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so who is doing crime fiction? anyone? somone? god help us! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter snakeoils
- Start date
yeah, T-i-m-m-y's right. When you study it you'll realise generaically it's difficult to classify. Just because a book has a crime in it, it doesn't mean it's crime fiction.
ie. many would argue that The Big Sleep is actually a romance.
Yeah, I heard about King Lear as well - they're replacing it with Hamlet? (I don't remember). Did that happen for this year's HSC or is it for next?
MiuMiu
Somethin' special....
I don't know what they're replacing it with, changes are for calss of 2004 lucky bastards
timmii
sporadic attendee
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2002
- Messages
- 928
I loved CF 
And we too did nothing in english classes I read CF a lot anyway, so i had a lot of fun finding related material etc - i got addicted to CSI during the year, and justified as "studying" (lol, did i even use it? no...... )
Basically, its as interesting as you make it. Our lessons were completely useless, but i found my own material, drew my own conclusions and in the end found it pretty good!
And we too did nothing in english classes I read CF a lot anyway, so i had a lot of fun finding related material etc - i got addicted to CSI during the year, and justified as "studying" (lol, did i even use it? no...... )Basically, its as interesting as you make it. Our lessons were completely useless, but i found my own material, drew my own conclusions and in the end found it pretty good!
Yeah, love the way you can justify to yourself that going to the movies to see "Gosford Park" is Eng work, just like TV is ...Originally posted by timmii
I loved CF
Basically, its as interesting as you make it. Our lessons were completely useless, but i found my own material, drew my own conclusions and in the end found it pretty good!
Gosford Park
Gosford park was the WORST movie I've ever seen!! (With the possible exception of blues brothers 2000)
I was expecting a really good film but in fact I found it corny, tedious, predictable and totally uninspiring. We had to do an assignment on this film for class and I have to say, I was really struggling to get the word limit on that one!
Can anyone explain to me their love of this movie?
Gosford park was the WORST movie I've ever seen!! (With the possible exception of blues brothers 2000)
I was expecting a really good film but in fact I found it corny, tedious, predictable and totally uninspiring. We had to do an assignment on this film for class and I have to say, I was really struggling to get the word limit on that one!
Can anyone explain to me their love of this movie?
1 more
fructis
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2002
- Messages
- 177
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2004
Re: Gosford Park
As other posts have mentioned, some of the best crime fiction texts to analyse are those that are rather playful with the conventions of the genre. The film is not about the murder, it is a beautifully filmed, visual and cultural glimpse of the relationships between the servants and the served.
It was a superbly intricate portrait of class relations at that time; Altman was just using the structure of that genre to study the society. I felt that the murder was just a background nuisance.
It is a different sort of movie to those out there at the moment. Almost the exact opposite to Harry Potter and its ilk. There's no action, only development.
I liked the myriad of characters, the parts of the dialogue that get lost in the background, and the ambiguity of the ending. It's a very effective way for film to recreate some aspects of daily life -- it's like going to a party -- you don't know everyone to the same extent, you don't hear every conversation, and at the end of the party, there is still stuff that is unresolved.
My only complaints were that I remember thinking those Inspector sequences were fairly pointless, given that the murder-plot itself wasn't central to the film. I think these scenes tipped the film over towards slapstick whereas the earlier funny scenes had been more subtle British humour. And Ryan Phillipe, he was a bit much.
I think you have to be in the mood.
I told my friends to wait for the dreary, rainy day... get comfortable, and just let the film go by and tell its story.
Oh and by the way, with the exception of RIH and being in timmii's class, I loathed the Extension 1 crime fiction course.
I liked this film!
As other posts have mentioned, some of the best crime fiction texts to analyse are those that are rather playful with the conventions of the genre. The film is not about the murder, it is a beautifully filmed, visual and cultural glimpse of the relationships between the servants and the served.
It was a superbly intricate portrait of class relations at that time; Altman was just using the structure of that genre to study the society. I felt that the murder was just a background nuisance.
It is a different sort of movie to those out there at the moment. Almost the exact opposite to Harry Potter and its ilk. There's no action, only development.
I liked the myriad of characters, the parts of the dialogue that get lost in the background, and the ambiguity of the ending. It's a very effective way for film to recreate some aspects of daily life -- it's like going to a party -- you don't know everyone to the same extent, you don't hear every conversation, and at the end of the party, there is still stuff that is unresolved.
My only complaints were that I remember thinking those Inspector sequences were fairly pointless, given that the murder-plot itself wasn't central to the film. I think these scenes tipped the film over towards slapstick whereas the earlier funny scenes had been more subtle British humour. And Ryan Phillipe, he was a bit much.
I think you have to be in the mood.
I told my friends to wait for the dreary, rainy day... get comfortable, and just let the film go by and tell its story.
Oh and by the way, with the exception of RIH and being in timmii's class
, I loathed the Extension 1 crime fiction course.ladypenelope85
Member
i was really really disappointed by Gosford Park. all the trailers and everything looked SO good ... and the official website is pretty impressive, with that family tree and things. then i watched it... there were too many characters, which my teacher said is a technique of exploiting the genre, but oh so ridiculous and tedious!! like 1 more, i can see how it fits into crime fiction now, as using the conventions to explore other focuses BUT it's still painful to watch all those dreary meaningless scenes...
i feel like that towards PD James... we spend hours examining teapots and pretty birds... and nothing happens... many days later, someone loses some body parts, and after some obviously false leads, the killer is revealed... yet it almost seems like she just randomly chooses her killers cause nearly everyone has a motive!
1 more
fructis
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2002
- Messages
- 177
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2004
I have heard several people say they were expecting something else -- more of a straightforward murder mystery -- In this case, I think the discrepancy between what was promised and what was delivered was clearly a failure on the part of the advertising campaign, and not the director.
anyhow, each to their own.
i AGREE WITH YOU! I probably shouldn't be confessing this, but i actually didn't read skull beneath the skin, despite it being one of my set texts. i hated the way she wrote, it was so didactic, as though she didnt trust the reader to have an imagination... perhaps it may have developed into something better- beyond page 87!
malayz_angel
Member
Snow Falling On Cedars was what I'm hating about the course-- it's a boring book that has a really unsatisfactory ending!! I love crime fiction but I don't know how I can spend any longer thinking about this novel, even if it is meant to provoke controversy, with me, it's just provoking!!
"If nobody's perfect then I want to be nobody."
"If nobody's perfect then I want to be nobody."
i actually found the movie MUCH more boring than the book... it took me about 3 attempts to sit through the whole movie - in the end i got it out on dvd, changed the spoken language to french, and watched it with english subtitles so i was forced to pay attention to it
ladypenelope85
Member
lol, snakeoils i totally agree. again, like gosford park, the director of snow falling seemed to be very ... arty ... and put lots of focus on beautiful scenery, experimental camera shots and the creation of location rather than the telling of a good story... if only we were reading a book of gosford park...
malayz_angel
Member
Yeah, I found the movie of SFOC pretty boring too-- P.D James'writing is pretty slow at first but it gets more interesting later on.