David Bordwell on Tsui Hark Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

David Bordwell on Tsui Hark - Essay Example Tsui Hark is a director of a wide horizon and rich experiences. He is able to appeal to inner world of every viewer and thus he makes a puzzle for modern cinema critics who try to find an answer to the question why his films are popular. David Bordwell has devoted a lot of his works and discussions to Tsui Hark. He considers this director in an unprejudiced manner and it is quite interesting to follow development of his ideas. Hark’s nature is divided as it is claimed by Bordwell. It is interesting, what does Bordwell mean? Hark shots his films under conditions of modern globalization and it is relevant to him to follow the needs of the modern society and to find a way to hearts of Western and Asian viewers. Bordwell underlines, that â€Å"The transnational nature in his cinema helps him to both establish his personal style and gain commercial success in Asia† (Bordwell 2000, p. 140). Moreover, â€Å"In Tsui’s best films, Hong Kong cinema becomes a Chinese feast , spiced by indigenous entertainment traditions, replenished by an artist’s pragmatic energy and restless imagination† (Bordwell 2000, p. 148). From these two claims it is quite obvious that Bordwell means multi-sided nature of Hark’s films. ... Versatility of Tsui Hark’s films can be explained by combination of different genres, Asian and Western cultures and adding technological effects in his films. In Once Upon a Time in China Tsui shows relationship between Eastern and Western worlds, if to be more exact, between China and Western countries. Tsui chooses the best period for showing peculiarities of Chinese society development under conditions of being captured by Western countries. All spheres of life of Chinese people were influenced by ‘strangers’. Western civilization put an end to the Qing dynasty. On the example of martial artist Huang Feihong Tsui shows possible alternatives of dealing with Western invasion. Western technological progress was like a huge machine oppressing centennial cultural heritage of China. Nevertheless Tsui appeals to his viewers and underlines that it is necessary to reconstruct realities of China in accordance with generally accepted norms and ideals all over the world. Though Tsui presents multi-sided consideration about China’s reaction to the changes introduced by Western civilization, he has a strong background of his claims, a theory by Sheldon Lu on China and transnationalism. Lu’s theory was not chosen incidentally by Tsui as well, because Lu’s considerations are also ambiguous: â€Å"In the domestic and global arena of image production and consumption, we may distinguish two opposite yet complementary strategies in the politics of self representation of China† (Bordwell, 2000, p. 145). Consequently, Lu suggests that satisfaction of viewers of the Western world would emerge in case erotic and exotics of Chinese worlds was

What does Roy in Normal want from a sex change Assignment

What does Roy in Normal want from a sex change - Assignment Example People with gender identity disorder prefer to dress and live as the members of the opposite sex. Gender identity disorder is a psychological condition that causes many problems. Depression and anxiety are among the most common problems that he has to face. However, these psychological problems can be overcome by taking certain measures that also include some medicines but the social dilemma is the hardest thing the person suffering from gender identity disorder has to face. Everyone expect others to behave and act the way they are physically born. Parents start dictating their children about appropriate behavior from very early ages. As many boys have reported the message from their parents that they do not like them to play with dolls or wear pink dresses. As these individuals grow up, life gets harder and harder where at one side they are fighting with their souls while on the other side they are trying to cope up with the body they are born with. Puberty is the most difficult age in the lifetime for such people as they see gender specific changes in them in the form of facial hair growth, change of voice, development of genitalia and growth of breasts. They hate these changes and reported to be disgusted by hair growth in case of males or breasts development in case of females. It is quite a complicated stage where some are unaware with what is happening to them while others are either not confident enough or ready to take a decision for sex change. Most have been found to snub their inner feelings and try living against their will because of the fear and restrictions of society and moral impacts. Though, this is very distressing and depressing to them and can cause other psychological disorders (Park, and Manzon-Santos). The same situation â€Å"Roy† had to face in the movie â€Å"Normal† who snubbed his individuality in another body for a very long time but finally decides to change it and live the way he feels to. After 25 years of successf ul marriage and fatherhood, Roy found the biggest secret of his life that he was a woman in a man’s body. In a quest of finding his identity and portray what he is in real, he wants to go for a sex change surgery. After announcing the decision of sex transition, Roy faces disgust and intolerance from his family and co-workers. Some understands his transition while others totally abandon it. Roy transition to be a woman is going to affect not only him but also everyone he is related to. Roy goes through an inner war between his social existence and psychological empowerment. He sees a psychologist to identify more about him and try to fight with the situation socially but nothing makes it better. His wife tries her best to bring the man he loved by putting psychological pressure in different ways but nothing works on him. Roy is so desperate with his life that he even tries to attempt a suicide but his wife saves him. His psychological disorder is totally empowering him with d issatisfaction and unhappiness. He feels like he has been snubbing his internal desires and regrets to spend the whole life in a body and appearance that does not belong to him. The final change he brings to his life is dressing in a woman’s dress, wearing high heels and growing long-hair. The change was more a satisfaction to his psychological needs than physical. Roy has not gone through a sex-change surgery yet, however, he feels happiness and pleasure with the

