Analysis Limitless Film Using Deconstruction Theory

                          Analysis Limitless Film Using Deconstruction Theory

            Deconstruction is a strategy of reading starts from “a philosophical hierarchy in which two opposed terms are presented as the ‘superior’ general case and the ‘inferior’ special case (Robert Can Davis and Roland Scheifer, 1989). It means deconstruction work through the identification of binary opposition. In this paper I would like to analyze the Limitless Film using deconstruction theory. The Limitless film release in 2011 directed by Neil Burger. The film is an action thriller about the writer who takes an experimental drug which is the drug can make him use 100 percent of his brain. I found two binary opposition from watching this movie. First, the limit and the limitless and second cleverness and money. First, I will analyze this movie by explaining the construction meaning of the binary opposition through the story of film. Second, I will explain the deconstruction meaning of the binary opposition.

The film begin when the writer, Eddie Morra is in the middle of effort to make a book, but suddenly his girlfriend, Linda wants to break up with him. That event makes him belief that he has no future anymore. Then he meets Vernon, his ex-brother in law gives him the experimental drug called NZT pil that makes him can use one hundred percent of his brain. Here is the quotation:

00:09:35,324 --> 00:09:36,366

    Eddie: What's in it?

00:09:37,076 --> 00:09:39,286

   Vernon: They've identified these

 receptors in the brain

00:09:39,370 --> 00:09:42,163

Vernon: that activate specific circuits.

00:09:42,248 --> 00:09:45,917

                                        Vernon: And you how they say that

              we can only access 20 percent

                  of our brain?

00:09:46,585 --> 00:09:51,089

   Vernon: Well, what this does... it

                lets you access all of it. 

In the beginning, he doesn’t believe the pil until he drinks it and feels the effect of the pil. When he meets his fussy landlord’s wife, Valerie who always ask him the rent money and grumble at him, in the same time Eddie feels the effect of the pil. The pil increasing his brain capability. His mind suddenly recognise that she has no intentions to grumble at him. He knows it from the law book that she bring. He knows what the book it is from his youth memory. His unconcious memory show it to him. When he ask is she has any problem in her life, she says that she is in the middle of doing task from his college, then the new Eddie finally help her. After that, Eddie try to start write the book for his boss and miraculously he capable to make some the content of the book in one night. His boss likes the story that he makes and wants him to finish it.

The effect of the pil only endure one day. Because of it, Eddie comes into Vernon’s apartement to get some of the pil. Unfortunately, when Eddie buy some breakfast for him and walking toward the Vernon’s apartement, Vernon has murdered. Then Eddie calls the Police to come. Before the police coming into Vernon’s apartement, Eddie search the pil and found one bags of the pil with a large amount of money then he hide it from the police.

Eddie use the pil everyday. Only a few weeks, he can learn many languages, piano,  earn some money from gambling, and gets new friends from high class. Furthermore the money that he gets from Vernon is usefull for him to finish the book in four days and he involves stocks market. Eddie isn’t satisfied enough with the amount of money that he gets, so he lends US$ 100,000 to dangerous criminal, Gennady to increase his own fortune in stock firm. He success and makes attention to the world. Then Van Loon, powerful investor, takes Eddie to work with his company. Eddie’s life is better than before its all because the pill, he gets a job and his girlfriends, Linda comes back to him. However one day when he takes too much pil, he becomes sick. Melissa, his ex-wife tells him to decrease drinks the pil otherwise he will die.  

­­­­­            When Eddie, wants to drink the pil, suddenly, Gennady comes to ask Eddie’s debt. Gennady see the pil in the Eddie’s hand and drinks the pil. Eddie can not do anything and give him the money. Eddie unable to walk home to get pil, so he comes to Linda’s office. Eddie tells everything about the pil and asks Linda to get his pil. When Linda gets the pil and goes back to her office, she is being follow by the stranger man. She by force takes the pil to runaway from the stranger. Finally, she escapes from the man and gives the pil to Eddie. That is Edie’s life now, Eddie is chased by stranger, threatened by Gennady who wants the pil more and being a murder suspect of woman that he meets in the club. However, this film end happily. Eddie becomes a senator, and because of consumption of the pil he has ability to predict what happens in the next few minutes and the future. Besides with his cleverness, Ediie find the ways to engineer the pil and live happily with Linda.

