You are..... The MIRROR My LOVE

You are..... The MIRROR My LOVE

My Love,
You are a mirror that gives
the Perfect Reflection of me
You perceive
when there's a slight change
in me
I know, My Love,
It is not the same image
you depict every second
It varies,
as it is the law of nature
Yet  My Love,
You are Pure and
You Absorb me
I see the Truth as you don't
create false images
Nor other illusory reflection can
replace you
And ... It is only you my love,
You mirror the exact me
with all my sentiments...
And it is you that bind us
always with better Understanding
The Reflection you bestowed
Is the Perfect Union of LOVE

The image of Sri Lankan woman getting under assessed on account of unnecessary media propaganda.

The image of Sri Lankan woman getting under assessed on account of unnecessary media propaganda. 

Propaganda is a creative campaign which deals with exaggeration true or false, basically to get the attraction of people. Most of the time media become propagandists to propagate different ideas, beliefs and pieces of information among people. Propaganda campaign or advertising is a creative art with a target to market a certain product or a service. This is basically profit oriented. To understand propaganda campaign or advertising a propagandist should determine to whom they advertise and with what purposes. Advertising is related to human behavior, anthropology, sociology and human psychology. So to make successful these attributes, most propaganda campaigns use the image of woman.

Advertising has created a competitive society. Through these propaganda campaigns propagandists expect to change the minds of the people and persuade them to buy their products. Attractive advertisements, posters are created to make this change and address the needs, wants and desires of the people. To highlight the attractiveness the image of woman has become an indispensable figure. Than male figures, there is often a high demand for females in the process of propaganda campaigns. The outfits, beauty, figure and even the voice of a woman can easily attract human psychology. In this materialistic commercialized society, most of the propagandists use the image of woman as a marketing tactic.

One of the major concerns in propaganda campaigns is to identify the target group to promote the product or the service. Nowadays Sri Lankan as well as the foreign propagandists use the image of woman to target whatever the group is, irrespective of age or gender. The image of woman gets involved in various roles such as mother, wife, sister, representation of youth, beauty and innocence. To persuade people through propaganda it is essential to please the human senses like sense of touch, smell, taste, sight and hear.

To please the human senses in the maximum way, the propagandists are intended to promote the image of woman. The problem is that this promotion of women’s image is done in both good and bad ways. This situation similarly occurs in the sphere of advertising all over the world. Even in a South Asian country like Sri Lanka, where the woman is given a highly valuable and a sacred position. Naturally the image of woman gets under assessed as a result of the media propaganda campaigns in Sri Lanka. In most of the instances the image of woman is promoted unnecessarily to market whatever the product is. In addition to the image of woman, some relationships of women like ‘mother and daughter’ are also under assessed in the process of marketing. In order to promote particular beauty products, recently one of the media campaigns promoted the relationship between ‘mother and daughter’. Therefore women purposely or not get involved in such campaigns. In same kind of propaganda campaigns the propagandists market the female figure rather than promoting the product in order to attract the audience by pleasing the sense of sight. Then unknowingly it becomes a huge damage to the image of the woman. Due to that the prestigious highly valued image of woman has corrupted and demeaned.

Media propaganda can easily attract human conscience. But it is pathetic that the image of woman has become a mere tool in the process of marketing and advertising. As a responsible figure of the society, media should take the responsibility of protecting the prestigious image of woman. It is the only remaining source to rebuild the former sacred image of woman from its corrupted state.              

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Romantic Period

Politically the Romantic period was characterized firstly by the American Revolution and the French revolution; both have trust of the liberation and freeing of the human beings and therefore the human spirits from efforts to control it or limit it. It was a period when imaginations free to roam unhindered, unlike in the preceding Augustan period when the imagination was limited by norms and habits and practices. There was a sense that expressed itself in both the subject matter and the language and structure of poetry stylized or formatted like Augustan poetry no were feelings controlled and restrained to what was considered acceptable. Emotion and feeling began to come into the language of literature in a much wider and deeper sense than it did for the Augustans.

