sculptural portrait of Faustina the Elder is made of marble and was sculpted between the years of 140 and 160 A.D. She is a Roman piece by an unknown artist, and is housed in the Getty Villa. Faustina is composed of strong lines and shapes to draw the viewer into the vertical dominant composition. Multiple forms break down into triangular shapes that bring the eye up and down the length of the piece, in order to add some movement to her otherwise static pose. Faustina the Elder stands larger…
Gaius Plinius Secundus (best known as Pliny the Elder), a Roman author, philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire once said, “Home is where the heart is.” This statement still speaks true to most people today. Anyone who is in the real estate or homebuilding business knows that people do not buy houses; they buy homes. That is why new homebuilders spend thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars upgrading and decorating their model homes. One such homebuilder,…
The Gotitright family has ruled over the Blue Planet for two hundred eight years and every twenty years since 1908 the Committee of Twelve performs an ancient tradition, in which they compete against each other for the privilege of selecting a writer, to update, ‘The Road to Glory: the History of the Gotitright Family.’ This primitive custom insured The Committee of Twelve a stress free day. Therefore, they enter into the competition with no apprehension and partake in numerous rounds of…
Slumdog Millionaire, a movie by Danny Boyle, set in Mumbai, tells the story of Jamal Malik, a contestant on India’s version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. Jamal was born in the slums of Mumbai with little education and was on his way to win the grand prize on the game show. Whilst on the show, he is suspected of cheating but little do his accusers know that Jamal’s life experience provides him with essential clues to answer each question. The movie alternates between flashbacks from Jamal’s…
“Life’s Greatest Illusion” (A Critique of “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” Using Aristotle’s “Poetics”) “What is life’s greatest illusion?” Is a question asked in a very popular video game called “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” The answer to the question given is “Innocence….” It invokes a powerful idea of whether or not innocence exists. The movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” follows the story of a young boy named Bruno living in Nazi Germany. His father is an officer in the SS and Bruno’s…
consul, governor, and a passionate writer. He went to Rome to get a better education, but he also developed a stronger relationship with his uncle the Elder Pliny, his mother’s brother. After his uncle's death from the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius, Elder Pliny’s will allowed Younger Pliny to inherit Elder Pliny’s property. Through his will, Elder Pliny also legally adopted Younger Pliny as his son, resulting in the change of his name. the YoungerPliny went on to become a husband, three times,…
Pompeii was an ancient Roman city, located in what is know today as southern Italy, that remained lost to the world for over sixteen hundred years after a volcanic eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius left it blanketed in ash. As the city was unearthed a clearer picture of Roman life began to emerge. Though several Roman cities were merely left to disrepair after the empire fell and not impacted by a volcanic eruption, they were affected by the elements that fell upon them in the nearly two…
Julia took another large sip of her white wine. The date she was one—the fourth date in the span of a week—was proceeding at a pace Julia perceived as very slow. She looks down at her phone to check the time, and sees it has only been a minute since her date—Claude—left to take a phone call. “Gods and goddesses, please make this more bearable,” Julia grumbled underneath her breath seconds before her date appeared again at their table. “So, where was I?” Claude asked, returning to his seat,…
As with any genre or form, fairy tales provoke a certain kind of thought when approached. The ideas of magic and adventure, marriage and loss, and more jump to mind. One technique in particular relies on a fairy tale’s established environment: “normalized magic” (Bernheimer). The fairy tale itself exists in a uniform world, one with rules and laws different from reality. Magic exists in varying forms, sometimes grandiose and sometimes subtle. But its existence in typically preserved throughout…
Child abuse and neglect is defined as any act or failure to act by a parent, guardian, or caregiver that results in death, serious physical, emotional harm, sexual abuse, exploitation, or neglect; or an act that presents an inevitable exposure to danger or serious harm (Gosselin, 2013). Elder abuse is defined as an intentional, unintentional, or negligent act or abandonment by a caregiver or any other persons that causes serious physical, emotional, or psychological, or sexual harm,…