Education Learning By Communism Essays - Communism, Socialism

Education: Learning By Communism? Education: Learning By Communism? Through Freire's ? The Banking Concept of Education,? we see the effects this concept has on it's students and also we see the effects that the alternate concept, problem-posing has. The ?banking' concept allows the students to become vessels of knowledge, not being able to learn at a creative pace. By using communism, seeing through how education is taught in the classroom, it is parallel to Freire's ?banking' concept. We can see that both ideas are similar and both were harmful to the human mind. While ?banking' poses the threat of creative growth and power, Marxism, which applies Marx's ideas to learning in a communistic way, it creates the threat of never being able to learn. The banking concept is ? a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those who they consider to know nothing? (Freire 213). The goal of the ?banking' concept is to deposit as much information into the students as possible. This results in disconnected memorization without the real understanding and discouragement of creative thought.They cannot think for themselves. As Marx writes, just as there are two types of learning, ?banking' and problem-posing, he explains that society is this way also. There is the upper class and subordinate classes. They both struggle for economic and political power and the primary way the upper class keeps its power is through their beliefs and values. They are allowed to think. The subordinate classes believe they are subordinate due to the upper classes prestige and way of thinking. Like Freire's ?banking' concept, education is the way to keep students down and this works because the students accept all knowledge from the teacher , just like the dominant class in Marx's ideology, keeps the subordinate classes submissive. There are also things that make Freire's ideas of teaching that leave Marx at a disadvantage. This is because most submissive people will eventually fight back to get their ideas heard. So therefore the ?banking' concept has a flaw in itself. When Marx talks about the subordinate classes believing that they had to live up to the upper class, he forgot to mention that throughout time, an oppressed people will figure out that they deserve better than what they are receiving. Overthrowing a government or standing up to a figure of power allows the submissive to no longer not be able to learn. They learn through facing what they had been crushed by for so long. ?Banking' will eventually fall to its demise, to its students. This will then pave the way to actually learning something that is useful and can be utilized. ?Banking' and Marx both do not realize that you cannot keep something hidden out of sight, a people that can learn and live, without having to keep them subservient.

How Sociologists Define Marriage

How Sociologists Define Marriage Marriage is a socially supported union involving two or more individuals in what is regarded as a stable, enduring arrangement based at least in part on a sexual bond of some kind. Depending on the society, marriage may require religious and/or civil sanction, although some couples may come to be considered married simply by living together for a period of time (common law marriage). Though marriage ceremonies, rules, and roles may differ from one society to another, marriage is considered a cultural universal, which means that it is present as a social institution in all cultures. Marriage serves several functions. In most societies, it serves to socially identify children by defining kinship ties to a mother, father, and extended relatives. It also serves to regulate sexual behavior, to transfer, preserve, or consolidate property, prestige, and power, and most importantly, it is the basis for the institution of the family. Social Characteristics of Marriage In most societies, a marriage is considered a permanent social and legal contract and relationship between two people that is based on mutual rights and obligations among the spouses. A marriage is often based on a romantic relationship, though this is not always the case. But regardless, it typically signals a sexual relationship between two people. A marriage, however, does not simply exist between the married partners, but rather, is codified as a social institution in legal, economic, social, and spiritual/religious ways. Typically a the institution of marriage begins with a period of courtship that culminates in an invitation to marry. This is followed by the marriage ceremony, during which mutual rights and responsibilities may be specifically stated and agreed to. In many places the state must sanction a marriage in order for it to be considered valid and legal, and also in many cultures, a religious authority must do the same. In many societies, including the Western world and the United States, marriage is widely considered the basis of and foundation for family. This is why a marriage is often greeted socially with immediate expectations that the couple will produce children, and why children that are born outside of marriage are often branded with the stigma of illegitimacy. Because a marriage is recognized by law, by the economy, socially, and by religious institutions, a dissolution of marriage (annulment or divorce) must, in turn, involve a dissolution of the marriage relationship in all of these realms. The Social Functions of Marriage Marriage has several social functions that are important within the societies and cultures where the marriage takes place. Most commonly, marriage dictates the roles that spouses play in each others lives, in the family, and in society at large. Typically these roles involve a division of labor between the spouses, such that each is responsible for different tasks that are necessary within the family. American sociologist Talcott Parsons wrote on this topic and outlined a theory of roles within a marriage and household, wherein wives/mothers play the expressive role of a caregiver who takes care of socialization and emotional needs of others in the family, while the husband/father is responsible for the task role of earning money to support the family. In keeping with this thinking, a marriage often serves the function of dictating the social status of the spouses and the couple, and of creating a hierarchy of power between the couple. Societies in which the husband/father holds the most power in the marriage are known as patriarchies. Conversely, matriarchal societies are those in which wives/mothers hold the most power. Marriage also serves the social function of determining family names and lines of familial descent. In the U.S. and much of the Western world, we practice patrilineal descent, meaning the family name follows that of the husband/father. However, many cultures, including some within Europe and many in Central and Latin America, follow matrilineal descent. Today, it is common for newly married couples to create a hyphenated family name that preserves the named lineage of both sides, and for children to bear the surnames of both parents. Different Types of Marriages In the Western world, monogamous, heterosexual marriage is the most common form and is considered the norm. However, homosexual marriage is increasingly common and in many places, including the U.S., has been sanctioned by law and by many religious groups. This change in practice, law, and cultural norms and expectations for what a marriage is and how can participate in it reflects the fact that marriage itself is a social construct. Other forms of marriage that occur around the world include polygamy (a marriage of more than two spouses), polyandry (a marriage of a wife with more than one husband), and polygyny (the marriage of a husband with more than one wife). (In common usage, polygamy is often misused to refer to polygyny.) As such, the rules of marriage, the division of labor within a marriage, and what constitutes the roles of husbands, wives, and spouses generally are subject to change and are most often negotiated by the partners within the marriage, rather than firmly dictated by tradition. Updated by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

