Macbeth on Film

With such a famous and respected piece of work like William Shakespeare's Macbeth it must have been quite a daunting process for Roman Polanski to create his own version on film. What made his job harder was that he was trying to create a version much like the stage version but with the added benefits of film. Nonetheless, despite the hurdles of creating a Shakespearean play that is authentic and entertaining on film, Polanski succeeded in created a classic.

The first way this film succeeds in bringing to life Macbeth is in the way that Polanski casts his characters. My favorite is Lady Macbeth, played by Francesca Annis. A young and beautiful actress, Annis does a great job at making Lady Macbeth seem less like the sinister older version of herself in the original Macbeth, but more representative of the ambitious, greedy, misguided, and risk-taking youth that exist especially in today's world. If you really think about it, it makes sense that Lady Macbeth is young, as older people are typically more content with their lifestyle and younger people always seem to be doing whatever it takes to get ahead in life. I also appreciated how Polanski chose Jon Finch as Macbeth. What was stupendous about him was that he was able to transform so well physically from a strong, attractive, warrior to what I saw as an older, cold, dictator-like character. When we reviewed the beginning of the movie I could hardly believe that Macbeth was played by the same actor throughout the entire film.

Polanski's use of symbols and unique shots also help to make his film a great version of the original. My favorite symbolism in the movie revolved around the color red. Such is visible in the scene where the characters realize that Duncan has been murdered in the night. During the town's discovery the beautiful morning red sunlight covers the walls of Macbeth's home, symbolizing the death, destruction, and betrayal that occurred during the the late hours of the night. It is almost like the red sun light was made to be interpreted as a stain of blood on Macbeth's castle in the same way blood is seen throughout the movie as permanent and associated with the guilt surrounding murder.

Another favorite scene of mine was the bear-bating scene because of its vivid symbolism and connectedness to Macbeth's own life. They are connected both in the way that the death of the bear and the death of Macbeth are marked by point of view shots looking out towards a blood thirsty mob and in the way that Macbeth seems to be suffering in both. For in the beat-bating scene we see Macbeth momentarily looking uncomfortable with torture of the bear as he almost seems to sense his own future in the bear's dire situation. This connectedness between Macbeth and the bear is essentially what makes the bear-bating symbolic of Macbeth's own life. Aside from his usurping, it also symbolizes the way Macbeth is fighting against all of those around him (like the bear is) and in the way Macbeth has become trapped by his own ambition (as seen physically with the bear's cage). Essentially, what makes both the bear-bating scene and Macbeth's ending scene most effective are the dramatic point of view shows that put the viewer right in the midst of the drama.

In conclusion, thanks to the fact that Polanski is able to retain the same authentic style Shakespeare had in the creation of Macbeth, this film is a great adaptation. What makes it even better is Polanski's use of symbols, dramatic shots, and a superb cast. With so many great components it is easy to see why this film has received so much critical acclaim and lives today as a classic.

My Views on Fate!

Fate means very little to me. I believe that people control their own destinies and that there are no real unexplainable coincidences. The reason I see life in this light is because I fear how I would act were I to believe in fate. I would wind up accepting that my life is not in my control and not try to change it. I would see every good thing as something that was supposed to happen, not as a product of human kindness or mere coincidence. I also would stop asking the question “why?” To do so would seem to undermine the its whole concept.

Sometimes it is very hard for me to live in a world without fate because occasionally events occur that are very hard or even impossible to explain. Such an event happened a few months ago when I got into a car accident on 250. The car behind me hit my old Cutlass Ciera after the car in front of us had stopped to let a dog pass. My car seemed to spin a little bit and put me into the other lane of traffic where an oncoming car could have easily and catastrophically injured me. Fortunately, there was no car coming in the other lane, and thus, I walked away from the crash with no scratches whatsoever (although my neck was sore the next day). Afterwards I was forced to ask myself why I did not get killed or hurt when I easily could have. Many of my mom's friends gave the deities and fate the credit for my safe escape. I, however, could not accept this reason because I did not believe in a predetermined plan or a guardian angel looking out for me. Instead I had to accept that I got through the accident safely for no reason at all other than due to coincidence. Had a stop sign, red light, phone call, or even a stop to a fast-food restaurant not affected the drivers of the other lane, they could have run straight into me. Likewise, had the owner of a certain dog not let his pet out or had we not left Crozet at our particular time, the accident could have been avoided all together.

