Between Dhuwan and Maalik: Ashir Azeem in retrospect

 

Ashir Azeem is a Pakistani writer and actor, who rose to instant and immense in the 90s, with a smash hit drama ‘Dhuwan’. It involved a group of friends who formed a vigilante force by night and had professional lives by day. After which he left the media world to focus on his own career as a civil servant. In the last few years his contribution to Pakistani cinema was a hit film by the name of ‘Maalik’, which in the footsteps of his drama, focuses on the nature of corruption in Pakistani society, had good dialogues and had enough action to keep the scenes interesting and cinematically appealing.

This interview was originally done for an online magazine, which does not exist anymore. So I’m putting this interview for everyone to read.

 

 

 

1. How are you?

Ans: I am Good

 

2. How was life, growing up for you?

Ans: The best childhood one can have. I grew up in wilderness and mountains deep in Baluchistan. We were not wired to computers or restricted to four walls. Ran with the wild and breathed fresh air. Hence my lifelong love for wide open spaces, nature, animals, human spirit, dignity and undiluted freedom and independence.

 

3. What kind of a family setting did you grow up in? Was it strict or liberal?

Ans: I am eldest of four siblings. I grew up completely unrestricted. We did not live in a joint family so completely unaware of politics and intrigue of any kind.

 

4. How did you develop an interest in films?

Ans: Quite frankly, I don’t know. I guess one thing led to the next. My complete independent nature with no preconceived notions about anything and the desire to experiment with and experience everything has led me to very interesting things in life. Film, being one of those.

 

5. Were you active in school plays? Did that help you grow as an actor?

Ans: Not really. I did do a play or two at school but wasn’t really interested.

 

6. You are a talented writer, so what books do you read? Any favorites?

Ans: I read everything, from technology to philosophy, history, fiction, politics, religions, you name it. But I love physics and astronomy the most.

As far as favorites are concerned, I guess you get to those when you are approaching the finishing line; I have too much stuff to read yet to decide the best.

 

7. You seem to be fond of the army, and often write about characters that are in the military. Where did that come from?

Ans: Military takes you away from the mundane ordinary life to a world of extreme. You experience everything to the limits, Camaraderie, Loyalty, Rage, Courage, Fear, Pain, Endurance, Strength, Discipline, Respect, Dignity, Honor, Compassion the entire spectrum of what makes you tick. It turns you inside and out and shows you what you are made of and capable of. Once you know yourself then you have the choice to do what you wish with it.

I think everyone owes it to themselves to undertake a journey of self discovery. This is why I was in Pakistan Air Force for a few years, I needed to test my limits, to read my owner’s manual.

I enjoy writing about characters that have discovered themselves.

 

 

 

8. How are you such a good actor?

Ans: Forget Camera and Light. Forget it’s a movie. Immerse in the situation and go with it. If you want to be a good actor, don’t act, live the role.

 

9. Are there any actors that inspire you?

List is too long and ranges from Hollywood to Bollywood to Lollywood.

 

10. Which movies or dramas do you like?

Ans: Instinct 1999, Saving Private Ryan 1998, Vertical Limit 2000, The Patriot 2000, 3 Idiots 2000 . . . the list goes on and on

 

11. You wrote a drama yourself, Dhuwan, which was a great success. What was experience like? Because it was the first time you wrote a script.

Ans: Close your eyes and write what you see on the screen of your mind. You will end up with the screenplay, dialogues, props, cast, editing sequence, sound etc. Now go on and make it.

12. Maalik, your movie is fantastic, what was the best part of being the heart and soul of it?

Ans: Being the heart and soul of it. To be answerable to yourself, have the freedom to do as you please and take responsibility for it. No retreat, No regret, No surrender.

 

13. There is a lot focus of society and its ills in the film, do you believe that movies help in bringing social awareness about things that matter?

Ans:  اندر گھر کی ایک دیوار کے، اور کوئ دیوار نھیں، سوچ سے زیادہ ھتھیاروں میں، اور بڑا ھتھیار نہیں. An idea is the most powerful weapon. Today there is a conscious effort to divert focus of society from the real concern to a false sense of happiness and escapism. Not unlike drugs. Maalik focuses on real issues, poverty, access to justice, democracy, role of institutions, rights and responsibilities of citizens etc.

Issues are like disease, the longer they are ignored the worse they get.

 

14. How did the public react to Maalik?

Ans: For me to respond is conflict of interest.

 

15. Where you ever afraid of being as honest as you were in the film?

Ans: Nope.

 

16. As a writer, what is the moral of your movie?

Ans: Take care of your present and future, no one else will do it for you.

 

17. How did you feel when Maalik was banned from cinemas?

Ans: Obviously I felt bad, but I knew I will win. یہ تو چلتی یے تجھے اونچا اڑانے کے لیے

 

18. Do you have any work that we will be seeing in the future? Because we want more.

Ans: Yup. I am already working on finalizing scripts.

