Proof Media Assignment

Proof Media Assignment (Topic#1) Alice Wang The directorial decision to include Catherine’s eulogy and the post funeral party scene in the film effectively enhanced character development. Catherine’s eulogy was significant in displaying Catherine’s behaviour in front of crowds, and her rash decision to make a speech at her father’s funeral. Catherine is shown to make emotional and rash decisions on the spot, not thinking of consequence. Catherine’s shocking speech is made in a calm tone of voice, but shows her clear resentment towards the crowd gathered at her father’s funeral – â€Å"Where’ve you all been the last 5 years? At the end of her speech, she exclaims â€Å"I’m glad he’s dead† and walks out. As she is walking out, we see that Clair stands up after her, but it is Hal who chases her down – this event showing that Hal is more caring about Catherine’s well-being as well as Clair’ s stance in her regard towards her sister. After Catherine walks out, she shows (to Hal) her disbelief at herself and her regret for saying what she said, and walks home. Later in the Post funeral party, Catherine is shown as a solitary person, away from the party.Hal tells Catherine flirtatiously that her dress looks good on her, which effected in Catherine later telling Clair, â€Å"Clair, I love it† (the dress). This shows that Hal’s opinion matters a lot to Catherine, and that Catherine is beginning to have feelings for Hal. Catherine and Hal exchanges words at the party, and Catherine reveals her intelligence to Hal when they begin discussing about the famous female mathematician, Sophie Germaine. Here, Catherine is revealing that she is, in fact, very intelligent – hinting at her inheritance to her father’s intellectual mind.Meanwhile, Clair at the party, is shown drinking and socializing- the complete opposite of Catherine; highlighting the differe nce between the sisters and their behaviours. Flashing back to Catherine and Hal, as Catherine is opening up to Hal, she shows him up into her room, and Hal kisses her. After Hal pulls away he apologizes to Catherine, saying â€Å"sorry, I’m a little drunk†. This shows that Hal is considerate and has feelings for Catherine as well. They continue kissing and they engage in coitus.Before the act, Catherine expresses that she feels like she is â€Å"like an egg† and â€Å"about to crack open†, and after the act, she is shown crying. This scene further develops Catherine’s character, showing that she is very emotional, but she is still in a rational state of mind, able to feel and give love. Overall, the scenes show character development in how different Claire is from her sister, and how Hal cares deeply for Catherine. Most of all, the scenes show Catherine’s resentment, regret, intelligence, that she is in an emotional state, makes rash decisi ons, and that she is not crazy – that she is still in a rational state of mind.

West Jet †Strengths & Weakness

WestJet Airlines is one of the low cost air carriers of Canada. In a very less span of time WestJet had gained the position of market leader in domestic airlines in Canada. The main reason behind this success could be the strategies being followed by the management while providing services to the customers. Providing excellent customer satisfaction seems to be the motto of the firm. Besides holding its position as the market leader Westjet proactively maintains its standard as a leader of environmental policy in the airline industry through corporate and individual responsibility. As well as adhering to all of the local, national and international standards, West Jet takes hands on accountability approach where no guidelines exist to ensure that the corporation remains responsive to current environmental issues and to prevent new environmental concerns from arising. WestJet strives to use and develop technologies that are environmentally sound. It also recycles and supports the use of recycled materials where possible. Employees are also advised and encourage to make health – conscious and environmentally sound decisions. This is ensured through proper training and the adequate funding needed to aintain a high standard of environmental responsibility. (West Jet Annual Report, 2003, p. 39). Strengths of WestJet Airlines: Concerning strengths and weaknesses of the firm, a SWOT analysis is require to assess the extent to which the strategies of the airlines have been successful. SWOT stands for strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Strengths and weakness are the internal factors while opportunities and threats are the external factor. Here we would be considering only the internal factors. The strengths of WestJet are obvious. The airline is a profitable organization. The success of WestJet could be credited to the different management strategies being implement in the firm. These strategies especially the customer retention strategy are formulated and well implement considering the competitive environment in today’s world. The strength of WestJet Airlines lies in the below mentioned factors: ? Emphasis on customer service and customer service relationships. ? WestJet’s no frills strategy does not only mean a cut in cabin crew, but also allows a faster pre-flight preparation, thereby reducing the time grounded as well maintaining low fare. Better passenger services compared to the competitions, especially Air Canada. ? High aircraft utilization. ? Minimization of operational costs on the board which is obtained by optimally utilizing the man power resources. ? Strong focus on cost leadership and benchmarking. It is highly environmental friendly which is reflected on the activities being carried on under recycling. WestJet fully supports recycling of waste de-icing fluid. West Jet contracts to use propylene glycol wherever possible instead of ethylene glycol for aircraft deicing in most of its routes and wherever it is logistically available Weaknesses of WestJet Airlines: Too much dependence on the business ravel market segment. ? Increased dependence on passenger revenues rather than having a diversified source. ? Domestic airline with no exposure in the regional – international segment. ? Limited viable expansion possible into newer destinations over and above currently served. ? Strict competition from Air Canada. The weaknesses are obstructing as barriers in the further growth of the firm. In order to overcomes these weaknesses and retain its position as market leader, it becomes highly essential fro WestJet to utilize the different opportunities and convert the different threa ts in to its strengths.

Average Joe

As kids, our heroes were Captain America, Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Women, or any superhero for that matter. We would look up to them everyday and say, â€Å"I want to be just like them. † As we get older, our heroes tend to be a knight with shining armor, riding into the sunset with a beautiful woman along side. Other people picture the CEO of a top company, making over ten million dollars a year. Some might even picture an ex-president, or even their teacher. In the end, you’re my hero. You’re not a firefighter, a soldier, or the president. You’re not a police officer, priest, or parent. You’re like me. A person stuck in the everyday grind, 9 to 5, trying to make it through to tomorrow. You don’t know you’re a hero, but you are. To me you give me strength and the hope to live on. For this you are greatly appreciated. You might think, â€Å"How can an average American be considered a hero of mine, if there are killers and greedy people out there that only do harm? † He simply hides in the wood works, basically helping to hold doors, donating here and there, or putting in a few extra hours at work, just like an everyday American would. My hero never fails to finish work for his under-paid, under-appreciated job. Never does my hero complain about being a single parent or working two jobs and still having unpaid bills on the counter. He embraces the fact that he’s doing everything that he can to have a roof over their heads. He’s one of the millions that build this country’s infrastructure. My hero makes an honest living doing a day’s work and asks nothing in return. He puts his life on the line knowing that’s he doesn’t have to and would gratefully do it day by day. He doesn’t donate millions of dollars to charity for a tax break or to get his name on the front page of a newspaper, but when he sees a man in need he offers the coat from his back and continue on. So what makes a hero, heroic? Well what is a hero? Words such as brave, fearless, strong-minded, tough, and being a leader come to mind. So does my everyday hero line up to your average super hero? Yes! The average American has to be brave to face an economic recession such as todays. Does he have courage? One would have to assume to face the daunting task of raising children as a single parent. Doing what ever it takes to get there kids the proper education to become a successful American. If anyone is determined it’s this individual. It takes a lot out of someone to give all they got and seem like no improvement is being made. The determined American has to push on to brighter skies. As a father my hero can’t show anything less than strength because when a father is weak there is no hope for the children to feel empowered. This also ties in to the idea of my hero being a leader. He has to be and he is. I think he qualifies as a hero, don’t you? Superman never put food on your table nor did the Hulk, so why are they the heroes and not you and I? Its human nature to assume a hero has to be larger-than-life. Usually this is true but then we tend to neglect the thousands of â€Å"mini-heroes† we have representing great heroic qualities. Its not always about being able to fly or killing bad guys, its about helping others in need. So the smallest deeds that we do can make a difference in someone’s life. Be grateful for what you do, for you’re not just my hero but someone else’s as well.

Obesity evolved from a private matter to a political issue Essay

Obesity evolved from a private matter to a political issue - Essay Example Also, obesity has been associated with low self-esteem levels, and higher levels of anxiety, depression, and measures associated with impaired quality of life. The debate as to whether the obesity problem is personal or environmental or both will continue as long as the public attention lasts, and the prospect of public policy depends on continuation of publicity of the problem. The complex nature of attribution of responsibility has made it difficult for policy makers to assign blame or develop remedial policies. Even though pressure for action has been growing, the interaction of such factors has made it difficult to predict the future course of policy related to obesity. Policies to address issues surrounding obesity have all failed to pass Congress. Definition of the problem, response from Congress, administrative agencies, courts, and cultural consequences of policy debate is a familiar route for obesity as observed in tobacco and patient’s rights measure. Among all industrial countries, the United States has the highest occurrence of overweight condition, and obesity has become a pandemic problem with over half the population being obese. Diets, eating behaviour and lack of activity have been attributed for the rise of obesity. There has been little examination of the contribution of public policies in agriculture and economics resulting in the current agricultural and food environment. Obesity has been accelerating in the recent decades, suggesting that environmental conditions could be contributing factors in addition to individual eating behaviours and evolving lifestyles (Tillotson, 2004). A study has been conducted to review and understand the relevant history of the issue surrounding the emergence of obesity from a private matter to a political issue. The study has been conducted by review of relevant literature on the matter. The study serves to identify the direction of the issue based on the prevailing debate. Industrialization

