:: wikimiki.org ::

Burlesque

Burlesque

Burlesque was originally a form of art that mocked by imitation, referring to everything from comic sketches to dance routines and usually lampooning the social attitudes of the upper classes. It was often ridiculous in that it imitated several styles, and combined imitations of authors and artists with absurd descriptions. In this, the term was often used interchangeably with "pastiche," "parody," and, at the turn of the 18th century, "mock-heroic." Possibly due to historical social tensions between the upper classes and lower classes of society, much of the humor and entertainment focused on lowbrow and ribald subjects. In literary criticism, burlesque is often used as a generic term to describe any imitative work that derives humor from an incongruous contrast between style and subject. In this usage, forms of satire such as parody and travesty are types of burlesque (Abrams, 1999). High burlesque refers to a burlesque imitation where a serious style is applied to commonplace or comically inappropriate subject matter — as, for example, in the literary parody and the mock-heroic. Low burlesque applies an irreverent, mocking style to a serious subject; an example is Samuel Butler's Hudibras, which describes the misadventures of a Puritan knight in satiric doggerel verse, using a colloquial idiom. In the 20th and 21st centuries, burlesque has come to be a genre of adult entertainment, focusing on aspects of humor, satire and sexual tantalization.

History

The genre's origins are rooted in the 1840s, early in the Victorian era, a time of culture clashes between the social rules of established aristocracy and a working-class society. The genre often mocked such established entertainment forms as opera, Shakespearian drama, musicals, and ballet. The costuming (or lack thereof) increasingly focused on forms of dress considered inappropriate for polite society. By the 1880s, the genre had created some rules for defining itself:
- Minimal costuming, often focusing on the female form.
- Sexually suggestive dialog, dance, plotlines and staging.
- Quick-witted humor, lacking complexity.
- Short routines or sketches, with minimal plot cohesion across a show. In the 1930s, a social crackdown on burlesque shows led to their gradual downfall. The shows had slowly changed from ensemble ribald variety performances, to simple performances focusing mostly on the strip tease. The advent of various forms of pornography gradually replaced titillation. In the 1990s and 2000s, there has been a large-scale revival of burlesque in the United States and Canada with New Burlesque performers like Dita Von Teese, Dirty Martini, Julie Atlas Muz, Miss Indigo Blue and troupes such as Fluffgirl Burlesque, Burlesque As It Was and The Velvet Hammer staging burlesque events. New Burlesque evolved out of the exotica/lounge music revival of the 1990s, which generated an interest in lost American pop culture.

References

- Abrams, M. H. (1999). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Seventh edition. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

External links

- [http://www.musicals101.com/burlesque.htm History of Burlesque]
- [http://www.exoticworldusa.org Exotic World Burlesque Museum]
- [http://www.frenchquarter.com/history/vintageburlesque.php Vintage Bourbon Street Burlesque]
- [http://www.clotheslinejournal.com/burlesque.html Clothes Line Journal: Burlesque]
- [http://www.thisorthat.tv America's Favorite Burlesque Gameshow- This or That!]
- [http://www.burlesquehistory.com Preservation of the History of Old Time Burlesque] Category:Sexual arts Category:Humor Category:Satire Category:Erotic entertainment

Imitation

Imitation is an advanced animal behaviour whereby an individual observes another's behaviour and replicates it itself. It has been argued by Susan Blackmore in The Meme Machine, that imitation is what makes humans unique among animals. Imitation might have been selected as fit by evolution because those who were good at it had a wider arsenal of learned cultural behavior at their disposal, such as tool making or even language. In anthropology, diffusion theories explain why cultures imitate the ideas or practices of other cultures. Some theories hold that all cultures imitate ideas from one or a few original cultures, the Adam of the Bible, or several cultural circles that overlap. Evolutionary diffusion theory holds that cultures are influenced by one another, but that similar ideas can be developed in isolation. In mid-20th century, social scientists began to study how and why people imitate ideas. Everett Rogers pioneered diffusion of innovations studies, using research to prove factors in adoption and profiles of adopters of ideas. Recent work in neuroscience has begun to reveal the mechanisms of imitation in the human brain. It seems that there is a system of mirror neurons which are active both when you see another person act and when you do the same thing yourself, and these may allow humans to learn by imitation. Category:Psychology

Upper class

The term upper class refers to a group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Often members of an upper class do not have to work for a living as they are supported by earned or inherited investments. Members of an upper class often have power over other people as employers or landlords, or sometimes as members of a government. The term "upper class" has had a complex range of meanings and usages, and in the 21st century many people are uncomfortable with it as a term and as a concept. In many traditional societies, membership of the upper class was hard or even impossible to acquire by any means other than being born into it. Nowadays a high income can be enough on its own for a person to be considered upper class in some countries, especially United States (in fact, most of the richest people in the United States were born into the middle class). Other factors such as attitudes, tastes, education, occupation and accents are often relevant. In many countries the term "upper class" was intimately associated with land ownership. Political power was in the hands of the landowners in many pre-Industrial societies, often to the exclusion of other wealthy people (which was one of the causes of the French Revolution). Upper class landowners in Europe were often also members of the titled nobility, though not necessarily: the prevalence of titles of nobility varied widely from country to country. Some upper classes (or noble classes) were almost entirely untitled, for example, the szlachta of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term "upper class" is now almost always used pejoratively, as in the stereotypical term, "upper class twit", and British and Australian people are much more anxious to avoid being labelled "upper class" (or even "upper middle class") than their American or Canadian counterparts. For more on this phenomenon, see reverse snobbery, Australian mateship, and class consciousness. In the U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries, the term "upper class" referred to an elite which combined wealth and social power, but the connection with land ownership was far weaker than in Europe; in the northern states it was almost non-existent. This usage of "upper class" lingered into the 20th century to some degree, associated with the elite and the power of the graduates of the Ivy League. The U.S. is now arguably more socially- stratified than most European societies, albeit that some individuals move up one or more classes by making money (such as Oprah Winfrey). This reflects the absence in America of the embarrassment that many Europeans feel about their socially-stratified pasts, or sensibilities of the stigma of trying to be above one's station (a braggart). Social class in Canada, as an observable phenomenon, though more subtle perhaps than in the U.S., is also not as entrenched as in Europe nor as taboo a topic as it is in Britain and Australia, though it remains a matter of controversy (see for example, the debate over the granting of a life peerage to former Canadian citizen, Conrad Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, and the remarks of then Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien about creating an aristocracy in Canada, and his insistence on upholding the Nickle Resolution). Category:Social groups

Parody

In contemporary usage, parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it. It can also be used to poke affectionate fun at the work in question. Parody exists in all art media, including literature, music, and cinema. Cultural movements can also be parodied. Such works are also sometimes colloquially referred to as spoofs.

