The Portrayal Of Women In Horror Films

The Portrayal Of Women In Horror Films This dissertation will consider the roles of women in the horror film genre and will deconstruct the way in which the conventions of the horror film prescribe such roles. Despite continued criticism for presenting women in a negative manner, many of the films explored here appear to suggest strong female representation so it will possible to investigate the position of the female from a number of different angles allowing a fluid discussion and counter argument. The passive female roles will be studied from the perspective of the male gaze and abjection, whilst active female roles will be explored from the role of the mother and the outcome of The Final Girl. As it would be impossible to discuss the entire history of the horror genre and womans relationship to it within the space available, so three chosen films will support the discussion. In all cases these films are regarded as classic horror films and, importantly, landmark and watershed moments in the horror genre. Psycho (1960), The Exorcist (1973), and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) all represent meta statements in the history of the genre and provide essential examples of the arguments discussed here. It should also be noted that all three films contain also ambiguous female characters for example; Mrs Bates in Psycho, the cross dressing Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the possessed Regan in The Exorcist who will all be debated. Significantly the films were produced and released during periods of change for womens rights, including the beginnings of the womens liberation movement in the early sixties though to the publishing of The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, and Spare Rib magazine in the seventies. This help to fuel the debate more significantly as the selected films span a time when women in the real world (as opposed to the constructed world of the cinema) had made great steps toward equality through the feminist movement. Horror films are told as stories of good versus evil. The drama of their narratives tends to derive from the clash between a monster and an innocent, So I want to understand why so many gratuitous, unjustified acts of violence towards woman could be justified on screen. I will consider the following aspects: male gaze, abjection, family structure, and the outcome of the final girl in the context of horror film genre. These are four common tendencies embedded within the literature of women and horror film and the background to these discussions will be framed within the context of the chosen films. This writing will deconstruct and examine the structure of those films, the motives behind their structure, and will consider their target audience. It will examine the symbolism that is used to express the plots and sub-plots and, most importantly, consider the roles of the female characters in those films. I will employ psychoanalytic and feminist theory to explore the female roles and will interpret commentary on Freudian and Lacanian theory, including castration anxiety and the role of the subconscious and apply them to horror film. Semiotic and populist perspective will also be considered to set out this debate. Much has been written on the subject and over twenty books have been researched to discuss this consideration of women and horror film in detail. Key texts include: Ways of Seeing (1972) by John Berger, Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (1992) by Carol J. Clover, The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis (1993) by Barbara Creed and Powers of Horror (1982) by Julia Kristeva. The texts outline the intellectual context into which this dissertation enters. People assume that horror film exclusively represent women in a reactionary fashion, but further analysis has suggested that female characters are not as weak and vulnerable as they first may appear. For example The Final Girls last moments have been radically written and rewritten across the remakes and sequels to give new meaning. Analytical and theoretical analysis has been informed by the writing of Laura Mulvey and in particular her discussions of the male gaze. Mulvey argues in her polemic essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema that cinema was primarily created for the male spectator exploiting women as objects of desire. Julia Kristevas essay The Powers of Horror provides essential understanding on the position of abjection in the context of horror and mortality. All of the above writers discuss theoretical studies and theories of Dr Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan who are both indirectly referenced throughout this dissertation. Barbara Creeds The Monstrous-Feminine and Carol Clovers book Men, Women, and Chainsaws will inform debate around the matriarchal figures in Psycho and the outcome of the final girl in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. CHAPTER 1 Gendered Spectatorship The male gaze is made explicit in the horror genre, and this is inscribed in both the aesthetics of the films and its exhibition context. One of the most important essays about women in cinema is Laura Mulveys theory on the male gaze. As Mulvey states: The cinema offers a number of possible pleasures. One is scopophilia (pleasure in looking). There are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure (1989, p16). (do I reference?) If scopophilia can be defined as love of looking or deriving pleasure from looking, then this can be a definition of the cinema experience. Cinema is, after all, a form of visual entertainment. It involves the individual singularly engaging with the screen and its projections as a form of escapism and even relaxation, and can be comfortably achieved alone as it involves very few social skills, since the viewers only commitment to the process is to look. However, once we question how the film is viewed and who views the film, the relationship becomes more complex. The purpose of this essay is to question how the female is viewed from the perspective of the spectator; to question how women are portrayed in horror films, and how they are looked at. It will explore the argument that cinematic looking comes from a male perspective and will question what kind of pleasure is obtained from looking at horror films from this perspective. As Mulvey explains: The cinema satisfies a primordial wish for pleasurable looking (1989, p17). It allows the spectator the opportunity to observe in an entirely passive role while the action takes place. The experience of cinema is a one-sided arrangement between the film itself and its viewer. However, as Mulvey discusses regarding Dr Sigmund Freud, it also goes further, developing scopophilia in its narcissistic aspect (1989, p17). Scopophilia can also suggest that sexual pleasure can be derived from looking at objects; that how they are interpolated can make them erotic, and while they are not erotic in their own right through their relationship with the spectator they can become sexually objectified. The celebrated psychologist Dr Sigmund Freud isolated scopophilia as one of the component instincts of sexuality which exist as drives independently of the erotogenic zones. At this point he associated scopophilia with taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze (Mulvey,1989, p16). The history of art emphasises this aspect of scopophilia. Throughout art history, painters have been commissioned to paint female models as objects of desire that have been and still are masquerading as works of art more closely related with pornography than with the great masterpieces. Moving forward, Clover debates that the cinematic gaze, we are told, is male, and just as that gaze knows how to fetishize the female form in pornography it also, she suggests (going on to relate this to cinematography), knows how to follow a female character as she moves through a forbidding house, and scrutinise her face for signs of fear in a way that it does not do with male characters, since: a set of conventions we now take for granted simply sees males and females differently. (1992 p50-51). This suggests that the ownership in the context of cinema is the cause of the effect that the viewer, by objectifying the figure on screen, gives it new meaning, a new social place. By simply being viewed, new rules apply. To place this into the context of