This paper discusses the Pop Art movement; Richard Hamilton, the father of this movement; and his collage, "Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing"?.
Abstract This paper explains that Pop Art uses images of consumerism and everyday objects, often placing mundane objects in bizarre situations as a form of social commentary. The author points out that, although Andy Warhol is perhaps the best-known pop artist, Richard Hamilton, born in London during the 1920s, created the first piece of Pop Art, "Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing"?, a collage poster design for the "This Is Tomorrow" art exhibit. The paper describes the author's attempt to reinterpret this collage by using images of the latest technology of our era -- the plasma TV, the DVD player, the PlayStation ? just as Hamilton's collage shows the latest technology of his era -- the reel-to-reel, the television.
From the Paper "I experienced some particular problems in creating my collage. Hamilton's background in advertising and the arts gave him an incredible skill for cutting out the magazine photos, and although the proportions are somewhat skewed, he was able to piece the individual photos together in an almost seamless fashion, creating a completely believable new world. In my collage, the scissors lines are obvious, and there is not the artistic flow of the created environment. The models in my collage do not have the creepy Outer-Limits air about them, and the sense of discord within a stable environment that Hamilton captured simply is not there in my collage, which does not have a proper sense of chaos or stability. It is an important lesson to be learned, however, that even if presented with the same basic supplies, it is the artistic skill and merit of the artist that creates a true piece of art. Simply incorporating similar themes into a piece does not necessarily make those pieces companions or comparable. Hamilton had an incredible sense of the impact of the media and consumer-based society on the individual, and it was due to his own brilliance that his collage is impressive, not just, because he found pretty pictures in magazines."
This paper reviews John Updike's "Rabbit, Run", published in 1960, but depicting the American society of the 50s, and the first book in a four-book series.
Abstract This paper explains Updike's general literary statement in "Rabbit, Run" was that, in the middle-class American society of the 1950s, people were going through the motions of a meaningful life, but not achieving satisfactory meaning from it. The author points out that the central character is so bizarre from time to time that he keeps the reader off balance, which is what Rabbit is actually doing in a fictionalized state to his wife Janice and others. The paper relates that continuity is the key to Updike's maintaining character growth throughout the series he wrote; of the characters Updike uses in the first book, "Rabbit, Run", almost all continue to appear in his three novel sequels: "Rabbit Redux" (1971), "Rabbit is Rich" (1981) (Pulitzer prize); "Rabbit at Rest" (1990); and the novella, "Rabbit Remembered" (2000).
Table of Contents
John Updike
Plot Summary
Character Development
Reflection of Contemporary American Culture?
Conclusion
From the Paper "The author was born in Shillington, Pennsylvania, in 1932, and he later attended Harvard University and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts, located in Oxford, England. He began his professional writing career by contributing poems, articles and book reviews to "The New Yorker" magazine (1955-1957). Updike, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1982 for "Rabbit Is Rich", has written over 25 books. He is the father of four children, and lives in Massachusetts. It is believed that the central character in Updike's "Rabbit" series (four novels, beginning with "Rabbit, Run"), was a real-life basketball hero who hailed from Shillington, Pennsylvania, where Updike grew up."
Abstract This paper relates that the plot of the film "O' Brother, Where Art Thou?" evolves around the protagonist Everett and his friends, escaping from a Mississippi gang and going in search of 1.4 million dollars, which Everett claims to have hidden in a valley flooded by the lake, and continues with some very bizarre incidents, characteristic of the Coen brother's work. The author points out that, although the Coen brothers did not directly base their film on Homer's "Odyssey", there are many references to it, such as the three friends stumbling across a blind prophet who predicts their future as the Homer's sirens did. The paper explains another reference: The hero of the film is trying to get back to Ithaca in Mississippi; whereas, in the classic, Odysseus is trying to get back to Ithaca in Greece.
