Characterization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Characterization - Essay Example It relates the story of a younger son who prematurely demands his share of his inheritance from his father, squanders it in a distant land, and is reduced to abject poverty and starvation. He returns home to be warmly received be his father and be showered with affection and attention, to the resentment of his elder brother, who has dutifully remained at home all this while. The parable of The Prodigal Son uses characterization to draw clear parallels between the younger son and sinners, the elder son and the Pharisees and the father and God. The younger son represents sinners and, more particularly, the publicans of Biblical times. The publicans were tax collectors who were detested for their oppressive and extortionate tactics. The younger son exhibits the same greed for material wealth as the publicans, as he demands his share of the inheritance even before his father’s death. This is a form of extortion. Even when the younger son decides to return to his father, he is not motivated by genuine repentance or love for his father. His action is based on the coldly calculating decision to offer to be his father’s servant in return for food, as he realizes that his â€Å"father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare† (15:17). It is hunger and the promise of food which bring him back. Like a publican, he is ruled by the selfish traits of self-preservation and the determination to extract what he needs through whatever means necessary – here by becoming one of his father’s h ired servants. He is still indulging in the manipulation of others to his own advantage. The character of the elder son undisputedly reflects the Pharisees who are accusing Jesus of favoring sinners and publicans. The elder sons’ attitude towards the return of his brother is redolent of the righteous indignation and the judgmental high ground taken by the Pharisees. Like the Pharisees, who are rigid and strict

Effect of the Black Death in England on London's culture, population Essay

Effect of the Black Death in England on London's culture, population and economy between 1348 and about 1500 - Essay Example The manner in which the plague quickly spread is rather disheartening. The action of the Sicilians to close their Messina port necessitated the ships from the east to seek available port alongside the Mediterranean. As such, the plague quickly grew and spread into the nations where these plague harboring ships anchored. In this way, the plague was responsible for the demise of approximately one third’s of England’s population. In approximately four years, the plague had covered almost the entire world. This illustrates the grave situation that had been fashioned by the plague. As such, it is imperative to analyze the exact impact of this plague on England as a whole. The steady growth that had characterized England prior to the plague experienced a sudden turn. The extent of deaths that were being realized from the plague has a resounding impact on the religious, economic, social and political structures. The fact that the ships could not anchor in Messina was not enoug h grounds to explain the sporadic nature of the spread of the plague. In sourcing the answer to this question, the situation that existed in England prior to the incidence of the Black Death, has to be highlighted. The source of the plague was from the fleas that were preset in animals. This is especially the big black rats. As long as the animals were alive, the fleas stayed with their host. However, a problem arose when these animals died; and the fleas had nowhere to go. In their search for a new host, they tended to also attack humans. As such, the fact that the plague killed one third of the entire England population, it left a significantly large impact on the political, economic and religious structure of England. At the time of the plague, England had been fiercely catholic; as such it is imperative to outline the impact of the Black Plague on religion in England. The plague had its most catastrophic impact in the cities (Sloanb 45). This is based on the fact that the cities had been characterized by overcrowding. Another factor that aided in this unrestricted spread was the low standards of sanitation in the cities at the time. The relative quick period between infection and ultimate demise had a profound impact on the religious practices at the time. The period of the 14th century was a period of profound religious inclinations. England was largely catholic. As such, it was a convention that people would die with their last rights and having confessed their sins. However, this procedure could not be sustained given the vast number of deaths that were being recorded. This compelled the Pope Clement VI to give remission to all those deaths was a directly sourced from the Black Plague. This is because the clergy were unable to be at the bedside of everyone who died. The religious transformation allowed the dying to confess their sins to anyone at their bedside. So much was the need to have people at the bedside of the dying that people were also allowed to confess to women. This had previously been unacceptable in the catholic religion. However, given the nature of the situation, this had to be accepted. The reliance on the clergy hit low probabilities given the characteristic of the plague in attacking isolated populations exemplified by monasteries. It is no surprise that people thought that the plague was as a result

