Reading logs 2.9

Title: american sniper

Director: clint eastwood

Type: movie

In the movie american Sniper we follow the story of Chris kyle. Chris is an out there rodeo boy, after seeing the 911 disaster happen on TV he decides to join the american SEALS. After completing training he decides to join the sniper program becoming one of the best to pass through the training program. He is later deployed to Iraq where he is to watch over deployments of troops. He is sent home after his first deployment and he is not the same going back to his wife and kids, and only wants to go back to war. He goes back to Iraq another 4 times before realising he needs to come back to the reality of life. After returning from his last deployment he goes and helps injured veterans enjoy their lives but he is later shot by a veteran while trying to help him.

Iraq is a setting within the movie where we see a lot of dramatic and horrific stuff that has an effect on Chris throughout the movie that causes his mental state to change and make him into a different person. “I signed up to protect this country. I do not choose the wars.”. This setting in the movie is relative to realism as it shows the true side of war and what effect it can have on a country, people and the soldiers that fight within the country. An example of this is shown in the display of the country setting showing lots of wide shots of big areas of tightly packed rundown buildings and no sense of life. Another example of this is the mid shots that are used on the soldier as they walk through the empty buildings. In the back of the shots we can see signs of quick escape and a rush to leave their dwellings. The camera then pans away back to Chris where he is perched on top of a building watching over the soldiers for enemy snipers. We see him talking on the phone to his wife about how home life is and how he is looking forward to come home but when he comes home he is not the same The effect that war had is chris is shown with how every time he comes back to life at home he is never the same and is clearly not all there it’s like his head is still stuck in Iraq with how he is still has the connection with sound that happen around him such as a dog bark he thinks its a rabid dog and the sound of a lawn mower sets his training into action as he thinks its a threat. The realism of Iraq is it changes people emotionally leaving them scarred with emotions such as loss, pain and injury with how it is displayed in the movie as this was a real event that happened to many of the soldiers that had traumatic experiences. What i liked about the use of this setting is that it showed how much of an impact a place can have on you emotionally through events that happened causing many mental and physical scars. But also it gave me a sense of emotional connection to Iraq as it involved a lot of emotions that i could connect to with  loss and pain as I have experienced these emotions with the death of my dog how letting him go was hard as it is like for the soldiers losing a good friend and knowing that you will never see them again.  .     .

Chris Kyle is the main character in the movie. We watch him make decisions that have a mental toll on himself and end up adding up and coming to a point where he doesn’t know who he is. An example of this is when he comes home from his last deployment and has the pleasure of attending his son’s birthday. At the birthday the family dog is running around playing with the kids. Chris has a flash back to the rabid dog that tried to attack him. Chris then goes and attacks the dog pulling it off one of the kids. This scene uses lots of coles ups on Chris’s face to show his “Iraq” senses and memories coming back. mid shots were used during the flashback scene to show how he has changed from his experiences in Iraq such as  the rabid dog that tried to attack him. Chris as a character relates to the theme of realism when we see him crying and showing emotions when he calls his wife saying “i’m ready to come home now” he says this as he has reached his breaking point and now knows that he is so so broken that he cannot take the stress and emotions anymore that the war has forced upon him. He also shows another realism moment when he is showing empathy towards his fallen friend after he is shot in the face, Chris goes to the hospital back in the USA to visit him and we see him empathising with him how he says “did you tell her about the ring” this dialog is used to show how he can relate to his friend in hospital as they both have families and wonderful lifes to go back to and have a reason to fight. What i liked about Chris as a character is that he portrays what can happen to a person when put under so much stress to make the right decisions but he also shows how he overcame it and became a better person in the end.this relates to the wider world with how many people such as commanding officers in wars are under alot of pressure to make the right call as it can be seen as a mistake by some or the right thing to do. There is an example of this with officers and commander to retrieve the thousands of men at dunkirk beach in ww2 as it was hard to give up all of the land they had fought for in enemy territory but it was for a bigger goal of defending england as the battle of britain was still to come.

American sniper directed by Clint Eastwood is a movie that showed me how horrible it can be to go through emotional problems and how your mind can be stuck in a place even though you are not there. I would recommend this movie to anyone as it is great at showing the story of Chris and how his life was and what he experienced before his death.  

