Comments for meadow4.ca

Comment on period 2, day 4 by etikavelut

etikavelut — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 12:16:25 +0000

etikavelut…

Comment on Common themes by Gul Iman

Gul Iman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:28:37 +0000

Hi Ms. Parrish!!!
Tasnia and I were searching ourselves on google and this came up So we got really excited and read the blogs. I didn’t know you kept all this stuff :O Thought we should leave our stain/mark Hope you’re doing well!

Comment on period 1, day 4 by Shraddha Bhagat

Shraddha Bhagat — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:17:17 +0000

Day 5:

Sabah brought up an excellent point about the differences between the two films. She talked aobut Branagh’s version being physically powerful while Almereyda’s version being emotionally powerful. Almereyda’s Ophelia is much more emotional and emotionally broken insider her heart whereas Branagh’s Ophelia was physically effected and she goes mad. I agree with Sabh about the differences between the power that she pointed because it is true. Overall, Branagh’s version is about physical being more of a medieval idea whereas Almereyda’s version is about emotional being more of a post-modern idea. Sabah also pointed out Laertes behaviour in the two films. In Branagh’s version, Laertes is physical and we feel that he is a brother while in Almereyda’s film, Laertes is more driven by emotional power and we feel there is physical attachment between Laertes and Ophelia.

Comment on Respond to period 2, day one by Mehwish Nomani

Mehwish Nomani — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:51:44 +0000

sry my previous post is supposed to be in period 2, day 4

Comment on Respond to period 2, day one by Mehwish Nomani

Mehwish Nomani — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:50:32 +0000

Taiseer, Rabeea and Ayaz’s group had come up with some great points in general. However, the point that stood out to me the most was the connection between “Dark and Truth”. Many characters do prefer to reveal themselves in the dark. They don’t want to be exposed in public considering that they also feel more secure. We can observe that in both Almereyda and Branagh’s versions of “Hamlet”, Claudius and Hamlet reveal their true selves in the dark. We can observe that when Claudius is in the dark limo cabin with total privacy he tends to let out his feelings towards his wrong deeds and he even explains why he chose to do such a deed. His inner true most emotions and thoughts are only revealed when he feels secure in the dark, because he knows that no one is watching him and no one can see him either. Furthermore, Almereyda takes off the mask from Hamlet’s face as well. Hamlet plans on killing Claudius during the night time, even after having the option of killing him through out the morning. He knows that during night he will be in total privacy; however, a little further into the scene as Taiseer pointed out, we can notice that Hamlet is getting ready to shoot Claudius by getting his gun out. He lifts it up and holds it up by his face. Viewing his side profile we see that the director purposely splits his face in half horizontally with the effect of light. Hamlet’s top half of the face is revealed through light while is bottom half including the gun is hidden in darkness. The darkness exposes Hamlet’s true desire of killing Claudius.

Comment on period 2, day 4 by Rubab

Rubab — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 01:04:13 +0000

I really liked Amir’s explanation towards Hamlet and the fact that he has two masks on. During the bathroom scene, we can see there are not any props except for a mirror. That was probably used to show the importance of the scene. A mirror is something that shows your reflection. It helps us see what we look like. As Hamlet looked into the mirror, we saw half of his face in light and half in darkness. That showed, like Amir said, two masks that Hamlet wore just like everyone else. Amir described beautifully how Hamlet washing off his face was almost as if he was getting rid of a mask. In Barangh’s version, someone mentioned that Hamlet has a mask on that cannot be taken off. That shows that Baranagh might have wanted Hamlet to be shown as a person who speaks out his actions and doesn’t hide his emotions where as we see Almereyda’s Hamlet, he is nothing but in mask. In addition, Amir mentioned how the mirror reflected Hamlet’s two masks. At one point, his reflection only showed half of his face, which pointed out that there was something, was being hidden. In addition, half of Hamlet’s face is lighted while the other one is not. That showed how he was hiding or missing something in life.

Comment on period 1, day 4 by Raisa Abedin

Raisa Abedin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:41:55 +0000

Day 5:
Eleena pointed out something very significant in her presentation about the mirror. In the scene with Claudius and Gertrude in their bedroom, right before Laertes comes about; we see Claudius and Gertrude looking at the mirror. Eleena spoke about Claudius looking at himself in pieces at the broken part of the mirror, while I can see her logic in it, I interpret it in a different way, as I said in my presentation, the mirror in Hamlet symbolizes looking at in inner most part of one. So I interpreted Claudius looking at the mirror which was broken and was not clear, just like him internally. He was guilty, thus broken, but not completely regretful, thus not clear. Another interesting thing I noticed that the group forgot to mention was how fast Gertrude turns away from the mirror, as if to not let Claudius catch a glimpse of her reflection that would show her inner quest to now help Hamlet and betray Claudius.

