Visual Thinking Strategies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Visual Thinking Strategies - Research Paper Example As I scanned my badge in, I turned to their teacher and politely asked, â€Å"Is this your first educational trip to the MFA, are you here to see the new Linde wing?† â€Å"No,† she replied, â€Å"we’re here for a VTS tour.† â€Å"That is wonderful,† I exclaimed. After pausing, I politely stated, â€Å"I am just about to write a paper on VTS, would you mind telling me where you are from?† Kindly responding, the teacher stated, â€Å"We are a social studies class from the Boston public school system, and we have a partnership with the MFA. This is our last lesson of the curriculum and it ends with a VTS tour at the Museum.† In my opinion, teachers in all subject areas find themselves with the challenge of bringing that subject to life for their students, especially students who struggle to grasp the concepts of the course. Constantly trying new strategies and educational techniques, the best teachers try to reach those students in an unconventional way. In this case, I presume the social studies teacher turned to Suzi Fonda, Manager of Teacher Programs and School Partnerships at the MFA, to help her students draw connections between the content studied in the classroom and the collection of American Art currently displayed at the MFA. Since the culture and environment of the museums considerably differs from those prevalent in the classrooms, educators frequently wonder whether the productive techniques used by the museum educators are applicable in the environment of the classroom. In this paper, I will examine the productivity of Visual Thinking, and its connection to the classroom. Upon providing an in-depth look at VTS itself as a teaching tool, I will then examine further the applicability of the technique to the school classroom, more specifically within the social studies curricula, and evaluate its results and make recommendations if any as to how it may be improved. In particular, I will utilize class readings, discussions, case studies, and museum curricula, and I will transfer these experiences into my evaluation. Finally, I will conduct interviews with two Directors of Education, both of whom are involved in the VTS implementation at their art museums, and I will discuss their concerns, results and issues of the program. Curriculum In a typical VTS lesson, students look carefully at a work of art, and talk about what they observe. This method uses art to build the capacity to observe, think, listen and communicate. The guiding principle is that self-discovery is a powerful way to learn, and that such self-directed learning is stimulated by discussion amongst peers.1 Th e curriculum of VTS is fundamentally based on the discussion held among the students. The role of a teacher in it is that of a facilitator of discussion among the students. There are three basic questions that the facilitator uses in order to guide the students towards the path of conducting the discussion among themselves. These three questions include; â€Å"What is going on in this picture?† (Walker), â€Å"What do you see that makes you say that?† (Walker), and â€Å"What more can you find?† (Walker). The facilitator identifies the responses of individual students by their respective names, and points towards the relevant parts of the painting while paraphrasing the responses. In addition to that, it is equally important for the facilitator to keep track of the various threads of conversation so that they can be interlinked and the students can be provided with the opportunity to connect their thoughts with the thoughts of their class fellows. These question s have been designed in a very prudent manner. â€Å"The wording of the first question gives tacit approval of the story-finding, playing to the beginner’

Adam Smiths Theory of Self-Interest

Adam Smiths Theory of Self-Interest Adam Smith is a fascinated moral philosopher and an expert of economic. He left two famous books. I can still get much enlightenment when I read his words in this modern society. His mainly research are on morality and economy. This essay will focus on how self-interest motivates individuals in these two aspects and what role does self-interest plays in the developing society. Having found this complex question, we should have a general understanding of what is self-interest? Many people may confound self-interest and selfish. Adam Smith thought people will do whatever good to themselves when they burned and selfish is a human’s natural action. (Smith Moral ex.) But actually those two words have huge differences. Selfish describe a kind of person who just care about himself of herself. They ignore others feeling or benefit as long as they can get something good from what they did. This is really a negative influence which we should abandon it. ‘Self-interest or self-love is derived from the selfish passions, but self-love is not identified with selfishness, because self-love, like other interests, can be virtuous (the virtue of prudence) or evil (greed or avarice).’ (Werhane, PH 1989, p. 671) Self-interest looks like selfish on the surface but indeed it can make an interaction between people. ‘To the selfish and original passions of human nature, the loss or gain of a very small interest of our own appears to be of vastly more importance, excites a much more passionate joy or sorrow, a much greater desire or aversion, than the greatest concern of another with whom we have no particular connection.’ (Smith Moral ex. 8). Everyone who chase them own profits and don’t do harm to others’ benefits in the meantime is called self-interest. Thus help other is helping themselves in fact and the more you get better the more you are willing to help others, which is a kind of huge power to make our society improve, so our society will become much more harmonious and plentiful eventually. That why Adam Smith said: ‘His interests, as long as they are surveyed from this standpoint, can never be put into balance with our own; can never restrain us from doing whatever may tend to promote our own self-interest.’ (Smith Moral ex. 8) On the other hand, although Adam Smith believes self-interest may make people seems selfish, but it will bring sympathy to them as well. Smith said: ‘The man of the most perfect virtue, the man whom we naturally love and admire the most, is he who joins, to the perfect command of his own original and selfish6 feelings, a real appreciation of the original and sympathetic feelings of others.’ (Smith Moral ex. 7) It is a natural when people burn, which let people take others feeling and their happiness or sadness into them own business, even though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. (Smith Moral ex. 1) Smith thinks sympathy is kinds of sense which will make their emotion fluctuate with others feeling which can resolve the conflict between individual interests and social interests. ‘The man who feels the most or the joys and sorrows of others, is best fitted for acquiring the most complete control of his own joys and sorrows.’ (Smith Mo ral ex. 5) Furthermore sympathy not only means share feelings but understands and contain as well. We can acquire the same feeling when we in the similar circumstance that others had thus we will have a deeply communication with them. They will see the phase called help other is helping me. ‘Smith argues, sympathy, coupled with reason, imagination, and our natural desire for â€Å"what ought to be approved of† provide the conditions that enable us disinterestedly or impartially to examine and to approve or disapprove a motive, character, or action.’ (Werhane, PH 1989, p. 677). So what prompted the ordinary people on many occasions to sacrifice their interests for others bigger benefits? It is not a noble and grant human natural, it is a strong motivation; a self-satisfied; a self-interest! (Smith Moral ex. 11) Smith thought everybody burn with self-interests they only want to do the things good to themselves, which is the prime motive for human’s active. People help others want to achieve their own goal indeed so they will become better when they help others. ‘He will be more likely to get their help if he can interest their self-love in favoring him, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do what he requires of them.’ (Smith Wealth ex. 3) In this case the more individuals chase their benefits the more they motivate the whole society’s progress and the society include all walks of life will achieve a universal prosperity finally. Just as Smith argue that: ‘He is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an outcome which was not part of his intention.’ (Smith Wealth ex. 6) Each individual is thought to be able to perceive his or her own best interests; they act so as to gain pleasure or happiness in whatever way they choose.’ (Heywood, A 2003, p48)This is something that can be a win-win. ‘By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectively than when he really tries to promote it.’ (Smith Wealth ex. 6) So self-interest is a kind of catalytic of improving society to a great extent in this case. ‘In principle, individuals always seek their own economic advantage; and, in principle, they act strictly rationally to achieve this goal.’ (Skirbekk, G Gilje, N 2001, p 250) Smith call this the law of natural which is free competition actually, this invisible hand is a kind of power which make the market fairer. It is important to make a division of labor in the market; I think the competition is the direct reason which causes this phenomenon. ‘It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual, consequence of a certain tendency in human nature which has in view no such ultimate outcome; [this is] the tendency to deal, barter, and exchange one thing for another.’ (Smith Wealth ex. 1) Smith thought it is the division of labor that increases the productivity. Everyone can just accomplish his part of job; he can focus on his own business. There is an idiom called practice makes perfect, so the efficiency of the whole market must be improved. It is a kind of exchange, just as Smith said: ‘give me that which I want, and you shall have what you want. That is the meaning of every such offer†¦. we expect our dinner, but from their concern for their own interest.’ (Inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations extracts 6). People always have much more inter est in their own business than the society profits. ‘It was the conduct of individual human beings that led us into this mess, and it is the behavior of individuals as well as the structuring of systems that has to change.’(Garton Ash 2014) So as we can find from here it is self-interest that motivate people to work; to do those economic activities. Moreover, what is the simplest method to reach this boundary? Smith thought is the freedom and non-interventionism. It doesn’t mean no-government, their function is limited to the administration of justice, and they are night watchman. ‘He attacked economic protectionism: the government should meddle as little as possible in trade and industry.’ (Skirbekk, G Gilje, N 2001, p 249) So Smith strongly recommended creating a free-market. ‘In an ideal free market resting on private property, no individual can coerce any other, all cooperation is voluntary, all parties to such cooperation benefit or they need not participate.’ (Friedman 2014, pp. 122-126). He opposed the state intervention in the economy, because he thought the market will automatically adjust. This is what he called ‘the invisible hand’, it will help people maximum their own profits and the society will make progress with individuals in the meantime. So it can make a combine b etween self-interest and public-interest. When the businessmen work hard to do their own business this ‘invisible hand’ will let them to choose the best-fit for the society. This is also help other is help ourselves. ‘Altruism is relegated to no more than delayed self-interest, so, for example, the more we create a good reputation, the more we can exploit it for economic advantage.’ (Hutton Schneider 2014, pp. 13-17.) So as the analyses I have presented above, we can clearly find that self-interest is the necessary and sufficient condition of our society’s thriving and prosperous. The better market can’t leave self-interest, which means they can’t exist without each other. Smith described that the conflict between self-interest and public-interest can be solved by combining them. They made each other! Thus if everyone can motivated by their self-interest, they will try them best to acquire the profits, which can motivate our society’s economy and make the market much more efficient and fairer ultimately.

Understanding Emma :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emma, who is extremely wealthy and very beautiful and the youngest of two daughters lived twenty one years without a trouble to bother her. She was the mistress of her house in Highbury because her mother died when Emma was very young. The governess of the Woodhouse home Miss Taylor was very close to all three girls but, very close to Emma. Miss Taylor finally decided to marry Mr. Weston, the owner of Randalls.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the wedding her father said that he is extremely upset that Mrs. Taylor married Mr. Weston. Emma admited to her father that she is rather pleased that Miss. Taylor has married Mr. Weston. It was Emma’s idea to get the two acquainted. Emma’s papa asks her to not make any more matches and foretell things, and tells her that everything she says always comes to pass. Emma replied to her papa that she will not make any matches for herself but she must for other people. She told him that matching couples is a great amusement to her. She continues to boast about her success. Her father begs her again not to make any matches and Emma pleaded for his permission to make a match with Mr. Elton. Mr. Knightly who is the elder brother of Emma’s sister’s husband tried to make Emma think that she should not make any more matches and he told her that a man can take care of himself. Mr. Frank Churchill who is the son of Mr. Weston is the talk of t he town. He rarely comes to visit his father in Highbury but when Mr. Weston got married, Mr. Churchill attended.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emma had made a friends with a girl named Harriet who is a student at the boarding school, and has made a very good name for herself in the town. The girls would take walks together daily and talk . Occasionally, Harriet talked about a man named Robert Martin, Emma often wondered who he was. Harriet told Emma that she was very fond of Mr. Martin and may marry him. Emma tried to convince Harriet that she should not marry below her social status because she has made a good name for herself here. Emma mentioned Mr. Elton to Harriet and asks her what she thought of him. Harriet admitted that she had always been fond Mr. Elton and found him agreeable. Emma was fixed on putting Mr.

