Fourth Quarter Extra Credit

1. What film did you watch?
Shakespeare in Love

2. What elements of "World History" was touched on by the film?
Power/Authority: Power is shown through the Queen, Queen Elizabeth I. No matter where she went, she brought respect and jurisdiction. Her word was the ultimate word, no matter whom the original command was given by. The class system is displayed throughout the movie: the royalty, nobility, commoners, and peasants were clearly identified and kept within their places. Some of the musicians and writers were looked down upon by the upper classes. An example
Revolution: Revolution is shown through new ideas and inventions of the time, including a woman playing a male’s job.
Economics: All of the jobs and plays revolved around money. Bribery and debts were held over individuals as they struggled to find money.

3. How did the film reinforce and/or change your understanding of that history?
This movie takes place during Elizabethan England with the rule of Queen Elizabeth I. It was an outpouring of creativity in art, architecture, literature, and plays. There were many traits during this period shown in the movie. One trait of Elizabethan England is the writing in both verse and prose, seen throughout Shakespeare’s writing. Another was the domination of romance, clearly seen with the play “Romeo and Juliet.” It was a time of experimentation, which is shown through the new thoughts and innovations in the movie, such as a woman acting on stage, cruder humor, and plays in sonnet form. Men were the authors, not yet women, from many different classes. In the movie, classes are distinguished, but intermingle during the play.

4. What did you think of the film? (Comment on whatever you would like.)
I really enjoyed the movie, but I had trouble keeping the facts from the fiction. The play “Romeo and Juliet” is intermingled and influenced by the story of Shakespeare in this movie. However, seeing as historians still debate over who Romeo was, I wonder what events in the movie were factual, if any. The plot was interesting and I liked the acting and the many famous actors/actresses.

What film did you watch?
The film I watched was Shakespeare in Love.

What elements of "World History" were touched on by the film?
The elements of “World History” that were touched by the film were power and authority, revolution, and economics. Power and authority was touched through Queen Elizabeth I. Throughout the entire film, every single time she is seen, she is given great respect from the people. Not only was she respected by the poor, but also by the wealthiest of the wealthy seen in the play. This showed just how important she was to England and its people during this time. The next element lightly touched on in the film was revolution. While there was no major revolution, there was one taking place behind the scenes of this time period. This was the change from male actors to both male and female actors. During the play, only men can be actors, which is what leads the main female character to disguise herself as a male in order to act. However, by the end of the film, she was acting without a disguise, which is a clear sign of how the times were changing. The last element shown in the film was economics. From the beginning to the end, money clearly played a crucial role in the lives of the citizens. At the very beginning, a man is being tortured because of his debts. There was bribing and a constant want for paying jobs. Although Shakespeare did not feel this way, most people thought about plays as a way to make money. The direct example is of Philip Henslowe, who is constantly asking Shakespeare of when the play will be finished as he is depending on the play for the money it will make. The primary elements of “World History” touched on by in the film were power and authority, revolution, and economics.

How did the film reinforce and/or change your understanding of that history?
The main way that the film reinforced my understanding of that history was the strong representation of the daily life and traits of the Elizabethan Era. Through English class I already knew of the Elizabethan Era, but the film reinforced my understanding of what was taking place during its time. One trait of the Elizabethan era that was clearly portrayed was the great abundance of creativity, art, literature, and plays that were new and revolutionary. One might almost call this era a period of experimentation. An example clearly showed this through the idea of not writing a comedy, but instead a tragedy. Also, the idea of female actresses was introduced, yet another revolutionary idea. In addition to this trait of the period, I also learned of the style of life people of the time lived. From the wealthy to the poor, all lifestyles were represented in the film, giving the viewer a chance to see all aspects of life during the era. As for changing my understanding of the period, there was not a great change since I already knew about the period. In addition, the fact that the film was fictional led to the constant question about how much of it was true and how much I should believe was correct to the time period. The main way that the film influenced my understanding of the history was through the strong representation of the period’s daily life and traits.

What did you think of the film? (Comment on whatever you would like.)
Overall, I enjoyed the film because of its combination of romance and seriousness. Without the addition of the romance, the film would have been boring to me, but the romance is what kept me interested. It was a little difficult to follow the story line of the play since the names were hard for me to keep straight, but the plot of the story was easier and entertaining. My favorite aspect about the entire play was the strong part Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet had in it. Having studied the play in depth this winter, I really enjoyed being able to follow that storyline while also following the story of the film. In addition to this, the montage that took place over the balcony scene was especially enjoyable since I memorized it for English class. Grace and I had memorized together for English class and since we watched the movie together also, it was very entertaining to be able to say our lines along with the characters. I feel that the storyline of the film was very well intertwined with that of Romeo and Juliet. The only slightly bad parts of the play were its length and its misleading history. As for length, it lasted about two hours, and I felt by the end and climax of the story, I just wanted it to be over with. Also, the fictional aspect of the play was a little misleading for history, as it was very difficult to keep fact and fiction straight. Even though I wish that Shakespeare could have gone through such a romantic way of writing Romeo and Juliet, the film was confusing as it meshed fact and fiction together very tightly. Even though this might be a good thing for movie writers to do, as a student it was a little confusing. Despite this and its length, I am glad that I choose to watch this movie as it was very enjoyable.

