Personhood, Selfhood, and Virtual Identity - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 864 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/10/10 Did you like this example? Introduction Computer ethics deal with placement of value on the acts while considering whether it is bad or good. Ion every society some factors are deemed to be ethical as well as those that are termed to be non-ethical. Consensus makes agreement to ensure that the moral rules are met. There are commandments of using a computer such as one should not harm other people using a computer as well as you should not use a computer to steal among others.   Personhood Through computing, it will be easy to understand the role of technology in the moral responsibility. The human activities currently cannot be explained without making reference to the technological aspects which have the ability to affect the moral liability of the people. The way people can be able to communicate and relate to each other can be determined by the personhood that is created by the technology. The technological artifacts are very paramount in shaping the character of the person in the global village. The human beings can be held responsible for the changes that are taking place in the technologies. The dangers that can be brought about the technological errors can be answered by the human beings. The technology as well is creating a different kind of people since they are turning into the machine like creatures. The people have developed a high reliance on the computers, and most their duties are surrounded by the computer actions. In addition to this, the technology c reates unique individuals and determine the way they can make decisions as well as how ready they are to act. A technological personhood is established due to the advancement in the technological know-how. The process of automation can help to centralize and control the ability of the human beings to make decisions (Haynes 1999, 45). In addition to these, according to (Dennet Humphrey 1991,150), it is vital to creating some useful fiction. In this case, the human character needs to modify to be something like the head of the mind and avoid being a ghost-like creature. An individual character should, therefore, be presentable to the whole world and himself as well others. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Personhood, Selfhood, and Virtual Identity" essay for you Create order Selfhood The internet age does not explicitly explain the nature of self in the web age. Social constructionism as used in technology helps to explain selfhood. Selfhood according to Stone and Poster is nothing natural, but it is composed of the traditional practices that are originating from the communicative acts. According to Stone, the body has a duty in the realm of techno-social in addition to the physical substrate. Due to technology, the body can no longer limit the subject’s position. Communications are there to extend the ability of the nervous system globally to the point that it can be able to unwrap the noosphere (Poster 1990, 15). Apart from the understanding of the self in the broad evolutionary and biological perspective there is need to recognize that our bodies are in connection to the self-identity due to the notions of individual character. Trust as well as the emotions are also in a position to determine an individual selfhood. According to (Dennet 1984, 90), the h uman beings are in a position to create themselves while developing better values while interacting with the computers. In this case, therefore there will be the need for the ordinary course of development to be able to create unity programs for narrative gravity. Virtual identity According to Howard communities that are computer-mediated can be able to change the practices of the individuals living within them.   As described by (Rheingold 1993, 147), it will be very hard for computerized communities to identify their identity. This is because the computers will create a lot of westernization and the people will be moving towards global connection and leaving behind their identity. The thoughts perceptions in addition to personalities of the individuals will be affected by computer-mediated communication.   MUDs describe the way the virtual communities affect the thoughts, psyche, and feelings of the people living within them. They are paramount to help in the identification of programs that encourage self-presentation flexibility. However, the MUD is the most disastrous of all virtual societies. Communication technologies have an impact the life of the human beings since they can saturate them with the lack of foundations, the creation of fragmentary sel f as well as the loss of authentic self-identity. The individuals will be able to experience to encounter infinite multiplicity. A unique social space will be created by the virtual age. In this case, the technology is currently observed as natural as well as being invisible. A technosocial community has been set up by an increase in the use of computers. This kind of new space created have been able to develop new identities among the human beings as well as presence and agency. There is a close connection between the virtual character and the computers networks not forgetting the cyberspace. Conclusion Computer ethics is part of the practical philosophy that is concerned with how the professionals using the computers make proper decisions of dignity and social conduct. Computers have been able to change how human beings interact with each other. Failure to observe the universal morality will make persons worst creatures due to westernization.

