Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Interview - Essay Example (Chu et al 2010). The importance of the setup is mirrored by the solidarity of a typical Chinese family. The deep mutual attachment is ingrained among the members, which is important for minimizing the cost of conflicts which may arise due to difference in objectives and other domestic issues. Therefore, the setup is responsible for the high degree of mutual attachment exhibited by all members of a typical traditional Chinese family. However, the demographic transitions and rapid economic development has exerted a negative strain which has resulted in diminished traditional family features. The retreat in traditional Chinese family features has resulted in an accelerating divorce rate, diminished influence of kin group and reduced parental control over married children. On the other hand, the influence of demographic transitions and economic development has helped the establishment of certain positive features such as reduced prevalence of bride price and dowry and has ensured the provision of womenà ¢â‚¬â„¢s rights and social values. (Chu et al 2010). The role of children in a typical setup is to learn and follow the traditional features of a Chinese family. With the advent of globalization, Children are now expected to seek and utilize various educational opportunities. Children are more frequently required to seek overseas education which enables them to play an important role in prosperity of family business or in availing other business opportunities. The children play an essential role in the integrity and continuing family existence by following the footsteps of their parents. In most instances, children are raised without close association with their fathers’ and this transnational family arrangement puts a great strain on the mothers to mould their children in such a way that they are better able to adapt to the internal as well as external environment of a

Television and Cinema in Post Modern Society

Television and Cinema in Post Modern Society Television mocking its big brother Cinema? Through parody is television mocking its big brother Cinema or is simply feeding the post-modern society? Artistic achievement has, in most societies, usually seen as one of the highest goals for its citizens with artists held in highest esteem in society. The Classical civilizations of Rome and Ancient Greece are rightly regarded as artistic highlights of world civilizations due to the unprecedented status given to artists of all trades: poets, painters, bards, actors, sculptors and musicians. This respect for excellence in the arts still exists today However modern art is unfortunately too often derided as a thing of paltry significance as compared to the great artists of the past. FPeriods of high accomplishment such as Ancient Greece or the Renaissance are rightly regarded as containing such artists whose skill and mastery of their respective disciplines may rarely be emulated, if ever. However, is that a reason for giving up on modern artistic output? After all, the twentieth century was that of Pollock, Rockwell and Hockney. But lest we forget, in the annals of history, it is doubtful that the past 100 years will be remembered for their contribution to age-old art forms such as painting or sculpture. Instead, it seems likely and indeed fair that the 20th century will be remembered for the creation, popularization and investigation of the audio-visual arts of cinema and television. From the first shots of the train moving out of Carpentras station, cinema has moved the hearts and minds of millions. The 20th century was witness to the greatest technological advancements in human history and artistic output followed suit. After the silent pictures of the 1900s first captures audiences to the first black-and-white talkies, cinematic progress could never be checked. From success to success, people round the world would be enchanted by Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, awed by Harryhausen’s special effects, moved by Gone With The Wind and horrified by Birth Of A Nation. Every decade would bring an advancement in cinematic output, something which would revolutionize the industry once again and bring new generations into cinemas. These constant progressions in cinema would take place at a far faster rate than in other arts due to several important factors. First of all, the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th-century had sent technological development across the world into a tail-spin which impacted cinema very positively by providing studios with a constant stream of new machinery, effects possibilities. The knock-on effect from this was of course that a steady stream of technicians would be trained and employed by the great studios. We will be analyzing the hiring and firing practices of the studio moguls as compared to the lifelong television employees further on in this dissertation. Another great reason for the appeal of cinema would be the characters contained within it. The glamour of Hollywood until the 1940s would make audiences dream across five continents up to the present day. The gritty reality of much of today’s cinematic output had not even been imagined and movies were used to make people dream of a greater life. We will use this opportunity to further analyze the setting-up of the movie studios, the Jewish origins of most of the moguls and the taste of Americana they injected into their projects later on. Furthermore, we will draw up a detailed comparison between the early days of both film and television, analyzing which tactics worked better in the battles for a limited audience. Even horrifying world events such as World War II would provide the film industry with invigoration as Hollywood and the pre-war German film studios would engage in a rivalry, the like of which has rarely been seen in the arts. With the Hollywood ban on exporting American films to the Third Reich, the motivation for German film-makers was extraordinary and names such as Murnau and Lang emerged as major players on the world cinema scene. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of them fled Germany during or after the war to seek new lives in Hollywood. Many failed but some met with varying measures of success, the greatest legacy of this time possibly contained in Fritz Lang’s masterpiece Metropolis, the ominous skyline filled with skyscrapers working as a tribute to Lang’s first impressions of seeing New York harbour from far out at sea. However, even from that darkest period of human history has emerged some of the most shocking and lasting pieces of film. The films shot by the Allied forces of the Nazi concentration camps have proved perhaps the most important factor of documentary cinema. Beyond the artistry, beyond the emotional impact, cinema has provided humankind with an unlimited opportunity to document its own history, both good and bad. An opportunity television executives would notice and pick up on. Even today, the claims made by CNN and BBC such as ‘We are there as the news happens’ stem from the passion for news-stories instilled in people during the World War when small news flashes shown as previews before films in movie theatres were the only pictures civilians at home had of the war outside of newspapers. These propagandistic items were of course good for morale and television would soon enter into the fray, edging cinema out to take a monopoly over showing news programs. We must also consider another important area of research. The ‘parodying’ between television and cinema is a term of some ambiguity. Within this dissertation, we will also try and highlight the inherent differences between the terms of parody and emulation. As per rivalry in any kind of industry, some actions that may seem to be a parody of existing practices are in fact no more than emulation, a mere attempt to capitalize on a rival’s success. The concept of parody on the other hand is a very subtle one. Although television and cinema are by definition filled with some of the most acerbic minds in the world, minds quite ripe to create parody, it is somewhat naà ¯ve to think that these people would be allowed to impact decisions on scheduling and programme production. Only those at the summit of their popularity would be allowed their own shows, let alone given creative control of their shows. A recent example of this happening in Britain would be So Graham Norton. However, even these shows often fail as can be demonstrated as can be seen through the antics of stars such as Liza Minnelli, John McEnroe or Anna Nicole Smith. Thus, we can observe that the concept of pure parody being used by cinema and television for its own sake is somewhat mortifying, given the massive financial risks such an undertaking would incur. However, if parody was created to feed the viewing desires of a post-modern audience, then such an action becomes more realistic. To study this, we shall take an in-depth look at the nature of today’s post-modern audience and their viewing habits. In this dissertation, we will be looking in more depth at the first fledgling footsteps of both these art forms, the characters that helped build them up to their global statuses as well as two important periods in their history. The 50s and 60s where cinema and television were in direct competition through the slow transition period of the 70s and 80s into the modern-day scenario of co-operation. With this journey through time, we will be looking at trends pioneered by each of them and looking at any sharing or borrowing of ideas between the two mediums, we shall observe their long and drawn-out rivalry as well as the numerous examples of co-operation between them. The Glamour Years or the faint ridicule of cinema’s golden age If 90% of leadership is showing up, then we can hardly be surprised at the manner in which the men who would become studio moguls quickly rose to the top of this brand new industry. The founders of Paramount, RKO, MGM, Fox and Warner Bros. were for the vast majority immigrants or children of immigrants who had come to America either to seek their fortune or who had grown up with the image of America as this place of opportunity. In the first two decades of the 20th century, these views were far truer than they are now but to attain what one desired when the bar was so high, a lot of hard work would have to be carried out over many years. Thankfully, hard work was what these men’s families had been built on. Possessing this instinct along with a fine sense for business acumen, which some would sarcastically claim was due to their Jewish nature, Mayer, Goldwyn and the others would take the American cinematic market by storm. Before continuing, let us dispel any lingering images of these men helping each other out on their way to success. They entered a ruthless line of business where they were in direct competition and they tried everything to ruin each other, from slandering each other in the popular press to stealing actors and actresses. However, more united them than the moguls would have cared to admit. Since most of them had risen from humble beginnings, their visions of America were an embodiment of the American Dream that had influenced the migration of countless thousands from their home countries. The MGM studio, for example, would become synonymous with Technicolor musicals such as The Wizard of Oz portraying the world as a happy, bright place where everyone lived contently. The Warners would take a more active interest in social commentary but even their early efforts never went too far in criticizing a society that had offered them so much. Across the studio divide, the concepts of method acting had never even been considered and the goal of cinema was to make their actors and actresses look glamorous while portraying a style of life that would make every American dream in wonder. Why this image can be considered with a slight tint of ridicule is its existence in the middle of such troubled times. In the space of thirty years, America would fight in the two bloodiest conflicts in human history yet still, the studios churned out glossy movies, filled with beautiful dames and jolly banter. But here, once again, we strike a familiar obstacle, one that both film and television have met too many times. Too often in criticism about their history, studios or television networks are blamed for the programmes they carry or films they produce. Unfortunately, whilst they cannot be absolved of all blame, the relationship between social trends and popular entertainment is an obvious one. At a time in its history when America was fighting wars, undergoing a recession as well as Prohibition, the last thing American audiences wanted was to be served up with