The aim of this thesis is to trace a 'language of looking' in some of Virginia Woolfs texts. I have taken Woolfs short story entitled 'The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection' as a point of departure and principle theme. This story provides models for a serious questioning of the ways we look at women and how that looking deten»ines their representation. In turn that representation is shown to structure and inform our ways of looking. Each paragraph of the story is taken as a starting point for a chapter of the thesis. Thus, each of the ten paragraphs of the story becomes, as it were, the epigraph of the chapter that follows. Each chapter moves out from the specific problematics offered by 'The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection' to other works by Woolf, and beyond. My readings of 'The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection' show Woolf to be exploring different ways of getting to 'know' the Lady, to ascertain her 'truth'. The aptness and inadequacy of description, the giving of facts and the detail of imaginings, the insights of perception and the blindness of rhetoric, are all revealed as the story and the thesis unfold. The ways in which a woman can be regarded, spoken of, but never 'truly' represented, is examined. Each chapter focuses upon how, in consecutive paragraphs, Woolf attempts to create a convincing character that can be caught and turned to words. The very difficulties of representation are seen to be written into Woolfs text as the narrative moves from one speculative moment to another. In order to explore the issues raised in the short story I engage with other of Woolfs writings. Using close readings of her work, psychoanalytic concepts, critical writings, Surrealist thought and photographic model, I work to show just how vital are the 'signs' of looking in Woolf's texts.Finally the failures of language are realised as I look at how Woolfs awareness of the complexities and nuances of the visual demonstrates a negative, self-destructive impulse as well as a positive, life-enhancing moment of becoming. Woolfs search for the best words with which to portray the Lady of her story is echoed by my own struggle to find the right words with which to reveal the intricate network of 'looks' that adds yet another dimension to the enigmatic and challenging works of the Lady we know as Virginia Woolf.

The type of commentary a narrative is able to make is fully dependant on the type of narrator who is relating it. The visual elements present in a film are the true narrational forces which guide it. The presence of the camera, the use of lighting, the architecture, and the objects present in the film each have their own meaning. These elements come together to make a greater commentary than the dialogue. How these meanings interact with each other is what defines what type of narrator is present in the film. By analyzing what type of narrator is relating the story it is possible to examine what commentary the film is able to make. Mike Nichols? 1967 film The Graduate and Terry Gilliam?s 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson?s 1971 literary work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas make commentaries that act as bookends for the ideals of the youth culture during the late 1960?s. Where as The Graduate is condemning the shining emptiness of 1967 suburban California society which its narrator inhabits, Fear and Loathing?s narrator is depicting the twisted abomination which grew within the emptiness of that society during those four years. The fact that Gilliam?s adaptation came 27 years after the source material was created allows for an even more specific translation of Thompson?s message. The Graduate is looking towards the unknown future where as Fear and Loathing is look backwards at the results. The Graduate is commenting on the current situation and looking forwards where as Fear and Loathing is looking backwards to see what has happened in the interim. It is this difference that forces the type of narration and the visual style employed by the films to be diametrically opposed.

Recently, the ‘Smart City’ label has emerged as a popular umbrella term for numerous projects around the world that claim to offer an enhanced urban experience, often provided in collaboration with international companies through private-public partnerships. As smart cities pledge to create long-term economic sustainability and progressive form of urban entrepreneurialism, it is getting important to highlight risks such as the reduced role of the public sector, technological dominance and data privacy.In contrast to more a conventional, long-term, holistic master planning, a technologically pre-determined form of Smart City endangers the emancipator usage of public spaces as spaces of diversity, creativity, inclusive citizen participation and urban sustainability.This research approaches the concept of Smart Cities as a future category and, thus, targets to develop a comprehensive visual analysis based on architectural representations in the form of computer-generated images (CGI’s). The Quayside project, a notable and widely criticized urban development project, by Sidewalk Toronto, a cooperation between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs which is a sister subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., has been selected as Smart City case study as. Visual analysis was conducted by using the theoretical frame advocating ‘Coordinating Smart Cities’ in contrast to ‘Prescriptive Smart Cities’ by Richard Sennett. In addition to Sennett’s concept of ‘Incomplete Form’, Jan Gehl’s ‘Twelve Quality Criteria’ was used as coding categories to elaborate the content analysis which was followed by semiological and compositional interpretations. Visuals have been investigated in three sequential sets and analyzed focusing on time-based comparative frequency counts for sets of visuals. Concentrating on how future public spaces are illustrated, the study aims to uncover and to discuss how Smart Cities are being imagined and advertised.