Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Hercules on Roger Young’s Miniseries Essay Example for Free

Hercules on Roger Young’s Miniseries Essay The most obvious difference of the animated film from the original Greek myth of Hercules is that the dreadful factors of his origins were revised and some components of modern day popular culture were utilized. According to Royalty. nu (n. d. ), Hercules was born to Alcmene, wife of Amphityron, but fathered by the Greek God Zeus. Zeus deceived Alcmene into thinking that he was Amphitryon on a night when the real Amphitryon was away. Hera, Zeus’ wife loathed Hercules and tried several times to try and kill Hercules, much unlike in the animated film, where Hera as Hercules’ mother doted on him. The animated film focused on Hercules’ early life; the famous ten labors of Hercules and the other half of his life was not included. The circumstances of the Greek myth characters like Megara, Zeus, Hera, Aphitryon, Alcmene and the rest included in the film were greatly modified to fit the storyline of the animated film. Apart from that Hercules’ twin brother, Iphicles was excluded in the storyline. Greek mythology portrays Hercules as a character with â€Å"low intelligence and terrible temper†(Royalty. nu, n. d. ). Although there was much difference from the original Greek myth, Hercules’ character as half-man half-god hero with weaknesses was still portrayed. Hercules’ character in the animated film was a bit naive but he was not quick to loose his temper. Audiences were also given a taste of Hercules’ famous battles with calamities and creatures. According to FilmAffinity (n. d. ), this Hercules miniseries is about â€Å"the gifted child born of a blood greater than mortal who would become the most powerful of all gods†. Roger Young’s miniseries starts with how Hercules was conceived. Similar to the Greek myth, the dissolute God Zeus deludes the Princess of Thebes, Alcmene, into thinking that he is the princess’ husband, Amphitryon, and then forces himself on Alcmene on a night where the princess was awaiting her husband’s return. When Alcmene gives birth to twin boys, Hercules and Iphicles, Alcmene and Amphitryon are perplexed on which baby is fathered by Zeus and whose is Amphitryon. They later realize that Hercules is Zeus’ son when he kills the snakes with his bare hands an infant. Hercules develops into a lumbering young man, â€Å"rejected by his mother, envied by his brother Iphicles and loathed by Zeus’ wife Hera† (FilmAffinity). Similar to the Greek myth while Alcmene reserves no love for Hercules, he grows up with Amphitryon doting on him and teaching him. Hercules then falls for Megara but was rejected. Their brief connection results to a child. When he lost his temper and accidentally hurt his teacher Linus during a class, Amphitryon sends far away to be taught under the care and instruction of a centaur, Kiron. Hercules becomes an agile adult and more capable to handle his great strength. He then was married to Megara after he helps the king from the creature Hydra. Megara and her sons, turn out to be â€Å"tools of the vengeful Hera, plotting against him and initiating events that lead to his banishment from his people† (FilmAffinity). To atone the punishment that he deserved in killing his own children, Hercules agrees when he was given difficult challenges which were set out to destroy him. With his ally Linus, he travels the Stymphalian Swams to the River styx of the underworld, faced with challenges and monstrous creatures that was arranged to kill him. Hercules willingly continues on this journey that afterward made him a â€Å"legend on Earth and achieve immortality in the heavens† (FilmAffinity). With the storyline of the miniseries, it was clear that the filmmakers focused on the raging politics between the noble mortals and their want of power and control. It is important to note that this miniseries was one of the few productions that embarked on Hercules true conception with regards to the original Greek myth. Hercules’ character of recklessness and short temper was portrayed true to the original Greek myth during his younger adult days. There were slight alterations unto how certain events happened to the characters but the miniseries was in a way loyal to the Hercules’ myth. For example, Hercules develops a more profound thinking later on the miniseries but there was no hint of that according to the Greek Myth. The Gods Hera and Zeus were not given much attention during the miniseries and only appeared briefly. The supposed raging battle between Hera and Zeus was implied but not shown comprehensively. In conclusion, both films were individual depictions of Hercules’ character as the legendary Greek hero. Each film represented the filmmakers approach on representing a storyline associated with Hercules’ myth. Disney may have chosen to emphasize more on Hercules’ journey to his fate in a more conducive way that was appealing since their audiences are young people. Roger Young’s miniseries took more of a similar likeness to the original myth although alterations were made on how events were played because the storyline demanded that it be so.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Hidden Class Struggle in John Updikes A&P :: A&P Essays