depressing fare that they could identify with. If another example of this is needed, look at what kind of cinema was popularized in the 50s. After the war, the film noir came of age and rose to ascendancy when American society was doing well and people felt good about themselves. A crucial fact that those who are all too quick to lay blame at the feet of the studios is that films and television programs will only be made if their creators feel they will be well-received by the general public. Television’s first faltering footsteps The intertwining and complex relationship between cinema and television cannot only be analyzed from the perspectives of programme similarity and audience sharing. Those who decided on what programmes should be commissioned, those who researched audiences to determine what kind of target audiences should be tapped, those who decided on what type of scheduling to choose at any given time of day, these television executives, producers and network directors would be the ones that would outline how television would evolve from one year to the next. As has been explained, television channels found themselves confronted with a very difficult challenge. Whereas film studios had been opened in great pomp and ceremony with the budgets of their moguls behind them thus allowing them to find their feet and carve their respective identities without a vast amount of competitive pressure placed upon them. Television did not benefit from such an auspicious start. The challenge that faced channels was to find their own identities and thus capture individual audience shares whilst fighting an uphill struggle to dislodge cinema from its spot atop the entertainment mountain. To take this would kind a special kind of organization. How could television not only catch up to cinema but also surpass it in popularity? Well, television started out with two significant advantages. Firstly, that of money. The far larger amount of broadcasting time inherent to television made it a much more viable target for financial gain than cinema which could only show any adverts to limited audiences. The commercial prospects of television soon became clear and this links us neatly with its second trump card. Throughout the 50s, television’s popularity exploded and families were rushing to buy them. The reason this had not occurred during the 1940s was that regulations concerning this new kind of entertainment were still getting sorted out and freed of problems. At the end of the 40s, television was still a luxury and commissions for TV channels had only really affected the East and West Coasts. However, in the 50s, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) decided to make the acquisition of such a commission far easier and soon, channels began appearing across the States, often broadcasting to a small area but carrying only limited-interest stories for its local people. Thus, television watching became a far more personal affair. As far as programme content, a specific identity for television developed slowly through the 50s with the launching of successful sitcoms such as I Love Lucy which carried high audience shares across the country. However, we can distinguish here the first example of a parody between two entertainment methods. Shows that were once popular on radio were being copied to television, with I Love Lucy a prime example of this. (Wikipedia, 2005) illustrates the identity-forming process of television by explaining how local television stations helped shape this process. Moving on from   merely showing advertisements for local companies, they began showing small serials and talk shows, some of which became national phenomenons. The local nature of this kind of television would eventually mostly fade away by the 70s but the damage done to cinema was irreparable. Television had entered the hearts and minds of successive American generations and it was here to stay. Here, we can draw a major comparison between cinema and television potentially parodying it. Merely watching a few episodes of these old-school sitcoms, we cannot help but be struck at the similarity of tone to the pre-war Hollywood days. It is necessary to diverge briefly to explain the state of mind of 1950s America. Before the war, the USA had undergone a massive recession caused by the Wall Street Crash and thus, it had fallen to the entertainment industry to help people forget their woes. The film industry had done this, as shown above, but the changes it had caused had not died away. Although World War II had caused the death of many a gallant young man, it had lifted the USA into a very buoyant mindset. With the European powers needing a decade more to recover from the conflict, with Japan’s military and economic potential temporarily annihilated, with China still reeling from its murderous invasion, the Soviet Union remained the only true challenge to America’s supremacy. But the Cold War had not yet begun in earnest and in the late 40s and early 50s, the USA saw itself as the world’s only true superpower. The much denigrated Eisenhower presidency kept the economy stable through a tricky balancing act and for most of America, life was good. The Americana dream adapted to no longer be a picture of great wealth but of blissful happiness. The family unit of 2.4 children, living in the comfortable and safe suburban districts with a white picket fence around a big house, was a dream that many wished to achieve and television could reflect that. Shows such as I Love Lucy portrayed a heavenly, glossy picture of American society which is ultimately matched nowhere in entertainment except among the idyllic American communities shown in early studio films. The Warners, Mayer and the others had all built up their studios from the ground up thanks to their own hard work. They were living proof of the possibilities America offered and thus showed this in their films. Television in the 50s emulated this entirely. The era was different, the clothing more modern but the ensemble feeling remained the same. This was not merely borne out in television sitcoms but also in adverts. Sitcoms would be interrupted for commercial upon commercial selling the latest washing-machine, vacuum-cleaner or kitchen appliance without which the dutiful housewife could not live. It is oddly ironic that many of today’s stereotypes about the 50s are a product of this kind of television. It needs to be remembered, However, that this often derided type of family life where the children skipped to school, rosy-cheeked and clutching an apple, while the father gave his loving wife a demure kiss on the cheek before heading to the office in his beautiful Chevrolet is not merely a myth. Around the suburbs of New York, San Francisco and the like, many families not only lived this kind of life but their children and grandchildren still do today. However, the way in which television chose to reflect this society in a utopian sense, glossing over any unpleasantness, was a definite rehashing of the technique used by the film studios of Hollywood twenty years previously. The adaptation of the two mediums and their direct battle for audience shares As television successfully found its feet and began a posing direct threat to cinema, studios were forced to change. After all, no other new form of entertainment had entered general society since the arrival of cinema before television and thus, cinema would have to fight to keep its audiences. A couple of things could be seen as certain before these changes would proceed. Firstly, cinema would never rival television for mass popularity and market potential due to the overwhelming availability of television and its presence in an increasing number of households across America. Secondly, one of television’s worrying tendencies was to garner a lot of advertising money from a wide swathe of big American companies. Electrical appliances, cars, clothes, foodstuffs and drinks were all sold on television during commercial breaks, a fact that cinema could not copy. However, studio executives soon found ways round this problem, ways in which although adverts could not be shown during the movie, surreptitious showing of products could have a similar effect. Product placement was born. Admittedly, in a society which with every passing year produces more and wastes more, it seems that studios have become less adept at making product placement seem natural rather than obvious. The 007 series had always been a treasure trove for companies wishing to place their symbols on James Bond’s latest gadget. With the arrival of Pierce Brosnan into the role However, any shred of subtlety vanished to be replaced with highly obvious use of products. For example, Brosnan’s type of car had always been one of the highlights of the film. In Die Another Day, the presence of the painfully named Aston Martin ‘Vanish’ only served as a sales pitch for the Vanquish. Such utterly shameless product placement did reach a crescendo in 2004 where the amount of plugging for Sony and Converse in I, Robot would have made Isaac Asimov turn in his grave. However, such behaviour can shed some light onto the type of post-modern audience that we are evolving in. Those detractors who claim that post-modernism is merely the natural by-product of such a senselessly wasteful society whose mechanisms result in the attempted alienation of anyone showing a shred of individuality. Whether this is true or not is difficult to ascertain but what is lamentable is that the artistic integrity which has existed since Aristotle is being compromised in cinema out of the desire to keep up with television. Thankfully, the presence of adverts in television, even if sometimes the length of advert breaks can be infuriating has meant this has not happened in television’s case. If we evolve in a post-modernist society, then these differing methods of merely pandering to our consumer’s instincts could seem to be a by-product of intense competition between two forms of popular entertainment. Unfortunately, cinema’s rapid changes would lead to renewed controversy over its spectatorship and its impact thereupon as explained by Lynn Spigel. The concept of spectatorship in itself is a fascinating one, not just within the framework of this dissertation, but also within the field of cinema and television research. The bearings that society can have upon an audience’s watching habits are a crucial fact to understanding how individuals, larger target groups or entire demographics will react to any kind of program. (Spigel, 1998) places the birth of the issue of spectatorship in the 70s as film studies began increasing in popularity. This rise in popularity and its link to audience research are vital as we can use them to comprehend not just how an audience would react to a pioneering film or series in either cinema or television but also how it would react to a parody or any kind of wholesale copying of a popular film or series by another medium of entertainment. The issues raised by Spigel are ones, she claims, whose roots lie back in the ideals of Marx and Lacan. From a psycho-analytical perspective, Spigel writes of the complexities of spectatorship research given the psychological aspects behind it. Although Spigel’s thoughts may be questioned in themselves, they do offer conclusive evidence of audience diversity today and how carefully each aspect of this diversity needs to be considered before deciding on scheduling or production. In this, we can see the great precautions television executives must need to take in order to contemplate parodying of any kind of popular film. Modern television, its workings and its impact upon the world Big, brash, loud. Three words which could describe much of the television programmes produced in America in recent years. Long gone is the demure image of the family sitting down to enjoy some good old American-style programming with shows such as Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie. Let’s face it, if these shows were produced today, they would face some accusations of glorifying witchcraft, yet another practice banned in Leviticus’ long list of gripes against the world. Somehow, the image of ABC being picketed for showing re-runs of Bewitched may at first strike us as absurd but with careful thought, does this seem so unlikely? One of the major problems facing network directors and schedulers is the problems they could face if showing any material seen as even slightly offensive to anybody. We will not engage here in mindless America-bashing but in a country that has long defended the right to free speech, both the film and television industries are being lambasted by religious and family protection groups for promoting violence and pornography. Whilst this could be understood if horror films were shown at hours when children watched TV or if their cartoons professed truly immoral practices but when complaints relate to Elmer Fudd shooting Bugs Bunny, one can wonder if the world has gone crazy. However insane these complaints can appear to be, they are still a startlingly important reality for today’s television. They form one of the biggest pressures on television executives who are caught in a tricky balancing act. They must maintain their audience shares by scheduling popular programming whilst also keeping packs of demented denigrators at bay. Interestingly, regulations concerning the effect of violent or sexual programming have been in place for decades. After all, most channels, even now with the new glut of cable and digital operators, have respected the 9 o’clock watershed before broadcasting any overly offensive material. Have they been secretly breaching rules of moral conduct in recent years? Whilst it is certain that television programmes do have an impact on those who watch them and while children will always care little about rules or regulations that protect them from exposition to negative images, can this be said to be the wholesale fault of the television industry? If the people want games, then games they shall have. This syllogism is one without which television stations cannot operate and although appeals could be made for public decency, violent and pornographic programmes will only be made and shown as long as the public has an interest in them. Thus, society should look to what elements within itself cause television to broadcast this type of programming rather than attack television for it. A recent example that shows just what a level of frenzy has been reached was the 2004 Superbowl. Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson provided the entertainment when Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson’s outfit, exposing her pierced right breast. Whether the stunt was pre-prepared or not has not been made crystal clear but the furore that surrounded the incident was mind-boggling. The family protection and decency groups went insane, denouncing all film and television workers as Hollywood sleaze. The fact that this slip occurred during an event with global broadcasting and with audiences reaching into the hundreds of millions blew it out of all proportion. For some reason, that a breast had been shown on national television before the watershed was seen as being a massive breach of public decency and as potentially warping the fragile little minds of innocent children. This level of problems goes a long way to showing the tonnage of pressure placed upon television channels. However, it is thankfully a trend that has not seemed to take hold outside the USA. The EU, Japan and Canada are subjected to the same kind of programming and although some complaints are voiced, they never garner so much media attention. Thus, we can see that the manners in which television panders to its audiences vary from country to country. We have highlighted television’s modus operandi in the USA but let us consider a cross-section of Japanese audiovisual entertainment. More than 20% of Japan’s cinematic output and a vast swathe of its popular television programs are made up of anime. Anime cartoons usually contain far more involved storyline than their American counterparts, replete with high levels of violence, sexy and skimpily-clad female characters and yet, these are watched by children of all ages. Does Japan thus see a higher violence rate among young children? No, in fact, the proportion of it is far lower in Japan than it is in the USA. However, even Japanese anime does not make it onto American airwaves without massive cuts by the censorship office. A good example of this is constituted by the popular anime series, Dragonball Z. In it, a group of fighters defend Earth from invasion by evil aliens or androids. Throughout its 250+ episodes, the show contains high levels of violence, including dismembering, decapitation and the beating of children. As can be imagined, when the show was broadcast in America on Cartoon Network, all these passages were cut to spare the minds of our children. However, in Japan, Dragonball Z aired in all its unadulterated gore and no-one seemed the worse for wear. This is not to say that so much violence on TV is good. Indeed, it is lamentable that it should exist at all but it is highly unfair to lay the blame for any consequences at the feet of an industry which is doing its best to keep as many people happy as possible. Although, we have taken a standpoint in attacking America for its high sensitivity when it comes to protecting its children, we have recently been confronted with proof that this type of protest does not only occur in the USA. For ten years, Jerry Springer shocked the nation with its own brand of low chatshow humour. Famed topics of debate involved the KKK, incest and bestiality. It had met with both acclaim and criticism at home, some calling it a true social commentary, other cheap laughter at others’ misfortunes. Anyway, the comedic potential of the idea was soon seen and in 2002, it was turned into a musical named Jerry Springer: The Opera, starring David Soul as Jerry Springer, showing in the West End and on Broadway. Controversy courted it throughout but its great success shouted down these demons. However, in January 2005, the BBC decided to show the musical in its entirety. As soon as this decision was made public, Christian right-wing groups attacked the BBC for insulting Christians when it would not dare the same about Muslims or Jews. While this claim did have some merit, the BBC ignored these claims and broadcast the show at 10 o’clock on a Monday night with clear warning beforehand about the potentially offensive content within it. Examples of this type of occurrence could number in their hundreds but they are an ideal way of investigating how modern audiences identify with television programmes and react to them. One of the basic tenets is that post-modernism is that reactions to any situation are processes created by each individual and that thus, clear definitions of knowledge or art encompassing a group or a society are baseless. In this, it can be argued that the very concept of a post-modern audience is flawed. However, whatever theory we choose to engage with, we cannot reject human nature. In the last twenty years, it seems that many among the generation of young people across America who fought in the 60s and 70s against Vietnam, against the Cold War, for Civil Rights and for many other noble causes have become dangerously jaded. America’s quality of life at the end of the 70s and in the 80s reached a high unseen since the 50s. Although the gap between rich and poor was ever-widening, the lifestyles of the middle and upper classes were prodigious. America was still afflicted with problems in Iran, Central America but the Soviet Block was crumbling and the mood among the general population was good. However, in the 80s and 90s occurred a phenomenon that not many people had truly predicted. The baby-boomers who had so been influential in re-shaping America after World War II were themselves beginning to be required to pass the torch to the next generation. Thus, the norms of society that they had created were themselves being challenged by their children. This shift occurred through the appropriation of traditional American areas of life by the younger generation such as television, cinema, the press as well as the fledgling Internet. We will look in further detail at the emergence of teenagers as a separate marketing entity and the impact of the home video on cinema and television as it entered this confused social maze. (Carberry, 2000) picks up on the popular image of television being viewed as a window on the world. This image, although adequate in some respects, also fails to pay attention to one crucial fact about television. If we look out of a window, we are certain that we will see will be real. A television does not offer this capacity. Television programmes are constructed and even factual news bulletins or documentaries can be edited to look the way the news director wants them to. We know enough of methods of communication to realize the propagandistic power of television and therefore we are conscious that we must always take a step back when rationalizing about something we have seen on television. Television, by its very nature, is as big a construct as cinema however Television and Cinema in Post Modern Society Television and Cinema in Post Modern Society Television mocking its big brother Cinema? Through parody is television mocking its big brother Cinema or is simply feeding the post-modern society? Artistic achievement has, in most societies, usually seen as one of the highest goals for its citizens with artists held in highest esteem in society. The Classical civilizations of Rome and Ancient Greece are rightly regarded as artistic highlights of world civilizations due to the unprecedented status given to artists of all trades: poets, painters, bards, actors, sculptors and musicians. This respect for excellence in the arts still exists today However modern art is unfortunately too often derided as a thing of paltry significance as compared to the great artists of the past. FPeriods of high accomplishment such as Ancient Greece or the Renaissance are rightly regarded as containing such artists whose skill and mastery of their respective disciplines may rarely be emulated, if ever. However, is that a reason for giving up on modern artistic output? After all, the twentieth century was that of Pollock, Rockwell and Hockney. But lest we forget, in the annals of history, it is doubtful that the past 100 years will be remembered for their contribution to age-old art forms such as painting or sculpture. Instead, it seems likely and indeed fair that the 20th century will be remembered for the creation, popularization and investigation of the audio-visual arts of cinema and television. From the first shots of the train moving out of Carpentras station, cinema has moved the hearts and minds of millions. The 20th century was witness to the greatest technological advancements in human history and artistic output followed suit. After the silent pictures of the 1900s first captures audiences to the first black-and-white talkies, cinematic progress could never be checked. From success to success, people round the world would be enchanted by Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, awed by Harryhausen’s special effects, moved by Gone With The Wind and horrified by Birth Of A Nation. Every decade would bring an advancement in cinematic output, something which would revolutionize the industry once again and bring new generations into cinemas. These constant progressions in cinema would take place at a far faster rate than in other arts due to several important factors. First of all, the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th-century had sent technological development across the world into a tail-spin which impacted cinema very positively by providing studios with a constant stream of new machinery, effects possibilities. The knock-on effect from this was of course that a steady stream of technicians would be trained and employed by the great studios. We will be analyzing the hiring and firing practices of the studio moguls as compared to the lifelong television employees further on in this dissertation. Another great reason for the appeal of cinema would be the characters contained within it. The glamour of Hollywood until the 1940s would make audiences dream across five continents up to the present day. The gritty reality of much of today’s cinematic output had not even been imagined and movies were used to make people dream of a greater life. We will use this opportunity to further analyze the setting-up of the movie studios, the Jewish origins of most of the moguls and the taste of Americana they injected into their projects later on. Furthermore, we will draw up a detailed comparison between the early days of both film and television, analyzing which tactics worked better in the battles for a limited audience. Even horrifying world events such as World War II would provide the film industry with invigoration as Hollywood and the pre-war German film studios would engage in a rivalry, the like of which has rarely been seen in the arts. With the Hollywood ban on exporting American films to the Third Reich, the motivation for German film-makers was extraordinary and names such as Murnau and Lang emerged as major players on the world cinema scene. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of them fled Germany during or after the war to seek new lives in Hollywood. Many failed but some met with varying measures of success, the greatest legacy of this time possibly contained in Fritz Lang’s masterpiece Metropolis, the ominous skyline filled with skyscrapers working as a tribute to Lang’s first impressions of seeing New York harbour from far out at sea. However, even from that darkest period of human history has emerged some of the most shocking and lasting pieces of film. The films shot by the Allied forces of the Nazi concentration camps have proved perhaps the most important factor of documentary cinema. Beyond the artistry, beyond the emotional impact, cinema has provided humankind with an unlimited opportunity to document its own history, both good and bad. An opportunity television executives would notice and pick up on. Even today, the claims made by CNN and BBC such as ‘We are there as the news happens’ stem from the passion for news-stories instilled in people during the World War when small news flashes shown as previews before films in movie theatres were the only pictures civilians at home had of the war outside of newspapers. These propagandistic items were of course good for morale and television would soon enter into the fray, edging cinema out to take a monopoly over showing news programs. We must also consider another important area of research. The ‘parodying’ between television and cinema is a term of some ambiguity. Within this dissertation, we will also try and highlight the inherent differences between the terms of parody and emulation. As per rivalry in any kind of industry, some actions that may seem to be a parody of existing practices are in fact no more than emulation, a mere attempt to capitalize on a rival’s success. The concept of parody on the other hand is a very subtle one. Although television and cinema are by definition filled with some of the most acerbic minds in the world, minds quite ripe to create parody, it is somewhat naà ¯ve to think that these people would be allowed to impact decisions on scheduling and programme production. Only those at the summit of their popularity would be allowed their own shows, let alone given creative control of their shows. A recent example of this happening in Britain would be So Graham Norton. However, even these shows often fail as can be demonstrated as can be seen through the antics of stars such as Liza Minnelli, John McEnroe or Anna Nicole Smith. Thus, we can observe that the concept of pure parody being used by cinema and television for its own sake is somewhat mortifying, given the massive financial risks such an undertaking would incur. However, if parody was created to feed the viewing desires of a post-modern audience, then such an action becomes more realistic. To study this, we shall take an in-depth look at the nature of today’s post-modern audience and their viewing habits. In this dissertation, we will be looking in more depth at the first fledgling footsteps of both these art forms, the characters that helped build them up to their global statuses as well as two important periods in their history. The 50s and 60s where cinema and television were in direct competition through the slow transition period of the 70s and 80s into the modern-day scenario of co-operation. With this journey through time, we will be looking at trends pioneered by each of them and looking at any sharing or borrowing of ideas between the two mediums, we shall observe their long and drawn-out rivalry as well as the numerous examples of co-operation between them. The Glamour Years or the faint ridicule of cinema’s golden age If 90% of leadership is showing up, then we can hardly be surprised at the manner in which the men who would become studio moguls quickly rose to the top of this brand new industry. The founders of Paramount, RKO, MGM, Fox and Warner Bros. were for the vast majority immigrants or children of immigrants who had come to America either to seek their fortune or who had grown up with the image of America as this place of opportunity. In the first two decades of the 20th century, these views were far truer than they are now but to attain what one desired when the bar was so high, a lot of hard work would have to be carried out over many years. Thankfully, hard work was what these men’s families had been built on. Possessing this instinct along with a fine sense for business acumen, which some would sarcastically claim was due to their Jewish nature, Mayer, Goldwyn and the others would take the American cinematic market by storm. Before continuing, let us dispel any lingering images of these men helping each other out on their way to success. They entered a ruthless line of business where they were in direct competition and they tried everything to ruin each other, from slandering each other in the popular press to stealing actors and actresses. However, more united them than the moguls would have cared to admit. Since most of them had risen from humble beginnings, their visions of America were an embodiment of the American Dream that had influenced the migration of countless thousands from their home countries. The MGM studio, for example, would become synonymous with Technicolor musicals such as The Wizard of Oz portraying the world as a happy, bright place where everyone lived contently. The Warners would take a more active interest in social commentary but even their early efforts never went too far in criticizing a society that had offered them so much. Across the studio divide, the concepts of method acting had never even been considered and the goal of cinema was to make their actors and actresses look glamorous while portraying a style of life that would make every American dream in wonder. Why this image can be considered with a slight tint of ridicule is its existence in the middle of such troubled times. In the space of thirty years, America would fight in the two bloodiest conflicts in human history yet still, the studios churned out glossy movies, filled with beautiful dames and jolly banter. But here, once again, we strike a familiar obstacle, one that both film and television have met too many times. Too often in criticism about their history, studios or television networks are blamed for the programmes they carry or films they produce. Unfortunately, whilst they cannot be absolved of all blame, the relationship between social trends and popular entertainment is an obvious one. At a time in its history when America was fighting wars, undergoing a recession as well as Prohibition, the last thing American audiences wanted was to be served up with depressing fare that they could identify with. If another example of this is needed, look at what kind of cinema was popularized in the 50s. After the war, the film noir came of age and rose to ascendancy when American society was doing well and people felt good about themselves. A crucial fact that those who are all too quick to lay blame at the feet of the studios is that films and television programs will only be made if their creators feel they will be well-received by the general public. Television’s first faltering footsteps The intertwining and complex relationship between cinema and television cannot only be analyzed from the perspectives of programme similarity and audience sharing. Those who decided on what programmes should be commissioned, those who researched audiences to determine what kind of target audiences should be tapped, those who decided on what type of scheduling to choose at any given time of day, these television executives, producers and network directors would be the ones that would outline how television would evolve from one year to the next. As has been explained, television channels found themselves confronted with a very difficult challenge. Whereas film studios had been opened in great pomp and ceremony with the budgets of their moguls behind them thus allowing them to find their feet and carve their respective identities without a vast amount of competitive pressure placed upon them. Television did not benefit from such an auspicious start. The challenge that faced channels was to find their own identities and thus capture individual audience shares whilst fighting an uphill struggle to dislodge cinema from its spot atop the entertainment mountain. To take this would kind a special kind of organization. How could television not only catch up to cinema but also surpass it in popularity? Well, television started out with two significant advantages. Firstly, that of money. The far larger amount of broadcasting time inherent to television made it a much more viable target for financial gain than cinema which could only show any adverts to limited audiences. The commercial prospects of television soon became clear and this links us neatly with its second trump card. Throughout the 50s, television’s popularity exploded and families were rushing to buy them. The reason this had not occurred during the 1940s was that regulations concerning this new kind of entertainment were still getting sorted out and freed of problems. At the end of the 40s, television was still a luxury and commissions for TV channels had only really affected the East and West Coasts. However, in the 50s, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) decided to make the acquisition of such a commission far easier and soon, channels began appearing across the States, often broadcasting to a small area but carrying only limited-interest stories for its local people. Thus, television watching became a far more personal affair. As far as programme content, a specific identity for television developed slowly through the 50s with the launching of successful sitcoms such as I Love Lucy which carried high audience shares across the country. However, we can distinguish here the first example of a parody between two entertainment methods. Shows that were once popular on radio were being copied to television, with I Love Lucy a prime example of this. (Wikipedia, 2005) illustrates the identity-forming process of television by explaining how local television stations helped shape this process. Moving on from   merely showing advertisements for local companies, they began showing small serials and talk shows, some of which became national phenomenons. The local nature of this kind of television would eventually mostly fade away by the 70s but the damage done to cinema was irreparable. Television had entered the hearts and minds of successive American generations and it was here to stay. Here, we can draw a major comparison between cinema and television potentially parodying it. Merely watching a few episodes of these old-school sitcoms, we cannot help but be struck at the similarity of tone to the pre-war Hollywood days. It is necessary to diverge briefly to explain the state of mind of 1950s America. Before the war, the USA had undergone a massive recession caused by the Wall Street Crash and thus, it had fallen to the entertainment industry to help people forget their woes. The film industry had done this, as shown above, but the changes it had caused had not died away. Although World War II had caused the death of many a gallant young man, it had lifted the USA into a very buoyant mindset. With the European powers needing a decade more to recover from the conflict, with Japan’s military and economic potential temporarily annihilated, with China still reeling from its murderous invasion, the Soviet Union remained the only true challenge to America’s supremacy. But the Cold War had not yet begun in earnest and in the late 40s and early 50s, the USA saw itself as the world’s only true superpower. The much denigrated Eisenhower presidency kept the economy stable through a tricky balancing act and for most of America, life was good. The Americana dream adapted to no longer be a picture of great wealth but of blissful happiness. The family unit of 2.4 children, living in the comfortable and safe suburban districts with a white picket fence around a big house, was a dream that many wished to achieve and television could reflect that. Shows such as I Love Lucy portrayed a heavenly, glossy picture of American society which is ultimately matched nowhere in entertainment except among the idyllic American communities shown in early studio films. The Warners, Mayer and the others had all built up their studios from the ground up thanks to their own hard work. They were living proof of the possibilities America offered and thus showed this in their films. Television in the 50s emulated this entirely. The era was different, the clothing more modern but the ensemble feeling remained the same. This was not merely borne out in television sitcoms but also in adverts. Sitcoms would be interrupted for commercial upon commercial selling the latest washing-machine, vacuum-cleaner or kitchen appliance without