Account for the widespread failure of democracy in Europe between the Essay

Account for the widespread failure of democracy in Europe between the two world wars - Essay Example The inter period between the World Wars in Europe was a trademark of different regimes ruling Europe at a dark time(Pratchett 44). The casualties were far more terrible than anyone had foreseen, and international conflict was without a doubt filled with consequences. Hence, the failure of democracy to spread to Europe between the World Wars can be attributed to various reasons. One of the primary reasons why democracy failed to spread in Europe between World Wars was because no country had enough desire or power to enforce democracy in their own nation. At the time of World War I, this triumphant ideology of an expansionist democratic republicanism was simply clear. Under Wilsons administration, the European war became an ideological mission, which was to make the world safe for democracy and free of corrupt rulers(Jeffries 66)..   The Allies were being urged to think of their motive to enter  war  Ã¢â‚¬Å"to make the  world  safe for  democracy,† and the Germans, on their side, were correspondingly encouraged to visualize the  war  as a struggle of â€Å"culture† against â€Å"barbarism.†Ã‚  Wilsons false vision of democracy was disillusioned because it gave rise to more conflict(Parkingson 22).. Democracy failed in the post-World War I mainly because it was unable to allow for economic reliability. Germany for example, was in total economic collapse as inflation continued to plague their economy. During the Weimar Republic many anti-democratic political groups sprang up from angry war veterans, including the Communist, Socialist, and the Nazi party(Siedentop 45)..   For Germans, democracy meant turmoil, revolution, and poverty. Many Germans longed for the stability of the kaisers empire. Democracy is based on a strong foundation of social system in which the economy is prosperous. However, these conditions did not prevail in Europe between wars especially after the Great Depression. Numerous nations were created in Europe post World War I, which

Visual analysis paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Visual analysis paper - Assignment Example It was painted when the artist had just returned to Italy after spending 14 years at a Spanish court. By this time, she had married Orazio Lomellini, a Genoese ship captain. The artists obtained her inspirations and subjects for painting from the many visits to various courts and her contacts with painters of great renown such as Luca Cambiaso (Pizzagalli, p. 12). Through these contacts, Anguissola stayed in touch with current developments in art. The art is unique and more interesting to study than others by the painter are because the artist usually painted portraits. The art is oil-on-canvas and measures 49.5" x 43.5" or 125.7x110.5 centimeters. It is one of the Lowe Art Museum collections at the University of Miami. This masterpiece is among the well-known Counter-Reformist works, which portrayed the interests of counter-reformists in devotional images. The main purpose of these arts was to appeal to the viewers in an emotional manner, never achieved by reformist painters (Pizzagalli, p. 15). As a counter-reformation art, ‘The Holy Family with St. Anne and John the Baptist’ is depicted in a clear and accurate fashion with little imaginary or unnecessary embelishments and decorations. As is the case with other Renaissance paintings, this painting has teh features of the then developments in the depiction of light through space. In addition, light is representaed through its reflection from different surfaces. This representation of light through refleciton from surfaces and space helps the painting to achieve extreme realism. The use of oil paint instead of tempera  or  fresco, really helped the painter to achieve light representation. In this art, oli painting helped the artists to achieve a richer colour, finer detail and greater realism. Like other oil painting, these features must have been achieved by many weeks of reworking the paining.The artist, through the use of the visual features of the counter-reformation and reinassance