Essay on Currency What is Exchange Rate - 701 Words

Exchange rate represents the external value of a currency. Changes in exchange rates may affect the relative position of a country in the international trade. Politicians and economists concern about exchange rate variability for lots of reasons, among which that the exchange rate variability discourages trade comes first. However, a large empirical literature on this issue does not confirm a significant effect of exchange rate on the volume of trade [1]. Instead other variables such as employment should be much more important from a practical point of view, for it is closely related to people’s livelihood. With Chinas deepening Opening Up and economic restructure adjustment and the continuous appreciation of RMB in recent years, the†¦show more content†¦The second channel points to the influence of the real effective exchange rate on the economic growth rate and on the rate of job creation in the long run. Through the last channel, the real effective exchange rate affects employment by influencing the labor intensity of industries. Li Tiandong and Jiang Boke (2006) point out that the relationship between exchange rate and employment depends on the coaction of three mechanisms: (1) the effect of exchange rate changes on aggregate demand; (2) the effect of exchange rate changes on prices of capital goods; (3) the substitution effect of exchange rate changes on the relationship between physical and human capital.[4] 1.2.2 Review of empirical researches Many other academics have attempted to do empirical studies to confirm that there is really a force that exchange rate has driving the (un-) employment level to correspond to the changes. Starting from the â€Å"option value of waiting† to create a job and taking the bargaining position of workers, reservation wage into account, Belk and Gros (2002) find the link between exchange variability and employment stronger in most European countries than in the US. [4]From the industry point of view, the impact of exchange rate movements onShow MoreRelatedForeign Exchange Market Essay example786 Words   |  4 Pageschoose can exchange rate system to determine how prices in the home country currency are converted into prices in another country’s currency (every country) †¢ A managed floating exchange rate refers to (an exchange rate that is not pegged, but does not float freely) †¢ A small country with strong economic ties to a larger country should (PEG ((HARD OR SOFT)) THEIR EXCHANGE RATE TO THE LARGER COUNTRY’S CURRENCY) †¢ An increase in the real exchange rate (real depreciation of domestic currency) will resultRead MoreIntroduction Of The Foreign Exchange Market Essay1325 Words   |  6 PagesForeign Exchange Market As the leading financial market in the world, the Foreign Exchange Market consists of several types of financial institutions, such as, investors, such as, central banks, brokers, and investment firms. 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AIFS  receives most of its currencies in  American dollarsRead MoreForeign Exchange Currency Risks And Accounting Issues Faced By Mncs973 Words   |  4 Pagesvarious risks faced by MNCs. One of the risks is the financial risk involved with the foreign currency exchange markets. Many of the MNCs deals with more than one national currency and hence the changes in the foreign currency exchange rate can have an adverse effect on the Corporation’s profits. This paper will examine the various foreign exchange currency risks and accounting issue faced by MNCs and what they can do to manage these risks. It will also examine the impact of the Eurozone in reducingRead MoreThe Uk Government Should Join The Euro1456 Words   |  6 Pagesdiscussing and evaluating the exchange rate theory, the UK’s entry and withdrawal of Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM 1) and which elements are inclu ded in the European Monetary System (EMS). The choice for the European Union to adopt a single currency for the European Community was first introduced in the 1970 Werner Report. This idea was then developed into the European Monetary System (EMS). The Maastricht Treaty (1992) made EMU part of EU law and set out a plan for a single currency to be established by

Experimental Hypnosis Free Essays

Hypnosis is defined as â€Å"A trancelike state resembling sleep, usually induced by a therapist by focusing a subject’s attention, that heightens the subject’s receptivity to suggestion. The uses of hypnosis in medicine and psychology include recovering repressed memories, modifying or eliminating undesirable behavior (such as smoking), and treating certain chronic disorders, such as anxiety† (American Heritage, 2012). Its name comes from the Greek language â€Å"hypnos† meaning sleep. We will write a custom essay sample on Experimental Hypnosis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Hypnosis is a natural state of mind. This state of mind is known as hyper- suggestibility where a subject is more prone to change if guided by the hypnotherapist in the direction of his desire. While in this hyper- suggestible state, the mind has the power to change an association, get rid of old pains or accept new behaviors. The first to start studying the use of hypnosis was Franz Anton Mesmner in 1700, a Swiss medical doctor that noticed that patients with pains responded very well to inductions of sleep, which allowed them to lower their pains. A revision of Mesmer’s theories was made by the English Doctor James Braid. He coined the name hypnosis, and that is why he is regarded as the father of hypnosis. Dr. Braid used hypnosis extensively in his medical practice. Sigmund Freud also used hypnosis and was impressed by the therapeutic potential of hypnosis for neurotic disorders, but his focus on the mysterious element of sexual nature made him abandon it for psychoanalysis, and with the beginning of psychoanalysis the focus on hypnosis started to decline. In 1958 the American Medical Association recognized hypnosis as a legitimate cure in medicine. In May 2001, at the Australian Medical Association, Dr.  