Analyse the iconography, conventions and audience expectations (Grant, Essay

Analyse the iconography, conventions and audience expectations (Grant, 2007) of one film genre & access how (and if) they have c - Essay Example Genre tends to make the consumption of a film to be less disordered by providing the audience with a guide on certain films thus providing satisfaction when the guidance rules are followed. Most producers mainly use this approach to attract a certain audience as well as capitalising on past successes by repeating the various generic elements. With regards to the generic conventions they mainly offer the director of the film a framework to work on. Therefore, a genre based approach is best suited for carrying out film analysis (Grant, 2007, p. 43). There are several types of film genres but the focus in this paper will be on Musical/Dance film genre. Musical/Dance films are referred to as cinematic forms which mainly emphasize song and dance practices in a significant manner or full scale scores (Feuer, 1993, p.39). They are mainly films which are centred on the combinations of dance, music, choreography or song. The musical/Dance genre has been regarded as the most unrealistic form o f cinema. Despite this it is a genre that is enjoyable due to the fantastical departures that it exhibits. The act of actually singing in the middle of pouring rain while twirling an umbrella and tapping cannot be regarded as a daily occurrence (Schatz, 1981, p. 34). This according to Gene Kelly in the Singing in the rain film is as normal and as natural as the act of breathing. Another scene is that of Fred Astaire in the Band Wagon when he engages himself in performing an impromptu dance at the shoe shine station. Musical/Dance usually aim at persuading the audience in thinking that what they are viewing on the screen is simply the representation of the characters feelings at that moment as well as what they may do in reality. Musical usually portray the dancing and singing of the characters as their natural inclinations of the character though the audience usually know that in reality this will never happen as it is just a result of events that are choreographed and rehearsed. Wh en it comes to musical conventions the narratives usually halts for the production numbers and the characters break into dance and song. The characters usually perform for the camera after listening to a song that usually comes up abruptly (Grant, 2003, p. 85). The use of the musical/Dance genre is unique in the film industry. The mass persuasion of this genre may look like it will not be able to last for a long period in the America society due to the fact that people are mainly taught to question the superiors and not to follow the leader. Even in the early thirties people had the same tendency of questioning almost everything: their parents, their clergy and even their government. The question that still remains a mystery is the fact that society did not sought to question Hollywood. People spent a lot of money days after days and later on it resulted into the creation of the film industry (Schatz, 1981, p.64). It is the public audience that created and boosted the genres that th ey went to see and not an effort was given by Hollywood. Maybe it can be assumed that it is the musical nature of the films that made them so popular that people all ways went back for more action. People practically took time to go watch the movies so as to get away from the ordinary everyday

Should be Abortion be Allowed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Should be Abortion be Allowed - Essay Example According to the essay very important reason as to why abortion is not right and therefore should be condemned is because there are very many other safe options to whatever the problem a pregnancy poses in one’s life. The United States alone has over2 million that are unable to get their own children and therefore are more than willing to adopt. It would be more human and wise on the part of a woman who finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy to give birth and then give the baby up for adoption as this will allow the baby enjoy life. Ending a baby’s life is therefore an act of cruelty and selfishness as one sacrifices a precious life that would have been loved and raised by other willing parents. From this study it is clear that abortion can also be harmful to the mother; by deciding to procure an abortion a woman places her life at get risk of being negatively affected. Psychiatrists have opined that over 65% of women who have had abortions are found to show the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder afterwards. Many women end up in depression since they regret their actions and this can really affect their health. Other medical effects can also follow such as failure to failure to conceive in future, sicknesses and even in some cases. It physically affects the victim in a way that is dangerous. Abortion in itself is also brutal as the life of a living baby is taken away in a manner that is painful. It is therefore by all means wrong for someone to imagine ending a baby’s life in a way that is harmful. Even with many adverse effects of abortions those people who belong to the pro-choice school believe abortion should be left to the choice of the individual. According to this school thought the woman should be left to choose what is done in, on and with her body. This is agreeable across the board since everyone has the constitutional right of choice but the bone of controversy arises when life of an innocent is involved.

