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An Unforgettable Character (Essay Sample)

An unforgettable character.

Characters play a significant role in a play or novel. Authors utilize different characters to explain some of the themes in a text to make it easier for the reader to understand the message that is being communicated. There are some roles that characters play, and authors tend to blend some different characters in a text to bring a sense of uniqueness. The manner in which a character is portrayed in a book matters a lot because the audience acts as judges by analyzing the different characters incorporated. There are minor and major characters in a play or novel. The minor characters are meant to build the main characters in the book.

We cannot forget some characters once we read books and novels. This is because of the significant role they play and how relevant they make the story. In many cases, unforgettable characters play the best role that we love or on the contrary, tend to play as characters that make the reader hate such a character. Personally, I have come across different characters in the novels and plays that I have read authored by various people. For instance, The River Between is a story authored by Ngugi Wa Thiongo and the main Character Waiyaki tend to be unforgettable according to my perspective. In my view, this character is a victim of circumstances because the whole novel revolves around him. He is attached to some minor characters who bring out his character. Ngugi tries to show the problems that the two ridges are facing from ancient times. Interestingly, this can be different in some instances where you find that the unforgettable character is the minor character in the novel. This depends on the perspective of the reader whereby he can find the minor characters being memorable as opposed in many cases where the main characters are unforgettable.

In cases where the minor characters emerge to be unforgettable as mentioned in the above text, we find out that such characters may have played a particular role that is significant across the text. This implies that the minor characters can initiate a certain theme that later dominates all through the novel hence making them be remembered. On the other hand, it is important to note that the manner in which readers view characters differs. This makes it difficult for a certain group of people to have the same unforgettable character. The audience might fall in love with a minor character as well regardless of the role that he plays in the text hence this individual may turn to be their unforgettable characters. This shows that it is not mandatory that unforgettable characters are only the main characters in the book. This can be seen in some other characters as mentioned above. It is easier for one identify the most unforgettable characters among all and only in some, few cases where some characters may be remembered all.

In brief, characters are essential as they bring in the delivery of the message from the author in an easier way. Their role is to ensure that the reader can understand the real concept that it is being explained. Unforgettable characters are always remembered because of the role that they play in the text.

November 8, 2022

Creating Unforgettable Characters

by Kristin Oakley

First, ask yourself why you are writing about this character. What is it about them that makes you want to spend months or even years writing their story? What’s special about them? As you consider this, create your logline.

Logline A logline is a one or two sentence description of your entire story. Many people call it the elevator pitch because it’s the response you give when someone asks you what your book is about as the two of you ride in an elevator. That short ride doesn’t give you much time to explain, hence the quick pitch.

A logline is also one of the hardest things you’ll ever write and something you’ll edit more times than you can count. No matter where you are in your writing process, whether just playing with an idea for a book or on the fifth draft of your novel, writing your logline is a worthwhile exercise.

Editor’s note: Have your logline ready if you intend to sign up for pitch sessions at Let’s Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference . We will open registration soon for these sessions. See our presenters page for the agents and publishers who will be available (scroll to the bottom).

Loglines should have:

• A few words that describe the protagonist. This could be their profession, age, abilities – ideally, what makes them unique. Examples: “a teenage runaway from Kansas,” “a vain Southern bell,” or “The Bastard of Winterfell.” If your protagonist’s name is intriguing, include it.
• The protagonist’s concrete goal that motivates them throughout the story. Examples include marrying the man, landing a dream job, and arriving at a destination.
• Who or what is trying to stop them from achieving this goal – also known as the antagonist.
• Something that makes the story unique. Is it a romance on Mars? A thriller on an Amish farm? A horror story about mutated termites? Be sure to mention it in your logline.

Unique Characters Unique characters are unforgettable. Once you’ve worked on your logline, consider what it is that makes your protagonist unique. What is your protagonist willing to sacrifice for their goal? What are their wants and needs?

