Film Analysis-Spartacus, Full Metal Jacket

Having viewed in class five of Stanley Kubrick's films and a documentary about him, a decent understanding of Kubrick's process and vision is learnt; the two films Spartacus and Full Metal Jacket were the most inspirational and significan films of the bunch. Spartacus is about a rebellious (slave of the same name) purchased by Lentulus Batiatus, owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus, Batiatus' gladiators fight to the death.On the night before the event, the enslaved are â€Å"treated† with female companionship. Spartacus refuses to engage with Varinia, a slave from Brittania, and they form a sturdy relationship. When Spartacus later learns that Varinia has been sold to Crassus, along with the murders of his brothers (the slaves forced to fight), this ignites a burning desire inside him, a yearning to seek freedom. He leads fellow gladiators in revolt, and they flee out of Italy collecting money as they go, in o rder to buy sea transportation from the pirates of Cilicia.They are united by additional runaways, which transform the rogue slaves into a colossal army; escaping to join his cause is Varinia, who has fallen in love with Spartacus, and Antoninus. Crassus bribes the pirates to abandon Spartacus and pushes them toward Rome, were panic that Spartacus means to attack the city, causes the Senate to give Crassus absolute power. In the battle, most of the slave army is killed by Crassus' forces. Afterward, when the Romans try to locate Spartacus, every surviving man shields him by shouting â€Å"I'm Spartacus! Varinia and her new son are held prisoner by Crassus who forces Spartacus to fight Antoninus to the death, the survivor is to be crucified, along with all the other men captured after the battle. Spartacus wins the match and is crucified, this leaves Spartacus with the potential to become a martyr. Batiatus rescues Spartacus' family from Crassus and carries them away to freedom. Var inia is able to comfort him in his dying moments by showing him his little son, who will grow up without ever having been a slave. The movie was created to depict the brutal and unforgiving Roman Empire and the hardships the average slave could endure every day.It also shows anti slavery propaganda and the story not only of one’s man’s quest to revolt against his oppressors and to rise up from a state of disempowerment, but more importantly it is a story which offers hope and strength to mankind. The act of sacrifice is a dominant theme in the film and is essential to the idea of Spartacus’ character. Sacrifice is first seen before the revolt when the Draba, after defeating Spartacus in battle, refuses to kill Spartacus and instead sacrifices himself by attempting to attack Crassus. It this act inspires Spartacusand his actions for the rest of the film.Spartacus also proclaims during the film that everything he has done will be a success if his son can be born f ree, regardless of whether Spartacus is killed or not. In the final act of sacrifice Spartacus is crucified, sharing similarities with Jesus and his sacrifice for all mankind. Associated with sacrifice is the fight for freedom. Sacrifice is knowing that there might be a point were things must be used for the greater good and dying is a possibility, while fighting for freedom is having the courage to stand up for beliefs, never backing down and starting the movement to end oppression.This is shown when Spartacus is crucified, becoming a martyr and thus creating his legend. The path to freedom is the one goal that all the slaves had in common the thing that kept them united and strong. It gave them the strentgh to continue their journey and put everything on the line, with hope for the future as the backbone of their fighting spirit. This is put in the film to show the power that one man can create when uniting people under a common goal. In our society freedom is everything, without it we would all be the same, with no individuality or passion, not truly being alive.This helps the audience relate to the slaves and form a connection with them as they too would be quite upset if they were in the same coditions. The film takes a strong look at political lobbying and the corruption of goverment. In our society many feel as if the goverment tries to control and limit their freedoms, while the poloticians are greedy and many don't come through on the promises they make. They are seen as untrustworthy and unhelpful causeing many to try to take actions into their own hands. The film shows how people of political status abused their power and used any means to achieve their goals.This is shown constantly throught out the film, one example is how Crassus and his rival Gracchus fight over control of the Roman army when the Roman Senate sees Spartacus and crew as a threat. Gracchus own protege, a young Julius Caesar goes over to Crassus, when Gracchus reveals that he has b ribed the Cilicians to get Spartacus out of Italy and rid Rome of the slave army. Kubrick wanted to show modern people how Rome's republic and upperclasses were much more cutthroat and savage than our own, but at the same time not that dissimilar to the average modern poloticians in today's world.Some people may view Spartacus and frown upon the savage slavery and brutality of the ancient world, but the fight for freedom from oppression and the common man rising to greatness through bravery is something that will forever be remember and celebrated by all cultures. The second film Full Metal Jacket begins by following a platoon of Marine Corps recruits, focusing on the relationship between Sergeant Hartman and Privates Pyle and Joker. The second chapter continues with Joker, and how he joined the Corps to become a killer, but is mostly behind the scenes, as a combat correspondent.This is interupted when the Tet offensive puts him in real combat and tests him on his real worth as a so ilder, and if he really is a killer. Full Metal Jacket demonstrates the psychological break down of the soilders, as seen with the transformation of the character Pvt. Pyle. He comes to the Marine Corps as a naive, harmless young man who is guided by the belief that he is serving his country. Due to his failings of performing the tasks presented to him, he is constantly verbally and physically insulted by the drill instructor, Sgt.Hartman. Along with the torment from his drill instructor Pyle recieves additional abuse from his fellow recrits, beauase of the punishments they recieve due to his failures. In retaliation, the platoon hazes Pyle with a blanket party, restraining him to his bunk and beating him with bars of soap wrapped in towels. Joker, the Pvt. Squad leader, seeks to help Pyle, but as Pyle starts to become more productive, Joker recognizes signs of mental breakdown in Pyle, such as him talking to his M14 rifle.The internal struggle in the mind, is a characteristic of ev ery human being, one that all can relate to. Humans all contain that good verses evil, that little devil on the left shoulder and the angle on the right. Kubrick uses this to make the audience sympathetic towards Pyle, but also for them to really think about what the story is trying to show and how this also plays a role in their lives. Private Joker had on his helmet â€Å"Born to kill† but on his uniform he had a peace symbol.This was an incredible symbolic representation of the film because it was exactly what Kubrick was trying to establish in the audiences minds; the change in ones mind during war and the struggle that continues to take place during war between good and evil were represented between the born to kill on his helmet and the peace symbol on his chest. Joker can be seen as another victim of war, due to his being inthe back, when he finally kills someone, he achieves the thousand-yard stare, a limp, unfocused gaze of a battle-weary soldier.The film is successf ul in providing a perspective glance at the trials of a soldier. Like with most war movies, it relies heavely on powerful imagery; the film also adds the sense of â€Å"thereness† at boot camp, the sickening feeling from the sight of dead bodies, and the perspective from an enemy sniper. They force you to look at the world and don’t let you look away, or pretend, when things are gruesome, or violent, or terrible. Full Metal Jacket’ examines the morality of war and military existence.This was significant because it showed one how much the United States Military officials had to change ones mind set and character to be able to fight and kill men, women and children who were just defending their country in a country that no one was used to and that some did not even know was there. The audience leaves the film with Kubrick's selective snapshot of the Marine Corps and of Vietnam, hopefully with some sense of a soldier's reaction to it all.

