Film Review: Enemy of the State

Directed by Tony Scott, Written by David Marconi.

Cast: Will Smith (Robert Clayton Dean), Gene Hackman (Brill), Jon Voight (Reynolds) and Lisa Bonet (Rachel Banks), Regina King (Carla Dean)

"Enemy of the State" is a movie which has lots of suspense in it. It is about a crime committed by NSA & its side affect on a normal person of the society.

In the beginning a political person was killed because he was trying to stop an act of privacy. His murder was captured by a photographer. But when NSA tried to take that video tape from him, the photographer drops that tape in Dean's (Will Smith) bag in a market & died in an accident on his life saving run on the road. But NSA did not stop because they find out with their high technology that Will Smith has the tape. So they bugged him & tried to get the tape from him by any mean. As a lower he already trapped in a mafia case. So he gets in an unwanted situation in a short time & could not find any way out because NSA had the power of technology. But as Dean only has the information about the tape he gets in power & shows great job by solving his problem with a helping friend.

Representation

From the Oxford dictionary I have come to know of certain meanings of the word “Representation”: presence, appearance, an image, figure, exhibition, revealing fact, statement, presentation of thoughts etc.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak finds distinction between “Vertretung” & “Darstemmung.” The former she refers as “stepping in someone’s place…..to tread in someone’s shoes.”- In which a representer speaks for the needs & desires of somebody or something. On the other hand, “Darstemmung” is representation as re-presentation, “placing there.”

Then Ella Shohat says that, we should constantly question the representations. We have to scrutinize the representations to find out who represents, who is being represented for what purpose, at which historical moment, for which location, using which strategies & in what tone of address.

Another point to be noted that, representations for minor groups are though few in numbers; they can be exaggerated & flawed. In this type of representation, few characters are chosen to be typical to represent the whole group & other minor groups as well. As we know that the representations have an effect on human lives, the impact of the minor representations can not be ignored. They are so vulnerable & can play a harmful role in society because they are not well elaborately organized.

Therefore finally we have to keep in mind that, what ideological significance a representation holds, what is it’s goal & consequences before presenting.

Ten urban myths of Bangladesh

1. Sweeping room at night can cause harm.
2. Cutting nail at night can cause harm.
3. If any black cat crosses ones way, he will get hart.
4. Room should be clean up at the very morning or it can cause harm to the house.
5. If milk drops, some thing bad is going to happen in the house.
6. If any one heard dog crying it means some one is going to die.
7. Scratching of hand brings money.
8. Scratching of feet gives a sign to go abroad.
9. Going to roofs at the night can lead to a mental state where he or she can behave like some one else.

Semiotics

We make meanings; we like to make meanings out of anything. Mostly we make meanings unconsciously. When we have any meaning; we can mark the thing as SIGN.

We can point two-part model of sign. One is signifier & the other one is signified. Signifier is the form of the sign & signified is the concept it represents. We can use a signified many things with just one signifier. The relation between signifier & signified is called signification.

The signifies don’t have any value themselves. Their value depends on other signs of that system or we can say the area or country. One sing can have different meaning in other country or region. Because the signifier system is mostly created by the society; some are natural too.

We can see three kinds of signifies; & conventionally they are Symbol/Symbolic, Index/Indexical & Icon/Iconic.

Symbols are created & not directly linked with the signified so one has to learn it; like alphabets, words etc. it is more conventional but in term of motivation it is not concerned as motivated.

Indexes are not the real resemble of the signified but directly connected with it; so one can understand the meaning of it easily. It is less conventional & more natural & motivated then symbols.

Icons are the direct resemble or the picture of the signified; & one can understand the meaning of it subconsciously; it means it is totally natural. It is not conventional but motivated then others.

Myth

With myth we can have a world view of a specific time, people, any practice or belief or natural phenomenon. It is more likely to have a relation with a historical event or deeds of any powerful human being or god. Cultural myths are mainly religion thoughts, some time it explains aspects of nature or human life, sometimes tells some extraordinary story or truth of some specific period of time. It creates a model of how this world can go ahead. In the early 19^th century the modern study of myth arose.