Formal Writing Due Today!

How much of the requested formal writing have I had in?

Diddly.

That will change today. Choose one of the following topics and hand in to me today by the end of period three.

Resistance is futile.

Imagine that you are writing to the editor of your local newspaper. Your letter, which will be published in the newspaper, should explain young people’s views on ONE topic chosen from the list below. You may present more than one viewpoint, or you may focus on one particular point of view. You may argue for or against the topic.

1. Students are not given enough responsibility at school.

2. Being an individual is more important than being popular.

3. Professional sport is too focused on making money.

4. Parents should do more to keep teenagers healthy.

5. New Zealanders are not prepared to work hard in order to be successful.

6. Celebrities make good role models.

7. Experimenting on animals to improve life for humans is a good thing.

8. Mobile phones control people’s lives.

A plague on both your houses!

In Romeo and Juliet there are some very effective insults. Choose one and research its meanings. Did the filmmakers use it correctly or change it for their own purposes?

The Masked Ball

On one level the masked ball is a way to get Romeo to meet Juliet. The ball would also have been something that Elizabethan audiences would have enjoyed for the costumes and a glimpse of upper class life. In both films that we watched it provides a musical interlude and a break from the violence. We also see that when there are clear rules of behaviour both families can co-exist.

We have talked a lot about identity lately and the masked ball shows us that if the family name is taken away that Romeo and Juliet can fall in love like any other teenagers. The masks help us to understand that.

Find out three things about the use of masque in Shakespearean times and add as a comment. Go here for information.

Romeo and Juliet on film

We have now seen two highly regarded film versions of Romeo and Juliet. The last one we saw was the Zeffirelli film from 1968 and it has been popular with viewers for many years. In that film the use of  16 and 17 year old actors to play the title roles has been well received. Another factor in Zeffirelli success is his acknowledgement of the historical and geographic locations of the original play. We expect Shakespearean language and many of you preferred this version because it seemed more believable to you as a result. I know that lots of you found this film easier to watch and understand than Luhrmann’s version.

Some people would argue that because you have to listen closely to the language in Baz Luhrmann’s version because of the contrast between the words and the modern dress and setting that it shows Shakespeare’s intention more than Zeffirelli’s. What do you think? Write a comment in response to this. Go here for some reading that may help you.

A heartwrenching account of evil

Interesting reading on Night and the ideas of indifference and evil. The word ‘banal’ is used in this article and if you are unfamiliar with the word it can be defined as “so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.”

Night, by Elie Wiesel, is a powerful indictment of how a society’s indifference to the suffering of others permits “the banality of evil” to take hold, writes Steven Carroll.

When the philosopher Hannah Arendt was watching the trial of Adolf Eichmann, she knew him to be a man responsible for unspeakable evil. Yet the more she watched him, the less she saw him as a monster. “Eichmann was not Iago and not Macbeth (or) Richard III.” The question that obsessed her in the wake of that trial, held in Jerusalem, was how did one explain the “monstrous deeds” that were committed by people who, extracted from the context of war, seemed so “normal” and “ordinary”.

She eventually concluded that Eichmann embodied what she called “the banality of evil”, a chilling phrase that rang through the latter part of the 20th century, four bonerattling words that should never be forgotten. One must, she suggested, resist the temptation to mythologise evil or to see evildoers as monsters or servants of the devil. This, she seems to imply, is too grand for evil, almost a kind of romanticisation that distracts us from its true nature.

Rather, one must try to look upon evil as a kind of fungus – or bacteria – that can not only lay waste to humanity, but the whole concept of humanity. Yet at the same time a fungus that in itself has no complexity or depth. It is “thought defying”. It is utterly banal. Only its opposite – good – can have complexity or depth of thought.

Read the rest here.

A soul shrivels in the flames of hell

Some revision on Night.

Elie Wiesel’s autobiography, Night, tells of the Jewish children, men and women who were herded into Nazi extermination camps. It is the story of his survival but also of the tragedy of an innocent, religious youth who, when confronted by a systematic human evil, comes to reject and hate his God for allowing it to happen.

