Post Modern Directors Essay Example for Free

Post Modern Directors Essay Jim Jarmusch, with his striking hairstyle and rock star persona or aura, and Wong Kar-wai, with his martial artist or gangster looks, can be considered post modern directors with high caliber works in the film industry. These post modern directors are impressionistic in their respective work and point of view. They are also able to dream or pursue a higher level of quality in their expositions of time, memory and space. For other critics, they are different and simultaneously â€Å"strange†. Jim Jarmusch and Wong Kar-wai seem tend to have different themes, tone and styles. However, by looking at the analysis of other critics and auteurs in the films created by these post modern directors as well as the interviews on the Jarmusch and Kaw-wai, it can be noted that there are deep correspondences between them. In the press release notes for â€Å"Stranger Than Paradise†, the film that first provided him significant attention, Kim Jarmusch half-mockingly explained his film as â€Å"a semi-neorealist black-comedy in the style of an imaginary Eastern-European film director preoccupied with Ozu, and recognizable with the 1950s American television show ‘The Honeymooners†. In a lot of ways, the statement is distinguishing of Jarmusch, conceivably the most talented and revitalizing of the post modern or American independent directors of the last two decades. The interviews also expose that he has always been captivated with combining culturally very unusual features or materials to create something new which cannot be ordinarily categorized. In addition to this, this goes beyond the boundaries between high and low and offers a new point of view at American and the familiar. Jarmusch successfully does this by incorporating the perspective or point of view of a stranger. This is further done by keeping a sense of humor in and about his craft (Hertzberg, vii). Filmmaking for Jim Jarmusch has never had much to do with how it is traditionally imagined or visualized, either in terms of production or aesthetics. As an alternative, he has taken a road less traveled. Consequently this indeed, has made all the differences. From the time of his first feature-length movie, â€Å"Permanent Vacation†, which he completed while still in film school, to the newly released â€Å"Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai†, spectators and interviewers have been inquisitive or interested about the Way, as it were, accountable for the innovative, deadpan quality which sets this film apart. Determinedly, Jarmusch articulates of how he visualizes his films â€Å"from the inside out,† how he begins with an actor in mind, how he represents from the collection of random notes that he is continuously writing down, and how he allows the story and mood of the film develop or advance from that. In addition to this, he is always enthusiastic to acknowledge or recognize his debt to filmmakers and artists in other areas whom he has been influenced by or has borrowed from, just as he never fails to stress the significant responsibility played by the cast and crew in determining and co-creating the films he directs. Every time, he is asked to speculate about the style, themes or philosophy of his films, conversely, Jarmusch’s answers are much more reserved; â€Å"I’m the worst person to analyze (my) stuff and I hate looking back at it†, he told Rosenbaum two years later. Likewise, in a recent conversation with Chris Campion, Jarmusch says of the sense that there is a deeper connection between â€Å"Dead Man† and â€Å"Ghost Dog† that he would rather not attempt to analyze it himself: â€Å"Better to leave that up to someone smarter than myself who can explain it to me sometime†, he says, only half in jest. He insists that he does not remember his earlier films very well, as he has a hard time watching them once he is done with them. And furthermore, he often points out that he is not very fond of sharing his views on his films because he regards other people’s different interpretations of them to be at least valuable as his own and is afraid that his own reflections would only impose (Hertzberg, viii). In his film â€Å"Down by the Law† (1986), Jim Jarmusch refined his humorous and ironic wit by incorporating black and white photography. He also used elegant tracking shots in his film which adds to a unique laconic style. Somehow, the film has a resemblance to Robert Bresson’s â€Å"A Man Escapes† (1956) as well as to other films with themes about prison. This is due to the fact that the story of â€Å"Down by the Law† is drawn from both the life of an ebullient Italian tourist, played by Roberto Benigni, as well as the life of two petty hooligans, played by Tom Waits and John Lurie. However, because of the post modern skills of Jarmusch, he is able to make innovations and come up with a humorous, fresh and unusually moving film. In â€Å"Mystery Train† (1989) and â€Å"Night on Earth† (1991), Jim Jarmusch was highly regarded or commended for the charm and cleverness. Though still, there are some critics or spectators say that these two films are quite similar from his previous works. The criticisms he obtained from these two films show a correspondence to other directors such as David Lynch in his film â€Å"Twin Peaks† (1990), particularly to Wong Kar-wai in his film â€Å"Happy Together†. Wong Kar-wai and Jim Jarmusch in their respective work shows how these two directors risked repetition, as well as self-parody, in order to bring out something (in their point of view) innovative, fresh and revitalizing. Jarmusch’s film â€Å"Dead Man† (1995) can be considered a comeback or response to these criticisms and a strong evidence of how he tried to be innovative and fresh in his perspective. Internationally, this film was acclaimed to be a work