ART

Luc Ferrari – Presque Rien No.1

Luc Ferraris’s works transcend the mid and late 19^th century ushering in the 20^th century. The 1970 piece it is regarded as a piece in its own rating that invites the listener to a slow but solid environment of the activity that filters into the sound of activity. The work is regarded as an enhancement of John Cage’s concept of music happening around us. The beginning sets the stage for a relatively rural scene marked by the sound of a truck or tractor, which fades into active commercial activity.

The utterances are used to maintain a touch between the activities in the foreground and background. The piece progresses into the day, allowing the repetition of the sound of an engine to resonate and transition the change of events of the day. The influence of concrete work merges and filters in through the second part keeping a safe but close distance with pure un-influenced expression.

The French utterances by children and women identify the setting of the piece as a mid rural mid urban setting full of activity and commerce. The conversations suggest a town like setting that has a climax in the second part. The third and last part transitions the piece’s mood into a separated and a rather lonely stream of cricket sounds that crescendos into a regulated mix of high pitched sounds to suggest an afternoon a late-night abrupt ending. The piece has a lot to tell as far as the background and event is concerned. This is a good piece.

Jonty Harrison – Klang

John Harrison retrieved the name Klang from the German word for sound. The piece allows the listener to find the creation and development of casserole sounds from raw statements made by the sounds of lids and bowls. The work maintains an onomatopoeic family of sounds that is richly mixed with concrete sounds of cowbells and metal rods. Since its first recording in the University of Anglia in the summer of 1981, the piece has suffered the enrichment of modern methods such as electronically generated analog and digital sounds smoothly blended into the piece to maintain its original texture timbre. The continuous rolling of sounds with varying pitches keeps the piece in a constant state of attention to a rather abstract environment.

The piece has more than one climax, which keeps the listener more interested. The first climax filters into a static section that merges into a glissando structure and buildup. The piece maintains this pace to the central climax and a subsequent slow release into the sudden end. I would be tempted to term it a concrete piece, but it bears the influence of other musical impressions. The mixing and filtering go a long way in ensuring that the principle means of regulating and equalizing the timing and rhythmic articulation is the montage.

This piece offers a lot to learn from and is, therefore, a classic worth listening to over and over. It has received several awards, such as Euphonie d’Or at Bourges, for being among the best twenty works for two decades of the Bourges awards. It has also received worldwide broadcasting over the years.

Paul Lansky – Her Song

The 1979 piece begins in the usual musical manner and retains the original nature and texture of the music. Paul Lansky makes the combination of sounds into music and allows the piece to keep the original timbre of musical melody. The piece sways the sound into unregulated abrupt increases in sound loudness. The uneven sound keeps the listener alert while the harmony keeps them interested. This form of division is similar to Charles dodges work in Cascada, composed between 1972 and 1983. It employs the all-pole technique that was synthesized between 1978 and 1979. The sounds are easily recognizable as that of a musical choir since they have not been majorly interfered with.

The long sounds allow the music to narrate the text musically in a vivid but consistent manner. The piece has two layers that sway the notes near and far in a reverberating way. The piece begins and remains at a single climax that is maintained all through the piece. The piece has silent sections that allow the text to end and start again while still maintaining the climax. The piece makes a smooth and slow exit from the listener in the typical manner in which a song comes to an end. This is a rather obvious piece, and it bears no concrete material. I listened to the piece more than twice, and in the end, I felt more or less let down. It leaves the listener hoping for an end yet still left wondering for more.

Pauline Oliveros – Bye Bye Butterfly

The piece begins with a dull, high-pitched sound of an oscillator, which is quickly penetrated by its own sharper staccato inflections. The sounds proceed into a rumbling wave that is made up of several layers of complicated sounds of repetitive echo. These sounds then filter into a rather slow and low done that fades in and out, allowing the high pitched wave to merge out and back in to dominate the mixture again. The harmony of an operatic human voice engages the wave and infects the mixture through a string section. The high pitched wave makes an un-spirited fight against the interruption before it tapers off into the background to become indistinguishable.

It then returns alongside a longer drone with the aggression and oomph of a cocoon distracting the light around it. All along, the atonality of the opera voices grates along with the oscillations of the wave and fades into the background as the piece comes to an end. The wave becomes longer with consistent sound patterns that make a slow, high-pitched exit to a smooth exit. The 1965 piece makes adequate use of the drone texture and explores all angles to the technique. The influence of the operatic voice creates a rather strange complexion of the piece, making it a restrained but impressive piece.

Peter Hannan – Moment

The piece makes use of musical notes to introduce and develop the piece. It begins with a sharp, fast start. It is a classical representation of Texas-born Peter Hannah’s history and background as a composer, performer, and humanitarian. It was produced in the most aggressive two decades of the 19^th century and was awarded for being the most significant pieces in the 1970s. It engages in a fast and fierce conflict of sounds that move at an increasing speed to the piece’s central climax. Peter Hannan uses more than one layer of sounds mixed and harmonized to rhythmically filtered and equalized to meet the listener from where they are seated.

The firm and aggressive melody engage a variety of string and electronic sections motivated by a background of eco and a wave of ambiance. The short sudden beats interrupt the alternative of a unified set of sounds that have been carefully harmonized and scrambled into dense and thin layers of sound mixes. The background is made to reverberate, keeping a far but significantly blended presence into the fore ground. The musical instruments work together to reach the first climax of the piece and rise to maintain a higher climax in the central climax. The piece makes a sad and smooth exit sliding off the listener from the musical sphere and back to reality. This is a good piece that is often regarded as a farewell to the 19^th century.

Michael McNabb – Dreamsong

The piece first produced at Stanford in 1978 as a computer processing field recording begins by a rather short anonymous sound of bells that filters into a smooth and highly synthesized family of sounds accompanied by recorded natural sounds. The piece reaches its first climax and proceeds to a smooth exit into the background. A gloomy harmony of equalized sound begins the second part representing a mixture of several layers of high pitched and low-pitched sounds that move on to a second lesser climax.

