英美影视欣赏

Class: 外贸英语101班 Name:徐阿伟 Number: 1007022024Literature and MovieWhen the visual culture has become an important keyword of the era, our world has also great changes than before. The way of people‟s reading has changed from the original text reading to the image reading. At the same time, people‟s love for literature also moves to a different kind of art----the movie. The movie not only can give people more direct visual effect, but also can bring people emotional resonance easily. Besides, the relationship between literature and movie is not only similar, but also influences each other. Literature can be wonderful expressed by the visual culture of the movie.As far as I am concerned, the famous novel can be well adapted into the wonderful movie. The adaption of the two classic films---Great Expectations and Oliver Twist is the testimony. The feeling of watching the movie is very different from that of reading the original books which I read years ago. About the two movies, I have some new ideas to express.The first theme is the ambition and self-improvement in Great Expectations.If I have known I would only be one of the countless college students ten years ago, I don‟t know what I would feel when our teacher told us, “You have great expectations.”at that time. It was interesting that we really had great ambitions when we heard it. Simplybecause we believed, we have “great expectations”. But what really great expectations are? Studying abroad? Getting a good job? Or making up a happy family? No one has a certain answer. These also the questions I had when I saw the movie Great Expectations.Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens, the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time. The novel was firstly published serially in England from December 1860 to August 1861; published in book form in England and America in 1861.The story begins in Kent and London, England in mid-nineteenth century.Pip is the main character of this movie and through the story of him we could get the theme of the movie. And I think ambition and self-improvement encourages much of Pip‟s development. At heart, Pip is an idealist; whenever he can conceive of something that is better than what he already has, he immediately desires to obtain the improvement. When he sees Satis House, he longs to be a wealthy gentleman; when he thinks of his moral shortcomings, he longs to be good; when he realizes that he cannot read, he longs to learn how. Pip‟s desire for self-improvement is the main source of the novel‟s title: because he believes in the possibility of advancement in life, he has “great expectations” about his future.Ambition and self-improvement take three forms in Great Expectations—moral, social, and educati onal; these motivate Pip‟s behavior throughout the novel. First, Pip desires moral self-improvement.He is extremely hard on himself when he acts immorally and powerful guilt spurs him to act better in the future. When he leaves for London, for instance, he torments himself about having behaved so wretchedly toward Joe and Biddy. Second, Pip desires social self-improvement. In love with Estella, he longs to become a member of her social class, and, encouraged by Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook, he entertains fantasies of becoming a gentleman. Significantly, Pip‟s life as a gentleman is no more satisfying—and certainly no more moral—than his previous life as a blacksmith‟s apprentice. Third, Pip desires educational improvement. This desire is deeply connected to his social ambition and longing to marry Estella: a full education is a requirement of being a gentleman. As long as he is an ignorant country boy, he has no hope of social advancement. Pip understands this fact as a child, when he learns to read at Mr. Wopsl e‟s aunt‟s school, and as a young man, when he takes lessons from Matthew Pocket. Ultimately, through the examples of Joe, Biddy, and Magwitch, Pip learns that social and educational improvement are irrelevant to one‟s real worth and that conscience and af fection are to be valued above erudition and social standing.After watching this movie, I found, maybe we don‟t have a certain answer for what is great expectations, but ambition and self-improvement are what could help us get great expectations.The second theme is the reflections on Great Expectations.The story drew on author‟s experiences of life and people and reflected the social reality of England and how people lived in that age. It was a story about Pip, the protagonist, who dreamed of having great expectations. He changed during the course of being a gentleman, however, he finally came to realize that there was more to life than wealth and status. There were series of surprises which accompanied the unfolding of the plot. The author had succeeded in stimulating the curiosity of readers.Pip was bought up by his mean and ill-tempered sister and her kind and honest blacksmith husband Joe. At that period, Pip took being a blacksmith as his highest goal to achieve. It was a hard common job but satisfactory for poor Pip. But the two things which he experienced later had changed his pursuit and fate. One was his meeting with an escaped convict, Abel Magwitch, who later secretly became Pip‟s benefactor and made him a gentleman. The other was his encounter with Estella, who was adopted by rich Miss Havisham for putting revenge on man. She was proud and looked down upon Pip for his low social status. However, Pip was in deep love with her and wanted to win her heart by better himself socially. Fortunately, he was received a fund of wealth but not knowing the source. He got the chance to be trained to be a gentleman. As Pip ascended in society, he became arrogant and self-centered. He neglected the importance of friendship and kindness.The title “Great Expectations”indicated that the character might have great expectation. But in fact the title had a tone of sarcastic. Pip didn‟t become a gentleman as he wished. When he knew that the money was from the convict, his dream was broken. At last, he regained his conscience and became a real gentleman on his own. The story had a happy ending that Pip and Estella had a spiritual reconciliation.As displayed by the character of Pip, something important in life was well illustrated. Although Pip lost his great expectation in the story, he gained another kind of “great expectation”. He had learnt a lot from his experiences. He came to understand what was really important in life. He recognized the unimportance of wealth or social status, which he formerly pursued at the price of everything. Actually those were dispensable. They could not guarantee happiness. What‟s worse, they could be corrupting to a person's morality and sometimes might even bring ruin. What should be treasured was friendship and love, which were worth much more. Those were things that could not be omitted in life. And the beauty inside our mind is more important than any other material things. He had learnt to value others and be gratitude. He had felt embarrassed by Joe and his simply ways. He took Joe for granted and did not show any signs of gratitude for his constant friendship. He ignored those who helped and cared