FILM REVIEW

DEAD MAN A film Review Starring Jonny Depp (as William Blake) and Gary Farmer (as Nobody), Dead Man is a black and white Western written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film was released in 1996 , won two awards ( the Screen International Award for best director, and the NYFCC Award for the best cinematography ) and was nominated for another five. The original language is English. Plot: William Blake, a neat and tidy accountant, is traveling from Cleveland, the east, to the town of Machine in the west via train. He has been promised a job in the Dickinson Metalworks, but is two months late, and the job has gone to someone else, and Mr. Dickinson is certainly not someone he can talk to about his problem. Frustrated, penniless and not knowing what to do, he drifts away to a bar, where he meets one of the only beauties that land has to offer; Thel and her paper flowers. She takes him to her room, and they are interrupted in the morning by her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be Mr. Dickinson’s son. Aiming to shoot at Blake, he accidentally kills Thel, and so Blake kills him and immediately runs away. An Indian named Nobody finds him injured, tries to cure him, and becomes his companion through the rest of the film. Meanwhile three bounty hunters are hired by Mr. Dickinson to find or kill Blake for killing Charlie and his fiancé, but he seems more interested about finding his stolen horse and its thief than the murderer of his son. The rest of the film deals with Blake and Nobody going around in the wilderness. Nobody is sure that he has found William Blake, the poet. He tells him that he is a dead man, and tries to equip him with the proper means of getting to the world of spirits, where “everyone comes from and goes back to”. He places him in a boat (made for this special purpose), and sheds one or two tears, before he is killed by the only surviving bounty hunter (who has shot one of his companions and eaten the other one). Review: Dead Man is the story of the differences between the East and the West. You get a hint of this in the long (maybe too long) train scene. The appearance of the people changes from finely dressed ones to gabby untidy ones. And the ugly reality of what the west really is, is thrown into your face when Blake enters the city. The people, streets, looks, workers, head of factory…, everything is different from where Blake comes from. But the film seems to be trying to say that the people in the west can’t be blamed for harshness and cruelty, this is the only way of survival. And so we see Blake change from a polite innocent young man (he has to shoot three times at Charlie before eventually killing him) to an expert killer. The white paper flowers being stamped over in the mud seem to indicate that Blake’s innocence is destroyed for ever, and that he is will never have a way back. Dead Man is also the story of Indian mysticism. In the beginning of their encounter Blake doesn’t understand what Nobody says and does, but gradually starts to get interested. He is left alone by nobody, so he can continue the journey on his own, and start having his own visions. He does see strange things, but that might be because Nobody has taken away his glasses! After finding Nobody again, Blake has more confidence in him, and doesn’t question him that much. Another important feature of the film is the way it depicts Indians. Nobody is an educated Indian who is familiar with his own traditions and rituals as well (that’s why he’s called Nobody, his neither a full Indian nor a full European). He is Blake’s guide through his difficult journey, and gets him ready for his death, or trip to the other world. This is the obvious part, but there are other things to be pointed out about him. Nobody either believes in reincarnation, or is stupid enough to believe that his companion is actually the 18th century English poet, saying:” it’s so strange that you don’t remember any of your poetry”. He is helping Blake, but favors his own interests when he has to choose. He simply “trades” Blake’s glasses, knowing how much he is in need of them, and I wont believe that he did his because Blake would “see more clearly without them”! Nobody is helping Blake prepare for his important journey to the other world, helping him to purify his soul through fasting and seeing visions, but on the other hand he is the one who leads Blake into more murder; he insists that Blake go to the three homosexuals, he calmly kills the first one of them, and so Blake is forced into his second murder by killing the second one, and this is the last time he is nervous about such an act. Nobody seems satisfied when Blake kills the missioner that had offended him, he seems satisfied whenever Blake kills a “stupid white man”. Blake has hopes that Nobody will somehow help him survive, but all he does is to help him die. Well of course all this depends on one’s viewpoint as well, and maybe some information about Indian rituals and beliefs is needed to understand things better. Some reviewers have claimed that Jarmucsh hasn’t been successful in conveying his message to his audience. I accept this argument, a lot of religious and mystic symbols are mixed up with shocking violence, but one doesn’t get what the director is really after in the end. One thing for sure, Blake doesn’t choose his fate, everything is pre-determined, he doesn’t choose to become a poet who Writes with blood, he only chose to sit in that train, and so the train fireman is able to predict everything, hell, grave, and the boat that takes Blake to his final destination. The movie is about death; the unchangeable fate, and so is in black and white. The music, composed by Billy Boy, the good selection of actors (specially Gary Farmer), and the frequent surprising, violent and shocking scenes manage to keep the movie from becoming dull. Dead Man is a good film if you want to learn about what the west looked like in the 19th century, but it won’t be able to convey any special philosophical or religious message.