Nike Business Analysis

IV. Marketing strategy As a leading athletic brand in the world, much of Nike’s success can be attributed to its shrewd marketing strategy. As reported in its 2009-2010 Annual report, because NIKE is a consumer products company, â€Å"the relative popularity of various sports and fitness activities and changing design trends affect the demand for our products†. Therefore, Nike must â€Å"respond to trends and shifts in consumer preferences by adjusting the mix of existing product offerings, developing new products, styles and categories, and influencing sports and fitness preferences through aggressive marketing†.In fiscal year of 2009, Nike’s demand creation expense, which consists of advertising and promotion expenses, including costs of endorsement contracts, grossed about $2,351. 4 (million dollars). In comparison with fiscal year of 2008, even the company had taken actions to reduce spending across nearly all demand creation related activities, Nikeâ €™s demand creation expense increased 3% during fiscal 2009. One of the most visible marketing strategies of Nike is favorable brand image, which is associated with a distinctive logo and the advertising slogan, â€Å"Just do it. To help market their products, Nike has successfully developed and is currently deploying a promotional approach in which Nike â€Å"contract[s] with prominent and influential athletes, coaches, teams, colleges and sports leagues to endorse our brands and use our products, and they â€Å"actively sponsor sporting events and clinics†. For example, Nike has a number of famous athletes that serve as brand ambassadors such as: -Michael Jordan: in 2007, the Jordan brand, now a separate Nike subsidiary with its own building, grossed about $800 million. Tiger Woods: in 2000, Nike agreed to a multi-year deal with Woods worth a reported $105 million, extending an earlier multi-million dollar deal originated in 1996. Researchers have discovered the Marke ting mix 4Ps of Nike as following: * Products: Nike offers a wide range of products, range from shoe, apparel, equipment, and accessories to plastic product such as protective gear, hockey stick. * Price: Nike’s pricing is designed to be globally competitive to other brands. The pricing is based on the basis of premium segment as target customers.As a brand, Nike commands high premiums. * Place: Nike sells its product to about 20,000 retail accounts in the U. S. and in almost 200 countries around the world. * Promotion: Nike has a number of famous athletes that serve as brand ambassadors and Nike â€Å"actively sponsor sporting events and clinics† V. Social responsibility Nike, as revealed in FY 07-09 CR report, has a long history of engagement in communities around the world, investing in their backyards, key markets and manufacturing communities, which has clearly demonstrated its responsibility and commitment to the society.In FY07-09, Nike has directly invested in community $168. 8 million, and set the goal of $315 million of contributions for FY11. However, not only does Nike make financial contributions, but also the company involves contributing expertise and philanthropic activity to the community. Nike has developed two core approaches for community investment strategy, which includes three primary areas of focus: 1) A focus on creating new models to provide young people access to the power of sport (to unleash their confidence, leadership, health, education or employment). The Nike Foundation (separate nonprofit organization): focuses on adolescent girls in developing world as powerful agents of change in community, capable of unleashing a ripple effect that will change the course of poverty. * Innovating for better world through sport: Nike believes that every young person in the world should have access to sport and have partnered to develop and deliver programming activities. ) Leverage philanthropy mechanisms that enable our partner ships to scale without limits and create financial flows that ensure long-term success: * Brand and retail engagement: Nike leverages the power of its brands to connect with consumers on issues they care about deeply, manage a portfolio of investment in custom product lines, marketing campaigns, events and athlete engagement that have triggered donations from consumers, amplifying its initial investment. Nike, as shown in FY 07-09 CR report, is well aware of its environmental responsibility.Highly committed itself to creating extraordinary performance products for athletes while managing our business within nature’s limits, Nike developed its own North Star to define what sustainable products and a sustainable company would look like: * Healthy chemistry: Minimize the