Adam Rehrig Essays - English-language Films, Film Noir,

Adam Rehrig Mr. Gardner TV 151 Term Paper Film Noir It is world of dark rooms with light slicing through venetian blinds, alleys cluttered with garbage, abandoned warehouses where dust hangs in the air, rain-slickened streets with water still running in the gutters, dark detective officers overlooking busy streets. These are the qualities that makes film noir a perfect blend of form and content, where the desperation and hopelessness of situations is reflected in the visual style, which drenches the world in shadows and has only a few occasional bursts of sunlight. Film noir, occasionally acerbic, usually cynical, often enthralling, gives us characters trying to elude some kind of mysterious past that continues to haunt them, hunting them down with a fatalism that taunts and teases before delivering a final, definitive blow. Unlike other forms of cinema, the film noir has no paraphernalia that it can truly call its own. Unlike the western, with cattle drives, lonely towns on the prairie, homesteading farmers, Winchester rifles, and Colt 45s, the film noir borrows its paraphernalia from other forms, usually from the crime and detective genres, but often overlapping into thrillers, horror, and even science fiction. An example of science fiction would be the box from Kiss Me Deadly. The visual style echoes German expressionism, painting shafts of light that temporarily illuminate small chucks of an ominous and overbearing universe that limits a person's chances to slim and none. As Paul Schrader said in his essay ?Notes of Film Noir?, ?No character can speak authoritatively from a space which is continually being cut into ribbons of light.? Film noir first appeared in the early ?40s in the movies such as Stranger on the Third Floor and This Gun For Hire. While soldiers went to war, film noir exposed a darker side of life, balancing the optimism of Hollywood musicals and comedies by supplying seedy, two-bit criminals and doom-laden atmospheres. While Hollywood strove to help keep public morale high, film noir gave us a peek into the alleys and backrooms of a world filled with corruption. And film noir remained an important form in Hollywood until the ?50s. The first film to be considered film noir is John Huston's The Maltese Falcon. Huston wrote the screenplay from Dashiell Hammet's novel for this his directorial debut. In the film Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade, a private detective that is partners in an agency with Miles Archer, played by Jerome Cowan. Miss Wonderly, betrayed by Mary Astor hires the two to a shadow her business associate Floyd Thursby, who is never shown on camera. Later that same night Miles is killed and Sam is determined to find the murder. Near the end of the film Sam reasons, ?When a man's partner is killed he's suppose to do something about it.? Miss Wonderly, the femme fatale of the picture, confesses that her real name is Brigid O' Shaughnessy and informs him that her life is in danger and implores him to help her. He agrees to keep her name out of the case, her beauty and money having something to do with it. Spade is visited Joel Cairo, played by Peter Lorre, who offers him $5,000 to find a black statue of a falcon. Sam reports the offer to Brigid, who asks for a meeting with Cairo. Here Sam learns of a third person, Casper Gutman, played by Sydney Greenstreet who is also interested in the falcon. Sam is taken to Gutman and professes to know the falcon's whereabouts. Gutman refuses to reveal any information about the black bird, and Sam storms out. Other examples of film noir are Out of the Past, which is one of the archetypal noirs, giving us a protagonist who has tried to escape from his past but fate won't let him. In the movie he betrayed his buy running away with his girlfriend. He inhabits a world that constantly pulls people back into morass of existence that is bound to suffocate them. Jeff, played by Robert Mitchum is a seemingly good guy, but one bad turn has made his life a living hell that he can never escape completely escape. Kirk Douglas plays a racketeer who needs to use Jeff and he does so by planting one of

American History American Imperialism Essays

