Severus Snape : The Complexity and Unconventional Heroism of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter Books

Being an evildoer and being evil is not always the same thing; author J.K Rowling’s character Professor Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series is balancing on that very line. Although being unfair and mean to the protagonist Harry Potter all through the series, Professor Snape is revealed as a hero in the seventh book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). This essay focuses on some of the complex psychological reasons as to why Snape acts the way he does towards Harry and why many readers consider him to be just as great a hero as the protagonist. It argues that his difficult upbringing is the cause of his complexity and the series of books are analyzed from a structuralist perspective, using A.J Greimas’ actantial model and Frank Kermode’s theories about endings and plot twists. Snape’s hate for Harry’s father, caused by years of bullying, is examined as well as his love for Harry’s mother. This essay also discusses in what ways Snape’s change of allegiance, brought on by his eternal love for Harry’s mother, is a great aid in defeating the Dark Lord.

Harry Potter -kirjojen henkilönnimien käännösstrategiat

Tämä tutkielma käsittelee henkilönnimien käännösstrategioita neljän ensimmäisen Harry Potter -kirjan suomennoksissa ja ranskannoksissa. Tutkimuksessa verrataan kvantitatiivisesti suomentajan ja ranskantajan käyttämiä käännösstrategioita ja pyritään löytämään lainalaisuuksia. Alkuhypoteeseina ovat, että suomentaja olisi käyttänyt useimmiten strategianaan käännöstä, ja että ranskantaja olisi useimmiten päätynyt suoraan lainaan. Lisäksi tutkitaan, onko henkilöhahmon tyypillä, esimerkiksi, onko kyseessä eläin, taulu vai aave, ollut vaikutusta käytettyyn käännösstrategiaan. Strategioiden luokitteluun käytettiin Minna Saarelman (2008) kirjallisuuden erisnimien käännösstrategioiden luokittelua. Hahmotyyppien luokittelu muodostettiin aineistona toimivien kirjojen aikaisemman tuntemuksen perusteella. Keskeisimmät tulokset ovat, että suomentaja ja ranskantaja ovat käyttäneet yhtälailla pääasiallisena käännösstrategianaan nimen suoraa lainaa. Itse asiassa lainojen osuus kummissakin käännöksissä oli varsin huomattava. Yllättävä tulos oli, että suomennoksissa käännösten osuus oli varsin pieni verrattuna lainojen määrään. Hahmotyypillä ei havaittu olevan suoranaista vaikutusta valittuun käännösstrategiaan. Katseena tulevaisuuteen mahdollisiksi jatkotutkimuksen aiheiksi suositellaan kvantitatiivista tutkimusta kunkin erisnimen esiintymismääristä. Tällaisella tutkimuksella voitaisiin tutkia, miksi esimerkiksi suomennoksia lukiessa syntyy vaikutelma, että valtaosa henkilönnimistä on käännetty eikä suinkaan lainattu.

I despr??s del Potter, qu???. 'Y despu??s de Potter, ??qu???'

Se reflexiona sobre libros muy vendidos, como la magia de Harry Potter, que consiste, quiz??s, en el hecho de haber conseguido unas cifras de ventas y un n??mero de lectores hasta ahora insospechados dentro del ??mbito de la literatura infantil y juvenil. La f??rmula es sencilla y desde hace tiempo los soci??logos y los economistas de la cultura o los especialistas en narraci??n audiovisual han dedicado algunas horas al an??lisis de f??rmulas adecuadas para estirar el consumo de un producto de ??xito. El proceso se inicia cuando un relato gusta y genera en el consumidor un placer que se quiere mantener. Justo en este momento se arranca la maquinaria para presentar nuevos productos que tienen la finalidad de contentar al consumidor, es decir, escurrir un producto tanto como sea posible.

