Henry and his Wives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Henry and his Wives - Essay Example This volume intends to present the conditions and the confines in which Henry’s wives and other women lived in detail as presented by the author. The author has shown Henry as a very notorious character where he marries six wives. This distinct Henry in the records of history where he is seen to achieve almost anything through his destructive influence and power. At first, Henry Marries Catherine of Aragon, however, their marriage is ended by an infant death and a sensational political revolt. His second wife also meets and unfortunate end, where by charges that were most likely false she is executed. Jane Seymour the third wife who bore Henry a son died in childbirth. Soon after the death of Jane Henry remarried a German woman who came to be a disappointment later as according to Henry was not as beautiful as he had hoped. Consequently, they divorced after six months. Henry’s fifth wife was Katherine Howard; unfortunately, just like his first wife she was set for execution through cunning means. Finally, the author concludes the story by the live events of the last wife of Henry, Katherine Parr who was well mannered and served her husband with great respect and devotion until his death. The author at this point reflects the life of the women of this time and the place they were kept by the society. He further brings out a variety of themes such as egoism and others through the life and deeds of the king. Henry serves the role of the medieval society and how influential individuals and people in power positions related with

Notes on How to Write a Good Essay Example for Free

Notes on How to Write a Good Essay Robert Cormier’s book ‘Heroes’ opens by introducing us to the main character Francis Cassavant, a ex-military soldier, wounded by a grenade from when he fought in World War Two. There are three main characters in this book; Francis, Larry and Nicole. Throughout this book Cormier gives an insight into how all these characters interlock, with Francis’ mission, to kill Larry LaSalle. In the first chapter of this book Cormier introduces us to the main character of Francis Cassavant, and how he is presented as a hero; this chapter is based entirely on his appearance after a grenade attack from when he fought in the war. Francis’ appearance has obviously changed dramatically as he refers to his face as a ‘gargoyle’ and that he has ‘no face’. Francis also refers to himself as the ‘hunchback of Notre Dame’ and that he is ugly with ‘no ears to speak of’ and ‘the absence of my nose’. This suggests that that he has been in a terrible accident and instantly makes you empathise, and feel sorry for him, but as you further progress through the book you see that maybe that Francis isn’t the hero and as innocent as he seems at first glance. To add further detail Cormier describes his nostrils as ‘two small caves’. This portrays his face as almost like a monster or a mutant. We can infer from the text that Francis has low self esteem and has little or no confidence in himself and when his doctor says ‘don’t expect anyone to pick you for a dance’ doesn’t really help with the fact when he knows he’s ‘not normal’. Francis hides his face with scarves, a hat and a bandage fastened with safety pins, hiding his face tell us that he does not want to be recognised or perhaps to be seen by anyone he knows in Frenchtown. People glance at me in surprise’ and ‘I don’t blame them’ shows that Francis is obviously repulsed and disgusted by the way he looks but isn’t afraid to say so, and also if he looks terrifying and repulsive, he isn’t going to be thought of as a hero. After in depth of describing the physical description of Francis, Cormier then moves on to the main plot, Francis’ mission to kill Larry LaSalle, dropping in little hints and sending up an ‘our father’ and ‘ ail Mary’ and ‘glory be’ for Larry LaSalle, and sending up prayers for Nicole Renard, instantly bringing all the three main characters together but still keeping them separate and not knowing why they are interlocked and how everything is more complicated then it seems behind the eyes of Francis, Larry and Nicole, and how Francis and possibly Larry could either be heroes or cowards. Making Francis seem like an innocent war hero is an interesting and unusual move to make because it makes you feel sorry for Francis at the beginning but as the story unfolds you see that there is more than meets the eye about Francis and how his ‘heroic status’ isn’t as heroic as it seems. One of the ways Cormier presents the concept of heroes is in chapter nine, the chapter when Larry LaSalle reveals he is going off to the ‘fight the japs’ in the Second World War. So when the news first broke that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbour in an attack, a wave of frenzy and fear washed over America. People had ‘patriotic fever’ meaning that they weren’t just feeling patriotic about their country; it was as though a fever had taken over and had plagued through everyone. That day Larry LaSalle stood before everyone in the wreck centre, his ‘movie-star smile gone replace with grim faced determination’ he was ready to go and ‘fight the japs’ he announced that he was going to war, he had ‘anger that we had never seen before flashing in his eyes’. From the quote we realise that Larry is passionate about fighting for his country, but from the way he displays and announces that he is leaving and going to war and when he says ‘none of that kids’ (referring to when the kids clap when he announces he’s going to war) ‘I’m just doing what millions of others are doing’ he almost says it in a way that he wants to be recognised even more as a hero, and he also tries to make it seem as though it’s not important about what he’s doing, but by the way he flaunts it he makes it seem like he’s doing some great and powerful favour for America and the people of Frenchtown. This shows the concept of heroes because as soon as the opportunity comes along to be a hero, Larry will grab it in an instant and makes sure that everyone knows about it and about how it’s making him a hero. This chapter explains the events from Larry returning home, to the episode that happens at the end of the chapter and that is when we come to realise Francis’ hatred for Larry LaSalle. When the crowd are waiting for Larry’s arrival, we see that he is described as ‘Lt. Lawrence LaSalle, US Marines Corps, holder of the silver star’ from this quote we can immediately see that he is being shown as a hero. He is also the star of ‘newsreels’ and ‘radiobroadcasts’ making his seem very important; like a vip – almost a god as far as the town are concerned. They describe him as ‘a bright pied piper’ saying that he can get the towns children to follow him. It shows that he is quite a powerful and a big role model in the children of Frenchtown and maybe not only with children, the adults also seem to love, worship and adore him. In Larry’s actual arrival those there to greet him add the heroic atmosphere. The town goes to greet him at the station, adults, old people and children from the wreck centre are all there to meet this so called hero. When he arrives you instantly remember his ‘movie star smile’ revealing his popularity and confidence. ‘We cheered’ this shows that he is loved and respected by his fellow people and people look up to him as a ‘hero’. You could still see ‘a touch of Fred Astaire in his walk’ implying that he still is the same old Larry, but now ‘lethal’. Him being described as lethal implies that he has changed from coming back from the war; he’s thinner, sleeker. My war hero’ people shout from the crowd. People are proud of him for fighting for their country, they really respect him. ‘Ribbons and medals on his chest’ are a visible representation of him being a hero. Physically the descriptions of Larry show how much he has changed from being a cool dancer to a ‘slen der, knife like killing machine’ he has now changed into a ‘knife-like’ and ‘lethal’ with sharper details, the hero that we saw before has now become