The idea of facades across a range of texts Essay -- essays research p

The poem The Ballad of Calvary Street by crowd Baxter, the film American Beauty (directed by Sam Mendes and released in 1999), and the good turn An Inspector Calls written by J.B. Priestley and performed at Circa Theatre in 2005, atomic number 18 all texts that shargon a similar theme. Although these three texts are opposite in terms of authorship and the medium through which the significant messages are communicated, what the texts do have in common is that they all convey ideas approximately how facades and superficial images of family life only lead to soullessness and interior(prenominal) disorder. The unique show up that each text takes to this issue heightens the impact of the texts in every case, and allows the handling of facades to become more pertinent in a time when domestic problems still mar our society.Baxters poem, The Ballad of Calvary Street, satirises the design of facades and fake family life by ironically using religious imagery, and by utilising figur ative language and clever diction to develop a locomote depiction of the sad characters at the heart of the poem. The poem discusses firstly the trellises that business enterprise Calvary Street (an image which conventionally would symbolise happy domestic life), and mentions the flowers that bloom as bright as blood. In profit to being an insidious suggestion that thither is violence beneath the facing of this seemingly respect adapted society, this phrase also alludes to the crucifixion of delivery boy. This is confirmed by the line that later describes the house as an empty tomb. This mindful metaphor hints that the house is a place of depression and emotional soullessness, and again links this home to the story of Christ however, Baxter is comparing this house to Christs story only ironically. Through the use of religious language, Baxter is able to sardonically indicate that the values of forgiveness and compassion so practically connected to The Bible and religion are nowhere to be install in this unhappy home. To emphasise that religion funs no role in this distorted version of family life, Baxter intersperses the religious language with mundane descriptions (for instance, he writes, the good afternoon goes, goes by, while angels harp above a cloud ) to show that church property and indeed, all ideas of ethics and morality are forsaken in this barren location.Baxter tells in the poem of how two old souls go slowly mad, and const... ...ley play An Inspector Calls all scrutinise the nature of domestic life, and the facades that are genuine to hide the true problems of our society. The Ballad of Calvary Street looks at the look in which individuality and excitement are suppressed by the sustainment of such a faade, and emphasises that domestic relationships are devoid of any spiritualty or ethical framework. American Beauty focuses on the advantages of breaking lax from the constraints of the faade, and emphasises the freedom and opennes s that can be achieved once the duties of the faade are forgone. An Inspector Calls analyses the way a faade can crumble when there is pressure and confusion to reveal people who are not as respectable as they seem. The issue of facades is very relevant to our society, at a time when, in New Zealand at least, domestic abuse and carve up are still pernicious problems. The issue is often explored across a range of texts and could even be argued to be a clich in circulating(prenominal) times. However, the uncompromising and honest manner in which these texts address the issue makes the apprehension of facades so intriguing and fresh, and causes these texts to gain added power and impact.