From the Paper "Like in the epic, the movie starts of with reference to the rural Mississippi. This, too, is just a fantasy place and not reality like most of the rest of the movie. In the movie, the three heroes on a journey home, come across a political campaign and are shoved into a radio station and are mistaken for radio stars. They also stumble upon a Klan Meeting and are on the way to Everett's wife who is going to marry another guy who does not get himself thrown into jail all the time, and fortunately, (or rather unfortunately), they happen to have seven daughters who she plans to pack off. This makes you wonder how illusionary and fable-like the film sounds."
Abstract The paper looks at two short works by Edgar Allan Poe, "William Wilson" and "Lady Ligeia", and outlines how they are both classic examples of fantastical literature, as the term is defined by Tsvetan Todorov. The paper looks at the clever use of the first-person narrative, at the ambiguous reality that exists in each story, and at the way in which Poe makes the bizarre seem plausible right until the end.
From the Paper "To begin with, one must understand that literature (at least in Todorov's view) must satisfy three conditions if it is to be genuinely considered "fantastic". Firstly, there must be an element of realism involved insofar as the text must "oblige" the reader to consider the world of the characters as one that "hesitates" between a natural and supernatural explication of the events taking place. Secondly, it is desirable that the reader identify with the character at the heart of the story. Finally, the work must not lend itself to allegorical or poetic interpretations. Proceeding further, it seems evident from Todorov's work that, if the "laws of reality" remain intact and can provide a reasonable explanation for the phenomena delineated by the writer, then the story itself is not "fantastic" but, rather, merely "uncanny". Conversely, if the conventional laws of nature do not apply, if they do not furnish the reader with credible explanations, then the story is said to be "marvelous" or fantastical (Todorov, "Excerpts from Tsvetan Todorov's The Fantastic," p.1)."
Abstract This paper discusses the rock group Marilyn Madson (MM), whose name is a combination of the sex icon Marilyn Monroe and a mass killer Charles Manson, and who are seen as a curse on America's moral fabric. The author believes that Marilyn Manson, synonymous with everything bizarre, defiant and in opposition with mainline culture and beliefs, is a cult. The author explains that the close proximity to Hollywood and its bizarre culture is probably the biggest reason why cults prosper in Southern California.
From the Paper "Some experts also have blamed the city's structure for the rapid increase in cult followings. These views shed light on possible reasons why MM is more successful in this region. Mike Davis in his book, 'Ecology of Fear' maintains that cults prosper in LA for the same reason natural disasters hit this city more frequently than other parts of the United States. He blames the city's lack of common sense and rising ethnic tension for all its problems. Davis feels that cults and other ethno-sociological problems also are the result of Los Angeles? totalitarian system. He writes, "Paranoia about nature, of course, distracts attention from the obvious fact that Los Angeles has deliberately put itself in harm's way. For generations, market-driven urbanization has transgressed environmental common sense? As a result, Southern California has reaped flood, fire, and earthquake tragedies that were as avoidable, as unnatural as the beating of Rodney King and the subsequent explosion in the streets."(9)"
From the Paper "With Blue Velvet, David Lynch did an effective job in dividing both popular and critical opinions about his odd piece of cinema. While some hail it as a masterpiece, others retain that it is pure perverse nonsense. Despite the initial shock of the overly violent sequences, Lynch's vivid revelation of baseness and depravity in small-town America makes its point clearly, if not bizarrely. One of the most obvious and effective ways by which the film's themes are conveyed is through an absolutely brilliant utilization of sound and score."
Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the literary elements of setting, symbol, and characters which supports the argument that the grotesque yellow wallpaper is Gilman's metaphor for the entrapment of women by social conventions in a patriarchal society.
From the Paper "Personification is defined as giving human characteristics to things that are not human. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wallpaper" appears to be a horror story about a woman who loses her sanity and suffers delirious hallucinations when the wallpaper in her bedroom becomes personified. But it can be argued that this story, written in the late 1800s, is actually Gilman's autobiographical dramatization of the destructive effects of the Victorian male-dominated society upon women. In ?The Yellow Wallpaper,? the author personifies the setting - the grotesque wallpaper in a chronically depressed woman's bedroom - to create a symbol of feminine oppression. Editor Linda Kriszner states that the story "makes a point about the dangers of women's utter dependence on male interpretation of their needs" "
Abstract This paper addresses Sylvia Plath's bizarre life and poetry. Included are sections on her obsession with death, her mother's estrangement and her turbulent marriage to poet Ted Hughes.
