Movie Review Of Punch Drunk Love Film Studies Essay

Movie Review Of Punch Drunk Love Film Studies Essay Punch-Drunk Love is a very interesting American comedy directed by Paul Thomas Anderson with Sandler as the protagonist of this film. The detailed description and depiction of the main characters and the keep-changing and aesthetic setting of the story leave me a very deep impression after watching the film. After watching this film, Punch-Drunk Love looks like a sorbet of very strange color and flavor, its sweetness shot through with startling, unexpected taste. The whole story is very humorous, but one can also feel it is always on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Just like Jon Brions schizoid musical scorein the film, which is liltingly romantic one moment and abrasively percussive the next, Punch-Drunk Love is determined to throw you off balance. Sandlers performance keeps you guessing when, where and whether the protagonist, this self-hating, painfully self-conscious man might explode. There is danger lurking under his bland exterior, visible to everyone but Lena, who sees only what? This is the mystery in the whole story, and the key of the problem, at the heart of the movie. You must take Lenas love for Barry on faith, for her character is seriously underwritten. What does she see in the guy? Why would she commit herself to him, rather than have him committed? The bravura filmmaking (theres not a dull shot in the whole movie) dazzles you from start to finish, but the movie is an emotional jigsaw puzzle thats missing a couple of crucial pieces. Anderson has willed Punch-Drunk Love to be a romantic comedy; its powerful undercurrents, however, keep tugging it in other, darker directions, resulting in a movie more amazing than satisfying. In this paper, I am going to review Punch-Drunk Love from these three perspectives by analyzing the characteristics of the protagonists and the scene of the film, aiming to find out the humor and the aesthetic value of this film. At last, since love is the theme of this movie, and the constant theme in most of the American movies, I will try to dig out the romance between Barry and Lena in this film. To some extent, we can say, there are basically three dimensions in this film, that is, humor, aesthetics, and romance. In the next part, I will analyze the three dimensions respectively in detail. First of all, the arrangement and description of the characters in this film completely exhibit the features of a comedy. This is a new Adam Sandler on view in Punch-Drunk Loveangry, sad, and desperate. In voice and mannerisms he is the same childlike, love-starved, and sometimes even a little stupid Adam Sandler weve seen from a series of dim comedies he has acted, but this film, by seeing him in a new light, encourages us to look again at those films. Given a director and a screenplay that sees through the Sandler persona, that understands it as the disguise of a suffering outsider, Sandler reveals depths and tones we may have suspected but couldnt bring into focus. However, from the perspective of the style of the film, this is a comedy, so the performance by Sandler is still very humorous. In this movie, Sandler plays Barry Egan, a fearful, volatile, socially maladroit salesman of novelty plumbing items in the west of America. (His dice-and-money toilet plunger sells big in Vegas ). In this story, Barry always dressed in a formal bright blue suit and wore a tie in the working place. By contrasting with other workers who wore dirty and random clothes corresponding to their work and identity together with him, formal Barry looked very funny. So from the appearance, we can see he is very different from others and there must be some interesting stories will happen to him. And under such a strange looking, what a mental state will be there? What caused his specialty from other fellow workers? Then we get to know that this has something to do with his family circumstances. He had seven sisters, who cared much about him and inferred most of his personal and non-personal things. As a result, he was not spiritually free, for his thoughts and performance were all restrained by his sisters. Let us think about the gender and number proportion, one boy to seven girls! Barry must be very depressed in the process of growing up, and he must feel very lonely. So in this film , we can find out he got a borderline agoraphobe because of the restriction of his seven sisters. Besides the appearance, Barry also had other strange and funny behaviors. Barry lives alone in a sterile Valley apartment, and he is prone to sudden violent outbursts of rage. For instance, he broke the washing room of the restaurant when having meal with Lena and he would not admit that he did that. I believe most of the spectacles will feel amazed when seeing he did that. That is for sure he was ill, since what he did is beyond the imagination of an ordinary person. What is more ridiculous is that Barry obsessed with his scheme to acquire 1.5 million frequent-flier miles by buying a lot of Healthy Choice pudding. All the puddings made everyone surrounding him out for gold. As a result, everybody misunderstood him and laughed at him in his working place. As a matter of fact, he had never been on an airplane and of course he had no intention to travel to other places. So even if he real ly liked Lena, he didnt go to Hawaii with her. The stupid and inconceivable behaviors of the character bring a lot of humor. There is also an interesting plot in this movie, which is also a sparkle in the whole story. About 15 minutes after the movie began, Barry made a phone call the sex hot line, aiming at finding a