Confusion and Personal Identity in Rip Van Winkle Essay -- Rip Van Win

   Rip Van Winkle tells the story of a man who, on a trek into the Kaatskill mountains, mysteriously sleeps away twenty years of his life during the Revolutionary War. When he returns home, he finds that things have dramatically changed; King George no longer has control over the colonies, and many of his friends have either died or left town. At this point, the story reaches its climax, where Van Winkle realizes that his life may be forever changed. To this point, Rip Van Winkle has had only to deal with the change in his surroundings. Having no doubts about his personal character, his fears remain singular only briefly, for when the crowd points to a man whom they call Rip Van Winkle, he begins to question his being as well. "I'm not myself-I'm somebody else-that's me yonder-no-that's somebody else, got into my shoes..." Frustration has set in by this point, as our hero Rip cannot explain the events that have happened to him. In one night, his world had drastically changed, and no logical explanation can be found. The larger issue at hand, though, is the identity crisis that Van Winkle is suffering. Upon a detailed analysis of this climactic section, two dominating themes are found: confusion and the issue of personal identity. There are constant references to these ideas throughout the selection. That Van Winkle is confused seems obvious and is quite understandable, but this confusion extends beyond the bizarre sequence of events encountered. When Rip notices the person that the township refers to as Rip Van Winkle, it is as though he is looking into a mirror, for this person portrays a "precise counterpoint of himself." Although Rip visually sees this other person, his examination becomes a personal reflect... ...oncerns over which groups would provide leadership for the masses, and how those masses were to be represented. Men like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin, who had provided great leadership for this fledgling nation, were leaving the fate of America in new hands. The pessimists voiced their opinions, but there was a great feeling off optimism as the Industrial Revolution began to harbor its effects throughout the United States and the world. The issue of identity seemed a pertinent issue at the time. In this story, Rip Van Winkle's search for identity provides, perhaps, the most stimulating aspect of the story. In the selected passage, we see his character go through tremendous emotional changes. In only one paragraph, we watch his life unfold as he searches for the inner truth that he had been denying. In one paragraph, we watched a man find himself.   

ancient egyption pottery :: essays research papers

Ancient Egyptian Pottery   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I chose to do my research paper on Egyptian pottery because in my art appreciation class I was most fascinated with the ancient Egyptian era. I found this website that explained all about how pottery they made helped them function in everyday use. It also told me a lot about how the made everything.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The need to store things led to the development of containers, first among them bags of fiber or leather, woven baskets and pottery. But clay lends itself to many other purposes: bricks, statuettes, funerary offerings, toys and games etc. Pottery, the molding of form out of a formless mass and its becoming imperishable through firing, is the most miraculous kind of creation. The exquisite artifacts made of gold, carved out of hard stone or formed from glass might make us forget that the Egyptians lived with clay and not the expensive alternatives found in royal tombs. They lived in it, drank from it, cooked in it, ate on it, carried liquids in it, played with it, and when they died, the only offerings of any permanence most could afford were made from it. Most of the pottery manufactured in Egypt was made of reddish brown clay, which is called Nile silt ware. It served everyday purposes and was often left undecorated. The red color of the fired product was the result of iron compounds oxidizing. The oldest pottery technique consisted in hollowing out a lump of clay by hand and pinching it to give it the final form. Later a flat tool was used to press the clay against the other hand. The ancient Egyptians used a number of techniques to improve the look of their pottery. Decorations were incised, painted or stuck on and black coloring was the result of exposing the vessels to smoke. Slip, an often pigmented mixture of water and clay of the consistency of cream, was applied to smooth the surface and color the earthenware. Wash, a mixture of pigment, such as red ochre, and water changed or intensified the color of the pottery. Glazing began during the 4th millennium BCE, mostly blue mezzomaiolica, lead based glazing, until Roman times, when true tin-based faience began to appear. An example of the blue glaze is on the statue of a monkey to the right. The red wares were made without a potter's wheel like all pre-dynastic pottery. After giving them their form, which was sometimes unconventional, they were dried in the sun, sometimes covered with red ochre, and burnished with a stone.

