Week 3 Lecture 2

Sigmund Freud

Freud was a man who regarded him self as a scientist and in indeed the inventor of new science. Freud was born in 1856 in Moravia into an Austrian family non-observant Jews. He trained as doctor in the university there and later on joined the staff of General hospital where specializing in brain anatomy. Sigmund Freud tries to explain everything, the world we live in, us humans, how and what we think. According to him He was the first person that has seen our true us. Freud believed that we are naturally aggressive and our aggression would never be eliminated. So in a way we are limited and would not allow us to progress further on. Freud also believed everything around us is pain. Our life is a pain, getting older as time passes is a pain for example playing a football game at would take longer for your muscles to recover, you wake up the next day and your aching. Its in our nature to be workaholics, we are meant to go study constantly and just live with the pain. He also talked about that Dreams is where we find out true self's, what we actually are. Freuds theory were that dreams no less than neurotic symptoms were a coded expression of repressed sexual desire. According to him deep down we always thought about sex, that's all that is in our minds, everything has a sexual meaning. But in a way we put it on the side as we have " a police officer in our heads " that controls us and keeps us on track.

Week 2 Seminar 1

Tabloid Nation

Tabloid Nation is a book written by Chris Horrie which discusses the development of The Daily Mirror Newspaper over the years since it was first published. The Daily Mirror was introduced first in 1903. Horrie talks about in his book how the newspaper developed over the years by doing anything possible to increase their sells. The Daily Mirror began by sending reporters to the front line in World War 1 & 2 to produce live coverage news that would keep Britain updated. Their also introduced pictures in the Newspaper which benefited them by increasing their sells. Back in those day they were the first newspaper to allow women to voice their opinions, so that attracted a lot of female readers. Chris Horrie also mentions how correct news control the media in the UK. A lot of politics power being involved and talked about in the paper. In a way Tabloid Nation can relate to Citizen Kane as they would do anything to get some news and the fact that Charles Kane was involved in policitcs. Their strive to power took their sells to 2millions copiers per day in the UK which made them very successful just by doing anything possible to get their hands on some news.

Week & Lecture 1

Modernism

Modernism is a study which seeks to spread its efforts across literature, theatre, music and art in the first half of the 20th Century. Indeed it is ought really to go back into the nineteenth century, to the the music theatre of Wagner. Modernism was against the values of realism. The rejection of traditions and its reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody in new forms. It could be explained in a way that we are in control of our thoughts, we know what's good or bad. We have the intellect to make choices of our own. Modernism rejected the existence of compassionate and all-powerful Creator God. In a way they believed that God does not exist because everything is made out of nothing. Modernist thinking and views were simply out with the old and in with the new. They thought the modernism encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the traditional form of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organizational and daily life were becoming old fashioned and outdated in today new economy,political and social world. As the world was emerging new approach had to be looked at and developed.

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is a 1941 drama film directed by and starring Orson Welles. The story of the film is based on examining the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane played by Welles. The character is based on the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and Welles's Own Life. Charles Foster Kane played by Orson Welles, anonymously wealthy media proprietor , living in Florida, Xanadu for the last years of his life with a 'No Trespassing' sign on his gate, dies in a bed while holding a snow globe which smashes while slipping from his dying hand and utters "Rosebud". Kane's death then becomes sensational news around the world. The newsreel reporter Jerry Thompson played by (William Alland) tries to find out about Kane's private life and in particular discovering the meaning behind his last word. Thompson gets in touch with Kane's second wife Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore) who runs her own club and now alcoholic but she refuses to tell him anything. He then approaches Kane's private banker wanting to find out more information about him. Flash backs reveal that Charles Foster Kane spent his childhood poverty. He lived in Colorado where his parents ran a boarding house. Kane was later sent by his mother to live with Walter Parks Thatcher and get educated. At the age of 25 Charles Foster Kane gains full control of his possession and he instantly enters the newspaper business by taking control of New York Inquire and also hires the best journalists around to work for him.