a ‘superhero’ in the town’s eyes. ‘You are our celebration’ the mayor proclaims to Larry, emphasising Larry’s heroic status. He is now the town’s hero when he is given ‘the silver key to the city’ people would immediately think that he is of high heroic status is the mayor gives him something so important to the city. When he gives his big speech he says ‘we need to keep the world safe for these young people’ saying this he is almost trying to cover up for what he does later. At the celebration, towards the end Larry tries to get Francis to leave the wreck centre, so he can have ‘one last dance’ with Nicole, he says that ‘this is important’ and he manipulates Francis. Just me and her alone’ makes it feel like something terrible is going to happen. So Francis leaves, ‘I’ve got to go, you and Larry stay. One last dance’ his words sounding false as though Larry placed them in his mouth. She wants him to ‘stay and watch’ but he leaves, to his and Nicole’s misfortune. When the attack happens, it shows just how unheroic and cowardly both Larry and Francis are. ‘In the shadows of the hallway’ Francis lurks waiting for Nicole to leave the Wreck centre, but then Larry does the most inexplicable, disgusting thing, he sexually assaulted her. A sound that could have been a moan and a rustle of clothing’ even though Francis knew something was going on in there, he still couldn’t pluck the courage to go see if his girlfriend was alright. When she ‘stumbles out of the hallway’ she sees Francis, and he saw ‘the betrayal of her in her eyes’ as she runs away, Francis hears Larry, this now shows how wrong people were about Larry and about how he is not a hero but something of the complete opposite ‘whistling the tune-‘dancing in the dark’ as though he had done nothing wrong, that this was no rmal. It’s amazing that the heart makes no noise when it cracks’ Francis is truly heartbroken, and it shows just how cowardly Francis and Larry can both be. In chapter 14, we see how much of a hero Francis could be when we finally get to the part where he goes to kill Larry LaSalle, Larry is no longer a hero. When he sees Larry you can see that Larry’s physical appearance has changed drastically as he’s ‘yellowed with age’, a bit ‘feeble now’, and ‘fragile now’, with ‘white hands’. Larry is not innocent’ and no longer a hero. Francis explains his unannounced visit, with a gun in his hands. Larry ‘rises slowly’ from his chair as Francis begins to question him. ‘You were our hero’ Larry was their hero, he did everything for the people of Frenchtown and now his heroic status had just fallen through the roof, ‘ no more sweet young things’ Larry says, saying as though its normal to sexually assault someone who’s young. Even there heat is sweet’ he says giving Francis even more of a reason to kill him, but he falters when Larry says ‘does that on sin wipe away all the good things. ’ He falters because he’s probably thinking about what he did for him, with the Table tennis and if it wasn’t for Larry renewing the Wreck Centre, Francis would never had been with Nicole, with all these mixed emotions and feelings Francis walks away. But when Francis walks away ‘the sound of a pistol shot cracks in the air’ Larry LaSalle had shot himself. Cormier presents the idea of heroes in his novel, one by setting it in the time of World War Two, which has lots of potential for heroes because theirs the concept of being a soldier. He also presents the idea of heroes by making two characters seem like heroes at first glance but then stripping them of their heroic status by things that come to haunt them from the past that had never been dealt with. Also with Nicole Renard and how she is the innocent victim in this and how one incident made both Francis and Larry cowards and very un-heroic.

Hirschis Social Bond Theory in Criminology

Hirschis Social Bond Theory in Criminology Travis Hirschi had an enormous effect on the field of criminology. His influence was most certainly felt the most in the subject of control theory. Hirschi’s theories were always plainly stated in layman’s terms so everybody could clearly understand them. Hirschi’s first theory: Social Bonds and Delinquency, states that delinquency arises when social bonds are weak or absent. This theory challenged Merton’s strain theory and Sutherland’s differential association theory. The question that is asked by these two theories is why people are motivated to commit crimes. Merton’s stated that it was the blockage of goals that pushed individuals to commit crime. Sutherland’s theory said that youths are taken in by deviant culture and they learn and adopt criminal behavior from those around him. Hirshi, on the other hand took the path less taken. For Hirshi, the question that his theory sought to answer was: Why don’t people break the law? Hirschi wanted to identify the nature of the social controls that determine when crime occurs. Hirschi called these social controls, â€Å"Social Bonds† (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011) Hirschi’s social bond theory stressed four control variables that gave reason as to why people don’t break the law, with each representing a major social bond. The bonds are: Attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Attachment refers to the emotional closeness that adolescents have with adults, role models, and most importantly parents. â€Å"Affectional Identification,† meaning that the youth aspires to be more like their parents or role models plays a large part in this bond (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011). If the adults in their life are crime free, the youth is more likely to follow the same straight and narrow path. There is also a sense that parents know what their children are doing and where they are. This bond strengthens every time that there is interaction between the two parties as the interaction is usually on a personal basis. As a result of these things, parents have a form of indirect control. The indirect control works because their attachme nt to their parents makes them psychologically present. The second bond is The Social Bond of Commitment. Commitment involves the adolescents place in conformity. The youth does not want to blow their chances of having a great and bright future by doing something that they shouldn’t do. This is the common ratio of cost and benefit that is seen in other criminological theories and throughout life. The question it begs is; does deviating from the social norms to achieve certain means outweigh the potentially great losses that are also on the table. In order for this to be an effective bond, individuals must know and connect the deviance and reward and make a decision based on their own outcomes. Strain theory also uses the cost and benefit ratio; however it states that having high aspirations is what leads to deviance (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011). Hirschi again stated the opposite was true; â€Å"Legitimate aspirations gave a stake in conformity that tied the individual to the conventional social order† (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011). The third social bond is The Social Bond of Involvement. Involvement is a way to prevent and deny access to criminal actions and deviant behavior through involvement in activities. If you are in school all day or at work, one would be much less likely to commit a crime. This bond theory is in its own way paying homage to the old saying, â€Å"idle hands are the devil’s workshop† (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011). The fourth and final social bond is The Social Bond of Belief. People want approval of others, so their actions tend to reflect the societal norms that are seen to be approved actions. Belief is the extent that youths embrace the moral validity of the law and other norms. Conforming individuals obey the law because it is seen as a legitimate and respected request to them. Ronald Akers stated that â€Å"Individuals offend because they are socialized to embrace criminal cultural beliefs† (Lilly, C ullen, Ball, 2011). Where Hirschi stated that one does not need to learn