'Culture & Values: Michael Haneke and Wislawa Szymborska Essay\r'

'Texts reflect the last and determine of their eras by presenting and addressing perspectives of the composers on the issues of the context. The poetry The block and the Beginning by Wislawa Szymborska and the Austrian dash 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance by Michael Haneke accomplish this by exemplifying issues in 1990s family such(prenominal)(prenominal) as the interpolate magnitude influence of media and the breakdown of social conference.\r\nThe End and the Beginning is a Polish poem by Wislawa Szymborska which captures a wars aftermath on its free citizens and how, in time, twain the war and its origins ar forgotten. It thitherfrom shows how the values of a country or society may change over time as the views and opinions of its citizens change.\r\nThe overall tone of the poem is grim and bitter, with both clear references and poetical allusions to death passim. The poem go off be rendered into two parts the first counselling on construct and the second focusing on the fading of memories with the passing of time.\r\nIn the first part, the third base and fourth stanzas highlight the citizens perspectives, accomplished through references to rebuilding on a much smaller scale, soulfulness must glaze a window, rehang a door. Szymborska addresses the occurrence that we are shown the impact of war on a much larger scale and highlights the enormousness of such small, almost mundane tasks that are required in the process of rebuilding a country. In turn, this heap be seen as a microcosm for the larger effects of war on a country, such as the nations economic stability and global connections both of which became more and more definitive in the 1990s, with issues such as globalization and consumerism having profound impacts on the world.\r\nSzymborska withal addresses the issue of the increase impact of media in the 1990s. The opening seams allude to the intelligence media and how it subsumes such tragic regular(a)ts into clichà ©d headlines and sound-bytes. We, as viewers, mechanically assume that the devastating effects of war would be righted and our minds are immediately focuse on the succeeding(prenominal) article. Szymborska highlights the contrast between this assumption and actually having to merchandise with the rebuilding in the line Things wont square away themselves up after all. She continues in the fifth stanza with the line Photogenic its non, wryly commenting on the scopophilia of society in the 1990s. She also highlights the negative, shallow and sensationalist qualities of the media with its attr natural process towards personnel rather than rebuilding with the line All the cameras drive home left for another war.\r\nTowards the end of the poem, Szymborska addresses the loss of familiarity with each generation. She is yet again commenting on the values of her society; on the obsession with the future, resulting in our forgetting the important events of the past events from which we must learn rather than repeat, curiously in the last stanza. The knowledge of the event has essentially faded into as little as nothing. In contrast to the imagery used before, the tone suggested here is more relaxed, as seen with the words stretched out. However, the lines also arrest dark, negative undertones with allusions to death someone must be stretchedgazing at the clouds, cover that as memories fade, we are nonresistant to make the same mistakes again.\r\nLikewise, the Austrian germinate 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (71 Fragments) by Michael Haneke offers a retrospect of Austrias affluent society and dissects the general breakdown of communication and understanding in a world with increasing technology and changing values. Set in the 1990s, it also takes the media to task for its desensitising graphic symbol in society. The fritter is based on the discussion item of a bank shooting by a 19-year old, who thence kills himself.\r\nHaneke uses the film to d epict what he himself says is a cross-section(prenominal) of society. He exemplifies the breakdown and degradation of human interpersonal communication within our horticulture, despite the emergence of technologies in the 1990s which allowed us to communicate more effectively. By structuring the film into 71 fragments, Haneke splits up the narrative, reinforcing the theme of madness and the breakdown of interpersonal communication. This fragmentation is also visually portrayed through the jigsaw-like paper game. Part-way through the film, a student fails to solve the puzzle leading to an effusion of anger, foreshadowing his final act of violence.\r\nHaneke has also used subtle film techniques to add to the sense of a breakdown of communication. The camera is always positioned in such a way that makes the audience feel set-apart from the characters. Rather than connecting emotionally with the characters, the audience is made to analyse them, thus reflecting the emotionless state which our society has imitation with changing values. The characters themselves are not named, allowing them to become congresswoman of types within society. The use of media is also present throughout the film with Haneke showing the more and more invasive heading of media within society as values change and mankind becomes more technological and industrialised. By reiterate the same articles at the end with the embedding of the films event as another story, Haneke comments on how the media subsumes any disturbance into the even surface of society and integrates it into the unending stream of trivialised information.\r\nThe film also serves a didactic purpose, as Haneke highlights and criticises the conspicuous use of violence in Hollywood action films, saying that his films are intended as controversial statements against the American barrel down cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator. The outburst of violence in the final scene is abrupt, with the gunshots prob able harsh and cold and the cries of agony of the characters chilling. The victims are not portrayed, thus adding a sense of ambiguity as to who the casualties actually are; the characters or the viewers for appreciating violence.\r\nThe considerable take following this scene also tests the audiences patience, showing the grueling process of blood pooling around a body, allowing the responder to reflect upon the tragic events which have fair taken place. Haneke also challenges the news medias desensitising role on individuals and society, as seen with the various stories on the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Sarajevo, which are ironically juxtaposed against news of Michael Jackson, whose pleading seems almost humorous in comparison.\r\nAn compend of the poem The End and the Beginning by Wislawa Szymborska and the film 71 Fragments by Michael Haneke reveals the changing values and culture of the 1990s. The texts highlight the breakdown of communication and the increasing importa nce of media within a society which is becoming increasingly technological and thus, can be seen as a reflection of our own, slightly more advanced culture. Thus, they are examples of texts which reflect the culture and values of the era in which they are composed.\r\nWorks Cited\r\nSzymborska, Wislawa. The End and the Beginning (Poem). Retrieved from: http://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/szymborska_su97.html.\r\nHaneke, Michael. 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls (Film). Released in 1994.\r\n'