Tag: drama

Censorship of Indian Films

N kavya

In India, films are censored by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), a statutory censorship and classification body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Films should be certified by the board to be publicly exhibited it in India, including films shown on television.

History -:

Film censorship, the control of the content and presentation of a film, has been a part of the film industry for almost as long as it has been around. The activists of current society continue to broaden the First Amendment rights for the film industry allowing the art to be restricted to a certain limit.[24] Britain established film censorship in 1912 and the United States followed a decade later. Other early efforts of censoring the film industry include the Hays Code of 1922 and the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930.

The Film Fraternity – :

Films are considered a great medium of communication with people. With the development and progress of society and also with the progress in the field of science and technology, films have undergone a sea change and by adopting all the available technologies, have been able to reach the masses and are also significantly contributing to the social and cultural development of the country. In this way, the films are equated with the Press as Press is also considered a great medium of communication.

The Constitution-:

Article 19(1) of the Indian constitution ensures the right to freedom of speech and expression for all. Hence, this right is also applicable to moviemakers as well as writers. Article 19(2) specifies that freedom of expression should not threaten the sovereignty and integrity of the Nation. Censor Board was established based on this principle.

Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) -:

A motion film is certified by CBFC, the regulatory authority in India, under Sections 5A and B of the Cinematograph Act, 1952. CBFC certifies and differentiates movies as ‘U (Unrestricted Public Exhibition)’, ‘U/A (Parental Guidance for children below the age of 12 years)’, A (Restricted to adults), and S (Restricted to any special class of persons).

NECESSITY OF CENSORSHIP -:

1. Influences the young -:
Nowadays, most movies have unrealistic scenes. Violent scenes that motivate young viewers to copy the tasks their heroes perform on screen may cost them their lives. movies that claim that the consumption of drugs is injurious to health are promoting the use of drugs as young minds grow curious to try them in real life. It is better if such scenes are censored. Children are also watching ‘A’ certified movies, filled with full of violence. The accessibility to movies has increased considerably. So there is a need to remove scenes of too much violence and vulgarity.

2. Tackles the unacceptable -:
If a part of a movie contains scenes or language that cannot be accepted by people of all religions, then there will be calls to ban the movie and a riot may break out. So, to avoid them, the government has set up a board that will censor those unacceptable parts. If there is no censorship, there are dangers that movies that hurt the sentiments of certain sections will be out in public. This can lead to violence and threatens public order.

3. Keeps children safe -:
Censoring certain parts of movies helps keep children away from hearing and seeing inappropriate things. Nowadays, children are addicted to watching TV. When a movie is shown on TV — and most movies are these days — children are exposed to it. Inappropriate scenes or a string of wrong words can teach them all the wrong things and have a bad influence. As a society, we have a responsibility to protect children from being exposed to dangerous content.

4. Maintains harmony -:
Scenes that make a travesty of history or create friction amongst people should be completely removed. The case of the movie, Padmaavat, which was released in January 2018, is the perfect example of the need of censoring movies to maintain communal harmony.

DISADVANTAGES OF CENSORSHIP -:

1. An art -:
The arts do not influence people’s thoughts and feelings, let alone their actions unless they connect with something already present in those people’s personalities or experiences. People choose what art they will look at, what movies they will watch, what games they will play, or what sites they will visit, because of who they already are. Cinema, like other art forms, is a medium for expression. Filmmakers translate their vision onto the big screen through months or years of hard work. Thus, to snip off portions that are undesirable in a movie is unfair.

2. Obstructs creativity -:
Censoring parts of movies obstructs their creative flow and nullifies the effect of the narrative. It is always up to us if we want to watch a movie or not. Censoring parts of it means breaking the million thoughts and ideas that go into building that movie. Documentaries, which are meant to expose truths, are also undergoing many cuts. Filmmakers spend a lot of money and time making movies. If parts of the movie are cut in the name of censorship, they will be discouraged to make more movies.

3. Essence lost-:
Be it a plot or sub-plot, every part of a movie is crucial. So, with a part missing, the entire essence of the movie is lost. It’s time to leave movies in the hands of the movie’s crew and not the certification board. People have the mental ability to decide what to watch and what not to watch. Government has no right to decide what people are allowed to watch.

