CubeRootOfPi

76 posts
Food hussy

Two More Archetypes of Modern Cinema

A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis noted that though “[the archetypes] populating contemporary movies don’t line up with reality, … they offer clues about what the [people] of our dreams look like, or at least what moviemakers are trying to sell us.” Though certain character tropes have been oft referenced and analyzed (e.g. sassy black and/or gay friend, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the White Savior, damsel in distress, the Nice Guy™), there are other ones out there! Here are two new (or at least lesser known) ones to consider:

Continue reading

Ut male iudicari*

Before Phil Jackson ranted about bogus calls, before Sir Alex Ferguson got another five match ban for his outbursts and before Didler Drogba screamed into television cameras about a “motherfucking disgrace,” a Roman gladiator named Diodorus complained how a referee’s bad call cost him the match – on his epitaph.

Most gladiatorial epitaphs include details of the deceased’s professional life. This particlular tombstone was unusual, according to Professor Michael Carter of Brock University, because it told a story. Continue reading

Angel Island: The Guardian of the Western Gate

They huddled together on large steamboats, “eating wind and tasting waves” for nearly three weeks, before they finally saw land. They had scraped and borrowed funds to get on those boats to escape economic and political economic instability and to make a better life for their families back home. Many of them dreamed of Gam Saan, or Gold Mountain, thinking that this new land was filled with golden fields and rivers. But most would end up on a goldless, small island off the San Francisco Bay – Angel Island. Continue reading