The word "Litany" has a few different meanings, but the most common one is:
A long and repetitive list or series of something, usually complaints or problems.
For example:
“The customer service representative had to listen to a litany of complaints about the faulty product.”
“The politician’s speech was just a litany of empty promises.”
The word originates in a religious context:
‘’Litany’’ is a prayer that includes a series of requests or supplications from the worshipper or the prayer leader, followed by repetitive responses from the congregation or group of worshippers.
For example, in a traditional prayer, the cantor might say "God! Please have mercy" and the congregation would respond "Have mercy, please have mercy." This repetition creates a sense of call and response, or a dialogue between the leader and the congregation.
The word's origin is in ancient Greek, λιτανεία (litaneía), which means "prayer, supplication." From there it passed into Latin (litania) and finally into English.
Although its religious origin is still in use, today the word litany is mostly used in a broader context to describe any long and repetitive list, usually of complaints or problems.
So, when someone says "a litany of..." they are emphasizing the length and repetitiveness of the list, often with a slightly negative connotation.
In the context of ‘’Drones’’ as the nickname inspired by the meaning of the word "refrain" for UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles, the word "litany" can be used to describe: a list of negative claims or concerns about drones.
In these days of reciting the Selichot prayers in preparation for the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the supplications uttered in the wee hours of the night chillingly echo the harsh reality of the military conflict unfolding on the banks of the Litani River.
Myths are a universal and interesting cultural phenomenon. They have existed since the dawn of civilizations, and probably have the greatest perseverance, similar to the important of religions. Every culture has created mythical images, which suggests that myth is a fundamental component of human expression. Although Western culture is generally defined as scientific and secular, it also includes many active mythical contents. There are many archetypal symbols, which believers believe to have a divine origin. For example, a bird may be the "forerunner", a high place may be the "place of revelation", and a giant tree "the tree of life".
Mythological origins are central to semiotics, which is the professional field of sign language practice - the basis for brand design. In mythological legends anything is possible. This is also the feeling that a marketer of almost any product tries to instill. Marketing is a mix of products, services and ideas. The marketer seeks measurable results, as an answer to every consumer's search for meaning in modern life.
For the semiotician, any simple object may have a symbolic meaning. Such symbols are, for example, Sigmund Freud's cigar, Charlie Chaplin's walking stick, and Michael Jackson's glove. The symbols can be exchanged in the free market. Despite this, they are endowed with a multiplicity of meaning, and what for one person is in the nature of "reality", for the other is in the nature of "imagination". Barter is conducted according to clear rules of the game. The domain of symbols is never higher than the domain of products, and there is always a product attached to the symbol, otherwise the symbol is not valid. The airplane became by the propaganda artists an object of symbolic significance of the highest degree.
Humans live by the stories they hear and experience throughout their lives. These stories are steeped in common symbols and myths, and involve riddles and answers. They showcase the human ethos, and so do the commercials. The cinematic plot is an expression of this. The cinematic or advertising story is multidimensional, and is integrated into a system of matching symbols, resulting from behavior, myth, tradition, and the like, in the lives of viewers and consumers. The purpose is of creating an integrated narrative in all popular culture.
Because the myths express central cultural values, they appear in all media and cultural channels, both mass and elitist. Myths exist in the world of advertising, propaganda and also in the world of films. Cinema is a place where the use of myths is gaining ground, and incorporating myths into feature films is a major phenomenon. The Hollywood studio film is a product that many people share in the production process. Hence, similar to the myth, it turns to as broad a common denominator as possible.
In the twentieth century, as human society became more modern, technological, and complex, so did the need to use myths in popular culture to define the role of each person in the masses. Cinema is a connection between reality and imagination, and offers a space for transition between them. It is a total art, combining many fields of art, and many movie stars have also become role models. Movie heroes belong to the "superhero" category, which is one of the most important archetypes in human culture. They are at the top along with the archetype of the "family" in its extended definition, as a group of people with close ties.
The seismic change in the political structures of post-World War I Europe spawned the fascist movements and regimes, built on the principles of mythical modernity. Mythical modernity was based on an aspiration for advanced technology, using belief and archetypal conditioning for its application, rather than the enlightened mind. The desire for a mythical fascist order developed during the war. The events of the war, the fall of the dynasties and the political upheavals were the most visible result of a rupture in the old order, and gave rise to fascism.
An influential German thinker was Ernest Junger. Junger, the decorated combat soldier who became an influential philosopher of the Nazi movement, clearly recognized the shocks around him, and preached a new civilian reality, taking an example from the war. Junger described the war in hygienic terms: war is an end in itself, it is the ideal existential situation. The war created a new kind of human being, a new race of warriors who adopted an ethos of military masculinity, discipline, power and heroism, and a fusion of man and machine. Civilian life is a continuation of the war in other ways. Technological and political warfare continues in them and with it human forging intensifies.
