Cosmetic products

Cosmetic products 1. Introduction Cosmetic products are very important in human life due to the improvement of the living standards. And by bringing the products to potential customers, cosmetic advertisements are quite popular in all means of media. Actually, cosmetic advertisers bring the products to customers in different ways which depend mostly on who the customers are. In other words, they design different advertisements of the same product to target different groups of viewers, namely men and women. The differences among such advertisements motivate me to do a small-scaled research on one of the factors that lead to such different features: the languages used in those advertisements. In more details, this essay aims to examine if any gender-based linguistic differences can be utilized in cosmetic advertisements with the purpose of targeting and influencing viewers of different genders by answering the following research questions: Why do advertisers need more than one advertisement for ONE same product? Is language one of the most important differences (among other differences like characters, language, other advertising techniques †¦) between the two kinds of advertisements? Then why and how important is it in making such difference? 2.Theoretical background In this section, a general view of advertising and gender differences will be introduced in order to provide a basic background to answer the very first research question before the main focus of the essay is discussed about further details of language use in advertisements. A special attention is paid on the theory of gender differences in language use in advertisements, which will be examined in seven different advertisements for Clear Shampoo in the later part of the essay. 2.1. An overview of advertising Nowadays, businesses and manufacturers are actually aware of the great importance of advertising their products or services since a successful advertisement can bring them great profits whereas an unfortunate commercial can lead them to bankruptcy (Sadek-Endrawes, 2008). Thus, businesses and manufactures always try their best to find out ways to design the best advertisements for their products and services with the utilization of effective techniques. Those techniques then are used as tools to attract attention, â€Å"engage minds, trigger emotions and change what people think† (adcracker.com a famous website for tips, tools and techniques to create world-class advertising ideas). Among them are special metaphors (a symbolic representation for the product), promises of benefit or problem solving, offers of free samples, features of human-like and life-like, features of â€Å"eye candy†, etc. Writers from adcracker.com also believe that it might be useful to choose or create their own characters who are put in some special situations, for example conflicts, which can be exaggerated. But the most and foremost important techniques that all advertisement designers need to know are the techniques of choosing the target viewers and language wisely and correspondingly. That is the reason why there are sometimes more than one advertisements designed for only one single product. 2.1.1. Language use as a powerful advertising technique It is obvious that language plays a vital role in the society in general and in everyones life in particular. We use language of all kinds every day, if it is not to say, every moment to communicate with other people, to get ourselves and our own opinions expressed and vice versa to get the same things from others (Gyllgard, 2006). Mastering that communicative power of language, sensible advertisers seem to always try their best to utilize language as a powerful tool to influence the viewers. More specifically, they often try to use language quite distinctively in order to catch viewers attention (adcracker.com). For example, they sometimes play with words, use them out of context, and create new ones in order to help viewers remember a certain brand. Sometimes, those words become the famous slogan for the brand like Moving Forward for Toyota cars or Malaysia Truly Asia for Tourism in Malaysia. Language in advertisements is also used as internationalized (Sadek-Endrawes, 2008), which is expected to be beneficial in order to create same response from viewers of different countries in case the product comes into the global market. Another observation which is recorded by French researchers about language use in advertisements is that 50 percent of all words are supposed to be nouns and verbs. In conclusion, with the wise choice of language, advertisers can make outstanding effects on advertisement viewers. 2.1.2. Viewers targeted as an influential advertising technique Most advertisers know that advertising techniques have persuasive energy and that the strength of such persuasive energy is measured in several ways, but most importantly in relation to a target audience (adkracker.com). It is explained by adcracker.com that different target audience have different lifestyles, different attitudes, different feelings and emotions, which is consequently resulted in different behaviors. Thus, successful advertisers are often sensible in building adverts that can get people to take action or plant a belief in the minds of their prospective buyers by closely associating their adverts with the targeted viewers. It is also agreed by itvdictionary.com that the â€Å"personalization† to a group of target audience can lead to â€Å"greater awareness†. More specifically, in a ChoiceStream survey, they noted that 38% of respondents say that they are more willing to pay attention pay attention to such individually focused advertising. 