China’s new creative strategy : the utilization of cultural soft power and new markets

This book examines different aspects of Asian popular culture, including films, TV, music, comedy, folklore, cultural icons, the Internet and theme parks. It raises important questions such as – What are the implications of popularity of Asian popular culture for globalization? Do regional forces impede the globalizing of cultures? Or does the Asian popular culture flow act as a catalyst or conveying channel for cultural globalization? Does the globalization of culture pose a threat to local culture? It addresses two seemingly contradictory and yet parallel processes in the circulation of Asian popular culture: the interconnectedness between Asian popular culture and western culture in an era of cultural globalization that turns subjects such as Pokémon, Hip Hop or Cosmopolitan into truly global phenomena, and the local derivatives and versions of global culture that are necessarily disconnected from their origins in order to cater for the local market. It thereby presents a collective argument that, whilst local social formations, and patterns of consumption and participation in Asia are still very much dependent on global cultural developments and the phenomena of modernity, yet such dependence is often concretized, reshaped and distorted by the local media to cater for the local market. Contents: Introduction: Asian Popular Culture: The Global (Dis)continuity Anthony Y.H. Fung Part 1: The Dominance of Global Continuity: Cultural Localization and Adaptation 1. One Region, Two Modernities: Disneyland in Tokyo and Hong Kong Micky Lee and Anthony Y.H. Fung 2. Comic Travels: Disney Publishing in the People’s Republic of China Jennifer Altehenger 3. When Chinese Youth Meet Harry Potter: Translating Consumption and Middle Class Identification John Nguyet Erni 4.New Forms of Transborder Visuality in Urban China: Saving Face for Magazine Covers Eric Kit-Wai Ma 5. Cultural Consumption and Masculinity: A Case Study of GQ Magazine Covers in Taiwan Hong-Chi Shiau Part 2: Global Discontinuity: The Local Absorption of Global Culture 6. An Unlocalized and Unglobalized Subculture: English Language Independent Music in Singapore Kai Khiun Liew and Shzr Ee Tan 7. The Localized Production of Jamaican Music in Thailand Viriya Sawangchot 8. Consuming Online Games in Taiwan: Global Games and Local Market Lai-Chi Chen 9. The Rise of the Korean Cinema in Inbound and Outbound Globalization Shin Dong Kim Part 3: Cultural Domestication: A New Form of Global Continuity 10. Pocket Capitalism and Virtual Intimacy: Pokémon as a Symptom of Post-Industrial Youth Culture Anne Allison 11. Playing the Global Game: Japan Brand and Globalization Kukhee Choo Part 4: China as a Rising Market: Cultural Antagonism and Globalization 12. China’s New Creative Strategy: The Utilization of Cultural Soft Power and New Markets Michael Keane and Bonnie Liu 13. Renationalizing Hong Kong Cinema: The Gathering Force of the Mainland Market Michael Curtin

A fair use project for Australia: Copyright law and creative freedom

This essay provides a critical assessment of the Fair Use Project based at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. In evaluating the efficacy of the Fair Use Project, it is worthwhile considering the litigation that the group has been involved in, and evaluating its performance. Part 1 outlines the history of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, and the aims and objectives of the Fair Use Project. Part 2 considers the litigation in Shloss v. Sweeney over a biography concerning Lucia Joyce, the daughter of the avant-garde literary great, James Joyce. Part 3 examines the dispute over the Harry Potter Lexicon. Part 4 looks at the controversy over the Shepard Fairey poster of President Barack Obama, and the resulting debate with Associated Press. Part 5 of the essay considers the intervention of the Fair Use Project as an amicus curiae in the ‘Column case’. Part 6 explores the participation of the Fair Use Project as an amicus curiae in the litigation over 60 Years Later, an unauthorised literary sequel to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Part 7 of the essay investigates the role of the Fair Use project in disputes over copyright law and musical works. Part 8 investigates the role of the Fair Use Project as an advocate in disputes over copyright law, fair use, documentary films, and internet videos. The conclusion has main three arguments. First, it contends that Australia should establish a Fair Use Project to support creative artists in litigation over copyright exceptions. Second, it maintains that Australia should adopt a flexible, open-ended defence of fair use, and draw upon the rich jurisprudence in the United States on the fair use doctrine. Finally, this paper argues that support should be given at an international level to the proposal for a Treaty on Access to Knowledge.

