Simple Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Simple - Coursework Example As a result, municipal government receives more money from selling tickets for the sports activities, but less money from sports substitutes. (AtlantaFed) It is clear, that while making plans to increase the revenues from sports, we need to think about the opportunity costs of introducing such activities. For example, the extra benefits from selling more tickets from a newly built stadium, which is much bigger than the old one, may be outstripped by the losses of movie theaters, restaurants and children entertainment facilities in the same city. This may happen, because the stadium will be visited mostly by the adults, while the movie theaters and restaurants will lose such customers as small children. They will not be able to go see cartoons, eat pancakes or ice-cream, see magic shows and ride a pony in amusement parks, as their parents will be busy preparing for and watching the professional game. The same may happen even within sports industry. For example, the people will go to the professional game, but will not go to a pool or a water park with their children, and thus these facilities will receive less profits than they expected. Even though they were not designed as facilities for professional sports, they still can be considered as those, which belong to the sports industry, as they deal with amateur sports

Truth Telling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Truth Telling - Essay Example There are a number of disciplines that do not encourage lying. Such a discipline as medicine and its related subsets require truthful interaction between doctors and patients in order to achieve the effectiveness of both the diagnosis and treatment. Honesty is a relative concept in the health care ethics. For a long time, medical practitioners had assumed that patients told the truth about their conditions but as studies later proved, the effectiveness of a diagnosis relies on the amount of information that both parties in the process give each other thereby prompting the encouragement of truth from both the doctor and the patient. Just as doctors require as much accurate information from their patients in order to make factual diagnosis, patients also need to know their conditions thereby prompting the doctors to tell their patients the truth. Additionally, some professions within the practice of medicine rely entirely on dialogues between patients and doctors. Such therapeutic prac tices as psychoanalysis thus rely on the truthful interaction between the two in order to develop effective treatment plans. Truth telling in the practice also includes the process of reporting errors. During the practice, doctors are likely just as any other human to make errors. The factuality with which they report such help develops an effective address mechanism thereby preventing or minimizing harm. Most patients sue the organizations in such cases, a truthful account of the error to both the management and the concerned party aids faster mitigation of the errors thereby giving them an opportunity to develop an understanding. Besides the professional obligations in the practice of medicine, a number of reasons validate truth telling some of which include the fact that lying is an inherent wrong. Lying is a social vise that everyone detests. People may therefore lie depending on the relativity of the scenarios but they all consider lying as a social evil, which they therefore d iscourage. Parents strive to develop honesty personalities in their children. Such develop cohesive families in which the members do not hurt one another. Collective responsibility to uphold honesty in people results in the development of an ideal society in which people do not withhold the truth from others. Honesty is relative and infers diverse meanings all of which begin from truth telling1. This way, the society thus becomes one with minimal evil. Patients on the other hand entrust their lives on the professionalism in their doctors. They thus do not expect the doctors to lie to them. Owing to this, patients tell their doctors truths about their conditions and expect their doctors to do the same from the doctors. Acting indifferently by lying in such an essential communication process breaks the trust of either party, thereby impairing the effectiveness of the process. Additionally, lying creates a barrier between patients and their doctors. The diagnosis relies on the factuali ty of the communication process between the two. By each party lying to the other thus hampers the effectiveness of the diagnosis thereby impairing the treatment. Doctors for example are always in charge of the conversation. They therefore need to create an enabling environment for their patients to offer as much information with them about their condition as possible. They can only achieve this by appearing honest with

The Big Lebowski Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Big Lebowski - Movie Review Example The Big Lebowksi is it is as it is meant to be told by its creators. It may be a mess to some but it’s a frank and honest yet entertaining movie that offers raw and awkward humor. Story. Mistaken to be the big Lebowski, Jeff Lebowski was assaulted by two men who were claiming that they were sent to collect money from Lebowski’s wife. They have beaten him and peed on his rug. Eventually they have learned that they picked the wrong Lebowski and left. Encouraged by his friend Walter to seek compensation with the peed rug, they pursue to find the big Lebowski. The Dude’s request was rejected and he was even insulted by the big Lebowski. Days later, the big Lebowski’s wife was kidnapped, and he made arrangement with the Dude to be the courier of the ransom money in exchange of his request. Series of misfortunate events upon their delivery of the ransom money to the kidnappers, the Dude learned many things about the truth behind the alleged kidnapping. There was no kidnapping happened, as Bunny just went to a vacation trip with a friend, and it was revealed that the big Lebowski had orchestrated the whole thing – this was his plan to get the supposed ransom money from his first wife’s account and used the Dude to be the fall guy to deliver the fake suitcase. Walter had physically assaulted the big Lebowski and near end they had a fight with a nihilist’s group. Donny died of heart attack in the process. After saying eulogy and scatter Donny’s ashes, the Dude and Walter headed back to their bowling routine session. Characters. The film has a perfect casting to portray the main idiosyncratic characters, perhaps because Cohen brothers had gathered fine actors such as Jeff Bridges and John Goodman. The actors had really synched in with the characters they were portraying. Perhaps the Cohen brothers had in mind the actors’ personalities while writing the film’s characters i.e. Tara Reid being the reckles s and mindless trophy wife and Julianne Moore as an intelligent yet pretentious feminist and an artist. The main protagonist of the film is Jeff Lebowski but preferred himself to be called The Dude. The Dude is portrayed by Jeff Bridges. The Dude is a type B personality who can be easily discern as perpetual bum, cares little about money and cares only for bowling with his equally type B friends. It was reported that the Cohen brothers had written The Dude slightly based on Bridges character for being laid-back and slacking perspective in life. However, it was also revealed that the main influence of the character of the Dude was based on the film distributor that Cohen brothers had met named Jeff Dowd. Much like the Dude in the movie, Dowd was also called â€Å"The Dude†, fond of drinking White Russians, and shares physical appearance of the Dude on-screen: shaggy long hair, way of dressing, etc. Another reference for the Dude’s character is the Cohen brothers’ friend, Peter Exline, a Vietnam War veteran who also has a thing for rugs. The Dude has a main best friend named Walter Sobchak and was played by John Goodman. Walter is also a Vietnam War veteran and is The Dude’s teammate. He values the rules of bowling second to the doctrines

Information skills and system Essay Example for Free

Information skills and system Essay A system is a collection of devices that works together to archive a particular purpose. Examples include transport system, school system, digestive system etc. A system can be represented as following: Input contribution to processing of system Control commanding processing unit Processing transforming input to output Storage where content can be put away and retrieved for later use. Output the outcome of this system An information system is a system that accepts data (raw material) as input and information (organised data) as output. Examples include a computer, searchable databases etc. An information system is shown below: Purpose The use and function of the system Information process The process of converting data into information Participants All people who are involved in the system Information technology The equipment and instruction used. Data and information Data, the input (raw material), and information, the output (processed data). The information process: Collecting gathering of data from real world. Eg entering details Organising preparing data for the use of other processes. Eg arranging data into tables Analysing converting data into useful information, usually more digestible. Eg creating a graph from tables of data Saving and retrieving storing data/information for later uses. Eg saving document onto hard drive. Processing making change in data/information, including updating, correction of error etc. eg spell check Transmitting and receiving exchanging data/information with other information systems, near of remote. Eg internet, e-mailing Displaying presentation of information. Usually user-friendly, easy to understand. Eg projecting graph onto screen Digital representation of data: All data is in a central process unit is processed as electrical currents. Data is usually converted into binary decimals, consisting only 1 or 0, where 1 represents on and 0 represents off. Different data types are converted differently, and this will be discussed in tools for organising later. Binary digits: Decimal Binary Each digit in a binary decimal can only be 1 or 0. To convert from decimal x to binary: divide x by highest possible power of 2, then divide left over by highest possible power of 2, repeat until 1 or 0 is left. Eg 25 = 24 x 1 + 23 x 1 + 22 x 0 + 21 x 0 + 20 x 1; therefore 25 decimal = 11001 in binary. To convert binary into decimal you do the reverse. Eg 101011 in decimal is 25 x 1 + 24 x 0 + 23 x 1 + 22 x 0 + 21 x 1 + 20 x 1 = 32 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 2 + 1 = 43 ASCII code system: The ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) system uses binary decimals to represent different characters. Each digit takes up memory of 1 bit; it takes 8 digits i.e. 8 bits i.e. 1byte to form a character. 1024bytes (210 bytes) = 1KB; 1024KB (220 bytes) = 1MB; 1024MB (230 bytes) = 1GB etc different combinations of any 8 bit forms a character. ASCII includes most if not all symbols, including intangible ones eg Del, Space etc Hexadecimals: Hexadecimal is used in computing when there are too many digits for binary decimal. Eg 255 have 8 digits in binary but only 2 in hexadecimal. It is used for large value numbers such as in the case of html colour panels. Hexadecimals are 16 digit based; 10 15 is replaced with A F respectively. To convert decimal to hexadecimal or hexadecimal to decimal uses the same method as binary conversion, but 16 based. Eg converting 1980 into hexadecimal 1980 = 162 x 7 + 161 x 11 + 160 x 12 Therefore 1980 in hexadecimal is 7BC Eg converting 15FA into decimal 163 x 1 + 162 x 5 + 161 x 15 + 160 x 10 = 4096 + 1280 + 240 + 10 = 5626 Therefore 15FA in decimal is 5626. Social and Ethical issues: Health of human body can be affect through use of information systems. The study of human body and technology is referred as ergonomics. The following are a few health problems the can arise form the use of information system: Tools for information process Collecting: The collecting process involves deciding what to collect, where to collect form and how to collect. Hardware for collecting different data Text keyboard, text scanner, voice recognition Numbers bar code readers, data loggers, keyboard Images scanner, web cam Video video recorders, digital cameras Audio micro-phone, Software for collecting different data Text Microsoft word Numbers Microsoft excel Images scanner software Video windows media player Audio Sound recorder Organizing Text as explained before texts are converted into binary decimals to be processed by other processes, e.g. displaying, analysing etc. Examples of file types: word document, HTML, PDF Numbers Like text, each numerical number can be converted into a binary number. Common file type: excel, word document Images An image is an electronic copy of a picture, photo, scanned document etc for display on screen. All images are made of pixels, which are the smallest controllable display element on most screens. There are two types of images: Bitmapped: each pixel is treated individually and represents bits in memory. Their size, colour, tone etc is stored and therefore takes up large amount of memory. The most common bitmapped file types are BMP (high quality images), JPEG (less memory, lossy compression method) and GIF (maximum 256 colours for cartoons, lossless compression by less colour and smaller size). Vector: end points containing information about the line (thickness, colour, gradient etc) common type of file is PNG, but not supported by early versions of internet explorer. Audio Series of sound measurements. Digital samples are created from real sound waves. The higher frequency of taking samples and the more accurate they are, the better the quality, but the larger the file. Common file types are MIDI and waveform (MP3, MP4 etc). Video A series of still images recorded at high speed, usually along with audio. Hugh in file size. Common file types include animated GIF, MPEG, Flash etc. data is organized using key frames, one for each image that forms a video/animation when played Analyzing: An example of analyzing data is creating a chart in a spread sheet. Charts and graphs are the most popular ways of analyzing data. They show relationships, trends and comparisons at a glance. The impact (use of colours and symbols to draw attention to important data), speed (obvious) and simplicity (easily understood) made it popular. E.g. software excel, calculator Saving and retrieving: Saving and retrieving is important because it allows edited data to be stored and edited later on. Most information systems have a primary storage and a secondary storage. Primary storage is used to store data/information that needs to be instantly accessible to the CPU. It uses silicon chips on the motherboard to store. RAM random access memory, where frequently used data/information and instructions are stored. When the power is cut off everything in RAM disappears. Data are accessed directly without going through other things. Cache is another example of primary storage. It has the same functions are RAM, but is temporary storage for quick access. ROM read only memory, permanent memory where instructions are stored. These instructions are not to be edited or it may distract the processing of the computer. These instructions are applied when booting the computer. Secondary storages are usually portable. Magnetic tape: long thin plastic coated with thin layer of magnetic metal. Magnetic tape can store large amount of data for a cheap price and little space. However it uses sequential memory access, which takes a lot of time. e.g. video tape. Good for back up. Magnetic disk works the same as magnetic tape, but with a circular piece of plastic/metal. E.g. hard disk / floppy disk. Uses random memory access. Optical media uses laser technology to read and write on CD, CDR or CDRE. Written with high power laser to create lots of tiny holes on disk. Flash memory is erasable memory chips e.g. USB, SD card, memory stick etc. Processing: Examples of processing software: audio editing programmes, movie maker, video editors Transmitting and receiving: Buses and ports are used for transmitting and receiving. Buses are connections between CPU and other parts. Ports are sockets that allow an external device to be installed. E.g. e-mail is transmitting and receiving mails. Displaying Printer, monitor speakers etc. most monitors are displayed in pixels. Number of pixels on the screen can be adjusted. Planning, deigning and implementation Understanding the problem This is the first stage of developing a system. It involves identifying the problem that needs to be solved and determining the requirements of the new system through surveys, interviews, analysing existing system, investigation, research etc. Draw up a project plan, specifying who, what how, when; consisting grant charts, schedules, dataflow diagrams, journals, plans etc. Making decisions Determine the feasibility (is it possible) of this new system, analysing potential solutions and makes a recommendation. A feasibility study shows: nature of problem and overview of existing system identifying problem outline constraints (economical, cost vs. benefit; technical, technology requirements and demands; schedule, time wise; organisational, fitting the goal of organization) restates aim of new system in detail analyse data collected suggest solution no change, new system, investigate etc Designing solution Diagrams such as data flow diagram or system flow chart are used to show context of new system. Data flow diagram is a graphical way of showing the flow of data within the system. O process, ? external entity, ? Data storage, ? data flow. System flow chart shows both flow of data and logic of system. Terminals, input/output, process, database, decision, flow line. Decision trees show all possible decisions and their results. External specification the appearance of new system Internal specifications providing technical support to build the system, identify process required by new system, specifications for input data. Information technology application software may be available e.g. existing accounting softwares. If not then programme has to be written and meets the exact needs of new system. Technical specification new hardware support need or not. User documentation user manual for new system. Must be user friendly. Implementing This is the stage of applying the new system. There are three ways of converting to the new system: Direct conversion where the new system is completely replacing the old system. Does not allow time to check that the new one works correctly, old system is erased. Parallel conversion the new system and old system is run at the same time to allow room for error. Phrased conversion gradual implementation of new system. Certain new ones are implemented while other old ones are still operation. Each operation is individually tested. Pilot conversion when a small part of the organization uses the new system. If new system fails, old is there to back it up. Training is needed to teach participants to use the new system. The participants include those who are learning and those who are teaching. Who needs to be trained is decided upon their existing knowledge. Testing, evaluating and maintaining System needs to be tested to ensure that it runs correctly. Results are compared to expectations and initial aims. Determines if change is required. Occurs after minor adjustments. Evaluation is the ongoing process of assessing the system to identify areas of weakness that needs to be changed. Maintaining is the modifying of system after installation, upgrading by making minor improvements. IPT year11 exams study notes