This set of sounds filters into a complex set of high-pitched sounds that consistently maintain a sonic continuum of a family of un-adulterated sounds into real natural sounds. The piece speaks to the imagination and makes the transition to the real world. The short sounds and mysterious detached background is contrasted and narrowed down to the natural and present foreground sound. The piece makes a sudden exit in the middle of the performance and fades into the smooth sober, and long sound of string instruments that continue to the third and last climax.

The piece makes a smooth and slow exit from the stage and leaves the listener satisfied and fulfilled. It mixes the familiarity of the musical vocal and environmental sounds and merges it with the newness of the unexpected sonic manipulation. Since its first audience in the center for computer research in music and acoustics in 1977 and 1978, it has been performed to thousands of audiences in its 1993 revised version

Robert Normandeau – Le Renard et la Rose

The piece begins with an aggressive climax of high-pitched sound that sinks into a slow and increasingly sharp stop to allow the second set of sounds that are characterized by tapping that is caused by the friction of a fast-moving object on a rigid object. It was composed of music adopted from music commissioned for the presentation of the book The Little Prince by Antonie De Saint Exupery in 1994 and was the third piece in a cycle that was started in 1991.

The piece gains momentum and reaches several climaxes that are then reduced in speed to allow for a different marriage of sounds to set in. the piece repeats the same rhythm and gives the listener enough space to analyze each short climax. The mix of sounds keeps a small margin between the various layers of high-pitched sounds that are keenly equalized to maintain a vivid presence, taking foreground only during the climax. The mixture of high-pitched sound stakes the foreground to the main climax and then filters into a slow exit. The third part begins in the same way as all others with the slow tapping that continues in magnitude and speeds, paving the way for the waves of speed that sway the pitch high and low, creating an interactive harmony of mood swings.

The environment is distinctly familiar to that of an object that moves, such as a machine or train. The sudden exits and entries in the piece maintain a unified common thread that keeps alongside the sway of the wave. The piece makes a sudden and abrupt exit leaving at its final climax. This is a very inspired piece that mixes the unity and variety of natural sounds to maintain a stable and likable melody.

Hildegard Westerkamp – Breathing Room

The audio artist, composer, and teacher piece begins the piece with a slow and soothing mixture of natural sounds that filter into a breath of natural alongside artificial sounds that transcend across the three-minute piece. The waves and short climaxes between the breaths propel the time gap within layers of sound, allowing it to sway between the fore and background with a fine finish. The piece is a true expression of nature and accompanied by a skillful blend of a family of acoustic sections.

The familiarity in which each breath comes in leaves is distorted and influenced by the blend of natural sounds, separating it from a yawn and satisfying the listener’s curiosity. Hildegard Westerkamp is well known for her use of urban and rural themes and setups blended to create a familiar personalized landscape. The breaths are heard throughout the piece, enhances accompanied by a variety and unity of acoustic sounds and natural noises. The piece develops a nourishing musical space and makes a unique statement to the listener. The ending is called for and clearly satisfying. This is a piece that reveals nature in its naked sense in a specific place in time.

The acoustic influence comes from her experience as an associate researcher with R. Murray between 1971 and 1991 before deciding to compose her own works. The environmental phenomenon reflects her encounter with environmental issues in her short experience as a coordinator and researcher with the noise abatement project between 1974 and 1975, whose aim was to promote environmental conservation in Vancouver. It is a very sensational piece and worth listening to more than once.

References

Breathing Room (Hildegard Westerkamp). (2014). YouTube. Web.

Harrison, J. (2015). Klang. YouTube. Web.

Le renard et la rose (The Fox and the Rose). (2015). YouTube. Web.

Luc Ferrari – Presque Rien No.1. (2018). YouTube. Web.

Michael McNabb-Dreamsong (1978) HD. YouTube. Web.

Paul Lansky – Her Song. (2010). YouTube. Web.

Pauline Oliveros: Bye Bye Butterfly (1967). YouTube. Web.

Phh!k: No. 13. Moment. (2015). YouTube. Web.

“A person in my life who has motivated me and continues to do so” Georgia O’Keeffe

Numerous personalities have motivated me and continue to do so. In this context, Georgia O’Keeffe has been my inspirational pillar due to her artistic values, determination in life, and transformational leadership. Born in1887, O’Keeffe grew up in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Her story stands out in the American context and matches with the concerned “class readings and discussions” on the application of motivational theories. Her story, artworks, and humanistic provisions were inspirational and will continue to inspire future generations.

In her childhood, she received art lessons at home. Her talent was natured by competent teachers throughout her education years (Abrams 34). She built her fame by making huge paintings of arid areas, flowers, and unruffled panoramas. Precisely, she was competent in drawing various sceneries and objects for public display. This was quite motivating. She came from a humble family background; nonetheless, she climbed the ladder of success through her talent and self-determination.

After graduating from high school in 1905, she resolved to compose herself as an artist. She later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (1905–1906) as well as the Art Students League in New York (1907–1908). In 1908, she prepared an oil painting, which won the “League’s William Merritt Chase still-life prize” due to its thematic provisions, peculiarity, and conventions. She was married to Alfred Stieglitz (an American citizen). Stieglitz was a photographer as well as an art gallery director.

Georgia’s paintings and legacy have been a sense of inspiration to most societies. Her paintings were exceptional and were used to promote different artistic themes. Individuals with such talents are equally uncommon. It was inspiring to see O’Keeffe break through gender barriers and emerge as a globally renowned female artist. Being a professional teacher, her extraordinary modes of teaching managed to perplex numerous artists of her era.

In this context, her artistic works were robustly felt and appreciated (Mattern 17). Additionally, this created and reshaped the cultures of most communities. Artistic objects are vital since they pass messages through generations. Concurrently, the individuals who embrace them are of great interest to society. Artists help in promoting thematic purpose and aesthetic values.

