Dangerous Liaisons Vs. Cruel Intentions Essays - Free Essays

Dangerous Liaisons Vs. Cruel Intentions Essays - Free Essays Dangerous Liaisons Vs. Cruel Intentions It is my intention to compare the book, Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos, to its modern movie version, Cruel Intentions starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. I intend to examine how the original French text was modified in reference to plot, character, morals/values, and themes. I also plan to discuss how these transformations change the meaning of the story and reflect different cultural/historical contexts. There are some major differences between these two works, if only because of when they were written. First, the plots of both works need to be discussed and explained how they are different. The stories of both works have basically the same structure, until it gets toward the endings. In Dangerous Liaisons, the Vicomte de Valmont dies in a sword battle between him and Danceny. Right before he dies, though, he gives Danceny all of his letters between him and the Marquise de Merteuil and tells him to circulate them in order to ruin Merteuils reputation. Danceny does this and then moves away for a while. Merteuil ends up becoming disfigured from small pox and her reputation crumbles. She moves to Holland because of this. Cecile moves back into the convent and Madame de Tourvel dies of misery because of the suffering that Valmont put her through. Because Cruel Intentions is such a modernized version of this story, the ending is a lot different. Sebastian (Valmont) dies by being hit by a car because he pushed Annette (Tourvel) out of the way in order to save her life. Obviously, this is a much more modern way of dying in a movie than dying in a sword fight. Also, it shows the Valmont character as being more heroic, which in Dangerous Liaisons, he was not quite so heroic. In the movie, it does not really say what happens to Ronald (Danceny). He fights with Sebastian, and that is the last we see of him. Catherine (Merteuil), like in the book, also has her reputation ruined, but she gets humiliated in a more dramatic way (in front of the student body and faculty). Also, there is the issue of drugs. Her addiction to cocaine is revealed. The use of drugs is a common issue in todays modern movies, and that is one of the reasons Cruel Intentions is different in terms of its cultural context. Cecile and Annette (Tourvel) worked togeth er to produce copies of Sebastians journal, which revealed Catherines true self, and they handed them out to the student body and faculty. Cecile directly gets revenge on Catherine. In Dangerous Liaisons, she does not. This also relates to cultural context. It shows how more independent women are in the modern world. In Dangerous Liaisons, Tourvel dies of misery and Cecile goes into the convent. This shows that women were much weaker and less independent in society in the late 1700s. The last scene in the movie shows Annette driving off in Sebastians expensive car. This is a typical ending to a modern story. In the book, her character dies, but in the movie, she is the vengeful, independent woman. It is apparent that the morals and values of both works change because of their cultural and historical context. Dangerous Liaisons was basically written to teach young women in society what not to do. This kind of literature was looked down upon at the time it was written. In 1824 a decree of the cour royale de Paris condemned it to be destroyed as dangerous. This verdict remained the official one throughout the later nineteenth century. The book was spoken of only to be deplored: a picture of the most odious immortality, that should never have been revealed even supposing it had been true, a work of revolting immorality, a book to be admired and execrated.(Laclos, p. 7) It was considered to be an immoral book. The movie was made mainly for entertainment purposes. Since we basically live in an immoral society, it was well accepted as a good movie. Although the schemes that Catherine and Sebastian thought up and carried out were at times blown out of proportion, I think todays audience is entertained by that sort of character. Catherine and Sebastian were the kinds of people that probably do

