DOCSLIB.ORG

The Paradox of Domesticity: Resistance to the Myth Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Paradox of Domesticity: Resistance to the Myth Of THE PARADOX OF DOMESTICITY: RESISTANCE TO THE MYTH OF HOME IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE AND FILM A Dissertation by KIMBERLY O‘DELL COX Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2011 Major Subject: English The Paradox of Domesticity: Resistance to the Myth of Home in Contemporary American Literature and Film Copyright 2011 Kimberly O‘Dell Cox THE PARADOX OF DOMESTICITY: RESISTANCE TO THE MYTH OF HOME IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE AND FILM A Dissertation by KIMBERLY O‘DELL COX Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Sally Robinson Committee Members, David McWhirter Anne Morey Sylvia Hoffert Head of Department, M. Jimmie Killingsworth May 2011 Major Subject: English iii ABSTRACT The Paradox of Domesticity: Resistance to the Myth of Home in Contemporary American Literature and Film. (May 2011) Kimberly O‘Dell Cox, B.A., The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; M.A., East Carolina University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Sally Robinson This dissertation focuses on novels and films produced in the second half of the twentieth century that critique traditional notions of home in contemporary America to expand on the large body of work on American domesticity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These texts demonstrate the damaging power and overwhelming force of conventional domesticity, complicating traditional notions of home by speaking from positions of marginality. In each text, key figures react to limited ideologies of domesticity that seek to maintain sameness, silence, and servitude by enacting embodied resistance to domestic entrapment. The areas of convergence between the figure of the conventional, middle-class home, and the material and psychic reality of home disavow the expectations of the middle-class home ideal and offer real resistance to narrow, and often damaging, visions of home. These spaces allow for new conceptions of home and suggest that it may be possible to conceive of home as something other than fixed in place, governed by family and community, or created by prolific consumption of goods. In this way, this dissertation intervenes in the established binary of home/stability in opposition to mobility/freedom, iv which maintains the limits of appropriate ways of establishing and enacting domesticity along gender and class lines. By considering portraits of domesticity that are often left out of discussions of home in the United States my research intersects with a broad range of theoretical fields and discourses about mobility, historical and popular culture representations of the tramp, the body and surveillance, the home as spatial construct, and housekeeping as both oppressive and subversive. Drawing on historical and theoretical examinations of women within the home space, coupled with literary criticism and close-readings, I seek to determine the nature of confining domesticity and examine the varied ways that different groups of people respond to their entrapment. At stake in this dissertation is a deeper understanding of the ways that literary and filmic representations of home at the end of the twentieth century suggest a conflict between the ways that home and houses, are popularly represented and the fact that home remains a contested and dangerous space. v DEDICATION To Michael, with whom I am always at home. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As with any endeavor of this sort, this dissertation was supported by many without whom it never would have reached the page. I would first like to thank my parents, who instilled in me the power and value of well-honed, carefully chosen, and thoughtfully constructed language. Your faith in me, and in education for its own sake, saw me through many moments when the road seemed long and the end-goal hazy. I thank you too for all of the books you introduced me to, from Charlotte’s Web to The Shining, and for letting me spend long, lovely days with my nose in a book. I thank Erin, Evan, and Andy, my cheering squad, for your single-minded belief that I could do this. Pursuing the Ph.D. meant moving far from away from my family. I am, therefore, particularly grateful for the surrogate family I found in the English Department. Without the companionship and camaraderie of so many kind and brilliant friends, especially Emily Hoeflinger, Sara Day, Galen Wilson, and Jamie Stamant, the halls of Blocker would have been a lonely place, and the work so much harder. You have shaped my thinking about this dissertation, my teaching, and the world in ways you will never know. Thank you for being my sounding board, my inspiration, and for occasionally forcing me out of the cave. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Anne-Marie Womack and Rebecca Harris for their willingness to read drafts and for helping me to see the weaknesses in my work while somehow always letting me know that it would get better. Your insight, generosity, and humor astonish me. vii I would like to thank my committee, who has offered its guidance and advice on this dissertation from its earliest inception. Thank you, David McWhirter and Anne Morey, for your careful reading, quick responses, and depth of knowledge. In addition to your keen insight and thoughtful feedback, you are unparalleled models of how to be both a scholar and a teacher. A special thanks goes to Sally Robinson, who never let me get away with less than my best work. You have always pushed me to think harder, dig deeper, and challenge my own point of view, and the dissertation, and I, are stronger for it. Without Nicole McDaniel-Carder and her well-timed suggestion that I read one little book, there might not be a dissertation at all. Whether or not she knew it at the time, that one book became the impetus for a reflection on home that I continue to this day. But her impact on this dissertation, and on my life at Texas A&M, goes well beyond reading advice. Nicole, for as long as I have known you, you have believed in my abilities and validated my choices as both a scholar and a teacher. Your impressive intellect and dedication to your work are an inspiration to me. Both of our lives have changed so much since in the past six years, and I am honored to have made those changes with you and to count you as my dearest friend. I would be remiss if I didn‘t thank my most constant companions in this process: Tuna, Willow, Shadow, Jack, Mulligan, and Red. While their anti-literacy campaign often hindered actual attempts at reading or typing, my kitties were always sure to remind me to step away from the computer from time to time. When the work was at its toughest, you were always there. Thank you kids. viii Five years ago, I saw a man standing in the rain, waiting for a bus, and I drove right by. Luckily, when I saw him again, this time sitting across from me in a literature class, he held only a small grudge at being left in the storm. Michael, even with all the outside help I have had with this dissertation, I can‘t imagine how I would have done it without you. You have been there every step of the way, offering your support in all of the small ways that I sometimes take for granted. Thank you for dishes, grocery shopping, and dinner, for your confidence, high standards, and gentle pressure. Thank you, too, for disagreeing with me and forcing me to clarify my thinking and to consider ideas and texts I might have otherwise neglected. Without you, I would certainly have succumbed to the difficulties of the past year. I look forward to returning the favor. I am so grateful for your patience and your presence, and feel so lucky that we get to take this journey together. I love you so. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION....................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: THE PARADOX OF HOME .............................. 1 II THE HORRIBLE DOMESTIC: LINDEN HILLS, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, AND SUBURBAN SURVEILLANCE ........................... 21 Gloria Naylor‘s Linden Hills ........................................................ 38 Jeffrey Eugenides‘ The Virgin Suicides ........................................ 61 III HOMEWARD BOUND: LONGING AND MOBILITY IN HOUSEKEEPING AND ANYWHERE BUT HERE ............................ 85 Marilynne Robinson‘s Housekeeping ........................................... 97 Mona Simpson‘s Anywhere but Here ........................................... 124 IV THE WORKING-CLASS HOME: POVERTY, TRASH, AND THE HOME DREAM IN THE BEANS OF EGYPT, MAINE, BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA, AND WINTER’S BONE .................................. 162 Carolyn Chute‘s The Beans of Egypt, Maine ................................ 178 Dorothy Allison‘s Bastard out of Carolina................................... 198 Debra Granik‘s Winter’s Bone ..................................................... 217 V CONCLUSION: PERPETUAL MOTION: DOMESTICITY IN CORMAC MCCARTHY‘S THE ROAD ............................................ 229 REFERENCES .....................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Amazon's Antitrust Paradox
    LINA M. KHAN Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox abstract. Amazon is the titan of twenty-first century commerce. In addition to being a re- tailer, it is now a marketing platform, a delivery and logistics network, a payment service, a credit lender, an auction house, a major book publisher, a producer of television and films, a fashion designer, a hardware manufacturer, and a leading host of cloud server space. Although Amazon has clocked staggering growth, it generates meager profits, choosing to price below-cost and ex- pand widely instead. Through this strategy, the company has positioned itself at the center of e- commerce and now serves as essential infrastructure for a host of other businesses that depend upon it. Elements of the firm’s structure and conduct pose anticompetitive concerns—yet it has escaped antitrust scrutiny. This Note argues that the current framework in antitrust—specifically its pegging competi- tion to “consumer welfare,” defined as short-term price effects—is unequipped to capture the ar- chitecture of market power in the modern economy. We cannot cognize the potential harms to competition posed by Amazon’s dominance if we measure competition primarily through price and output. Specifically, current doctrine underappreciates the risk of predatory pricing and how integration across distinct business lines may prove anticompetitive. These concerns are height- ened in the context of online platforms for two reasons. First, the economics of platform markets create incentives for a company to pursue growth over profits, a strategy that investors have re- warded. Under these conditions, predatory pricing becomes highly rational—even as existing doctrine treats it as irrational and therefore implausible.
