...1/22 Film Reviews In today’s class we watched two silent films; Safety Last and Modern Times. At first I was skeptical about watching two silent films and being engaged the entire time. However, both films kept my attention and were highly entertaining. Safety Last was directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor. Hal Roach was its’ producer. The immediate cast consisted of a few performers; Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, and Westcott Clarke. Throughout this film I maintained both a sense of anxiety as well as humor. There were many parts that I couldn’t help laughing at (when he was attacked by birds and when he was trying to come in late to work). However, there were also many parts that caused me to feel anxious and left my palms sweaty. Throughout the entire film I was anxious about the main character lying about his job to his fiancée and I was also very nervous when he climbed the building and kept getting faced with obstacles along the way. The film left me with a feeling of relief that he had successfully climbed to the top of the building. However, I was also left a little frustrated that his fiancée was still clueless about his job position and money situation. The city had a definite impact on the style of this film. To me, the style seemed to be the style in the city. There was hustle and bustle, people were dressed very well, and the emphasis on ambition all reflects the style of a city. The style was consistent throughout the film. The theme...
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...“Modern Times” In Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” there is an unusual love affair between a factory working man (Chaplin) and a woman (Gamin) that just lost her family and is orphaned. Chaplin and the Gamin have a love like no other in which they both share a common dream that brings them together. Chaplin and the Gamin idealize the “American dream”. They witness a happy husband and wife and make it their dream to someday live as they are. This dream includes a husband, a wife, a house and everything that comes with it except the responsibility. In a particular scene in the movie Chaplin fantasizes about life with Gamin. His fantasy includes a cow milking itself. In the fantasy Chaplin wipes his hands on the curtain and throws an apple with a carefree sense, showing he holds no values. He takes the house for granted. Idealistically, when someone has a house they would do the opposite and value every aspect of it. These images from Chaplin display his lack of education. The Gamin also displays a lack of education when she finds a shack and turns it into a mini home. Based upon what she thinks should be, the Gamin foolishly creates her version of a husband and wife scenario. The Gamin makes a meal for herself and Chaplin from bread and meat she most likely stole seeing as earlier in the film she steals bananas from a boat to provide for her family. If the Gamin had any sense of education she would have preserved some food for another time knowing that they...
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...thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the movie even though it highlights the many aspects of desperate men and women who are willing to put their bodies through immense hardship in the pursuit of gold. For sure, the Little Tramp is by no means on physical par to the other men in the movie; however, he always has an ingenious way of getting what he wants, even the girl. For example, when Big Jim imagines that Charlie is a chicken and runs after him with an axe, Charlie mistakenly shoots a bear and they have food for days. Then, Charlie meets another prospector who lends him his cabin and all he had to do was simply take care of the cabin and the mule. Chaplin was able to pull the audience into the movie; he would have them laughing at one time and sad in the other instance. The film did make me feel a little sad because of the way Georgia and her friends treated the Little Tramp. In addition, he is sensitive to the others in the harsh surroundings and is more kind to them than they are to him. Moreover, Charlie turns the most evil human intensions into feelings of kindness, love, and sacrifice. For instance, such is his kindness that he even sacrifices his shoe and shares it...
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...Foucault’s (1984) support of post-modernism is defined along the lines of scientific development through the “Enlightenment” era, which has, he claims, set limitations on the way that science can confirm a modern society. More so, Foucault (1984) argument for post-modernism attempts to explore the social and cultural conditions of 20th century life, which make the 18th century philosophy of Immanuel Kant and other Enlightenment era thinkers irrelevant in terms of understanding modern issues in contemporary society during the 1980s: This ethos implies, first, the refusal of what I like to call the 'blackmail' of the Enlightenment. I think that the Enlightenment, as a set of political, economic, social, institutional, and cultural events on which we still depend in large part (Foucault...
