Initiation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Initiation - Essay Example Theseus sends his illegitimate son, Hippolytus to live in Troezen with his great-grandfather where he expected his stepson to inherit the rule of Troezen. Hippolytus only worshipped Artemis, the goddess of hunt, and failed to acknowledge the other gods. This angered the other gods in particular Aphrodite, the goddess of love. As a result Aphrodite plots Hippolytus’s death by making Phaedra, his step-mother, to fall in love with him (Gieseler 17). Aphrodite causes Phaedra to desire Hippolytus but her stepson is chaste. Hippolytus refuses the advances of his stepmother, who ultimately commits suicide because of this rejection. In her suicide letter to her husband Theseus, Phaedra accuses his stepson of raping her. After reading the paper, Theseus curses his stepson and the curse ultimately leads to his death. Hippolytus as a prince was expected to undergo an initiation process in order to become a member of Pandion’s land. It was during this solemn mystic rite event that her stepmother, Phaedra notices him and develops intimate feelings for him; influenced by the power of Aphrodite In the mythological essence, Hippolytus has no major character flaw that might make him the protagonist of this poem. His only mistake is turning down the advances of his stepmother, in a bid to stick to his chaste principles. His death is tragic, in the very least, but he lacks a major character flaw that led to the downfall of renowned protagonists such as Brutus (Gieseler 24). His father, on the other hand, is blinded by revenge and curses his son. Hippolytus is cursed by people he dearly loved, Theseus, for a sin he never committed. The death of Hippolytus does not fit death of a child motif. His father asked, â€Å"Woe is me! Is it a child’s life death robs me of?† (Gieseler 21). Death of a child motif is always applicable when a child dies without his or her parents’ involvement. However, in the play, Theseus’s curse on his son leads to his death. Hippolytus

Reproductive Health Bill Essay Example for Free

Reproductive Health Bill Essay The Reproductive Health Bill was first proposed in 1998 by Edcel Lagman of Albay. The said bill aims to improve and promote all methods of family planning, both natural and modern, to help our country’s dilemma regarding the continued growth of our population. The RH Bill gives information to family planning. It will improve maternal, infant and child health and nutrition. It promotes breast feeding. Then abortion will remain illegal and it is punishable by law but post-abortion complications will be given medical aid. It also contains prevention of reproductive tract infections like HIV/AIDS, STD, etc; treatment of breast and reproductive tract cancers, and prevention and treatment of infertility. It has elimination of violence against women and also education of sexuality and reproductive health. It includes male involvement and participation in the reproductive health and lastly education of reproductive health for the youth. For several reasons this bill has been an issue in our country for years. It has its pros and cons. Some say it is advantageous because it will really help in the country’s problem, the never ending growth of population that eventually leads to the country’s unchanging state of poverty. Some say it is a no no because of its very ill effects, immorality and sinful act. While, others have no idea what it is nor have any concern about what is happening around them which is really unfortunate. So the researchers thought of conducting a research concerning the thoughts and opinions of the youth about this bill. The youth’s perceptions are important, so are their awareness. Their awareness is a primary concern because they are the future generation. They should be aware of the things going around their environment in order for them to help and participate in developing the country’s economy into a better one. Their views and points may help the society after all.

The Evolution of Skin Tanning Essay -- Sociology Essays Research Paper

The Evolution of Skin Tanning One of Catherine’s insatiable obsessions in Ernest Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden is to darken her skin color. She accomplishes this by sun tanning at every opportunity possible, and naturally, her skin turns many shades darker. Catherine’s skin tanning fixation at the time the story takes place coincides with the premiere of skin tanning as a stylish and chic fashionable pursuit. Traditionally, tanned skin was undesirable to the public. Prior to the industrial revolution, most manual labor was done outside under the sun where such constant exposure resulted in darker skin. Consequently, because manual labor was a staple of the lower classes, tanned skinned also became associated with the destitute and unprosperous (BBC). Not only was dark skin undesirable, but people craved for pale skin. The relaxed elite wanted to show that they stayed indoors because of the needlessness to be outside in the sun doing any type of work of their own. Thus, pale skin became linked with the wealthy and high class (The Tanning Taboo). This lead to practices by the elite such as covering most of their body when they went swimming and carrying around parasols to shade themselves from the sun (Sun and Clouds). The desire for paleness dates all the way back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who would use lead paints and chalk to make their faces white and colorless as possibl e (Tanning). In 18th century France and Elizabethan England, royalty would go to such lengths as powdering their faces with toxins to get a pale hue on their faces (The Tanning Taboo). Until the 20th century, nobody desired bronzed skin in Europe or America. A few events lead to the change in the public’s feelings toward tanned ski... ...f Tanning† California Tan Heliotherapy. 14 November 2002. http://www.californiatan.com/tanbasic/history_of_tan.ehtm - A website about tanning history from the 1920s to present. Rutherford, Kim. â€Å"The Tanning Taboo† September 2001. The Nemours Foundation. 14 November 2002. - The Nemours Foundation’s site aimed at informing kids about sun safety. â€Å"Sun and Clouds - The Sun in History† The Chemical Heritage Foundation. 14 November 2002. http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/pharm/chemo/readings/tsih.htm> - The Chemical Heritage Foundation’s site about the human/sun relationship. â€Å"Tanning† Cool Nurse. 14 November 2002. < http://www.coolnurse.com/tanning.htm> ‑ The Cool Nurse website about safe tanning that also reveals the development of the tan.

