Firstly, I try to reconstruct the poem’s “world”. Apparently, the poem’s point of view is very significant to be discussed. From the title it clearly suggests that the poem’s voice is a well-mannered woman. As expected from a woman, her utterances are unstable. It is revealed in the first line and second line. Her utterances: “Yes!” and “No!” are considered paradoxical. Actually, this indicates many things, it probably not about woman’s instability. To know the mind state, I go further to the second stanza. To conclude, I believe the first stanza is about retelling her actions “last night” and “this morning”. The word “jest” in the second stanza is other keyword to be considered. Jest meant:

jest [jest]

noun (plural jests)

1. playful joke: something done or said in a playful joking manner (literary)
2. 2.       something joked about: an object of scorn or derision (archaic)

[13th century. Via Old French geste “romantic exploit” < Latin gestus < gerere “behave, perform”]

The two meanings here have the core meaning of “joke”. Interestingly, the second meaning has the same expressing word as the sixteenth line “scorn”. Because of this proximity fact, it is more appropriate to interpret “jest” as the second “dictionary meaning”. So, it is not about woman’s instability but rather about “the unwillingness of a woman to answer a man’s question”. Thus, the poem’s “world” is the woman’s thought after responding to the man’s question.

Secondly, the tone of the poem is to be considered next. Laurence Perrine in his journal “The Importance of Tone in the Interpretation of Literature” emphasizes the importance of tone in interpretation as the first step to determine the meaning[3]. In this poem, I already know that the speaker is a woman. What to know next is her attitude of expressing her feeling. From the poem’s form, her tone can be guessed from the italic words. Italic is used to give emphasis in text. In the poem’s context, it means that the woman gives emphasizes in those italic words. There are four parts in which the woman expresses her strong feeling. In the “Love me sounded like a jest,”, the words “sounded like” give clear idea of a hesitation. The italic, thus, shows the tone of hesitation. Whereas the italic words in the following line suggest a voice tone when we shout two choices to our interlocutor. It is like: “What do you think? Yes or No!”. The third italic word in “Scorn of me recoils on you!” is indicated as cursing sentence. The italic word “you!” describes as if she is pointing to the man whom she cursed, the man who scorned her. Via distinctive formatting like this italic, it can be assumed that the woman is upset. The last italic word in “And her Yes, once said to you,” indicates her firm belief. Her current state of mind is now clear; she is a polite dignified woman who is disturbed by a man’s attitude. It is presumably because the man wants her to be his spouse.

Although the state of mind is clearly defined, it is not known yet whether the man is the one to blame or not. The woman’s further response is also still vague. If so, by paraphrasing the poem using the dictionary I shall get the story based on the woman’s point of view.

The Polite Dignified Woman’s Acceptance

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Stanza 1:

“[I] accept [it]!” I answer you last night;

“[I] refuse [it]!” this morning, Sir, I say!

Somebody’s real self, seen by way something is viewed,

Will not look unchanged by indefinite period or point in time.

Analysis of stanza 1:

The first stanza retell the woman’s unstable answers. The man asked her something important, revealed at the previous paragraph that the man wants the woman to be his spouse. The woman gives her reason why she changed her answer in line 3 and 4.

Stanza 2:

When the tabors played their highest standard,

The source of enlightenment [is located] in more respected position than, something funny or enjoyable [that is located] in lower grade–

Love me seemed like something joked about,

Appropriate for Acceptance or appropriate for Refusal!

Analysis of stanza 2:

Tabor is a small drum played with one hand while the other hand plays a pipe. Tabors were used especially in the Middle Ages[4]. The word first appearance was in the 13th century, derived from Old French word tabour. It looks like this word is used as a filler for explaining other important keywords. First and second line of this stanza explain about the essence of good manner which always lies in a higher respected position than bad manner. She reckons something funny or enjoyable as as a bad manner. I think the one she mentions here is not like comedy or entertainment but humiliating manner. The man proposed her in such an unconvincing way that she considered it as a joke. Because she considers it as a joke, she takes it lightly whether she wants to say yes or no at the moment.

Stanza 3:

Call me not genuine, or call me not affected by particular thing–

Pledge something, whatever that way something is viewed may direct light of something,

No man on your unpleasant facial expression shall realize something by seeing

Any intense sorrow for making or becoming different on mine (my choice).

Analysis of stanza 3:

The following stanza is the effect of taking the man’s proposal lightly. The woman’s final response is to refuse the man’s proposal so that the man’s feeling must be hurt. However, the woman tells him not to reveal his sorrow towards the other men.

Stanza 4:

Yet the shameful offense is on us both–

Suitable moment to dance is not to seek woman’s love–

The seeker of woman’s love immoral[-ity] makes changeable solemn pledge–

Object of contempt of [which is] me feel horror on you!

Analysis of stanza 4:

She believes that it is not only the man’s fault. She bears some regret in playing a joke by saying “Yet the sin is on us both–”. Nevertheless, she makes a justification which positions the man in a stronger “who-to-blame” person (line 2 and 3 of fourth stanza). At the last line in this stanza, she cursed the man that all of his actions (the consideration that should bear) are soon return to himself.

Stanza 5:

Find out [how] to earn love of somebody [that is] a polite dignified woman’s belief or trust

[by] having excellent moral character, as the something that can be possessed is very favorable;

[by] having or showing courage, as for life and death—

With a faithful seriousness

Analysis of stanza 5:

There is a change of the poem’s way of telling in this stanza. If Stanza 1 until 4 retells her story regarding the woman’s refusal to a man’s proposal, stanza 5 until 7 tells about the woman’s advice to men. It is about how to treat a lady and win her. It is indicated by the usage of the word “you” that is now refer to the reader, not the man anymore. Especially for stanza 5 and 6, the way of telling is also in form of procedure steps. The woman suggests that every man should earn woman’s trust in order to win her love. The trust can be earned by having excellent moral character and courage of life and death with a faithful seriousness.

