The Effect Of Pokemon On Childrens Culture

The Effect Of Pokemon On Childrens Culture The impact on childrens culture of anime, manga, video games and trading cards of Pokà ©mon Japans popular culture industry is very vigorous in recent years. The popular culture consists of anime, manga, video games and trading cards. These media have a great impact on childrens culture in Japan and also other countries. Pokà ©mon is a very successful case. Pokà ©mon first appeared in the game of the Nintendos Game Boy, and then quickly diversified into manga, anime, movies, trading cards and toys in those years, and Pokà ©mon phenomenon is appeared in Japan in 1996. These products revolved mainly around children and youths and had impacts on them. This essay will examine the impact of Japanese popular media culture on childrens culture using Pokà ©mon as an example. The impacts which will discuss in this essay are effects on childrens literacy, the social effects, effects of addiction and violence. I will use two case studies to argue some effects on childrens literacy. Data have been collected from two articles. The author of the articles was a primary school teacher and she collected data from the classes she was teaching. Besides childrens literacy, there are many impacts in other aspects. Furthermore, negative impacts are much more than positive impacts. This will be discussed at the end of the essay, also the future of childrens culture under the influence of Japanese popular culture. The anime Pokà ©mon is diversified from its video game. This anime talks about Satoshi, a 10 years old boy, and his friends travels the world catching Pokà ©mon and battling Pokà ©mon trainers. This is the primary source of the essay. Allison, A. 2004. Cuteness as Japans Millennial Product. In: Tobin, J. Pikachus Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokà ©mon. Durham: Duke University Press: 34-52 Anne Allison is a Professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in the United States, specializing in contemporary Japanese society. Her current research is on the recent popularization of Japanese childrens goods on the global marketplace and how its trends in cuteness, character merchandise, and high-tech play pals are remaking Japans place in todays world of millennial capitalism. In Cuteness as Japans Millennial Product, she finds that Pokà ©mon is a successful case of childrens entertainment product with media mixes. Its success follows the previous waves of successful Japanese products which started in the late 1980s, and have impacted childhood consumption around the world. These products impacted childrens lifestyle in new interactive ways. Pokà ©mon is game-based makes it more interactive than a mere anime or movie. This article provides information that supports my arguments, children buy lots of Pokà ©mon-related products other than video games or comics, and Po kà ©mon create or facilitate a common culture among children. Arthur, L. 2001. Popular Culture and Early Literacy Learning, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2(3): 295-308 Dr Leonie Arthur is a senior lecturer in early childhood education at the University of Western Sydney. She has taught in long day care, preschool and school and is an active member of a number of peak early childhood organizations, including Early Childhood Australia. She currently works with undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Western Sydney in areas of early childhood curriculum and literacy. This article reports on research findings which indicate that while childrens home and community literacy experiences and texts are increasingly digital and connected to popular media culture experiences and texts in educational settings are predominantly book-based and generally exclude popular media culture. In practice, childrens literacy is affect by television, videos, computers, comics, trading cards and magazines rather than childrens books. It also examines the role of popular media culture in childrens lives. This article provides support for my arguments whi ch related to childrens literacy and violence: media restricts childrens creativity and promotes violence. Buckingham, D. and Green, J.S. 2003. Structure, Agency, and Pedagogy in Childrens Media Culture. Culture and Society 25(3): 379-399 David Buckingham is the Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education, London University. His research is on childrens and young peoples interactions with television and electronic media. Julian Sefton-Green is the Head of Media Arts at WAC Performing Arts and Media College, an informal learning centre in North London, England. He has researched and written widely on many aspects of media education and new technologies. The authors point out that Pokà ©mon as a phenomenon is a controlled and calculated commercial strategy aimed manipulatively at the childrens market. They examine some positive and negative effects of the Pokà ©mon phenomenon on children. Pokà ©mon engages children visually through television, video games and as consumers through the range of products available. This article provides information that support my argument, Pokà ©mon create common culture among children, makes children spend lots of money to collect valuable trading cards and children bully others to grab their cards. Ito, M. 2006. Japanese Media Mixes and Amateur Cultural Exchange. In: Buckingham, D. and Willett, R. Digital Generation: Children, Young People, and New Media. