Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Woody Allen as a film Autuer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Woody Allen as a film Autuer - Essay Example The term â€Å"auteur† has French origins, and it refers to the theoretical approach to filmmaking, where the director is the central creative force in motion pictures (Menne 36); this concept has persisted over the years, and the term film auteur describing film directors that write and direct films through which they express their personal artistic vision. In as much as there is no clear evidence between â€Å"regular directors† and â€Å"film auteurs†, the distinction between the two does become codified, elucidated, and isolated with time with regards to the art, artist, and the particular categories to which they belong. The film auteur does not only express a cinematic vision, they are prolific in what they do by taking direct roles in relation to the medium and craft of filmmaking; the creative influence of a director on a film must be so profound for them to be considered the film auteur. According to the auteur theory in film criticism, a film reflects i ts director’s personal, creative vision, and the directors stand out as the original auteur; the list of strong distinctive film directors who qualify the title â€Å"film auteur† is very short. This paper will explore the world of Woody Allen, as a distinguished and highly talented film auteur, as seen in the movies Midnight in Paris 1978, Annie Hall 2005, and Manhattan 1979, in which he creates a unique world that no one else could bring to life except himself. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1935, and raised in a Jewish family that had a strong comedy culture, Woody Allen found his niche in comedy, and later in filmmaking when he first directed What’s Up, Tiger Lily in 1996. Since then, Woody Allen has a library of films to his name including his most acclaimed Annie Hall 1977, Manhattan 1978, and Midnight in Paris, where his one of a kind neurotic, unconfident, and flamboyant cinematic vision emerges. An auteur approach to filmmaking is evident in all his film s particularly because Allen uses themes and styles that make him distinguishable and unique from the pack as a film maverick (Quicke 95); for instance, a dominant theme in most of his films is the struggling artist as in the films Manhattan 1978 and Annie Hall 1977. In all these films, the backgrounds to the protagonists, the cinematography, and lighting elucidates auteur style in filmmaking, distinct and unique, unlike other regular directors. In Manhattan 1978, Allen explores the woes of a struggling television writer who is dating a high school girl but still develops feelings for his best friend’s mistress; Isaac, the main protagonist, is uncomfortable in his job and on top of it all, he cannot establish a solid intimate relationship with a woman his age. Isaac is a very frustrated artist, who feels confined in his current position yet his possibility for success seems obscured by his present situations, thereby further heightening his anxiety and unhappiness; his intern al and external struggles are captured vividly to present a picture of the struggling artist, as is often the case in Allen’s masterpieces. In the film Annie Hall 1977, Allen still explores the theme of the struggling artist through the protagonist Alvy Singer, a Neurotic comedian from New York, who falls in love with a woman named Annie Hall and becomes embattled with relationship issues in Manhattan (Knight 214). Allen brings a part of his own persona into the film by reveling a suffering in Alvy and himself by connection, in finding someone who truly understands him and appreciates his presence. This masterpiece reveals many struggles in Alvy, the whining comic persona; through Alvy’s decision to do an unconventional film that entails him talking straight to the camera concerning his problems, Alvy reenacts his life as a

Saturday, February 1, 2020

How Was Christianity Effective Spiritually to African Slaves When They Essay

How Was Christianity Effective Spiritually to African Slaves When They Were Forced Into Slavery - Essay Example ery being the darkest and most excruciating as they must have been too the period that drew the best abilities and most noble of traits among the race, a look into their spirituality during those periods must be a whole enlightening exercise that should provide truly relevant references for our present situations. This paper shall be specific to the Christian Spirituality of the African slaves during the Atlantic Slave Trade era between the 16th and the 19th century. Christianity was first introduced in West Africa by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. I have no source to indicate the extent of Christian conversions in the western coasts of Africa by the 1700’s . But that side of Africa having had trade relations with Europeans already at those times, notably with the Spaniards, the Portuguese and the Dutch, there must have been some extent of evangelization going on by those times. In the book From Slavery to Freedom, author John Hope Franklyn mentions resistance of the native Africans to the Christian Faith as the bearers of the teachings were associated with the institutions of the slave trade to the New World. "It was a strange religion, this Christianity," he wrote, "which taught equality and brotherhood and at the same time introduced on a large scale the practice of tearing people from their homes and transporting them to a distant land to become slaves." Compounding this local resistance is the deliberate and methodic eradic ation of the Africans’ identity in the slave trade. Folk religions, as were the African traditional beliefs and cultures, even their languages, were being systematically suppressed to deter organized resistance. â€Å"Slaves in the eighteenth century came from various African societies, cultures and nations, such as the Ibo, Ashanti and Yoruba on the West African Coast. Consequently, slaves from differing ethnic groups displayed little commonalities. Africans were black, but did not experience a homogenous existence they shared