The Hidden Class Struggle in Updike’s A & P Two Works Cited In John Updike’s "A & P," Sammy is accused of quitting his job for childlike, immature reasons. Nathan Hatcher states, "In reality, Sammy quit his job not on a matter of ideals, but rather as a means of showing off and trying to impress the girls, specially Queenie" (37), but Sammy’s motive runs much deeper than that. He was searching for a sense of personal gain and satisfaction. By taking sides with the girls, he momentarily rises in class to meet their standards and the standards of the upper-class. Sammy was obviously near the bottom of the class ladder, a place where he was extremely unhappy. His dead-end job at the grocery store, where lower class citizens are the prime patrons, was not a place he felt he belonged. He wanted to be a member of the family where the "father and the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big glass plate and they were all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them" (Updike 1028). Sammy realizes that Queenie comes from this sort of background, a very different one from his. When Queenie is being harassed by Lengel, Sammy sees that "she remembers her place, a place from which the crowd that runs the A & P must look pretty crummy" (Updike 1028). Queenie’s family was in the class that he envied, that he admired, that he wanted to become a part of. So Sammy quits his job to prove to himself, maybe to others, that he belongs in this "place." Quitting his job is his first step in achieving this goal. Sammy was obviously enthralled by the girls from the moment they walked in the A & P. He was not keen on the other two girls, but Queenie overwhelmed him. He may have even taken a liking to Queenie, but any average, nineteen-year old male would do the same after witnessing such striking beauty as is described. On the other hand, the average male would not quit a job and create such turmoil if first impression was the only cause. How interested could he actually be? In trying to figure out Queenie’s persona, he asks, "do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?

Monday, January 13, 2020

Coppola Film Style Essay

Francis Ford Coppola has produced many films over his career. Two of his films that have become very popular are The Godfather and Apocalypse Now! Coppola uses many of the same elements in his films. In particular he uses cross cutting, close ups, non-simultaneous sound, the element of innocence, and the importance of the music. By looking at The Godfather and Apocalypse Now! these elements are clearly represented. The element of cross cutting is used in The Godfather in the baptism scene. While Michaels niece is in the church and the priest is going over his vows of becoming her godfather the camera cuts between the killing of all the heads of the other mafia families. In Apocalypse Now! cross cutting is used when Wilard is killing Captin Kurtz. While Wilard is killing Kurtz the camera cuts between their blood bath in the temple to the religious ceremony outside that the Vietnamese are sacrificing what appears to be a water buffalo. Non-simultaneous sound is used in Apocalypse Now! when the American army is flying into a small Vietnamese village. The camera is focused on a small schoolhouse and in the background the sound of helicopter propellers spinning can be heard. As the helicopters near the village the kernel turns on an instrumental piece by Beethoven, which is supposed to scare the villagers. Another example of non-simultaneous sound is used in Apocalypse Now! when Wilard gets off the boat at the last spot before he enters Cambodia. The voice of a Vietnamese man can be heard shouting slurs at the Americans but the camera does not show him. One of the soldiers shoots in the direction where the voice is coming from and then there is nothing but silence. Even though the man is not shown the sound implies that he is dead. During the baptism scene in The Godfather non-simultaneous sound is used as well. As the heads of the families are being killed the voices from the church can be heard as Michael is accepting his vows of becoming the godfather. Footsteps echo through a separate hallway from the church as the camera focuses in on the alter at the church. Innocence is represented in The Godfather through Micheals character. In the beginning of the film he is completely separate from the ‘family business’.  He does not want anything to do with it. As the film continues on his father’s life is put in danger and he is almost killed. Michael stays by his side and protects him. By his actions of protecting his father he is inducted into the ‘family business’. Which results him in becoming the new head of his family. By becoming the godfather Michael looses his innocence because he has to kill people and participate in illegal activities. In Apocalypse Now! the element of innocence is represented by a small puppy. As Wilard and his crew are floating down the river in their boat they come across a Vietnamese family on a boat. They pull up alongside it and Wilard orders Cook to go inspect the boat to see if they are stowing any weapons on board. The woman on the boat made a quick movement and Wilard and his crew got scared and started shooting everywhere resulting in the death of the family that was on the boat. After the shooting stopped Cook realized that she was just trying to protect her little puppy that she had kept hidden. One of the other crew members decides to take the puppy on to their own boat and bring it along for the rest of their journey. The importance of score is represented in Apocalypse Now! while Cook is sitting on the boat and starts to make the radio call to bomb the area where Kutrz is staying. In the background the sound of drums are used to simulate the steps of feet approaching the boat. Another example is when the helicopters are flying into the Vietnamese village; the captain blasts a Beethoven song. The song ties into the scene perfectly because the composer is known to be very racist and while the song is playing the captain calls out many racial slurs. In The Godfather an example of useful score is when the film producer of a new movie is laying in bed and as the camera pans up to where he is sleeping the music in the background get louder and louder. When the producer wakes up he is covered in blood and he starts to scream which then turns into the baby in the mafia family crying. The element of close ups is another common element used by Coppola. In the Apocalypse Now! many close ups are used on Wilards face and eyes. These close ups are used to convey the emotions he has and to show how war is effecting his character. The intensity of Kurtz is also shown through the use of close ups. In the scene where he drops Cooks head in Wilards lap is  an excellent example of this. Kurtz approaches Wilard and the camera focuses on the expression on his face, Kurtz shows no emotion and just stares straight into the cameras eyes, he appears to be almost inhuman. Close ups are used in The Godfather to accentuate the importance of family as well as close ups on hands. The symbol of hands was to show that their family was in control of everything that happened. No one could deny them because all they would need to do is â€Å"make them an offer they couldn’t refuse.† The close ups to show the importance of family played through out the entire movie because their main goal was to keep business and family separate. Francis Ford Coppola used many common elements in his films such, cross cutting, close ups, non-simultaneous sound, the element of innocence, and the importance of the music. By watching The God Father and Apocalypse Now! these elements are clearly represented. Coppola has a clear film style that cannot be argued to exclude the elements of cross cutting, importance of music, close ups, and innocence. In any of his films one or more of these elements are used.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Astronomy 101 - Learning About Stars

