Unit 11 Beauty by Susan Sontagppt课件

1、新世纪高等院校英语专业本科系列教材（修订版） 综合教程第五册(第2版) 电子教案,cover,Unit 11Beauty,上海外语教育出版社 南京信息工程大学 刘杰海,Contents page,Contents,Learning Objectives Pre-reading Activities Global Reading Detailed Reading Consolidation Activities Further Enhancement,Learning Objectives,Learning Objectives,Rhetorical skill: classification,

2、 contrast Key language what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine. (Against Interpretation, “Notes on Camp”),Text Introduction | Culture Notes | Author | Structure,G-R: author-2,Sontag, Susan (1933-2004), Jewish American writer, known for her philosophical writings on modern cul

3、ture. Born in New York City, Sontag was educated at the universities of California, Chicago, and Paris and at Harvard University. During the 1960s and 1970s Sontags essays and observations had a strong influence on the American counterculture.,Text Introduction | Culture Notes | Author | Structure,G

4、-R: author-3,Works： (1963) The Benefactor 恩主 (1966) Against Interpretation (includes Notes on “Camp”) 反对阐释 (1977) On Photography 论摄影 (1978) Illness as Metaphor 疾病的隐喻 (1980) Under the Sign of Saturn在土星的光环下,Text Introduction | Culture Notes | Author | Structure,G-R: author-4,Quotes from Against Interp

5、retation 反对阐释 “the understanding of art starts from intuitive response and not from analysis or intellectual considerations”； interpretation had become “the intellects revenge upon art”； “in place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art”； “Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. By reducin

6、g the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art.”； “Its beautiful, because its awful”,Text Introduction | Culture Notes | Author | Structure,G-R: structural analysis,Text Introduction | Culture Notes | Author | Structure,Part 1,(1-3) contrasts the ancient notio

7、n of “beauty” with the modern concept to introduce the topic.,Part 2,(4-7) illustrates how women and men are viewed/treated differently to support the argument: the oppression of women.,Part 3,(8-9) points out how societys gender stereotypes have affected adversely the development of women.,Part 4,(

8、10) calls on women and the whole society to get out of the trap created by the “myth of beauty” and the resulting oppression of women.,DR-p1a text,BEAUTY Susan Sontag 1. For the Greeks, beauty was a virtue: a kind of excellence. Persons then were assumed to be what we now have to call lamely, enviou

9、sly whole persons2. If it did occur to the Greeks to distinguish between a persons inside and outside, they still expected that inner beauty would be matched by beauty of the other kind.,Detailed Reading,DR-p1b text,The well-born young Athenians who gathered around Socrates found it quite paradoxica

10、l that their hero was so intelligent, so brave, so honorable, so seductive and so ugly. One of Socrates main pedagogical acts was to be ugly and teach those innocent, no doubt splendid-looking disciples of his how full of paradoxes life really was.,Detailed Reading,DR-p2 text,2.They may have resiste

11、d Socrates lesson. We do not. Several thousand years later, we are more wary of the enchantments of beauty. We not only split off with the greatest facility the inside (character, intellect) from the outside (looks); but we are actually surprised when someone who is beautiful is also intelligent, ta

12、lented, good.,Detailed Reading,DR-p3 text,3.It was principally the influence of Christianity that deprived beauty of the central place it had in classical ideals of human excellence. By limiting excellence (virtus in Latin) to moral virtue only, Christianity set beauty adrift as an alienated, arbitr

13、ary, superficial enchantment. And beauty has continued to lose prestige. For close to two centuries it has become a convention to attribute beauty to only one of the two sexes: the sex which, however Fair, is always Second. Associating beauty with women has put beauty even further on the defensive,

14、morally.,Detailed Reading,DR-p4 text,4. A beautiful woman, we say in English. But a handsome man. Handsome is the masculine equivalent of and refusal of a compliment which has accumulated certain demeaning overtones, by being reserved for women only. That one can call a man beautiful in French and i

