Compare and contrast two approaches to the study of prejudice Essay Example

Compare and contrast two approaches to the study of prejudice Paper Prejudice in society today seems to be unavoidable. It appears on the news, is portrayed in film and evident in the history books. Prejudice can be defined as a negative attitude toward a particular social group and all its members. A prejudice attitude involves making prejudgements about a person of a group and applying generic attributes (Hogg Vaughan, 2004). Allport (1945b) suggests that prejudice consists of three components. Firstly a cognitive belief about the group, secondly a strong feeling must be evident about the group and qualities they possess and lastly the intention to act in a certain way towards the group (cited in Hogg Vaughan, 2004). Prejudice is a problem is society as it can lead to discrimination toward members of a certain group. In the most extreme cases genocide is the ultimate expression of prejudice toward a group. The most prominent example of this is the anti-Semitic actions of Germany in the Second World War. The atrocities that took place at the hands of the German army were high in peoples minds and psychologists there after began taking an interest in the origins of prejudice and ways of reducing prejudice. Two approaches that have now become widely acknowledged are those of individual differences resulting in prejudice and inter-group theories of prejudice. Individual differences as a cause of prejudice is concerned with why some people are more prejudice than others, and whether it is because of a personality trait that causes these attitudes (Crisp Turner, 2007). We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and contrast two approaches to the study of prejudice specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and contrast two approaches to the study of prejudice specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Compare and contrast two approaches to the study of prejudice specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer An authoritarian personality was on concept that was suggested by Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson and Sanford (1950) in the wake of the holocaust (cited in Hogg Vaughan, 2004). They believed that only those with a personality defect could be prejudice, these people were not only prejudice toward one particular social group but all minority groups. The authoritarian personality is defined by certain characteristics. Such as need for order, high respect for authority, displacement of anger onto weaker individuals and an obsession with status. Thought these tendencies first developed in childhood with confusion over excessive harsh discipline from the parent (cited in Hogg Vaughan, 2004). The child loves and hates their parent and this conflict cause stress which is then redirected toward weaker individuals around them while idealising those who represent the power and authority of their parent (Hogg Vaughan, 2004). However, there are certain restrictions when considering personality explanations of prejudice. The main concern being that not every child brought up with excessive, harsh discipline then becomes prejudice. This may be due to the persons ability to control and regulate their prejudice. Specifically, in society today egalitarian values are emphasised and expected, so if a person feels they have acted in a way that displays prejudice then they may feel guilty. The individual has noticed a difference in the way they acted to their values causing the guilt; this guilt can be the motivation a person needs to change their behaviour and ultimately their prejudice attitude. This theory how there can be a variation in the amount of prejudice that people display but not the reasoning behind why individuals want to eliminate prejudice. In general one of the problems of individual differences as a cause of prejudice is that is does not apply easily to large groups of people who are prejudice. For instance it is conceivable but unlikely that every person who is prejudice had a harsh disciplinary upbringing that results in an authoritarian personality (Hogg Vaughan, 2004). There is a need of a cultural mentality to result in large scale prejudice such as the apartheid in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. Inter-group theories are able to address this issue. Inter-group theories involve the categorizing of people into distinct groups. Primarily these groups are either in-groups, those which we belong to or out-groups, a group which we are not a member of (Crisp Turner, 2007). Sherif, White and Harvey (1955) found that when people are divided into groups it created an environment in which group comparison and the desire to partake in competition was immediately evident. Shortly after the initial division a social identity develops and the introduction of competition caused heightened hostile behaviour (cited in Crisp Turner, 2007). Sherifs (1955) findings support the theory of realistic group conflict theory. This theory suggests that prejudice is the result of competition for valuable resources (Crisp Turner, 2007). For instance sexism in the work place could be an example of realistic group conflict theory because of the competition for the jobs and internal promotion. Employers are more likely to show favouritism for their own groups