Existentialism

Please watch this video and post your thoughts on Existentialism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilg7PiDD8yY

The Yellow Wallpaper and the Feminist Lens

Apply at least one tenet or concept of the feminist (gender) lens as outlined by Lois Tyson in Critical Theory Today to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story The Yellow Wallpaper. Use at least two to three text examples to explain how you have applied the concept. Make sure to explain how these examples can be used to apply the lens.

Marxism in Art

From paintings, to music, to protests, to health care--Marxist theory abounds. Let's try applying the Marxist lens to the following paintings.
"Hollywood" by Thomas Hart Benton"Power Games" by Roland Rafael Repczuk
"Pigstown Council Annual Meeting" by Jalaini Abu Hassan
"Liberation of Baghdad" by Sandow Birk
"America"
"In Smog and Thunder" by Sandow Birk
"Pyramid of Capitalist System"
"The Garden of Eden"
"A Painting for a Government Poster" by John Falter

Is This Russia?

On September 12, 2009, ten of thousands of protesters marched to the U.S. Capitol to express their disdain for the President's health care plan and government spending. Carrying slogans that read "Obamacare makes me sick" and "I'm not your ATM," protestors chanted "Enough, Enough!" Some protesters even carried pictures of Obama with the signature mustache of Adolf Hitler and referred to him as a socialist and communist. The idea of a government-run health care system has many concerned and worried about the future--their future and their children's future. And that concern has awakened the nation--encouraging citizens to seek the truth. What is the truth behind Obama's health care plan? Check out the below links.

Fact Check: Decoding Obama's Health Care Plan (Make sure you read the text pf the article--don't just watch the video. The text gives the opposing viewpoints to the video.)


The Truth--Lott's Numbers, Part II

The Obama Plan


Now--be sure to connect what you've read in these sources and what you've read of Marxist criticism in order to determine whether we are indeed, trending towards socialism in regards to the proposed health care plan. Remember to be very specific and to cite facts and examples--don't just spout off.

ANDROGYNY: MIXING GENDER ROLES

ANDROGYNY: MIXING GENDER ROLES

By Between the Bars and Goonie

We see androgyny everywhere these days from David Bowie to Hillary Clinton. Androgyny is the mixing of feminine and masculine characteristics. That can be in how we dress, how we look, and how we act.

Lets take a look at the 50's as an example.In this time all women wore dresses for the most part and wore high heels and curled their hair.

Now women in the workforce have become androgynous by wearing suits similar menswear. Have they lost their femininity? This would be psychological androgyny because women do this to show that they have just as much strenght as their male counterparts.

Another example of psychological androgyny is in the video posted above of the band Of Montreal. The lead singer Kevin Barnes displays feminine qualities in his appearence, voice, and his persona on stage. This was probably strongly influenced by David Bowie who made androgyny popular in the 1980's.

Androgyny can be confused with bisexuality, transgender, and believing you were born the wrong gender. For these people they do not always feel that they fit into specific gender role norms. Is "not fitting in" an issue that is recent (after 60's) in American society? Are defined gender roles important in a society? Do you think that androgynous characteristics have become part of the norm, or are they still looked at as outcasts and why?

Here is a link to a magazine called Androgyny to see more of the styles for men and women

http://www.androgynymag.co.uk/

The Book of James 1 Daemonology

"The fearful abounding, at this time and in this country of these detestable slaves of the devil, the witches (...) hath moved me to dispatch in post, this following treatise of mine (...) to resolve the doubting (...) both that such assaults of Satan are most certainly practised, and that the instrument thereof merits most severely to be punished."

"King James the VI of Scotland
and King James the I of England"

From the tale of "Macbeth," the history of Daemonologie is shown in the book that he approves and supports the truth of witchcraft and the practice of witch hunting. Demonologie goes as far back as the 1500's till the 1700's. It was then that King James the VI of Scotland (later known as the I of England) was first introduced to the North Berwick Witch Trials, Scotland's first major incident. It all began when King James the VI was traveling to Denmark to marry the Princess Anne, sister to Christan the IV. On their return, a horrible storm had forced them to take shelter for several weeks in Norway before they could continue and this is when it started to get bad.

After they had made it home, the admiral of the escorting Danish fleet, accused a women, a wife of a Scottish noble, of being responsible for their misfortune on the sea believing that it had happened because he had insulted her before the voyage. This then caused gossip and with that speculation spread that the several nobles of Scottish court were involved in witchcraft.

Soon hundreds of people were accused and tortured by the speculations of witchcraft. Overseeing each of theses accusations was King James. Watching each trial he saw hundreds more confessing that they had done dealings with the devil and tried to plot his demise on the ship after endless torture. . These trials are what drove King James to write the books of daemonologie, truly believing that the Witchcraft had spawned into the world and the Devil, Satan was at their doorstep.

In his writings King James wrote two books known as, "The first and Second Booke of Daemonologies." In the books describes about GOD's willing and the fall of the ones who dwell in witchcraft. Both books rely on the support of witch hunting, but the two separate how there are different types of witches and which deserves what punishment. Some would be chained to drown, hanged upside down, pulled apart, and burned alive! Within these readings some people would hope to find evil and destroy it but is it really just causing us to become that evil?

To Learn more:

The life of King James VI of Scotland:

http://www.nwlink.com/~scotlass/jamesvi.htm

description of Sorcerie and Witchcraft(Books I and II of Daemonologie) can be found at:
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/

The Divided Chapters of each book can be found at:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/

Images can be located via: Google Images ( James the 1st of England, Devil, and Daemonologie, and filkr.com)

Violence, the Death Drive and Everything

From Dante's presentation of Francesca and Paolo, he brings to mind the question of moral responsibility in depictions of love, sex, and violence in our own day. Check out the below links.

FCC looks to block sex, violence

Media violence spurs fears

Violence in media entertainment

*The Killing Screens: Media & the Culture of Violence (not for the light-hearted!)

So what's up with our centuries long obsession with sax and violins? Why do we want to read The Inferno and not the Paradiso? Why are we always involved in "death work"? Reference Tyson's section on the death drive and give us a few answers. (I love how I have students to answer life's important questions for me!)