Essays on City of God

«The City of God» - that is how they call the poor slums of Rio de Janeiro, it is a place where poverty coexist with the highest amount of crime - local kids get guns after they learn how to walk. Since the favelas were built to isolate the city center from the poor neighborhoods, the law eventually eft this place and the local gangs began to rule the streets. The narrator of the story, a guy named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) tells about three generations of gangs, which lived in the favela. The film starts with a beautifully shot ...

The film City of God is about the urban environment set in a part of the city called the favela. It deals with the behavior of people who think that they are gods which is why this favela is called “City of God”. The drugs are everywhere and the power of people is estimated with their relation with the drugs. People in the big cities have the power and they use it to do illegal things which would make them rich which is why they establish dominance wherever they can and become God-like. The main topics in the film ...

Roman Decadence in the Late Empire

According to history, it is not a secret that the Roman Empire once fell, it was considered to be immoral as well as weak during this time. Decadence is coined with the fall of the empire and is therefore thought to be the sexual excesses that happened. People were more focused on having orgies mostly with their families specifically, sibling; the Romans were also doing heinous activities such as eating parts of animals like the tongues of humming birds, feeding Christians to the untamed lions and they even had the courage to poison their children, partners, spouses and parents ( ...

The film “City of God” by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund represents the issues concerning the urban planning and life in the suburbs of the big cities. The film demonstrates a chain of influence of the historic and natural processes on migration, unemployment, dangerous conditions of living in the suburb area, urban crimes, and the personal space of each person in the neighborhood. As depicted in the film, poverty and absence of security provided by authorities can be closely related in terms of development of crimes and robbery in the area. This essay will discuss the global planning issues ...

The city of Jerusalem’s history traces back to 5,000 years back, which its relevant across the religions; Christianity, Judaism and Muslim. For the Christians, Jerusalem is where death and resurrection of Jesus took place, for the Jews it symbolizes the temple whereas the Muslims is a symbol, for the Prophet’s journey to heaven. Evidently, Jerusalem serves as a holy symbol to almost three quarter of the world today (Masumder & Sanjoy 386). For Christians, apart from the significance of Jesus’s death and resurrection, there are more meanings and symbols to Jerusalem. Therefore, this paper will seek ...

Introduction

The film, City of God, provides a broad perspective over which a number of issues can be drawn. A story is told of a generation of children trying to survive in one of the biggest slums in Rio de Janeiro in the sixties and the seventies. Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund direct the movie the city of God. The main character in the movie is Li’IZe. At a tender age, Li’IZe who is the main character in the movie had wanted to become a leader in the City of God. Through Li’IZe’s aggressive and ambitious nature, he becomes ...

In his main work "City of God", Augustine attempted to understand the fate of humanity and outline his philosophy of history. In this work, he intended to grasp the world-historical process and put the history of humanity in close connection with the plans and intentions of the Deity. According to Augustine, humanity in the historical process forms two 'cities': on the one hand, the secular city- the kingdom of evil, sin, and the kingdom of the devil, and on the other - -the city of God on earth.These two cities created by Augustine, represent two kinds of love: an ...

What are the Dimensions of Religion? Why are the Dimensions of Religion helpful in studying religion?

Religion is a thorough perspective that records for these inquiries of human presence and considers having confidence in something past the "common".

It was stated in Ninian Smart's Seven Dimensions of Religion (10–21):

1. Experiential/Emotional. There are sure encounters that appear to offer ascent to religion: experiencing common or heavenly drives that create a feeling of dread or wonder, contemplating one passing, having an "extraordinary" vision, feeling united with all of reality, or encountering extremely solid feelings. 2. Social/Institutional. Individuals who have these encounters search out others with comparative encounters and structure bunches for backing. 3. Account/Mythic. In the gathering, individuals pass on their involvement in stories. ...

Through Rocket's eyes, the audience sees the birth of the when the poor, underclass were moved to the outskirts of the city. The forced poverty and seclusion led to petty crimes and robbing of trucks the passed through the dirt roads. Everything seems to be innocuous, until suddenly, a very young gang member, Lil Dice commits violent murders in a brothel. The scene shifts, the audience sees drugs and weapons in the film for the first time, and Lil Dice becomes the reigning godfather, Li'l Zé (Leandro Firmino da Hora). Like any film about gangsters, audience can somewhat expect ...

A great tragedy that appears in the Latin American cities is the large number of street children, and they appear to bear and be part of more problems within the society. However, focusing on the street children and their role in the urban problems, it appears that the problems lie a little deeper than one can expect (Barry and Huff Stevenson, chapter 9). A Brazilian movie by the name City of God depicts the issue of street children and other problems that emerge from the same. Several planning issues such as a global city, urban crime as well as youth gangs ...

