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Photography

Turner and photography

Listen to the passage and fill in the blank spaces:

The influence of the invention of photography on Turner’s practice as an Artist

When the _______________of an early form of photography called the daguerrotype was

announced in _________ it must have alarmed those artists who made a _________by

recording appearances, as it provided a _____and apparently more accurate alternative to

their work. Turner, for whom the representation of appearance was only one ingredient

in art, was ______________by the chemistry of photography and was immediately able to

see its benefits to the artist. He visited the studio of an _____________ daguerrotypist, JJE

Mayall, several times and even lent him £300, showing that his reputed meanness could only

have been intermittent.

At the time, the _________ of lightweight equipment made painting outside almost impossi-

ble. The Tate owns boxes containing Turner’s dry __________which had to be mixed with oil

before they could be used. Tubes of readymade ___________were only invented about the

time of the artist’s death. He made his own pocket book of __________ which could easily be

carried, and allowed him to make sketched notes out of doors. Most of his __________work

consisted purely of outline___________, however, while his painting took place ________

Even finished watercolours were quite elaborate works, requiring hours of work.

Like John Ruskin, Turner ___________that some of the _________ involved in recording

appearances could disappear due to the development of the new invention of the daguer-

rotype. He __________that the camera could become a _____________ instead of a threat

and that it could sometimes be used in place of a __________saying “We shall only go about

the country with a box like a tinker, instead of a portfolio under our arm.”

Now that you have completed the text underline all the words which are to do with art and the artist. Look up the words you don’t know.

1Listening

2Vocabulary

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Now write questions for the following answers.1. In 1839.2. The chemistry of photography.3. £ 300.4. Due to the lack of lightweight equipment.5. With oil.6. Of outline drawings.7. Indoors.8. A timesaver not a threat.9. A box, not a portfolio.

Photography

Virginia Woolf’s photographic passion

Look at photos A and B

1Introduction

3Writing

BA

Hoy High Lighthouse Graemsay, Orkney Islands

1. What does the first photograph represent?2. Do you think anyone lives there?3. What is its purpose?4. Can you think of the title of a book inspired by a photo like this?5. Do you know who the lady in the second picture is?

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Read the text and underline all the vocabulary connected to photography. There is one word which is a false friend. What is the word?1. Now look up the words in your dictionary and complete the sentences below:2. My father _________________some interesting photos while we were on holiday. When

we returned home he _____________them and we created a superb________________.3. For his birthday my boyfriend would like a ______________ and not one of the

___________________ models.4. When Julia Roberts arrived at the Cannes film festival all you could hear were cheers and

the _____________ of the _______________

Answer the following questions: 1. When did Virginia first take an interest in photography?2. Did she only take photographs?3. What kind of woman emerges from her photographs?4. What equipment did she use?5. What was her opinion of the paparazzi?

You are going to talk briefly to your classmates. Consider the following questions:1. Do you take photos?2. What are the subjects of your photos?3. Have you ever entered a competition?4. If you had to photograph a specific part of your school what would you choose? Explain

your choice.

2Vocabulary

3Comprehension

4Speaking

essays: saggifiction: romanziunfold: rivelarsito subvert: rovesciare

Glossary

Virginia’s world from the age of fifteen had been full of photographs. She spent a lot of her time writing about photography in her diaries, letters and essays and used photographic terms in her fiction. She herself took and developed photos which she creatively arranged in photograph albums which, unfortunately, have been neglected by the public. Yet we see, as her photos unfold, a more democratic, accessible woman and certainly not the stereotype created by Nicole Kidman in the film The Hours . She worked “with violent impetuosity” with a Zeiss camera and not with the pocket Kodak models her friends used and which had been on the market from 1896. Her friends and family encouraged her to continue. By the time of her essay “Three Guineas”, an anti-war essay written in 1938 she was using photography ironically. In the essay she subverted a masculine world of generals, archbishops and professors with the narrator’s pacifist visual memories of the Spanish Civil War.She was, however, despite her love for photographs, a person who disliked the professional side of photography. In the 1930s she attacked the paparazzi rather harshly :

“The click of the camera is heard behind the altar rails during the marriage service... Private

people, musicians, writers, artists of all kinds. Their homes are photographed, their families, their

gardens, their studios, their bedrooms and their writing tables.”

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Statue of Virginia Woolf in Tavistock Gardens, London.