Astronomers are often asked about objects in the cosmos and how they came to be. Stars, in particular, fascinate many people, particularly because we can look out on a dark night and see so many of them. So, what are they? Stars are massive shining spheres of hot gas. Those stars you see with your naked eye in the night sky all belong to the Milky Way Galaxy, the huge system of stars that contains our solar system. There are around 5,000 stars which can be seen with the naked eye, though not all stars are visible at all times and places. With a small telescope, hundreds of thousands of stars can be seen. Larger telescopes can show millions of galaxies, which can have upwards of a trillion or more stars. There are more than 1 x 1022 stars in the universe (10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). Many are so large that if they took our Suns place, they would engulf Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Others, called white dwarf stars, are around the size of Earth, and neutron stars are less than about 16 kilometers (10 miles) in diameter. Our Sun is about 93 million miles from Earth, 1 astronomical Unit (AU). The difference in its appearance from the stars visible in the night sky is due to its close proximity. The next closest star is Proxima Centauri, 4.2 light-years (40.1 trillion kilometers (20 trillion miles) from Earth. Stars come in a wide variety of colors, ranging from deep red, through orange and yellow to an intense white-blue. The color of a star depends on its temperature. Cooler stars tend to be red, while the hottest ones are blue. Stars are classified many ways, including by their brightness. They are also divided into brightness groups, which are called magnitudes. Each star magnitude is 2.5 times brighter than the next lower star. The brightest stars now represented by negative numbers and they can be dimmer than 31st magnitude.   Stars - Stars - Stars Stars are primarily made of hydrogen, smaller amounts of helium, and trace amounts of other elements. Even the most abundant of the other elements present in stars (oxygen, carbon, neon, and nitrogen) are only present in very small quantities. Despite the frequent use of phrases like the emptiness of space, space is actually full of gases and dust. This material gets compressed by collisions and blast waves from exploding stars, causing lumps of matter to form. If the gravity of these protostellar objects is strong enough, they can pull in other matter for fuels. As they continue to compress, their internal temperatures rise to the point where hydrogen ignites in thermonuclear fusion. While the gravity continues pulling, trying to collapse the star into the smallest possible size, the fusion stabilizes it, preventing further contraction. Thus, a great struggle ensues for the life of the star, as each force continues to push or pull. How Do Stars Produce Light, Heat, and Energy? There are a number of different processes (thermonuclear fusion) which make stars produce light, heat and energy. The most common happens when four hydrogen atoms combine into a helium atom. This releases energy, which is converted to light and heat. Eventually, most of the fuel, hydrogen, is exhausted. As the fuel begins to run out, the strength of the thermonuclear fusion reaction declines. Soon (relatively speaking), gravity will win and the star will collapse under its own weight. At that time, it becomes what is known as a white dwarf. As the fuel further depletes and reaction stops all together, it will collapse further, into a black dwarf. This process can take billions and billions of years to complete. Toward the end of the twentieth century, astronomers began to discover planets orbiting other stars. Because planets are so much smaller and fainter than stars, they are difficult to detect and impossible to see, so how do scientists find them? They measure tiny wobbles in a star’s motion caused by the gravitational pull of the planets. Although no Earth-like planets have been discovered yet, scientists are hopeful. Next lesson, well take a closer look at some of these balls of gas.