The numerous historical films that merely illustrate the past
are attempts at deception according to their own terms.
Since one always runs the danger, when picturing current
events, of turning easily excitable masses against powerful
institutions that are in fact often not appealing, one prefers to
direct the camera towards a Middle Ages that the audience
will find harmlessly edifying. The further back the story is
situated historically, the more audacious filmmakers
become. They will risk depicting a successful revolution in
historical costumes in order to induce people to forget
modern revolutions, and they are happy to satisfy the
theoretical sense of justice by filming struggles for freedom
that are long past.1
Kracauer’s analysis of the historical film culminates in a dismissal of
historical, and thereby factual, efficacy. In this circumstance, the period piece can
assume an earlier time frame as a departure from the burden of accuracy rather
than an acceptance of it. Academic records indicate that El Cid (dir. Anthony
Mann, 1961) ignores much of Rodrigo Díaz de Bivar’s factual exploits as a
warrior for hire, fighting more often for compensation than any religious or moral
certitude. Why, then, was this character’s story so appealing as a platform for a
historical epic film? El Cid’s historical ambivalence suggests that it’s story is more
appropriately detailed for potential aesthetic achievement than realism.
Kracauer begins describing the aesthetic condition of the mass ornament
as a reference to the Tiller Girls, a performance group based on visual uniformity.
He focuses on their performance of emulation and repetition, through which they
are “no longer individual girls, but indissoluble girl clusters whose movements are
demonstrations of mathematics.... One need only glance at the screen to learn
that the ornaments are composed of thousands of bodies, sexless bodies in
bathing suits. The regularity of their patterns is cheered by the masses,
1 This passage is taken from Siegfried Kracauer’s essay “The Little Shopgirls Go to the Movies.”
themselves arranged by the stands in tier upon ordered tier.2” Already, there is
an allegory bridging this performance art with the cinema. The masses are
clearly the film’s intended audience gathered in a theater, which composes the
modern medium for the cinematic ornament.
The film’s actors become the performative aspect of this equation, wherein
their acting and involvement in a character role, no matter how important, is
meager and unnecessary without the remainder of the operative whole. The film
opens with a revelatory glance at this phenomenon, as Rodrigo carries a cross
through an empty landscape. In retrospect, his great battles and leadership are
abstract and ineffectual without the massive army of followers. As the stand-in
Christ figure, he showcases the absence of the epic’s ornament: a solitary figure,
When the “decently dressed” Lengel tried to tell the girls to be “decently dressed” because the girls were wearing “bathing suits”, the girls first argued they “are decent” and left because the girls thought what they were doing was not wrong since they have different perspective than Lengel. The result of feeling empathy for the younger generation in "Railway Club Blues" is that the older generation saw the younger generation as themselves and the protagonist mentioned that teens were the “Strange children of the simple punks we were”. Also, despite of the younger teens “clothes are odd [and] their attitudes obscure”, the protagonist saw their faces that gave him “a kindred memory” of how the teens “repeat the ancient dance”. Ultimately, because the two generations were able to enjoyed a small jazz performance together, the protagonist felt “all cardboard boundaries are erased.”. Both authors used contrast to show the results of feeling empathy for the younger generation, and in “A&P”, the result of Lengel feeling empathy for the teenagers is that he was rejected by the youth due to their contrasting perspectives. When the protagonist from “Railway Club Blues” felt the “boundaries are erased” when the music began to play, this demonstrates how the the protagonist felt how everyone shared the same feelings and empathize the teens despite
John Updike's short story “A&P,” centers on a young immature and morally ambitious teenager who faces down the generation gap and, rather than bending to the dictates of the elders, rebels against them, securing his rather insecure place as a young, unproven man. Sammy, the main character, describes the entrance of a group of young attractive girls into the supermarket, “In walk these three girls in nothing but bathing suits…They didn’t even have shoes on”.(864) Sammy is mesmerized by their presence that he cannot do his job. The supermarket manager, Lengel, scolds the visitors by exclaiming “Girls, this isn’t the beach”.(867) Within the few moments after Sammy dramatically quits his job in protest of the quite impolite treatment by Lengel he says to himself “…and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter”.(869) Because of his youth, and certainly because of the extremes of behavior that the young are prone to demonstrate, Sammy perceives that his life will forever be damaged by his actions. Though we certainly understand that this is not the case, that no one’s life is inexorably ‘ruined’ by the decision to do something momentous, it is certainly quite charming to transport ourselves into a time in our lives when such passions ruled us. This image awakens in us the expect...
