Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Historical Context of the Remakes of The Phantom of the Opera Essay Example for Free

Historical Context of the Remakes of The Phantom of the Opera Essay The Phantom of the Opera has undergone subsequent remakes. This Hollywood film has undergone numerous remakes at different historical moments throughout the world. In Hollywood and the United Kingdom, it has spawned more than ten film and TV versions that differ significantly in selecting the settings for the horror-romance [Paris, New York and London] in accounting for the phantom’s disfiguration, in portraying the opera understudy, as well as Christine’s attitude toward the phantom. However, they all follow the male phantom-teacher and female opera-student structure so that heterosexual desire [manifested in two men’s competition for a woman] remains the prime move of the plot. My focus in this essay is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s version of the aforementioned text. My emphasis in this text will be how the phantom [including his image and voice] is represented within the film technology available at that time [in contradistinction to the manner in which the phantom’s image and voice is represented in different versions of the aforementioned text]. My working hypothesis is that since the phantom, by definition, exceeds visual representation in the silent and the sound versions, his voice, as a singer and a music teacher, emerges a primary site for representation and signification. To explore the representation and the significance of the phantom’s voice, I will focus on (1) how the phantom-teacher relates to his student through voice as well as visage, (2) how the teacher-student relationship differ from film to film [from Schumacher’s film in contradistinction to the other version of the film], (3) and how to read these relationships in allegorical terms, or in relation to their respective material-historical conditions. The last question leads me to map the teacher-student relationship onto the tension between an â€Å"original† film and its remake(s). In the end this paper will demonstrates the manner in which each remake strategizes its position vis-a-vis a historical moment and a prior film text hence it follows from this that each remake [specifically Schumacher’s remake] should not be subsumed into an echoing tradition in the corridor of the history. I start with the representation of phantom’s voice and its interplay with the shadow. The aural-visual dimension is crucial for our understanding of the issue of subaltern film remaking, which is ultimately an issue of power circulation and distribution. In the film diegeses, the phantom holds power over the student and other people for two reasons: (1) he eludes audio-visual representation and (2) he assumes the empowered teacher position. The 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera centered upon the triangular tension between Erik, The Phantom (Lon Chaney); Christine (Mary Philbin), an understudy in the Paris Opera House whom the phantom has trained and elevated to the diva position; and Raoul (Norman Kerry), Christine’s fiance. As indicated above, the phantom, by definition, exceeds direct visual coding. The problematic of representation is further compounded by the fact that the film, being silent [that being the 1925 version], cannot represent the phantom’s voice except through the theatre orchestra’s performance. This means that the voice and other diegetic sounds the audience hear do not [seem to] emit from the screen. This representational dilemma is alleviated through the use of shadow [an image that signifies the fusion of absence and presence, thus most appropriate for the phantom figure]. More specifically, this silent film mobilizes venues of representation before Christine sees the phantom. The first is the shadow, proffered exclusively to the audience who, according to Michel Chion, is â€Å"deaf† and cannot hear the phantom’s voice (Chion 7). The other, the phantom’s â€Å"angelic voice,† is heard only by Christine and other characters. The differentiated knowledge distribution leads to two modes of spectatorship, one being exclusively visual, and the other exclusively aural. In both cases, the phantom is omnipotent when remaining a mere shadow or a disembodied voice (Chion 19). When lodged in a physical body, a process the power is lost. This takes place in The Phantom of the Opera when Christine’s fascination with the acousmatic phantom turns into dread and disgust once the voice is embodied in a visual image [i. e. , the skull head that she has unmasked]. Thus, the phantom’s deacousmatization depletes his magic power over Christine. Not only does his horrendous visage drive Christine to cover her face [which may implicitly mirror a female viewer’s typical response to a horror film]. It also forces the phantom himself to cover his face. The implication is that to maintain his power, he has to remain invisible. In the same manner, for a horror film to remain horrific, it must not be seen in unobstructed view. As Dennis Giles observes, the more [the viewer] stares, the more the terror will dissipate to the extent that the image of full horror will be revealed (unveiled) as more constructed, more artificial, more a fantasy, more a fiction than the fiction which prepares and exhibits it. To look the horror in the face for very long robs it of its power. (48) By covering his face, the phantom symbolizes the horror film’s attempt to block the viewer’s vision. In other words, the power of the phantom, and by extension, of the horror film, consists in deprivation of visual representation. The problematic of representing a phantom in a silent film thus finds resolution in a paradox, namely, the possibility and effectiveness of representation consists precisely in a lack of direct visual representation. Acousmetre is also crucial for maintaining the teacher student relationship. Once deacousmatized, this relationship comes to an end, which in turn de-legitimizes the phantom’s proposal to Christine. After a long sequence of suspense, sound and fury, during which Christine is salvaged from the Opera House’s underground catacomb, while the phantom chased to a dead end, the film [initial version of the film] closes with a double shot of Christine happily married with her aristocratic fiance. Instead of a beauty and the beast story, in which the beast is transformed into a handsome nobleman by the beauty’s kiss, the monster in this film remains a monster and the opera actress gets punished for her scopic and epistemological drive [a â€Å"monstrous† transgression she must redeem by betraying the monster] returning to humanity [defined as white heterosexual normality] and succumbing to a domesticating marriage. The containment of the female deviancy is built into the film producer’s plan to reinforce what they perceive as the audience’s