Free Essays on Radicalism

Trace the history of Radicalism and the causes of its rise. What are its major ideas and movements? Radicalism is a rejection of liberal democracy and industrialization. Even with the fall of the Soviet Union it is still a vital force in the world. The middle class was aware of the social problems they were creating as they developed an industrial society. As a result, they had to reconcile their own affluence with the poverty of the workers. They used the theories of a number of thinkers to rationalize their ascendancy. Adam Smith sustained individual enterprise and Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo gave a rationale for economic individualism. Jeremy Bentham argued that every institution must be measured against its social utility – the greatest good for the greatest number. The fact that society was benefiting justified the change that brought the industrial world into being. There were those who disagreed with this. Radical theories began to develop in the 1840’s. Louis Blanc argued against competition and for a system of workshops governed by the workers. Pierre Proudnon proposed that the price of items be based on the amount of labor used to produce them. The ideas of Blanc and Proudnon received their clearest and most forceful expression in the works of Karl Marx and Friedrick Engels. Marx and Engels worked to produce a theory that would explain how society had come to its present state and propose a means of altering it. The theory was published by Marx in 1848 and was titled â€Å"The Communist Manifesto.† Society, he argued, was no more than a reflection of a hierarchy dictated by those who own the means of production. As history progressed, so the means have changed. Feudalism was defeated by capitalism and capitalism would be defeated by communism. The process would involve the concentration of economic power into fewer and fewer hands and the consequent opposition of an ever-increasing working class. Once the wor... Free Essays on Radicalism Free Essays on Radicalism Trace the history of Radicalism and the causes of its rise. What are its major ideas and movements? Radicalism is a rejection of liberal democracy and industrialization. Even with the fall of the Soviet Union it is still a vital force in the world. The middle class was aware of the social problems they were creating as they developed an industrial society. As a result, they had to reconcile their own affluence with the poverty of the workers. They used the theories of a number of thinkers to rationalize their ascendancy. Adam Smith sustained individual enterprise and Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo gave a rationale for economic individualism. Jeremy Bentham argued that every institution must be measured against its social utility – the greatest good for the greatest number. The fact that society was benefiting justified the change that brought the industrial world into being. There were those who disagreed with this. Radical theories began to develop in the 1840’s. Louis Blanc argued against competition and for a system of workshops governed by the workers. Pierre Proudnon proposed that the price of items be based on the amount of labor used to produce them. The ideas of Blanc and Proudnon received their clearest and most forceful expression in the works of Karl Marx and Friedrick Engels. Marx and Engels worked to produce a theory that would explain how society had come to its present state and propose a means of altering it. The theory was published by Marx in 1848 and was titled â€Å"The Communist Manifesto.† Society, he argued, was no more than a reflection of a hierarchy dictated by those who own the means of production. As history progressed, so the means have changed. Feudalism was defeated by capitalism and capitalism would be defeated by communism. The process would involve the concentration of economic power into fewer and fewer hands and the consequent opposition of an ever-increasing working class. Once the wor...

Birth Mark essays

Birth Mark essays Love is an experience that many people in todays society desire in their life for many reasons. It is something that many people hold very dear to them. Many people make significant sacrifices to receive the approval and acceptance from those that they love; Nathaniel Hawthorne proved this in The Birth-Mark. What Georgiana did to prove her love to Aylmer was a clear example of the sacrifices she would have made. Love and self-esteem issues could have been the motives for Georgiana removing the birth-mark. These motives could also be why women in todays society have similar procedures done, for similar reasons. Georgianas love for Aylmer could be why she chose to have the birthmark removed. Her love is so strong that she needs to make any sacrifices to prove her love to him. She states, Either remove this dreadful Hand, or take my wretched life! (Hawthorne 1264). This shows that she is truly in love with him and will do anything to gain his approval. Despite her own feelings of the birth-mark, she is willing to have it removed in the name of love. Women in the 21st century are not really concerned with a birth-mark because there is plastic surgery to fix that. Whether it is liposuction, breast implants or dieting, these things are often done for the purpose of gaining the love and approval of a man. Many of these sacrifices are known to be dangerous and even life threatening, but it is still something that is done. These actions can be parallel with those of Georgiana because many of these things are done with the purpose of showing a partner that the love for them is true. The last reason that Georgiana could have wanted the birth-mark removed is because of the many self-esteem issues that she had. In the quote, To tell you the truth, it has been so often called a charm, that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so (Hawthorne 1262). This quote could be ...

Information Systems in Project Management Reassessment Assignment

Information Systems in Project Management Reassessment - Assignment Example This paper illustrates that a number of organizations involved in the development of software products have still not resorted to the use of sets of vital signs in monitoring the status of different projects that they undertake. Similarly, other organizations never even use properly documented processes to discover half-baked project concepts at the early stages of a development process and others are not even in a position to discern or rule out a troubled project in a timely fashion. In addition, some organizations are fond of neglecting or treating with a little regard the need to train the targeted clients on the benefits attributed to successful projects along with the crucial success factors that surround the development processes. Some of the factors that often contribute to failure are issues like incomplete or vaguely stated business requirements and specifications, insufficient or lacking executive support, changing business specifications, insufficient planning, technologi cal incompetence and insufficient resources among others. On the other hand, success factors for different projects including but not limited to realistic schedules and estimates, clearly defined project goals, prior specification of the quality criteria of the anticipated deliverable, active support from top management, team competence, and proactive issue resolution together with the project manager’s level of competence. In the context of project management, a critical success factor is an important influence which can determine the success of a project. Thus, critical success factors refer to the series of conditions, influences or factors that contribute towards the outcome of a project. Examples of success factors regarding software projects include open communication, careful risk management, proper planning, and properly defined scope together with a selection of a competent staff.

Three Level Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Three Level Architecture - Essay Example In this section I will present some of major objectives of the three levels of the database architecture. The DBA is able to transform the structure of database, for example without altering the software program for example external schema. Every user is able to access the data as of his/her necessities. Users are sovereign of the storage issues similar to indexing limitations etc of the database. The conceptual architecture of the database has no influence because of the transform of the physical storage systems.The External LevelThe external level is one near to users. That is the one associate with the mode in which the data is observed through particular users. At the external level the DBMS outlines every user by means of a shared or particular view or representation of the data. There are numerous views of the information and data at this phase, as well as every view is an illustration of fraction of the whole database. A view permits a client access to their part of the databa se, as well as shields the remaining database from them. Every external view is described through means of an external representation, that composed of fundamentally of descriptions of all of variety of kinds of outer record discovered that external view. In external level, the diverse views can have diverse illustrations of the similar data. For instance one user can view date in the structure as day, month, year as another may analysis as year, month, day.The external level or view of DBMS is basically associated.