Is censorship a necessary evil?

Censorship can be considered a necessary evil, but that doesn’t negate the freedom of speech and expression completely. The chief problem is that it seems that Censor Board doesn’t look into alternative options before banning a movie and fails to take into account a lot of mitigating factors involved in the making of the movies. While public interest needs to be protected, the private interest of the parties involved cutely be forgotten.

Loss of time and money :

Right from the script to music, to production and advertising, a lot of effort and money has gone into the movies which when banned enormously impacts the economic status of people involved, which in turn comes under the ambit of their fundamental right of livelihood. This repeated pattern of Board or Government banning or halting the release of movies, thereby consequently an appeal being filed to High Courts and Supreme Court where the ban is lifted is getting quite tedious.

Conclusion :

The Certification Board must take a balanced approach while reviewing movies and must take into account that the harmony between freedom of expression and a sense of security and peace in society is maintained. In a perfect world, censorship would not be necessary. Children wouldn’t be exposed to movies inappropriate for their age and every person would have the mental stability to recognize the boundary between movies and reality. But we don’t live in a perfect world – so while we can’t always monitor what our children watch, or predict what could inspire violent behavior, we can take steps to protect the unguarded things in society through classification and censorship.

Dramatic technique used by Wertenbaker in the play “Our Country’s Good”

Timberlake Wertenbaker is a famous British Playwright . Our Country’s Good (1988) was adapted from Thomas Kenally’s novel “The Play Maker”. Wertenbaker uses the structure of a play within a play to explore themes of colonialism, authority, transgression and the power of narrative. Displacement is also a recurring theme in her works.. The play is set in late 18th Century Australia, where British empire had established a penal colony. When the 1st British Fleet arrive in Australia to set up the colony, they were accompanied by extreme hunger, disease, prostitution and theft, and Captain Phillip suggests that it might be better for the prisoners to watch a play instead of hanging. Lieutenant Ralph Clark seizes upon the idea of theatre in order to impress his superior officers. He decides to present the play, ” The Recruiting Officer”by George Farquhar to commemorate the birthday of King George III, and is soon auditioning and rehearsing as best as he can, while his cast fight and rage and try to escape. But even though some of the actors end up rehearsing in chains, ‘Our Country’s Good’ reveals the redemptive power of their experience to the extraordinary potential of theatre.In the play the cast recites their lines and refuse to stop their practice in order to protect Dabby, Sideway and Mary when an angry officer interrupts rehearsal to humiliate and abuse them. There is a short interlude between the play and acting with the scene entitled ‘The Question of Liz’. This is a discussion between the governing officers about the matter of Liz Morden. When she was brought to trial as an accomplice to some convicts who staged an escape, she wouldn’t speak at all. Captain Ross is certain that this means that she is guilty. But later Liz finally speaks to defend herself because of how she learned to carry herself playing one of Farquhar’s main characters, and because she wants to perform the play. Rehearsing the play allows the convicts to question the conditions that led to their punishment and to re-envision themselves as fully dignified human beings. By the end of the play, the actors have truly become a cast in terms of their unity and support for each other. It is dramatically effective that the play ends with the opening lines of ‘The Recruiting Officer’ because this draws the attention of the audience to the nature of the theatre itself.

Wertenbaker uses the theme of theatre as a socializing tool. Throughout the play , we can see that the convicts become more humane and less as the criminals that first encountered in the play. This isespecially seen through characters such as Liz Morden and “Shitty” Meg. Power of language is a vital technique used by Wretenbaker. The power of language can be seen by the effects that the play ” The Recuiting Officer” in which the convicts are performing has on idividual characters and personalities.

