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WINTER PARK HIGH SCHOOL'S INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Knives Out (2019): A Modern-Day Mystery
By Bonny Matejowsky & Isaac Valencia
Knives Out, directed by Rian Johnson, was an astounding success, receiving a rotten tomatoes score of 97% and an audience score of 92%. The movie starred well-known actors such as Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, and Jamie Lee Curtis. It was no surprise that Knives Out got nominated for three Golden Globes, including Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for Ana de Armas’s role.
The movie chronicles an upper-class family as they attempt to deal with their father’s suspected suicide. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a well-known detective, is hired to investigate this suspicious death, with each family member as a suspect. When Benoit arrives, he is fast to make acquaintances with the father’s nurse (Ana de Armas), together they begin to realize the suicide was not all that it seemed. Consisting of drama, mystery, and lots of suspense, the plot is captivating and intriguing.
To those familiar with Rian Johnson’s directorial work, the whodunit mystery is not the only recurring trait found within this film. Knives Out relies on subverting the audience's expectations, whether it be expectations of a character, the plot, or even the type of camerawork. In his last addition to the Star Wars Franchise, The Last Jedi (2017), Johnson attempted the use of subversion but received heavy backlash from critics and the Star Wars fanbase. In an interview with USA Today, Johnson explained that “Any huge project or experience is like a personal growth machine. You get a little more confident, you get a little less confident in some ways, you learn stuff, you realize that the stuff that you had learned before is wrong."
Not only did Johnson learn from the mistakes of his last film, but he even took inspiration from his harshest Internet critics. The character of Jacob Thrombley, who plays a teenage Internet troll, was inspired by the hate he faced from the Star Wars fandom. When discussing online toxicity, Johnson says it is “a bigger cultural thing that's happening everywhere with everything.”
It is safe to say that these lessons paid off, with Knives Out earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay in 2019, as well as a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score. In conclusion, Knives Out is a film that successfully modernizes a classic genre, pioneering a new age of movie mysteries.
Book Review: Cajas de Cartón
By Christian Arnold
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Cajas de Cartón by Francisco Jiménez is the autobiographical story of a family
leaving Mexico for California in the 1940s searching for better wages and living
conditions. Jiménez, who migrated at the age of four, recalls all the joys,
hardships, surprises, and disappointments that dominate the lives of immigrant
families. With every piece of comfort Francisco encountered came a new struggle
for him to overcome. The reader follows Francisco from ages four to fourteen
as he overcomes these challenges and attempts to learn his place in an often
hostile world.
Francisco´s environment is best uncovered as he begins his schooling. As the
only Spanish Speaker in an American school, Francisco is quite isolated from the
other students. He spends the year watching the development of caterpillars into
butterflies. On a cold day, the teacher gives him a jacket from a cardboard box.
Later, a student sees Francisco´s loaned jacket. The student starts to punch Francisco and remove the jacket, and onlooking pupils cheer for his attacker. Francisco learned that the box was a lost-and-found; the attacker lost the jacket. This moment truly exemplifies Francisco´s life in California. As a helpful person provided for him, there was a new obstacle to set him back to square one; yet, just as a caterpillar sheds its restrictive cocoon, Francisco one day escapes his harsh reality and starts to find comfort in his new home.
To read this book without considering its present day implications would be greatly short-sighted. Because we live in a country with thousands of migrant children in a state of limbo at the Mexico-US border, it is our responsibility to understand the immigrant perspective. Francisco´s account is captivating, but we must not forget that his challenges are one of too many more.
Ologies: It's Greek To Me
By Lesley Roberts
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I remember in my 7th grade language arts class, we had to pick out greek and latin roots from within longer, complex-er words. Yes, I know that’s not a word but right now, we are rolling with it. Even Mr. Molitor’s 9th Grade Pre-IB English Class does a similar activity using root words. For example, mar- meaning sealike, bell- meaning violent and warlike, -oid meaning in a manner or resembling, and of course -ology meaning study of.
In the season of IAs, mock exams, and college applications for current Juniors, my bet is that no one is too thrilled to be reminded about studying. JSTOR articles are piling up and for many of us, summer seems like a tele-distance away, myself included (tele means far, by the way). But don’t let the need to research and learn for a school activity take away from the opportunities you have to study outside of school. In an effort to foster your inquisitive spirit, like the IB learner profile asks us to do, my podcast recommendation falls in line with our greek suffixes.
Ologies by Alie Ward is an interesting, honest, and surprising look at the most obscure branches of study you can think of. From Alligator Ecotoxicology, the study of Gator Poison, to Cosmology, the study of the universe, Alie presents an hour-long episode every week on a topic that interests practically anyone. With a guest expert, Ward hosts a mature, fun, and educational lesson on subjects that we often don’t think about that can be incredibly impactful.
So far, my favorite episode has been Thanatology. It’s the study of death and dying. While the topic seems pretty grim and far too existencial to listen to for fun, I emerged from the episode motivated to take more risks and live in the moment. Ward took a normally grim topic, with the help of an eccentric guest with two certifications in the study, and made it into an open conversation that left me wanting to learn more. While each episode is different, one thing remains the same: if you are interested in a podcast that informs, entertains, and encourages you to take risks, Ologies is worth listening to.
