Appropriation and Important Postmodern Strategy

Appropriation and Important Postmodern Strategy Important shifts in visual strategies in the arts mark the historic cross-over from the Modern to the postmodern paradigm. While this holds equally true in music and literature, it is the evolution of such strategies in the visual arts that this essay concentrates on. While such demarcation cannot be pinned down to a specific year or date, it is possible to convincingly chart this shift via an examination of the working strategies of three important painters: Americans Andy Warhol and David Salle, and Australias Imants Tillers. Postmodern art, by definition, rejects strict genre confines and, unlike modern art, celebrates the mixing of forms and ideas. As a result of this rejection, postmodernism advertises the use of irony, parody, satire, humour and collage. The use of appropriation in art is a useful strategy for commenting on or criticising aspects of life by recontextualising an image or object of already determined meaning. Giving new meaning to, or building upon the meaning of, an existing idea by redefining its context is an effective tool that alters or interferes with the viewers original association with an object or idea. This being immediately recognisable as a postmodern approach due to its embrace of contradiction, diversity and the unconventional. This is important as the message translates easily, giving meaning to a modern day audience. David Salles Tragedy, 1995, is a diptych. The right-hand panel is performed in grisaille, a technique predominantly used to render figures from one base colour or monotones, greatly accentuating the mood. In this panel are two figures, a smirking female, obliquely behind the main male figure who sits with hands on knees with the face distorted into a grotesque parody of despair. The left panels apparent pastiche is backgrounded by what appears to be a domestic scene derived from a 1950s advertisement, possibly a direct reference to Richard Hamiltons landmark artwork Just what is it that makes todays homes so different, so appealing? (1956), a work widely considered as a seminal precursor to Pop art. There is also a possible death motif in reference to the Cold War and the anxiety of the Atomic age of the post-WW2 West. In the centre is a black and white photograph of a bomb blast, surrounded by lemons, with a black glove at the top right corner. The explosion could also be representational of death, as well as the black glove being a traditional mourning trope, these funerary motifs all relating back to the tragic tone of the artwork, and the mans expression. Salles work is more about juxtaposition which he uses as a strategy to destabilise the ways in which we traditionally see, and at the same time reconfigure traditional visual narrative. He leans heavily on a simple strategy of montaging images of the banal and everyday. The effect is jarring and visually disturbing. In this, we can see his indebtedness to the better aspects of Pop like Warhol and James Rosenquist. Salle also created another diptych work entitled Comedy (1995) using the same layout, but mirrored with opposite facial expressions on the figures; as the man with an exaggerated frown in Tragedy now smiles in Comedy. The left panel of Comedy is also rendered in grisaille. In the right panel, an advertisement for a bedroom suite is set on its side and like the artists early works is collaged with additional imagery: a black and white photograph of a headless female fashion mannequin, enclosed by a garland of butterflies, and below a theatrically ruffled harlequin collar.   The paired titles may refer directly to Salles set and costume designs for ballet and theatre, as well as his endeavour into directing the 1995 feature film Search and Destroy. The tropes of the frilled glove and harlequin collar in Salles work of the early nineties hints to his involvement with the performing arts. A cinematic feel can also be identified in Salles juxtapositions of scenes that conjure a cinematic impression in which components are arranged to produce an alternative meaning that is not, indeed cannot, be seen in the singular images alone. The fact that the images of the man in the foreground are reversed when comparing Comedy and Tragedy also gives the viewer an ironic configuration of the Janus, the tragic and comic faces are referenced, via each other, into a singular idea. The God Janus was the protector of gates and doors, beginnings and endings and dates to Roman times. But beyond the traditional trope of the Janus, is the fact that he is two-faced. It may be of some interest to note that, before making it big as an artist Salle worked for a short time in the late 1970s as a paste-up artist for  Stag magazine, a pornographic publication. It is interesting to note that highly sexualised and fetish images making a regular appearance in his works of the 1980s. In  Tragedy  the main figure is haloed by a biomorphic shape, at once visceral and phallic. If this motif is indeed phallic, along with the bomb blast possibly symbolising a premature explosion, Tragedy may well portray a failure of male potency. Taking this reading,  Comedy must surely read as the opposite: the main male figure beams, proud and confident as opposite a bio-morphically enclosed female mannequin in a flowing gown stands without a head. The fact the female mannequin is headless is also interesting, being without identity, the female strictly objectified. The porn aesthetic is genuinely interesting though. While porn does not read compositionally the same as any other figurative traditions, porns narratives run to succinct, highly predictable paradigms. Pasting-up, now a dead skill as all such work is now done on a computer, was physically very much like a collage. Pasting-up is a compositional exercise where images and/or text are literally separate physical items pasted into position on a board for photo reproduction prior to final printing. So we could argue that some of Salles visual sensibility the recurring figures and images, the outlines of figures and objects cast over earlier images and grounds could have derived