Coexistence of Blockbuster and Independent Films in America

Film making continues to be one of the leading contributors to the American entertainment industry. Development of film making has gone through many years of evolution to the present day blockbusters and independent films. Blockbuster films are films that are produced by large companies with high costs. These films are made by sophisticated machines in major film studios, aiming to appeal to the audience. In the past, blockbusters have depended on the amount of money invested in it, including distribution efforts put in place (Stringer 101). In most cases, popularity of these films was not considered. However, the vast monetary investments put into such projects have at sometimes not yielded the expected returns.

Independent films are produced by independent film companies without the use of major film studios. They are characterized by the low budgets and simple production means, unlike the blockbuster films (Lyons 23). Furthermore, the style and content are also distinct from blockbusters. They are made to reflect the feelings and artistic ideas of those who make the films. Due to the low budgets allocated for independent film productions, their release to the market is also limited, apart from other times when large releases and marketing are made. They can also be screened in big theatrical stages and festivals if given necessary funding for the same. Film producers came up with low cost independent films to avoid the high charges that were associated by the major studio productions. This came after the realization that cheaper methods could be put in place to make successful productions.

There are different genres that filmmakers use to pass different messages to the audiences. Romance is one of the most produced genres in the present time, by both blockbuster and independent film producers. Due to the amount of money invested in blockbusters, guarantee of returns may not be possible in the present time (Stringer 101). Therefore, many filmmakers have resorted into ensuring the coexistence of the two types of film productions. Note that the audience is always attracted to the film hits in the market. The ability to release a good production out a less budget is a plus to the producers.

Romance films require lots of short close up scenes to ensure that the audience is able to connect with the characters, production styles that can best be given by independent film production. On the other hand, blockbusters employ long shots that track the characters in order to give a wide view of the action, something that may not give the intended effects on a romance film. Romance films also require adequate development of characters, something that a blockbuster film would require to employ independent film production styles (Lyons 50). For this reason, production of such films would require the use of different production styles in order to come up with the required product (Stringer 105).

In conclusion, it is evident that differences exist between the two types of film production in America. It is appreciated that all have been and are still important in the film entertainment industry. However, due to the increasing change of consumer preferences, independent filmmaking has turned out to be an instrument part as seen in the outcome and returns. The high quality and less expensive production tools have made it possible to come with great romance films. On the same note, blockbuster filmmakers have employed independent film production styles to ensure that romance character development is done well. In the long run, the American filmmakers have been able to make returns out of their productions due to less production costs.

Works Cited
Lyons, Donald. Independent Visions: A Critical Introduction to Recent Independent American
Film, Ballantine Books, 2004. Web. Sep 7, 2013. ISBN 0-345-38249-8.
Stringer, Julian (Ed.). Movie Blockbusters, London, Routledge, 2003. Print.

Surname 2

Domestic Violence in Sleeping with the Enemy: Laura Burney

Plot Summery
Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 psychological film that features Julia Roberts as Laura Burney, who acts as a wife who undergoes physical abuse at the hands of the husband, Martin. In this film, Martin is a wealthy investment advisor who lives with his wife in Cape Cod’s beach home. He seems to suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), a condition that makes him exert much control and possessiveness on his wife Laura Burney. It is also evident that the abusive behavior against Laura starts immediately after their marriage as evident in how he orders her around. One day, Martin physical assaults Laura to punish him for allegedly having an affair with a handsome neighbor.

Laura plans to escape from her abusive husband and the best way is to fake her death at the sea. Apparently, she had Martin believe her inability to swim, even after secretly undertaking swimming lessons at the YWCA. On that particular day, Laura and are boating when she reportedly falls on the water and drowned, however, her swimming skills are adequate to make her swim to the shore. She manages to escape to Cedar Fall, Iowa, where she rents a small apartment under a different identity as Sara Waters. At this place, Laura meets Ben Woodward, a drama schoolteacher who later falls in love with her. As the relationship continues, Ben discovers that Sara is not her real name amidst other past secrets. Laura opens herself and confesses her runway from an abusive husband (Goldberg and Ruben, 1991).

Meanwhile, Martin discovers that Laura is not dead and traces her through contacts from YWCA and Laura’s mother. He then embarks on a mission to look for Laura irrespective of circumstances at hand. He manages to catch up with Laura and Ben and follows them home, after which he approaches Laura in a confrontation. Ben appears and Martin threatens to shoot him. However, the scuffle leads to Martin’s death after three shot from Laura (Goldberg and Ruben, 1991).

Types of Domestic Violence in the Film
Sleeping with the Enemy is a film that depicts the prevalence of domestic violence against women. The people at the centre of this episode are a husband and wife, that is, Martin and Laura. Laura is the victim who has to put up with various kinds of abuses from Martin, the abuser. There are physical, psychological, and sexual abuses in the film, with each of them evident at different stages. Physical abuse is evident when Martin hits Laura after suspecting him of having an affair with an equally attractive neighbor (Goldberg and Ruben, 1991). It has happens to an extent that the audience feels the impact of the abuse. According to him, he does this punish and scare his wife from such relationships.
Sexual abuses are also ev

ident in various forms in this film. At the beginning of the film, Martin is portrayed as a happy person when in social places when accompanied with his wife. In fact, he loves parading and showing off his wife amongst his peers. However, the situation is different at home as evidenced by the constant feminism abuse that arise from Laura’s inability to satisfy his seemingly perfectionist stand. He believes that as a man and a husband, he must take full control over his wife, and at the same time, the wife must know her place as the woman. Because of this, he continues to psychologically torture Laura when things are not arranged in the house as per his idealistic view (Goldberg and Ruben, 1991). In essence, Laura turns out to be a pure servant who is under possession of the husband.

Impact of Domestic Violence on Laura
Laura is Martin’s wife; however, the treatment she receives from the husband does not depict how such a relationship should exist. According to the film, abuses have continued since their wedding day, something that causes worries on the situation. The continued verbal abuses on Laura have led to immense psychological problems as she remains fearful living with Martin. Martin believes that a woman’s place is the house and must ensure that things are arranged as per his perception, failure to which, verbal abuses are received (Aldarondo, 1996).

When Martin physically abuses Laura, it acts as the climax of the domestic violence. The impact that it has on the audience clearly shows that something is wrong. This is the point when Laura starts to fear for her life and plans to escape from the husband. However, Laura finds it difficult to escape due to Martin’s possessive nature. Fear becomes Laura’s biggest problem, as she has to put up with a husband who treats her as a slave and not as a wife. This is the reason she plans to escape by faking her own death at the sea. The plan entails secretly undergoing swimming classes at the YWCA to help her swim to safety.

Theoretical Explanations of Domestic Violence
A number of theories have been developed in attempt to explain the course for domestic violence in different families. These theories try to identify factors that may lead to the outbreak of violence against a family member. In Sleeping with the Enemy, the husband (Martin) propagates violence against the wife (Laura). Biological theory can be used to explain the kind of violence in this film. Biologically, it is believed that men can propagate violence against their wives out of sexual jealousy, fearing to lose her to a better partner. Therefore, the husband can turn violent towards the wife to exert some sexual control and at the same time scare her from settling down with other partners (Aldarondo, 1996). This is evident in Sleeping with the Enemy when Martin physically abuses Laura for having an affair with an attractive neighbor. He knows that this is the best way to scare her from him. Furthermore, Martin decides to look for Laura after realizing that she has a lover in Cedar Falls. Unluckily, he loses his life in the confrontation after being shot by Laura.

Feminist approach can also be used to explain Martin’s behavior on his wife. This theory looks into the equality that exists between the males and females that eventually leads to the domestic abuse against women. In the society, there exist structures that prevent equal participation of women and men in undertaking certain duties. In most cases, the social structures have made the men have control over women, which is violence in itself. In this film, Martin believes he is the man and the husband with the right to control and possess the wife, Laura. For this reason, he takes his wife as tool to be used when in need. This is the reason for his praising his wife when out on social functions with rich friends. However, the case is different when they are at home, when Martin hulls physical abuses for disorders in the house. According to him, the wife is responsible for perfectly arranging the house and not him. He has no idea that the wife can also perform some duties he performs and vice versa.

Intervention Opportunities
An attempt to intervene when faced with domestic violence can help save a life. Otherwise, abuses can lead to extreme physical and psychological effects on the victims. The film shows two occasions when interventions helped save the situation and more harm. After the physical abuse, Laura hatched the escape plan that made her take swimming lessons in order to effect. Her ability to successfully execute the escape plan was an important intervention that ensured she stayed away from the abusive husband. By this, she was able to move to a new location where she was happy and safe living in a small house.

When Martin confronted Laura in Cedar Falls, Ben was to be the shooting victim. However, Laura was able to help the situation by confusing Martin, leading to a scuffle between the two men. At that point, Laura got the opportunity to grab the gun from Martin, the gun that she later used to shoot him dead. This was the last intervention that ensured that Laura was safe from the endless abuses from Martin.
A strategy for helping Laura
Domestic violence victims need to be helped in order to overcome and escape from the abusive mates. However, it is always difficult to convince the abused to leave the matrimonial home. Most victims resort to staying on and enduring the abuse, something that may lead to permanent damages to the body. Nevertheless, the need to help such victims cannot be overlooked as it stands to save the situation. For instance, Laura has endured abuses from Martin since their wedding day, a clear sign of problems with Martin. She decides to hold on until one day she is physically abused for relating to another man. Even though she decided to start an escape strategy, she should have looked for other professional help on how to deal with the situation. Perhaps, the situation could have not reached that point.

She should have learnt the different signs that Martin used to instill violence on her. This could have helped in the avoiding points of violence. On the same note, it is evident that Laura was a slave to Martin because of lack of financial independence. There is no evident that she worked anywhere for wages, something that might have made her millionaire husband control her at will. Therefore, if he could have sought help from relevant domestic violence centers, she could have gotten some economical empowerment.

A Comprehensive Treatment Plan
Obviously, Laura is psychologically traumatized from the whole experience with Martin. For this reason, she may not been in a position to settle in a new relationship with Ben without adequate treatment of her situation. The most appropriate method would entail extensive counseling sessions in a bid to heal her of the trauma. In essence, the counseling classes should seek to help her understand that her experience was not her fault. At the same time, the sessions should help her know the dynamics of domestic violence, just in case the situation arises in the new relationship.

To ensure success, therapy is the main treatment method that helps the domestic violence victims. The first type is the group therapy that would seek to make Laura identify with other domestic victims by sharing their experiences (Beck, Freeman and Associates, 1990). This would be important in ensuring that she sees herself with some future hope. Survivor therapy is the second method that would follow the group therapy. The principles from this kind of therapy stand to help Laura heal from the trauma of the violence as well as helping her understand more on the subject (Beck, Freeman and Associates, 1990).

References
Aldarondo, E. (1996). Cessation and Persistence of Wife Assault: A Longitudinal Analysis.
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 66(1): 141-151. Retrieved September 9, 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajop.1996.66.issue-1/issuetoc
Beck, T., Freeman, A. & Associates (1990). Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorders. New
York, NY: Guilford.
Goldberg, L. (Producer), & Ruben, J. (Director). (1991). Sleeping with the Enemy (Motion
Picture). United States: 20th Century Fox. Retrieved September 9, 2013 from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sleepingwiththeenemy.htm

Running head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY 1

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY 8

Film Review

Willow overview
Entering into the world of Willow is a journey that takes you to the farthest corners of your thoughts and also to the land of magical and fairy tale whereby realities and dreams live side by side. This is a world where a young man Willow lives out an exploration that goes off past margins of his own hopes and fears. The film is directed by Ron Howard, casted by jean marsh, Joanne Whalley, Patricia Hayes and Warwick Davis. The film contains several Genres among fantasy, fantasy adventure, sword and sorcery (Fandango.com, 1988, para. 1).

