The Last of the Mohicans Essay Example for Free

The Last of the Mohicans Essay Nicole Kidman and Daniel Day Lewis both render excellent performances as Satin and Hawkeye in the movies, ‘Moulin Rouge’ and ‘The Last of the Mohicans’, respectively. However, with the genres being quite different for each of these movies, both performers had to face specific demands in terms of their acting and preparation for their roles in each of these films. Acting is something that not most people can do and do well. On film acting takes on a brand new life when compared to acting on stage. While many people claim that acting on stage is much more difficult than acting on film, what most people don’t know is that in film, there is no room for falsity because the performers are expected to be the exact copy or portrayal of the character that they perform. In stage acting, on the other hand, actors usually own the role and in many cases the character is forgotten in favor of the actor. For instance, in Miss Saigon, it was not the main protagonist ‘Kim’ that people wanted to watch for but Lea Salonga. The case is different in film; for instance, in the movie, ‘The Queen’ Helen Mirren had to perform as an actress to be as truthful and accurate as she can be to the real Elizabeth, Queen of England. The demands in film and stage acting are different and albeit dissenting opinions, film actors go through more rigorous preparations before they are seen in their films so that the truth becomes more apparent and vivid to the audience. This means that acting on film is a craft of truth and that it should be something that actors and actresses assimilate and internalize to be able to perform well. In ‘Moulin Rouge’ Nicole Kidman played the role of Satine, a turberculous, love struck, performer/courtesan to whom a struggling poet falls in love with. Satine is then torn between two men, one a wealthy Duke and her true love, Christian, the poet. This film can be considered a hybrid because it is both a musical and a romantic comedy and it is surprising that Nicole Kidman had to use her real voice in performing as Satine in the many instances in the film where the character had to sing. The actress admits to having had gone through voice lessons to prepare for the film, which initially gives one the idea of what the film demanded of this particular actress. Other than getting voice lessons, Nicole also had to take dance lessons for the numerous dance numbers that she had to do in the film. Save it to say that the film was created in the Bohemian tradition which involved ostentatious set designs as well as loud colors and surreal scenery. These took their toll on the actress as well; being set in a bohemian environment required that the actress also exude a bohemia air. So, Nicole as Satine brought life to the character (pun intended) as she portrayed the calloused personality and soft, longing girl that Satine was. In effect, Nicole had to convey two characters that belonged to entirely different spectrums, one, an insensitive and gold-digging whore, and two, a lonely girl in love who would want to break away from the demands of her job. Satine’s conviction, however, lies in her dream of having a show of her own and finding her one true love, so Nicole had to balance the calloused personality that Satine was known for and the gentle, thoughtful, and loving girl that had dreams of her own. Another acting demand that Nicole had to meet for this film was the need to remain indifferent yet hopeful throughout the film. The challenge here is to be indifferent and allow small slivers of hope to shine through in her almost subdued acting. The reason for this is that Kidman had to maintain the mood of the film and while at the same time excluding herself from the fanfare that characterized most of the actors. The mood was quite surreal, a mood to which the wealthy Duke belonged to but the film offered another dimension, that of Christian, a more realistic and truthful dimension, so Satine had to be adequate for both worlds to successfully exist. Hence, Kidman, while being portrayed as a colorful and surreal character had to retain a certain degree of anchorage on reality in her performance to also make her fit for her true love, Christian. All in all, Kidman’s performance as Satine was out of the box because she had many demands on her beyond just the initial demands of learning to sing and dance for the film. Her performance successfully brought her character to life and effectively conveyed the kinds of messages and emotions that were required of the character at certain points in the film. In this particular film, Kidman had to act more accordingly to emotional acting than on physical acting. Physical acting, while all acting is in fact considered physical, is the kind of acting that requires the performer to use more physical language instead of emotional language as opposed to emotional acting. This means that a character has to make full use of physical faculties to illicit a physical response instead of using these faculties to illicit a subtle emotional response from the audience. Physical acting is more evident in action and adventure films of which ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ is one. In this film, Daniel Day Lewis who plays Hawkeye, a white man who is part of the dying Mohican tribe refuse to join the English Militia and come across two Indian women with whom love stories blossom amid the war. Immediately, it becomes evident that there were demands of conviction for the actor as he was expected to again, be torn between defending the Mohicans and the woman that he loved. While this film may be considered an adventure in all its aspects, it has elements of a love story and may be considered a hybrid. Perhaps most contemporary films now are considered hybrids because conflicts are created on the basis of various relationships and situations that pass for different theme genres. Going back to Lewis, another demand that this actor had to meet was the physical demand for the film – Lewis had, according to some sources, undergo agonizing weight training to get into character. He also had to assimilate to the rugged environment of the forests in which his character lived; this meant that he had to learn how to hunt and fish and survive only on the resources found in the forest. In addition to this, crew members involved in the film reveal that Lewis also had to learn to skin animals and carry a long rifle at all times to remain in character. This is a film where the environment is an important element of the acting, and may even be considered a character because included in the demands of the actor was that he had to learn to interact with the environment and approach it like it was part of the story, as in fact, it was. Comparing this to the earlier film, â€Å"Moulin Rouge† Lewis had to do more physical acting than emotional acting because while there was a love angle in the film, Lewis also had to convey the savageness and fierceness of the Mohicans, the tribe which he represented and had to embody. So, despite gentle and passionate scenes in the film, these were only added to give a deeper dimension to the conviction of the character, but more importantly, Lewis had to act like he was part of the environment and like he was the meat and bone of the conflict to portray his character more accurately and more realistically. In both of these films, the acting demands are quite clear and in any film in particular, any actor will have to meet these acting demands not as an obligation or a duty to the director or the producer but as a responsibility to the audience that has faith on the way actors and actresses should perform in character. Films are often driven by the way characters act and how the actors and actresses meet the acting demands thrown at them. Any effective and successful film will have actors and actresses fully meeting the demands of both the technical film and the creative aspect which is the story; and only then when the actors and actresses do meet these demands will they be able to give back to the audience a film that will grace movie history and hopefully transform into a timeless classic.

