Friday, December 27, 2019

Titration Basics Acid, Bases, and Buffers

Titration is a procedure used in chemistry in order to determine the molarity of an acid or a base. A chemical reaction is set up between a known volume of a solution of unknown concentration and a known volume of a solution with a known concentration. The relative acidity (basicity) of an aqueous solution can be determined using the relative acid (base) equivalents. An acid equivalent is equal to one mole of H or H3O ions. Similarly, a base equivalent is equal to one mole of OH- ions. Keep in mind, some acids and bases are polyprotic, meaning each mole of the acid or base is capable of releasing more than one acid or base equivalent. When the solution of known concentration and the solution of unknown concentration are reacted to the point where the number of acid equivalents equals the number of base equivalents (or vice versa), the equivalence point is reached. The equivalence point of a strong acid or a strong base will occur at pH 7. For weak acids and bases, the equivalence point need not occur at pH 7. There will be several equivalence points for polyprotic acids and bases. How to Estimate the Equivalence Point There are two common methods of estimating the equivalence point: Use a pH meter. For this method, a graph is made plotting the pH of the solution as a function of the volume of added titrant.Use an indicator. This method relies on observing a color change in the solution. Indicators are weak organic acids or bases that are different colors in their dissociated and undissociated states. Because they are used in low concentrations, indicators do not appreciably alter the equivalence point of a titration. The point at which the indicator changes color is called the end point. For a properly performed titration, the volume difference between the endpoint and the equivalence point is small. Sometimes the volume difference (error) is ignored; in other cases, a correction factor may be applied. The volume added to achieve the end point may be calculated using this formula: VANA VBNB where V is volume, N is normality, A is acid, and B is a base.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Fantasy Rhetoric Essay - 1619 Words

Fantasy Rhetoric: Summary and Analysis of Katherine Fowkes’s Fantasy Films A Rhetoric Analysis consists of a multitude of attributes some larger than others and some not specifically require. Among those are certain attributes that are what provides the foundation of any Rhetoric work, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos or persuasive appeal. My job is to show you the other attributes consisting of the context of the argument, the authors’ attitude, and the tone of the overall work. So first I will have to fill you in to Katherine Fowkes’s work. Katherine A. Fowkes in Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, Vol. 2 she explains the notion of fantasy in traditional application of film through her chapter Fantasy Films. She defines its context in this†¦show more content†¦By the 1950’s science fiction began to take off as the current event of the day lend to new stories of space travel, atomic energy mishaps and the monsters that ensued. With sound also came the advent of musicals many of which were delightful fantasies by the likes of Disney and bring the fairy tales and children’s books to life on the screen. Now art also had a place to be expressed through the outlet of fantasy films, by the likes of Dalà ­ and Bruňuel disorienting pieces. During the 1970’s and beyond the science fiction reclaimed a spot in fantasy with the likes of E.T. and Star Wars and blend though was involve of the fantasy and science fiction as there was no explanation of Yoda’s magical qualities or E.T.’s healing powers. When CGI came it was able to bring the audience to a new level of fantasy pushing the bound of what the imagination could provide with the likes of The Matrix, The Abyss or films made completely of CGI like Toy Story. Fowkes thinks that though fantasy theory ideology is most commonly associated with literature, it also can be applied to cinema. The modes of fantasy would be referenced as â€Å"uncanny†, â€Å"fantastic†, and â€Å"marvelous.† Uncanny is in reference to the idea of the â€Å"experience of feelings of awe and hesitation provoked by strange, improbable events (Fowkes 192).† If thisShow MoreRelated Simulation Proliferation and the City Essay3639 Words   |  15 Pagesphilosophy of fantasy in a highly commercial, idyllic, anti-city movie. Those lucky children of the 80’s witnessed the depiction and eventual summarization of the relation between fantasy, imagination, fiction, story, and control in the politico-creative manifesto, The Neverending Story (Wolfgang Peterson 1984). In the movie, Sebastian (a somewhat troubled young boy) reads a book (whose unfolding is the main content of the screen) and is then implicated in the collapse of a fantasy world. LateRead MoreRhetoric And The On Social Media Essay1217 Words   |  5 Pagesmedia, when we hear the word rhetoric we often cringe. Yet there are very few that actually have a true grasp of the words meaning. When we first started the semester we heard rhetoric being described as â€Å"mere crookery†. Rhetoric is simply the process of making messages and messages made by that process, and these messages are used to influence social attitudes, the values and even actions of the intended audiences. If we look at it in the same lens of Aristotle, rheto ric is to lead us to the bestRead MoreEssay Rhetorical Visions in the Film, American