Edgar Allen Poe and Humor Essay -- Edgar Allen Poe Humorous Essays

Edgar Allen Poe and Humor Edgar Allen Poe is most often recognized, and certainly most famous, for his poem â€Å"The Raven† as well as other decidedly dark and often gothic poems and stories, stories such as â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher,† â€Å"The Telltale Heart† â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado.† He also wrote many others mostly involving rather macabre, dark topics and characters as well as heavy themes such as insanity, madness, incest, murder and revenge. While this reputation is certainly well earned there is another side of Poe that is not quite so obvious. Poe was also a master of humor, especially in the use of parody and satire. One might ask how is it that a writer with such an inclination towards the darker side of humanity can possibly write humorously, and do it with such skill. Poe’s brand of humor is decidedly different than that which the mainstream contemporary audience is used to and can readily understand, but it is there if one cares to look cl osely. The style of Poe’s humor is not like that of the mainstream humorous writers in that he does not use the common comic strategies, but he instead â€Å"was able to turn his wit on the masses of society or their rulers with trenchantly satiric effect† by creating situations so ridiculous and outrageous that it becomes hysterical (Budd 133). Or as John Bryant says â€Å"he was a satirist specializing in burlesque, parody, and hoax. Humor was not his style, nor benevolence his manner; †¦ Poe’s barbed humorous stories are driven by caricature rather than character† (88). Some of Poe’s more humorous stories are â€Å"How to Write a Blackwood Article,† and â€Å"A Predicament,† and maybe not so obviously â€Å"The Murders in the Rue Morgue.† In a close look at â€Å"How to Write a Blackwoo... ...er because â€Å"his well known theory of the short story consistently emphasizes the importance of each and every detail in constructing the effect that †¦ an author of a short story has to have clearly in mind before beginning the task of composition† (Haugen 102). It may not be what the casual reader of Poe is expecting, or even wanting, but it is exactly what Poe intended and in truth that is what makes it humorous. Works Cited Bryant, John. Melville and Repose: The Rhetoric of Humor in the American Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Budd, Louis J, and Edwin H. Cady, eds. On Poe. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. Haugen, Hayley Mitchell, eds. Readings on: The Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc.2001. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Vintage Books, 1975.

Dogs as Best Pet Essay

Dogs as best pets have been contentious argument among scholars with center of debate consistently shifting from basic roles of dogs in homes to scientific roles they play in research. It is not fallacious to argue for instance, that in recent decades, there has been social, economic and cultural changes that have brought fundamental shift in the attitude and values of people to an extent that dogs are not only reared as best pets but fulfill a given vacuum left due to a sense of isolation. Scholars such as Tapper (2007) have provided evidence-based researches showing that dogs as pets provide unconditional companionship which equates effective therapeutic options that improve quality of life. However, what Tapper presents in his study should not be considered as the pinnacle in this argument. That is, debate on dogs as the best pet is so rich that argument as made by Tapper is admittedly an introductory one and only represents a research that is clearly in progress. Looking at recen t studies such as Serpell and Paul (2010), it is clear that there are still a number of avenues which beg this assessment to explore regarding benefits of gods as pets and such cannot be explored in the confines of what Tapper argues about. In support of studies that have looked at dogs in a wider perspective, this argument begins, as all proper researches should, that dogs are not only the best pets but work animal. As pets, they are not just fawning but seem to live with people and take their work outside seriously —they are to be found at table and at the gate watching steadily for any intruder. This is not to forget the fact that families use dog as ‘guide dogs for the blind’ or ‘hearing dogs for the blind.’ Though some arguments such as Vivian (2001) have postulated that as pets, dogs can sometime tear their best friends asunder, it is possible to counter this claim in the sense that these pets could only attack their master in situations psychologist term as ‘fight or flight.’ That is, dogs as pets are have feelings and when cornered or threatened, they either fight back or run away from the danger. In fact, close study of these animals as pets brings a number of such contradictions (that dogs can aimlessly attack their masters) (Lloyd-Jones, 2003). Arguments on whether dogs are the best pet stretches back to the early times of Greek civilization where it was, at the very best, liminal, human’s best friend compared to other animals that were domesticated (Tapper, 2007). Contrariwise, this statement remains uncertain owing to the fact that the animal is just a few steps from the wolf. In addition to this, in a confined argument, the theory continues, that dogs as pets are not as important as other animals reared as pets. The thesis statement of this school of thought lies on the premise that the animal contributes nothing to the common good compared to other pets. In as much as there may be truth in this theoretical framework, comparative studies as cited above have succinctly indicated that such a view is fraught with inherent dangers especially if they are pursued overly simplistically. The reason as to why this argument refutes opposing arguments that is strongly is due to the fact that the obvious relationship existing between people and dogs as pets is rarely that simple, regardless of the level of society the dog is reared as a pet. To argue that dogs as pets are economically worthless is fallacious in the sense that young people in the house and dogs as pets are categorized as creatures put near or in the house, fed but with return or meaningless economic services the owner. References Lloyd-Jones, H. (2003), ‘Females of the species and dogs rearing in the upper families.’ ParkRidge, NJ 2003. Serpell, T. & Paul, E. (2010), ‘Pets and the development of positive attitudes towards dogs’, inAnimals and society. Changing perspectives, eds. A. Manning & James Serpell,Routledge, NY 2010, 127-156.Tapper, R. (2007), ‘Animality, humanity, morality, society’, in What is an animal? Ed. T. Ingold,Routledge, NY 2010, 42-72. Vivian, K. (2001), ‘In the company of animal. A study of human-animals relationship.’Routledge, NY 2001, 390-412. Source document

Marketing and Environmental Factors

Macro-marketing â€Å"Macro-marketing literally deals with big/important issues, beyond comparatively simple exchanges between buyers and sellers, or even relationships between companies and customers. In a more interconnected world of markets, marketers, and their stakeholders, macro-marketing is an important mechanism to study both opportunities and shortcomings of marketing, and both its intended positive effects and unintended deleterious effects.This suggests macro-marketing includes an optimistic perspective; that it seeks functional mechanisms to enhance marketing processes, to the benefit of the largest number of stakeholders, the world over. † Various Environmental factors Affecting Marketing process. Various factors affecting marketing process. The environmental factors that are affecting marketing process can be classified into : 1) Internal environment and 2) External environment Internal Environment of Marketing :This refers to factors existing within a marketing firm. They are also called as controllable factors, because the company has control over these factors : a) it can alter or modify factors as its personnel, physical facilities, organization and function means, such as marketing mix, to suit the environment. There are many internal factors that influence the marketing process, they are : Top Management : The organizational structure, Board of Director, professionalization of management.. etc..Factors like the amount of support the top management enjoys from different levels of employees, shareholders and Board of Directors have important infulence on the marketing decisions and their implementation. Finance and Accounting: Accounting  refers to measure of  revenue and costs to help the marketing and to know how well it is achieving its objectives. Finance refers to funding and using funds to carry out the marketing plan. Financial factors are financial polices, financial position and capital structure.Research and Development : Research and Development refers to designing the product safe and attractive. They are technological capabilities, determine a company ability to innovate and compete. Manufacturing : It is responsible for producing the desired quality and quantity of products. Factors which infulence the competitiveness of a firm are production capacity technology andefficiency of the productive apparatus, distribution logistics etc. , Purchasing : Purchasing refers to procurement of goods and services from some external agencies.It is the strategic activity of the business. Company Image and Brand Equity : The image of the company refers in raising finance, forming joint ventures or other alliancessoliciting marketing intermediaries, enteing purchase or sales contract, launching new products etc. In organization, the marketing resources like organization for marketin, quality of marketing, brand equity and dirtribution network have direct bearing on marketing efficiency. They are important for new product introduction and brand extension, etc.. External Environment of Marketing.External factors are beyond the control of a firm, its suceess depends to a large extent on its adaptability to the environment. The external marketing environment consists of : a) Macro environment, and b) Micro environment a) Micro environment: The environmental factors that are in its proximity. The factors influence the company’s non-capacity to produce and serve the market. The factors are : 1) Suppliers: The suppliers to a firm can also alter its competitive position and marketing capabilities. These are raw material suppliers, energy suppliers, suppliers of labor and capital.According to michael Porter, the relationship between suppliers and the firm epitomizes a power equation between them. This equation is based on the industry condition and the extent to which each of them is dependent on the other. The bargaining power of the supplier gets maximized in the following situations: a) Th e seller firm is a maonopoly or an oligopoly firm. b) The supplier is not obliged to contend with othe substitute products for sale to the buyer group. c) The buyer is not an important customer. d) The suppliers’s product is an important input to the buyer’s business and finished product. ) The supplier poses a real threat of forward integration. 2) Market Intermediaries : Every producer has to have a number of intermediaries for promoting, selling and distributing the goods and service to ultimate consumers. These intermediaries may be individual or business firms. These intermediaries are middleman (wholesalers, retailers, sgent’s etc. ), ditributing agency market service agencies and financial institutions. 3) Customers : The customers may be classified as : 1) Ultimate customers: These customers may be individual and householders. ) Industrial customers: These customers are organization which buy goods and services for producing other goods and services for the purpose of other earning profits or fulfilling other objectives. 3) Resellers: They are the intermediaries who purchase goods with a view to resell them at aprofit. They can be wholesalers, retailers, distributors, etc. 4) Government and other non-profit customers: These customers purchase goods and services to those for whom they are produced, for their consumption in most of the cases. ) International customers: These customers are individual and organizations of other countries who buy goods and services either for consumption or for industrial use. Such buyers may be consumers, producers, resellers, and governments. 6 )Competitors: Competitors are those who sell the goods and services of the same and similar description, in the same market. Apart from competition on price, there are like product differentiation. Therefore, it is necessary to build an efficient system of marketing. This will bring confidence and better results. ) Public: It is duty of the company to satisfy t he people at large along with its competitors and the consumers. It is necessary for future growth. The action of the company do infulence the other groups forming the general public for the company. A public is defined as ‘any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on a company’s ability to achieve its objective. ’ Public relations are certainly a broad marketing operation which must be fully taken care of. Macro Environment: Macro environment factors act external to the company and are quite uncontrollable.These factors do not affect the marketing ability of the concern directly but indirectly the infulence marketing decisions of the company. These are the macro environmental factors that affect the company’s marketing decisions : a) Demographic Forces: Here, the marketer monitor the population because people forms markets. Marketers are keenly interested in the size and growth rate of population in different cities, regions, and nat ions ; age distribution and ethnic mix ; educational levels; households patterns; and regional characteristics and movements. )Economic Factors: The economic environment consists of macro-level factors related to means of production and distribution that have an impact on the business of an organization. c) Physical Forces: Components of physical forces are earth’s  natural renewal and non-renewal resources. Natural renewal forces are forest, food products from agriculture or sea etc. Non- renewal natural resources are finite such as oil, coal, minerals, etc. Both of these components quite often change the level and type of resources available to a marketer for his production. ) Technological Factors: The technological environment consits of factors related to knowledge applied, and the materials and machines used in the production of goods and services that have an impact on the business of an organization. e) Political and Legal Forces: Developments in political and legal field greatly affect the marketing decisions. sound marketing decision cannot be taken without taking into account, the government agencie, political party in power and in opposition their ideologies, pressire groupss, and laws of the land. These variables create tremendous pressures on marketing management.Laws affect production capactiy, capability, product design, pricing and promotion. Government in almost all the country intervenes in marketing process irrespective of their political ideologies. f) Social and Cultural Forces: This concept has crept into marketing literature as an alternative to the marketing concept. The social forces attempt to make the marketing socially responsible. It means that the business firms should take a lead in eliminating socially harmful products and produce only what is beneficial to the soceity. These are numbers of pressure groups in the soceity who impose restrictions on the marketing process.

