Methodism is described as being born in song; discuss the role of Essay

Methodism is described as being born in song; discuss the role of hymnody in the theology and practice of Methodism - Essay Example Young John was travelling to Georgia as a preacher when a big storm struck the ship, threatening the lives of the travellers. While most of them including John were worried about the prospect, a group of German Moravian Christians sat calmly through the whole period singing devotional songs (Galli et al 2000). In the end the whole party arrived safely in the United States, but it appears that the calm faith of the Moravians, their devotion, and their singing had an impact of John Wesley. This could have been one of the reasons why John brought in the concept of hymnody into the prayers of the Methodist Church. Other authors also share this belief regarding the role of hymnody in Wesley’s and the Methodist Churches’ reliance on songs. The book, ‘A panorama of Christian hymnody’ states that his contact with the German priests also inspired him to learn their language and to translate many of the German hymns into English (Routkey & Richardson 2005). This ferv ent hymn by John Wesley is an indication of his deep rooted belief in the power of songs in prayer. â€Å"O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise, The Glories of my God and King. The Triumphs of His Grace† (Wilkinson 1992). The use of the words ‘a thousand tongues’ and ‘sing’ is indicative of this core belief of the Methodist church as founded by Wesley. As mentioned earlier, the Wesley brothers practiced an evangelical form of preaching and began to use hymn books in their weekly gatherings usually in homes and other areas not belonging to the church (Creamer 1848). There are also reports that this practice along with audience participation came in for extensive criticism from many quarters in England during that time. But his practice of Friday gatherings in order to sing the praise of the Lord began to be noticed and many other communities began

Combining Melodrama and Docudrama through Various Mise-en-Scene to Essay

Combining Melodrama and Docudrama through Various Mise-en-Scene to Create Portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana - Essay Example Instead, the film concentrates on Queen Elizabeth’s reaction and immediate behaviour following the death of Diana. It attempts to create a very specific portrait of the Queen as both a monarch and an emotional and flawed human being. Though the character of Diana is not acted out, through real video footage, media excerpts and the opinions of many people, a portrait is also created of her, as well as the Queen. In this way, the focus is on both the character of Diana and the character of the Queen, conveyed through entirely different mediums. While the Queens portrait is represented through the actual characters judgements, behaviours, thoughts and actions, Diana is manifested through images, media files and the statements of others including the general public. The film achieves these portrayals by combining elements of both melodrama and docudrama, and through several mise-en-scene components, including dialogue, music, costume, props and lighting. Both melodrama and docudra ma are generally identified as sub-categories of drama. Melodrama focuses on emotional premises and interpersonal conflict to appeal to the emotionality of the audience. As a genre it was often ridiculed by theatre critics of the 19th and early 20th centuries but has gained merit in the latter half of the 20th century and is now arguably one of the most written about Hollywood genres (Singer, 2001). It often heightens and exaggerates the plot or the natural and realistic emotional conflicts involved in a story in order to heighten and enhance this type of appeal. It typically involves a heroine and a villain and is often identified with the objective to make the viewer cry, as noted by Neale (1986), â€Å"a feature crucial to melodrama...its ability to move its spectators and in particular to make them cry†. Docudrama on the other hand, is drama based upon actual historical events. It usually attempts to re-enact actual occurrences as true to life as possible, albeit long aft er the event actually happened. An evolution of the documentary genre, â€Å"films based on fact raise so many questions...that for the purposes of study, it is profitable to regard them as belonging to a different species called docudrama†, (Rosenthal, 1999). As a sort of dramatised documentary, this sub-genre has often been questioned for its representation of truth and fact, however, Fraser (1999) postulates that when docudrama is done well, the audience generally understands what is fact and what is fiction. Lipkin (2002) suggests that the premise of a truth within a docudrama, serves to launch the work in a different direction than standard documentation. This film can be categorized within both of these genres, as it features significant elements of both subsets. While the film is quite obviously a docudrama, in that it tells the real story of actual historical events according to accurate dates, locations, people involved and factual events, it also portrays intimate m oments which are not necessarily fact. Such scenes have been interpreted according to general knowledge and common assumptions, often with a view to making them more melodramatic and in line with the emotional conflict of the story. In this way, melodrama is also an identifying aspect of the film. For example, in scenes of Diana’s funeral, real news footage is used, accurate dates are given and even real people involved are shown. The film makes use of