Baroque music and Baroque art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Baroque music and Baroque art - Essay Example The art here produces unusual diversity during the Baroque period. This was because of current classicism and naturalism events which intermingled and coexisted with the Baroque style. The beginning of the Baroque painting is traced during the 16th century which ended with the painting of church ceilings. Most of the painting work was done in Western Europe with limited paintings being seen in Germany. Most of the paintings were in Austria and Holland where the architects broke from the Italian buildings in 1720s in an ornate monarchies, churches and palaces which were designed by the Asam brothers, J.B. Fischer von Erlach among others. The dramatic turn in music was witnessed during the 17th century with Italy leading the way. Despite the fact that Stile Antico was known polyphonic style, it was mainly reserved for the music. Besides, Stile moderno which mainly focused on solo music, base line and polarity of the melody and outstanding harmony developed for the secular music which w as between the instrumental and the vocal idioms. Just like the periods in art, the music period also presented a lot of diversity. Some of the frequent and common new vocals included oratorio, opera and cantala while the concerto, sonata and overture were the known created instruments for the instrumental music. Claudio Monteverdi was one of the greatest composers and was followed by Giovanni Pergolesi and Allesandro Scarlati; later, a myriad of other composers such as Frederic Handel, Sebastian Bach, etc.

Billy Elliot film text reponse Essay Example for Free

Billy Elliot film text reponse Essay Jackie Elliot is seen as a traditional man with anti feminist views. he sees that boys should be tough whilst girls should be more placid. Throughout the film Billy Elliot, the directer has created the character Jackie Elliot, a widowed father feeling the grief of the recent lose of his wife. This essay suggests that the grief could be a factor of how Jackie goes about supporting his son. The time that this film is set, is in the mid 80s. It could be that people who do not keep to the social norm are discriminated against, which is a different circumstance in todays society, where people are very unique and most people value eachothers individuality. In the town of Durham, the community has the same expectations as Jackie with gender based traditions and this may have influenced him to think this way. When Billy is taken to the boxing gym by his father, he finds out that he doesnt really like the idea of being a boxer once he steps into the ring for the first time. Billy knows his father must really want Billy to get good at this tough sport, because in this family, that is stricken with poverty; his father still manages to pay for billys lessons and does want him to achieve. they were my dads gloves, youd better take better care of them Jackie and his father were obviously unable to achieve from boxing, hes putting his last hope in Billy. Billy is aware of how his family and the community feel about boys doing ballet and has alot of courage to put their thoughts aside and just do the thing he loves. Upon finding out about Billys dancing. Jackie becomes enraged and expresses views of homophobic, Billy is determined to keep on dancing. It is not until Jackie actually sees Billy dance for the first time, that he realises that dancing might well and trully be his sons future. He sees that Billy does have talent and lowers himself into going back to work just so he can afford to take Billy to London for his audition himself. It is what mum would have wanted, throughout the film, you watch as Jackie  grieves for his dead wife, in that he hates Billy playing his mothers piano. Billy must have inherited his interest in music and dance from his mother which is probably why Jackie must have hated it at first; Billy was like his mother and it reminded Jackie of her too much. He gives into his pain by selling jewelry for his son. Jackie is most proud of his son, when at the end of the film. Billy dances out onto a big stage to perform swanlake. It takes Jackies breathe away. Overall through this film, we see Jackie, a father who does love his son. Aside from hgis traditional and antifeminist beliefs, Jackie was able to come through with great support for his son. All he wants for his son is to see him doing something he loves, even if that is dancing TEACHER COMMENTS: good, try to use lots of quotes and and examples from the film and refer back to the question throughout your essay.

