Under The Gaslight Essays - Film, Cinema Of The United States

Under The Gaslight "Under the Gaslight," an 1838 melodramatic play, written by Augustin Daly, presents itself to the reader in a very superficial tone. As for the title alone seems to portray this superficiality before giving the reader a chance to even begin reading act1. It is known that this play was done during a time when gaslights were becoming a modern extravagance to the theatre, this new technology was used for what were considered to be the best plays, which were usually viewed by the rich, upper-class of society, therefore being "Under the Gaslight" was the same as being under a grand spotlight. Sabino 2 As the play begins this pretentious characteristic continues to prevail. The first scene as the curtains would be opening, takes place in NewYork at the well appointed home of the Courtlands. The people in the play obviously appear to be somewhat wealthy and only associate with high-class people, this turns into the irony of the play. This scene introduces Pearl Courtland, cousin to Laura Courtland the star of the play, and Ray Trafford who is Laura's boyfriend, perhaps soon to be fianc, as implied by Pearl: "won't you have a cup of coffee?"Ray: "No." Pearl: "Ain't you hungry?" Ray: "No - you torment." Pearl: "O dear! I suppose it's because you're going to be married shortly to Laura." (Drama and Performance, Daly 524) This begins laying out the plot of the story. The plot of this story is dependent upon the relationship between Ray and Laura. As the play continues Rays true love for Laura is put to the ultimate test. He is forced to be courageous, Sabino 3 both, in the sense of coming to her rescue when her life ends up in danger, and having to risk his high societal standing once her dreadful secret from the past is revealed, that she may not really be a Courtland. If Ray stays with her he risks becoming an outcast, which is what she once descended from, besides the fact that he temporarily feels betrayed and deceived. The emotion behind this play is quite powerful and can be depicted from the most trivial lines, such as when PeachBlossom was talking to herself while cleaning. PeachBlossom: "The stove won't shine. It's the fault of the polish I know. That boy comes here, just fills the bottles with mud, and calls it stove polish. Only let me catch him. Ah! Ah! I declare I'd give it up if I didn't want to make everything look smart before Miss Nina comes in." (Drama and Performance, Daly 530) This statement could be taken out of it's literal context, and used as a comparison; Laura, thought to be stove polish is really just mud that has Sabino 4 been put into a stove polish bottle, or a retched poor girl put into a wealthy, beautiful, well respected life. I personally feel a strong sense of morality from this play, the situation really emulates the question of; which is more important, true love, people and their feelings, or social standing, what the upper class people think of you, and how much money you have? Of course as in most good stories, love conquers all in the end, but I feel that in this play Daly really makes the reader think about the struggle behind such values.

Sports in Films essays

Sports in Films essays Of the most amazing things that films can do is that they may be able to influence our way of thought, our way of life, to be overall a better person. For many years the film industry has made movies for entertainment but also for the way society may look on things. Many films have been done on sports to show or portray a certain aspect of how life used to be. The actors and directors express their themes through highly planned acting to make the film become alive and full of character. Films with sports being a major role do not necessarily mean that they are about sports but are actually showing another stage of life. Sports are used to show the main focus of the directors intent through A League of Their Own, Remember the Titans, and Hoosiers. A League of Their Own is a film directed by Penny Marshall which starts out in 1988 with a reunion of the All American Girls Professional Baseball (AAGPB) Where Dotti Hinson goes to see her old friends from the league. There we turn back in history with the war going own and starting of a professional girls baseball league. While playing in a softball game a scout, Jon Lovitz, scouts out Dotti Hinson (Geena Davis) and asks her to play in the league, however, he didnt want her kid sister Kit Keller(Lori Petty) In the end they both end up going to Chicago for tryouts. After making the team both are put on the same team and start playing for the Georgia Peaches. The star of the movie along with Geena Davis, is Tom Hanks who plays an run-down baseball giant who wasnt sent to the war because of an injury to his knee. The owner of a candy bar(Gary Marshall) hires Jimmy Dugan(Hanks) to coach the all girl team. While Dungan does nothing on the bench to help the team, Hinson takes over. After a while Jimmy Dungan wakes up and starts to manage the team and the team continues to prosper. The league runs into trouble and the owners want to pull out of the league....