women within horror, the male can now view the woman and the conditions and events around her in a newly detached manner and freely let the actions against her take place on the screen. In psychoanalytic terms, the female figure poses a deeper problem. She also connotes something that the look continually circles around but disavows, claims Mulvey (1989, p21). This could be suggesting that as the spectator is assumed to be male, the appearance of a female (ie non-male) form creates an anxiety around the potential for castration and an un-penised body à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦hence unpleasure. Mulvey argues in Lacan: and Post feminism by Elizabeth Wright (2000, p45-46) that the look is linked to the discovery of sexual difference, and that the lack of a penis must be filled by multiple images of glamourised women as a substitute for the imaginary phallus. Mulvey writes that cinema, and in particular horror cinema, is inclined to focus attention on the human form (1989, p17). The human form and the human condition are key aspects in the horror genre, especially the female body. Horror displays visceral and exaggerated versions of our basic desires and a strong and aggressive version of body lust. The horror film in particular relies on the physical human form and hostility towards the body to carry its plots and storylines in the most extreme sense. This is clearly not a natural state of being: to be seated in a darkened room, with a huge rectangular screen in view and surround sound at high volume. But this is the environment of the cinema, where the viewer is asked to focus on exaggerated and extreme events far beyond the realms of real life in the name of entertainment. Here, not unlike in other places in the media, the female form is prevalent, to be exhibited again for entertainment and it is the female characters in the horror fi lm genre that appear to command most of the attention on the cinema screen. Mulvey suggests that, since the world displays such disparities between the genders, with the masculine nearly always holding the reins of power: Do I reference here as well? pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly (1989, p19). So since society isnt equal in terms of who holds the power, either sexually or otherwise, women act a certain way because they are aware of how men expect them to be that is, passive and sexualised. Mulvey states this as a symbolic equation, woman = sexuality. (1989, p35). John Berger differentiates men from women as he describes a mans presence as being defined by what he is capable of doing to you or for youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but the pretence is always towards a power which he exercises on others. (1972, p39-40) Expand Mulveys view is that narrative cinema positions its spectators as male, catering only for male fantasies and pleasures (p39 Feminist Film Theorists). This suggests that women are objectified in film in general (and for the purposes of this argument, substantially in horror films). Mulvey also claims that the spectator/viewer/audience is said to be a man; cinema almost expects its viewers to be male and therefore creates characters and plots to fulfil a mans gaze. So prevalent is this notion that Mulvey claims narrative cinema does not offer a place for female spectators'(p40 Feminist Film Theorists); that cinema essentially isolates the female as a serious viewer: As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence. (Mulvey, 1989, p20). Shorten Clearly men can easily identify with the male protagonist but the female audiences have to distance themselves from their femininity in order to participate in the cinematic experience; critics refer to this as gender confusion. Freud would argue that to share these experiences, woman would have to revert back to her pre-Oedipal phallic phase. It might now be relevant to explore the male gaze specifically functions in the context of the horror genre. Looking back at the history and evolution of the horror film, the cinemas flourished at a time when there was less available to the public and strong moral codes and rules about relationships were in place. The clichà ©d idea of horror films was being scripted and edited to fulfil the role of the dating couple on a Saturday night. (pg 61 Horror: The Film Reader Edited by Mark Jancovich (different authors per chapter) The cinema was a place where young couples could escape family life for the few hours of a date. It allowed them space to be alone together at a time, before the sexual revolution, when men were expected to be chivalrous and protect and provide support for their female companion, as Mark Jancovich explains: Women cover their eyes or hide behind the shoulders of their dates. (pg 61 Horror: The Film Reader Edited by Mark Jancovich (different authors per chapter). This then created an opportunity for the male viewer to comfort his date as she squirmed and shrieked at the on-screen horror. He could become closer and more intimate as she was lured into vulnerability by the action projected in front of her. Mulvey highlights this dominant order: As an advanced representation system, the cinema poses questions about the ways the unconscious (formed by the dominant order) structures ways of seeing and pleasure in looking. (1989, p15) Paraphrase or include in text. Given this climate, the notion of the girl as victim was allowed to evolve. A connection could then be made between the female viewer and her on-screen female counterpart, in that the spectator cannot bear to look on helplessly as her cinematic alter ego that is, a close representation of herself suffers the horrors of rape, mutilation and murder. Mulvey argues that women have had two different functions within cinema: as erotic objects for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic objects for the spectator within the auditorium. (1989, p19) There is clear evidence of this in Tobe Hoopers The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It follows the story of a group of young Americans as they venture into the countryside and meet their fate in the shape of a disturbed and hostile cannibalistic family whose weapons of choice are butchers tools and chainsaws. The three young men meet their deaths quickly, paving the way for the females more drawn-out and gratuitous torture. While one of the women meets her slow, lingering fate via a meat hook and deep freezer, the other is chased and tortured repeatedly across the final third of the film. Female characters in horror films are generally young and attractive. They maintain a key role in the film; examples of this would be Laurie in Halloween and Marion in Alfred Hitchcocks infamous Psycho. When Michael Myers pretty sister meets her fate in the opening scene of Halloween, she is pursued by (and through the eyes of) her killer; indeed, throughout Halloween the story is often seen/told through the eyes of the killer, a technique referred to as the POV (point-of-view) shot. But before the murder takes place, the audience are offered a completely superfluous view of her naked body, seen through the male gaze as she brushes her hair. It could be argued that the female characters occupy many on-screen hours and appear to dominate the films, yet on closer inspection the real lead role is saved for the star psychopath, who is almost always male. It could be debated that male spectators are therefore being asked to identify with the killer. With respect to Halloween there are a number of shots explicitly from Myers physical point-of-view with an acoustic close-up of his monstrous heavy breathing (Isabel Pinedo 1997, p52). It cannot be proven that the whole audience identifies with him but they are forced to see through his murderous gaze, which almost compels a form of affinity. Horror genre is traditionally thought of as low culture. It has a casual tone and audiences have grown to expect violence, nudity and cheap thrills. This position in low culture appears to grant a licence to horror films to get away with more than high art cinema, and horror is rarely studied for meaning or metaphor to the same extent. But because of these lower expectations, the reality can be stretched (not unlike in cartoons), leading to irrational storylines with horror far more extreme than could be expected in real life. Therefore, it could be argued that horror films make explicit the assumption of a male spectator