to be a criminal because all humans are gratification-seeking beings and crime is easy to commit (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to bring light to the effects social bonds have on the likelihood to commit delinquent activities. Attachment Theories are based on the view that human beings have a large desire to be accepted by others. This is usually a good thing; however, it can also help a delinquent mindset to form. The formation of strong bonds between the adult figure(s) in an adolescents life helps put a stop to delinquent activities before they even occur. However, those with insecure attachment to parents have problems with emotional regulation and impulse control acting on immediate rewards at the expense of long-term goals (Lac, Crano, Berger, Alvaro, 2013). Attachment also applies to peers. Peer attachment was positively associated with self-esteem, self-control, and optimism, but these variables tended to be more strongly associated with parental attachment. However, inadequate bonding to a parental figure may present a risky shift to relying on peers engaged in activities outside of the norms of society (Lac, Crano, Berger, Alvaro, 2013). These associations among peers that go wrong lead to drug use and drinking and activities such as that. In a study eight questions were asked in order to estimate how many of his or friends smoked cigarettes, used smokeless tobacco, drank alcoholic beverages, got drunk, smoked marijuana, used crack cocaine, used powder cocaine, and used heroin. The results showed that 84 percent of the test groups friends uses or have tried these substances (De Li). Under the Commitment bond, there is an underlying assumption that there is not much more time left in the act, project or whatever an individual is attempting to accomplish when weighing the pros and cons of a deviant act conceived. This is why there really is a burden to make a decision and make the right one according to the circumstances. Involvement in school is also an important form of commitment because it also acts as a stake in conformity which helps root people into social conformity (Krohn Massey). People who do not hold strong beliefs in conventional values have nothing holding th em to the bond and are therefore more likely to commit deviant acts. If any one or more of the four social bonds are weakened or severed, the chances of delinquent behavior increases significantly (Krohn Massey). Even when Social Bonds fail, desistance is always an option for those who want to get back on the straight and narrow path. Desistance is the act of ceasing offending behavior. One ways that has been discovered to be effective is the development of an attachment bond to a wife or husband or getting a stable profession. Marriage is however found to be the best. Men who desisted from criminal activities were engaged in structured routines, they were socially bonded to wives, children and significant others. They learned to draw encouragement, resources, and social support from their relationships. The impact of social ties, life events, and socialization experiences was emphasized to desisting offenders in order for them to truly know what they will lose if they choose to of fend again (Doherty). In regards to marriage, those with low self-control have much more room to change with the help of a stable healthy marriage than those with high self-control. The monitoring factor that comes along with the marriage territory plays a large role in that (Doherty). The monitoring factor is such an important one especially when one is growing up due to the fact that it prevents delinquency and reduces the chance that individuals will deviate when there is no monitoring occurring. A study found that low monitoring produced delinquency, although it was indirectly through low self-control and aggression. This is due to the adolescent getting a pretty clear impression that the parents don’t really care about what their kid is up to. And the mindset that most people would likely draw from that is, â€Å"If they don’t care, then why should I?† (Gault-Sherman, 2012). That mindset is related the attachment bond. They strive to be like their parents a nd copying is the greatest form of flattery. When delinquents turn to crime, it is usually because that they feel that there is no other way to fulfill their needs at the current time. However, deep down it is due to the way that their parents raised them, their attachments to people, their involvement in extra activities, things that they’ve committed or not committed time to and their own personal set of beliefs that they hold dear to themselves. In the Attachment theory, the outcome of the adolescent is largely affected by how their parents raised them, and how the other important adult role models in their life treated them. Say for example that every day when a little boy came home from school, he is bullied by his father, neglected by his mother, picked on by his siblings and treated horribly by all. This is not going to have a positive effect on that little boy at all. This behavior will instill in him a warped sense of what’s ok due to affectional identification (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011). The little boy may go to school the next day and bully another kid to make himself feel better, to feel like he is following in his father’s footsteps. This may seem like a easily fixed issue, but in reality, it most certainly is not. There is a high chance the boy all grown up will engage in delinquent behavior, even if he is not arrested. He will most likely beat and or bully his kids or wives and treat people terribly. When the delinquent actions aren’t confined to just the home, even more problems can arise which can lead the individual down an even steeper downward spiral. That is why it is such an important responsibility that the parents have to raise their children with love, attention, and compassion in order to help prevent even more delinquency being brought into the world. As individuals go through school, cheating is a huge aspect that they must try to avoid. It is such an easy action to perform, as it requires just a turn of the head during a test, or clicking send on an email full of test answers. Many people don’t even regard it as a delinquent act. Cheating is such a large obstacle because it directly relates to the social bond of commitment. Students spend at the minimum twelve years of their lives in school not including college. That’s a large portion of their life. If cheating makes it an easier twelve years for them, they may embrace that particular delinquent behavior in order to make the long journey ahead a little bit easier. Most individual’s mindset is that it isn’t fair if others can cheat and succeed, and they shouldn’t, which again begs the question of why don’t people commit crimes and or delinquent acts? All students, whether they cheat or not, have goals, dreams, careers to look forward to, and their futures at stake while going through school. This path with a destination deters some from cheating because they don’t want to risk losing all that they have worked so hard for just so they have an easier time on a test or don’t have to write their own original paper. Others on the other hand, do not particularly care about this tradeoff and decide to cheat anyway. This may be because they weighed the options, and they found cheating to be the best course of action and worth taking the risk to do so, or the individuals reasoning could be that they just don’t have any higher aspirations or goals. Whatever the case may be, parents, teachers, the community, and even officers of the law should do all in their power to emphasize the importance of being honest throughout school, and the impact that cheating and deviating could have on them if they were to lose sight of all that they had committed themselves to completing. This emphasis on commitment will help form more well-rounded individuals who are better adapted to function in society than those that choose to take the easy way out. The social bond of involvement plays a vital role