Breaking Bad Analysis - 1429 Words

Breaking Bad- Log 1 Vince Gilligan’s ‘Breaking Bad’ is a TV series about Walter White, a chemistry teacher, who starts cooking Methamphetamine to provide money for his family. In an interview with The New York Times, creator Vince Gilligan said the larger lesson of the series is that actions have consequences. He elaborated on the shows philosophy: â€Å"If religion is a reaction of man, and nothing more, it seems to me that it represents a human desire for wrongdoers to be punished. I hate the idea of Idi Amin living in Saudi Arabia for the last 25 years of his life. That galls me to no end. I feel some sort of need for biblical atonement, or justice, or something. I like to believe there is some comeuppance, that karma kicks in at some†¦show more content†¦Douthat went on to say that Walter White and Tony Soprano represent mirror-image takes on the problem of evil, damnation and free will. Walter as a man who deliberately abandons the light for the darkness while Tony is someone born and raised in darkness who turns down opportunity after opportunity to claw his way upward to the light.[31] Gilligan intimated he would inject undertones of black comedy into the fifth season.[32] [edit]Pink teddy bear The pink teddy bear as seen during the second season A recurring motif within the second season is the image of a damaged teddy bear and its missing eye. The teddy bear first appears at the end of the music video Fallacies for Jesses fake band, Twaà ¼ghtHammà «r, which was released as awebisode in February 2009 leading to the second season.[33] The teddy bear can also be spotted on the mural on Janes bedroom wall during the final episode of the second season, further connecting the crash to Jane. It is seen in flashforwards during four episodes, the titles of which, when put together in order, form the following sentence: Seven Thirty-Seven down over ABQ.[34][35][36] The flashforwards are shot in black-and-white, withShow MoreRelatedBreaking Bad Analysis Essay : Breaking Stupid954 Words   |  4 Pages Breaking Bad Analysis Essay A man wearing nothing but his underwear and a gas mask swerving his RV down the sandy highway of the New Mexico desert. In the RV , there is a Teenager with a gas mask passed out in the front seat and two men dead on the floor of the RV. The RV has crashed into the ditch and the driver who is wearing a gas mask,Walter White, climbs out gasps for air. He put on a shirt that was hanging from the side of the window and ran back into the RV to grab a video cameraRead MorePsychological Analysis of Breaking Bad1755 Words   |  7 Pages Breaking Bad Watching the Breaking Bad series helped me understand how ones superego can deteriorate into their id following Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Walter White, the anti hero, takes us on a journey which vividly illustrates Freud’s thesis. From watching the series and reading critiques on the Freudian aspect, I will develop my own report on: â€Å"How ones selfishness takes over causing them to be driven by their id† ~ Focusing on Walter White from Breaking Bad The balanceRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie Breaking Bad 1451 Words   |  6 PagesIn the crime-drama television series, â€Å"Breaking Bad† we follow see the inner struggle of good and evil within the main character throughout the entire series to the point where we question which side of his personality we are witnessing. We see Walter White as a mild mannered and respectful chemistry teacher who also works at a car wash to help provide for his family just like the typical family man. Walter has a teenage son who has multiple sclerosis, and a wife who is pregnant with their secondRead MoreHow To Break A Bad Habit946 Words   |  4 PagesHOW TO BREAK A BAD HABIT MELINDA LEE INDIVIDUAL PROJECT #5 Outline I. COMMON BAD HABITS Thesis Statement: There are many difficult steps to take when trying to break a bad habit. II. UNDERSTANDING YOUR BAD HABIT A. Realizing your habit B. Understanding the habit III. KEEP A JOURNAL OF YOUR HABIT A. Do a self-analysis B. Write down your feelings and emotions C. Forced to face your bad habit on a daily basis IV. DECIDING HOW TO BREAK YOUR HABIT A. Understanding your habit B. Focus onRead MoreThe Long Standing Debate On Ethics1253 Words   |  6 PagesThe long-standing debate on ethics is far from being solved; however, two philosophers have formulated their own theories in determining whether an action is good or bad. John Stuart Mill focuses on a utilitarian perspective and utilizes the idea of consequentialism and on the other hand, Immanuel Kant avoids the consequentialist argument and supports a deontological perspective in analyzing morality and ethics. Both arguments, valid as they may be, strongly contradict one another, mostly on theRead MoreThe Tragedy Of Miss X868 Words   |  4 Pagesindifferent and insensitive towards the patient and particularly her family. The consultant explained the risks of surgery, possible complications and the likelihood for success. However, Miss X was given very little time to make a risk versus benefit analysis to make a decision regarding treatment, and they were not given the opportunity to privately discuss the matter. This made me feel uncomfortable as a independent third party of the consultation, as the consultant did not act sensitively towards theRead MoreCancer : A Leading Cause Death Worldwide833 Words   |  4 Pagesco-ordinated oncology education in the curricula of many medical schools prompted establishment of a number of Summer Schools in Oncology in Europe and North America with a significant impact on knowledge and attitudes towards cancer patients(5). Analysis of the educational results from 115 medical students who participated in three Oncology Summer Courses organized by the European School of Oncology in collaboration with the University of Ioannina, between 2004 and 2006 demonstrated that OncologyRead MoreThe Final Episode Of Breaking Bad Known As Face Off1580 Words   |  7 PagesThe case study I have chosen is the final episode of season 4 of Breaking Bad Known as Face Off. The name is in reference to what happens later in the episode. Through this essay I will attempt to analyse the episode using theories that have been developed by Propp, Todorov and Levi-Strauss. I will attempt a full break down of the show later, but for now I will do a quick summary of the show just to bring everyone up to speed before hand. ‘A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperableRead MoreMusà ©e des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden Essay1106 Words   |  5 Pagesthis as they occupy themselves with other tasks. W.H. Auden’s, Musà ©e des Beaux Arts, is a statement on human perceptions and how we use them to observe, or block out human suffering. While we are doing ordinary things like eating, or opening a window, bad things can be happening to others and it is as easy as looking up, to see what is actually going on. Auden illustrates societies’ indifference to human suffering through the form of his poem and by alluding to artwork that compares human perceptionsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Financial Performance Of Chester Inc. Essay930 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction Chester Inc. is a client of SNHU, LLC who prepares the financial statements and financial analysis for Chester Inc. This report will detail several key items including the accounting effects of international expansion as it relates to differences between Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the United States standards, and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the standards that would govern a portion of the financial reporting with an international expansion

The Necessity to Swap Ethnic Profiling for Behavioral...