which is, according to Mulvey, only implicit in all popular cinema. Other films, under the pressure of higher expectation, have to keep such a misogynist perspective more contained, but horror can afford to make it overt. Clearly all normal rules do not apply. So, once reality is dropped in favour of visual pleasure, why do we ask audiences to witness hostility and brutality against women? Brian De Palma assesses the motives behind this argument. It is, he suggests, not that women are presented for male pleasure but that they provide a greater capacity for terror in the audience: If you have a haunted house and you have a woman walking around with a candelabra, you fear more for her than you would for a husky man. (Clover, 1992, p42). This provides a greater margin for a violent death. But why is this? Why would a woman be more vulnerable than a man in this age of equality? The answer to this lies far deeper than in the relatively trivial world of the slasher movie or psychological thriller. This genre is simply a form of entertainment and perhaps not the place for intellectual analysis, as John Carpenter hinted when he was challenged with the notion that he is responsible for the tasteless massacre of sexually active women. He claimed that, although the victims in his (and so many other) horror films are indeed the more sexually active characters, to insist that this is why they die is to miss the essential pointThey get killed because they are not paying attention. How do I reference Carpenter? And it could be argued that academics were reading a little too much into Halloween, since a male character is also murdered straight after sex with his girlfriend. One could even claim that this balances the plot and clears the director of the accusation that he is somehow guilty of misogyny. However à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦argues that: His death is usually only a device to remove protection from the now vulnerable female. (pg 165 Bitches, Bimbosà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). This suggests that the male character is now secondary and his death is insignificant by comparison to the murder of the female. It could also be argued that Carpenter and other celebrated film makers just want to make entertaining horror and dont intend to make hateful statements against women, or objectify them for the male gaze, but that this is simply what people find exciting and why they fill up cinemas. Irrespective of Carpenters intentions, the standards of what is considered entertainment tell us a great deal about our views towards women in horror cinema and perhaps in society as a whole. CHAPTER 2 The Abject Feminine The ultimate figure of abjection is the corpse. As the horror genre is ultimately obsessed with death one could suggest that horror fetishizes the abject. It has been suggested that the horror film attempts to bring about confrontation with the abject. (p4 Horror Film and Psychoanalysis: Freuds Worst Nightmare.) Creed refers to Kristevas notion of the border: When we say such-and-such a horror film made me sick or scared the shit out of me we are actually foregrounding that specific horror film as a work of abjection or abjection at work almost in a literal sense. (1993, p10) By the presentation of repulsion one knows what is not repulsive; to understand abjection one must understand boundaries. As we grow up we stop playing in dirt and become more dignified; this is something we learn from society as well as from our mothers teaching us how to be clean and proper. This notion references Lacans concept of the mirror stage, Kristeva supports: It is thus not lack of cleanliness or health that causes abjection but what disturbs identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions, rules. (1982, p4). Woman and abjection The horror genre has a historical tendency to represent the female form as abject. In Kristevas view, woman is specifically related to polluting objects, which fall into two categories: excremental and menstrual. This in turn gives woman a special relationship to the abject. (1982, p10) What we are scared of is not the matter that we expel but what it signifies loss of identity, loss of control, death and the unknown. Nor is it the end of a natural life that contributes to the tension of horror cinema, but an endless list of horrific deaths that we could possibly encounter. Paul Wells backs this notion with his comments on the forbidden facets of the human body its propensity to foul secretions and physical corrosion which are linked to our relentless descent towards death, and which are reflected in images of abjection in the horror film (2000, p16). IS THIS 2ND PERSON? When we are children our parents encourage us to respect boundaries about cleanliness and behaviour, and we reject the abject. But in the context of the horror film there is perverse pleasure that allows us to explore our curiosity about the abject. The abject confronts the repressed/un-civilized side of the ego and allows us to investigate the other. The horror film makes good use of the abject. Julia Kristeva uses her experience with milk as a child in an attempt to explain the idea of abjection: Food loathing is perhaps the most elementary and most archaic form of abjection. When the eyes see or the lips touch that skin on the surface of milkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I experience a gagging sensation and, still farther down, spasms in the stomach, the belly: and all the organs shrivel up the body, provoke tears and bile, increase heartbeat, cause forehead and hands to perspire. Along with sight-clouding dizziness, nausea makes me balk at that milk cream, separates me from the mother and father who proffer it. (p23 Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva). Does this need to be cut? This could suggest that when a skin forms on top of milk, it is crossing over a border or breaking a rule regarding what is acceptable as good food, and so the milk is no longer pure. The milk has perhaps split into two; milk being the acceptable form and its solidified state being the abject. Hence it fulfils a similar role in our imagination as a corpse does over a living, breathing body. We will no longer accept/drink the milk as it has turned bad and represents death, a state beyond living. The maternal body grows and delivers a living being but it is also the sister of the corpse so it can remind us of life but also death. If we confronted the abject in everyday life we would be constantly aware of our own mortality. Milk described in the context above provides an effective example of abjection, as it suggests the differential between acceptable breastfeeding as a child and unacceptable breast-feeding as an adult. The Exorcist was the first of many possession films. Its premise involves an innocent young girl named Regan McNeil who displays abnormal behaviour in the middle class American home she shares with her mother and house keeper. Throughout the film her father appears absent so it is her mother (Chris McNeil) who bears witness to the profound and hostile series of events and paranormal behaviour as the plot unfolds. Creed states that: The possessed or invaded being is a figure of abjection in that the boundary between self and other has been transgressed (1993, p32) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦by the devil himself, who appears to be the only male central figure in the film until the arrival of a psychiatrist and two Roman Catholic Priests. Within the plot of The Exorcist, Regans character is a vehicle that allows the portrayal of abjection to the mass audience. Had a young boy been cast in a similar role, the horror could have been undermined, but due to our own preconceptions of femininity and youth, the possession portrayed within this young girl only adds to the horrific events. Regan is the most passive of female victims, repeatedly switching from tearful little girl to demonic aggressor. She expels her bodily fluids, blood, vomit and urine; she is a playground for bodily wastes (1993, p40). Creed goes on to point out that the female body is more abject because its maternal functions acknowledge its debt to nature 1993, p11). She also points out that, as Regan cavorts and flaunts herself, we become all too aware of the forbidden fascination of the abject , as well as its horror, inherent in the fact that this young girl has overtly flouted her