“Singapore Dreaming” is dark comedy about a typical low class Singaporean family coming to grip with reality. It deals with many life lessons about loss, ambition, and what really matters in a family.
There are many different societal norms in Singapore that are shown in this film. Some are very different then what we typically see in the U.S., and sometimes take for granted. Although some of these things do happen in other Asian societies. The first and most obvious shown in the movie is the sexist idea that men are more important than the women in the family. This is shown by the way the son in the family is treated over the daughter. He is given everything even after countless screw-ups on his part, to proceed in life. Yet the daughter who is smart and hard working does not get a thing from the family. Her boss even treats her with little or no respect. There is one point in the movie after the father wins the lottery and offers to give his son a large portion of it to start his own business; this is when I felt the differences in our society with theirs. I wanted to yell out to the father, “What are you doing? He is just going to throw that money down the drain!” I also felt sorry for the daughter, because she was almost ignored by her own family until the very end of the movie. When she got her money from the lawyer and the son was left with almost nothing, I felt like justice was served.
Some other Asian societies value the wealth of a son more than a daughter. They view them as someone who can carry on the family name and honor, where as the girl will not accomplish much in life, but to raise a family. This is shown in the movie when the father of the family is asking his son to bare him a grandson to carry on his name.
A funny part in the movie is the part about peeing in the elevators. Something about this just seems comical to me, but I am sure that this common nuisance is not funny to the people of Singapore. I have read that this is something the less fortunate do to rebel to the well off people of the city. This seems very childish and crude to someone like me, but it is a part of their society. In America I could only see bums in large cities doing something like this.
The family in the movie places a lot of emphasis on money as being the key to being happy. The father has a ritual of cutting out pictures of things he wants to buy, like cars. He also wants to join a country club that he is not familiar with in any way. The son buys a car and tries to look success full and to try to fit into the wealthier realm of society in this highly metropolitan city. The daughter curses her husband for not making enough money for their family to live properly, and makes him feel ashamed about it. I believe this movie shows us all those things to make us realize how we all covet these materialistic things. Even in death the son asks for a toy pool to burn at his father’s funeral. His death is shown as a very ritualistic performance, and is the point of the movie that the mother finally realized what she values most in life. This is a type of cleansing of the soul, where the materialistic things are burned and all that is left is the family. This makes the viewer see the truth behind the greedy son who deserves nothing and the hard working daughter who never stops giving. This breaks the societal norm of Singaporean families and shows that those who deserve kindness are based off merit and not sex.
The landscape of this movie is very urban as the city has almost no empty land to speak of. Condos line the coasts and smaller little apartments house the less fortunate. I did not see any typical homes in this city, but mainly these large housing structures. It reminds me of Manhattan in a way, but even they have brown stones, and central park. The other part of the landscape was the whole funeral parlor and parade at the end of the movie. This shows the tradition of how they morn the dead in Singapore.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Tsotsi - South Africa (2005)
This film depicts a modern day South Africa in the city of Johannesburg. Tsotsi, which means thug in South African language, is an urban gang leader must fight for his survival in the tough city. The contrast between urban and rural landscapes is very dramatic. In the city we see large subways packed with workers traveling through the crowded streets. The city is full of life and business, but also those who like to pray on the week, like Tsotsi. The out skirts of the city become dirty and vagrant, as we see in the part with the man in the wheel chair. This is a buffer zone between the city and the rural outskirts. You can tell that this area becomes scarier and is almost a sign for those not to venture any further into the unregulated areas. The rural landscape is full of small shakes that look home made with what ever type of building materials they could find. There is no running water going to the homes, and Tsotsi has to lock his own door with a chain and pad lock. You can tell this is where the poor and unwanted members of society go to live, as there is little or no police in the area.
Black people in the movie are shown in a few different ways. We see them as gang members, police, and suburban families. There are not many white people in the movie, but those that are seem to play authoritative roles. The white police man seems to tell the black policeman to refrain himself from being uncivil in his police duties. This shows that whites are still controlling figures in South Africa.
Apartheid is not that prevalent in the movie. This type of segregation was abolished in 1994. You do see the blacks all living together in the same areas, but you do not see the white areas of South Africa in this movie at all. That is why it is hard to tell what left over issues from segregation still remaining. The only thing that is certain is that South Africa has failed to offer civil living conditions for its poor majority in this post-apartheid city. You can easily see the expanse of the township that Tsotsi lives, when the police find the stolen vehicle over looking the shantytown in the background and wonder how they might ever capture the thief in a place like this.
The baby may symbolize the youth of Africa and its innocent poor. A baby in its simplest form must get food, shelter, and be cleaned. This is much like the poor outcasts of South African society that just want the simplest things in life to survive. Tsotsi becomes obsessed with caring for the baby, and even the single mother who is forced to feed it shows affection towards the helpless baby. The country may be affectionate to those without help.
The future of South Africa may change for the better. This movie is not a gangster tale, or a tragic tale of the loss of a baby. Instead it is a realization or awakening of Tsotsi when he sees the baby. He changes his outlook on life and begins to do the right thing, by caring for his beaten friend and stopping his other murderous friend. In the end he gives himself up for the sake of the baby. This shows that South Africa may find a way to act more caringly for their fellow country men and take pride in the fact that their people are safe.
Black people in the movie are shown in a few different ways. We see them as gang members, police, and suburban families. There are not many white people in the movie, but those that are seem to play authoritative roles. The white police man seems to tell the black policeman to refrain himself from being uncivil in his police duties. This shows that whites are still controlling figures in South Africa.
