Teen Pregnancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Teen Pregnancy - Essay Example Many factors contribute to teenage pregnancy, which include, advance in technology, poverty, drug abuse and among others. Today’s society is not the same as the past society due to advancement in technology. Nonetheless, technology has come with negative effects, especially to teenagers. Moreover, parents do not have control of what piece of information reaches their children. Therefore, this implies teenagers log in to pornographic sites and as a result, they practice what they see. It is important to pass teenage education to every adolescent to avoid irresponsible behavior. Teenage education not only affects teenagers, but also the whole society. Furthermore, teenage mothers are likely to come from poor background. However, this does not mean that poverty leads to teenage pregnancy (Shaw & Lawlor, 2007, p.312). Lack of basic needs may force teenage girls to engage in premarital sex to provide for her family. In addition, families from poor backgrounds may not be able to provide school fees for their teenage girl. That being the case, the teenage girl ends up engaging in impulsive behavior. Pa rents to such girls should establish a good relationship; teach them basic education according to what they have experienced, since this develops her self-esteem. In relevance to Shaw and Lawlor (2007), society and culture influence the rate of recorded pregnancy. Social background greatly affects the behavior of a girl. Therefore, individuals included in the social background of a teenager have a duty to mold a girl’s behavior. Additionally, education is the key concern when it comes to eradicate teenage pregnancy. Education assists teenagers when making decision. However, the school has to decide the right time to teach teenagers about sex

Church Government Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Church Government - Research Paper Example On the other hand, the congregational polity is one where there is autonomy of local churches in that these churches have no affiliation to any other church. The other form of church governance is the single elder polity in which there is the pastor is the main source of guidance and decision making organ. Lastly, the plural-led polity is the most applicable form of church governance as it involves both the clergy and the elders being on the same level of governance. Comparison between the five models Presbyterian Ideally, this form of church governance existed in the olden days of the bible to which many of the present day churches have adopted. Presently, the application of this church governance involves the congregation voting in the elders that they feel would lead them in a just manner. However, the aspect of these elected leaders having the entire decision on how to govern the congregation posses some challenges as the decision of the elders chosen is unquestionable. As compar ed to congregational churches, the decision making process partly involves the congregation making this form of church leadership be one way. On the contrary, this polity evokes some democracy aspects as the judgment on church matters does not lie in the shoulders of one elder as compared to the single elder polity. ... This makes the session have accountability towards higher authority hence making them exercise responsible leadership as compared to one elder polity. Single Elder polity In this form of church governance, the church congregation tends to have equal stature among all members meaning that an individual is superior to others in the church. Over time, this form of church governance has elicited critic as the most humble of the congregation takes up the leadership role. This makes them more special than the rest of the church because this serves as an impediment to access to God. Additionally, the scripture has no illustration of this aspect as the Bible 2 tends to have widespread application of the Presbyterian leadership as kings had sessions of elders that helped them in governance and decision-making. Others consider this as a form of secular polity as its rise was during the American expansion period due to the travels that the missionaries experienced. This meant that the Americans involved in the spreading of the gospel could not be under a specified region like in the Presbyterian polity hence influencing this form of church governance. Therefore, this encompassed service to a large fraction of society under the leadership of a single individual. Congregational polity Arguably, this is a sovereign form of church governance witnessed among contemporary churches in which the absolute decision power lies in the congregation itself 3. This has distinctive features as c compared to the above-mentioned polities in which the final decision making responsibilities tend to vary between congregations. This form of polity has also attracted critic as the congregation makes decisions for itself hence implying that they may negate God’s law in their

A Lesson Before Dying Essay Example for Free

A Lesson Before Dying Essay The economic downturn of the past several years has been devastating to local economies and, by extension, their local law enforcement agencies. According to a report by the National Institute of Justice, the United States is currently experiencing the 10th economic decline since World War II (Wiseman 2011). The impact of this downturn will result in a change of how law enforcement services are delivered. As has been discussed by the COPS Office Director, Bernard Melekian, in a series of recent articles published in the Community Policing Dispatch, expectations will not be lowered just because an agency now has fewer officers, or because the budget is limited. Simply doing less while waiting for local budgets to recover to pre-2008 levels is not a viable option. Law enforcement leaders are faced with budget contractions that are in need to identified in different ways to deliver police services and, perhaps more importantly, articulate what the new public safety models will look like to their communities (Melekian 2011a). The effects of the economic downturn on law enforcement agencies may be felt for the next 5–10 years, or worse, permanently. These changes could be permanently driven not just by the economy, but by local government officials who determined that allocating 30–50 percent of their general fund budgets for public safety costs is no longer a fiscal possibility (Melekian 2011b). While it appears that the economy is beginning to recover on the national level, most economists agree that local jurisdictions are still in decline and will continue to be so, at least in the short term. Due to the decline of tax revenues because of Foreclosures County and municipal budgets tend