"How do the directors of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and the Elephant Man convey to an audience that the central characters are outsiders in society?"

"How do the directors of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and the Elephant Man convey to an audience that the central characters are outsiders in society?" Throughout both films there are many similarities and differences between the directive strategies of Directors David Lynch and Steven Spielberg although it should be remembered that there is a theory that all stories derive from six basic plots. The directors have chosen characters that compare with the general feeling of the period for the two similar plots. Spielberg in ET developed a plot creating and using a modern day fairy tale whilst David Lynch creates his plot in Elephant Man with a more credible scenario by using a historic figure, John Merrick. In Victorian times disfigured people were at the bottom of society whereas if John Merrick had been placed in the 1970's he would have received greater sympathy which would not have been the affect that David Lynch sought to convey. During the opening of ET there is an apparently insignificant but important scene. ET bends down to grab a plant as the camera moves slightly to the right, showing a rabbit which is clearly comfortable with this 'outsider' being there. Spielberg uses the concept of a rabbit's instinct to show that ET is a harmless creature. As the authorities arrive ET is left behind, on earth and Spielberg closes the scene with a long-shot of the city. He

  • Word count: 2819
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"Is John Really Free compared to Brave New World Citizens?"

Literary Essay - Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World" "Is John Really Free compared to Brave New World Citizens?" One main aspect of freedom is the ability for a person to be independent enough to know, and observe what is really happening around them, so that they are able to draw conclusions, and have opinions of their own. There are two completely diverse worlds, "The Brave New World", and the "Savage Reservation", and both, the people that make up the society of the Brave New World, and the people that make up the society of the savage reservation have something in common. They are similar in that, people from both communities have thoughts of their own to only a certain extent. They are limited to their personal beliefs because of various influences, and consequently people are kept from expressing their own thoughts, and being free although I still believe that one world is more fortunate than the other, in that they have the choice to be free. The Brave New World is a place of forced, perpetual conditioning aimed at making people feel a certain way, or changing, and alternating the way people already think, and feel, therefore clearly keeping them bound to a relatively narrow minded life. Citizens of the Brave New World are not only kept from knowing, but they're also made to not want to know or care. They are predestined and given a caste as soon as they are

  • Word count: 813
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How does the film 'Witness' show the clash between Amish culture and modern American culture?

Witness is a mix of genres; it has romance, action, is part murder/detective story, and is a thriller. The aim of the director, Peter Weir, is to show the clash of cultures between the Amish and the Modern American culture. Peter Weir the director likes to place characters into an unusual situation like in this film he has a Pennsylvanian cop, John Book, having to hide and live in an Amish community. 'Pennsylvania' means brotherly love in Amish. The Amish are a Christian religious group with origins from Europe, in America they are known as 'The Plain People'. The Amish travelled to America for freedom of worship. Many of them settled in the Pennsylvanian area. The Amish people speak a dialect of broken German to each other. They all learn English to communicate with people outside of the community like at certain shops where they need important supplies that they cannot get themselves. Children are taught in small one room schoolhouses, the Amish stress on teaching the '3 R`s', reading, writing and arithmetic. They reject all modern technology, they are self sufficient by growing their own crops, they remain in a farming community separate from the rest of society and they don't use electricity but instead they use a water powered machine to help drive other machinery and windmills to make the grain. The Amish wear distinctive clothes; they stand out because of their plain

  • Word count: 2895
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What have you learnt about the roles of, and society's attitudes to women in the 19th century from one or more stories you have read. How have the writers of these stories conveyed their attitudes on this subject.

What have you learnt about the roles of, and society's attitudes to women in the 19th century from one or more stories you have read. How have the writers of these stories conveyed their attitudes on this subject. Women in the nineteenth century were seen as the less important sex, the one who's not meant to have the intelligence of any man. Women had their own role in the nineteenth century; they were to stay in the house and cook and clean for their husbands, they were not meant to be out working, or having to think like he men. The men were seen as the breadwinners in the household and the women were there to have babies, cook and clean. The women in the household were the property of their father until they got married, then they were the property of their husbands. In the nineteenth century, society was mainly male dominated, women didn't hold a place in society like men did, and they weren't taken seriously. Their opinions weren't seen as smart or important and had no value upon the males view. Some of the men had to accept that some women were more powerful that them like Queen Victoria, but even then some didn't take it seriously. When women were writing they had to use male "pen names" in order to get their work published. Most women in the nineteenth century just had to accept their role and not go against the flow of society. The short story I am going to write

  • Word count: 1491
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"Community Stability Identity" and its Role in the World State

Chris Steinke 2-11-07 English III CPA "Community Stability Identity" and its Role in the World State In Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World, the World State "civilizes" a specific region and governs it under the guiding motto of "Community Identity Stability." By modifying every aspect of the society, the World State eliminates all feelings outside of pleasure. Instant gratification is granted for nearly every desire. Without looking too much into the subject, this system seems like an ideal society. However, the basic fundamentals of the totalitarian World State take away any use or need for individuality in that society, depriving its citizens of the complete human experience and rendering the region to an utter dystopia. Through various processes, the World State controls every aspect of its dominion. The Bokanovsky Process mass produces humans so that they can function in particular roles in society, hypnopaedia is used to engrain World State fundamentals into the children's conscience. According to Mustapha Mond, the Bokanovsky process is very essential to World State life, as he explained to John. "'I see that you don't like our Bokanovsky groups; but, I assure you, they're the foundation on what everything else is built. They're the gyroscopes that stabilizes the rocket plane of state on its unswerving course (222)." Neo-Pavlovian conditioning acclimatizes

