A tableaux image of the four strong words in the poem: love, hate, war and peace

When I first walked into the stimulus room, I initially felt it was very much associated with time. There were the sound of clocks ticking in the background, there were also many pictures of clocks scattered on the floor. As I looked around the room I noticed it was clearly divided into three different sections. In the right hand section of the room, divided off by police tape, there was a television playing a video showing a baby in a womb, children playing, and then a pair of eyes. The video then showed the children grow into adults. This was followed by a sign being put up about adoption and fostering and then went back to show the image of the baby in the womb. The images were repeated continuously. Also in the section was a baby in a cot, nursery books, a hopscotch marking, several newspapers on the floor with the headlines about ‘Rape', a mirror, empty wine bottles, a train ticket with the destination, ‘To meet my first born' and also written on the floor was ‘ Dear Diary, Today I met up with some of my friends†¦ ‘. I think the overall theme of this section of the room was the ‘past'. The baby, nursery books and hopscotch marking all represent childhood and growing up. I also think there were many more themes within the section; the hopscotch could also represent the journey through life or the stages of life. The train ticket with the destination ‘To Meet My First Born' could represent life as a journey. The mirror could represent reflecting back on your past, similar to the ‘Dear Diary', this could show how you reflect back on your past or your childhood through a diary you may have kept. The newspapers, ignoring their headlines, could show how you can look back on the past, but not go back. The police tape dividing off that section of the room could also mean that there's no going back, you cannot cross the police line back to the past. The baby and the nursery books, I think simply show the beginning of life, where it all began and highlighting the innocence of a young life. The empty wine bottles, I think show the stress of growing up, the bad times of your past. The newspapers with the headlines about ‘Rape' also show the darker side of your past, something you may want to forget. The video playing a continuous loop shows the life cycle, the baby in the womb, the children playing, then growing into adults. The flash of a person's eyes could mean the images on the video were being looked at through someone's eyes; it was perhaps their memory of growing up. The scene showing a sign about fostering and adoption could show perhaps that the baby in the cot was adopted, or that as you grow older you may not be able to have children. Often couples have to think about adopting or fostering a child. The whole section could represent one person's life. Perhaps they are reflecting back on their life after realising they in fact were adopted. They may look back realising that most of their life was a lie, many parents who adopt wait until their child is eighteen before telling them they were adopted. This could show the child looking back at his or her life, adjusting to the fact he or she did not come from where they had been lead to believe they had. The empty wine bottles could show the stress of learning the truth about your past. The mirror could show how they reflect back at their life, or that you are still the same person within throughout your life. Although your physical appearance changes, and that's what the mirror shows, you still remain the same inside. The quote, â€Å"Give me the child until he is seven, and I will show you the man† explains how you develop your characteristics by the age of seven and they remain with you for life. As I continued to look around this section of the room, I started to think more about the newspaper headlines, ‘Serial Rapist'. I started to see a pattern immerging, the headline about rape, the police tape, the empty wine bottles. This could all show a story about someone getting raped, perhaps the baby in the cot was a result of this and then put up for adoption, the mother may have turned to alcohol to deal with the trauma of being raped. The mirror, as well as reflecting back on your past could represent simply looking at your reflection, feeling self-conscious. Perhaps as a result of rape, the girl could feel very insecure and unhappy with her own appearance. The mental torment of being raped could lead her to believe that the image she sees in the mirror is worthless and damaged due to being raped. In the centre section of the room, there were lots of paintings of melting clocks scattered on the floor, a globe, a large drawing on the floor of a clock without any hands, there was also a real clock on the floor. There was a large projection of the painting ‘Scream' by Edvard Munch, a table set out for two people, there were lots of newspapers along the right hand side of this section and also newspapers with only a headline but no other text along the left side of this section. I think the overall theme of this section was the ‘present', but like in the past section I think there are many more themes within it. The paintings of melting clocks could show how time is running away, how fast life can go at times and that you should live each day to the full as you don't know whether it'll be your last. The large drawing of a clock on the floor, with no hands could back up the idea that this section of the room is ‘present' as there is no time in the present because when you have a fixed time, it is in the past. It could also represent ‘any time', the fact that there are no hands could mean that you don't know when anything will happen, you cannot predict the future. The real clock on the floor shows the reality that time really is slipping away, seconds tick by all the time, everything you do will suddenly become the past and you cannot change that. The ‘Scream' painting shows a person standing on a bridge with their hands to their face, screaming. This could represent trauma and crisis in life, the person on the bridge is perhaps thinking of ending their life and jumping into the river below, or maybe just needed a place to escape to, to reflect back on his or her life. The fact that the person is screaming could mean they are going through a hard time or they are thinking back to a scarred childhood. Like the wine bottles in the past section it could just represent the unhappy times in someone's life. Many other paintings by Edvard Munch include the same bridge or pier, maybe this is a reflection on Edvard Munch's life, it could be a place he liked to go when life was getting on top of him, to look back at his own life. The painting can represent many other things, for example the fear in people's life, perhaps it represents death, or the fact many people are afraid of the idea of death although everyone has to face it. The newspapers bordering the past and present section means that whatever is printed in the newspapers is always in the past, you can look back at it by reading the newspapers but you cannot visit it. Whereas the newspapers with only a headline and no other text represents the present and future, there's nothing to write in the newspapers because you don't know what is happening at this very moment or what is going to happen next, as soon as it has happened, when you read something in the newspaper, it is already the past. The table for two, set out neatly with two plates, two sets of cutlery and two wine glasses I think represents the opposite of the ‘Scream' painting, the happy times in life; love and friendship. It could represent a marriage, or even just two close friends. The globes could show the journey through life, or the fact that all over the world everyone is living at the same time, everyone has a past, and a present. Everyone has their own problems in life and however big and important yours are, somewhere across the world someone has their own to deal with and your problems are of no significance to them. I think this section could link into the storyline of the past section, the ‘Scream' painting could represent the trauma the rape victim went through or even how the child felt after finding out it was adopted. The table set out for two could show the happier times in their life, maybe the reunited mother and child after many years apart or it could represent a life getting back on track after a terrible event, sharing times with friends and family. The melting clocks show how time was dripping away and how you can never get it back, years would have been wasted being depressed and recovering from the trauma of being raped. In the left section of the room there is a table set out for one, a train ticket with a destination ‘To propose to Fiona', a large question mark drawn on the floor, a coffin draped in a black cloth with a rose on top, a vase of flowers, a bundle in a black cloth next to the coffin with a rose on top, a gravestone with no name or date, the words ‘Dear Diary.. ‘ written on the floor but with nothing following and on the floor, there was a white cloth. The overall theme of this section of the room was the ‘future'. The table for one, is linked to the table set out for two in the present section of the room, this could show death of a partner or divorce or even friends falling out. The white cloth on the floor could show the blank future, nothing has been written on it yet. It could also represent heaven and peace when you die. The coffin represents death, the black cloth draped over it could show how many people fear death. The coffin had a rose placed upon it, this shows love and how when you are gone, there's always someone still alive, missing you. The coffin could be linked to the table for one, it could explain that the partner or friend died. The black cloth next to the coffin could show something connected to the person in the coffin next to it, their soul or personality for instanced and how that is no longer there when a person dies. The rose upon this black cloth again can represent the love of someone you've left behind. The large question mark drawn on the floor could represent many things, how the person died or the fact that its unknown as to what happens when we die, or that we don't know what the future holds. The ‘Dear Diary†¦ ‘ without any thing written after shows that we don't know what is going to happen to us in the future. Our diaries are blank until we write in them; our future is blank until we live it. The train ticket again shows the journey through life. The destination is ‘To propose to Fiona' , this could be linked to the table for one, maybe the man went to propose to Fiona but she didn't feel the same, leaving him alone, represented by a table set out for one. The gravestone had nothing written on it apart from: RIP In loving memory of: Born: Died: I think this shows that we don't know when we are going to die, or who is going to die, when. This also shows that everyone will die, even though we don't know how or when. The flowers represent the love for someone, when people lay flowers on a grave at a funeral it is because they want to show their respect and love for the person who died and how there will be a part of their life missing without them. This section of the room could also link into the storyline of the other two sections. The bundle of cloth next to the coffin could represent an abortion, perhaps the rape victim had chosen to have an abortion. There would be no coffin because the baby was unborn but the rose still shows how there was still love for the unborn baby. The gravestone again could represent an abortion, there would be no name, or birth date as it hadn't been born. The large question mark could represent the unknown mother and father perhaps of the adopted child, it could have been an abandoned baby. It could also represent the unknown rapist and link to the past section with the police tape. On the tables, at the side of the room, not in any of the sections were several poems; ‘Time after time', ‘Funeral Blues' and an extract from ‘Ecclesiastes' in the bible. All of these tie into the three sections of the room and the overall theme of time. They also relate to the many other themes in the room, ‘Funeral Blues' by W. H. Auden is obviously related to death. It shows the love for someone who died and how they will miss them now they are gone. ‘He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest' It is from the point of view of someone left behind, someone now alone left to cope with the death of a partner. This could relate to the table for one, a partner dying and how the person will miss