Western origin

In ancient Greek literature, a parody was a type of poem that imitated another poem's style. Indeed, the Greek roots of the word parody are par- ("beside" or "subsidiary") and -ody ("song", as in ode). Thus, the original Greek meant, roughly, "mock poem". Roman writers explained parody as an imitation of one poet by another for humorous effect. In French Neo-classical literature, "parody" was also a type of poem where one work's style is imitated by another for humorous effects.

Use in classical music

In reference to 15th- and 16th-century music, "parody" means a reworking of one kind of composition into another - for example, a motet into a keyboard work; Girolamo Cavazzoni, Antonio de Cabezón, and Alonso Mudarra all created keyboard parodies of Josquin motets. More commonly, a parody mass (missa parodia) used extensive quotation from other vocal works such as motets; Victoria, Palestrina, Lassus, and other notable composers of the 16th century used this technique, also called marichu chollu. Song parodies can be filled with mishearings known as mondegreens.

English term

The first usage of the word parody in English cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is in Ben Jonson, in Every Man in His Humour in 1598: "A Parodie, a parodie! to make it absurder than it was." The next notable citation comes from John Dryden in 1693, who also appended an explanation, suggesting that the word was not in common use. In his "Preface to the Satires", he says: "We may find, that they were Satryrique Poems, full of Parodies; that is, of Verses patch'd up from great Poets, and turn'd into another Sence than their Author intended them." Dryden's definition is therefore a departure from previous usage (as he implies satire), and Dryden adapts what was still a foreign term (parody) to apply to a recent literary subgenre that had no name: the mock-heroic. In "MacFlecknoe", Dryden created an entire poem designed to ridicule by parody. Dryden imitates Virgil's Aeneid, but the poem is about Thomas Shadwell, a minor dramatist. The implicit contrast between the heroic style from Virgil and the poor quality of the hero, Shadwell, makes Shadwell seem even worse. When dressed in Aeneas's clothes, Shadwell looks all the more ridiculous. Other parodies of the Restoration and early 18th century were similar to Dryden's: they employed an imitation of something serious and revered to ridicule a low or foolish person or habit. This is generally referred to as the mock-heroic, a genre generally credited to Samuel Butler and his poem Hudibras. When conscious, the contrast of very serious or exalted style with very frivolous or worthless subject is parody. When the combination is unconscious, it is bathos (derived from Alexander Pope's parody of Longinus, "Peri Bathos"). Jonathan Swift is the first English author to apply the word parody to narrative prose, and it is perhaps because of a misunderstanding of Swift's own definition of parody that the term has since come to refer to any stylistic imitation that is intended to belittle. In "The Apology for the &c.", which is one of the prefaces to his A Tale of a Tub, Swift says that a parody is the imitation of an author one wishes to expose. In essence, this makes parody very little different from mockery and burlesque, and, given Swift's attention to language, it is likely that he knew this. In fact, Swift's definition of parody might well be a parody of Dryden's presumed habit of explaining the obvious or using loan words. After Jonathan Swift, the term parody was used almost exclusively to refer to mockery, particularly in narrative. The word spoof finds its origin in a game involving trickery and nonsense. The game was invented by Arthur Roberts, an English comedian.

Alternate meaning

In the older sense of the word, parody can occur when whole elements of one work are lifted out of their context and reused. Pastiche is a form of parody, and parody can also occur when characters or settings belonging to one work are used in a humorous way in another. In Flann O'Brien's novel At Swim-Two-Birds, for example, mad King Sweeney, Finn MacCool, a pookah, and an assortment of cowboys all assemble in an inn in Dublin: the mixture of mythic characters, characters from genre fiction, and a quotidian setting combine for a humor that is not directed at any of the characters or their authors. This combination of established and identifiable characters in a new setting is not the same as the post-modernist habit of using historical characters in fiction out of context to provide a metaphoric element. However, in the postmodern sensibility, blank parody is common where an artist takes the skeletal form of another art work and places it in a new context with new content.

Film genres

Some genre film theorists see parody as a natural development in the life cycle of any genre, especially in film. Western movies, for example, after the classic stage defined the conventions of the genre, underwent a parody stage, in which those same conventions were lampooned. Because audiences had seen these classic Westerns, they had expectations for any new Westerns, and when these expectations were inverted, the audience laughed. Sometimes the reputation of a parody outlasts the reputation of what is being parodied. A notable case is the novel Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding (1742), which was a parody of the gloomy epistolary novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) by Samuel Richardson. Many of Lewis Carroll's parodies, such as "You Are Old, Father William", are much better known than the originals. A subset of parody is self-parody in which artists satirize themselves or their work, or an artist or genre repeats elements of earlier works to the point that originality is lost.

Copyright issues

Although a parody can be considered a derivative work under United States Copyright Law it can be protected under the fair use of 17 USC § 107. In 2001, the federal Court of Appeals, 11th District in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin upheld the right of Alice Randall to publish a parody of Gone with the Wind called The Wind Done Gone, which told the same story from the point of view of Scarlett O'Hara's slaves, who were glad to be rid of her. See also the Supreme Court of the United States case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music regarding the song Oh, Pretty Woman.

Examples

Historical examples

- Sir Thopas in Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
- Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes
- Beware of the Cat by Thomas Nashe
- The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
- Dragon of Wantley, an anonymous 17th century ballad
- Hudibras by Samuel Butler
- "MacFlecknoe", by John Dryden
- A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift
- The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope
- Namby Pamby by Henry Carey
- Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
- The Dunciad by Alexander Pope
- The Memoirs of Martinus Scribblerus by John Gay, Alexander Pope, John Arbuthnot, Earl of Oxford, et al.
- Rasselas, Prince of Persia by Samuel Johnson
- Mozart's A Musical Joke (Ein musikalischer Spaß), K.522 (1787) - parody of incompetent contemporaries of Mozart, as assumed by some theorists
- Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlysle

Contemporary examples

- Airplane! - gag based parody of disaster films and air travel
- Anna Russell's musical comedy - parodies of Richard Wagner and Gilbert and Sullivan
- Austin Powers series - parodies of spy films, especially the James Bond series, and a broad range of popular culture.
- Avenue Q - parody of Sesame Street and children's television.
- Barry Trotter - parodies of Harry Potter books.
- Blazing Saddles - a movie by director Mel Brooks, parodying American westerns
- The Boomer Bible - a book by R. F. Laird, which parodies contemporary society and mores.
- Bored of the Rings - a parody of The Lord of the Rings
- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) – a parody of all of the plays of William Shakespeare.
- Chappelle's Show - A sketch comedy series that parodies music videos, celebrities, advertisements, internet, and famous movies.
- [http://www.geocities.com/ChetShakesbeare Chet Shakesbeare] A popular site for parodies of Shakespeare plays and parodies of other authors.
- [http://novelas.wikicities.com/wiki/Chronicles_of_NANA_-_The_Llama,_The_Gypsy_&_The_Drawer The Chronicles of NANA - The Llama, The Gypsy & The Drawer] - A Wikicities novela. The parody of the CS Lewis' classic.
- Encyclopaedia Dramatica - laughing at other people's expense, including LJ Drama issues.
- French & Saunders - a comedy series which has featured parodies of several major hit films (including Titanic (1997), Misery, Braveheart, Thelma and Louise, Lord of the Rings)
- [http://www.samsmith.co.uk/404.html "I have terrible news."] - a parody of a website 404 error.
- Kung Fu Hustle - a movie by Steven Chow parodying Chinese wuxia films, as well as gangster films in general
- LJ Drama - uses the excuse of parody for legal reasons, when "reviewing" LiveJournal users and their entries.
- MAD Magazine - parody of practically everything in American popular culture
- The Misprint - similar to The Onion, parodies politics in India
- Much of the repertoire of Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Chris Morris's The Day Today and Brass Eye - parodies of high paced self-important genre of TV news programmes
- The Onion - parody of newspaper and magazine journalism
- Parodius - parody of the side-scrolling video game Gradius as well as other Konami franchises
- Radio Active - BBC parody of poorly funded rural local commercial radio
- The Rerun Show - television series that parodies classic episodes of old shows
- Ripping Yarns - television tales penned by Michael Palin and Terry Jones to parody heroic stories/comics aimed at British boys during the 1920-1960 (?) period
- Rutland Weekend Television - Eric Idle inspired parody of low grade commercial television
- The Rutles - parody of The Beatles
- South Park and The Church of Scientology Episode - http://www.scientomogy.com/southpark_scientology.php
- Spaceballs - Mel Brooks-directed parody of space opera, such as Star Wars and Star Trek
- The Sunday Format - BBC radio parody of vacuous lifestyle journalism
- Allan Sherman's, Tom Lehrer's, and "Weird Al" Yankovic's innumerable song parodies
- This Is Spinal Tap, a spoof of the heavy metal music business, by Rob Reiner
- Resistentialism, a parody of existentialism.
- Best in Show, a mocumentary about dog shows, directed by Christopher Guest
- A Mighty Wind, a mocumentary about folk music, also directed by Christopher Guest
- Not Another Teen Movie, a movie that parodies teen flicks such as She's All That, American Pie, The Breakfast Club, Bring It On and various others.
- Scary Movie (Trilogy) - Parodies of horror movies such as Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Exorcist, The Haunting, Signs, The Ring, etc.
- Uncyclopedia - wikipedia, but wrong Category:Satire Category:Humor Category:Rhetoric ja:パロディ

Literary criticism

Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists. Modern literary criticism is often published in essay or book form. Academic literary critics teach in literature departments and publish in academic journals, and more popular critics publish their criticism in broadly circulating periodicals such as the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, The Nation, and The New Yorker.

History of literary criticism

Classical and medieval criticism

Literary criticism has probably existed for as long as literature. Aristotle wrote the Poetics, a typology and description of literary forms with many specific criticisms of contemporary works, in the 4th century BC. Poetics developed for the first time the concepts of mimesis and catharsis, which are still crucial in literary study. Plato's attacks on poetry as imitative, secondary, and false were formative as well. Later classical and medieval criticism often focused on religious texts, and the several long religious traditions of hermeneutics and textual exegesis have had a profound influence on the study of secular texts.

Renaissance criticism

The literary criticism of the Renaissance developed classical ideas of unity of form and content into a literary neoclassicism which proclaimed literature to be central to culture and entrusted the poet or author with the preservation of a long literary tradition. Much more could be said about pre-19th-century literary interpretation.

19th-century criticism

The British Romantic movement of the early nineteenth century brought new aesthetic ideas to the study of literature, including the idea that the object of literature did not always have to be beautiful, noble, or perfect, but that literature itself could elevate a common subject to the level of the sublime. German Romanticism, which followed closely after the late development of German classicism, emphasized an aesthetic of fragmentation which can seem startlingly modern to a reader of English literature, and valued Witz – that is, "wit" or "humor" of a certain sort – more highly than the apparently serious Anglophone Romanticism. The late nineteenth century brought several authors better known for their critical writings than for their own literary work, such as Matthew Arnold.

The New Criticism

However important all of these aesthetic movements were as antecedents, current ideas about literary criticism derive almost entirely from the new direction taken in the early twentieth century. Early in the century the school of criticism known as Russian Formalism, and slightly later the New Criticism in Britain and America, came to dominate the study and discussion of literature. Both schools emphasized the close reading of texts, elevating it far above generalizing discussion and speculation about either authorial intention (to say nothing of the author's psychology or biography, which became almost taboo subjects) or reader response. This emphasis on form and precise attention to "the words themselves" has persisted, after the decline of these critical doctrines themselv

Theory

In the British and American literary establishment, the New Criticism was more or less dominant until the late 1960s. Around that time Anglo-American university literature departments began to witness a rise of a more explicitly philosophical literary theory, influenced by structuralism, then post-structuralism, and other kinds of Continental philosophy. It continued until the mid-1980s, when interest in "theory" peaked. Many later critics, though undoubtedly still influenced by theoretical work, have been comfortable simply interpreting literature rather than writing explicitly about methodology and philosophical presumptions.

The current state of literary criticism

Today interest in literary theory and Continental philosophy coexists in university literature departments with a more conservative literary criticism of which the New Critics would probably have approved. Acrimonious disagreements over the goals and methods of literary criticism, which characterized both sides taken by critics during the "rise" of theory, have declined (though they still happen), and many critics feel that they now have a great plurality of methods and approaches from which to choose. Some critics work largely with theoretical texts, while others read traditional literature; interest in the literary canon is still great, but many critics are also interested in minority and women's literatures, while some critics influenced by cultural studies read popular texts like comic books or pulp/genre fiction. Many literary critics also work in film criticism or media studies. Some write intellectual history; others bring the results and methods of social history to bear on reading literature.

Bibliography

- Encyclopedia of literary critics and criticism, ed. by Chris Murray, London [etc.] : Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999

External link

- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-71 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] Literary Criticism
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908430.html Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism] Award Winners ja:文芸評論 Category:Literary criticism Category:Social philosophy Category:Aesthetics

High burlesque

High burlesque is a form of satire which takes a subject matter that is generally regarded as lowly or immaterial and treats it in a literary, elevated manner. One of the most commonly cited examples of high burlesque is Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock. The Onion, a parody newspaper in the U.S., often treats trivial, inconsequential, or personal events as important news, resulting in headlines like "Area loser spends entire day in bed" or "Area man doesn't know why he puts up with this shit".