  • Word count: 1048
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Crucible - The Marriage of John and Elizabeth Proctor

The Crucible: The Marriage of John and Elizabeth Proctor The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a study in the mass hysteria which led to the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. Themes of the play include deceit, love, secrecy and paranoia. These attributes can be given to the play itself, but can also be given to certain characters and their relationships; these have been used by Miller to create tension throughout the play and have allowed him to totally capture the audience personally. Two of the key characters in the play are John and Elizabeth Proctor, a married couple with what seems - to the majority of people in the play - a flawless relationship, but is really one of suspicion, secrecy and fear. To begin with, John is an extremely complex character placed at the heart of the play. He has a strong sense of his morals and he will not suffer fools gladly - he is the first to truthfully give his point of view. Unfortunately, John also has several personality traits which lead to his downfall - and even his death. However, his honour and honesty at the end of the play transform him into something of a tragic hero. John's most obvious weakness is his temptation - his lust for Abigail and his committing of adultery, and his disregard and plain disrespect for his wife, Elizabeth. For most people in Salem, John's actions would have been a great shock as he is a well

  • Word count: 1927
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Examine The Way Which Charlotte Perkins Gilman Is Concerned With The Ill-Treatment And Isolation Of Women In The Yellow Wallpaper.

Grace Steward Examine The Way Which Charlotte Perkins Gilman Is Concerned With The Ill-Treatment And Isolation Of Women In The Yellow Wallpaper. The writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman suffered from postnatal depression in the late 1800's in America. She was given a "rest cure" which was not to do or have any creativity. This led to a more severe depression. In the story of The Yellow Wallpaper, the central character shares the same situation and predicament as the writer. Therefore we read the story as though it were autobiographical: a writer suffering from depression, given little real help by a patriarchal society. The story is written in first person in a diary form, and in present tense, which gives us, the reader, a sense of being there and sharing the experience. "It is quite alone.... the place has been empty for years". The house where the narrator stays is somewhat dim and isolated. Her husband John has put her in this house to "get better" as she clams she is mentally ill and no one was to see her, just because John could not face being condemned in society for his wife's behaviour. The narrator is physically imprisoned "Windows are barred", there is also a nailed down bed. She is also mentally imprisoned as she is without company and writing. The narrator believes that the house in which she is staying was a nursery but the reader senses that perhaps this place has

  • Word count: 824
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Utopias in 1984 and Brave New World

Utopias in 1984 and Brave New World In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984, the worlds presented are utopic to the leaders and dystopic to society. This essay will compare and contrast the ways in which each government takes away the population's freedom, what kind of security they provide and whether any of their citizens are truly happy. According to the author of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, a dictatorship deprives its citizens of independent thought, thereby ensuring its survival, "The survival of democracy depends on the ability of large numbers of people to make realistic choices in the light of adequate information. A dictatorship, on the other hand, maintains itself by censoring or distorting the facts, and by appealing not to reason, not to enlightened self-interest, but to passion and prejudice, to the powerful 'hidden forces', as Hitler called them, present in the unconscious depths of every human mind." In Huxley's not-so-distant future, children are imbued with messages such as, "Everyone belongs to everyone else." Through repeated brain washes the poor people become drones, incapable of rebellious thought, let alone action. After all, "when the individual feels, the community reels." Along with brainwashing at birth, the government controls the media, allowing only desirable information to be filtered through to the masses.

  • Word count: 1365
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How does Athol Fugard present personal and political conflict in the opening scene of the Island?

How does Athol Fugard present personal and political conflict in the opening scene of the Island? Athol fugard presents the opening scene in a number of ways. The play is all about contrasts in personal and political conflict. The Island was written by Fugard to show the situation between whites and blacks in South Africa. When the play was first preformed it was more like a political play, but audiences see it as based more on the human spirit. After the apartheid had finished the play was more about how people overcame pressure and stress. The play was written around the 1970's when there was Apartheid in South Africa. This meant that the white people were in control of the black people. The black people were treated as slaves and were said to be like animals, if the black people were to disobey the rules then one of the punishments was to be thrown into prison, which was where this play was set. These plays were against the law, because they were a form of rebellion, so if the actors and audience were caught they would be severely punished. The setting and staging are presented in different ways to show the isolation and confinement in the cell. Fugard does this by the centre of the stage being raised to represent a cell on Robben Island. In the cell everything is neat and tidy, blankets are all folded and this is because mess would take up more room. The black prisoners

  • Word count: 731
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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John Proctor is the tragic hero of ‘The Crucible’. How far would you agree with this statement?

John Proctor is the tragic hero of 'The Crucible'. How far would you agree with this statement? 'The Crucible' is described as a vessel in which metals are heated at high temperatures melted down and purified. This title could be seen to represent Salem 1692. John Proctor is put in a situation where the heat is becoming hotter as the witch-hunt intensifies. Through the play we follow John's faults, flaws and struggle with his personal conscience until the curtain drops we know he's been purified. Salem society influences the ideas and actions of John Proctor. Social and historical influences in Salem lead to the witch-hunt where John Proctor and his friends must make a stand for truth and reason. In Salem everyone conformed to a strict code of belief. They had a belief in the existence of the devil. They took a literal view of the Old Testament 'Thou shalt suffer not a witch to live'. The writer wanted to show parallels between the witch-hunt in Salem and America in the 1950's, when senator McCarthy and the un-American activities committee tried people who had communist sympathies in court. The use of Salem as a metaphor was to show that at any time people can get caught up, and be carried along with the crowd, to behave in an irrational manner. Arthur Miller "The main point of the hearings precisely as in the seventeenth century Salem, was that the accused made public

  • Word count: 1057
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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