A Bow to the Queen

Friday, December 17, 2010

By: Jefferson Cruz
email: jeff.scribbles@gmail.com
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After the success of the documentaries The War Room, The American Candidate, and American High, acclaimed film-maker R.J. Cutler takes us this time to the world of the legendary and revered American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. The September Issue centers on the production of September 2007 issue, one of the most sought after Vogues ever. It is a glimpse to the fashion kingdom: glamorous, prestigious, and cutthroat.

Cutler has managed to compress 390 hours of footage to a 90-minute film that exposes the drama behind the photo shoots, editing, proofing, and the unending love-hate relationship between Anna and the former model turned creative director, Grace Coddington. The documentary presents Anna as more complicated than her fictional equivalent, Miranda Priestley (The Devil Wears Prada based on Lauren Weisberger's experience at Vogue). It is a zoom in on how Anna stands firmly on guard of her fashion empire. Viewers would fear Anna as she sets foot on the building ordering her editors, pulling out photos, scrapping pages of the lay out, and discharging an icy atmosphere that can send models shivering in their stilettos.

Cutler did not just emphasized Anna Wintour as the editor-in-chief. He also presented Anna as a human, as a mother. In the documentary, Anna recounts about her childhood dreams, her life as just an ordinary girl, and how her father decided that she should walk down the runway to Vogue.

The September Issue is not just about producing Vogue from scratch to gloss. It is more about how powerful women, Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington, maintained Vogue as the fashion bible. At the end of the documentary, the viewers will agree without a doubt that if fashion is religion, Anna Wintour is the pope.

Published in Zee Lifestyle November 2010

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Part 1 : WHAT TYPE OF READER ARE YOU?

By: Jayson Patalinghug
email: king_sky92@yahoo.com
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Please read and understand these theories first before you start reading and criticizing our works here. If you have questions and clarifications, you can send me email and I will get back to you.
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MIMETIC READERS

In this blog we deal with a lot of reading and criticism. It is expected because this is a literary blog. You are dwelling with different types of writers with different taste and style. Some writings may inspire us and some may frustrate us and there are some that might offend us. This is the very reason why I write this article. It aims to guide our readers to be civil and to avoid discrimination on someone else works.

Criticism and discrimination are two different things. Criticism involves analysis and sound judgement while discrimination is very subjective and most of the time illogical. Let us not discriminate because in this blog we encourage everyone to read and write. If we discriminate, we are killing the literary desire of an individual. It destroys a dream of someone whose soul is filled with hope and aspiration. Remember that literature reflects life itself.

In order to criticize a certain piece of work, one must understand the different literary theories. There are many literary theories to mention, but I will focus only to those that are already established and used in the academe.

There are four foundation theories in literary criticism; The Mimetic, Expressive, Objective, and Affective. In this post we will only discuss the first theory and the rest will be tackled in succeeding posts.

Mimetic theory is considered as the universal foundation of literature and schools of literary criticisms. Mimeses is an idea that literature imitates reality, an idea that traces back to Plato who believed that reality only exist in the mind and to Aristotle who believed that the universal can be found in the concrete. This idea is developed in the visual arts during the renaissance and the enlightenment.

Philosophers and writers including Aristotle, Plato, Moliere, Shakespeare, Racine, Diderot, and Rousseau applied mimetic theory of literary criticism to their works and lives; modern thinker such Benjamin, Derrida, and Girard have reworked and reapplied their ideas.

A Mimetic reader aims to determine how well a work of literature connects with real world. It can be broadened to include approaches that deal with the spiritual and symbolic, the images that connect people of all times and cultures. They analyze the accuracy of a literary work and its morality. They consider whether or not it shows how people really act, and whether or not it is correct. A mimetic reader assesses a literary work through the prism of his or her own time, judging the text to his own value system.

This theory is best used to reflect on social realities reflected on a certain text. A mimetic reader does not read and analyze the text as it is. They go beyond imagination looking on symbols and archetypes. These symbols will link the fictitious event, characters and settings into the real world. Example to this is the novel written by C.S. Lewis entitled The Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan is not just a magical lion, He is a representation of JESUS. Why? A Christian reader would know as it is written in the book of Geneses chapter 49 verses 8-12, Revelations chapter 5 verses 8-10 and chapter 6 verses 12-17. A mimetic reader always look for meaning and links that would bridge the fiction he or she is reading into what is existing in the real world.

Sometimes there are mimetic readers who are very close minded and only focus on their own set of standards and value system. This happens when the reader’s subjective bias leads to dogmatic condemnation and censorship.  Many works otherwise labelled aesthetically great have been black listed, banned or burned throughout the history by moral critics or shall we say hypocrites. A few of these banned works are "Ulysses" by James Joyce, "Candide" by Voltarie, "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman, works by Jean Jacques Rousseau and "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewall.

Today we are faced with this kind discrimination. An example is our friend Mike Juha who received a lot of negative feedback about his gay themed blog. These people are concerned with what they call morality basing on their own standards. Their minds are closed to what they believe is moral. They have forgotten to be logical in criticizing a work of literature. They have forgotten to read beyond letters and look for symbols and archetypes that would open the door in deeper understanding the realities that is happening in our society. After all we are reading a Literature of Life.

Next topic: Expressive Readers


Sources: History of Literary Criticism by Maggie Mertens Encyclopedia Britannica: Literary CriticismDictionary of the History of Ideas: Literary Criticism. 

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Chapter 4 : Unbroken

By:Unbroken
EMAIL:iheytmahex632@gmail.com
FOLLOW MY BLOG:http://strangersandunbrokenangels.blogspot.com/
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2.1:Eyeglasses
Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
-Jean de La Fontaine
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“Danieeelllllllll!!!!”.


Dali dali akong tumakbo paran habulin si Daniel. Nagmistulang runner para habulin ang isang taong
bigla nalang maging mailap pagkatapos ng tatlong taong pagsasama. Tuloy tuloy akosa pagtakbo.
Wala akong pakialam kung magmukha akong tanga sa katatakbo at kaiiyak. Napakasakit pero gusto ko pa rin malaman kung bakit nya ako hinawalayan.


Biglang nawala si Daniel sa kawalan. Pinipilit kong hanapin pero wala talaga. Naisipan kong bumalik sa hotel para makausap sya. Nagmadali ako baka hindi ko na sya maabutan. Pagdating ko sa lobby ay dali dali akong tumakbo patungo sa elevator. Sumakay at pinindot ang 15th floor. Bumukas ang elevator. Walang sinayang na minuto para makarating sa kwarto. Tama ang aking hinala. Nandoon sya. Nageempake.

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Pahigmata


Photos used in this presentation are not owned by LOL. We only envision to show the inequality that is happening in our society. We hope to communicate to our Cebuano brothers and made them wake up, open their eyes and start doing something to make a change in our society. 

SUGBU-ANON Pagmata na! Lihuk na! karun na ang panahun sa atung pagbangun! karun na ang panahun sa tinu-ud nga kausaban ug kauswagan!

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