Free Essays on Noble Lie

Phil. #1 – Noble lie In order to understand these different arguments of telling a noble lie one must first understand what it is exactly that a noble lie is and how it should be considered when assessing a question like this. The way I understand a noble lie is that it is a lie that is told in order to keep some sort of control over society, along with it a sense of organization over a group of people. Once a noble lie is told in this form we can assume that people would realize their destinies and understand that they have certain duties to perform because they were given certain metals in their bodies. The question of this assessment is why were these lies told? Is it ever ok to tell a noble lie? Over the next couple of pages I will try to explain the different arguments for and against these questions. Plato feels that the people should not even be able to control themselves. He thinks that the people should be controlled by a higher power. Thus, might be the reasoning for telling the people a noble lie, in order to lay a foundation for people to assume their roles in life. Plato argues, that the masses of people should be split up into different groups in order to achieve certain levels of balance. Plato says that guardians will be guardians, while those who are to be guardians soon can be in training, these people called auxiliaries, and there should be farmers, merchants, craftsmen, and poor people as well. When this occurs people will then know their place in society, and there should be little conflict among them. However, this does not mean that all people will be satisfied with their roles and duties, so Plato and Socrates reveal this Myth of the Metals in order to claim some sense of unity. Otherwise there would be a lot of fighting and agitation between these class es. One question that needs to be considered for this is what makes a lie noble in the first place? Is a lie noble because it is for the be... Free Essays on Noble Lie Free Essays on Noble Lie Phil. #1 – Noble lie In order to understand these different arguments of telling a noble lie one must first understand what it is exactly that a noble lie is and how it should be considered when assessing a question like this. The way I understand a noble lie is that it is a lie that is told in order to keep some sort of control over society, along with it a sense of organization over a group of people. Once a noble lie is told in this form we can assume that people would realize their destinies and understand that they have certain duties to perform because they were given certain metals in their bodies. The question of this assessment is why were these lies told? Is it ever ok to tell a noble lie? Over the next couple of pages I will try to explain the different arguments for and against these questions. Plato feels that the people should not even be able to control themselves. He thinks that the people should be controlled by a higher power. Thus, might be the reasoning for telling the people a noble lie, in order to lay a foundation for people to assume their roles in life. Plato argues, that the masses of people should be split up into different groups in order to achieve certain levels of balance. Plato says that guardians will be guardians, while those who are to be guardians soon can be in training, these people called auxiliaries, and there should be farmers, merchants, craftsmen, and poor people as well. When this occurs people will then know their place in society, and there should be little conflict among them. However, this does not mean that all people will be satisfied with their roles and duties, so Plato and Socrates reveal this Myth of the Metals in order to claim some sense of unity. Otherwise there would be a lot of fighting and agitation between these class es. One question that needs to be considered for this is what makes a lie noble in the first place? Is a lie noble because it is for the be...

To what extent do the mass media influence their audience Research Paper Example

To what extent do the mass media influence their audience Research Paper Example To what extent do the mass media influence their audience Paper To what extent do the mass media influence their audience Paper Essay Topic: Sociology It is generally believed that daily newspapers, television, radio, films, the Internet, or any form of message communication that is targeted at a large audience has an influence on behaviour, (Moore 1996) but to what extent? How much influence do the mass media really have on society and the individuals within a society that have now become a media loyal audience? (Moore 1996) and how do people gauge the extent of this influence? The aim of this essay is to look at the theories of the mass media effects. Such effect theories as the hypodermic-syringe model, the cultural effects theory, the two-step flow model, and the uses and gratification theory, and then determine from these theories the true extent of the mass media influence upon society. The Hypodermic-syringe model, that is also referred to as the silver bullet model (Schramm Porter 1982) is the idea that the mass media are so powerful that they can inject their messages into the audience. Or that, like a magic bullet, they can be precisely targeted at an audience, who irresistibly fall down when hit by the bullet. In brief, it is the idea that the makers of media messages can get people to do whatever they want them to do. (Schramm Porter 1982) Whilst it could be argued that no media analyst holds such a view today, it remains popular amongst the public and the media moralists. For instance, in the aftermath of the murder of a young child, Jamie Bulger, in the United Kingdom in 1993 by two young boys, the video of childs play 3, in which a similar kind of murder was to be seen, was evoked as a cause of the murder. Macionis Plummer 1998 p593) Whilst it is possible to say that the film may have played a part, along with other factors, it cannot be said to have simply caused the two boys to murder the young child. (Macionis Plummer 1998) Another factor was that the senior police officers that interviewed the two young boys at the time agreed that there was no evidence that either child had even seen the video of childs play 3. (J. Petley 1994) Many theorists believe that it is really more of a folk belief than a model. Chapman 2000) It could be argued that methodologically, the model is very weak because it ignores the fact that social characteristics of audiences differ in terms of class, age, gender and ethnicity. (Chapman 2000) But still the theory that people are passively injected with media messages crops up repeatedly in the popular media whenever there is an unusual or grotesque crime, which they can somehow link to supposedly excessive media violence or sex and which is then typically taken up by politicians who call for greater control of media output. If it applies at all, then probably only in the rare circumstances where all competing messages are rigorously excluded, such as in a totalitarian state. Nazi Germany being a prime example, where Dr Joseph Goebbels centrally controlled the mass media, and in doing so, he influenced a country into believing that Adolf Hitler was the saviour of Germany. (Wistrich 1997) As you read through the various approaches however, it could be argued that a rather weaker version of the hypodermic syringe model underlies many of them, notably in the cultural effects approach. The cultural effects approach or the mass-culture theory, as it is otherwise known implies that some of the media audience will accept media messages rather uncritically and in other cases resist media messages. (Haralambos Holborn 2000) Clearly this suggests not only different types of media messages but also the idea of different audiences. (Haralambos Holborn 2000) It could be argued that the media actually target these different audiences, these cultures, and effect the way these people look upon the world. The idea is that the mass media have created a mass culture in society, but, at the same time, they have the effect of maintaining cultural individuality. (Burton 2002) The idea that the mass media has created a mass culture in society is particularly associated with Marxism. (Chapman 2000) Marxists argue that the once popular cultures or folk cultures used to be the product of the family and revolved around such activities as folk music, dancing, folk tales and carnivals, but now, in a capitalist society, they argue that it is no longer a product of the family but more down to mass production, or more commonly, the mass media. Chapman 2000) It is seen by Marxists, such as Marcuse in particular that people have become passive recipients of culture rather than actively participating in it. (Chapman 2000) Marcuse believed that people consequently absorb mentally, such things as violent images from movies or television, and then, just as any advertising is seen to do, it gives an appeti te for things that the viewer cannot have, and therefore fuels crimes. (Chapman 2000) Although Marxists such as Marcuse have argued that this type of popular culture is responsible for stifling creativity, imagination and critical thought in society, (Chapman 2000) a number of the mass-culture arguments have come from other directions. Pluralists argue that the pre-industrial folk culture has been over romanticised by the Marxist critics and they also argue that the mass media in modern society has also had a positive effect on people. They claim that literacy has been encouraged, and knowledge and awareness of the world around them has been encouraged. They claim that people have much more choice of cultural products and opinions than they ever had before. (Chapman 2000) In many ways, the mass-culture theory, or the cultural effects approach is similar to the hypodermic-syringe model of media effects and like that model, it is also difficult to prove an effect. (Chapman 2000) It is generally believed that a more acceptable approach is the two-step flow theory for understanding the influence that the mass media have on their audience. The two-step flow model is slightly different to the previous two methods, in that it suggests that people are not influenced directly by the media. It implies that people interpret media messages through a framework of attitudes that they acquire from primary groups or opinion leaders. It was first recognised by Paul Lazarsfeld, along with Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, Gaudet 1948) in The Peoples Choice, a paper analyzing the voters decision-making processes during an early nineteenth century presidential election campaign. Lazarsfeld found that voters, who already knew how they were going to vote in the election, had read and listened to more campaign material than the people who still did not know how they would vote. (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, Gaudet 1948) The researchers found that voters who made a decision late in the campaign were not likely to be influenced by the media, but rather by opinion leaders who swayed their vote. It as been suggested that these so called opinion leaders are not a general characteristic of a person, but rather, limited to specific issues. It is seen that, any Individual, who acts as the opinion leader on one issue, may not be considered influential in regard to another issue. (Burton 2002) Their research was originally based on something like the simplistic hypodermic syringe model of media influence. However, their investigations suggested that media effects were minimal, that the conception of a mass audience was inadequate and misguided and that social influences had a major effect on the process of opinion formation and limited the medias effect. (Burton 2002) As with the other two methods, it could also be argued that the two-step flow method also has its arguments. One being that the Influence, if any, or be it a small amount of influence, tended to be straight across a particular social economic class, except that in the higher social classes there was a tendency for people to find opinion leaders in the next class up. No opinion leader was an opinion leader in all aspects of life. (Burton 2002) For example, a car mechanic in the local pub may not use the media much at all because hes always working late. Nevertheless, he knows a lot about cars and so what the rest of those in the pub know from the media about different makes of car will be influenced by his views. Similarly, a Politics lecturer for example, may not use the media anything like as much as his or her students do, but the lecturers reading and viewing is targeted on political issues. Together with the lecturers broad knowledge of political theory and history, which is likely to make the lecturer the opinion leader as far as the Politics class is concerned. Allowing for the differences from one class to another and from one subject area to another, people could probably recognize in opinion leaders the characteristics which Lazarsfeld suggested, in particular that opinion leaders will be more active users of the mass media than others, (Burton 2002) As a result of this theory, attention began to turn from the question of what the media do to the audience to what the audience do with the media, or, the uses and gratifications theory The uses and gratifications theory focuses on the active use made of the media by the audience itself, to seek gratification of a variety of needs. (Chapman 2000) The standard saying is that, where effects research asks, What do the media do to audiences? the uses and gratifications approach asks, What do audiences do with the media? (Chapman 2000) In this theory, it is said that audiences use the media to gratify needs. The needs being most commonly identified as surveillance, such as monitoring whats going on in the world, or, personal relationships, family interaction, or just to escape from a normal routine. (Chapman 2000) Readers of a newspaper for example, might open the paper, turn past the hard news and head straight for the gossip section, or to the stars section because they need entertainment. Also, as with television, one person might understand their favourite soap opera because their favourite character holds power, and they relate it to their own needs for power. Another person may understand the same soap opera as being mainly about love and understanding because they have strong needs for security and choose to bring out those aspects of the story in their minds. (Burton 2002) But as with all the theories, the uses and gratifications theory also holds arguments. The biggest argument directed at the Uses and Gratifications theory, is that it is seen as being non-theoretical. Other arguments are that it is seen as being vague in key concepts, and being nothing more than a data-collecting strategy. However it is still the most modern theory to date. (ODonnell G, 1994) After looking at the theories of mass media effects, to actually determine the mass media influence upon their audience is no easy task. It could be argued that modern theories of the mass media effect, such as the two-step flow theory or the uses and gratification theory show that people are more likely to reinforce existing attitudes and behavior than to change them. It could be argued that peoples existing attitudes act as a protective net preventing any direct effect at all. It could be said that the media has most influence when an audience lacks knowledge and clear opinions, as with the hypodermic-syringe model or the cultural effects theory. (ODonnell G, 1994) Even so, after looking at these theories, there is no overwhelming evidence that the mass media actually influences its audience at all. However, there is more evidence, to suggest that the audience actually influences the mass media. (Chapman 2000)

Definition and Examples of Testimony in Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of Testimony in Rhetoric Testimony is a  rhetorical term for a persons account of an event or state of affairs. Etymology: from the Latin, witness Testimony is  of various kinds, said  Richard Whately in Elements of Rhetoric (1828), and may possess various degrees of force, not only in reference to its own intrinsic character, but in reference also to the kind of conclusion that it is brought to support. In his discussion of testimony, Whately examined the distinctions between matters of fact and matters of opinion, noting that there is often much room for the exercise of judgment, and for difference of opinion, in reference to things which are, themselves, matters of fact. Examples and Observations Four out of five dentists surveyed recommend Trident sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum! -(advertising claim made by Trident chewing gum)No wonder so many doctors now smoke and recommend King-Size Viceroys. -(advertising claim made in the 1950s by Viceroy cigarettes)One of the Soviet Georgias senior citizens thought Dannon was an excellent yogurt. She ought to know. Shes been eating yogurt for 137 years. -(advertising campaign for Dannon Yogurt)Extrinsic Proof as Testimony-  I define testimony as everything that is brought in and secured from some external circumstance for the purpose of gaining a conviction. The best witness, therefore, is one who has, or is perceived by the jury to have, authority. -(Cicero, Topica, 44 B.C.)- Cicero stated that all extrinsic proofs rely chiefly upon the authority granted by the community to those who make them (Topics IV 24). In other words, Cicero defined all extrinsic proof as testimony. In keeping with Ciceros remark, we might argue that facts are a kind of testimony since their accuracy depends upon the care taken by the person who establishes them as facts and upon his reputation in relevant communities, as well. -(Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2004) George Campbell on Evaluating Testimony (The Philosophy of Rhetoric, 1776)Although [George] Campbell does not provide a detailed discussion of the guidelines to be used in evaluating the reliability of a rhetors testimony, he does list the following criteria that may be used in corroborating or invalidating the claims of a witness: 1. The reputation of the author and the manner of his or her address.2. The nature of the fact attested.3. The occasion and disposition of the hearers to whom it was given.4. The design or motives of the witness.5. The use of concurrent testimony. When these criteria are met, and are consistent with experience, a high level of persuasion may be achieved. -(James L. Golden et al., The Rhetoric of Western Thought: From the Mediterranean World to the Global Setting, 8th ed. Kendall Hunt, 2003)Testimony of Condoleezza RiceOn August 6, 2001, over a month before 9/11, during the summer of threat, President Bush received a Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) at his Crawford, Texas ranch indicating that bin Laden might be planning to hijack commercial airliners. The memo was entitled Bin Laden Determined to Strike inside US, and the entire memo focused on the possibility of terrorist attacks inside the US. In testimony before the 9/11 Commission, Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor to President Bush, stated to the commission that she and Bush considered the August 6th PDB as just an historical document and stated that it was not considered a warning. -(D. Lindley Young, The Modern Tribune, April 8, 2004) Richard Whately on Matters of Fact and OpinionObserving that argument from testimony is related mostly to jurisprudence, [Richard] Whately [1787-1863] observes two kinds of Testimony that can be used to support the truth of a premise: testimony regarding matters of fact, in which a witness testifies to matters verified by the senses, and testimony regarding matters of opinion, in which a witness offers a judgment based on common sense or deduction. As a form of argument from signs, testimony convinces by presenting evidence of an effect from which a cause or condition can be inferred. -(Nan Johnson, Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric in North America. Southern Illinois University Press, 1991)The Testimony of WitnessesContemporary rhetoric includes a kind of testimony that was absent from ancient considerations: statements by persons who were physically present at an event. The authority of proximate witnesses derives not from their wisdom or their professional expertise but from the modern presumption that evidence provided by the senses is reliable and credible. . . .The worth of testimony offered by proximate witnesses must pass several tests. First, a witness must be in a position to observe the events in question. Second, conditions must be such that a witness can adequately perceive an event. Third, the witnesss state of mind at the time must be conducive to her accurate observation and reporting. If this is not the case, her testimony must be modified accordingly. Fourth, in keeping with modern faith in empirical evidence, testimony offered by a proximate witness is more valuable than evidence offered by someone who was not present. -(Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2004) Pronunciation: TES-ti-MON-ee

Intercultural Communication Gap Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Intercultural Communication Gap - Assignment Example Canadian people do not like any exaggeration in their discussion and that is why they do not like people who do not discuss the point matter. The Communication styles of African people are quite relaxing, just as if these Mozambican may not start their meeting at the particular fix time. It does not mean that they are not punctual rather they are not that much strict in the professional matters. The Mozambican people love to talk to each other irrespective of the fact that they know him or her or not. It is an obligation for them to greet any person whom they meet during their daytime. The discussions and the meetings always start with the formal talks and end with the informal and family conversation. Socializing and building relationships is most important and top priority fact for the Mozambican people. For this reason, they can even negotiate the formal and professional matters. According to the research of different cultures, it is clear that there are many points of differences between the Canadian and the Mozambican cultures. There are many of the theories, which can explain these intercultural conflicting issues and the differences. Power Distance: the theory of power distance means that the people living in any society are not at all equal to each other with respect to different factors and elements. Therefore, the power distance means the gap between the people having different levels of authority. By comparing two cultures, it is quite evident that Mozambican is a highly hierarchal society where people are treated according to their individuality and the status. On the other side, Canadian society has less power distance, which means that people are more dependent upon each other. If we talk about the failure of the dinner party, then this power distance conflict can be one of the main reasons.

