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The Vision of a Real "Black Swan"

Side Note: There are a lot of spoilers in this critique of Black Swan. Sorry for those who haven't seen this awesome film yet.

In the "Black Swan", Natalie Portman (the main actress) plays Nina who's a ballerina at a very well-known Balle Company. Thomas (the company's artistic director) gives Nina a very important role by casting her as the black and white swan in "Swan Lake", but he gives her the role after he sexually assaults her. In the film, the relationship between the male ballet leaders and their female dancers is pretty strange (seriously, It's strange!) For example, Thomas always have a creepy look when he's challenging Nina, including when he attempts to give up Nina's pursuit to happiness and perfection. Thomas (I forgot to mention, his name is pronounced "Tomah") that uses his own body against Nina's to force her to find her strength is part of what Aronofsky’s film wants to critique, but also partly what makes watching it uncomfortable and kind of explicit. The fact that Nina wants this role so badly, Thomas would do anything to have it his way, which sexually assaulting her over and over. As her relationship with Thomas gets more strange, she begins to suffer from Stockholm Syndrome.

Beth (another main character) is known to be one of the best dancers in the company and she is also a fan favorite. However, she is forced to retire so that Nina can take over her spot. Due to Beth's success with the company, I would assume that Nina was really jealous. As a result, she steals Beth’s lipstick, a pack of cigarettes, and a letter opener, totemic objects that Nina carries as talismans for her own benefits (Jealousy a huge factor in this situation.) Beth doesn't want to retire, but her fame and fortune went completely down hill from there on. Due to her large slump, Beth decided to cause a scene at a benefit party and then throw herself into New York City traffic, landing in a hospital where she is left with scars. She remains in the hospital, in a wheel chair, with her head down as it shows how her career also decided her fate. Nina visits Beth from time to time, but relaizes that the frequent trips to the hospital are completely and she begins to break down.

Darren Aronofsky(The author of Black Swan) signals his vision of his own leading lady with heavy-handed shots of Portman(main actress) fragmented and multiplied by the various mirrors in which her life is continually reflected.In the claustrophobic apartment she shares with her equally insane mother, Erica, a mirror by the front door is cut into pie-shaped wedges that breaks Nina’s image into pieces, and the three-sided mirror in which she practices and obsessively laces and re-laces her toe shoes ensures that even at home, she’s always onstage.

Erica was a corps member herself before she stopped dancing to raise Nina. There is no father (This is where things got awkward to me)  just the two women who represent different generations of the same dream. Erica both wants Nina to succeed and desperately needs her to fail, so that her daughter will cling to her, imprisoned in the child-like state Erica insists on preserving. Nina’s bedroom is lined with rows of white and pink stuffed animals that stare down at her bed, and every night, she goes to sleep with the tinny music box sounds of “Swan Lake” that her mother sets in motion to soothe her. Erica intrudes on Nina’s privacy, checking the rash that appears across her daughter’s back, stopping her for mutilating herself and at the same time, helping Nina hide her wounds. When Nina is cast in the lead role in Swan Lake, Erica doesn’t set out to sabotage her success, but willingly abets Nina’s fast downward spiral when it begins.

The real agent of Nina’s downfall is the woman who might otherwise be her savior. Lily (played by the lovely Mila Kunis) arrives in the company from LA full of self-confident sexuality.  Nina catches a glimpse of her first on a subway, distracted from her own image in its Plexiglas windows by Lily’s hair and the headphones she wears. Lily makes her first appearance at the studio by banging open and closed the door while Nina is dancing, causing her to stumble in her audition for Swan Lake. But Lily’s dtermination proves a refreshing counter-balance to a ballet world in which young women are wound tight, can’t eat, throw up what they do get down, and like Nina, are so disciplined to be perfect that they have no lives outside their dancing.

(I've decided to fast forward a little in order to get to the important parts of the film.)

Ever since the beginning of Black Swan, moments that seem true are suddenly proven false. In the bathroom of the ballet benefit party, Nina’s ragged cuticles begin to bleed and she can’t get them to stop, eventually peeling a three-inch strip of flesh from her finger. But when she’s interrupted by, as it happens, Lily knocking on the door, Nina looks down to see her finger suddenly healed. This girl bleeds terribly and her toenails break from dancing on them, her back bleeds from scratching, and blood continually reddens the water in which she bathes and washes. But we’re never sure if her wounds are real, and neither does Nina seems to be healed either.

 In the climax of the film, Nina allf of sudden kills Lily due to serious anger. She also smashes everything in the room (including the mirror) and hides Lily body. She then goes on to finish the Second Act to Black Swan where her performance as the Black Swan including both rage and anger. (How Ironic!)

