At first glance, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks instantaneously permitted me to feel a sense of exclusion and restriction. The title combined with the general contrast of colors in the painting immediately placed me on the outside, in the dark. The scene Hopper shows us is a late-night city street-corner setting, where an all-night diner is open and serving a few people. Judging the lack of detail in the people’s faces, I was given a restricted and limited role in the painting. It felt as if I were a stranger walking on the desolate sidewalks outside.
Although the general tone of the poem is negative at first – where the persona feels he has to “drag his body behind” (1st stanza) – as his journey progresses and as he begins to find remnants of his childhood in Darwin, it becomes one of happiness. The free-verse structure allows the composer to express his thoughts about the journey much easier as he is not restricted by the rhyme or to a certain number of syllables per line – just as the persona is not restricted to one place, he travels the world and is limitless.
In what ways does the novel present knowledge as dangerous and destructive? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is our culture’s most piercing literary analysis of the psychology of modern science, of the dangers exposed in scientific research, and of the horrifying but predictable consequences of an uncontrolled technological exploitation of nature. In Frankenstein, Shelley turns a skeptical eye on the Enlightenment celebration of science and technology and the urge for divinity. In a search for knowledge and uncharted land, Walton departed for the sea. Like Frankenstein, Walton is driven far afield by the heady Romantic ideal of “a thousand celestial observations”.
To what extent does the time in which the composers live influence their response to enduring human emotion? Our morality shapes us and forces us to explore new avenues, but our crude desire to unravel and expose the mysteries of life will drive and reveal a future void of moral and ethical compassion. It is this fatal warning which Mary Shelley and Ridley Scott seek to convey in their retrospective texts, Frankenstein and Blade Runner. Drawing upon their personal contextual concerns, both composers uniquely inform an ambitious humanity of that the implications of the ruthless pursuit of knowledge and our innate craving to penetrate the secrets of nature will inevitably drive humanity towards a dystopian future. Shaped by their distinctly different contexts, Shelley and Scott strive to convey this notion, through bold cinematic and literary techniques, characterisation and themes, of the fatal path humanity has placed itself on.
Consequently, the nature of humanity and scientific progress are reflected through literary and filmic techniques, addressing the exploitation of mankind’s progress and ultimately questioning what it means to be human. By reflecting on their respective social and technological milieus, Shelley and Scott depict the detrimental repercussions of artificial construction through the parallels in ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Blade Runner.’ In particular, the turn of the 19th century saw the fascination with Galvanism, regarding the animation of animal tissue through electricity, inciting Shelley to confront this ideology based on a ‘life force’ that would infuse life in an inanimate object. Through the first person perspective, responders are exposed to Victor Frankenstein’s obsessive behaviour in overcoming the metaphysical boundaries of ‘life principles’. Thus, by metaphorically ‘pursuing nature in all her hiding places’, Shelley questions the implications of synthetic formation through her use of a contemplative tone in acknowledging the ‘astonishing power placed within [his] hands…and the manner in which I should employ it’. She answers this through her
Identity is based on the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognised or known, and is impacted by various factors including human connections and the environment. A disruption of these stable elements ultimately fuels the loss of identity. Mary Shelly’s Romantic novel Frankenstein (1818) and Ridley Scott’s science fiction film Blade Runner (1992) demonstrate how a more profound and sophisticated understanding of disruption and identity arises from the consideration of the parallels between the two texts. Though Frankenstein and Blade Runner differ in context, they draw on similar philosophical and societal values of their time to simultaneously extrapolate the twofold themes of The Human Experience; what it means to be human, and the dangers of disrupting the natural order through technological advancements. Thus the linking premise is that dehumanisation or a loss of identity results once nature has been disrupted, and humanity becomes subservient to technology and scientific advancement.
Also, if you look carefully at the picture, there is no visible entrance or exit, suggesting that they are perhaps confined within. Loneliness is a major theme that was conveyed through the picture. The artist captures the depressing atmosphere wonderfully by using a dull assortment of colors, which shrouds the picture in a gloomy mist. The theme is portrayed through a variety of features in the painting, such as the mysterious man who is seen sitting alone at the bar (and could be a character who, among other things, was meant to represent this particular theme in the
The Victorian era has been described as “outward respectability and inward lust” as it had a tendency for social hypocrisy. This description of the Victorian society suggests a dual nature, which has been driven into the individuals causing humanity to have a dualistic nature. W.D. Hart believes that dualism as a philosophy “signifies the views that the universe contains two radically different kinds of beings”. This definition, if brought down to a smaller scale, defines the Victorian’s society dualistic nature, as respectability and lust are radically different within this context.
This controversy brings up a second question about the importance of research over theory and personal belief. Research rises above both theory and belief because it supports or undermines the theory being tested and may confirm or refute personal beliefs. Sir Cyril Burt’s personal belief that heredity trumps environment is a likely driving factor in the controversy. When a researcher such as Burt has a strong bias, he may compromise his research and integrity. This bias would cause him to manipulate research data to “support” both his personal belief and his theory of inherited intelligence.
Tuesdays with Morrie is a touching, sentimental and inspirational movie which is a fitting tribute to the life of a man whose passion for life still lives amongst us. It is more than the memories and sympathy that a man in his death bed invokes in us, but rather it is the inspiration and passion of this man’s human spirit that will continue to live in us long after his death. This movie is about the life of a retired professor called Morrie Schwartz who has been diagnosed with A.L.S, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a disease which leaves his “soul, perfectly awake, imprisoned inside a limp husk” of a body. It is at this stage that Morrie has to cope with a terminal disease and his ageing. However, amid all this suffering and despair, Morrie reconnects with his former student, Mitch Albom, a successful yet emotionally and spiritually bankrupt sports columnist.