OUR ENGLISH ART TITUDE

Transcription

1 OUR ENGLISH ART TITUDE LYCÉE DE CORNOUAILLE - JOURNAL DES ÉLÈVES D ANGLAIS APPROFONDI - MARCH NUMBER 2 Vieilles charrues volunteers party My name is Khan UGLIES Scott Westerfeld Palazzo Grassi Monty Python s Flying Circus

2 édito Vieilles charrues volunteers party For this edition, some volunteers in Terminales 1 and 6 have joined in the small team of Our English Art titude, for which I thank them most sincerely. In this special issue, you will find some impressions over the different works of art that the five girls have read or seen, and invitations to see the world with your eyes wide open. Should it be with humour or dystopian views, through music or cinema, you will see that our society is dealt with in all possible ways to alert people about what is going on around us. Making people aware of topical issues is also the role of newspapers, so we are happy to present you our work, both printed and on line...enjoy!!! KL. Il you feel like reacting or writing an article of your own, please let us know by coming to room A113 to meet the pupils or myself and settle it for the next issue. See you there! Our English Art titude, Lycée de Cornouaille 8 avenue des Oiseaux, Quimper Directeur de la publication : Jean Pierre Josse Responsable des rubriques : Kristell Lebret Rédaction : Dolma Alenson-Foucher Jeanne Caledec - Charlotte Dagorno Morgane Lefevre Oanell Tutard. Mentions légales en cours de dépôt. On Saturday, January , there was a Vieilles Charrues volunteers party, to thank them for their participation. I was one of these volunteers, so I went to Carhaix to join the others. At the party, we were 3,000 people who were sharing a dinner. After, there was a Karaoke with a professional rock band, Ullman Kararocké, who played a lot of songs. During the show, my dad and my friends put my name on a list without my knowing it. The atmosphere was incredible, and the scene was so big! After a few minutes only that were like nothing to me, my name was called, I went on the stage with a feeling of great anxiety. My father had chosen Highway to Hell by ACDC. A difficult song for a girl s voice, a song that I had never worked before... I knew it was the moment to show what I could do. The first notes began, and there, I sang. And then, I was here. On the stage. With a howling crowd which was with me and listening to me with expectancy (I guess). This crowd cried the song s lyrics while they were jumping up and down and clapping their hands. I thought I was having hallucinations. I couldn t believe my eyes. But 3,w000 people were apparently enjoying my voice...! Then, I sang another song by ACDC, and the musicians of the rock band called me back to sing and never let me leave the stage again. At the beginning, it was a karaoke, and then, it turned into a concert! It will remain a great memory for me that I will never forget, something I will keep deep in my soul all my life. Oanell Tutard.

3 MY NAME IS KHAN Everybody knows 9/11 and its meaning for the American people. But we do not always know what this day means for the Muslim people in America. The film My name is Khan, a film by Karan Johar, tells the story of Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh Khan), a Muslim who grew up in India and came into the United States with his brother after their mother s death. Rizwan is different from other people: he suffers from the Asperger Syndrome, which is an autistic spectrum disorder. It means that social interaction is difficult to him and he does not understand things like other people. In America he meets Mandira (Kajol), a Hindu woman, and her young son Sam. Rizwan and Mandira marry, and live happily. However, Khan s perfect existence gets disrupted after 9/11 attacks on New York City. Indeed, Muslim people now start being considered as enemies. One day, a tragedy happens to the family and Mandira blames Rizwan and does not want to be with him any longer. She sarcastically tells him that he can tell the American people and the president that he is not a terrorist. Rizwan takes it seriously and leaves her to see the president. At the beginning, he has troubles doing it because of his autism that makes him look weird, but he quickly becomes famous and all the country follows his trip on TV. My name is Khan, made in 2010, is the most expensive Bollywood film of that year, and it broke many box office records. It was screened as part of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival s official selection. The numerous political controversies surrounding the film and the presence of the world famous actor Shahrukh Khan were part of the great advertising that was going around. It lasts 2 hours and 40 minutes, which is average time for a Bollywood film. Although this film is a Bollywood, it could be interesting for everybody to watch it. Of course, love takes a big part in it, but it also talks about the relationships between the Muslim Americans and the other Americans. My Name is Khan answers to questions such as how did the Muslims live after 9/11?, what do they think about it?. We also learn quite a lot about the Asperger Syndrome thanks to the main character, even if he does not suffer as badly as some other people do. Charlotte Dagorno

