«The Dance of Death is perhaps better known by the French phrase danse macabre. . In music the Dance of Death theme still survives in the German totentanz.. ...» Document abstract
$2.95
3 word format
Language : english
arts and art history
presentation
date published
01/05/2008
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 0 times
SummaryThe robed, skeletal figure of Death interacting with the living has become an iconic image in contemporary culture, adorning Tarot cards, album covers and T-shirts; appearing in film, books and artistic prints. Our fascination with and fear of mortality has existed since humans first walked upon the earth. It wasn’t until the early 1500s, however, that the most famous imagery of Death began to proliferate across Europe, due in large part to the catastrophe of the bubonic plague less than two hundred years earlier. In this paper we will explore the history of the Dance of Death, its influence on medieval society and art, and the ways in which it has inspired artists throughout the centuries.The Dance of Death is perhaps better known by the French phrase danse macabre. The first known appearance of the word macabre dates back to the 14th century—that of the Black Death—in a poem by Jean Le Fevre, Je fis de Macabre la danse. Yet the word’s etymology, according to some sources, stems from the Maccabees, the Christian martyrs from whom the Purgatorial prayer of intercession originated
Table of Contents
- The Dance of Death is perhaps better known by the French phrase danse macabre.
- Medieval Europeans had no science to explain that plagues were a natural occurrence.
- The medieval danse macabre reminded people of 'the frailty and vanity of earthly things'.
- The arts have almost always been receptive to representations of the macabre.
- The two most common forms of the danse macabre were mural paintings with texts beneath them in churches or cemeteries.
- In music the Dance of Death theme still survives in the German totentanz.
- Only one contemporary event truly captures the spirit of the Dance of Death in its original form.
« writer and have dabbled in many other creative pursuits, including art, drama, music and dance? Moreover, oddly, prior to my friend's death, life's journeys ...» Document abstract
$3.95
4 word format
Language : english
psychology
school essay
date published
19/12/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : General public
requested 0 times
SummarySuicide. The mere mention of the word makes most of us disturbingly uncomfortable. Yet, just as we run outside, and down the street wearing only a bathrobe, transfixed by a cavalcade of emergency vehicles’ flashing lights, urgently needing to know “what happened,” our morbid curiosity about suicide overcomes our apprehension. Sure we’re squeamish and will deal with it only if we can act like adolescents, hiding their eyes (with open hands) or covering their heads (with see-through blankets) while watching “scary” movies. Despite our fear and outrage, we are still compelled to sneak a peek!
« Thus, his giving away of his possessions is a death and also a rebirth-he Although Why Don't You Dance does not necessarily reek of political implications; the ...» Document abstract
$3.95
4 word format
Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
30/08/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Expert
requested 1 times
SummarySome might insist that Raymond Carver’s short stories prove hopelessly post-modern—and that may be. However, his work remains the first that ever pulled me out of the writing into a deep pondering of the reality he creates in junction with the kind of people that compose the society in which I live. For the first time in my reading career, I became a collaborator….
Table of Contents
- Raymond Carver portrays a minimalist world, stripping his language and characters of the flowery details that detract from bare human nature
- In the story Why Don't You Dance, Carver uses a combination of ambiguity and familiarity to make something ordinary new
- In contrast, the girl is as passive as the language used to describe her and her story
- It is no coincidence that Carver's story involves the giving away of material possessions
- The characters in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love dwell on their realizations for longer
- Although Mel's statement seems inappropriate, they are in too much denial to respond
- Raymond Carver's stories beg the question: why create characters in hopeless vacillation?
