The Role and Influence of U.S. Foreign Policy in Modern Greece Essay

The Role and Influence of U.S. Foreign Policy in Modern Greece United States and Greece are tied by a common heritage and shared democratic values (Greece Relations with U.S.). In fact, approximately 1.1 million Americans are of Greek heritage, and Greek-Americans comprise the seventh largest recipient of U.S. social security benefits. It is not surprising that this community has played an important role in strengthening Greek and U.S. foreign relations. The United States and Greece have participated as allies in World War II, the Korean conflict, and the Cold War. Most recently, Greece has given the United States use of its airspace and military assets in the counter-terrorism conflict in Iraq (Greece Relations with U.S.). Despite these positive relations, anti-American attitudes still prevail among most of the country's inhabitants. In this paper, I will discuss the influence and role of U.S. foreign policy in Greece with the hope that a clearer understanding of Greek attitudes is gained. Over the years, Greece's most pressing foreign policy issues have included the dispute over the name of the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia; the Cyprus conflict involving Turkey; relations with Albania; and disputes with Turkey over the Aegean (Greece Foreign Relations). In the resolutions of these conflicts, the United States has assumed a direct or indirect role. Some of the most recent events that have involved the United States and Greece more directly include human trafficking issues; the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; U.S. support of the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974; the 1997 war in Kosovo under the Clinton administration; the trial of the 17 November terrorist group; and security... .../web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>.? ?Human Trafficking Discussed in U.S. by Foreign Ministry Official Dollis.? Embassy of Greece. Washington, DC. 11 Nov. 2003. . ?Majority of EU Citizens Want Independent Foreign Policy From That Of U.S.? Athens News Agency 17 June 2003. Lexis Nexis. James B. Duke Lib. 19 Nov. 2003 . Second Annual Business Conference on Greece‑U.S. Relations.? Embassy of Greece Washington, DC.? 19 Nov. 2003 .? ?Wexler Set to Visit Cyprys and Greece.? Financial Times Information. Global News Wire. 25 June 2003. Lexis Nexis. James B. Duke Lib. 19 Nov. 2003 .

The Relationship Between Punk and Dada

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DADA AND PUNK It is difficult to estimate when people began to create different theories, movements and ideologies with regards to what is positive and negative in the world that we live in. A part and parcel of human nature has always been an individual desire to be a part of the perfect world which unfortunately is mainly stimulated by individuals in power. Therefore this bore a disagreement and critique among minorities and has been exploding over the centuries in different forms of cultural movements. One of the greatest cultural trends began in Zurich and it is known as Dadaism.During World War I a group of individuals created Dada in reaction to what they perceived to be negative and opposite of the values that they believed in. They showed their protest against nationalist, colonialist interest and bourgeois in various forms of controversial art. The new style definitely found its followers in suffocated by war society and even etched in history. Never theless, 1970s showed us that Dadaism was not forgotten as it inspired a new generation of people to express their feelings with regards to what is against their vision of perfection.This created a new cultural movement known as ‘Punk’ which is characterised by a critique to a political system and society that was framed in a specific pattern. This essay is an effort to present relations between ‘Dada’ and ‘Punk’ by analysing and comparing various art forms of ideology they believed in. Therefore the part of this work is focused on the backgrounds and origins of both movements it order to explain motives and ideas of their existence.Moreover, it will show very important relationship which strongly connects both trends in a form of spiritual protest by using and comparing artworks from both epochs; Hannah Hoch’s ‘’Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’’1919 compa red to ‘’The Beatles-Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’’1968, by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth. Also, the controversial CD cover created by Jamie Reid’s ‘’God Save the Queen’’ 1977 compared to ‘’The Art Critic’’ 1919 by Raoul Hausemann. The analysis of both comparisons will be a detailed explanation of those matters.First of all, Dada was not just a series of art-historical related events which took place between 1916 and 1923. Dada definitely was an emotional, social and political reaction created against the horror of World War I. With the collapse of pre 1914 social values the Dadaists acted in response with a strong ‘weapon’ as it involved a disagreement, defiance with ironic, anarchistic and frequently nihilistic gestures. However, they also evolved attitudes and techniques that have become a priority to our