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 49-66 Mizuko Ito is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is an Associate Researcher at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. Her main professional interest is the use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities. She sees the move toward new media as an interaction between long-standing and emergent media forms, rather than a shift from old analog to new digital media; while most of the essay explores the low-tech media of trading cards and comic books, The article is about young peoples relationship to media. Ito argues that these analog media forms are being newly infected through digitally enabled sociality. She also examines the trading cards activities. This article supports my argument that children play trading cards class whenever they have time and a people as their competitor. Marsh. J. 2009. Writing and Popular Culture. In: Beard, R. and Myhill, D. and Riley, J. and Nystrand, M. The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development. London: SAGE Publication Ltd: 313-324 Jackie Marsh is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the role and nature of popular culture in young childrens literacy development. She has conducted research projects that have explored children ´s access to new technologies and their emergent digital literacy skills, knowledge and understanding. This chapter examines the potential role that popular culture can play in writing curriculum in schools. She examines how popular culture affects children and young peoples written texts in classrooms. She considers the adaptation of out-of-school popular cultural writing practices for educational purposes, and explores the way in which these practices are challenging the boundaries of writing as it is instantiated in the curriculum. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restricts childrens creativity/ McDonnell, K. 2000. Kid Culture: children and adults and popular culture. Annandale: Pluto Press. Kathleen McDonnell makes her living writing in a variety of genres, from playwriting to junior fiction to social criticism. Besides her many books, she writes articles and opinion pieces for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Chatelaine, Macleans, and Utne Reader, and also contributes to CBC Radio and Canada AM. Her plays have been produced throughout Canada. She explained that the reason she writes about children: I find that childrens stories are usually the best medium to express what I want to say; and about because I have a burning interest in kids and their culture, how they think and feel about the world theyre growing up in. The book explores children and popular culture and help adults better understand the role of popular cultures plays in childrens lives. Kathleen McDonnell offers a balanced and engaging perspective on the power and influence of childrens culture. This book supports my argument that trading cards encourage gambling addiction. McGray, D. 2002. Japans Gross National Cool. Foreign Policy. June/July 2002: 44-54 Douglas McGray writes about social and political issues, science, and culture for the New Yorker, This American Life, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Los Angeles Times, Wired, and Time. He is a contributing writer of Foreign Policy magazine. He spent the spring of 2001 in Japan as a media fellow of the Japan Society. In Japans Gross National Cool, McGray argues Japans street culture, from fashion to art to music, has become ever more vibrant and is having an unprecedented influence on the rest of the world. He analyzes what made Japan a superpower more than just a wealthy country. He examines the globalization of Japanese culture. This article provides information of how Japanese popular culture affects other countries. Squire, K. 2003. Video games in education. International Journal of Intelligent Simulations and Gaming (2) 1. Dr. Kurt D. Squire is an associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director of the Games, Learning Society Initiative, and best known for his research into game design for education. The article examines the history of games in educational research, and argues that the cognitive potential of games have been largely ignored by educators. Contemporary developments in gaming, particularly interactive stories, digital authoring tools, and collaborative worlds, suggest powerful new opportunities for educational media. Squire analyzes educational games refers to some checklists ad frameworks. He promotes case studies and design experiments as a research method that doesnt study isolated variables. He states that there are four concerns of video games, which are encouraging violent or aggressive behavior, employing destructive gender stereotyping, promoting unhealthy attitudes and stifling creative play. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restrict childrens creativity and children imitate violence in media. Willett, R. 2004. The Multiple Identities of Pokà ©mon Fans. In: Tobin, J. Pikachus Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokà ©mon. Durham: Duke University Press: 226-240. Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on childrens media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. Willett discusses the multiple identities of Pokà ©mon fans. She uses a cultural studies model to make sense of the identity work children do in their story writing. She finds that Pokà ©mon thrives in childrens culture by providing a variety of subject positions for children to adopt as they perform and shift their identities in a variety of context in their daily lives. This article supports my argument, children use too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description when writing story because of popular culture, and children isolate others who do not familiar with Pokà ©mon. Willett, R. 2005. Baddies in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing. Literacy 39, 3: 142-148. Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on childrens media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. This article relates findings from a classroom study focusing on childrens media-based story writing. The study examines how children write their own stories under the effects of media, that is, how they consume media and how they produce new media texts. Willett finds that childrens media-based stories make explicit some of implicit knowledge of new media forms. Baddies in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing provides information that support my argument, children write too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description, story with unpronounceable names and incomprehensible plots, also unnecessary violence.