in preventing del inquency in the modern world as well. When individuals have nothing to do, often they go looking for something. What they find may not be the best thing to do and in turn may have a very counter-productive effect on their life. Examples include joining gangs, underage drinking and smoking, partaking in the use of narcotics, stealing and the list goes on. Parents and schools often attempt to enroll their children and students into extracurricular activities in order to keep them occupied and out of the reach and influence that many unsavory activities can have on young and developing minds. The social bond of involvement and commitment are often connected because individuals often commit a large portion of their idle time to these activities and don’t want to risk being unable to participate in them again because they’ve committed a deviant act. In any case, involvement in healthy activities is very important in the fight to keep kids on the straight and narrow due to i ts ability to occupy their free time with productive activities instead of others that may lead them down a path towards delinquency. The more the importance of involvement is stressed, the better the chances that more and more individuals will keep away from crime. The final social bond that Hirschi brought light to is the social bond of belief. Belief is a strange and funny thing because some have a lot of it, while others have seemingly none. Those who don’t hold strong beliefs in the norms of society are not really bound by the bond of belief. When people believe that rules that are in place are actually there for a reason, they become bound to belief. This is usually a good thing, assuming that the rules in place are for the betterment of society as a whole and not just for the few. It’s also about respect in a way. Individuals who are taught to respect legitimate laws, people, and other such things are much less likely to deviate from them than one who is not tau ght to respect, but to instead rebel. Belief must be instilled from a young age during the same time the attachment bond starts to form. If parents believe that laws and other such things are legitimate, then their children will most likely recognize that and adopt the same into their behavior. Those whose parents have weak bonds with their children will have a much more difficult if not nonexistent time trying to instill these values and beliefs. It should be noted that belief can be completely abandoned in an instant and should be treated with the utmost fragility. The more parents, role models, and significant figures put emphasis on and utilize belief during the youth’s more impressionable years, the more likely it will be that the youth does not partake in deviant activities. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory has certainly accomplished what it set out to explain. The reason why people don’t commit crime is because of their attachments to other significant people in their lives, their commitment to finishing what they started and not losing their progress, their involvement in healthy non deviant behavior, and lastly the belief that laws and constraints are put into place for a good and legitimate reason. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory has much strength in its favor and very few weaknesses. One of the weaknesses is that when adolescents are involved in a lot of delinquent activities outside of their home, the bond they have with their parents weakens. This is because Hirschi didn’t take into consideration that bonds change over time, and that strong bonds of attachment and involvement can take place among peers even when parental bonds are strong. One of the two bonds is bound to overcome the other. Another weakness that Hirschiâ€℠¢s theory has is that it is â€Å"based on the assumption that humans are naturally self-interested and thus need no special motivation to break the law† (Lilly, Cullen, Ball, 2011). This is not a good assumption at all because not all people are similarly motivated. The strengths of Hirschi’s theory are their simplicity and that the actual applications of the bonds do lead to less delinquency occurring among youths. The practice of instilling these bonds in the youth of today is very important to the future to come. Everybody must do their part in the fight against delinquency. Works Cited De Li, S. (n.d.). the impacts of self-control social bonds on juvenile delinquency in a national sample of midadolescents. Deviant Behavior, pp. 351-373. Doherty, E. E. (n.d.). Self-control, social bonds, and desistance: A test of life-course interdependence. Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Jornal, XLIV(4), pp. 807-833. Gault-Sherman, M. (2012, February). Its a Two-Way Street: The Bidirectional Relationship Between Parenting and Delinquency. Journal of Youth Adolescence, LXXII(2), 121-145. Krohn, M. D., Massey, J. L. (n.d.). Social Control and Delinquent Behavior: An Examination of the Elements of the Social Bond. The Sociological Quarterly, XXI(4), pp. 529-544. Lac, A., Crano, W. D., Berger, D. E., Alvaro, E. M. (2013, August). Attachment theory and theory of planned behavior: An integrative model predicting underage drinking. Developmental Psychology, XLIX(8), 1579-1590. doi:10.1037/a0030728 Lilly, J. R., Cullen, F. T., Ball, R. A. (2011). Criminological Theory. Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America: SAGE Publications.

Cinematic Techniques in Strictly Ballroom Essays -- Baz Luhrman Film M

Extended Film Response How the film techniques used by Baz Luhrman to influence the portrayal and development of characters in the film Strictly Ballroom? In the film Strictly Ballroom, the director Baz Luhrman uses many different film techniques to influence the portrayal and development of characters. Costume and makeup is used as a vital technique to show the audience the characters’ personalities and also the development of some characters. Camera angles and lighting is another technique that is used to exaggerate the characters’ personalities and the scenes they are in. Luhrman also uses character behaviors as an effective technique in portraying each characters’ personality. In the film Luhrman uses costume and makeup to portray characters’ personalities. Such as Shirley Hastings. Shirley’s costume and makeup shows the audience a great deal about her personality. Shirley always wears pink, puts ‘over the top’ makeup on and wears a lot of jewellery. This tells the audience that she is ‘over the top’ and maybe insecure about herself or her past. Liz Holt is another character whose personality could not have been portrayed if it wasn’t for the costume and makeup used. Liz is a drama queen and exaggerates everything including her costume and makeup. She nearly always wears yellow and also exaggerates her makeup with bright colours even when she’s not dancing. Luhrman also used costume and makeup to show the development of one of the main characters, Fran. At the start of the film, Fran is introduced with acne, glasses and baggy clothes, which shows the audience that she is not comfortable with herself and not confident. But when Fran starts dancing she slowly becomes more confident and her costume and makeup changes. Fr... ...eally talks and is presented as someone who is quite awkward. Doug also gets pushed around by everyone, until at the end of the film when he yells at his son Scott to listen to him, giving the audience the impression that he is tired of getting pushed around and no one listening to him and also because he didn’t want his son to make a mistake. Film techniques are used extremely effectively in Strictly Ballroom by the director Baz Luhrman. Costume and makeup, camera angles and lighting and also character behaviours were used to influence the portrayal and development of all of the main characters. Without these film techniques, Strictly Ballroom could not have been made into a film as entertaining as it is and the characters personalities and development would not have been portrayed. Bibliography Baz Luhrman, 1992, Strictly Ballroom, Motion Picture, Bazmark.