and derogation of the out groups in order to secure their own futures. However Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, Flament (1971) found that simply dividing people into groups caused prejudice and competition was not necessary. When participants were divided into groups based on the type of abstract painter they preferred they allocated those not in their group lower points, therefore displaying inter-group bias. This demonstrates the minimal condition for prejudice to occur; because as soon as we know that someone is in a different group to us we are likely to discriminate on that basis. This may be due to the fact that when others are in the same group as us we think of them as similar to ourselves and those in the out-groups are different to us (Crisp Turner, 2007). Tajfel and Turner (1979) devised the theory of social identification. They assumed that people wanted positive self-esteem and one contributor to self esteem is the groups which we belong to. Therefore, if the groups we belong to have a high status and are positively perceived then this boost our self esteem because as we are members of that group we should be perceived in the same way. In this way it benefits our self esteem to improve the positive image of the group compared to the out-groups and so this is another way that prejudice could develop. Self categorization theory (Turner, Hogg, Oakes,Reicher Wetherell, 1987) is based on social identification but emphasises the cognitive approaches(cited in Crisp Turner, 2007). The identification with a group causes one to depersonalise oneself in order to fit in with group norms and so become self-categorized (Crisp Turner). Therefore, if the group norm is one which allows prejudice then individuals will also display this attribute. One criticism of Tajfel (1971) was that the conditions were not minimal and there was some belief similarity which could explain the preferable treatment of the in group members (cited in Crisp Turner,2007). The categories the participants were separated into were supposedly based on the preference of a painter and so perhaps had other aspects in common. To rectify this Tafjel replicated the study with some alterations. The participants knew that they were allocated to groups on a purely random basis. Even so, there was still inter-group bias. However, the findings were not as large a number as in the previous study. Inter-group theories give a good account of how the groups we belong to influence our prejudice. However, we must remember that we have control over out thoughts and actions. Consequently, we can choose not to conform to group norms and also not to express prejudice. Individual differences in prejudice consider these aspects more. Prejudice is a complex multi faceted concept with many different contributing factors. The individual difference approach considers how personality affects individuals and the extent to which they express prejudice. However, this approach does not explain large scale prejudice across cultures and other groups. The inter-group theories demonstrate the categorization of people into two main groups, the in and out groups. These theories give a more accepted explanation of prejudice. However, there are still short coming in these theories. For example the need for explanation as to why some people are resistant to the social conditions that should exert prejudice. Subsequently, the deduction is that explanations of prejudice need to consider both approaches to obtain the most informative and balanced conclusion.

Memorable Funny Quotes From Tommy Boy

Memorable Funny Quotes From Tommy Boy Tommy Boy has some knee-slapping funny scenes. One of the funniest scenes in the movie is when Tommy struggles to change his clothes in an airplane restroom. Here are some memorable quotes from Tommy Boy that are guaranteed to make you laugh. The humor may seem unoriginal to some, but Tommy Boy does make the viewer laugh with abandon. Savor the comedy in these memorable quotes from . Tommy I can get a good look at a T-bone by sticking my head up a bulls ass, but Id rather take a butchers word for it.[hugging a stranger] I passed. I wish wed known each other... this is a little awkward.God, youre gonna remember this for the rest of your life. Cant believe youve never been cow tipping before.[talking like a toddler] Him too fwaid to get out, hes just a wittle guy.Apparently they give a lot fewer D-pluses than D-minuses. Its not a grade they like to give out.Oh, man, thats cold! Im a maniac, maniac on the floor. And Im dancing like Ive never danced before...R.T., I lost my virginity to your daughter, for crying out loud. Richard Hayden Ugh, I can actually hear you getting fatter.This is like a bad Twilight Zone. I think Im growing a tumour. MichelleListen up, you little spazoids. I know where you live and Ive seen where you sleep. I swear to everything holy that your mothers will cry when they see what Ive done to you.PaulThese shoes are Italian. Theyre worth more than your life.Ray ZalinskyTed, send over a bottle of bubbly in a bucket of ice and a card. Have the card read, Tough luck, get drunk on me. Use the bucket to ice down your marbles, Yours, Z.Ted ReillyOh, real good. Real good. I had a kidney removed last April, but I still have the other one.Kid in BankOh, yeah right. It was some other real fat guy with a tiny head.