Humanity has always strived to become more â€Å"civilized†. Whether it was the manipulation of fire, the domestication of animals, the invention of electricity or the exploration of space, the goal has always been to become more advanced than our predecessors. We think of â€Å"civilization† as the opposite of â€Å"brutality† and we associate the former with peace and the latter with violence. For this reason, we are unable to deem a race that has walked on the moon as a â€Å"violent† race. However, â€Å"civilization† doesn’t abolish violence it simply removes the individual’s right to be violent and bestows it into the hands of a separate entity (like the military). (Lancaster) Historically, civilization has demonstrated the greatest degree of violence†¦show more content†¦For this reason, ethnic profiling should carry less weight in the decision making of law enforcement agents and in the realm of criminal justice. In turn, the criminal justice system should promote the use behavioral profiling, a more effective alternative with a lesser rate of wrongful arrests. There is no scientific proof that links crime and race. In fact, most psychologists admit that ethnic profiling is not scientifically reliable. (Boylan) Nevertheless, no one has attempted to eradicate it until recently. This is because America’s imprisonment rates were not rising at an alarming rate until a couple of decades ago. Now that hyper incarceration is a problem experts have begun searching for its root, and ethnic profiling has surfaced as a probable cause of hyper incarceration. When you analyses the inner-workings of racial profiling you find a direct correlation between the impact of ethnic profiling and the anxiety levels of the population. In other words, as people become more scared the likelihood that they will perform or tolerate racial profiling increases. Fear and violence go hand in hand, and the 50’s and 60’s left America trembling with fear. During this period we observed the height of the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. Apparently, the threat of communism and the empowerment of blacks turned out to be a poor combinationShow MoreRelatedService Gap in Airline Industry27895 Words   |  112 Pages.................................................................................................................46 RESEARCH RESULTS .................................................................................................48 Respondents Profiling .....................................................................................................49 Analysis and Discussion .................................................................................................52 Service Process RevisedRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall39316 4 Words   |  1573 PagesDilemma Pitfalls of E-Mail 361 Case Incident 1 Using Social Media to Your Advantage 362 Case Incident 2 Should Companies That Fire Shoot First? 362 12 Leadership 367 What Is Leadership? 368 Trait Theories 369 Behavioral Theories 370 Summary of Trait Theories and Behavioral Theories 372 Contingency Theories 372 The Fiedler Model 373 †¢ Other Contingency Theories 375 Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) Theory 377 Charismatic Leadership and Transformational Leadership 379 Charismatic Leadership 379Read MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pagesorientation becoming far more widespread. This would mean that marketing would no longer be the isolated concern of a few people, but of staff throughout the business. Thus: organization may contribute to creating a superior customer value is a necessity if the entire organization is to become market responsive. In a fast changing market environment, such an appreciation can make the difference between success and failure. (Kashani, 1996, p. 9) Assuming changes such as these are made, the sorts of

Stanzas Written in Dejection Explication free essay sample

Written in 1818, Stanzas Written in Dejection was penned directly in the midst of the English romantic era. Shelley, though not thought to be at the time, was one of the most incredible poets of his age, composing unique poems to capture the vibrant emotions of everyday life. Due to this fact, it almost goes without saying that his poem, Stanzas Written in Dejection, is a very descriptive and emotional piece that encompasses many of the romantic notions of the time. These thoughts and notions include, but are not limited to: spontaneity, impulses of feeling, glorification of the ordinary, individualism, and alienation. Throughout his lifetime, Shelley wrote many incredibly distinctive pieces and became very known for his authorship of various poems. However, he was not particularly popular with the masses until recently. â€Å"His poetry is autonomous, finely wrought, in highest degree imaginative, and has the spiritual form of vision stripped of all veils and ideological coverings, the vision that many readers justly seek in poetry, despite the admonitions of a multitude of churchwardenly critics† (Bloom 261). Shelley was an atheist in a Catholic world and therefore, his poetry was not often received as being appropriate, regardless of his poetic genius and mastery of various poetic techniques. In his poem, Stanzas Written in Dejection, Percy Shelley mellifluously describes the hardships and emotions that he had been suffering with at that point in his life. He does this by using a distinctively romantic contrast of the beauty of nature against his morbid and disheartening thoughts on his recent experiences. This rather extreme contrast along with Shelley’s strong diction and use of other romantic mechanisms makes Stanzas Written in Dejection one of his most deep and powerful experiences for the reader. The first stanza makes evident very early on the romantic nature of the piece. Percy Shelley was sitting on a beach watching the ocean and noting the beauty of his surroundings. With lines such as â€Å"The sun is warm, the sky is clear† and â€Å"The waves are dancing fast and bright,† Shelley romantically describes the purity of the waters and weather near Naples. In fact, each line of the first stanza sings praises of his current atmosphere. The last line even goes so far as to convey the romantic notion that being in nature is superior and more beneficial than to be in the city. â€Å"The City’s voice itself is soft, like solitude’s.