Friends and the play of Nevilles Island Essay Example for Free

Friends and the play of Nevilles Island Essay The hit sitcom Friends started ten years ago when we were first introduced to Monica, Rachael, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross and Joey and today I am going to compare the sitcom of Friends with the play of Nevilles Island which was written by Tim Firth. Nevilles Island is not only a play. It has also been recently made into a film starring Timothy Spall, Martin Clunes, Jeff Rawle and David Bamber. Friends on the other hand was written and still remains for television and for the past ten years it has been broadcast over the Atlantic to millions of eager viewers both in America and the U. K. In America Friends is broadcast over the television network of NBC compared to the U.K where it is received through Channel 4. When we first observe the film of Nevilles Island we are introduced to four businessmen, who, when their boat sinks, find themselves stranded on a small island, called Rampsholme in the middle of the Lake Districts Derwent Water. The Four Characters in Nevilles Island are on a team-building weekend, they are Neville, (Jeff Rawle), has become the elected Captain of the group, who then proves he is unfit for his position when he leads the team in the wrong direction. He does his best to maintain order in the groups arguments, and works well as a go-between as he proves to be very reasonable with his fellow peers, and he seems to be the most adjusted member of the group to island life, He is dressed in an Anorak and wears glasses. He tries his hardest to keep the peace between Angus and Gordon, (Timothy Spall) who is extremely sarcastic towards his fellow peers and seems to pick up on every little flaw in their character, which later show him to be a bully, his cruel sarcasm gives us ma ny funny moments throughout the play of Nevilles island, such as all Christians are like Radio hams. Gordon seems to have many rants at his fellow colleagues most of which result in handbags at dawn style tension between him and Angus, (David Bamber) whom at the start of the play; he comes across as a good-natured person who is full of optimism. Angus seems to have dressed out of the camp shop side of his wardrobe so to speak as he is dressed constantly in cagoules, anoraks and knitted hats. Angus turns out to be a bit sad as he seems to bore everyone stiff, with his numerous attempts at cracking jokes. Also, later in the play where all hope seems to have to been lost he suddenly reveals a hidden sausage, which in the heating of proves to be very funny. He may also later have hindered the groups rescue as he seems to have bought the entire stock of a camping shop and told nobody about it, his shopping list includes a 18-inch knife, climbing ropeand for some reason unbeknown to his fellow standees..a dinner suit! Roy, (Martin Clunes), is a born-again Christian who has an un-kempt appearance. Roy has recently returned to work following a prolonged breakdown, after the death of his mother, Lucy, he literally hangs onto his sanity and Gordons rant about how old people only become religious because they are scared stiff, and there just grabbing, grabbing, grabbing at the rope, and no-ones holding the other end doesnt help either as this near-enough sends Roy into a relapse, and he disappears into the undergrowth with an 18-inch knife, so the group fear he may do something to harm himself, but later he is found, sat up a tree wearing only his underwear, but after he returns the knife to Neville, they fear he may take his own life again as Angus almost mile long piece of rope has gone missing, and they think he may hang himself he also reveals to Neville that he helped his mother to end her own lifeRoy is also a keen birdwatcher, and he takes his time on the island to observe a rare falcon, and is called amongst many other things by GordonDoo-lally Friends is all about 6 friends who all live in the same block of apartments in New York, the show takes us through their individual strengths, weaknesses, problems and goalsmost of all their intertwining relationships with each other. The characters in friends are Joey Tribbiani (Matt Leblanc.) Joey is broad-shouldered, wide-eyed and thick-headed. Joey comes from New York and is a lover who has had many partners. Joey is a not-so-good actor who never has to play-act being a good guy or a better friend, but he wants to hit the big-time as an actor. He is cheeky, and most of his jokes are sexually orientated, followed by hand gestures. Joey is sarcastic. Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) Wise-cracks, and sets off development in characters storyline. Chandler appears to be over-qualified at work and he seems to be afraid of wife Monica. Chandler gives really bad advice. Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) Ross is the personification of an intellectual geek as he is an expert in Palaeontology. Ross is still looking for love after 3 divorces. He has always loved Rachael. Ross is quite nerdy, and (most of the time) sticks to the rule book. Rachael Green (Jennifer Aniston), Rachael comes across as an IT/ Daddys girl. She dithers a lot, and is meant to be with Ross, even though they have drifted apart many times. Monica Geller Bing (Courtney Cox Arquette) used to be a high-school fatty, but now has slimmed down to obsessive and cleaning mad Monica. She is a good sister to Ross and a friend to everyone. After marrying Chandler, Monica seems to have made him find his maturity. Phoebe Buffay Hannigan (Lisa Kudrow) a hippie chick who has led a traumatic life, her mother killed herself, her stepfather went to prison, and she lived on the streets for some of her life. She drives people mad with her out-of-key folk songs that she writes with her guitar. Phoebe can be quite dippy, but she is kind-hearted, a good spirit, and seems to take everyday as it comes. She near enough floats around and I think would have fit in perfectly in the 60s. Very off-the-wall. The sitcom of friends is set in New York and it appears to be aimed at the younger generations of the 90s and 00s, this is mainly caused by its humour and that the characters themselves are very young. In comparison to this the play of Nevilles Island is set in a remote island in the middle of a lake in the Lake District and its characters are all middle-aged around 40 years old and Nevilles Island, I think can appeal to all ages as the comedy and mishaps that occur between the four characters of Angus, Roy, Gordon and Neville could almost happen to anybody of any age. The four men in Nevilles Island are all executives of a water company and they have been sent on this team-building exercise. The friendships in either drama are very different, as the 6 friends in Friends are all immensely close and after being so for ten years they appear to have a love for each other which comes with a bond that makes their friendships so special to them, even though the group is half men, half women apart from sexual tension between Monica and Chandler, Ross and Rachael this appears to not affect their friendships whatsoever. These bonds of friendship could not be more different than in the play of Nevilles Island by Tim Firth as the four colleagues seem to have been forced to be together and this creates lots of tension between them particularly with Roy and Gordon with his rants about all Christians are like radio-hams. The four colleagues seem to be each putting up with each other constantly and we get a sense that if they had not worked in the same workplace, these four individuals would never had considered becoming friends with each other. The Two dramas of Friends and Nevilles Island have been written in the same decade and they include many moral issues and information about current affairs for example the mood of Friends was slightly changed for a while during the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World trade centres. The home life/lifestyle has affected the personalities of all the characters in either drama such as Phoebe is slightly mad and sometimes eccentric. This may have been caused by her circumstances as a child as her mother killed herself, her stepfather went to prison, and she lived on the streets for some of her life. In Nevilles Island we see Gordon who appears to bully most people he sees by picking up on every flaw in their character and using it as ammunition against them, Gordon appears to be in denial as in fact he is very lonely but refuses to admit this. There are many themes/issues that arise from the two dramas of Nevilles Island and Friends such as Status; in Friends the 6 characters stand almost as individuals and they respect each other because of it and apart from minute outbursts from such characters as Monica giving rants about Crummies, but this is simply a part of Monicas character and does not distinguish her as having more power over fellow friends. In contrast to this there is use of Status/Power in Nevilles Island, and this comes mainly from the character Gordon bullying people and bossing them about. Gordon is not however the chosen leader of the group, who is Neville but Gordon, underestimates his given authority on the island and simply does what he wants and says what he wants regardless of their feelings. Gordon always makes sarcastic and negative comments about his fellow colleagues; this makes him feel superior and powerful to the rest of the group. Friendship is a key theme in both pieces of drama as in Friends, the entire purpose of the sitcom is to display the friendship between the 6 characters however Nevilles Island meddles with the idea of leaving work-place politics behind in order the group of them to survive, whilst on the island though we realise that this group of colleagues dont actually like each other and seem to have been forced into this team-building weekend. There are many relationships in both pieces of drama, some sexual but some arise form tension and the clash of personalities like that in Nevilles Island between Roy and Gordon. Gordon is convinced that Roy is faking his religion for attention/acceptance and goes on many rants about this for example when he tells Roy that all Christians are like radio-hams. Gordon continues to cause tension between the group when there is a clash of personalities between Angus and himself as Angus is constantly trying to tell jokes, but none of them are funny as Angus often gets the joke mixed-up, this irritates Gordon even further, and he reached the height of his irritation when he discovers that Angus seems to have an entire camping shop worth of supplies in his backpack, along with climbing rope, an 18-inch macheteand even a 3-piece dinner suit! Gordon continues to irritate Angus by simply picking on him, but this ends when Gordon accuses Angus wife of being