GCSE English Coursework Gothic Prose Stokers Dracula versus Shelleys

Perhaps one of the most dramatic genres of literature, the gothic genre, already set in unpredictable and unsettling times of revolution ingeniously set the stage for such horror stories as were never before seen by modern society. Artists like Bram Stoker, who was bedridden until the age of seven, and Mary Shelley, whose mother died giving birth flourished, and produced literary pieces that, in the midst of revolution, started their own revolution. Bram Stoker, born in 1847, was a sickly child, and was bedridden until the age of seven. Naturally, due to his being bedridden for such a long period of time, Stoker developed a sense of drama and literature at a young age, and wrote stories all through his life. However, as if to make up for his childhood, Stoker became a superior athlete, and after university, he went on to work in civil service. During his civil work, Stoker continued to write, and his first story, â€Å"The Crystal Cup†, was published in 1872. One of Stoker’s many short stories, â€Å"Dracula’s Guest†, is an example of the gothic brilliance that Stoker brought to dark times. Stoker used the elements of fiction perceptively to his advantage, and created a gothic masterpiece. Stoker’s protagonist, an innocent and adventurous Englishman, is spending â€Å"Walpurgis Night† (the mythical night of the devil) in Germany. Interestingly, all is not as it seems, as the first dialogue from the protagonist is the imploring question, â€Å"Tell me Johann, what is tonight?†, implying that the adventurous Englishman is more ignorant than innocent and foreshadowing his later vulnerability. In addition, the weather and development of increasingly suspicious landmarks become gradually more threatening throughout the story. Stoker uses setting i... ...and so are human, which shows the reader the inhumanity of the protagonist. This creates horror, because human readers can no longer relate to the protagonist, and he becomes increasingly more inhuman to the reader. Both Stoker and Shelley use setting, character and plot in their stories for the development of horror and suspense. While Stoker’s story is more physically frightening in its nature, following a terrified, ignorant protagonist on his journey through a city of the damned, Shelley’s story is equally as horrific as it traces the metamorphosis of a human being into an inhuman immortal who is caught in eternal life. Both authors use dramatic irony and an increasing threat to the protagonist to develop horror and suspense in their stories, and although the two stories use different techniques, both authors succeed in creating unfailingly gothic prose.

Needs of American Cities for Policing Policy

In analyzing the needs of American cities for policing policy for the future, race has to be considered in the equation. Researchers note that it is not possible to ignore the variable of race when describing the nature of policing in the United States. This includes efforts to develop a community policing concept, and race enters both for policing in the minority community and for the way policing does or does not use racial profiling so as to antagonize the minority community. In much of America, relations between the police and the African-American community have long been tense. In some regions, the police are viewed as an occupying army present not to protect the people but to control them and to keep them in their place. Numerous civil disturbances in recent decades can be traced to tensions between the police and the black community, from the riots of the summer of 1965 to the riot in Los Angeles after the first Rodney King verdict, from the problems in Crown Heights in New York to any number of disputed police shooting incidents in cities across the country. Even without a specific incident to set off a disturbance, there is often an underlying tension between poor black communities and the surrounding society, with the police serving as a symbol of that society: The very complex, diffuse, interrelated, but still independent nature of the social, political, and economic institutions within American society, supported by layers and layers of public and private bureaucracies often manipulated by elusive, anonymous power brokers, perpetually frustrate the attempts of Black Americans to modify and reorder societal arrangements in their favor. Therefore, the â€Å"system† is identified as the culprit (Wintersmith, 1974, p. 2). The fact that the police are the most likely target for black hostility and aggression, however, does not mean blacks do not have a real reason to fear the police or the rallying cry of â€Å"law and order†: For Black Americans this slogan connotes oppression, police occupation of Black communities, inequitable and selective police treatment, disregard for human and constitutional rights of Black citizens, and continued denial of equitable opportunity (Wintersmith, 1974, p. ). Community Policing is a program that links the actions of the police with citizen participation as part of an overall effort to solve the problems of the community by involving the community, and such an approach can help inform the public and gain public acceptance for the minority hire program a well. The community policing model is based on that sort of assumption and on the view that crime has many complex causes and that police departments cannot keep the streets safe by themselves. If crime is to be controlled, police must reach out to other local institutions, and indeed to the broader community at large, and create partnerships. Among the features of such a program are integrated investigations, team and neighborhood rather than a shift and divisional basis for officer deployment, foot patrols, and community service as a focus along with problem-oriented policing instead of mere crime-fighting. Programs of this sort mean a different structure for