Raymond Carver, Cathedral Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Raymond Carver, Cathedral - Essay Example Indeed â€Å"blindness and sight† is embedded within both the structure and the content of the story. The author essentially propounds that, though blessed with eyesight; the crust of individualism does not let modern man see what lies beneath the surface or appearance. Indeed Carver’s narrator is one of those commoners who never want to go through the stress to interpret mindfully what they are attached to. Ingenue Simplicity in the story’s Plot Indeed the plot of Carver’s story is ironically simple. It is endowed with a great fluidity of expression that enables the readers to read the story palatably. Apparently it details a homely dialogue between a narrator and his guest Richard, a blind man who is paying visit to Richard’s house. Like any other homely conversation the story’s plot also continues having no apparent predestined goal. But elements like the blind guest’s success in bonding a relationship, in opposition the narratorâ⠂¬â„¢s failure, etc make this apparent simplicity ironical and provoke Carver’s readers to delve deep in what lies beneath the surface level of the story. Regarding the ironical simplicity of the story, Carol Simpson Stern says that like other stories of Carver, the Cathedral’s plot is â€Å"about people who work mindlessly, drink, have broken marriages, and take in life, not directly, but through an immersion in mediated images† (1). Indeed the ‘blindness’ of the narrator has been used as an irony in the structure of the whole story. The narrator relates the story in his own way that provides the readers with the opportunities to look into the communicational incapability in his character. Analysis of Major characters All the two major characters of the â€Å"Cathedral† are those who do not stand alone in the society; rather they are submerged in the society and fraught with all the characteristics of a modern man. In the story, the unnamed narrator, the only developing character, is self-doubting, introvert, and self-absorbed. At the beginning of the story, he lacks communication skills. But as the story progresses, he, breaking his comfort zone of â€Å"nonchalant detachment†, gradually learns to decode the unfathomable meaning of the blind man’s long-lasting relationship with his wife and eventually forges a true connection with him. One of the stories’ themes is to unearth and uphold the root cause of modern man’s failure to forge a successful relationship and to perceive what lies beneath the materialistic existence, coming out the crust of individualism induced by materialism. This theme has prudently been applied in the literary relationship that exists among the three characters of the blind man, Robert and Robert’s wife who are the characters in focus. These three characters uphold the three themes of religion, public relations and composition. The author cautiously and sensi bly engages these characters to explicate and, at the same time, explain the theme. Internal and External Conflicts in the Story In the story the narrator is in conflict with his blind guest Richard. He is quite annoyed at the blind man’s visit and a bit jealous of his relation (Richard’

Case Examines the Issues of Formulating a Set of IT Objectives Aligned Study

Examines the Issues of Formulating a Set of IT Objectives Aligned With Corporate Strategy - Case Study Example MDCM’s marketing and sales department also lacks in contributing to the organizational growth despite fairly good human resource productivity. Further, the supply chain of the organization is not structured and organized in an effective approach which gives rise to perplexity in the workplace. Thus, the key objective of MDCM is to enhance the efficiency of these sectors in order to re-introduce business growth at this point of time (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., â€Å"MDCM, Inc. (A): IT Strategy Synchronization†). It is worth mentioning that in every sector, from finance to marketing and sales along with the supply chain operations, MDCM managers are facing similar problems with the flow of information. It is also intrinsically related to the technological developments of the organization. To be specific, the finance department complains that the data which are received from other departments are behind the times and thus lack in efficiency. This requires to be renovated through appropriate IT planning, as updated data is termed to be quite effective in developing accurate forecasts of the organizational progress which further leads to the management decision-making (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., â€Å"MDCM, Inc. (A): IT Strategy Synchronization†).... Due to this reason, the department requires a self-service technology which will provide customers with the opportunity to help them with the extra services and reduce the burden of sales staffs. This will also ensure enhanced productivity in the department. The supply chain operations were further effected by the unsystematic progression of goods purchased and delivered to the ultimate customers. Therefore, the department requires a systematic resource planning technology which will organize and simplify the entire process including the logistics outsourcing (Jeffery, M. & Norton, J. F., â€Å"MDCM, Inc. (A): IT Strategy Synchronization†). Stating precisely, the prime objective of MDCM is to introduce a highly effective IT system in the organization which will ensure efficient financial planning, better productivity in marketing and sales and an organized framework for the supply chain operations. However, the key objective of the organization at this moment is to ensure its growth and satisfying increment in shareholder value. This certainly requires an effective short-term planning from the IT department. 