« Naked young girls dance over open flames in hopes of increasing their fertility, and boys fool-he is dressed as Mr. Punch as they lead him to his fiery death. ...» Document abstract
$4.95
5 word format
Language : english
film studies
term papers
date published
19/11/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 0 times
SummaryA horror movie does not work unless it is frightening. A meek horror film is as ineffective as an unfunny comedy or an uninteresting drama. If a horror film succeeds at being scary, then, by definition, the filmmakers behind it have accomplished what they set out to make. The difference between a good horror movie and a great horror movie, however, is its ability to transcend the genre. Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) is, today, universally accepted as one of the greatest genre movies of all time. It is a perfectly crafted horror film; frightening and engrossing. It is also much more than the horror movie. With its emphasis on music and songs, at times it approaches a musical. Moreover, its highly engrossing storyline and deep, well-rounded characters arguably make it a drama. However, The Wicker Man is, at heart, a horror film. Its ability to transcend the genre lies in its willingness to acknowledge itself as a horror movie, and its capacity to move far beyond such a simple categorization. An intelligent, thought-provoking work, it challenges the very ideals most audience members hold sacred. Taking on organized religion, sex, and morality, The Wicker Man deals with topics and ideas that most films are afraid to confront. Perhaps due to the fact that it was created under the simple classification of a “horror movie”, it is able to explore themes that most mainstream films shy away from. The Wicker Man stands as one of the greatest horror films ever made, but it is much more. Highly influential, thoroughly controversial, and inarguably provocative, it is an intensely brave movie that has the ability to transcend almost any label that can be attached to it.
Table of Contents
- The film begins in Scotland, where Police Sgt. Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) receives a mysterious letter from Summerisle; a small, reclusive island off the coast of the mainland.
- Sgt. Howie is a deeply religious, intensely prudish police officer that lives and breaths by the word of the Bible.
- As The Wicker Man progresses, however, these traditions seem less and less mysterious, and the audience begins to grow intensely interested in the belief system of the people of Summerisle.
- That night, as Sgt. Howie is praying by his bedside, he witnesses Lord Summerisle standing with a teenage boy outside Willow's window.
- The Wicker Man is, for the most part, even-handed in its representations of Christianity and the pagan-based ideology of the Summerislanders.
- Sgt. Howie eventually discovers that Rowan Morrison is alive, but believes that she is in great danger.
- It is not hard to see why The Wicker Man, upon its initial release, was largely praised by critics, and largely ignored by audiences.
- The Wicker Man is a brilliant genre picture because it is atmospheric, frightening, and in the end, quite disturbing; all attributes of any successful horror film.
« The banjo contributed to the creation of the clog - dance tunes that became popular by a Grammy for his performance of the Appalachian dirge "O Death" for Best ...» Document abstract
$9.95
10 word format
Language : english
arts and art history
research papers
date published
19/02/2008
review : not yet assessed
level : General public
requested 0 times
SummaryAppalachian music. Usually paired with the image of hicks on a dilapidated porch in West Virginia. To some Americans, Appalachian music could seem to be a genre of simple minded folk songs from a poor town in the southern mountains of North America. Some people may simply think of the Deliverance theme song, met by the image of a handicapped child playing his banjo in the trails of Appalachia. What most people do not think about is the significance that Appalachian music plays in most of the music America listens to today. This music has influenced many other genres, including Rock & Roll, Classical and even Punk, and especially what we know today as urban folk.
Table of Contents
- Where is Appalachia?
- History.
- How music was used within Appalachian culture.
- Characteristics od Appalachian music.
- Instruments.
- Notables of the genre - past and mordern day contributors.
- How Appalachian music is relevant to our American culture then and now.
« his godly duties, or, in some creation stories, begins his dance of destruction Before his death, the Buddha supposedly directed his followers to honor his ...» Document abstract
$4.95
5 word format
Language : english
literature
presentation
date published
03/08/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 4 times
SummaryIn India, there are many cities and other sites that are considered especially sacred to the Goddess and her devotees. These places are called pīthās. Pīthās provide unique insight into Goddess worship and what the Goddess; the Devī; the Mother means to her followers. What follows here is a brief survey of pīthās: what they are, what they mean, and where they come from historically and mythically. The possible Buddhist origins and/or connections of these sites are especially crucial to this report; therefore, correlations between sacred Buddhist sites and pīthās will also be discussed. First, the origin story of the pīthās will be presented for reference.
