An Open Minded Woman Rooted in Indian Tradition :: Interview Essays

An Open Minded Woman Rooted in Indian Tradition "I don't mind if my parents try to find a boy for me. Arranged marriages are still a common thing in my family. I don't know what my parents will say if I have a boyfriend here and he is from another country. I am sure that they will not adamantly reject it, but they maybe disappointed." What a surprise for me that in the year 2000, there are some people who still undergo arranged marriages. I am thinking that it must be awkward for me to do it, but it is not for Preeti. Preeti Kela, a freshman student at State College, was born and raised in the crowded city of Calcutta. Her long, black, and wavy hair, her caramel skin color, her black eyes, and her facial features make it obvious to others that she is Indian. Her family came from Rajashtan, one of the states in India. It is true that for her family, arranged marriages are not something new. Her older sister went through one last summer. Moreover, Preeti does not mind this tradition as long as her parents give her enough time to get to know the man and feel comfortable with him, and she can decide on her own whether or not to marry him. Although she seems quiet and shy, Preeti is not a close-minded woman and she always expresses her opinion. She is open to new ideas and different cultures. She went to a British Catholic school from the very beginning of her education. She had to learn everything using English. It shows that Preeti opens to new things since her childhood. If she agrees with the tradition of arranged marriage, it does not necessarily mean she just does whatever it says. She told me that once she argued with her mom about the way they pray. Her mom, who is a conservative Hindu, required her to pray in front the idols, read the mantra, and does meditation in the big temple or her family shrine. Preeti likes to pray in her room by herself. For her, it is not necessary to pray in a specific place and read the mantra every time she prays, and it does not need to be in front of the idols.

An analysis of the title sequence of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

I am going to talk about the camera shots and angles for each scene; the different mise-en-scenes and the unusual narrative in the beginning, I will also mention the different typefaces (text) used; the Characters; the language; colours and music The Fresh Prince of Bel-air is a typical American teenage show, with a big multi-media star. The show has been a long-running success and is famous all over the world. I am going to begin this essay by addressing the unusual narrative. This goes on for the whole of the title sequence. It explains the story in RAP (Rhythm And Poetry). It begins off by saying: â€Å"Now this is a story all about how my life got twisted upside down, and I'd like to take a minute so just sit right there and I'll tell you about how I became a prince of a town called Bel-air.† The music is an easy beat to attract all types of teenagers. The first mise-en-scene which is Will Smith who plays the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sitting on a rotating throne with the graffiti wall in the background. The titles and The graffiti are brightly coloured to attract teenagers to the show. The graffiti is also usually very popular to teenagers. A majority of teenagers will also see graffiti in their country as well as America where the show is filmed. The camera angles (high/medium angle) adds meaning to the shot and links the props to the theme. The throne is there to emphasise the phrase Prince and it also represents teenagers thoughts and dreams about being rich. The second mise-en-scene has about ten seconds filming time, in this short scene Will Smith is seen writing graffiti on the wall and the policeman is shaking his baton constantly at him to stop. The directors make the policeman look silly because many teenagers think people with high authority such as policeman can easily be made fun of. The third mise-en-scene is the basketball court scene, in this scene Will Smith is playing basketball when the ball swerved off course and hit some bullies in the head. The camera angle shows the bullies expressions as they approach Will Smith. Will Smiths clothes are bright and colourful and stands out against the bullies black clothes and complexion. The directors made the bullies dress in black to indicate that they are bad people. In the same scene the bullies grab Will Smith and start spinning him around. The camera angle is a high shot, the camera was placed above to make Will look submissive. The fourth mise-en-scene is Will Smith's ugly mother waving her finger at the camera saying† Your moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.† The camera shot was a close up to reflect her expression. The fifth scene is the scene when Will Smith is about to leave for Bel-Air. Will Smith is shown whistling for a cab, the camera is directed at the licence plate which reads ‘FRESH' and the camera is directed back at Will Smith. The yellow American taxi pulls up besides him, he slaps the drivers hand and walks over to the passenger door, climbs in and calls out â€Å"Yo home to Bel-Air!† The last scene is the scene where the taxi pulls up to the Bel-Air mansion and Will climbs out of the taxi and calls to him â€Å"Yo ho smell ya later†. He turns to the Bel-Air mansion and says: â€Å"Looked at my kingdom and I was finally there to settle my throne as the prince of Bel-Air!† This show does target teenagers successfully because the RAP story narrative is what many teenagers will like and take more notice of. The colours are bright and loud not dull and boring to make the audience take more notice. The typefaces(text) are usually in graffiti style writing to attract teenagers to read it and to be more aware of what they are reading. The music throughout the narrative was an easy beat because its fun and easy to listen to. Many teenagers in America listen to RAP/R&B so the music in the beginning is similar to what they would usually listen to. All the mise-en-scenes have a meaning, they show teenagers things they associate with and things they would like to have. All camera angles are positioned to show either: Meaning to an object, Emotion towards the subject or link themes to their backgrounds. This show has been proved to target teenagers successfully because it is now very highly rated by many teenagers.

`` Dream Story `` By Arthur Schnitzler - 1419 Words

Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian novelist and playwright who wrote about lust and infidelity in twentieth century Vienna. His narrative, â€Å"Dream Story†, was first published in 1925. The story tells of a married couple living a comfortable lifestyle. The husband is a thirty-five-year-old doctor. The younger wife is occupied by her responsibilities as wife and mother. In 1999, Stanley Kubrick released Eyes Wide Shut, which is his adaptation of Schnitzler’s â€Å"Dream Story†. In Kubrick’s film, Schnitzler’s protagonists, Fridolin and Albertine, are renamed Bill and Alice Harford. The similarities between Eyes Wide Shut and Schnitzler’s â€Å"Dream Story† is astonishing. The film’s narrative is updated from turn of the century Vienna to present-day New York, however the plot of the novella remains intact. In both stories, a wife tantalizes her husband with erotic reminiscences of her desire and lust for another man. A s a result, the envious, resentful husband sets out on a nightly excursion to try and alleviate his damaged dignity and to fulfill his unsatisfied sexual desires. The plots of both works are approximately the same, with only a few alternations affecting how the audience views the film. Kubrick integrates changes to the novella in order to clarify the film. Thesis? Albertine’s dream in â€Å"Dream Story† is more extensive and detailed than Alice’s dream in Eyes Wide Shut. When Fridolin arrives back home from the orgy, his wife Albertine wakes up from a dream thatShow MoreRelated`` Dream Story `` By Arthur Schnitzler973 Words   |  4 PagesArthur Schnitzler’s piece, â€Å"Dream Story,† constructs the tale of a man’s desire to stray from the norm where he wishes to lose himself and reality. In Schnitzler’s work, there is a loss of mindfulness for modern society in order to explore a more coveted lifestyle full of pleasures. The aut hor’s tactics encompass foreshadowing, symbolism, and figurative language to give a full account on this gentleman’s journey to a warped reality. â€Å"Dream Story† employs the use of symbolism to differentiate theRead MoreStream of Consciousness in Arthur Schnitzler ´s Fraulein Else580 Words   |  2 Pages In Arthur Schnitzler’s novella Frà ¤ulein Else, the stream of consciousness narrative form creates a more in-depth portrait of Else’s mindset and thinking. Even though the narrative may seem contradictory and erratic at first, this is only a result of the more extensive portrayal of her mental process, which includes elements not present in a more conventional narrative. The path of Else’s thoughts is indirect and recursive, but this portrayal of thinking is closer to the actual process of thinking