 

What can we make out of the Black Swan is that Nina is slowly becoming a monster, unable to distinguish what is real from what is not. Her anxiety drives her to scratch herself until she bleeds, and from her wounds, feathers emerge.  As she dances, she spreads her wings, but the wings are black.  She is a good girl gone bad.

 Her flirtation with darkness is accompanied by crippling paranoia.  Nina witnesses self-mutilation, passionate sex, and even murder-- but her eyes cannot be trusted.  From a first-person perspective, the audience is left to feel as helpless and confused as their hero.

Initially, the producer calls her frigid.  But he is magnetically drawn to her after witnessing her transformation.  Unfortunately, this triumph is short-lived.  Nina experiences the duality she always yearned for in her final moments, but it's too late. To end this analysis, all I can say is that Darren did create a film that mostly focused on excessive violence and artistic cruelty. Even as Aronofsky dismantles the foundation of Nina's world and her sanity/insanity, it keeps the viewer equally unable to distinguish fantasy from reality. To conclude this, Portman (Main actress) holds the audience in such a way to remain on Nina’s side, hoping that she’ll be victorious against all the forces that lined up against her.

Nathaniel the Transcendentalist

The Last of the Mohicans is a film about Nathaniel Poe, a white man who was raised by Indians. Because of this alone, he was caught between the two worlds and never quite became a part of a certain society. This shows his breaking from society. He was on his own being his own person.

The film always shows nature. It seemed to be a big part of the movie. The opening shot, for example, was of the mountains. Nathaniel was always shown in nature and it became apparent that the Mohicans were associated with nature. When Nathaniel left Cora and jumped off the waterfall it was a big show of nature. This showed the Transcendentalist ideal about nature.

The Last of the Mohicans

This past week as we have watched The Last of the Mohican's, I have seen many transcendentalist ideals. The movie begins with the British armies traveling through the frontier. To them they feel as if they can conquer the frontier yet, they lack an understanding of nature to truly know the realities of the frontier. Cora, who is startled by the traumatic events on the frontier, discoverers a new meaning of nature and Romanticism through Nathaniel.

As Cora watches Nathaniel, traverse through nature she is inspired that there is more to it than she knows. From Nathaniel she learns about the stars, nature and how the frontier is a place to be free from restrictions. The frontier is a place for the poor, and those who want to be free can go. But also it is a very dangerous place that is not safe. Through Cora watching and learning about Romanticism, she develops a romantic relationship with Nathaniel. She ultimately chooses to live a life free from restrictions in the frontier with Nathaniel, than in the comfort of her British heritage.

 

 

The Last of the Transcendentalists

As far as we've watched The Last of the Mohicans in class, there are two things that can be drawn: 1) The Mohicans with whom Nathaniel Poe makes company represent transcendentalists and 2) the British represent the very opposite. Simply the way Poe moves through the forest with his group is so smooth, and for a lack of better words, right with nature. It's almost as if they are a manifestation of the forest that is so often the setting. Even the clothes they wear seem to be natural and worn. On the complete other hand, the British are far from one with nature. They tromp through the forest so uniformly, plowing over everything that might even be considered nature. It does not seem that anything could be more out of place in the natural world than their bright red coats and tight formation.

As far as we've watched in class, there are still Mohicans (or Transcendentalists), no matter how few. However, by the sound of the title of the movie, it would be a safe guess to assume that they might not be around that much longer. So what is the author trying to say about the way things currently are in society? The very small amount of Romanticism that is left is dwindling, and at the same time being squeezed out and swallowed up by the gigantic monster that is uniformity and community over the individual.

How Ariel Faces Society

 

So I really think that this song in the Little Mermaid adresses individual vs.community. Segbastian is trying to convinvce Ariel not to got the land whose customs are different from the under water life. He tries to show her the good things about the sea. This also reminds me of some transcendentalist values such as an appreciation for common everyday life and it (indirectly) emphasized breakling from traditional society. This is because Ariel is trying to leave the ocean and experience life first hand(individual experience) on solid land ( ryhme not intended). This conflict of individual vs. community is further highlighted in the song, Part of your World

 

This illustrates how Ariel is the individual that is different from the rest of the mermaid society. She doesn't see things the way that the rest of the merpeople do. There is also a part of the movie where Ariel's sisters, Sebastian, and even  KingTriton comment on how she is different and doesn't follow the rules.

Most of the movie is about how Ariel resolves to follow her own instincts and how this path changes her life and the people around her.

 

Chillingworth as the Enlightenment

The romantic period was a reaction the enlightenment preceding it; within the scarlet letter Nathanial Hawthorne uses Roger Chillingworth in order to show his views on the enlightenment in relation to romanticism.

Roger Chillingworth is a man of knowledge and reason who does not have intense passion like Hester or Dimmesdale. He serves within the novel to represent the enlightenment as a cold and calculating character who is juxtaposed (extra credit on vocab?) to the emotion of Hester and Dimmesdale.