Hudibras

Hudibras is a mock heroic poem from the 17th century written by Samuel Butler.

Purpose

The work is a satirical polemic upon Roundheads, Puritans, Presbyterians and many of the other factions involved in the English Civil War. The work was written in three parts in 1663, 1664 and 1678 although an unauthorised edition came out in 1662. Published only four years after Charles II had been restored to the throne and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell being completely over the poem found an appreciative audience. The satire is not balanced as Butler was fiercely royalist and only the parliamentarian side are singled out for ridicule. Butler also uses the work to parody some of the dreadful poetry of the time. The epic tells the story of Sir Hudibras, a knight errant who is described dramatically and with laudatory praise that is so thickly applied to be absurd and the conceited and arrogant person is visible beneath. He is praised for his knowledge of logic despite appearing stupid throughout, but it his religious fervour which is mainly attacked: :For his Religion, it was fit :To match his learning and his wit; :'Twas Presbyterian true blue; :For he was of that stubborn crew :Of errant saints, whom all men grant :To be the true Church Militant; :Such as do build their faith upon :The holy text of pike and gun; :Decide all controversies by :Infallible artillery; :And prove their doctrine orthodox :By apostolic blows and knocks; :Call fire and sword and desolation, :A godly thorough reformation, :Which always must be carried on, :And still be doing, never done; :As if religion were intended :For nothing else but to be mended. His squire, Ralpho, is of a similar stamp but makes no claim to great learning knowing all there is to know from his religion or “new-light” as he calls it. Butler satirises the competing factions at the time of the protectorship by the constant bickering of these two principle characters whose religious opinions should unite them. These are fawning but barbed portraits and are thought to represent personalities of the times but the actual analogues are, now as then, debateable. "A Key to Hudibras" printed with one of the work's editions and ascribed to Roger L'Estrange names Sir Samuel Luke as the model for Hudibras. Certainly, the mention of Mamaluke in the poem makes this possible although Butler suggests Hudibras is from the West Country making Henry Rosewell a candidate. The witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins, John Desborough parliamentarian general and William Prynne lawyer all make and appearance and the character of Sidrophel is variously seen as either William Lilly or Paul Neale.

Structure

Butler is clearly influenced by Rabelais and particularly Cervantes' Don Quixote. But whereas in Cervantes, although being mocked, the readers sympathies are obviously supposed to be with the noble knight, Hudibras is offered nothing but derision. The title comes from the name of a knight in Edmund Spencer's Faerie Queene who is described as "not so good of deeds as great of name" and "more huge in strength then wise in work". Spencer in turn probably got the name from the legendary English king Rud Hud Hudibras. Hudibras was written in an iambic tetrameter in closed couplets, with surprising feminine rhymes. The dramatic meter portends tales of dramatic deeds but the subject matter and the unusual rhymes undercut its importance. This verse form is now referred to as Hudibrastic. Consider the following from the opening of the poem, where the English Civil War is described thus:

"When civil dudgeon first grew high,
And men fell out they knew not why?
When hard words, jealousies, and fears,
Set folks together by the ears,
And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk;
Whose honesty they all durst swear for,
Though not a man of them knew wherefore...."

The work was published in three parts each divided into three cantos with some additional heroic epistles. It is possible that a fourth part was planned which would have given the work twelve parts in imitation of Virgil's Aeneid.

Plot

Aeneid] The knight and his squire sally forth and come upon some people bear-baiting. After deciding that this is anti-Christian they attack the baiters and capture one after defeating the bear. The defeated group of bear-baiters then rallies and renews the attack capturing the knight and his squire. While in the stock the pair argue on religion. Part two describes how the knight's imprisoned condition is reported by Fame to a widow Hudibras has been wooing and she comes to see him. With a captive audience, she complains that he does not really love her and he ends up promising to flagellate himself if she frees him. Once free he regrets his promise and debates with Ralpho how to avoid his fate with Ralpho suggesting that oath breaking is next to saintliness: :For breaking of an oath, and lying, :Is but a kind of self-denying; :A Saint-like virtue: and from hence :Some have broke oaths by Providence :Some, to the glory of the Lord, :Perjur'd themselves, and broke their word; Hudibras then tries to convince Rapho of the nobility of accepting the beating in his stead but he declines the offer. They are interrupted by a skimmington, a procession where women are celebrated and men made fools. After haranguing the crowd for their lewdness, the knight is pelted with rotten eggs and chased away. He decides to visit an astrologer, Sidrophel, to ask him how he should woo the widow but they get into an argument and after a fight the knight and squire run off in different directions believing they have killed Sidrophel. The third part was published 14 years after the first two and considerably different to the first parts. It picks up from where the second left off with Hudibras going to the widow's house to explain the details of the whipping he had promised to give himself but Ralpho had got there first and told her what had actually happened. Suddenly a group rushes in and gives him a beating and supposing them to be spirits from Sidrophel, rather then hired by the widow, confesses his sins and by extension the sins of the Puritans. Hudibras then visits a lawyer—the profession Butler trained in and one he is well able to satirise—who convinces him to write a letter to the widow. The poem ends with their exchange of letters in which the knight's arguments are rebuffed by the widow Before the visit to the lawyer there is a digression of an entire canto in which much fun is had at the events after Oliver Cromwell's death. The succession of his son Richard Cromwell and the squabbles of factions such as the Fifth Monarchists are told with no veil of fiction and no mention of Sir Hudibras.

Significance

Hudibras was an extremely popular work with pirate copies and a spurious second part being issued before Butler could produce his genuine second part in 1664. It was highly praised with Voltaire in his Letters on the English saying "I never found so much wit in one single book". One reader though was distinctly unimpressed. On 26 December, 1662 Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that he bought Hudibras but despite it being extremely popular at the time he admitted finding no humour in it and selling it the same day. Two months later he bought it again to try and find what he was missing. The mock heroic epic and its jaunty verse form known as Hudibrastic became the standard for of satire for some time after that with at least twenty-seven direct imitations being produced. Of the most famous was Ned Ward and his Hudibras Redivivus with Samuel Wesley father of John Wesley emulating the work. Fifty years after the last part was written a new edition was published with illustrations by William Hogarth one of the foremost artists of the day. The work remained popular for several centuries as a warning against the zealotry during the Civil War period of English history although it has lately gone out of fashion.

