Serial (Bad) Weddings

Today I would like to recommend to all of you a French movie “Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu?” directed by Philippe de Chauveron and released in English-speaking countries under the title “Serial (Bad) Weddings”.

I study French but actually, I am not a big fan of French humor. But this movie assures good fun out of prejudgments and shows that in a way we are all racists, black, yellow, white, catholic or Jewish. There are a few funny moments, especially some, let's say, "politically incorrect" dialogues, where characters reveal that they believe in the stereotypes about each other. But the message is clear - we’re all basically the same, in spite of our ethnic and cultural differences.

The story has of course a happy ending, but you will be amused afterward. Generally speaking, it tells the story of a family in which the 4 daughters marry an Arab, a Jew, a Chinese, while youngest plans to marry a black guy. This last marriage is too much for the parents who had hoped for a "descent, white, catholic" guy.

To be honest, this movie is not on my “top list” and will never be a classic but it is quite fun. I have no doubt that the plot reflects a changing French reality, and it’s interesting to see a movie that took a more realistic look at mixed ethnic families in Europe.

However, this popular French comedy is inaccessible for UK and US audiences and has been rejected by film distributors who deem it politically incorrect and possibly racist. According to the production company behind it, English-speaking audiences "would never allow themselves these days to laugh at blacks, Jews or Asians." In my opinion, it’s too exaggerated because it’s all about a comedy whose purpose is to satirize and to make fun of situations and people.

And what is your opinion about it? Do the comedies about cultural differences or other races should be banned?

Paris

Today, we are all Parisians. 

New Year's resolutions

New Year's Eve has always been a time for looking back to the past, and what’s more important, looking forward to the coming year. It's a perfect time to reflect on the changes we want to make. Each year, most of us resolve to improve ourselves in some way. But as we know, it's really hard to keep up the enthusiasm all the time and not to give up. However, it's not impossible. That’s why, this year, I’ll do everything to remain optimistic.

In my opinion, one of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight and be more fit. And that is also on my own “top” list to do in 2015. It's common knowledge that exercise keeps us healthy so I hope this year I’ll persevere in my efforts to look and feel better.

Moreover, I would like to learn something new in 2015. That’s why, I decided to learn Spanish, I’ve already bought some books so it's a good start! I have a really good motivation for learning this language cause my boyfriend is from Spain and it would be a nice surprise for him and his family if one day I’ll be able to speak with them in their language. It could be great!!

And last but not least,  I’ll try to spend more time on my master’s thesis and finish it on time…But as you know, the most difficult is to begin...so wish me luck!

And how about yours New Year’s resolutions? Have you already thought about it? 

Christmas post

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year when we celebrate faith, family, and the tradition of giving gifts and sending greeting cards. Even if nowadays, emails or text messages are more popular, sending Christmas greetings is a nice and easy way to show your family and friends that you care and that you think about them during this important time of year.

Christmas is almost here, that’s why I would like to wish you all the best! Don’t forget about true meaning of this special time. It’s about spending time with a family and not about how much money you can spend on gifts. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a wonderful dinner and to enjoy just being with your nearest and dearest instead of over spending and getting into debt? That’s my outlook on what Christmas should be and in my opinion, most of you will be agree with me, won’t you?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you! :)

PS. I am posting one of my favorite songs related witch Christmas. I am sure that you know it: 

  

fame

As we know, there are many famous people in the world. Most of them have big troubles because of their fame. During my free time, I read sometimes some newspapers or articles about celebrities and I came to the conclusion that one of their biggest problems are paparazzi. 

A famous person is always followed by groups of photographers. They want to know about every little detail wchich concerns the star. When a celebrity comes to the public place, everybody immadiately recognizes him or her. It can have some advantages but also many disadvantages. If a group of fans want to have the star's autograph, such a famous person has to sign his or her posters, pictures etc. If it lasts too long, a star is getting angry and tired because it isn't really nice and pleasant to write the same thing again and again, is it?  

Moreover, stars can't do many things which every other person can do. They are treated as examples and a lot of people copy their beahviour or habits. Celebrities don't want to reveal all their secrets or problems to the public, and that's why they flee from the crowd and it can sometimes lead to misfortune, like with the case of princess Diana, who died in a car accident, when she was trying to flee from paparazzi.  

In addition, we know some cases, when a famous person couldn't stand all the problems connected with stardom and he or she commited a suicide. Luckily, stars don't choose such a drastic way too often. However, sometimes they shake off by being on drugs or by drinking alcohol. As far as I am concerned, more wiser choice would be to disappear from public life and to live a quiet life.

That's why, I believe that being famous is not only life full of variety, money and travels but it can be also a horrible experience.

And what is your opinion? Are you agree with me that stars don't have an easy life? 

an ideal teacher

Have you ever seen “Dead Poets Society”? I watched this movie once again this weekend and it inspired me to ask myself about the characteristics of an ideal teacher.

As far as I am concerned, an ideal teacher has many qualities. The effect of his personality on students should last long. He is a person who is loved and respected by every student. He should try to establish a kind of bond between the hearts and minds of himself and his pupils. And this type of  teacher was Mr. Keating, one of the main characters in the movie “Dead Poets Society”.

From the beginning, this English professor had a good relationship with his students. After the first lesson, boys were surprised, curious, and fascinated by him. They admired his different way of teaching and the way he made them think for themselves. John Keating was challenging the students to live life, not to just automatically go along with what they are told. Ripping out the introduction to their poetry textbook, standing on their desks to look at the world in a different way or kicking soccer balls while yelling poetry aloud – these unorthodox teaching methods demonstrated freedom of expression and non-conformity.

Moreover, Mr. Keating was the only person at the school whom this students trusted. They talked to him about their problems and treated him like a friend. He was not only interested in learning and in results. His students were important to him and he has also the special relationship with his pupils. All in all, although in others’ eyes, Mr. Keating was a bad teacher, I strongly believe that these students learned more than they had learned in their whole life.

Here you have a fragment of the movie. Can you imagine this way of teaching in Poland? According to you, what should the ideal teacher be like? 

subtitles or dubbing?

The last few years have seen a boom in the popularity of foreign films and television shows, especially in English. As a result, non-English-speaking audiences are getting used to subtitles and dubbing in their own languages. That is why, it seems interesting to discuss the reason why, in my opinion, it’s better to watch foreign movies with subtitles rather than the dubbed ones.

I have seen both subtitled and dubbed films, but I can tell that I find subtitling to be better. There are many reasons why I prefer this way of watching films, but the most important is  the occasion to learn some new language. In my opinion, subtitles can help a lot in learning new words and in acquiring a good accent. Understanding foreign speech is difficult and subtitles provide some lexical information.

Moreover, for me, it’s really distracting watching movies and hearing the sound which doesn’t correspond to the lip movements of the actors. The words coming out are often not synchronized and the dubbing voice doesn't match to the actors' characters.

But on the other hand, dubbing a program means that the audience doesn't have to read the dialogue while watching the show, so the attention is focused only on the image. However, according to me,  there is one particular situation where dubbing is the better method - cartoons for young children. There's a good reason for this: children can't read fast enough to understand the subtitles. That’s why, movies designed for them have to be dubbed.

To sum up, as far as I’m concerned, subtitles are better when it comes to watching foreign movies because they help in learning new language at the same time as enjoying the movies.

And what is your opinion about it? Do you think that it’s possible to learn a new language from watching foreign movies? Or do you prefer dubbed movies? J