girl to talk to him and reduce the feeling of loneliness. As the price of this call, he told all his private number to the switchboard operator, including his phone number, credit card number, and his address and so on. But actually, he didnt want to do anything with the girl. No matter how the girl Georgia seduced him with obscenity words, he reacted indifferently and even stupidly. The great contrast of performance between these two persons is quite funny and ridiculous. Whats more unbelievable is Barry was stayed on by the kidnappers hired by the sex phone. That is, until he meets his sisters adorable friend Lena (a luminous Emily Watson), who inspires the love-stru ck Barry to follow her on a business trip to Honolulu. He will also make it to Utah to confront the extortionist (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who has sent four menacing Mormon brothers to threaten his life, all because, one lonely night, he called a sex-phone service and foolishly gave them his credit-card number. All in all, the character acted by Sandler seems very stupid and simple-minded and also a little goosy. All these characteristics increase the index of humor of the whole movie. Another eye-catching point in Punch-Drunk Love is the choice of the scenes. The wise choosing of the scene in the film can add the aesthetic value of the story and the picturesque beauty can make the audience have a better understanding and feeling of the story. Although Punch-Drunk Love is a comedy with humor at the main tone of the whole film, the scenes are also romantic and beautiful in the story. And the transform of the scene quite adapts to the plot and the characters. At the beginning, the scene is in a void and sunny outside place where Barry met his future lover Lena. The sky is very blue and open; the sunshine is very bright; the land is yellow; the car is white; Barry wearing bright blue suit and Lena in red dress met with each other and had an interesting short talk. In such a scene, no body will not imagine a romantic plot even if the hero of the story seems stupid and simple-minded and answered questions with the single sentence I dont know. So this scene of contrastiv e bright colors indicates the future development of the characters. Also there is another clue of the story is the organ. When the protagonists met with each other, there was a organ in the middle of the street. Then Barry took it into his working place. Since then, he would play it from time to time. The coincidence is that the heroin Lena is a woman organist. The appearance of this organ added much romantic flavor to the love story between the hero and heroin. And besides the beauty of picture, there seem some musical signals as well in the story. The other eye-catching setting in this movie is the beach of Honolulu. Although Barry is very afraid of taking the airplane, he flew to Honolulu for his lover Lena. After he arrived there, he called Lena by the public telephone on the street when there was grand gala parade. Barry bared his heart to Lena and asked many private questions on when the grand parade was going on. It was very noisy and we hardly heard clearly what he said. Thi s is where is funny. The big public parade contrast with the private love expression. I thing only Anderson can think of such a contrastive and dramatic plot and scene. Next comes the romantic beach dinner. At dusk, Barry and Lena dated at the beach and had very romantic dinner. The sun had set just now and there was still some rest light of the glorious sun. The ocean was dark blue and very quiet. The local artist played the guitar and sang a beautiful song with Hawaii flavor. The whole atmosphere is so quiet and comfortable. Our protagonists were having the same quiet date in the dark light of a small and weak table lamp. No words is needed at that moment but enjoyed the silence and the beauty of the dusk and the music. But still we know everything without words. Thats why we say the choice of the scenes in this film is a bright spot. And this is also the attractive glamour of the big screen film. At last, I want to say something about the development romantic relationship between the hero and the heroin. I think for most of the audience, they dont know what will be going on next from the very beginning of the film. However, this is also an important factor in the film about love, for the unexpected plot will be more impressive than those old stories. If I am a girl in this film, I would not love Barry, maybe because of all the misunderstandings. He is such a strange man: calling sex girls and arising troubles, buying lots of pudding for free airplane tickets even if he didnt want to have a trip by plane, breaking the washing room of the restaurant without sensation, not knowing how to express love to the girl he loves, etc. yes, that is Barry. But since this is a story in the film, Lena loved him although he was such unbearable. I dont know why and you dont know why, but that is the fact in the film. Maybe this is so-called romance. As a feedback, Barry finally woke from his psychological problem and closed self-world and tried to express love to Lena and adapted to this objective world. Thats why he overcame the fear in his heart and went to Honolulu for Lena by airplane. I think this part may let many girls moved and touched. The ending of this film is also very touching and perfect. Barry and Lena played the organ together in his working place. The scene and the organ both echoed the beginning of their love story. In a word, Punch-Drunk Love is comedy which is humorous, romantic and picturesque. It deserves our review and also other thoughts about humanity and love.

