Blog 10: As You Like It

First and foremost, I find it hard to understand the dialogues of the characters in this movie maybe because the English used is of the Elizabethan era. As You Like It was written by William Shakespeare and it is hard for me to understand and comprehend almost all of his works that I’ve learned. Basically, the movie, As You Like It tells you about Rosalind the daughter of a banished duke and she lives among a community of Westerners living in 19th century Japan. When her father is suddenly banished, she is forced to flee for the Forest of Arden because she faces the risk of being executed by her uncle. Joining Rosalind on her flight to the forest is her cousin Celia, who helps her to dress as a man in order to avoid detection. Later, Rosalind meets her beloved Orlando, another exile like her while making her way to the Forest of Arden. She determines to use the disguise to get the devotion of Orlando. In the end, they lived happily ever after, after facing several challenges. As far as I remember, this is the first Shakespeare’s comedy that I know of (in Now Read On) because Shakespeare to me is famous for his sonnets.

Blog 9: A Streetcar Named Desire

Hi again everyone! I’ve read this play by Tennessee Williams before and I am very excited to watch this movie. The play that I’ve read is very interesting and I do not known whether the movie will be as good as the play. After watching A Streetcar Named Desire, I am satisfied with it because from my observation, the movie is much similar to the play. The story evolves around Blanche DuBois, Stanley Kowalski, Stella Kowalski and Harold ‘Mitch’ Mitchell. Blanche comes to New Orleans to seek refuge at the home of Stella, her sister and her brutish Polish husband, Stanley Kowalski. As the play progresses, readers get to know more about Blanche and the type of person she really is in contrast with the type of person she would like other people to think she is. Blanche is the protagonist of the movie but she degenerates into madness at the end of the movie. She cannot let go of her past and accept the present world because she lost the love of her life and she feels that she fails as a woman because her late husband is a bisexual degenerate. The present to her is very painful and she prefers to live in her own world without pain. The movie enhances my understanding of the play as I can see the setting of the play and how the characters in the play are portrayed in the film. In my opinion, this film is worth watching, especially to those who read/ learn A Streetcar Named Desire.

Blog 8: From A Flower Girl to an Elegant Lady…

Pygmalion to me is a very interesting film. The story evolves around a flower girl, Liza who is from a low class society and a phonetic professor, Henry Higgins. Liza seems to challenge the professor to teach her how to speak ‘standard’ English and how to behave like a lady. He manages to teach her all the things that are necessary to become a lady and throughout the learning process, he grows fond of her and eventually, he falls in love with her. He is very fortunate because Liza too loves him. From this movie, you might discover that when you learn about one’s language, you do not only pick up the language but also the culture and you can see this in the film when Liza seems out of place when she goes back to her previous neighbourhood. She feels awkward being around the flower girl and sees the girl as herself in the past. Frankly speaking, I like this film!

Blog 7: The Tragedy of Macbeth

Macbeth is the second film we’ve watched so far and I’ve heard there are more films to come. Well, let me tell you what I know about Macbeth. Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s plays. It had been staged and made into films for quite a number of times. The film that we’ve just watched is the 1971 production. To tell you the truth, I’ve never read Shakespeare’s Macbeth before but through this film, I manage to get the main idea of the play. The story is basically about how Macbeth together with his wife, Lady Macbeth are trying to gain power to rule Scotland. They manage to kill the King and Macbeth is crowned as the King of Scotland because the next King-in-line which is the King’s son ran away. Lady Macbeth eventually commits suicide. She is guilt ridden by her wrongdoings in planning the murder of the King. Because of his greed and arrogance, Macbeth is not well-accepted by his people. At the end of the film, Macbeth is beheaded by Macduff in a war to retrieve back the King’s throne. Macbeth’s triumph in becoming the King and his tragic death are all fulfilling the prophecies that is told by the three witches at the beginning of the story. All in all, this film is very interesting and a bit gory because the way Macbeth is beheaded is shown explicitly. I hope that I won’t get a nightmare tonight!

Blog 6: Shakespeare Wallah

Hi, everyone! The topic for my blog this time around is about the film that we’ve watched recently, Shakespeare Wallah. I do not know what to expect when I first heard we are going to watch this film. Even the title is alien to me. What is wallah? I’ve done some research and wallah is actually a person connected with a particular job, for example, office wallahs. This term is usually used in India. This story is about a family troupe of English actors traveling in India. Tony Buckingham and his wife Carla are the actor-managers of the troupe. They travel around the towns and villages giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Lizzie Buckingham, the couple's daughter, falls in love with Sanju, a wealthy young Indian playboy who is also involved in a romance with the glamorous Bombay film star Manjula. Through their travels we see the changing face of India as the old is replaced by the new, Maharajas become hotel owners, sports become more important than culture and the theater is replaced by Bollywood movies.