Vimarsh

Hello and Welcome Today, I will talk about the chapter entitled "The Beaubourg Effect: Implosion and Deterrence" from the book Simulation and Simulacra   by Jean Baudrillard.  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jean Baurillard (1929 - 2007) Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist and philosopher with an interest in cultural studies.  He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as his formulation of concepts such as hyperreality.  Baudrillard wrote about diverse subjects, including consumerism, critique of economy, social history, aesthetics, Western foreign policy, and popular culture.  His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and specifically post-structuralism. Nevertheless, Baudrillard had also opposed post-structuralism, and had distanced himself from postmodernism. WHAT IS THIS CHAPTER ABOUT? Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg) This chapter dissects the Centre Pompidou colloquially known as Beaubourg a...

Hello and welcome dear colleagues and fellow researchers.  Today, I will continue talking about Peircean semiotics. Today, we will discuss the Basic Sign Structure in Peircean Semiotics . In one of his many definitions of a sign, Peirce writes: "I define a sign as anything which is so determined by something else, called its Object, and so determines an effect upon a person, which effect I call its interpretant, that the later is thereby mediately determined by the former." (EP2, 478) What we see here is Peirce’s basic claim that signs consist of three inter-related parts: a sign or representamen, an object, and an interpretant. For the sake of simplicity, we can think of the sign or representamen as the signifier, for example, a written word, an utterance, smoke as a sign for fire, etc. The object , on the other hand, is best thought of as whatever is signified, for example, the object to which the written or uttered word attaches, or the fire signified by the smoke....

Hello Today, I would like to talk about 2023 Malayali film Kaathal - The Core which was directed by Joe Baby. GENRE: Family Drama DURATION: 114 Minutes WHAT IS IT ABOUT? The film centres the character of Matthew Devassy who is a retired bank secretary and lives happily in a small town with his wife, Omana, daughter, Femy, and old father, Devassy. He enters into village politics reluctantly and participates in by-election. He is a well-respected citizen of his town, and everything looks fine in his life. And suddenly, he comes to know that his wife Omana has filed a petition for divorce stating the allegation that Matther is homosexual. Now, this is a huge challege for Matthew to overcome. It is difficult for his social and political image, but more than that, his own love and feelings for Omana are at stake. He doesn't want to separate himself from Omana.  Will he be able to prove himself and save his marriage? What will happen to his electoral candidature? How will town-people a...

Today I want to talk about a chapter entitled "Means of Communication as Means of Production" from the book  Culture and Materialism (1980) by Raymond Williams. (1921 – 1988) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Raymond Williams was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contributed to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts. His work laid foundations for the field of cultural studies and cultural materialism. WHAT THE CHAPTER IS ABOUT? This chapter critiques the idea of base and superstructure as it relates to culture and materialism.  Instead of viewing culture merely as a reflection of the economic base, it proposes that material life and consciousness are  inseparable.  Furthermore, it emphasizes how culture should be seen as a productive process, actively shaping and being shape...

Hello  Today, I want to talk about the relationship between linguistics and semiotics. WHAT IS LINGUISTICS? Linguistics is the scientific study of language. There are various sub-branches of linguistics that study different aspects of languages in general. WHAT IS SEMIOTICS? Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. It is also known as semiology. HOW ARE THEY CONNECTED? Saussure while developing a module to study languages identifies the structure of signs, sign system, and their interrelationship which make them meaningful. Saussure’s complete semiotic model was based on the language. Linguistics as a field is interested in all the various aspects, including structural, formal, social, and semantic aspects of the language. On the other hand, semiotics is primarily concerned with meaning making processes. Linguistics focuses solely on language as a sign system, while semiotics encompasses all forms of signs and their meaning-makin...

Hello Today, I would like to talk about 1974 Italian film entitled  La signora gioca bene a scopa? Genre: Adult Comedy Duration: 85 minutes The film is internationally known as Poker in Bed . The film was directed by Giuliano Carnimeo . Giuliano Carnimeo (1932 - 2016) WHAT IS THIS FILM ABOUT? This film tells the story of a broke poker player,  Michele Cammagliulo. He has lost everything in his habit of gaming and is unable to pay the debt of his shoe-shop. He decides to start living as a sex-servant of a female painter and her sister who owns an animal farm. He separately pleases both of them. Meanwhile, they have a guest, their cousin who aaspires to be a writer, and his girl-friend. Michele starts desiring this girl friend, Eva. He believes that having her will solve all his problems. Will Michele get to sleep with Eva? Will he ever win in the game of poker? Will he be able to pay his debts? WHY SHOULD WE WATCH IT? Italian cinema has a special genre of comedy, known as...