“She looked up over her knitting and met the third stroke and it seemed to her like her own eyes meeting her own eyes, searching as she alone could search into her mind and her heart, purifying out of existence that lie, any lie. She praised herself in praising the light, without vanity, for she was stern, she was searching , she was beautiful like that light. It was odd, she thought, how if one was alone, one leant to inanimate things; trees, streams, flowers; felt they expressed one; felt they became one; felt they knew one, in a sense were one; felt an irrational tenderness thus (she looked at that long steady light) as for oneself. They rose, and she looked and looked with her needles suspended, there curled up off the floor of the mind, rose from the lake of one’s being , a mist, a bride to meet her lover.”

Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf paints for us a picture in words, just as her character Lily paints one with her brushes. She wonders about how good her painting is. Do the shadows and light balance one another? Do the images connect? and we wonder the same about the family. Each member brings his or her own personality to create the whole, and each distinct characteristic is needed. For instance, Mrs. Ramsay sees her husband’s work as a scrubbed table:

Whenever she “thought of his work” she always saw clearly before her a large kitchen table. It was Andrew’s doing. She asked him what his father’s books were about. “Subject and object and the nature of reality,” Andrew had said. And when she said Heavens, she had no notion what that meant. “Think of a kitchen table then,” he told her, “when you’re not there.”

Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse

In these quotes Virginia is underlining how much literature and other forms of art are linked. As she herself states in her book “ Three Guineas” :

Photographs, of course, are not arguments addressed to the reason; they are simply statements of fact addressed to the eye. But in that very simplicity we may all feel the same things.Photographs, she continues, are not an argument; they are simply a crude statement of fact addressed to the eye. But the eye is connected with the brain; the brain with the nervous system. That system sends its messages in a flash through every past memory and present feeling.

knitting: lavoro a magliaown: proprisearch: cercarealone: solato praise oneself: lodarsistern: severastream: ruscellotenderness: tenerezzasteady: fermato rise (rose, risen): innalzarsito curl up: rannicchiareneedles: ferri per lavorare a maglia.bride: sposato wonder: chiedersieach: ogniscrubbed: ben sfregatostatement: affermazioniin a flash: in un lampo

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Follow the instructions below:In the passage above Virginia Woolf states that photographs are just a crude statement of fact, but they are connected to the brain through the eye and the brain is connected to the nervous system. In a flash a message is sent through every past memory and present feeling. Look at the picture above, study it carefully, describe it and write a short paragraph on the sensations you get from it. You could imagine you knew Virginia Woolf and you’ve gone back to her home in Sussex after her death.

5Writing

Virginia Woolf’s room, Monk’s House, Sussex.

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Cinema

Susan Sarandon

Read the interview to Susan Sarandon in your text book and do the following exercises:List all the various activities of Susan Sarandon mentioned in the interview.1. Has she been only an actress of the big screen?2. What kind of roles does she play?3. Which sports are mentioned in the text?4. What does she do in her free time?5. What would she like to do in LA regarding table-tennis?6. Would you like to play table-tennis at your school?

A. Reported speech.Look at the two tables below showing the principle changes from direct speech to indirect speech.

DiRECT SpEECh iNDiRECT SpEEChSimple presentJohn said: “I play football once a week.”

Simple pastJohn said he played football once a week.

present continuousThey said: “We are watching a very good film.”

past continuousThey said they were watching a very good film.

past continuousMary said: “I was reading a book.”

past perfect continuousMary said she had been reading a book.

present perfectCaroline and Thomas said: “We have just booked our summer holiday.”

past perfectCaroline and Thomas said they had just booked their summer holiday.

present perfect continuousLiz said: “I have been going out with George for two years.”

past perfect continuousLiz said she had been going out with George for two years.

past perfectThey said: “If you had studied more you would have got a better mark.”

past perfectThey said that if I had studied more I would have got a better mark.

past perfect continuousShe said “You had been complaining about the bus service.

past perfect continuousShe said we had been complaining about the bus service.

Future (will)Paul said: “I will buy the milk this evening.”

Conditional (would)Paul said he would buy the milk that evening.

Future continuousCarol said “I will be leaving for Miami very soon.”

Would+be+ -ing formCarol said she would be leaving for Miami very soon.

WouldThe children said “We would like a piece of choco-late cake.”

WouldThe children said they would like a piece of choco-late cake.