from his work for a porn publication. Salle was raised on the mythology of the Abstract Expressionists. Accordingly, the scale of his work is New York School-size; his 1995 diptych Tragedy is over 3.5 metres in length. Salle also defers to the Abstract Expressionist myth of all-over composition, the famous domain of Jackson Pollock. But rather than the frenetic, energetic marks of Pollocks famous Poured Period, Salle crams his canvasses full of eclectic figures and objects, often dissimilar and jarring, often seemingly disconnected and layered. It is an ironic homage to the macho painters of the New York School. Salle is widely considered one of the early blatantly postmodern painters by virtue of his subversion of the recognisable, and by distorting the familiar via awkward juxtapositions and unlikely compositional decisions. He drew from such widely artistic traditions as Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Realism and Cubism as well as images from popular culture. Although much of his work seems highly symbolic, Salles paintings seem not to contain a specific message, but rather leave space for the viewer to interact, to read into, the work. It is this interaction that brings the work to meaningful completion. This active engagement of the viewer is also a prime postmodern strategy. Imant Tillers use of quotation and appropriation has seen him classified as one of the early postmodern painters. His approach has a clearly personal element, despite appropriating imagery from both unknown and famous artists alike. Tillers 1985 work The Nine Shots is a an abstract figure who appears to be laying sprawled on his back, with nine target shapes all about him. Instantly, one can see the direct influence of Indigenous art influence on this piece. Tillers notably recontextualises the circular Indigenous motif for camp site or resting place to represent bullet holes. The main Aboriginal image Tillers has appropriated in The Nine Shots was Michael Nelson Tjagamarras Five dreamings, 1982. This appropriation lead to some considerable controversy, with allegations that appropriating Aboriginal imagery without permission impinged upon the moral privileges of the artist. The offence being exacerbated by the indissolubility of Aboriginal art from its environment. Tillers seemingly questioned identity established by and arising from locality by displaying appropriated cultural imagery with other images from different contexts. Over the next decade Tillers relationship with aboriginal art developed, even to the point of gaining a personal friendship with Tjagamarra whose work he incorporated without permission, the two even collaborating together in Nature Speaks: Y (Possum Dreaming) in 2001 using Aboriginal Walibri motifs. Walibri icons subsequently appearing as common elements in Tillers later work as a result. Tillers appropriation of aboriginal signs seems now to be more an appreciation of their artistic power. Although there has been no change in Tillers practice of appropriating Aboriginal art in his own work without permission, it could be deduced that the moral dilemma surrounding the re-using of sacred Aboriginal artworks has become less controversial, its treatment becoming more alike non-aboriginal art. While appropriating, building upon, borrowing from and being influenced by others art is now a mainstay of postmodern art, it is never going to be without hazard as art is not confined to particular types of objects. Aboriginal art it is a device of selfdom, a title deed to the land, a cypher of ancestral presence. It is the situation that Aboriginal law reserves rights to produce these sacred works to a limited group of artists and the infraction of these rights in the unauthorised borrowing of such art can be seen as a type of sacrilege that affects the foundation of the artists society. While widely recognised as the chief proponent of the Pop idiom, specific early works by Andy Warhol can retrospectively demonstrate the decline of the Modernist period. Warhols rejection of the machismo of the New York School is a classic Oedipal strategy. The best of the Abstract Expressionists had traded heavily on the supposed Jungian content of their work, whereby meaning was derived from the actual physical laying down of paint on canvas. Most notable of these, of course, was Jackson Pollock who was on the record in interview touting his Jungian pedigree. By implication also, this Jungian ideal cashed out on the implicit value of originality. To witness the extent to which adoration of the authentic mark of the artist extended, one only need examine the huge, stark calligraphic works of Franz Klein. But Warhol was notable in his total rejection of these ideas. His foppish, effeminate persona stood starkly at odds with the Abstract Expressionists who, we must remember, were still practising in the years of Warhols emergence in the early 1960s. In place of the Abstract Expressionists tortured surfaces were Warhols radically underworked monochrome renditions of newspaper advertisements and newspaper headlines as in  $199 Television, 1961. Warhols Campbells soup can, along with images of CocaCola bottles and Marilyn Monroe became the Pop Art movements representing motifs. The soup can being a satirical comment on Americas consumerism. By using the familiar image of Marilyn Monroes face he has turned it purely into an icon of pop culture, and no longer a person with depth and character. Her depiction is now just a shallow symbol of fame and beauty. Warhols signature use of the silkscreen completed his rejection of the New York style of painting of the late 1940s and 1950s. The silkscreen stood as a reproducible artwork, and the mechanic nature of this production put the artists hand at one remove from the finished product, especially given Warhol employed assistants to make the actual work while he stood as supervisor, and oversaw production.   