K pax

Mental Disorders are huge impacts in people's lives. In this movie I have learned that Proto, the main character who is supposedly from a different planet called â€Å"K-Paxar†. When Proto comes to Earth, you first see him in Grand Central Station In New York City when Proto mysteriously Just appears. When the police asks him where he Is from and he explains that he is from the planet K-PAXAR, he Is arrested and sent off to Bellevue, a psychiatric hospital. When he gets to the psychiatric hospital, he meets Doctor Powell. Doctor Powell asks Proto many questions Including, do they have families and do they have wives or husbands.Proto answers that they do not have any families on K-Paxar, nor do they have wives or husbands, and If the girlfriends gets pregnant, the kids will Just be wandering around almost as If they are orphans. At the first meeting with Proto and Doctor Powell, Proto eats an apple, which he calls the apple a â€Å"Red Delicious†. When he eats the apple he chews very loud, later on In the movie he eats a banana, with the peel on and he eats It whole. Proto says that he travels faster than the speed of light. Proto tells the doctor that he Is Three-Hundred and Thirty-seven years old in human years.Proto wears dark sunglasses because he says that he is very sensitive to the light. Later on in the movie proto tells Howe, which is another patient at the psychiatric hospital, that if he can succeed three tasks that Proto will cure Howe. The first task is to find the Blue bird of happiness, when they saw a blue bird everyone in the hospital was very excited to see. After Howe saw the Blue bird, proto gave him another task which was to ***** and the last wish was to stay at the hospital. Proto says he can only bring one person back to K-PAXAR. Proto says he can only stay until July. 27 at 5:51 A.M eastern time. Throughout the movie, Doctor Powell comes attached to Proto. At a fourth of July party at doctor Powell, when proto arrives to t he party he goes straight to the dog and has a conversation with the dog. When the food came out at the party, Proto was only eating the fruit salad. One of Doctor Bowel's daughters asked proto to push her on the swing. While Proto was pushing the girl, it seemed as if he has done it before but then Doctor Powell other daughter and Nephew turned on the sprinkler which flipped a switch and he just freaked out, almost as if he had a bad experience with water.