Corruption in Sudan Essay

Other cities like Omdurman have 2. 1 million, Port Sudan have a total population of 450,000. Kassala, Kosti, Juba are the capital of southern region. People from the country are called Sudanese and 2009 in July Population was 41,087,825: 2. 143%. There are two ethnic groups namely : Arab/Muslim, theses group of people live on the northern part of the country and black African or Christian on south. There are also two types of religion, Islam (official), indigenous beliefs (southern Sudan), Christianity. There are also many languages like Arabic which is official, English also official, tribal languages. Education in Sudan is compulsory for some years,8 Attendance(35%-40%). Literacy level is 61. 1. This country’s main natural resources include reserves of oil, gold, natural gas copper, iron ore and other industrial metals. Sudan got its independence on January 1, 1956 and the type of government they operate is the provisional government which was established by the comprehensive peace Agreement (CPA) and signed in January 2005. This offers power sharing as far as the national elections takes place. The national election took place starting from April, November 2010. Sudan became the largest debtor to the World Bank and IMF by 1993 this resulted to the suspension of their voting rights by IMF and withdrawals under operative and fully expended loans and credit by the World Bank. It was also said that â€Å"extensive petroleum exploration began in mid1970’s and might cover all of Sudan’s economic and energy needs†. This year according to martin † Sudan may need as much as $1. 5billion of foreign aid a year and plans 2 slash government spending by a quarter as it faces budget difficulties due to its recent split into two countries, its finance minister said† and according to the finance minister† we’re expecting 6 percent (economic growth) or a little more for 2012† There have been conflicts with the northern and southern part of Sudan that have killed 1. 5 million people and also driving many ethnic groups and people from their homes. Sudan had had several episodes of civil welfare since its independence, broke association and now rule with Egypt (this actually did not benefit them anything but further trouble). All regions of Sudan face problems, both the south and the north and corruption can be counted as one of them. The southern part of Sudan has separated as an autonomous region in July 2011 even though it is a different state but it is still a very poor nation with a very low human development. Media on the southern part of Sudan is very poor, undeveloped and not well equipped. A journalist(s) does not have the right to broadcast, report or give any news, information to Darfur (other part of Sudan) and if any journalist(s) violates that law, he/she/they would be severely punished and even be jailed. Today, many journalists are still in prison and only God knows when they might be freed and which will be out. For example, in October 2010, a radio station ’Dabanga’ in Khartoum after a movement of arrests was shut down by the government and seven of its employees have been alleged of exposing state secretes, breaking the constitutional system, the punishment foe this crime is a death penalty. The civil war of 1991 in southern Sudan destroyed almost all southern medical facilities except those that had been rebuilt to treat their people who have been wounded in Juba, Malakal and Waw, these three hospitals are controlled by the government. The facilities were impracticable to use because of the scarcity of the most basic medical materials and a similar problem is faced in the northern Sudan, health care facilities had been considered helpless by the economic situation. Sudan does not have the hard currency to buy basic drugs, such as antibiotics and anti-malarial drugs, and the most important equipment, such as syringes. Private medical care in towns still functions but was also hindered by the scarcity of pharmaceuticals. In conclusion, I think after analyzing these situations in the area of banking, finance, media and medicine, the conflicts and political instability and so one, those should or are the main reason why Sudan is rated as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Ethical behaviour of UK supermarket Tesco Essay

Introduction I carried out a research on UK supermarkets’ social responsibilities and business ethics, I decided I will use Tesco plc for this assignment. The reason being Tesco has a wide range of policies regarding their supplier, customers, shareholders and the community. â€Å"At Tesco, we aim to make a positive contribution to society. Our CSR programme builds on this commitment and is backed by our ‘Every Little Helps’ approach.