The Truman Show Essay Example

The Truman Show Essay Example The Truman Show Essay The Truman Show Essay Whether it was intentional can be debated, but the makers of the movie â€Å"The Truman Show† made an effective argument against structural-functionalism as a theory of social development. On the show within a movie, Truman was the lead character in a television show that revolved around his life. He was placed into the show and the surrounding stage/town at birth, and all the decision regarding other actors’ reactions to him were scripted based on his actions. Truman, of course, believed that this was real life. In the movie, product placement within the town was based on the shows advertisers and every need that Truman had was met in some way by the show’s producers. The problems that are the core plot of the movie develop when it becomes clear that the need the producers cannot meet is his need for self and for happiness. This shows us the core failings of the structural-functionalism theory of social development. In the structural-functionalism theory of social development, a person’s physical and social development are reliant on the social institutions in their lives. The theory asserts that society meets the biological and social needs of the individual through institution. Thus, Truman’s need for warmth, love, and protection could be met through his family. His need for faith and a spirit of community could be met through his church and even his need for self-fulfillment could be met through his work. The major failing of the theory is that it does not address the needs of the spirit or the soul or possibly the intellect. Each of these hard to define portions of what makes a human being a person and vice versa were ignored in â€Å"The Truman Show†. Though Truman occasionally had conflicts when warranted by the ratings war, he never was forced to resolve conflicts in a manner that leads to personal development. The solution was either given to him or taken out of his hands, leading to a deep-seated unhappiness that Truman can neither explain nor define. Truman has been taught that his life is meant to be ordinary, that he is successful, in a fashion, as an insurance clerk and married to a beautiful woman. He has had the best friend since he was seven years old. It appears that producers have met all of Truman’s needs. But much like the theory of structural-functionalism does not take into account personal desires, Truman’s world begins to crumble and he begins to suspect something is up when he meets Lauren on the street and falls in love with her. The character Lauren is quickly written out when her family moved to Fiji and Truman develops a desire to go to Fiji to find her. The show and the theory met his needs for companionship and for a sexual relationship with his â€Å"wife† Meryl, but never accounted for the something else that is the spark of love. The theory in essence dismisses human emotion as an impact on social development and relies on the most physical state of social needs, not the emotion that accompanies them. The â€Å"producer† of the television show within the movie did the same thing. He made certain that Truman’s physical needs were met, but never considered the need for other forms of stimuli. Another prime example of this is the manner in which they deter Truman’s efforts to explore. Though it seems like a basic human need to understand and possibly control their environment, the producers induced such fear in Truman that he could not even explore the island that was his set. When he attempted to do so, producers used a viscious dog to scare him back into the controlled environment. They also had his â€Å"father† drowned in an early season to ensure that Truman would develop an unreasonable fear of water and thus be confined to the imaginary â€Å"Seahaven†. In fact, producers were so interested in controlling Truman’s environment that they had an environmentally controlled dome, regulating temperatures and the weather. In his mythical home of â€Å"Seahaven†, Truman never had to worry about anything, even the weather. This utter lack of conflict in his life lead to a very status quo existence, another of the key criticisms of structural-functionalism. The person is never challenged, never able to or even desiring to, improve themselves or their situation. Perhaps the most telling failure of the Truman television show and of structural functionalism is the failure to understand the desires of the heart. Truman wants to explore his world and eventually, even fear cannot hold him back any longer. In addition, after meeting Lauren, his desire to see her again upsets his world view and helps him to overcome his fears. Ultimately, the structural-functionalism employed by the show failed to me his transcendent needs. If we were discussing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we would be talking about the need for self-fulfillment. Up until that state, it is beleiveable that the world around us could provide for our basic needs and development. However, ultimately that need for self-fulfillment is internal and cannot be controlled or aided by outside forces. By meeting all of Truman’s basic needs, food, shelter, sex, etc. they allowed him to develop to the point where he could consider self-fulfillment and nothing in structural-functionalism or in the Truman show allowed for that. In essence, the lack of conflict in his early life, which was dominated by structural-functionalism lead to the need for conflict; the need to be challenged, to compete and to win and to fail. In the end, â€Å"The Truman show† demonstrates very vividly that a single sociological theory cannot be used to describe a development process completely, but may be used to explain some stages of that development.