    [Show full text]
  • The Peculiar Mormon Paradox
    Mormon Studies Review Volume 4 | Number 1 Article 4 1-1-2017 The ecP uliar Mormon Paradox Molly Worthen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr2 Part of the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Worthen, Molly (2017) "The eP culiar Mormon Paradox," Mormon Studies Review: Vol. 4 : No. 1 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr2/vol4/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mormon Studies Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Worthen: The Peculiar Mormon Paradox Review Essays The Peculiar Mormon Paradox Molly Worthen Review of Randall Balmer and Jana Riess. Mormonism and American Politics. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016; Neil J. Young. We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Poli- tics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016; David E. Campbell, John C. Green, and J. Quin Monson. Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. When Joseph Smith ran for president in 1844, he spoke like a radi- cal democrat. “In the United States, the people are the government,” his campaign platform proclaimed. He enthusiastically endorsed popular sovereignty, offered a plan to abolish slavery by gradually buying out slaveholders with revenues from the sale of public lands, and proposed to pardon every convict, “blessing them as they go, and saying to them in the name of the Lord, go thy way and sin no more.”1 Smith’s rhetoric reflected the high view of human nature that is a cornerstone of Mormon theology.
    [Show full text]
  • From: John Mcphee Basin and Range EXCERPT on AN
    From green meadow beside it, and dry russet uplands rising behind. I said I thought that was lovely. He said yes, it was Basin and Range lovely indeed, it was one of the loveliest angular by John McPhee unconformities I was ever likely to see. © 1980, 1981 The Noonday Press, New York The river turned in our direction after bending by a wall of its canyon, and the wall had eroded so unevenly [Excerpt on an “Angular Unconformity” that a prominent remnant now stood on its own as a steep and some history of the founding six-hundred-foot hill. It made a mammary silhouette of the Science of Geology] against the sky. My mind worked its way through that image, but still I was not seeing what Deffeyes was seeing. Finally, I took it in. More junipers and rubble and minor Interstate 80, in its complete traverse of the North creases of erosion had helped withhold the story from my American continent, goes through much open space and eye. The hill, structurally, consisted of two distinct rock three tunnels. As it happens, one tunnel passes through formations, awry to each other, awry to the gyroscope of young rock, another through middle-aged rock, and the the earth—just stuck together there like two artistic third through rock that is fairly old, at least with respect to impulses in a pointedly haphazard collage. Both the rock now on earth which has not long since been formations were of stratified rock, sedimentary rock, put recycled. At Green River, Wyoming, the road goes under a down originally in and beside the sea, where they had lain, remnant of the bed of a good-sized Cenozoic lake.
    [Show full text]
  • Functional Training for All Styles
    Modern Voice Pedagogy Functional Training For All Styles By Elizabeth Ann Benson ue to the rising number of consolidated for improved efficiency including folk, rock, pop, heavy metal, collegiate musical theater and and camaraderie. Some elements of R&B and many more. These programs contemporary commercial vocal technique that may be trained need voice teachers who can provide music (CCM) programs, there independently of musical style include functional vocal technique so students is increasing demand for teachers of vibrato, posture and alignment, onsets, can safely and consistently produce the singing to provide diverse and versatile agility and registration. This article broad spectrum of sounds required in training beyond the classical aesthetic. will argue in favor of shifting to func­ many different styles of music. When the vocal techniques of classi­ tional voice training as core technical cal and CCM singing are identified training to effectively serve classical, Vocal Technique in terms of function, there is much musical theater and contemporary In 1975, Cornelius Reid encour­ in common. It is only in the appli­ commercial voice students within one aged voice pedagogues to distinguish cation of vocal technique to musical studio. between “art” and “function,” where repertoire that significant differences Musical theater singing; includes a art is “the use of skill and imagina­ occur, according to genre. Rather than multitude of musical sub-genres, from tion in the production of things of running independent tracks of vocal legit musical theater to contempo­ beauty,” and function is “the natural study in classical, music theater and rary hard rock. A study by Kathryn action characteristic of a mechanical commercial/popular singing, many Green et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Visual Metaphors on Album Covers: an Analysis Into Graphic Design's
    Visual Metaphors on Album Covers: An Analysis into Graphic Design’s Effectiveness at Conveying Music Genres by Vivian Le A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Honors Baccalaureate of Science in Accounting and Business Information Systems (Honors Scholar) Presented May 29, 2020 Commencement June 2020 AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Vivian Le for the degree of Honors Baccalaureate of Science in Accounting and Business Information Systems presented on May 29, 2020. Title: Visual Metaphors on Album Covers: An Analysis into Graphic Design’s Effectiveness at Conveying Music Genres. Abstract approved:_____________________________________________________ Ryann Reynolds-McIlnay The rise of digital streaming has largely impacted the way the average listener consumes music. Consequentially, while the role of album art has evolved to meet the changes in music technology, it is hard to measure the effect of digital streaming on modern album art. This research seeks to determine whether or not graphic design still plays a role in marketing information about the music, such as its genre, to the consumer. It does so through two studies: 1. A computer visual analysis that measures color dominance of an image, and 2. A mixed-design lab experiment with volunteer participants who attempt to assess the genre of a given album. Findings from the first study show that color scheme models created from album samples cannot be used to predict the genre of an album. Further findings from the second theory show that consumers pay a significant amount of attention to album covers, enough to be able to correctly assess the genre of an album most of the time.