2.0. Competitive Forces Analysis 2.1. Threat of New Entrants MDCM has a broad network in the international market comprising of various developed and developing economies which reduces its operational cost to a great extent. This certainly provides the organization with the strength to restrict the new entrants. Moreover, the organization deals with medical products which are recognized to be strictly restricted with the legal barriers and also requires a large amount of investment. Technological support is considered to be one of the key requirements of the industry which again limits the threat of new entrants. However, the switching costs of customers

To the board of the Renaissance University Essay Example for Free

To the board of the Renaissance University Essay I am writing this recommendation letter on behalf of Adam Levine. Adam’s life revolves around his band and music. The experience and passion Adam holds are powerful qualities in his favor. He is a zealous music coach and musician. He helps his students and team on The Voice by inspiring them and pushing them to sing outside of their comfort zone and to explore different genres. He challenges young musicians and singers to grow as artists and helps them explore who they are as performers. Adam is young and talented himself, and because of that he communicates well with younger students. Adam Levine is a well-rounded, independent person. Not only is Adam famous for his musical talents he has branched out into television, starting from a comedic role on Saturday Night Live to his fulltime role as a judge on the reality show The Voice. Adam has struggled his whole life with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He started a world-wide project known as â€Å"The Own It Project†, which is his way of encouraging young adults and adults to tell their story about how they deal with ADHD. Adam also is a big supporter of lesbian and gay rights (LGBT) and strongly believes it is something you are born with. His brother, Michael, is openly gay which the family has known about since Michael was two years old. Adam Levine has worked hard to gain confidence and overcome an in-born shyness he had since he was a little boy. His love of music, family, and friends has shaped him to be the man he is today. Adam now exhibits a personality so lively and outgoing that people are enamored by his entertaining qualities. In my eyes Adam has a very gentle personality. People are drawn to him, because he radiates warmth and a caring nature. Adam is the peacemaker on The Voice, always making an effort to find the good in the contestant’s performances, rather than being too critical of their mistakes. People sense Adams desire for a loving and spiritual environment. Adam may not have had strength when he was younger for the music business, but he has proved himself to be able to do anything he sets his mind to. Yours truly, ______________

Concept of Value Proposition Essay Example for Free

Concept of Value Proposition Essay The concept of value proposition is often used in marketing literature [Anderson et al. 2006, Clarke III 2001]. Value proposition is understood in this paper as a composition of values delivered to customers by a company in order to satisfy their needs. Values are delivered to customers through products or services, other instruments of marketing or in other ways (e.g. by corporate credibility). They can be differently categorized. Probably the simplest categorization of values includes functional and symbolic values. In the traditional economy a very common rule of value proposition formulation is combining the price level with the values for customer. According to this rule, companies offering inferior values charge customers lower prices than companies offering superior values. Hence, there can be several strategies of value proposition distinguished (e.g. inferior value – low prices, superior value – high prices). The application possibilities of this rule on the Internet are constrained. The rule explains well the strategies of companies taking part in a monetary value exchange, such as online stores. Among them there are companies selling a product with inferior customer service and charging low price and other companies that enrich the same product in great customer service and expect higher prices for it. Referring values to price level may not always be used on the Internet for several reasons. In the online environment many companies offer superior customer values for free. To these companies belong newspapers publishing content or companies offering communications services on the Internet, such as e-mail or instant messaging providers. Moreover, according to Kim on the Internet the strategy of offering superior values and charging high prices is rarely adopted [2004]. In traditional economy this strategy is most often used when marketing high quality, well-branded products