1Reading

2Grammar

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imperative Mum said: “Do your homework now.”

infinitiveMum said to do my homework then.

if clause, 1st typeI said “If you see Paula, she will give you a parcel.”

if clause, 2nd type I said that if she saw Paula she would give her a par-cel.

if clause 2nd typeMargaret said “If I won the lottery, I would go on a trip around the world.”

if clause 2nd typeMargaret said that if she won the lottery, she would go on a trip around the world.

if clause 3rd typeThe car salesman said “If you had come sooner, I would have had the car you wanted.”

if clause 3rd typeThe car salesman said that if we had come sooner, he would have had the car we wanted.

CanMy friend said: “I can lend you the money.”

Could My friend said she could lend me the money.

MayThe teacher said: “I may call a meeting next week.”

MightThe teacher said she might call a meeting the follow-ing week.

MustThe policeman said: “You must not park here.”The boy said “I must telephone my friend.”

had to/would have to/was toThe policeman said we weren’t to park there.The boy said he had to telephone his friend.

ShallHe said “What shall we do?”

ShouldHe asked what they should do.

WillClare said “I’ll help you with your English home-work.”

WouldClare said she would help me with my English home-work.

Needn’tDad said: “I needn’t give you more money. You have enough.”

Didn’t have toDad said he didn’t have to give me more money. I had enough.

B. Look at the table above carefully and spot the other changes made in terms of time expressions. Complete the chart below.

DiRECT SpEECh iNDiRECT SpEECh

yesterday

the next/following day

that

last month

the previous year

now

this evening that evening

C. Now do the exercises below:1. The Smiths said: “We went to Paris last month.”2. Our English teacher said: “You must study the irregular verbs for the class test tomor-

row.”

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3. The doctor told my dad: “You should take more exercise.”4. Brian said: “I want to spend my summer holidays in Marocco.”5. My parents said: “We will buy you a computer if you do well in your exams next month.”6. Mary said: “ I have found a new job.”7. My sisters said: “We are going to the supermarket now.”8. Bob told Anna: “I saw Tom and told him that I was going to the cinema with you.”

D. Reporting verbsRead the following grammar rules:The two most common reporting verbs are ‘say’ and ‘tell’. We use ‘tell’ with an indirect object.Look at these examples:Fiona told Stephen she had just woken up.Fiona said she had just woken up.

Some other common reporting verbs are: ask, advise, invite, warn, order, persuade, forbid, promise, offer, agree, refuse, explain, complain, suggest, wonder, want to know . Each of these words have their own construction. Examine the table below

+ that + soggetto+ verbo

warncomplainsuggest

+ infinitive

promiseofferagreerefuse

indirect object+in-finitive

askadviseinsistwarnorderpersuadeforbidpromise

+forma in –ing

advisesuggest

+if/whether/wh-ques-tion+subject+verb

askwonderwant to know

E. Fill in the gaps with the verbs in the box:

ask, advise, invite, warn, order, persuade, forbid, promise, offer, agree, refuse, explain, complain, suggest, wonder, want to know.

1. The teacher _________________ Sarah to speak to the headmaster about the theft of

her mobile.

2. Paul ____________________ his little brother to tidy up his room.

3. Joseph __________________ how to get to Edinburgh castle.

4. My friend ________________ to help me with my history project.

5. The classroom was empty. I ______________ where everyone was.

6. Maggie’s son ______________ her if he could go to eat a pizza on Saturday night.

7. Ian ________________ his friends to come to the party.

8. My dad ____________ to lend me his car because he said I drove too fast.

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9. He _______________ doing some research on the web.

10. The students _______________ they didn’t have enough time to study for the class test.

11. The fire chief _______________ the children not to play with fireworks.

12. The science teacher__________ how to carry out the experiment.

13. My friend _____________ me to go out, even if I had a lot of homework.

14. She ____________ to help her younger sister.

15. Tom’s father ___________ him to go to the disco until he got better marks at school.

16. Tom _______________ his parents he would study more.

F. indirect questionsAn indirect question is often introduced by the verbs ask, wonder, inquire, want to know . If the question has a wh- word it is kept in the indirect question. If the direct question is a yes/no question the indirect question is introduced by the word if or whether. Indirect questions are formed like affirmative sentences so there is no inversion of the subject and the auxilia-ries do/does/did are NOT used.

G. Look at the examples below and then do the exercises:

a. She asked when Paul was leaving.b. I inquired about the museum opening times.c. The children asked me if I had made some ice-cream.d. He asked his girlfriend if she liked Lady Gaga.

