Hard Times

You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Learn more More Like This. Intertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's s London. Hard Times TV Series Edit Cast Complete series cast summary: Rachel 4 episodes, Bill Paterson Stephen Blackpool 4 episodes, Alan Bates Josiah Bounderby 4 episodes, Beatie Edney Louisa Gradgrind 4 episodes, Bob Peck Thomas Gradgrind 4 episodes, Emma Lewis James Harthouse 3 episodes, Christien Anholt Tom 2 episodes, Dilys Laye Sparsit 2 episodes, Damian Hunt Edit Storyline Thomas Gradgrind, a wealthy, retired merchant in the industrial city of Coketown, England, devotes his life to a philosophy of rationalism, self-interest, and fact.

Edit Did You Know? Trivia Left-handed C'hristien Anholt' who plays Tom, is seen writing with his right hand as Tom is right handed. Add the first question. Was this review helpful to you?

The song has received positive reviews, being compared to s new wave and to their previous singles " Still Into You " and " Ain't It Fun ". Lyrically, "Hard Times" is about the feeling of going through hard times, and being useless in achieving one's goals. Likewise, Tom Breihan of Stereogum described it as "stiff funkiness of prime '80s new wave". We're really proud of it. I feel like it really reflects exactly who we are right now in real time, and hopefully people will be into it. The song received positive reviews from music critics. Joe Coscarelli at The New York Times praised the song, stating that Hayley Williams "remains the focus, and her nimble melodies and sneakily huge pop hooks are as crisp and magnetic as ever, unbeholden to genre walls.

Will Richards of DIY praised the song, saying that the band "never had as much fun as they're having right now," further stating that the chorus "instantly sticks in your brain like bubblegum. Atilano opines that the song is "a very solid track and is something that long time Paramore fans will surely enjoy listening to over and over again," but criticizes its short length, and mentions that Williams' vocals could be louder in some areas.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. New wave pop rock synth-pop disco. Hayley Williams Taylor York. Justin Meldal-Johnsen Taylor York. Retrieved April 19, Retrieved April 21, Retrieved April 23, Retrieved April 24, Retrieved April 23, — via The Guardian. Dickens wished to educate readers about the working conditions of some of the factories in the industrial towns of Manchester , and Preston , to "strike the heaviest blow in my power", and as well to confront the assumption that prosperity runs parallel to morality.

This notion he systematically deconstructed in through his portrayal of the moral monsters, Mr.

Hard Times

Bounderby and James Harthouse. Dickens also believed in the importance of the imagination, and that people's lives should not be reduced to a collection of material facts and statistics. The description of the circus, which he describes as caring so "little for Plain Fact", is an example of this. The Utilitarians were one of the targets of Dickens' satire. Utilitarianism was a prevalent school of thought during this period, its founders being Jeremy Bentham and James Mill , father to political theorist John Stuart Mill.

Bentham's former secretary, Edwin Chadwick , helped design the Poor Law of , which deliberately made workhouse life as uncomfortable as possible.

In the novel, this attitude is conveyed in Bitzer's response to Gradgrind's appeal for compassion. Dickens was appalled by what he saw as a selfish philosophy, which was combined with materialist laissez-faire capitalism in the education of some children at the time, as well as in industrial practices. In Dickens's interpretation, the prevalence of utilitarian values in educational institutions promoted contempt between mill owners and workers, creating young adults whose imaginations had been neglected, due to an over-emphasis on facts at the expense of more imaginative pursuits.

Dickens wished to satirise radical Utilitarians whom he described in a letter to Charles Knight as "see[ing] figures and averages, and nothing else.

Hard Times () - IMDb

Dickens had visited factories in Manchester as early as , and was appalled by the environment in which workers toiled. Drawing upon his own childhood experiences, Dickens resolved to "strike the heaviest blow in my power" for those who laboured in horrific conditions. John Stuart Mill had a similar, rigorous education to that of Louisa Gradgrind, consisting of analytical, logical, mathematical, and statistical exercises.

In his twenties, Mill had a nervous breakdown, believing his capacity for emotion had been enervated by his father's stringent emphasis on analysis and mathematics in his education. In the book, Louisa herself follows a parallel course, being unable to express herself and falling into a temporary depression as a result of her dry education.

The bastion of fact is the eminently practical Mr.