the police as well as altered functions, allocations of resources, and general attitude. This can be a challenge to traditional police department structures because the traditional method is to respond to citizen demand rather than to try to ascertain the underlying forces creating patterns of problems. The community policing method is proactive rather than responsive. The approach also calls attention to the degree to which the police are dependent on the public for support, information, and cooperation. A recent study suggests that the benefits of community policing may have been oversold to the public, but there are also indications that community policing needs to be given time to work and that the police and the community must become more comfortable with one another to create a better atmosphere (Moran & Bucqueroux, 1995, p. 1057). One way for the police to learn more about the neighborhood and the residents is to be residents themselves. Requiring officers to live in the community is seen as a way of enhancing the community policing effort in a variety of ways and of adding to the comfort level on both sides. Police and citizens should see themselves as part of the same community. Informal and casual contact between police officers and the public occurs at different rates in different communities. Often, members of the public keep their distance from police officers out of concern that they will be investigated or somehow drawn into police activity or because of a general distrust of the police: â€Å"American studies show high social isolation of police officers in comparison with people in other occupations (Guyot, 1991, p. 279). Some see the police as having isolated themselves intentionally, leaving them open to charges of abusing their authority by coming into neighborhoods in which they have no stake and using their power unwisely. Community policing is seen as a way of reversing this. Wilson and Kelling (1989) note of crime, â€Å"Most crime in most neighborhoods is local: the offenders live near their victims† (Wilson & Kelling, 1989, p. 46). This makes people in these neighborhoods feel less safe, just as they can be made to feel more safe if police offices live in the neighborhood. The officers need to be comfortable with the victims and to understand the perpetrators, and living in the community they serve. Bringing more minorities into the police department is also often emphasized as a way to reach and include the black community. The proper model for bringing new hires into the department and for finding more qualified minorities is recruitment rather than hiring. Most departments emphasize hiring, which means that applicants come in on their own and ask to join the department, after which they are evaluated. Recruitment involves seeking out qualified applicants and selling the idea and the department to them. This is a practice approach that can be conducted throughout the community, for individuals of all backgrounds, and this also avoids the quota stigma while including more minorities by identifying those who would fit the needs of the department. This still leaves a barrier in the form of the requirements for qualification, which need to be more flexible in order to emphasize training after acceptance rather than having the skills needed before applying. This idea would also extend the reach of the recruiter more deeply into minority groups (Carter & Radelet, 1999, p. 173). The development of a proper plan for implementing recruiting means determining need on several bases, including short-term needs, medium-term needs, and long-term needs. For all, the department needs to develop â€Å"a marketing plan for recruiting that includes operational, tactical, and strategic objectives† (Carter & Radelet, 1999, pp. 174-175). Developing a plan for hiring more minority officers can begin with analyzing what other departments have done to address the same issue, and some of what is found in a survey on the subject includes good recommendations for an approach to take. For instance, an Action Plan offered by the department in the Canadian city of Brantford includes noting that the minorities already in the department can be a great help in recruiting new minority hires by serving as the face of the department in certain communities. For instance, these officers can be depicted in recruitment materials in the law enforcement role whenever possible to encourage potential female and visible minority candidates. These officers can also be used to give active encouragement for the recruitment of potential candidates. They can also represent the department at high schools, colleges, and universities to attract potential candidates through continued participation in such things as the student co-op placement program, anti-vandalism program, and the High School Resource Officer program. These officers can also work with groups in the community representing the community diversity to build relationships and encourage potential candidates, which will also involve sitting on police liaison committees and hosting Citizenship Court (Recruiting Process, 2004). Allen (2003) suggests that the only way to keep police departments focused on minority hiring is by instituting an affirmative action program, but given recent court rulings and public attitudes, that is not a viable solution. Allen does note that keeping up with minority hiring is a problem because what is required always changes, as noted with reference to mesa, Arizona: The minority population is slowly yet steadily increasing. Both the increase in population and changes in ethnic demographics have affected the city's public safety needs and contribute to the department's difficulty in becoming more diverse (Allen, 2003). Among the problems noted for programs to hire more minorities are resistance from within from officers who feel threatened by change, community resistance, suits from those who believe