Determining Databases and Data Communications Essay

In this paper the writer will seek to respond to the questions designated for both scenarios. This paper will list typical fields for each type of data. Provide an example of two relationships that you need to track. This paper will also answer the questions of: Do you need a database system? If not, can Excel ® handle the data and the output? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Would you use a personal database or an enterprise database? Explain your answer. Would a decision support system (DSS) be helpful? Explain your answer. When directing companies who work diligently with computer technology, it becomes increasingly imperative to have an adequate knowledge of the technology that is obtainable. This will allow those who have to manage information to make the most effective choice concerning what technology should be used for the company. In the two scenarios, making the best choices in technology allows the manager to best confer time and energy with superficially formi dable responsibilities. For instance, in the first scenario, an marketing assistant of a consumer electronics company is asked to not only maintain the booths for various trade shows from beginning to end, but is also asked to ensure that there any issues that arise during the delivery of the products are resolved. First, it is important to realize what information should be maintained in order to best ensure that the tools that are used during the trade shows. In cases like these, it would be important to have a list that details what displays, equipment and booths are needed for specific trade shows, as well as when the displays, equipment, and booths should be shipped to the area and back. For example, if a trade show located in Tulsa, OK only needed one booth with one display in order to accommodate the space, it would be the job of the marketing assistant to ensure that the various parts made it to Tulsa, as well as ensure that the booth and display made it back to the office f or future use; it would be necessary to know when it would be sent, as well as when it will be delivered back (which could be maintained with the knowledge of the delivering postal tracking number). In order to keep track of what is necessary for each trade show, there are several technological tools that would be instrumental in maintaining the information that will be transmitted. While one could use an Excel to begin the process of tracking the information that is needed, it would not be the best method of collecting that type of information, and it could be overwhelming over time. A database, on the other hand, could handle the information that is contained, and would allow the marketing assistant to create reports later on that can be used to analyze what changes could be made in the future whether it is making earlier shipments in order to ensure that it reaches an area on time, etc. (Middleton, 2009). Since there would only be one person keeping track of the information, it would not be necessary to create an enterprise database, which would have the capabilities of being made available to other departments within the company (Web Definition, 2012). This would allow one person to maintain the pertinent information that other departments may need without having too many people managing information, which could lead to confusion regarding where equipment is or what is needed for certain trade shows. Also, in order to maintain the large amount of information that would come from managing various trade shows, it would be necessary for the marketing assistant to have a decision support system, which is a â€Å"computer system that is designed to provide assistance in determining and evaluating alternative courses of action† by â€Å"acquiring data from the mass of transactions of a firm,† by â€Å"analyzing it with advanced statistical techniques to extract meaningful information,† and by â€Å"narrowing down the range of choices by applying rules based on decision theory (Web Definition, 2012).† This will allow the marketing assistant to gain better knowledge of what could be improved upon for future trade shows. In the second scenario, technology has to be used in order to manage a consulting team of seven, some of whom work in an office and others who work from home. In this case, ensuring that there is equ al accessibility to each employee is paramount to maintaining the business. A wide area network, or WAN, would help to accommodate the needs of employees who are working in the office as well as those who work from home. The WAN would create several LAN connections that would allow workers to the same access to important information regardless of where they are (John, 2009). Also, for projects that more than likely will be time-sensitive, employees within the consulting team will have access to the printers and other equipment’s that is a part of the network, so that tasks are completed in a timely manner (John, 2009). While there are certain security risks with using WAN that includes the potential infiltration from people other than employees and the possible placement of viruses that would threaten the maintenance of information that is stored, the use of anti-virus programs and other programs would help to protect the computers and information that they have, and the benefit far outweigh the potential risks. Also, a wireless access would better assist the team in completing tasks in different areas. Like WAN, wireless access would assist employees in gaining pertinent access to the information may normally be stored in in the office. For a consulting team who works in different areas, privacy and computer protection become a relevant problem that can be addressed with creating a virtual private network, or VPN. A VPN would ensure that the information that is held at the office for the team remains on a network that would only be accessible by the team, and it would prevent others who are not a part of the team from placing viruses on the computers or accessing the information, which could greatly hinder the completion of tasks and the accessibility of information. When considering what wireless networks should be used, cost as well as features must be considered. Excel documents often help to organize this information in order to assist leaders in making decisions regarding the best wireless network to purchase. For instance, if a wireless network is priced low but does not offe r the speeds or other features necessary to operate for a company, the network would not be good to expend money on. However, it could be equally dangerous to expend a lot of money on a wireless network that has a lot of features that may or may not be used. As a result, this requires that a company list the various features that would be necessary for the functioning of the company. The company can then review the list of features that are included for wireless networks that they are considering, listing the price of each network. This allows them to find the wireless network that best meets their company’s needs without paying a lot of money for it. In conclusion, having a working understanding of the technology that is available to a company can help managers make wise and efficient choices regarding what tools should be used. In the first scenario, using databases in comparison to excel documents allows the marketing assistant to properly track equipment that is used on a daily basis, as well as track where it is being shipped to. In the second scenario, using WAN or wireless networks allow a team to maintain access to pertinent information that could help employee’s complete tasks in a timely manner regardless of their location. In these ways, technology assists companies in maintaining their business. References: Decision Support System. (2012). â€Å"Decision support system.