I finally fixed the sound issue. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
PowerPoint Video
My PC doesn't have sound recognition so I couldn't record the sound off the Ppt. Sorry; I'll try to figure out another way to add sound. For now, this the recording of our Ppt.
One Flew East, One Flew West: The Bildungsroman, Globalization, and All the Rest.
The origin of the term bildungsroman is something of a historical escapade – a backwards trek that goes against the grain of the subject. The bildungsroman genre is a story of education, of building a faculty of judgment and autonomy in a child to make him a man. To go backwards in history is contrary to the definition. Instead, I will use one of America’s favorite allegorical movies (and book) to play out the creation of the bildungsroman. From there, how the genre has evolved in art and become a frequent in the cannon. Finally, how a newly globalized world has taken this model and modified it with individual popular cultures will be the subject of this essay.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975, by Miloš Forman, based off of the book by Kesey, is a historical and political allegory of the responses to the Enlightenment and Counter Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was called the Age of Reason; Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is a product of this enlightenment. The “enlightened” believed in a Science of Man; they thought that the rationality of Newton’s physics could be applied to humanity – a sort of blueprint for society with rules and formulas. It was a prescriptive philosophy; Nurse Ratched is a tyrant of prescriptive tendencies. She runs the ward with cool, calm, collected rationality. She sees herself as a steward of the rights of man, and steers her patients on the route towards the greater good, as she sees it. A product of the Enlightenment is Utilitarianism, created by Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarians don’t believe in the concept of “rights” but believe in utility instead. One of the responses to Nurse Ratched’s despotism is Chief Bromden’s (Will Sampson) nightmares of a giant machine that kills his ward mates in the night. Utilitarianism strives to create a “happy machine” that creates the greatest good for the greatest number. Chief’s nightmares illuminate the fearful concept of what happens to those that have no utility? Historically, there were three wings of enlightened thought: the Scottish, the French, and the German. The Germans were responsible for the philosophical development of the movement and also the counter movement. Immanuel Kant, the most prominent German philosopher, said Sapere Aude, “dare to think.” Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) said “You're not an idiot. Huh! You're not a goddamn looney now, boy. You're a fisherman!” The only difference between the two is the vernacular. McMurphy’s arrival in the ward symbolizes the arrival of epistemological doubt in cold reason. He walks into the ward and finds men with no faculty of judgment, men who follow the rules of reason as set down by someone else. This is where the key to the Counter-Enlightenment comes in; what is a man who knows nothing but reason? Kant and McMurphy’s answer – not a man. And so, the first bildungsroman was written. Emile by Jacques Rousseau, is a book about the education of a child. But, it is also tells us that to become mature men we must move from a state of cold reason to a state of reason plus something else, be that passion, patriotism, or craziness; a life lived by reason alone is a half life. The Emile of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is Billy Babbit, who starts off as a stuttering boy but becomes an autonomous man, for the briefest of moments, after standing up to tyranny (reason) and sleeping with a hooker (passion or craziness, or maybe both).
The concept of the bildungsroman story grew in literature and developed certain guidelines. More than a coming of age story, a bildungsroman chronicles how society affects the protagonist’s growing up morally and psychologically. Usually the protagonist is jolted into a journey of maturation by discontent at a young age. The protagonist must find his way back into society while developing into a mature and self-confident adult. These guidelines followed the bildungsroman into film, and from there, into popular culture. The teenage rebellion movie has become a cultural hegemony, thanks to directors such as John Hughes, that has crossed seas and borders into the collective unconscious of a newly globalized world. How the world has taken this model and modified it with individual popular cultures can be seen in modern foreign film.
Hollywood’s bildungsromans are the John Hughes films such as The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. They, along with the actors in them, are cultural icons almost as famous as the music that is vital to their composition. Though far from the quintessential bildungsroman novels, such as James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that had become the cornerstones of the genre, these movies are in a way closer to the original Emile. The movies strip the complicated syntax and prose found in the novels and portray in shocking simplicity, the education of youth and the importance of autonomy. As mentioned before, the music is one of the reasons that these movies became markers of a generation. The music also helped as a vessel of transport over cultural lines; there is no transnational culture flow as powerful as music.