Causes of the French Revolution Essay -- essays research papers

The Causes Of The French Revolution In the 17th and 18th centuries, France was ruled by an absolute government. The king had all the political power. And the kings who came after him were despots. For example, anyone who criticized the government could be arrested and put in prison without trial. Louis XIV at l east ruled this country efficiently. Last French kings were not good rulers. Louis XIV (1774- 1793) was king at the time of the French Revolution. He was more interested in hunting than governing France. He and his Austrians queen, Marie Antoinette, lived an extravagant life at the Palace of Versailles. They did not really care about the state of their country. The government was inefficient, unjust and corrupt. There were too many government departments, different laws in different parts of the country and officials. Many people became angry about the way France was governed. They could do nothing to change it. The French Parliament was called the Estates- General. It was made up of the First Estate- churchmen or clergy, the Second Estate- nobility, the Third Estate- commoners. The Estate- General had not met since 1614. It could not meet without consent of he king. It had no political power. During the 18th century, the French government spent more money than it collected in taxes. By 1788, the country was bankrupt. Because the government spent a lot of money, taxes were high. The tax system was unjust. The nobles and the clergy paid hardly any taxes. The Church owned one-tenth of the land in France. It did not pay taxes. The peasants paid most of the taxes. Yet, they were the people least able to afford them. In the 18th century, France was a feudal country with class division. People were divided into three estates or classes. The First Estate consisted of the clergy. The Second consisted of the nobility, and the Third included the bourgeoisie, the city workers and the peasants. The estate to which he belonged decided a person’’power and rights. The peasants suffered most. Over 80 per cent of the population were made up of peasants. They had to pay heavy taxes. How The Revolution Changed Between 1789 and 1799 In 1789 the king called the estates to a meeting to form a National Assembly where all estates woul... ...;reign of terror." The Jacobins also followed democratic principles and believed in the benefits of the middle class, peasants, and farmers and got to participate for the first time in a political event. The Convention abolished slavery. Many of these reforms were never carried out because of changes made later in the government. Many people of France wanted the "reign of terror", the Jacobin's dictatorship, and the democratic revolution to end. The Convention finally attacked Robesspiere in 1794, and he was executed the following day. The "reign of terror",had finally ended. The Conservatives drove the Jacobins out of power. They replaced the Democratic constitution with the Directory. They started to meet in 1795, but they were troubled by war and economic problems. Bonarpartec a French general, later seized control of France in November 9, 1799, which ended the revolution. The French Revolution brought much discussion into which kind of government was best for their country. Despite all the conflicts, the revolution did create a unified state and a strong central government.