History X3044 Words   |  13 PagesBormann’s Symbolic Convergence Theory and Fantasy Theme. The goal of this paper is to â€Å"provide insight in the shared worldview of a group of rhetors† (Bormann as cited in Foss 121). I will also show repeated phrases that lead to different rhetorical visions. I will explain how fantasy types emerge and also how symbolism reflects the rhetorical visions. The first part of my paper will include two different literary reviews that have been done on fantasy themes. One of them specificallyRead MoreEssay on Sacrifice to the Signifier, in Comic Praise of the Logos1345 Words   |  6 Pagessignified emerged from a cluster of signifiers (men chained before a blazing fire, shadows on a cave wall, etc.). At once self-consciously artificial and didactic, Socrates’ allegory prompts an understanding, produces a knowledge that leans upon fantasy and imagination as its only supports. Replying to Socrates, Glaucon registers his appreciation of the allegory: All this I see. Perhaps this primal scene of philosophical instruction can most productively be grasped as a deaf moment, or as anRead MoreRhetorical Analysis of Pharmaceutical Innovation: Can We Live Forever? a Commentary on Schnittker and Karandinos1013 Words   |  5 Pageson Schnittker and Karandinos† he addresses the article made by Schnittker and Karandinos about the progression of pharmaceuticals and whether or not we have advanced enough to significantly increase our life expectancy. Lexchin uses a plethora of rhetoric to persuade the reader into believing his argument, mostly relying upon logos, chiefly facts, to appeal to the logical and sensible side of the readers. His argument is not limited to logos though, as there are faint traces of pathos, the longingRead MoreEssay on Response to Bitzers Rhetorical Situation2241 Words   |  9 Pagesmoral because it is an act performed in a situation of a certain kind; similarly, a work is rhetorical because it is a response to a situatio n of a certain kind†.(3) By defining the rhetorical situation in this way, Bitzer further contends that rhetoric is a means to altering reality. (4) It is through the use of discourse that one is capable of changing reality through thought and action. (4) Bitzer then elaborates upon the nature of a rhetorical situation by explaining that rhetorical discourseRead MoreJumbo Wild Persuasive Essay1456 Words   |  6 Pagesindividuals have experience, they are overshadowed by the deed they are promoting. Patagonia didn’t leave out crucial parts to support their intended objective, they let the people do it for them. Meaning they didn’t have manipulate quotes to fit their rhetoric. You can have the most qualified economist in the world tell that one industry will attract more profit but if the area doesn’t need it, or the people don’t want it, who cares. Initially, the narrator gains his credibility as being a film makerRead MoreThe Visceral Politics of V for Vendetta: On Politica Affect in Cinema6851 Words   |  28 Pagesaffect in cinema. As a case study, I analyze the 2006 film V for Vendetta as cinematic rhetoric. Adopting a multi-modal approach that focuses on the interplay of discourse, figure, and ground, I contend that the film mobilizes viewers at a visceral level to reject a politics of apathy in favor of a politics of democratic struggle. Based on the analysis, I draw conclusions related to the evaluation of cinematic rhetoric, the political import of mass art, and the character and role of affect in politicsRead MorePersuasion, The, And Free Choice Essay2147 Words   |  9 Pageson Pharoh Huni. (McCroskey, 1972) Huni was known to be the individual who wrote the first essay on persuasion back in 3,000 B.C. The person who made the biggest significant contribution to persuasion is Aristotle, who wrote three books in terms of rhetoric. Aristotle discovered that persuasion had three purposes ethos, pathos, and/or logos. Ethos is known to be the nature of the communicator or persuader, pathos is the emotions of the audience or persuadee, and logos is the nature of the actual messageRead MoreThe Saturn Myth As A Type Of Meta Structure740 Words   |  3 Pages It may be possible, if the monstrous rhetoric could be traced to its origin, to establish a type of meta-structure by which to identify uses of language and metaphor which rely on the monstrous to create difference or marginality. A brief look into the European origins of cannibalism, not as a practice but as a metaphorical construction, leads back to the Saturn myth. Again, Zika notes the use of the Saturn myth as the â€Å"explicit basis for [the] association between witch and cannibal,† and notes

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Big data and Its Application

Questions: Part AThis part emphasizes on the use of Big Data and its applications. Students are required to demonstrate research in the area of Big Data and its solutions. Over the past several years the retail sector has been bombarded with challenges. Brick-and Mortar stores have closed in record numbers and continue to do so. Indeed virtually every member of the entire industry is at high risk. They are vexed by several threats ranging from increased competition from online super-shopper sites such as Amazon to a plethora of more brand-specific problems, such as lack of differentiators, pricing pressures, muddled marketing messaging, poor businesses processes, online pricing/brand comparison sites, customer reviews on their own websites, vulnerability to customer social messaging, and an overall disconnection with buying public. One of the