How organizational citizenship behavior is determined and how it Essay

How organizational citizenship behavior is determined and how it impacts on the efficiency of performance in Ministry of Interior in UAE - Essay Example Organizational Citizenship behavior exceeds the required limits as formal organizational roles require so; it is not possible to hold the staff accountable for failing to undertake it. However, in many occasions, levels of productivity of performance could be sacrificed for the sake of serving colleagues and bossed or serving public objectives at the organizational level. From the practical viewpoint, the significance of organizational citizenship behavior lie in its capability of developing organization’s effectiveness and efficiency though, protecting organization resources, presenting necessary creative and developmental suggestions, achieving the levels resilience in the face of challenges and unexpected emergencies. Introduction and Problem Statement Employment in the government commands the highest level of social responsibility and moral conduct in addressing the needs of the citizenry. This is because government service is essentially public service, which implies a subordination of personal interest and even comfort to the greater interest of the nation and its citizens. Nowhere is there a more fitting application of this construct that in the Ministry of Interior, where the imperative to apply force to ensure law and order is tempered by the need to observe organizational citizenship behaviour in the implementation of its police and security function.

Petrochemical Industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Petrochemical Industry - Research Paper Example In cases of tragedy, it is critical that the reaction is at the quickest time possible. The management and all the employees in the petrochemical plant need to be educated on the risks and hazards they are likely to be at risk to at the plant. Through this at there shall be the minimum likelihood of any kind of accidents occurring at the plant. Although hazards related to flammable gases and toxic gases are common knowledge to personnel who operate in the petrochemical industry, continuous training and refreshment of knowledge on the matter are important in order to avoid any kinds of incidents that may come about as a result.The management should ascertain that all the employees are trained on the risks they are exposed to and ways of responding to them in case of an emergency. All the personnel at all the organizational level should be keenly involved in the detection of any hazards and risks at the plant.The employees should be informed of the risks that they are exposed to while working at the petrochemical plants. Inhaling the toxic gases emitted at the plant on a daily basis exposes an individual to critical diseases. Before one decides to work at the plant, they should make an informed decision on the future implications. Gaseous toxic substances are normally very dangerous because they are invisible and hence hard to detect. Install flammable gas detection system scan at the petrochemical firm as a way of providing a warning to flammable risks before the gas even reaches its flammable level.

HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 11

HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS - Essay Example ces on who gets a scarce treatment or immunization, who would get a transplant, and who has access to a provider in high demand raise various conflicts among the potential stakeholders. Hence, the law and ethics must come to application in solving stakeholders’ interests. They have different interests when there are resource allocation issues. For example, the patients seek to have the employer provide a wide variety of options for health coverage and fund their health insurance. The employers on the other hand seek maintain or lower the health cost contribution for the patients. Indeed, they are only ready to pay the patient’s most necessary health care. Furthermore, the health providers seek to provide preventive care and high quality health care that is mostly expensive and out of insurance cover. Health payers on the other hand seek to use few tests and fewest visits to obtain clear evidence and a diagnostic plan to achieve accurate treatment (Department of Communit y and Family Medicine, 2005). All these interests should fall in place during resources allocation. Indeed, while deciding on who would get a transplant, I will consider the serious of the disease, the costs involved, and the resources available. As such, the most serious cases with the least cost implication should get the transplant. At the same breath, the patients who are generally health should get scarce treatment or immunization. Nevertheless, all children should get the requisite immunization free of charge where possible. Additionally, no medication should apply to healthy persons despite their willingness to fund such treatment. Furthermore, it is ethical to accord children, patients with complicated and high incidence diseases access to a provider in high demand. Most importantly, in most cases, children patients should get the first priority while making health