K Phelps stated, â€Å"as evidence emerges that some complementary medicines are effective, then it becomes ethically impossible for the medical profession to ignore them† (Cowen, 2004). In this statement she is referring to some alternative medicine practices including hypnosis. The mind is the power behind it all, and hypnosis guides this power to heal mind, body and soul; thus hypnosis is a useful tool to cure mental disorders. Hypnosis should be used more often in psychological treatment because it is an effective, safe and proven tool. Hypnosis was proved to be effective by several Doctors and therapists in the field. It all started with Mesmer and his animal magnetism. He noticed that by passing his hands close to the body to allow the â€Å"magnetic fluid† to flow from his fingertips into the client’s body, he could restore balance and health, and it only took three sessions for a diseased person to heal. People were amazed by how clients would be cured from incurable conditions, but Mesmer clashed with the medical field when a client cured of blindness relapsed. Then he moved to Paris where he practiced magnetism. James Braid was an English surgeon and writer on hypnotism. He is the one that coined the name hypnosis and demonstrated that it was not animal magnetism, but it was just achieved by suggestion. His writings are what led to future research and development of hypnosis and the investigation of what was later called the unconscious mind (E. Hilgard, 1984). Milton Erickson, the founder of Hypnocounseling, was a major influence in practices of counseling and psychotherapy, and his methods are without doubt the fasted growing in the western world in the field of psychotherapy. He was also one of the most prominent founders of neurolinguistic programming (NLP). He was also very influential in the in family and brief systemic therapy model of the Mental Health Research Institute. His work has been so original and creative that he was nicknamed â€Å"Mr. Hypnosis† (Gunnison, H. , 1990). He also was the founder and first president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis, as well as the first editor of its journal. Erickson goal was to give back to their clients their personal power and control over their lives with the use of â€Å"implied directive language.† Instead of saying, â€Å"Sit back in the chair, relax, and listen to my voice†, he would say: â€Å"You can sit back in the chair and you might even relax and listen to my voice. † â€Å"The word can suggests that you have the ability to sit back in your chair and also sets up an implied choice, that ‘you can choose to sit back in the chair, if you want to-or not’† (Gunnison, H. , 1990). â€Å"The use of words such as can, might, could, and possibly makes for communication that remains tentative, open, highly respectful of the client’s world and wishes, and implying client choice and power. IDL exists at the heart of hypnocounseling. † (Gunnison, H. , 1990). His hypnotic language was focused on enabling the clients to believe that they could change, since the root of all people’s problem is that they do not know how to change and they do not think they can change. But Erickson knew that changing is easy; the way to make it happen is for the person to believe they can change and to make a â€Å"choice,† to make the â€Å"decision† to change. Without that permission the mind will always keep the old program because the subconscious mind follows orders and past decisions like a slave. It will not change because one hopes to change or because one wants to change. It only changes when one tells it to change, when one makes that important decision like: I decided to quit smoking; I am doing it today; I decided to let go of all past hurts and to be happy now; I choose to be a success regardless of what others think of me, and so on. In order to enable the client Erickson would use suggestions such as: â€Å"You can begin to change when you choose implies that you have the ability to change and the presupposition denotes, of course, that you will when you choose to. This is an effective strategy for changing perceptions† (Gunnison, H. , 1990). Another of his powerful suggestions is: â€Å"You can now curiously take this time to wonder about different ways to change. Isn’t it exciting to realize that you have the power to choose different ways of being? † (Gunnison, H. , 1990) (The italicized words will be said with a higher or lower tone of voice to emphasize them. Another successful technique is called Reframing. â€Å"Reframing represents the idea that individuals can â€Å"break out of limiting misconceptions