wish: â€Å"a movie about the love life of Christine Daae† (MacQueen 40). The film thus ends with a triumph of a bourgeois fantasy premised on the domestication of women, and the destruction of the monster. Joel Schumacher’s remake of the original Phantom of the Opera, did not come as a surprise, given the frequent practice of borrowing and adapting at the time. Schumacher’s version retains the powerful phantom figure whose self-de-acousmatization again successfully captivates the student, Christine. Nevertheless, it also displays far more intense interactions between the phantom-teacher and the singer-student. Briefly speaking, their relationship goes through four successive steps: ventriloquism, reverse ventriloquism or excessive mimesis, performative reiteration, and finally, the Benjaminian â€Å"afterlife† [which delineate Christine’s gradual usurpation of the phantom’s power while also contributing to the dialectical image provided by the phantom-teacher and singer-student relationship]. The phantom begins with ventriloquizing Christine’s in the latter’s reenactment of the former’s masterpiece, now titled â€Å"Romeo and Juliet,† replacing â€Å"Hot Blood† in Song at Midnight. During the performance, Christine falters at a tenor note, but is undetected by the theatre audience, thanks to the phantom’s backstage â€Å"dubbing,† visually represented through cutaways. The camera first holds on Christine’s bending over the dead â€Å"Juliet† then closes up on his slightly opened mouth and bewilderment, and subsequently following Christine’s puzzled look, cuts to the cloaked phantom in profile, hidden behind a window curtain in the backstage, emotionally singing out the tenor notes. Cutting from the front stage to the back stage area also echoes. In the aforementioned scene, it is important to note that the moment of ventriloquism gradually gives way to Christine’s agency. Indeed, Christine’s centrality in the film is evidenced in the predominance of the perspective shots that mediate the off-screen audience’s knowledge and sensorial experiences. This viewing structure contrasts sharply with The Phantom of the Opera’s 1925 version. Whereas Christine deacousmatizes the phantom, the audience actually sees the disfigured face before she does. Similarly, Christine’s knowledge [regarding the phantom] is one step behind that of the audience who hear the phantom’s midnight singing and see an enlarged shadow cast on the wall at the opening of the film after the initial portrayal of the opera house’s condition after the fire. The contrast between the two aforementioned versions of The Phantom of the Opera suggests two different ways of constructing history. One is to hide away the past [embodied by the phantom] that has transformed beyond recognition so as to reproduce its old, familiar image in a present medium, or the student. The other is to acknowledge what the past has become, in order to re-suture it into the present without reducing the present into a mere mirror image of the past. Thus, Christine’s agency and the Phantom’s revival become interdependent. The teacher-student hierarchy, as argued previously, is analogous with the hierarchy between the master and the slave. Furthermore, it can also be mapped onto the tension-ridden relationship between a film and its remake(s). These interconnected, parallel relationships allow us to situate the cultural production of a film in a dynamic socio-political field (Gilloch 17). Following Gerard Genette’s definition of â€Å"hypertextuality,† which designates that a hypertext both overlays and evokes an anterior text, or hypotext (Genette 5), I argue that a remake occupies the student position, and that its very existence testifies to and evokes its â€Å"teacher† or â€Å"predecessor. As a form of cinematic doubling, how the â€Å"student† film situates itself vis-a-vis the â€Å"teacher† and its own historical moment determines possibilities of remaking (Smith 56). The major divergences between the two versions of The Phantom of the Opera mentioned above suggest two diametrically opposite agendas. Whereas the former prioritizes domesticating and suturing women into white-oriented heterosexuality, the latter historicizes and politicizes the hetero-erotic relationship between the teacher and student. There are several ways in which one may understand the aforementioned divergence. It is important to note that the text adapted by Schumacher for the construction of his version of the aforementioned film is in itself a divergence from the original. In comparison to Lon Channey’s version of the aforementioned film [which is an adaptation itself], Schumacher’s version discarded most of the horror version aspects which have been associated with the film [as well as the original text by Leroux]. Examples of these are evident if one considers Schumacher’s choice for the depiction of the phantom himself [as a disfigured individual as opposed to a skull hiding behind a mask]. In a way there are several ways in which such a depiction [the change of depiction] may be understood. Initially, one may state that such a shift stems as a result of the shift from the operatic version of the film as opposed to the â€Å"Beauty and the Beast† theme associated with the film. Second, in line with the initial claim of this paper, one may understand the shift [in terms of the phantom’s depiction] as a means of mirroring the historical conditions of the film’s production. The process of mirroring the initial work as a means of showing the teacher-student relationship [in relation to the silent film version and Schumacher’s version] may be understood as a means of employing the manner in which the student has transcended the master to the extent that such a transcendence enabled the initial freedom from the heterosexual archetypal relationships which enables the submission of the female to the norm [that being the norm of female submission towards the male]. It may indeed be argued that Schumacher’s version also enabled such a submission since Christine chose Raoul over the phantom. It is important to note, however, that such a choice may be understood differently in relation to the original silent film adaptation of the aforementioned text. Note for example the depiction [as well as the characterization] of the phantom in the initial version of the film. As was noted at the onset of the paper, the depiction of the phantom in the initial version [silent film version] presented a horrible figure [i. e. a skull for a face]. Such a presentation may be understood, in such a way, that the phantom is presented as the depiction of the deviance resulting from the inability to adhere to the norm. Deviance from the norm, in this sense, may be seen [and in fact understood] as a horrible act itself. Schumacher’s version [with its depiction of the phantom as figure with a face [a handsome one in fact despite its minor deformities] may be seen as