them. ‘I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. ‘ The extract from ‘Ecclesiastes' in the Bible, links into the idea of past, present and future. It shows how in your life, there will come a time for everything, ‘a time to be born, and a time to die' It elaborates the idea that everyone will one day die, everyone has their time. Nobody should be afraid of death, it shouldn't something to be scared of as one day everyone will face it. The poem also includes many opposites, love, hate, war and peace, and explains that in everyone's life there will come a time to do all these things. ‘a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. ‘ Development The first piece of practical work we developed from the stimulus room, was based on the Ecclesiastes poem extract from the Bible. We focused on four particular lines from it: ‘a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. ‘ We had to create a tableaux image of the four strong words in the poem; love, hate, war and peace. The first image out group started to work on was ‘love'. We decided each member of our group would hold a still image that represented various kinds of love. Georgina and I held a still image of two parents cradling a baby, showing their love for that child and each other. In this image I played the father, holding the baby whilst Georgina played the mother gazing lovingly at the baby, our facial expressions were happy to show our love for one another and the child. We also started to think about different kinds of love, not only love for other people but love for other things in life. Eliot decided to hold the image of someone eating a burger; this was to represent someone's love for food. Whilst holding an imaginary burger to his mouth, his expression was content to show how much he was enjoying it. Andy and Fiona held the still image of two people getting married in a wedding ceremony. Looking lovingly into each others eyes, they showed their love for each other, the most common kind of love. Katie played a screaming fan at a concert, overjoyed to show her love for a particular band. We then started to think about the still image we would hold for ‘hate'. Georgina and I, instead of cradling the baby, we held the image of two separated parents, fighting over custody for the child. We represented this by, Eliot playing the child and Georgina and I pulling at each of his arms to show our love for one another had gone and now we hated each other because we both wanted care of the child. We weren't facing each other or the child and our facial expressions showed we were very angry yet determined to be the parent looking after the child. Andy, Katie and Fiona held a freeze frame to show a big argument, they all had raised arms and very angry expressions, this showed their hate for one another. The next still image we worked on was ‘peace'. Instead of all holding different still images to represent this, we all stood in a circle and held hands. This showed that everyone in that circle were friends, there was no war or conflicts between us, everyone was happy and smiling. The last freeze frame we had to create was for ‘war'. We decided to show different kinds of war, the typical kind of war and also conflict and war between friends and family. We represented the typical kind of war between countries by Eliot laying dead on the floor whilst Andy and I stood over him holding guns, we had hateful looks on our faces as we looked down to the man we had killed. Georgina, Katie and Fiona represented war and conflict between friends and family by all standing with their backs to one another, with stern expressions. We also had to use the convention of ‘melt and morph' to link each of our four images. We decided to create a still image that we would start, finish and use between each of our four images. Our image that we would use to morph between the four freeze frames we created was all of us, standing with our heads down facing inwards, in a circle. This was to show the state of nothingness, no war, no peace, no love, and no hate. We evolved from this into each of our images and then back afterwards. I think the way we linked the images worked effectively because it showed four definite states; war, peace, love and hate. Also it showed the easy transition from peace to war, love to hate and represented how easy it is to go from one to the other. The characters I played in this piece were; a father in the still image for ‘love', a father in the still image for ‘hate, I was part of the circle in our representation of ‘peace' and I played someone having just killed another person in ‘war'. In the first image, I stood as the father looking very happy and lovingly at my child with a big smile on my face. In the second image, I had a more serious and hateful expression, despising of my ex-wife and determined to get custody of my child. In the third image, I stood as part of the ‘peace' circle, we all held hands and smiled to show there were no conflicts between us and we were all friends. For the last image, war, I had a very angry but satisfied look on my face as I stood over the body I had killed. The next piece of practical work we did was based on the same poem but we had to concentrate on the lines of war and hate. We were asked to think about why it would say in the bible that hate and war are justified. We then had to create a scene or imagery to explain why hate or war would be justified. The storyline our group came up with was about a very happy family, until the mother of the family was killed in a car crash. The father is left to look after the children on his own and eventually decides he cannot cope and walks out to leave the children alone. The children then start to argue over control of the family and the two eldest boys walk out to leave the last of the family, two girls alone. The girls, left alone, hate their father. This is justified because he walked out on the family just after their mother had died, when they needed him most. He left them on their own just because he felt he couldn't cope with being a single parent with four children. We based this story around a family photograph. Our first scene showed a typical family photograph, everyone smiling with arms around each other, the mother and father standing at the back with their four children kneeling in front of them. Everyone spoke occasionally saying things like, ‘Smile for the camera! ‘ and ‘Say cheese! ‘ From this perfect picture we went to the scene where the mother died. We all went and sat on chairs set out like a car, the children in the back and the mother and father in the front. The children were arguing in the back and, I, who played the father, was reading the paper in the front, leaving the mother to drive and control the children. Soon after, there are screams as the car crashes, we represented this by all slowly moving forward, we froze with our heads on our knees for a few seconds then gradually sat up again, looking weary and in pain. Fiona, who played the mother, remained with her head on her knees to show that she was dead and not going to sit back up again. We then moved back to the family photograph, this time without the mother. Here is where we included some sad music to emphasize the feeling of grief and unhappiness in the family. We again stood in the same position, ready for a photograph to be taken. I, playing the father, try to get everyone to smile saying, ‘Come on now kids, it's what your mother would've wanted, smile for the camera'. We then all froze for a few seconds to show the photograph, everyone looking deeply unhappy and not like they wanted to be there. After this I step forward, walking through the children, I turned towards them and said, ‘I'm really sorry, I just†¦ an't cope' and then walk out of the picture. Here we went back again to the family photograph, this time it's only the children in it. The two oldest children, who Eliot and Andy played start to argue about who should take control of the family, who should be the man of the house and then they both leave the picture as well. Then we are left with Ruth and Katie sitting on the floor, reflecting on their family falling apart, imagining what it would've been like if it was their father who died instead of their mother. At this point the family is reunited as if it was I, the father, was dead. Fiona and the children stood in the picture position while I sat where Fiona was sitting in the car with my head on my knees. In this performance I played the father, in the first picture I was as happy as the rest of the family, enjoying having their photo taken. After the crash, in the next picture, my character was grieving his dead wife, I showed this by looking very upset, but forcing a smile to try and encourage the rest of the family to smile for the photo. After this the father had decided he couldn't cope, as I walked through the children I held my head low to show he was regretting his decision and not wanting to look his children who he is abandoning, in the face. The father is a coward and as I said that I couldn't cope I spoke very quietly and slowly. We used many conventions in this performance; flash back, tableau (freeze frame) and slow motion. A flash back is where you move from one scene to another scene in the past. We used the flash back when we showed how the mother died and why she had dropped out of the picture. This worked well as it informed the audience as to why she wasn't in the next family photograph and why the family started to fall apart. We also used slow motion. Slow motion is when characters in the play act a lot slower than normal. We used this when we showed the car crash. I think it made the performance look more professional, rather than all falling on the floor, we all fell forward in slow motion and the fact that the mother didn't get up showed her death, I think this worked well. A tableau or a freeze frame is where characters on stage freeze in fixed positions. The freeze frames we used on every family photograph worked well because each one was different. There were less family members on each photo and for the remaining family members, their expressions grew sadder to show how distressing it was to see your family, leaving. We also added music after the crash to add more emotion and sadness to the picture. The music grew louder and stronger until it stopped when the family was reunited. I think all the conventions worked really well with our ideas and added more emotion and feeling to the piece. The next part of the stimulus room we created a performance from was the ‘Scream' painting by Edvard Munch. We had to create a piece of drama explaining how someone would get into such a state to pull this ‘scream pose' and then the aftermath. Firstly, we brainstormed ideas as to why we think the person in the painting was screaming, who he was and what happened. We came up with many ideas about the person having no friends or family, maybe being out of a job or just being generally depressed about his life. For our performance, we firstly had to create a walk of the character down the pier as shown in the painting. Eliot played our main ‘scream' character; we had to do this first movement piece to music. To begin our piece, we decided not to have the character walk down a ‘pier' but instead to walk through the passage way of a train. The central character had to be slow, and all the other people in the performance were going fast around him, this is so the focus of the performance is on the main character. We decided to show this on a train because we could emphasize the reasons as to why he is depressed and lonely. As Eliot went to sit down at every seat on the train, someone would walk that little bit faster and sit down in it before he could, someone even hurried past him and sat on one chair and put their bag on the one next to it. All the other characters on the train completely ignored Eliot. As the central character was slow he would never manage to get a seat and ended up standing up on his own. This is where he held the ‘scream' pose for a few seconds. The next part we had to do was 10 seconds of slow motion. For this we showed Eliot's anger building up, he was sick of being ignored, sick of being the one to stand alone. In this slow motion we showed Eliot raising his arms and screaming at the other passengers on the train. We showed this in mime as we thought it looked much more professional. The passengers he was shouting at simply glanced at him thinking he was a lunatic and carried on with what they were doing. For instance I played a man sitting on the train reading a newspaper, when Eliot started to scream at me, I looked up once and then went back to reading my newspaper. This