Womens Real Life Problems in Thelma and Louise and Shirley Valentine E

Women's Real Life Problems in Thelma and Louise and Shirley Valentine Throughout the history of film actresses have always received the worst roles in which to portray women. Women are often featured as lovers or prostitutes, backstage roles that support the power and domination of men. Hollywood has always been dominated and ‘run’ by the influence of male actors and directors. Statistics have shown that 71% of male actors are given major roles compared to women who receive only 29% of centre stage roles. Thelma and Louise and Shirley are two films, which change that. They portray woman in a positive role, showing them in a positive light against male oppression. Although Shirley Valentine is a British film and Thelma and Louise is American, both films still show women facing the prejudice of society in the 20th century. In this way women viewers can relate to the films believing them to show the difficulties women face in life, the loss of women’s individuality due to the domination of their husbands and their experiences of sexism and prejudice in modern day society. There are many similarities as well as differences in both films and the storylines are varied, yet both films still feature woman who overcome the typical stereotype that they are nothing but sexual objects for men to abuse. Thelma and Louise a road film featuring two women who are trying to run away from the law because Louise has shot a man who was trying to rape Thelma. Throughout their journey they go on a quest of self-discovery realising the mistakes they have made in life and finding their true identity among the ravages their partners have made ... ... were losing. Therefore I believe both films are successful in presenting stories from a women’s viewpoint on the real life problems women face. Both films are realistic and can be compared to the lives of many women in the same situations. These films allow women to relate to the characters and experience emotions on issues that they have faced throughout history such as rape and sexism. They allow women to feel a sense of hope and to make them understand that they are individuals who must fulfil their dreams. Shirley Valentine and Thelma and Louise allow women to overcome stereotypical images of ‘housewives’ and ‘sex objects’ and present women as strong with their own individual characters. In this way both films are successful in showing the problems and issues women face and overcome from a female perspective.

Minor characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird” Essay

Harper Lee uses minor characters in a variety of different ways to help explore and expose some of the main concerns brought up in the book, ranging from strict town morals, justice, all the way to racism and death due to racism. I have chosen to outline some of the ways in which Harper Lee uses three minor characters, Mayella Ewell, Heck Tate and Dolfus Raymond, to help emphasise and explore some of the major concerns in the book. Mayella Ewell is the first minor character I shall discuss; a beacon of racial prejudice and the injustice of the courthouses. She is considered to be trash along with the rest of the Ewell’s; despite the fact that she is one of the few Ewell’s who can read and write. As well as being literate she tries her best to make that most of what she’s got, â€Å"the quote about the flowers she keeps†. Despite her decency compared to the others in her family Mayella still only cares for her own wellbeing. When she forces herself upon Tom Robinson, in a last ditch attempt to feel some affection from a man, she is soon to realise the error of her ways. As Atticus says, â€Å"She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time honoured code of our society† by going after a black man she has broken ‘the rules’ of Maycomb and thus she tries to hide the truth by abusing Maycomb’s harsh structure of injustice and racism. She is white and Tom is black meaning the court case, as she well knows, can only have one outcome. She would rather sentence a man to death for something she had done to him, â€Å"She reached up and kissed me ‘side of th’ face. She said she never kissed a grown man before an’s she might as well kiss a nigger.† than tell the court and the towns folk that she had come onto a black man. Harper Lee uses Mayella and her made up story to show the racism of the  justice system, she shows that simply by lying and having someone to lie with you when the case is white words against black the white will win. Despite Mayella’s story falling apart under cross-examination Tom’s version of what happened isn’t taken note of, as he is black. Also in this case, we have the testimonial of the local sheriff Heck Tate; he too is a tool of great injustice for the blacks. In his testimony we read that he was called by Bob Ewell and told that â€Å"some nigger’d raped his girl† upon arrival he found Mayella and asked who had done it – Tom Robinson. A black man accused by a white woman, Heck went and rounded him up instantly to be identified by Mayella. No questioning, no looking for evidence or any kind of service a white man could expect, Heck presumes that he is black and therefore must have committed some kind of crime. However, despite Heck’s injustice towards the black population of Maycomb he does fulfil his duties to the white. After Boo stabs Bob to save Atticus’ children Heck decides that for the greater good nothing should be said and the incident should be considered an accidental suicide. Heck shields the town from the truth and allows Boo to go back to his normal life – after all he had done the town a favour. Another man who shields the town from the truth, but about a very different subject is Dolphus Raymond, a presumed evil alcoholic who spends most of his time with the black townsfolk. â€Å"Come round here, son, I got something that’ll settle your stomach.† Is the invitation given by Dolphus to Dill outside the courthouse. He offers Dill his brown paper bag with straws in and tells the boy to take a good sip. Scout says † Dill, you watch out, now† as she, like the rest of the town believes that Dolphus is always sipping from a bottle of gin within his bag. He pretends to be drinking all day as â€Å"it’s mighty helpful to folks.† He is forced to pretend to be drinking all day and to be messed up in the head to help the prejudice people of Maycomb understand why he would want to spend most of his time with the black people. Only the uncorrupted children are trusted with Mr. Raymond’s deepest secret as he feels that because they  are children they can understand why he pretends to drink and why he has to give the people a reason as to why he spends his time with black people. This helps give an idea of the intolerance in the town. Intolerance towards black people and towards anyone who has contact with black people as a friend, rather than just a slave. Harper Lee uses minor characters traits and beliefs to show the reader some of the issues at hand in the book. Whether it be a girl pretending to have been raped to highlight the levels of injustice and the racial prejudice in the book, or whether its Heck Tait acting under the powerful words of a white person to do wrong to blacks, or his truth shielding to help a white man stay out of prison for a crime he really did commit.

