Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers

BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI'S THE DREAMERS (2003): POLITICS OF YOUTH REMEMBERED Bertolucci's films have always been politically engaged. Undergoing psychoanalysis in the 1960s left him fascinated by dreams and their resemblance to cinematic sequences. However, he declared that he could not bring together his interests in politics and aesthetics. For me it's very difficult to succeed in mixing together the idea of beauty that I have as a moral fact and a reduction of reality in political terms, exactly because I think they are two irreconcilable things. (Cited by Purdon, 1971: 7) The Dreamers finally realised his long-standing ambition to make a film dealing with the events of Paris in 1968. Much more than a mere reconstruction of those events, this was to become the Bertolucci film that wove together sex, psychoanalysis, memory, dreaming, revolution and filmic style in a rich tapestry. Bertolucci always wanted to make cinema new and strange..

Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask

Output Type: Book Revie

Katherine Spring, Saying it with Songs: Popular Music and the Coming of Sound to Hollywood Cinema and Michael Slowik, After the Silents: Hollywood Film Music in the Early Sound Era, 1926-1934

Output Type: Book Revie

Million Dollar Baby

MILLION DOLLAR BABY: BOXING GRIEF AS Ed Buscombe remarks in his review of Million Dollar Baby (USA, 2004) it, like most movies that feature boxing, does not make fighting its principal subject, but deploys it as a metaphor for life (2005: 67-8). In this sub-genre, themes such as courage, loyalty, comradeship, endurance, betrayal, blind anger and one form or another of corrupt behaviour (both in and out of the ring) commonly occur. At various times the main protagonists in Million Dollar Baby show most of the virtues and vices just listed. They provide, so to speak, the basic topography against which Million Dollar Baby is plotted. The film is distinctive, however, because while these moral issues are constantly in the background, it foregrounds two less familiar themes - firstly, the strange, counter-instinctive skills that the boxer must learn; and secondly, the repression and displacement of grief together with the necessity..

The physician's melancholia

An account of Dr Gregory House's disposition and how it mirrors the psychology of his team of doctors

'Birth: Eternal Grieving of the Spotless Mind'

In Jonathan Glazer’s Birth, Anna, a 35-year-old woman widowed for ten years, is on the point of remarrying. A boy Sean comes to her apartment saying that he is her late husband, who was also called Sean. Anna and her family initially find refuge in polished derision from the ten-year old’s persistent claims. But the boy collapses after she forbids him to see her again, and the shock of it ends for her the safe option of scepticism. Helpless before the dawning realisation that the boy is indeed her late husband reborn, Anna soon obsessively starts planning to elope with him. Now read on..

The Son's Room

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF: THE SON'S ROOM Although we know that after such a loss the acute state of mourning will subside, we also know we shall remain inconsolable and will never find a substitute. No matter what will fill the gap, even if it be filled completely, it nevertheless remains something else. And actually this is how it should be. It is the only way of perpetuating that love which we do not want to relinquish. Sigmund Freud, Letter to Ludwig Binswanger (1929) PHILIP FRENCH makes the point that La Stanza del Figlio (the Italian title of The Son's Room) carries a pun. In addition to 'the room' explicit in the English version, stanza also means a verse in both languages, thus suggesting the idea of 'a poem or part of a life left standing' (2002). In this pun lies the key to what makes..

A relational systems psychodynamic approach to the understanding of group and organisational processes: The construction of 'the relational terrain'

Abstract:This submission comprises a body of published works which update and extend the range of theories-in-use in the practice of Group Relations experiential learning, bringing a relational psychoanalytic framework to the understanding of groups and organisational dynamics, the practice of organisational change consultancy and the challenges of taking up complex professional roles.The papers span a 15 year period, although the thinking that underpins them draws on a professional career of 40 years in social work, social work management, organisational consultancy and teaching for professional development. The past 25+ years have been in the context of small business management and ownership, which additionally allows for a perspective gained from fluctuating market and workplace practices. Throughout this career, I have worked extensively to create and promote conditions which can support professional judgement in challenging situations. I view this as a relational task which is both intrapsychic and interactional, and accessed through the making of links between inner world experiences of thoughts, feelings and fantasies, external world realities of organisational structures and processes, and the taking up of roles. I use psychosocial methodologies to help make sense of workplace dilemmas, and a broad repertoire of developmental interventions to effect change.Accompanying the published works is a commentary which outlines the papers and their particular contribution to the field of professional practice. What emerges from meta-analysis of the publications are the foundations for a theory of interaction based on a new framework for understanding and working in organisations, and consulting to group behaviour. I have called this ‘The Relational Terrain’ and I expound and illustrate it with material from the papers, and from my consulting work.I give evidence of the impact of these publications, of how and where ideas have been taken up, bringing fresh perspectives to established traditions, as well as practical value for clients attempting to effect change in themselves and their organisations. I suggest that there is now a groundswell of interest in the application of relational theories to group and organisational behaviour, and that this submission constitutes a body of knowledge which is ripe for a broader audience at this time

What is the Impact of Early Adult Rheumatoid Arthritis on the Biomechanical and Functional Characteristics of the Foot and Lower Limb?

Early rheumatoid arthritis may be characterized by the rapid onset of functional impairment. Despite advancements in the management of this disease, more than half of all patients experience significant walking impairments within the first two years following diagnosis. Clinical research has adopted 3D motion capture to provide data on musculoskeletal impairment in rheumatoid arthritis. However, there is limited published research using 3D motion capture to investigate the effects of early rheumatoid arthritis on the biomechanical function of the foot and lower limb. To translate laboratory based findings into clinical practice, more comprehensive data are therefore required in order to optimise the recognition and targeted management of early musculoskeletal pathology in rheumatoid arthritis. Protocols were developed for the examination of lower limb walking patterns in early rheumatoid arthritis using 3D motion capture. When the walking patterns of 18 early rheumatoid arthritis participants were compared to an age and gender matched control group, significant between-group differences in spatial-temporal parameters and joint movement patterns within the foot were observed. Walking speed in early rheumatoid arthritis participants was found to be significantly slower (p<0.05). This was accompanied by a delay in terminating stance (p<0.05). Principal component analysis showed that early rheumatoid arthritis participants exhibited a significantly greater (p<0.05) magnitude of eversion and abduction of the rearfoot and midfoot during gait. A significantly reduced (p<0.05) magnitude of dorsiflexion at the first metatarsophalangeal joint was also observed. Kinematic coupling relationships between the rearfoot and midfoot were also found to be significantly altered (p<0.05), suggesting that an additional source of mechanically based trauma is also present within the foot. Linear regression analysis showed that these features were largely unexplained by current measures of disease activity and disease impact. The findings of this research suggest that mechanically based foot pathology in early rheumatoid arthritis is of a greater magnitude than previously reported and that these changes are not explained by laboratory based measures of disease activity or patient-reported questionnaires. Based upon these findings, the multidisciplinary use of 3D motion capture is recommended to meet both current and future demands for the early assessment and targeted management of mechanically based foot pathology in early rheumatoid arthritis