In 1964 Warhol was one of ten artists commissioned to produce work for the World Trade Fair to be held in New York. Warhols contribution, Most Wanted Men, 1964 featured silkscreen portraits taken from FBI mugshots. This mural-sized work was installed on the outside wall of the Circarama, a one hundred foot circular cinema in which a 360-degree view of New York was projected. Within days of its installation, however, the Circaramas architect, Philip Johnson, had asked Warhol to remove Most Wanted Men, saying the New York State governor thought it would offend the many Italians among his constituents, given all the men depicted were Italian. Given twenty-four hours to replace or remove the work, Warhol had his assistants scale ladders and cover the portraits with industrial silver paint. The strategy is intriguing. Beginning with the idea of appropriating photographs, photo-silkscreening them to find the appropriate scale, and then, after the order that it be removed, Warhol chooses not to replace the work, but complete it with the metaphoric mirroring of the silver paint-out of the original image.   In real terms then, the interference or censoring offered by the Trade Fair organisers and associated politicians, did not necessarily result in a failure of this work. In the same way that many postmodern artists position their viewers to interact with a work in order to complete it, or find meaning, so Warhol played with the critical interference he was offered in a way that served the work and, perhaps more importantly, appended Most Wanted Men with a complex narrative that sited the artist as the  enfant terrible or provocateur who, in completing the work with a crude, industrial silver skin, metaphorically throws an unacknowledged and (given the ambiguity of its title, homoerotic) Narcissistic impulse back in the faces of the authorities. So whether the artists intent is purely representing a personal side of themselves to an audience, or to provoke controversy and questioning from the public, the use of appropriation is a useful strategy of postmodernity as it requires the participation of audience thought to make a work complete. This would seem very unconventional to Modern art, but thats what makes appropriation or recontextualization such a powerful postmodern tool. Salles personal love of the theatrical, Tillers questioning of sacred aboriginal art or Warhols parodic use of popular and commercial products; As can be seen from these well known artists and artworks of the postmodern era, building upon or giving new meaning to an image or object is a very efficient way of producing art with a message behind it.

Henry Moore at the Tate Britain | Summary

Henry Moore at the Tate Britain | Summary Tate Britain is one of the main galleries within London along with Tate modern, which is showing the works of the late Henry Moore (1898-1986), one of the worlds most famous pre-eminent sculptors of the 20th century along with Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) who is best known by his broad beamed, monumental reclining females. By the first half of the twentieth century there were also Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Jacob Epstein, and Barbara Hepworth. Which Moore met in 1921 as a fellow student? The Guardian The most important exhibition of Moores work for a generation As you approach the Tate Britain you are confronted with large Henry Moore banners hanging from four white poles on the Manton entrance gallery forecourt, just before you walk down the ramp and steps to the entrance. This makes it easy access for those who are disabled or have wheel chairs. Once inside the entrance youre confronted with a large open visitors and information area, to the right is the gallery shop and to the left is the gallery to the Henry Moore exhibition. This is clearly marked with posters and large wall boards behind the counters, where the tickets are bought. The ticket comes with a map of the whole gallery floor plans, which shows all the rooms throughout the Tate Britain. The whole gallery holds a wide variety of works from famous artists within the 15th to 21st century covering all aspects of British art, history and society. For the Moore exhibition viewers they are also given a fold out leaflet on Henry Moores work within the exhibition giving you a breakdow n of the movements and themes around the time of his works pieces. Viewers are now ready to see the work of the man they read in history books, on websites and within universities to colleges. When entering the first room viewers are greeted with a semi dark atmosphere with a reddish burgundy wall blended with cream walls. These colours make the room feel warm with relaxing surroundings for the sculptures that are positioned on their white plinths. Several pieces were also displayed in clear cases. There where images on the walls and four stone figure masks, also large reclining figures and images of people lying or sleeping in dark scary tunnels in war time. With each displaying piece there was an information plaque. Each piece had a number of individual spot lights pointing to them from the ceilings, which set the pieces off well giving each peace its own individuality. The Daily Telegraph We see a different Moore from the one most of us know In 1901 Moore studied one of the old masters from the 15th to 18th century. The great Michelangelo, this is when Moore first became interested in sculpture. By this time of his life Moore was constantly visiting the British museum. Here he encountered that pre-modern art. Also at this time of his life he came across the author, roger frys, book of vision and design. Like fry Moore soon believed that primitive art did convey a possessed intense vitality. When the first publication was printed in December of 1920, which Moore soon read? Here is when Moore first started becoming interested in the primitive art form and the processes. In 1922 Moore begin his first carvings in wood and stones.he particuly love english stones. Around this time moore carved his his first mother and child piece. You can clearly recognize the primitive side to Moores first sculpture pieces within the first gallery rooms. These works fall under the time when modernism was really being challenged. Even Moore hi mself began to challenge the modernism style. You can clearly see this within Moores later years. Each sculpture is positioned so the viewers can