Richard Barrios
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195377347
- eISBN:
- 9780199864577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377347.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
The book starts by placing the musical film and its audience into an overall historical/social context, setting forth the prime importance of the first musicals. It proposes the ways to reclaim these ...
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The book starts by placing the musical film and its audience into an overall historical/social context, setting forth the prime importance of the first musicals. It proposes the ways to reclaim these films from years of cultural/historical neglect through historical data as well as the use of reception theory to view the films within their proper context. The parameters of the book — time lines, genres, premises — are all established, as is the book's distinctive tone and style. The main vantage points are threefold: (1) Background and history; (2) A viewer's changing perceptions; (3) These works' precarious relationship with their audience.Less
The book starts by placing the musical film and its audience into an overall historical/social context, setting forth the prime importance of the first musicals. It proposes the ways to reclaim these films from years of cultural/historical neglect through historical data as well as the use of reception theory to view the films within their proper context. The parameters of the book — time lines, genres, premises — are all established, as is the book's distinctive tone and style. The main vantage points are threefold: (1) Background and history; (2) A viewer's changing perceptions; (3) These works' precarious relationship with their audience.
Mark R. Leary
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195172423
- eISBN:
- 9780199786756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172423.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Many of the risks that people take with their safety and health can be traced to the self. In particular, the desire to be perceived in particular ways by others often promotes risk-taking, leading ...
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Many of the risks that people take with their safety and health can be traced to the self. In particular, the desire to be perceived in particular ways by others often promotes risk-taking, leading people to do things that are dangerous to themselves or others. When people drive dangerously, show off with dangerous stunts, or succumb to peer pressure to engage in risky behaviors, they are often engaging in impression management (or self-presentation), trying to convey a particular impression of themselves to others. Similarly, when people engage in excessive suntanning, fail to practice safe sex, or drastically undereat (as in the case of anorexia), their concerns about how they appear to others may result in disease or death. Furthermore, self-reflection is often so aversive that people seek ways to escape it, engaging not only in relatively harmless escapism (such as napping, TV watching, and shopping) but in more extreme and detrimental forms of escape (including alcohol and drug use, masochism, and suicide). None of the dangerous and maladaptive behaviors examined in this chapter would be possible without the self.Less
Many of the risks that people take with their safety and health can be traced to the self. In particular, the desire to be perceived in particular ways by others often promotes risk-taking, leading people to do things that are dangerous to themselves or others. When people drive dangerously, show off with dangerous stunts, or succumb to peer pressure to engage in risky behaviors, they are often engaging in impression management (or self-presentation), trying to convey a particular impression of themselves to others. Similarly, when people engage in excessive suntanning, fail to practice safe sex, or drastically undereat (as in the case of anorexia), their concerns about how they appear to others may result in disease or death. Furthermore, self-reflection is often so aversive that people seek ways to escape it, engaging not only in relatively harmless escapism (such as napping, TV watching, and shopping) but in more extreme and detrimental forms of escape (including alcohol and drug use, masochism, and suicide). None of the dangerous and maladaptive behaviors examined in this chapter would be possible without the self.
Corey Ross
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278213
- eISBN:
- 9780191707933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278213.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter shows how the war years witnessed a dramatic intensification of the ongoing tension between the integrative and disaggregating social potential of the mass media. On the one hand, the ...
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This chapter shows how the war years witnessed a dramatic intensification of the ongoing tension between the integrative and disaggregating social potential of the mass media. On the one hand, the overall trend towards a more ‘common culture’ saw its apogee during the early years of the war as popular demand for film, radio, and the press soared. On the other hand, after 1942/3 the socially divisive potential of the media once again came to the fore in terms of content as well as the radical shifts in the wider societal context and how the media were consumed by audiences. Whereas the early war years witnessed an unprecedented social integration of audiences, after 1942 patterns of leisure and media consumption reflected the multiplying signs of social disintegration on the German home front.Less
This chapter shows how the war years witnessed a dramatic intensification of the ongoing tension between the integrative and disaggregating social potential of the mass media. On the one hand, the overall trend towards a more ‘common culture’ saw its apogee during the early years of the war as popular demand for film, radio, and the press soared. On the other hand, after 1942/3 the socially divisive potential of the media once again came to the fore in terms of content as well as the radical shifts in the wider societal context and how the media were consumed by audiences. Whereas the early war years witnessed an unprecedented social integration of audiences, after 1942 patterns of leisure and media consumption reflected the multiplying signs of social disintegration on the German home front.
