HUM 1101 FINAL

The Cold War

The contest for world domination that followed WWII. Fought mostly between the two most powerful nations at the time: The Soviet Union (representing communism) The United States (representing democracy and capitalism) Communism and capitalist democracy confronted each other in hostile distrust - both possessed nuclear capability with the potential to extinguish the human race. Key features: - Instability of international relations - The threat of "the bomb" - A costly arms race - Wracking fear and paranoia

Martin Luther King

He was a Protestant pastor and civil rights activist who modeled his campaign of peaceful protest on the example of Gandhi. He was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 for marching without a permit - there he wrote a letter titled "Letter from Birmingham Jail" which became the landmark text in a national debate over civil rights. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 standing on the balcony outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Superego

the "conscience" that operates according to principles instilled by parents, teachers, and social authorities.

Ego

the manager that adapts the needs of the id to the real world.

Id

the seat of human instinct, the source of all physical desires.

Sigmund Freud

(1856-1939) challenged traditional perceptions of the internal world: the human mind. • His work led him to develop a systematic procedure for treating emotional illness. o He pioneered the tools of dream analysis and "free association." o He founded psychoanalysis, a method by which repressed desires and thoughts are explored through therapy in order to reveal the "hidden" sources of emotional disturbance.

1. T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land

(1922), is a landmark of Modernist poetry. o While not directly referencing World War I, the poem captures the spirit and mood of Europe and most of the rest of the world following the devastating world conflict. o The poem draws heavily on ancient Eastern and Western myths of death and rebirth - these themes are used to suggest the aridity (devoid of value) of modern life and the eternal quest for redemption. o The poem established the tendency of modern poetry to be compressed, complex, cryptic, and serious.

Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man

- that investigates black estrangement from white culture. - offers a glimpse into the spiritual journey of the protagonist, a black man who perceives himself as "invisible" to the white world.

Globalism

- the condition of interdependence between all parts of the world. Electronic modes of mass communication have created a "global village" in which images and ideas are instantaneously shared. accelerated the shift from the Modernism of the early 20th century to the Postmodernism of the late 20th century. Major developments of the last half century: Anti-colonial and cold war conflicts Existentialism Feminism The quest for racial, ethnic, and gender identity Massive information explosion facilitated by digital technology Driving forces going into the 21st century: A global quest for personal freedom A passion for experimentation A fascination with the infinite potential of digital technology The health of the environment The dangers of international terrorism

Vladimir Lenin

- was a Marxist revolutionary, but he tailored Marxist ideas to the needs of revolutionary Russia - he is considered the architect of Soviet communism. o He idealistically believed that communist ideals of freedom and equality would spread throughout the world, but he was wrong.

Suffragettes

- women militantly advocating for the right to vote -were instrumental in winning women the right to vote in Britain in 1918, and in America in 1920.

Modernism

-The opening decades of the 20th century produced this movement -The will to "make it new" lay at the heart of Modernism.

Postmodernism

-a bemused awareness of the past, whose "reality" is processed by mass communication and information technology. - artists appropriate (or borrow) pre-existing texts and images from history, advertising, and the media.

The Bolsheviks

-a left-wing faction of the Marxist Socialists co-founded by Lenin - were installed into power by Lenin, but they ended up creating a dictatorship led by the Communist Party. o The name "Bolshevik" comes from "bol'shinstvo," or "majority" - the name literally meant "one of the majority" - originally the Labor Party in Russia. o The Bolsheviks were the "Reds," also referred to as the Red Army - in contrast to the "Whites," or the "White Guard," anti-Communists who fought against them.

John Pollock

-best known of the Abstract Expressionists -"action painting" -"This style of painting was not pre-planned - The canvas would be placed upon the floor, and Pollock would proceed to drip, splash, pour, and spread the paint across its surface - constantly in action.

Tiananmen Square

-in Beijing in June 1989, when thousands of student activists demonstrated in support of Chinese democratic reform. -Protestors blared Beethoven's Ninth Symphony from loudspeakers, and raised a plaster figure of the goddess of democracy (modeled after the Statue of Liberty). -The Chinese government responded to this demonstration with violence: many protesters were massacred and imprisoned. -After this infamous event the government relaxed their controls over the arts considerably, and in the past two decades China has ascended as a powerful world leader with great modern contributions to the arts.