The clear symbol of mythical totalitarian modernism in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy was the airplane. The linguistic symbols and metaphors associated with aviation discourse, its perception and interpretation, are many, and the sources that can be relied on in this context are very numerous. They include important cultural events, artwork, books, magazines, propaganda products and more. It was not the aviation itself, but its connections, not the pilot himself, but the concepts involved, that were the focus of attention. They served as a means of revolutionary liberation from the burden of the past.
The social agenda, which has been the focus of attention in fascist regimes, is clarified through the narrative of aviation heroes, and through the vision of the new man that fascism has tried to make a reality through an anthropological revolution. The protagonists were models and prototypes that citizens were required to use in order to shape their lives. The norms and values that the media published as embodied in those heroes permeated the social reality and the world was understood according to their register.
The airplane and the pilot were totems, in the fullest sense of the word of icons with archetypal characteristics. They reflected the desire for order, and they were the epitome of modernity. The spiritual reciprocity between fascism and aviation was unequivocal. It has created mythical modernity, as opposed to liberal modernity.
This worldview fits into the formalist film style, in which directors are interested in expressive and subjective re-creation of their experiences of reality, rather than the way others perceive it. In formalist films one can find a high degree of manipulation, a re-design of reality. Formalist cinema tends to emphasize form, technique, and style of expression.
There is a parallel between marketing characters with the goal of becoming celebrities and states marketing, with the goal of making them more attractive in the international community. Specifically, the image of political leaders is the result of intense professional investment, measured by the field of consumer product marketing as brands. Hitler was an icon in the international community, as was Nazi Germany, which became a brand. The state as a brand exists for the purposes of domestic and foreign policy.
Roland Barth, one of the forefathers of semiotics, examined images through the analysis of the messages they contain, in order to know to what extent visual images create an ideological worldview. Key concepts in the analysis are the "signifier" and the "marked". The "signifier" is what we see, hear, feel. "Marked" is the meaning we derive from the signifier. For example, photography is perceived by us as a reality, but it has an ideological and cultural construction. A photograph of a polished soldier of local descent, against the backdrop of the flag of his country's colonial power, reflects his loyalty and identity which may not actually exist.
The fighters have been a focal point of admiration for every generation, in their lives and deaths. Their qualities were focused on a single character who was exemplary to the public and the savior, and received a mythical character. A particularly revered hero is a super-omnipotent superhero with superhuman powers. The superheroes have undergone a transformation process throughout history, created because they belonged to the popular culture of their time, which had a characteristic emphasis, and used the technological means at its disposal. The characters of ancient superheroes, from the Bible and Greek mythology, became knights on horses in medieval societies. The early heroes of the early twentieth century were aviation pioneers and fighter pilots. Superheroes in the colorful comic booklets were very popular in the United States during the interwar period. After World War II, with the development of space flights, and at the same time as television viewing, the superheroes were identified with the first spacecraft pilots, such as Gagarin and Armstrong. In the early 2000s, the superheroes underwent another transformation, with the development of computing technologies, and now appear mainly in Marvel films. As reality became more complex, the need for archetypes became more important. Cinema, as a multidisciplinary and multidimensional medium, is a place where most of the myth appears, as both cinema and myth appeal to as broad a common denominator as possible.
The periodic transition between different types of characters is not sharp, and there is an overlap between them, as well as sub-genres that are characteristic of the interim periods and situations where no clear superhero characterization has taken place, or when a different characterization is needed. For example, in the 1930s, dictatorial political leaders, such as Hitler and Stalin, enjoyed a superhero image. Following the political crises in the 1960s in the United States, during and after the Vietnam War, superheroes such as Rambo, who were more human and represented personal and social protest, appeared on the movie screen. At the other end of the arc of superheroes are the simple real men who survived unbelievable hardships, led by Holocaust survivors. The survival motif is central to popular culture, but only dozens of films have been made about real survival journeys, as opposed to the countless works of fiction. Much research has been done on Holocaust survivors, but their image has not yet been created as superheroes. Their personal stories blended into the overall myth of Holocaust and Revival of Israel.