People and Organisations Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

People and Organisations Coursework - Essay Example The author presented three arguments. First, the continuously evolving setting promotes flexibility, versatility, the creation of knowledge organisations, and boundaryless career. Second, employees are responding to dying out career traditions by turning their attention toward particular occupation and professional roles. And, third, traditional career norms are weakening because people are continuously adapting and finding new ways to build and strengthen their networks, relationships, and roles. The author concludes that the negative psychological notion related to shifting or different careers is no longer existent today. Nowadays, people are more concerned about or focused on their career assets than their career stability. It is important to emphasise at this point that the extent and expanse of literature the author used is justifiable or appropriate with regard to relevance and application. This method strengthens the reliability of the article. The author employed a suitable method to derive his arguments and look for answers for the questions of the article. Information was gathered using extensive library research and review of secondary sources. No method to gather primary information was carried out. The only weakness of the article is its use of only qualitative methods and fully discarding the value of a mixed method approach, especially in substantiating other studies’ findings about the obsoleteness of career stability, such as the article of Kerr Inkson entitled The Boundaryless Career (2012). Nevertheless, the article contributed much to the understanding of how boundaryless career and project management are connected to each other. The author showed how an individual’s pursuit of career capital contributes to the creation and transfer of knowledge which is highly valuable to project-based industries. Boundaryless career, according to the author, promotes the rise of knowledge workers and knowledge organisations. In a

The Soviet takeover of the Baltic states Research Paper

The Soviet takeover of the Baltic states - Research Paper Example This is a break from the long independent existence of the three states, which had been the norm ever since the Russian Civil War that lasted from 1917 to 1922. The Nazi occupation put a halt to the integration of the three Baltic states into the Soviet Union for four years, from 1941 all the way to 1945, but with the end of the occupation that integration resumed in earnest, and in rapid manner, so that the three states were effectively made part of the Soviet Union through a process that has been termed â€Å"Sovietization†. The traditional arrangements and institutions of the existing political, social and economic order in the three states were totally ignored and supplanted with Soviet counterparts, causing significant disruption to the lives of the countries involved. Industries were nationalized where they were previously private concerns. Land distribution and collectivization were imposed and made the norm. The school systems were supplanted by the Soviet systems, inc luding the college level curricula. The Soviet system of politics was also used to supplant the existing political systems of the time. ... sians into the three states, to shift the population balance and demographics to skew towards the Soviet Union’s preferred mix (Smith; Occupation Museum Foundation; Institute of the History of Latvia; Lina; Shtromas et al. 249-260). II. The Puppet Communist Parties/People’s Diets By the time the Soviet Union made its attempts to homogenize the political and legislative systems in the Baltic states in 1940, the Soviet Union had effected the actual control of the three countries by a series of moves that included military action, as well as the annexation and takeover of government through purges of existing members of government and their replacement with Soviet-sourced members in the main. The government elites of the three countries were purged through deportation as well as via their being put to prison. This paved the way for the introduction of the next wave of changes aimed at overhauling the people’s assemblies, effected through the illegal change of the el ectoral laws in the three counties by Soviet decree, and the calling of People’s Diets elections made on July 14 of 1940. The election was to be in the style and manner of the Soviet Union, where a single party consisting of one slate of candidates were â€Å"voted† into office, and named as the â€Å"Working People’s Leagues†. These one-slate parties were to be voted without opposition, and with a unanimity of votes. In all of the three states there were indications of suppression of other competing parties wanting to join in the elections and to present alternatives to the Soviet one-party prescription, and the suppression was effective to the degree that the Soviet will won the day. Estonia in particular was singled out for the intensity of the efforts to counter the Soviet machinations there, but in

How Monetary and Fiscal Policies were Implemented during the Recession Essay

How Monetary and Fiscal Policies were Implemented during the Recession - Essay Example In order to curb this, the government of the United States, and the international monetary fund, took some micro and macroeconomic measures to curb this trend, which led to a great economic down turn. This was achieved by using some monetary and fiscal policies. The monetary process is the process through which the central bank and other money rendering institutions of a country controls the supply of money, the availability of money and the cost of money or the interest rate so that they can achieve a certain common objective. These objectives are done towards the growth and stability of the economy. The monetary policies can be either the contractionary or the expansionary objective. The aim of the expansionary policy increases the total supply of money in the economy, while the contractionary policies decrease the supply of money in the economy. ... It is the mandate of the federal reserve of the United States to enact the monetary policies. Board of governors runs the Federal Reserve. The factors, which they considered and applied to curb inflationary tendencies, are the reserve requirements, discount rate, open market operations, and printing money. Most banks in many countries changed the reserve requirements to encourage more banks to start in order to increases the amount of money circulating in the economy. The central banks of these countries have the authority to change the amount that banks should hold in the central bank so that they can be given the right to operate. In the US, the Federal Reserve has the supremacy to set the quantity of the deposits that the associate banks can deposit in order to be given the mandate to operate. To curb the recession, the FED decreased the amount of reserve deposits. The motive was to encourage more investors in the banking industry therefore increasing the amount of money circulati ng in the economy. This monetary objective achieved its goal since more banks had more money at hand, which increased spending, and possibly inflation (East Tennessee State University web). The other monetary policy used was the discount rate. Discount rate is the discount on the rate of interest rate that the Federal Reserve charges on the banks on the money that they borrow from the Federal Reserve. The central banks decreased or lowered the discount rate during recession. Their objective was to encourage the banks to borrow money from the central banks at a lower rate to increase the amount of money circulating in the economy. This would in turn encourage

Macro Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Macro Economics - Essay Example What where the policies adopted for combating their effects? Where these policies deemed appropriate or adequate? What role has OPEC played in the wide fluctuations of international oil? Seeking to address these questions and many more with respect to the role of geopolitical affairs on the international oil sector, this essay will explore the Oil Crises of the 20th century (1973 to 1974 and then 1979-81). With an emphasis on international events and the role that that they play in the international supply of oil, we will begin with a quick overview of OPEC and expand our analyses of these two major events (Aldeman 2003). What is OPEC? OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is an international trade cartel composed of 12 oil producing countries. These 12 countries account for two-thirds of the world’s total reserves and close to 40% of the world’s total oil production. Due their significant share of the world oil market, OPEC plays a huge role in global oil production and the determination of oil prices (Mouad 2006; BBC 2008). During the First Oil Crisis, the Arab countries of OPEC established OAPEC, Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, an organization which played an important role in the oil shocks of the early 1970s. It is to this event that we now turn as we explore the geopolitical factors which precipitated this international crisis. A Jewish state in the Middle East remains a divisive and controversial subject and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains one of the most enduring and complex disputes of modern times. After two major wars, in 1948 and again in 1967, Israel and her neighbors entered into another armed conflict in 1973, this one however, had enormous geopolitical and economic ramifications. On Yom Kippur 1973 – the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year - the concerted armies of Egypt and

Muslims and Islam Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Muslims and Islam - Research Paper Example It was once the religion of a sophisticated and powerful world empire, but is today the religion of some of the least dynamic parts of the world, often found in countries that have deliberately avoided integration into an increasingly globalized world.' Muslims finds their basic teachings explained through the Holy Scripture, The Qur’an, revealed to the final prophet of God, Muhammad, over a period of forty years. However Muslims believe that Islam was revealed to many generations and prophets before this as well, and consider it being the true religion of many prophets that are mentioned in other religions as well, such as Moses, Abraham and Jesus. The basic fundamentals of Islam lie on five basic tenants, or the Five Pillars of Islam as they are referred to. These are Shahada, or testament, Salat, or Prayer, Sawm, or Fasting, Zakat, or Alms and Hajj, or holy pilgrimage. The first pillar of Islam is Shahada. Shahada is to bear witness or testify to the fact that Allah is the One and the only entity worthy of worship as God, and furthermore, that Muhammad is his last prophet. This is the first and fundamental pillar, and is considered the most important one, as all other beliefs arise from this basic belief, that is the oneness of Allah. The Muslims also testify to Muhammad as being the last prophet of Allah so as to rule out the possibility of any future claims to prophet-hood and thereby eliminating any further amendments to the religion. Prayer is the second Pillar of Islam and is fairly straightforward: prayer at five designated times a day, in a designated manner, to Allah. Its purpose is to instill in the believer a sense of scheduled division of time and to keep with the believer a constant reminder of Allah and their beliefs throughout the day. Sawm, or fasting, is observed in the holy month of Ramadan (The ninth month of the Islamic Calender) and involves fasting until sunset for the month, so as to instill patience and perseverance into the Mus lim observing the fast, as well as have them understand how those less fortunate than them live every day of the year, without food or water. It is to instill in the believer a sense of patience and steadfastness, through sacrifice for Allah. The fourth pillar of Islam is Zakat, the practice of giving a designated amount of alms to the poor, which is based on a fixed percentage on the possessions of the believer. It is so the rich can help the less privileged, as well as instilling in them a sense of generosity and teaching the positive use of money rather than encouraging it to be hoarded or kept without being given away to others. Finally, the last pillar of Islam is Hajj, or pilgrimage to the sacred land of Mecca, which every able Muslim must complete at least once in their lifetime, so as to show their devotion to their Lord and offer a pilgrimage to the place that is considered the root of their religion. Nonetheless, even though these are the five most basic and important poin ts of belief, the fundamental 'pillars' on which the religion of Islam stands, one can say that this is what basically gives a base to the religion. In actuality, there are many other beliefs and doctrines that are also considered with fundamental importance. For example, Muslims place significant importance on the lessons taught by Muhammad, almost as much importance as they place on the words of the Qur'an, which they believe to have come from Allah directly through an angel, revealed to Muhammad. The lessons taught