The Same America

 

 

"A world of advise on foreign policy" is finding its way to Obama and his advisors. "The Russians want him to hold off on the installation of a missile defense shield in Poland. The Europeans want him to renounce the idea of “regime change” when it comes to Iran, while the Israelis want to be sure he does not give Iran a pass when it comes to nuclear weapons.

Oh, and let’s not forget the Taliban, which issued a statement this week urging him to “put an end to all the policies being followed by his Opposition Party, the Republicans, and pull out U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.”

At the end of president Bush's second term in office, the Americans and the  world were fed up with his foreign and domestic policy. Obama was wise enough to understand this, and use it to win the elections. He promised change to the whole world, and now the whole world expect to see this change. Up to Election Day change has been for Obama, but what if he fails to accomplish such a promise? 

There seem to be a number of problems in Obama's way. First of all, everyone understands and defines change in their own way. Everyone has their own expectations, and sometimes these expectations sharply contradict. The Iranian president wrote a congratulating letter to Obama (a unique act that wasn't represented in the American media as it ought to) and listed the Iranian expectations. But " Israel has been pushing, too. A senior Israeli official said that the Israeli government is in touch with Mr. Obama’s close aides, in particular with Dennis B. Ross, President Clinton’s former envoy to the Middle East. “For us, it’s Iran,” the official said, adding that Israel wants to make sure that Mr. Obama will tackle the Iran issue as soon as he takes office. “We can’t afford a vacuum.”

How is the future president going to keep both sides satisfied? It looks like a really difficult task, if not an impossible one.

 The second problem is that the image people have of change in their minds is a bit too large. Obama will not be able to miraculously solve all the financial problems, and he won't pull out all American troops from Iraq and Afghanistan (and other places), and so bring peace to the whole world. The world has to bear in mind that no revolution has taken place in the states, this is the same America, only with a different president. 

A World of Advice for Obama on Foreign Policy, By HELENE COOPER, New York Times

Published: November 13, 2008

 

 

 

Video Conference With The University of Denver

Our class, together with two other American Studies classes from the Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, had a session of video conferencing with the University of Denver on Election Day. They were a media studies class, concentrating on the media coverage of the American elections. The Iranian students had a lot of questions to ask about the candidates, the election system in the States, and the way the American media cover the event. The Denver students were interested about the Iranian election process and the way it is reflected in Iranian media. The video conference was a good chance for both groups to understand events in their own context and environment, instead of just relying on tools like the web and the media. I myself found it interesting that all members of the Denver class were going to vote, some had even voted before coming to class (which started around 8:30 in the morning). And also the reasons they had for voting for each of the two candidates were interesting to hear as well. The Denver group said they would put their comments about the session on: http://GlobalStudentsOnline.Net And the Iranian group will put their comments on this blog.

