Tuesday, December 9, 2008
King of the BINGO Game
Please post your responses to the Ralph Ellison story here. If you have not emailed me your essays for critique, please do so, so you can get feedback before you turn in your portfolio. I do not want to see essays for the first time in the portfolio, the exception are narratives 1 & 2.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
To me, life is a game. Each person living in this world represents a "player." In the book, "The Coldest Winter Ever," you are the winner of the game when you can end up on top. To be living in a ghetto neighborhood and yet being able to afford designer clothes and cars, getting respected from all of the other "players" is when you can call yourself, the winner. Santiago liked to play chess. But he never plays with anyone else. Why? Because he wants to experience both sides, look through every aspect of a situation. By doing this, he can gain control of the board while only being by himself. In the streets, you can’t trust anyone, even your own blood. When it comes down to it, you can only rely on yourself-I a game, there is truly only one winner.
In the movie, the main character, Sunny is living his life stressing on how to meet ends meet. He has no job, and a “pregnant” wife. Because of the economy, it was hard for him to find a job, Sunny had to resort to playing “bingo” and try his luck. During the “game,” he desperately tried to win by buying many cards. When he won, he was completely shocked; shocked that he suddenly has a chance to turn his life around, and shocked that in just a moment’s time, he held the powers of “god” in his hands. To be able to just press one button and completely turn your life around, that is the power only possessed by God himself. To play the cards right, make the correct moves, and also with a little luck, anyone is able to win the game. When it was decided that he had won the jackpot, because of the chaos that he had caused on stage, he was turned from a winner to a loser. The game of life, during that time, an African American causing a ruckus on stage, could not win anything. Sunny had believed so much that he had beaten the game. But the game of life, it seems can never be beaten. Like gambling in a casino, the machines may spit out money at you for awhile, get you hooked and can’t believe how much luck you’re getting. But as soon as it’s got you on a leash, it can easily suck back in, or take more, money away. It’s possible for your life to be everything that you wanted it to be, but in a flick of a wrist everything can change for the worst.
aaron lederer
I think the bingo game is a symbol for oppression. The white man makes all the rules, the player has to abide by them. If he chooses to berak a rule, or "slow the game down," he's punished. Don't interfere with the process. Even when he hits jackpot and looks like he's won, the police respond with a nightstick to his ribcage.
Another symbol of the oppression was the black man they had in the funny outfit. His job was to check the numbers, or, make the white man's job easier. It might not be a coincidence that the outfit he wears resembles that of dancing street monkeys. Racism and oppression are the key themes in this film. I'm not sure where to pinpoint the religious aspect of the film, though God was mentioned, so it must be in there somewhere.
Dominique West
In the movie "Bingo", there are plenty of ways to interpret the main things in the movie. The wheel, the button, the wife, the color of his skin. I thought the guy was going crazy at first. However, while watching I saw how important the $36.90 was to him. He won the game, but seemed as though he got nothing.He felt that so long as he held on to the button that he was in charge. it was his shining moment and God was on his side. Nobody could take the power away from him. He became so engulfed in the game that he did physical harm to himself and barely acknowledged it. He had become the game; the wheel was him. His hallucinations caused him to come out looking like a crazy fool.I know he was doing it for the sake of his family. He didn't want his wife working, and at the same time he didn't want his son/daughter born into poverty.
The wheel to me seems to be a false image of opportunity for everyone. Everyone can play bingo like Santiaga's family, but even when you think you have won, like the guy who spun the wheel, you really havent (when the guy gets beaten up after he hit bingo), or how Winters family was taken away from her. It seems as thought the police are in control in both Bingo and the Coldest Winter Ever. In both situations the police came and took Winters house, and possibly took the life of the man playing Bingo.
I think the game was about spinning the wheel, but it was also about the people around him. For example, I noticed that the man helping the game run was black, and he told the man playing Bingo to push the button, because he was trying to help him out. I think he knew what would happen if he held the button too long, just like some people knew that if you stayed in the drug buisness too long, something bad would eventually happen.
Kimberly Peterson
12/09/2008
The secret of the wheel, trains coming and going... What is the wheel, the wheel has always been there? The button is God, this is my jackpot, this is God. Blood from his nose while the wheel is still spinning. He held it too long. Spin is another way to distort something.
You win, but you really do not win. It is crazy, a crazy feeling. Money is somethin that we all crave. We feel it even so deep in out own blood sometimes. You can get the jitters from even thinking about how much money you have, or can get. Get rich quick does not ever work. Thinking about being rich, thinking about how much money in your hands, thats GOD. Thats a true flection of love. Bliss, substance. Money can lead to feelings like you are taking a substance. You can be putting substances in your body, but not really. It could just be thinking about money. The controll of life. Bingo is a game of chance. Sometimes the game is simalar to... game of lotto...
Benjamin Herrera
Free Write: Response to "King of the Bingo Game"
This movie was very interesting and decieving because the way it started was not like I pictured it. The end was very dramatic with the main character being beat by the police because he was not acting rigth. The problem I had with this is that he won the jackpot and the police officers didn't even care. I guess that is how life is the people with more power control the game. Eventhough Bingo is a of a chance I believe that each person is in control of how they play the game. The wheel for me represented power because if he would have recieved his prize back then it probably meant food for a long time.
Faraj Fayad
fayad_f@yahoo.com
english 1B
Wanda Sabir
The short film is a view of how powerful a game could make a person living in poverty feel. "BINGO" was a chance Sunny felt he should take at winning the $36.90 hackpot. The reason he needed to win was because he had a baby on the way. He didn't have a job to pay the rent and couldnt find a job because of the depression. There was no other way to support his pregnant wife than to play the game.
Sunny bought a bunch of Bingo cards hoping he'll win. While waiting for the game in the same room a movie was on. He was hungry and thursty but didn't have money to purchase any food.
The movie ended and the gameThe game started. He began sweating as the numbers were getting called. After a while of playing, he seen that he won, he hesitates to get out of his seat and yelled BINGO!!!
HE got on the stage and was told to press the button, which allows the wheel to turn. When he pressed the butten he noticed the attention drawn from the crowd as the stared at the wheel. He embraces the feeling of spinning the wheel and the chance of him wining the jackpot. He felt power in his hands and wanted that high feeling to last as he pressed held the button.
The crowd grew impatient they wanted to see the conclusion. The host started yelling at Sunny for taking too long and the crowd began yelling. Sunny couldnt believe such a rush. He didn't want to let go of what hundreds more wanted.
Forced to let go of the button, Sunny let it go and won the jackpot.
Post a Comment