    [Show full text]
  • Rett News Reg
    www.rettuk.org issue: one/2016 Rett News reg. charity no: 1 137820 Support today, hope for tomorrow company reg: 07339522 IN THIS ISSUE Claiming ESA at 16 and Beyond Virgin London Marathon 2016 Gall Bladder Disease Our Rett UK Champions Rett News Contents Welcome from the CEO 1 Support Round Up – Transitions 2 Support Round Up – Regional Days 3 Support Round Up – Specialist Clinic Information 3 Claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) 5 Holiday Ideas 8 Fundraising 9 Fundraising Round Up – Thank You All 12 Fundraising – Virgin London Marathon 2016 14 Might You Be a Rett Champion? 17 Parallel London 18 Seasonal Scene Photo Competition Results 19 Research Article 20 Gall Bladder Disease in People with Rett Syndrome 21 An Ambassador's Story 22 300 Club Results 24 Memories – Victoria Benning IBC Make a Donation Form BC Rett UK, Langham House West, Mill Street, Luton LU1 2NA Tel: 01582 798910 · Direct Support Line: 01582 798911 Email: [email protected] · Website: www.rettuk.org HONORARY POSTS - Patrons: Ann Clwyd MP, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Gloria Hunniford, Jon Snow PRESIDENT - Yvonne Milne MBE · VICE-PRESIDENT - Lorna Jaffa TRUSTEES - Honorary Chairman: Lorna Jaffa ·Honorary Vice-Chairman: Hilary Truss Honorary Treasurer: Lucy Duncan · Tim Addison, Pauline Bardon, Michael Britten, Becky Gordon, Peter Oliver, Julie Owen, Robert Valentine, Amber Westmoreland, Susan Westmoreland RETT UK STAFF - CEO: Becky Jenner · Family Support Manager: Julie Benson Family Support Officer: Patrice Hosier · Office Manager: Donna Tinch · Bookkeeper: Becca Prince. Rett News is published quarterly by Rett UK Editor: Robert McKay · Designers: 1st Impression · Printer: Creamers Ltd The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or of Rett UK’s officers, members or Board of Trustees.
    [Show full text]
  • Adele: 25 Free
    FREE ADELE: 25 PDF Adele | 70 pages | 15 Feb 2016 | Music Sales Ltd | 9781783057719 | English | London, United Kingdom 25 | Adele Wiki | Fandom It seems like Adele just keeps getting better. Every track is great, so it's hard to pick favorites! Outstanding job Really there's not much more to say. This is a fabulous work of art and at the price you pay, through Walmart online, it's a steal! Each song is fantastic for so many reason's! I can def see what all the Adele: 25 was around this cd. Just love it. Esp song number 2. Adele: 25 at Walmart. Your email address will never be sold or distributed to a third party for any reason. Sorry, but we can't respond to individual comments. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Customer Care. Your feedback helps us make Walmart shopping better for millions of customers. Recent searches Clear All. Enter Location. Update location. Learn more. Report incorrect product information. Walmart Free Adele: 25 delivery. Pickup not available. Add to list. Add to registry. The cinematic video for quot;Helloquot; was shot in the countryside surrounding Montreal and is directed by the celebrated young Canadian director Xavier Dolan Mommy, Tom at the Farm. About This Item. We aim to show you accurate product information. Manufacturers, suppliers and Adele: 25 provide what you see here, Adele: 25 we have not verified it. See our disclaimer. Specifications Music Genre Rock. Customer Comments What others said when purchasing this item. I'm getting it for my mom. Angela, purchased on September 2, Write a review See all reviews Write a review.
