Rear Window

The movie Rear Window is about our need to pry into others lives and how our curiosity can sometimes lead to severe consequences. In this film, the main character Jeffries is confined to a wheelchair and therefore, for his entertainment purposes, he looks out his window and into the lives of his neighbors. Mrs. Torso is a dancer who cannot seem to make up her mind as to which man she wants to be with. In comparison, Jeffries cannot come to a decision as to what to do about Lisa. He seems to be constantly going back and forth between insulting her one moment and then adoring her the next. Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald appear to be the couple that is constantly arguing and Jeffries sees Mrs.Thorwald as a nagging wife. Similarly, Jeffries and Lisa's relationship is much the same. Lisa is seen as the nagging type who always wants to get her way while Jeffries is seen invalid. I think that Jeffries can relate to Mr.Thorwald in many ways which is why I think that he is most drawn to this particular window. One is that Mr.Thorwald is trying to avoid contact with his wife. Jeffries is also trying to avoid Lisa at first and avoid marriage at all costs. The newlyweds and the couple with the dog can represent what Jeffries and Lisa's relationship can evolve to. They can either become the sweet newlyweds, or they can be the couple where is seems like the only joy they have is with their dog. On the contrary, if they decide to be apart, they may end up like the Composer or Miss Lonelyhearts. Both of these characters are extremely frustrated with the fact that they are alone. Miss Loneyhearts even goes as far as to almost committing suicide. I think that it is also interesting to note that at the beginning of the film, Jeffries does not have much interest in Lisa. However, as she becomes more involved in his “spying world” he seems to enjoy her company much more and is more kind to her. Once Lisa enters Jeffries perspective of his neighbors it is almost as if we know that the two characters will end up being together when it is not so clear from the beginning.

Glengarry Glen Ross

I did not even notice until I reflected upon the play and the movie that there were no female characters in either. I think that I was more focused on the cut-throat environment of real estate. The women that are mentioned however, play an interesting role, particularly Lingk's wife. Throughout the entire play/movie, the men are the ones who seem to be in control, with the exception of Levene. Roma seems to be the one that everyone listens to. He is extremely persuasive and good with his words and ends up easily manipulating Mr. Lingk. Further in the story, however, Lingk returns to the office and tells Roma that his wife is making him decline the deal. His wife even goes as far to saying that he cannot negotiate with Roma and that he must get his money back. It seems strange to me that the men in this play are represented as in control and domineering but Lingk is so easily told what to do by his wife. The other women that are mentioned in this play are almost looked down upon by the other men. For example, Mrs. Nyborg serves Levene crumb cake. When Roma asks Levene how it was he replies, “Oh, it was store bought.” It is as if the men have no respect for women especially because of the harsh words that they tend to call one another. They always seem to be questioning each other’s manhood. Everyone talks down to Williamson and Williamson takes it and fires right back at them. However, I find it interesting that with the case of Roma he seems to hold his tongue and not say anything at all; it is almost as if he respects him the most. Contrastingly, Levene's life seems to be out of control. He isn't getting the good leads and has not been high on the board for a month. It is Levene’s “big mouth” and inability to speak fluently that ultimately lead to his downfall. I think that the lack of women in this story make the men seem more powerful, even if they are weak themselves.

King Lear

I think that it is safe to say that King Lear definitely has his "womanly moments" in this play. I think that Kahn is pretty accurate when speaks of how the absence of a mother figure in the story represents her hidden presence in Lear. The beginning of the story particularly stands out to me as not only childish and immature but feminine. When Lear is asking his daughters to tell him how much they love him it reminds me of children and when they stretch their arms out and say, "I love you this much." To me, this seems like something that a young girl would say to her mother.
King Lear seems to be very emotional throughout most of the play as well which is definitely a trait that is more associated with women than men. He tends to have little temper tantrums and cries a lot more than what I would expect a king of such high standard to do. He even calls his tears "women's water drops" which suggests that he himself is aware of his femininity.
Another topic that I would like to talk about is about Lear and Cordelia’s relationship. In my opinion, from the beginning of the play as with the end it seemed to me that Cordelia almost represented a motherly figure to Lear. This role can also be reversed in that Lear is like Cordelia's mother since a true one is not established in the play. When Lear realizes that Cordelia is soon to marry I think he almost becomes jealous and enraged which may be another reason that he disowns her. He might also have been saddened by the fact that he will be losing his daughter to another man. Once disowned, I believe that Lear thinks that he has made Cordelia unfit to marry and so he still has his paternal/maternal control over her.
Towards the end of the play, I like how Kahn speaks about how King Lear has matured and accepted his human dependency. I completely agree with her. The reunion of Cordelia and Lear is such a short-lived one, however, a special one. I like how he finally accepts that he made the mistake of disowning Cordelia and has formed some sort of humility and humanity compared to the beginning. In one of the movie clips shown, the fact that he kneels when Cordelia kneels helps reiterate the fact that he has accepted the fact that he is simply just a man.

