...apparent in Terry Gilliam’s film, Brazil, which portrays a dystopian, futuristic society that is dominated by a totalitarian government. I believe that Gilliam’s use of intertexuality, mise-en-scene, storytelling, and subversive depiction of society is what makes Brazil a cult film. The plot revolves around Sam Lowry, a low-level government employee who often dreams about being a hero, escaping reality, and saving a beautiful woman. One day he finds a woman who looks identical to the one in his dreams, but she is an alleged rebel and wanted by the government. Sam tries to flee with her, but through a series of obscure twists and turns he ends up losing her and his own sanity. There are numerous similarities and references to George Orwell’s 1984 in Brazil. Both are set in a futuristic setting as imagined by people living in earlier periods, both feature a totalitarian government that reigns over its people, and as a result of the government a nightmarish dystopian society is created. It is also important to note that the two also offer no possibility of society changing or improving in any way. However, Orwell shows the physical and emotional effects of a totalitarian government, while Gilliam focuses his critique on the mindless consumerist society it produces. There are also various cinematic references that can be seen in Brazil. Besides the Casablanca quote, a lot of the cinematography reminded me of Stanley Kubrick’s movies, and the setting is reminiscent of Ridley Scott’s...
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...Does goodness really come from within or is it possible for one to change their evil ways? Issues such as the battle between good and evil are presented in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick classic film, A Clockwork Orange. If you are easily intrigued by the sight of violence and sounds of Beethoven then this is the film for you. Stanley Kubrick’s complex mind pulls an idea together that will leave you thinking for days. Aside from the inappropriate and disastrous story, it is an enjoyable and intriguing story for any audience member over the age of eighteen. Containing images of a rather violent and obscene nature, the film’s unique portrayal of a London dystopia becomes the backdrop of the story and the exploitation of the issues between the government...
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...4141- 4141--- Cherished and Cursed:Towarda Social History of The Catcher in the Rye STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD THE plot is brief:in 1949 or perhaps 1950, over the course of three days during the Christmas season, a sixteen-yearold takes a picaresque journey to his New YorkCity home from the third private school to expel him. The narratorrecounts his experiences and opinions from a sanitarium in California. A heavy smoker, Holden Caulfield claims to be already six feet, two inches tall and to have wisps of grey hair; and he wonders what happens to the ducks when the ponds freeze in winter. The novel was published on 16 July 1951, sold for $3.00, and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Within two weeks, it had been reprinted five times, the next month three more times-though by the third edition the jacket photographof the author had quietly disappeared. His book stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place.' Costing 75?, the Bantam paperback edition appeared in 1964. By 1981, when the same edition went for $2.50, sales still held steady, between twenty and thirty thousand copies per month, about a quarter of a million copies annually. In paperback the novel sold over three million copies between 1953 and 1964, climbed even higher by the 1980s, and continues to attract about as many buyers as it did in 1951. The durabilityof The author appreciates the invitationof Professors Marc Lee Raphaeland Robert A. Gross to present an early version...
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...E SSAYS ON TWENTIETH-C ENTURY H ISTORY In the series Critical Perspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Allida M. Black, ed., Modern American Queer History Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past Sharon Hartman Strom, Political Woman: Florence Luscomb and the Legacy of Radical Reform Michael Adas, ed., Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History Jack Metzgar, Striking Steel: Solidarity Remembered Janis Appier, Policing Women: The Sexual Politics of Law Enforcement and the LAPD Allen Hunter, ed., Rethinking the Cold War Eric Foner, ed., The New American History. Revised and Expanded Edition E SSAYS ON _ T WENTIETH- C ENTURY H ISTORY Edited by ...
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