And so it is not shocking to see similarities between the John Hughes films and Buenos Aires 100 kilómetros, an Argentinean, French, and Spanish film by Pablo Jose Meza. This 2004 film is about a group of Argentinean teenagers growing up in a town 100 km outside of Buenos Aires. As a group, they are immobile in time and in a stagnant small town. They struggle against this immobility as they struggle through their teenage years. Individually, their lives are far from tranquil; each of the boys faces personal turmoil at home. Esteban (Juan Ignacio Perez Roca) acts as captain of the football team and confidant for his friends’ traumas, Guido (Alan Ardel) returns home every night to an abusive father, Damian (Juan Pablo Bazzini) finds out that he is adopted. Matias (Hernan Wainstein) is often ignored and abandoned by his parents, and Alejo (Emiliano Fernández) has to come to terms with his mother’s lover and her humanity. These stories are relatable globally. The identity crisis of Damian and the disconnection of adult and teenager found in Matias’s story are common themes in the modern teen bildungsroman. It is in Alejo and Guido’s stories that we begin to see strong Argentinean veins coming through.
The overwhelming masculine dominance found in Guido’s father is familiar to Latin-American culture where machismo – a custom that justifies masculine subjection, and protection, of women - is still practiced and abided. In Buenos Aires, we see how modern youth deals with this ancient tradition. Meza gives us a dual face of machismo - first, the misogynistic masculine population in Guido’s story, and second, the objectifying of women sexually and, in Ajejo’s case, sacrosanctly. The image of the sacred mother in Latin-American society “is explored and perverted with realism through Alejo and his mother’s relationship, as the child is forced to open his eyes to the unknown, disgraceful face of his mother”(sneersnipe). The boys have to deal with the negative consequences of both faces on the stoop of a women’s hair salon.
Buenos Aires shows the same simplicity as the John Hughes films, yet with a certain quota for poetry still reached (Martinez). Reviewers of the movie agree that it achieves success in its realistic portrayal. It is “a notch franker than most TV fare,” (Young) and “Unpretentious and refreshingly touching” (sneersnipe). Like Emile before it, it focuses on the simple education of the young. It ends with returning to society which, for the boys, means joining in as honest and respectful members of a football team in one last game. A classic and clean bildungsroman in many ways, Buenos Aires is unique in its faithful depiction of the society and culture it portrays and questions.
The way we examine ever-changing societies has become a relatively established technique since the Enlightenment. The typical bildungsroman has remained stable also. But now we are redefining society due to globalization. Social borders are blurring and new holes in borders are opening up for culture to come flooding in and out. Where an individual was once constrained by an intimate society, he is now being constrained by a global one. Does this change in one of the vital factors of the bildungsroman vitally change the genre? Themes that were once local are now becoming global – such as teenage rebellion and pubescent hormones discovering the opposite sex; does this mean that local themes are disappearing? In the wake of films like Buenos Aires, we see that they are not. Because of the generalization of some themes, when local ones are found they shine out even further. These themes are becoming the vital factors of the modern bildungsroman.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975, by Miloš Forman, based off of the book by Kesey, is a historical and political allegory of the responses to the Enlightenment and Counter Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was called the Age of Reason; Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is a product of this enlightenment. The “enlightened” believed in a Science of Man; they thought that the rationality of Newton’s physics could be applied to humanity – a sort of blueprint for society with rules and formulas. It was a prescriptive philosophy; Nurse Ratched is a tyrant of prescriptive tendencies. She runs the ward with cool, calm, collected rationality. She sees herself as a steward of the rights of man, and steers her patients on the route towards the greater good, as she sees it. A product of the Enlightenment is Utilitarianism, created by Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarians don’t believe in the concept of “rights” but believe in utility instead. One of the responses to Nurse Ratched’s despotism is Chief Bromden’s (Will Sampson) nightmares of a giant machine that kills his ward mates in the night. Utilitarianism strives to create a “happy machine” that creates the greatest good for the greatest number. Chief’s nightmares illuminate the fearful concept of what happens to those that have no utility? Historically, there were three wings of enlightened thought: the Scottish, the French, and the German. The Germans were responsible for the philosophical development of the movement and also the counter movement. Immanuel Kant, the most prominent German philosopher, said Sapere Aude, “dare to think.” Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) said “You're not an idiot. Huh! You're not a goddamn looney now, boy. You're a fisherman!” The only difference between the two is the vernacular. McMurphy’s arrival in the ward symbolizes the arrival of epistemological doubt in cold reason. He walks into the ward and finds men with no faculty of judgment, men who follow the rules of reason as set down by someone else. This is where the key to the Counter-Enlightenment comes in; what is a man who knows nothing but reason? Kant and McMurphy’s answer – not a man. And so, the first bildungsroman was written. Emile by Jacques Rousseau, is a book about the education of a child. But, it is also tells us that to become mature men we must move from a state of cold reason to a state of reason plus something else, be that passion, patriotism, or craziness; a life lived by reason alone is a half life. The Emile of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is Billy Babbit, who starts off as a stuttering boy but becomes an autonomous man, for the briefest of moments, after standing up to tyranny (reason) and sleeping with a hooker (passion or craziness, or maybe both).
