Home » 2021 » October (Page 2)

Monthly Archives: October 2021

Blog Post 7-Tatianna Competello

The virtual field trip I decided to go on for this assignment is, a “Walk At Dawn crossing the Rovira cove from South to North.” This island is located in Catalonia, Spain. I have to say this video caught my interest right away because I love walking on the beach at night in the summer or being on vacation on an island. This video took me back to when I went on vacation in Saint Martin and I just loved everything about it. This video was so pretty and peaceful to watch. The whole video is based on taking a walk from one side of the island to the other. There is a 360-degree view of the video so it almost makes you feel like you are there in person. At the beginning of the video, it gives you a whole view of the beach from people’s houses. I have to say the houses that are shown in the video are huge and have such an amazing view to look at every day. It looks like there are condos or resorts on this beach as well for people who want to vacation there. The water in the video is so clear and blue, you can hear the waves crashing throughout the whole video and it is a great sound hearing the waves crash on the sand. I love how this video takes place at dawn therefore you have such a pretty sunset to watch throughout the video. You can slowly see the sun start to go down for the day and change colors. I love how the sun reflects on the water and makes the water look even prettier. Everything about the video is truly so relaxing and peaceful. As we know the video takes you from the north end of Rovira Cove to the south end and every minute of the video gets better and better. Towards the end of the video, it takes you away from the water and shows the audience these huge rocks with trees on top of them, and in the middle of these rocks, there is a path to get into the water. But to the way left of these rocks, it looks like there is a staircase that may lead up to the people’s homes or to a secret spot. These rocks almost look like mini mountains, and like I said in between these two rocks is a path that leads back out to the ocean, but it is the perfect path to lead out too. From what it looks like you can sit on top of these rocks when you get out of the water and just enjoy the view or relax. Then when we get to the very end of walking down the rock we have another 360-degree view of the island but from the other side this time, and it is just a beautiful view. In my opinion, the view is just breathtaking. Overall, I loved watching this video and I am glad I found it.

https://www.360cities.net/video/cove-rovira-platja-d-aro-girona-catalonia-spain-360vr
https://www.360cities.net/video/cove-rovira-platja-d-aro-girona-catalonia-spain-360vr
https://www.360cities.net/video/cove-rovira-platja-d-aro-girona-catalonia-spain-360vr

Mulan on Youtube

This week I tried to watch several different movies and You tube shows and came up with nothing. So I ventured into a movie on You tube named Mulan not the animated Disney movie that people would think but the live movie that flopped in theaters.

mulan-phone-wallpaper.jpg (1536×2732)

The setting is in southeast China and Imperial China. The landforms that you see are the dunes of the Taklamakan Desert. This movie is very similar to our country in many ways.

It takes place in a sandy dry vacant area. It was pretty windy out also. Like us, China is constantly training for war. Arranged marriages are in the U.S., but that is not as frequent as it is in China. Our servicemen have had to fight on dry empty lands in the middle of the night and at random times. We had civilian men fight before, as did they. Family members served together in China as they do here. They traveled on foot and by horses. The days were hot and the nights were cold in various parts of China.

There were minimal differences. Mulan restrained herself from harming the man who hit her brother; Men are called to protect the country. Women in that time were not allowed to serve in the armed forces. The parents of a daughter went and asked for their daughter to have an arranged marriage. From 1917 to 1918, women were allowed to join the armed forces.
The only difference is the language, eating habits, and nutrition. In this movie, the soldiers do not eat for days on days while our army is fully stocked. When the soldiers in China did eat, they ate with their hands, no silverware. Women in China today typically do not serve as we have here. China has dust storms where America does not. While in battle their main supply of food is bread, fruit, and vegetables. Our service men have rations that are packaged and remain fresh till after they were opened.

The characters valued their lives and the lives of their families so much they fought for freedom. For fun they would throw things at each other. At one point in the movie the fun was a way of celebrating. They had a fire, wine, and dancers. We do not have that here. My one complain the end of the movie was a cliffhanger. I would of liked to see them return home once again victorious in what they have accomplished but that did not happen. The environment seemed low income. It would of been nice to see them build their empire back up.

Mulan 2020 full Movie with English Subtitle – YouTube , This is a link to the movie

Roma

Roma is a movie that takes place in Mexico in the 1970s. It’s about a live in domestic worker who’s job it is to take care of a middle class family in the city. This movie recreates Mexico at the time very realistically; the way the buildings are, the city, the cars. Roma did a great job at depicting 20th century Mexico and their political and social environment.

