Umberto Eco

The last thing I want, especially as a journalist, is for people to be afraid to talk to me openly. Don’t get me wrong I love a good list (grocery lists, to-do lists, playlists), and study after study shows that the brain responds well to them. Umberto Eco told The Atlantic the list “has an irresistible magic” and in cultural history has “prevailed over and over again.” Agreed. The

it is, you end up believing it yourself.” Abdul, one of Baudolino’s friends expressed a similar whim, “The vision was an illusion, but what I now felt inside was not; it was true desire. When you feel it, it's not an illusion. It's real” (Eco, 2002). Umberto Eco suggests that fabricated lies are able to shape reality; even the liar convinces himself/herself that those lies are the truth. In reality, almost everyone tells lies, basically to benefit one’s own interests. However, in trying so hard to

The ways we see women in our society are still as inferiority gender. We have altered modes of portraying women's, but the result has been the same for a long time, and digging down all those aspects that make women inferiority, we may find beauty as a reason not sufficient but necessary, which explain that. Beauty as an instrument that may account for women's inequality, and its relation with hierarchies and social roles. This essay explores some forms what understudy women's subordination, specifically

Romeo and Juliet. Italian author Umberto Eco brings attention to a certain passage in his introduction to The Count of Monte Cristo. Translated directly from the original French, the passage reads as follows: Danglars […] was mechanically tearing off the blossoms of a splendid orange-tree, one after another. When he had finished with the orange-tree, he began at the cactus but this, not being so easily plucked as the orange-tree, pricked him dreadfully. (681) But Eco notes that this passage could also

it is, you end up believing it yourself.” Abdul, one of Baudolino’s friends expressed a similar whim, “The vision was an illusion, but what I now felt inside was not; it was true desire. When you feel it, it's not an illusion. It's real” (Eco, 2002). Umberto Eco suggests that fabricated lies are able to shape reality; even the liar convinces himself/herself that those lies are the truth . In reality, almost everyone tells lies, basically to benefit one’s own interests. However, in trying so hard to

Ever since I was a little girl, clothes and shoes have been important to me. I loved picking out my own outfits for school, and finding just the right color Keds or sandals to match. It truly was a passion. Even now, many years later, here I am, the same shopaholic and fashion maniac I have always been. After researching semiotics, which in short, is the method of interpreting signs and finding a deeper meaning in everyday activities, I realize, that my reasoning for choosing the clothes and shoes

Over a century ago Antonio Gramsci extrapolated on the theory of hegemony derived from Marxist ideology. Gramsci sees hegemony, in the context of culture, as a dominant group who holds the most power and asserts it through controlling dominant messages. Alternatively, counter-hegemony is the oppositional voice to these messages. People who are part of the dominant group live with dominant messages may not be aware that they are hegemonic reinforcements. That is where counter-hegemony comes in to

The Bicycle Thief The Bicycle Thief is probably the best known and most highly praised of all the Italian Neorealist films of its era. The films of the Neorealist movement were characterized by several primary ideas. Instead of featuring stories focusing on glitz and glamour, Neorealist films focused on the poor and the working class. Instead of building and fabricating complex sets to film on, they did their filming on location. And instead of trying to get the most well known, highly paid celebrity

Quintessentially, we need to join all forces “socialists, liberals, deep greens, trade unionists, feminists, indigenous activists” (Angus, p. 221) everyone who is willing to demand decisive actions to stop greenhouse gas emissions protecting nature and ecological balance. The ecological emergency is a great challenge for the renewal of a revised Marxists thought and a break from the ideology of linear progress. Moreover, we need to translate the innate human solidarity that happens in natural disasters

The Italian Neo-realist film Umberto D directed by Vittorio De Sica follows the life of elderly Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a pensioner struggling to get by after pensions have been reduced post World War II. In the aftermath of major tragedy and suffering, such as the war that Umberto lived through, hope can be hard to find. Society is a web of dependence. Individuals rely on the government to provide a support structure of benefits and protection. Individuals count on each other for love and validation