Stanza 6:

Guide her from the cheerful theatrical stage,

Direct her to the skies with many stars shining,

Protect her, by your honest promises,

Clear from prelude to marriage excessive or insincere compliments.

Analysis of stanza 6:

This is the continuation of the previous stanza. It still tells about how to win a woman’s trust.

Stanza 7:

By your honesty she shall be genuine—

Always be genuine, as the wives in the far distant past –

And her Acceptance, once said to you,

Shall be Acceptance for from now until the end of time or the end of somebody’s life.

Analysis of stanza 7:

The last stanza is the conclusion of Stanza 1-4 and Stanza 5-6. For stanza 1-4, the last stanza informs hints that should be afforded by the man to make the woman accept his proposal. For stanza 5 and 6, the last stanza is to reveal the benefit of the woman’s advice. Thus, the word “you” here has double meaning; refers to (1)the man who proposed her to be her spouse and (2)everyman who reads her advice. The intersting thing is when she compares women’s genuineness to the wives in the far distant past. It gives a strong proposition that the present women in her “world” is not as easy to convince as the women in that far distant past.

By looking at the above elaborations, the poem at least has two layers of meaning. The first meaning is the story of a lady who refused a man’s proposal. The second meaning is the advices of a woman towards hopeless men about how to win their love. The notable notion when deriving the “dictionary meaning” is that the most proximate meaning derived from literal, dated, and/or archaic meanings. This, I believe, the poet’s effort to characterize the lady as a noblewoman.

References:

Brooks, C. 1979. “The New Criticism.” The Sewanee Review, Vol. 87, No. 4 (Fall, 1979),

pp. 592-607. The Johns Hopkins University Press.    http://www.jstor.org/stable/27543619?origin=JSTOR-pdf

Lanchashire, I. 2009. “RPO – Elizabeth Barrett Browning: The Lady’s Yes”. Representative         Poetry Online. Toronto: Department of English, University of Toronto.       http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/246.html/

Perrine, L. 1963. The Importance of Tone in the Interpretation of Literature. College English,       Vol. 24, No. 5             (Feb., 1963), pp. 389-395. National Council of Teachers of English.             http://www.jstor.org/stable/373555/

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

             A literary work is a reflection of the real world. Unlike scientific writings, the narratives can extend to the subjective matters. If scientific writings depend to the scientific researches and results, literary writings can be made just from the experience and imaginations of the authors. While scientific writings try to explain the natural phenomena, literary writings try to portray them. That is why literary works contents are not only the description but also the sense. Scientific writings are beneficial to explain the physical characteristics of a natural phenomenon. However, if we want to understand how it feels like, we might as well read literary works and experience it ourselves.

Authors have competence to transfer the real world to their literary “world”. Especially in poetry, where the medium is very compact, the authors will use poetic devices to help them create the desired effects for the readers. We will not get these “effects” when we read scientific writings because they focus on how to develop knowledge to overcome human problems efficiently. Meanwhile, reading literary works can give supplements to the reader to extend the references concerning the “sense and feelings”.

Blizzard is a poetry written by William Carlos Williams with natural disaster as its theme. The title clearly summarizes the content. In short, the poetry is about the condition after blizzard and how the society overcomes it. According to Riffaterre (1980) about three types of intertextuality, the relation between the poem, the scientific writings about blizzard, and the real blizzard on real life, can be categorized as the mediated type, where the poem functioning as the interpretant between the scientific writings (as the sign) and the real happening (as the object).  In this paper I would like to explain the benefit of using Blizzard as a supplement to make the scientific writings more apparent to the readers.

Basically Blizzard is a mimesis of the natural disaster with the same name. Because of that, the poem theme is a hypogram of both the scientific writings and real life. According to the official website of USA Search and Rescue Task Force, http://www.ussartf.org/blizzards.html,

Blizzards are severe winter storms that pack a combination of blowing snow and wind resulting in very low visibilities.

Blizzard is one of winter precipitations. It is the most dangerous kind of falling snows. It winds over 35 mph with snow and blowing snow reducing visibility to near zero. The statistic shows potential death risk when facing blizzards, with the most notable death is likely to occur over 75% of males related to exposure to cold. So as William Carlos Williams expressed in his poem

Snow:

years of anger following

hours that float idly down –

the blizzard

He describes this phenomenon and added his comment there. As we can see, the adjective “anger” tells more than just a physical description of blizzard. By using personification, he brings the interpretation of blizzard more animated than its scientific explanation. The excerpt above explains the process of blizzard-making. He portray blizzard as a cummulative feeling of anger that exploded to the earth. The adverb “idly” describes the weariness of the snow falling down the earth. Knowing his experience, I get new insight of viewing blizzard as not only a natural disaster but also the nature’s way to express its weariness of earth. The personification of anger is a comment of blizzard’s fast speed.

drifts its weight

deeper and deeper for three days

or sixty years, eh? Then

The excerpt above portrays the condition during the disaster. The snow is piled up so that it will make depth on road. He exaggerates the weight as if the blizzard is happening since sixty years ago. While in fact, he states that it is coming since three years ago. In the real life, if we encounter blizzard, we cannot do anything. We must stay at home for our safety. Moreover, the government oblige us listen to weather radio for blizzard warning. The citizens must seek refuge immediately when encounter one. I imagine that the poet must be bored with his routines. Time flies slowly when someone is bored. So, he probably wants the readers to know his feeling by presenting the hyperbole.

or sixty years, eh? Then

the sun! a clutter of yellow and blue flakes –

Hairy looking trees stand out

in long alleys

over a wild solitude.

When there is a start, there is also a finish. It is impossible for having a bad weather forever. The definition of weather is a state of atmosphere at a particular time and place. The characteristic of a weather is dynamic. After blizzard, the sun rises to give its warmth. Yet, in real life, the weather is not shifted spontaneously. He describes it effectively, saying that the sun can only produce “a clutter of yellow and blue flakes”.