After leaving Poland to venture out into the New World of America, the Smolinsky family endured impoverished lifestyles and countless hardships. For example, After an incident between Reb and the landlady (which made Reb revered), boarders began to occupy the Smolinsky family’s place, the three sisters Bessie, Fania, and Mashah had jobs, and they could purchase things they could have never afforded. These possessions included butter, regular towels, “toothbrushes[…] to brush [their] teeth with, instead of ashes”, and “separate knives and forks instead of” eating “from the pot to the hand as [they] once did” (29). Today, these are belongings that must people have in their everyday lives. To have them marvel at these material things further emphasizes the poor life they were so used to. In addition, when Bessie (Sara’s sister) dolls up the house with lace, oilcloths for the table, and cleans up all the clutter in the house for a man named Berel Bernstein, the mother suggests that they cover up the whiteness so as to prevent it from getting dirty. The mother warns the sisters not to “fly away with [themselves] in fairyland” because “[they’re] poor people yet…and poor people got to save”(39). Their family had to withhold any pleasures in material things because they did not have time to impress others. All of the family members’ wages went to the rent and what little food they had to eat. It was not realistic for them to be worrying about material possessions when they worry so much about where to get the money to put breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the table. Furthermore, Reb was always fixed in being the matchmaker for his children. He always made sure that the men they would marry was stable in their work, and that could support the rest of the family as well. There was a situation with Berel Bernstein in which Reb asked that if Berel was to marry Bessie, Berel would have to fork up some money to he...
In John Updike’s “A&P”, the revolution of the young people of the current age against authority is explored and explained. “A&P” reveals the shift from conservative and deferential to avant-garde and disrespectful. Through the observation of the behavior of the characters in the story, one can receive a clear picture of the evolution of the sexual revolution that has come in this age. Sammy is the first character that is introduced, he is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Stoksie and Lengel are next, Stoksie is a fellow store clerk with Sammy as well as a good friend and Lengel is the manager of the store. Finally, Queenie is introduced. “A&P” begins with Sammy noticing these three girls that come into the store in nothing but their bathing suits. Sammy then proceeds to analyze each of the girls bodies, finally coming to rest on the leader of the group, his favorite, who he affectionately names to himself, “Queenie”. Although Sammy and Stoksie joke back and forth about the girls sexiness, he is privately revolted by the butchers bluntly ogling the girls as they search for whatever they wish to purchase. Throughout this recounting of the experience, one begins to wonder, when did girls become pieces of meat to be observed and handled by men? They used to be cherished and protected as they should be. The sexual revolution of the past and current decades have changed all of that.
All and all, Glaspell’s and Ibsen’s use of the bird cage, dead bird, and dollhouse allows the reader to identify with women of the nineteen century and the roles they played. Throughout the plays, the reader can visualize how men dismiss women as trivial and treat them like property, even though the lifestyles they are living is very much in contrast. The playwrights each in their own way are addressing the issues that have negatively impacted the identity of women in society.
His annotation of the “women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs and nobody, including them, could care less” (Updike 159) and “the sheep” (Updike 162) in the checkout lines are an illustration of his everyday repetitious life working at the A&P. He compares these women to animals showing his undeniable sophomoric juvenile behavior.
