Movie Suggestion: We're The Millers

Like mentioned in the beginning of the semester, carnivals are times to forget about all realities and societal rules. On stage, every actor puts on a new identity with only one goal, to entertain the audience while having fun.

Very much like the carnival times, We’re the Millers is a movie centered around a family trying to get across the borders of Mexico and back. But wait, they are not there for vacation. Instead, they are there trying to smuggle weed into the United States. They are not a real family either. They are just a made-up family consisting of a drug dealer (David, daddy), a stripper (Rose, mummy), a dorky virgin (Kenny, son) and a run-away girl (Casey, daughter).

It was interesting to watch this family trying to lie their way out of being a fake family while possessing a whole trailer worth of weed. Watching them working their way around each other’s lies and coming up with more lies to cover up for previous lies reminded me of the Broken Jug. Just like how Adam was always busy coming up with lies to cover up his relationship with Eve, the Millers are the exact same chaos of tangling deceptions. In an effort to keep a straight face in front of the public, they became over friendly and even found themselves stuck being friends of another family which made lying and staying on the real goal of smuggling weed even more difficult.

Besides, David’s intentions of smuggling the weed was so that he could pay back his debts and keep his life. Unlike Mrs. Wolff in the Beaver Coat, David has to do what he did in the movie to stay alive, it wasn't an action taken out of the desire for a more luxurious life. It was a crime of necessity instead of greed for wealth. Therefore, I think this would be a good movie to share with the class in continuation of the theme of plays for the past few weeks.

Female Sexuality in The Broken Jug

Heinrich von Kleist's, "The Broken Jug," offers audiences great insight into the cultural significance of women's sexuality--specifically their virginity in the 18th century in culturally German areas. As someone else mentioned in their post--the actual broken jug can be interpreted as the loss of Eve's virtue. If the virtue of women was not so highly treasured in this culture, I would have interpreted the broken jug as the crumbling judicial system or the vices of humanity.

 I believe that the reason Frau Martha argues so vehemently with Judge Adam is because she represents the conservative percentage of the population, attempting to uphold traditional Germanic values in the face of Judge Adam's corruption and in light of the nocturnal activities her daughter has recently been involved in:

 “Forgive me, no, at night. I’d put out the light, when I hear men’s voices in my daughter’s room. A terrible row! Like the devil himself had broke in! I hurry down the steps, and there’s her door, smashed in by force, and angry voices inside. And when I light the lamp, I find my jug here smashed to bits, and the girl wringing her hands, and him, that lout, blustering there in the room.”

Unmarried women were expected to maintain their chaste status throughout Europe during this time because of reinforced Christian-influenced, patriarchal values, and Frau Martha was prepared fight for her daughter’s virtue. Just like the broken jug, Eve was considered less appealing and practically worthless, especially to her suitor, Ruprecht, once it had been perceived that she had been violated by Adam. Essentially, in the pseudo-Dutch/German society presented in "The Broken Jug," unwed women had to maintain their virginity and chaste attitudes in order to maintain their social standing and self worth. 
           Kleist understood the general ideas and socio-political norms that prevailed in Germanic society at this time, and he wrote to an audience who would appreciate the plot twists and turns, as well as the symbols interwoven into "The Broken Jug." Luckily for the characters, this is a light-hearted comedy so Eve and Ruprecht have their happy ending with neither shame nor conscription to the East Indies.