How did Hollywood bring American culture

 

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文 -- How did Hollywood bring American culture，文章讲述电影作为基本的视觉媒体之一，不喜欢新闻报道或海报，而将新闻更多地关注于永恒，传达了时代文化。此外，作为声音和图像的组合，电影在转换方面比其他媒体更强大，因此电影可以在空间和时间上进一步传播。此外，电影反映了现实世界，与人类的日常生活和发展息息相关。因此，这是通过电影研究视觉媒体历史的好方法。

 

 

I choose “Visual Media History” as my general research topic and “The Dissemination of Hollywood in 20^th Century” as my specific research topic. Here is the general description.

Movie, as one of the essential visual media, dislike news report or posters, which focus more on the timelessness, conveys the culture of the era. In addition, as a combination of the sound and image, movie is more powerful than other media in transformation, because of which, movie can disseminate further both in space and time. Furthermore, movie reflects the realistic world, and is tightly associated with the daily life and development of human being. Therefore, it is a good approach to study visual media history through movie.

And after the first film studio established here, Hollywood has become the booming center of film industry and people have become gradually used to call “Hollywood”, instead of film industry. As Hollywood originated since 1900s, I chose the 20^th century to study.

That is the reason why I take this special topic as my research, hoping I can learn a part of the trend of visual media history from this typical direction.

Here are the five questions that I thought out:

1. How Hollywood brought American culture and value to China in 20^thcentury?
2. The world was gradually getting crazy about “American Dream”, which is, in my opinion, partly associated to the dissemination of Hollywood. So here comes the question: How can the movie makers keep the culture consciousness about “American Dream”?
3. In the 20^thcentury, especially among the World War Iand World War II, How can Hollywood facilitate the Europe to be so ‘American ’?
4. Why the Hollywood spread globally especially in 1990s?
5. Movie is not as simple as a commodity, which is more likely to be reflection of the ideology of culture. What is the ideology deeply inside of the Hollywood movies?

And I choose “How Hollywood brought American culture and value to China in 20^th century” as my research question.

Here is my thesis statement about this question: Unhitched love and family values delivered by Hollywood helped the new generation of Chinese get rid of hackneyed and feudal restrictions and build up their own principles.

 

 

 

 

 

He, Q. (2011). Way Down East,“Way Down West”: Hollywood cinema and the rise of conservatism in 1920s China. Frontiers of History in China, 6(4), 505-524.

This passage is searched by the key words “hollywood china 20^th”for journals.

Griffith's Way Down East highlights a young woman's trials and tribulations caused by male tyranny and deception. Such films by D. W. Griffith struck a chord in China in the 1920s, when the concerns of women and the loss of family values after the May Fourth movement found expression in film. The embracing of Way Down East in China, particularly among progressive intellectuals, indicates the existence of an anti-May Fourth conservatism. Chinese intellectuals were inspired by Way Down East to deny Chinese women's subjectivity as new women who could control their own destinies; such a denial thereby rejected romantic love as a means of women's emancipation and enlightenment. The intellectual class's jettisoning of the rhetoric of "free love" and free marriage and re-emphasizing family values in the 1920s were conducive to the Nationalist Party's conservative agenda to discipline individuals and Chinese society in the late 1920s and 1930s.Therefore, the "partification" of China during the Nanjing Decade (1927-37) was a direct outgrowth of a conservative consensus that followed upon May Fourth.(p518)

The movie, Way Down East, reflects the anti-conservatism of women in 1920’s China, after May Fourth Movement. Therefore, the importance of freedom in love and marriage is re-emphasized.

The popularity of the Hollywood movie, Way Down East, shows the change of the ideology of 1920’s China, which notice the individuality of women and give them more freedom and respect as human.

 

 

 

Gan, W. (2008). Tropical Hong Kong: Narratives of absence and presence in Hollywood and Hong Kong films of the 1950s and 1960s. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 29(1), 8-23.

This passage is searched by the key words “Hong Kong Hollywood” for journals.

