title: Male gaze

text: The cultural analyst Griselda Pollock said that the female gaze can be visually negated; using the example of Robert Doisneau's photograph "Sidelong Glance" (1948) Pollock describes a bourgeois, middle-aged couple viewing artworks in the display window of an art gallery. In the photograph, the spectator's perspective is from inside the art gallery. The couple is looking in a different direction than that of the spectator. The woman is speaking to her husband about a painting at which she is gazing, whilst her distracted husband is gazing at a painting of a nude woman, which also is in view of the spectator. The woman is looking at another artwork, which is not in view of the spectator. The man's gaze has found someone more interesting to gaze at, thus ignoring his wife's comment. Pollock's analysis of the "Sidelong Glance" photograph is that: "She [the wife] is contrasted, iconographically, to the naked woman. She is denied the picturing of her desire; what she looks at is blank for the spectator. She is denied being the object of desire, because she is represented as a woman who actively looks, rather than [as a woman passively] returning and confirming the gaze of the masculine spectator."


title: Male gaze

text: In "Watching the Detectives: The Enigma of the Female Gaze" (1989), Lorraine Gamman said that the female gaze is distinguished from the male gaze through its displacement of the power of scopophilia, which creates the possibility of multiple viewing angles, because "the female gaze cohabits the space occupied by men, rather than being entirely divorced from it"; therefore, the female gaze does not appropriate the "voyeurism" of the male gaze, because its purpose is to disrupt the phallocentric power of the male gaze, by providing other modes of looking at someone.


title: Male gaze

text: Mary Anne Doane's 1982 essay "Film and the Masquerade: Theorising the Female Spectator" continues an analysis of the male gaze in feminist film theory, highlighting how psychoanalytic theory, specifically Freud's, discounted the importance of the female spectator because “too close to herself, entangled in her own enigma, she could not step back, could not achieve the necessary distance of a second look”. Doane also deepened the understanding of the voyeuristic or fetishistic gazes to imply a "pleasurable transgression" of looking which greatly depends on the spatial proximity of the spectator to the spectated. In intentionally creating space between the subject (spectator) and the object (screen), the male gaze perpetuates an "infinite pursuit of an absent object". Such distanced spatial proximity is denied to the female spectator on the account that there is a "masochism of over-identification or the narcissism entailed in becoming one's own object of desire," which is the opposite of what Mulvey proposed had prevented men from being objectified by the cinematic gaze. Doane concludes that female spectators are afforded two options, or what she called a "transvestite metaphor": to identify with the passive positions female characters are subject to in cinematic male gaze representation, or to identify with the masochistic position of the male gaze as a sort of defiance to the patriarchal assumptions which define femininity as a closeness.


title: Male gaze

text: In "Networks of Remediation" (1999), Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin said that Mulvey's "male gaze" coincides with "the desire for visual immediacy" — the erasure of the visual medium for uninhibited interaction with the person portrayed — which is identified in feminist film theory as the "male desire that takes an overt sexual meaning when the object of representation, and therefore desire, is a woman." Bolter and Grusin proposed the term "hypermediacy" — drawing the spectator's attention to the medium (or media) and to the process of mediation present in an artwork — to be a form of the female gaze, because it "is multiple and deviant in its suggestion of multiplicity — a multiplicity of viewing positions, and a multiplicity of relationships, to the object in view, including sexual objects"; thus, like the female gaze, hypermediacy disrupts the myopic and monolithic male gaze, by offering more angles of viewing.


title: Male gaze

text: Photographer Farhat Basir Khan said that the female gaze is inherent to photographs taken by a woman, which perspective negates the stereotypical male-gaze perspective inherent to "male-constructed" photographs, which, in the history of art, have presented and represented women as objects, rather than as persons. The female gaze was the subject of the "Feminigraphy" exhibition, curated by Khan, at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in January 2017.


title: Male gaze

text: As a part of the feminization of the male gaze, many scholars refer to what is known as the Medusa theory, or the idea that women who take up the female gaze are characterized as dangerous monsters, for men both desire and fear a gaze that objectifies them in the way a male gaze reduces a woman to a mere object. Scholar Susan Bower's 1990 piece "Medusa and the Female Gaze" more deeply examines this phenomenon, which begins when the woman who sees that she is being seen (by the male gaze) deconstructs and rejects her own objectification. A crucial aspect of the male gaze appears to be its subdued, unquestioned existence, which the female gaze disrupts as women acknowledge themselves as the object and refuse to accept this position by returning an equally objectifying gaze. Bowers uses the example of George Grosz's illustration "Sex Murder on Ackerstrasse (Lustmord in der Ackerstrasse)" to demonstrate how "without a head, the woman in the drawing can threaten neither the man with her nor the male spectator with her own subjectivity. Her mutilated body is a symbol of how men have been able to deal with women by relegating them to visual objectivity". As such, just as in Greek mythology, it requires the violent dismemberment of women's heads - symbolizing their capacity to return an equally objectifying gaze to the male character - in order to subjugate the female gaze to acceptable heteropatriarchal norms.


title: Male gaze

text: In the essay "The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators" (1997) bell hooks argues that Black women are placed outside the "pleasure in looking" by being excluded as subjects of the male gaze. Beyond the exclusivity of sex/sexuality as signifiers of difference, bell hooks addresses through oppositional gaze theory how the power in looking is also defined along lines of race. From her interpretation of Mulvey's essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975), hooks said that "from a standpoint that acknowledges race, one sees clearly why Black women spectators, not duped by mainstream cinema, would develop an oppositional gaze" to the male gaze. In relation to Lacan's mirror stage, during which a child develops the capacity for self-recognition, and thus the ideal ego, the oppositional gaze functions as a form of looking back, in search of the Black female body within the cinematic idealization of white womanhood.


title: Male gaze

text: As hooks states, the black female spectator identifies "with neither the phallocentric gaze nor the construction of white womanhood as lack," and thus, "critical black female spectators construct a theory of looking relations where cinematic visual delight is the pleasure of interrogation". This pleasure of interrogation stems from a reaction to cinematic representation which "denies the 'body' of the black female so as to perpetuate white supremacy and with it a phallocentric spectatorship where the woman to be looked at and desired is white". Through a perspective that accounts for signifiers of difference that lie outside the exclusivity of previously perpetuated lines of sex/sexuality, hooks is able to curate an entirely organic pleasure in looking, not associated with the scopophilia Mulvey originally outlined.


title: Male gaze

text: In the context of feminist theory, the absence of discussion of racial relations, within the "totalizing category [of] Women", is a process of denial that refutes the reality that the criticism of many feminist film critics concerns only the cinematic presentation and representation of white women. In the course of being interviewed by hooks, a working-class Black woman said that "to see black women in the position [that] white women have occupied in film forever . . .", is to see a transfer without transformation; therefore, the oppositional gaze encompasses intellectual resistance, and understanding and awareness of the politics of race and of racism via cinematic whiteness, inclusive of the male gaze.


title: Male gaze

text: The oppositional gaze has been the subject of feminist artist like Carrie Mae Weems, who explores the relationship between audience and object through a racialized scope.


title: Male gaze

text: Much theorization of the male gaze has remained inside the heteropatriarchal paradigm concerning only sexual relationships between men and women, but scholars like Karen Hollinger have extended gaze theory to include queer cinematic representation, such as the conceptualization of a lesbian gaze. Hollinger conceptualizes the lesbian gaze as a mutual gaze extended between two women, making neither and both the object and subject of a gaze. The absence of a heterosexual male presence to enable a controlling male gaze within the lesbian film genre begins to dismantle the patriarchal hegemony perpetuated by the male gaze. The female gaze is also further developed in lesbian gaze theory, where cinematic lesbians are "simultaneously both subject and object of the look and consequently of female desire". This is especially evident in what Hollinger references as "ambiguous lesbian cinema," where "the sexual orientation of its female characters is never made explicit, and viewers are left to read the text largely as they wish," preventing the fetishization of the lesbian identity by heterosexual male viewers by blurring the line between plutonic and platonic relationships between women.


title: Male gaze

text: Another scholar, Danielle Lefebvre, suggests that there is a degree of affirmation found in the everyday manifestation of the male gaze for trans women. Lefebvre states that "when the male gaze is affirming and one’s identity is validated, it may be a motivator to continue to conform to consistently be correctly gendered and avoid harm for not conforming". Manifestations of the male gaze can be affirming for trans women whose gender performance of femininity gains acceptance when it is subjected to the objectified position of the feminine by a male audience. While Lefebvre points out the ways in which trans women can benefit from the male gaze, she also discusses the negative effects that it can have on cis men. She argues that when cis men exhibit feminine traits they often face backlash, including sexual harassment from their communities. “The goal of sexual harassment is to enforce traditional masculinity and ‘punish’ men who do not conform to these norms”. While these gender norms can benefit trans women they harm cis men due to the cultural basis that men are dominant and masculine while women are submissive and feminine. It is this notion that exacerbates the male gaze.


title: Male gaze

text: Some scholars have also hypothesized that cinematic male gaze acts as a "safety valve for homoerotic tensions," where these sexual tensions are projected onto female characters as a negation of male homoeroticism in popular genres like action movies or buddy comedies. One of these scholars, Patrick Shuckmann, finds that homoerotic gaze theory reframes female objectification in male character's relationship to female characters' existence as an Other, an alternative upon which the homoeroticism can be redirected away from male character relationships. In other words, women in film are not just objects of desire, they are objects of displaced desire. To demonstrate that the purpose of women on the screen is to validate heterosexuality, in a context where it is otherwise subverted by homoerotic images, Shuckmann introduces three plot contexts where the male gaze is crucial in de-eroticizing male character relationships on screen. The first, is an action plot where two men are engaged in close-combat where the homoerotic close-physical contact is repressed through violence and the male gaze objectifying women becomes a "safety valve" for homoerotic conflict. The second plot describes the buddy movie genre, where homoerotic tension is entirely acknowledged in alluded jokes, but denied through a male-gaze objectification of the heterosexual male-female relationship either male character may possess. Lastly, there is the good versus evil plot genre, where two men share an obsessive, borderline homoerotic, fixation with one another as they repeatedly seek each other out. This genre is usually complemented by a marginal female character who serves no other plot purpose besides to affirm heterosexuality. The movie "Point Break" is an example of the third plot genre, and provides context for the analysis of the male gaze as a tool for subverting repressed male homoeroticism on screen.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the 2003 World Cup (despite a field larger by two teams).