What film did you watch?

I watched The Lion in Winter.
What elements of "World History" was touched on by the film?
For the most part, this film is about Power and Authority. Everywhere the king goes, he is respected and obeyed by his people. He can raise an army in the middle of the night without any trouble. This just shows how powerful the king was. In the movie, King Henry II is trying to choose an heir from three of his sons. He knows that his choice will have a big impact on the future of England. If he chooses badly, the next king could ruin the people by overtaxing or being a tyrant. You can also see the tension between leaders. King Philip of France is also present in this movie at the Christmas Court in Chinon. He wants to regain Aquitaine, which belongs to Henry because he married Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor is also scheming against Henry and trying to influence his decision. He has locked her up, but lets her out for the holidays. The king also has a mistress that he would like to marry, but he has at times promised her to his sons. This movie very clearly shows the tension within the royal family and their internal politics. This movie also touches on Empire Building because Henry wishes he could have conquered more lands. His sons also want to increase their territory, and Philip would like to reconquer Aquitaine.

How did the film reinforce and/or change your understanding of that history?

This movie reinforced what I knew about Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II, and their sons Richard the Lion-hearted and John, who become kings of England. What I didn't understand was how complicated their politics were. Eleanor had been married to Philip's father and hints that she might have been Henry's father's mistress. Henry can't choose between his flawed sons and each of them plots against him with either Eleanor or Philip. It was interesting to watch these politics unfold, because I know about what Richard and John went on to do as kings. Philip ended up gaining much of the land he lost to John, who was a bad ruler. It was fun to watch this snapshot of their politics in the context of what I knew about this period of English history.

What did you think of the film?

I really liked this film. At first I was confused because I couldn't always understand what they were saying because they had British accents and their sentences were layered with meaning. But I eventually caught on to what was happening and then it got really fun to watch. There is one scene that I love that took place in King Philip's bedroom. Henry's sons come in one at a time to talk about scheming against Henry and about their own problems. Then, when the next comes in, the prior son hides behind a tapestry. Then, most of the key characters in the room come in, with people behind all of the tapestries. Then the start to come out of hiding and confront each other about what they've heard. It was a really complicated scene but it was very entertaining and I think it gives a good idea of what this movie was like. The politics were very complicated and continuously changed as characters double-crossed and triple-crossed each other. I thought it was a bit long, but maybe that was because of all the details. After a certain amount of time, it becomes annoying to try and keep track of who is plotting against who and so on. Overall, though, I thought it was a really good movie.

I watched the movie Shakespeare in love. Although it is a good, it starts off quite slow. I liked the movie due to its ability to use historical events and still suspend our disbeliefs. Its historical events included things like; the Plague, playhouses, torture, Renaissance fashion, the Elizabethan age, and forced marriage. Although the movie did have these events and facts, some of them you had to suspend your disbelief to the point where it doesn’t seem like it would have really happened, and some facts seem like they would have never happened at all. The film itself helped reinforce things like; women are under their fathers rule, the queen stands above all else, torture was used, and that things like the plague could easily disrupt daliy life. Over all it was a good movie and I liked it. The beginning half was a lot slower and harder to follow than the ending. My favorite part was that you could pick up parts of Romeo and Juliet in every scene.

What film did you watch?
I watched the movie Braveheart.

What elements of "World History" was touched on by the film?
Power and Authority: Power and Authority played a huge role in this movie. The movie focuses on William Wallace, who starts to fight the power of Edward I of England. Edward I had a lot of power over the kingdom because he was a strict ruler and also because he was able to bribe others with land in order to gain control of their assets. Another example of power and authority shown in this movie is when William gains the power to influence people and convince them to fight for their freedom from England. Eventually, he even seems to have more power than the king of Scotland who proved to be a loyal ally in the end.
Revolution: Revolution was another key aspect of this movie. The entire movie was based on the rebellion of the Scottish and their struggle to gain freedom from England. The idea of being free from English rule was the motivation that William Wallace used to gain support to free Scotland from England.

