Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Term Paper

Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences - Term Paper Example what's more, increase tables without a profound comprehension of the venture. There have been blended responses to this hypothesis. Tests have uncovered that there is high relationship between's the two. Numerous researchers are on the side of the interesting methodologies of the hypothesis. Without guaranteeing it to be the last rundown Gardner has made a rundown of eight essential kinds of insights. The genuine rundown arranged by Gardner had seven distinct kinds of insights and later in the year 1999, he included a naturalist knowledge which makes it a rundown of eight. ... By and by the theory’s eight acknowledged kinds of insights are melodic, intrapersonal, naturalistic, relational, spatial, substantial sensation, intelligent scientific and etymological. The zones like capacity to imagine with the eye of one’s brain and spatial judgment are bargain by spatial knowledge. Modelers, specialists and planner as per the hypothesis are instances of individuals with such knowledge. Studies additionally recommend that individuals with this kind of insight are excellent with puzzles. The phonetic insight territory manages individuals with high knowledge in the fields of words, composed or spoken, individuals who have a high knowledge of verbal semantics show a possibly high capacity with dialects and words. Such individuals are generally acceptable with remembering dates, words, recounting stories, perusing and composing when contrasted with others. In such cases individuals who have phonetic insight learn better by listening addresses, perusing, by discussions and conversations and by taking notes. Unknown dialects are effortlessly learned and recalled by individuals with verbal semantic insight, they are excellent in comprehension and controlling structure and sentence structure. They likewise have a high verbal memory and can remember extremely quick. Consistent †scientific insight, this region manages numbers, reflections, thinking and rationale. Despite the fact that it is frequently said that individuals with such insight are acceptable at games like chess, subjects like PC programming, arithmetic and other numeric and sensible exercises, the hypothesis underlines that this sort of knowledge has to do with different capacities like, performing computations that are mind boggling, examinations and logical deduction, acknowledgment of dynamic examples and thinking capacities. The hypothesis

Saturday, August 22, 2020

The Inevitability of School Violence: No Need for School Reform Essay

The Inevitability of School Violence: No Need for School Reform â€Å"Guns don’t murder individuals, individuals execute people,† I have frequently heard. We realize individuals slaughter individuals. The main problem presently is whether individuals can change individuals. Some are of the conclusion that we can do so; by executing new changes and fixing school security, individuals are, as a result, saying they have the answers for the issues. The viciousness of late acts of mass violence has fashioned uneasiness and dread in guardians, educators, and directors the country over. The slaughter of Columbine transformed a state funded school library into a burial ground. The shooting in Oklahoma tore us from the solace of a cliché and effortlessly perceived danger; presently famous straight-An understudies pull firearms without dark channel coats. The brutality has gotten eccentric and, in all cases, amazingly terrifying. Because of the danger, schools have occupied with broad counteraction programs, frequently restricting book-sacks , executing clothing standards, setting up metal locators, or expecting understudies to go to outrage the executives classes. Such endeavors at change sound effective on paper and may somewhat mitigate the nerves of guardians, yet they resemble raging château dividers with slingshots. The object of change for this situation isn't unmistakable or consistently conceivable. The object of change is the human heart, the interior individual. We have to comprehend that the issue is greater than a channel coat or a firearm; along these lines, clothing regulations or metal identifiers can't tackle it. These changes are regularly vain endeavors at counteraction. They thwart instruction and incite understudies. Strategy creators and schools should know that no straightforward open order can get the job done as an answer. In light of the slaughters, schoo... ...ainâ€is more extensive than the skyâ€â€ . We can't actualize a change that will change human instinct. There is no clothing standard that will carry confidence to the pariah or humble the well known. There is no metal indicator that can adequately make an understudy populace aware of a furious and vicious friend. The issue this country faces is that of harming hearts and brains. To introduce a solid arrangement one must have a solid issue, however this issue is confused and its variables now and again mystifying. Its immensity lives in human feeling, its source as extensive as the limit of the human psyche. It is, in this manner, as Dickinson appropriately put: â€Å"wider than the sky.† Works Cited Mathis, Deborah. â€Å"Schools Fail at Stopping Violence.† The Cincinnati Enquirer 7 December 1999, Final ed./Warren: A3. Mill operator, Mark. â€Å"The Haunting Memories.† Newsweek 13 December 1999, Final ed./Warren: 75.

Methods Of Execution :: essays research papers fc

Techniques for Execution      One man's taking of another's life is commonly observed as an indefensible act which is culpable with death. At the point when this is done as discipline be that as it may, it is viewed as a privileged deed by expelling this criminal from the world and making it an a lot more secure spot to live. In light of executions, it is unimaginable what bright strategies can be thought of by the human mind and the way that the thought is based on the killing of one man doesn't change how tremendous these advancements are believed to be. A wide range of methods and systems for execution are utilized all through the world uncovering much about a nation's way of life and their anxiety for their residents.      By far one of the most notable and openly glamorized all things considered of execution is electric shock. Present in nine American states, it was first utilized in New York in 1890. At the point when a sentenced man is planned to be executed, he is driven into the passing chamber and lashed to the point of idleness into a fortified seat with belts crossing his chest, crotch, legs, and arms. Two copper cathodes, dunked in saline solution or treated with Eletro-Creme to increment conductivity, are joined to him, one to his leg and the other to his head. The first shock, between 500 and 2,000 volts relying upon the size of the detainee, is allowed for 30 seconds. Smoke will start to come out of the detainee's leg and head and these regions may burst into flames if the casualty has been perspiring abundantly. A specialist will look at him and on the off chance that he despite everything gives life indications, more shocks of 2,000 volts are directed to complete the activity (Matthews). A primary purpose behind electric shock's unique use was the idea that demise was quick. Shockingly this isn't the situation. Specialists today accept that the casualty feels "himself start consumed to death and choking since the stun cause respiratory loss of motion just as heart failure. Since the vitality of the stun incapacitates the muscles, he can't shout out, and along these lines is assumed dead ("This is your death..."). How unexpected that one explanation electric shock was kept in use was that, albeit costly, it was colossally quiet similar to the detainee is concerned.      Still utilized broadly all through the present reality and in its sole speaking to U.S. state, Utah, the terminating crew has an a lot more noteworthy case to being accommodating as shots straightforwardly into the heart by and large reason quick demise. Utah utilizes an amazingly accurate and all around rehearsed strategy which is tremendously revolved around worry for the casualty by avoiding potential risk

Friday, August 21, 2020

Havisham Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Havisham - Essay Example After things turned sour with her marriage, she came about to simple wish and petition that her dear beyond words. â€Å"Not a day from that point forward, I haven’t wished him dead† (Duffy web). The word â€Å"dead† speaks to dim symbolism of Havisham’s want to vindicate her husband’s disloyalty. Havisham likewise transforms into supplication shutting her eyes so close creation them sink inside and become like green stone. What's more, she holds her hands so firmly together in petition that they have framed ligaments the size of a rope, which she virtualizes utilizing to choke her darling. Ropes on the rear of my hands is figurative speaking to mature age in that Havisham has permitted herself to remain with the lament, outrage, and poor feelings for a long time, which has left her maturing. Havisham is answerable for her own hopelessness in that she decides to pack in the disloyalty from her darling such that day in day out. She will not shower ho wever stay in her smelling wedding dress thinking about slaughtering her sweetheart as a method of retribution. Perusing this sonnet leaves the crowd feeling for Havisham. Her character speaks to acclaimed individuals in her general public who settle on choices in existence with incredible desires, just to get baffles from those they trust. Havisham considers her darling and afterward a jerk depicting adoration and disdain. All she thinks about throughout the day is to choke, chomp, blast, or wound her previous sweetheart. Remembering Havisham previous situation in the general public, it is inescapable to feel for the degree of her sinking. Utilization of the primary individual in the sonnet causes the crowd to relate to the anguish. That is, the enduring could generate anybody in the general public paying little heed to the status. A lady with class of her own beforehand and now can't shower? Havisham’s body smells, her wedding dress that she won't change yellowing with earth. Havisham appears to be defenseless, lost, and surpassed by disarray. She doesn't even

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

A Case Against Reading the Classics

A Case Against Reading the Classics The book list for World Book Night is noticeably lacking in classic literature. The oldest book on the list is Maya Angelou’s 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. There are also a number of young adult titles that will be given out that night, too. There is a reason for this.  Modern readers like modern literature. If the goal is to inspire a love of reading in non-readers, it makes sense that we give them books that they see as relevant to their lives today. So give them what they want. Four-letter words are more entertaining. Classic literature was stifled by the constraints of polite society. Even when they were dealing with serious topics, they had to handle things as delicately as possible. There was the church to worry about. The government could censor objectionable texts. To get around these restrictions, they had to be creative. Much of that creativity escapes the modern reader, and there are few who would take the time to do the research necessary to appreciate them.  Modern writers are more direct, and readers do not have to work as hard to find the answers for a unfamiliar reference, should one pop up. Sex and violence keep the 7 plots from becoming stale.  It has long been accepted that there are only seven basic plots that are used over and over again throughout literature. They all center on man’s struggle against the universe. Those seven plots are still in use today, but they are infinitely more exciting. Writers dress them up with technology, violence, and sex.  They are open about things in a way that would have been scandalous hundreds of years ago. They confront their demons, and, in doing so, make readers feel as though they can do the same. It is easier to be inspired by a familiar situation. Women’s lib and civil rights made the literary landscape more interesting.  The vast majority of classic literature was written by and about white men, and, more often than not, they came from a “respectable” background. They may not have been born with money in their pockets, but their families did well enough to ensure that they got a decent education. The poor rarely got that privilege. For a long time, women did not get it either.  Anyone who was not white was most certainly left out. That meant that these groups rarely got a voice in the the literature of the time. Readers today, particularly young readers, want to identify with the characters they are reading about. They want to know that they have a voice, too. This does not mean that the classics do not have a place on the shelves.  It does mean, however, that we should not be trying to force the classics upon an unreceptive audience. Let them discover the classics on their own. Just because they were written first does not mean that they need to be read that way. ____________________________ Cassandra Neace teaches college students how to write essays and blogs about books and book-related goodness at Indie Reader Houston. Follow her on  Twitter:  @CassandraNeace

Thursday, June 25, 2020

College Essay Topics

College Essay Topics College essay tends to be the hardest written assignment for students in the whole education field. The reasons for this are numerous and are tied to the diversity of college essay variants. The essence of the problem is mostly concerned with choosing the topic for the college paper. It is a well known fact that the topic of the college essay is a key factor for its success. Psychologists have long ago proven that when reading the relatively short piece of writing the most memorable for people are the beginning or the title and the final sentences. For this matter if a person takes a short look at your college essay the topic will be a decisive element to attract the persons attention or on the contrary make them loose interest to the writing. That is why topic selection requires as much preparation and effort as the actual essay writing. Some of the academicians are convinced that a good topic is already 50% of the paper. Considering this college essay topic should be carefully composed with a thoughtful approach. Once you have a topic statement the volumes of relevant information and related ideas will come at your possession to complete the content. Starting to write the paper without a topic is the same as being in the room with many doors. How would you know which door leads to success? And that door is your college essay topic. It will at once narrow down the viewpoints and chop off the unnecessary thoughts to leave you with specific argumentation that a good essay requires. With the regard to this condition it is obvious that a good paper starts with a good college essay topic. With your bright ideas you can make it work, remember that at most of the times the topic speaks for itself. AdvancedWriters.com custom essay writing service can write custom college essays written from scratch by professional freelance writers.

