Looking Back at the 89th Oscar Awards

When one looks back at the 89^th Academy Awards they will always remember the Best Picture goof up. Warren Beatty came up on stage to explain the error and had Jimmy Kimmel poking fun at him throughout the explanation. Actually the real culprit is Faye Dunaway who got annoyed that Warren  Beatty was wasting time and when he showed her the envelope she just read out La La Land. However what that card had written on it was……

EMMA STONE

LA LA LAND

Best Actress

Warren Beatty saw that, as was evident by the way he first stared at the card, then checked the envelope for another card and then looked up at the audience in the Dolby Theatre with amusement. He showed it to Faye Dunaway who just read out the name of the film(Kimmel should’ve been like, “Oh Faye.. What did you do..!”). It was she who did it and not him. (She didn’t even go back out there to explain the error and left it to Warren Beatty)

Were there really 2 envelopes for each category? (That’s what the Academy is saying and are saying that the staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers, accidentally handed them the Best Actress envelope as it had been the previous award that was presented. Emma Stone says she had the envelope of Best Actress along with the Golden Statuette in her hand at the time the ‘winner’ was announced) Was it a prank by Jimmy Kimmel?(hope that this is not the case?)

Yes, they are actors and can pull off such a stunt and act innocent very easily, but, that is not the case as when one looks at shots of the back the envelope held by Warren Beatty we can see Best Actress in a Lead Role written in gold.

 Jimmy Kimmel as a host was somewhat brilliant. His jokes hit the mark. The main target of every single joke was Trump (The countries who hate us joke while praising how many countries the Oscar’s are broadcast in). He tried to match Ellen as he offered candies and cookies to the celebrities.(which were parachuted from the rafters of the Dolby Theatre)

His initial joke was a jibe at the Oscar’s itself owing to the difficulty it took them ti find a new host as they go through hosts so quickly, ”It’s my first time here and the way you people go through hosts it could be my last time as well”. He thanked President Trump and spoke about the previous year’s racism controversy, “Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist.” Next up on his list was Amazon who were told that if they win the Oscar (as producers of Manchester by the Sea ) they can expect it to arrive in 2-5 business days.

The ‘uninspiring’, ‘overrated’ Meryl Streep was next. ‘Mediocre early work’ ‘underwhelming performances’ in Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie’s choice(she won Academy Awards in both of those films) ‘lacklustre career’ He then mentioned her 20^th nomination. The segment was finished off with Kimmel asking the Dolby Theatre to give Meryl a ‘totally undeserved round of applause’. Meryl obliged and actually stood up and so did the rest of the audience.(in an earlier post I had mentioned that the Hollywood stars would not be offended by a joke made by Kimmel and it is seen here that no one just gave a blank stare back at him)

Then he spotted Matt Damon……

His segments with Matt Damon furthered their feud. First he said they’ve known each other so long that at that when he first met Matt, he (Jimmy) was the fat one. He then spoke about how Matt Damon is selfish, and when he decided to be unselfish he ended up giving an Oscar worthy role to his friend and ended up making a Chinese ponytail movie, which lost 80 million dollars. Smooth move.

In view of 20 years of them winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon presented that award. Firstly they were introduced as 2 time Academy Award Winner Ben Affleck and guest. Then Damon was played off every time he spoke and the camera panned to the orchestra which showed Kimmel conducting it and saying, “Wrap it up quickly, we want to go home.”

The Best Picture Award was introduced by Kimmel, “as his favourite part of the show. The chance to see Matt Damon lose an Academy Award.”

The bad moments of the show were, tour bus segment where in an attempt to take yet another dig at Trump he made fun of a Chinese girl’s name Yulree with a few, "what’s", and then asked the next guy his name to which he said Patrick prompting Kimmel to say, “See that’s a name.” In the segment immediately after Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor he poked fun that with a name like Mahershala, he certainly couldn’t name his kid Amy. This was a clear joke showing how Asians and Asian names are different and hence discriminated against.

 The Joke on OJ and the extra slice baloney lead to audible groans from the crowd. ( he did salvage the situation by commenting what seemed like a future report, “almost midway through the broadcast the crowd turned on Kimmel.”)

People say that the man went overboard with the Trump jokes, but, what else was expected? I mean honestly, Trump’s immigration ban and comments about the wall, would hamper several artists from the 7 countries and from Mexico who may feel the need to boycott Hollywood as a protest against the insult their country has faced Asghar Farhadi whose film won Best Foreign Language film boycotted the ceremony. He may even ensure his films are not submitted to the Academy as films from the countries that are banned should not reach the country in which the ban has originated?