The concept of the bildungsroman story grew in literature and developed certain guidelines. More than a coming of age story, a bildungsroman chronicles how society affects the protagonist’s growing up morally and psychologically. Usually the protagonist is jolted into a journey of maturation by discontent at a young age. The protagonist must find his way back into society while developing into a mature and self-confident adult. These guidelines followed the bildungsroman into film, and from there, into popular culture. The teenage rebellion movie has become a cultural hegemony, thanks to directors such as John Hughes, that has crossed seas and borders into the collective unconscious of a newly globalized world. How the world has taken this model and modified it with individual popular cultures can be seen in modern foreign film.
Hollywood’s bildungsromans are the John Hughes films such as The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. They, along with the actors in them, are cultural icons almost as famous as the music that is vital to their composition. Though far from the quintessential bildungsroman novels, such as James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that had become the cornerstones of the genre, these movies are in a way closer to the original Emile. The movies strip the complicated syntax and prose found in the novels and portray in shocking simplicity, the education of youth and the importance of autonomy. As mentioned before, the music is one of the reasons that these movies became markers of a generation. The music also helped as a vessel of transport over cultural lines; there is no transnational culture flow as powerful as music.
And so it is not shocking to see similarities between the John Hughes films and Buenos Aires 100 kilómetros, an Argentinean, French, and Spanish film by Pablo Jose Meza. This 2004 film is about a group of Argentinean teenagers growing up in a town 100 km outside of Buenos Aires. As a group, they are immobile in time and in a stagnant small town. They struggle against this immobility as they struggle through their teenage years. Individually, their lives are far from tranquil; each of the boys faces personal turmoil at home. Esteban (Juan Ignacio Perez Roca) acts as captain of the football team and confidant for his friends’ traumas, Guido (Alan Ardel) returns home every night to an abusive father, Damian (Juan Pablo Bazzini) finds out that he is adopted. Matias (Hernan Wainstein) is often ignored and abandoned by his parents, and Alejo (Emiliano Fernández) has to come to terms with his mother’s lover and her humanity. These stories are relatable globally. The identity crisis of Damian and the disconnection of adult and teenager found in Matias’s story are common themes in the modern teen bildungsroman. It is in Alejo and Guido’s stories that we begin to see strong Argentinean veins coming through.
The overwhelming masculine dominance found in Guido’s father is familiar to Latin-American culture where machismo – a custom that justifies masculine subjection, and protection, of women - is still practiced and abided. In Buenos Aires, we see how modern youth deals with this ancient tradition. Meza gives us a dual face of machismo - first, the misogynistic masculine population in Guido’s story, and second, the objectifying of women sexually and, in Ajejo’s case, sacrosanctly. The image of the sacred mother in Latin-American society “is explored and perverted with realism through Alejo and his mother’s relationship, as the child is forced to open his eyes to the unknown, disgraceful face of his mother”(sneersnipe). The boys have to deal with the negative consequences of both faces on the stoop of a women’s hair salon.
Buenos Aires shows the same simplicity as the John Hughes films, yet with a certain quota for poetry still reached (Martinez). Reviewers of the movie agree that it achieves success in its realistic portrayal. It is “a notch franker than most TV fare,” (Young) and “Unpretentious and refreshingly touching” (sneersnipe). Like Emile before it, it focuses on the simple education of the young. It ends with returning to society which, for the boys, means joining in as honest and respectful members of a football team in one last game. A classic and clean bildungsroman in many ways, Buenos Aires is unique in its faithful depiction of the society and culture it portrays and questions.