all showed the build up of Eliot's anger and the exact reasons why he is so depressed and lonely and summed up why he is screaming in the painting. After the 10 seconds of slow motion, of Eliot screaming at the passengers, we had to do 10 seconds of what happens next. Here is where one by one, the passengers get up out of their seats and go, leaving Eliot standing alone in the carriage, even lonelier and upset. After the train scene, we were told to create scenes to describe what has lead the character to the scream, what has happened previously in his life to make him feel so sad and lonely? We showed this by creating three scenes that are flash backs to his earlier life. We started with a flash back to when he was a small child. Eliot and Ruth as his sister went running up to their mother, played by Fiona, to show off paintings they had both done in school that day. The mother immediately dismisses Eliot's and leaves the room with his sister, constantly praising her work. This scene showed he was in constant competition with his sister for their mother's attention, but how Eliot was never appreciated by his mother and was left standing alone in this scene. Our second flash back scene showed his life at school. He was the typical ‘geek' and had no luck with the girls. Our scene was set in a school disco where Eliot finally plucks up the courage to ask a girl he likes, to dance, when he was pushed away by another boy who the girl ended up spending the dance with. Everyone was dancing with their partners at the disco and Eliot was left standing alone, again. For our third flash back we showed Eliot a lot older, in his job. Here we showed him presenting an idea to his boss, but his boss ignored the idea and soon after gave the tea lady a promotion in front of him. This showed Eliot, again, not being appreciated, this time by his boss. In all of our flash backs we showed Eliot being ignored and not appreciated, he always ended up being left to stand alone. After these flash back scenes, our group stood, spread out, around the stage. Eliot walked up to each one of us but as he did, we all turned our backs on him. This was to symbolise his life, no one being there, everyone turning there back on him and ignoring him. This short scene could perhaps represent Eliot reminiscing on his life and leading him to walk along the pier. After this scene, we showed Eliot, walking along the pier, like in the painting. Eliot walks up to a line and stops for a few seconds, then he finally steps over the line. The line symbolising life and death, him stepping over the line showed his suicide, jumping off the bridge. At this point everyone who had turned their back on him turned around and held an outstretched arm, as if to try and catch him. After this scene we had to create a scene to show peoples reactions to finding out about his death. We did this using the rest of the group, who had stood there with outstretched arms, forming a line. Each person in turn said something in character as one person from each of the flashbacks we did. For example, I played the boss in the flashback of the job and in the line I said, ‘I should've given him a chance, I never listened to him' and then we repeated the flash back to his job as we did before but changed the detail so his boss looked at his ideas, and gave him a promotion. We did this with all three scenes we flashed back to before and changed them all so Eliot wasn't being ignored but being fully appreciated, this was to show the ‘what if' scenario, what if they had listened, what if they hadn't ignored him, he wouldn't have taken his own life. Then realising it was too late, there was no going back, everyone in the line held the ‘scream' pose themselves. This was to symbolise the way they felt, guilty. It was they who had contributed to Eliot eventually taking his own life. In this piece of drama I played a man sitting on the train and also Eliot's boss in the flashback. For the man in the train, my character was very self-contained and just simply wanted to get from one place to another, reading his paper and not being disturbed. When Eliot began to scream and shout at people, I focussed harder on the newspaper to ignore all the goings on in the carriage, despite it being a man, very depressed and alone, letting all his anger out. I played this character very upper-class, sitting up very straight on the chair, turning my nose up at the goings on in the train and acting very frustrated when I had to raise my newspaper that little bit higher to completely block out my surroundings. When I played the boss in the first ‘real' flash back, I wasn't interested in Eliot's ideas, more so interested in the cup of tea I was soon to be enjoying. I completely dismissed Eliot when he came up to me, exited to tell me about his new idea. I did not care about his feelings or whether it would be a good idea. When I played this character I was very snappy and couldn't be bothered to look at whatever he had to show and dismissed him with a wave of my hand. When I played the same character standing in the line, I was very regretful and ashamed of my actions towards him, when I said that I wish I had been a better boss I held my head low to show how ashamed I was and spoke quietly and slowly. In the ‘what if' flash back I was a very happy and considerate boss, welcoming his new idea with opening arms, I played this very kindly towards Eliot and always smiling. The conventions we used in this piece of drama were; slow and fast motion, freeze frame, flash back, mime and also used music at the beginning of the performance. We used fast motion to show every one carrying on with their lives around one focal character walking down the train. Fast motion is the opposite of slow motion where characters act faster than normal. We used the fast motion on the train scene with everyone else on the train apart from Eliot. This helped make Eliot stand out from the other characters. This symbolised that the world is still carrying on with their lives, no matter how terrible he is finding life. We then used a freeze frame when Eliot did the ‘scream pose', this worked well as it showed the link to the painting we used as our stimulus. We then used slow motion and mime in the aftermath of the ‘scream' pose and the reactions of the others on the train. Mime is where you act as normal but without speaking a word, but still moving your lips as if you were, we used this when Eliot is shouting and screaming at those on the train who eventually walk off. I think the performance looked more professional because the mime added more emotion and also symbolises the character in a way, he is shouting and screaming but the audience can't hear a word of it, just as many people ignored him in his life and never listened to anything he had to say. We then flashed back to Eliot's past to show why he felt so alone. The conventions all worked really well with the piece and helped the audience understand why the character is feeling the way he is. For our next piece of drama, we looked at a theme within the stimulus room. We looked at the ‘childhood' theme found in the past section of the room. We firstly had to brainstorm what we thought linked to childhood in the room. The hopscotch, the baby, the nursery books and the children playing on the video all tie into the childhood theme. All these objects relating to childhood had a sense of innocence and youth. We brainstormed significant memories of our own childhood and chose 6 ideas to create scenes upon. Our group came up with many ideas for this but the 6 ideas we chose were: * A school nativity play. * Playing in the school playground. * On a bouncy castle at a party. * Learning to ride a bike. * Writing letters to Father Christmas. Telling scary stories at a sleepover. We firstly had to create tableaux images or short scenes of these memories. For our first scene, the nativity play, our group all stood in a line as if on stage at a school play. Georgina and Katie were arguing loudly about the role of Mary shouting, ‘I wanted to be Mary! ‘, Ruth played a young girl, transfixed by the audience, smiling stiffly and waving, I played a young boy on stage desperately needing the toilet and dancing about ready to wee myself at any moment and Eliot played a young boy who walked off stage half way through. We all acted very childish and how you would expect very young children to react on stage in front of all their mums and dads. In our second scene, playing in the playground, Eliot and Ruth were playing with a skipping rope, Katie was playing hopscotch alone and I was running away from Georgina who was chasing me in a game of ‘tig'. For our third scene, on the bouncy castle, we were all bouncing happily apart from Ruth who is sitting on the edge, too scared to go on it. Eventually most people left the bouncy castle but I continue to bounce there quite happily on my own. Our fourth scene, learning to ride a bike, showed Eliot learning to ride a bike, being taught by Georgina whilst the rest of us played parents and other adults watching him learn. I played the father of Eliot and we all cheered when he rode the bike on his own. For our fifth scene, writing letters to Father Christmas we all laid down on the floor reading as we wrote. I lay there and as I wrote was saying, ‘Dear Santa†¦ I have been a good boy this year.. We made it very clear we were children by speaking very slowly as we wrote it and also by fidgeting whilst we were writing. In our final scene, at a sleep over, we all lay there and listened to Ruth telling a ghost story. As it ended we all gasped in horror and eventually turned over and fell asleep. After we had created the 6 original scenes, we had to repeat them all but with one thing different in each; the scene had to be tainted with a bad memory. For our nativity play scene we showed Eliot playing a young boy running off crying because his mum hadn't came to watch in the audience. This could show how his mother not turning up, could perhaps leave what should be a happy memory of a school play, tainted. It could even perhaps be a first of a long line of memories in the boy's life of people not being there for him and he may find it a lot harder to trust people in the long run. A small difference in the past could affect the future a lot more. For the playground scene, Georgina who was chasing me in the playground, deliberately pushed Katie over when she was playing hopscotch and carried on running. This could affect Katie's adult life, by having this memory tainted; Katie might feel more insecure as an adult and live her life in the shadow of others because of a small bullying incident when she was very young. For the bouncy castle scene, instead of me being left alone quite happily enjoying bouncing along, I was left alone but this time lonely and sad. This tainted memory of being left on your own while the other children go off and play somewhere else could have a big affect on later life. My character would not want to venture to new things on his own, for fear of being lonely. Perhaps he might follow other people around when he's older so that there'll always be someone there. In the repeat of the learning to ride a bike scene, the adults weren't as interested as the child achieving to ride the bike but instead all walked back inside, leaving the child outside alone, struggling with the bike. This tainted memory could be very influential in later life, the boy may not want to try new things, won't want to tackle challenges in fear of being left alone to try and cope with them. In the repeat of the writing letters to Santa scene, one of the children shouts out, ‘Santa's not real! , although a small, laughable incident, looking back, this could change a child's life in that they won't be able to trust or believe other people as much and find it difficult to rely on other people. In the tainted scene about telling scary stories, after we had fallen asleep one of the children had a nightmare and woke up clutching her knees and shaking with fear. She was the only one awake and felt scared and alone after hearing the scary story. This could affect her adult life, as she could be easily scared and worried that she will be alone. After creating 6 scenes of childhood memories and 6 scenes of tainted childhood memories we had to create a scene that shows a character from one of the scenes in the future as an adult. We decided to create a scene that showed all the characters from the nativity play scene, in adult life. We kept it similar to the original scene in that the characters were all waiting on stage in a theatre, ready for the curtains to go up. Each character said their own thoughts aloud before