The Effect of Sayings

        Think about your favorite movie. Do you like it because of the characters? Do you like the setting? Or is it just everything about it that sparks your attention? Well most of the time, in my opinion, what catches peoples eye or ears is the small sayings that are proposed throughout each film. They usually have a comical purpose, but sometimes could be used for other ideals.

         Some sayings or phrases are what make the movie so popular. Take for instance, Mean Girls directed by Mike Waters. This is a movie about a girl from Africa, Kady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), who transfers to a school in the United States and she has to go through the struggles of the “new kid”, trying to find where she belongs. As with every high school, there are the Jocks, the nerds, the “Emo” kids and everyone in between. This may have a typical story line, but the character’s lines couldn’t be more comical. The popular girls say a boy named Damien “is to gay to function” or the dumb blonde Karen questions Kady’s nationality and says “if you’re from Africa, why are you white.” Or when they are having a retreat in the gymnasium, a random girl blurts out “I just wished we lived in a world of rainbows and unicorns.” These all may seem irrelevant, or seem to be nonsense, but you can’t think about this movie without referring back to these sayings. This movie has turned into a “must see” just from these small phrases.

             Elf, a popular movie among the holidays, is also famous for its sayings throughout the film. This is about an elf that works in Santa’s workshop, but isn’t your typical average helper. He is abnormally tall and has trouble doing things that come so natural to typical elves. He is eventually sent to the North Pole to find out who he truly is. Some of the most comical parts of this movie include “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.” When they are talking about the diets of their daily lives. Or “ You sit on a throne of lies!” also “I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.”This refers to all the people he comes into contact with in the real world.  Finally the most famous line of the whole movie, “You stink. You smell like beef and cheese! You don't smell like Santa.” This comes about as he comes in contact with “Santa” at the local mall. All of these small phrases may also seem dumb, but they interestingly enough make the whole movie. This has become one of the most watched Christmas movies of all time, and will continue into the following generations.

             Mean Girls and Elf are just a few of the many movies that are filled with various sayings that have everyone locked for the rest of their lives. Next time you sit down to watch a movie, really take into consideration all the funny or quirky sayings that not only stick into your head, but also give the movie an even better effect. You not only realize that these phrases are used throughout the film but also out of everyone else’s mouths around you as well. It’s amazing what the directors of each movie know what will catch their audience’s attention for the rest of their lives.

The Influence of AP English

         I have to say, Sterling High School has a lot of great teachers. They really care about your education and do what they can to better your path for a more successful life for when you graduate. Going along with the teachers, they are great at the subjects they pursue as well. I personally believe that taking AP English has allowed me to expand my horizons and allow myself to be an advanced student, rather than just your typical high school student.

        In junior year AP English, we focused a lot on our writing skills. Mrs. Hewsen taught us how to add just the right amount of detail into our writing without being too “flowery” or too “shallow”. She also taught us about the various literary elements as in rhetoric, paradox, anecdote, similes, metaphors etc. We were not taught the definitions but also taught how to add them into our writing, allowing for all of us to seem like very scholarly individuals. Although, many complained about the repetitive essays we had to write every day on numerous topics, in the end they were a blessing in disguise. They gave a big advantage to me and from talking to others, they felt the same. We were able to go in to the AP test and feel confident with each word that we wrote down on the paper. Another effective part of AP English 3 included the amount of partner interaction within the classroom. We read a lot of short stories and not only did Mrs. Hewsen read them to us, we read them aloud to each other and explained our interpretations of them, seeing any similarities or differences. This allowed us to become open minded and see different points of views without always arguing against it. It was also helpful to role play certain stories like Macbeth. We would put costumes including holding swords, crowns, and capes. This made it seem realistic and more interesting than just reading it from the text book. Ms. Hewsen’s love for teaching English and helping her students really allowed me to enjoy English and perform better on my AP test than I ever thought I could.

       Now as I am enrolled in senior year English, my perspective has continued to grow as English continues to become my favorite subject. This course focuses on more stories. I am an avid reader, but I usually pursue romantic types like Nicholas Sparks, but obviously we aren’t going to read that in class. We just recently finished The Odyssey and to my surprise it was very interesting. Mr. Carty was able to read the epic with such an animated tone, and explain with such detail that made it very entertaining and easy to understand. He really focuses on our questions and how to make us better listeners and how to focus on the important details of the book. We are now reading Dante’s Inferno and although it is a hard concept to grasp, we thoroughly talk about the characters and the important details of the novel. Another effective part of this year’s English, is the AP practice worksheets. I feel that continuously looking at harder materials and trying to figure out an answer higher level questions allow my brain to work harder and will be used to this material by the time we take the AP test again. The conversations we engage in, whether they are about the story we are reading or just about another topic of English, really catch my attention and I really enjoy coming to the class every day. Mr. Carty’s influential character and grasp of the stories and language allow me to become a highly educated student and continue my progress to do well on the AP test this year.