Intercultural communication Essay

Perception in psychology is defined as a process of obtaining information through one’s senses and interpreting that information as something meaningful. Perception can either be programmed into or learnt by a brain, or it can be formed due to one’s culture. Culture based perception is in some way influenced by experiences of culture and environment. For example, a person’s perception of right and wrong may be based on the norms of the society he lives in. Some characteristics of the American culture and their examples Individualism – American youth ‘move out’ to gain independence and to build their lives. Equality – providing equal opportunities to candidates during job recruitment processes. Materialism – the culture of recycling and having garage sales depicts how Americans value material goods and don’t waste resources. Science and technology – strong encouragement for science projects during schooling, and promoting it through movies and television. Progress and change – research and development in various fields is strongly supported by the government, so that the country may continue to be progressive and become a pioneer in every field. Work and leisure – as much importance as work is given in the American culture, there is equal attention paid to leisure and recreation – as is evident through the countless getaways and recreational family parks present in the country. Competition – incentive plans at work, and similar reward systems during education promote the notion of healthy competition among the Americans. Work, Dress, Sex and Status In America, work and productivity are considered important to achieve a high standard of living which is why the annual number of work hours has been increasing every year. Dressing habits tend to be highly informal – concepts like â€Å"Casual Fridays† at work reflect this part of the American culture. Sex education is imparted at an early stage to students to increase awareness about and to minimize sexually transmitted diseases. The culture of discriminating based on social status has been fading out as the notion of equality has started to spread more powerfully. Theories by Hofstede, Hall, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck to Analyze Culture These theories and the studies that had been conducted by these people, in my opinion, are quite useful in this age of globalization and ever-diminishing boundaries. They highlight the importance of differences in cultures worldwide, while also highlighting the similarities and therefore helping cross-culture psychologists find a common set of human values. Bibliography Mick Underwood (2006) CCMS – Communication studies, Culture studies, Media Studies Infobase by Mick Underwood. Retrieved on February 20, 2007 from: http://www. cultsock. ndirect. co. uk/MUHome/cshtml/index. html Wikipedia (2006) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved on February 20, 2007 from: http://en. wikipedia. org.

William Glasser

Glasser is an internationally recognized psychiatrist. William Glasser was born in 1925. He was raised in Cleveland, OH. His first profession was a Chemical Engineer but decided to go into psychiatry when it became apparent to him this was his real interest in life. He attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for medical school. At Veterans Administration Hospital he took his psychiatric training also attending UCLA. He became board certified in 1961. He did private practice from 1957 to 1986. Dr. Glasser’s approach is non-traditional.He does not believe in the concept of mental illness unless there is something organically wrong with the brain that can be confirmed by a pathologist. In 1967, he founded The Institute for Reality Therapy. In 1994, The Institute was renamed The Institute for Control Theory, Reality Therapy and Quality Management to reflect the scope of The Institute’s teachings. Two years later it became The William Glasser Institute with Dr. Glasser renaming his theory, choice theory. Initially, The Institute was active only in the United States and Canada but under Dr.Glasser’s direction, his teachings have now spread to many countries (wglasser. com) Glasser is best known for his book Reality Therapy which he wrote in 1965. The idea behind this type of therapy is that people need to meet the basic needs of love both giving and receiving and the need of finding self-worth. A therapy that leads all patients toward reality, toward grappling successfully with the tangible and intangible aspects of the real world, might accurately be simply called Reality Therapy. Glasser 6) Glasser states the in order for us to fulfill our needs we must have one person that we care for and in return cares for us to meet our basic needs. Reality Therapy is based on Choice Theory. Choice theory states that: †¢all we do is behave, †¢that almost all behavior is chosen, and †¢that we are driven by our genes to satisfy fi ve basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun. There are ten axioms that go along with this theory as well they are all follows: 1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own. 2.All we can give another person is information. 3. All long lasting psychological problems are relationship problems. 4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life. 5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can only satisfy or basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future. 6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World. 7. All we do is behave. 8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of for components: acting, thinking, feeling, and physiology. . All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly through how we choose to act and think. 10. Al l Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is most recognizable. (wglasser. com) Dr. Glasser is semi-retired, but is still a much sought-after speaker nationally and internationally. Some of his many accomplishments are as follows:†¢listed in Who’s Who in America since the 1970s; 1990 – awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa from the University of San Francisco; †¢2003 – presented with the ACA Professional Development Award recognizing the significant contributions made to the field of counseling; †¢2004 – presented with the â€Å"A Legend in Counseling Award† by the ACA; †¢January – 2005 presented with the prestigious Master Therapist designation by the American Psychotherapy Association; and finally, †¢2005 – presented with the Life Achievement Award by the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology for his enormous influence as a ps ychotherapist and author. wglasser. com) William Glasser’s methods of psychity are very useful. He teaches people to love them self and others. If you have a so called mental illness he tries to get to the under lying cause believing that you only have a mental illness if it can be proven by Drs. Glasser still does speaking about his theories. Works cited 1. William Glasser Institute. Oct. 6, 2009. [www. wglasser. com] 2. Glasser, William. Reality Therapy. New York. Harper& Row 1990.

