Enough - Andrea Gibson

Last night I painted a purple tree on my bedroom wall
I woke up this morning in a pile of leaves
The color of a million different faces
Thinking of that hand
That planted the seed
Of the family tree
That grew us all
And how each one of us
Will one day fall back to the ground

This morning
I was listening to my heart pound
Knowing with every single beat
That a thousand other hearts
Were falling asleep forever
On a day they never thought they would
And I know there are tribes of aborigines
That decide how and when they'll die
After a hundred years or so
They walk into the desert alone
Offer up their breath
And within two minutes
Soar into a death
As beautiful as their life
And I was thinking I
Will probably never be enlightened enough
To decide how I want to die

So this morning
I decided how I want to live
What I want to give
What kind of song I want to sing
Now I'm no longer
Looking at my days like they're a cup
Calling them half empty or half full
When they've always been enough
They'll always be enough
To fill me up
If I stop thinking so much
And start drinking them up
I get so drunk and high on my days
I'll be walking up to strangers and saying things like
"Hey, I know Jesus was born in a manger
But I woke at dawn today
To watch the earths horizon
Give birth to true rising sun of God
And I can't stop singing hallelujah"

Can you believe we're here?
Can you believe there are gods somewhere praying to us?
I want to be that nut on a bus
Who's really a prophet
Telling everybody
"Smoking is bad
Stop it
You might be an opera singer some day
And how are you gonna hit the high notes?"
I wanna live like those high notes
That rise from the throats of old ladies
When they see little babies
Riding in shopping carts
I wanna start somebodys heart like that
Take you ninety years back
So you'll have sworn
You weren't born
'Til you saw me
Planting roses
In all the sidewalk cracks
So when you trip
You'll fall in love
With someone you thought you hated
And now look at what that love has created

Look
There's a sky
On her faded blue jeans
With a flock of birds
About to fly to my words
And my next lines
Gonna rhyme with her eyes
And she'll wink
And I'll think I'm as beautiful as him

I wanna live my life
Like it's a little league game
I don't care if I win
Just wanna watch some little girl
Get her very first hit
Watch her father cheer so hard
He spills his beer
And decides to quit
I wanna split some woman's
Tired eyes open
Wake her with her own sunrise
So she knows
There's reason to be hoping
She'll say
There are stingers in my heart
But I'm sure that I'm a queen
And that night
She'll vow to swarm
Until every angry car horn
Is reborn a song
Of let there be light
Every angry war cry reborn
A song of let there be life

I wanna build the timid teenage boy
A microphone that will
Echo his rhymes
The same way
They echo in his shower
When he's home alone

I wanna write poems
In the tone
Of your mother's eyes
When she whispered your name
For the very first time
Poems that will make you go home
Pick up the phone
And call her
While I call mine to say
You know those lines
On the kitchen wall
Where I grew
Taller and taller and taller
Put a couple more there won't you?
Cause I'm growing up here
No longer looking at my days
Like they're a cup
Calling them enough
From now on
They'll be overflowing
Since now I'm knowing
It's up to me
To fill them up
--


What initially drew me into this song was how the repetition of a simple chord progression on the guitar in the background carries the rhythm of the lyrics seamlessly throughout the whole song. The lyrics of the song gave me a feeling of wanting to change and do something good with life. The line '...I/Will probably never be enlightened enough/To decide how I want to die/So this morning/I decided how I want to live' always sticks out for me, because it displays the desire to take control of the life you have instead of thinking about the things you don't have control over, like death. This is further emphasised in the line '...I'm growing up here./No longer looking at my days/Like they're a cup,/Calling them enough./From now on/They'll be overflowing/Since now I'm knowing/It's up to me/To fill them up'

