Friday, January 24, 2020

Analysis of Blade Runner by Ridley Scott Essay -- Papers

Analysis of Blade Runner by Ridley Scott Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott and based on Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, is a Sci-fi slash Noir film about a policeman named Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) in a decrepit 2019 Los Angeles whose job it is to "retire" four genetically engineered cyborgs, known as "Replicants". The four fugitives, Pris (Daryl Hannah), Zhora (Joanna Cassidy), Leon (Brian James), and their leader, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), have escaped from an off-world colony in order to find their creator and bully him into expanding their pre-determined four-year life span. This film originally flopped when it came out in 1982, but since has become a widely acclaimed cult classic with a director's cut to boot. A large part of the success that this movie has received can be attributed to its ability to operate on many different levels. Blade Runner focuses around the adventures of Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter, whose prey are the replicants, androids who are virtually indistinguishable from humans. The story is set in downtown Los Angeles, in the year 2019. This is a post nuclear holocaust world, where the sun is darkened by the fallout and acid rain continually falls. Six replicants of the Nexus 6 generation, the most advanced, have escaped from their off-world colony, where they were being used as slave labor. The leader of the replicants, Roy Batty, is on a mission to find more life for himself and the others, for they only have a four year life span and are on the verge of death. Roy is a military style replicant, so he has killed many people in inter-galactic wars and continues to ki... ...s out. "Should the replicants kill to gain moral life? Should Harrison Ford be killing them simply because they want to exist? These questions begin to tangle up Deckard's thinkingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦especially when he becomes involved with a female replicant himself." The ultimate relevance of Blade Runner lies in its challenge of what it must mean to be human. It raises the eternal gnawing doubt as to our own humanity or lack of it. These are the same issues raised by the great religions and philosophies of the past. And it goes to how we respond to the pain of those around us. Do we reach for the one downed by the crushing perplexity of modernity or do we merely pass by, forgetting about that grizzled human lying on the sidewalk who is drowning in the gutter created by the disintegrating and dehumanising post-modern existence?

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Charles Dickens “Great Expectations” Essay