respectable feminine function, and has; put her unsocialized body on display. And to make matters worse, she has done all of this before the shocked eyes of two male clerics. (p 198 Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies. edited by Bordwell, D and Carrol, N) Creed (1993, p37) puts forward: In Kristevas view the abject represents that which disturbs identity, system, order. Regans possessed soul projects this through levitation and deep spoken foul language. As the film continues, an exorcism takes place in the form of a battle between the Church and the Devil. If religion could be used to explore the abject, no film does it more tellingly than in The Exorcist. Creed puts forward, according to Kristeva: Kristeva argues that, historically, it has been the function of religion to purify the abject. (1993, p14) As the film comes to an end, Regan is saved by the church and restored to purity. She turns to hug the one person who saved her: a male Priest, or perhaps God himself? Spectator In the real world, when confronted with something genuinely repulsive, we reject that object of repulsion. But in the cinema it is not necessary to fully block what confronts us. The positioning of the spectator within the cinema experience must be recognized if abjection is going to be fully absorbed. The viewer happily sits as the spectacle of horror unfolds and is projected onto them. Though the viewer has no control over the events projected before them, the unpleasant acts witnessed by the spectator can comfortably be dismissed when the credits roll and the film is over. Viewing the horror film signifies a desire not only for perverse pleasure where boundaries are crossed, both attracting and repelling (confronting sickening, horrific images/being filled with terror/desire for the undifferentiated) but also a desire, once having been filled with perversity, taking pleasure in perversity, to throw up, throw out, eject the abject (from the safety of the spectators seat). CHAPTER 3 The Absent Mother Relationships in the maternal melodrama are almost always between mother and daughter; it is to the horror film we must turn for an exploration of mother-son relationships. The latter are usually represented in terms of repressed Oedipal desire, fear of the castrating mother and psychosis. Given the nature of the horror genre its preoccupation with monstrosity, abjection and horrific familial scenarios the issues surrounding the mother-child dyad are generally presented in a more extreme and terrifying manner. (Creed,1993, p139) Cut down One area of female representation that is more ambiguous is the figure of the Mother in the horror film genre. No longer could the killer be simply defined by gender. At the beginning of the 1960s audiences were subjected to a new kind of cinematic terror, as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ explains in her essay: The monster was no longer out there; it was in here. The monster was the human mind. (Pg 160 Gary, J and Sheila, S (ed) Bitches, Bimbos and Virgins: Women in the Horror Film) As Hitchcocks psychological thriller Psycho was released The early sixties audience would be led to believe that the approachable Norman Bates (played by Antony Perkins) was simply a victim of his over-zealous mothers bullying. But as the plot unravelled, the film presented a deeply obsessive human mind as the real monster, as Steven Jay Schneider further explains: When used to shed light on horror cinema, psychoanalysis in its various forms has proven to be a frightful and provocative interpretive tool (Pg 187 Schneider, S. J. Horror Film and Psychoanalysis Freuds Worst Nightmare) The film follows its self-sufficient central female character, Marion Crane, jaded by her affair with a married man, as she embezzles a large amount of money from her male employer and leaves town in pursuit of a new life. On arrival at the infamous Bates Motel she meets the proprietor, the twitchy but approachable and, more importantly, passive Norman Bates, who is clearly attracted to Crane, something she comfortably takes in her stride, suggesting a non-passive female. However, on closer inspection, Marions actions throughout the first section of the film are defined by male characters she comes into contact with: her lover Sam, her male employer and the male client, the highway patrol officer and Norman Bates who all define her destiny with their attitudes towards her. Robert Kolker supports this theory: Psycho: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the mix of pleasure and pain common to all horror viewing, and aligned with a feminine subject position, is negotiated differently by men than by women. (p193 Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho: A Casebook edited by Robert Kolker) Throughout the first part of the film Marion is portrayed as feminine, attractive and defying the typical representation of women in horror films; however, from the perspective of the male gaze Bates watches Marion, unbeknown to her, through a hole in the wall as she undresses and prepares to shower. Normans eye is filmed in extreme close-up, drawing attention to the activity of the voyeurism. (1993, p145). As the camera lingers on her it is this scene that suggests that Hitchcock cannot break away fully from the traditions of the horror genre where the female becomes objectified and is observed from the gaze of the active male. Norman Bates mother is another female character significant to the plot, not seen but heard off-screen discouraging her son from having any social contact with the newly arrived female and, throughout most of the film, verbally abusing her son. Surrounded by stuffed birds, Bates even states a boys best friend is his mother. The viewer can assume that he is a loyal and reliable son. However, as Lacans theorys are refered : The baby is bound to its image by words and names, by linguistic representations. A mother who keeps telling her son What a bad boy you are! may end up with either a villain or a saint. (2010, p43) Norman Bates appears to be gentle and sensitiv

Pre-Industrial Visual Cultures :: Culture Cultural Papers

Pre-Industrial Visual Cultures I remember my father's futile attempts at trying to get me interested in Eastern philosophy. He got me cartoon versions of Zen philosophy and the teachings of Chinese philosophers, and would try to draw parallels between their ideas and what was going on in our lives. Unfortunately, I was more preoccupied with my telephone-marathons and other such pressing issues. The effect of his words on me was like water rolling off a duck's back. As I got older and less oblivious to the world, old ways and ideas were no longer applicable and I found myself left with nothing to hold onto. My Christian background could not accommodate my intellectual and spiritual evolution - to question something even as fundamental as how our beings came into existence is blasphemy. I dislike how it encourages intellectual complacency and have problems with its inherently patriarchal and highly theatrical nature. The whole colorful and tragic production seems egotistical because the purpose of our existence is to worship God - and dire consequences await us should we do otherwise. And it doesn't matter if we were born in a non-western culture, where we will never hear the word 'Jesus'. It is still fire and brimstone for us for all of eternity through no fault of our own. It is not only very discriminating in the way the religion condemns the rest of the world but the whole production of creation and damnation seems really unnecessary if you t hink about it. Since God is supposedly all-knowing, he (assuming God is male - and no doubt white) must have known from the start that a part of his creation would acknowledge and worship him and the rest would be condemned to hell for eternity. Did he do it so he could say, "Oh, everything went as expected...too bad about all those in hell..." at the end of it all? The purpose of our existence in the Christian cosmos made no sense to me. Most of all, it's strange that all should be well and souls be saved as long as we obediently and unquestioningly follow some human interpretations (that Christians themselves cannot agree on) of some other human's words. At the same time I had trouble dealing with the transience of all things and feeling like I fell out of a UFO by accident because I felt as though I did not resonate with any human profoundly.

