Borges and Bertolucci
There are a number of differences between Bernardo Bertolucci's movie "The Spider Stratagem" and the story on which it is based, Jorge Louis Borges' "The Theme of The Traitor and The Hero;" however, overall Bertolucci does a pretty accurate portrayal of the essence, at least, of Borges' story. Besides changing the "setting" of the plot, there is also much more information relayed in the movie. This is very much due to that the story is simply a suggestive piece, while the movie had to fill in all of the blanks. In the movie, Bertolucci had to add characters, motivations, and many vast details that are left out of the story.
To begin with, Borges is very vague in his ideas on the semantics of his story. He begins filling in the details somewhat with the story taking place in Ireland…. But Borges himself says that this is simply, "(for narrative convenience)." (Borges 72) Borges then expands on his idea within an Irish backdrop… Bertolucci keeps the story intact, and simply transplants it to Italy in the twentieth century. The names are all changed; but that is because Borges chose Irish names which would not work in the new setting. The entirety of Borges' story is written in vague possibilities of ideas. He uses "for example" a number of times throughout the story and only offers these examples to give the reader an idea… not the actual plot. It is more the plot than the setting which concerns Borges… and Bertolucci does exact Borges' plot with his movie. At the beginning of the story, Borges says that our narrator is writing an autobiography of his great-grandfather, the hero. However, in the movie, Bertolucci's narrator is summoned to his father (not great-grandfather)'s hometown by his father's ex-mistress. (Borges does not mention an "ex-mistress.") He has no interest in knowing about his father. It is only in concern of the health of this ex-mistress that he actually chooses to stay. (She has a propensity for fainting on cue.) It is for her that he actually undertakes the pursuit of the truth of who the traitor was that caused the death of his father, as opposed to in Borges' story where the narrator undertakes the truth for the purposes of his biography. Bertolucci had to take some artistic licenses with character motivations in order to make the movie's pace keep going.
The Brilliant Minds of Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol were, and still are, two of the most influential and perpetual artists of their perspective time periods. Da Vinci being from the late 15th century to the early 16th century, he combined aspects of form and idea but also the ideals of mathematics and complete realism like no other that has done before. Andy Warhol, of the 20th century, portrayed his paintings and photographs using his personality and uniqueness that gave off a certain vibrato that made people fall in love almost instantaneously. Da Vinci had a bizarre but wonderful obsession with the anatomy of individuals and used this addiction to drive his sculptures and paintings. Andy Warhol was
...ing fantasy. In addition, Dr. Caligari and Cesare are not real people; they are fragments of Francis' psyche and serve the purpose of objects onto which the blame is displaced. The filmÕs ambiguous ending leaves the validity of Francis' story unknown because his illness is not explicitly confirmed. However, Freudian theory clarifies this uncertainty by showing that Francis has fantasized the entire story to satisfy his guilty mind.
Giovanni Bellini was born in Venice, Italy around 1430. He was the son of Jacopo Bellini, an esteemed painter at the time, and probably began his career along side his brother as an assistant in his father’s workshop. Though his artwork was influenced by many of his friends and relatives, Giovanni possessed certain qualities in his compositions which set him apart from the others. He blended the styles of both his father and brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, with his own subtle appreciation of color and light, the high regard he held for the detail of natural landscape, along with the very direct human empathy he placed in his painting. These components of Bellini’s personal style became foundational to the character of all Venetian Renaissance Art. Bellini later developed a sensuous coloristic manner in his work which became yet another characteristic he contributed to the Venetian Renaissance Art.
Filippo Brunelleschi has left a legacy that not many people have been able to achieve throughout their life time. Brunelleschi was an architect and engineer, and one of the pioneers of early renaissance architecture in Italy. He was the first modern engineer and problem-solver with unorthodox methods. He built his major work, The Dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, with the help of the machines he invented specifically for this project.