American History American Imperialism Essays American History American Imperialism Essay American History American Imperialism Essay American reasoning to interventionism Alexander Tribunal HISTORIES Professor: Andrew Johnston TA: Emily Cough In the late 1 asss, at the turn of the 20th century, European empires controlled around 60% of the globe. The decaying Spanish and French empires had relinquished most of their Imperialist goals to control more overseas territories and were left with the remains of what they could hold onto. The British Empire however was still going strong and as the saying went: The sun never sets on the British Empire. But even then, in the sasss, he presence of European Imperialism began to diminish and a new player would enter the game of Imperialism and Jingoism. That player was the United States; consequently it was established as a nation in 1776 after seceding from the British Empire. The IIS originally had the goals of being a neutral/isolationist State; not interfering in what the general public detested about foreign imperialism. But what had changed? In the course of the next 50-60 years, the US would undertake a major foreign policy shift and steer towards the policies of Imperialism and American Exceptionalness, where mom historians argue that the founding fathers had not planned the Lignite States to pan out. This essay discusses the effects of the most important rallying cry for US policy before World War One: The infamous March of the Flag speech, as presented by Senator Albert Beverage. It was the words and ideas behind the speech which helped rally many Americans to support Jingoism under Roosevelt presidency. This culminated in the acquisition of the former Spanish territories of the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerco Rice and Guam among many other islands. With Beverages speech influencing the annexation and governance of regions which were unfit for self-rule, the United States became the new great Imperialist power; replacing the United Kingdom as the vanguard of freedom and civilization. To begin, we must analyze the foundations of Senator Beverages speech and highlight the points made to justify American intervention in Latin America and Southeast Asia/Pacific. The March of the Hag speech was delivered to the public in September 1 898, just a month after the US had defeated the Spanish Empire in the Spanish-American War. The end result was the transfer of Puerco Rice, Guam and the Philippines over to American administration. Beverages speech comes into play here; as these colonies were swapped over to another Imperial power, one that was beginning to change its foreign policy and start the role of the worlds policeman. This also marks Beverages use of words in his speech that promoted justifications for Americas interventionist attitudes. And, regardless of this formula of words made non for enlightened, self-governing people, do we owe no duty to the world? Shall we turn these peoples back to the reeking hands from which we have taken them? Shall we abandon them, with Germany, England, Japan, hungering for them? Shall we save them from those nations, to give them a self-rule of tragedy? 1. The Jingoist policy that Beverage was promoting in his speech was US foreign policy; at the time still strongly influenced by the Monroe Doctrines. The document granted the LISA apparent rights to intervene in an Latin American state that was being manipulated by European powers. It WA! Clear that the US considered Latin America in its sphere of influenced, and it was not to be meddled with by foreign powers. However, for the most part u until the Spanish American War, the United States was generally isolationist. Essentially what happened was the governments policy to build a strong international presence through military strength, capitalism and the drive to impose the democratic, civilizing mission across from the Americas over to the Pacific/South East Asia. In other words, this foreign policy became known as Jingoism4. It emphasized aggressive foreign policy, with strong nationalist/patriotic belief; and as a result, there was modest opposition to it such as the Anti-alienists Leagued. However, the public was made to live that there was justification behind the US annexing the Philippines, Cuba, Puerco Rice and Guam; as it fell into the principles of American Exceptionalness. This brings us to the second point behind Beverages speech which deals with why exactly was the US so interested in administering rule i those areas gained by defeat of Spain. The acquisition of the Philippines, Guam, Cuba and Puerco Rice were of mass importance to the United States. Was a leading factor in Beverages speech, where he discussed the riches of natural resources and capitalist interest in the countries. The Latin American and Asian countries were quite lucrative in terms of wealth to capitalists, HTHÂ ± was because LOS business interests were threatened (bananas, tobacco, coffee, cotton). This argument ties in with Albert Beverage?s speech, where he points out that American economic strength must be bolstered through the annexation and administration of the aforementioned nations while maintaining a strong military presence around the world with naval bases in key strategic locations. For example as of 2003; the US Armed Forces have bases in over 36 countries across the globe. The relation of economics ties with military principles greatly in what Beverage was attempting to put out. The US is able to station forces in military bases to monitor foreign powers under the guise of interventionism or spreading democracy; then it