Author Archives: Rosie Shen

About Rosie Shen

AEM & Info Sci

The Missing Rosebud

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What does Rosebud mean? The whole movie unfold with this question. Because the life of Kane is so dramatic, people study his whole life, his success, his failure, his death, and even his last words. It is indeed a recognition for Mr. Kane, and he seems more successful than most people in the world, but he was lonely and unhappy when he died.

“I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.” The New York Inquirer cost him a $1 million dollar year, but he believes he was taking care of the underprivileged interests. He seems to always want to go the opposite direction of Mr. Thatcher told him. I think Mr. Thatcher could be representing the stringent authorities or old fashioned rules that do not adjust properly to the new, rapid changing American society. Kane was able to challenge the classic rules and principles, to do something philanthropic, but eventually made a lot of money from it.

“If the headline is big enough, it will make the news big enough” Kane is a pragmatic and smart businessman. He crushed Chronicle with his “Declaration of Principles” by appealing to the general public, especially the working class. His marriage to Emily, President’s niece, furthered his success. His popularity and public image of being the honest man caring about the underprivileged could have helped him sit on the governor’s position. If it wasn’t for his affair with Susan, he would be a shining star in American politics. However, his ego prevented him from admitting his defeat, and resulted in his failure to protect his son.

“You will be the riches man in the country someday.” “And you will not be lonely” Those were his parents’ expectations sending young Kane away to Mr. Thatcher. His childhood was not what it was supposed to be for a child of his age, and that resulted his controlling unconfident character. He constantly need to prove himself, and he desperately need love, because he was short of them when he was young. Everyone must love him. He is selfish in nature, and also pitiful. He didn’t learn how to love anyone. He is only willing to give others what he had plenty and never cared about: money. He forced Susan to sing because he wants to prove his judgement. Susan spoke about the truth when she left him: “Here’s money. You must love me.” “You can’t do this to me.” Everything is about him. And that’s the sad life he lived.

Rosebud is something he had lost. His childhood. The sledge. His parents’ love. His ability to love.

A Predictive Ending: North by Northwest

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Who is Mr.Kaplan? Why is Roger abducted? Who are the people living in the UN official’s house? For a famous suspense movie from Hitchcock, this movie had a surprisingly not surprising ending. Honestly, it is  not difficult to predict the double spy nature of Ms Eve, the cliche love story between Roger and Eve, and how the bad guys are always doomed.

Many details in the movie did not make sense. I couldn’t figure out how Roger and Eve could possibly survive in the last scene on the Rushmore, where Vandamm stepped on the only hand Roger had holding onto the cliff. I also was confused why Eve and Roger was talking so loud in Leonard’s house without them suspecting. And how on earth could they be so stupid chasing after the wrong Mr. Kaplan all the time. Like many other superhero movies, American police officers seemed to be useless. Not to mention a UN official can just be approached by a random, armed person and killed by a knife. Don’t people have to go to security that detects metal? The ending scene was abrupt and sudden, left many people’s mouth still open.

After watching this movie, I couldn’t remember anything that was meaningful to my life, any inspirations I could take away, or even lessons I learned. I wasn’t emotionally touched, or intellectually challenged. I hate to compare it with the popcorn movies like Transformers, but this is how I felt. Maybe I lack the life experience to appreciate the hidden implications, but I was disappointed.

O Captain. My Captain.

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Captain! My Captain.

On the evening of homecoming and firework laser night show, we watched Dead Poets Society together in the warm, cozy Rose House dining room. I left with tears in my eyes and on my face. I felt sorry for the boys in the class, who had to challenge their own integrity by not telling the truth to protect themselves. They were forced to make the ethical decision to save their future and Mr Keating’s future. I don’t think anyone of their age should be forced to make that choice. When they were deeply devastated by their best friend’s suicide, and had to post untruthful blame on their favorite teacher, I couldn’t image what that would do to a teenager after they grow up. For those with moral values, they will be regretting this for the rest of their lives. And for those unethical students like Richard, they will get away with no influence on their lives. That is the truly sad part of this story: Students with high moral standards get punished harder. Mr. Keating knows. He understands. He had tears in his eyes, less for being betrayed and blamed for Neil’s death, but for what his best students were forced to do.

His soul is free. And he tries to give freedom to more students. He encouraged Neil to pursue what he loved. He encouraged all the students to stand on the desk to observe from a different perspective. He is truly a mentor, for discovering each of them’s talents. It reminds me of Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter. Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of Phoenix are in such resemblance with dead poets society. They all represent a positive, free spirit that fought against the dark, suppressing forces. Unfortunately, many parents, teachers, authorities were not able to see the bigger picture as Mr. Keating does. They do not see that they cannot force every student’s dream to be getting into a Ivy League school, or becoming a lawyer or doctor. Some people already died, but they didn’t get buried until 85. It is speaking about people without a freed soul.

Carpe Diem. Living in your own way.

Cascadilla Hike on Birthday

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On the morning of my birthday, I decided to pursue a very meaningful trip down the trail of Cascadilla Gorge. It’s a wonderful way to start the first day of being 19. Energized by the fresh air in the morning, I was ready for the whole trip.

Standing on the sidewalk gazing at the bridge connecting central campus to college town, we compared the past and present of Cornell. There was no engineering building back when the trail was being renovated, and the waterfall was more significant. We looked at the project brochure for building this trail. I had to say I was in awe.

