Vol. 8 No. 07 (2026): Volume 08 Issue 07

David Fincher's The Killer (2023) presents an unusually restrained cinematic exploration of violence, identity, and contemporary alienation. Rather than relying on conventional thriller aesthetics, the film constructs a minimalist narrative that foregrounds emotional detachment, repetitive routines, and fragmented subjectivity, thereby inviting interpretation through the theoretical framework of postmodernism. This article investigates how The Killer embodies postmodern anxieties by examining its representation of surface aesthetics, consumer capitalism, depersonalized identity, and affective emptiness. Drawing exclusively upon the selected literature concerning postmodern theory, auteur studies, David Fincher's cinematic philosophy, and contemporary criticism, this research develops a qualitative interpretive framework that combines textual film analysis with comparative theoretical synthesis. Particular attention is devoted to Fredric Jameson's conception of postmodern culture, David Fincher's established directorial practices, and evolving interpretations of the postmodern antihero. The analysis demonstrates that the film intentionally minimizes psychological transparency while emphasizing procedural repetition and commodified existence, producing a cinematic environment where identity functions as performance rather than stable essence. Rather than depicting existential crisis through dramatic conflict, The Killer normalizes emotional absence and transforms surveillance, consumption, and professional efficiency into dominant organizing principles of everyday life. The findings suggest that Fincher extends earlier postmodern cinematic traditions by presenting anxiety not as spectacular trauma but as ordinary social condition embedded within late capitalist systems. Consequently, The Killer contributes to contemporary discussions surrounding postmodern cinema by illustrating how stylistic precision and narrative restraint can effectively represent the psychological consequences of hyper-mediated modern existence. The study contributes to film scholarship by integrating postmodern cultural theory with auteur criticism while highlighting the continued relevance of Jameson's theoretical framework for interpreting twenty-first-century cinema.

This study aims to identify the reality of teachers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and to assess their level of digital competence in secondary schools in the Triangle area. It also seeks to examine differences in these variables according to gender, academic qualification, years of experience, and specialization, as well as to explore the nature of the relationship between the use of AI tools and digital competence. The study employed the descriptive correlational method, and an electronic questionnaire consisting of 42 items was administered to a sample of 111 male and female teachers. The findings revealed that teachers’ use of AI tools was at a moderate level, with relatively higher use of tools for generating explanations and designing activities, and lower use of tools related to analyzing students’ performance. The results also showed that teachers’ digital competence was at a moderate to high level, with digital safety scoring the highest and digital problem-solving being the lowest among the measured domains. Moreover, the study found no statistically significant differences in the use of AI tools or in digital competence attributable to gender, academic qualification, years of experience, or specialization, indicating a general consistency across teacher groups. The results further demonstrated a strong positive correlation between the use of AI tools and digital competence (r = 0.61), suggesting that higher levels of digital competence enhance teachers’ ability to effectively adopt AI tools in educational practices.

The article examines a motivation-driven framework for developing functional communication and social interaction in children with autism spectrum disorder. The aim is to integrate verbal behaviour theory, motivating operations, mand training, intensive teaching, errorless learning, natural environment teaching, and inclusive early childhood practice into a coherent clinical and educational model. The study's relevance stems from the central role of communicative and social deficits in autism, as well as the need for interventions that connect structured instruction with everyday social participation. The novelty lies in treating motivation as the organizing principle across theoretical, procedural, and contextual layers of intervention. The article concludes that functional communication develops through sequential mand training, systematic expansion of verbal operants, intraverbal instruction, and planned generalization across natural settings. Inclusive classrooms are presented as environments where peer interaction can generate meaningful communicative occasions and support social growth. The article will be useful for behavior analysts, speech-language specialists, early childhood educators, inclusion coordinators, and researchers in autism intervention.

This article analyzes the particularly important geostrategic and geopolitical position of the East Sea (or South China Sea), (known as Biển Đông in Vietnam)—a vital international maritime route connecting global trade, as well as the core living space and security gateway for coastal states, including Vietnam. On this basis, the study scientifically systemizes Vietnam's historical evidence regarding the peaceful and continuous process of establishing and enforcing sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos across historical periods. These historical sources are entirely compatible with the principles of effective occupation under international law and the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). Finally, the article clarifies the current consistent stance of the Party and State of Vietnam in upholding the rule of law, persistently resolving disputes through peaceful means, promoting international cooperation, and leveraging the central role of ASEAN to firmly protect legitimate maritime rights and interests, closely aligned with the orientation of sustainable development for the national marine economy.