NARRATOLOGY

MIDNIGHT SUN

               Midnight Sun is the fifth and an unreleased companion novel to the book Twilight by author Stephenie Meyer. The work retells the events of Twilight, but is written from the perspective of Edward Cullen instead of that of the series' usual narrating character Bella Swan. Meyer stated that Twilight was to be the only book from the series that she planned to rewrite from Edward's perspective. To give them a better feel of Edward's character, Meyer allowed Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the film adaptation of Twilight, and Robert Pattinson, the actor playing Edward, to read some completed chapters of the novel while they filmed the movie.

CRITICISM

                     Narratology focuses on narration. As we all know, midnight sun is a novel which retells the story of twilight but in new perspective: Edward Cullen.Edward Cullen tells the story the way he perceives everything in the story.

CULTURAL STUDIES

DED NA SI LOLO

             With a flair for the dramatic five siblings from the Hernandez family deal with the death of their father and prepare for his week long wake. During this time, the siblings confront issues of rivalry and family secrets, while also following various superstitious beliefs for wakes, funerals, and the dead. With all the family members arriving to grieve for the deceased Hernandez ... utter chaos is sure to ensue. 

CRITICISM

             CULTURAL STUDIES shows different beliefs and superstitions. In the movie DED NA SI LOLO, the family's beliefs were shown as they tend to consider and obey each superstition.

GENRE CRITICISM

My November Guest

My Sorrow, when she's here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grey
Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise 
 

Robert Frost

 

CRITICISM

 

               A poem contains different elements and one example of this is figures of speech. As I Examine the poem above using genre criticism, I have notice the use of APOSTROPHE. An apostrophe is a figure of speech wherein the receiver of the sentences or speech is absent.

LOGOCENTRISM

A Late Walk

When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.

And when I come to the garden ground,
The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
Is sadder than any words

A tree beside the wall stands bare,
But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
Comes softly rattling down.

I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you.

Robert Frost

 

CRITICISM

 

             Logocentrism defines literary works with hidden meanings, and these hidden meanings can be unlock only by the speaker. A speaker of a certain poem is the one who gives the meaning of the poem. He is the one with the ability to pass the essence of the written work to the listeners through speaking.

NEOCLASSICISM

MATILDA

           Matilda Wormwood  is an extremely intelligent girl with a bright personality from an early age, but her spiteful and ignorant parents, Harry and Zinnia, neglect and even mistreat her. When Matilda reaches four, she discovers the local library and walk there every day to read while her family is out.

           By the age of six, Matilda begins to lose patience with her parents. In retaliation for her father belittling her, she mixes his hair tonic with her mother's hair dye. Harry later takes his family to his workshop, where he reveals that the cars he sells are actually faulty and irresponsibly managed. Matilda accuses him openly and he belittles her again. One of Harry's clients, Agatha Trunchbull , is the sadistic headmistress of a run-down school, Crunchem Hall. Harry enrolls Matilda in the school, where she befriends several children, but at the same time, learns, especially from Lavender Brown and Hortensia (Kira Spencer Hesser), of Miss Trunchbull's nature and her particularly harsh punishments towards the students, such as the dreaded "Chokey", throwing students out of windows and forcing a boy who stole her slice of cake to eat a whole cake in front of the entire student body to make him sick (though he finishes the cake without getting sick). Fortunately, Matilda's teacher, Miss Jennifer Honey, is a kind and lovely woman who adores her pupils and takes an immediate liking to Matilda for her intellect. Miss Honey speaks with Miss Trunchbull and requests that Matilda be moved up to a higher class. Miss Honey pays Matilda's parents a visit and requests that they pay a bit more attention to their daughter, but they refuse to listen, effectively making Miss Honey the only person who truly understands Matilda. Meanwhile, Matilda discovers that she and her family are under FBI surveillance, because of her father's shady dealings, and purchasing of stolen goods and car parts, but her parents refuse to believe her, the FBI agents having already fooled them into thinking they are speedboat salesmen.

             Sometime later, Miss Trunchbull goes to Matilda's class for a weekly "check-up" and starts to bully the students. As a prank, Lavender places a newt in Miss Trunchbull's water jug to frighten her. Miss Trunchbull, however, accuses Matilda, and Matilda's rage at the injustice leads to her telekinetically tipping the glass over and splashing the water and the newt onto Miss Trunchbull, frightening her. Feeling sympathy for Matilda, Miss Honey invites her to her house for tea. On the way, they pass Miss Trunchbull's house, and Miss Honey reveals her secret to Matilda: when she was two years old, her mother died, so her father, a doctor, invited his wife’s sister, Miss Trunchbull, to live with them and look after Miss Honey while her father was at work. However, Miss Trunchbull mistreated and abused her niece at every opportunity. When Miss Honey was five, her father died of an apparent suicide and in his will, he left all of his assets to Miss Trunchbull, leaving his daughter with nothing. Eventually, Miss Honey moved out of her aunt’s house into a small cottage she rented from a local farmer. Matilda and Miss Honey briefly sneak into Miss Trunchbull's house while she is out, but her unexpected return leads to a cat-and-mouse chase with Matilda and Miss Honey only barely escaping unseen.