Returning to the Trenches 1914 by C.R.W. Nevinson Essay

Returning to the Trenches 1914 by C.R.W. Nevinson - Essay Example While in the process of recovering he made several paintings based on his wartime experience with the army in France. In his own words, he confirms to have seen the Great War as an event that was so tragic. Nevinson still made the argument that the only way to express violence, brutality and the crude form is to use the futuristic technique. This technique is used to express emotions that appear in battle fields in Europe. This is clearly seen through his painting called, Returning to the Trenches, which he painted concerning the Western Front. One of its critics, P.G. Konody on the 14th March 1915 noted that â€Å"returning to the trenches† is rather a different but interesting picture where he found an extreme formula for the rhythm of a marching body, which is of a French infantry man who is armed fully. Shown first during the Galleries exhibition in Leicester the year 1916, Returning to the Trenches was among Nevinson’s paintings of the Great War that are recognized immediately. The futurism language that the artist proclaimed prior to 1914 is clearly carried in the image of the column of marching French soldiers together with the recurring pattern of the soldier’s legs and the exaggeration and animation of their movements by the extended force lines.2 The use of such manner by Nevinson, however, becomes more powerful in the monochrome of etching by combining the experimental techniques used to express movement with a great emotive subject. This kind of combination is able to simultaneously suggest.

The Theme in Everyday Use Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Theme in Everyday Use - Essay Example But the author of this short story, Walker, appreciates that Africa-Americanism is a component of both African and American and denying the American perspective of one’s heritage amounts to disrespecting one’s ancestors. The theme in this short story is propagated with the return of Dee, the educated member of the family, together with her male companion to their home to meet her mother and Maggie, deeply rooted in the African culture. Walker uses characterization appropriately, upholds the African heritage and supports the argument that heritage is part of everyday human life. She therefore uses Mama, Maggie and Dee as the principal characters in propagating the main theme: in everyday life, there is harmony and conflict in Africa-American culture. In the beginning, Walker, the author and narrator, later to be identified as Mrs. Johnson or Mama narrates in first person how they were waiting in the yard with Maggie, her daughter. Whitsitt (447) symbolically views this a s a wait for their redemption from lack of education due to being enclosed in their rural surrounding for a long time, with the use of first person making the readers feel like they have to be with the narrator. She moves from describing the yard to talk of how Maggie would be nervous with her sister coming home because of her burn scars. She definitely feels inferior to Dee, her sister who had opportunities in life unlike Maggie. The narrator contrasts these sisters by describing Dee as a guest in a TV show, a sign of her glamour. The narrator describes her dream being congratulated in a TV show in which she appears with her daughter for raising a fine girl like her. This moves from a dream to reality where the narrator portrays this Mama with masculine attributes which sharply contrasts the glittering representation on the TV show hosted by Johnny Carson in a dress with a flower. ‘Everyday Use’ contrasts the lifestyle in urban and rural paradigms to propagate its main theme. Mama points out that the daughter does not appreciate her as what she would like to be – â€Å"a hundred pound lighter, skin like an uncooked barley pancake† and have a â€Å"witty tongue† (Walker 89). The plot indicates a switched perspective where Maggie came out asking how she looked in red blouse and pink skirt. It would be appreciated that all main characters change in the story which indicates the use of change by Walker to support her theme in the story. In spite of Maggie trying to make herself presentable, the narrator compares her to a lame animal, â€Å"perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car† (Walker 89). But she admits that she has a better figure and is lighter than Dee, reminding her of how she got saved from their burning house twelve years ago. Therefore, the plot of this short story gives a clear indication of the tension between the family and Dee because this elder daughter had acquired outside e ducation. This detaches her from the normal usefulness which revolved around the house and land and appreciates education more together with ethereal usefulness. She describes her daughter, Maggie as shy and rather unattractive with scarred soul. Lovingly, she admits that â€Å"like good looks and money, quickness passed her by† (Walker 73). In spite of her stumbling as she reads, Mama still considers her a sweet person whom she can sing with in church. Maggie is content with their traditions and honors her

Media and Objectivity Essay Example for Free

Media and Objectivity Essay Human rights activists should always be conscious that the media cannot afford to always be objective for fear of losing audience loyalty. Sensationalisation is a sure tool that the media uses as it seeks to make stories, news, features, and other production appear more appealing to audiences (Sloan Mackay, 2007). Media-produced information should thus always be subjected to careful scrutiny to establish its authenticity. Media people also have personal feelings that arouse various emotions in them with regard to various news stories and other productions. Further, unscrupulous media practitioners may allow the greed for personal gain to cloud their objectivity, thus accepting financial rewards in return for distorting information to make its appeal to audiences. It is thus very likely that many media personalities are overcome by subjectivity as they execute their duties. In turn, media information is subject to subjectivity, thus customizing objectivity. It is thus possible that, with regard to the media, objectivity is usually greatly compromised, thus rendering media information unreliable or completely erroneous. Human rights activists should thus employ caution when handling and acting upon media derived information in order to avoid being ensnared into the subjectivity that usually characterizes media-derived information. Reference Sloan, W. D. ; Mackay, J. B. (2007). Media bias: Finding it, fixing it. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.

