Knowledge at work- July 7th'09
Jean de Florette is a French film based on the book. It has a simple plot of a greedy uncle (Papet) and nephew (Ugolin) in their own hopes and dreams of selling the flower ‘Carnation’ destroying someone else’s life. The plot is really simple yet your emotion is really played with in the movie. Jean de Florette, who ends up inheriting a property which Papet and Ugolin were eyeing and even committed murder for, moves in with his family. The knowledge issue dealt with here is basically the war between emotion and reason. Here emotion wins. He is of a jovial nature and is very happy to be there. He has wonderful plans for the future but there is one problem, there is no known water source close to him. The only one he knows is really far and no rain falls on his land. He is desperate for water and in the end dies leaving his child and wife alone with only memories of how happy life was when Jean was alive. Papet and Ugolin pretend to be very sad at the happenings but they knew all the while about a spring running in the land. In fact they were the ones who sealed the spring so as limit the water for Jean and his family and thus forcing him to sell the property.
The film in short highlights the evil in man and shows to what extent people can fall for money. Ugolin throughout the film is very friendly to the trusting Jean but he only has a motive behind that friendship. Moving this to a larger picture this movie becomes a perfect example of how reason ends up being blocked when emotion takes over. For Ugolin and Papet their ambition and greed clouded their reason. These acted as stronger emotions and dominated over the emotion of compassion. In the real world we see this happening all the time. People in order to get ahead are forever stepping over each other. When one watches the movie and sees Jean’s struggle, one feels it is over exaggerated but when I think about it, farmers are going through this all the time. In India itself farmers are committing suicide because of the lack of water and help given. Hence I really do not think that the writer of the film was missing out on points. Everything was covered from the way emotions ran, spiritual beliefs held and societal pressures that Jean had to face because of Papet. I do think that the writer is being a little too biased to Jean because yes it shows his brave determination but it also shows him irresponsible towards his family. Also the movie is supposed to show Ugolin very apologetic about what he has done which happens in the book yet the movie does not really show that which makes it a little unauthentic. We also have to keep in mind that it is a commercial movie hence a lot of scenes have been changed to suit the modern viewer and because of this the gist of that era (right after the first world war) has not been captured really well. Because of this we as a viewer do not get to see the side of Ugolin and Papet who have suffered under the war and thus just want money and a new life of leisure. Their side, even if one does not agree with, has been explained in the book but not in the movie where they are made to look like the really bad villains. Here I think the script writer of the movie has taken the stereotype that ‘all murderers are bad’ and used it to appeal to the modern viewer.
At the end of the day though whatever it may be, what Ugolin and Papet did by being driven by their greed was wrong. It is really important to understand this because on this earth we have brother killing their own brother, son killing his own father and friends turning against each other all for money. Right now money is being given so much importance that the planet we live on is being abused to a limit that she cannot take. We as humans need to understand that money is not everything and implement corrections in our daily lifestyle or every story in the world is going to end like Jean Florette’s!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Science- Has it become too extreme for mankind’s good?
Reflections-22nd July'09
Science as most people would agree has been a boon to mankind. The discoveries of the machines and newer technology have made life so full leisure that now the newer generation cannot imagine life without it. We all can lazily get up from bed not do anything but switch on a couple of switches and we get hot water for our bath, ready- made tea or coffee, breakfast from the microwave. Etc. We now only have to dial a few numbers and we are instantaneously connected to someone living in USA. Compare this to writing a letter, sending it and then waiting for the reply as it was done in the olden days; a cell phone( even with all its network problem at times is so convenient).
Yet now that we have everything why do we need to want even more? The earth is now cramped with the number of electronic gadgets, industries and other technological machines. Science has conquered the world and now it wants to capture the universe which can never be possible whatever the scientists do. Now the boundaries need to be set as in the scientists quest of a science world our natural resources, wildlife and trees are being destroyed. The more science grows, virtual terrorism has begun to grow too. For all practical purposes, international boundaries have been eliminated in cyber-space. The growth of information technology and almost universal access to computers have enabled hackers and would-be terrorists to attack information systems and critical infrastructures worldwide. In fact in the recent 26/11 attacks in the Mumbai, blackberry messengers were being used for communication. Science has reached to a point that it is destroying all that is beautiful and really needs to be stopped.
Science as most people would agree has been a boon to mankind. The discoveries of the machines and newer technology have made life so full leisure that now the newer generation cannot imagine life without it. We all can lazily get up from bed not do anything but switch on a couple of switches and we get hot water for our bath, ready- made tea or coffee, breakfast from the microwave. Etc. We now only have to dial a few numbers and we are instantaneously connected to someone living in USA. Compare this to writing a letter, sending it and then waiting for the reply as it was done in the olden days; a cell phone( even with all its network problem at times is so convenient).