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The 16 competing teams were initially divided into four groups, with the two best-performing teams from each group moving on to a "Super 8" format. From this, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and South Africa won through to the semi-finals, with Australia defeating Sri Lanka in the final to win their third consecutive World Cup and their fourth overall. Australia's unbeaten record in the tournament increased their total to 29 consecutive World Cup matches without loss, a streak dating back to 23 May 1999, during the group stage of the 1999 World Cup. The tournament also saw upsets and surprise results, with pre-tournament favourites India and Pakistan failing to make it past the group stage, while Bangladesh, the second-lowest ranked ICC Full Member at the time, and World Cup debutant Ireland, which was an ICC Associate Member at the time, made it to the "Super 8", beating India and Pakistan respectively en route. Ireland became only the second associate nation to make it past the first round of a Cricket World Cup, the first being Kenya in 2003.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer died the day after Pakistan was knocked out. The following day police announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation. Eight months later, an open verdict was returned.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Following the tournament the ICC distributed surplus tournament revenues of US$239 million to its members.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The World Cup was awarded to the West Indies via the International Cricket Council's rotational policy. It is the first time the ICC Cricket World Cup has been held in the Caribbean despite the fact that the West Indies cricket team had been the second most successful team in past World Cups.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The United States contingent lobbied strongly for matches to be staged at its newly built cricket ground in Lauderhill, Florida, but the ICC decided to award all matches to Caribbean nations. Bids from Bermuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and a second bid by Jamaica were also rejected.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Eight venues across the West Indies were selected to host the World Cup tournament. All host countries hosted six matches with the exceptions of St. Lucia, Jamaica, and Barbados (which hosted the final), each of which hosted seven matches.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The Jamaican government spent US$81 million for "on-the-pitch" expenses. This included refurbishing Sabina Park and constructing the new multi-purpose facility in Trelawny through a loan from China. Another US$20 million was budgeted for 'off-the-pitch' expenses, putting the tally at more than US$100 million or JM$7 billion.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: This put the reconstruction cost of Sabina Park at US$46 million whilst the Trelawny Stadium was estimated to cost US$35 million. The total amount of money spent on stadiums was at least US$301 million.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Brian Lara Stadium, in Trinidad, lost its status as a pre-tournament warm-up match venue on 21 September 2006.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The field of 16 teams, the largest ever for the Cricket World Cup, consisted of all 16 teams which currently held ODI status. This included the ten full members of the ICC, all of which have Test and permanent ODI status. The other six (associate) ODI nations were Kenya (which had ODI status until 2009) and five additional teams (previously three) that qualified via the 2005 ICC Trophy (gaining ODI status until 2009 in the process). These nations included Scotland who won the ICC Trophy, Canada, the Netherlands, and – making their World Cup debuts – Ireland and Bermuda.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The 16 teams had to name their final squads by 13 February 2007. Changes were allowed after this deadline at the discretion of the ICC's Technical Committee in necessary cases, such as due to player injury.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: All major Test-playing nations had schedules allowing them to play a large number of ODI matches against other major ODI teams just prior to the World Cup. Australia, New Zealand, and England took part in the Commonwealth Bank Series where England defeated Australia in the finals. Australia then went to New Zealand for the Chappell–Hadlee Trophy, losing 3–0. South Africa played five ODIs against India (South Africa won 4–0) and five against Pakistan (South Africa won 3–1), while India also played four ODIs against the West Indies (India won 3–1) and four ODIs against Sri Lanka (India won 2–1). Bangladesh played four ODIs against Zimbabwe (Bangladesh won 3–1) and won a tri-series against Canada and Bermuda. The associate ODI teams took part in the World Cricket League, which Kenya won, and were also involved in other series prior to the World Cup.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: "Note: Teams 12–16 did not have official ODI rankings leading up to the World Cup; they are ranked based on their win percentage against full members and then wins against associate members prior to the tournament."


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Prior to the main tournament, all 16 nations played a series of warm-up matches to prepare, experiment with different tactics, and to help them get acclimated to conditions in the West Indies. The warm-up matches were not considered as official ODIs. The matches were played from Monday 5 March until Friday 9 March.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Opening Ceremony was held on Sunday, 11 March 2007, at Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica. It featured over 2,000 dancers and performers representing all strands of West Indian music, from calypso and ragga to reggae and soca. Among the performers were Sean Paul, Byron Lee, Kevin Lyttle, Beres Hammond, Lucky Dube, Buju Banton, Half Pint, Arrow, Machel Montano, Alison Hinds, Tony Rebel, Third World, Gregory Isaacs, David Rudder, Shaggy, the I Threes, and Jimmy Cliff.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The ceremony, attended by several heads of state including the Governor-General of Jamaica, started with an address by Sir Garfield Sobers and included messages from the prime ministers of Jamaica and Grenada.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The matches were One Day Internationals and operated under normal ODI rules. All matches were to be 50 overs a side unless stated otherwise by the umpires or match referee. A bowler was able to bowl a maximum of 10 overs per match.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: In the event of bad weather, each side must have batted a minimum of 20 overs for a result to be declared (if the match was not otherwise won, for example if the team batting second were dismissed before the completion of 20 overs). In the event of bad weather, the Duckworth-Lewis method was to be applied to determine the result or target. If no result was declared on the scheduled day, the teams would return the following day to complete the game, with the same situation as when the game was abandoned.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: There was a new rule regarding referral of catches to the TV replay official (third umpire): if the standing umpires were unable to determine whether a catch had been taken cleanly, and/or whether a claimed catch was a "bump ball", they had discretion to refer the decision to the third umpire. Also, "whilst reviewing such a catch via TV replay" if it was clear to the third umpire that the batsman did not hit the ball, he was to indicate that the batsman was not out.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The top two teams from each group advanced to the Super 8 stage and any points they earned against the other qualifier from their own group was carried through. Points earned against the non-qualifying teams in the same pool were not carried over. In the Super 8s, each team played the six remaining qualifiers from the other groups and the top four teams went through to the semi-finals. Positions were decided by most points. Where two or more teams were tied on points, the following methods in turn were used to decide which team went through:


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The umpiring panel for the 2007 Cricket World Cup comprised nine umpires from the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires (the only member not included was Darrell Hair), and nine umpires from the international panel. The refereeing panel consisted of seven members from the Elite Panel of ICC Referees, with Clive Lloyd not being included due to his role as the West Indies's team manager. Aleem Dar went on to stand as an umpire in his first World Cup final, alongside Steve Bucknor who appeared in his fifth final in a row, extending his record of four from the 2003 World Cup.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The tournament began with a league stage consisting of four groups of four. Each team played each of the other teams in its group once. Australia, India, England, and the West Indies were placed in separate pools for logistical reasons, as they were expected to have the most supporters in attendance, and transport and accommodation capacity in the West Indies was limited.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The groups are listed below, with seedings (rankings from April 2005) shown in brackets. Each group played all of its matches at a single ground.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The tournament was preceded by a number of warm-up matches to allow the players to acclimatise to the conditions in the West Indies. The group stage matches started on 13 March and finished on 25 March. There were a total of 24 matches played in the group stage.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The top two teams in each group proceeded to the "Super 8" stage which also used a league system. Each team carried forward its result against the other team qualifying from its preliminary stage group, and played the other six qualifying teams once each. The top four teams in the league qualified for the semi-finals. This system was modified since the previous World Cup, which had a "Super 6" stage rather than a Super 8. The Super 8 stage matches were played from Tuesday 27 March until Saturday 21 April. A total of 24 matches were played in the Super 8 stage.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The top four teams in the "Super 8" advanced to the semi-finals. This was the knockout stage, with the No. 1 team playing the No. 4 team, and the No. 2 team playing the No. 3 team in the tournament. The winners of the two semi-finals played each other in the Final.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: All tournament matches had one reserve day (the day after the scheduled day of the match) to allow for matches to be completed in the event of bad weather.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The top two teams in each first-round group moved on to a "Super 8" stage which was scored as a complete round-robin. However, each of the eight teams played only six new matches, rather than seven – each group's two representatives carried forward their result against each other rather than play again. Thus the table below, showing seven matches for each team, covers all matches between the Super 8 qualifiers, including those from the Group Stage.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: This was the first World Cup final to be a repeat: the sides previously met in the 1996 World Cup final, which Sri Lanka won. Australia had won every World Cup match against Sri Lanka apart from that loss. The match was Sri Lanka's second World Cup final appearance, and Australia's fourth in a row and sixth overall.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat. However, the start of play was delayed due to rain, and the match was reduced to 38 overs per side. Wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist played an innings of 149 – the highest for any batsman in a World Cup final – to give Australia an imposing total going in at the break.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: While Sri Lankan batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya were adding 116 for the second wicket, the contest was alive, but after the pair got out, Sri Lanka's chances slowly diminished. Further rain forced the reduction of Sri Lanka's innings to just 36 overs, with the target revised to 269. At the end of the 33rd over, with Sri Lanka still trailing the adjusted Duckworth-Lewis target by 37 runs, the umpires suspended the game due to bad light. While Australia's players began to celebrate their victory (since the minimum 20 overs had been reached), the umpires incorrectly announced that because the match was suspended due to light and not rain, the final three overs would have to be bowled the following day. With Sri Lanka needing 61 runs from 18 deliveries, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene agreed there was no need to return the following day, and instructed his team to resume batting; Ponting agreed to play only spin bowlers. The last three overs were played in almost complete darkness, during which Sri Lanka added just nine runs to give Australia a 53-run victory by the D-L method. The umpires later apologised for their error, saying that the match should have ended then with Australia winning by 37 runs.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Australia won the tournament undefeated, extending their streak of World Cup matches without a loss to 29. Australian bowler Glenn McGrath was named 'Player of the Series' and retired from all forms of international cricket.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead on 18 March 2007, one day after his team's defeat to Ireland put them out of the running for the World Cup. Jamaican police performed an autopsy which was deemed inconclusive. The following day police announced that the death was suspicious and ordered a full investigation. Further investigation revealed the cause of death was "manual strangulation", and that the investigation would be handled as a murder. After a lengthy investigation the Jamaican police rescinded the comments that he was murdered, and confirmed that he died from natural causes. In November 2007, an open verdict was returned.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The 2007 World Cup organisers were criticised early on for being over-commercialised and, in particular, the generally smaller crowds have been blamed on the ICC's security restrictions on things such as outside food, signs, replica kits, and musical instruments, despite Caribbean cricketing customs, as well as the authorities being accused of "running [cricket and cricketing traditions] out of town, then sanitising it out of existence". Sir Viv Richards echoed the concerns. The ICC were also condemned for high prices of tickets and concessions, which were considered unaffordable for the local population in many of the locations. ICC CEO, Malcolm Speed, said that the ICC recognised the problem but said it was the local organisers' fault. However, the later matches had more crowds as the tournament progressed with the local organisers easing restrictions. Although it did not meet the target of US$42 million, the US$32 million revenue from ticket sales was the highest of any Cricket World Cup and double that of the previous World Cup.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The World Cup was also criticised by the BCCI for its format because India failed to move on from the group stage after losing two of their three matches. The BCCI later claimed it would see to it that the ICC alter its format for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The elimination of both India and Pakistan also caused a large exodus of subcontinental fans from the Caribbean, and removed the prospect of an India vs Pakistan Super Eights match, generally considered one of the most revenue generating and electric matches in the tournament.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The tournament was also criticised as being too long. At 6 weeks, it was the same length as the 2003 World Cup, but longer than the 5-week 1999 World Cup and the 4-week 1996 World Cup. The famous West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding also criticised the qualification process for the 2007 World Cup. Holding expressed doubts over the benefit to less-established teams of turning up and being heavily defeated. However, former Scotland captain George Salmond claims that the opportunity to play one-day cricket against the bigger teams is invaluable for smaller teams such as his own, and questioned the validity of Holding's statements. The majority of the experts and players participating in the tournament backed up the smaller teams taking part in the World Cup. This was further backed up with Ireland and Bangladesh making the Super 8s and being competitive and sportsmanlike throughout the tournament.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: Further criticism was generated by the confusion at the end of the final match: the umpires announced that play was suspended due to bad light, which caused the Australian team to erupt in celebration as the scoreboard and official announcements declared Australia the winners. However, the umpires incorrectly insisted that the game was only suspended and not completed, and that 3 overs remained to be played, so in farcical light conditions, Sri Lanka batted out the remaining 3 overs following a gentleman's agreement between the two captains. The umpires and the ICC apologised for the unnecessary situation and cited it as an unnecessary fundamental error due to the pressure of the situation. In June, the ICC announced that the officials involved – onfield umpires Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar, reserve umpires Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden, and match referee Jeff Crowe – would all be suspended from the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: A number of preparation problems surfaced before the start of the World Cup. Some of the venues were not complete by the opening ceremony on 11 March 2007. At Sabina Park, seats had to be removed at the newly constructed north-stand due to safety concerns. At Trelawny Stadium in Jamaica, ground staff were unable to gain admission to the ground during the warm-up matches due to accreditation problems. Additionally, South Africa and Australia both expressed concerns over practice facilities.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The World Cup had grown as a media event with each tournament. The sponsorship and television rights that were awarded primarily to cover the 2003 and 2007 World Cups raised over US$550 million. The 2007 World Cup was televised in over 200 countries to a viewing audience estimated at more than two billion viewers and was expected to generate more than 100,000 unique visitors to the West Indies travelling solely for the tournament.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The 2007 Cricket World Cup featured an orange, anthropomorphic raccoon-like creature named "Mello" as its mascot. It was announced during matches that Mello had no race, species, age or gender – it was an attitude, the attitude of the young people of the West Indies. The official song for the World Cup was "The Game of Love and Unity" by Jamaican-born Shaggy, Barbadian entertainer Rupee, and Trinidadian Fay-Ann Lyons.


title: 2007 Cricket World Cup

text: The 2007 tournament recorded the highest ticket sales for a Cricket World Cup, selling more than 672,000. Attendance leading into the semi-finals for the 2007 World Cup was 403,000, an average of 8,500 supporters per match.


title: Brett Somers

text: Brett Somers (born Audrey Dawn Johnston; July 11, 1924 – September 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American game-show personality, actress, and singer. Brett was best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show "Match Game" and for her recurring role as Blanche Madison opposite her real-life husband, actor Jack Klugman, on "The Odd Couple".


title: Brett Somers

text: Born Audrey Dawn Johnston in Halcomb, near Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada, Somers grew up near Portland, Maine. At age 18, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting, settling in Greenwich Village. Her chosen first name, Brett, came from the lead female character in Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises". Her chosen last name, Somers, was her mother's maiden name.


title: Brett Somers

text: After settling in New York she married businessman Robert H. Klein in 1948. The marriage produced one child, Leslie Klein (who died of lung cancer in 2003), and ended in divorce. She married actor Jack Klugman in 1953; they had two sons, David and Adam.


title: Brett Somers

text: It was long reported that Somers and Klugman separated in 1974 but remained legally married until her death; this mistaken belief was furthered by the fact that Klugman waited until after Somers died to marry his second wife. However, California court records indicate the couple actually divorced in August 1977. Somers became a U.S. citizen late in life.


title: Brett Somers

text: A member of the Actors Studio from 1952, Somers began her career in theater and made many of her initial television appearances in dramatic programs such as "The Philco Television Playhouse", "Kraft Television Theatre", "Playhouse 90", "The Naked City" and "Robert Montgomery Presents".


title: Brett Somers

text: Her Broadway debut was in the play "Maybe Tuesday". The show was a flop and closed after just five performances. She also appeared onstage in productions of "Happy Ending", "The Seven Year Itch" and "The Country Girl", the last opposite Klugman. She also amassed a number of film credits, including "A Rage to Live" and "Bus Riley's Back in Town".


title: Brett Somers

text: Somers made many appearances on episodic primetime television, including "Love, American Style", "The Defenders", "Have Gun Will Travel", "Ben Casey", "CHiPs", "The Love Boat", "Barney Miller" and "The Fugitive". In 1973 she played Rhoda Morgenstern's Aunt Rose in the season four episode "Rhoda's Sister Gets Married" on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".


title: Brett Somers

text: She had a recurring role as Blanche, the former wife of Oscar Madison (played by real-life spouse Jack Klugman) on the ABC sitcom "The Odd Couple" in the early 1970s. In 1973 she played Perry Mason's receptionist Gertie on "The New Perry Mason", a short-lived revival of the classic TV series, with Monte Markham as Perry Mason. She played the role of Siress Belloby on the 1978 science-fiction series "Battlestar Galactica".


title: Brett Somers

text: Somers was best known for her appearances as a panelist in the 1970s CBS game show "Match Game". For her debut episodes she sat in the lower-left panel position, but for the remainder of her tenure she occupied the center seat of the upper tier, most often next to Charles Nelson Reilly, who joined as a regular around the same time as Brett and settled into the top-right seat. She was clearly left-handed as she was always seen writing her answers with her left hand.


title: Brett Somers

text: The show became known for somewhat outlandish and risque dialogue, sometimes being described as a game played at a cocktail party. Somers was a familiar on-screen presence, wearing enormous eyeglasses and various wigs. She played foil to Charles Nelson Reilly, Betty White, Scoey Mitchell, Fannie Flagg and many others. Somers was sometimes the subject of questions on "Match Game", such as "You may or may not believe in reincarnation, but listen to this. In a previous life, Brett used to be a ________."


title: Brett Somers

text: Somers was not originally considered for the celebrity panel. When spouse Jack Klugman appeared during the first week of the program in 1973, he insisted that the producers bring her aboard. She remained a regular panelist for the rest of the show's nine-year network and syndicated run. Her appearances on "Match Game" led radio personality Robin Quivers to impersonate her in parodies of such game shows on "The Howard Stern Show". Quivers' impersonation of Somers was featured in the film "Private Parts".


title: Brett Somers

text: In 2002, she appeared with Charles Nelson Reilly and Betty White (via videolink) as part of a "Match Game" reunion on the CBS program "The Early Show". She appeared with Reilly on "Hollywood Squares" during that show's "Game Show Week" in the same year. She appeared in a cabaret show "An Evening with Brett Somers" in 2003–04. In 2004, she appeared on the PBS concert special "Magic Moments – The Best of '50s Pop". In the two-minute segment, hosted by Wink Martindale, Somers was a member of a faux quiz-show panel with Dr. Joyce Brothers and Rip Taylor. In 2006, she was a prominent interviewee in "The Real Match Game Story: Behind The Blank" on GSN and hosted the "Match Game" DVD as well.