How did the film reinforce and/or change your understanding of that history?
This movie reinforced a couple ideas of that time period in history. One example is that it reinforced the idea the nobility held a very significant amount of power in the societies. For example, WIlliam Wallace himself asked the nobility in Scotland to assist him in his battles for freedom. For one fight, the nobility agreed to assist him, and as a result, they won that battle. However, when the nobility turned against Wallace at the last moment, it was clear that they were going to loose the battle, and they did. This movie also reinforced the fact that nobility were not concerned with the well being of the people, but rather their own success. During on battle in the movie, the Scottish nobility had agreed to fight with Wallace during a battle, but Edward I had given the option to have more land and money if they didn't fight with Wallace. The nobility, needless to say, took the bribe and let Wallace fight without them. This shows that the nobility were more excited about gaining a few acres of land rather than their own countries freedom. So that fact changed my understanding of how bad everyone wanted power,money, and land. I was previously under the impression that even though almost everyone wanted more power,wealth and land, they wouldn't go against their own country just for personal gain.

What did you think of the film? (Comment on whatever you would like.)
I really enjoyed watching this movie for a couple reasons. First of all, I thought that Mel Gibson played a really good William Wallace and secondly, the way it showed the history of William Wallace allowed me to understand more clearly why he wanted his freedom from England so bad. On the other hand, one aspect I didn't quite like was the length of the war scenes. I thought that as I saw more and more wars between the Scottish and English territories, the length of the wars seemed to get longer. But, overall, I thought this movie was very entertaining, even though it may not have been historically accurate.

I watched the film 'Shakespeare in Love.'
Compared to last quarter's 'Cleopatra,' this movie had significantly less obvious inclusions of the various themes of world history. It was more a story of daily life in Elizabethan London and the struggles of a playwright, not a story of conquest and diplomacy. Granted this, I'm only able to connect two themes to the movie. The first is 'power and authority.' It was evident to me in two forms: First, whenever Queen Elizabeth I was present. All around her would get on their knees, bow their heads, and act with the utmost respect to her. This was an obvious display of the power and reputation she wielded as monarch, and a show of the authority she had on her subjects. The second theme I saw was 'economics.' This was evident to me in the daily life of the peasants– one saw how the wealth of a family heavily influenced their lifestyle and company (comparing Shakespeare's loft with Viola de Lessep's estate). Also, we saw how the economics of London (a lack of money amongst the commoners) affected the way they lived– with narrow dirt roads, human and equine excrement in the streets, dumping wastewater from the upstairs windows onto unfortunate pedestrians.
The movie didn't so much reinforce my beliefs or knowledge of a historical topic so much as it did add to or construct an entirely new bit of thought. I hadn't really thought of or been taught about what daily life was like in the Renaissance/Middle Ages-era Europe, and I'm assuming commoner life was roughly the same in all areas of Europe. The movie showed me not grand castles or arching cathedrals, but the squat, half-timbered homes of the working class. I learned how they lived, what they ate and did for fun, and how many of them lived.
All in all, I was very impressed with the movie! I was particularly elated that it wasn't anything like last quarter's Cleopatra, which was essentially a four-hour marathon of Rex Harrison and Richard Burton ogling Elizabeth Taylor. The movie was truly interesting and entertaining, and I was thoroughly impressed with every actor, especially Judi Dench's role as Queen Elizabeth I.

• What exhibit did you visit?
I visited the King Tut exhibit at the Science Museum.

• What elements of "World History" were touched on by the exhibit?
This exhibit represented many (in fact, most) of the World History themes. The first that comes to mind is Interaction with Environment, since the Egyptian civilization relied heavily on the Nile for nearly all of their natural resources. Without the Nile’s fertile river valley, the culture of Egypt may never have flourished as it did. Another theme present is Science and Technology. Building pyramids and tombs with extreme accuracy required many scientific, mathematic, and astronomic advances. Also, working the variety of precious metals and stones to fashion jewelry, furniture, statues, etc. suggested advanced technology. Cultural Interaction was present as well. For example, valuable dark lapis lazuli mined in Afghanistan made its way over 2,000 miles through trade to Egypt, where it adorned many of the items in King Tut’s tomb among others. The World History theme that I noticed the most was Religion. All of the items that the Egyptians would place in tombs had religious significance, from the tiny statuettes of servants meant to serve King Tut in the afterlife to amulets of Egyptian gods and goddesses placed by the hundreds in his sarcophagus.