Philosophy Of Descartes :: essays research papers

In the New Merriam Webster Dictionary, sophism is defined as a plausible but fallacious argument. In Rene Descartes Meditation V, he distinguishes the existence of God, believing he must prove that god exists before he can examine any corporeal objects outside of himself. By proving that the existence of God is not a sophism, he also argues that God is therefore the Supreme Being and the omnipotent one. His conclusion that God does exist enables him to prove the existence of material things, and the difference between the soul and the body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ideas, innovations, and inventions are all created from brilliant minds. Than how did these ideas come to be? Descartes believes that God is the cause of new innovations adding, therefore God instilled in us the idea of his existence. Explaining, in order for us to draw an idea from a presumption or thought, than an object must have been derived not by us but rather God. An example of his presumption of the existence of God would be the fact that if one cannot imagine a bookshelf without books. Whether one exists or not, it is true than that they cannot be separated from each other. Descartes follows by stating that â€Å"he cannot conceive God without existence, existence is inseparable from him.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After settling that God exists in his first few passages, Descartes adds that God is the perfect being. Due to the fact that he understands what a perfect being is, than God must be a sovereign being. Similar to his triangle theory that it is not a necessity to imagine a triangle. It is not a necessity to imagine a perfect being rather a thought that has run through our mind. The triangle as imagined and conceived has three sides and a hundred and eighty degree angles as always. It is imperative that these characteristics are always attributed to the triangle, likewise the attributes of a perfect being are placed on God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to prove an argument or premise Descartes states, â€Å"we must be able to conceive clearly and distinctly of the cause in order to truly believe the argument.† Descartes clearly and distinctly believes the existence of God stating that, â€Å"all things are dependent on God’s existence, and God is not a deceiver.† Due to this premise we must than conclude that without a Supreme Being to incite knowledge than it is not possible to ever know anything perfectly.

Laughter Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Laughter "Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." --E. B. White Why do people laugh? Laughter is contagious and therapeutic. It helps us cope with stress, and relax with friends. It is an indication of happiness, the sole reason we go on living. But what causes people to laugh? People laugh at jokes, semantic humor, which relies on cognitive ability to process the "humor" therein, or sometimes at slapstick type behavior requiring no intellectual understanding. People laugh at different things and for different reasons, and for the few that are interested at the expense of the frog, it can be interesting to investigate. Every individual varies in their neurological pathways through their "boxes" in their brain to reach the output of laughter from a number of different inputs. Laughter is caused by certain visual or audio stimuli, often by perception of the unexpected or the incongruous. A surprise in expected input can result in an emotional change, however major or minor. As H. Spencer says in his Physiology of Laughter, "the nervous system in general discharges itself on the muscular system in general: either with or without the guidance of the will" (1). Incongruous input causes an emotional change, and in the case of humorous response, resulting in the contraction of facial muscles and certain muscles in the abdomen. The epiglottis half closes the larynx, resulting in giggling, guffawing, or gasping, and tear ducts are activated. These outputs of the nervous system we refer to as laughter can be arrived at through a number of pathways through the boxes of the brain, fabricated in each individual throughout their life to that point. Although different parts o... ...2Bbut%2Bits%2Bbenefits%2Bare%2Bmany,%2Band%2Bunmistakably%2Bclear.%2B%2522%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG 6) encontrar el hueso divertido del cerebro , http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/mdrejka.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522The%2Borigins%2Bof%2Blaughter%2Bare%2Bprimitive%2Band%2Bstill%2Blargely%2Bnot%2Bunderstood,%2Bbut%2Bits%2Bbenefits%2Bare%2Bmany,%2Band%2Bunmistakably%2Bclear.%2B%2522%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG 7) gerencia de la tensià ³n y causas de la tensià ³n , http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=en&u=http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/mdrejka.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522The%2Borigins%2Bof%2Blaughter%2Bare%2Bprimitive%2Band%2Bstill%2Blargely%2Bnot%2Bunderstood,%2Bbut%2Bits%2Bbenefits%2Bare%2Bmany,%2Band%2Bunmistakably%2Bclear.%2B%2522%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Obama State of the Union Essay