† John Gardiner, chairman, Tesco Tesco adopted both the agency theory and the stakeholder theory and it has the intelligent self-interest (Mullins 2002). Tesco uses a combination approach of deontology, utilitarianism, teleology and egoism (Boddy 2002) to the ethical of the society. An ethical assessment will consider the position of the staff, the nature and interrelationship of activities, product and service ranges, mixes and balances, relationships with the community and the environment. Stakeholders of Tesco Stakeholder is defined by Mullins (2002:145) as â€Å"individuals or groups who have an interest in and/or are affected by the goals, operations or activities of the organisation or the behaviour of its members†. Stakeholders can be categorised into three main groups: Internal stakeholders * Employees – Social responsibilities to employees beyond the employment contracts. Employees need to face the implications such as job security, safe working conditions, fair treatment, the creation of rewarding work and personal development. Employees require equal opportunities, promotions, trade union, training and job satisfaction. * Management – Management concerns about the growth of the organisation and to achieve the organisational objectives. Management have strong influences on staff, lead by example and management by walking about can encourage its staff to produce their best performance. External stakeholders * Community & environment – The demands for the community and environment are: potential of pollution, noise and disposal waste should be kept to the minimum, raw materials are used economically and environment friendly production. * Society – Society is the broader place in which business operates. The quality of all our lives will depend on how well the organisation balances its profit and the environment. Connected stakeholders * Shareholder – There are three types of shareholders: short term investors, long term investors and ethical investors. Short term investors simply concentrate on the performance of the organisation, they will have no time for considerations of social responsibilities. Long term investors may be willing to consider evidence that managing in a socially responsible way helps long term profits. Ethical investors place social priorities higher than maximising their own personal wealth and are willing to invest in organisations that follow clear socially responsible policies. * Customers – Customers expect organisations to provide them with goods and services. They want the goods/service to be good quality, durable, good value for money, safety and performance. Consideration of Power All stakeholder groups have influence throughout the organisation. These influences effect the organisational performance and their existence within its market sector. * Employees – They can reflect their thoughts through the trade union, i.e. request pay raise, better working conditions, equal opportunities etc. If the employees are mistreated they can take industrial actions against the organisation or have an industrial strike to force the organisation to meet their needs. * Community & environment – If there is a potential of pollution, noise, disposal waste or the local county council can apply laws and regulations to limit those actions or to take legal actions against the organisation. * Society – If the quality of our life is affected by the organisation, campaigners can hold daily protests outside the organisation, this will attract bad publicity for the organisation. * Shareholders – They can simply withdrawn their investment from the organisation, i.e. selling their shares. Alternatively shareholders can attend the annual meeting and vote against the organisational suggestions. * Customers – They can simply stop consuming the goods or services from the organisation. I considered the customers have the main power over an organisation, without any customers the organisation simply cannot survive. Any organisation needs to take its stakeholders’ interests into account. A good balance of the decisions is vitally important, we can see how the influences have impact upon the organisation and any unbalance decision will affect the existence of the organisation. Tesco’s Mission Statement â€Å"Creating value for customers, to earn their lifetime loyalty† We can see from the above statement that Tesco concentrates on the long-term relationship with its customers. Tesco focused on providing exceptional value and choice for customers to ensure that they continue to grow market share. Tesco had expended significantly in the past 10 years, it started in non-food retailing in 1997 and now Tesco is creating value on a wide range of products from grocery to financial services such as personal loan, home and motor insurance and credit card services. From these evidences we can see Tesco is working very hard to follow its mission statement to achieve its goal. Tesco’s actions towards the society Tesco combined the agency theory and the stakeholder theory (Mullins 2002) when they make any ethical decisions. Milton Friedman’s view (Mullins 2002:148) suggested the agency theory is that â€Å"†¦the social responsibility of business is to make as much money as possible for the shareholders, within the rules of the game.† Mullins (2002:149) defined the stakeholder theory is that â€Å"†¦a business is for its stakeholders and its actions should be designed to balance stakeholder interest.† Tesco uses the agency theory to decide its main objective, it is to provide excellent goods and services to earn their customers’ loyalty. This will ensure their existence on the market and to maximise the shareholders’ investment. On the other hand, Tesco uses the stakeholder theory to act on behalf on its stakeholders interests, such as contribution towards the society, care for the environment and responsible to the supplier chain. Tesco also uses a combination approach of deontology, utilitarianism, teleology and egoism (Boddy 2002) to the ethical of the society. Deontology Approach â€Å"Deontology is based on the idea that we are morally obliged to follow fundamental rules of thumb or principles. (Frankena 1963)† Fulop & Linstead (1999:339) Part of the Tesco strategy of â€Å"Treat people how we like to be treated† uses the deontology approach to the ethics of the people, the policies are as follow: * All retailers, there’s one team†¦The Tesco Team * Trust and respect each other * Strive to do our very best * Give support to each other and praise more than criticise * Ask more than tell and share knowledge so that it can be used * Enjoy work, celebrate success and learn from experience Tesco acts only on those principles so that they are not only â€Å"Treat people how we like to be treated†, but also wish others to do the same. Utilitarianism Approach â€Å"Utilitarianism judges the moral worth of actions by the utility of their foreseeable consequences for each and every person affected by a certain set of actions.