lagging behind the general economy, which is one of the main source of funding for local agencies. Agencies are also faced with the budget realities, the current model for service delivery—which has been with us for the last 50 years—is already starting to change, and will be forced to continue to change dramatically and rapidly in the next 3–5 years. Police departments have been one of the affected by the current economic climate. Restricting revenues nationwide have forced local governments to make cuts in spending across the board, which has affected everything to include public safety operating budgets. However, while these budget cuts are threatening law enforcement jobs the responsibility to serve and protect remain. There has been no methodical way of measuring the effect the economic downturn has had on police agencies across our nation. A good example is how Nigeria has been experiencing difficulties in Budget implementation. The objective of the article was to present alternative forms of budgeting and after exposition on them, to recommend one that could mitigate budget implementation problem for Nigeria. Two types of budgeting addressed are incremental and zero-base. Under incremental budgeting, a certain percentage is added or subtracted from previous periods figures to arrive at new periods budget. Under zero bases, every program is reevaluated for its merits, as if previous budgets never existed. The starting points are the results hoped to achieve, and every debate about budget implementation is done prior to passage. Zero base budgeting is analogous to marketing concept in terms of information requirement and zeroing in on customized needs. To the extent that zero base budgeting plans, executes and controls, it serves as a management tool. Nigerias budgeting has been incremental, overly politicized and not carried out by experts, but merely based on benchmark price and quota of daily oil production. Factors militating against proper budgeting in Nigeria are distortions in fiscal transparency. Budget implementation in Nigeria is a critical problem. Many have blamed our poor socio-economic and infrastructural development on low degree of budget implementation, which is a result of incremental budgeting process. The paper therefore recommends zero based budgeting to Nigeria at all levels (GJSS, 2012). Sometimes inefficiencies result due to poor integration of the finance and strategy. Budgeting and performance are typically overseen by the finance department, whereas planning s coordinated by strategy department. Often, the two processes arent well integrated, resulting in strategies that are often dictated by the budget process instead of vice versa (Gary 2003). The reason for this could be that everyone involved may be attempting to accomplish the same goals, but also trying to make sure that the outcome will be beneficial to them, such as a substantial bonus or a reward. A budget cycle refers to the whole process from the commencement of developing a budget to the execution of the final charge on the budget. Since the majority of the budgets are prepared for a one year period, budget cycles cover the costs and expenditures for a period of one year. However, there are budget cycles that run for more than one year period. Government budgets have a budget cycle of at least 18 months from the conception of the various departments’ budgets to the time the appropriation bills are signed into law (Hyde, 2001). The initial steps of the budget cycle take place in the various departments and agencies. The program officers in the various departments compile all information that is necessary in the preparation of the budget. The budget cycle culminates with the president’s budget application to the Congress. This often takes place in February (USDOJ, 2011). A budget refers to a list of premeditated revenues and expenses. It represents a tool for savings and expenditure. A budget can also be defined as an organizational plan that is stated in monetary terms. It is used as a road map for conducting the activities, objectives, assumptions, and strategies of an organization. A budget cycle is comprised of various stages. Budget planning for the new fiscal year marks the first step of the budget cycle, while closing and carry forward activities mark the end of a budget cycle (Hyde, 2001). The steps outlined below are steps of a sample government’s budget cycle: Budget submissions: this entails the submission of the budget plans to the respective Budget Offers in various government departments. The budgets are reviewed and approved. Budget approval: this entails the executive committee approving the budget. The Initial Budget Authorizations are then submitted to the respective supervisors who address the respective cost items. Global Changes: the salaries are adjusted so that they reflect salary increases that are permitted by the Salary Subcommittee and the Human Resources Department. Closing: this entails the closure of the budgets at the end of the fiscal year. Carry forwards: it entails carrying forward all the unspent money to the following fiscal year. This marks the last step in the budget cycle. In most instances, law enforcement management prepares master budget for the coming year. The master budget includes the projected expenses and maintenance which is incorporated in the master budget and other smaller budgets such as training, overtime, marketing, administrative, and departmental budgets. By establishing an operating and financial budget for a future period, management can identify problems in advance. This can be maintained by forecasting for future predictions. A forecast is a reflection of the future. When forecasting is taken into account, two key aspects to consider are cash budgets and expenditure forecast. In most instances, budgets are and should be prepared for a future period such as an oncoming accounting or financial year. They are detailed by quarters or months. Typically, annual budgets are not altered once the year begins. However, budgets should not be rigid so as to prevent timely actions if need arises. Instead, budgets should only act as a guide rather than a restriction. However, there are rare circumstances when an annual budget should be revised such as due to a radical change in the business environment. Budgets are also important for obtaining funding since they portray an organization’s capacity to the lending institutions and financiers. Additionally, budgets are important management tools, they aid in setting milestones that need accountability to achieve, and aid an organization in identifying risks and establishing benchmarks. Thus, budgets facilitate the process of making adjustments to avoid risks, and to measure the benchmarks. Understanding the significance of budgeting marks the first