The Message in The Prince :: Machiavelli Prince

The Message in The Prince The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli, is one of the first examinations of politics and science from a purely scientific and rational perspective. Machiavelli theorizes that the state is only created if the people cooperate and work to maintain it. The state is also one of man?s greatest endeavors, and the state takes precedence over everything else. The state should be one?s primary focus, and maintaining the sovereignty of the state one?s most vital concern. The state is founded on the power of its military. Therefore, a strong military is vital to maintaining the state. Machiavelli believes that men respect power, but they will take advantage of kindness. He believes that when given the opportunity one must destroy completely, because if one does not he will certainly be destroyed. The prince should lead the military, and he has to be intelligent. An effective politician can make quick and intelligent choices about the problems that constantly arise before him. He must also h ave virtue, which means he is strong, confident, talented, as well as smart. A prince cannot be uncertain, because uncertainty is a sign of weakness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fortune controls half of human?s actions, and man?s will controls the other half. Virtue is the best defense for fortune, and virtue must be used in order to keep fortune in check. The prince must take advantage of situations based solely on if it is best for the state. He should choose his decisions based on contemporary and historical examples. A prince cannot consider whether his acts are moral or immoral, and he instead must act in an unbiased manner for the state. Also, it does not matter how the state achieves its goals, as long as these goals are achieved.   Finally, regardless of the personal morality involved, the prince should be praised if he does good for the state and berated if he hurts the state. Machiavelli?s principles have widespread influence, and they are quite similar to some of Thomas Hobbes ideas in Leviathan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Machiavelli has a very low opinion of the people throughout history.   In general, he feels that men are "ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers." "They shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well, they are yours. They would shed their blood for you ? but when you are in danger they turn against you." Machiavelli basically has little respect for the people, and he feels as though they have not earned much either.

Compare and contrast ‘Of Mice And Men’ and ‘The Pearl’ Essay

Compare and contrast ‘Of Mice And Men’ and ‘The Pearl’ looking especially at how Steinbeck has interwoven the social and political concerns of that time. The story ‘Of Mice And Men’ is quite similar to the story of ‘The Pearl’. Both stories deal with the social and political issues of that time. The stories deal with the issues of sexism, racism, greed, loneliness, hardship but also with friendship and ambitions. John Steinbeck was born in 1902, Salinas Valley, California. In 1929, aged 27, he completed his first novel ‘Cup Of Gold’. He did work as a labourer and journalist for five years. After writing his first novel, he moved back to California where he wrote many more novels and short stories. Steinbeck often wrote about what he understood or what issues he felt were important to him. For example, he wrote many novels about the labouring people, he wrote ‘Bombs Away: The Story Of A Bomber Team’, he wrote about his travels and even a saga about his family history. He even studied marine biology so that he could write the ‘Sea Of Cortez’. He won the Nobel Prize in 1962. John Steinbeck died at the age of 66, in 1968. This essay will discuss the various themes of the two novels written by John Steinbeck. These themes include the hardship and suffering endured by the characters of both of the novels, racism, sexism, greed, dreams, loneliness and friendship. The first book we read, ‘The Pearl’, had two main characters, these were Kino – the man of the family who was husband to Juana and together had a baby boy called Coyotito. The book begins with a description of the scenery and of the daily routine of the family. The story really starts when Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion. Juana takes control of the situation and in turn does a heroic thing by asking for the doctor. Of course the doctor refuses to go down to the brush houses, so when the family decide to go to the doctor, the whole village goes with them for support. The doctor refuses to treat baby Coyotito because of the fact that Kino and Juana couldn’t pay for the treatment. Also, the fact that the doctor was racist didn’t help either. Kino and Juana were left helpless. Soon after that incident with the doctor, Kino found the ‘pearl of the world’. It should have brought them riches and happiness, but instead led them to the destruction of all their possessions and even to the death of little Coyotito. When Kino gets the pearl, he dreams of all the wonderful things he could do with the pearl. They weren’t extravagant dreams, but of simple things, such as giving Coyotito an education, a wedding for Kino and Juana in a church and new clothes. It all goes horribly wrong though, when Kino decides that the pearl buyers are trying to rip him off. This leads to the decision that Kino, Juana and Coyotito will go to the city to try and sell their pearl. The townspeople were split into two: the people that thought Kino was a brave man fighting for a better future, and they supported Kino’s family, but then there were others who thought Kino was a fool and they tended to be the jealous people. The story ends with Kino and Juana going back to their village after Coyotito’s head was violently shot away. The couple had lost everything, they had lost their home, their boat, and their baby son. Kino ends up throwing the pearl back into the ocean where it came from. The story ‘Of Mice And Men’ starts off with Lennie and George, two white men who are on their way to a ranch. They have a dream that they will one day own a little place. This would provide them with security and comfort. Lennie and George travelled together, unlike many other ranchers. George looked after Lennie, as Lennie seemed to have the mind of a child, even though he was much smaller. As the story goes on, we learn that the pair were working at a ranch in Weed, when Lennie wanted to feel this girl’s dress. The girl panicked, as did Lennie, who then wouldn’t let go of the dress. When he did, the girl told the men at the ranch, who then wanted to lynch Lennie. As a result Lennie and George had to hide to in an irrigation ditch for a day. They got a job though a few miles south of Soledad. However, when they get there, they can sense there’s trouble ahead. The bosses’ son Curley, has it in for Lennie, because Curley is a little guy who hates Lennie as he is a big guy. Not only is there Curley they should have to look out for, but also Curley’s wife. She had been described a ‘tart’ and after Lennie and George had meet her, George called her ‘jail bait all set on the trigger’. Lennie quite liked her, but George tells Lennie to stay away from Curley and his wife. Of