The way we examine ever-changing societies has become a relatively established technique since the Enlightenment. The typical bildungsroman has remained stable also. But now we are redefining society due to globalization. Social borders are blurring and new holes in borders are opening up for culture to come flooding in and out. Where an individual was once constrained by an intimate society, he is now being constrained by a global one. Does this change in one of the vital factors of the bildungsroman vitally change the genre? Themes that were once local are now becoming global – such as teenage rebellion and pubescent hormones discovering the opposite sex; does this mean that local themes are disappearing? In the wake of films like Buenos Aires, we see that they are not. Because of the generalization of some themes, when local ones are found they shine out even further. These themes are becoming the vital factors of the modern bildungsroman.
Spirituality and Coming of Age
While many environmental and personal factors influence the coming of age process, religious influence is among the strongest with 88.3 percent of the world population claiming to a specific religious faith (United States CIA). Using film as a cultural text, three films from around the globe will be discussed in order to display the strong influence of religious tradition and ideologies on individuals within the narratives who ultimately experience a coming of age. Also, an understanding of the religion addressed as it pertains to the region of the film’s origin will be developed through this process.
Whale Rider, 2002 co-production of New Zealand and Canada, vividly portrays religious influence in coming of age through the story of a young girl named Pai belonging to one of the many Maori tribes in the region. Before Westerners settled New Zealand, the Maori tribe settled in New Zealand and developed a rich set of cultural customs and religious beliefs. Now in modern times, Maori tribes have evolved to incorporate contemporary living arrangements, while maintaining many of their native traditions.
The Encyclopedia Britannica comments on modern Maori lifestyle by stating, “Although European culture predominates New Zealand, there are attempts to preserve traditional cultures, especially that of the Maori. A renaissance has occurred in Maori wood carving and weaving and in the construction of carved and decorated meeting houses (whare whakairo). Maori songs and dances have become increasingly popular, especially among the young. Maori meetings- whether hui (assemblies) or tangi (funeral gatherings)- are conducted in a traditional fashion, with ancient greeting ceremonies strictly observed.”
This strict observance of Maori traditions is seen frequently through out Whale Rider as the viewer follows along with Pai on her journey to continue her long line of ancestors and lead her tribe out of its troubling conditions.
Although, Pai is the last of the direct descendants of the tribe’s founder, Paikea, who legend says came on the back of a whale to lead his people, she is also a girl, who loses the trust of her harsh grandfather and is denied the ability to join the young men who will take on a sort of apprenticeship towards becoming the next chief.While religious traditions grace most aspects of the film through ceremonial chanting and dances, strong family unity, and other aspects such as environment with wood carvings and ceremonial rooms, religious influence on Pai’s coming of age is seen most clearly when Pai ventures out to the shore to think about the tribe’s future and troubles with her grandfather. In times such as these, Pai calls upon her ancestors through a type of prayer and asks them for help. Towards the end of the film, her prayers are answered in an odd fashion when a group of whales (considered sacred by this Maori tribe due to their relationship with Paikea) becomes beached. After the tribe gathers together and attempts to keep the whales alive and help them back in to the ocean when high tide comes, Pai is shunned by her grandfather and not allowed to help. Once the tribe tries and fails, Pai slips behind them and climbs the back of the whale.
Through a kind of mystical event, the whale revives its attempts at becoming free and Pai is taken far out into the ocean. Pai is seen next in the hospital bed, with her grandfather sitting close to the bed. Her eyes open and both have a coming of age as they realize that she is the one who meant to lead the tribe. While before Pai wrestled with whether the Maori ways and her grandfather’s actions were justifiable, in the moment of riding the whale’s back she is enlightened and has a defining moment in her life that leads her into the net phase of her life- adulthood.