 In the end Hawthorne makes a point to say that the crime Hester and Dimmesdale commited did not serve to harm anyone whereas Chillingworth’s actions in tormenting Dimmesdale for seven years were the real crime committed. This may serve as a criticism of the enlightenment in that when cold intellectualism pervades and passions are not taken into account there may be harm to those who are passionate.

After Dimmesdale dies Chillingworth dies soon after showing that he only existed in order to torment dimmesdale. If taken in the view that Chillingworth represents the enlightenment, this would mean that the enlightenment only exists to thwart passion within societies.

Kryptonite

American Superheroes have been a lovable, obsess-able, and fun part of modern cinema. Starting with comic books in the early 20th century, Superheroes have grown into cultural icons. Superman, Spiderman,  and Batman all fight crime and do justice. They have all been role models to young children for many, many years. 

Not only do they all fight bad guys and keep people safe, but the all share in common one aspect of their life. They are all in love. Lois Lane, Rachel Dawes, and Mary Jane Watson are all female acquaintances of a superhero. 

Not only do they provide each story with a good subplot, but they add a new element to the story. The women show that the superheroes have very strong human emotions. 

These women provide these stories with a very Romantic subplot. You cant think about Spiderman and not think about him always saving Mary Jane because he secretly loves her, and she secretly loves him but its complicated. You cant think Batman and not think about how Rachel's promise that "they will be together" when Gotham is saved and he no longer needs to be Batman, and how that was rooted in every decision Batman made. You have to think about the magical moments between Superman and Lois Lane, 

Its amazing how some of the toughest men in the world can be swayed so easily by love. These men endure countless enemies and battles, but love is always rooted in their decision-making and their minds. You would think that someone so physically-tough would be able to resist love, but it seems that love finds everyone.

I think it adds a great complexity to these stories. It gives them something to fight for, someone to fight for, and even though it may sound simple, it gives them emotion. The romantic subplot in superhero movies is not what attracts the millions of people that buy the ticket, but it creates a more complex story when told as a romance.

Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson... Steve Miller?

Fly Like An Eagle - Steve Miller Band

When the word transcendentalism comes to mind, so do names such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickinson. While that would only be natural, many other Romanticists are thrust to the side or not even thought of at all. Apparently, after listening to "Fly Like An Eagle" by Steve Miller Band, Miller is one of those artists.

Themes of Transcendentalism are scattered throughout this song, as well as others by the group. In the chorus alone, there are many appeals to the movement:

I want to fly like an eagle 
To the sea 
Fly like an eagle 
Let my spirit carry me 
I want to fly like an eagle 
Till I'm free 
Fly through the revolution 

Eagles themselves are references to nature and flying like them essentially makes one a part of nature. When he says "Let my spirit carry me... Till I'm Free," he is talking about the spirit transcending the the physical world and escaping. Referring to a revolution is brought up again when he says:

Feed the babies 
Who don't have enough to eat 
Shoe the children 
With no shoes on their feet 
House the people 
Livin' in the street 
Oh, oh, there's a solution

"Feed[ing] the babies" and "Hous[ing] the people" is calling for a change in the way society is, very similar to the Romanticists call for a cultural revolution in the 19^th century. All in all, this song is a great representation of Transcendental ideals.

Avatar's High Tech Romanticism *SPOILER ALERT*

 

The award-winning movie from 2009, Avatar became famed for its new uses of technology for three dimensional effects and computer generated images.  While Avatar is very much a modern movie, it still maintains many of the Romantic characteristics developed in the later 1700's.  A few of those characteristics that are evident in the film are preferring emotion to logic, appreciating nature, and valuing individualism.

In the movie, the main character, Jake Sully (a human), joins the Na'vi people of the distant world Pandora through the use of an Avatar that is of the same species as the Na'vi.  While his original goal, as part of his military unit, was to bond with the tribe and eventually convince the Na'vi people to sell their land to the humans, Jake soon realizes the beauty of the tribe's culture and changes sides.

While Jake's head may tell him that the humans will eventually get what they want, and that he can't stay with the tribe Jake decides to continue to follow what feels right in his heart.  His emotions triumph over logic and it pays off as he gets all he wants including a Na'vi body after dying!

During Jake's time with the Na'vi, his appreciation for nature increases dramatically.  He sees the beauty in their world and learns how to respect and treasure it.  Not only does the plot show the importance of nature, but the three dimensional effects were specifically made to enhance it.  Because of that technology, the audience feels the nature and it's beauty's effects.

During the story, Jake slowly becomes his own individual.  At the beginning of the movie, he is a part of the giant body of men and women selected for a task.  As he assimilates into Na'vi society, he begins to think for himself and form his own values.  By the end, Jake has completely separated himself from his previous community and follows his own, individual beliefs.