step towards successful financial planning. It plays a significant role in the strategic planning process by an organization. It outlines the future financial goals and needs of an organization such as technological needs, overhead needs, financial requirements, and capital improvements. I have a very strong opinion that budgeting should not be scrapped, rather be modified to meet the current business environment. Organizations would have to restructure compensation programs so that managers no longer have an incentive to favors short-term goals over the longer-term. Budgeting will have to be flexible to be able to be adjusted from time to time to reflect changes in organizational goals and the economic environment. Again, accounting department should be responsible for compiling only budget information; they should not determine the budgeting process. Management, through the planning process should determine the budget, and all departments should be included in the process. Budgeting should be both top down and bottom up; i. e. upper level management and middle level management will both work to finalize a budget. We can streamline the budgeting process by developing a financial model. Financial models can facilitate what if analysis so we can assess decisions before they are made. This can dramatically improve the budgeting process. One of the biggest challenges within financial planning and budgeting is how do we make it value-added. Budgeting requires clear channels of communication, support from upper-level management, participation from various personnel, and predictive characteristics. Budgeting should not strive for accuracy, but should strive to support the decision making process. If we focus too much on accuracy, we will end-up with a budgeting process that incurs time and costs in excess of the benefits derived. The challenge is to make financial planning a value-added activity that helps the organization achieve its strategic goals and objectives. In order for department to compensate for dwindling budget, many law enforcement officer have had to learn how to focus on what can they can sacrifice from their normal lifestyle in order to offset the reduction in available spending. Some of these sacrifices have included families foregoing summer vacations, or shopping in discount stores instead of department stores they are accustomed too. However, today law enforcement agencies are faced with the difficult task of maintaining the same service that their communities expect despite the extreme reduction in available resources. And, in order for them to deliver the same high level of protection and emergency responsiveness that the communities depend on, law enforcement agencies must find new and inventive techniques to address those needs in cost-effective and maintainable way. Agencies must have a good understanding of how budgeting marks the first step towards successful financial planning. Budgeting has a significant role in the strategic planning process by any organization. It provides the framework for future financial goals and the needs of an organization such as technical equipment like laptops, radios, and side arms. It also shows the overhead needs, and departmental financial requirements. It can also outline the costs involved in order to get the resources that are required to meet their financial goals. Developing a budget is an important tool for determining the department’s performance, in motivating the upper-management, other members of staff, and measuring the results towards accomplishing the organization’s financial goal. References Gary, L (2003) Breaking the Budget Impasse. Pg 3, Retrieved September 30, 2013, Idio, U. S. (2012). THE BUDGET AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL: ZERO BASE BUDGETING, PANACEA TO BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA. Global Journal of Social Sciences, 11(1), 1-7. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/1036581432? accountid=32521 http://www. cops. usdoj. gov/files/RIC/Publications/e101113406_Economic%20Impact. pdf Melekian, B. , (2011a). Director’s Message. Community Policing Dispatch vol. 4, no. 3. http://cops. usdoj. gov/html/dispatch/03-2011/DirectorMessage. asp. Melekian, B. , (2011b). Director’s Column: July 2011. Community Policing Dispatch vol. 4, no. 7. http://cops. usdoj. gov/html/dispatch/07-2011/DirectorMessage. asp. Wiseman, J. , (2011). Strategic Cutback Management: Law Enforcement Leadership for Lean Times. Research for Practice, Washington, D. C. : U. S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, NCJ 232077.

Expressionism And Fritz Lang

Expressionism And Fritz Lang I have been interested in a thousand things in my life, and out of these interests in a thousand things came one primary interest: mankind. And not only what he does- in innocence or in guilt- but what moves him to act, what makes him tick! And with that attempt to identify there grows not only personal awareness, but much more important, sympathy. Through this ones own sphere of thought is enriched; as a reaction to it, associations with all things one has occupied oneself with for a lifetime are expandedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Who can honestly say how one arrives at a theme? What influenced him? It could be a falling leaf from a tree in Autumn, a sudden lull in the wind, a sudden thunderstormà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Fritz Lang in interview with Gero Gandert, 1963) Fritz Lang was one of the pioneers of German school of Expressionism, one of the few auteurs, who was able to make the successful transition from silent cinema to the talkies, and who also paved the way for the film noir genre in the United States. In this paper, one will be looking at his two of his films as case studies, Metropolis (1927) and M (1931) respectively, all the while keeping in mind the distinctive role of Lang as an auteur in context to the tradition of expressionist cinema. Throughout the paper, one is going to deal with object-subject relationships in German expressionist cinema as well as self-referentiality, private anxieties and public projections in the Weimar Republic and an attempt is going to be made towards a feminist reading of German Expressionism with respect to the case studies. To give a brief background of the two films in question, both were made in the Weimar Republic before Lang went into a self-imposed exile in America. The circumstances of Langs emigration remain controversial; the story goes that he was offered a post of managing director of the entire German film industry by the ministry in Germany (to be precise, Goebbels, the propaganda minister) after banning his film, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, and that he was given 24 hours to consider the