Loyalty and Betrayal in a Political Context

Two recent Chinese films, Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Zhang Yimon’s   Hero (2002), have gained worldwide attention, garnering numerous awards in the process. Although set in very different periods of Chinese history, both films deal with the themes of loyalty and betrayal played out against a vigorously political backdrop. This political philosophy even weaves through out the stories, marking a radical change from previous socialist-realistic Chinese films which mainly had an operatic focus. In the past, Chinese films were heavily censored and did not appeal to a wide audience. What occurred within the Chinese culture to allow for films which gained international acclaim and dealt freely with controversial concepts, such as   the political atmosphere of China? Both Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimon are Chinese fifth generation directors. This genre evolved after Mao’s death in 1976, causing film to have   the widest international impact of all the Chinese arts reborn since then. Distinguished by a quantum leap from the political and cultural heritage of Mao, and achieving an â€Å"aesthetic breakthrough† with radically politicized ideological implications, this movement nevertheless was formed in a crucible (Zhang, 203). The 1984 release of Kaige’s film Yellow Earth revealed the emergence of a major new movement in world cinema, the fifth generation, which gained its name from critics and scholars based upon a retrospective examination of Chinese film history. It   is one of the cinema’s most important â€Å"new waves,† along with German expressionism, the French new wave, and Italian neo realism. The canon is comprised of the works of a group of young film artists with similar aesthetic and ideological motivations. The fifth generation emerged from the first graduating class of the Beijing Film Academy; students who had encountered tumultuous changes within their own lives, not being allowed to finish their high school educations, ( which didn’t resume until 1977), but being sent instead to the countryside as â€Å"intellectual youth,† becoming soldiers or laborers.   Although Kaige’s father was a well known Beijing film director, Yimou’s father had been an officer in Chiang Kai-Shek’s nationalist KMT army and Yimou was shut out of most educational, financial and social opportunities available to many of his future classmates at the Film Academy. However, the arrival of the Cultural Revolution functioned as a great equalizer, as   most members of the fifth generation forfeited education, saw their parents publicly criticized, and their lives swept up in turmoil. Yimou took up photography during this time, while Kaige tried to join the communist party.(Ij, 1). According to Paul Clark in his book Reinventing China: A Generation and its Film, the cultural revolution forever changed the members of the fifth generation. They emerged from it challenged by their experiences, endowing their films with a more critical attitude toward the cultural revolution and a more humane and realistic take on the lives of their fellow Chinese. While at the Beijing Film Academy the students had a shortage of textbooks from which to work. The professors instead exposed them to foreign films. Thus the students became filmmakers by watching and analyzing these foreign works. After graduation the students were assigned to various urban and rural studios across China, creating works that tried to reconstruct a national cinema after ten years of neglect and oppression. Rejecting rigid formalism, the filmmakers   created more realistic lighting, and used better actors and editors. They also created more ambiguous, less didactic stories. With the catastrophe at Tianamen Square in 1989,   and the ensuing crackdown on the fifth generation in the 1990s by authorities who weren’t comfortable with   many of the politics contained within the films, the restricted filmmakers began looking for international financing. The resulting films brought more international attention to Chinese cinema than ever before (Clark, 205). The filmmakers’ goals were to present themselves as artists with an aesthetic sensibility and to comment on the totality of their culture and history at a metaphorical or allegorical level. By assuming the margins vis a vis the mainstream, the Chinese new wave cinema offers itself as a substitute for and a supplement to, the emerging nationalist cinema. With spectacular visual effects, idiosyncratic and forceful storytelling, the films are a cultural reconstitution of Chinese modernity (Zhang, 276). Although originally banned in China, which allowed only one public showing because the film showed communism in a bad light, Farewell My Concubine is considered to be one of the fifth generation’s seminal works in focusing attention   from international audiences toward Chinese films.   Farewell My Concubine resembles several other fifth generation films in that it is a tale of human lives set against the context of China’s turbulent political upheaval during the mid twentieth century. Because it recalls the collective trauma of the cultural revolution, Farewell My Concubine and its engagement in the national memory has frequently been interpreted as an epic national narrative. Yet it also functions as a cataclysmic tale of loyalty and betrayal, an intimate story surrounding two Peking Opera performers, Xiaolou and Dieyi,   who bond as the young boys then named Shitou and Douzi. They   are severely abused by their training master and experience many hardships. But their friendship gets them through their difficulties.   