Romancing the Stone essays

Romancing the Stone essays In "Romancing the Stone," heroine Joan Wilder is a successful romance novelist, secure in her career but not in herself. She is very attractive, but plays down her looks by not dressing well at times. Her career dominates her life, and she has become well known around the world for her books. She develops a relationship with Jack Colton when she travels to South America to help her sister, which is very unlike her. It is clear she is becoming attracted to Jack, but they are completely opposite, and they seem to have too many differences to ever really get together. Jack makes her look and feel beautiful, and as their relationship begins to develop, she just seems to glow. She is very modest, even shy at times. However, she shows that when family is at stake, she can be extremely independent and resourceful. She is extremely sensitive, which makes sense since she is a writer, and she has a good sense of humor when she is comfortable with the people around her. She is not a "typical" romantic heroine in many ways, because she is a recluse at the beginning of the novel, and she does not meet the hero through her work. Again, her work is not typical of a romantic heroine either. However, most of her character fits with the heroine ideal, such as not taking her attractiveness for granted and being extremely vulnerable. As she blossoms under Jack's love, she becomes more typical and more appealing. Sex in the story is presented tenderly and with love and respect. The couple is drawn to each other and have survived many difficulties, so it seems natural when the sex scene occurs. In fact, the sex is implied, which makes it all the more romantic and appropriate to the film. Joan does not give herself lightly, so it is clear she really cares about Jack. This is important for the romantic quality of the film and to keep the heroine "pure" and good throughout the story. She only sleeps with Jack, and it is because of true lo...

Overview of Thylacosmilus

Overview of Thylacosmilus Name: Thylacosmilus (Greek for pouched sabre); pronounced THIGH-lah-coe-SMILE-us Habitat: Woodlands of South America Historical Epoch: Miocene-Pliocene (10 million to 2 million years ago) Size and Weight: About six feet long and 500 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Short legs; large, pointed canines About Thylacosmilus The saber-toothed mammal plan has been favored by evolution more than once: Killer fangs didnt develop only in the large placental mammals of the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, but in prehistoric marsupials as well. Exhibit A is the South American Thylacosmilus, the huge canines of which apparently kept growing throughout its life and were kept tucked in pouches of skin on its lower jaw. Like modern kangaroos, Thylacosmilus raised its young in pouches, and its parental skills may have been more developed than those of its saber-toothed relatives to the north. This genus went extinct when South America was colonized by the true mammalian saber-toothed cats, exemplified by Smilodon, starting about two million years ago. (A recent study has found that Thylacosmilus possessed an embarrassingly weak bite for its size, chomping down on its prey with the force of an average house cat!) By this point, you may be wondering: how is it that the marsupial Thylacosmilus lived in South America rather than Australia, where the vast majority of all modern marsupials reside? The fact is, marsupials evolved tens of millions of years ago in Asia (one of the earliest known genera being Sinodelphys), and spread to various continents, including South America, before making Australia their favored habitat. In fact, Australia had its own version of a large, catlike carnivore, the similar-sounding Thylacoleo, which was only distantly related to the line of pseudo-saber-toothed cats occupied by Thylacosmilus.