The Teacher as a Hero

The teacher as a hero LESSONS PLANNED from the teacher's pen (The Philippine Star) Updated October 01, 2009 T here are heroes and heroes, national and local. Some of them are born, others are made. Many are still living while many others have long been gone. It is to the latter that monuments and museums were built to keep alive their memory in our hearts and mind. Public buildings, parks and plazas, streets and a few provinces have been named after them. Important dates and events are usually marked red in the calendar to remind us of their birth or death anniversary. During the celebration of these events, program speakers take turns extolling to high heavens whatever good they had done for the country. Sad enough the hero who is apparently taken for granted and therefore unsung is the poor teacher. Not having a pedigreed name, she has no influence, no power. She is regarded as belonging to the marginalized sector of society. Tactless people look down on her with contempt saying, â€Å"She’s only a teacher. † After all, unlike OFWs, teachers do not contribute to the national economy. What many do not seem to realize is that a teacher is truly a hero in her own way. For a teacher is not only about her lesson plans, her teaching methods, strategies and techniques. A teacher is also about her personal character, her values and her attitude. And more importantly a teacher is also about her missionary work which entails a great deal of sacrifice on her part and her family. Indeed, the pro-bono services that she renders involve numerous risks to life and limb. We have heard of teachers who were kidnapped for ransom, forced into marriage under pain of bodily harm, physically abused and the unfortunate, even beheaded. I remember a male teacher who reprimanded a student for provoking trouble in class. That afternoon the huffy father with fire in his eyes sought the teacher in school and mercilessly hacked him to death. I had a relative who was summoned to the Comelec office in Manila and made to explain her inadvertence to affix her signature on a pair of election forms. The financially distressed teacher was forced to take a long-term loan which she used to pay for her transportation fare, board and lodging while in Manila. In the meantime her family had to be sparing and frugal in order to tide them over until such period that the loan was fully paid. While other government employees are off after five, the teacher spends long hours of work at home writing lesson plans, checking test papers or preparing visual aids and similar teaching devices. Compared to those who work in the comfort of their office, thousands of our teachers go on long hours of journey to their far-flung stations over hill and dale, many times in harsh weather condition. It is no wonder that many of these teachers become decrepit long before their age or they get pitifully sick before retirement from the service. And yet their take-home pay is a mere pittance. Any increase in their starvation salary comes far apart and in trickles because this is dependent upon the members of Congress who remember the teachers only on election time. Come May of next year teachers will again be called upon to man the electoral ramparts of our democracy. They will be there to help safeguard the sanctity of the ballot, armed only with the nobility and integrity of their profession. Whatever people say to the contrary, the teacher as a hero is ready to lay down her life for the sake of country sans a loud flourish of trumpets. I salute our teachers as heroes, living or dead! ANTONIO A. MORAN of Camalig, Albay is a retired general education supervisor of the Department of Education.

