Blog Entry #9: The Coin Toss Scene from No Country for Old Men

In my opinion, one of the best scenes from No Country for Old Men is the coin toss scene between Anton and the gas station attendant (unnamed). Anton proved himself to be more psychologically twisted than I had originally thought. Because of Anton’s strange rationale and the surprised reaction of the attendant, it was funny to watch the interaction between the two characters-even though I felt like the attendant was about to be blown to smithereens at any moment.

The nature of the “coin toss” game (which helps Anton decide if the attendant should live or die) shows that Anton is someone who kills with no rhyme or reason. For Anton, life is a game. In this way, he acts as fate-what he believes to be the driving force of life. And of course, fate has no explanation.

Anton also tries to make the attendant feel as mentally uncomfortable as possible, before he decides whether or not to make him as physically uncomfortable as possible with his cattle gun. When the gas attendant tries to start a polite conversation, Anton acts offended and questions everything the attendant says by twisting around his words:
Attendant: “Will there by something else?”
Anton: “I don’t know, will there?”
With these mind games, Anton creates a great deal of fear in the attendant without even showing his weapon.

I felt like Anton was “testing” the attendant in a way and forcing him to provide details and explanations-Anton did not really care about these in the least, though. He was going to use the coin toss alone to decide whether the attendant would get to live or die.

I think the Coen brothers include this seemingly random scene in the film because it explores and explains Anton’s character to the audience. He is not just psychotic killer, but he is very philosophical (and crafty) about his work and he seems to feel justified in what he does. To him, things are the way they are. Period. No fluff, nothing more. I also think the filmmakers use this scene to depict Anton as a character who questions the accepted, challenges the norm, and fights the system-like a rebel. He is clearly an extremist, but a smart and successful one (this is clear from the number of people he is able to kill throughout the film).

Blog Entry #8: First Impressions of No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men is an interesting movie so far. I like how it seems to combine the western genre with the thriller/suspense/mystery genres. The film also includes very little music or sound at all. This production decision adds to the suspense and takes away any preconceived notions about music from other thrillers (such as how the music often changes to a recognizable tune every time the killer is going to appear). You really never know when Anton is going to strike until you see him on the screen.

While watching, I felt as though I was on the run with Llewellyn and feared for my own life along with his. The sequence of events in the movie really reinforces the idea of “the chase” or “the hunted” as we talked about briefly in class. It is no surprise then that one of the taglines for the movie is “There Are No Clean Getaways.” As Llewellyn was always looking over his shoulder waiting for the other shoe to drop, so was I. In my opinion, the Coen brothers do a good job of involving the audience in the film (perhaps without said audience even knowing it is happening). The involvement and strong character-to-audience relationship (how close or distant the audience feels from the characters they are watching) seems to be done through cinematography decisions such as camera angles. In the scene where Anton is strangling the police officer, all you see is the officer’s shoes scraping against the floor. This scene characterized Anton as psychotic and unpredictable right from the get go. Because I only saw the officer’s shoes, it was as if I could not save him even if I wanted to. This made Anton scary and prepared me to witness more of his unstoppable and unorthodox killings in the following minutes.

I also noticed how the three major characters, Sheriff Bell, Llewellyn, and Anton all seem to be telling their own separate stories -they have their own motives, although all of these are related to the central plot. They have yet to share any screen time together…

The filmmakers choose to portray the passage of time in a unique way with a start and a finish to the day, but really no middle-day to night, night back to day. It was like there was no time for Llewellyn to do anything but run and always focus on being one step ahead of his chaser. He was no longer a free man, but a fugitive. He could never relax and take a breath all because he decided to keep the money rather than turn it into the police.

Blog Entry #7: "I'll be right here"

I have been interested in film since I was very young. I used to go to the movies with my parents and wonder why the teenagers sitting in front of me would rather make out than take in the incredible medium that is film. To this day, I still prefer going to the movies to watch and analyze instead of fooling around with my date in the back row. Maybe this makes me weird. Some of my favorite movies include E.T., Psycho, 10 Things I Hate About You, Gattaca, and Brokeback Mountain, among many others. I especially enjoy the work of director Steven Spielberg. As I mentioned in class, E.T. was the first movie that I “really felt connected to.” The film was remarkable to me because it presented aliens in a different way than other sci-fi alien movies before it. Although E.T. can be classified as a science fiction film, it goes beyond that label by presenting deeper levels of meaning within the sci-fi element of extraterrestrials. I believe the film explores human emotions in a way that few sci-fi films successfully do.