The second feature of the Romantic period was the change in the social structure. In Britain the new system of industrial production brought about by the steam engine replaced the old crafts and the craftsmen, and most productions led to a shift of population of the countryside to new industrial town with conquest overcrowding scholar and degradation both in standard living and standard of morals. At the same time industry trade and commerce began to develop on a mass scale and assume importance in society. Hither to wealth had been measured in terms of precious matters. New technological development repeated this with industry trade and commerce. The emerging industrial society broke up the existing harmonious of structure of countries life into hostile groups of haves and have nots. Wordsworth wrote in 1817 “I see clearly that the principle ties which kept the different classes of the society in a vital and harmonious dependence upon each other have, within these thirty years, either being greatly in impaired or holly dissolved everything has to being put up to market and sold for the hired price it could buy.”

The 18^th century of Pope, Addison and Johnson had a self contained area of normalcy with a small range of interest and sentiments. Good sense and decency and social propriety were norms and the boundaries were conventional morality. Several areas of human experience and interest had been excluded most importantly the less controlled areas and extent of emotions. This is another way of saying that in Augustan literature: feelings were controlled within socially accepted norms. Contrasting ways of life, the fate of poor social classes, and the rural areas were not acceptable subjects for literature. No were the ranges of emotional experience as depicted in say, Jane Eyre.  

The conflicts in the intellectual life of the Romantic period centered on the claim of the individual of defy on the canons and expectations of conventional society. The poets were moving away from the expectations and limitations of the conventional society to a far wider field that embraced every aspect of the human life including its ordinary day today experiences and every feeling and emotion of ordinary human beings. In the Augustan period and in Augustan poetry and emotions and feelings were not allowed free expressions but were contained within socially accepted norms and controlled within them. The romantic period broke through these circumstances and took the “spontaneous overflowing of powerful feeling” as an acceptable norm of poetic expression as well as a part of human existence. As Blake put it “men are admitted into Heaven not because they have curbed and governed their Passions or have no Passions, but because they have Cultivated their Understandings. The Treasures of Heaven are not Negations of Passions, but realities of Intellect, from which all Passions Emanate Uncurbed their Eternal Glory” [from “A vision of the Last Judgment”]

The romantic period is then characterized by, on the one hand, social upheaval where the former established stable structure of rural society was destroyed by the industrial revolution, trade and commerce, and on the other, the Augustan control of emotions and their display within the boundaries of accepted social norms and confines was loosened and emotive expressions became an accepted norm of poetic and other literary forms of expressions, such as novels.    

French Essays

Les droits de l’homme 

Tous les humains ont les droits. Les hommes, les femmes et les enfants ont les droits collectivement et individuellement par la vertu de leur naissance humaine. Il y a deux catégories de droits de l’homme. Ils sont les droits naturels et les droits civils. Comme les droits naturels le droits de vivre, d’exister, de soutenir la vie avec les nourritures, l’abri et les vêtements sont très importants. La liberté d’expression, de penser et le droit d’épouser et avoir une famille sont les autres droits naturels. Le droit de travailler, l’égalité de loi, la liberté d’associer  et rassembler tranquillement et le droit de participer pour les élections sont les droits civils importants.

L’ONU a adopté la déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme en 1948. Il y a beaucoup de gens qui lutter pour gagner leurs droits. Mais on doit souvenir qu’il y a une responsabilité derrière tous les droits. Ils sont comme les deux aspects de la même pièce. Par exemple on a le droit de parler. Mais on doit connaitre qu’on n’a pas le droit d’insulter les autres. On a le droit de vivre, mais on a aussi  la responsabilité de vivre sans violence. Il doit être un équilibre parfait entre les droits et les responsabilités.

Aujourd’hui on peut voir les gens se battre pour les droits sans maintenir leurs responsabilités. Alors ce déséquilibre apport la violence. Les gens puissants essayent de détruire les droits d’autres. Les femmes et les enfants dans la société sont persécutes souvent de discrimination et de la violence des droits de l’homme. On doit connaitre que tout le monde a le droit de vivre en protégeant leurs droits, mais ils doivent aussi penser à leurs responsabilités.                   