Table of Contents
- P'th's for Beginners
- What the P'th's Mean
- P'th's as Actual Places
- Who Let the Buddha in?
- The Tantric Connection
- Review and Concluding Remarks
« "And because I am happy and dance and sing accursed hands." While Frankenstein does take full responsibility for his creation and his brother's death, he places ...» Document abstract
$2.95
3 word format
Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
08/10/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : General public
requested 0 times
SummaryWhen Steven King releases a new novel it is bound to be one of the scariest works of literature around. King’s books, filled with images of deformed dolls and haunted houses, strike fear in the hearts of his readers. King’s writing appeals to our senses, torturing and manipulating them to create a sense of fear. We are horrified immediately following the reading of a scary line, but that sensation only last for a minute until we are brought back to reality. We know that what we just read is not about to happen and is completely fiction so we get on with our lives. While the “high” we get from this sensual fear alters our senses, it is the horror of reality that strikes true fear into people. Most of the time we can clearly see this horror, but the true horror comes when a nightmare exist right in front of our eyes, yet we are blinded to it until someone comes along and reveals it to us. These prophetic voices, like writers such as William Blake and Mary Shelly, open our eyes to the horrors of reality, but they do so in a subtle way. In neither of their writings do these authors expressly condemn certain aspects of society, but rather make these horrors known, leaving it up to the reader to make their own decisions. Through the readings of Frankenstein and the “Songs of Innocence and Experience”, the reader must “bring in their own sense” in order to begin to see the horrors that are hidden from most of society.
Table of Contents
- When Steven King releases a new novel it is bound to be one of the scariest works of literature around. King's books, filled with images of deformed dolls and haunted houses, strike fear in the hearts of his readers.
- In Joseph Conrad's book Heart of Darkness, Kurtz proclaims in his last breath, 'The horror, the horror!?
- In contrast to Blake, Mary Shelly's writing does not attempt to portray the ills of society, but rather focuses on the relationship between science and nature.
- The interesting aspect of both author's writings is that neither explicitly voices their opinions on certain subjects.
- The interesting aspect of both author's writings is that neither explicitly voices their opinions on certain subjects.
- When Frankenstein, at the end of the novel, is taken in by Walton onto his ship, he continues his lament of his creation.
- After reading these works, we are now equipped with the knowledge of such horrors which can be a double-edged sword.
« Instead of teaching her how to do the dance properly, the Siamese woman immediately in fashion of lowly toad" and on Anna's reaction to the king's death. ...» Document abstract
$5.95
6 word format
Language : english
literature
presentation
date published
24/04/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 4 times
SummaryFewer stories of a Western encounter with the “Other” have been more popular than that of the English governess Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam, now Thailand. The fascination began with the two books written by Anna herself, The English Governess at the Siamese Court and The Romance of the Harem, published in 1870 and 1873, respectively. Her story did not become famous, however, until Margaret Landon condensed the two books into the best-selling Anna and the King of Siam in 1944 (Kim 2). Two years later, the book was made into a movie starring Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison then a Broadway production as a musical play by Rodgers and Hammerstein with Gertrude Lawrence as Anna and Yul Brynner as the king. The most famous adaptation of the story was the 1956 Hollywood film entitled The King and I, with Deborah Kerr as the English school teacher opposite Brynner. It raised a scandal in Thailand for its ridiculous representation of King Mongkut, one of Thailand’s national heroes, and was consequently banned there. Nearly a half-century later in 1999, Twentieth Century Fox decided to revive Anna Leonowens’ story once again, supposedly determined this time, however, to give an accurate portrayal of Siam and its monarch. Although Anna and the King corrects many of the earlier faults of The King and I and even adds outright jibes at imperialism and the attitudes of British colonizers, it is still infused with the idea of the romanticized encounter with the exotic “Other” and displays evidence of newer, more insidious forms of colonialism that continue to pervade Western-dominated institutions like the media.