One of the great things about this movie is the fact that it has actors from the country represented. Yalitza Aparicio Martínez who is the main actress was very refreshing to see on such a successful movie. A lot of the time in Hispanic movies and television, people with traditionally Central American features aren’t depicted on the screen. My husband is from Guatemala and even growing up, it was so rare for him to see people that look like him on the screen. The representation is well overdue and exciting to see.

Bollywood Cinema

Bollywood cinema often gets the reputation of ‘Hollywood knockoff’ or ‘low budget Hollywood’, but I beg to differ. One of my courses this semester is called “Bollywood Cinema: Past and Present” and when I saw the topic of this week’s blog post, I felt advantaged. I’ve watched and analyzed countless Bollywood movies because of this class. The film I choose to analyze is Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Produced by Yash Chopra and written by his son Aditya, DDLJ (as it’s shortened as) was released in 1995. This musical romance is a perfect example of a well-produced Bollywood film.

Art Print - Movie Bollywood Poster - DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE - A4,A3 |  eBay
Original 1995 poster, pictured is Simran and Raj, the two romantic protagonists

DDLJ takes place in London, and the two protagonists (pictured above) are graduating high school. Both have the idea to travel Europe before returning and moving on to their respective futures. The two coincidentally meet on their trip, and through multiple setbacks, are forced to spend the entire trip together. Raj, the typical player type, tries to get Simran to fall in love with him. Simran is initially annoyed with him, but realizes that he changed just for her, and had taken care of her throughout the trip. When Simran offers to take Raj to India, he rejects, as he felt his efforts weren’t enough. After being separated for a few days, they both realize their love for each other. This late ditch effort comes to late though, as Simran’s father prepares to send her to India for an arranged marriage. Raj somehow finds Simran in India, fights Simran’s father for her hand in marriage, but is not successful.

20YearsofDDLJ: 5 gorgeous locations the film was shot at - Travel News

Bollywood movies typically show cultural aspects like musical skits and scenes. DDLJ is no different, adding almost thirty minutes of musical scenes. These scenes always indicate turning points in the film. For example, a musical scene happens when Raj and Simran first meet, as well as when they first realize they are both in love.

The first analysis I made was the similarities DDLJ has to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Both show forbidden love stories, just have different cultural perspectives and references.

The wardrobe department for DDLJ didn’t fit the European setting, but rather showed traditional Indian garments, besides Raj’s character. Raj’s character went for a more sportier look, donning a leather jumper and jeans. His father also wore similar attire, but Simran’s father always appeared in tradition India garments. So did Simran’s mother and herself. The clothing of the different families showed their cultural and religious views without even stating them.

I really suggest watching DDLJ if you are looking to begin watching Bollywood films. It’s a great film to show you that the movie industries aren’t different at all. The ‘one-off’ reputation Bollywood gets is really a fallacy and these often under-budgeted films can be well produced and inviting.

(I did watch it for free on NJVID because I am taking a Bollywood Cinema course, but renting it is definitely worth it)

Blog Post 6- Subtitles- Tatianna Competello

This week for our assignment I found this show on youtube which is, SKY COURT. This show is the first episode of season one. The first episode is based on how Nikita Lazarev makes an offer to the woman he loves, but Veronika was widowed only two years ago. However, Nikita won’t get to hear the answer, because coming out of Veronica’s apartment, he will die, accidentally collapsing into the sewer. He arrives in the heavenly court, where everything is alike on earth: judges, prosecutors, and lawyers. Every human is judged on their first and last act.

This image is a cover photo for the show.

In this show, I noticed several things about the cultural aspect and the setting. To start, the Lawyers in the show, Andrei and Veniamin are friends who have much in common, but their work often puts them on different sides of the fence. In the episode, I watched a man named Nikita ask the women he loved to marry him, but Nikita never got to hear what his lover Veronika had for an answer because as soon as Nikita came out of her apartment that day, he was killed. The show starts off with everyone being in court just like we do here in America. This court session is about figuring out how Nikita died and possibly the people involved in his death. This show is based on Russian culture. I have noticed in this show in the courtroom there are beautiful paintings and furniture pieces in the background. Another cultural aspect that can be seen throughout the show is how the Russian cultural deals with death with people from their culture. During this court meeting, everyone gets together and decides where to send the soul of a person after death. When someone passes away in the Russian culture people who knew the person that passed away and gather an idea of where this person’s soul will go after their death. I am a Catholic Italian and in my culture when someone passes away we know that their soul went to heaven and we do not have to decide on a place where the person’s soul will rest. Instead of having a court meeting, we have a Funeral and a Wake to say our last goodbye and show respect one more time for the person that passes away. But in the Russian culture, they do things a little differently. Another cultural aspect I saw in this episode is that every human is judged on their first and last act. This means that the first and last act this person had before they pass away has a big determination in where their soul will go as well. In the show I noticed that all the man and women were always dressed very nice and professional. The women always had on appropriate outfits with their hair and makeup done, along with the men always being dressed in suits. I also noticed the court that was shown in the show was beautiful and done up so nice.