proposal but soon afterwards he fled from Berlin to Paris. Metropolis was the worlds most expensive silent cinema at the time of its release while in M, elements of early film noir can be seen and the classic use of sound as a tool has been acknowledged by film scholars (this aspect of the film is going to discussed in detail later on in the paper). As is well-known expressionism as an art movement stemmed from the school of impressionists and goes well back to the 19th century. It assumed an identifiable structure only in the 1900s though. It sought to utilize contemporary philosophical and psychological thinking (Freudianism to a large degree) and relied heavily on personal experiences, feelings and emotions rather than impressions of reality. Weimar cinema has time and again been described as being proto-fascist and expressionism linked to National Socialism, which was popularized in the writings of Siegfried Kracauer and can be traced back to the theoretical debates of the 1930s, specifically to the views expressed Georg Lukà ¡cs. In a 1934 essay, Lukà ¡cs argued that expressionism was undoubtedly one of the diverse bourgeois ideological currents that would later result in fascism as its tendency towards subjectivism and romanticism linked it ideologically to the irrational mysticism of Wilhelmian philosophy, and therefore one of the central sources of Nazi beliefs. Lukà ¡cs sociological argument was later expanded and applied to the analysis of German cinema by Siegfried Kracauer in his study of Weimar film culture, From Caligari to Hitler (1947). John S. Titford begins his journal article with the sentence, Expressionist cinema is an impossibility. What he is trying to say through this is that the Expressionists and Realists alike cannot possibly transcend the limitations of cinema as a medium even if they exploit it to its fullest extent. It has to be mimetic, symbolic, never being the things it represents in exactitude. Art must, unlike reality itself, have a beginning and an end. Having defined its boundaries, cinema has proven to be the most appropriate medium for expressionism. It is more dynamic than expressionist painting, more able to instill a feeling of horror than expressionist literature, and more claustrophobic than expressionist theatre. Expressionism found an expression in the rapidly evolving motion pictures. There is a dichotomy between the creator and his creation, the medium and the message, and there is a need to understand the artists perception of the subject matter so as to get a hold of the deeper meaning of the piece of art itself. For it is the artists, or the auteur in our case, thoughts and feelings which are being communicated through his actions. Christian Metz has hence, made the differentiation between the signified (human consciousness) and the signifier (work of art). Anthromorphism, the process of inanimate objects coming to life, is a key feature of German expressionist cinema. Metropolis is an archetypal example for that. The live consciousness of the artist is, in a sense, metamorphosed into dead celluloid. Within the film, the humans tend to imbibe the characteristic traits of the world of objects while the objects exude human-like features and this is a cycle of life and death which the expressionist cinema follows. The figure of Rotwang exhibits qualities of a machine, or that of a prototypical cyborg to say the least, with a mechanical right arm, whereas the machines in the industrial underbellies of the city demonstrate signs of life as well as the Robot, which takes on the form of Maria, seemingly human but not quite. German expressionist film offers a penetrating analysis of the society along with the philosophy and psychology of its age. It is important also because of its filmic process. Unlike other forms of art, it is not static (before the advent of pop art and kinetic models), and transforms inert photographic frames into rendering a semblance of truth. Thus, film can make an object assume personality and vice versa. The workers in Metropolis operate like machines, often being grouped together in abstract geometrical shapes. The figure of Rotwang, as stated earlier, is the model for sub-human forces embodying the concept of Destiny, or a threat to the nation of Germany, depending upon the interpretation. He is perceived as a monster, hardly convincing as a living creature than the true monster like the Robot Maria. One of the scenes in M epitomizes the process whereby the animate becomes the inanimate. Beckett, the child-murderer, has been captured by the underground criminals and is brough t into a room where they are about to give him a trial. As he confronts the mass of people assembled to indict him, the camera pans around the group. It is not a moving mass that we see, but a still photograph: the image is frozen. It has thus taken the nature of an inert, static painting. Buildings become demoniacal in expressionist films; foreboding houses are used for shock effect, and rooms and enclosed spaces create a sense of claustrophobia. Maria in Metropolis is persistently pursued by a strong beam of light as she struggles to find a way out of the catacombs. The streets are merely an extension of the threatening building and dominate and control the lives of its inhabitants. In general, diagonals and oblique angles in the sets are employed, and the buildings and streets are distorted, ghostly, and with painted shadows and streets that seem to lead nowhere. Since the films were mostly shot in the studios with the help of painted canvas scenery, the world thus created was usually two dimensional. The mood or the stimmung and the claustrophobia of the expressionist world is further intensified by the use of lighting. There is a predisposition for the world of twilight in which the inanimate can readily become alive with no warning. Expressionist films are frequently lit using sharp, often jarring, blacks and whites, distorted shadows, and large areas of darkness. Precisely because light or absence of light gives space its reality, it can effect a transformation of concrete into abstract, living into dead, or vice versa, making us doubt our own senses, and even our awareness of figure and ground distinctions. Chiaroscuro affects our perceptions, and shadows themselves can become alive. Expressionist cinema was by no means limited to the city, even though the two case studies portray the cityscape. Expressionist directors were more concerned with life as a process ending in death, and their art was almost totally pessimistic. The game expressionist cinema plays with itself and i ts audience is that of Russian roulette, with destiny as the bullet, and death the prize. German expressionist cinema was concerned with the powers of darkness, with people trapped by their environment and