- Totalitarianism
- Psychological manipulation
- Language as mind control/ use and abuse of language
- Technology
- Control of information and history
- Physical control
- Class system/ wealth of ruling class
- Resistance and revolution
- Political loyalty
- Independence and identity
Thursday, 31 March 2022
1984- George Orwell
Friday, 25 March 2022
I.A.Richards- figurative language and Indian poetics
- Sense- ‘items’ referred to by a writer.
- Feeling- “an attitude towards it, some special direction, bias or accentuation of interest towards it, some personal flavor or coloring of feeling”.
- Tone- writer’s attitude to his readers or audience
- Intention- writer’s aim, which may be conscious or unconscious.
- The scientific use
- Emotive use
- Sense of poetry
- Over- literal reading
- Defective Scholarship
- Difference between the words in poetry and prose
- અભિધા - we consider the direct meaning of the words.
- લક્ષણા - there is no direct meaning, we need to consider secondary meaning.
- વ્યંજના - there is direct meaning but it's not suitable so have to go for secondary meaning.
Monday, 21 March 2022
Worksheet- Movie screening: Waiting for Godot
- Vladimir and Estragon are waiting whole day for Godot. It does not arrive and the falling of night seems falling/ breaking of their hope of Godot coming. And the rising of the moon seems like hope in the dark night which reflects the brighter side and motivates them to wait.
- They both are waiting for the whole day for Godot but Godot doesn't visits and in waiting night falls and sun rises, this also reflects that nature is distinct from human life. Human’s desire or waiting doesn't affect nature; it will continue doing its work.
- The falling of night and rising of moon also indicate the end of waiting or postponement of waiting, for both characters after the whole day. It can be read as the coming of night is a postponement of punishment from daily suffering. The appearance of the moon in the sky signals that the night has come and both should stop waiting now.
- But taking artistic liberty Michael Lindsay Hogg uses Debris in the setting of the film released in 2001. This Debris are read in various ways-
- This debris is placed to indicate the major earthquake arise in Gujarat in 2001.
- It also indicates the post- World war effects in various places.
- We are witnessing the history through Ukraine- Russia war; The photo of debris I have added is debris of Ukraine, exhibiting bomb blasting effects.
- Debris is the unwanted waste which can also be read as nothing is permanent in this world. Something can be most important in life but once it's destroyed it becomes of no use, no permanence.
- It also shows the meaninglessness of the material world; irrationality, meaninglessness, nothingness and pointlessness of life.
Thursday, 17 March 2022
Breath: Interpretation: Shooting a video Challenge
Welcome to my new attempt. This blog is a response to the Video challenge by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. We are assigned to make a video of a self- interpretation on Samuel Beckett’s shortest play ‘BREATH’. Visit sir blog to read in detail and the picturization of the play by other students. [CLICK HERE]
If essence precedes existence, are we doing the task which is decided for us? If existence precedes essence, then is it necessary to find essence?
Samuel Beckett:
Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theater director, poet, and literary translator. A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, he wrote in both French and English. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esllin called the Theater of the Absurd. Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize of Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation"
Play ‘Breath’:
Beckett’s plays are always short but Breath is an unusual brief work. Detailed instructions of the play in the script to be about 35 seconds. The play has no characters, only sound. It was surprising to know that there would be a play of only 30 to 35 secs, which is interpreted in various ways.
My understanding about the original script is how absurd our life is. Life is only in one breath, we are born with close eyes (darkness) and die with close eyes (darkness). Whatever we do in between is just working illogically to gain and achieve something which is absurd at the end of life.
The script of the play:
CURTAIN Up
1. Faint light on stage littered with miscellaneous rubbish. Hold about five seconds.
2. Faint brief cry and immediate inspiration and slow increase of light together reaching maximum - together in about ten seconds. Silence and hold for about five seconds.
3. Expiration and slow decrease of light together reaching minimum together (light as in 1) in about ten seconds and immediately cry as before. Silence and hold about five seconds.
CURTAIN Down
There have been many Adaptations of this play. Click to view filmed version of the play ‘Breath’ on You Tube:
2. Breath - Samuel Beckett by Liana De Jourdan
4. Samuel Beckett Breath (Modern Interpretation)
In Martin Esllin’s introduction to the book Absurd Drama (1965), Esslin wrote:
The Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situation as these writers see it. But the challenge behind this message is anything but one of despair. It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobility, and responsibility; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the Theater of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation. READ MORE ABOUT THEATER OF ABSURD.
My interpretation of the play is:
Absurd theater is A form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development. And I have tried to keep my picturization showing the absurdity of life.
I have tried to be more faithful to the script of the play. Since an accidental birth on this planet we keep on running to achieve something. We all work with the sense of establishment, name and fame. In my picturization, trophies and medals symbolize the achievements of my whole life. No one remembers one lifetime for their achievements. Neither achievements give satisfaction, it grows greed of achieving more and if we can't achieve a grief in heart. In the end of life all these achievements will turn into just a shoe piece. Still we all run for name, fame and achievement. It seems an absurd idea. The cry in the beginning and in the end have been interpreted as cry for achieving and cry of realizing, the happiness of achievements are temporary, respectively.
For the first time I edited a video on the computer. It took around 2 hours and numerous takes for making and selecting the audios for this video. It was a new activity to learn and realize the difficulties a cinematographer, an editor and also a YouTube influencer must be facing in various movies, documentaries, videos etc.
Thank you for visiting. I hope you liked my picturization of play.
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