O’Keeffe is celebrated for the clarity and articulacy of her ‘still-life’ artworks. She is associated with the “American Modernist Movement”, which fought for equality and liberation of humankind within America and beyond. Her influences impacted personalities like Judy Chicago, Andy Warhol, and Paul Strand among others. She structured objects thematically to showcase her talents and artistic prowess. Additionally, the ideas in her paintings were precise and comprehensible. It is crucial to agree that O’Keeffe was among the leading female artists who used their inventive compositions to entertain and motivate the entire humankind.

For instance, her association with the “American Modernist Movement” to change the lifestyles of Americans was critical. She used her iconic imagery including landscapes, still-lives, and metaphoric works to accomplish her thematic objectives. Agreeably, O’Keeffe had a remarkable personality as a woman (Benke 7). Her connection with the motivational theories is evident and considerable. She did marvelous things and managed to outstand through self-esteem as mentioned earlier. She died at 98 in 1986 (O’Keeffe 39). Her artistic styles are illustratable as unique and personal. This is a vital provision when considered critically in the context of motivation.

Works Cited

Abrams, Dennis. Georgia O’Keeffe: Artist. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing. 2009. Print.

Benke, Britta. Georgia O’Keeffe, 1887-1986: flowers in the desert. Koln: Taschen. 2000 Print.

Mattern, Joanne. Georgia O’Keeffe. Minnesota, MN: ABDO. 2005. Print.

O’Keeffe, Georgia. Georgia O’Keeffe: circling around abstraction. Manchester: Hudson Hills. 2007. Print.

Introduction

The influence of music on individuals and their lives is unquestionable. Many studies confirm that music regardless of its genre, pace or origin affects human experiences in different ways (Ramadani 248). While listening to a song, a person can undergo a change of mood or find the energy to perform an activity that is too boring to complete in silence. However, although music undoubtedly affects separate individuals, the impact of music on a population as a whole remains unclear. One can argue that music comes from a particular society, thus, it is a part of it. In this case, a specific culture stands above the music and influences it.

On the other hand, it is possible to assume that music can impact society and change its course of history. Therefore, music becomes a separate entity and stands above the cultural phenomenon. Alternatively, culture and music may be interconnected where one can influence another. Although society may include its ideas and concepts into music, the latter can also significantly affect one’s perceptions and thoughts. Moreover, the question of the music genre also contributes to the debate. For instance, classical music and popular music can be different not only in their sound but also in their impact on one’s life. However, the effect of music should not be undermined. Music affects individual lives as much as it impacts culture in general.

The Role of Music and Culture in People’s Lives

One can see the effect that music has on people’s lives in numerous studies about the psychological influence of songs and compositions. For instance, Ramadani notes that traditional music can instill a sense of belonging and patriotism in a person of that nation (249). Here, music is a part of the culture that unites or distinguishes individuals. Brandellero and Janssen continue this thought, stating that one’s musical heritage can be used to commercialize the cultural significance of music, making it an attraction for other persons (225). Thus, it is possible to argue that the cultural aspect of music it what brings one’s attention to it in the first place. Here, the concepts of music and culture are interconnected as one is perceived to be indistinguishable from the other. While this statement is not false, it is also not entirely accurate.

Music can be very different, as the authors note while talking about heritage. Various types of music may cause different effects on ones’ cognition. For example, the notion of popular music does not correspond with such genres as folk or classical music as the scholars state that these genres are “generally less reliant on industry for its production, distribution, and consumption” (Brandellero and Janssen 226). The idea of pop singers that change the way their songs sound so often that some people negatively view this music type in its entirety has a completely different effect on one’s culture. Thus, the impact of music, in general, maybe not as easy to determine as one might think.

How Music Affects Culture

The concept of classical music in relation to culture, for example, can be interpreted differently from one person to another. Whale points out that “we talk about the people who attend performances of the symphony as originating from a variety of cultural backgrounds, but we also say that they are engaging in a cultural activity” (27). This description of culture should be taken into account when one talks about its different parts. Here, classical music cannot be considered as a part of one’s culture that can be interpreted correctly by one nation alone. On the contrary, this specific type of music may unite people from different countries and affect their understanding of music, changing their perception of culture. As the author argues, Beethoven’s symphonies are universal in their quality and significance, and Germans, the nation of the composer, can appreciate his creations as much as other individuals from different parts of the world. Therefore, the impact of classical music is not confined by one’s heritage as it spans across nations.

Wang writes that classical music can be considered as a part of the common culture that people share regardless of their heritage (195). Social diversity which affects folk music and makes it unique with specific traditions does not change the way people view classical music as it stays relevant after being recognized as a particular part of history. Therefore, this kind of music stands above the concept of culture as one’s national history. It becomes a driver of human history as the music guides people and their ideas through time. Classical music is not affected by one’s individual tastes as much as it is not under the influence of any nation. Although at the time of their creation, the symphonies of Beethoven most likely followed the customs of his people, now this music itself may influence the way one thinks.

The effects of globalization brought a different perspective on one’s identity as it does not rely on one’s place on the planet anymore. Currently, popular music can come from various corners of the world with a strong emphasis on Western countries. Thus, the impact of these states’ cultures, including their music, is extremely powerful. Popular music that reaches different countries may affect the perception of these people and change the way they choose which songs are good and which are not. In this situation, one song can be influential for a short or a long amount of time, either disappearing without a trace or completely changing the whole industry. The spread of music at the end of the twentieth century can be an example of this phenomenon. Pop music that appeared on the television through music videos allowed people from different places to share interests and tastes. More importantly, it had some negative outcomes as well, as it created a measure of comparison for individuals, affecting the way they view their culture in opposition to the practices of others.

In this case, music becomes one of the determinants of one’s cultural significance. It may affect different art mediums as well. However, for the most part, it impacts one’s view of his or her specific social background. For example, Cohen talks about the historical significance of rock music from Liverpool, which allowed the city to receive a status of the European Capital of Culture in 2008 (577). The history of this music genre shows that one particular band, namely the Beatles, became the primary reason for the city to receive this award. The Beatles was an influencer that changed the history of its hometown as well as the genre of rock music itself. Therefore, the impact of one music band was so enormous that it affected the cultural background of a nation and the structure of a genre. Here, the effect of music on culture is undeniable. This example is not unique, as many artists affected the industry and society with their music before the Liverpool rock band.

