Month: April 2024

Reminder to Live Life to the Fullest: The Stranger

On By Rachel B.In Story Power5 Comments

In the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus, the main character Meursault is faced with the overwhelming feeling of grief. Meursault was faced with the loss of his mother and then his conflict with the justice system, which detached him from his emotions. The book opened my eyes to the ability grief has to take over someone and distort life’s meaning. Moreover, it revealed to me that I need to live my life and spend the most time possible with my loved ones to not have regret for not enjoying the time I have in life. 

After Meursault killed the Arab, Meursault could not display any emotion and did not deny the murder. This resulted in Meursault receiving a long sentence in prison, even though he had multiple friends testify for him and a good attorney to represent him. Meursault is perceived as a monster because he does not show remorse for the killing because of the emotions he has been shoving down and not expressing after his mother passed away. This revealed to me that even though Meursault committed a crime he knew was awful, the grief of his mother’s death took control of him. This conveyed to me how grief is a feeling that lots are unable to process and fully deal with. Like Meursault, lots of people push it down and detach from those gut-wrenching feelings. This ultimately gave me a better perspective on how the death of a loved one and the regret held from not spending the valuable time you have with someone will eventually tear a person apart.

Once Meursault was in prison and becoming more self-aware that he put himself in, he began to realize that a sentence as long as he was receiving was not worth it and that an execution in front of the public would do him better. At this point, Meursault begins to lose the entire meaning of life and believes his life is not worth living. This indicated to me that grief and regret will in the end begin to become all you can think about. As Meursault began to lose the meaning of his life, I began to realize that you cannot live life uncertain and regretful, instead, I should be living in the moment and taking the time I had and using it to become better than I already am.

Everybody always says to live life to the fullest, but after reading The Stranger and being in Meursault’s shoes I realized that’s true. Living with regret will at some point harm you and change your perspective on life. Even though it seems easy and like basic human nature, it’s time to continue to live my life with a greater purpose. 

Final Statement on Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

On By RYAN AIn Story Power2 Comments

Throughout the novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, many compelling and fascinating arguments exist regarding how humans treat animals and nature. The book opened my eyes to so many different ideas and made me realize that how humans treat animals shouldn’t be normalized within our society. Janina was an animal lover and activist who often made excellent points about how humans treat animals. 

Specifically, in the Speech to a Poodle chapter, Janina presents this idea: “Killing has become exempt from punishment. And as it goes unpunished, nobody notices it any more. And as nobody notices it, it doesn’t exist.” She explains to the policeman that killing animals in society has become so normalized that nobody even notices it, let alone sees it as wrong. She goes on to explain, “When you walk past a shop window where large red chunks of butchered bodies are hanging on display, do you stop to wonder what it really is?” This idea is such a good point that I haven’t ever thought about it. Why, within society, do we not care that we are killing something living for our gain? This has changed my mind about how I view animals; I had never felt so bad about killing animals for food until I read this novel, and Janina opened my mind to this idea. It is super sad and hard to think about that. 

For hundreds of thousands of years, animals have been victims of this cycle, and I agree with Janina that it needs to end. The human brain has become immune to the idea that killing animals is wrong, and we need to be reconditioned to see that it is terrible. Although it will take a lot of work and effort to see things correctly, it can and needs to be done.

The Snowman, The First Hunter

On By Elsa WIn RomanticismLeave a comment

The Snowman is a modernist poem that is anything but romantic. The poem’s theme centers around the perspective that there is “nothing” in the world without a human to perceive it. The poem explores if it is possible to look on the world with a truly unbiased view, or if we are always swayed by subjective emotion. The speaker is up for interpretation, but one thing that is a consent is that the speaker is alone in winter. They are completely content with being in this harsh winter world alone.

In the song contemporary classical song The Fist Hunter by the SIE sound team, and composer Tsukasa Saitoh, you get the same sense of preferred loneliness. The melody grows and falls, with intervals of a lonely violin. There are very minimal words, and the words that are there are in Latin. This song leaves the listener with a sense of peace, calmness, and maybe a little sadness.