Business Entrepreneurial Rhetoric

Apple Inc is considered as the most popular technological panies globally. The iPhone is one of the primary products of the pany which has over 42 million users globally (Bonk, Celine). There is huge demand for this product and the brand has a dedicated base of loyal customers. The phenomenal success of this brand is dependent on several factors including the business model. A parison is being done with the existing market research and the article presented by Yuan and Langesen named â€Å"What factors contributed to the success of Apple iPhone?† This report would discuss the various factors that have led Apple iPhone to be one of the market leaders. It describes the innovative approaches adopted by the pany. The article by Yufei Yuan and John Laugesen gives an in-depth analysis of the success factors of iPhone (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). It has focused on the â€Å"user acceptance† aspect of the success factors. This implies that the pany is able to understand the customer preferences. Apple has successfully identified the needs of the target market and fulfilled their expectations based on culture, demographics and behavioral aspects (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). It has also paid attention to the environmental factors such as â€Å"mobile data services† that are essential for iPhone (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). The article has proposed an innovative success model and almost all the factors are being tapped by Apple. The first group of factors deals with consumer factors such as demographics, user preferences and culture. The brand targeted the young population who are technology savvy and demonstrated high dependency on smartphones (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yua n). The brand also focuses on the user preferences such as entertainment services and designed its products accordingly. The pany tries to satisfy the cultural niches through the utilization of content as well as software (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). The second group of factors deals with the corporate factors such as business model, technology, marketing, branding, content providers and network operators. Apple has business models which are based on its core petence (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). It has adopted the â€Å"device centric† business approach which is considered as one of the most important factor for the brand’s success (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). The pany also engages in extensive marketing tactics and provides customization of their products based on the customer needs. It maintains control through distribution and content access (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). The pany depends on the third parties for the development of application and their content. It aims to increase the value chain by improving the core petencies of the firm. The third group of factors prises of the environmental factors such as regulatory norms and the infrastructure. The pany has focused on the regulatory aspects required during the launch of the services as well as products (Laugesen, John and Yufei Yuan). The pany believes that it is important to coordinate well with the regulatory authorities so that there is smooth launch of the iPhone. Apple has focused on the improvement of the infrastructure of the different countries. It has focused on enhancing the user experience and has tapped the current technologies available in the mobile industry. According to Davila et al., Apple has focused heavily on the innovative aspects of their products. It has created innovative product lines such as iPod, iTunes, iPhone, Apple Stores and App Exchange. The innovative product has helped the pany to retain its topmost position in the market. This is the primary reason behind the extreme popularity of the brand. The second important reason for the success of iPhone can be attributed to the advertising and the differentiation aspects of the brand (De Mooij, Marieke). It has created innovative advertisements that capture the target markets well. The campaigns involving the â€Å"Super Bowl mercials 1984† and â€Å"iPod People† were popular among the masses (De Mooij, Marieke). The third most important reason is the extensive distribution and retail networks of the pany. It has been established that Apple has one of the largest distribution network in the United States (Homburg et al.). The distribution of the products of the p any is done through retail stores, online stores, direct sales channels and third party resellers (De Mooij, Marieke). This makes the product readily available at all times and the customers can choose their convenient distribution channels. The fourth important factor deals with the customer service (Bone et al.). Apple strives to provide excellent in store experiences as well as after sales service. It strives to enhance the customer satisfaction level of the consumers (Bone et al.). The problem underlined in the report prises of the wide variety of alternatives available to the target audiences. This is determined by the market research. The problem was quantified by consulting with several journal articles (Bone et al.). The iPhone has satisfied the requirements of the target market and this is one of the primary solutions to the problem (Bone et al.). The iPhone has fulfilled the customer requirements and this has been proved by the parative analysis. The economic model showcases that iPhone has benefitted the target market which has increased the sale of the products. It has led to increased revenue for the pany which has resulted in the greater profit generation (Bone et al.). It is clear that Apple Inc. receives high benefit from the greater purchase of iPhones. The roadmap is concerned with the distribution channels that are used by the pany in order to make sure that its products reach the target audience. The storyboard presents the events undertaken by Apple Inc. which is related to the conception, launch, promotion and marketing of iPhone. It prises of several rubrics such as problem rubric, solution rubric, economic rubric and roadmap rubric. The problem rubric identifies the target market and the various alternatives they are looking for in order to satisfy their preferences. The solution rubric shows the launch of iPhone which solves the worry of the customer. The economic rubric shows the increase in sales of the pany due to the launch of iPhone. The roadmap rubric shows the marketing approach that should be adopted in the pany for the future. The article has strong impacts on the issue and enumerates the reasons for strong foothold of Apple. It discusses the appropriate reasons that drive Apple for achieving more success. The parative analysis method is used for the purpose of paring the current market research along with the provided article. This parison is useful in understanding the factors contributing to the success of iPhone. This report would broaden the understanding of the topic and would also facilitate further research on this topic. Bone, Sterling A., et al. "How customer participation in B2B peer-to-peer problem-solving munities influences the need for traditional customer service."  Journal of Service Research  18.1 (2015): 23-38. Bonk, Celine. "The impact of Apple's munication and French and Finnish consumers' product perceptions: case of the iPhone product." (2015). Davila, Tony, Marc Epstein, and Robert Shelton.  Making innovation work: How to manage it, measure it, and profit from it. FT press, 2012. De Mooij, Marieke.  Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage Publications, 2013. Homburg, Christian, Josef Vollmayr, and Alexander Hahn. "Firm value creation through major channel expansions: evidence from an event study in the United States, Germany, and China."  Journal of Marketing  78.3 (2014): 38-61. Laugesen, John, and Yufei Yuan. "What factors contributed to the success of Apple's iPhone?."  Mobile Business and 2010 Ninth Global Mobility Roundtable (ICMB-GMR), 2010 Ninth International Conference on. IEEE, 2010.