artistic sensibility.The discovery of automatism in the arts, the use of random elements, and the new definition of art which is not limited by any specific content or material is a great concept introduced by the Dadaists. Moreover, the art is situational as there is a result of confrontation between spectator and object which is frequently associated with controversy and chaos. Therefore it can be said that Dada as a novelty bore a historical responsibility for correcting the world problems for all time and a movement to an honourable place in the history of unrealised humanistic visions.From the aesthetic point of view Punk has its origins in Dadaism. However, this was a cultural mutiny which was mainly associated with a verbal protest through the music. This involved strong offensive expression of disagreement with the whole system and alienation. Nevertheless apart from a very controversial song lyrics Punk rock created different trends than others and innovated a new style in art known as ‘Punk visual art’. This new movemen t did not involve ordinary and predictable paintings.It is known as intentional infringement, such as the application of letters cut out from magazines and newspapers and the use of black and white in early Punk rock art work. The reason for that was the cost of productions punk zins in colour, however, in more expensive production there was a use of yellow and fluorescent pink contrasted with black. The message that Dada and Punk tried to achieve through their work in the context of desired reality is very similar as both of them bore from a social outburst.Punk was a form of artistic anarchy against system control and specific pattern of society, whereas Dada was an ‘Anti-War movement’. However, very interesting is the fact that they were relatively unrelated and occurred around 50 years apart. Although the vocalist of a very controversial punk rock band â€Å"Sex Pistols†, Johnny Rotten said he had never heard about ‘Dada’ there can be found the s ame themes of inspirations as in Dadaism. Therefore assuming that the group ‘Sex Pistols’ did not model on Dadaism and any other movements or trends, this might be associated with a human nature. The nature, that does not like o be manipulated, controlled or skipped as a microscopic minority. Fig. 1: ‘The Fountain’ 1917, Marcel Duchamp According to Griel Marcus, the author of ‘Lipstick Traces’ book, both movements are completely nihilistic and propagating belief in nothing and the wish to become nothing. Punk was against everything and at the same time finding its equilibrium in nihilism. This was clearly exposed by ‘Sex Pistols’ in song ‘Pretty Vacant’ which involves the Dada cry of â€Å"nothing is true; everything is permitted†. Moreover, freedom and fighting against the stereotypical art were the keys in Dada and Punk.Dadaists often asked ‘What is art’ and in response to their rules breaking use d anything they could think of for inspiration. Marcel Duchamp is a great example in this point, because his ironic piece ‘The Fountain’ 1917(Fig. 1) which he signed ‘R. Mutt’, was a controversial and provocative way of using a urinal in response to that question. Duchamp’s work not only showed groundbreaking, but it opened people’s eyes that art is not only classic and traditional. It is an awareness of what art is and could be. Dadaism influenced Punk in reflection to their absurdity.Punk artists designed cd covers that reflected the idea of breaking the traditional rules by being experimental with images and text to express political and social views. Photomontage was highly used by both, Dada and Punk. However, it was first used by a German group called ‘Dada’, and later became an inspiration for Punk artists. This involved the practice of cutting and pasting technique for their designs, using materials taken from cardboard, n ewspapers, magazines, rubbish and anything else that could be inspirational to create a collage. Fig. 3: ’The Beatles-Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’’1968, Peter Blake and Jann Haworth Fig. : ‘’Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’’1919, Hannah Hoch The most famous work done by Hannah Hoch is ‘’Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’’1919 (Fig. 2). It shows a mixture of modernism by including a lot of machinery and high-tech items of the Weimar period which engage with a modern world. These items were the pasted photographic images called from the press and taken from printed and product catalogues, magazines, newspapers and journals which she clipped together preading across the page to form this artwork. In this chaotic artwork, Hoch also shows the figures of women, as she was strongly towards f ighting for their rights. A new role of women was a message in this design thus metaphorical kitchen knife in her title referred to stereotypical pattern of both; women in the society and to her own artistic process. Because of uniqueness of this artwork the later artists continued controversial reforms in design and we witnessed a creation of ‘’The Beatles-Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’’ by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth made in 1968 (Fig3. . Originally it was for the cd cover purposes however it