Blog Feed

I'm so very proud of all our amazing filmmakers for their achievements!

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/

I am choosing animal abuse because there are a lot of people around the world abusing animals. There are too many people using animals to take advantage of them just because they may make one small mistake.

In “The Taming of the Shrew”, honesty and deception play big roles in the relationships between the characters, especially Petruchio and Katherine, as well as Katherine and her father, Baptista.  In the 2012 movie “ Silver Linings Playbook,” honesty and deception are even more important — almost every important thing that happens is rooted in honesty or a lack thereof.  

Pat Solatano, Jr. is a diagnosed bipolar who has just been released from prison following his beating of his wife’s lover.  Tiffany Maxwell is a recovering sex addict whose husband has recently died. While the relationship between Pat Solatano, Jr. and Tiffany Maxwell can be compared to Petruchio and Katherine’s, the genders should be reversed.  In “Shrew,” Petruchio uses very manipulative tactics to eventually end up with Katherine’s love.  Likewise, in “Silver Linings Playbook,” Tiffany manipulates Pat, making him think that her end goal is something completely different from what it is.  In contrast, Pat Solatano is not aware of Tiffany’s goals until almost the end of the movie, while Katherine most likely knows Petruchio’s plans from the beginning.  Both of these stories show that, while manipulation is not always moral, the results can be good for both the manipulator and the manipulated.

Petruchio: Come, come, you wasp, i’faith you are too angry.

Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

Petruchio: My remedy is then to pluck it out.

Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies.

Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting?  In his tail.

Katherine: In his tongue.

Petruchio: Whose tongue?

Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell.

Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail?

(Act II, Scene I, 207-214)

In this scene, Petruchio and Katherine are first meeting.  While on the surface they are insulting and trying to intimidate each other, they are also hinting at the physical or sexual attraction between them using innuendos.  This represents deception and manipulation, because they are hiding their true meaning behind clever words.

Pat, Jr. and Tiffany also have a strange first conversation:

    In this scene, Pat and Tiffany are meeting for the first time at Pat’s friend Ronnie’s house.  Pat remarks that Tiffany looks nice, and soon after asks about her dead husband, which spurs an awkward and somewhat hostile conversation between the two.  However, during the conversation, they are both giving each other somewhat heated looks.  When Tiffany leaves the room, she gives Pat a sultry look, implying her unspoken intentions, just like Katherine and Petruchio.

Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented

That you shall be my wife, your dowry ‘greed on,

And will you, nill you, I will marry you…

Here comes your father.  Never make denial.

I must and will have Katherine to my wife.

(Act 2, Scene 1, 261-272)

In this scene, Petruchio has recently spoken to Baptista, Katherine’s father, and gotten his consent to marry her.  This was a very deceptive act, because Katherine thought that her father would at least talk to her before doing such a thing.  This is incredibly dishonest, of both Petruchio and Baptista.  

However, in the long run, this might have been good for Katherine; she ends up seemingly happy and “tamed” at the end of the story.

In this scene, Tiffany shows Pat the envelope that supposedly has a response from Nikki in it, but says that he cannot read it until he nails the dance they are working on.  In the end of the movie, it comes out that Tiffany actually wrote the letter.  This was an incredibly dishonest and pretty manipulative thing to do, but in the end, seemingly caused Pat to fall in love with her.  

The message that I attempted to get across was the idea that there will always be two opposing sides in EVERY situation. That being said, I also tried the emphasise the fact there can never be in any form a way of successful equality. In fact the closest thing that we have to being equal is fact that we are all mammals. Another lense that I attempted to look through was this idea on an “equalizer”. By this I mean leveling the central rights between both sides during the reconstruction era. And It may sound like a little much, but connect this topic to a more relatable instance in our modern society where something that is greater is being changed by an equalizer. The problem isn't whether or not it is unfair for the thing that is greater. The real issue is that fact that it's problematic on both sides because they are being equalized. So then what do we consider it? Is this really a reconstruction for the better? After doing this project I realized the radical perspectives in literally everything. In a sense it was almost troublesome looking at different situations and noticing the shift between good and bad (As cheesy as it sounds).

The Reconstruction Era was the period of time after the Civil War it was a time of recovery and transformation in America. During the Reconstruction former slaves gained several rights and were on their way to becoming equal with the dominant white race. With the rise of black empowerment came the rise of many hate groups. Groups like the  Klu Klux Klan and the White League. Groups that spread used violence and intimidation to get what they wanted. These Hate groups terrorized cities with ravaging fires. Harming people of color and any of their supporters. Reconstruction ended with the assassination of Lincoln, and the people of colors lost most of the rights that they had only just been granted and were forced to regain them through years and years of civil rights movements, but many of the hate groups still survive today and even saying the names of them has become a kind of taboo. My map is meaningful to the study of the Reconstruction era because there were so many attacks on innocent people and my map is an easy way to see just how many reports of violence there were in the years of reconstruction. One thing that may not be very clear at first glance is that each of the flags on the map is a reported attack or the formation of a new group. Another thing about my map is that not every point on the map is super accurate, espescially since they cover a larger amount of space, so that is one thing you might want to keep in mind.

Source Analysis: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RrhQE_ggaqX4rSLJBmBQSYipCLhzopO4mELU_rWckOI/edit