Recognizable Figures Research Articles

Blake’s “Watchman”: Los and the London Police

ABSTRACT The Metropolitan Police Act of 1829 created a centralized police force in London, formally ending the tenure of the parochial watchman—a recognizable figure in the capital for centuries—and replacing him with the uniformed “bobbies” still visible today. This change, however, was far from an inevitability. The proto-centralization embedded in the Middlesex Justices Act of 1792, and the various textual and pictorial works defending the watchman’s role as a local guardian, reflect the conflicting approaches to policing London’s spaces which competed in the decades preceding 1829. This essay explores points of interaction between these debates and the works of William Blake. After examining Blake’s 1807 letter to publisher Richard Phillips, which condemns the activities of the Hatton Garden Police Office, I probe how a distrust of centralized authority manifests itself within Blake’s work through the figures of the “Watch-fiends.” From here I explore how Blake’s depiction of Los as “Albions Watchman” in Jerusalem (c.1804–20) shares similarities with contemporary works celebrating the symbolic opposition of the parochial watchman to central tyranny. Ultimately, I show that Blake’s utilization of a recognizable London type allows us to draw productive parallels between his works and the city spaces in which they were formed.

Cocaine Cowboys: Visualizing Aging Masculinities in Galician Narco Noir

Arguably the most recognizable figure of Galician manhood on screen today is the aging drug kingpin, as the burgeoning cinematic genre of Galician narco noir exposes global audiences to Galicia’s key role as a gateway for the steady flow of cocaine into Europe. This article engages with current debates in aging, masculinities and disability studies to examine the depiction of the elderly male drug lords in two recent works pertaining to the Galician narco noir genre; Nemo Bandeira, protagonist of the series Vivir sin permiso (2018–2020), based on a short story by Manuel Rivas, and Antonio Padín from the film Quien a hierro mata (2019), a Galician-Spanish co-production directed by Paco Plaza. It is argued that the intersection of aging masculinities with illness and disability in the representation of older drug lords perpetuates but also renegotiates preconceptions about Galician manhood, reflecting broader issues relating to the representation and commodification of gender, age, illness, disability, and power in popular culture. In the context of the stereotypically “masculine” sphere of organized crime, analysis of how the older male demographic is represented in noir brings insight into the construction of Galician identities on screen more generally, signaling to perceptions of the wider societal impact of crime, corruption, and impunity in Galician society.

Using [un]popular culture in social work education: the only way is Essex and Katie Price: what Harvey did next?

ABSTRACT Traditional social work education in the UK has been successful in terms of widening participation, although there are some threats to this. Within the post 92 university sector in particular, social work students come from a diverse range of backgrounds. Some of these students will not have had positive experiences of formative education or would have been subject to state discrimination and hostility. We report on the use of pedagogical approaches which aim to support social work students to feel a sense of security and belonging within the higher education environment, develop safe ways to engage in critical self reflection, helps students engage with often nebulous, and complex theoretical concepts, and most importantly, serve to challenge the exclusionary culture of higher education, which at times can make students feel unworthy. We address these issues by using [un]popular culture in our teaching practices. Two UK TV programs in particular, TOWIE and Katie Price: What Harvey did Next, offer a wealth of pedagogical material and opportunities for deep learning. Using recognizable figures from popular culture, gives social work students permission to explore matters and theory relevant to social work, not least class, taste, gender and disability.