The crisis of masculinity

The crisis of masculinity INTRODUCTION My dissertation is concerned with the male hegemony of Hollywood cinema. I will consider briefly the representation of the female but only to support the discussion of male hegemony in regards to spectatorship and representation of the male. I will limit my argument to the â€Å"post feminist† period (post 1970s) because this cinema era is extremely significant as it demonstrates a fundamental change in the representation of the male. I have decided to concentrate on the representation of the male because the discussion of female representation, although not investigated in its entirety, is generally more prevalent. I have chosen to analyze two key films that had major success in the year 1999. I have specifically chosen these films as not only do they reenact a threshold point in societys perception, but both deal heavily with the theme of modern day masculinity. The two different approaches from very different directors- David Fincher, The director of Fight club has a lengthy history of â€Å"mainstream† work whereas Paul Thomas Andersons work history is more â€Å"alternative†. I will argue that in its structure Fight club is highly synonymous with Hollywood in terms of character placement.(male protagonist, passive female). I will look at how Magnolia is more discoursive/melodramatic focusing on coming from a â€Å"female† perspective. I will look at the main characters in each of the films and discuss how both films approach the key aspects of masculinity: Paternity the Phallus. The similar concerns and contrasting nature of the films thus conclude that they serve as great examples for discussion. The dissertation will consider film theory and psycho-analysis however I would like to relate those to cinematic textual systems a term used by to describe mise en scene elements, editing and other cinematic manipulation of the frame for the spectator. Talk about how perspective and cinematography are interlinked, cinematography being vital to â€Å"the gaze†. â€Å"To theorize the gaze is to engage in cinematic textual systems (diegesis, montage, mise-en-scene, intertextuality etc) and the act of viewing, as well as the competing, dynamic and heterogeneous processes involved between the two†. Pg 6 (a) WHY CINEMATOGRAPHY IS IMPORTANT TO DISCUSS. Once we have investigated on a functional level how cinema manipulates the viewers gaze only then can we move forward and expand on this? The very existence of cinema relies on box office profits; cinema conveys the reality of the desire of the spectator, but also notably produces films that display the unconscious fears of the societies that produced them. This is an argument I will discuss at more length in the first chapter. CHAPTERS: Phallocentric perspective/cinematography I will start by engaging with the philosophy which forms the basis of the dissertation. I will also justify the inclusion of cinematography as a valid point in my dissertation by clarifying its relationship with film theory and psychoanalysis. â€Å"Were Designed to be hunters and were in a society of shoppers† Tyler Durder (Fight Club) In the second chapter I will put my discussion in context, explaining briefly the importance of the cinema of this era. â€Å"Fight Club†: I will discuss why I chose the two films I did The two different approaches directors- coming from very different background fightclub is aimed at mainstream whilst magnolia comes from an alternative viewpoint. I will argue that in its structure Fight club is highly synonymous with Hollywood in terms of character placement.(male protagonist, passive neurotic female) â€Å"Magnolia†: I will look at the key characters of the film and analyse how they demonstrate a crisis of masculinity. I will examine the look at how Paul Andersons Magnolia manages to subvert the male hegemony of mainstream films and acts as a critique of the Hollywood cinematic address. PHALLOCENTRIC PERPSEPCTIVE: â€Å"The spectator constructed by the text is taken to be male-regardless of the ‘actual gender of the viewer. He is taken to look through the eyes of the male hero on screen at the on-screen female, so that the viewer in the auditorium can fantasize the pleasure of dominating and possessing her, and thus enjoy the visual pleasure of ‘masculine conquest†. Kenneth Mackinnon Whatever the route of the gaze, the result is the same. She is objectified. And the female object confirms that the male is the proper and sole subject.† (b) pg 126 Since Hollywoods conception the films produced have taken to rather formulaic, standardized conventions to accrue predicted success at the box office. These are seen in its cinematic style, and narrative form. As a result Hollywood has become extremely skilled at satisfying the spectator through manipulation of its address. male hegemony At the beginning of cinema for example, spectators desired to see more and so became the standardization of erotic display to satisfy the spectator interest in voyeurism. Thus this Hollywood address gives us a spectacular insight into the unconscious fears and desires of society. If we look at one particular example â€Å"Metropolis† (1927) Directed by Fritz Lang, this film featured a destructive and powerful female robot. Notably this film came at a time when society had to deal with the increased mechanization, loss of jobs in industries resulted in a perceived loss of male control and power. â€Å"Metropolis† represented the destruction of masculine dominance over science and nature, represented as a female android, the ultimate opposite. The more information gathered by the development in film theory and psychoanalysis the further we can investigate into understanding the reality of the relationship between spectator and cinema and can move forward from male hegemony into creating an alternative cinema one in which both sexes are represented fairly. this can be shown through the deigesis, mise en scene, etc etc. In Laura Mulveys essay â€Å"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema†, she discusses the passive role that women have played in cinema arguing that this passive role supports the male hegemony by encouraging visual pleasure. This visual pleasure is formed by Mulvey identifies three â€Å"looks† or