† Fulop & Linstead (1999:339) Tesco aims to be responsible in their commercial and trading activities. Tesco is a member of the Ethical Trade Initiative since it was founded in 1998, on top of that, it also supports the work of Fairtrade Foundation. They sell and promote Fairtrade production such as tea, coffee, banana and chocolate. Fairtrade Foundation was set to give better deal for third world producers, regardless of the world market conditions. There are several reasons why Tesco uses the utilitarianism approach to the ethics of the society. First it wants to build a strong relationship with its supplier and to maintain their reputation within the market sector. From the result of having strong relationship with its suppliers, they will have a stable supply for its goods and services. Teleology Approach â€Å"It considers whether the outcome of an action accomplishes the original goal.† Boddy (2002:133) Tesco uses the teleology approach to consider whether the outcomes achieve the original goals. Boddy (2002) suggested that if an act ensures the continuation of the organisation then it is right. From Tesco’s mission statement we can see that the original goal for Tesco is to keep its market share and continue to grow within its market sector by creating value for its customers. It is obvious that Tesco is performance very well in its industry, they keep expanding their services and products (from grocery to financial services), which indicates the continue growth for Tesco. Egoism Approach â€Å"This is the ‘ethics of self-interest, claiming that personal or corporate benefit is the only rational criterion for judging economic actions.† Boddy (2002:133) Tesco is a financial contributor to the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experimentation (FRAME), and they are seeking ways to end animal testing. Tesco also carries out the Computers for Schools vouchers, which support local school to improve their computer equipments, to create a better learning environment for children. Tesco is a national sponsor of Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, this is only part of the charity works that Tesco has, there is also a Tesco Charity Trust which helps local and national charities as well as voluntary organisations to provide practical support for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Tesco uses this approach to take above actions to contribute towards the local community. Boddy (2002) suggested that if people follow this principle it will result in general good. Because of the contribution Tesco made (Computers for Schools vouchers and charity’s activities), customers are more happy to shop in Tesco because they are able to maximise their personal self-interest towards the society. Improvement in ethical behaviour of Tesco Tesco has a wide range of ethical policies to cover different areas, they include the following: * Human right * Local community sponsorship * Charity * Ethical trading * Fairtrade * Animal Testing * Environment These are only a small selection of Tesco’s policies which I can find on its website, there are many more policies to cover different area of the ethical aspect. Since we are in a dynamic business world and there is no set policy can cover all changes, Tesco should expand its policies and to improve and maintain its reputation. Conclusion Survival or long-term performance is the main ethical duty of the organisation, its staff, customers, community and other stakeholders. For this to happen, a long-term view must be taken. Organisation must distinguish between right and wrong. It is necessary for the organisation to recognise the nature and legitimacy of the interests of the different stakeholder groups and interested parties, and to take steps to see that these are widely understood and satisfied as far as possible.    Bibliography Boddy D, (2002), 2nd Edition, Management – An Introduction, Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow Fulop L & Linstead S, (1999), Management – A Critical Text, Macmillan Press Ltd, Hampshire Hannagan T, (1995), Management Concepts & Practices, Pitman Publishing, London Megginson L, Mosley & Pietri P Jr, (1986), 2nd Edition, Management: Concepts and Applications, Harper & Row Publishers Inc, New York Mullins L, (2002), 6th Edition, Management & Organisational Behaviour, Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow Pettinger R, (2002), 3rd Edition, Introduction to Management, Palgrave, Hampshire Robbins S & Coulter M, (2003), 7th Edition, Management, Pearson Education Inc, New Jersey Internet Resources: http://www.tesco.com/corporateinfo/ 14/03/2004 http://www.tesco.com/everylittlehelps/ 14/03/2004 Reference Boddy D, (2002), 2nd Edition, Management – An Introduction, Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow Fulop L & Linstead S, (1999), Management – A Critical Text, Macmillan Press Ltd, Hampshire Mullins L, (2002), 6th Edition, Management & Organisational Behaviour, Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow Internet Resources: http://www.tesco.com/corporateinfo/ 14/03/2004 http://www.tesco.com/everylittlehelps/ 14/03/2004