Agathocles of Syracuse was considered to be an individual engaged in a life of crime, although not one devoid of mental and physical virtù (Machiavelli, 2000: 45). Nevertheless, his most remarkable success was the assassination of the senators and wealthy people of Syracuse, an action that could be considered to be based on bloodlust rather than responding to rational calculations (Machiavelli, 2000: 48). At the same time, Machiavelli seems to be very clear about the differences that resulted in the case of Cesare Borgia, who arranged the killing of Oliverotto of Fermo, who had disrupted the social order through a series of assassinations. The actions of Cesare Borgia have been premeditated in the same way as those undertaken by Oliverotto and Agathocles (Machiavelli, 2000: 51). However, in this particular case the ulterior motives differ considerably from the other two, as they obeyed to a rational and moral logic that was conducive to pursuit of virtù (Vivanti, 2013:
When you not only have the ability to controls some ones actions, but have the power to control their actions for the benefit of your own, you can consider yourself a very powerful individual. During the Renaissance era, many aristocratic families had control over intellectuals of the time. Some of them included, Michelangelo, da Vinci, and Machiavelli. However, throughout The Borgias, the narrator makes notes of how Machiavelli sees the Borgia family and gives hints to his liking toward the family. To the reader, Machiavelli seems like a well-adjusted citizen, capable of being reliant and separate to other aristocratic families other than the Borgias. By being, as one would say, loyal to the Borgias, Machiavelli is able to gain a quality insight on the Borgia family. Machiavelli, during the time period, was the well know author of his book, The Prince, and being a close acquaintance of the Borgia family, became an informer to Florence about members of the Borgia family’s actions. During his time in the Papal States, he observed the Borgias “…without excessive exaggeration, these lands were ‘a nursery of all the worst crimes, of outbreaks of rapine and murder, resulting from the wickedness of local lords and not, as these lords maintained, from the disposition of their subjects’.” The reader can only best assume that Machiavelli thought of the Borgias as a disgusted and disgraceful joke of a family. In spite of the repulsiveness of the family, Machiavelli had an idolization for Cesare Borgia. Machiavelli exclaims: “this lord is very proud…and, as a soldier, he is so enterprising that nothing is so great that it does not seem trivial to him.” During this part in the book, Machiavelli has been following Cesare, and keeping tabs on him and then reporting back to Florence. Throughout Cesare’s conquest throughout Italy, Machiavelli accompanies his army, once
This all shows that the reason for the viewer wanting to be spider-man is the fact that the director, Sam Raimi, has managed to bring together some of the greatest techniques and fine tune them into his own style, then apply them to this film, making the viewer really feel as if they can relate to spider-man.
Eddie Carbone is the protagonist of the play who falls in love with his niece Catherine and treats her as his possess. He refuses her work and her relationship with Rodolpho. He accuses Rodolpho of being homosexual and when he fails to prove that he calls the immigration office and informs about Rodolpho and his brother Marco who have entered the country in illegal way. Rodolpho has the chance to be American as he will marry Catherine, while his brother Marco has no chance as he has to return back to Italy and doesn't have any work to support his family. So, he becomes angry with Eddie and accuses him of informing about them. He also accuses him of the death of his children as Marco does not work now and they will starve. Marco decides to take his revenge from Eddie and kills him with a knife. The play ends tragically. The research will focus on the dramatic technique which are used by Miller to depict and embody the anger in characters including the employment of chorus , asides, images, stage directions, dialogue and type of the
In Ann Radcliffe's "The Italian", the very first thing that we see described is a veiled woman: "It was in the church of San Lorenzo at Naples, in the year 1758, that Vincentio di Vivaldi first saw Ellena di Rosalba. The sweetness and fine expression of her voice attracted his attention to her figure, which had a distinguished air of delicacy and grace; but her face was concealed in her veil. So much was he fascinated by the voice, that a most painful curiosity was excited as to her countenance, which he fancied must express all the sensibility of character that the modulation of her tones indicated" (5).Even without knowing anything about Gothic elements, this indicates very clearly what the quality and tone of the book are going to be like. Vivaldi's pursuit of the veiled woman is a signal that his is the pursuit of the mysterious, with the certainty that it will be beautiful.