Utilizing Export Management Companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Utilizing Export Management Companies - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to analyze five sources of information for new exporters, and explain the definition of some international trade terms as on the globalEDGE website. Exercise 1: Sources of Information for Exporters 1. Export.gov, http://export.gov/ Export.gov is by far the most diverse information source for both new and established exporters. The site has information on how exporters can obtain market research information for a product or industry of interest. The vast information source also helps exporters with the networking and promotion of their products. International trade fairs are incredible ways through which exporters can promote their products. Export.gov provides information on international trade events to help exporters popularize their products in targeted foreign markets. In its relentless effort to be a choice destination for seekers of incredible export information, Export.gov has prepared export readiness questionnaires for new exporters. In addition, the export information source also provides information on the protection of intellectual property rights in international territories. In pursuit of this highly sensitive aspect of globalised trade climates, export.gov provides information on issues such as antipiracy campaigns, process of obtaining international patents, trademarks or copyright, and ways in which exporters can file intellectual property right cases. 2. Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/ Before an exporter can venture in export activities, it is vitally important to obtain the necessary legal documentation. Before taking steps to obtain licenses and permits relating to the export of a good to a particular country or territory, it is imperative to confirm which government entity is charged with the role of issuing the relevant documentations. Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) fills this vital role. The licensing of many export commodities falls under the DDTC. The DDTC website also provides information on export policies, regulations and embargoes applicable to the country of export. 3. Statistical Yearbook, http://unstats.un.org/unsd/syb/ Market information on product market and economic state of the target market is of vital importance in the export business of any kind. The Statistical Yearbook is a rich information source which is a brainchild of the United Nations (UN). The site has valuable information on a staggering 550 commodities from over 200 countries and territories. The information is mainly about on the economic and social aspects on the countries and territories listed. 4. Deloitte International Tax Source(DITS),http:www.dits.deloitte.com/ The tax implications associated to a particular line of trade in a certain country can determine the viability of the export business venture. Deloitte is one of the top international consultancy and accounting firms in the world. As such, the firm has wealth of information on the tax practi ces in many countries and territories around the globe. The DITS website offers a wealth of information on international tax rates and policies, and provides regular updates on any changes in tax laws. The expansive information source provides information on over 60 countries in the world. The extensive tax information could be of immense importance to many would be and existing exporters. 5. Commercial News USA (CNUSA), http://www.thinkglobal.us/ This is one of the best

Evaluative Rhtorical Mode Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evaluative Rhtorical Mode - Essay Example Even if a person who is not a fan of the sport can access the website and find helpful information if they just want to learn about the Championship, or if they are interested in becoming a fan themselves. This particular website excels in meeting its purpose. It is informative on the Championship, providing visitors with anything they could possibly want to know about the Ultimate Fighting Championship. While it is very fan-friendly, it is also appealing to people who are just curious about the Championship and are seeking basic information. The website contains a plethora of facts and details that cover every aspect of the sporting event. The strong amount of information provided on the webpage makes it simple for the website to reach its purpose. However, there is a slight problem in tracking down certain information due to how cluttered the website feels, especially to people who access the site for the first time. The aforementioned is one of two problems with the format of the webpage. The first issue, as previously noted, is that the homepage of the website is a cluttered mess of facts and information. While the sections are split up so that they do not mix with unrelated sections, there is simply too much information on the front page. Even with separately headed sections, there is a lot to take in, which can be confusing for people that are not used to the website. The homepage contains what equates to a summary of the entire website, and it is too much is a rather small space. While this layout can be good for gleaning a lot of information at a single time, it can appear to be a jumbled mess to someone who is not used to the page. The second problem with the website is a difficulty in navigating the page. Besides the main navigation bar at the top of the page, there are other links throughout the rest of the page. In most cases, clicking one link will take the visitor to another page with even more links, and a link from that page will just continue t he trek to another page full of other links. There is a search bar at the top that allows visitors to type in something specific, and most of the links are detailed enough for a visitor to know what they are looking for, but the navigation between additional links gets to be too confusing. The only changes that the website should see is in regard to the layout of the homepage and the navigation throughout the entire site. The homepage needs to contain less information so as to not overwhelm visitors, especially the ones that are new to the site or are only visiting to obtain a few quick facts. The homepage should only consist of some brief information about the Ultimate Fighting Championship, such as the history and what it is, and perhaps an events schedule. There should also be a section containing links to the other most important aspects of the page, such as those previously mentioned. If a person finds it hard to work their way around the homepage of a website, they may not fee l that it is worth it to explore the rest of the website. Similarly, the links need to be fixed up so that there are fewer of them. Each webpage in the site should be designated to a specific part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship so that visitors do not have to keep jumping from page to page looking for a specific piece of information.