retail sectors is Alanas Retail Clothing House (ARCH). ARCH former strategies in merchandising, merchandise selection, pricing models, customer service, a nd marketing are no longer working as effectively as they have in the past. They are planning to introduce a new product into the market. However, in recent times the company has made some bad investment decisions which in turn have impacted their profit bottom line. Thus the senior management requires a thorough analysis of every new product that is introduced to the market. As a senior Data analyst, you have been appointed to advise the senior management on the feasibility of the new product.Your task is to suggest ways how Big Data Solutions can help Alanas Retail Clothing House. You need to write a report to the senior management on Product selection and pricing, using Big Data to develop new pricing models, to find better ways to get more, better, and cleaner customer data which can help profitability. Part B:You are required to select and examine an existing company that is currently using business intelligence and decision support systems using Big Data as part of its busine ss strategy. In order for you to meet the requirements of this Part B, you need to answer the following questions: Discuss in detail what kind of Big Data online or offline is being used for the business. How the organization of chose the right Big Data application for their business. Discuss in detail what Big Data tools and techniques are used by the organization to support its business operations or processes. Provide examples on how those tools and techniques are used in the organization. What improvements/enhancements can be observed from this company as compared to other companies within the same industry when using Big data? What are the Business and Organizational impact using Big Data? How do you think Big Data solutions provide values to business intelligence to your chosen company and its customers? What are the main factors that influence the success of business intelligence in the company? Answers: Introduction: In retail sector, big data expedites the analysis of behavior of in-store purchase in real time. With this kind of facility to have quick insight into demand scenario, retail stores can manage their stock levels, prices, merchandise and also able to maximize sales.Big data provides the ability to store huge volume of data set, which is beyond the capacity of commonly used software tools to curate, capture, process and manage a large volume of data within a desired amount of time. With a shift form few dozen terabytes to petabytes of data, size of Big data is increasing day by day. Big data is nothing but a set of technologies and techniques which is made up of new forms of integration to reveal a large volume of data values from a large set of data that are of massive scale, complex and diverse in nature. Architecture of a big data technology is having five layers- Presentation layer, application layer, Storage layer and integration layer. Part A: Big data and its Application: Big data provides the ability to store huge volume of data set, which is beyond the capacity of commonly used software tools to curate, capture, process and manage a large volume of data within a desired amount of time. With a shift form few dozen terabytes to petabytes of data, size of Big data is increasing day by day. Big data is nothing but a set of technologies and techniques which is made up of new forms of integration to reveal a large volume of data values from a large set of data that are of massive scale, complex and diversein nature(Zhao, Fan and Hu, 2014). Architecture of a big data technology is having five layers- Presentation layer, application layer, Storage layer and integration layer. For process management and workflow, presentation layer provides primary interface. Application layer is the place, where modeling, analysis and business intelligence are executed(Chugh and Grandhi, 2013).The storage and processing layer store and process a huge volume of unstructured and structured data either in real time or in non-real time. Lastly, the integration layer work as an interface between the several enterprise data sources across an organization and helps to move data in, out and throughout the architecture of big data(Bernardino and Ribeiro, 2011). Market research has been conducting based so many products since a century. Importance of market research is increasing gradually in order to determine the market strength of a particular product. Big data solution for Alanas Retail Clothing House (ARCH): While retail sectors are in concern, big data explores the analysis of behavior of in-store purchase in real time. With this kind of facility to have quick insight into demand scenario, retail stores can manage their stock levels, prices, merchandise and also able to maximize sales(Vera-Baquero, Colomo-Palacios and Molloy, 2013). With the incorporation ofBig data and BI (Business Intelligence) tools, ARCH can have the ability of massive processing capability to produce the large data sets and helps to analyze the market trend with respect to a particular product. This in turn helps the company to uncover the cost-reducing opportunities(Bi and Cochran, 2014). In this context ARCH will have a great impact in three areas, due to the incorporation of Big data and BI tools, such as- Customer intimacy: organizations are in rush to gather customer data form interactive websites, third-party data banks, government and online communities. That is where Big data put a great impact to