The display of Romantic ideas is evident in Avatar through its views on emotion, nature and individualism.

romanticism And Dirty Dancing

 

Dirty Dancing is a romantic movie about man and woman who find out who they are by fighting back against what people want them to do. The main characters, Frances (a.k.a. Baby) and Johnny are both at the same vacation spot: Baby as a vacationer, Johnny as an employee.

Baby shows romantic ideals when she goes against what her parents want for her. Her parents are rich and want her to marry rich and be the perfect daughter that does nothing wrong. They try to control what she does and who she will date and she has had enough of it.

Baby signs up to have dancing lessons with Johnny. Her parents think that she is learning normal ballroom dance when in reality she is learn to do "dirty dancing". Baby is rebelling from her parents and is starting to finally be herself and do what she loves.

Johnny is a dance teacher who needs his job at the vacation spot he works at. He follows the rules and does everything he can not to get in trouble with the boss. When Baby comes around he starts to teach how to dance and when he spends time with her he realizes that it is better to do what you love then hide yourself to keep the status quo.

At the end of the movie Baby an Johnny both get in trouble and start going back to the lives they had before they met. At the talent show Johnny breaks the rules and brings in his style of dancing and him and Baby go against everyone and dance together.

This movie has romanticism ideals because it sends a message to people to tell them to not conform to what people want for you, they say that you should do what will make you happy.

Alan Scott, a symbol of romanticism in superheroes?

When one looks at the Green Lantern comic book series, Romanticism/Transcendentalism are usually the last two things they would associate with the popular superhero. Ironically, the comics surrounds itself around Romantic ideologies.

The premise of the Green Lantern is that one man without fear, has will power, and has an immense imagination can save us all. Through Alan Scott, the one and only human member of the Green Lantern Corps, Romantic characteristics of the power of the imagination and the significance of the individual.

The members of the Corps each have a ring, this ring works on the power of will. Members use these rings to defeat their opponents. The rings are able to produce whatever a member thinks of. In other words, whatever a member imagines will appear to aid them through their battle. This represents the Romantic ideology of the power of the imagination because without a strong imagination the guardians would be unable the necessary tools/abilities to defeat their opponents. If that isn't powerful imagination at work, I don't know what is.

The idea that one man can guard and protect our universe highly represents the idea of the power of the individual. Alan Scott failed to work beneficially with a community of guardians. Once Alan obtained individual strength, nothing could stop him from saving his world.

In conclusion, The Green Lantern is completely based on Romanticism. He exemplifies the power of imagination and the individual.

Titanic: a Romance or a romance

 

Holding the spot as the number 2 top grossing film of all time Titanic is known by many people around the globe.  The surprising thing is that the Producers of Titanic used Romantic characteristics when creating the story.

The movie is based around a upper class girl named Rose and a lower class boy named Jack.  Rose is engaged to a rich man named Cal to earn back her families good name and money for both herself and her mother.  However, on their journey to America on the Titanic Rose meets Jack and already feeling trapped in her life starts to rebel against her mothers and societies standards.

The Romanticism characteristic of individualism is expressed through Rose's rebelling against the expectations everyone puts on her.  Rose not physically rebels in Titanic by being with Jack but also rebels through education.  

In one scene during dinner Rose gets so fed up with the repeated topics of discussions that she brings up a new topic which some of the men do not even know of.  This illustration on how well educated Rose is shows how she rebels against society's expectation that women were not as educated or as well-read as men were.  

Rose rebels against the expectation of society by what a lady should act like.  Rose has Jack teach her how to spit off the side of the boat and when her mother and the other women come they look down upon her.  As with many other scenes the spiting scene demonstrates the improper and unlady-like way Rose acts.

Titanic also uses Romanticism with Jack's character.  Jack is extremely poor and only gets on the Titanic because of a lucky poker hand.  The idea of the individual is used because Jack is able to support himself and get onto the Titanic to head back to America.  Also the way Jack is able to get Rose to notice him shows the power the individual has.

The appreciation of everyday life is also used throughout Titanic because of the plots basis around the sinking of Titanic.  Titanic creates the message to appreciate everyday as if it were your last.  

Overall, the Titanic uses Romanticism to enhance Rose's and Jack's character and to create a message that everyday of your life is important.  

Cast Away reviewed through the eyes of a Transcendentalist

Cast Away, made in 2000, is a courageous story of man who unwillingly is forced into the wrath of nature when his mail carrier malfunctions and crashes into the ocean near an small, uninhabited island. Tom Hanks, who plays the main character, is the only person to survive the accident and is then forced to fend for himself for the next couple of years. 