The United States' Invasion of Afghanistan Assignment

The United States' Invasion of Afghanistan - Assignment Example As a superpower, the United States interferes with the affairs of Afghanistan though it is a sovereign nation. Machiavelli’s theory on moral tradition condemns immoral practices that States use to maintain power. The theory advocates for diplomacy because morality is the basis of constituting governments. Based on a realist perspective, the US was not strategic when invading Afghanistan making their invasion qualify as intimidation as noted by Fiscus (1969). The US did not adhere to the principles of diplomacy that Machiavelli advocated for in his literary works. Instead, they focus on Machiavellism while carrying out their mission. Machiavelli believed that morals should guide nations in their pursuit. Therefore, it was unethical for the United States to use force though they claim that they are merchants of peace. It would have been better for the United States to refrain from using force while promoting stability in different places around the globe (Fiscus 2001). Politics should not be divorced from ethics as evident during invasion of

Learning Team Reflection Essay Example for Free

Learning Team Reflection Essay Owners and managers in the business need to make working capital management decisions such as inventory management, cash-flow management, accounts receivables, and supplier or vendor trade credits to ensure the company has sufficient cash-flows to pay short-term obligations. There are a few different working capital strategies a business can employ. Flexible current asset management involves holding large cash balances and inventory. The restrictive current asset management strategy requires companies to keep current assets low. Finagle a Bagel is a young, growing business that applies the working capital trade-off strategy to manage their working capital (Parrino, Kidwell, Bates, 2012). Married entrepreneurs purchased the business when it was a few years old and had four to five stores (University of Phoenix, 2014). The owners encountered many of the same issues commonly associated with running a young business. They had to learn to deal with customers, vendors, and suppliers; however, the larger issue was discovering how to manage their working capital. Maintaining and continually producing working capital is imperative for any business. Effective working capital management ensures the company has enough money to pay the bills. Managing their current assets, inventory, and liabilities are all part of working capital management (Parrino, Kidwell, Bates, 2012). Finagle a Bagel owners focused on mapping out their future and ensuring the business would grow enough to produce a successful cash flow. A successful cash flow, and keen understanding of their banking relationship, will allow the companies to more comfort when taking on debt or liabilities. The strategies Finagle a Bagel use for managing working capital are no different from the plan many companies utilize. The owners established a good rapport with their bank, vendors, and suppliers (University of Phoenix, 2014) which enables them to create the opportunity for positive interest rates and  trade-offs. The good interest rates assist in the short-term and long-term when they need to acquire a line of credit to pay suppliers or to expand the business. The working capital trade-off strategy requires the manager to balance shortage costs against carrying costs (Parrino, Kidwell, Bates, 2012). The business must be flexible. To allow for more time to pay another business back, trade credit is a strategy businesses extend to one another. Businesses work out a type of credit line to provide the other business with a suitable amount of time to pay their bill (Parrino, Kidwell, Bates, 2012). Credit lines are ideal and prevent banks from getting involved. Finagle a Bagel uses the strategy of trade credit regularly. Improper working capital management may jeopardize a company to default or bankruptcy. Upon reviewing the working capital management video, it is inevitable that the owners and managers in a business should monitor cash inflows and outflows periodically by computing financial ratios such as efficiency ratios – inventory turnover, and account receivable turnover and working capital ratio to ensure that the company has adequate cash-flows all the time. References Parrino, R., Kidwell, D. S, Bates, T. W. (2012). Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (2nd ed). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week 3 Electronic Reserve Videos. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, FIN/571 – Foundations of Finance course website.

