Abstract This paper looks at how the 1920s was a huge decade for "jazz" and how due to the closing of the seaport in New Orleans, musicians were forced to travel up the Mississippi to find work. It also discusses the four major types of jazz: boogie-woogie, Chicago jazz, urban blues, and society dance bands and explains the difference between jazz chords and blues chords.
From the Paper "To clarify the chord structure between Jazz chords and blues chords, you must first understand that a chord is built on the first, third, and the fifth with an added seventh. A blues song is always centered on three chords, the first chord, the fourth chord, and the fifth chord example, in the key of C the one chord is CEG based on the C scale. The fourth chord is FAC based on the F scale. The five chord is GBD based on the G scale with the added seventh making the chord GBDF. Blues is much more simple because a blues song consist of only three chords. "
Abstract This paper attempts to understand why some Maori choose a life of violence, like Jake, or crime, like Boogie, Jake's youngest son in "Once Were Warriors" and in doing so, contends that individuals in search of a social identity that are denied both traditional and mainstream constructions will go in search of other means of self-definition. The paper also looks at how Jake's experience illustrates how social labeling becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy for the labeled individual.
From the Paper "Beth, Boogie's mother, also attempts to redefine her Maori identity in a more positive fashion. Rather than accept a subordinate position in male-dominated Maori society or white society, she attempts to reconstruct a new form of female Maori identity that is not reliant upon violent, militant, masculine norms. This offers one example of how a parallel program for female offenders at a juvenile center might function differently. Such a program might strive to build ethnic pride, and encourage discipline and restraint but it might also encourage resistance to boyfriends, husbands, and fathers. It would encourage women to resist the individuals in their lives who demand that women put their own needs to the side in service of masculine ideals and even masculine Maori ideals. "
Examination of how pop music can be used in a film score to drive the narrative and create meaning by use of ironic counterpoint or dramatic forshadowing.
Abstract Popular music, as demonstrated in the movie "Boogie Nights", can be utilised to generate added meaning for the narrative. Time and place contexts are established and asserted, and connotations brought forth by lyrics inform the narrative, working with the onscreen action to generate new meanings and character motivations. This paper discusses how "Boogie Nights" has a tight synthesis with its music and the way it is arranged and the particular pieces which are chosen, reflect the central themes of change and accepting who you are and what you have to offer, as well as performing a metaphoric or comical purpose. It shows how this effectively demonstrates how popular music, in the (near) absence of a classical score can interact with the film text in a meaningful way.
From the Paper "The popular song score operates in a different way from the classical film score, with seemingly more specific purposes based on its lyrical content. Popular Music utilises cultural contexts and linguistic content to create meaning. Coupled with an image the popular song's lyrics can be used as pun, ironic counterpoint or provide commentary or insight into character thought and motivation. The music of Boogie Nights works to fulfil the above functions, denoting, as only popular music could, the trends and transitions of music and fashion over several years, as well as articulating the thematic concerns of the film and acting as guide through the unfamiliar world."
Abstract This paper studies Langston Hughes and his many contributions to society. It includes excerpts and an analysis of his poems "The Negro Artist", "Racial Mountain" and "In Dream Boogie". It examines his philosophy on African-Americans living in the 20th century. It details his life and the progress he has made for African-Americans.
From the Paper "Langston Hughes felt that African Americans should be able to live in freedom in the 20th Century. He saw African Americans as a vibrant race, full of live, compassion, and love. He didn"t approve of complacent people. Because Hughes was at the center of the Harlem Renaissance, he naturally felt that African Americans should speak up and demand what they want. He felt that African Americans should be proud of their heritage"they shouldn"t try to be something that they are not. They shouldn"t try to fit into the white culture. More specifically, they should embrace their heritage and love themselves as described in the following:
And so the word white comes to be unconsciously a symbol of all the virtues. It holds for the children beauty, morality, and money. The whisper of "I want to be white" runs silently through their minds. This young poet's home is, I believe, a fairly typical home of the colored middle class. One sees immediately how difficult it would be for an artist born in such a home to interest himself in interpreting the beauty of his own people. He is never taught to see that beauty. He is taught rather not to see it, or if he does, to be ashamed of it when it is not according to Caucasian patterns (Hughes)."