strengthen the corporate strategy. As a social-media Platform Facebook is telling about 30 billion contents are shared by users daily(Duan and Xiong, 2015). On the other hand it is now possible to bring the customer contact and social media feeds in a one place. With the further advancement of the analytical tools, it becomes possible to allow more effective, efficient and effective tool with least processing cost. Hence it can help to develop new insights rapidly(Chugh and Grandhi, 2013). It is a big opportunity for ARCH, if its owners are thinking to build a web portal to incorporate the E-commerce in the business model. Big data help to customize product offers in real time environment. For example, AMAZON has adopted this technique since few years by displaying the related products with the purchased products. In offer giving offline advertisement alsoBigdata assists in ad placement by analyzing which TV programs will deliver the greatest impact for several segments of customer(De Ville, 2006). Production Innovation: New Big data opportunities are coming up across the globe to gather past and related data from many sources whether it is an online data or offline data. The weak side of a business scenario comes up when data collection is something hard-to-find. With concept of Big data what was once proprietary information, now can be accessed from public to private resources. After this data collection, it is possible for ARCH to generate revenue by analyzing the market of their product. Even customers buying behavior will also help ARCH to improve their product and they can offer dynamic pricing along with different content. For example, Facebook runs lots of experiments everyday with a set of users. These users are seeing different features than others. Even Amazon offers different content along with dynamic pricing applicable for several customers and adjustments are made appropriately(Duan and Xiong, 2015). Operations: Before something starts deteriorating it is needed to take efficient steps to fix. In previous scenario of ARCH allows information to be rustin storage area and that was a waste of opportunity. Supply chain data offers several information-rich interactions, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) for capturing the physical movement of products. This scope allows getting information on manufacturing sites, customers, suppliers and asset movement, revenue, customers in real time.Allowing customer information and their purchased item of ARCH is not everything but the way it is seen from the perspective of customers is important.I.e. when a promotion ofARCHs substitute product will take place in the market, then it will reveal the actual customer preferences(GlenysVahn, 2014). With the incorporation of Big data and BI (Business Intelligence) tools, ARCH can have the ability of massive processing capability to produce the large data sets and helps to analyze the market trend with respect to a particular product. This in turn helps the company to uncover the cost-reducing opportunities. Conclusion: With concept of Big data what was once less known information, now can be accessed from public to private resources. With the further advancement and incorporation of analytical tools, it becomes possible to allow more effective and efficient tool with least processing cost. With the mining techniques, such as, classification allows to segregate collected data as per the similarities. With Classification Rule Mining, it became possible to indentify frequency of a particular product and even it becomes possible to find other frequent product that is coming frequently with a most frequent product. That in turn helps to mine the buying behavior of customers. This scope allows getting information on manufacturing sites, customers, suppliers and asset movement, revenue, customers in real time which helps the top most person of company to take decision. All those in turn help ARCH and its organizational heads to take effective decisions. Part B: Introduction: Business Intelligence tools are kind of application software, which are designed for retrieving, analyzing, transforming and making report data for business intelligence. These kinds of tools generally used to read and analyze data, which have been stored previously in data warehouses. Categories of BI tools are: Querying and Reporting software, spreadsheets, OLAP, data mining, local information systems, Data warehousing and Digital dashboards (Heinrichs, Lim and Hudspeth, 2002). All the big data tools and techniques help to get store, retrieve and modify data easily those stored in physical locations and virtual spaces, such as cloud. This tools techniques are use to track the product market and revenue growth from a remote location, as data can be stored on virtual space. Hence it can be concluded that Big data is nothing but the large data set to analyze, revel the pattern among those gathered data specially related to human behavior. Company that is currently using business intelligence and decision support systems in its business strategy: With the incorporation of DSS standard and BI (Business Intelligence) tools, Levi Strauss can have the ability of massive processing capability to produce the large data sets and helps to analyze the market trend with respect to a particular product. This in turn helps the company to uncover the cost-reducing opportunities(Huang et al., 2014).Supply chain data offers different information using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to capture the physical movement of products. This