†. To be in the city would have meant to have been surrounded by people and constant noise. Here, Shelley is stating that he is relishing quiet of his afternoon out away from the ruckus of crowds going about their daily lives. In the second stanza, the theme of nature’s importance and the vivid descriptions of his surroundings continue. However, the emotions behind each of these next lines seem to be less of innocent enjoyment and more of nostalgia as Percy Shelley’s thoughts turned toward a darker and more depressing avenue. By beginning many of his next lines with the phrase â€Å"I see†, such as â€Å"I see the Deep’s untrampled floor,† Shelley seems to be stating that he is not a part of the nature that he is merely observing. This use repetition indicates that he longs for the peace and perfection of the natural world. However, he is a human and must face a life of human struggles and turmoil. The second stanza also brings to the reader’s attention the fact Percy Shelly is alone. While moments of romantic solitude are often appreciated and sought after, this is not the case for Shelley. In the last line of the second stanza he states: â€Å"How sweet! did any heart now share my emotion.† The significance of this declaration is paramount to understanding the rest of Stanzas Written in Dejection. Percy Shelley is feeling alienated and dejected, hence the title of the poem. Even had he been in the city surrounded by people, he still would have felt utterly alone. The first stanza sets sharp contrast to the feelings that he experiencing and the hardships that he has suffered. This is to be continually noted as he goes on to describe his emotions and miserable situation. In the third stanza and throughout the rest of the poem, Percy Shelly explains his lack of any positive emotions or pleasures in life. At the point in time which this poem was penned, Percy Shelley was struggling with the loss of his first wife and baby daughter along with poor health and financial issues (Greenblatt 778). This explains his unhappiness in the poem and provides a good explanation for Shelley’s statements later on in the piece. Another reason that he gives for being so saddened is that he can see the pleasures others are experiencing in life. With the lines â€Å"Smiling they live and call life pleasure: to me that cup has been dealt another measure,† Percy Shelley seems to be conveying his jealousy of those around him and a desire for a life akin to the peaceful beauty of the natural scene described in the first stanza. This form of alienation can be directly related to the romantic era and the styles of the time. Another key romantic symbol is described and utilized in the fourth stanza when Percy Shelley discusses his desire to be like a child. By using childhood as a focus of desire and admiration, Shelley is glorifying the ordinary along with drawing attention to the beauty of innocence and purity. In the lines â€Å"I could lie down like a tired child/ And weep away the life of care,† Shelley is stating that he wishes he could romantically cast away the burden of his thoughts and experiences and once again enjoy the unknowing and uncaring nature of youth and childhood. He also discussed death and romantically stated that he would rather die than go on in this horrid and miserable life, the only thing that he would miss of the living world would be nature and his happy memories of the time that he spent enjoying its beauty. In the fifth and final stanza, something particularly interesting and unique takes place. After stating that he would rather be dead than living, Percy Shelly tells of how people will lament his passing. As stated earlier in this explication, Shelley was an atheist whose works were not well received by the public of his time. In the last stanza he recognizes this disheartening fact, â€Å"They might lament, for I am one/ Whom men love not, and yet regret.† How he could have actually thought or known that he would be dearly missed later on is curious. However, this hope for the lamentation of  others romantically pulls emotion from the readers and almost seems to highlight the supernatural aspect of English romantic literature. In ending his piece with an again hopeful description of nature, Percy Shelly makes circular his brilliant work of literature by relating back to the beauty of his surroundings. Although not thought highly of at the time, Shelly is likely one of the most brilliant and incredible poets of his time. In looking at the world from an unreligious standpoint of his time, he was able to stand apart and compose some of the most beautiful poetry to have come from the romantic era. References Ferguson, Margaret, and Mary Jo Salter, eds. The Norton Anthology of Poetry: Full Fifth Edition. WW Norton Company, 2004. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Selected Poems, Essays and Letters. Odyssey Press, 1944. Cowling, George Herbert, ed. The outline of English verse. Macmillan and Company, limited, 1935. Chayes, Irene H. Rhetoric as Drama: An Approach to the Romantic Ode. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (1964): 67-79. Bidney, Martin. Shelley in the Mind of the Russian Symbolist Balmont: Six Kinds of Influence/Appropriation. Comparative Literature Studies (1988): 57-71. Wilson, Douglas B. Surprised by sleep: Coleridgean dejection and self-analysis. Dreaming 7.1 (1997): 67. STRICKLAND, GEOFFREY. HOW THE FRENCH DO IT. (1972): 320-326. Anderson, Charles R. 46. Dickinson’s Reverse Cannot Befall. The Explicator 18.8 (1960): 118-121.