The Final Days

In just a few days the American nation will make the big decision about its future, whether they need a big “ change”, or if they want the Republicans to go on ruling the country. The polls show Obama to be ahead, some believe everything to be clear, he will win the presidency and become the nation’s first non white president. But can polls really predict what will happen on Tuesday? : “ Patrick Campbell worries Barack Obama will raise his taxes but thinks John McCain will send people off to war. He says that leaves him leaning toward Obama ... maybe. "I'm split right down the middle," said the 50-year-old Air Force Reserve technician from Amherst, N.Y. "Each one has things that are good for me and things that are bad for me. And people like me." With the sand in the 2008 campaign hourglass about depleted, Campbell is part of a stubborn wedge of people who, somehow, are still making up their minds about who should be president. One in seven, or 14 percent, can't decide or back a candidate but might switch, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll of likely voters released Friday. Who are they? They look a lot like the voters who've already locked onto a candidate, though they're more likely to be white and less likely to be liberal. And they disproportionately backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed run for the Democratic nomination.” Can these people change everything? Are they the ones who will determine the final result? It seems as if Obama has tried to target this important, undecided group in his recent infomercial. Although some have called it an overkill, the Democrats sound as if they know what they’re doing: “Jim Jordan, a Democratic strategist, says the broadcast is timed to sway late breaking, undecided voters who can often tighten or determine a close race in the final days. “There is a discrete segment of the electorate, primarily female, who are late deciders. They care about policy and elections, but they are very, very busy. They actively tune it out until the last week or ten days. Then they go and seek and acquire information,” he says.” But the Democrats can’t be too sure about their victory, the Republicans still have hopes, and believe that the polls are misleading. The American political history shows that something new can come up even in the final days and change the tide. Some kind of a controversial issue about Obama’s personal life would be really helpful for the Republican camp: “Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned. Zeituni Onyango, 56, referred to as "Aunti Zeituni" in Obama's memoir, was instructed to leave the United States by a U.S. immigration judge who denied her asylum request, a person familiar with the matter told the AP late Friday. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because no one was authorized to discuss Onyango's case. Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one of them a federal law enforcment official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.” From the beginning of the presidential campaign, Obama’s color, origins, religion, and everything related to his Kenyan father, have been used to stop him from entering the White House as US president. It seems that even in the final days, the same issues are going to his main obstacle. Poll: One in seven voters still persuadable By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer Obama infomercial: Smart or overkill? Jeanne Cummings, POLITICO AP: Obama aunt from Kenya living in US illegally By EILEEN SULLIVAN and ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writers

Globalization, America and the World

This is the 21st century, the age of Globalization, the age of shrinking distances and growing communication. The advancements in information and communication technology ( ICT) have really changed the American lifestyle and their interpretation of the world. John Opie, author of Virtual America: Sleepwalking through Paradise , categorizes the nature that Americans interact with into three group: First Nature, which is the natural world, Second Nature, metropolitan infrastructure/built environment, and Third Nature, virtual reality in cyberspace. “He also explores how Americans have historically dreamed about a better life in daily, ordinary existence and then fulfilled it through the Engineered America of their built environment, the Consumer America of material well-being, and the Triumphal America of their conviction that they are the world’s exceptional model. But these dream worlds have also encouraged placelessness and thus indifference to their dwelling in home ground.” Information technology and the virtual world has not only caused the Third Nature and sense of placelessness, but has also had its effects on the American military system. It has provided the enemies of America with more achievable weapons. The fact is that IT is revolutionizing today’s warfare, just as new weaponry and modern combat did in the first World War. America’s leading edge in information technology has made it more vulnerable to cyber-attack. This is a good sign to weaker enemies who can’t keep up with the superpower in the real world, they turn to “"asymmetrical warfare," which the Pentagon characterizes as "countering an adversary's strengths by focusing on its weaknesses"”. U.S. defense plans have not caught up with the new threats of computer warfare. The virtual world also affects the world of politics in America. It is said that the internet has increased the rate and quantity of the old tradition of mudslinging in the American political system. The political information warfare is much easier than the military one, because “it doesn’t take a computer hacker to create, distribute, and comment on disinformation. Technologies like YouTube have made gaffs and inappropriateness permanent and viral. For example, anyone interested in America’s potential executive officer’s previous and current religious leadership can watch 30 second clips Obama’s ex-pastor or Palin’s current church ad nauseum. Combatting Internet-spread disinformation is challenging as well. While the swift-boat crew of 2004 can easily be tracked down, this is not true of disinformation efforts spread on the Internet, such as the “Obama is a Muslum”" meme. It took a researcher at Princeton’s IAS to track down the root of the e-mail.” As some continue to consider Globalization as the equivalent to Americanization, it is easily seen that at least one function of this phenomenon is the enabling of otherwise powerless people and groups to have their special effect on the world. As John Opie says, people pay less attention to the real world, and take their political struggles and even their battles to the virtual world. So the most successful people and governments in today’s Globalizing world are the ones who spend more time and money on their advancement in ICT. 1University of Nebraska Press: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/ Virtual Defense, James Adams, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1977

AMERICAN BOOKS

Extreme Measures: A Thriller

 When studying a country, its culture, politics, and the way its people think, it would be very useful to take a look at the books those people read. This is why this weblog will be taking a look at the latest books that are published in the U.S. the books will be introduced and talked about in a separate page of this blog, this address: http://ekamericanstudies.blogfa.com/page/books.aspx

 A link to this part is provided in the “links” section. This month’s book is “Extreme Measures: A Thriller” by Vince Flynn.