Management of Personal financial services. China case study Essay

Management of Personal financial services. China case study - Essay Example Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in financial services has become utmost important because of the present challenging marketing environment. Presently, the company differentiate themselves by delivering exquisite customer experience and offer product, which are unique, tailor-made for delivering customer satisfaction. By delivering highly innovative financial products for core banking, insurance and wealth management, the company would be able to develop meaningful relationship with its customers. Often termed as relationship marketing in China, it is also focuses on customer retention. CRM also helps in laying emphasis on the product features, which highlights the product benefits that are meaningful and necessary for the customers. The Chinese investment banking companies rely on the strength of the financial services that help the banks to make tailor-made financial products for customized customer requirements. Although, CRM is relatively a new concept, it entails the diffe rent marketing approaches involved in obtaining the refined customer information search, which helps the management to attract potential customers (Besson, 2000). The CRM activities in the financial institutions involve the incorporation of electronic business activities, relationship and customer management activities, and integration of customer centric strategy with the back office or front office executives (Carson, 2005). The main crux of CRM activities involves building of long term and healthy relationships to retain customers in the competitive financial environment. 1.2.1 Customer Relationship Management in Chinese Financial Institutions The long term relationship building process with the Chinese customers has not only become an enduring strategy for relationship building, but it has also augmented for customer loyalty and retention. It was observed in Chinese banking that due to the financial implications there was a strong correlation between customer loyalty and profitability of the bank. The deregulation and emergence of new banking technology in the financial services industry have also

