Abstract This paper looks at several of Woody Allen's most successful films and explains that the primary reason for their success was Allen's skillful use of satire and comedy. The films under discussion include "What's New Pussycat?," "Take the Money and Run," "Annie Hall," "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Everyone Says I Love You."
Abstract This paper analyzes the poem, "A Supermarket in California", written in 1955 by Allen Ginsberg. The author examines how the poem expresses the anxiety of this key period of change in Western history through Ginsberg's own unique form of socio-political criticism.
From the Paper "The decade of the 1950's was the beginning of a new era. Society was changing. The industrial revolution of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the two World Wars, and the threat of the Cold War had all pushed America to the forefront of change. Television brought ideas to the masses like never before. Progress was the ideal. "
Abstract This paper reviews David Allen's book on managing stress in the workplace, "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity". The paper discusses its practical applications and connections with stress management classes.
From the Paper "David Allen is a productivity trainer who has devised a course in time management for dealing with workplace stress .His book "Getting Things Done The Art of Stress-free Productivity" has the potential to completely transform the way work is completed among all levels of workers. He develops a strong thesis explaining basic principles in self-management and uses step-by-step processes to challenge his readers to apply these principles and test them out."
Tags: Stress, Workplace, Stress, management, David, Allen
Abstract This paper explains that people think of Woody Allen's roles in his movies as a true extension of himself---a 5'6", 120 pound New York City "nebbish", a Jewish term that is softer than "loser" but refers to someone insignificant. It describes Woody Allen as a cult before his time. The author groups Allen's films into categories such as "City Stories" like "Manhattan" and "Annie Hall", the "Reaching for Effect" films (usually financial disappointments) like "Shadows and Fog" and "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy", the "Satires" like "Bananas"and "What's Up, Tiger Lily", the highly persona films like "Manhattan Murder Mystery" and "Stardust Ballroom" and the truly weird unclassifiable movies like "Purple Rose of Cairo" and especially "Zelig". The paper relates that, throughout his films, Allen's leitmotif are insecurity in the midst of plenty, unhappiness within joy, indecisiveness in a time of clear direction and estrangement without really undoing the knot that bind lovers, husbands and wives, or good friends together.
From the Paper "The more introspective Allen becomes, whether in the few interviews he gives (often to foreign film buffs, rather than American sycophants), the more one sees that he is serious about comedy, and comedic about serious subjects. It seems easy for someone as both clever and creative (again, the two do not always mesh) to laugh at anything funny. But, Allen is one of those who differentiates between something comedic and something comic: the first is like falling on a banana peel, while the truly comic is seeing someone about to step on that peel. So, Allen is not a slapstick-oriented writer or director."
Abstract This paper discusses Woody Allen's ambivalence toward his Jewish identity and toward love as portrayed in "Annie Hall". The author points out that, to Allen, Judaism is more a secular ethnic identity than religious. The paper explores Allen and his characters as neurotic protagonists that employ humor as both a defense mechanism and a communication device.
From the Paper "Alvy's humor both exacerbates and assuages his sense of misplacement. Alvy's brand of humor is distinctly Jewish: Full of cultural references and self-deprecation. It also hints at the discomfort of being Jewish that is rarely expressed explicitly in Allen movies. Alvy tells Rob, "The failure of the country to get behind New York City is anti-Semitism. I"m not discussing politics or economics this is foreskin.? Humor here serves as a buffer against anti-Semitism and parallels Alvy's ambivalence towards his ethnic minority. His sarcasm embodies the tension and duality of being pulled in two directions."
Abstract This paper explains that his humor and his trenchant insight into the very machinations that make us human enables Allen to portray vivid characters that, in merely a few brief scenes, spring to life. The author points out that, because of this deft and subtle manipulation of his characters, Woody Allen is able to get down all of the elements of family life so powerfully and correctly with an almost shocking reality. The paper relates that, in "Mighty Aphrodite", Allen's family is a constructed one rather than a "real" one, where the fabrication of a family through adoption plays with the idea of the movie itself as a fabrication, emphasized by including a Greek chorus.