During the time, it didn’t make sense to the directors why they would invest millions of dollars into rebuilding this trail that already existed. However, this project was initiated and pitched as beneficial to the whole Cornell community as a safer way to experience nature and appreciate the beauty of Ithaca. I could really relate to this, and I couldn’t imagine what would the campus be without such trail. It would definitely be different.

Cornell is awesome and Ithaca is gorgeous. The two complements each other perfectly. The natural beauty during fall makes me miss my hometown, Shenyang, a beautify city in northeast China. We have golden maple leaves falling from the trees, and I am almost certain I saw the same squirrel grabbing a nut that tightly. We have freezing winters and knee-deep snow just like Ithaca. To me, here is home. Home is never complete without its natural beauty,

Don’t overcome stammer -King’s Speech

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“Because I have a right to be heard. I have a voice! ” If King’s Speech is only a story about a successfully overcome stammer, it would be much less appealing. It’s about lack of self-confidence.

King was not born with stammer. He voluntarily adopted it during his childhood. Since then, he has reinforced that “fact” on himself, convinced that he has stammer. Ever time he tries to overcome it, he failed. It’s not because he couldn’t overcome it. It’s just there’s nothing to overcome.

I remember when I was a little girl, my mom sometimes linger behind to whisper about my walking movement. “Her left leg is always leaning inward.” I would become very conscious and alarmed of my walking movement, and then try to correct it. But it became even more obvious after that. I could walk normally for a while, without constantly thinking: is my left leg inward?

Until days later, I was walking with my dad and was too engaged in the conversation that I forgot about my walking “problems”. When we meet with mom, I suddenly remembered and stopped walking. My dad learned what was going on and said to me in a determined, comforting voice, “There’s nothing wrong with your walking. Now come on, tell me more about your dream last night…” He took my hand, and I started talking excitedly about the giant castle and spooky green lights.

Now when I look back after watching the King’s speech. King George probably didn’t have stammer at all. When Lionel put a headset on him so that he couldn’t hear himself, and recorded his speech, it was perfect. It is very hard to overcome an obstacle that does not exist.

Photographic Memory: Record every moment of your life

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The previous week we watched Black Mirror: the Entire History of You. Before watching it, I always heard that Black Mirror is one of the greatest scientific fiction series ever.

Life is too short, but somehow we forget some of our most important memories: our birth, the first time we walked, the first word we said, the first person we saw…Sometimes I am curious: what if there is a camera/equipment planted in me that records every moment of my life? I would be able to replay my best memories over and over again – running on the grass with my childhood best friend, the look of my first secret crush, cuddling with my mom and sitting on dad’s lap…those priceless moments that are so easily forgotten. What if I can even record my dreams? Every time I woke up from a long, beautiful dream-whether it was flying on a broomstick with Voldemort chasing after me, or greeting foreign royal families as a princess in a castle, or skating with Yuzuru Hanyu on winter olympics… So many details were lost within 5 minutes of waking up. I know that a “grain” implanted in me would let me keep those memories intact, even after years. Isn’t that brilliant – living in a dream.

It did not seem to work well for Liam in the show. He used his “memory” to prove his wife’s disloyalty. He made his wife to show him the video of her cheating on him. Eventually, lying alone on the floor, he decided to get rid of the implant. This, to me, does not make sense. With a photographic memory, crimes can be detected and no one can lie to other people or perjure themselves on stand. And by crime, I also mean cheating in marriage. However, even though it is easier to detect cheating in the marriage, the fallen apart life of Liam’s is by no means the technology’s fault. First, his wife chose to cheat on him with the understanding that this memory will be recorded. And she did not choose to delete it. Second, Liam chose to rip the band-aid off after finding out about the affair. He could’ve pretended he never knew about this affair, if he really wanted to keep the marriage and forgive his wife. This is his decision.

Eventually, a photographic memory would not only make all the best memories in our lives not easily forgotten, but also our exams would be so much easier, and we would be living in a world with more honesty and relationships would be more straight forward. Whether that’s a good thing or not, it is another day’s topic.

Martian Dream: Growing Potatoes and Hope

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I was always asked the question – what would you bring if you were left on a deserted island knowing you can never come back to civilization? I would think very seriously and pretend I really know the only three items I’d be living with the rest of my life. However, I really don’t know how I would feel if I was left alone-hopeless on Mars, abandoned by the team, suffering with limited food and water.

How does it feel to be so fortunate to survive after severe injury, but only to find out there is only around 300 days left until starving to death. The most memorable part, however, was that Mark did not take the time to mourn over death, but to solve one problem after another until the rescue team comes–or not. He always have that positive attitude, that make this whole story even funny to watch. He joked about his hopeless situation, “complained” about captain’s horrible music taste, and moved on after failures.

I’m not a big fan of movies like this, mainly because I think they are too imaginary and does not really have implications in our reality and the stressful life we are dealing with especially at Cornell. However, I do think this movie offers something more. The whole world was concerned of Mark’s situation, and they all shed tears when he was finally rescued. China gave up their own program to help rescuing this astronaut. That is the beauty of humanity, and it is especially important under the current unstable, insecure environment we are experiencing. The movie broadcasted the idea that China is not the “source of evil” but a partner to the rescue, and the world shared their emotions as if it is one family, united. Why can’t this be the reality?