The theme
The general theme of the film is heroism. This is clearly seen on all the ensuing battles. Willow was brave when he fought, Madmartigan was brave and he fought, and Sorsha also fought but she lost at last and the heroes worn.
The plot
Willow, a small farmer meets with a swordsman known as Madmartigan and together they start a journey through a war-torn land of magical monstrous in their quest to save baby princess from death at the hands of wicked queen so that she could fulfill the prophecy. On their home Willow and Meegosh are attacked by the clan of Brownie that stole the baby from Madmartigan. The Brownie queen tells willow that he has been chosen to protect the baby; she gives willow enchantment and directs him to ask the sorceress for help. Sorsha, the queen’s daughter captures willow and his associates and they start a lengthy walk to Nockmaar castle which is a monopoly of the queen (IMDb, 2011, para.1-2).

Willow and group escapes from the captivity and Sorsha stages a battle with them. The ensuing battle makes Sorsha fall in love with Madmartigan and the side’s changes. It is here when baby princess was captured by Nockmaar’s general Kael and a battle begins the following day. Willow manages to save the baby princess and leaves her to the caring arms of Madmartigan. Willow finally returns to his village with his family with a gift from Raziel, a book of magic study (IMDb, 2011, para. 3-4).

Character development
Madmartigan: He is the main character, very brave and he fought tirelessly supporting willows.
Willow: Willow is also the main character in the film, he is brave and he fought with all his soul to save the little innocent princess.
Sorsha: The daughter of the queen and a heroin, she fought tirelessly to stay with the baby princess.
Bavmorda: The queen and an evil sorceress
Styles
The film is using a third person narration style and it does not matter who the star is, or who the director is.
Dialogue: Throughout the film, the is a dialogue like when Madmartigan calls willow a peck willow tells him not to call him a peck Madmartigan apologizes.

Editing techniques used in the production of the film
Cut tight
This is the taking out all the uncalled for pauses that come between actors’ delivery of lines (infoplease.com. n.d., para. 2). In the film the use of cut tight is applied during the yearly village festivals whereby willow tries but fails to be appreciated all the inessential parts are eliminated and we end up seeing the warriors accompanying willow in the town meeting.
The standard cut tight technique should support the audience attention for a length of over 90 minutes. In this film the cut tight time is almost two hours thus the need of radical surgery to prevent the audience from getting too bored.

Matching action
This is the use of props and stage position from one cut to another to make a proper edit. In the film the use of is seen when the midwife is throwing the cradle containing the child to a river.
The standard match action technique allows the audience to ignore many minor continuity differences from one shot to the next of they are totally engrossed with a story and this film properly addresses that.

Moving camera shots
This is the movement of camera around in a staple action of sequence to create a level of tension and they last for few seconds because long shots are thought to take more attention from the audience (Jones 2008, para. 1-2). In this film the use of camera movements is seen when the river brings the baby to a village populated by Nelwyn a race of dwarves and willow is working in the fields. The standard camera movements require that the panning is done to follow a moving object as a transition of one camera to another and it is not clearly applied in the film.

Set design, costumes, makeup, and acting
The set design of the movie is shocking. Life-sized actors are playing a nine inch high fairy that is short aligned with a blue screen and inserted into the recording. This makes the film look so unpleasant. The costumes present in the film include Sorshas’s knife, willow building shields, shields, Cherlindrea’s wand and brownie’s arrow. The makeup of the film consists of horror pictures and use of animals. Horses appear mostly in the film. There is also the use of dark glasses by characters in the movie. Acting is this film is satisfactory, Warwick Davis shows some enormous presentation because he manages to convince anybody watching the movie that he is in the movie for more than his size.

References
Fandango.com. (1988).”Willow: synopsis and overview” Retrieved March 10, 2012 from http://www.fandango.com/willow_20764/movieoverview
Infoplease.com. (n.d.). “Movies and film: cutting for content” Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://www.infoplease.com/cig/movies-flicks-film/cutting-for-content.html
Internet Movie Database (IMDb) (2011). “Synopsis of willow” Retrieved March 10, 2012 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096446/synopsis
Jones, A. (2008). “Types of cinematic shots: Different shots used in film and television productions” Retrieved March 10, 2012 from:
http://knol.google.com/k/angelo-jones/types-of-cinematic-shots/i9ntfvzjh59c/3.

Film Review 3

Media and Money: Glee

Discuss the recent prevalence and/or success of Glee
Glee is an American-based musical comedy/drama television series that focuses on members of the glee club new directions. The club is associated with William McKinley High School. The series is set around the club, which is signed up for competitions in the choir competitions circuit and the struggles that high school student facewith sexuality, studies, insecurities in relationships and social life. Mr. Will Schuster, the buoyant Spanish teacher played by Matthew Morris, struggles with a group of self-finding teenagers in trying to find talent in them for the better of the choir. He does this in the midst of constant setbacks from Madam Sue Sylvester, Jane Lynch, who fights for time and attention from the students, in trying to make her cheering club successful (Lin, 2010).

The guidance and counseling official, Emma Pillsbury, Jayma Mays, and Mr. Schuster’s wife and their interaction with the eight club members in glee, bring out the best drama of all times in their quest to stand for what they believe in and their fight for success at whatever cost. Will identifies that his students have real talent and even with the focus of their weaknesses he patiently changes their point of view from pride, low esteem and discrimination against each other and through optimism and hard work he creates a strong choir of diverse characters but great talents. His greatest achievement is in convincing Sue Sylvester the cheering coach that glee club can be revived to restore its lost glory, something that he relentlessly pursues.

The show was conceptualized and directed by three men, who wrote all the episodes for the first two seasons. The idea to produce glee was developed by the success of American Idol, which was a musical show. Viewers seemed to have a special liking for musical dramas and with this realization came the writing production of glee. Initially glee was conceived as a film, but when the writing of episodes this led to the production of glee, one of the most viewed series of the decade. Glee takes pleasure in plentiful selections and honors in the music and media businesses. The cast in this series have also had their profiles increased and they enjoy high rankings in social networks and in the entertainment industry (Nellie, 2013).

How does the organization of the media industries explain this phenomenon?
The theme of the series is self-promoted. It is a motivation to many average teenagers who watch glee. The club appreciates rather low living students in school, students who are discriminated against because they are perceived to have weaknesses and characters that are abnormal in comparison to the larger community. It ranks among the important shows that bring together students of different backgrounds, believes ad characters. Moreover, it reduces their diversities for the achievement of a common goal, which is the success of the glee club (Jennifer, 2012).

This task is difficult and difficult not only for the teacher Will, but also for the students who are well rooted in their different worlds that they are rigid to change and make any adjustments. The entire school community, including members of staff, is challenged by the eventual success of the glee club, which was initially falling apart. They are all left at awe of the changes that Mr. Schuster achieve with the students not only by identifying talent and utilizing it but also by indirectly solving issues in their lives to do with interpersonal relationships in teenage.

This theme motivates many viewers to keep watching the series, because it relates to challenges faced in daily life and is a motivation that individuals can rise above physical, psychological, social and any other type of barriers to achieve set goals. On the other hand, glee uses contemporary music; latest music that plays on radio is one of the most crucial modes of communication for a young population. With the target group being mostly teenagers, the music used in glee serve as a great milestone in promoting the series (Jennifer, 2012).

Promotional activities carried out across USA in advertising and broadcasting glee during and after production were a great boost in the number of viewers. Billboards, road trips, and road signs played a key role in familiarizing the audience with that cast of the series. Other promotions done through media social networks like Facebook, my space and twitter also performed excellent contributions in the success of glee.

What sources of revenue are available, and which industry players make money off of them?
Film production is an expensive but worth venture. Material supplies and the use of these materials and resources require proper planning to ensure that the goals are achieved as scheduled. To attend to these need s and many other expenses the glee producers have attained a copyright certificate and license that allows the sale of recorded music in glee. When performing for the choir in glee, quality contemporary music is used. Current hits in the music industry are not only used as sound trucks for specific scenes but the entire song is tailored in tones and variations and recorded as a glee song to communicate an idea or concept the choir choses to pass across(Brian, 2010).

Through this project, the glee production is able to sell licensed music as re-editions of the talented teenagers and thus acquire revenues to keep the music and movie industries together and also earn money from both. Massive sales made for glee in all modes either on DVD or through the internet also earn the movie producers enough money to keep subsequent series firm.
Industry players who have to be paid to run newly arriving movies and series also make money out of producers and sales department. Advertising agencies and city authority also charge levies on billboard and any other form of electronic advertisements on streets thus making money from the series producers (Brian, 2010).

How does the relationship between the media industries and consumption (the purchasing of goods and services by consumers) support this as well?
Over the past years in history, the media has been known to have a major influence on choices made by the population when selecting items in the markets. This is normally referred to as the media effect. This is the psychological tendency of an audience of a movie or music personality to want to acquire items used or associated with that celebrity. The media effect on individuals varies from mild to severe media effects, in mild situations, a person may adopt part of a celebrity character that they like into their lifestyle while a severe media effect involves complete change e of lifestyle to match the admirable character in mind.

It is for this reason that advertising agents will choose to use an influential personality to advertise their products with the hope that they admires and followers will use it based on the recommendations of the star.In the same way, the series glee has had a great influence on selection of products and services provided in the market. For example school products branded with the name glee or with a picture of leading characters will sell more than a plain toy or bag (Khafid, 2012).
This shows that the association an individual has with this series affects the choices the make thus affecting consumption of that particular good. Service providers such as those who run hair salons and beauty paroles also receive special requests from individuals that admire hairstyles on the television and ask for the same look from their hair stylists.

This incidence is well evident with sale of video games, toys and teen products that are branded with the top selling media products of that moment, these goods are sold out at a higher rate than other normal products of the same quality and price due to the advantage of being associated with a successful and well-known personality. With this in mind, partnerships have been established targeting the most influential groups being schoolchildren, teenagers and high school students (Khafid, 2012).

Once an individual identifies this business gap, products are then produced to cater for their demands and somewhat get to an equal ground with the super stars they admire. Meanwhile the businessperson enjoys aftersales profits alongside the movie producers. This concept is common in our society today and the knowledge here in is underlined by the concept of media influence on consumer choices.

References
Brian, S. (2010). AdAge media news;How ‘Glee’ Married TV and Music in a New Moneymaking Model.Performances From the Fox Show’s Cast Have Spawned Millions of Downloads and a Tour, retrieved on 13 February 2013 from, http://adage.com/article/media/fox-s-glee-married-tv-music-moneymaking-model/141835/
Lin, J. (2010). How does Glee choose its songs? Retrieved on 14 February 2013 from, http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2027592,00.html
Jennifer, C. (2012). Why is Glee a Good influence on teenagers? Retrieved on 14 February 2013 from, http://prezi.com/0mq_rcm5wcj7/why-is-glee-a-good-influence-on-teenagers/
Khafid, B. (2012). Clothing Style, Music, and Media Influences on Adolescents’ Brand Consumption Behavior, retrieved on 14 February 2013 from, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.20544/abstract
Nellie, A. (2013). Grammys: top grammy winners-Glee success story, retrieved on 13 February 2013 from, http://www.deadline.com/2013/02/top-grammy-winners-glee-success-story/

Media and money 7

Racialism, Labor, and Immigration in the Latino community

Introduction
Films are normally considered as a complex form of art and cultural institution that has a lot of influence in the modern world. Most of the film lovers prefer movie spectacles that take them to the magical world of drama, romance, and adventure. Moreover, film lovers look for challenging films that can provide them with a thorough intellectual and artistic experience. Latino population in the United States comprises of Chicanos, Puerto, and Cubans. Chicanos are active in the cinematography. The thematic aspects of in their films vary greatly. They emphasize the problems of political exile and economy. The immigration of Latin America was in early 1970s and it gained momentum in 1980s.

Their population in the United States has come from illegal immigration. Latinos are migrating to look for work; the reputation of Latinos in the labor market is relatively new. The Latinos are coming together as an ethnic group with commonsense identify, culture and political purposes that is shared among generations and nationalities. Recent statistics have shown that America has become the favored destination for the Latinos. In this paper, I am going to discuss the emerging themes in the film The Global Assembly Line, Los Trabajadores/The Workers, Letters from the Other Side, and Lost in Detention. The main themes of the films are racialism, labor, and immigration.