2.2. An overview of gender difference 2.2.1. Gender difference in general Men and women are different in various aspects which can mainly be categorized into biological and social factors. Consequently, different terms are coined to show such differences, for example â€Å"sex† and â€Å"gender†. Sex is defined by Eckert and McConnell-Ginnet (2003:10) as a â€Å"biological categorization† which is based primarily on â€Å"reproductive potential† and â€Å"gender† is the â€Å"social elaboration† of biological sex. This means that â€Å"sex† is something fixed before birth (Thomas, 2004) with while â€Å"gender† is something that the social life shapes on us continuously in every pace of our life (Graddol and Swann, 1994:8). And it is believed and proved by many researches (Coates, 1993; Tannen, 1993; and Trudgill, 2000) that gender has a major influence on language use by a process named â€Å"socialization† (Tannen 1993:84) 2.2.2. Gender difference in language use As afore-mentioned, language is an important part of an individuals life which helps to form his/ her â€Å"social identity† (Gyllgard, 2006:1) by different â€Å"linguistic habits† which reflect different â€Å"individual biographies and experiences† (Graddol and Swann, 1994:5). Coates (1993:144) also claims that â€Å"when children adopt linguistic behavior considered appropriate to their gender they perpetuate the social order which creates gender distinctions† This means that language is among the most significant factors, bedsides social roles and social positions, that make great distinctions between men and women. Actually, it is observed that men and women use language differently in a â€Å"gender-appropriate† manner (Tannen, 1993:85) since they are small. In the following part of the paper, that different use of language by different genders will be discussed in three main aspects: (1) topic choices, (2) word choices and (3) manner of speaking Topic choices In terms of topic choices, men are believed to talk more about sports or other physical activities when they are small (Poynton, 1989) and about current concerns, about their strength and their dominance (Coulmas, 2005) when they grow up. Meanwhile, women are believed to spend time talking more on home activities, romance and fantasy worlds. Later in their life, they are considered to choose to talk about â€Å"nonsense† and â€Å"unimportant† personal topics (Gyllgard, 2006). Consequently, mens language is often considered as serious and important while womens is seen as trivial and easy to ignore (Coates, 1993). Word choices It is believed that women seem to be more careful about choosing words than men. And it is explained that this results from the different roles of the two genders in the society. Women are considered to have their first and foremost roles as caring the families and bringing up children. Consequently, they need to be careful with the words they use or otherwise they may set bad examples for their children. Also regarding word choices, in their works (Poyton, 1989 and Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003), researchers find that women use more intensifies (such as so and very), words of approximation (such as about and around), or inessential qualifiers (like really or so) than men. Women are also claimed to use more adjectives (including â€Å"empty† adjectives like cute and evaluative adjectives like wonderful) and adverbs. Furthermore, hedges and tag questions are found more in women language rather than mens in order to require confirmation or signal uncertainty respectively (Lak off, 1989). Manner of speaking With the same reasons of different social roles, in terms of manner of speaking, women seem to be more polite in speaking. Therefore, it seems that taboo language like slang or swear words are likely to be created and used by men rather than by women (Poyton, 1989). Lakoff (1989) also agrees with this by giving an example that women choose to use weaker expletives like oh dear or goodness instead of words like shit or damn. Meanwhile, Coates (1993) believes that the language used by women is collaboration-oriented with supportive comments to create and maintain relationship of â€Å"closeness† and â€Å"equality† while that used by men is competition-oriented in order to assert their positions of dominance. There are differences between men and womens language in other aspects, however, due to the limit of this essay, only three above-mentioned are chosen to be discussed in this section and to be examined in the later one. 3. Methodology and Data This study focuses on the difference between the languages used by men and women in different advertisements for one same product, namely Clear Shampoo, a very popular shampoo in Vietnam. Secondly, it will test whether the advertisers are successful in utilizing the difference between men and women language in order to target viewers of different genders by checking whether viewers of different genders can recognize which advertisement is for them or not. First of all, English versions of seven Clear Shampoo advertisements are selected to be the data for analyzing and those advertisements are chosen for several reasons. Firstly, shampoo is now an essential cosmetic product that people, regardless of their age, their social or financial status and certainly their gender, have to use in their daily life. Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate the advertisements of such product. Secondly, it is found that there are several different advertisements of Clear Shampoo on television as well as on Youtube at the same time and it is presumed by the author that it may result from the advertisers purpose of targeting viewers of different genders. Consequently, with the help of Google search and Youtube website, seven advertisements of Clear Shampoo are collected and transcribed in the appendices of this essay for being analyzed. Differences among those advertisements will then be figured out by checking the above-mentioned theory and later used to group the seven advertisements into 3 groups: for men, for women and for both men and women. To make the research more reliable, the seven selected advertisements for Clear Shampoo are shown to 20 viewers of both genders who are non-native speakers of English but gain sufficient proficiency to understand the advertisements. Actually, they are Vietnamese teachers of English and students of some M.A. programs for English Linguistics or English Teaching Methodology. The viewers are asked to watch the seven advertisements and answer four following questions: Who does each advertisement target, men or women? What features of the advertisement tell you about its target viewers? Does language used in the advertisement one of those features? How does language tell you about the target viewers? 4. Data analysis and results The results of the interviews surprise the author when most of interviewees, after answering the first two questions, claim the features that inform them about the target viewers of the advertisements are mainly the models and images of the ads. Most of them only pay attention to the language of the advertisement after the third question.   However, they all realize the difference in the language used in the adverts and agree that the language used in adverts by men and women partly tell us about the target viewers. Thus, firstly, this section presents the gender differences in language used in seven Clear Shampoo advertisements which are grouped in differences in (1) choice of topic, (2) choice of word and (3) manner of speaking. Such differences are resulted from the data analysis which is based on the above-mentioned background and the opinions of the interviewees. 4.1 Choice of topic It is revealed by the advertisement analysis that male models talk about their confidence and show their strength as well as their dominance to others by facing the problems: †¦ Black is confident†¦. Confidence means no dandruff. (Appendix 1) †¦ Face it. †¦ Cover it. †¦ I deal with dandruff like man. (Appendix 4) or †¦Rage. Rage against her breath of fear. (Appendix 5) Meanwhile, female models talk about beautyas in: †¦ some beauty shampoos(Appendix 3) about their daily activities such as â€Å"combing† in appendix 3 or about their emotion and their perception as in: †¦ I love my hair. †¦ Im convinced. (Appendix 2) †¦ Convinced. I am. (Appendix 3) They also mention one fact that they often try to avoid the troubles they encounter: †¦ Hide it†¦ Cover it†¦ I keep it secret as any woman should. (Appendix 4) 4.2 Choice of words 4.2.1 Verb choice As male models choose to talk about their confidence, their strength as well as their dominance, they use words that help to express perfectly what they mean. Actually, they use strong verbs as â€Å"breath†, â€Å"move† and â€Å"sweat† in appendix 1 or â€Å"face†, â€Å"solve†, and â€Å"deal with† in appendix 4 or verbs that show their activeness as in †¦ I trust Clear. (Appendix 1) The verbs spoken by male voiceovers also have the same feature: â€Å"remove† and â€Å"prevent† the dandruff (appendix 5), or make the dandruff â€Å"go away† and â€Å"stay away† (appendix 7) so that â€Å"its all settled† (appendix 4). All those verbs bring to the audience the active position of the speakers, and thus, reveal their dominant positions. On the other hand, the verbs used by female models are quite different when they seem to display the defensive positions of the women †¦ Im convinced. (Appendix 2) †¦ Convinced. I am. (Appendix 3) or their avoidance solutions for dandruff by hiding it, covering it or keeping it secret (appendix 4). 4.2.2 Adjective choice As their concerns are different, female and male models choose different adjectives when they speak about their hair. For example, most male models and voiceovers use â€Å"black† to talk about their hair or the hair they want to have: †¦ I like black. Black is confident. Black looks good. (Appendix 1) †¦ From black into darkness †¦ and into the dark, the icy blackness follows. (Appendix 5) †¦ the seduction of black, the temptation of black. Its the closeness of black that you can only have†¦ Be black. (Appendix 6) At the same time, female models talk about the features of â€Å"soft†, â€Å"clean† and â€Å"beautiful† which are just suitable to describe female hair. †¦ Clear makes my hair soft and beautiful†¦.Just soft hair. (Appendix 2) †¦ Can your shampoo leave your hair soft and clean †¦ Clear takes it soft. †¦Just soft hair. (Appendix 3) 4.3 Manner of speaking The last