Shimomura Crossing the Delaware Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Shimomura Crossing the Delaware - Essay Example Racial stereotypes – including the notorious â€Å"yellow peril† stereotype - have been the key matter of concern for the artist, and the strategy he adheres to is emphasizing them in an ironic or parodical form in order to eliminate and diffuse them. Thus, this idea functions as a core motif in Shimomura’s work. What is also remarkable and attractive about these works is the style involving a balanced combination of Japanese woodblock printing traditions based on the features of ukiyo-e genre and bold American pop art style which became extremely popular in the 1960s. The paintings are colorful and remind strongly of comic books with their bold limes, saturated colors and the way of depiction, however, this is mixed with the conventional visual elements of ukiyo-e. One of the painter’s most remarkable works – a spicy â€Å"mockery† for ethnicity stereotypes – is a painting created in 2010, â€Å"Shimomura Crossing the Delaware† .In fact, the painting is a daring parody for the classical picture of Emanuel Leutze celebrating the historically significant event of the American Revolution. The original painting depicts crossing Delaware on the Christmas night of 1776 led by George Washington.Conducting a little research on the background of the current painting, one is able to single out the key strategy deployed in it. The principal strategy the author uses is appropriation. Appropriation is understood as taking (involving) an already preexisting symbol, object or artwork into the new one applying no or little transformation. Appropriation uses the images that already exist and recontextualizes them in order to create a new concept behind them. â€Å"Shimomura Crossing the Delaware† complies with this definition as it is an ironical reconsideration of the already existing object (the work of art).

Power of Sina Weibo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Power of Sina Weibo - Essay Example The Sina Weibo case in China is just one example of how popular social media celebrities exert influence on their followers and how this can have detrimental impact on the government in terms of policy changes. Charles Xue more commonly known by his Sina Weibo screen name Xue Manzi confessed to having made mistakes pertaining to his online posts on the social network (Zhai 2013, n.pag.). Xue confessed to his crimes as a micro blogger on Sina Weibo where he presumably spread rumors (Custer 2013, n.pag.). A charge was filed against Xue along with other micro bloggers. However, Xue has set himself apart and is acting as an example to admit to his blogging crimes thereby helping the government to regulate the internet. At first, this might seem quite trivial however the impact of social networks on a country’s interest and government policies cannot be undermined. According to Shirky, the internet and social media is a place of varied players including citizens, activists, NGOs (N on Governmental Organizations), telecom companies, software houses, governments, and so on (2011, 1). The presence of various actors on the internet and social media has raised concerns regarding its ability to influence a particular country’s interests and government policies. ... However, his actions and confession sends out a completely opposite message to his millions of fans and followers and Xue now seems to be remorseful. He hopes to set an example by admitting his online crimes and helping the government to regulate the content on the internet. Much of the concern regarding the regulation of internet in particular social websites like Sina Weibo arises from the fact that pressure fuelled up by public opinion communicated over Weibo resulted in a change in government policy regarding air pollution. Also, the government was forced to start reporting the PM 2.5 levels in a timely manner (Custer 2013, n.pag.). Not only this, but public opinion regarding corrupt and inefficient government officials over Sina Weibo resulted in the removal of these officials from office. The spread of rumor online has caused the government to censor online content particularly on social websites like Sina Weibo. As of now, several posts and images have been removed and deleted from Sina Weibo website as a result of censorship (â€Å"China’s Memory Hole† 2013, n.pag.). Unlike the United States, the social media in China is highly decentralized which is why the responsibility of censorship falls under numerous internet service providers (King, Pan, and Roberts 2013, 1). Thus, the government has employed a method which fines or takes other actions against them is they fail to comply with the government requirements regarding censorship. This step, as King, Pan and Roberts explain, has been taken â€Å"to limit freedom of speech† and therefore restricts the expression of public opinion. The censorship efforts have been great even though China is not a top inhibitor of press freedom. Xue, who is considered to be a strong opinion leader