Essay on King Lear

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the long time between posts, I have been pretty swamped with a few things. I noticed that I have gotten a lot of views on my post about Shakespeare’s use of catharsis. I have decided to post an essay I wrote a while back on King Lear…

For those of you that follow my blog for the horror content, I apologize, but if you give it a look you may be surprised! I mean they rip a guys eyeballs out while he’s still alive! And people thought Saw and Hostile were original….meeeh

–JIm

The Ties that Bind and the Ones that Cause Pain:

King Lear by William Shakespeare is a tragic tale of betrayal, regret, and personal torment. The title character of the play is an aged king who gives away his kingdom and power to his two disloyal daughters, Goneril and Regan, who deceive Lear with fallacious statements of love and devotion.  Cordelia would not participate in this masquerade of false homages and in his rage King Lear banishes the only daughter who truly cares for him. In a series of complex plays for power, family betrayals, and human cruelty Lear must fight to keep his own sanity while everything he has ever known is taken away from him. In the tragic tale of King Lear Shakespeare tries to demonstrate that the people that one cherishes can cause them the most pain and that all the power in the world cannot save them from the grip of human cruelty.

Lear is portrayed as a strong and callous ruler in the opening scene of the play. The King seems to be uncompromising and when he talks people seem to listen. The gathering that Lear calls for his daughters and their suitors is a blatant competition. Lear, who seems to love all three of his daughters has a special place in his heart for Cordelia, the youngest and fairest. At this meeting Lear declares that they all proclaim their love for him, “which of you shall say we say doth love us most?” (Act I, Scene 1, 53). Goneril and Regan both claim that their love for him is vast and Lear gladly accepts their favors and grants them each a third of his kingdom. When it comes time for Cordelia to answer she replies, “unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond; no more nor less” (Scene I, Act 2, 94-96). Outraged he banishes her and she leaves with the King of France, who she has been promised to.  Upon Cordelia’s banishment the remaining two sisters begin to connive and plot against their father, they think his age is causing him to deteriorate and that, “they must do something, and i’ the heat,” (Act I, Scene 1, 312) to ensure that his failing judgment will not affect them, directly.

The major subplot in King Lear also pertains to the love and the potential of betrayal that family has on an individual. The Earl of Gloucester is similarly deceived by his bastard son, Edmund. Edmund cleverly stashes a letter in his pocket upon the entrance of his father knowing that his father would demand to see it. The letter has been fabricated to appear as if it came from Edgar, Gloucester’s legitimate son. The letter’s content is of scandal and betrayal against him, “O villain, villain! His very opinion in the letter! Abhorred villain!” (Act I, Scene 2, 79-80). Edmund then guilefully plays the other side of the conflict to Edgar, “Brother, I advise you to the best; go armed. I am no honest man if there be any good meaning towards you. I have told you what I have seen and heard; but faintly, nothing like the image and horror of it. Pray you, away,” (Act I, Scene 2, 188-192). The ball is in motion, Edmund’s play for power is pitting his father, the Earl of Gloucester against Edgar, his legitimate heir.

As the story unfolds in both the main plot line and the biggest subplot the idea of betrayal and the exploitation of family trust is truly taken to the next level. Lear, now retired from his kingly duties takes his entourage of one hundred men and his beloved fool to stay in the homestead of Goneril and her husband, the Duke of Albany. Goneril turns on him quickly and demands that he and his men leave, “you strike my people, and your disorder’d rabble make servants of their betters,” (Act I, Scene 3, 276-277). Lear is devastated that his own flesh and blood would turn on him so easily, “I am ashamed that thou hast power to shake my manhood thus; that these hot tears which break from me perforce, should make thee worth them. Blasts and fogs upon thee,” (Act 1, Scene 4, 316-322). Lear flees to Regan’s home in the castle of the Duke of Cornwall, after telling Regan of her sister’s terrible treatment of him she replies, “I pray you, father, being weak, seem so. If till the expiration of your month, you will return and sojourn with my sister, dismissing half your train, come then to me,” (Act II, Scene 3, 204-207). Lear cannot believe his ears, both of his remaining daughters have turned against him and seek to shame him and strip away what little power he has left. It is at this point that King Lear begins his terrible descent into madness and takes to a life of vagrancy that is at least free from the hatred of his heathen daughters. Seeking shelter from a terrible storm, a storm that in many ways mimics the turmoil in his own head, Lear and his party stumble across Edgar in the guise of a beggar named Poor Tom.

