On this assignment I will be talking about three contemporary icons.  These there icons had left their mark in popular culture.  Salvador Dali was a very eccentric an often misunderstood artist with a unique personal and artistic style that set him apart from an early age.  I have a bunch of artists in my family each with unique styles.  That is why I chose this artist.  Princess Diana was a beautiful person gone too soon.  We will always wonder what changes she could had made in the world.  She most certainly influenced a lot of people.  I often do charity work but definitely not at her incredible level but she is still an inspiration.  Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, especially the movies, are such a part of our pop culture mostly because of his colorful characters especially Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow.  He is such a charmer.  Can't wait for the new Pirates' release this year.

Salvador Dalí

Artist, born on May 11, 1904, in Spain.  At an early age, Dalí was showing signs of a child genious producing highly sophisticated drawings.   In 1919, at the age of 15, Dalí had his first public exhibition.  While in art school, Dalí began exploring many forms of art including works by classical painters but was expelled due to his short temper and incredible ability to get into trouble.  Between 1926 and 1929, Dalí visited Paris, and met with influential painters and intellectuals including Pablo Picasso.  Around the same period, Dalí started to create collages of his dreams with strange, distorted characters.  In 1931 he created one of his most famous paintings called The Persistence of Memory also called the Soft Watches which shows pocket watches melting in a landscape setting.  In 1945, Dalí's art appeared in a dream sequence in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Spellbound.  He became more notorious for his colorful personality than for his artwork often sporting a long mustache, cape, and walking stick.  Salvador Dalí was an often misunderstood character.  He died on January 1989 at the age of 84. 

http://www.3d-dali.com/DALI.htm

Princess Diana

The Lady Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961 and was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales whom she married in 1981 and had two sons Prince William and Prince Harry.  The marriage was doomed almost from the beginning when suspicions of infidelity on both sides surfaced in the mid 80’s.  The Prince and Princess of Wales were separated in 1992 and the divorce was final in 1996.  Though no longer married to royalty, Princess Diana was a member of the Royal Family for being the mother of the second and third in line to the throne.  After the divorce Princess Diana, already an iconic presence worldwide, continue to be a daily presence in her sons lives and her charity work.  She surpassed the female celebrity status of her generation.  She was beautiful, a fashion icon, role model and adored for her simplicity and caring disposition.  In 1987, she was photographed touching a person infected with the HIV virus.  She helped educated the world that AIDS could not be contracted by casual touch and that AIDS patients should be treated as human beings without isolation.  Her presence and her influence were just amazing.  In 1997, she visited victims of landmines in Angola.  Children were the main victims of abandoned landmines.  I still remember seeing her picture wearing a helmet and a flak jacket.  Sadly, the Princess left this world way too soon.  All of us know where we were the day the news of her death hit the airwaves.  In 1997, Princess Diana was involved in a car accident in Paris and died as a result of her injuries.  It was a sad day in which the entire world mourned the loss of the often called The People’s Princess and the Princess of Hearts.  In 2007, Prince William and Prince Harry hosted a concert to raise money for the charities their mother loved so dearly.

http://www.biography.com/articles/Princess-Diana-9273782

Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise

Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise that includes a theme park ride, films, novels and video games.  The movies alone had grossed over $2 billion worldwide.  The first movie in the franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl released in 2003 was based on the Disneyland theme park attraction Pirates of the Caribbean.  This was the last theme ride to have Walt Disney’s personal touch.  It opened three months after his death in 1967.  The movie included numerous allusions to the ride, most notably the attack on the fort and the famous jail scene with the dog holding the jail cell’s keys.  Some of the characters in the park ride were translated into the film with one exception, Jack Sparrow.  The character of Jack Sparrow, made famous by actor Johnny Depp, was not part of the park ride and was introduced for the first time in the film.  Since then, Disneyland had made changes and the ride now includes a very tipsy Jack Sparrow recruiting shipmates or popping out of a barrel.  The success of the first movie spawn the sequels Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest released in 2006 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End released in 2007.  Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is in the works scheduled to be released on May 2011.  What makes this franchise so successful is Johnny Depp hands down.  He created a unique character.  The movies are packed with humor though the second movie had a darker undertone.  I like the fact that the main characters keep coming back which makes for great sequels.  The chemistry between Jeffrey Rush (Captain Barbosa) and Johnny Depp is amazing and Keith Richards as Jack’s dad was AWESOME!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325980/

http://disneyparks.wikia.com/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_%28Disneyland_Park%29