Bicycle Thieves : A Neorealist Movie Response

When reading all the pieces that we have read in class I had a hard time connecting pieces writing to each other if they were not the same type of writing. For example I could not figure out how to connect Frankenstein to the poem “The Second Coming” to me the two were completely different types of writing how can they be compared? Upon receiving the essay prompts for the midterm I had to do a lot of thinking before I could even begin to form an idea on the pieces of work I could write about. Upon much consideration, however, I noticed a common theme in a lot of the work we have read in the class: loneliness. A lot of the characters in the pieces were very lonely and isolated from everyone around them, this could be because they brought it on to themselves or they have been like this all along and just refused to acknowledge it. The characters that we have read about thus far that really exemplify this theme of loneliness through them are Blanche, in “A Street Car Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, Ned in “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, and the employee shown in the poem “Buying and Selling” by Philip Levine.

This world is amazing because everyone is going to a hell-like war every day to make a living. That means we need to be fed, warm, and happy to live. Once we are forced to live in extreme circumstances with limited necessities, then the real colors that we unknowingly keep hidden inside of us are revealed in a blink of an eye, and it can be hazardous. For this essay, I am going to write a theme on survival from David Benioff’s novel, City of Thieves, because the story illustrates a ruthless image of drastic measures that must be taken to survive the brutality of the war. First of all, I am going to write a summary of City of Thieves to get a better understanding of what is happening in the novel. Second, I will write the

In the short story, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, is an example of dystopian literature. First and foremost, a characteristic of dystopian literature is that citizens live in a dehumanized state. This is shown in the story when, “In the ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time.” This quote supports the thesis in that people are not allowed to do the simplest task of walking without reason, or acting without reason. This is a dehumanized state of life, due to there being such a thing as cabin fever, and that it is one of the most common activities of humans. To add to this, “The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead,

In the film The Bicycle Thief the audience is able to witness all the elements of neorealism. The use of non professional actors, to low class working characters, the flattening of scenes, and the location where it was shot at; are just a few of the essential elements that can be found in this film along with copious neorealist films. It is clear that the director used a variety of shots, angles, and set-ups in order to create certain emotions at very specific scenes in the film. From the start we are able to obtain a feel about the film’s tone as a result of the lack of color. The use of black and white truly helped the audience experience what Italy was like during the post World War 2. As a result of the depressing post war we are able to detect how the act of trying to improve oneself can sometimes lead to desperation.

The Book Thief Analysis Essay “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” This quote said by Albert Einstein shows what life is like. At one point in life everything could be terrible and then another time it could be great.

In “ On Dumpster Diving” Lars Eighner he tries to convey a message when he tells us a story about this person and how he became homeless . The context in which he writes is that he writes in a dark place where there hardly seem to be any hope and that was the tone for their entire story. But he tries to leave clues in the story to see if you pick up on and foreshadow something big about life in general. Eighner is writing from a place where everyone can feel empathy for his character and form a special bond. In today's world there are a lot of people that goes through this problem which really appeals to the reader and they can understand the situation fully and make a connection with the text. I think the audience is people that are going through a tough time it could be that they are losing their

The main theme in this story is the old saying: ”You can't judge a book by its cover”. Through the whole story people are judging the Terrible Old Man by his cover. They are seeing an old, weak, poor man who is unable to do anyone any harm, or even to defend himself. And the truth is that he is quite dangerous and most certainly able to do others harm. In the end it is the mistake that the robbers make by judging the Terrible Old Man on his covers that leads to their deaths. And it is the mistake that the citizens make by judging him by his cover that leads to him getting away with

Likewise, bike theft is a huge problem for many metropolitan cities in the U.S.. Literature to support this claim is the 2015 Crime Prevention Program in Portland, Oregon. “Thousands of bicycles are stolen in the City of Portland each year… Places with high concentrations of parked bicycles such as college campuses are especially vulnerable to theft” (Office of Neighborhood Involvement Crime Prevention Program, Bicycle Theft Prevention, 2015). This article also identifies many preventative techniques to make a bike harder to steal; for example, “Proactively register your bike and include its serial number and photos with the bike registration services bikeindex.org and project529.com” (2015). Moving on, it is imperative to attack any problem