Tanya Pollard
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199270835
- eISBN:
- 9780191710322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270835.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter considers the juxtaposition of sleeping potions and poisons, and their parallels with the uneasy relationship between comedy and tragedy in two plays by Shakespeare. In Romeo and Juliet, ...
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This chapter considers the juxtaposition of sleeping potions and poisons, and their parallels with the uneasy relationship between comedy and tragedy in two plays by Shakespeare. In Romeo and Juliet, the typically comic devices of the sleeping potion and the false death meet with fatal complications. Similarly, in Antony and Cleopatra, references to narcotically induced oblivion are identified with the seductive pleasures of Egypt and Cleopatra, yet ultimately lead to the lovers’ deaths rather than the happy ending of comedy. The chapter frames its readings of the plays around contemporary medical debates about narcotic drugs such as opium and mandragora. Looking at complaints from anti-theatrical tracts about the theater’s capacity to lull spectators into sleepy oblivion, it shows how the escapism of the theater was identified with the dangers of pleasurable narcotics.Less
This chapter considers the juxtaposition of sleeping potions and poisons, and their parallels with the uneasy relationship between comedy and tragedy in two plays by Shakespeare. In Romeo and Juliet, the typically comic devices of the sleeping potion and the false death meet with fatal complications. Similarly, in Antony and Cleopatra, references to narcotically induced oblivion are identified with the seductive pleasures of Egypt and Cleopatra, yet ultimately lead to the lovers’ deaths rather than the happy ending of comedy. The chapter frames its readings of the plays around contemporary medical debates about narcotic drugs such as opium and mandragora. Looking at complaints from anti-theatrical tracts about the theater’s capacity to lull spectators into sleepy oblivion, it shows how the escapism of the theater was identified with the dangers of pleasurable narcotics.
Kate Flint
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198121855
- eISBN:
- 9780191671357
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198121855.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
The issue of reading and its effects during the Victorian and early Edwardian period did not concern women alone. It centred around the widely ...
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The issue of reading and its effects during the Victorian and early Edwardian period did not concern women alone. It centred around the widely held belief in the affective powers of what was read. On the one hand, the beneficial potential of reading was celebrated: ‘a good book is ‘the precious life-blood of a master-spirit’, and possesses a wonderful potency of encouragement and inspiration’. On the other, it was feared that ‘desultory reading is very mischievous’. By the mid-century, certain reviewers and essayists were speculating about the general dangers specifically attendant on the rapid proliferation of print. Excessive indiscriminate reading was condemned as morally debilitating. Many Victorians wrote of reading as something that affects mental health. Others viewed reading of fiction as a form of escapism.Less
The issue of reading and its effects during the Victorian and early Edwardian period did not concern women alone. It centred around the widely held belief in the affective powers of what was read. On the one hand, the beneficial potential of reading was celebrated: ‘a good book is ‘the precious life-blood of a master-spirit’, and possesses a wonderful potency of encouragement and inspiration’. On the other, it was feared that ‘desultory reading is very mischievous’. By the mid-century, certain reviewers and essayists were speculating about the general dangers specifically attendant on the rapid proliferation of print. Excessive indiscriminate reading was condemned as morally debilitating. Many Victorians wrote of reading as something that affects mental health. Others viewed reading of fiction as a form of escapism.
Joseph McAleer
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203292
- eISBN:
- 9780191675843
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203292.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Light fiction sold well between 1914 and 1950. ‘Escapism’ appears to be the principal motive in reading during this period, particularly among the working classes. When one considers the book stock ...