The Global Assembly Line
Global Assembly line was not filmed in the United States but in Mexico and Philippines. These are the places that the Americans have constructed their factories. Global Assembly line is seen as the museum of modern art, to get the cheap labour, the American companies have decided to set up assembly lines in abroad. When the foreign countries establish the free trade zone for the overseas plants, they create jobs. Lorraine Gray directs the film and criticizes heavily the arrangements because he believes workers in the country will be stranded because all the factories will be in foreign countries. The foreign workers were initially very pleased by the arrangements because it provided for employment. In the film, very young women are abandoning their hometowns to go and look for jobs in the newly established factories. They have become breadwinners of their families. The working conditions in job place soon become unbearable; there were poor pay and strict restrictions on organizing. The film outlines the powerful story of men and women that are likened to the global economy. The film is sociologically conceived. There are rich subjects from the film and the director sympathizes for the workers in the all countries.

Letters from the Other Side
The film letters from the other side pays attention to the survival of women and children left behind when cross the boundaries looking for work. The film is directed by heather Courtney. She interweaves video letters that are exchanged within the United States and Mexico borderline. There films show personal stories of these women. The video letters provides a way for the women and children left behind to communicate with husbands and fathers as well as strangers who are in the other side of the border. Women are not allowed to cross the borders therefore; it was the role of the American Courtney to carry the video letters back and in the borders.

The film provides a fresh perspective that the government is not willing at the same time not capable of handling the issue when it focuses too much on the immigration story that is more often than not, not highlighted in the national media. The immigration story also are not touched and discussed in the national debate. The high focus of the film in the immigration story also provides spanking new point of view portraits of families that are torn apart by poor economic conditions. In any national debate, the issue of the communities dying at the hands of globalization has never been addressed but the film is offering so. Heather Courtney throughout the film points out that the unauthorized immigrants into the United States have a very low survival rate, she points out at a case when nineteen immigrants died of suffocation while on a tractor-trailer. When men leave their country to the foreign land to secure jobs there are aware that chances of reunion with their families again are slim.

Los Trabajadores (The Workers)
Los Trabajadores (The Workers) is a film that focuses vibrant inconsistencies that trouble America’s belief on intolerance not in favor of immigrant labor. The film follows a very eventful year in the lives of Juan and Ramon centered in the site of day labour while waiting for work. The work site is shifted to residential neighborhood and the are now in the opposition side while trying to earn trust in the new community. The experience that range from nostalgic sing-along to bitter arguments across political protests, have enabled men to do away with their differences, connect with one another, and share dreams. While far way, Juan and Ramon are scarifying everything to earn money so that they send back to their families they left behind when they moved away. Labour issues and complexities of immigration rises above the political arena that has turned personal for the two men. These men do the building and the hardest jobs and yet they are not accepted in the society. Los Trabajadores highlights details and emotions of the immigrant in the United States who believe that their future rests on their stay in the America thus the need to continue working hard despite the oppressions they are going through.

Lost in Detention
Lost in Detention is a film directed by Joseph Kahn, it examines the current United States immigration enforcement system as well as the abuses in all the detention centers. More immigrants have been deported in Obama’s administration than any other administration in United States. The film starts by examining the secure communities programs shared with local law enforcement agencies so that they can target criminals and several non-criminal immigrants. The films shows that once the illegal immigrants are detained, they are sent to the various detention centers far away from home centers. The detainees have not right at all thus, they face cases of physical assault and sexual harassment. The film shows the political implications of the film that are far reaching. The document investigates the enforcement strategies used by obama and his secretive world of immigrant detention. The film clearly elaborates clearly who is being taken for detention and what is happening to them while they are at detention.

Immigration
Immigration can be defined as the movement of foreigners from their native country to a foreign country with the main aim of obtaining permanent residence. Immigrants continue to enter United States for several reasons like fleeing prosecution, uniting with family members, and to pursue the dream of going to America. The longtime residents in the United States began the process of obtaining permanent citizen because of renewed sense of patriotism and pride. The Latino community is very critical about the United States immigration system. They believe that they are not in accordance with national values. In the film “lost in detention,” they are being subjected to oppression and are being treated as criminals. Those that are being transported as detainees are sexually molested. The Latinos needs a system that is workable and able to take them to the next level as well as upholding their values.

The immigration issue has separated Latinos with their families. In the film “letters from the other side,” we see that men are no longer meeting with their children and beloved wives as well as relatives. Their only way of communication is through letters. The immigration rules in the borderline do not allow women to cross the boundaries. The Latinos waits for more than twenty years so that they can mingle together and yet the separating thing is border. Latinos themselves believes that the United States immigration system promotes the illegal immigration. They need the immigration system to be changed so that it can favor legal immigration as opposed to the current one that facilitates the illegal practice.

In the film “lost in detention” the Obama administration have deported more detainees than any other administration. The illegal immigrants are posing treat to the national security and the Obama administration is focused too much on convicting those criminals and foreigners. More children have been taken to advanced care centers because their parents have been detained or deported. We can see that the Obama administration is retaining the immigration prosecutors and enforcement officers. This is an effort to speed up the deportation process. There are several detainees in the local courts and the Obama administration believes the officers will help clear the overcrowded court docket.

The film presents us with the opportunity to understand Obama has a deportation president. The president has lost so much confidence of much Latino community. His administration is using hard line deportation policy. This is interpreted as fighting back the states immigration laws that normally require that the Latinos be showing proof of citizenship or the status of their immigration any time they are doing government transactions. The administration is getting worst; it goes ahead to demand that the public schools administrators should determine the citizenship of students. The Latinos believes that such a law is very horrendous because it is a causing humanitarian crisis.

Racialism
The film “The Global Assembly Line” is depicting clearly the theme of racialism. The American is moving their companies to the global scene. The specific targets are cheap labour in Mexico and Philippines where there are high population of Latinos. They are working in the American factories. Globalization has the purpose increasing interconnectedness as well as dealing with cultural matters. As far as hierarchies that has been set in workplace and cultural pluralism is concerned, racialism has become so critical of gender and globalization. Racialism in the film has been clearly highlighted when people are moving within the worldwide market through global immigration. Racialism is also clearly depicted when companies are moving across the globe through the high rise of multinational corporations. Race has become intrinsic to the worldwide use of women labour. The creation of women jobs in the international labor market has seen women move in to work. A woman is leaving their rice paddy to move to a town; here the woman lives with other women of her age as they work on the jobs.

In the “Los Trabajadores” (The Workers), racialism is clearly shown. More people are entering the United States borders with the aim of obtaining jobs once they have the jobs they are racially abused. The films shows us how Juan and Ramon are scarifying everything to earn money so that they send back to their families they left behind when they moved away but the conditions in the working place are not favorable. These men do the building and the hardest jobs and yet they are not accepted in the society. In the film, issues of appearance and weight are clearly shown. They believe that the Latinos are small and are working for cheaper wages. In the film “The Global Assembly Line,” the Latino women are being forced to do some menial jobs. There are no longer meeting with their families due this nature of the jobs. A convoluted and complicated multicultural dynamics has been caused by the international immigration. More electronic companies in the Silicon Valley are applying the immigrant logic to hire women employees.

More than eighty percent of the Latino women are working on these global assemblies. There is a clear racial, national, and ethnic pecking order in these global assemblies industries. The Latinos are not given jobs with increasing mobility opportunities because they are not believed to be dependable and they are considered more likely to quit their jobs. Racialism is also seen developing in the setting by the associations between the local workforce and the global corporations and the film “Los Trabajadores” and “ The global assembly line “showing the issue clearly. When Latino men move to overseas nations, the multinational corporations transforms them and they are recomposed as well. They become subject matter to linguistic control by the consultants that are training and they are considered too casual for the corporate manners.

The propagation of the ethnic multiplicity is shown in the two films. The propagation has intensified the so-called directorial stratification. Most of the positions in the factory are assigned according to racial stereotypes. The white people are given the management positions because they are believed to protect the property. The Latinos are given the floor jobs because they are believed to be not reliable and industrious. The Latino does not show any positive attribute that goes with the higher status job. There is a gender issue in the factories as the white women with straight noses and hair are taking as the standard to which the Latino women are supposed to live by. The racial identities of many of the Latino woman is not only embedded in the local American companies but in also in the transitional immigration. The racial identity of women is also seen in the global notions of color in the factories. The film further shows how the women workers in the factories are unconnected to the social environment at their homelands.

Labour
The film “global assembly line” focuses more on free trade that as a concept of division of labour. The film analyses the how the there is an increase in mobility of capital as globalization intensifies. American companies are moving across the boundary to search for more economic effectiveness. The issue of feminism is clearly seen as increasing the globalization. The assembly line of workers all over the world has seen them moved into paid labor. The global patterns in the film have shown how new markets have lead us to the exploration of the traditions which the multinational capitalism has been linking the racism oppression of the Latino women in the manipulative relations of the production and consumption. The multinational corporation has participated in sweatshops as well as employing the working class women from the Latino community for poor working conditions and low payback.

Historically, women were doing domestic work, sexual care, and emotional care. The sex industry has become a global assembly line; there is a sexual exploitation of children and women within the global context. The film shows out how the multinational corporations are targeting the female bodies for labor controls. The corporations are using the only one of its kind legal privileges. Within these multinational corporations, there is lack of accountability within the labour laws from the homeland country and the international legal authorities. The loopholes have given the ever-exploiting companies a freedom to establish forms that are more egregious to gender and sexual discrimination while doing their business across. In the global assemblies, the managers in the export processing zones are instituting rules that may formal or informal that deal with the sexual intimacies.

Sexuality in the factories has become a great concern to the managers in the global assembly lines. In the social climate of the factory, managers are coming up with more strict rules that do not allow the Latino women to participate in social events inside the company. The managers are monitoring the progress of the young women who work in the factory in the same manner they could have been cared by their parents. With the isolated context of workers in the global assembly line, the Latino immigrants are using the social networks they have to ease job burdens. They are organizing for regular communal get together and outings to exchange some advice on how to deal with their bosses. The Latino women who work in the factories have teamed against the managerial moves to divide them a long an ethnic line.

Conclusion
Moving from Philippines to Silicon Valley, the Global Assembly line film takes its viewers to a global economy. The film vividly portrays the lives of working people, both men and women in free trade zones of North America and the developing countries. Lost in detention investigates the enforcement strategies used by Obama and his secretive world of immigrant detention. Los Trabajadores is a film that focuses vibrant inconsistencies that trouble America’s belief on intolerance not in favor of immigrant labor. The film letters from the other side pays attention to the survival of women and children left behind when cross the boundaries looking for work. The films highlight the themes of immigration, racialism, and labour.

Insert surname 11

Running head: I AM SAM

Abnormal psychology on mental retardation

Abstract
Films provide a powerful approach to studying psychopathology, an important subject in medicine, psychology, nursing, counseling, and social work. This paper reviews the movie I Am Sam focusing on the symptoms of mental retardation displayed by the protagonist, positive and negative messages that the movie conveys concerning mental retardation as well as accuracy in representation of psychology concepts about mental disorders. The diagnosis of the protagonist for mental retardation in accordance with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders is also provided.

Introduction
Mental retardation is a widespread developmental disorder affecting approximately 2 percent of the world’s population (Carson, 2007, p. 79). For this reason, popular cultural media has frequently featured mental retardation especially in Television shows, live interviews and films. Some film producers have even incorporated mentally retarded actors in their films in an attempt to demystify mental retardation and increase public awareness of the condition and the experiences mentally retarded members of the society go through (Pratt, 2004, 584; Ford, 2004, p. 72).