            After knowing the story of the film, first we see that the film shows the limit and the limitless of something. According this film the limit is about the cleverness and the way to reach the limitless in the cleverness the people needs a pil. If people have a limitless in cleverness, people can gets everything that people want. Here is the quotation:

00:27:33,485 --> 00:27:34,943

    Eddie: A tablet a day

00:27:35,028 --> 00:27:37,446

    Eddie: and what I could do with

        my day was limitless.

00:27:38,615 --> 00:27:40,908

     Eddie: I learned to play the

         piano in three days.

00:27:52,754 --> 00:27:55,714

     Eddie: Even half-listening to any

                 language, I became fluent.

We see from the quotation above that Eddie can lean something faster using his cleverness from the effect of the pil. Moreover in deconstruction, the opposition divided into two superior and inferior. So we can conclude that the limitless is ‘superior’ and the limit is ‘inferior’, because the limitless dominate the limit.

Second, we see that the film also show the other binary opposition about cleverness and money. We know the cleverness as the powerful needed described in the film through the NZT pil. Meanwhile money described as the secondary needed or as the minor in the film. We know, the pil can increase the cleverness of someone who drinks it, and with the cleverness that someone has, there is no limitation, everything imposible to reach. We see the major character’s life has been changed because of the pil. He can be a better and successful person. Everything he wants, easily he gets using his cleverness. He gets money, job, and women. 

            However, if we take a look of this binary opposition carefully, there is unstable meaning in here. This is how deconstruction theory work, to seek the problem in a meaning which means that it is possible that there is unstable meaning in the binary opposition. In deconstruction, ‘inferior’ as the supplement can occur if there is a lack in ‘superior’. It means the ‘inferior’ exist with the purpose to fill a lack in ‘superior’. Deconstruction not means to make ‘inferior’ take a place the ‘superior’. Deconstruction just wants to show that there is unstable meaning in ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’.

            In this film, The limitless as the ‘superior’ can be unstable meaning because the limitless can occur if there is a limit or restrictiveness. If in this world, there is no such a limit, so the limitless isn’t exist. Then the second binary opoosition the cleverness as the ‘superior’ is not a stable meaning too. In order to get the cleverness through the NZT pil, every people who wants it must buy with a high cost. Here is the quotation:

00:10:24,248 --> 00:10:25,665

           Eddie: I don't want it.

00:10:26,250 --> 00:10:28,960

     Vernon: Don't be ungrateful. You

         know how much that costs?

00:10:29,045 --> 00:10:31,671

Vernon: Eight hundred bucks. A pop.

The quotation shows when Vernon tells Eddie the price of one NZT pil. We know that money as ‘inferior’ also has an important role in order to get the pil to create the amazing cleverness. Without a large amount of money, people can not get the pil.

            In conclusion, the two binary opposition that I find are first between the limitless and the limit, second between cleverness and money. After applying the deconstruction theory in the two binary opposition can be seen that there is unstable meaning in the two of them. The ‘inferior’ have a great role too but it doesn’t mean to take a place the ‘superior’.

  

Book Review and Synopsis Romeo and Juliet

Book Review

Title                                            : Romeo And Juliet                         

Author                                        : William Shakespeare

Edited by                                   : George Sampson

Number of Page                         : 238 page

Number of Smallroom    : viii

Size                                            : 17 x 11 cm

Price                                           : None

ISBN                                          : None

First Edition                              : 1936

Act                                             : 1 Act (V Scene)

                                                     2 Act  (V Scene)

                                                     3 Act  (V Scene)

                                                     4 Act  (V Scene)

                                                     5 Act  (III Scene)                                    

Published By                              : The Syndics of The Cambridge University Press

Printed in                                   : Great Britain at The University Press, Cambridge