with claustrophobia pervading everyday life. To back to the lighting in the early Weimar Republic cinema, the use of chiaroscuro effects of artificial lighting was unsurpassed. Lighting was used as a narrative device, and while in some early Weimar cinemas it was a little more than a decorative element or a creator of mood, in later films chiaroscuro elements and specifically shadow assume a precise communicative element. Chiaroscuro manipulated the visual sense to create emotions whereas the shadow rather than being a merely expressionistic mannerism, added narrative depth to the silent cinema. The employment of shadow as a communicative metaphor is found as early as Platos Republic, where he talks of the cave-men perceiving shadows and echoes as reality itself, which is not totally false; it results from reality even though it might be a weakened, diluted version of the real. The traditional motif of the shadow as a metaphor of perception later appears in the 20th century in Jungian psychology. Jung used the shadow metaphor t o describe the underside of the human psyche, which if acknowledged brings forth the survival responses, stimulating the libido, whereas if repressed can bring about the downfall of the individual. However, the intention of the early popular filmmaker was to involve the viewer in the film event. Thus, the shadow metaphor was appropriated as a narrative device, and the philosophical and psychological significance of the shadow became subordinated to the films fictional narrative, and the function of the shadow was sublimated in the narrative act. It became a device for communicating a simultaneous, secondary narrative to the viewer. Shadows significance is neither good nor evil but instead projects an other reality, another interpretation of sorts. Instead of seeking an escape from the pursuing shadow, one needed to acknowledge and accept it. In M, the character of Beckett was seen running away from his shadow, which relentlessly pursued him, stronger than the man himself, and the on ly way out for him was to embrace his darker side, even if it made him commit cruel, inhuman acts of violence. The early cinematic shadow enabled a possibility of multiple narratives which was later achieved through the use of sound. There was first an adoption and then rejection of shadow as metaphor within the conventions of the cinematic code, adoption during the silent period of cinema and rejection with the onset of sound in the 30s. The shadow as a metaphor was used most effectively in the early period of silent cinema. By the late 1920s, the New Objectivity had brought heightened realism in German films, and more natural lighting had replaced the intense chiaroscuro of the early 1920s. The cinematic shadow had become a clichà ©, and its narrative function was soon overtaken by other devices: the significant object of the late silent films and the soundtrack of the early sound films. In the opening credits of M, one sees a hand with the letter M inscribed on it. The drawing style evokes the exaggerated shapes and dramatic textures of German Expressionist painting, but due to its linear abstraction and dynamic simplification the hands image is also reminiscent of 1920s techno-culture: of New Objectivitys cold modernism and of Futurisms celebration of speed, energy, fluidity, and prosthetic body-machines. It strikes the viewer as an artificial limb taking on the uncanny function of living, or conversely, a human charged with the strength of a robotic apparatus. The first scene opens to a Berlin backyard populated by a bunch of children, their positions resembling that of a clock, with one girl standing in the middle and functioning as the clocks hand so as to count and count out the other players. The girl sings a song of brutal murder and dismemberment, a blatant endorsement of terror and violence itself. In Langs first sound film, M, sound had for the most part supplanted the communicative function of the shadow; the films basic distinctions between good and evil, rationality and irrationality, appearance and reality is rendered perceptible by shadow somewhat and mirror reflection, but mostly by sound. In M, nothing is as it seems on the surface: an apparent innocent is a psychotic killer, an apparently peaceful crowd can transform into a raging mob, apparent friends can become suspicious accusers, apparent organization (the police) is ineffective against the killer and the apparent disorder (the underworld) is really more orderly and efficient than the police. Even seemingly innocent children are tainted by the evil: the films opening sequence shows a group of children playing as they sing a variation of One Potato, Two Potato, a song about another non-fictional mass murderer Harmann, who not only murdered but also cooked and sold his victims as canned meat. What we see is innocent childhood, but what we hear refutes this appearance. In M, appearance is always deceptive, true reality is only perceptible to the observant viewer and listener. In M, the shadow metaphor has become secondary to the metaphors of reflection and sound. Shadows only appear infrequently. For instance, when Beckert leaves his home, he is followed by his shadow, a constant and quite visible reminder of his irrational psychosis. Later in the film when Schrà ¤nker and his band of criminals plan to trap the murderer, the camera moves from them to their shadows on the wall, depicting their transformation from a group of individuals to a retributive force, sort of vigilantes, which by its organization is able to capture the murderer. The most effective use of shadow in the film undoubtedly is at the beginning of the film when the shadow of the perpetrator falls across the poster describing his previous murders, at the same time his voice addressing the little girl, Elsie. The juxtaposition of the visual and the aural helps in the unraveling of the plot and is used as a device for placing the viewer on a level of knowledge or awareness exceeding that of any of the characters (including Beckert himself, who it is implied, is unaware of his condition). Even though the killer appears to be harmless, Lang informs the viewer very blatantly the shadow as killer and the girl as the victim. In Jungian terms, the shadow of Beckert is the actual killer. The shadow is used to establish Beckerts villainy. Later in the film, when he makes his first appearance he is shown inspecting himself in the mirror, probably trying to come to terms with his own predicament and grasp the reality, which he seemingly fails to perceive. What the viewer sees is two Beckerts, comparable to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where at times Dr. Jekyll loses complete control over himself and the monstrous Mr. Hyde takes over his person. In a later shot, Beckert does get