From the Paper "The early life of Sylvia Plath was torturous, spent in an unhappy household after the death of her father, at the age of eight. She never fully recovered from the loss, acutely aware due to the strained nature of the relationship with her mother. Her literary works all serve as an outlet to vent her anger at her deceased father, and societal-obsessed mother that focused on appearance."
Abstract The play Equus by Peter Shaffer is a psychological drama centering on the philosophical, moral and professional crisis facing the main character, a child psychiatrist (Dr. Dysert).
From the paper:
"The play is set in England, and Dysert gets his new patient through the court system. The judge involved tells him that he is the only psychiatrist in the area competent to help this young man. The patient, Alan Strang, has done a bizarre and horrible thing: he has blinded some horses (although this is not revealed early in the play)."
Abstract This essay uses a number of well researched case studies to explore individuals who pose or represent themselves as characters other than themselves. It also discusses how those around them are wilingl to believe often ridiculous claims if it is beneficial to them. The case studies include carefully calculated deceptions, self-delusional fantasies and blatantly criminal representations driven by damaged self esteem.
From the Paper:
"The comedian Robin Williams once said, ?I?ve investigated reality, and there's really nothing to it.? While this is just another glib comment in that wild comic's repertoire, the remark certainly applies to three items used in comparison in this essay. For the cord that ties Garfinkel's Story of Agnes, Carrere's downright bizarre account of the true story of Jean-Claude Romand, Baudrillard's views on hyper-reality, and the personal ad placed by the blue-eyed blonde, all focus not just on the issue of deception itself, but on the self-perception of the individual, society's perception of the individual, and how (and to what extent) some people base their sense of reality on a fa?ade in order to placate their own egos and/or society itself."
Abstract In the short story "The Rocking Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence, the writer creates a spooky fantasy in which three major themes, luck, money and love combine to form a bizarre and deadly unity. It discusses the lack of love in families in modern society and how people can become obsessed with money. The author creates a symbolic representation of life that is not truly lived, but in which concepts of luck, money and love are perverted into an imitation of life, the falseness of which kills the protagonist, the boy Paul.
From the Paper "This is a story about the "devastating effects that money can have on a family" (Watkins 295). It is a story in which money has replaced love. The mother no longer loves the father. "She married for love, and the love turned to dust" (Lawrence 967). Her love, Lawrence is saying has dried up:
The desiccating materialism of modern society has destroyed the ability of Paul's mother to feel love; in place of love, she lusts after "luck" by which she means the power to get money (Watkins 1)
The family's house is ?haunted by the unspoken phrase: ?There must be more money!? ? (Lawrence 968). The children imbibe this atmosphere on a daily basis. They know there is never enough money for the parents to keep up the social standard to which they aspire. The parents are the role models who "set the tone (economic scarcity) and determine the values (consumerism) of the world they inhabit" (Watkins 297). This is a subject about which Lawrence is passionate:
This is one of Lawrence's most savage and compact critiques of what he elsewhere calls "the god-damn bourgeoisie" and of individuals who, despite their natural or potential goodness, "swallow culture bait" and hence become victims to the world they (wrongly) believe holds the key to human happiness (Watkins 295)."
Tags: horse, money, modern, society, boy, love, 'The, Rocking, Horse, Winner', D., H., Lawrence
Abstract This paper examines the study of Orientalism and defines it by looking through the viewpoint of the west and the west's relationship with the east. It looks at the emergence of the Orient as a term in the 19th century, which would be called the lands around the southern Mediterranean Sea. The paper provides a history of the relationship the west has had with the Orient. It describes the arts and crafts of the Orient which came to the west through trade and the crusades. The author writes that throughout the history, the Orientalists have been stereotyped in the role of a dark, a mysterious, an alien, the bizarre and the threat, by the Western world.