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Light fiction sold well between 1914 and 1950. ‘Escapism’ appears to be the principal motive in reading during this period, particularly among the working classes. When one considers the book stock of the tuppenny libraries or the magazines which sold best, this is not surprising. Reading as a means of escape intensified in times of adversity such as the war and the depression. It was also encouraged by the peculiar attitudes towards books and patterns of selection held by the new reading public. Working-class readers did not distinguish between books and magazines in looking for something to read. One consequence was that the best-selling authors, novels, and magazines preferred by this public were increasingly of the same style and genre. This chapter examines the reading habits of lower-middle- and working-class adults, considering how much and how often they read, and why they read what they did.Less
Light fiction sold well between 1914 and 1950. ‘Escapism’ appears to be the principal motive in reading during this period, particularly among the working classes. When one considers the book stock of the tuppenny libraries or the magazines which sold best, this is not surprising. Reading as a means of escape intensified in times of adversity such as the war and the depression. It was also encouraged by the peculiar attitudes towards books and patterns of selection held by the new reading public. Working-class readers did not distinguish between books and magazines in looking for something to read. One consequence was that the best-selling authors, novels, and magazines preferred by this public were increasingly of the same style and genre. This chapter examines the reading habits of lower-middle- and working-class adults, considering how much and how often they read, and why they read what they did.
Joseph McAleer
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203292
- eISBN:
- 9780191675843
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203292.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Mills & Boon exploited with great success the demand for light fiction, becoming one of the principal suppliers of the circulating libraries. However, the firm exemplifies the major structural ...
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Mills & Boon exploited with great success the demand for light fiction, becoming one of the principal suppliers of the circulating libraries. However, the firm exemplifies the major structural changes in the publishing industry between the wars and in this respect is of great importance. First and foremost a commercial enterprise, Mills & Boon was the pioneer in the promotion of books as commodities and in the rationalisation of established publishers into ‘library houses’ in the 1930s. Mills & Boon followed the changing tastes of the readership closely, even as it tried to influence them. The result was a spectacular success, a soothing combination of realistic instruction and escapism. Mills & Boon was founded by Gerald Mills and Charles Boon. It was not founded as a romantic fiction publishing house, although its first book was, prophetically, a romance: Arrows from the Dark, by Sophie Cole.Less
Mills & Boon exploited with great success the demand for light fiction, becoming one of the principal suppliers of the circulating libraries. However, the firm exemplifies the major structural changes in the publishing industry between the wars and in this respect is of great importance. First and foremost a commercial enterprise, Mills & Boon was the pioneer in the promotion of books as commodities and in the rationalisation of established publishers into ‘library houses’ in the 1930s. Mills & Boon followed the changing tastes of the readership closely, even as it tried to influence them. The result was a spectacular success, a soothing combination of realistic instruction and escapism. Mills & Boon was founded by Gerald Mills and Charles Boon. It was not founded as a romantic fiction publishing house, although its first book was, prophetically, a romance: Arrows from the Dark, by Sophie Cole.
Richard Farmer
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719091889
- eISBN:
- 9781526109644
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719091889.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
The utility dream palace is a cultural history of cinemagoing and the cinema exhibition industry in Britain during the Second World War, a period of massive audiences in which vast swathes of the ...