 

19. Do you have message for Pakistan and its people?

Ans: I have written and produced Maalik as a message for Pakistan and its people. They should see the film if they want the message.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On writing ‘Ramiz’ my poetry Book

Hey everyone. I hope everything has been fine and blessed on your end, and today I’m going to talk about something very special and close to my heart.This year I got the chance to publish and launch my poetry book ‘Ramiz’. I had been working on it for about three or four years as a concept for a proper book, there had been multiple delays and distractions in between that got in the way. But that’s fine, because it wasn’t until this passing December that I finally felt that Ramiz was complete and ready for the world.So I’m going to talk about what Ramiz is about . Ramiz was a cousin of mine who we lost a couple of years ago, he died in between my uncle and my mama. During that time I wasn’t really writing anything, I was out of pretty much everything. I had given up on a lot of things. It was during that time that I wrote one poem about Ramiz, with his name as the title, on a rough page with black ink. And by some miracle I never lost that singular,flimsy page. Years after that I thought about writing more poems along the same theme,sound and feel. Initially it was about thirty pages, which I thought this was enough. By this time I was in my university, the first semester, I was working for my publisher and I figured that everything would happen really fast. But I kept on delaying things myself.So fast forward three years, Ramiz was completed with about fifty poems, one short story and one personal essay, and at the brink of the final semester. I wouldn’t really call the end perfect. I wasn’t able to fulfill the complete the mental image that I wanted, and everyone I wanted to be there wasn’t able to make it. But I’ve learned to not be so obsessed with images and dreams and take things as they are, and walk out of my mind. I was also able to have my first photography exhibition on the same day. My father was there, and I spoke rather well on stage, so I guess everything turned out fine.So what is Ramiz about?Ramiz, I guess the book about dealing with someone not being there. Someone slipping away, and you having to live them no being there. It’s about feelings of loss,change,regret and pain, all packaged in symbols and beauty, without taking any names.It’s also about nostalgia, or the relationship we have with time, and how unreal it can feel at times, as nothing makes sense and we don’t know how to react to anything.It’s about love.And as a whole the book is about growing up, having personal closure and letting everything go.And I feel like it’s development mirrors my own growth and journey as a a mature person. The world just feels more open and welcoming now. It practically made me see the value in art and literature.Apart from that I want to say the writing is fairly simple, and easy to read. The color blue is very important to the context, images and theme of the book, I sort of inserted it into everything. And lyrically and sonic-ally the sounds follow a lot of nursery rhymes and slowly grow into more complex and dense sounds.And I’m going to keep on writing the future also, and have some fun ideas to work on. But I don’t think I will be able to give it the same dedication, tears and love as I have given Ramiz. Something so natural to my destiny.

I’m going to work on getting Ramiz out to everyone now. But I don’t have an ordering link at the moment. As soon as that is up, I’m going to share it with everyone. It’s going to a modern testament of love and a classic.

Load Wedding ( 2018) – Review

 

 

 

 

‘Load Wedding’, is a cute little comedy slash social commentary film by director Nabeel Qureshi and producer Fizza Ali. It stars Pakistani trail blazers Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat as the main couple. It’s a simple and elaborate film that at most is a breath of fresh needed air, elaborate and well- balanced.

The movie follows a shy,cute and introverted Raja, who wants to marry his childhood crush Meeru, who has recently been widowed. But standing in his way is the inactive marriage of his Baby Bajee, and the dowry that he has to get for her.

 

So just to say off the bat, I loved this movie. The actors main and side were excellent and they all fit in well to create a wholesome,authentic, sincere and not stereotypical and exaggerated portrayal of  desi people. Pujabis in particular.

 

The movie looks beautiful, and the colors are enough to make someone feel welcome and warm, in this era of ugly and in the shadows cgi. The cinematography is always dynamic, visual sweetness and I liked it was a lovely site of what a small town actually looks like, and not some over the top display of money and unnecessary show sha. It does well with it has, and what it should have. I in particular loved Raja’s sweaters.

On the social side, I think the movie actually got to display the problem of dowry in a unique and thoughtful way, that I haven’t seen before. The film actually shows and doesn’t tell, it even takes the message out to the people inside their homes. Raja works hard to get the dowry for his sister, and fulfill his responsibilities, but hurdles always seem to get in the way, and it feels like they have to sacrifice their self respect to get the deed done. But it’s then that everything turns around, and that also  by finally confronting the bigotry in society and speaking up for oneself, which Raja does finally vocalizing his   sentiment and making a spot on analysis of the situation.

I loved that scene so much. And everyone should watch this movie. Because very few movies can be entertaining, innovative, fun, authentic and hard hitting all at the same time without falling short. Load wedding is something for and by the culture, but like all great works of art it needs to spread out into the masses.

 

So yeah. Watch Load Wedding, it’ll give a good cry and laugh.

 

 

 

You can watch the movie here

Passing by the Night – Photo Essay

I can’t believe I’m at this place again. Last year when we were going into the new year, I took a photograph of the last sunset. I hoped in that moment that maybe things would be different, that they would change, I would change, and maybe finally have a resolution.

Oddly enough, the opposite has been happening. Isn’t time supposed to change everything? And things have changed I just haven’t changed or evolved at the same pace.

