Thursday, January 30, 2020

An Analytical Response to the 1978 film, F. I. S. T. Essay Example for Free

An Analytical Response to the 1978 film, F. I. S. T. Essay The plot of the film basically revolve around the life of a worker who desperately seeks a better and a more comfortable life by working hard in a very low-paying job with a management who imposes very harsh and unjust rules and guidelines. The story also deals with the struggles of the workers to earn respect and the right and fair kind of treatment they deserve. The plot centers on the life and struggles of Johnny Kovac’s character which was played by Sylvester Stallone. The character was portrayed as a willful trucker who decided to join the Federation of Interstate Truckers (FIST) to fight and campaign for just treatments among all the country’s truckers like him (â€Å"F. I. S. T. 1987†). Through out the story, Kovac was challenged by a lot of more powerful individual since he was seen as a very strong threat to their deceptive intentions. He also received a lot of threats and physical tortures since he was actually fighting very powerful people. But despite all these challenges, Kovac was nevertheless able to prove that he is stronger than anyone who opposes his intentions to uplift the lives of simple truckers who just deserve fair treatment from their superiors. This was the major conflict and drive of the story. Kovac, as the main protagonist both serves as a hero and the base character of the story where all the other conflicts and highlights are based from. The story emphasized on Kovac’s principles and his efforts of fighting for their rights as truckers. Kovac and all the other characters in the story were portrayed to be simple and typical people with whom, viewers can easily empathize. However, his defeat and death at the end has put a rather distressing and saddening effect to the story. II. Issues The story was basically about the lives and struggles of truckers. Just like other workers, truckers have rights and privileges that they can demand from their superiors. However in this movie, the workers were rather treated unjustly by the management. They were given inadequate compensation and several unfair rules and regulations have been imposed on them. Kovac, as a trucker himself stood up and fought for his principles and afterwards fought for the influence of the labor union, FIST, which he became part of. The movie had a particular emphasis on the laborer’s rights and privileges. The unjust treatments to these workers portrayed in the film are one manifestation that in the real world, this undeserved treatment is also observable. Through the depiction of this issue it can be implied that some capitalist may really have been so fed up by their wealth that they forget that there are still other important things to consider aside from getting richer and this is the welfare of their workers. And because of this issue, the characters of the movie can be observed to seek for their rights and privileges in a rather aggressive way because of the unpleasant manner their company has used to treat them. The issues were basically about, (1) what implications can unjust treatment and deprivation of privileges causes workers; and (2) how well do labor unions actually help in eliminating the hostile relationships between workers and companies. And because this issue has been depicted to have taken all the patience of the workers, some of them have even developed stronger sense of selfishness and greed. Some also developed greed towards money. Kovac on the other hand became more and more obsessed of recruiting for member to join FIST since he wanted his mission and his intention to voice out the wants of the workers to be accomplished as early as he can. These implications may in some ways appear similar to the effects of unjust treatments to laborers people experience in real life. Just like in this film, people may indeed grow hostile and aggressive once their rights and privileges will be deprived of them. But nonetheless, if there is one lesson that this movie was able to send out, it is the fact that it is never just and acceptable to fight for one’s principle in destructive ways. III. Discussion In several ways, this movie appears to carry considerable significance to the real occurrences of unjust treatment among workers in the society. In real life, these incidents are undeniable that is why unions exist. However, the arguable thing is this movie is that Kovac and his other colleagues appeared to fight for what they believe in rather hostile and destructive ways which only made the situations worse. Aside from this, a lot of characters were also depicted to be deceived by wealth and power which made them turn their . backs to their moral perspectives. Thus, this can be considered as one of the moral threats unjust treatments can really cause an individual. In its entirety, the movie appears to be a total representation what goes on in a union and how its members fight for what they believe in. But what appears to be an upsetting and disturbing part of the story is the aggression and immorality which brought about . worse situations and events. IV. Opinion Truly, every person in this world deserved fair treatment as every person deserves equal rights and privileges as well. In a company, the relationship of the executive management to the workers can be considered very crucial. In order to form a pleasant relationship between these two, each party must respect and provide the deserved treatment and benefit of the other party. Because once this rule is broken, hostility might definitely spark which will eventually form an unpleasant relationship between the workers and the management. Personally, I think the movie had an interesting inspiration; however, the real message was not that effectively sent out to the viewers because of the distractions that came from all the unnecessary actions and violence portrayed in the film. But nonetheless, I see this film as a good depiction of how worse a situation may get once a worker’s rights and privileges be unjustly deprived from him or her. Works Cited â€Å"F. I. S. T. (1987): Plot Summary. † The Internet Movie Database. IMDb. com. (n. d. ). (14 May 2009). http://www. imdb. com/title/tt0077531/plotsummary. F. I. S. T. Dir: Norman Jewinson. Writer: Joe Eszterhas and Sylvester Stallone. Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle, Melinda Dillon, David Huffman, Kevin Conway and Tony Lo Bianco. Chateau Productions, 1987.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Waking Life :: essays research papers

