The subject matter of the programme Essay Example for Free

The subject matter of the programme Essay The United States has the highest gun related deaths in the world. Moore links this to the lack of gun control and the president. From childhood games to bomb threats, from shootings to terrorism. One of the main issues the documentary explored was the shootings at Columbine High School in the United States, gun control and how easily accessible guns are in the United States. the very high gun related deaths, violence, mentality, behavior, issues within schools, peer pressure the effect of societies were looked at. Also in questioning was violent video games music. Marilyn Manson came up as a name to blame, but the president was also name to blame. Bowling for Columbine starts with black and white footage of the gun association, this introduces the historical background. Moore uses a number of conventions typical to a documentary. He uses voice over commentary throughout. April 20th 1999 (a typical day in America) footage is used to accompany the narrative. Moores ridicule of the Bush Administration is shown in his voice over saying the President bombs another country whose name he cant pronounce The shot of the statue of Liberty is iconic of representing America. It can be seen as an establishing shot. Verite footage of North County Bank in Michigan, where there is use of point of view shots showing him looking through a brochure and completing a form, in return of a rifle. He uses the humor of sarcasm when asking about the questions on the form he has to fill in to retain the weapon and the fact of how it only matters if your criminally defected but not mentally defected. Moore states a rhetorical question Do you think its dangerous handing guns out at a bank? There is a long shot of Moore when he walks out of the bank, with the weapon held aloft. The viewer would probably be taken aback by this, if not American. Guns given out at banks just dont happen. The viewer would think bank robberies. How easy would it be for someone who has just taken out a weapon in false name (or not) to turn around and hold someone at gunpoint? The scene is accompanied by non-diegetic music, its upbeat and sets the viewers imagination into role. The opening credits are accompanied by black and white footage of youngsters bowling. This represents the effects on youths from a young age, the bowling to take place of the play of children from that of the effects of childhood games to shooting. The Columbine shootings. Later on in the documentary there is a link back to this, as one of the female students who went to Columbine High School said, one of the boys involved in the shootings use to bowl for Columbine. Which is where the title of the documentary may have come from. Throughout the whole of this documentary there is a continuous link to guns. There is a black and white television advertisement, from the 50/60s advertising real guns. These were fake toy guns that looked and sounded real. I think Moore shows this to show how much children are involved in the tradition of guns in America. Moore also uses home footage of himself and his history of gun use to present Americas gun culture and to present himself. He won the NRA marksman award. He then introduces the fact that he grew up in the same State as Charlton Heston where hunting is extremely common. Moore includes a scene of himself at the Hairdressers, where he purchases bullets. His message is just how easily accessible guns and ammunition really are. The viewer would be shocked, particularly with our own Laws and figures as the United Kingdom. In another scene Chris Rock, a comedian, is on stage presenting his views in his own comical way. He talks of gun control and speaks about bullets costing more then there may be less violence. He suggests $5,000 for a bullet and says I would blow your head off If I could afford it! I think Moore includes this because he has a point, it is entertaining and Moore thinks the idea needs to be made. Marilyn Manson came up as a name to blame by America, mainly by the media. But out of all the United States the President, Marilyn Manson was the only one to whom suggested listening. Said within an interview between him and Moore, as the answer to one thing he would say to the youths effected by the shootings at Columbine I wouldnt say anything, I would listen The scene was effective because Marilyn Manson is a well-known artist. Other countries such as Gothic Germany frequently listen to his music but have a significant lower percentage of gun related deaths. Other things to blame were such things as video games, horror films and a TV program COPS In America, presented in Moores way, the media seems to be racially prejudiced. That or the accusers. Big, tall, black man, in around his thirties In both documentaries there are no formal introductions to the subjects. At the beginning of the documentary particularly focuses on the NRA (National Rifle Association) that Moore is a member of, wherefore he introduces himself as an American. Weapons and shooting play a major part in the documentary as they do in America itself. Moore emphasizes on the gun accessibility and how easy it is to retain a weapon and more importantly ammunition for it. In the closing scene, the song What a wonderful world is played over visuals. This is ironic. It is non-diegetic to the whole of the documentary, but leaves the viewer to provoke the viewers thought. Fahrenheit 9/11 The temperature where freedom buns! The main issue in Fahrenheit 9/11 was Fahrenheit 9/11. The devastation and effects it had on the peoples of the United States. Terrorism. The Bush Administration. The presidents connections with the Saudis and Bin Ladens and the Iraqi War. Media footage of Fahrenheit 9/11 is shown. The scene is started by telephone calls of panicking residents with no