Squid Game (2021)

Squid Game is a highly bingeable nine-episode show that can be described as a variation of the Hunger Games series (albeit better, less generic, and even more brutal). It is a dystopian flick that nobody wanted until everybody did—with this ruthless South Korean hit trending as on Netflix. I can’t say that it is one of my all-time favorite shows, nor would I necessarily consider it to be “high art” per se. But I do recommend it. To me, it seems that there are two main types of popular television: the cheesy shows that consist mostly of instant gratification, and the anomalies that not only generate insane traffic but are also well-done. Moreover, the show features some scintillating social commentary on the rich vs. the poor. This—combined with equally striking action—renders a scrumptious blockbuster.



The pilot episode takes a while to draw viewers in, with some backstory that dragged at times. But once you’re in, you will remain on the edge of your seat. The central plot is as follows: 456 people (particularly people facing insurmountable debt) are lured into an elaborate game on a secret island with a prize of nearly $40 million. The rules are simple. 1. Contestants play children’s games. 2. There are six rounds, each containing its own game. 3. Each round, those who lose will be eliminated until only one winner emerges from the final round. The assumption is that losers will simply leave. Little did they know that “elimination” entails something far more nefarious: death, which they don’t discover until over 200 people are killed in cold blood. Another interesting facet is the guards. They too are moved around like cannon fodder by the elites who run this sick, elaborate spectacle.



Squid Game has plenty of redeeming factors. The quality of the acting, which I found too histrionic in the beginning, is ultimately believable. The screenwriting is as sharp as it is creative. The cinematography paints a surreal, colorful world that feels like the backdrop of a video game, all exaggerated shapes, sizes, and harsh edges. Also, the characters are compelling; you find yourself rooting for some to win triumphantly and others to fail dramatically. Many of them undergo enormous trauma and transformation, and the actors rise to the challenge of portraying believable emotions in an unbelievable setting. To be fair, this show will not go down in my head as a “classic,” but it was enough to lure me into devouring all nine episodes in less than 24 hours. Granted, Squid Game is too graphic for even some of you who tolerated the Hunger Games series. Otherwise, this is truly an immersive and stupendous experience with some crazy twists that will leave you shocked.

Rating: 10/10

Written by : Ananya Kaushal

MOST APPRECIATED DRAMA OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGES IN INDIA

Being one of the most viewed programmes on Indian channel and getting good TRP with desi viewers many different dubbed shows were appreciated from pakistan, turkey, korean, ukranian etc.

1. ZINDAGI GULZAR HAI(PAKISTANI)

This serial was a phenomenon that made its stars insanely popular in both Pakistan and India, boosting the steady trickle of cultural exchange into a river of cross-border friendship. Powerful performances from Sanam Saeed, Samina Peerzada and Fawad Khan made this serial an international favourite.

ZINDAGI GULZAR HAI (2012)(2014 in India)

This was the show that made Pakistani actor Fawad Khan a popular face in India. The show that premiered in 2012 on Hum TV in Pakistan was based on a novel by Umera Ahmad and was also inspired from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It was a love story of Kashaf played by Sanam Saeed and Zaroon played by Fawad Khan. It was a classic poor girl and a rich boy love story and focussed on women’s struggle in the orthodox Pakistani society. The show instantly became a hit in Pakistan. And when the show travelled to India two years later, it re-created the history. The charms of the male protagonists, played by Fawad Khan floored TV Ji and many Indian female fans.

2. DESENDENT OF THE SUN(KOREAN)

 Korean heartthrob Song Joong Ki plays the role of a Special Force Officer. He is considered to be one of Korea’s hottest actors with a huge fan following across South East Asia. The series will premiere on Indian television on 8 February 2017 and became one of the first K-dramas to be available on a widely known Indian cable network.

DESENDENT OF THE SUN(2016)(2017 in India)

‘Descendants of the Sun’ is the story of Special Force Officer and a surgeon who fall in love at first sight. Their contrasting ideologies and values (as one kills to protect lives while the other one saves lives to protect them) makes them shy away from one another. Destiny plays an interesting role and after almost a year of having parted ways, they meet at a warzone ‘Uruk’, a land far from Seoul. Now, circumstances bring them face to face where they must work closely together driven by their principles.

3. FERIHA(TURKISH)

The first Turkish drama on Indian television was aired on 15th September 2015, Adını Feriha Koydum (Feriha) which had become a huge success. And from that time the Turkish TV Series has been very popular in India.