Maybe I’m suffering from a generic kind of arrested development.

The same things that hurt me three years ago, are the things that are hurting me now. Shouldn’t that change, or is this the lope I’m stuck in. And I tend to end up in the same place, roaming the streets alone at night. The night changes everything. All these streets and buildings, all the lights and no sound. It’s just man-made space devoid or feeling and full of me, but that’s not something to be surprised of since I’m out at four in the morning and midnight.

But coming home and looking back , both at the roads and at time, I have to admit that things have changed. The kids are gone.

And that change that I thought would never come, or never felt was there, is finally shinning through my eyes.

It’s a big step.

It hurts.

But it’s here.

And there is nothing that I can do about it.

Could I go back and change things?

Was it something I did?

I feel like I did so much, and felt so much, and for what?

Can I go back and apologize to everyone? And replace the hurt and the damage?

Or continue to walk on into the night like nothing happened?

I’m always in awe and disturbance with time. I can never decide if it’s real. Last time I was out like this – aimless – timeless – I remember my friends saying all the things I already knew.

I was shaken. Moved to a point of offense but there wasn’t anything to protest.

I don’t protest at all. A girl should at least try, even if it changes nothing.

I’m still here. I wake up like it takes no energy. I break in tears when no one is watching.

I’m alive.

These look like how I feel. I walk through the cold, and my heart is full of nothing but hope and I see my future come up to me, while my past is limping in front of me.

Is all of this distress just because of the weather? Is that it ?

Everything is coming together. In the stillness of the night and the shadow of the dark it’s easy to think of the future. It’s easy to be hurt in the hurt, anything could happen, and no one would care.

But to venture out and visit the past, look out into the future, deal with those spirits that lurk in the streets and then come back having survived, having apologized, having changed. That’s the victory of the night.

Stories don’t change anything.

That’s what hurts me.

It breaks my heart.

I know why we tell stories. We tell them to ourselves, not other people. We tell them to find our solutions, our way to an escape from how we feel. To get away.

To throw out the blood that we don’t need anymore. No more.

This is isn’t the first time I’ve felt this way.

I’ve felt this way before.

I’m feeling it right now.

Of the future I am unsure.

I was so protected.

I am guarded.

I am still and strict in the smile.

My chin and shoulders are high.

My eyes are dead and in flames.

But my voice betrays me.

Sweet solitude.

Where do I go from the end?

Do you feel the same way?

Or the complete opposite?

Can I make you understand how I feel?

I come to them looking hungry for love, but when the glance is returned it’s trying to find a solution.

It’s love that I want – not promises.

Why you should watch Living Single

 

‘Living Single’, is a show from the 90’s that I recently started watching, for the most part I’m hooked on it. It stars Queen Latifah as ‘Khadija James’,, who lives in Brooklyn with a group of eccentric, funny and animated friends, and she runs her own magazine by the name of ‘Flavor’.

‘Living Single’ is a nice feel good tv show, that sort of uplifts the spirit, and makes you wish you lived on your own in a vibrant city with a group of fellow successful, attractive friends who are always there, and always entertaining.

It was a hit when first came out and the freshness has not faded.

Reason 1

It’s a captivating adorable show. The premise is a young confused person’s fantasy. Who doesn’t want a supported group and to be out there and working at their dream job?

All the characters have very distinct character traits and funny personalities, so they often get into teasing comical verbal exchanges. It may not be the most serious show, but the episodes, plots, characters and situations hold up strong. So it doesn’t take a lot of effort to like it, or find the charm.

 

Reason 2

It’s good for that nostalgia bug. It’s hard to notice Hollywood has been trying to milk our fascination and need for content that looks like it’s not from our time. Oddly enough it’s only brought in dissatisfaction and the destruction of everything we love.

So what better to quench our thirst for nostalgia then what actually made up our nostalgia.

You can take inspiration from older fashion, music and dialects that made way for us. It’s a good way to deal with wanting to belong to different generation and maybe learn something new.

 

Reason 3

It’s a fun way to learn English. This of course depends on how well you are with the language already, and are aware that people don’t always speak in the formal manner that we are taught English at school.

The good thing about this show is that all the characters have a very distinct way of speaking and a vocabulary that fits their personalities and backgrounds very well.

This way you will be exposed to different vernacular, vocabulary and learn how to throw ‘juggats’ outside of Urdu and Punjabi.

 

Reason 4

They had excellent writers. All the characters are well formed and believable and recognizable.

 

Reason 5

They have really cute romantic couples on the show. Especially Sinclair and Overton.

 

Reason 6

It’s about time people got over this cult like obsession with the sitcom Friends. That show has hype around that to outsiders of the fandom does not match the content writing and output of that show. So I have decided that if people can watch that they can watch ‘Living Single’ and witness something similar just better.

 

The End.

P.S Do comment if you’ve already watched the series, and what shows do you like.

 

 

 

 

A Lonely Basta – A photo Essay

Projection is a defense mechanism. One in which what we feel is shadowed on to other people or other objects. And for the most part, that is something people have always been doing in lots of ways, some harmless and some just sad.