Movie Yasmin Essay Essay Example

Movie Yasmin Essay Paper ‘Yasmin is remarkable as a film for its cinematic economy: not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. ’ Explore some elements of the film in relation to this statement. The movie Yasmin, released in 2004 and written by the highly acclaimed writer of The Full Monty, Simon Beaufoy, is an impressive drama about what it means to be an Asian-looking Muslim in Britain of the 21st Century. The story is about the young and vivid Yasmin, a woman who tries to succeed, by the skin of her teeth,[1] in the two worlds she grew up in. On the one hand there is her life at home with her believing father and rebellious little brother, for whom she has to mark time as a dutiful Muslim wife until her arranged marriage can be terminated. [2] On the other hand there is her life outside this domesticity, where she is like a fugitive, maintaining a double life as she changes into Western clothes, wins employee of month award at work and goes to the pub with colleagues. [3] One of the main topics of the movie is the difficult tension between being a religious and respectful woman and integrating into the Western society. We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Yasmin Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Yasmin Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Yasmin Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Another important theme in the movie is the impact that the terror attacks in September 2001 had on the British Asian community in Britain. Yasmin’s story therefore deals with a wide range of themes such as discrimination, guilt, and the progress of searching for one’s own identity. It is especially remarkable as a film for its cinematic economy (since) not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. There are no fill-ups in this movie, everything has a meaning. This essay will explore some carefully chosen scenes of the movie concerning its sometimes hidden or masked intention and meaning. It will therefore especially concentrate on the beginning scene, which is regarded as being the strongest part of the film[4]. A closer look at the opening of the film is worth it since every well composed novel or film is creating a deliberate relationship between the beginning and the rest of the movie. It will be examined in the following, that additionally in the case of Yasmin the directors develop a consistency, a pattern of the main themes of the film, in the beginning. Everything is already there in the very first three and a half minutes; things shown in the opening reappear later in the movie; conflicts the film deals with can already be assumed in moves, placements, and pictures. It will be proven that, if taken into account every detail, every shot of the scene, the viewer will already be able to see the whole film in miniature in the beginning. The essay will therefore also have a closer look on what is shown in the opening scene and will then search for coherences and connections throughout the rest of the movie. It will hereby not go through the scene chronologically but will pick up separate shots of it and put them together in categories; although it will start with the first shot to which the viewer is introduced in the movie. When Khalid, Yasmin? s father, lopes over a typical grey English street followed by Nazir, Yasmin? s brother, a few steps behind him, Nazir? s bearing strikes the viewer immediately: the way he creeps a few steps behind his father with the hands in his pockets expresses discouragement, maybe even irritation. He seems to be unhappy with the situation, possibly because it? s too early in the morning, since gentle beams of sunrise just touch the wall behind them; possibly because he dislikes the purpose of their walk. His father, however, hastens to raise this purpose: in his hurry he turns around to see where his son has got to. It becomes clear that it is the father who controls the situation— that he is the leader whom the son has to follow. So apart from the obvious, the authority person walking in front might tell the viewer something about the relation between father and son. One could even go further and suggest it might also tell something about their attitude towards life, about their religion, about the way the head of the family is treated in the Islam faith. The scene therefore implicates the parental respect of which is set value in this family. How important this topic is to Yasmin? s father Khalid becomes more and more clear during the course of the movie: he repeatedly calls for respect towards the parental authority over his children. When Yasmin is complaining about her husband and gives him humiliating names, Khalid reprehends her immediately and stresses his will with a slight slap. He even repudiates Yasmin when she dares to apply for a divorce against his will. So the viewer already gets in this very first scene, in the very first seconds, an initial impression of what domestic life in this family is about: about respect and family ties. The two move on and finally arrive at the mosque, which is gated by a metallic blind. After abandoning their shoes, Nazir and Khalid enter the interior of the mosque; and in doing so they pace over a formidable carpet in a remarkable red. It s admirable how strikingly this little scene influences the movie? s atmosphere: after the grey and dusty outside of the mosque with its bleak stone-walls and metallic blinds covering the entrance, the viewer now gets an impression of the inside; the colourful, bright, shining red carpet. The jump is a quiet astonishing little moment: the greyness outside opposes the bright shining colour of the huge carpet these seemingly little people are crossing (amplified by the way the scene is shot: with bird? eye view). Inside the mosque the viewer gets a sense of richness, a glimpse on the whole tradition, an idea about the Islam faith. The scene is not just remarkable because of its visual orchestration, but also in introducing the viewer to this huge and rich religion and the way it sees the world. Later in the beginning scene there is a shot that shows the grey and grim wall of a Yorkshire stone house in the front, again contrasted by the beautiful outlines of the colourful mosque in the background. The two absolutely different styles of architecture standing next to each other implicate a huge imagery: the mosque as a symbol for the tradition and a stonewall which symbolizes the here and now, indicates how the life of the Muslim people in Great Britain stands side by side with the traditional life of the British natives. This deliberate expression of a coexistence of the two traditions is an expression of crossing cultures at its best in this movie, and at this point of the movie it also stands for a successful integration of the Muslim tradition into the British society. This impression is furthermore