which the dutiful housewife could not live. It is oddly ironic that many of today’s stereotypes about the 50s are a product of this kind of television. It needs to be remembered, However, that this often derided type of family life where the children skipped to school, rosy-cheeked and clutching an apple, while the father gave his loving wife a demure kiss on the cheek before heading to the office in his beautiful Chevrolet is not merely a myth. Around the suburbs of New York, San Francisco and the like, many families not only lived this kind of life but their children and grandchildren still do today. However, the way in which television chose to reflect this society in a utopian sense, glossing over any unpleasantness, was a definite rehashing of the technique used by the film studios of Hollywood twenty years previously. The adaptation of the two mediums and their direct battle for audience shares As television successfully found its feet and began a posing direct threat to cinema, studios were forced to change. After all, no other new form of entertainment had entered general society since the arrival of cinema before television and thus, cinema would have to fight to keep its audiences. A couple of things could be seen as certain before these changes would proceed. Firstly, cinema would never rival television for mass popularity and market potential due to the overwhelming availability of television and its presence in an increasing number of households across America. Secondly, one of television’s worrying tendencies was to garner a lot of advertising money from a wide swathe of big American companies. Electrical appliances, cars, clothes, foodstuffs and drinks were all sold on television during commercial breaks, a fact that cinema could not copy. However, studio executives soon found ways round this problem, ways in which although adverts could not be shown during the movie, surreptitious showing of products could have a similar effect. Product placement was born. Admittedly, in a society which with every passing year produces more and wastes more, it seems that studios have become less adept at making product placement seem natural rather than obvious. The 007 series had always been a treasure trove for companies wishing to place their symbols on James Bond’s latest gadget. With the arrival of Pierce Brosnan into the role However, any shred of subtlety vanished to be replaced with highly obvious use of products. For example, Brosnan’s type of car had always been one of the highlights of the film. In Die Another Day, the presence of the painfully named Aston Martin ‘Vanish’ only served as a sales pitch for the Vanquish. Such utterly shameless product placement did reach a crescendo in 2004 where the amount of plugging for Sony and Converse in I, Robot would have made Isaac Asimov turn in his grave. However, such behaviour can shed some light onto the type of post-modern audience that we are evolving in. Those detractors who claim that post-modernism is merely the natural by-product of such a senselessly wasteful society whose mechanisms result in the attempted alienation of anyone showing a shred of individuality. Whether this is true or not is difficult to ascertain but what is lamentable is that the artistic integrity which has existed since Aristotle is being compromised in cinema out of the desire to keep up with television. Thankfully, the presence of adverts in television, even if sometimes the length of advert breaks can be infuriating has meant this has not happened in television’s case. If we evolve in a post-modernist society, then these differing methods of merely pandering to our consumer’s instincts could seem to be a by-product of intense competition between two forms of popular entertainment. Unfortunately, cinema’s rapid changes would lead to renewed controversy over its spectatorship and its impact thereupon as explained by Lynn Spigel. The concept of spectatorship in itself is a fascinating one, not just within the framework of this dissertation, but also within the field of cinema and television research. The bearings that society can have upon an audience’s watching habits are a crucial fact to understanding how individuals, larger target groups or entire demographics will react to any kind of program. (Spigel, 1998) places the birth of the issue of spectatorship in the 70s as film studies began increasing in popularity. This rise in popularity and its link to audience research are vital as we can use them to comprehend not just how an audience would react to a pioneering film or series in either cinema or television but also how it would react to a parody or any kind of wholesale copying of a popular film or series by another medium of entertainment. The issues raised by Spigel are ones, she claims, whose roots lie back in the ideals of Marx and Lacan. From a psycho-analytical perspective, Spigel writes of the complexities of spectatorship research given the psychological aspects behind it. Although Spigel’s thoughts may be questioned in themselves, they do offer conclusive evidence of audience diversity today and how carefully each aspect of this diversity needs to be considered before deciding on scheduling or production. In this, we can see the great precautions television executives must need to take in order to contemplate parodying of any kind of popular film. Modern television, its workings and its impact upon the world Big, brash, loud. Three words which could describe much of the television programmes produced in America in recent years. Long gone is the demure image of the family sitting down to enjoy some good old American-style programming with shows such as Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie. Let’s face it, if these shows were produced today, they would face some accusations of glorifying witchcraft, yet another practice banned in Leviticus’ long list of gripes against the world. Somehow, the image of ABC being picketed for showing re-runs of Bewitched may at first strike us as absurd but with careful thought, does this seem so unlikely? One of the major problems facing network directors and schedulers is the problems they could face if showing any material seen as even slightly offensive to anybody. We will not engage here in mindless America-bashing but in a country that has long defended the right to free speech, both the film and television industries are being lambasted by religious and family protection groups for promoting violence and pornography. Whilst this could be understood if horror films were shown at hours when children watched TV or if their cartoons professed truly immoral practices but when complaints relate to Elmer Fudd shooting Bugs Bunny, one can wonder if the world has gone crazy. However insane these complaints can appear to be, they are still a startlingly important reality for today’s television. They form one of the biggest pressures on television executives who are caught in a tricky balancing act. They must maintain their audience shares by scheduling popular programming whilst also keeping packs of demented denigrators at bay. Interestingly, regulations concerning the effect of violent or sexual programming have been in place for decades. After all, most channels, even now with the new glut of cable and digital operators, have respected the 9 o’clock watershed before broadcasting any overly offensive material. Have they been secretly breaching rules of moral conduct in recent years? Whilst it is certain that television programmes do have an impact on those who watch them and while children will always care little about rules or regulations that protect them from exposition to negative images, can this be said to be the wholesale fault of the television industry? If the people want games, then games they shall have. This syllogism is one without which television stations cannot operate and although appeals could be made for public decency, violent and pornographic programmes will only be made and shown as long as the public has an interest in them. Thus, society should look to what elements within itself cause television to broadcast this type of programming rather than attack television for it. A recent example that shows just what a level of frenzy has been reached was the 2004 Superbowl. Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson provided the entertainment when Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson’s outfit, exposing her pierced right breast. Whether the stunt was pre-prepared or not has not been made crystal clear but the furore that surrounded the incident was mind-boggling. The family protection and decency groups went insane, denouncing all film and television workers as Hollywood sleaze. The fact that this slip occurred during an event with global broadcasting and with audiences reaching into the hundreds of millions blew it out of all proportion. For some reason, that a breast had been shown on national television before the watershed was seen as being a massive breach of public decency and as potentially warping the fragile little minds of innocent children. This level of problems goes a long way to showing the tonnage of pressure placed upon television channels. However, it is thankfully a trend that has not seemed to take hold outside the USA. The EU, Japan and Canada are subjected to the same kind of programming and although some complaints are voiced, they never garner so much media attention. Thus, we can see that the manners in which television panders to its audiences vary from country to country. We have highlighted television’s modus operandi in the USA but let us consider a cross-section of Japanese audiovisual entertainment. More than 20% of Japan’s cinematic output and a vast swathe of its popular television programs are made up of anime. Anime cartoons usually contain far more involved storyline than their American counterparts, replete with high levels of violence, sexy and skimpily-clad female characters and yet, these are watched by children of all ages. Does Japan thus see a higher violence rate among young children? No, in fact, the proportion of it is far lower in Japan than it is in the USA. However, even Japanese anime does not make it onto American airwaves without massive cuts by the censorship office. A good example of this is constituted by the popular anime series, Dragonball Z. In it, a group of fighters defend Earth from invasion by evil aliens or androids. Throughout its 250+ episodes, the show contains high levels of violence, including dismembering, decapitation and the beating of children. As can be imagined, when the show was broadcast in America on Cartoon Network, all these passages were cut to spare the minds of our children. However, in Japan, Dragonball Z aired in all its unadulterated gore and no-one seemed the worse for wear. This is not to say that so much violence on TV is good. Indeed, it is lamentable that it should exist at all but it is highly unfair to lay the blame for any consequences at the feet of an industry which is doing its best to keep as many people happy as possible. Although, we have taken a standpoint in attacking America for its high sensitivity when it comes to protecting its children, we have recently been confronted with proof that this type of protest does not only occur in the USA. For ten years, Jerry Springer shocked the nation with its own brand of low chatshow humour. Famed topics of debate involved the KKK, incest and bestiality. It had met with both acclaim and criticism at home, some calling it a true social commentary, other cheap laughter at others’ misfortunes. Anyway, the comedic potential of the idea was soon seen and in 2002, it was turned into a musical named Jerry Springer: The Opera, starring David Soul as Jerry Springer, showing in the West End and on Broadway. Controversy courted it throughout but its great success shouted down these demons. However, in January 2005, the BBC decided to show the musical in its entirety. As soon as this decision was made public, Christian right-wing groups attacked the BBC for insulting Christians when it would not dare the same about Muslims or Jews. While this claim did have some merit, the BBC ignored these claims and broadcast the show at 10 o’clock on a Monday night with clear warning beforehand about the potentially offensive content within it. Examples of this type of occurrence could number in their hundreds but they are an ideal way of investigating how modern audiences identify with television programmes and react to them. One of the basic tenets is that post-modernism is that reactions to any situation are processes created by each individual and that thus, clear definitions of knowledge or art encompassing a group or a society are baseless. In this, it can be argued that the