This has been very instrumental in transforming peoples’ attitude towards the mentally challenged through revealing their special abilities, needs and coping mechanisms with a view to promote acceptance of this specially needy group in the society where they can enjoy a life free from stigmatization and related hardships (Ford, 2004, p. 72). One of the films that have contributed greatly to the understanding of mental retardation is I Am Sam (2001) which will be the focus of this paper. In this paper, I argue that the film I Am Sam accurately depicts the psychopathology of mental retardation and supportive relationships that mentally retarded persons need to cope with their condition and live a satisfactory life.

Synopsis
The film I Am Sam depicts Sam Dawson, a mentally retarded single father trying to raise his daughter Lucy (Contact Music, n.d., para. 2). Sam is a caring father who sweeps at Starbucks coffee store to earn a living. His intellectual ability is that of a seven-year-old. When Lucy turns seven, it becomes clear that her intelligence surpasses that of her father and his father’s capacity to raise her comes under scrutiny. A concerned social worker wants Sam’s daughter to be taken to a foster home and takes the case to court. Sam, with the help of his friends manages to get a lawyer, Rita, together with whom they try to prove to the court that Sam is capable of taking care of his daughter (Contact Music, n.d., para. 2).

Symptoms of mental illness displayed by the protagonist
Motor skills
Numerous symptoms indicative of mental retardation and autism are clearly depicted in the film I Am Sam. Sam is quite neat and well groomed but his motor skills and coordination are quite compromised as evidenced by his clumsiness and rigidity of his hand and mouth movements (Matson, & Minshawi, 2006, p. 15). His seemingly poorly coordinated movements are suggestive of his condition at the early stages of the movie. Throughout the film, Sam plays with his hands.

Whenever he thinks, he looks up in the sky or ceiling as if the answer lies above. This is clearly displayed in the scene whereby his daughter Lucy asks him whether it is God’s will that he be different from other daddy’s. He also has trouble paying attention to an activity or conversation, and he cannot maintain eye contact. He experiences fine hand tremors and sometimes plays with his fingers and tongue, which are self-stimulation behaviors (Kearney, 2009, p. 126). Almost all the time he engages in a conversation, his mouth stays open even when he is just staring at something.

Communication
Sam is able to communicate but there is evidence of speech impairment. From the very first scene in the coffee shop, Sam has trouble pronouncing words clearly. For instance, he pronounces “u” as “o” in “Bruce”. He apparently lacks sufficient vocabulary, which could explain why he repeats what other people say, his famous phrase being “it’s a wonderful choice”. Sam’ ability to communicate comprehensively is quite compromised as is demonstrated when he unsuccessfully tries to defend himself during the hearing of his case.

Repetitive behavior
Sam has repetitive and ritualistic behavior and actions typical of autism (Kearney, 2009, p. 126). One of his repetitive and ritualistic behaviors captured in the opening scenes of the film is arranging packets of sugar according to color at Starbucks. He also forms a habit of associating people with their drink as a way of identifying them. Further, he insists on the same breakfast everyday and demands that his breakfast be exactly as he says. He also insists on reading a story for his daughter before she goes to sleep every night. His perpetual neatness and excessive use of the phrase “it’s a wonderful choice” are also indicative of his repetitive behavior. Sam’s other routines include visits to the IHOP on Wednesdays and watching a movie every first Thursday of the month with his friends in his apartment.

DSM-IV-TR Diagnosis
According to the American Psychiatric Association the essential symptom of mental retardation is below average overall intellectual ability accompanied by deficits in adaptive skills in not less than two of the following areas: “communication, self-care, home living, social/interpersonal skills, use of community resources, self-direction, functional academic skills, work, leisure, health and safety” (Kearney, 2009, p. 126). There is quite a thin line between mental retardation and autism. Bolte and Poustka (2002) cited by Kearney (209, p. 127) notes that, as many as three quarters of children with autism meet the diagnostic criteria for mental retardation. The essential symptom of autism is significant impairment of communication and interpersonal skills accompanied by strict adherence to specific activities and interests (Kearney, 2009, p. 126). Other common symptoms include repeating words, routine behavior, and self-stimulation behaviors.

Intellectual deficit
Since the movie does not provide sufficient background information about Sam it is difficult to understand the etiology and circumstances that could have led to Sam’s mental retardation. Despite the lack of crucial developmental information, the comments made in two incidences in the film insinuate that Sam’s mental capacity is within the rental retardation range. In the first incident, Sam is in a parents meeting at the school her daughter attends. During the meeting, the school administrators inform Sam of Lucy’s unsatisfactory performance in academics. They show him some of the class drawings Lucy had made demonstrating her lack of enthusiasm in learning. The school administrators imply subtly that Lucy inherits her learning difficulties from her father. To cement it, they point to Sam’s medical records, which show that he has an intellectual ability of a seven-year-old and further suggest that Lucy might suffer mental retardation as well.

The second scene that points to Sam’s mental condition takes place in the courtroom during the hearing of his case when the prosecutor says that his records show that he has autistic tendencies. The reference to Sam’s records in the two scenes show that he had undergone an intelligence test at some point in his life that determined that he had cognitive functioning deficits. With a metal capacity of a seven-year-old, Sam could be classified as moderately mentally retarded. This means that his IQ score ranges from 35-40 to 50-55 (Nairne, 2009, p. 324).

Some of Sam’s behaviors are clearly indicative of his cognitive deficits. For instance, Sam seems to have trouble keeping time. In the opening scene, he has to be reminded to go to hospital to witness the birth of his daughter Lucy. In another scene, when Annie, his neighbor tells him to feed the baby every two hours, Sam does not seem to understand and completely loses interest. Noticing that, Annie has to use popular TV shows to help him remember when to feed the baby. Further, Sam’s reasoning capacity is quite low. For instance, he gives very funny answers to Lucy’s many questions. In one scene, Lucy asks him, “why does the snow flake?” and he answers, “Because snow, flakes.” In another scene, Sam is depicted as having reading difficulties and Lucy assists him to read.

Adaptive functioning deficits
Although it is clear that Sam has intellectual deficits, this alone cannot warrant an authoritative diagnosis of mental retardation (Kearney, 2009, p. 126). This necessitates a further assessment to determine whether he has adaptive functioning deficits, the intensity of which may shed more light in determining the extent of mental retardation (Riva, Bulgheroni & Pantaleoni, 2007, p. 1). The assessment of one’s ability to cope with the common demands of life according to clearly defined standards helps to determine whether such persons measure up to the expectations the failure of which could be indicative of mental retardation (Riva, Bulgheroni & Pantaleoni, 2007, p. 1). Sam’s deficits at work, interpersonal relationships, and cognitive functional skills satisfy the DSM-IV-TR, B criteria for adaptive functioning deficits in two occasions.

First, Sam has more than 8-year experience working for Starbucks where he earns $8 per hour for cleaning the floors, wiping tables, and performing other minor tasks. Despite his experience, Sam has never been promoted. In an attempt to enhance his ability to support his child, Sam’s manager promotes him to a coffee maker. However, Sam finds it difficult to adapt to his new responsibility. His motor skills deficits are evident as he struggles unsuccessfully to navigate his way through the crowded coffee area. He also finds it difficult to handle multiple coffee orders. Clearly, Sam fails to adapt to his new roles.

The second scene where Sam’s deficits in adaptive skills are evidenced is when he goes for breakfast at Bob Big Boy restaurant instead of his usual IHOP at the request of his daughter. In fact, Lucy barely manages to convince Sam to go with her to Bob Big Boy restaurant. When they get there, Sam orders his usual IHOP meal, which, apparently is not in the menu and gets mad when the waitress tries to get him to order from the menu. Lucy’s attempt to intervene fail and Sam causes a commotion. This hints of Sam’s lack of flexibility required to adapt to new environments.

Interpersonal skills
The film does not provide enough information to determine accurately to which category of autistic disorders Sam would be placed. However, Sam possesses strong cognitive and social abilities that disqualify him from being an autistic (Kearney, 2009, p. 126). This is because Sam is able to empathize and understand intuitively the feelings of others. This is particularly significant considering that one of the major markers of autism is inability to form mutual social relationships (Kearney, 2009, p. 126).

In contrast, Sam engages his customers in conversations, reads and plays with his daughter. His reciprocity and conscious awareness of others’ emotions is depicted in his relationship with his lawyer, Rita. In one scene, Sam and his lawyer sit to have lunch. Sam takes a proactive step and expresses his wish to be friends with his lawyer. He is also concerned that his attorney eats her food too fast and may not be enjoying it. Perhaps this is why he encourages her to eat slowly. He also insinuates that his lawyer should not tolerate his philandering husband. Ideally, these abilities ascertain that Sam does not satisfy the DSM-IV diagnostic requirements for autism. However, his repetitive, ritualistic, and restrictive behaviors are typical of mild autism (Kearney, 2009, p. 126).

Positive messages portrayed in I Am Sam
One of the positive messages portrayed in the film I Am Sam is that despite being mentally retarded, an individual can have a strong attachment for his or her children and friends, meaning that mental retardation should not be regarded as a hindrance to interpersonal relationships. The protagonist raises his daughter all by himself and proceeds to win custody of her, thanks to his lawyer, caring friends and neighbors. Clearly, the parent-child bond and love between Sam and his daughter is unscathed by the mental disorder. This shows that despite being mentally challenged one can lead a fruitful and enjoyable social life (Parke Clarke-Stewart, 2010, p. 140. The film also depicts some of the struggles mentally impaired parents go through such as stigmatization and proves wrong the indelible social attitudes that people with mental disabilities cannot be good parents (Tyano et al, 2010, 317). Further, the actors who played the role of Sam’s friends had cognitive disabilities, which demonstrate the capability of mentally retarded people to sustain relationships and engage in meaningful vocational endeavors (Bowman, 2004, p. 43).

Negative messages portrayed in I Am Sam
Although the film I Am Sam depicts clearly many of the symptoms of mental retardation, it fails in the overall structure and plot. First, since stigmatization is a major social issue that affects people with disability the film should have at least tried to address the issue in a more comprehensive manner. Instead, the protagonist ends up being even more stigmatized. For instance, the movie uses music to stigmatize Sam and in many scenes, Sam and his friends appear stupid (Metzl & Poirier, 2005, p. 17).

Despite the film’s attempt to portray mental retardation as a less devastating disorder and that people with disability can be good parents, the films climax seems to magnify the disability. In the film’s last scene, Sam is the referee of a soccer match. However, due to his mental condition Sam cannot remain neutral. He cheers his daughter as she plays and carries her around in excitement when she scores as spectators laugh and cheer. The movie succeeds in getting the audience to embrace disability but portrays only the superficial issues of disability by using a well-known able-bodied person to play the role of a person with disability (protagonist). This pretence not only hides disability from the public but also alters its funder mental features and reality (Metzl & Poirier, 2005, p. 17).

In addition, the film is quite predictable which makes it lose much of its meaning. Scott (2001, para. 8) observes that the film is typical of Hollywood productions whose purpose of featuring the disabled, blacks and the elderly is to make the rest feel better about themselves. The film makes fun of the protagonist and is his friends with disability who are funny and silly in the way they dress and speak. They are also rather awkward, queer, lovable, and old (Scott, 2001, para. 8). Rita, Sam’s lawyer confirms this theme when she claims that through interacting with Sam, she has got in touch with her humanity (feels better about herself).

Although the film depicts the normal characteristics of a daughter father relationship, the director suppresses the unpredictable twists and turns of life to accomplish his mission. For instance, when Sam demands for his IHOP meal at Bob Big Boy and things turn sour, the scene is cut short concealing the rest of the drama. The scene does not reveal much about how Sam deals with the crisis. This trend continues throughout the movie revealing the director’s intent – to preserve the protagonist’s “perfect” image and make the audience feel good (Scott, 2001, para. 11).