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The utility dream palace is a cultural history of cinemagoing and the cinema exhibition industry in Britain during the Second World War, a period of massive audiences in which vast swathes of the British population went to the pictures on a regular basis. Yet for all that wartime films have received a great deal of academic attention, and have been discussed in terms of the escapist pleasures they offered, the experiential pleasures offered by the cinemas in which such films were watched were inextricably connected to the places and times in which they operated. British cinemas – and the people who worked in, owned and visited them – were acutely sensitive to their spatial and temporal locations, unable to escape the war and intimately bound up in and contributing to the public’s experience of it. Combining oral history, extensive archival research, and a wealth of material gathered from contemporary trade papers, fan magazines and newspapers, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of both the cinema’s position in wartime society, and the impact that the war had on the cinema as a social practice. Dealing with subjects as diverse as the blackout, the blitz, evacuation, advertising, staffing and conscription, Entertainments Tax, showmanship and clothes rationing, The utility dream palace asserts that the cinema was, for many people, a central feature of wartime life, and argues that the history of British cinemas and cinemagoing between 1939 and 1945 is, in many ways, the history of wartime Britain.Less
The utility dream palace is a cultural history of cinemagoing and the cinema exhibition industry in Britain during the Second World War, a period of massive audiences in which vast swathes of the British population went to the pictures on a regular basis. Yet for all that wartime films have received a great deal of academic attention, and have been discussed in terms of the escapist pleasures they offered, the experiential pleasures offered by the cinemas in which such films were watched were inextricably connected to the places and times in which they operated. British cinemas – and the people who worked in, owned and visited them – were acutely sensitive to their spatial and temporal locations, unable to escape the war and intimately bound up in and contributing to the public’s experience of it. Combining oral history, extensive archival research, and a wealth of material gathered from contemporary trade papers, fan magazines and newspapers, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of both the cinema’s position in wartime society, and the impact that the war had on the cinema as a social practice. Dealing with subjects as diverse as the blackout, the blitz, evacuation, advertising, staffing and conscription, Entertainments Tax, showmanship and clothes rationing, The utility dream palace asserts that the cinema was, for many people, a central feature of wartime life, and argues that the history of British cinemas and cinemagoing between 1939 and 1945 is, in many ways, the history of wartime Britain.
Siobhán McIlvanney
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781786941886
- eISBN:
- 9781789623215
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781786941886.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The introduction examines the potential reasons for the critical neglect suffered by women’s magazines and more ‘popular’ genres generally. Conversely, it looks at why this genre remains so favoured ...
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The introduction examines the potential reasons for the critical neglect suffered by women’s magazines and more ‘popular’ genres generally. Conversely, it looks at why this genre remains so favoured by women writers and readers, and why women who never read books read magazines. It examines the fundamentally dialogic, ‘personal’ quality of women’s journals which points up their feminist potential for an ongoing and egalitarian negotiation between French women and the roles posited in the press destined for them. If the sheer regularity of publication and the often intimate nature of content serve to increase the impression of authenticity and overall proximity to the topical ‘dailiness’ of the French women readers the press seeks to attract, that relationship is not solely one of reflection: early journals not only mirror the current day-to-day reality of women’s position in French society but often endeavour to prescribe and promote non-conventional female figurations, particularly those journals with a feminist content. The book’s interest lies above all with the textual representations of women in the French press and how these adapt – or not – over the period in question; with how women’s political aims find expression; and with the dialogue established between woman writers and readers.Less
The introduction examines the potential reasons for the critical neglect suffered by women’s magazines and more ‘popular’ genres generally. Conversely, it looks at why this genre remains so favoured by women writers and readers, and why women who never read books read magazines. It examines the fundamentally dialogic, ‘personal’ quality of women’s journals which points up their feminist potential for an ongoing and egalitarian negotiation between French women and the roles posited in the press destined for them. If the sheer regularity of publication and the often intimate nature of content serve to increase the impression of authenticity and overall proximity to the topical ‘dailiness’ of the French women readers the press seeks to attract, that relationship is not solely one of reflection: early journals not only mirror the current day-to-day reality of women’s position in French society but often endeavour to prescribe and promote non-conventional female figurations, particularly those journals with a feminist content. The book’s interest lies above all with the textual representations of women in the French press and how these adapt – or not – over the period in question; with how women’s political aims find expression; and with the dialogue established between woman writers and readers.
Richard Osborne
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195181296
- eISBN:
- 9780199851416
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181296.003.0023
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Produced in Venice in May 1813 to a libretto by Angelo Anelli previously used by Luigi Mosca, L’italiana in Algeri was the first full manifestation of Gioachino Rossini’s comic genius. Stendhal ...