External links

- [http://www.exclassics.com/hudibras/hbcnts.htm e-text of Hudibras] Hudibras

Colloquialism

A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech or writing. Colloquialisms can include words (such as "gonna" or "grouty"), phrases (such as "ain't nothin'" and "dead as a doornail"), or sometimes even an entire aphorism ("There's more than one way to skin a cat"). Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. Colloquialisms are often used primarily within a limited geographical area. In some areas, overuse of colloquialisms by native speakers is regarded as a sign of substandard ability with the language. However, in the mouth of a non-native speaker, they are sometimes taken as signaling unusual facility with the language as they may be more difficult for non-native speakers to understand. A colloquialism can sometimes make its way into otherwise formal speech, as a sign that the speaker is comfortable with his or her audience, in contrast to slang, which if used in formal speech is more likely done so consciously for humorous effect. Words that have a formal meaning may also have a colloquial meaning that, while technically incorrect, is recognizeable due to common usage. Examples include "immaculate conception" when used to refer to virgin birth, and "addiction" in cases where the individual is physiologically dependent, but not actually addicted to the substance in question.

External link

- [http://www.figarospeech.com It Figures-Figures of Speech] Category:Language varieties and styles Category:Figures of speech

1840s

Events and Trends

Technology

- First use of general anesthesia in an operation, by Crawford Long

War, peace and politics

- First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi New Zealand. The treaty between the British Crown and Maori made New Zealand a British colony and is considered the founding point of modern New Zealand.
- Mexican-American War (1846 - 1848) fought between Mexico and the United States of America. The latter emerges victorious and gains undisputed control over Texas while annexing portions of Arizona, California and New Mexico.
- Wave of revolutions in Europe. Collectively known as the Revolution of 1848. This leads to mass emigration of these refugees into industrial cities of the United States as well as to other locations around the world.

Culture and Religion

- Karl Marx writes The Communist Manifesto, first published on February 21, 1848.
- Gideon T. Stewart becomes a Good Templars leader.

Other

- Introduction of the postage stamp. The first of them is Penny Black, issued by the United Kingdom on May 1, 1840.

World Leaders

- Emperor Ferdinand I (Austria)
- Chancellor Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (Austria)
- Emperor Franz Josef (Austria-Hungary)
- King Louis-Philippe (France)
- Pope Gregory XVI
- Pope Pius IX
- Emperor Nicholas I (Russia)
- Queen Victoria (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Lord Melbourne (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Lord John Russell (United Kingdom)
- President Martin Van Buren (United States)
- President William Henry Harrison (United States)
- President John Tyler (United States)
- President James Knox Polk (United States)
- Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid I Ottoman Empire Category:1840s ko:1840년대 ja:1840年代

Victorian era

) gave her name to the historic era]] The Victorian era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. It is often defined as the years from 1837 to 1901, when Queen Victoria reigned, though many historians believe that the passage of the Reform Act 1832 marks the true inception of a new cultural era. The Victorian era was preceded by the Regency era and came before the Edwardian period.

Politics

The period is ostensibly characterized as a long period of peace and economic, colonial, and industrial consolidation, temporarily disrupted by the Crimean War, although Britain was at war every year during this period. Towards the end of the century, the policies of New Imperialism led to increasing colonial conflicts and eventually the Boer War. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a number of shifts in the direction of gradual political reform and the widening of the franchise. In the early part of the era the House of Commons was dominated by the two parties, the Whigs and the Tories. From the late 1850s onwards the Whigs became the Liberals. Many prominent statesmen led one or other of the parties, including Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, William Ewart Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli and Lord Salisbury. The unsolved problems relating to Ireland played a great part in politics in the later Victorian era, particularly in view of Gladstone's determination to achieve a political settlement. In January 1858, the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, responded to the Orsini plot against French emperor Napoleon III, the bombs for which were purchased in Birmingham, by attempting to make such acts a felony, but the resulting uproar forced him to resign. In July 1866, an angry crowd in London, protesting Russell's resignation as prime minister, was barred from Hyde Park by the police; it tore down iron railings and trampled the flower beds. Disturbances like this convinced Derby and Disraeli of the need for further parliamentary reform. During 1875 Britain purchased Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal as the African nation was forced to raise money to pay off its debts. In 1882 Egypt became a protectorate of Great Britain after British troops occupied land surrounding the Suez Canal in order to secure the vital trade route, and the passage to India. In 1884 the Fabian Society was founded in London by a group of middle-class intellectuals, including Quaker Edward Pease, 17, Havelock Ellis, 25, and Edith Nesbit, 26, to promote socialism. George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells would be among many famous names to later join this society. On Sunday, November 13, 1887, tens of thousands of people, many of them socialists or unemployed, gathered in Trafalgar Square to demonstrate against the government. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren ordered armed soldiers and 2,000 police constables to respond. Rioting broke out, hundreds were injured and two people died. This event was referred to as Bloody Sunday.

Events

In 1851 the Great Exhibition (the first World's Fair) was held in The Crystal Palace, with great success and international attention. In 1888, the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper murdered and mutilated prostitutes on the streets of London, leading to world-wide press coverage and hysteria. Newspapers used the deaths to bring greater focus on the plight of the unemployed and to attack police and political leaders. The killer was never caught, and the affair contributed to Sir Charles Warren's resignation.

Science, technology and engineering

prostitutes]] The impetus of the industrial revolution had already occurred, but it was during this period that the full effects of industrialisation made themselves felt, leading to the mass society of the 20th century. The revolution led to the rise of railways across the country and massive leaps forward in engineering, most famously by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. During the Victorian era, science grew into the discipline it is today. In addition to the increasing professionalism of university science, many Victorian gentlemen devoted their time to the study of natural history. Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in 1859 and had a tremendous effect on the popular mindset. In January 1863, Prime Minister Gladstone opened the first section of the London Underground. In 1882, incandescent electric lights were introduced to London streets, although it took many long years before they were installed everywhere.

The fallen woman

In the writings of Henry Mayhew, Charles Booth and others, prostitution began to be seen as a social problem, rather than just a fact of urban life. It also began to be seen as a feminist issue in the work of Josephine Butler, who attacked the long-established double standard of sexual morality. Prostitutes were often presented as victims in sentimental literature such Thomas Hood's poem "The Bridge of Sighs" and Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. The emphasis on the purity of women found in such works as John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilllies led to the portrayal of the prostititute as soiled and corrupted, who needed to be cleansed. This emphasis on purity was allied to the stress on the homemaking role of women, who helped to create a space free from the pollution and corruption of the city. In this respect the prostitute came to have symbolic significance as the embodiment of the violation of that divide. The double standard remained in force. Divorce legislation introduced in 1857 allowed for a man to divorce his wife for adultery, but a woman could only divorce if adultery was accompanied by cruelty. The anonymity of the city led to a large increase in prostitution and unsanctioned sexual relationships. Dickens and other writers associated prostitution with the mechanisation and industrialisation of modern life, portraying prostitutes as human commodities consumed and thrown away like refuse when they were used up. Moral reform movements attempted to close down brothels, something that has sometimes been argued to have been a factor in the concentration of street-prostitution in Whitechapel by the late 1880s.

