...Voltaire successfully composes possibly the most well-known satirical pieces of literature. Mad magazine, The Simpsons, and Saturday Night Live, examples of some of the comical staples that satiate our desire for humor. In our society, satire is among the most prevalent of comedic forms. This was not always true. Before the 18th century, satire was not a fully developed form. Satire, however, rose out of necessity; writers and artists needed a way to ambiguously criticize their governments, their churches, and their aristocrats. By the 18th century, satire was hugely popular. “Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own”. (Swift) Satire as an art form has its roots in the classics, especially in the writings of Voltaire. Satire as it was originally proposed was a form of literature using sarcasm, irony, and wit, to bring about a change in society, but in the eighteenth century Voltaire, Jonathan Swift and William Hogarth expanded satire to include politics, as well as art. The political climate of the time was one of tension. Any criticism of government would bring harsh punishments, sometimes exile or death. In order to voice opinions without fear of punishment, malcontented writers turned to satire. Voltaire’s Candide and Swift’s Modest Proposal are two examples of this new genre. By creating a fictional world modeled after the world he hated, Voltaire was able to attack scientists, and theologians with impunity. Jonathan Swift...
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...twentieth century. He blended literature with science fiction and humor, the absurd with pointed social commentary. Vonnegut created his own unique world in each of his novels and filled them with unusual characters, such as the alien race known as the Tralfamadorians inSlaughterhouse-Five (1969). After studying at Cornell University from 1940 to 1942, Kurt Vonnegut enlisted the U.S. Army. He was sent by the army to what is now Carnegie Mellon University to study engineering in 1943. Soon after his return from the war, Kurt Vonnegut married his high school girlfriend, Jane Marie Cox. The couple had three children. The Vonneguts also adopted his sister's three children after her death in 1958. Writing Debut Showing his talent for satire, his first novel, Player Piano, took on corporate culture and was published in 1952. More novels followed, including The Sirens of Titan (1959), Mother Night (1961), and Cat's Cradle (1963). War remained a recurring element in his work and one of his best-known works, Slaughterhouse-Five, draws some of its dramatic power from his own experiences. This exploration of the human condition mixed with the fantastical struck a cord with readers, giving Vonnegut his first best-selling...
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...Industry Art It was a time of assembly lines and factories, booming population and industrialism, it was the 20th century and it was building speed. As the suburban American family turned the doorknob to their brand new, mass-produced, Levittown house they were clueless to the impact that their Model- T Ford would summon on the new modern art era. Hundreds of artists filled the modern era, but Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Banksy were among the few who were influenced by the new industrial world to change the face of art. In 1887, Marcel Duchamp was born to an artistic family in France. At age sixteen, he desired to be a painter (Stafford). Duchamp was introduced to the Dada art movement that sprung up in 1914. Leadership, bourgeois culture and support of war disgusted the Dadaists and they eliminated the act of labeling art (The Art Story Foundation). So Duchamp moved to New York in 1915 to begin production on his new readymade art. He took everyday objects, a bicycle wheel or snow shovel, put it in a gallery and let the consumer deem it art. The most notorious work of Duchamp, and considered the most influential piece of modern art (Higgins), a urinal turned on its back and renamed Fountain shown at an exhibition for the Society of Independent Artists in 1917 (The Art Story Foundation). A urinal, undoubtedly plucked off an assembly line months before, intended for public usage, was sitting in a gallery underlining the interdependency between art and realistic life. Duchamp's...
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...Crucible Essay History repeats itself in many ways sometimes it will be a man making a simple mistake like a man forgetting to pick his dry-cleaning up or it can be something along the lines of people becoming paranoid and fighting and preparing for things that aren’t really there. The Red Scare of 1947 to the late 1950s is a perfect example of our nation repeating a history event from 1692, The Salem Witch Trials an event that our nation still remembers today innocent lives lost that definitely didn’t deserve it. One of the victims to the Red Scare Arthur Miller made a satire of it using “The Crucible” (A play based on the witch hunts) comparing the Red Scare to the Salem Witch Trials, he claims everything he was accused for is just as ridiculous and embarrassing to our country as the Salem Witch Trials were. In this Essay I will be comparing Arthur Miller's Crucible to the Red scare of the 1940's. There’s this Guy who basically claims our government is filled to the brim with communists and we need to weed them out, His name is Joseph McCarthy, he was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin in 1909 and he died in 1957 on May 2nd due to Alcohol poisoning.(Joseph 1) On 9th February, 1950, at a meeting of the Republican Women's Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, McCarthy claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department that were known to be members of the American Communist Party (late he reduced this figure to 57)(Joseph 1). Joseph McCarthy was a dirty man who in fact...
