Clinical Health Psychology

Todd Haynes's conundrum-like film Safe (1995) handles political and social issues such as racism and femininity via a multi-dimensional perspective although the film does not appear to impose any kind of ideology. The film embraces an unusual combination of genres with which the audience witnesses a body horror where the protagonist catches a mysterious disease that distorts her body in an unstoppable, inevitable pattern, and a melodrama that emerges from the typical use of mise-en-scène (Elsaesser, 1972) although Haynes “reworks” the genre (Doane, 2004) . In this essay a social and political examination of the film, Safe will be held with a slightly more focus on the matters and transformations of identity. The cinematographic technique of Haynes bears a crucial functioning in the plot while interpreting the symbols such as a mirror and a black couch. Therefore the adoption of a cinephilic approach in terms of the use of genre will further contribute to the understanding and commentary of the film.

This paper is in an attempt to illustrate the "how" and "what" interaction in Tom Tykwer’s Lola Rennt (1998). The basic concepts to be discussed are representation of time, life as a game, the sense of power and danger, determinism and the will to choose. The analysis of these topics will be presented through a filmic understanding, mainly with regard to mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound design.

In his story "A Hunger Artist", Franz Kafka creates a different sense of art and the picture he portrays lets the reader perceive a yearning for recognition while ironically the protagonist was actually in search of authenticity. The distinction between recognition and authenticity with regard to the story is open to debate in terms of the existance of society and understanding of art/artist. Following Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri's claim that "The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering." , one may feel a need to conclude that Kafka's last character, the Hunger Artist, is authentic but it would be essential to pay a greater attention to the story for a better analysis through getting familiar to the contradiction between recognition and authenticity touching to the characteristics of the Hunger Artist and the Panther.

Examining a product of art with regard to the era it was created in would lead one to the most illuminating clues as motives, tensions and reflections for an interpretation in depth. Thus corresponding to the Victorian Era, Frankenstein (1818), which was written by Mary Shelley in England, embraces a range of historical, philosophical and cultural content. One content could be considered to emphasize the ideas of Enlightenment Era which sets up one of the basic narratives of the book: men’s desire to “create” and the power of controlling “the death” which are directly associated with the secularization of science (Dupre, 2004). The other content would possess the identical basis where Freud had formed his ideas about two main instincts, aggression and sexuality, from a psychoanalytic perspective. This paper will attempt to reveal the links between the ideas of Enlightenment Age and Freud’s psychoanalytic approach while interpreting the symbols and motives in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, basically giving references to three important critiques in a casebook of Frankenstein edited by Fred Botting (1995): What is a Monster? (According to Frankenstein) by Peter Brooks, Frankenstein with Kant: A Theory of Monstrosity or the Monstrosity of Theory by Barbara Claire Freeman, and Otherness in Frankenstein: The Confinement/Autonomy of Fabrication by Jerrold E. Hogle.

Comparing and contrasting two films basing their stories on mother- son incest, it becomes inevitable to skip Freud’s controversial theory suggesting Oedipus Complex in which the son starts to grow a sexual desire towards his mother during the phallic stage and wants to get rid of the father to possess mother. Since the mother becomes the love object of the son, the father becomes the object of hatred and jealousy for being the one to possess the mother. In this situation, the son learns to repress his hatred towards the father because he is not capable of getting rid of him. Freud theorized that overcoming Oedipus Complex is the key of building an efficient superego that allows us to lead a “morally appropriate” life while we repress our socially unacceptable desires (Jakovljiv & Matacic, 2005). Adapted from Georges Bataille’s novel, Christophe Honoré pictures the story of a young religious boy- Pierre’s (Louis Garrel) growing sexual desire and love for his promiscuous and lunatic mother Helene (Isabelle Huppert) in Ma Mére (2004). Similarly, Tom Kalin portrays an incest relationship in Savage Grace (2007) between the forsaken and unconventional mother Barbra Daly Baekeland (Julian Moore) and her bisexual son Antony (Eddie Redmayne), based on a true story happened during 1960’s. Although the films share common relationship dynamics, the representations differ with regard to the era and social issues as well as the directors’ cinematographic styles. The taboo of mother- son incest emerges from the combination of Oedipus Complex, abnormal maternity and the pursuit of desire and acceptance of the loved one in both films.

Art as an expression has been the bearer of several reflections and representations of people’s thoughts and feelings about any kind of defined or undefined area. As the graffiti/street artist Bronco claims “You can’t have both feet on the ground and kick ass at the same time”, artists who are bugged by the issues in politics or society gave rise to protest art in which they announce their discomfort with an implicit or explicit invitation to question what’s going on as well as a warning about the situation. Likewise, ongoing effects of 1980 coup d’etat and rising conformity in Turkey have deserved a great deal of critique where the protest art speaks itself through a reformist artist: Erinç Seymen. Considering his works including Performance for a Poem (2006) and Alliance (2009), the power of art as a critique of norms and a query of notions becomes inevitably visible in the eye of the beholder. This essay is in an attempt to commentate on one of his works, namely, Patriot (2009) with regard to the issues of masculinity, militarism, nationalism and homoeroticism. Main questions I will be asking for while analyzing the picture are pointed at the political/social stand of homosexuality as well as hegemonic categories of sex, standards of military, and the link between nationalism and land.