How Culture Affects Music

While the examples mentioned above show that music can influence one’s culture, it is possible to discuss the arguments that state the opposite. One may say that culture creates and manipulates musical movements in order to represent the flow of history. For instance, the creation of punk music in Europe was a way to rebel against the commonly accepted values, and the music of that period was affected by the political and societal notions of the population. While this argument has a logical foundation, it is necessary to point out that the initial creation of punk music and counterculture as a whole may have been initiated by a political state of the countries. However, the changes that were brought to the genre were most likely the result of certain individuals with unique ideas. As mentioned before, the Beatles turned the industry around and changed the way people viewed rock music. The effect of artists on the counterculture and its development may have been the same.

Another argument may bring up music that is deeply interconnected with one’s cultural background. One may say that this particular genre is influenced by culture as its sound is dictated by the traditions and customs of a certain nation. Moreover, the role of such music in history is often undermined, treating the products of this art type as additions to architecture and illustration. Thus, it is possible to assume that folk music has no influence on one’s culture. However, one should not treat music as if it cannot have any impact on culture development. In fact, while folk music does follow the traditions of a nation, it can also create or modify them. In fact, the concept of music creation is also essential to the development of culture as it affects the way people perceive it. As Hertzman states:

Culture is not marginalized as it once was… The sound should be an important part of our work, but we should take a cue from it… [those] who … are interested not only in sound itself but also in the many different things that go into producing it. Following their lead will help us grapple with music’s ethereal nature without conceiving it as something that simply floats in isolation … disconnected from the broader historical forces that shape it. (256)

The author argues that separating music and treating it as an insignificant part of one’s culture which cannot have any power to change it undermines the role of music in people’s lives. Thus, the place of music in the stories of people is important as it can shape one’s culture and impact it in various ways.

Conclusion

Music plays a prominent role in peoples’ everyday lives and history in general. It can create movements and guide the existing cultures in their development. Different genres of music can affect the world in different ways. Classical music, for instance, lies beyond one culture and unites people with different backgrounds because of its universally established significance. Popular music, on the other side, goes hand in hand with global culture, shaping one’s perception of the current world and affecting the way people compare and contrast themselves with each other. Furthermore, folk music, while being shaped by particular social traditions, has its impact too as it shapes one’s understanding of cultures and allows people to see their history from a new side. All in all, music shapes culture as much as it is formed by it and the two concepts are so interconnected that it can be hard to separate the influences which they have on people.

Works Cited

Brandellero, Amanda, and Susanne Janssen. “Popular Music as Cultural Heritage: Scoping Out the Field of Practice.” International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 20, no. 3, 2014, pp. 224-240.

Cohen, Sara. “Musical Memory, Heritage and Local Identity: Remembering the Popular Music Past in a European Capital of Culture.” International Journal of Cultural Policy, vol. 19, no. 5, 2013, pp. 576-594.

Hertzman, Marc A. “Toward and Against a Sounded History.” Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 96, no.2, 2016, pp. 249-258.

Ramadani, Ilir. “Music, Culture and Identity.” Academic Journal of Business, vol. 3, no. 1, 2017, pp. 248-253.

Wang, Juan. “Classical Music: A Norm of “Common” Culture Embedded in Cultural Consumption and Cultural Diversity.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 47, no. 2, 2016, pp. 195-205.

Whale, Mark. “How Universal is Beethoven? Music, Culture, and Democracy.” Philosophy of Music Education Review, vol. 23, no. 1, 2015, pp. 25-47.

The synopsis of the movie

Synopsys – Settings

In 2003, Mark Zuckerberg (who back then was a student at Harvard) comes up with the idea of creating a website, where students would be able to rate each other’s photos. To have this idea actualized, Mark hacks into the campus database while using the algorithm, created by his friend Eduardo Saverin. This instantly wins Mark the fame of being a truly talented programmer with the matter being brought to the attention of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss – two senior students at the same university, in charge of running the Harvard Connection website.

Winklevosses share with Mark their vision of turning this website into the socialization-platform for students and offer him to take care of the technical aspects of their initiative’s would-be practical implementation. After having accepted the offer, however, Mark decides to dedicate himself to creating his website (thefacebook.com) while drawing heavily on what he has heard from Cameron and Tyler, for the proposed reorganization of the university’s web-based social network. Eduardo provides Mark with much assistance throughout the quest’s early phase and invests $1000 for handling the initial costs of bringing the concerned project into being.

Synopsys – Conflict/Climax/Resolution

As time goes on, it becomes increasingly apparent for Mark and Eduardo that their entrepreneurial takes on thefacebook.com do not quite correlate. Whereas Eduardo believed that the created website was ready to be used for peddling commercial adds, Mark continued to insist that it still needed to gain more popularity with visitors, before being turned into the instrument of generating a commercial profit. Mark’s encounter with Sean Parker (the founder of Napster) convinced the former even further that this was indeed the most appropriate strategy to pursue.

This development contributed more than anything towards causing the relationship between Mark and Eduardo to deteriorate to the point when the latter decides to withdraw from the project with his share of invested funds. Even though both characters managed to reconcile later in the film, it did not take them too long to end up considering each other enemies again. The reason for this is quite apparent. As one can infer from the film, after having been allowed to play an active role in managing the company (incorporated as Facebook), Sean never ceased to conspire against Eduardo – something that caused the site’s second co-founder to lose 34% of the company’s shares.

