Smooth Talk

Plot:
In the movie, Smooth Talk, we see Connie and her friends. She's the same peppy, blonde haired girl that was described in the short story, Where are you going, Where have you been?. The only thing different is that she has short blonde hair in the movie. She has the same type of attitude towards her appearance. She has one look at home and another at the mall. She goes out of her house looking casual and not dressed up at all. That is until her and her friends take off the clothes, put on new ones and put make up on themselves to make them seem older than 15. This scene just describes how Connie acts throughout the whole movie. She's an outgoing 15 year old girl soaking up the summer, instead of going out on school nights.

Point of View:
Here the movie is just like the short story. We see everything Connie does, and how she reacts to it. This way the audience can see how and why the family acts the way they do towards Connie. In the short story, they make her seem like she is just an outgoing teenage girl. In the movie though, we see that Connie is very obsessed with her looks and will get angry if her mother asks her  to do anything around the house.

Characterization:
Connie is still portrayed as a young, outgoing 15 year old that is a little too worried about her looks. She doesn't know how to handle on the attention she gets from other guys, but she loves it, and that isn't a good thing. If she were to act differently though, the story would have a totally different ending. She doesn't think about the consequences of her actions, and sometimes just acts on instinct which can get her in trouble.

Setting:
The setting is during the 80's which is when the movie was made, and the short story seems to be in that same time frame. This makes the story because they call it a "hamburger joint" and the mall and clothes they wear are also important to the story. The setting is also set in the summer time, and this is relevant because thats when all the kids go out and have fun. This is where Connie gets herself in trouble with Arnold Friend, who is also out looking for some fun.

Theme:


From watching the movie and reading the short story, I see a new  theme. In the short story, I never really thought Connie deserved all the hatred and disappointment from her mother and sister,  but now the movie has made me think otherwise. Connie is very rude to her mother but then after leaving with Arnold Friend, she turns around and apologizes to her family. I think a key theme is karma, what goes around comes around kind of deal. She was so rude and nasty to her mother that it came around when Arnold came to take her for a ride. No one really knows what happened to her, only that she came home a completely different person. Also another theme is not everything is what it seems. Connie "hooks-up" with guy after guy because they seem like good guys. That's not the case for Arnold. He seems like a good guy, but when he talks to Connie at her house forcing her to come take a ride with him, we see a dark side to him.

below is a scene from "Smooth Talk". Enjoy! :)

Laura Dern in "Smooth Talk" (1986)

where are you going, where have you been?

Plot:


In the story, Where are you going, Where have you been, is set in a regular town. In this town, Connie goes to high school and goes out on weeknights with her friends to hang out with boys. The city is where she wants to be, her home is a different story. On the outside, and from anyone's point of view, her house seems nice and normal. Connie would rather be anywhere but at home. " Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home:" The plots structure is somewhat random. First Connie is at school, then out late at night, then back at home where she hardly talks to anyone. It has a very fast pace, but still organized and clear about where and what Connie is doing.

Point of View: 

The story is told from third person omniscient. We get to view not only what is happening on the outside, but also how Connie is feeling throughout the story. We get every view of the entire story, which gets the reader more involved.  We get to know how she feels about her sisters, her mom, the boys she hangs out with and Arnold Friend. "She felt her pounding heart. Her hand seemed to enclose it. She thought for the first time in her life that it was nothing that was hers, that belonged to her, but just pounding, living thing inside this body that wasn't really hers either." This is how the author engages the readers. By feeling what shes feeling and also seeing everything around the character, it puts us there. 

Characterization:

There are many characters throughout the story. Here we meet Connie's mother who is always nagging on her, or negative. "Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you're so pretty?" Her father though is nothing like her mother. He hardly speaks to the family, and sometimes hardly even looks at Connie. It's like she's invisible to him. June is Connie's older sister. She's the favored one of the family, and is nothing like Connie at all. "Why don't you keep your room clean like you sister? How've you got your hair fixed - what the hell stink? Hair spray? you don't see you sister using that junk." Then there's Connie." She was fifteen and she had quick nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was alright." At the end of story we meet Arnold Friend. Who we come to find out just wants Connie, and he's up to no good. He says he's eighteen, but Connie sees that he's drunk and is wearing makeup to cover up his old face. "She watched this smile come, awkward as if he was smiling from inside a mask. his whole face was a mask, she thought wildly, tanned down to his throat but then running out as if he had plastered makeup on his face but forgotten about his throat."

