Saturday, January 25, 2020

Que He Hecho Yo Para Merecer Esto Film Studies Essay

Que He Hecho Yo Para Merecer Esto Film Studies Essay Her only companions are her household appliances. Theyre the sole witnesses to her pain, her solitude and her anxieties. Theyre also the only witnesses of the murder she commits. Expand on this comment from Almodà ³vars interview with Strauss explaining the full significance of this statement to the characterisation of Gloria in  ¿Quà © he hecho yo para merecer esto!! (1984). In  ¿Quà © he hecho yo para merecer esto!!, the household appliances are, as Almodà ³var states, Glorias companions. They are also, quite simply, the bane of her existence. They stand for the incessant amount of housework within which she is constantly immersed, the deterioration in the relationships she shares with her husband and children, and the modern lifestyle that has failed to deliver its lucrative promises. This duality that the household appliances present for Gloria will be explored in the ensuing essay. The first time the viewer sees Gloria in connection with her household appliances is when she fills her washing machine with clothes. The next direct liaison between housewife and appliance is seen when she puts a pan into the oven. In both instances the camera is positioned so as to show the appliances, in effect, taking the point of view and looking back at her. Almodà ³var explains this choice of camera angle: I framed the shots from within these domestic appliances because I wanted to tell the story from the perspective of the objects that were a part of her daily life. Indeed, the subjective shots from inside the household appliances suggest Gloria is being observed by the objects. Moreover, the camera frames Glorias face in a close-up for several seconds at a time a view which is rarely seen throughout the entire film and it is in these instances that the viewer can properly see Glorias wrinkles, her frowning lips, her eye bags. All this infers that it is only the appliances that are able to comprehend her pain, her solitude, and her anxieties, whereas her husband, or anyone else for that matter, could not care less. Her only companions are indeed her household appliances. On the other hand, the viewer could deduce the opposite at the same time by analysing this same mise-en-scà ¨ne. These sequences feature an unconventional reverse-angle shot amidst a conventional kitchen setting: only the reverse shot is shown; we do not see Glorias point of view that one would normally expect of the washing machine as she loads it with clothes. While this non-naturalistic use of the reverse-angle shot is startling as it creates a distancing effect for the viewer, it is not entirely unfamiliar, since TV commercials for clothes washers and fried-chicken recipes long ago appropriated this particular editing figure (DLugo, Pedro Almodovar, p. 40). Almodà ³var explains in his interview with Philippe Rouyer and Claudine Vià ©, I wanted to show the flip side of all these ads that always tout the happiness brought by domestic appliances but never the misery that envelops the housekeeper, the lack of pleasure that these appliances bring. (Willoquet-Maricondi, Pedro Almodà ƒ ³var: Interviews, p. 75) Almodà ³var indeed succeeds in demonstrating this concept since there is no sense of happiness in Glorias look as she puts in the laundry; the quotidian, routine nature of loading the washing machine can be clearly perceived here in her indifferent expression. In the ads of yesteryear however, the housewife using the washing machine would have a bright toothy smile plastered onto her face, as if to suggest that she could not be happier doing anything else since the machine has made her life so easy. In fact, this spoof of old commercials seen in these sequences sets the genre of the entire film itself. Despite its eclecticism and resultant hybrid nature,  ¿Quà © he hechoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦!! suggests in general a satire of a sitcom about a beleaguered housewife. Its frenzied pace makes the film run hastily, and the close-quarters framing, where the viewer is shown the constant movement of actors in and out of the frame, recreates the look of the television screen. As Marcia Pally writes,  ¿Quà © he hechoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦!! plays directly off the traditions of daytime TV without quoting any particular sitcom or soap (Willoquet-Maricondi, Pedro Almodà ³var: Interviews, p. 86). These appliances definitely do not in any way make her life any easier: the chicken that she had put into the oven for dinner becomes burnt, causing her husband to curse at her. It is then she who eats the burned parts this effectively being an example of how it is the housewife who sacrifices herself for her family. In this respect, it can be deduced that the household appliances do more harm than good to her. In this latter scene, the oven undoubtedly manifests itself as a contributing source of tension and conflict between the married couple. Moreover, after the shot from within the washing machine, she impatiently shoos away her son Toni from the kitchen when he comes to ask her help with his homework. In the next shot, the viewer sees Toni walk into the living room and it his grandmother who asks him how his homework is coming along, and offers to lend him a hand. True, she gives him all the wrong the answers, but that is beside the point: Toni and his grandmother spend a lot of time together, discussing their future plans when they go back to their pueblo, walking in the streets and the park, going to the cinema, etc. To this end, in terms of film editing, the contrast between the relationships between Toni and Gloria, and Toni and his abuela, are especially emphasised due to the juxtaposition of these two scenes. Gloria has been far too busy doing her housework to notice her sons grow up over the years. This is demonstrated near the end of the film when Toni hands her some of his savings. She tells him, Hijoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ quà © poco te conozco; she obviously has been unaware of what he does and where he goes everyday. When the bus pulls away, we are shown a mid-shot of Gloria for more than 45 seconds as she walks back home. The length and type of shot allows us to fully comprehend Glorias facial expressions which is markedly chock full of emotion: tearful and distressed, it appears that it has just dawned upon her what she has missed all these years being a housewife, and now it appears to be too late as both sons have left. It could be thus said that her only companions are her household appliances by virtue of the very fact that her household appliances are her companions! The fact that she is addicted to amphetamines such as washing detergent could not convey any clearer this point that she has an unhealthy relationship with her household appliances; just like any drug addiction, it spells the deterioration