...Italian Neorealism is arguably one of the most influential film movements of the mid-1900s. Exemplified by Italian director, Vittorio De Sica’s critically acclaimed film Bicycle Thieves, distinct neorealist techniques can be found worldwide, notably in François Truffaut’s French New Wave film The 400 Blows. Though released 11 years apart in different parts of Europe, both of these films showcase a similar Italian Neorealist method of filmmaking. This essay will explore the influence of Italian Neorealism on French New Wave filming techniques by comparing a significant film from each movement. Post-World War II Italy was a time of political and economic crisis. The war left Italy in a distressed state characterized by huge rates of unemployment,...
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... The attempts to explain film noir were often challenged by the fact that there is no official explanation instead various scholars have formed their own view on what film noir is starting by identifying it either as a genre, cycle, style or movement. As example, Mayer and McDonnell introduce different statements by different scholars in the preface of their book to illustrate how complex it is to discuss the film noir, as each of them has a different opinion. They add that the term is a discursive construct created by critics and scholars of the time but also a cultural phenomenon that changed the previous cinema. When talking about noir in the Italian context, it has to be noted that it does not exist in the same form as in Hollywood. Italian genres are traditionally more flexible and can share the same elements, so we have different trends. As example, Riso Amaro and Ossessione are usually considered to be neorealist films, but they contain many noir elements and for...
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...Film, like any other medium, serves as a means for the communication of ideas. Motion pictures can illustrate the same points as other art forms, but do so through the use of unique techniques. Mis en scene, or what appears prior to the camera’s presence and arrangement, is one such element exclusive to film that allows for the demonstration of themes and ideals. The Italian neorealist movement of the mid twentieth century exemplifies the power of mis en scene as a manner of promoting ideas within a movie. Neorealist filmmakers used myriad methods, including nonprofessional actors and shooting on location in order to accurately portray the struggles of their country after World War II. Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thieves offers a gritty portrayal of urban hardship that stands out as a shining example of the period’s meticulous use of mis en scene. The film tells the tragic story of Antonio Ricci, who sells his sheets to afford a bike that he needs for his new job, which he has been searching for tirelessly. A thief, however, steals his bicycle shortly thereafter. Ricci strives valiantly, though to no avail, to regain possession of the bicycle, and at the film’s conclusion resorts to unsuccessfully attempting to steal another man’s. The Bicycle Thieves paints a picture of an urban man’s alienation and economic struggle. De Sica makes this possible largely through his masterful use of mis en scene. He utilizes the mis en scene elements of set, prop usage, and costuming...
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...brought about a plethora of changes in the International film industry. Films made before World War II were not produced for entertainment, but for morale-boosting and information concerning the war. The films were dubbed by the controlling Fascist government, disallowing any artistic content to be exploited. When watching the films produced before the war, I can feel the inauthenticity and lack of spirit. It is rather difficult to endure. After World War 2, Italian Neorealism emerged, portraying Italy’s social progress and cultural change as it was the only film industry in Western Europe to survive the economical, physical, and psychological damage of the war. It was the first postwar cinema to break the chains of the studio as it introduced narrative film techniques such as the use of nonprofessional actors, improvisation of the scripts, and on-location shooting. The film techniques allowed for Italian Neorealism to truly depict the poverty and frustration in Italy post-WWII. Bicycle Thieves was an Italian Neorealist film that influenced modern US films with its sad ending. The movie showed viewers that every sad movie does not necessarily have a happy ending, as it is with war....
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...Major Film Directors Emily Bonanno Film Paper 2006 Agli Occhi di Visconti (Through the Eyes of Visconti) Luchino Visconti, an auteur typical of the neorealist movement, takes the social and economic mood of Post-Fascist and Fascist Italy and transforms it into masterpieces of film. He is able to grasp the dilemmas and controversies of the era and speak as the subtle voice of the everyday common people. In the movie “Rocco and His Brothers,” Visconti demonstrates, through the elements of characterization, symbolism and setting how a family struggles against social and economic hardship, thus placing the film in the neorealist realm of art. Visconti’s film Rocco and His Brothers, clearly depicts his message that “the key to understanding of the spiritual and psychological conflicts is always social, even if the conclusions [he] reaches are always those which concern individuals whose cases [he is] describing." The development of Visconti’s characters reveals how the brother’s reactions and their social situations determine their failure or success in life. Simone, a renowned champion boxer, earns the respect of the community and appears to be headed towards a successful life. However, his jealousy and obsession with Nadia, his greed for fame, and his increased gambling and drinking, cause his deterioration and eventual downfall. Clearly he lacks a balance in his life, which is summed up by Henry Bacon when he states that “money and economic relationships are...
