Dominik\'s Killing Them Softly Andrew Dominik\'s 2012
This paper analyzes Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" according to auteur theory, acting, characters, editing, direction, sound, and impact on society. Dominik's film looks at characters as the express something human, sad, sympathetic and profound even as they participate in violent crime, which mirrors the crimes of their leaders.
Qualities of George Washington
This essay considers those qualities that made Washington a successful military leader. In particular, his resolve in the face of difficulty, his improvisational skills, and his dedication to his men allowed him to overcome the superior force of the British military. Without these traits, it is almost inconceivable that the American Revolution would have ended as it did.
Architecture of Happiness: Why Ideals
Alain de Botton asks the very apt question in his text, The Architecture of Happiness, why it is that society constantly has shifting values about what it finds beautiful, positing this question, very simply: "Why do we change our minds about what we find beautiful?" (154) This is an important question as De Botton demonstrates that what we consider to be aesthetically pleasing swings from polarities which are difficult to predict, and which are subject to the influences of time: "Precedent forces us to suppose that later generations will one day walk around our houses with the same attitude of horror and amusement with which we now consider many of the possessions of the dead. They will marvel at our wallpaper and our sofas and laugh at aesthetic crimes to which we are impervious.