Berlin Calling

1.      The drug mean to Ickarus as a solution to escape from any problem in his life. In the movie, Ickarus said that he used drugs for his relaxation. We can see in the movie it was more than relaxation. Ickarus used it for many purposes; entertaining with his friends, avoiding problems he faces by using drugs, and he using it for relaxation purposes. In his world, drug is part of his life when he addicted to it. It is hard for him to escape out of it because of his addiction.

2.      Ickarus’s fans taking drug because they use it as part of their social life. They believe it is remarkable to have drug as part of their life in terms of entertaining, relaxing, and socializing. They used it whenever they need as it seen in the movie. Friends who become addict to drugs will use it frequently to relieve their addiction of drugs. Ickarus and his friends took drugs in their socializing activity where bars or pubs are the place inspiring them to take drugs. They are mostly teenager who are active, inspire, and eager to learn a new chapter of their life. In this case, they use drugs as an answer for their life experience. They took several kinds of drug such as Cociane, PMA, MDMA, Keta that are very dangerous and painful to health system.

3.      Ickarus focus on drugs because he is lonely in his world. His mother died when he was young, and his father raised him along with his brother. He has minimal choices for his solution whenever he has problems so drugs are good solution for him. He think drugs could help him get out of problems and help him relieve his stress as well. Ickarus grew from family without mother so he has rough life with his father and brother. He chose the bar instead of school to learn for his life. Bars are a easily place to become drug user because of environment and atmosphere easily inspire to use drugs.

4.       Compare to my home society, Thailand, many things are different. I could see teenagers in Germany could use drugs easily in bar than in my home society. Teenagers in Germany tend to have more freedom than teenagers in Thailand because the movie shows how German teenagers could go the bar with alcohol and sex. These elements are still prohibited for teenager in Thai society, but cultures accept from The Western World change Thai society into similar to the Western cultures. Briefly summarize that German culture is more open than Thai culture today.

5.      No, I do not think only these teen could change the whole structure because some youth will focus on their goal in their life. I believe majority youth will follow along with social norms by attending school, college, and get a job. I think it is a nature of each generation that some youth will go off track, but they might change their attitude at the end to become productive member of their society.

Ickarus’s work ethics is focus on drug as a tool to help him get the work through. He has high motivation to make his work finish. He is also a strong working person who put lot of energy in his work.

 Alice is a claim person when is come to work. She will be able to control herself whenever she faces with problems unlike Ickarus. She is much more cooperative with others in any situation.

The director is pretty ignorance and self-center. In the movie, she needs prove to see if Ickarus’s work is good. She is not easy lady to motivate as we can see a scene between Ickarus and her.

6.      I think the Hangover and American Pie could be cult movies in the United States because they express culture of youth in the United States. American cult movies are very different from German because German cult movies are much more open to society such as sex, drug, and alcohol.

All Quiet on the Western Front Review

All Quiet on the Western Front Review

All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is one of the most well-known war novels. This book wrote based on World War I event that soldiers fought with a new type of warfare, trench warfare. The book has received many critiques from the public. For example, Michael Copper reviewed about the novel, “It was a book written to reflect the human cost of war. It shows us how war has a hidden face that most people do not see until it is too late” (Copper par.1).  This novel unlike other war novel because it shows realism about the war in the novel. It also shows cost of war in terms of human and property. The novel expresses many images and symbols in the Novel. Michael Copper state in his review, “The pair of boots and the fact that it was passed around so often tells us that death was a very common occurrence during the war and that the soldiers wanted to use everything they could find in order to aid their chances of survival” (Copper par.3).  The author uses material and thing in the novel to compare and show audiences how costly the war is. The novel’s major theme state by Michael Copper:

The major theme of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front is that war must be avoided at all cost because of the severe consequences that will arise. War causes people to lose friends, makes people worried and creates a feeling of uncertainty among innocent people. War also creates hatred among people. (Copper par.4)

This quote shows audiences about the theme of the novel that human should avoid using war as solution to resolve any problems because war created massive loss for either winner or loser. War create negative atmosphere in society that hardly avoid during the war period. This novel shows audience how negative of the war for society. People, especially ordinary people and soldiers, suffer hardness from several problems such as starvation, poor sanitation, and relocation. The author also uses distinct technique to show conditions of the war in his novel. Dosomething.org state about violence and the terror of war:

                The most prominent aspect of the novel is Remarque’s raw accounts of war rather than any kind of romanticism. The reader is supposed to understand the conditions and intense traumas of such fighting, including: Rats feast on the bodies and appendages of fallen soldiers, Heavy combat unearths corpses in a graveyard while soldiers fall dead next to them, Mueller is shot by a flare gun in the stomach, Combat and resulting injury leaves Haie’s lung exposed, and A splinter strikes Kat in the head, killing him while in Paul’s arms. (Book Review Par.7)

Review by several sources show us that war is brutal, harm, and harsh. We as human should avoid war for solution between nations because it suffer human in term of mental and health. Finally, either winner or loser will lose their wealth, population, and peace.

Michael Copper state in his review about his personal feeling of the novel,

“I think the novel All Quiet on the Western Front is a well told story, mixing both fiction and non-fiction into a powerful novel which forces people to think deeply about war and all of its possible repercussions” (Copper par.5).  I agree with this quote by Michael Copper because this novel is well told story that I could see how terrible the war is, and I also learns war is not a good solution for human to use as solution.

Works Cited

Copper, Michael. “All Quiet on the Western Front – A Book Review.” Rev. of All Quiet on the Western

Front by Erich Maria Remarque. EzineArticles. 20 Oct. 2005: 6 pars. 12 Oct. 2011.

<http://EzineArticles.com/84991>

“Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front.” Rev. of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria

Remarque. Dosomething.org. 15 pars. 12 Oct. 2011.

<http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/book-review-all-quiet-western-front>