An Education Film Essay Essay Example for Free

An Education Film Essay Essay Analyse how conflict (either internal or external) was used in a film you have studied to help us better understand a main character. â€Å"Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be, and already are, but don’t know how to be.† An Education directed by Lone Scherfig is a film about coming of age and discovering whom we are. The film is set in the early 1960’s a time ruled by moral code and strong feminist rules. Jenny is the main character who is 16 and aspiring to read English at Oxford. She soon meets playboy David, who seduces her and they fall in love. This relationship lets Jenny see into a whole new world of thrilling and current things. This creates a big internal conflict for Jenny who now must decide what she wants to do with her life. She has three pathways she can choose from, and the characters of Helen, Mrs. Stubbs and Jenny’s mother Marjorie model all of these paths. She must decide if she wants to live an exciting life but is filled with fraud and larceny. She can also living a boring life of teacher marking ‘pony essays’ but also one that has had the purpose of an education and is fulfilling in numerous ways. Jenny can also become a housewife though like her mother Marjorie, this is the most common paths for women in the 1960’s and is a tedious and unfulfilling lifestyle. Jenny is internally conflicted between all three of these paths, because whic hever one she picks will determine the rest of her life. Very early on in the film we are introduced to the character of Helen, she is an affluent person and lives an abundant life style of which many people in the 1960’s would be jealous. She has the privilege of lavish clothes, attending fabulous concerts, going to art auctions, eating in Michelin star restaurants and traveling the world. This is the life Jenny wants to live. Jenny is able to access this life style through David; he opens her up to all sorts of new possibilities. When we first meet Helen at the concert in Saint James Square we can tell the Jenny is in awe of Helen. Jenny strokes Helens velvety fur cape, admiring the fine piece of clothing. Jenny asks Helen â€Å"it is beautiful, where did it come from?† Helen being very wealthy probably has many coats and beautiful clothes like this and so simply replies â€Å"oh South Ken somewhere.† The area Helen is talking about is South Kensington and is one of the wealthiest areas of London. This is the kind of area that Jenny wouldn’t have been able to afford anything from so when Helen suggests to her that they should go shopping together there and that David can pay, Jenny is a little taken back because something so luxurious and exorbitant shouldn’t come so easily. Jenny realises that this life can become possible if she sticks with David. There is no need for her to attend Oxford to have a fun and fulfilling life. With David she can live Helen’s life, where she can go to France; her escape in life â€Å" I want to be French. She wouldn’t have to deal with her parents, school and Oxford. With David she is not confined in her life, she can do whatever she wants. Jenny must make a decision as to whether she wants to stay with David and to continue living this exciting lifestyle or to continue on the path of life she had originally planned out for her life in Oxford and one of an Education. Jenny must remember that â€Å"when life’s path is steep to keep your mind open† Jenny is focused on David in the movie because she thinks it is what she wants. We must all keep be level minded when we are making decisions, Lone Scherfig has alerted this too the audience that these choices we make are important and they will leave a mark on us forever. Mrs. Stubbs is a very influential person in Jenny’s life. Mrs. Stubbs life could foreshadow one that Jenny might live if she gets an education at Oxford. Mrs. Stubbs is Jenny’s English teacher, and she studied at Cambridge. Cambridge is a very prestigious school, which is very similar to Oxford. Both schools hold high reputation and only the elite and highly respected can attend these two schools. Judging from the lifestyles of the female role models around her, Jenny’s future can be narrowed down to two options; housewife or a secretary if she doesn’t get an education. In order to avoid those to paths in life, Jenny’s caring but overly concerned parents Jack and Marjorie and Mrs. Stubbs forcefully suggest an education at Oxford. In order to market herself as a valuable candidate, Jenny must ace English, Latin, French (hence the title), and show cultural breadth (her â€Å"hobby† is the cello). Yet, if all goes according to plan, Jenny will meet a similarly cultured wealthy man and will no longer need to do any of those things. The irony, of course, is that an Oxford education is simply a means of making the bait more alluring. Jenny comes to this realisation early into Scherfig’s film and asks the question â€Å"Why must I attend Oxford when I could easily take a shortcut and reach the same inevitable conclusion by attending the school of life? I’d have a lot more fun.