was frequently associated with Dada design as it involved a group of people that the members of the band would like to see as their imaginary audience. This shows that there is a reference to the amount of components that Hoch’s used in her design and controversy which also characterised the Beatle’s cover, as Jesus and Hitler were intended to appear in John Lennon’s vision. Another great example of Dadaism in Punk was created by Jamie Reid’s ‘’God Save the Queen’’ 1977 (Fig. 4), the cd cover for Sex Pistols shocked the nation.In the result, this controversial, shocking design together with the lyrics led the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority to not play the song. Reid has offended the image of the Queen Elizabeth II by playing with her portrait and national anthem during Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. This censorship did not stop Great Britain from listening to it and made the song to be number one of playlist. In addition, ‘’God Save the Queen’’ played a massive role in a punk rock movement. Reid’s work can be compared to ‘’The Art Critic’’ 1919 by Raoul Hausemann (Fig. ) because of the similarities that can be seen in their designs. They both depict defaced images in the highness of the Queen and the oversized figure with oversized head which is often said to be Housemannâ€⠄¢s friend George Grosz. There is a use of reachable resources which are sliding strong, wild and free personal messages. The irony behind this collage shows the character holding outsized Venus pencil, a shoe glued to his forehead and a German banknote situated near his neck. On the right hand site Fig. 4: ‘’God Save the Queen’’ 1977, Jamie Reid we can see his business card –showing his silhouette filled with a newspaper print.In addition, the background contains Raul’s poem which was randomly chosen informing public performances. Those components show self references as many Dada artists included in their photomontages and the use of materials surrounding them. ‘’The Art Critic’’ is also a provocative and controversial design as the eyes and mouth are full of irony because we don’t know whose are the eyes he sees or whose words he speaks. Knowing that Dada worked before Punk, it can be seen that type and im age juxtapositions influenced Reid to follow this direction.Rick Poynor in his ‘‘No More Rules Graphic Design and Postmodernism’’ book describes Reid’s design by Fig. 5: ‘’The Art Critic’’1919, Raol Hausemann saying that rough, torn stripes across Queen’s face and mouth form voids by a cut-up lettering to show the title and the band name on a cover which he called ‘’archetype of a punk rock band’’. In addition, those are also examples of a Dada photomontage and a Punk photomontage which both used words and images to express verbal and visual meanings. In conclusion, the aim of this essay was to prove the relationship between Dada and Punk through various forms of artwork.They both were fighting against either the War or the rules of the system. In addition, Dada and Punk were characterised by similar ideology which was very controversial in terms of stereotypical vision of art. The violatio n of traditional rules and twisting the popular image of art had an impact on future subcultures, in this case Punk. Also, the creation of photomontage technique is shown through the comparisons of work from Dada period and then in Punk, which was born further in the 20th century. They were the evidence of controversy and provocation addressed by personal messages behind them.Although, there is 50 years of difference in between the movements, it is fair to say that both of them greatly affected our culture and inspired the future generations. References: Raoul Hausmann,The Art Critic. 2010. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://iheartartblog. blogspot. co. uk/2010/05/raoul-hausmann-art-critic. html Audio Raoul Hausmann The Art Critic 1919-1920. 2011. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://www. moma. org/explore/multimedia/audios/29/707 Chapter 12 Words and Images. 2009. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://wiki. igital-foundations. net/index. php? title=Ch apter_12. _Words_and_Images Liam. 2009. [online]. Last accessed 19 May 2012 at: http://poptonesmusings. blogspot. co. uk/2009/02/dadaism-and-punk-meaning-less. html BERRYMAN,Ashleigh. 2010. [online]. Last accessed 19 May 2012 at: http://ashleighberryman. wordpress. com/2010/11/04/punk-is-dadaism/ KALOGERAKIS,Stelios,2011. [online]. Last accessed 19 May 2012 at: http://www. kalogerakis. org/? p=1171 Punk visual art. 2012. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Punk_visual_art Dada. 2012. [online].Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Dada POYNTON,Rick (2003). No More Rules Graphic Design and Postomodernism. London: Laurencce King Publishing. p39-40. GALE,Matthew (1997). Dada& Surrealism. London: Phaidon Press Limited. p103. ADES,Dawn (1986). Photomontage . 2nd ed. London: Thames and Hudson. p19-21. BIGSBY,C. W. E. (1972). Dada& Surrealism. London: Methuen & Co Ltd. p10-11. HERBERT,David (ed. ) (1970). Dada. London: Studio Vista L imited. p9-11 p28-35. GREIL,Micheal(1989). Lipstick Traces: a secret of the twentieth century. London: Secker & Warburg.

