Class 2 Assignments --- Notting Hill

Vocabulary

• It’s not a classic anecdote, is it? 这不是一个经典的轶事，是吗？
• Surreal but, um-- but nice. 超现实的，但是，嗯——但是很好。
• It’s not yogurt. It’s mayonnaise. 这不是酸奶。 是蛋黄酱。
• Well, it was genuinely bizarre. 嗯，这真的很奇怪。
• Or hounds for that matter. Our readers are equally intrigued by both species. 或者猎犬。 我们的读者对这两个物种同样感兴趣。
• Oh. Shittity brickitty. 哦。 狗屎砖。
• The guinea-fowl is proving more complicated than expected. 事实证明，珍珠鸡比预期的要复杂得多。
• Though, um-- um, I have done the odd bit of amateur stuff. 不过，嗯——嗯，我做了一些奇怪的业余事情。
• The wages are a scandal, aren’t they? 工资是个丑闻，不是吗？
• It’s down the corridor on the right. 它在右边的走廊里。
• We really are the most desperate lot of underachievers. 我们真的是最绝望的失败者。
• I haven’t had a girlfriend since puberty. 我从青春期开始就没有女朋友了。
• flogging her guts out in London’s worst record store. 在伦敦最糟糕的唱片店里鞭打她的胆量。
• And most of her limbs work, whereas I’m stuck in this thing day and night, in a house full of ramps. 她的大部分四肢都在工作，而我却日夜被困在这个满是坡道的房子里。
• Used to be handsome, now kind of squidgy round the edges. 以前很帅，现在有点毛骨悚然。
• The chances are always minuscule. 机会总是微乎其微。

Summary

Scenes

On the birthday party of William’s sister, everyone told a sad story about themselves for the last brownie. The stories are so real that they brought me to some kind of hushed slience. Anna predicted her future as: “One day my looks will go, and I will become some sad, middle-aged woman”. She is always on a diet. She had a series of not-nice, even violent boyfriends. And she had to carry the burden raised by media and public. She had two painful operations to make her beautiful. I’m not sure whether she was acting or it was a real story, but, it is a fact of life that anyone who fights for her ideal life has to pay necessary prise.

Character Analysis

William Thacker

Anna Scott

Anna is famous and it is a heavy burden that she must carry. She wants to lead a simple life where people see her as herself and not as an actress. The theme of being trapped for Anna and their relationship is seen throughout the movie. There is a major comparison between the freedoms of William and Anna. He is free to do whatever he wants without others observing him every minute but he is closed off emotionally. Anna is not free physically because she must go to movie premiers, film shootings and other celebrity shows and she is bordered up mentally since she wants to lead a normal life.

Anna Scott, the Julia Roberts character, is seen not simply as a desirable woman, but as a complicated one, whose life doesn’t make it easy for her to be happy. There are moments of truth in the middle of this comedy that bring the audience to that kind of hushed silence you get when truths are told. One comes when Roberts looks into the camera and predicts Anna’s future: “One day my looks will go, and I’ll be a sad middle-aged woman who looks like someone who was famous for a while.” Another comes when she kids with the bookseller that the price of her beauty was two painful operations. She points silently to her nose and her chin. Is Roberts talking about herself? Doesn’t matter. The scene is based on a fact of life: Anyone who gets paid $15 million a picture is going to perform the necessary maintenance and upkeep.

Can they live happily ever after?

Will Anna and William never find the happiness they deserve? We slap our foreheads in frustration for them. Eventually they meet again during her press junket at the Ritz Hotel, where he is mistaken for a journalist, identifies himself as the film critic for Horse & Hound magazine and quizzes her about her horses–and hounds, I think. The absurdities of a press junket are actually pretty clearly seen, allowing for some comic exaggeration, and the movie is more realistic about the world of a movie star than I expected it to be.

Interpretation

The purpose of the movie "Notting Hill " was to show the life of two people and how it is sometimes limited by the social regulations and norms. It illustrates the relationship of two people from completely different backgrounds but who still manage to develop a rewarding and happy union. It reminds people to feel confidence in not being afraid to go after dreams, no matter what obstacles are on the way. The message is to show and teach that it does not matter where someone comes from, the liking principles are universal. One of the major themes is the development and the growth of each person. The understanding and realizations that both main characters go through, demonstrate how often people are not in touch with their inner self. William is comfortable with his simple life and does not have any major goals. He is somewhat happy in his ignorance, letting the world pass him by. He has been hurt in love and so, he has closed himself off from any relationships. This is a way of protection for him because he does not want to get hurt again.