but not least feature that 20 viewers and the author realize as the difference between the two genders is the way they speak. Female models talk with a collaborative orientation. They talk as if they want to share their experience with the audience whereas male models and voiceovers try to assert their positions of dominance by a competitive orientation. They talk about their dealing with dandruff (appendix 4), the collision of â€Å"sparks† and dandruff (appendix 5), their black â€Å"seduction† and â€Å"temptation† when they are dandruff free (appendix 6). The tendency of dominance is also expressed by their short imperative sentences which can be found more frequently in male models or voiceovers speech: †¦ Face it †¦ Solve it (Appendix 4) †¦ Rage, rage against her breath of fear. (Appendix 5) †¦ Make the season more seductive. Make it a Clear Black Valentines. Be board. Be Black. Move closer anytime. Have Clear Black Valentines. (Appendix 6) The first advertisement with the male model, Bi Rain, also offers another feature of male speech. That is the logic in thinking and speaking: †¦ Black is confident. Black looks good. Looking good means no dandruff. Confidence means no dandruff. Clear means no dandruff. With his logical speech, Bi Rain tries to convince the audience the close relationship among Clear, black, confident and looking good. And he seems successful with my interviewees. All in all, from the above analysis of the language used in seven adverts, it comes to a conclusion that advertisement No 1, 5 and 6 are targeted at men (although by what the author and the interviewees get from the adverts, 5 and 6 target at both men and women); advertisement No 2 and 3 are for women and the rest are targeted at both men and women. 5. Conclusion It can be seen from the results that the female language and male language used in seven Clear Shampoo advertisements follow tightly the theory that are presented in other researches on gender differences in language. However, the interviews with Vietnamese viewers who are non-native speakers of English reveal that what lead such viewers to the conclusion of target audience are not the language but the models and the images of the advertisements. The study also come to another conclusion that the advertisers, who are expected to pay attention to the language of advertising, an effective tool of persuasion, do not actually do so. And the results are the wrong target of the two advertisements number 5 and 6, which advertisers tend to target at both men and women (which can be understood by the images of â€Å"white Clear† for women and â€Å"black Clear† for men) but actually target only at men if only language of the advertisements is analyzed.

Wanting to be Beautiful Essay -- Magazines Media Self Image Essays

Wanting to be Beautiful How do women’s magazines influence how women think, look, and feel? What is so special about these magazines to get some women to center their lives around them? Personally, I didn’t really understand why any women would listen to anything a magazine says until I opened one up. While I was waiting in line at a department store, I picked up and flipped through a Cosmopolitan magazine, and found a story that caught my attention. The story was about the loss of a father, and for that reason I purchased the magazine. Although I do know there are many other women who have dealt with the loss of their father, I wanted to see if they felt the same way I did, how they were dealing with it every day, and how their lives have changed. Of course, after getting the magazine home I started flipping through it more and found many other interesting stories to read like â€Å"How to Make Sex Hotter† or â€Å"Get a Life You Really Love,† but what I really notic ed was diets, beauty, sex, and more sex. In â€Å"Help or Hindrance? Women’s Magazines Offers Readers Little but Fear, Failure,† Mary Kay Blakely states, â€Å"the current purge of serious issues means [a woman] must proceed without information.† It’s hard to imagine how much women’s magazines can influence someone, and for some women these magazines are like a bible; whatever it says, goes whether it’s on hair, make-up, or fashion, women do what these magazines say. However, when it comes to the important issues, magazines do not provide any type of support whereas with a bible anyone can turn to it for guidance or spiritual support, but sadly for women who read women’s magazines end up suffering the consequences. Being thin seems to be in style every ye... ...ply relating to the stories—but for other women it’s just entertainment. Blakely states, â€Å"instead of encouraging women to grow beyond childish myths and adapt to the changes of life, women’s magazines have readers running in place, exhausted.† Today we live in a world that is filled with silicone, plastic, and chemicals all of which women use to stay, look, and feel young and beautiful where they are able to be amongst the younger generation, knowing they look as young as they do. The world of women’s magazines has created women that truly don’t exist; young girls grew up wanting to look like a Barbie doll, and older women end up being one, plastic. It’s a shame what lengths some women go through to become this perfect creature instead of embracing the beauty that sits within them. Being happy with yourself is loving yourself, and loving yourself is being beautiful!