to affluent customers. Author distinguished five following strategies of value proposition on the Internet: strategy of efficiency, free values, complete customer solutions, unique values and value co-creation. It is worth mentioning, that these strategies have been formulated according to different criteria and may be merged. Strategy of Efficiency Efficiency strategy consists in offering values to customers, which are to lower their transactional, interaction and other costs and in this way allow savings of time and money. The examples of companies adopting this strategy are online auctions. Due to supply aggregation they offer wide range of products, which leads to lowering customer transactional costs within offer search and analyses. Moreover, these companies decrease also customer costs by reduction of information asymmetry. This phenomenon occurs when one of the transaction parties has greater knowledge than the other party and is able to take advantage of it. Usually, this is the seller who has greater knowledge, which is the best seen on the second-hand market. Online auctions reduce the information asymmetry using the seller’s evaluation performed by buyers. It is worth mentioning that online auctions also deliver knowledge on buyers, which allows reducing the risk and the transactional costs of sellers. Research of Garciano and Kaplan showed that transactional costs of buying or selling a used car with the use of Internet is twice as low as without it [Zott, Amid, 2001]. Many Internet companies apply the efficiency strategy while offering values related to communications. These solutions such as e-mail services, instant communicators, social networking websites also reduce the transactional costs of a customer. Strategy of Free Values Free value strategy is based on offering values to customers, for which they are not charged. This strategy has been popular since the early years of commercial use of Internet. As a consequence many companies, among which newspapers, charge customers outside Internet, while offering these values for free online, which in turn leads to problems with generating income. Strategy of free values can be a part of a broader business strategy assuming the revenue generation. This can be performed twofold: revenues can be generated by another group of customers or the company can charge customers for premium values. The first concept assumes that the company is acting on a multisided market and needs at least two distinct groups of customers to generate revenue [Evans, 2003]. Internet portals have two distinct groups of customers. The first one are final users who take advantage of values offered by the portal for free such as news, e-mail or search engine. The other group of customers are advertisers, who provide the portal with revenues, for which they can display advertisement. In this case the free value strategy is used in order to build customer base, on which company will offer paid services for the other group of customers (advertisers). The other method of offering free values is based on acquisition of customers, who take advantage of free values and are also offered premium values, for which they have to pay. This strategy is often called freemium, which is the composite of free and premium. This strategy may seem to be very attractive, however its biggest challenge is the necessity of offering so precious values, for which customers – who already receive free values – will be willing to pay. Strategy of Complete Customer Solutions Strategy of complete customer solutions relies on offering a broad scope of values from certain categories[*]. Internet technologies enable presenting a high number of products in online stores, which results from low technological constraints. As a consequence online stores often shape their offer according to the long tail rule, which assumes offering both best-sellers, as well as niche products. Moreover, many companies offer values based on the economies of scope. This concept consists in offering products from different categories. A travel agency taking advantage of economies of scope would also offer insurance, car rentals etc. An often quoted example of complete customer solution is Amazon.com. The company offers wide range of products (long tail) including niche products, and at the same time offers products from other categories such as household electronics (economies of scope). The strategy of complete customer solutions describes well also the strategy of Google. The company delivers different sets of values (products) allowing search, exchange and management of information in the online environment. Strategy of Unique Values The next of formulated is the strategy of unique values. A company follows this strategy, if it offers scarce values on the market. This situation is very attractive, as it allows charging high prices and thus taking advantage of high margin. The greatest disadvantage of this strategy are difficulties in creating scarce values and then sustaining the scarcity in long term. The adoption of unique values strategy may result from innovations, privileged access to resources or operating in a niche. Innovations in value offerings may lead to situation in which a company offers unique values to customer. Examples of companies following this strategy are Skype and Google with its search engine. A company may offer unique values which result from a privileged access to