Accuracy of I Am Sam in portraying psychopathology of mental retardation
The assessment of I Am Sam film’s ability to portray accurately the psychopathology of mental retardation calls for a closer reference to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR). To be labeled as mentally retarded, Sam has to satisfy all the three conditions stated in DSM-IV-TR for mental retardation, which are significant deficits in intellectual functioning, adaptive functioning deficits and their diagnosis before the age of 18 (Riva, Bulgheroni & Pantaleoni, 2007, p. 1). With an intelligence capacity of a seven year old, assuming he is 30 year old, Sam would be categorized as moderately mentally retarded at the least. Such a person would be incapable of the relatively independent life that Sam leads. Actually, Sam’s life shows that he fits in the category of mild mentally retarded with an IQ of about 70. Mildly mentally retarded individuals are capable of significant degree of academic achievement, social and vocational skills and are self-supporting (Nairne, 2009, p. 324).

There is no sufficient evidence that Sam has significant cognitive deficits that confirms the allegation that his mental capacity is that of a seven-year old. The few scenes that attempt to depict his cognitive functioning deficits lack authoritativeness. For instance, Sam’s answers to Lucy’s questions seem to portray his poor reasoning capacity. However, it may as well be argued that Sam wants to entertain his daughter by being funny, which makes sense since the two are in a playful mood. After all, Lucy does not express dissatisfaction with his father’s answers. Further, scenes intended to show that Sam has trouble keeping time are not all successful. For instance, when Anita tells him to feed the baby after every two hours, Sam looks bored, tired and sleepy, which could be true since he has to stay awake for most of the time to care for the baby. Therefore, these signs cannot prove that Sam lacks the concept of time.

Similarly, there is no consistency in depiction of Sam’s adaptive functioning deficits. Though Sam fails to cope with his new roles as a coffee maker as depicted in the film, it is easy to conclude that he was not given sufficient time to do so. It is normal for anyone to be overwhelmed on the first day of assuming new responsibilities at any workstation. Further, Sam insists on his usual IHOP dish at the Bob Big Boy restaurant despite its unavailability. However, we are left to guess what happened next. It is normal to get frustrated when our expectations are not met. Perhaps Sam calmed down and agreed to take the meal. More importantly, Sam copes well with many changes including taking care of the baby while working, attending court proceedings, and other challenges of life in a busy urban centre. Nevertheless, symptoms of autism especially repetitive, ritualistic, and restrictive behaviors are clearly demonstrated.

Conclusion
The film I Am Sam attempts to portray the symptoms of mental retardation and experiences of mentally retarded people through the experiences of Sam, a mentally retarded protagonist. Although the film depicts some of the symptoms of mental retardation clearly in some scenes, the consistency and intensity required to meet the diagnosis criteria for mental retardation as provided in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) is lacking. Going by sum’s records, which indicate that his mental capacity is that of a 7-year old, he could pass as moderately mentally retarded but his cognitive and adaptive functioning abilities suggest otherwise. Although the film features some of the issues mentally retarded people struggle with in life, it somehow trivializes mental retardation by magnifying the ability of the protagonist to manage his seemingly difficult circumstances. Therefore, the film scores highly on the agenda but dismally in methodology as far as representing mental retardation is concerned.

References
Bowman, C. A. (2004). A guide to high school success for students with disabilities. Westport, CO: Greenwood Press.
Carson, M. I. (2007). Focus on mental retardation research. New York, NY: Nova Science.
Contact music, (n.d.). I Am Sam movie review. Retrieved July 29, 2011 from: http://www.contactmusic.com/new/film.nsf/reviews/iamsam
Ford, L. (2004). The producers: Profiles in frustration. New York, NY: IUniverse.
Henderson, (2008). Reactions to Iam Sam. Retrieved July 29, 2011 from: http://au4j.multiply.com/journal/item/12/Reactions_to_I_AM_SAM_-_HENDERSON
Kearney, C. A. (2009). Casebook in child behavior disorders. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Matson, J. L., & Minshawi, N. F. (2007). Early intervention for autism spectrum disorders: a critical analysis. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Metzl, J. (2005). Difference and identity: A special issue of Literature and medicine. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
Parke, R. D., & Clarke-Stewart, A. (2010). Social development. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.
Pratt, D. (2004). Doug Pratt’s DVD: Movies, television, music, art, adult, and more!. New York, NY: Harbor Electronic Pub.
Riva, D., Bulgheroni, S., & Pantaleoni, C. (2007). Mental retardation. Montrouge: J. Libbey Eurotext.
Scott, A.O. (2001). I Am Sam (2001). Retrieved July 29, 2011 from: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9502E0D71031F93BA15751C1A9679C8B63
Seltzer, M.M., Krauss, M.W., Shattuck, P.T., Orsmond, G., Swe, A., & Lord, C. (2003). The symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in adolescence and adulthood. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 565-581.
Taylor, J.L., Seltzer, M.M. (2010). Employment and post-secondary educational activities for young adults with autism spectrum disorders during the transition to adulthood. Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(5):566-74.
Tyano, S., Keren M., Herrman H. & Cox J. (2010). Parenthood and mental health: A bridge between infant and adult psychiatry. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

I Am Sam 1

Portrayal of Chinese social issues in Feng Xiaogang’s Films

Introduction
Feng successfully established a new course of popular urban films that depict the cultural awareness of Chinese people in the context of rapid social and economic changes (Wu 45). The economic and political pressures he worked under in the post-socialist China must have influenced him in his attempt to give his work a social-political appeal. Therefore, Feng’s films must be construed with special reference to specific social and political issues pertaining to the contemporary China that he attempts to address.

The success of Feng’s movies lies in their capacity to portray a popular culture in which forces such as urbanization, industrialization and globalization have brought massive social change. Feng himself has had his share of struggles with social change including divorce, his mother’s illness and challenges of adult life, which might have influenced his approach to filmmaking (Barnabas 32). Some of the issues that Feng’s movies depict include spousal separation, gender discrimination, crime and moral decay. This paper will analyze Feng Xiaogang’s films in the context of the Chinese social-political issues that he attempts to address.

Social issues depicted in Feng’s films
Aftershock
Feng Xiaogang’s Aftershock depicts the traumatizing impact of the Tangshan Earthquake that killed more than 240,000 people in 1976 (Lee para 2). This event is overridden by the filial responsibilities and parental love endorsed by the legendary Chinese thinker, Confucian. Despite its horrible scenes of the actual earthquake that give it its epic touch and a story line that captures China’s struggles in its road to prosperity, the overriding themes of Aftershock are love, forgiveness and maturity. At the same time, the film depicts the Chinese people’s preference for the boy child.

The protagonist, Yuan’ni, is the wife of Daqiang, a truck driver with whom she has twins, a boy and a girl. Despite having no descent home, the family is happy (Lee para 4). This captures China’s difficult economic conditions during the 1970s with which its population had to cope. The death of so many people within a few seconds of the earthquake reveals China’s disaster unpreparedness caused by poor governance and corruption at the time, the same reasons that might have caused the inequality in wealth distribution (Zhang 43).

In one scene, the two children fight for a tomato prompting their mother to intervene. However, she gives the tomato to the boy, which suggests that she prefers the boy to the girl. This is confirmed in another scene where the twins’ lives are threatened but the rescue team can only save one of them. Yuan’ni deliberately chooses to save the boy. The girl survives but by the time she emerges from among the multitude of dead bodies and the rubble, her mother and brother are already gone. The film focuses a great deal on the experiences of the two twins as they go through childhood, teenage to adulthood in separation, with nothing completely new to the Chinese audience. However, Feng manages to capture the attention of the audience by featuring the universality of parent-child relationships blended with key events in Chinese history such as the death of Mao Zedong and social change depicted by the rise of Ge Ti Hi (Lee para 10).

In Aftershock, Feng emphasizes love as the unbreakable force that binds the society together. Although many social changes have occurred since the 1976 earthquake, Feng pays little attention to them and chooses love within family relationships, which may have changed but remains central to the lives of the Chinese people. Another reason for his choice could be the desire to provide the Chinese people with something they can turn to in the wake of many disturbing impacts of social change such as crime, corruption and other forms of moral disintegration and love must have been his choice. Wang Zhonglei, the film’s executive producer affirmed this view when he said in an interview that, “love should be universal, and it should always survive the erosion of time,” (Samuel para 7).

A World without Thieves
As noted by Tianxia Wuzei cited by Zhang (160) Feng Xiaogang’s A World without Thieves is a depiction of the acute clash between the post-modernization forces and Chinese traditional values. The film’s prologue, though comical, presents the main themes of the movie, which include money, technology, lust and language (Lu 156). An element of postmodernism arises in the scenario of Liu, a general manager who is learning English to improve his ability to handle international business, one of the main drivers of globalization. Further, the desire for materialism associated with the postmodern society is reflected in the role played by Wang Bo and Wang Li who conspire to extort money albeit skillfully from the wealthy Liu.

In this case, Wang Bo secretly films Liu as he attempts to have sex with his teacher of English; Wang Li. Wang Bo threatens to expose Liu’s unfaithfulness if Liu declines to pay him one million Yuan in cash. Eventually, Liu lets go of his BMW as a substitute for the cash demand. This not only reveals materialism but also the desire to compromise on values once upheld by the society such as fidelity and honesty. The scene depicts the moral decay that represents a departure from the once valuable traditional cultures, values and beliefs.

The theme of moral decay and social transformation is further propagated by the role Shage, a young peasant plays. Shage, a manual worker from the countryside, who cannot even speak fluently in English, reflects the traditional Chinese society of largely agrarian population. It also depicts the innocence of typical Chinese people, contrasting them with the new breed of postmodern urban Chinese middle class who steel and kill in pursuit of their insatiable desires. Shage, who earns a bounty from his repair work on a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, desires to return home in the village, build a house and marry. Apparently, he is unaware of the thieves who have become extremely rampant and wants to carry money home in cash against the advice of his workmates. He even publicly announces as he boards a train that he has money and challenges the thieves to steal from him. This naivety and simplicity is contrasted with the cunning and wit of the postmodern thieves armed with sophisticated gadgets including cell phones and camcorders.

The theme of moral disintegration and social changes further arises in Shage’s monologue after boarding the train. Shage describes the typical life in the countryside where people and animals live in harmony. For instance, he says that when people gather cow dung for manure and do not have a bag with which to carry, they simply mark the dunghill with a stone and anyone in need of manure would see the stone and know it belongs to someone else hence leave it. He also says that in the wild island where he worked, he did not have anyone to talk to except for the wolves. Since the wolves could not harm him, he could not imagine people harming him (Lu 158). This reveals Shage’s oblivion of the social change and moral degradation that ravages the society. The thieves not only rob him but are also robbed by other robbers, thieves stealing from thieves! There can never be a better representation of a world ruled by materialism and theft.

This film reflects the emerging upper middle class society in China who accumulates their wealth through illegitimate means such as corruption and illegal trade (Zhu and Rosen 201). Further, A World without Thieves depicts the emergence of disposable properties and growth of domestic tourism whereby wealthy visitors are driven to their destinations such as Tibetan Temple in expensive imported vehicles such as BMW limousines (Khoo and Metzger 158).

Cell Phone
Three years after releasing A Sigh, a film that addresses extramarital affairs, Feng makes a grand comeback to the theme of ethical and moral debates on the issue of love and marriage in his 2003 film, Cell Phone (Zhu and Rosen 199). This film reveals the “ugly” side of the cell phone, an enigma that has helped the communication industry in its efforts to advance globalization in an unprecedented scope. This, however, is a misnomer as it turns out rather obviously that individuals rather than cell phones, are the “ugly” ones. The film traces the life of a popular television presenter whose wife discovers his secret love affair when she stumbles on the amatory text messages he has sent to his concubine via his cell phone.

A series of events sustained by lies and truths propagated via the cell phone lead to the collapse of his marriage and a sack. Feng’s motivation in producing Cell Phone was not only the fate of marital relationships in the face of the postmodern China but also the obsession of the Chinese people with cell phones (Zhu and Rosen 199). In Cell Phone, Feng Xiaogang dramatizes Chinese urban society’s engrossment in postmodern technology, which apparently seems to work against them its many benefits notwithstanding.