† Retrieved from: http://www.decisionsupportsystem.info/ Middleton H. (2009). â€Å"Maintaining a relational vs. flat file marketing database.† Retrieved from: http://www.dbmarketing.com/articles/Art223.htm Charlene N. (2010). â€Å"Benefits of developing & maintaining a database.† Retrieved from: http://www.reviveprojects.com.au/blogs//2010/10/06/benefits-of-developing—maintaining-a-customer-database- Web Definition. (2012). â€Å"Enterprise data.† Retrieved from: www.dataclaritycorp.com/cognos-glossary.html

Great Expectations Notes on Guilt Essay

In analysing Great Expectations, Dorothy Van Ghent maintains that there are two kinds of crime that drive the moral plot of the novel: the crime of parent against child and the calculated social crime â€Å"of turning the individual into a machine†. Thus, in the same way that the parent or the parent figure abuses the child, social authority also participates in creating parents who participate in the dehumanization of the children. (sons heir of fathers sin, repeat in society over n over) Van Ghent puts forward many of her ideas in an extremely extravagant, descriptive and floury manner, which at times is difficult to follow. I feel that Van Ghent approaches `Great Expectations` from a mainly`Psychoanalytical literary criticism approach`, because her analysis of the text is primarily concerned with the idea of feelings, desires and guilt that Pip carries and because guilt and desire are repressed by Pip they can only appear indirectly in the text. In Great Expectations Pip`s repressed guilt and †¦.occur and appear indirectly through. Van Ghent identifies a psychic context for Great Expectations in which I feel she focuses on Pip`s psycho drama competing desires of trying to redeem himself of sins (his and his fathers) and of wanting to attain the status of being a gentleman and no longer being coarse and common. I feel this represents a psychoanalytical approach because these issues frame Van Ghent analysis, above the significance of the social, historical or other contexts which could be used by critics. Van Ghent focuses on the â€Å"unconscious motives and feelings of a character (Pip) depicted in the text† – one of the psychoanalytical theorists do (P100 Beginning theory)

Great Northern American Case Study Essay

The textbook defines perception as the process by which the individual selects, organizes, interprets, and responds to information. The Oxford dictionary defines perception as the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses; the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted. Your perception is your reality, therefore statements such as, â€Å"the customer is always right,† hold true to a certain extent. What people perceive is what they believe, based on what they see, hear, and think. Perception affects decision making and the choices people make. This is why it is imperative not only for the salespeople of Great Northern American to understand how people form perceptions, but this is important for any person looking to build business relationships and loyal customers. Customer satisfaction is crucial to create business relationships and repeat customers. To be successful, salespeople must quickly identify opportunities and predict t he changing needs and wants of customers. â€Å"Recent advances in customer equity research have rekindled the importance of understanding how customers form perceptions of satisfaction and quality (Blattberg and Deighton, 1996).† It is also essential for Joe Salatino’s sales force to understand that the drivers of customer satisfaction may shift over time. Things happen gradually and people’s perception may change. Why do consumers choose certain products to purchase over others? According to Don Shapiro, President and Founder of First Concepts Consultants, Inc, â€Å"People say yes because they see a high perceived value in what is offered for sale.† If perceptions of value are high, the more likely the sale will be made. â€Å"Closing the sale is primarily about raising the customers’ perceptions of value as high as possible (Shapiro, 2012).† This is where things like subscribing to prospects’ local newspapers and researching things they value come into play. â€Å"The ave rage experienced and trained sales person does not go far enough in developing these things with their prospects. They do enough to be a good producer but  lose sales they could have closed had they just done a bit more. They simply do not fully understand what is going on inside their prospects’ minds, everything that might affect the prospects’ decisions and what would increase the prospects’ perceptions of value the most (Shapiro, 2012).† Some statistics say the top ten percent of salespeople comprehend what goes on inside a perspective client’s mind, their understanding of how people form perceptions gives them a competitive advantage. Attribution is the method in which people use information to make conclusions about the causes of behavior or events. The ability to determine how people make attributions is a tremendous positive for the salespeople of Great Northern American. This element gives them an opportunity to take the information in order to convince perspective clients to make the purchase. The 30-person sales force of the Great Northern American Telemarketing Company works on commission and bonuses, therefore I believe the expectancy theory would be most appropriate for Joe Salatino to apply. â€Å"In the inquiry of behavioral issues related to sales force compensation, expectancy theory has enjoyed substantial popularity. The expectancy theory suggests that both the desirability of the reward or compensation (referred to as valance) and an individual’s estimate of the likelihood of attaining that reward (referred to as expectancy) are important determinants of a salesperson’s behavior. In the context of sales compensation issues, expectancy theory suggests that any method of compensation should (1) tie reward to performance, and (2) strengthen the salesperson’s perceived connection between performance and the reward received (Chowdhury and Massad, 1997).† Motivational strategies are necessary for the expectancy theory, â€Å"motivation and performance are positively correlated. An increase in the level of motivation should correspond to an increase in the amount of effort expended in selling tasks, which in turn should improve performance (Chowdhury and Massad, 1997).