Title: Dunkirk

Director: Christopher Nolan

Type: movie

The movie Dunkirk is a story that follows many paths of the battle of Dunkirk. It shows many perspectives, such as from these 2 men, one french man and one english man who are trying their hardest to get off the beach as fast as possible without having to wait in the long lines. But there is also the perspective of a father, his son and a friend who are called upon by the way to go and help get men off the beaches of dunkirk. And lastly the perspective of a group of 3 fighter pilots who are sent over to help stop the dive bombing by the Germans.but in each different perspective we see a worst case scenario happen in each one.

Dunkirk is the setting we see throughout the whole movie, it’s the place where all of the main story unfolds it leaves a dying hope in all of the soldiers and a scare of how brutal war can really be but how it is never over even in the hardest times.”there won’t be any home if we allow slaughter across the Channel.” This setting relates to realism with how it shows the brutality of war with what people are willing to do for their country to “win” a war. But another aspect of realism is we see the emotions of troops being expressed with anger,hate and afraid we see this on their faces from the use of close ups and long shots of singular and groups of soldier this gives the whole seen a more realistic feeling as it gives each soldier there a way to show to us as the viewer what they are thinking as they wait on the beach as the the everlasting fear of death looms above them all. These shots show they feel as though they are not needed or their life means nothing to the higher power and all the effort they are putting in has been for nothing “The battle is here! What the hell they’re saving them for?”. The way they pan over the dunkirk beach at the start of the movie with the birds eye view showing all of the lines of the soldier factually over 400,000 men waiting for their turn to get off the beach and go home we see mid shots of lines of soldiers and we see there emotions plastered on their faces showing a sturn blank face but what hides inside is not shown on their faces but throughout the movie with how they act when they are attacked. An example of this is the man a boat of civilians found sitting atop a half sunken ship he is pulled aboard onto the civilians boat and at first he gives not a single sign of emotion until the idea of going over to dunkirk to save more soldier causes him to go into a full on emotion driven argument driven by his horrible experiences from Dunkirk. The realism of Dunkirk is that it leaves a long lasting effect on those who experienced the horrors of the slaughter that they experienced and it shows what lengths some people will go to win a war to prove they are the superior country just to leave pain to families who lost family members in the war. But this whole display of the movie with the many deaths and the impact of death relates to ANZAC day as it is a day to remember people who have fallen in war and have sacrificed so much for us and to think they would have been thinking of us in the modern day thinking of the future they want to give us by giving up there safety to make a change.  . 

In the movie we see a man who was rescued by the civilian boat on their way to Dunkirk to rescue more troops. We are never given a name to this character but he does have an impact on the story as he is the first display of the damages of war on a person. When the soldier is pulled onto the boat he tucks into the corner at the rear of the boat and is given a blanket he is offered tea but all he does is lash out and smack the cup out of George’s hand (one of the civilians on the boat). Later when george and his mate peter are talking mr dawson (peters father) they mention dunkirk this causes the soldier to react in a violent way he tries to force mr dawson to turn round the boat and yelling at him about he can’t go back there he then shoves mr dawson and george tries to stop him but the soldier pushes george down below deck. George hits his head on a pipe and this causes him to bleed out from his head and he is now blind, the soldier sees what he has done to George and we see a mid shot on his upper body and a shocked emotion on his face realizing he has just injured the person who helped save him. When Peter comes back above deck the soldier asks if he is okay, Peter just says “he’s fine” as he did not want to set him off again with another emotion driven fit. This relates to realism with how the effects of a place can change people and it can really impact their life as this relates to the soldier as he had a bad string of experiences that lead to him lashing out and hurting others to try and save himself from being exposed to those same experiences. This also relates to the idea that all men have a limit to what they can be exposed to in war as the things they have seen they live through over and over again in their everyday lives as this robs them of their peace and feelings of safety. What I liked about the soldier as a character is that he showed the physical effects that are caused by emotions as he displayed what traumatic experiences can do to a man but also he shows us what many stories of men from war dont tell is how broken it can leave them .   ,

