Queen Vashti (Hebrew: ושתי, Persian: وَشتی , Koine Greek: Αστιν, Astin) is the first wife of King Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, a book included in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and read on the Jewish holiday of Purim. She is banished for her refusal to appear at the king's banquet, and Esther is chosen to succeed her as queen. In the Midrash, Vashti is described as wicked and vain. She is viewed as an independent-minded heroine in feminist interpretations of the Purim story.
In the Book of Esther, Vashti is the wife of King Ahasuerus. While the king holds a magnificent banquet for his princes, nobles and servants, she holds a separate banquet for the women. On the seventh day of the banquet, when the king's heart was "merry with wine," the king orders his seven chamberlains to summon Vashti to come before him and his guests wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty. Vashti refuses to come, and the king becomes angry. He asks his advisers how Vashti should be punished for her disobedience. His adviser Memucan tells him that Vashti has wronged not only the king, but also all of the husbands of Persia, whose wives may be encouraged by Vashti's actions to disobey. Memucan encourages Ahasuerus to dismiss Vashti and find another queen. Ahasuerus takes Memucan's advice, and sends letters to all of the provinces that men should dominate in their households. Ahasuerus subsequently chooses Esther as his queen to replace Vashti.
Plot
Two people live in a dark technological utopia/dystopia - "the Machine". Kuno and Vashti, have differing opinions about the world which they live in and their interaction and conflict as their society comes to a sudden collapse. The story raises themes of man's role in the midst of a technology-dependent built environment that are seemingly more relevant today than when the original short story was published in 1909.
Keywords: cell, fear, homelessness, interaction, internet, isolation, machine, mechanical, mother, paranoia
Plot
When her father is hanged for shooting his wife and her lover, half-breed Pearl Chavez goes to live with distant relatives in Texas. Welcomed by Laura Belle and her elder lawyer son Jesse, she meets with hostility from the ranch-owner himself, wheelchair-bound Senator Jackson McCanles, and with lustful interest from womanising, unruly younger son Lewt. Almost at once, already existing family tensions are exacerbated by her presence and the way she is physically drawn to Lewt.
Keywords: 1860s, 1880s, adultery, bar-shootout, barbecue, barbed-wire, bareback-riding, based-on-novel, biracial, blockbuster
Emotions . . . As Violent As The Wind-Swept Prairie !
FURIOUS, UNFORGETTABLE LOVE! (original print media ad - all caps)
The Sinkiller: Under that heathen blanket, there's a full-blossomed woman built by the devil to drive men crazy.
The Sinkiller: I don't really know much about Sam Pierce, oh Lord, but from what I hear, he'd be needing no introduction to you. Seeing how Sam was snatched from his loved ones' arms before they even had time to get a good grip on hm, I'm counting on you to give him a better break up yonder.
Lewt McCanles: You double-crossin' bobcat.
Pearl Chavez: Trash, trash, trash, trash, trash...
Pearl Chavez: Oh Vashti, why are you so slow?::Vashti: I don't rightly know, Miss Pearl, except I always have so much to remember.
Narrator: And this is what the legend says - a flower, known nowhere else, grows from out of the desperate crags where Pearl vanished. Pearl - who was herself a wild flower sprung from the hard clay, quick to blossom and early to die.
Sen. Jackson McCanles: I once fought for that flag; I'll not fire on it.
Sen. Jackson McCanles: So that's where you stand!::Jesse McCanles: I think I'd rather be on the side of the victims than of the murderers.
Lem Smoot: There's a funny glow in the sky tonight, ain't there? I remember once hearing one of them injun legends about how their ancestors lit bonfires in the sky when the chief's son was dying.
Lewt McCanles: I'm riding back to that hitching post and then turning and starting to shoot.::Jesse McCanles: It's more than you did for Sam Pierce! Why all the consideration?::Lewt McCanles: I just don't want them fancy friends of yours to say you had a brother who shot you down in cold blood.