The War :: essays research papers

The Persian Gulf War all started because of one country’s greed for oil. Iraq accused Kuwait of pumping oil and not sharing the benefits, and Kuwait was pumping more oil than allowed under quotas set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it decreased the price of oil, Iraq's main export. Iraq's complaints against Kuwait grew more and more harsh, but they were mostly about money. When Iraqi forces began to assemble near the Kuwaiti border in the summer of 1990, several Arab states tried to intervene the dispute. Kuwait did not want to look weak so they did not ask for any help from the United States or other non-Arab powers for support. Arab mediators convinced Iraq and Kuwait to negotiate their differences in Saudi Arabia, on August 1, 1990, but that meeting resulted only in charges and countercharges. A second meeting was planned to take place in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, but Iraq invaded Kuwait the next day, leading some people to think that Iraqi presiden t Saddam Hussein had planned the invasion all along.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Iraqi attack began shortly after midnight on August 2. About 150,000 Iraqi troops, many of them veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, easily overwhelmed the unprepared and inexperienced Kuwaiti forces, which numbered about 20,000. By dawn, Iraq had assumed control of Kuwait City, the capital, and was soon in complete control of the country. The United Nation Security Council and the Arab League immediately condemned the Iraqi invasion. Four days later, the Security Council forced an economic restriction on Iraq that forbidden nearly all trades with Iraq. Any armed attempt to roll back the Iraqi invasion depended on Saudi Arabia, which shares a border with Iraq and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia did not have the power to fight Iraq alone .So Saudi rulers did eventually open the country to foreign forces, in mainly because they were worried by Iraq's aggressive negotiations also U.S. intelligence reports claimed that Iraqi forces were well positioned for a strike against Saudi A rabia. Beginning a week after the Iraqi take over of Kuwait and continuing for several months, a large international force called the â€Å"international coalition† gathered in Saudi Arabia. The United States sent more than 400,000 troops, and more than 200,000 additional troops came from Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, France, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, Senegal, Niger, Morocco, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain.

Response to Journeys End Essay

In the novel Stanhope has the most physical status, not just because of his rank but also because people look up to him. Stanhope may rank the social hierarchy level amongst his fellow comrades but inside he is emotionally distraught, he does not show this and somehow stays head strong, on the other hand there is Hilbert who is tired and has lost all hope and hates the war and then decides he would like to pull out claiming that he has neuralgia but he is just trying to find ways to get home. To create a dugout like entrance we set up a few plinths on top of each other and the lined chairs up behind it creating a walkway which was on the width of our shoulders, this helped us to show great emphasis in our gestus as we clambered in and out of the trench. Workshop Two – Lighting/ Staging Our stage set was very minimalistic so that we could re-create what it would be like to be in a trench, to help us adapt and realise this we set up chairs as a border and them established a rule stating that venturing outside the border was ‘forbidden’. For our play we had only a few lights on stage, we did this to try and achieve the same amount of minimal lighting just as it would be in the trench. In one of our lesson we even used live candles to help build the low lit and damp surrounding of a trench and we also cramped all of the furniture together to make ourselves adjust to such a small so space just as the soldiers would have had to in journeys end. Workshop Three – Crosscutting In our third work shop we focused on the dramatic explorative strategy of cross-cutting, first we assembled ourselves into groups with sizes of 2-4 people and then we had to take a scene from the book and re-enact it using the dramatic strategy of cross-cutting. My group chose the scene where Riley dies from a battle wound. To add the element of cross cutting we showed a small part of the scene where riley dies and then we had 2 other scenes which showed his arrival to the regiment, and an argument with Stanhope. The final scene which was a vital part to our short performance included an extended, and more detailed version of riley’s death. The way that we used cross cutting helped us to raise tension in the audience and also made the audience assume a conclusion to our piece or build assumptions on what it was about, but the catch of cross cutting is that no matter what the audience may think the actors always have the ability to twist the last scene and maybe even end the performance on a cliff-hanger. Workshop Four- Hot seating In our fourth workshop we used the D.E.S ‘Hot seating’ so that we could have a better understanding and wider knowledge of the characters in journeys end, the vital part of hot seating is that you do not just pretend to be your chosen character but to put yourself in the characters shoes and wield the characters personality, habits and lifestyle. In the work shop we split ourselves into groups of four and then took on characters in the book that we did not know a lot of information about so that we could gain a greater insight into what that character is like. After that we asked our characters questions in which they would have to answer just as