Dunkirk directed by Christopher Nolan is a movie that shows all the different aspects and perspectives of the dunkirk evacuation. It showed me how difficult it can be to live the horrible and traumatic experiences men can encounter in war. I would recommend this movie to people who want a look into the story of the dunkirk evacuation. 

title: 19 minutes

author: jodi picoult

The novel 19 minutes shows different perspectives of a high school shooting and the ways the event affects people. The story centres around Josie Cormier and Peter Houston who have known each other since they were small children but they have grown distant from each other as their desires for social ranking have changed. A long line of extensive bullying causes Peter to break and kill many of his bullies but not all of them. The book shows how people can resent change but some are willing to accept it.

Peter as a character is the stereotypical kid who gets bullied. He is different and doesn’t fit in because there is no one who understands how he thinks. Realism is shown through the scene when Peter is a young child and he is still at preschool. From the first day on the bus he is picked on because he keeps to himself and doesn’t stand up to the bullies that torment him. They throw his lunchbox out of the window because he is seen as an easy target and has a baby’s lunchbox. The text says “A boy with ape arms and a backward baseball cap grabbed the lunch box out of Peter’s grasp. ‘Hey, freak,’ he said, ‘you want to see Superman fly?’ Before Peter understood what the older boy was doing, he opened a window and hurled Peter’s lunch box out of it.” This shows how harsh children can be as they have no sense of right or wrong but it also establishes how children establish themselves in a social ranking at such a young age so they can find out who they are like and where they stand. children like peter never establish a standing on this ranking and are thrown to the side and find trouble with finding friends. Peter relates to realism as he has no idea what to do when he is bullied he just lets it happen and does nothing but he is very much like many people who have been bullied. they do nothing and just let it happen as they know that no matter how much they complain and try to solve the issues they will continue to be bullied as they will continue to be seen as weak and be a prime target for bullies. I have seen this as a child throughout my school life when kids aren’t seen as “cool” and others view them as weaker so they use them as a joke to make them feel better about themselves. I find it difficult to give an example from my own life as I have forced myself to forget all of the thoughts that involved bullying. they had an effect as they were reminders on how people saw me. I believe that the author, Jodi Picoult, used Peter as a stereotype of what everyone sees a highschool shooter’s life to be. This stereotype is the unpopular and out cast child who is seen as weak and gets bullied. Even though bullying is real, not all highschool shooters have been bullied. In the article “Think school shooters are usually bullied and unpopular? You’re wrong.” Dave Cullen, author of Columbine, the definitive book on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, says “those stereotypes were never true to begin with” . he says “There’s also “no compelling evidence,” Cullen explained, that the shooters were bullied more than anyone else or that bullying drove them to the shootings. “We have their journals and videos,” Cullen said, adding that they “never mention bullying” directed at the shooters.” This shows that jodi picoult assumed that we as the reader fall into the belief that peter was the stereotypical but this is not really realism.

The cafeteria is a setting in the novel that shows the most significance to the story. It is where many conflicts happen such as Peter expressing his love for Josie and getting “pantsed” by Matt Rouston and being humiliated. It is also where Peter is constantly bullied but also is the place where Peter stopped and ate a bowl of cereal during his shooting. This area of the story shows realism because Peter gets humiliated in this place and it is a place that he hates the thought of. He then goes back during the shooting and eats a bowl of cereal as a disrespectful taunt to the place where he is bullied the most. But during this taunt there were people around him calling out for help or lying dead on the floor. This reminds me of the movie forest gump as in that movie there was a scene where jenna goes back to her childhood house where she was abused by her father and throws stones at the windows whilst swearing at the place. This displays another form of a taunt toward her past and dead father as she is destroying the place she grew up. Forest later bulldozes the house to finalize the taunt jennie had wanted to do all along. Peter has done the same thing with eating the cereal in his place of taumenters. Peter did this as it was like a taunt back to the place where he was tormented and he made the people around him suffer like he did so they could know how he felt . 

The novel 19 minutes by jodi picolt is a novel that shows how one event has such a domino effect on people. It shows me how much of an effect a single event can have on a community even though a few people may have been directly affected. Peter was shown throughout the novel as what we often believe a shooter’s life to be like but this is not always the case in real life. I would recommend this novel to anyone as it is filled with lots of suspense and drama.