Les journaux

Dans le pays démocratique la liberté de presse joue un rôle dominant. D’abord on peut aviser les publicités, deuxièmement   beaucoup de rapports locaux et internationaux. On peut  diviser le journal en deux branches. Elles sont la rédaction et  le directorial. Maintenant la côte de directorial devient proéminente  et populaire.

On peut savoir beaucoup de choses de journaux, parce qu’ils ont les nouvelles de sports, internationaux et locaux, d’art et du temps. Il y a beaucoup de gendres de journaux pour tout le monde. Il y a les journaux pour les enfants, les jeunes et les femmes et il y a aussi les journaux anglais, tamouls et cingalais dans notre pays. Quelques journaux ont les histoires très intéressantes.  On peut s’amuser en les lisant.

Mais le bon journal doit présenter les nouvelles réelles aux gens. Une bonne nouvelles guide la lecture et une mauvaise nouvelle trompe la lecteur.

Bacon a dit la lecture fait un homme complet. Donc on peut le développer avec les journaux. La lecture est une nourriture pour nos pensées. Mais nous devons choisir les bons articles qui conviennent à nous. De cette façon on peut développer nos pensées avec les journaux.           

Mise-en-scene

“Mise-en-scene is a powerful method aimed at communicating of information ideas and feelings of a film.” Discuss this statement using three films selected from different genres as examples.

Mise-en-scène is a French term and originates in the theater. It means, literally, "put in things together in the scene." For film, it has a broader meaning, and refers to almost everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including the composition itself: framing, movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design and general visual environment, acting and performances, costumes, make up and even sound as it helps elaborate the composition. In brief mise-en- scene is the visual content of the film. And furthermore mise-en- scene can be different according to the film genre. It is because according to different genres the visual content of a film should be changed. If we take three films which belongs to totally different genres such as Provoked by Jag Mundhra, Troy by Wolfgang Petersen and Shrek 2 by Andrew Adamson ,Kelly Asbury and
Conrad Vernon. We can see a clear difference of use of mise-en-scene of these films. And also these directors try to communicate with the audience by giving different information, ideas and feelings.

If we take the film Provoked which was directed by Jag Mundhra, produced by Sunanda Murali Manohar and staring Aishwarya Rai, Gurpreet Dhami, Nandita Das, and this film is based on a traumatic story and it goes under the genre of drama. The story is based on Kiranjit Ahluwalia’s autobiography; Circle of Light, so Provoked is a true story of both Kiranjit’s legal struggle and her personal struggle who humiliated by her husband’s abuse and afraid for her life and the lives of her children, Kiranjit finally finds freedom behind bars. And she finds strength through her new friends—her fellow inmates. With the help of her cellmate, Ronnie (Miranda Richardson), and a non-profit organization that aids battered women, Kiranjit begins to fight for a ground-breaking appeal.

The story of the film builds around the Kiranjit’s character. She was a battered Punjabi homemaker and mother of two, living in Southall. The costumes and make up of her create as a real Panjabi woman and if talk more on the use of make up in the whole film it uses different ways of make ups according to the story of the film. For example when she was arrested after trying to murder we see most of her feelings through her dark make up, at her wedding we see a bright high make up and when she was living freely with her cell mates at the prison we see a light make up. 

 

If move to the acting and performances we can clearly see a very good acting of each character especially the main character. Aishwarya is one of the world famous actresses who can speak with her eyes and in this film also she does the same. The director makes us mostly see her feelings through extreme close ups of her eyes. For example soon after the incident of attempting murder, when the detective officer talks to her we see her inability of speaking and fear through an extreme close up of her eyes. And at the same time when she remembers her children also we see the pathetic situation through her eyes. 

 

And also through some close ups at some special moments such as when Kiran sees her children we see her emotions well. There the director step by step makes us see her emotions like how she was anxiously waiting till they come and her emotions after they come. 

