Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Siegen (Anglistics), course: Delirious New York - Hollywood Film, language: English, abstract: At least since political and social considerations of black rights movements have found their way into Hollywood movie studios in the 1960ies, blackness in film has always been a central point of cinematographic discussion. Blaxploitation movies, for example, have been critically observed by both white and black film critics and have gained a wide range of differentiated responses. Interesting enough, whiteness in Hollywood film has mostly been disregarded by critics until the late 1990ies. Indeed “There has recently been a recognition of the need to undertake analysis of whiteness without maintaining and intensifying the privileged position assigned to it” (Young, Lola; Fear of the Dark – Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Cinema. New York: Routledge. 1996: 32). The fact that a film has a white director or is mainly starred by white actors seems to be normality in western societies. “White has no categorical status: it is the norm against which everything else is measured with no need of selfdefinition.” [Dyer, Richard. “White” Screen: The Last Special Issue on Race?. Volume 29, Number 4, Autumn: 44-65. 1988. Quoted in: Young (1996)]. This quote exemplifies the role that whiteness had for a long time within the western cinematic analysis system. With the changing conception of blackness in film and the change in the political discourse of the terms ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’, it becomes obvious that whiteness indeed has a need of self-definition and ana lysis.When one really takes these points into consideration, it becomes obvious that whiteness in film can have as much effect on the viewer as blackness in film and that it should be analysed just as well in modern film criticism. In this essay I will try to give two examples of each the ‘black’ and the ‘white’ realm of film and I will try to point out in which way the effect that these films have on the reader is influenced by the ethnical group their protagonists belong to.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3 (A), University of Siegen (Anglistics Institute), course: Anglophone Literature in Malta, language: English, abstract: Nicholas Monsarrat may be one of the most well-known and most influential Anglophone writers of Malta, especially when it comes to historical novels. Books such as “A Cruel Sea” are known far over the borders of Malta. As history is crucial to most of his novels, and as “The Kappilan of Malta” makes use of it rather frequently, my interest in this essay is laid on the role that history adopts in this novel. To analyse the enormous amount of historical happenings that are dealt with in this book would be far too much work for one essay so the work had to be reduced to some important points. The essay will deal with several points of the use of history within the book. Means of influencing the reader will be observed and analysed and examples for adjustments to real events will be discussed. I will try to outline in this paper, that the use of history is crucial to the story of the book as well as to the message to the Maltese to never give up hope and to take measures into the ir own hands.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1,3, University of Siegen (Forschungskolleg 615), course: Narration and Film, language: English, abstract: For a long time, most Hollywood directors stuck to a certain kind of narrative strategies to convey their view of the world to the recipient. Movie-conventions were therefore set from the beginning of profitable movie making and were fastened by the rise of big movie studios. In recent modern movies however, some directors have laid extreme interest on not sticking to the conventions and established a kind of non-narrative technique. As a result some of the most astonishing movies of the 90ies and the new millennium were created. The success of some of these movies can be explained by two facts. First of all, the abolishing of movie conventions resulted in the filmic reproduction of stories that had before been said to be unfit for filmic expression. Secondly the movies created drew their fascination from a non-understanding. With no classical movie conventions aligned, these movies seemed disturbing and frightening but it is also this disturbance that mesmerizes the viewer. In this essay I will try to outline in which way narrative conventions are abolished in modern productions and what effect this has on the spectator. To reduce the amount of information and to exemplify certain points I will stick to Cameron Crowe’s movie Vanilla Sky (2001) which is based on the motion picture Arbre los Ojos (1997) by Alejandro Amenabar. The choice is justified by a rather confusing structure of the film which corresponds perfectly to the new way of moviemaking and also by the roots of the motion picture in an Off-Hollywood production area. These roots show that, although many non-classical movies have earned a lot of reputation, most moviemakers stick to conventions and that inventions are still entrenched in alternative cinema.

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Siegen (Anglistics), course: Delirious New York - Hollywood Film, language: English, abstract: At least since political and social considerations of black rights movements have found their way into Hollywood movie studios in the 1960ies, blackness in film has always been a central point of cinematographic discussion. Blaxploitation movies, for example, have been critically observed by both white and black film critics and have gained a wide range of differentiated responses. Interesting enough, whiteness in Hollywood film has mostly been disregarded by critics until the late 1990ies. Indeed “There has recently been a recognition of the need to undertake analysis of whiteness without maintaining and intensifying the privileged position assigned to it” (Young, Lola; Fear of the Dark – Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Cinema. New York: Routledge. 1996: 32). The fact that a film has a white director or is mainly starred by white actors seems to be normality in western societies. “White has no categorical status: it is the norm against which everything else is measured with no need of selfdefinition.” [Dyer, Richard. “White” Screen: The Last Special Issue on Race?. Volume 29, Number 4, Autumn: 44-65. 1988. Quoted in: Young (1996)]. This quote exemplifies the role that whiteness had for a long time within the western cinematic analysis system. With the changing conception of blackness in film and the change in the political discourse of the terms ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’, it becomes obvious that whiteness indeed has a need of self-definition and ana lysis.When one really takes these points into consideration, it becomes obvious that whiteness in film can have as much effect on the viewer as blackness in film and that it should be analysed just as well in modern film criticism. In this essay I will try to give two examples of each the ‘black’ and the ‘white’ realm of film and I will try to point out in which way the effect that these films have on the reader is influenced by the ethnical group their protagonists belong to.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3 (A), University of Siegen (Anglistics Institute), course: Anglophone Literature in Malta, language: English, abstract: Nicholas Monsarrat may be one of the most well-known and most influential Anglophone writers of Malta, especially when it comes to historical novels. Books such as “A Cruel Sea” are known far over the borders of Malta. As history is crucial to most of his novels, and as “The Kappilan of Malta” makes use of it rather frequently, my interest in this essay is laid on the role that history adopts in this novel. To analyse the enormous amount of historical happenings that are dealt with in this book would be far too much work for one essay so the work had to be reduced to some important points. The essay will deal with several points of the use of history within the book. Means of influencing the reader will be observed and analysed and examples for adjustments to real events will be discussed. I will try to outline in this paper, that the use of history is crucial to the story of the book as well as to the message to the Maltese to never give up hope and to take measures into the ir own hands.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1,3, University of Siegen (Forschungskolleg 615), course: Narration and Film, language: English, abstract: For a long time, most Hollywood directors stuck to a certain kind of narrative strategies to convey their view of the world to the recipient. Movie-conventions were therefore set from the beginning of profitable movie making and were fastened by the rise of big movie studios. In recent modern movies however, some directors have laid extreme interest on not sticking to the conventions and established a kind of non-narrative technique. As a result some of the most astonishing movies of the 90ies and the new millennium were created. The success of some of these movies can be explained by two facts. First of all, the abolishing of movie conventions resulted in the filmic reproduction of stories that had before been said to be unfit for filmic expression. Secondly the movies created drew their fascination from a non-understanding. With no classical movie conventions aligned, these movies seemed disturbing and frightening but it is also this disturbance that mesmerizes the viewer. In this essay I will try to outline in which way narrative conventions are abolished in modern productions and what effect this has on the spectator. To reduce the amount of information and to exemplify certain points I will stick to Cameron Crowe’s movie Vanilla Sky (2001) which is based on the motion picture Arbre los Ojos (1997) by Alejandro Amenabar. The choice is justified by a rather confusing structure of the film which corresponds perfectly to the new way of moviemaking and also by the roots of the motion picture in an Off-Hollywood production area. These roots show that, although many non-classical movies have earned a lot of reputation, most moviemakers stick to conventions and that inventions are still entrenched in alternative cinema.