Friday, January 31, 2020

Of Mice and Men is a famous novel written by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men is a famous novel written by John Steinbeck Essay Of Mice and Men is a famous novel written by John Steinbeck; Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas Valley, California and he set Of Mice and Men during the Great Depression. He based the storyline on his personal experiences and ventures. The novel was later adapted into a motion picture starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. This essay will examine various aspects of the film; the films treatment of the story, characterisation, camera work, symbolism, special effects and the use of music. The film does not follow the book exactly as several scenes from the novel have been edited to add climax and tension. For example some important aspects of the book have been changed. The first change is George and Lennie going into the boss house to meet him instead of the boss meeting them in the bunkhouse; George doesnt scold Lennie for talking in front of the boss when he strictly told not to say a word; George is introduced to Slim over dinner but in the book they first meet in the bunkhouse; George comes into Crooks room to get Lennie while in the book Candy joins Lennie and Crooks and they all discuss the dream, then even Crooks starts to believe in the dream and asks if he can be part of it. Some scenes from the book are not included at all, for example Curleys wife doesnt threaten Crooks in the film whereas in the book she threatens to frame Crooks for rape purely out of spite because the men reject her company. The hallucinations that Lennie has of Aunt Clara and the rabbit telling him how bad he has been in the last chapter of the novel are not portrayed in the film and when Slim and the other men console George after he has killed Lennie is not shown in the film either. Although some scenes have been cut from the original storyline others scenes have been added to the film. For example the opening of the film which shows the girl running in the red dress and the men chasing George and Lennie (this is only hinted at in the book); the train scene where George and Lennie jump on the train escaping to Salinas Valley and grabbing their work tickets in town; the work scenes which show the power of Lennies strength; Curleys wife talking to George alone in the barn; Curley practicing his boxing skills on his punching bag and George and Lennie speaking to Curleys wife after they have just left Crooks room. This treatment of the story shows us that not all scenes in a novel makes a good or interesting scene in a film so a novel can not just be filmed as it is, it often needs changing to make it a film the audience wants to watch. In film the director usually tries to bring a romantic element into the film to keep the audience guessing, will the couple get together or not? For example, there is an underlying sexual tension between George and Curleys wife in a couple of scenes. The characterisation is fairly faithful to the way they are described in the book. The way Lennie is portrayed is as a large, tall man with the strength of a giant. He is shown to be innocent like a child but as strong as an ox. The actor playing Lennie, John Malkovich matches Lennies description in the book, A huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders. Gary Sinise also fits Georges physical description, Small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. He is shown to be the brains and Lennie the brawn. He is like the responsible father of Lennie, always taking care of him and trying to keep him out of trouble e.g. the scene where George gets Lennie out of Weed because he got into serious trouble for touching a womans red dress. Candy, the swamper, is faithful to his description in the book, A tall, stoop-shouldered old man and so is his character. Curley, the Boss son is described as, A thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair (hence the name) but the actor in the film has straight hair. However some characters differ from the way they are described in the book. In the book Slim, the jerk line skinner, is described as Prince of the ranchhe moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen and he has a lot of authority and respect among all the ranch men in fact, His authority was so great his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love. In the film his authority and respect doesnt come across as much as it does in the book. The actor playing Slim didnt look the way the reader would have imagined him, His long, black, damp hair straight back. His hatchet face was ageless. His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their action as those of a temple dancer. Curleys wife is physically the same as how she is described in the book. However, the audience has more sympathy for her in the film than in the book because she doesnt threaten Crooks in the same vindictive, spiteful way. Her vulnerability is also highlighted when she is seen breaking down in tears after Curley has broken her records. In addition Crooks, the stable buck, (his nickname is derived from his crooked spine) is much more bent over then the audience would have expected. He is crueller than in the book e.g. he enjoys tormenting Lennie about George possibly not returning ever again therefore is seen to be quite malicious. The camera work is very cleverly done and emphasises certain aspects of the story very well e.g. the close up of Lennie crushing Curleys hand and the close up of Lennie breaking Curleys wifes neck, make the scenes more dramatic. The lighting affects the mood of the story like the semi-darkness in the barn when Lennie kills the puppy and the bunkhouse when Carlson takes Candys old dog to be shot display a sombre mood. The golden glow of the men playing horseshoes outdoors displays a happy and optimistic mood. There are also several interesting special effects used in the film to intensify the drama. For example the fight between Curley and Lennie is exciting to watch as you see the blood dripping from Curleys crushed hand, the killing of Curleys wife as she panics and he breaks her neck and the shooting of Lennie when George shoots him in the back of the head. Most scenes in the film symbolise things for different characters for instance the dark side of the mens lives when they are on the train and the light flickers symbolises an uncertain future ahead, violence could flare at any time. It could also symbolise a gloomy, depressing future. Scenes with a lot of light symbolise happier times, signs of hope or the men just enjoying life for a change. The rabbits symbolise the dream and a symbol for Lennie of a better life. The dead mouse symbolises death and a sense of foreboding (that something bad is about to happen). Music is a key element in any movie because it helps to build up tension e.g. the famous theme tune of Jaws or the music used in Physco as the person is being murdered the beat is set by every stab. Music also shows the mood and is there to accompany the action on screen e.g. when the men are chasing George and Lennie at the beginning of the film the music gets louder and louder. In contrast to this is the use of complete silence to set the mood e.g. when they are on the train and when they are hiding in the ditch. The silence can represent calm or tension. The music when they are discussing the Dream is very relaxing and soothing, which again reflects the mood. Overall the novel is a tragedy because you feel sympathy for George because he had to kill his friend who had become like a brother to him. The film relays the novel, keeping along the lines of the story but is still a film worth watching even if the audience has not read the book. This is because the director has altered and added scenes to include tension, drama and climax. People who have read the book would be satisfied that the characters and storyline follow the book almost to every aspect.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Comparing Sexuality and Power in Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer E