2007 Mexican film, Harvest of Redemption, also contains the bildungsroman (coming of age) theme with influences from principles found in Christianity. The film tells the story of a young Latino named Oscar who lives on a farm in Texas near the Mexican American border after his parents journeyed from Mexico around the 1920’s and settled in the American West. Oscar’s dad takes up farming for the white, American farm-owner Mr. Wilkins. When Oscar is a young boy, his father takes him out hunting on one of his days off from work. During this escapade, Oscar’s Dad tells him to pick the first of the season’s corn according to a long-held family tradition. Wilkins catches them in the act, and eventually the confrontation becomes deadly, with Oscar witnessing Wilkins shoot his father. All of this taking place in the beginnings of the film, the middle portion of the movie is dedicated to watching Oscar deal with his hatred of Wilkins and Oscar’s personal struggle with forgiving him, a concept coherent with the ideals of Christianity.
Due to the Spanish settling of Mexico, Roman Catholicism plays a very important role in Mexican Culture, with over 95 percent of Mexicans claiming affiliation with Christianity, and 88 percent specifically to Roman Catholicism (United States CIA). With such as large number of Mexican citizens belonging to this religion, it is apparent that Christian principles would have a large effect on a young individual’s life as they turn the page to the adult chapter of his or her life.
Harvest of Redemption depicts these qualities of Oscar battling between his resentment of Wilkins and the principles of forgiveness found in Christianity. At one point in the film, Oscar is seen beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary on his knees praying for strength to be able to forgive. This forgiveness comes towards the end of the film, years later, defined as Oscar’s coming of age moment, when he sends Mr. Wilkins the box of corn that was taken from him that day Oscar’s father was killed meant to tell Wilkins that he had forgiven him for taking the life of his Dad.
As a final example of religious influence on the coming of age process seen in foreign film, Water a 2006 Indian film is discussed. Directed by Deepa Mehta, Water displays the treatment of the Asharam widows under the customs of the Hindu religion that have been twisted to benefit specific groups. In India, Hinduism is the countries most dominant religion 80.46 percent according to the 2001 census by the Indian government. Within the film, a negative stance towards Hinduism is depicted through observing the lives of the widows and teachings of Gandhi are given the upper hand. In a review of the film, Kim Voynar discusses the treatment of the widows in India, central to the storyline of Water, as it relates to Hinduism in the late 1930’s.
She writes, “In India, the sight of widows, heads shaved, dressed in white, the color of death, amid a culture where brilliant colors are valued by women, was not uncommon in 1939; neither is it uncommon today. Mehta was inspired to make Water after encountering a pathetic older widow in India. In Hinduism, as the film explains this cultural phenomenon, a woman who marries becomes a part of her husband; thus, when he precedes her in death, she is considered partly dead as well -- widowhood is basically akin to a fate as a walking dead body. Widows are considered bad luck, and are not allowed at fortuitous occasions like birth and weddings (in one scene in the film, a widow getting water at the holy river is admonished not to let her shadow fall on a bride).”
When Chuyia, a young girl of age eight, is taken to live in the house of widows, she begins to shape the coming of age moment experienced by one of the older widows in the group Shakuntala.
Before a devout Hindi, Shakuntala realizes that the way the women are treated is wrong, and eventually has a coming of age moment. This occurs when she learns that an older domineering widow woman has sold Chuyia into acts of prostitution for money. Shakuntala washes Chuyia in the river and takes her to listen to Gandhi speak about truth at a train station, followed by her running alongside the train offering up the girl to Gandhi in order to save her from having to live the life of a widow from such a young age. From this point onward Shakuntala’s life is changed specifically through the religious experiences depicted in the film. It can be seen from the three films above that the coming of age process can often be heavily impacted by religion. Each of Pai, Oscar, and Shakuntala’s coming of age moments are defined by specific religious and spiritual events that help to shape their person, allowing them to move forward on to the next phase of life.
Works Cited
United States. CIA. World Fact Book. 2009. Web.
Voynar, Kim. "Water: Review." Cinematical 27 Apr 2006 Web.17 Apr 2009.
City of Godlessness
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Continuously the film industry has become more and more globalized. With the advancement in digital television and the internet movies are becoming increasingly available to wider audiences. In order to appeal to such a diverse spectrum of viewers directors use commonplace genres that everyone can relate to. One of these genres is the Bildungsroman or coming of age story. In it the main character is tested through some series of events that in the end matures them. In Fernando Meirelles’ “City of God” we follow the story of Rocket as he grows up in an impoverished town in Brazil. Thefts and violence in the area have scared off any outsiders and the residents do not cooperate with the police making it a safe haven for criminals. Interestingly through the story we get to compare and contrast the differences in Rocket and his brother, Goose. Rocket interests himself with school work and sports while Goose succumbs to the seedy underworld of armed robbery that plaque the streets in the city of god. While this is based off a true story the movie mostly serves to comment on the vicious cycle of poverty, greed, and violence. Through the story of the city of god and more specifically of Rocket we can see the potential that lies in all of us regardless of the obstacles we must overcome to reach our goals.