scope allows getting information on customers, suppliers and asset movement, revenue, customers in real time. 1. Levi has adopted this technique since few years by displaying the related products with the purchased products. In offer giving offline advertisement also Big data assists in ad placement by analyzing which TV programs will deliver the greatest impact for several segments of customer (Duan and Xiong, 2015). On the other hand Levi DSSs allows manager of Levi to take decision and also make it easy for managers to examine the performance of the distributors, supplier and manufacturer over supply chain management. Levi is Involved in offline retail to measure and ultimately optimize brick-and-mortar of retail stores. Data those are stored in an offline storage are linked with the data warehouse. Tools those are used in Big data fetch records form offline storage and make analysis over those data. Before making analysis upon those data, data are fetched and stored using offline storage or in a virtual storage space such as clouds.While we are considering the data collection of Levi in the form of online or offline, Levi Strauss manage to collect their big data from online source through their official FB page and through the official sites of Levi. If offline data collection of Levi is considered, it shows their offline customer care service when a customer arrives to their store. Customers opinion makes a huge different towards the required improvement and opinion on the existing system engaged in production and customer service(Kirkpatrick, 2013).2. Jeanswear giant LS Co has chosen Capgemini for the development of an integrated data warehouse and BI platform to analyze the data, which are flowing within the company. Being one of the worlds largest apparel companies, LSCO leverages multiple analytics and BI systems in order to support its wholesale and retail business units. According to the new deal Capgemini will be working with Teradata and SAP to implement the SAP BusinessObject, BI platform 4.0. This is designed so to provide a global, single and broad-base d view of the data flow of the organization. Hence it can help Levi to drive revenue and also allowsmaking decrement in costs(Leeuwen and Timmermans, 2004).3. According to the vice president, application services, Tammy Amirault, Levis continued success on global business depends on Levis capability to give quick reaction to the movement of data across the enterprise (Leonard, 2013). Which in turn helps in determining customers buying behavior. Customer data are collected and analyzed with respect to the substitute product. It is now possible to bring the customer contact and social media feeds in a one place. With the further advancement of the analytical tools, it becomes possible to allow more effective, efficient and tool with least processing cost (Kirkpatrick, 2013).4. With the big data solution data are stored and fetched in/form virtual and physical storage medium. Those data are gathered, analyzed, and lastly classified to know the actual preference of the customers and eve n it is possible to understand their buying behavior. Examining theses customers preferences and their behavior companies can take their valuable decisions for their future benefits. Even customers can get better shopping experience while they are purchasing materials online. For example users can maintain their account and update their wish list as per their preferences that in turn helps a business organization to know present market trend. 5. With the incorporation of Big data it became possible to incorporate the BI tools and other analytic tools to analyze the market of a particular product. Even it became possible to incorporate the some value added services and offers as per the most frequently sold products. On the other hand companies are now a day became able to understand strategies of other companies to sale the substitute products due to the online presence of the customer data, their preferences and stock report. These stock reports are easy to maintain and easy to fet ch the customer records along with the revenue report due to the incorporation of data mining and other analytics methodologies. Conclusion: Now a day Organizations are in rush to gather customer data form interactive websites, third-party data banks, government and online communities in order to collect a huge amount of data on customer information, their preference while choosing substitute product. That is where Big data put a great impact to strengthen the corporate strategy. For example, Facebook is telling about 30 billion contents are shared by users daily. On the other hand it is now possible to bring the customer contact and social media feeds in a one place. The weak side of a business scenario comes up when data collection is something hard-to-find. With concept of Big data what was once proprietary information, now can be accessed from public to private resources. With the further advancement of the analytical tools, it becomes possible to allow more effective and efficient tool with least processing cost.Supply chain data offers different information along with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology an organization capture the physical movement of products. This scope allows getting information on manufacturing sites, customers, suppliers and asset movement, revenue, customers in real time which helps the top most person of company to take decision. Hence it can help to develop new insights rapidly. It is also possible by incorporating data mining