Phenomenology in Peter Zumthor’s architecture

Phenomenology is not a new invention, although it became synonymous with modernistic art in the early 1900’s. In fact the idea of phenomenology and the meaning of life and its numerous connections became not only an existential question, but also a study of reactivity between human beings in the hope that we might understand why things happen and why we behave in the way we do. In the social sciences, sociologists such as Max Weber wanted to understand this relationship between humans and in art this relationship culminated in the relationship between the artists and the subject and the inherent ties that are visible between the two. Peter Zumthor has become a paragon of his art and his architecture is something of a phenomenological artefact and in this case we examine his architectural pieces at Vals in Switzerland and Cologne in Germany. We look specifically at his spa complex (Therme Vals Spa) and his art museum (Kolumba). We also look at the meaning and the theory of phenomenology as a discipline in the attempt to understand the connection between Zumthor’s personal standpoint and the ideology as a whole. We look first at phenomenology as a discipline and its forefathers while also looking at the very first revelations of phenomenology in the arts. What is phenomenology? How did it come into being and why is it such a powerful tool for the arts? Phenomenology is described as the â€Å"study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view. †(Smith, 2008). What is central to the idea is the intention of the subject, for instance, what does the individual intend to do with the experience? The direction of an experience is geared towards the object with pertinence to the meaning of the relationship (Smith, 2008). It was used in the social sciences by masters such as Heidegger, Husserl and Sartre and encompasses four major aspects of the philosophy of social science: epistemology, ontology, ethics and logic (Smith, 2008). Naturally, these aspects of humanity cannot be explained by scientific inquiry alone, as the human brain consists of unseen reactions as well as the physiological and observable. This posed a problem for social sciences in the sense that something could not be proven unless it could be observed. What we are able to observe, clearly, is interaction, action and reaction. What we are not able to observe is the ‘why’. Smith (2008) explains that where conscious experience is concerned the major affect is that we are able to live through them and perform them. We are able to relate a past experience only from our own standpoint, based on how we felt at the time and therefore we interpret it as it affects us personally (Smith, 2008). Hermeneutic phenomenology is a branch of the discipline that stems from the interpretive which means that we are only ever able to interpret experiences and relationships thereupon and never able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is true or not (Marcelle, 2005). At present, the nature of phenomenology is changing with the advent of new communication methods such as the internet (Marcelle, 2005). Indeed, artistically speaking, architecture also remains a means of communicating via its ability to relate a feeling or atmosphere that is pertinent to the emotion it wishes to convey. For example, an art museum wants to convey a different experience to that of a spa. After we have interpreted experiences, we then have to analyze them and remove notable aspects for further observation. Thereafter, phenomenology tries to expand upon different ways of thinking and understand what type of thinking allows that particular experience to be interpreted in that way. Empirical experiments attempt to determine the commonality of that experience and whether it can be proved (Smith, 2008). Some forms of phenomenology try to explain these experiences with the added benefit of neurological knowledge which is of course, empirically and scientifically proven (Smith, 2008). ` Now we know what phenomenology is but what we need to do it examine where is it began in terms of representational art and architecture. Upon viewing something it immediately invokes some sort of emotional connection: whether you like it very much or hate it, there is a reason for this connection. When we view a flower in the open air, some of us may feel euphoric and happy amongst the beauty while others may not be greatly affected by it. The same is true when viewing a rubbish heap, but with the opposite emotion. How we view this experience depends very much on the frame of mind we are in at the time and the overall mental state or personality. This was used in early Surrealist art where those such as Salvador Dali attempted to relate the internal subconscious of the self to the viewer. Dali himself used architectural type hypercube structures to convey a certain transcendence of Christ in his famous Corpus Hypercubus (1954) (Fudjack & Dinkelaker, 1999). The purpose of using this 3 dimensional construction was to invoke the sense not only of transcendence but also omnipotence with the past, present and the future all being present in one picture (Barrette, 2007). Prior to Zumthor’s work and wedged in between Dali’s was Antonin Gaudi whose post-modernist art nouveau architecture can be seen as both garish and outrageous. Gaudi’s work was not only intended for a purpose, but was also employed to have specific affect on the viewer. Sagrada Familia was not completed before Gaudi’s death in 1926 (Schumacher, 1991). Gaudi used angularity, columns and vaults in true architectural classicism and combined it with modern eclecticism to produce a gorgeously outrageous modern gothic temple. In other works, he used mosaics and facades to produce candy-like buildings that both pleased the eye and served a purpose. So phenomenology is not a new idea in the arts and was used with great effect also by artists such as Rene Magritte and in writing by Roland Barthes. Marcel Duchamps created yet another dimension to modernistic phenomenology which included a form of cerebral art that made it necessary not simply to view the piece, but to think about it and to react to it. For him, it was not so important that you liked the work, but rather that you thought about it. Duchamps constructed the Three Standard Stoppages (1914-1915) which used found articles such as string and mirror in a wooden box. This piece therefore made use of mathematical questions that were of course, not answerable. The purpose of the work was in fact to create for Duchamps his own physical ‘oeuvre’ (Betancourt, 2003). Roland Barthes created the idea that what we see is not reality if it is reproduced. Barthes viewed a picture of his mother with the knowledge that although it was his mother in the picture, it was also not his mother. It was really only a representation of her (Barthes, 1980). The question is really, what is the individual experience of the photograph? The experience of the individual is very different depending on whether or not of course, you know the object depicted. We see that phenomenology has been used for many years in the arts and in writing, and now we look specifically at the work of Peter Zumthor. Peter Zumthor was born in Switzerland on the 26 April 1943. Zumthor was the son of a cabinet maker and learnt carpentry early in life. He studied at the Pratt Institute in New York and was awarded the Carlsberg Architecture Prize in 1998 (Spiritus Temporis, 2005). Peter Zumthor also wrote extensively about his philosophy for architecture saying that: â€Å"In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction. † (Zumthor in Arcspace, 2009). The phenomenological approach of Zumthor’s work is clear in this statement as it employs the purpose and necessity of thinking about the work more than merely accepting it as a piece in which we either reside or gather. For Zumthor, the building not only has to be facilitative, but also be emotionally or sensually charged. It is only in this manner that we are able to connect with it on a personal level. The building is itself, and does not have to be representational of anything. In other words, as the Chartres Cathedral is representational of a religious artefact, Zumthor’s work has an existence beyond its representation (Zumthor in Arcspace, 2009). The Kolumba Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne is a culmination of old and new religious art which was meant initially to make one think about how the two worlds intercept (Carrington, 2008). It is described as a museum of reflection (Carrington, 2008). First founded in 1853 by the Society for Christian Art and is home to 2 000 years of religious art. The most important aspect of this art however, is that it has two parallel histories. The original building was almost completely destroyed during World War II and during the year of 1973, excavations revealed medieval, Roman and Gothic remains. All the ruins were used by Zumthor to collaborate the history into one astounding piece of work (Carrington, 2008). Zumthor essentially raised the walls on cement covered steel columns and embedded both sets of historical ruins into the new walls (Carrington, 2008). The result is an amalgamation of old and new that somehow allows the viewer to notice the old rather than the new while also