              When Matilda's telekinetic powers manifest again during an argument with Harry, Matilda trains herself to use her ability at her own will, and her first act is to sabotage the FBI agents' attempt to search Harry's garage without a warrant. That night, Matilda returns to Miss Trunchbull's house, and from outside, wreaks havoc in an attempt to scare Miss Trunchbull away. Miss Trunchbull almost flees in terror, but she finds Matilda's ribbon in the process and realizes that she was there. The next day, Miss Trunchbull visits Matilda's class again to get Matilda to admit her guilt, but as she begins abusing the children again, Matilda uses her powers to write a message on the blackboard, posing as the ghost of Miss Honey's father accusing Miss Trunchbull of murdering him and ordering her to leave town. Miss Trunchbull is driven insane by the terror and attacks the students, but Matilda keeps them out of harm's way with her powers and the student body forces Miss Trunchbull out of the school by pelting her with food and garbage until she leaves. Miss Honey's father's true will is discovered by the police, which named Miss Honey as the sole beneficiary of her father's assets, and Miss Honey moves back into her home, with Matilda visiting frequently.

          Sometime later, however, the FBI finally uncovers enough evidence to prosecute Harry, and they prepare to flee to Guam. They stop by Miss Honey's house to kidnap Matilda, but she refuses to accompany them, claiming she wants to stay with Miss Honey, who admits that she has come to see Matilda as the daughter she never had. In that moment, Harry and Zinnia then state that Matilda was the only daughter they had ever had and never understood, but they decide to let Miss Honey adopt her, this time on good terms with her. Harry, Zinnia and Michael escape, while Matilda lives a happy life with Miss Honey.

CRITICISM

           The theory Neoclassicism focuses on adaptations. The movie Matilda was an adaptation of the novel with the same title. The ideas are the same. The scenes are the same. Some might be different but they are obviously few. It is because the movie was just based on the novel.

DARWINISM

STARSHIP TROOPERS

               Starship Troopers takes place in the midst of an interstellar war between the Terran Federation of Earth and the Arachnids (referred to as "The Bugs") of Klendathu. It is narrated as a series of flashbacks by Juan Rico, and is one of only a few Heinlein novels set out in this fashion. The novel opens with Rico aboard the corvette Rodger Young, serving with the platoon known as "Rasczak's Roughnecks" (named after the platoon leader, Lt. Rasczak) about to embark on a raid against the planet of the "Skinnies", who are allies of the Arachnids. We learn that he is a cap(sule) trooper in the Terran Federation's Mobile Infantry. The raid itself, one of the few instances of actual combat in the novel, is relatively brief: the Roughnecks land on the planet, destroy their targets, and retreat, suffering a single casualty in the process (Dizzy Flores, who dies in the retrieval boat of wounds received in action).

The story then flashes back to Rico's graduation from high school, and his decision to sign up for Federal Service over the objections of his father, who disowns him. This is the only chapter that describes Rico's civilian life, and most of it is spent on the monologues of two people: retired Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois, Rico's school instructor in "History and Moral Philosophy"; and Fleet Sergeant Ho, a recruiter for the armed forces of the Terran Federation.

Some see Dubois as speaking for Heinlein throughout the novel; he delivers what is probably the book's most famous soliloquy on violence: "[It] has settled more issues in history than has any other factor." Fleet Sergeant Ho's monologues examine the nature of military service, and his anti-military tirades seem primarily to be a contrast with Dubois. We learn, later, that his rants are part of a policy intended to scare off applicants signing up without conviction.

Interspersed throughout the book are other flashbacks to Rico's high school History and Moral Philosophy course, which describe how in the Terran Federation of Rico's day, the rights of a full Citizen (to vote, and hold public office) must be earned through some form of volunteer Federal service. Those residents who have not exercised their right to perform this Federal Service retain all other rights generally associated with a modern democracy (free speech, assembly, etc.), but they cannot vote or hold public office. This structure arose ad hoc after the collapse of the "20th century Western democracies", brought on by both social failures at home (among which appear to be poor handling of juvenile delinquency) and military defeat by the Chinese Hegemony overseas.

In the next section of the novel, after being denied all his higher preferred Service choices, Rico goes to boot camp at Camp Arthur Currie, on the northern prairies. Five chapters are spent exploring Rico's experience there, including his adjustment to a very different situation, entering the service under the training of the leading instructor, career Ship's Sergeant Charles Zim. Camp Currie is rigorous by design; less than ten percent of the recruits finish basic training. The rest either resign, are expelled, or die in training. One of the chapters deals with Ted Hendrick, a fellow recruit and constant complainer who is flogged and expelled for striking a superior officer during a simulated combat exercise (he caught Sgt. Zim by surprise after being struck by the sergeant for failure to perform during the exercise). Another recruit, a deserter who murdered a baby girl while AWOL, is hanged by his battalion after his arrest by civilian police and return to Camp Currie. Rico himself is flogged for poor handling of (simulated) nuclear weapons during a drill; despite these experiences, he eventually graduates and is assigned to a unit in the Fleet.

At some point during Rico's training, the "Bug War" has changed from border incidents to a full-fledged formal war, and Rico finds himself taking part in combat operations. The war "officially" starts with an Arachnid attack that annihilates the city of Buenos Aires (which kills Juan's mother who was visiting there), although Rico makes it clear that prior to the attack there had been many "'incidents', 'patrols', or 'police actions. Rico briefly describes the Terran Federation's loss at the Battle of Klendathu during which his unit is decimated and his ship destroyed. Following Klendathu, the Terran Federation is reduced to making hit-and-run raids similar to the one described at the beginning of the novel (which, chronologically, would be placed between chapters 10 and 11). Rico meanwhile finds himself posted to Rasczak's Roughnecks. This part of the book focuses on the daily routine of military life, as well as the relationship between officers and non-commissioned officers, personified in this case by Rasczak and Sergeant Jelal.

