Category: IGCSE

I ended up watching the 2 short stories, “The Kid” and “Different”

Immediately upon watching these short stories, it seems as though the ultimate purpose/aim of these stories are completely different and as a result, makes them distinct from one another. As for “The kid”, the details and camera quality match the blockbuster worthy title, which can be further exemplified with the typical ‘Hollywood’ type plot, a kid with ‘mysterious’ powers that can magically revive people. On top of this, you have the standard 1 versus many other brawl fights because, without it, I guess it will lack the content of a commercially aimed movie. On the other hand, “Different” is very much ‘different’, with the apparent 2 protagonists having some form of a disorder in a realistic setting of a normal life. It seems as though this short story aims towards bringing attention to the social problems/struggles these ‘different’ people face, yet also bringing light to the idea that things can still be normal, regardless of the restrictions that people have or are born with. Sad to say this but the acting and camera quality also seems quite a bit amateur-ish.

In terms of similarities, one thing that is evident and is crucial to both of these short stories is the idea of being “different”. The kid with the magical powers and the kids with some form of physical disability. But, as aforementioned, the reason why such scenario’s and characterization were made are most likely different. However, the fact that these short stories contain characters in which are ‘different’, it naturally results in provoking curiosity to us audiences. Emotions evoked from us can vary, such as jealousy or empathy.

All in all, I think I watched quite a distinct pair of short stories. It makes it quite hard to see what kind of similarities can be drawn between these 2.

The-Tell-Tale-Heart

Despite the bizarre nature of the main character, I found this story to be quite enticing. With the short story being first person and the character’s insane personality, the train of thoughts is rather intriguing and it is hard not to say that the development of his character is what drives the story. Right off the bat, it is quite evident that the narrator is psychological ‘different’, rather crazy-like as he chooses to kill an innocent old man just because he doesn’t like his eye. Weirdly obsessed with the old man’s eye’s, I find it particularly interesting that the main character’s desires to kill the old man even though he seems to hold some sort of respect towards him. This also does not seem to be the only conflict, as the character mentions himself being under control, yet he spent 8 days to finally kill the old man. Whilst despising the old man’s eyes, he spends 8 days trying to get a closer look at it. The short story just seems to hold many conflicting, unpredictable qualities, which may be what depicts the ‘insanity’ of the narrator. The narrator himself seems to defend himself as sane as he managed to kill the old man, believing he has accomplished his clever plan like as if it was common sense. He seems to hold this judgement of himself as rational and right yet from our perspective, his physicological instability proves otherwise. Interestingly enough, the narrator’s body seemed to be particularly ‘normal’ as the loud sound he was hearing after the death of the old man is presumably his own heart, tormenting him and leaving him in agony until he had to spill the truth. Maybe there’s a weird meaning behind the title, the “tell-tale” heart, possibly referring to the truth revealing nature of the hearts, the old man’s fear and the narrator’s sense of guilt that he would have been ignorant otherwise.

I find this initial scene to be particularly interesting. The frame is abundant in black yet contrast is built through relatively dark and dull colours. Managing to bring out the silhouette of these 2 characters, the Hellboy presented to be rather mysterious and intimidating whilst the other seemed quite composed, matching the text as it seemed to be well informed. The black creates an effect of gloominess but also tension, exemplified with the lack of details elsewhere, the focal points being these 2 characters. The glare of the eyes of the Hellboy presumably exemplifies the evil aura of the character as well as presents a sense of tenacity and focus, whilst the other character seems relatively discarded, with no light in his eyes.

The description of the second girl is relatively simple and short, leaving more space for the illustration, leaving the audience to focus more on the drawing itself. The white background creates contrast with the darkly coloured girl, almost rather exposing, shedding light to the “ugliness”. Emphasis is created in each adjective with full stops and despite its description lacking depth, combined with the illustration, side by side with the “beautiful” girl,  it brutally depicts the unsightly nature of the second girl, in comparison to the first. The drawing itself is also quite provocative(shocking), as the apparent figure of a girl looks nothing like one but more literally “troll-like”. With missing teeth, rather demonic eyes and no presence or sight of delicate features, such as the smoothness of skin, it depicts a “child” which lacks the innocence and charm one should supposedly have.

What do you find most striking about the ways in which two or more of the short stories connect?

I found the short stories of the ‘Girl’ and ‘Likable’ to have the most interesting connection. It is almost like these 2 come hand in hand in terms of its similarities and differences. The similarities being both of these short stories has this aspect of self-imagery and the “responsibility/desire” to maintain such an image. The contrast comes from the way in which the author presents the theme, the short story ‘Girl’ being much more certain in its way of how to be a “girl”, whereas in comparison to the “Likable”, the character seems very uncertain and even holds self-doubt, something the ‘Girl’ never presented. Basically, the authors of these 2 short stories conveyed the same idea/theme using 2 polar opposite methods (uncertainty and certainty). Some interesting things I was considering was the cultural aspect of the ‘Girl’. It seemed to present some evidence of African heritage. The listing of ways to how to be a girl also seemed very strict and uptight, almost like a law. Maybe some sort of tradition or cultural influence? Another thing I considered was the age difference. The ‘likeable’ with the older woman and the ‘Girl’ being the younger. Could there be some significance in this age gap? Maybe even the girl in the short story ‘girl’ may turn out to become like the woman in ‘Likable’ as she experiences ageing.