perspectives that occur in film which serve to sexually objectify women. The first is the perspective of the male character on screen and how he perceives the female character. The second is the perspective of the spectator as they see the female character on screen. The third â€Å"look† joins the first two looks together: it is the male audience members perspective of the male character in the film. This third perspective allows the male audience to take the female character as his own personal sex object because he can relate himself, through looking, to the male character in the film. Female body representation has always involved some degree of eroticism fragment a womens body into various body parts. A good example of how editing shot composition and framing can be seen in Martin Scorseses Raging Bull. The main character Jake La Motta becomes entranced by the physical beauty of - by the side of the pool. By the sequence of close ups we are placed into the mental position of Jake to reduce - to a mere object to be gawped at. Here we literally see the â€Å"looks† as Mulvey referred to them shown through the shot juxtapositioning. Although one could argue this section was designed to illuminate us of Jakes disturbed mentality, thus serves as an extreme example; however we do see these looks perpetrating mainstream Hollywood throughout the generations since its beginnings. However self conscious and ironic Hollywood manages to be, it always restricts itself to a formal mise en scene reflecting the dominant ideological concept of the cinema. The alternative cinema provides a space for the birth of cinema which is radical in a both a political sense and an aesthetic sense and thus challenges the basic assumptions of the mainstream film Thus cinematography holds the key to the buried attitudes of gender. The cinema is an epic form that utilizes dramatic elements; this is determined by the technologies of the camera and editing. Even in a spatially and temporally continuous scene (mimicking the theatrical situation, as it were), the camera chooses where to look for us. In a similar way, editing causes us to jump from one place (and time sometimes) to another, whether it be somewhere else in the room, or across town. This jump is a form of narration; it is as if a narrator whispers to us: â€Å"meanwhile, on the other side of the forest†. â€Å"One of the key pleasures cinema allows is identification. The spectator will almost always identify with the character whose look authorizes the point of view shot.† pg 94 Hedges,Inez Vertigo is a prime example whereby everything is seen from the perspective of the main male protagonist, the audience follow his erotic obsession and subsequent despair precisely from his point of view. However the spectator is caught in moral ambiguity toward the latter part of the film as the film reveals the illicit nature of the voyeurism. â€Å"Were Designed to be hunters and were in a society of shoppers† -Tyler Durden â€Å"These violent white male icons grew at a time when working class white males had to contend with increasing economic instability and dislocation, the perception of gains by people of colour at the expense of the white working class and a womens movement that overtly challenged the male hegemony. One way the system allows working clases (of various races) the opportunity for masculine identity validation is through the use of their body as an instrument of power dominance and control.. The threat that women posed as a result of their increased economic independence, destabilizes gender realtions and upsets male identity†. Spectacle of the Male WHAT WAS GOING ON AT THE TIME? Working Class Males had less access to more abstract forms of masculinity validating power (economic power, workplace authority) Fightclub protagonist has loss of authority, in the end he reaffirms his masculinity through physical acts of violence. Susan Faludi went one step further, arguing that films of the 1980s such as Fatal Attraction (1987) and Baby Boom (1987) were part of a wider backlash against womens liberation and womens careers.Yearning for reinstatement of the nuclear family, American Beauty protagonist yearns for realignment of patriarchal structure as does Gaz in full monty his desire to recover his role as breadwinner so that he can reclaim his son from his ex wife. FIGHT CLUB â€Å"It touched a nerve in the male psyche that was debated in newspapers across the world.† The Times MARLA: â€Å"Could be worse, a woman could cut off your penis† Tyler Durden Marla introduces/is the conflict. Neurotic marla is a sexualized woman/object (her flat dildo etc) placed into whore category. she disturbs the house causes cracks in walls leaks, etc. â€Å"What counts is what the heroine provokes or rather what she represents. She is the one or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance† Budd Boetticher TYLER: Tyler and his impulsive nature, represents the Freudian philosophy of the Id. The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, water, sex and basic impulses. EXPAND Always has his chest on show like the iconic images of the 1980s heroic action movies. The body is shown to acquire battle scars which removes any erotism which may induce the female gaze need to explain.. used as a tool of power to redeem authority. This is the physical manifestation of the ironic rejection of the â€Å"heroes† of the action films of the previous years. He is in control, has the power over Marla and makes the decisions, drives the narrative. PATERNITY: â€Å"Were a generation of men raised by women† Tyler Durden Paternity discussed in the bathroom between the two, father abandoned him EXPAND THE PHALLUS: First introduced to violent action gun in his mouth then to the softer image of sign saying â€Å"Were still men† Bob has larger breasts feminized. The genitals are particularly present in this film from Tyler showing the graphic images of full frontal male nudity of the penis to taking away the statesmens balls thus demasculating him. Balls stand for Male Power the ability to reproduce Testicular cancer meetings also. Dildo in Marlas bedroom representing the fake male the fake man, the substitution of the real penis with a fake one reveals inferiority complex no need for the real man in the modern world. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Primarily the narrative of the film Fight Club is wholly centered on the male our protagonist Jack. We are encouraged as the spectator to emphasize with him, he navigates the shots in the Voice over the use of the word â€Å" we† is used to encourage identification from the spectator. Is there a problem with identification in this film because the spectator identifies with the protagonist Jack who turns out to be Tyler also so when Jack finds out he is Tyler not only do we experience the same surprise as him, the spectator is left feeling removed from identification? Misplaced just as man does in society? The creation of a microcosm in the house new world order fascism back to being real men, almost militarian (thats what they associate with manhood). Use of colour, lighting difference between the house and the flat, how Brad is framed with his chest exposed showing his muscular torso to portray the idealized man Jack wants to be. The decaying house, large empty insde and out (as its on an industrial estate) builds up a representation of the inner vacousness of the protagonist. MAGNOLIA Paul Thomas Andersons LA ensemble film â€Å"Magnolia† disrupts the classic Oedipal patterning common to many mainstream films. The film repeatedly enacts a pronounced degree of male failure and what amounts to an indictment of the system of father rule The men of Magnolia are to some extent all feminized by circumstance or choice: Earl, dying, is in need of care; Phil is a compassionate male nurse; Donnie is gay and wants to give love; Jimmy, because of his illness, is dependent; and Jim is a nurturing representative of the law who loses first his baton and then his gun, the phallic signifier par excellence. Even Frank Mackey, who has closed down his internal feminine, is again a caretaker by the films end. The most recalcitrant male is Stanleys father, Rick. He suggests a barely controlled violence, throwing a chair through the television as Stanley refuses to compete. A crisis in masculinity and male paradigms of power and behavior is posed. Clearly, the film is scrutinizing how to be a man and live as a man in culture. FRANK: This notion is foregrounded by Franks â€Å"Seduce and Destroy† infomercials, which appear during different segments of the film, and his performance of masculinity for the internal diegetic male audience. The excess of language, gestures, and emotion here enact male hysteria. A wielding of language that speaks as a means to recapture and reanimate male power, it suggests a masculinity reasserting itself at the expense of women. Franks misogyny and anger toward women come to seem a projection, a denial of the self-loathing and father-loss that resulted in his becoming his mothers caretaker as she succumbed to cancer. Women seem to be a smokescreen for his pain, something he can latch on to and feed his sense of rage. Frank, played by Cruise at his best in his usual angry young man mode, is aptly named as the teacher of ostensible truth, power and control who with arms nailed to an unseen cross is projected as an illuminated (Lucifer) savior. His crucified humanity, now a loaded shell, a persona with rigid firm ego boundaries of patent masculinity, launches a provocative assault, laced with inexplicable resentment, against Woman. His assumed control and power over his own vulnerability (fear of his undeveloped feminine component generalized as woman) results paradoxically from the rejection by and loss of his father followed by the incessant care of his slowly dying mother whom he was unable to save. PATERNITY: Stanley Spector to his father: â€Å"You need to start being nicer to me† His all-encompassing impotent rage is projected along with his need to control the symbolic Woman who constitutes the loss of his childhood and manhood. Like a fatherless boy of the ghetto, he shuns the excessive identification and nauseating closeness associated with his mother and her powerless circumstance. To acquire her world would only confirm his loss and her power to destroy. To him she only means burden and loss of freedom; thus he abuses Woman in order to maintain control and detachment. Moreover, his loss of masculinity resulting from the inability to control the inevitable suffering and eventual death of his mother lead him to create and identify with what he lacks, a powerful male image. His artificial self-acquired mastery over himself results tragically from lack of opposition since he cannot win the badge of manhood by defeating a foe who is missing or a cause that is inexplicable. The grateful male crowd (representing the incomplete male) is willing to pay Frank to attain his techniques to compensate for its loss and to overcome its incompleteness through the power of maintaining distance and control. But Frank paradoxically eventually finds redemption in what he denied, in the traditional female manner of acquiring power, through interaction with the Other. Frank, the rejected son finally confronts his dying father who is now unable to reply, apologize and expiate his guilt. Without the articulation and acceptance of his fathers sin, Frank cannot forgive or overcome the unknown one, he can only endure his memory. The cathartic release of his tormented repressed anger and simultaneous conflicted fear of another loss of and desire for his missing father is gripping. He faces uncertainty but his acceptance of his past and his anguished self, the veil of his repression and denial of his history is lifted and results in the loosening of his current defences and hi s false self. The painful return from/to his original position confirms that rebirth is painful. He can now join the family of man. The initially compliant game show kid (J. Blackman) alters his condition of bondage by sacrificing the moment of glory by a paradoxical (anorexial) attempt to avoid the game by controlling his body until he loses bladder control. When he realizes that adherence to arbitrary debilitating rules crushes creativity and freedom, he loses his ambition to succeed conventionally by a symbolic Freudian urethral discharge. Both the game and his body are beyond his control. He confronts his parasitic father as an incomplete child (no mother), asking to be treated anew with respect without having to constantly sacrifice himself to earn the love of his father. THE PHALLUS The cop who shows an interest in her, needs no change, only completion by another, but he too demonstrates his universal deficiency by losing the badge of his profession, his gun. This loss of power is later recovered from the sky god and magically saves a life. His stability rests on his identification with the law which he chooses to interpret selectively as a wise judge with the power to render mercy CINEMATOGRAPHY: Magnolia constructs the place of the female subject differently for the process of identification with the spectator. This is done by.. Magnolia systematically rejects mainstream films signifying system. As Fiske notes, soap opera suggests the workings of a feminine aesthetic and thereby posits the audience as female (180). Magnolia subverts the classic masculine gaze and audience address usually associated with film. The masochistic position from which we watch Magnolia is inscribed by the excessive music and by the competition of the musical discourse and the dialogue. This is doubly inscribed, as it were, because it speaks to the condition of the character as opposed to working in counterpoint to the image. For example, â€Å"One† (â€Å"is the loneliest number †) plays while introducing these lonely characters; over a close-up of the victimized and addicted Claudia, we hear â€Å"Save Me† (â€Å"You look like a girl who could use a tourniquet †). Soap operas exemplify such â€Å"double-voiced discourses† in which dominant cultural forms allow women participation (Fiske 192). The predominant use of close-ups and extreme close-ups throughout the film also expresses this excess. â€Å"There are two dramatic points of depature for melodrama. One is coloured by a female protagonists viewpoint which provides a focus for identification. The other examines the family and between the sexes and generations; here, although women play an important part, their point of view is not always analysed and does not initiate the drama† pg 42 Mulvey.L Marcie, the unruly black woman at the edges of the text, shouts what appear to be empty threats, but the danger she evokes is soon realized. The canted camera angles and frenzy of the editing, in addition to her shouting, foreground the level of disorder she represents. Handcuffed to a sofa, she continues to be verbally abusive as Jim investigates. Pulling the sofa from room to room, she becomes comic relief even as her powerful frame suggests a formidable adversary. Jim seems barely a match for Marcie, despite her containment. Jim: â€Å"MARCIE! DO NOT DRAG THAT COUCH ANY FURTHER!† (Anderson 29). Coded as marginal, Marcie wreaks havoc on the established order to which she is subject but in which she has no place, except as the â€Å"return of the repressed.† Jim finds a dead man in her closet. As a black woman existing on the social margins, she is an enigma that Jim and the film refuse to solve. In terms of sex, too, Magnolia exposes the system of male hegemony and power. In most soap operas, the condition of women living under patriarchy is examined to promote a reading that women identify as corresponding to their own reality, which leads to tears. Doane refers to these melodramatic texts as activating the â€Å"tropes of femininity† (183): waiting, watching and self-sacrifice. Through Jimmy and Earl, marriage as a system is also undermined. Not only is Jimmy adulterous, alcoholic, womanizing, and guilty of incest, he has astonishing contempt for his wife. In one of the films most powerful scenes, Rose learns the truth about her marriage, but it is also clear that she has known. Her performance of the dutiful wife, right up to the end, motivates Jimmys contempt. Rose can only face Jimmys molestation of Claudia when her husband breaks with the veneer of mutual respect and love on which their marriage is based. The only women with power in Magnolia are the black women, and when we are with them we are sutured to the position of two of the films key white male characters, Frank and Jim. That we identify with these women anyway, and with their threat to Frank and Jim, speaks to Magnolias feminine positioning of the viewer.† (a) â€Å"Magnolia displaces film narrative to television text and shifts from the normative masculine viewing position to a feminine one. Magnolia is symptomatic of a crisis in masculinity and interrogates cultural texts such as cop shows, quiz shows, and infomercials. Magnolia is a subversive cultural product, an indictment of paradigms of male hegemony and power, and a critique of the media systems of film and television. The films privileging of the soundtrack is unusual. Paul Thomas Anderson conceives the film in relation to one of Aimee Manns songs and envisions her voice as â€Å"another character† in the film (Anderson 204). Her voice does indeed constitute another character to such an extent that at times it upsets the normative hierarchy of discourses that mainstream films espouse. The use of such a counternarrative strategy and the predominance of a strong female voice working against and at times doubling the text also point to Magnolias challenge to the â€Å"male† textual film system and more traditionally â€Å"masculine† narratives. Manns voice is like a commentary on the action, pulling us in to watch the film from a female viewing position. BIBLIOGRAPHY Dillman, Joanne Clark â€Å"Magnolia†: Masquerading as Soap Opera, Journal of Popular Film and Television 33 no3 142-50 Fall 2005 Dines, Gail: Gender, Race and Class in the media Brod,H. (Ed) (1987) The making of masculinities Various, â€Å"The trouble with men: Masculinities in europeon and Hollywood cinema.† Fuery,Patrick (2000) New Developments In Film Theory- Palgrave, New York, â€Å"Male Spectatorship and the Hollywood Love Story†: Mackinnon, Kenneth. Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2003, Carfax Publishing Classical Hollywood Cinema : Film Style Mode of Production to 1960 Bordwell, David.; Staiger, Janet.; Thompson, Kristin Publication: London Taylor Francis Routledge, 1988. FILMOGRAPHY Fight Club () Dir: David Fincher Magnolia (1999) Paul Thomas Anderson Rocky ( 198 200 ) Thelma and Louise (1991)Dir: Ridley Scott

