Woody Allen On Life And Death English Literature Essay

ashen Allen On Life And demise side of meat Literature Essay tree-living Allen was innate(p) on December 1, 1935. He is an actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, author, and acquiredian. He focuses most of his work on middleclass deportment history in fresh York City. He wrote a number of works that deal with heart and death, specifically in the twain I will focus on demise Knocks and some(prenominal) work. arboreal Allen depicts certain themes constantly throughout his works. Many of his characters dislodge their values dramatically, which they held dearly before to adapt to their current situation. This was app atomic number 18nt in his movie, whatsoever plant. He to a fault shows the degradation of hu world society in his film through the perspective of the main character, Boris. ashen Allen s overtake on life and death is shown in his movies and books as c abeyance, scarcely also depress and some eras scary because of the track he writes. arboreal Allen wa s born to a middleclass Jewish family in Brooklyn, newfound York. He eternally valued to be a playwright and started stand-up get ondy while in school. He was a writer for television shows, which helped him gain access to the enjoyment industry. Eventually, he began writing, directing and acting in his plays and films. He has won Oscars for his films and has bring into being a successful get intodian. He has put a lot of himself in his films. Many of his characters arrest been older men with younger wo spell, such as the relationship between Boris and line of reasoning in Whatever Works. tree-living Allen had a relationship with his ex-wife s adopted daughter, who he later married.Woody Allen is the writer and director of Whatever Works, a film in which he depicts his views on life through the main character, Boris. For Allen, filmmaking is an art that, he says, inconveniences me from the disbelief of life, the inevitability of aging and death and death of jockeyd unri valeds mass killings and starvation, from holocausts non equitable man-made carnage, but the existential position youre in. Allen has portrayed his characters as a self-projection that began in his earlier movies. In Stardust Memories (1980), Allen presented a portrait of a man who is intended to appear just as depraved as Allen s critics have accused him of being (Lee 115-116). Thus, in Whatever Works, Allen again projects himself on to Boris. Boris believes that life is a horror show and that is entirely overwhelming. He believes that life s aspirations in the end conform with age to whatever works. Whatever Works opening scene depicts the main character, Boris , outlook on life. The movie s head start scene talks almost the failures of ideologies because they all rely on the fact that people argon fundamentally decent, which he believes is untrue. Boris claims life is a nightmare without people in it and that people should take whatever enjoyment they mickle get in this h ouse of nightmares. He has a completely cynical and negative view of life.In an interview, Woody Allen expressed his views of life and his life as a filmmaker. subsequently Whatever Works, the broadcaster asked Woody about his reoccurring theme life being hard and painful. Allen responded, All the chief(prenominal) writers and all the important philosophers have, in unmatchable form or a nonher, come to the conclusion, the obvious conclusion, that you know, life is a terrible trial and very savage and very full of suffering, and so whatever you can do with the bargain that you dont hurt anybody without, you know, ruining a life here or in that respect or causing any damage, in that locations zipper wrong with it ( pull up stakes the Real Woody Allen). This provides insight into his philosophy of life and how it impacts his work. Like Boris, Woody says that real problems distract him from his work, homogeneous facing the harsh realities of life and facing death. He says that what distracts him isthe uncertainty of life and inevitability of aging and death, and death of loved ones, and mass killings and starvations and holocausts, and not just the manmade carnage but the existential position that youre in, you know, being in a world where you have no idea whats going on, why youre here or what possible meaning your life can have and the conclusion that you come to after a while, that thither is really no meaning to it, and its just a random, meaningless event, and these are pretty depressing thoughts. And if you spend much time daintyking about them, not moreover cant you resolve them, but you sit frozen in your stern (Will the Real Woody Allen).This shows how much Woody puts his thoughts into those of his characters. Woody Allen was influenced by umteen American and European influences, such as Ingmar Bergman, Dostoevsky, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and more. Allen distrusts and satirizes formal knowledge which he explicitly voices through Melod y, when she tells Boris that he told her the American education formation has failed (Woody Allen).In Whatever Works, Woody Allen tells the story of Boris. He is an old man and a genius. He divorces his first wife after a failed self-destruction attempt when he realizes they are perfect on root word but incompatible in real life. Then one day, after hanging out with his friends, he meets Melody, a young woman from Mississippi. She convinces him to let her ride out with him temporarily. She is na ve and appreciates his outlook on life and eventually, falls in love with his genius mind. She believes she is lucky because a girl of her intelligence found a man with his genius, a physicist who claims he almost won the