their character would as if they were in the same setting as in the book, this gave the other members of the group a chance to note down information on what the character’s personality is like and what their thoughts are in the book. After we had hot seated each member on their chosen character we reformed with the rest of the class and did the same thing. I think that reforming the class and having a bigger audience was a very clever idea as it widened the variety of questions that could be asked about the character and also gave us a larger insight into the characters lives in the book. I feel this workshop went very well because it benefited all in the room and we all shared and therefore gained information on the personalities of the characters. Workshop Five – Forum Theatre/Still image/ Thought Tracking For our fifth workshop we used the D.E.S ‘forum theatre’, by using this strategy it enabled us to receive feedback from the audience live on how we could better our performance. Once we had received this feed back we put it into practise straight away. Our teacher also created a stage set using chairs which enclosed around the actors all around apart from the back of the stage this made us feel very exposed due to the claustrophobic effect of the stage. Our task was to perform a small part of the book so that we could receive feedback on how to better our performance, as each group performed their piece our teacher changed the positioning of the stage set too create a different effect on the actors. As we received feedback our peers changed the theme of our piece at one point from a sad and solemn piece to a comedic and vibrant one. Due to the sudden change in the theme it enabled us to improvise our lines and tint the tone and accent of our voices so that it would match with the theme. Another advantage of the change in them is that we all changed our levels and status when the comedic twist was incorporated. Overall I think forum theatre is a great, successful technique. It enhances your performance because you receive ideas and use them to improve your performance. Workshop Six – Still image/ Thought Tracking We used thought tracking because it helped us fully explain the particular theme of whatever still image we were trying to express, it also helps because there is a lot of unnoticed emotional tension within the atmosphere. By using this technique we gave our characters a chance to expresses themselves in a way that they are too afraid to in front of their fellow comrades. Emily Davison: Protests Workshop One – Narration This workshop was focused on Emily Davison who was a famous suffragette, who gave her life to stand up for women’s rights. In our workshop we worked together as a whole class so that we could introduce many different characters that held different views on the thoughts and actions of Emily Davison. Our teacher gave us some information on the history of Emily Davison and her struggle for equal rights amongst the women and men of Britain. We were then to act out a small scene by improvising with the information that we had received, sir picked two people to start the scene and gradually assigned people to join them but first he gave each person a role. As we were all eventually in the scene he started to narrate and tell us what we were to do by telling a story, this helped give us an understanding of each character which helped us to produce the scene with ease although we had no formal script. Next we were all split into two groups and then we had to act out a key event in Emily Davison’s life with my group which consisted of four others. Our group had decided to recreate the time when Emily Davison was sent to prison for the second time and was almost drowned in her cell, one member of our group became the narrator and the rest of us acted out the scene but we also included still images and thought tracking to equally express the emotions flowing through the character at the time. Workshop Two – Devised Piece/ Role-play In the second workshop we had to devise a piece using the information we had received on Emily Davison’s history. We were split into groups of four and then we had to plan on what we intended to do, we decided on having 4 scenes in our performance which explained a mass sum of Emily Davison’s life in a short amount of time I think that as a group we acted smartly as to only include vital events in her life as it was paramount to the last scene which was very tense; 1. The school classroom that Emily taught in. This included a monologue where a member of our group played as Emily who was talking about her aspirations for the future. 2. A demonstration march to campaign for women’s rights. This is after she gains followers who believe in equal rights for women as she does. 3. The prison where Emily was horribly mistreated in. This scene shows the pure brutality of the struggle that Emily Davison went through. 4. The race track where she died through an act of marty rdom. This scene shows how far Emily Davison went to stand up for what she believed in and unfortunately she paid the ultimate price for it. All of these scenes we included the vital key parts that were needed to help the audience to understand the life, death & history of Emily Davison. To develop our piece we used dramatic explorative strategies like chorus were we all joined in when shouting at another member of our group during the performance this helps to express the characters emotions or the theme of that particular moment in the play. At one point we also used thought tracking so that we could express the characters inner feelings i.e. when Natalia (Emily) is arrested by the police and taken to court she uses the thought track as an opportunity to make the audience aware of her emotion at the time. By developing our own piece based on the history of Emily Davison it allowed us to build