with the Big data to know the buying pattern while a large volume of data on customerand product and revenue movement are fetched. With the mining techniques, such as, classification allows to segregate collected data as per the similarities. With Classification Rule Mining, it became possible to indentify frequency of a particular product and even it becomes possible to find other frequent product that is coming frequently with a most frequent product. That in turn helps to mine the buying behavior of customers. References Bernardino, J. and Ribeiro, P. (2011). Open source Business Intelligence: an alternative to proprietary tools. International Journal of Electronic Business, 9(3), p.219. Bi, Z. and Cochran, D. (2014). Big data analytics with applications. Journal of Management Analytics, 1(4), pp.249-265. Chugh, R. and Grandhi, S. (2013). Why Business Intelligence?. International Journal of E-Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 4(2), pp.1-14. De Ville, B. (2006). Decision trees for business intelligence and data mining. Cary, NC: SAS Institute. Duan, L. and Xiong, Y. (2015). Big data analytics and business analytics. Journal of Management Analytics, pp.1-21. Glenys Vahn, G. (2014). BUSINESS ANALYTICS IN THE AGE OF BIG DATA. Business Strategy Review, 25(3), pp.8-9. Heinrichs, J., Lim, J. and Hudspeth, L. (2002). Teaching Strategic Marketing Models with Web-Based Business Intelligence Tools: Innovative Guided Marketing Analysis. Journal of Marketing Education, 24(2), pp.135-142. Huang, R., Sato, A., Tamura, T., Ma, J. and Yen, N. (2014). Towards next-generation business intelligence: an integrated framework based on DME and KID fusion engine. Multimedia Tools and Applications. Kirkpatrick, R. (2013). Big Data for Development. Big Data, 1(1), pp.3-4. Leeuwen, J. and Timmermans, H. (2004). Recent advances in design and decision support systems in architecture and urban planning. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Leonard, P. (2013). Customer data analytics: privacy settings for 'Big Data' business. International Data Privacy Law, 4(1), pp.53-68. Mayer-Schonberger, V. and Cukier, K. (2013). Big data. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Ohlhorst, F. (2013). Big data analytics. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Rohweder, J. (2005). Middle Mississippi River Decision Support System. Reston, Va.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. Vera-Baquero, A., Colomo-Palacios, R. and Molloy, O. (2013). Business Process Analytics Using a Big Data Approach. IT Prof., 15(6), pp.29-35. Zhao, J., Fan, S. and Hu, D. (2014). Business challenges and research directions of management analytics in the big data era. Journal of Management Analytics, 1(3), pp.169-174.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Violence in Media Entertainment Essay Example

Violence in Media Entertainment Essay Media Violence – Introduction The debate over media violence has eluded definitive answers for more than three decades. At first blush, the debate is dominated by one question—whether or not media violence actually causes real-life violence. But closer examination reveals a political battle. On the one hand, there are those who blame media violence for societal violence and want to censor violent content to protect children. On the other hand are those who see regulation as the slippery slope to censorship or a smokescreen hiding the root causes of violence in society. One thing is certain: the issue of media violence is not going away. Increasingly the debate is focusing on the culture of violence, and on the normalization of aggression and lack of empathy in our society. This section describes how the depiction of violence is evolving in a number of media formats. It analyses how, and why, violence is used by the entertainment and information industries. It offers an overview of research findings, an outline of government responses to the issue, and a look at some of the key arguments in the debate. It also explores the role that media education can play in helping young people to put media violence into perspective. Throughout the section, there are links to seminal articles, reports and surveys on the issue. Violence in Media Entertainment Between 2000 B. C. and 44 A. D. , the ancient Egyptians entertained themselves with plays re-enacting the murder of their god Osiris and the spectacle, history tells us, led to a number of copycat killings. The ancient Romans were given to lethal spectator sports as well, and in 380 B. C. We will write a custom essay sample on Violence in Media Entertainment specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Violence in Media Entertainment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Violence in Media Entertainment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Saint Augustine lamented that his society was addicted to gladiator games and drunk with the fascination of bloodshed. Violence has always played a role in entertainment. But theres a growing consensus that, in recent years, something about media violence has changed. For one thing, theres more of it. Laval University professors Guy Paquette and Jacques de Guise studied six major Canadian television networks over a seven-year period, examining films, situation comedies, dramatic series, and childrens programming (though not cartoons). The study found that between 1993 and 2001, incidents of physical violence increased by 378 per cent. TV shows in 2001 averaged 40 acts of violence per hour. Francophone viewers experienced the greatest