A Thousand Acres vs. King Lear Essay

After watching both films, A Thousand Acres made in 2007 starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange and Jason Robards and King Lear made in 2008 starring Ian McKellen, Frances Barber and Kieran Bew, I decidedly liked A Thousand Acres much better. Mostly for it’s acting, and the modernism of the story line. (Although, a King Lear re-make is in production currently and will star Al Pacino as King Lear, so my opinion is subject to change.) There are many similarities between the two movies. Both movies have a father with three daughters, whom are trying to leave something to them. Larry Cook is deciding how to split his land amongst his daughters, where as King Lear is deciding how to split his kingdom amongst his three daughters. Larry, is Lear. Ginny is Goneral, Rose is Regan and the favourite and youngest daughters, Caroline is Cordelia. Harold Clark, a family friend of Larry, is the portrayal of the Earl of Gloucester, King Lears friend. His two sons are Edgar and Edmund, and Harold’s two son’s are Loren and Jess. Though there is a lacking of the comical aspect in A Thousand Acres, that is put in King Lear, the story lines are still very similar. The viewpoint is similar – coming from the eldest daughter Ginny(A Thousand Acres) and the eldest daughter Goneril(King Lear.) King Lear – divides his kingdom amongst his daughters based on who loves him the most, Larry gives the largest portion of his land to the most loving daughter as well. In each family and storyline, the youngest daughter rebels against their father and ends up leaving, getting nothing from their father. After each father gives up their power/land, they both go mental without it, and both end up in horrible situations that end up with their youngest (and previously most favoured) daughter coming to the rescue. Though there are many similarities, the movies differ in many, many ways. For example: Ginny brings up the fact her father molested her aswell as her sister Rose, where as Goneril feels nothing but love and admiration for her father. The love is portrayed more innocent and wholesome. Ginny shows how  you could hate her father, for the fact he molested her as a child. King Lear is told from a male perspective, Shakespeare didn’t have a female mentality especially not back in that age, not portrayed atleast in this movie. A Thousand Acres is written by a female, and this is why there is a different, more twisted perspective. A female view as well as a males, as she wrote it later on mirroring this novel, she got to put her own ‘two cents’ in. King Lear is a changed man at the end of the movie. He goes from being a horrible tyrant, to a changed man. Larry? Not so much. He remains a dispicable man, solely caring about his possessions, power and money, who’s attitudes and beliefs never change. Because of the fact that the movies are in two different perspectives, they have different themes. Though both hold a theme about the abuse of power, and a theme of abusive family relationships, as well as father daughter relationships – they differ in what the main themes are. A Thousand Acres is about living life to it’s fullest and for yourself, where as, the main theme of King Lear is family and power. Another difference is the fact the town thought that the daughters of Larry were cruel to him, where in fact they weren’t. He was respected by his town. King Lear was also a very respected ruler of his lands. However, nobody suspects King Lear’s daughter’s of being cruel to him.

European History Essay

A series of Congress’ and Conferences impacted the political and cultural dealings within Europe. However, it was not necessarily the meetings themselves that drew political conflict, but rather the re- charting of territories that eventually led to conflict, and which even today still garners a small amount of sectional tension. The Congress of Vienna was designed to resolve a series of set issues affecting almost all of Europe. Stemming from the previous defeat of Napoleonic France, which meant redrawing the boundary lines; however, the outcome ended up being extremely unpopular (mostly in France). Included in the Congress were Britain, Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia. These allies could not come to a major decision. While their goal was to draw the least amount of protest as possible, they were forced to bring in both Talleyrand and Spain’s Marquis of Labrador. This was later seen as the Congress’ greatest mistake. However, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, real change began to happen. Basically, the goal of the conference was to negotiate a series of set peace treaties that had been introduced by the Allied and by the Associated Powers and the Central Powers. All of these treaties became the groundwork for what later became known as the Versailles-Washington System. However, since the world map was revised to a certain degree during these conferences, many of those involved in the middle became somewhat hostile and embittered. This would eventually lead to World War II. The European conflicts of 1919 affect politics in Europe today, especially in regards to the former Holy Roman Empire. Many problems, resulting from boundary lines and various ethnic groups are in the Central European region. For example, while a series of German provinces existed east of the Oder-Neisse line, which were subsequently lost and annexed via the People’s Republic of Poland and later the Soviet Union, they were also ethnically cleaned from Germans through the national as well as communist forces. This is just one of many examples of the problems associated with the Central European Region. Drawing on outside sources, looking at a map of this area makes it easy to see why the political air was tumultuous after these conferences. For example, while the concept of Central Europe varies from nation to nation, most agree that it includes Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Switzerland (among others. ) It was usually seen as overwhelmingly conservative, as well as Catholic, which was a huge difference between its neighbors, who were seen as fairly liberal, being influenced by the French Revolution. However, the lines that were drawn in order to rechart territories only added to sectional tensions and conflicts. And, because all of the Central European nations were relatively small, the threat of their larger neighboring countries was all the more threatening. Through looking at maps of Europe pre and post 1919, it is easy to see how the reorganizing of Europe affected almost every major political decision made, and how it still affects decisions being made today.