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Produced in Venice in May 1813 to a libretto by Angelo Anelli previously used by Luigi Mosca, L’italiana in Algeri was the first full manifestation of Gioachino Rossini’s comic genius. Stendhal (Henry Beyle) thought it “perfection in the opera buffa style.” It was, he argued, an opera so rich in enchantment and sensual delight that critical judgment is actively suspended, a work of pure escapism “gay as our world is not.” This last point is an interesting one which might well be both sustained and contradicted by something like the great act I finale, where the characters are nonplussed and frozen in time before being released into a rising tide (the image of shipwreck is in the text) of rhythm and melody which finally engulfs them.Less
Produced in Venice in May 1813 to a libretto by Angelo Anelli previously used by Luigi Mosca, L’italiana in Algeri was the first full manifestation of Gioachino Rossini’s comic genius. Stendhal (Henry Beyle) thought it “perfection in the opera buffa style.” It was, he argued, an opera so rich in enchantment and sensual delight that critical judgment is actively suspended, a work of pure escapism “gay as our world is not.” This last point is an interesting one which might well be both sustained and contradicted by something like the great act I finale, where the characters are nonplussed and frozen in time before being released into a rising tide (the image of shipwreck is in the text) of rhythm and melody which finally engulfs them.
Andrea Rinke
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623440
- eISBN:
- 9780748651115
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623440.003.0014
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The nationalised DEFA (Deutsche Filmaktiengesellschaft) was East Germany's only film company. As in other areas of industrial production in the GDR, the annual output of films was planned many years ...
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The nationalised DEFA (Deutsche Filmaktiengesellschaft) was East Germany's only film company. As in other areas of industrial production in the GDR, the annual output of films was planned many years in advance by the DEFA management, the aim being to produce a balanced package covering a variety of genres including musicals and comedies. This chapter focuses on how the communist authorities in East Germany attempted to compete with Western popular culture by producing socialist musicals that celebrated factory life and farm collectives in the period between 1958 and 1968. Interestingly, as the chapter points out, the conventions of escapism and fun remained central to these films, although Western ‘decadence’ was rejected in favour of a strong emphasis on women's emancipation, especially the right to work. This chapter looks at two film musicals directed by two East German filmmakers who specialised in entertainment films – Gottfried Kolditz's Revue um Mitternacht (Midnight Revue, 1962) and Joachim Hasler's Heißer Sommer (Hot Summer, 1968) – both of which were domestic box office hits.Less
The nationalised DEFA (Deutsche Filmaktiengesellschaft) was East Germany's only film company. As in other areas of industrial production in the GDR, the annual output of films was planned many years in advance by the DEFA management, the aim being to produce a balanced package covering a variety of genres including musicals and comedies. This chapter focuses on how the communist authorities in East Germany attempted to compete with Western popular culture by producing socialist musicals that celebrated factory life and farm collectives in the period between 1958 and 1968. Interestingly, as the chapter points out, the conventions of escapism and fun remained central to these films, although Western ‘decadence’ was rejected in favour of a strong emphasis on women's emancipation, especially the right to work. This chapter looks at two film musicals directed by two East German filmmakers who specialised in entertainment films – Gottfried Kolditz's Revue um Mitternacht (Midnight Revue, 1962) and Joachim Hasler's Heißer Sommer (Hot Summer, 1968) – both of which were domestic box office hits.
Amy Hollywood
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226349510
- eISBN:
- 9780226349466
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226349466.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among twentieth-century French intellectuals and demonstrates the work that the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers. ...
