Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Fantasy Worlds in The Garden Party and Her First Ball by...

In the short stories ‘The Garden Party’ and ‘Her First Ball’, both written by the well-known New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield, the importance of detail lies in several fields. As Mansfield herself states, â€Å"there is an indefinite value and delight in detail† and this is shown constantly as she uses it much effectively to portray themes, provide us with a contrast between the two different settings and also paint us a clear picture of the protagonists’ fantasy worlds. Mansfield shows and doesn’t tell. In both the short stories, she plunges you straight into the imaginative and personified worlds of the protagonists and then the plot follows. The detailed description of the â€Å"perfect day for a garden-party† depicts Laura’s†¦show more content†¦Simple common details including â€Å"Meg’s tuberoses, Jose’s long loop of amber, Laura’s little dark head†¦Ã¢â‚¬  are seen by her as most charming and extraordinary. Unmistakably, Mansfield is constructing a ‘fairy land’ and she does it extraordinarily well as we see it through Leila’s childish eyes. As well as in the description of the protagonists’ joyous anticipation and childish fantasies, detail is used to illustrate two different settings in each story. The contrast is between upper class and lower class in The Garden Party and is achieved by describing both the Sheridans’ house and the Carters’ in detail. The Sheridans are portrayed as living in a grand, luxurious residence with the air that blows past being â€Å"windless and warm†, while the Carters’ live down a â€Å"gloomy passage† in a lane that is â€Å"smoky and dark.† â€Å"Great plumes of silvery smoke uncurled the Sheridans’ chimney†, while â€Å"the very smoke coming out of their (Carters’) chimneys was poverty-stricken.† A beautiful â€Å"green-baize door led to the kitchen regions† of the Sheridans’, while the Carters’ cooked their food in a â€Å"wretched low kitchen.† The Sheridans’ house has a lil y lawn, tennis courts and a grand piano, while the Carters’ â€Å"poky little hole† is not at all attractive. This amount of fine detail takes us throughShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Katherine Mansfield s The Garden Party Essay1428 Words   |  6 Pages2016 Title Katherine Mansfield was a modernist short story writer during the 1920’s. She wrote various short stories in the few years as an author, Mansfield s stories often commented on class, relationships, families, and sexuality, After reading a few of her most popular works the common theme of them though out was the central conclusion of them all is the protagonist coming of age by seeing the more realistic view on life. The common theme aids Mansfield’s in communicating to her readers theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Katherine Mansfield 2012 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction: Katherine Mansfield was a well acclaimed author born in 1888. Her literature was in the form of short stories spanning no more than several passages long. Many dub her as an innovator in literature for her distinctive use of realism and symbolism which at the time was foreign to short stories and writing in general. Most authors at the time fabricated fictional worlds with fantastic characters in th eir stories but Mansfield was more interested in writing and emerging her audience into

Monday, December 16, 2019

Film Review Stella Dallas Free Essays

Sophia Sullivan FLM2009-630: The Art of Film M. Brown Melodrama Stella Dallas (1937) Dir. King Vidor. We will write a custom essay sample on Film Review: Stella Dallas or any similar topic only for you Order Now Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O’Neil, Alan Hale. MGM (DVD) This film follows our protagonist, Stella (Barbara Stanwyck) through her journey of courtship, marriage to loss. Stella sneaks her way into meeting Stephen Dallas (John Boles) after finding out in a tabloid magazine article about his family fortune being loss and him ending his engagement to Helen (Barbara O’Neil) the socialite. Stella’s complete devotion to her daughter Laurel (Anne Shirley) and her reluctance to change who she is, keeps her from moving to New York with her newly promoted husband Stephen (John Boles). Living separate lives, not completely confessing to the fact that the couple was what would currently be called â€Å"legally separated† due to probable censors. The film’s thematic of maternal sacrifice and the loneliness, devotion of the film cause this movie to become what is known in the film industry as a â€Å"Weepie†. The Mise-en-scene of the film is predominantly domestic and focused on the excesses of interiors and Stella’s outlandish fashions. The film cannot be categorized as realistic, even though it seems naturalistic at times. The storytelling of Stella’s constant journey to better her life and that of Laurel’s, is purely stylized. Stella’s persona sticks out like a sore thumb against the socialite circles, dressing in the eccentric fashions she deems as stylish, speaking too loud, not fitting into