A Man Stands Alone: â€Å"We are not quitters. † That is what young Ty’Sheonna Bethea from Dillon, South Carolina had to say about attending a schoolhouse which is literally falling apart. She and the were asking for nothing more than what every school age student across the country has every right to receive. This was just one of the many examples that President Barrack Obama had addressed during his State of the Union Address that was read on February 24, 2009 to the Nation. This speech was to inform the us that the problems of America have been heard, not ignored President Obama was given this position at one of America’s lowest points in history. He had inherited close to a trillion dollar deficit, a financial collapse and a skyrocketing as our Commander in Chief, he spoke candidly of the goals we have to meet as â€Å"a people†. Works Cited Barack Obama: Address Before a joint Session of the Congress President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1933-1945 Rollins, Lisa L. â€Å"Comparing Barack Obama to Franklin D. Roosevelt† One of the greatest President’s in the history of the United States if America was four term elected, 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. In so doing, he greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal, and he served as the principal architect of President Roosevelt had succeeded former President Hoover, who had led the country into the worse financial instability ever in our young country’s history. Both men, in order to create something out of nothing, have or had plans to build economic stimulating programs. But one man’s ideas are tried and proven while the others has yet to be given the opportunity to flourish. In that respect only time can really tell how these two great leaders share strengths through trying times.

Biology Microarray Lab report Essay

The analysis of DNA using the microarray technique has become one of the most significant methods in the area of research genetics. This technique falls under the area of gene expression profiling. Most of the time, this procedure is applied by scientists in the effort to investigate a wide range of conditions. This is because experimental procedures cam be performed on numerous genes at the same time. They include researches on cancer to finding numerous solutions to the problems that are presented by pests. With this advancement an opportunity has been offered for the performance of personal DNA microarray experiments. Among the basis of such experiments is the determination between healthy cells and the cancer cells. Based on the complexity of the microarray experiments, it is vital that all scientists obtain a solid understanding on the DNA basics as well as the way through which genes express themselves. DNA microarrays have been used in the extensive survey of the relative transcription in any gene within a genome. Most of the cancer cells in human beings are found within the developing nerves. Howevber, they do not allow the complete quantification level of gene expression. Moreover, the DNA chips do not make it possible to determine the amount of mRNA produced from a relative sample with that produced from the control population. As such, it can be used to compare the rate of gene expression in a lung cell with cancer and a helthy lung cell. Therefore, the main goal of this practival test is to ptovide a way to understand how microarrays are used tostudy the gene expressions. It allows the investigators to determine the level of gene activity for a complete gene. As such, they make it easier to diagnose various diseases that injmclude cancer. Two main steps will be involved in the performance of the microarray lab experiments. These include the prehybridization and the hybridization steps. These are conducted through a number of 7 mini steps. They will involve the collection of the tissue or sample, the isolation of the RNA, isolation of the mRNA, creation of a labelled DNA copy, application off DNA, scanning of a microarray and the analysis of data (Campbell et al., 333). Different pH indicators that are colorless at neutral and colored at high pH of above 10 will be applied. They will be mixed with molten Agarose; this includes Madison, Promega, WI and V312A. It will later be allowed to cool. They could also be placed in a hot bath of 650 and kept molten. They will be melted if to be used days later. Pipettes will be used to apply the DNA onto the slides. Collection of mRNA The plate will be incubated for 5 minutes to allow for the release of mRNA. It will then pipetted in a Tri reagent for extraction. 80 uL of chloroform will subsequently be added and shaken vigorously then centrifuged to separate the cells into layers. 