Patients With Complex Needs

Patients With Complex Needs A learning disability (LD) is a combination of a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information and the inability to cope independently (Department of Health, 2001). The assessment of the severity of LD is open to interpretation as there are no distinct differences between the classifications of LD (Royal College of Nursing, 2009). The level of disability is determined by the patients IQ score (Swanson et al., 2005). This means that a patient who is deemed to have a moderate LD cannot be assumed to perform routine procedures in a predetermined manner. There is a possibility they could perform anywhere within a range of coping very well or not be able to participate. Therefore there is no standardised procedure or protocol when testing or providing care for these patients, though many departments have devised their own care plan based around Valuing People (2009). Ms P has recently been recognised to have potential hearing problems. This was noticed as she has been mishearing a lot of what is said to her during a project to set up a charity shop and cafe in a day service she attends on a weekly basis. When seen by a clinical nurse specialist she was observed to be lip reading whilst communicating. Efforts were made by the clinical nurse specialist to establish Ms Ps hearing thresholds; however they were unsuccessful as she was inappropriately responding for both conventional and modified response methods. I shall use this case study to suggest suitable management options and care plan for Ms P with a major consideration to her mental health issues in relation to what should be proposed and how it should be carried out. It is important to acquire Ms Ps audiometric thresholds through a correctly performed hearing test, by a trained Audiologist. Modifications may need to be made to the test, such as alternative response methods to accommodate her LDs to achieve reliable results. Testing will allow identification as to whether the patient is struggling due to hearing problems or as a consequence of her LD. There is also a strong possibility of the problem being a combination of both. Acquisition of subjective hearing thresholds from a LD patient can be difficult as there are concentration and understanding factors to consider when selecting and performing a test. Time needs to be taken to perform an extensive history in order to establish what testing is best suited for the patient. This can improve time efficiency by understanding the patients capabilities so that the actions taken are more specific and suited to them. History taking is also a good opportunity to create a good rapport with the patient which can ease interaction and communication throughout the rest of the patients pathway. Mansell (1992) found that it is common for learning difficulty patients to have problems when communicating. Therefore actions must be taken to encourage a good patient-clinician interaction and confidence as early as possible as they can improve relations for the long term. Another major factor which will improve the working relationship between patient and clinician is the presence of the patients sister. She will be able to provide important information during history taking and, simply by attending the appointments with the patient, can give her more confidence. Efforts should be made for relatives and carers to attend with the patient during earlier appointments until a decent rapport has been established (Rance et al., 2009). Once hearing thresholds are obtained, they must be verified, as conventional patient responses to sound stimuli are susceptible to the patients understanding of the test. This could mean that the patient may be responding at sensation level rather than threshold level. If this is the case and the results obtained are unverified it could lead to an intervention method, such as provision for amplification, being implemented at a level which could potentially cause more damage to the patient than benefit. The verification method would be best suited if it didnt require a response from the patient to confirm the actual hearing level as this would allow a more objective measure of the patients hearing ability i.e. Cortical Evoked Response Audiometry, Auditory Brainstem Response or Otoacoustic Emissions. This can then allow comparison between actual objective hearing thresholds and subjective patient response thresholds. This would also identify the need for the patient to be referred into other services, should there be no hearing disorder identified. Management options for this patient could be a combination of provision for amplification, assistive listening devices (ALD), lip reading classes and hearing therapy. Each of these options have advantages and disadvantages which I shall now discuss. Provision for amplification would enable speech and other environmental sounds to be amplified to a level that is within her residual hearing ability (Dillon, 2001). Hence enabling her to detect and discriminate more of the speech sounds she seems to be missing currently. This should improve her understanding and allow her to function better within the charity shop and cafe she is trying to set up. Disadvantages of using this method are her understanding and maintenance of the device issued to her. She may not be able to look after, insert or operate the device. This could be avoided by educating her sister or employees at the day service to assist her. But this doesnt promote independence for the patient. It is also worth considering whether her older sister would understand how to assist Ms P with a hearing aid. The benefits of this management option are measurable through aided thresholds. An improvement should also be seen by the people who surround her too, should it be used pro perly. The success of a hearing aid could be questionable as she is mainly struggling in a noisy environment where competing sounds could discourage her from use or prevent her from adapting to it. This could be a detrimental effect to applying the method as she may find it more of a