West Side Story Movie Critique Essay Example For Students

West Side Story Movie Critique Essay West Side Story is a contemporary rendition of Shakespeares classic, Romeo and Juliet. Set in the late 1950s in the west side of New York, gang rivalry and love story all in one. To todays standards these two gangs are more likely to be compared to a chess club than a gang. The two rival gangs are comprised of descendants of European immigrants (Jets), and the other Puerto Rican (Sharks). The element of racism is very apparent, but it is the underlying racism/ racial stereotypes and gendering in this film that influence an unsuspecting audience. In the first scene the two gangs have contrasting racial and physical qualities. Most of the Jets are blonde, strong and healthy. Where as the Sharks are all dark haired and dark skinned, the white Americans speak first in most of the scenes, making derogatory remarks about the Puerto Ricans. In the first scene when the police show up the Puerto Ricans are ordered to leave. The police officer wishes to only speak with the Jets. The office making the following statement Get your friends out of here, Bernardo, and stay out! Please! Boy, oh, boy. We will write a custom essay on West Side Story Movie Critique specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now As if this neighborhood wasnt crummy enough. Its as if the police dont have the time or the energy to deal with the Puerto Ricans, they are not worth their time. Not only is there racism in the movie there is also gendering. Women are seen as housewives that belong in the home, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. When Anybody a white female begs to join the Jets she is told to go home the streets are no place for a woman. Some of the Jets taunt her that no one would want to sleep with her, to them a a womens status resides only in her beauty. The women are present during the fight scenes, to watch and cheer on the men, but they are not good enough to fight alongside them. Anita reinforces the feisty sexually charged latino stereotype. She sings about how shes gonna get her kicks and have a private little mix with her boyfriend Bernardo in Tonight. Throughout the movie she tries to protect her best friend Maria and expresses her worry about Maria dating Tony. The Jets seem to look at women as nothing more than objects, and Tony is a Jet. Maria begs Anita to bring Tony a message at Docs candy store. When she arrives she is taunted and encounters violence at the hands of the Jets. If Doc had not stepped out would Anita have been raped or were they just taunting her? This scene just reinforces the role of women in the eyes of the Jets. Between the two gangs a confrontation transpires, the Jets are looking to maintain their territory and social status, The Jets are not willing to give it up. The Jets prepare for a war/rumble. We fought hard for this turf and we aint just going to give it up. These PRs are different. They keep on coming like cockroaches. It has been years since I originally watched this movie, and I was probably 15. I watched it with the innocence of a 15 year old in 1995. Watching this movie again 19 years later I was surprised. I know that it has always been a rivalry between gangs, but I never actually stopped to look at the racism or gendering within this movie. Not only is there blatant racism there were subtle moments of racism for instance Natalie Wood who plays Maria is not even Puerto Rican. The girl who played Anita her best friend could have easily played the lead role. She in my opinion is a far better actress. .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 , .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .postImageUrl , .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 , .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919:hover , .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919:visited , .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919:active { border:0!important; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919:active , .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919 .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u1c5ad283cba60888fa62dcd101b26919:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Animated television series EssayBesides for the racism, I really enjoyed this movie again 19 years later. The acting could have been a little more convincing, but with the great dance scenes who needs acting! Overall this is a timeless film about the struggles of young immigrants in a harsh white neighborhood and lets not forget the love story. Under all this ugliness there is a beautiful love story, two innocent and unsuspecting kids fall hopelessly in love with the one person they are supposed to hate. They look past all the hideous features their friends and family see and plan to run away and be happy together.