From the Paper "Woody Allen's movie "Radio Days", made roughly a year before "Hannah and Her Sisters", is a much lighter film that is essentially free of the gravitas and existential concerns that plague the characters of many of his other movies. As such it is a sort of light comedy, a nostalgia pieces that harkens back to the early days of radio and attempts to convey some of the excitement and amusement that came with radio as a popular medium. Indeed, it also speaks to an interesting, intriguing, and short-lived era, in which people listened to radio as a group, but television had yet to appear as the dominant form. The characters in "Radio Days" are all moved by an essential passion or concern, in this case, the radio.
Abstract This paper presents a biography of Richard Allen, African-American minister and agitator against colonialism. The paper examines Allen's background in a historical context. The paper contends that Allen's life and struggles provide contemporary historians of African-American history with one of the earliest narratives and examples of how Blacks resisted the institutions of American and world slavery, colonialism and oppression.
From the Paper "Richard Allen was born a slave on February 14, 1760, in Philadelphia. The young Allen grew up on a plantation in Delaware. From the very beginning of Allen's life, he strove to buy his freedom. Allen eventually succeeded in doing so as an adult. He moved to Philadelphia, one of the most tolerant of American cities at the time towards African Americans, in 1786. Allen helped form the Free African Society, a service group for blacks, in 1787. (Toppin, 2004)"
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that jazz combined elements of blues with the swept up emotional roller coaster of a post depression country whose hard luck was translated by such artists as Coleman Hawkins, Buster Bailey, Kid Ory, Pee Wee Russell, and Henry 'Red' Allen. The writer discusses that defined by the wide range of notes, the call and response of musicians on stage and the presto tempo, Allen found his niche in music. The writer notes that although he began as a swing artist it is with jazz that he is most notably remembered. The writer concludes that while similar to Louis Armstrong in the beginning stages of his career, Allen quickly made a name for himself with his breaks and his incorporation of axe, or using only his voice or his trumpet to introduce a song.
A copy of the reference used is attached to this paper.
From the Paper "Jazz is defined in its early stages by this presto tempo and the call and response of the singer or musician to the rest of the instrumental ensemble. In pitch and tone the musicians do not give up their pace but keep a steady sometimes harmonious sometimes dissonant rhythm especially among the horns in the middle of the song before the string comes into play. The instruments combine in this song to give a classical altered scale in turn giving the audience a slide with which to dance.
"The song Red Red Ride is pristine in its delivering of the axe. While at times some of the instruments share the stage to give a presto tempo and bombardment for the audience to get excited about it also delivers on allowing the stage to be taken over by one instrument, or sometimes only one musician's voice. This allows the audience to better identify with that instrument and what it is saying."
Abstract This paper discusses and analyzes Woody Allen's feelings of being Jewish in his films: "Hannah and her Sister," "Manhattan,"
"Deconstructing Harry," "Annie Hall" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." The author believes that Allen's films all contain allusions to his Jewishness, it is a part of who he is, and it comes out in his writing, in his acting and in his directing. The paper states that each film looks at religion and faith in a different light, and yet each film has commonalities.
From the Paper ""Crimes and Misdemeanors" may be Allen's most religiously based film even though all of his films are inherently Jewish. They simply cannot help themselves. In "Crimes," Judah (Allen) is renouncing his Jewish heritage, but he finds he simply cannot get away from it. Judah lives a prestigious but empty life in his huge mansion he shares with only his wife. He kills his mistress because he really cannot figure out any other way to be rid of her and is then riddled with typical Jewish guilt about his actions."
A review of the theme of darkness in the novels "The Fall of the House of Usher", and "The Pit and the Pendulum" and the poem "For Annie" by Edgar Allen Poe.
2,400 words (approx. 9.6 pages), 13 sources, 2002, $ 89.95
Abstract This paper explores two stories by Edgar Allen Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher", and "The Pit and the Pendulum". These stories are considered in relation to a poem Poe wrote called, "For Annie", a verse written for a friend of his, Annie Richmond. The theme of this paper is about "darkness," where darkness is a metaphor that imbues Poe's horror stories with themes of consciousness and experiences with terror. Because Poe was especially interested in the susceptibility of the imagination, this paper attempts to "imagine" Edgar Allen Poe in relation to varying metaphors of darkness that characterize the author's life and literature.