hindrance than assistance. She would also benefit from a binaural fitting in a noisy cafe environment as the ability to localise would improve her speech intelligibility. Even though it seems amplification would be the best option in relation to her problems consideration needs to be taken regarding the patients preferences and consent to the measure in the first place. Reasoning for having amplification could be explained specific to her interests and problems, which can allow goal setting. Should she not give consent for amplification, ALDs or lip-reading classes could be used. ALDs would benefit her in her problematic situations specifically as they are made solely for a set environment, which is also a disadvantage as she will have problems in environments other than this one. Instructions on use and maintenance will need to be taught in order to gain full benefit, which would lead to similar disadvantages as the amplification management option. Lip or speech reading classes are a taught skill set which would enforce her current ability to lip read. It would also provide a manageable option which does not have the disadvantage of having to be maintained. However, it would require her to attend classes and learn the skills needed for this option in order to create maximum benefit. This would require a re-analysis of her concentration and learning abilities prior to implementation, as it may not be a suitable option should she not have the patience or understanding of why she is doing it. Even though this is a good option, as it promotes independence, amplification would still be of benefit alongside it to improve speech perception, as some phonemes appear to be similar when lip reading (Denes Pinson, 1993). Another service which she could gain access to help her with her difficulties in the cafà © and charity shop is Access to Work. They would be able to provide funding for equipment and services to improve her situation in her working environment. This should be done regardless of any other management option being enforced. Prior to devising a care plan consideration has to be made regarding the extent of Ms Ps LD on the potential success of the plan, her understanding of her hearing loss and how a management option will improve things for her. She may not think that she has a hearing loss at all. The patients personal goals should also be identified as this could provide leverage for encouragement of the management option. Her treatment could be centred on the progress of her day service initiative to improve her understanding of the treatment she is being offered. Goal setting should be encouraged in relation to her interests to ease the patient into her management options. Regular reviews should be enforced as they help maintain the rapport initially established from the testing appointment and enables the clinician organisation over the patients progress. The success of the management plan used will rely heavily on the clinicians understanding and management of the patients mental health issues, capacity and capability. This will provide the clinical reasoning behind the management options used and what goal setting should be enforced. It is better for clinicians to encourage the patient to make their own decisions, rather than make a decision based on the patients best interests, should they have the capacity to do so, as outlined in the Mental Capacity Act (2005) (legislation.gov.uk, 2005). There has to be sufficient clinical reasoning behind the choices made and their relevance to the patient and her needs, which have been given strong consideration for in this instance. The care plan most suitable for Ms P is initially to trial amplification with ALDs, i.e. a loop system. Should these primary interventions not be of any assistance then it is worthwhile trialling the lip reading classes alongside them and as a last resort hearing therapy.

Industrial Revolution DBQ :: American America History

Industrial Revolution DBQ The impact of the Industrial Revolution was a positive experience for some, but it was a great difficulty for others. Because of the demands for reform and protection for workers arose, government and unions began to take place. That was how the evils of the Industrial Revolution addressed in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Unions are voluntary associations joined by workers. The Combination Act of 1800, which hindered the growth of unions, states that every workman's goal, who are entering into any combination should not be obtaining an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours, or influencing any other to quit his work. Any workman who did so shall be committed to jail (Doc 1). Although the Combination Act of 1800 prevented the growth of unions, Ralph Chaplin believes that a worker should join the union. He states that there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun, but the unions, which makes it strong (Doc 2). Since there's so many workers working in bad conditions, the labor laws came to action. The Health and Morals Act of 1802 limited children under fourteen from working over twelve hours a day (Doc 3). The factor Act of 1833, which enacted that no person under 18 years of age shall be allowed to work at night in machinery (Doc 4). It allowed the child under 18 to work less than 12 hours a day or less than 69 hours in any one-week. There was a ten hours act, which said that the women or children's limit workdays are 10 hours. Socialism is one of the roles of government in the economy. Adam Smith, who is the father of capitalism, believes in laissez-faire, "hands off" the government. He believes all production should be sale at the best possible lowest price. (Doc 5) While Adam Smith believes in capitalism, Engel is criticizing it. Engel believes the capitalism seizes everything for themselves but not the poor, they remain nothing. (Doc 7) Karl Marx, the author of a 23 page pamphlet, "The Communist Manifesto", and Engels recommend that all the working men of all countries should unite and is to be equal, should overthrow of all existing social conditions.