impact of product ingredients throughout the life cycle * Climate stability: Provide leadership toward climate stability * Water stewardship: Borrow water responsibly and return it clean to communities * Closing the Loop: Product creation to allow for material ecovery or safe return to nature * Thriving communities: Enable all our stakeholders along our value chain to meet their needs and lead fulfilling lives * Game changers: Educate, challenge and empower athletes to join the sustainability journey To achieve its goal, Nike has broken it into a number of smaller attainable steps. For example: * Product design: Internally, Nike mobilizes its human resources to influence the development of short-, mid-, and long rang projects that make progress towards closed-loop product.Externally, Nike actively posts unresolved problems and requests solutions from outside investors, universities and companies. * Climate and energy: As a co-founding member of Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), Nike and its partners have committed to strategic collaboration to push for US energy and legislation and rule making. * Water: Nike aims to contract with factories where water is abundant e nough to support it. Nike also collaborates with factories to improve efficiency of water-utilizing and encourages its suppliers’ adherence to high quality standards for all of their production.VI. Diversity and inclusion Nike, as shared in FY 07-09 Corporate Responsibility report, believes that Diversity and inclusion are key levers in continuing to drive creativity and innovation. Nike and its employees around the world emphasize the importance of diversity by four following reasons: 1) Diversity drives recruitment of the most dynamic people. 2) Diversity enriches the creativity and innovation that shapes the brand. 3) Diversity grows their competitive advantage. ) Diversity heightens the stature and belief in the brand within their culturally diverse consumer base. In 2006, Nike appointed its first VP of Diversity. In 2008, Nike formed a new global diversity and inclusion team focused on three areas: * Engaging employees * Providing business consultation * Developing innov ative tools, models and designs In order to create a culture of open innovation, Nike has developed diversity and inclusion strategy concentrates on three areas: 1) Focus on theFundamentals: Nike aims to cultivate an inclusive culture and inspire individuals and teams to find surprising connections and intersections that ultimately fuel business solutions and drive new innovation 2) Embrace a culture remix: In order to amplify creativity and innovation, Nike has created venues and environments for open dialogue that encourage diverse opinions and a multitude of perspectives. 3) External exchanges: Nike seeks to find and create unique and surprising combinations, intersections and connections within Nike, Inc. , and then share these insights with academia, industry and government.Diversity statistics: Gender, ethnicity and supplier 1) Gender diversity: Nike reports their global work force is half-male, half-female, and in overall management is 60% male and 40% female. 2) Ethnicity di versity: Nike reports 55% of its work force is Caucasian, 22% is African American, 13% is Hispanic, 9% is Asian/Pacific islander and 1% is American Indian. 3) Supplier diversity: Nike works with several national and regional partners on its suppliers effort, including the National Minority Supplier development council, the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs and the Women’s business Enterprise National Council.Bibliography: APA format NIKE Investor Relations (2009). NIKE, Inc. Corporate Responsibility Report FY2007-FY2009.. Beaverton, OR: Nike Inc.. Retrieved from http://www. nikebiz. com/crreport/ NIKE Investor Relations (2009). NIKE, Inc. Annual Report FY2000-FY2010. Beaverton, OR: Nike Inc.. Retrieved from http://media. corporate-ir. net/media_files/irol/10/100529/AnnualReport/nike-sh09-rev2/docs/Nike_2009_10-K. pdf DiCarlo, L. (2010). With Tiger Woods, it's Nike, Nike everywhere: Star pitches for apparel maker even when hawking other products.Forbes. Retrieved fr om http://http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/4554944/ Rovell, D. (2008). CNBC special report: Swoosh! Inside Nike: Michael Jordan continues to score points for footwear giant. CNBC. Retrieved from http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/23071595/ns/business-cnbc_tv// Cuizon, G. (2009). Audit on Nike's Marketing Strategies: The 4Ps – Product, Price, Place and Promotion . Suite101. Retrieved from http://corporate-marketing-branding. suite101. com/article. cfm/audit_on_nikes_marketing_strategies