title: Brett Somers

text: During a 2002 interview Somers denied rumors that she had cancer, which she reiterated in later interviews. Somers had a naturally husky voice that might have caused the misconception that she suffered from a throat ailment. However, she "was" diagnosed with cancer in 2004. Following a period of remission, she died on September 15, 2007, at her home in Westport, Connecticut, at age 83. Her younger son, Adam, gave the cause of her death as stomach and colon cancer.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: "Fly" is the tenth episode of the third season of American television crime drama series "Breaking Bad", and the 30th overall episode of the series. Written by Sam Catlin and Moira Walley-Beckett and directed by Rian Johnson, it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on May 23, 2010.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: Produced as a "bottle episode", "Fly" differs from the other episodes in its slow pacing, absence of most other major characters, and relative lack of action. It was highly acclaimed by critics, and some have considered it to be one of the greatest episodes of the series.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: Walter "Walt" White, suffering from insomnia, stares up at his smoke detector's flashing light while trying to get back to sleep. Later, he arrives with Jesse Pinkman at the meth lab, where they begin making another batch of meth. At the end of the day, Walt calculates that their yield, while above what they are required to produce, falls short of what he expects. Jesse, who has been secretly taking small amounts for personal distribution, suggests it may be from spillage or other losses, but Walt insists there is another reason.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: After Jesse leaves for the day, Walt sees a housefly in the lab, which he fears could contaminate the meth-making process. He tries numerous means to swat it, even dangling precariously from the lab's catwalk, from which he slips and falls to the floor. When Jesse returns the next day, he finds Walt still in pain from the fall and demanding that they cannot start cooking until they get rid of the fly. Jesse worries about Walt's lack of sleep and suggests they go outside to figure it out. However, when Jesse leaves, Walt locks him out of the lab and goes back to find the fly. When Jesse disconnects the main power to the lab, Walt lets him back in so they can work together. Jesse gets some flypaper which they hang around the lab, as well as some sleeping pills that he secretly puts into Walt's coffee. He then recounts a story about his late aunt, who experienced auditory hallucinations as a result of her cancer spreading to her brain. Walt asserts that he is still in remission.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: As they wait to catch the fly, the two talk about their families. Walt states that he should have died already and tries to think of the perfect moment to have done so: after he had enough money, after his daughter Holly was born, before his surgery and before Skyler knew what he had been doing. He finally decides the perfect moment to die would have been the night Jane Margolis died, telling Jesse of his conversation with her father Donald. He tries to calculate the chances of meeting both father and daughter in different scenarios on the same night despite having never met either beforehand, but finds the odds too astronomical to calculate. Jesse is distracted when he sees the fly near the ceiling. As he tries to use a step-ladder to reach the fly, an increasingly-sleepy Walt seems poised to confess to Jesse about his role in Jane's death. Jesse tells him Jane's death was nobody's fault, but he still misses her. Jesse climbs back down and, seeing the fly land on the ladder, swats and kills it.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: Jesse takes a sleeping Walt to a couch while he cleans up the lab and prepares for their next batch. They later leave together, but Walt warns Jesse that if he has been skimming from their product, he will not be able to protect him if Gus Fring finds out. Jesse denies taking anything and states that he is not asking anyone to protect him. That night, Walt is awakened by buzzing, and sees a fly landing on the smoke detector's flashing light.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: "Fly" was produced as a result of the series' considerable budgetary restrictions and being unable to afford the $25,000–$35,000 needed to move the production trucks to a new location. Series creator Vince Gilligan remarked: "We were hopelessly over budget ... And we needed to come up with what is called a bottle episode, set in one location." The episode was written by Sam Catlin and Moira Walley-Beckett, and directed by Rian Johnson; it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on May 23, 2010.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: Along with extras in the laundromat, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are the only two actors who appear in the episode. Series regulars Dean Norris (Hank), Betsy Brandt (Marie), and RJ Mitte (Walt Jr.) are credited but do not appear. Anna Gunn (Skyler)'s voice is heard in the episode, but it is reused audio from the second-season episode "Phoenix".


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: Gilligan noted that the limited setting and cast allowed for a slower pace and deeper exploration of character traits and motives:


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: The episode's original broadcast was viewed by 1.20 million people, which was a decrease from the 1.62 million of the previous episode, "Kafkaesque". It has the second-lowest number of viewers on its original broadcast of any season-three episode, just ahead of "Half Measures" (1.19 million).


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: "Fly" has been widely acclaimed by critics, particularly for its cinematography and its method of developing the relationship between Walter and Jesse. Donna Bowman of "The A.V. Club" gave "Fly" an A grade, praising Rian Johnson's direction and remarking that the episode "would have been stellar even with more conventional direction, but with the unhinged images and bold juxtapositions Johnson provides, it's one of the most distinctive hours of television we're likely to see this year." In "Time", James Poniewozik called it "the most unusual and very possibly best episode of "Breaking Bad" so far", comparing it favorably to "The Sopranos" "Pine Barrens". In "Entertainment Weekly", Ken Tucker said he would be "shocked if both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul don't use the episode for Emmy consideration", and lauded it for "[opening] up to become an opportunity for Walt and Jesse to explain more fully the sadnesses and regrets they have over everything".


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: Alan Sepinwall, writing for "HitFix", speculated that "Fly" may be "the best bottle show ever" and remarked in the subtitle of his review that the budget-saving approach ended up leading to "an instant classic". Emma Dibdin of "Digital Spy", Kathryn Kernohan of Junkee, and Kaitlin Thomas of TV.com have all ranked it among the show's best episodes. In 2013, Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for "Vulture", named "Fly" the greatest episode of the entire series, calling it a "perfect "Breaking Bad" episode and a perfect hour of television". The same year, it was ranked fifth in "Entertainment Weekly"s ranking of all 62 episodes from best-to-worst, with Darren Franich writing, "Some people despise 'Fly' for its artsy pretensions and its go-nowhere plot arc. Others frankly think it belongs much higher on this list. But we can all agree that 'Fly' is one of the great bottle episodes of the new golden age of TV." Ian Sandwell named this episode as number one best bottle episode.


title: Fly (Breaking Bad)

text: However, Tasha Robinson of "The A.V. Club" argued that the episode presents "a vision of Walt that did not in any way coincide with the mental image I'd built of him over the course of the series, as a self-justifying, angry man who could be a real badass when required: Instead, we have to see him as irrational and petty to the point of rank stupidity, taking moronic action after action that clearly risks his safety and well-being ... all to catch a fly." Robinson "hated it", writing about the episode for an article in which numerous writers for the site discussed what they thought were the weakest episodes of great shows.


title: Hang the DJ

text: "Hang the DJ" is the fourth episode of the fourth series of the British anthology series "Black Mirror". It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by Tim Van Patten. The episode first aired on Netflix, along with the rest of series four, on 29 December 2017. It follows Amy (Georgina Campbell) and Frank (Joe Cole), who are matched into relationships for fixed lengths of time by an algorithm that eventually determines their life-long partner.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The episode was inspired by the streaming service Spotify, as Brooker considered a system which gives people "playlists" of relationships. The production designer Joel Collins's visit to an expensive holiday area became the basis for the setting, while the simulation ending and app display had to be simplified and reworked to avoid audience confusion.


title: Hang the DJ

text: Critics drew parallels between the episode and online dating through apps such as Tinder, and made comparisons to the series three episode "San Junipero", among other works. The episode received positive reception according to Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for three British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), but critics wrote mixed comments about the storyline and the final twist, though were mostly favourable towards the characters of Frank and Amy.


title: Hang the DJ

text: Frank (Joe Cole) and Amy (Georgina Campbell) use a circular device called "Coach" that matches them with partners for fixed periods of time. They are matched together for 12 hours. Despite initial nerves, they quickly get on and regret not having sex as they part. Coach (voice of Gina Bramhill) tells them the system monitors each relationship to assign them a lifelong partner on "pairing day", with a success rate of 99.8%.


title: Hang the DJ

text: Frank's next match Nicola (Gwyneth Keyworth) immediately disdains him, but they are paired for a year. Meanwhile, Amy finds her nine-month match Lenny (George Blagden) attractive. Amy and Frank meet again, at an event where a couple talk about their successful pairing. Amy begins to find Lenny's mannerisms tiresome, particularly his heavy exhalations. After the relationship ends, she is repeatedly matched with people for 36 hours; having sex with each match, she begins to dissociate over the matches' pointlessness.


title: Hang the DJ

text: After Frank's match ends, he and Amy are matched again and they agree not to check the time length, to avoid preconceptions. They enjoy having sex for the first time and talk about how the system might work. One night, Frank checks the expiry date. It initially says five years but recalibrates, as Frank's betrayal of their agreement has destabilised it, until it reads 20 hours. Frank is distracted the next day as Amy notices every pebble she skips hits the water four times; he admits what has happened with an hour remaining. She is furious and he is heartbroken.


title: Hang the DJ

text: They continue matches to no avail. The evening before Amy's pairing day, she chooses Frank for her one permitted farewell session before skipping Coach across a swimming pool. At dinner with Frank, whose pairing day is also tomorrow, she encourages him to leave with her. Recognising that neither of them have memories prior to the system, she thinks the world is a test and they must rebel. A man with a taser approaches; Amy touches the taser and it stops working, and the people in the restaurant freeze. Frank and Amy run and scale a wall that separates the outside world. The world is a simulated reality, one of 1000, and one of 998 in which Frank and Amy rebelled. In the real world, Amy's dating application says Frank is a 99.8% match and they make eye contact for the first time across a bar, as "Panic" by the Smiths plays.