Monday, May 18, 2020

History of Nursing Essay - 1959 Words

History of Nursing The topic of this paper is to identify historical events in nursing. This topic grasps my attention because I am on the track to become a nurse, and feel I need to know about the history of nursing. The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader about historical highlights in nursing. In The Beginning American Nurses Association defines nursing as â€Å"the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and population†( Potter,P., Perry, A. 2005,1-5). Thus making nursing dynamic and ever changing. However, when nursing†¦show more content†¦(Parker, Sandra,V., 1993) The matrons were significant because they â€Å"introduced home remedies, airing of the wards, and simple cleanliness.†( Parker, Sandra,V., 1993) Nurses must thank the Civil War because the war made the profession of nursing reachable to women.( 1997,Womens Roles during the Civil War, 1861-1865) In 1873 there were four hospitals with a school of nursing with in them. These hospitals were the New England Hospital for Women and Children; Massachusetts General Hospital; New Haven Hospit al; and Bellevue Hospital.( 1996.Nursing. Dictionary of American History) The number of hospitals and hospital with nursing schools inside of them increased, because the hospitals soon found that the mortality and morbidity decreased with improved nursing care.( Nursing. Dictionary of American History) The shaping and molding of the nursing profession made the hospitals that we know today to be possible. In the 1860’s and 1870’s more Americans went to the hospitals for treatment because of the emphasis on hospital cleanliness, and the professional nurse.( Kellison, Kimberly. 1997-1998) Mary Eliza Mahoney became the first black graduate nurse in 1879.( Hine, Darlene,C., 1996) From 1893 to 1900 the number of nursing schools inside hospitals increased 225 to 432, and the number of hospitals increased from 178 to over 4000.( 1996.Nursing. Dictionary of American History) Nursing became considerably more popular and â€Å"by 1920, 54,953 women were in nursingShow More RelatedHistory of Nursing1240 Words   |  5 PagesHistory of Nursing Worksheet NUR433 April 23, 2012 University of Phoenix Material History of Nursing Research Worksheet There have been many influential publications, agencies, and people in the field of nursing research. Write 1–3 sentences in each cell of the table below to describe the importance, goal, or influence of each item. |Publications |First publication date and importance: | |Nursing ResearchRead MoreHistory of Nursing595 Words   |  3 PagesUniversity of Phoenix Material History of Nursing Research Worksheet There have been many influential publications, agencies, and people in the field of nursing research. Write 1–3 sentences in each cell of the table below to describe the importance, goal, or influence of each item. |Publications |First publication date and importance: | |Nursing Research |Firstpublished:1952Read MoreThe History of Nursing Essay817 Words   |  4 PagesThe History of Nursing Many people believe that Nursing started with Florence Nightingale, however nursing itself dates back to the beginnings of motherhood when nurses were traditionally female. In fact, nursing and medicine have been closely intertwined throughout the ages. The history of nursing has its origins in the care of infants and children, so all mothers were in fact nurses. Gradually an evolution started developing into dedicated caregivers who practiced the art. In fact, nursing hasRead MoreLearning The History Of Nursing1505 Words   |  7 Pages Learning the history of nursing is vital in understanding nursing today. How Florence Nightingale changed the history of nursing? Why there is more female than male nurses? Why nurses were considered subordinate to physician? Why the contribution of physicians received more recognition than nurses? Why Filipino nurses is abundance in the United States hospitals? This paper would discuss the part of history of nursing that answered those above questi on. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE Florence NightingaleRead MoreEvolution / History Of Nursing848 Words   |  4 Pages Evolution/History of Nursing --- Dorothea Dix Approximately one in five adults experience mental illness in a given year in the United States (Mental Health By the Numbers, n.d.). Adequate mental health care is extremely important to the general well being of the world’s population, and therefore should be focused on in nursing. Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) was crucial in increasing the quality of care given to the mentally ill in jails and asylums. She saw that poor people with mental illnessesRead MoreThe History of Nursing Science1076 Words   |  4 Pagespinpoint the roots of nursing. The motivations and concerns that underlie the nursing practice care, compassion, the need to ensure the health and happiness of others seem hardwired into our human nature, and have expressed themselves in a multitude of ways throughout human history, from mothers tending to their sick children to soldiers caring for their wounded brothers on the battlefield. But nursing science, the body of knowledge that has both arisen from and informe d the nursing profession as we nowRead MoreThe History Of Nursing Practice1613 Words   |  7 PagesThe history of nursing is fundamentally the foundation of nursing today. Historical nursing leaders have paved the way for our nurses in the 21st century by their views, dedication, and achievements. Not only have these leaders paved the way for nursing as a profession, but they have also instilled historical changes in health care and in our society overall. The current definition of nursing today is â€Å"the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness andRead MoreHistory of Chinese Nursing1534 Words   |  7 PagesHistory of Nursing in China SUNY Delhi NURS-300: Professional Issues of nursing June 11, 2011 Abstract The history of nursing in China did not start until the 19th century. Modern nursing was introduced into China as part of the westernization in to Chinese culture. In this paper I will discuss the Chinese philosophy on religion and various treatments. I will discuss the Leninger transcultural model and how it relates to Chinese culture. The Chinese culture continues to influence American cultureRead MoreThe History of Nursing Worksheet961 Words   |  4 PagesPublications First publication date and importance to nursing research: Nursing Research First published: 1952 (Burns Grove, 2011). Importance: The Nursing Research Journal was published to provide a â€Å"basis for nursing practice† (Burns Grove, 2011). The Nursing Journal published research data, which have become the cornerstone of nursing care standards. Sigma Theta Tau Journal published by this organization is now called Image—The Journal of Nursing Scholarship First published: 1967 (Burns GroveRead MoreThe History Of Nursing And Its Practices1547 Words   |  7 PagesThe history of nursing and its practices are very historic and can be noted that it started at the beginning of human life. Prior to the Greek and Roman times, ancient Egyptians are credited to have created over 700 therapeutic therapies that were used for multiple health concerns. The advancements continued but were quickly stopped after the Roman Empire was conquered and the Dark Ages had begun. All knowledge that was still accessible about health care was done so and was continued through the