of genius. It also deviated from his usual mannered style or hip irony which can be observed in his other films, such as in â€Å"Night on Earth†. Jim Jarmusch successfully uses lyrical depiction of death presented in a bold manner and rendered harsh and brutal. On the other hand, nearly a decade later after his film â€Å"Fallen Angels† was shown in the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, Wong Kar-Wai’s signature visual pyrotechnics don’t wield quite as much power over spectators as they once did, but this is only to be expected. The best news is that Wong Kar-Wai has matured as a filmmaker, and where sheer visual and aural audacity was once enough to thrill a viewer, these ephemeral techniques have in more recent films like â€Å"Happy Together† and â€Å"In the Mood for Love†, been supplemented by a powerful artistic vision and a new depth of feeling (Tambling, 1) In May 1997, just before Hong Kong passed from British colonial rule to the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong director Wong Kai-wai released the film â€Å"Happy Together:. Wong Kar-wai was born in Shanghai in 1958 but he was brought up in Hongkong and began film-making (if a beginning can be located at this point without being arbitrary about his previous work on films) with â€Å"As Tears Go By† (1988). This was a fast-paced gangland movie set in Kowloon which is frequently compared in plot with Martin Scorsese’s â€Å"Mean Streets† (1973). It portrayed a gangster (played by Andy Lau), caught between the demands of his partner, Fly (played by Jacky Cheung), and his girlfriend (Maggie Cheung). As such, it can be seen as remaking a Hollywood formula, where the focus is on a male character proving his masculinity (Tambling, 1). Often compared with the young Jean-Luc Godard, Wong Kar-wai is celebrated as one of he leading auteurs of new wave Asian cinema. â€Å"Wong may be said to have brought the Hong Kong new wave into the 90s†, wrote Stephen Teo, â€Å"by combining post-modern themes with new wave stylistics† (2008). In â€Å"Chungking Express† (1994), California Dreamin by the Mamas and Papas functions not just as a replacement for dialogue but as the core message of the film. â€Å"In Chungking Express,† writes Larry Gross, Calfornia Dreamin is played some nine or ten times almost in its entirety. But only towards the end do you grasp that dancing casually to that song and letting its lyric play across your mind is almost literally what the movie is about. His world is very much the world with a soundtrack, where objects, perishable but still emotionally resonant, flit in and out of our hands and minds (Lannin and Caley, 173). In Stephen Teo’s analysis on Wong Kar-wai, it can be noted that his work is magisterial and is highly persuading in terms of the proofs and supports for his arguments towards Wong Kar-wai’s work. There is also a remarkable scope and depth in his analysis where comprehensive surveys of Chinese commentary are provided. Stephen Teo, being a genre analyst, particularly on Hong Kong cinema, carefully shows a thorough study of the works of Wong Kar-wai. Aside from Stephen Teo, though this may scandalize some, other spectators admit immediately that they don’t care for most Hong Kong cinema, especially that of the martial arts which sometimes seems to be most of it. Spectators however, acknowledge its worldwide success and appreciate its unbounded energy. Others understand the arguments made by David Bordwell and others for the wonderful balletic kinesthesia and the fecund and often extremely clever recycling of generic motifs from pop culture that can be found in Hong Kong cinema. Spectators and critics respect the tremendous influence that Hong Kong genre films have had on Wong’s filmmaking. Some believes that his greatest triumphs have come when he has transcended generic conventions (Brunette, xviii). In the absence of an outer voice, the song articulates the obsession with the time common to all characters in a Wong Kar-wai film. A telling scene in â€Å"Fallen Angels† shows one of the main characters shooting video of his father. They have little verbal communication despite living in the same small hotel room (the son is mute and the father rarely talks since the death of his wife). The son’s persistence with his video camera becomes so unbearable that his father shuts him out of their room. Later, he is filmed asleep. In private moments, he watches these videos with pleasure and after his death, his son watches one sequence over and over, relishing the pleasure of a rare smile from his father. The task of electronic media in memory, when one-to-one communication is complicated or hard, is a theme that persists or happen again throughout Wong Kar-wai’s films. When Kar-wai’s characters are mute, speechless, or emotionally withdrawn, songs animate their silence. â€Å"Fallen Angels† (1995) starts with a long sequence in which voices are heard only as peripheral chatter or voiceover. Preceding the main titles is a scene shot in black and white (similar to Jarmusch’s use of black and white photography). The hit man, Wong Chi-Ming, which is played by Leon Lai, and his agent, played by Michele Reis, are discussing their professional and personal relationship. Their particular conversation, can be classified as neorotic, internalized, and literally colorless fragment that is swept aside by a tour de force of camerawork, set design, sound and conceptualization, sustained without dialogue or exposition for nearly ten minutes (Lannin and Caley, 173). The difference in style, theme and tone subsequently results to a similarity in the determination of presenting new and deviant works from their previous masterpieces in the film industry makes Jim Jarmusch and Wong Kar-wai stand out to be post modern directors acclaimed by critics and spectators worldwide.