Which Man Will Win

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The economic crisis in America has taken Barack Obama to the lead, and some believe that the Republicans already sound as losers. But of course McCain will not give up his effort for entering the White House so early: “ Sen. John McCain acknowledged the nation's economic woes have hurt his presidential campaign and took aim at Democratic rival Barack Obama, promising to "whip his you-know-what" in the final debate. The Republican presidential candidate made the remark to volunteers during a brief visit to his Virginia campaign headquarters in Arlington. "After I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we're going to be going out 24/7," McCain told campaign workers. The candidates face each other for a third and final debate Wednesday at Hofstra University on Long Island. "We're a couple points down, OK, nationally, but we're right in this game," McCain said. "The economy has hurt us a little bit in the last week or two, but in the last few days we've seen it come back up." "I respect Senator Obama. We will conduct a respectful race and we will make sure everybody else does, too," McCain said, with his wife, Cindy, at his side. "That's important, but there are stark differences between us ” the difference between big and small government, between cutting taxes and raising them and certainly a big difference on who is most prepared to be commander in chief." ” 1 The first two issues, the size of the government and taxes, don’t seem that effective in the last days, and people are quite sure that Obama will be more successful in handling the economic crisis. But the third element McCain points out, “ who is most prepared to be commander in chief ” sounds more important. It seems as if the only factor Republicans can count on for getting out of this state, is that white voters decide that a black man is not “ the most prepared commander in chief ” , and that he can not be relied on because he has something to do with terrorists and Arabs. Republicans have to enforce these ideas in order to overcome the leading Obama, this might be the only way.

 McCain vows to 'whip' Obama in final debate, By LORRAINE WOELLERTand KRISTEN JENSEN Monday, October 13, 2008, NorthJersey.com

Importance of Race in American Politics

 

 

 

 

 

Less than a month to the American presidential elections, and still no one can predict thewinner of the big race. The world of politics is a strange one in the U.S, stranger than anywhere else in the world. Each candidate takes the lead depending on the issue that is most important to the American minds at the time, and this important issue can change so many times during the whole campaign, and with it changes the person who has the biggest chance to get into the White House. At the beginning of the campaign season, the important issue was the war on terror: how should this war go on? How and when will the American presence end? Will other countries like Iran be included? And many other questions that McCain and Obama had to answer. The recent financial crisis changed everything, people forgot about terrorism and the Middle East, and things went better for Obama. Many consider him to be the winner, but who knows, in the strange world of American politics, anything could come up and change the tide in the remaining days. One important factor that is only talked about unofficially, but may have important effect on the final results, is “the issue of race”. Obama is different, he is black, and has had an Islamic middle name ( Hussain). These can be a very vital problem for a presidential campaign, but how come Obama is still winning? Ken Whitehouse, the writer of an article entitled “ Will race enter the race?” believes the reason to be the fact that Obama tries to divert the attention of his audience from racial matters, by displaying his abilities as an American person, not a black man. Whitehouse believes this to be Hilary Clinton’s mistake: “When Clinton was still in the race, whether she wanted it to be an issue or not, her supporters latched on to — and promoted — what they felt was the need for a woman to be in the White House. While it did get her support, it also made her the “female candidate.” In other words, her campaign became a “cause” to elect a woman, not an effort to elect Hillary as a person. While many Clinton supporters still will argue that she was more qualified to be president than McCain or Obama, the fact is that the Clinton campaign didn’t do enough to show other reasons to vote for her. Obama, in the meantime, kept hammering away and took steps not to become “the black guy” in the race.” No matter how well Obama “ plays the game”, no one can be sure of his victory. There are a lot of voters who don’t care or think about his political ideas.The fact that he’s black is enough for them. They make up their minds the moment they see him and how he looks. This year’s presidential elections and its results can be looked upon as a test that helps us estimate the amount of importance race has on how the American nation thinks in the 21st century.

