Film: The Small Town Of Wirrawee

“Flowers” Robin Jenkins effectively conveys loss of innocence and ant war through sophisticated symbolism in the short story “Flowers”. It tells the story of a young girl, Margaret, who was evacuated from the city of Glasgow to the highlands of Scotland in an attempt to avoid the inhumanity of war,

In one of the most poverty stricken cities in America, there is a thin line between success and failure as is showcased in the 2015 film McFarland, USA. Which is based on a true story. The story begins in 1987 in Boise, Idaho, where Coach Jim White makes some unfortunate decisions. Due to lack of better options, he and his family are forced to move to one of the poorest cities in the U.S. White becomes the new assistant football coach, life science teacher, and P.E. teacher. Soon after losing his coaching spot for the football team he is motivated to start a cross country team. HE notices the potential that seven boys have to become great runners. After creating his team they go on to win last place and then they end up in the top four. The

Within the mind, we have thoughts and triggers that set our fears. Fear is the number one thing that can cause us from doing things in life. No matter what time frame we are in, on this planet, we learn that fear is worth controlling in life. One spectacular movie that inhibits fear and control so well in our human nature is The Village by M. Night Shyamalan. Mr. Shyamalan shows so much potential in this film with ourselves and the viewing of certain scenes that trigger the mind with control and fear. A few of the scenes in the movie inherit the cultural background with the late 1800’s time frame and sets a real tragedy throughout the film. In this motion picture, we learn certain things that fear some of us and have plot twist actions that make the movie so spectacular. As we approach the plot twists; fear, themes, and control for this video, it is a life lesson in most cases maybe for those who are in-love or just looking for a movie to open our minds.

Mary Anne is first presented as a “seventeen-year-old doll in her goddamn culottes, perky and fresh-faced”, which brings about an image of the innocence and an American Dream-esque teenage girl (92). By presenting her as such, O’Brien illustrates the naiveté of someone who is being introduced to war, yet has no experience. She shows up on the first day with no understanding and therefore no knowledge of the severity of war. However, within a page and a half, Mary Anne changes into a girl who could “clip an artery and pump up a plastic sprint…[and who] cut her hair short” (93-94). Like a soldier, Mary Anne did not complain nor shy away from the trauma; she embraced it and fully immersed herself in it. Though she was trying to prove that she was tough and could handle Vietnam, she slowly became more and more invested in the gore and horror of war. After disappearing for days at a time, abandoning her boyfriend, and associating herself with the mysterious “Greenies”, Mary Anne was finally seen “wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues” (110). Although she retained her classic all-American outer appearance, her personality became polar opposite. This is a reality that many soldiers experience, where they turn into shells of their former selves, left with the abyss that war created. While the character of

Wayne Blair depicts the theme of war with the scene of the girls arriving in Vietnam and travelling to their camp. Through the use of setting, the devastation of war is displayed with the change of scenery as they travel further within the country. When the girls and Dave are first travelling through, the setting is bright and cheerful; they are happy and excited which is shown through a medium long shot of the characters and their transport. As they travel further into the country, the scenery changes as it becomes gloomy and is destroyed. Through the tracking medium long shot, the scenery is displayed while

Despite the fact that the German has let the rest of the soldiers escape unharmed, Robert’s innate violence triggers the death of an innocent soldier. Thus, Robert’s actions reveal the inherent savage nature of humankind.

Right off the bat, this You don’t know where the next shot is coming from and you can never relax because the pacing of the movie comes like a tidal wave of dread. An interesting creative decision here is that even though this is clearly WWII and we know who the enemy is, you never see a single German soldier, not even a Nazi Germany flag is present. The closest you get to an enemy is the aerial assault from many jets fighter. The absence of a physical enemy, it doesn’t affect this survival film one bit, if anything it strikes up more paranoia keeping the audience uneasy the way through.

     The psychological effects of war bring on a very different aspect of horror. The sniper becomes quite fanatical about his job in the war. He gets very excited over the thrill of the kill, turning his job into a game. “His hand trembled with eagerness” as he was trying to shoot the “enemy” sniper, showing the intense excitement he felt. He has such a lust for battle that he even stops eating! The sniper also begins to see all others as “the enemy”- the woman in the shawl, an innocent citizen, is seen as an enemy to him because she tipped off the tank commander (which she probably did for her own safety). War has psychologically changed the sniper to refer to all others not on his “side” as the enemy.

LeAlan, a 12 year old boy, doesn't even feel safe walking home from a friends house, and he knows that he has a possible chance of being shot. This should make the people feel bad about not helping to clean up the streets of Chicago's projects. LeAlan admitted, “I used to be scared walking home from Lloyds house, because the field that I had to walk through is just an open area and you can't get behind anything if they start shooting. A lot of people got shot there” (Jones 26). This means that if a kid doesn't feel safe no way do the adults. The more indepth meaning is by using these words “open area” and “got shot”, show that anything can happen to you there; this connects to the thesis by making

Catastrophic events such as war tear down nations, cities and families in an unimaginable fashion while also causing sorrow, suffering and misery throughout its course. In A.S. Byatt's short story, The Thing in the Forest, we can get a feeling of the crisis people were going through in England during

It scared me stiff… It was the turning point for me.  I began to see what people were really capable of doing…” In addition to fear,  author William Golding perceived the bane of the boys’ predicament on the island as the manifestation of war and its traumatic effects. “ There was a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew trail across the  sky, then darkness again and stars.” At one moment on the island, the boys witnessed a parachutist descending from an aircraft shot and killed mid-air, further demoralizing their detainment. (Document D) If the war was overwhelming for a member of the Royal Navy, one can only imagine the extent of anguish it brought a group of school

Now far enough away from the night club opening, Jessie could hear the distinct sound of a woman screaming. The heart wrenching sound made her stop mid step. Cold terror washed over her as she neared the corner of the alley and peered around it. There were distinct shapes -

Lastly, the soldiers experienced a lot of guilt when they for the first time for many youngsters like Robert. In an event in the novel, while fighting in the trenches, Robert and his fellow soldiers were ambushed by a German soldier’s gas attack. Robert to save his friends, then killed the German. This is significant as this was his first kill, which he regretted throughout the novel. His first kill had taken a toll on him which also led him to think about occasional suicide. Furthermore, lead to his mental health decreasing due to how severe his depression was getting, as he lost innocence and as well as feeling guilty for killing more and more people as the novel progressed. In conclusion, Findley showed how a war could affect a person mentally in so many “amazing” ways as shown in the story.

Catrina Chandler English 101 Professor Cogswell Film Essay A Bronx Tale “A Bronx Tale” is a film about directed by Robert Di Nero about a boy named Calogero an Italian American male, and his life as he grows up in a town occupied by the mob in the 1960’s. Calogero has two strong influences in his life. They are his father Lorenzo a proud middle class bus driver and a mob boss named Sonny. In the film there are three scenes that especially demonstrate the influence Sonny and Lorenzo have on Calogero.

The rambunctious behavior of the soldier’s triumphant victory is a strong message visually for the viewer. These soldiers struggle to find their identity and once the war ends, the identity they’ve build at war vanishes, (McCutcheon, 2007). As a result, they essentially lose a part of them selves, (McCutcheon, 2007). When they return home, many soldiers struggle with psychological issues that prevent them from resuming their once regular lives, (McCutcheon, 2007). The images of soldiers celebrating at the end of war give the viewer a taste of this problem. This also allows the viewer insight to the deeper issues surrounding an American soldier’s mental stability and mentality. Through this image, along with many others throughout the film, the viewer is able to dig deeper and truly analyze what they are seeing.