providing us with the same vision Zumthor himself had. Upon viewing the structure it appears to be a patchwork that is carefully constructed to produce a time-frame continuum. Yet while the building is a thoughtful invocation of old and new, it is also environmentally considered. It is constructed with ‘filter walls’ that have a air and light permeable membrane which is separated between the chapel and the exhibition rooms (Architectural News, 2007). Zumthor collaborated the use of the old world material with brick, mortar, plaster and terrazzo as a backdrop for the artworks exhibited (Architectural News, 2007). Clearly, if Zumthor wanted to he could have created a modernistic and highly technological piece of architecture like the Sydney Opera House, but his sensitivity as an artist allowed him to produce a dignified and respectful piece of architectural history that is not seen before. Windows placed across the entire space of the wall allows light to enter at all directions and also provides changing lights spaces at different times of the day (Architectural News, 2007). There is not a great difference in colour between the old and the new parts of the building considering the different materials used at any time. The gothic vaults that appear along the side of the building are embedded onto plastered and textured walls. The texture however, does not appear directly behind the gothic facade, but rather some meters above it. This means that there is no detraction from the original facade (Figure 1). Kolumba Art Museum Figure 1 Markus Bachmann (Architectural News) 2007. The Therme Vals, Switzerland has a completely different countenance altogether. Zumthor appears to be a master at replacing older structures with refreshing new ones. The spa reopened in 1996 after it was reconstructed by Zumthor from the original 1960’s building (McLaughlin, 2006). Zumthor created a modern bathing complex out of 60 000 local quartzite slabs. The buildings itself appears to be truly new age and almost alien-like, with granite dotted around geometric and glass sliding doors. In a sense, Zumthor has attempted to internalise the mountain backdrop of the exterior of the building, by incorporating the natural light available through frosted and clarified glass (Baus, 2007: 9). Holes in the sky-lights of the slabs allow natural light into the rooms where the baths are situated. The floor plan reveals lights situated under the water in the baths that glow a magical blue in the evening and is a perfect place to reflect upon ones self (Baus, 2007: 14). This is of course, the point of a spa, that one is assisted in self exploration. The domes appear to resemble eyes placed upon a shield from which the light is radiated. The purpose of this architecture is therefore not only to accommodate and enhance well being, but also to accommodate the natural environment (Baus, 2007: 5). The building itself resembles the gentle ebb and flow of the stream that feeds the spa as well as the Alpine mountains that surround it. The interior glass is frosted with yin/yang shaped apertures that allow the light into the building as seen in figure two. One is quickly able to see how the light is utilised to produce an ethereal and magical area of meditation which is particularly important to the person who is attempting to find emotional help. It is not a palatial and sentimental piece as is seen in the art museum, but then the personality of the people visiting it is not likely to be the same either. Figure 2 Interior Vals Spa – www. flickr. com/photos/amirkorour/269995495/ Remove frame The loss of senses is a contributing factor to emotional disruption and the allowance of this building to connect with the beautiful environment facilitates the reconnection of the person with the senses whether they be beauty, love, peace or euphoria. Sensory deprivation is something we have come to tolerate as humans due in part to our fast paced lifestyles and our intense need for social airs and graces. In a space such as the Vals Spa, we are able to shed these nuances of life and expect to be move back towards what Zumthor had previously explained was a sensual connection with the environment. In an interview with Zumthor available online the Termae of Stone is explained by the man himself. Zumthor states that he wanted the visitors to be able to connect with the environment and to be able to find themselves within the architecture (Zumthor, 2007). Zumthor also wanted the architecture to be a part of the healing process rather than an abstract work of art on its own. For this reason it must facilitate the human experience rather than detract from it (Zumthor, 2007). The meaning behind the architecture is that is becomes almost a mythical and ritualistic appearance of cleansing in a very spiritual manner. The spiritual is inherent in the building by virtue of it meaningful change and by symbolism. Zumthor uses the ritual of removing ones clothing as a part of this stripping of extraneous material to reveal the purity of self and of the environment, essentially becoming one with it (Zumthor, 2007). Stone and skin are two of these important factors as well as the senses being able to experience different temperatures of the water and textural changes in the light and building material. Coupled with this is an acoustic effect that tantalises all the senses: touch, sound, sight and taste. There is a clear parallel between the building and its meaning which is the essence of phenomenology. This was also attempted by Frank Lloyd Wright many years before at Falling Waters. Zumthor states too that on a formal level everything is simple and un-intrusive, an important aspect of the purpose of a healing spa. Part water and part stone, the functionality of the material is elemental to the human body which is mainly water itself (Zumthor, 2007). There is a juxtaposition between the mobility of water and the solidity of stone similar to the opposites visible in the art museum which old and new are encapsulated together. Zumthor clearly also enjoys the opposing of various opposite sets as well as the sensuality that theses opposites grant the viewer. For most people healing entails the need for the senses to be reawakened and for experience to be reinvented. In a sense, we stop experiencing the world around us when we run out of time or are clinging to the need to survive rather than seeking time for the self and its needs. The idea of a spa is not only the range of treatments that it gives the person, but also a healing form within where the person is able to completely relax. The reflection of light against the monochromatic pool floors is the same example used in the Art Museum at Kolumba where the light allowed into the building illuminates the various pieces differently all the time. Only natural light can do this, not artificial. For Zumthor, thinking is also important to the individual, because thinking is what makes us different from one another. In the same way as we do not all think in the same way, light reflections are never the same at any given time. The result is purely interpretive and hermeneutic. The effect is as much psychological as it is physiological and the spa is as much naturalistic as it is modern which is largely thanks to the quartzite slabs Zumthor has used. Zumthor is quick to explain it is his own idea of the architecture that he wishes to convey and that he takes the liberty of interpreting the piece the way he sees it (Zumthor, 2007). The idea of the piece is always accompanied by a powerful image and the visualisation of the experience (Zumthor, 2007). For Zumthor it is never an abstract idea, it is very clear. The first images that Zumthor has upon undertaking an architectural piece are naive and child-like and gradually mature into something realistic (Zumthor, 2007). The process of building never loses the initial image even though it is built upon and matured. For him it is a self defining form of architecture and not an abstract, detached one (Zumthor, 2007). Interestingly this is opposite to the previously mentioned modernist architect Antonin Gaudi whose architecture was outrageously abstract and indulgent. Zumthor has clearly focussed on communication, opening the ‘mouth’ of the architecture to allow his image to proceed. Communication is key to the hermeneutic experience, predominantly because communication is the way we define ourselves and others. It is the way we are able to relate to one another and it the only observable practice there is to humanity. Zumthor is therefore also humanistic in his approach to art and architecture. Jacky Bowring describes how as Westerners we have become detached from our senses and uses the example of Anthony Giddens that globalisation, westernisation and modernisation are intertwined. This means that the global village is slowly but surely become a Western one where sensory deprivation causes the volcanic outburst of deviant behaviour (Bowring, 2005: 81). But Western culture is also dominated by the visual meaning that what is pleasing to the eye is considered pleasing to the soul. However, other cultures such as the Indian and the Oriental employ the use of all the senses and produce an holistic effect (Bowring, 2005: 81). For this purpose, Zumthor cleverly escapes the Westernized jail in which Western society had