Romeo and Juliet is an excelent introduction to tragedy because, as befits a tale of calamity in which youth perishes trough the stupidities of the old, it is swift, simple, complete and lovely. My personal opinion of this play was not as enthusiastic as it could have been. I think the personalities just weren`t interesting. In most books I can put myself in the characters` places, and really see what they`re thinking. But here, I found that I didn`t particularly care what they were thinking. Don`t get me wrong, I agree that this is a classic of English literature, but I think I liked it more for its storyline than for its characters. If we read the book, we will be shocked and moved by the faithful love between Romeo and Juliet, especially the everlasting spirit of humanism in them, as well as the artistic charm of spoken and written languages. That kind of humanistic spirit filling the Romeo and Juliet is what many works lack or don't have, which shows the high degree of thinking of this work. Humanism is a value of life, thinking and values and a lofty spiritual realm. It is worthy of following and practicing no matter when and what happened for its everlasting. Romeo and Juliet's pursuit of humanistic spirit shows more their dignity and values as human beings, which is why this play can touch human hearts. I will recommend this book to the others especially for younger readers who will study about Shakespeare play.

The Synopsis

The play, set in Verona, begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet supporters who are sworn enemies. The Prince of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his daughter, but Capulet is wary of the request because Juliet is only thirteen. Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet and Juliet's nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris's courtship.

Meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets and falls in love with Juliet. After the ball, in what is now called the "balcony scene", Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears Juliet at her window vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her and they agree to be married. With the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are secretly married the next day.

Juliet's cousin Tybalt, incensed that Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, challenges him to a duel. Romeo, now considering Tybalt his kinsman, refuses to fight. Mercutio is offended by Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission," and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to break up the fight. Grief-stricken and wracked with guilt, Romeo confronts and slays Tybalt.

Montague argues that Romeo has justly executed Tybalt for the murder of Mercutio. The Prince, now having lost a kinsman in the warring families' feud, exiles Romeo from Verona and declares that if Romeo returns, "that hour is his last." Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet's chamber, where they consummate their marriage. Capulet, misinterpreting Juliet's grief, agrees to marry her to Count Paris and threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Paris's "joyful bride." When she then pleads for the marriage to be delayed, her mother rejects her.

Juliet visits Friar Laurence for help, and he offers her a drug that will put her into a death-like coma for "two and forty hours." The Friar promises to send a messenger to inform Romeo of the plan, so that he can rejoin her when she awakens. On the night before the wedding, she takes the drug and, when discovered apparently dead, she is laid in the family crypt.

The messenger, however, does not reach Romeo and, instead, Romeo learns of Juliet's apparent death from his servant Balthasar. Heartbroken, Romeo buys poison from an apothecary and goes to the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Believing Romeo to be a vandal, Paris confronts him and, in the ensuing battle, Romeo kills Paris. Still believing Juliet to be dead, he drinks the poison. Juliet then awakens and, finding Romeo dead, stabs herself with his dagger. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. Friar Laurence recounts the story of the two "star-cross'd lovers". The play ends with the families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud.

A Formalist Approach to Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken

A Formalist Approach to Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken

There are many ways to analyze the poetry, one of the approach is using the formalist theory. As discussed in An Introduction to Literary Studies (1999), the formalist concerned about literary structure; using phonemic device not the phonetic content. Therefore, using the formalist theory will help to analyze the elements of the poem in order to look its effect in the meaning of the poem. The poem that will be analyze using formalism approach is “The road Not Taken” poem by Robert Frost.

The first lets take a look from the speaker of the poem. As I see that the speaker “I” in the poem “The Road Not Taken”, is in the middle of journey somewhere in a wood and stands between two roads that he had to choose. The evident that show the speaker see the two roads in front of him, when he writes “two roads diverged in a yellow wood.” The speaker had to stand and choosing which is road he had to take, so this poem is kind of a Lyric Poem which express the thoughts, or feeling to the poet. Hence the tone of the poem can directly see that there is a confusion and hesitation in order to which road to choose. It is makes the reader nerve whether the speaker choose the right road for himself.

Besides, the other characteristics like imagery, symbol, overstatement, sound, and the stanzaic structure are given a meaning to the poem. The using of imagery in this poem is more concrete than abstract and mostly visual. The imagery in the poem can be seen in the first stanza and the second stanza. The evident is when the speaker writes “two roads diverged in a yellow wood” in line 1 and “Because it was grassy and wanted wear” in line 8. The word of “yellow wood” and “it was grassy” those are show the verbal imagery for the poem. It shows the concrete representation of the object that describe in the poem.