From the Paper "Ever since the scholars such as Edward Said have started to work on the subject of Orientalism, the philosophical emphasis of the Western World has been closely scrutinizing the regions, cultures, norms, peoples and systems that represented the term 'Orient'. The study of the issue of Orientalism is important in a sense because it has deeply influenced the Western perceptions about the East. The main reason for which studying the issue of Orientalism is important is that the interaction between the Orient and Europe influenced the travel, trade, crusades, missionary activity and cultural exchange between the empires which later lead to the age of European expansion and colonization. It is also important to note that the interaction between the Orient and Europe significantly changed the meaning of the East. "
Abstract This paper looks at the relationship that Paul has with his mother, Hester. It shows how D.H. Lawrence uses Paul's bizarre lust for his mother's approval, his obsession with prognostication and his inevitable demise to reject the assumption that luck and money and interdependent.
From the Paper "Social status, most will recognize, is highly contingent upon any number of factors from lineage and occupation to ability and physical attractiveness. As such, it would appear that there is an unlimited social mobility potential for almost anybody. D.H. Lawrence's short story, ?The Rocking Horse,? seeks to rebut that logic by constructing a family so damaged by its pursuit of social advancement as to destroy itself. (Durawa, 2) Paul, the story's protagonist, lives constantly in the shadow of his mother's disapproval, a disposition derived from her dissatisfaction with her husband and her standard of living. Hester, embittered by a lifetime of falling behind her more affluent neighbors, is fixated on the notion of luck as it pertains to social status. Paul's tragic fate at the story's conclusion serves to dispel Hester's notion that the acquisition of financial excess is the proof and merit of luck."
Abstract Representations of women in painting of the period 1875-1915 feature women revealed in one of three ways; they are either nudes or semi-nudes, working women (urban and rural) in relaxed or revealing clothing, or fashionable women (respectable or otherwise) whose adherence to the strange costume of the bourgeoisie contorts and reveals their bodies in bizarre ways.
From the Paper "Representations of women in painting of the period 1875-1915 feature women revealed in one of three ways; they are either nudes or semi-nudes, working women (urban and rural) in relaxed or revealing clothing, or fashionable women (respectable or otherwise) whose adherence to the strange costume of the bourgeoisie contorts and reveals their bodies in bizarre ways. The implications of bourgeois dress for women in this period are manifold and painters' various approaches to costumed women bring out the range of meanings in this form of attire. The varieties of objectification of women, anxiety over the status of their virtue, and attempts at control are manifested in hundreds of paintings that present vivid contrasts between elegance and discomfort, sexual availability and utter respectability. The figure of the Parisienne (respectable or not) dominated European..."
Abstract This paper examines the Book 'Music of the Swamp' by Lewis Nordan, a fictitious story that depicts the Southern way of life. It examines how Nordan's writing style allows him to strike a delicate balance between portraying the harsh real life situations at the same time satiating the appetite of the witty minded with a hilarious novel that addresses all the typical southern elements like the discriminatory social climate. It shows how by using all bizarre characters and elegant language the author has managed to pass on his point that in life there is always this duality and that happiness and sadness complement each other.
From the Paper "The author always manages to infuse the gloomy picture of Mississippi throughout the novel. This is evident when Sugar with his father and mother visits the Mississippi beach and even there they are greeted with death. A man lies dead along the coast like one of the fishes. The dark discoveries of Sugar doesn't end here. Soon when he casually digs up all around his house he is shocked to unearth a dead woman in a red dress. Furthermore when Sugar visits the drug store with his father he again faces death square in the face when his father accidentally overdoses his friend to death. So even as a child the young sugar experiences drugs, discrimination, death and a lot of the gloomy side of life."
Tags: society, blacks, Mississippi, dicrimination, death, love