• Heroism – readers love to read about protagonists sacrificing their life/dreams/aspirations to save someone else. If your protagonist is willing to give up their dream career, the love of their life, or even their own life to save someone else, they will be unforgettable.
• Wants are your protagonist’s internal desire; an emotional need that the external goal will fulfill. It makes the character take action. One way to determine the want is to ask how will the character feel when achieving this goal. That feeling is their want.
• The need is something your protagonist can only give themself. Forgiveness is a good example of this. K.M. Weiland’s website Creating Stunning Character Arcs gives the following movie examples of characters’ needs: Learn humility and compassion ( Thor ), Protect the living future over the dead past ( Jurassic Park ), Be able to share Andy’s love ( Toy Story ).

Keep in mind that not every book has a protagonist with a need. James Bond, Jack Reacher (in the Lee Child series), and Mark Watney (in The Martian ) are good examples of this. It’s their intelligence, resourcefulness, and even humor that makes them unique. 

Dealing with Conflict Every story should have both internal and external conflict. Internal conflict is specific to the protagonist and is closely connected to the protagonist’s wants and needs. External conflict affects most or all of the characters in your story. The internal and external conflicts should be closely related. For instance, the desire for revenge pairs internal and external conflicts very well.

How your protagonist deals with conflict can make them unforgettable. When creating conflict for your protagonist, remember:

• Strengths are attributes your protagonist can rely on to get them out of a tough situation and can help them achieve their goal.
• Weaknesses can lead them into danger with no apparent means of escape. They can interfere with achieving the protagonist’s goal. Weaknesses can be external, like a broken leg, or internal, like a lack of confidence.
• The fatal flaw is an internal problem your character has that might lead to their downfall or death. Examples include misplaced trust or loyalty, excessive curiosity, pride, lack of self-control, and selfishness. When thinking of your plot, what is the worst flaw your character could have in that situation?

Choices Writers often discuss whether books are plot-driven or character-driven. Lately, I’ve been hearing more about how these are the same things. The plot sets up scenarios for the character to maneuver through while the character makes decisions that lead to more plot. The plot and character should be that interconnected.

So, when we talk about creating a character don’t think in terms of the color of their hair or the clothes they wear, think in terms of what would they do in this situation.

Dilemma “A dilemma is a problem that cannot be solved without creating another problem. Problems are solved. Dilemmas are resolved through a shift in perception.” — The 90-day novel by Alan Watt.

Unforgettable characters make unforgettable choices when faced with dilemmas. For example, in Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games , Katniss has to either kill Peta or let him kill her in order to end the games. She comes up with a third solution — mutual suicide. In L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s dilemma is to leave with the wizard without Toto or go after Toto and never get home.

Perception shift: In resolving their dilemma, how does your protagonist shift their perception? Do they realize that what they wanted wasn’t what they needed? Katniss has a perception shift which results in her third solution.

Choices Define the Character To make your character truly unforgettable, have them make choices that define them.

• Your protagonist might make extreme choices. Most protagonists change by the end of the story whether they’ve learned something, viewed themselves or the world differently, or realized that what they thought they desired wasn’t what they needed. Walter White in the television series Breaking Bad is a good example of a protagonist who makes extreme choices.
• Your protagonist might be a rebel who made the choice to fight the system. Randle Patrick McMurphy in One Flew Over the Coo Coo’s Nest , Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye , and Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games are all rebels.
• Or your character might not fit a stereotype and doesn’t react to the situation in a stereotypical way. For example, Nurse Ratchet in One Flew Over the Coo Coo’s Nest is a nurse who destroys her patients and Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs is a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a cannibal.

A Worthy Antagonist You want to create an antagonist with their own goals that are in direct opposition to your protagonist’s goals. To create a powerful antagonist, write a logline from their point of view. If they were the protagonist of your book, what would be their goal, wants, needs, strengths, weaknesses, and fatal flaw? How is their goal in direct opposition to your protagonist’s goal?