Sources and further reading

- Altick, Richard Daniel. Victorian People and Ideas: A Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature. W.W. Norton & Company: 1974. ISBN 039309376X.
- Burton, Antoinette (editor). Politics and Empire in Victorian Britain: A Reader. Palgrave Macmillan: 2001. ISBN 0312293356.
- Flanders, Judith. Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England. W.W. Norton & Company: 2004. ISBN 0393052095.
- Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. Greenwood Press: 1996. ISBN 0313294674.
- Wilson, A. N. The Victorians. Arrow Books: 2002. ISBN 0099451867

External links and references

- [http://www.victorianweb.org/ The Victorian Web]
- [http://www.victorianlondon.org/ The Victorian Dictionary]
- [http://www.victorian-music.com Victorian Music 1835-1903] Category:Victorian era ja:ヴィクトリア朝

Aristocracy

The Ancient Greek term aristocracy meant a system of government with "rule by the best". This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. The word is derived from two words, "aristo" meaning the "best" and "kratia" "to rule". Because everyone has different ideas about what is "best", especially in relation to government, the term is tricky to apply in this sense. Aristocracies have most often been hereditary plutocracies (see below), where a sense of historical gravitas and noblesse oblige demands high minded action from its members. As a government term, aristocracy can be contrasted with:
- meritocracy - "rule by those who most deserve to rule". While this has on the surface a nearly similar meaning to "aristocracy", the term "meritocracy" has usually implied a much more fluid form of government in which one is not considered "best" for life, but must continually prove one's "merit" in order to stay in power.
- plutocracy - "rule by the wealthy". In actual practice, aristocrats are often just plutocrats whose wealth allows them to portray their own virtues as the "best" ones.
- oligarchy - "rule by the few". Whether an aristocracy is also an oligarchy depends entirely upon one's idea of what are a "few".
- monarchy - "rule by a single individual". Historically, the vast majority of monarchs have been aristocrats themselves. However, they have also been very often at odds with the rest of the aristocracy, since it was composed of their rivals. The struggle between a ruling dynastic family and the other aristocratic families in the same country has been a central theme of medieval history.
- democracy - "rule by the people". For the past two centuries, democracy has been the greatest enemy of aristocracy. The conflict between them began with the American Revolution, the first democratic revolution, quickly followed by the French Revolution (the first in Europe), and continued throughout the 19th century, occasionally flaring up in violent episodes such as the revolutions of 1848. Arguably, the end of the First World War in 1918 marked the final victory of democracy over aristocracy, as all the old European monarchies (and implicitly their aristocracies) were deposed. Today, the aristocracy is mostly powerless and plays a largely decorative role in most countries where it still exists. There are also exceptions, however, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

History

The term "aristocracy" was first given in Athens to young citizens who led armies from the front line with their swords up. Since military bravery was such a highly regarded virtue in ancient Greece, the armies were being led by "the best". From the ancient Greeks, the term passed on to the European Middle Ages for a similar hereditary class of military leaders often referred to as the "nobility". As in ancient Greece, this was a slave holding class of privileged men whose military role made them see themselves as the most "noble", or "best". Both aristocracies relied upon an established church to back up their claims of being "best" in the society. One of the key causes of the French Revolution was the idea that the traditional aristocracy no longer represented the "best" of its society. The army had been modernized by Louis XIV to a degree that aristocrats no longer rode at the front of their troops, but directed movements from a safe distance in many cases. It was difficult to abide the aristocracy's traditional privileges when they didn't earn them in the traditional way. The French Revolution focused on aristocrats as people who had achieved their status by birth rather than by merit, such unearned status being considered an affront to the bourgeoisie and new liberal norms. The term thus became symbolic of people who claim luxuries and privileges as a birthright, rather than people who claim the chance to die on the front lines as a birthright, a far cry from the original meaning of the term. In the United Kingdom and other European countries in which hereditary titles are still recognized, "aristocrat" still refers to the descendant of one of approximately 7,000 families with hereditary titles, usually still in possession of considerable wealth, though not necessarily so. In the United States and other nations without a history of a hereditary military caste, aristocracy has taken on a more stylistic meaning. In most cases, the usage is pejorative and refers to purveryors of snobbery, but "aristocrat" can also refer to an elegant person with a gracious lifestyle and strong sense of duty. This last meaning can be seen as taking the term back to its original roots.

External links

- [http://www.bbcfactual.co.uk/aristocracy.htm BBC series on recent history of European aristocracy]

Costume

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. It can also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described, or to a particular style of clothing worn to portray the wearer as a character or type of character other than their regular persona at a social event such as a masquerade, a fancy dress party or in an artistic theatrical performance. performance Theatrical costumes, in combination with other aspects, serve to portray characters' age, gender role, profession, social class, personality, and can even reveal information about the historical period/era, geographic location, time of day, as well as the season or weather of the theatrical performance. Sometimes theatrical costumes literally mimic what the costume designer thinks the character would wear if the character actually existed. On the other hand, often stylized theatrical costumes can exaggerate some aspect of a character. National costume or regional costume can express local (or exiled) identity and emphasise uniqueness. The wearing of costumes has become an important part of Mardi Gras and Halloween celebrations, and (to a lesser extent) people may also wear costumes in conjunction with other holiday celebrations, such as Christmas and Easter. Mardi Gras costumes are usually jesters and other fantasy characters, while Halloween costumes traditionally take the form of supernatural creatures such as ghosts, vampires, and angels. Christmas and Easter costumes typically portray mythical holiday characters, such as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, and costumes may serve to portray various other character themes during secular holidays, such as an Uncle Sam costume worn on the Independence day for example. Some people wear costumes for erotic purposes. This is taken as a harmless fun or a form of fetishism, or a combination of the two. See also: cosplay

External links

- [http://www.1000costumes.com/ 1000 Costumes].
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/GT513xL32/ LACY'S DRAMATIC COSTUMES], collected & edited by Thomas Hailes Lacy, 1865 & 1868. (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/GT513xL32/1f/ layered PDF] format)
- [http://www.costumes.org/ The Costumers Manifesto]. Category:Clothing ja:服装

1930s

----

Events and trends

The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. In Australia, this decade was known as the Dirty Thirties. In both Central Europe and Eastern Europe, Fascism, Nazism, Stalinism, and dominated as the solution, the first two adopting war-oriented economic policies and the latter emphasizing heavy industrial development, all of them described as totalitarian regimes. In East Asia, the rise of Militarism occurred. In Western Europe, Australia and the United States, more progressive reforms occurred as opposed to the extreme measures sought elsewhere. Roosevelt's New Deal attempted to use government spending to combat large-scale unemployment and severely negative growth. Ultimately, it would be the beginning of World War II in 1939 that would end the depression.