The part where Sunny Pawar was lifted (like how Rafiki lifts baby Simba) has people trying to call it a racist scene as Sunny is a brown Indian kid who was lifted to the music of Circle of Life from the Lion King. No! He was lifted as he was small (any other small kid would have been lifted) and he had acted in a movie called Lion. Also he consented to it and it made sense. Lion and Lion King.

 Not even once through the show the audience felt disinterested and even as a T.V. viewer I was shocked when they announced it was time for Best Picture (so soon? Chris Rock had lost the audience after about an hour and a half and people just wanted the show to end)

If people were expecting Jimmy Kimmel to take them into a world free from the politics or stuff happening in the world, they deserve to be disappointed as they haven’t been following the entire award season (every award show has had the current political situation brought up in some way with a jibe. At the Golden Globe’s Jimmy Fallon spoke about how the globes are a place where the Popular vote is still considered) or haven’t ever seen Jimmy Kimmel at his talk show.

The Winners

There are two categories that I feel got the award not because of their film but because of situations in the world (I’m not saying that the two were bad films).

Best Picture

Moonlight winning was unexpected (even though it truly was the Best Picture) as the award season trends had everyone going ga ga over La La Land. It possibly swayed voters not because of its film content, but because of the #Oscarssowhitecontroversy over the past 2 years and continuous calls for the Academy to be more inclusive. The film is about a gay black boy growing up in the Miami projects in the 1980’s.

Best Foreign Language Film

Toni Erdmann (Germany) had swept the awards scene but lost at the Oscars? Why because the winner ‘The Salesman’ was from Iran and the Academy wanted to support the countries that have harshly had a travel ban to the United States.

Changes

Unlike previous years the Films nominated for Best Picture weren't introduced in twos or threes throughout the show, but instead at the end. This was better as there weren't any unnecessary presenters during the show. Also prior to each of the Acting Award presentations they aired footage of the moments of victory and speeches of former winners in that category. This  was a novel idea as it showed a collection of emotions of what the award meant to past winners.

Market Structures

(This was a submission for my Economics Internal Assessment where we had to take a news article and analyse it with an Economic Concept of our choice. )

 

 

1.INTRODUCTION

Market is generally understood to mean a particular place or locality where goods are sold and purchased. In economics, by the term market we do not mean any particular locality in which goods are bought and sold as the idea of a particular locality is unnecessary to this concept. There needs to be contact between buyers and sellers for a market to exist so that a transaction at an agreed price can take place between them. A market is said to exist if buyers and seller despite being spread out over a vast region, remain in close communication which each other through personal contact, letters, telegrams, telephones, etc., so that they can sell and buy goods at an agreed price. It is noteworthy that because in a market, there is close and free communication between various buyers and sellers, price of  a homogenous commodity settled between different sellers and buyers tends to be the same.

Thus the 4 essentials of a market are

1. Commodity which is dealt with

2. The existence of buyers and seller

3. A place, be it a certain region, a country or the entire world

4. Communication between buyers and sellers that only 1 price should prevail for the commodity at the same time.

In the words of a French economist Cournot, ”Economists understand by the term market not any particular market place in which things are bought and sold but the whole of any region in which buyers and sellers are in such free intercourse with one another that the price of the same good tends to equality easily and quickly.”

CLASSIFICATION OF MARKET STRUCTURES

The popular basis of classifying market structures rests on three crucial elements.

1.The number of firms producing the product.

2. The nature of product produced by the firms (as in whether the product is homogenous or differentiated)

3. The ease at which new firms can enter the industry.

MARKET STRUCTURES

MONOPOLY

According to H.L.Ahuja, “Monopoly is said to exist when one firm is the sole producer or seller of a product which has no close substitute.”

‘Mono’ means single and ‘poly’ means seller. Thus Monopoly can be understood as, the existence of a single seller which is producing or selling a product which has no close substitutes. A monopoly firm has sole control over the supply of a product that can have only remote substitutes, so as a sole supplier it has complete control over the price of the concerned product. Due to the absence of competition a monopolist is considered to be a price maker and not a price taker. The expansion and contraction in output of a product by a monopolist will considerably affect the price of a product contraction in output will raise its price and expansion in output will lower its price. In Monopoly there are strong barriers to the entry of new firms in the industry. Under this market structure entry of other firms is highly restricted.

According to E.H. Chamberlin, “ A monopoly refers to a single firm, which has control over the supply of a product, which has no close substitute.”