The middle class in urban Britain 1780-1900 Essay

The middle class in urban Britain 1780-1900 - Essay Example However, they lacked the modalities to effect the change. It was not until the early nineteenth century that need for change was more strongly expressed by the lower class and the middle class. It is of importance to note that the people who took part and spearheaded this change were the middle class and were the cream in terms of their intellect (Scull, 2005).. Political changes The political arena in Britain was secluded to the mighty and wealthy for a long time, which also refers to the upper class. It was solely the rich who could rule while the middle class neither had a chance nor could raise their voices to be heard. This is evident even from the governance structure since that it is documented that even from the law making organs, the House of Lords could overrule any law passed by House of Commons. The ugly political face was worse in some areas like old Sarum and Dunwich where the middle class could not vote and a number of legislators were re-elected unjustly. The women we re also not allowed to vote, which expressed how democracy was indeed a nightmare to the people being ruled. This did not quite add up since lawyers were also in the category of the urban middle class (Mitchell, 2002). At that particular time, out of an estimated population of thirty million only about two million were allowed to vote. Inspired by the French protester refugees who moved in at around 1700, there were efforts by the middle class to spearhead their liberation. Several uprisings came up and the continuous pressure led to The Great Reform Act that was landmarked a political change in centuries. This Act brought political sanity to Britain and many other positive changes.. The imagery constituencies done away with and the members of parliament representation rationally and equitably restructured. Moreover, the most relevant to our discussion is that the middle class were allowed to vote with the exception of women (Scull, 2005). Economical changes Despite being despised, the middle class were relatively wealthy. Most of them had their wealth on land possession. It was just until in the late nineteenth century that he urban middle class began engaging in forms of wealth holdings like the stock market. In the urban areas in this period, a majority began being wealthy by manufacturing and creating employment. This gave rise to several merchants across Europe at the time and this can attribute to the steady rise in the number of the middle class (Mitchell, 2002). There are some cities that their economical growth was attributed solely to the middle class. An exquisite example is the city of Manchester, which at this period had many projects running in the event of industrial revolution. During the industrial revolution, the whole of Europe had a majority of entrepreneurs comprising of the middle class. The middle class prompted women to get employment. It important to have in mind that women were considered as housewives for some pretty long time in Bri tain. This had a large impact to the economy of the middle class, since majority-hired house cleaners to help in the daily domestic chores and this amounted to about forty percent of the female workers (Mitchell, 2002).