Technology

- Jet engine invented
- Disney adopts a three-color Technicolor process for cartoons
- The photocopier is invented
- Air mail service across the Atlantic

Science

- Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann
- Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
- British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term "ecosystem"
- New and safer method for blood transfusions.

War, peace and politics

- Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism
- Rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany
- Under Joseph Stalin, millions die in famines. The Great Purges eliminate all Old Bolsheviks from the Soviet government, except for Molotov and Stalin himself.
- Almost all of Continental Europe moves to Authoritarianism or Totalitarianism
- Starts or continue the Estado Novo in Brazil and Portugal.
- Advent of the modern welfare state in New Zealand and Sweden.
- The Empire of Japan invades China as a precursor to Japanese invasions in Southeast Asia
- The Spanish Civil War
- Start of World War II in Asia and Europe

Economics

- Worldwide Great Depression

Culture, religion

- Radio becomes dominant mass media in industrial nations
- "Golden Age" of radio begins in U.S.
- First intercontinental commercial airline flights
- Height of the Art Deco movement in Europe and the US
- The Wizard of Oz
- "Big band" or "swing" music becomes popular (from 1935 onward)
- Superman debuts in 1938.
- Triumph of the Will

Others

- U.S. presidential candidate Huey Long assassinated
- Board of Temperance Strategy established in U.S. to fight repeal of prohibition.

People

World leaders

- Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada)
- President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China)
- President Lin Sen (Republic of China)
- President Paul von Hindenburg (Germany)
- Adolf Hitler (Germany)
- King Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
- Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (Italy)
- President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Turkey)
- Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
- Pope Pius XI
- Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
- King George V (United Kingdom)
- King Edward VIII (United Kingdom)
- King George VI (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (United Kingdom)
- President Herbert Hoover (United States)
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (United States)
- President W.T. Cosgrave (Irish Free State)
- President Eamon de Valera (Irish Free State)
- Taoiseach Eamon de Valera (Éire)
- Prime Minister James Scullin (Australia)
- Prime Minister Joseph Lyons (Australia)
- Prime Minister Sir Earle Page (Australia)
- Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage (New Zealand)
- President Getúlio Vargas (Brazil)
- Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar (Portugal)

Entertainers

- Alice Brady
- Bela Lugosi
- Benny Goodman
- Bing Crosby
- Boris Karloff
- Charlie Chaplin
- Duke Ellington
- Django Reinhardt
- Edward G. Robinson
- Fats Waller
- Fred Astaire
- Ginger Rogers
- Glenn Miller and his orchestra
- Judy Garland
- Katharine Hepburn
- Louis Armstrong
- The Marx Brothers
- Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
- Carl Stuart Hamblen

Sports figures

- Cliff Bastin (English footballer)
- Donald Bradman (Australian cricketer)
- Bill "Dixie" Dean (English footballer)
- Jack Dyer (Australian Rules Football player)
- Walter Hammond (Gloucestershire & England cricketer)
- Eddie Hapgood (English footballer)
- George Headley (West Indies cricketer)
- Alex James (Scottish footballer)
- Douglas Jardine (England cricket captain)
- Harold Larwood (Nottinghamshire & England cricketer)
- Jack Lovelock (New Zealand runner)
- Jesse Owens (American track and field athlete)
- Fred Perry (English tennis player)

External links

- [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html America in the 1930s]— An overview of the decade in the United States
- [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/GE_P4_1_EN.html The Dirty Thirties] — Images of the Great Depression in Canada Category:1930s ko:1930년대 ja:1930年代 simple:1930s