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...Because the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog." This film is an incredibly witty movie, with a rare blend of cynicism, humor, and intelligence by Barry Levinson, Wag the Dog thus begins with these opening credits, an early indication of a dark socio-political satire that would unfold to criticize mass media and indecisive public opinion, but most importantly, the abuse of power by political leaders. Wag the Dog also satirizes the immaturity of the society and how people's unquestioning absorption of propaganda only encourages the media to exploit them on a higher level. Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) is a retired political consultant, a spin doctor who resurrects the support for the US President's after his disastrous scandal with a teenage girl just eleven days before the election. In order to smother the sparks of rumor ignited by the media, Brean invents an international crisis to sway the people's vote he fakes a war on Albania. The president heroically ends the war and his compassion and exceptional 2/11 leadership qualities are presented through the mass media to the people, winning back their faith. (Lu, 2007) The movie is basically about a fraud of the American public conspired by the incumbent president’s White House staffers. This was done through fabrication of a war in attempt to cover up a presidential sex scandal with a teenage girl. This movie received a lot of different feedbacks from the audiences...
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...Many readers of literature are very familiar with Kurt Vonnegut and his abilities, as an author, to portray fantastic literature. He is particularly known for his uses of science fiction. Even his shorter stories and different books, that are not supposed to be science fiction genre, have sort of a sense of his wacky science fiction style. Kurt Vonnegut very often makes a connection to nature or the real world style with science fiction, mostly by the use of humor and irony. Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He passed away at the age of 85, on April 11, 2007. Kurt's parents worked hard, and both his grandfather and father were architects. His grandfather was the founder of Vonnegut Hardware Company in Indianapolis and was all about hard work and labor. Kurt Vonnegut majored in chemistry and was very interested in writing and graphic arts, which made it hard for him to connect with his father. Kurt decided to attend the University of Cornell after graduating from Shortridge High School in May of 1940. Vonnegut developed an early understanding for his writing ability, when he became the editor for The Cornell Daily Sun. Instead of following his passion for writing, he fell into his father's ways and enlisted in the U.S. Army to study vastly about mechanical engineering. To make matters worse, a couple of years after being enlisted, his mother committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills on Mother's Day of 1944. This was the...
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...The theme of Political Strife in Orwell’s 1984 Student’s name Institution name Abstract Orwell’s 1984 is another masterfully done piece of work that captures the political scenario across the world. Having written it in 1964, the book foretells the political events of the coming 1984 generations. This is a purely prophetic book that is inspired by Orwell’s sharp observation and political analytical skills. In this book, the life of the characters is purely determined by the political happenings of the time. (Bloom, 2007). Many literary and political analysts have found a place to refer to in interpreting political realities of the world in George Orwell’s works. Orwell is remembered for his other book Animal Farm that continues to spark emotional reactions from all over the world every day. A look at how the political theme gets manifested can help one to understand better the happenings in the story and their general applicability to the world we are living in. The Theme of Political Strife There are a number of themes that Orwell (1964) brings out in his book 1984. It is a prediction of the coming political sceneries in future since its publication came earlier before the year 1984. Among the major themes that can be found in the story are betrayal...