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Strategies Of Success From Stanford :: essays research papers

Everything that has ever ‘come about’ in the world, started in the beginning as an idea. In order for anything to be invented, the inventor had a dream, an idea to make something that would help them and the people around them. Schools today, teach students to change the world- to take charge and stand up for things you believe in. The former president of Stanford University, Clark Kerr, once said, â€Å"The university is not engaged in making ideas safe for students. It is engaged in making students safe for ideas.† This statement can be taken two ways, both positive and negative.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We’ll save the best for last and, for now, start with the negative. This whole statement can be taken as a pessimistic view of the future. It seems to say that we, the young men and women of the next generation, are unable to continue doing things the way they were done in the past. It seems to say that we need to be taught how to think, and be told that what we want to gain isn’t the right thing. It’s like telling a little child that there is no Santa Claus- everything we believe in is completely changed. â€Å"†¦Making students safe for ideas.† Reading this alone makes it seem as if Julian, Erika the students are not smart enough to decide on his or her own which ideas to take advantage of. As if, the ideas are the ultimate prize and we, the students, are the contestants in a game show, competing to the death to have the best idea of all. It seems to say that we need to be conditioned and shown just what an ‘idea’ is and what to do with one. If you compare it to a gun, for example, you need to be taught how to take proper care of a gun, what to do with one and what not to do with one. The same idea can be put as a meaning for this quote. If you look at it through my eyes, the positive side of the quote has a much bigger impact on me than the negative side does. The optimism seems to jump out at me, blazing like a beachside sunset. This entire quote seems to say, in it’s own way, that schools are here to show the students that their imagination is completely limitless.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Human Relations: A Personal Experience