Criticisms Or Limitations Of HRM Strategic Hrm Commerce Essay

Criticisms Or Limitations Of HRM Strategic Hrm Commerce Essay Over the past century, the concept of Human Resources Management (HRM) has been going through some significant changes. According to Nankervis, Compton and Baird, the main focus of human resources management is the overall management of an organizations workforce in the purpose of achieving the desired objectives of the organizations in the long run (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). From personnel administration management to human resources management, and then further developing to strategic human resources management, the HR functions of an organization has evolved into a more central strategic role. Nowadays, the change in IR landscape has led to a rise in the attention paid to HRM. With consumer focusing more on the service provided rather than the physical merchandised goods, the demand for a well-functioned HRM has largely increased. HRM is no longer a function performed by HR supervisors but is also seen as a competitive advantage of the organization to achieve its long-term objectives and goals. To a greater extent, this essay will define and compare HRM and SHRM, investigating the hard and soft approaches to HRM. The limitations and criticisms of various HRM models will also be covered in the later paragraph. Lastly, two external environment factors in which organizations are facing nowadays are identified with a research on how the strategic approach to HRM is contributing to their ability to respond to such changes. Human Resources Management (HRM) is defined as the policies, practices and systems established by an organization that shape employees behaviour, attitudes as well as performance towards their job (DeCieri Kramar, 2005). It focuses mainly on managing the productive use of people of the organization in order to achieve its strategic objectives and at the same time upholding a healthy employer-employee relationship to satisfy the individual employees needs (Stone, 2005:4). Before investigating the two models of Human Resources Management (HRM) and Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM), one should take into considerations that the assumptions underpinning the HRM: the unitarist approach assuming a partnership between the employers and employees on a set of common interest with a mutual commitment to achieve the proposed objectives; and the pluralist approach in which the relationship between the two parties is assumed to have to inevitably go through a conflict of interest and th at negotiations are crucial in resolving the problem (Kane, 1996). Ever since the early 20th century, HRM is seen as merely a personnel function carrying out the day-to-day administrative business of an organization, such as the promotion of employee welfare. While HRM further evolved in the later years, HRM started to turn into a professional approach where specialists are employed to conduct the HR-related task of the organization, including recruitment, training and welfare activities (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). Another perspective of HRM, the resource-based view started to gain popularity in the late 1990s, advocating HR as a valuable resource capable of contributing to the sustained competitive advantage of the organization. In other words, facilitating the development of a company-specific and unique competencies would help sustain the competitive advantage of an organization, and in this case it will be the people (Brewster, Carey, Grobler et. al., 2008). Around the sa me period of time, SHRM also came into being in which it is viewed as more of a macro perspective of the strategic approach in managing employees as a result of the integration of the early personnel management and industrial relations as well as HRM (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). While going into details the definitions and development of HRM, the Harvard model is also useful in showing that HRM theories are way broader than simply a personnel function. It consists of five main factors supporting the central principle of the utilization of employees to ensure the achievement of an organizations desired goals, namely the stakeholder interest, situational factors, HRM policy choice, HR outcome and long-term consequences (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). It is well accepted that dramatic changes that took place in the past decades have created new challenges for HR professionals, forcing them to evolve and enhance their role as a purpose to address these challenges (Brewster, Carey, Grobler et. al., 2008). Instead of limiting the HR department to certain administrative roles, organizations began to line them up with the business managers, in which both parties work together to create a strategic partnership. Such process is what we call the SHRM. According to DeCieri and Kramar, SHRM is known as a pattern of planned HR developments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals (DeCieri Kramar, 2005). One might find it difficult to distinguish between HRM and SHRM. Strategic Human Resources Management stresses the importance of the establishment of HR plan and strategies in order to fulfill an organizations long-term objectives. It is seen as more of a practical model that encourage organization to plain in t he long run, taking potential changes from all other aspects such as the society, economic condition, technology enhancement, industrial relations, etc. into account (Dessler, Griffiths Lloyd-Walker, 2007). Human resources is valued as a source of competitive advantage to certain organizations. Comparing to HRM, SHRM is claimed to be a model that requires more interpretations and well-rounded planning to ensure the most desirable outcomes to suit best with the organizations business plans (Dessler, Griffiths Lloyd-Walker, 2007). With the two theoretical concepts of HRM and SHRM defined and compared, we can now go into investigating another two important approaches to HRM: the hard HR and the soft HR approaches. With reference to Druker, White, Hegewisch and Mayne, the hard approach places the main focus on the strategic business objectives of an organization, treating HR as a resource in achieving its competitive advantage (Druker, White, Hegewisch Mayne, 1996). The soft approach, on the other