Always the Icarus is an experimental play in two acts depicting the road-trip journey of meth-fueled, anti-heroine, Cartla, and her best friend, J.A. –a Juggalo with a heart of gold. Cartla desperately needs to leave the Midwestern nothingness of Interior, South Dakota after having a premonition about the fate of America’s favorite T.V. food guy, Guy Fieri. The lines between memory and vivid hallucination become desperately scrambled for the young, twisted duo as they venture from stop to stop along the lucid route to Anaheim, California. With each passing stop, Cartla is confronted by her inescapable geo-historical and geo-familial coordinates as well as a whole slew of characters who refuse to accept the idea that the coveted “American dream” may be grossly out of reach for the forgotten “trash” of the nation. But who will be the saviors of the broken and the ambassadors of the underdogs? Do the maneuvers of the father undoubtedly scar the psyche of the oblivious, devoted child? Do mythologies leave room for less-tragic margins of error?Through a theatrical narrative form stressing cyclical language and interactions, audiences are urged to question whether the mythic Icarus will always fall from the soaring, sky-heights of heaven into the cold waters below.

No prefácio da peça Three Tall Women, o dramaturgo norte-americano Edward Albee declara ter-se baseado em sua mãe adotiva para a composição de sua personagem. Por esse motivo, a crítica teatral norte-americana passou a considerar a peça simplesmente como uma autobiografia de seu autor. É fato que Edward Albee se utilizou de elementos de sua própria vida na obra, mas a peça não se restringe a isso: a autobiografia serviu de ferramenta para a realização de uma crítica contundente aos valores cultivados pela classe média alta norte-americana. Grande parte da crítica norte-americana, ao se referir à peça Three Tall Women, ressalta seu aspecto autobiográfico, mas não toca, de forma alguma, no aspecto de crítica à ideologia norte-americana presente na obra. Dessa forma, a presente dissertação propõe-se a identificar e analisar os elementos de crítica à sociedade norte-americana encontrados na peça Three Tall Women, por meio da análise dos diálogos de seus personagens. Finalmente, este trabalho também analisará a convergência entre a forma e o conteúdo nessa obra, ou seja, a forma mais adequada, escolhida pelo autor, para a exposição de determinado conteúdo. / In the play Three Tall Women, the American playwright Edward Albee states that one of his characters is based on his adoptive mother. For this reason, American critics consider the play essentially an autobiography of its author. It is true that Edward Albee has used some elements of his life in his play, but Three Tall Women is not limited to that: Edward Albee\'s autobiography is like a tool for the crushing criticism concerning some values supported by the American high-middle class. A great part of the American critics emphasizes the autobiography element concerning the play Three Tall Women, but definitely they do not mention the aspect of criticism about the American ideology in the play. In this way, this paper aims to identify and to analyze the elements of criticism concerning the American society found in the play Three Tall Women through the characters dialogues. Finally, this paper also aims to analyze the convergence between form and theme; the most adequate form, chosen by the author, for the presentation of such theme.

No prefácio da peça Three Tall Women, o dramaturgo norte-americano Edward Albee declara ter-se baseado em sua mãe adotiva para a composição de sua personagem. Por esse motivo, a crítica teatral norte-americana passou a considerar a peça simplesmente como uma autobiografia de seu autor. É fato que Edward Albee se utilizou de elementos de sua própria vida na obra, mas a peça não se restringe a isso: a autobiografia serviu de ferramenta para a realização de uma crítica contundente aos valores cultivados pela classe média alta norte-americana. Grande parte da crítica norte-americana, ao se referir à peça Three Tall Women, ressalta seu aspecto autobiográfico, mas não toca, de forma alguma, no aspecto de crítica à ideologia norte-americana presente na obra. Dessa forma, a presente dissertação propõe-se a identificar e analisar os elementos de crítica à sociedade norte-americana encontrados na peça Three Tall Women, por meio da análise dos diálogos de seus personagens. Finalmente, este trabalho também analisará a convergência entre a forma e o conteúdo nessa obra, ou seja, a forma mais adequada, escolhida pelo autor, para a exposição de determinado conteúdo. / In the play Three Tall Women, the American playwright Edward Albee states that one of his characters is based on his adoptive mother. For this reason, American critics consider the play essentially an autobiography of its author. It is true that Edward Albee has used some elements of his life in his play, but Three Tall Women is not limited to that: Edward Albee\'s autobiography is like a tool for the crushing criticism concerning some values supported by the American high-middle class. A great part of the American critics emphasizes the autobiography element concerning the play Three Tall Women, but definitely they do not mention the aspect of criticism about the American ideology in the play. In this way, this paper aims to identify and to analyze the elements of criticism concerning the American society found in the play Three Tall Women through the characters dialogues. Finally, this paper also aims to analyze the convergence between form and theme; the most adequate form, chosen by the author, for the presentation of such theme.

This dissertation analyses the extent to which dominant political ideologies generate meanings in television news texts. The working process of the television news system and the manner in which television news constructs news programmes are discussed. In light of the televisual mode of news production, the author demonstrates how ideologically inspired meanings can systematically enter the television news system and thus potentially manipulate the production of television news broadcasts, though making a semiotic analysis of the CNN representations of September 11. This study is situated within the field of visual culture studies, and semiotic theory is employed to a great extent throughout. The author discusses the influence of dominant political ideologies on the television news production process, and how this contributes to the restriction of the polysemy of the television news sign. Television news representations may be mediated and manipulated in such a way to encourage viewers to produce readings that are favourable towards a certain dominant political ideology. The many mechanisms that television news utilises to create meaning are discussed. The mechanisms that are identified by the author as being the most effective in the production of ideologically inspired meanings are paid particular attention. These semiotic mechanisms include the manipulation of iconic signs, the construction of arbitrary signs and the representation of myths. The CNN representations of the September 11 events are analysed for their ideological content, and the author contends that these televisual representations were deliberately constructed to inspire readings that would be favourable to the ideology of Americanism. Therefore, Americanism, as an example of a dominant political ideology, is discussed. The visual mechanisms employed by CNN after September 11 are analysed. These include the editing of visually recorded footage, the treatment of the newsreader and the incorporation of the image of the American flag. The author offers a reading of the ideological motivation of these texts. The media myths that are constructed to naturalise Americanism, such as the myth of the hero and the myth of the tower, are discussed with regard to the manner in which they were represented by CNN after September 11. The iconic representations of key political figures involved with the September 11 events are also discussed and their ideological meanings uncovered. The CNN television news broadcasts functioned both to inform an international audience of the terrorist attacks and reinforce an ideology in crisis: namely, Americanism. CNN repeatedly employed many visual mechanisms to encourage viewers to produce readings that were favourable to Americanism. While Americanism entered a period of crisis, it mobilised its Ideological State Apparatuses, including television news, to reinforce and justify its position of power in order to maintain its own dominance after a deliberate blow. This study suggests that the CNN representations of September 11 are an accurate indication of how dominant political ideologies can effect the construction of television news texts. Where television news broadcasters reach large audiences while being ideologically aligned, and viewers are deliberately encouraged to produce certain ideologically inspired readings, television news becomes a medium through which widespread ideological domination can be achieved. / Dissertation (MA (Visual Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Visual Arts / unrestricted