visuals. Then footage of people looking up in the air. There is no formal introduction to Fahrenheit 9/11 but the viewer automatically interprets this. News footage is shown of the planes crashing into the twin towers, then to people crying and praying. This scene is very emotive; one might question whether it was moral of Moore to include it. I think he did because he knew the reaction he would receive and that it would get the attention he had hoped for. Moore to uses narration to take us through all his findings behind the media. From the 2000 elections to informing us of the relationship between the president and the Bin Laden family. The fact of how the FBI suspiciously decided to fly the whole of the Bin Laden family out of the States just two days after 9/11 without being held for questioning. Also the fact that the Saudis, Bin Ladens and Bush families are all invested in joint financial dealings. The president wouldnt want the American public to discover this. Perhaps Moore saw it his duty to inform the American public. Moore interviews a man who was questioned by the FBI for merely speaking of and questioning the presidents decisions. An over reaction of the FBI and president to prevent terrorism. But this man was not the only one to be questioned. This man says theyre meant to be a state where there is freedom and rights, Theyre denying me my rights as an American citizen There is footage of the U. S soldiers whilst in Iraq. The soldiers admit they did not know why the president had sent them to Iraq and that it was getting to a point when they were shooting anything that moved because they had not a clue of what they were doing. One of the soldiers spoke of how they listen to The roof is on fire by Bizzy Bone. A soldier starts saying the lyrics The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire We dont need know water let the motherfucker burn! Burn! Motherfucker. Burn! As he says this, the image on screen changes to footage of an Iraqi woman clasping onto her family with other women. The backing music plays over the scenes of destruction. This scene is very powerful and emotive. The viewer would not have expected it they would be shocked, at the language, the heartlessness of it and the following scenes of images of young children who had wounds deep as the bone, skin burns, dead people. During this there is emphasis in typography on many facts, figures and quotes with actual footage from real events that help to back Moore on his views. In another scene Royal Marines Officers were frantically recruiting young men, mainly school leavers to join up. This was because of the huge loss of American soldiers that had already been lost in the Iraqi War. An aerial shot of a huge cemetery where the U. S soldiers have been buried is shown, along with typography of the figures of thousands who died. In the second to last scene, an American citizen talks of how she persuades her children to sign up. The benefits and possibilities that the Army offers. To her deep regret, she reads out the last letter she received from her son, who lost his life in Iraq. In the letter, he writes of how negatively he felt towards the president in his decision of sending them to Iraq. The scene is highly emotive, drawing in the viewer as they sympathize with this familys loss. Creating Moores desired affect to persuade the viewer in joining him in his view, against the president. Michael Moore continuously takes advantage of his documentaries to make George Bush appear to have his priorities and concerns with matters other than the American public. He uses his documentaries to convey his own political views and opinions to his audience. His obvious dislike for the president is very apparent as he includes many edited scenes of him. An example of this is shown in the documentary, when the president is on vacation with his brother in Florida on the 10th September 2001, the day before Fahrenheit 9/11. With the aid of editing Moore sets up the cozy smug look of the presidents face after Fahrenheit 9/11, cutting to one of the victims grieving family members. Undoubtedly this brings over Moores view of the Bush Administration, therefore hopefully ensuing in the audiences view, along with the American public. One of Moores purposes for creating the documentaries. Michael Moores main purposes for creating this documentary are to inform his audience of the issues that the mainstream media has missed/not included. Moore wanted to uncover, in his opinion, the fact that the current president of the United States had sent his fellow citizens into war. For reasons only known to him and close partnerships; having little to do with the excuse of an attempt to stop terrorism, capture Osama Bin Laden or prevent Saddam Hussein from using his weapons of mass destruction. Moore uses a considerably large mount of editing; in fact editing creates most of his documentaries. Unfortunately, however fortunate for him, this creates a bias view, which is what the viewer sees. Moore continuously visually documents the weaknesses of the powerful. The main example is the president. Moore captures the presidents sensitive side. Also Charlton Heston, as he walks away from the camera unable to answer Moores request of After that happened you came to Flint to hold a big rally and, you know, I just, did you feel it was being at all insensitive to the fact that this community had just gone through more tragedy? Moore then continues, You think youd like to apologize to the people in Flint for coming and doing that at that time? Moore takes full advantage of the fact that he knows about Heston, having known of the shootings, and the fact that Heston had pretended he did not. In conclusion, Moore has presented two documentaries, from his own point of view, to present his views and some truths. Creating his desired effect, to inform and explain his view.