study the whole piece from every angel. while walking around them. So with each individual piece u can see how the light reflects off the shapes. which Moore clearly intended to show when positioned out side. This is what makes it easier to understand each piece individually with in the gallery space. When the viewer first walks in to the gallery there is a write up printed on each and every room entrance. You will also notice there are sculptures relating to the mother and child in each room too. The first rooms fall under the time of modernism the next room is the mother and child room then you move on to moores post war peices. Along with Up to here Within this essay I have been looking at the Henry Moore Exhibition at the Tate Britain in London. As explained in the introduction to the exhibition, this focuses on Moores career from the 1920s to the 1960s. This solo exhibition has been widely publicized and praised as these newspapers and quotes show. The Guardian The most important exhibition of Moores work for a generation All the grand claims about archetypes, about humanity essentialised in beautiful organic forms: all are justified by the drawings of sleepers, and the rarely shown images of miners at the coal-face. Moore finds form, in all respects it seems, in draughtsman ship rather than sculpture. Comfortable, passive, smooth, polite: the subject can be as dramatic as a mortally wounded man, as monstrous as a lopped and bloated corpse, and still the sculptures lack singularity and power. What strikes most is their family resemblance, their Mooreishness, their steady continuation down the long decades of his career. It is almost half a century since Herbert Read described them as forms that are vital to the life of mankind, as if we could scarcely survive without them. The world has changed, but the art has not. I cannot believe we were looking at the same sculptures The guardian Talks about how moors works are viewed in the twenty-first century. I think there being a little bit harsh and over critical with his creations and ideas for his sculptures and his works on paper. These where created in the nineteenth century and the views on the works are not the same. The work should be viewed on the ideas of Moore craftsmanship with stone and the desire to the figurative form with the illusion of light and dark and the working with shadows to express the forms. When positioned in the outside environment which plays a big part to observing his pieces with in a natural world. So how can you really see the full potential of moors work when placed within the Tate Britain gallery halls? The Daily Telegraph We see a different Moore from the one most of us know Moore was unlucky in that the years after his death in 1986 were a period of tremendous innovation in British sculpture. As the careers of Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon, and Anish Kapoor hit their stride, it was hard to look at Moores work with a sense of discovery and excitement. Almost a quarter of a century on, we are far enough away to see it in perspective. It no longer looks passà ©, but eternal How was Moore so unlucky after his death? He has succeeded in many ways his work shows how his life was and the forms of his figure sculptures tell a story of desire and passion. he had while working in various stones, even his paper and ink drawings shows a time of desperations in the world of war. People sleeping in the tunnels to survive another day scared wondering if there was going to be a tomorrow. His figure drawing drawn with various mediums from ink and chalk and different washes looking mainly at the form consisted with natural light. Moore was not unlucky as the papers says his work is on show even to this day celebrating his career and life with in the Tate Britain walls yes his figures may be similar to one another in a dimensional way but his craftsmanship and his relation to explore the use of stone is what is important here and the timeline when sculpture artists where still really discovering them selfs in the world of art. As during the time of the 1930s the directions of Nicholson and Hepworths work looked so similar. Even in painting and sculpture they were developing there own vocabulary of pure, simplified forms, along with sculpturer Henry Moore and other artists such as? the leading European practitioners of the new abstract art Naum Gabo, Piet Mondrian, Constantin Brancusi and Jean Arp. For these artists abstraction and the concern with pure forms had a democratic, utopian social aspect and a universal character that could transcend national differences. This vision stood in stark contrast to the rise of fascism, with its emphasis on racial identity and literal, propagandistic art. The Metro Theres Moore to him than you think The big interview: Henry Moore For some, seeing a Henry Moore sculpture indoors is like watching a wild animal in captivity. We are accustomed to viewing his work on display in provincial towns, surrounded by acres of green space, so the prospect of finding more than 150 pieces cooped up under artificial light seems unnatural. However, for this first major London retrospective of the sculptors work since his death in 1986, a darker interior setting should prove entirely fitting? Tate Britain aims to show that, far from being the cosy father figure of 20th-century sculpture, Moore was in fact a more responsive and innovative artist than many give him credit for. Moore is familiar and still so popular yet theres a sense that his critical reputation isnt what it might be, partly because of that familiarity. Says curator Chris Stephens. The language used in the publicity was aimed at a wide range of public audience to attract the general public. There were large flags outside the gallery entrance and posters on the walls within the reception area to publicize the exhibition. The culture show dedicated an hour show programme to the artist, which also included a discussion from the exhibition curator, Chris Stevens. As the publicity includes news clips, national papers and large scale publicity at the gallery these all combine to show the importance of this solo exhibition.