Empires, Product Lines, Stewart Brand and Kevin Kelly Essay

Empires, Product Lines, Stewart Brand and Kevin Kelly - Essay Example What made the British Empire great was the fact that it formed the backbone of industrialization in this world. They were the cornerstone of industrial towns, developed cities and advanced water transport (Black, 2001). Everything the empire’s regime did was stored secretly not wanting any other empire to steal their secrets, which they did extremely well. The Japan Empire The Empire of Japan also known as the Empire of the Rising Sun was both an empire and world power, which existed from the Meiji reinstatement on January 3rd, 1868, to the endorsement of the post-Second World War Charter of Japan on May 3rd, 1947. Colonial Japan's fast militarization and industrialization under the slogan Fukoku Kyohei led to its surfacing as a world power, ultimately culminating in its association in the Axis alliance, as well as the subjugation of a large fraction of the Asia-Pacific expanse. At the summit of its authority, in 1942, the Japanese Empire administered over a land spanning 2,85 7,000 sq mi (7,400,000 square kilometers), which made it one of the leading marine empires in history. The Japan Empire was known mostly for its telecommunication advancement (Black, 2001). The Empire of Japan had a remarkable tally of technological accomplishments, and a remarkably well-equipped military. The army was advanced, but extremely oriental and traditional beyond the rank of other top rated empires. Even though, instead of having bullets, ballistic shells, missiles, warheads and other more straight based weapons, they created hi-tech arms, which armed the Imperial Japanese Forces technical fighting skills needed to defeat any superpower... Empires, Product Lines, Stewart Brand and Kevin Kelly Apple Inc., ever since it started its operation in the 70s, has had a magnificent timeline, which people could consider as a success to the company (Isaacson, 2011). In the 70s, the company produced numerous computing machines such as the Apple I, Apple II, Disk II, which was a driver, and Apple Writer computer software. In the 80s, the firm launched the Apple III computer. It also launched the IB modems, Monitor III, IIA printers, Apple Image writer, Macintosh (128K), AppleColor Composite Monitor and AppleShare Server 1.0. The firm also launched, in the 80s, Macintosh Portable, Apple FDHD SuperDrive and Apple Scanner. In the 90s, the firm launched Macintosh IIfx, Macintosh Classic II, the PowerBook series from 100 to G3, Apple Design Powered Speakers and the Workgroup Server series from 60 to 8550 (Isaacson, 2011). Also, they came up with the Apple Network Server 700/200, eMate 300, Power Macintosh G3 desktop, Power Macintosh G3 minitower, Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, iMac G3, i Book, iMac (slot loading), Cinema Display (22"), as well as the Power Macintosh G4 Graphite. All these were inventions that took place before the new millennium. They were considered as landmark inventions to such a small established company in the field of IT. However, the 2000s has seen the popularity of Apple Inc. rise to another level. The Big-Kids computing world managed to arbitrate between the numerous computational roles, which could not be reconciled in a more direct manner through making the Apple’s materials a must-have item.

Observing or Reading the Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Observing or Reading the Behavior - Essay Example According to him home makes him feel more relaxed and studies can be done in relaxed and calm environment. The peace of mind that he gets at home could not be available anywhere else. He is able to concentrate better in the familiar and relaxed surrounding of his home rather than a public place like library where people keep on moving around. Movement of people can be a cause of distraction. Since people in a library are mostly strangers and strangers make him self conscious. At home the presence of siblings does not matter as they keep themselves busy with their own chores. He also acknowledged that there might not be other books and references available at home instantly if he needs them. However, he can make use of Internet for the references and other relevant material at home. Also he thinks he could easily take a break from say continuous study of two hours and watch TV or listen to his favorite songs and resume his studies. At library continuous studies can cause exhaustion as mind needs breaks every now and then. He also considers the fact the one can sit in a relaxed easy manner at home while at library one has to sit in a well-mannered and socially acceptable way. Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs devised this method commonly called Myers Briggs Test based on the work of Carl Jung. This method has emerged as the widely used test for personality assessment. Like millions of Americans the interviewee has also taken Myers Briggs Test. The test presents a summary of personality. A person's type might be INTJ or ESFP, or some other combination. Like other he was also forced choice questionnaire. The test uses two basic orientations that is E and I for extraversion and introversion two choices for information uptake that is S for sensing and N for intuition, two choices for judgment that is T for thinking and F for feeling, and two choices for decision making that is J for judgment and P for perception. So according to this model people could be extrovert or introvert. The results shoed that the interviewee is an introvert as his model started with I. Te rest of his combination turned out to be INFP. The result therefore finally showed that the interviewee is an introvert and mostly makes his decisions on the basis of his intuition. The person is sensitive and feeling and impulsiveness dominates his personality. Accuracy of Myers Briggs Test Results According to Myers Briggs Test the results were INFP. The interviewee mostly agrees with the overall picture or assessment done as a result of test taken. He himself considers an introvert and Myers Briggs Test also confirm his own views. However for other indicators he has his own reservation. Despite agreeing to his introversion he does not totally agree with other results. For example, he was asked whether he would like to plan an evening beforehand or not. This question could be asked to determine Judgment or Perception traits of a person based on their inclination for planning or impulsiveness. The interviewee though plans well in advance but sometimes remains unable to enjoy or execute his plans due to his spontaneous or impulsive

Conflicting Perspectives Essay Example for Free

Conflicting Perspectives Essay â€Å"An important outcome of studying this elective is the realisation that all representations of perspectives are designed to provoke an intended response. † To what extent does this statement relate to your study of at least one of Hughes’ poems and one related text of your own choosing? In some texts authors have the intention to evoke a personal understanding in the audience. However, the personal experience varies between each individual creating conflicting ways in response to a text. These responses to the messages from the authors are shaped through personal experience and values of the individual. The notion of conflict within perspectives is evident in â€Å"Birthday Letters† by Ted Hughes especially in the poems â€Å"Fulbright Scholars† and â€Å"Sam† as well as in Michel Gondry’s film â€Å"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. † The conflict within memory and connections leads to a representation of their conflict in perspectives. The nature and strength of memories is to some extent subjective in relation to events, situations and people. Hughes proves this idea of selective memory through the use of rhetorical questions asked in his first poem Fulbright Scholars such as â€Å"where was it, in the Strand? † and â€Å"was it when I bought a peach? These questions are evidence of his disordered memory. Hughes perspective of Plath is somewhat subjective as he remembers vague details of particular moments and her â€Å"Veronica Lake bangs. † In his second poem â€Å"Sam† depicts the same events as Plath’s poem â€Å"Whiteness I remember† but showing his conflicting interpretation of Plath’s memory. The two poems prove conflicting ideas through the tempo of the first paragraphs and Hughes ongoing use of caesura. Although Plath interprets the event to be a â€Å"great run† and â€Å"high as the roofs† conflicting this idea Hughes describes it as dangerous and Plath having â€Å"lost (her) stirrups. The text â€Å"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind† proves memory to be a selective sense; the character Joel displays merely a memory of selective moments, objects and feelings of his past relationship with Clementine. The key motifs are birthday presents and certain outings. The fallibility of memory can lead the distortion of connections between memory and reality. The author intends to create a particular emotional response to the text that is represented through a connection between the audience and their perspective of the text. The connection between the perspectives in â€Å"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind† show the author is being balanced and unbiased. The perspectives of both the character is shown equally to the audience, forcing and internal response in each individual. In â€Å"Fulbright Scholars† Hughes repetitively uses â€Å"you† to simultaneously speak to Plath as well as the audience, to create a more intimate connection with the text. This continues into his next poem â€Å"Sam† alongside alliteration and assonance in the line â€Å"horribly hard, swift river† increasing the intensity for the audience. In the final stanza Hughes personifies Sam as himself, and positions the audience as Plath. In the line â€Å"you strangled me† he uses accusatory language to gain an emotional response and connection from his audience, which relates back to the publics perceptions of him during this time. It is clear that all authors create their texts to gain a reflection the audience towards the text. Each text is a representation of the author’s perspective response to their memory, creating an emotional connection to their audience, which provokes an internal response. The connections made are used to intensify a reaction within each individual.