they have been the target of reverse discrimination, and simple difficulties in finding qualified applicants. Programs useful in police hiring can be adapted to the specific needs of minority hiring. In order to improve the quality of police recruits in general, programs have been set up at the college and university levels in order to recruit better-educated officers. Such programs can be used effectively at traditionally back colleges and universities in order to garner attention and attract minority recruits from that population. Such an approach would also be key to bringing in more recruits who would be good candidates for advancement in order to improve the mix in managerial roles. One of the complaints leveled at some departments when they use affirmative action for minority hiring is that the level of recruits goes down, but this would not be the case with recruits attracted from minority colleges. Within the department, a mentor program can be created to empower existing minority officers to give assistance, training, and advice to new recruits, a program that would help all officers and the department as a whole and that would also be especially useful for keeping new minority hires on track so they do not get discouraged and resign, as often happens. The mentors also serve as role models of what advancement brings. Once the department is on it way to a more varied and advanced status, it can offer incentives to minority officers from other departments to transfer. This can be another way of gaining qualified recruits, especially for the management level, as such a move up can be offered as the incentive that attracts them in the first place. They can then serve as mentors to other minority applicants and help expand the reach of the department. Their experience can also be invaluable. Once these programs are in place, they must be maintained in order to keep the department fresh, at a proper level of minority employment, and at a high level of community involvement and service and a high level of overall competence. The degree of change in the department in terms of the makeup of the force will show how well the program is working, just as normal evaluations of the work performance of new hires and old will show that the change is beneficial to the department. This analysis shows that there is a need to consider race first in terms of the community and second in terms of the make-up of the police force. In both cases, this is because race remains a dividing issue and one that is exacerbated by most poling programs. Community policing offers at least the chance of improving the system and reducing both the threat to the community and antipathy from the community.

Evaluation of the Most Important Decade in American History

This paper is going to be a step by step evaluation of arguably the most important decade in American History. The time period covered in this paper is 1789-1801. These are the years in which the Federalists had the most influence in the new government. They accomplished an amazing amount in these 12 years. The Federalist Party was one of the first political organizations in the United States. The members of this party supported a strong central government, a large peacetime army and navy, and a stable financial system. Although the first president, George Washington, was not a Federalist, his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was the developer and leader of the Federalist party. Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution so that the central government could become more powerful. Also Hamilton, along with the other party members, believed that commerce and manufacturing were more important than agriculture. During the first two years of the new federal government the biggest problem was that of raising money. At first the Congress adopted a small tariff on imports. This was a start but not nearly enough. The government needed this money to maintain its own existence and to be able to pay of the debt. The existence of the government was a necessity, but there was a lot of discussion as to whether the debt should be payed off. The mare magnitude of the debt seemed to compel some measure of avoidance. In 1789, the national debt totaled more than $50 million, $11,700,000 of which was owed to France and Spain and the private bankers of Netherlands, while $40 million was in the form of securities held by citizens of the United States. The interests owed to the bankers were being payed off by loans from the bankers themselves. The government didn†t even have enough money to pay the Barbary corsairs for release of captive sailors! When Congress couldn†t come up with a solution that was satisfactory, they turned to Alexander Hamilton with the dilemma. He soon proceeded to draw up a full report entitled â€Å"Report on Public Credit.† In this paper Hamilton proceeded to show that the only way for a new government to establish credit was to deal honestly with its creditors -for in many cases they would be the people to whom the government must look to for future loans. This policy received strong opposition from Madison and other soon to become Republicans (second political party in America). The federalists held strongly, but only with the passing of the Assumption Bill (movement of capital more toward the South) where they able to pass the bill. This achievement was significant, but lacked two things which would be necessary to carry it out. For one it lacked a circulating medium, and two it lacked a central bank. Hamilton then proposed a remedy. He wanted to establish a corporation that was to be called the Bank of the United States. This bank was to serve as the principle depository for government funds. It was also to serve as the issuer of bank notes. This was a loose interpretation of the constitution. Again Madison led the opposition to no avail. But Hamilton held strongly to his belief that even the most uncompromising opponent of the bank â€Å"would, in one month†s experience as head of that department of the treasury, be compelled to acknowledge that it is an absolutely indispensable engine in the management of the finances, and would quickly become a convert to its perfect constitutionality.