Il Postino: The Postman and Slam

The themes in the movies Il Postino: The Postman and Slam are being compared with each other because they show a different dimension to modern-day poetry, in that they show how poetry alienates the authors form the rest of the society. Through the analysis of both films, one will be able to realsie that the main characters are discouraged from achieving their goals. Therefore, the similarity between the themes in the two films prompts the viewer to regard the final role of Joshua as a temporal end that Ruoppolo failed to attain. In the two films, imagination estranges the starring actors in a manner that arouses hostility and indifference among other characters, in the situations where friendliness, affection, and love had thrived. The starring characters in the two films are gifted poets who, upon the discovery of their talents, proceed with the fine-tuning of their personality even in the face of the apparent hostility from the community.

The Comparison

The communities that are being focused in both of these two movies are closely alike in all perceptive of life, and it is interesting to note that objection to the encroachment of the poetic culture is marked with near resemblance. The starring characters are daring (Hefin 80). They do not hesitate to try out the new ways of life. Their strong desire motivates them to ignore the hostile dispositions of other people, and they eventually manage to attain success by reaching their desired goals.

Both themes indicate that the starring characters meet their mentors by chance. This indicates on the randomness of life as well as fate. The meetings appear to occur by chance, yet they were predestined by fate, and the ultimate agency has actually predetermined the path of events. Il Postino: The Postman’s Mario Ruoppolo and Slam’s Raymond Joshua belong to different generations, with Ruoppolo having lived more than Joshua (Hefin 72). The aforementioned fact proves that psychological factors which motivate people to attain their desired goals have uninterrupted connection to the psychological mind of individuals. This union exists, and it is the one that gives the direction as well as the purpose for a particular behavior. The beauty of the two movies is how they reflect the leisurely life of the characters in the movies.

The starring characters in the two films are leisurely. Even with their unhurried attitude, they manage to make friends without any problems. They also identify the appropriate connections, and those that would aid in advancing their intended goals. Ruoppolo denotes an opportunity to improve his communication while working as a postman. He stops at nothing, and this is apparent in the sense that he lies to the postmaster and tells him that he is a communist in order to retain his job. He is prompted to lie as he considers his connection with Pablo Neruda as one that is too important to lose.  It is quite interesting to see how Joshua plays his role comfortably.

Joshua and Ruoppolo have a sense of susceptibility. This is what makes the characters similar: a fact that leads the two themes closer to each other. However, they appear to have a difference in their characters. For example, while Joshua realizes that he is a talented poet, Ruoppolo is incognizant of his potential in poetry (Cain 47-49). Joshua wishes to utilize his alacrity in poetry in composing rap music. As such, his destiny appears to be predetermined, while that of Ruoppolo is apparently unplanned. Ruoppolo appears to have landed in poetry without any forethought, and his need to master is actually, motivated by the need to win Beatrice Russo.

The aforementioned divergence in the themes is not a clear-cut contrast since Ruoppolo appears to have a concealed talent in poetry. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that despite being a shy man, his progress in poetry would have been obstructed by the societal remonstrance. To his advantage, fate connected him with Neruda at the right time. The connection was a supporting role since Neruda assisted him in taking the initial steps and progress to acuteness (Hefin 71). He manages to attain a sensitivity that enables him to be keen to Neruda’s assistance, and the penetrating intelligence facilitates the retention of the poetic knowledge long after Neruda had left. The process of establishing the main theme of both of these movies is quite interesting and challenging.

In the two films, the theme of love comes forth. As it has already been stated, Ruoppolo finds Russo, a beautiful local girl, as he goes about his business. His desire to win her over enables him to overcome her aunt’s strong disapproval of their love. The basis of the disapproval is the fact that Ruoppolo recites sensual poetry to Russo (Cain 65). Her aunt considers the poems to be indecent and disrespectful. Her hope is that Russo waits for a man who would meet the expectations of the society since Ruoppolo’s idea of love is alien.

As in the case with Ruoppolo, Joshua falls in love with Lauren Bell. Bell consents to Joshua’s approaches, and it seems that the two are ready to live together. The will to share a future compels Bell to ask Joshua to expedite the settling. She feels that Joshua’s antagonism would simply serve to keep them apart for an extended period of time (Hefin 75). Even though Joshua fails to agree with Bell’s idea of solving his challenges, they are not set apart by their diverged opinions.

The main theme of love is carried out throughout both of the films.The two themes drive both movies into emotional endings. It is as if one of the films is meant to be a different version or edition of the other. Il Postino: The Postman ends with Ruoppolo and his mentor, Neruda, attempting to reconnect. Ruoppolo valued the assistance that Neruda offered, and the closeness remained to the end. Ruoppolo died while finding poetry futile . Actually, he found it necessary to disseminate the knowledge (Hefin 75). His chosen means of dissemination appear to be similar to that chosen by Bell, Joshua’s mentor. It is as if Joshua was a reincarnation of Ruoppolo in the sense that he was meant to achieve what Ruoppolo attempted to achieve before he died. Joshua manages to publicly disseminate the poetic knowledge, and the audience keeps on demanding for more recitation. Having achieved that, he simply decides to take another direction.

Conclusion

Evidently, the themes in the films Il Postino: The Postman and Slam can be compared in a number of ways. Firstly, the two communities object to the encroachment of the poetic culture. The main characters are, therefore, troubled by the opposition to their adventures. Nevertheless, this does not deter them from achieving their ultimate goals. The two starring characters also allow fate to take its course. Their unhurried attitude to life is identical. In both films, love prevails. Even though finding love had not served as the principle motivator to Joshua’s interest for poetry, the themes in both movies converge as each one of them comes to a close. As the films end, the emotions run high. Finally, themain theme of loveindicates that both starring characters appreciate the assistance of their mentors: a fact that causes them to establish strong connections with them. It is also noteworthy that Joshua manages to achieve the goal that Ruoppolo had: the goal of addressing the cloud while using poetry undertones.