Essay/Term paper: Paralells in my brilliant career

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

Paralells in My Brilliant Career


Ray Romeo
Film as Lit.
Strojan and Ward


Obtaining ones goals in life is not an easy task. There are many obstacles
that can prohibit one from doing so. What separates the weak from the strong?
The ability to overcome the obstacles and reach your goal. This was most
evident in the movie, My Briiliant Career, it is a stunning example of how one
can go through trials and tribulations and still be successful. The parallel
between the movie, reality, and Australian history is very clear in this film.
In the movie we meet a young lady by the name of Sevilla. Her dream is
to write a novel. Unfortunately that is not conducive to the goal of her parents.
So her parents tell her she can move in with her grandmother. This works to
Sevillas advantage because her grandmother appreciates art and the beauty of
such talents. This is the first triumph that we witness, but as we know there
is always some other adversity to overcome. That is what we do , we travel with
her through her life and experience the joys and pains that she experiences.
While on this journey we find out some important things about our leading lady.
First we discover that she is a woman with a mission and that she will go
through any length to get it. We also find out that love is very important to
her. for example she has a man that is courting her and is a womans dream. He
is handsome and rich, also has a good family name. In fact her grandmother who
is very important person in her life tells her that she should accept his love.
Instead she rejects it, and tells her grandmother that she does not love Frank.
From this point we find out she is a feminist with very strong views. She has a
need to feel independent and feels that women don't need men for anything at all.
Then she meets Harry and to her surprise falls in love with him. She
does not act on this love in fact, she rejects it. He wants to marry her and
she tells him to wait, come back in 2 years and then see what happens. Just as
she makes this decision her family feels it is time to start having a little
responsibility. The send her off to work in a house taking care of children.
Once again it is like an obstacle thrown in her way, but, she overcomes it and
still continues to write. After time passed she returned to her grandmothers
and that is when Harry asks to marry her. She says, no and moves on with her
life. She rejects love and family or anything that could possibly deter her
from doing what she loves, writing.
At the end of the movie she finishes her novel, the way the director did
this scene was terrific. he places in a position so that she looks like a
Christ figure. This was a brilliant scene in that it appeared to show exactly
how victorious she was. The movie drew many parallels. In reality , the film
really hit home because it was a real situation.
How many times in life have we seen it? We here success stories everyday of how
people overcome adversity. It is most prevalent in my own life. For years all
I wanted to do was act and perform on stage. Just as Sevilla I had people in my
life that did not wish for me to do well. Those people viewed me as selfish and
strong headed. Questions were often asked like, What is your realistic goal? So
this movie really hit home for me. Seeing Sevilla suffer through these heart
aches and pain moved the movie to a new level. Also seeing her reign triumphant
at the end of the movie was a scene that put a smile on my face knowing that it
is possible to overcome things that others put in your way.
A neat twist in the movie is that if you substitute the men in
Sevillas life for Britain and Sevilla herself for Young Australia you have the
history of that nation. Sevilla herself is Australia a nation that had many
obstacles to overcome. The history which I speak of has been prevalent in all
the movies that we watch in class. This nation has overcome manta bad times.
That was well demonstrated in the movie Breaker Morant. That movie concentrated
on the bore wars of Australia, it also showed how the men in this movie parallel
to Britain. There are so many parallels that can be drawn by this movie. I just
chose to put a few of those analogies down on paper and express them to you.
My Brilliant Career , is an exciting movie that creates a positive
image of life. This movie also gives a new and exciting way to view Australian
history. The creators of this film were brilliant in that they gave an
excellent view of life and history, well balanced, and still exciting.