4 In the first edition of Our English Art titude, you may have read the article about Matched, a dystopian novel. I ve also chosen to write about a dystopia, quite different from Matched though. The book I ve just finished reading for the second time is Uglies, written in 2005 by Scott Westerfeld. Tally Youngblood, the 15-year-old heroin of this science fiction novel, lives in a society governed by extreme beauty. In this world, people are turned into Pretties by extreme cosmetic surgery when they reach the age of 16. This operation gives them a face and a body judged perfect by their current norms. Therefore, the author questions the fact that in many societies people find pretty what they have learnt to consider as such. Once people are Pretties, they become highly resistant to diseases and time doesn t affect their body. They live in New Pretty Town, where they spend their time having parties with all their beautiful, selfish and superficial Pretty friends. At the beginning of the story, Tally is bored of being an Ugly and can t wait to join her friends who have already undergone the Operation. But all her beliefs are shaken when she meets Shay, a rebel who knows the existence of other communities in which people stay themselves. Dubious at first, Tally opens her mind to this possibility and gets to know the Smokies, a group of people who haven t become Pretties and live in an independent town. There, she discovers the truth about the Operation: the surgeons damage the brains of the future Pretties, making their rebellion impossible because they become extremely peaceful, obedient and don t question anything. Tally decides to help the Smokies to find a remedy that could repair all this damage and stop this procedure. The Government justifies its acts by the fact that a much older society, which turns out to be ours, died off because of wars, epidemics... They supposedly want to eradicate the Human Being s vices such as violence, avarice... They want to get rid of social and physical disparities. This very interesting story deals with many themes : some light and personal ones like emotional and physical changes during adolescence and how conformity often prevails over originality, but also some very serious notions such as government conspiracies and the danger of trusting the omnipresent Big Brother. It deals with the importance of individual freedoms; the theme of segregation in an image-obsessed society is also approached in an interesting way. I found this story very gripping as well as inspiring. It made me reflect upon our possible choices faced with worldwide problems. The Operation surely eliminates wars and other curses, but it isn t a solution either because it deprives people of their identity and their real freedom. How could we combine a healthy society to healthy spirits and happy individuals? I strongly recommend this book to all of you (boys and girls!!), because it is an endless source of reflection upon how we are controlled and how difficult it is to be yourself. People must stay aware of this, and it always scares me when I think of the world we are building for the future. Uglies may just be a novel, but it clearly is an exaggerated portrait of what some are becoming or pushing people to become: pretty robots entirely controlled by the State. If you like Uglies, you can read the sequel in the next volumes: Pretties, Specials and Extras. Happy reading! Dolma Alenson-Foucher

5 Palazzo grassi The «Palazzo grassi» is one of the most important museums in Venice. Located in the city center, along the «Canalasso», this museum of modern and contemporary art attracts a large number of visitors every day, most of whom are tourists coming from all over the world to see what it contains. Palazzo Grassi is one of the largest and last palaces that were built in Venice in the XVIII century. It has been owned by the French billionaire François Pinault since 2005, who turned it into a museum. The nobility of the building, built before the fall of the Venetian Republic, emphasizes the historical significance of the noblest pieces of the collection. This collection matches perfectly with the neo-classical architecture and the modern renovations designed by the architect Tadao Ando. Palazzo Grassi is a topic of interest for lovers of contemporary architectural styles, who have a sense of harmony. The museum shop also knows a lot of success. Located on the ground floor of the Palazzo Grassi, the library is assigned to the publishing house «Electa», specializing in the publication of books on art and architecture. This space entirely designed by Tadao Ando offers catalogs of exhibitions at the Palazzo Grassi and a wide range of books of art and other items to buy. I had the opportunity to discover this place two years ago during a summer camp which consisted of a tour in Italy and Croatia. And to tell you the truth, this museum is the place that I most liked to visit during this trip, therefore I highly recommend it. Morgane Lefèvre TL2

6 «And now, for something completely different...» We are on november the 5th, 1969, and the BBC channel is getting ready to broadcast the first episode of «The Monty Python s Flying Circus». At the same time, 6 English boys are going to be revealed to the United Kingdom. With their absurd and irresistibly funny sketches, they became THE reference in the field of humor. Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Micheal Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Terry Gilliam are now the funniest men for many people. (even for our French humorists friends : «Les Robin des Bois», Alain Chabat and Albert Dupontel often say that they were influenced by the Pythons) Some people called them «the Beatles of humor». This appellation perfectly shows the symbol they incarnate. Indeed, how can we be indifferent to their delirious imagination? Have you ever heard about a ministery of silly walks before them? Without John Cleese, how could we defend ourselves from a man whose weapons are fresh fruits? The Monty Pythons use many forms of humor, from sketches which make fun of BBC s presenters to a caricatural scene of two rednecks in a dirty house, via a song about a lumber-jack who likes dressing as a woman at night. The Flying circus has been broadcast for 5 years, with 45 episodes in 4 seasons, and ended in However, it doesn t mean that the Pythons have stopped making people laugh : our 6 friends start shooting their first feature «Monty Python and the Holy Grail», which deals about the quest of King Arthur in an anything style but historic or realistic, with knights who said «Ni» or «Eki-Eki patang», with a rabbit-killer, in the castle of «Aaaaaarrrrrghhhhh». The success of «Monty Python and the Holy Grail» led them to make their second feature, which we can consider as a cult-film : «Monty Python s life of Brian». Nobody but the Monty Python can imagine and shoot a film about Brian, the man who s stolen Jesus Christ s destiny. Their last feature, «Monty Python s meaning of life» is a gathering of different sketches. They also made a show at the Hollywood Bowl. Even if there were many problems in the group (alcoholism, death of Graham Chapman, etc..), they always did their best to make people laugh, to search what they could criticize, it s for these reasons that they are nowadays a reference. And to conclude this article, be happy, and don t forget to laugh, because the world is made of tragedies, but we must do our best to be optimistic, and laughing is a good way to see the world in such an optimistic way. Think of Eric Idle crucified in «Life of Brian», who was still singing on his cross «Always look on the bright side of life»... Jeanne Caledec