An Analysis Of Agatha Christie

An Analysis Of Agatha Christie Britishs literature is one of the biggest treasures of literary, poetry, play that famous around the world. The place that all the name like William Shakespeare, William Golding , and Philip Larkinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ come from. Love story, romantic story, fantasy and fairytales are some topics that many author/writer want to write about, usually based on their personal life. Therefore, when people talk about literature, its only a small amount of people interested in mystery and murder stories and one of the reason is because mystery and crime stories as we know them today did not emerge until the mid-nineteenth century when Edgar Allan Poe introduced mystery fictions first fictional detective, Auguste C. Dupin, in his 1841 story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. The acknowledged father of the mystery story, Poe continued Dupins exploits in novels such as The Mystery of Marie Roget (1842) and The Purloined Letter (1845). (Mystery Time Line Group). Even though appeared really late in litera tures history but it coming popular quickly. And many authors became famous by writing this type of stories like Edgar Allan Poe, Dorothy L. Sayers, and according to Hack, a woman spent her entire life writing about mystery and murder Stories Agatha Christie. It truly began in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe introduced Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin in the short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Two women were brutally murdered in a baffling an grotesque manner, the police appear baffled, Dupin leads his own investigation and succeeds were regular authorities have failed, so getting in stone the basic of countless detective fiction novels to come (R.D Collin). After that, many other stories, novels appeared as mystery fiction and became very famous. According to Mystery Time Line Group, Dickens Charles became popular by Bleak House (1853). The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870), a prolific writer, Collins wrote The Woman in White (1860). The Moonstone(1868),and a brilliant Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who we know as Sherlock Holmes. Many people wonder that why crime fiction became popular so quickly. Most writer novel usually write their story, they based on real story and it difference from all other category of writing, it include many difference small stories in one big story in order to find the final answer. While reading, reader feels like they are the main character and wants to find the puzzled as soon as possible, its mysterious mixing with reality because it based on things that surround us. By the 1920s British mysteries had become extremely popular, particularly the cozy, a style of mystery usually featuring a small village setting, a hero with faintly aristocratic family connections, a plethora of red herrings and a tendency to commit homicide with sterling silver letter openers and poisons imported from Paraguay.(Murder Ink) From a regular novel of finding puzzle, it spread out in to other category, involved more violation and sex one of them are I, The Jury which became one of the best selling mystery books back in those days, sold over 6 million copied and most of them are mal reader. Heavy gut and bloody mystery are interested many people too parallel with love mystery. It became more and more successful and that why mystery fiction became so famous in a short period of them. Not stopping there, crime fiction step in television and theater. TV has provided mystery lovers with a seemingly endless stream of colorful characters over the years and into the present. Characters such as Perry Mason and Simon Templar (The Saint) were extremely popular during the early years of TV, followed more recently by the likes of Lieutenant Columbo (Columbo), Jim Rockford (The Rockford Files), and Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote), among many others. (Mystery Time Line Group). Consequently, mystery keeping it own pos ition of strength and dot not losing any sign of abating. Many new novels had published and it not only convinces British but fan all over the world. And speaking of famous, Christie Agatha is woman that famous by her writing and nonpareil skill. Agatha Christie, full name was Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. According to Janet Morgan, Agatha came from a middle class family in Torquay. In April 1878, Frederick Miller married to Clara Miller, they had three beautiful daughter together, into this well equipped house hold, Agatha was born on September 15, 1890, she was much-loved after through ; her mother was thirty-six and her father was forty-four and there was a gap of eleven years between Agatha and Madge and ten years between Agatha and Madge( Morgan, 8)which mean Agatha had two older sister and she was the youngest of all. By Morgan, we know that Agatha was educated when she was young and only educated at home (19). Agatha proved that she really intelligent, interesting in book, good at cooking and singer and in her early life, Agatha dreaming of becoming nurse, Agatha said, during her school day that she wanted to be a nurse but Mr. Miller had other ideas. She would deadly have loved her daughter become a concert pianist or a professional singer, perhaps in grand opera.(Hack 24). When Agatha was young, she wrote short stories and composed a collection of poems which were later publishes by Geoffrey Bles in 1925 and called The Road of Dream (Robyns 27). Confo rm to Richard Hack; Agatha worked at a hospital as a nurse in the First World War. This is the point when Agatha came up with an idea to write crime fiction novel while nursing for her patients. August 1914 she met an an aviator name Archibald Christie, its happen to be her future husband, surprised everyone when they got married in a Christmas Eve 1914 in a local church without any preparing , Agatha remembering the memory, wrote no bride could have taken less trouble about her appearance. No white dress, no veil, not even a smart frock. I was an ordinary coat and skirt with a small purple velvet hat.'(Hack 59). A baby girl was born in August 5, 1919 is a result of this married, Agatha gave birth to a baby girl in her own bed room and name it Rosalind (69). According to Richard hack, Archibald Christie only came home to see the baby and Agatha for a couple hours a day and left after that. Agatha felt depressed and sad when her body changed after pregnant and the loneliness while M r. Miller usually away from home, looking at the sad corner in her house, Agatha decided to continue her novel that she started when she was a nurse in World War 1 (70). The book names The mysterious Affair at Styles, it was a bid success, and The New York Times was really impressed with this book: The only fault this story has is that it is almost too ingenious, they wrote: Though this may be the first published book of Miss Agatha Christie, she betrays the cunning of an old hand à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ You must wait for the last-but-one chapter in the book for the last link in the chain of evidence that enabled Mr. Poirot to unravel the whole complicated plot and lay the guilt where it really belonged. And you may safely make a wager with yourself that until you have heard M. Poirots final word on the mysterious affair at Styles; you will be kept guessing at its solution and will most certainly never lay down this most entertaining book. (New York Times) Agatha keeping up with her writing career and thinking that this is what she love to do, she published: The Secret Adversary which appeared in 1922, Murder on the link(1923) the man in the brown suit ( 1924) (Robyns 48). Richard hack informed that Archie asked for a divorce in late 1926, he claims that he was falling in love with another woman and asking Agatha for a quit. Disappointing and painfully, while she still in a pain of the lost of her mother not too long ago (95). In December 1926, Agatha disappeared, the Monday morning paper wrote an article for Agathas manhunt: Missing from home, the Styles, sunning dale, Berkshire, Mrs. Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, age 35; height 5 feet 7inches; hair, red, hinged part grey; complexion, fair, built slight, dressed in grey stockinet skirt, green, jumper, grey and dark cardigan and small velour hat; wearing a platinum ring with on pearl; no wedding ring; black handbag with purse containing perhaps L5 or L 10. Left home by car at 9:45 P.M. Friday leaving note saying that she was going for a drive ( Robyns 66) Fifteen thousand fans join police from four counties looking for Agatha ( Robyns 67), she appeared three week later in Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, she claimed that she has loss her memories and do not remember anything happen before. According to Gwen, the doctor had diagnosed her as suffering from amnesia, typical case of mental reprisal, a person got hurt from someone or some impact event that affected them. In this case, it might be the depressing of losing her mother and the betrayed of her husband that made Agatha decided to disappear for a short period of time. Its difficult for Agatha Christy to recovery after all things happen so she decided to take a long holiday and choose the West Indies( Robyns 91) to distress and find a new source of inspiration for her next book. On this trip, she met Max Mallowan, an archaeologist, who Agatha spent the rest 45 year of her life with. On September 11, 1930, Mrs. Agatha Christie and Professor Max Mallowan were married quietly in Edinburgh to avoid the sensation that it would have caused in London press. The ceremony took place at St. Cuthberts church in the district of St. Giles with her daughter and two secretaries, Charlotte and Mary Fisher, as witness. ( Robyns 94). After married Agatha Christie returned to write book and success after success. Agatha got ideas from things she saw and turned to novels, masterpieces. Christie wrote the first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles , got an idea when she was a nurse in a hospital in World War I, and the plot of the story was base on World War I. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was finish during the death of her mother and a divorce with her ex husband. She translate her sadness in to the story and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd became one of the most selling book in Agatha Christie career, it place Agatha Christie at the top of her professionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the un disputed Queen of crime(Robyns 53). Agatha love it and know this is what she love and something that she will keep doing till the rest of her life. 12 January 1976 In St. MARYS CHURCHYARD, Cholsey, Berkshire, forty seven miles west of London, lies Lady Mallowan- Dame Agatha Christie- who was known to millions of people throughout the world as the Queen of Crime, as she prefer, the Duchess of Death.(Robyns 3) According to Gwen Robyns, Agatha Christie has the most unique style of writing story, she doesnt base on and literature rule and still turn it into many wonderful novels. A lot of professor study about Agatha Christies writing. Like Professor Behr proved that the way her character say maybe misleading or false but on the other hand, it real and true, really inevitable (189). People wonder if she used that character from real life. Agatha replied: No, I dont. I invent them. They are mine. Theyve got to be my character- doing what I want them to do, being what I want them to be- coming alive for me, having their own ides sometimes, but only because Ive made them become real. (Robyn 190) Like she said she Agatha Christie had no ambition to create a literary style, she uses her own world as her own strength. Her stories use easy language, easy to understand, that helps reader have a way to connect to the character and make it real. She put so much effort in to whats she doing. In order to write a book, she has to work through all winter, and spring to be able to publish in September. Agatha said: you must decide what kind of style you want to work in and then read book that have a same style. (Robyns 197) People think that writing is much easy for me. It isnt. Its murder. (197). Even though Agatha think she cant write but the fans still cannot find a small mistake in her ingenious writing. Mr. Max Mallowan shard with reader about his wifes writing style: My wife always wrote the last chapter first. In this way she was able to gather up all the clues and nearly tie parcel. It was only after she had done this that she went back to the beginning and worked her way through.(Robyns 195) Agatha unique writing style is incredible, she thought of some ideas that people would never thought of. Like Murder on the Orient Express, the victim got murder while walking to the gas station and the last seem reader knew before he death that he was looking at a back of the woman wearing kimono ( Christie 38). In Murder with Mirror by Christie, she created many character in order to trick viewer by thinking there would be a multiple choice of murderer. Most of the time the answer will review in the very end of the story and it always surprise fans. Creative, ingenious, incredible still not a word that we can describe Agatha Christies works. People got blow away while reading to her books, follow every step that Mr. Hercule Poirot make who is an imagine character made by Mrs. Christie. According to Janet Morgan, he appeared in 33 of Christies novels and 54 short stories (108) became the most famous character made by the Crime Queen. She named her detective Hercule Poirot for no particular reason. (Hack 64). Even though Agatha Christie is a very famous writer, but she still read and discovered about crime fiction by looking up other famous author. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the them, Agatha read and learn that if she want her book to be famous and unique, she need to created some one that creative and as smart as the most famous detective of the day, Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. John H. Watson, and that is how Hercule Poirot was born (64) go along with his friend Captain Hasting. Poirot was Agatha biggest child, followed her through her life. According to Hack, in 1975, Agatha released the held Poirot manuscri pt titled Curtain( 229) to make an end for Poirot, it sold more than one hundred twenty thousand copies. Fans of Hercule Poirot were visibly moved by the book which found him now crippled with pain ,and, on the last page of the novel, he said farewell to his friend Captain Hasting.( Hack 229) Another famous character that created by Christie is a woman name Jane Marple. According to Hack she Miss Marple was introduced in the short stories, The Tuesday Night Club establishes 1928; Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, she name Miss Marple after the Maple Hall during visited her sister and this character was dedicated to her only daughter Rosalind (131). Agatha never forgot the graceful decay she saw at this once fine house and name Jane Marple in its honor.The Tuesday Night Club, Murder at the Vicarage gave Agatha a critical success goes along with some book like: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), Murder on the Orient Express (1934), and Death on the Nile (1937). ( Mystery Time Line group). In Miss Marple, Agatha found a spirit whose observations she enjoy creating. The character herself was a spin-off from Caroline Sheppard, a spinster in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Agatha Christie had fun and interested with this character, Miss Marple gave Agatha many success in short stories category. Like Poirot, Agatha gave Miss Marple an end in the book Sleeping Murder and it was a gift for her love Max, while Rosalind was given Curtain, the final case for Hercule Poirot. (Hack 163) Agatha Christie wrote ninety-four books all told and was translated into 103 languages, 14 more than Shake Speare. She wrote eighty-three detective stories, six straight novels (under the pseudonym of Mary Wesrmacott), one book of reminiscences, two of poems, and her autobiography. Four hundred million copies of her book have already been sold and there is no sign of a decline in sale. (Robyns 3)Agatha is truly a legend of crime fiction, the queen of crime like people use to call her. Murder/crime fiction come a long way and still developing itself. Agatha Christie, a name that well never forget she gave her all and never want much for herself. She left behind so many great novel and wonderful art work and she will always be the most popular mystery writer of all time. Because like she said: I did not have to be polite when saying that I could see no limit to the popularity of my story ( Robyns 200)

