Conflicting Perspectives Essay Example for Free

Conflicting Perspectives EssayComposers are able to evoke in the audience certain(prenominal) reactions to characters or events in their texts by presenting foreign perspectives on different issues through the manipulation of the phrase forms and features of their average, often communicating their own ideas about issues in question, which results in the creation of meaning at heart their texts. (?). David Guterson in his 1995 novel Snow Falling on Cedars (Snow) and Henry Bean in his 2001 film The Believer (Believer) demonstrate certified choices made regarding structure and techniques in the construction of their texts in order to represent conflicting perspectives exploring ideas on racial prejudice and villainy and cultural contrasts and thus wage the audience. Composers can examine racial/religious prejudice brought on by war by using form specific techniques to present conflicting perspectives on the same event, designed to incite certain audience responses. Guterson , in Snow, purposely presents conflicting perspectives between Arthur Chambers and Hatsue and other members of the white community on San Piedro, specially Etta Heine, in order to draw sympathy for the treatment of the Japanese after Pearl Harbour is bombed. Arthur is empathetic towards them, saying in his local paper the San Piedro Review, those of Japanese descent on this island are not responsible for the tragedy at Pearl Harbour. Make no mistake about it. The high modality language and short, direct sentences used by Guterson highlights Arthurs deeply-held opinion of the innocence of the Japanese on the island. In support of Arthurs argument, Hatsue, through the narratives non-linear structure, recalls her injure and confusion at the treatment of her people, saying, It just isnt fair its not fair. How could they do this to us, just homogeneous that? The emotive appeal in sum total to Arthurs article triggers audience support of the Japanese community. Guterson, however, al so presents the contrasting racial hatred of the white islanders towards the Japanese. Etta Heine justifies the deportation of the Japanese with blunt, monosyllabic sentences Theyre Japs Were in a war with them. We cant have spies around. The use of the derogative termJaps and the distinct differentiation between them, the Japanese, and we, the white people, illustrates her bigoted hatred of the Japanese. Through the conflicting perspectives of Etta against Arthur and Hatsue, Guterson sways the audience to feel for the ill treatment of the Japanese, and shows them his own opinion on the negative effect of racism in wartime on the knowledges and direct towards certain groups.Conflicting perspectives are established by Bean in Believer between Daniel, a neo-Nazi who is paradoxically a Jew himself, and a number of final solution survivors pertaining to the strength of their actions during WWII which aims to convey a pro-Jewish sentiment to audiences. At a sensitivity training sessio n, Danny is enraged at a Jewish mans need of action while watching his son being murdered by a Nazi during the Holocaust. Rapidly cutting over-the-shoulder shots between Danny and the Jews indicate their opposing views. A close-up of Danny when he is asked by the Jews what he would have d champion in the situation shows his contempt and incredulous disbelief of the Jews weakness as he replies Not what he did. Just stand there and watch? Bean immediately employs a close-up reaction shot of the female Jew who rebuts with, How do you know? Youve never been tested like he has. Here in his rich, safe, stupid country it is so easy to imagine oneself a hero. The personal address through 2nd person and the collection of adjectives to build a negative image of America strongly opposes Dannys prejudiced conviction that Jews are pathetic, and also appeals to audiences the idea that religious prejudice towards Jews is unjustified. As Guterson does in Snow, conflicting perspectives are represen ted by Bean in order to sway his audience to respond negatively to unfounded sentiments of prejudice.Conflicting perspectives between characters can be used by composers to control the way in which an audience perceives them by exploring the cultural clashes that exist in the text as a reflection of societal (or social?) behaviour. In Snow, Guterson presents conflicting perspectives between Kabuo and the jury during his murder trial. In the opening chapter, a vivid description of Kabuos stance and expression is given from the jurys perspective he is shown as proudly upright rigid detached. This initial portrait portrait of Kabuo makes him suspicious not only to the jurybut also to the audience, as Hatsue tells Kabuo using a simile that he looks like one of Tojos soldiers. However, Guterson, through the novels non-linear structure, refutes this perspective by explaining Kabuos behaviour to the audience via a flashback. Through his fathers teachings that the greater the composure, th e to a greater extent revealed one was, the audience learns the reason groundwork Kabuos unemotional stance. Third person omniscient allows the audience to sympathise with Kabuos emotive explanation that he sat upright in the forecast that his desperate composure might reflect the shape of his soul. Guterson, through conflicting perspectives, influences his audience to understand Kabuo and the impact of contrasting cultural values on the perception of an individual.In Believer, Bean likewise shows contrasting opinions between Danny, who cannot fully repress his secret Jewish identity, and his anti-Semitic skinhead friends to create audience sympathy for Dannys home(a) struggles with the opposing aspects of his identity. When Danny and his friends break into a synagogue, Daniel shows a surprising respect for his religion which clashes with those of the other neo-Nazis. This directly conflicts with Dannys character established at the films opening, when he violently beats up a Jew for no apparent reason. Wearing a brown shirt symbolising the Nazi SA (brown-shirts), Dannys shadower costuming contrasts with the light coloured one of his Jewish victim, highlighting the evil in his nature. Bean, however, challenges the audiences view of Danny in order to allow them to understand his conflicting identities. In one frame, Danny is in the foreground walking down an aisle, which is juxtaposed with the other Nazis vandalising the synagogue. Their loud, raucous whooping contrasts to that of Dannys respectful silence, highlighting their different treatments of the Jewish culture. When one of the Nazis tears up a Torah, a sacred Jewish text, after much opposition from Danny, a reaction shot of him shows sadness and pain tended to(p) by melancholy music, underlining Dannys unspoken deference for Judaism. Beans portrayal of conflicting perspectives on Jewish culture incites the audience to respond more sympathetically towards Danny, and to understand that his veneer is a product of cultural differences in his society.The composers in Snow and Believer have effectively utilised techniques within their medium to represent conflicting perspectives about racial or religious prejudice and cultural differences in order to provoke certain audience responses to the characters, events or situations in their story. This includes reactions of sympathy for a certain perspective or disbelief and even dislike of opposing perspectives. In this way, the composers connect to the audience and generate meaning within their texts.In Snow, Hatsue is confined by the traditions of her culture, as shown when her mother Fujiko says to her dont allow living among the hakujin to become living intertwined with them. Your soul will decay molder and go sour. The change in language to refer to the Americans as hakujin and the emotive metaphor of Hatsues breakdown of purity highlights Fujikos dislike of American culture. This