The Policy of Enclosure

William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who were born in Farnham, Surrey. His believes were to reform the parliament and abolishing rotten boroughs which would help to end the poverty of farm labourers.From brief reading of his biography I can pick out some of the motivation for Rural Rides, or at least explain some of the views which he expresses. His childhood certainly put him and his heart closer to the countryside. It may even explain why he continued to return to a country ruled by, in his eyes, an oppressive government as he called it. His attempts to expose the corruption of his quartermaster in the military show that, even at a young age, he was willing to fight for the right and put himself on the line in order to stand up for what he believed in. Despite the fact he was home schooled, he was able to teach English as a foreign language, and shows that he was skilled with words. It is likely that his father instilled his values and convictions in him as well. But Cobbett found that he was directly oppressed. His freedom of speech was stifled, he was imprisoned for speaking his mind, and his newspaper efforts were suffocated by taxes. Is it any wonder that, in Rural Rides, he speaks so angrily about the system which not only seems to be trying to ruin his adult life, but take away the setting of his childhood as well. But that is not to say that Rural Rides was written only to preserve his sense of nostalgia. Throughout the book, Cobbett’s main concern seems to be about the people. He describes some of the remaining workers as “walking skeletons”, suggesting that when farmers became gentleman, their labourers became slaves. Labourers used to live in with the farmers, but this stopped when farmers became wealthy thanks to the war and the Corn Laws, and enclosure ended the strip system which allowed local residents to grow their own crops. Enclosure provided food for the booming population, but the high prices and inability to farm for themselves crippled the people who were reliant on the old system.He believed of this continued to happen something similar to French Revolution will occur in England. However, in fear of revolution the government had two choices: either pay workers more so they can afford bread, or repeal the Corn Laws so they could afford bread. Cobbett criticizes the way the new system is widening the gap between the rich and the poor, still a hot topic of conversation today. This is part of his reputation of being a campaigner for the people. William Cobbett interest was in the rural people. The exodus from the countryside which concerned Cobbett caused in the overcrowding of the cities, the filthy workhouses and the exploitation of the downtrodden poor. Cobbett also discusses “tax-eaters”, people in highly paid, pointless jobs who take all from society and give nothing back, clogging up the broken system which is wholly supported by the efforts of the poor labourers. This wasteful and pointless clogging is exemplified in the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case of ‘Bleak House’. The ‘fog’ which receives so much attention at the beginning of the book is a metaphor for the confused and overcomplicated system about which Cobbett complains. The reason why he complained was because the government was seen in his eyes as corrupt because it was only place and made up for the rich. Another point to be made was that he was extremely un-happy at seeing the majority of the countryside empty and he even argued that the population of England could not be growing, as he cannot see any people, but in fact it had doubled from 8.3 million to 17 million. The reason behind this was not a lot of people where interested in farming as him. Many would find jobs and opportunities in the big cities that would not have anything to do with farming. He thought that rapid industrialisation was going to destroy traditional ways of life. Cobbett states Enclosure is when a field would be divided up into common land, cattle would graze. In this landowners gave up enclosure, as they needed bigger fields in order to make way for new technology. This meant the farm workers had to go in search of other jobs that meant they had to migrate to the cities. Cobbett was not very happy about this so he jumped on a horse and went through the countryside of Southeast England and the Midlands in order to highlight the problems of rural England and how the relationship between landowner and worker had deteriorated. As I stated above he believed in workers being treated right and equal and he didn’t not believe how can they be treated as slave as they once where the same as owners. Cobbett continued publishing controversial material in the Political Register and was charged on many occasions, escaped conviction twice, once by fleeing the country and once by conducting his own defence so successfully the jury had no means to convict him. This is another example showing his opinion on the corrupt government and how strong was his opinion on them. William Cobbett overall view on policy of enclosure was going around cities and gathering different information. His views were that everyone should be treated equal no matter of the work you do. Cobbett believed in natural over technical creation.

Week 9 &10 Seminar paper

The Chief: the Life of William Randolph Hearst
By David Nasaw

‘Citizen Kane’

By reading the book and concentrating on chapter Citizen Kane is about Orson Welles making is first film about William Randolph Hearst. Welles spoke of Dumas, Machiavelli, and the Borgias but also of an unformed idea for a film about some larger than life American figure which in this case was William Randolph Hearts. Citizen Kane was been named on of the most influential films of all time, which was based on Hearst’s life and also adding bits and peaces from other rich men life to turn it into Kane.

Orson Welles worked together with RKO and Herman J. Mankiewicz to write the script of the movie and once it was finished it was obvious that it was about William Randolph Hearts. At the time Hearts was against the movie being shown on screen and did anything in his power to prevent the film being released. The reason behind this was because Orson Welles in the written scrip talks about a life of fictional figure who owns a chains of newspapers, who has been unsuccessful candidate for New York Governor, and also boasted that he started the Spanish-American war, and who marries an singer who he tries to get recognition for her an opera star by his publications, who retires and dies when his empire collapses. In other words it is done in a biographical way of Hearts life.

As I stated above William Randolph Hearst did everything in his power to prevent Citizen Kane not to be shown. Hearts threatened the RKO board members he will print their frictional version of their lives in his newspaper. He refused to advertise RKO films in his newspapers and magazines. Hearst also contacted Warner Brother’s manager and told him not to be shown in their theatres. Hearst did the same thing with Twentieth Century Fox theatres. His main purpose was to boycott the viewing of Citizen Kane all over the country. William Randolph Hearst explained doing all this as “unkind gesture” towards him because Welles tried to destroy his character. Also before the release of Kane Orson Welles told a story how he was approached by a man apparently detective and told him not to go back to his hotel as they was trying to set him by having a 14 year old girl waiting for him to show up and two photographers to takes snaps of him. This was done so Orson Welles could have been jailed and this would have killed his reputation.

After agreeing from both sides for the film to be shown Welles agreed to make small cuts to the movie. But just before premier in Radio City Music hall there was an unsurprising hick up the opening was cancelled again due to threatening from Hearst side that they will publish information on John D. Rockefeller. After a long time of fighting the film was released and explained by Orson Welles that it was peace of art that deserved to be shown. The reviews of the films were very high; many magazines called it the “greatest creation”.

My opinion on this is that William Randolph Hearst was against the movie not to be shown because he had a lot of illegal stuff he did not want people to know about that was happening in his life. Also he doing did everything in his power to prevent the film to release but it didn’t happen because Orson Welles stood his ground firm and didn’t want to drop it.

Week 8

Manifesto of the Communist Party

In manifesto of the communist party all the powers of old Europe enterted into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German Police - Spies.

It is believed that Communism has already been acknowledged by all Europeans powers to be itself a power. What this means the communist were more recognised and allowed to open the views to the worlds, what their aim is, their tendences and also meet the nursery tale of spectre of communism with a manifesto of the party itself. Communist of various nationalities have assembled their self in London and published manifesto in different languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish.

Bourgeois and Proletarians

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Everyone has been devided: Freeman and Slave, patrician and plebian, lord and self, guild - master and journeyman, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fiht that each time ended, either in revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.


Bourgeoisie could be explained as the class of modern patitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labor. Who once where feudal society which where not established. As time as went on they have split in to two classes facing each other and the other one is:Proletariat which are theclass of modern wage laboreres who have no productions on their own, are often explained as selling the labor power in order to live.