The influence of Nature and Nurture Essay Example for Free

The influence of Nature and Nurture Essay Can the influence of Nature and Nurture on two souls be compared? Nature and Nurture both determine Hucks and Jims personality ad behavior. Nature gives them their inborn traits often. Nature is how they are treated, and Nurture is the society, who natures them, and society nurtured them. Nature helps Huck become the person he is because the way your treated is the way you treat other people at times. Huck is thirteen whose place in society is second to a slave, like Jim. Hucks father is a drunk who takes care of Huck from time to time. Repeatedly Huck is filthy and left homeless. The nurturing society has failed to protect Huck from his father, because they didnt care for him, and nurture him. That doesnt go for everyone though, Widow Douglas took Huck in and tried to ameliorate Huck. Huck starts church and proper schooling. Even though Huck is a child the nurturing that he receives pushes him away from the cynicism of the world around him, which brings about another way nurturing has made who Huck is. At this time of age, African Americans were still in bondage as slaves, which brings about Jim in the story. Society does not nurture Jim; instead they treat him as an object of property. Huck doesnt agree with this though, according to Hucks sense of dialectic and fairness its not only acceptable but conscientiously good to help Jim. Hucks natural reasoning and his acquiescence to think through a situation on its own entitlement is what leads him to some conclusions that are right in their appurtenance but would clash society. An example is when he meets a group of slave-hunters, that telling a lie is sometimes the right course of action, in other words that sometimes lying is the right thing to do. Because Huck is a child, the world appears to be new to him. Everything he does is an instant for thought. Because of Hucks past he does more than just bestow the rules that he has learned; Huck invents his own rules. Nevertheless, Huck is not indispensably a kind of autonomous ethical genius. Huck struggles with some of the prejudgment about African Americans, which society has inveterate in him. Unfortunately Huck ensue Tom Sawyers lead. These flaws are of Huck because nature nurtured him this way. This shows you  that these flaws are a important element of what makes Huck enticing and compassionate. However Huck is still a boy and consequently deceptive. Impaired as Huck is, he symbolizes what everyone is able of becoming rational, feeling human being rather than a sprocket in the dogmatic instrument of society. What makes Jim who he is Nature. If society didnt treat him as an object he would be able to become better in all aspects. In the story Huckleberry Finn Jim is Hucks friend that travels the Mississippi River with him. In the story Jim is portrayed as man of outstanding intellectual, and that he shows compassion to people, even if they dont show it to him. When I first read about Jim he was portrayed as an idiot, but as I read further I found out that this was not true. Nature enabled Jim from acting boldly or speaking his mind, which at times made him seem like he wasnt intelligent. Even though he is held down by Natures way of nurturing him, Jim still finds it somewhere in his heart to be one of the most compassionate and caring person in this novel, and further more he cares for Huck, like a father would and like a friend. For example Jim cooks for Huck and shelters him from the incidents like when he finds Pas corpse, and kept it from him. Overall Jim I believe that Jim cannot control the way Natures nurtures him, and Huck, is the goodness in the society, even though Nature in its nurturing ways corrupted Huck.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Tale of the Ragged Mountains and Lovecraft’s The Outs