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This book investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among twentieth-century French intellectuals and demonstrates the work that the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers. With special attention to Georges Bataille, Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Lacan, and Luce Irigaray, the author asks why resolutely secular, even anti-Christian intellectuals are drawn to affective, bodily, and widely denigrated forms of mysticism. What is particular to these thinkers is their attention to forms of mysticism associated with women. They regard mystics such as Angela of Foligno, Hadewijch, and Teresa of Avila not as emotionally excessive or escapist, but as unique in their ability to think outside of the restrictive oppositions that continue to afflict our understanding of subjectivity, the body, and sexual difference. Mystics such as these, like their twentieth-century descendants, bridge the gaps between action and contemplation, emotion and reason, and body and soul, offering new ways of thinking about language and the limits of representation.Less
This book investigates the attraction to excessive forms of mysticism among twentieth-century French intellectuals and demonstrates the work that the figure of the mystic does for these thinkers. With special attention to Georges Bataille, Simone de Beauvoir, Jacques Lacan, and Luce Irigaray, the author asks why resolutely secular, even anti-Christian intellectuals are drawn to affective, bodily, and widely denigrated forms of mysticism. What is particular to these thinkers is their attention to forms of mysticism associated with women. They regard mystics such as Angela of Foligno, Hadewijch, and Teresa of Avila not as emotionally excessive or escapist, but as unique in their ability to think outside of the restrictive oppositions that continue to afflict our understanding of subjectivity, the body, and sexual difference. Mystics such as these, like their twentieth-century descendants, bridge the gaps between action and contemplation, emotion and reason, and body and soul, offering new ways of thinking about language and the limits of representation.
John Davis and Juliane Furst
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199587513
- eISBN:
- 9780191747557
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587513.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Chapter 7, ‘Drop-outs’, examines two experiments in communal living in very different political contexts—London and Leningrad. It explores the creation of intimate spaces on the margins of ...
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Chapter 7, ‘Drop-outs’, examines two experiments in communal living in very different political contexts—London and Leningrad. It explores the creation of intimate spaces on the margins of conventional society in which freedom could be explored in its various forms. It asks whether dropping out was purely cultural, escapist and hedonistic, or the pursuit of a new kind of politics. Within these micro-societies in the West and East it explores different and contradictory attitudes in to imperialism, capitalism, property, democracy and sexual relations, the tensions these communities faced during their short lives and their enduring legacy.Less
Chapter 7, ‘Drop-outs’, examines two experiments in communal living in very different political contexts—London and Leningrad. It explores the creation of intimate spaces on the margins of conventional society in which freedom could be explored in its various forms. It asks whether dropping out was purely cultural, escapist and hedonistic, or the pursuit of a new kind of politics. Within these micro-societies in the West and East it explores different and contradictory attitudes in to imperialism, capitalism, property, democracy and sexual relations, the tensions these communities faced during their short lives and their enduring legacy.
Michael Morris
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198861751
- eISBN:
- 9780191894367
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198861751.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
The Postscript offers the beginning of an account of the point of artistic representation, if the main theory of the book is correct and fully general. What might the point of artistic representation ...
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The Postscript offers the beginning of an account of the point of artistic representation, if the main theory of the book is correct and fully general. What might the point of artistic representation in general be, if the Real-Likeness view applied to representation in all art forms? One point might be to provide a form of escapism: artistic representations would provide us with toy worlds into which we might escape: the details of this are explored a little here. But we might hope that artistic representations might help us to understand the real world; how they might do that is left unexplained.Less
The Postscript offers the beginning of an account of the point of artistic representation, if the main theory of the book is correct and fully general. What might the point of artistic representation in general be, if the Real-Likeness view applied to representation in all art forms? One point might be to provide a form of escapism: artistic representations would provide us with toy worlds into which we might escape: the details of this are explored a little here. But we might hope that artistic representations might help us to understand the real world; how they might do that is left unexplained.
Jad Smith
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040634
- eISBN:
- 9780252099076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040634.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
The introduction examines how Bester’s unique approach challenged the paradigm of Golden Age science fiction. After a stint scripting comics and radio, Bester returned to the SF field in search of ...
