Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm)
Language
Español
Description
Jacinto Benavente-a member of the Generation of '98, the winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize for Literature, and one of the most influential Spanish dramatists of the entire 20th century-penned more than 170 plays. This program tells the story of Benavente's life and the turbulent times in which he lived as it sheds light on aspects of his writing. A critic of the bourgeois class, he nonetheless counted its members among his most loyal supporters. Readings...
Language
Español
Description
After the death of Franco and during the transition to a parliamentary monarchy, Spain's cultural life blossomed once again. In this environment, the poetry movement known as "the other sentimentality"-named after the first book of Javier Egea and Luis Garcia Montero-was born, a movement known for its transformation of the personal experience into a collective one so that any reader might identify with the feelings evoked. This program discusses that...
Language
Español
Description
A bridge that brings to mind a harp. A transportation hub reminiscent of a dove. Winner of the IAI Gold Medal as well as the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts, Santiago Calatrava is celebrated for harmoniously combining sculptural architectural elements with rigid principles of engineering. This program showcases some of Calatrava's most popular projects as it tracks the career of an architect/engineer who is also a skilled artist.
Language
English
Description
This program explores the process approach to writing instruction, asserting that the act of writing is more than simply the completion of a product; it is a complex, creative, and unpredictable progression of ideas and strategies. With commentary from veteran writing instructors - including Dr. Lois Matz Rosen, author of Within and Beyond the Writing Process in the Secondary English Classroom, and Michael Steinberg, author of The Writer's Way: A...
Language
English
Description
The Era of Revolution severed political ties between Latin America and the Old World-but cultural independence was another matter. This program explains how the region's literature began to come into its own, relying on models and themes imported from Spain while establishing a dialogue with other literary traditions and aesthetic movements. Through the work of Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi, Esteban Echeverria, Bartolome Hidalgo, Mariano Melga,...
Language
Español
Description
The Era of Revolution severed political ties between Latin America and the Old World-but cultural independence was another matter. This program explains how the region's literature began to come into its own, relying on models and themes imported from Spain while establishing a dialogue with other literary traditions and aesthetic movements. Through the work of Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi, Esteban Echeverria, Bartolome Hidalgo, Mariano Melga,...
Language
English
Description
In Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, the time is 1901 and the place is America's collective memory. But Thornton Wilder's Our Town is not the sentimental nostalgia piece most people perceive. This program hosted by Eli Wallach offers wide-ranging and extraordinarily deep insights into the play from those who arguably know it best: Our Town alumni who over the years have brought the play to life on stage and screen. Interviews with Paul Newman (Stage...
Language
English
Description
Does giving a typical business presentation put a person in mortal danger? Of course not, but statistics suggest that many people dread public speaking more than they fear death. This program shows students ways to overcome that kind of paralysis and transform it into positive energy. These include thorough preparation (from learning the wants and needs of the audience to scoping out the location at which the speech will take place) as well as starting...
Language
Español
Description
By the 1960s, Latin America's avant-garde movements had matured into a range of literary styles that were firmly entrenched in the cultural landscape. At the same time, there emerged a new and distinctive accent to Latin American literature that was no less authentic than its forebears. This program surveys the artistic phenomenon, manifested most notably in magical realism, that came to be known as the Latin American Boom. Examining the role of journalism...
Language
English
Description
After the horrors of World War I, Latin American writing turned away from what many saw as ornamental and frivolous experimentation. This program studies the so-called "criticism of Modernismo within Modernismo" in which language reached back to a simpler, more intimate, less urban-centered framework. Investigating the work of several poets and authors of the period-including Enrique Gonzalez Martinez, Julio Herrera y Reissig, Maria Eugenia Vaz, Leopoldo...
Language
Español
Description
After the horrors of World War I, Latin American writing turned away from what many saw as ornamental and frivolous experimentation. This program studies the so-called "criticism of Modernismo within Modernismo" in which language reached back to a simpler, more intimate, less urban-centered framework. Investigating the work of several poets and authors of the period-including Enrique Gonzalez Martinez, Julio Herrera y Reissig, Maria Eugenia Vaz, Leopoldo...
Language
English
Description
This program discusses the development, organization, and functions of the nervous system and the input organs that stimulate it. Beginning with an introductory overview of neural anatomy, the video outlines the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems and the processes of sensation, transduction, and perception. In addition, the senses of vision, hearing, taste, smell, and equilibrium are analyzed, as well as sensitivities to temperature,...
Language
English
Description
Maximize your knowledge and minimize your risk! That's the primary message of this program, an informative introduction to the chemistry laboratory that shows high school and first-year college students precisely how to conduct themselves in a safe and professional manner. Familiarity with the properties and safe handling of all materials used in the lab is stressed, including how to dispose of hazardous waste, and the proper use of safety gear and...
14) Karl Marx
Language
English
Description
In the fullness of time, his failings have become obvious. Yet, even after the collapse of global Communism, Karl Marx stands undiminished as one of history's most influential thinkers. This program chronicles Marx's life and intellectual development, including the publication and impact of his major writings. Beginning with his birth and religiously confused childhood in Prussia, the video traces Marx's student years and his early affinity for Hegel,...
15) After the boom
Language
English
Description
As the 1970s progressed, the political climate in Latin America became increasingly dark, with no end in sight to the proliferation of brutal dictatorships. This program analyzes the cultural impact of those developments and the tensions which gave Latin American literature of the period its energy and resonance. With insight into the challenges of writing in the face of tyranny, the program explores the work of authors from the Southern Cone region...
Language
English
Description
Unified by the Portuguese language, the literature of Brazil represents the cultural synthesis of three distinct influences: indigenous peoples, European emigres, and Africans brought to the New World as slaves. This program reflects on those influences as it examines the first five centuries of recorded Brazilian writing. With an overview of ancient folklore and verse, the program highlights connections between Brazilian and Baroque traditions; it...
Language
Español
Description
Unified by the Portuguese language, the literature of Brazil represents the cultural synthesis of three distinct influences: indigenous peoples, European emigres, and Africans brought to the New World as slaves. This program reflects on those influences as it examines the first five centuries of recorded Brazilian writing. With an overview of ancient folklore and verse, the program highlights connections between Brazilian and Baroque traditions; it...
Language
English
Description
Originating in Spain, the picaresque novel abandoned idealized literary approaches and exposed the harshness of reality and human nature. This program presents the history of the narrative art form, tracing its development through Mateo Aleman, Cervantes, and Defoe, all the way to Kerouac and subsequent writers. Beginning with the anonymous publication of The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes, the video analyzes examples of fictional outsiders struggling...
Language
English
Description
This program examines how the human immune system defends the body against disease-causing invaders-and how in some cases its antigen-fighting capabilities can be turned against the bodily cells it protects. Topics include the elements of the immune system, passive barrier defenses and nonspecific reactive responses, the humoral immune response and its associated antibodies, and the process of cell-mediated immunity. The program also addresses the...
20) Electric current
Language
English
Description
This program explores how electric energy became an essential tool with the advent of electricity storage, allowing the flow of current to do useful work. Conductors and insulators, voltage, and current are defined and examined, using a water flow model to help ensure understanding. The difference between electron flow and current flow models is explained, and the nature of direct and alternating current (both one- and two-phase) is developed. Specific...