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...Area -1,220,813 sq km Neighbours-Namibia in the northwest, Zimbabwe and Botswana in the north, and Mozambique and Swaziland in the northeast Caiptal -Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial) 1 Natural Resources Only 12 % of South Africa’s land area is cultivated 8 % is forested South Africa is the world’s largest producer of gold, Witwatersrand Gold is mined to depths below (10,000 ft) Diamonds are another important source of South Africa’s mineral wealth. diamond fields are located in the Kimberley area of Northern Cape. South Africa also has large reserves of chromite, vanadium, andalusite, manganese, platinum, nickel, and fluorite Cape of Good hope from cape point Climate South Africa enjoys a generally warm, temperate climate. Most of the country experiences light rainfall and long hours of sunshine Gamskapoortdam, dry lands, Little Karoo De Beers diamond mines, Kimberley Table Mountain, South Africa 2 Natural RegionsHighest peak-Njesuthi, a peak of the Drakensberg(11,306 ft). The plateau region – The High Veld (southern continuation of the great African plateau that stretches north to the Sahara. The Middle Veld The Bush Veld. Rivers and Lakes- Orange, Vaal, and Limpopo. The Orange is the longest, stretching about 2,100 km (about 1,300 mi). Washing sand for diamonds on the banks of the Vaal River orange river Baobab Tree, Limpopo, Musina 3 ...
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...An exploration of postmodernism through textual analysis of Arrested Development. This essay will consider the postmodernism within the television programme Arrested Development through postmodern theories, postmodernist techiniques and textual analysis. Through historical context, genre conventions, intertextuality and continuity; the essay will investigate the use of pastiche in modern satire. As popular situation comedies fulfil the generic conventions of using multiple cameras, linear narratives, stand alone catchphrases and aspirational ideologies, the essay will deliberate whether post modernism is legitimate in television comedy. "As Hollywood agents worry about the demise of the town's lowing cash cow, the multi-camera, staged sitcom, here to save the day is Arrested Development, a farce of such blazing wit and originality, that it must surely usher in a new era in comedy." —Alison Powell, The Guardian (UK), March 12, 2005 Television situation comedy has always appealed to mass market audiences. From ‘The Brady Bunch’(1969 – 1974), which centred on a blended family, perhaps the best-known domestic comedy in US television history to ‘Cheers’(1982 – 1993), the show set in a bar in Boston. Sitcoms usually consist of recurring characters in a common environment such as a home or workplace. Sitcoms provide the audience with iconic moments in television history. The longitivity of this genre of programming allows the audiences to build up relationships with the characters...
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...1&u=monroecc&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w | Title: Hari Kunzru British Writer ( 1969 - )Author(s): Sophie RatcliffeSource: British Writers: Supplement 14. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2009. From Scribner Writers Series.Document Type: Biography, Critical essay[Image Omitted: ]Table of Contents:Biographical EssayFurther ReadingsWorks In 2007, visitors encountering Hari Kunzru's website for the first time might have been a little surprised. Those searching for more information about this British author would have come across an old school photograph of a small boy aged perhaps five or six years old. A few lines of curt white typeface gave a few brief details: his current age, the fact that he was born in London in 1969, and, perhaps surprisingly, his blood group (HbAD) and a hyperlink to his genotype (human). Kunzru is joking, here, about the contemporary thirst for biographical details about writers. As he puts it, nowadays, "British journalists seem more interested in your biography or your publishing deal--the British press is interested in writers, but it isn't interested in writing" (Litt, 2004). The starkly playful nature of Kunzru's 2007 website poked fun both at his readers and at the cult of the celebrity author. He is highlighting the idea that it is not the particularities of his individual biography that should be of interest but rather the fact that he is, like all who read the page, a human. Such teasing but morally engaged touches, such concern for equality and justice...
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...will be able to understand what is happening. I will also be telling you who is in the movie and what their roles are, the style and directing of the movie. I will also Critique the film regarding the flaws that was done, the editing to the style and the acting. The Original music was done by BT. Music plays throughout the movie; the colors are neutral at the beginning of the movie with certain key items showing full color, in one scene a United States flag is flying on a building. Dean Semler does the Cinematography’s work. His work includes Secretariat (2010) and Mad Max: Fury Road (pre-production) (2012). Stephen Rivhin did the film editing. His most recent work was Avatar (2009), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006). Making a movie is a genuinely collaborative effort. Large films employ literally hundreds of people who work together to create the finished product. Yet as with any endeavor that enlists the labor of so many people, there must be one person with the power and the overall vision to make sure that all the pieces come together as they should (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Rob Cohen has also directed XXX (2002) and the Fast and the Furious...