Economic Hurricane: A Different Perspective

 

   

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These days the financial crisis in America is the most important story you can read and hear about in the newspapers, websites and documentaries. It’s made everyone forget about the Texas-sized hurricane, Ike. It was named by the Former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan as a “once-in-a-century type of financial crisis.” Writers have different opinions about the crisis, how it came to being, how and where it’s going to spread, and how (or if) it could be solved. But among others, I found one perspective quite interesting, one that related this crisis to other disasters concerning the U.S, asked “What’s behind the succession of catastrophic events that has recently pounded the United States?”, and gave unusual solutions to the problem: “Remarkably, at the same time, America was also weathering a number of other stormy developments. That very week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates presided over a ceremony that transferred command of U.S. forces in Iraq from Gen. David Petraeus to Gen. Ray Odierno. A cloud of uncertainty, however, still hovers over the next phase of America’s mission in Iraq. For several months now, U.S.-Iraqi negotiations have bogged down over the role America will play in Iraq after the UN mandate expires in December. Regular Trumpet readers know where this is headed. As we have repeatedly forecasted, Iran will inevitably wrest control of Iraq from the U.S. In fact, that process is now well under way. In Afghanistan, the United States faces an increasingly violent insurgency and rising casualties. Deaths among U.S. forces in Afghanistan are at the highest level since the Taliban was toppled in 2001. Some military officials have even indicated that America is losing the battle for Afghanistan. The situation on the ground is further complicated by the cross-border attacks from jihadist groups that then seek refuge in neighboring Pakistan. The crisis in Pakistan is actually a terrorist storm largely of America’s making. Though U.S. leaders even very recently called former President Pervez Musharraf a “friend” who made Pakistan an “extremely important ally in the war on terror,” they inexplicably arm-twisted him into relinquishing his military control and holding democratic elections. Unsurprisingly in a country that has the second-largest Islamic population in the world, the ensuing election brought leaders into power who are proving themselves far more hostile to America’s influence. Pakistan has quickly gone from being an important ally against terror to being a central front in the war on terror! All of this is playing out exactly as we said it would happen in January. Then there’s Tehran’s involvement. Although it is not often acknowledged in Washington, jihadists and weaponry are also pouring into Afghanistan from the Islamic Republic of Iran. The fact that Shia Iran is supplying Taliban extremists, who are Sunni, flies in the face of conventional wisdom, which teaches us that Sunni and Shia don’t mix. Yet, even the 9/11 Commission concluded in 2004 that there was “strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers.” When it comes to knocking out the United States, annihilating Israel and pushing hard against the European king of the north, Iran is quite happy to form strategic alliances with Sunni jihadist organizations. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the head of the terrorist snake—the biblically prophesied king of the south. It’s the next disaster looming on the horizon. The fact that all these troubles are hitting in such rapid succession is no coincidence. Yes, America, Britain and Israel are past the point of no return. The pace of catastrophic events will continue to accelerate. In this issue of the Trumpet, we look at the most dramatic of these most recent events and show you how they are fulfilling exactly what God has prophesied for the latter-day descendants of ancient Israel. The good news is, those same prophecies show where these events are leading. All signs indicate that we are now very near to the return of Jesus Christ to this Earth as King of kings!” The same writer, in a different article points to the crisis as a sign of the collapse of the American ( or Anglo-Saxonian) empire, and the rise of the European one: “God prophesied millennia ago that the United States and Britain—the modern-day recipients of the birthright blessings promised to ancient Israel’s descendants—would both fall together. This is why we have consistently said that Britain will soon be escorted out of the European Union. Furthermore, using the Bible as our guide, we have often predicted that the collapse of the Anglo-Saxon monetary system would serve as a catalyst for the European superpower to quickly pull together economically, politically, religiously and militarily.” The writer argues that European countries other than the UK are unaffected from this financial crisis, and are even benefiting from it. This is very hard to except, a look at the real world, and not biblical prophecies, shows that “Barely a week after Europeans rebuffed American pleas to join in their bailout of the banking system, Europe now faces a financial crisis almost as grave as that in the United States — demonstrating how swiftly this contagion is spreading around the world.” It looks as if the arrival of the month of September makes some writers feel as if they have a mission to use facts and lies, and relate ideologies and groups as diverse and contradictory as the sunni jihadists and shia revolutionaries, to conclude that biblical prophesies have in the past, and will in the future , be fulfilled. And off course the main prophecy which is the return of Jesus Christ, has kept us awaiting since the start of the millennium  

 Stephen Flurry, the trumpet.com Stephen Flurry, thetrumpet.com Mark Lander, The New York Times, September 30, 2008