Table of Contents
- The real King Mongkut
- In her books, Anna claims to have been born in Carnarvon, Wales in 1834 to a good family
- The portrayal of King Mongkut in The King and I
- The king is not the only character to receive ill treatment at the hands of the script writers
- The general untruths found in the story
- The elaborate 'Small House of Uncle Thomas' performance
- The King and I has been banned in Thailand
- Anna and the King
Marking the body as a form of appropriation and power in Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee and “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka
« not only to humiliation and alienation, but lifelong handicaps and quite possibly, death. ecstasies are soon forgotten, they shrug off our clumsy dance as they ...» Document abstract
$2.95
3 word format
Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
30/08/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 7 times
SummaryIn Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee as well as “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka, the marking of or writing on the body as a form of power or appropriation takes place on many levels. In both works, we have the inhumanly cruel military officials of the colonialist power - Kafka’s Officer is completely deranged - who carry out acts of torture on members of the local population to subjugate them into debilitated passivity, or kill them in order to instill fear into the colonized population and demonstrate their strength and technological prowess.
Table of Contents
- If we look at the first two levels, we can see that torture is very much in the interest of the colonialist, but morally, does not look so good
- While Colonel Joll explains inflicting violence on people whose culpability has not been proven by the noble quest for the truth, the Officer in Kafka's story calls the machine which performs a gruesome routine on condemned men an instrument of justice.
- The machine in the story 'In the Penal Colony' is in a larger sense representative of a colonial power that arbitrarily punishes locals and sends them through trials and tribulations to assume sovereignty over them
- On a more personal level, the Magistrate tries to appropriate the young barbarian girl that he takes in by physically marking her and aspiring to sexually possess her
- Another young girl he is in contact with in the novel is the prostitute from the hotel, whom he compares to a bird
« indispensable talents appear ultimately contradictory, the finesse and grace of dance coupled with the from the moment of birth to the moment of death for the ...» Document abstract
$5.95
6 word format
Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
12/10/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 0 times
SummaryIn the sixteenth century, the ideal was inseparable from the ruling class: it was a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, the aristocracy establishing itself as the ideal while simultaneously defining the ideal. The members of the nobility lived in tightly-monitored roles. Idealism was not about the individual but about the preservation of the entire image, for this image of power and money subordinated the lower classes. A role is an expectation, a state of identity foreclosure, and individuality is lost in the midst of societal expectation. These lords and ladies, courtiers and princes, idolized for their fortune and influence, were secretly stripped of any freedom, of any choice, for the sake of the whole. It would be decades before the very essence of humanity, free will, would be remembered in both literature and society. Baldesar Castiglione realizes the necessity of roles in European life during this period.
Table of Contents
- It can be argued that the role of the courtier is a choice, that an individual born to a noble family is bound to that family by chains or force.
- Free will could still exist within the confines of expectation, exercised above and beyond the duties of the courtier
- The portrayal of the upper class as slaves to their own idealism is an image in direct contrast to that often associated with the aristocracy.
- The first and most severe restriction placed on the courtier is class.
- The courtier's role is that of a direct extension of his lord, and a great deal of emphasis is placed on his reputation as it is also the reputation of the prince.
- These marriages, almost always arranged or influenced, sometimes even at the moment of conception, allow no room for true love.
- The affair is required of the courtier, for the foremost rule in matters of courtly love is that 'marriage is no real excuse for not loving?
- Above all else the courtier must retain his honor and reputation as a symbol of the idealism under which he suffers.
- From birth the courtier is raised as a member of the ruling class, and through life his courtiership is created
knowledge network
Sort by
Subject :
Type :
Extension :
Language :
Size :