Pornography

:This article is about pornography, material created with the purpose of sexual arousal. For alternate uses, see pornography (disambiguation). pornography (disambiguation) Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφία pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) (also informally referred to as "porn," "porno," and more recently, "pr0n") is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. Pornography may use any of a variety of media — written and spoken text, photos, sculpture, drawings, moving images (including animation), and sounds such as heavy breathing. Pornographic films combine moving images, spoken erotic text and/or other erotic sounds, while magazines often combine photos and written text. Novels and short stories provide written text, sometimes with illustrations. A live performance may also be called pornographic.
Terminology
In its original meaning, pornography was literally "writing about prostitutes", from the classical Greek roots πορνη and γραφειν. Πορνη started as a euphemism and literally meant '(something) sold.' It is related to the verb περνημι meaning 'to sell.' It derived from a Greek term for men who chronicled the well-known "pornai", or skilled prostitutes of ancient Greece. In more modern times, the term was adopted by social scientists to describe the work of men like Nicholas Restif and William Acton, who in the 18th and 19th centuries published treatises studying prostitution and proposing to regulate it. The term retained this meaning in the Oxford English Dictionary until 1905. The term then came to mean writing about anything sexual, especially in a base manner, when the creation, presentation, or consumption of the material was for sexual stimulation. The term now refers to sexually related material of all kinds, both written and graphical. The term "pornography" often has negative connotations of low artistic merit, as compared to the more esteemed erotica. Euphemisms such as adult film, adult video and adult bookstore are generally preferred within the industry producing these works (namely the Adult industry). Pornography can also be contrasted with ribaldry, which uses sexual titillation in the service of comedy. Having said that, the definition of pornography is highly subjective, with generally accepted works of art such as Michelangelo's David being considered pornographic by some people. A distinction is sometimes made between softcore pornography and hardcore pornography. The former generally refers to materials that feature nudity, sexually suggestive scenes, and simulated sex, while hardcore or X-rated pornography contains close-ups of aroused genitalia and sexual activities including penetration. Within the industry itself, informal classification breaks down even further. The distinctions may seem trivial to many people, but the precarious legal definition and differing standards at different outlets cause producers to shoot and edit different cuts of films and to first screen those differing versions for their legal teams. The internal rating decision is primarily made by considering the exposure of an erect penis, inclusion and duration of close-up shots of genitals and penetration, types of penetration, and the presence or lack of an external ejaculation. In some jurisdictions the depiction of urination or defecation contributes to the conclusion that a particular image is pornographic (see e.g. Arizona Criminal Code [http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/13/03551.htm], 9f, 11, in combination with [http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/13/03553.htm&Title=13&DocType=ARS], A2, and for Utah [http://www.le.state.ut.us/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_06003.htm], 8h).
History
defecation Pornography has an extensive history. Sexually suggestive and explicit artwork is as ancient as artwork of any other content; explicit photographs date to very shortly after the invention of photography; and among the earliest films are works depicting nudity and explicit sex. Nude human beings and sexual activities are depicted in some paleolithic art (e.g. Venus Figurines); however, it is not certain that the purpose was sexual arousal, as the images may have had instead a spiritual significance. There are numerous pornographic paintings on the walls of ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii. One notable example is a brothel in which the various sexual services are advertised in murals above each door. In Pompeii you can also see phalli and testicles engraved in the sidewalks, pointing the way to the prostitution and entertainment district, to aid visitors in finding their way (see Erotic art in Pompeii). Archaeologists in Germany reported in April 2005 that they had found what they believe is a 7,200-year-old pornographic scene depicting a male figurine bending over a female figurine in a manner suggestive of sexual intercourse. The male figure has been named Adonis von Zschernitz. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1451509,00.html] Pornographic comic books known as Tijuana bibles began appearing in the U.S. in the 1920s. 1920s In the second half of the 20th century, pornography in the United States evolved from the so-called "men's magazines" such as Playboy and Modern Man of the 1950s. These magazines featured nude or semi-nude women, sometimes apparently engaging in the act of masturbation, although their genitals or pubic hair were not actually displayed. By the late 1960s, however, these magazines, which by then included Penthouse, began to evolve into more explicit displays, eventually, by the 1990s, featuring sexual penetration, lesbianism and homosexuality, group sex, masturbation, and fetishes. The first explicitly pornographic film with a plot that received a general theatrical release in the U.S. is generally considered to be Mona (also known as Mona the Virgin Nymph), a 59-minute 1970 feature by Bill Osco and Howard Ziehm, who went on to create the relatively high-budget hardcore/softcore (depending on the release) cult film Flesh Gordon. The 1971 film The Boys in the Sand represented a number of pornographic "firsts." It was the first generally available gay pornographic movie. It was the first porn film to include onscreen credits for its cast and crew (albeit largely under pseudonyms). It was the first porn film to parody the title of a mainstream movie (in this case, The Boys in the Band). And it is the only X-rated pornographic film to be reviewed by The New York Times.
Technology and pornography
Mass-distributed pornography is as old as the printing press. Almost as soon as photography was invented, it was being used to produce pornographic photographs.
Video: Betamax, VHS, DVD, Next-Gen Media Formats
The movie camera has also been used for pornography throughout its history, and with the arrival of the home video cassette recorder the pornographic movie industry experienced massive growth and spawned adult stars like Ginger Lynn, Christy Canyon, and Traci Lords (later found to have been under the legal age of 18 during her tenure in the industry). One could now not only watch pornography in the comfort and privacy of one's own home, but also find greater choices available to satisfy specific fantasies and fetishes. Coupled with the arrival of affordable consumer-level video cameras, one had the means of producing one's own content, for enjoyment or even for profit. It has been suggested that Sony Betamax lost the format war to VHS (in becoming the general home video recording/viewing system) because the adult video industry chose VHS instead of the technically superior Sony system. Other attempts at innovation came in the form of "interactive" videos that let the user choose such variables as multiple camera angles, multiple endings (i.e "Devil in the Flesh", 1999, Private Films), and computer-only DVD content. Erotic film producers are expected to play a major role in deciding the next DVD standard. Large outfits tend to support the high-capacity Blu-ray Disc, while small outfits generally favor the less-expensive HD-DVD. According to a 2004 Reuters article, "The multi-billion-dollar industry releases about 11,000 titles on DVD each year, giving it tremendous power to sway the battle between two groups of studios and technology companies competing to set standards for the next generation" [http://www.bizreport.com/news/8560/].
Video and computer games
Pornographic computer games have also existed almost since the start of the industry - some of the earliest were Mystique's Atari 2600 video games, including Custer's Revenge, Beat Em and Eat Em and Gigolo. The Japanese company Hacker International, which also published games under the name Super PIG, produced several pornographic titles for the Nintendo Famicom - three of these, renamed to Bubble Bath Babes, Hot Slots and Peek-A-Boo Poker, were distributed in the USA by Panesian. These games largely disappeared from the marketplace as the industry matured and the user base broadened, due primarily to increased production cost and complexity, severely limited distribution options (most national retailers such as Wal-mart and Target won't stock games with the AO (Adults Only) rating), and potential legal issues associated in developing a game without official sanction and/or licensing from the respective console manufacturers.[http://www.xbox.com/en-US/dev/tools.htm] Recent media coverage of titles like BMX XXX, Playboy: The Mansion and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (article: [http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/10/27games.html Austin-American Satesman]) suggest a reversal towards producing and marketing adult-themed games. In contrast to the console market, niche PC developers have continued to produce adult games with pornographic content. A Google search for "PC strip poker" conducted November 1, 2005 returned slightly over 2 million results. The Japanese market has a particular interest in pornographic Hentai games (often referred to as "H games" outside of Japan).
Photo manipulation and computer-generated pornography
A lot of pornography is digitally manipulated in sophisticated image editors such as Adobe Photoshop. This practice ranges from applying mild changes to photographs to improve the appearance of the models, such as removing skin defects, improving brightness and contrast of the photo, to extensive editing to produce photomorphs of non-existent creatures such as catgirls, or images of celebrities who may not have themselves ever consented to be filmed for pornography. Digital manipulation requires the use of source photographs, but some pornography is produced without human actors at all. The idea of completely computer-generated pornography was conceived very early as one of the most obvious areas of application for computer graphics and 3D rendering. However, until the late 1990s it could not be produced cost-effectively. In early 2000s it became a growing segment, as the modeling and animation software matured and rendering capabilities of computers improved. The strongest advantage of computer-generated pornography is the ability to realistically render sexual fantasies that are impossible or illegal to film in reality. As of 2004, computer-generated pornography depicting situations involving children and sex with fictional characters such as Lara Croft is already produced on a limite

Burlesque

History

References

See also

External links

Imitation

Upper class

Parody

Western origin

Use in classical music

English term

Alternate meaning

Film genres

Copyright issues

See also

Examples

Historical examples

Contemporary examples

Literary criticism

History of literary criticism

Classical and medieval criticism

Renaissance criticism

19th-century criticism

The New Criticism

Theory

The current state of literary criticism

Bibliography

See also

External link

High burlesque

Hudibras

Purpose

Structure

Plot

Significance

External links

Colloquialism

See also

External link

1840s

Events and Trends

Technology

War, peace and politics

Culture and Religion

Other

World Leaders

Victorian era

Politics

Events

Science, technology and engineering

The fallen woman

See also

Sources and further reading

External links and references

Aristocracy

History

See also

External links

Further reading

Costume

External links

1930s

Events and trends

Technology

Science

War, peace and politics

Economics

Culture, religion

Others

People

World leaders

Entertainers

Sports figures

External links

Pornography

Terminology

History

Technology and pornography

Video: Betamax, VHS, DVD, Next-Gen Media Formats

Video and computer games