Setting:

Here the story is set in a regular town with regular people. Connie goes to school and hangs out with her friends in the city. "She was a secretary in the high school Connie attended ..."(249). "Sometimes they did go shopping or to a movie, but sometimes they went across the highway, ducking fast across the busy road, to a drive-in restaurant where the older kids hung out"(251). When Connie's not at school or in the city, she's at home where she doesn't want to be. " (253) the backyard ran off into weeds and a fence like line of trees and behind it the shy was perfectly blue and still." 

Theme:

Here the theme is still unclear to me, but there is something that I got out of it. From what was told in the story, the theme is nothing is like what it seems. Connie goes out in a boys car and having a good time. When a man in the car next to her says "'Gonna gee you, baby'" (252), Connie doesn't realize it, but this man would soon change her life forever. When he arrives at her house, and says everything he knows about her, her  family, her friends, she starts to worry and realizes that this isn't another high school boy hitting on her. That's when she realizes shes's in trouble. Also another theme in this could be love even if it doesn't show. Arnold kept saying if you get your family involved, or wait long enough to come with him, she would be sorry. At the end she eventually steps outside and walks toward the man. I think she did it for her family, that way she wouldn't be a problem for them anymore. 

click this to read the short story :)

Fire and Ice

The sonnet I chose is "Sonnet 30". It it written by Edmund Spenser who is known as one of the greatest writers of all time. The speaker in this sonnet has a hot passion for his love. The problem is that everything he does, turns her more cold. His hot desire for her does not melt her cold heart like fire should. He can not get through to her, and it confuses him. He thinks that fire would melt ice, or at least her cold heart would put out his fire, but it does neither. He states: "Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind that it can alter all the course of kind." Here he is saying that love can make you do crazy things, and crazier things can happen. 

I honestly do not believe in Edmund Spenser's message. Here he is saying that love makes you do crazy things, which I believe, but I do not believe it is the reason she keeps rejecting him. I honestly think it is somewhat creepy that he keeps trying to pursue in his "hot desire" for her even though she keeps rejecting him. You would think after the first few times a guy would get a hint, but here he is just oblivious to the fact that this girl does not have any interest in him. I have been in this position before, and if a girl does not like you , she will turn away from you completely and turn cold. A girl may play hard to get, but will not persistently shoot a guy down. I would just get weirded out and start to hate the guy if he would not start backing off. 

This video is a song written by Elton John. It is call "When a Woman Doesn't Want You." :) 

Modern Ballad

The song I chose that represents a modern ballad  is called "Love Me Tender", by Norah Jones. This song represents a ballad in many ways. For example, it portrays unrequited love because it seems as though she will not be satisfied until she has her love all to herself. The song, "Love me Tender" has many folk characteristics. The tune of the song has a simple but strong beat that has an uncomplicated rhyme. She simply sings how her love makes her feel and does not make it complicated. Also in the song, there are a lot of verses of refrains repeated through out. The phrases " love me tender, love me sweet', and "for, my darling I love you and always will" are repeated through out the multiple times. It emphasizes how she feels about her love, and what she wants in return. These are some of the ways the song "Love Me Tender" qualifies as a ballad. 

"Love Me Tender" : Norah Jones 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDWO8Q55T6k



Love me tender, love me sweet
Never let me go
You have made my life complete
And I love you so

Love me tender, love me true
All my dreams fulfill
For, my darling I love you
And I always will.

Love me tender, love me dear
Tell me you are mine
I'll be yours through all the years
'Till the end of time

Love me tender, love me true
All my dreams fulfill
For, my darling I love you
And I always will

Love me tender, love me true
All my dreams fulfill
For, my darling I love you
And I always will
Always will 

My Heroes

Literary Hero

The Great Marlin 

My literary hero has to be Marlin from "Finding Nemo". No, he doesn't have any "super powers", but what he does have is the power of love. He's a great dad because he never gives up on finding his son, Nemo. Marlin is willing to do what ever it takes to finally have his son back home with him. He swims with sharks, saves his friend from jellyfish, and even rides in a whale's mouth! He goes through all these risky decisions just so he can have his son back home. 

my dad and brother

Personal Hero

For my personal hero, I chose my dad. My dad risks his life. Being a firefighter has its risks, but my dad loves his job and helping others. He never second guesses about going to work or even if he 'll be home the next day to see us. The fact that he is willing to risk his life for people he doesn't even know makes him a hero in my eyes. 

Popular Hero

soldiers overseas 

My popular hero would have to be the American soldiers. What do they do that doesn't make them a hero? They risk their lives literally everyday so that we may live a better life. They serve millions of people without even thinking twice about it. Someone who is willing to put their life on the line for someone else is definitely a hero. That's why I chose the soldiers over seas for my popular hero. I may not know them, but they sure make me look up to them, and thankful that they're here.