The rain, sunsets and empty spaces are just what they are, but someone once felt a way and since then we have been staring at the rain, as depressing and cemented the image with films and art. We let what’s inside us, take over everything, and we become victim not to logic and not to reality, because what’s real isn’t always the first image or thought in our own personal and private reality. There is no place that we can come on our own and decide that this is how we must feel and how we must control what we feel.

The sun was never in danger during an eclipse, but centuries ago people thought it was being eaten up. I know that was just innocent superstition, and projection under its social scientific definition, is something completely different. But it feels the same.

And what about when we begin to see our feelings in things that are dead. That are objects. Can we really judge if a brick is angry? can we judge is a corpse is happy? Why are we desperate to create man like machines and recreate ourselves as artificial beings? But in all these questions and trying to use art to show how we feel, we can all agree when we find something peaceful.

The same thing happens with my brown bag. My aunty got it for me from London, but I’m pretty sure the cow was from Pakistan. Everyone likes it, it’s well made and beautiful, and to me in the right lonely location I can make my bag look like how I feel.

If I’m the one feeling depressed this whole November, why should it be left behind.

I always stuff the bag up with things I think I need, but I’ve seen myself actually needing them. Ironically half on the notes and books I need are never actually in it. They’re always home lying on the table or on my bed and I’m left wondering what’s the load on my back. Why to keep carrying all the extra things around?

Is beautiful all I must aspire to be? Is beauty enough? But why should objects wonder what they look like? And why am I so concerned about how the things I own look? I’m very careful. I don’t buy things that don’t match the images in my head. I don’t buy clothes that I don’t feel suit me. But are those innocent, superficial reasons reason enough?

Why do I have to be so strict about it?

Maybe in the next month , I’ll feel better and liberated and it won’t hurt anymore. And this brown bag will follow me there.

Parwaaz Hai Junoon – Review

 

 

 

 

So this Eid Pakistani theaters were in a packed up frenzy. We had three really big, different and popular movies, all with a star cast, but with nothing in common between them, from sets, style, music and story-lines. I loved that.

The one I went to see first was ‘Parwaaz Hai Junoon‘, which follows the daily life and drama of a group of fighter pilots. The movie does well to balance how they have a responsibility towards protecting their country and always being ready to make sacrifices for it – but it also showed them living their normal happy lives, which is also full of surprises, twists and turns.

I won’t get into details of the story because it’s best you watch it yourself , to understand the different events going, and be in touch with the characters. And they were really likable for the most, very natural and relatable.

 

 

So straight away I loved the flying scenes. They just looked really good, like I wanted to be in there myself. I would say that the visuals for the flying was not on the same level of immersive perfection like Ghibli films, but they were definitely better than what we saw in Top Gun. And staying on the topic of visuals I was really happy with all those scenes in Islamabad, it was very music video cute, and ‘cool winter walks with a side of coffee’ interactive. There wasn’t much to remember about the fashion in the film, because the atmosphere, fun, sets and lights really stole the show.

I think it’s safe to say that there were about two main characters, who were also the romantic lead, and the rest of the cast were on the side. I say that because the loose plot follows Hamza Ali Abbasi and Hania Amirs characters lives, but the whole cast plays an integral part on-screen, and I wanted them to be there.  The humor and interaction between everyone is great to watch, and they came well together because different kinds of personalities and backgrounds. I almost like the others more than the main leads, because they felt natural, cute and were funny.

Just to list them out Hamza, Asif Raza Mir, Ahad and  Shafaat Ali were the most dynamic and energetic when it came to acting and getting on your nerves, but in different ways. Hamza was really likeable as the leading character, for being an overall great person, who stands up for what he believes in. Ahad gets on your nerves for being an example of toxic masculinity. I went in thinking I would like his character but no, I was annoyed and angry – so the boy can act. I’m probably going to say this again, but Shafaat Ali is a national treasure and he should have his own show.

 

 

The music was not bad, but after I finished being moved and teary-eyed by the whole experience, I wasn’t going online or to the store to get the music, or even revisit it. Which is fine, because the soundtrack isn’t bad, but it just didn’t hit me. I also had a problem with the dialogues they just came of as a little cheezy and silly at times, and the dubbing could be better. Please fix the dubbing.

A lot of reviews and people were saying that the story was a bit predictable and there was nothing new about it, and you know what it doesn’t have to do. We are entitled to cinema that is unique and out of the box, and as paradoxical as it sounds, this was a different mix of a film. It didn’t exactly look or feel like any other film, because of how it comes together and how warm it is to watch. Kind of like on of those slice of life that have a bit of everything, that really hits you in the feelings with a bitter-sweet taste.

 

 

Parwaaz Hai Junoon also has a re-watchable quality to it, so this is good for the whole family, a group of friends and pretty much anything. I think it would be good for television just so more people can watch at home.

 

 

 

Presently watching Daria

This isn’t really a review but more of a opinion piece on the animated series ‘Daria’. It ran from from the late 90’s to the early 2000’s and had a big impact and even if some people didn’t necessarily watch it on MTV it was iconic enough for everyone to know it was something good.