As a result, Eduardo freaks out and threatens Mark with a lawsuit in the most socially inappropriate manner. Mark’s continual unwillingness to share riches with Cameron and Tyler prompted the brothers to come up with the lawsuit against him, as well. In one of the film’s final scenes, Mark is seen being advised by his lawyer to tackle the situation using agreeing to sign a settlement-deal with the involved parties. As the movie’s closing titles imply, this was exactly what Mark decided to do. After having realized himself as the country’s youngest self-made billionaire, Mark did not experience any difficulties, whatsoever, while agreeing to have the matter settled amicably.

The main characters in The Social Network are as follows:

• Mark Zuckerberg – the founder of Facebook.com. He is shown as having been a somewhat nerdy and vindictive (but also visionary) young man, marked by the spark of genius. The character’s foremost psychological trait is his ability to prioritize working on the concerned web-project above everything else.
• Eduardo Saverin – the social network’s second co-founder. In the film, this character is portrayed as an utterly passionate and industrious individual, capable of recognizing the commercial potential of hi-tech undertakings before everyone else does. Eduardo, however, is also shown to be tempted to make important business-related decisions while feeling strongly emotional. The character’s other weakness is reflective of his tendency to trust business partners a little too much.
• Sean Parker – the founder of Napster. Being just as “hi-tech visionary” as Mark  himself, Sean is represented possessing much wisdom about the essence of profiteering dynamics in the virtual realm – something that proved him an indispensable asset for Facebook, in general, and Mark, in particular. At the same time, however, Sean is revealed to be emotionally comfortable with doing drugs and conspiring against the project’s original creators. As it is being shown in the film, Sean is also quite incapable of pursuing any long-term relationships with women.
• Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss – (twin brothers) the creators of the Harvard Connection website. The director strived to have both characters being perceived as “antagonists” by the audience. However, these characters’ discursive positioning in the movie does not appear to be reflective of any lack of societal morals, on their part. Rather, it is namely the fact that Cameron and Tyler seriously believed that they were “destined” for social prominence, as the heirs to some “old money” fortune, which seems to be the most disturbing psychological trait of theirs. As one can infer from watching the film, it is specifically the possession of too much self-confidence, on these characters’ part, which prevented them from being able to succeed in confronting Mark.

PR issue or situation

First PR-issue

Probably the main message, conveyed by The Social Network, is that when it comes to ensuring the popularity of a particular website, one must never overlook the importance of positioning it as such that provides plenty of interactive opportunities for potential visitors. In their turn, the would-be provided socialization services need to correlate well with the essence of unconscious anxieties in young people, which ultimately revolve around the issues of sex and domination.

Enough, Mark Zuckerberg proved himself smart enough to realize that in the eyes of students, the value of a particular web-networking activity positively relates to its varying capacity to serve as the instrument of sexual mating – pure and simple.

The validity of this suggestion is best illustrated, regarding the scene in which it dawns on Mark that people will be naturally drawn to visit Facebook, for as long as this would enable them to gain information about the “dating availability” of each other. After all, as the movie’s main character aptly observed: “People don’t walk around with a sign on them that says (I’m available)” (Fincher, 2010). This observation, on his part, can be deemed as having been the starting point of Facebook’s rapid rise to the position of being recognized as the world’s most popular social network.

Second PR-issue

What also contributed rather substantially towards ensuring the commercial success of Facebook is that the web-resource in question was designed to enable visitors to go about aspiring for domination in the “online mode”, without having to face much confrontational risk throughout the process’s entirety. And, as it was implied earlier, the actual reason why most students are preoccupied with striving to impose their dominative authority on others, is that this naturally makes them more attractive to the representatives of the opposite sex.

While expounding on what prompted him to create Napster, in the first place, Sean Parker says: “The girl I loved in high school was with the co-captain of the varsity lacrosse team, and I wanted to take her from him” (Fincher, 2010). Therefore, it will be thoroughly appropriate to refer to the above-stated, as being suggestive of the fact that the key PR-precondition for guaranteeing that a particular social network will prove commercially lucrative, is to position it as something that makes it easier for visitors to satisfy their libidinal drives.

Ethic’s questions behind the movie

First Ethical Issue

There can be very little doubt that Fincher’s film does, in fact, raise several different ethically relevant questions. The most prominent of them can be formulated as follows: in what way does the factor of interpersonal friendship affect the essence of the entrepreneurial relationship between individuals? Even though The Social Network does not provide any conclusive answer in this regard, one’s exposure to Fincher’s film is mostly to invoke in the person’s mind the idiomatic suggestion “dollar has no friends”.

What adds to increasing the likelihood of such an eventual development is that throughout the film’s entirety, the character of Mark Zuckerberg is presented paying very little attention to the financial aspects of promoting the newly created social network.

This, however, did not prevent him from applying an active effort into trying to cheat the rest of the website’s co-founders (particularly Eduardo) out of shares. Evidently enough, Mark used to derive much pleasure from having realized himself as one of the richest individuals in the US. Hence, the character’s tendency (exhibited during the legal trials) to emphasize the sheer extent of his riches, which he believed was indeed reflective of his value as the society member. This, of course, subtly legitimizes one’s commitment to making money, as the foremost indication that the concerned person does have what it takes to succeed in pursuing the “American dream”.

Second Ethical Issue

The discussed film is also notable for its promotion of the the idea that the more a particular entrepreneur is willing to turn a blind eye on the considerations of morality, the greater would be his or her chance to get ahead in becoming rich. After all, as it can be seen in The Social Network, the reason why Winklevoss brothers ended up being unable to do anything about Mark’s theft of their “intellectual property” is that it has taken them way too long to react to this person’s indecency. In its turn, this can be explained by the fact that both characters used to make a point in trying to handle the situation in a “gentlementary” manner.

Thus, it will be appropriate to conclude this paper by suggesting that as a whole, Fincher’s movie works to expose the utter fallaciousness of some different neoliberal notions, which today’s students are encouraged to perceive representing an undisputed truth-value, such as “corporate social responsibility” and “ethically sound business”. This simply could not be otherwise – in the aftermath of having watched The Social Network, one will be strongly motivated to brush aside the idea that it is possible to mix ethics with business, in the first place.