our own perspective of her personality and the many troubles that she faced throughout her life. Workshop Three – The Race Track – Contrast In this workshop we had to explore the aspects of each characters physical/emotional level by using contrast, our teacher also gave us some rope as a stimulus and we were asked to incorporate it into our piece. As a class we decided to use the rope as a way to split the characters in a social aspect i.e. on one side of the rope we had the women and on the other we had the men. To show mass contrast within the group of women we had Emily Davison and two of her fellow campaigners placed away from the large group of housewives. Over on the boys’ side most of the men who were betting on the race standings were focusing on a member of our group who used physical theatre to interpret that she was a horse by using a mask and using incorporating the element of gestus and physical theatre. The rope is a very strong stimulus because its shows highlights the ability and how easy it is to divide relationships, emotions and even society, this was strongly shown in our performance when Emily ran in front of the horse and both sides stopped in awe and then in chorus whispered ‘the woman†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.the horse’ eventually this whispers grew into shouts and then everyone rushed over to tend to the horses needs. This particular moment shows how in those times society was a lot different and women were seen as second class citizen. Although Emily Davison wanted equality for all women, not all women agreed with her and some were very comfortable with their life at the time we showed this in our performance by having a member of our group who played the role of a housewife do a thought track which expressed her hate for what Emily Davison was doing. I think that the rope as a stimulus helped us greatly to bring across our point society’s clear line between how women and men were respected and seen at the time. The rope also represented how divide society’s thoughts were at the time and that only material things such as horse racing we greatly prioritised over the life of a woman who stood up for what she believed in. Rosa Parks: Ride to Freedom Workshop One – Bus Boycott – Marking the moment/ Still Image/ Thought Tracking In this workshop we watched a short part of the film ‘Ride to Freedom’ its about the moment when Rosa Parks was arrested for standing up against being prejudiced for refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white person. Our class was split into half and then we worked in groups to recreate the scene that we had watched. Although we had ample opportunities to use many elements of D.E.S we went too far and tried to cram too many things in our performance. Unfortunately the fact that we had so many D.E.S strategies conflicted with the fact that we all had to remember our cues, due to lack of organisation our performance was very slow and robot-like because everyone was trying to do too much that even when improvisation was attempted it greatly lacked in co-ordination which also led to the mass confusion within our minds when on stage. There were some good moments in our performance i.e. we used split staging well when I left the scene to get the police officer and everyone on the bus was still carrying on trying to get Rosa off the bus, but other wise I was not very happy with the way our performance went and I have also learnt a lesson and that is not to over complicate things. Workshop Two – Devised piece/ Chorus/ Levels / Signs In this workshop we worked in groups of fours and were given a poem to use as a stimulus, the poem was made by a famous author called Maya Angelou. We incorporated the theme of the Rosa parks story with our stimulus and created a short performance. First we read the poem and decided as a group to only use lines than empowered the mental status of our characters as it would help us greatly in our use of physical levels we also had many elements of D.E.S Within our performance we decided to use chorus so that we could help the audience realise the passion that our characters had for what they believe in, as a group we had also decided to do our best to maintain a simple bold and stern voice when saying our lines so that we increased the depth of anger that we were portraying to the audience. At the end of the performance we all stood at different levels on plinths which gave the impression that we were physically and emotionally rising higher and higher by the end of the play all of us were standing at attention showing great power through the since of our bodies. Through the positive feedback we received from the audience we could tell that the way in which we had used DES was very successful and that it was a great help to us as many of the audiences feedback pointed out to us whilst being briefed about our performance. I think that by us using a stimulus it helped us to build a story around it in a way that we felt comfortable and therefore I feel that is why this was success. Workshop Three – Physical Levels/ For this workshop our class was split into two and were given a stage to use as a stimulus as we continued to explore our ideas on the theme of Rosa Parks, our teacher also gave us a set of plinths that were all on different levels, he also said that we were only allowed to stand on the plinths throughout the whole performance limiting our movement on stage. Our main objective was to create a piece that used all the themes and aspects from our other two workshops on Rosa parks. Before we started to build our story we assigned characters according to our own strengths so that we would be able to achieve the best we could when it came to developing lines that our character would say. To gain the most out of our performance and to use as many useful D.E.S and different drama