to know of his own reality when he becomes the marked man and sees the letter M imprinted on his overcoat in a glass reflection. Lang has reinforced the shadow and the mirror images by sophisticated sound, where it complements and supplements the visuals. The oft cited example here would the voiceover commentary during the scenes of police investigation: the voice of the police commissioner giving an overall explanation to the minister about the police actions that are seen. Sound, however, is also used to contradict the visual image, communicating a real threat to an apparent tranquility. In one sequence a little girl walks alone along a street, apparently safe. Had M been a silent film, the danger to the girls life might have been shown by an ominous shadow pursuing her. Instead, Lang replaced that with Beckerts characteristic whistling tune. As soon as the girl meets her mother, the whistling stops, the silence signifying the girls actual safety. However, the shadow and the chiaroscuro element never entirely disappeared, even though it was replaced by a more realistic lighting. The shadow was incorporated into American cinema as an element of film noir where it became an emblem of the criminal unknown. Fritz Langs Metropolis (1927) is one of his most well-known and widely recognized films of all times. It has either been termed the silliest film or the most unique and remarkable spectacle ever shown on screen, but the reaction or response towards it has at all times been extreme. Widely acknowledged as a bravura display of film craftsmanship, it has also been equally denounced as unbearably trivial, naÃÆ' ¯ve sentimental and even fascist. Some of the problems raised by the narrative structure of Metropolis stem from the fact that much of the original version of the film is missing. Nevertheless, it marks a significant moment in the history of cinema and represents a culmination of Langs early style. Metropolis began with a segment which appeared totally expository, having, however a definite function in the narrative. Langs film begins with a depiction of the totally alienated condition of the workers, their lack of control over their own conditions of existence. This lack marks the workers as the films first subject or hero (as a collective unit) although their function as a performer of a set of operations changes throughout the course of the film. The dichotomy between machine/self-movement and Machine/Human is highlighted in this segment of the film, which is to form an important device in the narrative structure. The notion of space is central and his definition of all narrative events as some sort of real or attempted transfer of an object is accompanied by or imply a special discontinuity. This happens in the second segment of the film when Maria, as subject, takes a group of children (the object of value) to the pleasure garden in the upper level from the worker city. Sh e is forced to leave and this unit of narrative is ended by the failure of this attempted transfer. This narrative unit may seem isolated but is not unconnected with the narrative as a whole, as through it another hero is created in the form of Freder, whose main aim would be to return these children to the upper level. In this segment itself, Freder realizes his own lack of knowledge of the workers and he descends to the machine rooms to observe the workers and witness the accident at the central power room. This however, constitutes his first stage of acquisition of knowledge. This portion of the narrative ends with him leaving the space of conflict to return to the upper level with his knowledge. When Freder returns to the upper city, the residence of the ruling class, he attempts to give his father, John Frederson, his understanding of the workers condition. But Frederson, in this segment, being the anti-hero/anti-subject/traitor prevents the transmission of this knowledge. Fred erson is the subject of another story in which the object of desire is the control of the workers. Another lack is revealed when Freder discovers a map in the pocket of the dead worker- the lack of the rulers knowledge of the maps and the workers intentions. From this point on, the object of desire for both father and son would be to seek knowledge in the catacombs, which would then enable them to function as hero and traitor in the later stages of the narrative. Knowledge will be acquired in stages all throughout the course of the narrative and so following the interview in Fredersons office, Freder descends to the machines and Frederson goes to see the inventor, Rotwang, each in search of a more adequate knowledge. The film shows the similarity with the use of parallel editing. Freder discovers the grueling effects of time and repeated effort by taking charge of the machine deserted by a failing worker. Frederson is shown the Robot by Rotwang, and mystery of the maps is deciphered partially which are revealed to be guides to the catacombs below the worker city. Parallels are established between these acquisitions of knowledge by intercutting. In the catacombs, the acquisition of knowledge is completed but this gives way to further problems; Frederson realizes he has no control over his workers while Freder comprehends his responsibility as a mediator. The new object of desire is Maria; she is desired by both as a means of obtaining another object, the workers, for their elimination (by the father) or their liberation (by the son). The abduction of Maria from the catacombs by Rotwang to his house and the confrontation between Freder and the scientist resulting in the latters victory over the former with the use of machinery, is replete with symbolism. Machinery, as a sign of evil, remains a constant throughout the film, and is always utilized by the traitors as a helping agent. Freder is denied access to Maria and her features are quite literally transferred to the Robot so as to transmit a false knowledge to the workers, deceive them and lead them astray. Transmitting false knowledge is the classic means of neutralizing power. The Robot Maria convinces the workers to act violently and turns them into traitors temporarily, allies of Frederson and Rotwang. The children, the metonymic representatives of the proletariat are left behind in the lower city. However, the deception of the workers is soon followed by the restoration of Freders power, by his acquisition of knowledge that Robot is not Maria. Subsequently Maria is released and destruction of the children is prevented by moving them to the upper city with the help of Freder and Joseph. The second abduction of Maria by the evil Rotwang is the final lack which is eliminated by the hero vanquishing the evil. At the end of the film, traitors are destroyed (Frederson is redeemed through his sons actions) and peace and