Gradgrind, and his model school, which teaches nothing but " Facts ". Any imaginative or aesthetic subjects are absent from the curriculum, and analysis, deduction and mathematics are emphasised. Fancy, the opposite of Fact, is epitomised by Sleary's circus.

Sleary is reckoned a fool by Gradgrind and Bounderby, but it is Sleary who understands that people must be amused. Sissy, the circus performer's daughter, does badly at school, failing to remember the many facts she is taught, but is genuinely virtuous and fulfilled. Gradgrind's own son Tom revolts against his upbringing, and becomes a gambler and a thief, while Louisa becomes emotionally stunted, virtually soulless both as a young child and as an unhappily married woman.

Bitzer, who adheres to Gradgrind's teachings, becomes an uncompassionate egotist. Bounderby spends his whole time fabricating stories about his childhood, covering up the real nature of his upbringing, which is revealed at the end of the novel. While not a snooper himself, he is undone by Sparsit unwittingly revealing the mysterious old woman to be his own mother, and she unravels Josiah's secrets about his upbringing and fictitious stories. Bounderby himself superintends through calculating tabular statements and statistics, and is always secretly rebuking the people of Coketown for indulging in conceitful activities.

This gives Bounderby a sense of superiority, as it does with Mrs. Sparsit, who prides herself on her salacious knowledge gained from spying on others.

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Bounderby's grasp for superiority is seen in Blackpool's talks to Bounderby regarding divorce proceedings and a union movement at his factory, accusing him that he is on a quest 'to feast on turtle soup and venison, served with a golden spoon. Dickens portrays the wealthy in this novel as being morally corrupt. Bounderby has no moral scruples, and, for example, fires Blackpool "for a novelty". He also conducts himself without any shred of decency, frequently losing his temper.

He is cynically false about his childhood. Harthouse, a leisured gent, is compared to an "iceberg" who will cause a wreck unwittingly, due to him being "not a moral sort of fellow", as he states himself.

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Stephen Blackpool, a destitute worker, is equipped with perfect morals, always abiding by his promises, and always thoughtful and considerate of others, as is Sissy Jupe. Dickens is also concerned, throughout Hard Times , with the effects of social class on the morality of individuals. Some contrasting characters relating to this theme are Stephen and Rachel, and Tom and Mr.

Hard Times (Paramore song)

Stephen's honesty and Rachel's caring actions are qualities not shown in people from higher classes, but among hard working individuals who are browbeaten by the uncaring factory owners such as Bounderby. These qualities appear repeatedly, as Stephen works hard every day, until he decides to leave town to save the names of his fellow workers, and Rachel supports Stephen through this, while struggling to provide for herself as well. In contrast to these behaviours, Mr. Bounderby refuses to recognise the difficulties faced by those in lower classes, as seen by him completely casting aside Stephen's request for help.

Other aristocratic characters simply carry out blatantly immoral actions, such as Tom throwing away his sister's money, falling into debt, then robbing a bank, and even framing someone else for his actions.

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Tom is also seen to be deceitful as he is able to keep his guilt hidden until the evidence points only toward him. On the contrary, when the news comes out that Stephen had robbed the bank, Stephen begins to head back to Coketown to face his problems and clear his name. Overall, the stark difference in morality between characters of dissimilar social status suggests Dickens' idea that there is a form of innate natural law that may remain unhampered in those leading less titled lives.

Stephen's concept of right and wrong is untainted by the manufactured values of utilitarianism, instilled into Tom and Bounderby. Critics have had diverse opinions on the novel. John Ruskin declared Hard Times to be his favourite Dickens work due to its exploration of important social questions.

However, Thomas Macaulay branded it "sullen socialism", on the grounds that Dickens did not fully comprehend the politics of the time. George Bernard Shaw argued Hard Times to be a novel of "passionate revolt against the whole industrial order of the modern world. Others find Dickens worth reading almost for the first time. Leavis , in The Great Tradition , described the book as essentially a moral fable, and that 'of all Dickens' works it is the one that has all the strengths of his genius — that of a completely serious work of art'.

Walter Allen characterised Hard Times as being an unsurpassed "critique of industrial society", which was later superseded by works of D. Other writers have described the novel as being, as G. Chesterton commented in his work Appreciations and Criticisms , "the harshest of his stories"; whereas George Orwell praised the novel and Dickens himself for "generous anger". The novel was adapted as a silent film, Hard Times , directed by Thomas Bentley.

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