2 ml isopropanol will be added, the mixture centrifuged and the supernatant poured off. After this, the preparation of the RNA for spec by will be done by adding Agarose gel. The pre-hybridization steps will involve the preparation of stocks and obtaining of the microarray slide and steaming it on a hot plate for between 30 seconds and 1 minute. It will then be cooled at room temperature. It is important to warm the solution in case there are any crystals. The two slides can then be treated back to back and dipped in distilled water severally; it will be dried and spun for 2-3 minutes in a centrifuge. The slide is then hybridized by placing in a clean 50ml tube in a heated incubator. A coverslip is prepared by dipping into 0.2%SDS, then water. Blot, dry and continue to the hybridization step (Campbell et al., 338). Hybridization It includes the hybridization of the DNA chip using 3DNA array 350 protocol. Chips containing 70mer oligos and 2 copies of the known cDNAs in the human genome are used. This should be done at least 24 hours before the experiment. Make the solution only when it is ready for use. It is mainly 0.1M NaOH. The first step includes thawing vial at 7.2X. Make the hybridization solution with 50 ul total to fit across the cover slip. Incubate it at 800 for ten minutes. The entire 58 ul is then transferred on the microarray and the short edge of the cover slip placed on the short edge of the slide, which is then transferred to a 50 ml tube. The arrays after washing 2 must be read immediately since the color of the chips goes bad quickly (Kushner 1-5). References Campbell, A., Malcolm, Zanta, A., Carolyn, Heyer, J. Laurie, Kittinger,Ben, Gabric, M.Kathleen and Adler, Leslie. DNA Microarray Wet Lab Simulation Brings Genomics intothe High School Curriculum. CBE Life Science Education. 2006 Winter; 5(4): 332–339. Kushner, B. David. DNA Microarrays in the Undergraduate Microbiology Lab: Experimentationand Handling Large Datasets in as Few as Six Weeks. Journal of microbiology andbiology education, 2007. Vol. 8 Source document

Drama †Blood Brothers Response Essay

Blood brothers is a story which was written in 1981 as a school play and included a range of themes which help the audience understand and feel for the story rather than just watching it. The themes in this play include poverty, innocence, love, games, belief and superstition. I feel that the key themes that control the play are chance and society of the time and I feel that most of the story circles around these themes and most events are caused by these themes. To emphasize the themes in the play, we created a three minute version of the play which consisted of still images, narration and stylised movement. We decided to split the play into four sections which were: baby years, childhood, 14 – 17 years and 20+ years. We decided that we would show the giving away of the baby as this allows the rest of the story to flow. If it wasn’t for this specific scene, the story wouldn’t have happened as the giving away of one twin is a significant event in the play. This also allowed us to add emotion to our piece as this is one of the several events which separate people into two opinions. For the second section (which was childhood) we included images of them first meeting, playing games, both of the mothers separating Mickey and Eddie and Mrs Johnstone giving the locket to Eddie. My group and I felt that these were also important events in the play; in fact one of the main themes in the play is games which relates to the robbery and overall shooting of both twins later on. For 14 -17 years, we decided to show both children being suspended from school, the meet up between friends with the devil narration on top which we thought allowed our piece to flow making it easier to understand. At the last stage, 20+, we performed four still images which included an unemployment scene, Linda’s pregnancy, Eddie and Linda being together and finally the shooting with the second half of the images having the mad man narration over the top: ‘There’s a mad man running round and round You know the devil’s got your number You know he’s right beside you He’s screamin’ deep inside you And someone said he’s callin’ your number up today Today Today TODAY!’ This piece of narration was used in our three minute version of the play as we thought that it summed up a lot of the happenings in this age group and is a constant theme throughout the play. I found that the best way to tell this story within the three minutes was to use different techniques which allowed expressing and stressing of several moments in a play making it more effective. In our three minute version, this included levels, space and marking the moment. One example of these entire three put together was when both boys got expelled. We had the class sitting down at the back while the teacher was standing up straight looking down on one pupil who was higher than the class but lower than the teacher. This made use of levels, space and also marked the moment by focusing on the locket. We decided to make the giving away of the baby the most significant point in the play. This is because the whole of the story centres on this point, and if it wasn’t for this event, none of the other events would have happened. To mark this moment, we used narration which was