Reference

Fincher, D. (Director). (2010). The social network. Web.

Introduction

“Can you imagine a world in which we end up together?” – Emily.

The Big Sick is an independent film in the romantic comedy genre that is loosely based on autobiographical events of the Pakistani-American comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily Gordon. It describes their encounter and courtship which results in a complicated romantic interaction due to cultural pressures. When Emily suddenly becomes sick after a temporary split in their relationship, Nanjani spends time with her parents and dramatically reconsiders many aspects of his life.

The film performed surprisingly well critically and financially for an independent low budget production, being nominated for an Academy Award and selected as one of the top movies of the year. One of the movie’s primary themes of identity and clash of cultural values in life and relationships is explored in this paper.

Critics’ Reviews

Romantic comedies are known to follow a conventional formula for their plot without significant differences and a predictable outcome. While The Big Sick does have many traditional characteristics of the genre, it takes a unique approach to storytelling. Most of the reviews for the film indicate that it feels realistic, through its plot, character interaction, and emotional portrayal. Despite being a comedy, the movie shows a lot of introspective and delves deeply into serious topics such as the clash of cultural identities and values. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times indicates the struggle of the protagonist “navigating these two seemingly irreconcilable worlds and identities.”

The movie shows a great depth of emotion but also comedic awkwardness that arises amid cultural differences (Dargis). Max Cea of Salon indicates that cultural identity plays a role in romantic interaction because of the inherent human desire for the forbidden. He suggests that it is a reusable but effective plot device for love stories because “what better existential threat than seemingly irreconcilable cultural differences” (Cea).

Alissa Wilkinson from the Vox, states that Kumail attempts to manage the clash of values by compartmentalizing various aspects of his life, but eventually it catches up to him. Moreover, she makes a good point to highlight the film’s individuality, “it’s not a struggle that’s unique to Muslims in America, but it’s also not one we see on screen very often” (Wilkinson). Many other aspects of the film made it sincere and enjoyable, but the internal cultural struggle faced by Kumail made it a far more personal and relatable story than a traditional romantic comedy.

Personal Opinion

The Big Sick explores how social norms can affect a person who is torn between two cultures and the impact it can have on the people that he cares about. It is a deeply resonating topic for many individuals in the United States who either experienced this phenomenon or know someone who has. At first, Kumail is portrayed as a typical American young man. He lives with a roommate, flirts with women, and is attempting to make it as a stand-up comedian. He embraces his heritage as nothing more as a background for his performances. However, the audience is later introduced to his family. At this point, it is evident that Kumail is forced to take on a different identity. It is an identity that is mostly pretense since he does not want to disappoint his parents.

The difference between Western and Eastern cultures is significant, making it difficult to adapt or combine them. The religious and cultural insights of Kumail’s parents make it impossible for him to lead a normal American life that he wants. Later in the movie, his parents shun him after finding out the truth. Unfortunately, that is the reality of many individuals faced with the difficult choice of immigration. The American lifestyle is desirable for its economic prosperity and opportunity, but at the same time seen as a corrupting force to many traditional and conservative values of various cultures.

Conclusion

I think the movie shows a sincere side of people struggling to balance dual cultures that are so radically different. As one of the critics pointed out, it is most likely a person in such situations is forced to live a double life. Understandably, tension is built up and the individual would feel pressured to lie continuously. Eventually, when the two sides meet, the result creates ultimate chaos and broken relationships that the film so accurately portrays. I have personally witnessed the struggle of cultural adaptation experienced by a close friend. At a youthful age, it is almost inevitable that a person would transition to American culture through lifestyle, even if at home, there was strict adherence to entirely different rules.

One of the strong points of The Big Sick is that it is based on real events and written by those who experienced them. The film has tremendous authenticity in its plot and emotion, which is amplified by fantastic chemistry amongst the actors. The movie manages to competently balance an intricate plot around the complex issues of intercultural identity and life-threatening illness while developing a romance with comedic elements.

The only weak point of the film is its resort to certain clichés of the genre which, as admitted by Nanjani, were included to maintain some cinematic quality to the plot. Overall, The Big Sick is an exceptional film that goes beyond expectations and asks the viewers to consider many prominent issues of interpersonal interaction in modern society.

Works Cited

Cea, Max. “Why the Politically Charged Story of “The Big Sick” Triumphs Where Others Fail.” Salon. 2017. Web.

Dargis, Manohla. “Review: In ‘The Big Sick,’ Comedy Is Hard, Love Harder.” The New York Times. 2017. Web.

Wilkinson, Alissa. “The Big Sick Is One of The Year’s Best Comedies, But It Doesn’t Shy Away from Heavy Topics.” Vox. 2017. Web.

Introduction

While only a century ago, music was one of the most culturally specific aspects of artistic activity, nowadays, it is perceived as a multicultural language that can be understood by everyone as it bears the influence of several different nations’ values, beliefs, and interpretations of beauty, creativity, and perfection. That was the major factor making universality in music impossible. Over centuries of growth and development people built instruments that carried the sounds of their heritage and were representative of their background.

Distinct rhythms and sounds were created over the years, gradually developing into unique traditions. Centuries of migration and interactions between countries have created an unprecedented artistic space that is no longer characterized by distinction. On the contrary, modern music is a multicultural phenomenon shaped by several traditions, approaches, interpretations, and techniques (Agawu 15).

Often cultures devised ingenious ways of creating music out of several objects. Most of the popular Western genres have strong African roots and a considerable number of styles borrowed Africans rhythms and motifs. With the introduction of electronic music production, people are now sampling sounds and creating songs through their ingenuity. But, many of the rhythms and compositions of today continue to draw inspiration from the cultures of Africa (Burkholder and Grout 53). Thus, the essay at hand aims to analyze the similarities between African Music and contemporary genres as well as highlight its significance.