course, there was the incident which involved Lennie crushing Curley’s hand which almost broke every single bone in it. Luckily he was blackmailed into not telling anyone about the incident but there was a lot of anger and resentment. When old Candy, the one-armed swamper and Crooks, the black, disabled, stable-buck, hear of Lennie and George’s dream, they too, want a part of it. However, when Lennie is left alone with Curley’s wife, he accidentally kills her. He runs off to the brush as George had once instructed him to do if he ever got in to trouble. When Curley finds out, he leads the other men to go out with him to shoot Lennie. Curley really didn’t seem upset that his wife had died, but it was more to do with the fact that Lennie was the one who had killed her. George knew where Lennie was and went over there. George realised that Lennie had very few choices left. George decided to shoot Lennie. Soon after Lennie’s death, some of the men found George. Slim tried to comfort George. The novel ended with Carlson saying something trivial to Curley. The main characters in the books lived in poor conditions. Kino and Juana and Lennie and George had little money, but the characters are strong in the novels as a result. The hardship they had suffered and endured made them stronger as characters. Both migrant workers and Kino’s people had few rights and little respect. Kino’s people were mainly fishermen and they looked for pearls. Kino’s family just barely survived. Everyday they ate the same things for breakfast – a corn-cake and a little pulque. They couldn’t afford to eat anything different, even if they wanted to. There is a description of Kino and Juana, in the story that the beggars in the city had made. They saw Juana’s old skirt, ‘the tears in her shawl’, the beggars even saw through the age of Kino’s blanket and they saw the amount of times his clothes had been washed was a lot and so the beggars, who were ‘great experts in financial analysis’ came to the conclusion that Kino and Juana were ‘poverty people’. In the beginning of the story, the family seem to be happy and comfortable. Steinbeck describes their mourning routine s though Kino and Juana didn’t mind being poor, but we learn that isn’t true. When Coyotito is stung by the scorpion, Juana and Kino feel helpless as they cannot afford to treat their son. To make the situation worse, Coyotito is their first born son, and so it is very important that they are able to provide adequate medical treatment for him. When Juana has to make do with the seaweed poultice, we learn that the traditional methods of treating a scorpion bite were frowned upon by Juana, as the remedy lacked the doctors ‘authority’ just because it was simple and it didn’t cost a penny. Not only that but they couldn’t afford to get married even. Lennie and George were very poor too. On average they got 50 dollars a month, but they got accommodation and food. The migrant ranch workers, tended to live in filth conditions and many had body lice. For example, in ‘Of Mice And Men’ when George is being introduced to the place by Candy, George gets angry when he sees a bottle of lice-killing stuff above his bed. Candy tells George that the previous guy that stayed there, was the kind of guy that would ‘wash his hands even after he ate’. This gives off the impression that most of these men didn’t think much of personal hygiene. These migrant workers never had permanent jobs, so when they were in-between jobs they lived in real poverty. They had no security in their lives, and they must have got very lonely all by themselves, so at least Lennie and George had each other. In ‘The Pearl’, it was very difficult finding the pearl that would change a person’s life. Finding on would be like winning the lottery. Even if they were to find one, who’s to say that they’ll be able to cash it in? the pearl buyers bought the pearls cheaply from the naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve village people, who thought they were getting a good deal, and in Kino’s case, when he tried to stand up for himself, he paid the price of his son. In the case, ‘Of Mice And Men’, the migrant workers would never get a cut of the profits. They do all the work but they don’t ever get to reap what they sow. This is the reason why Lennie got so excited from living of the fat of the land. ‘The Pearl’ didn’t seem to concentrate too much on the theme of racism. Steinbeck looked at the affects of the persecution of Kino’s people, generations ago and on Kino’s generation now. Steinbeck focused on the collapsing of Kino’s people. For example, after the European settlers moved in, they took over almost everything leaving the Indians with very little rights. The doctor did make a comment though, that showed his racism. The statement he is saying that these ‘little Indians’ are not even human but animals instead. The novel ‘Of Mice And Men’ though, did discuss racist themes. The men at the ranch call Crooks – the only black man on the ranch – ‘nigger’. All but the exception of Slim who had won the respect of every man on the ranch. Slim called Crooks by his name and in turn Crooks showed respect for Slim. At that particular time in America, separation of whites and blacks was widespread. As a result, Crooks had to live by himself. He wasn’t allowed in the bunkhouse purely because he was a Negro. Apparently the men at the ranch say that he stinks. Crooks is bitter towards these men. In fact, when Curley’s wife comes in Crook’s room, and Crooks warns her not to come in there she threatens Crooks, by claiming that she can have Crooks lynched so easily that it would be no bother to her. Juana and Curley’s wife are not treated equally by the men around them. However, it is fair to say that Juana was treated with a lot more respect by her husband. Juana was a strong woman and Kino recognised and respected her for that. For example, when Coyotito was stung, Juana took charge of the situation it was her who decided to call the doctor and her who decided to go to see the doctor. Although she was ‘obedient’, she had an important part of the relationship. She kept the family together but one of the sad things of Curley’s wife’s life was that nobody respected her of loved her – not even to Curley. He seemed to have no respect for her. The men at the ranch called her a ‘tart’, a ‘looloo’ and all sorts of other names. I think that both women were misunderstood and weren’t given enough respect. The dreams that Juana and Kino had were quite different, from what Lennie and George dreamt. However, we learn that there are many similarities in both the characters’ dreams. For example, Kino and Juana just want to get married in a church and Lennie and George would love to have the choice of not going to work. Both dreams are affected by what was the most important belief, ‘The Pearl’ saw that Kino wanted an educated son because through his son, his people could learn. Whereas Lennie and George wanted their little place, because land meant power, and in their case, freedom. The difference between the two stories though, is Lennie and George’s dream is told throughout the story and we know it and understand what they want, but Kino’s dream is only told to us when Kino believes that they can be a reality. Loneliness is something that almost every character felt. Kino