title: Hang the DJ

text: Whilst series one and two of "Black Mirror" were shown on Channel 4 in the UK, in September 2015 Netflix commissioned the series for 12 episodes, and in March 2016 it outbid Channel 4 for the rights to distribute the series in the UK, with a bid of $40 million. The 12-episode order was divided into two series of six episodes each, with "Hang the DJ" in the latter group. The six episodes in series four were released on Netflix simultaneously on 29 December 2017. "Hang the DJ" is listed as the fourth episode, but as "Black Mirror" is an anthology series, each instalment can be watched in any order.


title: Hang the DJ

text: According to the executive producer Annabel Jones, "Hang the DJ" reflects on the state of dating in the present day and a "general sense of loneliness". The episode originated from series creator and episode writer Charlie Brooker, who conceived of the Coach dating application by analogy with the audio streaming platform Spotify: it determines a "playlist" of relationships that one should have before settling down with a partner. It was not obvious what storyline could be developed when the dating application users' experience was predetermined. Variations were considered and one idea floated was that the app could learn from each relationship. Amy and Frank being driven apart before reuniting was a desired narrative arc, and became possible when the twist was introduced. The script was rushed because of its deadline at a busy point in the production cycle.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The episode is similar to series three episode "San Junipero" in its positivity, in contrast to other instalments. Brooker was concerned about fans disliking the "light and playful comic tone" of "Hang the DJ" and was initially reluctant to write a happy ending. However, he expected people to enjoy Amy and Frank's relationship, having seen positive audience reaction to Kelly and Yorkie in "San Junipero". Both episodes reveal in a twist that the setting is a simulated reality. One challenge with "Hang the DJ" was to keep this unclear until the very end while still making the viewer aware that the setting is unusual. In one scene, Frank and Amy suggest that the world is simulated, as a "double-bluff" from Brooker.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The writers discussed how long Frank should initially see as his second relationship length with Amy. Brooker said their ultimate decision of five years is "a reasonable amount of time for a serious relationship", but Frank is disappointed to discover this as it means the relationship will end. Frank observing the relationship time caused a structural issue in the script, but the scene was seen as important and so the script was reworked around this idea.


title: Hang the DJ

text: Brooker imagined that the simulation would be run using cloud computing. The idea that it runs 1000 copies of the world simultaneously was first considered for a previous episode "White Christmas". In the episode, a simulated copy of a person confesses to a crime. Someone asked Brooker whether this would be admissible evidence and he replied that the simulation could be repeated, with a slightly different setting each time, to increase reliability. For simulated couples who did not rebel, Brooker said "the system has served its purpose and your reality ends".


title: Hang the DJ

text: American director Tim Van Patten directed the episode. Georgina Campbell was cast as Amy and Joe Cole was cast as Frank. The pair performed a chemistry test before filming, to check they could build a rapport. Campbell found Amy to be "full to the brim with hope", with a "nervous excitement" about dating.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The setting was based on Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire, an expensive holiday area where production designer Joel Collins had attended a birthday party. He described that an "electric milk float" transports people around their cabins and the various clubs and bars. The setting was rewritten around this—having previously been drafted as tower blocks—to resemble Soho Farmhouse, or a holiday village owned by Center Parcs. The geometric design of the world was Collins's idea, intended to resemble the inside of a mobile phone—where various copper and brass lines are arranged on a green plate. Hexagonal patterns and repeated design motifs are used in the scenery as the setting is an algorithmic simulated world. The interface for the Coach app was first designed by Erica McEwan of the graphics department of the production. Further development and animation was undertaken by Painting Practice. Collins said that the round design of Coach was made to distinguish the setting from the real world. Its interface was deliberately minimal, with few buttons; Collins called it "just a circular disc, almost like a discus, with a glass screen".


title: Hang the DJ

text: Some exterior filming took place at Painshill, an eighteenth-century landscape park in Surrey. In one scene, Amy kicks Frank jokingly. However, Campbell's fake kicks looked unrealistic. Van Patten told Campbell to kick Cole for real and she accidentally kicked him hard enough for him to bleed—this was the shot that was used in the episode. Woodland scenes were filmed at Bourne Wood, Surrey.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The plot twist is revealed in a scene where the simulated world disassembles pixel by pixel to be replaced by 1000 copies of Frank and Amy in a black void. This was only described vaguely in the script, so the production took inspiration from 2013 science fiction film "Under the Skin", according to producer Nick Pitt. The cast were confused about the intention during filming for this ending, particularly the footage taken against green screens of characters looking "meaningfully into the middle distance". Jones and Brooker found that their partners did not understand initial cuts of the ending. To establish that the episode's setting had been a simulation, disembodied voice and text reveal that Amy and Frank had "rebelled" 998 out of 1000 times, leading to a 99.8% match for the pair, and dialogue in the previous restaurant scene was simplified. Additionally, visual effects developments led to characters "dematerialising" by a "graceful leaving of their body" rather than "being broken, squashed or incinerated", according to Pitt.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The instrumental soundtrack for "Hang the DJ" was created by Alex Somers, with two pieces contributed by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós, "End" and "Match". The two songs are both ambient music: "End" is a five-minute structured piece featuring vocals by Jónsi, which "Rolling Stone"s Ryan Reed described as post-rock; "Match" is a 90-second segue with a dark tone and use of drones. Somers had previously produced music with the band, including on their most recent album "Kveikur" (2013). In 2018, the soundtrack was released on vinyl by Invada Records.


title: Hang the DJ

text: In May 2017, a Reddit post unofficially announced the names and directors of the six episodes in series 4 of "Black Mirror". The first trailer for the series was released by Netflix on 25 August 2017, and contained the six episode titles. Beginning on 24 November 2017, Netflix published a series of daily posters and trailers for the fourth series, referred to as the "13 Days of "Black Mirror"". The poster for "Hang the DJ" was released on 30 November and the trailer premiered the following day. On 6 December, Netflix published a trailer featuring an amalgamation of scenes from the fourth series, which announced that the series would be released on 29 December.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The episode is a romantic comedy; its subject matter of finding a person their ideal match drew comparisons to other works. Jacob Oller of "Paste" and Louisa Mellor of "Den of Geek" compared it to "The Lobster" (2015), a film in which single people are coerced into finding relationships. Mellor and "Vulture"s Jen Chaney made comparisons to "The Good Place" (2016–2020), a television programme which begins with characters in the afterlife being matched with their soulmates. Other comparisons were made to media which revolve around a person being constantly monitored, such as the 1998 film "The Truman Show" and the 1949 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Mellor also saw the ending as like that of the film "When Harry Met Sally..." (1989), as "the couple who met right at the start end up together, and they're a near-perfect match".


title: Hang the DJ

text: Comparisons were also made to other "Black Mirror" episodes, particularly series three's "San Junipero". Kathryn VanArendonk of "Vulture" found that both episodes were intended as hopeful, and showed "love enabled by technological advancement and two people choosing one another over the world they know". Shirley Li of "Entertainment Weekly" saw similarities like "the star-crossed couple" and "the impossible parameters set around them" but also found "Hang the DJ" to be "more absurd, more sinister, and less optimistic and warm in its conclusion". Sophie Gilbert of "The Atlantic" saw the twist as also relating to other episodes featuring simulated people, including "USS Callister" and "White Christmas". Additionally, "The Atlantic"s Hannah Giorgis later compared it to the television anthology series "Soulmates" (2020), which also stars Campbell and was co-created by "Black Mirror" writer William Bridges. It follows a near-future in which there is a scientific basis for determining one's "soulmate" with complete accuracy. Giorgis wrote that in both works, "romantic tension is just a proxy for larger questions about safety, security, and belonging".


title: Hang the DJ

text: During "Hang the DJ", Frank suggests to Amy that they are in a simulation, which turns out to be correct. The setting initially presented to the audience raises many questions: Oller said that there are "so many strange and seemingly contradictory hints at the way the world works". Relevant initial questions, according to Gilbert, are: why the characters seem to "live inside some kind of sealed dome"; what happens if they opt out of the system; and "Why, given that Frank and Amy have so much obvious chemistry, isn't the system pairing them up for longer?" She described the location as having an "artificial-world sheen" similar to that seen in series three's "Nosedive". "The Verge" reviewer Lizzie Plaugic saw the setting as "flat and neutral" and suggested that its display of characters who "generally have nothing to do but kill time" was like that of "a Victorian-novel romance". Mellor saw this "simplicity" and "stylish emptiness" as logical for a "virtual world".


title: Hang the DJ

text: The episode relates to online dating. A Pew Research Center study around the time of the episode found that about a quarter of Americans in the age range 18–24 used dating applications. "Vox"s Abad-Santos listed Bumble, Grindr, Hinge, Scruff and Tinder as popular dating applications. Plaugic saw Coach as "not unlike" the world of dating applications, which "collect enough data to effectively push products at users, or predict human behavior", including apps "that collect data about your dates to determine whether you actually like them". Christopher Hooton, writing in "The Independent", saw a parallel between Frank and Amy's dating and "people who put themselves on a conveyor belt of Tinder dates though they are still not truly over their exes". Gilbert found Amy's "sped-up montage of different relationships and sexual encounters as if outside her own body, detached and dehumanized" to be a possible "critique of Tinder".