would bit clear the US government would have an upper hand at coming out as the number one player on the international scale of politics. As Beverage quote: in segment 27; So Hawaii furnishes us a naval base in the heart of the Pacific the Latrines another, a voyage further on; Manila another, at the gates of AsiaAsia, to the trade of whose hundreds of millions American merchants, manufacturers, farmers, have as good right as those of Germany or France c Russia or England; Asia, whose commerce with the United Kingdom alone amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars every year; Asia, to whom Germany looks to take her surplus products; Asia, whose doors must not be shut against American trade. Within five decades the bulk Of Oriental commerce will be ours7. This meant that Beverage strongly desired America to soar above in monopolizing trade and the world markets. He believed the US had the ability and resources to conduct a campaign in order to branch out to foreign markets and the vast untapped riches that waited. To sum it up, the US would head towards an increasingly capitalist mentality but the militaristic and mission to civilize/teach the world the American way would another factor in why the foreign policy became so increasingly interventionist in the 20th century and the present. To come to the final pool behind this essay, Beverages speech has touched upon the numerous underlying interests the US had in those certain regions such as American Exceptionalness, Jingoism, the hunger for stronger economy and military might overshadowed what might be one of the most powerful factors in explaining the foreign policy shift. Beverage came to state in The March of the Flag that the people who inhabited the Philippines, Cuba, Puerco Rice an Guam among many others, were in fact incapable of self-rule. Why was HTH! Idea put forth by Beverage and many other American politicians of their dab This was a direct result of the ideology which IIS politicians put forward to the American public known as American Exceptionalness8. Essentially, this theory put the IIS in a position where the nation itself was defined as unique In history. It also promoted an American centric point of view, ones that placed certain values pertaining to the USA such as liberty, egalitarianism, free market, consumerism at the focal points. How did this tie in with the March of the Flag speech? Exceptionalness was a strong fundamental belief of Albert Beverage; and his idea Of administering civilization to the newly acquired colonies was actually in fact a play on extending the hand of American centric lifestyles. It was Beverages belief (among many other politicians, and citizens) that the United States had its duty to extend American values/lifestyles to the rest of the world by means of capitalism. In relation to my first point where the US was beginning to take the route of increasing militaristic might and taking on the role of the worlds policeman; i can safely be said this same ideology was echoed by the British Empire. The two nation-states had a similar empire building policy which relied on spreading their version of civilization to colonial acquisitions. The phrase here Beverage uses the word incapable of self-rulel O, was basically a plop: to get inside the heart and minds of the average American in order to instill a justification for spreading the American way across the globe (of course, the average American was not as educated/back in those times, where political motives required more subtle approaches to justify certain policy maneuvers). In all, the explosion of a new American culture and the ideals of Exceptionalness matched quite well with the elimination of isolationist foreign policy; all of which ushered in a new American government; one which was increasingly internationalist. To conclude the effects of Senator Albert Beverages March of the Flag speech; the issue surrounding the drastic change in US foreign policies became applied to the governance of new territorial acquisitions. In the long run, the foreign policy of the United States became increasingly interventionist; especially in areas of interest. This enabled the shift to become much stronger in the years to come; as evidenced by American intervention in World War One and the post-World War Two role America played, squaring off against the Soviet Union in a garn f world domination. However, this being said, Beverages speech only prompted a proto interventionist policy (it was not as clear cut as it would be later on). Beverage only believed in the glory of the United States, the image of the duty of the nation to protect freedom and establish democracies style( after American Exceptionally point of view. Also the interests of capitalist corporations in certain areas were also touched upon by Beverage, where HTH fully supported the economic growth of the US by opening up trade with LATA American and Asian markets.