stressed during the course of the beginning scene: the mosque is using modern techniques; it is using the loudspeaker, the microphone, so a lot of quite modern technology. Satellites are shown. Here the movie is not only supposing the ageing culture of Islam against the modern British culture of science and technology but goes further: it brings it together. There is an interchange going on here through what the viewer can hear (the singing of Nazir) and what he can see (the loudspeakers and satellites). By bringing these aspects together at the same time the fusion becomes immediately clear to the viewer. In another shot of the beginning scene the viewer observes the vivid life of the Muslim community that is taking place in the streets of the town. Even though one quickly might suggest that this shot might be just a fill-up it, in fact, goes further: the viewer here gets an impression of what the life in this Muslim community is like. The reason for that is that later in the film, after the 11th of September 2001, the same streets are depicted deserted, isolated, dead. Whereas the beginning scene expresses the successful integration of the Muslim tradition into the British society, the contrasting scene in the middle of the movie now stands for the failure of this coexistence, for the loss of community. The remarkable contrast of this two scenes is to illuminate Muslims increasing disenchantment with Western society[5] after the terror attacks. So it now comes clear that nothing in the movie is there without reason: showing a typical East-Asian community in a British town is not a fill-in but is a part of the whole effort of later showing a community being disrupted. Nothing in the movie is wasted. One of the most impressing returning scenes of the movie is Nazir singing in front of the microphone. Also this theme is introduced in the beginning scene: after watching the film the first time, the peaceful scene in the beginning immediately reminds the viewer to the very last scene in the movie, when Khalid, the father is putting in a tape into the recorder as an ersatz for the son. This final scene has a huge impact on the viewer since one here really realizes that Nazir has gone off and will not come back. It is therefore a really tragic little moment: it is emotional even though there is no actor playing the emotion. What is on the first glance less striking but not less important is that the image of the son singing comes back three times during the course of the movie; in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. It runs through the film like a red thread: in the beginning it is, as said, introducing not only to the family? s religion but also to the family background itself. In the scene in the middle of the movie Nazir, before he starts, coughs as if he smoked too much. Since the viewer knows that he started â€Å"indulg(ing) in petty drug dealing and consorting with local girls[6], it seems as if he became corrupted by what he is doing with his life. His coughing therefore is again not without meaning but stands for Nazir? s life becoming more difficult to handle. The returning scene is a marker in the film and each time it means something different: in the beginning it is quite straight forward, in the middle it appears as a comment for what happened to Nazir and his life, and in the end it is tragic since he is gone and will never come back. So as a major thread throughout the movie the scene with the singing Nazir displays the different states the movie and its protagonists are currently in. A similar red thread s the theme of dressing and clothes that recurs throughout the film and, again, the theme is already introduced in the opening. By watching Yasmin changing her clothes hidden by one of the typical grey stone-walls one gets an impression of this girl transforming herself into another person. Yasmin makes an enormous effort of putting herself into the trousers, since they are really too tight. She tries hard to fit herse lf in, she even has to jump up and down. The connection is easy to make: this movie is about someone who tries to fit in with two different worlds, tries to force herself in. So here the choice of incredibly tight trousers simply indicate what Yasmin really wants: she wants to make herself fit. If something returns deliberately, a number of times, during the film it becomes a symbolic act: when Yasmin for example dresses up to revolt against her father later in the movie, it symbolizes Yasmin? s wish to break out, to be able to be herself. In the end of the film she switches to traditional Muslim clothes, since she is at this point of the movie staying in the side of the traditional. Here the clothes express how a religious thought became fixed and hardened. Dressing here becomes a signifier for her state of mind. Since it returns later in the movie several times it always tells the viewer something when it comes to clothes. So by following how the dressing in this movie changes throughout the plot one gets a neat impression of how the state of Yasmin’s mind changes with it. The clothes are never chosen without reason in Yasmin, there is an intention in every piece the actors wear. Even though it is just a little detail it strikes the viewer and is therefore very well-thought. So after Yasmin changed her clothes she turns over to her car and plays around with it: she locks and unlocks it with her remote control several times. This car is, as Yasmin later in the movie declares, not a ? t. p. car`, a ? typical paki-car`, but a sporty, feminine little cabriolet in an outstanding red. With this car, she wants to separate herself from those typical Pakistani people, and, even further, wants to declare her independence: â€Å"it gives her a life away from her husband and her home[7]. By buying this car she is able to show herself and everybody else that she is different, what makes it an act of almost deliberate despair. But on the other hand, by playing around with the car, she expresses her excitement. She does it simply because she can. This gives the viewer a sense of how she is playing with things she owns, how she creates the parts of the world around her she can control in the way she likes it. The motif also returns later in the movie, after 9/11: Yasmin gets in the car and there is a news report on the radio about the terror-attacks. Yasmin? s reaction is as playfully as in the beginning of the movie: she just puts a CD in, and listens to the music. She does simply not want to think about, does not want to care. The viewer gets an impression of the ambiguity of Yasmin? life, of how difficult it must be to live in two different worlds, to create her life successfully around the different expectations the people she deals with have of her. The last shot of the opening scene in the movie depicts this challenge in a deliberate way: it shows the long, small, winding road Yasmin has