Braveheart Essay 1

I've had a go at finishing the paragraph we were working on during Wednesday's lesson.  It's not necessarily perfect but should give you some pointers as to how to weave a technique, with quotes, and with the directorial intention!  We'll keep going with this essay tomorrow in class, addressing the other techniques we mentioned in the intro.

“The use of a range of production techniques can help a director to develop characters.”

To what extent do you agree with this view?

Respond to this question with close reference to one or more films you have studied.

The historical epic film Braveheart, winner of the 1995 Best Film Oscar, tells the tale of William Wallace, a commoner who led a Scottish uprising against the oppression of the English and their cruel leader, Edward the Longshanks.  Mel Gibson both directed and starred in this film, playing the lead role of William Wallace.  Through the use of lighting, camera angles, costume, music and dialogue the character of William Wallace develops from Scottish commoner to national hero.

Gibson’s Braveheart has been called Anglophobic in that it presents a slanted view of Scottish history.  At the heart of the film is William Wallace, a real character from the late 13^th century who fought the English in a bid to lead Scotland to independence.  The film tells of the murder of his wife, Murron, and his subsequent crusade to avenge her death and bring freedom to all Scots.  His main rival is King Edward the Longshanks, ‘the most ruthless pagan’ ever to rule England.  In the film, the character to William Wallace develops from a man of the land to a man who fights, inspires and ultimately dies for his country.

The film makes much use of blue lighting.  It is symbolic that much of the lighting is blue as the Cross of Saint Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) is a white cross on a blue background.  One significant moment is when William, as a child, has seen his father’s body laid out for burial.  As his dead father tells him, ‘your heart is free, have the courage to follow it,’ a blue filtered light emphasises the nationalism shown by Wallace senior and which will go on to inspire young William.  The same blue filter is used throughout the film but never as poignantly as at the close of the film, just before his execution, when William in his cell, prays, “Lord give me the strength to die well.”  The use of blue lighting throughout is to develop the character of Wallace and his immense nationalism, and for viewers to realise that it is for this country that he loves that Wallace is prepared to lay down his life.  The intention here is that we see the Scots as being the more nationalistic, and as better characters than the English.  Although many critics saw this as Anglophobic, the fact that so many Europeans can trace their heritage to Scotland added to the appeal for many movie goers.  It is to this Celtic sense of belonging that the film is to appeal.

Braveheart Homework

Week 3
250 words, due Friday
Research William Wallace.  What is his life story and how does it differ from what is presented in the film?

Week 2 - Now overdue
What was the political situation in Scotland at the end of the 13th century?  Who was ruling Scotland and how had this come about?

Thematic Epiphany!

Had to share this before I forgot.  Tonight's episode of Glee (laugh all you want) would be brilliant for those of you needing a visual text:
1. Fathers/sons - lovely scene with Kurt and his dad
2. Teen sexuality/journey to maturity - Santana struggling with her feelings for Brittany.

Will add any more random text suggestions as they hit me.

Research Links

If you're feeling the need to make progress on your research assignment over the break, these links will get you to the two booklets we've been looking at in class.

REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR TEXT CHOICES - ASK ME VIA THIS IF YOU NEED TO

http://www.tki.org.nz/r/ncea/eng3_7Bv4_25jan06.doc  will get you to the Achievement Standard

US8834
http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Teacher-needs/Teaching%20&%20Learning%20sequences/Archived-English-Online-units/English-Units-NCEA-Level-3/Theme-study-Unit-Standard-8834/Learning-task-1

For 8834, you need to be able to complete the following grid to ensure all categories are covered:

Southland Boys’ High School

English Department

U.S. 8834 Thematic based research – reading logsn:

Name of Text	Author	Date completed	Genre	Gender, culture or literary merit	Three text details	Link to theme	Personal response

Gender one	Gender two	Culture one	Culture two	Literary merit one	Literary merit two

Written one	Written two	Written three	Written Four	Oral one	Oral two	Visual one	Visual two

Research

Tomorrow in class I'll be checking that you've all got a research topic to work on over the holidays.  This would be a great two week window of opportunity to get some of your necessary texts out of the way.  Just thought of a new theme idea - the portrayal of the imperfect family in literature.  The Poindexters are far from perfect and could be a good springboard to looking at other troubled families.

A friendly 'heads up'

Tomorrow morning (Sunday) I will be reading your editorials for feedback on Monday.  Then I will be compiling a list of all boys who have not yet sumbitted a single essay on The Scarecrow.  The next step is to ring the parents of those students, then put them in Wednesday homework club with Mr McDowall.  Two essays should have been completed by now.

In a perfect world, we could actually make a collaborative effort to help each other.  I've written one excellence essay and published it for you.  If you all wrote an essay which would achieve, we could post them to inspire ourselves!

Wednesday's Work

Greetings boys.

While I am at the athletics, you've got plenty to go on with.  I'm expecting PARAGRAPH responses, so that we can build on these to craft our first essay.

Character
1.  The Scarecrow is seen as a mysterious entertainer, a sexual threat, an absurd failure and an evil monster.  Find quotes to back up each of these descriptions.

Setting
2.  How does the author make credible that such events could happen in this kind of town?
3.  Some have argued that Klynham can itself be seen as a character.  Explain what you think is meant by this.  In what ways can Klynham be seen to function as a character within the text?

Plot
4.  Where do the trivial and diabolical plot lines come together?
5.  How is suspense used effectively?
6.  How are events finally resolved?  Do you find the ending satisfactory?
7.  How does RHM turn the funeral procession into a comic event?
8.  The text has been described as a 'gothic melodrama.'  Use the internet to find out what this term means then write a paragraph explaining whether or not you agree with this description.