Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Arts and Humanities

Communication Text Types

Dialogue

Dialogue is the communication process in which two or more partners take turns using words.

Features

• Two-way exchange: For dialogue to occur, the sender and receiver must exchange roles.
• Bias voltage: The motivation driving partners to communicate. This includes factors such as information exchange and even silence.
• Consistency: The dialogue must involve consistent interactions.

Exposure

Exposure is the objective explanation of an issue, enabling the receiver to acquire new knowledge.

Classification by Receptor

• Expository-informative: Clearly and simply informs on a topic of general interest.
• Expository-specialized: Uses complex language and jargon for a specialized audience.

Classification by Structure

• Deductive: Starts

Core Communication Concepts

Rhetoric

The art of influencing others, often using half-truths and emotionally charged messages.

Empathy

The ability to understand and share the feelings of others, primarily used to resolve conflicts.

Assertiveness

The ability to express one's own feelings, views, and desires directly and respectfully, without seeking to dominate others. It affirms self-worth and encourages others to value one's contributions.

Personality Traits & Behavior

Personality Types

• Type A: Highly competitive, often associated with stress and a higher risk of heart disease.
• Type B: Relaxed, friendly, non-competitive, more sympathetic, and sociable.

Intelligence

The ability to adapt and learn.

Archetypes

• Negative Archetypes: Evil, vengeance.
• Positive

Attitudes in lyrics correspond to the mood of the poet and can be mainly three:

• Attitude Point: The lyrical speaker captures something external, internalizes it, and expresses it in a narrative or descriptive manner, trying to maintain objectivity.
• Apostrophe: The poet addresses an external entity directly, creating intensity and drama. The lyrical speaker moves between subjective and objective perspectives.
• Carmina or Lyric Song: This is the attitude of excellence, where the poet expresses their inner soul with subjectivity prevailing.

Literary Figures

Literary figures are resources used to transform language in poetry. They give language elasticity and evocative power, expressing new meanings beyond the referential.

Figures of Speech

• Hyperbaton

Entertainment

Television

Show: show (English), audiencia (Spanish), espectador (Spanish)
Viewer: presentador (Spanish)
Broadcast: emisión (Spanish)
Advert: anuncio (Spanish)
Screen: pantalla (Spanish)
Camera: cámara (Spanish)
Remote control: mando (Spanish)
Talent show: show de talento (Spanish)
Quiz show: preguntas (Spanish)
Game show: concurso de juegos (Spanish)
Soap opera: novela (Spanish)
Sitcom: comedia (Spanish)
Episode: episodio (Spanish)
Cartoon: dibujos (Spanish)

Reality TV

Reality show: reality show (English), programa de telerrealidad (Spanish)
Drama series: serie de drama (Spanish)

Environment

Recycling and Waste

Recycle: reciclar (Spanish)
Reuse: reusar (Spanish)
Save: salvar (Spanish)
Pollute: basura (Spanish)
Poison: veneno (Spanish)... Continue reading "Comprehensive Vocabulary List for Language Learners" »

El Greco's Masterpiece: The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice

El Greco's painting, The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice, depicts the martyrdom of the Roman general Maurice and his entire legion for refusing to participate in the sacrifices to pagan gods.

Composition and Style

The unique, novel, and complex composition of the painting gives it a special attraction. In the foreground, Greco-Roman generals are shown discussing their predicament. They do so while enveloped in a supernatural atmosphere, where their gestures and attitudes denote a position of mystical acceptance.

In the background, using a curious perspective serpentinata, all the members of the Theban Legion are placed. Some are decapitated, while others await their fate. This synchronous vision... Continue reading "El Greco's Masterpiece: Martyrdom of Saint Maurice" »

Image Culture

Icons attempt to replace words, offering advantages like overcoming language barriers and aiding illiterate societies. However, they can be non-obvious, create visual noise, and introduce sexism. Sometimes, icons are accompanied by written explanations.

Images can replace the objects they represent. Today, images are central to communication, replacing text in public spaces. This leads to a culture of the image and a new functional illiteracy where literate individuals struggle with simple texts.

Image Analysis

Image comes from Latin imago (representation, portrait) and Greek eikon (icon). Images represent something concrete through various techniques. We distinguish between fixed and moving images. Iconicity is the similarity between... Continue reading "Image Culture: Icons, Framing, and Visual Impact" »

Photography and Film: Definition and Origins

Photography - A procedure for recording images based traditionally on the impression created by the light reflecting off objects in the film within a camera.

Films - A procedure to capture a sequence of images very quickly so that when reproduced, it gives the sensation of movement.

Technicalities of Photography I

We can say that the camera and the human eye are similar in many respects. In the process of vision, light reflects off objects.

• The frame - Refers to the piece of reality you want to photograph and select through the viewfinder of the camera.
• The approach - To capture an object, it is clearly necessary to properly place the camera lens.
• The depth of field - Is smaller the closer and more focused

Futurism

Futurism was a literary and artistic movement that emerged in Italy in the first decade of the 20th century. It was named for its intention to break completely with the art of the past, especially in Italy, where the artistic tradition permeated everything. Futurists wanted to create a new art, according to the modern mind, the new times, and new needs. This new art was modeled after machines and their main attributes: strength, speed, energy, motion, and dehumanization. The main feature of Futurism is plastic dynamism and movement.

Dadaism

Dada (1916) emerged with the intent to destroy all codes and systems established in the art world. It is an anti-artistic, anti-literary, and anti-poetic movement because it challenges the existence... Continue reading "Major Art Movements: From Renaissance to Fauvism" »

Understanding Cinema and Film

Film, also called cinema, is the technique of capturing and projecting frames in rapid succession to create the impression of movement. The term also refers to the theaters where movies are shown.

The Dawn of Cinema

The history of cinema arguably begins on December 28, 1895, when the Lumière brothers publicly projected short films in Paris. These early works depicted scenes such as workers leaving a French factory in Lyon, the demolition of a wall, the arrival of a train, and a boat leaving a port.

Film Theory Essentials

Film theory is based on the principle of presenting sequences of photographs rapidly enough to create the illusion of continuous movement.

Classic vs. Modern Cinema Styles

Classic cinema typically features... Continue reading "Cinema Fundamentals: History, Theory, and Formats" »

Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard Manet: A Closer Look

Techniques and Styles

Unconventional painting methods angered the public. Manet abandoned chiaroscuro in favor of sharp contrasts between light and shade. He painted shapes with large patches of pure color for greater modernity and vitality. Critics called his style "spotty." The intense green enlivens the landscape, the yellows and reds dominate the still life, while the pure white and smooth skin tones reduce Victorine's body to nearly flat surfaces of light.

Manet, in his execution, leaves the careful style of academic literature. He draws the figures without contour lines. The background has no details, it is simply outlined. It has a total disregard for the rules of perspective. The... Continue reading "Edouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe: A Deep Dive" »