Biological Aspects of Race Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Biological Aspects of Race - Term Paper Example Societies have universally accepted this idea that, naturally, humans fall into racial groups. It is true that different people have had mixed ancestry crossing racial boundaries, but there are also undeniably clear physical differences between various populations of the world. The physical differences may reflect genetic differences used by researchers to pinpoint people’s geographical origins. Genes reflect geography certainly. Human genetic differences, on the other hand, do not fall along boundaries that could define race. Without defined boundaries that can guide us, the human racial categories continue to be the product of the human choice. Our definition of race reflects not only biology but culture, history and politics (Cadena, 2000). Human racial groups do compose breeding units that initially were geographical and at times temporarily isolated. However, they could interbreed, producing viable offspring that are also within the species of Homo sapiens. The molecular techniques that have been developed recently to examine genetic differences between populations and individuals such as DNA have produced clear evidence that population differences exist within the human species but racial differences do not. Race should therefore not be equated with ethnicity that is a self-described category with the three components of ancestry, culture and language. These components have affinities to some ancestral groups. The genetic differences that exist between groups, therefore, do not correspond to some historical racial categories (Sarich and Frank, 2004).

Germany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 14

Germany - Essay Example r cause was that the French emperor Napoleon III wanted to regain French influence and prestige both France and internationally that has been lost during various diplomatic issues especially those experienced in the hands of Prussia during the Austro-Prussian war of 1866. Prussia had strong military as seen in the war with Austria, which constituted a big threat to French influence and dominance in Europe. The initiating event that led to the war was the candidacy of Leopold who came from Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, to rule Spain after the Spanish revolution of 1868. Bismarck had persuaded Leopold to accept the candidacy. The French government was frightened and threatened by possible alliance between Prussia and Spain. In addition, the French government threatened Prussia with war if Leopold did not withdraw his candidacy. The French ambassador in Prussia was sent to inform that the Prussian government had ordered Leopold to withdraw his candidacy but unfortunately Leopold could not be reached (Howard 49). The French government was not satisfied with Prussian reaction and threatened to humiliate them even if it meant using war. The French government demanded apology from Prussia and that wanted it to consent that Hohenzollern candidacy would not be renewed. However, the King of Prussia did not accept the demand. Bismarck wrote and published a document in a way calculated to anger and aggravate the resentment of the Germans and French. Bismarck knew that this move would lead to war since he was aware that Prussia was well prepared for war. In addition, he relied on psychological result of French declaration of war to organize South German states to Prussia’s grounds, therefore attaining his final stage of unifying Germany. The French declared war on Prussia in July 1870 and that the south German states in compliance and fulfillment of treaties with Prussia, joined Prussia to fight against France. During the war, the Germans mobilized more troops than the French

Scarcity and how it Applies to Micro-Economic Decision Making Essay

Scarcity and how it Applies to Micro-Economic Decision Making - Essay Example It is a fact that if anything is scarce it will definitely have a higher market value compared to those goods and services which are relatively widely available. (Riley 2006)i Scarcity essentially raises the question of which alternative to choose and which is better in which condition. These various choices have to be made on a daily basis by all consumers, firms and governments. (Steven 2011)iiA simple example is how the millions of people in New York City get to work. This choice of which mode of travel to take in order to get to their required destination in the least and most cost-effective amount of time is what troubles everyone. These small decisions are taken on an extensive scale on a daily basis and for most of the individuals this is more of a habitual routine than a choice but still at the first instance they had to figure out which mode is the best for them. This concept is followed by the most important concept in microeconomics, Opportunity Cost. Opportunity Cost meas ures the cost of any choice in terms of the next best alternative forgone. This can apply to individuals, firms and governments. For an individual whether to work extra hours or give more time to family for leisure is a choice that has to be made on a regular basis. For a government, it has to decide whether to allocate its limited budget to military or education or health. For a firm, it has to decide which machinery to use to produce the most output in the least amount of time maintaining quality. All this is not only a decision that is made without conscious thinking, it requires a lot of conscious effort from the individual’s part to investigate which option is best for him. This involves a rational Cost-Benefit Analysis. A Cost-Benefit Analysis is the process whereby individuals decide whether the advantages of a particular option are likely to outweigh its drawbacks. This is highly specific as all the known information for the available alternatives has to be taken into account and after comparing it with each other it has to be decided upon which alternative is giving the most benefit after accounting for its drawbacks (net benefit). On a micro-level thousands of millions of decisions take place to counter this problem of scarcity. A firm has to constantly perform assessment whether to hire new workers or request their existing workers to give extra hours in order to produce the excess demand. A separate department usually exists in MNC’s which has the responsibility to undertake extensive in-depth research in major financial decisions. For example, acquiring of new capital costing millions of dollars $ might be a better option than upgrading existing capital equipment. Although the initial cost will be high but the long term benefit of the first choice will outweigh the benefit of the second option. In Africa, governments have to constantly engage in a battle against poverty, healthcare and education. The question which is more important is debatable. Which sector should be given more preference depends on the positive impact it will have on the community and society on the whole. It can also mean that in a battle to provide everyone clean water and food, government might not reach its set goal for education. (CBC 2011)iii Nevertheless, it has to be viewed in such a perspective that if people are not provided the basic

Marketing analyses for the Arab National Bank Essay

Marketing analyses for the Arab National Bank - Essay Example accepting banking services. The bank as its programs tailored to fit into Sheria the Muslim teaching. It is the reason that the company targets high income earners and business Saudis because they have changed to banking system service. There are no barriers for the company to expand its services to other ranches in the country. The strategic direction of the bank projects opening up of more branches and targeting female high income. There are many options available for the company such as partnering with other The bargaining power of the suppliers is high, the customers who deposit money, mortgage, loans, the interest rates. The bank suppliers of the money demand high level of accountability and interest rates. The buyers in this case the loan seekers, mortgage and other withdrawal services. The debit and credit card users demand high level of security for the cards they use. Availability and reliability of the services is critical for the buyers. in card payment transactions and it has a value share of 60%. It means there are other top banks in Saudi that offers better services. Charge card transaction competitive position is at number 4,with 5.4% value share, the debit transactions has a value share of 7.3% and it is also ranked 4 and the credit card transactions has 5.6% value share where it is ranked 7th. The bank has put in place plans to target female consumers but starting only women branches that targets high income women. The cards that the bank offers has a wide range of services that meet the customer needs. The company is also venturing into technology by having touch screen where it offers credit to customers to purchase the devices. The bank has a range of prices and interests that are decided by the Central Bank. The bank also strategized on bringing services closer to the customers through establishment of more branches in remote areas. The bank is committed in implementing a well-structured contingency plan to counter the

Scarcity and how it Applies to Micro-Economic Decision Making Essay

Scarcity and how it Applies to Micro-Economic Decision Making - Essay Example It is a fact that if anything is scarce it will definitely have a higher market value compared to those goods and services which are relatively widely available. (Riley 2006)i Scarcity essentially raises the question of which alternative to choose and which is better in which condition. These various choices have to be made on a daily basis by all consumers, firms and governments. (Steven 2011)iiA simple example is how the millions of people in New York City get to work. This choice of which mode of travel to take in order to get to their required destination in the least and most cost-effective amount of time is what troubles everyone. These small decisions are taken on an extensive scale on a daily basis and for most of the individuals this is more of a habitual routine than a choice but still at the first instance they had to figure out which mode is the best for them. This concept is followed by the most important concept in microeconomics, Opportunity Cost. Opportunity Cost meas ures the cost of any choice in terms of the next best alternative forgone. This can apply to individuals, firms and governments. For an individual whether to work extra hours or give more time to family for leisure is a choice that has to be made on a regular basis. For a government, it has to decide whether to allocate its limited budget to military or education or health. For a firm, it has to decide which machinery to use to produce the most output in the least amount of time maintaining quality. All this is not only a decision that is made without conscious thinking, it requires a lot of conscious effort from the individual’s part to investigate which option is best for him. This involves a rational Cost-Benefit Analysis. A Cost-Benefit Analysis is the process whereby individuals decide whether the advantages of a particular option are likely to outweigh its drawbacks. This is highly specific as all the known information for the available alternatives has to be taken into account and after comparing it with each other it has to be decided upon which alternative is giving the most benefit after accounting for its drawbacks (net benefit). On a micro-level thousands of millions of decisions take place to counter this problem of scarcity. A firm has to constantly perform assessment whether to hire new workers or request their existing workers to give extra hours in order to produce the excess demand. A separate department usually exists in MNC’s which has the responsibility to undertake extensive in-depth research in major financial decisions. For example, acquiring of new capital costing millions of dollars $ might be a better option than upgrading existing capital equipment. Although the initial cost will be high but the long term benefit of the first choice will outweigh the benefit of the second option. In Africa, governments have to constantly engage in a battle against poverty, healthcare and education. The question which is more important is debatable. Which sector should be given more preference depends on the positive impact it will have on the community and society on the whole. It can also mean that in a battle to provide everyone clean water and food, government might not reach its set goal for education. (CBC 2011)iii Nevertheless, it has to be viewed in such a perspective that if people are not provided the basic

LAW OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

LAW OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE - Essay Example are deemed to be non-conforming, whether in terms of type or condition, the buyer has the right to sue and, on that basis, reject the goods.3 This is also emphasised in SOGA (1979) 14.2A and 14.2B, where the buyer is required to supply goods which meet the contractual description and which are in such a condition as would allow the buyer to use them for the purpose for which he purchased them.4 Articles 15(A) and 15(B) further defines the delivery of defective goods as a breach of contract which entitles the buyer to repudiate the contract.5 However, the circumstances of this particular case suggest that Sweet cannot be held liable for breach of contract while the carrier most likely can be. According to the facts of the case, Sweet delivered the shipper conforming goods. He further satisfied the reminder of his CIF obligations to the buyer, by insuring the goods, arranging for their delivery to the port agreed upon, providing the buyer with a reasonable delivery time,6 arranging for custom clearance and sending Baxwell the requisite documents. These are the obligations which a seller must satisfy as per both CIF and FOB terms.7 Just as CIF and FOB terms impose certain obligations upon the seller, they are equally articulate in their definition of the buyer’s obligations. Assuming that the seller has fulfilled his obligations, both CIF and FOB terms further stipulate that even if the goods are damaged, or lost, the buyer is obligated to pay for them and to accept delivery of goods at the port of destination.8 Therefore, as far as the case at hand is concerned, Baxwell is obliged to accept the documents, take delivery of the goods and satisfy his financial obligations towards Sweet. As established in Kwei Tek Chao (t/a Zung Fu Co) v British Traders Shippers Ltd (1954)9 the buyer can only repudiate the sale of goods contract and reject delivery of goods if the goods which the seller supplied were non-conforming, in type, condition or quality and not if