The business of myth-making: Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers and the Disney effect

In just one of the many extraordinary moments during the spectacular Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games, thirty Mary Poppinses floated into the stadium on their umbrellas to battle a 40 foot-long inflatable Lord Voldemort. This multi-million pound extravaganza was telecast to a global audience of over one billion people, highlighting in an extremely effective manner the grandeur and eccentricities of the host nation, and featuring uniquely British icons such as Mr Bean, James Bond, The Beatles and Harry Potter, as well as those quintessential icons of Englishness, the Royal Family, double-decker red buses and the National Health Service.

Heritage interpretation challenges and management issues at film-induced tourism heritage attractions: Case studies of Rosslyn Chapel and Alnwick Castle

Although previous research has widely acknowledged the phenomenon of film-induced tourism, there is a paucity of research in relation to management of film-induced tourism at built heritage sites. This research, underpinned by a constructivist paradigm, draws on three distinct fields of study – heritage tourism management, film-induced tourism and heritage interpretation – in order to provide a contribution to the heritage management field and address this particular gap in knowledge. Relying on the method of semi-structured interviews with managers, guides and visitors at Rosslyn Chapel (RC) and Alnwick Castle (AC), this thesis provides a rich understanding of how heritage interpretation can address a range of management challenges at heritage sites where film-induced tourism has occurred. These heritage visitor attractions (HVAs) were specifically selected as case studies as they have played different roles in media products. Rosslyn Chapel (RC) was an actual place named in The Da Vinci Code (TDVC) book and then film, whereas Alnwick Castle (AC) served as a backdrop for the first two Harry Potter (HP) films. Findings of this research include a range of management challenges at both RC and AC such as an increase in visitor numbers; seasonality issues; changes in visitor profile; revenue generation concerns; conservation, access, and visitor experience; and the complex relationship between heritage management and tourism activities. The findings also reveal film-induced tourism’s implications for heritage interpretation such as the various visitors’ expectations for heritage interpretation, changes to heritage interpretation as a result of film-induced tourism, and issues with commodification. These findings also demonstrate that film-induced tourism to some extent influenced visitors’ preferences for heritage interpretation, though visitors’ preferences differed from one to another. This thesis argues that, in the context of film-induced tourism at HVAs, as evident from the two case studies considered, heritage interpretation can be a valuable management tool and can also play a significant role in the quality of the visitors’ experience.

In danger of jammed minds: A deconstructive discourse analysis of the criteria for early onset schizophrenia and imagination in children's literature

The purpose of this research is to expose and complicate those discourses of childhood imagination as demonstrated in the diagnostic criteria for early onset schizophrenia by using an antipsychiatry perspective. This will be done by evaluating those discourses alongside those found in popular children’s literature, specifically, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, Bridge to Terabithia, and A Wrinkle in Time. Once uncovered, the underlying power discourses were then exposed. This research will then employ a minor reading as provided by Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) approach to minor literature to demonstrate the ways in which the child can subvert those dominant discourses. The potential of literature is evaluated for its ability to provide alternative modes of experience and lines of flight for the child subjected to the diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia.

Érase una vez que era.

Se pretende fomentar en los pequeños el gusto por la lectura a través de los cuentos y lograr que los niños y niñas valoren los libros. Otros objetivos son potenciar el proceso de socialización de los niños mediante la relación con las familias de otros y con sus compañeros de la escuela; poner al alcance de los alumnos libros y cuentos de diversos formatos para que puedan hacer uso de ellos de forma independiente; y descubrir diferentes maneras de contar cuentos al público infantil. La metodología empleada es abierta, flexible, participativa, globalizadora, integradora e individualizada. Las actividades consisten en cuentacuentos, exposiciones de cuentos, libros viajeros, ilustraciones de cuentos, escribir historias para libros de imágenes; y talleres con los padres que giran en torno a Harry Potter, Blancanieves y los siete enanitos, Los Lunnis, Don Quijote de la Mancha, Cenicienta o La bella durmiente.

Mundos imaginarios y realidad virtual videojuegos en las aulas.