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Cov.shtml

Title: covenant 

Autor:crystal arbogast

The short story “Covenant” by Crystal Arbogast shows the point of view from 2 american soldiers Eddie and Vince on the D’Day landings. Vince made a promise to Eddie’s mother that he would keep him safe no matter what happens however Eddie gets shot and Vince sends him to safety so he could keep his promise. The story focuses on the section of the beach called omaha which is known for being the most dangerous part of the beach with its tall cliffs and deadly reinforcements. I believe that the theme of this story is that war is never forgiving as the story shows how though the promise is made and kept, war will take something from you in return.

The section of beach known as omaha is the setting of the story in the D-day landings. many descriptions were used to bring this setting to life for me as the reader. This is a place in the story where many things happen such as vince dying. The things around the men during the invasion and where all of the horrors are portrayed. This place shows realism through “explosion which sent more spray into the craft. The roar of airplanes filled the sky. As they passed overhead, the black and white ‘invasion’ stripes painted on their lower bodies could be seen. ” this is a section of the story that brings the setting to life in my head as I can visualize the setting with the uses of the descriptions that put me there in the story as if I was one of the soldiers. It makes me feel the water spray and feel the deep roar of the planes flying overhead. I can imagine seeing the planes fly overhead with the feeling of help now easing my mind. “Plunging into the icy surf, the Marines gasped as the cold wetness penetrated their clothing. The dark, green depths caused many to flounder, already weighted down with excess gear. This, combined with the mortar fire aimed at them from the top of the cliffs, caused many to believe they had seen their last day.” This small paragraph really shows how horrible the setting of the story is. This brings back a memory of surfing in the cold waters of the catlins as the water described in the story is exactly how I remember the water when surfing. As the water was to icey cold it made me feel almost out of breath and weak as it chilled me to my core. I can wonder how the soldiers felt as the feeling of the icey cold water pushes the air out of you causing you to feel weak and helpless or as the story says “flounder”. This also shows me how the feeling and the mindset of the soldiers as they say “many to believe they had seen their last day.” This highlights the emotional impact this place had on every soldier. This makes me wonder how many of these innocent young men must have felt after surviving this part of the war how much of a mental breaking this caused to them watching friends and loved ones fall into death’s grip. “ Looking out at the edge of the beach, he saw the back of a familiar figure. With soldiers scrambling back and forth, Eddie found that he could not take his eyes from the lone form. Slowly, the man turned, and faced Eddie’s questioning stare. The left side of his face had been blown away with shrapnel. His arm hung limply at his side. Even with half of his body badly torn, Eddie knew that it was Vince. Both men looked at each other. Eddie could not speak or move. He could only gaze at the face of his friend. Finally, Vince turned, and disappeared into the smoke and chaos of battle.”  this is very real for me as i could never imagine how horrifying this would be to see your best friend in such a state as Vince was. The use of this was to shock us as the reader and show us a horrible picture. The description from this paints a man who is almost dead but stuck between life and death with a mangled left side. It shows not clothes or skin but more of what lies beneath. This reminds me of the time that I watched “1917”, the scene where the 2 boys who are taking the message to the new front line. They come to the exit point of the trench and see a group of men blown to pieces by a mortar shell.This makes me think what life would have been for Eddie after watching Vince like that as it would haunt him forever knowing that he lived and vinced died for him. The purpose of using this haunting image of vince was used to show how much of a gruesome place the war ground is with the dangers of a looming death over your head and every day you wake up not knowing your fate. This just shows how much of a dangerous place war is and how much fear rules over all who dare to be a part of it.