Dissocative Identity Disorder Essay -- Diseases, Disorders

We all daydreamed, gotten lost inside a movie, has even had an out of body experiences; don’t worry it’s all common, but it is also a mild form of dissociation. Dissociation is a separation within an individual’s actions, memories, thoughts feelings, or has a sense of being unreal. Among the most incomprehensible or mystifying and controversial is the rare dissociative identity disorder. It’s the most severe and chronic manifestation of the dissociative disorders. This colossal dissociation of identity from a conventional cognizance embodies those with dissociative identity disorder, (DID; previously known as multiple personality disorder) in which two more diverse characteristics are said to interchangeably switch the person’s demeanor. Dissociative identity disorder is thought to stem from severe trauma mostly in the person’s early childhood (usually around the age 9), due to extreme cyclical sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse. The dissociative aspect is assumed to be a managing method, because literally each personality has its own mannerisms, voice, age, sex, and even race; by dissociating their selves from a situation or experience that are too painful violent to assimilate with their conscious self. Typically, the original personality denies any awareness of the other identities. Understanding the development of multiple personalities is difficult, even for highly trained experts; making a diagnosis of DID take time. It’s estimated that individuals with dissociative identity disorder has spent seven years in the mental health system prior to diagnosis. This is because of the similarities of symptoms of many psychiatric diagnosis of treatment that they seek. The DSM-IV provides the following criteria to diagnose dis... ...her than the driver, they truly believe that they have no choice. A person in treatment for a dissociative disorder might benefit from antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication, but is still no "cure" for dissociative identity disorder; it has been proven for effective treatment which includes medications, psychotherapy or talk therapy, hypnotherapy, and adjunctive therapies long-term treatment is very successful, only if the patient stays committed. Bibliography www.dissociativeidentitydisorder.net psychology.about.com www.psychologytoday.com www.sidran.org www.webmd.com www.medicinet.com www.fortea.us/english/psiquatria/dissociative.htm: Analytical Overview, Jacqueline Costello. York College of Pennsylvania The American Psychiatric Association. (APA) (1994): Diagnostic and Statistical manual of mental disorders. (4thed). Washington DC: Author Dissocative Identity Disorder Essay -- Diseases, Disorders We all daydreamed, gotten lost inside a movie, has even had an out of body experiences; don’t worry it’s all common, but it is also a mild form of dissociation. Dissociation is a separation within an individual’s actions, memories, thoughts feelings, or has a sense of being unreal. Among the most incomprehensible or mystifying and controversial is the rare dissociative identity disorder. It’s the most severe and chronic manifestation of the dissociative disorders. This colossal dissociation of identity from a conventional cognizance embodies those with dissociative identity disorder, (DID; previously known as multiple personality disorder) in which two more diverse characteristics are said to interchangeably switch the person’s demeanor. Dissociative identity disorder is thought to stem from severe trauma mostly in the person’s early childhood (usually around the age 9), due to extreme cyclical sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse. The dissociative aspect is assumed to be a managing method, because literally each personality has its own mannerisms, voice, age, sex, and even race; by dissociating their selves from a situation or experience that are too painful violent to assimilate with their conscious self. Typically, the original personality denies any awareness of the other identities. Understanding the development of multiple personalities is difficult, even for highly trained experts; making a diagnosis of DID take time. It’s estimated that individuals with dissociative identity disorder has spent seven years in the mental health system prior to diagnosis. This is because of the similarities of symptoms of many psychiatric diagnosis of treatment that they seek. The DSM-IV provides the following criteria to diagnose dis... ...her than the driver, they truly believe that they have no choice. A person in treatment for a dissociative disorder might benefit from antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication, but is still no "cure" for dissociative identity disorder; it has been proven for effective treatment which includes medications, psychotherapy or talk therapy, hypnotherapy, and adjunctive therapies long-term treatment is very successful, only if the patient stays committed. Bibliography www.dissociativeidentitydisorder.net psychology.about.com www.psychologytoday.com www.sidran.org www.webmd.com www.medicinet.com www.fortea.us/english/psiquatria/dissociative.htm: Analytical Overview, Jacqueline Costello. York College of Pennsylvania The American Psychiatric Association. (APA) (1994): Diagnostic and Statistical manual of mental disorders. (4thed). Washington DC: Author

Does the Media Control the Public?

