Abstract This is an in-depth study about how performance and reality are blurred, using Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho," as a case study. The author looks at the techniques the director used with his actors, how the movie was shot, and even at the way it was marketed to the general public. The author also looks at how acting allows both the actors and the public to cross gender boundaries, that would normally be taboo. Several studies done by women on gender, and performance in film are also discussed, in order to show how some of the gimmicks used in films such as "Psycho," challenge the actors and their use of different techniques to present the characters.
From the Paper "One of the most powerful aspects of acting as an impersonation is that it indicates the fluidity of gender boundaries by its very nature. A man can pretend to be a woman within the context of a play or vice versa. This gender impersonation was regularly undertaken and accepted as a theatrical convention in both the ancient Greek and Elizabethan theatre, two distinct parts of our own present theatrical condition. Everyone watching a performance of a "Midsummer Night's Dream" in the 16th century knew that the person playing Hermia was really a young boy in costume. Yet they accepted this fact because it was part of the conventions of the theatre. But by accepting this, one is complicit in the notion that gender is not simply a natural state of bodily being like sex. Rather clothing, length of hair, and other alterable factors that can be simulated in performance mark a character's gender. In film, this ability to transform one's gender can be limited to a lesser degree by the closeness of the camera."
Abstract This essay will argue that Shakespeare's use of this device in "Twelfth Night" is much more complex and significant than in "Comedy of Errors", as it is central to the theme of blurring gender roles in the play. As will be seen, Viola's transvestite impersonation of the male Cesario creates a site of gender confusion that challenges our understanding of the major characters and, in a broader sense, subverts the audience's certainty as to the nature of love and the permeability of gender lines.
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses the belief that the adoption of new media seems to involve a shifting or blurring of the boundaries of public and private. The writer looks at the idea that rather than a blurring of lines occurring between these two sectors, there is evidence to show that what was once private is becoming public and what was once public is transforming itself to the private realm. Therefore, a shift rather than a blurring appears to be taking place in our society. This paper explores these notions. The writer maintains that there is much evidence to conclude that the line between public and private spaces is blurring, but there is also as much evidence to show that it is simply shifting. The writer concludes that as attitudes and culture within a society change, so too does the way in which we entertain ourselves, interact with each other and participate in various activities. Many factors go to influence such changes, but as can be concluded from this paper, a significant factor is new media and technology.
From the Paper "Communication over the Internet can be done in various ways, but probably the most influential to society are blogs (an individual's commentary on the world, oneself or a specific aspect of life - sometimes all of the above) and personal websites. An example displaying the convenience of blogs can be seen when a girl, for instance, goes overseas for a month. Before the Internet she would either have to call each of her family members or send each of them a letter telling them of her experience. Now with such things as blogs, this same girl can construct a page with daily updates on what she is doing, where she is and how she feels which everyone she knows can read. She can also display pictures and on some blog sites, sound and movie files. Her family and friends can each make a comment after each of her postings and she can in return address those comments in her next post and also share new information. What is interesting to note, is that most blog sites can be viewed by anyone. What once used to be a very private form of communication has now become a conversation between family and friends undertaken in a very public space. A new public space created by the Internet. To further stress this idea, comments do not necessarily have to be made by family and friends."
Abstract This essay discusses how Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Mother and Poet" blurs the binarism of the domestic custodian and the public crusader. The very title itself blurs the boundaries between the two roles, because both of them intersect along certain lines. Each role needs the other to be effective. Isolated, each role becomes rooted in failure and tragedy.
Abstract This paper discusses the power of science to do good and to do harm. Several examples are used to illustrate this often blurred line. The author points to Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" and how it dealt with science, nature and morality. The controversy surrounding its connection to the Nobel Peace Prize is also evaluated. The paper also describes some practices from previous centuries to acquire bodies in order to do anatomical research. The paper concludes that the debate regarding medical ethics will continue, although today it is becoming less blurred because of standards that are being developed in this field.