title: Hang the DJ

text: Critics offered various suggestions of the episode's meaning. Abad-Santos saw the episode as embodying that "humans will put themselves through anything for that promise of being loved forever". Plaugic wrote that its "anxieties are related to social acceptance, loneliness, and the blank unknown of the future". Though Hooton saw the system as positive, saying the episode is "about how absolutely ingenious they could be in the future without us even really knowing exactly how they come to their conclusions viz. dating algorithms", Devon Maloney of "Wired" said that the system is "intentionally depressing for us as an audience", but marketed to characters "as a solution to the problems that plagued single people of yesteryear". Li opined that the episode shows dating applications both positively and negatively, as the romance of Frank and Amy "has already started off artificially". Zach Handlen of "The A.V. Club" thought that the audience feels a "tension between the fantasy of a world where someone else makes the messy decisions for you, and the reflexive concern that this has to be a trap". Writing in "Den of Geek", Alec Bojalad found Amy and Frank to be "perfect for each other", as they share a sense of humour and "a clear physical connection". Catherine Gee of "The Telegraph" saw them as similarly "sweet" and "goofy" with a fondness for "bad jokes". Abad-Santos interpreted their reaction to each other in the real world as "a wink and a smile, and the flicker of true love". VanArendonk analysed the lyrics "hang the DJ" as "a celebration of fighting the power and doing it for yourself".


title: Hang the DJ

text: Though rated highly according to some metrics, the episode received mixed reception for its storyline and final twist, along with acclaim for the acting and characterisation of Frank and Amy. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has a 92% score based on 24 critics, reflecting universal acclaim. The site's summary describes it as "surprisingly sweet and satisfyingly slight" and with "a welcome dose of optimism". It received a five-star rating in "Den of Geek", a four-star rating from "The Telegraph" and ratings of A− in "Entertainment Weekly" and "The A.V. Club", but a more ambivalent rating of 6.2 out of 10 in "Paste". Maloney praised that it "perfectly captures the modern desperation of trusting algorithms to find us love" and found it moving enough to cry at the ending. Handlen and "Thrillist"s Sean Fitz-Gerald experienced the ending more positively, calling it "a happy ending that still manages to be slightly unexpected" and a "refreshing dose of optimism... that shows this anthology is still at its best when it dares to take risks", respectively.


title: Hang the DJ

text: The storyline received ambivalent reception. Abad-Santos found it "a testament to the episode's storytelling" that the viewer is "attunded" to "the rhythms and structure of the dating app" by the time Frank and Amy choose not to view their expiry date. Gee said that "without being preachy", the story "is more than what it first appears". Writing in "The Guardian", Bakare praised the sex scenes as "easily the funniest thing" in the fourth series. While Gilbert thought it "sagged a little in the middle", Mellor found it "develops into a strong story" over its runtime and Gee thought it was too short, at 51 minutes in length. Plaugic critiqued it as "intriguing, amusing, and sweet" but "not nearly as insightful" as the previous episode "Be Right Back". Hooton said the "in-app world doesn't feel very rich and fully realised".


title: Hang the DJ

text: The twist received mixed reception. Critics such as Bakare praised it. Gilbert said it made the episode "more intriguing" and praised a "masterfully structured" set of hints "at a larger conspiracy" throughout the episode. Mellor concurred that it was "cleverly seeded", such as with Amy's comment about stones skipping four times, and enjoyed the "impressive and poetic visual moments" with the endless ladder and 1000 copies of Frank and Amy. However, VanArendonk saw a contradiction between the storyline and the message of rebellion: "The characters who actually make a choice... get destroyed" and "in real life, Amy and Frank looked down at their phones and trusted an algorithm... We have to root for them to blindly do whatever their phones tell them to do". Bojalad saw this not to be a negative, writing that "the best part" of the episode "is how the tonal and thematic experiences remain the same before and after its twist", because "in both realities... falling in love is the same. It's the experience of rebellion". However, more negative reception to the twist came from Oller, who said it is "undermining its own reveal with its very nature". Handlen found it "a little too neat" and "closed off" for not questioning the feelings or rights of the simulated people. Maloney said it was "admittedly clever" but "can't quite bury the despair" of the work.


title: Hang the DJ

text: Campbell and Cole's acting garnered praise. Fitz-Gerald called their acting "stellar". Gilbert praised them for a "genuine rapport" and Bojalad for "excellent onscreen chemistry"; Mellor wrote that the "chemistry between two very likeable and charismatic leads" is "what really sells this episode". Abad-Santos reviewed that they "anchor the story" and show a vulnerability to each character. Handlen saw the writing, acting and directing as combining to "immediately, but not forcefully, [establish] that these two make a good match". However, Hooton saw that some of the dialogue "dials up the awkwardness way too much" so that the characters "feel more like parodies of millennials than actual ones". Additionally, the soundtrack was praised: Hooton lauded it as "incredible", while Maloney wrote that it was used to enhance "the tenderness" between Frank and Amy in their second relationship.


title: Hang the DJ

text: "Hang the DJ" was ranked as follows on critics' lists of the 23 instalments of "Black Mirror" by quality, from best to worst:


title: Hang the DJ

text: "IndieWire" authors ranked the 22 "Black Mirror" instalments excluding "" by quality, giving "Hang the DJ" a position of 7th. Eric Anthony Glover of "Entertainment Tonight" found the episode to be 14th-best of the 19 episodes from series one to four. Instead of by quality, Proma Khosla of "Mashable" ranked the episodes by tone, concluding that "Hang the DJ" is the least pessimistic episode of the show.


title: Hang the DJ

text: "Hang the DJ" was nominated for four awards: three British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs) and a Black Reel Award.


title: Erotic art

text: Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any artistic work intended to evoke erotic arousal. It usually depicts human nudity or sexual activity, and has included works in various visual mediums, including drawings, engravings, films, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Some of the earliest known works of art include erotic themes, which have recurred with varying prominence in different societies throughout history. However, it has also been widely considered taboo, with either social norms or laws restricting its creation, distribution, and possession. This is particularly the case when it is deemed pornographic, immoral, or obscene.


title: Erotic art

text: The definition of erotic art can be subjective because it is dependent on context, as perceptions of what is "erotic" and what is "art" vary. A sculpture of a phallus in some cultures may be considered a traditional symbol of potency rather than overtly erotic. Material that is produced to illustrate sex education may be perceived by others as inappropriately erotic. "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" defines erotic art as "art that is made with the intention to stimulate its target audience sexually, and that succeeds to some extent in doing so".


title: Erotic art

text: A distinction is often made between erotic art and pornography, which also depicts scenes of sexual activity and is intended to evoke erotic arousal. Pornography is not usually considered fine art. People may draw a distinction based on the work's intent and message: erotic art would be works intended for purposes in addition to arousal, which could be appreciated as art by someone uninterested in their erotic content. US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote in 1964 that the distinction was intuitive, saying about hard-core pornography which would not be legally protected as erotic art, "I know it when I see it".


title: Erotic art

text: Others, including philosophers Matthew Kieran and Hans Maes, have argued that no strict distinction can be made between erotic art and pornography.


title: Erotic art

text: Among the oldest surviving examples of erotic depictions are Paleolithic cave paintings and carvings, but many cultures have created erotic art. Artifacts have been discovered from ancient Mesopotamia depicting explicit heterosexual sex. Glyptic art from the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period frequently shows scenes of frontal sex in the missionary position. In Mesopotamian votive plaques from the early second millennium BC, the man is usually shown entering the woman from behind while she bends over, drinking beer through a straw. Middle Assyrian lead votive figurines often represent the man standing and penetrating the woman as she rests on top of an altar.


title: Erotic art

text: Scholars have traditionally interpreted all these depictions as scenes of ritual sex, but they are more likely to be associated with the cult of Inanna, the goddess of sex and prostitution. Many sexually explicit images were found in the temple of Inanna at Assur, which also contained models of male and female sexual organs, including stone phalli, which may have been worn around the neck as an amulet or used to decorate cult statues, and clay models of the female vulva.


title: Erotic art

text: Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001) is an by Egyptian papyrus scroll discovered at Deir el-Medina, the last two-thirds of which consist of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions. The men in the illustrations are "scruffy, balding, short, and paunchy" with exaggeratedly large genitalia and do not conform to Egyptian standards of physical attractiveness. The women are nubile, and they are shown with objects from traditional erotic iconography, such as convolvulus leaves. In some scenes, they hold items traditionally associated with Hathor, the goddess of love, such as lotus flowers, monkeys, and sacred instruments called sistra. The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292-1075 BC) and its high artistic quality indicates that was produced for a wealthy audience. No other similar scrolls have been discovered.


title: Erotic art

text: The ancient Greeks painted sexual scenes on their ceramics, many of them famous for being some of the earliest depictions of same-sex relations and pederasty, and there are numerous sexually explicit paintings on the walls of ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii. The Moche of Peru in South America are another ancient people that sculpted explicit scenes of sex into their pottery. There is an entire gallery devoted to pre-Columbian erotic ceramics (Moche culture) in Lima at the Larco Museum. Edward Perry Warren adapted a love for Greek Art during college and colleceted Greek erotic art pieces that often represented gay sexual relationships, such as the Warren Cup, a Greaco-roman drinking cup which features scenes of anal sex between males. Many of Warren's eclectic pieces collected over the years are in the Boston Museum of Fine Art.