holed itself and employs the use of other sense that essentially make us humans rather than just non-rational animals (Bowring, 2005: 81). Bowring believes that our optical and visual culture has made us deprived of other senses, which is partially true. She states: â€Å"A counter to the one-eyed focus of ocularcentrism is the recognition of senses of place that is found in the philosophy of phenomenology. †(Bowring, 2005: 82). As a result of this deprivation we have become dislocated and not a whole and functional body, hence the need for multi-sensory architecture and connectivity with our environment (Bowring, 2005: 82). For Bowring the problem is that the Western obsession with appearance has caused landscape artists to produce masses of gardens and landscapes that are ‘pretty’ or ‘stunning’ but have no other sensory satisfactions (Bowring, 2005: 83). Sturich looks at the image as a poetic one, as a hermeneutic experience by which we create images that invoke certain feelings and for Zumthor the poetry is an ‘unexpected truth’ (Sturich, 2003: 4). The poetic strengthens our relationship between the world or ourselves, making us more able to experience that world for what it really is – a culmination of all senses and not merely a material setting (Sturich, 2003: 4). Memory is another aspect of the poetic that Zumthor uses as the senses are memory precursors. The senses and the poetic becomes narratives by which we build our current worlds, beliefs and experiences (Sturich, 2003: 6). For this reason, we associate things we do not like with things that have bad memories or experiences. We may not like thatched houses because one caught fire once as a child or we may enjoy the Palace of Versailles because of a sweet cake we indulged in when visiting it. The association of what we enjoy and do not enjoy is based on our experience of it. Zumthor’s idea of what a kitchen should be is based on his memory of his aunt’s house when he was a child, as evidently he has good memories of it (Sturich, 2003: 7). Poetry relates these memories through words, architects relate these memories through their works. Sturich explains that we use buildings as repositories for poetic images that increase our awareness of the world around us (Sturich, 2003: 10). So we have the memory and the poetic image as two aspects of the hermeneutic or phenomenological that facilitate creative and healing properties of the human being and the human mind. Davidovici explains yet another interesting aspect to the phenomenology of Zumthor and that is in the culture of modern Europe. Critically speaking, Zumthor did away with the cultural need for ‘art for art’s sake’ and replaced it with a moral concern for the environment (Davodovici, date unknown: 1). Herzog and de Meuron were two of Zumthor’s counterparts, but there idea of architecture was as an artistic vehicle with a motion towards emotive charging of all materials used in a single building (Davidovici, date unknown: 1). The morphology of the building therefore entertained the idea that humanistic approaches were too formal and there was thus a need for impersonal and neutral surroundings to be banished. Zumthor, in his Kolumba Art Museum gave way to the fact that our memories are embedded in our pasts and that patriotism is a necessary part of national spirit. We see that the use of two to three worlds entwined with the modern gives exactly the right amount of emotive past and sensory present. Zumthor was concerned with creating something that we could â€Å"know, understand and feel. †(Davidovici, date unknown: 4). Again, for Zumthor the idea of building and of dwelling is the same as Heidegger’s that dwelling is the personal and identifiable space where people reside as human beings (Sturich, 2003: 1). The importance of this is that our personal space is a reflection of the self in the same way that it is also impersonal in its creation. It is the way in which we adorn our personal space that allows the true self to become self-evident. The building itself is built by someone else and very rarely is indicative of the self, but in these cases, sometimes this works as a slate upon which one can paint their own image. We see without doubt that Zumthor has created in the Vals Thermal Spa, a place where the individual is able to connect with the self because the surroundings are impersonal. However, it is very clearly natural and down to earth. Compare this for instance to the Hilton Hotel’s dotted around the Unites States that are lavish but also impersonal but offer no real opportunity to connect with the personal. The same sort of comparison can be made between the Chartres Cathedral and the Kolumba Art Museum where both themes are the religious. In the Chartres Cathedral the purest place of the architecture as a product is itself. The Kolumba, by contrast is that it should show the character of the works contained within it rather than the building itself. Zumthor also shows a very important character reference too in that the main source of his inspiration was not to show himself as being a great architect, but to preserve the past. The gothic and Romanesque arches that Zumthor preserves are beautifully melded into the modern cement walls of Zumthor’s own interpretation. The interior is also clearly geared towards preserving the art within it rather than being a work of art in itself. The need to preserve the past is also related to the importance of memory and the personal relationship both a nation and an individual has. The Vals Thermal Spa on the other hand is created in an impersonal and natural way so as not to detract from the experience that one is supposed to have. Here begins the phenomenological application: the experience, the interpretation and the analysis. The first thing one is goaded into at the spa is to experience the multi-sensory application. You are required to feel the water, see the reflection, hear the sounds of the water and also taste it. This is important to the personal experience, as every one has different ones. Also important is the fact that within the water the quartzite is locally mined and is not an anachronism for the person viewing it. The purpose is to reawaken emotion and experience of the world around and you as well as be able to reconnect with the self. We see that phenomenology is concerned with action, reaction and interaction, which is also personally experienced rather than imposed upon the individual. The theory of Roland Barthes was also pertinent to the understanding that what we see visually is not always the realistic, it is often merely a representation. What the other senses do is to make that sight into a tangible reality. One can see a picture of a something and it excites the visual sense but when we are able to feel it, smell and taste it, it becomes a tangible reality. The baths of Thermal Spa able to be felt, seen, and heard and are therefore real things. Salvador Dali also attempted to make the representational into a reality, he tried to convert the two dimensional into the three dimensional causing the person to optically believe they are able to touch and fell the article or the object. One is able to analyse the feelings one has only from the personal standpoint and never from the third person, hence the personal nature of narratives and novels where the writer places themselves in the position of the character in order to create the person they wish to describe. This means that the poetic narrative is also an inversion in a sense, of the phenomenological even though it is not truly the personal experience: the personal experience being of the first person rather than an interpretation of the first person by the third person. The importance of the relationship between the personal and the interpersonal is evident again in the fact that although we cannot prove how we feel or how others feel, we are at least able to empathise with what we see and feel around us. Zumthor is clearly wanting us to reconnect with the surroundings, our sense and our selves. In conclusion Peter Zumthor has succeeded in creating an architectural world where there is a good relationship between the past and the present; the natural and the man-made; and the self and the world. It is not merely based on the visual but also on all the senses. He relates to the human need to embrace the sensual rather than living the life of prescribed society. While science offers us a very distinct set of truths about the world around us, such as that the earth is round and that the body needs water, what it does not do is tell us how we think or why we do what we do. In architecture such as Zumthor’s, the architect recognises that in human nature very little is formulaic and we are seldom able to predict human behaviour. Certainly this cerebral art is a departure from classical, also formulaic artistic pieces. The thinking architecture is one that is able to produce the self in the its architecture and is able to allow the person to reflect on the environment as well as themselves. The Art Museum is a place where the individual is able to reflect on the person’s national past while also allowing us to be able to see the changes over time in the art in question. The Thermal Spa allows the person to reflect on themselves as well as their surroundings, hereby facilitating healing.