This ties in to two of the most common transcendentalist ideas: nature, and self reliance. This movie is interesting with these concepts because in order to survive, Tom Hanks to put the two together. Although his self reliance was involuntary, he is forced to adapt to his surroundings as he goes. At first he fights nature; getting frustrated with not being able to make a fire and learning that hunting is not an easy task. However, as the story unfolds, the audiences sees him excepting nature's tendencies and also excepting the how unpredictable nature can be. He learns from all of these new experiences and becomes self reliant while using nature to help him. 

This movie completely covers these two important ideas and is a perfect representation of how they can work against each other and how they can also work together. Tom Hanks survives this amazing event and lives on to use what he learned in the more advanced society that he had been missing.

Romanticism in Star Wars

In every good movie, you need a really good protagonist. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is there to fill all of your Romantic protagonist needs. Portrayed as the boy who's parents died at an early age, Skywalker lives with his aunt and uncle. He lives in a seemingly corrupt disutopia where crime is an every day ordeal, yet, through all of this, Luke remains optomistic about the future and the things to come. He manages to stay away from the crime and corruption by keeping a level head and a positive attitude about the crumbling universe around him until the day his aunt and uncle are killed by imperial troops (spoilers!).

What really focuses the attention on the Romantic aspects of Skywalker was his ability to step out of the norm of people of his world and into the Jedi world where everything was new and different. He takes his family's death as an obligation to fight back against the evil things of the universe using the Force, taught to him by his friend and mento, Obi-Wan Kenobi. 

These feats that were overcome by Luke Skywalker give him the persona of the ultimate Romantic hero.

Wait a second redrum is murder backwards!!!

The shining is a classic film in which a family stays in empty hotel in which the previous caretaker killed himself and his family. The family becomes snowed for the winter and Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) gradually goes insane and his son Danny sees supernatural occurrences within the hotel. The film was clearly influenced by romanticism with its emphasis on the super natural and gothic elements.

The film is filled with supernatural elements meant to enhance the fear felt by the viewer. The title the shining refers to the hotel chef's ability to telepathically with the son. Danny sees horrible things within the hotel like rivers of blood and creepy twins, which are supernatural elements that are meant to be within the character's mind. The father talks with ghosts and is eventually driven insane and tries to kill his wife and child. The film shows the darker side of romanticism as the negative side of elements like the power of imagination and emphasis on emotion.

In terms of emotion the film’s focus is to instill fear within the viewer, there is an emphasis on feeling as opposed to reason. The imagination elements are meant to enhance fear as the line between reality and imagination becomes blurred for the characters.

Rethinking Nature

With the business of many Americans workday, some never take the time to set back from the cities and back into nature. From reading excerpts of Emerson's, Nature it shows the importance of regaining ones touch with nature. After this I realize that though we do harm the earth, we have really began a movement towards improving our earth.

 In the past couple of year the "go green" movement has transformed America into a very eco-friendly place. We have realized how harmful of products are to nature and are now trying to preserve it. People have started using natural made products, recycling goods, and saving energy. Instead of just throwing away old bottles we recycle, and use those materials to make something new. Also in the car industry, have risen the eco-friendly cars by reducing amount of gasoline used. In this improvement we have created battery plug-in cars that instead of using gasoline, refill them selves. 

Transcendentalist ideals are progressively spreading through the minds of many people. We realize now that the importance of nature can never be replaced.

I Stand Alone

The song I Stand Alone is from the movie called Quest for Camelot. This was one of the first movies I watched in America, and from the very start, I was intrigued by it, I must have watched this movie well over 10 times. This song particular stood out to me. Not until now though, did I understand the hidden message behind it. Garret is a blind man who lives alone in the trees. The song is about him not minding being different than the rest of the people.

This is a lot like Emerson's view point, who believed that we should not conform to society. -Which is exactly what Garret is doing. He understands the forest in his own way ,and likes being a part of something that the greater society is not a part of. " I know the sound of each rock and stone, and I embrace what others fear". I think that that is a great line, because it proves that he does not care about people as a whole, he cares about himself and his being, and therefore, will not conform to the norms.

 

