BEHIND THE SCENES
In the aftermath of the untimely death of Princess Diana a timeworn issue re-plays itself like a tired re-run of “The Honeymooners.'; Does the media go too far? Maybe. But like any other commodity, supply and demand go hand and glove. Whether a high profile celebrity or an every-day Joe, we sit glued to our chairs as the nightly news somberly announces society’s latest barbarity. We eagerly snatch up the tabloids as these mudslingers breathlessly divulge their version of the most recent Hollywood gossip. The fact is that America has become obsessed with the goings on in other people’s lives. Greedy consumers of the First Amendment, we march defiantly under the banner of our “right to know';, but do we have just cause? Differences and difficulties in interpretation have characterized much of the later history of the First Amendment and historians continue to debate what the nation’s founders meant to include when they wrote that there shall be “no law'; abridging the freedom of speech or press. Today the U. S. Supreme Court blindly inches its way across the tightrope of censorship. Laws prohibiting obscenity and indecency have been successfully incorporated and public sentiment has historically served to curtail the over-zealous journalist. However the moral fiber of society has degenerated from its once prim and proper past, and the press now vulgarly oversteps the boundaries of decency with little retribution. In the words of Chief Justice Warren Burger, “The First Amendment should not be interpreted to include the protection of frivolous gossip that “lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value'; (Grolier Encyclopedia 1996, Miller v. California). The People’s “right to know'; does not justify the growing abuse of our right to Freedom of the Press. The negative effect upon today’s society is only beginning. Tabloids not only thrive on; they encourage the invasion of privacy. In an era defined by celebrity worship, Americans have become increasingly tolerant of what is acceptable concerning media coverage of celebrities’ private lives. It is unfortunate that Princess Diana died for a blurry picture, a pointless snap from a speeding motorcycle. Dodging tabloid photographers she was simply trying to preserve some privacy by holding back the media intrusion. In the sixteen years since her marriage, she became not only the most famous woman in the world, but the only personality who consistently sold big in the global marketplace (Alter, Dying 39).
How would mankind communicate to each other without names? Names are what describe people in terms of personality, traits, and association. That’s why names are immensely important and thus, used in films such as Bound, in order to create a deeper meaning in a character’s actions and personality. The film Bound is written and directed by The Wachowskis. The film is about two lesbians: ex-convict Corky, and lesbian prostitute Violet who is in a relationship with mob money-launderer Caesar but decides to escape from Caesar after meeting Corky for she fell in love with her the moment she sow her in the elevator. So Violet wants to leave Caesar for Corky, but that’s not all. She and Corky come up with a strategy to steal two million dollars from the mob and blame it on Caesar. "Your name defines you," says Gregg Steiner, a Los Angeles talent manager (Parenting). In the film Bound, characters’ names have a lot of significance in which some have more connotations than others. Each character’s name holds symbolic meaning to the character’s role in the film and this is very apparent among Corky, Violet, and Caesar as well as the supporting casts: Gino and Johnny Marzzone.
Susan Jacoby, in her essay entitled “A First Amendment Junkie,” attacks those who believe that the first amendment should not be cause for the continuation of public obscenity. Jacoby, adamant defender of the first amendment, questions those who wish for the freedom of expression to be denied in the case of pornography, yet seem complacent about the racism and sexism that comes from freedom of speech as well. Additionally, Jacoby argues that it is too difficult to distinguish pornography from beauty and art from obscenity. One person may see David as a wonder to behold, and yet another may look at it as degrading towards men. Jacoby believes that rather than censorship-supporters controlling what their family watches, they want the government
In the story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” by Susan Glaspell, we see how women are subjugated to stereotypical gender roles, where men are superior over women. The two main characters, Mrs. Peters and Martha Hale arrive at the Wright residence, with the men to investigate the crime scene. Minnie Foster-Wright has been arrested for allegedly strangling her husband with a rope. Mr. Hale (Martha’s husband), is a witness, who found Minnie sitting in a rocker and her husband dead upstairs. The attorney general, Mr. Henderson asks Mr. Hale and the sheriff, Mr. Peters to help him investigate the crime and explain what he had seen that day. As the men go upstairs and into the barn to investigate, Martha and Mrs. Peters are left in the kitchen to gather
Edmund Morgan begins American Slavery, American Freedom the Ordeal of Colonial Virginia with a paradox. He presents his readers with the passionate rhetoric of men like Thomas Jefferson: belief in liberty and abhorrance for slavery and reminds us that he, and others like him, were slaveholders. Morgan asserts that the rise in such beliefs accompanied and in fact were dependent upon slavery. He claims that this contradiction is "American" and it is important, as Americans, that we understand its origins and development (5).
The court first found that Johnson's actions were protected under the free speech clause under the First Amendment. The court also found that since the action was not violent in nature and did not create a disturbance that it was not criminally sanctioned flag desecration. The case then went the U.S. Supreme Court to be argued on March 21, 1989.
the battle as a haze. The music then begins to go quieter and at this
In a world in which acts of heinous violence, murder or crude and shocking behavior seem to be a normal occurrence, it may lead one to wonder what has put society onto this slippery slope. How did this type of behavior come to be so acceptable and in some cases glorifiable? A careful study of society may lead to multi media as being the main cause in this changing of ideals. The modern world has become desensitized to the acts shown on television, movies, video games or printed in newspapers and magazines. Censorship must be employed if morals and decency are to be preserved.