Photography Essay Example for Free

Photography Essay The purpose of photography is to present to the viewer a view of the world that is not normally seen. With the advent of fashion photography however, the view of this world is skewered. Fashion models do not present a true reality but a made-up world in which being too thin is regarded as high fashion. With works such as Lachapelle the use of morphing reality and creating one’s own reality is more and more kosher in the world of high fashion. It is with the re-evaluation of beauty that fashion photography has enchanted and changed the world. This surmise can be discovered in the way women and men dress, in their progression of outfits, daily work clothes, celebratory clothes and all of this reflected in the economic up rise of the consumers desire to be in fashion for the season. LaChapelle explores and exploits this need through his photography and although not always paying attention to the status quo on what fashion photography is, he presents his viewers with his own perspective on beauty through fashion. The topic of fashion has always held my interest, especially fashion photography. The way in which the photographer can create different realms of existence through different angles, colored lenses, and outfits has been a great intrigue of my interest in art. My favorite photographer is David LaChapelle which is why I choose him for the research and analysis part of this project. The way that he does fashion photography is a reinvention of it. He does not just accomplish what no one else can accomplish in photography but he also puts humor into his pieces as will be explained later. He makes fun of fashion, or the extremes which people put on fashion by creating a world through photography in which his eloquence matches this humor as can be seen in his Shoes to Die For photograph. Thus, he is a photographer I admire because he does not take himself too seriously. Introduction Fashion photography is about portability and malleability. A model can be incorporated into a fantastical environment for which only the word surreal can be used to define. In modern day photography there is a myriad of photographers each striving for a new lens, a new way in which to portray a fantastic image. In the history of fashion, nothing is so transcendental than photography. The image in fashion has been primarily focused on the model and how well the model sells the clothes; it is in the photograph that mutation over the decades has skyrocketed into a true art form. Fashion photography does not succumb to the norms of portraiture that Daguerre made famous but to focal points of beauty in landscape, cityscape and how well assembled the model appears in those scenes. Body Media With the issue of thinness, the disease anorexia is conjured up; since the advocating of the media towards a thinner woman’s body, disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have become predominant among women and men. In the Western culture this rising phenomenon has become a central fact for overly conscious people who focus on their appearance, as Dittmar and Howard state, â€Å"†¦they learn to see themselves as objects to be looked at and evaluated by appearance. This pressure is constantly reinforced by a strong cultural ideal of female beauty, and that ideal has become synonymous with thinness† (477-478). With this notion in the forefront of the paper other issues such as model size as they are propagated through the media become a rising concern. Dittmar and Howard go on to state that roughly 20% of models in the fashion industry are underweight which in term clinically diagnosis them with the condition of anorexia nervosa. These conditions give further rise to other women’s problems. Since the cultural idea of thinness as perpetuated by the media and the fashion industry is to have increasingly thin body types, the average woman or man tries dieting and exercising to keep up with the ‘standard’. When the average woman or man finds that they are still not ‘normal’ according to the cultural guidelines of the word, they begin to be dissatisfied with their bodies which leads to low self-esteem, â€Å"Thus it stands to reason that women are likely to experience body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and even eating disorders if they internalize and strive for a beauty ideal that is stringently thin and essentially unattainable† (478). The mass media is the continual hindrance to a healthy body image for Americans. The media is a social influence that reinforces these ideals through repetition and product placement. The media is a visual stimulation letting the American public voyeuristically fantasize about ultra thin models and having a body (sometimes these bodies are digitally re-mastered) that provides relative pleasure in shape. Dittmar and Howard’s article highlights one such concern with the UK government in which they held a conference in June 2000 to discuss this issue of thinness and the media and to in essence debate about banning the use of these too thin models as media advertisement since the image essentially gave permission to the public to suffer and toil over gaining a great body, no matter the public acquired anorexia nervosa or other clinical conditions. The detriment of this fact, the fact that thinness is amounting to such problems as anorexia nervosa raise many social and cultural issues. The cultural issue may best be summarized in Dittmar and Howard’s article as they quote Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer, both spokespersons for top models, â€Å"†¦(s)tatistics have repeatedly shown that if you stick a beautiful skinny girl on the cover of a magazine you sell more copies†¦Agencies would say that we supply the women and the advertisers, our clients, want. The clients would say that hey are selling a product and responding to consumer demand. At the end of the day, it is a business and the fact is that these models sell the products† (478). Thus, the opposite side of the spectrum is arguing that businesses or model clients are merely representing something that already exists within the cultural dynamic. The argument is that thin models represent what people want to see and so the products the model’s are advertising sell more copies. The clients of the modeling agencies are merely tied into the vicious cycle of believing what they want to believe. Although this point seems somewhat valid, the validation stops when such perpetuating leads to serious illnesses (in some cases anorexia or bulimia have lead to death). It can plainly be deciphered from the above text that body image is created by the media, as Guttman quotes in her article â€Å"Advertising, My Mirror† in an interview with Christian Blachas, â€Å"That image comes to us from the fashion world. People like to say advertising starts trends like the recent wave of ‘fashion pornography. ’ But this came straight from designers and fashion journalists. The job of advertising is to pick up on trends. It’s rarely subversive because brands don’t gain anything from shocking people too much. Advertising’s a remarkable mirror, but it doesn’t start fads† (25). Consequently, Blachas is stating that if fault is to be placed anywhere for the over correction of dieting, then the blame is not on the fashion industry but on advertisers who are the ones who pick up trends and allow these trends to filter down to every consumer; thus, while 20% of models are diagnosed as too ‘thin’ this relevant percentage can be related to the American public. Since the blame seems to be resting with the advertisers, another close look at the media needs to be given. The media perpetuates fads and other culturally influential eras, but this seems to have heightened within the past few decades. The bombardment the public receives from the media and especially from the advertising end of the media is seen not only in commercials but in product placement in music videos, and movies. Magazines also aid in distributing the advertisements’ ideals as can be seen in repeated simulation on television soap operas, just as much as from fashion magazines, as Hargreaves and Tiggemann state in â€Å"Longer term implications of responsiveness to ‘thin-ideal’: support for a cumulative hypothesis of body image disturbance? , â€Å"Although this evidence appears to support the media’s negative impact on body image, various methodological limitations need to be acknowledged. In particular, the causal direction of correlations between body dissatisfaction and media use remains a challenge. The causal direction is clear in controlled laboratory research†¦One possible link between individual reactive episodes of dissatisfaction in response to specific media images and the development of body image is that enduring attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about bodies and appearances accumulate over time through repeated exposure to ideals of attractiveness in the media† (466). Thus, the level of insecurity is maintained in the public through the barrage of repeated body images through advertisements. In the composition of photography there are many elements which define the medium; line, color, focus, brightness, scenery, shadow, etc. The evolution of fashion photography hinged upon the mass reproduction of images in magazines. In Germany, in the early 20th century, fashion became fully popular and available to the populace through Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung and Munchner Illustrierte Presse . It is in the magazine world that fashion photography began it’s popularity . As soon as fashion hit a mainstream cord with the public, magazines sales soared and thus was born the beginning of the history of fashion photography. There was great demand for magazines; especially fashion. Women and men would see what to wear, how to wear to it, what was in style and the modern world finally had the leisure to pursue the market of clothes as fashion. With this demand installed in the public, it was up to the photographers of the early fashion industry to come up with new ways in which to depict the model, the clothes and entice women and men to dress according to what was portrayed in the photos. This is where composition of the photo is required to ensure new and deliberate methods of fashion portrayal. With the oncoming age of color introduced in photography in the 1930’s and 1940’s as the encyclopedia elaborates, â€Å"Nonetheless, color remained a sidelight in photography until the 1930s because it required considerable patience and expense on the part of both photographer and printer. The dominance of color in terms of reproduction and everyday picture-taking did not begin until 1935, when Kodak started to sell Kodachrome transparency film, and was completed by the introduction of color-print films and Ektachrome films in the 1940s†. With color photography, the realm of the fashion world drastically changed. The limits of black and white and sepia toned magazine covers gave way to brilliant exhibits of color combinations, and a wide range of fabrics that women and men could now see, duplicate, or buy. Fashion photography changed from depicting high-class society women to models in every day clothing. Professional photographers were then counted on to resonant the possibility of how fashion should co-exist with society. With Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar photographers were hired full time to create, in the magazine, a gallery of fabric eye candy dressed on a model with a backdrop. June 1, 1947 Vogue cover. The most notable photographers at the time were pictorialists , Edward Steichen and Englishman Cecil Beaton. The incorporation of art into photography made the photographs more believable as high fashion. Steichen and Beaton glamorized the models with enhanced lighting effects, which lionized the models and made the magazine world believe that fashion through photography was otherworldly. Among new techniques being used, the online encyclopedia states, â€Å"American Edward Steichen and Englishman Cecil Beaton, both one-time pictorialists. These photographers began to use elaborate lighting schemes to achieve the same sort of glamorizing effects being perfected by Clarence Bull as he photographed new starlets in Hollywood, California. Martin Munkacsi initiated a fresh look in fashion photography after Harper’s Bazaar hired him in 1934. He moved the models outdoors, where he photographed them as active, energetic modern women†. So began the movement of high fashion. Martin Munkacsi photograph. In the movement, the use of fashion as advertisement was key in developing a market for fashion photography. It is through marketing advertising, that fashion photographers began to be highlighted, as the encyclopedia states, â€Å"The new approach to photography in the editorial content of magazines was matched by an increasingly sophisticated use of photography in advertisements. Steichen, while also working for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines, became one of the highest-paid photographers of the 1930s through his work for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency†. These photographers, as well as others, helped to make advertising an art form through use of portraying model’s hands in product placement, and altogether catering to ever-widening audience of magazine buyers. Fashion photography changed through the utilization and realization that product sold only through its modeling and photographic depiction.