resources. This strategy is adopted by media companies, such as newspapers, TV or radio stations, that offer online content unavailable on other websites. Uniqueness of values offered may also result from operating in a niche, in which consumer needs are different and should be satisfied with different composition of values. Acting in a niche is often combined with a low competition pressure and a higher level of margin. A example for this strategy may be an online store offering shoes in large sizes. The strategy of unique values is attractive as it allows to burden customer with higher financial and non-financial costs. It means that a company may charge higher prices or impose higher transactional costs on them (such as slowly operating website). In an opposite case, when a company offers common values, which are also offered by a numerous number of competitors, reduction of monetary and non-monetary customer costs may be a method of increasing values for a customer. This is easily to notice in the sector of online stores offering household equipment, books, music or websites allowing hotel reservation or airline ticket purchase. In these industries, companies often compete on the Internet with low prices, which may lead to deterioration of their margin. Strategy of Value Co-Creation The strategy of value co-creation assumes that customers actively participate in shaping the value proposition, which will be delivered to themselves or to other customers. According to Prahalad and Ramaswany, this is the value co-creation with customers that is the essence of competition in modern economy [2004]. The scope of the strategy is broad. It includes the situation, in which a customer co-creates composition of values with a company for himself. The customers may also create values orientated not at themselves, but at other customers. In both cases, the process of value co-creation must be developed on the basis of mutual commitment [DobiegaÅ‚a-Korona, 2009]. In the first case, customer’s activity can be described as mass customization. According to Kleeman and Voss mass customization refers to „isolated activity of individual customers (..), not to the collective activity of many individuals† [2008]. Within the mass customization the value exchange can be described as one-to-one and the participation of other customers is not required. The examples of implementation of mass customization are numerous. Consumers may build their own computer, change the equipment of a car or design clothes. Value co-creation orientated at other customers assumes that a customer actively participates in activities aimed at creating values for other customers. The scope of these activities is also broad. They include creating and publishing content on the Internet, interaction and communication with other customers in social networking websites or software development in the Open Source movement. Usually a numerous number of customers (users) create values for other more numerous group of customers – recipients. The value exchange can be described as all-to-all, as opposed to the former one-to-one. Conclusion Competing on the Internet requires an adoption to the new environment. The way in which companies shape their values propositions is also a subject of change. Author proposed in this paper five strategies of customer value proposition. The proposed strategies are an alternative to the traditional approach combining values for customer with price level. Porter’s competitive strategies comply with the traditional approach to value proposition. According to his conclusion a company should act either as a price leader and offer low value for low prices, or as a differentiator and offer differentiated values for higher prices. New approach to value proposition on the Internet requires then new ways of achieving competitive advantage. A research combining the proposed strategies with new approach to competitive advantage may be a continuation of this paper.

Cindy Sherman Artist Biography

Cindy Sherman Artist Biography No other artist has ever made as extended or complex career of presenting herself to the camera as has Cindy Sherman. Yet, while all of her photographs are taken of Cindy Sherman, it is impossible to class call her works self-portraits. She has transformed and staged herself into as unnamed actresses in undefined B movies, make-believe television characters, pretend porn stars, undifferentiated young women in ambivalent emotional states, fashion mannequins, monsters form fairly tales and those which she has created, bodies with deformities, and numbers of grotesqueries. Her work as been praised and embraced by both feminist political groups and apolitical mainstream art. Essentially, Shermans photography is part of the culture and investigation of sexual and racial identity within the visual arts since the 1970s. It has been said that, The bulk of her workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦has been constructed as a theater of femininity as it is formed and informed by mass culture (her) pictures insist on the aporia of feminine identity tout court, represented in her pictures as a potentially limitless range of masquerades, roles, projections (Sobieszek 229). Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Cindy Sherman grew up in suburban Huntington Beach on Long Island, the youngest of five children and had a regular American childhood. She was very self-involved, found of costumes, and given to spending hours at the mirror, playing with makeup (Schjeldahl 7). Cindy Sherman attended the state University College at Buffalo, New York, where she first started to create art in the medium of painting. During her college years, she painted self-portraits and realistic copies of images that she saw in photographs and magazines. Yet, she became less, and less interested in painting and became increasingly interested in conceptual, minimal, performance, body art, and film alternatives (Sherman 5). Shermans very first introductory photography class in college was a complete failure for she had difficulties with the technological aspects of making a print. After her disastrous first attempt in photography, Sherman discovered Contemporary Art, which had a profound and lasting effect on the rest of her artistic career (Thames and Hudson 1). Shermans first assignment in her photography class was to photograph something which gave her a problem, thus, Sherman chose to photograph her self naked. While this was difficult, she learned that having an idea was the most important factor in creating her art, not so much the technique that she used. While she was talented at copying with pencils and paints, this artistic method would not allow Sherman to express herself personally. But with a camera, Sherman could use her body as a tool (Sills 64). The young artist became fascinated by the way any image at all, simply being presented, activates a mysterious charge-neither subjective nor objective, but of both (Schjeldahl 7). In college, Sherman became active in the local avant-garde scene, the liveliest of two decades, and especially in Hallwalls, an artist-run alternative exhibition space (Heller 223). In 1975, while still attending college, Cindy She rman created her first series of five photographs entitled, Untitled A-E. Within these first photographs, Sherman attempts to alter her face with makeup and hats, attempting to take on different personas, such as a little girl in Untitled D, and a clown in Untitled A (Thames and Hudson 2). This first series is Shermans first attempt of documenting transformation. The Curator Linda Cathcart, saw the pictures at Hallwalls and put them at the Albright Knox Art Gallery (Heller 225). Because Sherman had such vivid imagination and became fascinated with self-transformation, Sherman often bought vintage clothes and accessories from thrift stores, which helped her to form and create different characters. So it just grew and grew until I was buying and collecting more and more of these things, and suddenly the characters came together just because I had so much of the detritus from them (Thames and Hudson 2 ). Sherman went even as far as wearing the costumes and dressing as different charact ers to gallery openings and events in Buffalo. She wore these costumes because she wanted to see how far she how transformed she could look (Haller 225). Yet, Sherman never considered dressing up for performance purposes because she was not maintaining a character but simply getting dressed up to go out (Thames and Hudson 2). Cindy Sherman began her famous series of Untitled Film Series at the end of 1977. The small black and white photographs are of Sherman impersonating female character types from old B grade movies, which speak to a generation of baby boomer women who had grown up absorbing these glamorous images ay home on their televisions, taking such portrayals as cues for their future (Thames and Hudson 1). Upon graduation of college in 1977, Cindy Sherman and her fellow student Robert Longo moved to Manhattan, New York together. She continued with her interest in role-playing and dressing up as different characters, and began to photograph herself in these different guises among different locations such as her apartment Untitled Film Still #10, in the Southwest in Untitled Film Still #43, and in Long Island in Untitled Film Still # 9. Shermans manipulation of lighting, makeup, and dress make it difficult to believe that all of the characters represented were indeed the same person (Heller 225). A ll of the portraits are of her but none of the works are in any way a self-portrait of Sherman. They are portraits of an identity that Sherman shares with every female who thinks of her life in the way of a cheap movie. For this reason alone, is why her work has been looked at for special by feminist who hold the view that women do not hold theories, but tell stories. In the stills it is important to get a deep and true understanding that her use of photography is more integral to the performance then a photographic record of what took place. (Danto 10-11). Each of the stills is about the girl in trouble, but in the aggregate they touch the myth we each carry out of childhood, of danger, love, and security that defines the human condition. Desire mixed with nostalgia fuels the allure of the Untitled Film Stills-desire for the woman depicted as well as desire to be that woman, during that time (Thames and Hudson 4). Sherman said that the last thing she wanted her pictures to have was emotion. The still only provided a framework through which her deeper artistic impulses found expression (Danto 9). She was most interested in what a character was like when they were completely emotionless (Sherman 8). These black and white photographs were purposely grainy because Sherman wanted them to look like cheap publicity shots. While, Sherman