Junior composition
Text-Analysis Paper

When Death is Remade:

An Analysis of "Charles and Francois"


 
First Draft; Second Draft
 

  Rita Sung
485200227
summary of the animation
First Draft
Red -- errors, problems
Green color --omit
Blue --suggestions; comments
Thesis statement --the underlined part
Unlike most animation, " Charles and Francois" does not want to entertain the audience but to draw people into deep reflection on the serious issue of love, life and death.  Those are the three inevitable situations that we'll certainly have to face.  In "Charles and Francois," it interprets love, life and death as chains welded together as a circle around a human being.  By the story of Charles and Francois, we might be able to examine our viewpoint of the circle that around us.
paragraphing: 
this paragraph is too long.  See @ for places to begin a new paragraph.
"Charles and Francois" is a three- dimensional cut out animation. This peculiar way of setting undoubtedly has its purpose.  As there is space between the cut out character and the camera, the figure of the characters are not clearly enough and thus the maker of this animation can change scenes in front of the camera without worrying the connection of each scene.  On the other hand, the subtle ways of how the characters disappear from the scene correspond to the theme of the story that people are vulnerable and they can slip away from life easily and in front of other people.  @ [This paragraph should come before your discussion of the techniques.  Give a more specific topic sentence.] The story happens mainly between a grandfather(Charles) and a grandson(Francois).  The age between them is quite a gap; they are very different in terms of interest and thinking.  There's a weird scene of the two trade their heads in order to understand each other's thought. Grandpa's head appears to Francois as dark, sad and full of stars; Francois' as full of wonder and expectation.  After the head- trading game, they somewhat know a little about each other.  As time goes by with the growing of the little Francois eating before the scene, he decided to leave the family to discover the wonder of the world.  And again, with the changing vehicle, and direction, it implies the passing of time and space.  Francois has married Marie and the scene turns to the childhood of Francois after bumping into a tree and the change from an automobile to a bicycle in Grandpa's thought.   This transformation draws Francois and the relationship between the two men closer.  The trail of the road that Francois drives on and the memory of Francois' returning to childhood are two circles in relation to the scene.
meaning of the last quote?  
The two wives in the story stand a very important roles as the communication bridge between the two men.  It was in the dramatic play within the animation that it reveals the central meaning of the story.  Marie and Grandma hide behind the masks to play Francois and Grandpa and help they speak out the feelings in their mind.  When Marie said, "Call me a wonder boy as you used to."  It really echoes with the feeling of Francois to Charles.  The philosophical lines read by Grandma are truly the words that she wants to tell the two men that love each other in their silent way.  "When life is made, we call it love.  When love is unmade, we call it death.  When death is remade, it is life." 
Transition; the beginning too abrupt.
In this animation, we can always feel the aging and the dying. Grandma and Marie help express the silent love between the two men.  Their dying create the new relationship between Charles and Francois.  Thus, a new life and love is made.  Love, life and death truly forms a circle.

 

    GOOD: This first draft has 
    • Topic Sentences
    • Thesis statement


    THINGS TO ADD:

    • transition
    • how life, death and love form a circle of life.
  
  
When Death is Remade
Second Draft
30 Nov. 1998
Green color --omit
Blue --suggestions;
Red -- corrections
Give a stronger first sentence. 
 
Underline- - thesis statement
  Unlike most animations, " Charles and Francois" does not want to entertain the audience; instead, it  but to (omit) draws people into deep reflection on the serious issue of love, life and death--.  Those three issues are (omit) inevitable situations which all human beings are forced to face sooner or later.   "Charles and Francois," interprets love, life and death as three fundamentally interrelated elements along the course of living and being in the world; or in the course of human existence (I know you want to include death; with death, we can be transformed into another being).  By watching the story and the changes of the characters, we'll learn to see life in a more philosophical way. 
love, life and death -- key words used for transition; 
topic sentence --be more specific
 The central meaning about love, life and death of the story lies in the transformation(s; changes in the relationships) of the main two characters- grandpa(Charles) and grandson(Francois)--from closeness to distance and then back to another kind of closeness.  The age between them is quite a gap (The grandpa and grandson's age difference creates a gap between them ); they are very different in terms of interest and thinking.  (Transition: However, the love between them motivates them to understand each other.) There's a weird scene of the two trade (the two's trading ) their heads in order to understand each other's thought(S).  Grandpa's head appears to Francois as dark, sad and full of stars; Francois' as full of wonder and expectation .  After the game "Let's Trade Heads," they somewhat know a little about each other.  As time goes by, Francois decides to leave the family to discover the wonder(s) of the world.  Charles feels upset and buries himself in observing astrology phenomenon.  The relationship between Francois and Charles therefore is confronted with a critical challenge.  Though still loving each other, they shut themselves from communication (up and refuse to communicate)It is o(omit) Only after several events (years of experience and growth) that (do) they open themselves to love (S)
Transition and topic sentence?  e.g. As the animation shows how love  changes in life, it uses various techniques to show the changes of life and also to suggest how life can be as  fragile as a piece of paper. 