Human Relations: A Personal Experience Allison R. West Introduction to Graduate Studies in Human Relations 12/4/13 While reading Modern Human Relations at Work I found information that I pretty much expected to find in a book on this subject. I found some specific studies that I had not read about before and ideals that I found to be true in theory, but not so much in practice. The standard questions of whether a happy worker is a productive worker and do open door policies work were addressed. Ten years ago I would have read this text book in a much different manner, with a completely different erspective than I do today.I may have viewed the ideals of organizational human relations with some sort of hope that people can actually work in environments where there are superiors and subordinates can maintain a sense of respect and humanity towards one another, but that has not always been my experience. The old expression â€Å"it's lonely at the top† can be interpreted in sever al ways; there are not many top dogs out there, or that the higher you go the less time you have to mingle with the lowly, or the less you really care to, or the misguided belief that you should have a self-imposed separation .Whatever the meaning or reason one thing is true to my understanding; organizations are truly not classless societies and while they, in theory, should understand human relations better than anyone, they practice very little of what they profess to preach. I do not mean to give the impression that I do not understand the need for hierarchies and the important role they play in efficient organizations, it is not the paradigm, but the players, with which I take issue.In this paper I would like to address the two areas that were of greatest interest to me as they apply to my experiences working within large organizations. The first area referred to the fundamentals of human relations and included a study conducted by the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric in Ill inois that I found interesting. The second discussed the management of conflict between individuals and organizations and included exercises that companies can use to build stronger relationships between botn I wou d like to snare my thoughts on these areas trom both theoretical and practical stand points.The book defined human relations as follows: â€Å"The process by which management brings workers into contact with the organization in such a way that the objectives of oth groups are achieved is human relations† (pg. 5) and takes the point of view of the manager. While the company and the worker share a common purpose of being successful and making money, the worker also has goals that the company may or may not be aware of or concerned with. Successful human relations addresses both the company and the worker and finds a satisfactory solution to all needs.This, in my opinion, is where most companies don't seem to be able to get it right. It is not enough for an organizati on to say that they care about their workers, what their needs are, what their opinions are and how they can best use their talents to nhance the organization, there has to be follow through and this is what usually does not happen. You only have to look at a company's turnover of employees to get a good idea of their attitude towards human relations. I spent 10 years working for an organization that truly did not care at all about their workers, though they professed to.It is my experience with this particular organization, which I will call Agency X that I will be referring to in this paper. Agency X has a high turnover for several reasons, one of which is the amount of stress that comes with the Job and the econd is the response, or lack thereof, on the part of the agency to try and understand, alleviate, or even acknowledge the fact that the needs of the workers are not being met. So while I read through the book, I suppose I was more Jaded and had a more pessimistic attitude th an I should have, but I truly believe that few companies actually care about human relations in practice.I found the Hawthorne studies interesting in that it showed that a worker who feels that they are valued and has some level of relationship with those they work with is productive and that the quality of the supervision they receive effects the uality and quantity of their work (pg. 9). When I worked for Agency X I was a case manager for 4 years and had a supervisor who truly cared and was concerned for the well-being of her workers and the impact the Job was having on us. This supervisor did a good Job of shielding us from the bureaucratic issues that came from above.She believed that the quality of services to clients and the needs of the workers were both equally as important. After 4 years she changed Jobs and I was promoted to her position, it was at this same time that our contract was obtained by another big agency and suddenly things changed. While I continued to supervis e in the way I had been taught, ensuring that what needed to be done was done, that clients were receiving the best possible services and that workers were not burning out and were taking care of themselves I began to see the differences in field work and middle management.I was accused of babying my workers whenever I tried to make things a little easier for them. It is important to note that we worked with abused children and families in volatile situations that required a tremendous amount of travel and field time (we were not child welfare). Let me give an example of a worker who was close to burning out. We had both been at a home in the country where the situation became fragile and volatile and we decided that it was best to leave.After we had driven away (we took separate cars) my worker pulled over to the side of the road and just sat there. I pulled in behind ner and Just watched tor a tew seconds wondering if she was going to get out of the car, but she did not. I walked up to her window to find her in tears. I allowed her to vent her feelings and frustrations and finally I suggested to her that she go home for the rest of the day (it was early Friday afternoon) and spend time with her daughters and not think about work until Monday morning.I told my worker that we would meet in my office on the Monday and talk about what we needed to do make sure her needs and the needs of the client were being met. While this was an appropriate solution to me, I was then â€Å"counseled† as I told my worker to go home when she had not filled out a â€Å"request for leave† form. That was my first indication that Agency X did not care at all about my worker, all they cared about was a piece of paper that they would not have received until timesheets were turned in the following week anyway.So I took that hit, signed y piece of paper that said I was a bad supervisor that day and never said a word to my worker about it. Human relations works at a worker level and even at a middle management level if you have a supervisor who gives a damn about you, but it is only a slogan on a poster for those in upper management. The human resources model outlined on page 11 of our book gives 4 systems that an agency can fall into when dealing with human relations. I feel that an agency can fall into several systems at one time.I think those in middle management still see their workers as valuable assets that should not be easily discarded. Middle anagement have better relationships with their workers and probably fall between system 3 (consultive democratic) and system 4 (participative democratic) depending on how long the subordinate and superior have been working together. Upper management would have you believe that their agency is participative democratic, but they are, in reality, benevolent autocratic (system 2) where condescension and punishment are the main staples of management.It was forced upon me many times that I should separate myse lf from my workers and make sure they understood we were â€Å"not the same†. While I understand that it is not always wise for supervisors o be friends with workers, we do not need to sit in ivory towers looking down on them either. There is a happy medium that upper management ignore. As I progressed in Agency X, I was promoted again to Regional Director and was responsible for services all 16 counties in Southwest Oklahoma. This was my first and only experience with upper management and I have no desire to â€Å"go there† again.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Inner Circle English Definition and Examples