Considering the difference between Hong Kong and Hollywood, the author gives another strategy to develop Hong Kong film:

As such, Hong Kong weather was usually taken for granted as pleasant. Furthermore, as an industry with extensive distribution networks in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and the Chinatowns of America, Hong Kong films were already geared in the 1950s and 1960s to be transnational products of mass entertainment. The specificity of Hong Kong as such was elided. However, the idea of tropical Hong Kong in Hong Kong films functioned differently from Hollywood productions. Tropical Hong Kong in local productions of the 1950s and 1960s was not so much about exoticism as about a way to imagine and reorient Hong Kong as a city located within a diasporic network of overseas Chinese in tropical Southeast Asia and even beyond. If tropical exoticism is a way to evacuate Hong Kong from the Hollywood filmic text, then, in Hong Kong films, the idea of the tropical transforms an absent Hong Kong into a new kind of presence within a geopolitical formation looking beyond the mainland. Comparing the products of these two industries reveals a similar desire to be transnational and yet very different structures of power in the respective visions of Hong Kong and transnationality.(p10)

For Hong Kong films, the strategy of tropicalization was thus a means to turn away from China and redefine Hong Kong as part of a network of capitalist, modern, overseas Chinese cities located in the sunny tropics of Southeast Asia.

The author’s opinion is that utilizing the location advantage to develop Hong Kong’s film can be a good strategy, which will be the promoter of entire Chinese movie industry.

 

 

Yang, J. (2014). The reinvention of Hollywood's classic white saviour tale in contemporary Chinese cinema: Pavilion of Women and The Flowers of War.Critical Arts, 28(2), 247-263.

This passage is searched by the key words “hollywood china 20^th ”for journals.

Jing Yang made a comparison between a Hollywood movie, Pavilion of Women and a Chinese movie, The Flowers of War:

These two films provide an interesting site for examining the promotion of a new national image for Western and Chinese consumption. The reconfigurations of Hollywood’s classic formula in a Chinese context of warfare, revolution and patriotism, lead to narrative ambiguities and obscure the distinction between the local and the global, the individual and the collective, interracial romance and national allegory. Embedded within a network of capitalist exchange, transnational flows of talent and aesthetic appropriations, Pavilion of Women and The Flowers of War signify a cultural anxiety aimed at assimilating China’s nationalist discourses into an all-embracing global consumerism. By situating both cinematic texts within the politics of film production and reception, this article explores the reinvention of Hollywood’s white saviour tale in contemporary Chinese cinema, and its cultural implications. (p250)

By situating Pavilion of Women and The Flowers of War within the framework of constructing a ‘new’ image of China for global audiences, this article argues that the ambivalent reinvention of Hollywood’s white saviour tale in contemporary Chinese cinema is emblematic of a cultural anxiety to assimilate China’s nationalist discourses into an all-embracing global consumerism.

Although both films’ political and aesthetic attempts are contextualised by the consumerist system of today’s global capitalism, the reconfigurations of Hollywood’s white saviour tale provide tools to address issues of Chinese nationalism and cultural centrism under the impact of globalisation and transnationalism.

 

 

Palmer, R. B. (Ed.). (2007). Twentieth-century American fiction on screen. Cambridge University Press.

This book is searched by the key words “film 20^th century” for books.

Comparing the source in the century, Barton found that:

Adaptation draws attention to the specific negotiations of various kinds involved in the process of transformation. Consideration can then be given to the role the resulting film comes to play within the cinema. The foundational premise of the approaches taken by the contributors to this volume has been that adaptations possess a value in themselves, apart from the ways in which they might be judged as (in)accurate replications of literary originals. Because it is sometimes a goal that guides those responsible for the adaptation process, faithfulness has found a place in the analyses collected here more as an aspect of context rather than a criterion of value. The fact (more often, the promise) of fidelity in some sense can also figure rhetorically in the contextualization of the film, most notably as a feature promoted by the marketing campaign. But very often it plays no crucial role in the transformation process and merits less critical attention than more relevant issues. (p4)

Transformation is associated with adaptation, consideration and less decisively, the fact of fidelity.