Burden Of Overweight Shifting Poor Health And Social Care Essay

Background: Overweight and fleshiness prevalence has increased globally ; nevertheless, current prevalence and tendencies of fleshy by societal category in low- and middle-income states are unknown. Methods: Repeated cross-sectional, nationally representative informations from adult females aged 18-49 ( n=556,352 ) in 41 low- and middle-income states were used to find the prevalence of corpulence ( body mass index a†°?25 ) at each study moving ridge by wealth quintile and educational attainment ( individually ) . The SES-specific prevalence difference and prevalence growing rate for each state were compared for the lowest and highest SES groups. Linear arrested development estimated the association between state wealth and fleshy prevalence growing. Consequences: In the bulk of country-years the highest wealth and instruction groups still have the highest age-standardized prevalence of corpulence and fleshiness ( 97 of 111 entire country-years ) . However, in about half of the states ( 21 of 41 ) , the additions in fleshy prevalence over clip have been greater in the lowest SES group compared to the highest SES group. Higher country-level Gross Domestic Product per capita ( GDP ) was associated with a higher fleshy prevalence growing rate for the lowest wealth group compared to the highest ( aGDPper capita/1000= 0.24 ; 95 % CI -0.015, 0.46 ) . Decisions: Presently, higher SES groups have more fleshy than lower SES groups across most developing states. However, half the states show a faster growing rates in corpulence in the lowest Selenium groups, declarative mood of an on-going displacement in the fleshy load toward lower SES groups. Across states, this displacement toward faster fleshy growing among lower wealth groups is associated with higher GDP. ( Word Count: 250 ) Introduction Low socioeconomic position ( SES ) is associated with higher rates of chronic disease in high-income states 1-4. In lower-income states, chronic disease has merely late go a prima cause of morbidity and mortality 5, and less is known about the societal patterning of emerging chronic diseases in these contexts. In the yesteryear, corpulence was comparatively uncommon in lower-income states and was positively associated with SES 6. However, the prevalence of corpulence has increased dramatically in many lower-income states around the universe over the last 5-15 old ages 7-9. As the load of nutrition-related disease has shifted toward overnutrition 10, it is unknown whether the load of these emerging diseases is going comparatively heavier among lower SES groups. Recent cross-sectional grounds suggests that in the bulk of lower-income states wealthier groups have a higher odds of corpulence. However, within-country clip tendencies of the fleshy prevalence for high and low socioeconomic position groups have non been reported. Changes in the fleshy prevalence over clip by socioeconomic position group are of import for understanding which groups are sing an increasing load of corpulence which can assist expect emerging forms of disease. ( ? ) Based on ascertained relationships in higher income states and on the documented relentless associations between low socioeconomic position and the prima causes of disease in many contexts, experts have hypothesized that the load of chronic disease in lower income states will finally switch toward lower SES populations within these states ( believe I can mention yach and popkin, possibly others look at concluding disseration chapter ) . Brazil is one of the few middle-income states in which alterations over clip in the SES-specific fleshy prevalence are available. Nationally-representative informations between 1975 and 2003 indicate that, among adult females, the lowest income groups have experienced much more rapid additions in fleshiness prevalence compared to highest SES groups 11. Among the two most thickly settled parts in Brazil, the fleshiness prevalence in the lowest income group has really surpassed that in the highest income group 12. Such a form of alteration in SES-specif ic fleshiness rates is consistent with a switching load of fleshiness to the hapless. Similar forms have been reported among adult females in urban countries of sub-saharan Africa ( ref? ? ) †¦ Merely with faster fleshy prevalence growing rates for the low SES groups could the relationship between high SES and overweight finally go opposite in states with antecedently positive relationships. On the other manus, there is research to propose that higher SES populations in lower income states will go on to bear the largest load of chronic disease. In India†¦ Additionally, economic dazes frequently affect nutrient security and can go forth