After expressing the weather’s condition, he describes the earth condition. As in recount, he reports the surroundings. The poet takes benefit from using personifications again to add the sense to his report. It creates the tough personality of the place.

The man turns and there –

his solitary track streched out

upon the world.

Upon reporting, he presents his own ideas of blizzard. This is the beneficial aspect of literary work; one can add his opinions without being sued for false information. Probably short after government claims that going out is now safe, he takes a walk outside. Other people may still stay at home. So he wanders in solitude, worshipping post-blizzard atmosphere.

There is no doubt about the possibilities of giving false information, as the author has freedom of expressing his thoughts. However, as a reading supplement to the scientific reports, the poem has shown a lot of strong arguments that these depictions are acceptable. The poem is directly influenced by the natural disaster. The form enables the poet to make use of literary device to enrich his description. Should we find the scientific descriptions “unanimated”, referring to literary works may totally brainstorms our thoughts and makes the stiff description easier to understand.

REFERENCES

Gedzelman, Stanley David. “Weather.” Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA:     Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

Lowell, B. (1996). “The Horatian Poetics of Ezra Pound and Robert Pinsky.” in The Classical World. Classical Association of the Atlantic States.         (http://www.jstor.org/stable/4351850, accessed 13/05/2011, 17:07)

Riffaterre, M. (1980). “Syllepsis.” in Critical Inquiry. Chicago: The University of Chicago        Press. (http://www.jstor/stable/1343223, accessed 12/05/2011, 07:21)

United States Search and Rescue Task Force. (2011). Blizzards.          (http://www.ussartf.org/blizzards.htm,accessed 29/12/2011. 20:00)

“Rule, Britannia!”

By James Thomson

  When Britain first, at Heaven’s command,

The Superior Britain as Depicted in
James Thomson’s Rule, Britannia!

             James Thomson wrote Rule, Britannia! on around 1700-1748. It was firstly published on 1940 for Alfred to honour the Prince of Wales. This poem was very popular among Royal Army that it was adapted to a patriotic song. The poem contains numerous icons and symbols that can be analysed using Roland Barthes’ semiotics to explain the meaning of the poem and the intention of the writer upon writing it.

The icons used in the poem are Britons and tyrants. The icons are juxtaposed to highlight the Briton’s superiority over tyrants. Britons, by Heaven’s command, could make the tyrants surrendered and acknowledged Briton’s power. Thus, Heaven signifies powerful spiritual entity. British people could win against the tyrants because they worked under Heaven’s instruction. Britons believed that Heaven is associated with good things so that their conquest was something rightful.

The phrases “Rule, Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never be slaves.” are repeated on the last part of each stanza thus suggest the importance of these expressions. The Great Britain was famous of its territory around the world. There is a proverb “The sun never sets in Britain.” to describe its vast territory. On the colonization era, The Great Britain had the largest colonies. It was so large that at least there was always one territory which received sun heat. The waves represents the territory that mostly covered by water (ocean). The expression “never be slaves” signifies Britain superiority towards other nation because Britain was the owner of most lands.

Upon conquering the lands, Britain was not alone. The nation itself got competitors. The poet described these competitors as the wild tyrants. The tyrants were against the Britons. However, the poet praised the Britain’s “majestic” movements. The majestic characteristic was able to beat them down. All of their oppositions were muffled elegantly as depicted in “All attempts to bend thee down, Will but arouse thy generous flame;”. On the later stanzas it is revealed many compliments to Britain; rurals and cities are Britain’s dukedom and the cities had successful trading. It is also contain a wish so that the beautiful isle would always be guarded by British men.

The conclusion of the first order of interpretation suggests the intention of the poem as a means to glorify British’s greatness. The exaggerate expressions— mostly found in Stanza 1,3, and 5— are used by the poet to express his pride of nationalism.

The second order of interpretation will examine closely the relation between the poem’s narrative and historical background around text production. Britannia was the original name given by Romans to the region that is now England and Wales. The poem was put into music by Thomas Augustine Arne and is sung as an unofficial national anthem, more specifically, an imperialist anthem.

Thomson was well-known as a writer who got inspirations from historical events. This poem tells about Britannia’s efforts to declare independence and strengthen the power against European countries. “European countries” is signified by “foreign tyrants”. The poem also marks Bill of Rights, which was signed on 1689 by the expression “This was the charter of the land,”. The charter was believed to be the representation of God’s command— symbolized with Heaven­— and it was approved by holy people and Heaven’s entity as represented by the singing guardian angels. The purposes of the act are to ensure certain freedoms and ensure a Protestant political supremacy. No wonder the poem uses heavenly diction to portray the strength of the bill.

Meanwhile, the phrase “Thee haughty tyrants never shall tame:” suggests that Britannia had a special opponent. According to the poem, Britannia was portrayed as having generous quality. Britannia’s quality is contrasted with the haughty tyrants’ quality thus lead to the use of binary opposition: humble versus haughty. Again, the poet wanted to magnify Britannia’s good works. If it is drawn further to the political history on around 1700, Britannia was involved in Second Hundred Year’s War with France. Britons were having a rough time with French bourbons’. So, the meaning of “haughty tyrans” is France and Britons should never be French’s”slave”.

After examining the historical background of the poem, it is  concluded that the poem intends to “show-off” Britannia’s superiority towards other European countries, especially France. It was also acted as a courtesy to Prince of Wales.

References:

Abrams, M. H., ed. (1993). The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W.          Norton & Company.

Armitage, D. (2000). The Ideological Origins of The British Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge            University Press. Pp. 173.