In the city of god there is much to be desired. In the opening we are introduced to the city as
almost being a third world country amidst a bustling nation (Lins). Residents of the area struggle to scrape a living and provide food for their families. Without a proper education many young men find that the easiest way to get money is to rob and sell drugs. Goose is one of these young men and a member of the “Tender Trio” who, in a Robin Hood fashion steal and give to the inhabitants of the town. Using pistols the three threaten and beat truck drivers and hotel occupants. Rocket admits himself as he narrates that he has wanted to go on these excursions but refrains because he is afraid of being shot. It is curious that he does not fault his morals, but instead offers a more selfish explanation. Rocket is still young and this behavior demonstrates his immaturity. Even as he participates in thieving Goose acknowledges the stupidity of his actions and encourages Rocket to stay focused on school. In a conversation one night in their room Rocket promises his brother he will never use his gun, even if it seems hypocritical at this point Rocket begins to understand that the life of a gangster is not as glamorous as it appears in the slums. His suspicions are proved true after a Goose completes a bad job in a hotel. His comrade, a much younger Lil Ze murders the hotel staff and its occupants. The murders attract the attention of the local police force that then constantly patrols the slums forcing Goose and his companions to quit their criminal activities and hide. Tragically when Goose finds Lil Ze hiding he is shot and killed by his former accomplice. Contrasted with Rocket we get to see the risk and reward that come with the gangster life. In the end Rocket sees his brother succumb to th
e ultimate fate of anyone in the city of god that engages in that lifestyle, death.
Fast forwarding a number of years Rocket has now become a member of the “groovies” a fun loving group who enjoy smoking marijuana and hanging out. Despite avoiding trouble thus far it still lurks around every corner. For a long time Rocket wanted a camera, however without a job there was no way to afford one. Breaking his promise to his deceased brother he takes up a gun and plans to rob people. Even though he knows that this is immoral and wrong Rocket justifies his actions by explaining he will only do it until he can afford a camera. This is evidence that he has yet to mature, a real man would stand for his beliefs instead of making excuses to get around them when convenient (Doctorow). Comically Rocket gets into conversation with each of his prospective victims, claiming afterward to his friend that he could not rob them because they were “too cool.” His quest for a camera did not stop here though. One day while visiting a friend and drug dealer Lil Ze, Goose’s former colleague reappears. Lil Ze is irritated that he is not as well renown as he would like. Upon inquiry he finds that Rocket is a photography enthusiast and employs him to take pictures of his gang, and gives him a camera to use. This marks the beginning of Rockets evolvement. He now has the means to develop a craft and the passion to make it a success.
It is now time that Rocket uses his environment to work him to fuel his career. As the gangsters exploit the locals, selling them drugs, robbing, and killing at will Rocket uses their activities as the 
subject of his photography. When the pictures of Lil Ze and his gang appear in a newspaper Rocket is fearful for his life, lashing out at workers at the paper for using his work. When he reluctantly returns to the city of god he finds that Lil Ze is pleased with his work. The blood thirsty gangster desired notoriety more than anything and reveled in his picture being on the front page. This works heavily in Rockets favor, newspaper reporters are too frightened to enter the city for fear of the gangs. Because Rocket lives there he is offered a job. This is Rockets largest development of the entire movie. For a long time theft and drug sales were the best way for Rocket to make money in the slums (Lins). He had tried the lifestyle once, who is to say in his desperation he would not resort to it again? Now with his camera he has the means to live a stable and responsible life. The plot thickens however when there is a gang war between Lil Ze and another dealer by the name of Carrot. The bloodshed claims many lives and in the end results in the arrest of Carrot, Lil Ze however is robbed by the police and left in the city of god. Rocket, hiding in the shadows records the events with his camera. After the police leave a gang of young children approach and gun down the notorious criminal. This leaves Rocket with an important decision to either publish the photo of Lil Ze’s corpse, thus guaranteeing his job, or he could expose the police corruption in turn making him a lot of money but putting himself in danger 
from the cops. This decision is not unlike the one that plagued his childhood, in one lies security and in the other great reward but with it great risk. In the end he opts to leave police corruption out of the public eye and instead use the picture Lil Ze. It might be argued that this was a cowardly response, ignoring the clear sense of right and wrong. I would call Rocket’s decision responsible, he knows that using the pictures of the cops would only cause more violence and suffering in the city of god. Finally Rocket has a steady job and a sustainable lifestyle built upon his work ethic and not the barrel of a gun. In the end however nothing is changed as the youth walk away from Lil Ze’s body making a black list of people they are going to kill in order to inherit the drug trade.