Monday, May 11, 2020

How Old Is Too Old For Elderly Cardiac Surgery Essay

ESTHER MURIUKI WEST COAST UNIVERSITY ISSUES AND TRENDS: NURS 44O CURRENT ISSUES TITLE: How old is too old for elderly cardiac surgery? Are we pushing the limits? The purpose of this paper is to analyze if there is any improvement, post-operative complications, mortality and related factors of elderly undergoing cardiac surgery. The debate whether or not we are pushing the limits is still questionable because of the complications associated with these invasive surgeries and whether or not if it’s a money game. The growing numbers of the elderly patients enjoy a prescription drug benefit, access to artificial knee and hip surgery, and life-saving cardiovascular interventions that were undreamed of a half-century ago. The growing number of the elderly patient has a direct impact on nursing practice. The issue of† baby boomers† having an increased life expectancy may have jobs security for the nurses in future as evidenced by multiple improvements in cardiac surgery in older population. The aging of the baby boomers is expected to produce a plethora of new nursing jobs, which could lead to higher wages, greater job security, an d greater variety in types of work (Page, 2015). The massive baby boomer generation, making up almost one-third of the population, began to turn age 65 in 2011. By the same token, this deluge of new patients could put new strains on the nursing workforce, possibly leading to higher patient-to-nurse ratios. (Page, 2015). Although the proportionShow MoreRelatedResearch on Technology in the Medical Field1487 Words   |  6 Pagesthat may be particularly beneficial to medicine such as 3D printing, electronic health records, and robotic surgery. 3D printing can change medicine by being able to print bones, organs, and custom hearing aids. Electronic health records make medical information more available to patients and make it easier for doctors and nurses to chart patient’s medical information. Also, robotic surgery is very beneficial because they are less invasive and require less recovery time. Due to the potential benefitsRead MoreErectile Dysfunction ( Ed )1017 Words   |  5 Pagesprevalent health issue, there are so may myths regarding the issue. One of the most common myths that I think we may all have heard of from our elderly patients â€Å"I can get it up because I am just too old†. I hope to further explore this health issue and be able to provide knowledge information to our patients in the future. Below is a helpful link that can assess how much we know about the facts of ED. I scored very low the first time before exploring further marterials regarding the topic. Give it a tryRead MoreFacilitating Physiological Balance ( Part I )1468 Words   |  6 Pagesanxiety level is decreased. Mr. Williams would be a poor candidate, His focus now is on Erath and not himself. I have a sad story about a patient I took care of when I first started working in oncology. Mrs. B had endometrial cancer, after her surgery and second chemotherapy treatment, her husband became ill and required around the clock care. The patient stopped all her treatments to take care of her husband, the doctors and all the nursing staff were very concerned about our patient. HoweverRead MoreThe Advancement Of Medicine And Surgery2575 Words   |  11 PagesIndividuals played a pivotal role in the advancement of medicine and surgery. The mid-19th century saw a breakthrough with anaesthetics, but despite this surgery was still seen as a dangerous and painful procedure. Operations were carried out in unhygienic conditions and surgical equipment and lab coats were not sterilised between operations which led to fatal infections that killed many patients. Intrigued over the cause of infection, Lister began his work on antisepsis. After reading Pasteur’sRead MoreThe Body Of A Diab etic1474 Words   |  6 Pagesimmense love for the sciences in middle school. I came to me at no surprise to study biochemistry in college. I often question why things happened the way they did. I particularly remember the day we were studying the endocrine system in high school and how insulin regulate the blood sugar level. I find this quite interesting because I wanted to understand what happened to the body of a diabetic. My mother was diagnosed with both diabetes and hypertension when I was in middle school. Seeing her struggleRead MoreAnesthesia Paper6133 Words   |  25 Pagesin a pit and left to die, obviously. Now if you are going into a surgery an anesthesiologist will inject some type of anesthetic to sedate you. Also nowadays you can just go to any regular drug store and buy some Advil or Aleve to lessen moderate pain. Now in this paper it will be telling you the history of anesthesia, by who found it and when they found it. Then after that it will be telling you the progression of anesthesia, by how its better than the older anesthetics. Like it can now relieve stressRead MoreNursing : A Important And Interesting Job1798 Words   |  8 Pagesimportant and interesting job to humankind. This profession has been around and helping people for many years going way past the Civil War; nursing is also noticed in the Bible. Nurses can be found in many different places including Hospitals and Elderly Homes. In this paper there is going to be information about the history of nursing, all the types of nursing, also very important people in nursing such asnamed Clara Barton, Christiane Reimann, and Florence Nightingale. Also were nursing can beRead MoreMedical Technology And Health Care Professionals1791 Words   |  8 Pageshave. Throughout the years, medical technologies have been developed in order to benefit the lives of not only health care professionals, but also the lives of other people. Medical technology in broad terms refers to the equipment, procedures, and how the care is given. These changes in technology can provide an efficient and less risky process in order for these professionals to do their job. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, brain computer interfaces, hi-tech imaging, heart pacemakerRead MoreHesi Practice31088 Words   |  125 Pagesadvice on how to deal with his alcohol addiction. The nurse should tell the client that the only effective treatment for alcoholism is A. psychotherapy. B. total abstinence. C. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). D. aversion therapy. 8. A 23-month-old child is brought to the emergency department with suspected croup. Which assessment finding reflects increasing respiratory distress? A. Intercostal retractions. B. Bradycardia. C. Decreased level of consciousness. D. Flushed skin. 9. A 20-year-old mother ofRead MoreCase Study Es say33967 Words   |  136 Pagesreserved. 1 PART 1 MEDICALïš ºSURGICAL CASES 1 Cardiovascular 3. How do angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, such as enalapril (Vasotec), work to reduce heart failure? (Select all that apply.) ACE inhibitors: a. prevent the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II. b. cause systemic vasodilation. c. promote the excretion of sodium and water in the renal tubules. d. reduce preload and afterload. e. increase cardiac contractility. f. block sympathetic nervous system stimulation to

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Enron Corporation A Foundation Of Fraud, Corruption,...

Enron Scandal December 31, 2001 will forever be etched in history as the day that one of the biggest white collar scandals came to an end. Electric and natural gas giant Enron was found to have been defrauding its investors out of billions of dollars in order to increase its stock prices, and fatten the pockets of high executives particularly Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay, President and COO Jeffrey Skilling, and CFO Andrew Fastow. Thousands of employees were laid-off and lost their 401(k); those already retired lost funding from their pension.1 In this paper I will demonstrate that the Enron corporation was operating on a foundation of fraud, corruption, greed, and immorality; I will also reflect on the legal and financial consequences surrounding the scandal. The Enron corporation was formed in 1985 by the merging of two natural gas companies, Houston Natural Gas, and InterNorth; In the following year Kenneth Lay was appointed Chairman and CEO.2 Enron began its escapade of fraud and corruption in April of 1987 when it was discovered by Enron executives that Louis Borget and Thomas Mastroeni, traders in their Valhalla, New York office, known as Enron Oil, had been misappropriating funds; traders were â€Å"gambling beyond their limits, destroying trading reports, keeping two sets of books and manipulating accounting† (PBS, 2015) to make it appear as if the company’s profits were legitimate. The shocking yet not surprising response from CEO Kenneth Lay was not to fire the twoShow MoreRelatedCan Profitability and Morality Co-Exist?10045 Words   |  41 Pagessocial responsibility of business and that is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud. The question is of whether, in defining the business and understanding it as a moral reality, we should focus primarily on its goal of producing goods and services or of generating profits. A single concept of profit is not by itself sufficient to

Poetry is a vast genre of literature that is used to express emotions, feelings and ideas Free Essays

string(81) " feelings of warmth from the sun are not material even though the sun itself is\." With reference to the poems of Antonio Machado, Juan Ramin Jiminez, and Federico Garcia Lorca studied in the course, discuss the uses of poetry and the ways in which the three writers exploit this medium Poetry is a vast genre of literature that is used to express emotions, feelings and ideas. Every writer has different reasons for expressing their ideas through this medium. Antonio Machado, Juan Ramin Jiminez and Federico Garcia Lorca were all Spanish poets who lived around the same era. We will write a custom essay sample on Poetry is a vast genre of literature that is used to express emotions, feelings and ideas or any similar topic only for you Order Now Does this mean their uses of poetry were the same? Did they write poems for the same reasons? In order to discuss how they have used poetry it is necessary to understand their poems in more detail. At first glance it seems that Antonio Machado explores nature and the beauty of it in his poetry. In his poem Crepisculo Machado describes a nature scene. Although he doesn’t use the first person, it is clear from the content that the poem is implicitly about him. He has therefore, used nature to mirror himself. The cold images of stone and marble in the poem, like the statue of Cupid, communicate a lack of expression on the poet’s part. With Cupid having connotations of love and with the statue being constructed from stone it is possible to say that Machado finds it difficult to express love. Antonio Machado, in this respect, has exploited the medium, with nature as a main theme, to reflect himself to the reader. In displaying his lack of love through poetry, he is able to get across exactly what he wants to say by emphasising aspects with repetition, rhyme and other stylistic features. Writing his feelings in prose, for Machado, would not have had the same effect. Another example of Machado using nature to describe himself is in his poem A Un Olmo Seco. He fears that his life is near to its end like that of the tree and he only has hope left. Here, Machado is using poetry to express anxiety and concern about the ending of his life. The descriptions which he writes about the tree are descriptions of how he sees himself in relation to life in general. In this way, he is using poetry to put across his worries and to tell people about how he sees himself in comparison to nature. Machado’s poem El Limonero, however, is not, on the surface, a description about nature but a search for something. The poet tries to recall an innocent childhood illusion in which he attempted to pick up some fruit out of some water and then discovered that it was merely a reflection. Machado communicates the difficulty in finding the illusion he remembers from childhood, with a contrast between heart and mind -he knows he won’t find it again but he still has hopes. This can be related to A Un Olmo Seco when he hopes for another ‘milagro de primavera’1 (miracle of spring). Poetry has been employed by Antonio Machado to illustrate his despondency on aging and on realising that things aren’t what they used to be. El Limonero describes how the happiness and simplicity of being a child can never be regained. Poetry is a good way of expressing deep feelings and emotions because it can be adapted in ways that prose cannot. The letter form and use of the informal second person of the poem A Josi Mario Palacio tells the reader that this is a poem written to a friend. Machado is asking his friend whether spring has arrived and mentions typical spring-time occurrences. He introduces a third party with the use of â€Å"su† and it is later revealed that the poet is talking about the death of his wife. After reading A Josi Mario Palacio it could be said that the hopelessness he feels in A Un Olmo Seco is because of the death of his wife and the anxieties about his own life. Machado has used poetry to project grief out of himself onto nature without showing self pity. In writing this, he may have been able to come to terms with his emotions. For Machado, poetry is used to say things that he feels cannot be expressed in another way. Poetry and can be used when prose and normal word patterns are unable to put across the idea or feeling in the desired way. Unlike Machado, however, Jiminez uses poetry to illustrate his outlook on the mysteries of life. His poem El Nombre is directed to the intelligence and the brain. Jiminez feels the necessity to write something and asks his intelligence for the name of things. Poetry is being used by Jiminez to communicate the difficulties in language and expression. He describes the complexity in communicating a feeling to a reader. Like the poems of Machado, Jiminez has used poetry to overcome the difficulties of conveying an idea. irboles Hombres, nevertheless, is written in the form of a traditional ballad. The subject of this poem is the impermanence of human life. It is a story about a man who goes into a wood and hears the trees talking. They talk about him and think he’s a tree too. Jiminez is describing the brevity of human life in comparison to the seemed permanence of nature; he is saying how human life is temporary. The trees existed before, and will exist after his life. Jiminez has, in this sense, used poetry to communicate his views about human existence in comparison to nature, which has existed since the beginning of time. Jiminez can be described as a mystic poet despite him being agnostic. In some ways he uses language poetically to develop the idea of a mystic God. This can be seen in the poem Soy Animal de Fondo. Jiminez explores the connection between material and immaterial. For example, feelings of warmth from the sun are not material even though the sun itself is. You read "Poetry is a vast genre of literature that is used to express emotions, feelings and ideas" in category "Literature" The poem, like El Nombre, recalls a search but this time it is for God. There is a progression throughout the poem to the realisation that God was there all along. Poetry, here, is used to explain that life is beyond material even though people only realise it when they are taken away from the material world. Jiminez has made use of poetry to recall the search about the unknown consciousness that the material world hides. The poetry of Jiminez is about subjects related to his life and it has been said that ‘vida y poesia son una y la misma cosa’2 (life and poetry are one and the same thing) for Jiminez. This indicates that he uses poetry, like Machado, to reflect himself and his personality. In the case of Federico Garcia Lorca, poetry is often applied to express feelings of marginalisation within society. Being homosexual Lorca was subject to persecution for not conforming to the expectations of the society in which he lived. In his ballads Lorca uses gypsies to express the exclusion he felt during his life. Gypsies were, like Lorca, considered to be outsiders and they too were not respected. In his ballad Romance de la Luna, Luna Lorca explores a scene about a gypsy boy who is ill and feels persecuted by the moon. He explains the interpretation of the death of a child from an uncivilised and unscientific mind. The gypsies can accept that the moon was the cause of death, because to their minds it is plausible. Civilised society cannot accept this idea and so gypsies, like Lorca were labelled as outsiders. With poetry Lorca can express the ostracism he felt without making a direct statement. Poetry works better than prose in this respect because Lorca can make use of imagery and symbolism to convey his idea. Another gypsy ballad written by Lorca is Preciosa y el Aire. The wind tries to abduct a gypsy girl, who is playing a tambourine. The wind represents the sexual impulse of nature and Preciosa sees it as a threat. Her primitive impulse tells her she is in danger but when she goes into the civilised world, i. e. the English consul’s house, her experience is oppressed. Poetry has been used here to show the sense of exclusion that Lorca feels exists in society for those who step out of the norm. He is telling his readers about the feelings of persecution that existed in his life through the form of another equally mistreated figure in society. Romance Sonimbulo is again from Lorca’s book Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads) and is about an injured man seeking refuge at a gypsy dwelling. A gypsy girl has been waiting for him for so long that she’s given up and killed herself. Lorca has used surrealism within his poetry by placing words in a non realist order. This form is used to describe the difference between the civilised, realist life and the somewhat surreal, gypsy life. There is also a reoccurrence of the colour green. Green has positive and, especially in Spain, negative connotations. For example green can signify nature and life but also rotten fruit. In Spain it can also indicate sexual perversion, in the case of ‘un hombre verde’ meaning ‘a dirty old man’. The repetition of green could be said to be telling the reader about Lorca’s ‘own libidinal tendency towards the forbidden fruit’3; this meaning his homosexuality. From all 3 poems it can be said that: Sexuality (†¦ is the subjective nub (†¦ ) where the violent context of ostracism and persecution (†¦ ) may be seen as a projection of the poet’s inner anxiety. 4 Lorca has used language and poetry in his work, not only to express marginalisation, but also to show how his sexuality is perceived by society. From his judgment homosexuality is perceived as verde. All three poets and their work can be related and linked to each other. They all use poetry for personal reasons and convey their individual ideas through it. They use many devices within their poems to help put across meaning, for example, with the use of nature and gypsies. For writers, poetry is a tool to be exploited because there are no rules. Poets can make up the rules of what they write and in this can add to the affect that the poems have on a reader. Machado, Jiminez and Lorca have exploited poetry to their own means and used it for individual reasons. They have all used nature, in some way, to help their poetry have the desired effect or meaning. Lorca uses a more traditional form of poetry, the ballad, as it would have been very familiar to readers and so would be able to convey the exact idea that he wanted. The main and most common use of poetry between all three poets is the need to express a feeling, whether it is anxiety, absence or an opinion. In writing their poems, the poets have reflected themselves and revealed their outlooks on life. They have used this medium as a language tool to convey exactly their feelings, opinions and beliefs; the sort of ideas where prose will not suffice. Poetry is used by writers like Machado, Jiminez and Lorca because it can get across a meaning and can appeal to emotions in ways that other literature forms cannot. Imagery and symbolism are a big part of poetry and help writers put across detailed ideas. It is difficult to get across a subtle and implicit meaning with the use of prose and this is a reason why some of the poets have used this medium. Furthermore, poetry is an art that can communicate the beauty of ideas, scenes and thoughts and it has the power to describe a subject or tell a story effectively. For Machado, Jiminez and Lorca poetry is simply a way of escaping the normality and mundane routine of everyday life as they express their ideas through this medium. How to cite Poetry is a vast genre of literature that is used to express emotions, feelings and ideas, Essays