Drama; the Crucible and Vinegar Tom

Introduction Vinegar Tom was written by Caryl Churchill, a feminist, in 1976 but set in the 17th Century. The play was inspired by the women’s rights act of 1970, and the discrimination of women. The title comes from the name of a horrible creature which is supposed to be a witch’s familiar. It is about how four naive and innocent women’s lives are affected throughout the Salem witch-hunts. Modernised song, dance and rhythm are used to combine the horror of the past and attitudes which have carried on to our world today. The plot includes lots of witchcraft and demonstrates clear discrimination of women at that time, outlining society’s rejection of people who have differences. Vinegar Tom was influenced by Bertolt Brecht, Churchill, like Brecht wanted people to think about what they had saw, instead of just engrossing themselves in an entertaining play, she wanted them to act on their decisions of the play, and not getting too emotionally involved with plot or characters. She does this by using epic theatre, so the audience thinks about what is happening, not what is going to happen, plus the use of non- realistic songs to break tension and add political comment. The play is relevant to today’s audience as it looks at how prejudice against women is still occurring. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1953 and set in 1692, based on the actual events which led to the Salem Witch Trials, leading to the deaths of over 150 people accused of witchcraft. The play was in response to McCarthyism: where a committee in America grew fearful that the communism would destroy the capitalist American way of life. They made witnesses come to answer charges that they were a communist and give names of other communists; Miller was made to appear before the committee. This was called McCarthyism; Senator McCarthy making the US government get rid of communists; mirrored in the play where women were accused because of unknown causes to bad events, they were then forced to name other ‘witches’, Adding to this Miller’s failed marriage with Monroe was partly because of his guilt and confusion from his previous marriage. This is represented in The Crucible, by Proctor having an affair with Abigail, behind his wife Elizabeth’s back. It all escalates, eventually Proctor is in court arguing his innocence, when he says, ‘I have three children – how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends? ’ I think this is how Miller felt when in front of the committee, now expressing himself through Proctor. These events helped Miller connect with the witchcraft trials two centuries before in Salem, influencing him to write ‘The Crucible’. The story is about young girls who after dancing in the woods get accused of witchcraft, Reverend Parris, both father of one girl and uncle of another, calls an expert who agrees that the girls’ strange behaviour is the devil’s work. This leads the girls to accusing others and being scapegoats for the problems in the community. The religious court does not rest until it discovers who the cause of all the evil is. The crucible is relevant to today’s audience as it looks at betrayal and how gossip can have devastating effects. The play is influenced by Konstantin Stanislavski, because Miller wanted the play to be naturalistic to reflect the real story. Stanislavski is primarily known for Realism, where he bases his methods on personal experiences, using ‘emotion memory’, getting actors to this of their own experiences to embrace an emotion, making the performance as close to real life as it can get. Also using ‘Given circumstances’, where actors are aware of the facts about the character, not only in the script but the social, historical and political facts. Plus Stanislavski influenced Miller to use realistic sets, keeping everything as realistic as possible. Social Cultural Historical Political The Crucible was based on puritan people in Salem 1692. Their society was theocratic, where God was the states civil ruler. The tragedy all began from a combination of economic conditions, jealousies and teenage boredom. Adding to this, not far away there was an Indian war, which guided the community to believe the devil was around. There were lots of possible causes for the witch hunts in Salem, first the religious society strongly believed in Satan and how he had people performing witchcraft for him; believing you can tell which people are witches by certain symptoms. Plus, because Salem was having so many problems, it appeared likely that the devil was at work; smallpox, Indian war. Secondly, teenagers had little freedom; working on the land and focusing on religion. Adding to this, old feuds and ideas of revenge arose. People saw witch hunting as a possible way of sorting out enemies, and gaining land and arguments over land ownership (most of the accused where financially better off) was a major contributor to who lived and died. Miller uses this to add context to the play, he mirrors the hysteria in Salem to the fear of being accused of communism in the U. S. The Crucible is accurate to what went on in Salem 1692, but he changed some details to make it more accessible and relevant to today’s audiences; Abigail in truth was 14, but Miller thought this would distract away from the main plot, because it is socially unacceptable today for a man and 14 year old to have a sexual relationship, so he changed her age to 17; making the affair more realistic as Proctors life is supposed to make him look like a tragic hero A Contempory audience can relate to the play in the sense that everyone has been betrayed, or felt victimized at some point in their life, which helps the play have meaning and importance to the audience. Scenes which happened