There you have it, a few tips to help you create truly unforgettable characters. For a more in-depth discussion on character development, including writing exercises, be sure to join my workshop at the Let’s Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference . See you there!

Back to Write City Blog

Kristin Oakley , a popular presenter at Let’s Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference , is the author of two award-winning suspense thrillers, Carpe Diem, Illinois and God on Mayhem Street . She teaches writing workshops, has critiqued manuscripts and has helped writers hone their agent pitches. Kristin is writing a soon-to-be released young adult thriller series called The Devil Particle Series .

Kristin reviews books and writes about being a novelist in her bi-monthly newsletter, available at kristinoakley.net . Sign up for Kristin’s newsletter and receive a free gift!

Kristin Oakley is a Chicago Writers Association board member.

You can search the Member Directory here .

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Forrest Gump — Forrest Gump: An Unforgettable Journey through History

Forrest Gump: an Unforgettable Journey Through History

• Categories: Forrest Gump

About this sample

Words: 897 |

Published: Aug 1, 2024

Words: 897 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

The narrative structure: a tale of simplicity and complexity, character development: from innocence to wisdom, portrayal of historical events: a tapestry of american history, conclusion: a timeless tale of love, resilience, and humanity.

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Opie's Most Unforgettable Character

The andy griffith show.

• Andy's feelings are hurt when Opie doesn't pick him as the subject of his high-school paper.
• Opie has to write a composition on his most unforgettable character and is having a really hard time coming up with someone. Aunt Bee suggests a most logical choice when she tells Opie to follow his father around and write about him. Andy is quite proud of the fact that Opie has chosen but not very pleased when Opie, generally a good student, gets an F on the essay. Miss Crump gives him a chance to try again and he gets a good mark but when Andy learns that he wrote about someone else, Opie has some explaining to do. — garykmcd
• Ms. Crump (Aneta Corsaut) gives the class an assignment to write a 500+ word essay on their "Most Unforgettable Character". Arnold Bailey (Sheldon Collins) asks if they could write about George Washington and she says she would prefer they write about someone they know personally, who has made an impression on them. Opie (Ron Howard) can't decide who to write about. He discusses it with Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier) and she suggests he write about his father, the sheriff of Mayberry. After following Andy (Andy Griffith) around for the day, Opie decides Andy is not very unforgettable. Aunt Bee ends up telling Andy that Opie has picked him as his most unforgettable character. Andy can't help but brag to Goober (George Lindsey) and Howard (Jack Dodson) about being the subject of Opie's essay. Just then Opie rides by and Andy stops him. Andy wants to know if Opie got his "usual A" on the paper. Opie tells him he got an "F". Andy goes to see Ms. Crump to try and find out why Opie got the "F" and she lets him that she is "sure Opie's rewrite will be more interesting". Andy tries to give Opie some interesting stories by stretching the truth on a couple of things. Each time he tries, the real story (which is incredibly forgettable) comes out. Goober and Howard stop Opie and ask him how the composition is coming. Opie tells them he finished it and he got an "A". Andy comes out to see what all the excitement is about and Howard tells him about Opie's "A". Arnold chimes in and says "yeah, he knew more about my dad than I did". Andy is visibly disappointed and says "oh, you wrote about Dr. Bailey". When Arnold says he got an "A" too, Andy says "wow, he must have enough diseases and the like to go around". Arnold says "I didn't write about my dad, Sheriff Taylor, I wrote about you." Opie calls Andy off to the side and says "the reason I couldn't write about you and Arnold couldn't write about his father is, well, if you write what is unforgettable about your own father, it sounds kind of sissy". Andy tells Opie he understands. Aunt Bee later discusses with Andy what Arnold must have written about him and isn't he interested to know. He says he isn't worried about it. Opie and Arnold come in and Andy sends Opie on an errand while he takes Arnold into the kitchen for cookies and milk (and presumably, to try to get a look at the Arnold's paper).