‘ Daria’ is a densely packed animated series that followed the daily activities of Daria Morgendorffer an angst filled teenager who likes to read, is sarcastic , realistic and sees through the shallowness and almost vomit inducing, capital driven and moralistic inflation of the suburban American scene.

I only faintly remember watching ‘Daria’ as a kid, so I spent the whole week crash-watching all of the five seasons. And unlike most binge-watch in experiences I don’t regret this one.

The main character Daria is a first child with middle-child syndrome, who lives with her detachment to her superficial , troubled and volatile caricature family and friends. The fun thing about Daria is that even if she is supposed be the voice of reason, she has it without being fake or annoying. The voice actress for Daria even talks like an answering machine, which is kind of symbolic.

I also really like Jane Lane and Trent, because they embody the broke and hot artist and musician. I’m pretty sure anyone can recognize their own artsy friends in them, and Trent looks exactly like the lead from every band at the time. Plus it’s fun how realistically lazy and always working on something at the same time. It inspired me.

Quinn the fashionable, social butterfly who thrives on her popularity is also fun to watch.

I honestly wish we could have a satirical show like this in a Pakistani setting. I know I’d watch it.

And to make things brief ‘Daria’ was and still is a ‘breath of fresh air’ as one critic called it. The writing is great, the characters are cartoony enough to be fun and real enough to be sad, the look is unique and something not overdone to death. The plots go strong and the repeated character tropes don’t lose their charm and overall the series and theme of the holds strong years after it’s release and I’m confident that that’s how it will stay.

The show did great a comic strip like depiction of society at that time and about the fear of what we were going to go down as. The show was a study of probably the last few years during which people were concerned about the lose of innocence and scholary intelligence, which would be and maybe has been lost to shopping,plastic surgery, nerds that are nerds for an image, superficiality for superficiality, reality TV over poetry. The stress, annoying dumbness, lack of depth, the cynicism that intellectual kids feels, and not having any immediate solutions to saving the rain forest or the ozone layer that till now didn’t really catch up to us, really cements the show like a Bible guide to that time of our shared past.

So overall I feel like everyone should consider watching Daria. Because is something almost everyone in our twenties will recognize and probably enjoy and post about as their spirit animal.

And within all the the things ‘Daria’ was right about when it came to human consumer nature and trends in society. The one thing that it maybe wrong was that viral internet videos and not mindless television would make us crazy.

Plus I think season 1 to 3 are the best ones.

And hopefully the reboot won’t destroy my recently developed nostalgia.

My term paper on ‘The Little Mermaid’ and Trans-humanism

I’m happy personally with this term paper. I haven’t any word back on this one, but it has a fun memory attached to it. I had a two months heads up on it but of course I was going to do it the night on the submission. And what normally would be me staying and finishing an assignment turned into me going out with my friends for a birthday party while finishing and submitting the assignment in the cafe. Cafe Pomelo at Packages Mall to be exact. I finally have teenager  memories.

 

 

 

Literary Theory and Movements

Term Paper ( Post Humanism and Trans humanism) 

 

Name: Maheen Ahmed

 

 

 

Mother Malfunction: The Eco-feminist defiance to the stance of Trans humanism in Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Little Mermaid’.

 

 

Literature Review

This paper looks to see the exchange and multi-dimensional exchange and embodiment of an extended notion within Post Humanism which is Trans humanism. Post humanism opens and carries out a study on what is humanness and what changes and affects humanity, while Transhumanism talks and advocates for the technological development of human life and artificial life, and it looks down at the essence and perceived weaknesses of humans.

Regarding ‘The Little Mermaid’, and fairy-tales in general there has been a lot of work on it’s eco-feminist discourse, psychology, imagery and sociological revolution and a way of providing a wholesome space for female feelings and development, but there has been little work done on the element of Trans humanism, as the short story ironically involves her becoming a human. Transhumanism is also applied to war literature and futuristic literature and media, so this research will be bringing the binaries in contact.

Therefore this paper will be an extension and different approach done in papers like, ‘Ecofeminist thought and practice’ by Bruna Bianchi, ‘Han’s Christian Andersen’s Fish out of Water’ by Nancy Easterlin and ‘The Little Mermaid : Three Political Fairytales’. It will also question and answer the idea that the Trans humanist movement is populated predominately by men and the male gaze.

 

 

 

Discussion and Analysis

 

The center of ‘The Little Mermaid’ is found in the youngest mermaid of a royal family, who in form is like an ecological ‘Earth Mother’ in eco feminst terms, in that she is a reflection and symbol of nature, and she also a symbol of a ‘Meta Human’  and an amphibious character in that she has mobility and movement possibilities beyond mortal humans in the story and is also linked with being able to feel more realities and grow as a character. All of these characteristics would suggest some sort of ‘Transhumanist’ fantasy as she is both more and less than human, and she being  able to live in water, apply magic and in a way escape a normal mammal death because her grandmother tells her‘ Mermaids do not have souls. When we die we become the white foam on the face of the sea’.