Overall, it seems disappointing to think that I escaped pain for no reason at all. Nonetheless, I am forced to accept it because fate is not one of my beliefs. But if I am right, that there is no plan for us, then life truly is delicate. For it would seem reasonable to conclude that life itself is just a coincidence and that living it just involves making the right choices at the right times; one wrong move could easily spell death.

My Life So Far...

If there is one thing that my life has been centered around, that thing is technology. Ever since my parents got our family an early Apple LC in 1992, fully equipped with ten megabytes of RAM and sixty-six megabytes of memory, technology has consumed my existence. Even when I was about five with that Apple, everyday I would learn some new trick that would allow me to do what many saw as seemingly pointless tasks, like modifying the way the computer handled graphics or adjusting the various computer memory allocations. By the time I was in the third grade, I definitely knew more about computers than any other student at my elementary school. For not only was I the only kid who knew what “W.W.W.” stood for, but I also occasionally helped teachers with their own computer tasks. One time, for example, a teacher had requested that the class type up a list of vocabulary in alphabetical order, a laborious task for many. Yet I was able to cut the time in sorting by a staggering amount by teaching the teacher and students how to get the computer to automatically alphabetize the list.

By the time I was in seventh grade my computing skills had defiantly developed to a very mature point. Not only did my desktop publishing teacher allow me to skip most of the assignments the other computer users had to complete because I already was so proficient in computing, but in my typing class I was able to successfully disable the school's computer security system. Also, in seventh grade I was accidentally put into the school's first video production class. Here, with my technical expertise, I incorporated the power of our iMac, which I named 'Bob,' to provide for some aesthetically pleasing computer graphics. In fact, I even learned an advanced animation program that allowed me to create a fully computer-created opener for our daily program, which was broadcast to every room in the school.

Finally, technology has largely remained my main focus in high school. In Freshman year I created a web page called “Shortman” in which I expressed some of my opinions regarding the best and worst of the Internet and the computer worlds. More importantly, though, I learned how to do some HTML coding. Soon thereafter, I learned some JavaScript, with which I added an interactive dimension to Shortman.

Beginning during the summer of my Junior year I achieved my first internship in computer sciences at Martha Jefferson Hospital. The first summer there I worked in the hospital's larger server room. There, I was put in charge of many tedious tasks, like inventory and the recording of the server's routing preferences. But during the summer of my Senior year the hospital gave me a task much more intense. The job was to eliminate dangerous programs (spyware, worms, and virus) from every computer Martha Jefferson owned, as well as to tweak the settings on every computer so that they logged onto the main server differently during the logon process. This job was defiantly the most involved project I have ever been involved with regarding computer science. Not only did I have to work with countless Martha Jefferson employees and their computers, but I had troubleshoot problems I ran into.

This year, I am involved with computers more than ever. I built the one I am using now after my old one died one me and I am in charge of the technical aspect to our school newspaper. Also, I currently maintain an web page online that displays my, as well as many other's, commentary on the world. The site is so popular that 1,828 individual users accessed the page in the past month, while it has also been loaded 5,574 times!

In conclusion, I anticipate that technology will remain an active part of my life for years to come. I will continually be monitoring any new developments in the field through the Internet as well as other conventional media outlets. Hopefully, one day I will be able to use my knowledge to help people grasp the abundant power of technology for their own lives on a daily basis. But until then, I will continue to help as many people as I can with their computer needs while continually developing my own skills.