Song of the South Side: A Fine Romance in Southside with You     

Bernard Beck 《Multicultural Perspectives》2017,19(2):85-87

Love stories are important tools for building cultural communities. Paying attention to the culturally established process by which new members are initiated in a group is a way of keeping loyalty to and satisfaction with the group. The recent movie Southside with You depicts the beginning of the love story of Michelle and Barack Obama. It differs from the usual movie biographies of important people. Their future importance is not emphasized, and the usual devices of serious conflict, exciting action, and sentimental love scenes are absent. The happy couple do not even end up together in love. But the themes alluded to and the audience attitudes aroused are cultural achievements that are useful to cultural communities.  相似文献   

Flight of the Blackbird: Red Tails and Fighting for American Legitimacy     

Bernard Beck 《Multicultural Perspectives》2013,15(4):208-211

Red Tails, a recent movie about the Tuskegee Airmen in battle, is the latest in a line of movies that seem to petition for admission to the fellowship of the mainstream American society by showing stories of groups overcoming discrimination and proving their strength and their patriotism. As the most excluded and longest-lasting pariah group, African Americans have enacted this scenario in real life and in the popular culture many times. Movies about war and the military are a powerful means of showing minority group worthiness. Those who will risk their lives in battle on behalf of the homeland and will fight with extraordinary skill should be worthy applicants for inclusion.  相似文献   

Come Into My Parlor: Rendition,Ugly Betty,and Rude Awakening from the American Dream     

Bernard Beck 《Multicultural Perspectives》2013,15(3):150-154

Although the national ideology emphasizes that the American Dream is available to immigrants, recent events have made public opinion hostile to two groups, Mexicans and Arabs. Popular culture has played a historic role in presenting sympathetic portrayals of immigrants and their assimilation to American culture. Current depictions of Mexican immigrants continue this tradition, as shown by the television show, Ugly Betty. Arabs and Muslims, in contrast, have had a largely negative presentation in popular culture. A few recent movies and television shows have been more sympathetic, especially the movie, Rendition.  相似文献   

Cold,Cold Heart: Who's Afraid of No Country for Old Men?     

Bernard Beck 《Multicultural Perspectives》2013,15(4):214-217

Stories of people killing people are a central part of culture and contain profound statements about important human issues. Senseless killings are particularly problematic. The long history of senseless killings in movies leads up to the 2007 movie, No Country for Old Men, in which senselessness has been raised to a peak. Although it is not a great commercial success, the movie has been recognized as deep, powerful, and important. In particular, the senseless killer has been judged to be one of the most frightening in movie history. The meaning of this fear may be found in examining the social and cultural context of contemporary life.  相似文献   

Gifts of the Magi: Chef,Million Dollar Arm,and Cultural Mixtures     

Bernard Beck 《Multicultural Perspectives》2014,16(4):219-222

When groups using different cultural systems encounter one another in diverse societies, their previous cultures are transformed into a merged, complex cultural picture. Some culture areas are preserved while others are adjusted, exchanged, and merged. In our society, introducing groups to the cooking of other groups is a form of contact which produces less resistance. In sports, as well, contact, and interaction occur with less friction. It is sometimes thought that groups that need each other for survival integrate socially and merge culturally out of practical necessity. However, the pursuit of pleasure and fun can also be an occasion for cultural mixing. Such merging is depicted in the recent movies Chef and Million Dollar Arm.  相似文献   

What the Butler Saw: Lee Daniels's Studies in Biography and History     

Bernard Beck 《Multicultural Perspectives》2014,16(1):21-25

The movie Lee Daniels’ The Butler is an example of a work that is meant not only to entertain but to convey an important attitude and offer important viewpoints. The movie deals with a deep issue in the history of movies and the history of the country: racial inequality. Three issues are discussed in this article: (a) African Americans in movies, (b) the contradictions of the servant role, and (c) the generational conflict between fathers and sons.  相似文献   

The Dark Knight Rises: In 42 Jackie Robinson Saves the American Dream     

Bernard Beck 《Multicultural Perspectives》2014,16(2):86-90

The movie 42 shows memorable events that have faded from our view in recent years. The events are important to the evolution of a multicultural society in America because of the importance of baseball to the common national culture that all the American people have created. Jackie Robinson's significance as a cultural hero is shown by the respect with which we do not explain him away.  相似文献   

Optimum non-linear Wiener filters     

M. Rudko  D.D. Weiner 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》1979,308(1):57-68

General conditions are given for the optimality of non-linear Wiener filters which minimize the mean-square difference between the desired and actual filter outputs. These conditions, which are a generalization of the Wiener–Hopf equation are applied to the Gaussian case and the kernels of the optimum realizable and unrealizable systems are derived.  相似文献   

An electron and X-ray diffraction study of the grain boundary substance in cadmium     

Bernard L. Miller 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》1944,237(6):443-450

The grain boundary material in commercial cadmiums was isolated by dissolving laminae of cadmium in ammonium nitrate solution, the boundary substance remaining as insoluble films. Electron diffraction patterns were made of such films using 40 to 50 kilovolt electrons and X-Ray diffraction patterns were obtained of powders of these films employing copper K_α radiation. Guided by a knowledge of the elements present as indicated by a spectrographic analysis, the diffraction patterns were identified as belonging to the compounds cadmium carbonate and basic lead carbonate. It is possible that these carbonates did not exist in the metal, but were converted from oxides in the metal during dissolution of the laminae.  相似文献