years ago, can still be reflected, one way or another, in today’s society. Similarly, Vinegar Tom links the ideology of witch hunts and hysteria and power with her feminist theme, about women’s sexuality, based around the 17th Century major English witch hunts and social changes. Churchill noticed how the poor have always suffered, and how silly the witches’ offences were. She wanted to write a play about witches with no witches in it, showing the prejudice against women and the humiliation they endured, about poverty humiliation and prejudice, how women accused of being witches saw themselves. The audience can also relate to Vinegar Tom, thinking about prejudices today, and how we can prevent them. Especially because she is a feminist writer, we think about the meaning of some of the prejudices we hold, and how women are treated back then and today, because there are still arguments today about women being equal to men, in religion and general society. In both plays, Salem warns us to improve how we judge people, and to rethink our prejudices. The crucible is strongly influenced by Stanislavski. Stanislavski was a realist who wanted performances to be as natural as possible. He founded the Moscow Art Theatre. His philosophy was that actors should be true to their given circumstances of the character -conveying internal thoughts and feelings. We did this by thinking about our past experiences, when we have felt jealous, alienated, or scared, this makes performance more authentic when we had to embrace these emotions. Plus, Stanislavski wanted believable acting, without exaggerating. Stanislavski also encouraged trial and error, so we kept practicing until we found appropriate emotion memories which stimulated the best response from the actor for the scene. Another way to create realistic acting was to put you in the circumstances as the actor; ‘given circumstances’. Using your imagination- you are the character you’re playing, as most actors haven’t actually experienced what their character has, so Stanislavski technique, the ‘magic if’ puts yourself in the situation. Circle of Attention’, another Stanislavski technique, the area of focus an actor should hold, without getting distracted, because if you become distracted, performance could look artificial. We used these techniques in workshops: ‘Given Circumstances’, making sure we were aware of the story properly, then thinking about how it must feel for everyone you knew to want you dea d, like the accused must have felt. Then putting this emotion into performance. ProctorDo you look for a whipping? AbigailI look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! In a workshop, we focused on Act 1, where Abigail and Proctor are discussing their relationship. First, I played Abigail in the above section; I portrayed her to be very frustrated. Then before I tried again, I thought about how Abigail must feel, a young girl who has unrequited love for Proctor, seeing him still stand by his wife, I would feel jealous and angry, frustrated that he can’t see how we should be together. My parents were murdered in front of me when I was a young child, and I have never felt love since, so Proctors love I cannot loose! My heart would be breaking. When I applied this new feeling to my performance, it became for realistic and emotionally powerful showing my devastation and heart ache as well as frustration, making me more vocally aware. This gave me insight to how Abigail feels and helped me to characterize her. Secondly, we imagined Elizabeth being a ‘fly-on-the-wall’. What her thoughts would be watching: shocked but almost pleased that Proctor is rejecting Abigail, and then we imagined Abigail’s thoughts in Act 4, when Proctor is in the cell talking to Elizabeth. This gave us real insight to link the characters objective and the motivation for their activities. Additionally, realistic sets would be used in the crucible to add a sense of truth, realistic like Stanislavski idea. Moscow Art Theatres’ philosophy was to make theatre a central concern. Vinegar Tom is written with influences from Brecht. Brecht studied Marxism, the political philosophy which analyses capitalism and a theory of social change; which links to how Churchill focused the play around feminism and social change. He wanted theatre to provoke thought, the audience to make decisions on what they saw, instead of apathy. Brecht wanted the audience to be entertained without getting too emotionally involved. He did this by keeping things minimal- sets and costumes, using narrators to tell the audience what is going to happen, multi-character, montage scenes, epic theatre, songs to break tension and letting the audience remember they are watching actor’s not actual characters. Plus Churchill includes songs, which is a music influence from Brecht, entertaining songs to break tension, but with serious ideas behind them. In a workshop we explored scene fourteen: We decided to use epic theatre to exaggerate the alternation between characters and to make more amusing. In my pair, we decided to start off at the back of the stage and move forward at each line, acting what we said. Margery: ‘struck me in the head’ – jack literally strikes her in the head. Adding comedy and exaggeration, distancing the audience but keeping them connected to the themes. Plus we used minimal props to symbolize set. This kept the audience entertained still, but reminded them they were watching actors in a play. Characterization/ Interpretation: We each chose a character from The Crucible and selected some speech for them. Then we had to create a freeze frame stance and say their lines, the rest of the class then debated who we were: Parris’the devil lives on such confidences, without confidences there could be no