Information Age

-most dramatic development of the past half century Landmarks: Information Technology 1950 - Color television 1953 - Commercial computers 1959 - First silicon microchip 1970 - Fiber-optic technology perfected 1972 - First commercial video game 1975 - First personal computer 1979 - First portable music device (Walkman) 1983 - First commercial cellphone 1989 - Invention of the World Wide Web 1990 - Internet for personal computers 1995 - Advances in nanotechnology

Andy Warhol

-the pioneer American Pop artist. -Trained as a commercial artist, Warhol used familiar and banal supermarket products as his subject matter, such as Brillo pads, Campbell's soup, and Coca-Cola. -He also addressed celebrities and superstars such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. -Warhol depersonalized images by enlarging them or reproducing them in monotonous rows, resembling supermarket displays and shelves of products. -used the slick advertising techniques of silkscreen printing and airbrushing, thus blurring distinctions between fine and applied arts.

Feminism

-the principle advocating social, political, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. -The history reaches back at least to the 14th century, but it was not until the 19th century that pleas for female equality became central to movements that agitated for women's rights.

New Media Art

-was coined in the 1990s to describe art that makes use of digital technologies. -Computer graphics, computer animation, Internet art, and interactive technologies.

Jazz

-was the most important new musical genre of the 20th century; a unique form of music that flowered after WWI and would go on to influence almost all modern musical styles. o Jazz was primarily a performer's art, rather than a composer's, as much of jazz relied on the improvisation of the performer. o The beginnings of American jazz are found in New Orleans, Louisiana, where black and white musicians drew on the intricate rhythms of African tribal dance and the European harmonies of traditional marching bands.

Earthwork

A kind of installation that takes the natural landscape as both its medium and its subject.

The Great Depression

During the 1929 market crash, and would last until the 1940s.

Ezra Pound

Imagism's most influential poet (1885-1972). o He had studied the literature of Greece, Rome, China, Japan, and Europe - he tried to read in a work's original language when possible. o He was a student of Asian calligraphy, and drew a lot of inspiration from East Asian verse, especially the Japanese poetic genre known as haiku. o Like modernists in other art-forms, he called on his contemporaries to cast aside traditional modes of Western poetry and to "make it new."

Stonewall

In America, homosexuals date the birth of their "liberation" to June 1969, when they publically protested a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village. -the call for protection from harassment shifted to demands for social equality for homosexual individuals.

Abstract Expressionism

New York City was the birthplace of a radical new painting style. They worked on huge canvases using over-sized brushes, and applied paint in a loose, free, and instinctive manner that emphasized the physical gesture - the act of painting.

The Rite Of Spring

Performed by the Ballet Russes, led by Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929) o Choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950) o Music composed by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) • Shortly after the music began, catcalls, hissing, and booing disrupted the performance, as members of the audience protested the "shocking" sounds coming from the orchestra.

Silkscreen

a printmaking technique that transfers a stenciled image onto paper or cloth.

1. Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken

a spirit of individualism, and a sparseness of expression. o While being one of the best-known poems in the English language, some claim it is also the most misunderstood. o Many interpret this poem as being about not "following the crowd," and instead of taking the road more frequently traveled by others, one should considered the less- traveled road (the less taken choice). o However, Frost himself has stated that this poem is "tricky" and is about indecision and regretting past decisions that are inconsequential - as one review states: "Whichever way they go, they're sure to miss something good on the other path."

Minimalism

a style that eliminates representational subject matter in favor of simple, geometric shapes.

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique

claimed that American society in general, and commercial advertising in particular, had brainwashed women to prefer the roles of wives and mothers to other careers.

Philip Glass

considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century.

Totalitarianism

refers to a political regime that imposes the will of the state upon the life and conduct of the individual.

Harlem Renaissance

refers to an outpouring of creative expression that was centered in the community of Harlem from approximately 1920 until 1940. o The Harlem Renaissance focused on the self-conscious "rebirth" of African heritage as part of an intellectual and cultural quest for identity and equality. o Black poets, painters, musicians, and dancers celebrated the unique features of their race, and attempted to open a dialog between white and black America.

Pop Art

refers to artwork that addresses pop culture, or popular culture. glorifies the imagery of consumer products, celebrities, advertisements, and the media (TV, film, magazines) - thus it became the quintessential style of the Information Age

Mao Zegong

rose to power and formed the People's Republic of China in 1949. He had ambitious plans to reform and modernize China, but his methods struck at the foundations of traditional Chinese culture. He tried to replace the old traditional order, especially the Confucian veneration of the family, with a new order and new socialist values that demanded devotion to the state. His Cultural Revolution destroyed many traditional and Classical Chinese works of literature and art, and directed writers and artists to produce works that celebrated himself, China, and the new, modern communist state. He instituted totalitarian practices such as indoctrination, exile, and "purges" of the oppositional voices. His "little red book," called Quotations (1963), became the "bible" of the Chinese Revolution.

Green Buildings

structures that are both friendly to the ecosystem and energy efficient.

Langston Hughes

was one of the most well- known of the Harlem Renaissance poets. poem -"Harlem" (1951) - also known as "A Dream Deferred"