† According to the case study, the Great Northern American salesroom features all kinds of motivational devices such as rotating blues lights along with noise and a fast pace, all which create a perfect environment for the expectancy theory. Executing the expectancy theory can prove to be a challenging, yet purposeful task that goes beyond an annual review. Six implementations Joe Salatino could use to apply the expectancy theory include: 1) to make expectations clear, 2) provide continuous feedback, 3)  use corrective actions privately, 4) believe in your employees, 5) use praise tactics publicly, and 6) make rewards achievable. According to David Burkus, the editor of LDRLB, employees without goals will be naturally aimless. Joe Salatino should provide his sales team with clear achiev able goals and make sure there are measurable standards in place to evaluate their performance. Giving immediate, continuous feedback allows an employee to know that their actions affect not just them, but the company as well. Joe should keep in mind that employees are motivated by setting goals and by receiving continuous feedback on where they stand relative to those goals. Recent research shows how rewarding it can be when employees are aware they are making progress. Most people are discouraged by negative feedback, especially if they feel it’s embarrassing. Therefore, the most adequate place to discuss an ongoing, performance-related issue or correcting a recent, specific error is in an office, with the door closed. Joe should also believe in his employees; the perception of a leaders’ trust is the key factor of revolutionary leadership. Make announcements of praise publicly, make everyone aware when an employee has made a particularly outstanding presentation, sale, or any other notable achievement. Even though competition at Great Northern American is stiff for the sales force due to the internet users, it is still important to make bonuses and rewards achievable. Vary the basis for the awards, for example, top sales might be one category, but other categories can include top research or most diligent. Distinguish that numerous types of merits can motivate your employees to focus on additional areas of their performance. Other ways Mr. Salatino can help improve employees’ performance is by helping employees to experience the mastery of their work and then add challenges as their mastery starts to unfold. Leverage social persuasion by igniting faith in employees while simultaneously arranging situations for their success. Highlight realistic models of engagement. Help employees develop endurance while reducing anxiety and depression so they know they can do what is necessary to produce a certain outcome. Self-efficacy refers to people’s belief in their ability to muster up what is necessary to exercise control over life’s challenges. â€Å"People with stronger self-efficacious beliefs tend to set higher personal goals and remain committed to those goals in the face of adversity. They also view challenges as tasks to be mastered  and recover quickly from setbacks. Self-efficacy is particularly relevant to success in sales where adversities such as rejection, stress, and competition are unavoidable aspects of the profession. When salespeople hold strong self efficacious beliefs, they are better able to adjust to adversity and more likely to remain committed to assisting customers, making sales, and meeting quotas. In contrast, for salespeople who lack confidence in their professional abilities, these adversities increase their sense of helplessness and decrease their commitment toward goal achievement, often leading to withdrawal from clients, the organization, or the profession (Lewin and Sager, 2010).† Joe Salatino can leverage an understanding of the value of self-efficacy to ensure he hires the most successful salespeople in a number of different ways. He needs to be sure not to confuse self-esteem, which is having a good view of yourself with self-efficacy, which is belief about your ability and capacity to accomplish a task or to deal with the challenges of life. By keeping these two things distinct, Joe can choose better qualified candidates for Great Northern American. There is a major variation in the degree to which salespeople perceive job conditions as stressful. Research has shown there are huge differences in the way individual salespeople respond to job stressors and view workloads. Self-efficacy is one of the determining factors. You can give identical sales situations to two people and it will be viewed very differently depending on the level of self-efficacy. A salesperson with low self-efficacy may find the assignment intolerable and extremely stressful, whereas an individual with high self-efficacy may perceive it as practical and not stressful at all. Concluding that low self-efficacy can make people believe that tasks are harder than they actually are; and may view job expectations as contrasting and confusing. Individuals with higher levels of self-efficacy are more capable of dealing with higher job demands and possess the ability to view difficult situations as a challenge rather than seeing them as a threat. Social cognitive theory suggests that individuals form beliefs about what they can and cannot do. Those beliefs are used to set individual goals, to predict consequences of behaviors, and to initiate actions required for goal achievement. Self-efficacy is the central mechanism of self-regulation. People’s beliefs in their efficacy influence the choices they make, their aspirations, how much effort they mobilize in a  given endeavor, how long they persevere in the face of difficulties and setbacks, whether their thought patterns are self-hindering or self-aiding, the amount of stress they experience in coping with taxing environmental demands, and their vulnerability to depression. Sales research views self-efficacy as a critical variable that can influence salespeople’s perceptions and responses to challenges and negative situations on the job. People with higher self-efficacy believe in their ability to handle their work well and are more likely to become successful in their careers. Self-efficacy enhances employees’ willingness to exert effort and master a challenge and thus, plays an important role in increasing work effectiveness, job satisfaction, and productivity. Because salespeople are monitored on their individual performance, experience high rates of rejection, and practice more autonomy, it is imperative for Mr. Salatino to select highly self-efficacious individuals. In addition to searching for individuals with excellent communication skills, those that possess an upbeat attitude and are highly self-motivated, it would be to Great Northern American’s advantage for Joe to search for individuals who also possess conscientiousness and extraversion. Having the knowledge that self-efficacy is derived from mastery experiences, social persuasion, and stress resilience will also aid in selecting the most successful salespeople to help build an even more successful company now and in the years to come. References Chowdhury, J., & Massad, V.J. (1997). An eclectic paradigm of salesperson compensation: toward a comprehensive framework of the determinants of sales compensation modes. Journal of Marketing Management (10711988), 7(1), 61-80. Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2012, November). Attribution Theory (Weiner) at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved November 1st, 2012 from http://www.learning-theories.com/weiners-attribution-theory.html Lewin, J. E., & Sager, J. K. (2010). The Influence of Personal Characteristics and Coping Strategies on Salespersons’ Turnover Intentions. Journal Of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 30(4), 355-370. Shapiro, D. Why people buy: conclusions from 30 years studying prospects and salespeople. July 30, 2012. Retrieved on November 1, 2012 from http://www.marketingexecutives.biz/why-people-buy-conclusions-30-years-studying-prospects-and-salespeople