Comment on respond to period 1, day 3 by Raisa Abedin

Raisa Abedin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:38:45 +0000

I think the group who presented on this day was specific in comparisons between Branaugh and Almereyda’s versions. This was very effective, because we learn of how different or similar interpretations of one thing can be. Interpretations are also a theme in Hamlet, for example, how all the audience interpreted the story of the ‘The Mousetrap’ was different from Claudius’s eyes. Jawad and Kareena emphasized on how introverted Ophelia is, but as mentioned by the group, so is Hamlet, at least in Almereyda’s version. In the scene with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, Branaughs version shows an enthusiastic and authoritative Hamlet speaking from a staircase, showing power between him and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and speaking of his newly diseased wit. But in Almereyda’s version, we see a more passive Hamlet, trapped between Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s physical selves in the back seat of a car. He speaks calmly, yet almost sarcastically and as if he is speaking to himself. And here he seems so aloof that you can tell he was more emotionally driven, while in Branaughs version, it seems like he was driven by accomplishment and power.

Comment on period 2, day 4 by Christine Golondrina

Christine Golondrina — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:35:12 +0000

Period 2 Day 5
For Tharsika`s presentation, she talked about Ophelia and how her giving the pictures of the flowers to everyone was like her assigning them a role. I can agree and understand her statement, but I also think that for that scene, Ophelia was not giving the people a role but revealing their true character. The reason I think this is because flowers usually represent human emotions and characteristics - a rose means love, and a pansy means thoughts. And here, Ophelia was shown giving photographs of flowers to people, and that was almost like identifying the type of person they are, or the type of person they have become. In the scene, she gives Gertrude a photo of fennels and columbines and says they represent adultery. She gives Laertes a photo of a rue, and says it is the symbol for repentance, before giving one to herself as well. She even says that she would have given violets, the symbol for faithfulness, but it died along with her father. Here, Ophelia is characterizing everyone to that of a flower they represent.
But then what I think was important was the media that Ophelia used when giving away those flowers. Ophelia uses photographs of the flowers. She could have used any other kind of media, she could have even just gotten real flowers and gave it to people, but she uses photographs. Why? Because photographs represent what the eyes sees (the image of the object), but they do not take into account what the image means. It`s just a picture. Likewise, the image of the flowers captured in the picture holds a hidden meaning. This means that when Ophelia gave people the photographs of flowers, she was basically showing that everyone who she gave those flowers to have this image that they portray towards the general public, hiding their true selves behind closed doors. It`s an artificial beauty. They seem good-natured, but their meanings sometimes aren`t. Like Claudius, for his words make it seem like he cares for Laertes when Laertes confronts him about his father`s death, but really they were just sugar-coated words used to make Laertes do the dirty work and kill Hamlet for him. He puts up this image of a king who understands Laertes`s pain, but really he just wanted to use him for his own gain. As such, Ophelia giving them the photographs of the flowers tell that the image that they hold is just the image, and that they all have an underlying secret behind it. Her giving them those pictures of those flowers reveal their true colours behind the appearance.
Furthermore, as a side note, Ophelia throwing the photos around also represent the situation where the truth of the characters are slowly beginning to be unveiled. How the photographs started off as being grouped together, slowly being strewn across the floor as Ophelia drops them one by one, is almost like a representation of the illusion held up by everyone to keep their image, and how that illusion is slowly breaking.

Comment on period 2, day 4 by Christine Golondrina

Christine Golondrina — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:34:25 +0000

Period 2 Day 5
During Ammad`s presentation, he mentioned how Ophelia, climbing up the white, spiralling staircase was like a representation of her state of mind, for it too, was spiralling over the death of her father. He also said that the staircase symbolized her confusion. I agree with both points, but I also think that it symbolized her innocence. What caught my attention was the fact that the staircase was white. We have come to know that white symbolizes innocence and purity, and its affiliation with Ophelia was to emphasize on her own innocence within the play, whether as a woman or for being a victim in the fight between Claudius and Hamlet. Ammad showed that in Branagh`s version of the same scene, Ophelia was wearing a white dress – which was to show her being an innocent victim in the play. However, in Almereyda`s version, Ophelia was wearing black, which symbolized her grief and overwhelming sadness towards her father`s death. Instead of conventionally portraying Ophelia`s character through the white dress, Almereyda conveyed it in the staircase. How Ophelia clung onto the banister while walking, looking back and forth as though searching for something and not being able to find it, her actions being shaky, and anxious and dazed, she looked like a lost and devastated child. The way she clung to the staircase was like her clinging to her innocence that was shattering after knowing about her father`s demise. It`s because of these actions and the designated colour scheme that I believe the staircase represented Ophelia`s innocence. I think that Almereyda used the staircase to represent the idea of Ophelia losing that innocence with the death of Polonius.