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...Marxism. His ideas play a significant role in both the development of social science and also in the socialist political movement. Marx's theories about society, economics and politics, which are collectively known as Marxism, hold that all society progresses through class struggle. He was heavily critical of the current form of society, capitalism, which he called the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", believing it to be run by the wealthy middle and upper classes purely for their own benefit, and predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, it would inevitably produce internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system, socialism. Marx polemic with other thinkers often occurred through critique, and thus he has been called "the first great user of critical method in social sciences. Fundamentally, Marx assumed that human history involves transforming human nature, which encompasses both human beings and material objects. Humans recognise that they possess both actual and potential selves. Marx had a special concern with how people relate to that most fundamental resource of all, their own labour power.[120] He wrote extensively about this in terms of the problem of alienation. Refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together, or to put antagonism between things that are properly in harmony. In the concept's most important use, it refers to the social alienation of people from aspects of their "human nature"....
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...lawyer who revered Kant and Voltaire, and was a passionate activist for Prussian reform. Although both parents were Jewish with rabbinical ancestry, Karl’s father converted to Christianity in 1816 at the age of 35. This was likely a professional concession in response to an 1815 law banning Jews from high society. He was baptized a Lutheran, rather than a Catholic, which was the predominant faith in Trier, because he “equated Protestantism with intellectual freedom.” When he was 6, Karl was baptized along with the other children, but his mother waited until 1825, after her father died. Marx was an average student. He was educated at home until he was 12 and spent five years, from 1830 to 1835, at the Jesuit high school in Trier, at that time known as the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium. The school’s principal, a friend of Marx’s father, was a liberal and a Kantian and was respected by the people of Rhineland but suspect to authorities. The school was under surveillance and was raided in 1832. Education In October of 1835, Marx began studying at the University of Bonn. It had a lively and rebellious culture, and Marx enthusiastically took part in student life. In his two semesters there, he was imprisoned for drunkenness and disturbing the peace, incurred debts and participated in a duel. At the end of the year, Marx’s father insisted he enroll in the more serious University of Berlin. In Berlin, he studied law and philosophy and was introduced to the philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel...
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...Critique and Revolution: The Faces of Karl Marx “The nobility of man shines upon us from their work hardened bodies.” (Manuscripts, 100)[1]. And according to Karl Marx, that is the bottom line. In Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and Manifesto of the Communist Party[2], two of his most profound works, Marx outlines both his harsh critique of capitalism and his prophetic theory of impending communist revolution. Although these texts are extremely complex—Manuscripts is described often as the hardest sixty pages of modern philosophy—their main points can be summed up concisely. For Marx, a worker’s labor, and therefore product, is an extension of himself, and any practice that separates the two, most obviously capitalism’s private property, essentially tears the man apart. A system such as this is beyond repair, and the only feasible solution is a forceful and complete communist revolution ending in the destruction of private property and the reunion of mankind with his labor. The complex philosophizing behind these two doctrines will be revealed shortly, but now the question arises, are they consistent? More specifically, do the circumstances that exist under capitalism, as described in his critique, put the world in a realistic position to undergo his desired revolution? Taking his opinions of the world under capitalism as fact, the answer is yes: the desperation of alienation will drive the growing majority of men to unite and revolt. That said, a thorough examination...
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...The essay will argue the link between indigenous art, and public art in the post-modern world within which we live. Using the site of Fiona Foley's public art sculpture Bibles and Bullets as a focal point, public art as aboriginal tradition, and public art as a postmodern concept will be analysed. Located in Redfern park, Redfern, the artist's sculpture stands on the ground of great historical context to indigenous people. The context of not only Redfern park, but also the suburb of Redfern holds significant meaning to Aboriginal Australians. In the 1920's indigenous Australians migrated from rural areas of NSW to Redfern. Since then, the Aboriginal communities of Redfern have faced numerous hardships (creative spirits 2014). Redfern Park was the site of Paul Keating's famous 'Redfern Park speech'. The site links both postmodernity and tradition in its meaning, purpose, and structure. The postmodernistic use of art as a way to disrupt movement and space challenges traditional artistic conventions. Fiona Foley is an indigenous artist who was commissioned to work on numerous public art installations. Her art does not depict traditional indigenous scenes such as the dream time, but rather has meaning deeply rooted in the modern history of the invasion of indigenous land. Foley uses public art because once in the public domain, you can't look away. Redfern, and Redfern park both hold significance relating to indigenous Australians. Redfern was the largest Aboriginal populated...
