Through using the cinematic techniques of symbolism and dialogue in two key scenes, director James McTeigue has been able to broadcast the idea of individual influence and the power of one in the highly acclaimed V for Vendetta. V, the films most central character, is a masked vigilante who has taken upon the role of […]

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The Handmaid’s Tale: Prediction of our Future   Depiction of our Past and Present In this essay, I will argue that Margaret Atwood has successfully used allusions to history and society today in The Handmaid’s Tale to demonstrate that rather than speculative fiction, this novel is a text based on real-life events and trends from […]

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Title: Hamlet Text Type: Play, tragedy Author: William Shakespeare Time: Between 1599 and 1602 William Shakespeare’s Hamlet entails a timelessness and universality to which anyone can relate  – even 400 years after the tragedy was written. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark who plans to avenge his father’s murder, but his madness and indecision lead the play […]

Title: Stranger Things Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers Text Type: Television programme Created by: The Duffer Brothers Released: On Netflix, July 15 2016   For not being much of a science fiction fan, Stranger Things, the brainchild of the Duffer brothers Matt and Ross, has blown me away and it’s safe to say […]

Long-summer scorched, my surfing children Catch random waves or thump in dumpers, Whirling, gasping, tossed disjointed. I watching, fear they may be broken – That all those foaming limbs will never Re-assemble whole, together. All under such a peaceful sky. All under such another sky   The pictures show some village children Caught at random, […]

Title: Lost in Translation Text Type: Film Directed and written by Sophia Coppola Released: 5th February 2004   Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson, and a recent graduate of philosophy and newly married, follow her photographer husband to Tokyo on his business trip. At the same hotel that Charlotte stays at, Bob, played by Bill Murray, […]

Title: The Alchemist Text type: Novel Author: Paulo Coelho Published: 1988   I took it upon myself to read the Alchemist because I got the impression of it being a classic must-read book with a near cult-status after people continuously referring to it: this prompted a curiosity within me to find out what the novel […]

Title: Imagine Text Type: Lyrics Artist: John Lennon Released: 1971 (IMPORTANT: Before reading this, note that I am not meaning to offend or discriminate anyone’s religion or beliefs, I am simply making a personal reflection on how I think religion affects me and may or may not affect other people in society.) The iconic classic “Imagine” written […]

Title: Hamlet Text Type: Play, tragedy Author: William Shakespeare Time: Between 1599 and 1602   William Shakespeare’s Hamlet entails a timelessness and universality to which anyone can relate  – even 400 years after the tragedy was written. Hamlet is the prince of Denmark who plans to avenge his father’s murder, but his madness and indecision […]