When creating his main character, Arthur Conan Doyle could never have thought that centuries later the detective stories would still invoke such strong reactions. Although Sherlock Holmes has...Show moreWhen creating his main character, Arthur Conan Doyle could never have thought that centuries later the detective stories would still invoke such strong reactions. Although Sherlock Holmes has indeed been a commercial success over the past hundreds of years, it has had its struggles dealing with its popularity. The 19th century audience already practically forced Doyle to write a sequel to the novel. Since then Sherlock Holmes’ audience and their surroundings obviously have changed dramatically. Technological advancements are not the least important influencers of the original detective stories. The most recent adaptations are the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law and the BBC series Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Both have again reached millions of fans worldwide resulting in a growing demand of new episodes. With that comes a third technological development, the Internet, where an enormous fan base was created and Sherlock Holmes got an online identity of its own. The question arises how a character and his detective stories can still be so popular today. Apart from using facts and numbers that indicate its popularity, this thesis will investigate the developments in British television that has supported the reinvention of the character of Sherlock Holmes.Show less
Taking Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), Samir Calixto in his dance-theatre play of the same title offers a new interpretation of an old order. In his work, God is a vain tyrant, Satan a...Show moreTaking Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), Samir Calixto in his dance-theatre play of the same title offers a new interpretation of an old order. In his work, God is a vain tyrant, Satan a tragic hero, Adam a weak marionette, and Eve a brave leader who, with determination and hope, guides Adam out of the Paradise towards enlightenment and a new beautiful world. This thesis aims to examine the difference in portrayal of gender roles in the two works. The main research question seeks to explore performance of gender roles in the background of gender studies and literary criticism on Milton. The sub-questions investigate how literature influences dance and what is the relationship between the two art forms; how the physicality of dance and lack of dramatic text affect possible interpretations; and whether Eve can be seen as the embodiment of the masculine. The emergence of modern dance, particularly understood as a form not based on narrative, is described along with the notion of intermediality and postdramatic theatre. A conceptual base regarding gender theory and adaptation studies is set out with examples from Milton's poem before an in-depth analysis of Calixto's performance.Show less
This thesis examines the gender representation in the animated series Avatar: the Last Airbender by analyzing several male and female characters of the series. Gender theories by Judith Bulter...Show moreThis thesis examines the gender representation in the animated series Avatar: the Last Airbender by analyzing several male and female characters of the series. Gender theories by Judith Bulter served as the main sources for this thesis.Show less
In 2010 the BBC launched a new series called Sherlock, a contemporary adaption of the Holmes stories. In this recent adaption created by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gattis, the original characters are...Show moreIn 2010 the BBC launched a new series called Sherlock, a contemporary adaption of the Holmes stories. In this recent adaption created by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gattis, the original characters are presented with a modern twist. Gattis and Moffat are known for their work on the BBC series Dr Who, a programme with a central character himself notably indebted to Holmes. The villains in the BBC series Sherlock challenge Sherlock to commit wicked deeds, and therefore perhaps to become a villain himself. This thesis will argue that in this way the show sets out to destabilize and call into question notions of an essential distinction between heroism and villainy.Show less
This thesis discusses the role of film and star persona in relation to the dominant ideology of the 1950s. Judy Holliday is used as an example in this matter to demonstrate in what ways a female...Show moreThis thesis discusses the role of film and star persona in relation to the dominant ideology of the 1950s. Judy Holliday is used as an example in this matter to demonstrate in what ways a female star persona reflected cultural expectations for American women in film.Show less
In Elizabeth Bowen’s The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1944), Rosamond Lehmann’s The Ballad and the Source (1944), and Rose Macaulay’s The World My Wilderness (1950), the actual present strikes...Show moreIn Elizabeth Bowen’s The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1944), Rosamond Lehmann’s The Ballad and the Source (1944), and Rose Macaulay’s The World My Wilderness (1950), the actual present strikes characters as unreal, since history is overturned, partly by the proximity of war: past, present and future are mingled. These prose texts are placed in relation to T.S. Eliot’s poetic commentary on our ambivalent attitude to time, Four Quartets (1943), which can similarly be seen as a response to the writer’s experience of the Blitz. The texts this thesis engages with explore the idea of simultaneity, a multiplied presence – but they also bespeak a disbelief in an independent present, one untainted by the past and future. Indeed, in these texts, the “anaesthetized and bewildered present” (The Demon Lover and Other Stories, Bowen 221) is obscured both by compressions and expansions of time, often in combination with a collapse of identity. Brimming with both nostalgia and painful memories, but also due to the looming presence of war, the texts are all in some way ‘haunted’, both metaphorically as well as literally. Ultimately, this thesis will argue that under the pressure of the war and its aftermath, 1940s Modernist texts question the linearity of time and experience.Show less
“One needs a lot of courage, to live”, observes Jean Rhys in Good Morning Midnight (1939) (16). It may just be the credo of her protagonist, Sasha Jansen, but could as easily have been that of Lady...Show more“One needs a lot of courage, to live”, observes Jean Rhys in Good Morning Midnight (1939) (16). It may just be the credo of her protagonist, Sasha Jansen, but could as easily have been that of Lady Brett Ashley in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926). In fact, it is the very observation that implies the scorn and ridicule that the modern woman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century faced as she pushed the boundaries of a male-dominated world. The ‘New Woman’, as she was called, spread out from the United Kingdom to Western Europe and the United States and demanded the right to vote, an equal share in jobs and education, and sexual freedom. She drove herself into public visibility and in turn made way for the ‘vamp’ and the ‘flapper’. In this essay I will take a closer look at the New Woman of the twenties and thirties and explore her different types through an analysis of Brett Ashley and Sasha Jansen. In doing so I attempt to determine where the New Woman could flourish and where she could not, what her internal, psychological problems were, which external challenges she met and how the texts represent these matters. Ever since their existence, Brett and Sasha have been critically and often acerbically labelled and categorised. “Bitch woman”, “prostitute” and “failure”, are just a few of a long list of derogatory terms that have been applied by their contemporaries and critics up to date. In this essay I will counteract such descriptions and argue that Brett Ashley and Sasha Jansen are, in fact, each in their own way, a late version of the ‘New Woman’ pushing the limits of their restrictions and struggling with the contemporary difficulties they encountered in this role. While the term New Woman is associated with a more serious and intellectual activist, concerned with education and politics, both the flapper and vamp connote fun. Both types take an aspect of the New Woman’s endeavours and magnify it. For the vamp this is seduction, for the flapper it is post-war hedonism in its broadest sense. It is no coincidence, then, that it is precisely this pursuit of pleasure that connects Brett Ashley and Sasha Jansen. Neither Brett nor Sasha pursues a structured path or noble purpose, neither aspire to a career, both, in fact, do whatever they want, whether society approves or not. However, in doing so Brett and Sasha do contribute to the process of women’s liberation. Not because they participate in feminist campaigns or operations – they don’t – but purely because they live how they choose to live. With their chosen acts both women rebel against male domination in general and the prevailing social norms of their respective decades. For Brett, the norms are a product of Victorian heritage, for Sasha they are the standards of a sober and sensible thirties conservatism.Show less
