Arts - page 12

Teegan Macleod, Staff Writer

February 25th, 2017

This year’s Oscars boasts a great deal of talent.  It has been a few years since I’ve had so many favorites and many have been nominated for multiple awards. However, at the end of the day, someone must take home the award.  These are my picks for 6 of the categories: Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Picture.

For Best Picture, I am firmly behind the film Moonlight.  It was far and away the greatest film to come out this awards season.  It tells an incredible story in three chapters about the life of a gay black man named Chiron from childhood through adulthood.  Every moment of the movie is utterly captivating and every facet of it works to create a beautiful work of art.  With that in mind, I am also picking Barry Jenkins for Best Director and Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor. Mahershala Ali gives an unbelievable performance in the film as Juan, a drug dealer who takes care of Chiron as a child.  Ali gives new life to the too often marginalized role of the drug dealer with a heart of gold.  Barry Jenkins, as writer and director, created a masterpiece with Moonlight, I will make no bones about it. I cannot express enough how incredibly beautiful it is as well as the subject matter being very important. Moonlight is a film that reflects the time in which it is made in a beautiful and unforgettable way.

I think Moonlight deserves every single Oscar that it is nominated for, except for, Best Supporting Actress.   That award I believe belongs to Viola Davis for her role in Fences. I also believe that Denzel Washington deserves the Best Actor Oscar for Fences.  The two of them give unbelievable performances that drive the movie and make it an amazing experience.  They deserve to win the awards together because they both heighten each other’s performances.  Take one away and the other would not be as good in my opinion.  They play off each other in such a way that they bring the art of acting to new and incredible levels.

There are many other awards categories that I have opinions about but these are, in my mind, the essential ones.  Hopefully we will see a shift this year towards a more diverse winner’s circle.

Erika DiPasquale, Associate Editor

February 25th, 2017

Lara Avery’s The Memory Book is the next The Fault in Our Stars and the Young Adult equivalent of Still Alice. Upon being diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C, a genetic degenerative disease that causes severe physical and mental handicaps, memory loss, and ultimately death, Sammie, a high school senior, starts an electronic journal in conversation with her future self. Despite the diagnosis, she’s convinced that she can still win debate nationals, give her valedictorian speech, go to NYU and law school, and become a defense lawyer worthy of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s praise. As her NPC episodes increase and her imagined future self unravels, her relationships get more complicated—including two love interests—forcing her to self-reflect and revise her values and goals.

What makes this book extraordinary, and worthy of its place on the Barnes & Noble Best Young Adult Books of 2016 list, is the character development. How Sammie chooses to tell her story in her journal builds her into an honest, Type A character. She’s socially awkward, ultra-driven, and dynamic. When she’s experiencing a NPC episode, her tone, diction, and syntax change significantly, adding to the authenticity of her character and narrative. A few other characters contribute to her memory book and their voices are marked by distinctly different tones and syntax. Thus, each character feels like an authentic person with realistic reactions to Sammie’s condition.

Another refreshing quality about this book is that it’s not cliché. The diary-like form is paired with a strong, confident voice rather than an angsty, insecure one. The romance sub-plot is indeed secondary to the main self-growth plot line and even undergoes an unexpected twist. Sammie’s fate is as unpredictable as her romantic relationships because of the form, confident tone, and selection of detail. Furthermore, the theme isn’t the trite make the most of life and love in the face of adversity as many sick-teenager narratives preach. Rather, it encourages self-reflection and self-growth in periods of uncertainty and probable doom.

This theme, in conjunction with the realistic characters, make it suitable for any audience. Anyone in a transition period will relate to Sammie’s story regardless of their age or gender, especially seniors about to graduate. Sammie’s character will resonate with readers who set high expectations for themselves, have experienced social anxiety, and/or who are passionate about what they do. The debilitation that NPC causes Sammie makes the story relatable for anyone diagnosed with a chronic disease or disability or whose loved ones experience such circumstances. However, one doesn’t need to be in any of these categories in order to appreciate this story: the universal themes of self-reflection and growth in conjunction with the experiences of strained friendships and romantic and familial relationships make this a heart-wrenching, tear-jerking story for readers of all identities and experiences to enjoy.

I cannot attest whether Avery accurately represents NPC. In the acknowledgements, Avery says, “To anyone who has had to suffer through a terminal disease like Niemann-Pick (or anyone who is related to someone who has), thank you for the liberty to live in your shoes for a few hundred pages. Forgive me for inconsistencies and exaggerations. If the way I told Sammie’s story doesn’t feel right, write to me. Or better yet, write it the way you would like to see it.”  But regardless of its accuracy, the story is still a powerful one about life, love, and the flexibility of values.