Interpretation of techniques -- Here I disagree a bit with you in your interpretation of the techniques.  I think there are two kinds: 
1. the fade-in and fade-out of scenes; 
2. the exposition of the  switching  of props.

 "Charles and Francois" is paper cut- outs animation in a three-dimensional setting (an animation with paper cut-out figures in a frequently three-dimensional setting).  This peculiar arrangement undoubtedly has its purpose(s).  Since it is a three- dimensional setting , we could see the transition of scenes right before our eyes(Not exactly how  I look at it: Under the mostly three-dimensional setting, the animation foregrounds the flat characters and props and even lets us see the transition of scenes by moving the props [e.g. camera frames, street scenes]  in front of us. ).  From the living room to the TV studio, from the studio into the taxi, we experience each action of the characters, like the daily life we are witnessing(as  if we were witnessing the  passing of daily life.   But is it realistic; or is it purposely articificial and thus metafictional?).  The animator of "Charles and Francois" also (omit; thus) takes advantage of this setting to show the passing of time and space by wiping the scenes rapidly.  For instance, to show the passing of Francois's juvenile age in the family, the animator wipes from (?) the little Francois eating at the table to an adult one at the same place the scene of  the  little ... fades into that of  the adult F at the same place.  And to represent the course of Francois's life in the city and marriage, he uses the same technique by putting Francois from a motorcycle to a car; from being single to married.  On the other hand, the subtle way  of how a character changes or disappears from the setting corresponds to the theme of the story that people are vulnerable and they can slip away from life easily, even in front of other spectators.  In this case, the "paper" cut- out characters show how fragile life is. 
Oh, again you need a topic sentence and transition
--e.g. Love is indispensible in this life, because it is the only thing that can counter human fragility and mortality.  This main idea is articulted by two supporting female characters.
Between the two men who express  their love silently (meaning incomplete: and sometimes reservedly at the moments of conflicts,) stand (omit) the two wives functioning as the communication bridge between them (rep).  Though the wives appear for a very short time, they bring out(lead to) the turning point of (in)the two men's relationship.  It is in the stage performance in the animation that it reveals openly the theme of the story(awk; Their mask reveals both the  theme of the animation and the two men's inner feelings.).  Marie and Grandma hide behind the masks to play Francois and Grandpa and help they speak out the feelings in their mind.  When Marie says, "Call me a wonder boy as you used to."  It really echoes with Francois's feeling to Charles and brings their thoughts back to the happy time they had.  The philosophical lines spoke by Grandma are the highlight of the play: that "When life is made, we call it love. When love is unmade, we call it death.  When death is remade, it is life."  After the remarks, these two wives seem to have fulfilled their "duty" as they are not seen afterwards.  On the other hand, their beloved husbands carry out what they have said gradually in the later part of the story. 
 a topic sentence and transition: e.g. The two men learn to love  each other more as they are approaching death; to "re-make" death by turning it into love and life.  In the words of the grandma, "When death is remade, it is life," which is also love. 
        The concern for aging and dying are expressed subtly throughout the animation.  The story starts with the death of a chicken; later on, the grandparents are sent to the nursing home, and it follows (which is followed) by Grandma's death.  When we see Charles and Francois again in the story, they are both very old widowers.  Aging and dying come silently around them; however, age is very abstract at this time as Francois can never be at the same age as his grandpa in real life.  The one hundred years of age might represents the maturity of the two.  They are each other's only family members.  The two would talk about death openly and describe it as a big house at the end of a road.  Meanwhile, Charles wonders about whether his love for the earth would go on after death.  We believe that the answer has been offered by the words of Grandma that death is actually the threshold of life.  And life goes hand in hand with love.  For example, the dying of Grandma and Marie create the new relationship between Charles and Francois.  Thus, a new life and love is made. (Great interpretation!)
         "Charles and Francois" is one of the many films which touches the 
serious issue of life and death.  By presenting the story of the two 
generations, it gives us a clear picture of how the view about life and 
death is being interpreted in (from) the perspective of love (and then re-newed by love)
 
 
Hi, Rita,

This is a great interpretation, especially considering the difficulty of the text you handled.   Two main problems you have here are: 1. you still need to work on giving logical transitions and topic sentences, 2. your interpretation of the techniques  is not  very organized.  

Please consider my interpretation of the techniques: I think that  there are two kinds of  scene-transition:
1. the fade-in and fade-out of scenes;
2. the exposition of the  switching of props.  The alternation of these two kinds make us  more  aware of the passing of time.  Aand then both of them, together with the paper quality of the cut-out figures and props, show the fragiliy  of life.

Good job!

Kate