An exploration of the ways in which issues of class and status are presented in Charles Dickens’ â€Å"Great Expectations† and L. P. Hartley’s â€Å"The Go-Between†. Both Charles Dickens’ â€Å"Great Expectations† and L. P. Hartley’s â€Å"The Go-Between† discuss the class assumptions of early Victorian England; around 1807-1823 is when most of the action can be dated too in â€Å"Great Expectations† and at the start of the 20th century, the year 1900 in â€Å"The Go-Between†. Both novels portray a class structure in decline or under threat, as the rise of trade unions and rights for women were to transform the quiet hierarchy that had existed for countless generations. In this essay I will draw out the similarities and differences in how the two authors present the issues of class and status to the reader. Hartley often seems to place great value in the tradition and history of an ancient, aristocratic, ruling class; Dickens regards beyond all else the value of hard work. Dickens argues that social status denotes nothing but money, whereas Hartley seems to glory in the upper-classes natural superiority, such as at sport and at music: none can match Marion in skill. Hartley warns against the social mobility that makes Marion too good for Ted despite their love for each other and subverts the natural hierarchical order and security that has existed for centuries, yet Dickens denounces a society that lavishes upon the few at the exclusion of the multitude. Dickens characters suffer under or bask in justice offered by the plot, as ‘good’ characters are rewarded and ‘bad’ characters condemned. Hartley shows little similar sympathy’s as discussed below. Dickens consciously relays no support for the idea that the upper classes are naturally morally superior; dispelling all pretentiousness to this tenuous link in the contrast between Drummle and Joe, whereas in Hartley’s â€Å"The Go-Between†, Triningham is by far and away the kindest character, whom the reader instinctively warms to, and enchants all with his natural grace and elegance, seemingly affirming the assumption of the ancient idea of the moral superiority of the wealthy, going back to the Bible story of Job in the Old Testament, where God blessed a good man with wealth. Ironically, Triningham is already displaying the injuries already done to the aristocracy, he has been forced to rent out the home his ancestors have held for generations as he himself can no longer afford to live there; he himself has lost his wealth in his property, even though temporarily. Nevertheless, the middle classes Maudlseys do not appear to have gained by their social rise at the end. Some critics have argued that Hartley is arguing that a socially divided society is a dangerous one; that Leo’s evaporated enthusiasm for a new century so full of unfulfilled promise is systematic of unfounded hopes of a new Golden Age if society remains segregated between the haves and have-nots. That the Boer War, which scarred the aristocratic Triningham, protracted and disastrous for Britain with a devastating display of Britain’s faltering significance and importance in world affairs, is a sign of a difficult century ahead. Triningham, a representative of a dying aristocracy with unseen wounds that a display of natural elegance and grace can hide but not heal. In spite of this, I find myself wholly disagreeing with this view of Hartley’s novel â€Å"The Go-Between†. Hartley certainly does warn of the demise of the aristocracy, yet he does not rejoice in it. On the contrary, he mourns, grieves and laments the apparent loss of nobility throughout the work. Triningham is by far and away the most gracious, righteous and gallant character presented, there is only sympathy in a reader for his early death. I certainly fall on the side of Hartley strongly defending the hierarchical social order, and the aristocracy’s right to lead it. Yet it is important to do discuss other possibilities. Triningham then represents the best features of the aristocracy. Unlike Marian, from the start and until the end, there was no ulterior motive to Triningham’s kindness: he was â€Å"as true as steel† even in the eyes of the unfaithful Marian. He is patriotic to the end too and was wounded in the defence of his countries Empire. Despite all this, in the book Hartley presents Marian displaying no reverence for Ted’s feelings, instead she is cruelly unfaithful to him whilst engaged. Every other character in the book has faults of character or of action, but Triningham is beyond such. His demise might be Hartley warning the middle-classes of the dangers involved with usurping the natural order. Even so, the story is told from Leo’s point of view, and Leo admires Triningham to such a great extent that his faults may be simply hidden from the readers view, or indeed perhaps the story is told from Leo’s point of view in order to allow Hartley to express his admiration. Even so, Leo the adolescent is also a bad judge of character and situation and so simply may be putting forward the wrong view. Be that as it may, the point still stands.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Ethical Issue On Medical Treatment Essay - 1200 Words

Individuals seek medical treatment everyday to stay healthy, treat an illness, or to stay alive. We all seek treatment whether it is voluntary or in an emergency basis. Some individuals suffer from severe illnesses, in which they might get to a certain point and decide to refuse medical treatment because they do not want to go through the pain anymore. Doctors face at least one ethical issue on a day-to-day basis due to patients refusing medical treatment, and possibly wanting to end their lives. Every year this has become a controversial debate whether or not it is ethical for patients to refuse treatment. In the story regarding 17-year old Maggie, she is diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, and denies treatment due to the risk of possibly losing her eyesight. She decides she does not want to go through with treatment as well as wanting to end her life. This has caused a difficult debate in her doctor and loved ones life because they do not agree with her decision. Therefore, the question is what is ethical in this situation? Utilitarianism is rooted in the thesis that an action or practice is right (when compared to any alternative action or practice) if it leads to the greatest possible balance of good consequences or to the least possible balance of bad consequences in the world as a whole. (13) This theory discusses how as humans we should pursue our lives. John Mill, a philosopher, supported the Utilitarianism perspective, known as, The Greatest HappinessShow MoreRelatedThe Ethical Dilemma Of Nurses Face Ethical Dilemmas843 Words   |  4 PagesIn clinical setting, nurses face ethical dilemmas everyday. There is no perfect answer to ethical dilemmas in clinical area. It is important to identify ethics related situation, work as a team to address these problems and provide support for patient and families. Dealing with dilemmas is not just a nursing issue. 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