T.S. Eliot - the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and...

How has Eliot used both conventional and Modernist poetic techniques to represent his Modernist concerns? The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Preludes expresses Eliot’s Modernist concerns about the lack of morals and values in modern society through the use of personas within the urban landscape and the urban society. Modern man’s lifestyle of repetition of trivial tasks and the lack of meaningful things in life is represented and emphasised through the use of alliteration, metaphor, fragmentation and word choice. The urban landscape is employed by Eliot in Preludes to demonstrate the isolated desertion of a modern city. The use of repetition in â€Å"the showers beat on broken blinds† emphasises the polluted, squalid environment and†¦show more content†¦Eliot expresses his Modernist concern of the subtle, harmful nature of the urban landscape through repetition and the metaphor of â€Å"the yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes†. The fog is compared to a stray cat, crafting and cunning, attempting to get into the house, the intrusive nature of pollution is emphasised by this. Prufrock is overwhelmed by the urban environment and society and attempts to escape through his fantasy, â€Å"we have lingered in the chambers of the sea† but the modern landscape proves inescapable and Prufrock is swallowed by the demands and expectations of society, â€Å"till human voices wake us and we drown.† The modern society is also used by Eliot to express his Modernist concerns of the lack of meaning and values in life, the superficiality of society and the lack of individuality of the people. In Preludes, fragmentation is used to demonstrate the broken views of the people of modern society who can no longer see themselves in a wholistic way. Fragmentation is shown through enjambment to create broken stanzas to disorientate readers, emphasising the confusions of society. Eliot intentionally refers to the people of the city only as â€Å"eyes† and â€Å"feet† and refers to the people collectively, â€Å"one thinks of all the hand that are raising dingy shades in a thousand furnished rooms† and the people with â€Å"all its muddy feet that press to early coffeeShow MoreRelated T.S Eliot’s Preludes and The Love Song of J.Alfred. Prufrock, are examples1059 Words   |  5 PagesT.S Eliot’s Preludes and The Love Song of J.Alfred. Prufrock, are examples of modernist poetry which illustrate the concerns of modernist poets. Explain how the poetry you have studied reflects some of the major concerns of its context? In your answer refer closely to two poems by T.S. Eliot. T.S Eliot’s Preludes and The Love Song of J.Alfred. Prufrock, are examples of modernist poetry which illustrate the concerns of modernist poets. The modern era, which lasted between 1885 to 1940Read MoreDisillusionment and Rebellion in Modernism1502 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The importance of Modernism was in its ability to unite the masses by illuminating common feelings of disillusionment and rebellion through artistic forms.† Argue with reference to two poems of T.S Eliot and one additional text of you choosing. Rebellion and Disillusionment were fundamental feelings expressed by Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They came about as a result of a myriad of factors including; industrialisation, urbanisation, technological advances, militaristicRead MoreEliot s Poetry Of A Divided Mind2445 Words   |  10 Pagesthe poetry of T.S. Eliot. Exploding onto the poetic scene in 1915, Eliot and his friend Ezra Pound were at the forefront of the modernist movement. They reacted strongly against the traditional techniques of the Georgians and others who came before them, who seemed to the modernists to be attempting to represent the modern world in a style that was no longer adequate. Following the scientific developments of Darwin and the rising crisis of confidence in religious oxthodoxy, modernism aimed itself