phantom limb

the movie phantom limb went through the process everyone goes through when losing a loved one. He describes the guilt he felt after his brothers death and how his family handled it. He uses pictures and clips from other movies to describe the words he gives us about the process of death. I liked how he did not use the normal 5 steps to grief. He showed that it was way more than that. He wants to describe the pain and anger he felt with the loss of his brother but didn't want to only use himself as an example. When Timmy ( I think that is the little boy's name) loses his bird the narrator goes on to tell us this is his first experience of death. Timmy may not of understood exactly what death meant but he knows it's different than his bird just flying away. i think this documentary is saying you have a choice on how you grieve but it is impossible to do it a wrong way. No persons grief is greater than anyone else's when they deal with death. It all depends on how you deal with it.

Phantom Limb

The documentary was a good one and I really enjoyed watching this during our class period. The film was a pretty sad one and really pulled me in because of how smooth it went though. The story was good because it told us how not to deal with grief and that is a tough subject to talk about especially when it happens to a young family member. The scene though that really stuck out to me was when the sheep was being sheared. That was a very different scene and at first I wondered why it was even in there in the first place. The scene just showed how smooth and easy going the hair came off and stood for a metaphor. This was overall a great film.

Phantom Limb

I really enjoyed watching the documentary, Phantom Limb. It was so interesting to see all of the steps of dealing with loss. The part of the film that caught my attention most was the first scene on separation. This section was about his brothers death and how his family dealt with it. I found it so interesting that he chose not to use any voice overs and instead used text in between home video clips. The fact that his family still to this day doesn't talk about the death of his brother was shown by not having any voices in that section. I think he included his personal experience with the death of a loved one to show his credibility on the topic and also to show the wrong way of dealing with death. He knew that he and his family didn't deal with the death of his brother in a healthy way, and through the rest of the film he shows all the ways that are healthiest in dealing with the loss. Seeing the home videos of his family really made me feel for his family's loss. I think this section of the documentary was imperative to the film because it caught the audiences attention and had them emotionally involved from the very beginning.

Phantom Limb

This documentary illustrates a series of steps that takes the viewer on a trip through the grieving process. I thought it was interesting how the documentor never actually appeared or spoke in his film, but still presented himself as an example of his theme. He used visual metaphors along with the written narration to help get the point across (the collapsing buidlings and sheared sheep). The majority of the documentary takes on a depressing tone but at the end reverses it by repesenting the final step of grief with a birth, showing that the end can sometimes beget a beginning.

Phatom Limb

From the very beginning of the movie I was very interested. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Whether it was simply about the death of the directors brother or plainly about death. In reality the movie was about both. The movie was very relateable for everyone. The fact of death is a topic that most people have encountered and experienced in some point. The movie didn't hide anything. What was really interesting to me were the steps after death. They may not have gone in an order that works for everyone but the creators of the movie weren't scared to jump into that topic and touch upon things that people aren't used to hearing about. Death is something that physically and emotionally hurts and people don't usually want to bring that kind of pain up or resurface old emotions and feelings. Another thing that was very interesting to me were the pictures and examples that went along with the steps. For example the stage of shock gave an example of rats being shocked. I really never thought about how rats being shocked could relate to death in any form. Everything connected and built a real meaning. It was for the viewer to interpret those meanings and form them into something that related to their life in the past or currently.

The Third Bank of the RiverIn

In "The Third Bank of the River," João Guimarães Rosa does explore these separate, symbolic opposites in the lives of members of the narrator’s family. He then crafts, out of the conflict, a third position which can be, at best, described as a treaty between two very unlike things. Often times, these extremes are the very definitions of characterization we come to expect in a short story, and, by reading between these lines, Rosa was able to jumble these words up "The Third Bank of the River" into a work of unclear and allegorical by nature. By never exactly defining the third part that is created, the author is able to explore this clearly important topic in greater depth. The importance of the crossing is that, in every case the author presents, it represents the journey from one position to its opposite, continuing until the characters reach their final destination, the third, middle situation. It is in this way that father’s crossing has a profound effect on the family and the way they play out the rest of their lives.

Caillebotte's "Young Man"

I have posted a large image of this painting so you can see the details (unlike in the book).
Dr R

The Third Bank of the River

While I was reading the Third Bank of the River I kept trying to think ahead as to what the author was trying to get across. One of the things I kept questioning was what exactly did the father leaving symbolize. I knew there was more to the story then just the simple fact that the father left for no reason. After reading I came to the conclusion that for me he personally symbolized a form of death. One day he just decided to leave and to the son his father was gone forever. The author gives us many clues as to why we should look at the father leaving as symbolic. Guimaraes Rosa gave very little detail and explanation. It was as if she wanted us to form our own opinions from our own lives in order to make sense of the story. Another explanation for the father leaving was to be a symbol of divorce. The father was leaving and the son could still see him but could not connect to his father like he used to. That is just like when a mother and father get a divorce and usually one parent leaves the house and the other one is the primary guardian. In this example the father left and the mother took care of the children.

My Presentation Poem for Tuesday, I will bring copies to class

The Man In The Glass

Peter "Dale" Winbrow Sr

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in you life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you're a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please-never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear to the end.
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you've cheated the man in the glass.