The "Star Wars" film series is based on the pattern of superheroes in the stories of mythology, as developed by Professor Campbell, the renowned expert on myth theory. "Star Wars" may be his most well-known legacy left behind. Within this film series, nine sequels have emerged, which are the canon of the series as a feature epic. The first movie in the series came out in 1977, and the last one in the end of 2019. It's about 40 years, then. The series gained unprecedented popularity. It was defined as redefining cinema, as it created an imaginary universe full of details. It has acquired millions of fans on the level of religious believers, and is recognized in almost every home across the globe. Some claim it have changed the world. It is an escapist replacement for the complexity of the race to space, which is one of the characteristics of modern life and central in every country.
The nine-movie canon consists of three trilogies, which represent the parts of the human soul and its evolution, according to Id, Ego, Super Ego. The Disney-owned franchise company also develops it through spin-off films, unique complexes at Disneyworld sites, and as a merchandise that includes computer games, books, comic books, clothing and toys. In this way, the brand reaches every soul in the way that is most appropriate, according to the latest branding and marketing approaches.
Professor Joseph Campbell has been a major source of inspiration for the series creator, George Lucas, and they also formed a personal friendship. Campbell's main book is "The Hero with Thousand Faces ." This book presents the defining characteristics of the superhero figure, who are kept behind many embodiments in different cultures and eras. The Star Wars movie series is entirely based on this theory. The films include a gallery of typical archetypal mythological characters, such as the superhero character, the mentor, the distressed maid, the trickster, the evil hero, the omnipotent magician, and the like. At the same time, the superhero in the series is going on a journey, known in terminology as "The Hero's Journey". This journey includes many stages of development, which are well characterized by the stories of superheroes of all cultures.
Because in much of the twentieth century, the superhero character was identified with pioneer pilots of airplanes and spaceships, two of the star heroes of "Star Wars," Han Solo; the trickster who is Luke Skywalker's faithful friend, and his son Ben, who became an evil hero by the name of Kylo Ran and the successor of Darth and Wader, are of central importance. The importance of the transformations undergone by Han and Ben Solo is also linked to the importance of the dream of flying to the development of the soul. Aviation ability has been identified, from the dawn of humanity, as a characteristic of gods. Han's "Millenium Falcon" spacecraft is the fastest in the galaxy, and it is the object most identified with the series, with the exception of Luke Skywalker's Light Sword. Harrison Ford, who plays Han Solo in the series, is a superstar of Hollywood, and portrayed another superhero character created by George Lucas, Indiana Jones.
Filmmaker Hans Bertram created several aviation films in Nazi Germany. During World War I, some of the most successful fighter pilots were soon promoted to become communicated icons of valor, warriors who donned the national spirit of the war. This was particularly evident in Germany, in the form of the Flying Circus pilots and their commander Richthofen. They became national icons, with a prominent presence in film and print, and in all circles of society. Between the two world wars, aviation films were constantly reinforced, helping to shape contemporary thinking about aviation development. Aviation achievements envisioned a new, stronger and more disciplined German Reich capable of dealing with multiple industrial claims and joining the twentieth-century imperial competition. The memory of World War I was built through the myth of the war experience, which legitimized it by changing the real-life picture. The main image engraved in the collective memory of this war, to this day, is that of the gallant fighter pilot. The distinct symbol of totalitarian and mythical modernism in Nazi Germany was the airplane. Not the airplane per se, but its connections, not the pilot per se but the concepts it entails, were the focus of attention. They served as a means of liberating revolutionary burdens of the past.
In Nazi Germany, the superheroes of American comic booklets were not popular, nor were other superheroes of this style. The Nazis saw themselves as a supreme race, according to the "Superman" model designed by Nietzsche, their official philosopher. The popular superheroes were characters from German folklore and history, such as in Richard Wagner's operas, and from the aviation world, whose heroes were considered to embody the "Suprmman". Bertram was among them. He was part of the famous Pilots Gallery, with Charles Lindberg at the top, who became superheroes in the world media. In 1927, Lindberg crossed the Atlantic alone by airplane. On his return he was honored as king, and millions came to a parade in his honor in New York.
In May 1932 Hans Bertram set out with a friend from Germany to a flight around the world. They had a forced landing in a desert in Australia, and undergone a two-month survival journey, with extensive media coverage on the search for them. He returned to Germany in April 1933, after a year of great upheaval in Germany as well, during which the Nazis came to power. He wrote his story in a book, which became a bestseller with seven million copies in Nazi Germany. He then moved on to writing screenplays and directing films. The story of his survival journey in Australia overlaps with the mythical ''Hero Journey'' that NAzi Germany needed at that time. This is in light of its plot, its exposure in the media, and its connection to the motifs of ''survival'' "superman" adopted by the Nazi regime. Bertram is probably the only pilot in Nazi Germany to have completed a "Hero's Journey," and who has written a non war-propaganda book on the subject. His most famous film is "The Baptism of Fire," a full-length documentary from 1940 about the campaign in Poland, which was characterized by devastating German bombings from the air.