Chandler, D. (2009). Semiotics for Beginners.            http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html

National Archieves and Records Administration. Bill of Rights.             http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights.html/

Among many characters presented by Arthur Miller, Charley’s contributionsto  the wholeness of Willy’s character is interesting because his voice is not silenced. To my mind, he and his son, Bernard, are the representation of “man as it should be”. Charley helps Willy to realize the reality surrounding Willy and his family. Furthermore, I believe that Charley represents the quality of a true friend. Charley is an outsider, he is just Willy’s neighbor. Yet he always supports Willy’s physics and financial problems.

According to Aristotle Ethics Book III, friendship is a virtue, or implies virtue, and is besides most necessary for living. For without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.” However, the book only covers friendship between men, women are not mentioned in the book. Aristotle divides friendship into three kinds on the basis of utility, pleasure and goodness. Willy and Charley’s relationship fulfil the three criteria of friendship. On the basis of utility, Charley is Willy’s neighbor so that they live in the same vicinity. Willy also seeks debts to Charley to pay his bills.

WILLY               Charley, look… (With difficulty) I got my insurance to pay. If you can manage it—I need a hundred and ten dollars.

***

WILLY               I’d draw it from my bank but Linda would know, and I…

Seen from pleasure aspects, Charley seeks for Willy to accompany him when he cannot sleep. Charley visits Willy’s home and decides playing cards together to take a break.

CHARLEY         (Sitting down at the kitchen table opposite WILLY) Couldn’t sleep good. I had a heartburn.

***

CHARLEY         Come on, let’s shoot. Tire you a little.

WILLY               (hesitantly) All right. You got cards?

CHARLEY         (Taking a deck from his pocket) Yeah, I got them. Someplace. What is it with those vitamins?

From the goodness aspects, Charley always warns Willy if Willy is doing something wrong. He hopes Willy let go the dissapointment of being a failure father and husband. He is vocal but gentle in reminding Willy to stay on the right track.

CHARLEY         Wait a minute, didn’t you hear the news?

WILLY               What?

CHARLEY         Don’t you listen to the radio? Ebbets Field just blew up.

WILLY               You go to hell! (CHARLEY laughs. Pushing them up.) Come on, come on! We’re late.

CHARLEY         (As they go.) Knock a homer, Willy! Knock a homer!

WILLY               (The last to leave, turning to CHARLEY) I don’t think that was funny, Charley. This is the greatest day of his life.

CHARLEY         Willy, when are you going to grow up?

Other criteria of a true friend, according to Alex Lickerman, are as follows:

A true friend is consistently willing to put his friend’s happiness before friendship. A true friend will not lack of mercy to correct his friend when the friend is wrong. So does Charley. Charley also has the quality of being realistic, honest, a good listener, and a sharing fellow.

A true friend won’t ask his friends to compromise his principles in the name of friendship or anything else. When Willy ask Charley to lend him a hundred and ten dollars, Charley offers Willy an accounting job with fifty dollars a week. Willy refuses to accept because doing so would acknowledge Charley’s formula of success. Charley reminds that not everybody shold be attractive and well-liked by presenting the facts about the unattractive J.P. Morgan. However, Charley does not force Willy to agree with his belief. Instead, he wishes good luck to what Willy believes.

Hate the act, not the person; is one of th criteria of a true friend. Charley actually does not like Willy’s thoughts because Willy cannot accept the condition that Willy’s formula of success is wrong (“You been jealous of me all your life, you damned fool!”). However, Charley always willing to help Willy no matter how annoying Willy is. Charley feels pity of Willy and apparently this feeling always drag Charley to “watch Willy’s back”.

Live by the golden rule. Always treat a friend as he would want to be treated. Charley knows Willy does not like if Charley show off  his life achievements so that he seals his mouth up. In fact, Charley is a successful businessman, respected and adored. Charley is a humble man who never shows such attainments. The characteristic is inherited by Bernard who gains his success as a lawyer. Both Charley and Bernard never exaggerate this achievement.

CHARLEY         (An arm on BERNARD’s shoulder) How do you like this kid? Gonna argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.

BERNARD         (Protesting) Pop!

WILLY               (Genuinely shocked, pained, and happy) No! The Supreme Court!

BERNARD         I gotta run, ‘By, Dad!

CHARLEY         Knock ‘em dead, Bernard!

(BERNARD goes off)

WILLY               (As CHARLEY takes out his wallet) The Supreme Court! And he didn’t even mention it!

CHARLEY         (Counting out money on the desk) He don’t have to—he’s gonna do it.

As a good friend, Charley does not humiliate Willy although Charley has higher social status than Willy. Charley gives great respect to Willy.

WILLY               Did you see the ceiling I put up in the living- room?

CHARLEY         Yeah, that’s a piece of work. To put up a ceiling is a mystery to me. How do you do it?

As seen in the dialogue above, Charley is praising Willy because of Willy’s capability of putting up a ceiling. At the requiem act, Charley remember Willy as “a happy man with a batch of cement.”

To sum up, all of the criteria of a true friend above represent parts of what is called loyalty. Charley’s friendship to Willy can be categorized as loyal because it stays firm no matter what the circumstances between the two.

CHARLEY         Good luck.

WILLY               (On the verge of tears) Charley, you’re the only friend I got. Isn’t that a remarkable thing? (He goes out)

References:

Kilcullen, R. (1996). Aristotle’s Ethics. Macquire University.             (http://humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/y67s08.html/)

Lickerman, A. (2010). “What Makes A True Friend”. Psychology Today. Sussex: Sussex      Publishers, LLC. (http://psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-  world/201002/what-makes-true-friend/).

wikiHow. How to Be A Good Friend. (http://wikihow.com/Be-a-Good-Friend/)

11 Things About Me:
1. My full screen name is actually Fiolina Luccava Saemonnosuke, but I drop the last name because it’s kinda long and unsynchroned.
2. My type of men is exactly like MacGyver. He is tough but sweared that he never wield guns and use violence. He is very smart, too. The real actor is actually pretty much the same as the character.
3. According to number 2, I (suppose) cannot have interest in pretty boys…
4. I love journalism since Junior High School.
5. My favourite food is Huzalenza but I don’t know the spelling of it…
6. I ever forgot my own birthday and thought my birthday is September 23rd!
7. I’m not disgusted by porns, gore, and violence things. I hate bad odour more than those three things!
8. I like wearing men’s perfume but my favourite scent is tea scent and that is more often found in female perfume!
9. I dream of making basement laboratory and a library that looks like the library in Alone In the Dark: The New Nightmare.
10. I often scared to death when I found something horrible in shitbrix site! A lot of nightmares comes after seeing those horrible looks…
11. I’m an INTJ and (looks like) I’m very proud of that.