Remembrance and Change free essay sample

Remembrance and Change Sweat rolls down my neck as I attempt to scrub the remains of the green sludge from the water trough. I feel a small tug on my dirt caked jeans and hear a whisper of a voice, â€Å"I have to go to the bathroom; it’s an emergency.† I set down my steel wool and take one-step forward into the awaiting day. In 2007, I spent four weeks of my summer volunteering as a junior counselor at Camp Anokijig. Those four weeks were full of sweat, pain, and tears, but they were the best four weeks of my life. As Megan and I trudge towards the bathrooms, her shell of security melts as she points to everything that moves along the way. She never ceases to be amazed over creatures as small at a chipmunk or as big as a horse. We stray from the beaten path exploring every corner of the forest, leaving no rock unturned. We will write a custom essay sample on Remembrance and Change or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page By the time we reach the bathrooms, Megan no longer has to go to the bathroom, but instead has a new burst of energy. Energy I remember having during my first camp experience. Megan reminded me why I became a camp counselor that summer. It was not too long ago when I was in her shoes, amazed by the slightest things, new experiences and new people. We both attempted to make the most out of our camp experience, even if we needed a little help along the way from the counselors. I was able to inspire Megan to step out of her comfort zone and dive into the unknown by a small hike to the bathrooms on that first full day of camp. Watching Megan transform into a more daring adolescent made me realize something about myself: I enjoyed helping her accomplish this task. Seeing the look on her face from the new camp excitement brought forth a new personality characteristic for me: helping people. That week I discovered I could make a difference in someone’s life, no matter how small or big they are. Today, I keep this skill alive in the daily tasks of helping my friends with their chemistry homework or a fresh outlook on situations. It is also continued in my advance placement classes today by organizing study groups before a big test and lab groups to complete the incomprehensible lab calculations. I will take this through my college career. Whether it is joining the student government system to improve the quality of the university grounds or tutoring those in need, I will fulfill my drive to help people.

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Its a Fracking Problem free essay sample

Fracking is increasing in the U. S. , but with this increase of natural gas comes an increase of safety concerns. The process of hydraulic fracking requires chemicals that can affect the families that live nearby. These chemicals also affect the environment on the land and in the air. With fracking there comes its positives and its negatives, some good and some bad. There are very few regulations on how fracking can be done, but in the regulations there isnt much help. Fracking for natural gas needs to be further regulated before it can continue. Fracking is the process of drilling and injecting fracking fluid into the ground at high pressures in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas. The fracking procedure is different than the usual oil technique used to get oil. First, they drill vertically into the ground. After drilling, they inject chemicals, water and sand into the well. We will write a custom essay sample on Its a Fracking Problem or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When the shale rock is finally cracked they begin extracting the natural gas. There are more than 500,000 active natural gas wells in the U. S. (Dangers of Fracking). The materials required at a fracking site are large amounts of water and sand. A fracking site needs one to eight million gallons of water and about four million pounds of sand (Dangers of Fracking). The graph below shows the process of how fracking is done. (cite). The water, sand, and fracking fluid that is put into the ground during the fracking procedure can have serious health effects. These materials have certain chemicals in them that can cause problems to families. The sand used in the process is â€Å"silica sand†. When the sand is blasted into wells, dust is released and goes into the air. With the sand particles now in the air, they can sometimes travel and affect people near the site. Effects from the â€Å"silica sand are silicosis and lung cancer†. â€Å"Silicosis could take years, even decades to appear and cannot be reversed or cured†. Problems with the silica in the air is the air is that some families live near these sites. There are very few regulations on amount of silica that can be allowed in the air (Peeples). The fracking fluid used contains chemicals like: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (Dangers of Fracking). Some of these chemicals are used for explosives, drugs and pesticides. A family’s drinking water was so contaminated with chemicals that their water begun â€Å"bubbling like champagne† and their well contained â€Å"so much methane that the water pouring out of a garden hose could be ignited† (Thomas). The fracking fluid that was leaked or left over has also effected farmers. A farmer did a study with a heard of his cows. He separated two groups of cows one containing sixty cows and the other only containing thirty six. Of the cows that were exposed to water that had fracking fluid in it twenty one had died and sixteen were unable to produce calves in the spring. The cows that were separated from the water containing fracking fluid had no health problems to them (Ramanujan). With all the serious health effects caused from improper fracking why hasnt anyone done anything to stop companies from disposing the chemicals improperly. â€Å"Fracking has already drawn considerable scrutiny from environmental groups, unhappy homeowners, and teams of lawyers who blame the drilling method for polluting pristine rivers, turning bucolic farmlands into noisy industrial zones, and leaking enough methane to make ordinary tap water as flammable as lighter fluid† (Hydrofracking). The main concern that is brought up by fracking is if it is safe enough for families and the environment. A personal interview was conducted on Joe Nye who is a member of the Clean Water Action group. He was asked â€Å"Will there ever be a safe way to still use hydraulic fracking? †. Joe’s response was â€Å"No way to know, but we do know that the current way is not safe enough to label it safe. We need to focus on truly safe sources of energy like wind and solar power and an emphasis on electric cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the negative and devastating effects of climate change† (Nye). In the environment the ground water and the air are the most effected from fracking. Chemicals can leak from the wells and get into the earths aquifer. The aquifer contains all of earths drinking water. It also contains water that is used for our crops. Fracking also affects the air. Since there are few regulations smog is produced where high areas of fracking occur and where there are snowy places. The chemicals that are used in fracking are stored in areas called â€Å"frac pits† (Nye). â€Å"The exemption for the natural gas industry in the Clean Air Act allows drillers to dump an unknown amount of toxic pollution into our air, sometimes just a football field away from your house. Because of this, we’re seeing worse air quality and dirty air in the Wyoming plains that we find in Los Angeles† (Brune). Another effect that can occur from fracking are earthquakes. A Canadian news article said â€Å"There has been two studies that have confirmed that earthquakes can be caused by fracking. The earthquakes had not directly been caused by the fracking process but the waste water disposed improperly† (Earthquakes). There are ways though to help decrease the occurrence of earthquakes and smog in an area. Regulations have been made to stop companys from releasing too much chemicals into the ground. A bill that was introduced that says â€Å"Companies would now have to submit independent reviews of their operation† (USA Today). More bills state â€Å"That in California they would temporarily stop hydrofracking in aquifers†. (calf). They also stated â€Å"The company would also have to give a list of the chemicals that are actually going into the ground† (calf). These small regulations and rules may not seem like much, but overtime they will hep protect the environment. People for fracking state that fracking will supply the U. S. with more natural gas and decrease the United States dependency on foreign oil, but is the Unites States actually keeping all of it? Fracking has many disadvantages, but it also has a few advantages as well. Fracking allows for people to reach otherwise unattainable gas. With people able to reach this natural gas, it will cut down the United States dependence on other countrys oil. Another positive for fracking is that it creates jobs for the economy. If more jobs are created, that means that more Americans are working and that the economy is improving. Also with fracking the natural gas produced from drilling is cleaner to burn then coal, thats if burned properly. Even though these positives seem wonderful the negatives of fracking still out rule its positives. Every site that is built uses large amounts of water and land. The positives seem great for the U. S. , but are the negatives really worth the positives? The use of hydrofracking is rapidly increasing as a main way to get natural gas out of the ground. With fracking increasing so quickly there are going to be supporters for both for and against it. What fracking actually is, is a process in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is blasted into the ground at high pressures to extract natural gas trapped in the shale rock. The process seems safe and easy to keep in control, but many times wells end up leaking and going in to the ground and peoples drinking water. Also if the fracking fluid is disposed improperly it could get into the air and travel away from the original site to families. Families that are exposed to this toxic air are in danger of acquiring silicosis or even lung cancer (Peeples). Although there are these negative effect there are still some positives to look at. With fracking comes and increase in jobs for the U. S. and also and increase in the United States economy. As the United States economy gets better, they can slowly work away at the huge debt they our in.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Sample Essay Subjects For Classroom Exercise: How to Drop the Rest of Classroom Curriculum?