Turn the following questions into indirect questions:1. “What time does the plane for Edinburgh leave?” I inquired.2. “Have you found the book you were looking for?” I wanted to know.3. “Did you get to school on time?” Tim’s mum asked.4. “Where have I put my new gloves?” she wondered absent-mindedly.5. “Which skirt do you prefer, the blue one or the red one?” Laura asked her friend

Rosemary.

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Cinema

A film director

pre-reading exercisesLook at the photo.1. Do you know who this person is?2. What reputation does he have?3. Give a list of his films.

‘Capitalism doesn’t control the greed, it encourages the greed, and that is why we need a different system that isn’t based on that’

MICHAEL MOORE

MICHAEL MOORE has been attacking American capitalism since his first documentary, Roger & Me, but the constant attacks on him personally, and on the veracity of his work are starting to wear him down .

“If people aren’t going to do anything , I have a screenplay I am working on and the next film will be fiction,” he says. “But if people are starting to rise up and become citizens in their democracy, then I will participate in that too and make more (documentary) films.”

His only fiction feature, 1995’s Canadian Bacon , flopped at the box office. On the other hand, his 2009 film, Sicko, almost tripled its $9 million budget in the US alone.

These are tough times for non-fiction in the cinema. While the form is doing well on television, in the shape of reality shows, for instance, and in books, Moore says the number of distributors handling documentary films is falling , because there are fewer cinemas

to attack: attaccareveracity: esattezza, veridicitàto wear him down: deprimerloflopped: ha fatto fiasco

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that will screen them. “So this is another subject I want to tackle some day, because I think it’s odd that when it comes to films, non-fiction is treated like this, pariah .”

In his 2010 film, Capitalism: A Love Story Moore argues, with the help of religious figures, that capitalism in America is undemocratic and un-Christian. A practising Catholic who once planned on becoming a priest, he poses the simple question: “Is capitalism a sin?” and asks: “Would Jesus be a capitalist?” Unsurprisingly, the answers are a resounding yes and no respectively.Moore insists he is not against profit. That would be a bit much coming from a millionaire, after all. Nor, apparently, is he against capitalism as it was once practised. “There used to be a merchant class, like the shop owners, and every town had their shoe store, ice cream store, whatever,” he says. “But people who say they want capitalism (today) really don’t believe in free enterprise. They don’t want competition. They want to be the only shoe store. They want to be the only drug store. So you can’t define it (capitalism) the way it was 100 or 150 years ago. It’s defined by the way it exists now.”

Part of the problem, he says, is human greed. “When it comes to making a buck, we’re human beings. Greed is amongst all of us, and it’s a bad, dark side in all of us. Capitalism doesn’t control the greed, it enhances and encourages the greed, and that is why we need a different system that isn’t based on that.” A point frequently made by Moore’s critics is that neither he nor the film defines how an alternative system would operate – though he does give examples in the movie of people who are making money in co-operatives and non-profit companies, without exploiting anyone.

“What I’m suggesting is that we have a democratic economy that we, the people, have a say in,” he says rather nebulously. “i’m not opposed to somebody having a business, working hard, doing well, earning more for yourself and your family. But that isn’t what capitalism is these days.”

People portrayed as victims of capitalism in the film include working and middle-class families facing foreclosure on their mortgages, low-paid airline pilots on food stamps, and teenagers who were put in a private detention home by a judge receiving kickbacks from its owners.

In America it is Moore that some people want stopped. He will not discuss the threats he and his family have received over the years, or the personal cost of doing his job. But it clearly concerns him. “At times I have asked myself, ‘If I had it to do over again, would I do all this? Would I make all these movies?’ I’m being honest, I don’t know; because of what I’ve had to go through, because of what my family’s had to go through.” He points to two security men standing nearby. “I make movies. I live in a free country. Why should I ever have to worry like this?”

On the plus side, the success of his films and books means that he now has enough money in the bank to never have to worry about upsetting a studio and not being able to work. “Basically, it gives you a chance to say, ‘F*** you. I’m going to be who I want to be, do what I want to do, and you can’t hold money out there as a whip against me. Because I make the studios money, that puts me in a very desirable position.