11 Pertanyaan dari Wisnu ke temen2:
1. Milih dipanah di lutut apa di siku? THE KNEE.
kenapa? BECAUSE I USED TO TAKE AN ARROW IN THE KNEE THEN I TAKE AN ARROW IN THE KNEE. I’ll be back on my previous state.
However,
If you ask me aside from meme things, I say I choose to be shot on my elbow. Why? Because in Skyrim my elbows are armored! #trollface

2. Apa itu meme?
All catchy things that we share and we already experienced the references and make them into jokes.

3. Apa yang kamu lakukan seandainya kamu
adalah petualang, tapi tiba2 negara api
menyerang kamu dan memanah lututmu?
Impossibru! I bring Chuck Norris along with me!

4. Kapan lulus?
Estimated Graduation max. March 2013

5. Lagi ngapain sekarang?
Writing the answers of your Questions… -___-”

6. Dimana?
Living room? I dunno what this room called, actually.

7. sama siapa?
My “enraged” lil sis.

8. lagi pengin ngapain kamu?
Editing articles and doing homeworks while listening to music. (Really meant that!)

9. Seandainya saya tiba-tiba ketemu personil
SCANDAL, kamu mau ikut g?
Whatever…

10. Kamu udah kesel belum sama pertanyaan-
pertanyaan saya?
Not really…

11. Last word: What you see is not always what you get.

I’m not sure they will do this silly homework but here we go the 11 lucky persons!
1. Wisnu
2. Ana
3. Gia
4. Danar
5. Qodir
6. Paulina
7. Fatikah
8. Intan
9. Lamia
10. Safira
11. Galih

And the questions are:
Q1. What’s your blood type?
Q2. What’s your less favourite subject of study? Me: Sociology, You:?
Q3. Truth or Dare?
Q4. Do you believe there are aliens outside this lovely earth? Why?
Q5. On the scale of 1 to 10, how do you describe your appearance?
Q6. Which country do you want to go for a 1-day vacation?
Q7. When do you brush your teeth? Before or after taking a bath?
Q8. Do you care about politics? If yes, what is your -ism, If no, do you still go to the election?
Q9. Forgive me to make serious questions but I am out of my mind as always. So, next question will be… what is your favourite adjective?
Q10. What comes on your mind if I write; 1)black, 2)Black, 3)BLACK?
Q11. How do you describe winter?

@flcva

Upon analysing Edgar Allan Poe’s A Dream Within A Dream, I refer to both Cleanth Brooks’ and Michael Riffaterre’s methodology. My primary source is, of course, the poem itself. I use the dictionary as a tool to find the meaning of the poem. If the dictionary defines more than one meaning for a word, it is probably a signal for the reader to decode the true meaning of it. As a response to the phenomenon, I will choose the closest meaning in terms of the proximity between the word and the poem’s “world”. The poem’s “world” is derived from the collocations. In this poem, I can find “a surf-tormented shore”, “grains”, “sand”, and “wave”. These words are collocated with “sea”. So, I can assume that the poem’s “world” is at the “sea”. However, I have not known yet whether the “sea” is tangible or intangible. According to Riffaterre,

These [the poem] elements are indeed present inside the text but only as words, and as words that point to something other than themselves, that is, to a significance determined by the rules of a grammar valid only for this text, determined by the fact that these words actualize again and again a structure first realized in the title and in the first line.

The title of the poem is “A Dream Within A Dream” and the first line says “Take this kiss upon the brow!”. The word “Dream” can be a noun, a verb, or an adjective. I can eliminate Dream as a verb and an adjective because the grammar indicates that it is a noun. According to Encarta Dictionary, there are six meanings of Dream itself. Other reason why I use Encarta Dictionary is that the dictionary mentions the origin of words in every entry. In the end of the poem, it is written “1849”. I assume that this is when the poetry was written. So, all of the meanings must be originally derived before 1849. A Dream Within A Dream can be read “something in something”. Are those two “Dream”s indicate the same meaning? Or different? One sure thing is that all definitions are considered as intangible nouns. So, from now on I will interpret all the words in the poem have intangible quality. I read the title as “An Idle Hope In Something Hope For”. In the same way, I paraphrase “Take the kiss upon the brow!” as “Claim the very light, almost imperceptible touch in passing, upon the brow!”. By just looking at the title and the first line, I can make a hypothesis that this poem is about someone who has a faulty obsession about something. I do not know the story of the man yet. The story is explained in the rest of the poem.

Using the same method, A Dream Within A Dream is paraphrased as follows:

An Idle Hope In Something Hope For

Edgar Allan Poe

Claim the very light [almost imperceptible] touch in passing, upon the brow!

And, in leaving [sadly] from you now,

Thus much let me affirm [that something is true]—

You are not wrong, who consider or judge [in a particular way]

That my time of fame have been an idle hope:

Yet if (my) confident desire has dissapeared

In a period of cultural or emotional gloominess, or in a time of fame,

In a mental picture, or in none,

Is it therefore the less are gone?

All that we perceive something as pleasing [or good] or appear to be something

Is just an idle hope in something hoped for.