† This plan favored the central government. The bank made little banks, who couldn†t compete, go out of business. The rich ended up being able to buy a part in the bank and so got richer, and the poor and middle class didn†t get the benefits. The central government was becoming self sufficient, and less dependent on the states. What Hamilton did is make the nation stronger in the eyes of other nations. This is a great accomplishment. If the Federalists (they didn†t call themselves that until 1792) weren†t in power the nation would have been weaker and more decentralized. There were three views on the French Revolution and the French-British war in 1793. Jefferson†s followers favored France. They wanted to abide by the treaty America signed with France in 1788. They thought it was the right thing to do. Hamilton†s followers favored Great Britain. They wanted to develop better relations with great Britain for economic reasons. They sought to break all the relations with the new French government and to ally America with England. The third view was the one taken by George Washington. He realized that a war with England on the side of the French would be suicidal, but at the same time he didn†t want America to be known as the nation that breaks treaties. George Washington proclaimed that America will be neutral. He forbade any American citizen from helping any warring nation. Without the Federalists there to oppose a war with England America might have been wiped out. The Federalists were looking out for the best interest of the country at the expense of another nation. George Washington who didn†t belong to any party decided not to follow either view. During John Adams† tenure as president the Federalists passed several laws which made them unpopular in the eyes of the American public. These laws made the people upset enough not to reelect most of the Federalists that were in Congress. This was the last term in which the federalists were influential. It is important to state these laws and why they passed them. The Federalists had become more favorable toward France and the Republicans started despising France, especially after the insulting X Y Z affair. Adams was favoring France as he tried to keep the nation out of war with France. He secured peace once Napoleon came into power in 1799. The resentment of the population toward France jeopardized this treaty. The Federalist majority in Congress decided to pass the Alien and sedition acts in order to weaken the supporters of war with France (mainly the Republicans). Adams himself was against these laws. These measures were hated. Some of the extreme measures taken to combat them were the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions. These measures tried to say that the laws were unconstitutional. When the time of the next election came the people of the nation had a choice of either maintaining the ways of the Federalists or vote for Jefferson and the republicans. The people, who were mostly farmers at the time, saw the threat to the common man†s rights and so they voted Jefferson and other Republicans into office. This was probably the only thing that the federalist ever really messed up. They made the country strong but then went too far and people took them out of the national picture. The federalist party would never see such strong days again. Its power dwindled down slowly until the party vanished from the national picture in 1816. Although no longer influential in Congress the federalist remained in control in several states. Some states had federalists in office as far down as 1820. This wasn†t though what kept the federalist ideals in America. John Marshall, chief justice of supreme court, began his tenure in 1801. Justice Marshall was a steadfast Federalist. He maintained the Federalist ways long after the party seized to exist. Decision after decision chief Marshall declared the central government supreme to the state. He stretched the constitution far in seeing that the states yield rights to the federal government. He maintained this for 34 years, shaping the loose collection of states into a solid National Union. Another way that the Federalist ideals were maintained comes from their opponents. Upon gaining control of the Congress and Presidency the Democratic-Republicans maintained most of the programs set up by the Federalists. The alien and sedition laws were repealed and everyone arrested under them was let go, but other than that the central government maintained the control gained under the federalists, relinquishing little. The Republicans even strengthened the federal government on occasion. By buying Louisiana Jefferson extended the abilities of the central government. The years under George Washington and John Adams constitute a record of accomplishments not met since. The Federalists followed Hamilton†s counsel to ‘think continentally.† A federal judiciary was established, the taxing power was used, the national debt was handled, American credit was fixed, and territory was cleared of the British and Spanish populations. In foreign affairs America gained respect. Neutrality was maintained, at the price of the French alliance and concessions with Britain. The objective of the foreign policy was survival. The objective was met. The Federalist did a great job starting up the country. After all, many of the leaders including John Adams and George Washington thought that the Union would not last past their lifetimes. The â€Å"experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people†, as said President Washington, turned out very well. Just look at the power America has today.