of her relationship with her family. To Almodà ³var, the sequences which are reminiscent of commercials also have another implication: Advertisingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is the only medium which makes these objects alive and even endows them with personalities. There are a huge number of commercials in which the main character is a yoghurt carton, directed as if it were a real character, lit by the cameraman as if it were a genuine star. Im very interested by this aspect of advertising. The value it gives to objects and the way it turns them into characters. Indeed, the fact that the viewer sees Gloria, the subject of the shot, from the point of view of the washing machine and the oven makes it appear as if the household appliances are autonomous beings who have some sort of command and higher authority over Gloria, bidding her to live her life around opening this door, filling that compartment with detergent, pushing this button, turning that knob, and so on. These shots are disturbing and slightly alarming when seen in this light, but this is certainly the underlying reason why Gloria is so downtrodden by her career as a housewife, slowly crumbling under the weight of the travails that everyday life dictates. On a deeper level still, these household appliances, independent of their commercial-like representation in the film, are a constant reminder of this modern standard of living in which Gloria and her family inhabit. This mise-en-scà ¨ne reflects the migration motif of the narrative. The plot and mise-en-scà ¨ne of  ¿Quà © he hechoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦!! is reminiscent of a specifically Spanish tradition of black comedies from the fifties and early sixties such as Josà © Antonio Nieves Condes Surcos. Indeed, it is a film which Almodà ³var himself acknowledges as one of the cinematic inspirations for  ¿Quà © he hechoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦!!. Grounded in the socioeconomic conditions of the period, these films focused on the plight of urban dwellers. They struggled to survive in a city that was unable to provide jobs and housing to a population swollen by recent arrivà ©es from the economically even more desperate provinces in search of the consumerist culture that had been the promise of Francos economic policies (DLugo, Pedro Almà ³dovar, p. 41). Contrary to Almodà ³vars often-cited declarations about making films as if Franco never existed,  ¿Quà © he hechoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦!! depicts a world created by the urban non-planning of the Franco years, growing out of a policy that actively sought by passive neglect of urban social services to discourage immigration to the corrupt cities (Carr and Fusi, The Rural Exodus in Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy, pp. 66-70). Like the characters from those earlier films, both Gloria and her husband have come from the pueblo, the pueblo to which her mother-in-law and older son Toni will return at the end of the film. The post-Franco city has failed them, as it fails Gloria, despite their apparently greater material well-being in a world of timesaving home appliances, the consumer paradise of contemporary Spain. As Almodà ³var succinctly puts it in his summary of the film, [Gloria] would like to become a member of the consumer society, but only manages to consume herself, day by day. Nevertheless, as Almodà ³var states in the quote in the question above, the only witnesses to her murder are not beings but her refrigerator and gas stove. The only other witness, the lizard, is killed. Obviously due to their inanimate nature, they cannot reveal the truth to the policemen, but because they do not, thus seems to suggest that they sympathise and even tacitly approve of the murder of her brutish husband. In this regard, the household appliances are indeed her companions, and perhaps passive accomplices in the crime. The characterisation of Gloria is also conveyed through the use of still camera shots. Almodà ³var acknowledges that although this technique was determined rather by the restricted nature of the sets, the tripod was perfect for the film; it added a great deal of tension. Generally, tracking shots tend to soften the action while the tripod hardens it. I wanted to stay inside the house because it was Glorias only universe. Hence it is the house that is the setting for much of the film as if the house, and everything within it, were a protagonist itself. This inevitably connects the household with Gloria, as if they were on equal footing, and thus reinforcing Almodà ³vars statement that her only companions are her household appliances. Moreover, this tension that the use of the tripod brings for the viewer serves to intensify the sense of anxiety and stress that Gloria the housewife undergoes perpetually as she exists within her universe. In the attempted suicide scene, on the other hand, Almodà ³var uses almost a long tracking shot. He starts with a shot of Gloria and then moves to an elaborate tracking shot, with the camera surveying her entire field of vision before returning to her. I really wanted to use an original shot. The effect if pretty deep, it renders what is most intimate in a human being. I wanted to show that the moment she becomes free, free from any obligation, she comes back home and finds it so neat and ordered that she feels terrible, because theres nothing for her to do. Her life has no meaning. She worked for her family her entire life, never taking time to do something for herself, to have hopes. She feels the emptiness created by everybodys departure, a huge abyss opens under her (Willoquet-Maricondi, Pedro Almodà ³var: Interviews, p. 75). This 360-degree pan from her point of view registers the emptiness of the home. It appears that Glorias entire life has been about nothing but cooking and cleaning and serving her family. The film starts with Gloria as a housewife and thus, as far as the viewer is concerned, she might as well have been a housewife forever prior to that. It follows thus that when there is no longer a need to use her household appliances to serve her family, she has lost her raison detre. This is indeed what leads her to want to commit suicide at the end of the film. It must be obvious after this discussion that when Almodà ³var describes the household appliances as Glorias companions, he does not mean to suggest that they are her friends. Although they are the only entities that pay her any attention whatsoever, she is enslaved to them, and this is clearly detrimental to her relationships with her husband and children. Moreover, the household appliances represent the modern way of living for Gloria and her family, and as such reveal the lack of fundamental change despite the intervening years of the so-called economic miracle and the end of Francoism.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Compare and Contrast “The Necklace” and “Ambush”