to take day by day to drive to work and back. This road is the connection of the two worlds she liv es in; it is a connecting thread between not only two different locations but two different worlds. Yasmin is having this journey – this transformation, this struggle – every day. By driving over this street she is migrating from one world to another and she has to transform herself before she is accomplished with the migration, since she changes her identity day by day. Furthermore the road is connecting the two different worlds as well as dividing them. That becomes clear through the visual impact of this shot: the road is crossing the whole screen and Yasmin and her little car have to follow its way through the landscape; it deliberately makes the viewer ask: how long will it take her? And how long will she stand this? The struggle of â€Å"balancing two separate worlds in quest to please (a) conservative family, without sacrificing the obvious advantages of the Western environment[8] is depicted as lovely and rich in detail in the movie Yasmin. It is the beautifully realised opening, entirely without dialogue for a good few minutes, (that) is the strongest part of the film[9] as it, as shown, already gives the whole of the movie, its main conflicts, themes and topics in miniature. Although this is a primarily visual scene, dialogue, if used in the movie, is very effectively— Not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. But the dialogue is used economically and not in the opening: it is a visual opening; in general, Yasmin is a visual movie. Every scene, every act, every piece of clothing has a meaning. As the director of the movie, Kenny Glenaan himself, says: obviously the beauty is what you can do within the frame and some people are amazing at doing that. [10] Bibliography Dilks, Richard, Yas min, in Close-Up Film, 2003, http://www. close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2001, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. tm Glenaan, Kenny, in a BBC Interview, last updated in September 2004, http://www. bbc. co. uk/films/festivals/edinburgh/yasmin. shtml Jennigs, Tom, Tom Jennings’ essay on cinema representations of European Asians Muslims, 2005, http://libcom. org/library/ae-fond-kiss-dir-ken-loach-yasmin-dir-kenny-glenaan-head-dir-fatih-akin-film-review The Hindu Magazine, Being Asian, Muslim and British, Online edition of Indias National Newspaper, 2003, http://www. hindu. com/mag/2004/11/14/stories/2004111400270200. htm [ 1 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 2 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 3 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 4 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003, http://www. close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm [ 5 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. tm [ 6 ]. Jennigs, Tom, Tom Jennings’ essay on cinema representations of European Asians Muslims, 2005, http://libcom. org/library/ae-fond-kiss-dir-ken-loach-yasmin-dir-kenny-glenaan-head-dir-fatih-akin-film-review [ 7 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003, http://www. close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm [ 8 ]. The Hindu Magazine, Being Asian, Muslim and British, Online edition of Indias National Newspaper, 2003, http://www. hindu. com/mag/2004/11/14/stories/2004111400270200. htm [ 9 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003, Movie Yasmin Essay Essay Example Movie Yasmin Essay Essay ‘Yasmin is remarkable as a film for its cinematic economy: not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. ’ Explore some elements of the film in relation to this statement. The movie Yasmin, released in 2004 and written by the highly acclaimed writer of The Full Monty, Simon Beaufoy, is an impressive drama about what it means to be an Asian-looking Muslim in Britain of the 21st Century. The story is about the young and vivid Yasmin, a woman who tries to succeed, by the skin of her teeth,[1] in the two worlds she grew up in. On the one hand there is her life at home with her believing father and rebellious little brother, for whom she has to mark time as a dutiful Muslim wife until her arranged marriage can be terminated. [2] On the other hand there is her life outside this domesticity, where she is like a fugitive, maintaining a double life as she changes into Western clothes, wins employee of month award at work and goes to the pub with colleagues. [3] One of the main topics of the movie is the difficult tension between being a religious and respectful woman and integrating into the Western society. We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Yasmin Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Yasmin Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Movie Yasmin Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Another important theme in the movie is the impact that the terror attacks in September 2001 had on the British Asian community in Britain. Yasmin’s story therefore deals with a wide range of themes such as discrimination, guilt, and the progress of searching for one’s own identity. It is especially remarkable as a film for its cinematic economy (since) not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. There are no fill-ups in this movie, everything has a meaning. This essay will explore some carefully chosen scenes of the movie concerning its sometimes hidden or masked intention and meaning. It will therefore especially concentrate on the beginning scene, which is regarded as being the strongest part of the film[4]. A closer look at the opening of the film is worth it since every well composed novel or film is creating a deliberate relationship between the beginning and the rest of the movie. It will be examined in the following, that additionally in the case of Yasmin the directors develop a consistency, a pattern of the main themes of the film, in the beginning. Everything is already there in the very first three and a half minutes; things shown in the opening reappear later in the movie; conflicts the film deals with can already be assumed in moves, placements, and pictures. It will be proven that, if taken into account every detail, every shot of the scene, the viewer will already be able to see the whole film in miniature in the beginning. The essay will therefore also have a closer look on what is shown in the opening scene and will then search for coherences and connections throughout the rest of the movie. It will hereby not go through the scene chronologically but will pick up separate shots of it and put them together in categories; although it will start with the first shot to which the viewer is introduced in the movie. When Khalid, Yasmin? s father, lopes over a typical grey English street followed by Nazir, Yasmin? s brother, a few steps behind him, Nazir? s bearing strikes the viewer immediately: the