"On the Waterfront" and the Music of Leonard Bernstein (1954)

A theme is a unifying or dominant idea in a literary work. Steinbeck described the competition of good versus evil as the story of mankind itself. He believes that every generation to come since Adam and Eve will now be immersed with the struggle of good and evil due to Eve’s curiosity that led to sin, eventually banning both her and Adam from the Garden of Eden. In East of Eden, Steinbeck makes the contest of good versus evil apparent through his contrasting description of the setting, the characters’ opposing personalities, and society’s changing morals.

One time the theme is shown is when Johnny and Ponyboy realize that there were kids in the burning church, and they hopped right in to save them. Johnny courageously sacrifice his own life to allow Ponyboy and the children to get out. “Johnny shoved me toward a window. ‘Get out!’ I leaped out the window and heard timber crashing and the flames roaring right behind me.” (Hinton 93). Johnny and Ponyboy are two kids who are on the run because they are convicts.. Not too long before this, Johnny was standing over Bob, who he had just killed with a switchblade. People would never expect a killer to sacrifice his life for some kids and his friend, especially someone as young as Johnny. Johnny and Ponyboy didn’t do this to convince other people or themselves that they are good people with morals. They did it because they knew it was the right thing to do and they couldn’t just let the kids die in the fire. This shows that they can rise above what other people might expect from them.

Some themes that are included are justice and love. In ‘Lone Ranger’ (Directed by Stuart Heisler), it is seen that a hero dubbed the Lone Ranger, a western version of Robin Hood, is depicted as a saviour of the innocent. When he is enlisted to unknowingly help the bad guys Lone Ranger decides to help the Indian Tribal people recover their lands. In ‘The Dressmaker’, Tilly seeks a personal injustice that happened to herself when she was blamed for the murder of her half-brother, Stewart, when in truth he killed himself by mistake. Here we can see that both themes of injustice are battled by each of the protagonist’s own moral code and abilities. Having a faulted yet lovable protagonist can make the modern audience want to support them in their adventures and trials, and also able to relate to the character’s situations. Love is another key theme in spaghetti westerns with the classic idea of ‘damsels in distress’. Having this stereotype makes the audience believe that the hero and their ‘damsel’ are meant to be. When Teddy dies, it gives Tilly the courage to be fearless towards the curses she proclaims to

The theme of the novel is that your culture and background does defy you. In other words, being in a gang or group doesn’t mean you're not unique. For example, Ponyboy is in a gang/hood group “The Greasers” and does things like mug and snatch like the other members of the group, but this doesn't mean he doesn't have a different personality than the others. Another theme in the novel is the power of brotherhood. This is a sub-theme because it not confronted to the readers until the end of the novel. On page 176, Sodapop Curtis said, “ We ought to be able to stick together against everything if we don't have each other we don't have anything.” This quote struck out to me because throughout the

On the Waterfront is a film directed by Elia Kazan which illustrate the difficulties that the protagonist, Terry Malloy, has struggled in the early period of 1950s. Terry Malloy was a former prize-fighter who was bought up in a dark and brutal world of men. Since his career has ruined by the corrupted union which was controlled by Johnny Friendly, Terry was being recognized as a ‘bum’ within both the longshoremen and the mobs. This poor environment has created a false philosophy within Terry himself, ‘Do it to him, before he does it to you’. However, after he met Edie and Father Barry, Terry realized how wrong his philosophy was. Thus Terry, with his remaining conscience was able to stand up against Johnny Friendly and gain a new

Theme is the subject of talk, a topic, or morals that the author is trying to get across to the readers. When reading an excerpt, the theme is not directly stated in the text, so you must dig deeper into the context to understand the morals the author is trying to portray. In both Angela's Ashes and The Street, we can detect a similar theme of struggling to get through life’s obstacles. When reading the two different stories, we can further pick out the theme by using character, events, and the setting.

There are many themes within this play/movie. First, I noticed that love is a major theme. Roger had lost his girlfriend; April to suicide after she found out she had contracted HIV. He is trying to write one more song for her, and cannot find the right words. Another key theme for this movie was acceptance. Each of these characters accepts each other, and overall really cares about each other despite their differences. Angel who is also infected with AIDS soon found Collins, who was left in an alley after being beaten by thugs. Angel proceeded to take car of him and take him back to his place to fix him up.

This theme shows in a multitude of ways that the author utilizes throughout the story, but perhaps most significant is the central conflict

On the Waterfront is a film where a young man has to struggle between conflicting choices in the harsh brutal waterfront days of the 1950s. Director Elia Kazan chose to shoot the film in black and white, to use as a contrast between the obvious right and wrong state of affairs on the waterfront. However obvious it is, the decisions Terry Malloy must make are not so easy. Sticking to the waterfront ideals of being "D and D" and self-preservation, Terry is seen as selfish, uncaring and also as someone with no brains, no honour; essentially "a bum." Throughout the film

A composer depends entirely upon the nature of the film for all the clues needed to write a suitable score for a film. Brought into the production after a certain amount of film has been shot, the films concept will dictate how the composer will write the music. Whether based on the story line, or providing information by setting an atmospheric state, film music will always have different purposes between different films. Penguin Ballet by Nigel Westlake was composed to focuses upon the graceful, almost ballet like movements of the penguins underwater. Whereas, Writings on the wall by Sam Smith conveys ideas and messages which will be expressed throughout the film, especially through the use of lyrics. Although positioned within the film to provide contrasting messages, both these songs use similar musical elements to support the piece, and its position with the film. The discussion of this essay is that there are similarities between the musical elements that support the lyrics in a song and the action in a documentary. Through this, we will discuss the musical element’s of pitch, and timbre and texture.

theme of how the important characters as vehicles to convey the theme familial love and

Many themes were portrayed in Cannery Row.  These themes give the play depth and fascination.  The three most significant themes thought are Loneliness, Sympathy, and Remuneration, allowing the story to reach many areas in life.

To begin with, one major theme that continuously played a part throughout the entire book is desire. To many of the characters, it was the one urge that they could never overcome. One

“On the Waterfront” was photographed in such a captivating way. Boris Kaufman had a vision ahead of his time. Many scenes in the movie are understood, not just through the script, but from the cinematography as well. Three scenes in particular catch my eye. It is the artistic style and flare of conveying the same idea in multiple mediums. The first scene is when Terry and Edie are on the rooftop at Joey’s pigeon coup. This scene portrays the moment in which I believe was the catalyst for Terry that lead him to be truthful to Evie and stand up to Friendly. The second scene that I will speak about is when “Kayo” Dugan is killed. When the preacher is giving his speech to all the longshoremen. That speech was a testament of one man speaking out for what he knew was right. The third scene that I will choose for this essay is where Terry walks to Friendly’s dock office. After the fight, Terry’s march to work puts you on the edge of your seat. Each scene has depth that few movies achieve.

GET ATTENTION: {Listen to Jaws Theme} Many people as soon as they hear that ominous and menacing piece of music, immediately think of the iconic 1975 thriller classic known as Jaws. And by chance if you did not recognize the Jaws theme, there are plenty of other iconic film scores that you would recognize.