takes most of her own photographs using a remote shutter-release, some of her pictures are also taken by her family and friends. This Untitled Film Series was first exhibited in 1995, in the Hirshborn Museum of Washington D.C. In each of the photographs, Sherman is depicted alone, As a familiar but unidentifiable film heroine in an appropriate setting (Thames and Hudson 2). Some of the many characters depicted are of a perky B-movie librarian in Untitled Film Still #13; a voluptuous lower-class women from an Italian neo-realist film in Untitled Film still #35; and a young secretary in the city Untitled Film Still # 21 (Thames and Hud son 2). In terms of the untitled film still #35 and Untitled Film still #15, both depict Sherman as a seductress, Sherman says To pick a character like that was about my own ambivalence about sexuality-growing up with the woman role models that I had, and a lot of them in films, that were like that character, and yet you were supposed to be a good girl (Thames and Hudson 2). Sherman encourages the viewers participation in constructing their own narratives of her Untitled Film Still #10, Untitled Film Still # 14, and Untitled Film Still #65 (Thames and Hudson 3) Sherman created sixty-nine photographs in total, presenting her works in an array of types. According to Judith Williamson, force upon the viewers that elision of image and identity which women experience all the timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Thames and Hudson 3). Cindy Shermans Untitled Film Stills are also seen as related to feminist performance work of the 1970s by artists such as Adrian Piper and Eleanor Antin. Sherman is also noted as being heavily influenced by these artists. The Untitled Film Series are not only photographic records of performance but performative accounts of filmic images (Thames and Hudson 4). Sherman ended her sixty-nine photograph scenes in 1980, when she began to realize that she was duplicating previously used characters, clichà ©s, and stereotypes. Cindy Shermans next series or collection of photographs was her first working color called the Rear Screen Projections, which exude the artifice of a television show. With her increasing desire to work at home, Sherman created her photographs in front of a projected screen, which she projected slides of outdoor and indoor scenes. Viewing the photographs one can obviously tell that the background is fake. The very realistic and sometimes quite closely cropped images of Sherman contrast with the blurry and substantial settings, heightening the artifice of the entire scene (Thames and Hudson 5). Her second series concentrates on the 1960s and 1970s rather then the 1950s depicted in the Untitled Film Series. Rather then female victims, the Rear Screen Projections depict women who are confident and independent, usually youthful, middle-class women in the real world. The characters of the Rear Screen Projections are best identified as being counterparts of women in the media of the 1970s s uch as Mary Richards character in The Mary Tyler Moore television series (Thames and Hudson 5). In 1981, after creating a portfolio of images for an issue of Artforum, Sherman became inspired by the magazines horizontal format and produced a series of works that refer to the photo spreads in photographic magazines. This is said to be Shermans first mature work. These large photographs are in color, are cropped and close-up with each image depicting a young woman looking off to the side with a vacant and vulnerable look. She keeps background details to a minimum allowing the attention to be drawn to the figure. Shermans horizontals suggest a profound transgression against form. Within these pictures have there is no coherent point of view (Sobieszek, 25). When Sherman showed this series, she was criticized by some for having created women that reaffirm sexist stereotypes, therefore Artforum rejecting this series. Critics have found Untitled #93 as the most suggestive of all her works. This photograph shows a woman with messy hair and smudged makeup in bed covering her eyes, whil e looking toward the light that shines in her eyes. Although Sherman has stated that She was imagining someone who had just come home in the early morning from being out partying all night, and the sun wakes her shortly after she has gone to bed (Thames and Hudson 6). Critics on the other hand have read this photograph as a rape portrayal. Misreading of the centerfolds became very common because people tried to create stories from them, discovering hidden meanings where none were present (Schjeldahl 9). Much like her earlier works, the centerfolds mimic and repeat mass media modes. In the Pink Robe series, Sherman uses herself once again to imitate the stance of porno models, choosing to pose only in a pink chenille bathrobe. This series conveys a state of loveless intimacy, intimacy without understanding or personal tenderness (Schjeldahl 10). In this series, Sherman responds to the criticism of the centerfold series, and switches to a vertical format in order to do away with the vulnerability of the characters. Yet, the Pink Robe Series is just a continuation of the Centerfold series because Sherman thinks of these images as depiction of the porno model during breaks between posing for nude shots (Thames and Hudson 7). Sherman sits in front of the camera deciding to appear as un-sexy and without makeup or wigs, staring directly