way he creeps a few steps behind his father with the hands in his pockets expresses discouragement, maybe even irritation. He seems to be unhappy with the situation, possibly because it? s too early in the morning, since gentle beams of sunrise just touch the wall behind them; possibly because he dislikes the purpose of their walk. His father, however, hastens to raise this purpose: in his hurry he turns around to see where his son has got to. It becomes clear that it is the father who controls the situation— that he is the leader whom the son has to follow. So apart from the obvious, the authority person walking in front might tell the viewer something about the relation between father and son. One could even go further and suggest it might also tell something about their attitude towards life, about their religion, about the way the head of the family is treated in the Islam faith. The scene therefore implicates the parental respect of which is set value in this family. How important this topic is to Yasmin? s father Khalid becomes more and more clear during the course of the movie: he repeatedly calls for respect towards the parental authority over his children. When Yasmin is complaining about her husband and gives him humiliating names, Khalid reprehends her immediately and stresses his will with a slight slap. He even repudiates Yasmin when she dares to apply for a divorce against his will. So the viewer already gets in this very first scene, in the very first seconds, an initial impression of what domestic life in this family is about: about respect and family ties. The two move on and finally arrive at the mosque, which is gated by a metallic blind. After abandoning their shoes, Nazir and Khalid enter the interior of the mosque; and in doing so they pace over a formidable carpet in a remarkable red. It s admirable how strikingly this little scene influences the movie? s atmosphere: after the grey and dusty outside of the mosque with its bleak stone-walls and metallic blinds covering the entrance, the viewer now gets an impression of the inside; the colourful, bright, shining red carpet. The jump is a quiet astonishing little moment: the greyness outside opposes the bright shining colour of the huge carpet these seemingly little people are crossing (amplified by the way the scene is shot: with bird? eye view). Inside the mosque the viewer gets a sense of richness, a glimpse on the whole tradition, an idea about the Islam faith. The scene is not just remarkable because of its visual orchestration, but also in introducing the viewer to this huge and rich religion and the way it sees the world. Later in the beginning scene there is a shot that shows the grey and grim wall of a Yorkshire stone house in the front, again contrasted by the beautiful outlines of the colourful mosque in the background. The two absolutely different styles of architecture standing next to each other implicate a huge imagery: the mosque as a symbol for the tradition and a stonewall which symbolizes the here and now, indicates how the life of the Muslim people in Great Britain stands side by side with the traditional life of the British natives. This deliberate expression of a coexistence of the two traditions is an expression of crossing cultures at its best in this movie, and at this point of the movie it also stands for a successful integration of the Muslim tradition into the British society. This impression is furthermore stressed during the course of the beginning scene: the mosque is using modern techniques; it is using the loudspeaker, the microphone, so a lot of quite modern technology. Satellites are shown. Here the movie is not only supposing the ageing culture of Islam against the modern British culture of science and technology but goes further: it brings it together. There is an interchange going on here through what the viewer can hear (the singing of Nazir) and what he can see (the loudspeakers and satellites). By bringing these aspects together at the same time the fusion becomes immediately clear to the viewer. In another shot of the beginning scene the viewer observes the vivid life of the Muslim community that is taking place in the streets of the town. Even though one quickly might suggest that this shot might be just a fill-up it, in fact, goes further: the viewer here gets an impression of what the life in this Muslim community is like. The reason for that is that later in the film, after the 11th of September 2001, the same streets are depicted deserted, isolated, dead. Whereas the beginning scene expresses the successful integration of the Muslim tradition into the British society, the contrasting scene in the middle of the movie now stands for the failure of this coexistence, for the loss of community. The remarkable contrast of this two scenes is to illuminate Muslims increasing disenchantment with Western society[5] after the terror attacks. So it now comes clear that nothing in the movie is there without reason: showing a typical East-Asian community in a British town is not a fill-in but is a part of the whole effort of later showing a community being disrupted. Nothing in the movie is wasted. One of the most impressing returning scenes of the movie is Nazir singing in front of the microphone. Also this theme is introduced in the beginning scene: after watching the film the first time, the peaceful scene in the beginning immediately reminds the viewer to the very last scene in the movie, when Khalid, the father is putting in a tape into the recorder as an ersatz for the son. This final scene has a huge impact on the viewer since one here really realizes that Nazir has gone off and will not come back. It is therefore a really tragic little moment: it is emotional even though there is no actor playing the emotion. What is on the first glance less striking but not less important is that the image of the son singing comes back three times during the course of the movie; in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. It runs through the film like a red thread: in the beginning it is, as said, introducing not only to the family? s religion but also to the family background itself. In the scene in the middle of the movie Nazir, before he starts, coughs as if he smoked too much. Since the viewer knows that he started â€Å"indulg(ing) in petty drug dealing and consorting with local girls[6], it seems as if he became corrupted by what he is doing with his life. His coughing therefore is again not without meaning but stands for Nazir? s life becoming more difficult to handle. The returning scene is a marker in the film and each time it means something different: in the beginning it is quite straight forward, in the middle it appears as a comment for what happened to Nazir and his life, and in the end it is tragic since he is gone and will never come back. So as a major thread throughout the movie the scene with the