Persepolis

The statement Marjane's father makes about how "politics and sentiments don't mix," is completely and entirely untrue. I don't even think that Marji herself believes in this statement. As soon as he says this to her, she does not dwell on the words. In the following picture, it is a completely different scene of her in school and they have to tear out pictures of the Shah. The entire graphic novel is about a child's struggle with the emotions she is dealing with during the revolution and the war. In my opinion, this story is almost completely revolved around women and the role that women play. It's the women who have to wear the veil, women who cannot wear cosmetics and women who have to be completely covered. And why is this? Because men cannot control themselves around women. As a woman, this is extremely irritating to me. In the movie when two men drove up to Marji as she was running and they said that she could not run basically because her butt moved, Marji replies, "Well then stop staring at my butt!" This is a moment where I was extremely happy. Finally someone put these revolting men in their place.
The fact that it was Marji's father, a man, that said "politics and sentiments don't mix," further reinforces the role of men and women in this story. It also says a lot about how men and women think differently. Obviously the effects of the war on men in Iran were huge, but is it wrong to say that women suffered more in the end?
It is impossible for politics and sentiment to not mix because one cannot run a country without passion and love for the country and the people in it. Even though it seems in the book that the punishments in Iran are harsh and they have taken away so many freedoms of the people, the leaders truly believe that they are doing it to better the country. Also, one's beliefs heavily influence their role in politics. For example, if a person is pro-life they will most likely associate themselves with the candidate who has the same belief.Parents also play an important role on a person's beliefs. In the story, Marji is heavily influenced by the morals and values of her mother, father and grandmother. For instance, just like her parents go out and protest, Marji ends up doing the same thing one day and leaves with Mehri to go do a demonstration. Beliefs heavily influence one's actions.

Nick

The Great Gatsby would be nothing without the narrator Nick Carraway. Nick is the only character that we can truly connect with. It seems that Nick is the only character who has some sort of morals and values. This is clearly evident at the end of the story after Gatsby was killed. Nick is the single character who took the initiative to call everyone and inform them of Gatsby's death. However, all of Gatsby's "friends" could not seem to get away from their busy lives to attend. If this story was told through other characters eyes, I do not think that we would sympathize as much with Gatsby like we do. He is a criminal and obtained his money doing illegal activities. However, because Nick genuinely seems to like him we feel obligated to like him as well. In addition, because Nick is not selfish or rude, it is easier to see characters like Tom and Daisy and the superficiality associated with them. I think that the way that Nick presented the characters makes Nick seem above them, which may not truly be the case. In the beginning of the novel Nick talks about how he is "inclined to reserve all judgments." However, as the story progresses Nick seems to get more and more hostile, in one part he even criticizes Jordan's driving. He also describes Tom, Daisy and Gatsby as being "careless people."
At the end of the story I do not think that Nick's story has been resolved. We know that he went "West" but that is pretty vague in itself. We also don't know what he will be doing over there, we only know that he has left his home in West Egg.
I definitely think that Nick turns out "all right" in the end. Nick ends up abandoning the New York lifestyle of wealth, dishonor, corruption and immorality for the Midwest which is a symbol for morality and conservatism. Nick is so completely disgusted with the things that he has seen and experienced on West and East Egg, therefore, making his character appear honorable and right.
I wish that Gatsby was not the main focus of the novel at the end of the book. In my opinion, I feel that the book is incomplete in the sense that we are left wondering what has happened to the protagonist, Nick. I also wish that Nick had not have been so obsessed with Gatsby and instead lived his own life. It seemed that he was always struggling to be immersed in the New York lifestyle without totally being in it… if that makes sense.