FERIHA(2011)(2015 in India)

It is a story of a young ambitious girl, who belongs to a poor family. But with the dreams of making it big out in the world. Beautiful, intelligent, and young, and with the thirst to see and travel the world, Feriha works hard to secure a scholarship to a private university.

But the new life at the university, where she goes to study on a scholarship, which awaits Feriha, about which she has no clues, wraps its arms around her and spins her around. Coming from a poor family and intimidated by the riches of the people around her at the university, Feriha soon entangles herself in a whirlwind of lies and made up stories. Emir Sarrafoglu, a rich son of a rich dad soon becomes the center of attraction of Feriha’s world, and telling lies, her new lifestyle.

4. SNOWDROP(UKRAINIAN)

“Snowdrop” was premiere in India on January 16 , 2017. This captivating story of love and revenge from the heart of Ukraine will not only enchant viewers with its superlative content but also give the audience an experience of a global palate.

SNOWDROP(2015)(2017 in India)

The show revolves around Nadya, an innocent, good hearted and hard working girl, who gets wrongly framed for an accident. Irina, her beautiful, spoilt and manipulative step sister and the man that both of them are in love with is Igor. He is the heir to a cosmetics empire. A tragic accident kills Igor’s beloved sister. Igor, who loved Nadya loses all his trust in her after the ill-fated incident. Irina, takes advantage of the situation and convinces Igor to marry her. The drama starts with a very exciting jail break. In first episode, Nadya will be seen escaping prison and rushing to a hotel where she confronts Irina as she is getting engaged to Igor. The confrontation ends with the stepsisters handcuffed to each other, falling off a roof. As they fall, Nadya wonders how they came to this juncture in life and remembers her past. The show depicts Nadya’s fight to prove her innocence and get the real culprit punished.

5. BOYS OVER FLOWER

This is the most popular K-Drama that dubbed in Hindi and become famous in the whole subcontinent. This drama didn’t only get popularity but the whole cast get popularity from this drama. This is another High school story with rich boy and the poor girl but intense triangle love story.

BOYS OVER FLOWER( 2009)(2017 in India)

Geum Jan Di comes from a poor family who owns a dry-cleaning shop. One day, she visits Shinhwa High School, a prestigious school for the wealthy, and saves a student trying to commit suicide because of bullying. For her heroic act, Jan Di receives a swimming scholarship and starts attending the school. In school, she meets the notorious F4, the most popular and powerful group of boys at the school, consisting of Gu Jun Pyo; the leader of F4 and heir to the Shinhwa Group, Yoon Ji Hu; the grandson of a former president of Korea, So Yi Jung; a skilled potter who comes from a family that owns the country’s biggest art museum, and Song Woo Bin; whose family runs the country’s largest construction company. Her life at school starts out miserable, as she doesn’t fit in with other students because of her status, and later becomes worse when she is labeled as the new bullying target of the F4.

these are the some international shows which was well appreciated with the Indian desi viewers and become hit and was trend setter for the other drama of different countries.

THE LUCKY ONE – BOOK REVIEW

About the book

Author : Nicholas Sparks


Genre : Romance Drama


Publication date : 2008


Pages : 386

Story plot

The book starts from Keith Clayton’s perspective. Keith is a local police officer. He is at a location where local college students go for nude swimming. He is carrying a camera he borrowed from the Police Department and is taking pictures of three female college students. One of them leaves the beach and comes upon Keith who is supposed to be on duty. He hides the camera and talks with the girls about their breaking the law by nude bathing. He lets them go. He comes across a man whom Keith describes as looking like a hippie walking down a logging road by the beach with a dog. It is Logan Thibault and his dog, Zeus. Keith is concerned Logan saw everything that had happened and tries to find a way to take Logan in. However, after running a background check on Logan and Logan refusing to let him search his bags he lets Logan go. He asks Logan where he is going and states he is heading to Arden. Keith goes back to find the camera he hid, but it is gone and the tires on his squad car are slashed. Keith becomes concerned as his father is the local Sheriff and his grandfather is a local judge.