the lady-like deportment her husband demanded. This being the mother ship of all maternal melodramas, Stella sets a mold for the many to follow. The constant waves of swoony and dramatic music create an emotional musical blanket throughout the film. Setting the moods in the scenes from happy to sad with one wave of the conductor’s hand. The acting at times seemed unnatural and campy, like a modern day Soap Opera. The lives and differences of the social classes in this film was popular at the time. I guess being that a large percentage of the populace were currently lower to middle class Americans. The theater was the ultimate form of escapism to the masses. The melodrama was a peephole of sorts into the gorgeous and painfully dramatic lives of the wealthy. Stella ends up making the definitive maternal sacrifice at the end of the film. She turns her daughter against her to guarantee her daughter the future she herself wanted one time, forsaking her own happiness. To give up a child so that child could be happy is a dreadfully painful sacrifice to any loving mother. In the final scene of the film, Stella watching with the crowd outside the window of Stephen’s new home, as their daughter weds into a wealthy family. Laurel now is not associated with the brassy Stella and has been accepted into the social circle of the elite. She watches as Laurel weds, with tears rolling down her face, the rain soaking her. She then turns away and walks down the street triumphantly with a huge smile on her face. This feminine sacrifice completes her daughter’s road to happiness. The melodrama is known for its sudden shift in emotions. One moment Stella is yelling at her daughter for finding the dress she was making her as a surprise and ten seconds later she is hugging her and telling her how much she loves her. In my opinion this genre juxtaposes moments of utter happiness and bliss with the abrupt change to hysterics and tears far too quickly to not require a psych consult. I know this film is a classic and a classic to the melodrama genre, but I just don’t get it. I guess it was the social norm at the time to look upon women with esteem for giving everything up to guarantee the happiness of child, marriage and home. But then again she could have been happy enough with herself to not want to marry someone just to better herself. She would marry someone who loved her for who she was and where she came from. She could of raised her child with a strong sense of self that would have her become a role model and not an embarrassment. I speculate that was not the case when it came to creating a melodrama. Thank you King Vidor for creating the blueprint for all Lifetime Channel movies. Like sands through the hourglass†¦.. How to cite Film Review: Stella Dallas, Essay examples

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Digital Delivery And The Future Of Movies -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Digital Delivery And The Future Of Movies? Answer: Introduction Strategic analysis of a company is one of the most important processes for enhancing its position in industry. It assists the organization in understanding different strategic aspects and implementing effective strategies to stay competitive over its competitors. There are various tools and frameworks, like; SWOT analysis, PEST Analysis etc. which can be adopted for strategic analysis. The major objective of this report is to include the strategic analysis for case study organization, i.e. Netflix. Netflix is an American Organization, which provides television and movies by streaming online media and delivery by mail. This report includes brief history about both Netflix and Blockbuster as well. Moreover, there is the discussion that how Netflix can beat Blockbuster through its advancements and effective strategies. At the end, the last part of this report discusses about the dominance of Netflix in the area of online video streaming. By analyzing this, it includes the future of Netf lix organization in Online Video Streaming segment. Brief History of Blockbuster Blockbuster, i.e. Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. is an entertainment service provider, which is based in America and offers video games and home movie rental services via DVD mail delivery, video rental shops, media streaming, cinema theatre and on-demand video. Throughout the 90s, the organization has become globally known. In the year 2000, the company had given an acquisition offer to Netflix, but Netflix had rejected that offer. Now, Netflix is operating is business operations as the biggest competitor of Blockbuster. Since its establishment by David Cook, the organization has hired 84,300 employees all over the world, which include approximately 58,500 in US and about 25000 in other nations. Currently, it is operating 9094 stores worldwide (Blockbuster, 2017). There are various risks, which are faced by Blockbuster, like; competition from Netflix, on demand video services, Redbox automated kiosks etc. These are the major factors behind the eventual demise of Blockbuster. In the duration of 2000s, the company started to lose its revenues and