Analysis of JFK (1991) and Thin Blue Line

Analysis of JFK (1991) and Thin Blue Line Both films, for example, pore over minutae that may or may not be significant (umbrellas opening in JFK, a dropped thickshake in The Thin Blue Line) to draw the viewer ever more deeply into the world of the crime scene. Yet neither film stops at a simple recitation of facts: both look at the States role in events and suggest an explanation for the alleged cover up. In JFK, this is Stones highly controversial suggestion that the CIA and the military-industrial complex had a vested interest in seeing President Kennedy dead because he was shortly to scale down Americas involvement in Vietnam. In The Thin Blue Line, two related theories are suggested for the official insistence on trying Randall Adams: firstly, that David Harris account had the advantage of providing the police with an eye-witness, while if Harris was himself the murderer, no reliable witness existed; and secondly, that Harris could not be tried as an adult, thus robbing the District Attorney of the much-sought death sentence for the murder of a policeman. These theories are communicated through devices commonly associated with fictional narratives, such as a highly evocative musical score (Phillip Glass music for The Thin Blue Line invokes a melancholy sense of helplessness, while John Williams score for JFK has a more urgent tone, suggestive of furtive conspiracies and forces careening out of control). And both counterpoint different modes of filmmaking as they do so, contrasting invented material filmed in a classical Hollywood style with documentary or faux-documentary footage. The similarity in effect of the two films fast-paced juxtaposition of styles is striking, and suggests Stones approach may have been influenced by Morris work. Yet while both films have an over-riding concern with the filmmaker uncovering facts, that might be called the outer narrative, each constructs a contrasting relationship between the narrative and documentary elements within the text. In JFK, Stone uses an interior narrative of Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) investigating the case. While Garrison is essentially a surrogate for the filmmaker, so that the film cannot be considered as the story of Jim Garrison,3 this narrative is provided moments that function simply as character drama with little or no relationship to the larger argument (such as Garrisons arguments and reconciliation with his wife, or a Norman Rockwell moment4 with his children). This, then, is an example of classical Hollywood-style fictional filmmaking. This is then ruptured by the moments of documentary and faux-documentary that expand on Stones argument as it is being expressed by Garrison. This includes what we might call genuine documentary material: the Zapruder film of the assassination and archival photographs (such as of Kennedys autopsy, or the photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the rifle). It also includes a large number of re-enactments, which are very often presented in a simulated documentary style (grainy or black and white film stock, hand-held cameras). This faux-documentary material is often juxtaposed with the genuine documentary material in a manner that blends the two together (the Zapruder footage is matched by staged footage using similar film stock, and the autopsy photographs are intercut with shots of a wax dummy of Kennedy). The Thin Blue Line shares the same outer narrative (filmmaker investigating), but the inner narrative (the story of Randall Adams) is not constructed in a classical Hollywood style. Instead, it is told through one of the standard modes of documentary filmmaking identified by Bill Nichols5: direct address by participants in an interview format (with the interviewer removed through editing). As with Stones film, this inner narrative is supported by evidence, but again the mode of presentation is reversed: the principal method used to support the witnesses testimony is through reconstructions of the crime scene that, while stylized and fragmented, are constructed as a miniature classically constructed narrative. This nesting of different modes might be tabulated as follows: My point, however, is that the films differ in mode, but use mirror-image forms of the same structure. JFK is primarily a fictional film, which employs a documentary style when re-enacting speculated events. The Thin Blue Line is primarily a documentary, but employs a style borrowed from fictional films in its re-enactments. If the two films share so much in common, and slide so fluidly from documentary to fictional modes so quickly, does this suggest the difference in the two forms might be largely cosmetic? Fiction can be used to express truths about the real world, and the documentary is can be used in ways that obscure the truth or construct falsehoods. If the fundamental difference between fiction and non-fiction is taken as the link to the real, and it is shown that documentaries and fictions share similar relationships to the real, then the two forms start to look more alike: not the same, exactly, but similar. JFK and The Thin Blue Line, by this way of thinking, are then only superficially different types of movies. They share the same structure and the fiction versus documentary dichotomy is more like a difference in genre than a fundamental distinction. This is not to invest the superficial crossover of techniques between the two forms with a significance it does not posses. Documentaries are not fictions just because The Blair Witch Project (1999) does such a good job of pretending to be a real document, or even because Rats in the Ranks (1996) works so well as a narrative. Rather, the downplaying of the documentary / fiction division is based upon a deep-seated cynicism about claims to truth in documentary. That there is such reluctance to accept truth at face value in documentary should not be surprising. Early or classic film studies was based largely on arguments about the relationships between film and reality. While this debate is too detailed to fully explore, it is important to touch upon briefly because much writing upon documentary echoes the arguments of these early writers. The direct link to reality might be seen as a defining feature of the documentary, but it was also seen in the first half of the century as one of the defining features of the film medium itself. The cinema appeared to be an even more perfect method for mechanically reproducing reality than the still photographs that preceded it. This added urgency to arguments of aesthetics that centred on whether the role of the artist was to attempt to recreate the real world, or rather to interpret or even transcend the real.6 These arguments were therefore central to classic film theory and resolved into two broad strands of argument that echo the aesthetic positions described. Thus writers such as Siegfried Kraceur and Andre Bazin had approaches that emphasised films role as a mirror to the real. Of more interest to the current discussion, however, are early anti-realists such as Rudolf Arnheim. In his Film as Art, his defence for cinemas status as serious artistic medium (rather than a mechanical process) is built a round a series of explanations of the way in which film differs from the real.7 Three dimensional surfaces are projected on a plane surface. Perception of depth is lost. In the black and white cinema with reference to which Arnheim formulated his thesis, colour is eliminated. Lighting distorts. Editing interrupts the flow of time and creates artistic possibilities through the use of montage. Non-visual stimulus is absent (or, after the coming of sound, limited), and even the visual world is limited by the edge of the screen. This catalogue of distortions is, for Arnheim, the very basis for the creation of aesthetic systems by which films can signify meanings. After establishing the above points, he sets about demonstrating how each of these limitations in depicting the real is used as a method of artistic expression8. Subsequent film theory moved beyond Arnheims formulations, but has tended to take them as a given in the sense that few would still argue that the central project of film is limited to the reproduction or reflection of reality. Given that such formulations are at the foundation of later film theory, it should not be surprising that they were echoed when subsequent theorists turned their minds to issues regarding documentary, and particularly its relation to the real. Noà «l Carroll attributes much of this writing to a backlash against premature claims by proponents of direct cinema that their method of cinema provided unmitigated access to the real.9 These documentarists attempted to avoid the filmmakers intervention and interpretation, reacting to the overt imposition of a viewpoint present in traditional Griersonian forms of documentary. However, as Carroll puts it, [d]irect cinema opened a can of worms and then got eaten by them.10 It was quickly argued that direct cinema was every bit as interpretive as Griersonian documentaries. For the distortions of reality that were identified by Arnheim are equally present in documentary cinema, but with different implications. Instead of being the unambiguously positive means to artistic expression, every limitation of the medium is instead a problematic point of mediation by the filmmaker. The limitations of the film frame, for example, force choices upon even the most non-interventionist direct cinema filmmaker. And with every choice the filmmaker is placing the film at a greater distance from reality. Carroll quotes Eric Barnouw making this point: To be sure, some documentarists claim to be objective a term that seems to renounce an interpretive role. The claim may be strategic, but it is surely meaningless. The documentarist, like any communicator in any medium, makes endless choices. He [sic] selects topics, people, vistas, angles, lens, juxtapositions, sounds, words. Each selection is an expression of his point of view, whether he is aware of it or not, whether he acknowledges it or not. Even behind the first step, selection of a topic, there is a motive It is in selecting and arranging his findings that he expresses himself; these choices are, in effect, comments. And whether he adopts the stance of observer, or chronicler or whatever, he cannot escape his subjectivity. He presents his version of the world.11 Such an argument certainly seems to cast doubt over the potential for objectivity in documentary cinema. Carried to an extreme, it is the presentation of a version of the world rather than the world itself that can be seen as rendering documentary a form of fiction. Either way, the prospects for documentary truth in such a model seem grim indeed. It should be noted that Carroll puts little faith in such an approach to documentary, and his counter-argument will be returned to. Before doing so, however, it is worth noting that more recently, Carroll has drawn the distinction between what he calls the selectivity argument (recited above) and more global postmodern scepticism of claims to truth.12 The latter is based not in the assumptions of classical film studies, but rather the wider discussions about the way any human discourse imposes meaning and structure on real events. For example, historical accounts impose a narrative structure onto events to make them intelligible, and a distinction must be drawn between the real events (which actually occurred) and the account (which lacks an independent historical existence): The states of affairs and events the historian alludes to do have a basis in historical reality, and the historians claims about those states of affairs and events can be literally true or false. But the narratives in which those states of affairs and events figure are inventions, constructions, indeed, fictions. The narrative structure in the historical recounting is not true or false; it is fictional.13 This point of such an observation may seem a little obscure. If the narrative structure imposed in a historical account is considered independently of the statements of historical fact that it is used to explain, then of course it must be considered fictional. If, however, a documentary text is considered in its entirety, then it is open to questioning about the validity of the historians factual claims (including analysis as to whether the narrative structure is an accurate or fair way of interpreting the real events) in a way that fiction is not. Certainly the argument is here being posed by Carroll (albeit following Michael Renov and Hayden White) as a prelude to arguing that it is unsupportable14. However, Carroll also refers to an alternative model for looking at the link between non-fiction and fiction, mounted by Bill Nichols in his book Representing Reality, which is more subtle and worth dealing with directly. Nichols, unlike the other theorists alluded to by Carroll, does not argue that documentaries must be considered fiction. He recognises that the existence of an external, real-world referent is an important distinction that cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. The world of a fiction film is a unique, imaginary domain, but the world of documentary is different: Instead of a world, we are offered access to the world.15 This claim to representation of the real means that documentaries are not simply narratives: they are also argumentative, if only in the sense that they make claims (even if only implicitly) about what is true. They are therefore a fiction (un)like any other.16 However, Nichols remains troubled by these claims to truth. While the documentary is distinguished from fiction by its links to the real, this representation is rendered problematic by the apparent impossibility of rendering truth objectively. Documentaries, while not fiction, share with fiction those very qualities that thoroughly compromise any rigorous objectivity, if they dont make it impossible Objectivity has been under no less siege than realism, and for many of the same reasons. It, too, is a way of representing the world that denies its own processes of construction and their formative effect. Any given standard for objectivity will have embedded political assumptions In documentary, these assumptions might include belief in the self-evident nature of facts, in rhetorical persuasion as a necessary and appropriate part of representation, and in the capacity of the documentary text to affect its audience through its implicit or explicit claim of This is so, isnt it?17 Nichols argument is reminiscent of those strands of theoretical thought that view ideology as an inescapable and all pervasive force. Documentaries do make claims about the truth that are open to evaluation, but unfortunately, according to Nichols, our institutional mechanisms for assessing such claims are themselves suspect. If such an approach is accepted, evaluation of the arguments made by Oliver Stone and Errol Morris might be highly problematic. Carroll, however, is not willing to concede that any of these arguments establish either that non-fiction is a form of fiction, or that objectivity is impossible. Firstly, he argues that the cinema does not posses any unique tendency towards bias compared to other media. The same arguments about selectivity that Barnouw raises with respect to film are equally applicable to other media and fields of enquiry.18 The particular causes of distortion may be different, but any historian for example may select, manipulate, interpret or emphasise aspects of their material just as a documentary maker can. Thus if non-fiction film is said to be subjective due to its selectivity, so must any field of human enquiry, such as history and science. In the earlier of the two articles I have discussed (written in 1983), Carroll is confident that such a wide-ranging scepticism would not be seriously proposed.19 As we have seen, by 1996 that was exactly the argument Carroll was responding to. Nevertheless, in 1983 his defence against the selectivity argument is based upon the notion of objectivity. In any given field of argument, at any given time, there are patterns of reasoning, standards for observation, and methods for assessing evidence which are used for getting to the truth.20 A piece of research is considered objective insofar as it abides by these norms. Likewise, non-fiction films may be assessed against similar codes, and will be considered biased or subjective if they fail to meet them. That selectivity may make bias possible, or even likely, does not preclude the possibility of a film according with established standards of objectivity. The obvious differences between the real world and the filmed presentation prevent film from substituting for lived experience, but they do not prevent documentaries from being objective. This central assumption of this argument that there are standards of objectivity that can be used to judge the truth is exactly the assumption that we have seen Bill Nichols question. Carroll, however, disputes all of Nichols contentions that are cited above. Firstly, he does not accept that objectivity demands that a film call attention to its processes of construction. After all, the fact that a non-fiction film is constructed is understood by any audience and does not need to be spelt out. Self-reflexive analyses of the filmmaking process or the authors own subjectivity might be a feature of many recent documentaries, but for Carrol this is an artistic device, rather than a necessary benchmark for objectivity. Nor does he accept that any standard for objectivity has embedded political assumptions, even accepting Nichols very broad definitions (outlined above) of what constitutes a political assumption. A belief in the self-evident nature of facts, for example, might be a political assumption when the facts being presented are politically charged falsehoods. Yet the acceptance that some claims of self-evident truth are suspect does not mean that there can be no self-evident facts. With regards to rhetorical persuasion, he argues that films can either eschew such devices altogether (he cites nature documentaries as an example),21 or employ rhetorical structures in the service of objective discourse. Similarly, he regards the implicit claim that this is so, isnt it as present in virtually any assertion and hence neither a political assumption nor a barrier to objectivity. Carrolls approach to these arguments about the prospects for truth or objectivity in documentary is often to return to examples where the truth claimed by the documentary seems clear and uncontentious (as with his common use of nature documentaries as discussion points). The linking thread of the arguments he presents is that the theorists he criticises have mistaken the difficulty in presenting objective truth for an impossibility, often by focussing on exactly the texts where the truth is most problematic.22 It is worth returning to The Thin Blue Line and JFK at this point, since these films both explore events that are subject to considerable conjecture. Neither could be accused of assuming the truth about these events is self-evident (quite the opposite), yet both nevertheless ultimately make vital factual claims. As noted already, these claims question state-sanctioned verdicts, and both films led to a public discussion that forced official re-examination of the cases: The Thin Blue Line forced the retrial of Randall Adams, while JFK contributed to the passing of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which appointed an Assassination Records Review Board (AARB) to re-examine unreleased information about the assassination.23 More than a decade later, with Randall Adams freed from jail, it seems fair to say that Morris case has been widely accepted as true. Oliver Stone, too, has been partially vindicated by subsequent re-examination of the case, with records released by the AARB that support some of his allegations (such as tampering with records of Kennedys autopsy).24 Yet, despite such small victories, and acceptance by many filmgoers of Stones theory of the assassination, JFK remains subject to fierce scholarly criticism of both its methods and conclusions that stands in contrast to the reception of The Thin Blue Line. Linda Williams, in her discussion of the two films, dismisses JFK as paranoid fiction,25 and the widespread condemnation of Stones film by both popular and academic press is well documented.26 Clearly this has much to do with the nature of the case Stone discusses. The Kennedy assassination, for obvious reasons, is a much more familiar event and one that had been the subject of considerably more public discussion than the Randall Adams prosecution. Furthermore, while The Thin Blue Line avoids underlining the political implications of its own conclusions, JFK is explicitly critical of the government and media, calling the assassination a coup detat and coming very