This bond produces intense and lifelong loyalty between the two boys. They continue to be inseparable, until a prostitute named Juxian comes between them   when she marries Xiaolou. Later, the Japanese invasion and cultural revolution intervene in their relationship, provoking various declarations of betrayal. The story begins in 1934 and spans 53 years until 1977. The two men’s lives are viewed against a backdrop of a country in upheaval as the movies journeys through various times in China’s history. Each section, which is integral to the plot,   shows a different era in the lives of the characters and the historical background from the Warlords through the cultural revolution, including the Japanese invasion of 1937 and the communist takeover (â€Å"Farewell My Concubine,† 1). As the movie begins, a young Dieyi is abandoned at the opera troupe by his own mother after she cruelly cuts off his extra finger. Even though his mother, a whore, deserts him because he is a burden, he quickly gains a loving replacement in the form of Xiaolou. During the early lives of Dieyi and the other young actor, Xiaolou, the fierce friendship forms as they train and   are punished, always looking out for each other. From the first Xiaolou watches out for his little friend. He finds him a place to sleep and rebukes all the teasers. Later, Dieyi runs away, promising his three coins to Xiaolou.   Dieyi tells the master after he returns that Xiaolou was not responsible, just to punish him, even though Xiaolou is punished anyway. At another point, when Dieyi can’t remember his lines to say that â€Å" I am a girl,† and shuts down,   Xiaolou punishes him by forcing a stick in his mouth so that Dieyi will stay around and remain in the troupe. Yet this act of pain is also an act of love and Xiaolou cries throughout as he administers this rebuke. Thirteen years go by and their hardships pay off as the boys grow up to become major stage stars; their loyalty continues even as they are famous performers in Peking. Their bond becomes even stronger as they become more acclaimed. Although they are as close as two men can be, Dieyi yearns for even more. Even though the subject of homosexuality is only once overtly referred to in Farewell My Concubine, its presence is never far from the surface.   Xiaolou rejects that sort of connection from Dieyi, yet   nothing still comes between them; or so it seems. After Xiaolou saves a prostitute with a fake declaration of engagement, she comes to him and forces him to make good on the public acknowledgement. They marry, and while Xiaolou makes his stage brother Dieyi, his best man, Dieyi feels betrayed and acts pettishly, refusing even to come to the party until the last minute, then leaving abruptly. With Juxian in the picture, Dietyi has a moral dilemma which becomes confusing to him. From the beginning his sense of identity has been muddled, with the master’s continual insistence that he say â€Å" I am a girl,† in his role as a female within the opera. Yet role acting and reality have become blurred for him. As a child his mother was a prostitute, he was raped by an old man, his friend was stolen from him by a woman, then he goes to Master Yeun in a sexual   relationship (â€Å" Farewell My Concubine,†1). Later, in Dieyi’s trial for fraternizing with the Japanese (said fraternizing occurring only because he is trying to save Xiaolou and is promised by Juxian that she will leave her husband and return to the brothel if he helps, but she reneges), all Dieyi’s friends try to cover for him, even lying that he had been taking away in handcuffs. Dieyi rebukes them publicly, saying that he sang of his own free will,   causing the others to lose face by his betrayal to their loyalty. As mentioned previously, Farewell My Concubine has been considered to be an epic national epic, but contrary to this popular perception, Kaige focuses on the intimate architectural spaces of his native city Beijing and recalls its past; the pain of betrayal is vividly depicted in the film as the two stage brothers are publicly forced to renounce each other with irreversible consequences. Those unfamiliar with the history of Chinese communism are in for a shocking crash course as the devastating scenes unfold (â€Å"Chinese Film, 1). During the cultural revolution, both men, betrayed by a boy Dieyi saved from death, are forced to parade as spectacles in full operatic regalia. Yet they resemble pathetic clowns with mismatched makeup and signs around their necks.   Xiaolou and Dieyi are made to kneel with countless others to confess their sins against the people. Touchingly, but to no avail, Dieyi attempts his usual trick of swooping Xiaolou’s makeup up in order to make it look better. However,   garish makeup seems to be the least of their worries. Forced to talk against each other, Xiaolou starts out in euphemistic terms, declaring Dieyi to be one who sang for all, both small and great; a man who is a consummate artist of the people and for the people. Yet this is turned against him and he must betray Dieyi with more vehement declarations.  Ã‚   Even though Dieyi sang for the Japanese in order to free him, Xiaolou declares him a traitor and also tells the masses of his illicit homosexual relationship with Master Yeun. After Dieyi calls Juxian a prostitute in retaliation, Xiaolou also renounces his wife, saying he never loved her. Her pain knows no bounds and as a result of his betrayal, she hangs herself. So much sorrow and damage occurs during these public denunciations which happen to also mirror the filmmaker’s own life.   Kaige remains haunted that he was forced to publicly denounce   his father during his   youth in the cultural revolution (â€Å"Chinese Film,† 1). The film ends as years later, when the revolution has ended,   the stage brothers are once again together in an opera.   