Eventually, Rico decides to become a career soldier, and one of his fellow troopers claims he is officer material and should consider volunteering for Officer Candidate School. He applies and is accepted. It turns out to be just like boot camp, only "squared and cubed with books added". Rico manages to make it through to the final exam, "in the Fleet". He is commissioned a temporary Third Lieutenant for his field-test and commands his own unit during Operation Royalty. It is revealed at the end of the chapter that one of the enlisted men he leads into combat is his former basic training instructor, Sergeant Zim. Although personally convinced that he badly mismanaged his men, he passes the final exam, and graduates as a Second Lieutenant.

Rico has a meeting with his father, who had volunteered for Service after his wife, Rico's mother, was killed at Buenos Aires. The final chapter serves as more of a coda, depicting Rico aboard the Rodger Young as the lieutenant in command of Rico's Roughnecks, preparing to drop to Klendathu as part of a major strike, his father being his senior sergeant, and a Native American Third Lieutenant-in-training (James Bearpaw, known as "Jimmie") of his own under instruction.

CRITICISM

            Darwinism focuses on man's evolution and maturity. It might be changes in the mind or physical changes that an individual undergoes. In the movie starship troopers, the problems of the said troopers are the BUGS. Bugs which probably underwent an enormous change because the said bugs were bigger than what nature could have allowed.

ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM

BATMAN RETURNS

             In Gotham City, a wealthy couple throw their deformed infant son into the sewer; the boy survives, however, and is found by a flock of penguins. Thirty-three years later, the child, Oswald Cobblepot, resurfaces as a criminal, the Penguin, who kidnaps millionaire industrialist Max Shreck. With evidence of his corporate crimes, Cobblepot blackmails Shreck into helping him leave the sewers to become part of Gotham's elite. The Penguin arranges for the Mayor's child to be kidnapped, whom he then "rescues" in order to set himself up as a heroic figure.

         Late one night, upon returning to his office, Shreck surprises his secretary Selina Kyle, in the course of her preparation for a meeting with Bruce Wayne regarding Shreck's proposed power plant. While innocently pulling relevant documents, Selina accesses Shreck's protected files, uncovering compromising information, revealing that the plant will drain Gotham's power supply. Realizing Selina knows too much, Shreck pushes her out of a window, leaving her for dead on the ground many stories below. Selina survives the fall after being revived by alley cats. She returns to her apartment, then suffers a psychotic break and reinvents herself as Catwoman, a catsuit-clad burglar dedicated to getting revenge on her boss.

         Shreck then hatches a plan to recall Gotham City's current mayor and elect the Penguin in his place, in order to cement his control over the city and complete his power plant project. The Penguin's gang of circus performers cause chaos around Gotham to create bad press for the Mayor. Meanwhile, Bruce's alter-ego Batman tries to defend Gotham from Catwoman and the Penguin's gang.

         Selina falls in love with Bruce, a situation complicated by Catwoman's teaming with the  Penguin in an effort to rid Gotham of Batman. They kidnap The Ice Princess, a woman chosen to turn on the Gotham Christmas Tree lights, and frame Batman for the crime. Finding The Princess balancing precariously on the ledge of a high building, Batman tries to save her, but to no avail; the Penguin unleashes an umbrella full of bats which frighten The Princess into plunging to her death, and makes it look like Batman killed her. When a shocked Catwoman rejects his advances, the Penguin tries, unsuccessfully, to kill her. When Batman returns to the Batmobile, he finds that the Penguin has sabotaged it; as the Penguin takes the Batmobile on a remote-controlled rampage through Gotham, he gloats about fooling the entire city. Batman ultimately escapes the Penguin's trap, however.

            When Bruce exposes the Penguin's plans to dupe Gotham, thereby ruining his election chances, the Penguin initiates a plan to murder all of Gotham's first-born sons by kidnapping and taking them into his lair to drown them in a pool of water that has been contaminated with Shreck's toxic waste. He personally attempts to take Max's son, Charles "Chip" Shreck, but agrees to take Max instead. Batman foils the Penguin's large-scale infanticide scheme, whereupon the Penguin then decides to launch missiles around Gotham using mind-controlled penguins. However, Batman is able to jam the frequency used to control the penguins and has missiles launched at the Penguin's base. Batman confronts the Penguin, which culminates in the Penguin falling into the toxic waters in his lair.

           Batman tries to persuade Catwoman to turn Shreck over to the police, even unmasking himself in the process, but Shreck draws a gun. Catwoman claims that she still has six of her nine lives left, and remains standing after Shreck shoots her four times. Catwoman uses a taser to cause an explosion, electrocuting Shreck and apparently sacrificing herself (using up her "eighth life"). The Penguin then emerges from the toxic water and tries to kill Batman, but he succumbs to his wounds. His penguins then take his body into the sewer waters as a final resting place.

               Later, Bruce is being driven around the city at night with butler Alfred Pennyworth and thinks he sees Selina's shadow on a wall. Alfred stops the car, and Bruce finds a cat, which he takes with him and leaves. As the Bat-Signal lights up the night sky, a silhouette of what appears to be Catwoman is seen gazing at it.

CRITICISM

         The movie is under the archetypal criticism because the main character is a fictional character. He was just an outcome of an imaginative mind. Batman and his adventures were never true. And Batman himself never existed.