they went on stage. For my character I said, ‘Oh why didn't I go to the toilet before I came on?! It's too late now! ‘ This is similar to the character I played in the nativity play, needing the toilet on stage. All the other characters said their thoughts, similar to the actions of those when they were children in the nativity play. For example Georgina who wanted to be Mary said, ‘Why does she get to play Juliet? She always gets the good parts'. Eliot, whose parents didn't turn up in the nativity play said, ‘I know they're not going to be there, they never turn up'. This shows how the tainted memory of the nativity play has been affecting him in later life. From this scene we flashed back to the childhood nativity play scene, this worked very well as we stayed in the same positions and the transition was clear by our sudden childish behaviour on stage. The characters I played in the piece of drama are; a small boy needing the toilet on stage in the nativity play, a boy being chased in a game of tag in the playground, a boy bouncing on the bouncy castle, left alone at the end, a father watching his son learn to ride a bike, a small child writing a letter to Father Christmas, a small child at a sleepover listening to a scary story and an adult waiting on stage, desperately needing the toilet. When I played the boy in the nativity play, needing the toilet, I played it with a very desperate face, embarrassed that I'm on stage and I need the toilet and also by bugging the girl next to me to tell her. I played the boy being chased in the playground with lots of excitement, full of energy, dodging behind chairs and people trying to hide. When I played the boy on the bouncy castle, for the first memory, I played him really happy and exited, enjoying just bouncing up and down, not affected when everyone leaves. On the tainted memory, when everyone leaves my face turned sad, I stood there, still bouncing slightly, looking upset, wondering why all my friends had ran off without me. When I played the father in the first memory of the boy learning to ride a bike I played it full of joy, a big smile on my face watching my son learn. On the tainted memory I acted like I wasn't interested, more interested in talking to my friend about the football than watching my son learn how to ride a bike. When I played the small child writing a letter to Father Christmas, the first memory I played I looking really happy and exited to be writing to Santa and also very much looking forward to Christmas. On the tainted memory I played it very upset and shocked when someone said that Santa wasn't real, as if my dreams had been shattered and betrayed that I had been lied to about it. For the small child at the sleepover I played it very interested in the story being told and exited about what would happen next but scared at the same time. And finally when I played the adult on stage waiting to go on but desperately needing the toilet, I played it very nervous, thinking why I had made such a mistake again. When I said my thoughts I said it with nerves in my voice and embarrassment saying, ‘Why didn't I go to the toilet?! ‘. The conventions we used throughout this piece of drama were; flash backs, freeze frames, repetition and thought tracking. We used the flashback to go from the adults on stage to the tainted memory of the nativity play, this worked very well as we were in the same positions and the change between our adult characters and child characters was visible even though we had the same qualities. We used a freeze frame to separate our childhood scenes; we ended each scene with one. Repetition is where you repeat something you have already performed, often with a small change to it. We used repetition when we went from one childhood memory to a tainted childhood memory; the scene was the same apart from a few details. Thought tracking is where you hear characters thoughts aloud. We used thought tracking when the adult actors are waiting for the curtain to rise and they say their thoughts, relating back to how they felt when they were children. The conventions added more depth to the piece, the repetition showed the clear difference between the normal and tainted memory and the flashback showed how the tainted memory had effect in later life. The freeze frames detached each scene from each other and I think gave it more of an effect of being someone's memory. For our final scene, we had to choose one object or theme from the stimulus room and create our own performance piece on this idea. Our group chose the newspapers about rape in the past section of the room and the table set one in the future section of the room. The story our group developed was about a girl called Katie being raped. It showed the life of Katie in a ‘what if' situation. If she hadn't taken the detour on the way home from the pub, would she have been raped? Our piece of drama started with Katie, playing Katie and Eliot, playing the rapist, walking towards each other. Katie was walking alone back from a night out at the pub; she was a little tipsy and seemed in her own world whilst walking along. Eliot walked towards her from the opposite direction; he was also alone and had just come from a night out with the lads. Georgina and Fiona took the roles of narrators and introduced the characters as they walked to the centre stage. Georgina told the audience about Katie's bubbly personality, how she was always up for a good night out. Fiona introduced Eliot as a typical ‘lad', told the audience his love for women and how he'd go for anything with a pulse. This introduced the characters as they met. When they both reached each other there was a freeze frame. Katie held her arms in the air, protecting her self whilst Eliot held the position of someone about to attack her. They were not touching; this would leave the audience in suspense, left to think about what this freeze frame was suppose to show. As our stimulus for this piece of drama included the newspapers about rape that was what the freeze frame represented although the audience would not know that for sure. As they were frozen, Georgina, Fiona and I walked on stage and started circling the freeze frame, we all acted as if we were going about out daily lives. I was on the phone talking to a friend, Georgina was reading a newspaper and Fiona was talking as if to a friend. This was to represent that the whole world carries on with their lives whilst the rape was happening, perhaps tying into the representation of the Globe in the stimulus room. We included in our story, a way of being able to freeze what was going on, on stage and being able to talk to yourself or your thoughts aloud or to the audience, this was done by clicking the fingers. I think this added suspense as the drama could be immediately stopped at any precise moment and also made the audience feel more involved. As we were all circling the freeze frame, Ruth who played the same character of Katie walked on stage and clicked her fingers. We all froze. Ruth, looking at the scene in front of her, looked distressed and confused. She was saying things like, ‘this is not right, it's not like this' to herself as she walked up to the frozen scene. As she reached the scene of ‘herself' getting raped, she started to change it. She straightened up Katie's jacket and did up Eliot's tie. She stood in the scene to show that it was her it had happened to, then Ruth's character of Katie got a phone call from her boyfriend, this is who I played. I was asking her to come back to the house because there was something I wanted to ask her. This was where the story was spilt. There was now a ‘what if' scenario. The second Katie had got a phone call to go back to the house, so she wouldn't have ever met Eliot in the alley and it wouldn't have happened at all, The first Katie didn't get a phone call from her boyfriend before she took the detour down the alley and ended up getting raped. As our performance continued, we showed the same character, Katie, in two different lives, one went home to her boyfriend the other had been raped. Ruth's character of Katie who had received the phone call went home to meet her boyfriend. As she opened the door she was greeted by me on one knee. I took her hand and began proposing, I started saying, ‘I've been thinking about this for a long time now, I want to spend the rest of my life with you†¦ ‘ Ruth then clicked her fingers, I froze and she walked towards the audience. Ruth began to say her thoughts out loud saying things like ‘Is he really going to do this? and generally showing her excitement to the audience that she was about to be engaged. Ruth then returned standing in front of me and clicked. I carried on with proposing, ‘Katie, will you marry me? ‘ Here is where we froze, Ruth left the scene but I stayed in the same position. The first Katie, who had been raped, walked in. I acted exactly the same and began to propose, ‘I've been thinking about this for a long time now†¦ ‘ Katie walked on by, ignoring me, her boyfriend, muttering quietly, ‘I don't want to talk right now'. This Katie is very distressed after being raped that she walked straight past her boyfriend proposing, and out of the room. Here is where we represented the table for one, Katie's boyfriend has been left on his own, he was about to ask the most important question of his life and his girlfriend, who he doesn't know has been raped, walked straight past ignoring him. After this scene, the second Katie, who didn't get raped is showing off her engagement ring to her friends played by Georgina and Fiona, in the pub. Although we didn't show it, Katie said yes to her boyfriend and now she is happily engaged. Eliot's character, the rapist, is also in the pub. As this Katie hasn't ever come across him she doesn't know who he is but as he walks past her and her friends, Katie kept staring at him and can't help thinking why she recognises him. She doesn't know why, she doesn't know him, but she gets a chill down her spine and has to leave. The final scene of our piece shows the narrators introducing Katie and Eliot exactly the same as at the beginning, they are walking towards each other. This time it is Ruth's character of Katie having just left the pub. They freeze in the same positions as Eliot and Katie had done before. So even if Katie had got a phone call from her boyfriend and went back to the house, if she hadn't walked down the alley that night, she still ended up in the situation of rape. This shows that even with the ‘what if', Katie got raped either way. It shows you can't live life thinking, ‘what if I'd done something differently' as everything happens, and happens for a reason. In this performance I played the boyfriend of Katie and also one of the general members of public walking round the frozen rape scene at the beginning. When I played one of the people walking around the freeze frame I was talking on the phone to a friend, not knowing of the rape that was also happening, this is to represent that everywhere everyone is getting on with their lives while you maybe going through such trauma. I also played Katie's boyfriend, who is very much in love with his girlfriend and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. When I was proposing to the Katie who didn't get raped, I proposed to her on one knee, and took her hand in mine, with a big smile on my face as I saw her smiling as I said it. I paused between each line until I finally said, ‘Will you marry me? ‘ which I said definitely and seriously but still smiling. When I proposed to the Katie that did get raped, I started just as I did with the other Katie, smiling as I said it until she walked on past me ignoring me, the smile faded and I got up looking very upset and confused at the same time. We used many conventions in this piece; freeze frame, narration, thought tracking and cross cutting. We used tableaux during each scene as a way for the narrator or character to speak to the audience and fill them in on what was happening. We used narrators to help tell the story in more detail, making it easier for the audience to understand and be more involved with the play. Narration is when you speak to the audience out of role, informing them of details about the play or about the characters in it. Some characters used thought tracking and spoke to the audience in character, to show their inner thoughts; we used this whenever we had a freeze frame by clicking the fingers. Thought tracking is where you as an audience can hear the characters thoughts out loud. We also used cross cutting, from the two Katie's lives, the Katie that did get raped and the Katie that didn't. This showed how taking just a small detour on your way home