How recent films ask us to think about the relation of the image to memory - Essay Example Director, Alian Resnais adopted a stylistic approach to impart a history lesson of critical significance by portraying concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Perhaps, this documentary is most difficult to watch due to the appalling and gruesome footage (Barsam). The movie is unlike the usual films based on Holocaust, which accentuated the sheer size of one the greatest inhumanity or personalized the story by depicting affected individuals. It concedes how futile it is to assess the scale of the tragedy and does not count on sentiments. Rather, it presents complex queries about memory and responsibility in relation to denial, and eventually how current and prospective recurrences are linked with denial. The prime focus is analysis instead of statistics and facts. HISTORY An exhibition in 1954 by the Institut Pedagogigue National inspired the conception of Night and Fog. It was unanimously decided by the chief of the Comite and Antaole Dauman to document a film for the preservation of chronicles of Holocaust. Renais was approached to direct the project. However, he initially declined as he feared that the realism and genuineness of the film might not be up to the mark. On Dauman’s insistence, Renais agreed on the condition that Jean Cayrol who had spent time at the concentration camps should serve as the scriptwriter. ... Micel Bouquet narrated the lucid and seductively calm script in such a detached and unflustered way, that viewers were able to assimilate the tragic circumstances. Renais and Cayrol recognized that excessive shock ensues in amnesia and denial; and therefore aimed at creating a collective memory. The images stood out due to their disturbing nature. It is quite impressive how Renais covers the background and creation of concentration camps, deliberate genocide, freedom of survivors and deserted camps within a span of only thirty-one minutes. The documentary depicts how leading German companies bid for the contracts, presented design and profited enormously from the construction of internment camps. In addition, it highlights how gas chambers and crematoriums served to exterminate prisoners. The ingenuity behind making practical use of the dead bodies for: parchment, soap, wigs, fertilizers etc. Similarly, proof of investigational operations, castration, and phosphorus burns are shown. Possessions of the prisoner are piled in warehouses. Then, an appalling scene hits the screen as heaps of heads and decomposed bodies are dumped in a pit by bulldozers. Withered and shrunken survivors are filled with consternation as allied forces arrive. The pieces of German, British, and French footage were juxtaposed with the novel footage of 1955 (Van der Knaap). The bland colours and lengthy, smooth tracking shots stand out against the black and white images of the war period. Now the land is covered with grass, fences are free from current and crematorium have reduced to rubble, this portrays the fading of memories as time passes by into history. This brilliantly presented contrast overpowers the viewers. SUBJECT MATTER The purpose of the documentary was not
0 Comments
Role of Stakeholder Essay An organization is made possible by its human component, its human capital. Sociologically speaking, a business or a company is a social group, secondary or referential in nature, made up of the people that consider themselves as members of the organization. Beyond membership however there is another human component. These are the stakeholders. Stakeholders are individuals and groups that can affect or be affected by the actions of the organization as a whole. The notion of stakeholders had been introduced in 1963 by the Stanford Research Institute to describe and explain the importance of considering and factoring into any plan or strategy elements and concerns that would affect “individuals or organizations who stand to gain or lose from the success or failure of a system†(Nuseibeh Easterbrook, 2000). Broadly, it means anyone who has an interest in any matter or element in the organizations purview. As an example, let us take a sample organization a school. So, who would be the stakeholders? First-off, its students, pupils, teachers and support staff. Then we have the parents of the children, their families, the school board and the greater Academic organization that oversees the school for the county and for the state. Then we have the community that the school is a part of (since the school is the academic and social training ground that shapes the behavior and knowledge of their young) and in the broader view, we have the greater society who will be affected by the actions of the school in that the children that it educates will take part in their adult life via the varied roles and actions they will have and perform in society. As such, the greater American society has a stake in the quality and kind of education American kids receive in grade school and high schools across America. After all, the children are the future of this country. Now, for instance, if a public school closes down in a county due to budget cuts, all its stakeholders will be affected. The kids must be placed elsewhere; it will strain their families and the education system that must find locations and areas to accept them. The staff and the teachers are going to be out of a job affecting their ability to support themselves and their families economically and the county, the community, the school board and the greater academic system will be saddled with responsibilities over pupils and students to place them in schools and to provide professional and financial support according to contract to staff and teachers. The community will feel the strain of the closing of the school and the discontent and social collective feelings/opinions, either negative or positive will affect local politics. The displacement will affect the socialization of the children and the formation of their personalities for the rest of their lives. The greater impact then will be long term as the abrupt change in their education will shape their future selves, selves that in their adult life will take over from their parents in the varied roles important to their communities. With the example above, I hope that the idea of stakeholders is already clear. Now, Let us consider a business or a company. The following are general types that many private commercial organizations can identify with: •Owners/Capitalists they are interested in the success of their investment/business. •Creditors/Investors like the above, they are interested in the success but they look at the bottom-line liquidity, credit score and new contracts, for example. •Employees/Staff they are interested not only in the success of their organization but focus on their job security, rates of pay, compensation, communication, and the way that they are treated by the organization altogether. Clients/Customer they are interested in the value of the products and services, ethical practices, quality of service and costumer care. •Suppliers Partners they are interested in providing the raw materials as well as support and services for the organization as well as for their own equitable business interests which will be affected by the organizations actions and decisions, •Trade Unions their interest is in the protection of the rights, benefits and interests of their union members, •Greater Community their interest is in the provision of jobs to community members, transparency, CSR, environmental rotection, shares, ethical practice, etc. •Government the governments interest is in the legality of certain practices, equal opportunity, taxation, VAT and related legislatory concerns. From the above, we can see how and why and organizations health as well as its practices will be of interest to the listed stakeholders. For example, if capitalists are concerned that the business has lost its profitability, it can pull out from the arrangement resulting to its closure or failure of the owners and other stakeholders will be unable to take over and resolve the pull-out of primary capitalists. Additionally, if a company or organization fails, its staff will lose jobs affecting their economic capacities. If a company does not provide satisfactory client support, clients are going to be unhappy and might not go back to use the company for its services and goods in the future. Entrepreneurship is about taking risks, going for innovations and undertaking finance and business challenges to introduce new products and create new businesses. The challenges of ensuring stakeholders are not taken for granted requires an entrepreneurial mindset, the need to continually innovate so that all concerns are referenced in essential decision making. The reform element of entrepreneurship then is important in making the actions and decisions of an organization relevant to the needs and demands of its stakeholders.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |