Analyze Henrik Ibsen's(1879) and Susan Glaspell's(1916) treatment of Essay

Analyze Henrik Ibsen's(1879) and Susan Glaspell's(1916) treatment of relationships and roles in the time period plays were written - Essay Example When the play "A Doll's House" was performed for the first time in Copenhagen in 1879, it revoked severe criticism from the society as it was against the society's values and attacked men's dominance over women (Templeton 142). Similarly, the play "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell was written, at the time when, like other educated women at this time, Glaspell "grew restless with the numerous restrictions on women and became inspired by the avant-garde social, political, and cultural movements happening in the United States and Europe" (McMichael, et al. 1108). At the time when "A Doll's House" was written by Henrick Ibsen, the role of women was limited to bringing up children, supporting their husbands and keeping their house clean and comfortable. Society disliked women who wanted to step out for their authority and freedom. Politics, decision making and work was left for men and they had authority over women because women had little role in business, politics or social activities. In this setup; freedom, liberty and equality of women were regarded as a bad thing which the society frowned upon. Ibsen's portrayal of the society emphasizes how middle-class life is limiting, brutal, and unforgiving. He cleverly exposed these hypocritical norms and faults of society and suggested the outcomes of this suppression of womenfolk which compelled Nora to secede from the society's values and decided to leave her husband and children just to live a life of her own: "There is another task I must undertake first. I must try and educate myself--you are not the man to help me in that. I must do that for myself. And that is why I am going to leave you now (Act III). This clearly indicates the relationship between husband and wife. In this play, the relationship and role of characters are characterized by the desire of dominance and authority. In the first act, we see Torvald trying to dominate over Nora by dictating her not to be extravagant and spendthrift. Then we come across ill fate of Nora when her husband is nearly on death bed and needs to be taken to Italy for treatment. Nora's compulsion is exploited by Nils Krogstad who extracts a bond from her, which later in the play, he uses for threatening her and ultimately ruins her whole life. The role of Nils Krogstad demonstrates hypostatical values of society and a lust for power with mala fide intention. His relationship with Nora exposes faults of society and the law which have nothing to do with humanistic aspect of Nora's sufferings and to save her husband's life. The best presentation of the relationships and roles is given by Henrick in the last act of "A Doll's House" when we find Nora in dejected situation with Torvald. Nora tells her husband that h er husband and father were alike in that both of them used her to amuse and play with her and never thought of herself in context of her own imaginations and desires. In "Trifles" we find women struggling for their identification being unduly treated by their husbands. Minnie is sick of her husband and comes up to the point to strangle him just because he had strangled the Canary. This story begins with Martha leaving her home and accompanying Mrs. Peters to the Wright farm. There they find Minnie strangled her husband. The sympathetic women tried to discover the reason

Screening Asia ( commenting asian movie ) Essay

Screening Asia ( commenting asian movie ) - Essay Example China produces movies with a collective bent while Taiwan produces individualistic movies. Additionally, the movies produced by China have a big scope, but are not as outward as those produced by Taiwan. 2. What is a Brief History of Taiwanese Nationalism and Film? Taiwanese Nationalism is an important aspect, as the Taiwanese nationalism has been highly diverse. This is because different colonialists colonized Taiwan. Before democratization, the Kuomintang considered Taiwan to be part of China that would be joined with the mainland. Therefore, the expression of Taiwanese nationalism was highly discouraged. The colonizers in Taiwan allowed the production of movies; however, they put great restrictions on it. Only movies in Mandarin Chinese languages were allowed. Additionally, the Kuomintang produced movies that portrayed the behavior of an ideal citizen. Overall, early film in Taiwan was a way communicating political ideas. However, after democratization, Taiwanese films started to address historical and cultural issues, thus ushering in the â€Å"new cinema.† Here most movies addressed important aspects such as Taiwanese identity and Taiwanese political history. 3. What is your favorite time of the Taiwan film? Why? My favorite time of the Taiwan film is the â€Å"New Cinema.† This was a period when the Taiwanese had the freedom of developing their films without any influence from colonizers. Initially, the different colonizers of Taiwan were restrictive to movie production in Taiwan. Nonetheless, with the â€Å"new cinema† period, the Taiwanese got back their right of expression, thus produced movies that explored various topics in society. 4. Do you think that Taiwanese films are being heavily influenced by foreign culture? I feel that Taiwanese films are not being influenced by foreign cultures. In the past, foreign cultures influenced Taiwan movies, but this is not the case today. This was the case in the past, as Taiwan was colonized by different foreign countries, which imposed their cultures on Taiwan, including Taiwan’s film production. 5. Why do you guys think the Taiwan’s cinema producer  have to include Japanese girl character on the movie? Why not leave alone the Taiwan character? any opinion? The Taiwan film producers feature a Japanese girl character on the movie, probably because Japan as a country had a great influence on Taiwan. Including Taiwan’s film. Japan colonized Taiwan for a long time, beginning 1895 to1945. During this time, Japan had imposed its culture on the Taiwanese, who were naturalized to become Japanese. These therefore, were expected to dress like Japanese, eat Japanese food, speak Japan, engage in Japanese religious rites, and use Japanese names, among others. Therefore, maybe this great influence of the Japanese culture on the Taiwanese culture had a great impact. The Japanese also had an influence on Taiwanese film production, as these produced documentarie s and feature films that were mainly political in nature. Therefore, I consider that the influence of Japan on Taiwan is still felt through the Taiwanese films today. Korea 1. How was your first impression on Korean films?  Have you been consider that Korean public films are ‘too commercial’, or inartistic?  If so, what is the rationale behind your notion? I consider Korean films to be of low quality, as compared to those produced in the USA. This is