Free Essays on Dont Ban Cloning

Don’t Ban Cloning Today, the topic of cloning generates more argument then it has ever created before. The controversy over cloning is based, in part on the fact that there are extreme opposing viewpoints on the subject. Also a major factoring the debate over cloning is a fear of new technology. Throughout history, man has always been slow to adapt to a new technology. We go through all the trouble to adapt to one method, why uproot ourselves and change everything just to do it a different way. This attitude has been evident in the recent past, with inventions such as the automobile and television. Nuclear power is a prime example of an advanced technology abandoned out of fear. There are very few nuclear power plants left in operation, and there are no new plants being built. This is mainly due to fear of an accident, or to the long lasting effects of this technology. As with everything, including cloning, there is a negative side. With television, the negative is that children often watch it instead of doing homework, subsequently causing lower grades. It is also believed that television violence influences children into more violent tendencies. A negative to automobiles is the massive pollution a large number of them cause. Entire cities have been put on pollution alert due to toxic smog created, in part by the automobile. Sometimes the negatives outweigh the positives, and the technology is rightfully abandoned, in most cases the technology is abandoned simply out of fear. Cloning is not just any new technology, cloning gives us the potential to change the very essence of our being; what we are can be decided before we are even born. There are immense positives to cloning; the human life span lengthened by decades, mental and physical illness a distant memory just as with any thing new, we start with small steps, and move into big ones. In cloning, we started with simple genetic alterations. Not necessarily wi... Free Essays on Don't Ban Cloning Free Essays on Don't Ban Cloning Don’t Ban Cloning Today, the topic of cloning generates more argument then it has ever created before. The controversy over cloning is based, in part on the fact that there are extreme opposing viewpoints on the subject. Also a major factoring the debate over cloning is a fear of new technology. Throughout history, man has always been slow to adapt to a new technology. We go through all the trouble to adapt to one method, why uproot ourselves and change everything just to do it a different way. This attitude has been evident in the recent past, with inventions such as the automobile and television. Nuclear power is a prime example of an advanced technology abandoned out of fear. There are very few nuclear power plants left in operation, and there are no new plants being built. This is mainly due to fear of an accident, or to the long lasting effects of this technology. As with everything, including cloning, there is a negative side. With television, the negative is that children often watch it instead of doing homework, subsequently causing lower grades. It is also believed that television violence influences children into more violent tendencies. A negative to automobiles is the massive pollution a large number of them cause. Entire cities have been put on pollution alert due to toxic smog created, in part by the automobile. Sometimes the negatives outweigh the positives, and the technology is rightfully abandoned, in most cases the technology is abandoned simply out of fear. Cloning is not just any new technology, cloning gives us the potential to change the very essence of our being; what we are can be decided before we are even born. There are immense positives to cloning; the human life span lengthened by decades, mental and physical illness a distant memory just as with any thing new, we start with small steps, and move into big ones. In cloning, we started with simple genetic alterations. Not necessarily wi...

Using PHP to Display Random Quotes

Using PHP to Display Random Quotes One way to add a random quote to your website is to use the PHP switch () statement. The switch statement compares one variable with many values and executes one piece of code depending on the value it equals. This allows you to prepare a list of quotations and then use the rand () function to select a number randomly that corresponds to one of the quotations.   Using Switch to Display Random Quotes This example code demonstrates how to use switch () to display a random quote on your website. Each of the sample quotes is set to run when  its number is chosen. By using rand () to choose a random number, one of the quotes is displayed at random. This example accommodates only six quotations, hence the rand (1,6) entry.   } ? To add more quotes, you change the rand () function to allow for higher numbers and then add in their corresponding cases in the code. If you want to include a random quote on your PHP web page, use include () to pull the quote from this file, like this: INCLUDE yoursite.com/path/to/quote_file.php