could affect your life completely, this added more depth to the piece, being able to see, visually the ‘what if' scenario. Cross cutting is where you switch from one scene to another, freezing in-between. The conventions were all very effective and added more emotion to the piece, being able to hear the characters inner thoughts and also kept the audience more informed with the story and the characters in it. Evaluation For our first piece of drama, the still images for love, hate, war and peace. We had to create four tableaux images for those words and morph between them. The most effective moment in this piece I think was our tableau for ‘peace' and the way we morphed into it. Our image for ‘peace' was everyone holding hands in a circle, we evolved into this from everyone in our group heads down in a smaller circle and then we all together stepped back and held hands. I think this was effective because it flowed nicely and was a good representation of the word. Our group worked very well for our first piece of practical work, everyone contributed ideas and we came out with a good finished performance. Ideas I contributed for the still images of love, hate, war and peace were that we should include several different meanings of the words e. g. not only the typical love for another person but also show love for other things like a favourite band or a favourite food, also the way we morphed into the images, I thought it was a good idea to return to one same still image after each of the four images we showed. My ideas were effective for the way we morphed into each of the images, because it flowed well and showed four definite different still images. I think we could have improved it by showing the typical kind of war, between countries, not by having a dead body on the floor and two men standing over him with guns. I didn't think this looked very good and would have been better if we showed it in a less obvious way. We then had to create a piece of drama that explains why hate and war may be justified. The most effective moment of this piece of drama we did, I think was the music playing alongside the performance after we had shown the mother dying. This was effective because as the music was slow and sad it represented the mood of everyone in the family, grief and sadness. For this piece, our group worked well together, the general picture of the family getting smaller and gradually looking more and more miserable worked well. The ideas our group came up with were effective in that the justifying hate was deep and hidden within the performance, we showed the build up and reason the children ended up hating their father. Ideas I contributed to this piece were to flash back to how the mother died. I think this fitted nicely into the performance as it explained the reason for the mother not being in the next family photograph although I think it would have looked better if we showed her death by symbolising it somehow not sitting in four chairs laid out like a car. The conventions we used in this were; freeze frames, flash back and slow motion. These conventions were effective because the freeze frames represented the family photograph which is what we based our story on, the flash back kept the audience more informed as to why the mother had died and the reasons the family had started to fall apart. The slow motion in the car crash made it look more professional and I think worked well. Other conventions we could have added was perhaps more thought tracking, this would have improved the performance as the audience would have been able to hear the individual characters thoughts, what that were feeling and if they did, the reasons they walked out on the family from their point of view. The second piece of practical work we developed was based around the ‘Scream' painting. Here we showed the reasons and build up as to why this character was screaming and the aftermath of his suicide. The most effective moment of this performance I though was when Eliot, who played the main character, walked up to each other member of the group in turn and we all just turned our backs on him. This was symbolic of his life, nobody being there for him, nobody appreciating him and everyone turning their back on him. For this piece our group worked well together, all of our ideas made up a good all round performance, when we put all the different sections of the performance together to perform it, it worked well. The idea I contributed to the piece was to revisit the flashbacks in a ‘what if' situation, the characters on finding out about Eliot's death were all deeply sorry and ashamed of the way they behaved towards him. Showing these ‘what if' flashbacks I think represented their own thoughts and was effective in the performance. What we could have improved in this piece was the beginning sequence of Eliot doing the ‘scream' pose. I think this could have been shown in a more symbolic way as it is symbolic in itself; the character wouldn't have screamed like that in a train carriage but it represented the way he felt and linked it to the painting we used as our stimulus. We could have shown it somehow to be in the character's head, his thoughts circling him screaming as he was only screaming inside, until he started to shout at passengers. The conventions we used within this piece were; slow and fast motion, freeze frame, flash back, mime and also used music at the beginning of the performance. I think they all added to the performance, the slow and fast motion helped the audience see who the focal character was and also represented the way the world is going so fast around you. We used the freeze frame when Eliot did his ‘scream' pose, this worked effectively because it linked the piece back to our stimulus, the scream painting. It showed how the character in our performance was feeling the same, if not was the person in the painting. The flash backs we used helped show the reasons and build up to why this person is screaming, it made the audience understand what has lead him to this and why he ended up committing suicide. The ‘what if' flash backs, with some details changed, showed the way the people were thinking, how if they might have behaved differently towards him then he may not have ended up walking off the bridge. Other conventions we could have added were thought tracking, we could have used this on the main character who does the ‘scream' pose. This could have given the play more depth and emotion, it would have helped inform the audience more of what he was thinking and what was going through his mind. The third piece of practical wok we worked on was the childhood scenes. This is where we came up with 6 childhood memories and made a scene or imagery out of them, then we repeated those scenes but with a few details changed so that they were tainted memories, we then showed a scene of some of the characters from the childhood scenes in adult life and flashed back to when they were younger. The 6 childhood memories we worked on were; a nativity play, playing in the school playground, playing on a bouncy castle, learning to ride a bike, writing letters to Santa and telling scary stories at a sleep over. I think the most effective moment of this piece was when we flashed back from the adult scene to when they were younger, this showed how the tainted memory had affected that child in adult life and also that all the characters have the same characteristics now they are older when they did when they had stood on stage in a nativity play as very young children. It also worked well as we stood in the same positions and the only change from the adult scene and the flashback was our sudden childish behaviour. For this performance our group worked very well, we had many scenes to put together and when we did it all flowed nicely. Ideas I contributed to this piece was to have the thought tracking of the adults when they were waiting to go on stage, I think it was effective because this showed what they were thinking and how it related to their character when they were children. Ideas we could have improved to make the performance better was to make the way the scenes had been tainted more obvious. It wasn't too clear to the audience how the scene had been tainted when it was repeated. The conventions we used throughout this piece of drama were; flash backs, freeze frame, repetition and thought tracking. These conventions worked effectively in the performance; we used the flashback when we went from the adult scene to the nativity play scene. This worked well as it showed the similarities between the adults and the children, also we stayed in the same positions so it was only clear that we had flashed back by our change to acting like children. The freeze frame helped separate each of the childhood scenes and I think gave the scenes the effect of being in someone's memory, freezing the scene, then moving to the next one. The repetition showed how a childhood memory could easily be tainted; it showed the difference between someone's happy childhood memory and someone's bad childhood memory. The thought tracking of the adults waiting on stage worked well as it informed the audience what they were thinking and how it related to their character when they were younger. Conventions we could have added to improve our piece of drama could be more thought tracking, in the childhood scenes we only knew how the children felt by the way they acted, perhaps if we included some thought tracking for the children it would show how they were feeling in their happy memory and then in their tainted memory. The final piece of drama we did was our final performance, about rape. We showed the life of our character, Katie, in a ‘what if' scenario, what her life would be like if she had been raped and if she hadn't. We showed these two different lives alongside each other. The most effective moment of this piece, I think, was showing her boyfriend propose to Katie twice, the one who did get raped and the one who didn't. This showed the contrast between the two and the effect of being raped. For this performance our group worked well together and we all had good ideas that contributed to our final piece. We all listened to what each other had to say and were all happy with the final performance we came up with. Ideas that I added to this piece were to repeat the beginning scene with the first Katie and Eliot walking towards each other, at the end, with the second Katie. This was to show that even if she hadn't taken a detour home she would have got raped anyway so you shouldn't go through life thinking, ‘what if I'd done something differently? ‘ It also wrapped up the piece and was a good ending. Another idea I added was to have the narrators introduce Katie and Eliot at the beginning of the piece, this worked well because it showed how Katie was a normal, bubbly girl and that rape could happen to anyone. It also introduced Eliot as a typical ‘lad' which similarly shows how anyone could be a rapist. We could have improved this piece by making it easier to understand, maybe by making it slightly simpler. It was a very complicated story line and is difficult to show the life of the same person with two different people, which may have made it more complicated for the audience. The conventions we used in this piece were freeze frames, narration, thought tracking and cross cutting. They were all very effective in the way we used them. We used a freeze frame in nearly every scene, when a character clicked their fingers. This is where the characters had a chance to either narrate or we included thought tracking of the characters here. We used narration to introduce the characters, describe their personality and also inform the audience of what was happening through the story, we used the narration during a freeze frame. This was effective because the audience could not only listen to the narrator but see a still image on stage behind. The thought tracking, we included when we used a freeze frame, this portrayed the feelings and thoughts of the character to the audience at various parts of the story. We used cross cutting when we cut from one Katie's life to the other, this was a major part of the story, which helped show the two lives side by side. This was very effective as it could show the audience the different lives Katie would lead, if she had been raped and if she hadn't been raped. Other conventions we could have added into the piece would be maybe a flash back into the rapists' past. This could have given the performance more depth and perhaps reason as to why someone would end up doing such a thing, it would have explained to the audience what type of person ended up becoming a rapist.

