Träume in Pink, Gold, Orange

At first Christiane Grefe mentions the high security standards of the film studios of Bollywood. On the streets there are a lot of people, that have different kinds of jobs, who would do a lot to visit the Bollywood film factory. The actors seem to be superstars in India and are admired by the Indians for entertaining them and also for the fact that the workers can forget their life in Mumbai for a while. The singers manage to do this by singing, dancing and performing dramatic love stories that can touch hearts.

But the everyday life in the dream factory consists, apart from tailors that make the costumes, of bored guys and girls and of course of waiting. In the film business there are also some famous choreographers like Vaibhavi Merchant whose biography is performed on the stage. She received a lot of prizes and has worked for 16 productions of films in 2004.

Choreography plays an important part in such films because the dances can connect the different parts like love, comedy and gangster elements or tell their own story. The choreographies also combine different dance styles and unit them.  All together about 800 Bollywood films are released every year.

The Gateway of India

3 a) Dwight Huntsinger is a bold and cheeky lawyer from Boston who has to negotiate with manufacturers because his firm wants to find outsourcing deals to move their production to India. He is frustrated because of his divorce and wants to risk something new. When Dwight spends his time in India he doesn’t want to try food from India or visit traditional sights, so he is very intolerant and disrespectful.

b) Dwight uses negative comparisons like grief (l. 39), ordeal (l. 28) and captivity (l. 55) to express his attitude towards India. He feels like he is caught in Mumbai and he just came there for the money, not for culture. He only sees the Indian potential for outsourcing deals but doesn’t want to get to know the Indian culture. There’s a metaphor in line 35 when Dwight compares his trip to India to the hell. This also symbolizes his attitude to see just the bad things and not to give up the comfort he is used to from the western world. The food stands for Dwight’s not existing will to give up old habits and to try something new. 

Shall I compare thee to...

Shall I compare thee to a lovely flower
I wouldn't find words and had no power
to discover a bit you have in common with it.
I even have to admit you're the opposite.
I could characterize you now, but I won't do
just guess on your own what symbol belongs to you.

What song are you listening to?

I like the song "Otherside" by the RHCP very much and I am listening to it often times when I'm sitting in the bus. I don't know why I like it, it is just a great band with a sad song.
The other song I like is Day 'n' Night by Kid Cudi. It is not an intelligent song but I associate a good time with the song.

I find the man in the first video likeable who is listening to "How I Roll" by Britney Spears because he has a friendly and funny charisma. I would ask him if he is a fan of Britney Spears. The other person I find likeable is the reggae man who is listening to Bob Marley. He has also a great charisma and I really like his outfit. If I could meet him, I would ask if it's his own hair.

I find both videos interesting and like them both. I think in the London video it is better that they show different parts of the city, some famous places and sights. So you get a great impression of London and you can see the typical "things" in London for example the red buses. In the New York video I find the people more open and friendly.

I think it is a great idea to do such a video but I have the impression that Germans aren't as friendly and open as the people from London and New York, so maybe many persons won't tell what they are listening to at the moment because they are feeling bothered. I would choose Munich as a location because of it's great parcs and sights. "Der Englische Garten" for example would be a perfect place to do such a movie.

Michael Flanders

- was an English actor, broadcaster, writer and performer of comic songs
- part of the duo "Flanders and Swann"
- born in London 1922
- attended Westminster School (there he met Donald Swann for the first time)
- studied History in Oxford
- left Oxford to join the Royal Navy
- 1943: gets poliomyelitis and has to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life
- 1948-1967: professional partnership with Donald Swann as the duo "Flanders and Swann"
- "The Hippopotamus" is a famous song
- 1975: death because of a stroke

2. There is a hyperbole in line 3 when the author describes the awful circumstances in Britain. “We cower in the economic gutter” shows how the whole situation is overestimated by the foreign countries. They expect the British to panic, because they themselves would do so, but that is exactly the opposite of British behaviour in times of trouble and crisis.

The author uses a simile in line 25 when he answers a question about the British working habits. The “rat race” is a comparison to the daily competition between people in their job. Rats are animals with a negative reputation and the British don’t want to be like all the other nations that spent their life by rushing every day to outdo their rivals maybe even in a deceitful way.

3. The British are very self-controlled people who don't show great emotions. They keep patient in hardly every situation, analyse the things that are going on and decide calmly how to handle it or just wait till problems are solved without their action. Their black humour helps the British in crisis because even the hardest problem creates an occasion for irony and sarcasm.

4. Tea

Tea plays an important role in British life. They drink it in the morning, in the afternoon an in the evening with milk and sugar or just with milk. There are various sorts of tea, for example tea of strawberries, apple, pepper mint, chamomile and other kinds of herbs. Very impressing are teas for the inner rest and relaxation. The best thing is that you just have to go in your garden and pick up some green herbs, cook them and enjoy your tea, but of course it is important to collect just things you do know, otherwise even tea can be bad for your health. Tea is not only the national drink in Britain it caused also a significant happening in America, the Boston Tea Party. One could think that the first ones drinking tea were the British but I think this could have also been the Chinese. The fact that both nations are such patient, calm and friendly ones could lead to the conclusion that it is caused by drinking tea frequently.

I found most interesting when Eliza, Higgins and Pickering come home from the successful ball. The servants praise the excellent work of Higgins and Pickering and sing great hymns for them. Eliza is ignored by all the people and stands alone and isolated in a corner. Nobody says that Eliza did a great job and that not only the two men are responsible for the success. After that, all of them go to bed and don't recognize Eliza. Except Higgins who gives her the advice to switch off the light. This is again very frustrating for Eliza because she is treated like a servant even after her perfect performance at the ball.

1. What is Higgins' view of elementary education?
Higgins thinks that elementary education isn't very effective because the children are locked up in school and aren't often willing to learn something. So they just spend their time there because they have to and don't learn anything. He criticizes that he has to pay for this and at the end of school the pupils can't even speak in an appropriate way. The teachers could also be guilty for this result, if they don't teach the kids the right things or in a very boring and uninteresting or too difficult way.

2. Why is Eliza crying?
Eliza is crying because Higgins threatens to drag her round the room by her hair, if she will pronounce the ABC incorrectly again. He also treats her very rude as if she was an animal or a little stupid girl he can shout at. Eliza is frightend and desperated because she doesn't know what she has to change to pronounce the words correctly.

"Mad Dogs and Englishmen"

1. I think the song is about the colonial time, when England claimed different countries and wanted to oppress them. While the Englishmen lived there they showed strange habits and dindn`t want to conform. In this song the author shows the Englishmen in an ironic and nice way.

2. Such nonsense songs are great to amuse people because they aren't taken so serious. One can deal with a sensitive topic without hurting somebody. Some persons don't think about the song and maybe don't understand it but find it funny and laugh about it. Certain themes can be presented ironically and in a way that only insiders can get the real meaning.  So I think some nonsense songs are only nonsense at the first look.