† David is a shortcut past Oxford and is also a lot more entertaining and fun. Jenny must open her mind up to the possibilities that Oxford and an education can grant her. She must again keep her mind open; sometimes the path that is not as clear is often the better choice. As the viewer we want Jenny to go to Oxford and we can see how her decision will make a last imprint on her. We want her to attend and it makes us reflect on all those important decisions we have all had to make in our lives. In order to market herself as a valuable candidate, Jenny must ace English, Latin, French (hence the title), and show cultural breadth (her â€Å"hobby† is the cello). Yet, if all goes according to plan, Jenny will meet a similarly cultured wealthy man and will no longer need to do any of those things. The irony, of course, is that an Oxford education is simply a means of making the bait more alluring. Jenny comes to this realisation early into Scherfig’s film and asks the question â€Å"Why must I attend Oxford when I could easily take a shortcut and reach the same inevitable conclusion by attending the school of life? I’d have a lot more fun.† David is a shortcut past Oxford and is also a lot more entertaining and fun. Jenny must open her mind up to the possibilities that Oxford and an education can grant her. She must again keep her mind open; sometimes the path that is not as clear is often the better choice. As the viewer we want Jenny to go to Oxford and we can see how her decision will make a last imprint on her. We want her to attend and it makes us reflect on all those important decisions we have all had to make in our lives. In order to market herself as a valuable candidate, Jenny must ace English, Latin, French (hence the title), and show cultural breadth (her â€Å"hobby† is the cello). Yet, if all goes according to plan, Jenny will meet a similarly cultured wealthy man and will no longer need to do any of those things. The irony, of course, is that an Oxford education is simply a means of making the bait more alluring. Jenny comes to this realisation early into Scherfig’s film and asks the question â€Å"Why must I attend Oxford when I could easily take a shortcut and reach the same inevitable conclusion by attending the school of life? I’d have a lot more fun.† David is a shortcut past Oxford and is also a lot more entertaining and fun. Jenny must open her mind up to the possibilities that Oxford and an education can grant her. She must again keep her mind open; sometimes the path that is not as clear is often the better choice. As the viewer we want Jenny to go to Oxford and we can see how her decision will make a last imprint on her. We want her to attend and it makes us reflect on all those important decisions we have all had to make in our lives. The final route Jenny can take is one of the most common paths young women in the 1960’s take and that is to become a housewife and mother. This path requires no education apart from how to cook, clean and sew. These three things are all taught at school along with dancing and posture. These are all qualities a good housewife needs to make their husband look first class and not themselves. In the very opening scenes of the movie we see a montage of shots that exhibit the young girls in the 1960’s learning these qualities. This opening scene illustrates to the audience the traditional expectations of young women. This kind of education the women are getting is to set them up to be wives, to be like Marjorie. Jenny however is different to the other girls. Her education will not stop her hopefully but instead it will continue on at Oxford. One of the most important scenes shown in the movie is when Jenny comes home after being out for the night with David for the first tim e. When we see Marjorie in this shot we can see her through the kitchen door trying to clean a casserole dish. Marjorie is completely framed inside her world. By marrying Jack it has trapped inside this world, there is no fun parties or lavish concerts, instead she is a housewife, â€Å"and I cant get this casserole dish clean. We had hot-pot tonight, and its all burnt round† Jenny is confused though as â€Å"its twenty-five to twelve. We finish tea at seven.† Jenny soon realises that this is a life you get trapped in, and once you enter into it there isn’t any escape. Jenny is different from the other girls at school she is smart. She will not become a housewife and we can see how fantastic it is to stand out and be different. With this comes choice though resulting in hard decisions. Jenny is forced to make one and as the viewer Lone Scherfig has positioned us to see how all the choices we make in our lives will and can affect us. Jenny is forced to make a difficult decision, and she is conflicted between what she wants to do in life. At this stage in her life she can has to choose between becoming her mother, Helen or Mrs. Stubbs. With decisions comes conflict and Jenny is internally conflicted with all of these options. Lone Scherfig has effectively made the audience look back on all of the decisions we have had to make in our lives and how they have shaped us into who we are today. Our paths should lead us all to a goal and desire. We can only know this when â€Å"if youre walking down the right path and youre willing to keep walking, eventually youll make progress.†