mirroring the manner in which deviance from the norm [that of the adherence to the heterosexual and in a sense highly patriarchal relationship] is more acceptable within the current context of the film’s production (McQueen . Schumacher’s version begins with a reel from the 1919 occurrence at the Opera Populaire wherein the old Raoul is depicted as buying knickknacks that serve as the reminder of the occurrences that led to the aforementioned opera’s demise. What follow this scene is a reconstruction of the Opera Populaire resulting from the flashback of memories to those who where in it during 1819 thereby providing the spectator with the truth behind the masked lives of those who lived within the opera at that time. What is interesting to note in Schumacher’s version [in relation to the reconfiguration or rather redepiction of the phantom] is the manner in which one is now given a new manner of understanding the means in which Christine gains her agency. In fact, agency in Schumacher’s version of the film is depicted as a manner of choice and not as mere adherence to a prescribed norm [in comparison to the original adaption of Webber’s text]. Dramatically, the story hinges on a series of conflicts which continually redefine Christine’s position in relation to her surroundings [as well as to the individuals around her]. Webber’s version [as adapted by Schumacher] depicted this process through a series of musical themes, motifs, and textures which portray the development of characters, attitudes, and emotions. Note that the materials in each of the musical themes and motifs are rarely modified except through instances of fragmentation. Although fragmentation occurs, it is interesting to note that when considered together, these musical themes literally play out the drama involved within the play (Snelson 110). In summary, in this paper I argued that the â€Å"teacher† text does not simply crumble when the â€Å"student† text arises in resistance, but rather experiences a revival. This is because the remake cannot fulfil itself without simultaneously evoking [not â€Å"imitating†] the â€Å"afterlife† crystallized in its textual â€Å"predecessor† (Mignolo 112). A film remake re-presents its â€Å"hypotext† not by turning itself into a submissive double, which simply reifies the â€Å"hypotext,† but rather by revalorizing the unique historical position of the â€Å"hypotext,† paradoxically achieved by the remake’s stress on its own distinction. In this sense, the various adaptations of Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera may be understood in such a way that both versions [that stand in a teacher-student relationship] present a challenge of the archetypal heterosexual relationships which stand as the pervading theme of the various versions of Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Eulers Totient Theorem

Eulers Totient Theorem Summary   Ã‚   Euler Totient theorem is a generalized form of Fermats Little theory. As such, it solely depends on Fermats Little Theorem as indicated in Eulers study in 1763 and, later in 1883, the theorem was named after him by J. J. Sylvester. According to Sylvester, the theorem is basically about the alteration in similarity. The term Totient was derived from Quotient, hence, the function deals with division, but in a unique way. In this manner, The Eulers Totient function à Ã¢â‚¬   for any integer (n) can be demarcated, as the figure of positive integers is not greater than and co-prime to n. aà Ã¢â‚¬  (n) = 1 (mod n) Based on Leonhard Eulers contributions toward the development of this theorem, the theory was named after him despite the fact that it was a generalization of Fermats Little Theory in which n is identified to be prime. Based on this fact, some scholarly source refers to this theorem as the Fermats-Euler theorem of Eulers generalization. Introduction I first developed an interest in Euler when I was completing a listener crossword; the concealed message read Euler was the master of the crossword. When I first saw the inclusion of the name Euler on the list of prompt words, I had no option but to just go for it. Euler was a famous mathematician in the eighteenth century, who was acknowledged for his contribution in the mathematics discipline, as he was responsible for proving numerous problems and conjectures. Taking the number theory as an example, Euler successively played a vital role in proving the two-square theorem as well as the Fermats little theorem (Griffiths and Peter 81). His contribution also paved the way to proving the four-square theorem. Therefore, in this course project, I am going to focus on his theory, which is not known to many; it is a generalization of Fermats little theorem that is commonly known as Eulers theorem. Theorem Eulers Totient theorem holds that if a and n are coprime positive integers, then since ÃŽÂ ¦n is a Eulers Totient function. Eulers Totient Function Eulers Totient Function (ÃŽÂ ¦n) is the count of positive integers that are less that n and relatively prime to n. For instance, ÃŽÂ ¦10 is 4, since there are four integers, which are less than 10 and are relatively prime to 10: 1, 3, 7, 9. Consequently, ÃŽÂ ¦11 is 10, since there 11 prime numbers which are less than 10 and are relatively prime to 10. The same way, ÃŽÂ ¦6 is 2 as 1 and 5 are relatively prime to 6, but 2, 3, and 4 are not. The following table represents the totients of numbers up to twenty. N ÃŽÂ ¦n 2 1 3 2 4 2 5 4 6 2 7 6 8 4 9 6 10 4 11 10 12 4 13 12 14 6 15 8 16 8 17 16 18 6 19 18 20 8 Some of these examples seek to prove Eulers totient theorem. Let n = 10 and a = 3. In this case, 10 and 3 are co-prime i.e. relatively prime. Using the provided table, it is clear that ÃŽÂ ¦10 = 4. Then this relation can also be represented as follows: 34 = 81 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ 1 (mode 10). Conversely, if n = 15 and a = 2, it is clear that 28 = 256 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ 1 (mod 15). Fermats Little Theory According to Liskov (221), Eulers Totient theorem is a simplification of Fermats little theorem and works with every n that are relatively prime to a. Fermats little theorem only works for a and p that are relatively prime. a p-1 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ 1 (mod p) or a p à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ a (mod p) where p itself is prime. It is, therefore, clear that this equation fits in the Eulers Totient theorem for every prime p, as indicated in ÃŽÂ ¦p, where p is a prime and is given by p-1. Therefore, to prove Eulers theorem, it is vital to first prove Fermats little theorem. Proof to Fermats Little Theorem As earlier indicated, the Fermats little theorem can be expressed as follows: ap à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ a (mod p) taking two numbers: a and p, that are relatively prime, where p is also prime. The set of a {a, 2a, 3a, 4a, 5aà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(p-1)a}à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(i) Consider another set of number {1, 2, 3, 4, 5à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.