William Still and his Impact on Black History :: American America History

William Still and his Impact on Black History Working on farms to receiving whippings were just a few things all African Americans had to endure in the time of slavery. However there have been numerous people and events that have been influential in black history. One momentous event is when William Still escaped from slavery. William Still was born on October 7th, 1821, in Burlington County, New Jersey. Still’s original name as William Steel but his father changed it to protect his wife. Unfortunately the Steel family was unable to escape slavery together. After his escape from the life of slavery, William moved to Philadelphia where he learned to read. He then started to assist fugitive black slaves when being paid to work as a janitor at Pennsylvania’s Society for the Abolition of Slavery. While helping the escapees he wound up disentangling his long lost brother from slavery. In 1972 William wrote The Underground Railroad, which included documents he received from former slaves. This book was crucial because most books on slavery had some bias views written by white abolitionists. After visiting multitudinous escapees in Canada, Still was inspired to launch a desegregation campaign in Pennsylvania railroad cars. The campaign was triumphant and caused Pennsylvanian legislature to preclude segregation. William Still served as both President and vice president for the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. He served as vice president for eight year and President for five. William did not stop there he then organized a YMCA for blacks, an orphanage for children of black sailors and soldiers and the mission Sabbath school. At age 81, in 1902, William Gant Still died of a disease known as Bights disease. However his exploits will never be forgotten. William Still’s achievements triggered many essential events on the path to abolishment of slavery. As one can see William was a man who did great things for those in need of help throughout his lifetime. However if he had never escaped from slavery his accomplishments may have never occurred. If he had not fled from slavery then there may not have been a chance for the successful escape of six hundred and forty nine slaves nor would his organizations have been formed to help many of those who needed assistance in overcoming the burdens of being former slaves.

Examine the Argument That Neighbourly Relations Essay

Neighbourly relations can be ordered and defined in a number of ways whether it is through certain identities or virtual social rules, created, maintained and repaired by people in groups with a situation in common or a relationship to act out in their everyday lives. This essay examines the relations, conflicts and differences that come with neighbourhood life both in the Uk and other countries where contradictions and the limits between what is seen as friendly and where invasive behaviour starts are an important part of ordinary, daily life. Last of all it will show how these relations can easily break down due to tensions caused by conflicts over noise and space where the division between private and public life is hard to define. When we speak about local residents we see them as having a collective or group identity with a particular situation in common, but they also have relational identities as neighbours with conflicting feelings of trust and suspiciousness. In addition people seem to behave in certain ways when they are part of a group as many researchers have discovered through studies on identity, one of these Tajfel cited in Taylor, 2009, p. 170, from his study found that if you tell people that they are part of a group this automatically influences the way they act. We often behave in ways which tell others who we are or how we want to be seen, a little like play acting, our daily lives become a stage on which we perform and relate to our public in social situations, as Ervin Goffman cited in Taylor, 2009, p. 72, found from his study in 1959 on everyday lives, society is a moving picture and identities are understood by looking at what people do rather than who they are. Furthermore a social identity is created through connections with others in different situations or places as we can find in neighbourhoods, by looking at the way people interact with each other and the sort of virtual, unwritten rules regarding privacy and friendsh ip that people abide by everyday. Stephanie Taylor, 2009, on pg. 173) seems to sum all this interaction up in just one short sentence; â€Å"social life proceeds rather like an endless slow dance†, and if we look at the discursive psychological approach that Jovan Byford (2009) uses to analyse a conversation he had with his neighbour, a perfect example of this dance is the way his neighbour tries to maintain a pattern of identity and typical behaviour of a how a ‘good’ neighbour should act. These patterns of behaviour and uses of identity are an essential part of maintaining and repairing order within certain groups or in society in general something which we have heard an example of in ‘Studying Identities’, 2009, track 1, when Professor Margaret Wetherall speaks about the studies carried out on conflicts of a segregated society in Ireland. She explains that the segregated groups had a stronger sense of community with less elaborate identities and social networks, but that this had a great impact on the levels of prejudice towards other groups. Neighbourly relations can be complicated and contradictive as there are two contrasting sides to this type of relationship, the first being that neighbours need to live together happily, be helpful and always be there when needed and the other is that they need to respect a person’s privacy and mind their own business. This is when the dancing partners need to keep an adequate distance from each other trying not to step on each other’s toes, and as (Jovan Byford, 2009, pg. 251) says â€Å"good fences make good neighbours†. This is particularly so with regards to the UK, Anthropologist Stanley Brandes cited in Byford, 2009, p. 59, from his study on social order in Becedas, Spain found the same kind of strong contradictions in rural life, but with a difference in how they acted and danced in their every day lives. He compared neighbourly relationships to the family and found that they feared privacy and saw it as being rude something which could be seen as a breath of fresh air from an English point of view, but these neighbours needed each other to survive and this closeness was seen as a form of surveillance and the necessity to lean on each other brought with it great suspicion, vulnerability and distrust. However there can be tensions in neighbourly relations causing them to break down, this can be for a series of reasons but mostly regarding space and noise when we talk about neighbourhoods. Disputes can arise through people stepping over unwritten, social or group boundaries and if the two sides are unable to repair or settle their dispute then a mediator is often introduced to try and stop the case getting out of control and ending up in court. Elizabeth Stokoe, cited in Byford, 2009, p. 264, in 2006 examined cases of complaints about sexual intercourse and found that people didn’t really want to complain as they were afraid of invading a person’s private life, but at the same time they believed that private activities should be kept private. Another example of tensions between neighbours is a study done by Joanna Bourke, cited in Byford, 2009, p. 66, in 1994 on the noise in overcrowded working-class housing in the 1940/50s, and here too we can see that residents took measures to distance themselves from their neighbours like placing their bed on the other side of the room to try and resolve and repair the conflict that could or had already arisen. In conclusion we can say that the fine line between what is seen as a friendly or intrusive neighbour is very difficult to decipher, and we are continuously dancing with each other throughout life to find the right balance, so finally we can say that neighbourly rel ations are definitely characterized by a friendly distance.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a Poem Written by...