and Juana went through such a lot, that after having gone back to the village, I doubt they will ever full fit in again. They will feel alienated from the village people and the community that was so close was ripped apart by Kino’s pearl so the community was trying to pick up its own pieces. George’s loneliness doesn’t play that big a part in the novel. He is lucky to have Lennie and he realises that, but George needed more that just companionship from Lennie – he needed to talk to someone. This was why George was so quick to tell Slim some of his most innermost thoughts, and secrets. Lennie was just like a child, and children cannot have adult conversations. This is far better than the others on the ranch. Crooks isn’t allowed to make friends with others because he isn’t anything more than just a ‘nigger’ to them. Candy too, is discriminated against because of his disability and his old age. The shooting of Candy’s dog was a fine example of how if something isn’t of any use any more – then just kill it. I think Steinbeck tried to get his readers to be more aware and understanding towards the underprivileged. Steinbeck understood these people, so he wrote about them. There is a hidden moral here to be learnt, that I feel Steinbeck was trying to give across. I believe Steinbeck was saying that in those times and even now, money doesn’t always equal to prosperity. Take for example, the doctor, he was a wealthy man in ‘The Pearl’, but he wasn’t actually happy and content. Kino and Juana were by far better off than the doctor, as they had love, not money, even though money can seem to solve problems. As for George and Lennie, they seemed to be happy enough in their dreams and ambitions, far happier than Curley, who had inherited his father’s wealth. Curley could have even been jealous of the ranch men and their freedom. Steinbeck showed that none of his characters, in either book, were fully content with their situation. This could be saying something about the nature of humans, how the grass is always greener on the other side, and how nobody is going to fully happy with wealth.

Origins, After/Otherworld & Codes Of Living Essay

Literature has been a useful way of understanding many aspects about the world and even the essence of the existence of mankind. The connection of literature with humanity can be evidently seen in different historical accounts of stories that have become famous internationally. These literary works may have been mythological, fantasy, religious or even non-fictional, but despite all of this. Finding greater realizations about man can be deeply understood within the confines of these stories. There can be similarities and differences that might appear at the stories. But sometimes, readers would find it surprising when he or she realizes the connections. To further understand man’s origins, understanding literature is one form of assistance. The contents within stories across the centuries of literature define and display messages about the possible origins of man. The following paragraphs showcase two examples of literary examples of the accounts of the creation of man. Genesis Then God said, â€Å"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. † So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, â€Å"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. † (Genesis: 1: 26-28). Genesis, the initial part of the bible discusses the creation of everything. The book of Genesis made clear the importance of man and the explanation of how man came to be and how man should live. It stated clearly the purpose of man, to rule over the fish and the sea and the birds and every living creature. This account clearly states the importance of man and man’s role on earth. Greek Mythology’s Creation of Man â€Å"By now all was ready for the appearance of mankind. Even the places the good and bad should go to after death had been arranged. It was time for me to be created. There is more than one account of how that came to pass. Some say it was delegated by the gods to Prometheus, the Titan who had sided with Zeus in the war with the Titans, and to his brother, Epimetheus. Before making men he gave all the best gifts to the animals, strength and swiftness and courage and shrewd cunning, fur and feathers and wings and shells and the like – until no good was left for men, no protective covering and no quality to make them a match for the beasts. Prometheus, then, took over the task of creation and thought out a way to make mankind superior. He fashioned them in a nobler shape than the animals, upright like the gods; and then he went to heaven, to the sun. where he lit a torch and brought down fire, a protection to men far better than anything else, whether fur or feathers or strength or swiftness† (Hamilton, p. 71, 1942). The Creation of Man in Mythological description has been plenty. The above paragraph is just one account of man’s mythological creation. However, despite the various accounts, one common theme occurs, and that is man is created by the inspiration of the image of the gods. Death is inevitable.  One question that would come to mind to those who wonder about the afterlife is how does it look like? Is there such truth regarding life after death? These questions attract attention and interest. There are many literary accounts about the afterlife. Understanding them can help give a rather broad description or even just possible options of what the afterlife might really look like. Dante’s Divine Comedy This series shows the three phases of the afterlife according to Dante. Used in a 1st person point of view story-telling, Dante discusses the different places after a man dies. These places attributes to how man lived on earth. The places are the effect of life’s justice. The three places that were tackled are Hell, Purgatory and Paradise which is Heaven. Hell was described to have 9 circles, while Purgatory has 7 terraces, and then the 9 spheres of Heaven. Despite the religious transcription of the Divine Comedy, there are no other literary work that has become more influential about the afterlife than this work by Dante. It almost clearly describes the possibility of the afterlife. Greek Mythology Greek Mythology has been the product of classical literary work. Despite its mythological sense, there has been a good comparison with regards to the afterlife. Greek Mythology consists of the Heavens which is ruled by Zeus, the Waters which lorded over by Poseidon, and the Underworld which is under the control of Hades. The Underworld is the place for the dead. It’s description is a place of shadows and spirits. Most Greek Myths took place in the Underworld. Being considered as a place where the mortals live on after death, the concept of the afterlife is clear in this Greek Mythological place. There are many aspects of how man should live life. The Bible suggests a lot of stories that assists man in living the right kind of way. There are so many inspiring stories that advises how man should roam the earth and in the end reach the common goal of life. There are two striking accounts about the struggles in life but in the end achieving a positive result. The following literary accounts showcase stories about the remarkable aspect of life. These two stories display an interesting and enlightening statement about life.