it claimed for bankruptcy prevention. Brief History of Netflix Netflix is an American organization, which was established in the year 1997 by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings. It is an entertainment company that was founded in Scotts Valley, California. It offers different services related to streaming video on demand and media (Netflix, 2017). It provides the customers opportunities to stream the TV episodes and movie through internet. In the beginning, the business model of Netflix involved DVD rental and sales. However, Hastings abandoned sales of DVD after one year of its establishment, so that it could focus on rental DVD by mail delivery. Since last few years, the organization is carrying out its business operations in international markets by offering better services than its competitors. Currently, it is serving 190 countries and has 109.25 million subscribers all over the world, inclusive of 52.77 million in US (Chopra, Chopra, Veeraiyan, and Veeraiyan, 2017). In addition to its wide range of movies and TV episodes, the original series o f Netflix is also there on internet for its diverse customers. The mission statement of the company is to enhance the number of subscribers for video streaming in local and global market. For this, organization is constantly improving customer experience by diversifying its services. By the use of different strategies and focusing in this mission, Netflix wants to become one of the best entertainment companies internationally. It assists content developers all over the world to increase the customer base globally. The organization is implementing various marketing and business strategies, so that it can generate more revenues and profits than its competitors. How Netflix Beat Blockbuster From its founding, Blockbuster had ruled the rental movie business for the decades. In 2005, the company was valued at over $8 billion. Meanwhile, Netflix started the use of postal service to deliver DVDs. By using effective strategies and market tactics, the company has become leader in the industry and soon, Blockbuster has filed for bankruptcy. The organization lost $518 billion in the year 2010, $1 billion in debt and it had closed most of its stores. After this, Netflix attained 16 million users by operating a well-established business and online videos online (Chen, Zhou, and Chiu, 2015). Netflix was able to beat Blockbuster due to its effective leadership, use of enhancing technology and effective strategies. The reasons behind this fact are stated below; Changing Technology In the beginning of its business operations, Netflix had provided its customers with DVDs on demands (Napoli, 2011). With the increase and changes in the demands of customers, company has adopted advanced and emerging technologies. The major reason behind its growth is that executives at Netflix have understood that developing technology can change the delivery of DVDs and rental movies. They have developed a technology strategy that was used under different steps. The company has implemented a strategy of media and internet streaming, virtual company and suitable customer service, so that it can deliver the services flawlessly and cheaply (Cook, 2014). By analyzing the market, management of Netflix has understood that each and every bit of content is significant and exclusive. This is the major reason that it has changed its catalogues. With the advancement in technology, the company is offering different versions of episodes and videos, which are most appropriate for the customers (Keating, 2012). Another part of companys technology strategy was to ignore the liability of retail stores by running business online. In this way, the organization has adopted advanced and modern technologies for providing satisfactory services to its potential customers. It collects the data base from previously and frequently watched shows and movies and then provides the personalized list to the viewers (Datta, Knox, and Bronnenberg, 2017). Blockbuster was failed to adopt changing technologies, thus Netflix was able to beat this organization. Retail Outlets versus operating Online Netflix believes in operating the business online, so it has ignored the burden of retail stores and operated business online. With few offices and warehouses, it has become a virtual company with no sales persons and no retails stores. The organization had a clear understanding that running business physically, like Blockbuster may restrict the business areas and customers. So, it has adopted an effective approach, i.e. open source approach (Enkins, Ford, and Green, 2013). By the use of this approach, the company was able to deliver its movies on DVD players, TVs, mobile phones and computers. Now, it offers DVD by mail and online streaming videos, which make it different from other competitors in the industry. In addition to this, the shipping costs of these DVDs are comparatively higher in the market, so customers prefer to watch streaming videos. Netflix has enhanced the services modes, used by Blockbuster (Gibs, 2009). By offering online videos, the company was able to attract mo re customers