Why did David Wallace take his life?
What could have motivated this hero to many to leave this world so suddenly?
Let’s try and understand and imitate the writer David Foster Wallace. A legendary writer whose work ‘Infinite Jest’ might be one of the greatest books ever written! This act might bring us closer to the mind of Wallace and understand the man behind the myth.
Wallace grew up in Illinois and attended Amherst College. Wallace taught English at Emerson College, Illinois State University, and Pomona College. In 2008, Wallace died by suicide at age 46 after struggling with depression for many years.
Wallace writes his encomium argument about a public figure that he likes a lot. In his article, he writes about how this tennis player acts in a play that is impressive and unbelievable in that situation. Also, he tries to convince the reader about how well the player played in the competition by using many descriptive words, such as “Instantly reverse”. “impossibly fast”, “lands exactly” and “flies straight down”.
Why did David Wallace take his life?
Additionally, he uses many technical terms, for instance “ad corner”, “wrong-foot”, “deuce corner”, etc. to emphasize the argument that he makes about how well the figure played. Although I do not know tennis and never played it before. I can understand partially the movements that the player does are incredible and astonishing through his descriptions and the adjectives that he uses. Moreover, he uses long and complicated sentence structures to illustrate the lifetime of the tennis player of what he does and what happened to him. Through reading and imitating the writer David Foster Wallace. I expect to learn rhetorical techniques about the word choices that he uses and also the sentence structure. Besides, I want to learn the way he makes his arguments. He makes his argument certain, strong and with enough evidence.
Almost anyone who loves watching movies and films, has heard of or seen the movie Let the Bullets Fly. One that achieved the highest box office in Chinese movie history in 2010 until then, had what might be termed Jiang Wen Moments. These are times, watching the movie in the cinema with no time to consume popcorn or coke, when the sounds and pictures of the movie begin to play.
For the whole 150 minutes, you stare at the screen with your sore eyes. And are reluctant to move a little bit from it until the end. You sit still on the comfortable soft chair, leaning forward because of the excellent plots and the impressive techniques that are used to make this movie. Eight white horses, pure blooded and tall, are running at four hooves. Wheels rumble against the rails, and two trains are galloping through the mountains of southern China with a fantasy of “horse-drawn train.” Steam rises from the chimneys of the locomotive, but the root of this steam is actually a huge hot pot inside the train.
Why did David Wallace take his life?
Around the hot pot sits the old and hypocritical man, Tang, that buys official office, and his wife and secretary. When Tang and others in the train were drinking fun, the robber Zhang Muzhi led his brothers ambushed in the valley on both sides. Several shots screamingly passed through the sky, with Zhang “let the bullets fly for a while” voice ended, a dazzling robbery began.
Tang and his wife became the prisoners of Zhang after the train was bombed into the water. In order to live and maintain his life, Tang lies to Zhang that he is the secretary and lets Zhang be the new official office of the goose city. Zhang originally was just meant to get some money and supplies, but was enraged by the warlord Huang. Huang is known as the south’s hegemonic, started his career by smuggling arms and selling Chinese laborers, and became powerful in the warlord era.
What Huang and his party did to bully men and women aroused Zhang’s passion for saving the country and the people. He was a Holmes-like official by day, to redress injustices. At night, he is robin Hood-like bandits, robbing Huang’s money to give to the poor. This, indeed, violated Huang’s bottom line. Both sides repeatedly use various conspiracies and tricks to try to eliminate each other. After watching it, I was still sitting on the chair, immersed in the aftermath and the reflection of the movie.
Why did David Wallace take his life?
The magnificence of the scene, the appropriate metaphor of the colors, and how to deal with the scene using the lens are so professional. All the intrigues played in the movies were so excellent. That all of the steps are linked together just for baiting enemies. Hints that foreshadow the plot are seen everywhere and are also not so obvious and in depth which audiences need to know many historical background knowledge to understand, the movie of him is almost always enriched by hormones. Which contains guns, women, and the intrigues between men, these are also in my view violence aesthetics in movies.
However, those are just the superficial level of appreciation of his masterpiece, what many people missed was the political implications in it, which were so incisive and sharply pointed out the problems about the society and criticized the ignorance and stubbornness of people in early ages in our country. For instance, the characteristics of the Revolution of 1911 are just as hinted in the film: a few heroes fight with warlords to save the people, but the people are a hazy image of the mob. In addition to a few bandits and a few family members in the film, all the people are some bare back of the vague shadow, who only know how to kneel down together, cheer together, run together, loot together.
Such a revolution does not require mobilization. If the heroes win, the mob will follow. But what will happen when a revolution ends based on cheating and exploiting the people. Also, as the beginning of the film depicts, the horse dragging the train was actually a real thing that happened in the Qing dynasty. The emperor thought that the coal burning, black smoke and loud roar of the train would disturb the rest of the ancestors. So the locomotive became removed and replaced with several horses to pull the train. It was also a criticism of two political systems in which communism and capitalism struggle in a way of how the mobs react. “There are a thousand Hamlets in a Thousand people’s eyes.”Everyone can have their own thoughts, but what is indeed astonishing, is the movie that provokes our thoughts.
Why did David Wallace take his life?
Journalistically speaking, there is no hot news to offer you about Jiang Wen. He was born in 1963 in Hebei Tangshan. His father was a veteran of the Korean war. He entered China’s foremost acting school, the Central Academy of Drama, graduating in 1984.
That same year, he started acting both on the stage and the film. How he fell in love with one of the most famous actresses in China in his early ages but broke up because of public opinion when he was just a new actor. How he married a French wife and had a daughter. Furthermore, how he divorced but still loves each other. In addition, how he married a new wife that supports his career a lot and how he got the awards of Golden horse award, hundred flowers award, Hong Kong film awards, with dozens, all those facts you can just search it on any search engine.
This present article is more about an audience’s experience of Jiangwen’s movie and all his masterpieces. If you have never seen his movie before. All his gorgeous movies, Red Sorghum, In the Heat of the Sun, Devils on the Doorstep. The sun also rises, and then do, see through his techniques of expressions. See through his metaphor, and recalcitrant and critical conception. Then come up and conclude with your own reflections about the hints of foreshadowing. Also perceive the bizarre and motley scenes to understand the penetrating and incisive sarcastic and irony. Moreover, not with an entertainment attitude, instead, appreciate it as watching Vincent van Gogh’s paintings which indeed it deserves.
Why did David Wallace take his life?
Film production is not for business and commercial purposes as many investors may think. It is not just a way of recording lives and telling stories. It is also not only an aesthetic performance. Rather, I regard it as the condensation of the essence of what directors’ ideology and their thought form. It is also a way of expressing emotions, more clearly, more like an appeal.
Just like those dramas, operas, and literature in early ages of human civilization. It must have a certain approach, regardless of its form. To summarize the outstanding thinking and events in a specific time period. Although, usually, the novel ideas and critical thinking become suppressed. And have to undergo revolutions proving their applicability. Which are always not accepted by commons at that time. There must be someone who stands out and shouts them out, just like director Jiangwen’s movies.
Footnote:
The “ignorance of peasants” and the “absurdity of war” point to the weakness of the Chinese people. And inject more awareness of unexpected development into the visualized story. Because the movie involves the historical topic of Resistance against Japan. And has a wrong position. In addition, because of the film not only fails to show the hatred. And resistance of the Chinese people against the invaders in Anti-Japanese War. But also highlights and focuses on exaggerating its ignorance. Lastly, numbness and servility of the people in the bottom of the society.
Why did David Wallace take his life?