(p-1a)}à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(ii) If one decides to take the modulus for p, each element of the set (i) will be congruent to an item in the second set (ii). Therefore, there will be one on one correspondence between the two sets. This can be proven as lemma 1. Consequently, if one decides to take the product of the first set, that is {a x 2a x 3a x 4a x 5a x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (p-1)a } as well as the product of the second set as {1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p-1)}. It is clear that both of these sets are congruent to one another; that is, each element in the first set matches another element in the second set (Liskov 221). Therefore, the two sets can be represented as follows: {a x 2a x 3a x 4a x 5a x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (p-1)a } à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ {1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p-1)} (mode p). If one takes out the factor a p-1 from the left-hand side (L.H.S), the resultant equation will be Ap-1 {a x 2a x 3a x 4a x 5a x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. (p-1)a } à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ {1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p-1)} (mode p). If the same equation is divided by {1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p-1)} when p is prime, one will obtain a p à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ a (mod p) or a p-1 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ 1 (mod p) It should be clear that each element in the first set should correspond to another element in the second set (elements of the set are congruent). Even though this is not obvious at the first step, it can still be proved through three logical steps as follows: Each element in the first set should be congruent to one element in the second set; this implies that none of the elements will be congruent to 0, as pand a are relatively prime. No two numbers in the first set can be labeled as ba or ca. If this is done, some elements in the first set can be the same as those in the second set. This would imply that two numbers are congruent to each other i.e. ba à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ ca (mod p), which would mean that b à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ c (mod p) which is not true mathematically, since both the element are divergent and less than p. An element in the first set can not be congruent to two numbers in the second set, since a number can only be congruent to numbers that differ by multiple of p. Through these three rules, one can prove Fermats Little Theorem. Proof of Eulers Totient Theorem Since the Fermats little theorem is a special form of Eulers Totient theorem, it follows that the two proofs provided earlier in this exploration are similar, but slight adjustments need to be made to Fermats little theorem to justify Eulers Totient theorem (KrÃÅ'Å’iÃÅ' zÃÅ'Å’ek 97). This can be done by using the equation a ÃŽÂ ¦n à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ 1 (mod n) where the two numbers, a and n, are relatively prime, with the set of figures N, which are relatively prime to n {1, n1. n2à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.n ÃŽÂ ¦n }. This set is likely to have ÃŽÂ ¦n element, which is defined by the number of the relatively prime number to n. In the same way, in the second set aN, each and every element is a product of a as well as an element of N {a, an1, an2, an3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦anÃŽÂ ¦n}. Each element of the set aN must be congruent to another element in the set N (mode n) as noted by the earlier three rules. Therefore, each element of the two sets will be congruent to each other (Giblin 111). In this scenario case, it can be said that: {a x an1 x an2 x an3 x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. an ÃŽÂ ¦n } à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ {a x   n1 x n2 x n3 x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.n ÃŽÂ ¦n } (mod n). By factoring out a and aÃŽÂ ¦n from the left-hand side, one can obtain the following equation a ÃŽÂ ¦n {1 x n1 x n2 x n3 x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.n ÃŽÂ ¦n} à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ {1 x n1 x n2 x n3 x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.n ÃŽÂ ¦n } (mod n) If this obtained equation is divided by {1 x n1 x n2 x n3 x à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.n ÃŽÂ ¦n } from both sides, all the elements in the two sets will be relatively prime. The obtained equation will be as follows: a ÃŽÂ ¦n à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¡ 1 (mod n) Application of the Eulers Theorem Unlike other Eulers works in the number theory like the proof for the two-square theorem and the four-square theorem, the Eulers totient theorem has real applications across the globe. The Eulers totient theorem and Fermats little theorem are commonly used in decryption and encryption of data, especially in the RSA encryption systems, which protection resolves around big prime numbers (Wardlaw 97). Conclusion In summary, this theorem may not be Eulers most well-designed piece of mathematics; my favorite theorem is the two-square theorem by infinite descent. Despite this, the theorem seems to be a crucial and important piece of work, especially for that time. The number theory is still regarded as the most useful theory in mathematics nowadays. Through this proof, I have had the opportunity to connect some of the work I have earlier done in discrete mathematics as well as sets relation and group options. Indeed, these two options seem to be among the purest sections of mathematics that I have ever studied in mathematics. However, this exploration has enabled me to explore the relationship between Eulers totient theorem and Fermats little theorem. I have also applied knowledge from one discipline to the other which has broadened my view of mathematics. Works Cited Giblin, P J. Primes, and Programming: An Introduction to Number Theory with Computing. Cambridge UP, 1993. Print. Griffiths, H B, and Peter J. Hilton. A Comprehensive Textbook of Classical Mathematics: A Contemporary Interpretation. London: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, 1970. Print. KrÃÅ'Å’iÃÅ' zÃÅ'Å’ek, M., et al. 17 Lectures on Fermat Numbers: From Number Theory to Geometry. Springer, 2001. Print. Liskov, Moses. Fermats Little Theorem. Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security, pp. 221-221. Wardlaw, William P. Eulers Theorem for Polynomials. Ft. Belvoir: Defense Technical Information Center, 1990. Print.