By them going against their gender roles and being inappropriately dressed in A & P, they also create the possibility for tragedy to occur. The manager of A & P, Lengel, an old Sunday school teacher embodies what is expected to be the male gender role of that time when he publically chastises the girls for being dressed in that manner in the store. Despite the girls’ attempts to justify their actions of being dressed in this manner by saying that they only came in to buy one thing, Lengel maintains his masculine gender role of keeping women in line. Lengel states quite matter-of-factly, “We want you decently dressed when you come in here.” (Updike 234). It is at this moment that Queenie pushes the envelope even further in going against her gender roles, by answering back Lengel. Queenie’s response of “We are decent,” (Updike 234) shows her somewhat rebellious and disrespectful nature, and her disregard for Lengel’s patriarchal authority. She instead would have been expected in this scenario to possibly apologize to Lengel and leave the store with her friends since he was not only male but senior to her thus demanding her
As the story continues, Sammy curiously watches the provocative young ladies as they stroll through the store looking for groceries. In this fictional story, Sammy describes all three noticeable ladies, the main girl, "Queenie" he describes her as the leader of the two other girls. The second young lady he described was the chunky one; he fully described the chunky girl from head to toe, because Sammy had more descriptive words regarding her appearance. The third girl was the taller of the two. She was not as striking as the other two young ladies. The girls were barefoot and wore bathing suits, which is why they caught Sammy's attention. The reason being not because of the bathing suits they were wearing, but the way they strolled down the isles with confidence as they walked through the store. These young ladies were, "The kind of girls that other girls think are "Striking" and "Attractive." (48) Updike wants to let the reader know these girls wanted attention and only attention; by the way he described what they were wearing and how they flaunted themselves.
The story unfolds when, “Lengel, the store’s manager” (2191) confronts the girls because they are dressed inappropriately. To Sammy, it is a moment of embarrassment and in defiance he quits his job. The student suggests that in quitting, “Sammy challenges social inequality and is a person who is trying to
Although one’s good deeds may often not be acknowledged, the inevitable lesson of maturity can be taught through such experiences. In “A&P”, Sammy is a teenage clerk who is not acknowledged for accomplishing what he thinks is a good deed. During a hot day, three teenage girls walks into the A&P grocery store, wearing only their bathing suits. The image of the girl’s revealing attire provides an absolute contrast to both the simple interior of the store and also of the other conservative customers. Sammy describes the customers as “sheeps” because they look mindless as they follow each other around the aisles in continual, constant motion. However, these three girls conflict with the imagery of “sheeps” by breaking the norms of what the A&P grocery store, and society in general, has proclaimed as acce...
As portrayed by her thoughts after sex in this passage, the girl is overly casual about the act of sex and years ahead of her time in her awareness of her actions. Minot's unique way of revealing to the reader the wild excursions done by this young promiscuous adolescent proves that she devalues the sacred act of sex. Furthermore, the manner in which the author illustrates to the reader these acts symbolizes the likeness of a list. Whether it's a list of things to do on the weekend or perhaps items of groceries which need to be picked up, her lust for each one of the boys in the story is about as well thought out and meaningful as each item which has carelessly and spontaneously been thrown on to a sheet of paper as is done in making a list. This symbolistic writing style is used to show how meaningless these relationships were, but the deeper meaning of why she acted the way she did is revealed throughout the story.
Mrs. Sommer’s was a wealthy woman at some time in her life before she married her husband and had children. She tries not to think about her past, as she is now in the present. She, is merely, doing the best she can. She wished her children had the finer things in life such as better clothing. The children’s clothing was nothing short of rags and tears. Children’s clothing was sewn by hand, so they didn’t
In Brenda Cooper’s article “Chick Flicks,” she argues, the film, Thelma and Louise employs mockery as a narrative tool, and functions to produce a defiant narrative which fiercely confronts and denounces patriarchy. Societal norms are able to create a kind unconscious compliance, resulting in self-imposed coercion and oppression. A film like Thelma and Louise brings consciousness to women’s own complicity in social norms like patriarchy, so they can no longer blindly follow these norms. This leaves women in either a state of denial and resistance or a state of evolution and change. Through mockery this film sheds light on accepted norms, and in some, causes a defensive response, as it
Henrik Ibsen once said, “Never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.” In his play A Doll’s House, Nora is seen by surrounding friends and family as a housewife and idea mother, but she is fighting for independence and recognition. Ibsen’s A Doll’s House presents an image of an ideal marriage to demonstrate that the 19th century social expectations on husband and wife were unrealistic.