Nobel Peace Prize. Boris imposes his ideologies upon Melody.Woody Allen s views on beliefs are strongly shown as adapting to current situations. This can be turn aroundn in the movie Whatever Works through Woody Allen s depiction of Melody s parents. They are both unsk illed stereotypical religious Midwestern Americans. When Melody s return first arrives, she faints after seeing that Melody is married to a man like Boris, believing that he is either holding or hostage or has brainwashed her. Prior to arriving in New York City, Melody s mother was a housewife who had only been with one man, her husband. After he cheated on her, they got a divorce and she came to her daughter. Eventually, she settles into a life in New York City. After a few weeks, she becomes an artist and takes in a lover and thusly another lover. She waits with two men and establishs nude collages. Her husband is similar in his change. He is also a blue blooded American. When he comes to New York to get his wife back, he has a self-realization that he is a homosexual and lives with a male lover. Woody Allen shows how one s aspirations in life change to whatever works .In the movie, Woody Allen s view of life is cynical and his view of death is comical. Each time the character Boris s marriage fails he attempts suicide by jumping out the window. After the first time, Boris land on a cover develops a limp and divorces his wife. He believes they were the perfect couple on paper but that it no longer worked . He realized this after an concern attack in the middle of the night when he realized he was dying. He was referring to dying slowly each day and that one day, he will die. The second time Boris attempted suicide after his wife, Melody, tells him she is in love with another man and wants to love life and interact with others, and not be cynical anymore. He tells her he expected this day to come but when he goes home, he jumps out the window again. This time, he lands on a woman and breaks her leg. They eventually become a couple. Death is seen as way out of the hardship of life, however, for Boris, when one chapter closed, another opened. Life for him was always worth living, even if he did not believe so at the time. He also tried to commit suicide on a rash whim. It was never planned but an immediate action without thinking.Woody Allen has parodied suicide in many an(prenominal) of his films prior to Whatever Works, including What s New, kitty-cat? (1965). Throughout his works, Allen asks fundamental questions about human life that includes, Is it possible to create a deeply satisfying romantic relationship with just one somebody? Is there one set of absolutely true clean-living principles, or is ethics simply a matter of opinion? Is there God? And what will happen after death? (Lee 46). In Whatever Works (2009), Woody Allen has finally come to a conclusion for many of his philosophical questions that he asked in his earlier films. Woody Allen is definitive in claiming there is no God as Boris and Melody mock Melody s father for praying. Melody outright tells her father that he is praying to nothing just air. Thus, feeld with a meaningless universe and no way to prove the existence of God, his character contemplates suici de is something many of Allen s characters face (Blake 61). It was also apparent that romantic relationships are not with just one person because each of the characters had numerous relationships. Melody s mom had two lovers at the same time. None of the characters abided by a deep-rooted moralistic code either. Boris repeatedly claimed morals changed to whatever works .Death Knocks is a play about fooling death and putting it off. In the play, there are only two characters Nat Ackerman and Death. Death comes to Nat because it is his time to go. Nat refuses to believe him and plays Death in a game of Gin Rummy for an extra xxiv hours to live and for some money. Death loses. In the play, Death claims there is a specific Death for each person and that it resembles them. Nat refuses to believe Death and eventually kicks him out of his house. This short play symbolizes Woody Allen s refusal to come to monetary value with death, shrugging it off and not coming to terms with it. The pl ay shows Allen trying to come to terms with understanding what death is. However, in the play, Nat does not die.Many of his characters are obsessed with death. From Alvy in Annie Hall (1977) to Boris in Whatever Works (2009), the characters are obsessed with abstract considerations about the anguish of living and the terrors of death (Lee 61). curiously since, death is rarely far from Allen s thoughts or images (Blake 69). Woody Allen believes that life is synonymous with suffering. Thus, he takes a position of showing a thin line between choosing life and death for his characters, who are afraid to live and afraid to die.Thus, a repeated theme Woody Allen depicts is when a person comes to realize emotionally as well as intellectually that he will eventually die, he becomes filled with dread, which can be seen in works like Annie Hall and Manhattan (Lee 123). Boris had this epiphany that Nat Ackerson did not. Thus, the reactions of both characters for death were completely differen t.Woody Allen has led a successful career. He has made many films and indite many plays. He is a man who thinks he is an existentialist, trying to see the big picture. He is scared of death and attempts to not think about death by working hard in his films and plays. In Whatever Works and Death Knocks, you get a sense of Woody Allen and how he puts himself into his characters, especially seeing what he says about life and death.Work CitedAllen, Woody. 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