    [Show full text]
  • Victory in Jeffery Eugenides' the Virgin Suicides Novel (1993)
    VICTORY IN JEFFERY EUGENIDES’ THE VIRGIN SUICIDES NOVEL (1993): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH Submitted as a Partial Fulfillments of the Requirement for Getting Bachelor Degree of Education in English Department by: Yudi Muhammad Ikhsan A320 110 130 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION SCHOOL OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF SURAKARTA 2016 i ii TESTIMONY I am as the researcher, signed on the statement below: Name : YUDI MUHAMMAD IKHSAN NIM : A320110130 Study Program : Department of English Education Tittle : VICTORY IN JEFFREY EUGENIDES’ THE VIRGIN SUICIDES NOVEL (1993): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH Herewith, I testify that in this publication article, there is no plagiarism of the previous literary work which has been raised to obtain bachelor degree on a university, nor there are opinions or masterpieces which have been written or published or others, except those which the writing are reffered in the manuscript and mentioned in literary review and bibliography. Hence, later, if it is proven that there are some untrue statements in this testimony, I will hold full responsibility. Surakarta, 30 October 2016 The Researcher Yudi Muhammad Ikhsan A320110130 iii VICTORY IN JEFFERY EUGENIDES’ THE VIRGIN SUICIDES NOVEL (1993): A PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH ABSTRACT The major problem in this study is how the major character proves his freedom and victory in The Virgin Suicides novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. This study focuses on the one of the major characters namely Lux Lisbon, using the meaning of psychoanalytic analysis. The object of this study is Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides novel published in 1993. The type of this study is descriptive qualitative. The primary data source is The Virgin Suicides itself and the secondary data sources are books or any information related to the practice of freedom, victory, frustration, and the moral problem that support the psychoanalytic approach by Sigmund Freud.
    [Show full text]
  • Torchwood Doctor Who: Wicked Sisters Big Finish
    ISSUE: 140 • OCTOBER 2020 WWW.BIGFINISH.COM THE TENTH DOCTOR AND RIVER SONG TOGETHER AGAIN, BUT IN WHAT ORDER? PLUS: BLAKE’S 7 | TORCHWOOD DOCTOR WHO: WICKED SISTERS BIG FINISH WE MAKE GREAT FULLCAST AUDIO WE LOVE STORIES! DRAMAS AND AUDIOBOOKS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO BUY ON CD AND OR ABOUT BIG FINISH DOWNLOAD Our audio productions are based on much-loved TV series like Doctor Who, Torchwood, WWW.BIGFINISH.COM Dark Shadows, Blake’s 7, The @BIGFINISH Avengers, The Prisoner, The THEBIGFINISH Omega Factor, Terrahawks, Captain Scarlet, Space: BIGFINISHPROD 1999 and Survivors, as well BIG-FINISH as classics such as HG Wells, BIGFINISHPROD Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, The Phantom of the SUBSCRIPTIONS Opera and Dorian Gray. If you subscribe to our Doctor We also produce original BIG FINISH APP Who The Monthly Adventures creations such as Graceless, The majority of Big Finish range, you get free audiobooks, Charlotte Pollard and The releases can be accessed on- PDFs of scripts, extra behind- Adventures of Bernice the-go via the Big Finish App, the-scenes material, a bonus Summereld, plus the Big available for both Apple and release, downloadable audio Finish Originals range featuring Android devices. readings of new short stories seven great new series: ATA and discounts. Girl, Cicero, Jeremiah Bourne in Time, Shilling & Sixpence Secure online ordering and Investigate, Blind Terror, details of all our products can Transference and The Human be found at: bgfn.sh/aboutBF Frontier. BIG FINISH WELL, THIS is rather exciting, isn’t it, more fantastic THE DIARY OF adventures with the Tenth Doctor and River Song! For many years script editor Matt Fitton and I have both dreamed of RIVER SONG hearing stories like this.