Fast Food Advertising And Childhood Obesity Essay

A rise in obesity has been observed in the United States in the last two decades. Obesity is one problem that gives birth to numerous fatal diseases, including but not limited to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a survey and found that, â€Å"More than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese† (Ogden, Carroll). One of the main reasons behind obesity is the American’s love for fast food. Fast food contains only a small proportion of essential nutrients, and is loaded with unhealthy and non-essential nutrients which do nothing but contribute to obesity and resulting diseases. An equally increasing trend has been observed in the openings of new fast food locations. The fact sheet issued by National Restaurant Association shows that â€Å"970,000 new fast food locations were opened in year 2012 and the restaur ant-industry share of each food dollar spent stands at 48%† (2012 forecast). Those parents who know about the adverse effects of fast food consumption try their best to keep their children away from it. But no matter how hard they try to shield their children, some negative forces like advertising provides them a complete exposure to such unhealthy food. A kid may never have eaten a McDonald’s hamburger, but he/she definitely knows what it looks like, thanks to the power of commercials. â€Å"A study of almost 100,000 food ads on TV showed that 89% of ads that teenagers see are promoting products high in fat, sugar, and/or sodium† (Taylor, Daniel). The advertisers are very smart and they never tell the complete story of products they advertise. They make the food look so tempting that it becomes irresistible for everyone especially kids. They best know the techniques to reach out the targeted consumers. Most of the TV advertisements show super-sized meals at cheaper prices but they never show that the excess consumption results in excess calories input. â€Å"A study by Tirtha Dhar and Kathy Baylis indicates that the parents whose children are constantly begging for fast food, after being exposed to TV ads end up purchasing fast food more frequently than parents whose children are not exposed to advertising† (Dhar, Baylis 3). In order to build a prosperous  and healthy nation, Government should take action to ban fast food advertising completely to the children. Achievement of this goal requires unity and mutual efforts by whole nation. The issue of fast food advertising to children is not new and an initiative was taken by the Federal Trade Commission after the joint workshop of FTC and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Marketing, Self-Regulation and Childhood Obesity held in 2005. FTC was the first ever organization in the US which recommended that the Cong ress ban fast food advertising to children under age of 12. According to a report issued by them to Congress, â€Å"44 reporting companies spent approximately $1,618,600,000 to promote food and beverages to children and adolescents in the U.S. in 2006. Approximately $870 million was spent on food marketing directed to children under 12 and a little more than $1 billion on marketing to adolescents† (Kovacic, Harbour, Leibowitz and Rosch). Congress has not worked on any of the recommendations presented in the report yet. It seems like they care more about the profits earned by the giant fast food industry than the health and wellness of general public. Banning fast food advertisements won’t solve the obesity problem at once but it is surely one of the best steps in the right direction – a step that more law makers should not be afraid to take. â€Å"The similar advertising bans already exist in some jurisdictions such as in Quebec (Canada) and few Scandinavian countries† (Dhar, Baylis 7). â€Å"Sweden, Norway, and Finland have banned commercial sponsorship of children’s programs. Sweden also does not permit any television advertising targeting children under the age of twelve† (Role of Media). â€Å"Quebec’s 32 years ban on advertising to children had led to $88 million annual reduction in expenditures on fast food and 13.4 billion to 18.4 billion fewer fast food calories being consumed per year† (Dhar, Baylis 2-10). Residents of Quebec have a very sedentary life, yet their obesity rate is comparatively lesser than the US. These figures indicate that the sanction on fast food adverti sement can prove effective in lowering or curbing fast food consumption in the United States as well. A larger proportion of the US population leads a very active life. An active life combined with the proper and healthy diet may lead to significant reduction in the obesity rates. â€Å"Media and entertainment giant Walt Disney Co’s has already banned junk food advertisements during its TV, radio and other online programs intended for children under the age of 12† (Heavey). Lawmakers and other opponents of this campaign may not agree to the effects of advertising on children and may further argue that this ban will never be successful in achieving the desired results. A research paper commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) states that, â€Å"A survey conducted in the United States showed that 86 percent of children who smoked prefer Marlboro, Camel and Newport which are the three most heavily advertised brands† (Hammond). â€Å"A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 91 percent of six year old children surveyed identified the Joe Camel cartoon character as being associated with cigarettes, about the same percentage as recognized Mickey Mouse† (Fischer, Schwartz and Richards 3145-8). Lawmakers should not forget how the ban on Joe Camel proved to be successful in cutting smoking rates in the United States. â€Å"High school smoking rates dipped significantly from 34.8 percent in 1995 to 21.9 percen t in 2003† (Wilson). Now the webpage of Camel cigarettes cannot be even accessed by kids, as it requires input of some verifiable information. The ban should be placed on the TV channels which children watch the most. A similar ban should be placed on the free video streaming websites which display ads more than the desired videos. Alternatively, a specific time can be defined by the legislators during which no advertising related to fast food shall be displayed on TV. The report issued by FTC includes a variety of recommendations for media and entertainment companies. The best recommendation among them is that, â€Å"More media and entertainment companies should limit the licensing of their characters to healthier foods and beverages that are marketed to children, so that cross-promotions with popular children’s movies and television characters will favor the more, rather than the less, nutritious foods and drinks† (Kovacic, Harbour, Leibowitz and Rosch 11). FTC further recommended media and entertainment companies to use their powers positively. Their report states that â€Å"Media and entertainment companies should test the effectiveness of any health and nutrition messages and public education campaigns aimed at the problem of childhood obesity† (Kovacic, Harbour, Leibowitz and Rosch 11 ). Parents will have to play an active part in this regard. They need to be more watchful about their kid’s media consumption. They should keep an eye on the channels their children watch or the books and magazines they read to see what types of commercials are displayed. By doing this, they can filter out any media  source they don’t want their children to use. A child spends a considerable amount of time in a day in school. Schools can play an important role in making the children aware of adverse effects which fast food consumption can have on their health. They should make the fresh fruits and vegetables available to the children. Fast food companies spend a substantial amount on renting out the spaces used for billboards advertisements. City Government should take some action against these companies and restrict renting out such spaces to them. In order to make sure that these restrictions don’t affect the advertisement of healthy food, the government should set nutrition-based standards which will define what type of products can be advertised. Any product-line that doesn’t meet that standard will never be allowed to be advertised The opponents of this ban may argue that it completely depends on parents whether they let their children buy fast food or not; advertising doesn’t compel them. They ignore the fact that if a parent always says no to his or her children whenever he or she demands for fast food, it would affect them adversely. The kids will compare their position to other kids in the neighborhood or school, and will feel depressed by knowing the fact that they are the only ones who are not allowed to eat fast food. These psychological factors in turn will affect their education and career. â€Å"A mother of two children from California named Parham launched a class-action law suit against McDonald’s appealing that the toys given out with the Happy Meals unfairly trap kids into eating unhealthy foods† (Jodi, Sara). She further speaks about the success of advertising in this regard, â€Å"Other busy, working moms and dads know, we have to say ‘no’ to our young children so many times, and McDonald’s makes that so much harder to do† (Jodi, Sara). Advertising of junk food is the root cause of these problems, which if banned to children, will let the parents achieve the goal of keeping their children healthy and successful. Works Cited Ogden, Cynthia., and Carroll, Margaret. â€Å"Prevalence of Obesity Among Children and Adolescents: United States, Trends 1963-1965 Through 2007-2008.† Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC 24/7, June 2010. Web. 31 October, 2012. â€Å"2012 Restaurant Industry Forecast.† National Restaurant Association. National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, nd. Web. 02 November, 2012. Taylor, Julie., Daniel, S. Kirschenbaum. â€Å"Are Fast-Food Advertisers Playing You?† Fit WebMD, Sanford, nd. Web. 02 November, 2012. Dhar, Tritha., Baylis, Kathy. †Fast Food Consumption and the Ban on Advertising Targeting Children: The QuÈbec Experience.† Journal of Marketing Research 48.5 (2011). American Marketing Association. Pg 2-10. Web. 03 November, 2012. Kovacic, William., Harbour, Pamela., Leibowitz, Jon., Rosch, Thomas. â€Å"Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents.† Federal Trade Commission. FTC, July 2008. Web. 03 November, 2012. â€Å"The Role of Media In Childhood Obesity.† Kaiser Family Foundation. 2004. Web. 17 November, 2012. Heavey, Susan. â€Å"Disney Junk-Food Ad Ban Latest Move To Slim U.S. Kids.† Reuters, June 5, 2012. Web. 03 November, 2012. Hammond, Ross. â€Å"Tobacco Advertising & Promotion: The Need for a Coordinated Global Response.† World Health Organization, Geneva. WHO, January 7 to 9 2000. Web. 17 November, 2012 P.M. Fischer, M.P. Schwartz, J.W. Richards et al., â€Å"Brand Logo Recognition by Children Aged 3 to 6 Tears: Mickey Mouse an d Old Joe the Camel,† Journal of the American Medical Association 266 (1991). Pg. 3145-8. Web. 17 November, 2012. Wilson, Duff. â€Å"Teenage Smoking Rates Spur Calls to Renew Anti-Tobacco Campaigns.† The New York Times. NY Times, July 8, 2010. Web. 17 November, 2012 Jodi. Sara. â€Å"California Mom Sues McDonald’s Over Happy Meals.† Circle of Moms. December 15, 2010. Web. 04 November, 2012.