Scene Analysis - El Tango de Roxanne

This scene, taken from the film 'Moulin Rouge', is used in telling the story of what is happening at this point in the film between Satine, a star courtesan in the Moulin Rouge nightclub, and the Duke, who she is pretending to be in love with. Satine is attempting to convince the Duke to keep the original ending of the play that she is starring in and that he is sponsoring. Meanwhile Christian, whom Satine truly loves, is angry that he must keep his love for Satine a secret so that the play can go on.
The scene begins with the dancers and those involved in the play waiting in the Moulin Rouge in anticipation for the results of Satine's dinner with the Duke. Cuts ranging from short to medium length show the expressions of the bystanders and follow Christian and the Argentinian around the hall. These give a sense of excitement that is enhanced by the crescendo of a violin playing in the background, creating a feeling of anticipation that draws the audience in and continues seamlessly through the scene until it reaches its conclusion.
The dance number parallels the happenings in the Duke's quarters, enhancing the portrayal of events. The main dancer, Nini, is connected to Satine throughout the scene, with similar things happening to the both of them at the same time. The camera shots are often spinning along with the dancers and the cuts keep in the time with the beat of the song. This makes the scene feel frantic and out of control, mirroring the events that are transpiring. However, when the Duke gives Satine the necklace, the audience is given a brief period of "rest", with the shots become longer in length and the intensity of the music fading away slightly.
The warm, red-tinged colours that are present in the Moulin Rouge display the passion and anger that Christian is feeling towards Satine and the situation they are in. These colours also hint at the ever-present feeling of lust in the Moulin Rouge. This is contrasted with the cold shades of blue that is present in the clips with Satine and the Duke, which show the lack of passion and the lifelessness of their interactions as well as the sadness that Satine feels. When the Duke realises that Satine is in love with Christian, his head is silhouetted by green highlights that portray his jealousy.
Close-up shots of the characters' eyes are used to show their varying emotions. Nini's eyes show lust and  longing at the beginning of the scene, while Satine's eyes show fear and sadness.
When Satine and Christian spot each other, the music being played by the orchestra cuts to an abrupt halt. The close up shots of their faces show their intimacy and love for each other. After this, as the Duke begins to turn on Satine, the violin returns as shrill scratching sounds that once again build anticipation and give the scene a dark, sinister feeling. This effect is added to by the short and fast-paced cuts between the dancers and Satine.
As a montage of the characters screaming builds to the climax of the scene, the choreography of the tango becomes more violent to match the actions between the Duke and Satine. The cuts become shorter and shorter, leaving the audience with a feeling of anticipation and dread until the final event when one of the cabaret dancers punches the Duke to stop him from raping Satine. The parallel of this in the dance is Nini falling to floor as if she is dead, which foreshadows the eventual fate of Satine.

Film Texts - Preparation for Lantana

Today we watched 5 clips from various films and looked at the techniques which are used to create mood, convey messages, etc.

The first clip, from 'The Seventh Seal', showed a man playing a game of chess against Death in order to stay alive. The title of the film is a biblical reference from the Book of Revelation. The image of Death in a black, hooded gown makes it appear to be a shadow which lurks around its victims. The film is shot in black and white, which gives it a sense of darkness.

The second clip is from the movie 'All or Nothing. It uses dull colours to show the sadness and lack of joy in the scene as Phil and his wife, Penny, argue in their living room. Most of the scene is made up of close-up shots of both Phil and penny, who sit on opposite sides of the room. Phil is only ever shot from the side, while Penny is only shot from the front. This give the sense that Phil is shying away from things when Penny is trying to get him to face that he's not being a good father. After the conversation gets serious, the only time Phil really turn towards Penny is when he confronts her about how he believe she doesn't love him anymore.

In clip #3, taken from 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg', bright colours set the scene for a love story between a young man and woman. Every line in the movie is said through song. In this particular scene, the lovers are are saying goodbye to each because the man is leaving for national service for 2 years. When they are on the train platform, the man is waving goodbye and the woman is left standing there as the train pulls out from the station. the image of her getting smaller as the train moves farther away symbolises how she feels when she is watching him leave.

The fourth clip is taken from the movie 'Don't Look Now'. There is a recurring use of the colour red in this movie. Red is seen in the colour of the young girl's coat, the strange hooded figure in the picture, the girl's ball, and the cut on the young boy's finger. This particular scene has a very strong emotional impact. The editing shows the correlation between what is happening inside and what is happening outside by quickly cutting between the two places when certain things happen, like a pane of glass breaking.

In the last clip, the beginning of the movie 'Walkabout' gives an impression of the city as being something that is uniform and limited in colour. There are lots of shots of legs walking around the city, and one with a young boy hidden behind the legs of soldiers. Any images of nature are shown dominated by buildings or with signs attached to them that classify what their scientific name is. When the father of the two main children in the film is first shown, he looks small in comparison to the large concrete pillars around him, and walks in a way that is stiff and robotic. All of this makes the city appear to be something that is lacking in life, where all the people are just faceless figures with no outward signs of personality.