During the performance Xiaolou announces he is too old. Whether intentional or not, Dieyi forgets the lines that say he is a girl; and Xiaolou prompts him. Dieyi continues with the play, only to stab himself and die. The friends are still together: in life and in death. Although different in style from Farewell My Concubine, Hero is a film that   has caused   unprecedented fervor, judging from the response of much of the population   of China. So far, it is the most popular   Chinese film ever released in the country, making phenomenal money there, only slightly less than Titanic. Despite being regarded by some Chinese as pandering to western tastes, the film also made enough money in the United States alone to cover production costs, providing a portal for many western viewers to begin watching other Chinese films previously unknown in the west. Like other films of the fifth generation genre, this movie demonstrates a rejection of  the socialist- realist tradition worked by the earlier communist Chinese filmmakers. With   the ever popular Jet Li as the star, the film is loosely based during the time of the warring  states, a period before the unification of China. This story has also been told in other  versions, notably Kaige’s The Emperor and the Asssassin (1998) and Zhou Xiaowen’s The Emperor’s Shadow (1996). Yet Yimon chose to develop his own historical story  based on the turbulent days leading up to the founding of the Qin dynasty when seven  kingdoms struggled for supremacy. This setting contrasts with the mystical â€Å"martial worlds† of   similar films which exist somewhere away from reality. (Qin in Wade Gilles  parlance is the same as Ch’in from which the English word for China probably derived). (Chinese Film, 2). With Hero Yimon is working out of the tradition of the wuxia pian: a swordplay or martial arts film. Not   to be confused with a kung fu movie, this concepts involves a more idealized realm of legendary heroes living marginalized, carefree lives on the edges of everyday society. Their weapons of choice are swords, spears, and daggers. In the typical wuxian film, some incident draws the swordsman into the everyday world, in order to fight, albeit reluctantly. However, he retains a firm moral compass to defend the helpless against corrupt officials or leaders. The genre has been a regular part of Chinese cinema since the 20s (â€Å"Hero,† 1). Yet the genre has been reconfigured by Yimon, who addresses the present by looking backwards and sideways; backwards to the 90s postmodern wuxia   persona and sideways to Hong Kong commercial cinema. Absorbing the subversive innovations of Hong Kong film directors Tsui Hark and Wong Kar Wai, Yimon also digs back to his roots, and recreates as wuxia pian, the cinema of pure spectacle and philosophical meditation that he as a cinematographer and Chen Kaige created in 1984 with Yellow Earth. Using spectacle rather than storytelling is one way to open up the complex world of Hero to the violent opposing critical reactions (Chinese Cinema, 2). Also, he no longer uses revenge as the sole element comprising the story. With Hero Yimon attempts to move martial arts beyond the concept of revenge, even as he explores what it means to be a martial hero (Kung Fu Cinema, 1). As the tale progresses, this film also incorporates themes of loyalty and betrayal, using a series of Rashomon flashbacks. Like the layers of an onion unfolding, each unraveled   tale produces additional insights. These accounts shape the story of how one man defeats three assassins who sought to murder the most powerful warlord   in reunified China ( IMDB,1) As the story begins, Jet Li, who is called Nameless, starts to recount his martial victories to the emperor of Qin, telling how he defeated each of the three assassins, all members of a neighboring kingdom, who are sworn to kill the king to avenge their subjugation. Thus the main protagonist is seen defending the cause traditionally attributed to the villain by protecting the thing that causes others to seek revenge. Yet subsequent flashbacks revisit and reinterpret the same events, elaborating on and changing the story as it continues. However, it is only after the initial setup that the king responds with his own version of events. As a new story unfolds, it is literally painted in a different color. Even as this account unfolds, there appears a third which happens to be the final version of the truth (Kung Fu Cinema, 1). Through each successive narrative, the viewer sees friendship and loyalty among the assassins, who then appear pained when it seems that they are betrayed. Each story has the characters questioning themselves and others regarding motives, wondering who is their true friend and true love, then going to extreme lengths to prove that love and undying loyalty. With each version motives are questioned as to whom is the true person and whom is the betrayer. Things are never what they seem. Sky allows himself to be killed because he is loyal to a higher cause, while Nameless appears to be loyal to the king when actually he wants to kill him because he destroyed his family and kingdom. Sky, Broken Sword, Flying Snow and Nameless appear to have differing relationships in each of the three versions. In one version Snow is furious that Broken Sword had a chance to kill the king, then refused; that he appeared to have betrayed their group. He tells Nameless why. His calligraphy   showed â€Å"our land.† Nameless later gives this calligraphy to the king. It is a Chinese proverb which states,† to suffer yourself when all under heaven suffer, to enjoy only when all under heaven enjoy.