adulterous and that right now she is screaming in ecstasy on the bread shelf in Sainsburys. Relationships in Friends that are of a sexual sense come from Ross and Rachael as since the beginning of the series they have been attracted to each other and after 3 divorces Ross seems to have found his perfect match, this applies to Rachael; and in the final episode Ross and Rachael finally get together. Another relationship in the sitcom Friends comes from Monica and Chandler, they get married and later find out that they cannot have children so in the final series they have a surrogate mother and she agrees to give them her baby, but when the baby is being born in the final episode they find out that instead of one baby, they are having twins. The two remaining friends who do not get it together are Joey and Phoebe, there has never been an attraction between them and Phoebe marries a man called Mike and becomes Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan. Co-operation plays a big part in the play of Nevilles Island by Tim Firth, the entire purpose of the team-building is to bring the four characters together as a team, so that they can co-operate together in this or any environment, but this proves difficult as the four colleagues are completely incompatible and in the end simply get on each others nerves. The characters in Friends co-operate completely with each other, they help each other out in any circumstances and they work together perfectly. The social context of the sitcom Friends by David Crane takes us through an entire decade of events through the years of 1994 -2004. Friends is set in the city of New York and focuses on city life and the glamorous lifestyles of 6 friends in coffee culture which is centred around their meeting place a coffee house by the name of Central Perk. The social context of Friends takes us before, during and through the aftermath of the 11th September attacks on the World Trade Centre, which all Americans including the characters in friends come out of this very patriotic. The Sitcom of Friends focuses more on the social lives of the friends rather than their work places, this is mainly shown through Chandler as we get a sense that he is successful in his job, but this is shrouded in mystery as we never find out what he does or indeed what his workplace looks like. A convention of an American sitcom is that it shows Americans in an ideal lifestyle and there is no hint of poverty or depravation and they appear to be at the higher middle-class and American viewers hope to aspire to this. These conventions are used in the sitcom Friends. Friends is filmed in a studio and no-matter-what shot is used, we never get to see that elusive other wall in contrast to this in the play Nevilles Island the weather appears to mirror the emotions of the characters, this is pathetic fallacy, and instead of being filmed in a studio, Nevilles Island is filmed in a natural environment on location. Nevilles Island is set in the 1990s and in a rural setting as the entire play occurs outdoors. Nevilles Island is set in the time where John Major from the conservative party was Prime Minister, and the negative attitudes towards the situations used through Gordon mirror that of the time as John Major was trying to shake off and fight Margaret Thatchers Everyone for themselves view. Nevilles Island is a black comedy as it uses the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements to give a certain effect. The humour within Nevilles Island is created because of the contrasting characters and the way that they interact with each other. Each character has their own individual sense of humour; Gordon possesses a sarcastic, negative and almost child-like sense of humour. Angus jokes are more centred on farcical subjects that when told arent very funny at all, but they appear to have been funny in Angus head as he laughs at his own jokes a lot. Roy doesnt really have a sense of humour as he appears to be too wrapped up in his religion, but sometimes he can appear to be quite argumentative and almost psychotic. The sitcom Friends is also centred on comedy and the humour is directed at and centred on the characters. The characters all respond differently to different situations but comedy is usually created by the use of facial expressions, accents, off-the-wall comments and the immense use of timing and pauses. From both plays there are many ideas that I would like to experiment with and include in my improvisation unit of Stranded, such as * Being stranded * Comedy/Sarcasm * Characters, with similarities to that of Nevilles Island and friends * One of the characters has a secret. * Tension * The types of characters that have been created for example Joeys use of timing and comments, Monicas obsessiveness, Phoebes eccentrics, Roys almost psychotic state of mind and his belief in religion or Gordons sarcasm and use of negative comments. The themes used within these two dramas, for example I have decided to base my Stranded improvisation work to create a piece that is focused on a shipwreck, like that of Nevilles Island. The different social settings have interested me and I understand how they affect the piece, we have decided to set our drama on a ship that is in the middle of the Irish Sea and it is full of escaped convicts/murderers that steal the boat and hold its occupier hostage, who for coincidence the criminals know, They are all Irish.