Compare and contrast the codes and conventions of sitcoms Essay Example

Compare and contrast the codes and conventions of sitcoms Essay Example Compare and contrast the codes and conventions of sitcoms Paper Compare and contrast the codes and conventions of sitcoms Paper A Situation comedy or sit-com as we know is based on real life non-fictional events and situations. There are many different elements that make sit-coms what they are. Sit-coms tend to revolve around two basic situations, within these situations, comedy is generated. These situations are usually located at home with family and at work. Some main sitcoms at present are Friends, My family and Alley Mcbeal. The family is portrayed as a stable situation able to bear the outside world because its strength comes from within. Despite the audience expectations a sit-com episode is mostly a self-contained classical narrative and is set in the same way. The settings tend to be interiors; this is usually because it is filmed in front of a live audience so they cant go from place to place. This also keeps down the cost of set construction and location shooting which makes sit-coms so appealing to television companies. The plots also tend to be based around very few characters. The characters themselves tend to be over exaggerated, stereotypical people, typical examples: The smart, witty, sarcastic character e. g. Chandler in Friends, Fraiser and Niles in Fraiser. There are usually un-intelligent and a not so bright, and there is usually somebody attractive whether it is a male or female to appeal to everyone. I will do a comparison of a British and American sitcom and see how their conventions work, based Fawlty Towers and Friends. During the mid 50s rivalry developed between the BBC and the fairly recently launched ITV. ITV was broadcasting the popular American sitcom called I Love Lucy, the BBC soon found that it was loosing viewers to ITV and therefore boosted production of sitcoms that include: Hancocks Half Hour, Dads army, Fawlty Towers, Porridge and many more which are still popular today. I love Lucy sparked off the production off these British sitcoms and maybe if it hadnt been broadcasted here in Britain then probably none of these famous British sitcoms would have been made. These sitcoms, however, differ quite significantly due to the country, which they originate from. The difference is due to the countrys culture and social background; we can explore this by viewing an American sitcom, Friends, and a British sitcom, Fawlty Towers. Fawlty Towers and Friends are two very successful sitcoms but if we investigate further into the two we find that they both have different impacts on the audience as some methods of creating humour differ. One of the main differences of the two, outside of creating humour, is that they are both based in different countries and different times. Friends is based on the youthful, vibrant city of New York, USA based in the late 90s, whereas Fawlty Towers is based in the retired, quiet town of Torquay based in the mid 70s. I will investigate both sitcoms by analysing each using characterisation, types of humour used, plot and mis-en-sci ne. Mis-en-sci ne is looking at how the sitcom is constructed, by setting, props, non-verbal communication and dress codes. Fawlty Towers is based in Torquay and is a hotel run by Basil Fawlty and his wife Sybil Fawlty also two other main characters are Polly and Manual who work at the hotel. Basil is a comic but key character; he plays a vital role in fawlty towers, Basil addresses a sarcastic approach most of the time when he is frustrated, worried or angered; when things do not go his way, and also when talking to people that he considers less respected than him e. g. : Manual, Polly etc. He also has the perfect image of what fawlty towers should be: successful and popular especially with the higher class. This causes him to constantly think about himself and the reputation of himself and the hotel. The humour which basil creates is usually physical; he is a tall man and walks with strides, which makes him stand out from everyone else. Sybil, Basils wife, who seems to be authoritative and firm with Basil this maybe due to the fact that she is usually more friendly and therefore more popular with guests and staff therefore they look up to her, more so than Basil. Basil also may be afraid that she might leave him and to prevent this he tries to be kind and obeys her commands but usually frustration or confusion get in the way which may create humour. Sybil herself is an elegant and well-presented woman, the fact that she is married to Basil, who may be the complete opposite, makes the sitcom more entertaining as it causes great confusion, lack of communication which leads to arguments between the couple which all create humour in different ways. Polly is a young well-mannered girl working temporarily at the hotel. She is polite and acts respectful to guests and staff a lot like Sybil but with a lot less experience of working in a hotel. The fact that she is a lot like Sybil again causes a slight inability to communicate to Basil, as he differs greatly, especially in front of guests, which creates humour. Polly is