Sample Essay Subjects For Classroom Exercise: How to Drop the Rest of Classroom Curriculum?A survey conducted by the National Education Policy Center in 2020 revealed that many educators believe the values and subject areas of music, theatre, literature, art, drama, science, history, geography, and history should be dropped from the current U.S. history curriculum. Further, at least one public school principal has requested that students learn about the lives of African Americans. This is a disservice to education and disrespects the importance of history in creating a future that can include diversity in ways that are most valuable.It is past time to remove the emphasis on learning from real world experiences. When educators drop history and other 'humanities' from the curriculum, it is only to deliver information designed to make students more loyal and comfortable in a competitive society. Students want to feel like they are valuable and their lives matter, but in reality, they ar e only important because of their race or ethnicity. The real purpose of history in the classroom should be to teach students how to read history as a unique story, how to be concerned with injustice, and how to think critically about the past.History in the first grade is supposed to be a simple, fun, and child-friendly experience. Most of us were taught to read at least a few of the best known historical books, and there are some great history teachers who can put students into an activity that lets them use their imagination and comprehension skills in an entertaining and educational way. Students should not be expected to absorb information passively in order to survive in a competitive world; they need the liberty to think for themselves and create for themselves by doing things with their hands and their minds.In addition to the current history class, schools must teach other academic subjects to build the foundation for a critical thought and learning style. It is only by tea ching the full breadth of a student's cultural, social, economic, political, and personal experiences that students will learn to think critically about current events and develop a working knowledge of what is actually happening in the world. Only by teaching this will students be prepared to analyze and make informed decisions when the subject matter is not clear.Some educators believe that in the current era, the educational approach is to teach more by teaching more. No doubt there is a cultural component in American education that gives students a foundation in the social and cultural norms of a given society. However, in this day and age, by forcing students to engage with a significant amount of historical information and to do so in a language that students can understand, students are forced to take an approach to learning that is disconnected from the more exciting and creative aspects of school.This approach of narrowing down our educational strategy by imposing an inform ational overload would prove to be detrimental to both teachers and students. When students cannot discover the meaning of a concept in the context of their experiences, they will be unable to think creatively or perform creative problem solving. When we force students to assimilate the knowledge that has been scattered across a century, that information will become obsolete, leading to a child who does not have knowledge of a certain topic.Since so much information can be written and shared at a single moment in time, there should be a balance between giving students the opportunity to know a lot and also giving them the chance to learn and expand their knowledge base through hands-on experience. This can only be achieved when we continue to remove the subject matter from history and replace it with less valued, relevant information.

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Comparison Of Beowulf And Street Gangs Essays - Geats, Beowulf

Comparison Of Beowulf And Street Gangs Essays - Geats, Beowulf Comparison Of Beowulf And Street Gangs We often think of the Old English time as an era filled with mighty pagan warriors gathered in a dark wooden room, drinking ale to celebrate their victory in a brutish bloody battle. Or maybe we picture brawny Vikings with dirty faces wearing animal skins while sailing in large wooden ships. You may even imagine the crude but lovable Hagar the Horrible from the popular comic strip. Regardless to which of these views you take, we always think of the Old English as a time far in the past. Even though we may not notice, the strong brutal men of this past era infiltrate our everyday lives. These barbaric warriors are found in our society as street gangs. Although they have different appearances, weapons, and transportation, these two civilizations conduct their lives in the same way. Street gangs are so prevalent that they are all over the media, appearing in films, music, and television. Although street gangsters and pagan warriors lived at very different times, both groups embody the same ideals: strength, violence, and loyalty to their group. In the Old English epic, Beowulf, the pagan warriors were proud of their physical strength and abilities. Beowulf himself was well-known for his great strength and prowess. These warriors were large men with great muscular power who won many battles with brute force. Many battles were fought with manual weapons, such as clubs or swords, that required great power from the arms. The strongest men, such as Beowulf, were the ones that were the subject of stories told in many lands. Similar to this, street gangsters are also quite proud of their strength and abilities. But their strength does not primarily come from physical attributes. Their strength is measured by the amount of weapons, money, and power they hold. The strongest man is not the one with the biggest muscles. He is the one with the most guns and the most influence over other gang members. Whereas Beowulf has remained a legend for years now, gang leaders come and go in a matter of months. Just as Beowulf longed to be a legend, street gangs also strive for that same notoriety, wanting to be well-known in many places. In Beowulf's time, most warriors were quite violent. They often engaged in battles with enemies until death, or with opponents until the end of the match. The pagan warriors are remembered as brutal, killing those necessary to protect their village or steal another's. They were also known to use violence to obtain riches or ships from other warriors. Similar to pirates, they used brute force to take what they wanted. Street gangs also use such violence. Whether it be to protect their property or members, or to steal from others, gangsters use various weapons to obtain what they want. Just as pagan warriors fought battles with rival villages, street gangs also engage in battles with rival gangs or sometimes with police. Gang violence can vary from street fights to drive-by shootings, often involving innocent victims. This horrible violence is evident in the media. It varies from gansta rap such as 2Pac or Dr. Dre, to movies such as New Jack City or Juice, and can even be seen in such TV shows as New York Undercover and NYPD Blue. A less obvious example of gangs is in the new version of Romeo and Juliet. In this rendition of the old Shakespeare classic, the Capulets and Montagues are no longer just rival families, but now rival gangs who engage in tremendous violence against each other to keep the two lovers apart. But gang violence is also felt quite close to home. The guard for NC State's basketball team, Anthony Grundy, experienced gang- related violence, causing him to carry a gun to his high school in Louisville. Both gangs and pagan warriors found violence necessary to maintain individual and group status. A third similarity between these two societies is their loyalty to their groups. Beowulf fought for his kingdom and his fellow warriors. They were a group, a family of sorts, that stuck together for support, enjoyment, and love. Gangs also stick together for these reasons. Beowulf's loyalty ran so deep that he put his life on the line for his king many times, and eventually died for his kingdom. Similarly, gangsters are extremely loyal to their gangs and leaders. They remain members for life and are willing to sacrifice their lives for their fellow members. An example of this bond is

Thursday, March 5, 2020

The Modern Chinese Wedding Ceremony and Banquet

The Modern Chinese Wedding Ceremony and Banquet In modern China, the official marriage ceremony is  now substantially different than it was in traditional Chinese custom, where most marriages were arranged according to a social arrangement and were heavily influenced by the philosophy and practices of Confucianism- at least for the majority of Han Chinese. Other ethnic groups traditionally had different customs. These traditional customs were a carry-over from feudal times in China but were changed by two different reforms after the Communist revolution.  Thus, the official act of marriage in modern China is a secular ceremony, not a religious one. However, there remain strong traditional customs in place in many parts of China.   The first reform came with the 1950 marriage law, the first official marriage document for the Peoples Republic of China, in which the feudal nature of traditional marriage was officially eliminated. Another reform came in 1980, at which time individuals were allowed to select their own marriage partners. In an effort to control population numbers, Chinese law today requires men to be at least 22 years of age and women 20 years of age before they can legally marry. It should be noted that while official policy outlaws all the feudal customs, in practice of arranging marriage does persist in many families. Chinese law does not recognize yet recognize same-sex marriage rights. Since 1984 homosexuality is no longer considered a crime, but there is still substantial social disapproval of same-sex relationships. Modern Chinese Wedding Ceremonies Although the official modern Chinese wedding ceremony usually takes place in a city hall office presided over by a government official, the genuine celebration generally occurs later at a private wedding banquet reception that is usually hosted and paid for by the grooms family.  Religious Chinese may also opt to exchange vows at a religious ceremony, but either way, it is at the later banquet reception that the larger celebration occurs, attended by friends and extended family.   The Chinese Wedding Banquet The wedding banquet is a lavish affair lasting two or more hours. Invited guests sign their names in a wedding book or on a large scroll and present their red envelopes to attendants at the entrance of the wedding hall. The envelope is opened and the money is counted while the guest looks on. The guests’ names and amounts of money given are recorded so that the bride and groom know how much each guest gave toward the wedding. This record is helpful for when the couple later attends this guests own wedding- they are expected to offer a gift of more money than they themselves received.   After presenting the red envelope, guests are ushered into a large banquet hall. Guests are sometimes assigned seats but are sometimes welcome to sit where they choose.  Once all the guests have arrived, the wedding party begins. Nearly all Chinese banquets feature an emcee or master of ceremonies who announces the arrival of the bride and groom. The couple’s entrance marks the beginning of the wedding celebration. After one member of the  couple, usually the groom gives a short welcome speech, guests are served the first of nine meal courses. Throughout the meal, the bride and groom enter and re-enter the banquet hall, each time wearing different clothing outfits. While the guests eat, the bride and groom are typically busy changing their clothes and attending to their guests’ needs. The couple typically re-enters the dining hall after the third and sixth courses. Toward the end of the meal but before dessert is served, the bride and groom toast the guests. The groom’s best friend may also offer up a toast. The bride and groom make their way to each table where the guests stand and simultaneously toast the happy couple. Once the bride and groom have visited each table, they exit the hall while dessert is served. Once dessert is served, the wedding celebration  promptly ends. Before leaving, guests line up to greet the bride and groom and their families standing outside the hall in a receiving line. Each guest has a photo taken with the couple and may be offered sweets by the bride. Post-Wedding Rituals After the wedding banquet, close friends and relatives go to the bridal chamber and play tricks on the newlyweds as a way to extend good wishes. The couple then shares a glass of wine and teach traditionally cuts off a lock of hair to symbolize that they are now of one heart. Three, seven or nine days after the wedding, the bride returns to her maiden home to visit her family. Some couples opt to go on a honeymoon vacation as well. There are also customs regarding the birth of the first child.