Cover Bands :: essays research papers

Is the cover a good thing or a bad thing? Are there any cover songs that you have heard and have grown to like more than the original? Perhaps there are songs that you have heard and have later come to the realization that it is indeed a cover song. This is the case for me. However, my feelings on cover songs vary depending on the particular instance. I think the cover is a good thing now days. There are many new songs that I have heard and have later realized that it is a cover song. I probably would have never heard the original song if it wasn’t covered. On the other hand, in the 50s when rock and roll was building a foundation for itself, I believe that cover songs were a bad thing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, I would like to explain why I believe that cover songs are now a good thing. â€Å"Behind Blue Eyes† covered by Limp Bizkit is a song that I would have never heard had it not been covered. The Who originally recorded this song in 1971. Limp Bizkit is an alternative band that many younger people have great interest in. Many people my age are not as interested in what is now called â€Å"Classic Rock† as they are in alternative music. Therefore, this song would have never been heard if it wasn’t for Limp Bizkit. Another good example of a song that has been covered is â€Å"Simple Man† by Shinedown. This song was originally recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1973. This is another example of a song that younger generations would not have heard if it wasn’t covered by Shinedown. However, a person may ask â€Å"Is it fair for the original artist if one of their songs is covered?† I believe the answer to this question is yes. M any artists that have covered songs have also had their songs covered. This causes a never-ending loop of music that seeks different genres of music and also people of different ages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the other hand, I believe that cover songs in the 50s were a bad thing. These songs were covered for different purposes than they are today. Race was the primary issue as to why many songs were covered. Perhaps the key song for rock and roll that has been covered is â€Å"Rock Around the Clock† originally recorded by Sonny Dae and His Knights in 1954.

First Day in College

First Day in College According to a scientific research we record moments which leave significant marks in our emotional state or in our lifes. There has been circumsatances I’ve lived through that has impacted in my life. One of those remarkable moments was my first day in college. There’s many people that maybe can not understand how difficult is to emigrate. My transition to this country accumulated stess and excitement in the same time. Many people have never tried the feeling of being alone and with nobody. There is no one I can related to have or socialize with that.That’s America gave me. It put in my way a lot of challenges to pass through. The first one was my first day in college. I remembered that day like was today. The particular one also showed me the differences between America and Eastern part of Europe. It was September 4th 2013. It was a beautiful autumn day. I didn’t sleep the night before despite I took pills to help sleep. I guess it w as emotional because I was excited. Anyway I slept two hours. I got up at 7 o’clock. I took a shower,aet the breakfast and I got dressed.All of those movuments were involuntary because I was in a different sate of mind . Physically I was in Torrington while my while part of mine was in 271 Scott Swamp Rd Farmington where the college is located. It was warm and sunny that morning so I was wearing a squared blu shirt and a pair of blue jeans. I took my black backpack and I went outside where my old brown Chrysler was waiting for me ready for a new adventure. While I got out from my praking lot I started to get cold despite the warmth outside. It was 7:45 when I passed Torrington .I had driven to Tunxis only once before that day. I had an iphone but without data so in those circumstances I was afraid of getting lost and missing that important day. So basically I took route 4 and I kept going while I was listening to music. In the same time I was asking myself if I was in right w ay. I was in that status until the Tunxis campus appeared ahead. Then another question came in my mind â€Å"What about now? † I passed last lights and I turend the wheels all the way to the left where the college parking lot is. It was full with cars.I’ve never seen something like that in any college or high school in my country. Luckly I found I parking lot. I took my backpack from the back seat and I walked straight to the main entarance. It was 8:20 while the class started in 8:30. There’s so many young students like me that were walking to the campus but I bet none of them were like me,I mean like my emotional state. So, I entered in the main