Rugrats "UP"- Jane Elizabeth 

 

The characters, Russel and Carl, are thoroughly described in the presentation of “UP.” We understand Russel is a young boy who is a boy scout looking to seek his helping the elderly badge. Carl is an elderly man who has lost his wife and will not let go of his how, which is the last thing that ties Ellie, his widow, to his life. We know at the beginning the setting is set at Carl’s house next to some construction. The construction workers want to tear it down, so Carl comes up with his master plan. In the first 25 minutes, the scenery changes from on the ground to in the sky. By the middle of the movie, the house, Carl, and Russel end up in Paradise Falls, which is a waterfall Ellie wished and dreamed about. Carl and Russel mainly speak during the movie besides Dug, the dog they meet at Paradise Falls. The exposition is when we meet and get a little background about Carl and his story and Russel. The rising action is when Carl decides to take off and fly his house to Paradise Falls. The climax is when they meet an unexpected guest near the waterfall who is the mastermind behind tearing down Carl’s beloved home. The tone of this piece is carefree. The audience originally intended for UP would have to be children considering it is an animated children’s movie, but adults and elders can learn a few things from the youngster, Russel. “UP” can be described as the movie where the house flies. This is the most iconic and notable piece of this movie.

 

 

Lith Lords "The Importance of Being Earnest" - Lindsay

The group Lith Lords analyzed the play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” by Oscar Wilde. The title is a play on the word earnest, because the denotation means honest, but the homonym can also be a man’s name, Ernest. The main character Jack Worthing often lies and says his crazy brother Ernest has gotten into trouble and he must go out of town to find him. However, when he is out of town, he pretends his name is Ernest. Jack’s friend Algernon Moncrieff also has a pretend friend named Bunbury who he claims is sick when he wants to catch a break. When Algernon finds out Jack’s secret about Ernest, he also decides to call himself Ernest. Both men fall in love and propose to 2 separate women, but tell them their names are Ernest. The women think that they are in love with the same man, but when they figure it out everything is okay. This play is definitely more humorous than dramatic, because the characters are constantly making things more complicated for one another and when they all figure it out they continue to bother Lady Bracknell, Jack’s aunt. Jack was adopted as a young baby, when he was found in a purse at a train station all alone. Ironically, his mother had been holding him and a book, and placed them in the wrong bags. The most ironic plot twist is the very end of the story, when it is revealed that Jack’s legal name actually has been Ernest all along. There is lots of deceit in this story for the purpose of having fun, which is not very earnest.

 

I'd Lit That "The Elephant Man" - Cole

 

“The Elephant Man” is a play about a man who is a circus freak due to his physical deformities.  As the play progress the eponymous man turns from an inhuman circus attraction to a regular human being.  This transition is an internal one as his external deformities remain throughout the play, but his inner self is the one that undergoes the transformation.  At the onset of the play The Elephant man remains silent and mostly responds with grunts, but after he becomes John Merrick he begins speaking with sentences, and is able to communicate his feelings.  The play, though about John Merrick, is equally about the human condition, and the cruelty of human beings.  Merrick longs for companionship, and friendship, something that he has never gotten due to his appearance.  After being taken to the hospital and meeting Fredrick Treves, John is able to find a friend in Treves.  After finding a friend Merrick is able to become more “human.”  The other major theme of the play, besides the human condition, is that of human cruelty.  Mankind can be cruel, and this play puts that cruelty on display.  Merrick is presented as a circus freak to scare people due to his deformities, and the owners of the circus are cruel to him and torture him physically and psychologically.  Another example of cruelty in the play is when Merrick is able to meet the women he dreams about, only to find that they can only see an Elephant Man, and not the sophisticated, sensitive man beneath the deformities.  The beauty of the women is juxtaposed to their inner deformities.  John Merrick, and the women are opposites of each other as Merrick is deformed, but a kind person, and the women are beautiful, but cruel people.  Due to its’ themes, “The Elephant Man,” is a play that contains two stories.  The most obvious story is the story of John Merrick, but the deeper story in the play is that of the human condition.  At some point in everyone’s life they feel like an outcast longing for a friend or companion, and John Merrick exemplifies this feeling of not belonging, but on an extremely exaggerated scale compared to most people.  Ironically the character who is the “monster” is the character that most viewers can identify with, whereas the characters of the circus owner and the women are the true monsters.

 

This Class Is Lit "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" - Hunter

This Class Is Lit used the movie Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets for their work of drama. From the Guided Close Reading Questions that This Class Is Lit answered, I was able to clearly picture the characters of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Voldemort. Additionally, I was able to create an image in my head of the setting, from Harry's adoptive family's home, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Since, this was a movie, there was no real narrator, and the entire story was seen through an omniscient point of view. The plot was able to be clearly seen through this method of presentation. As a result, the audience was able to see the conflict developing, even when the characters could not see it themselves. The plot of this particular movie was that there was something dangerous going on at Hogwarts. People were being hurt by an unknown monster and Voldemort, the enemy of any good witch or wizard, was attempting to return and finish off Harry and take over the wizarding world. I believe the original intended audience for this movie was younger people, children and teenagers mainly. I also believe that J.K Rowling's main argument was how she challenged the audiences assumptions of what would happen and how that shaped the characters. For example, Harry was always considered a hero for defeating Voldemort, but because of the strange things happening at Hogwarts an the fact that Harry could speak Parseltongue (talk snake) everyone became suspicious of him and turned against him. This was unexpected, but the sudden change in how Harry was treated helped him become a stronger person.

 

 

If I was explaining this movie to someone who had never seen it so that they would grasp the major conflicts, I would start at the beginning. 

Harry Potter is the Boy Who Lived. As an infant, the most powerful dark wizard to ever live, Voldemort, killed Harry's parents and tried to kill Harry too, but failed. The night he failed at killing Harry, he disappeared. Years later Harry has grown up and has begun attending wizarding school. Harry has two best friends that he gets into mischief with, Ron and Hermione. However, strange things begin happening at their school and home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students, including Hermione, are being attacked and left petrified in the halls and no one knows what is happening. The most horrifying attack is when Ron’s little sister is taken by whatever is attacking the students and dragged down to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron find the entrance to the Chamber and go down to rescue Ginny. There, Harry comes face to face with a version of Voldemort. Voldemort is sucking the life from Ginny and harry has to fight him, and his monster, the basilisk, in order to save Ginny and avoid being killed himself.