15、n Italian suggests that Catholic countries unlike those countries shaped by the Protestant version of Christianity still retain some vestiges of the pagan admiration for beauty. But the difference, if one exists, is of degree only. In every modern country that is Christian or post-Christian, women a

16、re the beautiful sex to the detriment of the notion of beauty as well as of women.,Detailed Reading,DR-p5a text,5.To be called beautiful is thought to name something essential to womens character and concerns. (In contrast to men whose essence is to be strong, or effective, or competent.) It does no

17、t take someone in the throes of advanced feminist awareness to perceive that the way women are taught to be involved with beauty encourages narcissism, reinforces dependence and immaturity.,Detailed Reading,DR-p5b text,Everybody (women and men) knows that. For it is everybody, a whole society, that

18、has identified being feminine with caring about how one looks. (In contrast to being masculine which is identified with caring about what one is and does and only secondarily, if at all, about how one looks.) Given these stereotypes, it is no wonder that beauty enjoys, at best, a rather mixed reputa

19、tion.,Detailed Reading,DR-p6 text,6.It is not, of course, the desire to be beautiful that is wrong but the obligation to be or to try. What is accepted by most women as a flattering idealization of their sex is a way of making women feel inferior to what they actually are or normally grow to be. For

20、 the ideal of beauty is administered as a form of self-oppression. Women are taught to see their bodies in parts, and to evaluate each part separately. Breasts, feet, hips, waistline, neck, eyes, nose, complexion, hair and so on each in turn is submitted to an anxious, fretful, often despairing scru

21、tiny. Even if some pass muster, some will always be found wanting. Nothing less than perfection will do.,Detailed Reading,DR-p7 text,7.In men, good looks is a whole, something taken in at a glance. It does not need to be confirmed by giving measurements of different regions of the body. Nobody encou

22、rages a man to dissect his appearance, feature by feature. As for perfection, that is considered trivial - almost unmanly. Indeed, in the ideally good-looking man a small imperfection or blemish is considered positively desirable. According to one movie critic (a woman) who is a declared Robert Redf

23、ord fan, it is having that cluster of skin-colored moles on one cheek that saves Redford from being merely a pretty face. Think of the depreciation of women as well as of beauty - that is implied in that judgment.,Detailed Reading,DR-p8 text,8.The privileges of beauty are immense, said Cocteau. To b

24、e sure, beauty is a form of power. And deservedly so. What is lamentable is that it is the only form of power that most women are encouraged to seek. This power is always conceived in relation to men; it is not the power to do but the power to attract. It is a power that negates itself. For this pow

25、er is not one that can be chosen freely or renounced without social censure.,Detailed Reading,DR-p9 text,9.To preen, for a woman, can never be just a pleasure. It is also a duty. It is her work. If a woman does real work - and even if she has clambered up to a leading position in politics, law, medi

26、cine, business, or whatever - she is always under pressure to confess that she still works at being attractive. But insofar as she is keeping up as one of the Fair Sex, she brings under suspicion her very capacity to be objective, professional, authoritative, and thoughtful. Damned if they do - wome

27、n are. And damned if they dont.,Detailed Reading,DR-p10a text,10. One could hardly ask for more important evidence of the dangers of considering persons as split between what is inside and what is outside than that interminable half-comic half-tragic tale, the oppression of women. How easy it is to

28、start off by defining women as caretakers of their surfaces, and then to disparage them (or find them adorable) for being superficial. It is a crude trap, and it has worked for too long.,Detailed Reading,DR-p10b text,But to get out of the trap requires that women get some critical distance from that

29、 excellence and privilege which is beauty, enough distance to see how much beauty itself has been abridged in order to prop up the mythology of the feminine. There should be a way of saving beauty from women and for them.,Detailed Reading,DR:p1-3 Analysis,Paragraph 1-3 Analysis These three paragraph

30、s, the beginning part of the essay, review the changes in the notion and position of beauty from the angle of history and assert that for almost two hundred years, it has become a habitual practice to credit beauty with the weaker sex, which is always secondary in status, no matter how beautiful it