Abstract This paper provides an analysis and critique of four short stories in Woody Allen's book, "Side Effects": "The Lunatic's Tale", "The Shallowest Man", "Retribution", and "The Whore of Mensa". This paper also looks at the relationship between Allen's writing and his own life history.
From the Paper "Woody Allen does in fact relate his personal life to his writing. Most of his sexist and humorous language and his supernatural ideas are relatively consistent throughout his stories. Just how many people do you know would drug two women to give them brain transplants to get the perfect woman? How many would marry their ex-girlfriend's mother? How many would take part in a service in which girls sell intelligent conversations? Not anyone I know. Woody Allen's writing is like no other. Even though he frets over critics overanalyzing his stories, how could you not when his messages are so significant to understanding him."
Abstract This paper presents a critical review of "The Port Chicago Mutiny" by Robert L. Allen, a mutiny that took place in the ammunition depot of a shipyard in 1944. The paper examines Allen's methodology, thesis and the short- and long-term ramifications of the court martial.
From the Paper "The largest mutiny trial in the history of the United States took place because of events not on board a ship but at a shipyard. Fifty men were tried and convicted of mutiny based on their failure to ..."
Tags: Port chicago mutiny, robert allen, navy, desegregation, segregation
Abstract This paper explains that Allen Ginsberg, best-known for his radical poem "Howl" and for his outspoken views on American society, politics and the Vietnam War, was a very influential figure in the counterculture of the mid to late 1960s. The author points out that when it was first published, "Howl" reflected some of the most absurd and decadent traits of American culture, ignored by most people, such as the use of illegal drugs that was just beginning to spread in the urban cities. The paper relates that the contents of "Howl" disturbed many people, even those in San Francisco, a city known for its non-conformity and outlandish social life. The paper concludes that Allen Ginsberg gave impetus to great cultural changes in the way young people chose to live within a society that, for the most part, rejected and denied them.
From the Paper "Clearly, it was Lucien Carr who introduced Ginsberg to the cultural miasma of Greenwich Village in New York City, a place rampant with people from all walks of life. It was in this setting that Ginsberg's literary mind was set on fire and where he first experienced the thrill of being an intellectual steeped in an explosion of culturally-diverse phenomenon. Not long after meeting Carr, Ginsberg wrote to his brother and said, "I plan to go down to Greenwich Village with a friend of mine who claims to be an intellectual, and knows queer and interesting people. I plan to get drunk, if I can.""
Abstract The paper provides a biography of Allen Ginsberg and discusses his major poems, including "Howl!" "Kaddish" and "Reality Sandwiches". The paper looks at his political and social views and his allegiance to the Beat movement. The paper concludes that Allen Ginsberg has given the world a fine example of principled existence and art.
Outline:
Biography
Major Works
The Significance of the Author and his Work in Society and History
The Beat Movement
From the Paper "The poet Allen Ginsberg was born during 1926 in Newark, New Jersey to second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants. His father, Louis, was a teacher and poet, and his mother, Naomi, had a tendency towards mental instability. Both his parents were interested in modern concepts such as Marxism, nudism, and feminism. During Allen Ginsberg's childhood, his mother began to suffer from paranoia, and was committed to an institution where she was lobotomized and eventually died in 1956."
Abstract This paper is about censorship and rights of speech. The author focuses on the music of Allen Iverson, the famous athlete who was accused of using offensive language and lyrics in his music. The author discusses the moral and ethical issues around censorship.
From the Paper "Recently, NBA superstar Allen Iverson has been under a lot of heat for a rap album he recorded. According to human rights organizations, the lyrics on the album discriminate against gays, women, and blacks. Shortly after the situation was brought to the public's attention, National Basketball Association Commissioner, David Stern, took Iverson into his office to discuss the album and a possible fine or suspension."