Edgar has taken such a clever disguise that his own father, the Earl of Gloucester does not recognize him as he says, “our flesh and blood has grown vile, my lord, that it doth hate what gets it,” (Act III, Scene 4, 149-151).When Gloucester comes to rescue Lear from the cold he shows his true loyalty, “Though their injunction be to bar my doors, and let this tyrannous night take hold upon you, yet I have ventured to seek you out, and bring you where both fire and food is ready,” (Act III, Scene 4, 154-159). The saying that no good deed goes unpunished certainly holds true for the ill-fated Gloucester, The Earl of Cornwall, under the guidance of Regan and Goneril brutally rips the eyes from Gloucester’s head. Edgar acts as a contrast to the two villainous sisters and his nobility mirrors that of Cordelia who despite her father’s cruel words never stopped loving him. When Edgar sees his blinded father being led through the street by an old man, he insists that he be his new guide. This show of love and support to Gloucester, who had wrongfully shunned him is something that really reveals his noble character while at the same time making Edmund appear to be viler in comparison.

Edgar is not the only cast out child to make amends with their father, Cordelia arrives in England to stop what her sisters are doing. After finding Lear in bad shape upon her arrival Cordelia pleads, “O my dear father! Restoration hang thy medicine on my lips and let this kiss repair those violent harms that my two sisters have in thy reference made!” (Act IV, Scene 7, 24-27).  Lear knows that he has wronged her and tries to make amends with, “You must bear with me. Pray you now, forget and forgive. I am old and foolish,” (Act IV, Scene 7, 84-86). In the play’s final scenes Goneril and Regan bicker about who Edmund, Gloucester’s illegitimate son really is in love with as he has been forming a relationship with both women in his play for power. Goneril poisons Regan and then takes her own life, yet another example of close loved ones having the ability to connive and harm with reckless abandon. Edmund orders Cordelia to a quick execution and Lear, now completely mad with sorrow dies next to her lifeless body. The deposed king dies broken hearted at the feet of the men that stand to inherit England and lead it into a new generation.

The resolution and intertwining of both story arcs provides huge implications on the root of family loyalties, personal honor, and the fate of the entire country of England. In the plays original Quarto version it had an additional scene that made the character of the Duke of Albany more of a major character, in the Folio version more emphasis is placed on Edgar and the young generation of leadership that he represents (Carson).  The very portrayal of the madness of King Lear is an interesting and profound achievement for Shakespeare according to Mike Ellison in his article, Literary Analysis Comes to Lear. Ellison states that, “having got more and more deeply into Shakespeare, it is becoming clear that he had a lot of knowledge of what goes on in human nature and how to use that knowledge therapeutically”. The madness of Lear could have been said to be the cause of his daughter’s betraying him, and the need for parental love could be said to have brought Cordelia back to rescue her father.

In conclusion William Shakespeare’s King Lear is a tragic tale of one man’s battle with betrayal and his own sanity. A recurring and powerful theme of the story is that anyone is capable of cruelty and when the cruelty comes from the hands of a loved one it is all the more painful. King Lear’s daughters were so hungry for power that they would strip the old king of what little he had left and Edmund was so jealous and callous that he would start the chain of events that would find his father blinded and dishonored. Shakespeare successfully demonstrates that the people that Lear cherished the most caused him the most pain and that all the power that he had possessed could not save him from the betrayal and wickedness of his own flesh and blood.

Works Cited

Carson, Christie. “The Quarto of King Lear.” Expert Views on the Quarto of King Lear. British                                                                            Library, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. <http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/lear.html&gt;.

Ellison, Mike. “Literary Analysis Comes to Lear.” The Guardian (pre-1997 Fulltext): Jun 18   1994. ProQuest. Web. 6 Apr. 2013. EPub.

Shakespeare, WIlliam. “King Lear.” Great Books of the Western World Vol. 27. Ed. William G.         Clark and William A. Wright. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952. 244-283. Print.

Quick Flashes anyone?