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The introduction examines how Bester’s unique approach challenged the paradigm of Golden Age science fiction. After a stint scripting comics and radio, Bester returned to the SF field in search of creative freedom; however, a conflict with legendary editor John W. Campbell over the story “Oddy and Id,” among other circumstances, prompted Bester to assume the stance of an outsider and write against the grain of the Astounding ethos, which he came to regard as escapist and scientistic. Bester wanted to write “arrest” fiction “full of romantic curiosity” that left ample opportunity for the reader to cogenerate meaning and experience the euphoria of raw imagination. Bester’s approach is discussed in terms of Roland Barthes’s distinction between “readable” and “writable” fiction.Less
The introduction examines how Bester’s unique approach challenged the paradigm of Golden Age science fiction. After a stint scripting comics and radio, Bester returned to the SF field in search of creative freedom; however, a conflict with legendary editor John W. Campbell over the story “Oddy and Id,” among other circumstances, prompted Bester to assume the stance of an outsider and write against the grain of the Astounding ethos, which he came to regard as escapist and scientistic. Bester wanted to write “arrest” fiction “full of romantic curiosity” that left ample opportunity for the reader to cogenerate meaning and experience the euphoria of raw imagination. Bester’s approach is discussed in terms of Roland Barthes’s distinction between “readable” and “writable” fiction.
Gavin Steingo
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226362403
- eISBN:
- 9780226362687
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226362687.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter introduces kwaito, describing its fundamental musical processes. It lays out the book’s main thesis that kwaito is less a form of escapism than a doubling of sensory reality, and then ...
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This chapter introduces kwaito, describing its fundamental musical processes. It lays out the book’s main thesis that kwaito is less a form of escapism than a doubling of sensory reality, and then situates that argument theoretically within music studies, aesthetics, and political theory. As an introductory text, the chapter also provides relevant history related to South African music and politics and reflects on my approach as a white ethnographer in the intensely racialized environment of post-apartheid South Africa.Less
This chapter introduces kwaito, describing its fundamental musical processes. It lays out the book’s main thesis that kwaito is less a form of escapism than a doubling of sensory reality, and then situates that argument theoretically within music studies, aesthetics, and political theory. As an introductory text, the chapter also provides relevant history related to South African music and politics and reflects on my approach as a white ethnographer in the intensely racialized environment of post-apartheid South Africa.
Peter J. Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167190
- eISBN:
- 9780813167862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167190.003.0021
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter covers Allen’s films from 2000 (Small Time Crooks) through Melinda and Melinda, using the latter film to comment on his twentieth-century penchant to favor drama over comedy. The ...
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This chapter covers Allen’s films from 2000 (Small Time Crooks) through Melinda and Melinda, using the latter film to comment on his twentieth-century penchant to favor drama over comedy. The alternating drama/comedy versions of Melinda and Melindasuggest a balanced perspective on genre and a refusal on the part of the framing adjudicators to declare one or the other more representative of human experience, Louise declaring that the generic versions simply reflect the subjectivities of their projectors. But the chapter contends that Allen’s darkening vision has made effective comedy increasingly difficult for him to write, with comedies such as The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Scoopoften appearing on his list of least successful films, while he rates the grim murder drama Match Pointamong his very best films.Less
This chapter covers Allen’s films from 2000 (Small Time Crooks) through Melinda and Melinda, using the latter film to comment on his twentieth-century penchant to favor drama over comedy. The alternating drama/comedy versions of Melinda and Melindasuggest a balanced perspective on genre and a refusal on the part of the framing adjudicators to declare one or the other more representative of human experience, Louise declaring that the generic versions simply reflect the subjectivities of their projectors. But the chapter contends that Allen’s darkening vision has made effective comedy increasingly difficult for him to write, with comedies such as The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Scoopoften appearing on his list of least successful films, while he rates the grim murder drama Match Pointamong his very best films.
Andrew Kahn
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198857938
- eISBN:
- 9780191890505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198857938.003.0013
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, World Literature
From early 1937, attacks on Mandelstam appeared in the local Voronezh press. The story of adapting to exile and escape from his political plight connects the poems of the notebooks. The chapter ...