Historical Overview

Even though many people believe that the influence of European classical music is incomparable to any other tradition, Africans have also produced a considerable impact on both historical and modern musical genres. African roots can be discovered in hip-hop, rock, house, calypso, reggae, soca, zouk, rap, and a great number of other genres. Although they suffered from enslavement for centuries, African musicians managed to influence every society, with which they happened to interact (including even such countries as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia, which did their best to eliminate everything connected to Africa in their culture and impose the European worldview upon the population. The influence of the black continent is still evident not only in music but also in dance accompanying the performance (Knights 37).

The style that is typically described as borrowed from Africa is jazz that emerged as a result of a combination of African rhythms with Western instruments (though its different forms developed for different reasons). One of the first forms was ragtime performed on pianos in bars, where musicians played owing to segregation. Blues was another great genre developed by former slaves and, perhaps, the most famous one.

However, it would be a mistake to claim that these were the only directions of African influence. Practically all styles of Western music trace their roots back to jazz, blues, gospel, and other African inventions. Moreover, various dance genres such as rumba, meringue, salsa, and others owe their existence to African motifs although this evident impact is not usually recognized by the borrowing country (Knights 41).

Historically, June became the month of black music. The tradition was offered by President Carter in 1979 when he appointed June to be a black music month, which was officially recognized not earlier than at the beginning of the 21^st century. In particular, in June 2000, African American Music Bill (or House Resolution 509) was passed to officially recognize African contribution to the musical culture of the United States. William Franklin Goodling, in his turn, supported the idea and even stated that African American music has produced a considerable effect over all aspects of the public life and entertainment including dance, fashion, language, literature, cinematography, and advertisement, which meant that its influence was not limited to instrument or motif borrowing as it was believed earlier.

Moreover, it was admitted that African music bears not only national but also the international significance and its enormous contribution to the world’s culture should be celebrated as it managed to shape the social and political fabric of a whole number of different countries regardless of their initial attitude to it (Lewis 103).

However, June was not immediately accepted as the month of African music, even though practically all American leaders recognized and honored its position. Officially, this step was made only by President Carter in 1979. However, it was far from granting Black music at least its deserved national acceptance. Later, during the administration of Bill Clinton, the White House frequently refused of hosting a Black Music Month that it was supposed to encourage and promote as the President said that he did not sign any proclamation related to this. Such a proclamation was finally signed in 2000 (Nettl et al. 75).

Even though even the government recognized the unique role of African music in American culture, non-Africans rarely acknowledge that jazz, blues, hip-hop, rock, and other popular genres stem from traditional African motifs since it is quite typical of the Western culture to believe that African music is no more than a noise of rather an unpleasant kind, accompanied by drumming, clapping, and weird vocal. President Barack Obama tried to change this perception but was no success in this even despite renaming June into an “African American Music Appreciation Month” (Lewis 106).

Furthermore, there were many of those who misunderstood the intention and have taken the issue with renaming as a sign of neglect of the music that came from the Diaspora (although the President recognized the role of Africa and the islands of the Caribbean in the development of all modern genres of American music). He specifically emphasized in his speech that African music helped American people to break through all the hardships they had to face and managed to preserve and reflect the influences of several experiences, cultures, and values (Agawu 22).

However, regardless of his good intention to recognize black music, Obama was widely criticized by African Americans as his speech revealed that he was unaware, of what regions African have ever been present (Agawu 23).

Nowadays, we need to understand and recognize that African music also include the culture of the Diaspora scattered throughout the world and borrowing element from other cultures and peoples. Even though there are a lot of those, who are unwilling to admit that most of the music we enjoy today is deeply rooted in African traditions, this fact cannot be ignored if we want to understand how modern genres emerged and what are the most likely ways of their future development.

Influence of African Music on Modern Genres

The influence of African music on modern genres can be summed up in the following way (Burkholder and Grout 774):

• Rap and Hip-Hop: A lot of people still confuse these two considerably different forms despite all their evident dissimilarities. Rapping implies conversation with the audience and has been used by African people as a speaking form of art with or without musical accompaniment. It was believed to be a really powerful tool of self-expression as it is, even without music. Hip Hop, on the contrary, emerged only in the 1970s as a blend of African tradition with the New York subculture and encompassed four basic elements: Mcing, Breaking, Djing, and Graffiti, so it would be wrong to state that the style borrowed only musical element from African culture. Rhythmic beats traditionally used by tribes were borrowed and mixed to create unique compositions that were enriched by breaking or any other expressive dance elements.
• House: This genre manages to combine vocal with classical African rhythms even despite certain difficulties presented by rhythmic structures. It was created in Chicago in the 80s and unites elements from jazz, blues, soul, funk, and disco. Furthermore, the house also manages to integrate an electronic element into the traditional mix.
• Techno: The genre was created in the 80s by African American musicians and unites Western forms of composition with African drum samples. Moreover, the influence of funk is also quite evident in its development.
• Trance: The tradition was copied from African cultures playing music to achieve a trance state. Many trance melodies unite house and techno to create a unique blend of genres, however, there are also unique compositions that do not resort to any other types and rely entirely on tribal practices of producing a meditative state of body and mind.
• Tribal House: The genre is distinguished from others by its modernization of the borrowed motifs. It is generally built on melodies and chanting coming from African tribal music but the rhythm is changed considerably and reflects the influence of the West.

Conclusion

Although most of the nations believe that their musical tradition is unique, the analysis of modern genres reveals that traditions brought by Africans during different historic periods have produced a considerable impact on all the existing genres. Modern music owes a lot not only to African Americans but also to the Diaspora as a whole.

Works Cited

Agawu, Kofi. Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions. Routledge, 2014.

Burkholder, J. Peter, and Donald Jay Grout. A History of Western Music: Ninth International Student Edition. WW Norton & Company, 2014.

Knights, Vanessa. Music, National Identity and the Politics of Location: Between the Global and the Local. Routledge, 2016.

Lewis, Tony. “Ethnomusicology, World Music and Analysis in African music.” Australasian Review of African Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, 2016, pp. 95-117.

Nettl, Bruno, et al. Excursions in world music (6th ed.). Routledge, 2015.