title: Erotic art

text: There is a long tradition of erotic art in Eastern cultures. In Japan, for example, shunga appeared in the 13th century and continued to grow in popularity until the late 19th century when photography was invented. In Japan during the Edo period (1600-1869), Shunga, translated to "spring pictures," was a series of sexually explicit paintings created with ink or woodblock works that became printed onto paper scrolls as an introduction to sexual education. Shunga, embraced by individuals apart of the Shinto religion, focused on liberating the innate sexual beings that are within all humans, including women and homosexual sexuality. Couples engaging in sexual acts were shown laughing and enjoying the sexual encounter with their partner; this focused on the positivity of sex.


title: Erotic art

text: Around 1700, shunga was met with opposition and banned in Japan, but the circulation of this prominent Erotic Art continued. Shunga could be found in local libraries and homes of many Japanese citizens. Similarly, the erotic art of China reached its popular peak during the latter part of the Ming Dynasty. In India, the famous "Kama Sutra" is an ancient sex manual that is still popularly read throughout the world.


title: Erotic art

text: In Europe, starting with the Renaissance, there was a tradition of producing erotica for the amusement of the aristocracy. The "I Modi" was an erotic book with engravings by Marcantonio Raimondi based on designs by Giulio Romano and created around 1510 to 1520. Sonnets were later written by Pietro Aretino based on these engravings. Erotic Art in Italy took on many forms and Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate rooms in the Vatican, which exclusively housed the religious elite. His death left Romano responsible for completing his final installation in the Vatican housing quarters in the Sala. The Sala was a gathering place for the religious elite. Paintings in this room depicted Emperor Constantine in a manner that illustrated scenes of victorious spiritual conquests of Christianity over Paganism.


title: Erotic art

text: During the time of finishing these works, Romano sketched sexually explicit scenes between mythological famous historical couples. These sketches were made to elicit the simplistic nature of sex between individuals. The "I Modi" gave the public the power to gaze upon material which was banned by the clergy members of the Vatican. The sketches eventually landed into the hands of Marcantonio Raimondi, an engraver who was also classically taught by Raphael. Raimondi published and distributed these prints made by Romano. The engravings quickly gained popularity amongst non-elite people in society and were scattered around Italy's Vatican City. This taboo subject matter in Italy was ordered to be destroyed by Pope Clement. Marcantonio Raimondi was arrested for this reproduction and distribution of "I Modi".


title: Erotic art

text: In 1601, Caravaggio painted the "Amor Vincit Omnia" for the collection of the Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani.


title: Erotic art

text: An erotic cabinet, ordered by Catherine the Great, seems to have been adjacent to her suite of rooms in the Gatchina Palace. The furniture was eccentric, with tables that had large penises for legs. Penises and vaginas were carved on the furniture and the walls were covered in erotic art. The rooms and the furniture were seen in 1941 by two Wehrmacht-officers but they seem to have vanished since then. A documentary by Peter Woditsch suggests that the cabinet was in the Peterhof Palace and not in Gatchina.


title: Erotic art

text: The tradition was continued by other, more modern painters, such as Fragonard, Courbet, Millet, Balthus, Picasso, Edgar Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and Egon Schiele. Schiele served time in jail and had several works destroyed by the authorities for offending contemporary mores with his depictions of nude girls.


title: Erotic art

text: By the 20th century, photography became the most common medium for erotic art. Publishers like Taschen mass-produced erotic illustrations and erotic photography.


title: Erotic art

text: Many erotic artists worked in the 2010s. Much of the genre is still not as well accepted as the more standard genres of art such as portraiture and landscape. Erotic depictions in art went through a fundamental repositioning over the course of the 20th century. Early 20th century movements in art such as cubism, futurism, and German expressionism explored the erotic through manipulating the nude to explore multiple viewpoints, colour experimentation, and the simplification of the figure into geometrical components.


title: Erotic art

text: In the mid 20th century, realism and surrealism offered new modes of representation of the nude. For surrealist artist's, the erotic became a way of exploring ideas of fantasy, the unconscious and the dream state. Artist's such as Paul Delvaux, Giorgio de Chirico and Max Ernst are well-known surrealist artist's that dealt with the erotic directly. In the aftermath of the First World War, a shift away from abstracted human figures of the 1920s and 1930s towards realism took place. Artists such as British Artist Stanley Spencer led this re-appropriated approach to the human figure in Britain, with naked self-portraits of himself and his second wife in erotic settings This is explicitly evident in his work "Double nude portrait," 1937.


title: Erotic art

text: The naked portrait was arguably becoming a category of erotic art that was dominating the 20th century, just as the academic nude had dominated the 19th century. Critical writings on the ‘nude’ and in particular the female 'nude', meant fundamental shifts in how depictions of the nude and the portrayal of sexuality were being considered. Seminal texts such as British Art historian Kenneth Clark's "The nude: a study of ideal art" in 1956 and Art Critic John Berger in 1972 in his book "Ways of Seeing," were re-examining the notion of the naked and the nude within art. This period in art was defined by an acute engagement with the political. It marked a historical moment that stressed the importance of the sexual revolution upon art.


title: Erotic art

text: The 1960s and 1970s were a time of social and political change across the United States and Europe. Movements included the fight for equality for women with a focus on sexuality, reproductive rights, the family, and the workplace. Artists and historians began to investigate how images in Western art and the media, were often produced within a male narrative and particularly how it perpetuated idealisations of the female subject. The questioning and interrogation of the overarching male gaze within the historical art narrative, manifested in both critical writing and artistic practice, came to define much of the mid to late 20th century art and erotic art. American Art Historian Carol Duncan summarises the male gaze and its relationship to erotic art, writing “More than any other theme, the nude could demonstrate that art originates in and is sustained by male erotic energy. This is why many ‘seminal’ works of the period are nudes.” Artists such as Sylvia Sleigh is an example of this reversal of the male gaze as her work depicts male sitters presented in traditional erotic reclining poses that usually were reserved for the female nude as part of the ‘odalisque’ tradition.


title: Erotic art

text: The rise of feminism, the sexual revolution and conceptual art in the mid 20th century meant that the interaction between the image and audience, and the artist and audience, were beginning to be questioned and redefined, opening up new possible areas of practice. Artists began to use their own nude bodies and began to depict an alternative narrative of the erotic, through new lenses. New media was beginning to be used to portray the nude and the erotic, with performance and photography being used by women artists, to draw attention to issues of gender power relations and the blurred boundaries between pornography and art. Artists such as Carolee Schneemann, and Hannah Wilke were using these new mediums to interrogate the constructs of gender roles and sexuality. Wilke's photographs, for instance, satirised the mass objectification of the female body in pornography and advertising.


title: Erotic art

text: Performance art since the 1960s has flourished and is considered as a direct response and challenge to traditional types of media and was associated with the dematerialization of the artwork or object. As performance that dealt with the erotic flourished in the 1980s and 1990s both male and female artists were exploring new strategies of representation of the erotic.


title: Erotic art

text: Martha Edelheit was a female artist known for her contributions to erotic art as a rebellious stance against typical gender roles, which excluded women artists from participating in free sexual expression. This limited women to often be the subject of many famous Erotic Art pieces which catered to men. Edelheit was criticized for being a female artist who created erotic artwork during a time where men were main contributors in this art. Edelheit was a pioneer in the feminist art movement because she was a woman who created erotic art and also depicted herself in many of her works, which paved the way for women's equality in sexual expression.


title: Erotic art

text: Edelheit confronted the common stereotype that this art was pornographic by offering an alternative view of oneself. Her works paved the way for women to openly express sexual desires. Painting nude male subjects were uncommon in the 1970s; her Art turned the tables and allowed for women to be at the forefront of this fem expression revolution that occurred in the 70s.


title: Erotic art

text: The acceptance and popularity of erotic art has pushed the genre into mainstream pop-culture and has created many famous icons. Frank Frazetta, Luis Royo, Boris Vallejo, Chris Achilleos, and Clyde Caldwell are among the artists whose work has been widely distributed. The Guild of Erotic Artists was formed in 2002 to bring together a body of like-minded individuals whose sole purpose was to express themselves and promote the sensual art of erotica for the modern age.


title: Erotic art

text: Between 2010 and 2015 sexologist and gallerist Laura Henkel, curator of the Erotic Heritage Museum and the Sin City Gallery, organised 12 Inches of Sin, an exhibition focussing on art that expresses a diverse view of sexuality and challenging ideas of high and low art. The erotic continues to be explored and employed in new types of art work today and the profound developments of the 20th century still underpin much of the prevailing erotic art and artistic intent.


title: Erotic art

text: Whether or not an instance of erotic art is obscene depends on the standards of the jurisdiction and community in which it is displayed.


title: Erotic art

text: In the United States, the 1973 ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in "Miller v. California" established a three-tiered test to determine what was obscene—and thus not protected, versus what was merely erotic and thus protected by the First Amendment.


title: Erotic art

text: The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.


title: Erotic art

text: As this is still much vaguer than other judicial tests within U.S. jurisprudence, it has not reduced the conflicts that often result, especially from the ambiguities concerning what the "contemporary community standards" are. Similar difficulties in distinguishing between erotica and obscenity have been found in other legal systems.


title: Michael Winslow

text: Michael Leslie Winslow (born September 6, 1958) is an American actor, comedian and beatboxer billed as The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects for his ability to make realistic sounds using only his voice. He is best known for his roles in all seven "Police Academy" films as Larvell Jones. He has also appeared in "Spaceballs", "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" and "Nice Dreams", "The Love Boat", and commercials for Cadbury and GEICO.


title: Michael Winslow

text: Winslow was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of Verdie and Robert Winslow. He grew up at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, and later attended the Lisa Maile School of Acting, Modeling and Imaging.


title: Michael Winslow

text: According to his own account, Winslow had few friends growing up. To pass time, he would imitate the sounds of engines, animals, flatulence, anything that made noise. Following high school and college he performed in nightclubs and theaters, where his sound imitation skills won him positive appraisal and enough money to move to and perform his act in Hollywood.