 

Therefore as an opening the image of this female fish-like character is like an ecological and fantastical robot, both idealistic and beautiful and a dream for the future of mankind, but the Mermaid is young, inexperienced and eager to learn about the human world, and she even wishes to have a human souls, which would render her powerless, ordinary and susceptible to death, decay, weakness and disease. She is also imperfect as she needs to learn a lot from her grandmother, who is the wise and all-knowing archetype of the Earth mother and the good witch. She snubs the child and tells her ‘Not to say such things’, and while decorating the child explains that ‘One must suffer for beauty’. This would suggest that the little Mermaid is the one searching for perfection, and according to her view an upgrade in existence and living would be to posses a soul and not evade death with a long and meaningless life. But what pulls her out of the ‘Trans’ element is that at least in the story she is an organic being and is not physically associated with machines or technology, but remains a nature and water based character who just wants to experience a different life out of a emotional and personal need, that is free from greed and material gain.

Further on it is revealed that the mermaid keeps a statue of a perfect man in a private garden, which she idealizes and almost worships and brings ‘red corals and flowers’ to as an offering. This does come forward as something aligning her with ‘Transhumanism’, as she has set her ideals of a body, and that to a Euro-centric art piece of manliness, which is always extreme in depicting strength and beauty. From this we may derive that she has developed a notion of beauty and existence above her because as a mermaid she has no legs, she lives in the water, and this is a purely man and extremely masculine image, and is far beyond her, so metaphorically she is looking to achieve from her own body, like a man wanting to be robot would do.  She is definitely insecure and not satisfied with what she is and it  fuels her self-disdain, and pushes her to later change her body.

When she wishes to be the prince, who she looks up to and wants to be with she goes to a sea witch, and in order to get legs and be a human, she has to have her tongue cut out. This on face value does have a lot of trans humanistic tones, because she is literally changing her body and getting something that serves her purpose, but it comes at a huge price, she is unable to act fully like a normal human, she is always in pain and cannot fully fit with the real humans. This carries a similar critic on the movement as to question what is better, and the humanist acceptance and ethical question when it comes to the discourse, asking is the pain and humiliation worth it. The way the people treat her also gives a bad look about humans as it shows their evil side and their inability to accept and short-sightedness.

In her journey to find and win over the love of the prince, gaining his human emotional love is the goal, or else she will die for nothing. This again shows a unique a holistic, altruistic and comprehensive debate and narrative regarding humanity and what people want to change about it. The fact that honest love is that important, adds dignity to human life, and to the heartbreak and futile living of people, her whole body change was for futile and sexual-romantic reasons which the theory is against. Even in science fictional movies like ‘Ghost in the Shell’ the female body and need is based o n compulsive and dignified dedication to humanity, while it is the male essence that wants destruction and an end to the weakness of people, the female essence goes out of its way to accept, perform and defend humanity and humanness.

Lastly, her growth is amplified by pain and life’s reality, not by having an escape from death. It is because she is weak, powerless and vulnerable and yet holds decency and sacrifices that she instead of  becoming fully human by either marrying or killing the prince, she transcends humans and the mermaids by becoming an air fairy, as a gift from the power of god, which denotes that a drop of that humanness is better than a lack of ethics and a disregard for the sanctity of life, and her gender is crucial to making this decision, as to perhaps that people should respect the knowledge and wisdom of the earth and not be impressed by industrial prospects.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the story truly a body of questions and opinions on the overall notion of Trans humanism, if not exactly being a text typically associated with the genre and movement. It puts in to question the whole discourse and favours nature and natural living and points out the faults of technology and the ideology of going against nature, but it also is a deeply human and emotional story with a  very developed character who is human and unique because she questions, defies and experiments so much, and flips the system of nature for a good cause.

So this story really does prove woman and womanhood the ideal narration and narrative of technology, the earth and the future, and implies that there must be a balance in life, not a complete dependence on technology and respect for life.

 

 

 

 

My term paper on ‘Old Man and the Sea’

Hi everyone. Since all my grades are up for these subjects, I would like to post them here. These were all last-minute, sped up, desperate attempts to actually something good enough to be a term paper. I don’t feel like this is my best work, but hopefully my final thesis will be the best out of the whole class, and the most insightful thesis that the university has ever seen.

I’m going to turn heads and get awards just for that thesis. And make my family proud.

Plus please give me suggestions, critic and improvements tips.

 

 

 

 

American Novel (Term Paper)

The Old Man and the Sea

 

Name: Maheen Ahmed

Major: English Literature

 

Without a win: Tracing Nihilistic undertones and denial of failure within the

The overtones of positive Existentialism in ‘The Old Man and the Sea’

 

 

Introduction

‘The Old Man and the Sea’, is what projected Hemingway as a literary and masculine legend. It is a tale about an otherwise pathetic and insignificant sailor who has been unable to catch any fish but is determined to oppose the forces of nature, fulfill his hunting ambitions therefore becoming almost a biblical allegory for the defiant, heroic, ideal man who is be held as an example for positivity and greatness. It is under the consideration of several critics as a Moby-Dick adaption of ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’, because it lives up to the ideals of existentialism for fighting and opposing meaninglessness.