Abstract This is a comparison/contrast essay discussing several works from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Two representational works are analyzed - Gustav Klimt's "Hope II" and Pablo Picasso's "Girl Before a Mirror". Two abstract works compared and contrasted are Jackson Pollock's "Full Fathom Five" and Mondrain's "Broadway Boogie-Woogie". Finally, two sculptural works are compared and contrasted - Rodin's "Monument to Balzac" and Boccioni's "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space". A thorough discussion of applicable artistic elements is offered in the paper.
From the Paper "In observation of Picasso's Girl Before a Mirror (Marie-Th?r"se Walter) one is struck by an obvious statement being made. The theme of his painting is reflection and seeing beyond what is on the surface. The lines of the bodies are flowing and erotic. The background is geometric and regular except for the startling bright colors. The woman is defined by her sexual components which are exaggerated in bulbous breasts and enlarged wombs. The style is cubism expanded with elements of surrealism infused with color that seems meant to surprise and shock. The use of the reflected image encourages thoughts of how form can change and calls forth questions regarding what constitutes beauty. Depicting female form constructed from circles and lines is in accord with the aims of analytic cubism which stressed the breaking down and analysis of form. The overall effect is more sensual than serious. Questions of inner beauty versus outer beauty may be suggested. The curving lines, bright colors, and rounded erotic shapes suggest harmony and pleasure, reflecting Picasso's delight with his newest love, Marie Th"r?se Walter."
Abstract This paper considers the many influences on the career of Piet Mondrian, in particular theosophy, cubism, the Dutch tradition, Vincent van Gogh, neo-plasticism and his eventual move to New York.
From the Paper "Founded on an unprecedented concern with structure, unity and subtle geometry, Piet Mondrian's landscapes reveal the origins of what was to become the major preoccupation throughout his career ? universal beauty, and its abstract representation. It was a journey that would culminate in his remarkable last work Victory Boogie-Woogie, and a process which saw him grapple with Naturalistic Realism, Cubism, Symbolism (briefly) and finally Neo-Plasticism, also called the International Style, a movement he was to make his own. Mondrian's art is fascinating for the very reason it is also so hard to understand ? it was a completely new way of perceiving the relationship between the external world, inner feeling and the surface of the canvas. His abstraction was not just a move away from figurative, representational art, but a step towards transcendental purity."
Abstract This paper explains that, with the closing of the Storyville seaports in New Orleans and increased discrimination in the south, numerous musicians began to venture to Chicago and New York with hopes of finding prosperity in their field of business--jazz. The author points out that, in Chicago, the four main styles of jazz were Boogie Woogie, Chicago Jazz, Society Jazz and Urban Blues and the major innovators were Bix Beiderbecke and Benny Goodman. The paper relates that, in New York's Harlem area, which did more for the Jazz age then any other town in the world, jazz flourished in the different styles of bands from big band to spasm bands and in innovators such as Paul Whiteman, James Reese Europe and Fletcher Henderson, which resulted in the Harlem Renaissance that opened the eyes and the mouths of African-American public.
From the Paper "Bandleader Paul Whiteman was another major New York Jazz figure of the era. He was especially famous for introducing jazz into the mainstream audience of the decade. Not only was he a great performer of the day, be he also gave back to the jazz community as an avid listener and audience member himself. For instance, Duke Willington stated, "no one could fault Whiteman for his generosity of spirit." In 1924, after finishing his evening at New York's Palais Royal, he would stop by around the corner at the Kentucky Club to soak up the sounds of Duke Ellington and his Club Serenaders."
Abstract This paper analyzes the films of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. It explores common themes in his films, "Hard Eight," "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia" and "Punch-Drunk Love." It discusses Anderson's cinematic techniques bold camera work and superior scripts. The paper also includes biographical information on Anderson.
From the Paper "With only four feature films to his credit, Paul Thomas Anderson has established himself as one of Hollywood's most gifted contemporary authors. As writer and director and sometimes producer of his movies Anderson not only maintains artistic control he brings ..."
Tags: Films, Movies, Anderson, Magnolia, Sandler, Writer, Director, Valley, Cruise
Abstract This paper is a critique of Tim Burton's fantastical animated musical, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." It discusses the film's themes, imagery and use of music. The paper expands on the visual qualities of the film.
From the Paper "This paper is a critique of Tim Burton's fantastical musical film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" released by Touchstone Pictures. This stop-motion animation disguises a quite conventional story about conformity and keeping to the status quo as a tale of ..."
