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Entries from August 2007

Ingmar Bergman’s Persona

August 21st, 2007 · No Comments

“Persona…the personality that an individual projects to others, as differentiated from the authentic self. The term, coined by Carl Jung, is derived from the Latin persona, referring to the masks worn by Etruscan mimes. According to Jung, the persona enables an individual to interrelate with the world around him by reflecting the role in life [...]

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Tags: Film Criticism

The Nights of Caberia

August 20th, 2007 · 4 Comments

Cabiria, Heart of Italy The landing of allied forces, on the beaches of Sicily in the south of Italy, on July 10, 1943, signaled the end of the reign of Benito Mussolini and his regime of Italian fascism. Prior to his capture, Italian cinema had been highly censored by the fascist authorities. Films produced under [...]

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Tags: Film Criticism

Black Orpheus

August 20th, 2007 · 1 Comment

“Myths embody the common ideals and aspirations of a civilization…[and] encourage viewers to participate ritualistically in the basic beliefs, fears, and anxieties of their age” (Giannetti 350). The French New Wave, or nouvelle vague, films of the late 1950’s grew out of a critical interest in the art of film. Like many French directors who [...]

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Tags: Film Criticism

Powerful Portrayals of Women in Film

August 20th, 2007 · No Comments

Gillian Armstrong’s work as author/director of both documentaries and feature films, in Australia and the United States, has done much to bring attention to the female perspective on life, love, and the pursuit of freedom from male patriarchal domination and oppression. Armstrong, unlike so many film creators, has resisted making movies solely for male spectatorship. [...]

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Tags: Film Criticism

Complexities of Interpretation: Fire

August 20th, 2007 · No Comments

Non-Western films, made by females, offer the possibility of numerous problems in regard to interpretation—problems for both Western and indigenous audiences. These films are often regarded as resources that will give evidence of relationships of power within gender issues. For the Western viewer, however, it is difficult to determine if these relationships within unfamiliar cultures [...]

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Tags: Film Criticism

The Humanist Approach to Film: My Brilliant Career

August 20th, 2007 · 2 Comments

Everyone seeing a film for the first time makes a value judgment, even if it is only based on an emotional response, but the humanist goes back to probe these initial responses more deeply. The student of the humanist approach seeks to learn what film can tell about the human condition by searching for the [...]

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Tags: Film Criticism

The Memory Machine

August 19th, 2007 · No Comments

Have you ever wondered where time has gone, When it’s used up by you and by me? Well, it travels through space to a wonderful place, A place that you simply can’t see. Here it feeds through equipment that’s quite long and quite lean, A recycling contraption called The Memory Machine. It has gadgets and [...]

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Tags: For Kids of All Ages

Mysteries of the Michigamme

August 19th, 2007 · No Comments

Snaking its way through the old Mansfield Mine Location—just east of Crystal Falls, Michigan and three miles north of old Highway 69—the Michigamme River appears peaceful and serene. A winsome waterway, it tumbles smoothly along to meet and combine with the Menominee River. Rolling waves, soothing in sight, smell, and sound, capture the senses with [...]

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Tags: Michigan History

Under the Streetlight

August 18th, 2007 · No Comments

Moths darting overhead, fluttering in the light. Crickets chirping in the field. Frogs croaking out of sight. Lightning bugs flash in and out of bushes, grass, and weeds. A velvet sky holds stars that glow like glistening glimmering beads. There you would find us, Nancy and me, Sitting on the corner curb next to the [...]

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Tags: For Kids of All Ages

The Trouble with Tootsie

August 18th, 2007 · No Comments

Tootsie was a very very small honey-colored dog. She was the tiniest Shetland Sheepdog that her family had ever adopted. She was so small that her family often could not even find her. But the trouble with Tootsie wasn’t so much that she was so small. No, the trouble with Tootsie was that she liked [...]

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Tags: For Kids of All Ages · Pets · Shelties