Academic literature on the topic 'Characterization of characters'

This thesis deals with the cognitive process of cinematic character construal and explores the question of how narrative film viewers presumably understand characters and make impressions about them as a result of the interplay of different types of schema. Based on the cognitive concept of schema (Barlett [1932] 1995), Speech Act Theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) and cognitivist film theory (Bordwell,1985), a cognitive framework, which is inscribed within the cognitive stylistics theories and analytical frameworks, is proposed for character impression formation. The model posits that viewers understand characters in terms of the interactions between three planes of background knowledge: 1. Social knowledge (knowledge of real-life people, social roles, and interpersonal relations), 2. Narrative film knowledge (knowledge of film narrative, style and techniques), 3. Pragmalinguistic knowledge (knowledge of linguistic and pragmatic norms. The focus of the linguistic plane is on Speech Act Theory). This research argues that film draws on medium-specific, multimodal devices to tell the story and create characters. With regard to the multimodality of film discourse, this thesis suggests a toolkit for character creation and comprehension. The three planes of social, film and pragmalinguistic schemas and also the marked aspects of the suggested cinematic character creation toolkit are all applied to three art auteur films: The Piano Teacher (2001), Autumn Sonata (1987), and Ten (2001), whose comprehension is challenging for viewers Pragmalinguistic because of their deviations from the conventional norms of Hollywood cinema in terms of narrative, characterization, cinematic style and techniques. Methodologically, this analysis is informed by multimodal analysis (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996), and multimodal transcription (Baldry and Thibault, 2006) in particular, which consider text as an ensemble of different communication modes all of which contribute to meaningmaking. Thus, this analysis presents a detailed account of viewers' plausible understanding trajectory, and an explanation of linguistic and visual/cinematic strategies to narrative (as the context in which characters are created and developed), and particularly character creation within the scope of the films mentioned above.

This investigation is about characterization in the Fourth Gospel as it relates to the "disciple"---the mysterious, anonymous figure that pervades the structure of allusions in this narrative. The question as to who this character is and what s/he does in this gospel text has both attracted and intrigued generations of biblical scholars.<br>The first part of the investigation examines divergent views of premodern, modern and reader-oriented criticism with regard to the "disciple's" identity and function, highlighting the respectively allegorical, historical and reader-oriented understanding of his/her character as proposed by these three critical approaches.<br>The second part of the investigation re-examines the question with a novel approach. The approach involves a detailed analysis of the structure of allusions. This analysis concludes that the allusions constitute a set of interactive linguistic phenomena which are meant to shed light on the anonymous figure within them. On the basis of this finding, the investigation proposes a new understanding of the structure of allusions and of the question of identity and function that it raises.

Characters have long been studied as narratological element and how they function in relation to their plots. Characters are also studied on basis of their actions, trans-medial aspects, archetypes, knowledge, their interrelation to each other and they are also studied how the readers relate to them. In my essay, I will explore how the character’s distinctive quality from other characters creates polarity between the characters and also, their relations to each other helps to define identity construction of a character. To demonstrate my argument, I will study the characters in two mediums that are the graphic novel American Born Chinese and the film Ghost World. The essay will first describe the assigned traits to each character, how they differ from each other and how their interrelation within characters helps to construct character’s identity in the narrative. Both the film and the graphic novel have in common their coming-of-age narrative which is be used to study different characters and their contribution in development of protagonist’s identity. In addition to that, the essay will further explore the visual narrative of both medium to see how panels aid the identity construction of the characters.

Thesis (MSc. (Chemistry)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013<br>Drinkable water is water that is safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. World-wide, insufficient access to portable water and use of sources contaminated with disease vectors, pathogens, and unacceptable levels of toxins is a huge problem. The use of such water for drinking and food preparation leads to the widespread of acute and chronic illnesses. This is a major cause of death and misery in many undeveloped countries. Reduction of waterborne diseases is a major public health goal in developing countries. Nanotechnology offers the possibility of an efficient removal of pollutants and microorganisms from water. Essentially, three classes of nanoscale materials were investigated as functional materials for water purification in this study. Silver nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes and beta ()-cyclodextrin polymers were synthesised and characterised specifically for purification of water samples. β-cyclodextrin is soluble in both water and other aqueous media. In order to render cyclodextrins insoluble, they were converted into highly cross-linked polymers, by polymerisation with a bifunctional linker, hexamethylene diisocyanate. Cyclodextrins were functionalised and synthesised with either the allyl or the benzoyl group. Characterisation with fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer confirmed the functionalisation process. Thereafter the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed the polymers’ morphology to be spongy, and capable of absorbing contaminants. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were treated with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acid in order to introduce the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. These were characterised by SEM, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR spectroscopy to confirm the functionalisation process. Silver nanoparticles were synthesised from sodium citrate and silver nitrate, using sodium dodecyl sulphate as a surfactant. Their characterisation was done by SEM, energy dispersive X ray (EDX) spectroscopy, TEM, UV/Vis spectroscopy and XRD to confirm a face centred cubic structure with an estimated crystallite size ranging from 50 to 100 nm.β-cyclodextrin polymers, functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticle-doped MWCNTs/cyclodextrin composites were characterised by SEM, TEM, XRD, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and EDX. Analysis of the phenolic compound, 4-hydroxynitrobenzene in water, using these nanocomposites, demonstrated good capabilities of removing organic contaminants from water samples as indicated by their high absorption efficiencies of the contaminants. The synthesised metal-organic composites were tested for their effectiveness in removing organic contaminants as well as for eliminating Escherichia coli bacteria from water. The synthesised composites presented up to 97% absorption efficiency of organic contaminants and up to 100% inactivation of the bacteria. There was complete destruction of bacteria from the water analysed at various times and varying concentrations. After a long exposure of the nanocomposites to E. coli, pits were noticeable on the external morphology of the bacteria, thus suggesting that the nanocomposites are bactericidal. The bacterial activity increased with temperature,when studied between 10 oC and 30 oC.