Most (i didnt really even know what to make of it. its the kid from that movie dazed and confused basically trying to find out the meaning of life and his identity and shit.. and hes like constantly in this dreamworld.. that he cant seem to wake up of.. he cant differentiate his dreams from reality. so one of the points is that there is no waking life...there is life and nothing else....each experience is an experience, nothing more or nothing less, each has the same value...the things you experience in your dreams are life itself... also...a lot of stress on wherever you are is the place to be...accept that every moment has the potential for greatness Waking Life is clearly an experiment, and, as such, looks and feels much different from anything else recently seen on a movie screen. The backgrounds frequently waver, making it look like all of the action is taking place on board a gently rocking ship. This is all intentional, since every moment of Waking Life is meant to be transpiring inside a dream. ). They are present in an interlude, having an intriguing discussion about dream activity and reincarnation. Indeed, Waking Life is comprised of a series of philosophical discussions ranging from how language evolved to the role of the media in modern life to free will & quantum mechanics to the meaning of identity. Waking Life certainly isn't for everyone, but, in large part because of its fresh approach and its endlessly fascinating discourses, it ends up staying with you long after the jittery animated images have faded from the screen. , but instead of grounding the film in reality, it allows for a wide range of visual styles. Th is is necessary since it all takes place in a dream state. The dreamer is unnamed, but voiced by Wiley Wiggins. He meets various people, who go on long soliloquies about philosophy and how it relates to dreaming and death. At other times, he eavesdrops (with the audience) on other similar conversations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The film doesn't make it known whether he is dreaming from the beginning, but the visuals are always disjointed, as if from a dream. Objects float and surfaces shift while perspective is distorted in Picasso-like fashion. The style is distracting at first, but the deep conversations pull you in until a dream-like state falls upon the audience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A man in a dream state encounters many characters who, one by one, talk about their views on the meaning, perception, and reality of human existence.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Recommendations for Auric Bank Essay

Auric Bank is a modern British bank that cares about its customers. Business at Auric Bank is constantly reviewed in order to provide customers with excellent service at competitive prices. The objective of this business report is to scrutinize different solutions to the two issues Auric Bank is currently facing. One of them is customer service improvement and the second one involves implementing a policy which will cut the bank’s costs and at the same time will boost its profits and share price. As a part of the major reorganization a look has to be taken at the cost of customer service since Auric Bank generated a loss of approximately  £1.5 billion in 2011 by investing in unprofitable areas of business. Since that time the bank has carried out a major review of its operations the main points of which are: 1. Customers believe Auric Bank is charging too much for its services 2. Auric Bank no longer has the image of a ‘caring ´ bank that is close to its customers and understands their needs 3. The bank needs to reduce costs to increase profits and price per share Today Auric Bank has 2,500 employees working in three call centers located in different cities in South England. There are four solutions which the directors of the bank are considering: 1. The call centers could be kept in-house  2. The call centers could be outsourced to a Company based in South Africa 3. The call centers could be outsourced to a Company based in Scotland 4. The call centers could be outsourced to a Company based in India PROBLEM SOLUTIONS First option One of the solutions is to keep call centers in their current locations in South England and reduce costs by using more part-time workers, reducing working hours of business centers and enhancing productivity by increasing the ratio of calls returned per hour. Estimated cost of running the call centers for the next five years is  £16 million. Estimated savings by introducing changes are above  £3 million with actual costs being equal up to  £13 million. The price is really high for our cost-cutting policy. There are three positive parts of this solution: 1. Current employees in call-centers are ready to provide the customers with personal approach as they have been acquainted with each other for a long time 2. Current employees know the operations and transactions inside out and, therefore, do not need intensive training 3. South-English workers show that Auric Bank is an English bank and, therefore, reinforce the bank’s closeness to its customers Second option Another way is to outsource services of call-centers to a company based in South Africa. Resource Plc is a company based in Cape Town. Calculations show us that cost of the contract with Resource Plc to run call centers for the next five years is  £8 million. This firm has an excellent reputation for its reliability and good service, and that is a crucial aspect because one of the priorities in banking sphere is the quality of customer service. Moreover Resource Plc has a lot of experience in running this kind of centers. We must take into consideration that Resource Plc offers good balance of costs and quality of service. It is expected that they will manage call centers more efficiently. The staff will be trained to provide the bank with new products and services at much lower costs than the UK centers and will undoubtedly conduct business very professionally. Third option Third possible solution could be outsourcing the call center to a Scottish company Orion Plc. Estimated cost of running the call centers for five years is  £10 million. The positive part of this company is that it is a new firm with young, energetic managers, which can work almost restlessly. Second advantage is that they have several contacts with big companies; this means that these companies trust them. Also they are experienced in running call centers that will help to avoid confusion during work. However, there also are setbacks such as complaints of the customers about telephone lines being always busy, which does not indicate a high productivity level. Contracts with big companies can undermine the reputation and performance of our collaboration. Price of contract with Orion Plc is not relatively low, but quality of their service is not enough for this price. Fourth option Last solution is to outsource the call centers to an Indian company that is based in Bangalore. X-source India is a fast growing company that has contracts with several large US companies. This means that it does not have problems with hiring employees and operating with low costs. An estimated cost of the contract with X-source India over the next five years is  £5,5 million. We must take into consideration that a lot of US companies perform cost-cutting policy through Indian outsourcing call centers. Indian employees have good qualification because the majority of them are university graduates. Indian management will provide fast and effective service and price of the contract is very low. RECOMMENDATIONS We understand that Auric Bank is the English bank, and if directors decide to relocate call centers abroad they will have some problems with laying off 2,500 employees. This fact will negatively affect the reputation of Auric Bank and of course labor unions will be against this action. Quality of service might not stay on the same level abroad, however, keeping call centers in England is too expensive. Taking all facts into consideration I would advise to relocate the call centers of Auric Bank abroad. Scottish and Indian companies have been servicing a lot of big clients. This fact, their serious commitment, can affect the quality of their services provided to other customers in a negative way. The call centers had better not be kept in-house because it is a very expensive solution that will not let AB focus on developing parts of business. Therefore I suggest moving call centers to South Africa and collaborating with Resource Plc. The offer of this company represents an appropriate price-to-quality ratio. If AB cooperates with the South African company it will achieve its goals: reduce operation costs, increase quality of services and get customer loyalty.