to a broader understanding of human possibilities† (Gunnison, H., 1990). A picture will look totally different in a pink frame or in a black frame. In order to accomplish this, Erickson would use techniques like: â€Å"You know I can hear your sadness and loss and at the same time I sense a very deep courage inside of you that you can draw upon. Isn’t it interesting that we can discover strengths we didn’t realize we had during times of travail and pain? † (Gunnison, H. , 1990). Hypnosis is safe. The general belief about hypnosis is that the hypnotist will be in control of the client’s mind while under hypnosis. The truth is that every form of hypnosis is a form of self-hypnosis where the hypnotist just guides the client to let go of the old associations and accept new ones. The heightened concentration created by hypnosis makes resource retrieval and association easier for the client’s Adult and Child. Hypnosis allows the client to effortlessly shift attention to supportive ego states and build strong associations between each of them and offers the resources the Child needs to maintain the re-decision†(Singer, W. B. , 1952). Change is a much easier process under hypnosis, where the mind is more suggestible and open to change than during the wakening state where the mind is protecting itself from change. The way the session works is that the hypnotist tests responsiveness to find out the level of susceptibility with suggestibility techniques. The session starts with the induction technique that allows the client to enter the hypnotic state; deepening techniques are then used to facilitate a deeper state of hypnosis and therefore of susceptibility. While the client is in this deeper state, the hypnotist will use hypnotic suggestions to attempt to create new associations in the client’s mind while allowing old unwanted associations to be removed. There are many things the hypnotist can do while the client is in this state. A very successful technique is the abreaction extinction technique. This technique is very useful for people that had small or big traumas that created a mental or psychosomatic scar. This metaphorical â€Å"scar† is the one responsible, most of the time, for client’s disorders like depression, anxiety, guilt and sabotaging behavior, addictions, and so on. The abreaction happens when the hypnotist asks the subconscious mind to bring up a significant emotional event that hurt and caused the particular issue that the client wants fixed. The subconscious will bring up an image of an event or a memory that created the problem in the first place. The hypnotist can then extinguish the cause and create new associations to replace it. I had a personal experience with this last one where for nine years I suffered from debilitating, atrocious pain cramps from periods. While I was under hypnosis and I was asked for the memory to come up, a memory actually did come up. It was an event that was not that big a deal for me, but as soon as I saw that memory in my mind I thought: I must have done something wrong to deserve this. This was a phrase that continuously I would never even think about having, but my subconscious did. The skilled hypnotist removed that association and two days later I was shopping with no period cramps, something that never happened in the previous nine years. Another technique that is quite a success is the switching technique. In this technique the clients are asked to remember an event where they felt how they would like to feel today. For a person that was happy and then got depressed, or for a person that was successful and then got broke, this is a very useful technique. The reason why is that many people are happy as they grow up; as kids they play, and their parents take care of the bills and protect them from harm, and everything is wonderful. One day, as grown ups, they get a bad experience. The husband dies, they lose their business or their home, somebody steals from them, and the clients start developing mental distortions or disorders or even start suffering from psychosomatic diseases. With this technique the hypnotist can easily re-create the old association in the client’s mind by simply switching the bad association with the old new one. The clients will then be back to the old happy people they wanted to continue to be. At the end the clients are slowly awakened. One of the best and most powerful hypnotic techniques is the post-hypnotic suggestion technique. This was greatly used in the Veterans Administration Hospital, Vancouver, Washington, where there were very few beds available and many requests for them. Therefore the hospital adopted the use of hypnotherapy to speed up the improvement of their patients in order to free beds quickly. Patients were given post-hypnotic suggestions that when they were coming to group meetings they were going to discuss their problems and have a high level of motivational participation allowing their patients to improve faster. (Singer, W. B. , 1952). One of the most amazing post-hypnotic suggestion is the one used to change neuron pathways. For example, people that have addictions have automatic responses to triggers. They smoke after dinner, in the car, after class and so on. They have created a habit. In this case the hypnotist gives a post-hypnotic suggestion to reverse the habit. A good suggestion would be: Every time you finish eating, you just enjoy the flavors in your mouth and even if you think about smoking a cigarette, you can’t, so go back to the things you need to be doing. In this post-hypnotic suggestion the clients will be amazed to see that after dinner they will try to go for the cigarette, but they will refuse it. In some hard cases the suggestion would be: Every time you put a cigarette to your mouth you experience that bad taste in your mouth as if it were puke. Of course the client needs to give permission to this suggestion, but it is very successful and many clients, as soon as they put their cigarette in their mouth, they literally will puke: That is how powerful the suggestion is. Another example of post-hypnotic suggestion is people will experience a bad event which will trigger them to become depressed, and days later they forget about the event, but still feel depressed not knowing why. In these cases the hypnotist gives a post-hypnotic suggestion that every time there is a bad event, they can still feel good and move on. Therefore, clients that are in hard life situations and still are able to handle them with a smile on their face, because the suggestion has been programmed and the mind no longer accepts being sad from outside forces. Another very useful post-hypnotic suggestion is for people that focus on problems. The mind can focus on either negative or positive, either problems or solutions. It can only think one thing at the time; therefore if people think about the problem, the mind would not give them a solution. At the same time, if the person focuses on the negative, the mind would not be able to think of the positive; hence, the person focusing on the negative will start to become depressed because the mind only sees negative. This could be represented in John Milton’s quote, â€Å"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven†. In this case the post-hypnotic suggestion would create an auto response that every time the person starts to think negative or problems, the mind will quickly just focus on solutions, focus on the positive while fixing the problem. The amazing fact is that this is all it takes to cure depression in a few sessions. This is confirmed by many therapists. One of them, Elke Kellis, wrote that the use of hypnosis has been well documented and is highly effective for depression. â€Å"Hypnosis can be useful in deepening and enhancing particular cognitive interventions such as cognitive restructuring, increasing confidence, coping better with life’s challenges, shifting focus from failure to successes, enhancing a sense of control, improving relaxation, and increasing frustration tolerance† (Kellis, E., 2011). Also, Assen Alladin from the University of Calgary Medical School, Alberta, Canada â€Å"advanced six clinical reasons for using hypnosis in treating depression: hypnosis a) amplifies subjective experience; b) serves as a powerful method for interrupting symptomatic patterns; c) facilitates experiential learning; d) helps to bridge and contextualize responses; e) provides different and more flexible models of inner reality and f) helps to establish focus of attention†. (Alladin, A. , 2010). Hypnosis could cure most people’s problems if the medical field would turn to what really works, rather than synthetic chemicals. In order to do that there needs to be a clear goal in the medical field: find the solution for each patient. This requires too much time and money and doctors need to care a great lot about their patients to switch to something more time and money consuming when they can resort to the lazy, cheap, money building â€Å"magic pill†. Therefore hypnosis is still not as widespread as other therapies. It has been disappearing for the same reason home cooking and exercise have been disappearing. Less work is what people will choose first. As Roberto A. Ingram M. D. states: â€Å"If hypnosis was as respected as morphine, it would become a tremendous weapon in the physician’s armamentarium. † (P. G. O’C. , 1998) â€Å"Hypnosis has been receiving increased attention in the medical literature. It has been considered for use in acute pain management along with a variety of disease states† (P. G. O’C. , 1998). The article â€Å"Hypnotic Analgesia Affects the Processing of Painful Stimuli,† published by the Australian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, describes some interesting findings: â€Å"Different brain mechanisms are involved in the processing of painful stimuli under hypnotic analgesia and attentional distraction instructions and support previous research findings that the differentiation of behavioral, subjective and electrophysiological responses may be a result of a dissociation between the processing of sensory information and the cognitive evaluation of that information† (Williams, J.D. , Croft, R. J. , Ferdinand, J. J. , Gruzelier, J. H. , 2011). Hypnosis is a powerful tool in medicine. According to Hammond (2008) hypnosis is so powerful that in the 1800s James Esdaile, an English surgeon stationed in India, did open heart surgery with the sole use of hypnosis as an anesthesia. â€Å"This historic example †¦ provides powerful documentation of the ability of the mind to influence the body†. (Hammond, D. , 2008) Hypnosis is also very effective in the cure of psychosomatic diseases. Many empirical facts prove