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Essay on “My Most Unforgettable Character” for Kids and Students, English Paragraph, Speech for Class 8, 9, 10, 12, College and Competitive Exams.

My Most Unforgettable Character

At a high school orientation day in Sacramenton, California, John Van Berkel III stood apart from my other students. His arms and legs seemed too long. Homely and awkward, wearing thick glasses, he hunched his shoulders as if to hide his phenomenal height.

“Well,” I said to the students, “I see our future basketball star.” I smiled at the boy, trying to put star.” I smiled at the boy, trying to put him at ease. Then I committed the blunder that people frequently make when they meet someone who’s different. “Just how tall are you?” I asked.

“I’m two-metres-tall and growing,” he answered with an impish grin. “By the way,” he added, “have you ever heard anyone ask, “Just how fat are you?” A good question—and I liked him for asking it. John Van Berkel was different

I didn’t know at the time that John had many painful nick-names like “Frankenstein.” Nor did I discover, until later, that he had Marfan’s syndrome. That year-1983 — researchers were still struggling to identify the causes of this genetic disease that afflicts one in 10,000 people. Marian’s weakens and loosens connective tissue, producing the classic symptoms of extreme tallness, nearsightedness, abnormally long fingers and an enlarged aorta.

“Accept Me.” Our first-year basketball coach noticed John’s height and hoped he had potential. With his physical problems, however, it quickly became clear that John would not be a star. Nevertheless, he practiced hard, and his never-say-die attitude won the hearts of his teammates.

During one game, posted near the basket, John missed three shots in a row, but he wouldn’t give up. Recovering the ball a fourth time, he lifted it high over his opponents’ heads and simply dropped it in. It was John’s one and only score for the season, and his teammates went wild. John and his second-year coach were both realists, however and faced up to the fact that-basketball wasn’t for him. That’s when we met again. I was the drama teacher, and one day John showed up at my door. John’s intelligence and love of learning were quickly apparent. Seldom without a book, he would retreat to quiet corners to read. With severe visual disability from Marfan’s, he had to hold a book close to his face, but he still finished at least one a day. John soon became a fixture in the drama department moving scenery, working backstage with lights and sound equipment — and making us laugh. One day when I asked •him what roles he’d like to try, he joked, “I could probably play a tree.” From then on, he was known in the drama department as “Tree.” Gradually we all got to know the real person inside that big body. Let me live my life as fully as I can, that inner person seemed to say, and accept me as I am.

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• How to write a narrative essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay , along with the descriptive essay , allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing .

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What is a narrative essay for, choosing a topic, interactive example of a narrative essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about narrative essays.

When assigned a narrative essay, you might find yourself wondering: Why does my teacher want to hear this story? Topics for narrative essays can range from the important to the trivial. Usually the point is not so much the story itself, but the way you tell it.

A narrative essay is a way of testing your ability to tell a story in a clear and interesting way. You’re expected to think about where your story begins and ends, and how to convey it with eye-catching language and a satisfying pace.

These skills are quite different from those needed for formal academic writing. For instance, in a narrative essay the use of the first person (“I”) is encouraged, as is the use of figurative language, dialogue, and suspense.

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Narrative essay assignments vary widely in the amount of direction you’re given about your topic. You may be assigned quite a specific topic or choice of topics to work with.

• Write a story about your first day of school.
• Write a story about your favorite holiday destination.

You may also be given prompts that leave you a much wider choice of topic.

• Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself.
• Write about an achievement you are proud of. What did you accomplish, and how?

In these cases, you might have to think harder to decide what story you want to tell. The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to talk about a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

For example, a trip where everything went according to plan makes for a less interesting story than one where something unexpected happened that you then had to respond to. Choose an experience that might surprise the reader or teach them something.

Narrative essays in college applications

When applying for college , you might be asked to write a narrative essay that expresses something about your personal qualities.