Plot Summary of Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House

Written in 1879 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, A Dolls House is a three-act play about a seemingly typical housewife who becomes disillusioned and dissatisfied with her condescending husband. Act One: Meet the Helmers Set around Christmas time, Nora Helmer enters her home, truly enjoying life. An old widow friend from her past, Mrs. Linde, stops by hoping to find a job. Noras husband Torvald recently earned a promotion, so she happily finds employment for Mrs. Linde. When her friend complains how hard the years have been, Nora replies that her life has been filled with challenges too. Nora discreetly explains that several years ago, when Torvald Helmer was very ill, she forged her dead fathers signature in order to illegally obtain a loan. Since then, she has been paying back the loan in secret. She has never told her husband because she knows it would upset him. Unfortunately, a bitter bank employee named Nils Krogstad is the man who collects the debt payments. Knowing that Torvald is soon to be promoted, he tries using his knowledge of her forgery to blackmail Nora. He wants to ensure his position at the bank; otherwise, he will reveal the truth to Torvald and perhaps even the police. This turn of events greatly upsets Nora. However, she keeps the truth concealed from her husband, as well as Dr. Rank, a kind yet sickly old friend of the Helmers. She tries to distract herself by playing with her three children. However, by the ending of Act One, she begins to feel trapped and desperate. Act Two: Nora Tries to Keep Her Secret Throughout the second act, Nora tries to concoct ways to prevent Krogstad from revealing the truth. She has tried to coerce her husband, asking him to let Krogstad keep his job. However, Helmer believes the man possesses criminal tendencies. Therefore, he is bent on removing Krogstad from his post. Nora tries asking Dr. Rank for help, but she is put off when Dr. Rank becomes too flirtatious with her and claims that he cares for her just as much, if not more, than her husband. Later, the Helmers prepare for a holiday ball. Torvald watches Nora perform a traditional folk dance. He is disappointed that she has forgotten much of what he has taught her. Here, the audience witnesses one of the many scenes in which Torvald patronizes his wife as though she were a child or his play-thing. (Hence, Ibsen titled the play: A Dolls House). Torvald constantly calls her pet names such as my songbird and my little squirrel. Yet, he never speaks to her with any degree of mutual respect. Eventually, Mrs. Linde tells Nora that she had a romantic attachment to Krogstad in the past and that she can perhaps persuade him to relent. However, Krogstad does not sway in his position. By the end of Act Two, it seems that Torvald is bound to discover the truth. Nora is ashamed of this possibility. She contemplates jumping into an icy river. She believes that if she does not commit suicide, Torvald will bravely assume responsibility for her crimes. She believes that he would go to jail instead of her. Therefore, she wants to sacrifice herself for his benefit. Act Three: Nora and Torvald'sBig Transformation Mrs. Linde and Krogstad meet for the first time in years. At first, Krogstad is bitter towards her, but she soon rekindles their romantic interest toward one another. Krogstad even has a change of heart and considers tearing up Noras IOU. However, Mrs. Linde believes it would be best if Torvald and Nora finally confront the truth. After returning from the party, Nora and Torvald unwind at home. Torvald discusses how he enjoys watching her at parties, pretending that he is encountering her for the first time. Dr. Rank knocks on the door, interrupting the conversation. He says goodbye to them, hinting that he will be shutting himself up in his room until his sickness finally wins. After Dr. Ranks departure, Torvald discovers Krogstads incriminating note. When he realizes the criminal act that Nora has committed, Torvald becomes enraged. He fumes about how Krogstad can now make any demand he wishes. He declares that Nora is immoral, unfit as a wife and mother. Even worse, Torvald says that he will continue to be married to her in name alone. He wants to have no romantic connection to her whatsoever. The irony of this scene is that moments before, Torvald was discussing how he wished that Nora faced some sort of peril, so that he could prove his love for her. Yet, once that peril is actually presented, he has no intention of saving her, only condemning her actions. Moments after Torvald raves like a madman, Krogstad drops another note saying that he has rediscovered love and that he no longer wants to blackmail the Helmer family. Torvald rejoices, declaring that they are saved. He then, in a moment of sheer hypocrisy, states that he forgives Nora and that he still loves her as his little caged songbird. This is a startling wake-up call for Nora Helmer. In a flash, she realizes that Torvald is not the loving, selfless husband she had once envisioned. With that epiphany, she also comes to understand that their marriage has been a lie and that she herself has been an active part in the deception. She then decides to leave her husband and her children in order to find out who she truly is. Torvald desperately begs her to stay. He claims that he will change. She says that perhaps if a miracle of miracles happens they might one day become suitable companions. However, when she leaves, slamming the door behind her, Torvald is left with very little hope.