Other characters especially the cell mates acts well because the audience is able to see the sadness and sufferings through each and every cell mate. When we see those faces we feel that all those cell mates have something to say.

The story runs with flashbacks and we get most of Kiran’s family life through the flashbacks and the director contrasts some shots for example Kiran’s husband’s funeral with her marriage.

Lighting also takes an important place. We see different ways of using lights through the whole film. Mostly the director keeps the darkness especially at the scenes of the prison. Sometimes he uses back light, key light and the fill light. Sometimes he uses only the key light.

 

If think about the use of sound through the whole film we can’t say that the director uses much more sounds in the film. But at certain times for example when Kiran’s husband threatens her we hear a fearful sound and at there wedding ceremony we hear a traditional Indian music and also when Kiran is alone at the cell we hear a female vocal sound mix with sadness.

The director used different camera angles to show the story more effectively. There we can see his use of high angles, low angles, tilt and pan shots and also zooming, tracking and the use of bird’s eye. At the same time we see his use of different shot sizes such as long shots, close ups etc. In the film most of scenes are taken at the high court. And there we see those scenes are taken by pan shots and it makes us see the facial expressions and the feelings of the people who are present at the court. Mostly we see his use of medium close ups, close ups, big close ups and extreme close ups of the main character.

 

And some moments the director uses the technique of bird’s eye for example at the cell, at the court and at the end of the show.

High angles and low angles are used at the court.

Though the director uses some different angles we cannot see most of angles in this type of genre, because these films build around in a one main character and the director gives the priority to the main character so mostly we see his use of different close ups of the protagonist which shows her feelings and attitudes. The story ends with a medium close up of the protagonist.

The film Troy is totally different from the film above. It is an historical film and goes under the category of epic. The film starts by saying “Greece, 3500 years ago.” So from there we get all the information according to that. The film Troy is directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Wolfgang Petersen, Diana Rathbun, Colin Wilson and Plan B and starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Peter O'Toole and Diane Kruger.

This film is concerning the Trojan War though sometimes it diverged from the myth. The story is an attempt to rebuild the past and gain some information on the past to the present generation. In brief the story flows like, Paris steals Helen away from Spartan prince Menelaus, who in turn successfully convinces his conquest-mad emperor brother Agamemnon to wage war against Troy with the help of his peerless soldier Achilles and, ultimately, a trusty wooden horse. The story deals with the themes of Love, Death, Honor, Sacrifice, and the Gods.

As the film is an epic it should bring us totally different images from the present. So the mise-en -scene of the film is mainly different from the costumes, backgrounds, make up and as this film has many fights the camera angles also different from the other films.

The costumes of the female characters are designed according to the time and male character especially the costumes of warriors and the costumes that they wear when they are free, are designed well. 

 

 

And also we see the use of different equipments which are used for war during that time, and for travel also they used horse, carts and boats. The use of make up also good, especially when the warriors after the war we see their tiredness, fear and power through the make up. And the wounds and blood shed we see through the make up.

Acting and performances of the film also good the director creates number of good fights through the whole film. We mainly see a good acting and fighting skills of the characters such as Hector and Achilles and we see good facial expressions when they fight.

The theme of love played by Achilles and Briseis, the director make us see their emotion and love through the eye contacts.

Use of light takes an important place in the film. All the night scenes cover the candle light and fire. The castles at Troy and Sparta lighted with the fire light. Some fights are doing at night so light and darkness mixed well. The lights used finely at the tents. For example most of the times when Achilles at his tent we see only the use of back light and some times back light only with a key ligh.

The passing of the time shows through fine images of rising sun and moon.

Sound plays an important part in the film. At the exciting moments especially at the fights we hear the use of music instruments but through the whole film we hear a mournful female vocal sound which makes us feel the meaninglessness of war and destruction. When the Greek army defeats we hear that mournful female solo and also at Hector’s death the wailing mournful female vocals again. And at the end of the film "Remember Me", a pop song sung by Josh Groban with Tanja Tzarovska, uses the love theme from the film as its base, and yet still comes across as slightly overdone and saccharine. Not only these but the sounds at the war front and marching to the war also more effective.