The Inner Circle is made up of countries in which English is the first or the dominant language. These countries include Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Also called the core English-speaking countries. The inner circle is one of the three concentric circles of World English  identified by linguist Braj Kachru in Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle (1985). Kachru describes the inner circle as  Ã¢â‚¬Å"the traditional bases of English, dominated by the mother tongue varieties of the language.† The labels inner, outer, and expanding  circles represent the type of spread, the patterns of acquisition, and the functional allocation of the English language in diverse cultural contexts. These labels remain controversial. Inner Circle Annabelle Mooney and Betsy Evans: Inner circle nations are countries where English is spoken as a first language (mother tongue or L1). They are very often nations to which very large numbers of people migrated from the U.K. For example, the U.S. and Australia are inner circle nations... Whether a country is in the inner, outer, or expanding circle ... has little to do with geography but more to do with history, migration patterns and language policy... [W]hile Kachrus model does not suggest that one variety is better than any other, inner circle nations are, in fact, perceived as having greater ownership over the language, in that they have inherited English as their L1. Even among inner circle nations, not all nations can claim authenticity of the English language. The U.K. is widely perceived as being the origin of the English language and is seen as the authority on what counts as standard English; inner circle nations tend to be regarded as authentic speakers of English (Evans 2 005)... the English used even in inner circle nations is not homogenous. Language Norms Mike Gould and Marilyn Rankin: The most generally held view is that the Inner Circle (eg. UK, US) is norm-providing; this means that English language norms are developed in these countries and spread outwards. The Outer Circle (mainly New Commonwealth countries)  is norm-developing, easily adopting and perhaps developing its own norms. The Expanding Circle (which includes much of the rest of the world) is norm-dependent, because it relies on the standards set by native speakers in the Inner Circle. This is a one-directional flow and learners of English as a foreign language in the Expanding Circle look to the standards set in the Inner and Outer Circles. Suzanne Romaine: In the so-called inner circle English is multifunctional, transmitted through the family and maintained by governmental or quasi-governmental agencies (e.g. media, school, etc.), and is the language of the dominant culture. The outer circle contains countries (usually multilingual) colonized by English-speaking powers. English is typically not the language of the home, but transmitted through the school, and has become part of the countrys chief institutions. Norms come officially from the inner circle, but local norms also play a powerful role in dictating everyday usage. Hugh Stretton: [W]hile inner circle nations are now well in the minority among users of English, they still exert strong proprietary rights over the language in terms of norms. This applies far more to discourse patterns than to grammatical rules or pronunciation norms (the latter varying considerably between the inner circle countries in any case). By discourse patterns, I mean the way spoken and written discourse is organised. In many fields of scholarship, the major international journals are now published entirely in English... At present, English speakers from inner circle countries still hold a great deal of control in terms of assessing contributions and reviewing books in English. Problems With the World Englishes Model Robert M. McKenzie: [W]ith regard to inner circle Englishes in particular, the model ignores the fact that although there is relatively little differentiation between written norms, this is not the case between spoken norms. The model, thus, in its broad categorisation of varieties according to large geographical areas, does not take into account the considerable spoken dialectal variation within each of the varieties identified (e.g., American English, British English, Australian English)... Secondly, a problem exists with the World Englishes model because of its reliance on a fundamental distinction between native speakers of English (i.e., from the inner circle) and non-native speakers of English (i.e., from the outer and expanding circles). There is a problem with this distinction because attempts so far at precise definitions of the terms native speaker (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) have proved highly controversial... Thirdly, Singh et al. (1995:284) believe that the labelli ng of inner circle (old) English and outer circle (new) English is overly value-laden since it suggests that older Englishes are more truly English than those historically younger varieties in the outer circle. Such a distinction seems even more problematic because, . . . historically, all varieties of English other than English English are transpalnted.