increase. Although physical violence on the three anglophone networks in the study increased by 183 per cent, on their francophone counterparts it increased by 540 per cent. One network, TQS, accounted for just under half (49 per cent) of all the physical violence on the networks studied. Paquette and de Guise also identified a disturbing increase in psychological violence, especially in the last two years. The study found that incidents of psychological violence remained relatively stable from 1993 to 1999, but increased 325 per cent from 1999 to 2001. Such incidents now occur more frequently than physical violence on both francophone and anglophone networks. Canadians are also heavily influenced by American programming. Paquette and de Guise found that over 80 per cent of the TV violence aired in Canada originates in the U. S. They speculate that francophone networks and stations may have a higher incidence of violence because they broadcast more movies, and this, in turn may be due to lower production budgets. Canadian-made violence is most likely to appear on private networks, which broadcast three times as many violent acts as public networks do. Overall, 87. 9 per cent of all violent acts appear before 9 p. m. , and 39 per cent air before 8 p. m. at a time when children are likely to be watching. More Graphic, More Sexual, More Sadistic Other research indicates that media violence has not just increased in quantity; it has also become much more graphic, much more sexual, and much more sadistic. Explicit pictures of slow-motion bullets exploding from peoples chests, and dead bodies surrounded by pools of blood, are now commonplace fare. Millions of viewers worldwide, many of them children, watch female World Wrestling Entertainment wrestlers try to tear out each others hair and rip off each others clothing. And one of the top-selling video games in the world, Grand Theft Auto, is programmed so players can beat prostitutes to death with baseball bats after having sex with them. The Globalization of Media Concerns about media violence have grown as television and movies have acquired a global audience. When UNESCO surveyed children in 23 countries around the world in 1998, it discovered that 91 per cent of children had a television in their home and not just in the U. S. , Canada and Europe, but also in the Arab states, Latin America, Asia and Africa. More than half (51 per cent) of boys living in war zones and high-crime areas chose action heroes as role models, ahead of any other images; and a remarkable 88 per cent of the children surveyed could identify the Arnold Schwarzenegger character from the filmTerminator. UNESCO reported that the Terminator seems to represent the characteristics that children think are necessary to cope with difficult situations. Violence Without Consequences or Moral Judgment The notion of violence as a means of problem solving is reinforced by entertainment in which both villains and heroes resort to violence on a continual basis. The Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA), which has studied violence in television, movies and music videos for a decade, reports that nearly half of all violence is committed by the good guys. Less than 10 per cent of the TV shows, movies and music videos that were analyzed contextualized the violence or explored its human consequences. The violence was simply presented as justifiable, natural and inevitable the most obvious way to solve the problem. PG: Parental Guidance? Busy parents who want to protect their children from media violence have a difficult task before them. The CMPA found that violence appears on all major televis ion networks and cable stations, making it impossible for channel surfers to avoid it. Nightly news coverage has become another concern. In spite of falling crime rates across North America, disturbing images of violent crime continue to dominate news broadcasting. As news shows compete with other media for audiences, many news producers have come to rely on the maxim: If it bleeds, it leads. Violence and death, they say, keep the viewer numbers up. Good news doesnt. As well, movie ratings are becoming less and less trustworthy in terms of giving parents real guidance on shows with unsuitable content. PG-13 movies tend to make more money than R-rated films, and as a result, the industry is experiencing a ratings creep: shows that the Motion Picture Association of America would once have rated R are now being rated as PG-13, in order to increase box-office profits and rental sales. In movie theatres, there is some control over who watches what. But at home, theres little to stop children from watching a restricted movie on one of the many emerging specialty channels. Kids may also have access to adult video games at the local video store. In December 2001, the U. S. Federal Trade Commission reported that retailers allowed 78 per cent of unaccompanied minors, ages 13 to 16, to purchase video games rated mature. To make supervision even more problematic, American children often have their own entertainment equipment. According to the Annenberg Public Policy Center, 57 per cent of kids aged 8 to 16 have TVs in their bedrooms, and 39 per cent have gaming equipment. A Youth Subculture of Violence While many parents are concerned about the graphic violence and put-down humour in many kids shows, theres a growing subculture of violence that parental radar often misses. Music and Music Videos Music and music videos are pushing into new and increasingly violent territory. When singer Jordan Knight, formerly of the