As I was re-writing one of my earlier screenplays this last week I came to a point that I wanted my main protagonist to have wicked inner tension. The type of internal conflict that a person can only have if they are making a decision that can completely change or in some cases even end their life. I thought to myself, “how can I get the maximum effect while still maintaining the absolute present tense in my script and keeping the whole thing fast paced and linear?”

I sat back in my chair for a moment and contemplated picking up one of the Walking Dead trade paper backs that I have been meaning to read, but I knew that was just the ever present and incredibly evil goblin of an entity that we writers have come to know as distraction. I decided to go get a drink of water instead and as I passed my movie collection my eyes were drawn to the cult classic (and one of my personal favorites), Fight Club.  I know how Tyler Durden creates tension in films; he splices single frames of pornography in them! With the thought of single frame usage my mind was immediately transported to the DVD release of the 1973 horror masterpiece, The Exorcist. The single frame inserts (in hindsight they may have been 2 or 3 frames) of Captain Howdy’s face against a black backdrop were pretty damn scary, mostly because they broke up the linear aspect of the story for an instant and gave our sub-conscious’ something to chew on for the whole rest of the movie! I remember thinking of that creepy bastards face more than the reverse crab walking Regan after I left the theater.

This technique has been employed in several other films with great success and can also help show the thoughts and inner workings of characters, which is normally taboo in the concise format of the traditional screenplay. The way I chose to employ these QUICK FLASHES in my script were slightly reminiscent of Arnold’s ride with Simon, the used car sales men in True Lies. As Simon talks about how hot Arnold’s wife is (and how dickless he is) the writer uses classic physical indications to show Arnold’s growing rage, such as the narrowing eyes, tensing of the muscles, and the white knuckled grip on the steering wheel.  None of these physical actions could portray his anger as well as the three second clip of Arnold killing the man in one punch, causing his bloody head to dangle lifelessly in the back corner of the convertible… Classic.

Old School Scary or New School Trend?

                Many different archetypes come into play in the world of modern horror, the ever popular machete wielding psycho and the knife fingered pedophile are a couple of industry staples; what better time to change it all up? Twenty or thirty years ago these villains may have been enough to get your blood pumping and any right minded person who watched these movies would never go camping at crystal lake or be excited when their family moved to Elm street. The truth is that these static and easily avoidable situations simply no longer cut it. People are getting harder to frighten, and all of the easily achievable shocks and awes usually come in the form of gore porn like the Saw and Hostile franchises. Where does this leave the future of the horror industry?

                Many great ideas have come out of the industry think tank recently; most notable of these new ideas may be the introduction of stories with an unstoppable force, an idea that has been utilized by the foreign film market for years. Sure, Jason and Freddy could be grouped in this elite category of fiends, but the truth is that they were not used to their potential simply because of the need for American audiences to have a sense of closure; or more appropriately a rational excuse for people to close their eyes at night…

The oceans are safe because Richard Dreyfuss blew Jaws up with an oxygen tank (busted on myth busters btw…).

Jason is bound to Crystal Lake.

Freddy is bound to Elm street.

And…

Every time Predator comes to L.A. Danny Glover lays the smack down!

                The influx of Japanese themes and ideas in the early 2000’s brought a new scary kid to the block. In 2002 The Ring really threw traditional American horror for a loop. Followed up by The Grudge in 2004 these stories kept Americans screaming and coming back for more. What is the big difference?

NO CLOSURE!

Just when the tension is alleviated an anorexic kid comes out of the TV or a demonic gurgle echoes from the darkness. The protagonists usually admit defeat at this point, most put up a fight of course… But we all know how that ends. The beginning of the next episode of the franchise will have a piece of shameless exposition that touches on the details of our hero’s death (it’s still bad taste for the protagonist to die in the film itself, of course).

                Now to turn this discussion on its head once again…

What if we want a movie that has more than an unstoppable bad ass to fuel the tension and keep the story moving forward?

This is where classic American horror films excelled. Rosemary’s Baby was a smart and sexy thriller that touched on HUMAN emotions, Kubrick’s rendition of Stephen King’s The Shining proved that “sometimes human places, create human monsters,” and The Exorcist showed that sometimes dark forces can show themselves in familiar forms.

 

Why the genre regressed to slasher films in the first place is not hard to understand, but where are these more intellectual horror films now?