hand, emphasizes more on the communication, consultation, counseling and support elements within the relationship between the employers and employees (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). While both approaches have validity to particular industries and organizations and is argues that a hard approach must be corresponded with a soft approached to achieve the most desirable outcome (Kaye, 1999), it is said that HRM is more likely to lie towards the hard approach and thus the SHRM better matching the key principle of the s oft approach. Nowadays, in the rapidly growing society where globalization has become the most common issue for most countries, organizations are no longer able to neglect the outside force. Changes have taken place within the organization and so as the role of the HR professionals. Taking various external factors into account, very few organizations can continue with their same old HR policies and practices and therefore, new strategies are to be re-designed. In other words, a lot of adjustments in regards to an organizations HRM plans will have to be made in order to respond to such changes (Brewster, Carey, Grobler et. al., 2008). External factors facilitate the values, attitudes and behaviour of an employee at work and it can be classified into three categories: global, national and industrial (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). Taking the Global Financial Crisis as an example, we will look into the impact it has on HR planning as well as how the HR professionals of an organization is evolving in for the respond to the change. The financial crisis was first triggered by the liquidity shortfall of the US banking system in 2007 and has resulted in the collapse of a number of large financial organizations (Holy See Review, 2010). It is well accepted that such huge issue is affecting almost every single organizations around the world, regardless of their size. It is obvious to organizations that increasing competitive advantages is the only choice for them to better equipped themselves so as to strength their market value and survive through the unstable fluctuating economy. Since it is mentioned in the previous p aragraphs that HR is seen as one of the competitive advantage of organizations, it is not playing a very crucial role under such circumstance. While a number of organizations might choose to be more preservative by cutting down on their staff members as a cost-reducing strategy, with the SHRM model, HR practitioners will instead be focusing more on modifying the HR strategies to address the situation. For instance, by re-designing the HR strategies as well as carrying out a work-life balance policy, the organization would be able to survive through the hard times of the crisis with its employees, eventually promoting employees productivity and loyalty to the organization and thus, reducing absenteeism and the staff turnover of the organization (Schmidt-Hebbel, 2008). Another relevant external environment factor faced by organizations recently is the demographic change of the workforce resulted from an ageing population. As a result of the declining fertility rate, a rising life expectancies as well as the increased migration level, the median age of the populations is proven to be going up very rapidly (Murray Syed, 2005). Though older employees are generally more experienced and therefore more productive than the younger ones, to a greater extent, they tend to suffer more from physical illness and disability, contributing to a higher level of absenteeism. Also, comparing to the younger employees off the organization, it is always harder for older employees to be innovative and adapt to the changing environment as soon as it takes place (Murray Syed, 2005). However, if one does accept that the older workforce are generally more loyal to the organization and that their views and experiences are valuable, diversity management is very much require d to be carried out by the HR professionals. Diversity management is defined as a process of managing peoples similarities and differences at work (DeCieri Kramar, 2005). A number of policies with respect to diversity management can be introduced in order to address the issue. For example, trainings such as computer course can be provided for older employees to help them in adapting to the new working environment. Welfare like long service leave can also be promoted to specially address the older employees of the organization. While HRM is seen as a valuable competitive advantage of organizations, some might argue that there is also a drawback associated with the concept. HRM is sometimes avoided because it is way too complex and time-consuming to organizations (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). For an effective HR plan to be carried out, a large sum of money and resources are to be contributed. A fully functioned data-base system is required to store the details with respect to the employment relationship such as their positions, trainings and developments and this can be rather complicated to set up without the adequate support from HR specialists (Kane, 1996). Various conflicts of interests are certain to come along when planning and conducting the HR strategies that even the top management of an organization might find it worthless to invest in (Nankervis, Compton Baird, 2008). In conclusion, the concepts of both HRM and SHRM have been discussed. While HRM is defined as policies and systems established by an organization in the focus of an effective utilization of its people to achieve to desired objectives, SHRM is known a pattern of HR developments enabling an organization to reach its goals overtime. A number of theoretical concepts including the unitarist and pluralist approaches, the resource based view of HRM as well as the hard and soft approaches are referenced in the purpose of further explaining the concepts and distinguishing between HRM and SHRM. Two external environmental circumstances, namely the global financial crisis and the ageing workforce are identified in which an organizations strategies in addressing such changes is explored. Last but not least, the criticisms and limitations associated with HRM, such as its complexity and the costly process of setting up the HR data-base system are also taken into account so as to give a thorough und erstanding of the entire concept.