When the story changes to Logan’s perspective, he is in the car with the three college girls who picked him up when he indicated he wanted to hitch a ride. He gives the camera (from which he removed the memory disk) to the college girls. The story also back tracks to Logan witnessing Keith taking the pictures and Logan taking the camera, destroying the disk, and slashing the tires of Keith’s cruiser. The story then goes back further into Logan’s life as he reflects on his walking all the way from Colorado and even further back as to why he decided to join the Marines. It is explained how Logan began to play Poker while tensions were building in the Middle East and this was his outlet. He lost all of his money while doing this and eventually gave up joining in on the games. It is then mentioned that Logan liked to go for early morning runs while in the Middle East and one day he came upon a picture half buried in the sand. It turns out to be a picture of Beth who is wearing a shirt that says Lucky Lady. His luck then begins to change. It is first noticed when his friend in his squad, Victor, encourages him to join in a poker game that night. Victor also believes in omens and superstitions and is the one who slowly convinces Logan the picture and the girl in the picture are powerful to Logan and the picture may have a deeper meaning in Logan’s life.

Elizabeth (Beth) is next introduced in the story. It starts at a birthday party her son, Ben, is attending. It comes up that Beth’s grandmother, Nana, recently had a stroke and Beth has been helping her run the dog kennel/obedience school Nana owns. It is also mentioned that Nana raised Beth, because Beth’s parents died in a car accident when Beth was 3 years old. Beth is also a teacher at a local school. It slowly becomes known that Keith Clayton is the ex-husband of Beth, and the father of Ben. Beth expresses her frustration about Keith’s disappointment in Ben as Ben is not as athletically inclined as other boys of his age. It becomes apparent that Ben does not care for his father much and does not like spending every other weekend with Keith.

The story goes back to Logan and the beginning of his experience in the Middle East is mentioned. A story is told about how the two comrades in his fire team are killed by a RPG and Logan survives. Logan is staying at a local motel and first decides to find the fairgrounds where the picture he had of Beth was taken. He finds the exact location where the picture was taken and knows he is in the right place. He determines he is going to go to a pool hall/bar to ask the locals if anyone knows the girl in the picture.

Next, Keith reminisces about his day and having to explain the slashed tires to his father. It comes to light that his dad and grandfather are well known in the town and Keith is stuck between keeping out of trouble and his family being able to get him out of trouble due to their status in town. Keith also explains his dislike for his son’s (in Keith’s eyes) weaknesses. Instead of wanting to be with Ben, Keith wants to be out looking for Logan to make him pay for what he did. Keith receives a phone call from a co-worker, Tony, who says a stranger has a picture of Beth at a local pool hall and was asking about her. Keith asks if the guy looks like what Logan had looked like earlier, but the co-worker says that is not the description of the man at the pool hall. Keith is disappointed and decides to do nothing about man with the picture.

Logan’s version of the bar/pool hall encounter is described and he learns Beth’s full name. The next day Logan goes to the dog kennel and meets Beth for the first time. He applies for a position at the kennel and Beth becomes suspicious due to the half told story Logan tells her. (He leaves the part out about the picture as the reason why he came to Hampton). Beth is skeptical and decides to have Nana talk with Logan. Nana decides to hire Logan, but admits she feels he isn’t telling the whole truth about being in Hampton. Once hired, Logan finds a place to rent in town and begins working at the kennel. Over the next few weeks Logan (and Zeus) becomes closer with Nana, Beth and Ben.

Nana decides to go on a trip to visit her sister in Greensboro, leaving Beth and Logan to tend to the kennel. Beth and Logan get to know each other better, and this is one of the weekends when Ben spends time with his father. Logan and Beth make ice cream on the Saturday night Ben is gone when Keith brings him back to Beth. Ben has a bruise on his face and his glasses are broken. Keith tells Ben to tell Beth it wasn’t his fault, but it’s apparent Keith threw a baseball too hard and it hit Ben in the face. Keith does not notice Logan initially, but when he does he demands to know what Logan is doing there. Zeus becomes defensive and Logan tells Keith to leave. Keith does, but is upset about the incident, because he does not like being challenged and forced to back down. He also upset to have found out that Logan had never left town and is concerned Logan may still have the camera’s memory disk.