By the end of the film, most people see E.T. as a cute and lovable friend, rather than a scary creature from another planet. Spielberg evokes emotions in his audience that allow them to feel for this alien, to cry for him, as if he were a human. Spielberg tries to show viewers that E.T. is really no different than a human child-they both possess the same emotions, goals, and fears. This alien-human connection is supported through the friendship between Elliot and E.T. The two need each other, they find comfort as their relationship develops throughout the film and they come to see how similar they really are.

I think E.T. was Spielberg’s best film because he used a lot of ideas from his own life, like the divorce of his parents, which helped add to his creative insight and provided personal reference.

I was just reminded that I need to get new batteries for my plastic talking E.T. doll! Yes, his finger and heart light up, he says things like, “I’ll be right here”, but he doesn’t eat Reese’s Pieces. Merchandise related to the film proves that E.T. was a phenomenon for many children. The stuffed E.T. doll I also own demonstrates Spielberg’s ability to portray E.T. in a snuggly, cuddly, and lovable way.

Some of my friends think that E.T. is scary, I don’t understand it.

Blog Entry #6: Rent's "Will I?"

One of my favorite songs is from the Broadway musical Rent. I enjoy many songs from this musical, including the popular “Seasons of Love,” but I particularly like one of Rent’s less famous musical pieces called “Will I?” The main structure of the song is the repetition of its chorus, comprising the only words in the whole song. This chorus is sung through five times, so I suppose you could say the song is broken down into five stanzas. Each stanza is lyrically identical with the words:
Will I lose my dignity?
Will someone care?
Will I wake tomorrow
From this nightmare?

Although the lyrics never change, several harmonies are employed besides just the base melody. Interestingly, the song is performed in a round. Rent character Steve begins the song by himself and sings the chorus through once (with conviction) at a medium volume. While he holds out the last note of the word “nightmare”, group 1 (consisting of a few chorus members) joins in and starts to sing the chorus. After they have sung the chorus through alone one time, they repeat it. Just a few notes after they start, the next group (who we can call group 3) begins singing it. The rest of the song continues in this fashion creating what sounds like an “echo effect.” The song is built on the musical element parallelism because of the repeating chorus. It has a solid tempo with an A-B-C-B rhyme scheme. The vocals are strong and tend to overpower the background music-a light, repeating guitar sequence and occasional symbol tap.

All of this repetition doesn’t make the song static though. In fact, I would consider it to be quite dynamic. Every stanza builds on the stanza before and the song gradually becomes louder and more aggressive. It ends with each “round group” on a different note and different word from the chorus. The lyrics themselves are intriguing because Rent focuses on a group of friends (from different lifestyles) who reside in New York City. Many of them are infected with HIV or AIDS. This back story obviously makes the lyrics highly appropriate to the musical. I also believe the lyrics can be directly connected to the specific daily struggles in many people’s lives.

Blog Entry #5: He Writes the Songs

I have always considered myself to have a very broad taste in music and I certainly have many favorite musicians and music groups, among them, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, Gavin DeGraw, and Simon & Garfunkel. I would have to say though, that my favorite artist is Barry Manilow. Lots of people my age can’t understand why I have such a fascination with the music of Manilow. Many of my friends admit they have never even heard of him. The main reason I began to love 70’s star Barry Manilow is less based on his talent as a musician and more because he was the first to ever grace my ears-before I was even born. My mother and grandmother were big fans, and when my mom was pregnant with me, she used to play her Barry Manilow cassette tape against her stomach on daily basis. Obviously, I can’t remember what kind of affect this practice had on me, but according to my mom, I often began kicking rapidly whenever she would play Manilow’s “I Write the Songs.” After I was born, Manilow music filled my early years and was my mom’s soothing solution to my frequent crying fits. It was one of the only things that calmed me down; I was what one might call a “difficult child.” It wasn’t until I was a bit older though that Barry Manilow became something deeper for me than just a household name or snapshot of my infancy. I found myself listening to him by choice when my mom and grandmother were not around. I already knew his most famous songs, but I took the time to research and download some of his not so familiar albums during my first few years of internet access. I guess it was then, at about age 11, that I became somewhat of a Manilow-phile. I had been taking singing lessons since age 8, with the support of my grandmother, and was starting to outgrow performing Disney songs at my monthly recitals. I decided it might be time to give Manilow’s music a try on my own. This is when I really started to understand why I loved his music so much. For one, all of Manilow’s songs are easy listening. In other words, his music can play in the background of whatever activity I may be doing and not distract me from it. In comparison, Metallica or Guns and Roses-both good bands- are not very helpful when I am trying to study. Along these same lines, the quality of his voice (his tone, pitch, and singing style) is like a lullaby to me-so crispy and clear with just the right amount of vibrato. If I ever have a hard time falling asleep, listening to a few of his songs always does the trick. Another important quality of his music is relatability. All of my favorite movies and TV shows are ones that I can somehow connect to my own life. So, not surprisingly, the same goes for music. Manilow sings a lot of love ballads, but even those often include morals, lessons, or advice on life. His “Somewhere Down the Road” song perfectly describes my relationship with a close friend- although we grew up together, he and I have never seemed to be able to get our timing right and become more than just friends despite attempts to do so. Manilow is a great performer, and I would have to say that seeing him in concert (just a few years ago) made me further adore him. I guess, above all, the greatest quality of his music is the way he performs it. He sings with such conviction and confidence it is obvious he truly enjoys what he does. He loves his music, and that in turn causes me to love his music as well. Barry Manilow of today is definitely not the Barry Manilow of the 1970’s. Though he may no longer write the songs that make the whole world sing, he still writes the songs that make me sing.