Dictatorship and the Neoliberal Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dictatorship and the Neoliberal Markets - Essay Example More to this, social programs in the country have been abandoned, and most of the industries run by government previously have been privatized. The ejido lands in Mexico, which refer to land given to the community, or a group of people, under the agrarian reform have also been taken over. Neoliberalism in Mexico can be traced back to the Mexican crisis of 1982. The country, under the leadership of President Jose Luis Portillo (1976-1982) borrowed heavily from external sources, with an intention of investing in railways, nuclear power, oil pipelines, freeways, and the steel industry. The borrowings were done against the oil revenues of the country, given that previous years had shown a constant increase in the oil prices. However, the prices of oil began to deteriorate in 1982, due to overproduction, and OPEC price cuts. More to these, world interest rates increased, followed by devaluation in the Mexican peso, leading to a financial crisis in Mexico. Following these events, a debt moratorium was declared in 1982. These compelled the country to accept worldwide support from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the US Federal reserve, and the US department of the treasury. However, they offered conditional support, which required Mexico to adopt neoliberal poli cies (Thomas, James, William, & Browning-Akien, 4). Adoption of neoliberal policies required the Mexican government to cut on its spending. This led to a reduction in the subsidies given to members of the country to promote production. Consequently, the farmers faced difficulties in production, which worsened their economic ability. More to this, reduced government spending decreased the resources allocated to important sectors of the economy. These include the health sector, education, and welfare sectors. Consequently, the rates of unemployment increased, thus making Mexicans poorer. Accessing health and education services became problematic, hence

Employee relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Employee relations - Essay Example The issue is that such actions can lead to insurmountable problems involving sentiments of the employee, and his or her belief of ownership within the company. It is also difficult for managers to classify misuse because often the thin line between misuse and productive use of resources is separated only by a thin line. For example, an employee may use the department vehicle for a specific purpose and satisfy his personal requirements on the way. Can this be seen as misuse? Similarly, a management may not mind an employee using the company vehicle for personal needs as long as his performance is above par. Hence, it may be seen that classification of use and misuse of company resources in certain cases is arbitrary and dependent on the valued judgment of the management. However, there are some other official resources, the definition of misuse of which is clearly defined under the company law or a higher legal body. For example the use and misuse of email and the Internet can be clearly demarcated according the usage pattern of an employee. In fact, the employees browsing pattern and online behavior is enough to determine whether he has been using the resource in an irresponsible manner. The irresponsible use of email and the Internet can pose serious losses to the company while it can be a great productive tool if used responsibly. The improper use of the Internet can also lead to situations in which the company may lose important data and valuable intellectual rights. The Internet has over the years, evolved as a very cheap alternative to other forms of communication. Employees may often misuse the Internet and the email systems because they are not aware of the cumulative costs that may accrue because of the misuse. While many people are of the view that misuse encompasses only viewing objectionable material available on the net, there are many other ways in

Modern day America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Modern day America - Essay Example Therefore, the culture of any community in any part of the world is superior regarding the operations of people. It should be understood that there is no culture that is superior to the other; all cultures are superior in their different ways. Culture in all of its forms concerns itself with religion, food, and even on what to wear and the way of wearing it. Furthermore, different people from different origins have a language of communication that forms part of its culture. Marriage and music including the way people greet visitors are also some of the dimensions of culture. Therefore, culture is everything common and acceptable to a group of people. It is, therefore, the intention of this paper to provide a detailed discussion of the similarities and differences of cultures at the colonies to that of modern day America. In addition, the paper seeks to provide a brief description of John Adams movie. The culture of certain communities within the colonies and that of the modern day America remain different in a number of ways. The difference is, more so, regarding the so many communities living in these places. In addition, food and clothing of the different groups bring to the forefront the diversity of cultures even in areas that people may look at and think they are minute. The United States of America has a diverse culture of its people because of the large population of more than three hundred and twenty million people. In addition, the Native Americans, Latin Americans and the Africans and the Asians influenced the culture of United States because of migrations. To a larger extent, the United States is called the melting point because of the meeting of so many different cultures that meet and stand influencing other cultures. For instance, it is because of the diversity of cultures in America that the word â€Å"western culture† often refers to cultures in the United States and Europe. On the other hand, the culture of the communities in the