†Ã‚   This is concept greater than individual loyalty. Transcending personal vendettas, it calls for the greater good of the masses. Nameless ought to consider what is right for the majority, and not just what is right for himself. As a chivalrous hero of great skill in the wuxia tradition, Nameless is duty bound to do whatever is most righteous, no matter the personal cost to himself (â€Å"Hero†, 4). When Nameless gets the chance to kill the king and comes within ten paces of him to do so, telling him of his personal grudge, he too recalls â€Å"our land.† and allows himself to be executed for a greater good, becoming loyal to a country rather than just his immediate surroundings. Dying a criminal he is buried as a hero. In the meantime, there is always a relationship between Broken Sword and Flying Snow, one so powerful that it defies betrayal by other relationships. By the end, although Snow is confused whether Broken Sword really loves her, whether he is truly loyal, he shows her by refusing to defend himself in a fight. She kills him, then distraught over the act, kills herself so they will go home together. As Nameless debates over what to do in his meeting with the king, Yimon actually shows both characters as heroes. Both have causes to which they are loyal. One is a defender with raging inner turmoil, and the other is a unifier with raging outer turmoil as he struggles to bring all the competing kingdoms together. Yet Nameless undergoes a spiritual and emotional transformation as he finds that being a true hero means rising above one’s petty loyalties; it also takes trust to find a higher cause. Both men share insights that aid them to overcome their mutual conflict as they share the ideal that both want what is best for the masses. As Nameless empties himself of his own desires, renouncing what he wants, he becomes invulnerable. Led by Broken Sword, Nameless has grown to accept that his loyalties were merely provisional, way stations on the path to something greater, though less tangible. By doing so, he echoes the philosophical tenets of Daoism with his self emptying. (Cinema Scope,p. 9). Yet Yimou has been criticized for rewriting history, portraying the King of Qin as rosier than past historical accounts have shown. These accounts demonstrate that the man was a brutal tyrant. Additionally, the film’s strong adherence to sacrificing one’s individuality for the good of the many as filtered through the state is a concept the pro communist Chinese government was pleased with. However, at a press conference Yimou insisted that choosing which dynasty to put in the story was an aesthetic choice not preconditioned by any one political slant (Kung Fu, 1). Many critics deride Yimou over the position in the film, forgetting that this was one of several narratives. Granted, the story can be seen as putting the good of the many over the good of the individual; that loyalty to the masses trumphs individual loyalty. However, Hero can also be seen as a multiple narrative since the tales by Nameless and the king are mutually contradictory. In this context, tyranny is not simply a means to an end. Although viewers who want to align themselves with the king of Qin will see a paean to Chinese unity and totalitarianism,; the reading is there for the taking. But such a position neglects to take into account the film’s clear message of underminding the limited authority of any single individual and the idea of narrative as closure itself. Cinema Scope Magazine notes that Hero celebrates absence as spectacle, glorifying absolute renunciation and perfect nonviolence as preconditions for peace. Like Nameless, it speaks to power, underminding authority’s grip on narrativity. Instead of a struggle within the narrative, Hero puts the control of the narrative into dispute. It is really about who has control of the story: Nameless or the king. As filmed philosophically, it is Yimou’s continual challenge to any   state or empire. Hero is allied to Daoism, a set of ideals which finds fullness in absence, transcendence in renunciation, fullness in letting go. The Lao Txu Dao’s primary text was written during the time of the Warring States, the period of turmoil that ended with the unification of China under Qin. In Hero he is still years away from this great accomplishment, simply the king of Qin. Yimou’s best recent films The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) and Not One Less contain the same concept of speaking stories to power. Yimou has struggled with authorities over who gets to tell the authentic story; how divergent it can be from the official version . He still has movies such as To Live that are officially banned in China today because of their recount of the unacceptably critical history of the People‘s Republic of china form 1945 to the 70s   (â€Å"Hero,† 3). Both Farewell My Concubine and Hero are marvelous spectacles, demonstrating in differing styles various allegiances, alliances, and betrayals; even renunciation of individual loyalty for the greater good. A glimpse of turbulent Chinese history can be gleaned through the films. The international audience is so much the   richer for having these works in their repetoire. References Clark, P. (2005).   Republic of China: A Generation and its Films. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press â€Å"Chinese Film,† (2006). Wikipedia. Retrieved 5 August 2006. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/farewell_my_concubine/ CinemaScope. (2003). Vol 5, issue I, no14. Retrieved 4 August 2006. â€Å"Farewell My Concubine.† (2006). Chinese Cinema.org.   Retrieved 5 August 2006. www.chinesecinema.org â€Å"Hero,† (2004). Men’s Health. September. Retrieved 4 August 2006. Ij, F. (2005). â€Å"Review of Reinventing China: A Generation and its Film† Film Criticism. Vol. 30. IMDB.(2006). www.internetmoviedatabase.net   Retrieved 4 August 2006. Kung Fu Cinema. (2006). www.kungfucinema.com Retrieved 6 August 2006. â€Å"Movie Reviews,† (2006). Colossus.net. Retrieved $ August 2006 www.colossus.net Zhang, X. (1997). Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reform. Durham, NC: Duke U Press.                                          