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Miranda in Jennifer Johnstons Fool’s Sanctuary Essay -- Jennifer John

The Irish Psyche as Portrayed through Miranda in Jennifer Johnston's Fool’s Sanctuary In her novel Fool’s Sanctuary, Jennifer Johnston reflects on the Irish psyche and gives an insight into some of the factors that appear to create such a unique culture. This aspect of the novel is explored particularly through the novel’s protagonist, Miranda. She acts like a symbol, the embodiment of the typical Irish person. Miranda’s characteristics, attitudes and values are shaped by the influences of her country, therefore reflecting possibilities that typically set the Irish people apart. These characteristics include a symbolic and surreal outlook on life, a love of poetry and music, the importance placed on memories, a sense of humour, the way they love and an inability to accept happiness as reality. Ireland is a spectacular island whipped by harsh weather, steeped in history and torn by wars that have raged for centuries and it is these aspects that contribute to the Irish psyche. Great Irish writers throughout history, such as Yeats and Joyce, have written about these influences in Ireland and the impact that they have on its people. Johnston equally explores similar concepts in Fools’ Sanctuary. It is a powerful story, Miranda’s story, showing how the turmoil in Ireland in the 1920’s affects an individual’s life and changes it irrevocably. Johnston’s delicate mixture of emotion and caustic observations provide a unique analysis of the Irish psyche. Furthermore, she explores the concept that many of the characteristics that are developed are fundamentally self-destructive. Miranda tries not to be affected by Ireland’s conflict and there are a number of ways in which she tries to escape. However, ultimately this only ends in h... ...trayed by Johnston. However, Fool’s Sanctuary, not only serves as an exploration of the unique characteristics of the Irish people, it also serves as an explanation. It is an explanation, offering an insight into why certain traits are unique to the Irish psyche, what the traits could be attributed to and how they ultimately lead to self-destruction. Jennifer Johnston’s careful and powerful depiction of Ireland at the brink of war, is like a magnifying glass and when examined, it essentially reveals a unique portrayal of the Irish psyche. The Student May Wish to begin the essay with one or more of the quotes below: Out of Ireland we have come. Great Hatred, little room, maimed us at the start..... W.B. YEATS, 1931 The Irishman’s house is his coffin. J.A. JOYCE, 1922 Work Cited Johnston, Jennifer. Fool’s Sanctuary London: Hamish Hamilton 1987 Miranda in Jennifer Johnston's Fool’s Sanctuary Essay -- Jennifer John The Irish Psyche as Portrayed through Miranda in Jennifer Johnston's Fool’s Sanctuary In her novel Fool’s Sanctuary, Jennifer Johnston reflects on the Irish psyche and gives an insight into some of the factors that appear to create such a unique culture. This aspect of the novel is explored particularly through the novel’s protagonist, Miranda. She acts like a symbol, the embodiment of the typical Irish person. Miranda’s characteristics, attitudes and values are shaped by the influences of her country, therefore reflecting possibilities that typically set the Irish people apart. These characteristics include a symbolic and surreal outlook on life, a love of poetry and music, the importance placed on memories, a sense of humour, the way they love and an inability to accept happiness as reality. Ireland is a spectacular island whipped by harsh weather, steeped in history and torn by wars that have raged for centuries and it is these aspects that contribute to the Irish psyche. Great Irish writers throughout history, such as Yeats and Joyce, have written about these influences in Ireland and the impact that they have on its people. Johnston equally explores similar concepts in Fools’ Sanctuary. It is a powerful story, Miranda’s story, showing how the turmoil in Ireland in the 1920’s affects an individual’s life and changes it irrevocably. Johnston’s delicate mixture of emotion and caustic observations provide a unique analysis of the Irish psyche. Furthermore, she explores the concept that many of the characteristics that are developed are fundamentally self-destructive. Miranda tries not to be affected by Ireland’s conflict and there are a number of ways in which she tries to escape. However, ultimately this only ends in h... ...trayed by Johnston. However, Fool’s Sanctuary, not only serves as an exploration of the unique characteristics of the Irish people, it also serves as an explanation. It is an explanation, offering an insight into why certain traits are unique to the Irish psyche, what the traits could be attributed to and how they ultimately lead to self-destruction. Jennifer Johnston’s careful and powerful depiction of Ireland at the brink of war, is like a magnifying glass and when examined, it essentially reveals a unique portrayal of the Irish psyche. The Student May Wish to begin the essay with one or more of the quotes below: Out of Ireland we have come. Great Hatred, little room, maimed us at the start..... W.B. YEATS, 1931 The Irishman’s house is his coffin. J.A. JOYCE, 1922 Work Cited Johnston, Jennifer. Fool’s Sanctuary London: Hamish Hamilton 1987

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Teachers and Wireless Computing Essay example -- Education, Teaching

Assumptions This proposed study has five assumptions. First, the survey will be assessable to all teachers. Second, teachers will access and complete the survey. Third, the assessment is receptive enough to assess teachers’ technological attitudes. Forth, administering of a self-reported questionnaire will also assume that participants provide truthful responses from a onetime posttest (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). Last, the responses will give the indication that there is a need to offer advance technology training initiatives for teachers. Limitations The initial limitations of this study involve the limited time frame for data collection. Another limitation is the researchers inability to assess the precise amount of time teachers will spend using an online network. The next limitation is the research site will be in a rural school system and not a suburban or urban school system. The XYZ system under review only has four schools with a population of approximately 108 teachers. The final limitation is teachers’ use of available technology within their classroom due to possible technophobia or a lack of training or skills. Therefore, based on the quantitative nature of the study, this investigation is better fit to present an account for teaching-learning with wireless laptops within K–12 classrooms, as opposed to a qualitative or mixed method investigation of the phenomenon (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). Scope This study’s scope connects to the research question, â€Å"Do teachers' attitudes towards technology, including their eagerness and curiosity to use it in their teaching, impact the integration of wireless laptops into their instructional practices?† The study will only utilize the teachers within the XYZ district and ... ...010; Zucker & King, 2009) in K–12 classrooms effectively. The purpose of this quantitative, pre-experimental study will investigate whether XYZ teachers are curious and eager to advance their technology skills. Advanced technology skills can provide additional teaching opportunities based on teachers’ self-reported responses. In chapter 2, the literature will examine various scholars’ books, articles and journals that provide the account of the problem and conceptual framework of this study. Chapter 3, will explain the methodology of the research, including the design, sample, environment, instrumentation, data collection, treatment, data analysis, validity, reliability, and ethical considerations. Chapter 4 will provide the study's results. Finally, chapter 5 will discuss the outcomes, implications for social change, and recommendations for future research.

