
Although unintentional, the director of the movie Ladybird, Greta Gerwig, mimicked F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, The Great Gatsby, in more ways than one. She created parallels between the book and the movie through characters as well as her style of writing. A most obvious comparison can be made between the independent protagonist, Ladybird, and the wealthy bachelor, Jay Gatsby. Both having changed their names on their own account, Ladybird and The Great Gatsby are simple stories about their lives told through immense detail, thoughtfulness and intricacy. In addition, Gerwig and Fitzgerald utilize the characteristic of selflessness and implant this into two characters, Ladybird’s mother and Nick, in such a way that brings out their inner personality of altruism
Rampant child rape, indiscreet public sex, gangs of thieving children, mobs of murderous men and women, these are the images that characterize the mining community set forth in Germinal, by Emile Zola. The graphic images presented by Zola leaves the reader wondering about a society that could allow such harsh conditions for their young. Everyone worked yet they could afford not meat but just bread from their earnings. Food was scarce and the only activity besides work was sex. The workload increased at any time and the worker was at the absolute mercy of the manager or owner of the mine where he worked. These conditions led to the revolution of the mining community. According to Dr. Abraham Maslow's theory of self-actualization,
(Preview these questions before you watch the film. Take notes as you watch the film, then answer on a separate paper.)
Germinal is a novel set in northern France, in the 1860’s. It is written by the French writer Emile Zola, who offers what he thinks is the best solution to the problems in the industrial revolution through Germinal. The plot of the book is centered on a strike that occurs in the mining community of Montsou. The strike takes place because of the constant deteriorating conditions of the miners. Etienne, a newcomer to Montsou, is leading the work stoppage, protesting for the better working conditions. Different workers in Montsou have different opinions on how better conditions for the miners should be achieved. Based on what unfolds throughout the novel, it appears that Zola views Etienne’s solution as the best way to end the problems
It is fairly apparent that a number of political overtones dominate Emile Zola's novel Germinal, which is the 13th book of nonfiction within the writer's Les Rougon-Macquart, a 20-volume series of novels. The author published this work of literature in 1885, less than 50 years after Marx and Engels unveiled the Communist Manifesto which was still plenty of time for a number of the ideologies propagated in this manuscript to take hold of popular culture and political theorists alike. In fact, one could successfully make a claim that the central theme of Germinal actually revolves around the conceptions of class antagonism that is an inherent part of an exploitative, bourgeois society such as that depicted in the French coal mining town in 1860, the setting for Germinal. A thorough analysis of this literary work illustrates that there are several instances of class antagonism, which are central to the plot of this book and provide its primary theme.
The film "The Notebook" is a 2004 romantic drama set along the coast line of South Carolina in 1946, directed by Nick Cassavetes. This film is an American love story between two young adults, Ally and Noah, which had fallen for each other over a short summer break and was torn apart due to financial differences that were looked down upon by Ally's parents.
The 2013 movie adaptation of ‘The Great Gatsby” certainly steps out of the cozy boundaries of the novella of less than two hundred pages by F. Scott Fitzegerald with its gaudy attitude and fast-paced scenes that at the same time is quite picturesque and full of details reproduced to match the prose that has been written. Some lovers of the classic might be horrified at the big top-esque film that Baz Luhrmann has made it into, for this director is no stranger to flashiness and taking risks, as shown in his past films “Moulin Rouge!” and “Romeo + Juliet”; and the same desire in the both of them is still present in his installment of “Gatsby”: the want to capture the contemporary audience, even if it
Movie adaptations are widely produced in our modern cinematic world. Many book lovers criticize movie adaptations, proclaiming that it kills the spirit of the story, misses out on critical key themes, and eliminates the reader's and viewer’s imagination. The Great Gatsby movie, directed by Baz Luhrmann and released on May 1st, 2013, is a film adaptation of the book The Great Gatsby, written in 1922 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The time lag between the movie and the book made some things unacceptable in our society. These changing societal proprietorship motivated Baz Luhrmann to alter the movie to be more suitable for current viewers. Consequently, there are many differences to be found between the book and the movie adaptation, which ultimately led to Luhrmann's movie being critiqued many times by the book’s fans, saying it was nothing like the actual book. Despite the fact that the movie adaptation of the Great Gatsby book follows the overall plot, it fails to show the racism, sexism, and abuse some of the characters withhold. The movie also fails to show the significance of the American dream, the condemnation of the lifestyle of the very rich, and it also annihilates reader’s imagination.
Germinal, written by Emile Zola is about a man, Etienne, who receives a mining job at Le Voreux, a coal mine. While working, Etienne discovers the harsh working conditions, and the malnourishment men and women have. As the status of these workers continues to deplete, Etienne is motivated to start a revolt in hope of gaining better working conditions and wages so he and the other workers can live proper lives.
The importance of human emotion portrayed in “Seed Stock” is presented very similarly in the film Gattaca. Vincent and Irene’s
Some people don't realize how simple, yet complicated life is, that the point of it is not to ‘lose or win or become successful', but to die knowing that you have lived your life to the maximum and get the satisfaction from that. That you have created and destroyed, that you lived and the sun shone on you, and most importantly, that you left a footprint behind you.
The development of self starts at a very young age. When a preschooler is asked how are they different from other children, they usually look at their self concept. Self concept is their identity, of their set of beliefs about what they are like as individuals. Most preschoolers give inaccurate statements about their self concept. They usually overestimate their skills and knowledge. Preschool-age children also begin to develop a view of self that reflects their particular culture considers the self. An example of this would be to look at the different views as self between the Western culture and the Asian culture. Western cultures believe that an individual should seek attention of others by standing out