Gay community

But the same has never been accepted in any society of the world even though there are traces of such reactive that goes on off the curtain including India. Sherry Joseph through his study made an attempt to understand the Indian Gay and Lesbian movement through the wider perspectives of identity politics. In an era of gay and lesbian normalization, the homosexual immigrants of Indian subcontinent demanded in Britain and America: An agenda within a racist climate different from the agenda imposed by white gays and lesbians.The impact of colonial history and concepts of orientation upon world- views and perceptions has played a central role in how non white people have been defined†¦ Silenced in both south Asian patriarchal societies and the white gay communities in America and Europe, the south Asian gays and lesbians have had to invent themes, often with new terms of identification (2228). The identification of one†s sexual behavior is again the product of the western ide ology as the entire West rests on Christian values as their prime ideological moorings.In post colonial era scholars of the empire began to deliberate on a new terminology that can be conveniently used to identify people not preferring to be heterosexual. Thus came, the term alternate sexualities mainly as â€Å"an attempt to colonize the general notion and establish the existence of various expressions of sexualities surrounding scriptures, arts, life histories etc. â€Å"sheep: 2229). VOLVO. 1, ISSUE 5, JUNE 2014 www. Manipulability. Mom 41 Even with such terms the real scenario of gays and lesbians in India is that they continue to be a band of ostracizes group, socially excluded, and are subjected to homophobia. Attain is more concerned with the contemptuous view of the society upon the homosexuals what brought them down as a minority with a degradingly low social respect. He attempts to undo, if not legally approve, mainly homophobia, a ERM that refers to unreasonable fear of the gays or lesbians.A subjectivity of human beings is again centered with an appeal to all that they may in every way be treated as human being the way the third wave of feminism vouch for treating women not as a gendered identity, instead they should be looked at and thought of as human beings first . A change of attitude is the central focus. It†s a fact that the majority of people in any given society are heterosexual and the identity is based on the penetrate heterosexuality.Naturally, people with same sex behavior are not only a minority, but also practice of such is a taboo, inasmuch as the Judder- Christian values and beliefs held that non-procreative sexual acts were a sin against nature and consequently frowned upon in the culture. This value system shaped the legal binding on sodomy's as a criminal offence as seen in the Indian Penal Code (EPIC) Joseph: 2228). The entire world is still in a suspended state as to its stand on validating gay marriages on moral ground s and value system.The values also has undergone change over the years especially, after the postmodern scenario of anti essentialist and anti foundational. Gay and lesbian movement all over the world as caught the attention of people in general into thinking on the issue seriously. President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, Matt Slick feels his concern to write on the subject as: Homosexuals want others in society to accept them as normal people with normal sexual behavior patterns. They are working hard to change moral, social, and political opinion to be more in line with what they want.They are not content to be by themselves. They want others to accept them as a philosophically, morally, and ideologically valid. They want to change the opinions of people. In short, they want to change society. Therefore, it is necessary to write about something that can so drastically affect the moral fabric of this country (Matt Slick. CARR). Attain also has felt the same concern for Indian homosexuals. Scriptural truth is a permanent reality, yet values keep changing over time with the multifarious development of the world in an ever changing world of ours.Further, Attain is Justified in his handling the controversial issues openly in drama as in the West the Journal like Human Events has Justified the cause that: If we are on the right side of one of the greatest social, oral and spiritual issues of our time, then we need to dig deep, hold our ground, strengthen our commitment and redouble our efforts, regardless of cost or consequence on an almost daily basis, the mainstream media assures us of two things: Just as many conservatives and VOLVO. ISSUE 6 42 traditionalists were on the wrong side of slavery, segregation and women†s rights, we are on the wrong side of the gay rights issue today†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ ( Traditional Osteoarthritis Values) Indian gay and lesbian movement gained ground during ass onward and they have common goals of opting for same sex marital relationship or like a living- gather like any other heterosexuals. Both of the communities might be disapproved by the general Indian mass, yet they differ in terms of the power relation they occupy or the space they could create for themselves.Certainly, gays have greater dominance since they belong to masculine gender and India is always a male dominant society. Indian lesbians in the ass were part of the feminist movement but later on the tie is snapped off for the same reason of societal disapproval and homophobia. The active lesbian group like Khakis† in Bombay was initially a part of he feminist movement group, but later on it stopped receiving any communication or cooperation from the later. So, rightly lesbianism deserved its legitimate place in Indian society given the age old injustice to Indian women.The present status of Indian gay and lesbian groups are rooted to the emergence of south Asian gay and lesbian group publications in Europ e and America in ass of which Terrine, Sammie, and Dost were prominent. Whereas, at present only three groups in three metro cities like Bombay, Madras and Delhi are functional with least number of lesbians or women activists in them. Naturally, the lesbian women stand doubly marginal's, first by being women and then by being lesbians.Some of them may still be viewed as the marginal's of the marginal's who have been forced to be isolated -turned lesbians for being subjected to marital torture, dowry related oppression, sexual violence and so on. Thus, their sexual identification as lesbians is the result of their series of normalization and a shift of political consciousness. The gross normalization of the gay and lesbian community occurs from the dichotomy of home sexuality and heterosexuality.The policy of domination by the majority to minority, or by the powerful to the powerless has been as old as subjecting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by Adam and thereby bring the hubris upo n the earth. Such prominent dichotomies are black and White races in America, immigrants and natives in Europe and the US, male/female and so on. Even among women, there are black and white women in the US, upper and lower caste women in India, and other common distinctions are based on class, race community all over the the world.The third wave of feminism has some common causality with the gay-lesbian movement. Women are looked as stereotypical image as wife or as a shadow to a an. Singletons is not accepted as normal in India. Such situation forces women to go for a marriage of convenience as the case happens in the Do the Needful where Lata and Lapels accepts marriage to maintain the status quo and later on they use the liberty to pursue their own choices .The gay movement†s claim of getting fair and equitable treatment as citizens of India is quite tenable and in unison VOLVO. 1 with the article 38(1) of the directive principles of state policies of the constitution of In dia that states : â€Å"The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which Justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life†( Directive Principles of State Policy) .Drama functions as an intellectual sap to the society mirroring the actual happenings on stage and this particular drama has shown the exact picture of the functioning of all gay people in India. It has helped creating more tolerance and space for them than it was before. Now it†s common that the gays and lesbians come together from across the country to show their solidarity and a sense f belongingness as a community by lending all possible supports for one another.Currently, India is on a path of new social and economic reformation of which class consciousness is replacing caste. Similarly, dominant social groups and structures based on tradition is giving way to differentiati ons which is again supported by its own discourse in a post modern setting that goes against any fundamental essentialist. On a Muggy Night in Iambi shows the intensity of gay love. The depth of experience is communicated through the stage setting in which the combination of the silhouette and the indoor present an outline of the condition ofIndian gay people as a whole to the audience. One of the prominent techniques of Attain is to create the dramatic tension which highlights the depth and breadth of not only a character but also engages the readers ‘audience into their own attitudinal turmoil to the reality of human experience. Individual talent and dramatic techniques help spinning a mindset of people toward more acceptances through a slow process of evolution.It is slow because the impact reverberates into the minds of an audience and the same helps consolidate their rational approach to the vexed issue to be translated into acceptance. Attain†s themes are tradition al Indian society and its design is to impact upon the gay, lesbian and on any one who is opposed to heterosexual as defined by society. The play is a realistic picture of society as to how does it affect an individual behavior when one is denied any self expression and hypocrisy is upheld for the sake of tradition.This leads to the visualization of the character against social expectations and the same question Shard in On a Muggy Night in Iambi is haunted by as the national anthem, not as the celebrated Jan Gang, Man†, but as what Makes A Man A Man† (Collected Play: 55). This question teems from his quest for existentialist and as important as the national anthem. Samples is engaged with a love of convenience or sham- love for Samples who only makes an attempt of love, but his heart is engaged somewhere else what evokes Shard†s laments: â€Å"l wasted a year of my life being a house wife for you and all I get is a kick in the ass!You beast (56)! Shard discovered that Samples was in love with Parka's, but he too was a wounded lover, for Parka's was more afraid of being banished by the society and hence, distanced himself. Shard loved Samples truly as he put on sinner†(vermilion) like traditional women ND wore bangles what he broke at a height of emotion, for what he found is now lost because of Parka's. Shard helped him forget his lost-love with Parka's but hardly could he do that as Parka's kept cropping up to his mind painfully.Shard could not conceal his frustration of unrequited love with Samples to Deeply†s catalytic remarks that they must be back to terms of their love -relations: â€Å"If I had a lover, would I be such a bitchy? † Immediately, Deeply gets back to her natural sense of empathy for the female species saying that: Mimi can call yourself a dog, call yourself a pig, but never, ever insult a female† (59). Shard, while suggesting the guard to be shameless, accepts that the gay people are all shameles s, but this comes as his deep protest against such societal taboo upon them.Deeply is more of a flat character as she does not undergo any complex changes of life and performs more like filler, yet she is dynamic in her response to a conflicting situation which is expressive of her internal dialogues, put forward as external dialogues and reactions at various points in the dramatic narrative. That†s the reason that she retorts to the example of a bitchy. She o becomes more revelatory in her plea for an acceptance for gay people.Hence, she as with Shard stands between the two categories of round and flat characters in its literary sense; or rather they are an admixture of these two and hence may be labeled as catalytic character, who help manifest the main or dynamic characters like Samples or Deed/Parka's. She pleads for the gay men†s cause more than her own category of lesbians: â€Å"l am for gay men†s cause. Men deserve only men! (60). A distinct psychological mooring upon which one†s sexual behavior rests upon is set by the dominant discourse of any society.Attain sets a discourse through everyday language and out-on -the- street characters through distinct mode of sexism. For example, Deeply and Samples never feel any love for each other in a sense of love- making. It†s made clear when Deeply expresses that if Samples were a woman, they could be in a love and the same is reciprocated in opposite terms and finally Deeply asserts: â€Å"If we were heterosexuals, we would be married† (65).Deeply feels proud of being a woman: â€Å"Every time I menstruate, I thank God I am a woman†, the same word are suggested in a different way by Shard to register his contempt for all those who en any space for gay or lesbians: â€Å"Every time I menstruate, I thank God I am not pregnant† (66). Samples in the gathering of his gay and lesbian friends is obsessed with his lost love and separation with Parka's and in turn he makes Shard†s life miserable. In other words, victim turns into victimizer.Parka's, at the initial stage of the drama is a victim of social pressure what is made clear in the words of Samples himself: â€Å"He left me because he was ashamed of our relationship† (69). Samples was visiting a homophobic psychiatrist to get rid of his depression but the psychiatrist plunged him into a worse situation out of his own abomination of such gay people, for he believed only in aversion therapy which brought further depression to Samples as he VOLVO. 