«ДІВОЧІ ПРИРЕЧЕННЯ» ТА «ПОМСТА»:ГАЛИЦЬКІ ШЕДЕВРИ АЛЄКСАНДРА ФРЕДРА

The most recognizable figure of Galicia in the 19th century for Polish cultural memory remains the creator of comedies Alexander Fredro. Already in the first quarter of the 19th century, the dramaturgy of Alexander Fredro gradually turned Galicia into a center of Polish culture. The theater was the center of cultural and social life in Lviv almost throughout the 19th century. Fredro’s comedies are surprisingly Galician. However, they are rooted not only in the Galician space, in the Galician noble tradition, but also in Moliere’s characters, Shakespeare’s passions in minor events against the background of the social and political life of Galicia at the end of the 18th - the first third of the 19th century. These dramatic works are an artistic reflection of that Galicia, which grows on the remains of the aristocratic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and adapts to the Viennese way of life and thinking, to the existence born of new mental maps in the province of the Habsburg Monarchy. Already during the lifetime of the playwright, it became clear that “Śluby panieńskie” (“Maiden Vows”) and “Zemsta” (“Vengeance”) were the peaks of his work. And although the events of the first of the comedies supposedly take place on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, in fact, such a location is an attempt to place the actions of the work outside the Habsburg Monarchy. All of Fredro’s comedies, which were staged during his lifetime, except for the last “Dożyvocie” (“Lifetime maintenance”), create a special space of happy Arcadia – the noble world of Galicia, immersed in the manor’s courtyard. This courtyard becomes a limited space in which simple human happiness is possible, cherishing values that have been formed over dozens of generations who lived in it, nurturing noble virtues and culture. “Lifetime maintenance” changes the time-space of Fredro’s comedies, becomes a special upheaval of the aristocratic world, immersed in the dream world of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or to describe it more precisely, in the legends of the life of the Galician nobility.

The Politics of Pre-Narrative Seriality

This contribution examines Uncle Sam's development during the nineteenth century as an interesting case study for transmedial character theory, an increasingly common approach to the study of fictional characters. However, as Scolari, Bertetti, and Freeman have argued, "older forms of transmedia franchises were constructed on character sharing rather than on the logics of a particular world" (17). Characters were and still are in many cases the nodal points and intersections of various processes discussed as media convergence, yet the distinctions between "actual" characters and related terms such as "cultural icons" (Brooker) or "serial figures" (Denson and Mayer) remain somewhat contested and often hard to draw in practice. This contribution addresses these issues by investigating the nineteenth-century emergence and transformation of Uncle Sam as a recognizable figure within political cartoons. Without any overarching creative authority or any consistent "storyworld" to speak of, these cartoons lend themselves to recontextualizations by any artist able to uphold a recognizable iconography. In media-historical terms, political cartoons that did not merely comment upon actually existing public persons but instead developed their own inventory of allegorical figures are an important link between earlier, more "static" pictorial personifications of—and symbols for—countries and ideas and the later emergence of serial characters within comic books and other narrative media.

Material Practices and Semiotic Objects: A Response to Shane Denson

This contribution examines Uncle Sam's development during the nineteenth century as an interesting case study for transmedial character theory, an increasingly common approach to the study of fictional characters. However, as Scolari, Bertetti, and Freeman have argued, "older forms of transmedia franchises were constructed on character sharing rather than on the logics of a particular world" (17). Characters were and still are in many cases the nodal points and intersections of various processes discussed as media convergence, yet the distinctions between "actual" characters and related terms such as "cultural icons" (Brooker) or "serial figures" (Denson and Mayer) remain somewhat contested and often hard to draw in practice. This contribution addresses these issues by investigating the nineteenth-century emergence and transformation of Uncle Sam as a recognizable figure within political cartoons. Without any overarching creative authority or any consistent "storyworld" to speak of, these cartoons lend themselves to recontextualizations by any artist able to uphold a recognizable iconography. In media-historical terms, political cartoons that did not merely comment upon actually existing public persons but instead developed their own inventory of allegorical figures are an important link between earlier, more "static" pictorial personifications of—and symbols for—countries and ideas and the later emergence of serial characters within comic books and other narrative media.

Historicizing and Theorizing Pre-Narrative Figures—Who is Uncle Sam?

This contribution examines Uncle Sam's development during the nineteenth century as an interesting case study for transmedial character theory, an increasingly common approach to the study of fictional characters. However, as Scolari, Bertetti, and Freeman have argued, "older forms of transmedia franchises were constructed on character sharing rather than on the logics of a particular world" (17). Characters were and still are in many cases the nodal points and intersections of various processes discussed as media convergence, yet the distinctions between "actual" characters and related terms such as "cultural icons" (Brooker) or "serial figures" (Denson and Mayer) remain somewhat contested and often hard to draw in practice. This contribution addresses these issues by investigating the nineteenth-century emergence and transformation of Uncle Sam as a recognizable figure within political cartoons. Without any overarching creative authority or any consistent "storyworld" to speak of, these cartoons lend themselves to recontextualizations by any artist able to uphold a recognizable iconography. In media-historical terms, political cartoons that did not merely comment upon actually existing public persons but instead developed their own inventory of allegorical figures are an important link between earlier, more "static" pictorial personifications of—and symbols for—countries and ideas and the later emergence of serial characters within comic books and other narrative media.