in comparison to Blockbuster and become a leader in entertainment industry. There are several factors, like; technology changes and online business were effective for the growth and success of Netflixs business over Blockbuster. Pricing Strategies Netflix is offering its services, using two modes, i.e. online video streaming and DVD by mail. However, the organization has faced various issues, but it has eliminated those issues by providing unique and advanced services. In this industry, Netflix has dominant position in entertainment industry and streaming video market because of its effective leadership and emerging technology (Grant, 2016). In addition to this, pricing strategy of Netflix is also an attractive feature of its services. It has attractive rates and plans for the customers and enticing them towards its services. It operates its services on monthly subscription basis. It has three popular plans, which are given below; $8.99 for one title at a time $13.99 for two titles at a time $16.99 for three titles at a time All of these plans of the company provide unlimited DVDs every month and streaming also (Jenkins, and Williamson, 2015). The company does not charge for late and due dates and this approach differentiates it from other domestic movie rentals. It does not charge fees, if the customer returns the DVDs. Blockbuster was implementing obsolete pricing strategy and charging $5 for every movie. The major factor behind Blockbusters failure is that customers hated the fees charged on late returns (Pelts, 2017). After analyzing its pricing strategy, Netflix has improved its strategies accordingly. Netflix Innovations Technology innovations are the center of Netflixs business and marketing strategy. The company has adopted various innovative techniques and systems to enhance its business operations and attracted a large number of customers towards its services. In the year 2017, Netflix is in the list of most innovative companies in the world. Since, this organization had started its business operations; it has implemented disruptive innovation (Newman, 2010). Under this, the organization has considered four elements, i.e. think big, start small, fail quickly and scale fast. Netflix has implemented the innovations, which are winning the market of streaming videos. To compete with Blockbuster, Netflix has revolved out a user interface upgrade and replaced the fixed poster pictures with the preview videos. These videos play automatically, when viewer scroll over DVDs title card. It was the first organization that provided DVD delivery through mail. Netflix has invested a large amount of funds on inn ovation and advanced technology. In addition to this, the company has adopted open innovation also (Peteraf, Gamble, and Thompson, 2014). The organization has applied this approach to enhance its business approach and technology resources. It not only delivers the television episodes and movies, but also gives detailed information about the movie, like; member reviews, critic reviews, online trailers, synopses and ratings from subscribers. It is committed with the community and public by offering approximately $1 million to the people, who can utilize the movie ratings in enhancing the service. These innovations at Netflix made it better to perform than its competitors, like; Blockbuster (Sharma, 2016). Netflix as a dominant provider of Online Video Streaming Since its establishment in the year 1997, Netflix Organization has captured the entertainment and streaming video market easily. The company is using effective strategies and in innovative techniques for enhancing its business operations and processes. Blockbuster is one of the major companies, which is operating business in the similar industry. In comparison to Netflix, this organization is charging late fees from the customers. Netflix had declined its prices and plan rates to compete with its biggest competitor, i.e. Blockbuster. Now, it is confronting bankruptcy and Netflix covered the market and dominated the industry (Sicoli, 2014). There are various competitors of Netflix, like; kiosk machine services, television stations, content developers and cable service providers. However, this organization has implemented effective technology and pricing strategies, which assisted the organization in dominating the market of online video streaming. The major reason behind Netflixs succ ess is that it is Focusing only on its existing business than diversifying in new business. It enables Netflix to dominate the entertainment and video streaming industry. Netflix stumbles: The demise of Qwikster In 2011, Netflix had introduced its intentions to restructure and rebrand its DVD Home Media rental services as a separate subsidiary named as Qwikster. It was an independent subsidiary that separated streaming and DVD rental services. This was the DVD by mail only facility, which included video-games also. The organization had different websites for both Netflix and Qwikster, because Hastings felt that it would allow them to give equal attention for enhancing both the services (Indiviglio, 2011). However, Netflix introduced this new