Karim rashid work's images Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Karim rashid work's images - Research Paper Example Bdesigns%26b%3D148%26ni%3D21%26ei%3DUTF-8%26xargs%3D0%26pstart%3D1%26fr%3Dchr-yie8%26fr2%3Dtab-web&w=330&h=330&imgurl=www.modernrestaurantseating.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F12%2Fkarim_rashid_kite_chair.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.modernrestaurantseating.com%2Fkite-chair-by-karim-rashid-light-and-convenient&size=8k&name=karim+rashid+kit...&p=karim+rashid+designs&oid=1fd9cc2308e679e2&fr2=tab-web&no=166&tt=288&b=148&ni=21&sigr=12mjumc8l&sigi=12m8ea27d&sigb=141seuem1 http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dkarim%2Brashid%2Bdesign%26ei%3Dutf-8%26fr%3Dchr-yie8&w=500&h=494&imgurl=deco-design.biz%2Fwp-content%2Fsoundwave-flo-panneau-acous.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fletsgodeco.blogs.marieclairemaison.com%2Fdesign&size=146k&name=soundwave+flo+pa...&p=karim+rashid+design&oid=6d971e700056e8ba&fr2=&no=2&tt=16645&sigr=11kqcloko&sigi=11qdtrj9g&sigb=12n0232lc http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dkarim%2Brashid%2Bdesign%26ei%3Dutf-8%26fr%3Dchr-yie8&w=468&h=414&imgurl=marvinblog.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F09%2FRashid-Colors.bmp&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmarvinblog.com%2Fkarim-rashid-for-gorenje&size=567k&name=Rashid+Colors&p=karim+rashid+design&oid=d9d22d8896cebc86&fr2=&no=15&tt=16645&sigr=11edp4eg0&sigi=11ropkcfr&sigb=12n0232lc http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dkarim%2Brashid%2Bdesign%26b%3D22%26ni%3D21%26ei%3Dutf-8%26xargs%3D0%26pstart%3D1%26fr%3Dchr-yie8&w=600&h=592&imgurl=www.trender.fr%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F12%2Fkarim9.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trender.fr%2Fpage%2F8&size=79k&name=karim9&p=karim+rashid+design&oid=33aa9ba4612d699e&fr2=&no=30&tt=16218&b=22&ni=21&sigr=10sede1d8&sigi=11kg7q1lt&sigb=13jn4jkia

Phase Contrast Imaging Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Phase Contrast Imaging - Thesis Example The traditional approach is reliant on X-ray absorption as a mere source of contrast, and also outlines chiefly on ray optics to define and interpret the formation of image. As suggested by Yacobi et al, Phase contrast is the most challenging and complicated mechanism for a beginner to imagine, however, at the same time, it is the most powerful mechanism for generating images with ultra-high resolution (Yacobi et al, 1994). Phase Contrast imaging, which is informally known as High Resolution or HR imaging, is a process of imaging in Transmission Electron Microscopy, and is one of the chief components that discriminates Transmission Electron Microscopy from traditional optical microscopy. Nevertheless, phase contrast imaging is often interpreted as synonymous to high-resolution TEM (Williams and Carter, 1996). Moreover, phase contrast microscopy produces high-contrast images of transparent samples such as cells or micro-organisms (Murphy, 2002). This ability commences from the fact that the atoms in a substance disseminate electrons as they pass through them, thereby, giving rise to diffraction in contrast, along with the distinction that is already prese nt in the transmitted beam. Phase-contrast imaging contributes to the maximum imaging technology that has ever developed, and can also enable for resolutions ranging less than one angstrom, thus, allowing the straight viewing of lines of atoms in a crystalline substance. As suggested by Wilkinson and Schut, in phase contrast microscopy, the differences in refractive index are converted into differences in the image intensity (Wilkinson and Schut, 1998). The explanation of phase-contrast images is usually not a clear-cut task by any means. As viewed by Zhang, phase contrast images usually exhibit periodic contrast transformations or reversals (Zhang, 2001). The uncoiling of the differences viewed in the High Resolution image in order to identify the features as a result of which the atoms in the substance can hardly be performed with the naked eye. As an alternative, for the reason that the merger of contrasts as a reason of the multiple diffracting constituents as well as planes and the transmitted beam is diverse, the computer replications are brought in to use so as to identify what kind of distinct disparate structures may create in a phase-contrast image. As a point in fact, a sensible amount of information regarding the sample is required to be comprehended prior to the interpretation of a phase contrast image, for example a speculation about the constituents of the