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...This differed from processualists by rejecting the emphasis on the scientific method and the need for generalizations. Post-processualists laid emphasis instead on unique aspects of each culture and the need to study those cultures in their entirety, (Renfrew and Bahn 2012, 44). They also emphasized the role of the individual and human agency. This was not a key factor in processual interpretations, who strove to generalize culture process using the scientific method to quantify data. Hodder’s critique of processual archaeology was “that there is no single, correct way to undertake archaeological inference,” (Renfrew and Bahn 2012, 43). He strove to reform interpretations on all levels in archaeological research. He claimed that excavation techniques needed to be ‘fluid and flexible,’ a reflexive archaeology; however, Hodder’s critiques of processual excavation were not new...
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...Liberty University Theological Seminary A THEOLOGICAL BOOK CRITIQUE: GOD IN THE WASTELAND A Theological Book Critique Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Course Systematic Theology I - THEO 525 By Chad Stafford ID# 22235852 28 September 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Brief Summary Capitulation Keys to reformation Critical Interaction Jesus and McGuire Modernization Displacement of God Loss of God’s transcendence and holiness Loss of God’s authority Moral Irrelevance Regaining our voice Conclusion 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 5 6 7 9 9 10 ii. Introduction God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams is authored by David F. Wells, a distinguished seminary professor and theologian at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. No Place for Truth was his first significant treatise on the subject of evangelicalism’s theological corruption which grabbed the attention of the evangelical community. God in the Wasteland is a continuation and his second treatment of the subject, in a four-volume series, where the author seeks to further define the origins and problems of evangelicalism’s theological compromise while proposing solutions like radical resistance to modernity and restoration of God-centeredness as central to regaining ground that has been lost to modernity within the church. In this critique I will seek to primarily interact with Wells assessment of evangelicalism’s compromised condition, and secondarily...
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...The Culture Industry and The Society of the Spectacle In Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle, the author discusses how culture has become commodified. In Theodor Adorno’s The Culture Industry, the author discusses how art became autonomous. In this essay, I will compare the two books and show how Debord’s theory of commodified culture and Adorno’s theory of autonomous art directly correlate with one another. The mass production of commodities destroyed quality guidelines and broke down legal and regional barriers. Debord says, “The capitalist production system has unified space, breaking down the boundaries between one society and the next” (Debord, §165). One point Debord is making is that capitalism broke down spatial barriers. When objects became commoditized, human circulation – or tourism – became the by-product. Debord says, “Tourism is the chance to go and see what has been made trite.” (§168) People travel to Rome to see the Coliseum, and travel to Egypt to see the Great Pyramids. These objects, reduced from historical masterpieces to the latest thing you must see before you die, fuel travel and break down geographic barriers. The distance between New York and Rome become significantly smaller. Cars did this in the United States on a smaller scale. It was easier and faster to travel farther in a car than it had been before the car was invented, making travel more accessible, and commodities more able to be made even more trite. Another point Debord...
