Matthew Chalfan
Mrs. Golden
ENGL 1301
12/8/2016
Stranger with a Camera: Final Essay
In the film Stranger with A Camera, directed by Elizabeth Barret, the primary focus is on the circumstances of the former, highly famed director Hugh O’Conner’s death by the hands of a land owner named Hobart Ison while attempting to film a documentary called U.S. in Kentucky in 1967 with the plot pertaining to the poverty-stricken life of residents within the Appalachians of America. The background of the main conflict of this film derives from the fact that the residents of the Appalachians often felt hostility towards outsiders whom they believe encroached on their territory to belittle their way of life. On the other hand, the outsiders, especially in this
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The resulting death of O’Conner with the three shots from Ison’s rifle was considered murder since he himself wasn’t in any true danger. The only factor that supports Ison’s reason for the outcome of this situation was his ignorance of the outside world, which possibly wouldn’t have occurred if he was fully aware of how society within the modern times worked. Some form of justice did come to Ison in 1968 with him being “convicted of involuntary manslaughter on his 2nd trial with him being sentenced to ten years in prison” (Barret). However, this apparent justice was short lived since Ison served only one year of his entire prison sentence following the fact that he was allowed parole for the rest of his jail time. This “Mountain Justice” didn’t exactly stress the seriousness of the crime he had committed, therefore Ison and probably other like-minded townspeople felt that this act was generally justified. Even though the people of Jeremiah were considered poor and backwards even, it doesn’t justify the act of taking a man’s life away for no good
Documentarians often want to get as close to their subject matter as possible. Some documentarians have an insider perspective which ignites a spark to create a piece that illuminates a specific topic or area of study. There are also documentarians that have no affiliation with said subject matter, but want to explore the topic in question. Finally, there are documentarians that have a foot in both worlds. Insider/outsider is a theory in which a documentarian can be close to a subject, but also possess characteristics or traits that make them distant from the topic in question (Coles, 1998). Such is the case with the directors of both Stranger with a Camera and The House I Live In. Due to their own location, both Eugene Jarecki and Elizabeth Barret exhibit characteristics that make them fall into the insider/outsider roles as directors. Robert Coles defines location by stating, “We notice what we notice because of who we are” (Coles, 1998, p. 7). Included in this is, a person’s education, race, class, and gender. Both directors realize they are outsiders and utilize a lens into a world in which they are not otherwise a part of. Jarecki’s lens comes in the form of Nanny Jeter, his family’s nanny from when he was a child. Barret’s lens for her documentary is the community that she shared with Ison. The two directors enter into a world that they are not a part of because of their location, but forge a connection to the subject matter through means of a lens.
The French philosopher Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is the question minus the answer” (Barthes 2). This statement hold true for most works of literature that explore a central question. According to Barthes, literature often raises a question, but leaves it up to the reader to determine the answer. The Stranger by Albert Camus is an excellent example of how a central question, “Is there value and meaning to human life?” is raised and left unanswered, resulting in different interpretations of the answer, depending on the viewpoint of the reader. Although the question is never explicitly answered, Camus offers perspectives on what French society regarded the answers to be, such as connections with others, elusion to freedom, and faith in religion and God.
In the movie "A Stranger Among Us" there are several characters that have their lives impacted by the events in the film. One such character is Ariel. Meeting Emily Eden, the murder of his best friend, and finding out who actually had a hand in the murder all has a profound impact upon Ariel.
In many of Edgar Allan Poe’s short works, he is said to not waste any space on the page , using literary devices to his advantage. This cannot be more evident than in Poe’s 1843 work, “The Tell Tale Heart”. In this work, Poe creates a chilling, and obsessive voice with hint of insanity at the hands of an unnamed narrator,using harsh diction, syntax, and tone.
The Stranger The Stranger exhibits a society that has confined itself with a specific set of social standards that dictate the manner in which people are supposed to act. This ideology determines the level of morality, and how much emphasis should placed on following this certain "ethical" structure. Albert Camus's main character, Meursault, is depicted as a nonconformist that is unwilling to play society's game. Through Meursault's failure to comply with society's values and conform to the norm, he is rejected and also condemned to death by society.
While reading The Stranger I noticed that traits that Albert Camus character depicts in the book are closely related to the theories of Sigmund Freud on moral human behavior. Albert Camus portrays his character of Meursault as a numb, emotionless person that seems to mindlessly play out his role in society, acting in a manner that he sees as the way he’s supposed to act, always living in the moment with his instincts driving him, and if the right circumstance presents itself the primal deep seeded animal will come out. I believe that most of the character’s traits fall under Freud’s notion of the Id and Ego mental apparatus, and don’t believe that his idea of the super-ego is represented in this book.
