Themes In The Sapphires

One character is obviously the comic relief, another the beloved hero. The rest, valiant men fighting for their country, their lives, their freedom. The scene ends and the curtain rises, all of the pseudo soldiers take a bow and go home to their normal lives, far from the hands of death that grasp at the men forgotten in Vietnam, the real soldiers. They, who saw the hardships of war as more than just a script, beyond the glamorized versions that are seen by the American eyes. They saw the death and the tragedy, slowly becoming worn down into less of a human and more of a desensitized killing machine because that 's what war does. It permanently scars the soldiers, tearing away the feeling of loss and inappropriately replacing it with comedy, showing that war is destructive, stealing away an ounce of humanity with each bullet. As seen in The Things They Carried, written by Tim O 'Brien, the Vietnam War destroyed the minds of soldiers, causing them to lose their human emotions in an unglamorous setting, devaluing death as they lose their ability to appropriately handle situations.

In “The Things They Carried”, Tim O’Brien presents a different perspective on what war is really about, along with the burdens constantly borne by soldiers. Through his use of flashbacks, imagery, and pathos, O’Brien shows just how the life of a soldier is much more than war and violence, but combating the burdens of life that soldiers carry with them.

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.

Australian people and culture are often stereotyped in the media in different forms, one of them being film. The two films being examined, ‘Red dog’ (2011) and the ‘Sapphires’ (2012), are an example of the Australian identity but from different points of view. ‘Red dog’ shows the kind and positive side which exemplifies mateship and loyalty. The film ‘Sapphires’ ,which takes place in the 1950’s through to the 1960’s, shows a negative and racist view towards the indigenous people. Both the films show different aspects of the Australian identity, not all insights of the films accurately represent contemporary Australian identity as the Australian identity has changed by the evolution of people and their lifestyle.

The Sapphires by Wayne Blair is an award-winning film, which explore the lives of four aboriginal women Gail (Deborah Mailman, Julie (Jessica Mauboy), Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell) and their cousin Kay (Shari Sebbens) throughout their journey and role in the Vietnam War. A range of film techniques such as settings, characters, conflicts and symbols are used to explore prejudice towards their indigenous heritage, with a variety of film techniques as well.

Wayne Blair, director of The Sapphires used a combination of cinematography, dialogue, flashbacks and voiceover throughout the film. These film techniques developed my understanding of the extent of prejudice and the consequence prejudice can have. The director used these techniques to show the prejudice by White Australians, Aborigines faced in Australia.

The Sapphires directed by Wayne Blair represents the theme of war throughout the film with the use of cinematic techniques and setting. The Sapphires follows four aboriginal girls; Julie, Cynthia, Gail and Kay on their adventure to Vietnam in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. The film follows the four girls on their journey around Vietnam performing for American troops while fulfilling their dreams of becoming a famous singing group. Throughout the film, Blair explores the theme of war through a variety of scenes and techniques. War ruins the lives of many people and this is demonstrated through the film with the use of cinematic techniques, setting and with the support of other themes.

In “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien uses this story as a coping mechanism; to tell part of his stories and others that are fiction from the Vietnamese War. This is shown by using a fictions character’s voice, deeper meaning in what soldier’s carried, motivation in decision making, telling a war story, becoming a new person and the outcome of a war in one person. Tim O’ Brien uses a psychological approach to tell his sorrows, and some happiness from his stories from the war. Each part, each story is supposed to represent a deeper meaning on how O’Brien dealt, and will deal with his past. In war, a way to

“Tim O’Brien is obsessed with telling a true war story. O 'Brien 's fiction about the Vietnam experience suggest, lies not in realistic depictions or definitive accounts. As O’Brien argues, absolute occurrence is irrelevant because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth. Mary Ann’s induction into genuine experience is clearly destructive as well as empowering” (p.12) Tim O’s text, The Things they Carried, details his uses of word choice to portray his tone and bias. Tim O’Brien uses Martha to represents the idea of home and all it attendant images. He also uses letters and quotes to convey his image. Despite the fact that women assume a little part in The Things They Carried, it is a critical one. The Female characters Martha, Mary Anne Bell, and Kathleen Cross all affect the lives of the soldiers . Tim O’Brien uses the female role to portray his view and thoughts on his true war story which depict the lack of morality.

A Hollywood Upset: Daughters of the Dust As the history of film would depict, Hollywood was, and still is, dominated by white males who produce storylines that are predictable and only relatable to their, suspectedly white, audience. The storylines represent a “conventional narrative presentation,” (Black Camera, 2). Julie Dash, an African American activist and filmmaker, had a much different approach when it came to cinematography and the direction of film. Dash states, “since the very beginning it’s been a very male-dominated field.

One of the themes in this novel is good vs. evil. Good is shown on the side of the tree that is decorated with green leaves. The opposite side of the tree that is decorated with “flames” represents evil. Life is represented with the tree. The entire tree represents how in life you will always have both good and evil. In the book Prof uses his powers a few times and afterwards almost loses control but he transfers some of his powers to the Reckoners to remain in control.

In the book Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer there are many differences and similarities to this other book The Elite by Kiera Cass. There are the difference of themes and the setting and the characters in each book. They are shown by using dialogue and the description in the seperate books. The book Breaking Dawn is the story that shows love between Bella and Edward only growing deeper and more meaningful. In the book The Elite there is the main character America Singer and how she is know really showing her true emotion to Maxon the prince.

Capturing the Reality of the Vietnam War in The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Apocalypse Now’ are two films which deal, at a very personal level, with American involvement in the Vietnam War. Although the style and narrative of each film are quite different a strong theme of ‘journeys’ is what binds the two films together, perhaps more so than the theme of the Vietnam War itself. These are journeys of self-discovery and self-destruction and in the sense that the central characters’ ideals become twisted by war and their value of life itself diminished.

Dystopian movies are based on an unpleasant society and often themes that play out in reality. Stories are built on universal storytelling elements and literary devices as they intertwine with the central theme of the story. In the dystopian movie, ‘I Am Legend’ by Francis Lawrence the primary theme of loss of humanity is delivered in a manner that reflects these elements. This movie is ultimately based on a disease that affected the population of New York and the finding of the cure. Reaching the reader's emotions, symbolism, heroic scenarios and interesting ways in which a story is told structure this movie and play off of the theme of loss in humanity.

Losing care and hope for the things that drove you to be who you are is a very hard thing to swallow and deal with. The loss of humanity makes it harder to remain sane but most if not all people, have loved ones who care about them enough to bring them back into their natural state of mind. Redemption is the only way back to humanity, and you can only go so far without it. In the movie, “I Am Legend” the characters struggled from the loss of humanity, they had nobody to depend on and they were stuck to do it all by themselves. Facing the world’s hardest times on their own such as a world wide infection that caused them their lives was something that they couldn’t bare. As for the main character, he had all the resources that he needed to save the world but the only way to do that was to gain his humanity back and fix what he knew only he could solve. With the loss of humanity and redemption being tossed to and fro, there were universal story elements that were needed in order to help the characters balance the two which were Heroic Scenario, Parable, Sacrificial love, and Social cohesion.