Beth and Logan go on a date and Logan opens up about Victor and Logan’s boating trip in Minnesota. Logan informs Beth that Victor died when another boat hit their boat. Logan and Beth continue to date, and eventually Keith breaks into Logan’s home to see if he could the photo disk. Logan suggests to Beth that Keith has been the reason why none of her relationships have lasted and tells her about the break-in he had had in his home. Nana implies she agrees with Logan. Beth goes to a former boyfriend’s home and he weakly admits Keith may have been involved in his breaking up with her. Beth (politely) confronts Keith about this. Keith during this conversation tries to convince Beth that she knows nothing about Logan and this could dangerous. Keith thinks he has begun to convince Beth and is in high spirits. However, Logan did research on Keith’s family and meets Keith at his Keith’s home. Logan tells Keith he knows it was Keith who broke into his home and bluffs that he has a video recording of the break in. Logan said he would take the information to Keith’s family if Keith did not stay out of Beth’s business. Keith realizes he no longer has the upper hand and begins to drink heavily.

Later, there is a storm that comes through Hampton and it rains for days/weeks and the area begins to flood. Ben convinces Logan to go to his tree house and Logan realizes it is no longer safe because of the flooding. They still enter the tree house and Logan gives Ben the picture because he feels it will keep Ben safe. Logan mentions his friend Victor’s belief in the luck of the photo. Logan also plays the piano in church for Nana and the town begins to admire Logan, and even Keith’s grandfather praises Ben, deepening Keith’s hatred of Logan.

Tony, the co-worker who called Keith from the pool hall when Logan first arrived in town, goes to Keith’s house and informs Keith that Logan was the guy who had had the picture of Beth which Keith had ignored. Keith goes to the school where Beth works and convinces Beth that Logan is a stalker. Beth doesn’t necessarily believe Keith at the time and confronts Logan who admits to having the photo. Beth becomes extremely upset and demands the picture. Logan informs Beth that he had given it to Ben.

Later, Beth asks Ben for the photo and asks him to tell her everything Logan had said when Logan had given it to Ben. Beth realizes Logan had been honest about how he felt the photo was a good luck charm. Beth goes to Logan’s home and he tells her everything. He also mentions the tree house being very unsafe to Beth. Keith spies on Beth and Logan and is enraged. When Beth leaves Logan’s house Keith follows her to her home. Keith tells her he was going to take her to court to obtain full custody of Ben if she doesn’t follow his rules. He wants her to stop seeing Logan and date him (Keith) again. Ben overhears Keith threatening to take full custody, and tells Keith he doesn’t want to live with him. Ben runs away to his tree house. Logan had seen the extra set of tire tracks and realizes Keith had been around when Beth was at his house. Logan runs to Beth’s house.

Beth finally realizes Ben had run to the tree house and both Keith and Beth struggle to get to the tree house through the flooding and rain. When they arrive at the tree house it has partially collapsed and Ben was in the creek running under the tree house clinging to the rope bridge. Keith tries to go to the tree house but falls through the rotten wood and breaks his ribs and clings to rope bridge as well. Beth broke her foot on the way to the tree house and only able to watch everything unfold. Logan and Zeus arrive and try to help, as well. Logan ends up closer to Keith and Keith clings to Logan dragging him under when the whole tree house collapses and Logan and Keith disappear into the abyss. Zeus saves Ben.

In the epilogue it becomes apparent that Keith died and Logan survives. Ben continues to carry the photo around for good luck.

Review

Over the past few years I have have come to realize that I am a hopeless romantic. I love reading stories about two people having a chance meeting and just knowing from that moment that they were meant to be together, no matter how much their relationship gets tested. That is why this week’s selection happens to be from the man that I like to call the King of Romance Novels, Nicholas Sparks.
“The Lucky One” tells the story of Logan Thibault, a U.S. Marine who finds a lost picture while in Iraq. When nobody claims the picture he decides to keep it, providing him with good luck in every situation he is put into. After coming home he decides to find the woman in the picture even though he knows nothing about her. When he meets Beth Clayton there is an instant attraction and a passionate love affair begins, but Logan has a secret that may tear them apart for good.