Political Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political Science - Essay Example They do not have to get intervention from state regarding taxes, tariffs, enforced monopolies and restrictive regulations. (laissez-faire principle; sourced from www.wikipedia.org). It is a fortunate one for private parties to be free from such matters, but for the citizens there are still taxes to be paid. Taxes would not be a big deal for people as long as they can afford to pay. Of course, it is determined from how stable their economic conditions sourced from their incomes. What has happened is that The United States taxes its citizens more lightly and as a result less money to be used for social programs. There is comparison since most west European countries spend more money on social programs. From the economic factors, it can be analyzed that when The United States government has decided to reduce its citizens` taxes, there might be economic instability. It can be seen mostly after war in Iraq (2003) that The United States economic condition decreases slowly and life conditio n of its people had not been as comfortable as it was used to be. Furthermore, the global crisis that has happened in recent times has an impact too. The United States citizens cannot afford certain levels of life standards like they used to have. The condition can be observed from how stagnancy occurred to mortgage and many banks were closed that makes more people become jobless. The tax reduction has been a relieving fact for The United States citizens, but since it gives impact to the social programs, a consequence prevails. In this case, social programs are ways for those who are unfortunate to get help and even have better living. When the money for the social programs is reduced, some people do not get benefit anymore. Analyzing this matter from the political side, basically it is not far from what happens in the economic factors. A political instability might occur when economic condition falls down moderately. For example, when the jobless number rises higher and higher, the re must be a shock therapy for its political condition. People would like to be frank to the government that an action to decrease problems is absolutely needed. Even though The United States has its â€Å"American Exceptionalism† which had made them be the strongest as ever, but as Barack Obama – the president of the United States – mentioned that â€Å"I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that leadership is incumbent, depends on, our ability to create partnerships, we create partnerships because we can’t solve these problems alone†. (Barack Obama – April, 2009). It can be analyzed that although comparisons among countries are acceptable to be observed, but like The United States instability is also being influenced by the whole worlds. An agreement must be put to Obama`s statement that every country in this world should gat her to find solutions to any problems; including how to maintain the running of social programs in this global crisis situation. Cultural factor could be the least impact but also the unfortunate one to face this American Exceptionalism. Culture is the whole unity to define people and their origin. Culture has more to be shown to express people’s happiness. The very basic culture that American people have is Thanksgiving celebration. (Once again, it is needed to emphasize that the tax reduction does not always

Case Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case Evaluation - Essay Example Henceforth, Siemens Company and its challengers may at times have the temptation of using any possible means in persuading decision makers in signing contracts with their companies. Due to this persuasion, the company gets tempted to offer financial incentives that are not legal in closing the signed contracts (Stanwick, 2014). The illegal method used by Siemens Company to obtain orders from their customers was revealed when it was stated that six executives in Siemens Company had been detained for the actions they did. These actions related to offering bribes to German and different customers in the telecommunication industry. Additionally, these executives were blamed of stealing money from Siemens Company to pay for the offered bribes. Thomson Ganswindt was among the arrested executives. He was heading the telecommunications equipment unit in the company. The assessed bribes amounted to 200 million euros and supposedly incorporated using bribes to get the security systems contract. This was at the 2004 Olympic Games held in Greece (Stanwick, 2014). The concerns began after Michael Kutschenreuter, a senior executive in Siemens Company, stated that he received a very worrying phone call in the beginning of 2004 from Beit Al Etisalat. Al Etisalat was an employee of a consulting firm in Saudi that was Siemens business partner. Al Etisalat claimed that he be compensated 910 million dollars as commission payments by Siemens Company for the role he played in obtaining telecommunication contracts in Saudi Arabia. He went on to threaten the company that he would go to the United States Securities and Exchange with proof of bribes Siemens offered connected to the contracts if Siemens Company did not compensate him the commission payments (Stanwick, 2014). Due to this threat, Michael informed the company’s superiors, including the then present CEO Heinrich von Pierer and future CEO of the company Klaus