After that, I found that “The Road Not Taken” is symbolized the choice in life. For the first stanza, the reader just know the choice that the speaker had to make is only about the road choice. However the reader will know that the choice is not only about the simple choice of the road in the last stanza. The speaker believes that his choice will be affect to his future. It will make a difference in his life somehow. Therefore the choice of the road symbolized any choice in life that affects the future. In this poem there is repetition and overstatement. The repetition can be seen in the fourth stanza line 18 “Two roads diverged in a wood” and overstatement can be seen in line 17 “Somewhere ages and ages hence.” It means the speaker wants to show how the choice can effects his life in the future.

Robert Frost also uses various of sound in this poem in order to emphasize some sections of the poem. He uses alliteration, assonance, rhyme, rhythm. The alliteration which is the repeated of consonant sounds can be seen in the poem with the use of  “r,” “t,” and “s” in all stanza. In the first and third stanza dominantly use alliteration “r” and “t,” in the second and fourth stanza use alliteration “r” and “s.” It makes the sound of the poem rough.

           

There is a various assonance which is the repeatation of vowel sounds in the poem. The “Road Not Taken” poem use asonance such as “u,” and “o.” We can see assonance “u” in the words “two,” “wood,” “stood,” “looked,” “took,” it means that the speaker see the two roads in the wood and he stood to look which is the road that he should choose. Next is the “o” sound in the words “sorry,” “not,” “both,” “for,” “morning,” “no,” “trodden” it means that the speaker emphasize that he can not choose both roads and finally he choose one of the road that person rarely passing there.    

                                                                                   

In the poem there are two kinds of rhyme, feminine rhyme and masculine rhyme. The feminine rhyme can be seen if the final syllabel of a rhymed word is unstressed. The masculine rhyme can be seen if the final syllabel is stressed. However this poem uses the masculine rhyme, because the final syllabel in the poem is stressed. The poem consists of four stanzas with five lines each and the rhyme scheme of this poem is ABAAB-CDCCD-EFEEF-GHGGH. For example, take a look at the first stanza:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, (A)
And sorry I could not travel both (B)
And be one traveler, long I stood (A)
And looked down one as far as I could (A)
To where it bent in the undergrowth; (B)

From the example above we can know this poem has 9 syllabel each line and the rhythm of the poem is basically iambic, which means that there is one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The most common use of iambs in poetry is in pentameter, which means that there are five “feet,” or units of stressed and unstressed syllables, in the poem. But the poem of “The Road Not Taken”  is in iambic tetrameter, which means that there are only four feet (tetra = four). Besides there is also the other kinds of rhythm that is anapestic, which means that there are two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. We see the example lines :

To where | it bent| in the un|dergrowth

Each of the four feet in this line is iambic except for the third, because both “in” and “the” are unstressed syllables, making the rhythm an anapest. Besides Robert Frost uses monosyllable line in this poem, they are useful and not waste the space in the poem. We see some of the words such as “sigh,” and “ages” convey hesitation about the choose of the road. There is one caesura used in fourth stanza line 3, which reads, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I─”. The caesura function is to emphasis on “I.” The speaker “I” show the feeling of hesitation, uncertainty about the choice, then it will related to the next line “Took the one less traveled by” it explain that finally the speaker make his decision.

The stanzaic structure in every poem is important, because it can help to reveal the feeling and the place of the poem. The lines of the poem assosiated the road in the wood. The poem’s lines also reveal the confusion feeling.

After analyzing “The Road Not Taken” poem by Robert Frost with the formalist approach, we can see that the formalist approach can applies well to the poem. Some elements of the poem use in this poem such as imagery, symbol, tone, overstatement, sounds, and also stanzaic structure. They are important to get the meaning of the poem. The meaning of the poem related to our life which is sometimes in the life we face some choice that we had to choose. In this poem, the idea is using the nature (wood) to explain that there are two roads in the wood, one of the road is often pass by person and the others rarely pass by person. The speaker in the end choose the road that rarely pass by person. It is related in our life, sometimes we also choose the choise that other person rarely choose. However the choice that we choose can effect the future. In conclusion, the different ways can reveal the meaning of the poem, and the formalist approach is one of the possible choice.

Works cited

Klarer, Mario. An Introduction to Literary Studies. London: Routledge. 1999.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I─

Took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.