popular New Kids on the Block group, released a solo album in 1999, Canadian activists called for a boycott of the album because it included a song advocating date rape. And when the controversial rap artist Eminem came to Toronto in 2000, politicians and activists unsuccessfully called for the government to bar him from the country, on the grounds that his violent lyrics promoted hatred against women. For instance, his song Kim graphically depicts him murdering his wife; and Kill You describes how he plans to rape and murder his mother. In spite of (or perhaps because of) his promotion of violence, Eminem continues to be a commercial success. His Marshall Mathers release sold 679,567 copies in Canada in 2000, and was the years best-selling album. And The Eminem Show topped Canadian charts for months in 2002, selling, at one point, approximately 18,000 copies a week. Eminems success is not exceptional. Extremely violent lyrics have moved into the mainstream of the music industry. The Universal Music Group, the worlds largest music company, lists Eminem, Dr Dre and Limp Bizkit all of whom have been criticized for their violent and misogynist lyrics among its top-grossing artists. And Madonnas 2002 music video What It Feels Like For a Girlcontained such graphic violence that even MTV refused to air it more than once. Video Games Violence in general, and sexual violence in particular, is also a staple of the video game industry. The current trend is for players to be the bad guys, acting out criminal fantasies and earning points for attacking and killing innocent bystanders. Although these games are rated M, for mature audiences, its common knowledge that they are popular among pre-teens and teenaged boys. For example, players in Grand Theft Auto 3 (the best-selling game ever for PlayStation 2) earn points by carjacking, and stealing drugs from street people and pushers. In Carmageddon, players are rewarded for mowing down pedestrians sounds of cracking bones add to the realistic effect. The first-person shooter in Duke Nukem hones his skills by using pornographic posters of women for target practice, and earns bonus points for shooting naked and bound prostitutes and strippers who beg, Kill me. In the game Postal, players act out the part of the Postal Dude, who earns points by randomly shooting everyone who appears including people walking out of church, and members of a high school band. Postal Dude is programmed to say, Only my gun understands me. The level of violence in the gaming habits of young people is disturbingly high. In MNets 2001 study Young Canadians In A Wired World (which found that 32 per cent of kids 9 to 17 are playing video games every day or almost every day), 60 per cent cited action/combat as their favourite genre. Stephen Kline of Simon Fraser University reported similar findings in his 1998 study of over 600 B. C. teens. Twenty-five per cent of the teens he surveyed played between seven and 30 hours a week and when asked for their one favourite game, their choice was overwhelmingly in the action/adventure genre. Web Sites Virtual violence is also readily available on the World Wide Web. Children and young people can download violent lyrics (including lyrics that have been censored from retail versions of songs), and visit Web sites that feature violent images and video clips. Much of the violence is also sexual in nature. For example, the site Who Would You Kill? allows players to select real-life stars of television shows, and then describe how they would kill them off in the series. The entries frequently include bizarre acts of degradation and sexual violence. Murder is also a staple of the Web site newgrounds. com, which features a number of Flash movies showing celebrities being degraded and killed. When MNet surveyed 5,682 Canadian young people in 2001, the newgrounds site ranked twelfth in popularity among 11- and 12-year-old boys. Other popular sites such as gorezone. com and rotten. com feature real-life pictures of accident scenes, torture and mutilation. In 2000, rotten. com was investigated by the FBI for posting photographs depicting cannibalism. Many kids view these sites as the online equivalent of harmless horror movies. But their pervasive combination of violence and sexual imagery is disturbing. Gorezones front-page disclaimer describes the images on its site as sexually oriented and of an erotic nature and then warns viewers that they also contain scenes of death, mutilation and dismemberment. The disclaimer then normalizes this activity by stating, my interest in scenes of death, horrifying photos and sexual matters, which is both healthy and normal, is generally shared by adults in my community. Anecdotal evidence suggests that gore sites are well known to Canadian schoolchildren, although parents and teachers are often unaware of their existence. In MNets 2001 survey, 70 per cent of high school boys said that they had visited such sites. The presence of violence, degradation and cruelty in a range of media means that children are exposed to a continuum of violence, which ranges from the in-your-face attitude of shows like South Park to extreme depictions of misogyny and sadism. Young people generally take the lead when it comes to accessing new media but the MNet survey found that only 16 per cent of children say their parents know a great deal of what they do online. This is particularly problematic, given the results of a 1999 AOL survey which that found online activities are emerging as a central facet of family life; and that a majority of parents believe that