Combining cinematic and literary approaches, this volume explores the adaptation process from conception through production and reception. The contributors explore the ways in which political and historical contexts have shaped the transfer from book to screen, and the new perspectives that films bring to literary works.

 

 

 

 

Lawrence, A. (1991). Echo and Narcissus: women's voices in classical Hollywood cinema. Univ of California Press.

This book is searched by the key words “hollywood 20^th century” for books.

Comparing the classical Hollywood film in the century, Amy found that:

In classical Hollywood film and much that is written about it, the sound/image hierarchy survives intact. The image is assumed to be the source of enchantment, "the dream screen," the object of the "all-perceiving Eye." Sound, like Echo, seems to fade away if it is mentioned at all. The "gendering" of the image and the sound track has been a key issue in feminist film work, from the widely discussed "male gaze" of the camera to the postulation of "femininity" in theories of film music. 3 As in Ovid, the mutual dependence of sound/image is essential to cinema and, as with Echo, a woman's voice is at the heart of the matter. (p2)

Since the sound survives intact and is the key issue in feminist film work, woman’s voice is at the heart of the matter.

Feminism generated concomitantly with individualism as the economy and competition rapidly developed in America.

 

 

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Free will and causal determinism - compatibilism perspective

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文 -- The creed of journalists，文章讲述相容性是自由意志与确定性相容的论点。艾尔（Ayer）捍卫相容性，并相信人类是坚定的，但在道德上仍然自由。在他的《自由与必要性》（1954年）中，他对硬决定论提出了两个主要反对意见。首先，他对每个事件是否都必须有原因（确定性的前提）感到怀疑。其次，他认为确定性实际上与自由意志相容。艾尔声称，如果他选择了其他方式，他本可以做其他事情。也就是说，他的行为是不受约束的自愿行为。

 

Ayer is one of the earliest persons who spread logical positivism in British. Actually, to some extent, Ayer is a compatibilist. Is free will compatible with determinism? That is a key philosophical question. On this question, Ayer has shown that causal determinism is compatible with free will.

Compatibilism is the argument that free will is compatible with determinism. Ayer defends compatibilism and believes that humans are determined, yet still morally free. In his book Freedom and Necessity (1954), he offers two primary objections to the hard determinism. First, he casts some doubt upon whether every event must have a cause (a premise of determinism). Second, he views that determinism is actually compatible with free will. Ayer claims that he could have done otherwise, if he had chosen to do otherwise. That is to say, his action is voluntary, if it is un-constrained. He thinks that the proper contrast with freedom is constraint, and even though all constrained actions are caused, it is not the case that all caused actions are constrained. To see why, Ayer considers what actions are constrained. Certain actions are constrained when one person compels another to act, for example, threats of force, hypnosis, or deceit. Actions can also be constrained when no other person intervenes, for example, a kleptomaniac's stealing is constrained insofar as he will steal regardless of his decisions not to steal. These cases differ from the cases in which we think people are free precisely in that free actions are unconstrained. Ayer believes that behavior being caused just means that behavior can be explained. However, the fact that behavior can be explained does not entail that behavior is constrained. Thus, an action's being caused does not entail that it is constrained. Ayer is extremely clear that the “truth” of determinism can not be proved, and he gives one of the earliest clear statements of the standard argument against free will, that there are logically only two alternatives－our choices are either causally determined or accidental, with both denying moral responsibility. However, in his book Metaphysics and Common Sense (1969), Ayer discusses the problem of free will and overturnes his earlier compatabilist position that the antithesis between the claims of free will and determinism was illusory. From the standpoint of common sense, Ayer says: “In so far, this is a question of what people actually believe, I now think it more likely that I was wrong” (Ayer, 1969). Thus, Ayer argues that free will is compatible with determinism.