I liked this book. I have read two previous Nicholas Sparks novels -“A Walk To Remember” and “Dear John,” and enjoyed them, even though they both had sad endings. The ending to this novel is also sad but happy at the same time.
The book drags in certain spots because there is a lot of back story about each character that needs to be told, but there are also moments of action. Now, keep in mind because this is a romance novel the action scenes are few and far between, but the few that do exist leave an impact on the reader, especially the ending.

Sparks writes from the perspective of the main love triangle – Logan, Beth, and Beth’s ex-husband, Keith. As I’ve mentioned before, I am not the biggest fan of multiple points of view, but this method helps push the plot along. It also shows the readers how the characters are connected. This book is great for anyone, especially those who love a great love story every now and then. I enjoyed reading it and I hope you do too. Maybe someday we will have that chance meeting where we meet the right person.

Misogyny vs Feminism in Osborne’s ‘Look Back in Anger’

“Why don’t we have a little game? Let’s pretend that we’re human beings, and that we’re actually alive.”

John Osborne

Look Back in Anger is a realist play written by John Osborne and Published in the year 1956. Set in an economy that has been diminished by the war, it follows the story of a young couple Jimmy and Alison Porter. Being from two different social classes, Jimmy being a working- class man and Alison being an upper-class, the two have trouble navigating through the class conflict present between themselves. The play focuses largely on Jimmy’s anger against the upper-class and particularly the upper-class women.

During the time of the play’s production, The Women’s Movement had already started taking shape in Britain and hence can be read as a reaction against the growing feminist movement of the time. It is evident from the play that Jimmy hates women and has strong misogynistic views. He blames women for his lack of power and impotence even though there is no coherent logic behind that argument. His wife Alison is the main victim of his hatred. Through her, he takes out all his anger against the establishments, the upper-class, Alison’s family and all women in general. His marriage to her was in itself a statement of rebellion against the bourgeoise and he himself states that ‘he took her hostage’. His motive for the marriage was never love and it was simply his need to assert his working-class masculinity over her.

“A refined sort of butcher, a woman is.”

-John Osborne

Where Alison is an aristocrat in terms of her class status, Jimmy is an aristocrat in terms of his gender identity and the only way he can get his anger and frustration against the bourgeoise out is by sexually mastering the upper-class women. He exploits his aristocracy as a male to compensate for his lack of status in terms of class, and he translates his class hatred into a sexual hatred. Here, Femininity is associated with the upper class and masculinity to that of the lower class and this act of attributing characteristics of gender to the classes is seen throughout the play. Despite being immensely flawed himself, Jimmy’s standards for women are highly unrealistic and he needs women only for his own selfish reasons. While Alison suffers to make their relationship work, Jimmy simply complains and puts a strain on them. He contradicts himself when he lashes out against Alison for being too silent but at the same time, he complains that she is like a python that is out to devour him whole with reference to her sexual aggression. The only two women that Jimmy seems to respect are Madeline (His ex-lover) and Mrs. Tanner (A working-class woman who helped him set up his sweet shop). He holds her as an ideal working-class woman as opposed to his own and Alison’s mother who are upper-class.

Although the driving force of the story is Jimmy’s anger, both Helena and Alison have made choices of their own to leave him. Even Alison who acts like a passive pushover has had her own choices and decisions in life. It was her choice to rebel against her parents and to marry Jimmy and leave her upper-class status, it was her choice to leave him and it was also her choice to come back to him in the final scene. Even when Jimmy calls her ‘Lady Pusillanimous’, she chooses to be silent so as to not give him the satisfaction of eliciting a reaction from her. Being silent is actually her way of retaliating against his dominance. On the other hand, Helena is one of the characters who is more expressively strong and feministic. She is unfazed by his threats and slaps him which shatters his façade and brings out his vulnerability. •            Even when Alison chose to come back to Jimmy, Helena is unwilling to confirm to his demanding views on what a woman should be and boldly walks out on him because she is determined that she doesn’t want to go through pain and suffering just to be with him.