Significance of Product Life Cycle

Significance of Product Life Cycle The concept of product life-cycle highlights that sooner or later all products die and that if management wishes to sustain its revenues, it must replace the declining products with the new ones. The product life-cycle concept indicates as to what can be expected in the market for a new product at various stages. i.e., introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Thus, the concept of product life-cycle can be used as a forecasting tool. It can alert management that its product will inevitably face saturation and decline, and the host of problems these stages pose. The product life-cycle is also a useful framework for describing the typical evolution of marketing strategy over the stages of product life-cycle. This will help in taking sound marketing decisions at different stages of the product life-cycle. After a product has been developed, it is launched in the market with the help of various promotional devices such as advertising, sales promotion, publicity and paresonal selling. In other words, product development must be followed by the successful introduction of the product in the market. For this, planning for introduction of the product starts during the process of product development itself. Every firm makes sale projections during introduction, growth and maturity stage of the product life-cycle. To acheive the projected sales target, it formulates promotional, pricing and distribution policies. Thus, the concept of product life-cycle facilitates integrated marketing policies relating to product, price, place and promotion/distribution. The advantages of PLC to a firm are as follows: When the product life-cycle is predictable, the management must be cautious in taking advance steps before the decline stage, by adopting product modification, pricing strategies, style, quality, change, etc. The firm can prepare an effective product plan by knowing the product life-cycle of a product. The management can find new uses of the product for the expansion of market during growth stage and for extending the maturity stage. The management can adopt latest technological changes to improve the product quality, features and design. STAGES IN PRODUCT LIFE-CYCLE Product life cycle comprises four stages: Introduction stage Growth stage Maturity stage Decline stage product-life-cycle-stages-plc Fig 1: product life-cycle Product Life Cycle (PLC) Introduction stage EXAMPLES FROM DIFFERENT SECTORS http://www.ithappensinindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/BPL-Television.jpg BPL TELEVISIONS Many products generally have a characteristic known as perishable distinctiveness.ÂÂ   This means that a product which is distinct when new degenerates over the years into a common commodity.ÂÂ   The process by which the distinctiveness gradually disappears as the product merges with other competitive products, has been rightly termed by Joel Dean as the cycle of competitive degeneration.ÂÂ   The cycle begins with the invention of a new product and is often followed by patent protection, and further development to make it saleable.ÂÂ   This is usually followed by a rapid expansion in its sales as the product gains market acceptance.ÂÂ   Then competitors enter the field with imitation and rival products and the distinctiveness of the new product starts diminishing.ÂÂ   The speed of degeneration differs from product to product.ÂÂ   While some products fail immediately on birth or a little later, others may live long enough.ÂÂ   BPLs picture in pi cture TV was eliminated at the introduction stage itself.ÂÂ   The innovation of a new product and its degeneration into a common product is termed as the life cycle of a product. There are five distinct stages in the life cycle of a product as shown below : Introduction. Research or engineering skill leads to product development.ÂÂ   The product is put on the market; awareness and acceptance are minimal.ÂÂ   There are high promotional costs.ÂÂ   Sometimes a product may generate a new demand, for example, Maggi.ÂÂ   Volume of sales is low and there may be heavy losses. Growth. The product begins to make rapid sales gains because of the cumulative effects of introductory promotion, distribution, and word-of-mouth influence.ÂÂ   High and sharply rising profits may be witnessed.ÂÂ   But to sustain growth, consumer satisfaction must be ensured at this stage. Maturity. Sales growth continues, but at a diminishing rate, because of the declining number of potential customers who remain unaware of the product or who have taken no action.ÂÂ   Also, the last of the unsuccessful competing brands will probably withdraw from the market.ÂÂ   For this reason, sales are likely to continue to rise while the customers for the withdrawn brands are mopped up by the survivors.ÂÂ   There is no improvement in the product but changes in selling effort are common.ÂÂ   Profit margins slip despite rising sales. Saturation. Sales reach and remain on a plateau marked by the level of replacement demand.ÂÂ   There is little additional demand to be stimulated. Decline.