Articles by Katherine Blakeney

F.W. Murnau, His Films, and Their Influence on German Expressionism

January 24, 2011 - 6063 words | Film and Cinema » Expressionism

F.W. Murnau had a diverse and artistic upbringing, and led an international lifestyle as an adult. His experiences, interests, and education naturally had a profound effect on the way he viewed the world and expressed himself artistically. Writing for Cahiers du Cinema... Read Article »

Keywords:

F.W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Expressionism German Expressionism Nosferatu Dracula Faust Max Reinhardt Weimar Caligari

Comparing Characters from Albert Camus's "The Fall" and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

January 14, 2010 - 1360 words | Opinion » Literature

Jean-Baptiste Clamence in Albert Camus's The Fall and the mysterious Ancient Mariner in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner each experience something that radically shifts his worldview and his view of himself. Arrogant and overly confident,... Read Article »

Keywords:

Rime Of the Ancient Mariner The Fall Jean-baptiste Clamence The Mariner English Literature Samuel Taylor Coleridge Albert Camus

Perceptions of Heroes and Villains in European Literature

January 12, 2010 - 3532 words | English » Heroes And Villains

It is tempting to classify literary, cinematic, and historical characters into groups. The trouble of course, is that such labels can be misleading at best, and severely subjective and variable. When using terms such as hero, villain, anti-hero, anti-villain, or adventurer... Read Article »

Keywords:

Villains Heroes Shakespeare Wilkie Collins Dracula Bram Stoker Frankenstein Mary Shelley Dostoyevsky Crime And Punishment Richard II Richard III Raskolnikov The Conformist Alberto Moravi

William Shakespeare's Richard III: Brilliant Schemer, Entertaining Villain

January 11, 2010 - 1229 words | English » Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s Richard III is no doubt a fascinating character and an entertaining villain. It is Shakespeare’s command of the English language, and his keen sense of drama and psychological depth, that make his plays so affecting and deeply memorable... Read Article »

Keywords:

Shakespeare Richard III English History Elizabethan Plays Theater Shakespeare

Ovid's Metamorphoses and the Plays of Shakespeare

December 31, 2009 - 4547 words | English » Shakespeare

The number of ancient sources available to the readers and playwrights of Elizabethan times was truly immeasurable. These sources could be reached both as original texts in Greek and Latin, and in French and English translations. Popular indirect sources were translations... Read Article »

Jean De Joinville and his Biography of Saint Louis on the Seventh Crusade

December 18, 2009 - 1990 words | History » Jean De Joinville

The French historian Jean de Joinville was born into a noble and influential family in Champagne in 1224.[1] He took the cross in 1248 to join the first crusade of Louis IX. His decision to go on crusade was at least in part influenced by the long and illustrious history... Read Article »

Keywords:

Jean De Joinville Crusade Medieval Chronicles Middle Ages Crusades Seventh Crusade Saint Louis France Middle East Christianity Louis Xi The Crusades Damietta

Perceptions of Knighthood: Comparing the Character of "The Knight" in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to the Knight in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal

December 17, 2009 - 1759 words | English » Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer’s description of “the Knight” in his “General Prologue” may be seen as a multi-layered narration. First he gives a very precise and historically relevant account of his campaigns. Based on what Chaucer knows about the knight&rsquo... Read Article »

Keywords:

Geoffrey Chaucer Ingmar Bergman The Seventh Seal Knights The Round Table Film History The Crusades The Middle Ages Knights Knighthood Canterbury Tales The Black Plague English History

Art and Biology: How Discoveries in Biology influenced the Development of Art Nouveau

December 15, 2009 - 1671 words | Opinion » Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is the so-called “modern style” developed at the turn of the 19th century. Although it is dated roughly between 1890 and 1910, its first true recognition as an important new movement in art and design occurred at the Universal Exposition in... Read Article »

Keywords:

Art Nouveau Biology Microscope Scientific Discoveries Art History Evolution Tiffany Louis Pasteur Robert Hooke Charles Darwin

An Analysis of Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity"

December 14, 2009 - 1636 words | Film and Cinema » Billy Wilder

In her article “Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey describes a way of analyzing and understanding cinema from a feminist and psychoanalytic perspective. A very similar approach is taken by Molly Haskell in her review of Hitchcock&rsquo... Read Article »

Keywords:

Laura Mulvey Molly Haskell Double Indemnity Billy Wilder Film Noir Psychoanalysis Castration Anxiety Femme Fatale Freud Film History Film Criticism Film Journalism

An Analysis of Film Critic Andre Bazin's Views on Expressionism and Realism in Film

December 11, 2009 - 1692 words | Film and Cinema » Andre Bazin

Film critic Andre Bazin had very strong feelings on the subject of montage and realism. In his article “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema”, he explains his theory that montage, although necessary in many cases to make a film work, can be heavily overused... Read Article »

Keywords:

Expressionism Film Film History Neorealism Andre Bazin Sergei Eisenstein German Expressionism Montage Battleship Potemkin Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari Faust F.W.Murnau Orson Welles Citizen Kan