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...Ancient Art History Essay Ancient Greece, Rome, Etruscan Art 8/30/2012 Art 101A, World Art Garrett Stokes Garrett Stokes Art 101A, World Art Abbas Daneshvari 8/30/12 Ancient Art History Art history has been a vital part of the modern human experience. For thousands of years, the first painters and sculptors have given us the first displays that allowed people to see and touch tangible artwork. The artwork has also captured the history and lifestyle of that time. Art History has also expressed its social and political events that happened during that time. This gives the present person a good understand on what events took place during that era. Some of the most prominent artwork of the western civilization is Greek, Etruscan and Roman art. That historical artwork has paved the way for modern art to have a place in art history world. I will compare and contrast the Greek, Etruscan and Roman characteristic and traits of its historical artwork. During the Geometric and Orientalizing art in the 900-600 BCE, the human shape returned to Greek art in the structure of bronze statuettes and simple silhouettes and other motifs on Geometric vases. One art example is the Dipylon krater, Athens, ca 740 BCE. During the Archaic Art, 600-480 BCE the earliest real-life stone statues appeared in Greece. The first Greek kouroi copied the frontal poses of early Egyptian statues, however designed the young men nude the same way that the men competed in the Ancient Olympics. In the...
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...theory, a society that embraces multiculturalism is one in which two or more cultures coexist whilst harboring mutual respect for the other’s values and lifestyles and upholding a common national identity (Parekh 6). Multiculturalism implicitly assumes cultural equality, the notion that no culture is superior to another. The idea that cultural differences should be encouraged and protected is currently embraced by many Western political thinkers. The twenty-first century is an era of unprecedented globalization and cultural diffusion. However, the mingling of different cultures is often followed by disastrous consequences as seen in the turbulent political situation in Germany (Siebold, Reuters UK). Although Jonathan Swift wrote his travel satire Gulliver’s Travels in an age when multicultural societies had yet to emerge (indeed, cultural imperialism was the zeitgeist of the eighteenth century, an idea quite antithetical to multiculturalism), the cultural clash that Swift’s protagonist Lemuel Gulliver experiences with the foreign peoples he comes into contact with and observes between individuals within these societies portend the divisive aspects of human nature that preempt the possibility of a multiculturalist ideal. Gulliver is not a detached observer: his interactions with these societies eventually lead to his disillusionment about the goodness of humankind and destroy his own identity as an Englishman and a human being. Gulliver’s Travels echoes the...
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...flow. When a newsbreak is completely used up, and the reader is still interested in it, it becomes possible to fill the vacant space with excogitation, and sometimes to make everything up from scratch. And thus pseudonews are born - materials that replicate the style of information resources, but they differ from the real news by satirical content. The graduation thesis is devoted to pseudonews in the modern media space. In the framework of this thesis web sites and printed sources with pseudonews content, which are located in the U.S., Europe and Belarus are analyzed. The applicability of the graduation thesis is determined on the one hand, by constantly presenting interest in news, and, on the other hand, by growing needs in humor and satire. There is...
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...GBHN AND THE DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN INDONESIA Imam Subkhan Abstract After more than a decade Indonesia entered the New Reform era, there is now a desire among some politicians and intellectuals to revive the concept of the Guidelines (GBHN) to guide development planning as it was once used under the New Order regime. The desire was based on the view that the current development planning has led to much turmoil, collision and no sustainability. This paper describes the Guidelines used for development planning in the reform era called Long Term Development Plan (RPJMN) is somewhat similar to the Guidelines (GBHN) in the perspective of theory of modernization development. Therefore, chaos, development planning collision is actually not caused by the absence of the Guidelines itself, but rather on the changes of the state power system into more horizontal system so that no state agency is able to fully control the development planning from the center down to regions, something which was done well in the era of the New Order. Keywords: GBHN, RPJMN, Modernist, Development. During a political debate in Jakarta late March 2014, the 3rd President of Indonesia, BJ Habibie recalled the importance of having a Broad Guidelines of State Policy (GBHN) to be revived1. In late January 2014, at a meeting with Golkar Party cadres, Habibie also reminded the same thing. "We are aware, in the absence of such Guidelines the development in Indonesia will not run well on the long run. So, I want to...
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