this, as in the Canadian article â€Å"Treatment of psychosomatic disorders†: â€Å"Many years ago ‘I made wide use of hypnosis for the removal of psychosomatic symptoms ‘by direct suggestion as well as for abreactive purposes. The results obtained in cases of monosymptomatic hysteria were encouraging. In patients with organ neuroses and in those with psychosomatic structural diseases†. (Wittkower, E. , 1964). Hypnotherapy is very successful in curing many diseases, and most of the diseases are psychosomatic (American Medical Association stated that 90% of diseases are indeed psychosomatic). Physicians should do more of it instead of using drugs that have high price tags and terrible side effects. However, it is more profitable and less time consuming to just give a pill that gives the effect the person wants, rather then using time and money to find the source of the problem and eradicate it. In conclusion, hypnosis is the power the heals mind, body and soul. It is a tool that has been researched for years, starting from Messner, a medical doctor in Austria, continuing with with James Braid a surgeon that gave it its name and with Erickson which created many methodologies and suggestions that were highly effective in the cure of mental and physical disorders. Hypnosis gives the therapist the ability to guide the client to remove old negative patterns with the use of abre action extinction techniques and to replace it with positive association that will in the long run allow the client to be who he/she wants to be and also to lower stress which will improve overall health. Hypnosis is a proven tool to let go of addictions and to cure many mental and physical disorders and the world needs to be informed of its powers in order to get back in charge of its health. There is no â€Å"magic pill†; people need to cure themselves with the possible alternative tools that are out there. How to cite Experimental Hypnosis, Papers

Let me infotain you Essay Example For Students

Let me infotain you Essay If you havent been back to Broadway for a while, this is the show to see! Sound like the words of a critic whos dying to see his or her name in the print ads? Not quiteits the sign-off of a TV special put together by WNYW, the Fox affiliate in New York. The line is delivered by reporter Julie Golden standing outside the Martin Beck Theatre on the opening night of Guys and Dolls, while the shows producers read the reviews (live!) behind her on the sidewalk. The program, which won an Emmy in 1992 for best local special, is an example of the growing genre of television-about-theatre. TV specials about the theatre seem to be a New York phenomenonwhere theatre is part of a vital arts economy tied to tourism and the service sectoralthough some have been seen nationwide. The most frequent national disseminator of these backstage peeks is Great Performances, produced for PBS by New Yorks WNET, which in the past year and a half has aired documentaries on the making of Jellys Last Jam and Angels in America as well as Guys and Dolls, and this season hopes to produce one on the West End-to-Lincoln Center import Carousel. In New York, local stations are also finding theatrical productions to be alluring sources of glossy, tailor-made footage, if they can just gain enough access to capture the spirit of a production (or at least its high-profile stars or creators) on film. A handy focus for programs of this nature is the musical recording session, an easily capsulized though not intrinsically thrilling event. Shows on the recordings of Company and the opera-star version of West Side Story manage to get on tape the unrehearsed drama of performers (Elaine Stritch and Jose Carreras, respectively) who were having difficulty putting out, as the studio clock ticked. Great Performances rendition of the Guys and Dolls recording session takes the same approach, though it unfortunately finds little to do besides encouraging the actors to make wisecracks into the camera after weve watched them belt out numbers with cups of coffee in their hands. Its a program, nevertheless, that makes you want to buy the record. WNYWs Backstage on Broadway: Guys and Dolls Opening Night descends to home-movie level when it goes into dressing rooms to record cast members telling us how much they love one another. All the same, the program conveys some of the intricacies of light cu es and scene changes, and draws pertinent parallels between the Broadway of the original 1950 production and the current season. With its dollop of useful information, this is a bouncy 11 oclock news item, expanded to fill out an hourlong report. Hometown boosterism is key to the local stations approach. New York producers, both the theatrical and the TV kind, love to tell you that theatre is good for the city. Its unique to New York, an industry that no one else in the world has, says Bob Woodruff, vice president of program development for WWOR-TV and executive producer of its specials on The Goodbye Girl and Kiss of the Spider Woman. We want to nurture it as much as we can. The equally civic-minded Joachim Blunck, executive producer of WNYWs specials on Guys and Dolls and Tommy, declares, We want Fox 5 to be a force in support of the arts and culture that make New York a world capital. We are putting TVs unique ability to work for New Yorks unique culture. The tone of Foxs