Strategic Choise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Choise - Essay Example Porter's Generic Strategies model (Porter, 1985) illustrated that competitive scope is to be either, focused on the whole market, or a narrow segment of the available market. In addition, the model emphasised that only two effective marketing strategies existed: lowest product costs or high-perceived value by the customer (differentiation) (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). The model depicts three generic strategies: 1) cost leadership; 2) differentiation; and 3) focus on a target market. The least attractive strategy is one that takes the middle ground between two options. For example, British Airways (BA) uses a differentiation strategy (Johnson & Scholes, 1999). "The "BA Way" business strategy actively engages with employees, shareholders, customers and the community (Johnson & Scholes, 1999). During 2004-2005 BA experienced an increase of 3.3% in revenue. In contrast, Adria Airlines' Customer Relationship Management strategy focuses on quality and the personal touch, according to Porter 's model would be focusing on a target market (Adria Airways, 2004). In contrast to Porter's model Adria experienced an increase in production and administrative costs of 12% during 2003-2004 (Adria Airways, 2004). Both airlines are concerned with only a narrow segment of the airline market, yet neither benefited substantially from their strategic choice. Bowman's Strategy Clock model (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000) is comparable to Porter's model in that he also categorised competitive strategy into cost leadership or degree of differentiation (Johnson & Scholes, 1999, Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). However, Bowman's model extended Porter's by incorporating a "hybrid" strategy that represented an optimal balance between perceived customer value and price. This provides an organisation with three broad strategies that exist on a continuum: 1) low cost and low value as perceived by the customer (i.e., generic brands); 2) "good value" products that find balance between price and value; and 3) high cost and high perceived value items (i.e., luxury goods) (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). Bowman's model is much more reflective of the 21st century marketing environment, in that many organisations specialise in providing products and services that blend low cost and high differentiation (Macmillan & Tampoe, 2000). For example, British Airways could be co nsidered to be using the hybrid strategy of Bowman's, as its business strategy seeks to lower costs yet differentiate itself by way of increasing its engagement with stakeholders (British Airways, 2005). According to Porter's model, this would be a weak strategy as it combines two generic strategies (i.e., cost leadership and differentiation). Adria Airlines Customer Relationship Management strategy (Adria Airways, 2004), could be considered to be in Bowman's category of focused differentiation, due to its provision of seasonal charter services, and personal high quality services. So that the higher price of their product also has perceived added value for a select target market. This category reflects Porter's generic category of differentiated focus for a narrow competitive strat

HRM and Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HRM and Sustainability - Essay Example The research report explores the main aspects of HRM to drive future sustainability among organizations. The relationship between HRM and sustainability is extremely complex. Traditionally, HR contributes to organizations’ performance, by having HR policies aligned with the strategic goals of the organization, legal compliance, better customer satisfaction, and effective service delivery. Sustainability requires that HRM moves beyond the boundaries of traditional HR policies, toward leadership development, talent management, and knowledge management. The term sustainability is widely used in almost all sciences (Ehnert 2009). The notion of sustainability has already become a synonym of profitability and long-term development in organizations (Ehnert 2009). Apart from the fact that different organizations define the concept of sustainability in entirely different ways, the link between HRM and sustainability remains poorly understood. The body of research on Human Resource Mana gement and its relation to sustainability is very scarce (Wehling et al. 2009). As such it is high time to re-evaluate the topic of the HRM-sustainability relationship in more detail. The purpose of this research report is to explore the links between HRM and sustainability and propose recommendations to let organizations achieve sustainability through HRM. The significance of sustainability initiatives in organizations cannot be overstated. Researchers are becoming more interested in the relationship between sustainability and HRM.