IMPERFECT COMPETITON

This is a market structure in which individual firms exercise control over the price to a smaller or larger degree depending upon the degree of imperfection present in a case. Control over the price of a product i.e. existence of imperfect competition is caused either by the fewness of firms or by the product differentiation. Imperfect competition has multiple subcategories and the ones that will be focoused on over here is monopolistic competition.

MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION

Monopolistic competition is characterized by a large number of firms and product differentiation. E.H. Chamberlin laid a great stress on monopolistic competition in his work “The Theory of Monopolistic Competition”. In Monopolistic competition a large number of firms produce somewhat different products which are close substitutes of each other. Unlike a monopoly there is a free entry and exit of firms under monopolistic competition. As a result the demand curve facing a firm here is highly elastic and this indicates that a firm working in it maintains some degree of control over the price of the commodity.

PURE OLIGOPOLY

This is also known as Oligopoly without product differentiation. Here there is a competition among few firms producing an identical or homogenous product. There will be a few number of firms and this will ensure that each one of them will have some control over the price of the product. The entry of other firms will be limited and the demand curve facing them will be downward sloping thus indicating that price elasticity for each firm will not be infinite.

2. ANALYSIS

The gas distribution sector is one which is highly prone to monopolies given that only one entity can lay pipelines in a particular geography. The article focuses on how the PNGRB (Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board) has rejected the state owned gas distribution company IGL(Indraprastha Gas Ltd’s) request to maintain monopoly over the Delhi gas pipeline network in the NCR(National Capital Region). This ruling will prevent the IGL (Indraprastha Gas Ltd’s) in being able to be the sole supplier of piped natural gas and condensed natural gas in the NCR. The ruling will assist in the termination of monopoly in the NCR’s Gas Distribution Sector and stop the monopolist (IGL) from taking advantage of the fact that they are the sole supplier of a given commodity and hence can charge any price as they have complete control over the supply of a product. The PNGRB’s ruling will likely usher in competition. i.e. other suppliers of the similar product or somewhat different product which are close substitutes of each other. According to the article the monopoly will end(The 2^nd paragraph of the article states that the PNRGB’s ruling is likely to encourage more competition in the supply of PNG and CNG in the NCR) and then firstly move towards Pure Oligopoly(as there will be competition among a few firms producing a homogenous or identical product) as in the beginning with a limited number of pipelines,(1/3^rd of the pipelines will be reserved for other players who wish to supply gas)there will only be space enough for a few firms to enter this sector. Bids will be invited from potential investors to lay down pipelines so that more firms will be able to enter this sector. After this happens the shift will take place from Pure Oligopoly to Monopolistic Competition (where a large number of firms will produce somewhat different products which are close substitutes of each other) This will make the demand curve of firms supplying Compressed Natural Gas and Piped Natural Gas under monopolistic competition highly elastic and displays that the firm enjoy some control over price. The ruling will convert the market from a one with strong barriers to free entry to a one with limited entry and finally we will see the market having a free entry for close substitutes.

3.CONCLUSION

The aim of the PRNGB (Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board) passed a ruling that would end the monopoly in a sector that is highly prone to monopolies given that only 1 entity can lay pipelines in a particular geography and thereby encourage more competition in the supply Of Piped Natural Gas and Compressed Natural Gas, as in the absence of monopoly there are no barriers to the entry and exit of firms in a market. With the absence of a monopoly the consumers will have a choice of suppliers and will be able to choose from whom they would like to purchase the commodity. There will exist a competition in the pricing of gas for consumers. First with the entry of a few firms into the gas distribution sector there will result in the creation of the Imperfect market structure: Pure Oligopoly. The limited number of these firms at first will ensure that each one of them will have some control over the price of the product. There will be a downward sloping demand curve facing each of these limited number of firms which indicates price elasticity of demand will not be infinite. The article states that the pipelines will be increased as bids will be invited from potential investors to lay them. With the increase there will be a larger number of firms that enter the market and Pure Oligopoly will turn into another aspect of Imperfect Market Structure i.e. Monopolistic Competition. The firms competing in a Monopolistic Competition are faced by a demand curve which is highly elastic and this shows that they enjoy some control over the price. Thus by the ruling the number of firms in the market will increase resulting to a change in the market structure and the degree of control over price. The consumers will greatly benefit by this ruling. The element of inflation will be avoided as there are competitors free to enter the market and there is no form which has complete monopoly thereby allowing them to be a price maker. The media by putting forth such a story will encourage the rise of monopolistic competition in many other sectors so the consumers can benefit by having a wide variety of sellers to choose from.

