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Conflicting Perspectives - Hughes

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Together the works of Ted Hughes, Christine Jeffs and J.D Salinger combine to enhance an understanding of the concept of conflicting perspectives. The audience can see that there is a great deal of ubiquity in relation to Conflicting Perspectives. Ted Hughes’ poetry gives his account of a tumultuous part of his life whilst Christine Jeff’s film portrays a different point of view than that given by Hughes’. It is through looking at Salinger’s novel, that the role of the authorial voice in contrast to the protagonists can create a conflicting perspective between the protagonist and the audience. All these texts explore the concept of one person’s ‘truth’ in relation to another’s. The collection of poems constituting Birthday letters was …show more content…

Camera angles and editing have also been used to show Hughes’ as being the main cause of Plath’s paranoia and the reason for the downfall of the marriage. The low angle shots used on Hughes’ in contrast with the high angle shots used on Plath depict Hughes as being controlling and dominating in relation to Plath who is made to look innocent, vulnerable and helpless. The editing of the film in relation to the quick flickering back and forth between Hughes’ and Plath during a fight shows the different facial emotions of each juxtaposed with one another. Again, Hughes’ looks angry, in control and powerful, whereas Sylvia looks scared, dominated and vulnerable. Hughes’ negative impact on Sylvia is also represented through the use of makeup and costume. At the beginning of the film Plath wears bright colours such as red and green and her makeup is dewy, tanned and fresh. This gives the character of Plath a sense of youth, vibrancy and joy. Conversely, at the end of the film after her many arguments with Hughes’ Plath wears greys and blacks and her makeup becomes pale, dull and lifeless. This provides a striking contrast to the Sylvia shown earlier in the film. Gradually, Jeffs makes the character appear aged, unhappy and lacking animation. In difference from the perspective offered by Hughes in ‘Sam,’ in that Plath was very fast to give up on their marriage, Sylvia gives a different point of view. Through the use of makeup,

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