Monday, February 17, 2020

Intellectual propert law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Intellectual propert law - Essay Example Moreover, Betty’s business was apparently called â€Å"Betty’s† from the period spanning 1986 to 1994. However, the name â€Å"Betty’s† was never officially trademarked, at least the facts do not indicate that it was. If the name was trademarked, then obviously Betty would have a stronger case. However, Betty might have a cause of action for passing off. Passing off, traditionally a tort that referred to attempting to represent one’s goods as the goods of somebody else, has the modern definition of using a person’s goodwill and reputation in an attempt to benefit oneself, and, in the process, injuring the original person’s good name, reputation and connections (Taittinger and others v. Allbev Ltd. and others [1994] 4 All ER 75). There are five elements in the tort of passing off, and they are â€Å"1. A misrepresentation 2. Made by a trader in the course of trade, 3. To prospective customers of his or ultimate consumers of good s or services supplied by him 4. Which is calculated to injure the business or goodwill of another trader (in the sense that this is a reasonably foreseeable consequence and 5. Which causes actual damage to a business of goodwill of the trade by whom the action is brought or will probably do so (Erven Warnick BV v. J Townend & Sons (Hull) Ltd. [1979] 2 All ER 927). In examining these elements, it is unsure whether Betty can prevail on the tort of passing off. The first element is that there must be a misrepresentation. Calling her company â€Å"Betty’s Produce,† when Jenny had previously worked for Betty for a long period of time, and Betty’s business was known as â€Å"Betty’s† for a number of years would certainly seem as if Jenny is misrepresenting her own produce as Betty’s. Jenny was no doubt highly associated with Betty in the mind of the consumers and the people to whom Betty catered, so those people probably would assume that Jenny w as still with Betty, and that Jenny’s produce was Betty’s produce. Jenny would be using Betty’s name in the course of trade and to prospective customers, and these same customers were also Betty’s customers, so those elements are satisfied as well. Whether it was calculated to damage the goodwill of Betty is a question for which there is no clear answer. Certainly it seems that Jenny was attempting to capitalize on Betty’s goodwill and reputation, but whether or not she wanted to injure Betty is questionable. However, as long as damage to Jenny’s reputation is reasonably foreseeable, this element is satisfied as well. Betty worked hard to establish a firm reputation for her products. Jenny’s products might not have the same standard. If Jenny’s products are not the same standard as Betty’s products, then Jenny would be damaging Betty’s reputation. â€Å"a misrepresentation by B that his inferior goods are of a su perior quality, which is that of A’s goods, whereby people buy B’s goods instead of A’s, is actionable† (Reckitt and Colman Products Ltd. v Borden Inc. and Others, [1990] 1 All ER 873). Jenny was clearly trying to represent her products as Betty’s products, in an effort to get these restaurants to buy her products instead of Betty’s products, so this element is satisfied as well. As to the final element, that the passing off causes actual damage to Betty’s reputation, actionable damage can be that which is gradual depreciation to the reputation that Betty

Monday, February 3, 2020

Republicans and Democrats the U.S. deficit Research Paper

Republicans and Democrats the U.S. deficit - Research Paper Example Republicans on the other hand advocated for â€Å"sound finance† and decreasing taxes but also realized that there should be some form of deficit to support government programs in progress (Colander & Matthews, 59). The republican sound finance perspective is based on the economic view that if taxes are cut, there is an incentive to work harder, save and thus revenues are increased (Miroff, Siedelman, Swanstrom, & Deluca, 397). Therefore in addressing the growing national deficit, the Republican Party advocates for government spending habits to be curtailed, and also to amend tax legislation with a view to creating jobs and increasing salaries, reform Medicare and national security, and for the reformation of welfare programs (GOP.gov.com). The Democratic Party takes the position that the wealthy should be compelled to pay higher taxes, so that the government can fund programs meant to strengthen the middle and lower classes (Moving America Forward, 2012 Democratic National Pl atform). This paper evaluates how democrats and republicans propose to handle the current U.S. deficit and will determine which approach has more merit. During the 2012 Presidential elections, the Republican Party’s Presidential candidate Mitt Romney revealed a plan for dealing with the US deficit. The plan involved an eight-year program in which the federal budget would be balanced (Sahadi). The plan also included a promise that taxes would not be increased and at the same time, retiring Americans would be protected and more would be spent on defense (Rubin). This plan would obviously mean that other government programs would necessarily have to be cut. According to Rubin, we are at least assured by Romney that social security would not be subjected to cuts. However, other government programs could be vulnerable and this would include housing assistance, national parks, food stamps, and any other number of government programs. Wyler provides the details of the plans Romney h ad for the Republican Party’s approach to the U.S. deficit. To begin with, Romney planned to decrease income taxes by 20%. These income tax decreases would affect all Americans regardless of income status (Wyler). This of course is nothing new for the Republican Party. In 2001 and 2003, former republican president Bush introduced two successive tax cuts across the board which were primarily beneficial to the wealthy (Bartels). For the most part Americans are receptive to tax cuts because they are singly focused on their own â€Å"tax burdens† (Bartels, 15). The reality however was that 36% of the tax cuts would benefit the â€Å"richest 1 percent of Americans – a share almost identical to that received by the bottom 80 percent† (Hacker & Pierson, 33). It was estimated at the time that within 10 years, the income tax reductions would cost the U.S. $2.1 trillion in revenue (Hacker & Pierson). Middle and lower class Americans were sold on the tax reductions because in less than a month after the initial reductions, taxpayers were receiving rebate checks for at least $600 (Hacker & Pierson). This was one way of passing a policy that would primarily benefit the wealthy and yet

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Importance of Narrative in CGI Films