This research paper looks to question those ideas of the novel reinforcing these notions, and instead focuses on the inversion of these philosophical concepts, which is apparent in Nihilism.

 

 

Literature Review

 

Existentialism and further branches of its theories have been applied to ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, and on its own the novel is a reflection of the life philosophy that Earnest Hemingway held important for young men, and people of grand ambition. He wrote the novel during a time in his career when he had a likeness to the protagonist of the story, and in its inception became a literary hero. The story has mythical, historical, social and political and of course existential traits, and readers and researchers have been able to see and feel different aspects of the uplifting mentality that people can defeat nature.

The majority of the research done on the novel, regarding existentialism has been conducted to agree with Hemingway’s sentiments. In that they are able to relate with and assure all the notions of being the ‘Supreme Being’ who has strength, in without loss, and is able to defy human needs for greatness.

In ‘Man’s Interaction with Himself in The Old Man and the Sea with a view of Existentialism’, the researcher points out the narrative of how the old man is able to transcend his woes and his condition, by focusing of Sarte’s ideas of being, which insists that man is responsible for everything that is capable of happening to him.

In ‘Navigating the Absurd: Camus, Hemingway, and the Sea’ by Stephanie, the essay talks about the likeness between Sisyphus and Santiago, reinforcing and recognizing a lack of ‘Bad Faith’ in the novel, and insisting that there is no ill will within the protagonist and how the novel is a tale of confrontation and slaying the inner dragon.

To continue the string of existential analysis papers, is Dwight Eddins paper, ‘Of Rocks and Marlin’, he literates that the negation of Santiago’s efforts being destroyed and hurt, and his remaining dignified is makes him an ‘island of human dignity’.

Lastly a research paper titled ‘Existence of Human being as reflected in Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ novel – an existential approach’, there is a discussion about the three levels of existential places of human existence, namely, ‘aesthetical, ethical and religious’ and how one may find of pin point them within the themes and characters in the novel.

Thus to conclude that the majority of work has been done on the positive side of the existential crisis, and there was rarely a mention of Nihilism. Nihilism is a the belief that there is no point in anything and that life is meaningless, and the aim of this paper is to see and find an argument that the novel and narrative need not be as hopeful as it has always been seen and analyzed.

This paper will trace out points that don’t agree with the philosophy of the previous research papers, and will not imagine Santiago happy.

 

 

 

 

Discussion and Analysis

 

‘The Old Man and the Sea’, starts at the failure of a sailor, who in the progression of the novel seems to have undergone a personal development or at least as a man who has proven himself and his worth to the reader and to the one boy he wishes to bond with, which would have one believe that this is a positive and inspirational tale, of a man beyond limits and reality. But then is that realistically how greatness is measured with the context of the time, and is this mindless will to capture and destroy the natural world really an image of spiritual and emotional transcendence.

The ‘Nothingness’ and ‘Meaninglessness’ of the character’s pathetic and hopeless existence is in his state in the novel, which is that of a low-class laborer, more a commodity to a consumerist society. He is described as poor, unlucky, old, alone, on welfare, unable to move on, and is fixated on a younger sailor who he himself fears to bring down with his bad luck. So the overall tone and mode around his is not of anything fulfilling on any level, he is without dignity, love and security all of which would suggest that he has very little to believe in and live for. So this grand heroic journey does not spring from self-determinism but from having nothing to live for or having something to ground him to the land, and put his life and health on the line. It would also explain his stubborn fixation with Manolin, whom he sees him own youth in, and is mentally obsessed with because he is one of the few people who actually cares for him, and he fears losing him. Therefore Santiago does not have any clear compass to self-worth but is doing his antics as an act of desperation and need.

 

“No one should be alone in their old age, he thought.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

 

To compare Santiago with Jake from ‘The Sun Also Rises’, and with Hemingway himself, we notice an obsession and compulsion towards exerting manliness and an attraction towards stereotypically, manly ideals and a battle between different personas of men, and they Santiago would come under the category of the strong man who is not easy to control or defeat. But then why is this theme so consistent and one-sided. It can be argued that the reason all these male-centric characters are like this is because in face of some failures, they are trying to heavily compensate for something by acting out and using physical strength, instead of something material or societal to boost their egos. Santiago goes on this hunt because the people have provided him with a complex about not being able to catch fish. This can be related with how Jake has no issue with the woman he loves being with other younger men because he realizes that he lacks the ability to fully commit to a romantic relationship with her, and to the expense of his feelings and health he makes her wishes come true. So for both men their activity is derived out of insecurities and not some ideal of being a strong human, as Albert Camus would have the Greek heroes, who defied the gods. This realization steals the essence or impact of all the positive and idealistic thoughts of the sad sailor, it adds a bitter almost delusional taste to his thought like,

 

Now is no time to think of what you do not have.
Think of what you can do with that there is”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

 