Essay --

Holocaust Essay One of the world’s greatest events in the twentieth century was the Holocaust. This event was tragic and dreadful to all, deceased and alive, Jews. Between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945, over six million Jews were tortured then killed without having a say. Having to live day by day with this terrifying experience hammered in their minds, roughly three million Jews were blessed with survival. â€Å"Only be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.† -Deuteronomy 4:9 From the Holocaust we learn that feelings are important aspects of our daily lives. We must protect ourselves from all evils. Every man has naturally occurring evil built inside of them. It is our duty as being man, to secure that evil. The Holocaust is an example of what can become if that evil is unleashed. Man has to be aware of his, and the evil of others. If, however, evil is kept left alone, it may become stronger and more powerful. A person is not judged by their surroundings, but by the evil of its enemies. Man must learn to tolerate and respect those who differ. To do this we must avoid discrimination. Jews were discriminated because of their religious beliefs, appearance, and knowledge. Intolerance leads to unwanted hatred and cruelty. Man must steer clear of failing to care about the pain of others. When one dodges this action, he uproots cruelty. Cruelty shows proof of one being fulfilled with hatred. Hate was the cause of world destruction for Jews and other faultless victims. Hitler loathed Jews and because of this, he sought them out to be scapegoats. Although Adolf Hitl... ...truction, and becoming a follower. If these acts are ignored, the world can possibly be turned around, again. Some go against the thought of believing what took place between those years of the past. Also, what can become in the near by future. For others, six million guiltless lives had to be buried just for them to realize that evil does exist and that it has potential. As a whole we must always believe that even the worst can happen. Man should never give up his freedoms. I personally pray that all people, the world, become aware of our own negativity before it gets out of control. The hatred and violent crimes has to be ceased. As learned from the Holocaust, it only takes the hatred of one to commit to disaster. I also believe that for some, such as Hitler, their say is the only say. In my opinion, man is not born evil or good, he simply adjusts to his society.

Body Comodification in Maria Full of Grace

Writer and director Joshua Marston’s film â€Å"Maria Full of Grace† chronicles the titular character’s foray into the drug trade. The young girl, in desperate circumstances, wagers that the money promised to her by her drug running employers against the plethora of possible unfortunate outcomes, and when she accepts the job, her body effectively becomes commodified. Maria, in the film, is reduced by her employers from a daughter, sister and expectant mother to little more than a human container, a clandestine vessel to facilitate the import of cocaine into the United States from Columbia. Maria Full of Grace† exposes the methods that drug cartels use to ensure that their shipments arrive to their destinations. The mules are made to swallow pellets of cocaine, and, upon arriving in the United States, excrete them to be sold. This method of delivery is fraught with danger. There is, of course, the possibility that the mules will be discovered by authorities on either side of the border, and smuggling such large quantities of narcotics carries hefty penalties that could see them locked up for life.Another, even more serious threat is that the pellets could, at any time, rupture inside of the mule’s body, which is tantamount to a death sentence. With these dangers being considered, it can be difficult to imagine how someone could allow themselves to be used in such a way, but, luckily, the film includes the necessary motivations. Maria is prompted to become a drug mule when she loses her job de-thorning roses. She had been keeping her struggling family afloat with this occupation, and was in desperate need of employment, especially considering she was pregnant.While all drug mules have various reasons for choosing to use their bodies to transport drugs, most of those reasons are to escape desperate circumstances. The mules are given the opportunity to feed their starving families, to find some solace from their impoverished lives. The mules hold no illusions about becoming rich, they are simply compelled by their lack of options to accept any job that pays well, even if it means risking anything.Drug mules are compelled by desperation into the horrific world of drug smuggling, but the cartels are motivated only by lust for greed and profit. This represents yet another risk that the mules must face. In â€Å"Maria full of Grace† when Lucy falls ill, the cartel members that contact her pay no mind to the fact that she is dying before their eyes. To the drug runners, Lucy has fulfilled her purpose by transporting the cocaine, and they thus have no reason to protect her life. When Lucy dies, she is disemboweled in the bathtub of a hotel room for the drugs she was carrying. nd her body is simply and unceremoniously dumped, this turn of events serves to showcase the fact that the cartels feel no empathy towards the people that they rely upon, for, to them, they are not people, but have been reduced to mere objects. â€Å"Maria Full of Grace† helps to showcase how globalization is allowing human beings to be reduced to commodities. The international trade in drugs makes many unscrupulous people a lot of money, and so, those people are willing to go to any lengths to ensure that the drug trade between nations continues.When border patrol agents, drug sniffing dogs and the coast guard shut down avenues of trade, the cartels turned to the idea of using people as the containers of their wares. This commodification of the human body dehumanizes the mules to such an extent that when they die serving their employers, their thanks is to be cut beyond recognition for their cargo and disposed of, as if they were trash to be thrown out. Joshua Marston’s film perfectly reveals the negative ways in which globalization has led to the commodification of the human body