From the Paper "There are many examples of scientific and technologic discoveries, not limited to medicine, that have blurred this boundary, like dynamite, an invention intended by its creator, Alfred Nobel to help not hurt, but rather was frequently utilized to destroy and as a tool of war. "He received the tribute of scientists and educators but the ignorant people regarded him with a mixture of awe and fear--'he had put the long hammer of Thor to work again among the giants.'" (Marble 6) Nobel is best known for the award named for him The Nobel Peace Prize, a distinction and a foundation said to be founded, by Nobel in the name of Nobel's concern for scientists to create without censure but for peaceful means and the betterment of society. (Marble 4-6) The blurred line between the power of science to do good and to do harm is a universal of literature and life, and was especially important during great periods of human growth, such as the naturalist movement, and the industrial revolution, taking place during the Shelley's lifetime and frequently discussed by the literary and scientific set, "The circumstance on which my story rests was suggested in casual conversation." (Shelley 5) Shelly goes on to discuss a rumor of the ability of Darwin to reanimate a vermicelli, that he had kept under glass, as the source of the literary conversation about the ability of science and humans to discover the spark of life and then reapply it to previously dead beings, including human bodies. Through her apologetic prologue and later in her introduction Shelley speaks of the logical fear of such an occurrence, though recognized as unlikely, as a common place fear among people both in an outside the scientific community. (Shelley 10)"
Abstract In this paper, the writer discusses that the danger of legalizing the patient's right to die blurs the boundaries that distinguish killing and letting one die; euthanasia and suicide. The writer maintains that there is little difference between a physician taking a back seat and watching a patient succumb to his death without intervening, and watching a person tie a rope around his neck to hang himself. If a physician was allowed to administer a lethal dose of medicine upon the request of a patient, how different is he from a drug pusher who provides illegal substances to an addict? The writer discusses that according to the Hippocratic Oath, allowing the patient to die contradicts the very essence of medicine. The writer argues that legalizing certain methods that supposedly provide a dignified death to a terminally ill patient will blur the lines of what is ethically and morally acceptable, from what is a criminal act.
From the Paper "Like any patient who is suffering from an illness, he is given informed options on how he wants his caregiver to manage his condition. In making these decisions, the patient's best interest should be prioritized. In the case of a patient who simply comes in for a medical treatment, a patient is given options on how to get better. In the case of a dying patient, is death a better option than living through the consequences of his terminal disease? Does death concord with the best interest of the patient?
"The Hippocratic Oath resonates at the center of a physician's career. A physician promised to treat patients to the best of his ability and judgment for the benefit of his patient. "
This paper explores the canon distinctions between good and evil (black and white, light and dark), and how, in the darkest times, man's nature can blur to a murky gray.
1,595 words (approx. 6.4 pages), 7 sources, 2000, $ 52.95
Abstract Ralph Ellison's use of "dark" and "light" motifs are explored in the construction of this tour-de force novel. The publisher argues that Ellison often inverts our traditional notions of dark and light, or black and white to help blur the line between right and wrong. The essay intends to examine the many different passages that deal with direct contrasts between the symbolic meanings of black and white (good vs. evil, or vice versa) and the passages indicating fundamental differences between literal and figurative blindness.
From the Paper "In this novel, there is a sense of good-men and bad-men, and the central journey of the novel is the narrator?s, as he tries to find both goodness, and self. In a sense, the Invisible Man is searching for the basic human goodness that he understands lies in all men. The novel portrays certain characters as these so-called good-men that must bear the ?white man's burden.? Such a burden is usually taken to mean the subordination of black men at the hands of the whites, but groups who appear on the surface to help the blacks often disguise its meaning."
"It must be noted that not all of man's darker side is repulsive to Ellison, because he often refers to certain good emotions that spring from this darker well of the human psyche. However, man does seem to have a darker side that is totally evil, a side that he tries to hide with rationalizing and conjecture."
Tags: black, catharsis, ellison, equal, literature, race, ralph, rights
Abstract This paper examines the formation and recent development of reality television: the type of television that reflects personal lives and encounters. The author attempts to tackle why reality television exists, the types of reality television that is offered and the future of reality television and society. Included is a review of different television shows that fall under this category.
From the Paper "In the past few years? society and the entertainment industry has been more and more obsessed with the idea of reality-based television. This desire to find the real amongst society is a reflection on a society, which is based on lies, fraud and war. Television shows such as Real World, Cops, and Hard Copy introduced television viewers to the world of the unscripted and spontaneous. We often put aside these television programs calling them trash TV, or game shows, when really it is society, which has made these shows popular and allowed for the major networks, to demand for our attention in their scheduling. This essay will introduce many different types of reality television and begin to guide us to understanding why it exists and where it is expected to go. Society has been waiting for television to reflect our personal lives and the real world in which we live, and now it does."
Abstract This paper explores the concept of globalization, and its affect on international world order. The author suggests that globalization is now having a negative effect upon the United States by its blurring of international borders, and as a result is placing Americans all over the world at risk for attack by people and countries who do not like western values.