Media, it is the main means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines that reach or influence people widely. Anyone who controls any form of media has vast amounts of power over the public. A simple news story can change society’s opinion over a certain topic. However, without the media, we would not get an insight into controversies that are happening half way around the world. If it weren’t for the media, dictators would not be brought to their knees, and answer to the crimes that they have committed. Whether we know it on a conscious level or not, we are being influenced by the media, whether you think you are not being affected, you are at some level. It is not only about the way we look, but also the food we eat, the things we buy and our concept of happiness, love, and sadness. Everywhere one goes they see magazines, billboards, television shows, commercials etc. , and these are the things that we want in life. This is similar to the social cognitive learning theory, essentially monkey see monkey do. Trends and fashion statements are shown in the media and then society often follows them up. Children are vulnerable and susceptible to this influence from the media, especially with the amount of exposure to the level of communication, and technology that is available to them in this day and age. Companies spend millions of pounds each year on TV advertisements, so that they can sell and in return gain millions of pounds profit. This is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience to perform a certain action. Advertising messages are usually viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail. We are accustomed to see people with rich people with skinny bodies and faces due to airbrushing and surgery, and that is what we strive for. Skinny is often seen as a luxury, a sign someone can afford the gym, and healthy foods, when many years ago being heavy was a sign of luxury, that one could afford to eat. The reason why think this way, is because of media advertising, whereas before, being ‘big’ would demonstrate your wealth as you could buy a lot of food, now being skinny is what considers you to be rich. However, it is not only the companies that use this technique to make eople buy their products, governments also use this technique to make the public commit to their ideas. During World War 2, Nazi’s used the media to justify their course, and so did a multitude of other countries. Media manipulation has been going on for many years, and especially with today’s media it is very easy to spread propaganda and even easier to make people believe it. F or example, every year, a state-owned publishing house releases several cartoons called geurim-chaek in North Korea. The plots mostly feature scheming capitalists from the United States and Japan who create dilemmas for naive North Korean characters. Governments find this very easy to make the public do what they want, without them actually knowing it consciously. As opposed to providing certain information to showcase, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda is often dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create a chosen influence upon the public, making sure it will be imprinted into the minds of the public. Governments would usually take the current situation, and try and manipulate them in a way that would make the opposition seem at wrong. They would also sometimes hide information from the public from the country or the world. The media can be easily changed and manipulated to suit a government’s need, just like how it can be changed to only represent one side of the argument, persuading the reader to believe what a certain media company wants them to believe in. Media bias is the perceived biasness of a certain piece of news that has been produced by journalists and news producers that are intending to persuade a certain category of people. There are three types of newspapers; right winged newspapers and left winged newspapers. Right winged news paper companies will usually be against any immigration topics and are usually very patriotic, whereas left winged newspaper companies are quite liberal and diplomatic. However there may be multiple motives for this act, and they quite discreet about which side they are on, as a common lay man would think that the newspaper is telling the truth. Many political parties have influence over a certain newspaper company that will spread their news and propaganda, trying to influence the reader to vote or to support that particular party. For example ‘The Guardian’ is a left winged newspaper that is the ‘voice’ of the Labour party at the present moment, and ‘The Sun’ is more of a right winged party, and they mainly support the conservative party. It is common practice for newspapers to declare an explicit affiliation with a political party, and affiliated newspapers were explicit in representing their party’s point of view, for example, on the 19th of April 1989, the Sun disgraced the Liverpool fans who had died in the Hillsborough disaster, by stating that many Liverpool fans had pick-pocketed the dead and had urinated upon the dead police officers at the scene. The Sun was supposed to have recited the very words that a Conservative MP had said in a speech. This sparked many arguments across the