Cette thèse examine le phénomène du contrepoids issu du mime corporel, un art inventé par Etienne Decroux (1898-1991). À partir de son analyse aux niveaux physique, technique et poétique, cette étude met en lumière la possibilité de dépasser l’illusion de la représentation par la compréhension pratique du contrepoids poétique, non seulement pour le mime corporel, mais également pour toutes les activités liées au sport, à l’art de la scène, et à la résistance politique. Le contrepoids contribue à expliquer l’importance éthique et le succès international croissant de sports comme le breakdanse et le skate-boarding durant ces trente dernières années. Dans le domaine de la résistance politique, cette notion permet de mieux comprendre le succès de Muhamed Ali tout autant que l’émotion suscitée par l’homme debout, seul devant les chars sur la place Tian’anmen. Enfin, dans le domaine des arts du spectacle, cette thèse propose une pédagogie pratique du théâtre physique focalisée sur le contrepoids en tant que base du mouvement dramatique. Avec la tendance, aujourd’hui, de s’orienter vers un art interdisciplinaire et pluriculturel, qui ouvre les frontières entre les arts plastiques, le théâtre et la danse, cette pédagogie offre une méthode pour les acteurs mais aussi pour les danseurs qui cherchent à créer un art transversal capable de surmonter les barrières des langages, des langues et des cultures. / This thesis examines the phenomenon of counterweights of corporeal mime, an art invented by Etienne Decroux (1898-1991). And through the optic of three existential levels: the physical, the technical, and the poetic, this study presents the possibility of going beyond the illustrative representation and the illusion with the practical understanding of poetic counterweights not only for the art of corporeal mime, but across all corporeal activities related to sports, performing arts, and political resistance. Counterweights help explain the ethical importance and international rise of sports like breakdancing and skateboarding within the past thirty years. And in the political resistance arena, it helps to better understand the secrets to Mohammed Ali’s success, as well as the emotional affect of the “tank man, ” a lone man standing in front of a column of tanks at the Tiananmen Square. Finally, for the realm of performing arts training, this thesis proposes a practical pedagogy of physical theatre focused on counterweights for the basis of dramatic movement. With the current trends toward interdisciplinary and multi-cultural performance art that opens the boundaries between fine art, theatre, and dance, this pedagogy offers a training method for both actors and dancers who seek to create transversal art that reaches across the boundaries of language and local cultures.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T18:29:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo3283_1.pdf: 2201401 bytes, checksum: 804378e5a22174a9298b4e6a48ff52cf (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / O estudo do suicídio desencadeia toda uma discussão que perpassa por várias áreas do conhecimento humano, sobretudo por apresentar diversas origens ou explicações, cabendo análise detalhada e sob várias abordagens. Neste sentido, procurou-se estudar o problema do suicídio através das perspectivas apresentadas pela Psiquiatria, pela Sociologia e pela Psicanálise. A partir de pesquisas realizadas nos jornais Diário de Pernambuco, Jornal do Commercio e Jornal Pequeno realizou-se um estudo dos casos coletados sob a ótica de uma análise estatística descritiva, que apontou alguns resultados que confirmaram uma tendência mundial, como por exemplo, mais homens tentam e conseguem se matar. Por outro lado, a pesquisa mostrou que no Recife dos anos 1950, mais casados se suicidavam, enquanto nas tentativas o maior número de casos ficou entre os solteiros. À medida em que os dados eram analisados, ia sendo observada a forma como a imprensa tratava os casos de suicídio e das tentativas, o que permitiu a abordagem do tema através da visão jornalística da época. Dentro dessa perspectiva de estudo, o fenômeno do suicídio foi tratado e analisado no presente trabalho, o que possibilitou traçar um quadro dos casos de suicídio e das tentativas acontecidos no Recife dos anos 1950

The purpose of this study is to establish the thesis that Shaw, the noted iconoclast, was actually much influenced by nineteenth-century theatrical conventions, and that his use of hackneyed forms as bases for satire and subjects for revitalization was often not wholly successful, especially in his earlier plays, because formal conventions tended to confine and constrict the fresh themes he was attempting to develop in the old stage material. The Introduction summarizes and argues against lingering critical attitudes toward Shaw which imply that he was not a playwright but an author of stage debates, and that he should therefore be held exempt from the type of criticism accorded dramatists' in the 'tradition'. Chapter One is a brief critical survey of plays current in London in the Nineties and the English and continental forebears of these plays, and includes some discussion of Shaw's campaign against the 'old' drama, his opinion of the pseudo-realist 'new' dramatists, and the differences between his aims and techniques and those of the post-Ibsen, post-Shavian playwrights. Chapter Two deals with Shaw's first play, Widowers' Houses, and two other sociological plays the relatively early Mrs. Warren's Profession and a play of Shaw's maturity, Major Barbara. These three plays demonstrate Shaw's progress from mere inversion of stock sentimental romance to more positive treatments of initially orthodox situations. Chapter Three is concerned with Shavian transformation of conventional melodrama and men of action and discusses the conflict between orthodox