Bram Stokers Dracula :: Dracula Essays

Bram Stoker's Dracula         Ã‚  Ã‚   The setting of the story begins in 19th century Europe, in the eerie country of Transylvania.   A solicitor from England named Jonathan Harker is sent by a business man to meet with an old Count named Dracula at his castle located far from civilization.   Residents of Transylvania who become aware of his destination begin crossing themselves and giving him garlic and blessings.   As a result of these gestures, Mr. Harker soon develops an uneasy feeling about visiting the mysterious Count.   He arrives at Castle Dracula regardless, and makes his acquaintances with Dracula.   He soon realizes that the count is no normal human, but an evil, blood-sucking vampire, who can command animals and elements with the wave of his hand. Harker escapes but the Count has devised an intricate plan to move to London and exercise his evil forces on innocent people there.   However, a group of friends, including an open-minded but ingenious professor, a psychologist, an American, a rich man, as well as Jon an Harker and his wife Mina, learn of the Count's sinister plan and pledge to destroy him before he can create an army of un-dead vampires.   They systematically destroy his coffins with holy wafers and chase him out of England back to Castle Dracula.   There they carry out an ultimate plan to destroy Dracula.      Ã‚  Ã‚   The Author uses suspense as a storytelling device rather effectively throughout the story.   There are a fair number of parts in which the reader is left suspended on the edge of   seat, eager to find out what is to happen next.   However, there were parts where suspense could be used in a manner that would enhance the gravity of the plot.   Nonetheless, The book is written in a unique way that allows suspense to be used easily and effectively built up.   Dracula is written in first person like many other novels but then it differs slightly.   The book starts off as a first person Journal of the first character describing his experiences.   But then it switches to someone else's journal, and then to letters between two characters, and later to a newspaper article.   It follows this pattern

Premarital Sex Essay

Premarital  sex  is  something  which  almost  everyone  knows  about. Some  proudly  proclaims that they engage in  while others do it  secretly. However, there are  still some who do it but are unaware of such term. Different people view it differently: for some it’s acceptable  while  for  some  it’s  a  big  sin. At  present,  there  is  n  increasing  amount  of  discussions in newspaper and magazines in which various things attributed to premarital sex are discussed. It is said that the  Philippines is facing this persistent challenge about premarital intercourse. Since sex is involved, this is certain to produce a number of strong reactions. Nevertheless, it is important to be careful in making such reactions. Sex is an intimate act between individuals which includes genital contact ( Baumer  and South, 2001). Accordingly, it was designed for married couples to enjoy, hence the famous quote: â€Å"True love waits until marriage. † The norms of Philippine society say that it is not normal or it is immoral to engage in premarital sex, but despite this, people just cannot wait until they get wedded. This accounts for the prevalence of premarital sex in the country. At present, one can say that it’s normal to know people who had sex already. But what’s alarming is the rapid growth of the number of people who had sex before marriage . Different researches show the rise of this number. In the last century, only a few, if not zero, gave themselves to premarital sex. This information if compared to present data would give an  overwhelming  difference. Statistics  in 2008  showed that  premarital sex  was prevalent in30% of  the Filipinos. This figured is  actually small  when compared to  western countries. In the USA, 75% of the women would say that they already experienced premarital sex when they  reached  the  age  of  nineteen. However,  it  would  not  seem  right  to  compare  a  less developed country like the Philippines to far way more urbanized and liberal countries in the west. The figure 30% is, in fact, a very high number, taking to account the nature of Filipinos. Nevertheless, these data only show that attitudes towards sex have changed dramatically over  the past years

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