A Poem from Aeon Entelechy Evangelion by Earthscorpion

Many a star must have been there for you so you might feel it. A wave lifted towards you out of the past, or, as you walked past an open window, a violin gave of itself. All this was their mission. But could you handle it? Were you not always, still, distracted by expectation, as if all you experienced, like a Beloved, came near to you? (Where could you contain her, with all the vast strange thoughts in you going in and out, and often staying the night. ) But if you are yearning, then sing the lovers: for long heir notorious feelings have not been immortal enough. Those, you almost envied them, the forsaken, that you found as loving as those who were satisfied. Begin, always as new, the unattainable praising: think: the hero prolongs himself, even his falling was only a pretext for being, his latest rebirth. But lovers are taken back by exhausted Nature into herself, as if there were not the power to make them again. Have you remembered Gastara Stampa sufficiently yet, that any girl, whose lover has gone, might feel from that intenser example of love: Could I only become like her? Should not these ancient sufferings be finally fruitful for us? Isnt it time that, loving, we freed ourselves from the beloved, and, trembling, endured as the arrow endures the bow, so as to be, in its flight, something more than itself? For staying is nowhere. Voices, voices. Hear then, my heart, as only saints have heard: so that the mighty call raised them from the earth: they, though, knelt on impossibly and paid no attention: such was their listening. Not that you could withstand Gods voice: far from it. But listen to the breath, the unbroken message that creates itself from the silence. It rushes towards you now, from those youthfully dead. Whenever you entered, didnt their fate speak to you, quietly, in churches in Naples or Rome? Or else an inscription exaltedly impressed itself on you, as lately the tablet in Santa Maria Formosa. What do they will of me? That I should gently remove the semblance of injustice, that slightly, at times, hinders their spirits from a pure moving-on. It is truly strange to no longer inhabit the earth, to no longer practice customs barely acquired, not to give a meaning of human futurity to roses, and other expressly promising things: o longer to be what one was in endlessly anxious hands, and to set aside even ones own proper name like a broken plaything. Strange: not to go on wishing ones wishes. Strange to see all that was once in place, floating so loosely in space. And its hard being dead, and full of retrieval, before one gradually feels a little eternity. Though the living all make the error of drawing too sharp a distinction. Angels (they say) would often not know whether they moved among living or dead. The eternal current sweeps all the ages, within it, through both the spheres, forever, and resounds above them in both.Finally they have no more need of us, the early-departed, weaned gently from earthly things, as one outgrows the mothers mild breast. But we, needing such great secrets, for whom sadness is often the source of a blessed progress, could we exist without them? Is it a meaningless story how once, in the grieving for Linos, first music ventured to penetrate arid rigidity, so that, in startled space, which an almost godlike youth suddenly left forever, the emptiness first felt the quivering that now enraptures us, and comforts, and helps.

Improving Female Preventive Health Care Delivery through Practice Essay

Improving Female Preventive Health Care Delivery through Practice Change., (article review) - Essay Example 401). The authors noted however that despite the reduced or no cost access to the program, â€Å"the level breast and cervical cancer screening falls short of the ideal† (Backer et al., 2005, p. 401). As a result, the program was examined using the GAPs model with GAPS standing for â€Å"goal-setting, assessing existing routines, planning the modification of routines, and providing support for these improvements† (Backer et al., 2005, p. 402). The authors described the study as multi-method: a qualitative study design was used to describe the process of changes that took place in the implementation of the program while quantitative audits on mammogram and Papanicolaou test data were used to measure the success that was assumed to be related with the practice. The data that was used to assess the program involved observational field notes, audio-taped interviews with physicians and key staff, and chart reviews of the last female patients from 19 to 64 found in the clinic . Backer et al. (2005) led respondents to identify potential reforms in the EWM that can improve screening rates and advance key reforms that must be instituted in the program. Respondents identified several initiatives that may improve screening rates. ... Thirdly, it was suggested that the patient educational materials be more readily available. Fourthly, it was raised that the program creates a monthly computer-generated reminders for patients needing screening. Fifthly, it was proposed that a reminder system for patients be designed. Sixthly, it was recommended that a common fact sheet for all health providers be used. Finally, the recommendations were forwarded to increase the accessibility of the patient educational materials. Although these are the most practical recommendations of the research activity reported by Backer et al. (2005) in the discussion section of their papers, the authors focused on the theoretical aspects of their research initiative. In particular, Backer et al. (2005) stressed that their findings â€Å"support the concept of practices as unique, complex organizational systems† which may be hardly immediately relevant for the immediate and more important concern of improving clinical or public health st rategies; improving strategies and service delivery to promote preventive breast and cervical cancer screening. One important insight discussed in the discussion section of their research is that most practices are sometimes unable to institute change because of inertia. In other words, what is currently practiced tends to be perpetuated as practitioners tend to resist the movement to change: without friction, a body at rest tends to be rest while a body in motion tends to be in motion. However, a systems change model such as the GAPS can promote vigilance for systems change (Backer et al., 2005). II. Recommendations for Improving Every Woman Matters Program On reviewing the material of Backer et al. (2005), it is easy to see where the EWM program was probably weak. Firstly, while the