Hello Today, I would like to talk about a chapter entitled "Apocalypse Now"  from the book  Simulacra and Simulation (1981) by Jean Baudrillard. The chapter is Baudrillard's views on the Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 movie Apocalypse Now . ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jean Baudrillard (1929 - 2007) Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist and philosopher with an interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as his formulation of concepts such as hyperreality. Baudrillard wrote about diverse subjects, including consumerism, critique of economy, social history, aesthetics, Western foreign policy, and popular culture. WHAT THE CHAPTER IS ABOUT? Movie Apocalypse Now (1979)   and its director Francis Ford Coppola In this chapter Baudrillard provides an analysis of Coppola's “Apocalypse Now” (1979) argues the film transcends mere representation, be...

Hello  Today, I want to talk about the Peircean model of Sign. Let us begin by knowing about Peirce. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 - 1914) Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) was an American philosopher, logician, and semiotician who is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the fields of philosophy, logic, and semiotics. His work laid the foundation for many contemporary theories in logic, philosophy of science, and semiotics (the study of signs). Peirce's intellectual contributions were highly original and expansive, though he was not as well-known during his lifetime. Today, he is recognized as one of the most important American philosophers. The Peircean model of signs is a theory of semiotics i.e. the study of signs and symbols and their use in communication. Peirce's model is based on the idea that a "sign" is something that stands for or represents something else. He proposed that signs are not just arbitrary symbols, but that their meani...

Today, I would like to talk about 1999 American comedy film Election .  Genre: Black Comedy Duration: 103 minutes The film is directed by Alexander Payne. Alexander Payne It was based on a novel of the same title by Tom Perrotta. Tom Perrotta, the author of the novel 'Election' WHAT IS IT ABOUT? The film is about a high school teacher named Jim McAllister. He teaches US History and Civics in Carver school. In his class, he gets to meet an over-achiever student. The student, Tracy Flick, lives with her mother, who motivates and guides her to be successful. Coming from a privilege family background, she aspires to participate in school elections. The smooth conduction of the election was the responsibility of none other than Jim who doesn't like Tracy. This election changes the life of our hero, Jim. How? WHY SHOULD WE WATCH IT? A very clean and easy to follow movie. Matthew Brodernick as Jim is excellent and he has great comic timing. Reese Witherspoon is great as an over-a...

Hello Today,  I would like to talk about Chapter 14 from the book Education and the Social Order by Bertrand Russell . The title of the chapter is "Education and Economics". Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic philosophy. WHAT THE CHAPTER IS ABOUT? This chapter explores the profound and multifaceted influence of economic factors on education throughout history. Russell examines how economic systems shape educational funding, the aims of education (like increased production), class structures and the type of education received, and the role of endowments and traditions. Russell argues that economic forces significantly shape educational systems across history and different nations. He examines this influence through five key lenses: the amount of money a state invests in education (in...

Hello and welcome  Today, continuing our discussion of Saussurean sign, I would like to elaborate upon the concepts of langue and parole. Saussure distinguished between the langue and parole. He introduced the terms in his book Course in General Linguistics . These are linguistic terms that describe the abstract rules of language and the actual speech acts that use those rules.   Langue refers to the structured system of signs and rules shared by an entire linguistic community while parole refers to the actual use of language in speech or writing by individuals. Saussure advocated that the study of the sign should fall under the domain of langue , as it is concerned with the structural relationships that make meaning possible. Characteristics of Langue The abstract rules and conventions of a language, including grammar, syntax, and phonology  A system of signs that exists independently of the individual A set of rules that are internali...

Hello and Welcome, Today, I would like to talk about 1991 Hindi film Prahaar: The Final Attack written and directed by celebrated actor, Nana Patekar. It was Patekar's directorial debut and he hasn't made any other film since then. Genre: Action drama Duration: 168 minutes WHAT IS IT ABOUT? The story of the film is divided into two parts. In the first half of the film, Peter D'Souza goes to the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre for Commando training leaving his fiancee and father home. His father runs a small bakery. This entire part features rigourous commando training and soldiers' plight. Immediately after training, four of the commandos, including Peter, had to face a mission in which they had to save some school kids and their teachers from terrorists. In the second half, Major Chauhan finds out about the murder of Peter upon reaching his home, and he decides to serve justice. The kinds of challenges he faced is the main content of second half. In the end, ...

Hello and Welcome  Today, I want to talk about EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, RELATIVITY , an introduction to the section II of the Book LANGUAGE IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY: A READER IN LINGUISTICS AND ANTHROPOLOGY by DELL HYMES (1927 – 2009). About the Author: Dell Hymes (1927 - 2009) Dell Hymes was a linguist, sociolinguist, anthropologist, and folklorist who established disciplinary foundations for the comparative, ethnographic study of language use. His research focused upon the languages of the Pacific Northwest. What the Chapter is about? This chapter is introduction to the second section of the book. This section’s articles are about the issues of language diversity, relativity, and equality. Chapter addresses outdated misconceptions surrounding the study of language, specifically the inaccurate classification of languages as "primitive". It advocates for a more nuanced approach recognising the equality of all languages in their scientific value, while acknowledging their div...