The Cell Phone fascinated the wired Chinese urban public so largely that mobile phone service providers had to reassure subscribers of their privacy in using mobile phones services. This happened at the time when the World Summit on the Information Society was taking place in Geneva, in which states and non-governmental organizations articulated their vision regarding the future of information society (Zhao 275). The film’s overarching message is that cell phones are dangerous weapons that are out to destroy loving spousal relationships. This message is more glaring at the scene where the protagonist burns his mobile phone. However, the protagonist is immediately confronted with the proposal to endorse an even more sophisticated cell phone, which reveals the futility of the society’s resistance to social change and globalization.

This theme is also depicted in Big Shot’s Funeral whereby the American legendary filmmaker, Don Tyler recovers from his debilitating condition. China has been at the forefront in opposing the participation of civil society organizations in determining the course of the information society. In addition, the state of China has not been supportive enough in promoting communication and media freedom (Zhao 276).

The Big Shot’s Funeral
Despite the challenge of passing the official censorship, Feng Xiaogang in Big Shot’s Funeral manages to critique the ideology of imperial dominance that characterizes the better part of Chinese history and the United states as the leader of the world. To achieve this goal, Feng demystifies American and Chinese popular authority figures – American Master (Don Tyler) and the Chinese Patriarch (Pu Yi). Don Tyler, the director of Hollywood represents the influence that America has had on China especially through films. Wu (45) acknowledges that American movies have had a huge influence on not only China’s film production industry but also the way of thinking of Chinese people. This influence is evidenced by the success of many American films in Chinese markets including The Lion King, Titanic, Last Emperor, Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Gladiator and Jurassic Park.

This success has undermined the efforts of Chinese film directors and threatened to kick Chinese films out of the home market albeit under the brave resistance initiated by Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige and continued by Ang lee and Huang Juaxin (Wu 45). Feng Xiaogang, in Big Short’s Funeral demonstrates the resistance of Chinese people to the influence of Americans by presenting the master of American filmmaking, Don Tyler in a physical and mental crisis apparently to subvert his dominance. At the same time, Feng depicts the superiority of the Chinese people by portraying Yoyo, a Chinese cinematographer as the only source of inspiration for the Hollywood master.

The subversion and reversion of American superiority in favor of China in Big Shot’s Funeral makes one to conclude easily that the film was a “remake” of The Last Emperor, a Bernardo Bertolucci’s production. The two movies feature Pu Yi, who became emperor Xuan Tong in 1908 at the age of three as the last of China’s emperors, an issue that has raised a lot of controversy among the Chinese people who believe that Mao Zedong was the last emperor of China. Mao’s influence on China’s philosophy and leadership was not only profound during his time, but also is felt today.

Feng comically depicts the brevity and visual nature of the postmodern society especially in the scene where Wang and Yoyo incarnate the legendary Hollywood director during an advertisement for placements. The comedy features Don Tyler, who flies into heaven through space after which he is reborn as a Chinese baby. This clearly reflects the visual imagery that fills today’s world in form of advertisements, billboards, posters, magazines, T-shirts, computers, TVs, and digital technologies that have made virtual presence more real than ever. Today it is much more difficult to differentiate between the representation of reality and reality itself, thanks to the sophisticated technology capable of manipulating information, signs and symbols in unprecedented dimensions. Big shot’s funeral is one of the films built around visually dependent businesses including advertisement and product placement of exotic and local commodities (Khoo and Metzger 158).

Further, Feng depicts modern China’s materialism, commercialization and desire for capitalist gains and media independence. Towards the end of the 20th century, private film and television production companies emerged to exploit the gains of market capitalism dominated by the state. As a result, there has been a clash of state and private investors’ interests in film production due to the unwillingness of the state to give up its industrial and ideological control over filmmaking and media industries. At the same time, China’s moviemakers have faced stiff competition from Hollywood even in the home market (Wu 47). The subversion of Hollywood director represents China’s desire to cripple Hollywood or at least challenge it. However, this goal seems too difficult to achieve since Tyler recovers and Wang goes insane. This further depicts China’s failed attempts to resist global capitalism on which Chinese movie directors including Feng continue to capitalize.

Comparison of Feng Xiaogang with other Chinese filmmakers
Feng Xiaogang films reveal a great degree of freedom in scrip design, guiding philosophy and methodology of film production. Although Feng stands out as an independent filmmaker, he is not the only one who pursued such freedom; neither is he the only one who features Chinese social issues. Zhang Yimou and Zhang Yuan are some of the directors who sought independent movie making during the time Feng was launching his career. Their two movies, To Live and Beijing Bastard respectively depict some of the issues affecting the people of China, though not as comprehensively as Feng. Particularly, Yimou’s To Live focuses on issues associated with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (Zhang 44).

Zhang Yang is perhaps one of the few producers whose approach to filmmaking closely resembles that of Feng Xiaogang. Like Feng, Zhang Yang uses comic in Spicy Love Soup to addresses contemporary social concerns such as family breakup, power, romance, business and individualism (Ciecko 147). Further, Zhang Yang’s Shower depicts the struggles of a family whose home is demolished in Beijing with considerable measure of parallelism to Feng Xiaogang’s Aftershock. Shower also captures themes featured in Feng’s films such as postmodernism and transition to capitalism, which threaten family ties (Ciecko 147).

Although Feng Xiaogang is celebrated for introducing a new film genre called Hesuipian to mainland China, he borrowed ideas from Hong Kong’s Stephen Chow, known for his cinema of nonsense comedies aired during the festivities of the Lunar New Year. Hesuipian refers to urban comedies released during New Year celebrations when most of the targeted people have sufficient time and mood to watch movies. Feng’s greatest contribution was to tailor this genre to meet the needs of Beijing’s urban population (Ciecko 146).

Conclusion
The four films referred to in this article clearly reflect Feng’s desire to capture social issues affecting the Chinese people. Despite their comic features, Feng Xiaogang’s films successfully address the social and postmodern issues affecting the Chinese society including the growing disparity in wealth distribution and moral degradation resulting from commercialization and materialism ravaging not only China but also the world at large.

By focusing on the difficulties and joys of ordinary Chinese people, Feng’s films deviate from earlier Chinese films that tended to glorify and idealize China’s history and paramount leaders. At the same time, Feng attempts to establish a neutral ground by blending the political propaganda of the 20th century films with the deviant works of the 21st century cinema by addressing the fears and feelings of the Chinese people. This pattern reveals Feng Xiaogang’s desire and ability to exercise absolute control over his films, which has enabled his films to reflect fully his intention in filmmaking.

Work cited
Ciecko, Anne T. Contemporary Asian Cinema: Popular Culture in a Global Frame. Oxford : Berg, 2006. Print
Khoo, Olivia, and Sean Metzger. Futures of Chinese Cinema: Technologies and Temporalities in Chinese Screen Cultures. Bristol, UK: Intellect, 2009. Print.
Lee, Maggie. “Aftershock: film review.” The Hollywood Reporter web. 28 July 2011 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/aftershock-film-review-29834
Lu, Sheldon H. Chinese Modernity and Global Biopolitics: Studies in Literature and Visual Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007. Print.
Samuel, Patrick. “Recreating Tangshan’s 1976 earthquake”. Static mass emporium Web. 28 July 2011 http://staticmass.net/features/the-making-of-aftershock/
Wu, Doreen. Discourses of Cultural China in the Globalizing Age. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Univ. Press, 2008. Print.
Zhang, Rui. The Cinema of Feng Xiaogang: Commercialization and Censorship in Chinese Cinema After 1989. Aberdeen, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University press, 2008. Print.
Zhang, Zhen. The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. Print.
Zhao, Yhuezhi. “Between a world summit and a Chinese movie: visions of the information society.” Gazette: The International Journal for Communication Studies 66(3-4): pp 275-280. Web. 28 July 2011 http://www.sfu.ca/cmns/faculty/zhao_y/assets/documents/gazette%20article.pdf
Zhu, Ying, and Stanley Rosen. Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010. Internet resource.

Insert surname here 13

Contemporary Hero in Television or Film – Breaking Bad’s Walter White

Film analysts take note that the modern day heroes in film and television shows are no longer comical as the situation was in the past century, a factor that is attributed to both culture and religion transformations. Anticipations indicate that this trend is built on the foundation that movie producers and directors have resorted to develop heroes who are more realistic to the issues affecting contemporary society and who have more human nature and flaws that the audiences can resonate with (Haynes ). The modern heroes in films and televisions are also portrayed as people who are struggling to overcome particular challenges like crime that is dominant in the modern societies where good and bad are growing relative terms.

The outcome of this trend is that the films are portraying societies that are becoming more culturally self-conscious and, so the heroes are depicted as such even though the audiences are likely to dislike what is being seen through the films.
The past century saw films being developed from the fantastic tales of human mythologies that valued happiness as a value. The heroes in films were thus indicated as being very powerful beyond their own selves. They were beyond the body and soul nature and leading a life that is much isolated from the rest of man-kind (Fitzpatrick ). The film approaches based on heroes aimed at answering the key questions on human existence to reveal nature’s mysteries like the purpose of life and the relationship between mankind and the divine being attributed to the creation. The heroes were seriously regarded and portrayed in films as brutal or with super powers.

The modern society nevertheless reflects the traditional desire by most societies to make the television and film mythology more essential to create meaning. There is pressure in the film industry on producers to have the heroes who represent the realities of the society we live in. This could be achieved in ways that are more comprehensive and laudable, in the film industry which has made the cynicism culture more fashionable and preferred (Bennett).

When the television series broadcasted the final on Breaking Bad, the audiences were left with more issues of concern, especially the role and contribution of the main character, Walter White. Some people termed the ending series as disappointing. Walter as the protagonist is made to take account of his evil actions and to show the society the difference between what is good and bad. The producers are targeting to display the theme of morality in the society and Walter is used as the epitome of manipulation through his evolution in the entire set. In the initial stages, the audiences may like him and cheer the levels of his achievements while sympathizing with his failures. His popularity seems to be based on his true conviction to make a future for his people. For instance, the audience is likely to support his action of killing Emilio together with the Krazy-8 gangsters, and later on Tuco’s killing all with the aim of securing a better future for his entire family members. As a scientific genius, Walter triumphs over the group of gangsters (Bennett).

Nonetheless, the situation takes a different turn when Walter’s interest becomes almost selfish. He allows Jane to die even when he was in a position to help. This has significant impacts on the lives of other 167 people in a plane as Jane’s father had much grief that affected his operations as an air traffic director. These catastrophes are attributed to Walter’s decisions as the protagonist. The character worsens his reputation when he is involved in corruption related initiatives and murder cases. He is behind the murder of Gale and thus his evil deeds are on the rise to the extent that his son hates him for his poor moral judgement. His actions are described as authentic at this point and therefore he cannot be redeemed due to his high level of evil moral.

His character resonates with the modern American mythologies where protagonists and heroes in film are purely human and with flaws in their character. Walter debilitates his wife and mistreats her emotionally. This is treated as a horrible violation of whom she seems to be. The series finale appeared to push excessively far to reclaiming the character in the eyes of the viewers. This is attributed to the fact that the previous 61 scenes had stripped a large amount of the myth that encompasses the extraordinary American link dramatization of anti-heroes. Walter wasn’t some symbol to gaze toward; he was a man who rationalized to enjoy his own particular most noticeably awful driving forces, then egotistically demanded everyone else get going to play a part with what he was doing (Fitzpatrick ).

Producer Vince Gilligan and his journalists set up a few chances for Walter to once again off his set of cooking precious stone meth—even as promptly as season one—and he generally said no. Walter is the new anti-hero. There is no further to go. He is the intelligent finish of the entire development, the focus past which just hopeless.Walter has become a perpetual liar who deceives even himself to carry out horrible actions (Bennett). These actions set him on the run as everyone perceives him as an enemy of the people who is set to fail. His character has the implication on society that mankind cannot be perfectly innocent, but subjected to the human nature that is full of shortcomings and flaws. Breaking bad depicts a society where evil outweighs the good through Walter, who is the epitome of it all. This is an indication that the society today condemns the average man to sell off his soul without knowing with the aim of achieving the American dream. Once gripped in committing crime and evil, it is very hard to break the bad old habits (Haynes ).