balance restored. The heroes in the film are Freder, Maria and the workers while traitors are Frederson, Rotwang and the Robot. There is a tripartite division of the objects of value: the knowledge of the proletariat, the use of Maria, and the children of the workers who represent the proletariat as social entity. At the end of the film even though the children return to the pleasure garden their status is ambiguous; as a result of the accord reached between ruling class and the workers they would have to return to their original space. Thus the film reaffirms the social structure present at the beginning. The film can be divided into two dealing with political and scientific distinctions on the axis human/mechanical and with cultural and religious distinctions on the axis Christian/mystical-alchemical. The film starts with a montage comprising of several shots of stylized machines. This concludes with a shot of the whistle blowing indicating the end of the shift and the next shot shows the workers taking the elevators to go to the worker city. It is not only the machinery which is identified with the traitors as oppressors, but also the concept of time. Time is the measure of the repetitive effort required of the proletariat. In the pleasure garden Freder is essentially depicted as being out of vicious circle of time and is removed from all types of machinery. Also, out of the traitors, only Frederson, who would be transformed into a good man, is wholly human. Rotwang is part-human part-machine while the Robot is fully mechanical. There are other such examples all throughout the film- when the workers ply to and from work; they use the elevators, whereas when they need to descend to the catacombs, they do so on foot. Also when Freder, Maria and Joseph take the children to the upper level, they do so by purely human effort. Metropolis has heavy and significant allusions to religion. There is a consistent opposition present between the vague Christianity and the mystical and the alchemical, most evident in the connotations produced by Rotwang. He is portrayed to be some sort of a medieval sorcerer (his robot will be burned like a witch); compared to the archetypal Aryan appearances of Freder and Maria, the inventor looks distinctly Semitic. On his door and above his robot in his laboratory is a five-pointed star. He lives alone in a curiously distorted, old-fashioned house, set apart from the rest of the society. His science is occult and solitary. The Christian tradition is most apparent in Maria and Freder. While working in the circular machine, he clearly crucified at the hands of the clock face. Maria is undoubtedly Christian; in the catacombs while retelling the tale of the Tower of Babel, she is standing in front of a number of crucifixes and viewed reverently by the workers from below. Metropolis can also be analyzed on psychoanalytic terms. The oedipal aspect of the film is quite apparent. A three-member family is created with Frederson as the Father (leader of the society), Freder as the Son (representative of the workers) and Maria the Mother (spiritual creator of Freder and the workers/mother of the masses). Freder to negate and assume the power of the Father must have access to the Mother. This is achieved at the end of the film when the Father is stripped of his power (castration), and is seen kneeling in front of Freder, which is transmitted to the Son. Metropolis has not gone without criticism and Don Willis in his article has thoroughly bashed Lang for his overtly simplistic plot, going on to say that the spectacle seems almost incidental where the spectacle has been sacrificed to the message. He says of the film, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the eerie delicateness of this image of foreboding is betrayed by the crudeness of development of plot and characterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Barry Salt has been quoted in his text as stating that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Langs film is not even much of an improvement in craftsmanship, despite the several years of development there had been in film technique elsewhere. The rave reviews that the film opened in Germany are dismissed as sensationalistic. The position of an author is defined by the relationship which he maintains with his characters. In the film, one form of this relationship rests on the systems of vision which the pictures reveal: how the author fragmentarily indicates and encloses the viewpoint of his characters within the continuity of his own viewpoint constitutes the viewpoint of the film. Lang allows ambiguity to hover over the relationship which unites character and director in the vision. He is showing that only a well-crafted device can precisely situate a viewpoint, which the vision of the real alone cannot, or he is deliberately moving to a symbolic level, which results in distancing the author from the characters even more. The author defines himself by his point of view towards the objects he unveils. This point of view is manifest in the first place by the distance at which the camera is held. With Lang, it seems to be vivid or in a disguised manner. There are innumerable formal and thematic references, configurations which come into play from film to film and organize the enigmatic web of Langian knot-work. Hence, the sign, the token, around which the narration is organized, the significant object Lang always indicates with a close-up which is the first easily located link between the chain of shots and the thematic chain. The generally intensified demarcation of space disrupts the viewpoint in order to lead it to its more rightful place which carries to an extreme, in cinematographic space, dialectic of subject and object finding its origin in German cultural tradition and its achievement in the fundamental materialism of industrial civilization. This subject-object game, when divided, provokes the eye, making an incredible fissure in Langs films. Lang bases the possibility of his narrative on the richness and the perversity of oppositions. It is the logical outcome of writing and vision. Lang keeps the point of view in perpetual hesitation; for the event, whether it is foreshad owed or already occurred, always seems linked to something else. There is an incessant disequilibrium and abstract waiting which marks all of Langs films. Lang plays with counter-shots and at times tends to lose sight of his narrative, obscuring his characters. There is a subtle defeat in his films, which is revealed by the impossibility of the closed system. His films are extremely dense; in every shot, a writing unfolds which is strictly defined and structured, a part of the larger picture. Thus, by distancing himself from his films, Langs works always seem to be in the process of creating itself.