Vince is a character in the story. We follow Vince and his friend Eddie as they land on the beaches of Normandy on D-day. Vince is a person who is very morally driven to do the right thing such as keep a promise to Eddie’s mother about making sure he comes back alive. The example of this is when Eddie is shot when they are forced into the water by mortar and gun fire. Eddie is shot while he is trying to swim to land, both Eddie and Vince head to shore, they both make it to shore and hide behind a czech hedgehog where Vince takes Eddie’s gear and tells him to crawl to the cliff. Eddie makes it to the cliff and vince is nowhere to be seen. After a small time Eddie sees Vince still alive but mangled by shrapnel, bullets and barely held together by his own skin. This is real for me as though Vince had died for Eddie he didn’t not stray from the promise and made sure Eddie was safe “It had been a look of satisfaction at knowing that his friend was safe, and that he had kept his promise to the one he loved. It had also been a final farewell.”. The theme of promises brings back a memory of the time that i was in the hospital when i was a kid. The thought of surgery and not waking up scared me to death but my parents made a promise that i would be okay and they would make sure i was okay. This reminds me of the movie saving “Private Ryan” where this lady has lost all of her sons but her youngest has yet to die and is stuck in a nazi ocupided town the officer makes a promise to her that she would get her son back. This group is sent out to save him and bring him home. When the group finds Ryan they bring him back, some lives are lost but the promise is kept even though many of the men thought it was a waste of  time. The group keeps the promise made by the officer. This relates to the wider world as it shows how strong a promise is as once it is kept or completed it makes you feel like you have done the best thing in your life and it gives you a rush no one else can give you as it is the feeling of giving.

The short story “Covenant” by Crystal Arbogast is a short story that shows how war is non forgiving and how promises are strong and are worth keeping. It showed me how much the men and women of the great wars both fought hard and may have lost loved ones and had to deal with very hard things so that I could live in a free world that I live in today. I would highly recommend this short story to everyone as it tells a sad and meaningful story that is worth reading about as it highlights the horrors of war. It also tells how dangerous each day was for all the men that fought in the war.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est

Title: Dulce et decorum est

Poet: Wilfrod owen 

The poem “Dulce et decorum est” by Wilfrod owen is a poem that is told from the perspective of a WW1 soldier that is walking back from the front lines back to the main camp. When walking back the poet describes the walk but he is interrupted by a mustard gas shell. The shell explodes and the poet describes the site of watching a man drown from gas and see the sight as there was nothing they could do. This poem highlights the part of war no one is told and shows us how bad war really is.

The man telling this poem is a character that has no name but all the story is from his perspective and he tells us his short experience of a horrible WW1. In the poem the narrator describes to us the horror of mustard gas and its effect on the people who are unlucky enough to breath such poison in. “But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.”. This is real to me as the description of this vile weapon just hearing about it makes me cringe in disgust as the way these stalemate wars were one is who could kill the most people first. The scene the man is describing is brought to life by the uses of sight as the description of the gas of what it looks like “Dim through the misty panes and thick green light”. This helps show what the visual image of the gas looks like from within it with an imaginable green toxic colour, the colour reminds me of toxicity with how dangerous it is. This reminds me of some of the documentaries I’ve seen, even though some may have been reenacted they seemed very real with how dangerous it is. as in the documentaries you see the colour or gas and the expression on the men’s faces just change from terrified to i’m going to die . I could never imagine how awful it would be to know each passing day in the trenches of hell you would never know when or where the next attack would strike and if you would be there. This relates to the real world as the many men that may have survived mustard gas have been scarred for life by the burns it leaves on your skin. It also shows the terror that the memories possess in their heads playing over and over throughout their whole life.“In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” This relates back to the story as even though the men may have been walking back from the trenches the whereabouts of the attacks are never known. As all the men were surprised as they weren’t ready for the attack and had to warn each other about it. 

The setting of this poem is not told but can be thought of as the lines in Europe that went on over kilometers of trenches and mud in the country side and near towns. In the poem the men are walking home from the front lines of the battle as it seems as though the experiences stated can relate to the ones of the front lines. “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of gas-shells dropping softly behind.” The description of this is very intriguing as the reality of this is very much true as many men on the front lines who came back may have not returned with some of their belongings either being mental or physical. This means that they have lost some over their mental sanity or lost parts of themselves such as limbs or maybe personal belongings . This reminds of the movie “American Sniper” as Chris Kyle the main character has an obsession with war and this leads to him going back again and again with each time he loses some of his mental strength. This is the case as every man slept close to each other in cold, wet and plagued filled trenches. But this also is real as a lot of men in WW1 had come back with hearing issues from all of the explosions that were never stopping. This relates to real life as all of the men who fought in the horrid trenches of WW1 suffered many health and mental problems after returning home, some died from these but others lived on with these problems huating them like ghosts. This relates back to the story as after all these men went through their lives will never be the same after suffering in the trenches and watching people around them die are all stained into their brains.