The interest is heavily on the last episode of the series that highlights how the crowd perceives the wrong actions of Walter. The resolution portrays a society that celebrates the protagonist and portrays him as the superhero against the antagonist, therefore vindicating him from the speculation in his character from the beginning of the series. Instead, it is Heisenberg who ends up being valorised by the crowd, rather than considering Walter White as being responsible for the evil deeds committed (McNab). Breaking Bad finale was fantastically fulfilling and satisfying. The major issue that raises concern is that most viewers were also very supportive of Walter’s actions and perceived him as a hero who carried the day in their favour.

The final episode was not just excessively clean and incredible; it was both mind provoking and evil promoting. Breaking Bad demonstrates the lack of honesty on the show’s part. The term Breaking Bad at last reflects the show’s producers, and fans that needed to be pandered to with an inebriating result. Walter winds up sparing the day by whipping the neo-Nazis with inventiveness. He goes ahead to vindicate his brother by marriage expiration, discharges old yeller from imprisonment so he can directly murder him, harms the insane people that set out to test his power, and gets all that cash to his alienated child through payback to the couple that wronged him. In the place of rising as a vanquished individual, Walter White’s malevolence change conscience by one means or another increases to that of a superhero.

Breaking Bad’s expanding fame has increased. The crowd’s closing remarks and the reaction make it more worrying that the society is celebrating evil to protect Walter White’. The series finale is Breaking Bad’s endeavour to put closure to Walter White’s flawed legacy. The buck truly stops with White’s last present (Haynes ). The show now cannot go on without him. The issue is that the TV series peaked with a B grade Hollywood consummation. Breaking Bad concluded all the actions in line with Walters’ evil deed. He is finally venerated, and evil is authenticated as good in the end as the protagonist recovers what was legitimate his property.

The show had the respectability to get Walter to at last concede that he truly did everything for himself. He initially had committed evil for the sake of not only protecting but also making his family better. Nonetheless, in the end, Walter was doing the evil actions to meet his personal needs. The demonstration of Breaking Bad empowered Walter to rescue his great name from the wreckage of a hopeless life. The cancer was truly beneficial on the contrary as it worked towards his favour. Hence, Breaking Bad’s character study remains an issue of contention. Throughout its own particular life compass, the show revealed a beset soul. Breaking Bad portrayed a man losing his orientation as he discovered his route to the top. We saw an obviously great man come to be progressively dependent on his own sense of force and self worth. Don’t be misdirected by the part Jesse played in the show: Walter was truly the addict.

Breaking Bad was about a feeble man’s dependence on the high of expanding male intensity. The group of onlookers likewise needed to experience the persistent redundancy of terrible behavior despite the antagonistic results. Breaking Bad creatively imitated the states of tolerance and withdrawal inside its own particular memorable clashes. The show’s strain guaranteed that the crowd persistently adjusts to its own particular addictive qualities and must progressively bigger measures to realize the first ever impacts. Breaking Bad is in this way ostensibly exceptional in the archives of TV: it chronicled the way a man lost his soul keeping in mind the end goal to clutch a lost sense of self. Breaking Bad splendidly made its “junkie” thoughtful by urging TV viewers to see the world through maladaptive eyes. The viewers related to him in line with the fact that we also felt Walter’s numerous high and lows. The viewers are supporters of Walter as he came to be progressively manipulative, lying and hallucinating (BBC News ).

The Breaking Bad writers, however, appear to have gotten high on their own supply. They’ve allowed themselves to buy into Walter White’s own mythology, so everyone gets into a state of sustained elation. To some extent, the euphoric ending is a shocking development. This is the same show that held Walter White personally responsible for an airplane collision that he could neither foresee nor control. Breaking Bad had also previously acknowledged that Walt’s remission was really a mixed blessing: he was now forced to live with the consequences of his actions and could barely stand the sight of himself. The strategic introduction of neo-Nazis signalled the end of Breaking Bad moral fortitude. These stock villains helped the show avert our gaze and save face.

More plot point than characters, everyone’s favourite bad guys made it possible for Breaking Bad to consolidate Walt’s rise to power as it conveniently made them the fall guys. It would seem, then, that Breaking Bad – like its leading character – had become the victim of its own success. It certainly must be gratifying to know that a show beginning with just 1.2 million viewers ended with an average audience of 10.3 million. Originally a modestly reviewed show with a cult following, Breaking Bad’s increasing popularity coincided with its current Emmy for Outstanding Drama. Indeed, the last season was so anticipated that many viewers recently caught up the hype of watching the season finale in order to gain the sense of belonging that they also watched. It’s no wonder the highly anticipated final season has since become the best reviewed show in television history.

Given the bandwagon mentality of the media and audiences alike, everyone was ready to jump on board for an exhilarating ride. The show’s creator readily admitted a reluctance to let everyone down. The series ended on a high so as to make the show’s fans feel warm and fuzzy within themselves. So instead of finishing with the remarkable pair of episodes that upended the bandwagon, Breaking Bad opted for a ‘final showdown’ to restore the balance.

The deformity of the advanced legendary perspective is that it is an inadequate view. A chief part in any mythology is to epitomize a thorough logic by outlining the connection between the regular and the otherworldly. In our opportunity, the previous has swallowed up the recent to structure another agnosticism that is increasingly like irreligion. The inventive outcome is the god-man-Superman. Americans with their American Dream could be God, being maybe the first progress to have heroes that are not courageous for being religious. Without a dissimilar divine part, there might be no correct mythology. Up to the date myth has, such as its age, lost the feeling of the entire, and thusly it is divided.

Manking believes in the mythology of realism (which is the types of agnosticism) and will fundamentally be dim a haziness that precludes even the presence from securing light (Bennett). Regardless of the exertions of past film makers, there is still need to make the world a conventional place where nobody is distinctive, and nobody is novel. Uncommonness is not favourable to the individualistic office that encroaches social control and social maiming. The issue of advanced myth is that it depicts a world that is developing too little indeed, for heroes.

The world has changed in the previous few thousand years, along these lines. Humankind needs heroes and the heroes of advancement are not the heroes of ancient times they may be the exact heroes needed in the modern day. There are some slight similarities in the realm of Batman and Superman that was resplendent objectivity in the realm of Hector and Achilles, the superhero stays, in a central manner, like the epic victor. Today there are distinctions in the comprehension of how reality is created in the film production. I

ndividuals still maintain heroes to glorified gauges. The measures are not the same, nor as high.
Our mythology reflects our world. It is the closest thing that we have as a society to the traditional myths; yet, to be totally straightforward, it is significant of the world that has missed the point of the totality of truth. None of these is the current holy person the same as the example of piety of old. There remains a need, in any case, to experience the world as it seems to be. Whether advanced mythology expects a key to remember recovery is, in all honesty, yet to be seen.

There is the reason to be watchful, in any case. The ideas of good and bad and great and abhorrent so far as that is concerned are developing confounded in cutting edge mythology in the light of the fact that they are, no doubt befuddled in cutting edge social order. No courageous person is complete without the notion of being divine beings. Until a man searches past himself for satisfaction, his myths will be as susceptible as Superman is to Kryptonite—and that is an issue to consider quite important, on the grounds that this time, mankind truly do hang in the balance.

Works Cited
BBC News, . “Is Walter White one of TV’s truly evil characters?.” (2013): n. page. Web. 25 Nov.
2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24281785>.
Bennett, L. “The True Anti-Hero of ‘Breaking Bad’ Isn’t Walter White Sexual politics and
the bad wife..” New Republic. 14 Aug 2013: n. page. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114245/breaking-bad-review-walter-white-
not-antihero>.
Fitzpatrick, S. “Soberheroes: A Critical Look at Modern Mythology.” (2013): n. page. Web. 25
Nov. 2013. <http://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/soberheroes-a-critical-look-at- modern-mythology>.
Haynes, C. “Modern Myths in Movies and What’s Missing.”Huffington Post. (2013): n. page. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clarence-haynes/modern-myths-in-movies- an_b_3895816.html>.
McNab, J.M.. “Why Breaking Bad May Be the Greatest Super-Hero TV Show of All Time.”
Rewatchability. N.p., 28 Sep 2013. Web. 24 Nov 2013.
<http://rewatchability.com/2013/09/28/why-breaking-bad-may-be-the-greatest-
super-hero-tv-show-of-all-time/>.

Surname 2

Effects of Stalin’s Regime on the Film Industry

The soviet society revolution brought a number of changes to the film industry. The Soviet Union shift involved various persons including Russians. At the time, the Soviet nation endorsed cultural institutions but introduced firm controls. The revolutionary period caught up with diverse attitudes towards artwork and artists relative to freedom and major styles as well as artistic culture. Initially, the artists had their freedom limited to a certain extent, which resulted in them fleeing to Russia. This took place because writers were opposed to the Bolshevik regime. Before the shift to Stalin’s Cultural Revolution, Lenin expressed his concerns over the artwork. He rejected new developments in the film industry and always advocated for traditional ways and means of approaching cinematography. Lenin created a Museum of New Western Art aimed at exercising control of artistic works and content. During his era, many art studios were put up in countless cities. This urged artists to participate and raised sympathy. A number of authors were vigorous among the Maxim, Gorky, and Vladimir. This had a positive impact of art culture in Soviet where many schools, traditional and otherwise increased. However, this was not to last forever. A lot of changes occurred in the film industry during Stalin’s era. This paper tries to highlight these changes and their impact.
The film industry is significant in the society due to its goal of influencing, encouraging, and educating citizens. Therefore, states’ should be in support of cinematography in an attempt to reduce illiteracy in the society. Joseph Stain greatly struck the film industry by imposing control over styles and realism. This reserved every trend in socialists’ works. Stalin’s era got many writers killed as well imprisoned. For instance, Isaac Babel was a Russian writer and journalist who died in police custody. The art works done by prisoners were confiscated in his era, and probably published later while others were destroyed. Stalin’s era had positive development in the Soviet’s cinema settings in particular before the Second World War. Traditional school built emphasized on the full control of the film production. Stalin also adopted communists’ opinion on the inefficiencies and difficulties that affected the film industry. This was demonstrated when making social and economic decisions. Adoption of defensive mentality in Soviet film society almost made the industry to collapse in terms of creativity and the amount produced. Defensive perception tried to drive political and preexisting film structures, which were proved difficult. This resulted in attempts to protect communists’ ideologies and Soviet powers, which would otherwise be regarded as fraudulent.
This era brought into existence degrading policies in the film industry, which led to failure in convincing masses of the legality of the system, as well as influencing them to view films as educative and entertaining. Hence, the masses were not ready to receive and view films from the bureaucratic administrators. This meant the breakdown in passing political information, which was encrypted in the movies. Politically based films undermined entertainment aspects, and thus parties and the audience never benefited. The idea of cinema for millions got big blows after the shift to micromanagement and centralization of the film industry. This is because most artists had difficulties in accessing art studios and other production resources. The censorship bodies introduced suppressed creativity amongst artists. The policies formulated to help artists contravened the main aim. For instance, the Union of Cinema Personnel had the goal of bringing artists together for common growth but shifted to be the means of passing political instructions to film workers. Stalin’s era gave a certain level of freedom to the new film workers but was unsuccessful in finding jobs for them. Therefore, the revolution in the cinema industry had no graduates’ secure new jobs but only replaced the previous professionals.