entranece of the college which basically is 100 building. When I entered it was so much difference between albanian schools which has only headmaster room and teachers room.I directly noticed the Faculty Office on the left and the Record Office on the right. I didn’t know where to go and where my class was. For that reason I took to the right I went up to the end at Information Desk where I asked and the told me to look through the sheets attached in the desk which were behind me. That’s what I did. I saw that my first class was Integrated Reading and Writing I and it would be in room 210. Again I asked a guy who passed by and he told me to go through the door in front of me and to take right in the second door. Finally I found it.There were other students whose were waiting like me. I was watching them and in the same time I was wondering if the would be my first classmates. In that moment an old short blond woman came up toward greeting us. She took a piece of paper form her bag and she saw the code to open the class door. I didnt see before a class door like this. In Albania it dosent exist. We all took a chair. It was a different classroom that I was expected. The student desk was small and couldn’t have space for two or more students like the desks in Albania were.Anothe r thing that took my curiosity was a guy who took in his hand a Dunkin’Donuts coffee in class which in my country I couldn’t even take a bottle of water in class beace any driks or foods are prohibited. My attention went to my new teacher when she started speaking not Albanian but in English in which I wasn’t used to. She introduced herself. Her name was Christina. She read our names. When she came into my name she pronounced it wrong so I had a little conversation in order to prounounce my name well despite my broken English. After that the student who were in class started talking with the teacher.I was the only one who didn’t participate in class. beacuse I was shy. Therefore three hours went by quickly so that class was over at 11:20. When I got out of the class I felt like I accomplished hard duty. The halls of the 100 Building were overcrowded by students but it was quite not like in my country where is too noisy even with fewer students. That day I had only one class but my day was still not done yet. I had to meet an Italian girl whose name is Alessia. Her father is my uncle’s best friend and she is her to help me with anything because she knew all the things there because she was there since two years.She got my number from my uncle so she texed me and she saidto meet in Library. I went there and I saw here. She was the most beautiful girl that I’ve ever met. We started taling for about an hour about ourselves. She asked me about how I felt in America and stuff like that. We talk an hours but it seemed to me like 5 minutes. Now I can understand Einstain’s quote about relativity †Put your hand in a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an houer. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity. †That girl was like the cherry on top of the cake. She made my day.

Women s Rights Of Women - 1360 Words

Today and throughout history, women have had to face a vast amount of discrimination towards themselves in politics, the workplace, and in the effort to receive a better education. Within the past decades, women have been discriminated against in many different aspects and have struggled throughout their day-to-day lives. However, many people have also taken significant action in standing up for the female population and working to improve their lives. Many individuals dedicated their lives to helping women to be treated as equal rather than inferior to men. Those who have fought for women’s rights have greatly impacted and improved the lives of women. Discrimination against women having strong political views and being able to vote has been a fundamental issue in the past, and is still a present issue. Maud Wood Park, a women’s rights activist, largely increased the number of women interested in politics. Throughout college, she helped to escalate the number of women interested in taking part in the growing political world. Without Park, women’s interests in politics would not have spiked as much as it did throughout her lifetime. She influenced numerous women to openly talk about their views on current issues and to take a stand against the injustice ways that society viewed females. Park helped to establish many organizations that influenced women to take part in politics and helped to convince men that women should be allowed to vote. Moreover, Park’s strongShow MoreRelatedWomen s Rights Of Women Essay1455 Words   |  6 Pagesa myriad of women have expressed through outlets such as public assemblies, lite rature, and speeches. There have been three waves of the women’s movement, each targeting a variety of issues within each era. 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