Life Goes On in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart :: Things Fall Apart essays

Things Fall Apart and Life Goes On Achebe often centers on the conflicts of man within himself and with his culture. Things Fall Apart is no exception. Achebe’s story is about a strong man, Okonkwo, whose life is dominated by fear and anger. The fear of the main character, Okonkwo, is generated first by fear of failure and then by a fear of the unknown. The unknown in this story is the oncoming of the English into Africa. A religion is brought to the villages, and new ways of thinking arise. Overall, the African village Okonkwo knew and grew up in slowly begins to disappear. Okonkwo is not only afraid for himself but for his entire village. He is afraid that his culture will vanish and be forgotten by the younger generations. Achebe is able to show the reader his intentions at the very beginning of the book by including a quote from W.B. Yeats’ poem "The Second Coming": Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. Achebe lets the reader know from the beginning that Nigeria's rich cultural heritage is falling apart and that there will be no happy ending. The life of Okonkwo symbolizes the life and richness of the tribe and village. As the story progresses Okonkwo’s life begins to go downhill and so does that of the village. The story ends with the death of Okonkwo and the death of an entire civilization. The colonials have taken over the village; the children no longer believe in the old ways. Things fall apart and no one wants to put them back together. Life goes on with the invasion of the English, but never will it be the same. Achebe was born and raised in a large village in Nigeria. He was also educated in Nigeria. After a short career in radio, Achebe began to lecture abroad and settled for a while as an English professor at the University of Massachusetts.

Effect of marajuana on college campus :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana can be found on every college campus in the United States and is the drug of choice coming in right behind alcohol. Harvard School of public health conducted a survey over the last eleven years and found that marijuana use in college has gone from 26.4 % in 1989-1991 to 33.6% in 2000 (http://www.edc.org/hec/pubs/prev-updates/marijuana.html). According to a similar study, the majority of students on college campuses that use marijuana will also participate in other high risk activities. This destructive behavior includes things such as cigarette smoking, binge drinking and sex while intoxicated. Marijuana is so easy to obtain and can be very tempting to experiment with, especially if you have already had a few drinks and your thinking is impaired.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana prices have a major effect on the amount of use by college students at any given point in time. Although it may be more socially available on college campuses, the price still determines the usage. The fact that marijuana is illegal in the United States helps to keep the price at a seemingly higher level. This artificial price illusion regulates the buying, selling and usage among college students. Compared to alcohol, marijuana is much more accessible, especially on college campuses. Getting alcohol requires an ID or someone with an ID. Getting marijuana only requires someone that supplies the drug. So even though it is illegal, marijuana is seemingly more common.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since possession of marijuana is illegal, it is not surprising that the consequences can be so debilitating. While attending college with federal financial aid, you run the risk of jeopardizing your federal aid by being charged with a misdemeanor. Possession of marijuana is considered a misdemeanor and if you are charged, the federal government has the right to take away any government aid that you were granted. So not only do you have a record for possession, but more than likely you are going through the judicial system of the college or university and may be suspended or expelled.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana use can also lead to academic problems. Students that participate in these behaviors have a tendency to spend more time socializing than concentrating on what they should be, their academics. These students spend more time partying than studying which greatly affects their academic performance. Two of the physical effects of marijuana that directly affect academics are difficulty in problem solving and poor memory. Students may become less and less motivated to be involved in campus activities, and also may become decreasingly concerned with their long-term goals and career plans.