him throughout. As a matter of fact, peoplelike Joe were those who he should be respected and treasured and from who he should learn.Furthermore, great expectation was in our hands. It was stupid to hope for a windfall of cash. We should be practical and face the reality. Whether we can succeed or not all depended on ourselves. The success accomplished by conquering all the difficulties and painstaking effort was real success. Great Expectations encompassed almost every aspect of the human condition. It was enlightening and thought-provoking.The third theme is the goodness of Oliver in Olive Twist. Oliver Twist, another one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens‟, is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in Britain in the 19th century. As we know, the author, Charles Dickens, himself was born in a poor family. It‟s only when he was in the twenties that he wrote this novel. By writing this book, he wanted to reveal the ugly masks of those cruel criminals and to expose the horror and violence hidden underneath the narrow and dirty streets in London.The movie tells the story about Oliver Twist, a little boy and an orphan. He was born in the workhouse, and his mother died soon after he was born. Later, he was sent to the asylum. Then he was like be thrown into a world full of poverty and crime. He suffered a lot of pain, such as hunger, thirst, beating and abuse. Finally, he met a good man, Mr. Brownlow, who helped him a lot. And then he had a better life.When I was watching, I kept asking myself, “How can such a little boy suffered so much difficult? How can he remain kind and pure in mind after he had experienced oppressive affliction? How can he achieve that all? ” Gradually, I find that the reason is goodness in his soul that makes it. The author believes that goodness is a thing that can conquer every difficulty. It was the reason of goodness that Oliver could walk seven days to London and didn‟t die. It was the reason of goodness that Oliver could run away from the gang of thieves. And it was goodness which made it possible that Oliver met a gentleman Mr. Brownlow and had a better life.However, nowadays more and more people tend to doubt the existence of the goodness in humanity. They look down on people‟s honesty and kindness, thinking it unnecessary and foolish of people to be warm-hearted. As a result, they show no sympathy to those who are in trouble and seldom offer to help others. On the other hand, they attach much importance to money and benefit. In their opinion, money is the only real object while emotions and morality are nihility. If they cannot get profit from showing their …kindness‟, they draw back when ot hers are faced with trouble and even hit a man when he is down. They are one of the sorts that I really detest.In my opinion, although a person‟s beauty on the face can make others once feel that one is attractive and charming, if his or her mindisn‟t the same beautiful as the appearance, when others find that the beauty was not true, they won‟t like the person any more. For a long time, only a person‟s great virtue, a noble soul, a beautiful heart can be called as everlasting. I can feel that how beauty really is, as we are all fleshly men, so we can‟t distinguish whether a man is of nobleness or humbleness, but as there are great differences in our souls, and from that, we can know that whether a man is noble or ordinary, and ever obscure, that is, whether he is beautiful or not.To summarize, we can say that, a person without goodness is destined to lose everything. From the movie Oliver Twist, I learn about goodness. And I do hope that in the coming days, I can follow his example and moreover, I can influent more people.The forth theme is the love and care in Olive Twist. Charles Dickens once said that, “Love makes the world go around.” Those figures whom Dickens created in the novel, Oliver Twist, showed great love and care to others. And they are really what kind of person we need in life. I am deeply moved by those people.Mr. Brownlow is one such person. Oliver was an orphan and was forced to live with a gang of thieves. One day when one of Mr. Brownlow‟s elaborate watches was stolen by two skilled teenage thieves, he thought it was Oliver that had done it because he was the only one nearby after the theft had taken place. Being angry, he caught Oliver, andsent him to the police station. Fortunately for him, Oliver was proved innocent by one onlooker afterwards. With sympathy, Mr. Brownlow took the injured, poor Oliver to his own home. There Oliver lived freely and happily for some months as if he were Mr. Brownlow‟s own son. One day, however, Mr. Brownlow asked him to return some books to the bookseller and to send some money for the new books that he had already collected. The thief Oliver once stayed with kidnapped him. After that he disappeared in Mr. Brownlow‟s life. Searching for a while, Mr. Brownlow had to believe that he had run away with his money. But dramatically, they came across each other again a few years later. Without hesitation, Mr. Brownlow took Oliver home for the second time not caring if he had done something evil. Perhaps most of us would feel confused about Mr. Brownlow‟s re action. But as a matter of fact, this is just the lesson we should learn from him. Jesus said in the Bible. “Forgive not seven times, but seventy-times seven.” Why is that? Because forgiveness is our ability to remove negative thoughts and neutralize them so our energy may be spent on doing what we came here for. We cannot move forward in our future if past issues cloud our thinking. Stop put Mr. Brownlow into the list of your models. Always give people a second chance no matter what they might have done. T hat‟s also a substantial part of loving and caring others.Then there are Mrs. Maylie and Rose, Oliver‟s other benefactors. Inmy point of view, it was trust that they loved Oliver. They had faith in Oliver when he was considered to be a filthy burglar who tried to break the front door of Maylie‟s at midnight. But this wasn‟t how these two ladies saw the whole thing. They denied Oliver‟s crime immediately and listened attentively to Oliver‟s own description of his miserable life. They were deeply touched by Oliver‟s strong perseverance and astonishing vitality. Accordingly, they remedied Oliver‟s body and heart and turned him into a different boy. He began to wear appropriate and receive education.As far as we can see, it is trust that helps us all live together without precaution. Sometimes trust can even lead us to miracles, which we often expect to come about, so why not trust? Trust yourself, trust others, and you‟ll salute miracles every single day.Love and care contain many forms, including love of forgiveness, love of trust, etc. Let‟s enjoy our life and treat other people lovingly.In a word, the relationship between literature and movie is not only similar, but also influences each other. Literature can be wonderful expressed by the visual culture of the movie. What‟s more, by watching the two movies, I have some new different ideas and have a lot of harvest.I believe the movie, as one of the different art, will bring people more and more wonderful visual culture.。