There are several ways to understand the Australia movie poster in terms of Australianness. Australia is a
multi-cultural nation with the diverse culture and natural scenery (Craig,
2004). However, the story of Australia also is accompanied by cruel warfare and
the competition. The aboriginal people were treated by British colonists unfair
and contemptible during the long period of Australian history. This essay will
initially analyze the Australia movie poster and illustrate the inequalities
and exploitable implication in gender, class, historic event within the
imagined community that the poster igneous. However, the limitation of
this essay will also exist due to the length of the essay.
Gender is one important factor of this movie. Woman
always are seen as the vulnerable group in modern society and also in Australia. The poster ultimately represents
men as trying to protect the high class English lady. Although there is an
atmosphere of desolation and sadness in the poster, the expression of media is
well understood by audiences, women may found strong determination and
aspiration to keep striving in the war. Bowles (2010, P51) state that because
the image of the movie “could-and should-do a better job of representing social
real, precisely because they have the capacity to affect the way people think
and behave.”
Even though the imaginary culture of Australian
egalitarianism regards different classes as equals, the social political and
economic inequality of classes still occurs nowadays. Obviously, viewers could
notice the status is different between the British noble lady and the average
workman seen in the Australian movie poster. The British colonist and new
migrants brought with the new opinions about how society should be controlled,
since then the working class was treated unfairly (Elder, 2007, p54). However,
the globalization of the culture and economy has changed labor conditions. Ultimately,
Elder (Elder, 2007, p40) report that “Australian egalitarianism could be used
to challenge inequality within the nation”.
The Australia movie poster described the story during World
War II, meanwhile, the aboriginal people are treated very cruelly and they cannot
hold their own rights. On the one hand, the poster represents the same meaning
that the indigenous people are humble in Australian society, the aboriginal
person stand under the white people and seems like so small in the whole
poster. It is also approved that the “stolen generation” is not an essential
part of Australia probably and audiences maybe not interested in this section
of all the film (McKee, 2003). On the other hand, eventually, the aboriginal
people also accept the federal governments’ apology recent years, the
unification of the nation become more peaceful than before.
Furthermore, the poster demonstrates a important aspect of Australianness: nationalism. The meaning
of nationalism belongs to imagined communities; Anderson (2006, p7) came up
with this distinguished theory: “it is imagined as a community, because, regardless
of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation
is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship”. The nationalism is a
kind of cultural phenomenon. The main point of Australia poster illustrate the
development of nation states help to unify people until now, the Australian
citizens hang together and no matter what the color they are or what the faith
they have, they fought to the finish.
To sum up, the Australia movie poster represents a
romantic love story between the white upper class British lady and the working
class drover during the time of war and various visual technique are used to tranced
inequalities in gender, status, history and culture of nationalism.
The Chinese movie “Lost in Beijing” is produced and
designed mainly by director Li Yu, who is good at to represent the reality and
dark side of Chinese modern society. The storyline just as the name of the
movie “Lost” and emphasized on the individuals that living in the lower status
of the social structure and too normal to break through the shackles of
impoverished living conditions.There are some specific plots could be easily
neglected but very important to represent many citizens in different social
status and completely distinct life style in China capital and biggest city
Beijing. For instance, the scene of “touching Buddha” appeared twice, first
time is when boss Lin and his wife and all their friends were gathering
together and played the poker, second time is when Liu Ping-guo got drunk with
her workmate friend Xiao Mei due to Xiao Mei was fired. For the boss and her
wife, touching Buddha means they want to get better fortune and earn more
illegal money when they gambling. In the contrast, the individuals who living
in the lower status, like Ping-guo and Xiao Mei, they have no choice to chose
what they want but only have to accept inequitable social rules.
The second point cannot be ignored is the symbol of
virginity. In the movie, the conversation between Ping-guo and Xiao Mei on a
bridge that Xiao Mei told Ping-guo someone wants to date with her and get her.
Therefore, she needs to become the “virgin” again and Ping-guo suggested buying
the fake “virginal membrane”. The viewers could find the metonymy from this
plot depicted that traditional Chinese thinking still shaped the society in the
obvious area. Most Asian countries same as China are patriarchy
social structures in the historical background. Therefore, women are difficult
to assert their own rights or against the unfair distribution of income and
status. So that women used to obey the control and power of men, such as Liu
Ping-guo argued with her boss about the rape, but she finally reached a compromise
that she promise not to tell anybody this thing due to the boss made fired
threats to her. Moreover, she also disputed with her husband An Kun about
children issues that she did not wants the baby, nevertheless, she still cannot
insisted her own ideas eventually.