title: Michael Winslow

text: His first television appearance was on "The Gong Show" in which he squeezed in sound-alikes of Benji the movie dog, "Star Trek", and Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze". He is best known for his role as Larvell Jones in the "Police Academy" series of movies and TV shows. He was cast in the role after he was seen opening for Count Basie. In 1985, Island Records released a 12" of Michael Winslow entitled "I Am My Own Walkman". The song peaked at number 60 in Australia.


title: Michael Winslow

text: In 1986, Winslow presented the Best Sound Effects Editing Oscar to Charles L. Campbell and Robert Rutledge for their work on "Back to the Future".


title: Michael Winslow

text: In 1987, Winslow appeared as a radar operator in the movie "Spaceballs", in which he performs all the sound effects himself during one scene. Mel Brooks (who wrote, directed, produced, and co-starred in the film), stated that by doing so, Winslow saved the film money. Winslow is also a motivational speaker. Since the fall of 2008, Winslow has hosted the motion-picture television series called "Way Back Wednesday with Winslow" on the cable superstation WGN America, which features movies mostly released in the 1980s. He continues to perform stand-up comedy around the globe.


title: Michael Winslow

text: Michael Winslow debuted his own iPhone and iPod Touch apps in 2010, bringing his sound effects and comedy to a mobile platform. ThatsKungFu generates Winslow's kung fu fighting sounds when the device is swung in a fighting motion. NoizeyMan, billed as the "World's Noiziest App", contains video, ringtones, sound effects, and mini games, all created by Winslow.


title: Michael Winslow

text: In 2011, Winslow worked with Orlando, Florida-based game development studio Phyken Media on a mobile game for iOS and Android platforms entitled "Wizard Ops Chapter 1", providing all the sound effects for the game. He also lent his voice on "Wizard Ops Tactics", a turn-based tactical game and spiritual successor to the previous game.


title: Michael Winslow

text: He was also featured in a commercial for GEICO Insurance during their "we hired a celebrity" ad campaign.


title: Michael Winslow

text: In 2021, Winslow auditioned for the sixteenth season of "America's Got Talent." Following the airing of his audition, he had a guest appearance on the Talent Recap Show where he showed viewers how to make some of his most signature noises. Winslow was eliminated during the semi-finals.


title: Michael Winslow

text: In 2022, Winslow was heavily featured in a videogamedunkey YouTube video entitled Video Game Sound. This video brought Winslow's work to a broad audience of video game fans. Videogamedunkey has talked about Winslow since the start of his channel, seemingly being a fan.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: Saigō Kokichi (西郷 小吉) was born in Kajiya, Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain, the eldest son of samurai squire ("koshōkumi") Saigō Kichibē and his wife Masa. He had six siblings and his younger brother was Marshal-Admiral Marquis Saigō Jūdō. His childhood name was Kokichi and he received the given name Takamori in adulthood. He wrote poetry under the name Saigō Nanshū (西郷 南洲).


title: Saigō Takamori

text: Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned, returning power to the Emperor in what came to be known as the Meiji Restoration. However, Saigō was one of the most vocal and vehement opponents to the negotiated solution, demanding that the Tokugawa be stripped of their lands and special status. His intransigence was one of the major causes of the subsequent Boshin War.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: During the Boshin War, Saigō led the imperial forces at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi, and after led the imperial army toward Edo, where he accepted the surrender of Edo Castle from Katsu Kaishū.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: Although Ōkubo Toshimichi and others were more active and influential in establishing the new Meiji government, Saigō retained a key role, and his cooperation was essential in the abolition of the han system and the establishment of a conscript army. In 1871 he was left in charge of the caretaker government during the absence of the Iwakura Mission (1871–73).


title: Saigō Takamori

text: Saigō initially disagreed with the modernization of Japan and the opening of commerce with the West. He famously opposed the construction of a railway network, insisting that money should rather be spent on military modernization.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: Saigō did insist, however, that Japan should go to war with Korea in the Seikanron debate of 1873 due to Korea's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Emperor Meiji as head of state of the Empire of Japan, and insulting treatment meted out to Japanese envoys attempting to establish trade and diplomatic relations. At one point, he offered to visit Korea in person and to provoke a "casus belli" by behaving in such an insulting manner that the Koreans would be forced to kill him. However, the other Japanese leaders strongly opposed these plans, partly from budgetary considerations, and partly from realization of the weakness of Japan compared with the western countries from what they had witnessed during the Iwakura Mission. Saigō resigned from all of his government positions in protest and returned to his hometown of Kagoshima.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: Shortly thereafter, a private military academy known as the Shi-gakkō was established in Kagoshima for the faithful "samurai" who had also resigned their posts to follow him from Tokyo. These disaffected samurai came to dominate the Kagoshima government, and fearing a rebellion, the government sent warships to Kagoshima to remove weapons from the Kagoshima arsenal. This provoked open conflict, although with the elimination of "samurai" rice stipends in 1877, tensions were already extremely high. Although greatly dismayed by the revolt, Saigō was reluctantly persuaded to lead the rebels against the central government.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: The rebels fought two significant battles against the central government: the Siege of Kumamoto Castle and the Battle of Tabaruzaka. Saigō was initially confident of his ability to take Kumamoto Castle, but he had underestimated the effectiveness of the imperial conscripts defending the castle. After a failed assault, Saigō settled for a siege. Imperial reinforcements eventually forced their way through the rebel lines at the Battle of Tabaruzaka, lifting the siege. The remnants of Saigō's army retreated before the advancing imperials, who whittled it down relentlessly. Eventually Saigō and his final remaining samurai were encircled and annihilated at the Battle of Shiroyama.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: During the battle of Shiroyama, Saigō was badly injured in the hip. However, the exact manner of his death is unknown. There are no published reports by eyewitnesses. The accounts of his subordinates claim that he stood up and committed "seppuku" after his injury or that he requested that his friend Beppu Shinsuke assist his suicide. Three firsthand accounts of the condition of his deceased body exist. It is said that he was shot in the femur, then he thrust a sword into his stomach region, then had his head decapitated deliberately by a fellow citizen. All three accounts report that the body was decapitated. Two describe a bullet wound to the hip or thigh. As none of the eyewitness accounts mention a wound to the abdomen, or any fresh sword wound at all, it is unknown if Saigō pierced his stomach with his sword. In debate, some scholars have suggested that neither is the case and that Saigō may have gone into shock following his wound, losing his ability to speak. Several samurai, upon seeing him in this state, would have severed his head, assisting him in the warrior's suicide that they knew he would have wished. Later, they would have said that he committed "seppuku" to preserve his status as a true "samurai".


title: Saigō Takamori

text: It is not clear what was done with Saigō's head immediately after his death. Some legends say Saigō's manservant hid the head, and it was later found by a government soldier. The head was somehow retrieved by government forces and was reunited with Saigō's body, which was laid next to that of his deputies Kirino and Murata. This was witnessed by the American sea captain John Capen Hubbard. A myth persists that the head was never found.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: Multiple legends sprang up concerning Saigō, many of which denied his death. It was believed by some that he had fled to Russia, or ascended to Mars. It was even recorded that his image appeared in a comet near the close of the 19th century, an ill omen to his enemies. Unable to overcome the affection that the people had for this paragon of traditional "samurai" virtues, the Meiji-era government pardoned him posthumously on February 22, 1889. The Japanese people appreciated the fact that he remained loyal to his virtues until his death in 1877.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: A famous bronze statue of Saigō in hunting attire with his dog stands in Ueno Park, Tokyo. Made by Takamura Kōun, it was unveiled on December 18, 1898. Saigō met the noted British diplomat Ernest Satow in the 1860s, as recorded in the latter's "A Diplomat in Japan", and Satow was present at the unveiling as recorded in his diary.


title: Saigō Takamori

text: A Japanese hand fan commemorating the event, which survives in the collection of the Staten Island Historical Society in New York, features a depiction of Saigō Takamori in a scene labeled (in English) "The Battle Near the Citadel of Kumamoto".


title: Springfield, Missouri

text: Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 481,483 in 2021 and includes the counties of Christian, Dallas, Greene, Polk, and Webster, and is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the state of Missouri.


title: Springfield, Missouri

text: Springfield's nickname is "Queen City of the Ozarks" as well as "The 417" after the area code for the city. It is also known as the "Birthplace of Route 66". It is home to several universities and colleges, including Missouri State University, Drury University, and Evangel University. The city is an important center of education and medical care, with two of the largest hospitals in the area, CoxHealth and Mercy, employing over 20,000 people combined, and being the largest employers in the region. It has been called the "Buckle of the Bible Belt" due to its association with evangelical Christianity. The city and surrounding area have been growing more diverse over the decades. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, the population of Greene County grew by over 23,700 people, largely as a result of immigration.


title: Springfield, Missouri

text: The city sits on the Springfield Plateau of the Ozarks. Due to its proximity to the mountainous area, the city is known for its outdoor recreation activities. The city holds nearly 100 city parks and of outdoor bike trails. The city is the headquarters for Bass Pro Shops, which is the number one tourist attraction in the state of Missouri, and the adjoining Wonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquarium is the world's largest wildlife attraction. Springfield is within close distance to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield and sits along the Trail of Tears, now a national historic trail.


title: Springfield, Missouri

text: The origin of the city's name is unclear, but the most common view is that it was named for Springfield, Massachusetts, by migrants from that area. One account holds that James Wilson, who lived in the then unnamed city, offered free whiskey to anyone who would vote for the name Springfield, after his hometown in Massachusetts.