When talk on the camera angles comparing with the film above we can see the director mainly uses deep focus scenes which gives wider information. The film starts with a deep focus scene.

Most of the times when the fights starts we see the use of deep focus scenes which shows how the two battles come from two directions to the war front.

And also the kingdom of Troy and Sparta show with deep focus scenes.

Other than the deep focus scenes we see high and low angle, tilt and pan shots, bird’s eye and zooming shots, and different shot sizes like medium close ups, close ups, big close ups etc. for example when Hector comes to fight with Achilles we see a zooming shot.

 The film ends giving more information of the past and it makes the audience have a certain idea of the past.

Next film Shrek 2 directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon, this is an animated film. Though this is an animated film this has some features of an adventure films as well as some comical aspect. In brief the plot of the film flows like this, Shrek, Fiona and Donkey set off to attend the ball.During the meal, Fiona's father Harold gets involved in an argument with Shrek, which ends with Shrek telling Fiona that they are leaving Far Far Away. Shrek agrees to the expedition in an attempt to bond with Fiona's parents.Shrek, Puss and Donkey use the card to travel to her Potion Factory. Back in the woods, Shrek and Donkey drink the potion, , Shrek and Donkey faint. Shrek is a handsome human while Donkey is a noble white stallion. On returning to Far Far Away, Fairy Godmother tricks Shrek into thinking that Fiona loves Charming, while Fiona is led to believe that Charming is actually Shrek himself, in human form. Shrek and Donkey charge into the ballroom and the fairy tale creatures begin to fight Fairy Godmother. Fiona realizes it's not Shrek she's dancing with. Shrek and Fiona are about to kiss, but Fiona tells Shrek she wants to live happily ever after, with the ogre she married. Shrek, Fiona and Donkey return to their true forms.

The film has some fairytale features, fairytales were invented during a time when people believed in things such as witches, ogres, giants and trolls, because some scenes are like imagined scenes and not matching with the real life. For example when Shrek, donkey and Fiona travels to the kingdom of Far far away they used an onion-shaped carriage which is quite similar to the carriage of Cinderella.

 

And also the animal characters and we see some characters like puss in boots and Pinokio that we have seen in some other fairytales. When we see the Beginning of the film, it opens with a book containing a fairy story, making us think that is what we are about to experience. The camera angle and the music in the action and almost the background is old identical to Sleeping fashioned, classical and beauty. We assume the film will be the same. Furthermore it starts with saying that “once upon a time” and these things make us feel it is a typical fairytale. But suddenly we see the book at the first scene is torn up by a dirty great big GREEN hand. So the viewer starts to think this might NOT be such a traditional story. Then the music changes abruptly to modern music an ugly green ogre appears from an outhouse. So the hero of the film is not a handsome smart prince but an ugly ogre. The director makes us see the facial expressions and feelings of the ogre in different close ups.

Furthermore through acting we see Shrek’s character as a pretty civilized, doing daily cleansing rituals, so this makes him appear like a human being. Through different shots and different camera angles we see the main character Shrek as a brave, kind and at the same time as a funny character.

From the beginning of the film we see the theme of love through a big close up of a ring and through a nice medium close up of the couple.

When both Shrek couple and the king and queen were at the dinning table we see a track shot of Shrek. 

And also we see the use of deep focus scenes. For example when the Shrek couple goes to the kingdom and all those scenes’ backgrounds covered with a nice environment and also through their journey we see the climatic changes.

Using lights also does not have a difference with other films because here also the director uses sometimes only key light and sometimes only the key light and the back light.

We don’t see a clear difference of Fiona’s costumes when she plays as an ogre and as princes. It may be to make us do not feel any difference between the ogre and the royals.

Music also plays according to the scenes and most of the time it gives a joyful music with songs.

The film ends with giving a moral to the audience.