Apartheid is not that prevalent in the movie. This type of segregation was abolished in 1994. You do see the blacks all living together in the same areas, but you do not see the white areas of South Africa in this movie at all. That is why it is hard to tell what left over issues from segregation still remaining. The only thing that is certain is that South Africa has failed to offer civil living conditions for its poor majority in this post-apartheid city. You can easily see the expanse of the township that Tsotsi lives, when the police find the stolen vehicle over looking the shantytown in the background and wonder how they might ever capture the thief in a place like this.
The baby may symbolize the youth of Africa and its innocent poor. A baby in its simplest form must get food, shelter, and be cleaned. This is much like the poor outcasts of South African society that just want the simplest things in life to survive. Tsotsi becomes obsessed with caring for the baby, and even the single mother who is forced to feed it shows affection towards the helpless baby. The country may be affectionate to those without help.
The future of South Africa may change for the better. This movie is not a gangster tale, or a tragic tale of the loss of a baby. Instead it is a realization or awakening of Tsotsi when he sees the baby. He changes his outlook on life and begins to do the right thing, by caring for his beaten friend and stopping his other murderous friend. In the end he gives himself up for the sake of the baby. This shows that South Africa may find a way to act more caringly for their fellow country men and take pride in the fact that their people are safe.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
City of God
This movie took place in ‘Cidade de Deus’ which is Portuguese for City of God. City of God is a term that refers to the lower class area of Rio de Janeiro in South America. This is a part of the city that is not shown to the public when looking at the major metropolis that is the largest city in Brazil. This is where the poorest people of the city live in slums that were created by poverty amoung the cities people. The story takes place over a decade starting in the 1960’s and up to the major era of drug use in the 70’s. Much of the area changes in quality over the duration of the story, which I will describe later.
The movie was based on a novel named City of God, which is based on a true story of a young mans life in this city. It was filmed in some in Brazil and uses some of the actual maps of the real City in the movie. One interesting thing I found while reading about this movie, is that many of the actors used in the film are from favelas in Rio de Janeiro, and in some cases, the actual City of God. It was filmed around the year 2000 and many of these actors were taken from the favelas and placed into an acting camp.
Initially the main character is living in a small community of modular homes that look to be recently built. This looks like government houseing used to place the poor people of the city far away from the nicer areas. Over the duration of the story the homes are run down with poverty and crime. Then we start to see the favelas, which are slums that are built into the hillside of the city. Some of them offer amazing views, but are constructed of poorly made concrete and brick structures. From what I have read, they can be very dangerous, yet some almost 3 million people in the city live there. These “shanty towns” get there electricity and other construction for free. This is a part of the way of life in Brazilian cities, because these favelas house displaced immigrants and former slaves. The movie did depict the favelas accurately based on what I have read about them.
Filming of the movie shows the city as a third world country where drugs and violence are every where. The police are corrupt and can sometimes cause more death than the gangs. Guns are the main source of power for the gang violence. They must rob to get money for the firearms so that they may take down their enemies and control more turf. This reminded me of some of the stories I have read about Mexican drug dealer wars.
The landscape outside the favela looks like a paradise on the beach. The coast line is full of white sand beaches and lush green hillsides. This looks more like the Rio de Janeiro that is shown in the pictures of Carnival, and other national media from the area. This would be a beautiful city without all the crime and poverty in the favelas.
Class structure is very evident in the movie, as it is in real life Rio de Janeiro. There are enormous differences between rich and poor. Although this is one of the world’s largest cities many of its inhabitants are living in poverty. The favelas show the poor side of the city, which run rampant with crime and drugs. Much of the control and wealth is held by gangs, while some of the power is with corrupt police. Outside the favelas wealthy people have control of the major businesses in the city near the ocean, and can bribe police if they need any favors. While favelas are built on hillside land that is unsafe and can cause major accidents if built improperly.
The movie was based on a novel named City of God, which is based on a true story of a young mans life in this city. It was filmed in some in Brazil and uses some of the actual maps of the real City in the movie. One interesting thing I found while reading about this movie, is that many of the actors used in the film are from favelas in Rio de Janeiro, and in some cases, the actual City of God. It was filmed around the year 2000 and many of these actors were taken from the favelas and placed into an acting camp.
Initially the main character is living in a small community of modular homes that look to be recently built. This looks like government houseing used to place the poor people of the city far away from the nicer areas. Over the duration of the story the homes are run down with poverty and crime. Then we start to see the favelas, which are slums that are built into the hillside of the city. Some of them offer amazing views, but are constructed of poorly made concrete and brick structures. From what I have read, they can be very dangerous, yet some almost 3 million people in the city live there. These “shanty towns” get there electricity and other construction for free. This is a part of the way of life in Brazilian cities, because these favelas house displaced immigrants and former slaves. The movie did depict the favelas accurately based on what I have read about them.
Filming of the movie shows the city as a third world country where drugs and violence are every where. The police are corrupt and can sometimes cause more death than the gangs. Guns are the main source of power for the gang violence. They must rob to get money for the firearms so that they may take down their enemies and control more turf. This reminded me of some of the stories I have read about Mexican drug dealer wars.
The landscape outside the favela looks like a paradise on the beach. The coast line is full of white sand beaches and lush green hillsides. This looks more like the Rio de Janeiro that is shown in the pictures of Carnival, and other national media from the area. This would be a beautiful city without all the crime and poverty in the favelas.
Class structure is very evident in the movie, as it is in real life Rio de Janeiro. There are enormous differences between rich and poor. Although this is one of the world’s largest cities many of its inhabitants are living in poverty. The favelas show the poor side of the city, which run rampant with crime and drugs. Much of the control and wealth is held by gangs, while some of the power is with corrupt police. Outside the favelas wealthy people have control of the major businesses in the city near the ocean, and can bribe police if they need any favors. While favelas are built on hillside land that is unsafe and can cause major accidents if built improperly.
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