How Peter Shafer uses 'Equus' to portray religion
How Peter Shafer uses 'Equus' to portray religion The book Equus, gives its audience a deeper view on religion by relating it to a series of scenes in the play. Religion as a whole is mainly a person's belief and what they do in life depends on this belief. If, within a religion, a person is told that something is the right thing to do then that person will try in as many ways as possible to live up to this. Religion can mean anything anyone wants it to mean and be anything they make it. It does not have to be believed in by many people, it can be a personal belief of one person. 'Equus' proves that religion can be anything. Alan, one of the main characters of this play, finds belief in horses. He worships them, just as many people worship God, Allah and Buddha. He has strong feelings for them and spends as much time with them as possible. Much the same as strong Christians do when at church. But as the play goes on, he starts to feel more than a spiritual love for them and becomes sexually attracted to them as well. He has such an overwhelming passion for them that he spends all the time he can with them. We learn that the main causes of his actions in the play are caused by his parents. His mother is a strong Christian and his father an atheist. His mother had tried to educate him about sex but failed to tell it with the correct details. She tells him that when he
The Self-help Craze: Motivational Speakers And Solutions They Sell
The Self-help Craze: Motivational Speakers And Solutions They Sell "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me," says Guy Smiley as he looks at himself in the mirror. This is how each Guy Smiley skit opened on Saturday Night Live, with actor Mike Myers playing Smiley. The character is a comic interpretation of a motivational guru, who tried to use mantras like the one above to over come insecurities. Although Smiley is fictional, the self-help genre Myers was making fun of has been growing in the last few decades and it on the rise. The public is being bombarded on every medium by self proclaimed gurus who offer people solutions to every problem they could face. Through television, radio, audio tapes, and live seminars, motivational speakers promise to give audiences the keys to change their lives, for a price. In 1995 an article in Forbes revealed that the self-help industry was estimated to generate 1.6 billion (Gubernick, 1995). According to an article in Business Week the books, tapes, and videos alone generated seven billion dollars in sales in 1999 (Morris, 1999). The followers of self-help gurus will enthusiastically swear that the teachings in a particular program have changed their lives, while skeptics view the programs as overly simplistic propaganda. As Marlin describes propaganda as a "systematic, motivated attempt to
media bowling for columbine
Gareth Elahi How does Michael Moor create a view point in 'Bowling for Columbine'? Bowling for columbine is a film documentary created by Michael Moor to bring attention to the growing gun problems in America; he investigates the results of them falling into the wrong hands. He uses an extreme example of this in the film which is massacre at columbine high school, where two boys went into the school and opened fire on their class mates and then killed themselves. Two of the main questions the film asks is, why is America so violent? And who is responsible for the columbine massacre? The film starts with Michael Moor opening an account at a national bank after seeing an advert in the paper which said that you will receive a free gun if you open an account. After completing a form to confirm he doesn't have any mental illness he receives his free gun. I feel the Moor has carefully selected this scene to start his film with; it has been filmed using steadicam which follows Moor and enables the audience to see the expressions of Moor and the workers in the bank. The use of steadicam shows the people working at the bank are comfortable with what is happening and none of the people in the shot seem to be shocked by this. This opening scene shows the audience how guns are accepted in American culture and how easy it is to obtain one. I fell Moor has portrayed the bank workers as
Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter
Unit 2: Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter Task 1: Response 2) After reading the introduction to the play I realized that it was not going to be a 'friendly' play about a group of seven year olds. There was going to be something to give it a malicious twist. The play begins with one of the small boys playing happily by themselves. My first reaction was seeing as the children are being played by adults this will look quite 'odd'. What I was having to understand was that it was being played by adults to emphasise that children don't always play in a 'friendly' matter. When the boy starts pretending he is an aeroplane he quotes: 'Then be all dead. Dead. Dead. Burnt to nothing'. He has said that all the people he has imagined will die and be burnt. This is a very disturbing thing for such a young child to be thinking, instead we would expect him to say: 'and they will all land softly' or a similar gentle mannered idea. As two friends, Peter and Willie are united and their behaviour seems quite normal and playful. However, what shocked me was when Peter started beating Willie physically over an apple. His behaviour is very spiteful and threatens to 'spit right in the middle' of Willie's face. This is a side of a seven year old that I have never seen or imagined before. All children have people that they look up to and compare themselves with. In this case it is a boy called
Miss Saigon - review.
Miss Saigon Bristol Hippodrome Monday 17th March * Play moves around 3 countries. Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Atlanta and Bangkok. Kim, a young Vietnamese woman quickly falls in love with Chris, marine guard at the U.S embassy. The play deals with the contrasting themes of love and conflict between the couple and there different backgrounds. * Proscenium Arch. Deep Raked stage-striking set pieces. * Entrance of set was brought on and off was a part of the play. Empty space and synchronised movement allowed this to be quick and lighting allowed it to almost be an illusion. The wow factor. * Lit from above-accuracy on what area of the stage is lit. Use of spotlights, following the movement, lighting only specific areas. Sense of real movement and place, as the set in the dark can be changed. When the actor returns it is different and like they have not been there previously. Useful for creating three countries. * The actors carried on acting when set changes were taking place, and move with the set movement, acting to set that had only just arrived. Helped to create new locations, and a feel that they had actually travelled there. But sometimes this realism was broken when actors would jump off the stage, creating a different focus, and then returning to finish the scene. * Huge blinds- quick set changes, revealed large pieces of set. Detailed set - sense of realism, but
I fulfilled all the audience's needs by meeting all elements that were lacking in the existing leaflet. My main priority was to clearly display all the essential information that a customer would require from a good salon leaflet.