MORAL CRITICISM

 SPOOKLEY: THE SQUARE PUMPKIN

             Spookley the Square Pumpkin was found in the pumpkin patch by Bella and Boris. Two pumpkins aren't very nice to him, so he feels left out. At first the other pumpkins make fun of him because Spookley is square. Jack (the scarecrow) allows him to compete in the 'Jack-a-Lympics' contest. He saves the residents of the farm within a storm. He showed kindness to the pumpkins that made fun of him and saved their lives. At the end, it shows the farmer carrying Spookley into his house and shows him on the farmers porch lit up with a candle.

CRITICISM

                Moral Criticism focuses on moral values and right conduct. The main character shows kindness and caring characteristics despite of others' cruelness and misbehavior.

POST MODERNISM

THE CRYING OF LOT

              The novel follows Oedipa Maas, a Californian housewife who becomes entangled in a convoluted historical mystery when her ex-lover dies and designates her the co-executor of his estate. The catalyst of Oedipa's adventure is a set of stamps that may have been used by a secret underground postal delivery service, the Trystero (or Tristero).

                According to the historical narrative that Oedipa pieces together during her travels around the San Francisco Bay Area, the Trystero was defeated by Thurn und Taxis – a real postal system – in the 18th century but went underground and continued to exist into Oedipa's present day, the 1960s. Their mailboxes are disguised as regular waste-bins, often displaying their slogan W.A.S.T.E., an acronym for We Await Silent Tristero's Empire, and their symbol, a muted post horn. The existence and plans of this shadowy organization are revealed bit by bit; or, then again, it is possible that the Tristero does not exist at all. The novel's main character, Oedipa Maas, is buffeted back and forth between believing and not believing in them, without ever finding firm proof either way. The Tristero may be a conspiracy, it may be a practical joke, or it may simply be that Oedipa is hallucinating all the arcane references to the underground network that she seems to be discovering on bus windows, toilet walls, and everywhere in the Bay Area.

               Prominent among these references is the "Trystero symbol", a muted post horn with one loop. Originally derived, supposedly, from the Thurn and Taxis coat of arms, Oedipa finds this symbol first in a bar bathroom, where it decorates a graffito advertising a group of polyamorists. It later appears among an engineer's doodles, as part of a children's sidewalk jump rope game, amidst Chinese ideograms in a shop window, and in many other places. The post horn (in either original or Trystero versions) appears on the cover art of many TCL49 editions, as well as within artwork created by the novel's fans.

              Oedipa finds herself drawn into this shadowy intrigue when an old boyfriend, the California real estate mogul Pierce Inverarity, dies. Inverarity's will names her as his executor. Soon enough, she learns that although Inverarity "once lost two million dollars in his spare time [he] still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it all out more than honorary." She leaves her comfortable home in Kinneret-Among-The-Pines, a northern California village, and travels south to the fictional town of San Narciso (Spanish for "Saint Narcissus"), near Los Angeles. Exploring puzzling coincidences she uncovers while parsing Inverarity's testament, Oedipa finds what might be evidence for the Trystero's existence. Sinking or ascending ever more deeply into paranoia, she finds herself torn between believing in the Trystero and believing that it is all a hoax established by Inverarity himself. Near the novel's conclusion, she reflects,

He might have written the testament only to harass a one-time mistress, so cynically sure of being wiped out he could throw away all hope of anything more. Bitterness could have run that deep in him. She just didn't know. He might himself have discovered The Tristero, and encrypted that in the will, buying into just enough to be sure she'd find it. Or he might even have tried to survive death, as a paranoia; as a pure conspiracy against someone he loved.

             Along the way, Oedipa meets a wide range of eccentric characters. Her therapist in Kinneret, a Dr. Hilarius, turns out to have done his internship in Buchenwald, working to induce insanity in captive Jews. "Liberal SS circles felt it would be more humane," he explains. In San Francisco, she meets a man who claims membership in the IA, Inamorati Anonymous—a group founded to help people avoid falling in love, "the worst addiction of all". And, in Berkeley, she meets John Nefastis, an engineer who believes he has built a working version of Maxwell's demon, a means for defeating entropy. The book ends with Oedipa attending an auction, waiting for bidding to begin on a set of rare postage stamps, which she believes representatives of Tristero are trying to acquire. (Auction items are called "lots"; a lot is "cried" when the auctioneer is taking bids on it; the stamps in question are "Lot 49".)

CRITICISM

             Post Modernism focuses on the text plus the real world. It states that there are things which can't be explained by science. The novel's main character, Oedipa, meets a lot of people and experiences a lot of situations. Science can't accurately explain her life experiences. And the text itself is enough to arouse the readers' interests. 

MODERNISM

ROBO COP

                 In the near future, Detroit, Michigan is on the verge of collapse due to financial ruin and unchecked crime. The mega-corporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) enters into a contract with the city to run the police force. OCP plans to destroy "Old Detroit" and replace it with the utopia of "Delta City". Recognizing that human law enforcers are insufficient to stop the crime spree, OCP runs several programs to find robotic replacements. One program, the ED-209 enforcement droid, headed by senior president Dick Jones, malfunctions and kills a junior executive during its demonstration. As a result, the OCP Chairman opts for a cyborg program helmed by middle-ranking executive Bob Morton, named "RoboCop".

                 Veteran police officer Alex J. Murphy is transferred to a new precinct in Old Detroit and is partnered with Officer Ann Lewis. On their first patrol, they chase down a team of criminals led by crime boss Clarence Boddicker to an abandoned steel mill. Lewis is later rendered unconscious by one of the gang, while the rest of Boddicker's men corner Murphy and brutally murder him. Murphy is pronounced dead at the hospital and OCP subsequently takes his body and utilizes parts of the remains in the construction of the first RoboCop.