Look Back in Anger is thus riddled with undaunting and scathing misogyny and sexism. Although Osborne denied any anti-feministic overtones, we see that there’s an erasure of women I the male dominated dynamic in the play.

Book Review of Me Before You

When I was recommended about this book by my friend, I simply thought it to be absurd that someone could wish to die in his own will! I was horrified and curious as to what all the matter was this about. But the thing I didn’t know at that time was, life can sometimes mess your life so bad, there is no solution either than just stop thinking about it..

Me Before You is a beautiful and meaningful book written by Jojo Moyes. Not gonna spoil it for you, don’t worry, but the concept written by her is really deep. Honestly, at first, I thought ,the book would turn out to be like a fairytale, with everything just happy…but as I kept reading, the story took a quite dramatic turn. The story is about a girl named Louisa, who is a really optimistic person, measures the distance through the number of footsteps she takes and works in a cafe. She has a boyfriend, a fitness trainer, Patrick.

Fun fact –  When the book was adapted into a movie, the role of Patrick was played by Matthew Lewis (yes! the one who played Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter!!)

Everything turns into a mess when she loses her job, where the story actually starts with the male lead – Will Traynor, an energetic and out going guy, until he met with a pedestrian accident after which he became a quadreplegic . When you read the book, you have so many mixed emotions that you can’t even describe it .It’s just there. I still remember myself, hugging my knees in the corner of my room, crying after reading the book.  Seriously, it took me 5 freaking days to balance my thoughts with my mother grumbling as to why  I was  crying over a book character ( it’s not just a book character!)

My heart did a backflip  after reading every page of the book. Addicted,that’s what I was, just had to know what happens next! The story also introduces us  to a new concept: death. Now, you might say, that we all know what is death, okay!  But…do we?

Now , not many of us know the Non – Profit society named Dignitas, in Switzerland, which offers death with dignity. Intially meaning, ‘assisted suicide’.

The method usually includes an oral dose of an antiemetic drug, followed by an overdose of pentobarbital which is given, dissolved in water, which initially tends to depress the central nervous system, making the person fall asleep. This proceeds to coma , making the person’s respiration slowdown, eventually resulting in a respiratory arrest. Dignitas was founded by Ludwig Minelli on 17 May, 1998. He was a Swiss lawyer  who had specialised in human rights law. The society works for the ones who suffer with terminal and mental illnesses.

Now death is a pretty sensitive and controversial topic.We live because of some ambitions.Fro some important people. For ourselves. For a better future. Everybody hopes for such things. But is the need broken when every important thing and people are snatched away from us? The answer is..we don’t know. It’s just one of the many things, which we simply don’t know.When we know that there is no hope to live, while everyday waking up, only wishing it to be over already, where your loved ones, have moved forward in their own lives while you still lay there. Where you feel like an outsider even when you are with the closest people you know. When everyone gazes at you with pity….

But you know what? He is happy. Happy that, even he had some happy moments. Some memories which he will cherish. Because memories can’t be changed. Don’t live life to the fullest. Live a life which is worth it.  This book teaches so many things in just a few lines, I myself was beyond amazed!

The conclusion? Well, just like William Henley ( a famous poet, don’t confuse him  with Will Traynor!) said ,’I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.’

Our thoughts, our actions, our influences, only they matter. One gets thousands of opinions throughout his life. But guess what? Only my opinion matters in my life,because I am going to take the decision.

Phew! That was a lot of philosophy, now wasn’t it? I was so inspired by the book, I literally called all of my friends and recommended, forced more like ,to read the book. ( Ya! call me annoying)

The ending of the book is..just! 

Lastly, the movie adaptation. The movie production put on a lot of hard work, trust me..but, I would still recommend the book more!

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The book is followed by a sequel, ‘After you’ published in 2015 proceeded by one sequel  ‘Still me’  which were not that famous but just as great!!!!

The order of the trilogy –

  1. Me Before You
  2. Still me

Happy readings!!

Note: This review was not written to offend anyone.