Countless stereotypes and negative representations exist

Countless stereotypes and negative representations exist I. Introduction A countless stereotypes and negative representations exist about the Middle East by the Western media. It is known that media is very powerful source that shapes peoples minds and opinions. For some people, media is the only source they acquire their information through, especially when it comes to other cultures and populations. Western media coverage of the Middle East issues, Arab, and Muslim world is clearly a continuous subject. These stereotypes and negative representations have negative associations as Westerns assume that every member of a certain group has the same characteristics. As mentioned by Macdonald (2003), stereotypes homogenize people and put them under the same umbrella which results in biased pictures. While stereotypes can be sometimes positive, still negative stereotypes are much more problematic, causing conflicts. (Macdonald 2003). It seems that Western media is have always been having the tendency to misrepresent Arab Muslim women as Islam came around. As Miladi (2010) said, Western does not know much about neither Islam nor Arab cultures nor traditions. As a result of this lack of knowledge, the Western media tends to represent Arab Muslim women as oppressed, victimized, and have no voice, and this is because of Islam, mainly the veil. In his research paper, Morin (2009) pointed out that the veil is being misrepresented by the Western media since forever; the Western media is fascinated by the veil or the Hijab. The issue of veil and women who wear the veil is a common misunderstood concept in the West. Westerners often think that this is a harsh custom that Islam requires of women. They claim that these women have no freedom or dignity for wearing these veils and that they look like ghosts in this custom. In some old movies, the Islamic custom is portrayed as a way for women to play with identity and her sexuality. But in fact, these veils actuality help protect women. (Posetty, 2006). Stereotypes may take the form of both physical stereotypes and mental stereotypes. The physical stereotypes are usually related to the concept of the veil as women who wear the veil are seen as anti-West and extremists. As for the mental stereotypes which can be very dangerous, it is caused by narrow-minded ideas and false data. Mental stereotyping of Arabs in the Western media includes portrays anti-Western attitudes, extremism and terrorism. In fact, the Westerns have ignored the fact that Islam is a tolerant religion that gave women the right to be educated and the right to participate in political, economical, and social activities in their community. Women were also given the right to vote, the right to inherit property and take charge of their possessions (Miladi, 2010). Perhaps some of these rights are disallowed or denied by Muslim women today not because of Islam, but because of cultural traditions that should not be correlated to Islam. The problem of these negative stereotypes has begun long time ago as it was rooted by the Arab misrepresentation. Stereotyping of Arabs has been dominating the Western media and was highly evoked since the incident of 9/11. All Arabs have been stereotyped as terrorists and extremists. It also started with the theory of The Clash of Civilizations that was written by Samuel P. Huntington in 1997. (Macdonald 2003). In his thesis, Huntington stated that the conflicts between the West and the Middle East will be resulted by the clashes of religions, and cultures, and that there is a new enemy to the Western world that is emerging which is Islam. According to Morin (2009), what also evoked the stereotyping towards Arabs and Muslim world is that the Arab media that is also practicing stereotyping of Westerners as enemies of Islam and Muslims across the world. Somehow through these misconceptions, Western media is always under the impression that Arab women are caged in the Arab world and its culture as well as being oppressed and victimized just because of the way they dress. Because of these images, it is always neglected that there are so many business women in the Arab world and that the rate of education in the Arab world is very high among women who indicates that women are well educated at the Arab World as well as that they are granted almost the same rights of men (Ahmed, 1992). In order to improve the situation in the Western media according to Ahmed (1992), it is the role of mass media to create better understanding about the Arab cultures, religions, and traditions about the Arab Muslim women. In addition, it is the Arab Muslim womens role in political, social, and cultural fields to change these stereotyping that is dominating the mass media. II. Literature Review Since the last couple of decades, the subjects of Islam, the Muslim community and especially Muslim women seem to have dominated the Western media. It started with the excessive coverage of September 11, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the banning of the veil in Europe, to the terrorist attacks and suicide bombers in the Middle East. These are just a few images to name that the Western societies and countries have been absorbing in their daily lives, eventually forming their attitudes, perceptions and ideas about the Muslim world. It all started with Samuel P. Huntington (1997) â€Å"Clash of Civilizations†, according to Macdonald (2006). It was Huntington who came within reach of this problematic relationship between the East and the West. â€Å"Clash of Civilizations† is a part in his book that is called â€Å"The Rest Vs. The West. (Macdonald, 2006). After the Cold War ended, the desire to search for a new global ideological threat has emerged to replace the collapse of Communism. Since then, it was predicted by the Westerns experts that the Western World is facing a new enemy: Islam. Macdonald (2006). Huntington notion pointed out that Islam has a noticeable contradictory vision and action to the Western ideology, ideas of liberty, and democracy. This phenomenon has been developed and spread into a discourse and got fully attention of the Westerns (United States, the United Kingdom and its allies) perceptions and its relationships towards the world of the Middle East, the Muslims and Islam. As a result of such phenomenon and ideology, the stereotypical idea that Islam and its followers are anti-democracy and anti-Western has become fixed within the minds of the Western society. (Macdonald, 2006). The acts of stereotyping persuade people to respond and behave in the same way that is both negative and prejudiced. The word Arabs is meant to portray a person from the Middle East, it also meant to portray this Arab as terrorist, ignorant, and a person that contradicts with the Western ideologies. In spite of the reality that these persons are from different countries, with varied cultures, attitudes, beliefs, and a diversity of religions, they are typify by one word â€Å" Arabs†. (Cheney, 1986). Several movies have been misrepresenting Arabs men and women through the years. It is has been pointed out by Cheney (1986), that Jack Shaheen, (2003), stated that 900 films done by in the American cinema showed how Arab men women and children shaped as different and threatening. Hollywood films from 1896 until today portraying Arabs as heartless, enemies, cruel, burglars, extremist in their religion, brutal murderers, and abusers of women. (Cheney, 1986). History shows that since the beginning of cinema, Hollywoods movies have been misrepresenting Arab women. Clearly, film makers did not create these images but inherited Europes pre-existing Arab stereotypes. These images have been created long ago; in the 18th and 19th centuries, European artists and writers offered fictional versions of women as bathed and submissive exotic â€Å"objects†. As a result, through the time, the stereotype came to be accepted as valid, becoming a permanent part of European popular culture (Cheney, 1986). In his book â€Å"Reel Bad Arabs†, Shaheen noticed that â€Å"In Arabian Nights fantasies such as The Sheik (1921), Slave Girl (1947), and John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1964), Arab women appear as leering out from thin veils, or as unsatisfied, disposable ‘knick-knacks lounging on ornate cushions, scantily-clad harem maidens with bare midriffs, closeted in the palaces womens quarters and/or on display in slave markets† (Shaheen, 2001:23, cited in Cheney, 1986). The stream continues in the third millennium. In Disneys remake of â€Å"Around the World in Eighty Days† (2004), for example, Arnold Schwarzenegger portrays Prince Hapi, a Mideast sheikh with ‘one hundred or so wives. This means that films continue to show Arab woman as a slave for sex, even though the image of a terrorist dominated after 9/11. A research paper aimed to analyze U.S. and international newspaper articles on Arab and Muslim women from 9/11/01 till 9/11/05, in order to understand how women who wear the veil are represented in western media. It was found that Reporters rarely give women the chance to speak to look beyond the stereotype and get to know Arab women. Whether oppressed, victimized or turned into a superwoman, that woman in the news is more often not caricature of the Arab and Muslim woman in real life. Readers have not yet able to receive a consistent and accurate representation of the diverse personalities, lives and opinions of these women. (Sakr, 2004). Its been always known that TV shows influence Western people perceptions and attitudes towards various issues, especially when it comes to issues related to the Middle East and Arabs. So, most of the misperceptions towards Arab women are caused by the flow of information through TV stations. (Kaufer Al Malki 2009) According to Kaufer Al Malki (2009), on the 28th of September 2009, Oprah Winfrey hosted the â€Å"Goodwill Ambassador for the UNICEF†; the famous Lebanese singer â€Å"Nancy Ajram† on her TV show on CBS station. In that show, Winfrey referred to Lebanon as being â€Å"deeply conservative† and presented a documentary that shows Lebanese women veiled like the Afghani ones and compared these women with Nancys Ajram style and dance moves. With no doubt, Oprahs documentary misrepresented Lebanese women and created misconception in the minds of Western people about Lebanese women who are the most modernized women in the region. In fact, Nancy Ajram style and fashion represent a large segment of Lebanese females. Statistics show that 75% of the Lebanese women are unveiled and have freedom of dress; they have their full education that exceeds that of men with 44 % compared to 40 % of men. The media is fascinated by the portrayal of Arab women and they way they dress. According to Ahmed (1992), when it comes to portraying Muslim woman, the media in the West seems to be attentive and obsessed by the way they dress which is the veil in particular which has resulted in a great number of reactions and debates. These debates shows that the veil is perceived as a sign of cultural difference in the Western world as it differentiate Arab women from Western ones. (Ahmed, 1992). Muslim Arab woman are always badly portrayed as the shapeless and ghost women in their Islamic dress .they are really confusing the western normal people as its not their fault that what they are seeing on TV is that its the fault of the western media. The Negative stereotyping and reactionary reporting have historically symbolized coverage of Islam and Muslims and have been reflected clearly in the theory of Orientalism created by Edward Said in 1978 which states that the East and its populations are considered backward, barbaric and outsiders to Western society. (Posetty, 2008). As a result, it seems that the media helps in creating the image of the Muslim women as the oppressed other, which will lead to imprecise conclusions, stereotypes and misperceptions of these women. (Macdonald,2006). According to the Orientalist theory, when women are portrayed, they are portrayed as being oppressed, exotic, mysterious, and shy. In addition, the Western media have always been portraying Arabs as violent, stupid, and cruel people that treat women as objects and that they are marginalized in their own society, and that the East all alike in their image for the West. (Macdonald,2006). Therefore, when the Western media frames women as sexual slave and oppressed by men as they are abusing their women, beaten, and humiliated, they are being truthful as this is the image that has been always stuck in the Westerns minds. In fact, the West has been stereotyping Arab women since forever, and they didnt change their look for the Arab women till now. Photographs and Frencp9th Century paintings represented Arab women as property, toy of men, submissive and still, dependent on a man who is the only motive for their survival. (kaufer, 2009). Terms such as the veil, the harem, female circumcision helped in the formation of such misconceptions as well as gave the impression to some of the associated images with the oppressed Muslim woman. The problem is that these perceptions have been incorrectly generalized with no differentiation. (Gwinn, 1997). This problem has made it harder for the veiled Muslim women living in the West, as they tend to suffer more from the intolerance from the way they dress, in addition, they are hardly accepted in the Western communities. (Mohanty, 2005). Arab women in immigrant communities and who are living in Western societies, are victims of these negative stereotypes and gender based media representations. As Morin (2009), noted that these women face negative media coverage that is based on cultural misconceptions and the recent political conflicts that have spoiled Arab-Western relations. As a result, Arab women in immigrant communities cannot win the fight for better media recognition while they continue to be viewed inside the limit of traditional Arab-Islamic stereotypes. (Morin, 2009). As Posetty (2008) stated in his article, in the portrayal of Muslim women, attention is frequently focused on the way they dress, with their clothing seen as a symbol of their threatening, alien status. Images of Islamic dress are increasingly used in the media as visual shorthand for dangerous extremism, and Muslims all over Europe are suffering from the consequences of such associations. The main problem as Ahmed (1992) pointed out, is that the act of veiling among Muslim women or the veil itself is often associated with the lack of traditionalism and backwardness that does not fit into the modern society and among Western women who do not need to veil (Ahmed, 1992). This phenomenon suggests that we can reach the other cultural difference and how the West is fascinated with otherness and still continues within the Western media towards the Muslim world (Ahmed, 1992). Ayish (2010) pointed out in his paper that the Western media tends to portray Arab men as aggressive and abusers of women, and that they control women. Media portray that the women is always wearing her veil, staying at home raising children and only obey her husband who she fears. Newspapers studies has showed that Western illustration of Muslim marriage issues is vague and this is because the lack of the knowledge of foreign cultures and religions One could disagree that the major issue is Islamophobia, many Western journalists, unfamiliar with Islam religion, have a tendency to view the faith as cruel, backward and the contradictory of