Artistic shift to Stalin’s Cultural Revolution in the film industry also adopted political content. In that case, it was equally possible to make a film with political content and at the same time delight the audience. Although a few elite were left to rule and destroy reliable works, playwright Grigori Alexandrov managed to produce a film, The Circus, which had a political message in it. Other films included Happiness by Medvedkin, and The Last Night by Raizman. The debate over sound film brought in the new genre and musical ideologies that increased the number of shelved movies due to heightened government’s interventions and control. This resulted in the evacuation of the film industry to Central Asia aimed at extra control and centralization. Stalin believed that a small number of films should be made, which were masterpieces. The aim was to focus on individual film producers and rate the best. He introduced the conservative principle which would only pay attention to the great movie directors. As a result, less concentration was assumed to link the best film directors and their colleagues. Shared experience would have developed upcoming artists. This reduced the work done in studios and hence the scarcity of co-workers as well as future artists.
Another factor of change concerned the publication, translation, and re-publication of contents in the Film Factory. The Stalin’s era saw the greatest achievements and developments in the movie industry. Republication of art work was not allowed. These developments included artistic as well political facets that were achieved during a period of war and hence got less attention since films’ were inaccessible. In this era, most Russian tried to re-issue poor quality movies in more advanced editions to strengthen the industry and express ideas in a more sensible mode. Stalin’s revolutions occurred in late 20’s and early 30’s when he ruled out of pressure, and forced families and artists to adopt the socialist realism. These cultural changes affected every livelihood due to the economic policies put in place through a wicked process. During this period, the Soviet Union became authoritarian due to the ugly costs imposed on human life. Stalin used the horrible actions and leadership to achieve his industrialization drive that also destroyed the independence enjoyed by Russians.
Stalin’s administration believed that industrialization would be achieved if everyone was educated. Therefore, there were massive educational programs aimed at impacting skills to citizens that would see most get employed. This process needed political information and propaganda to be spread. Therefore, the film industry became a valuable medium of such communication in mobilizing resources. Most artistic groups were disbanded only to leave a few that were loyal. A large amount of landscape painting, portraitures, genres, and reports presented at the era pursued merely industrial functions and were hence free from any thought. After the war, the artists that were out of the Academy were eager to experiment and present their artwork. All works done and presented during this period were full of creative ideas and exhibited a taste for human life. To signify the oppressive regime during Stalin’s era, the first Soviet artists’ congress by Russian after war recognized all the artists unions in Moscow. The artists got plenty of topics, constructive figures, and images that realized the main objectives of the cinema production and presentation. Therefore, artists got more understanding of the Stalin’s realism aspect, which broadened the possibilities of being more creative and resolute. This changed cultural issues in the interpretation and reproduction of films for excellent expression and impressions.

Stalin’s regime improved other industries in Soviet society but depressed the cinema field. The central planning brought in mandated the industry participants to do away with avant-garde practices and adopt socialism realism. This style offered organized storytelling where heroes were expected to act as models to be emulated by citizens in support of the communist culture. Restraining aesthetic policies imposed by the scrupulous censorship device of Soyuzkino led to a number of prescribed and inflexible films. In fact, they made it in supporting a factual cinema of the masses view. The Chapayev cinema achieved both the political interest and entertainment concern. The film humanized the title character by giving him private mannerism, humorous intellect, and a forceful appeal. This gave the audience the will and inspiration to watch it many times. The Soviet movie industry endured all through the time after World War II. Besides coping with the harsh material and financial losses of the war, Stalin’s government fastened collective control and restriction in order to handle the effects that the new exposure to Western nations had on citizens.

The Soviet film industry recorded the lowest number of movies in the period due to the unkind conditions in place. The Stalin’s era led to many films being produced in a bid to involve children as well become experimental stereoscopic movies. This meant no good number of movies reached the audience, which totally killed the film industry. The industry was further affected by a resolution passed by the Council of Ministers, which criticized the arts seeking quality over quality. The council claimed that all films made and produced must promote communist ideologies in addition to the Soviet system. In that case, Stalin had the ultimate decision over what was to be viewed. The regime killed many artists due to the long time taken to let a single movie to be aired. This led to many theaters being idle and hence being closed. The severe restrictions on content in addition to the complexity and centralized procedure for authorization drove many film writers away, and studios had many difficulties developing any of the quality movies prescribed by the 1948 ruling.
After the war, film theaters faced the difficulty of fulfilling the mounting appetencies of the Soviet audiences for movies while coping with the scarcity of lately produced artworks from the studios. Hence, this era was characterized by same stage viewing for long periods than usual due to lack of new films. This was resulted by Stalin’s harsh film industry conditions that wiped artists out of studios. In that case, anything new would draw large numbers of people. This caused the Soviet regime to allow the screening of foreign films, which comprised far more rebellious thoughts than any Soviet film director, would have ever tried introducing in a movie, at a time when the Soviet artists saw themselves jobless because of suppressive laws. In conclusion, it is clear that the effects of Stalin’s new policies were dire to the Soviet’s film industry. This was conveyed by the leniency shown toward overseas films due to the audience pressures and the need to source finances to support government activities. Therefore, the result was the viewing of anti-collective films against Stalin’s master goal of influencing citizens to think in a socialism manner.

Surname 5

Kingship in Shakespeare’s Henry V

Thesis Statement
Henry V is a historical play written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been authored in 1599 telling how King Henry V from England acted before and after the Battle of Agincourt in the Hundred Years’ War. This play portrays kingship, heroic determination, patriotism, humor and tender comedy. It revolves around the life of King Henry who gains heroic recognition after he defeats the French troops. Henry V can be described as cunning, a shrewd leader and a ruthless military man seeking to defeat French troops while seducing the French Princess Katherine to being his bride. This play therefore displays ambition, battles in pursuit for victory and attempts to overcome a past marred by predecessor’s sins and mistakes.

Introduction
In Act one, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely are both anxious and afraid that a bill proposal requiring confiscation of property will be passed. However, they are hopeful King Henry V will reject it because; since his father passed away, he had changed his behavior, manners and character positively from being a rakish debauchee into a gracious leader. Archbishop of Canterbury promises King Henry V a clergy contribution if he attempts to win the French crown, which was once held by his great-grandmother known as Isabella of France. Scene 2 involves Henry asking the Archbishop to explain and illustrate the Salic law. It is a law prohibiting the French throne from being succeeded through a female line. With right and conscience, the Archbishop reassures the king that he is entitled to his claims. Conversely, Dauphin ambassadors admitted by the king present to him tennis balls as a gift. However, the gift does not please the King. Thus, he promises them to take revenge claiming ‘I am coming on to venge me as I may’ (BRS, 2013).

Act II is played by Nym, Bardolph, Pistol and Mistress Quickly who meet in a street. King Henry meets Earl of Cambridge, Sir Thomas Grey and Lord Scroop after they conspire with the French in taking Henry’s life. They, however, fail to discover that the king is aware of their treason plans. They attempt to convince him in taking harsh measures against anyone convicted for conspiring against the king. Thus, King Henry issues an order for their arrest. They beg and plead for forgiveness although the king does not heed to their cries as they are sentenced to death. Pistol, Nym, Bardolph and Mistress Quickly gather to mourn the death of Falstaff. However, just like Mistress Quickly is neither sure nor convinced that Knight made a Christian end, the rest are also not fully convinced as they bid farewell and depart for France. The final scene is played in the French Palace where Dauphin characterizes King Henry as ‘a vain, shallow and humorous youth’. The constable believes that Dauphin’s description of Henry seems to underestimate the king, thus, he warns him before Exeter arrives at the palace demanding that Charles the French King ought to step down from the throne for Henry (BRS, 2013).

In act III, King Henry V is offered Katherine by Charles, as she is also his daughter alongside some minor dukedoms. Henry on the other hand plans to lay a siege to Harfluer by urging his troops ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends!’. Nym, Pistol, Bardolph and Boy are reluctant in joining the battle until Fluellen encourages and motivates them. Fluellen also unsuccessfully attempts to engage the truculent Macmorris in a discussion with regards to disciplines of war. Harfluer surrenders to the English after Dauphin fails to send help to the town. Princess Katherine is awarded an English lesson by her maid Alice in scene 4 after she asks the attendant who has been to England to teach her some English words. Alice teaches Princess Katherine English words for fingers, hand, elbow, neck, nails and arm among other body parts. The lesson continues until the princess says she needs to have her dinner marking an end to the lesson (BRS, 2013).

Conversely, the English or Henry’s troops march towards Calais in scene 5 which the women at the court find rather fascinating to the dismay of Dauphin. This is after Dauphin discovers that these women regard French men as cowards without macho and strong manhood characters. As a result, Charles motivates his men to prepare for a battle against Henry’s troops. Henry’s troops who are perceived to suffer from the cold winter season are thus regarded as weak matches to the strong French troops. Unfortunately, Dauphin is prohibited from watching the battle by the king, as he is required to stay with him in Rouen. In scene 6, Pistol tells Welsh Captain Fluellen that Bardolph will be hanged after he was found guilty of looting. Fluellen refuses to intercede in order to save Bardolph, which infuriates the Duke of Exeter and Pistol. Fluellen tells Henry that Exeter was successful in defending the bridge. Montjoy and the French Herald appear on the scene demanding that Henry ought to consider paying a ransom an act he is adamant to undertake as he believes that, although his troops are weak he can lead them to success. At the Agincourt, Dauphin, the Duke of Orleans and the Constable patiently await dawn as they discuss the coming battle. They praise their armor until the discussion shifts towards discussing the mistress and Dauphin’s horse. Dauphin therefore spends the evening at the Agincourt against his father’s wishes (BRS, 2013).

In Act IV, the two opposing camps comprising of the French and the English troops seek to determine who is the greatest. Due to high confidence, French troops spend their time playing cards and games while Henry’s troops aware they are the underdogs spend the evening in fear. Henry’s fearful troops describe the impending battle as ‘tis a fearful odds’. As a result, Henry attempts to motivate and inspire them by calling them his ‘countrymen, brothers and friends’. During the battle, Pistol captures a French soldier but after he demands for a ransom, he spares his life. This act causes distraught among the French troops after realizing their ranks are broken. In scene 6 played in another part of the battlefield, Exeter recounts to Henry how York and Suffolk died as heroes. This is after Henry realizes his troops are actually winning amidst his worries about his wounded family members. This news causes Exeter to cry while Henry maintains teary eyes until an alarm is raised signifying reinforcement of French troops. Coupled with his personal loss, Henry orders that all French troops ought to be killed (BRS, 2013).

Scene 7 is played by Fluellen and Gower who are holding a discussion with Henry until Montjoy arrives seeking permission in order for French troops to retrieve their dead soldiers for burying. Williams who previously held the King’s glove accosts Fluellen after his glove is awarded to him by King Henry allowing him to strike any challenge. As the king pardons Williams, Herald arrives at the scene declaring that more French troops have died compared to the few English troops. Immediately after the English troops win the battle, King Henry offers a peace treaty to French. More so, Fluellen strikes Pistol for deriding Wales without realizing that he had learned about his wife’s death thus, the need to return in England. In scene 2, both kings and the Duke of Burgundy finalize the treaty’s agreement. After Charles agrees to the treaty’s peace terms, he allows his daughter Kathleen to be Henry’s wife thus, making Henry his heir to the French throne (BRS, 2013).

The Play’s Historical Evidence
Shakespeare authored this play as mirror of the King Henry V historic period from 1386 to 1422. He was the king of England after his father’s death. He is also accredited with military success after he won the Battle of Agincourt in conquering France. The king of France was referred to as Charles VI and the treaty in act IV signifies Treaty of Valois signed by Charles VI of France and King Henry V of England. Just like in the play, Charles’ daughter was known as Catherine of Valois who married the king of England. Thus, King Henry V was a France heir after he married Catherine who is portrayed in the play in Act 5 scene 2 (James, 2013). In conclusion, it is evident that politics, ruthlessness, love, familial links, motivation and devotion attributed towards henry’s victory against French troops. It also portrays how corruption, authority, hard work, shrewdness and even dedication plays a vital role in maintaining a powerful position and expanding a king’s roles, responsibilities and tasks. Thus, kings and leaders are involved in ethical and unethical practices in order to remain in power and maintain peace and unity in a kingdom.

References
Books-Rags Study (BRS). (2013). William Shakespeare: King Henry V, Introduction, Overview, Chapter Summary and Analysis, Books-Rags Study Guides.
James, D. (2013). Henry V: Textual; Introduction Two Texts, Two Versions, Foyer Library Theatre Annex.

HENRY V 2

Running head: HENRY V 1