Monday, December 30, 2019

The Impact Of Media On Society - 1435 Words

â€Å"Mass media is a significant force in modern culture. Sociologists refer to this as a mediated culture where media reflects and creates the culture† (â€Å"The Role and Influence of Mass Media†, n.d, para.2). Media has affected to the most area of human life include relationship, education, careers, and entertainment. There were a lot of researches about the impacts of media to society from negative to positive effects; however, researchers were not pay attention to the impacts of media in inequality. It is also the important effect of media to society, but it show unclearly in other reports or researches. That is the reason why our group choose this topic to research and present. In fact, sometime people can recognize the inequality in some†¦show more content†¦Those statistic has implication massage that there are not much opportunities non-white people appearing on White people’s screen. If an Asian story transforms to a movie made by a place lik e Hollywood and the main character may be changed by the director. For instance, in 2015, a Japanese movie â€Å"Ghost and the shell† and the main character was Scarlett Johansson, despite a white women. She wore black bobbed hair instead of her natural blonde stresses (Guzman, 2016). In additions, Black movies are not favored among white people because of the lack of empathy necessary into those characters. However, black people are more prefer watch white movies, the reason for that is they have no more choices and they are not able to produce a blockbusters effecting to over the world. According to the study of University of Milano-Bicocca and the University of Toronto Scarborough shows that human brain has differently emotions and abilities to simulate the actions of other races it called the Racial Empathy Gap (Seewood, 2014) According to Our Society (Angelini, 2012), in the past, human beings changed the conception of gender for centuries. They defined that men are strong, unemotional, decisive, protective, logical, and sexually virile, by contrast to women who are emotional, indecisive, intuitive, and in need of protection, in North American. Last century, theShow MoreRelatedThe Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1723 Words   |  7 Pagesonce said, â€Å"Whoever controls the media, controls the mind†. The Media have become one of the most dominant source of education of the 21st century. We could argue that most Americans use the media as their main source of information. The side effect of that is the fact that the media are very polarized. With the ongoing polarization, we could hypothesize that people would have been more politically educated and oriented if the media was not infiltrated. Mass media are expected to be educational.Read MoreThe Media And Its Impact On Society1678 Words   |  7 Pages When you are young you don t realize that what you are watching on the television is shaping many of your beliefs, distorting what is fictional and what is reality. The media plays a huge role in stereotyping black people compared to white people which has a major impact in how we view the people in our world. When we are watching tv or listening to the radio and it is constantly relating the color of a person s skin to their actions. This causes the audience to associate these actions with aRead MoreThe Impact of Media on Society853 Words   |  3 PagesHow much of an impact does the media have on your life? How many hours do you spend on the phone, watching television, or browsing the internet? Whether you choose to believe it or not, the media plays an enormous role in our everyday lives, and its impacts continues to stretch as technological advancements and other inn ovative creations come into place. One of the largest groups that the media affects, we fear is our children. As media continuously grows and undergoes changes, more and more childrenRead MoreThe Media And Its Impact On Society Essay1721 Words   |  7 Pagesonce said, â€Å"Whoever controls the media, controls the mind†. The Media have becoming one of the most dominant source of education of the 21st century. We could argue that most americans use the media as their main source of information. The side effect on that is the fact that the media is very polarized. With the ongoing polarization, we could hypothesize that people would have been more politically educated and oriented if the media was not infiltrated. Mass media is expected to be educational. PublicRead MoreMedia And Its Impact On Society Essay1625 Words   |  7 PagesMedia can be defined as â€Å"the means of communication as radio and television, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet, that reach or influence people widely† and is fully ingrained into our society. In fact, according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report, during the 1st Quarter of 2016, American adults consumed media at a daily average of 10 hours and 39 minutes. Media not only entertains us and serves as an important agent of communication, but also plays a crucial role in the socialization of culturalRead MoreThe Media And Its Impact On Society1161 Words   |  5 PagesThe media plays a significant role in developing awareness on various different subjects. Without the media, people would be much less informed on many social and economic issues. The media can be credited for improvements in these sectors today as it engages the public to have an opinion of our on-going evolvements by releasing daily reports on such topics. In terms of charitable aid the media has greatly developed our awareness with a nature that influences us to feel sympathy for those less fortunateRead MoreMedia And Its Impact On Society1696 Words   |  7 Pages Media has an impact on many of the population’s everyday life. It comes to no surprise that the media is closely related with body imaging. There are thousands of advertisements out in the media that depict images of beauty and physical attractiveness which are unrealistic. The masses see these images and think that they are achievable thus lowering the self-esteem of many. Many of these commercials and advertisements fall under the category of the following: weight loss, clothing, cosmetics andRead MoreMedia And Its Impact On Society Essay1903 Words   |  8 PagesMedia has been growing for a numerous amount of years, and it will only keep rising. You could say that nearly everyone around you has some sort of technological device or way in which they can access the media, these are what we call print, audio visual and on-line media. Print media includes things such as newspapers, magazines and even books, Audio visual media includes your TV, radio or even music and finally on-line media is mostly photos or videos that are spread over the internet. With theRead MoreThe Impact Of Media On Society1853 Words   |  8 Pages In twenty first century, media is unavoidable in society. Every human being is exposed to countless media images, advertisements, magazines, TV shows in their everyday lives. Media is everywhere, it’s hard to avoid and there’s no escaping from it. Almost every home in America has a cell phone, internet connection, or a television. If not, billboard signs, magazines, and store advertisements are everywhere in society. Media is designed to advertise, entertain, giving informationRead MoreThe Impact Of The Media On Society1787 Words   |  8 PagesThe media is a major part of modern society today and holds immense powers over multiple organisations, it has the ability to influence opinions of society through its many channels which include â€Å"†¦ every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax and internet† (Business Dictionary, 2017). One of the greatest aspec ts of society that the media has power over are sporting organisations and the athletes that are associated