SYNOPTIC EVALUATION In my brief I established two primary objectives that I wanted to achieve by designing this artefact. These were to gain awareness from potential customers for the company and to build customer loyalty from the existing customers. I aimed to fulfil all the elements that were lacking in the existing leaflet such as logo, slogan, other vital information and more. I anticipated that the success of my leaflet would increase the future profit gain in the business. It was important to establish how human function especially female. I chose different pictures to represent various elements. I originally chose to use several photos of models in order to create role models for the audience. I used a guilt technique by showing a representation of what females ought to look like. This technique works towards the personal communication aspect with the audience by focusing on their self-esteem and personal appearance. I noticed that this technique is used a lot in the gym business as they always have slim people as an illustration idealising images of physical attractiveness. Most markets in today's world are aiming their products and services towards women more then men due to the society's pressure on women to maintain their physical appearance. The media have played a major role in shaping the way in which the society sees women and because of this we have become
The Forms and structure of Vinegar Tom by Churchill
The Forms and structure of Vinegar Tom by Churchill The overall play is made up of twenty-one scenes. There are no acts that separate the scenes from each other. The effect of this is that the play is continual, therefore the action will not stop until the end. This forces the audience to question what they see and not be given the chance to switch off until the play is over. The way the audience questions and reacts to what they see is very much apart of the theatrical vision we have for this performance. Therefore, although we're inevitably cutting parts of scenes to fit around the size of grouping were working with, were still however, desperate to allow the audience to be made aware of the crucial themes Vinegar Tom brings therefore were not separating the scenes with acts of any type. I believe there are elements of varied genres within this play, as Churchill was influenced by her own views and values on the age old condition of the oppression of women she therefore linked this to the American witch-trials in the late seventeenth century. So her foundation was based on real events however there is no reference to any of the events or locations in the play itself. With that base, a story line and characters emerged so the play centres around realism. However Brecht influenced Churchill and although there are no banners or headlines within the play's original script
The opening sequence of the film Scream.
The opening sequence of a film is important because it makes the audience interested and makes them want to keep watching but to do this the director needs to develop a good teen introduction to the film. In a teen horror film the audience would expect the first impressions of the characters to be formed, the typical teen horror movies plot to be introduced. Also the location, tone and the genre of a scary movie to be established. The audience would usually expect a chase in some part of the opening to take place with a vulnerable victim and psychopathic killer in a tense atmosphere. There are two characters in the opening sequence: the typical teenage girl Kaci and the voice of a mystery man introduced over the phone. The first impression we get of Kaci is a typical teenage girl; we get this impression by the way she is portrayed. Kaci is shown in a cosy beige jumper and casual light blue jeans, this shows she's having a relaxed day in. Kaci is also shown wearing red lipstick, this shows us that shes trying to look older, its as if she wants to impress someone. Kaci has short blonde hair, shows she's a sweet and innocent girl but she also wears red lipstick, which tells us that she's probably quite flirtatious, which we see later on in the opening and can get the audience tense. We can also get an impression of her by what she's doing and her behaviour, at the start of the
How did group skills contribute to the development of the drama?
How did group skills contribute to the development of the drama? Working as a group was a vital element to the development of our drama. We had to work as a group to develop our ideas and themes and bring them to life in our scenes through performance. Individual responsibility was given at times for each of the scenes but within that group discussion and cooperation were essential. I feel that group skills were particularly necessary due to the style of our drama, we all were always on stage as a group. Having two art students in our group, Anna and Marion, was an invaluable resource when it came to our set design. Clocks were displayed all over our back and side walls and were suspended from the roof, these were designed and the painted. Also we wore sandwich boards that were also drawn and painted. Their artistic ability was a great help in creating an atmospheric set. As a group we painted the box that was always on stage. We also had three English Literature students, myself, Katie and Ciana, this was a great advantage when it came to writing the individual scenes and collecting poems or information vital to our piece. Stephen was the technical brain behind our performance. His knowledge of lighting and sound was also an invaluable skill contributing to the development of the drama. He was also able to create a CD which included all the songs, voice overs and sound
The birthday party analysis
The Birthday Party What lies beneath in 'The Birthday Party' is: deception, repression, responsibility, sex, revenge, religious, power and control, status, and the past. Characterisation Goldberg, a man in his 50s, McCann, a man in his 30s, Stanley, a man in is late 30s, Petey, a man in his 60s, Meg a woman in her 60s and Lulu a women in her 20s. Goldberg - Religious Jewish man. Persuasive, powerful, - the knowing of his whole life and past but little about why he's here. Nostalgic. Nat Goldberg, in his fifties, is the older of the two strangers who come to interrogate and intimidate Stanley before taking him away. He is a polite character, a gentleman in appearance. He also seems to give off superficial good will, inclined to give kindly advice to both his henchman, McCann, and the other characters... He fondly and affectionately recalls his family and events in his early life. He also insists that Meg and the others honour Stanley with a birthday party. Goldberg's soft heartedness is, however, pure sham. His outward charm and polite manner mask a sadistic nature. This cruelty is first revealed in his initial interrogation of Stanley. It is this disagreement between Goldberg's calm appearance and his vicious interior that makes him the more sinister of Pinter's two persecutors. Stanley- Religious Jewish man. Persuasive, powerful, - the knowing of his whole life and past