Who is Uncle Sam? 19th Century Pre-Narrative Figures and the Emergence of Transmedia Character Culture

This contribution examines Uncle Sam's development during the nineteenth century as an interesting case study for transmedial character theory, an increasingly common approach to the study of fictional characters. However, as Scolari, Bertetti, and Freeman have argued, "older forms of transmedia franchises were constructed on character sharing rather than on the logics of a particular world" (17). Characters were and still are in many cases the nodal points and intersections of various processes discussed as media convergence, yet the distinctions between "actual" characters and related terms such as "cultural icons" (Brooker) or "serial figures" (Denson and Mayer) remain somewhat contested and often hard to draw in practice. This contribution addresses these issues by investigating the nineteenth-century emergence and transformation of Uncle Sam as a recognizable figure within political cartoons. Without any overarching creative authority or any consistent "storyworld" to speak of, these cartoons lend themselves to recontextualizations by any artist able to uphold a recognizable iconography. In media-historical terms, political cartoons that did not merely comment upon actually existing public persons but instead developed their own inventory of allegorical figures are an important link between earlier, more "static" pictorial personifications of—and symbols for—countries and ideas and the later emergence of serial characters within comic books and other narrative media.

Get Gritty with it: memetic icons and the visual ethos of antifascism

ABSTRACT This essay tracks how Gritty, the new mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, emerged as a memetic icon for antifascism and the sometimes-contradictory ethos of far-left online publics. Emerging through expressive sharing, remixing, and appropriation of widely recognizable figures, memetic icons come to embody the ethos of publics, helping them foment dissent. Gritty specifically came to embody antifascists’ incivility towards fascism, as well as their desire to create a more just world. This article demonstrates how memes serve as an organizing tool for anti-capitalist politics and how tracing the circulation of images within publics shows how they produce icons.

Sailing Away From the Pyramid: A Revised Visual Representation of Maslow’s Theory Z

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, in its pyramidal representation, is one of the most recognizable visual figures in psychology and management. Recently, there have been attempts to incorporate Maslow’s Theory Z, which encompasses the highest level of human motivation beyond self-actualization, into this pyramid. However, this pyramidal representation of Theory Z encompasses many of the misconceptions of Maslow’s theory of human motivation, and it fails to convey the richness of Theory Z. As a result, this article aims to address and rectify the shortcomings of previous pyramidal representations of both Maslow’s original hierarchy of needs and Theory Z; it also aims to provide a revised visual representation of Theory Z. This article will first summarize and build on Kaufman’s recent “sailboat” approach to depict Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Next, it will present the method and results of a content analysis on several of Maslow’s writings, revealing the necessary components and subcomponents of the revised visual representation of Theory Z. This revised representation will then be discussed in detail, and a description of each component and subcomponent will be provided. The goal is to provide students and researchers alike with a more accurate visual depiction of Theory Z.

Teaching Anticommunism: Fred Schwarz and American Postwar Conservatism

Teaching Anticommunism: Fred Schwarz and American Postwar Conservatism

The Cambridge Edition of The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson, Volume 11: Correspondence of Richardson’s Final Years (1755–1761). Ed. Shelley King and John B. Pierce.

<i>The Cambridge Edition of The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson, Volume 11: Correspondence of Richardson’s Final Years (1755–1761)</i>. Ed. Shelley King and John B. Pierce.

Escherization with Large Deformations Based on As-Rigid-As-Possible Shape Modeling

Escher tiling is well known as a tiling that consists of one or a few recognizable figures, such as animals. The Escherization problem involves finding the most similar shape to a given goal figure that can tile the plane. However, it is easy to imagine that there is no similar tile shape for complex goal shapes. This article devises a method for finding a satisfactory tile shape in such a situation. To obtain a satisfactory tile shape, the tile shape is generated by deforming the goal shape to a considerable extent while retaining the characteristics of the original shape. To achieve this, both goal and tile shapes are represented as triangular meshes to consider not only the contours but also the internal similarity of the shapes. To measure the naturalness of the deformation, energy functions based on traditional as-rigid-as-possible shape modeling are incorporated into a recently developed framework of the exhaustive search of the templates for the Escherization problem. The developed algorithms find satisfactory tile shapes with natural deformations for fairly complex goal shapes.