Santiago can also be seen as someone who is in ‘denial’ of a lot of painful things, and depleting situations that he is in. The character is ashamed and bothered that he has been taken care of and have to take food from others just to survive. This hunt for the Marlin, therefore is a mid-life crisis and he trying to prove something to the world and to society at the expense of nature and not for the greater good of mankind, like Sisyphus who took the torture head on and also Prometheus. Santiago is in ‘denial’ of the fact that he must take care of himself, and that perhaps there is nothing wrong with being taken care of , he fears being powerless and out-of-control so controlling nature is symbolic of going against nature and aging itself. He is unable to accept this reality, so his mind and actions defend his psyche by bringing him to a near death situation, just to protect him from realizing that he has lost his youth, which would leave him to active pessimism. But he still has those dreams of the ‘Lions’, ‘White beaches’ and ‘Africa’, all of which he saw in his youth.

 

One major factor of Humanism and Existentialism is ‘Self-Actualization’ and being self –aware of one’s weakness and wanting to ‘Be’ and be better. But Santiago does not really change throughout the novel, his character does change or grow as much as the surroundings or the boy when he sees his hurt hands, and beyond that one must consider that Santiago is a senior citizen and as the saying goes, ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, so there is little possibility for change, development or having a positive view which is free of the horror and visualization of a Nihilistic ideals and reality.

Even in the way he views the natural world, he is continuously ‘projecting’ his internal hopes and calamities on to the animals, water and solar bodies. The natural world is not inspiring change, developmental or decency in him it is instead fueling his ‘passive nihilism’.

 

“It is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

 

Further on his need to destroy things and kill things like a noble savage, is reminiscent of what Nietzsche believed of the meaningless soul. To him, the building up of a lack of morality makes men more destructive and feel a need  to capture or work without any consequences, but it is this destruction of all things that allows there a space for new life and change and innovative creation. So his killing of the fish is what sparks the climax and end of the personal guilt, he is released of his fire, but that does not mean that he has found himself or undergone anything spiritual, his duality is centered in animatistic and survival. And such environments for not ideal  for bringing something better to the table, Santiago would after killing the fish would be left with a feeling of the same nothingness, only now he will need to hunt more to feel that drive and high again.

 

Where most critics and theoretical papers see his battle and unwillingness to lose as authenticity and adversity, but based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Santiago is not in a position to work or act outside of paranoia and hunger and fear. His deprivation does not allow him to think or act well or in his senses. His being pulled into the sea by the strong fish is just a display of how powerless he is nature and the natural, but his insecurities and nihilistic existence is what compels him to hold on. Had he been living life to a certain standard he would not have anything to prove, and if had something to live for and something to channel his energy towards this destructive behavior would be unheard of, as happy, fulfilled people do not feel the need to move or change.

 

“My big fish must be somewhere.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

 

It is also significant to the idea of Nihilism that even with all his work and effort, by the end the sharks are able to destroy and eat away the Marlin, and this time he is unable to defy nature or be a grand human-being, and maybe this inability to change reality is what leads these absurdist heroes to be so strong in the face of defeat, is it enough for them that they tried? Or is this just their way of dealing with the loss and defeat, Santiago wanted that fish, he wanted and needed the big fish, so his eventual loss, might again just be ‘denial’ working to protect his feelings where his body and existence is broken.

 

To provide a counter argument one may agree with every previous paper on the matter and see the base level analysis of how determined and self-reliant Santiago is, he does give his all and his thoughts provide an air of magical realism which is kind of the masculine energy most male heroes are loved for, and it almost inspires the readers to actually want him to win, even if he fails in his own mind. Besides this protagonist and narrative is riddled with biblical references and allegories, so philosophy and science is secondary, as he is like a Christ like figure who wins in his defeat, and it was the journey and not the goal that strengthens him and his character. His pessimism is not as great or powerful an image as the blood on his hands, and that the boy is able to recognize his sacrifice, leaving the story as actually hopeful and inspiring.

 

Conclusion

To conclude it is just a point a perspective and actual analysis to be able to recognize the nihilistic discourse within the text, but that does not cancel or overturn the previous Existential research about the story. But to be able to see the story and character and struggle in its entirety is what will help further the research and understanding of a work of literature that embodies the human struggle either ethical or insane.

 

 

References:

 

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/69741-the-old-man-and-the-sea?page=3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea

http://www.davidpublisher.com/Public/uploads/Contribute/574263bf71952.pdf

https://stanfordfreedomproject.com/multi-media-essays-on-freedom/navigating-the-absurd-camus-hemingway-and-the-sea/

https://www.iep.utm.edu/nihilism/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236749230_Of_Rocks_and_Marlin_The_Existentialist_Agon_in_Camus’s_The_Myth_of_Sisyphus_and_Hemingway’s_The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea

https://academyofideas.com/2012/11/active-and-passive-nihilism/

http://eprints.ums.ac.id/50601/14/PUBLICATION%20ARTICLE.pdf

https://www.slideshare.net/goswamigayatri/existentialism-in-the-old-man-and-the-sea-40214880