service effectively, but it did not work in companys favor. It did not work for various reasons, such as; change in name, website split, increase in the prices etc. Qwikster forces the users of Netflix to access DVD subscriptions and combined streaming to create separate accounts for managing them. The organization was unable to combine both the websites in any manner, like; separate ratings, bills and separate preferences for Qwikster and Netflix, despi te owned by a same organization. Netflix faced the demise of Qwikster, because new subscribers failed to identify that Netflix and Qwikster are possessed by same organization. This is the major reason that caused its users to select a different mailing service and Netflix lost its millions of customers. Thus, these are the major reasons behind the demise of Netflix (Trendowski, and Sherman, 2014). Netflix rebuilds: The rise of original content In the year 2013, Netflix entered in the content development industry, starting with its first series, i.e. House of Cards. After the demise of Qwikster, this new service supported Netflix to rebuild. The organization has significantly expanded the production of television and film series then, providing Netflix Original content via online library of television and films. As of 2016, Netflix introduced around 126 original films and series, which is more than other cable channel and network. Netflix is increasing its spending on original content, which is more than its competitors, i.e. Amazon and Hulu. According to the data of 2015-2017, the importance of original content was increased and it has gained momentum among people as a major reason to pay for streaming video. Netflix acts as balancing service to pay the TV packages, because it enables its customers to watch the ad-free content (Rigby, Brumby, Cox, and Gould, 2016). In 2017, the company has spent $7 billion, which is more than 6$ billion last year. To attract more subscribers, the company has focused on increasing its marketing and budget on content production. Thus, the organization is now emphasized on development of new content and catalogue to capture a large customer base all over the world. At Netflix, there is no scope of other types of content, i.e. music, sports, news and consumer generated data, but it always develop better content in DVD and pay per view. The diversification of Netflixs business in content development supported the organization in rebuilding its business and brand image after demise of Qwikster. The future of Netflix At looking at the past position of Netflix in entertainment industry, it can be stated that future of this organization will be bright than other competitors. There are so many factors, which are changing with the passage of time. These factors are such as; changes in the status and lifestyle, convenience and affordability, changes in the interests and behaviors of customers and efficiency and costs. Integration of these factors may lead an organization towards growth and success. On the basis of above analysis, it can be stated about Netflix that it is on better position in entertainment and video streaming market (Tryon, 2013). Netflix is implementing effective strategies and technologies to become a top leader in the near future. The elements of the companys strategy are, like; Offering its subscribers with wide range of DVD titles Purchasing new and original content by creating and maintaining mutually profitable relationships with the video providers Providing the users an option of watching streaming video and content or fast delivery of DVD by mail. Making it easier for the customers to select the movies, which they like to enjoy Making expenses on marketing to entice the people and create extensive awareness about the brand and services of Netflix Regularly transitioning the users to streaming the delivery than delivery by mail as the popularity of content delivery through internet grew. The above-mentioned elements are the major reasons behind the growth and success of Netflix Organization over its competitors, like; Blockbuster. It is facing intense competition from its competitors, like; Blockbuster as it is offering the products similar to Netflix. But Netflix is able to entice the people because of its exclusive and innovative strategies (Walker, 2016). On the other side, the business model of Netflix needs high speed internet to operate but it has the capacity to entice the people, as the expenses and costs of internet are declining. After considering these factors, it can be said about the Netflix that this organization will experience a significant growth and success in the timeframe of next 5 years. After this analysis, it can be estimated that the organization will have approximately 80 million subscribers from outside US and generate about $7 billion in terms of revenues and profits by the year 2020. Their significant growth is a symbol that the organization is headed in the correct direction. It is not only acquiring millions of viewers each year, but they are also retaining them. The major reason behind its growth and success is its affordable and attractive prices. Hence, Netflix