Aids Essay Research Paper There was a

Aids Essay, Research Paper

There was a time when Angelina Jolie was really going to give up acting…right after Foxfire. She was trying to find characters with a certain strength and things going on, but she was always disappointed. Wallace was the first thing she did where she felt their ideas were better than hers” (Gerston 38). Identifying with a role, making an emotional connection between the plight of a character and personal events demonstrates a strong acting technique called method acting. Angelina Jolie has a “total fusion” into her roles that allow her to transform into that character. Friends of Jolie admit that she tends to absorb herself in roles. Her strength as a performer lies in her ability to live her parts. It is apparent that Angelina Jolie s personal experiences and her ability to utilize method acting make her one of the best, most unique actresses today, as demonstrated in Hackers and Girl, Interrupted.

Angelina Jolie Voight was born June 4th, 1975 in Los Angeles, California. Jolie, which means “pretty little girl” in French, is the daughter of two famous actors, John Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. She also has a brother, James Haven Voight. Jolie decided to use her middle name because she wanted to become famous on her own merit. “I love my father, but I am not him.” All of her accomplishments are quite extraordinary for someone who admits wanting to become a funeral director as a child. Jolie has an admitted affection towards death and macabre, and believes that “there s something comforting about death” and “the thought you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now” (www.ajolie.com 1). She has several scars from “playing” with knives. After her marriage to her Hackers co-star Johnny Lee Miller fell through, she married a man familiar with divorce, Billy Bob Thornton. She now carries a vile of his blood around her neck. Normal may not be the most appropriate word to describe Angelina Jolie s personal life, but her acting makes it very hard not to adore her in some way, shape, or form.

The way Angelina Jolie went about her education may be a slight indication to where her talent derived from. Angelina Jolie graduated from Beverly Hills high a year and a half early. She enrolled in the Lee Strasburg Institute at age eleven. In 1997, Jolie attended night classes at NYU to study film. Her film debut was at seven years old in Lookin to Get Out. Since her film debut at age seven, she has appeared in seventeen films, including made for television movies. She has also acted in 5 student films for the UCLA School of Cinema, which were all directed by her brother (Gerston 39).

In Girl, Interrupted, Angelina Jolie s character Lisa is the rebel of the group throughout the film. The scene toward the end of the movie where Susanna Kaysen (Winona Rider) confronts Lisa in the basement exemplifies Angelina Jolie s ability to draw a viewer into a scene. Lisa is angry that Susanna is leaving the hospital, so she steals her journal and takes the rest of the patients down into the basement to read it to them. Once Susanna realizes what Lisa has done, she rushes down to the basement, only to discover that Lisa has already begun reading her journal aloud. Her innermost thoughts and feelings, not to mention her opinion and diagnosis of the other patients, were being revealed to them without her permission. Susanna becomes frantic, slipping into a rage and scattering about to find where Lisa has taken her journal. When she finally finds them, she tries to defend herself in saying that she didn t mean any of the comments being read by Lisa, but no one seems too comforted by her apologies. This propels Lisa s demand for Susanna to analyze her. Susanna tries to refuse and even runs away, but is so annoyed by Lisa s constant antagonizing attitude that she gives in. This is the point where Angelina Jolie s incredible acting skills shine. Angelina Jolie s character Lisa is broken down by Susanna, allowing the viewer to see a softer, more sensitive, dramatic side of Lisa instead of her usual rebellious disposition throughout the movie. It allows the viewer to draw parallels of personal experience to Lisa s situation because for the most part Lisa was deprived of love and affection, therefore sought refuge by using people. By being conniving and sneaky she got her way until someone bold enough, Susanna in this case, broke down her actions which forced Lisa to deal with one of the hardest things to deal with, the truth. In the end, Susanna s analysis leads Lisa to believe she can escape her old self and become what society might characterize as “sane.” Jolie s ability to “be” her roles rather than just “play” them sets her apart from most actors/actresses. Her portrayal of Lisa in Girl, Interrupted makes the viewer question the term sanity as a whole. Angelina Jolie s character Lisa lets the viewer question the boundaries between confinement and freedom, friendship and betrayal, and madness and sanity.

Angelina Jolie employed method acting in this role. Lisa, Jolie s character in Girl, Interrupted, likes the attention she gets through her actions and enjoys people wondering about her mental status. Angelina Jolie herself is constantly under the microscope of the media and has often been criticized by decisions she s made, mostly personal. Many people have formed negative opinions toward Jolie because of her personal life, instead of judgi