I am in a particular condition while something is happening [which is] a loud crashing or blowing noise

Of a foamy waves [which cause] mental anguish [in the] land at edge of water,

And I believe within my power

(my) Basic qualities of the excellent courage and determination—

How few! yet how they gradually develop

Through my fingers (parts of the power) to the intense part

While I mourn [something]—while I mourn [something]!

O God! (interjection) can I not take

[The opportunity] with a tighter clasp?

O God! (interjection) can I not redeem

One from the burst of feeling [of being threatened without mercy]

Is all that we perceive something as pleasing [or good] or appear to be something

Is just an idle hope in something hoped for?

1849.

From the paraphrasing above, the story of the man is clear. At first he believed in a faulty idea of success (indicates by the word “take”=”claim”). As the time goes he met someone. This someone considers that the man had a wrong idea about success. The man affirms that he had a wrong idea. However, he still hopes he can manage his mistake in the past.

The second stanza tells about his struggle to seize the success. He is mentally in a chaotic condition. He believes he has the determination. But he realizes that he only has a few of it. He is mourning and trying to take the opportunities to be successful. In the end, he is questioning himself about his idea of success because he seem he cannot take the pain of being threatened without mercy.

References:

Brooks, C. 1979. The New Criticism. The Sewanee Review, Vol. 87, No. 4 (Fall, 1979),

pp. 592-607. The Johns Hopkins University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27543619?origin=JSTOR-pdf

Riffaterre, M. 1973. The Self-Sufficient Text. Diacritics, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Autumn, 1973), pp. 39-45. The Johns Hopkins University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/464526?origin=JSTOR-pdf

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

]]> http://luccava.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/a-dream-within-a-dream-by-edgar-allan-poe-new-criticism-analysis/feed/ 1 Dita, Didit, Luccava, Guntax, F! http://luccava.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/recreating-the-gaming-experience-in-prince-of-persia-the-sands-of-time-through-its-setting-and-properties-adaptation/ http://luccava.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/recreating-the-gaming-experience-in-prince-of-persia-the-sands-of-time-through-its-setting-and-properties-adaptation/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:52:20 +0000 luccava http://luccava.wordpress.com/?p=326 ]]> Recreating the Gaming Experience in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
through Its Setting and Properties Adaptation

by: Dita Surya Kartika

Abstract

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) was one of successful video game to movie adaptations¹. Like the other video games adaptations, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was not fully adapted all the game elements (characters, storylines, settings, etc.) for the film. Instead, the movie only derived some elements of the video game that resembled the soul of the game itself. The screenplay writers were free to modify other elements that suited up with the audiences needs. However, deriving “the soul” of certain game is not easy because not only movie fans but also the fans of the game itself will watch the film. The game’s fans will critically make review whether the movie adaptation is appropriate or not. By seeing this fact, the authorship must observe carefully the video game to recreate the appropriate atmosphere similar to the gaming experience.

The movie distinctly adapted the setting and properties from the game. This is not surprising since the game’s strongest elements are in setting of time and place. It is interesting to see how the authorship had successfully brought the setting in game into real live-action movie. This paper examines how the movie tried to adapt the setting and properties to create similar atmosphere of the game and what elements that made this adaptation successful.

Keywords: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, properties, setting, video game to movie adaptation

Adaptation is an effort of transferring a work into other mediums. It is a type of derivative work. Video games have also been adapted into films. Although there are numerous films adapted from video games, many of them are just categorized as B movies. Most of them are parts of the game publication itself so they rarely receive either audience attentions or critics. A case study is about the publication strategy of Assassin’s Creed video game. The game publisher, Ubisoft, released official game trailer featuring a B movie via YouTube channel. The movie acted as an introductory story to the game. In the end of this 20-minutes-movie, the video game’s release date is informed. Yet, some of the adaptations have good reception such as Mortal Kombat, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Silent Hill, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

The later movie is an adaptation from a video game with exactly the same title. Prince of Persia is an action-adventure game originally made by Jordan Mechner. The first game released at October 3, 1989. The game itself is about an ordinary boy taken from slum area by Persian king. This boy grew up to the Prince of Persia. He has the ability to perform parkour-like technique, jumping from one obstacle to the others. With its setting in Persia, there are palaces and other buildings that portray the Persian architecture. The protagonist is able to make use these buildings to perform beautiful assassination skills. The game became a well-known franchise. It is still being produced until present.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie version, however, is not merely transfer the video game sequel to film. It is an incorporation of three Prince of Persia sequels; Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003), Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (2004), and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (2005) simultaneously. The film story is a modification of the game’s basic elements —Persian setting of time and place, treachery, the Sands of Time and the Dagger of Time—which is not directly related to the three games. The story was made by the same author which is a strong reason why the film has the similar spirit to the video game. Yet, the excution of a film is not based on one single author but also from the screenplay writers (Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard), director (Mike Newell), actors (Jake Gyllenhai cs.), and the crews.

Let us look at some prominent properties in this film. First, I would like to present the costume. As seen in the official poster, the protagonist wears a light Persian battle armor. The armor is designed such in a way that it also depicts Prince Dastan’s characterization as a young, noble, and energetic prince. It also accomodates him to move agile. This armor, however, is not the same as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time video game. As I have mentioned before, the film merged three sequels. It substracted the elements here and there to recreate the new formula of the story. If I compare the poster to the three game covers, it seems that the costume Dastan wearing is similar to Prince of Persia: Warrior Within’s armor. Moreover, his physical appearance—hairstyle, facial figure,

body built—does resemble Warrior Within rather than the other games. To those audiences that have the experience of playing the three games, they will recognize the image that is presented by the actor and his costume. It creates a proximity between the film and the audiences. Not surprisingly, to those audiences who do not play the game, the image is not odd because we have already introduced to the Persian setting and had some rough references of what would we expect from a Persian prince.