close to suggesting former president Lyndon Johnson was involved.27 However, the difference in the reception of the two films cannot be explained simply through reference to the argument each presents. Within the very similar structures outlined at the start of this essay, there are also crucial differences that also explain much of the negative response to Stones film compared to Morris. In his consideration of JFK, Robert Rosenstone notes that there are considerable constraints over the depiction of historical events on the screen.28 In particular, he sees the need to invent detail and compress events to shape a narrative as a limitation that must be negotiated by any historical film. While he is referring to narrative features such as JFK, his argument is equally applicable to the summaries of and suppositions regarding events in The Thin Blue Line. This argument has clear overtones of the discussions of documentaries distortions of truth through selectivity that have already been cited. Like Carroll, Rosenstone argues that when a historical filmmaker such as Stone invents or compresses events, he or she is exercising the same type of discretion that the author of any written history must.29 Such inventions can be considered true (at least to a point) in the sense that they can be verified, documented, or reasonably argued. The problem, notes Rosenstone, is that the verification must occur outside the world of the film. When Stone argues in JFK that President Kennedy was about to withdraw troops from Vietnam, the information is justified by reference to a real memorandum (National Security Action Memo 263), but a fictitious character makes the reference. Assuming no foreknowledge of the case, the audience has no way while watching the film of even knowing that the memorandum really existed, let alone being sure that it supports the conclusion Stone draws. If Stones conclusion is to be examined, the audience must go beyond viewing and read the relevant documents (or scholarly discussion of them) for themselves. If they do so, they will, as Rosenstone states, be undertaking the same kind of critique and review that a work of written history is subjected to. This process of measuring a film against standards of objectivity is exactly that which Carroll highlights as the means of linking non-fiction films to the truth. Stone has actively sought to enter into such debates, mounting extensive defences of the historical accuracy of JFK and his other works.30 That JFK was so controversial was perhaps partly due to the fact that audiences do not necessarily judge films within such evaluative frameworks: unlike the target audience for written history, they may assume that what they see is true and not enter into the debates as to the films veracity. Even assuming an engaged, sceptical audience, however, it is also the case that Stones film does not make the separation of truth from fiction a straightforward task. I have already suggested that the film possesses three layers of exposition: an outer narrative (Stones case), an inner narrative (Garrisons story), and evidence (presented as documentary material and re-enactments). The inner narrative story of Jim Garrison (which is likely to be understood by most audiences as at least partially fictional and not taken as literally true) is often weaved seamlessly in with the evidence (more likely to be seen as Stones presentation of true material). Garrison, for example, meets the mysterious Mr X (Donald Sutherland) in Washington, who outlines a hypothesis about who killed Kennedy and why. This calls forth a series of re-enactments of high level discussions between officials that are weaved into Mr Xs account. The narrative is calling forth evidence, but the difficulty with this sequence is in separating what material is a fictional narrative device, what is speculated, and what is documented truth. For example, are we to accept that Garrison really did meet an anonymous official who told him this information, and take that as evidence that Stones case is true? Or are we to take this as simply part of the inner narrative, a method of presenting evidence? As mentioned, Mr X talks in detail of a real memorandum in order to put Stones case that Kennedy wished to withdraw from Vietnam. An audience might correctly surmise that the existence of such a memo (putting aside its meaning) is a documented fact. However, this quickly leads into discussions of the reaction to this memo within high levels of the government, and the point at which history slides into speculation in this sequence is by no means readily apparent. The re-enactment portions of the sequence are presented in a stylised style using black and white photography, but this does not flag them as conjectural, since Stone switches between film stocks throughout the film without drawing such distinctions. (Elsewhere in the film, for example, the Zapruder film of the assassination, is alternated with simulated footage shot in the same style.) The effect of these aesthetic decisions by Stone is to confuse the boundaries between non-fiction and fiction in a way that makes application of objective standards for assessing truth difficult. The audience can only infer which sections of the film are intended to be read as non-fiction and subject to such examination. Written in October 2001 for the Melbourne University subject Ethnographic and Documentary Cinema. Notes 1. This is the concluding sentence of Eric Barnouw, Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film, (Oxford University Press, New York Oxford, 1993, 2nd Revised Edition), p. 349. 2. The list of similarities between the two films that follows draws partly on Linda Williams, Mirrors without Memories: Truth, History and The Thin Blue Line in Barry Keith Grant Jeanette Sloniowski (eds), Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video (Wayne State UP, Detroit, 1998), p 381. 3. The films Garrison, for example, has access to information the real Garrison did not, in order to allow Stone to communicate it to audiences. For example, In the movie we attributed to Garrison the information about Shaws background but in real life Jim did not have access to that information at that time. (Oliver Stone audio commentary, JFK DVD, Region 4 Special Edition Directors Cut release, Warner Brothers, 1 hour 28 mins approx.) 4. This phrase is Stones own: JFK audio commentary, op. cit., 2 hours 10 mins approx. While these scenes are also used to communicate information about the larger case, this is an example of narrative efficiency, and does not contradict my point that they do contain aspects (such as the melodromatic touch of Garrisons children asking Dont you love us any more?) which function simply as domestic drama, with no relation to the case against Clay Shaw. 5. Nichols has revisited and slightly reformulated these modes over time, but they can be summarised as expository (ie voice-of-God documentaries that use direct address to tell the audience a truth), observational (cinema verite style films that aim to observe events without participating), interactive (interview based films that allows for direct address by participants, while allowing for filmmakers interaction through questioning), reflexive (films that draw attention to the documentarys own methods), and performative (stressing an individual, subjective position, while downplaying objective or referential aspects). See Bill Nichols: The Voice of Documentary, Film Quarterly 36, no 3 (Spring 1983); Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary (1991, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis), Chapter 2; and (for the perfomative mode) Performing Documentary, Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture (c. 1994, Indiana UP, Bloomington), pp 92-106. 6. This point and the subsequent discussion of classical film theory draw on the discussions in the anthologies Gerald Mast et al. (eds.), Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, (Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1992), pp. 3-7, and Antony Easthorpe, Contemporary Film Theory (Longman, London New York, 1993), pp. 2-5. 7. Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Faber Faber, London, 1958), esp. pp. 17-37. 8. Ibid., p. 37-114. 9. Noà «l Carroll, From Real to Reel: Entangled in Nonfiction film, in Noà «l Carroll, Theorizing the Moving Image (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996), p. 224-252. (Originally published in Philosophic Exchange in 1983, and will be cited in future as Carroll (1996/1983) to distinguish it from his piece in Post-Theory cited below). Reference to direct cinema is p. 225. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid., p. 226. Carroll is quoting from the first edition of Barnouws Documentary, citing p. 287-288 of that edition (Oxford University Press, New York, 1974). The nearest equivalent to this quote I can find in the third edition (op. cit.) is at p. 344. 12. Noà «l Carroll, Nonfiction films and Postmodernist Skepticism in Noà «l Carrol David Bordwell (eds.), Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies, (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1996), pp. 283-306. 13. Ibid., p. 288. Emphasis is Carrolls. 14. Carroll is frequently belligerent about the texts he discusses but is particularly so about Renovs Theorizing Documentary, describing it as a state of the art compendium of received thinking about the documentary film, and dismissing Renovs argument as a red herring. Ibid., p. 285 291. 15. Both quotes Nichols, 1991, op. cit., p. 109. Emphasis is Nichols. 16. This is the title of the second part of Nichols book. How helpful this argumentative nature is as a distinction between fiction and documentary (and how unlike any other form of fiction documentary can be said to be) is debatable given that fiction can be every bit as argumentative as documentary (as JFK demonstrates). 17. Ibid., p. 195. 18. Carroll (1996/1983), op. cit., p. 226. 19. Carroll: I mention this because I do not think that commentators who conclude that the nonfiction film is subjective intend their remarks as a mere gloss on the notion that everything is subjective. But that, I fear, is the untoward implication of their attack. Ibid., p. 226. 20. Ibid., p. 230. See also Carroll, 1996, op. cit. pp. 283-285. 21. Carroll, 1996, p. 294. 22. See, for example, Ibid., p. 293, regarding film scholars focus on art-documentary. 23. Michael L. Kurtz, Oliver Stone, JFK, and History, in Robert Brent Toplin (ed), Oliver Analysis of JFK (1991) and Thin Blue Line Analysis of JFK (1991) and Thin Blue Line Both films, for example, pore over minutae that may or may not be significant (umbrellas opening in JFK, a dropped thickshake in The Thin Blue Line) to draw the viewer ever more deeply into the world of the crime scene. Yet neither film stops at a simple recitation of facts: both look at the States role in events and suggest an explanation for the alleged cover up. In JFK, this is Stones highly controversial suggestion that the CIA and the military-industrial complex had a vested interest in seeing President Kennedy dead because he was shortly to scale down Americas involvement in Vietnam. In The Thin Blue Line, two related theories are suggested for the official insistence on trying Randall Adams: firstly, that David Harris account had the advantage of providing the police with an eye-witness, while if Harris was himself the murderer, no reliable witness existed; and secondly, that Harris could not be tried as an adult, thus robbing the District Attorney of the much-sought death sentence for the murder of a policeman. These theories are communicated through devices commonly associated with fictional narratives, such as a highly evocative musical score (Phillip Glass music for The Thin Blue Line invokes a melancholy sense of helplessness, while John Williams score for JFK has a more urgent tone, suggestive of furtive conspiracies and forces careening out of control). And both counterpoint different modes of filmmaking as they do so, contrasting invented material filmed in a classical Hollywood style with documentary or faux-documentary footage. The similarity in effect of the two films fast-paced juxtaposition of styles is striking, and suggests Stones approach may have been influenced by Morris work. Yet while both films have an over-riding concern with the filmmaker uncovering facts, that might be called the outer narrative, each constructs a contrasting relationship between the narrative and documentary elements within the text. In JFK, Stone uses an interior narrative of Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) investigating the case. While Garrison is essentially a surrogate for the filmmaker, so that the film cannot be considered as the story of Jim Garrison,3 this narrative is provided moments that function simply as character drama with little or no relationship to the larger argument (such as Garrisons arguments and reconciliation with his wife, or a Norman Rockwell moment4 with his children). This, then, is an example of classical Hollywood-style fictional filmmaking. This is then ruptured by the moments of documentary and faux-documentary that expand on Stones argument as it is being expressed by Garrison. This includes what we might call genuine documentary material: the Zapruder film of the assassination and archival photographs (such as of Kennedys autopsy, or the photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the rifle). It also includes a large number of re-enactments, which are very often presented in a simulated documentary style (grainy or black and white film stock, hand-held cameras). This faux-documentary material is often juxtaposed with the genuine documentary material in a manner that blends the two together (the Zapruder footage is matched by staged footage using similar film stock, and the autopsy photographs are intercut with shots of a wax dummy of Kennedy). The Thin Blue Line shares the same outer narrative (filmmaker investigating), but the inner narrative (the story of Randall Adams) is not constructed in a classical Hollywood style. Instead, it is told through one of the standard modes of documentary filmmaking identified by Bill Nichols5: direct address by participants in an interview format (with the interviewer removed through editing). As with Stones film, this inner narrative is supported by evidence, but again the mode of presentation is reversed: the principal method used to support the witnesses testimony is through reconstructions of the crime scene that, while stylized and fragmented, are constructed as a miniature classically constructed narrative. This nesting of different modes might be tabulated as follows: My point, however, is that the films differ in mode, but use mirror-image forms of the same structure. JFK is primarily a fictional film, which employs a documentary style when re-enacting speculated events. The Thin Blue Line is primarily a documentary, but employs a style borrowed from fictional films in its re-enactments. If the two films share so much in common, and slide so fluidly from documentary to fictional modes so quickly, does this suggest the difference in the two forms might be largely cosmetic? Fiction can be used to express truths about the real world, and the documentary is can be used in ways that obscure the truth or construct falsehoods. If the fundamental difference between fiction and non-fiction is taken as the link to the real, and it is shown that documentaries and fictions share similar relationships to the real, then the two forms start to look more alike: not the same, exactly, but similar. JFK and The Thin Blue Line, by this way of thinking, are then only superficially different types of movies. They share the same structure and the fiction versus documentary dichotomy is more like a difference in genre than a fundamental distinction. This is not to invest the superficial crossover of techniques between the two forms with a significance it does not posses. Documentaries are not fictions just because The Blair Witch Project (1999) does such a good job of pretending to be a real document, or even because Rats in the Ranks (1996) works so well as a narrative. Rather, the downplaying of the documentary / fiction division is based upon a deep-seated cynicism about claims to truth in documentary. That there is such reluctance to accept truth at face value in documentary should not be surprising. Early or classic film studies was based largely on arguments about the relationships between film and reality. While this debate is too detailed to fully explore, it is important to touch upon briefly because much writing upon documentary echoes the arguments of these early writers. The direct link to reality might be seen as a defining feature of the documentary, but it was also seen in the first half of the century as one of the defining features of the film medium itself. The cinema appeared to be an even more perfect method for mechanically reproducing reality than the still photographs that preceded it. This added urgency to arguments of aesthetics that centred on whether the role of the artist was to attempt to recreate the real world, or rather to interpret or even transcend the real.6 These arguments were therefore central to classic film theory and resolved into two broad strands of argument that echo the aesthetic positions described. Thus writers such as Siegfried Kraceur and Andre Bazin had approaches that emphasised films role as a mirror to the real. Of more interest to the current discussion, however, are early anti-realists such as Rudolf Arnheim. In his Film as Art, his defence for cinemas status as serious artistic medium (rather than a mechanical process) is built a round a series of explanations of the way in which film differs from the real.7 Three dimensional surfaces are projected on a plane surface. Perception of depth is lost. In the black and white cinema with reference to which Arnheim formulated his thesis, colour is eliminated. Lighting distorts. Editing interrupts the flow of time and creates artistic possibilities through the use of montage. Non-visual stimulus is absent (or, after the coming of sound, limited), and even the visual world is limited by the edge of the screen. This catalogue of distortions is, for Arnheim, the very basis for the creation of aesthetic systems by which films can signify meanings. After establishing the above points, he sets about demonstrating how each of these limitations in depicting the real is used as a method of artistic expression8. Subsequent film theory moved beyond Arnheims formulations, but has tended to take them as a given in the sense that few would still argue that the central project of film is limited to the reproduction or reflection of reality. Given that such formulations are at the foundation of later film theory, it should not be surprising that they were echoed when subsequent theorists turned their minds to issues regarding documentary, and particularly its relation to the real. Noà «l Carroll attributes much of this writing to a backlash against premature claims by proponents of direct cinema that their method of cinema provided unmitigated access to the real.9 These documentarists attempted to avoid the filmmakers intervention and interpretation, reacting to the overt imposition of a viewpoint present in traditional Griersonian forms of documentary. However, as Carroll puts it, [d]irect cinema opened a can of worms and then got eaten by them.10 It was quickly argued that direct cinema was every bit as interpretive as Griersonian documentaries. For the distortions of reality that were identified by Arnheim are equally present in documentary cinema, but with different implications. Instead of being the unambiguously positive means to artistic expression, every limitation of the medium is instead a problematic point of mediation by the filmmaker. The limitations of the film frame, for example, force choices upon even the most non-interventionist direct cinema filmmaker. And with every choice the filmmaker is placing the film at a greater distance from reality. Carroll quotes Eric Barnouw making this point: To be sure, some documentarists claim to be objective a term that seems to renounce an interpretive role. The claim may be strategic, but it is surely meaningless. The documentarist, like any communicator in any medium, makes endless choices. He [sic] selects topics, people, vistas, angles, lens, juxtapositions, sounds, words. Each selection is an expression of his point of view, whether he is aware of it or not, whether he acknowledges it or not. Even behind the first step, selection of a topic, there is a motive It is in selecting and arranging his findings that he expresses himself; these choices are, in effect, comments. And whether he adopts the stance of observer, or chronicler or whatever, he cannot escape his subjectivity. He presents his version of the world.11 Such an argument certainly seems