Importance of Narrative in CGI Films This essay will look at the importance of narrative in two CG animated films which are Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Hironobu Sakaguchi, 2001) and The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004). The essay focuses specifically on the narrative and the spectacle of the films and how through the cinematic medium, they help each other to deliver a visual story across to the audience. The essay will discuss if a solid storyline is needed for a successful feature length animated film or are the animated films just a platform for spectacular imagery. This essay will discuss topics such as the different narrative theories and how the majority of contemporary films have a similar narrative structure, how films have become more sophisticated in terms of raw video footage being just one element necessary to complete a single shot in a film. It will also discuss modern film techniques and how it can help the story being told. The essay will first focus on the various theories of narrative and a brief history of the spectacle of cinema before moving on to the analysis of my chosen case studies. People have been communicating since the day they have been born. From gossiping, bed time stories to little white lies people have been subconsciously or consciously telling stories in some form of a narrative structure. By this I do not mean that all human discourse takes the form of a true story itself but the elements of the basic narrative structure such as having, a beginning, middle and an end are present. Vast majority of mainstream films have the classic three stage act structure of the 19th century stage melodrama, set-up, conflict and resolution as the basic linear structure.â€Å"†¦time is experienced as linear (past-present-future).† From starting to read this essay to the end time has passed. Narratives that have manifested itself into other forms of medium more or less have a tendency to follow this fact. Dreams, flashbacks, characters or a narrator reciting earlier events or future events which are due to happen are eccentric elements of breaking up the linear time format. Hence the arrangement of the plot being the story or as described by the Russian formalist, Viktor Shklovsky, fibula (story) and syuzhet (plot). A prominent example of this is in such films as The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995) or Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000) where the plot and story are quite different, the story not being presented chronologically. Narration, the plot’s way of distributing story information in order to achieve specific effects. Narration is the moment by moment process that guides us in building the story out of the plot. Re-arranging the plot of narratives can be a powerful technique as it can easily create suspense, curiosity, fear, satisfaction, motivation to know more of the situation. Film as a narrative medium, more or less does have closure of story or events, as in the end order is established, stability has been restored. In other words restoring the balance, a theory concluded by Tzvetan Todorov, a Bulgarian structuralist. Todorov reported that the majority of narratives have the same structure, i.e: in a linear storyline, initially all the forces are in balance (equilibrium) and by some event or another the forces are disturbed and majority of the storyline involving around further complications of the initial situation at hand and eventually the balance being restored in the end, even though this balance is not the same as it was at the start of the narrative. When speaking of events happening or that have already happened to disturb the equilibrium, I am referring to character driven and event driven plots or moments. Major film blockbusters tend to follow this pattern with a high tendency of closure with the notion of appealing to the mass audience. This concept of commercial aesthetics may or may not be frowned upon by directors, producers or the script writers but I can comfortably agree with the fact that major film studios highly consider what will or wont appeal to the audience, how much funding they are willing to provide, generating revenues, running time, sequels and prequels and this greatly effects the quality of the storytelling and spectacle of the films, thus the director’s or producer’s true vision of the film not being fulfilled. There are many theorists in different fields of study who have studied to devise logical ways of thinking about narratives. The main theorists I have looked at are Carl G. Jung, a Swiss physiatrist who studied Archetypes and their influences in western storytelling, Claude Là ©vi-Strauss, a French anthropologist studied that narratives were made up of binary oppositions and that key terms in narratives had differences. Joseph Campbell, an American professor studied mythology and religion. His works have been published in a book, ‘Hero With A Thousand Faces.’ He described the term monomyth, an idea which he outlined some archetypal patterns that he realised. He focuses on the role of the hero and the various events that the hero can go through. Gustav Freytag, a German critic suggested a method for representing and analysing plots through a simple diagram of a triangle. The triangle highlighted the setup, conflict and resolution of conventional narrative structures. Starting from the left side (setup), going up the triangle would suggest the apex of the crisis (conflict) and falling back down to the end of the story or the equilibrium being restored (resolution). Meanwhile going across the bottom of the triangle would be the time passing by in relation to the events in the story. This triangle is an adaptation of Aristotle’s work on narrative structures. Aristotle’s work has been collected together into a book called The Poetics which is a series of lectures and workings, which essentially sums up that â€Å"there are causes and effects that occur over time.† Tzvetan Todorov and Viktor Shklovsky I have mentioned before as theorists in narrative and finally Vladimir Propp. They all came to the conclusion of their own theories of narrative however, it will be most useful to concentrate on two particular theorists whose works compliments each others quite well. †¦all conventional films are characterized by the same narrative structure by the work of Tzvetan Todorov and Vladimir Propp. The majority of mainstream films have a similar narrative structure and the works of Todorov and Propp are evidently clear within these narratives. Vladimir Propp, a Russian critic and folklorist analysed many folk tales to see if they shared any common attributes and structures. He concluded that there are eight main characters such as ‘the dispatcher’ or ‘the donor’ and that there are 31 narrative functions such as ‘villain is punished’ or ‘the hero is pursued.’ His analysis also mentioned that not all these are evident in all narratives. Todorov and Propps theories have been influential in modern narratives and work fluently with my chosen case studies and I will apply their theories in more detail later. One last person worth mentioning is Christopher Booker, an English journalist who published the book, ‘The Seven Basic Plots.’ This book outlines that all narratives fall into one of the seven various forms of storytelling. These plots are overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy and rebirth. These plots all had alternative darker versions, except for tragedy which already is the dark version. Furthermore two new plots were added outside this list, rebellion against the one and mystery. Both my case studies fall under the plot, overcoming the monster which I will briefly look at later when analysing my case studies. â€Å"The pleasure of looking – scopophilia has been central to cinema since the beginning† Film is a visual storytelling medium. More people are keen on using their eyes to visualise the story as the audience willingly lose suspension of disbelief, sitting in a film theatre staring at a flat wall for two hours as the story unfolds before their eyes. Before I discuss some of the contemporary film techniques of storytelling I will briefly focus on the ‘cinema of attractions’ an expression used to describe the early cinema by film historian Tom Gunning. As technology began to evolve over the 20th century, the moving image was born. People were overwhelmed by this form of medium and what technology could do thereafter. It was all about the ‘wow’ factor, the look of the film. Since most films during this time were unedited sequences of footage, the narrative was not an important issue. Film makers were more fascinated with the possibilities of this particular medium and capturing the ‘real’ and what they could do with it. There were people like the Lumiere Brothers (Auguste Marie (1862-1954) and Louis Jean (1864-1948)) who successfully captured the ‘real-life’ imitation of film. One famous example is the short film called LArrivà ©e dun train en gare de la Ciotat (1895). When this film was shown people were so shocked and in fear that the train was going to run them down they fled the theatre. This was a turning point in film history as the Lumiere Brothers inspired so many other film makers. One particular other magician turned film maker was Georges Melies (1861-1938). He was another French film pioneer who made over a thousand films, the most memorable ones being Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon, 1902). His views on film making was not to mimic ‘real-life’ but to explore other possibilities, using the camera to subvert what the camera sees into abstractness or creating illusions. He discovered the dissolve effect by chance when his equipment jammed. He explored the ‘magical’ possibilities of the camera and other techniques such as split screen techniques and stop motion photography. He was a pioneer in cinematic special effects and also a film maker who inspired the likes of Jan Svankmajer, Terry Gilliam, etc. Films made during this period were only a couple of minutes long and over the years up until the present films have got longer, in the nineties being an hour and a half but now the average running time is at least two hours, which I definitely support the idea of, since we at least as the audience will be getting our moneys worth. This is not to say that quantity is more essential than quality but I would like to argue the fact that film producers and directors are adding extra running time to enhance the narrative, by adding sub plots or developing characters to improve the story or explain situations or events clearly and not to extend the running time so the spectacle can be the main attraction, even though Hollywood has a tendency to refer to its films as motion pictures rather than film. This can be a signal that Hollywood is faithful to the spectacle of the moving image. A new cinema of attractions has risen, particularly within action genres, where plot and story are of less importance than the spectacle. This can be true since the action genre relies on the spectacle to deliver the film. The action genre is an area where the narrative is simply a platform for spectacle where the audience can sit back, relax and enjoy the film visually, instead of participating in the story and working out clues and problem solving the story. It is more or less the dominant element, meaning in days to come we will remember the ‘spectacle’ but might fail to remember what actually happened. Furthermore I think films in theory have to have at least a sequence where the narrative is disrupted and spectacle takes over, such as a car chase or a well choreographed fight scene. In theory the ‘cinema of attractions’ still exist to this day with the huge cinema screens with surround sounds and films still offering the spectacle as the attraction. In Russia during the Soviet Union (1920’s) spectacle was still the attraction but besides that, editing of films was also used to draw the audiences attention. Editing created powerful effects on the spectators. One particular example I would like to mention is the famous Odessa steps sequence from Sergei Eisenstein’s, Battleship Potemkin (USSR, 1925). This well known sequence is where the army restores order among the sailors and civilians of Odessa. He used a ‘montage’ type of editing to create a pulsating attraction after attraction to intensify the feeling and effect. The point I am trying to make here is that spectacle can be a potent technique in storytelling without the strong element of narrative. Editing has evolved over the years and has become an art form in itself. It can be used to clarify events, establish a location and to build up tension and emotions. Editing itself is a unique process of shots being composed together to maximise the dramatic effect of the story. It combines the mise en scene of the shot along with all the rest to make sense of the film. It is how information can be held back to the director’s content, what to reveal and what not to the audience. Filmmakers are editing in specific ways or cutting more shots out of the final film recently since the audience’s sophistication grows. This can also be referred to as restricted and unrestricted narrative. Restricted narrative is when we have limited information as to what is going on, we only know what the characters know, being it false information or not. We are told information from a first person perspective, as if we are in the films ourselves within that space. Unrestricted narrative is where we are told everything, we know things that the protagonists don’t as in a third person perspective. Editing shots in a way that one shot transitions into another giving the sense of a smooth, flowing edit is called continuity editing. This is a technique where a seamless edit takes place, this can be helpful as it can interpolate the audience into the physical space where the action is taking place. But some narratives shots require the edits to be visible to achieve a particular effect such as the Odessa steps sequence as mentioned before. In continuity editing there is rule known as the 180degrees rule. This rule takes place seamlessly also within the film. When two characters are talking, the action is shot on one specific side of the characters, being the one side or the other and the camera being placed anywhere on that side. This is just to clarify which direction the characters are facing and to establish the space in which they are in. This rule can be used for close-ups for intimate conversations and happenings or far out as we look on as spectators. Another important aspect of storytelling is mise en scene. This is a term given to describe everything involved within that particular shot. It is everything that makes up the frame, i.e: actors, dialogue, the music, diegetic material, cinematography, cg elements or as Richard Maltby describes, â€Å" arrangement of screen space as a meaningful organisation of elements† Lev Manovich a professor in visual arts, wrote an article among many, but one that I found particularly interesting was on Digital Cinema and he quotes, â€Å"Cinema is the art of the index; it is an attempt to make art out of a footprint.† He states the fact that contemporary cinema has become a platform where film-makers can edit and simulate real world actions through different forms and techniques such as CGI. Cinema has evolved from movies being mostly live footage to contemporary digital cinema where the live footage in film has become little or used as a basis for experimentation, 3d manipulation, etc. The fact that he used the expression ‘an attempt to make art out of a footprint’ in reference to raw video is an indication as how it is used as a ground element for the CG to build upon and to manipulate it until all the elements are finalised to complete the shot. How did cinema arrive at using animation in its projects? I am going to try to explain this as short and briefly as possible. Cinema was born when the moving image was created, a sequence of images, footage or hand drawn, which theoretically is animation, since a series of images give the illusion of movement, hence animation. Film makers took this new format and made films in the tendency of the ‘Lumiere style’ or the ‘Melies style’ as mentioned before, adding animation as a supplement. As technology developed, the future made digital cinema possible incorporating animation and special effects as the main essence of films while live recording was used as the basis or even reference, â€Å"hence, the production becomes just the 1st stage of post-production.† Manual construction and animation of images gave birth to cinema and slipped into the marginsonly to re-appear as the foundation of digital cinema. The history of the moving image thus makes a full circle. Born from animation, cinema pushed animation to its boundary, only to become one particular case of animation in the end. These contemporary film techniques and processes which I have just discussed are clearly evident in the two films of my choice. The first film I want to examine is Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The film is the first photorealistic computer generated film ever to be made as all the cast are life like computer generated characters. The film is set in the future and it focuses on Dr. Aki Ross and her finding of the eighth spirit, in doing so will erase the alien phantom spirits from earth who have more or less taken over the world and left a barren like wasteland. The film follows a linear narrative structure and even though the film shares the same title as the computer games it bears no reference or relation to any of the stories in the computer games. Todorov suggests that conventional narratives are structured in five stages and this film’s narrative structure seamlessly integrates within those five stages. The first stage is clearly the equilibrium, however the film starts off with an already unbalanced state, which is the world has been laid waste to an alien race. The second and third stages, is the equilibrium being disturbed by some event and the recognition of this disturbance, which also has already happened before the story has begun, in being that the aliens have crashed on planet earth, and the human population reacting to this by evacuating to gigantic like plane hangers cities around the world which are protected by some sort of special field against the threat. The majority of the film is in reference to stage four which is trying to repair the unbalance, meaning Dr. Aki Ross with the help of a special task force unit trying to find the remaining spirits. The story finishes off in the fifth and final stage where the balance is restored in the end and the alien race eradicated from earth. Final fantasy also bears a resemblance to Christopher Bookers work and his theories of the seven plots, specifically ‘overcoming the monster’. The phantoms are the great and mysterious evil which the world has fallen to. The source of threat is the phantoms. The hero is Dr Aki Ross who is armed with the seven spirits and with the help of the scientist Dr Sid, they set out to travel to the source of the evil and with some amount of struggling, finding the last spirit and finally by discovering the eighth spirit the monstrous entity is destroyed. The threat has been lifted and the world has been saved with the loss of her companions. Looking at the film, the sense of photorealistic spectacle can help intensify and value the story better particularly the scenes of the phantoms. To clarify this notion in the scene where Dr Aki Ross is having her dreams of the phantoms charging towards her, I would find it quite difficult and would feel emotionless if the CGI was ‘unrealistic’ to say the least, you wouldn’t feel threatened because they didn’t look real or menacing enough. As a serious science fiction film the visual look can help communicate the narrative across at some points in the story by making the scenes more authentic and grittier. To be honest that is the only positive aspect I can mention about the look of the film. But on the other hand a point worth mentioning is the fact that the digital actors were quite emotionless. This lead to the notion that they were artificial. In traditional animation, the facial features and body movements are extremely vivid. The motions are slightly exaggerated to give the illusion of life and personality so the movement can blend from one frame to another and that is why films that are made by pixar are so rich in character because their animators have strong backgrounds in traditional animation. Nonetheless Final Fantasy strived for life like replicas of real human people. The films photorealistic look with the serious live action feel can also be considered as its weakness. While they did look amazingly real their emotions and actions were lifeless which lead to the fact that they were artificial characters. The characters had no chemistry with each other on screen, an example is the love/romantic scene with Dr Aki Ross and Captain Gray Edwards, I did not feel like they genuinely liked each other, it was not shown successfully with their reactions or on their faces. This brings me to my next point. My initial reaction to the life like characters was mostly surprised and mesmerised. But striving for the human believability of the characters solely on the look was not enough. Maybe if the characters were created for a still image in a magazine for example it would have been suffice. But for a motion picture, the digital characters felt strange and eerie. This might be down to the fact that, the photorealism in an animated feature film was a first but I would like to believe it was down to a theory hypothesised by a Japanese roboticist, by the name of Dr. Masahiro Mori. His theory was that the more human like a robot becomes or looks like, people are fascinated by it, but when the robot borderlines human likeness the natural response by people is negative. People focus on that negativity. The human like robot is considered odd and bizarre and leads to the feeling of strangeness within the viewer. This theory was named ‘The Uncanny Valley.â₠¬â„¢ Imagine a perfectly human-looking face that suddenly grimaces or smiles in a non-human way†¦ Its profoundly disturbing when something blurs the line between human and non-human. I myself, think the story was not strong enough for the film, it does not hold up to the magnificent CGI. I personally thought it failed to articulate the plot well. It is why I think the film was a let down. Some questions were left unanswered. Why were the alien phantoms a threat to the human race? Why were the alien phantoms fighting each other on their home planet in Dr Aki Ross’s dreams? Why did their home planet explode? Some of these questions, answered would have given us as the audience a better understanding of the plot. The narrative was simply a platform for spectacular imagery. When I watched the film for the first time I suspended disbelief on the visual realism, I was attracted to how believable the characters and environments were. I was conscious to the excellent CGI being shown the whole time. In the future looking back at this film, people will remember this film and automatically think of how brilliantly photorealistic the animation was, how life like the characters were and how new and ever evolving technology made this possible. My next case study is another feature length animation made by the incredibly talented people at pixar studios. Pixar have been making animated feature length films and short films for over 10 years now and each one has been more successful than the previous one. The Incredibles is a computer generated film that is not photo realistic. It does have that classic pixar look, heavily stylized with human attributes. It is arguably, one of my favourite animated films mainly because it is not just the typical comedy from pixar. It does have its comedic moments but what sets this apart from any other animated film especially from the studio of pixar is that it is darker and has some form of violence. It feels like a live action film. It has moved away from the cute, lovely characters from previous pixar films. I liked this notion because it mainly appeals to a much wider audience. The narrative structure does follow Todorov’s linear theory of equilibrium but I would like to apply Propp’s theory of character types with Gustav Freytag’s Triangle. The story film begins with an equilibrium, superheroes exist, living amongst normal people saving the world and keeping peace and order in society. Problems begin to evolve as the main ‘Hero’ Mr Incredible is being sued for injuring the same civilian he just saved moments before. One thing leads to another and all superheroes have been forced to live normal lives under a superhero witness protection program. Thus the balances have been disturbed and according to Freytag’s Triangle the density of the problems are growing as time goes on and as the story makes its way up the triangle. The hero by temptation has been called into action by the ‘villain’ into using his powers. The hero without knowing what he is doing has willingly helped the villain in his master plans and when Mr Incredible realises what he has done he is inevitably captured. His family are now on their way to release him. This is the peak of the crisis or triangle as all the problems are laid bare and the tension has built up, we know what Syndromes (villain) intensions are. The climax or the solving of the problems are to follow next as we climb down the triangle, as the family of superheroes solve the problems one by one. The family now together try to find a way to stop Syndromes plans and save the world, restoring the balance in the end and the story coming to an appropriate closure of the current events. I say appropriate closure because the films ending is more or less an open possibility for a sequel or maybe more. I loved the narrative as it has a bond’esque feel about it, saving the world from a mad man. I was easily and simply able to establish who the heroes and villains were and the fact that the story had a suitable closure as all the loose ends of the story were tied up. Examining the narrative overall I can safely say that the relatively straightforward narrative fits Freytag’s triangle perfectly in view of the fact that all the problems that grew were resolved in the end. I would like to mention the beginning of the film was a parody to the 1950/1960’s U.S superhero comics and films. The likeness is significant in the terms that the film begins in the past and works its way to the present day and when the superhero’s lived alongside average citizens and the fact that the look of the film mimicked the same style of news reporting when the superheroes over the world were being sued. In addition the stylised characters with the large upper torso, broad shoulders, square jaw and smaller than average legs evidently represented by Mr Incredible were mimics of the 1950/1960’s U.S superheroes. This parody worked well as it gave the film authenticity and it felt that time had moved on within the film to the present day. Even though the characters were not photorealistic, the animation sold the concept that they were real. The exaggerated motions like I mentioned before convinced me that these artificial characters had feelings and they genuinely exist. This was quite an achievement for pixar, as cg characters before The Incredibles, whether in television adverts, cartoons or short animated films have not been quite rigid but lacked that sense of energy and dynamic in them. This can raise the question, is animation only successful with non-human or non-realistic characters? This question in itself is worth another essay, to be studied accurately, but in short I would like to think not, since there have been films that have major success such as The Incredibles clearly, Toy Story 12 also made by people at pixar studios, Shrek 12 by Dreamworks Animations and feature length films which include ‘CG doubles’ of their live counterparts. Again the theory of ‘The Uncanny Valley’ comes into play as successful films of non-realistic characters maybe down to the fact that people find it strange when CG characters end up looking ‘too real’ on screen. The appearance of the film was simplistic, almost approaching a ‘minimalist’ look and stylised but not over done as to steal the limelight of the narrative. The narrative is the dominant element within this film as I believe that the spectacle supported but did not dominate the narrative. On watching this film I was drawn into the story, what was going to happen next, it was engaging and I wanted to know more. I felt that an actual story was told to me, that I was watching the events unfold from a third person view within the film, that I was successfully entertained. On first time round watching the film I was not thinking how that was made. The film will be remembered for its entertaining, excellent storytelling factor, a film the whole family can watch. All feature animated films that have been produced by the pixar studios have had massive success. I think of pixar as any other major film studio emphasising on telling an entertaining narrative but telling it through a specific medium of film. Films such as the Toy Story series, Finding Nemo, Shrek series, Ice Age series and Madagascar all have had major success due to the strong narrative element running through the film. All films are non photo-realistic as the spectacle supports and is just the platform for story. It is kind of ironic that a photorealistic character felt unconvincing in Final Fantasy but felt realistic in The Incredibles even though the creators of Final Fantasy were aiming for realism. It proves my point of the fact that intending to achieve realism will only go so far without the narrative, vigour or the personality behind it. Narrative is compulsory in giving spectacle depth and more over ‘life’ so it will become believable and to work and blend as one as a feature length animated film. So is story and plot less significant in feature length animation then spectacle? I think not. I strongly disagree with the fact that spectacle is more vital than narrative primarily because of the apparent reason that the whole idea of feature films is to tell a story. The public go to cinemas to be entertained for two hours. They set out to be enthralled by a story, that is what a ‘film’ is, a narrative in by which the spectacle helps to communicate the information across. As CG effects get more complicated the audiences want more than spectacle, they yearn to be motivated by other means rather than to watch a sequence of frames. To lose the sense of reality and be mesmerised into a fictional world of wonderful computer generated characters and environments. I believe that full feature animation is just another medium of spectacle that stories can be told through, that narrative is essential for a successful CGI animation, as only recently due to new software and powerful hardware more and more CGI feature films are being made and it is technically quite a new process as filming the real has been done for a while. There is of course the excuse of the cinema to show off how the latest technology can create spectacular imagery and special effects, and show off new film and CG techniques. I also agree that spectacle can sometimes enhance the narrative being told, by exotic scenery and sets that would be impossible to manually build on location, or unrealistic physical attributes such as walking on water or punching holes in walls. The visual storytelling medium has changed, evolved for better or worse due to commercial