THE WEST AND THE WORLD
FILM REVIEW # 1: MARIE ANTOINETTE
The film that we will be taking a look at today is Marie Antoinette. We will be focusing mainly on the accuracy of this movie to the real incidents that took place. We'll analyze the movie in order to give it a rating. The movie was released in 1938. Some of the major areas or topics that we will be looking at would be on government structure, marriage, costumes and finally, characters. We will be referring a lot back to the actual time and what really happened comparing the accuracy of the film to the events in history.
To start off with, we will get to know what the movie was about for the people who are unaware. In this movie, a teenager who is Austrian lives in France is isolated. She marries Louis XVI who would like to be a locksmith. After getting married she figures out high society with the help of her brothers-in-law. She is at most in her highest level of foolishness when she meets a Swedish nobleman, Alex de Fersen. He falls in love with her as well helps her see her carelessness and her irresponsibility. The second half of the movie had a twist. She becomes a responsible for the main part, becomes a ruler, has children, etc. She is blamed for a missing necklace, and both Marie Antoinette and Louis are more worried about the necklace rather than they are for the country. It finally ends off with them dying.
Firstly, let us analyze the government structure during the French Revolution and its accuracy to the movie. During the French Revolution, the government laws were quite harsh. They would call it the capital punishment and would result in a very devastating death. They had a very cruel punishment if it came to breaking the law. The device that was used fo...
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...as them being friends. The actor has over done a good job in identifying the characters and represented them as accurate as possible in the movie.
To end off with, this movie was good as it showed the life led during the French Revolution. This movie focusing in Marie Antoinette shows what all they went through and was historically accurate. This could be said as in textbooks it has been written the same. The acting was good, through this we could compare it to how they were in actual and their characteristics. The director did a good job in not including colour and made it more historically accurate. For people who are not fond of black and white pictures, this movie probably would have quickly lost interest. To end off with, this movie should be ranked approximately 7.4 out of 10. The historical accuracy of this movie is probably what gave it such high ranking.
Carlyle, Thomas. The French Revolution, Volume 3: The Guillotine. Vol. 3. London: James Fraser, ..., 2001. Print. French Revolution.
The Guillotine brought equality in death to the French Revolution. Sometimes people of higher classes would receive quick deaths whereas people of the lower classes would receive slow, torturous deaths. People of many classes were being killed and the Guillotine allowed everyone to receive equal punishments rather than being tortured. The tribunals were self-selected revolutionaries that dictated who was guilty and who needed to be executed. There were 44,000 of these councils. During the tribunals, most people were prosecuted bases on suspicions and no hard evidence. The Guillotine was also depicted on pins which were worn by supporters of the French Revolution. The Guillotine was a very significant tool and a minimum of 440,000 were executed via the Guillotine. In my analysis, the Guillotine added to the motto of the French Revolution “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death.” The Guillotine made death equal and assured liberty and
Dr. Manette is imprisoned in the French Bastille for eighteen years by the cruel French government and unknown to him those many years of pain and suffering serve as a great sacrifice in the eyes of the Revolutionists. He is recalled to life from the time he served when he meets Lu...
Before the revolution formally began, France was being ruled by the monarch Napoleon Bonaparte. All people under him, particularly the third party members also known as the working class, were oppressed in a sense that they were powerless against the laws that wronged them while bestowing the monarchy more power. The ruler of a country or empire should have one goal: to ensure that the people of the country are taken care of. As Napoleon was not adhering to this basic moral law of power the people grew upset about the little they could do to help themselves, and decided the best course of action would be to overthrow the government. Once the monarchy was overtaken the bourgeoisie temporarily assumed power which worked for a short time. Soon however, multiple rebel groups rose to power, subjecting all those not associated with them to the two year Reign of Terror. During this time, many civilians and previous government officials were executed. The consequence of the rebellion yielded predictable results. Like before, the people outside the direct government suffered as they could do nothing to prevent wrongdoing from befalling them. Both during Napoleon’s rule and the rule of the rebels, powerlessness influenced an ascent to despotism that left the people of the country
-I chose this topic to write about because the roles of woman have changed from days of the past to today’s women roles. Being that I am a woman in today’s society I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to be a woman of the past. The two women I have decided to compare are Marie Antoinette because she was born the same month and day I was born and Cathay Williams a.k.a. William Cathay who was the first African American woman to enlist in the U.S. Army; these two completely opposite woman I think would be an interesting topic. I will give you details about both women and compare their roles with each other, and how did their role affect other women during their time periods. I will also try to imagine, what both woman would think
A guillotine is a decapitation device that quickly chops off it’s victims head in the blink of an eye. According to document F, About 16,000 people were believed to have died at the hands of it. No matter how small or petty a crime was, people would have been executed for it. Even Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, the leaders of France before the Revolution, were decapitated by one, as was the leader of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre. Another method to weed out the counter revolutionaries was a network of spies that watched out for anyone who spoke out against the government, “A careless word of criticism spoken against the government could put one in prison or worse” (Document E). The punishment for a crime as small as ththis was more often than not
Before the revolution, life in France was still observing feudal rights. The monarch, nobles, and the clergy lived a life on the back of the people. It was a very dark time for the peasants with no light in sight. The large mass of peasants grew poorer and living in famine. Crime was the way of life for the peasants because food resources began to become scarce. Leading up to the revolution, the beginning of a middle class began develop. This new class would be the leading force for the revolution in France. After the revolution the French Revolution failed to establish a representative government or a constitutional monarchy. Before the revolution, France began with an absolute monarchy. They completely abolished the monarchy by cutting off the king’s and queen’s head and ended up with Napoleon Bonaparte. The French revolution did give the people a taste of liberty, equality, and power, but that was short lived. The co...