the youngest in the Fawlty Towers and lacks experience in the Hotel Business because of this she is usually ignored by Basil who considers her to be incapable of thinking of good ideas and doing things no matter how hard she works. Although she is the youngest main character in Fawlty Towers, she is actually not that young compared to Friends. This shows us that Friends is aimed at the youthful generation where as Fawlty Towers is aimed at the older generation. Fawlty Towers produces many different types of humour purely due to the characteristics of the main characters. If one of the characters were taken out of fawlty towers it wouldnt be able to achieve all of the types of humour it currently contains. For example, Basils role in the sitcom is to provide verbal wit, ludicrous and preposterous humour. Without this role its unlikely he could have made Fawlty Towers so popular. The humour used is very corny however is what works to make the audience want more, we hear canned laughter which also takes place a lot in Friends to prove when the audience should laugh and find something funny there is a laughter in the background. Friends is an organic plot. This means that the plots are not in such strict logic or structure, because of this it is apparent that we drop in every week to observe how each character is coping with their private lives and what they do in certain situations. The impression is given that the characters are there all the time but we view them at an unstructured and unedited part of their daily lives. This may be the case with friends but it is not, however, with fawlty towers. In fawlty towers the whole episode is based around a certain event and only, usually, contains one narrative whereas friends contains two or three narratives. In Friends various characters can relate to characters in friends; Joey and maybe Phoebe can relate to Manuel as they all create humour without meaning to. Chandler can relate to Basil as they both create sarcasm, irony and verbal wit therefore creating humour purposefully. Joey is a comic and youthful character as his main role in the sitcom is to create humour. This contrast of characteristics among the characters makes the sitcom more entertaining rather then them all being all the same which would make it less interesting as their lives would be similar. There are no main characters in Friends unlike Fawlty towers where the episode is normally set around Basil. In friends all of the characters are equal, there are exactly three girls and three boys and what one character has another one lacks. For example Joey is not clever but is fashionable and is a womaniser where as Chandler is clever but is not much of a womaniser. Both Friends and Fawlty Towers have the catchy theme tune in the beginning to set the scene, which gets the audience going before they start watching the sitcom. The aim of a sitcom is to make an audience laugh, by using stereotypes the viewer finds the characters funny due to them doing actions or saying something that reminds them of themselves or someone they know. The main contents of a successful sitcom are the characters, the way each character interacts with one another with a sitcom, the audience gets to know the characters, and know what to expect from them. The setting of a sitcom is generally in a similar environment that most people would go to, e. g. Scrubs is based in the workplace, Men Behaving Badly is set in a flat and the characters from Friends either meet up in a cafi or in their apartments.

The Affair of The Necklace, Marie Antionette s exubernat appetitte for exotic jewels has taken its toll on the 3rd estate .

The Affair of The Necklace, Marie Antionette s exubernat appetitte for exotic jewels has taken its toll on the 3rd estate . On Christmas day of the year 1783 the bluching 16 yrs old Austrian Princess soon to be Queen of France arrived at the French Court.As day strolled by the EMpire grew bigger under the newly appointed minister of Finance .As the EMpire Grew booth militarily and economically as did the Royals need for acquiring huge wealth.Wealth was everywhere in the exuberant building the expensive looking architecture the musems on the Rue Royale.Money was pouring in the economy so fast and half of which ended in the Royals hands .One Royal in Particular was so high mantineance that it took the equivelant of "four pieces of jewelery a week to satisfy her evergrowing apetitte for lush expensive diamonds and precious stones the world over." quotes her Estate Jewler.The Queen bored with the usual assortment of mounts and jewels her jeweler provided. Threatend him that if he does not come up with an interesting and exubernt necklace set soon he would wish he was brittish and that meant death.English: Mar gueritede Bourgogne,Queen of FranceMarie Antionette had seventeen toy dogs from a breed called Pug , they were always bejewled with diammonds and rubies when she was present.The Jewler using the governments tax money bought the most expensive jewles avaliable form India ,Eygpt , Turkey and South America. He spent nearly all the money acquiring the black gold and the jewels and mounts and the hands (jewlers from all over the world particpated in the design of this lavish necklace).Jaenne Elles Marques Le Luc , Daughter of the Marquee of Bath , was Marie Antionette's newly appointed stealthy Lady in Waiting.Jeanne went to the jewler to tell him about the deadline the Queen of France has set for the delivery of the necklace , wehn he surprised her...