populations with the lowest socioeconomic position most vulnerable to inadequate nutrition in these circumstances.13 ( seek to happen some scientific rating of this, might get down by reading Sen article ) . Merely with faster fleshy prevalence growing rates for the low SES groups could the relationship between high SES and overweight finally go opposite in states with antecedently positive relationships. Such a displacement of the load of fleshiness to low SES groups in states come oning through epidemiologic passages would be consistent with the cardinal cause theory of disease ( 11, 12 ) . This theory is frequently invoked to explicate wellness disparities and high spots the overall persistance of the relationship between SES and hapless wellness over clip, despite alterations in the T ( 1, 11, 13-15 ) . Brazil is one of the few middle-income states in which alterations over clip in the SES-specific fleshy prevalence are available. Nationally-representative informations between 1975 and 2003 indicate that, among adult females, the lowest income groups have experienced document within-country clip tendencies for growing in and, higher entire fleshy prevalence? ? ? ? is from the Demographic Health Surveys ( DHS ) , which are nationally representative family studies administered chiefly in low- and middle-income states ( henceforth referred to as lower-income states ) . The studies entail repeated cross-sections and roll up information about cardinal demographic features, birthrate, contraceptive method, wellness and nutrition. The DHS questionnaires are standardized to enable cross-country comparings 21. Since our primary involvement is in the clip trends in fleshy prevalence we included merely states that measured anthropometrics in at least two study moving ridges. beginnings that include anthropometric informations on at least two perennial steps over clip. The bulk are from Demographic Health AAdditionally, s 22, 232425 ) . Wealth and instruction were used individually to stand for SES. To stand for wealth, we used the DHS wealth index, which is derived from a chief constituents analysis ( PCA ) of some assets that were asked in all DHS studies, every bit good as some country-specific assets 26. The wealth index was used to make country- and year-specific quintiles of wealth mark, which were used as a categorical variable in the analyses. Education was categorized based on the educational mileposts: no schooling, primary, secondary, third school. If less than 2 % of the population fell into any one of the instruction classs, that class was combined with the following closest class to avoid unstable estimations. Results Age-standardized fleshy prevalence was determined for each wealth and instruction group in each state and in each study twelvemonth and SES ( wealth or instruction ) group. Sample weights to account for complex study design were used in all analyses. Analysiss were conduced individually by: 1 ) wealth quintile, 2 ) instruction group. Our results of involvement were 1 ) the difference in fleshy prevalence between the lowest and the highest wealth/education groups for each study moving ridge ( prevalence difference ( PD ) ) , and, to measure clip tendencies, 2 ) the annualized difference in the net alteration in fleshy prevalence between the first and last study moving ridge for the lowest and highest wealth/education groups ( annualized difference in fleshy prevalence alteration rate ) . To cipher the prevalence difference for wealth quintiles, we subtracted the prevalence in the highest wealth quintile from that of the lowest wealth quintile ( Overweightlowest- Overweighthighest ) in each study wave in each state. A positive corpulence prevalence difference would so bespeak that the lower wealth quintile had a higher prevalence of fleshy compared to the higher wealth quintile. To obtain the annualized difference in the fleshy prevalence growing rates between wealth quintiles, we took the difference between the net alteration in fleshy prevalence in the highest group and the net alteration in the lowest group ( Overweightlowest, lastwave- Overweightlowest, firstwave ) – ( Overweighthighest, lastwave – Overweighthighest, firstwave ) . A positive difference in prevalence growing rates indicated the lowest wealth quintile had a higher rate of prevalence growing rate than did the highest quintile. We repeat these analyses for each state by instruction group, classified by educational mileposts, lowest being no schooling and highest being third school. SES was represented by wealth and instruction, in separate analyses, to research the hardiness of the consequences to different indexs of SES. For DHS states, we used the DHS wealth index ; it is derived from a chief constituents analysis ( PCA ) of assets that were asked in all studies, every bit good as some country-specific variables 2727 Potentially do age-standardization as sensitiveness analysis merely. Make 90 % CI and site Davey-Smith article 27 619 1128 2930 14 19 hazard factors for obesityrisk factors for 1. Phelan JC, Link BG, Diez-Roux A, Kawachi I, Levin B. â€Å" Cardinal causes † of societal inequalities in mortality: a trial of the theory. J Health Soc Behav 2004 ; 45:265-85. 