conspiracy, your honor! ’ I stood in this position, non verbally portraying myself to be Parris –>> Leaning forward, as Parris leans towards destruction, with hand gestures, palms up almost in prayer, to show Parris’s religious side, showing my eagerness to persuade/ make a point about Proctors life and that devils don’t exist. Plus making eye contact with the person whom he’s talking too. Facially, I looked concerned but angry/frustrated. Vocally I sounded confident, sure of myself, Parris’s power, he feels guilty that he helped to create the appearance of witch craft so the first clause I said calmly and quiet, but then gained pace and volume. This had a powerful impact, showing Parris’s confidence and regret. Vinegar Tom we characterized Ellen in Scene Nine by trying her with different personalities, then deciding which one fit best. The three ideas we came up with were: †¢ Old lady – fragile, soft voice, quiet but firm, glasses, squinty eyes. †¢ ‘Hippy’ – Stood tall, confident, happy young voice, feminine, talked faster. ‘Witch’ – Hunched back, croaky voice, stutter, open-aware eyes, slow creepy voice. We decided the old lady worked best, as it made her look wise and knowledgeable but without making her look evil. The hippy looked to young and felt to naive for the character. Next we thought of the circumstances for Alice, she is young, single, her mother is an alcoholic- Joan, who Alice cares for. She wants to go and see the witch trials in London, ironically, as she gets hung in the end. Susan thinks Alice always talks about men. She doesn’t say she is lonely, but I think she wants a man to love her, for companionship. I like the use of language in Scene twenty-two Vinegar Tom, the alternation between Sprenger and Kramer, Brecht’s Epic Theatre to reduce tension, making it comical but at the same time keeping us involved with the story and facts about what is going on. Both characters say approximate equal amounts. Scene Twenty-One Sprenger: He’s Kramer. Kramer: He’s Sprenger. Kramer/ Sprenger: Professors of Theology Kramer: Delegated by letters apostolic Sprenger: (here’s a toast, non-alcoholic) Kramer: Inquisitors of heretical pravities Sprenger: we must fill those moral cavities Kramer: so we’ve written a book Sprenger: Malleus Maleficarum Kramer: The Hammer of Witches Sprenger: It works like a charm Kramer: to discover witches Sprenger: and torture no hitches. Kramer: Why is a greater number of witches found in the fragile feminine sex to men? Sprenger: Why is a greater number of witches found in the fragile feminine sex to men? Kramer: ‘All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of a woman. ’ Ecclesiastes. Non verbal Communication/ Interpreation: gesture, facial expression, movement, mime, freeze frames, physical theatre We watched the beginning of The Crucible, a film, the director elected to show the children going to the woods to dance. We thought this gave too much away too soon, so began thinking of other ways to begin the play and develop the appropriate atmosphere. We decided to experiment by doing a selection of still images about the ideas in the play; this is a Brecht idea, letting the audience know more before they have watched the play, but we wanted to set the scene with an original impact. We needed to communicate non-verbally, considering facial expression, gesture and levels. The tableau we did was the cross on the floor (physical theatre to create cross) with characters on blocks looking down at it; symbolizing the corruption of religion on the Salem society. Secondly we had all the characters on stage pointing at each other, at different levels, on chairs, floor etc; representing blame and rumours. Finally, there was a abstract image of a dance, with Elizabeth looking at Abigail and Proctor dancing, showing the juxtaposition of the innocent dancing girls on the final impact of the affair. I would include these images before the play to give the audience a taster of what is to come, to grab their interest and make them think about what they could mean. We used physical theatre in an exercise for Vinegar Tom, using our bodies as the set and props. For example, for scene 1, on the roadside, a few of us stood back to back with arms out; we were a sign post, and others used levels to create plants as it was a rural area. Visual/ Spatial We considered a few types of staging for Vinegar Tom and the crucible; in-the-round, Proscenium Arch and thrust. In-the-round staging wouldn’t fit with Brecht’s ideas as it is too realistic and the audience would feel really involved for Vinegar Tom. Plus, it would be difficult for the action to engage everyone in the audience, as there would always be a section which couldn’t see. I don’t think this would be best suited as it involves the audience too much. Alternatively, it would be good for The Crucible as it involves audience and creates an interesting, realistic atmosphere. But I think it would get too complicated when lots of characters are on stage; too busy to see clearly. Thrust staging like in-the-round, is intimate, and can still have blind spots. Although it can have more props and is easier to perform without blocking views too badly. Again, I don’t think this would suit Vinegar Tom s it would include the audience too much, but it would suit my interpretation of The Crucible as it IS intimate with the audience and includes realistic, props and staging. Throughout The Crucible there is a variety of locations, so it is difficult to choose a stage, particularly Act 3, The ‘Bird’ Scene because all characters are important to see, this is why I chose Thrust Staging, personal and realistic, and more room to see more action. If I were to direct this scene, I would have it diagonally, so action can be scene by all 3 sides. First, I