Arthur Ashe :: Biographies Bio Biography

Arthur Ashe was someone who was able to touch people with not only his superb tennis skills, but also his abilities off the court, like his superb speaking skills and knowledge of the world around him. He was willing to put aside his tennis in order to try to change what was wrong with the world. Arthur Ashe was a brave and gifted person willing to take risks to make a difference and influenced many people's lives. In 1970, Arthur Ashe became a familiar name after Ashe easily won the 1970 Australian Open. He immediately used his new status as a popular, well-known figure in order for him to be able to address social issues and be listened to. During Apartheid, Ashe attempted to ban South Africa's participation in the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF). By calling for South Africa to be banned from the Federation, he immediately saw how great his influence was, as his call was immediately granted. This made all of America take note of Ashe's powerful personal opinions and desire to get them across. Ashe spent the next couple of months after this speaking out against unfair on racial policies. This made everybody stand up and take notice and in addition to getting banned form the ILTF, South Africa was also excluded from Davis Cup competition as a direct result of Ashe's influence with his words. Though he was unable to stop Apartheid with his words, he was able to make people awar e of the horrors going on and also weakened it by getting the tennis organizations to exclude them from competitions, mainly the Davis cup. During this time, Ashe still hadn't given up on tennis, and continued to play well in addition to his large and ever-growing influence. In an unforgettable match, Ashe defeated popular player and Hall of Famer, Jimmy Connors and won the singles title of Wimbledon in 1975. The victory made Ashe the first black man ever to win this extremely prestigious tournament. Even now, no other black man has been able to win Wimbledon. Ashe went on to end the season ranked number one in tennis. He is also the first and only black man ever to achieve that honor. Ashe's career tragically came to an end when he suffered a heart attack while participating in a New York tennis clinic in 1979.

Science Today and Human Cloning Essays -- Biology Research Essays

Science Today and Human Cloning Nowadays, we are being constantly fed with the prophecy that molecular biology is the next revolutionary "wave" replacing information technology which has changed the way we live in the past 50 years. The past decade has seen scientists making significant breakthroughs in this field to start the current biotechnology hype. One defining achievement was the cloning of a sheep named Dolly by Dr. Ian Wilmut of Roslin Institute in 1996. This historic success debunked previous biology myth that adult cells have lost their totipotent abilities exhibited during early-stage embryonic stage. Now, it is possible for us to use the cells from an adult organism to create another genetically identical organism. This success has also attracted much attention from scientists and laypeople alike as Dolly is the first mammal to be cloned. Suddenly it seems like science fiction story of cloning people has become not-so-distant possibility. Although other animals such as frogs have been cloned successful ly years before the birth of Dolly, but among all the successes in cloning, the ewe is the most closely related to humans in the biological hierarchy. Now it seems like human cloning is just a step away from us, technologically speaking. The possibility of cloning humans has sparked much debate among scientists, ethicists and even politicians, who are worried about the possible impacts of human cloning in future. At the moment, there is wide consensus that we are not ready to clone humans yet due to problems such as religious violation or lack of knowledge to conduct a successful human cloning experiment. However, recent developments implied that we are powerless to stop individuals from continuing their private ... ...s whether this knowledge opened a new path to our utopian dreams or nudged us a step closer to our own hell. References Cloning The First Human http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/cloningfirst.shtml Horizon. 25 October 2001. Criminal investigation into Korean human cloning http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cloning/cloning.jsp?id=ns99992599 New Scientist. 26 July 2002. Clonaid http://www.clonaid.com 2002. Is Human Cloning an Inevitability? http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,648024,00.html Time.com. August 4 2002. A Clone in Sheep's Clothing http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0009B07D-BD40-1C59-B882809EC588ED9F Scientific American.Com. 03 March 1997. Information on Cloning and Nuclear transfer http://www.ri.bbsrc.ac.uk/library/research/cloning/cloning.html Roslin Institute Online. 03 April 2000.

Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes Essay

An analysis of Langston Hughes’s poem Dream Deferred will reveal a significant commentary on the driving force in America today. It is undeniable that every one of us has dreams or goals that we want to pursue and achieve. Although all of us have their own little dream, this poem reiterates that in some cultures, it will be (and is) harder to achieve their goals. In this particular poem, Langston Hughes expressed his dreams and how they become during a hard time. The fact that he is a black man during the height of the African-American oppression, his ambitions and dreams was really hard to achieve—thus, he became frustrated. He expressed on how and what he really feels about a dream that he has had. Because he was succumbed under a great deal of frustration, he was unable to accomplish that dream. Each line in the poem symbolizes a typical moment in the author’s life. Furthermore, he was also very bitter about the conditions of his group because of their skin color. Hughes used many a great deal of simile in achieving his points. But perhaps the most powerful line in his poem is the â€Å"Or does it explode? †(Hughes) It is an influential conclusion of what could happen to a dream if they are neglected or is not pursued. In conclusion, this is a collective poem that articulates what could happen to dreams that left un-pursued even in times of struggles and oppression. This poem reflects the difficulties not just of African-American but moreover, it is also applicable to people (especially certain ethic groups that are discriminated) who experiences the same situation. This poem will never be obsolete. Works Cited: Hughes, Langston. â€Å"Dream Deferred. † March 2, 2008.