Published Date: 25 February 2010 By Stephen Applebaum

to tackle: affrontarepariah: da emarginatoto pose: porresin: peccatoresounding: clamorosomerchant-class: commerciantishop owners: proprietari di un negoziowhatever: quello che èenterprise: impresadrug store: negoziogreed: aviditàbuck: dollarto enhance: accrescereto exploit: sfruttareto be opposed: essere contrarioto portray: ritrarreforeclosure: pignoramentomortgage: mutuofood stamps: buoni spesakickbacks: tangentithreats: minacceto go through: passare, subireto point to: indicareon the plus side: dal lato positivoto upset: turbarewhip: frusta

Glossary

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Complete the table below with words from the text

cinemafare fiascofilmtelevisionereality

film (termine americano)

distributoridocumentariostorie, film veristudio cinematograficoproiettaresceneggiatura

Do the true/false exercises below. Correct the false statements:

T F

1. Michael Moore is often criticized..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .2. Michael Moore praises capitalism. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .3. Michael Moore does non-fiction. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .4. It is a golden time for non-fiction in the cinema. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .5. Michael Moore is a protestant. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .6. Capitalism has changed in the last 150 years. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .7. Not all of us have a dark side. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .8. Capitalism enhances and encourages the greed. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .9. In his last film people are victims of capitalism. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .10. Michael Moore works for television. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . .

Answer the following questions:

a. Moore has made mainly documentary films. What other film genres can you think of?b. Which are the most popular?c. Which would you go to see and why?d. Now tell your classmates about the last film you saw. Consider plot, theme, special

effects, music, actors, costumes, ending.

Do some research on Moore as a film director. Use internet or your local library. Collect information about him and then prepare a short speech for the class.

2Comprehension

3Speaking

4Writing

1Vocabulary

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Cinema

Stage and screen

In Britain today not many people go to the theatre and even the cinema is not as popular as it was in the 1930s. The reason for this might be the television. People prefer remaining at home to watch the newest releases in blue- ray discs on their home theatre or illegally download films on their computer. Britain remains, however, one of the world’s major centres for theatre and has a long , important dramatic tradition which dates back prior to even Shakespeare. The best theatres and theatre companies are, obviously, in London, but the companies often travel around Britain and other countries. Edinburgh, too, has a discreet theatre tradition and is, of course, famous for its festival of dramatic arts held, annually , in August where many professional and amateur companies make their appearance and where many actors and actresses have found fame. It is often here that there are the premières of productions by modern progressive companies so popular among students and young people in general because of their originality and imaginativeness. Classical, traditional productions remain popular among the older theatre goers who have maintained the tradition of going at least once or twice a month. Training for actors, directors and stage managers is provided mainly in drama schools. The most famous are the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, The Central School of Speech and Drama, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and the Drama Centre. These are all situated in London and are, in any case, difficult to get into. The cinema, on the other hand, is another story. Cinema means Hollywood . Most of the original owners of the big film companies had gone to America from Europe as salesmen. People like Samuel Goldwyn, William Fox, Carl Laemmle, Adolph Zukor, Louis B. Meyer and the Warner Brothers (Harry, Albert, Samuel, Jack).They owned the production companies and the cinemas as well as the studios, so they were so powerful

annually: una volta all’annoto make their appearance: appariresalesmen: commercianti

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Read the text and then answer the questions

Answer the following questions:1. Why have the cinema and stage become less popular?2. Give three reasons why you think this is so.3. Where are the principal theatres in the UK?4. What happens in Edinburgh?5. If you want to become an actor, where is the best place to go?6. Where are the major film companies?7. Name three of these.8. Describe their owners.9. Who eventually got the part of Scarlett O’Hara?10. Where can you study if you want to become a film producer?11. Who classifies films in the UK?12. How are they classified?

that no-one could make a successful film without them. Everything was in their hands. They were not, surprisingly, supermen or extraordinarily intelligent, but just shrewd. Carl Laemmle, owner of Universal, was, for example, a family man. He employed so many of his relatives that when he died, seventy of them were working for the company. Samuel Goldwyn , for example, never learnt English properly and Harry Cohn of Columbia had a nasty sense of humour – he often gave his visitors electric shocks when shaking their hands.The most famous film of the 1930s is, of course, ‘Gone with the Wind’. The studio Selznick International Pictures interviewed 1,400 girls for the part of Scarlett O’Hara. They made so many screen tests that the test film was almost as long as the film itself. When the producer started shooting he still hadn’t found the right actress for the part. Then late one evening his brother introduced him to Vivien Leigh saying “I want you to meet Scarlett O’Hara”. She got the job straight away. The film was an immediate success and it ran for three years in London with mile-long queues every night.The development of film, video and television as an art form is promoted in the UK by the British Film Institute and by the Scottish Film Council. The Institute offers direct financial and technical help through its Film Production Board to new and experienced film-makers. It also administers the National Film Theatre in London and the National Film Archive which has well over 150,000 films. The National Film and Television School, financed by the Government and the film and television industry, offers postgraduate and short course training for directors, editors, camera technicians, animators and other specialists. Training in film production is also given at the London International Film School, the Royal College of Art and at some polytechnics and other institutions.Films for the public must be submitted to the British Board of Film Classification which ensures a proper standard. It does not use any written code of censorship, but can require cuts to be made before giving a certificate. Films passed by the board are put into one of six categories U meaning universal – suitable for all; PG ( parental guidance ) in which some scenes may be unsuitable for young children; 12, 15 and 18 for young people over the ages of 12, 15, 18; and Restricted 18, for a limited public in licensed cinema clubs.

