Reflection 5

I’ll start with my reflection since Les Miston is still stuck fresh in my memory. Something about the last scene that deeply disturbs me. The expression on Bernadette’s face. Something about that and the last narration of pity in the background. It didn’t fit and it shocked me.

The movie made me feel like I was stepping into the memory of the narrator. I felt connected with the scenes of the boys playing. Killing one another. It brought me back to a book I read and studied for Literature in secondary school. It was Susan Hill’s ‘King Of The Castle’. The story struck me and continues to scare me because it displays the abillity in children to kill. Reading that book and watching this movie really challenges me to ask…

” Are we born to kill? Are we born to hate? Are children really pure and innocent as we deem them to be?”

The ending of Les Miston made me realize that children, though they might not know it, sometimes have an inate understanding of things around them. The narrator said that he felt a sense of pity for Bernadette. Why? Love left Bernadette hurt and sucked every inch of life out of her. She never rode her bike. She wore black though she never did in the past. I was a child once, but how come I feel alot wiser now? Wisdom is a seed planted in all men. With the correct conditions, it will blossom.

I’ve also come to reflect upon my own life. I scare myself because there are somethings in my life that I hate with a passion. As more of these thoughts pour into my mind, I start to wonder whether we have must have a reason to hate. The boys in Les Miston said that they hate because they were unable to love. But we don’t love because we are unable to hate. Ah… Where am I going with all of this?

It’s amazing how these two strong feelings are so closely connected even though they are so different. It is no wonder these feelings usually define life because it is only through these feelings that one does really feel alive. As I am like the boys in Les Miston, my understanding of love is only so much. Thus my knowledge of life too, little. Right now, all I feel for myself is pity. Because just like everyone else, we are puppets of love and hate…And I am lost and only involve myself in games of make believe like the boys in Les Miston.

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Oh i found this on youtube. Enjoy!

Reflection 4

I was a class chairman for 4 years. After reading Ryan’s own reflection about his life and watching Election, I started to realize that the election for class chairman was something of a gauge of popularity for me. It wasn’t about power. It wasn’t about making decisions. To me, yes, it was about being popular. It didn’t matter to me that my classmates took me for the black sheep. Of course sometimes I felt stupid because I’m the only one taking the blame. But there was something about being the class chairman that teachers always seem to favour. They let you off the hook more than you would expect. I felt important when they gave me things to do. I felt even more important when everyone handed me their phones during the spotchecks… And the teachers would ask me who I’d like to rat on. It sure brought back memories when Tracy tore down the posters and never got caught. There were times when I did something really bad in school and got away with it. Something to do with the ‘There’s a reason why he’s still here after 4 years’ aura I guess.

About the film, I would love to watch it again. It’s disturbingly funny. It kind of reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite. Living in the suburbs can actually be quite sad. I would never know how it feels like since most of us locals live in pigeon holes. There is something about the seemingly perfect community that is really dark. Afterall, being perfect is just an idea. It can never be attained. I guess that is what makes it really scary. If everyone was perfect, would things still go wrong? To me, suburbia is close to a perfect society. I guess this movie breaks off this little stereotype. That there can still be trouble in little suburbia.

Reflection for Week 3

I never knew Aristotle was interesting. This lesson taught me about the structure of storytelling. My group did a short presentation about the differences between a complex and a simple plot. It wasn’t that detailed but we managed to learn a little more with Ryan’s additional information. In an industry like ours, knowing to tell a proper story is crucial in scriptwriting. Understanding Aristotle’s teachings is important.

We have to go out and people watch too. This is interesting. I people watch… Most of the male population would agree with me too. Hell… This is going to be fun.

Notes:

Tragedy = imitation of an action that is serious, complete, a certain magnitude

Six Parts = Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Melody

Plot: arrangement of incidents

Character: used to enhance plot

Thought: able to convey director’s thoughts to audience

Diction: expression of the meaning of words

Melody: contributes to the unity of plot

Spectacle: visual elements

‘Cause and Effect’ Chain= incentive moment – climax – resolution

Good plot is the unity of action, structure is self contained and has no outside intervention. Therefore a plot is the most important feature of tragedy.

Episodic Plot: starts near the beginning
succeeds one another without necessity
stretches plot
serves to invoke fear or pity

Characters should serve the plot. To Aristotle, the protagonist must be morally fine but must have a flaw. The lack of knowledge in him is known as HARMARTIA.

However, when he finally wakes up. It is known as the moment of recognition, ANAGNORISIS.

Vocab:

Katharsis: emotional release
Mimesis: imitation of real world through art and literature
Anagnorisis: moment of recognition
Perepeteia: things in plot which changes from good to bad
Harmartia: doesn’t have self knowledge