They may be out there if you look…

Let’s get some reader feedback!

 Which modern horror film has kept you thinking? Which ones have kept you up at night?

Things are getting a little crazy…

I have not forgotten you fiends,
I started writing a flash fiction post and it got away from me…
Be on the look out for something a little more substantial in the next few days and after that… the juggernaut is coming!

An in depth look at why American horror is just now understanding the idea of the juggernaut as well as the pros and cons of this character.

Use of Catharsis

Okay everyone,

I know that this is post is a little atypical, but when considering story and character development it is always good to look at the masters that helped to shape the art of drama and theater into what it is today. William Shakespeare’s catalog is a vast well of knowledge when it comes to story and character. His play, Titus Andronicus would probably be found on the shelf right next to movies like Saw if it were produced today… So it kind of does fit in here at The Horrors of The Horror Business!

Enjoy– Jim

 

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare can be said to be an intimate portrait of what a devastating effect revenge and dark hearts can have on family and friends. Titus is a noble General, seemingly bred for war. Upon returning to Rome from his war against the Goths he is asked to take the seat of Emperor of the great nation to which he has devoted his life. Titus is tired and years of killing has given him the desire to lead a life of leisure out of the limelight and notoriety. The tragedy is chock full of despicable deeds and unbelievable cruelties. It is in response to these events that Titus changes from a notable Roman patriot to a man ruined by hatred and controlled by his need for vengeance. William Shakespeare expertly uses catharsis to keep the audience engaged and shows a clear character progression for the protagonist that is almost predestined by Titus’ own hamartia.

            Shakespeare uses catharsis to create sympathy for many of the characters in the play. Lavinia is perhaps the best example of this, as she is brutally raped, her hands are cut off, and her tongue is cut out. The events that befell Titus’ only daughter sound truly horrific, but they are effective in building sympathy for not only her character but also for Titus himself.  This works to set the stage for the rest of the tragedy and by the time the heads of his sons are returned to him along with his own discarded hand the audience simply cannot wait to see Titus take his revenge on the Emperor, Tamora, and her despicable Moorish lover, Aaron.  Tamora’s plight for revenge is also understandable, in another example of catharsis Shakespeare writes the heart wrenching “mother’s plea” to Titus to spare her eldest son from sacrifice after they are brought in as prisoners. Her pleas go unanswered and it is at this time that she vows to take revenge on the Andronici.

            Titus is certainly a complex and multi-faceted character; he is a warrior, a diplomat, a political figure, and a father. For far too long he has allowed his service to Rome to take his loyalty and attention from his own family and only near the very end of his life does he realize the importance of his sons and daughters. Titus’ hamartia is at first his blind devotion to Rome and throughout the course of the story it becomes his need for revenge. Titus’ fatal flaw can be said to be his devotion to his country, by the time he realizes that he must fight back against the Emperor and his new wife, Tamora, most of his family has been killed, and his only virginal daughter raped and shamed.  If Titus was able to take action sooner further tragedy could have certainly been avoided. Titus’ need for revenge ensured that he would die the way that he lived: by the sword.

            The events of Titus Andronicus do provide an emotional release for the audience after Titus achieves his revenge. The death of Titus helps to solidify the lesson of what revenge can do to a person’s heart and the blackness it can leave on the human soul. The ascension of Titus’ last son to Emperor is a bit of a payoff, but one could argue that if Titus had just taken the throne in the first place, the whole tragic situation could have been averted. The villainous Aaron is arrested, but never shown to be made accountable for his malicious and contemptuous acts throughout the course of the play.

            In conclusion, William Shakespeare uses several dramatic elements to make Titus Andronicus a captivating and fast paced play. The level of brutal violence in the play helps to build catharsis with the audience and the struggle of Titus’ with his own hamartia is unique and tragic in itself. Some loose ends are kept open at the conclusion of the play, but for the most part the tragic fall of a great Roman general is brilliantly executed in this early work of the Bard. It can certainly be said that William Shakespeare expertly uses catharsis to keep the audience engaged and shows a clear character progression for the protagonist that is almost predestined by Titus’ own hamartia.