For example, this application prompt from Common App requires you to respond with a narrative essay.

In this context, choose a story that is not only interesting but also expresses the qualities the prompt is looking for—here, resilience and the ability to learn from failure—and frame the story in a way that emphasizes these qualities.

An example of a short narrative essay, responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how the structure works.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

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Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved August 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/narrative-essay/

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My Most Unforgettable Character Essay Example

• Pages: 2 (438 words)
• Published: March 3, 2017
• Type: Essay

My mother actually is an ordinary woman but in her tiny appearance lies an extraordinary fortitude, perseverance, a altruistic soul and a very kindly heart.

The kind of mother who brought me up with her whole kindly heart, the kind of persistent woman with strong willpower who had to face the toughest challenges in life, and the kind of person who always demonstrated great zeal for every unlucky lives without requiring anything in return and great willingness to help everyone's misery though she did not have much, my mother taught me more than any one else, not only inspired me the strength to overcome hardships in my life, but also left me with invaluable life lessons.

Her fortitude and perseverance, as well as her kindly heart have encouraged me to grow up to live the life of an a

uthentic person, a life engulfed with perseverance and determination, a life with heartfelt eagerness to love and to receive love from every one and optimistic beliefs in the future. My mother's life is the succession of obstacles and grieves. Growing up in a poor family, my mother must work very hard to earn her living since her early ages. Due to shortage of material condition, she herself has trained an extremely strong will and ability to sedately deal with each difficulty and stand up to move on from her failures.

I vividly remember the calamity poured down my family when my mother' business went bankrupt. We had to sell our house and leave for another town to begin from "zero". This critical time made every member in my family totally upset. But it was my mother, the persistent and brave

women, strongly stood up and started over again after this great adversity. Each of her failures, her grief, and the way she overcome difficulties to move on has made an indelible impression in my mind, leaving me with precious lessons about the values of strong wills and indefatigable endeavors to firmly confront with setbacks and bravely conquer them.

I can never thank my mother enough for what she has given me. The precious lessons from my mother are the luggage for me to go on my road and discover new horizon of knowledge and make my dream become a reality instead of just a dream. I own my strength to my mother. Her life experience has made me more vigorous to face every hardship, to overcome each failure, and move on. Far more meaningfully, I also realize the invaluable gift of life and true happiness to view the world more optimistically and to believe in the brighter future.

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Vague Visages

Movies, tv & music • independent film criticism • soundtrack guides • forming the future • est. 2014, crime scene #18: ‘victims of sin’ – nightclubbing with ninón sevilla.

Crime Scene is a monthly Vague Visages column about the relationship between crime cinema and movie locations. VV’s Victims of Sin  essay contains spoilers. Emilio Fernández’s 1951 film on The Critierion Channel features Ninón Sevilla, Tito Junco and Rodolfo Acosta. Check out film essays, along with cast/character summaries , streaming guides and complete soundtrack song listings , at the home page.

Midway through Emilio Fernández’s 1951 film Victims of Sin , there is a wonderful tracking shot that encapsulates much of the movie’s exuberant, feminist energy. Having turned to sex work after being fired as a nightclub dancer, protagonist Violeta (Ninón Sevilla) is attacked by wannabe pimp Rodolfo (Rodolfo Acosta) in her home. The other women of the street come to her aid in solidarity, and Fernández cuts to an image of everyone at the police station afterwards, lined up against the counter. The camera pans from right to left, finishing at Violeta and Rodolfo but finding time to survey the faces of the women who came to help: old, young, tired, fresh-faced, made-up and plain. Victims of Sin centers female solidarity from the off, and this is its most explicit image: a gang of women from the margins of Mexican society, all standing together to bring down a man who is intent on causing misery to one of their number.