While commenting on the vicious cycle of poverty, greed, and violence the more important story is told through Rocket. Throughout the movie we see him develop from a hoodlum to a respectable photographer. By staying clear of trouble and focusing on his dream Rocket was able to rise above his surroundings instead using them to his advantage. This applies to kids all over not just living in the city of god. Instead of Lil Ze and the gangs maybe your obstacles are unsupportive parents, or misguiding friends. Whatever the case Rocket should serve as an inspiration to find what truly makes you happy and go for it. Goose always used to say he had to rob because he was not smart, a foolish excuse. Rocket did not make excuses but instead chose to work hard and was rewarded with a proper job and a means to rise out of the slums.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Confusion of Childhood
In many countries, children become adults once they turn a certain age, usually from 18 to 21 years, depending on the country. Becoming an adult is important, for the young adult can now participate in activities previously restricted by society, such as drinking. The reason why society uses age as an indicator of adulthood is because by that age, the child will have experienced enough in his life to develop into a young adult. However, this crucial experience, such as losing a love one, that marks adulthood, may come much earlier than the standard age set by society. This too is a coming of age, and it is different for every child, for his or her experiences are shaped by the environment and situation in which they grew up in. This essay will utilize the Dutch film For a Lost Soldier to examine how the environment and situation of children can affect their development into adults or their coming of age.
For a Lost Solider, written and directed by Roeland Kerbosch, is based on the autobiographical novel of choreographer Rudi van Dantzig, the internationally prominent ballet choreographer. The film starts with famous choreographer Jeroen Boman struggling with his latest work. He recalls a relationship that had a significant effect on his life. He wants his dancers to understand what he is trying to express in a ballet about freedom and liberation. It so happens that his assistant uncovers a photograph which takes Jeroen on a journey back to his youth. “He comes to realize that he must confront what happened between him and Walt so long ago, which he seems to have suppressed and which clearly has left him traumatized” (Thomas).
The majority of the film occurs as a flashback to the year 1944, near the end of World War II during the “Hunger Winter.” At this time, 12 year old Jeroen is among the children sent out of hungry, German-occupied Amsterdam to the northern countryside, relatively untouched by the conflict, to be fostered by a community of fishermen and farmers that has plenty of food. There, headed by a Bible-reading foster father, Jeroen adoptive family treats him with patient kindness, sensitive to his spells of silence and bouts of remoteness.
The war soon ends with the defeat of Nazi Germany. A platoon of American and Canadian soldiers parades through the village in a frail truck and a sputtering Jeep as they liberate the Dutch. This is when Jeroen meets one of the soldiers, Walt, a young, handsome man in his early twenties. The attraction between them is immediate. The two quickly develop a relationship that is far more than normal. For example, instead of dancing with the village ladies, Walt taught Jeroen the Jivebug dance in an intimate way. Soon Walt and Jeroen are sharing a bed and a shower stall, and there is a scene, more implied than explicit, in which Walt appears to have intercourse with Jeroen. Within a few days Walt, along with the platoon, departs the village. Jeroen eventually returns to Amsterdam and later to America where he becomes a ballet choreographer.
When Jeroen family sent him to Friesland, he believes that they no longer wanted to deal with him. He felt “shunted” but in reality, his family only wanted him to avoid the danger of war (Griffin). Jeroen’s emotional distress becomes even worse when he comes to live with his foster family. Hait, his foster father, is a very religious man. Hait believes that God is omniscient and omnipotent and so all of his family activities involve God. The family would strictly pray before every meal, and they would go to church every Sunday. This was not how Jeroen was raised, but he had to participate with his foster family. “Rather than fit in, Jeroen opts for the martyrdom of self- isolation”. Jeroen resents his foster family and feel “alienated” by them. In actuality, his foster family was very patient and kind toward him (Kerbos). It was this growing feeling of loneliness that causes Jeroen to change emotionally.