tolerance. (Ayish, 2010). Morin (2009) stated in his research that stories investigated about Muslim women have shown that Western news reports represents women as the oppressed, mistreated wife, who is obligated to a prearranged marriage by her parents or obligated out of a marriage, and that she is helpless and voiceless in both situations. Another disproportionate as stated by Ayish (2010), Sometimes, the Arab Muslim women is represented as the money hunter, who does not think about who she marries as long as the man she is going to marry is rich enough to indulge her hunger for money. In these situations on the other hand, Arab Muslim men think with different greed, they are sexually deprived and tends to treat women as sexual objects. The men are also harsh and controlling, playing with womens feelings and threats women through oral divorce. Women are thus represented by the Western media as weak and have no rights which permit men to claim superiority (Ayish, 2010). Dominant images of the veiled Muslim woman are always covered in the Western media to present the Muslim woman as a victim as well as being oppressed. (Ahmed, 1992). The veiled of Arab Muslim women has always been misrepresented by the media as it has became a symbol of the oppression of the Muslim woman. This representation as stated by Ahmed (1992), has been highly evoked since the event of the 9/11. As noted in Posetty (2008) research paper, Alison Donnell argues that the September 11 terrorist attacks resulted in media representations of veiling as an object of mystique, exoticism and eroticism and that the veil, or headscarf, is seen as a highly visible sign of a despised difference. The oppression of Muslim women has been regularly used in Western media as suggestive of the barbaric and pre-modern characteristics of Islam. As Helen Watson comments in her article ‘the image of the veiled Muslim woman seems to be one of the most popular Western ways of representing the â€Å"problem of Islam†. (Posetty, 2008). According to Ahmed (1992), the veil has become the typical symbol of womens oppression in Islam, and is perceived as it creates hostility to Westerns. In fact, the Western media has ignored the fact that veiling as a practice existed before the rise of Islam, especially in Syria and Arabia. It was also a custom among Greeks, Romans, Jews and Assyrians, and not only to Islam. At that time, the veiled Arab woman was perceived as respectable and protected. (Ahmed, 1992). However, as Ahmed (1992) pointed out, the veiled woman is usually represented as having denied pleasure, fun, or bodily self-expression. In some of the Western conceptualizations veiling is used as a means of performing femininity self-exploration and play with identity. With these rising and continuous prejudices against Muslims and, especially, Muslim women, it seems to demonstrate that there is still a huge gap, a barrier that appears to prevent a sense, approval and understanding towards the Muslim ‘other. And by ‘the other we mean ‘the oppressed, ‘the traditional-bound, ‘the factory-worker, ‘the poor, etc. (Macdonald,2006). As mentioned before, besides the veil, discussions of the circumcision, polygamy, the sharia (Islamic) law, the harem, forced marriages, etc, are just a few issues that have made this group of women fit into the absolute, homogenous ‘oppressed Muslim woman category. (Macdonald,2006). As noted in Falah Nagel (2005) paper, the problem lies when these visual images tend to portray Muslim women as a stereotypical figure; an oppressed figure suffering from a harsh culture. The veil especially is the major theme that is associated with the limitations and the oppression of Muslim Arab women as it was constantly deployed and replayed again in our visually dominated culture. Falah Nagel (2005) argue that the veil is not only representing the oppressed Muslims and Muslim women world, but also the hidden assumption about the superiority of the West in relation to that world. In this case, the figure of the veiled Muslim woman that is being represented through the media, is tending to represent these women as passive victims, muted, untraditional, and oppressed, which therefore creates a cultural-ideological barrier with the Western women. Thus, the problem is that the danger that is resulted from these representations of veiled Muslim women tends to create a division bet ween Western women (as modern, liberated) and Eastern women (as backward, oppressed), while also ignoring the diversity of practices, views and experiences of these women. As Falah Nagel (2005) pointed out, it seems important that the question on how to communicate with the other who is culturally and traditionally different has become one of the most urgent and immediate agendas within North-South/West-East relations and interactions. What is needed is an understanding of this sense of ‘urgency, ‘gaps and ‘barriers that links to the Westerns knowledge of the ‘veiled Muslim woman (Falah Nagel, 2005). As a result, veiled Muslim women become muted and misrepresented. Another major feature found in the Western media especially in advertising is the imagined perspectives such as the myths and fantasies Western culture has about Islam, the Muslims, and especially, veiled Muslim women. This means that not only misconceptions and misunderstandings towards Muslim women have been continuous in modern times, but it has also became widespread and universal by the advent of modern technology. (Falah Nagel, 2005). Miladi (2010) pointed out in his research paper that modern images of Muslim women in American advertisements, argues that Western advertisers tend to spread stereotypes and the wrong representations of the veil and Muslim women in order to appeal to consumers. As a result, advertisers use certain images of Muslim women that have been historically fixed in the Western mind, such as the harem, the hammas (public baths), the mysterious veiled woman or the oppressed woman living under an oppressive ruler or men and use this to attract consumers. The veil especially is itself is considered as an enormous marketing tool, as marketers often use the veil in order to sell sex. (Miladi, 2010). The use of the oppressed women and the veil in advertisements will make the Western consumers think that by buying the advertised product as well as buying the favors of the mysterious woman behind the veil. (Miladi, 2010). The problem as stated by Miladi (2010), is that Westerners are usually buying certain products for buying these imaginary images of the ‘other. As a result, through the continuous and repetitive collective exposition to the media, a larger collective imagination will continue to be created and produced about this image of the imaginary veiled Muslim woman â€Å"other†. As mentioned by Gwinn (1997), the oppressed veiled Muslim woman in the ads may also be connected to the rising prejudices and debates that surround Muslim women and the veil in the Western world. The oppressed stereotypes of Arab Muslim women as stated by Ahadi (2009), has negative impacts on those women that is very obvious. Stereotypes occur when individuals are classifieds by others as having something in common because they are members of a particular group or category of people. Media stereotyping of women as objects and helpless beings creates very low expectations for societys Arab women. As mentioned by Morin (2009), women living abroad face distinctive discriminations from the Western communities. Western women are always considered as superior to Arab Muslim women especially, the veiled ones. In fact, Arab Muslim women are being oppressed by the negative representations created by the Western media. In addition, these representations may impact on these women psychologically as Western populations perceive the veil as a barrier between them and the veiled women. III. Body Numerous stereotypes and defaming of Arab Muslim women have been controlling the western media. Samuel P. Huntington wrote a theory called Clash of Civilization about Islam has different believes and values that contradict with the Western idea of liberty and democracy, and that Islam is the solo enemy of westerns and the main reason that the world will not going to improve. Islam and Arabs have a way of thinking and believes that is very different than the west has. And that the west see that the road to freedom and democracy of the societies is blocked by the Islam ideologies that block the world from reaching freedom and democracy at its fullest point, from here the stereotyping of Arab Muslim women began. The stereotyping of Arabs in general has taken its fullest load since the incident of 9/11. Westerns have blamed Muslims and Arabs for this tragic incident, and they started to look at them as the main enemies of the west and that if there are any terrorists in the world they are Muslims or Arab Muslims. The westerns have been Arabs have been subjected to discrimination and violence since 9/11, a Muslim girl for example that works in a rental car company was simply fired because she was told that she cannot wear her veil, also a hotel employee stated that he was cursed many times and that people called him Taliban and Osama. Following the September 9/11 attacks on the USA, stereotyping of Muslims, and Muslim women began with such great hatred toward Muslims and Arabs. That the Islam and Muslims are terrorists, thieves, spiteful, merciless, extremist, vicious murderers, and abusers of women. The beginning of the stereotyping of women in the western media was that the women are abused by the Arab men, and they are beaten and they are sex tools for the men, and they abuse them mentally and physically, and that they only please the wishes of men without thinking, and theses are some examples of the way of the western media portrayals of Arab Muslim women. After the attacks of 9/11, the world initiated a campaign against Islam and they started condemning Islam as a religion of violence and terrorists. Surrounded by all these accusation there were people who needed to understand the accuracy of the religion of Islam, to know if it is in fact a religion of terrorism or not?. The overstatements of the media reporting after 9/11 attacks, lead the people to be convinced that the Arabs and Muslims are terrorists and they are cruel and heartless that they want to demolish the west. Hollywood and media personnel are also responsible for making the people believe that the Muslims and Arabs are terrorists. Film creators, and Cinema producers continue to make movies and films that target the Arabs as a terrorists and murderers, they stereotype the Arabs with the 5 Bs, which are Billionaires, Bombers, Belly dancers, Bedouins, and Barbarians. Jack Shaheen made a movie called Reel Bad Arabs demonstrated that the western movies industry are fanatical with portraying Arab women in their movies, and they portray the Arab women from the western point of views, and they didnt change anything during the years of portraying of Arab women, its the same point of view. Jack Shaheen said that the portray in western media of Arab women are mostly as slave girls, a woman wears veil that shows all her body, they are belly dancers that seduce men, barbarian, they are gold diggers, that they are welling to do absolutely anything for the sake of their well being. Jack Shaheen in the part of the western portrayals of Arab women as gold diggers, and barbarians and gypsies is right and I agree with him in this part. Furthermore, the remake of the Disney movie Around the world in 80 days they show Arnold Schwarzenegger as an Arab Sheikh, that have over a 100 wives, that are slaves just for sex. This shows that the Arab men are not pleased with just one woman or wife; they need more from everything, even from women. This part tackles a very important issue which is Shariaa Islamic law, which states that the man has the right to marry 4 wives at the same time, and this believe of marring more than one wife is totally rejected in the western believes and ideologies from the beginning, they dont understand this part from the Islamic law to talk about it or to misrepresent it like this in their movies. Even though they portray Arab women in diverse descriptions, Slave girl, playful, self centered, but after the September 9/11 attacks, the terrorist image was the image that controlled over the mind of the western people and the western media. The TV manipulate the people in a huge way, it affects the attitude, behavior, believes and the opinions of the people. Media people take gain of this point, and the western people are badly informed about Arabs and Arab women, and that their information about Arabs is from movies and TV shows. The image there are consistent in the movies is that the Arabs are terrorists, they take this part and they stereotype Arabs and Arab women without studying them or their culture, they stereotype them in the way they would like the world to see them in it. they have succeeded in making the people when they hear the word Arab or Arab women they think of terrorists, cruel, merciless, barbarians, gypsies, robbers, monsters, beaters of women, use women just for sex, women are slaves. Its widely known from the western media and western image what is the image the Arab have in general, the image that have started by the Arab are Orientalists about Harem of the Arab, Arab dancing, Arab women are locked in doors and they are not allowed to get out except with the permission of her husband, and that the women are substandard than men, they are not allowed to be involved in public issues. These are the idea and images that the western have about the Arab women, in western media and cartoons regrettably. The majority of Arabs are passive to the stereotypes of western media toward them, but for the Arab women the issue is very sensitive. Western media is fanatical about the dress code of Arab women, mostly the Veil of the Arab women. Arab women are portrayed as overweight, loose-fitting women, in their loose dress and their unattractive shaped veil that doesnt show the feature of their body, they portray them even in caricature and some magazine and programs. The concept of the Arab veil for the western was always that the Arab women have the life of suppressed and the victimized, poor, isolated creature politically and culturally that is forcibly is wearing this veil and is being like this. According to Gwinn (1997), he tackled the point that the veil of the Arab women is reflecting in the western media to be the well-known method of representing the Arab women and to represent the dilemma of Islam. The fact is the veil was in the pre Islam era, was the custom of Romans, Jews, and Gr eeks. But after the Islam had spread and the Muslim women started to wear the veil as God said to cover their hair, the west started to stereotype the veil with Islam and Muslim women, and finally terrorists women. The veil of Arab women is distinguished as a threatening to the peace and as a terrorist symbol and its also seen as a alien as declared by Posetty (2008) in his article. The way Arab women dress and the veil is seen in the western media as a symbol of terrorists. Consequently, the Arabs are suffering from the result of these stereotypes all over Europe and the west countries, that make them in a continues threat every minute of everyday due to these portrayals. According to Ahmed (1992), the issue of veiling of women is that the concept is associated to the lack of traditional values and backwardness that doesnt go with the