Its Okay To Be Like Me Because I'm Making The World A Better Place

The rap superstar Lil' Wayne put out a 30 minute long PSA a couple days ago ,addressing the death of Steve Jobs reminiscing on how he should be remembered and how Wayne himself, would like to be remembered if he, a global icon like Steve Jobs were to die at a young age.  He also outed the media because of their portrayal on his effect on kids  being negatively influenced because of his actions. We all know Wayne as a pop culture icon. He represents hip-hop and his patent is known worldwide. But it seems that he's become more popular for his substance abuse than his records. When you see Wayne he is almost always carrying 2 white foam cups that may contain promethazine-codine, Sprite and a Jolly Rancher. This particular Southern beverage originated in Houston TX where rappers would drink this as an alternative way of getting high. In the beginning of the announcement, he makes sure to prove that he doesn’t drink syrup by showing that he is prescribed particular medication when he's sick and he claims not to be sick anymore.  He  passionately goes on and on in this announcement about originality and how people are afraid to say,"I do it because he does it" He says,"Whatever is the reason you're doing what you're doing, and if so that reason is because Lil Wayne does it, don't be afraid to say that."I'm passionate about it, so know why you doing it." To prove he's serious, he grabs a board and jumps onto his ramps on his rooftop. He skates a little bit, but he really doesn’t to anything noteworthy, admitting, "I'm in the process of learning, but I'm trying." He said that he saw a kid at the age of 9 doing various tricks on T.V and he wanted to do some of the tricks this kid did, so he went out and bought a board because of him.  He also added by saying, "your kid is watching me skate and he wants to play outside, I'm making the world a better place because I'm helping with childhood obesity". After these remarks he goes on about other various topics but these claims above stuck to me. I noticed that his faulty logic supported circular reasoning and I found a opposite parallel in which Ralph Waldo Emerson argues in "Self Reliance". He believes that insisting on yourself , never imitate. Your own gift can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession...." Emerson argues to be your own individual and try not to imitate others. I just found it interesting that someone that has such a global impact would want his fan base not to believe in Transcendentalism like Emerson does but to follow the actions of other successful people in the world.

Romanticism on the Discovery Channel?

Planet Earth is a series of documentaries that is a compilation of Nature's different landscapes. The show is filled with amazing video-clips of animals in nature. The show has little narration and is only really telling you what type of animals they are filming and what they are doing. I thought that the show Planet Earth was a good example of romanticism in our media today.

Romanticism was a movement in the arts that originated in Europe in the mid 18th century that involved less contemplating and understanding things, to just appreciating the things just for what they are. Focusing on beauty and the all types of emotions. Planet Earth made you feel all sorts of emotions, emotions that are fairly hard to explain. However, i can tell you that when you are watching the deep ocean scenes, scorching hot dessert scenes, jungles scenes, or arctic scenes, you feel different emotions for each one. Also each landscape had it's own sort of beauty. This was not your typical nature documentary because it had zero focus on trying to explain things. The images themselves where mentally stimulating enough.

I myself enjoy Planet Earth, however I do not care much for other romanticism works, because I don't believe in the discouragement of knowledge. Because ignorance is bliss, but ignorance is also mainly why we have genocide and wars in our world. Knowledge is power and the more we try to understand the less we let our emotions make the irrational decisions and instead we act through reason and understanding making ourselves closer to a peaceful world.

Romanticism in August Rush

The movie August Rush is a kind of more modern Oliver Twist. Evan is an orphan who refuses to go to a foster home because he knows his parents are somewhere and that they miss and love him. Evan runs away and goes in a journey that takes him all over New York City in search of his parents. This movie shows many aspects of Romanticism.

First of all, it shows an emphasis of individual experience because the whole movie follows the experiences of Evan. It also shows strong emotion because Evan feels joy when he is playing guitar, sadness when he is thinking about his parents, but also determination because he is determined to find his parents. The film really makes you feel all the emotions that he is feeling throughout the movie.

This film also shows Freedom from social conventions when Evan runs away from his foster home. As an orphan he is expected to be grateful that the people took him in and fed him but he knows he will never truly be happy if he doesn't find his parents. That also shows feeling versus logic. The fact that he was just a child and he ran away with no money in the middle of a big city is not a very logic driven idea. He was just doing what he felt he had to. Overall, the movie does a good job of showing the Romantic ideals.

Transcending into Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie about a young girl named Ophelia during the Spanish civil war who goes to live with her mother and stepfather in their new home. Her stepfather is a fascist who was a leader in Franco’s army and is essentially the embodiment of evil. Ophelia lives in both the real world and a fairy world, which the audience is meant to assume is the product of her imagination. In order to escape the horrors that go on around her Ophelia envisions an ideal world parallel to our own.

Overall the film uses many principles that are found within the ideas of romanticism .The emphasis on the power of imagination in Ophelia’s other world throughout the movie is reminiscent of romanticism. This film es muy dramatica and strong emotion is prevalent throughout, with love, revenge, rage, tragedy, and so on. This film also presents a criticism of society and how people can support the wrong ideals like fascism, if they don’t listen to their own common sense. 

When Ophelia escapes into her other world she is leaving society to go into places usually within natural settings, this action embodies many of the principles of romanticism, freedom from social conventions, power of imagination, focus on the individual experience, and the importance of nature. The supernatural is prevalent within the film which is a common theme within romantic literature. Overall the film is practically a throwback to the romantic era as it emulates the themes that were common within the era

Brother Bear

In the Walt Disney movie Brother Bear, Romanticism is portrayed through love of nature. Koda, and all the other bears, being a part of the animals of the forest, understand and it and live it to the fullest.They know how the forest works, they know all the magical things about the forest, as well as all the dangerous ones.