Medieval Europe And The Renaissance :: essays research papers

When I look at the conflicts that medieval European people faced and the conflicts that modern people face, I see a huge difference. Our government, economics, science, mobility, art, literacy and health are very different. Some aspects of religion are different, but not many. The Black Death and feudalism are some major contributions to the medieval times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Black Death is known as a beneficial divider between the central and Middle Ages. The changes are numerous. They include the introduction of gunpowder, importance of cities, economic and demographic crises, and powerful new currents in culture and religion. Overall, the late middle ages were characterized as a period of chaos. The Black Death did not cause the chaos, but the plague definitely contributed towards it, as well as making more problems. The Black Death erupted in the Gobi desert in the late 1320’s. There is no real explanation why. The plague bacillus was alive and active long before that. Europe had suffered from an epidemic in the 6th century. But the disease became relatively dormant in the following centuries. It is said that it was due to the climate beginning to cool in the 14th century. Whatever it was, the outbreak began and spread fast. It mostly went west, but it spread everywhere. The Asian nations suffered greatly as anywhere. In China, the population dropped from 125 million to 90 million. The plague was so widespread; it was said that there was not enough living to bury the dead. Rodents ran the unsanitary streets that carried the fleas that had the disease. This is how the Bubonic Plague was spread. The people believed at the time that the gods were punishing them for things they had done wrong in the past. The Bubonic Plague is transmitted either though an infected rodent (rats, rabbits, etc.) carrying bugs (fleas). It was first thought that the rats themselves transmitted the Bubonic Plague because when people found dead rats in the towns' streets, they would usually flee their civilization in fear of the rodents. But it was observed that people would only get the disease if they came in contact with a rodent or rat that was dead for a short amount of time. The Bubonic Plague is not very common these days, but that is because we live in the United States where our sanitary level is fairly high. But in Africa, Asia, and South America, several people die from it every year.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Language Use in Kaskus Essay

A. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Computer-mediated communication refers to any form of communication enabled through the use of computers. In the computer-mediated communication literature, the term generally refers to communication modalities dependent on computer-based networks or meta-networks, particularly the Internet and commercial online services. Language plays an important role in the communication activities in the computer-mediated communication. The language itself is used by people as a communication tool. Specifically, as i mentioned above that computer mediated communication (CMC) is about anything(communication) that use computer as a media to transfer information, to talk with other persons, to discuss issues or something like that.While we know that on CMC, for right now internet with its world wide web (network) is the only tool and the only way to get connected with others, i don’t see any alternative beside internet. In internet there are many people with different language background, different social background and of course different culture and manners. What’s become my curiousity is how people with these so many differences talking and discussing to each others, how can they understand each others without being rude to others. But i’m not going to conduct a linguistic research of language use in the internet generally globally, because there has been a lot of research on this subject. But, what becomes my interest is how indonesian people with different social and culturul background talking and disccussing a topic in Kaskus, one of the biggest and largest online forum in Indonesia. Kaskus, with more than two millions users from all over indonesia is a populer online service to discuss and to sell products. Kaskus has an easy  peasy access, has a discussion thread about almost everything like computer, books, entertainment and many more. Kaskus user are from all over indonesia which have different culture and social background, in this case sometimes user doesn’t pay attention to the forum rules, nettiquette and sometimes being sarcastic, i’ve found this several time in kaskus. This case indicating that some of user do not know the nettiquete and language rules used in kaskus forum. So why i’m here try to observe and doing a research on how kaskuser (kaskus user) use the language, what style are used, and what kind of expressions in kaskus forum that is used to show respect, manners, and and self expressions like anger, happy etc. B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM From the title and the background of the study i formulate the research questions as follows : 1. What are the general forum rules applied in kaskus? 2. How far kaskuser pay attention to the forum rules in discussion thread? 3. What are the form of languages style used in kaskus? 4. What are the meaning of those language expressions/style? 5. Who use the language? The gender, the age. C. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This research is aimed to gather information about the language use in kaskus forum, especially how those language are used to express manner and ethical relations between the kaskuser. D. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The significance of this research is to bring a data to enrich the linguistic analysis in indonesia especially in computer-mediated communication subject. This research is also will be useful for those who use internet as a communcation tool generally and for kaskuser who love to join discussion in kaskus so they are will never again feel worried about being rude to others, bacause this research will bring them information how to use the language properly and how to communicate ethically to others E. SCOPE AND LIMITATION The research is limited only on the language use, the style and the way kaskuser interact with others, the researcher will not analysis where the language comes from and how the language changed. CHAPTER II THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK A. INTERNET Internet, according to Merriam Webster Dictionaries is an electronic communication network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world. B. KASKUS Kaskus is an Indonesian internet forum site which claims itself as the largest Indonesian online community. It ranks as the top 10 most popular website in Indonesia (weasel words), positioning at 241 worldwide according to Alexa.com. It was established on November 6, 1999, by three Indonesian students (Andrew Darwis, Ronald Stephanus, and Budi Dharmawan) in the United States. In August 2012, Kaskus has more than 4,000,000 registered accounts and more than 650,000,000 total posts. In August 2005 and September 2006, PC Magazine Indonesia voted Kaskus as The Best Indonesian communities twice (2005 & 2006). Registration is required for new users to participate in the community, and every registered member has access to more than twenty regional and subject-related sub-forums. The community runs on the vBulletin forum software. C. NETTIQUETE Cyberspace contains many different cultures, which some writers have called â€Å"virtual communities.† Each of these communities has its own rules and customs. But many rules apply throughout almost all of cyberspace and the rules of internet is called nettiquete. Nettiquete comes from word Internet and Etiqutte. Virginia Shea Stated that The word â€Å"etiquette† means â€Å"the forms required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be required in social or official life.† Etymologically, it comes from the French word for â€Å"ticket.† If you know the etiquette for a particular group or society, you  have a ticket for entry into it. (Virginia Shea,1994) D. COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION 1. Computer mediated communication (CMC) involves exchanges of information in textual, audio, and/or video formats that are transmitted and controlled by the use of computer and telecommunication technology. It must be noted that CMC is the basis of interpersonal interaction via groupware systems. An interesting definition of CMC is given by December (1997): â€Å"Computer-Mediated Communication is a process of human communication via computers, involving people, situated in particular contexts, engaging in processes to shape media for a variety of purposes.† 2. Chrispin Thurlow, laura lengel and Alice Tomic (2004) define Computer Mediated Communication into 3 cores : a. Communication While trying to ground CMC into a proper understanding we have to know what exactly is communication. * Communication is dynamic, One of the most well known ways of thinking about communication is the idea of a sender, a message and a receiver, in computer terms, might be regarded as an ‘information-processing’ perspective. Instead, communication is better understood as a process which is much more dynamic. The meaning of messages does not reside in words, but is much more fluid and dependent on the context, shifting constantly from place to place, from person to person, and from moment to moment. * Communication is transactional, Even though people still sometimes like to think of communication as the exchange of messages between senders and receivers, communication is really about the negotiation of meaning between people. Individuals are both speakers and listeners and these roles switch back and forth all the time in any one conversation. Once again, this also means that communication is constantly changing as two (or more) people interpret each other and are influenced by what the other says. In other words, it’s a transaction between them. Most theorists would agree that communication simply cannot happen outside human social interaction. It is really only when someone recognizes and/or responds to something you say or do that communication can be said to have occurred. * Communication is multifunctional, Consciously or unconsciously, communication serves many different functions and usually  serves more than one function at any given time. For example, communication may be used to influence people’s behavior or attitudes, to inform people, to seek information, to exert control over people, to befriend or seduce people, to entertain and please people, and so on. Although for the sake of analytical convenience, scholars do sometimes distinguish between the interactional (or relationship-focused) and informational (or content-focused) domains of communication, it’s usually impossible to separate the two. Think about famous chat-up lines like ‘Can I buy you a drink?’ or ‘Do you have the time?’ Although both appear to seek information, the intention is clearly relational! * Communication is multimodal, However important it may be, language is of course just one of many ways we have of communicating. Verbal messages always come packaged with other messages (or ‘metamessages’) formed by different ways of making meaning – what are usually called nonverbal modes of communication. In fact, more often than not it is these other modes of communication which are relied on more than the verbal mode. The best example of this is when someone is lying to us: ‘Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t do it!’ The range of nonverbal codes is vast and accounts for much of the social information we glean: vocal (e.g. tone of voice, accent, volume, pauses), movement (e.g. facial expression, gestures, posture), physical appearance (e.g. height, weight, skin colour), artefacts (e.g. lighting, dà ©cor, fashion), and use of space (e.g. body orientation, touch, distance). b. Mediated Depending on how much we already know about human communication, we will more than likely know that all communication is mediated to some extent or other. According to Chambers’ Twenty-first Century Dictionary, the verb to mediate means to convey or transmit something or to act as a medium for something. In turn, a medium is something by which, or through which, an effect is produced. In other words, mediation is simply the process or means by which something is transmitted – whether it’s a message, a feeling, a sound, or a ghostly apparition! In the case of communication, we’ve already indicated that communication is always channelled by, and dependent on, its context for meaning. Communication is therefore mediated through our interactions with people and by means of any number of different verbal and nonverbal  modes. Communication can never exist in a vacuum.We will probably have heard about the phrase ‘channels of communication’. These can be social (or cultural), psychological (or mental), linguistic (or symbolic) or material (or technical). It’s in this way that scholars usually identify several layers of contextual variables which influence – or mediate – communication. Broadly speaking these fall into three main categories : psychological, e.g. our perceptions, mental maps, and prototypes; social, e.g. our relationships, stereotypes, and individual experiences; cultural, e.g. the myths and ideologies of whole societies of people. c. Computer Having confronted the relative complexity of the terms ‘communication’ and ‘mediated’, it may disappointing to know that even the term computer cannot be taken for granted. Almost everything nowadays involves computers in some way or other, and, consequently, almost everything we do is in some way or other mediated by computers. Think, for example, of the digital technology which drives our telephone exchanges, brings television channels into our homes, tells us the time, and so on. What’s more, with such things as video conferencing, webcams and voice recognition, technological changes are taking us nearer and nearer to the kind of face-to-face (or just FtF) communication we’ve been used to all along. It’s in this way that the computerization, which drives so many areas of our lives, is becoming more and more invisible. Indeed, Pixy Ferris (1997) previously proposed that CMC should also be broad enough to include office automation, â₠¬ ¢ (Chrispin Thurlow, laura lengel and Alice Tomic :2004) CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. RESEARCH APPROACH AND DESIGN The reseacher use qualitative discriptive aproach. Qualitative research refers to inductive, holistic, emic, subjective and process oriented methods used to understand, interpret, describe and develop theory on a phenomenon or a setting and is a systematic, subjective approach used to describe life experiences and give them meaning (Morse & Field 1996:199; Burns & Grove 1998:35). Brink and Wood (1998:335) cite Benoliel’s (1984) description of qualitative research â€Å"as modes of systematic inquiry concerned with understanding human beings and the nature of their transactions with themselves and with their surroundings†. Leininger (1985:5) defines qualitative research as the methods and techniques of observing, documenting, analysing, and interpreting attributes, patterns, characteristics and meanings of specific, contextual or gestalt features of a phenomenon. B. DATA COLLECTION 1. Data Source The data is mainly taken from discussion thread in kaskus, like discussion thread, results of observations etc. 2. Instrument of Collecting Data * Doing observations * Interview (By Chating and PM or Private Message) * Making a Poll or Voting * Taking screenshot/ image * Questionaire C. DATA ANALYSIS The data will be analyzed using Miles and Huberman Theories where there are 3 Steps in ana lyzing the data : 1. Data Reduction. The data that has been collected from observations, questionaire and interviews are selected and sorted. The data that can represents the theme of the research will be analyzed. 2. Data display The data will be displayed after getting a summarizing. In data display the data that have been reducted then will be compressed, organized without risking the loss of information. 3. Drawing and veryfying conclssion The reasons for reducing and displaying data are to assist in drawing conclussions. While drawing conclussions logically follows reduction and display of data, in fact it takes place more or less concurrently with them. Thus possible conclussions may be noted early in the analysis, but they may be vague and ill-formed at this stage. They are held tentative pending further work, and have been analysed. Conclussions will be in the form of  preposistions, and once they have been drawn, the data need to be verified. D. EXAMPLE OF DATA SAMPLE 1. Red Font Colour 2. The Using of Capital Letters 3. Kaskus emoticon 4. Kaskus Terms Like Agan, Bata, Cendol, Sundul REFERENCES * http://kaskus.co.id * Creswell, J. W. 2003. Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. SAGE. Thousand Oaks. USA. * Thurlow, Crispin. Lengel, Laura. Tomic, Alice. 2004 Computer Mediated Communicatio (Social interaction and The Internet). SAGE. Thousand Oaks. USA. * Shea, Virginia. 2004. Netiqutte. Albions Books, USA

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Handel’s Opera

George Friderick Handel (1685-1759) writes all of his opera for over 35 years. Almost within his lifetime though his operas were considered to be almost obsolete with regards to format yet were of the finest kind. Due to format Handel's opera were the most neglected in all of his works until recently. As with most of the musical artist of his time, Handel's opera were modeled on both German and Italian style, with some modifications to suit his artistic taste and that of the English for which they were produced (Sadie, 1992, 614). In the span of his career, Handel composed more than forty operas. True to the nature of Baroque music, most of these operas show elements of the use of dance rhythms and elaborate melodic lines. Although born a German, Handel's opera was influenced by the conventions of the Italian opera seria, became its most important composer with Fench grandeur. Perhaps Handel's greatest contribution to the field of opera was his ability to convey emotions with sincerity and clarity through melody, so that he often used the opera seria convention of the da capo aria with dramatic and surprising effect (Sadie, 1992, 614). Handel's first opera was Almira composed in 1705. His fascination with Italians trends showed through his motto arias and obbligato accompaniment in concerto style. In this work however, Handel also showed the influence of his German training as seen by his tendency to repeat rhythmic patterns and relatively infrequent use of highly melismatic melodies. Handel had tried to replace the disorganized plots of much serious middle Baroque opera, with a new type which was strictly organized and formally predictable. Each scene was constructed mostly by a series of alternating recitatives and arias (usually da capo arias) after which the main characters would exit. His opera entitled Agrippina (1709) shown in Venice catapulted Handel to fame. This work shows an extensive borrowings from an earlier (lost) opera, Rodrigo, as well as his earlier cantatas. His success in opera occurred at a time when opera was forbidden in Rome (O'Grady, 1998). Handle's major Operas were Ottone (1723), Giulio Cesare (1724), Tamerlano (1724), Rinaldo (rev. 1731).