2. Antonovsky A. Social Class, Life Expectancy and Overall Mortality. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 1967 ; 45:31-73. 3. Adler NE, Boyce T, Chesney MA, et Al. Socioeconomic position and wellness: The challenge of the gradient. American Psychologist 1994 ; 49:15-24. 4. Marmot MG, Smith GD, Stansfeld S, et al. Health inequalities among British civil retainers: the Whitehall II survey. Lancet 1991 ; 337:1387-93. 5. WHO. The universe wellness study 2003: determining the hereafter. Geneva: World Health Organization ; 2003. 6. Sobal J, Stunkard AJ. Socioeconomic position and fleshiness: a reappraisal of the literature. Psychol Bull 1989 ; 105:260-75. 7. Popkin BM. The World Is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies, and Merchandises That Are Fattening the Human Race. New York: Avery-Penguin Group ; 2008. 8. Popkin BM. Global nutrition kineticss: the universe is switching quickly toward a diet linked with noncontagious diseases. Am J Clin Nutr 2006 ; 84:289-98. 9. Popkin BM, Conde W, Hou N, Monteiro C. Is there a slowdown globally in fleshy tendencies for kids compared with grownups? Obesity ( Silver Spring ) 2006 ; 14:1846-53. 10. Mendez MA, Monteiro CA, Popkin BM. Overweight exceeds scraggy among adult females in most underdeveloped states. Am J Clin Nutr 2005 ; 81:714-21. 11. Monteiro CA, Conde WL, Popkin BM. Income-specific tendencies in fleshiness in Brazil: 1975-2003. Am J Public Health 2007 ; 97:1808-12. 12. Monteiro CA, Conde WL, Popkin BM. The load of disease from undernutrition and overnutrition in states undergoing rapid nutrition passage: a position from Brazil. Am J Public Health 2004 ; 94:433-4. 13. de Brauw A. Migration and child development during the nutrient monetary value crisis in El Salvador. Food Policy ; In Press, Corrected Proof. 14. Link BG, Phelan J. Social conditions as cardinal causes of disease. J Health Soc Behav 1995 ; Spec No:80-94. 15. Link BG, Phelan JC. Understanding sociodemographic differences in wellness — the function of cardinal societal causes. Am J Public Health 1996 ; 86:471-3. 16. Phelan JC, Link BG. Controling disease and making disparities: a cardinal cause position. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2005 ; 60 Spec No 2:27-33. 17. Miech R. The formation of a socioeconomic wellness disparity: the instance of cocaine usage during the 1980s and 1990s. J Health Soc Behav 2008 ; 49:352-66. 18. Chang VW, Lauderdale DS. Fundamental cause theory, technological invention, and wellness disparities: the instance of cholesterin in the epoch of lipid-lowering medicines. J Health Soc Behav 2009 ; 50:245-60. 19. Monteiro CA, Conde WL, Lu B, Popkin BM. Obesity and unfairnesss in wellness in the underdeveloped universe. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004 ; 28:1181-6. 20. McLaren L. Socioeconomic position and fleshiness. Epidemiologic Reviews 2007 ; 29:29-48. 21. DHS Model Questionnaires. Measure DHS Macro International. ( Accessed at hypertext transfer protocol: //www.measuredhs.com/aboutsurveys/dhs/questionnaires.cfm. ) 22. DHS. DHS Guidelines for Interviewer Training: Measure DHS. Macro International ; 2000. 23. Indonesian Family Life Survey. ( Accessed Janurary 10, 2010, at hypertext transfer protocol: //www.rand.org/labor/FLS/IFLS/hh.html. ) 24. WHO/FAO. Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic DiseasesReport of the joint WHO/FAO expert audience. Geneva: World Health Organization ; 2003. 25. Ahmad O, Boschi-Pinto C, Lopez A, Murray C. Age standardisation of rates: a new WHO criterion. Geneva: World Health Organization ; 1999. 26. Rutstein SO, Johnson K. The DHS Wealth Index: Measure DHS, Macro International ; 2004. 27. Appropriate body-mass index for Asiatic populations and its deductions for policy and intercession schemes. The Lancet 2004 ; 363:157-63. 28. Ziraba AK, Fotso JC, Ochako R. Overweight and fleshiness in urban Africa: A job of the rich or the hapless? BMC Public Health 2009 ; 9:465. 29. Du S, Mroz TA, Zhai F, Popkin BM. Rapid income growing adversely affects diet quality in China — peculiarly for the hapless! Soc Sci Med 2004 ; 59:1505-15. 30. Monda KL, Gordon-Larsen P, Stevens J, Popkin BM. China ‘s passage: the consequence of rapid urbanisation on big occupational physical activity. Soc Sci Med 2007 ; 64:858-70. 1.