Kenai is a part of a Native American tribe. He is too eager to become a man, and on his initation, receives a totem of a bear, which symbolizes love. Kenai can not understand how a beast could represent love.

He is transformed into a bear by spirits of the heavens, and gets a whole new perspective on life. As Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out in his article Nature, you must be one on one with nature, only then can you become a child once again and fully embrace it. Kenai learns to not understand but appreciate and view nature from a completely different perspective than he did as a human.

I believe that there is a lesson to be learned from all Disney movies. Inthis particular one, the lesson is Romanticism. You must be one on one with nature in order to figure out who you are, and what you are destined to be. Nature will help you forget about the norms of society, and you don't need an explanation for anything as an adult would, you just let it be.

 

The Lovely Bones and Its Power of The Imagination

One of the many characteristics of Romanticism/Transcendentalism is the power of imagination, or "transcending" the physical world/envisioning ideal worlds. This specific trait of this era of literature is modernly adapted in the novel The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. 

The novel follows the story of Susie Salmon and her untimely death. But what is different about this tragedy than others is that Susie dies in the first chapter of the novel, and then we follow her into her "in-between" imaginary world, some would consider it her own purgatory. In the novel, that was later adapted into a film, Susie uses her imagination to create connections with her family back in the "normal" world in her attempt to bring justice to her murder. Slowly the reader realizes the novel is not about who killed her, but about little Susie Salmon learning to grow up and move on.

Susie's "In-Between" world changes as she changes throughout the novel. It begins where her imagination creates the perfect world for her and when the darkness of her old life begins to reflects in her own world, one can understand she is using her imagination for much deeper reasons.

Throughout the novel the author not only repeadently emphasizes the importance of Susie's imaginiation, enabling her to move on and finally end in peace but also emphasizes how important imagination was for her family, allowing them to hold on to a piece of Susie when she was gone. This is shown through her father. Susie's father feels connected to Susie multiple times in the book, and when he lets the power of imagination completely take over he is able to actually connect with her for the last time. Going through this traumatic experience then allows him to appreciate everyday life, another characteristic of romanticism. 

In the end Susie uses her imagination to end her "In-Between" experience and move on with the rest of her murder's victims. But Susie Salmon, with her power of imagination, leaves a lasting impression on all that she left behind. To me, this story influences one to open their horizons to new experiences and new people, you never know what you will discover with your own imagination.

 

 

Pocahontas Sings Romanticism

My childhood, like many other people, was filled with Disney movies.  One Disney movie that uses Romanticism is Pocahontas.  This movie demonstrates the importance of nature in Pocahontas's life.  

In the song "Colors of the Wind" Pocahontas expresses the influence of nature on her life and how John Smith should appreciate his surroundings.  Pocahontas living in nature and knowing more than John Smith about it demonstrates the Romantic thought from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Nature" that leaving society will allow people to fully understand nature.  

Pocahontas teaches John Smith how to enjoy nature nd learn from it.  In one part of the song she sings "You'll learn things you never knew you never knew."  This illustrates how much nature has an influence over people's thoughts.  

This song also demonstrates another Romantic idea that Emerson expresses in "Nature" that nature influences us when we are open to its influence.  Pocahontas sings "Come roll in all the riches all around you. And for once never wonder what they're worth."  She is trying to tell John Smith that the way he and the other colonists think about nature prevents them from learning.  Pocahontas says that if he does not think and lets nature make an impression on him he will learn incredible new things.  

Pocahontas shows a hidden Romantic message that nature when experienced without analyzing it can teach everyone great lessons and provide wonderful experiences.    

Gump's Romanticism

Romanticism is vital element in modern media. Though not always brought up or even thought about romanticism is incorporated into a huge number of current movies. Much of the time romanticism is conveyed through feeling without logic. A great example of a modern movie which embodies romanticism as well as feeling without logic is Forrest Gump".

In "Forest Gump" the main character Forest is not the brightest or most intellegent personin his home town, although what forest can do better than anyone else is feel. Forest feels about everything, he doesn't always have logical reason for how he feels of for what he is doing but he always has a deep understanding that he must do what he feels he needs to.

A great example of when forest acts on how he fee is when he is quietly sitting on his porch at home when he decides to go for a little run. Although in the movie this "little run" is blown completely out of proportion because he criss-crosses the country multiple times it still shows the mentality of doing what you feel you should witouth logic interfering. And later forest decides to stop because he feels like going home.

There was no logical reason why Forest decided to start or stop running but he felt like it and that is what matters in a romantic sense. Romanticism is all over our moder culture and it defines our society. There are examples of it everywhere and it always has a way of influencing our lives.

