The Coach Versus the Couch: Draft of Proposal of Focused Topic

What is the relationship between “Method Acting” and living with a method? It would first be important to answer whether there is such a thing as living without a method, what ‘living with a method’ means, and whether or not an awareness of such a method is relevant to the question of its existence. “Method acting,” requires a definition of its own because, through the ages, it has developed a number of connotations so that its contemporary meaning is ambiguous.

Etymologically, ‘method’ comes from the Ancient Greek “methodos,” the pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting inquiry, system. Today it is a “way of doing things.” Every sentient human has a way of doing things so long as he does things; he has a process of completing an action that is unique to his personal individuality. The renowned psychologist, Paul Ekman, who has been a pioneer in the study of emotions, concludes: “It is a person’s appraisal of an event that triggers an emotion, not the event itself,”[i] The “appraisal” is a result of the relationship between the world and one’s inherent value system about it. If one wants to accomplish a goal, a minimal physicalization or sending one into space, his actions will be a result of the application of that value system.

Method acting is a “technique that combines work on the role, with an emphasis on researching and experiencing the character’s life, and work on the self, which stresses the actor’s personal investment and commitment to memory, experience, and worldview.”[ii] The Group Theater, the 1930s collective that produced works by many outstanding American playwrights, developed members like Stanford Meisner and Stella Adler who would become prominent figures in Method Acting to this day. Adler added that one must “define the difference between your behavior and the character’s, find all the justification of the character’s actions, and then go on from there to act from yourself, without thinking where your personal action ends and the character’s begins.”[iii] Like in subtraction, by finding the difference between one’s own value system and the projected character’s, then the result is the template of beliefs through which one can assume the reactions of the character, indeed as if he were the character.

If every action is the result of an appraisal, then every step in a goal seeking process will too be due to the specific value system that evaluates, or appraises, the new events in conscious perception.  Method Acting describes a system to Trojan horse one’s inherent value system into that of a “character’s” so that one united system results, what will stop a person who dreams of an accomplishment, a fantasy character of himself, from realizing and becoming that fantastic character by the methodological value adjustment required to similarly create one united system? Method Acting can be reexamined to be Method Living.

[ii] David Kraner, “I Hate Strasberg,” Method Acting Reconsidered, David Hare, ed. (St. Martin’s Press, New York, N.Y), 4.

[iii] Stella Adler, On Ibsen, Strindber, and Chekhov. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.

        This paper will address the dilemma that is created in distributing humanitarian aid in the Democratic Republic of Congo of Rwandan refugees. The question that the paper will be attempting to answer will be: should humanitarian aid be distributed based on the concepts of new humanitarianism or traditional humanitarianism, in particular of the case of Rwandan refugees.
 
        First, I will define humanitarian aid and give a quick but through synopsis of the history of humanitarian aid distribution. In this part of the paper there will probably be some statistics of how much humanitarian aid has been distributed, to what countries that the most humanitarian aid been distributed to, what type of humanitarian aid has been given, in what situations is humanitarian aid given and who is responsible for the distribution of humanitarian aid. This part of the paper will have mostly research from history books and maybe some primary sources from the documentation from organizations that have participated in the distribution of humanitarian aid.
 
        Second, I will address the concepts of new humanitarianism and traditional humanitarianism by defining them. “Traditional humanitarianism” is a term that encompasses the beginnings of humanitarian aid distribution since 1859. This concept refers to the distribution of aid regardless of political affiliation. The term will be more clearly defined and broken down into subparts of humanity, impartiality and neutrality. The three terms will also be defined and three examples will be given such that the definitions are clear. Then, “new humanitarianism” will be defined as a relatively new concept of distributing humanitarian aid based on political biases. New humanitarianism will be explained by stating how it derived from traditional humanitarianism, when it became an influential concept in humanitarian aid distribution, what examples in the history of humanitarian aid distribution constitutes as new humanitarianism, and how it fundamentally differs from traditional humanitarianism. This section of the paper will be primarily derived from secondary sources, mainly from peer-read journals.
 
        Third, since the paper will focus on the humanitarian aid distribution to Rwandan refugees in Democratic Republic of Congo, I will give a quick history on the Rwandan genocide. This part will be accomplished by stating the initial problems with the movement of fleeing Rwandans into present-day DRC. I will spend at least one paragraph defining the term “refugee” by employing the political science definition because humanitarian aid is not distributed to all fleeing groups but rather groups that fall under the “refugee” category. I will also state the social and political conditions of the refugee camps by addressing who controls the camps, what type of humanitarian aid is required, which actors provide the humanitarian aid, and who are the people that live in the camps. The definitions can be found by using peer-evaluated journals. The social and political conditions can be found in articles and also in the databases of the United Nations and many aid organizations.
 
        Fourth, I will explain how different organizations have had a role in the distribution of humanitarian aid. I will state the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders as examples of traditional humanitarianism and new humanitarianism, respectively. I will discuss the roles of the Red Cross and Doctors without borders in the case of Rwandan refugees. I will clearly state what policies that were employed during humanitarian aid distribution were considered to fall under new humanitarianism and what fell under traditional humanitarianism. The effectiveness and weaknesses of both theories will be stated by providing examples of specific situations of the actions of humanitarian aid organizations. The events that will be stated in this section of the paper can be found in the texts of peer-read journals as well as books written by experts in the field. This section of the paper will be the longest because it directly addresses my thesis question.
 
