Directed by Wes Anderson and featuring voice acting done by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, and even Bill Murray, the 2009 stop motion animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox is nothing short of a classic. The soundtrack contains a lot of nostalgic-sounding tracks that draw inspiration from just about everywhere, the characters all feel like […]
Magical Realism: Comparison of Examples
Magical realism is something that can change from story to story. The difference in its use in Kafka’s “The Bucket Rider” as compared to “Hello, Moto” by Nnedi Okorafor is the magical elements’ effects on the world. “The Bucket Rider” acts as more of a fable, where the narrative elements are not as stressed as […]
Magical Realism as a Genre
Magical Realism is a relatively recent development in literature, in comparison to older fantasy and legends. The framework of Magical Realism came about as an amalgamation of fiction and nonfiction. In Magical Realist literature, the magical elements and structures are often derived from older fairy tales. Many experts argue that the way “magic” is utilized […]
Rime and Reason: References in Frankenstein
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the concept of nature dynamically, personifying it and using it to describe people and things. The concepts of nature and human nature are intertwined, and almost become interchangeable in their definition and subsequent usage in the novel. The main character, Victor, has a characteristic relationship with nature. Mary Shelley’s initial […]
Compost: Metaphor in Burial by Ross Gay
Ross Gay’s poem, Burial, juxtaposes the opposite qualities of life, death, and most importantly, enacts the different stages of the grieving process. Through the relatively simple act of planting plum trees, the speaker reflects upon the processes by which dead things decompose into nutrients that plants need, and chooses to fertilize the trees with some […]
Why Won’t They Come Back? A Self Reflection in Mrs. Caliban
The novel by Rachel Ingalls, Mrs. Caliban, focuses intently on the trauma of loving somebody and having to come to terms with their betrayal. It’s a tragedy of Shakespearian likeness, as evidenced by the title; “Caliban” is a character in The Tempest. He is a half-monster, and often is depicted as a fish man. Mrs. […]
The Yellow Wallpaper: Setting Study
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper is a chilling tale about a woman’s slow decline into insanity caused by her postpartum depression and her husband’s subsequent mistreatment of it. The Yellow Wallpaper is Gilman’s attempt at warning other women of the dangers associated with allowing their lives to be controlled beyond themselves. The Yellow Wallpaper […]
In the Belly of the Sarlacc
In the desert of Tatooine, the audience sees the heroes at their worst. They’re enslaved, degraded, bound, and hovering above the belly of the beast. In Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the Sarlacc pit scene uses specific film elements to portray one of the pinnacle parts of the Hero’s Journey. The scene opens with […]