Analysis of A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Essay exampl

Ernest Hemingway's short story, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," first published in 1933, is written in his characteristic terse style. It is the story of two waiters having a conversation in a cafà ©, just before closing up and going home for the night. They cannot leave because they still have a customer. One is anxious to get home to his wife, while the other sympathizes with the old man sitting at the table. Without realizing it, they are discussing the meaning of life. I believe that the story takes place during WWI in Spain. There is a soldier walking on the street with a girl. The waiters comment that the guard will pick them up soon if they do not get inside. It is between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. because the cafe is about to close and one of the waiters is in a hurry to get home. There are three main characters in this story. The first is a younger waiter. He is inconsiderate, cocky, impatient and selfish. He seems to think that his needs are more important than anyone else’s. When the old man asks for more brandy, the waiter tells him, â€Å"You should have killed yourself ...

Interview people about the economy Essay

The people of the Orange County are an optimistic bunch. Yet, one can see this optimism slowly fading away into the darkness. For a country which is so close to perhaps world’s biggest entertainment hub, this is not a pretty picture. It would be wrong to blame the people. Little has gone right for the county since the economic recession of 2008, the effects of which are still quite visible. For a county which was already suffering from one of the more serious unemployment problems than compared to the average figures of the United States of America, the recession of 2008 has spelt doom, and its repercussions can still be felt. Take the case of the 34-year old Mr. Matthews who had a small shop selling electronic goods. However, with most people who gave him patronage, out of jobs or saving up for the bleak future, there are no takers for his once steadily selling shop of television sets and radios. His only hope is a government bailout, so that his customers have more money in their hands, or in other words greater purchasing power so as to indirectly get him out of this mess. Mr. Matthews situation is in complete contrast with Mrs. Mosby who is a secretary with the local government authority. She has been affected very little by the 2008 economic recession but maintains that she is concerned about a lot of her friends, whose businesses have shut or who have been shown the door in their jobs. The only consequence of this recession on her is that while her pay has not increased, prices of many commodities of even general use have gone by which makes it difficult for her to make the ends of her household meet. She is for the moment thankful that she has a government job, but strongly advocates that it is the state’s responsibility to find her fellow citizens a job which at the very least promises them adequate means of survival. Recession and the deteriorating economic situation is a concern not only to those who are currently affected by it, but also those who may be affected by it in the future. Take the case of 24-year old Mike, who is a final year student at the local university. He agrees that the heat in the air can be felt by all, and even though his university manages to put together a small career fair every year, it seems a difficult proposition this year. Although in the top half of his class, Mike admits that getting a job which helps him repay his educational loans he took for college, at least currently, seems to be a daunting task. He is hopeful that by the time he graduates, the situation would improve. He doesn’t make a case for out and out state intervention, but hopes that the state would help big economic powerhouses by giving them incentives and subsidies. Things have turned sour for those who are self-employed as well. Take the instance of a lawyer who has his own practice, Miss Timberlake. Litigation has become suddenly too expensive, and people seem to prefer to hold up matters for now. Even matters of home foreclosure have got delayed for now. People are looking at otherwise normal litigation procedures as a luxury service, which they are unable to afford at the moment, and are not as big a priority as say medical and health expenditure. Health insurance companies are facing the heat as no other according to Jeff, who works at one of the biggest insurance companies. The health and medical costs have spiraled over the last few years. The fact that people have very little disposal income, and are defaulting on their regular premium payments is making the matters worse for the insurance companies. Their being no solution in sight, people are turning to each other and urging them to perform acts of gratitude. For instance, appeals are being made to doctors and other hospital staff to give up a day’s pay. People are becoming much more cautious and conservative in spending their money. For instance, the younger siblings are getting their older siblings clothes. The insurance companies don’t have enough cash flowing in so as to be able to cope up with the increasing medical costs. This spells a disaster not just for one or two companies, but for two industries which are vital to the US economy – health and insurance. Whether there is a way out of this mess is the million dollar question facing everyone right now. The companies in both sectors, however, are optimistic and hope to see things improving with the Obama administration. Obama’s success in being able to pass the health insurance bill is being seen as a huge positive and people seem to be oddly comforted by his words of promise. Job creation is what people are currently looking forward to. Perhaps, the only sections of the society who have nothing to lose right now are the school going children. However, it is amazing how the economic crisis has made way into their everyday conversations as well. David who is only 14 is angry at the whole situation. He maintains that the whole crisis is the fault of the government, which allowed risky investments to be made. He is also unhappy about the liberal policies which have allowed a bulk of the work to be outsourced to other destinations where labour is much cheaper. Stricter laws are needed, he argues emphatically. Those who are retired have been hit badly as well. Their pension schemes and other insurance amounts are simply not enough for them to be able to make their ends meet. Home foreclosures are likely and in the offing, and this has most of them worried. Take the case of Mr. Andrews, who is 66 years old and survives on a small pension scheme. Recently the prices of even basic consumables have risen so sharply risen that he is finding it difficult to make the ends meet. His old age means that it is much more difficult for him to find a job as compared to other freshers just out of college. He is worried that if the State fails to take some concrete steps soon, many Americans could be tinkering on the verge of starving poverty. Take the case of Mr. Murdoch who is a stock market analyst and broker. In the economic recession of 2008, he lost close to $100,000. He says that he is devastated and doesn’t know if there is any hope remaining for his business, and whether he will be able to revive it in the near future. He is currently torn between the idea of continuing his business, or taking up a small job somewhere. However, he himself laughs at the irony of it all, given that it would be near impossible to find a job anywhere. He also feels responsible to many of his clients, who he was acting for, and have lost a considerable amount of money in the stock market. At the same time, however, he is quick to point out that investment in the market is subject to market risks, and therefore, one is understood to have assumed the same.

Nemesis in Greek Mythology

Nemesis in Greek Mythology Definition Nemesis is the goddess of divine retribution who punishes excessive pride, undeserved happiness, and the absence of moderation. Nemesis Rhamnusia was honored with a sanctuary at Rhamnus in Attica from the 5th Century; thus, Nemesis is a cult goddess, but she is also a personification of the Greek noun nemesis distribution of what is due from the verb nemo apportion. She is responsible for the vicissitudes of mortal life and is associated with similar chthonic figures, the Moirai Fates and Erinyes Furies. [Source: The Hyperboreans and Nemesis in Pindars Tenth Pythian. by Christopher G. Brown. Phoenix, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Summer, 1992), pp. 95-107.] Nemesis parents are either Nyx (Night) alone, Erebos and Nyx, or Ocean and Tethys. [See The First Gods.] Sometimes Nemesis is the daughter of Dike. With Dike and Themis, Nemesis helps Zeus in the administration of justice. Bacchylides says the 4 Telkhines, Aktaios, Megalesios, Ormenos, and Lykos, are Nemesis children with Tartaros. She is sometimes considered the mother of Helen or of the Dioscuri, whom she hatched from an egg. Despite this, Nemesis is often treated as a virgin goddess. Sometimes Nemesis is similar to Aphrodite. Providence as a Successor to Nemesis, by Eugene S. McCartney (The Classical Weekly, Vol. 25, No. 6 (Nov. 16, 1931), p. 47) suggests that the Christian concept of Providence is a successor of Nemesis. Go to Other Ancient / Classical History Glossary pages beginning with the letter a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | wxyz Also Known As: Ikhnaià ª, Adrà ªsteia, Rhamnousia Common Misspellings: Nemisis Examples In the story of Narcissus, the goddess Nemesis is invoked to punish Narcissus for his frankly narcissistic behavior. Nemesis obliges by causing Narcissus to fall hopelessly in love with himself.