In this episode, I found some aspects that were similar and different to my culture, which is being Italian. To start something I found similar for both cultures is that we both take people’s deaths to court that could have possibly been done on purpose or a crime committed in order to kill the person. In both cultures, we just want to get down to the bottom line on why that person passed away and put the person in jail, and give them a consequence for being responsible for someone passing away. In this episode we see this activity happening at the beginning of the show. Another similarity I found is that friends in the episode get together and go out to eat or grab a drink with each other. The two lawyers were having a discussion about the death of Nikita. In America people like to get together with friends and go out to eat for multiple reasons. Based on what I watched from this show most people just traveled on foot and if not then then people had cars, and motorcycles. In the episode the type of food that was eaten is food from the Rusian culture. The meals that were served in the show was not named but I saw that people were always drinking tea in the show. In my culture we are not big on drinking tea, instead we like to drink coffee throughout the day, usuakky with cream and sugar in it. The first activity I saw that people did for fun was play Paintball games in person. Another activity I saw that people did for fun was go on waverunners and jetskies in the lake. I have to say my family and I own wavrunners and we use them mainly in the summer, they are so much fun to use! I also saw people went to the beach for fun as well. The weather for the most part always looked sunny and hot. For the most part in this show I did not see people having that much fun, for the most part people were just worried about figuring out the death and getting closure. I have to say this game is popular for people in America as well and could be a fun game. Another similarity I saw in the video is that when Nikita passed away in the show his girlfriend was very upset and grieving, but she had a friend by her side to comfort her. Another similarity I noticed is that usually the men smoke cigarettes often. People are always smoking in court and outside of court. I have realized that this takes the stress off of people. This is definitely similar to my culture people like to smoke as well constantly and usually smoke in areas they can such as casions. I would say the characters value love, friendship, and religion. Russians highly value stability and security. I can see this based on the eposide. I can tell in this video that Nikita was very cared for and people want to get to the bottom of what caused his death. Some paintings that I saw in the show were murals of people who were famous, or paintings of people that others knew personally.

Overall, I am glad I came across this TV show. I would say it is a drama film along with love being involved.

Subtitles in Shows

I, myself would watch any show that interests me and captures my attention. If the show’s trailer gets my attention from the start but isn’t in a language I understand I am sure to use subtitles to break down those language barriers. Subtitles gives me the opportunity to still be able to the visual of the show and having the show translated doesn’t take away from the art of the show.

La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) is a Netflix series that the language spoken by actors are speaking Spanish in the show but have English subtitles as well as it being voiced over in English. The show is about eight thieves take hostages and lock themselves in the Royal Mint of Spain as a criminal mastermind manipulates the police to carry out his plan. The way that show handles criminals is way different from how things would be carried out in the U.S, but then again the characters are all masterminds who outsmart higher authority. They are also constantly on the move and traveling to different parts of the world without getting caught. Yes there are felons but they manage to hide without being caught.

thanks for reading! 🙂

follow me on twitter @aaliyahmcruz

Seven Deadly Sins (Japanese)

When I watched this Japanese anime Seven Deadly Sins, they implemented a Christian religion with the Japanese culture for the story. When you try to match the subtitles with the movement of the characters’ lips, they don’t quite match up. The food has a mixup between American and Japanese cuisines. The locations of certain scenes mostly describe Japanese Geography.

The Seven Deadly Sins Grand Cross Cover - Anime Trending | Your Voice in  Anime!

Jane the Virgin

I am choosing to write about Jane the Virgin because it is a show that I am just starting to watch. So far, I can already tell how family-oriented they are. They show their Spanish culture a lot in the show by speaking Spanish and preparing Spanish meals for everyone. I think something that differs for their culture and mine is that their grandmother is very controlling and she pretty much runs the family, which is not how my grandmother is. The family is very close, a similarity I have with them because my family is also very close. I think this is a good show to watch if you want to learn more about the Spanish culture.