originally placed over the point where Mrs Johnstone was only considering giving the baby to Mrs Lyons. ‘How quickly and idea, planted, can Take root and grow into a plan. The thought conceived in this very room Grew as surely as a seed, in a mother’s womb’ This piece of narration allowed us to realise how the event they are seeing came into being. We found that forum theatre was a very useful technique to bring Mickey’s monologue to life. Forum theatre was used to change the way we said lines and how to put expression, feeling and life to the lines which in turn make the monologue a lot more vibrant and interesting. The way we performed forum theatre was to have someone acting out a verse of the poem. We then got the audience to comment and suggest improvements. We then acted the verse out again and repeated the process until we were happy with it. Below is the verse we performed. ‘Y’ know our Sammy, He draws nudey women, Without arms, or legs or even heads In the baths, when he goes swimmin’. But I’m not allowed to go to the baths, Me Mam says I have to wait, ‘Cos I might get drowned, ‘cos I’m only seven, But I’m not, I’m nearly eight.’ We started off with the beginning of the verse being said in a very secretive way although it was put in the category of secret in a child which meant that it had to be told; something I had felt many a time when I was a young child which also meant my body was slightly crouched and slightly tense. I used the same experience to ‘goggle’ at what Sammy was able to do when he went swimming. Then disappointment kicks in when I hit ‘But I’m not allowed†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ as my voice goes slower and my body slumps and when the mother comes on I re-enact a rather rude hand motion usually used when someone is too talkative while the mother reads her quote. The last line is said in a way of self-pity making the character feel sorry for himself which I have felt many times when I was a young child and feeling as if my parents were deriving me of all of the world’s pleasures. In this monologue I learnt that Mickey was a character who always wanted more and wanted something someone else had that he hadn’t which is an apparent characteristic of Mickey throughout the play. It also helped me realise that it was more than just a greedy feeling as the feeling was a lot deeper and it was if the world had forgotten about him but not the others who lived in the world around him. As I said before, forum theatre had helped me find these characteristics as it helped shape what had been written. It was as if there were a lot of muddled thoughts and both me and the audience were helping to piece it together properly so we could both get an idea on how the character was really like and how the character really felt. For individual spontaneous improvisation, I acted as Mrs Johnstone where I was looking at both babies and playing with them as if it were my last time with both of them. Of course, at the time my character would have not known which baby would have been taken and because of this, I acted in a way as if it were the last time for Mrs Johnstone to see both of them. My thought track for this piece was: ‘I can’t believe this is happening’ and it would have been hard to come to terms with something which could potentially change somebody’s life, especially when it is your own son. This decision was both challenged and supported by a technique called a conscience corridor which we used to find the pros and cons of giving the baby away which was then fired to somebody stepping into the shoes of Mrs Johnstone. Feeling the confused and mixed feelings, it gave us a chance to make our own decision as if we were that character. Some pros included having money, less stress, a better life for your son, less work. Some cons included the guilt of your child being bought, splitting up a natural bond given to both children, more stress as you worry and having to cover it up from the outside world. The conscience corridor was put into action by splitting the class in half and putting them up as two sides to create a human ‘corridor’. We then got a member of our class to walk up while each person in the ‘wall’ said the pros and cons. When the person in the middle finishes walking up through the corridor, he/she tells us his/her decision. In this situation, I wrote a diary entry as Mrs Johnstone. I typed my diary entry up below ‘I can’t believe it is happening. So close to the time where one of my beloved babies would be given away to my employer. I am sure that I am doing the right thing – I can’t afford to give them both a good life and Mrs Lyons does want a baby so badly. Even so, I feel I am breaking a natural bond given to them both which makes me unsure on whether I should do it. I am in a situation which I would never wish on any mother.’ Overall, I found that explorative strategies helped us understand Blood Brothers as it allowed us to see what usually are hidden thoughts and feelings of characters. It also allows us to get into character and realise how events and other actions are performed by the character.