techniques so that we could enhance the quality of our performance. Our group decided to use thought tracking and still image to play out the scene of when Rosa Parks challenged the bus driver and was arrested and as our space on stage was limited we had decided to use thought tracking and split staging to make our performance effective. All the characters voiced their opinion on Rosa parks refusal to move out of her seat and then one member of our group narrated a scene so that we could add the element of split staging to performance. When we had received feed back from our peers they had greatly expressed their positive views on our use of staging and that having a narrator helped to tell what was going on due to there being a lack of conversation within our performance between our characters. I feel that due to the great organisation of our group and selected role assignment that we were able to pull off the performance well. Pitmen Painters Plot The Pitmen Painters was a spectacular historical/ cultural play about a group of miners in the 1930’s that lived in Ashington which is a small town by the cost in Newcastle, it is about 5 men and an unemployed teenager who through art classes explore their own hidden talents using their emotions to express themselves through painting. Through the play they also develop mentally as people and eventually start thinking g a lot more positively and see the world as a place full of opportunity. Sub – Plot Out of the whole group of miners Oliver Kilbourn is the main character as he is quick to become a pawn to the appreciation of real art. His talent in painting and interest also increases due to their raise in public awareness and eventually he meets a rich collector called Helen Sutherland who is a dear fan of his work, they grow to become good friends but hit a bombshell when Mrs Sutherland ask Oliver to come out of his life-long job of being a miner down in the pits to becoming an artist and working when he wants. Angered by the arrogance that Mrs Sunderland is posing although she is unaware of it at the time he declines the offer and loses his temper, but then apologises at a later date and then sets up a union for the miners to help better not just his future but his new found friends and the rest of the pitmen in Ashington. Staging The stage that we watched the performance on was simplistic and very small compared to the size of others that I have seen at other performances. The scene had only two entrances and exits through which the actors walked through they were placed at the back of the centre stage and on the stage left. Although there was a great shortage of space all of the actors did use the stage appropriately and to their advantage i.e. during a scene where they are all assessing each others art work the way that the chairs are positioned and the strict border lines that the actors stuck to when moving clearly suggested the length and width of the room. Lighting I feel that the lighting used in the performance was excellent because it did not just have the house lights on to show where the actors were, they also had spotlights of many colours which were used in certain scenes which helped set a range of different atmospheres on stage and in the audience. For instance during the scene where all of the miners go to see an exhibition on traditional Chinese art a white spotlight immediately shone on the faces of the whole group, and then they all froze and listened to Oliver’s monologue which described the piece of art in a very intense way this also empowered the audience to feel the same passion for the piece as the character did on stage. An overhead projector was also used throughout the play to show the audience the name of the each scene before it started. It was mostly used though to show the pieces of art that the pitmen had drawn, this was very smart because due to the size of the paintings the audience were unable to see the art , but this small setback was obviously countered by the stage crew with the use of a projector. Costuming Throughout the play most of the characters show a very clear line of division that suggest the difference of wealth between them all for instance the Leader of the mine George brown always attendee the art appreciation group in a nice suit and decent polished shoes with his hair slicked back, this tells me that although he works down in the mines he either is very wealthy or is a man with great pride who likes to look good. Professor Robert Lyon who comes down to run the art group in Ashington wears a variety of suits throughout the performance suggesting that he is wealthy and has a golden pocket watch on display at all times. Now although these two characters dress very well you can clearly notice the difference between them due to the way that they speak and how their body language is. Sound/Voice The performance did not have a lot of sound effects due to the fat that they purely didn’t need them and that due to the constant conversation that happened throughout the play it wasn’t appreciated, but neither was it missed. The characters voices included many different ranges of pitch and expression such as Helen Sutherland who is a rich middle aged art collector who is very wealthy; she speaks with a very sharp, squeaky but strong english accent which suggests that she was taught at a school and wealthy enough to afford an education. Oliver Kilbourn who is another pitman from the Ashington art group speaks with a heavy northern English accent and also spits his words and mumbles them a lot of the time, this infers to me that he may not be from a good background where the pronunciation of English is paramount in life and education. Just from the way that all of the characters speak I am able to build my own personality file on every one of them and develop my own ide as on what their characters are like.