31、is, and that attributing beauty to women has rendered beauty even more morally vulnerable.,Detailed Reading,DR:p4-9 Analysis,Paragraph 4-9 Analysis In these paragraphs, the major part of the essay, the author argues that associating beauty with women does much harm to the notion of beauty and in par

32、ticular to women and abridges their rights and interests. Meanwhile, the writer exposes and criticizes the social prejudices against women in relation to beauty. She defends womens rights and interests by criticizing the wrong viewpoints concerning beauty and women and expressing her own opinions wi

33、thout reserve.,Detailed Reading,DR:p10 Analysis,Paragraph 10 Analysis In this paragraph, the conclusion of the essay, the writer points out that the oppression of women makes up an interminable half-comic half-tragic tale, and that to get out of the crude trap women are required to examine beauty ob

34、jectively so that they may realize how much beauty itself has been abridged. Finally, the author calls on people to do something to save beauty from women and for women.,Detailed Reading,DR-Questions-p1,Paragraph 1: Question What is the function of first sentence of this paragraph? Can you interpret

35、 this sentence?,Detailed Reading,It is a transitional sentence. Greek consider beauty as whole, so students of Socrates may resist him because he was ugly. Yet, we do not, since we had split the “beauty” off, say, “inside” and “outside”.,DR-Questions-p1-2,Paragraph 1-2: Question What is the contrast

36、 mentioned in the first two paragraphs?,Detailed Reading,It is the contrast between the different notions of beauty held by the ancient Greeks and the modern men we: the Greeks considered beauty to be a virtue, and they seldom distinguished between a persons inside and outside and invariably expecte

37、d that inner beauty would be matched by outward beauty; but nowadays we do the opposite.,DR-Questions-p1-3,Detailed Reading,Read Paragraph 1 through 3, try to summarize the changing of the notion of “beauty”.,DR-Questions-p4-1,Paragraph 4: Questions 1. Do you think Sontag will agree that “handsome”

38、means to men what “beautiful” does to women?,Detailed Reading,“Handsome” dose not have the demeaning overtones “beautiful” has.,DR-Questions-p4-2,Paragraph 4: Questions 2. Why does Sontag think that regarding women as the beautiful sex is detrimental to both the notion of beauty and that of women?,D

39、etailed Reading,It depreciates the notion of beauty, and implies a sexually unfair judgment of women.,DR-Questions-p5,Paragraph 5: Question What does Sontag refer to by “stereotypes” in the last sentence of paragraph 5?,Detailed Reading,Fixed notion of two sexes; what people generally think a man or

40、 woman should be like.,DR-Questions-p6,Paragraph 6: Question Can you think of any concrete examples of “ a flattering idealization of their sex” in paragraph 6?,Detailed Reading,Examples of “a flattering idealization of their sex”:beauty contests, sex symbols, super model covers,DR-Questions-p6-7,Pa

41、ragraph 7: Question Contrast paragraph 6 with paragraph 7, do you think society is fair in expectations of men and women with regard to their looks? Defend your opinions.,Detailed Reading,Open to discussion.,DR-Questions-p8,Paragraph 8: Question What does the author suggest by insisting beauty is a

42、power that negates itself?,Detailed Reading,It is generally accepted, perhaps, that beauty is a form of power. However, it is quite lamentable that it is the only form of power that most women are encouraged to seek. Yet, it is not the power to act or perform but the power to attract people, probabl

43、y the male. Moreover, women do not have the freedom to accept or deny the power, but they only have the obligation to retain it with the approval of society. That is what the author suggests in arguing that beauty is a power that negates itself.,DR-Questions-p9,Paragraph 9: Question How is the word

44、preen to be interpreted in paragraph 9?,Detailed Reading,Preening, a birds self-makeup behavior, in reference to a woman, is far more than a pleasure. It is her work, her social commitment because she is always under pressure to confess that she still works at being attractive even though she is hol