Albert Camus creates a series of characters in The Stranger whose personality traits and motivations mirror those that are overlooked upon by the average man. Camus develops various characters and scenarios that show true humanity which tends to have been ignored due to the fact of how typical it has become. Camus incorporates abominable personality traits of the characters, variety, consistency, and everyone’s fate.
African American racial tension has decreased drastically, since the fifties our country has leaps and bounds towards equality. James Baldwin wrote Stranger in the Village, and he wrote about his experience living in a small Swiss village and how he was able to evaluate the American society and its issues of race. Baldwin specifically focused on African American racial issues. Baldwin makes arguments about how race is treated much different in Europe, he also argued how there are still a lot of problems with American society that need to be changed. I agree with Baldwin's thoughts however this essay is outdated and isn't completely relevant to our society today; however some of the broader ideas are.
In his short story, “The Strangers That Came to Town,” Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. It shows that true freedom is about being accepted because of the way that the Duvitch family is placed in a community where they are not accepted at first but then do become accepted. Mr. Duvitch didn’t talk much to anyone because of lack of freedom to be who he was, Mrs. Duvitch didn’t have the freedom to also be who she was because people talked about her and the Duvitch children to were quiet ones who didn’t have freedom in the sense that they couldn’t just go out and play with the other kids.
Jeremiah was one of the few who challenged the orthodoxy of Zionist theology. With his Temple sermon he condemned the people for being immoral and because of this nothing could save them not even the temple that was so sacred to them. Another reason was that the temple was held as superstition. Almost as a certain security because theology claimed that Yahweh dwelt in the temple and as long as he was there nothing bad could happen to Israel. But as Jeremiah countered only such securities could come from their faith. In this sermon Jeremiah was pitting Mosaic traditions against Zionist-Davidic theology. After the priests and heard of this condemnation they pressed the king to have him executed. Instead he was barred form entering the temple.
At times in life there comes something called change. In my opinion, I was not a big fan of change. You cannot imagine how I was feeling when my mother announced that we were moving. It was the middle of my sixth-grade year, I was feeling countless emotions, none that could be explained at the moment of the announcement. The main thing on my mind was school; my friends, my outstanding teachers, and the environment. All things I had left behind. All I could think about was, “How will I ever adjust?” I knew exactly what was to come, I knew exactly what I was going to become, an outcast. There were numerous of ways on why I was feeling this way, but
Currently drug abuse is the issue that has plagued almost all the societies in the world. This problem poses serious threat to the life of people both in developed and underdeveloped countries. There are different kinds of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, cannabis, hallucinogens, ecstasy, and methamphetamine and so on (McGeorge & Aitken, 1997). Young and age-old people largely use many of these drugs. People usually consider these drugs as a relief from their worries, but these drugs lead them towards addition and psychotic disorders that eventually destroy their health. Legislative authorities in almost every part of the world have been trying to save their generations from the abuse, but the use of these drugs never ended. However, these legislations help to minimize the numbers of drug users where their implementation is done properly (Hall et al., 2004). The aim of this research paper is to provide knowledge about the Cannabis Legalization in Australia and the people’s approach who favor or oppose this legalization. Cannabis drug use, impacts, cannabis legalization in Australia and its advantages and disadvantages will also
The story “The Strangers That Came to Town” is primarily a story about freedom. In his short story, “The Strangers that Came to Town”, Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. In the beginning of the story Mr. Duvitch and his family couldn’t walk around the town being judged or feeling uncomfortable. This was also a big problem for Mr. Duvitch’s children. They deal with bullying and not being welcomed as well. Although at the end of the story Andy’s family changes things for the Duvitch’s. The town begins to realize that they aren’t as bad as they thought and weren’t actually that different from them.
Have you ever taken a picture or been looking through a photo album and felt a sudden rush of emotion? Do you wonder what caused that emotion? Many find themselves captivated by a photograph and overwhelmed by the emotions that the photograph arouses. Believe it or not the arousal of emotion from those photographs was not caused by the content of the picture but by certain elements within the photograph. When a photograph is viewed it is not only the subject that triggers the overwhelming emotional response, it is the length of time that the film was exposed to sunlight, the way lighting is used and played with, and the strong detail of colors or lack thereof. While many believe that the subject acts as the primary stimuli to emotions, the
What is a photograph? The simplicity of taking a photograph leads many to ponder its artistic value. Yet, it is undeniable that there are some photos that cause an emotional reaction deeper than simply observing a recorded point in time. Surely, there are photographs that cause more reaction than some modern art pieces. There seems to be two types of photographs. The first classification is the ‘time capture’ photo – an image with the sole purpose of recording a particular event or point in time. The second nature of a photo carries a ‘deeper meaning,’ which has the ability to change the observer’s mood and cause a reaction. But what distinguishes these two varieties? There are a