Business Torts and Product Liability

The scope of product liability usually exposes the manufacturers, sellers, product designers or licensres to the sphre of the legal actions. Here the word ‘product’ is not only indicate the finished or final products but it covers the supplimentary items which is intimately associated to consumer expectations . Moreover, the term produt saftey can be a part of a product, which is related, with any kind of chain of distribution. The manufacturers and other entities involved with market are liable for the products, which are defective in nature . The distributors, dealers, retailers, representatives and employers can also brought in to the action if their products are turned to be defective. The American common law adopted the concept of strict liability under consumer perspectives in early 1960’s. They began to adopt the view that the sellers should bear the cost of injuries or defects in their products as they are in the best position to distinguish the risks associated with their products. The American law institutes call for the various state law departments to recapitulate the developments in strict liability in Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts in 1977. However, it happens that the defenadnts may undergo harsh facets of the torts and action for their unintentional act or ommission. The courts of modern times also provide the sellers the indisputable liability for their defective products without the negligence or fault on the part of the seller. (1) For such victims the rules and judgements may appear too harsh but the genuine culprits desreves so. ———————————————————————————————————– 1. Restatement (Third) of Torts products liability, 1999 Business Torts and Product Liability 2 Introduction â€Å"He can excuse himself by showing that the escape was owing to plaintiff’s default; but as nothing of this sort exists here, it si unnecessary to inquire to what excuse would be sufficient. † – Blackburn J Generally there are cases that where a defaulter can be held responsible for an injury even where no negligence or evil intent can be shown. The doctrine of strict liability imposes legal responsibility for injuries sustained by or because of an actor's conduct, whether or not the actor used reasonable care and regardless of the actor's state of mind. Strict liability cases are limited to certain narrowly-defined areas of the law, including products liability, ultrahazardous activities, care of animals and certain statutory offenses. However, the question arises whether such liability and the treatment against the alleged wrong doer is too hurtful or not. To analyse this, firstly, we shall discuss the scope of the torts and product liability in buisiness. Buisiness torts and product liability The general principle is that, seller of any defective product which is unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer, is subject to liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer or to his property, if the product is expected to and does reach the user or consumer, without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold. (Restatement (Second) of Torts, 1977)(1). It does not matter that the seller has exercised all possible care in the preparation and sale of his product; and the user or ——————————————————————————————————– 1. Sec. 402A of Restatement (Second) of Torts, 1977 Business Torts and Product Liability 3 consumer has not bought the product from or entered into any contractual relation with the seller. In Rylands Vs Fletcher,(2) the court found that even if the defendant was not negligent or rather, even if the defendant did not intentionally cause the harm or he was careful, he could still be made liable. The defendant may excuse himself by showing that the occurrence was owing to the plaintiff’s default or that was the consequence of vis major or the act of good. The liability arises not because there was ant fault or negligence on the part of persons, but because he kept such defective products and the same was caused some sort of personal damage to another. The liability of the defective products was well explained in the famous case Donogue Vs Stevenson (3) as, a person who is for gain engages in the business of manufacturing articles of food and drink intended for consumption by members of the public in the form he issues them, is under a duty to take care in the manufacture of these articles. That duty must be to whom he intends to consume his products. The law has enumerated a number of rules to provide maximam penalty to the wrongdoer’s for his misconduct regarding the products. .whether this way of gauging the act and ommissions of the wrongdoers for their product liability is justifiable or not? Are they undergoing ruthless treatment than they deserve? Whether the treatment under product liability is harsh or not Recently in the case, Wyeth vs. Levine (4) the Vermont Supreme Court ——————————————————————————————————– 2. Rylands Vs Fletcher (1868) L. R 3 H. L 330 3. Donogue Vs Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL) (Sc) 4. Wyeth vs. Levine, Pharmaseutical industry Today, News, 22 Nov 2008 Business Torts and Product Liability 4 confirmed a nearly $6. 