William Robinson-Rise to Fame essays

William Robinson-Rise to Fame essays (b) Write a brief article for the journal Art and Australia about Australian artist William Robinson. Your article should examine how relationships between the agencies of the art world have contributed to his rise to fame. In 1976 his work fetched the then flattering price of seven hundred dollars. Since then both the price and the talent we associate with his work has taken an ever increasing upward spiral. In fact, only a few years ago his Creation Series: The Ancient Trees, 19978 reached a record price of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Two time winner of both the Archibald Prize for portraiture and the Wynne prize for landscape painting Australia painter William Robinson is still able to amaze many with his beautiful portrayals of the Australian landscapes. Robinsons talent and the high quality and artistic achievement in his paintings were first recognised by the National Gallery of Victoria, an establish gallery who purchased one f his large landscapes, showcasing his work to the public. This initial exposure allowed art dealers, critics and the museum going public to witness his work. Ray Hughes, an art dealer, recognised Robinsons talent and soon after began exhibiting his Robinsons in his own Brisbane and Sydney museums. The artist in 1987 submitted his painting entitled Equestrian Self-Portrait into the Archibald Prize for Portraiture, Australias Premier Portraiture Award, a highly prestigious award showcasing contenders in the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Robinson soon after took first place and was awarded a cash prize as well as the publicity the prize itself generated. This was only the beginning. In 1990 and 1995, William Robinson took first place and was awarded the Wynne prize for Landscape painting for his paintings The Rainforest, 1990 and Creation Landscape: earth and Sea, 1995. This prize was awarded to the painting ...

Microsoft Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Microsoft - Case Study Example Along with this Microsoft excel and Microsoft word are both consider as the leaders in their respective markets, and at that time both the Microsoft products took away the leadership from their leading products. Microsoft on the other hand also leads all the applications suite market along with its office system, because there were many other products that aimed at the business market. (Msters, 198, no page) The first ever product, which Microsoft created, was one of the versions of basic language for the very first computers known as Altair 8800. At that time Microsoft also continued to be a leader in the area of software development market along with its visual STUDIO NET and also MICROSOFT SQL. These both above-mentioned services are used in order to create much better known software, which also runs on the Windows operating system. Apart from this Microsoft are also considering as a target for anti-competitive practices, it is also consider as one of the most powerful and also most successful software companies ever formed. Furthermore there were many companies which have no doubt tried to bring this company down but they all failed. Because Microsoft is a company, which continues to further, expand in future. Microsoft known is one of the best companies in the field of information technology. Bill Gates the owner of Microsoft presented such types of information technology related products, which are proved very much advantageous for us. Different kinds of operating systems which are now used very much frequently are much more advantageous and beneficial for all of us. The operating systems invented by the Microsoft are such kind of the operating system, which provides deep insight knowledge for each and every customer or for those who use it frequently. (Msters, 198, no page) Microsoft has done really a great job; it has provided us much different kind of facilities with the help of which we can do various tasks in just a second. It's only because of it that now we are able to perform different kinds of duties and tasks very easily. MAIN BODY This part basically includes the inventions, which are done by Microsoft. Disk operating system, which is also known as DOS, was a perfect kind of operating system that helps a lot the company to find its first real success. It was only the disk operating system (DOS) with the help of which Microsoft gained a huge success, and this huge success made Microsoft one of the best worldwide company or organization. Later on during the transition of MS DOS to windows, Microsoft gained more and more success and this success allowed the company also to attain ground on the application software competitors. (Msters, 198, no page) Later on in 1993, Microsoft also released a windows known as windows NT 3.1, which is known as a business for an operating system along with this the windows 3.1 was also termed as an user interface but apart from this it was an entirely different and unique operating system. Microsoft is considered as an innovative and also a creative organization or a company, because behind the success of each and every company there is a special thing which is used in order to gain more and more suc