From the changes of Ayer’s thought, we can see the dialectical process from hard determinism to soft determinism (McKenna & Michael, 2004). At first, he viewed that there were logically only two alternatives－our choices are either causally determined or accidental, with both denying moral responsibility, which overemphasized determinism and was going to be materialism. Latter, Ayer overturned his earlier point that the antithesis between the claims of free will and determinism was illusory. It comes to soft determinism. According to compatibilism, when we say an action is free, we don’t view that it has a sufficient condition on causality but view that it only has certain causality. That is, it advocates that all things in the world are determined, but some actions of human beings are still free. When we say a person’s action is free, it means he doesn’t be forced to do the action. However, this can not deny that he is determined because he is still determined by his body’s particle. Thus, Free will is compatible with determinism in this respect. Moreover, Ayer tries to explain compatibilism from other aspects. He mainly uses harmonic ideas to reveal how free choice can be possible in the determinism world. He says: “It is only when it is believed that I could have acted otherwise that I am held to be morally responsible for what I have done; but if human behavior is entirely governed by causal laws, it is not clear how any action that is done could ever have been avoided” (Ayer, 1969). From what Ayer said, we can see that he supports soft determinism which means determinism and free will can be coherently reconciled.

Although Ayer didn’t offer us a solution to explain the relationship between free will and determinism, many latter philosophers are influenced by his theories and thoughts. His compatibilism and thought lay the solid foundation for the future research.

References

Ayer, A. J. 1969. “Metaphysics and Common Sense”, chapter I, “On Making Philosophy Intelligible”, London: Macmillan, p.14.

 

Ayer, A. J. 1954. “Freedom and Necessity,” Philosophical Essays, New York: St. Martin's Press.

 

McKenna & Michael. 2004. “Compatibilism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.).

 

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Acquire a new skill in school

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文 -- Acquire a new talent in school，文章讲述薇薇安·格林（Vivian Greene）曾经说过：“生活并不是要等待风暴过去。这是关于在雨中跳舞的知识。”尽管我们已经作了充分的准备，但是当暴风雨来临时，我们通常会措手不及，并且我们不能躲开自己，因为我们有义务做到。这是我们肩负的责任。这是我上高中时要演奏萨克斯风时学到的一门课。这个过程确实很痛苦，但这是我的工作，我的责任，我必须做到。

 

Vivian Greene once said, “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.” Despite full preparation we have made, when storms do come, we are usually caught off guard, and we can’t just hide ourselves away, since we are obligated to make it through. This is our responsibility, laid upon our shoulders. This is the lesson that I learned when I was about to give a saxophone performance back in my high school days. The process really hurt, but it was my job, my responsibility, and I have to make it.

 

I was the leading drummer in our high school band, and in order to to add an extra touch of elegance to our performance, I had volunteered to play the saxophone in our Christmas concert, which I had barely laid my fingers on. But soon, things later turned out to be not as easy as I had thought about. First was the keep a consistent flow of breath while endlessly stumbling on the same phrase to from a rhythm. Second was my inadaptation to the way saxophone was played, which required the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece. "Top teeth, lower lip, close and blow." The textbook boiled down embouchure to a seven word sentence, but it was such a backbreaking task for me. I bit my lower lip too hard and it started to bleed every time I played! I no longer felt confident when my passion started to dissipate. When I came to my dormitory, I yelled to my roommate that I can't do this anymore, and he replied me, “It wasn't your responsibility anyway.”

 

Actually, it was me asking for the task in the first place, and it was my responsibility, if I just walked away, I was letting loss credit in front of others. So, I developed my self-teaching method: I studied the songs and memorized them until I could not stop humming them even I was in the bathroom; I mimicked players in videos, fully concentrated on every essential skill presented in those videos; I turned to my band advisor for guidance and I did the most important thing: rigorous practicing. I buried my head in the music sheets and did not stop repeating the same scales even though the vibration of my mouthpiece made me feel dizzy. Days went by, my plan worked and I began to truly enjoy playing the saxophone. Although my lower lip still hurt when I played, I could hear the music running through my instrument instead of just noises. In the concert, beautiful melodies flowed out from my saxophone perfectly. Our band achieved great success. When people stood up and applauded for us, tears came into my eyes. All my efforts were worthwhile for that one moment.

 

Even today, I am still proud of myself for taking the responsibility to learn this new talent. I not only learned saxophone skills, but also found a new life perspective.

 

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