would have Hale higher up then the other characters, this gives him authority. Abigail and Proctor are spaced so Abigail can be seen looking over at Proctor, as well as Elizabeth. The relationship between all three characters on stage is a triangle, like the love triangle they used to be in. ADD CELL SCENE LAYOUT? SOUNDS Proscenium Arch distances the audience from the drama, this links with how Brecht wanted the audience to remember they are watching a play. Plus the actors can address the audience directly, another idea of Brecht. Plus the simple set can be moved around easily. This is the stage I would choose for Vinegar Tom. Scene Nineteen JOAN and Ellen are hanged while MARGERY prays. MARGERY: Dear God, thank you for saving us. Let us live safe now. I have scrubbed the dairy out. You have shown your power in destroying the wicked, and you show it in blessing the good. You have helped me in my struggle against the witches, help me in my daily struggle. Help me work harder and our good harvests will be to your glory. Bless Miss Betty’s marriage and let her live happy. Bless Jack and keep him safe from evil and let him love me nd give us the land, ahem. [pic] AUDIENCE If I was to do this scene, on a proscenium arch, I would have Margery in the foreground and the girls in the background. This keeps attention on Margery, but the audience can relate her monologue to the hangings, putting it in context. After ‘glory’, I would have a pause, then the hanging. As the girls step down from the block (as they ‘hang’) I would have Marg ery go down on to her knees for prayer, ‘Bless†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This simultaneous change of levels would draw the audience in, thinking about how Margery’s prayer and the hangings are related. Ellen and Joan’s backs would be to the audience so that their hangings are more symbolic then emotional. I think Vinegar Tom could be modernized, and the actors could wear modern everyday clothes, this is a Brecht technique, reminding the audience they are actors. I think The Crucible can’t be modernized, it is the history of 1692, so characters would be wearing clothing (picture) from that period of time, using the slang and dialect from that period. ———————– The book title is violent. ‘Hammer’ is a destructive word, like the destruction of witches. Non-alcoholic makes them sound innocent and good, which is the contrast to their ideas and book on witches. Academic lexis, implying they are knowledgeable; so their book will be truthful and correct. The repetition emphasizes the fact that most witches are female. Informal introduction, comical stand up style, introducing each other. Scene twenty-one is like an Aside, a speech to the audience, but in the style of a comical stand up or advert. They alternate lines to add interest and capture people’s attention. Rhyme for comic effect, combining Kramer and Sprenger as one person. Reference to philosopher suggests wisdom. [pic] [pic] [pic]

Research Paper How Divorce Affects or Children - 2073 Words

Research Paper: The Impact of Divorce on Children Jimmy Trolinger Liberty University On-Line Author Note Jimmy Trolinger, Psychology Student at Liberty University Prepared for Professor Jennifer Kennedy Psychology 210 D-12 Liberty University Abstract Divorce causes many problems for children and has many implications. Psychological implications include mental health problems and behavioral problems. Social roles are turned inside out and upside down. Children are often pulled in many directions. In the United States divorce is very common and often leaves children confused and without options. Many turn toward violence, crime, drugs, and isolation. Studies show how adults can reduce the tension for these children. Other†¦show more content†¦Because children of divorce are under a lot of stress and tend to worry about a lot of different things, they can and some do develop mental health issues that can stick with them through their entire lifetime. Anxiety is often found in children that are going a divorce. However, child with an anxiety disorder might always think of the negative side of a situation, or may have dreadful experiences even in pleasant circumstances. It is important to know that in all cases of anxiety a c hild will worry too much about things it is when it becomes a long term problem that it may be a disorder or mental health issue. Another mental health problem a child can develop is depression. A child with depression may be sad more often than not, feel guilty or helpless, and may lose interest in pleasurable things or things they previously enjoyed. Other mental health issues that may arise from the divorce of the child’s parents are antisocial behavior and hyperactivity (Strohscein, 2012). Behavioral Effects of Divorce on Children According to Marquart (2006), â€Å"after a divorce the job of making sense of the two worlds and the conflicts that arise between them doesn’t go away—it gets handed from the adults to the children(p. 215). When living with one parent a child may develop a sense of confusion when it comes to the family hierarchy because of the loss of one or more of the leader figures in the household (Kumar, 2011). Loss of one of the family incomes andShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Divorce On Children And The Association With Children s Self Esteem By Kim Bastaits1466 Words   |  6 Pages134 Schweingruber 9/30/14 Library Research Project I’m sure everyone has heard that roughly fifty percent of marriages end in divorce. I’m not entirely sure that static is still true, but still a lot of marriages do end in divorce. I am a child of divorce. My parents got divorced when I was around five years old. 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