        In conclusion, I will discuss the, hopefully, effectiveness of traditional humanitarianism over new humanitarianism. This will not be an opinion but rather a stance that will be backed by ample evidence (by the time I write the conclusion hopefully).

        This paper will address the dilemma that is created in distributing humanitarian aid in the Democratic Republic of Congo of Rwandan refugees. The question that the paper will be attempting to answer will be: should humanitarian aid be distributed based on the concepts of new humanitarianism or traditional humanitarianism, in particular of the case of Rwandan refugees. The position of this paper will be that humanitarian aid should be based on traditional humanitarianism and the concept of humanity, which will be more clearly defined in the paper.

        Traditional humanitarianism states that humanitarian aid should be based on a sole goal of helping to alleviate suffering of the population in question (Vayrynen, 1999). Traditionalists also state that in order to effectively distribute aid to the population, there has to be neutrality. So, the aid organizations would not support any party, the victims or the people committing the crimes. The impartiality principle is fundamental to the Traditionalists but has led to much controversy in the past two decades (Fox, 2001). New humanitarianism believes that humanitarian aid should not be only based on the concept of humanity but also of publicity. New humanitarians state that in order to really alleviate human suffering the problems of the state has to be publicized. In this case, the humanitarian aid organizations are involved in politics of the state.

        This paper will discuss how the usage of new humanitarian has failed to solve the problems of refugees by either making the problem worse or violating the principle of humanity. Rwandan refugees in DRC are an example how new humanitarianism was used and violated the fundamental principle of humanity. In order to understand the Rwandan refugee situation, the history of the Rwandan genocide will be discussed. The term “refugee” will be defined (Lischer, 2003). The methods of distributing aid and what has happened to the aid in the refugee camps will be stated (Leriche, 2004). Humanitarian aid distribution in the case of Rwandan refugees has often been of abuse and mismanagement. The lack of proper distribution of aid has led to war economies that harbor and indirectly support genocide committers (Lischer, 2003).

        When the Hutus were pushed into refugee camps in Zaire, the humanitarian aid organizations were provided relief. After two years, aid organizations began to realize that they were supporting a re-emerge of Hutu military in the camps. The former Hutu military personnel, due to mismanagement, captured most humanitarian aid. Even though there were hundreds of thousands of starving Hutu women, children, and men, many aid organizations felt that they were abetting in uprising of the Hutu military. Many aid organizations packed up and left the camps because they were no longer allowed into the camps due to their public outcry. In 1994, the number of aid organizations in the camps went from 150 to less than 10 (Fox, 2001).

        New humanitarians claim that this is not going to solve the larger refugee problem because the aid has been supporting the military combatants in the camps.  Fiona Fox, in “A New Humanitarianism: A New Morality for the 21^st Century?”, states that new humanitarianism seems to only target aid to states that agree with Western human rights standards and the states that do not are left to their own devices. As a conclusion, humanitarian aid is being used as a political strategy to control the developing world. In the Rwandan refugee camps the refugees were encouraged to go back into Rwanda from DRC, but most refugees were reluctant to go back. So in order to force the refugees to return to Rwanda, the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees withheld essential medical supplies and limited food rations. Over one million Rwandan refugees crossed from DRC back into Rwanda. It was argued that the forceful return of the Rwandan refugees were essential to the long-term stability of area (Fox, 2001).

        The case studies of the Cambodian Kumer Rouge, Afghan Mujadideen, Milosovic in Yugoslavia, and Ethiopian famine will also be discussed to should how new humanitarianism and traditional humanitarianism was used. The humanitarian aid organization, the American Red Cross, will be used the major example of traditional humanitarianism and Doctors Without Borders will be an example of new humanitarianism.

Fox, Fiona. “New Humanitarianism: Does It Provide a Moral Banner for the 21st Century?” Disasters 25.4 (2001): 275-89.

LeRiche, Matthew. “Unintended Alliance: The Co-option of Humanitarian Aid in Conflicts.” Parameters 2004: 104-20.

Lischer, Sarah Kenyon. “Collateral Damage: Humanitarian Assistance as a Cause of Conflict.” International Security 28.1 (2003): 79-109.

Vayrynen, Raimo. “More Questions than Answers: Dilemmas of Humanitarian Action.” Peace and Change 24.2 (1999): 172-96.

Films set in all boys schools

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The environment of all boys schools as established through cultural patterns and institutions

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Certain societal and cultural patterns and institutions have created realities and films about all boys schools as environments wherein formative relationships and experiences are born.

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How do these patterns and institutions give rise to these environments?

What kinds of experiences are created?

How are these experiences unique to these environments?

How are these experiences translated and honed through the filmic medium?

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Elevator story:

I am writing on: the subgenre of films set in all boys’ schools.

Because I want to find out: how these unique environments are created and how they operate on the culture.

In order to see/show/understand: how certain patterns of male behavior are created, enforced, and/or portrayed in film.

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