Moreover, it is diverse opinions that could compare
with two previous film reviews about “Lost in Beijing”. Wilkinson (20007)
described the theme of film straightly “Like many cities filled with bustling
commerce, it is also filled with the lost and lonely, struggling to get by.” It
is so true that due to individuals are easily lost themselves when living in
the heart of the metropolis. Because the majority of those people that appeared
in the movie, mainly from rural area or under-developed regions in China, they
never know the reality of urban areas and how dangerous it is. They leave their
hometown and come into the one of the most developed cities in China without
own house and relationships only for one reason: money. Also because of high
price of houses and commodities, many individuals attempt to do anything that
they could earn the money. Meanwhile, the construction of city will become more
prosperous. In contrast, more potential risks in morally and financially will
be arisen through the process of advancing. Rural people hardly acclimatize themselves
to new social environment and regular circle rapidly.
Furthermore, the views between Wilkinson and another
film review’s author Scott, who was emphasized on the theme of relationship
reduced to transactions in the city are very different. On the one hand, Scott
considered that the narrative meaning of the film “offers both the pleasures
and the limitations of old-fashioned class-conscious pulp” and “the director
and her cast work in a rough style”. On the other hand, Wilkinson glorified
that the “acting is uniformly excellent, with the stars eloquently exploring
the concept of being lost from different perspectives – from An Kun’s
materialism to Lin Dong’s emotional vacuum.” Different authors focus on
different angle to review the film, Scott paid more attention to the surface
plots and technology skills. The films represent the social reality in details
even though it is seems like old-fashioned and too natural, however, it is
precisely because the naturalistic shooting skills that shocked viewers mind
through most realistic methods. In addition, Wilkinson noticed the profound
signification through the psychological analysis about the characters. He came
up with “An Kun’s materialism” and “Lin Dong’s emotional vacuum”. Neither of
them achieved their aims finally, the baby is the storyline but also the reason
lead to tragedy ending for both of them. An Kun wants money but he cannot leave
his child instinctively due to the fact that he is the born father at all. Lin
Dong always dreamed has own baby and the sudden surprised news filling his
whole life again. Both of them could not reveal their own real inner world to
themselves.
In other words, they lost themselves, from such complicated
circumstance.
The criticized opinion from Scott is “the film’s emotional
tone is blurry”. All the while, the clearly emotional tone really runs through
the movie. Chinese films are good at to pretend the strong emotion and show it
through silent face-to-face and cry or loud argument between two main
characters. Chinese films and most Asian movies as well, are totally different
with westerns. The former always focus on an indirect way of expressing emotion
without visual impact, such as metonymy, audience would easily understand the
meaning by associated with other plots. However, the latter is enthusiastic
about represent the emotion through direct and straight ways. Besides,
Wilkinson argued that “while the dense plotting of the film, means it feels a
little slow in parts – and could perhaps have done with a trim for length
rather than unsuitable content.” In the film, there are many scenes about the
normal people and their daily life, some are living in the lower status in the
society and grab the rubbish for a living, and some are taking the extremely
crowded train to their companies, some are living in the wealthy dreaming life
with lonely inner world. Everyone in the capital city have their own goals and
different life styles, sometimes they lost, but sometimes they could wake up
immediately and keep striving for their future. All of these scenes
demonstrated that how the citizens living authentic life in Beijing though the
director mainly depicted in the dark side.In conclusion, “Lost in Beijing” mostly described the inequitable
social rules and relations between individuals who living in the lower status
and middle or upper status. The rights and power always controlled by the rich
one and it seems difficult to keep balance between the extreme poor and wealth.
Although many kinds of problems still existing in the contemporary modern
society, the strong faithful about future will walk through streams of “Lost”
and emerge unscathed.
Vampire Academy is another YA book made movie, and with other movies in the same genre its either a hit or miss. Misses being Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (2010) and The Mortal Instruments (2013) while blockbuster hits being The Hunger Games (2012) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). Everyone, including myself, was skeptical about this movie, especially involving vampires.
Vampire Academy is set in a reality where there are 3 different kind of vampire species: Moroi: Vampires who live of the blood of humans - only drink to feed, not kill. They can control one of the four elements (earth, air, fire, water), and in some rare cases, the element of spirit. Stogoi: Immortal vampires who have turned evil from the act of killing a human. They cannot stand the sun light, unlike the Moroi, and seek to destroy them. Dhampir: The children of Moroi and humans. Being half vampire, they are incredibly strong and powerful. They do not feed off blood and can stand the sun. They are the protectors of the Moroi from the Strogoi.
The movie is centred around a Moroi princess, Lissa, and her shadow-kissed best friend, Rose. Within minutes we discover that they are bonded by unknown means, allowing Rose to unintentionally access Lissa's mind - seeing and feeling what she does. The pair have ran away from their boarding school St. Vladimir's Academy, and have been living under the radar for the past year together. Their year abroad comes to an end, when they are caught by dhampir guardians, tasked to locate Rose and Lissa, and to bring them back to the academy.
Rose Hathaway and Lissa Dragomir.