                RoboCop is able to single-handedly deal with much of the violent crime in the city, causing the rest of the police force to become worried they may be replaced. Unbeknownst to his human monitors, RoboCop still retains memories of his life as Murphy, including brief glimpses of his wife and son, and the action of spinning his gun before holstering it, a trick Murphy had done for his son. Lewis recognizes these elements from Murphy's mannerisms and tries to learn more from RoboCop, but due to Morton's orders not to ask questions about RoboCop, she is forced to remain silent on the issues. Because of RoboCop's success, Morton is promoted to become one of OCP's vice-presidents.

            Morton's success and arrogance leads Jones to have Boddicker, secretly in his employ, kill the young executive. Meanwhile, an armed gas station holdup by one of Boddicker's men, Emil, allows RoboCop to track down Boddicker to a cocaine factory. RoboCop bursts into the facility, kills nearly all of Boddicker's associates and "interrogates" Boddicker by tossing him through several glass windows; Boddicker reveals his alliance with Dick Jones. Boddicker is arrested and RoboCop visits Jones at his offices at OCP, intending to arrest him as well.

            During the confrontation, RoboCop's previously unknown fourth directive, preventing him from arresting or harming any senior executive of OCP, activates and incapacitates him. Jones sends an ED-209 against RoboCop. The ED-209 proves incapable of descending a stairway, making it possible for RoboCop to escape. When RoboCop enters the parking complex of the building, a police SWAT team is waiting for him with orders to destroy him. The hail of bullets severely damages RoboCop's armor, but Lewis saves him.

Meanwhile, the police launch their long-threatened labor strike, sending the city into chaos. Jones arranges for Boddicker and his men to be released from prison and provides them with "Cobra assault cannons" that use explosive rounds capable of puncturing RoboCop's heavy armor. Using a tracking device provided by Jones, Boddicker's team converges on the steel mill where RoboCop was recovering from his injuries. RoboCop and Lewis defend themselves and kill the entire gang. Lewis is wounded but survives.

               RoboCop returns to OCP headquarters, uses a Cobra cannon to finally destroy the ED-209 guarding the building, and presents evidence of Jones' role in Morton's death to the OCP chairman. Jones quickly grabs a gun and takes the chairman hostage. The chairman, after being told about the Fourth Directive by RoboCop, fires Jones, allowing RoboCop to shoot him. Jones then crashes through the window and falls to his death. The chairman commends RoboCop for his skill and asks for his name, to which RoboCop replies: "Murphy".

CRITICISM

                 Modernism focuses on new ideas. Real and also changing times. The movie ROBO COP offers the said characteristics of modernism. It shows new ideas and innovations. Cyborgs are also included in the movie which we consider as a new concept, yet probable. 

ECO-CRITICISM

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

            Fourteen-year-old Katara and her fifteen-year-old older brother, Sokka, are near a river at the Southern Water Tribe, a small village in the South Pole. While hunting, they discover an iceberg that shoots a beam of light into the sky. Inside of the iceberg is a twelve-year-old boy named Aang and a giant flying bison named Appa. Unknown to them, Aang is the long-lost, mighty Avatar — the only person on the planet able to "bend" all four elements. One hundred years have passed since the Fire Nation has declared war on the other three nations of Water, Earth, and Air in their attempt to conquer the world.

             Zuko, is an exiled prince of the Fire Nation on a quest to find the Avatar and bring him as prisoner to his father, Fire Lord Ozai, so he can return home. Seeing the light that appeared from Aang's release, Zuko and some Fire Nation soldiers arrive at the Southern Water Tribe to demand the villagers hand over the Avatar. Aang reveals himself as he surrenders himself to Zuko on the condition that he agrees to leave the village alone. On the ship, Aang is tested by Zuko's paternal uncle Iroh to confirm him to be the Avatar. After being informed that he is to be their prisoner for passing the test, Aang escapes using his glider and flies to his flying bison brought by Katara and Sokka. Aang and his new friends visit the Southern Air Temple where they meet a winged lemur, who Aang later names Momo. Aang also learns that he was in the ice for a whole century and that the Fire Nation wiped out all of the Air Nomads, including his guardian, Monk Gyatso. In despair, he enters the Avatar State and finds himself in the Spirit World where he encounters a Dragon Spirit that tells him that he only knows Airbending, and that he also needs to learn Waterbending, Earthbending and Firebending in order to become a fully realized Avatar. The Dragon Spirit tells him that he should learn Waterbending first, and that the best teachers are in the Northern Water Tribe as there no more experienced, master waterbenders in the Southern Water Tribe.

             To seek shelter, Aang's group arrive at a little Earth Kingdom village controlled by the Fire Nation, and they are arrested because Katara tries to help a young boy escape from a Fire Nation patrol soldiers. They incite a rebellion by reminding the disgruntled earthbenders that earth was given to them. Katara is given a Waterbending scroll that she uses to greatly strengthen and hone her Waterbending and help Aang learn as they make their way to the Northern Water Tribe and liberate and secure more Earth Kingdom villages in the process, weakening the Fire Nation's food and water supplies.

              During a side track to the Northern Air Temple on his own, Aang is betrayed by a peasant and captured by a "group of Fire Nation archers, led by Commander Zhao, a Fire Nation Commander appointed by the Fire Lord. However, a masked marauder, the "Blue Spirit", helps Aang escape from his imprisonment. Zuko is the masked vigilante, and Zhao realizes this. He arranges to kill the prince. Zuko survives the assassination attempt on his life with Iroh's help. He sneaks aboard Zhao's lead ship as his fleet departs for the Northern Water Tribe, which is a heavy fortress, to capture the Avatar. Upon arriving, Aang's group is welcomed warmly by the citizens of the Northern Water Tribe. Immediately, Sokka quickly befriends the Northern Water Tribe princess, Yue. After a few agreements, a Waterbending master, Pakku, teaches Aang waterbending. Katara also becomes a much stronger and more powerful waterbender due her training with Master Pakku.