to cast doubt over the potential for objectivity in documentary cinema. Carried to an extreme, it is the presentation of a version of the world rather than the world itself that can be seen as rendering documentary a form of fiction. Either way, the prospects for documentary truth in such a model seem grim indeed. It should be noted that Carroll puts little faith in such an approach to documentary, and his counter-argument will be returned to. Before doing so, however, it is worth noting that more recently, Carroll has drawn the distinction between what he calls the selectivity argument (recited above) and more global postmodern scepticism of claims to truth.12 The latter is based not in the assumptions of classical film studies, but rather the wider discussions about the way any human discourse imposes meaning and structure on real events. For example, historical accounts impose a narrative structure onto events to make them intelligible, and a distinction must be drawn between the real events (which actually occurred) and the account (which lacks an independent historical existence): The states of affairs and events the historian alludes to do have a basis in historical reality, and the historians claims about those states of affairs and events can be literally true or false. But the narratives in which those states of affairs and events figure are inventions, constructions, indeed, fictions. The narrative structure in the historical recounting is not true or false; it is fictional.13 This point of such an observation may seem a little obscure. If the narrative structure imposed in a historical account is considered independently of the statements of historical fact that it is used to explain, then of course it must be considered fictional. If, however, a documentary text is considered in its entirety, then it is open to questioning about the validity of the historians factual claims (including analysis as to whether the narrative structure is an accurate or fair way of interpreting the real events) in a way that fiction is not. Certainly the argument is here being posed by Carroll (albeit following Michael Renov and Hayden White) as a prelude to arguing that it is unsupportable14. However, Carroll also refers to an alternative model for looking at the link between non-fiction and fiction, mounted by Bill Nichols in his book Representing Reality, which is more subtle and worth dealing with directly. Nichols, unlike the other theorists alluded to by Carroll, does not argue that documentaries must be considered fiction. He recognises that the existence of an external, real-world referent is an important distinction that cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. The world of a fiction film is a unique, imaginary domain, but the world of documentary is different: Instead of a world, we are offered access to the world.15 This claim to representation of the real means that documentaries are not simply narratives: they are also argumentative, if only in the sense that they make claims (even if only implicitly) about what is true. They are therefore a fiction (un)like any other.16 However, Nichols remains troubled by these claims to truth. While the documentary is distinguished from fiction by its links to the real, this representation is rendered problematic by the apparent impossibility of rendering truth objectively. Documentaries, while not fiction, share with fiction those very qualities that thoroughly compromise any rigorous objectivity, if they dont make it impossible Objectivity has been under no less siege than realism, and for many of the same reasons. It, too, is a way of representing the world that denies its own processes of construction and their formative effect. Any given standard for objectivity will have embedded political assumptions In documentary, these assumptions might include belief in the self-evident nature of facts, in rhetorical persuasion as a necessary and appropriate part of representation, and in the capacity of the documentary text to affect its audience through its implicit or explicit claim of This is so, isnt it?17 Nichols argument is reminiscent of those strands of theoretical thought that view ideology as an inescapable and all pervasive force. Documentaries do make claims about the truth that are open to evaluation, but unfortunately, according to Nichols, our institutional mechanisms for assessing such claims are themselves suspect. If such an approach is accepted, evaluation of the arguments made by Oliver Stone and Errol Morris might be highly problematic. Carroll, however, is not willing to concede that any of these arguments establish either that non-fiction is a form of fiction, or that objectivity is impossible. Firstly, he argues that the cinema does not posses any unique tendency towards bias compared to other media. The same arguments about selectivity that Barnouw raises with respect to film are equally applicable to other media and fields of enquiry.18 The particular causes of distortion may be different, but any historian for example may select, manipulate, interpret or emphasise aspects of their material just as a documentary maker can. Thus if non-fiction film is said to be subjective due to its selectivity, so must any field of human enquiry, such as history and science. In the earlier of the two articles I have discussed (written in 1983), Carroll is confident that such a wide-ranging scepticism would not be seriously proposed.19 As we have seen, by 1996 that was exactly the argument Carroll was responding to. Nevertheless, in 1983 his defence against the selectivity argument is based upon the notion of objectivity. In any given field of argument, at any given time, there are patterns of reasoning, standards for observation, and methods for assessing evidence which are used for getting to the truth.20 A piece of research is considered objective insofar as it abides by these norms. Likewise, non-fiction films may be assessed against similar codes, and will be considered biased or subjective if they fail to meet them. That selectivity may make bias possible, or even likely, does not preclude the possibility of a film according with established standards of objectivity. The obvious differences between the real world and the filmed presentation prevent film from substituting for lived experience, but they do not prevent documentaries from being objective. This central assumption of this argument that there are standards of objectivity that can be used to judge the truth is exactly the assumption that we have seen Bill Nichols question. Carroll, however, disputes all of Nichols contentions that are cited above. Firstly, he does not accept that objectivity demands that a film call attention to its processes of construction. After all, the fact that a non-fiction film is constructed is understood by any audience and does not need to be spelt out. Self-reflexive analyses of the filmmaking process or the authors own subjectivity might be a feature of many recent documentaries, but for Carrol this is an artistic device, rather than a necessary benchmark for objectivity. Nor does he accept that any standard for objectivity has embedded political assumptions, even accepting Nichols very broad definitions (outlined above) of what constitutes a political assumption. A belief in the self-evident nature of facts, for example, might be a political assumption when the facts being presented are politically charged falsehoods. Yet the acceptance that some claims of self-evident truth are suspect does not mean that there can be no self-evident facts. With regards to rhetorical persuasion, he argues that films can either eschew such devices altogether (he cites nature documentaries as an example),21 or employ rhetorical structures in the service of objective discourse. Similarly, he regards the implicit claim that this is so, isnt it as present in virtually any assertion and hence neither a political assumption nor a barrier to objectivity. Carrolls approach to these arguments about the prospects for truth or objectivity in documentary is often to return to examples where the truth claimed by the documentary seems clear and uncontentious (as with his common use of nature documentaries as discussion points). The linking thread of the arguments he presents is that the theorists he criticises have mistaken the difficulty in presenting objective truth for an impossibility, often by focussing on exactly the texts where the truth is most problematic.22 It is worth returning to The Thin Blue Line and JFK at this point, since these films both explore events that are subject to considerable conjecture. Neither could be accused of assuming the truth about these events is self-evident (quite the opposite), yet both nevertheless ultimately make vital factual claims. As noted already, these claims question state-sanctioned verdicts, and both films led to a public discussion that forced official re-examination of the cases: The Thin Blue Line forced the retrial of Randall Adams, while JFK contributed to the passing of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which appointed an Assassination Records Review Board (AARB) to re-examine unreleased information about the assassination.23 More than a decade later, with Randall Adams freed from jail, it seems fair to say that Morris case has been widely accepted as true. Oliver Stone, too, has been partially vindicated by subsequent re-examination of the case, with records released by the AARB that support some of his allegations (such as tampering with records of Kennedys autopsy).24 Yet, despite such small victories, and acceptance by many filmgoers of Stones theory of the assassination, JFK remains subject to fierce scholarly criticism of both its methods and conclusions that stands in contrast to the reception of The Thin Blue Line. Linda Williams, in her discussion of the two films, dismisses JFK as paranoid fiction,25 and the widespread condemnation of Stones film by both popular and academic press is well documented.26 Clearly this has much to do with the nature of the case Stone discusses. The Kennedy assassination, for obvious reasons, is a much more familiar event and one that had been the subject of considerably more public discussion than the Randall Adams prosecution. Furthermore, while The Thin Blue Line avoids underlining the political implications of its own conclusions, JFK is explicitly critical of the government and media, calling the assassination a coup detat and coming very close to suggesting former president Lyndon Johnson was involved.27 However, the difference in the reception of the two films cannot be explained simply through reference to the argument each presents. Within the very similar structures outlined at the start of this essay, there are also crucial differences that also explain much of the negative response to Stones film compared to Morris. In his consideration of JFK, Robert Rosenstone notes that there are considerable constraints over the depiction of historical events on the screen.28 In particular, he sees the need to invent detail and compress events to shape a narrative as a limitation that must be negotiated by any historical film. While he is referring to narrative features such as JFK, his argument is equally applicable to the summaries of and suppositions regarding events in The Thin Blue Line. This argument has clear overtones of the discussions of documentaries distortions of truth through selectivity that have already been cited. Like Carroll, Rosenstone argues that when a historical filmmaker such as Stone invents or compresses events, he or she is exercising the same type of discretion that the author of any written history must.29 Such inventions can be considered true (at least to a point) in the sense that they can be verified, documented, or reasonably argued. The problem, notes Rosenstone, is that the verification must occur outside the world of the film. When Stone argues in JFK that President Kennedy was about to withdraw troops from Vietnam, the information is justified by reference to a real memorandum (National Security Action Memo 263), but a fictitious character makes the reference. Assuming no foreknowledge of the case, the audience has no way while watching the film of even knowing that the memorandum really existed, let alone being sure that it supports the conclusion Stone draws. If Stones conclusion is to be examined, the audience must go beyond viewing and read the relevant documents (or scholarly discussion of them) for themselves. If they do so, they will, as Rosenstone states, be undertaking the same kind of critique and review that a work of written history is subjected to. This process of measuring a film against standards of objectivity is exactly that which Carroll highlights as the means of linking non-fiction films to the truth. Stone has actively sought to enter into such debates, mounting extensive defences of the historical accuracy of JFK and his other works.30 That JFK was so controversial was perhaps partly due to the fact that audiences do not necessarily judge films within such evaluative frameworks: unlike the target audience for written history, they may assume that what they see is true and not enter into the debates as to the films veracity. Even assuming an engaged, sceptical audience, however, it is also the case that Stones film does not make the separation of truth from fiction a straightforward task. I have already suggested that the film possesses three layers of exposition: an outer narrative (Stones case), an inner narrative (Garrisons story), and evidence (presented as documentary material and re-enactments). The inner narrative story of Jim Garrison (which is likely to be understood by most audiences as at least partially fictional and not taken as literally true) is often weaved seamlessly in with the evidence (more likely to be seen as Stones presentation of true material). Garrison, for example, meets the mysterious Mr X (Donald Sutherland) in Washington, who outlines a hypothesis about who killed Kennedy and why. This calls forth a series of re-enactments of high level discussions between officials that are weaved into Mr Xs account. The narrative is calling forth evidence, but the difficulty with this sequence is in separating what material is a fictional narrative device, what is speculated, and what is documented truth. For example, are we to accept that Garrison really did meet an anonymous official who told him this information, and take that as evidence that Stones case is true? Or are we to take this as simply part of the inner narrative, a method of presenting evidence? As mentioned, Mr X talks in detail of a real memorandum in order to put Stones case that Kennedy wished to withdraw from Vietnam. An audience might correctly surmise that the existence of such a memo (putting aside its meaning) is a documented fact. However, this quickly leads into discussions of the reaction to this memo within high levels of the government, and the point at which history slides into speculation in this sequence is by no means readily apparent. The re-enactment portions of the sequence are presented in a stylised style using black and white photography, but this does not flag them as conjectural, since Stone switches between film stocks throughout the film without drawing such distinctions. (Elsewhere in the film, for example, the Zapruder film of the assassination, is alternated with simulated footage shot in the same style.) The effect of these aesthetic decisions by Stone is to confuse the boundaries between non-fiction and fiction in a way that makes application of objective standards for assessing truth difficult. The audience can only infer which sections of the film are intended to be read as non-fiction and subject to such examination. Written in October 2001 for the Melbourne University subject Ethnographic and Documentary Cinema. Notes 1. This is the concluding sentence of Eric Barnouw, Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film, (Oxford University Press, New York Oxford, 1993, 2nd Revised Edition), p. 349. 2. The list of similarities between the two films that follows draws partly on Linda Williams, Mirrors without Memories: Truth, History and The Thin Blue Line in Barry Keith Grant Jeanette Sloniowski (eds), Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video (Wayne State UP, Detroit, 1998), p 381. 3. The films Garrison, for example, has access to information the real Garrison did not, in order to allow Stone to communicate it to audiences. For example, In the movie we attributed to Garrison the information about Shaws background but in real life Jim did not have access to that information at that time. (Oliver Stone audio commentary, JFK DVD, Region 4 Special Edition Directors Cut release, Warner Brothers, 1 hour 28 mins approx.) 4. This phrase is Stones own: JFK audio commentary, op. cit., 2 hours 10 mins approx. While these scenes are also used to communicate information about the larger case, this is an example of narrative efficiency, and does not contradict my point that they do contain aspects (such as the melodromatic touch of Garrisons children asking Dont you love us any more?) which function simply as domestic drama, with no relation to the case against Clay Shaw. 5. Nichols has revisited and slightly reformulated these modes over time, but they can be summarised as expository (ie voice-of-God documentaries that use direct address to tell the audience a truth), observational (cinema verite style films that aim to observe events without participating), interactive (interview based films that allows for direct address by participants, while allowing for filmmakers interaction through questioning), reflexive (films that draw attention to the documentarys own methods), and performative (stressing an individual, subjective position, while downplaying objective or referential aspects). See Bill Nichols: The Voice of Documentary, Film Quarterly 36, no 3 (Spring 1983); Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary (1991, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis), Chapter 2; and (for the perfomative mode) Performing Documentary, Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture (c. 1994, Indiana UP, Bloomington), pp 92-106. 6. This point and the subsequent discussion of classical film theory draw on the discussions in the anthologies Gerald Mast et al. (eds.), Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, (Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1992), pp. 3-7, and Antony Easthorpe, Contemporary Film Theory (Longman, London New York, 1993), pp. 2-5. 7. Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Faber Faber, London, 1958), esp. pp. 17-37. 8. Ibid., p. 37-114. 9. Noà «l Carroll, From Real to Reel: Entangled in Nonfiction film, in Noà «l Carroll, Theorizing the Moving Image (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996), p. 224-252. (Originally published in Philosophic Exchange in 1983, and will be cited in future as Carroll (1996/1983) to distinguish it from his piece in Post-Theory cited below). Reference to direct cinema is p. 225. 10. Ibid. 11. Ibid., p. 226. Carroll is quoting from the first edition of Barnouws Documentary, citing p. 287-288 of that edition (Oxford University Press, New York, 1974). The nearest equivalent to this quote I can find in the third edition (op. cit.) is at p. 344. 12. Noà «l Carroll, Nonfiction films and Postmodernist Skepticism in Noà «l Carrol David Bordwell (eds.), Post-Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies, (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1996), pp. 283-306. 13. Ibid., p. 288. Emphasis is Carrolls. 14. Carroll is frequently belligerent about the texts he discusses but is particularly so about Renovs Theorizing Documentary, describing it as a state of the art compendium of received thinking about the documentary film, and dismissing Renovs argument as a red herring. Ibid., p. 285 291. 15. Both quotes Nichols, 1991, op. cit., p. 109. Emphasis is Nichols. 16. This is the title of the second part of Nichols book. How helpful this argumentative nature is as a distinction between fiction and documentary (and how unlike any other form of fiction documentary can be said to be) is debatable given that fiction can be every bit as argumentative as documentary (as JFK demonstrates). 17. Ibid., p. 195. 18. Carroll (1996/1983), op. cit., p. 226. 19. Carroll: I mention this because I do not think that commentators who conclude that the nonfiction film is subjective intend their remarks as a mere gloss on the notion that everything is subjective. But that, I fear, is the untoward implication of their attack. Ibid., p. 226. 20. Ibid., p. 230. See also Carroll, 1996, op. cit. pp. 283-285. 21. Carroll, 1996, p. 294. 22. See, for example, Ibid., p. 293, regarding film scholars focus on art-documentary. 23. Michael L. Kurtz, Oliver Stone, JFK, and History, in Robert Brent Toplin (ed), Oliver