A Tree in Tanjung Malim

8/2/2019 A Tree in Tanjung Malim

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Ella Shohat claims that we should constantly question representations:

y Each filmic or academic utterance must be analyzednot only in terms of who represents but also in terms

of who is being represented for what purpose, atwhich historical moment, for which location, usingwhich strategies, and in what tone of address. ("TheStruggle over Representation: Casting, Coalitions,

and the Politics of Identification," Late ImperialCulture, 173)


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y A 17 year old girl soon turning 18 shares a friendshipwith a 30 plus year old man.

y Despite, the age difference they are able to discuss andshare anything under sun.

y They ridicule each other just like any friends.

y The girl has a crush on The Beautiful Loser and hedoes not.

y He is her adviser, reminder of reality, good listener andprotector.

y She is his reminder of past mistakes and also goodlistener.


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y Both of these people are in search of something.

y The Beautiful Loser have lost many things in life. (E.g.love, education, opportunity to live a good life).

y

The girl does not really know what she have lost, infact she did not loose anything. She is in search of heridentity. She has conflict with her own self.

y Most importantly, both of them are LONELY!Therefore, they are comfortable in each others

company.y There is a tone of sadness and longing in their speech

as well as their gestures.


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Youll never know,

How happy Id be

if I should wake,

To find you by my side.

Youll never know

how much itd sadden methat I cant be by your sideevery night.

When we are old and grey

Would you remember me?

There is something I must

say to you,Ill wait from afar

Knowing that youre nolonger sorrowful,

I want you to be as free as abird.


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Skys blue, waters blue andIm alone,

Cloud is white, sand is

white and everyonesgone,

I dry my memories in thesun

but hide it when the sungoes down.

I rinse my faded love by thesea

and rejoice when the tide

goes down.I am happy by the sea,

I leave you by the sea,

I am happy by the sea,

I leave you by the sea.


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y Cultural studies do not take things at face value butone need to interrogate the truth .

y As Stuart Hall pointed out, representation means

using language to say something meaningful about, orto represent, the world meaningfully, to other people.

y Also, in the semiotic approach, not only words andimages but object themselves can function as signifiers

in the production meaning.


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y The novel Middlemarch by George Eliot.

y The girl turning 18

y Bus Stop

y Lights

y Panda bear wishing itself be seen in a colouredphotograph.


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One ought to know what one could do

What one should do

and what one must do..

Even more, one ought to know what

one should not do

what one does not want to doand ultimately, there is nothing much

one can do..

Reminding ofones duties &obligations

Reminding ofones limitationin life


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y The girl will say the following line twice in the movie:

I missed my stop on the bus this morning..ended up in the

middle of nowhere..The was a tree by the side of theroad..white flowers constantly falling..the flower were thinlike serviette..I was thinking..even if I failed to get to where Iwanted to go..I get to see beauty anyway

I missed my stop on the bus this morning..ended up in themiddle of nowhere..The was a tree by the side of the

road..white flowers constantly falling..the flower were thinlike serviette..


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23rdJan 2011

Cedric

y A nutshell on the unfulfilled intentions of desire,pensiveness in the presence of potential affection, andthe unintended (positive and negative) consequences

of not getting exactly where we want to go when wewant to, not getting exactly what we want when wewant it. Nicely done.


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25th March 2011InsertOzuReferencehere

y For me the best of Tan Chui Muis "short film trilogy ...thing". Not only in content but it also seems to be themost complete in regards to style and aestheticidentity. She has a gift for subtlety exposing theimportance of short moments in life that sometimes

appear trivial or uneventful. This film for me is hermost complete film so far (as well as clearly being hermost personal).


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y This movie portrays the actual life of most of us out inthe world. It tells how human constantly laments overinevitable circumstances of life. We cannot accept

rejections and failures but to keep on living lifepathetically. We keep waiting and hoping for miraclesto happen. This movie is a true depiction of slice oflife of human.

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A Tree in Tanjung Malim