All societies and cultures place a great emphasis on the differences between males and females

All societies and cultures place a great emphasis on the differences between males and females. When a child is born we categorise its gender as being either male or female, or of either being a girl or a boy, and depending on which of these categories you fall in to will have a huge bearing on how your life will evolve. Some basic facts can serve as starting points. The unique reproductive capacities of females normally mark their lives by menstruation, pregnancy, parturition, lactation, and menopause. Males are, on average, larger and have greater physical strength than females in the same population. The burden of evidence also indicates that males are more aggressive, although this is not as well established as the facts of physical morphology and reproductive capacity (Nadelson, pg 3, 1991) However, as Nadelson states none of these capacities or apparent predispositions are uniformly translated into adaptive outcomes across human populations because of variations in technology, socioeconomic organisation, and cultural values. Female reproduction can be halted by celibacy or infertility or delayed by the use of contraception, and lactation can be avoided by using infant formula. The strength of males can diminish as machinery becomes available to do the heavy work. The aggressiveness of young males, though valuable for defence can become socially disruptive if there is no need for local troops. Behavioural differences between boys and girls can be reduced in later childhood when they are raised together and boys perform tasks defined as feminine. Thus the existence of gender specific capacities does not predict how or to what extent they will be used for purposes of adaptation. (Nadelson, pg 4, 1991) Field work carried out by anthropologists within non Western societies provide support for this point, in the East African highlands, where ploughs and animals are absent, the heavy work of cultivation is done largely by women. The same women carry 50-pound loads on their heads over considerable distances, in addition to bearing and raising children and managing their homes. Anthropologists use the term socialisation as a concept to mean the teaching that prepares the young to be competent members of their society. Training children to fit gender roles and to internalise the benefits and values appropriate to performing their roles in all situations and social instructions is a primary job of socialisers the world over. (Herdt, pg 68, 1987) Throughout history many people have long since argued to what extent culture can shape gender and what influences gender identity. The physical appearance of someone, the way they dress and how they act are all supposed to be characteristics of being either male or female. All cultures have acceptable roles based on the sex of the individual and these roles are determined by a person's position within their family and society. Many argue that gender roles are culturally rather than biologically produced and whiles a person's sex refers to biological differences between male and females, it is through gender socialisation that a person acquires his or her gender. It is through this process that a person learns what is masculine and feminine, and how to act accordingly, dependant on the surroundings he or she is in. (www. sociology. org. uk/tecelth. htm) Giddens states that when speaking of sexual differences we are distinguishing between males and females, when speaking of gender it is between masculine and feminine. The content of the male / female distinction is genetically determined and largely universal, whereas the content of the masculine / feminine distinction is culturally determined and highly variable. Giddens, pg 148, 1987) Depending on the society in which we live depends on the activities and characteristics donated to males and females, and while these may be deemed as natural within their own unique culture this may not be so throughout all of society. An example of this being the rituals carried out within the Sambia, an initiation takes place were the main purpose is to make boys big and strong and to make them aggressive warriors. They have to be removed from their mothers and other females as this will also remove their feminine traits, such as shyness and crying. The initiation process involves ridding them of these feminine traits and unlearning all of their so far learnt behaviour. They have to learn how to be masculine. However, this is also a slight two fold initiation in that the Sambia believe that as the male body is incapable of producing semen it has to be externally acquired, as the presence of semen in the body is a sign of masculinity. The semen is digested orally, provided by older members of the men's secret society. The boys will never be allowed back to theirs mothers again and will remain with the other male members of the tribe throughout their childhood, teenage years and early manhood. The female is seen as weaker and the boys can not be allowed to be weakened by her. (Herdt, pg 68, 1987) As has already been identified different societies define gender roles in a variety of different ways, however what is evident is that regardless of culture or society, males tend to always have more power and more authority than women. Giddens, pg 149, 1987) Anthropologists such as George Peter Murdoch argue that biological differences such as the greater physical strength of men and the fact that women bear children lead to a sexual division of labour in society. Murdoch surveyed 224 societies and found that tasks such as hunting, lumbering and mining are usually part of the male role, while cooking and child care were usually assigned to the women. Murdoch states that women were handicapped by the physiological burdens of pregnancy and nursing. (Haralambos, pg 267, 1986) The rise of