Victims of Sin is otherwise part of a larger stream of noir-inflected social melodramas common to Mexican Golden Age cinema of the time, an era when the country’s film industry was in full swing with multiple studios producing movies at a thrilling rate. As so often with other various “golden ages” of cinema, quantity begets quality; a film industry which emerged partly to fill the gap created by Europe and the USA as they got involved in WWII found itself producing cinema at a mass quantity in studios, many of them based in Mexico City. Within that system, yes, there was plenty of forgettable, derivative material, but also a certain level of minimal technical quality (thanks to guaranteed regularity of work for film crew and cast ), and a home for genuine visionaries (Luis Buñuel being probably the most famous).  

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Know the Cast & Characters: ‘A Million Miles Away’

Like many films of its era, Victims of Sin  is largely studio-bound, with much of the movie taking place in the two differing nightclubs of Changoo and La Maquina Loca. Changoo, where the film opens, tends towards the more well-off, featuring a larger band and more performers. The grottier La Maquina Loca, where Violeta ends up after adopting a baby (after being fired from the Changoo and turning to sex work), tends to a more working-class clientele, located as it is next to a train yard .

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Soundtracks of Cinema: ‘Bullet Train’

The contrast between the two sets up a simple dichotomy within Victims of Sin , which tends to pair character types: the solidarity and collective action of the women vs. the predatory, lecherous behavior of the men; the class and race-based hierarchies of the Changoo (epitomized by its sleazy owner) vs. the openness and warmth of La Maquina, with owner Santiago (Tito Junco) being one of the few “good” men in the film, going so far as to take in Violeta and her son as an adoptive family. Superficially, this might seem polemical, and Victims of Sin certainly is a product of its time and place in regard to its prescriptivism, but Fernández’s movie far surpasses its simpler elements because of its rather glorious and noirish textures.

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Know the Cast: ‘Detour’

Take the imposing figure of Rodolfo, who Victims of Sin presents as a signifier of everything “wrong” with contemporary Mexican society. He impregnates women then ignores them, forcing them to dump the baby in the street (it’s this which compels Violeta to rescue her friend’s child and adopt him). Rodolfo is a serial criminal and perpetually greedy. He’s also the first figure seen in the film, as Fernández opens Victims of Sin with Acosta’s character in a barbershop. It appears to be an interior scene, but the camera pans around as Rodolfo leaves to a street on an outdoor stoop, where he roams the neighborhood freely. Many of the character’s entrances into the Changoo and La Maquina see him arrive from the mezzanine at the top, before descending into the dance floor beneath, like a feudal lord arriving to stake his claim.

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Soundtracks of Cinema: ‘Fancy Dance’

In contrast, Violeta and Santiago are rarely, if ever, given this top-down visual descent in Victims of Sin . Both characters usually enter the nightclub from the dance floor level, forced to accept their social position. Even Tito’s position as a nightclub owner — seemingly a well-off individual — is precarious, at risk from parasitical forces. That the name of the club Changoo is derived from Changó , a spirit from Yoruba mythology, links the location to Mexico’s colonial and racial past (and present), and that the Changoo clientele is largely white when La Maquina’s is more mixed, is a quietly-placed irony touching on racial appropriation and the warped context of pop culture’s ever-shifting touchstones.

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Know the Cast: ‘Sicario’

Fernández, a mainstay of Mexican Golden Age cinema as both a director and actor, uses various textures to ground Victims of Sin’s melodramatic and prescriptive tics. To be clear, there’s nothing “wrong” with these melodramatic elements (modern film culture has long since deemed melodrama a dirty word when it is, in fact, a glorious thing for a film to be), but what elevates the drama is the contrast between a brash, sensationalistic and socially-conscious story and subtle, expressive directing that finds its way into the material in unexpected ways. In the leading role, Sevilla is charismatic and sensual; the Cuban-born actress was initially a dancer and Victims of Sin’s many musical sequences pay testament to that. But as Sevilla emerged as a star, she also staked a claim as a leading lady of substance , capable of commanding the screen on her own.