Edgar Allan Poe’s Tale of the Ragged Mountains and Lovecraft’s The Outsider Both Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft were known for their tales of horror, shocking discoveries and mysterious characters. Lovecraft was known to have mimicked Poe’s style in his popular horror stories of the early 20th century. Poe, one of the most famous writers of short stories and poems in the 19th century, amazed readers with his rich descriptions and chilling plots. Neither disappoint in two of their stories: Poe’s â€Å"Tale of the Ragged Mountains† and Lovecraft’s â€Å"The Outsider.† Although these are not the most famous of each authors’ works, scholars often debate over the meaning and themes of each story. One common theme in both the stories is the shocking discovery made by the characters. In â€Å"The Outsider,† the narrator discovers his true identity by glancing into a mirror as he explores his new world. â€Å"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains† tells both of Bedloe’s discovery of the simila rity of Oldeb’s past to his own, as well as the narrator’s discovery of who Bedloe might actually be, himself. The common thread between the two lies in those discoveries, and also in the entrance of each to a new, foreign world; however their personal reactions to their respective discoveries are very different. In his â€Å"Outsider,† H.P. Lovecraft tells the story of a man who lives in a dark, musty world, void of any light. His entire knowledge comes from the thousands of books that line the dark wet castle he inhabits. Since he has never seen another person, he can only imagine the human language or what he himself looks like. After scaling a tall tower, he stumbles into a world above his, on a night with a clear moon. His joy i... ...ered the writer and his style. Their similarities are common in many of their stories. The themes of these two works are no exception, and share many mutual points, despite the plot differences. Works Cited Lovecraft, Howard Phillips. â€Å"The Outsider.† H.P. Lovecraft Library. 1921. 6 Nov. 2002 . Mosig, Dirk W. â€Å"The Four Faces of The Outsider.† Discovering H.P. Lovecraft. Ed. Darrell Schweitzer. Mercer Island, Washington: Starmont House, 1987. Philippon, Daniel J. â€Å"Poe in the Ragged Mountains: environmental history and Romantic aesthetics.† Southern Literary Journal 30.2 (1998): 1-16. Poe, Edgar Allan. â€Å"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains.† 1844. Rev. 29 Jun. 1999. http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/atale.html (15 Nov. 2002). PID 6754 Marlow Engl.12.05 1

Project Management Plan Success

Review the list of reasons why plans fail as described in Ch. 11 of Project Management. Which of these reasons applies to defining and sequencing activities? As a project manager, what steps may you take to prevent your plan from failing? There are many reasons why plans fail to succeed. In discussing our answers to this question, Team C felt that in the list of reasons on why plans fail, poor planning would be on top of the list. When there are no attempts in pushing forward with already made plans, the project is bound to fail. Another reason why project plans fail is because the data in which plans are based are insufficient making it difficult for project managers to take control and give out orders. With insufficient data, the project’s scope would seize to exist. Along with not have an identified scope, the team would not know the ultimate objective of the project, and because of this, people will work towards different directions rather than one common goal. It is important that the reasons on the list are taken care of or prevented. This can be done during the defining and sequencing process. As a project manager, the steps we discussed that are necessary to be taken in order to prevent a plan from failing would be to properly develop a project’s plan. This would include defining each activity’s relevance to the project. By doing so, there is a stated initiative as well as a reason why the project is being done. In order to have a properly developed plan, we would hold a kick off meeting, which would discuss the expectations of every team member, have the purpose clearly conveyed to the team, as well as build strong and positive team energy. There would be frequent follow-ups in order to assure that each step is being completed to getting the project finished. Lastly, we would offer rewards as incentives for the team to complete their tasks efficiently and on time.

Atomic Bomb Cake Recipe

Heres an easy cake decorating idea for a mad scientist party or just for fun. Bake an atomic cake! Heres what you do: Atomic Cake Materials 2 boxes of cake mix (red velvet looks fiery or you could dye white cake with food coloring)3 containers of frosting (or make your own)props and decorations (e.g., fire-colored sprinkles, fake trees)2 unopened 15-oz cans that will stack2 round cake pans1 round glass or metal mixing bowl (same diameter or smaller than cake pans) Prepare the Atomic Cake Use one of the cake mixes to make a usual round double-layer cake. Prepare the other cake mix and bake it in the bowl.After the cakes have cooled, use a knife to cut circles in the round cakes so that you can set a can in the center of the cake. Eat or discard the pieces of cake.Set a can in the first cake layer. Frost the top of this layer.Set the other layer on top of the first layer. The can will be in the center of this cake as well. Finish frosting the cake.Invert the bowl cake onto a plate that is the same size as the cake. Frost this cake.Assemble the atomic cake by setting the second can on top of the first. Frost the cans. Place the bowl cake on the cans. Add any finishing touches. famous cake Mad Scientist Cakes | Atomic Test Photo Gallery