very concept of a post-modern audience is flawed. However, whatever theory we choose to engage with, we cannot reject human nature. In the last twenty years, it seems that many among the generation of young people across America who fought in the 60s and 70s against Vietnam, against the Cold War, for Civil Rights and for many other noble causes have become dangerously jaded. America’s quality of life at the end of the 70s and in the 80s reached a high unseen since the 50s. Although the gap between rich and poor was ever-widening, the lifestyles of the middle and upper classes were prodigious. America was still afflicted with problems in Iran, Central America but the Soviet Block was crumbling and the mood among the general population was good. However, in the 80s and 90s occurred a phenomenon that not many people had truly predicted. The baby-boomers who had so been influential in re-shaping America after World War II were themselves beginning to be required to pass the torch to the next generation. Thus, the norms of society that they had created were themselves being challenged by their children. This shift occurred through the appropriation of traditional American areas of life by the younger generation such as television, cinema, the press as well as the fledgling Internet. We will look in further detail at the emergence of teenagers as a separate marketing entity and the impact of the home video on cinema and television as it entered this confused social maze. (Carberry, 2000) picks up on the popular image of television being viewed as a window on the world. This image, although adequate in some respects, also fails to pay attention to one crucial fact about television. If we look out of a window, we are certain that we will see will be real. A television does not offer this capacity. Television programmes are constructed and even factual news bulletins or documentaries can be edited to look the way the news director wants them to. We know enough of methods of communication to realize the propagandistic power of television and therefore we are conscious that we must always take a step back when rationalizing about something we have seen on television. Television, by its very nature, is as big a construct as cinema however

Arguments for the Existence for God Essay -- Argumentative Religion Pe

1. The Cosmological Argument for the existence of God is based on the principle of cause and effect. What this basically means is that the universe was the effect of a cause, which was God. One of the oldest and most well known advocates of the Cosmological Argument was Thomas Aquinas who outlines his argument for the existence of God in his article entitled The Five Ways. The first way in his argument is deals with motion. Aquinas says that in order for something to be in motion something had to move it because it is impossible for something to move without the presence of some sort of outside force upon it. Therefore the world around us, nature, and our very existence could not have been put into motion without the influence of the â€Å"unmoved mover†, as it is called in the book, who we know to be God. Aquinas’ second way to prove that God exists is by stating that nothing can be the cause of itself. For example, I am not the cause of myself. I would not be in existence today if it were not for my parents having a baby and naming it Chris. This is true for everything around us: trees, buildings, cars, planes, etc, none of these can be the cause of themselves. They all must be created or manufactured from seeds, humans, and machines in order for them to exist as they do today. The next way comes from possibility and necessity. First is possibility which means that it is possible for everything in the world to at some point in time not exist, thus meaning that there was a time when nothing existed and since something cannot come from nothing it is necessary for something to have always existed. However as Aquinas previously stated this necessary being cannot be the cause of itself plus there cannot be a time at which it did not exist therefore this being must have always existed and be God. In his fourth way Aquinas bases the existence of God on the gradation of things such as things being the greatest or the smallest, the hottest or the coldest. Aquinas says that there must be a cause of this and it is God. The last way that Aquinas proves God comes from the governance of the world. Aquinas says that things in the world lack knowledge and yet they still work their way towards an end, but he says that it is impossible for something to lack knowledge and work its way to an end. Due to this fact Aquinas determines that there must be some intelli... ...that logic to explain God to him he would laugh in his face. Although these arguments may prove their point in a construed way there are some who believe the Ontological Argument to be impossible, one of these being Kant. Kant believes that the argument fails right off the bat by basing everything on the idea that God does exist. Kant believes that it is wrong to assume that God has all of these magnificent characteristics that Anselm believes Him to have. Kant questions how Anselm proves this. My view of these arguments and the Ontological argument as a whole is that it is a weak argument. If I had to choose sides between Anselm or Gaunilo and Kant I think I would choose Gaunilo and Kant because they do a better job of arguing their point. If I were questioning the existence of God and had Anselm’s argument to read and then Kant’s to read I would probably end up ton believing that God existed. One reason being that you cannot understand Anselm’s argument and two he does not prove anything but the fact that God is a supreme being than which no greater can be conceived. It is because of this why I believe the Ontological argument to be a bad way to prove God to anyone.

Distinctively Visual †The Drover’s Wife & The African Beggar Essay

The poem ‘The African Beggar’ by Raymond Tong explores the despondency of humanity’s existence and our complete helplessness when faced with the adversity of ourselves and others through the distinctively visual description of an African beggar and his experience as an outcast to society. In the first stanza of the poem, the heterodiegetic narrator (considered to be Tong), introduces the beggar as a repulsive outcast. The description of the persona in the first line of the poem â€Å"sprawled in the dust†¦Ã¢â‚¬  immediately provokes an image of the beggar as something rather than someone, which has been alienated by society. This is further supported when the narrator describes the beggar as a â€Å"target for small children, flies,  and dogs† as it says that the character is an object of attack, something that occupies an existence that is considered lower than that of humans and other creatures. The metaphoric language used, â€Å"a heap of verm inous rags and matted hair†, persuades the audience to conjure an image of filth and poor physical hygiene, although this is followed by a juxtaposed metaphor, â€Å"he watches with cunning reptile eyes†, which challenges the previous image and suggests that the persona is subtle and scheming, like a snake. Both of these images are also contrasted by the use of pronoun, reminding the reader that this character is human despite his description suggesting otherwise. In the Second stanza of the poem, although the author’s image of the beggar as a filthy outcast is continued, the theme of humanity’s neglect and inadequacy is introduced to the audience. The metaphor use in the first line â€Å"he shows his yellow stumps of teeth† puts forward an image of physical ugliness and extreme lack of hygiene while the use of pronoun to refer to the beggar again reminds the audience that he is a human. The simile â€Å"With hands like claws about his begging bowl† compares the hands of humanity to that of a skeleton (death), clinging to his one source of survival, his begging bowl. The tone of the poem changes dramatically in the third stanza when contrasted with the first. The poet allows the reader to empathise with the beggar. This is done through different language techniques such as the tone used in the first line; â€Å"lying all alone† which proposes that the persona is not aware of others anymore as Tong recognises the beggar’s suffering. In the phrase â€Å"shadow of a crumbling wall†, the word â€Å"shadow† suggests that the persona is in darkness, suffering from loneliness, while â€Å"crumbling wall† represents the absence of a home for the man. The use of personification in the line â€Å"Clutching the pitiless red earth in vain† displays the character’s desperation. In the final line of the poem, the simile â€Å"whimpering like a stricken animal† exhibits the beggar’s total and complete defeat and creates an image of a defenceless man at the mercy of others. The poem ‘The African Beggar’ by Raymond Tong relates to the short story ‘The Drover’s Wife’, created by Henry Lawson, as both texts use distinctively visual language to surround the reader in a world of images that represent the story being told, and allow and encourage the audience to establish a relationship with the main persons of the text resulting in sympathising and understanding the characters. SHORT FILM TEXT ANALYSIS ‘My Constellation’ Director: Toby Morris The short film ‘My Constellation’, was directed by Toby Morris and won a place as a finalist in Tropfest 2014. The film follows a boy who is experiencing a deep loss and as a product embarks on an unusual adventure, leaving a trail of light bulbs wherever he goes. This text is distinctly visual solely through its cinematography due to the absence of dialogue, although sound contributes to the setting of atmosphere and direction in the short film. Morris vividly illustrates the image of the young boy’s lonely life and his experience of longing for someone that play an important role in his life. He does this through purposefully chosen sound and the careful thought of each mise en scene to allow the responders to either empathise or identify with the boy. The film is opened with a wide open shot of a starry night sky, followed by a close up shot of the protagonist, a small boy, who is laying upside down staring at the sky, quite obviously in deep thought. We see his mother leave the house and disappear into an unknown car. The darkness in the boy’s room as well as his lack of company and absence of his mother, as we had just seen, conveys to the responders that he is all alone, maybe isolated and there is a melancholic sense created through the featuring music as well as the protagonist’s expression and languid body language. Morris has then directed the camera to a medium shot, slowly panning to the left as the protagonist enters back into his bedroom shows an image of a close up shot of the light shining on a photo of a man who looks like a father figure, symbolizing the fact that this man is like a star, a bright part of his life, illuminating the darkness. This effect points out to the viewer of the protagonist’s experience of longing someone very important. Morris also creates a vivid image of the father’s importance for the protagonist, to build up the purpose of the film. He portrays the protagonist riding a bicycle with a string of shining light bulbs in the dead of night. The medium shot of him riding the bicycle panning upwards  symbolizes the journey that the protagonist goes through and the motif of light bulbs illuminating through the darkness symbolizes the stars in the night sky. This effect indicates to the viewer that the protagonist is alluding to his father being in space, going on a journey through the stars, emphasizing the idea that idolizes his father and wants to follow in his footsteps. In both â€Å"The Drover’s Wife† and â€Å"The Loaded Dog†, Lawson has used a variety of techniques to clearly depict vivid images of the experiences the characters have endured with each other and with the Australian outback. Similarly, in â€Å"My Constellation†, Morris has also vividly represented the journey and ambition the protagonist goes through, and specifically relates the expression of isolation and hardship that the woman faces in the absence of her husband. This text was chosen by me because I feel as though I can personally empathise and identify with the main character of the short film. The concept of feeling a little lonely and isolated when a significant figure or person is absent is universal and is definitely applicable to me personally as I have experienced this before. GREAT SOUTHERN LAND Standing at the limit of an endless ocean Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea City on a rainy day down in the harbour Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay Looking everywhere ’cause I