Comparing Sexuality and Power in Dracula and Buffy the Vampire Slayer    At first glance, Joss Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the hour-long TV series which premiered in 1997 and is now in its third season, bears little resemblance to the book which started the vampire craze -- Bram Stoker's Dracula, published a century earlier. And yet, looks can be deceiving. Although the trendy -- and often skimpy -- clothing and bandied about pop-culture references of "Buffy" clearly mark the series as a product of a far different culture than that of the Victorian England of Dracula, the underlying tensions of the two texts are far similar than one might think. Beneath the surface differences in the treatment of their heroines, the two texts converge in similarly problematic anxieties about gender and sexuality. Unlike other latter-day adaptations of the vampire legend -- such as films like The Hunger and Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire novels -- which actively shatter accepted tenets of vampirism, such as the danger of sunlight or crosses to vampires, "Buffy" relies heavily on the guidelines for vampirism established by Stoker in his novel. In "Buffy," as in Dracula, vampires can be killed by direct sunlight and harmed by holy water and crucifixes (Golden 125). When, for instance, Buffy's crucifix necklace touches her vampire boyfriend Angel's chest, it leaves a burn-mark similar to that left on vampire-defiled Mina Harker's forehead by application of a Holy Wafer in Dracula ("Angel;" Stoker 302). And unlike the sympathetic portrayals of vampires advanced in Rice's novels and in the 1960s soap opera "Dark Shadows," the vampires shown are not good or even human. They are, in the words of Buffy's Watcher Giles "demon at the c... ...sitive depiction of their sexual relationship. For Mina, however, renunciation of Dracula's evil must include the renunciation of her own physical needs and desires. The roles played by social mores and conceptions of gender and sexuality are, in the end, more than incidental. Indeed, the difference between Victorian England and 1990s America causes the subtle -- but significant -- valuation of the connections between good and evil and women and sexuality in two in many ways similar texts. Works Cited Golden, Christopher and Nancy Holder. The Watcher's Guide. New York: Pocket Books, 1998. Leatherdale, Clive. Dracula: The Novel and the Legend. East Sussex, England: Desert Island Books, 1985. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Signet, 1992. Whedon, Joss, creator and executive producer. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Twentieth Century Fox Television, 1997.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Discuss the Relationship Between Persuasion and Attitude Change.