The images of aviation and pilots on television and cinema in the State of Israel involve the military dependence on the air force, which created here the myth of the "best air force in the world". This myth is also rooted in Israel's relations with the United States, which include American popular culture. Therefore, it is interesting to see how major television events, such as the first flight to the moon or the crash of the Columbia Space Shuttle, and ''Star War'' movies, have affected Israeli society. At the same time, it is interesting to review the films that deal with the Israeli Air Force and their impact.
Air transport has become central today. The issue is complicated, in part because, unlike maritime and land transportation, which are the cradle of civilization, aviation is a new dimension. Important, capital-intensive development projects in aviation may shape the fate of a nation. But they are largely startups, which have a very high percentage of failure. Two examples of this are the attempt to land the Israeli spacecraft "Genesis" on the moon, and the development of the "Lavi" aircraft.
The need for heroes in the aviation field is motivated, besides the race for space and the race to develop new aircraft, also by the need to develop the infrastructure of airports, which have become civilization centers due to the airports cities around them. The airports of cities have replaced the maritime port cities, which until recently were the centers of the human race.The "Terminal" theme is well-developed in the Star Wars series. Its many forms, together with the gallery of figures appearing in it, present an alternative order to the constant chaos experienced by passengers today. This chaos, resulting from the routine of the experience, runs counter to the flight aura that existed until World War II. Another important connection between superhero films and modern-day reality is that these films, in many cases, show sections of a world on the verge of destruction, usually as a result of the invention of new weapons by the forces of evil. The Holocaust worldview in these films overlaps with the Jewish Holocaust survivors worldview, whose world was also destroyed. The good ending in these films, when usually the good people beat the bad guys, is a therapeutic move. The general destruction worldview is also close to everyday reality, as politicians regularly warn of a disaster that could result from enemy attacks, usually from the air. That is why every citizen takes to himself the images of the imminent destruction, as seen in the superhero films, for the promotion of his personal affairs. Those who have experienced the devastation to the truth, such as the Holocaust survivors, are usually left behind in the race to fulfill their dreams. The main negative aspect of the development of air power is the many wars that have been decided by it, such as the Vietnam War and the Yom Kippur War. In addition, airborne terrorism has become an integral part of daily life. Its climax was in the attack on the Twin Towers in New York in September 2001. We are witnessing it today in cyber threats, the incessant rocket launches toward Israel, and the passengers and baggage checks before flights. Serious aerial accidents are an integral part of reality, from the era of early aviation to the present.
One of the results of the importance of aviation to human existence in all strata is that the discourse on aviation has become an unconscious part of everyday discourse and is difficult to isolate. Therefore, it is important to see if the awareness to the issue in Israel does not diminish the understanding of the relationship between the Holocaust and aviation. This connection was expressed by the fact that senior Nazi pilots, who were crowned superheroes, played a major part in the final solution planning. A multifaceted aviation culture is evolving nowadays, in the face of the reality imposed on us like a mountain. The Star Wars series does not provide a complete set of tools for understanding the world of flying and aviation, but the complexity it presents is certainly a progression, as opposed to the stalwart approach to the topic so far in popular culture.
News writing style is just as important for sports reporting as it is for general news, business stories or any other journalistic work.
The advantage of sports writing is that you are allowed to a little more freedom in your choice of words. In crime or business writing, you are restricted in your use of adjectives and adverbs, and are encouraged to focus more on nouns and verbs. Sports writing, however, allows you to go to town in describing plays, the atmosphere, fans and other colorful aspects of a sporting event.
For this article, we will go through, step by step, how to write a straightforward sports report using quotes.
Ideally, any sports story would have quotes from the winners and losers. Indeed, many sports articles are written around what athletes say rather than what they have achieved on the field of play.
However, you also have sports articles written without quotes. When rookies learn how to write like a journalist, especially in sport, they are likely to come across the structure that we will show you here.
We will adapt the NBA game between Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers on April 1 as our example article.
1. Intro - the most important news aspect of a sports game is the score. Who won? How did they win and what effect did the victory have? Also important is whether we are writing from a Boston perspective or Cleveland. In this case, we will go with Cleveland.
"Cleveland Cavaliers lost 98-96 to the Boston Celtics after Delonte West's sank two free throws in the final seconds, dropping three and a half games behind the Pistons for the best record in the Eastern Conference."
2. More info - The above is enough for those who have a passing interest in the sport. However, NBA fans would want more information and you could give it to them in one or two paragraphs.