singing Nazir displays the different states the movie and its protagonists are currently in. A similar red thread s the theme of dressing and clothes that recurs throughout the film and, again, the theme is already introduced in the opening. By watching Yasmin changing her clothes hidden by one of the typical grey stone-walls one gets an impression of this girl transforming herself into another person. Yasmin makes an enormous effort of putting herself into the trousers, since they are really too tight. She tries hard to fit herse lf in, she even has to jump up and down. The connection is easy to make: this movie is about someone who tries to fit in with two different worlds, tries to force herself in. So here the choice of incredibly tight trousers simply indicate what Yasmin really wants: she wants to make herself fit. If something returns deliberately, a number of times, during the film it becomes a symbolic act: when Yasmin for example dresses up to revolt against her father later in the movie, it symbolizes Yasmin? s wish to break out, to be able to be herself. In the end of the film she switches to traditional Muslim clothes, since she is at this point of the movie staying in the side of the traditional. Here the clothes express how a religious thought became fixed and hardened. Dressing here becomes a signifier for her state of mind. Since it returns later in the movie several times it always tells the viewer something when it comes to clothes. So by following how the dressing in this movie changes throughout the plot one gets a neat impression of how the state of Yasmin’s mind changes with it. The clothes are never chosen without reason in Yasmin, there is an intention in every piece the actors wear. Even though it is just a little detail it strikes the viewer and is therefore very well-thought. So after Yasmin changed her clothes she turns over to her car and plays around with it: she locks and unlocks it with her remote control several times. This car is, as Yasmin later in the movie declares, not a ? t. p. car`, a ? typical paki-car`, but a sporty, feminine little cabriolet in an outstanding red. With this car, she wants to separate herself from those typical Pakistani people, and, even further, wants to declare her independence: â€Å"it gives her a life away from her husband and her home[7]. By buying this car she is able to show herself and everybody else that she is different, what makes it an act of almost deliberate despair. But on the other hand, by playing around with the car, she expresses her excitement. She does it simply because she can. This gives the viewer a sense of how she is playing with things she owns, how she creates the parts of the world around her she can control in the way she likes it. The motif also returns later in the movie, after 9/11: Yasmin gets in the car and there is a news report on the radio about the terror-attacks. Yasmin? s reaction is as playfully as in the beginning of the movie: she just puts a CD in, and listens to the music. She does simply not want to think about, does not want to care. The viewer gets an impression of the ambiguity of Yasmin? life, of how difficult it must be to live in two different worlds, to create her life successfully around the different expectations the people she deals with have of her. The last shot of the opening scene in the movie depicts this challenge in a deliberate way: it shows the long, small, winding road Yasmin has to take day by day to drive to work and back. This road is the connection of the two worlds she liv es in; it is a connecting thread between not only two different locations but two different worlds. Yasmin is having this journey – this transformation, this struggle – every day. By driving over this street she is migrating from one world to another and she has to transform herself before she is accomplished with the migration, since she changes her identity day by day. Furthermore the road is connecting the two different worlds as well as dividing them. That becomes clear through the visual impact of this shot: the road is crossing the whole screen and Yasmin and her little car have to follow its way through the landscape; it deliberately makes the viewer ask: how long will it take her? And how long will she stand this? The struggle of â€Å"balancing two separate worlds in quest to please (a) conservative family, without sacrificing the obvious advantages of the Western environment[8] is depicted as lovely and rich in detail in the movie Yasmin. It is the beautifully realised opening, entirely without dialogue for a good few minutes, (that) is the strongest part of the film[9] as it, as shown, already gives the whole of the movie, its main conflicts, themes and topics in miniature. Although this is a primarily visual scene, dialogue, if used in the movie, is very effectively— Not a scene, shot or speech is wasted. But the dialogue is used economically and not in the opening: it is a visual opening; in general, Yasmin is a visual movie. Every scene, every act, every piece of clothing has a meaning. As the director of the movie, Kenny Glenaan himself, says: obviously the beauty is what you can do within the frame and some people are amazing at doing that. [10] Bibliography Dilks, Richard, Yas min, in Close-Up Film, 2003, http://www. close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2001, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. tm Glenaan, Kenny, in a BBC Interview, last updated in September 2004, http://www. bbc. co. uk/films/festivals/edinburgh/yasmin. shtml Jennigs, Tom, Tom Jennings’ essay on cinema representations of European Asians Muslims, 2005, http://libcom. org/library/ae-fond-kiss-dir-ken-loach-yasmin-dir-kenny-glenaan-head-dir-fatih-akin-film-review The Hindu Magazine, Being Asian, Muslim and British, Online edition of Indias National Newspaper, 2003, http://www. hindu. com/mag/2004/11/14/stories/2004111400270200. htm [ 1 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 2 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 3 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. htm [ 4 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003, http://www. close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm [ 5 ]. Docherty, Alan, Yasmin Kenny Glenaan, in Culture Wars, 2011, http://www. culturewars. org. uk/2004-02/yasmin. tm [ 6 ]. Jennigs, Tom, Tom Jennings’ essay on cinema representations of European Asians Muslims, 2005, http://libcom. org/library/ae-fond-kiss-dir-ken-loach-yasmin-dir-kenny-glenaan-head-dir-fatih-akin-film-review [ 7 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003, http://www. close-upfilm. com/reviews/y/yasmin. htm [ 8 ]. The Hindu Magazine, Being Asian, Muslim and British, Online edition of Indias National Newspaper, 2003, http://www. hindu. com/mag/2004/11/14/stories/2004111400270200. htm [ 9 ]. Dilks, Richard, Yasmin, in Close-Up Film, 2003,