Leaving his family because of the war and having to live with strangers who he did not understand created confusion for Jeroen. This confusion in his life, of his self worth, and of his identity causes Jeroen to become an isolated person. He hides from the world and hides his emotion. Jan was Jeroen’s best friend, maybe not by choice but because of the circumstance. Jan had come to the village from Amsterdam like Jeroen. Jan was also the only boy Jeroen knew and the only boy that gave him attention. “Jeroen is feeling confused by the first stirrings of a sexuality that is leading him toward [Jan]” (Stone). Jan, however, did not reciprocate the infatuations of Jeroen, and over time Jeroen was able to let go of Jan.
This set up the stage for the young, handsome soldier Walt to come along and replace Jan. For a Lost Soldier portrays Walt almost as an innocence child even though he is a young man in his very early twenties. Walt enters the village along with his troops with a hero welcome. The villagers look at these soldiers that liberated them from the Nazi’s control with a very positive light. Though Jeroen was a bit of a recluse, his feeling for the soldiers was no different from the villagers. To Jeroen, these soldiers ended the war and gave Jeroen the possibility of returning back to Amsterdam and reuniting with his family.
When Walt marched into Jeroen life, Walt gave Jeroen more than just freedom. Walt notice Jeroen almost immediately and something sparks within Jeroen as well. “Their relationship starts as a boy's hero-worship, but it becomes more erotic”. The two quickly become much attached. Walt was Jeroen’s hero, the librator of his country but most importantly the liberator of his spirit. Walt gave Jeroen what he really needed – affection. This affection stems from common ground shared by the both of them. Even though Walt is about 8 years older than Jeroen, Walt is very similar to Jeroen in personality. Walt is like a quiet child who is filled with loneliness. In each other, they find companionship, a “playmate”, someone to fill the void inside their hearts. Walt takes Jeroen under his arms almost literally as he shows Jeroen to drive a jeep, clean a gun, and even do the Jivebug dance.
Connecting the previous paragraphs, the homosexual desire of Jeroen stems from many factors including the environment and situation. The war is the situation that triggers a series of events detrimental to the mental growth of Jeroen. These events include the human suffering from the war, the chaos around his hometown, and the worries of his family. The war also changes the environment for Jeroen. He no longer could live with his family but must go off to live with people he does not know. Living in a strange environment with people he does not understand at only 12 years old, Jeroen becomes confused, lost, and reclusive. He was in a state of despair and yearns for affection of anyone. He first seek this affection from his male friend Jan, but without any indication of a return in feeling, Jeroen becomes even more vulnerable to emotional damage. Jeroen and Walt are “Isolated from their respective families, who meet in the rapidly changing world of a major war. Being away from home-their hearts and minds full of new impressions about sex, life and death-they find what they need there and then: affection (Kerbosch). All this helps to explain why a 12 years old boy would willingly become sexually involve with a man. Ultimately, it were the distress from the war, the departure from Jeroen’s family, and a need to be rescue from loneliness that cause Jeroen to develop a likening to Walt.
Soon, Walt leaves Jeroen, but Walt had already left his mark on Jeroen. Jeroen eventually grow up into an adult and becomes a ballet choreographer, influenced by the dance lesson taught by Walt. Jeroen often gets choreographer’s block when he has to come up with a dance routine dealing with childhood. Even after 40 years, Jeroen is still affected by the events of his childhood.
In conclusion, the environments and situations that children grow up in can affect their coming of age. The film For a Lost Soldier was analyzed to show this claim, and since For a Lost Soldier is based on the real life of famous choreographer Van Datzig, the anylsis has strong credibility. What was found is that dramatic events tend to affect the psyche of a child such as a war. A single distress factor can cause more distress factors to accumulate into a snowball effect. All these negative factors can wreck havoc on the growth into adulthood of a child. Jeroen as the film suggested, becomes a homosexual due to negative consequences of World War II.
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