The picture of official poster and video game covers

The second prominent property is the Dagger of Time. The narration said that the dagger holds magical power. When someone presses the jewel on its hilt, it will turn back the time and only s/he realizes what is going on. The Dagger of Time appears in two games; Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Both games have the same references on how to make the extraordinary dagger works. Furthermore, it also informs that if the sandglass is full the dagger can rewind maximum 60 seconds. Since this information is important in the games, it will be an important memory towards players even after they finish the game. This aspect is happily maintained in the film thus make the same effect as similarities in costume and physical appearance on the first point above. If only the storywriter does not maintain this information, gamers will be less interested in keeping up with the story because it had gone too far from their gaming experience. The importance of this Dagger of Time is also emphasized by numerous medium close-up and close-up shots of the dagger.

The repetition of showing the Dagger of Time indicates its importance in
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time film

Although the instruction of using the dagger remains the same, the storywriter still has room for alternating other aspects of it. If we compare three daggers as follows:

From the left: the dagger in the film, in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time game, and in
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

all of them are not similar to each other except they have the sandglass. The sandglass is important since it is used as the place to put Sands of Alamut as the “fuel”. The difference in the dagger’s designs offers an idea that the film is just using several cool elements from the game to recreate a new story, without leaving the excitement in both media.

The last point, considered as the most important point, is the recreation of the setting. As we know that this film is based on an action-adventure game, meaning that the playable character should overcome obstacles in order to reach the checkpoint. The architecture of Persian palaces, dungeons, and houses is beautiful and complex. It often has several points that can be used for climbing to reach the goal. It is why the protagonist is equipped with certain ability that can make him overcome the obstacles. The film recreated these settings in a good way that it has the characteristics like setting in the games. Below is the comparison between them:

The architecture in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie (first and third pictures),

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (second picture) and

Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time game (fourth picture)

In the pictures above, we can detect the similarity of the architectures. They depict Persian architecture— huge fortresses, sand-colored buildings, Middle-East ornaments. We can also see the protagonists performing their actions here. The mise-en-scène suggests the movie to be set in Persia. It also makes the character plausible to do his parkour-like ability. The soul of an action-adventure the video games (and the movie) is constructed within this mise-en-scène. It can make implication to the figure behavior to utilize the film set (climbing the wall, jumping from one platform to another, etc.)

Conclusion

From the evidence I have presented before, I believe that video games to movie adaptation can be success if the movie can maintain the soul of the video game itself. Setting and properties used in the film give a great role in creating images appropriately. A successful adaptation is much freer than the expectations because the storywriter still has enough area to create his/her own original story. However, some important and prominent elements should be maintained in order to create the proximity between the film and the audiences that are also playing the original games. The storywriter must not left out parts which will be the memories remaining in the gamers’ mind even after finishing the game, because they will judge that the movie has gone too far from the game’s core.

References

FILMOGRAPHY

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Mike Newell, Walt Disney Pictures, 2010)

BOOKS

Villarejo, A. Film Studies The Basic. Routlegde, 2007.

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_adaptation/

http://www.imdb.com/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

http://www.ubisoft.com/

Go Check now http://sites.google.com/site/engliterature08/

Enjoy it! Credit me if you use this as per your reference(s).

INTRODUCTION TO POETRY WEEKLY JOURNALS –> I got 85 for this one ;D

INTRODUCTION TO POETRY FINAL EXAM –> and 95 for this one ;P

literature enthusiast,

F. Luccava

Final Exam
Sexist Ideology in SEGA SATURN Printed Advertisement
(Semiotic Analysis)

Submitted by:
DITA SURYA KARTIKA
C0308031

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS
Sebelas Maret University
2011

SEGA SATURN official advertisement

INTRODUCTION

Media has a great power in influencing our way of life. With the main function as means of communication, media contains also the ideology of the informer. One of media products is advertisement. Advertisement is the product of communication that typically attempts to persuade the potential customers to purchase or consume more of a particular brand of products or services (http://ezinearticles.com//Advertising-As-A-Tool-Of-Communication&id=1228665). When we use media for a purpose, it becomes part of that purpose. Thus, inside the advertisement we can find the ideology of the producer. The ideology is interesting to analyse because it reflects the purpose of the producers to the consumers. Moreover, the ideology also reflects the social values that the producer believes.     A successful advertisement should accommodate the correct social paradigm relates to the product. The desired effect is shown through the use of symbols in the advertisement itself. In revealing what is intended beneath those symbols, semiotic theory is required. Semiotics works by interpreting signs and signifier embedded in each symbol. Those signs have ideas of what we called the signified of the symbols. The analysis of the construction symbols together will bring us to a comprehend understanding of the social reality depicted by the advertisement.
The paper will analyse the Sega Saturn console official advertisement which was published on 1996. The advertisement features a naked woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. It used screenshots from the games to cover her breasts and pubic area. The ad was very successful in attracting buyers. Even the Electronic Gaming Monthly selected the campaign as the best ad during the 1997 Buyer’s Guide. The selling power, however, is not as successful as the ad campaign. Sega Saturn’s selling point was beaten by Sony Playstation after 1998. The analysis will reveal the intention and ideology of the producer and the reason why such symbols are used to persuade the prospective buyers.

DISCUSSION

Sega Saturn was first released in Japan in November 1994 with code name Sega Satan. The console then released in USA markets at ‘Saturnday’ on September 2, 1995.While it was popular in Japan, the Saturn failed to get a similar market share in North America and Europe against Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64. Gamepro magazine even categorized Sega Saturn as one of the 10 worst-selling consoles of all time (on 8th position). However, the sexy ad campaign for USA market share got its hall of fame by getting the best ad campaign by Electronic Gaming Monthly. On Gamepro features article, the ad was considered as one of the most controversial video game advertisements, along with the other nine (http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/53238/the-most-controversial-video-game-ads-of-all-time/).
The advertisement, physically, shows a picture of a beautiful naked woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Her pose is titilating since she is intentionally showing parts of her body, including curves, breasts, and pubic area. However, the screenshots from Sega Saturn games covers those parts so that the viewer, instead of directly seeing her private parts, look at the screenshots. The texts that accompany the picture are:

{IN CASE YOU DIDN’T NOTICE,}

THERE IS A BEAUTIFUL, NAKED WOMAN ON THIS PAGE.

