Unit 1, Drama exploration of childhood

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When I first saw the baby suit. The class had just previously had some discussions over the whole idea of childhood and what it means to certain types of people. We did the discussions in a number of ways. First of all we did this with the teacher explaining to us his views on the whole idea and the reality of it. He talked to us about 3 main things in a child’s life; these were playing, no responsibilities and dependency on others around you. He just gave us those 3 ideas and told us to think to ourselves. I did this and it got me thinking. What I was thinking was which idea represented a child the most. Which ever one this was; I felt it would have to be included in future drama role plays, which I would eventually have to put together and the same idea would have to be put forward in countless group discussions. Following on to this, as a class we each were handed a piece of paper. The paper was for a little group exercise. The exercise involved each of us writing what we thought was the most important thing about childhood. Once done the teacher went round the whole class and asked everyone to say what they had written out loud. Mine was the idea which stuck with me the most which the teacher had previously said. This idea was Dependency on others. Several people had different ideas but it was interesting to know that they all revolved on the same 3 ideas we had discussed as a class before. I have to say this was very helpful and interesting. It showed how a lot of people have the same perception of childhood. The baby suit was based around the symbol of before and after birth. There were 2 very contrasting ideas which it gave me and symbolized. It could have been to parents before the baby is born a very joyful symbol. One which was full of eagerness, expectations and happiness to the parents of the baby. But after birth it would turn into a symbol of annoyance, absolute stress and anger. The baby keeping parents up all night, wetting the bed etc… The other idea was the other way round basically. Before birth the suit being a symbol to the awaiting parents of humiliation, stress, conflict. Imagine an idea if a teenager got pregnant and she was still at school and couldn’t look after the baby, didn’t have the money etc… But after the birth becomes a symbol of appreciation, joy, and happiness. Imagine the parent realizes how wrong she was about the whole idea and how she loved the child and the joy it brought to her life and others. So to me the baby suit as a whole was more than a piece of clothing.

When I first saw the photograph a number of ideas were in my head. First of all the idea which was strongest was that the baby was crying. This then led me to thinking of reasons why the baby might be crying. I thought maybe the parents of the baby might have been having a fight or still are having a fight influencing the baby to start crying because of all the shouting. Another reason I thought could have been maybe the baby is hungry and is being ignored. So the bay to get attention begins to cry so it is fed. There were a number of ideas which I thought of. After thinking of all these different scenarios something hit me. It became apparent to me the time period in which the baby has been crying. This was whether the baby had just started crying, in the middle of crying or even just finishing crying. The one which hit me the most was that the baby had just stared finishing crying. I came to this assumption based on the baby’s facial features. Its face did not looked like it was in a lot of grief with its face scrunched up and eyes closed, mouth open like when a baby is beginning to cry or in the middle of it. Its face was a lot mellower and looked to have a face of someone calming down. So this was my assumption that the baby was just calming down and had been crying previously. This then linked to my ideas about the reasons for all this. Maybe if the baby’s parents where having a fight they would have realized the baby was crying and stopped fighting and decided to comfort the baby instead, that kind of thing.

The opening sequence of the film Amelie was very intriguing. It started off in what I thought was a very cartoon like comic fashion. It was very quickly flicking through important events which in a different style would have been in a lot more detail but the cartoon style still got its point across. This cartoon style continued throughout; especially when the baby was in the mother’s womb, plus when it was born. It was a quick almost fast forwarded snippet of the real thing. Based on the whole idea of childhood I reckon this was done this way because from the child’s point of view none of this period mattered at all. It then cuts to the opening credits, where straight away Amelie as a child is playing with the words making the credits. I thought this was a very creative way of showing a fascination with everything. Follow on we then saw Amelie playing a whole host of childish games. All the games where when she was on her own and they seemed to engage the viewer a lot as she was looking directly into the camera a lot. One game she was playing was when she was upside down and drew a face on her chin and it looked like a monster when her mouth opened. This made me realize and gave me an idea for future references, this idea was the fact that although children are not technically clever in their own way they are very creative and very good at what they do. The same thing was shown when she was playing with dominos. Another idea I got was about her fascination with little things. This was shown when she was cutting out shapes of people and sticking them together but the most obvious was when she stuck glue to her hands and made it seem as if her skin was coming off. This whole sequence was done in a very old fashioned wind up camera like screen. With the white lines going across the screen like in olden movies. There was also a soundtrack in the background of a very playful song which although was not as quick flowing as the sequence fitted in perfectly. I thought the reason this bit was done like this was to some up every aspect of how a child entertains themselves whether with others or without others.

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The opening credits finish and went to introductions about the lives of her 2 parents. This talked about their likes and dislikes in a comedic way. Both seemed quite similar people but in female and male terms. It then followed to a very important part which was the connection between Amelie and her parents. Her father wasn’t very close to her and the only time they had physical contact was when she had a monthly check up. This showed how small things like a hug and a sign of love from parents can affect a child. Due to this Amelie ...

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