Blog Entry #4: Reactions to Maus

For me, Maus turned out to be one of those books I just couldn’t put down. The story had all the essential features to keep my attention: it was funny, sad, and especially shocking. Although I have read other Holocaust survivor books, this one affected me in a deeper way because of its creative approach. I originally thought that Spiegelman’s choice to represent Jews with mice, Nazis with cats, and Poles with pigs would not allow me to take the story seriously. What I actually found was the opposite. I was able to feel sympathy each time Art’s dad recalled an especially painful memory and I laughed whenever Art made a snide comment about his father’s habits and beliefs.

I also liked how Spiegelman explored not only his father’s survival tale but also exposed complications in their current father-son relationship. He linked the two stories together by including outside discussions which occurred while he was at his father’s house interviewing him. Because of this, I learned not only about Art’s father (who he is and who he was) but also, in a small way, about Art himself.

To be honest, I am not completely sure why Spielgelman makes the choices he does in Maus. It seems as though he is not afraid to challenge his audience and his aim is to stand out as a graphic novelist. Perhaps he knew by presenting the Holocaust in a way which no one has before (i.e. in a graphic novel) he would grab the attention of readers who would not otherwise ever be interested in the story.

In terms of the layout, I found the pictures and talk bubbles in the novel helpful when trying to understand the complicated story and sort out all of the small details given. I have never read a graphic novel before but I hope to find others which could entertain me as much as Maus did. I would love to read Maus II in the near future.

Blog Entry #3: The Alice series

At first I was having quite a difficult time thinking about some favorite books that might be considered “pop literature” because most of the books I’ve read in the last few years have been purely academic texts or canonized literature for my classes. I guess I would rather initially read for academic purposes –although often when I am assigned to read a particular book, I end up truly enjoying the book enough to read others like it in my spare time. However, after reading Meg Cabot’s essay about Blubber by Judy Blume (a great book by the way); I was reminded of several similar books I used to read for fun, guidance, and inspiration as a young adolescent. One series of books which particularly intrigued me was the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. I believe it could be considered “pop” of the female young adult (or adolescent/teen) genre. I was drawn to the books during my 6th grade year when a friend of mine, Sara, told me they were a must-read. I was surprised to hear she had apparently used the books to figure out how to deal with some of her personal problems. The series follows the growth of main character Alice McKinley who lives with her father and older brother in Maryland. There are currently 20 books total in the series and also 3 series’ prequels. In each new book, Alice is slightly older and she must face the many different complications of her middle and high school years. This can be especially hard at times because Alice has no mother figure in her life. I have not read all of the books, but I have read enough to gain an appreciation for Naylor’s writing and her dedication to the character. Alice is portrayed in a relatable way; she has all of the same worries, thoughts, and embarrassments that seem so abnormal to any perfectly normal adolescent girl. She is not depicted as invincible or heroic, but instead as a real girl who has no choice but to face life’s many obstacles (often times alone). I wouldn’t classify the Alice series as “literary” in the academic/canonized sense because I feel Naylor has a very specific aim in writing these books-she attempts to reach out to young girls, wanting them to know they are not alone. She probably also hopes Alice’s stories will comfort them during a time in their lives of total unsettlement. These are the type of books that would be best read leisurely on a girl’s tear-filled, sleepless nights and not in cramped desk as part of the mid-semester curriculum.