Saw VI

Society and culture have a large impact on film. This can be seen most clearly in Science Fiction and Horror Films. Films are often based on real-life events, or in some cases, fears. Two examples of this are Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Cold War and fear of the spread of Communism led to the creation of films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre were both based on the crimes of Ed Gein. Some common themes in these…

animals such as geese and horned cattle. In the same year, the Pilgrimage of Grace, though primarily about religion, had expressed concern about tax on livestock. This shows the concern the common people were showing about their own livelihood, yet saw rebellion as perhaps the only way to become noticed by the nobles and gentry. However, in both of these rebellions, Lincolnshire Rising and the Pilgrimage of Grace, social and economic issues could be fairly described as a ‘subsidiary’ reason,…

Christ the Redeemer of the World Redeemer, defined by Merriam-Webster, means “a person who brings goodness, honor to something again”. In Catholicism this refers to the person who will carry out the last step of God’s ultimate plan: creation, sin, and salvation. We can see God’s creation through scripture in the Book of Genesis. God spent six days creating the universe, earth, animals, land, and humans. Humans were a different creation than the other things God had created. When God created…

governments, murdered with no fear of reprisal those they saw as enemies of the status quo. However, it was the global setting, not simply a continental one, that made South America a hotbed for violent activity. Much as in other places around the globe, financial and military support flowed in freely from the United States to the ruling governments of many of these countries– El Salvador included– sent…

Female monarchs back in the 16th century being the sole ruler of a country was an unheard occurrence that rarely ever happened. But two queens in this time defide those who would rather see them in the background of history. Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth Tudor I were the rare queens that did just that, their long family line, personal and intertwined history had after effects in history in Scotland’s and England’s future monarchs. Prior to the reign of Henry VIII, Elizabeth and Mary, one…

A vegan is defined as a person who does not eat any food that comes from animals and who often also does not use animal products (Merriam-Webster). The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) use videos such as Paul McCartney’s Glass Walls and other forms of media to push their agenda onto the world. Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s transgressive exploitation of the human body through shocking, strange images that parallel with slaughterhouses to push the vegan agenda onto its…

Henry V’s reign mirrors Elizabeth I’s since they both attempt to unify their country, England, by restoring national pride and building a unified nation against centrifugal forces. Henry can only unify his kingdom by defeating France in the war. Since Henry’s nation is at war with the French, their cultures and languages must also be at war. Similarly, Henry V is performed during Elizabeth I’s era to emphasize this cultural superiority of England and revive a similar national pride to that in…

The slasher film to some viewers has been written off and categorized as a film not worth watching. Typically viewers decide that this genre may be too violent, graphic, or misogynistic. However, slasher films, like many horror movies, may offer a commentary on society or the human condition. An approach to understanding such films is through the concept of the ‘abject’. It is the disturbance of boundaries that threaten things such as an individual’s identity or societal order Abjection…

Ulrich Seidl’s new documentary, “In the Basement”, is mordantly funny, creepily outrageous, and boldly raw. The film gathers a set of suburban Austrian people, who expose themselves by allowing us to peak on what’s going on in their basements. Clearly, the whole is weaker than the sum of the parts, however, my voyeuristic side was awaken by the intimate little secrets it keeps unveiling, even if a couple of unnecessary scenes are there only with the purpose of shocking the viewers. The idea and…

that could hardly have been more distressing,” (XXI. 88). Numerous other examples in The Prince have acted similarly to that of Ferdinand in using piety or cruelty to achieve their own ends. Such examples come mainly from chapter VI in Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, and Theseus (VI. 27). Each of these examples used God as their means in achieving their own agenda. On the other side, other princes have been known to be cruel, but not pious, such as Agathocles of Syracuse who was “without religion,”…