POSTWAR BRITISH MASCULINITIES

I was curious of how the definition of Full Monty came to mean naked or nude so I checked Oxford dictionary for it’s origin. It seems as though the first mention of this phrase as meaning nude came from the film itself as it this is the earliest record that Oxford has for this meaning. The next to earliest record of this phrase came from 1985’s K. HOWARTH’s Sounds Gradely (North West Sound Archive) but the meaning here was everything included..a thorough display so there is a connection between nudity and thorough display.

Though this website: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/full%20monty.html
theorizes that the earliest Full Monty derivation is from Montague Burton’s complete three piece suit sets. If this is true then it’s ironic that the phrase used for a full set of apparel came to eventually mean nakedness.

I was surprised that the movie portrayed Mark in a relatively good light given its limited means. The book didn’t seem as sympathetic with his character, the way the movie did where even the bad things Mark does to others isn’t played out too harshly. Like the fact he’s indirectly responsible for Tommy’s death. After all, it is because of his video that Lizzy and Tommy break up, which starts Tommy’s drug use. Possibly the choice of Ewan McGregor, who usually is the good looking lead character in his films, to play Mark was also to influence the audience. What doesn’t make sense then is Mark’s justification in the end that he stole the money because he was a bad person. The audience knew that from the start, but the movie was working throughout to make us think differently, so the changed outlook at the end didn’t make much sense.

I just noticed a parallel between Rents’ relationship with Hazel and his use of heroin. As we were discussing in class, heroin is an unacceptable thing to be dependent on, but there exist other socially accepted ones, such as Rents’ mom’s vicodin, or Begbie’s alcohol. But there’s a bit of irony here because although Rents’ relationship with Hazel may seem socially acceptable, he talks about all the ways in which it is not normal, despite how it seems to the external world. Perhaps he is drawing a comparison to say something about the socially accepted drugs?

And I’m also curious about the use of the word “us” when Rents refers to himself. He’ll begin talking in the first person using the word “I” and “me,” but will then use “us” all within the same sentence.  Has anyone noticed this and care to explain? Maybe there are situations where he takes on two personalities?

This movie was very sad with a bit of hope in it.  All the characters at one point i must say made me laugh.  the part of the movie that was puzzling to me was when the girls baby died, it seemed as though there were no consequences to her actions at all.  they never really spoke of it.  At certain parts of the movie i loved Begbie for his straight out honesty and crazy lifestyle, but when he blew the smoke in Rents face I wanted him dead. I was so happy that he took the money and then left some to Spud.  I like the way the movie ended, just wished that Tommy didn’t have to die.

I had a different outlook to this movie than others in the class.  The first thing that I noticed is that the part of the film where the chase is happening everyone thought that Jody said “you wouldn’t shoot your brother in the back” but in actuality he said “you wouldn’t shoot a brother in the back”  and this takes the statement into a whole other direction that was pointed out in class.  In my opinion it was not a statement showing the brotherly bond between the two(countries) rather it was a simply racial advantage statement Jody used in order to escape.

watch?v=5FFRoYhTJQQ

http://onthebrod.tumblr.com/tagged/otb/chrono

When the black man is captured and bought into a private area, he is tied up and bagged up in the face.  The long hair Irish man is the only face who the black man saw.  The black man begs for the lift of the bag covering his face, but the long hair Irish guy said no.  When the black man needed to take a leak, he took a leak, but he couldn’t stick back his genitals back in.  He asked the Irish man to stick it back in.  At this point, I’m thinking what’s going on?  I would never do that.  In another scene, they emphasized the black man lips while he was smoking.  It show signs of eroticism.  During the black man’s attempt to escape, the white man had the opportunity to shoot him, but he chosed not to.  I believe he would rather see him run and escape then just die in his own hand.  I’m not sure if this is homoly erotic or is this a brotherly thing, because he meets up and hooks up with the girl in the picture.