Both the poem and the song center around themes of preferred aloneness, as if the speaker of the poem and the first hunter have sought out this bare land and wish to be alone with only their thoughts. I have not played the game, but the first hunter, the person this song follows, appears to be a final boss. They seem to have fallen from a place of high standing and have resigned themselves to a life of solitude, very similar to our speaker in The Snowman.

Reality of Romance

On By SASKIA VIn Story PowerLeave a comment

The film, “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” written by Dan Fogelmann and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, is a Romantic Comedy. It is about a man, Cal Weaver (Steve Carell), who’s recently separated from his wife, and a player named Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gossling) attempts to get Cal back into the dating game after meeting him in a bar. The film follows not only Cal’s new lifestyle but also the ups and downs and complicated relationships with many other characters who, towards the end, you find out are connected in many ways. The movie exposes a far more realistic portrayal of love and romantic relationships in the modern day than other romantic comedies. 

Other romantic comedies paint a picture of romance as an effortless journey with little to no issues, and if any, they are not realistic. “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” however, distinguishes itself by embracing the messiness and unpredictability of real-life relationships. This gives the film more depth and allows for more relatability. 

One of the film’s strengths in demonstrating the “real world” is the portrayal of imperfect characters navigating complicated situations and emotions. In contrast to the flawless protagonist in other romantic films, it exposes the unusual, vulnerable, and misguided sides of the characters. It shows that love is rarely straightforward. 

The film uses some common themes that show up in other romantic comedies, such as, a man falling in love after a history of being known as a womanizer, which is what Jacob’s character does. The difference between them is that Jacob doesn’t do this through a sudden change of heart but through gradual development. It also doesn’t happen effortlessly, there are bumps and mistakes made along the way. 

The film’s ending isn’t simply the “happily ever after” as most are, it has a hopeful but also realistic ending. Cal and his wife have honest and vulnerable conversations about their relationship and acknowledge their mistakes, then decide they want to try to make things work. It respects the process of a real-life relationship, where forgiveness and rebuilding trust are ongoing processes rather than instantaneous. It also acknowledges that not all problems are perfectly solved. By portraying the complexities of love and relationships, it enhances viewers’ understanding of it and people’s behavior in general. 

Behind The Laughter

On By SASKIA VIn Story PowerLeave a comment

“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”, directed by Larry Charles, and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”, directed by Jason Woliner, are both comedy and Mockumentary-style films. The movies star Sacha Baron Cohen, acting as a fictional journalist from Kazakhstan named Borat who travels to the United States to learn about American culture. Borat is a character who is anti-Semitic, sexist, racist, and stupid. He makes absurd and offensive comments, which are part of his character’s act, to expose the prejudices, American bigotry, xenophobia, sexism, etc. The entire film is of unscripted interactions with Americans, to capture genuine reactions to Borats behaviors and opinions. In some situations, people will tell him he is incorrect and shouldn’t be saying certain things, but in many others, it exposes their true beliefs when agreeing with Borats acts. 

A particular scene in the film is when Borat is at a Rodeo, he talks to the manager who makes many racist and homophobic remarks. Including stereotyping Muslims saying “I wonder what kind of bomb he’s got strapped to him” and telling Borat to shave his mustache because it makes him look Muslim. Then when he leaves and Borat tries to kiss him, he begins to make fun of “the ones who do the kissing,” implying homosexuals. Then Borat says that in his country they hang them, the manager says, “That’s what we’re trying to get done here.” Keep in mind that this is a real person who believes this is a real interaction.

Using hyperbole throughout the film, Borat exposes the extremes of many subjects and people’s beliefs, shedding light on often overlooked or unconsciously ignored subjects and showcasing their prevalence. while it’s entertaining to watch, it is thought-provoking, and by pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable, it forces the audience to question their values and those around them. Since the audience is aware that Borat’s actions are extremely exaggerated and all an act, when they see the reactions of the real people, they see the extent of Americans who believe and behave in these ways. The film uses humor and irony as a tool to satirize many serious topics.