From the paper:
"Globalization today has become a threat to identity, culture, values, norms and traditions that set one nation apart from the other. While the supporters of Globalization are of the view that it is extremely important for the world to unite as one nation with a global economy, they have failed to understand that basic human psyche is such that man wants to have an identity of his own. This is the primary reason why people are raising voice against this phenomenon, which has been the product of capitalism. We need to understand here that globalization has been criticized and condemned not only because of the economic problems it creates, but also because of the fact that it is due to the presence of similar commodities in every part of the world that local values of each nation are being threatened."
Abstract This paper explains how domestic violence refers to both mental and physical violence between adult intimate partners. It explores the indication that rape is used to regulate the power relations between the two genders and tries to maintain a certain cultural order between the genders in a culture with ever blurring boundaries.
From the Paper "In the United States, at the end of the millennium, "domestic violence" is a code for physical and emotional brutality within intimate relationships, usually heterosexual. As a code, it glosses the intricate, layered connections of power relationships built on race, class, and gender hierarchies, each tied in unique fashion to requirements of female dependency. These power hierarchies recede as the discursive focus abstracts acts of violence as pathology to be remedied, separate from a critique of the relationships of dominance through which it is constituted. It is possible to oppose "domestic violence" and at the same time oppose all other efforts to restructure relations of dominance, including women's subordination. (Warr, M. 1985)"
Abstract One of the most interesting areas of scientific research these days is the brain. This paper discusses the important cerebral functions of memory storage and development of reality and consciousness. It shows how the brain is capable of storing past events in one of its several compartments, but it has to be done efficiently or else past events would encroach upon recent ones thus blurring the boundaries between conscious and unconscious worlds.
From the Paper "But while man does need to be able to recall past events, it is equally important for him to be able to separate past from present. For this he needs to know what reality is and where he is today and now. This may appear rather puzzling to someone who has just undertaken the study of brain, but it is nonetheless worth pondering. How does man know who he is and what reality actually is? In other words, in order to qualify as a normal rational human being, man needs to be able to separate conscious reality from the unconscious. But consciousness is not something tangible, it is one of those cerebral functions that cannot be explained in concert terms."
Abstract An in-depth discussion about the murder of Amadou Diallo, who was shot by four white police officers under suspicious circumstances. The writer claims that the true facts of the nights events were blurred due to the sensationalizing of the facts by the press. The paper addresses issues of racism in general and in particular discusses racial profiling by police officers. It also mentions other cases when police were put on trial for murder and their verdicts.
From the Paper "A couple of years ago, an immigrant from West Africa was shot and killed by four Caucasian police officers, at the same time he reached for his wallet. The police officers were tried, but acquitted in court on racism and murder charges. Media coverage has highlighted that this was a racial issue, while downplaying the facts and putting what they feel will make the headlines, which may have been the reason for the police department having to go through trial."
A comparison of the American novels "The Day of the Locust" and "The Great Gatsby", in which the character's American dream crumbles from their materialist behaviors.
1,100 words (approx. 4.4 pages), 2 sources, 2002, $ 38.95
Abstract This paper examines the novels ?The Day of the Locust" by Nathanael West and "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It describes the affects of materialism on the main characters. The paper illustrates how this superficial pursuit becomes obsessive and ultimately blurs ethical boundaries.
From the Paper "We can see what direction the main protagonist in Day of the Locust, Tod Hackett, will go, just by looking at the word "hack" in his name. While in school he has decided to pursue the field of commercial illustration instead of pursuing the more rigorous field of painting art for arts? sake. His friends warn him that he is selling out. Tod has taken the possibility of a great education at Yale and has decided to help create superficial images of things that cannot be real for movies in Hollywood."
History, competition, technology, major corporations (Apple, Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Hewlett-Packard and IBM), consumerism, social and economic factors and the future.
4,275 words (approx. 17.1 pages), 19 sources, 1999, $ 135.95
Abstract There are three major classes of computers: mainframes, minicomputers and microcomputers. As computer technology has developed, the lines between these classes have blurred and each class has stretched its boundaries into the other.
From the Paper "Introduction
There are three major classes of computers: mainframes, minicomputers and microcomputers. As computer technology has developed, the lines between these classes have blurred and each class has stretched its boundaries into the other. Today's desktop and laptop computers (microcomputers) are capable of performing calculations which 30 years ago would have been limited to the powerful mainframe computer class. A product such as the microcomputer, which has experienced a strong surge in demand during the 1980s and 1990s, has not gone unnoticed by competitors in this industry. This research examines the history of the microcomputer industry and the major participants, and considers the direction in which the industry is headed through the use of Porter's Five Forces and STEP analysis. Trends in the industry are noted as well ..."
