Film - This is England

The trailer for director Shane Meadow's film This is England.

Last Night of the Proms 2009

Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches - Land of Hope and Glory, conducted by David Robertson with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus, supported by the enthusiastic audience at the Royal Albert Hall, and all over the country at the Proms in the Park events.





Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano) sings Rule Britannia during Last Night of the Proms '09, inside the Royal Albert Hall.




The music of Hubert Parry and words of William Blake - Jerusalem

What is the song about?

The painting is called "Liberty Leading the People" (La Liberté guidant le Peuple).
The French artist Eugène Delacroix painted it in the autumn of 1830 in the memory of the July Revolution of 1830, where one king, Charles X, was overthrown by another, Louis-Philippe.

The woman is Marianne and she is the symbol of the French nation. She represents Liberty leading the people over the bodies of the fallen. In her hands she has the French flag, where the colours "Bleu-Blanc-Rouge" symbolize "Liberté - Egalité - Fraternité" from the revolution of 1789 and a weapon. On her head she has a Phrygian cap, which is also a symbol of freedom from 1789.

Check further on the reasons for the revolution here:

Why was Charles X removed from the throne?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Revolution

• Analyse the lyrics of the song "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay.

Who is telling the story? Who is the "I" in the text?

What is "I"'s problem/dilemma? What is "I" talking about?

What is the message?

• Watch the video-clip below.

Think about what the images chosen represent.

Where is the clip situated?

Who are the people in the pictures?

• Share you ideas with the rest of the class.
  
  
• Sing together with Chris Martin and Coldplay.

SP2B week 38-39

"About a Boy" - Nick Hornby

* Watch the film "About a Boy" based on the novel with the same name by Nick Hornby. The film both begins and ends with the famous phrase "No Man is an Island" and is a modern illustration of John Donne's (1572-1631) Renaissance poem "Meditation XVII".

* Discuss in groups the questions about the film handed out

* Go to the site of The British Council - Arts - Literature - Contemporary writers and read about Nick Hornby

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/

* Go to the site of Indiana State University to understand the origins of the famous phrase and see an example of how modern texts are interconnected with classical ones. There are explanations to the text and it is also possible to listen to the poem.

http://isu.indstate.edu/ilnprof/ENG451/ISLAND/

* Analyze the lyrics, watch the video and sing the song by Simon and Garfunkel " I am a Rock"

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=My9I8q-iJCI



* Write at least 1/2 a page and not more than one page of reflections where you show
how the film illustrates
- the isolation vs. the interconnectedness that John Donne refers to in his poem
- the part from the same poem, "...for whom the bell tolls..."

* Send your text to my e-mail-address at school