More tragic still, it is the story of a 15-year-old boy who feels the most extreme shame, self-loathing and guilt for daring to exist while those around him, including his father, die.

The values of family and community life and the young people’s obligations to and respect for their parents are important elements. Early in Night, signs of the looming disaster for the Jews of the small Hungarian town of Sighet are evident – the eyewitness tales of Moche the Beadle, the rise of the fascist government in Budapest – yet the older Jews, set in their ways, continually hope for the best, refusing to contemplate escape: “It was still possible to obtain emigration permits for Palestine.

“I had asked my father to sell out, liquidate his business and leave. `I’m too old, my son,’ he replied. `I’m too old to start a new life’.”

When Elie’s family is offered refuge, Mr Wiesel refuses, preferring to remain with his wife and small daughter, Tzipora. But, on suggesting that his older children fly to freedom, “Naturally, we refused to be separated”. The word “naturally” evokes an image of a tight-knit family group that will attempt to endure together.

Read the rest here.

Party Tricks – Revising 1984

Give this a read!

In the opening of George Orwell’s powerful novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, everyman Winston Smith describes his physical surroundings. The clock strikes a punctilious 13 as our protagonist drags himself up seven flights of stairs due to the poorly maintained elevator and electrical shortages.

The weather reflects his life; there is a “vile wind” and it is bitterly cold, but at the same time it is a “bright” day — even among the misery and squalor, there appears some glimmer of hope that we can hang on to.

Using Smith as the focus of a third-person narrator, Orwell manipulates our feelings and sense of hope throughout the novel. By placing us in the shoes of an Outer Party member, we feel the intimidation and drudgery of Winston’s life. Within the first few pages we see the imposing image of Big Brother, we smell the acrid odour of boiled cabbage (a traditional fare for the poor), and we hear the droning of the telescreen.

It is an effective means of creating the fear and loathing a Party member endures. For readers living in a modern liberal democracy, the level of oppressiveness is unfathomable. There is a tedious sameness that smothers Winston’s very being.

Read the rest here.

Literal Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Trailer Parody

Quentin Tarantino

This is for Sean. May be of interest to others.

One of the most recognisable pop cultural icons of the 90’s, Quentin Tarantino has established himself as a true film auteur with a respected philosophy that places the finished project high above the paycheck. Quoted, mocked and copied to death by almost every media outlet (including “The Simpsons”) over the fifteen years, no one knows how to operate a Xerox machine better than Quentin. Criticized for allegedly stealing word-for-word material and shot-by-shot filmmaking from some of the best in the business, the self-proclaimed film geek certainly knows his movies and doesn’t mind paying homage to them at all with collage-like films reminiscent of a football highlight reel displaying the best plays in the sport. Whether his actions truly do warrant a slap on the hand from the film gods, no man, critic or demon can deny his talent for developing a script filled with shady characters and slick dialogue that the audience can somehow still respect.

Read the rest here.

Booze: Time for stronger measures

Another discussion about changes to our drinking laws and out booze culture. This article is from The Sunday Star Times and it may be helpful for your research and formal writing preparation.

The government’s liquor reforms, to be officially launched tomorrow, will not put an end to the arguments about New Zealand’s heavy-drinking culture. Anthony Hubbard reports.

THE GOVERNMENT wants to make a big splash tomorrow with its liquor package. Stung by the backlash over its refusal to lower blood-alcohol limits, it will promote itself as determined to tackle a wide range of alcohol problems.

In particular, it will say it is carrying out many of the reforms recommended by the Law Commission in its major report this year. But the government’s package ignores some of the commission’s most far-reaching proposals, such as increasing alcohol taxes and moving towards drastic restrictions on advertising and sponsorship.

The government proposes to lift the age at which you can buy liquor at a supermarket or bottle store from 18 to 20, while allowing 18-year-olds to continue to drink in pubs and bars. This waters down the commission’s recommendation to raise both ages to 20.

Read the rest here.