techniques and devices and Shavian ideas in the 'hero' plays. Chapter Four deals with two exceedingly popular plays -- Candida and Man and Superman -- in which Shaw developed his views on the Life Force and the relationships between the sexes. Like Chapter Two, this chapter seeks to prove that Shaw exhibited growing skill in adapting popular stage subjects to his own purposes while sustaining interest and comedy in the eternal conflict he perceived between vitality and system. In Chapter Five, two semi-tragic plays, Heartbreak House and Saint Joan, are discussed as the final steps in Shaw's movement toward achieving harmony of story and theme. Heartbreak House, a disquisitory, symbolic drama, is an improvement upon earlier, less unified discussion plays, and Saint Joan combines the elements of philosophical discussion and powerful story in a play that undoubtedly benefits from the poignancy and melodrama of the legend on which it is based, but is also a triumphant blend of the traditional elements of drama and qualities uniquely Shavian. The chapter and the thesis close with a short comment on Shaw's contribution to modern drama. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

The political extravaganzas dominate Shavian drama of the 1930's, Shaw's last really productive decade. They form a fairly large and coherent group, but their topicality and their abstract, seemingly non-dramatic techniques have prevented most critics from examining the plays on their own merits. This thesis attempts to show how Shaw, in his political plays, not only chronicles his very close involvement with the urgent social problems of the interwar years, but also how he develops special artistic devices to embody his themes. Shaw's political plays offer a continual flow of analysis and criticism of an age which he thought was heading for disaster and war. In Too True to be Good (1931); he analyzes modern man's sense of directionlessness and indicates that he must re-evaluate his aims and goals, his morality and economics, and discard worn out values which no longer describe either human nature or contemporary problems. This play introduces a theme which prevails in all Shaw's political extravaganzas of the period: that men must overcome their limited frames of reference and must cultivate an open-mindedness in their search for meaning and direction in a complex world. In On the Rocks (1933), he investigates governmental problems In England and implies that in a world of selfish insularity, democratic government founders, needing more than ever a strong leader to impose a direction on the country. Recognizing the sinister implications of even an interim dictatorship, Shaw is almost driven to despair. In The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1934), Shaw retreats from the ugly and almost insoluble problems of the immediate world, to define and examine in abstract and symbolic terms the problems dis-cussed in the earlier plays. Shaw reaffirms his faith in the Life Force, again stresses that life-will continue to evolve, and asserts that if man wants to be the vanguard of evolution he must be able to adapt to the unexpected . Having expressed his ultimate thoughts and allegiances in The Simpleton, Shaw seemed to abandon his concern "with political problems in his plays, until the urgency of world developments in the late thirties brought the preacher in Shaw to the pulpit of the stage again in Geneva (1938). But in this play Shaw's inability to maintain an aesthetic distance from world events interfered with his artistry so that he produced a play lacking the unity of theme and structure found in the earlier plays of the period. But while the political plays of the thirties chronicle Shaw's very close involvement with complex social problems, they also reveal Shaw's attempt to develop special dramatic techniques to render an artistic expression of his thoughts. The seemingly chaotic structures, weak characters, and garrulous speeches really are in many ways well suited to the topical themes. Shaw utilizes a symposium type of discussion, which is appropriate for the searching for direction, the open investigation of all aspects of a complex problem. But perhaps the most characteristic and least understood technique in these plays is Shaw's use of structure as a major thematic device. Once understood, the seemingly random structures are not evidence of "imitative fallacy", of using negative techniques to express negative themes, hut of an artistic handling of technique to enhance thematic comment on the chaos. In the best of Shaw's political plays there is a well integrated mating of theme and structure which belies any idea that these plays are the products of a man in his dotage. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is a study of a post-World War II polio epidemic in one small Southwest Virginian town before widespread application of the vaccine. While others have explored urban public health responses to polio and national efforts to promote prevention and treatment efforts, in this history I look at reactions to the disease at the local level in this rural community particularly hard-hit by an acute medical event. The central question addressed in the research is how the polio epidemic changed the nature of community. Prior to the polio epidemic in this rural Southwest Virginian town, community meant creating and strengthening social ties throughout town—most visibly through large social functions and leisure gatherings such as church or baseball. Through identifying and analyzing reactions to the epidemic among families/individuals, the public health, and business, a transition emerged. Being a part of community during the summer polio epidemic meant protecting the public health while simultaneously protecting economic health as a backbone and lifeline of the family. / Master of Arts