is able to maintain its financial performance for the future growth (Wheelen, and Hunger, 2017). In the future, the company needs to make some improvement and advancements, so that it can meet its future objectives. Netflix should establish its own kiosk, where the people can have free access, with their membership card. The organization should expand to have more premium and popular channels, like; Showtime and HBO streaming online. By doing this, company will be able to improve its business operations and processes in the future. Thus, the company is continuously dominating entertainment and video streaming industry and growing its business successfully. Conclusion Thus, it is hereby concluded that Netflix is a fast growing organization in entertainment and video streaming industry. The company is offering its entertainment and video streaming services effectively. Being a leader of DVD rentals, this organization has faced various challenges due to increase in marketing and advertising expenses, competition, increased expenses on new purchase, emergence of digital downloading etc. To deal with these challenges, the company has implemented effective strategies and innovative technologies, so that it can attract more customers towards its services. Continuous changes in the technology moved the company to maximize its profits and market share. Adoption of advanced technologies and implementation of effective pricing strategies helped Netflix to dominate the industry. By introducing its original content development service, the company was able to overcome the loss due to demise of Qwikster. The directors of the company have adopted subscription based strategy and business model, which had projected Netflix into being the largest entertainment service provider in the world. In the future, the organization should expand its business by partnering with well-known premium channels. By this partnership, it will be able to enhance its brand image in America and other countries. References Blockbuster, 2017, Home: Find a Kiosk or store, https://www.blockbuster.com.au/home. Chen, L., Zhou, Y. and Chiu, D.M., 2015. Smart streaming for online video services.IEEE transactions on multimedia,17(4), pp.485-497. Chopra, S., Chopra, S., Veeraiyan, M. and Veeraiyan, M., 2017. Movie Rental Business: Blockbuster, Netflix, and Redbox.Kellogg School of Management Cases, pp.1-21. Cook, C.A., 2014, Netflix: A Stepping Stone in the Evolution of Television, University of South Florida St. Petersburg Journalism and Media Studies. Datta, H., Knox, G. and Bronnenberg, B.J., 2017. Changing their tune: How consumers adoption of online streaming affects music consumption and discovery.Marketing Science. Enkins, H., Ford, S., and Green, J., 2013, Spreadable media: Creating value and meaning in a networked culture, New York: New York University Press Gibs, J., 2009, The new screen for video. Television goes digital. New York: Springer Science + Business Media. Grant, R.M., 2016.Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley Sons. Indiviglio, D. 2011, 5 Reasons Why Qwikster Is Now Deadster. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/5-reasons-why-qwikster-is-now-deadster/246465/. Jenkins, W. and Williamson, D., 2015.Strategic management and business analysis. Routledge. Keating, G., 2012, Netflixed: the epic battle for Americas eyeballs. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. Napoli, P.M., 2011, Audience evolution: New technologies and the transformation of media audiences, New York: Columbia University Press Netflix, 2017, See Whats Next, Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/in/. Newman, R. 2010, How Netflix (and Blockbuster) Killed Blockbuster. https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2010/09/23/how-netflix-and-blockbuster-killed-blockbuster. Pelts, S. 2017, Taking a Look at Netflixs Pricing Strategy. https://marketrealist.com/2017/07/taking-a-look-at-netflixs-pricing-strategy. Peteraf, M., Gamble, J. and Thompson Jr, A., 2014.Essentials of strategic management: The quest for competitive advantage. McGraw-Hill Education. Rigby, J.M., Brumby, D.P., Cox, A.L. and Gould, S.J., 2016, September. Watching movies on netflix: investigating the effect of screen size on viewer immersion. InProceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct(pp. 714-721). ACM. Sharma, R, 2016, The Netflix Effect: Impacts of the Streaming Model on Television Storytelling. Wesleyan University. Sicoli, C. 2014. How Netflix Beat Blockbuster And Became Huge. Retrieved from https://www.therichest.com/business/how-netflix-beat-blockbuster-and-became-huge/. Trendowski, J. and Sherman, P., 2014. Txtbookrental: netflix or Blockbuster?.Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies,20(3), p.17. Tryon, C., 2013, On-demand culture: Digital delivery and the future of movies. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. Walker, N., 2016, The rise of Netflix, accessed on 23 January 2018 from https://www.businessreviewusa.com/leadership/5478/The-rise-of-Netflix. Wheelen, T.L. and Hunger, J.D., 2017.Strategic management and business policy. Pearson Education.