               Soon, the Fire Nation arrives and Zhao begins his attack while Zuko begins his search for the Avatar on his own. After defeating Katara in a battle, Zuko captures Aang as he enters the Spirit World to find the Dragon Spirit to give him the wisdom to defeat the Fire Nation who tells him to let his emotions flow like water. Returning to his body, Aang battles Zuko before Katara freezes him. Before leaving to join the battle, Aang lowers the ice so that Zuko can breathe. As the battle escalates, Iroh watches Zhao capture the Moon Spirit, with which its Ocean Spirit counterpart had assumed the form of a fish. Despite Iroh's pleas, Zhao kills the Moon Spirit to strip all of the Waterbenders of their powers and abilities to Waterbend. Yue explains to everyone that the Moon Spirit gave her life, willing to give it back as she dies in the process. With the tables turned, Zhao finds out Zuko survived. They almost fight before Iroh appears and tells Zuko it's not worth it. Zhao is drowned by Waterbenders after Zuko and Iroh leave him to his fate. Aang remember his life before being trapped in the ice, including when he left his home seeing his masters face. With his Waterbending powers and his emotions "flowing like water", Aang enters the Avatar State and raises the ocean into a gigantic wall in order to drive the armada back. Aang now fully embraces his destiny as the Avatar as he, Katara and Sokka prepare to continue their journey to the Earth Kingdom to find an Earthbending teacher for Aang. The Fire Lord learns of the defeat, and angry about the betrayal of his brother Iroh and the failure of his eldest son Zuko, he tasks his youngest daughter Azula to stop the Avatar from mastering Earth and Fire before the arrival of Sozin's Comet.

CRITICISM

The movie falls under ECO-CRITICISM because of the theme: NATURE. The main character, Aang, is the so-called avatar who can control the four elements of nature. In the whole movie, Aang and his friends fight against the fire nation and its tyrannical greed to control the other nations. 

AMERICAN PRAGMATISM

CAPTAIN AMERICA

         In the present day, scientists in the Arctic uncover a circular object with a red, white and blue motif.

           In March 1942, Nazi officer Johann Schmidt and his men invade Tønsberg, Norway, to steal a mysterious Tesseract possessing untold powers. Meanwhile, in New York City, Steve Rogers is rejected for World War II military duty because of various health and physical problems. While attending an exhibition of future technologies with his friend Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes, Rogers again attempts to enlist. Overhearing Rogers' conversation with Barnes about wanting to help in the war, Dr. Abraham Erskine allows Rogers to enlist. He is recruited in the Scientific Strategic Reserve as part of a "super-soldier" experiment under Erskine, Col. Chester Phillips, and British agent Peggy Carter. Phillips is unconvinced by Erskine's claims that Rogers is the right person for the procedure, but relents after seeing Rogers commit an act of self-sacrificing bravery. The night before the treatment, Erskine reveals to Rogers that Schmidt underwent an imperfect version of the procedure and suffered side-effects.

           Back in Europe, Schmidt and Dr. Arnim Zola successfully harness the energies of the Tesseract, intending to use the power to fuel Zola's inventions. Schmidt, having discovered Erskine's location, dispatches an assassin to kill him. In America, Erskine subjects Rogers to the super-soldier treatment, injecting him with a special serum and dosing him with "vita-rays". After Rogers emerges from the experiment taller and more muscular, one of the attendees kills Erskine, revealing himself to be Schmidt's assassin, Heinz Kruger. Rogers  pursues and captures Kruger, but the assassin commits suicide by cyanide capsule before he can be interrogated.

           With Erskine dead and his super-soldier formula lost, U.S. Senator Brandt has Rogers tour the nation in a colorful costume as "Captain America" to promote war bonds, rather than allow scientists to study him and attempt to rediscover the formula. In 1943, while on tour in Italy performing for active servicemen, Rogers learns that Barnes' unit was lost in a battle against Schmidt's forces. Refusing to believe that Barnes is dead, Rogers has Carter and engineer Howard Stark fly him behind enemy lines to mount a solo rescue attempt. Rogers infiltrates the fortress of Schmidt's HYDRA organization, freeing Barnes and the other captured soldiers. Rogers confronts Schmidt, who reveals his face to be a mask, removing it to display the red, skull-like face that earned him the sobriquet "the Red Skull." Schmidt escapes and Rogers returns to base with the freed soldiers.

         Rogers recruits Barnes, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Montgomery Falsworth, and Jacques Dernier to attack the other known HYDRA bases. Stark outfits Rogers with advanced equipment, in particular a circular shield made of vibranium, a rare, near-indestructible metal. Rogers and his team successfully sabotage various HYDRA operations. The team later assaults a train carrying Zola. Zola is captured, but Barnes falls from the train to his apparent death. Using information extracted from Zola, the final HYDRA stronghold is located and Rogers leads an attack to stop Schmidt from using weapons of mass destruction on American cities. Rogers clambers aboard Schmidt's aircraft as it takes off. During the subsequent fight, the Tesseract's container is damaged. Schmidt physically handles the Tesseract, causing him to dissolve in a bright light. The Tesseract falls to the floor, burning through the plane and falling to Earth. Seeing no way to land the plane without the risk of detonating its weapons, Rogers crashes it in the Arctic. Stark later recovers the Tesseract from the ocean floor, but is unable to locate Rogers or the aircraft.