the Women's Liberation Movement have contributed to the criticism that gender roles are shaped by biology, and more are now arguing that the roles of men and women are determined by culture and are therefore learned as part of the socialisation process, and ultimately there is nothing natural about the roles that women play. It is all learnt behaviour, and as Marjorie Garber states in Vested Interest (1991) the reason that that female to male transgendered people are not generally seen as that remarkable as their male to female equivalents is because it is quite normal in our male dominated culture for a woman to want to become a man, as it is still recognised that social power is most often attached to being male. Even Sigmund Freud's theory on gender was based on the idea that the ownership of a penis reflects masculinity and power, and being female means simply being absent of a penis. Girls, he states suffer from â€Å"penis envy† and due to this they under value their mother's position in the family because she lacks a penis. The father is therefore generally in power and makes all females within the family adopt a submissive attitude. This is referred to by Freud as the Electra Complex. Freud's theory comes in for a lot of criticism by many, as most of his analysis is based solely on biological differences, namely the ownership of a penis. However, as Mark Johnson discovered whilst carrying out fieldwork in the Southern Philippines the ownership of a penis is not always a sign of masculinity and it is rather what is done with it. The ‘bantut' he discovered was thought of by almost all of the community as a man who was either sexually impotent in some way, or who had a small penis, or who was unable to have or sustain an erection (Johnson, pg 94, 1997) It could not be conceived that the ‘bantut' chose this way of life and the desire to be elegant and sensual, to take care over their appearance, to appreciate beauty, to be vulnerable and protected, to be tender and caring, to be coy and flirtatious. As in many cultures there are two types of gender, male and female, masculine or feminine. Transgender is a term that has over recent years entered the vocabulary as a term to designate to anyone not covered by the term, man or woman (www. glbthistory. org/about/ourstory/tg-at-hs. lasso) However, it should be noted that transgender people, along with homosexuals, women and any number of racial and ethnic groups have joined the ranks of being publicly recognised minorities. www. badsubjects. com/issueno7/1993/annaleenewitz) In Cross-Dressing and Re-Dressing: Transvestism as Metaphor, Gilbert and Gubar remark that both Violet Trefusis and Vita Sackville-West wrote about their experiences of there being more than one possibility of opposite genders: In 1920, when Vita Sackville West looked back on her exuberant impersonation of the wounded soldier, ‘Julian' during the height of her post war love affair with Violet Trefusis, she was bemused. She had experienced herself, she remembered, as inhabited by several sexes: â€Å"I hold the conviction that as centuries go on the sexes will become more nearly merged on account of their increasing resemblances† (Gilbert & Gumar, pg 324, 1989) Clearly, this has not happened, eighty six years on and although, although it is not illegal for a man to wear women's clothing, we would certainly not appear to be moving towards a gender free, multi-gender or even gender-balanced society, despite living in an age were hairstyles and clothing have such a huge impact on how we perceive a person and their individuality. Why in the twenty first century is it still more acceptable for a man to carry a knife than to wear women's clothes, and why is it still so clear that they are women's clothes. (Suthrell, pg 9, 2004) The area of gender is a very confusing and at times very cloudy one. It appears that studies throughout history have shown that there are explicit differences between sex and gender and that it is society which transforms biological males and females into sociological men and women. Children it appears discover their gender identity from their parents and parents construct their identity by ensuring that they pursue interests and adopt mannerisms that are stereotypical of a male or female within their society. This means that from a very early age the child knows which gender category he or she falls into. In Western society it could be argued that the media plays a huge role in depicting how males and females should behave, with women usually portrayed in the traditional role of mother and wife, or damsel in distress. Indeed, many fairytales, which have a huge influence on children still tend to portray men as the heroic male, who along with saving the planet will ultimately also have to save the female too. Even in non Western societies were the media have very little or no influence gender roles are still very apparent, Ian Hogbin's account of childbirth and the role of men in a New Guinea villages gives an account of men supposedly being too clumsy and unskilled to minister to a tiny infant, and therefore, the father does not touch his young offspring. After about two weeks the women may give it to him for a few minutes, but six months elapse before he holds it for any length of time. (Hogbin, pg 58, 1963) From birth this child will know his or her place within the village and thus history continues to repeat itself. Nobody within the village will question why things are done this way and social pressure will ensure that this is how things continue. It could therefore be assumed that it is in fact social pressure which ensures that most within society conform to the gender role bequeathed to them, a role which they are led to believe is â€Å"normal† and this is why those who elect their own gender, whether that be male, female or something entirely different are usually pushed out of society and not accepted.

Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter

This term we studied a play, originally written for television, called Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter. It is described as a â€Å"deceptively simple tale†, the reason for this is that although the plot appears to show the events of seven West-Country seven year olds on a summer afternoon during the Second World War it holds a completely different underlying meaning. Over the course of the play the children play and fight as seven year olds do. However Dennis Potter insisted that the seven year olds be played by adults. His reason for this was that he wanted his audience to realise the true realities of childhood are not â€Å"transparent with innocence†, which he said himself. He didn't want the audience to react to two girls playing with doll with an indulgent â€Å"ah!† he did not want people to see the adorable and seemingly innocent side to childhood. From his own experiences he understood that he had some of the same feelings that he once had a child. He recalls that when walking alone in the â€Å"wrong parts† of New York he felt â€Å"almost exactly the same fear that I had felt four decades earlier† when he had been â€Å"waylaid by one particular bully in the high hedge lanes†. He says that he â€Å"did not want these, or any other, emotions to be distanced by the presence of young limbs, fresh eyes. And falsetto voices†. He wanted his audience to be able to feel some sort of resemblance between their own feelings and those of the characters in the play and these emotions were not all innocent ones. Another reason he chose adults was because he wanted his audience to see how children really played, as they subtly alter their behaviour when they are being watched by adults. After reading the play carefully we then discussed the themes of Blue Remembered Hills: Death Games War Limitations of Childhood Happiness Loss of Fear Innocence Bullying Friendship Child Abuse We then narrowed these down into four main themes Innocence Guilt Bullying War We then performed a still image on each of these four themes. My group had to perform the themes bullying and guilt. Preparing and carrying out these still images helped us capture the emotions and reactions of the characters involved. BULLYING GUILT BULLYING: Levels were very important in this still image as they helped show the different status of each character. With this in mind, we decided to have one character on a lower level than the others. This character was kneeling down curled up, whilst the other was standing in a tall and confident way towering over him/her. This made it obvious to the audience who was in control of the situation. Also the positioning of the characters was important. We wanted to show how the one being bullied wanted to create distance but that the other wanted to dominate the situation. We did this by having the one being bullied shrinking away shielding their face. To show how the character in charge was bullying the other they were pointing and laughing whilst they had a slightly angry expression on their face. GUILT: I found this still image harder to create. We decided to have one character accusing another, whilst the accused character being the centre of attention so as to show they were guilty. Again we found levels very important. To emphasise who in the still image was guilty we had this character on a higher level whilst looking slightly scared and anxious. We did this by having this character biting their nails to show anxiety and standing with hunched shoulders as if to hide their guilt. The other character had an angry expression to show their mood. This character stood a good distance from the other as if they were trying to exclude the accused character. After having narrowed down the many themes into four main themes, we were able to use the still images to understand the emotions of the characters. We were able to explore deeper into how children the age of seven would have reacted and behaved in these situations. This helped us greatly when we did work off text. Another way in which we explored the play was with role-play. During one of our first lessons our teacher told us to play tag, something that seven year olds would do. At first we felt awkward but soon we were all running around the room. When we stopped playing we discussed how we had felt. * Even though it had been a long since playing tag I found it very invigorating. * Whilst playing I never stopped to think about whether I was tired or not, but once I stopped playing I realised I was very out of breathe. * I was surprised at how much energy I had and how I continued to feel energised even after I had stopped playing. * I also noticed how whilst we were playing, there had been no boundaries between any of the students and that we didn't care if the person we were chasing or running away from was a boy or a girl or if they were our friend or not. We then discussed the similarities between our behaviour whilst playing tag and the behaviour of seven year olds. I realised that without any preparation we had already imitated the behaviour of children. I realised how all the actions feelings I had whilst playing tag I had already had when I was seven years of age (this reminded me of Dennis Potter's Quote which I included in the first paragraph). I noticed that many of the things I did when role playing, were things that a seven year old would do as well. For example, how I never stopped running or moving even when I was tired and out of breathe.

Knowledge Is Power Essay

Knowledge is Power, but knowledge does not always come with power. Knowledge is the state of awareness or understanding gained from experience or study learning specific information about something. This means a person has the resourcefulness to obtain and criticize useful and informative information in order to become well informed citizens who can make intelligent decisions based upon their understanding and awareness of everyday situations. Does this make them powerful? Is a question that creeps into ones mind? Well, power is said to be the ability or capacity to act or perform effectively. Without knowledge, how can this ability to perform effectively, be possible? Indeed, it cannot. This proves that knowledge is very much a necessity to gain Power. Education is the key to success is one of the sayings that one hears throughout their college life. It is invariably true that every person who is knowledgeable leads a successful life. Education plays an important role in promoting a nations economic growth, as well. When you look at Americaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s rise to power during the past war era it is easy as well as trivial to attribute it to the abundance of natural resources and surplus number of new inventions. But, really we must consider how those inventions came about and how those natural resources were utilized to a productive end. More importantly than what made America the most powerful country in the world is why it became the most powerful country. It wasn’t luck, or coincidence or the fact that they had abundant resources but because they laid a firm foundation for their people by educating them and making them valuable members of the society who could meet the demands of the competing world. Investment in higher education is worthwhile because how much you spend on it right now definitely will make up for the amount it makes you gain later in life.