"The Cavaliers were without star player LeBron James, suffering from a knee injury, while the Celtics were minus Paul Pierce. Gerald Green led the way for Celtics with 25 points while Kendrick Perkins had 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Cavaliers, for whom Larry Hughes scored 24 with Sasha Pavlovic scoring 17, have already qualified for the play-offs while Boston are out of the running."
3. Quote - This is where you can provide a quote from the coach or a key player from both teams. You can precede each saying with a lead-in paragraph or go straight into the quote.
"Celtic forward Al Jefferson, said: 'They were missing their best player and we were missing our best play. We just stuck in there.'
Cavs coach Mike Brown said James' absence was a key factor in their loss.
'We miss LeBron. We miss LeBron every time he doesn't play. He's our guy,' said Brown."
The thinking behind sports articles is that people would have watched the game on TV anyway and would not want boring game description. Therefore, quotes from the people who matter, such as athletes and coaches, would offer better reading value.
4. The rest - Once you got the main information and key quotes out of the way, you can go on to describe the game. Even better would be to describe just one or two plays and include more quotes.
There are many types of sports news writing that is offered around the world everyday. We have merely showed you its simplest form. Certainly, it is a rewarding form of news writing for journalists who love their sport. And the structure they use allow them to adapt their skills to any type of journalism writing.
About the Author Nazvi Careem is an experienced journalist, writer and writing coach who has written for newspapers, magazines and global news agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. To download a free chapter of his book on news writing secrets, check out his website dedicated to the art of news writing.
In Pliny's Natural History he is credited with inventing carpentry "and with it the saw, axe, plumb-line, drill, glue, and isinglass".
Pausanias, in travelling around Greece, attributed to Daedalus numerous archaic wooden cult figures that impressed him: "All the works of this artist, though somewhat uncouth to look at, nevertheless have a touch of the divine in them."
It is said he first conceived masts and sails for ships for the navy of Minos. He is said to have carved statues so well they looked as if alive; even possessing self-motion. They would have escaped if not for the chain that bound them to the wall.
Daedalus gave his name to any Greek artificer and to many Greek contraptions that represented dextrous skill. At Plataea there was a festival, the Daedala, in which a temporary wooden altar was fashioned, and an effigy was made from an oak-tree and dressed in bridal attire. It was carried in a cart with a woman who acted as bridesmaid. The image was called Daedale and the archaic ritual given an explanation through a myth to the purpose.
In the period of Romanticism, Daedalus came to denote the classic artist, a skilled mature craftsman
In the period of Romanticism, Icarus symbolized the romantic artist, whose impetuous, passionate and rebellious nature, as well as his defiance of formal aesthetic and social conventions, may ultimately prove to be self-destructive.
Stephen Dedalus, in Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" envisages his future artist-self "a winged form flying above the waves ... a hawk-like man flying sunward above the sea, a prophecy of the end he had been born to serve”.
Ovid's treatment of the Icarus myth and its connection with that of Phaëthon influenced the mythological tradition in English literature as received and interpreted by major writers such as Chaucer, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Milton, and Joyce.
Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (ca. 1558), famous for relegating the fall to a scarcely noticed event in the background
In Renaissance iconography, the significance of Icarus depends on context: in the Orion Fountain at Messina, he is one of many figures associated with water; but he is also shown on the Bankruptcy Court of the Amsterdam Town Hall - where he symbolizes high-flying ambition. The 16th-century painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, traditionally but perhaps erroneously attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, was the inspiration for two of the 20th century's most notable English-language poems.
Literary interpretation has found in the myth the structure and consequence of personal over-ambition. An Icarus-related study of the Daedalus myth was published by the French hellenist Françoise Frontisi-Ducroux.
In psychology there have been synthetic studies of the Icarus complex with respect to the alleged relationship between fascination for fire, enuresis, high ambition, and ascensionism.
In the psychiatric mind features of disease were perceived in the shape of the pendulous emotional ecstatic-high and depressive-low of bipolar disorder. Henry Murray having proposed the term Icarus complex, apparently found symptoms particularly in mania where a person is fond of heights, fascinated by both fire and water, narcissistic and observed with fantastical or far-fetched imaginary cognition.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what can be collected and created regarding this myth. It can be related to modern political events:
The 2001 twin towers disaster.
Deadalus is an inspiration for Jesus Christ, who is depicted also with wings. The airplane shape is that of a cross in the sky, so it can explain modern Antisemitism.
Theodore Herzel envisioned the airplane as something which will be depended of movement in order to stay in the sky. He wrote a novel about the inventor of the flying machine who destroy it after it create wars.
The decision to build or not to build an airport or an airplane.