              Rogers awakens in a 1940s-style hospital room. Deducing from an anachronistic radio broadcast that something is wrong, he flees outside into what is revealed to be present-day Times Square in New York City, where S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury tells him he has been "asleep" for nearly 70 years.

             In a post-credits scene, Fury approaches Rogers, proposing a mission with worldwide ramifications.

CRITICISM

          The movie falls under the theory American Pragmatism, because the main character, Captain America, is a superhero, a human weapon, a product of science and technology. He was made strong and fast compared to any normal human. Science and Technology is what makes Captain America under American Pragmatism.

STRUCTURALISM

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

             Kris Fowles goes to the Springwood Diner to meet with her boyfriend, Dean  Russell, who falls asleep at the table and meets a man covered in burn scars, wearing a red and green sweater, a fedora and a clawed glove on his hand. The burned man cuts Dean's throat in the dream, but in reality it appears that Dean is cutting his own throat as his friend, waitress Nancy Holbrook, looks on with Kris. At Dean's funeral, Kris sees a photograph of her and Dean as children, but cannot recall ever knowing Dean before high school. Kris begins to dream about the burned man herself and refuses to go to sleep for fear that she will die in her dreams. Jesse Braun, Kris's ex-boyfriend, shows up at her house to keep her company while she sleeps, but Kris meets the burned man in her dreams and is murdered. Covered in blood, Jesse runs to Nancy's house to try to explain what happened and he learns that Nancy has been having dreams about the same man: Freddy Krueger.

             Jesse is apprehended by the police under suspicion of murdering Kris, and is killed by Krueger when he falls asleep in his jail cell. With her friends dying, Nancy begins to question what everyone's connection is to each other, given that none of them can remember each other before their teenage years. Eventually, Nancy and her friend Quentin Smith discover that all of them attended the same preschool together. Nancy's mother, Gwen, reluctantly tells Nancy and Quentin that there was a gardener at the preschool, Fred Krueger, who abused Nancy and the rest of the kids. Gwen explains that Nancy was his favorite, and that she came home one day telling her mother about a hidden space in Krueger's room and the things he did to her there. Gwen claims Krueger skipped town before he was arrested. Nancy does not believe her and attempts to track down the remaining kids from the school. Nancy eventually discovers that all of the other kids have been killed, most of them in their sleep. Meanwhile, Quentin tries to accept that his nightmares are nothing more than repressed memories, but he falls asleep during swim practice and witnesses what really happened to Krueger. Quentin sees everyone's parents hunt down Krueger, and then burn him alive. Quentin and Nancy confront Quentin's father, Alan Smith, about murdering Krueger with no evidence that he had committed any crime. Thus, Nancy and Quentin believe that Krueger wants revenge on them for lying as children. As a result of their insomnia, Nancy and Quentin begin sporadically dreaming while they are still awake. To try to stop Krueger, they decide to go to the preschool and learn what they can.

            On the way, Nancy falls asleep and is attacked by Krueger, but when Quentin wakes her up they discover she has pulled a piece of Krueger's sweater out of the dreamworld and into reality. Quentin takes Nancy to the hospital for cuts on her arm; there, he steals some adrenaline and a syringe to help them stay awake. Nancy and Quentin eventually make it to the preschool. Quentin uncovers Krueger's hidden room and the evidence that proves Krueger was in fact abusing all of the children; they realize that Krueger actually wants revenge on them for telling the truth. Nancy decides the only way to end this is to pull Krueger out of their dreams and kill him in reality. Quentin tries to stay awake long enough to pull Nancy out of her dream when she has Krueger, but he falls asleep and is attacked. Krueger then goes after Nancy, and explains that he intentionally left her for last so she would stay awake long enough that, when she finally fell asleep, she would no longer be able to wake up. While Nancy struggles with Krueger, Quentin uses the adrenaline to wake up Nancy who pulls Krueger into reality. With Krueger distracted by Quentin, Nancy uses a broken paper cutter blade to cut Krueger's gloved hand off, and then slice his throat. Afterward, Nancy torches the secret room, with Krueger's body left inside, while she and Quentin leave. Nancy and her mother return home from the hospital; Krueger suddenly appears in a mirror's reflection and kills Nancy's mother before pulling her body through the mirror while Nancy screams.

CRITICISM

             The movie is considered under the structuralism theory because of its single idea, nightmares caused by Freddy. The teenagers tried to keep theirselves alive by trying to stay awake, but soon they started to dream while they are still awake, giving Freddy a lot of chances to take the kids' lives. Structuralism gives one single idea throughout the whole  story.

TERRITORIALISM

ALIENS IN THE ATTIC

              A meteor shower rockets through open space. Four glowing pods are seen hiding behind the meteor shower. Suddenly the meteor shower makes a hard right and heads towards a distant planet Earth.

            In a Chicago suburb, Stuart Pearson and his wife Nina head a family that includes 7-year-old Hannah; 17-year-old sister Bethany, who's just returned from a secret outing with her boyfriend Ricky Dillman, and 15-year-old techno-geek Tom whose high school grades are low. Deciding the family needs some good old-fashioned togetherness, Stuart takes them to a holiday home in the middle of nowhere. Joining them is Uncle Nate, Nate's 14-year-old son Jake, Nana Rose, and identical 12-year-old twins Art (Henri Young) and Lee. Ricky also arrives unexpectedly and talks his way into staying overnight.