...on would turn the information super highway into a children's reading room" (Internet Society). A children's reading room is exactly where a child should be. If they are not and such controversial material is made available, then something besides the information is at blame. As Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, stated so succinctly, "too man parents are looking to the so-called village to care for their children instead of meeting this precious responsibility themselves" (Diamond). This statement is a wake up call to those who are blaming media for humanity's discontent. It is blatantly obvious that we are responsible for our actions as individuals in the legal structure that surrounds our culture. It needs to become equally obvious that we are responsible as parents and as a community for the growth and development of the next generation.
In her essay “Let’s Put Pornography Back in the Closet,” Susan Brownmiller, a prominent feminist activist, argues that pornography should not be protected under the First Amendment (59). Her position is based on the belief that pornography is degrading and abusive towards women (Brownmiller 59). She introduces the reader to the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, and explains how it relates to her beliefs on censoring pornographic material (Brownmiller 58). In addition, she provides examples of First Amendment controversies such as Miller v. California and James Joyce’s Ulysses to explain how the law created a system to define pornographic material (Brownmiller 58). She described the system that used a three-part test as confusing (Brownmiller 58). Regardless of whether or not the First Amendment was intended to protect obscenities, she and many others believe that the legislatures should have the final say in the decision of creating and publishing pornography (Brownmiller 60).
In the United States, racial relations have changed drastically over a relatively short time period. In Racial Formation in the United States From the 1960s to the 1990s, authors Michael Omi and Howard Winant present several viewpoints on evolving and differing racial theories while presenting their own findings and theories that have resulted from years of study and observation. They believe the present and past theories on race and racial definitions throughout history, individually, are severely inaccurate when applied to modern day and “[fail] to capture the centrality of race in American politics and American life” (p. 2). They argue that race is much more complex than how it has been presented and offer up their own theories in order to rectify previously believed notions of race.
From the birth of our nation to the present day, there have been numerous laws passed to help make this country for people of all races no matter what. Even the constitution, the very document that has guided us to build a great country that expects us all to live together with freedom and peace. With all these laws in place and copious amendments to the law of the land we still live in a world where racial relations are predominant issue. Why is this so? To better understand the present situation we find ourselves in society we must first go back and see where we came from that had led us to get here. When we first became a sovereign country free from British control there were three major ethnic and racial groups. These groups included Caucasians, Native Americans and later African Americans. These groups were the ones around the time when the constitution was written as well. Even though these were the three major races, the white rich men wanted a set of laws that they saw the fit during that time. African Americans were only seen as objects and property to these rich people they were at a very huge disadvantage from the start in receiving equal rights. In the Dred Scott Case of 1875, the U.S Supreme court addressed the question “Are Slaves citizens?” The court went on to write the following statement “We think they
Nowadays, the media uses bias, distortion, and censorship as a way to manipulate public opinion. Censorship alone is becoming a huge issue due to technological advances. What would have been censored ten years ago, may not be censored today and if it were still censored there would be a way to find it on the internet. In a blog post by University of Central Florida student Diara Cornish titled Media Censorship, Now and Then discusses censorship within media and the effect that media has on children of this technological era. As time goes on censorship along with media has evolved, however; we still come across issues with what should be censored and what should not be. In the source titled “The War Photo No One Would Publish”, by Tori Rose DeGhett we come to understand that censorship guidelines may actually be hiding valuable information from the public. Censorship came about as a way to shield those who are vulnerable from something that may cause them trauma, but this in turn only dulls and hinders the development of an emotional understanding. Guidelines
On February 1, 2004, millions of Americans sat down around their television sets with their family and friends to watch the biggest sports event of the year: Super Bowl XXXVIII. Inside the Reliant Stadium of Houston, Texas, the New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in one of the closest games in recent history; but this year it wasn’t the football game or even the commercials that had people talking. It was an incident that occurred during the halftime show that involved pop singers Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake that ended in millions of Americans having the privilege to see the left breast of Janet Jackson for a few moments. This single issue may not have been a huge ordeal in itself, but it brought to surface some very pertinent questions about how far was too far in the media, what the government should do to control it, and what effects sex and violence in the media were having on American culture.
From 1776 to 1969, it was illegal to desecrate the flag in any way. Halter v. Nebraska was the case that brought the first U.S. court ruling against flag desecration in 1907. 61 years later, Congress responds to a Central Park protest against the war in Vietnam where a flag was being burned by passing a Federal Flag Desecration Law. The law states “ Whoever knowingly mutilates, defaces,
The Matrix is a sci-fi action film about a computer hacker named Neo that has been brought into another world deemed “the matrix.” The Matrix is a prime example of cinematography. The film uses many different types of cinematography such as mise-en-scene, special effects, and camera shots to make it interesting and entertaining to the audience guiding their attention to the important aspects of the film.