globe, and this can show how much damage any media company can do. Smaller newspaper companies also do the same, as they would most likely support the county that they are in, rather than supporting some other county. For example if you were to compare a football review between the two teams’ local newspapers, both of them would tell a different story, as they are biased towards the side that they support. However, without the media we would not be informed about what is happening across the globe, and we would almost be ignorant to the events that are happening outside of our local area. By having media, we would be able to gather the voices of a nation, and voice our concerns about a topic. Without the media we would not be able to have any liberty to do anything we want and we would be able to fight back against multinational companies, monarchies, and governments. For example, in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi was using his own private military and army to rule over the country with fear, to dictating the country. It helps us learn more about the world as well as interacting with each other. Without the force of the country upon him voiced by the media, he was being pressured to step down; he could have still been in power today if it weren’t for the media. We are in an age whereby we have such amazing technology that allows us to access pretty much any point of the globe without stepping out of our house. The media helps us understand both sides of the argument, and not all of the news companies are biased. If it weren’t for the media, we would have been a single-minded society, only thinking a certain way. We would be able to be equal, with certain groups thinking that one group is better than another, and eventually it will end up in a fight, and then leading onto wars, for example in World War 2 (1939-1945), Adolf Hitler had discriminated the view that all Jews were ‘parasites’ and that they were stealing all of the jobs available, and that they are the reason for the bad economy. The media give us a common ground where we can all talk about, reflect and form opinions about the world at large; environmentally, politically, socially, and culturally. Without using media, politicians would not be able to convey their message across. The media also helps suffering countries in a time of despair, and warns us about casualties that have happened in an accident or disaster. The media will inform us and it could make a difference to the people in need, as it will provoke us to raise money via charities hence helping the people in need. If it weren’t for the media, it would be difficult for the charities to communicate their messages. However, in the end it’s all about our choices and what concepts we choose to subscribe to and adopt as ours. But I personally believe that media does have a big involvement in the everyday lives of the public, and we are very much influenced by that. Governments today still use the media to convey their messages. I am not stating that we don’t need the media; we need to have media in our lives, as it will give us a chance to interact and have knowledge about what is going on around the world. So in conclusion, I believe that although we will need the media in the future, we should not believe all of it, and we should act upon our own opinion-not something that someone else is telling us.

Mental Illness Is A Serious Growing Issue - 1949 Words

Introduction Mental illness is a serious growing issue, not only in the United States, but also around the world. It is estimated approximately forty-three million Americans suffer from a mental illness. The concerning issue however, is that the forty-three million estimated only represent those who have sought diagnosis. Therefore, there may still be a large number of individuals who remain undiagnosed (National Institute of Health, 2013). Although treatment may keep a disorder under control to a certain extent, many psychological disorders cannot be cured and often persist throughout a person’s lifetime. Thus the goal of treatment is to help an individual live a healthy more normal lifestyle. In order to develop additional medical treatment specifically medication in addition to psychotherapy the multiple disorders need to be further researched. Of the treatment that does exist, many people suffering from psychological disorders do not receive treatment at all; in fact, almost half of all diagnosed patients do not seek treatment (National Institute of Health, 2013). The ongoing research on the mechanisms behind most mental illnesses continues and although much progress has been made, there is still a large gap of missing knowledge that remains unknown. There are many common mental disorders that affect tens of millions of Americans every year. However, there are several mental disorders that are more commonly seen in recent times among adolescents includingShow MoreRelatedMental Illness1279 Words   |  6 Pagestrying to find answer and solutions in issues like guns to prevent these unspeakable acts of violence. But even though all these men have had the weapons to achieve their acts, they have had one more characteristic thats sometimes overlooked in common, their unstable minds and serious mental illness. 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