Oedipus The King-a Tangled Web :: Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

The choir represents the voice of the people, the voice of the masses. People often conform to this uniform truth, they want to be like other people. This conformation leads to a uniform voice from the public. This voice is often ignorant to the truth, seemingly to the point that it creates its own truth. This is seen often in Oedipus the King, by Sophocles. They believe that Oedipus is godly, even when they have found out that he is the cause of their plague. It is not until the end that their haze of false truth clears, and they turn against Oedipus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The idea that the people speak with a unified voice is seen whenever they speak. Never does one individual stray from this one voice. This is seen in the Strophes and Antistrophes, the choir speaks as a whole. At the start of the, the choir shows unquestioning faith in Oedipus. They believe that he is godly, that since he ended the Sphinx’s reign of terror, that he would stop the plague. They believed this without question, they had no doubts that Oedipus would find a cure. They even came to Oedipus with “olive boughs all wreathed in woe,'; the same way one would go to a altar when they wanted something urgently. This shows their faith in Oedipus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This faith blinds them to the truth. When they find out that it could be Oedipus that is the cause of the plague, they still follow Oedipus blindly. They do not see the truth, they create their own. They become so deeply entwined in their own web of falls truths, that they do not realize what is really happening. They do not believe the Oracle, “Show me the man speaking stone from Delphi damned'; shows their disbelief in the oracle. This further reinforces their false truths, their blind faith toward Oedipus. Eventually this haze of false truths clears, and they see reality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even when they are confronted with the truth, they follow Oedipus. When Oedipus is pondering whether or not he could have killed King Laius, they encourage Oedipus. “But wait until you’ve heard the witness speak. Have hope,'; this shows their faith in Oedipus. “Your Laius prophecies are turned to lies'; shows their belief in the oracle. They feel he is lying, and continue their praise of Oedipus. This belief does not last forever, the web of false truths dissipates, and they see Oedipus for who he really is.

Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Essay

Microeconomics is a branch of economics which deals with the study of resource allocation decisions within the confines of the sub-segments of an economy such as households and business firms (Arnold, 2010). Central to this study is an examination of how prices of goods and services in a market influence their demand and supply. Macroeconomics on the other hand deals with the study of the nature of the economy as a whole; national, regional or a global economy (Agarwal, 2007). It deals with such issues such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the influences of a larger economy such as employment and inflation. The main difference is thus the scope of study since it can be argued that microeconomics is a subset of macroeconomics. Another difference is that microeconomics focuses on consumers and businesses while macroeconomics deals with industries and nations (Arnold, 2007). Additionally, microeconomics deals with the forces of demand and supply in a market while macroeconomics studies the effect of such issues as interest rates, exchange rates and employment output on a national scale. Generally, microeconomic studies take a bottom-up approach while the macroeconomic studies take a top-down approach. An example of a microeconomic phenomenon would be on pricing policies. A company may want to know what price to charge for a product they are introducing to the market. This is a microeconomic decision since to answer such a question, knowledge of the nature of market and the economic forces prevailing in it is important. One would need to study in detail the demand and supply of the commodity, utility to the consumer, competition from other suppliers and other microeconomic factors before coming up with a pricing decision. The increase in oil prices in an economy is an example of a macroeconomic phenomenon. Such price changes may be influenced by various factors which can only be explained at a macroeconomic level. The reasons could be inflation in an economy, war or political instability in a particular region of the world. A microeconomic decision made at home would be a changeover to taking tea as opposed to coffee. This is informed by an increase in the prices of coffee with no change in the level of income. The factors influencing this decision are thus the price, cost, the income level and the availability of a substitute which is tea. This therefore leads to a consumer being cushioned against price increases which would otherwise affect his economic welfare. Macroeconomic factors prevailing upon an economy affect the operations of the sub-segments of the economy. This in turn would have an effect on the economic decisions made by consumers. The macroeconomic phenomenon of increase in oil prices in the world market coupled with inflation influenced a personal decision to buy a smaller car which is fuel economical as opposed to larger cylinder capacity vehicles which consume more fuel. Such larger capacity cars are a symbol of status but are fairly expensive to maintain in light of higher oil prices. This therefore has to be foregone in light of a benefit of reduction in cost. This has led to more savings by reducing on the budget on transportation. In summary, it can be said that microeconomics and macroeconomics are two major and indeed very important fields of study in economics. They are different but interrelated and interdependent since they have certain common objects of study. Both microeconomic and macroeconomic factors are key in decision making and thus the study of both is invaluable to understanding the operations of the economy. They provide necessary tools to the understanding the generation of revenue in the business operations of firms; and the economy as a whole. References Agarwal, V. (2007). Macroeconomics. New Delhi: McDraw-Hill. Arnold, R. (2010). Microeconomics. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Melvin, M., & Boyes, W. (2008). Microeconomics. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Â  

Essay The College Common Room

It’s not a lie if you say that the college common room is a real paradise for the student. That’s the place, where he or she is absolutely free. When the student enjoys the break, he finds relaxation and recreation in the common room. In between classes students have long conversations. If the debate is really hot they make their contributing with an expertise confidence. A college common room is the place, where a needy student has an opportunity to reveal all his academic cares and the dreadful fears for the examinations. This is where academic attendants feel like they are the masters of their own fate and they can take the whole care of themselves. College common rooms are known for their special utility. The classes are absolutely challenging: to be compelled to take notes for several hours while listening to the professors really makes a student exhausted. After a couple of hours spent listening to the know-it-all tutor, the students start feeling like they are in need of relaxation. This is when the time to visit the college common room comes! During the break it reloads the overburden brain, refreshes the tired mind and gives a real blessing for some time. Often it is the common room where the best friendships occur! It is here that the funniest and the most memorable moments usually take place. Here is where the students completely forget all the regrets of the college life and feel relief in mind. The common room is there for a student to make vows, to face the turning-points and avail of larger opportunities! A lot of students openly state that in case they ever have an opportunity to pick between a college with high class teachers and the educational establishment with a perfectly equipped common room, they would definitely give preference to the second option. Once both of these points can be brought together – nothing can be better than that! Here is what it all comes down to – college common rooms are a must for the academic life. They are the significant difference between the high school and college. Every day at school is packed with lots of classes while the college is a great bunch of opportunities! Without a well-set common room class-free periods would become a real trouble. Students need to have their leisure perfectly spent and as soon as they enter the common room at college, they feel they are grown-ups and they are absolutely free. One should, however, admit that the college common room is known for its dark sides too. Yes, it is! The attention grabbers of the room have proved to be real demotivators for the most promising students. But no college student is worth the academic place he takes in the educational life, if he or she has no idea of how to deal with the pitfalls hidden behind the privileges. This was an example of The College Common Room essay, written by the writers of our custom writing service. To buy an essay on the necessary topic, please, fill in the Free Inquiry form in the top right corner of this page.