had to find you This is not the way that I remember it here Anyone will tell you it’s a prisoner island Hidden in the summer for a million years Great Southern Land, burned you black So you look into the land and it will tell you a story Story ’bout a journey ended long ago If you listen to the motion of the wind in the mountains Maybe you can hear them talking like I do â€Å"They’re gonna betray, they’re gonna forget you Are you gonna let them take you over this way† Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land You walk alone like a primitive man And they make it work with sticks and bones See their hungry eyes, it’s a hungry home I hear the sound of the stranger’s voices I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land They burned you black, black against the ground Great Southern Land, in the sleeping sun You walk alone with the ghost of time They burned you black, black against the ground And they make it work with rocks and sand I hear the sound of the stranger’s voices I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land You walk alone, like a primitive man You walk alone with the ghost of time And they burned you black Yeah, they burned you black Great Southern Land x 4 TEXT ANALYSIS ‘Great Southern Land’ Singers: Iceland The song ‘Great Southern Land’ by Iceland was written at the beginning of significant decade in relation to Indigenous affairs and the injustices done by the white settlers. Although there is ambivalence towards the land and the position of the indigenous and non-indigenous people are not mentioned, there is heavy use distinctively visual, sound, cinematography and metaphoric language in the text to convey the song’s purpose. The song opens on a strange, almost spooky, note which is held for a long duration; this immediately creates a mood of suspense and is some sort of vocal representation of the Australian land. The use of metaphor and simile in the  first two lines â€Å"Standing at the limit of an endless ocean, Stranded like a runaway lost at sea† create a vision of the first white inhabitants of Australia looking causelessly over the Australian land, and highlights the segregation of the continent from white civilisation. This idea of isolation and image of a never ending desert land is supported by the lead singer Iva Davies literally ‘walking alone’ on what looks like a desolate rocky hill. The specific camera angles used throughout the music video convey different images and moods, for example the high angled shots of the singer while walking down the rocky hill suggests that the harsh environment he is surrounded by is somewhat overwhelming, and soundly conveys the feelings that the first white settlers would have experienced. However, the low angles of the singer while walking and singing create an image of dominance over the land. This conjures an image in the responder’s mind of the white settlers ‘dominating’ the land in the form of deeply disturbing Aborigine culture/ land and oppressing the Indigenous people to extremes. The lyrics â€Å"I hear the strangers’ voices† and the personification in â€Å"I see their hungry eyes† really persuades the individual’s mind to envision the confused and frightened Aborigine people as well the white inhabitants of the land lusting after a land that does not rightfully belong to them, and allows the audience to empathise with their situation. The lyrics â€Å"million years† and â€Å"long ago† combined with the fading images of daylight to sunset encourages the audience to reflect on past injustices that have eventually lead to the current (at the time) Aboriginal movements. Then, as the remaining daylight fades from the sky, and the colour shifts from orange to blue, and the final repetition of the lyrics â€Å"Great Southern Land† is sung by Davies, the responders of accompanied by a sense of loss and a vision of the Indigenous people of Australia the suffering caused by the white settlers’ actions. This text relates to Henry Lawson’s ‘The Drover’s Wife’ through the use of several language techniques and the use of visual or verbal symbolism to express the isolation of its characters. This text was chosen by me for its nature. I like its metaphoric meaning and reference to the damaging of the Aboriginal civilisation by the white settlers. Aboriginal spirituality and the hardships they faced is something I’ve studied previously and have a thorough understanding of.

Youth Gangs in the American Society

Randall Shelden is a well-known sociologist who has a Ph. D. from the Southern Illinois University. The different branches of his studies include understanding the young generation as to how their lives and their dealings particularly relate to the ways by which they react to the changing society that include gang formations and juvenile delinquency issues. There are different books of which he has already published that also include the said issues and of such well-written publications is the one that tackles the â€Å"Youth Gangs in the American Society†. About the Book The â€Å"Youth Gangs in the American Society† is a reading that presents both the reasons behind and the qualifying results of gang issues in the United States. Through the gathered psychological as well as psychosocial explanations that reason out with the existing situations in the society today, Shelden presented the necessary points of consideration needed to be understood in presenting the discussion of youth gangs and how should be well treated with. Content and Summary The youth are the hope of today’s society. This line has long been recognized by many industrialized as well as developing countries worldwide. This is the primary reason why it is evident that government organizations are trying to invest their best possible available assets to the development of the young generation. However, not all of the members of the young generation actually get to have an access on the said programs. Most of them, who belong to the minority groups of the society, are the ones who are in need of these programs. Yet, they are the ones who have lesser access on the said governmental set-ups. As a result, young people who get charged with juvenile delinquency cases are increasing every year. The fact that they have nothing better to do than to simply stay at home or wander around in the states, they become the target of numerous gangs that are encouraging youths to join them in their unlawful acts. If not, many of these youths bring forth several chaotic movements that particularly disturb the entire community. These youths certainly need help. Furthermore, as the children grow up, the young adults become more prone to different influences from the environment. The people that they deal with everyday become the source of the different values that they take in for themselves as they personally grow up. There are at least four major reasons why young people develop in the behavior that they grow up with. These four major dimensions of development could be noted as follows: †¢ The family and the parents: usually, the young children get the examples of acts from their parents which in turn they carry in themselves as they grow up. It is through this particular process that the young ones are able to comprehend with the impact that their parents are making on them as young adults. The Environment and the Society: As the young children grow older, the impact of the people living around them aside from their family members begins to leave an impact on their personality. True, the situation has been much more proved by the psychologists that the effect of the family and the society differ from each other. As for a fact, the percentage of effec t that the society makes on the individual is far much higher than that of the effect of the family with development of the youngsters. †¢ The psychological need for acceptance: young ones aim to be accepted especially if they have the capacity of being recognized. This is the reason why they usually take sides on those who they seem are able to recognize their capabilities. †¢ The decision making system of the youngsters: They are usually deciding in different ways, most of the time, confusion gets in the way. This is the reason why it is very important that they are given fine attention as they are being assisted with the personal development difficulties that they are dealing with at present. To understand the four dimensions better, the diagram shall show the necessary illustration to explain better: DIAGRAM 1: Dimensions of Effects on the Personal Development of Youngsters These four dimensions of impact on youths’ developmental progress actually shapes the way that they ought to understand the way that they are to progress as individuals. This is the reason why the difficulties of the young should be given fine attention to. It is certainly important that the young ones are given the guidance that they need to be come well endowed to a better life that is much more different from the destructive ways that they are merely brought up by the massively destructive human society at present. This is where the issue on peer pressure enters. As noted earlier, the situation becomes hard-to-deal-with especially when it comes to the effect of the society [particularly referring to their peers] on the development that happens within the personality of the youngsters. Peer pressure can be deceptive—in fact, we may not notice it at all. Clearly, people want to fit in with those around them—so much so that most will even deny what they know to be true. Many young people have observed this pressure in action. Understanding the fact that people have this certain need of being accepted, it could not be denied that as they [particularly referring to the young generation], are most likely the target of peer pressure. This is mainly because of the fact that they deal with different people almost everyday. Hence, as noted earlier, the people are more susceptible to change of personality as they are gradually involved with the ways by which other people are living their lives with. Communities around the world, especially in the multicultural environment that the United States is dealing with right now, are in dire need of support as to how they are supposed to take care of the young generation that is mainly making up the entire population of the American society. It has been noted through reports that at least 48% of the immigrants from different countries around the world entering the premises of the American society belong to the young population. They are most likely to have been noted to move with or without their families in the country. Some of them are even less knowledgeable of the American society and thus are having a hard time in actually adjusting to the American lifestyle. As a result, most of them end up in becoming part of gangs that are known for their delinquent acts. Sadly, this report is known all over the American territories. Most of the time, the communities that are primarily affected are those which are playing as hosts to the immigrants, most likely, the poor areas of the country. Reactions and Critique As noted from the details presented above, it could be observed that the author intently researched on the binding issues that support the claims about the things that pertain to the growth of the number of youth gangs in America. Considerably, as an expert of the said study in sociology, Shelden was able to present the different elements that needs to be understood with regards the importance of knowing what gangs are and why are they particularly formed by their leaders. Most likely, the approach on research and explanation that the author used is indeed considered an important matter that affects the ways by which social workers are able to understand the reasons behind the situation and thus act upon it. Understandably, the simplified yet profound way of making the discussion much more understandable and clarified for the particular target audience of the author was rather an effective manner of contemplating the different factors that contribute to the manner by which gangs are flooding the society today. It is through this particular reading that the readers would have a better view of why the youth are joining gangs thus be able to act upon the said matter and affect the situation in the society as well as lighten up the burden that the youth are carrying making them much more capable of facing a better future later on in their lives. As noted, the author simply makes it easier for people to help well together for the betterment of the young generation towards the years to come. Reference: Randall Shelden. (2003). Youth Gangs in the American Society (Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice Series). Wadsworth Publishing.