programs evidently derives from this rapid-heartbeat style. Documentaries with depth   The genre also accommodates documentaries with a longer view, ones that place a work of theatre in a historical and social context. Two recent programs by Great Performances delve into their material with remarkable depth. Jammin: Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway presents a rich portrait of African-American life, while still providing the regulation Broadway excitement. In the Wings: Angels in America on Broadwayprobably the first of these shows to examine a nonmusicalseems at least as concerned with issues of gay identity and national politics as it is with the play itself. While it does include rehearsal footage and shots of the actors talking about their characters, the documentary is most compelling for its footage of Roy Cohn in 1954, Patrick Buchanan at last years Republican convention, and playwright Tony Kushners on-camera description of how he came out to his parents. This is serious business for the average stagestruck viewer, and even for the plays Broadway producers, one of whom, Benjamin Mordecai, found the program more political than we expected. Not that hes complaining: When Great Performances presents an hour on a play on national television, Mordecai acknowledges, it has tremendous implications for the importance of that play. .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 , .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .postImageUrl , .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 , .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3:hover , .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3:visited , .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3:active { border:0!important; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3:active , .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3 .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ue74af8ebae02bf211e852a4737829ab3:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: 'Blood Brothers' Theatre Review EssayWhether packaged as documentaries or specials, these programs have something in common: Broadway producers love them. After all, they are at least in part (as TV critic John J. OConnor wrote in the New York Times) program-length commercials. What accounts for their current proliferation? TV people (those in local news, anyway) swear they were always interested. This is an opportunity to do something with a little class, says WNORs Bob Woodruff. Weve been fighting for years to do this. But he needed the agreement of producers and theatrical unions, which for a long time was hard to obtain. Producers are now seeing the advantage of cooper ating: Theyre calling us |after specials have run~ to tell us theyre doing markedly different business at the box office, Woodruff says. After the special on Jellys Last Jam aired, the musicals producers called Great Performances to request some footage for a new commercial. Even if they arent designed as marketing tools, these shows end up getting used that way. For its part, Great Performances has turned in the television-about-theatre direction because of industry restrictions. Plans to film an entire play for television have often been thwarted because producers were afraid a televised version would rob from their box office. So mounting whole performances for the camera becomes financially prohibitive, when an agreement can be worked out at all. Even for use in documentaries, Actors Equity Association imposes limits on rehearsal or performance footage. Kim Powers, head of drama development at Great Performances, says that for the Angels documentary, we were able to get Equity to break some stipulations. Our getting 12 minutes of performance on the air was longer than anyone had been permitted for this kind of program. Shortened attention spans   Theatrical documentaries at Great Performances have become a solution to viewers shortened attention spans. Longer shows arent attracting audiences anymore, so the network would like to keep its programs to an hours length, with an exception made only for opera. On our productions of Uncle Vanya and Hamlet, Powers confides, the numbers dropped with every successive half hour of the broadcast. Hamlet had the advantage of Kevin Kline, but the disadvantage of being three hours long. Documentaries are a way around that problem, a short way of delivering the play without doing the play itself. That may be TVs solution, but its not a very hopeful development for audiences interested in experiencing an entire evening at the theatre. The infotainment format raises a host of questions, most central being: When does a documentary become just another marketing tool? For example, late in a run, previously fussy producers may decide that a TV show isnt such a bad idea, and, says Powers, they come back begging us to do it. The gargantuan pull of television was no doubt behind the casting of soap star Michael Damian in this falls Broadway revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a point that WWOR will make use of in the special its producing. It could bring a whole new group of people into the theatre, says tireless good citizen Bob Woodruff. Were doing an interview with Michael Damian on the set of The Young and the Restless. His fans will want to come to the theatre to see him.