Se analiza cómo pueden ser introducidos los juegos de aventura y estrategia en el aula, las posibilidades y características que cada uno de ellos ofrece y cómo se pueden utilizar para contribuir a la formación de personas críticas ante los mensajes que generan los medios de comunicación en el siglo XXI. Durante el curso escolar 2006-2007 tuvo lugar el taller 'La realidad virtual de los Sims', en el CP Ciudad de Jaén, con alumnos de 5º de Primaria. También se trabajó en el IES Manuel de Falla durante el curso 2008-2009 con el alumnado de primero de Secundaria donde se desarrolla el taller 'aprender narrativas con Harry Potter'. Se ha trabajado con dos tipos de juegos que permiten crear situaciones de aprendizaje en las aulas: Los Sims 2 Mascotas, definido como un juego de simulación social; y Harry Potter y la Orden del Fenix, centrado en las aventuras. Los resultados muestran que no todos los videojuegos ofrecen las mismas posibilidades de aprendizaje en el aula. Los videojuegos poseen características comunes como las reglas o la presencia de mundos imaginarios, pero cada uno de ellos permite al profesor el desarrollo de diferentes tareas. Desde la perspectiva del alumno se observa cómo la presencia de un entorno virtual favorece la creación de nuevas identidades, a veces reales, otras imaginarias, convirtiendo al personaje del juego en transmisor de valores y comportamientos. La forma de actuar en el videojuego, a su vez, está limitada por las acciones y las narrativas que éste permite. De esta forma los alumnos también descubren que los videojuegos poseen una mecánica interna que deben aprender a través de la resolución de problemas. Estas decisiones son las que crean la trama del juego y posibilitan la creación de textos por parte de los alumnos describiendo sus acciones.

Diario de magos y brujas: un testimonio sobre la LIJ y la magia.

La autora analiza algunos de los componentes básicos de la saga de Harry Potter para explicar su éxito en la literatura infantil y juvenil. Tras comprobar su repercursión en niños y adolescentes, se pueden encontrar interesantes muestras que aprovechan el filón de la magia, como la revista 'Diario de los magos y brujas'. El artículo analiza los últimos números de esta publicación, sobre todo las entregas 18-21, para extraer material aprovechable sobre hábitos lectores.

Superventas, modas de lectura e ideología.

Los llamados 'bestsellers' son obras que, por el mero hecho de alcanzar una gran difusión en muy poco tiempo, se consideran de escasa calidad literaria. Por ello, las obras de ficción popular que alcanzan tales niveles de difusión requieren un análisis crítico. Se aborda dicho análisis desde la perspectiva de los estudios de cultura popular considerando los factores y condiciones de éxito de los 'bestsellers', analizándose dos ejemplos que se han convertido en grandes éxitos de ventas: 'Harry Potter' y 'El código da Vinci'.

Los proyectos telemáticos en los centros educativos.

El artículo forma parte de una sección de la revista dedicada a innovación educativa, en este número, al aprendizaje colaborativo a través de la Red.

Fan Culture as an Informal Learning Environment : Presentation of a NGL project

Fan culture is a subculture that has developed explosively on the internet over the last decades. Fans are creating their own films, translations, fiction, fan art, blogs, role play and also various forms that are all based on familiar popular culture creations like TV-series, bestsellers, anime, manga stories and games. In our project, we analyze two of these subculture genres, fan fiction and scanlation. Amateurs, and sometimes professional writers, create new stories by adapting and developing existing storylines and characters from the original. In this way, a "network" of texts occurs, and writers step into an intertextual dialogue with established writers such as JK Rowling (Harry Potter) and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight). Literary reception and creation then merge into a rich reciprocal creative activity which includes comments and feedback from the participators in the community. The critical attitude of the fans regarding quality and the frustration at waiting for the official translation of manga books led to the development of scanlation, which is an amateur translation of manga distributed on the internet.  Today, young internet users get involved in conceptual discussions of intertextuality and narrative structures through fan activity. In the case of scanlation, the scanlators practice the skills and techniques of translating in an informal environment. This phenomenon of participatory culture has been observed by scholars and it is concluded that they contribute to the development of a student’s literacy and foreign language skills. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the fandom related to Japanese cultural products such as manga, anime and videogames is one of the strong motives for foreign students to start learning Japanese. This is something to take into pedagogical consideration when we develop web-based courses. Fan fiction and fan culture make it ​​possible to have an intensive transcultural dialogue between participators throughout the world and is of great interest when studying the interaction between formal and informal learning that puts the student in focus