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Fundamentals of Business Administration and Management in Wal-Mart Case Study

Essays on Fundamentals of Business Administration and Management in Wal-Mart Case Study The paper â€Å"Fundamentals of Business Administration and Management in Wal-Mart† is an  affecting version of a case study on management. The need for starting Wal-Mart as a business organization was mainly to offer low and affordable products at the retailer’s prices. There was also a need to create employment opportunities for the citizens of the United States and its immigrants. The management team who pioneered Wal-Mart stores had seen the need to avail products to all people regardless of the social-economic status. Besides the owner wanted to progress in business and he viewed subsidized prices as the best bet for market penetration and dominance. (Basker, 2004)With its mission being to give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as the rich, Wal-Mart is really working towards accomplishing its mission. Most of its products have price tags that are accommodating to the entire community.Upon accepting a job offer at JC Penney stores Sam Walton met a reg ional retailer by the name of Butler Brothers. The retailer owned various stores by the name of Ben Franklin. He inspired Walton to witness by offering him one of his many stores in Newport. He later opened another store at Bentonville where he managed to acquire increased sales volume by selling his products at considerably lower prices compared to his competitors.It was in the year 1962 that Walton managed to open the first Wal– mart discount city in Rogers within Arkansas State. Five years later his business had achieved successful growth since he had opened twenty-four retail stores in the same state and recorded higher sales targets. By 1968 Walton ventured beyond Arkansas by opening branches at Sikeston in Missouri state and Claremore in Oklahoma State. (Basker, 2004)Later in the year 1969, the outlet store was incorporated as Wal-mart stores when it opened its home office in Bentonville to be its center for distribution services. By then the company had opened 38 store s with a record of 1500 workers and over 44.2 million dollars sales revenue. This qualified the firm in joining the New York stock exchange where it began trading its stock as a publicly held company in the year 1972. (Basker, 2004)By the year 1975, the company had employed 7,500 people in its 125 stores and was achieving sales revenue of more than 340 million dollars. At this time, it had explored more than eight states i.e. Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma among others. The company had been achieving rapid growth in most of its stores thus employing more people as well as constructing new branches.In the international arena, Wal-Mart has stores in Japan by the name of the Seiyu Co. LTD Mexico as Walmax and the UK under the name ASDA. In Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Argentine the company has wholly-owned operations. How ever, the company was liquidated its stores in Germany and South Korea. (Abigail, 2006)At the moment, Wal-Mart has more than 4000 stores in the United States, however, its growth is believed to be declining for having created fewer job vacancies in the last two years compared to the other 3and years. This has impacted negatively to the US economy since Wal mart stores carvings depend on the economic growth of various nationals.