Socilogy of Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Socilogy of Organisation - Essay Example The term 'power' is obtained from the French term 'poeir' which implies 'being able to take action'. Power is characterised by the ability to carry out or proceed efficiently inclusive of the situational context where not to proceed is considered as most effectual. In a democratic framework, power is essentially categorised against itself, in the archetypal tripartite segmentation of power in governmental, executive and legal power, for example. In modern pluralistic democracies the distribution of power has further implication which is particularly not restricted to the dominion of formal politics. Issues of power concern to languages, communication, promotion, technologies, sciences, fashions, designs, management and varieties of other fields. Evidently, it can be concluded that 'power is everywhere' in terms of relational definition of power attributing to omnipresence, multiplication and dynamism, not restricted to the 'centres of power', as prevalent in legislative organizations and political institutions, for instance. Power is an important aspect of organizational analysis. ... r, in organizational analysis the primary emphasis is on 'power over' in which coercion put prominence on asymmetrical framework while commanding over on resources, like possession on the mode of fabrication, and consent, on the other hand, put stresses on authorities as 'gripping power' revealing a control over all the resources for and after production. There are several numbers of classifications explaining the inferences power over another - the phenomenon is defined as 'forms of power' as described by Russell (1938), subcategorised fundamentally in two headings - - Influence over individuals - Psychological types of influence (Russell, 1938). While understanding the function of an organizational structure, the fundamental methodologies employed to understand the implementation of power need to be recognized. The forms of influence, in practice, are broken down into three general subtypes - - The power of Force and coercion - The power of Inducement and group conformity - The power of Propaganda and/or practice On the other hand, the psychological influences can be subdivided into three distinctive forms such as - - Traditional - Revolutionary - Naked These subtypes can be overlapped with the forms of influences in certain given contexts, for instance, naked power can be trimmed down into coercion alone. Coercion is found to be affected by the influence of carceral power, which is essentially characterised by the experience of agents as 'imprisoned' by virtue of the use of power as a force, as described by Marx, or the attainability of the knowledge of its ability (Weber). Resistance may be overcome by the presence of compliance, which is known as subjectification as 'power through' rather than the presence of naked use of power at the form coercion, which is

Ensuring Sustainability in Infrastructure Development Assignment

Ensuring Sustainability in Infrastructure Development - Assignment Example The objective of this study is to evaluate different forms of sustainable approaches that are practiced in different components of infrastructure development. Based on the analysis undertaken a pragmatic intervention across all the infrastructure development programmes in UK could be proposed. There are different ways in which the sustainability is currently addressed. It could be in the form of energy efficient construction where materials used for construction are prepared through the processes that consume very less quantity of energy. Every material used for construction demands certain amount of energy for its manufacture. Materials like cement and steel are the examples for high energy materials being used for construction. Thus making infrastructure development process more energy efficient demands optimum use these high energy materials. With energy crisis looming large it is essential that entire construction process need to be turned energy efficient. Another approach is to substitute the conventional building materials, like aggregates, with different alternate materials. This would also result in lesser dependence on scarce natural resources and also finds an alternate use for other wise waste by product. Implementing energy conservation measures in the buildi ng and other systems through innovative means could also make the design and construction of infrastructure elements both energy and environmental friendly. Methodology The methodology followed is the detailed analysis of the available literature on the sustainable practices at different places across the world. Various innovative practices adopted could be identified and a scenario analysis is undertaken to assess their viability in UK conditions. The possible policy level interventions in the transportation planning are also carried out. Based on the results obtained s strategy for effective implementation of sustainable development initiatives for infrastructure promotion schemes are proposed. Literature Review Energy efficient construction process The important guideline for the sustainable design of the building units is given by BREEAM guidelines. BREEAM refers to the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method, which is the globally used method to improve and review the environmental performance of building (Article base, 2008). These methods could help to address the issues like high-energy use, large quantities of waste, poor comfort conditions for occupancy and very low user satisfaction by reviewing and improving the environmental performance of building. Further, these systems are also considered to have resulted in better environment indoors, high productivity, retention of staff and also attracting talented employees. The guidelines could also be followed in evolving regional transportation plan. The special emphasis given for cycle and motorways in some specific locations to ensure better mobility for masses and also to reduce pollutions is an example in this connection (Article base, 2008). A nother major intervention for energy conservation in the building is by configuring the walls with materials having appropriate thermal capacity values. In the case of walls the U value to be considered could be 0.22 Watts/m2K which could be achieved in the case of masonry walls by filling the fibre