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...TERM PAPER COMPARATIVE POLITICS By PRAKASH BHANDARI {SAU/IR (M)/2015/O8} Submitted to: Prof. Siddharth Mallavarapu Date of submission: 02/11/2015 Word Count: 3520 approx. (excluding bibliography) Table of contents S.No. | Title | Page no. | I. | AbstractIntroduction | 3 3 | 1. | Satyajit Ray: The Master Storyteller: | 4 | 2. | Maqbool Fida Husain | 6 | 3. | Arundhati Roy: | 8 | III. | Conclusion | 10 | Abstract: Basically, before the 20th century, the study of the politics was shaped by history, ethics, philosophy, and law, but from the late 19th century onwards, scientific approach to study politics gradually emerged. Comparative politics, in my view, do not study and analyze big issues of politics only. It also provides us the stage to study and analyze the political, social and economic situation of a particular society or state from the lens of art, literature, cinema, dramas, etc. Not only that, art and literature are the mirror of the society, so to understand particular society and political system, studying and analyzing art, literature is important. Being a student of comparative politics, here I have a good opportunity to study and compare three distinct images of a particular society. In this term paper, I am going to study three distinct pillars of Indian art and literature, which represent three different images and ideas. Satyajit Ray, MF Husain, and Arundhati Roy are an Indian film director, painter, and writer respectively...
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...War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme collective aggression, destruction, and usually high mortality. The set of techniques and actions used to conduct war is known as warfare. An absence of war is usually called "peace". Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant casualties. While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue that it is only a result of specific socio-cultural or ecological circumstances. In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths down from 72,000 deaths in 1990. The deadliest war in history, in terms of the cumulative number of deaths since its start, is the Second World War, with 60–85 million deaths, followed by the Mongol conquests which was greater than 41 million. Proportionally speaking, the most destructive war in modern history is the War of the Triple Alliance, which took the lives of over 60% of Paraguay's population, according to Steven Pinker. In 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. War usually results in significant deterioration of infrastructure and the ecosystem, a decrease in social spending, famine, large-scale emigration from the war zone, and often the mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilians. Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties...
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...GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY STUDENT GUIDELINE NOTES GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY MODULE Paste the notes here… Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government. Political economy originated in moral philosophy (e.g. Adam Smith was Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow), it developed in the 18th century as the study of the economies of states — polities, hence political economy. In late nineteenth century, the term "political economy" was generally replaced by the term economics, used by those seeking to place the study of economy upon mathematical and axiomatic bases, rather than the structural relationships of production and consumption (cf. marginalism, Alfred Marshall). History of the term Originally, political economy meant the study of the conditions under which production was organized in the nation-states. The phrase économie politique (translated in English as political economy) first appeared in France in 1615 with the well known book by Antoyne de Montchrétien: Traicté de l’oeconomie politique. French physiocrats, Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx were some of the exponents of political economy. In 1805, Thomas Malthus became England's first professor of political economy, at the East India Company College, Haileybury, Hertfordshire. The world's first professorship in political economy was established...
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...1 The Foundations of International Society 2013-2014 Part I: Politics 2 (International Relations I) Paper organiser: Professor Christopher Hill (POLIS): Room 105, Alison Richard Building Email: cjh68@cam.ac.uk Lecturers: Professor Hill (CH), Dr Elisabetta Brighi (EB), Dr Aaron Rapport (AR) and Dr Stefano Recchia (SR). Aims and Objectives The course aims to introduce students to the subject of International Relations (IR), whose main focus is the nature of politics at the international level. Students will acquire the empirical and conceptual foundations needed to understand a world political system which cannot be accurately described as either pure anarchy or a coherent form of ‘global governance’. The starting point is the notion of ‘international society’, which refers to the set of institutions and common procedures generated by states over the last three and a half centuries in their attempts to achieve some minimal form of co-existence, but which has gradually evolved to include many non-state actors and different levels of activity – diplomatic, economic and cultural, as well as that of military competition. By the end of the course you should be able to have an informed discussion about: the historical origins of the present system; what is distinctive about international politics as opposed to politics inside the state; and the main challenges which confront humanity in the twenty-first century. You will also acquire a basic familiarity with the main theories needed...
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...Theories of International Relations Third edition Scott Burchill, Andrew Linklater, Richard Devetak, Jack Donnelly, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True Theories of International Relations This page intentionally left blank Theories of International Relations Third edition Scott Burchill, Andrew Linklater, Richard Devetak, Jack Donnelly, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True Material from 1st edition © Deakin University 1995, 1996 Chapter 1 © Scott Burchill 2001, Scott Burchill and Andrew Linklater 2005 Chapter 2 © Jack Donnelly 2005 Chapter 3 © Scott Burchill, Chapters 4 and 5 © Andrew Linklater, Chapters 6 and 7 © Richard Devetak, Chapter 8 © Christian Reus-Smit, Chapter 9 © Jacqui True, Chapter 10 © Matthew Paterson 2001, 2005 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright...
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