shrewd: scaltro, astutostraight away: immediatamentequeue: filato promote: promuovereto submit: presentare

Glossary

1Reading for

detail

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imagine you are a postgraduate student who wants to attend a course in cinema production in italy. Try to find out where it is possible and what qualifications are needed.

Work with your partner. One of you will play the part of a British student in italy who wants to know about the italian film industry and about how to attend specialist courses in the field of cinema and television. prepare a conversation between you which you will later repeat in front of the class.

Look at the photograph and answer the pre-reading questions:a. How many people are in the photograph?b. Where has the photograph been taken?c. Can you imagine who the person is?d. Try describing him.e. Do you use facebook?f. How long do you stay on facebook a day?

Now read the review of the film The Social Network. (2010) and do the exercises.

2Researching

3Speaking

4Describing

The Social Network

Workstation

The average age of Facebook’s

employees are young in comparison

with its audience. It is estimated that

the average Facebook user is in his or

her mid-30s.

5Reading

ThE SOCiAL NETWORK (15)*****Directed by: DAViD FiNChERStarring: JESSE EiSENBERG, ANDREW GARFiELD, JUSTiN TiMBERLAKE, ARMiE hAMMER

The film examines the origins of Facebook in an exhilarating , absorbing , fast-moving drama where the ugliness and anger of the old world is confronted with the new, ‘exciting’ world of today. Mark Zuckerberg , a young 26 year old socially clumsy Harvard student

absorbing: coinvolgenteugliness: bruttura

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A. Match the words in column A to the ones in column B

A B1. socially clumsy student2. self-made billionaire3. nerds4. geek5. betrayals6. to have a chip on his shoulder7. bullies8. swots9. to vent10. to stonewall11. pace12. lawsuits13. to seek (sought, sought)14. connectivity

a. insignificant or foolish personb. a disloyal actc. the state of being connectedd. to be touchy or embitterede. a prosecution of a claim, an action in lawf. without tactg. a simpleton, a dupeh. rich by his own effortsi. to attempt to discover, to look forj. to blockk. persons who intimidate weaker peoplel. people who study hardm. movement, motionn. to give free expression to

becomes the founder of Facebook and virtually overnight a self-made billionaire. The director David Fincher and the script-writer Aaron Sokin give a truthful picture of how a creative genius can be driven to a mundane, petty, paranoid vindictiveness. The revenge of the nerds is savage and the geek doesn’t inherit the Earth – he claims it for himself in a way that is as ruthless as the new industrialists at the turn of the nineteenth century.This is the theme which binds together a film full of brutal betrayals, Machiavellian cunning , class warfare and a love triangle. The opening of the film is astonishing. From the start we see Zuckerberg , played by a brilliant Jesse Eisenberg , interacting awkwardly with his girlfriend Erica. Without realizing it he talks her into leaving him during a conversation about social clubs. The dialogue is sharp and perfectly pitched and Eisenberg captures the calculating disposition, but also the social insecurities of Zuckerberg who reveals a huge chip on his shoulder. The film shows how even places like Harvard are full of bullies and how even smart girls prefer athletes to swots. At home, drunk, Zuckerberg rants about Erica on his blog then sows the seeds of Facebook, creating in one night the tool that allows him to vent his anger at the rest of Harvard’s female population by posting online rateable pictures of all the girl students. At this point the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, attracted by Zuckerberg’s work want to put their experience at Harvard on the Internet. Zuckerberg agrees attracted by the idea of being accepted socially and by the possibility of social revenge, but he stonewalls them just long enough to launch his own social networking site with the help of his roommate Eduardo Severin. Everything happens at the pace of a thriller. Normally boring actions like tap-tap-tapping on laptops or scribbling algorithms on windowpanes appear as exciting as action sequences in a spy movie. Then, without warning , the film drops us into the real heart of the story: the battle for the ownership of Facebook told from three points of view : Zuckerberg , the Winklevosses and Severin. The depositions of the dual lawsuits against Zuckerberg is the framing device. The film explores how a new generation has sought an illusion of connectivity through virtual means. It is an intelligent, gripping attempt to understand the new media and all this done in a spectacular way through an ancient art form: the cinema.