In the analyses of comparing and contrasting â€Å"The Necklace† and â€Å"Ambush,† they are very different, but also similar. The setting in each story could not be any more polar than they already are. The similarity of the two stories is that the plots both contain lies. In â€Å"The Necklace,† a female character, Mathilde, is living in Paris during the 19th century. She is poor, yet undyingly wishes she was wealthy. One day the woman is invited to a prestigious ball within her city.She immediately she contacts a rich friend and borrows a fabulous necklace. Once the night is all said and done and she returns from the ball, she realizes that the borrowed necklace is lost. She reacts by lying about the necklace and buying her friend a new one. With her financial situation the way it is she goes spiraling into debt and never recovers. Later, once Mathilde admits to her friend that she lost and replaced the necklace, it is revealed that the borrowed necklace was a fake worth very little.In â€Å"Ambush,† a male character O’Brien, is asked many times by his daughter about his war stories and if he had killed anyone. He naturally fears a negative reaction from her and prevents this by lying. Once he lies, he contemplates telling his daughter the truth; pretends his daughter is an adult and imagines telling her the truth of the time he shot an enemy coming through thick mist. This story takes place in an unknown place and is told throughout the childhood of his daughter.In conclusion, in the analyses of â€Å"The Necklace† and â€Å"Ambush† the plots both contain a lie, which makes them similar, however, the characters used as well as the setting of each are completely different and unrelated. These stories have similar plot aspect, because each plot contains a lie that is told. They are also differing in other ways, including, the setting. In â€Å"The Necklace,† the setting is Paris during the 19th century; the other is unknown and unimportant to the story.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

The Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln - 1614 Words

Austin Leishman Political Science 1100 Dr. Michael Petersen Abraham Lincoln I chose to do my research project on one of our presidents and the president I chose is Abraham Lincoln. I chose to do it on Lincoln because in my eyes and in the eyes of many other people, he was our nation s greatest president. He was considered our greatest president for everything he was and stood for and for all the things he did for our country. The first thing people should know about lincoln is that he did not grow up in a rich or famous family and that his education and schooling was limited and that he learned most from books and progressed from there. Later on as president lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which came into effect as of†¦show more content†¦His mother’s death was very hard for him and put a lot of responsibility on Lincoln and his sister at a young age. His father, Thomas, later married Sarah Bush and she and Lincoln got along very well. Lincoln didn’t really have the opportunity to get a great education but was able to learn the basics like reading and writing and kind of taught himself from there. After he learned to read he became very interested in books and would read anything he could get his hands on. In a biography I read it says â€Å"Neighbors recalled how Abraham would walk for miles to borrow a book.† (biography.com). Awhile later the Lincolns moved again to Illinois to a place called Macon County where Abraham really began his life and worked hard and worked in many areas doing many things. His work and friendly attitude made him well like by the people of his town and ultimately helped gain his position in politics. Lincoln originally started in politics as a member of the whig party and served one term on the house of U.S. House of Representatives. Lincoln wasn’t the most popular member of the house and his views on the Mexican American war didn’t help him out so he decided to go back home and practice law get married and have a family before returnin g to politics as a republican. In the presidential election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as our nation s sixteenth president. He beat three other candidates which were Stephen Douglas, John Bell,Show MoreRelatedThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln1958 Words   |  8 PagesLeadership and Legacy: Background Research Paper Abraham Lincoln By:Audrey Knight Introduction Great leader and main topic Abraham Lincoln lived in the 1800’s where he accomplished many things in his 54 years of life. He lived in the U.S. through several major events in history and left a legacy that will never be forgotten. As the 16th president of the United States he brought about the emancipation of slavery, preserved the Union during the Civil War, and served the people. His heroic leadershipRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln933 Words   |  4 PagesSynopsis Regarded as one of the United States of America greatest heroes, Abraham Lincoln is famous for his unique appeal and incredible impact on the nation. He was the United States 16th president. His story is an astounding one rising from a humble background to become the most powerful man the land. However, at the time when his country needed him most, a tragic and sudden death strikes him. He is assassinated. He left a legacy that endured due to his unique humane personality as a leader of the unionRead MoreThe Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln Essay2383 Words   |  10 PagesReport Name Abraham Lincoln paved a path of equality and freedom for slaves and people of the 1800s as well as having a major impact on society and government; Abraham Lincoln s engagement with the public people skyrocketed his career as being a president and a suitable leader to the people of the United States of America. 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His principles were dedicated to the survival of the United States during one of the most gruesome and bloody wars in the country s history, the American Civil War. During his presidency, he fought for the emancipation of slaves because he believed the institution of slavery was morally unjust. His ideals, which appealed to the founding principles of the country, energized and mobilized the union and kept it alive

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Capital Punishment Was Abolished By Harold Wilson

Capital Punishment was abolished â€Å"under Harold Wilson’s Labour government in 1969† (Manton.K, 2011, P.16) in the United Kingdom, but there have been continuing debates concerning the reinstatement of the death penalty in the UK.(BBC NEWS, 2011) reports that the Conservative party MP calls for submission on capital punishment in the UK. The Brigg and Goole MP â€Å"is one of a number of Tory backbenchers calling for a commons debate of the return of capital punishment.†(BBC NEWS, 5th August 2011) Currently, Paul Staines, who writes the Guido Fawkes ‘ calls for the death to be brought back for child and police officer murderers,† he carried out a public opinion poll, which recommends that around half the population want capital punishment to be reinstated for murders ‘ this rises to 60% when it comes to child or police officer kills’, furthermore his e-petition on the government website needs ‘100,000 people to support’ it so that there could possibly be a preliminary debate on the issue (BBC NEWS, 4th August 2011). As Mr. Staines statistics poll shows, in 2011 that there is a high percent of the public that requests capital punishment to be reinstated in the UK for serious crimes such as; murder, child murder and police officer kills. This study aims to examine the public’s opinion of reintroducing capital punishments. (Gannon.A.T, Wood.J, 2013, P.33) state that the motivation behind why public opinion is important because in society we â€Å"elect officials to represent us and, asShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesNoncommercial You may not use this work for commercial purposes (for example, by inserting passages into a book that is sold to students). (3) No Derivative Works You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. An earlier version of the book was published by Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California USA in 1993 with ISBN number 0-534-17688-7. When Wadsworth decided no longer to print the book, they returned their publishing rights to the original author, Bradley Dowden. The currentRead MoreLibrary Management204752 Words   |  820 PagesCenter Management Recent Titles in Library and Information Science Text Series Library and Information Center Management, Sixth Edition Robert D. Stueart and Barbara B. Moran United States Government Information: Policies and Sources Peter Hernon, Harold C. Relyea, Robert E. Dugan, and Joan F. Cheverie Library Information Systems: From Library Automation to Distributed Information Access Solutions Thomas R. Kochtanek and Joseph R. Matthews The Complete Guide to Acquisitions Management Frances C. WilkinsonRead MoreDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesPermissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458. Many of the designations by manufacturers and seller to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Whetten, David A. (David Allred) Developing management skills /David A. Whetten, Kim S. Cameron.—8th ed