Key Message & Insights to be Gleaned from Babel, the Movie

The two-fold message of Babel, a film by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, is human frailty and interconnectedness of lives. Most individuals tend to think that their actions are inconsequential, and often take people like family — along with other good things happening to them — for granted. In the least expected ways, people’s lives are intertwined. Usually, though, as a culture communicates itself to others, barriers arise, impeding a real connection.The film likewise depicts that there are times when people behave irrationally, which may be part of human nature, and there will always be a point in time when people will experience Murphy’s Law, commonly understood as `Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way. ’ In such instances, people may be weighed down by misfortunes or tragedy, but in those instances, there are those who cling to each other for support.Notwithstanding the trauma, individuals m ade up of sterner stuff rise to the challenge. Most people, in the end, also own up to their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions as well as for their closest of kin or alliances. Human beings are not infallible, and may sometimes have little control over circumstances unfolding in their lives.Just as the Biblical meaning of the film’s title connotes (the Tower of Babel is referred to as a grandiose structure built by Noah’s descendants for their own glory, but divine intervention muddled up their tongue and they failed to understand one another's speech, and ended up scattered across lands), Babel, the movie, features four interlocking stories where the characters experience some communicative barrier along with a sense of alienation from the rest of humanity, and are pushed to the edge.Every obstacle that the characters encounter, however, is presented as an opportunity to improve on the human condition. As such, Babel showcases how the human spirit can prevail over critical challenges or life-changing hurdles. Hope as a universal thing is clearly expressed. On the other hand, chaos as a constant element in the world is also highlighted. The presence of a gun throughout the movie’s main plot and subplots shows how a shot can create a ripple effect, trigger untold pain, and change the lives of its victims forever.It appears more like a symbolism of how guns can be misused. As each of the movie’s central characters embark on a journey of scars — in a remote setting in Morocco with its grazing lands and desolate tracts, and in another part of the world, Tokyo, with its resplendent yet lonely megalopolis — they see their lives unraveling, yet are unaware of the common thread running through them.In essence, human frailty and disillusionment are exemplified by Babel’s central characters — a couple traveling in Morocco in order to emotionally reconnect; a Mexican nanny who brings their children across the US-Mexican border without the parents’ permission to attend her son’s wedding; a herdsman and his two young boys; and a teenage deaf- mute desperately seeking attention from her father and friends in Tokyo. As fate would have it, a rifle ends up in the possession of a local herdsman who delegates to his young sons the task of guarding the family’s herd from jackals.While playfully testing the rifle’s capacity, the younger son of the herdsman accidentally shoots the lady-tourist, seriously injuring her. The ensuing events find the traveling couple’s nanny facing arrest and deportation for her unauthorized action; and the teenage deaf-mute enduring a dreary existence as social outcast. All these tormented souls attempt to soothe the pain and isolation they encounter as they wrestle with misfortunes and upheavals.The parallel crises take place simultaneously, and as the families deal with their respective hurdles, they pay a high price â₠¬â€œ with their soul, dignity, freedom and life. Overall, it is a good movie that insightfully depicts the human condition and how people will go to great lengths to survive or find elusive happiness or meaning in an imperfect world where actions have impact on others. Reference Inarritu, A. G. (Producer/Director). (2006). Babel. US: Paramount Pictures Corporation.