Everyone learns how the power of descriptive words and imagery, and this tool is very prominent in The Book Thief. Not only does it help the reader picture the world the characters are living in, but it also enhances the historical context and the sense of unrest and suffering. An example of this technique in action is when the text says “Their bodies were welded together and only their feet changed position or pressure. Stillness was shackled to their faces. They watched each other and waited” (Zusak 375).

Trivial details that initially appear insignificant may present greater importance. In Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman, an unnamed narrator attempts to enlist the help of the local authorities in his search of a missing treasure. Unfortunately for him, the policemen exhibit extremely odd behavior, and their eccentric natures create multiple hinderances in his quest. While these behaviors often differ, the one aspect that remains constant is their obsession with bicycles. Throughout the novel, the bicycle becomes a reoccurring symbol that the narrator cannot escape. Although the bicycle seems to be a trivial part of the narrator's journey, it is an integral component of his adventure, and represents the illogicality and repetition the narrator is forced to endure.

While Rossellini’s Rome Open City portrays the struggle for freedom, De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves tries to find the human face. He discovered it not in the exceptional sorrow of war but in the misery of daily life where war is just one aspect of the human lot. Bicycle Thieves takes place at a specific time under a unique series of social conditions that shape both its narrative and its embrace of the Neorealist style.

	Another fine example of neorealism is The Bicycle Thief (1948), written by Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio De Sica. The narrative of this film unfolds in post-W.W.II times. The film is a portrait of the post-war Italian disadvantaged class (the majority) in their search for self-respect. It is a time of struggle for the Italian people, amplified by a shortage of employment and lack of social services. In the first scenes of the film, these conditions are evident as Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorami) meets his spouse Maria (Lianalla Carell) on his way back home. We see the "men" arguing at the employment "office" as the "women" argue about the shortage of water. Although the director's

Filmic landscapes in The Bicycle Thief reveal the reel and the real, the widespread social conditions and their social meanings for the working-class in desperate conditions. De Sica uses mise-en-scene to reveal poverty and mobility to underline the lack of movement of the poor. In the end, they steal from each other, an ironic misdeed, when the rich steals from them the most, specifically by denying them better economic opportunities. The ending is pessimistic but realistic: the poor have no one else but themselves, as they huddle to an uncertain

Pulp Fiction is an iconic early 1990s film directed by the unparalleled Quentin Tarantino. The title of the film pays homage to mid-20th century crime novels. In this way and others, the title is revealing of the content of the film. The film follows a very postmodern style that often distracts the plot to focus instead on developing the characters. The cinematography of Tarantino further highlights the characters, at times not allowing the viewer to focus on the context due to the intensity of the moment. Two elements that play key roles in the tone of the film are real violence and race. Real violence is used throughout the film both to create and release tension. The element of race is used through stereotypes that allow the characters and the way they interact to provide social commentary about racial perceptions in America at the time of its release in 1994. The elements of violence and race are used to entice the audience to remain invested in an incredibly complicated and interwoven story with no particular plot. It is these elements that allow the movie to have no single central plot and yet still captivate its audience as the artful masterpiece it is.

When in poverty people can not pay off the rent for homes so the result is living in the street. While living in the streets in people's eyes joining gangs seems like a great idea. By not having enough money many people decide to steal from local shops. Some gangs are dedicated to stealing things while others have to beg in order to survive. As shown by Getachew in the book stealing is a fowl in his group let alone stealing a drug as he is underage. He had decided to steal a pack of cigarettes and was chased by the police. When the group had come to realize this he got a punishment and the joviro Million showed no mercy. This comes to show that poverty has a large effect on the society. Along with that, this also opens the eyes of IB students helping them understand how important the role of society plays in