Director Fernando Meirelles uses the oppressive and glaring landscape of a Brazilian favela as both the setting and a major theme in his 2002 film City of God. The key issues being discussed in the movies include inequality and corruption, globalization and perpetual cycle of violence.Ominously perched on a hillside overlooking the affluent neighborhoods of Rio with fantastic views of the Ocean, the favela is a world onto itself, segregated from the rest of the city. In the film, the rest of Rio is a faint postcard, juxtaposed with the harsh realities of the favela. This dichotomy emphasizes inequality in Brazil and offers clear ...

Introduction

The passage from the Republic by Plato is prone to different interpretations. To gain full comprehension of the passage the reader is obliged to delve deep into the platonic debate between Socrates and Glaucon. The trajectory of the argument according to Plato, was that democracies are governments ran by fools. The principal argument in the discussion was that democracies elect courses of action without a coherent understanding of the matter they are handling. The overriding argument was that only those who are fully experienced in statecraft should be allowed to rule. ‘Socrates argued that the cobbler and the medical doctor ...

Allows Expounding on Ancient Greek Ideas

Introduction Historically, from the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and the founding of Christianity, the treatment of Christians depended on who ruled Rome. The long-term significance of the Edict of Milan’s in 313 (Rosenwein 1) authoritarian pronouncement gave the right for Christians worshiping and conducting their faith in God on their own terms without fear of disquieting treatment and more importantly without persecution. This scholastic undertaking discusses how the Edict of Milan ensuring the safety of believers during the evolution of the first Christian church resulting in emerging theological ideas aligned to the human condition. In doing so, ...

There have been events in history during which knowledge was advanced because people questioned the status quo. Historically, much of science and technology was formed and based on religious perspectives. Governments and the church crafted institutions that fit with the prevalent and accepted attitudes of the time. However, sometimes those attitudes changed forever because of a new discovery.

Part I Augustine's The City of God

Augustine wrote his massive tome titled The City of God in response to the claim by Romans that Christians did not properly support the Roman government because Christians were preoccupied worshipping God. Also at issue with the Romans was the Christian notion ...

- THE OCENTRIC PERIOD: - 500BCE – 0 - Middle Age – Byzantium - ARISTOCRATIC PERIOD: - Renaissance (1450-1550) - The Age of Enlightenment (1550-1789)

IDEAS AND THOUGHT

RESEARCH JOURNAL I. OCENTRIC PERIOD: 1. 500BCE – 0:

Ancient and modern have the following characteristics: - Art was not the beauty residence: it is not the definition of beauty with art. - Reasoning about art theory and beauty developed independently of each other.

Socrates

Socrates was born in Athens in 470 BC. His father, Sofroniks, was a stonemason and his mother a midwife. From his father, Socrates learned the craft ...

“City of God”

Introduction The scene under consideration refers to the opening sequence of the Film titled “City of God “produced by the internationally acclaimed director Fernando Meirelles located at 0.07 seconds in the time frame of the film and ends in approximately to 3minutes 21 seconds into the film. Right from the very initial sequence of the film, the director demonstrates an uncanny ability to highlight the concept on which the film is based, - ruthlessness, dirt and death. The amalgamation of jerking camera actions with fragments of the sequence as separate images eventually collage into an understanding of the ...

The City of God is a Brazilian film about crime which is was directed by a person called Fernando Meirelles in the year 2002.The film was co-directed by Katia Lund in the year 2003.The film is based on a novel by Paulo Lins which is shallow with respect to the themes and of crime and drug dealing in Brazil. The movie mainly demonstrates aspects relating to crime, murder and drug addiction and their effects on the people living in Favela village of Brazil. The issues dealing with the violent neighborhood are clearly shown in the film. In this film, editing has played a ...

An overview

Introduction In simplest of words, theology is the study of religions and religious beliefs. Some scholars choose to call it the science of deities and divinity. But atheistic scholars do not very much approve of theology as a viable branch of study or ‘science’. Nevertheless, theology has been helping religious people understand, follow and even reform their religions with time. The great theologians in history have acted like a guiding star to bring changes in religious beliefs and rituals. And in the course of past several centuries, the major religions in the world have been modified mainly because of these ...

“The City of God” was an interesting book outlining how different entities can clash in their beliefs. During the time that this was written, Romans were blaming Christians on the fall of the Roman Empire (Augustine). This, they believed, was largely because Christians failed to be patriotic. The actions of the Romans are a clear example of human beings having free will. They did as they pleased and lived hedonistic lives. This can be related to “The Inferno” where stages, or circles, of hell are described. Each circle represents a kind of sin people commit. The seven sins are outlined, plus ...