No One is Safe… A New Take on Modern Story Telling

 

                Consider the myriad of ancient tales where archetypal heroes slay dragons and the princess’ meet their own personal Prince Charming. Many classic stories seem to have consistent themes of overcoming adversity, alleviating tension, and decreasing conflict. The end? Well, riding off into the sunset of course, good guy gets the girl, bad guys are defeated, happily ever after. I know there are notable exceptions in classic literature such as the tragic heroes of Euripides and Shakespeare, or even the doomed protagonists in works by Victor Hugo. I believe most people want to be involved in a story that takes them through the highs and lows of a character’s plight and is neatly resolved with a happy ending that ties up all of the sub-plots and leaves no loose ends. As some of you may be thinking this is not the case in many of the most popular T.V. shows, works of literature, and modern films.

                I don’t necessarily think that people have grown tired of the classic “good guys win” story line, but I do think that they have come to expect it. Doesn’t it add more tension to the viewing/reading experience if we don’t know what terrible fate may be in store for our hero? I would say yes, and isn’t creating tension what story telling is all about? Again yes! Long story short, it is tension that keeps viewers/readers coming back for more. Soap Operas utilize this, which is why everyone sleeps with everyone else, men fight, women connive, and of course the frequent and unfortunate cases of complete amnesia.

 TENSION. TENSION. TENSION.

                A new trend in modern story telling has been breaking all of the classic rules. No one is safe anymore. Kill a main character? You bet. What better way to add tension than to make people question everything. Some of the hottest shows on T.V. are banking on this week after week! The Walking Dead for one has shown that they are not afraid of killing main characters, so much so that every week viewers are crossing their fingers in hopes that their favorite character will not be devoured by zombies or shot by some rival group of survivors. Every time a character is faced with any form of danger it could be the end of them. This is true for the cast as well from what I hear, all of them are terrified of getting the “you’re gonna’ die this week” phone call. George R.R. Martin is doing the same thing in his bestselling fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which in turn translates to the Game of Thrones HBO series. Having a seemingly revolving cast can be seen as detrimental to the opportunity for in depth character development, but when executed properly it can also work to humanize and quickly develop the surviving characters.

Creation of a Writer’s Platform

Sorry for all of you horror fans out there, I know that this is a little off topic, but I thought I would post something I put together re: the creation of a writer’s platform. I have been working to assemble my own and thought that it might be helpful to someone else out there…

I will later file this under the misc. tab of course!

– Jim

 

Many aspects must be considered in the construction of a writer’s platform. Perhaps the most important is to identify the ideal target audience and try to market and promote content to this demographic. It is not uncommon for a blog or website to have more than one target demographic; in this case it would be important to make sure that the content is delivered in such a way as to remain attractive for all target groups. In the age of the internet more and more people are turning to the web for their consumption of media, whether this be in the form of blogs, news articles, youtube videos, or facebook message feeds. According to newmediatrendwatch.com the United States has an internet population of over 245 million people (about 78% of the total population), of these users the average internet usage is over 30 hours a week. It is because of numbers like these that the internet has become an essential part of the promotion process for anyone looking to self-promote their work; this is especially true for the construction of a writer’s platform.

            New media has changed the face of modern publishing. The days of tireless submittals to established brick and mortar publishing houses are coming to an abrupt end. The rise of the e-publishing phenomenon gives authors the option to self-publish their works. In his extensive survey of the publishing industry as it was from the mid 1900’s to the early 2000’s, Jason Epstein made a brilliant prediction:

Even in today’s rudimentary digital marketplace some authors have linked their Web sites to sites of related interest, hoping to create their own expanding communities of loyal readers with each new book they write. Minor technological modifications will soon enable writers to sell their books from these Web network, bypassing publishers who may have rejected their work, while established writers may choose to forgo the security of a publisher’s royalty guarantee in exchange for keeping the entire revenue from the sales of their books. (Epstein 180-181)

            This excerpt certainly reiterates the importance of online resources in today’s world of publishing. It also shows an amazing level of foresight on the part of Jason Epstein, who would have thought that an old school publishing whiz could have hit the nail right on the head years before the industry had reached the levels that it has? Taking ideas like this into consideration is of great importance when trying to construct a writer’s platform; if the industry has changed so drastically since 2001, what can we expect in 2020? Likely writers will be publishing exclusively online and bound books may have gone the way of vinyl records. Collector’s will still seek them out, but the practical medium will likely be online downloads.