Introduction

We hear of an artistic movement that lasted only ten years total and are then told that this single art movement had a profound effect upon the art for the remainder of the century. How can this be so? How can one single approach to art have such wide-ranging consequences? The movement in question is the Expressionist movement and, although they took a great deal of influence from artists that preceded them, they were held to be highly distinctive of this earlier period.

The Expressionists were credited with the explosion of ideas that characterized the middle period of the 20^th century. Why are the changes that are to come attributed to Expressionism as a starting point rather than some other movement, such as the Post-Impressionists? The Expressionists are typically defined by very narrow terms as a German arts group that existed in the period from 1910 to 1920. Through my research, I intend to show that Expressionism as an artistic movement introduced a fundamental shift in the philosophical approaches to art in response to the modern age. This helped to inform subsequent generations of artists as they attempted to similarly evolve with their times.

Discussion

To support this claim, I intend to first prove that the Post-Impressionists introduced the idea of visual emotion in their works. While this was a departure from strict Impressionism, their fundamental philosophy of art remained focused upon an external source of emotional response, namely, the landscape. The Expressionists, influenced by this development of emotional expression in painting, took this idea one step further. They did this by exploring the emotions as they occur within the individual, but abandoned the idea of traditional forms and symbols. This was because the old understandings of the world were breaking down in the face of the modern inventions.

Symbols and forms, once easily recognized, were becoming blurred as cultures clashed and rendered meaningless as concepts of rural and industrial collided. This comprises the second part of my argument. The philosophy behind the art took on a more internal character and reintroduced the concept of personal spirituality within the art as its only purpose of being. While there were different approaches regarding the best means of illustrating these ideas, which will be explored, they were united by this fundamental spiritual principle. In addition to these shifts within the movement, there was also a fundamental shift in worldviews from the first generation to second generation Expressionist artists.

This happened as the artists became divided by the experiences and aftermath of the First World War. As the final piece to my argument, I will introduce some of the major art schools that emerged from Expressionism. This demonstrates the many ways in which the movement splintered off and how these splinter groups, in turn, inspired yet further movements as the century moved forward. While these groups all differed in their specific philosophical approaches, techniques used and modes of interpretation, they all can be traced back to the basic philosophical principles introduced as a fundamental division point between the Post-Impressionists and Expressionists.

In reviewing the available literature on the subject, it was determined that there hasn’t been a great deal of clear research regarding the evolution of the artistic movements of this period. There also hasn’t been a single straight-forward explanation provided as to why Expressionism, as an art movement, is credited with so much importance to modern art. In books such as Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art, technical innovations and changes in modes of expression are discussed as ideas such as primitivism and abstraction began to take hold within the movement. However, little information is provided as to how these innovations influenced subsequent art movements or why.

This information is essential to an understanding of the changes that were taking place during this time. Unfortunately, there is not sufficient information to provide a clear and concise understanding of how this movement became so influential. Other sources, such as Kandinsky’s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, attempt to illuminate the specific philosophies involved in the creation and forms of expression involved in this particular approach.

While these help to make a distinction between the philosophy of Expressionism as it differs from Post-Impressionism, it does nothing to illustrate how these philosophies were carried forward through the century in differing directions. In other words, there is a great deal of literature available attempting to explain what is meant by the term ‘Expressionism’ and which artists actually fit within this category but very little literature available regarding why this is important information to understand.

No single piece of literature even attempts to draw out the connections between Expressionism itself and the various movements that it gave birth to. Authors tend to concentrate on a single defining characteristic of a single art movement, such as in Jeffrey Wechsler’s article “Magic Realism: Defining the Indefinite.” Others work to analyze someone else’s collection as in Jill Lloyd’s review of “German Expressionism Venice.” L.D. Ettlinger’s article “German Expressionism and Primitive Art” seeks to track a particular development within the movement, such as the advance of primitive art.

All of these elements of the movement are important to include in a general understanding of how the movement influenced and changed our concepts of art in the modern world. However, they do not provide the necessary connections to illustrate how it was Expressionism that influenced so much of modern art as opposed to the ideas that were brought out during earlier periods. By using several of these sources as a means of broadening our understanding of Expressionism, how it differed from the past and how it uniquely helped to shape the future of art, this research will provide a concise understanding of the importance of the Expressionist movement to art as we understand it today based upon solid evidence rather than shaky claims.

Conclusion

In exploring how Expressionism differed from the Post-Impressionists and from the art movements that emerged in the mid-1900s, it became clear that a fundamental shift in the philosophy of art had taken place. This shift was primarily introduced during the Expressionist time period. However, this did not necessarily indicate that the shift could be attributed to these artists as opposed to being merely a coincidence of timing.

By investigating the basic philosophies of the Post-Impressionists and the influences they had upon future artists who comprise the Expressionist group, it can be discovered that there was a significant shift in the foundational concepts under the art as well as a fundamental shift in modes of expression for those ideas. Tracing through the movement by taking a close look at some of the more influential artists of the period reveals how these philosophies were put into practice.

It also begins to illustrate how world events began the splintering process. Analysis of future art movements reveals the fundamental similarities to Expressionist ideas contained in each of them. Through this progression, it is proved, in concise and understandable detail, that Expressionism, as short as the period lasted, introduced a significant shift in our understanding of art in response to world changes that continues to feed subsequent movements.

Works Cited

Elger, Dietmar & Hugh Beyer. Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art. Frankfurt: Taschen, 2002.

Ettlinger, L.D. “German Expressionism and Primitive Art.” The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 110, N. 781, (1968): 191-201.

Kandinsky, Wassily. Concerning the Spiritual in Art. MTH Sadler (Trans.). Dover Publications, 1977.

Lloyd, Jill. “German Expressionism. Venice.” The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 139, N. 1137, (1997): 899-900.

Wechsler, Jeffrey. “Magic Realism: Defining the Indefinite.” Art Journal. Vol. 45, N. 4, The Visionary Impulse: An American Tendency, (1985): 293-298.