The Punishment of Homosexuality in Germany Essay -- Homosexuality Nazi

The Punishment of Homosexuality in Germany As the Nazis rose to power, they constructed strict laws regarding male homosexuality for many reasons. The Nazis were primarily concerned with preserving and reproducing people of pure German blood. Consequently, in order to catalyze the purification of the German population, the Nazis sterilized those who were not fit to reproduce and forced those who were fit to procreate. The Nazis wanted all able men and women to produce and bear offspring, however homosexual males would not take part in the male role of reproduction because of their sexual orientation. As a result, many of Germany’s two million male homosexuals were imprisoned and/or incinerated for their homosexual acts and desires. In order to further cultivate the population of Aryans, the Nazis tried to construct a heterosexual society by creating or revising new laws and documents that aimed to discriminate male homosexuals. This goal of discrimination was an attempt to decline the rate of male homosexuality i n order to persuade able men in becoming heterosexual and produce children to support the Volksgemeinschaft. Although female homosexuals existed in Germany, they were not targeted and discriminated against like male homosexuals. Male homosexuality posed a greater threat to the Nazis because it was considered to be a waste of procreation for men to be gay. It also posed a greater threat because it went against â€Å"man’s nature-given position† to woman. Male homosexuality was also far more hazardous because it posed a moral threat to the German â€Å"Volk† and its morals. In the report â€Å"Attacks on Morality† presented in the Humanities Core Course Reader (270-273), Prof. Dr Wenzeslaus Graf von Gleispac... ...e fit to produce into reproduction. The Nazis goal of producing a pure bred German blood race contained problems not only with the Jews, but also with the homosexuals within the nation. The homosexuals were going against everything the Nazis wanted. Because they were homosexual, they were not able to procreate due to their sexual orientation. Along with their lack of procreating, they attacked the morals of the â€Å"Volk† and degraded the nation’s image. They didn’t want to produce offspring to preserve the nation and was only concerned about their own pleasure. They also made Germans appear frail and sickening. Because of this, the Nazis had to find a way to keep homosexuals from their nation. And in order to do so, the Nazis created and revised strict laws to rid the nation of male homosexual activity to fulfill the ideals of the Volksgemeinschaft.

Disability and the Theatrical Event :: College Admissions Essays

Disability and the Theatrical Event    When I was 10, I was hit by a car. Actually, I was 9 years old, got hit by the car and turned 10 in hospital.    I was walking home with my friends after school. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Someone was driving. Someone didn't look. Someone was careful but not careful enough. They ran. I waited. Not in the right place. And I was hit. Just like that. A piece of glass from the headlight pierced my skull and entered my brain. My brain was damaged. They call it ABI. Aquired Brain Injury. I was meant to die.    My fist did come down from my chin. I learnt relaxation processes by living and practicing Yoga in an Ashram. Yoga also helped me learn to walk with a reduced limp. I toned and strengthened my body through Yogic practice. I recommend Yoga to anyone who wants to work with his or her body. And I discovered theatre.    In the theatre I was magical. I could create a world where I was good enough. Moving my body to music was empowering. And when I feel empowered, disability and difference do not matter.    I become one with the music. I transcend to a plane of just . . . being. In drama my difference doesn't have to matter. But -- if I want it to matter -- my difference is treasured. I can use my difference to my advantage to say something to the world. I decided to help others through counseling work and began a Social Work degree at the University of South Australia. I graduated from my social work degree in 2000.    I have finally realized that only by celebrating disability and difference -- -- only by making our disability visible -- can we get out of the trap. We reconstruct ourselves through theatre and make choices. We create new opportunities. We turn the situation around.