Racism in Yoshiko Uchidas Desert Exile and Anne Moodys Coming of Age Essay

Racism in Yoshiko Uchidas Desert Exile and Anne Moodys Coming of Age in Mississippi - Essay Example In Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, the author presents experiences of racism as not limited to a white to black affair, but also a black-to-black affair. According to the author, whites discriminate blacks in Mississippi. To add salt to the injury, the author also points out that some blacks who are light skinned also look down upon fellow blacks that are not light skinned. Dark-skinned blacks suffer more compared to light-skinned blacks in a complex scenario of blacks discriminating against fellow blacks. For instance, Miss Pearl looks down upon Toosweet, as she is much darker than the Raymond’s family. Ann observes that â€Å"Miss Pearl and Raymond’s older sister would pass right by her without saying anything and Mama would be so hurt (Moody 49)†. Anne’s perception of the lighter skinned blacks also comes out that they see themselves as of a socially higher class than the rest of their fellow blacks. Legally, they enjoy to privileges that a re in any way different from the rest of the black community. That points out to some sort of disunity at that particular historical time. Some children innocently respond to racism with an attempt too physically examine the claimed superiority from white children with whom they play. Children are subjected to racial discrimination despite the fact that they do not know anything. The author mentions heard public arguments that blacks were inferior to whites genetically. Innocently, Anne had the white children remove their clothes so that she would examine them to confirm or disconfirm the claim (Moody 34). The incident demonstrates the racial institutionalization and indoctrinated into children’s minds. From a very young age, children are already growing up with negative connotations of race. Mrs. Burke comes out as an example of whites who discriminated against blacks including making false allegations against blacks. Anne responds by

Business Ethics is Not an Option Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Ethics is Not an Option - Essay Example Analysis leads to the conclusion that observance of business ethics is not optional. Every business venture aims at flourishing in the modern marketplace. There are several methods of achieving including the application of marketing strategies for sales increase, manufacturing and production concepts for cost-effectiveness and organizational management for over-all company harmony. However, the concept of an ethically-run business as necessary for the company to succeed is becoming more and more recognized. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a by word for many business professionals. Although it is generally observing ethics and morals in business dealings, CSR is thought to comprise of activities such as supporting charities is CSR, funding anti-crime and poverty programs, exceeding legal or regulatory obligations in areas of business operation such as health and safety and consumer rights, managing the supply chain to ensure that suppliers respect human rights is CSR and taking measures to ensure that products do not harm the environment. (Kotler and Nancy 2004, p. 3) Our concern is not so much in defining CSR but in determining whether the observance of business ethics is optional or not. This paper will argue that business ethics is necessary and beneficial for the business firm. ... Increased Job Performance Quality The reason why a field in business called Human Resources Management (HRM) exists is that it was long recognized that there is a need to ensure that employee issues are properly addressed. One of the secrets of successful business companies is that they were able to derive extra commitment from all employees resulting to unprecedented quality and responsiveness in products and services along with heroic frugality, incredible levels of integration and collaboration within and without the organizations, and especially to pull off continuous, brilliant, and cheap innovation. According to the only way one can "manage" high level human output is to set the conditions for everyone doing their best: including support of the core competencies of people, their ability to self-organize, their ability to change and grow. A company can achieve this if it fosters trust and build organizational cultures in which freedom and personal initiative can cohabit with cooperation, caring and a highly integrated harmony. Only thru a sincere observance of business ethics can the company assure that its employees do not stage rallies, release negative public statements regarding the company, resign and reveal company trade secrets. Being ethical also helps in attracting excellent and skilled professionals to work for the company. The Industrial Society for the UK (in Price 2002) reports that "82% of UK professionals claimed that they would not work for an organisation whose values they did not believe in" and that "among smaller businesses, the survey showed that 62% of owner managers were influenced by their employees to be more socially active." Consumer Preference Observing moral and ethical values in the conduct of business does not