1 45 recalls: â€Å"Until he said I would never be happy as a gay man.It is impossible to change society, he said, but it may be possible for you to reorient yourself† (69). Arrant termed the doctor†s eccentric and homophobic view as primitive idea. In fact, the society is the great barrier what Attain†s dramatic technique and making of the characters unravel as an anti-venom against a venom of hatred for all these p eople who are trundling to be accepted as human beings and human dignity in the society. Bunny, the TV actor, too has experienced the same treatment of homophobia and non acceptance as gay.While all the gay friends assembled at Samples†s residence to sympathize with the tragedy of Samples, Sheehan music was pouring in. They show their antipathy by turning on CD player, for they are anguished as no such celebrations are solemnizes for them and hence, such rituals or music is, filthy hot air† (73) for them. Here, one contrast is shown: one marriage is going on with social gaiety amid colors and USIA down stairs and upstairs apartment is witnessing a break up of a gay marriage with the chanting of parallel mantra: â€Å"†¦This city and God are witness to my vow , I break all ties with Parka's†(73). Love for each other for these two friends is so strong that Samples could not tear up the Joint photograph with Parka's symbolizing their conjugal relationship. From the episode of separation between these two friends begins the tragedy of Koran, a dear sister of Samples himself. She was introduced to Deed by Samples since four years.The gathering at Samples†s flat upstairs in Act l, is the hot bed of making ND breaking all gay relationship and the trauma they bear silently throughout their lives. Koran came to know for the first time in that gathering that her brother is being treated for depression. When she goes to the bedroom to unpack her belongings she is visible to the audience that she was placing a photograph on the side table indicating not only her knowledge of the relationship of her brother, but also as a powerful symbol of her ensuing tragic course of life.All the three Acts are three in one. Psychic turmoil of all the characters, their pleasure and pain, frustration and evolve against the society are balanced placing them in the silhouette and the front show of the stage setting. This Juxtaposition of interior and the exteri or or the front and the back stage against each other is to create a deep impression on the audience† s mind as to the conflicts that goes in their consciousness, yet how they struggle to reconcile with the stern reality of society- a reality divorced from free expression and fair play.Samples the main character of the drama is brought in the Act II with brilliant dramatic technique in which he walks by Deed at the lonely park at round 8. 30 PM, yet not visible to the audience. He has throttled a few pegs to get rid of his depression and he divulges the fact of his coming to the park as to let someone know his story before he ends his life by committing suicide. Someone exactly listens to his story (history? ) who, in turn, is the exact cause of such wretched condition of life.Social paranoia is what troubled Deed as he was a little more reactive to people†s suspicion about his gay relationship with Parka's that turned him into hyper vigilant against any social threat fr om any quarter. Samples struggles or visibility of such relationship against the blind sensibility of average people: â€Å"They can†t see us at all, although we can see them. They must be blind† (81). Then, Samples asks Deed to close his eyes, stand behind him and kiss gently to discover: â€Å"Can you see how beautiful we are† (82)?Through long pause and silence after this warmth of feeling of the two old lovers, fading light, slow music and then Samples†s appearance on front show of the stage to Join the gathering of his friends of Act I while the light reappears to create a sense of change of time and space, is a reliant technique of creating two distinct mental spaces into the minds of the audience: to recreate the subtlety of feelings of these two men off the glare of the everyday world in their minds and the dreary intercourse of the same world under the visibility of everyone in which hardly they could feel proud of and contented with what they are all about.Surreptitious orchestration of pause and silence, music, light are done to heighten their speed of the stream consciousness natural to all human beings. Social pressure is so enormous that Deed†s psychiatrist could convince him that is love is the work of a devil and through regular church going alone could absolve him of such devil. Samples also believes it and so he wants to avoid showing the photograph of their love making to his own sister, Koran, who is now going to be married with Deed. On the other hand Arrant, an European immigrant, is contrasted with his Indian counter parts of gay community.In Europe he has greater freedom of being honest to his sexual behavior but in India he might not expect the same degree of freedom: â€Å"There is such a thing as honesty. Or maybe it is the company you keep. Or maybe the company I am in† (88). Further Arrant is perturbed seeing closet homosexuals† in India and he regrets being an Indian on grounds of his v antage point of Western immigration. His statement to Bunny echoes the shifting subject of spirituality in Indian society: â€Å"l can†t seem to be both Indian and gay. But you are simply ashamed. All this sham is to cover up your shame (88).The hypocrisy of Indian society is again substantiated through Bunny†s character. He belongs to Sikh community, yet he avoids wearing a turban as he would be subjected to stereotypical role of being a Seaward . The characters are designed skillfully representing every type and category of India gay and lesbian people on stage in an effort to producing a gay ambiance within an hour or two to show what India is passing through presently. The real plight of this marginal's community is made clear in exact terms through Deeply†s words that it is more fear of being ostracizes or a subject of homophobia than any stigma of shame attached to them.Basic human dignity is at stake for all these people in general. Being woman and lesbian is more pathetic in India when Deeply makes it pretty loud and clear: â€Å"It†s not shame, is it? With us? It†s fear†¦ Of the VOLVO. 1 47 corners we will be pushed into where we don†t want to be† (89). Attain†s effort has been to widen this corner of Indian society to make it at least as large as to accommodate these innocent Boniface citizens of a sovereign country, known for its age old tolerance and universal acceptance.Of course, India as a nation could be described in no better terms than the first address at the world parliament of religion at Chicago by Swami Vaccinated: â€Å"l am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth† (Vaccinated: 3). Naturally, Attain has every reason as an artist to reinstate the glory of this great nation by upholding the cause of the marginal people toward greater tolerance and acceptance for all. Equally fluctuating is the condition of Shard†s mind after being broken from Samples.He too wants to force his way to be straight , to be a real man only to be accepted by the society, even though he knows deep down within himself that he is as gay as a goose† and seeks the advice of a psychiatrist only to invite a fresh misery in his life. Koran still thinks wishfully of a happy bond between her brother and Shard as she recalls her own life of solitude after divorce. She also warns about the gravity of misery a woman undergoes in this country Just because of male dominance.Shard†s decision to act like a straight might shatter a woman†s life: â€Å"And think of the poor woman. You may end up marrying Just as a cover up for your shame† (102). Bunny accepts that he is a gay man and keeps deceiving people through his constant denial and in the process all such gay people vacillates between the world of reality and the world of sham, finding no permanent anchor to embrace with full ness of heart. The last scene of Act Ill lays bare the absurdity of life of all the gay people on stage who are representative of entire gay community.Deed is the most pathetic character not only for Deeply, but also for every viewer or reader the way he has shattered the lives of Samples and Koran. He also could not remain immune to this wretched condition of life as a closure look and a psychological delving into his character reveals that he is more sinned against than sinning. His very purpose of marrying Koran was a matter of convenience so that he could continue his love for Samples without any suspicion from any one. Certainly, in the process he could save one life at the cost of the other and the other is a woman.Koran, while looking at the photograph of Deed and Samples kissing each other, cries out through the open window leading to the vacuous blue sky of Bombay. She must have felt the void of the sky more than anyone else who has not passed through the tormenting labyrin th of life like hers. She is that subaltern woman, conditioned to tolerate torture and untold suffering. She remembers her past life as to how she used to be beaten up by her husband ND still she continued to accept and digest all these as she believed and felt that he loved her: â€Å"l felt he loved me enough to want to hurt me† (107).She questions Deed†s motive of marrying her and the answer comes out as her dramatic monologue that all such gay people behave in a stereotypical manner VOLVO. 1 as â€Å"we Just don†t know what else to be† (107) ! The imagery of the photograph with Deed as the best couple on the floor that appears in her mind matches with the vacuous blue sky to condense the absurdity of her life. The explosion of fireworks, colored sights and loud screams of delight from the ground floor heightens the inner turmoil of a saddest thought, perhaps churning an existential dilemma in her mind.Deed in utter shame and disgust for life is complete ly broken down: â€Å"Where do I begin? How do I begin to live† (111)? All the characters on stage are suddenly plunged into existential dilemma in the world of uncertainty and absurdity of life. The height of the dilemma in the last scene is accentuated by more firecrackers and lusty yells from the wedding below. Lights are slowly fading to beckon the void while the pictures of Deed and Samples and Koran ND Samples are slowly evanescent from the minds of the audience before it is completely engulfed into darkness.The stage setting and delineation of the pathos of the characters, here, Just reminds one the most exact definition of short story by Arbitration Étagà ¨re: Simple events of life happy or sad, Some sad strings from the train of forgetfulness, Not fraught with heavy descriptions, Not crowded with events, No advice, no philosophy Only the feeling that the story is not yet over Although there is no more to read! (Bangladesh) Conclusion: The queer characters repres enting both the gays and lesbians of urban diddle class India undergo a tortuous Journey of visualization due to homophobia and social boycott of such people.Attain has been true to his calling as a dramatist to show their painful odyssey of modern India, yet how the issue escapes the thinking mass to be considered for an acceptance and a right place in the society. It†s rightly an odyssey as the victims at times turn into victimizers; thereby bringing upon them a series of miseries, little knowing what exactly ails them. The dramatist has won the heart of every one by bringing this cause of ailment, the whole truth of it, on stage with all sincerity of purpose.