As we go along this course, Dr. Edwin has arranged for us some movie-watching sessions in which we are going to watch movies which are related or adapted from the texts we are reading in class. Some of you out there may find it very interesting to be in this class and have started thinking about taking up this course next semester right. My suggestion is, you better and you should. Hehehe.
So, for the first movie, we had the opportunity to watch a movie called Elizabeth the Golden Age. I have never had a thing for epic movie like this one. But Elizabeth the Golden Age is totally a must watch because it is wicked! I immediately fell in love with the movie as soon as the movie started. Although they were some incident which had caused Dr. Edwin to stop us from watching the movie (let’s not go further into why Dr. Edwin stopped us and which little cowards who had caused the problem), we were fortunate enough that Dr. Edwin lent us the DVD again to continue watching it.
Back to the movie, I was firstly impressed by the cinematography and the costumes used in the movie. They were so real. I was blown away by how beautiful and breath-taking the scenery and beautiful places where this movie was shot. Another thing is that I have always had a thing for British accent. Although Cate Blanchet is actually an Australian (if I am not mistaken), she carried the character as the Queen successfully and effectively with her imitated British accent.
Some of my friends do know a little bit of the history of King Henry VIII and even the history of England from different movies and series especially the Tudors which have been a hit lately. I never had the opportunity to watch the series Tudors but I definitely will. It was all because I was very impressed by the England history who once had a really really amazingly powerful ruler like Elizabeth. It was clearly seen from the movie on how powerful and influential Elizabeth was during her ruling. Being a woman herself makes it even difficult for me to believe on how she could actually handle and rule England. Her legendary has made her one of the most powerful and greatest ruler of England as I believe. Her determination and courage was greater than a man. As a man myself, I never ever think that I am capableto do what she did for England during her time. She led her army to go against the humungous Spanish armada and naval and eventually won. Wasn’t that impressive enough? No?
Apart from that, I was again kind of shocked knowing that Elizabeth was actually virgin during her entire life. Therefore, she was known as Virgin Queen of England. Wasn’t that amazing? Can you like be a virgin forever? How can you resist the temptation? That’s for everyone to figure out. Hahaha. Nevertheless, she could not deny the fact that being a human herself; she longed for affection and to have a man in her life (what else do men and women need the opposite sex for, hehehe) as what she had for Raleigh. But, she was a tough lady. She upheld to her principles and I salute her for that. But, I was wondering, why she must be a virgin. You guys may know the answer and pardon me for my zero knowledge of England history.
I have learned a lot from this movie. One thing is determination. Another one would be forgiveness. This one is interesting. As Elizabeth felt betrayed by Raleigh, whom she truly really had a feeling for and Bess, her maid, she finally forgave the both of them and released Raleigh from prison. I think what she did was right. She could not force love. And the forgiveness she gave to them was indeed a great thing. We must know how important it is to forgive people as we may also need forgiveness some days. But, as we may have forgiven people for their mistakes, is it really easy cheesy to forget what they did? That is something for you to figure out.
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Dear Amir,
ReplyDeleteMany of us have blogged about Queen Elizabeth but I found your blog to be interesting on it.
The is because of one particular line in your blog that got hold of my interest to say something about it. The line that I meant is "Being a woman herself makes it even difficult for me to believe on how she could actually handle and rule England." I was just wondering that do you mean to say that you never believed that a woman can be a ruler of a country?
It was through this particular blog of yours that I had the opportunity to discover such a new thought which I think I've never thought about it. I got to see that some may think or look into someone's strength in terms the gender of the person. This has been the norm around the world and almost everyone seems to accept it. For me, it is a 'NO'. Since my early teenage years I have always thought that man and woman are born equal. Despite discovering the reality about woman that they are known to be the weaker sex than men, I would yet believe in what that I have believed in. I believe that what that a man can do, even a woman is capable to do it. Nothing is impossible...all that matters for me is equality. That’s all.
Besides, another thing that interest me the most in your blog was that about the queen remaining virgin. I agree with you that no man can live happily without love and affection from the opposite sex. That is a reality I believe and as for the queen, she proved it right. However, the reason why that she would remain virgin is probably because as I've read in one of the comments by our coursemate, Yvonne who believed her being virgin for the sake of having herself to be fully committed towards the ruling of the country. I think that surely makes sense and hope that it would be an answer to your question.
Oh yes! Do not miss to watch the series 'The Tudors'! You'll gain more of England that you had wanted to know and see.