• How did the exhibit reinforce and/or change your understanding of that history?
This exhibit really gave me a feel for just how much wealth was sealed in the tombs of pharaohs upon their death. When Howard Carter discovered Tut’s tomb, he found over 5,000 objects, most of them worth a fortune. This included beds, chairs, statues, amulets, and more; most of it was encrusted with precious jewels or even made entirely out of gold. I find it amazing that first of all, the finery in the exhibit was only a tiny portion of what was in Tut’s tomb, and since Tut died young, his tomb was thrown together in haste and was not nearly as properly put together as the tombs of other famous pharaohs. On top of that, a lot of the original things that had been in Tut’s tomb had been plundered by ancient grave diggers, so what Carter found was only a fraction of a fraction of what a normal pharaoh’s tomb was like. The amount wealth found in the tombs of nobility also reinforced by knowledge of the Egyptian religion, since the purpose of tombs was to serve one in the afterlife. On another note, I never knew that there was actually a period (the Amarna Period) of Egyptian history where their religion drastically shifted from a polytheistic culture to one where solely Aten, the sun god, was worshipped. I found this really interesting since all of my previous knowledge of the more prominent polytheistic religion. It’s also ironic that because of Tut’s association with this religion, his name was nearly erased from history, and yet he has become the quintessential Egyptian pharaoh in the modern world.

• What did you think of the exhibit? (Comment on whatever you would like.)
I really liked this exhibit. It did a good job of putting King Tut in context of ancient Egyptian history, and at the same time told the more modern stories of Carter’s discovery and excavation of the tomb as well as recent DNA testing to discover Tut’s family lineage. It was also laid out from general information about the life of a pharaoh to specific rooms of Tut’s tomb, which was neat. The artifacts that were there were well chosen for the exhibit because they represented the large variety of objects in the tomb. Overall, the exhibit was informative and interesting – I definitely learned a lot!

I watched Robin Hood (the Russell Crowe version) - It was about the weak reign of King John and about the fighting between France and England. It really portrayed King John well, but the story it’s self didn’t seem very accurate. It was not consistent with the many other Robin Hood stories I’ve read or seen. The biggest thing I learned was more of a realization, it is that there was still internal conflict in Europe during the time of the crusades. My main reaction to the film: It was really long (like two and half hours!) and somewhat boring. It seemed like a “if you believe in yourself you can do it” kind of movie and not very historically accurate. So, overall, I was not very impressed.

I watched the movie Elizabeth. This movie explained the life of Queen Elizabeth I and the impacts she made on England. It portrayed the hatred between Christians and Protestants, and how Elizabeth united the two religions to form the Anglican Church which became the single and official Church of England. The movie really illustrated the struggles she had to keep her power, and the number of people who were against her. It was hard for her to put complete faith in anyone because she was betrayed by so many. At then end of the movie Elizabeth cut all her hair off and painted her face white. This represented how she was becoming a "nun", but instead of marrying God and the church, she was marrying England, and she would rule without taking a husband.
Watching this movie really made me understand how much tension and hatred there was going on between the Protestant and Catholic Churches. It also made me realize how strong of a woman and ruler Elizabeth must have been. She battled her way out of death many times, escaping from those who didn't like her because she was a Protestant. She also held a very strong rule over England, and her reign became the golden age. Elizabeth had many struggles in the beginning of her reign because so many wanted to kill her to take over the thrown or because she was protestant, but she got past the hardest times, and she became one of the most famous rulers of England. There was a scene in the movie that showed how it was also harder for her because she was a woman, and how during those times women rarely held important positions. Yet, she stood strong and gained the peoples' trust and honor.
I enjoyed watching this movie because I thought it was interesting to learn in more detail about Elizabeth's life and influences. I also really enjoyed learning about the Renaissance, so watching this movie really illustrated an interesting part of those times. So I was overall happy watching this movie.

Q: What film did you watch?
A: I watched ‘The Mission,’ directed by Roland Joffe.

Q: What elements of "World History" was touched on by the film?
A: This film is focused on a group of Spanish Jesuit Missionaries who protect a group of South American Indians from the Portuguese slave traders.

Q: How did the film reinforce and/or change your understanding of that history?

A: The film helped me to understand what the Europeans did to the America’s when they first arrived and colonized the land and people. The people were treated inconsiderately and often incredibly cruelly. In this case, the Europeans come in to the land with the sole plan of enslaving the people. This film also showed me another side of the colonization of the America’s. I had been under the impression that Christians had forced their way in, forced conversions, and killed or imprisoned those who did not comply. While this was definitely the case in some instances, in this film the Spanish Jesuits do their best to protect the natives.

Q: What did you think of the film? (Comment on whatever you would like.)
A: I enjoyed this film quite a bit! Robert De Niro did an excellent job. There was a theme of redemption in the film that gave it an uplifting spirit. The film also gives a better understanding of what it was like during a time when countries were fighting for control of the America’s and attempting to control and colonize them. It gave me a better understanding for Christian missionary goals as well and allowed me to see multiple points of view. I would recommend this film to many as it is incredibly well done and teaches much.