Yet now that we have everything why do we need to want even more? The earth is now cramped with the number of electronic gadgets, industries and other technological machines. Science has conquered the world and now it wants to capture the universe which can never be possible whatever the scientists do. Now the boundaries need to be set as in the scientists quest of a science world our natural resources, wildlife and trees are being destroyed. The more science grows, virtual terrorism has begun to grow too. For all practical purposes, international boundaries have been eliminated in cyber-space. The growth of information technology and almost universal access to computers have enabled hackers and would-be terrorists to attack information systems and critical infrastructures worldwide. In fact in the recent 26/11 attacks in the Mumbai, blackberry messengers were being used for communication. Science has reached to a point that it is destroying all that is beautiful and really needs to be stopped.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
"The Reckoning."
"PAN-GERMAN: 'MONSTROUS, I CALL IT. WHY, IT'S FULLY A QUARTER OF WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE MADE THEM PAY, IF WE'D WON.'"
This cartoon is about the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, at the end of World War I published in the British Magazine Punch right after the terms were announced. The knowledge issue of this cartoon is the double standards of the German. Britain had been badly weakened by the First World War. Her economy was in a ruin and hence the main mood after the war was very anti- German. The British people wanted Germany to be punished for her sins. The cartoon since British has been obviously written in a British point of view and thus becomes a biased and misleading. The cartoon shows a German man holding a newspaper that has just announced the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The Pan- German looks shocked and outraged by face yet it is not the £6600 reparation fee the Germans have to pay. After the terms of the treaty were announced the instant reaction in Germany was one of anger. The terms of the treaty with the reparations also stated that Germany was to lose all its overseas colonies, a lot of its own land (making 13% of her population a part of another country who perhaps was anti- German), 16% of her coalfields and half of her iron and steel industry. Worst of all was the clause that blamed them for starting the entire war. The artist of the cartoon is one of the many who initially believed that Germany was crying more than she ought to have. As the statement below states, he believes that Germany would have made Britain and France pay 4 times the amount in case she had won the war thus signifying the cruel nature of the Germans. The German portrayed in the cartoon is also pretty fat showing that Germany had still enough money to feed her people. This however the artist has really taken this fact for granted. The truth as shown many photographs were that women, children and men were starving and living on the street. The aftermath of the treaty included Hyperinflation (1923) where money became worthless paper. The artist is more driven via his emotion of anger against the Germans that reason to see how harsh the treaty really was. Hence this knowledge issue is really important as it signifies how emotion can blind people from seeing clearly. The results of the treaty on Germany were terrible and its’ harshness ended up being a cause for the Second World War. It is important to understand this inorder to learn from the mistake that was committed and hence avoid future wars.
"PAN-GERMAN: 'MONSTROUS, I CALL IT. WHY, IT'S FULLY A QUARTER OF WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE MADE THEM PAY, IF WE'D WON.'"
This cartoon is about the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, at the end of World War I published in the British Magazine Punch right after the terms were announced. The knowledge issue of this cartoon is the double standards of the German. Britain had been badly weakened by the First World War. Her economy was in a ruin and hence the main mood after the war was very anti- German. The British people wanted Germany to be punished for her sins. The cartoon since British has been obviously written in a British point of view and thus becomes a biased and misleading. The cartoon shows a German man holding a newspaper that has just announced the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The Pan- German looks shocked and outraged by face yet it is not the £6600 reparation fee the Germans have to pay. After the terms of the treaty were announced the instant reaction in Germany was one of anger. The terms of the treaty with the reparations also stated that Germany was to lose all its overseas colonies, a lot of its own land (making 13% of her population a part of another country who perhaps was anti- German), 16% of her coalfields and half of her iron and steel industry. Worst of all was the clause that blamed them for starting the entire war. The artist of the cartoon is one of the many who initially believed that Germany was crying more than she ought to have. As the statement below states, he believes that Germany would have made Britain and France pay 4 times the amount in case she had won the war thus signifying the cruel nature of the Germans. The German portrayed in the cartoon is also pretty fat showing that Germany had still enough money to feed her people. This however the artist has really taken this fact for granted. The truth as shown many photographs were that women, children and men were starving and living on the street. The aftermath of the treaty included Hyperinflation (1923) where money became worthless paper. The artist is more driven via his emotion of anger against the Germans that reason to see how harsh the treaty really was. Hence this knowledge issue is really important as it signifies how emotion can blind people from seeing clearly. The results of the treaty on Germany were terrible and its’ harshness ended up being a cause for the Second World War. It is important to understand this inorder to learn from the mistake that was committed and hence avoid future wars.
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