Another Match Lit essays

Another Match Lit essays These days the music business is a hard business to go into. Every year hundreds of thousands of hopeful artists are turned down because they simply arent good enough. But NY emo/punk foursome Matchbook Romance are a different story. Once known as The Getaway this emotional-hardcore band were so damn good that Epitaph Records plucked 'em right off the internet. The internet really played and plays a major part of our success as a band, says bassist Ryan Kienle, weeks before the band releases West for Wishing, their debut EP. West For Wishing is a sweet taste of their debut album scheduled for release later this year. "Lets start out by starting over, what did I expect, youre no good at lying and Im no good at comebacks." Lovers The band dates back to 1997, with Ryan Kienle (bassist) and Andrew Jordan (vocalist/guitarist) sitting in their lonesome bedrooms, playing their instruments and writing songs of hope for a better future. After belting out a few tunes, the two decided on starting a band and teamed up with Ryan "Judas" DePaolo (guitar) and Aaron Stern (drums) These four quickly scribbled down a few more emotionally sweat screamo tunes and started playing under the name The Getaway. "We experiment a lot when writing songs. We all work hard on making each note and word of our songs something to remember" Kienle says. "Its the best quality of our band. We bridge the gap, taking the best of pop-punk and emo and making something of our own. After writing their first ever songs the band, armed with instruments and a computer constructed a website and began a relentless word-of-mouth crusade, forming links and mailing emails to local kids about shows. "We were promoting all our shows over punk sites and mailing lists and other bands' guest books and message ...

Paul's view of Women in the Ministry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paul's view of Women in the Ministry - Essay Example It is clear through Scripture verses that Paul, unlike many men of his time, was supportive of women actively teaching and praying in the ministry. One of the most profound references that can be found to the views of Paul is in the book of Romans. Romans 16:1-2 states: â€Å"I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.† If Paul did not support women in the ministry, he would not be commending anyone, let alone a woman, by name. Furthermore, though Paul refers to Phoebe as a â€Å"servant†, he wrote his letters in Greek, using the word â€Å"diakonos†, from which the word â€Å"deacon† is derived (Fees). Though the translation reads â€Å"servant†, it has been speculated, that Phoebe may have actually been a church leader, such as a deacon, not a servant. In fact, the word is only translated once out of thirty-four times as â€Å"servant†, and that is when it has bee n applied to Phoebe; the rest of the time it has been translated as â€Å"minister† or â€Å"deacon† (Fees). Another female name of note is Priscilla, noted to be a tent-making team of husband and wife whose house Paul is a guest in, as stated in Acts 18:1-3. In Acts 18:24-26, it states â€Å"now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in Scriptures, came to Ephesus.   This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.   So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.   When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.† Priscilla, along with her husband, taught and explained the gospel to Apollos while Paul was staying under their roof and sharing their house

Peking Duck Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Peking Duck - Essay Example I grew in a family where eating is the most important task. We had a belief that, by eating, we get to live well. My family was a middle class one. We only became rich when I joined middle school. My father chose to appreciate the fact of getting rich by tasting every cuisine. He became the biggest gourmet worldwide. We also chose to join him as gourmets. My dad was never a duck eater because he was the origin of south china where they do not eat duck. Surprisingly, he has a passion for Peking duck just like my mother and I. The problem of eating Peking duck is that we could not have it cooked at home. We had to travel so to have it cooked. We marked the best and famous restaurant where we could have our Peking duck cooked. Quanjude is the restaurant we liked most. Travelling to this restaurant was another challenge of its own. Beijing being a huge city is affected by bad traffic. Often, we stayed for long hours at the traffic jam before reaching the restaurant. We had every reason of eating Peking duck more than the reasons we had for our lives. We had a belief that all cuisines have their own different stories. We had the great pleasure of having a delicious meal together as a family. Peking duck has been found to be the main cuisine on the menus of The Imperial Court. This dish inspired poets and the poems. As we can discover in the collection of the poems, the verse of Duan Zhu ZhiCi mentioned of roasted duck. Pecking duck became the symbol of China in the mid-20th century. Many tourists and diplomats showed great interest of Peking duck making it famous among the people in China (McMeel 5). Peking ducks have been served severally during meals in the big meetings of the famous people between the Chinese. With this great history, am happy that Peking duck is my favorite dish. If I can get the stereotyping part of this story, I am tempted to believe I can also be famous by eating Peking duck. I chose