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Know the Cast: ‘Longlegs’

Amidst all this is a Mexico City that was undergoing massive changes in the 1950s. The region expanded rapidly throughout the 20th century to become, alongside São Paulo in Brazil, the largest city in Latin America. In a film reasonably low on location shooting, Fernández still provides glimpses of the capital’s major landmarks (often caught before or after scenes at the Changoo). These monuments dwarf the main characters, reminding them of their insignificance in the bustling metropolis. But it is the entrance of La Maquina Loca that sticks in the mind, with Violeta traversing a smoky, factory-dotted industrial landscape, with trains thundering across, before entering the club’s welcoming confines. Both versions of the city are imposing, but one arrives in hell and the other at a haven: the community of one is formed around state-led iconography, whereas the other is generated organically through people seeking respite from hard work. Again, these symbolic pairs are simple on paper, but they’re given an earthiness in Fernández’s hands, and elaborated on in the nightclubs themselves.

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Soundtracks of Television: ‘Griselda’

The nightclub is a stock location in crime cinema — a place where the sleazy, the glamorous and the greedy get to mix together and let their hair down. In Victims of Sin , it’s the centerpiece of a bustling world at the margins of official society, where rules are broken but tolerated. Fernández’s 1951 film is a wonderful, noirish study of what it means to move through its central locations.

Fedor Tot ( @redrightman ) is a Yugoslav-born, Wales-raised freelance film critic and editor, specializing in the cinema of the ex-Yugoslav region. Beyond that, he also has an interest in film history, particularly in the way film as a business affects and decides the function of film as an art.

Victims of Sin Essay: Related — Know the Cast: ‘Bandidos’

Categories: 1950s , 2024 Film Essays , Crime , Crime Scene by Fedor Tot , Drama , Featured , Film , Movies , Musical , Thriller

Tagged as: 1951 , 1951 Film , 1951 Movie , Crime Movie , Drama Movie , Emilio Fernández , Fedor Tot , Film Actors , Film Actresses , Film Critic , Film Criticism , Film Director , Film Essay , Film Explained , Film Journalism , Film Publication , Film Summary , Journalism , Movie Actors , Movie Actresses , Movie Critic , Movie Director , Movie Essay , Movie Explained , Movie Journalism , Movie Plot , Movie Publication , Movie Summary , Musical Movie , Ninón Sevilla , Rodolfo Acosta , Rotten Tomatoes , Streaming , Thriller Movie , Tito Junco , Víctimas del pecado , Victims of Sin

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10 Moments of Beauty at the Paris Olympics

The Summer Games are known for athletic excellence, but they provide plenty of aesthetic excellence along the way.

Léon Marchand and the rest of the Olympians at the Paris Games have put on a show — in more ways than one. Credit... James Hill for The New York Times

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By Sadiba Hasan

• Published Aug. 9, 2024 Updated Aug. 12, 2024

Some people watch the Olympics for the events. Others watch for the hot athletes.

This is nothing new. Going all the way back to the first century, the orator Dio Chrysostom praised the “beauty” of the boxer Melankomas, who competed in the ancient Greek athletic games .

That same feeling resonates in 2024. A number of participants in the Paris Summer Olympics have distinguished themselves for things beyond their athletic talent. In an extreme case, a pole-vaulter gained a great deal of attention — some might say notoriety — for failing in a unique way. Others caught the public’s attention through moments of love or kindness — a different but equally palpable form of beauty.

There are numerous options to choose from, but here are 10 moments of beauty at the games.

Swimmers and Their Abs

After Italy won bronze in the 4 × 100-meter freestyle relay on July 27, the Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon, 23, raised his arms in celebration. In doing so, he unintentionally bared his well-cut abs , which had many thirsting on the internet .

(Ceccon, who won gold in the 100-meter backstroke, was later found sleeping on the ground next to a bench in Olympic Village after he had complained about the conditions at the village.)

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