Regards,
Kalmeet K.
Not that i never believe that woman cannot rule a country, but yo just tell me,have you ever found anyone like her in the present time?
ReplyDeleteI mean i suck at history,so i was just struck by a surprise that there was such a woman in this world who had been so tough and determined in protecting her country. I think i shall not go further into this issue of gender equality because it is pathetic. Example? shall not give here. You think about it. And about what you said "what a man can do, even a woman is capable to do it",i am going to mark your words. Like seriously!! Adios
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow, interesting discussion...
ReplyDeleteKalmeet... i support what you say about men and women are born as equals, because that is what muslims teaches us and i know every other culture says the same too.
However, i have to side Amir on this, Elizabeth, being a woman in her time, have gone against all odds to become a successful Queen she had been. I mean her half-brother Edward could not do half the things that she do when he was King.
You have to understand at the time she was ascending to the throne, the idea of a woman ruling a kingdom was still a joke amongst the English, the only one who had ruled England before her was her half sister Mary, who she herself was reluctant on passing the throne to her sister Elizabeth.
Apart from the fact that she is a woman, she also gone against the fact of her infamous birth by her infamous mother and also the fact that she is a protestant, i think that is what Amir was trying to say, obviously he was not trying to undermine what you girls can do.
However, as we have already in the Feminism converstion, i want to point out that females can't do all that males can do and VICE VERSA, we have all born with our own specialty, and females need to be satisfied with what they can do and males too, so when both are specified with both roles, feminism wouldn’t be a problem then.
Back to Elizabeth, i was reminded the ascension of Raziya Sultan to the Muslim Throne in India, the reason that i mention her name is, her father put her next in line to the throne because he thought that Raziya could make a better ruler than his brothers - the point is, anybody - men and women - can be leader based on their own rights, not based on the type of the reproduction organ they have.
Regards to both Kalmeet and Memer
Azhar K.
Thanks Azhar for explaining further
ReplyDeleteWoww... what a discussion. Are we having a debate here???
ReplyDeleteWell, I think I should not say anything about this issue as Azhar has explained more about it.
I just want to say that men and women can never be equal. Wow.. I am surprised myself for saying this.. Why? First, women are weaker than men in terms of physical fitness. Don’t ask me why because you know the reason. Women are made by the men's bones. So, basically, women are just a quarter of men's body. Obviously, we cannot compete on this.
Second, mean are gifted with 9 brains and 1 interest while women have only like 1 brain and 9 interests. In terms of intelligence, women are still far behind. So, still we cannot compete in this.
At this point, I must state that I do accept the fact that women can never be in the same line as men. Men have their own specialities and so do women. What we demand is respect. don’t treat us like we don’t know anything and remember, we can be stronger than men in terms of determination and emotion.
Women and men are not equally created but we do need each other to complete our life.
To Kalmeet, my points are based on the Islamic point of view. So, it is up to you how do you want to take it.
Precisely Ziham. What i was saying is that Elizabeth is one of a kind woman that you can find. There are indeed women who have achieved many things like men do. I never had the intention of looking down on women. Both have their own strong and weka points. So, why must debate and bother about this thing, aite???
ReplyDeleteabsolutalely right Amir...
ReplyDeletethis whole gender thing is an endless story to talk about..
like what i said earlier, women and men have their own strengts and weaknesses. that is why we need each other to complete the recycle of human process. women need men for care and love and so do men. so, no more argument. let's be friends hehehe...
but i think women are more special compared to men hahaha....
Whatever
ReplyDeleteI think that this conversation has come to an end so I would want to give a brief conclusion here. Different people have different opinion and what make this life become interesting is the differences. Man and woman are different from physical point of view. The differences in mentality should be referred to the society stuff. Some society gives equal chances to both sex and some society don't. So, do not blame others for having different point of view because we cannot expect others to follow our belief and opinion. So, what we can do is change ourself instead of changing the whole community. Don't forget to pray to God because only God knows how to be fair to His creation. Neither man nor woman is perfect so why should we expect more from the opposite sex if we are also imperfect. Agree?
ReplyDeleteabsolutely kamarul...
ReplyDeletei totally agree with you...
we always demand and expect more from the opposite sex... well, we are only human but it's really a good reminder to all of us..
And above all this,the relation between the gender issue with what i actually wrote in this post is very tiny. Like daaaaaaaaaaa..
ReplyDelete