    [Show full text]
  • New Hybrid Connectivity Based Approaches
    Appendix C: Hamiltonian Paths with Double Pheromone Ant Colony System Optimisation This appendix contains the full list of topics of the hamiltonian path identified by the algorithm presented on the PhD thesis of David M.S. Rodrigues Reading the news through their structure: new hybrid connectivity based approaches. This appendix is available in digital format at http://www.davidrodrigues.org/pdfs/phd/ and on the accompanying CD delivered with the printed copy of the thesis. As news follow a hamiltonian path the first news in the following list is connected to the last news of the list to complete the path. • Eurozone debt crisis live: Italian senate passes austerity law | Business | guardian.co.uk • Greek leaders agree to unity government as future hangs in balance | World news | guardian.co.uk • Lucas Papademos to lead Greece’s interim coalition government | World news | guardian.co.uk • The euro will survive – and Britain will join, says Michael Heseltine | World news | guardian.co.uk • Eurozone bailout fund falls short of e1 trillion target | Business | The Guardian • Euro debt crisis: Greek PM George Papandreou to resign | World news | guardian.co.uk • Chaos in Greece amid battle to form a ’government of national salvation’ | World news | The Observer • Eurozone debt crisis: EU members line up to demand ECB intervention | Business | The Guardian 1 • Italy passes austerity measures – clearing way for Berlusconi to quit | Business | guardian.co.uk • European debt crisis live: pressure mounts as finance ministers meet | Business | guardian.co.uk
    [Show full text]
  • Teenage Flicks
    TEENAGE FLICKS Week 7: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun? - The young female in focus Ghost World Terry Zwigoff • Directed by Terry Zwigoff • Produced by Leanne Halfon, John Malkovich and Russell Smith • Screenplay by Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff • Based on Ghost World, the comic books by Daniel Clowes • Cinematography by Affonso Beato • Edited by Carole Kravetz-Aykanian and Michael R. Miller • Music by David Kitay • The story focuses on Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlet Johansen), two teenage outsiders in an unnamed American city • We begin when the pair graduate from high school, Enid though, is being made to take a summer school class before she can get her diploma • The two have decided not to go to college and they plan to get jobs and move in together • Enid and Rebecca live on the edge of ‘normal’ - though they need to get jobs and pay the rent etc. they lean towards the more unconventional side of live and delight in insulting the ‘norms’ in the community • Conversely, they (especially Enid) are drawn to the world of losers and more nerdy type characters • Zwigoff and Clowes asked Beato to try and recreate the comic book feel on screen The Look • The final version is over saturated to reflect the way that the modern world constantly tries to attract your attention • The minimal use of extras helped to create this sense of emptiness "I wanted to hug this movie. It takes such a risky journey and never steps wrong. It creates specific, original, believable, lovable characters, and meanders with them through their inconsolable days, never losing its sense of humor.” Roger Ebert “Unlike those shrill, hard-sell teen comedies on the other screens, Ghost World never becomes the kind of empty, defensive snark-fest that it targets.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading Resources E.O.C. Reading
    Reading Resources for E.O.C. Reading SOL Paired Passages New SOL Question Formats Reading and Thinking Resources Inference Comprehension Resources Literature Resources State Testing Resources Developed by High School Reading Specialists Loudoun County Public Schools March 2013 Page 1 of 245 Purpose This booklet is designed for LCPS High School English Teachers and Reading Specialists to use during classroom instruction as we prepare our 11th grade students for the upcoming spring E.O.C. Reading SOL. The Virginia Department of Education has changed the format and content of the E.O.C. Reading SOL test. The new test will contain paired passages and newly formatted questions. Students will be expected to read and to compare nonfiction, fiction, or a poem focused on the same topic. Students will answer questions about the paired passages and will be expected to answer questions comparing the content, style, theme, purpose, and intended audience for both passages. The paired passages in this booklet are literature selections from various state released E.O.C. Reading tests. The LCPS High School Reading Specialists wrote test questions for these passages using the new released VA DOE question formats. In addition, the High School Reading Specialists contributed helpful reading and literature tips that can be used during classroom instruction to prepare our students. High School Reading Specialists Loudoun County Public Schools Page 2 of 245 These Loudoun County Public High School Reading Specialists put forth time and effort to create this resource booklet for teachers and students. Dr. Dianne Kinkead, LCPS Reading Supervisor K-12 Jane Haugh, Ph.D.
    [Show full text]