Disabilities Awareness Program :: College Admissions Essays

Disabilities Awareness Program    As the first student editor of this Disabilities Awareness newsletter for high school students, I was initially wary of the task. I had virtually no contact with anyone who faced a disability. I believe the fact that I was not familiar with the subject made me more curious about whom I would meet and what stories I would encounter. As editor, I presided over a group of students who helped develop and write this first edition. We have all learned a great deal from one another about people with disabilities and our attitudes toward them. Responding to a request sent out to English teachers, we came together to try something new which I hope you will enjoy reading as much as we have enjoyed writing.    My first job as student editor was to attend a ceremony last June at the Executive Mansion celebrating the inclusion of students with disabilities in New York State schools. I was completely awestruck at the determination of the students I met there. They had so willingly separated the myths of disabilities from the facts. These young students did not look at the disabilities that other students had, but saw through them and saw the person.    At the ceremony some special people came together to celebrate not only the success of inclusion, but the acceptance of inclusion. The day brought smiling faces for many children and adults alike who had participated in some way by including a person with a disability in some aspect of their lives. At the ceremony in the Executive Mansion, First Lady Libby Pataki presented achievement awards to both students and teachers. The Mansion was filled with the sounds of laughter.    It was after this ceremony that a group of students got together to write articles included in this publication. There were many stories submitted of inspiration and hope. Many of them parallel what was shown at the ceremony. Yet the thing which stands out the most is the concept that these are people. They are not the disability but they are the person. It is often forgotten that there is more to see than the disability. The personal struggles and acceptances point out what is really important.    Classrooms in 23 schools across the State participated in the Disabilities Awareness Program last year. Many more schools will join the program this year.

American Beauty Film Critique Essay

There are few films that achieve the high level of quality exhibited by that of the 1990 beautiful tragedy, American Beauty. The film is a true masterpiece in both content and how this content is delivered to the viewers. It excels at being an enlightening and relevant drama about American life, and never fails to keep the audience entertained by providing many instances of well-placed humor. Every scene is filmed including metaphoric elements that not only show great stylistic and aesthetics, but also create a mood and feeling for the theme of the movie. American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes, is a film that is set in suburban America, in a normal neighbourhood, following the everyday life of the central protagonist, Lester Burnham, who is living the typical ‘American Dream’. He appears to have a great job, big house, loving wife and daughter and even a white picket fence. However, all is not as it seems as appearance can often be deceiving; if we just â€Å"look closer†, we as audience members soon see that he realises both his wife, over bearing and controlling Carolyn and jaded teenage daughter, Jane think that, in the words of Jane, he is â€Å"this gigantic loser† and they’re right. The character of Lester is initially portrayed as a depressed, sad and lonely forty-year-old man, deprived of freedom and struggling to find anything worth living for. However as the film progresses Lester’s persona as a character is dramatically developed with the introduction of an equally intriguing character, Angela Hayes. Everything changes for Lester the night he is forced by his wife to his daughters school to see her perform as a cheerleader. There on the floor, engrossed in a pompon routin, parading and dancing around the court, he sees his ‘angel’: Angela his daughter’s high-school classmate. Angela fulfills the stereotypical idea of what beauty physical beauty is. She is thin, blonde, big blue-eyed and immediately catches Lester’s attention; Angela is not Lester’s highway to bliss, but she is at least a catalyst for his freedom (Ebert, 1999). His thoughts, and the dissatisfaction they stimulate, blast him free from years of emotional torture and bring him right back to his youth. It is from this moment on that Lester transforms into a spontaneous hormone-driven teenage boy, who smokes marihuana, works out, and uits his job all in order to impress his Angel-a. American Beauty uses Angela as the image of Lester’s broader want; that being his underlying desire for freedom and evidentially beauty. However, she symbolizes the potential underlying superficiality of physical beauty that is slowly revealed towards the end of the film. The film portrays many of the hidden problems within the white picket fence American dream along with addressing the problems many Americans have with feeling free and accepting their own identity. The film shows the vastly different worlds that people can live in whilst still living on the same street, and the disorder and frenzy that lies veiled in a society that we all try to portray as being as perfect as possible. In doing so, American Beauty reveals that the only way to calm the chaos is to find beauty in everything. To â€Å"look closer† is a must for truly understanding and identifying with the continuous bombardment of symbolism that is constantly being illustrated in this film. American Beauty portrays such themes as the falseness in lust, power and appearance and that we need to remind our selves â€Å"†¦of all the beauty there is in the world†, as beauty is a matter of opinion. Beauty however, is the most significant and explored theme in American Beauty. Another prevailing theme is the notion of the characters journey and transformation throughout the film. Lester’s journey can almost be compared to one from childhood from adulthood, figuratively speaking as evidentially, he steps into a mature, paternal phase where he takes responsibility and finds meaning in life, as an adult. Many techniques were used to portray these themes and influence audiences opinions of characters and events, including film techniques of cinematography, soundtrack as well as such visual techniques of symbolism, colour and contrast and both aesthetic and stylistic elements. American Beauty is a complex film that relies so heavily on mis-en-scene and cinematography to portray its message. In particular this is showcased during one scene that truly puts the ‘American Beauty’ into perspective; the opening scene or as it is often referred to as, the â€Å"High Point Scene†. The film explores the concepts of what true beauty really is and as suggested in the title of the film, the American Dream and how far this ‘dream’ really goes and what it actually means; this is explored further from the films tagline â€Å"look closer†; to think about perceived desire and to analyze more what these wants are. Through the exploration of the opening scene and a study of how the cinematography, mise en scene and sound foreshadows plot points in the rest of the film, the underlying messages and symbolism will be uncovered. The movie opens with a grainy shot of Jane Burnham reclining on a bed, complaining about her father. The scene begins with what is referred to as a flash forward, in cinematic terms. The line â€Å"Someone really should just put him out of his misery† is a hint towards the mid life crisis that the father Lester is currently going through and the ways in which she is aware of the pain he is dealing with, not knowing what he truly wants. Through the mise en scene and cinematography displayed throughout the scene, the audience is enabled to receive a glimpse into the events that have just occurred. Through the use of a lesser quality picture, shaky footage and dimmed lighting the audience is able to identify with the fact that the imagery being presented has that of a ‘home movie’ feel. The utilization of ‘raw footage’ within this drama genre of film gives the audience a sense of reality towards the character, hence making the dialogue seem more legitimate and believable. The addition of a pause into the characters dialogue helps to support and express the sense of ‘reality’ further, as it is as if she is really thinking about what she is saying. The rather ambiguous approach to the delivering of the line â€Å"You want me to kill him for you? † helps to draw attention to Jane’s reaction as apposed to the interviewers own intensions. This poses both Jane Burnham, the daughter and the unidentified interviewer as suspects to her father’s upcoming murder. However the abstruse approach from the interviewer combined with the daughters reply is foreshadowing what is to come later in the film, as each character related to the father is set up to be the possible murderer of his death. By using the body language as a primary tool for communication, the reply of â€Å"Yeah, would you† to the previous statement, suggests that she is almost daring the interviewer to kill him. This is expressed through the dominant changing of levels when she sits up, almost creating a shift in power, and looks down and straight into the camera, but at the same time also insinuates some sarcasm on her part. The audience learns in the very first lines of the movie that Jane’s dad, Lester, is not the father that she wants. The opening credits roll, and the shot switches to an aerial view of a neighborhood. The exact location is not specified, and that is very intentional. It is important that this not be a critique of a specific area, but of American culture as a whole. The scene begins with an aerial shot of a suburb, with Lester Burnham introducing the audience to his life and informing them that â€Å"In less than a year, I’ll be dead,† and â€Å"in a way, I’m dead already. † This dialogue is heightened through the following shots of Lester lying alone on a bed in a very dull coloured room, thus signifying the meaninglessness life in which he is leading. The utilization of an aerial shot here creates the idea that the world is looking down on him. The dominant use of bright lighting also indicates that it is the morning, however through the use of shadowing casted over Lester, it expressed to the audience that he is still in ‘the dark’; he is yet to be enlightened. Visual techniques are a constant feature in American Beauty, including the use of colour, contrast and symbolism. The primary recurring prop that is introduced at the beginning of the film is a rose, in which the audience first sees in a close up before Lester’s wife Carolyn Burnham picks it up. The first shot of the rose seems out of place, beginning with the flower filling the frame and then moving down to focus on the thorns before Carolyn’s clippers cut it. The rose symbolizes the impotence of not only the love life between Lester and Carolyn but the idea of the American Dream. This shot not only draws attention to the rose as a recurring object in the film, but it also serves as a metaphor for the Burnhams: on the outside they appear perfect, like the flower, but underneath they are rotten and broken (represented by the thorns). In this shot the character of Carolyn is also introduced and is instantly perceived as a cold, workaholic who is obsessive about how they (the family) is presented. This portrayal is demonstrated through the line â€Å"See the way the handle on those pruning shears matches her gardening clogs? That’s not an accident†, thus showing the audience what level she will go to, to maintain order and control. What is also noticeable about this shot is the mise en scene, in particular the red roses, white picket fences and the blue painting on the house. These colours in specific represent the American flag and therefore the American dream. These objects are most perceived to be included within the American dream as well as stereotypical figure of Carolyn, the suburban housewife. This ideology however, creates contrast with the cinematography. Many scenes are metaphoric in how they are shot, and what is in the frame symbolizes a higher, deeper meaning. This is demonstrated when, Lester looking out the window of his house at his wife, and the blinds on the window represent jail cell bars. Even the blocks of text on his computer screen at work, (shown later in the film) represent jail cell bars. Lester is â€Å"in jail† because his life at this point is so empty and missing substance. This cinematography technique often used in film nior is utilized to convey the emotions of disassociation and distance which in this case, is the way in which Lester feels towards his wife; he is no longer associated with her. American Beauty† is more than a biting satire on suburban life. This somewhat contrived story is meant to be an allegory. Alan Ball’s richly textured screenplay, brilliantly executed stylistic and aesthetic elements such as cinematography, mise en scene and symbols are effectively demonstrated throughout this masterpiece of a film. Every single shot is so carefully taken and layered with such vast significance that it is a marvel to behold. â€Å"Look closer,† the film’s tag line tells us. Look closer at the beautiful things we yearn for and spend our life chasing. There isn’t a single example of a film done better. Not only is the content top-notch, but the technical aspects of the movie are excellent as well. American Beauty truly demonstrates the power of film.