ÂÂ  Sales begin to diminish absolutely as the customers begin to tire of the product and the product is gradually edged out by better products or substitutes, for example, dial telephones and petrol jeeps. http://www.mbaknol.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/product-life-cycle.jpg Time Fig 2: product life-cycle of BPL TVs There are several reasons why the life-cycle of a product tends to be short :ÂÂ   (a) continuous research for product development, (b) simultaneous attempts by several companies in the same direction, and (c) tendency of a new idea to attract competitors.ÂÂ   Improvements offered by one company are likely to be met and, if possible, exceeded by competitors in a relatively short period.ÂÂ   If a competitor hits upon a real improvement (perhaps based on an entirely new technology) and he markets it well, both sales and profits of the original technology) and he markets it well, both sales and profits of the original product innovator may decline drastically. It may be noted that products may begin a new cycle or revert to an early stage as a result of (a) the discovery of new uses, (b) the appearance of new users, and (c) introduction of new features. As the distinctiveness of the products fade, the pricing discretion enjoyed by their producers gradually declines.ÂÂ   This is what happened in the case of many products like ball-point pens, transistors, radios, etc.ÂÂ   Throughout the cycle, changes take place in price and promotional elasticity of demand as also in the production and distribution costs of the product.ÂÂ   Pricing policy, therefore, must be adjusted over the various phases of the cycle. Product life-cycle concentrates only the life-cycle of a product beginning with its introduction into the market to the post-marketing phase.ÂÂ   However, a series of processes are to be undertaken by the management even prior to the introduction of a product in the market.ÂÂ   These processes include exploration, screening, analysis, development, testing, etc.ÂÂ   The concept of product life-cycle may be used as a managerial tool. Marketing strategies, however, have to be changed with changes in the phase of the life-cycle of a product.ÂÂ   An understanding of the cycle is helpful to the managers for a rational understanding of the future sales activities as also planning of marketing strategies.ÂÂ   Hence, PLC is synonymous with the pattern of demand for a product over time. The length of time that a product spends at anyone stage varies from product to product.ÂÂ   A product might not pass through every stage in the cycle.ÂÂ   Some products, for instance, might not get past the introductory stage, while others might not get past the growth or even the maturity stage.ÂÂ   There might be still other products that might pass through the introduction to maturity stages but might take a longer period to reach the saturation stage and hence might take a longer period to reach the decline stage.ÂÂ   Some products, for instance, might not get past the maturity stage.ÂÂ   There might be still other products that might pass through the introduction to maturity stages but might take a longer period to reach the saturation stage and hence might take a longer period to reach the decline stage.ÂÂ   Some products might even hustle through the entire cycle in an amazingly short period.ÂÂ   In certain cases, there might even be a repos itioning of a product, which might trigger off a new growth cycle.ÂÂ   http://www.dineshbakshi.com/phocadownload/product-life-cycle.jpg ÂÂ  Fig 3: product life-cycle of Facebook

Stereotyping in Society :: essays research papers

Stereotyping in Society I think it is pretty hard to go through a week without experiencing at least two or three incidents where someone or a group of people is being sterotyped. Whether it comes from jokes, television, comics, or just hearing people talk about other people, stereotyping is around all the time. The first example of stereotyping that I witnessed comes from the television show "That 70s Show." At least every episode the "crew," or group of friends always hang out, and they have a foreign exchange student for a friend. They don't know what country he's from but they always make fun of foreigners on the show. They crack jokes about him floating over on a raft to the United States and always make references to him being from different countries that he's not from just because his skin is dark. The jokes are funny and they aren't supposed to hurt the character's feelings, but they are very stereotypical. I saw a commercial the other day that was an advertisement for using protection during sex to help the fight against the spread of AIDS. The commercial starts out talking about how African Americans represent the leaders of sports because they have the best basketball players, leaders in baseball, and have the fastest track runners. Then at the end of the commercial they say that they are also leading the population of the United States in being diagnosed with the AIDS virus. When I saw the commercial I didn't really know where it was going and it is good that it ended with a serious message, but I didn't really agree with the way they presented it. It is probably true that African Americans make up most of some sports, but they didn't have to make it sounds like African Americans are superior to white people when it comes to sports. The third example that I witnessed was from the show Seinfeld. It was the episode where the character Elaine met a new boyfriend and she didn't know what race he was. The guy was slightly dark complected and a different race than white was expected so Elaine kept on taking him to different restaurants trying to figure out what race he was.