Jane the Virgin Cast Guide (and What They're Doing Now)

Julie Barron

Turkish show with English subtitles

by Shelby Garrison, Garris37

Turkish TV series

I watched a Turkish tv show called Love For Rent. Some of the characters in this series seem to be high class people in fancy houses with their own people that work for them. Other characters I believe are lower class people that work hard and I think they are located in a city in Turkey. This show seems to be in modern time. A lot of things are similar to my culture. The way they dress (upperclass and lower class) is the same way people in my culture dress. The transportation is the same, they have cars in the show. Food is the same also I saw fruit on the table for breakfast. The weather was the same as I would say New York. There is really no significant differences in culture. The main difference is obviously language. The people in the show are very passionate when they speak and very loud! Another difference I noticed is the music. The music in the show was Turkish music, and very different from the music I listen to. The rich characters valued money and reputation. There really wasn’t that much difference in culture I think. The landscapes where beautiful and they had a pretty body of water with boats in in, Which reminded me of views we have in the states.

An example of what the little marina in the show looked like (without te mountains in the back)

No Ridicule for Subtitles

Theatrical Poster of Ridicule (1996)

Netflix is known for its endless amounts of tv shows, movies, documentaries, etc., but what I never expected to find myself watching are programs in outside the english language. Granted, I have seen a couple shows and movies in high school for Spanish class, but never have I sought them out on my own volition. It started with Spain’s Money Heist, also known as La Casa de Papel, then arrived Squid Game from Korea, which has taken the world by storm as of recent. Both shows are in their native language, with english subtitles on screen. I thought it would bother me at first, but after watching both shows, the subtitles honestly feel natural, I don’t complain about having to read and hear.

Snapshot of Squid Game (Left) & Money Heist (Right)

My friend had to watch a film for her History of Paris class, and it so happened to be in French with English subtitles. The timing could not be any better, and I figured it would be a better choice as I have never heard of it before, so I went into the movie with no expectations.

Right off the bat, the movie showed an invalid older person being purposefully urinated on by one of the characters, with the urinator telling a nurse the old man had an accident. I had never seen that displayed before on film, but it showed me how French in the 18th century would try to ruin one’s honor. The film is about reputation, something one needs in order to have any sort of chance at being successful in Versailles’ social circle. Having an accident on oneself is certainly embarrassing, so this opening seen is just par for the course as to what people will do to advance their own worth.

With the movie being set in the 18th century, things were obviously very different back then compared to now. They took horses, everywhere, wore large white wigs, and everyone had on fancy clothing like dresses or suits. Now we have roads, better transport, and fashion is for everyone. This was the norm in Versailles, and it played an essential part in the social game. The rich hung out in a place they called “court”, where the main character goes to in order to get a sponsor for his drainage project. He is from the swamps and is attacked in the city as soon as he arrives, but is taken in by the local doctor who helps him not only get better, but also teaches him how to thrive in Versailles’ elite society. One thing I noticed was that mugging is still common today, except it was way more dangerous back then as there was not as much medical help as there was today.

The fashion “norm” for court

The most noticeable cultural difference was the prevalence of sarcasm which they all referred to as “wit”. The main character, Ponceludon, had to use this in order to secure funding for his project. This involved him hanging around with the King, Queen, and other nobles, and taking personal digs at those around to impress them. Most of the time, they were all at dinner or some sort of meal, and they would bounce sarcastic comments off each other in hopes of gaining the most laughter from the audience. Towards the end of the film, the main adversary to Ponceludon throws the shoe of another man into the fireplace while he was sleeping. The man awakens to find a shoe missing, which meant he was not allowed to enter the court. With no shot at getting royal backing for his own project, he proceeds to hang himself. This spoke volumes as to just how much reputation mattered in society, it was literally life or death. Nowadays, people recieve funding by showcasing data and statistics, not by trying to be witty.

Another underlying factor in this movie was the fact that in order to enter the court, one must prove their Lord lineage. If one could not, they were not permitted to enter the court. In today’s society, anyone has the space to talk and present an idea, especially one that benefits a community. Since wealth is also more spread out, the community itself can raise money, rather than having to resort to lobbying the government or another source of money.

All in all it was a great film, here is a link I have the movie. Be careful of the ads, as since it is a free website they are quite prevalent.