Just because St. Vlad's is a 'vampire academy' doesn't exclude the traits for your everyday American high school. Like any other, there is a social hierarchy with cliques who rule the school. I loved the fact that it had the structure of a regular high school, with bitchy mean girls, weird nerdy girls, hot boys etc. Being a princess didn't automatically ascend Lissa to the top of the feeding frenzy. She had the label of orphan, loosing her parents and brother in a tragic car accident two years prior. Unable to claim an element also set her up to be tormented by her peers.
Rose however, is a force to be reckoned with and is known amongst both moroi and dhampir students as the best guardian-in-training. She has a sharp tongue that is ready to attack anyone who stands in her or Lissa's way. Being bold and reckless does lead to her to trouble, especially when protecting Lissa. Being away for a year has set Rose back compared to the other dhampir students. Because of this, Rose has to take personal lessons with Guardian Dimitri Belikov, who is 'a god', known for killing six strogoi. Rose and Dimitri bond during their lessons and soon there is an obvious attraction between he two.
Dimitri and Rose during their private lessons.
Threats within the school start targeting Lissa and inadvertently, Rose. Some of the attacks are generic vamp mean girl business which include threats written in blood, however starts to take a turn for the gore with dying and hanged animals in Lissa and Rose's bedroom. The movie revolves around uncovering who is behind the attacks on Lissa, while dealing with your average teenage drama that is inevitable. The most obvious suspect is the most popular girl in the academy, Mia, who thrives on the emotional turmoil Lissa endures because of the attacks.
To strike back at Mia, Lissa uses compulsion on the other moroi students and teachers to exclude Mia and to accept her as their new reigning leader.
Things take a turn for the worse when Rose and Lissa discover that Mia was only responsible for some of the attacks which means that there is another threat at large within the school. During the Equinox Dance, Lissa is kidnapped, leaving Rose to turn to the only person she trusts (thats right), Dimitri. Where is the fun in that without a passionate scene between the two? The necklace Rose was wearing, which Rose was gifted by Lissa's uncle, Victor Dashkov, is in fact a love charm. Once Rose and Dimitri were together, were blinded by the love charm and its effect. Dimitri being ever so responsible, destroyed the necklace before things went too far.
Rose, Lissa, and Natalie at the Equinox Dance.
With the true mastermind uncovered, Rose and Dimitri get their senses together and try to locate Lissa. Using their bond, Rose is able to locate Lissa at Victor's home and while connected, Rose endures the torture Lissa is put under by Victor. It soon becomes clear that Lissa has not claimed the elements because she is a 'spirit' user. Victor, with the help of his daughter, Natalie, has been testing Lissa's powers with the dying animals throughout the year in order her to master it. Victor reveals he is dying and therefore disqualifies him from accepting the throne when it alternates to his family. He wants Lissa to heal him and in order to do so, she must give up her life for him - a life for a life. Throughout the film, we have seen Lissa heal the animals that have been killed for her discomfort, and each time she does so, the use of spirit drains the energy from her to the brink.
Rose watches as Lissa heals a dead crow.
Rose and Dimitri bust into action when they arrive at the residence and kicking ass while doing so. They manage to rescue Lissa and arrest Victor, bringing him to the prisons underneath the school. Tempting Rose with the knowledge of 'shadow-kiss', she visits Victor in his prison cell. It there he explains that during the car accident which made Lissa an orphan, Rose too should have died with the Dramogir family. However the thought of Rose dead enabled Lissa to bring her back to life, using the element of spirit. Rose having been dead and brought back to life has made her 'shadow-kissed', which is the reason for her more brash and reckless actions.
What kind of movie would this be if the movie ended here right? Well fret not because literally out of nowhere, a strogoi-turned Natalie emerges, killing the guards in charge of Victor. No longer being the fragile moroi, Natalie kicks butt freeing her father. While he escapes, she and Rose battle it out for their lives. Before Natalie manages to kill Rose (you guessed it), Dimitri comes to save the day! Killing Natalie and saving Rose they live happily ever after.. okay not really. The truth is finally uncovered leaving St. Vladimir's Academy stunned by the news. Things go relatively back to normal however Rose and Dimitri suppress their emotions for each other, seeing how he is her teacher and it would be inappropriate. They brush off the night of the dance blaming their actions on the love charm (even though we all know that isn't 100% true).
The movie ends in the promise that Rose and Lissa's story isn't completely finished.
How was it compared to the book? It was mediocre. Like all book adaptions, things need to be altered to fit the time limit and also because the Vampire Academy series is Rose's perspective, which will be hard to translate onscreen without 2 hours of voice over. But I think it was poorly adapted only picking the essentials of the storyline. As a movie on its own, it wasn't too bad, but not great either. It is worth a watch though for its action, romance, and comedic elements. Not a combination likely to be seen in a vampire movie.
If they do decide to continue with a sequel, I hope they've learnt for their mistakes in this film.