8 million product liability claim against Wyeth because the company's FDA-approved warning label on anti-nausea drug Phenergan only cautioned physicians about a quick-injection method. The injection caused the palintiff’s vein nicked and caused gangrene in an arm that eventually led to amputation. Here, it can be accepted that defendant faced the consequences because of his negative conduct to the consumers. Still there is a question arises about the magnitude of the penalty usually provides in such cases. The fact is that such liability causes negative impact on the day-to-day conduct of buisiness also. The product liability always compel the the manufacturers to internalize the cost of the product. When the manufacturer assigned all the liabilities for the injuries caused, he is forced to take account all the harms caused and this may lead the manufacturer unable to profit from producing the product Due to strict imposition of law in various manners, the manufacturer may not produce the socially optimal level of goods. Under such conditions the manufacturer cannot pass on the economic costs to the consumers as insurance as the most of the consumers are highly price sensitive. This may harm the production of the products and complete removal from the market. Apart from this, there is a chance of instituting high-level substantial higher transaction costs due to the high-level apllication and the sucsequent penalty of the product liability. Moreover, this causes lowering the consumer surplus from these transactions. (Miller,Goldberg ,2004)(5) ———————————————————————————————————— 5. Miller, C. J, Goldberg, R. S (September 30, 2004) Product liability, 2 edition Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; ISBN-13: 978-019825678 Business Torts and Product Liability 5 Some times the damage may cause due to the default of the palintiff . The palitiff may misuse the product. Moreover, there is a chance that the product has been altered and modified by the palintiff without the knowledge of the manufacturer. The defects may cause due to the conduct of the third party who is neither defendant’s servant nor does the defendant have any control over him. Or else there is a chance of the product is being manufactured or designed according to the industry custom and standards and government standards related to the manufacture and design. In such cases there is no point in treating the defendant with a extreme penalty. (6)(Salmond, 1996) The cases like Fardon Vs harcourt Rivingston (7) and Glosgow Corp. Vs Muir (8) clearly laid down the priniciple regading the minimising the liability of the wrong doer under such circumstances.. If the possibility of the incident emerging is only a mere possibility which could never occur to the mind of eth reasonable man ,there is no negligence in not having taken extraordinary precautions. People must guard against reasonable probablities but they are not bound to guard against fantastic possibilities. Conclusion Since the product liability is the legal responsibility of manufacturers and sellers to buyers, users and bystanders for damages or injuries suffered, the strict liability of these sections are firmly observed. However, a manufacturer of a product cannot be considered the absolute guarantor of its product’s safety. It can be said that there is a utilitarian ———————————————————————————————————- 6. Salmond, Heuston (1996) , Law of Torts, , p443 publisher: Sweet & Maxwell; 21Rev Ed edition (24 Oct 1996) ISBN-13: 978-0421533509 7. Fardon Vs harcourt Rivingston (1932) 146 L. T 391 8. Glosgow Corp. Vs Muir ((1943) A. C 488 principle revolved under the imposition of such liability. Because the people determined to cling to the responsible persons for their actions even though there is no negligence on their part. Because there are some derivation of benefits likes improved products, safety and accountability, which is generally, prevail over the burden on the defendant in strict liability proceedings. So in such cases in order to fulfill the public policy of minimizing the injury, it is more reasonable to introduce the burden of finding and correcting such dangers upon the manufacturer rather than taking away the defective products from the consumer. ********************************** References 1. Faegre & Benson, 2003 UK Trade and Investment, US product liability law, Nov. 2003 2. Kubasek, Nancy K. ; Browne, Neil M. ; Giampetro-Meyer, Barkacs, Linda, Andrea; Herron, Dan; Dynamic Business law (January 4, 2008) McGraw-Hill ISBN 0073524913 / 9780073524917 3. Miller, C. J, Goldberg, R. S (September 30, 2004) Product liability, 2 edition Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; ISBN-13: 978-0198256786 4. Restatement (second) of Torts products liability, 1977 5. Restatement (Third) of Torts products liability, 1999 6. Salmond, Heuston (1996) , Law of Torts, , p443 publisher: Sweet & Maxwell; 21Rev Ed edition (24 Oct 1996) ISBN-13: 978-0421533509

Postmodernism, Hyperreality and the Hegemony of Spectacle in New Hollywood Essay

After the screening of The Matrix on its first release, a dear cousin of mine, film connoisseur and avid fan of classical movies, spontaneously made the following comment: â€Å"This is an entirely new cinema to me! † If anything, The Matrix is a clear marker of cultural change. A film with state-of-the-art production values like this is bound to elicit in us the belated realization of how slow our response has been to the cultural products of an entirely transformed film industry, that of New Hollywood. My cousin’s casual and unwitting remark reflects the embarrassment felt by both professional critic and layman alike in coping with contemporary movies, especially when we still tend to approach New Hollywood products with the standards of the Old Hollywood cinema. Because of our adherence to tradition, we still tend to look for those classical values of â€Å"development†, â€Å"coherence† and â€Å"unity† in narratives only to find with disappointment that narrative plots become thinner, that characters are reduced to one-dimensional stereotypes and that action is carried through by loosely-linked sequences, built around spectacular stunts, dazzling stars and special effects. Narrative complexity is sacrificed on the altar of spectacle† (Buckland 166) as today’s blockbusters turn out to be nothing but calculated exercises in profit-making, all high-concept, high-gloss and pure show. Similar cries of warning about the loss of narrative integrity to cinematic spectacle have been voiced at different periods, usually at times of crisis or change in the history of the American cinema. One could cite, for example, Bazin’s disdain at the â€Å"displacement of classicism† by the baroque style, marking the end of the pure phase of classical cinema. His coined term, â€Å"superwestern, †designates the â€Å"emergence of a new kind of western† (Kramer 290), that, according to Bazin, â€Å"would be ashamed to be just itself, and looks for some additional interest to justify its existence—an aesthetic, sociological, moral, psychological, political, or erotic interest† (150-1). Similarly, in 1957 Manny Farber, taking his cue from Bazin’s superwestern, laments the â€Å"disappearance of this [classical] roduction system and the closing of action-oriented neighborhood theaters in the 1950s†. He claims that directors like Howard Hawks â€Å"who had flourished in ‘a factory of unpretentious picture-making’ were pushed towards artistic self-consciousness, thematic seriousness, and big-budget spectacle â€Å"(Kramer 293, emphasis added). A decade later, Pauline Kael too expresses her fears at the disintegration of filmic narrative which she attributes to the abrasion of traditional film production in general. She laments not only the emphasis on â€Å"technique† â€Å"purely visual content,† and â€Å"open-ended, elaborate interpretations† of the experimental and innovative art film of the New American Cinema, but as Kramer puts it, she was equally critical of the experiences facilitated by Hollywood’s mainstream releases. The lack of concern for coherent storytelling on the part of producers and directors in charge of the volatile and overblown process of filmmaking was matched by the audience’s enthusiastic response to spectacular attractions and shock effects, irrespective of their degree of narrative motivation. 