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...IMMANUEL KANT - BIOGRAPHY Dropbox Assignment #3 By Michael Johnson Darryl Sanborn Business Ethics (MGMT 368) 04/12/06 Michael Johnson Darryl Sanborn Business Ethics (MGMT 368) 04/12/06 IMMANUEL KANT - BIOGRAPHY Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg, East Prussia in 1724. He attended the Collegium Fridiricianum when he was eight years old. He studied there for eight years. He then went into the University Of Königsberg, where he spent his academic career focusing on philosophy, mathematics and physics. When his father passed away it affected him strongly and he left the university. He earned his living as a private tutor. In 1755 he accepted the help of a friend and resumed his studies at the university. He received his doctorate in 1756. He taught at the university for 15 years, in the beginning his lectures were in the sciences and mathematics arenas. He would eventually also lecture most branches of philosophy. Even though he had a growing reputation as an original thinker, he did not gain tenure at the university until 1770. That is when he received his professorship of logic and metaphysics. [1] He continued writing and lecturing at Königsberg for 27 years. He attracted many students there due to his rationalist and hence, unconventional approach to religious texts. This led to political pressure from the government of Prussia, and in 1792, he was barred from teaching or writing on religious subjects by the King of Prussia, Fredrich William...
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...Do you agree that Pop art is a critique of the values of post-War urban culture in the United States or is there some validity in the arguments that suggest that Pop art is another representation of profit-based propaganda? Select works from two or three artists to examine this question. Pop art was born out of the needs of Post-war America and its capitalist driven economy, where consumption was key and everything was a commodity that had to be readily available. The diversity within the movement arose from how the Pop artists approached this culture of post-war America, whether it was through parody, fetishization, or just pure replication; as well as what aspects of the culture they chose to reflect on. The sheer diversity of themes and styles covered by the various pop artists means that one cannot be too reductive when analysing this art movement. It is therefore with this in mind that this essay will examine just two Pop artists, Andy Warhol and Tom Wesselmann, to examine both artists’ use of commercial methods teamed with images borrowed from popular culture and how they established their own unique technique and style to reflect on the capitalist culture rising in America. Post-war America was a time of great growth and development, as America moved into a position of political and economic leadership, newfound pride in the American way of life and American culture flourished. The economic boom meant newfound freedom for Americans, as having money and freely spending...
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..." (Avineri, pp . 13, 9, 14) Marx rebelled against Hegel's philosophy in which ideas were taken to be the important determinants of history. Marx’s critique of Hegel had moved from the history of ancient philosophy, to the conception of the state. To what extend is Marx far from Hegel? To Hegel, ethical life has three components which are civil society, family and government. Those components make understanding freedom and articulation of reason at higher stage easier. However, Marx’s critique of Hegel’s philosophy of the state allowed him to see that both civil society and the state were alien to a truly human life, which at that time he called ‘true democracy’ .(Smith) Economic bases is significant for social analysis of Marx. Productive forces and relations of production are the key concepts of his analysis. Those are relevant each other and related with other social relations. He sees entering into production relations is indispensable and independent of the will (Marx). Production relations specify general process of social, economic and political life. Marx’s ideas can be best explained by:...
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...insinuates the intellectual and cultural movements of that time. Great composers such as Fritz Lang, T.S. Elliot and George Orwell have created masterpieces, which embellish the meaning and structure of modernity to create modernist texts. Their pieces, Metropolis, Preludes and 1984 display some key features that reflect the ideas of modernity and the situation in the modern era. In the film Metropolis by Lang, there are messages coded into the movie that must be picked out to provide the full understanding of the ideas portrayed by this film. Some of the messages hidden within the foils of the film are futility, loss of identity and power. These three conceptual ideas influence our understanding of the film and our interpretations of its purpose. The aim of this film was to critique aspects of modernity such as the ideas previously listed. Firstly, futility and loss of identity play a major role in this film. These themes combine in one section but have completely different effects on the viewers opinion. Futility is shown by the lack of choice the workers have and how they all must obey the upper classes and act like a machine. Where as the case of lost identity is rather presented in different light but on the same stage. It is portrayed by the fact that all these individual humans (laborers) have now just become one large group and function in one way losing their individuality and identity. This refers to the time that this movie was produced in because it symbolizes the...
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