Adapted from The Scotsman 16th October 2010

virtually: praticamenteovernight: di colpovindictiveness: vendicazioneat the turn of: all’inizio di

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B. Underline all the adjectives in the text and find their italian equivalent. Use your dictionary to help you.

C. Write ten questions on the text.

Sorkin and Fincher producers of the film were interviewed about their experience in making the film by Time magazine. Read the interview.

6More reading

TiME: What made you decide that this was the story you wanted to tell right now?

Sorkin: What came to me was a 14-page book proposal that Ben Mezrich [author of The Accidental Billionaires , on which the movie is loosely based] had written for his publisher. I read it, and I said yes very quickly. Faster than I’ve ever said yes to anything.It really didn’t have much at all to do with Facebook itself. I wasn’t on Facebook. I don’t spend a lot of time on the Internet, and social networking wasn’t really part of my life. But the story itself! There are elements of it that are as old as storytelling: friendship and loyalty, class, jealousy, betrayal — all those kinds of things that were being written about 4,000 years ago. It struck me as a great big classic story. And those classic elements were being applied to something incredibly contemporary.

TiME: It’s almost like a Greek myth. There’s something tragic about Zuckerberg. He created a new kind of personal connection for everybody else, and yet he cannot himself connect with other people.

Fincher: That was the thing that fascinated us in doing the research about Zuckerberg.

Sorkin: The first thing I did when I signed up for this movie was, I got a Facebook page. And the thing that struck me most was how much people were enjoying reinventing themselves on the Internet. That if you write a simple post like “Went out to this restaurant with the girls last night, had a seven-course meal, three appletinis, better hit the gym today,” you’re trying to be Ally McBeal. You sound like a sitcom person, like Mary Richards or Carrie Bradshaw.

Fincher: I hope that people understand that I have an enormous amount of empathy for Mark Zuckerberg. I know what it is to be in a room, as a 21-year-old, with a bunch of grownups. You’re hawking your wares, and they’re all looking at you like, “Isn’t it cute how passionate he is?” So I really understood his frustration.

TiME: And you guys had never worked together before?

Both: No.

Sorkin: It was, for me at least, a very interesting and counterintuitive marriage of director and material, because what he is most known for is that he’s peerless as a visual director. And I write people talking in rooms. So you wouldn’t necessarily think of David first for this.

betrayal: tradimentoto strike, struck, stricken: colpireloyalty: lealtàconnection: collegamentoto sign up: firmareappletinis: bevanda a base di mele cute: carinopeerless: senza concorrenti

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TiME: It must have been a challenge to make the computer stuff visually exciting — people hunched over keyboards.

Fincher: You show shots of someone typing that are as short as you can possibly make them. But it was contextualized interestingly, in that here is somebody hard at work f___ing with the fabric of the outside world, and here’s his fantasy of what the outside world is going through. So you could ping-pong back and forth between those two ideas. But part of it is a fantasy. It extends to the casting of Justin Timberlake. A lot of people said, “That’s not who [Napster co-founder] Sean Parker is.” And I kept fighting for this. It doesn’t matter who Sean Parker is; this character of Zuckerberg has to see him as this. He’s got to see him as the guy who’s got it wired.It’s not just about the people involved. It’s the people involved showing us a bigger truth about the last seven years, and a bigger truth about what it is to be youthful and have a dream and enthusiasm, and how once money gets injected into something it tears up the fabric of all of those idealistic good intentions.

TiME: It’s a balancing act with the Zuckerberg character. At the beginning of the movie, he’s not really all that likeable.

Sorkin: I think he spends the first hour and 55 minutes of the movie being an antihero and the last five minutes of the movie being a tragic hero. And I know that by the end of the movie, I kind of want to give him a hug, and I think that people are going to feel that way too.I also think that we understand, pretty quickly, how he got there. He’s 19 years old for most of the movie, and if you’re somebody who has spent so much time with your nose pressed up against the window of social life, who has been told that you’re a loser over and over — i have a hunch we all get told that we’re a loser, and how healthy you are as an adult depends on how much you believed it when you were growing up. Fincher: I really doubt that Mark Zuckerberg was ever told he was a loser. I think he’s probably been told he’s a f___ing genius for most of his life.But what does that mean? That’s what Harvard is. You’re either getting the people who know how to behave, who were genetically created to be in that environment, or you’re getting the superfreaks who spiked the graph on one thing. And they’re being thrust into this garden party that they never quite signed up for. And I think he’s probably the latter. TiME: What kind of research did you do to create Zuckerberg’s character?