Upheavals in Black Thought

Upheavals in Black Thought

The Caribbean and the Medical Imagination, 1764–1834: Slavery, Disease, and Colonial Modernity. Emily Senior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. xii+284.

<i>The Caribbean and the Medical Imagination, 1764–1834: Slavery, Disease, and Colonial Modernity</i>. Emily Senior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. xii+284.

“Cats be outside, how about meow”: Multimodal humor and creativity in an internet meme

Adding to research on internet memes and humor, this study examines a set of image macros related to a specific viral media event (i.e., “cash me ousside”). This particular meme is linked to a popular catchphrase uttered by a young teenage girl, who appeared on a 2016 episode of the U.S. television talk show, Dr. Phil. We compiled a dataset of 220 image macros related to this media event from three online platforms. Our analysis focuses on various forms of linguistic humor, which most often rely on multimodal interactions between textual and visual elements. Our findings reveal multiple instances of wordplay involving paronymy as well as register-based humor and humor involving the voicing of recognizable figures. In addition, multimodal play often involves semiotic blends of this particular meme with other popular memes. Overall, our study illustrates unique combinations of unexpected elements and semiotic extensions of a non-standard catchphrase with other visual images, thereby establishing incongruity and generating humorous meanings.

The Film Kids 25 Years On: A Qualitative Study of Rape Culture and Representations of Sexual Violence in Skateboarding

This article examines the 1995 fictional feature film Kids, which locates its story in skateboarding culture. The film reached its 25th anniversary in 2020; it is directed by Larry Clark and written by Harmony Korine, both recognizable figures in skateboarding, and it featured a cast of youth from the New York skateboarding scene. The research analyses narrative content that depicts sexual coercion and rape. Contemporary social and feminist theories of sexual violence, rape culture and media on the film inform the analysis. The discussion points to how the characters that the boys play embody forms of hegemonic masculinity, pointing to the social and cultural dimensions of male power and how sexual violence can be an element of that. The article also presents an occasion to reflect on such issues in skateboarding culture more widely, with emerging insights that can be useful to studies of other male-dominated youth cultures, lifestyle sports and subcultures.

“At the Proscenium Pillar”: The Evolution of Thornton Wilder's Stage Manager

Abstract Perhaps the most famous and recognizable figure in Thornton Wilder's plays is the Stage Manager. The Stage Manager first appears in his one-act plays The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden and Pullman Car Hiawatha and most notably in Our Town. This article examines Wilder's Stage Manager characters using as a framework criteria derived from the four fundamental conditions of drama outlined in his 1941 essay “Some Thoughts on Playwriting.” Tracing Wilder's development of this character from the early one-act plays through his later plays, The Skin of Our Teeth and The Alcestiad, reveals that, in the latter two instances, characters who are not explicitly given the title of Stage Manager nonetheless fulfill the role outlined in this article. The recurring appearance of the Stage Manager figure suggests an evolving convention in Wilder's dramaturgy.