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From early 1937, attacks on Mandelstam appeared in the local Voronezh press. The story of adapting to exile and escape from his political plight connects the poems of the notebooks. The chapter examines how the works written in that year explore the various prospects for survival, haunted by the example of homelessness of Schubert’s Winterreise. These experiences drive Mandelstam to consider whether the extensive reach of Stalin can ever be evaded, plotting whether flight might lead to freedom. The remaining possibility might be to surrender politically and submit to Stalin, seeking pardon. The book circles back to Mandelstam’s relation to the revolution by examining his late poem, the ‘Stalin Ode’, one of the most controversial poems in the Russian language, read here as a work of ironic defiance that manipulates panegyric subversively and closes off any possibility of rapprochement. Mandelstam’s final lyrics imagine flight into invisible realms.Less
From early 1937, attacks on Mandelstam appeared in the local Voronezh press. The story of adapting to exile and escape from his political plight connects the poems of the notebooks. The chapter examines how the works written in that year explore the various prospects for survival, haunted by the example of homelessness of Schubert’s Winterreise. These experiences drive Mandelstam to consider whether the extensive reach of Stalin can ever be evaded, plotting whether flight might lead to freedom. The remaining possibility might be to surrender politically and submit to Stalin, seeking pardon. The book circles back to Mandelstam’s relation to the revolution by examining his late poem, the ‘Stalin Ode’, one of the most controversial poems in the Russian language, read here as a work of ironic defiance that manipulates panegyric subversively and closes off any possibility of rapprochement. Mandelstam’s final lyrics imagine flight into invisible realms.
Pamela Craig and Martin Fradley
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604734539
- eISBN:
- 9781621031048
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604734539.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter delineates the political and ideological issues surrounding teenage protagonists in horror films. Pointing to many films’ self-conscious and often politically astute articulation of ...
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This chapter delineates the political and ideological issues surrounding teenage protagonists in horror films. Pointing to many films’ self-conscious and often politically astute articulation of social class, gender, and race, it exonerates the American teen horror film from its critical dismissal as adolescent escapism or shameless pandering to the youth demographic.Less
This chapter delineates the political and ideological issues surrounding teenage protagonists in horror films. Pointing to many films’ self-conscious and often politically astute articulation of social class, gender, and race, it exonerates the American teen horror film from its critical dismissal as adolescent escapism or shameless pandering to the youth demographic.
Mark Coeckelbergh
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262035460
- eISBN:
- 9780262343084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262035460.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
In chapter 6 objections to these material romanticisms and to the narrative about romanticism and technology are constructed. First, drawing on classic anti-romantics, the argument is constructed ...
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In chapter 6 objections to these material romanticisms and to the narrative about romanticism and technology are constructed. First, drawing on classic anti-romantics, the argument is constructed that romanticism leads to escapism or what I call cyber narcissism. Then a position is elaborated that criticizes the current material romanticism for not being romantic enough, for failing to reach the romantic aims. It is argued that our hyper-romanticism in the form of Web 2.0 and its social media risks to destroy its very aims. It is concluded that, seen from these perspectives, material romanticism’s promise of a synthesis of enlightenment and romanticism is not kept and there is no “end of the machine” in sight.
However, then it is argued that the criticisms discussed here may well be anti-romantic, but largely (but not completely and not always) remain within the “romantic order”. The chapter draws on Coyne’s reading of the phenomenological tradition in order to start exploring what a less dualistic and less romantic view would look like. The chapter ends with a summary of what we can nevertheless learn from the romantic tradition.Less
In chapter 6 objections to these material romanticisms and to the narrative about romanticism and technology are constructed. First, drawing on classic anti-romantics, the argument is constructed that romanticism leads to escapism or what I call cyber narcissism. Then a position is elaborated that criticizes the current material romanticism for not being romantic enough, for failing to reach the romantic aims. It is argued that our hyper-romanticism in the form of Web 2.0 and its social media risks to destroy its very aims. It is concluded that, seen from these perspectives, material romanticism’s promise of a synthesis of enlightenment and romanticism is not kept and there is no “end of the machine” in sight.
However, then it is argued that the criticisms discussed here may well be anti-romantic, but largely (but not completely and not always) remain within the “romantic order”. The chapter draws on Coyne’s reading of the phenomenological tradition in order to start exploring what a less dualistic and less romantic view would look like. The chapter ends with a summary of what we can nevertheless learn from the romantic tradition.