296) Voices of dissatisfaction were heard at another major turn in the history of Hollywood, that is in the late 1970s, when the â€Å"unprecedented box-office success of Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977), signaled Hollywood’s aesthetic, cultural and industrial re-orientation towards movies with more emphasis on special effects and cin ematic spectacle† (Kramer 301). Unlike the classical movies produced on the assembly line under the studio regime (films that respected narrative integrity and refined story ideas into the classical three-act of exposition, complication and resolution), the products of New Hollywood, says critic Richard Schickel, seem â€Å"to have lost or abandoned the art of narrative†¦. [Filmmakers] are generally not refining stories at all, they are spicing up ‘concepts’ (as they like to call them), refining gimmicks, making sure there are no complexities to fur our tongue when it comes time to spread the word of mouth†(3). Contemporary cinema has come to depend so much on shrewd marketing and advertising strategies that its pictures, as Mark Crispin Miller points out, â€Å"like TV ads, †¦ aspire to a total ‘look’ and seem more designed than directed† (49). The difficulty that critics nowadays face with films like The Matrix and the new situation in Hollywood, is not only unlike the layman’s inability to assess â€Å"any recent Hollywood film as a discreet textual artifact that is either ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than the artifact produced under the studio regime,† Cook and Bernink note (99). It has also to do with regarding â€Å"the textual form of recent Hollywood as expressive of changed production circumstances that lead to a different kind of textual artifact†(ibid. ). In other words, as we move on in our globalized, high-tech age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to regard any single movie as a self-contained, autonomous text. On the contrary, as Eileen Meehan contends, it has become imperative to look upon any New Hollywood mainstream release â€Å"always and simultaneously as text and commodity, intertext and product line† (31). In order to revise our critical standards and respond effectively to the new status of the contemporary Hollywood movie, we need to grasp the dramatic changes that the American film industry has undergone in the post-classical period, which started right after World War II and culminated to a point of radical transformation in the post-1975 period, which has eventually come to best warrant the term New Hollywood. These changes have been lucidly described in a number of historiographic studies (Ray 1985, Balio 1985, 1990, Schatz 1983, 1993, Gomery 1986, Bernardoni 1991, Corrigan 1991, Hillier 1992, Wasko 1994, Kramer 1998, Neale and Smith 1998, Cook and Bernink 1999) which collectively shed ample light on the completely new situation defining New Hollywood. What has drastically changed is both the ways movies are made and the ways in which Hollywood has been doing business. After the government’s dismantling of the â€Å"vertically-integrated† studio system, the industry turned to producing and selling motion pictures on a film-by-film basis, resulting in the shift of power from studio heads to deal-makers (agents), in the rise of independent producers/directors, and in a more competitive and fragmented movie marketplace (Schatz 9). To the rise of TV and the emergence of other competing media technologies (VCRs, Cable and Satellite TV) Hollywood responded with a re-orientation towards blockbuster movies, â€Å"these high-cost, high-tech, high-stakes, multi-purpose entertainment machines that breed music videos and soundtrack albums, TV series and videocassettes, video games and theme park rides, novelizations and comic books† (Schatz 9). Despite the â€Å"increasingly fragmented but ever more expanding entertainment industry – with its demographics and target audiences, its diversified multimedia conglomerates, its global(ized) markets and new delivery systems†, the calculated blockbuster, as New Hollywood’s feature film, remains the driving force of the industry (ibid. ). This is testified by the monumental success of the blockbuster at the box-office. Schatz cites Variety’s commissioned study of the industry’s all-time commercial hits, in which only 2 movies of the classical period appear to have reached the top, whereas â€Å"90 of the top 100 hits have been produced since 1970, and all of the top 20 since Jaws in 1975†(9). The big-budget, all-star, spectacular hits of the late fifties and early sixties (such as The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Cleopatra, or Dr. Zhivago) have some sizable profits to show for (all in the vicinity of $25-to $50 million). By the standards of their age, they were considered colossal box-office successes; however, by today’s standards they seem quite puny contestants to the post-75 era of super-blockbusters which generate record-setting grosses, well beyond the $100 million barrier (always in constant dollars). And such a figure applies only to theatrical rentals, which accounts just for a percentage of the total revenue of a movie which also finds outlets in ancillary markets. he industry’s spectacular growth and expansion (its horizontal integration) is to a great extent owing to the take-over of the majors (Paramount, Fox, Columbia, MCA/Universal) by huge media empires (Warner/Time Communications, Murdoch’s News Corporations, Sony, Matsushita, respectively) forming multimedia conglomerates with diverse interests in the domestic and the global market, with holdings in movies, TV production, cable, records, book and magazine publications, video games, theme parks, consumer electron ics (both software and hardware). These huge corporations provide financial muscle for the multi-million production budgets of the blockbusters (since the production costs have themselves sky-rocketed), but also market muscle for promotion. Marketing and advertising strategies have been the key to the unprecedented success of the New Hollywood movie since Jaws: through pre-selling, usually cashing in on the popularity of a novel published prior to production, a movie becomes a media â€Å"event† by heavy advertising on prime-time TV and the press, as well as by the massive simultaneous release in thousands of mall-based multiplex theaters. Calculated blockbuster productions are carefully designed to ensure the greatest potential profit not only through extended theatrical rental (sequels, re-issues, remakes, director’s cut), but also though capitalization in ancillary markets: soon the movie will come out on videocassette, audio-cassette, novel, computer game, and the increasingly popular since the mid-nineties, DVD, let