â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† is a poem written by T. S. Eliot in 1911. Prufrock is a fictional character with the poets intended audience being fictional as well. In this poem, Eliot uses multiple forms and meters in this monologue, rhyming couplets that have a song like quality while other lines are more like a free verse with no regular meter. Along with blank verse, the poet uses iambic meter which is also used by one of Eliot’s favorite authors, Shakespeare. This poem dramatizes the conflicts of a middle aged man that is wandering the city, alone and overcautious. He is full of questions, insecurities and the inability to follow through with his plans. In the form of a dramatic monologue, this modernistic poem is a journey into the mind of a man who may or may not be in love. J. Alfred Prufrock is a confused lonely soul that has many unanswered questions and lacks the ability to communicate with anyone but himself. The poet begins this 132 line monologue with an excerpt from Dante’s Inferno. This is a reference to a character named Guido da Montefeltro in which his soul has been damned to an eternity in hell. This is a reference to Prufrock who also believes that what he is contemplating feels like hell on earth. Beginning in stanza 1, Prufrock invites you to join him on a journey. â€Å"Let us go then, you and I/When the evening is spread out against the sky.† (line 1, 2) Prufrock also suggests that he might not be comfortable on this walk, â€Å"Like aShow MoreRelated Comparing the Symbology and Imagery in T. S. Eliot’s Poetry Essay1481 Words   |  6 Pages In the poems â€Å"The Love Song by J. Alfred Prufrock,† written in 1910, published in 1915, and â€Å"Rhapsody on a Windy Night,† written in 1917, both of which were written by poet and literary-critic T. S. Eliot, the symbolism and imagery of the women represented in mythological means, the locations and landscapes that both protagonists wander through or plan on going to, and the nature that is used in both poems are very similar, yet uniquely different. â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† is aboutRead MoreThe Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay990 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† by T.S. Elliot is in part a satire. It was written in the form of a dramatic monologue delivered by the poem’s speaker, J. Alfred Prufrock. It begins with him asking an unknown â€Å"you† to accompany him on a walk. The two walk through town and stumbles upon women talking about Michelangelo at a social event. The women’s bare arms and long dresses show off their knowledge of art. Prufrock wishes to talk to the women and is attracted to them sexually but he is afraidRead More The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. 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At the level just below the very surface, the poem obscurely tells the story of a failed lobster prophet, resurrected from the deadRead MoreArtistic Expression: Poems Speak to Emtions and Capture Feelings963 Words   |  4 Pagestime poems may have lost their voice, but not their importance. Up to this day, poetry is still one of the greatest forms of artistic expression; Poems speak to emotions and capture feelings. There is no right format of a poem, but yet a world of possibilities. Instead being unchangeable poems are innately open to interpretation; they should be spoken out loud in order to be â€Å"heard†, convey truth and cause impact. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. El iot is an extremely meaningful poem; itRead MoreShort Analyses of Some of the Best American Literature872 Words   |  4 Pagesliterature will focus on to what extents these works are representative of the time in which they were write. 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