Word: portrayal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...begin to spiral out control under the press’ watchful eye. Certainly, when Beane wants laughs, he is capable of conjuring them. His greatest creation is Diane. Acid-tongued and relentless, she is single-mindedly driven to purchase the rights for a play in which Mitchell will (heroically) portray a gay man. Her willingness to verbally abuse all comers into submission until the terms of the contract read “in perpetuity through the end of time” is representative of a character that is shallow, but delightfully so. Keiller’s performance is masterful...
...work’s least compelling feature. Certainly, had Kennedy handled her plot with any less dexterity, Day’s perception of place and time as fluid rather than fixed would have dragged the novel into disconnected stasis. And it is a feat that Kennedy manages to portray the human mind with (most of) its disorder and associative tendencies, and still drag a story out of it—though, at times, Kennedy exposes her narrative manipulations, clustering beloved ones’ deaths suspiciously close together or violating the mind’s logic by planting too-linear sequences...
...remarkable turnout of the Republican base in 2004 carried President Bush to re-election, a lesson that clearly resonates with the Republican candidates of 2008. Bush's approval ratings are now awful, but none of the candidates have tried too hard to distance themselves from him, except to portray themselves as hard-liners on immigration and spending. That could cause real problems in the general election. And while McCain polls much better among swing voters than Huckabee or Romney does, he would have to do more to energize the base if he were the nominee, which could alienate more...
...novel displays Al Aswany's ability to portray in the most subtle, realistic manner the complex forces that shape such lives. With Chicago, he has produced a highly political diatribe against dictatorship, reflecting the rising calls for democracy in Egypt at the time he was writing it. The climax of the book unfolds with a scheme by Nagi, the medical student, and Salah, the professor, to stage a small protest during an official visit to the U.S. by the unnamed Egyptian President. Having been selected to give a short speech welcoming the President to Chicago, Salah intends to read...
Aside from her “democratic” credentials, supporters of Bhutto have sought to portray her as both fiercely secular and against terrorism. This too does not stand up to scrutiny...