Film by Bahz Luhrmann Essays

Film by Bahz Luhrmann Essays Film by Bahz Luhrmann Paper Film by Bahz Luhrmann Paper Essay Topic: Fear Of Flying Baz Luhrmann uses a number of techniques in mise en scene in the film, romeo and juliet to help the audience understand the story. The first scene brings us a news reporter placed within a television set. This suggests to us that this version of Romeo and Juliet will be more modern than most of Shakespeares Medieval plays. The reporter reads the prologue, which summarizes the entire situation this leads us to believe that everything has already happened and will be experienced in flashbacks. Afterwards, an extremely long shot of the city of Verona appears, first of all focusing on a statue of Christ in a defeated and downtrodden stance, telling us that perhaps religion has been betrayed or forgotten, and that maybe difference in religious beliefs is at the heart of the dispute. The camera zooms in and out of different sections of the shot, making it hard for ones eyes to settle on one particular aspect of it. Two identical towers are featured in the middle of the city, one belonging to the Montagues, the other Capulets. The towers indicate that the two families are both equal in status. We see various advertisements on other large buildings, belonging to either of the two families, and so this gives us an idea that in their feud, they are monopolizing and dividing the city. Another long shot of the city from a helicopters point of view shows us the immense size of the city, and so the extent of the impact that the ancient grudge is wreaking upon it. : Freeze-frames introduce the main characters soap-opera style in the opening sequence, which show us whos going to be important in the story. Luhrmann has decided that this is a more effective way of introducing the characters rather than gradually through the dialogue, as it will take the strain from the audience for trying to learn the characters names and roles from the Shakespearean language used in the script. The characters are dressed wealthily which also gives a clue towards their high status. A frantic orchestral melody is used as background music to help create a tense atmosphere for the audience, and a powerful, booming voice summarizes again the situation of Romeo and Juliet. This focuses on the tragic side of this love story, rather than the romantic. In the next scene, the tension is suddenly broken as we are shown a cheerful medium shot of the Montague boys. We know automatically who they are automatically from the visual clues that are left, for example, the Montague tattoo on the back of one of the characters heads, and the close-ups on the cars MON 005 number plate which states clearly who they are. A medium shot is used to display the Montagues brightly-coloured Hawaiian-style shirts, and their car which is also a cheery yellow. These colours reflect the Montagues playful, childish and fun-loving nature. During the scene, non-diegetic hip-hop music compliments their wild behaviour to justify their joyful attitude and their tendency to be loud and outgoing. Also, it is an unexpected contrast to their immense skyscraper that would lead us to believe that they may be high-classed businessmen rather than carefree youths. Now, the Montague boys arrive at a petrol station. We see the Capulets vehicle also pull in nearby, the engine revving which gives a sense of the Capulets violent nature. We hear a short guitar melody, which mimics the music in a lot of traditional Western films, and this gives us a feel for the familys sly and sinister nature. A close-up shot of a Capulets metal-heeled shoes, which also link to the Western genre, emerging from the car and extinguishing a cigarette further increases their sense of anonymity and potential danger. We see that the way the Capulets are dressed contrasts greatly with the Montagues attire instead of casual, brightly-coloured clothing, they are wearing classier, more formal garments, in darker colours such as blues and blacks with an abundance of religious references. This allows the two families to be easily visually distinguished from one another, and also indicates their differences which might be another reason for their conflict. It shows that they are more serious and ominous than the light-hearted Montagues. When the Montagues discover the Capulets presence, they begin to panic. A Capulet, Abra, intimidates them by flashing his metal teeth at them, which has the word SIN engraved on them, and hisses ferociously perhaps being compared to an animal like a snake, which is also sly and sinister. This shows us that he feels that hes a bad boy, and is shown as an extreme close-up to make it more intense. The Montagues begin to mock him afterwards, but Abra spots this in the side-mirror of his car and consequentially, is further enraged. The camera closes up on the petrol stations sign swinging in the breeze, which reads Add more fuel to your fire this is a metaphor which implies further provoking someone in a feud or bad situation and silence ensues, which suggests the calm before the storm, building a suspenseful atmosphere. It is also exactly what happens later on in the scene. Then Tybalt, a Capulet, returns to find the Montagues. He lights a cigarette, which shows his tendency towards being a daredevil and his fearlessness, disregarding the danger of igniting anything in a petrol station. He questions the Montagues, being mocking in his polite manner, and then raising his voice to shout. He and Benvolio then face each other, and reveal the butts of their guns, which have their family emblems inscribed on them. The emblems themselves show that again their families are both equal in status and so have similar weapons. Tybalt has two guns, which suggests his violent attitude, and also sport images of Christ. In the next scene, the tension erupts into a full-blown brawl, with Tybalt in particular showing off his moves, being more inclined to violence than the Montagues, and it also shows that he is initiating the fight. A low-key non-diegetic bass melody in this scene builds tension and suspense, a sense of dread and the feeling that something worse is brewing just under the surface of this heated situation. Luhrmann adds diegetic sounds such as Tybalts swift spinning motions making a whirlwind sound, which shows his skilful precision at movement, but at the same time sounds like a cats growl (Tybalt is introduced as the Prince of Cats in a freeze frame earlier in the scene). Finally, the bass background music surmounts to a crescendo, and the Montagues escape the Capulets, and we see Benvolio fleeing past a heavy traffic jam outside the petrol station as Tybalt shoots at him. It is a medium long shot of the street and shows that in their disagreements, the two families are causing chaos in the city and preventing people from living their everyday lives in this example blocking the roads for the publics fear of flying bullets. Tybalt drops his cigarette on the petrol-soaked ground in the station and thus it ignites and a tumult of fire erupts the connotations behind the sheet of flames suggests burning rage, and that this conflict will unfold into something more extreme later on.