Superman and Paula Brown's New Snowsuit

In Sylvia Plath's semi-autobiographical story 'Superman and Paula Brown's New Snowsuit', the narrator moves from being an innocent child with a wild imagination to a child who has been awoken to the real world of adulthood. Plath uses metaphors and strongly descriptive language to create mood in the world the narrator lives in. In the beginning, the bright, sparkling lights of the airport outside the narrator's bedroom set the scene for the place where she revels in her "technicolor dreams" of flying with Superman. This is later contrasted with the darkness of the hallway outside her bedroom after the evening of Paula Brown's ruined snowsuit, which is when "the silver airplanes and the blue capes all [dissolve] and [vanish]".

The transition from child to adult begins when the narrator sees a graphic war film when she goes to the movies for Paula Brown's party. The movie makes her feel so sick that she "[vomits] up the cake and ice cream." Such an act gives the impression that she is throwing up a bit of her childhood. However, the event seems to finally drain the colour from the narrator's world is the afternoon when Paula Brown's new snowsuit is ruined. The other children turn on the narrator and blame her when Paula falls in a puddle of oil slick, covering her snowsuit in oil. She runs home looking for comfort but her mother and her Uncle Frank, who she imagines to be the Superman of her fantasy world in the beginning of the story, don't believe her. The feeling of being ostracised for something she didn't do and then having the people she loves not trust her causes the narrator to feel as though her world has gone dark.

Snowdrops

Today in class we discussed a Welsh short story called 'Snowdrops'. The story tells about a young boy who is excited to see snowdrop flowers for the first time. The boy has a very strong imagination, which allows him to conjure up images in his mind of what the snowdrops could look like. However, when he finally sees them, he "[feels] a slow, sad disappointment." He looks around for his teacher, Ms Webster, to explain the flowers to him, but she is down at the gate watching a funeral procession. On his own, the boy moves past his initial impression of the snowdrops and comes to realise that they are fragile but valiant.

There is a clear separation between adults and children when the death of a 20 year old man is mentioned by the boy's father at breakfast. The mother quickly shushes him when he mentions that the man had been friendly with Ms Webster. The mother's efforts to keep the information from her son indicate the desire of most adults, parents in particular, to protect children from the harsh realities of the adult world. The children at the school seem to be able to sense Ms Webster's sadness when she comes to school that day after the funeral, but they can't quite understand what's wrong. They become scared later when Ms Webster begins to cry as she watches the funeral procession from the school gates.

The story captures the stage of growing up during which young children are filled with questions, wonderment, and curiosity about the world around them. It shows the beginning of the realisation that there is a world beyond that of childlike innocence which is full of strange, unexpected, and occasionally frightening things that we will sometimes have to face on our own.

A collection of tales I have read and thoroughly enjoyed throughout my years

Rosie Sips Spiders - Alison Lester

When I was in kindergarten, this was my favourite in a series of books about 7 children and their favourite things. I read it over and over again, and I would look at the illustrations for hours at a time.

Mediator series - Meg Cabot

This was the first kind of "scary" book I read in primary school. It took me a while to get through the first book and get comfortable with the violence and ghosts, but from there I thoroughly enjoyed the series.

Georgia Nicolson series - Louise Rennison

In late primary school/early high school, this series was a bit of an obsession of mine. Along with some of my friends who were reading the books as well, I began using some of the slang terms the characters use. This was the first book series I ever wrote fanfiction for.

An Abundance of Katherines - John Green

This was the first John Green book I read. It sparked my interest in graphs and anagrams, and my copy is now a bit worn out from being read so much.

About A Girl - Joanne Horniman

I happened across this book when I was wondering through Borders in late year 8 and wrote the name down in my phone so I could look it up later. It wasn't until mid year 9 that I finally got to read it, but I felt it was well worth the wait. This was one of the few books I've read that had me shutting myself in my room and reading for days at a time, completely ignoring all opportunities to interact with other people.

Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot

The book that got me into reading, enjoying, and analysing poetry.

The Fault in our Stars - John Green
John Green has been my favourite author since I first discovered him in year 8. His latest book, The Fault in our Stars, has made me feel more emotional and attached to the characters than almost any other book I've ever read.