...r, this movie is lack of depth of storyline. The audiences can even predict what will happen in the next scenes. Moreover, the ending of this movie is too cheesy and irrational according to me. If only they change the ending to become more interesting and rational, I will give a four or five stars out of five. In spite of a lame twist ending, this movie is a perfect example to show that managers should be able to motivate and challenge their employee. It is important to remember that a happy employee means a productive employee.
Although I enjoyed the main portion of the movie, there were some obvious likes and dislikes in my opinion. I believe that I learned from this movie and it helped me understand more of what the people of that time were feeling.
The book Mourning Glory: The Will of the French Revolution Marie-Hélène Huet gives a great insight to different angles on the French Revolution. She elaborates on what the intent and purposes are, and how they would fuel The French Revolution. Huet argues that the ideology of the normal everyday lifestyle has been overlooked, and that revolution with violence is the key idea for the attitudes of revolutionist during the time period of 1789 and years later. She explains the comparison of how everyday lives and ideologies of the scientific reason and enlightenment made the people of France have the will and courage to establish a new regime.
The revolution emphasized the ideals of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” and was characterized by the strong will of the French people who stood up for what they believed in. It was also an extremely bloody time, which saw the rise of the guillotine, a contraption used for public executions and to instill a sense of fear in those opposed to the revolution. The revolution saw the public execution of the King and Queen, Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette as well as thousands of others. The upper class feared for their lives.
The book and the movie were both very good. The book took time to explain things like setting, people’s emotions, people’s traits, and important background information. There was no time for these explanations the movie. The book, however, had parts in the beginning where some readers could become flustered.
Overall this film was exciting to watch and was good to help learn a little about the Elizabethan Era. Although the goriness is too much for someone who is sensitive to that kind of thing, you can still enjoy the movie. The costumes are eccentric, the set design is, although outdated, extremely detailed, and was a good movie if you were looking for something to watch and enjoyed a little bit of history in your life.
Most reviewers overall enjoyed the movie very much. Christopher Null gave the movie four out of five stars and said it was “perfection and a good memorable film”. Steven Rhodes also says it is a good film “It's the sort of film that will leave you exhausted but glad you came.” (http://www.imdb.com/Reviews/210/21041) However from a woman’s point of view the film was barbaric and violent, “it's socially irresponsible and repellent in its graphic depictions of extreme violence and brutality,” says Susan Granger. (http://www.speakers-podium.com/susangranger.) I, however, even though I am a female I enjoyed the film very much. It has become one of my favorite movies because I feel like I can relate to the topic very much because I wish I was just able to let go and do what I really want to do. Everyone has his or her own opinion of things so you should see the movie and see how you react to it.
The French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in 1792, though certain people include Napoleon’s reign as part of the revolution, stating it ended in 1804. It was a time of confusion, disorder, and bloodshed. The commoners of France decided that they were being treated unjustly and planned to overthrow their king. The French Revolution was a long and terrible war, which promoted democracy and equality for the people of France and resulted, not only in the death of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, but with France becoming a more liberal country. This essay will investigate causes of the French Revolution such as enlightenment ideas, taxation and economical problems, and the political system of the time. It will be shown that there is not a single direct cause for the occurrence of the French Revolution, but many different reasons of varying importance.