 The poem “Dulce et decorum est” by Wilfrod Owen is a poem that highlights the horrors of war and that there is very little honor but mostly death and sadness. “The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.” or it is honorable to die for one’s country. This poem has taught me that not all of the things that happened in wars are courageous or honorable but there is a dark shadow that looms over that we don’t see which is the death and effect war has on men.This is a great poem that everyone should read as a reminder of the things lots of men had to go through for us to live how we do today.

Title: Empire Of The Sun

Author: J. G. Ballard

The novel “Empire Of The Sun” written by J. G. Ballard follows the story of a young british boy named James who has lost all of his high life privileges when the japanese invade china. James is separated from his parents and is captured shortly after he is taken to a confinement camp where he tries to bring back his former life. While doing this James manages to lift the spirits of the people around him.

In the novel we follow the story of the main character James who lives in shanghai during the sino-japanese war. James is always high hoped and willing to give all to help others around him. In the novel James and the fellow captives are on their way to a confinement camp but stop at a railway station, all of James’ fellow captives are in desperate need of water. James is called over by one of the guards who hands hima a half filled coke bottle filled with water, James thinks then sculls the bottle as the captives watch in aw and anger. But James won the game and the bottle was filled to the brim then given back to James who took it back to everyone else. “The officer handed him the bottle expecting him to take it back to his friends… he lifted it to his lips and drank it… the officers laughed and took the bottle from jim and filled it up to the brim… he took the bottle back to his friends” this quote shows how jim is willing to risk a lot to gain a little as he took the risk of losing the trust of his friends to gain some water that could keep them alive. This reminds me of the time one of my teammates nearly lost us the game by trying to intercept the ball so he could get arun away trip. He missed the first one which made us all mad, but later in the game we needed one tri to win and he goes for the intercept right on our tri line and gets it to win the game. This is real to me as it shows how much Jim will put himself in front of others to make sure they are better before he is. This shows how sometimes risks can pay off in a good way but it is not something to play with as they can turn back on you and you may lose. What i learned from this is that taking a risk can pay off for you but don’t push your luck or it can come back and bite you.

The abandoned airfield is a place that is seen early on in the novel; it is the place where Jamie experiences his first encounter with a real aircraft even though it was only barely a cockpit. In the novel Jamie is at a friend’s parents party, Jamie sneaks away out the back into the field where the old japanese airfield still stands. Jamie finds a downed japanese fighter with no wings tail but only a cockpit left that has been overgrown. Jamie explores the rest of the place looking at all of the hangers and abandoned equipment around in wonder. 

“Jim could see the cylinders of the engine that had once pulled this aircraft and its pilot into the skies…. Jim had been trying to find a way to get this back to his home for months now” this one little experience that Jim had is very real to me as it shows much of a lasting impression some things can have on someone. For Jim this was his excitement of finally being able to sit in a proper fighter plane, but what others may see is a stain that has been left by past times of war. I have seen many things like this such as the gun emplacements up in wellington that were put in place incase of a pacifc war that involved New Zealand. The emplacements are now just concrete holes and walls with no guns; they serve a reminder to what could have been with their drerie sense and old walls. they may have never fired a shot or even moved but they stand strong today as they are a reminder of what could have been if they never went as well as planned. But in other countries this is different there are such things like this around that have got dark pasts and are reminders of a horrific day. This relates to the world with how things left behind by war may be great and honorable places in the eyes of some but to others may show a different story. This shows how the gun emplacements are similar to the air strip that lays dormant as they both serve reminders of the past with their history.

The novel “Empire Of The Sun” written by J. G. Ballard is a novel about a young boy who keeps his hopes up even though he has lost everything that he loves. The story shows how risking it all can pay off and it also shows how war has good and bad stains on the land it fights on. I would recommend this book to anyone who was to follow a story with ever changing situations that are never expected.