ACTA and Internet Counterfeiting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ACTA and Internet Counterfeiting - Essay Example As an e-commerce medium, it is used as a payment medium through PayPal, VISA and other online payment systems. Moreover, it is the medium through which softcopy products like eBooks, software, online courses and other products are delivered. Since most of these activities involve transmission of sensitive information about people and more so customers, the information passing through the internet is encrypted such that the information encoded by the server can only be decoded by the client’s terminal and vice versa (Illing and Peitz, 2006: 102). This means that information being transmitted over encrypted networks cannot be accessed by third parties. This security property of the internet is priceless since it helps to sustain the faith that suppliers and consumers have on the internet; however, it also poses one of the major challenges in regulation of content being transmitted over the internet. It enables the internet to be used for transmission of information, a large port ion of which is unauthorised for electronic transmission (Biagi, 2011). Such information includes transmission of age-inappropriate content, rumours and propaganda that may undermine peace and stability, and copyrighted material. Censorship for inappropriate content can be easily implemented at a country or state level; however, transmission of copyrighted material like music, eBooks and software is hard to control since sharing networks entails use of multiple servers located all over the globe (Hertwig and Maus, 2010: 60). This necessitates the adoption of a common regulatory system, whereby countries work together to enforce antipiracy regulations. This essay discusses the effects of internet infringement of property rights and copyrights and discusses the adoption of ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), especially in the European Union. Technical Factors Historically duplication of copyrighted materials has always happened; however, the internet offered a channel that mad e the process quite easy to achieve with little skill level. Moreover, the vastness of the internet and its high rate of growth make any attempt to control its content an exercise in futility. Moreover, the technical knowledge of computer networking specialists gives them the ability to bypass any efforts by regulators, which is the main reason for proliferation of illegal websites (Woodsworth, 2010: 185). Moreover, developments in the information technology sector resulted in the proliferation of highly efficient but cheap IT equipment, which increased the number of servers, terminals and other devices beyond the scope of regulatory bodies. In order to cover the increased usage of the internet for illegal purposes, all stakeholders had to be incorporated in the process, which was the main motive of the implementers of ACTA. The other factor that leads to a high proliferation of computer piracy of software and other copyrighted materials is the capacity of network connections to wor k in both directions, such that information flows to or from a terminal in the same way it does to a server. This allows network terminals like workstations, personal computers and other devices to be used as sources of data, especially as used in peer-to-peer protocols like BitTorrent (Hunnewell and Garlick, 2007). These networks allow users to share data in their computers with other users without the need for a server; which makes it almost impossible to detect the circulation of copyrighted material since pieces of the software or other content are usually spread throughout the terminals in the networks. In this case, remarkably

Benefits of American Aid to AIDS Patients in Third World Countries in Essay

Benefits of American Aid to AIDS Patients in Third World Countries in Africa - Essay Example This essay focuses on the health aid that the African developing countries benefit from, especially with respect to HIV/Aids. HIV/Aids is a pandemic due to the high number of people affected by the disease globally. The number of people who lose their lives due to HIV/Aids related complications is also high. This is the reason why the disease needs to be controlled. Although the disease has affected the whole world since its discovery in 1981, it is serious in third world countries mostly in Africa. Most of the developed nations are giving aid to African nations to fight the HIV/Aids scourge. The United States of America has been on the forefront in helping the African countries fight the disease. This paper aims to discuss the benefits of American aid for AIDS patients in third world countries that are mostly in Africa. In 2001, Bill Clinton confirmed the commitment that he had towards the availability of HIV/AIDS drugs. These negotiations, led to the reduction in prices of drugs fo r Africa and other poor regions. Importing policies from the United States were analyzed to ensure that most African countries could introduce the drugs needed. In conclusion, the researcher states that HIV/AIDS is one of the issues that make Africa as a continent lag behind in development. However, with the help that developing countries receive from the United States and other global organizations, the situation is better since there is hope for improvement in addressing HIV/Aids in the developing countries in Africa.

Annotated Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example â€Å"Daddy,† according to the argument presented by Strangeways, is a political poem which portrays the holocaust and oppression in deeply subjective, personalised and emotive terms. Narbeshuber contends that critics have misinterpreted both Plath’s â€Å"Daddy and â€Å"Lady Lazarus† as journeys into the poet’s own tortured and troubled psyche. This is not true. â€Å"Daddy,† as with the other mentioned poem, constitutes a declaration of rebellion against the standardized and acceptable images of the female and her relationship with the men in her life. Society and culture have imposed certain behaviors on the female, all of which insist that she be submissive, beautiful and soft spoken. In â€Å"Daddy† Plath declares her rejection of these images and behaviors through outright rebellion. Therefore, this poem should not be read as one which reveals the poet’s own troubled psyche and weakness but as one which declares her strength and independence of societal images and stereotypes. Frye argues that Olsen’s short story is not only an exploration of the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship, as the majority of critics have maintained but, an exploration of the complexities of the mother’s own memories and psyche. In its exploration of the mother’s past, Frye establishes a correlation between the past and the present, illustrating the extent to which the latter is immediately influenced and determined by the former. Frye contends that the authenticity of this story and the extent to which the mother’s memories come across as true leads to the suspicion that this story is an examination of Olsen’s own self. Cox argues that the story exposes the emptiness which dominates the lives of teenagers and which causes them to lose their way, both in the literal and figurative senses of the word. As she contends, the title of the story is not just indicative of its primary theme but instructs readers to interpret the