Literacy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Literacy - Assignment Example Where students are likely to benefit from these skills as it improves their general literacy and help them have better quality f education, teachers are also required to develop them, as they are fundamental for providing quality education and also enhance their performance levels. In addition to that, the scope of developing literacy and numeracy in adults has also increased which tends to bring more responsibility to educators. One of the important areas surrounding poor literacy skills is inability to understand the text being read. Where reading itself is a fundamental skill that is being developed from the inception of education, ability to gain knowledge of context in multiple frames is rather difficult to develop. This issue is further accompanied by inability to perform academic research and also filter out relevant sources to develop necessary understanding. The problem further enhances due to presence of multiple and non-reliable data available on web and out-of-date library resources. Also, ability to identify scholarly and academically relevant sources to support education has a critical value for present day students. Last element of this issue is to deliver the knowledge in writing. This skills required development of sound grammar as well as extensive vocabulary. With limited reading being performed and lesser attention given this area, students find it difficult to communicate what they know well which not only affects their grades but also their self-confidence. Another dimension of the issue being discussed is to have suitable knowledge of numerical data and relevant mathematical concepts. The problem increases when there are word problems as deducing meaning out of written text and converting it into numeric data and further applying appropriate methods and procedures meant for problem solving. Hence, in order to develop numeric skills, it is essential that a student is able to derive correct

Management of Ports Sale Blockade Fallout Case Study

Management of Ports Sale Blockade Fallout - Case Study Example Thirdly we must pursue with Department of Commerce to facilitate DPW for onward sale of its asset without losses. The opponents perceive it as a security threat without any justification. Notwithstanding the fact that the port operation is already foreign owned, the security is not the operator's prerogative. It is according to the International Shipping and Ports Security Code which is implemented by US Coast Guards. None of the infrastructure at ports in question relates to military or national security facilities. The Defense Department controls the facilities that it uses to ship military goods. Sale of these ports operations is nothing to do with security. It is a direct result of globalization of maritime trade and neither is it an outsourcing issue. The hype has actually been created by the Democrats to put pressure on Administration. However this needless hype has damaged our long term interests severely in Arab World. This is being taken as a test of US impartiality by our Arab allies as P&O is already a foreign owned company and only being transferred from British to Arabs owners The stakes are too high in properly managing this issue for long term US interests in the region. Not only this will add fuel to fire in US impression in Arab world, it will jeopardize the security of our business interests in Arab World. This issue may be taken as an argument to nationalize vital strategic industries currently being run be American Companies. It may aggravate the security problems for US citizens in the region if the issue is politicized by the radical elements in the Arab World. Possible Courses of Actions The current situation suggests three possible courses of actions 1. Normal Diplomatic activity from State Department and projection of the issue as merely a legal and technical matter. 2. Normal Diplomatic activity till blockade and taking remedial measures by putting the onus of blame on Arabs by directly projecting the issue as a fall out to 9/11. 3. Taking a non apologetic and non accusatory position to the problem by State Department and proactive diplomacy for controlling the potential damage in Arab world. Need for Pro-activity in Damage Control The first option can possibly work if the issue is really such and there are justifiable legal grounds available. However given the sentiments involved and heightened emotions both in US population and Arab world it is not advisable. The second approach will simply aggravate the sentiments in Arab world and will likely complicate our relationships with the Arabs no matter how much we consider them to be at fault in 9/11. Therefore only practical approach is to be proactive and carefully guard the situation till the time attention is diverted to any other issue. We need to be highly active in this regard. If we do not take proactive approach now as proposed and wait to see the result of Senate decision, we will likely be doing damage control by making explanations and would be clearly seen in negative light. The US government has to take a clear stance despite domestic