toward the viewer. Many critics interpret this series as the real Cindy and most revealing of all of her photographs (Thames and Hudson 7). Sherman has produced four groups of works that quote from fashion photography. In Shermans fashion series, she reminds the viewer that that fashion allows us to create and display a wide range of appearances as if we each possessed a wide range of identities (Sobieszek, 253). Her first fashion series was commissioned in 1983 for a spread in Interview magazine. Provided with designer clothes such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, Sherman undoubtedly provided an antithesis of a glamour ads. The models look silly but utterly delighted in their high fashion frocks. Her second commissioned fashion photographs are even more bizarre from the previous works, with the models looking dejected in Untitled #137, exaggeratedly wrinkled in Untitled #132, and even homicidal in Untitled #138. It appears inevitable that Sherman would be drawn to fashion spreads because fashion is yet another means of masquerade for women, and ads for clothing promise to convert the buyer into a more perfect version of herself ( Thames and Hudson 8). Like all advertisements, fashion photographs manufacture a desire in a woman that could never be filled. Sherman uses her fashion photographs to undermine the desirability of such images by emphasizing their manipulating nature (Thames and Hudson 8). In the fairy tales and monster series, Sherman reminds us of the monsters from childhood memories and may be suggesting through these photographs that everyone harbors a secret, repressed self that can shift form and shape at will (Sobieszek, 253). The undercurrent turned, rather startling in the 1980s into a torrent of gore and rage when she switched to using a larger format and often lurid colors, and to concocting increasingly horrific and surreal images (Kimmelman 142). These images represent a time in her career when her images truly become strange and surreal. These photographs are unusual not only because of their horrific images, but also because a viewer is unaccustomed to seeing such stories represented in photographs. The strangest scene appears in Untitled #150, In which an androgyn with a huge, extended tongue fills the foreground, and tiny figures stand in the landscape behind it, making it seem like a giant among Lilliputians (Thames and Hudson 9). Shermans Fairy Tales do not depict a specific example, but evoke a narrative form. By the early 1990s Sherman had tired of creating these shocking images turning to art history for inspiration. The result was a series of photographic portraits of her returning as the model, transformed by her usual false noses, bosoms, into both male and female figures as painted by various old masters of Western painting (Heller 225). Even when Sherman was creating history portraits she worked out of books, with reproduction, she says that Its the aspect of photography that I appreciate, conceptually: the idea that images can be reproduced and seen anytime, anywhere, by anyone ( Kimmelman 145). Just like all the rest of her works, the history paintings do not depict a particular painting but depicts types for the history genre. Sherman creates the most memorable and humorous pictures of women. Often spoofing the awkward depictions of the female anatomy of the Old Masters paintings. Understanding how ridiculous these history paintings are helps the viewer understand that Sherman is mocking the Western canon and its depiction of royalty and religious figures (Thames and Hudson 12). Shermans next career move was to a raunchy pornographic depiction of individuals called the Sex Pictures. Using mannequins and body parts form medical catalogues, she constructs hybrid dolls. Rather then showing the dolls having sex, Sherman proudly shows the sex. Sherman created these works in response to the controversy over the National Endowment for the arts ands the debates over the constitute obscenity in the arts. Typically, pornography portrays sex as anonymous, but in Shermans series she depicts sex as ridiculous (Thames and Hudson 14). It Shermans work, the notion of self is completely abandoned, replaced by the concept of multiplicity, dissociation, and fluidity. Yet, her portraits do not appear as performances only unstable representations in ambiguous non-narratives making brief appearances, caught in a moment of ambivalent emotional expression (Sobieszek, 253). Much of her work is clearly meant to be ambiguous. Her pictures have been interpreted as feminist indictments of gender stereotyping, but Sherman insists that she is not political (Heller 226). References Danto, Arthur C. Cindy Sherman: Untitled Film Stills. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.. Heller, Nancy G. Women Artists and Illustrated History. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. Kimmelman, Michael. Portraits. New York: Random House, 1998. Schjeldahl, Peter. Cindy Sherman. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. Sherman, Cindy. The complete Untitled Film Stills. New York: The museum Of Modern Art, 2003. Sills, Leslie. In Real Life: Six Women Photographers. New York: Holiday House, 2000. Sobieszek, Robert A. Photography and The Human Soul 1850-2000. Los Angles: MIT Press and Los Angles County Museum of Art, 1999 Thames and Hudson. Cindy Sherman Retrospective. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1998.