              That night dark storm clouds swirl around the house. Suddenly, the four glowing pods land on the roof. An alien crew emerges, made up of Skip, the tough commander, Tazer, a muscle-bound dude armed to the teeth, Razor, a lethal female alien soldier, and Sparks, a four-armed techie, who is the only non-threatening intruder. Since the aliens knocked over the satellite dish Ricky and Tom are sent to fix it. Ricky then reveals to Tom that he lied about everything so far, his car didn't break down, his parents don't own a lake house,and he's a lot older than 18. Ricky is actually in college and is five years older than Bethany. They find the satellite is beyond repair. Investigating further they discover the aliens. Skip tries to lull Tom and Jake into a false sense of security, but fails. Ricky is captured and implanted with a mind control device. The aliens, called "Zirkonians", via Ricky, lay claim to the planet (when asked why they didn't just say it themselves Skip responds, "This way is more fun.") Like a puppet/robot, Ricky grabs the boys – but Tom and Jake break free.

              It isn't long before all five kids have seen the aliens. Tom takes charge and the kids discover the mind control device only works on grownups, giving them a fighting chance. They realize they have a responsibility to protect the adults by keeping the aliens' existence a secret. Left on their own, the kids create makeshift weapons, like a home made potato spud gun. They even obtain and learn to use the mind controller. They soon take control of Ricky and turn him against the aliens.

           The adults remain oblivious and insist the youngsters go on a fishing expedition. Meanwhile Hannah and gentle tech Sparks become friends. Unlike his alien cohorts, Sparks hates battle; he just wants to return home to his family. As the aliens attack, the kids start to fight back. Meanwhile, Jake gets captured by the Zirkonians and is tied up and in the basement. Nana Rose comes under the control of the mind control device, which gives her super-human strength and agility. Under the control of the kids, she comes to their rescue and fights off Ricky, who is again under alien control. Nana gives Ricky a huge electric jolt, causing the alien plug to dislodge. Ricky then and there breaks up with Bethany because she talks about feelings and family too much.

               The kids finally reveal to Bethany what's going on, and Sparks helps by making weapons for them. He also reveals the aliens want a device hidden under the basement which will make them grow giant. After rescuing Jake, the kids defeat Skip, Tazer and Razor, who flee on their teleporting machine. Sparks calls off the invasion and returns home. The rest of the vacation goes back to normal, except the kids grew closer to each other during their adventure. In the distance, Skip (apparently thrown clear when his ship left) appears, bent on revenge against the humans, but meets his demise when a crow flies by and carries Skip off to its nest to eat him.

                   During the credits, Bethany and Tom take revenge on Ricky by making him look like a fool in front of his new girlfriend, using the alien mind control device. Bethany comments "I am so keeping this".

CRITICISM

                   The movie falls under territorialism because of its simple yet unique plot. Aliens are found inside the attic of the Pearson family. The kids of the family, of course, tried to keep their parents safe by keeping the aliens' existence a secret. The attic represents the territory to fight for.

DECONSTRUCTION

THE WICKER MAN

                  Edward Malus , an American policeman, receives news from his ex-fiancée, Willow Woodward , that her daughter, Rowan (Erika Shaye Gair), is missing. He gets a pilot to take him to an island off the coast of Washington where a group of neo-pagans live. The island is led by Sister Summersisle, an elderly woman who is treated like a goddess. The economy of the island relies on the production of local honey, which Malus learns has been down recently. Malus asks the villagers about Rowan, but they give him evasive answers. He later sees two men carrying a large bag that appears to be dripping blood, then he finds a fresh, unmarked grave in the churchyard. The grave turns out to only contain a burned doll, but Malus finds Rowan's sweater in the churchyard.

                       At the village school, teacher Sister Rose tries to prevent Malus from seeing the class register. When he sees that Rowan's name has been crossed out he becomes enraged at the teacher's and Rowan's classmates' lies. Rose demands Malus talk outside and, after a short discussion of the island people's view of death, Rose explains that Rowan is "letting it snow". Malus asks how Rowan died and Rose tells him first that "She'll burn to death". When Malus catches the tense she used, Rose corrects herself quickly, saying, "She burned to death," and rushes back to her class.

                     On the day of the ritual, Malus frantically searches the village for Rowan. He attacks Sister Beech, who has a bear costume for the ritual. Malus steals her costume and joins the parade led by Sister Summersisle.

                    The parade ends at the site of the festival. Rowan is tied to a large tree, about to be burned. Malus rescues Rowan and they run away through the woods, but Rowan leads him back to Sister Summersisle. Sister Summersisle thanks Rowan for her help, and Malus realizes that the search for Rowan was a trap. The villagers attack Malus and overpower him (in the "alternate ending" version, the scene is extended, showing the villagers as they break his legs and place a mask of bees on his head). Then the women carry him to a giant wicker man and shut him inside. Rowan sets fire to the wicker man and Malus is sacrificed. The crowd chants "The drone must die!", believing that Malus's sacrifice will restore their honey production.

                   The last scene is shown with Willow and Sister Honey going into a bar and talking with two male police officers. The women invite them to go home with them, presumably in hopes of luring them just as Malus was. Screaming from Edward Malus can be heard as the film fades into dark (both scenes are absent from the DVD release).

CRITICISM

                  Deconstruction focuses on the texts meanings which are multiple. The movie WICKER MAN falls under deconstruction since the first part of the movie suggests different meanings and conclusions. The last part seems unpredictable because of the multiple ideas presented in the movie.