45、ding as high a position as a man. In the authors view, preening, womens making-up for beauty, is actually a trap, from which they should keep a far distance.,DR-Questions-p10a,Paragraph 10: Question 1. What does “the mythology of the feminine” mean?,Detailed Reading,The traditional / conventionalize

46、d but false notion of what women should be like.,DR-Questions-p10b,Detailed Reading,2. What is the writers attitude?,The writer thinks that women have been caught in the crude trap for too long and, therefore, maintains that some action should be taken to save beauty from women and protect womens ri

47、ghts and interests.,LPT- if it did occur to the Greeks to,“If it did occur to the Greeks to distinguish between a persons inside and outside, they still expected that inner beauty would be matched by beauty of the other kind.”,Detailed Reading,Paraphrase, If the Greeks did think of distinguishing be

48、tween a persons inner qualities and outward looks, they still expected that the person who possessed inner beauty should possess as much outward beauty.,LPT- match,match vt. to be equal to; find sb. or sth. that fits or corresponds to,Detailed Reading,No one can match her at chess. We try to match t

49、he applicants with appropriate vacancies.,e.g.,LPT- paradoxical,paradoxical adj. seemingly absurd or contradictory, even if actually well-founded; conflicting with a preconceived notion of what is reasonable or possible,Detailed Reading,e.g.,The speaker made some paradoxical statements. His paradoxi

50、cal remarks seem absurd or contradictory, but they are actually true. It seems paradoxical that there should be a handful of rich people in face of millions of poor people.,LPT- seductive,seductive adj. attractive; tending to seduce, charm or tempt sb.,Detailed Reading,e.g.,Her seductive smile attra

51、cts so many young people. This offer of a high salary and a free house is very seductive to the applicants.,LPT- one of Socrates main,“One of Socrates main pedagogical acts was to be ugly - and teach those innocent, no doubt splendid-looking disciples of his how full of paradoxes life really was.”,D

52、etailed Reading,Paraphrase, Socrates not-so-agreeable looks served as an important means in educating his followers who were intellectually immature, but undoubtedly handsome; it helped illustrate his teaching that life was really full of absurd or contradictory things.,LPT- they may have resisted,“

53、They may have resisted Socrates lesson.”,Detailed Reading,Paraphrase, His disciples may have refused to accept what Socrates taught them.,LPT- we do not several thousand years later,“We do not. Several thousand years later, we are more wary of the enchantments of beauty.”,Detailed Reading,Paraphrase

54、, We do not resist Socrates lesson. Several thousand years later, we are more cautious about the charms of beauty.,LPT- wary,wary adj. cautious and watchful,Detailed Reading,e.g.,Children are usually told to be wary of strangers. The guards are keeping a wary eye on the guy loafing in the lobby.,LPT

55、 we not only split off,“We not only split off with the greatest facility the inside (character, intellect) from the outside (looks); but we are actually surprised when someone who is beautiful is also intelligent, talented, good.”,Detailed Reading,Paraphrase, We not only distinguish with the greates

56、t ease a persons character or intellect from his/her outward looks, but also feel quite surprised when someone is both beautiful and intelligent, talented, and good.,LPT facility,facility n. an ability to do sth. easily or effortlessly,Detailed Reading,e.g.,The thief ran and dodged with such facilit

57、y that the policemen almost failed to catch him. I can hardly believe that you speak English with such facility.,LPT it was principally the influence of,“It was principally the influence of Christianity that deprived beauty of the central place it had in classical ideals of human excellence.”,Detail

58、ed Reading,Paraphrase, It was chiefly due to the influence of Christianity that beauty lost its most important position which it had occupied in ideal virtues, embodied in the art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome.,LPT classical,classical adj. of, relating to or influenced by the art and lit

59、erature of ancient Greece and Rome; (of music) serious and traditional in style; simple, restrained and harmonious in style,Detailed Reading,e.g.,A classical education is one based on the study of Latin and Greek. She is studying the classical music of India. The style of the architecture is characterized by a classical elegance.,LPT- by limiting excellence,“By limiting excellence (virtus in Latin) to moral virtue only, Christianity set beauty a