Finding Nemo (2003) reveals the story of a single-father fish, Marlin who needs to have a trip through the dangerous sites of the ocean in order to save his son Nemo who was caught by people, and Nemo’s struggle to survive and reach back to his dad. At the beginning of his journey, Marlin meets a fish named Dory, with severe memory problems who will be his constant travel companion. This paper mainly aims to elaborate on Dory’s memory deficit with regard to the memory literature, and further reveal the memory indications depicted among the narrative.

Following  Adrienne Rich’s claim that “The serious revolutionary, like the serious artist, can't afford to lead a sentimental or self-deceiving life.” , one may find the chance to have a look at the perished lives of two extraordinary singers with regard to the revolution air of their time and space. Having breathed the air of 1960’s, one of  these contemporaneous singers was born in Cuba and witnessed the Cuban revolution while the other was having a stand in a period of revolution and change in America. In this paper, a compare and contrast between Janis Joplin (1943-1970) and La Lupe (1936-1992) who have been very controversial figures of their time in terms of identification of gender and an insight of the aesthetics of emotional suffering and intense pain (Knights,2001) will be held with regard to their genres: blues and bolero.

Following Steven Van Wagoner’s claim that “Gender norms and stereotypes are defined by parents and family,peers,and other significant and proximal social influences…” one can argue that construction of individuals is prominently affected by society. Turkish society like any other society has these opressions in the form of social norms and traditions, and taking social figures such as singers as important and effective role models, it surely will be in a manner of opressing these figures to fit them into its own order. In this paper, a compare and contrast between Zeki Müren (1931-1996)  and Bülent Ersoy (1952-) who have been Turkey’s two of the most famous, seemingly rebellious to patriarchal system singers will be held in terms of their art careers, sexual orientations with regard to political conditions and social pressure of their era.

Alongside with the technological improvements in science, people progressively understand the mystery of the most important unit of genetic information: DNA. In order to cure diseases, genetic engineers have been trying to find the right medicines by conducting experiments on artificial selection, transformation and regeneration.  Scientists even managed to create copies of DNA fragments, a process called “cloning”  and in 1996 there happened to be the first copy of a living organism, the sheep Dolly. This whole process of creation in science could be considered as the sign of a God-like power. However, experiments on genes gave rise to several fears of “uncanny” as can be observed in different conspiracy website forums as well as in the broad field of science-fiction films. As Magalhães and Dinello stated, science has been evolving so rapidly that the postmodern society started to shelter the anxieties of being replaced by a copy, or automation (Dinello, 2005; Magalhães, 1997). Vincenzo Natalie’s film Splice (2009) is a reflection of these anxieties along with some other tensions of postmodern society. The dark and gloomy tone of the opening music in the film alerts the audience for the forthcoming technophobia though the film seems to embrace a lovely family portrayal through the middle. This technophobic stand of the film derives from the mixture of genres, science-fiction and horror. This paper is in an attempt to review the film, Splice from a postmodern perspective and mainly its two outcomes, feminism and interpretations of Freudian sexuality with regard to the issues of “otherness” and “identity”.

The multi-dimensional movements in societies as a result of cultural, political, artistic or technological progress and changes reflect themselves in the products of their era. Although there is not a sharp transition in question from one era to another, one would better be able to see the marks of Modernism and Postmodernism through comparing their products. Likewise, one of the most primitive feeling of humans, fear of “the other”, has not vanished, yet its representation has changed shape in a broad field of formation as well as in the body of science-fiction film. This paper attempts to reveal similarities and differences between two science-fiction films, on the basis of a modernist versus postmodernist approach, with a slightly more emphasis on postmodernism. Both of these films are adaptations of a novel by Jack Finney, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, first published in 1954. While the first adaptation (1956) which was directed by Don Siegel reflects a clear impression of Cold War anxieties and tension between USA and Russia (Booker, 2006), other adaptation, The Invasion (2006), directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, feeds from political conflict across the world and the crash between humanity and “being human” in the light of civilization (Wloszczyna, 2006.). Another overt difference in these films can be seen through the construction of gender. Mainly, while the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) holds a male actor for protagonist (performed by Kevin McCarthy), The Invasion as the first time among the four adaptations holds a female for the representation of protagonist (performed by Nicole Kidman). The periodical differences created by the effects of modernism and postmodernism reciprocally are going to be further discussed through political conditions and the issue of sex versus gender.

1- Different types of teleworking and their organizational outcomes
2- Reasons of the increasing tendency towards teleworking both for employees and organizations
3- Definition and function of flexibility with regard to teleworking
4- Effects of teleworking on employee performance in line with job satisfaction, work-family life balance (WFL) and organizational competition
5- Perceived advantages and disadvantages of teleworking both for employees and organizations
6- Ways to improve employee performance and telework management strategies.