Cesare Lombroso was an Italian university professor and criminologist, born in Nov. 6, 1835, in Verona, who became worldwide renowned for his studies and theories in the field of characterology, or the relation between mental and physical characteristics. Lombroso tried to relate certain physical characteristics, such as jaw size, to criminal psychopathology, or the innate tendency of individuals toward sociopathy and criminal behavior. As such, Lombroso's approach is a direct descendant of phrenology, created by the German physician Franz Joseph Gall in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and closely related to other fields of characterology, such as craniology and physiognomy. His theory has been scientically discredited, but Lombroso had the merit of bringing up the importance of the scientific studies of the criminal mind, a field which became known as criminal anthropology.
During the sixteen hundreds, the French philosopher René Descartes laid the foundations for the beginnings of Cartesian Dualism. In contrast, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued against dualism in favor of materialism. Recently, Cartesian Dualism, and dualism in general has fallen out of favor as materialism arose as a more plausible and explanatory theory regarding the interrelationships between body and mind. The translation Descartes’ writing in the Meditations is far more cryptic than Hobbes’ writing in the Leviathan. Making it far easier to see Hobbes’ claims. Hobbes provides a reasonable explanation against dualism in his objections to Descartes, and in his Leviathan, provides background upon his reasoning in those objections. Dualism may be less popular than materialism in current philosophy, but it may simply be because dualism has more or less reached some sort of block in regards to its further development, and not anything to do with the writings of Descartes or Hobbes. Descartes and Hobbes may have influenced many of the earlier bickering between philosophers of mind upon the subject of mind-body interaction, as Hobbes was likely the first objector to Descartes’ dualism.
Each character's father had a substantially high social class in their respective countries, which in turn gives them high social class as well. With Hamlet and Fortinbras as sons of kings and Laertes as the son of an aristocrat of high regard in the Danish court, all had a lot to lose if unsuccessful in their ploy. Each of the sons believed that the killers had dishonored their fathers as well as themselves. Each acts in a way that they consider to be an attempt at restoring it to the family, as honor is a significant thing to uphold on this day. Although similar in age, class and ambition to destroy their fathers killers, Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras each have characteristics that make them different from each other and show how each acted unlike the others when carrying out their plans.
In the famed author William Shakespeare’s playwright Julius Caesar, we are introduced to an extraordinary plot of a powerful ruler, Julius Caesar, who gained power through astonishing victories and remarkable strategies but fell victim to betrayal. The betrayal that led to his demise was led by some of the very people that surrounded him the most, even some people that he considered as friends. The theme of betrayal and the notion of friendship and its validity are both topics that are worth examining but perhaps the most prevalent topic that drives this plot is the image of Caesar. Caesar ascended into power after a long period in Rome where the rise of tyranny had been fought systematically and physically. He had to not only be a powerful leader but also a wise politician when it came to his decisions. His image tarnishes more and more as his power increases and he too chases after it. He becomes so ambitious over power that he begins to feel immortal and free from danger. His conspirators do not just want him out of power for the simple sake of it but because some of them, either persuaded or not, earnestly believed that Julius Caesar’s death would save Rome not hurt it. What makes this playwright’s so extraordinary is not the dynamic drama alone, but also the depiction of Julius Caesar and how even in the monstrosity of his murder, his image was still arguable causing division amongst men. Although William Shakespeare has, for a very long time now, been known for his great writings it is clear that he himself depicted a ruler that would win favor in the eyes of the great Italian political philosopher and writer Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli but not the profound Italian writer Baldassare Castiglione. Both writers wrote ab...
The illegitimate son of a 25-year-old notary, Ser Piero, and peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, just outside Florence. His father took custody of the little fellow shortly after his birth, while his mother married someone else and moved to a neighboring town. They kept on having kids, although not with each other, and they eventually supplied him with a total of 17 half sisters and brothers.
Bernardo Bertolucci is an expressionist filmmaker in the sense that the style of his films transgresses the realities of everyday life and the traditional cinematic way of depicting it. He achieves this through many techniques such as original camera shots or compositions that only we, behind the camera, could see. Bertolucci also paints his films in a light that creates a surrealist or "metarealist" mood and aura.