2. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

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This short story has placed among my favorites, I hardly read any good short story; but I liked this one. Especially, the register of it and the style of the author, Joyce Carol Oates, were honestly perfect. While reading the story, I felt the situation in myself (in my mind); I felt pitty for Connie at the end and a little disgust to Arnold for threatening her. However, his trials of persuading Connie to go out with him did not make me grimace. I think Oates admired me in this way because she used the technique of psychological realism.

In the story, the notable point was the music. Throughout the paragraphes, music was always in the foreground. I know that music is indispensable for everyone on Earth, nobody could lead a life without music. And this story also refreshed me that especially in the teenage period music is also very important to the adolescent. I found Connie's little secret actions with boys around the mall sympathetic. Most of adolescents (think of our adolescence) tend to do such things. Connie's caring about her appearance made me smile, too. Again, from that age on, people start to pay more attention to their physical apperance.

One critic about Connie's sister, June: I did not like June-part of the story. I mean, Oates could also lave out the sister. Nevertheless, she wrote little description of her. That was not so necessary in the story, I think, like Connie's comparison to her sister, either. None of them made me understand the story more in details, to be honest. (I am only talking about the June part, not including the family-part)

And eventually, I can say that the guys in the car are just an imagination of Connie. You know, when you are in a bad mood and stay at home, it could be dangereous enough to cause hallucinations :D, like in the case of Connie. So, my advice is just not to stay at home, get your ass up, go out and call your friends for a walk or coffee when you feel frustrated and depressed. :)

1.The Graduate

I liked the film the Graduate. The main reason for that is that it was shot in 60's. Nowadays I just interest in those years. Anyways..

I actually do not like Holywood movies (especially today ones) ; because they are homogeneous. However, this film differs from them. I think its reason is that it's an old one, in the past more serious/aesthetical movies were produced.

The soundtrack of the movie is great; although one song (Mrs. Robinson) was covered more than one time :D

About generation gap I can say: In life there is always a lack of understanding&empathy among people, so between the youth and the old ones the same thing exists as well. However, I find it alright that a generation gap exists. It is part of being a young and an old one. If you are a parent, than you of course want your kid to have the best; you want them to study, to seek a job etc. On the other hand, the young one'd like to do something else. As a result, such a gap is likely to emerge. However, as I said, I blame nobody for having that gap, more precisely, I do not get angry about Benjamin's dad or about Benjamin himself. I find this situation natural.

I did not see any devaluation of youth in the movie, did I? We should discuss this in the lesson.. I only remember the scene where Benjamin decided to attend the wedding as a guest. There, the receptionists treat Benjamin as if he is only a naiv, young person. Their gestures show their thoughts about the boy clearly. Young people are always seen as naiv and inept(I am not sure whether this adjective goes here..)

I really angry about Benjamin revealing his relationship with Mrs. Robinson to Eileen. That is a bad mistake to make. If you have a secret, you must keep it. It doesn't matter how much you get angry or disappointed. Maybe Benjamin will learn later how to react in such situations, he is unexperienced and knowing-nothnig at this age anyway(!)

The last scene where Benjamin escapes Eileen reminded me of our old Turkish movies. In them, the man also escapes the bride in the last minute and from the wedding-hall :D Besides, if I were Eileen, I wouldn't go with Benjamin. He did not do anything for making Eileen come back to him. However, at the end, she just seems happy to be with him. That is not realistic, I think.

And consequently, Eileen's screams fascinated me a lot :D

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/images/2007/08/13/the_graduate_386x470.jpg

Another Start

This is the day.. Blogging continues. Welcome to my blog for ENG 102.

Dolce Vita!

Boys Don't Cry and About our Presentation

What effected me mostly in this film was that it is based on a real story. That completely changed my attitude toward this film.

In the movie, I liked the setting as well. The film plays in rural area and the producers managed to reflect such area very well; the cowboy hats, the scene where our characers participate in a speed race etc, I liked them.

The worst scene was the last scene but not because it was a crime scene but the crime was not like real. John triggers and Brandon dies but we cannot see any bullet and Brandon bleeds as soon as being shot, although no part of him is wan ounded by the bullet. That was a mistake of the director, I think.

And for my presentation, I researched much (about hate crimes etc) and saw how common such crimes occur. That made me sad.

About our presentation: At first, it began well, Erman started strongly and loudly. We also had the song “Boys don't cry” in the background. Then... We realised that we had been projecting the draft of our slide show! We apologized for our tecnhiqual issues. But that moment, in my opinion, was both shocking and hilarios :)

The Full Monty

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I watched this film when I was a kid.

Recently I have watched it again and liked it one more time.

I felt sorry for the guys who do the full monty. They want to have a better life and offer something better in life to their family/children etc. However, they suffer being unemployed, having not enough money to get or do what they want. This situation leads them to doing a striptease.

I do not blame them for doing that. When a person feels miserable, they could do anything to avoid it. The men in our film have chosen to be strippers, through which they could earn some money for theirl ives. We can discuss whether what they do is indecent or not. I think that it is not indecent. They do their job without hurting something or someone and they have an aim and for this aim they act. If women are removing all their clothing in front of other people and if we do not get angry about it, we also are not allowed to get furious at these 5 men for doing that either.

And what makes their situations acceptable is their love to the people around themselves. They do striptease for them. I think this quotation fits here quite well:

Who can give law to lovers? Love is a greater law to itself. Boethius

The Truman Show

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I have hardly watched films which reflect our mental state well. The Truman Show is one of these films. TV has been stuck into our lives so deeply. We forget sometimes boundaries of our social conscience or of being decent.

Truman Show - What an awful program but at the same time high-ratings-collecting!

When a program that shows us parts from real life airs, we like it. Even people do it who insist in watcing over whether something is good or not.

Audience and especially the producers of the show kill Truman's life. That is unacceptable. Everybody around himself pretends to be something in his life. No real feelings, no sympathetic gestures&mimics - What a life!

Laurenne tries to show the truth to him but she can't make it. What she did shows us how love can effect somebody to do something.

I'm furious at the produceders. They even don't have right to air such a program.

ps. The scene where Truman realizes in his car that things happen in a row repeadately (e.g. the courrier boy etc) is really great, in my opinion.

A woman on a roof

Figure 1. Up on the roof, 2008. Note: Copyright ipquk, (made available under a Creative Commons licence)

First of all, I knew Doris Lessing before we read her story. She has got the Nobel Price in 2007. And I was wondering how she writes, what kind of a writer she is. I saw that she writes plain(in a good sense) and clearly. She says in her story what she wants, what she intends and she does it without, you know, a pretentious register. Her symbols and the dialogues she wrote in the story are quite understandable. I liked her style.

About the story: Three different types of men seem to be perfect to emphasize the situation. Each of them think differently about the half-naked woman and through them we can see three different approach to such a woman. I liked Tom the most because he is 17 and he behaves naivly. The only one who talks with the woman is him. As soon as she showed her resentment at him, he felt depressed! That's a typical mood of a person at that age. I found that very symmpathic. And the gray sky is a good metaphor at the end, I think.

Additionally, I guess that the reaction of the woman could be because of the class of the men. They are workers and women often don't like workers. If the person who peeps were a handsome and rich man, then the woman would be likely not to show her resentment to him, don't you think?