Romanticism in the Savanna

Almost every little kid has seen a Disney Movie of some sort. What's unique about Disney's movies is that the movies are highly romaticized. This romanticism that is used in the movie is what makes the movies so enjoyable for all ages and, let's face it, timeless classics. Take The Lion King for example. The main story line is  Hamlet but the story has been romanticized for little kids. The lions talk and they lead amazing similar lives all in their own little secluded savanna. The song, the circle of life is an exellent demonstration of this:

 

this clip shows three parts of romanticism. It evokes a sense of nostalgia and welcoming for the new born prince. It evokes power of imagination because animals do not do this ritual in real life nor do all of them come to together whenver a new lion cub is born. It evokes the importance and the inspiration of nature because the entire movie is used with animals and it uses that surrounding area to build up the strong emotion. Another song, I just can't wait to be king shows other aspects of romanticism:

 

This clips shows two other aspects of romanticism. It shows freedom from tradition and social conventions and focus on the individual experience. The clip shows freedom from tradition and social conventions by using Zazu as a personification of tradition and Simba as the personification of wanting to break that tradtion. It focuses on the individual experience because Simba is saying how he wants to be different and he wants to have his reign special.

Romanticism is not just a movement in the 1800s. We use it all the time in pop culture. You just have to look really close.

 

I didn't want it to be Dimmesdale. I really, really didn't want him to be Pearl's father. I knew, though, from the very moment we first met him in chapter three, when he stood and asked Hester to give the name of the father, I knew it was him.

In my subconcious mind, I refused to believe he was the one, and chose instead to interpret his statement "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak!" (pg. 48) as, instead of a sigh of relief, as a wonder at the loyalty Hester was showing. I took it to mean that Dimmesdale was awed at Hester's ability to be so strong in the face of so much pain, to be so loyal in the face of those who would have her set as an example of shame. I wanted Dimmesdale to be the compassionate friend to Hester, and not the companion in sin.

Of course, I realized only slightly later that simply being the "friend" would make his character completely useless. He wouldn't have the import that he does now, he wouldn't even be able to get along as well with Hester, because he simply would have no idea what it felt like to be ostracized. He would be the perfect, pious, saint of a man, and also- entirely boring. Without the drama, without the spark of intrigue that he has as the other, secret, Scarlet Wearer, no one reading the book would pay much attention to him.

As such, I've learned to live with it. I'm even beginning to become rather fond of Dimmesdale in his current role, and it grows the more I read. (Wait till the end. It's absolutely brilliant.)

The Middle

I really enjoyed the Romanticism unit. It was very interesting to me, and I wish we could have spent a little more time with it. (Once again, the American schooling system restricts us from being true romatics and trascendentalists)

What I've taken from all the projects has to do with the middle. Not the "Jimmy Eat World" song, but the ways and methods of life. Buddha once said that we should follow the middle path to Enlightenment, and I believe this. In almost every part of our life, it seems that the middle is the best way to go. Whether it's balancing academics, social, and extra-cirricular activities or simplifing your life. The middle seems the best way to go. When things are in the middle there is balance and harmony. When people focus on just one area, they lose the potential and the greatness of other areas of their life. i.e. just focusing on academics or just focusing on simplifying life. If life is made too simplistic, it almost seems more complicated since there are some realities in the world that everyone must face.

As long as people stick to the middle, I think that it really helps a person's life. Not too much fun, not too much work, and not too much complexity and schedules and not completely focusing on simplicity. Life should work in balance. Balance not only within yourself, but with others shows up in life constantly. When a person does something good for someone else, they feel good, and sometimes something good happens to them. The same may or not be true for sinning/ bad deeds, but it's also like karma. I believe in karma, I believe that balance must be in the world, in relationships we share with others, and mostly within ourselves.

An American Romance?

We're not very far into The Scarlet Letter, but the beginning of the story has me wondering about whether or not the story will truly be romantic.  I'm still kind of shaky on the idea of romanticism, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen much of it yet in the book.  Hester seems like a romantic main character. She defies social norms by remaining strong willed in her puritan society, but then Hawthorne revealed to us that the reason she stayed and endured the punishment was for the man she was in love with.  Maybe I just don't understand the concept well enough yet but that doesn't seem like something a romantic character would do.  What do you guys think?

Romantic vs. Romanticism

Ever since we started learning about Romanticism I have been wondering this same question, "Is a romance novel different than a novel based off of Romanticism?"  Does that make any sense? I hope it does because it has been bothering me for a while. To my understanding romanticism is deep reasoning through art, music, and literature. While a romantic play consists of the obvious; love and ending in death. Do these have much to do with each other? I can see similarities through these two, but were they always meant to be so greatly similar to one another?

Pardon me if I sound extremely stupid!!!