            In the construction of my personal writer’s platform I tried to take all of these things into consideration. It would have been really frustrating to have constructed a brilliant and effective platform on myspace five years ago just to watch the world of social media (facebook specifically) devour all of your hard work. Facebook has been going strong for several years and will likely remain a relevant source of social media for many years to come. According to socialbakers.com, an analytical website, over 163 million people have facebook accounts, which is nearly 53% of the entire population of the United States. Taking the statistics into consideration it makes a lot of sense to choose facebook as one of the main footholds of a good writer’s platform because of the sheer amount of traffic that the site generates. Also in my opinion these numbers are likely to rise in the near future due to the fact that technology is becoming cheaper and smart phones with social networking accessibility are being viewed as more common necessities than items of luxury. Facebook is great for reaching people in your immediate and extended social networks, but may be lacking in meeting/connecting with people that you have no connection with.

            The second part of my writer’s platform is another of the more popular networking sites, twitter. Twitter is a much more compact and concise form of communication as it allows only “tweets” of 100 characters or less. In 2012 the site reported over 500 million accounts, with almost 143 million in the United States alone (Lunden). In addition many  high profile people are much more accessible on twitter than they are on other social media sites which allows twitter users to network with people who might be able to help them get exposure. The layout of the site allows countless availability of brief exchanges with people in all areas and from all walks of life. The drawback of twitter as mentioned before is the limited character count, but I find that it is ideal for pushing traffic to a blog or facebook page. With that being mentioned it is time to move on to what is arguably the most important aspect of the writer’s platform.

             A well-constructed blog is the likely hub of any successful writer’s platform. Many blog websites offer free blog services for people wanting to join the hundreds of millions active bloggers from around the world. Among the most popular are blogger, wordpress, and tumblr. I personally chose to use a wordpress blog for my writer’s platform; I felt that it allowed for more customization and looked more professional overall. The blog is an ideal hub of a writer’s platform because it allows much more freedom in posting sample works, media links, and anything else that might help to promote your site content and appeal to your target demographic. The blog is great on its own, but there are many things that writers must do in order to ensure that they are getting all that they can out of their blog.

            One of the most important elements of a writer’s platform is the idea of search engine optimization. Most people have tried googleing their own name at one time or another, in most cases it’s amazing to see how many people are lurking out there with the same name as you! The likely hood of people finding your blog in the oceans of the blogosphere can be even more unlikely. When employing the general ideas of search engine optimization one can increase the relevancy of their own blog or website by employing common terms and phrases in the title of the blog or even in the body of the blog content. Another useful technique to get the most out of search engine optimization is to use tags of popular query searches that are relevant to your blog entry. The truth is that sometimes a simple understanding of search engine optimization may not be enough.

            I have found that one of the most important things to do to generate new site traffic is to blog on other people’s websites. Many people that a writer chooses to follow may follow him in return. This idea is true in all forms of social media and works well in facebook, twitter and the blogosphere. I found that after blogging actively on some high profile websites with my wordpress blog signature my blog views go through the roof! I have much to learn about the best ways to generate blog traffic, but from some early trial and error this method has garnered the best results.

            In conclusion it is apparent that new media is essential for anyone wanting to generate a web presence and become noticed in the new publishing environment. It can also be seen that traditional publishing houses continue to have less and less of a say in what gets published, while the internet and new media specifically makes the option of self-publishing more attractive and more accessible. A writer who understands the ideas behind social media and search engine optimization is far more likely to succeed in this new digital age where the amount of people who turn to the internet for the consumption of written media is sure to increase exponentially.

Works Cited

Epstein, Jason. Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. Print.

Lunden, Ingrid. “Twitter Passes 500M Users In June 2012.” TechCrunch RSS. N.p., 30 July 2012. Web. 3 Mar. 2013. <http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/30/analyst-twitter-passed-500m-users-in-june-2012-140m-of-them-in-us-jakarta-biggest-tweeting-city/&gt;.

“Demographics.” - New Media Trend Watch USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013. <http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/17-usa/123-demographics&gt;.

“United States Facebook Statistics.” Socialbakers.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/united-states&gt;.