alone an extended market career through by-products ranging from the CD movie soundtrack to T-shirts and toys, which contribute to the impressive surge in profits. It becomes obvious thus why contemporary movies cannot be conceived of as individual entities and cannot be separately examined from their economic intertext that renders them part (or rather the driving belt) of a larger entertainment machine and advertising campaign. Expensive blockbusters, which in the early days of the post-classical period were the exception and now, as Schatz states, have become the rule, â€Å"are the central output of modern Hollywood. But what, aside from costs, are their dominant characteristics? How are they able to attract, engage and entertain millions of people? asks Warren Buckland (166). The blockbuster syndrome has also changed the movies’ mode of address. Designed around a main idea, what is called â€Å"high concept†, a blockbuster becomes increasingly plot-driven, increasingly visceral, kinetic, fast-paced, increasingly reliant on special effects, increasingly â€Å"fantastic† (and thus apolitical), and increasingly targeted at younger audiences. And significantly enough, the lack of complex characters or plot [as for example] in Star Wars opens the film to other possibilities, notably its amalgamation of genre conventions and its elaborate play of cinematic references. But while these movies enjoy a great popularity among younger audiences, as their huge box-office success indicates, the loss of narrative integrity to spectacle, and the sense of escapism and triviality usually associated with high-gloss, star glamour and dumb show, has driven most academics or old-cinema cinephiles to summarily shun or dismiss blockbusters as merely calculated exercises in shameless profiteering. Warren Buckland thinks that these arguments about the loss of narrative potential in the contemporary feature film are overstated and attempts to reverse the â€Å"unhelpful and hostile evaluative stance† (167) of the critics towards the blockbuster. Focusing on a typical action-adventure blockbuster, Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Arc heproposes adopting an analytical and descriptive approach to these films, an approach dubbed by Bordwell and Thompson â€Å"historical oetics. † Part of the argument he makes is that â€Å"historical poetics† can account for the popularity of movies with such a broad appeal (and allows us to take them seriously as aesthetic, cultural objects) â€Å"especially because movies are examined in terms of their individuality, including their response to their historical moment, in which style and composition respond to the historical questions posed in the culture in which the film is made† (168-169). In other words, the issue is not so much about the so-called death of narrative—because narrative is still alive and well—but the emergence of a new kind of narrative, whose meaning is conveyed not through traditional narration but by emphasis on spectacle and the visual impact of the pictures which provide additional narrative pleasure and have changed the patterns of viewer response. Thus Buckland’s concluding remark that â€Å"it is perhaps time to stop condemning the New Hollywood blockbuster and to start, instead, to understand it,† carries more merit than we have been ready to admit. My intention in this essay is to extend the argument about the narrative/ spectacle issue in the direction suggested by Buckland, but within a wider, cultural perspective. The supremacy of the visual and the spectacular over traditional narration in the textual form of contemporary movies is not only expressive of the changed production values and the text’s signifying practices; it is also reflective of the changed cultural patterns and lifestyle habits in postmodernity. Classical cinema favored traditional storytelling because it provided a univocal interpretation of life and reflected a uniformity in entertainment habits: cinema was the predominant form of entertainment, as â€Å"the movies attracted 83 cents of every U. S. dollar spent on recreation† (Ray 26). Its nineties counterpart, with its emphasis on the sensational and the spectacular, on episodic action and generic diversification, is a postmodern cinema entertaining the possibility of multiple signification and the hyperreality of the visual, subject to an increasing commodified experience. As Anne Friedberg puts it, â€Å"today the culture industry takes on different forms: Domestic electronics (fax, modems, cable television) follow the interactive model of dialogic telephone communications. The personal computer turns the home user into a desktop publisher, the microwave turns every cook into an instant gourmet, the Walkman transforms each listener into a radio programmer. Both production and reception have been individualized; the culture industry no longer speaks in a univocal, monolithic voice. 189) This proliferation of entertainment venues offered to the individual points to a general malaise often regarded as the central feature of postmodernism, what Featherstone terms â€Å"the fragmentation and overproduction of culture—the key-feature of consumer culture† (76). As Jameson says, â€Å"in postmodern culture, ‘culture’ itself has become a product in its own right; the market has become a substitute for itself and fully as much a commodity as any of the items it includes within itself† (1991 x). In the â€Å"cultural logics of late capitalism,† Jameson’s code-phrase for postmodernity, what is commodified is not simply the image, which has acquired central role in contemporary culture but lived experience itself. As Guy Debord diagnoses in The Society of the Spectacle, â€Å"everything that was lived directly has moved away into a representation (1983 np). Baudrillard, as Friedberg notes, also talks about â€Å"the same phenomenon—representation of the thing replacing the thing—and extends it into a mise-en- abime of the ‘hyperreal,’ where signs refer only to signs. Hyperreality is not just an inverted relation of sign and signifier, but one of receding reference, a deterrence operation in the signifying chain†(178). A part in this process of the commodification of the sign and the derealization of the real has been played by media technologies, especially electronics, as Vivian Sobchack points out: The postmodern and electronic â€Å"instant† †¦ constitutes a form of absolute presence (one abstracted from the continuity that gives meaning to the system past/present/future) and changes the nature of the space it occupies. Without the temporal emphases of historical consciousness and personal history, space becomes abstract, ungrounded, flat—a site for play and display rather than an invested situation in which action â€Å"counts† rather than computes. Such a superficial space can no longer hold the spectator/ user’s interest, but has to stimulate it constantly in the same way a video game does. Its flatness—a function of its lack of temporal thickness and bodily investment—has to attract spectator interest at the surface. †¦ In an important sense, electronic space disembodies.