When you’ve got Sega Saturn’s triple 32-bit processing power
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS.

She’s got blonde hair, blue eye and the best body her money can buy. SO WHAT! There’s no time for distractions when you’re deep into Sega Saturn. Besides, check out those screenshots. Ba-dab-boom, ba-dah-bing, know what I mean?

You want curves? Try Sega Rally! Want a thrill? Panzer Dragoon II Zest. Want a real knockout? Check our Virtua Fighter II. And lots of other incredibly cool games you can play on Saturn. But don’t be fooled. Sega Saturn games offer more than just great looks. Like those 32-bit processors (that’s two more than PlayStation, if you’re scoring at home- at even if you’re alone). Saturn’s triple processoring power means better gameplay and better graphics. So, if you’re looking for some real actions, HEAD FOR SATURN.

At the first look, the advertisement wants to show us that playing Sega Saturn is so delightful that gamer will not be distracted by any means, even beautiful woman naked in from of him. Of course the effect was intended to boost the selling points of the consoles. This is the denotative meaning of the advertisement.
There are three important images which will be analysed; the woman, the game screenshots, and the texts. These three images together construct the real meaning of the ad. The real meaning shows the ideology of the producer. Looking at the woman image it came into conclusion that ad contains the ideology of women objectifications. Gaye Tuchman argued the phenomenon as:
It assumes a direct correspondence among media organizations, their content, and the everyday world. It states:
1. Few women hold positions of power in media organizations, and so:
2. The content of the media distorts women’s status in the social world. The media do not present women who are viable role models, and therefore:
3. The media’s deleterious role models, when internalized, prevent and impede female accomplishments. They also encourage both women and men to define women in terms of men (as sex objects) or in the context of the family (as wives and mothers). (Tuchman, 1979: 531)

THE WOMAN
The long blonde hair and blue eyes symbolize typical American woman. The stereotypes of blonde women are dumb and ignorant. A study once said that blonde women make men dumb because people confronted with stereotypes and mimic the unconscious stereotype of the dumb blonde (http://www.mathaba.net/news/pda.shtml?x=571309?related/). The decision to put blonde woman in the ad reinforces the idea of women as sexual object and passive creatures. On the other hand, the blonde-haired woman is also considered as attractive and desirable (Sherrow, 2006) thus it works with the idea of Sega Saturn gaming console as an electronic device that offers attractive gaming experiences. In addition, blonde woman is also the symbol of American beauty.

THE GAME SCREENSHOT
The games screenshots that covers the woman private parts strengthen the tagline “NOTHING ELSE MATTERS”. A normal man would prefer to take a look at the nude woman but here the games are far more attractive than the woman. Interestingly, this puts the woman as means to distract the gamer. She is seen as an interruption to gamer’s joy. According to this phenomenon, women are treated as sexist. It suggested that, in critical thinking, women do not have enough power to distract men attention from playing games even they use their body to attract them.

THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE
The narrative that comes along with the picture describes Sega Saturn superiorty (mainly over its competitor, Sony PlayStation). It tells in what way Sega Saturn is better than Sony PlayStation; better gameplay and graphics. It also offers various game genres; e.g. Sega Rally for Sports game, Panzer Dragoon II Zest for Simulation game, and Virtua Fighter II for Fighting game. The preview of these games is shown through the screenshots. The texts serve to persuade the prospective buyer to buy the console. This is the marketing strategy of the producer.

CONCLUSION
The analysis of the advertisement using semiotic theory reveals two levels of meanings. In denotative meaning, the producer of Sega Saturn console wanted to persuade the prospective buyers by offering the attractive gaming experience through the metaphor of a blonde woman and tagline “NOTHING ELSE MATTERS”.
The connotation meaning is derived from the relation of images and cultural stereotypes of blonde-haired woman as typical American women. It reveals that the producer had the ideology of women as sexist and sexual object. Interestingly, the ideology, although it got approval from society, did not affect the selling points as expected by the market. This draws the conclusion that a successful ad campaign does not always go along with successful selling points.

REFERENCES

American Studies 2007. (2011). “Semiotic Analysis: GUCCI Bag Advertisement”.     http://amstud07.blogspot.com/     (accessed 23 June 2011, 21:55).
Chandler, D. (1996). Analysis of Advertisement.     http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MAinTV/analad.html (accessed on 27 June     2011, 19:53).
Chandler, D. (1996). Semiotics for Beginners. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media     /Documents/S4B/semiotic.html/ (accessed on 27 June 2011, 1953).
Jain, R. “Advertising as A Tool of Communication”. Ezine Articles.     http://ezinearticles.com//Advertising-As-A-Tool-Of-Communication&id=1228665     (accessed 27 June 2011, 19:53)
Loopy. Study: Blonde women make men dumb.     http://www.mathaba.net/news/pda.shtml?x=571309?related/ (accessed 28 June 2011,     12:00).
Sherrow, V. (2006). Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History. Greenwood Publishing    Group. ISBN 0313331456.
Snow, B. (2007). The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time. Gamepro Online Magazine.     http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/111822/the-10-worst-selling-consoles-of-    all-time/ (accessed on 27 June 2011, 19:55))
Tuchman, G. (1979). “Women’s Depiction by the Mass Media”. Signs, Vol. 4, No.3 (Spring.     1979). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. http://jstor.org/stable/3173399     (accessed 28 June 2011, 12:14).
Weigand, M. (2006). The Most Controversial Video Game Ads of All Time. Gamepro Online     Magazine. http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/53238/the-most-controversial-    video-game-ads-of-all-time/ (accessed 27 June 2011, 19:55).