Discuss the relationship between persuasion and attitude change. The procedure of changing attitudes to then furthermore change behaviour has led psychologists to develop research into the topic of how persuasion takes place. The Hovland-Yale model was initially developed to persuade the American public for more support in the last stages of WW2. It was learnt that in order to persuade effectively, the need was to focus on who and what. Principally the content, the audience and the communicator.It was found that the most effective sources were experts as they had more credibility than non-experts, but also popular and attractive sources were more effective than unattractive sources. Bochner & Insko asked students to suggest how much sleep was needed, before showing them two different sources of information – an expert and a non-expert. Students were more persuaded by the expert even when it conflicted with their own beliefs. Another finding from the model found that messages a re more effective if the audience feels that their main purpose is not to persuade.Also, if a message contains a moderate level of fear it becomes more successful. McGuire also found that there was a primacy effect in messages. His research found that when he was trying to persuade students to join a course, he was more persuasive if he gave the positive points first. The final factor involved in the Hovland-Yale model is audience factors. It was seen that moderately intelligent audience members were more easily persuaded and when aiming at high intelligence audience members, it would be more effective to present both sides of the argument.The Elaboration-Likelihood model focuses on the message itself and splits this into two sections. Whether the audience focuses on the main content of the message or if they focus on other factors such as the communicator giving the message. Petty et al. called this the central and peripheral route. The central route audience members focus on the q uality of the arguments and are motivated to think about the message. It’s been suggested that this has a lasting attitude change.The peripheral route is quite the opposite as audience members are not motivated to think about the message and they focus on the peripheral tools (such as music, celebrities, colour) rather than the arguments presented. Attitude change through the peripheral route is temporary. The Hovland-Yale model has good research support for all three factors involved in the model. Morton et al. found that children had more favourable attitudes after being given information from an expert (doctor) than a parent. Lewis et al. ound that fear arousing messages were effective in the short-term, but messages containing humour were more effective in the long-term. However, Fechback et al. found that high fear level was most effective in messages which disputes McGuire’s findings. However, McGuire’s findings can also be explained another way to show su pport. If following the basis of the psychodynamic approach, messages using high fear arousal may trigger defence mechanisms such as denial or repression in audience members, suggesting moderate fear level is the most effective.Research also supports the key points of the Elaboration-Likelihood model. A psychologist supports the claim that the central route is more effective for high need-for-cognition audience members. Models have heavily relied on laboratory based research, which causes us to question the ecological validity. However, real-life application has occurred and found that when students were exposed to a fact-based or emotion-based health campaign, the higher NC individuals were more influenced by the central route (fact-based) and the lower NC were more persuaded by the peripheral route (emotion-based).Although both models are heavily supported by research, many research studies have involved students which brings problems of generalisation. Students have an age, wealt h, and education status which is not typical of the general public. In addition, experimenters have exposed participants solely to their stimuli, whereas in the real world, we are exposed to thousands of media forms everyday; thus lacking in mundane realism.

Monday, January 6, 2020

The Referral Rate At Bank X From The Existing 6 % Down

FINDINGS DISCUSSION Within this section the Author intends to present the results of implementing the research methodology as developed in the earlier section accompanied with discussion and interpretation of the findings on how they address the research question (How to lower the referral rate at Bank X from the existing 6% down to industry average levels). The required information was collected via quantitative and qualitative methods of research using primary and secondary data. This information was then collated within tables so that a comparative analysis can be conducted to arrive at findings. The findings will be discussed by comparing top 5 banks against each other on key aspects of online security and customer experience. An†¦show more content†¦The remaining questions were developed keeping in mind the qualitative aspects of the research. Questions 4 11, address exploration of types and categories of online fraud risks including where it is committed. The majority of the remaining qu estions 5, 6, 7, 8 as well as 11 were developed to elicit information on processes and practices used by banks to detect, prevent and respond to acts of fraud in online banking transactions resulting in unauthorised payments. The identification of whether Anti-Money Laundering processes are separate from general fraud risk management processes is covered in question 9. Question 10 addresses how the correlation of advancement in fraud risk management technology has impacted the increase or reduction in referral rates for unauthorised payments. The banks’ operate in a very competitive environment and whereas safety and security in online banking is a major area of concern to the customers they also want convenience and speed from their banks in conducting these transactions. Question 12 13 were developed to address the overall satisfaction of the customer in this area. According to the methodology plan, the first step was to pilot test the questionnaire with Bank X and an external bank with respect to its structure and the feasibility of the contents in receiving a positive response. The contacts within the two pilot banks after checking with relevant departments responded with feedback that conveyed their concern