Writing sample three - Excerpt from art comparison and analysis

Excerpt from - A Contrast and Comparison of Manet's Olympia and Titian's Venus of Urbino

In 1538, in Italy, Titian, a renowned oil painter, presented to his patron, Guidobaldo II, the Venus of Urbino, and as noted by Gardiner's Art through the Ages, pg. 267, set a new standard for the reclining nude female. In 1863, nearly three hundred years later, Manet depicted a similar painting, Olympia. Unlike Venus, Olympia set off a series of complaints from art critics, for attempting to challenge “the whole iconographic stock of traditional art” (Gardiner pg. 368)

Both artists used similar subjects, courtesans or prostitutes posing in a reclining position while servants are in the background, however the purpose of both paintings differs drastically. These differences are the subject of comparison for their similarities and differences in formal artistic elements of: subject, composition, light and dark and scale including balance. Manet's Olympia served to be a social statement on society's view on prostitution and perceived outsiders of society, while Titian's Venus was known better for introducing a new painting technique for oils and showing the beauty of a woman in a goddess like manner.

Titian painted Venus in 1583, when painting oil on canvas became more accepted in the European and Western world (pg. 267, Gardiner). The painting took place in Florence, Italy, whose subject, as requested by Titian's patron, Guidobaldo II, duke of Urbino, a beautiful and nude courtesan, only fashioned with a gold bracelet on her right hand, eating grapes with her left, reclining in her large bed chamber, all the while enticing the audience with a smile and heavy lidded stare. There are two servant girls in the background who are preparing to dress Venus as the dusk is approaching through her vista window. The overall colour scheme that is used is touches of warm yellows, gold with hints of reds.

The other piece, Olympia, similar to Venus, is of a nude, redheaded prostitute, whose hair is tied in the back, and also reclining on her bedspread. In the immediat background is one black servant who is presenting her with flowers from a client. Edourd Manet painted this piece in 1863, Paris, France in response to the “iconographic stock of traditional art” (pg. 350, Gardiner). She has a wilted flower in her hair, a black ribbon on her neck, a gold bracelet around her left bracelet and gold slippers slipping off her feet. Her gaze unlike that of Venus is not enticing but indifferent. Although the subjects in both paintings are very similar as noted above, the meaning and portrayal of both women by the artists are very different.

Writing sample two - Excerpt from analysis of stage directions in “The Merchant of Venice”

It is important to note that the Merchant of Venice (Merchant) was written in the 1600’s and first performed in 1605. It is speculated that the play was performed in an outdoor theater, likely at night, lit by lanterns and candles and therefore have a minimum amount of special effects. Other things to note is that the play can be viewed as being timeless and is not restricted to the reality of the 1600’s, for example, the ships that Antonio has which supposedly go to Mexico, did not exist at the time; the assumption by Portia in the final scene that the nightingales only come out at night is incorrect or that the island of Belmont where half the play takes place did not theoretically exist. In other words, since Merchant is not based completely in reality or in a particular time, it is assumed that the play, settings and direction can be presented according to the vision of the director. The following would be my interpretation of Merchant.
Areas of stage directions are noted as follows:

Actors/characters’ entrances, exits, and positioning:
Stage entrances, the number of people who enter the stage and the order in which they enter the stage can help define the personality or wealth of each character. When the main antagonist, Shylock enters the stage, he usually enters the stage alone or ahead of the other characters, but not alongside any other characters. For example, when Shylock is first introduced in act 1, scene 3 as the initial bond is being discussed, he enters first then Bassanio, the person who is proposing the bond. Also, at the trial scene, where the legality of the bond is being discussed, Shylock enters and exits the scene alone. Even in act two, scene two, when he is discussing his daughter’s disappearance with his friend Tubal; they both enter the scene separately. This type of staging shows he is an outcast, a Jew in Venice, a miserable person who is alone, even from his daughter, and sets his apart from his Christian counterparts. On the other side, the other characters, Antonio, Bassanio, and Portia tend to appear in groups when entering or exiting the stage. They also enter in on an equal level, showing good friendship, and no animosity between these characters from act one to act four. Examples include the opening scene with Antonia, Bassanio, Gratiano and two other friends who discuss Bassanio’s dilemma of going to see Portia in Belmont, which is prior to the Belmont scene where Portia and Nerissa are entering the stage together, discussing how annoying her potential suitors are. This situation also applies for the servants of masters, who walk behind their masters, indicting the rank of the party.
For example, how Leonardo/Gobbo follows Bassanio onto the stage, and the servants’ of Portia’s suitors (the train) follow them onto the stage.

Writing sample one - Superhero movie statistics

Excerpt from Yien Yip's Information Graphic, Superheroes Movie Statistics

I was incredibly curious on the amount and impact of superhero movies that came out this year. From Iron Man, the infamous Dark Knight to Hancock, I was wondering, what was the impact of comic books on movies and was Hollywood going comic book crazy. The info graphic is based on data collected on super hero movies from 1978 until December 2008. The data was collected off two sites, www.imbd.com, www.the-numbers.com and www.boxofficemojo.com. The criteria for the movie was simple, under imdb’s data sorting macro, the movie criteria was based off movies, based off comic books, which had superheroes.

IMDB sorted 68 movies from the first Christopher Reeves’ Superman in 1978 all the way to Frank Miller’s directorial debut, the Spirit in December 2008.

Besides looking at the quantity of movies made in each year, I also looked at what drives the movie industry, money, sex, comic company origins, sequels made etc. I looked at movie budgets, domestic revenue, world wide revenue, the number of movies with male leads, female leads and an ensemble cast, and which comic book company the superhero had originated from. Some of the fun facts I found were:

• A total of 68 movies were made

• 36 were made from 2000 to 2008

• Nearly 78% or 53 movies had a male lead

• The total revenue made by the movies were $14 billion, and dark knight was responsible for $1 billion

• 24 sequels and retroactive continuities worth $7 billion were made

• DC and marvel are responsible for 65% of movies made

• Only 10% of movies didn’t turn a profit world-wide

I guess one of the more jarring facts is the significant increase of movies from 1978, one made to 36 made from 2000 to 2008. Some of the reasons that have been speculated why this increase happened could be the a depressed American society due to a lagging economy, the Iraq war that started in 2002, the increased capacity of movie and computer technology and overall the increase of all genres of movies produced where 294 were made in 1978 to 1979 to 5999 made in 2000 to 2008.

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