Sorkin: [Producer] Scott Rudin made as aggressive an effort as you can make to get the cooperation of Mark and of Facebook. In the end, they decided not to participate, which is easy to understand. And to be honest with you, I’m grateful that it worked out that way. I wouldn’t want the movie to be perceived as a Facebook production. I was able to meet with, speak with and e-mail with a number of the principals. It was all on the condition of anonymity, so I can’t get too far into that.

TiME: Did you know from the start that you wanted Jesse Eisenberg for the part?Fincher: We saw a lot of people, and one day I got a clip from Jesse’s manager of him doing the first scene in the movie, and Aaron and I were working , and I said, “Come

to hunch over: chinarsi sul computerto tear up: disintegrareto give someone a hug: abbracciareto thrust, thrust, thrust: catapultareTo have a hunch: avere il sospettoclip: provino

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here, you’ve got to see this.” I mean, it’s not Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg in none of the file footage that I’ve found talks anywhere near that fast or has that kind of facility. But it was the perfect representation of the character.

TiME: Mezrich’s book was criticized for being too sympathetic to co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Did you worry about that?

Sorkin: There were a number of different versions of the truth coming from three or four or five people. And rather than pick one and dramatize that, I wanted to dramatize the fact that there are three or four or five different versions of the truth. Everybody has their own version, and everybody is right, and everybody is wrong.

Fincher: And when you really get down to it, when I’m directing a scene where there’s four people on this side of the table and there’s four people on that side, when I’m talking to people over here, I’m saying , “Look at that little asshole! Look what he’s done to you! You gave him the germ of this thing , and he fleeced you!” And on the other side, I’m going , “Look at these privileged, entitled guys who couldn’t even begin to conceive of what it actually took. If not for you, there isn’t $15 billion or $25 billion to divide!” Sorkin: By the way, I’ve been that guy. I’ve been the Mark Zuckerberg in that situation, and I have absolute empathy for him. With The West Wing , you’ll get somebody who says, “But 10 years ago, I wrote a script about the President, and look at all the similarities! There are scenes that take place in the White House!”

Fincher: “Look at all this stuff in the Oval Office! Page after page!”

Sorkin: Frankly, the line “If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you would have invented Facebook” — it’s what I always want to say to these people. So I had a lot of empathy for Mark. And I will be clear and say I didn’t speak to Eduardo at all either. So I’m not just batting from his side of the plate.

TiME: Last question. Does this movie mean that Hollywood is catching up to the galloping digitization of our daily lives? Doing things on Facebook, friending people, checking your news feed — these are so much a part of our daily routines now. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen them on screen before.

Sorkin: David did kind of a cool thing: it’s not indicated in the script that this is the way it should be, but it’s not until the last scene, when Mark himself goes onto Facebook, that we see the logo, that we see a Facebook page. Fincher: You’re talking about something so ubiquitous. It was like — you know, look, we’re not making a Linda Blair roller-disco movie. We’re not here to capitalize on Facebook.

TiME: So is the sequel the Twitter movie? Am I the 18th person to make that joke?

Sorkin: It’s not a joke anymore. I just read yesterday, they’re making a movie about the guys who invented Google.

To get down to it: andare al puntoubiquitous: onnipresente

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The interview contains a number of colloquialism. here below are a few with their italian equivalent. Match column A and B. Can you spot any others?

A B1. better hit the gym today2. hawking your wares3. to ping-pong4. to have got it wired.5. I kind of want.6. to spike the graph7. to fleece8. to bat from his side of the plate.9. to friend people

a. avercela tutta lìb. arrivare al massimo c. intervenire in difesa di una personad. vorreie. è meglio andare in palestra oggif. fare amiciziag. saltare da una cosa all’altrah. fare il venditore ambulantei. derubare

pairwork With your partner think of other questions you might ask the director and scriptwriter. Then write out the interview. Consider settings, music, budget, publicity, special effects, reactions of the actors to certain shots or scenes etc.

7Vocabulary

8Writing