Hitting the Nail on the Head

Hitting the Nail on the Head Hitting the Nail on the Head Hitting the Nail on the Head By Maeve Maddox Somewhere, in an email or on Facebook or on a news blog, I saw this: But she hammered the head on the nail with this quote. How odd, I thought. Shouldn’t it be, â€Å"she hammered the nail on the head†? A Google search brings up 683,000 results for â€Å"hit the head on the nail† compared to 1,580,000 for â€Å"hit the nail on the head.† The phrase â€Å"the head on the nail† registers on the Ngram Viewer, but barely, compared to â€Å"the nail on the head.† The earliest citation of the expression in the OED is dated 1438. It’s not so easy to hit a nail squarely on the head. For that reason, â€Å"to hit the nail on the head† is a term of approbation. Figuratively, people who hit the nail on the head succeed in accomplishing what they are aiming for. Most of the examples I’ve found of the reversed idiom have been in readers’ comments, but I have found a few in presumably professional writing. For example, this one, with inexplicable hyphenation, is from a technical review: You have to remember though that Apple may or may not be upgrading the iPad again before the end of the year (this comes from John Gruber a known Apple pundit that tends to hit-the-head-on-the-nail when it comes to Apple rumors). A site dedicated to test preparation has this topic header: SAT Improvement or Hit the head on the nail This one is from a sports blog: These commercials are coolbut rarely do they hit the head on the nail of a player like Nike has done with these Calvin Johnson, P. Diddy advertisements. I found one example in which the reversal seems intended to be humorous: I could try for a long time to hit the head on the nail (as one of my writing students once said)- Writing advice site A review of the film Fifty Shades of Grey includes the following bit of dialogue: Christian – Have you been drinking?   Ana – Yup, you hit the head on the nail. It could be that this reversal is the result of Ana’s alcohol-impaired thinking. Changing â€Å"hit the nail on the head† to â€Å"hit the head on the nail† is jarring, to say the least. Writers who wish to be taken seriously will avoid doing it. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a US Business Letter36 Poetry TermsPresent Participle as Adjective

How Not To Job Hunt Tips from an Executive Recruiter

How Not To Job Hunt Tips from an Executive Recruiter A longtime recruiting professional, Mark Wayman knows what he looks for in an executive job seeker–and what he avoids. He relies predominantly on personal connections and referrals, so be the kind of executive with whom other top executives want to work. Using â€Å"John,† a past client, as a model of What Not To Do, Wayman advises aspiring executives to have a solid understanding of work-life balance–â€Å"Never confuse what you do with who you are.† Have a positive attitude and don’t let any personal dissatisfaction you feel at work or about your last job manifest in conversations with recruiters or prospective employers. It’s empowering to remember that you’re the one in the driver’s seat, or as Wayman puts it, â€Å"†¦In my 10 years of recruiting, I rarely see an â€Å"A† player unemployed. You are responsible for your choices. You are responsible for your situation.†It’s also important to remember that even if you’re not looking for a new job now, you may need to rely on your personal and professional networks in the future–recruiters included!–so make an effort to maintain those relationships now, before you need them. On that note, your attitude and the way you work with those above and below you may speak volumes louder than your actual job performance. As Wayman says, â€Å"Companies pay executive recruiters to identify the best candidates. Arrogance, hubris and ego are not high on our list of desired traits.† Bitterness about how your last position ended or an excessive fixation on compensation will likewise fail to endear you to hiring managers or recruiters.The bottom line is that companies want to hire enthusiastic, gracious and appreciative candidates–for your best chance at success, be the kind of executive you’d like to be managed by! When you are ready, check out over 569,785 latest job openings here.

Dachauâ€The First Nazi Concentration Camp

Dachau- The First Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz might be the most famous camp in the Nazi system of terror, but it was not the first. The first concentration camp was Dachau, established on March 20, 1933, in the southern German town of the same name (10 miles northwest of Munich.) Although Dachau was initially established to hold political prisoners of the Third Reich, only a minority of whom were Jews, Dachau soon grew to hold a large and diverse population of people targeted by the Nazis. Under the oversight of Nazi Theodor Eicke, Dachau became a model concentration camp, a place where SS guards and other camp officials went to train. Building the Camp The first buildings in the Dachau concentration camp complex consisted of the remnants of an old World War I munitions factory that was in the northeastern portion of the town. These buildings, with a capacity of about 5,000 prisoners, served as the main camp structures until 1937, when prisoners were forced to expand the camp and demolish the original buildings. The â€Å"new† camp, completed in mid-1938, was composed of 32 barracks and was designed to hold 6,000 prisoners. The camp population, however, was usually grossly over that number. Electrified fences were installed and seven watchtowers were placed around the camp. At the entrance of Dachau was placed a gate topped with the infamous phrase, Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free.†) Since this was a concentration camp and not a death camp, there were no gas chambers installed at Dachau until 1942, when one was built but not used. First Prisoners The first prisoners arrived in Dachau on March 22, 1933, two days after the acting Munich Chief of Police and Reichsfà ¼hrer SS Heinrich Himmler announced the camp’s creation. Many of the initial prisoners were Social Democrats and German Communists, the latter group having been blamed for the February 27 fire at the German parliament building, the Reichstag. In many instances, their imprisonment was a result of the emergency decree that Adolf Hitler proposed and President Paul Von Hindenberg approved on February 28, 1933. The Decree for the Protection of the People and the State (commonly called the Reichstag Fire Decree) suspended the civil rights of German civilians and prohibited the press from publishing anti-government materials. Violators of the Reichstag Fire Decree were frequently imprisoned in Dachau in the months and years after it was put into effect. By the end of the first year, there had been 4,800 registered prisoners in Dachau. In addition to the Social Democrats and Communists, the camp also held trade unionists and others who had objected to the Nazis rise to power. Although long-term imprisonment and resulting death were common, many of the early prisoners (prior to 1938) were released after serving their sentences and were declared rehabilitated. Camp Leadership The first commandant of Dachau was SS official Hilmar Wckerle. He was replaced in June 1933 after being charged with murder in the death of a prisoner. Although Wckerle’s eventual conviction was overturned by Hitler, who declared concentration camps out of the realm of the law, Himmler wanted to bring in new leadership for the camp. Dachau’s second commandant, Theodor Eicke, was quick to establish a set of regulations for daily operations in Dachau that would soon become the model for other concentration camps. Prisoners in the camp were held to a daily routine and any perceived deviation resulted in harsh beatings and sometimes death. Discussion of political views was strictly prohibited and violation of this policy resulted in execution. Those who attempted to escape were put to death as well. Eicke’s work in creating these regulations, as well as his influence on the physical structure of the camp, led to a promotion in 1934 to SS-Gruppenfà ¼hrer and Chief Inspector of the Concentration Camp System. He would go on to oversee the development of the vast concentration camp system in Germany and modeled other camps on his work at Dachau. Eicke was replaced as commandant by Alexander Reiner. Command of Dachau changed hands nine more times before the camp was liberated. Training SS Guards As Eicke established and implemented a thorough system of regulations to run Dachau, Nazi superiors began to label Dachau as the â€Å"model concentration camp.† Officials soon sent SS men to train under Eicke. A variety of SS officers trained with Eicke, most notably the future commandant of the Auschwitz camp system, Rudolf Hà ¶ss. Dachau also served as a training ground for other camp staff. Night of the Long Knives On June 30, 1934, Hitler decided it was time to rid the Nazi Party of those who were threatening his rise to power. In an event that became known as the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler used the growing SS to take out key members of the SA (known as the â€Å"Storm Troopers†) and others he viewed as being problematic to his growing influence. Several hundred men were imprisoned or killed, with the latter being the more common fate. With the SA officially eliminated as a threat, the SS began to grow exponentially. Eicke benefited greatly from this, as the SS was now officially in charge of the entire concentration camp system. Nuremberg Race Laws In September 1935, the Nuremberg Race Laws were approved by officials at the annual Nazi Party Rally. As a result, a slight increase in the number of Jewish prisoners at Dachau occurred when â€Å"offenders† were sentenced to internment in concentration camps for violating these laws. Over time, the Nuremberg Race Laws were also applied to Roma Sinti (gypsy groups) and led to their internment in concentration camps, including Dachau. Kristallnacht During the night of November 9-10, 1938, the Nazis sanctioned an organized pogrom against the Jewish populations in Germany and annexed Austria. Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were vandalized and burned. Over 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and approximately 10,000 of those men were then interned in Dachau. This event, called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), marked the turning point of increased Jewish incarceration in Dachau. Forced Labor In the early years of Dachau, most of the prisoners were forced to perform labor related to the expansion of the camp and the surrounding area. Small industrial tasks were also assigned to make products used in the region. But after World War II broke out, much of the labor effort was transitioned to create products to further the German war effort. By mid-1944, sub-camps began to spring up around Dachau in order to increase war production. In total, over 30 sub-camps, which worked more than 30,000 prisoners, were created as satellites of the Dachau main camp. Medical Experiments Throughout the Holocaust, several concentration and death camps performed forced medical experiments on their prisoners. Dachau was no exception. The medical experiments conducted at Dachau were ostensibly aimed at improving military survival rates and bettering medical technology for German civilians. These experiments were usually exceptionally painful and unneeded. For example, Nazi Dr. Sigmund Rascher subjected some prisoners to high altitude experiments using pressure chambers, while he forced others to undergo freezing experiments so that their reactions to hypothermia could be observed.  Still, other prisoners were forced to drink saltwater to determine its drinkability. Many of these prisoners died from the experiments. Nazi Dr. Claus Schilling hoped to create a vaccine for malaria and injected over a thousand prisoners with the disease. Other prisoners at Dachau were experimented on with tuberculosis. Death Marches and Liberation Dachau remained in operation for 12 years- nearly the entire length of the Third Reich. In addition to its early prisoners, the camp expanded to hold Jews, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and prisoners of war (including several Americans.) Three days prior to liberation, 7,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced to leave Dachau on a forced death march that resulted in the death of many of the prisoners. On April 29, 1945, Dachau was liberated by the United States 7th Army Infantry Unit. At the time of liberation, there were approximately 27,400 prisoners who remained alive in the main camp. In total, over 188,000 prisoners had passed through Dachau and its sub-camps. An estimated 50,000 of those prisoners died while imprisoned in Dachau.