Menéndez Pidal y la lingüística by Yakov Malkiel

Reviewed by: Menéndez Pidal y la lingüística by Yakov Malkiel Yasmine Beale-Rivaya Malkiel, Yakov. Menéndez Pidal y la lingüística. Nota preliminar de Francisco Rico, prólogos de Charles B. Faulhaber y Steven N. Dworkin, índices de Miguel Requena, al cuidado de Rosa Bono, Centro para la Edición de los Clásicos Españoles, 2018. ISBN: 978-84-0907-639-0. This book is essentially the completion of a project that, unfortunately, could not be completed by the original author, Yakov Malkiel. The original intent was to produce a critical analysis of "Etimologías españolas" and "Notas para el léxico romanico" by Ramón Menéndez Pidal. The analysis, which was to offer a panoramic perspective, was supposed to appear in monograph form with the intended title of Menéndez Pidal y la lingüística. However, the collection of essays that would eventually form part of the monograph did not make it into print before Malkiel's passing. The current book seeks to rectify this situation. The main part of the book is a collection of Malkiel's work, articles, book chapters, and correspondence with Menéndez Pidal that would have appeared in some form in the original work. What sets this posthumous publication apart and makes this book invaluable is the fact that the chapters are reprinted "as is," with Malkiel's own notes and edits on [End Page 180] the page. The reprint of his notes, letters, and rough drafts of the chapters provide precisely the panoramic vision that he was not able to complete. From a reader's perspective the most interesting aspect of the inclusion of these letters is that they offer a window into Menéndez Pidal and Malkiel's work method, relationship, and the questions that they thought were most pressing. In addition the letters provide the reader with an example of how letters and conversations become the foundation for research. The combination of the letters, along with the chapters, draws back the curtain on their research and writing process. Malkiel's work constitutes the introduction to the intended work: "Introducción: el carácter del problema." Here, Malkiel lays out the areas of study: general medieval history, literary history, folkore, and linguistics. The second section is an inventory of the linguistic contributions by Menéndez Pidal. This section helps to guide the reader in understanding the breadth of Menéndez Pidal's work in linguistics and the importance of each of his contributions. The third section with the title "Era omme essencial…" is almost prophetic. Malkiel writes: In conversations with laymen I have had occasion to observe that Menéndez Pidal's name is most frequently associated with three inherent qualities or incidental features of his biography and record: an exceptionally long lifespan; a massive output of scholarly writings … and an unusually meritorious performance. … As for the overwhelming wealth of D. Ramón's scholarly production, nobody can help referring to it in a hushed voice, with awe and veneration. (43) Anyone familiar with Malkiel's work would probably say the same of him and would probably lower one's voice when speaking of his work as if to recognize that someone such as Malkiel comes around once in a generation. This sentiment is reflected in the first part of the book: the preface, notes, and prologue by Francisco Rico, Charles B. Faulhaber, and Steven N. Dworkin. In much the same way that Malkiel was contextualizing and analyzing Menéndez Pidal's body of work, Rico, Faulhaber, and Dworkin contextualize and explain Malkiel's academic progression and his vast contributions to the field, including his work in establishing the journal Romance Philology, and his relationship with his protégés. In these chapters, the breadth and profundity [End Page 181] of Malkiel's contributions to the field are laid out. While it can be argued that Menéndez Pidal is probably the most recognizable figure in Hispanic Linguistics, what becomes apparent in these preliminary chapters is that Malkiel is responsible for the shape of the field today. In this way, the prefacing chapters frame and mirror the content of the analysis offered by Malkiel on Men...

ОПЕРА ТАН ЦЗЯНЬПИНА «А ЗОРИ ЗДЕСЬ ТИХИЕ»: ИСТОРИЯ СОЗДАНИЯ И ОСОБЕННОСТИ МУЗЫКАЛЬНОЙ ДРАМАТУРГИИ

The article is devoted to the Opera "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" by the Chinese composer Tang Jianping based on the same-named novel by Boris Vasilyev. The theme of the Great Patriotic War, which for the first time became the plot of the Chinese Opera, was in tune with the theme of the Chinese Resistance to the Japanese Invasion. The composition synthesizes the characteristics of the European opera type in its Russified version, which was reflected in the heroic and epic dramaturgy and multi-part musical text. Russian folklore allusions, quasi- quotes from Russian operas, military-patriotic and Soviet mass songs reflect the author's method. The integrity of musical dramaturgy was given by the leitmotif, which became the main marker of Russian identity in the Opera. The Opera lacks a naturalistic embodiment of the War, and depicts the enemy in a conventional, symbolic way, in the form of unnamed but recognizable figures. The creators of the play sought to reveal the barbaric essence of the War, its anti-human character, to present the psychological state of the heroes and the manifestation of their human nature. The theme of the death of young girls gave a special perspective to the Opera, which is particularly acute in China due to gender disparity. The concept of the composer, director and screenwriter reflects the ideological constants of traditional Chinese culture, which gave the Opera an internal subtext.