 

BIBLIOGRPHY

1.Mahrashtra State Board Class 12 Economics Textbook

2.Advanced Economic Theory(Microeconomic Analysis) – 20^th Revised Edition

- H.L.Ahuja

 

 

 

Cultural Analysis of a T.V. Show

(This was my submission for the Second Internal Assessment for the course on Cultural Studies for which we had to pick up an episode from a T.V. show and analyse it based on the topics taught to us in class)

 Arrow S02 E13

Introduction

Arrow is an American action television series and the first instalment of a series of shows which would collectively come to be known as the Arrowverse. The show follows the adventures of Billionaire Playboy Oliver Queen who was stranded on an island for 5 years and has now returned home to Starling City to get rid of the people poisoning his city and to clean up the city, as a masked, hooded vigilante called The Arrow.

                Episode Summary

The 13^th episode of season 2 begins at the Starling City Airport where Nyssa Raatko, daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul (founder of the League of Assassins) arrives at Starling City to use any method possible to convince Sara Lance to return to the League’s base (Nanda Parbat) as she has sworn an oath to the League. This follows attempts by Nyssa, (also known as Heir to the Demon as she is the daughter of the Demon and founder of the League of Assassins, Ra’s Al Ghul) and the League members to lure Sara back to Nanda Parbat, by any means possible, including targeting her family (they poison her sister Laurel Lance in the previous episode and kidnap her mother Dinah in the episode 13). Also in this episode Oliver Queen’s mother, Moira Queen officially announces her candidacy for Mayor of Starling City.

     Culture Theories

Culture is the process by which meaning is produced, circulated, consumed, commodified, and endlessly reproduced and negotiated in society.(Williams, 1961,1981;Hall,1980)

In this analysis I will be focusing mainly on Orientalism which I spotted whilst watching episode 13 of the second season which is the 36^th episode overall in the series. Also I’ll be focusing on Hegemony, how feminism influenced the portrayal of female characters on the show and vigilantism.

Orientalism

It is a cultural ideology that rose from the process of Colonisation of the Eastern (Oriental) countries by the Western countries in the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries. It becomes hard to separate Colonialism from Imperialism, as both theories can be used to define the means by which political and economic control are won and maintained over a particular region. Now after the Western powers began ruling over the Oriental lands, they naturally began to study the culture of their subjects and initially experienced what can be known as Culture Shock.

Culture Shock happens when we encounter radically different networks of meaning: when our natural or common sense is confronted by someone else’s natural or common sense.

Orientalism is a cultural ideology that was named as such by the west so as to give a name to the culture of the land they had colonised

It is a concept that there is something very special and different in everything of people living in the East, it is a reflection of the relationship of imperial and intellectual domination of a West which feels it is superior to an 'inferior' East.

According to Edward Said, Orientalism dates from the period of European Enlightenment and colonization of the Arab World. Orientalism provided a rationalization for European colonialism based on a self-serving history in which “the West” constructed “the East” as extremely different and inferior, and therefore in need of Western intervention or “rescue”.

In this series, instances of Orientalism are found more than any other. It starts from the season’s pilot episode where Oliver get shipwrecked in a flashback, and is informed that he is on an Island on the South China sea called “Lian Yu” which literally means purgatory. (It is on this Island he learns combat and archery and all sorts of skills that help him in his vigilantism) As in the opening quote he says he had to “survive”, this portrays the east (South China Sea; the orient) as a savage land where each and every single day, each and every single moment is a land of survival. It is somewhat similar to the law of the jungle i.e. only the fittest survive. The show tries to present to us that the Orient is literally purgatory. In Christian Doctrine, purgatory is a place or state of suffering and misery.

Why couldn’t Oliver have been marooned on an island in the Caribbean, rather than all the way in the Far East, South China Sea?

In episode 5 of season 2(the events which contribute to the events of episode 13) Sara Lance is stalked by a League of Assassins member Al-Owal as Ra’s Al Ghul wants her to ome back to Nanda Parbat to honour her oath to the League(note the use of the Arabic name). He is clad in a black outfit, and is killed by Sara. He targets members of Sara’s family in order to coerce her back. Gives an image of person from the Orient as uncivilized and dangerous.

The scene right at the beginning of the episode 13 shows a mysterious woman approach immigration at the Starling City Airport. The mysterious woman is wearing a black hat and overcoat. She is very slightly more tanned than the other passengers at the immigration point at the airport. Nyssa even looks Asian (that stereotype of being able to tell which person is from which continent is a result of the consumption of pop culture in media which shapes our beliefs) After an A.R.G.U.S. security alert appearing on the immigration computer, viewers learn that she truly is a villainess and she gets cornered by a security guard whom she smashes head first onto the glass of the counter and proceeds to beat up four more guards. This short, less than 2 minute scene plants the image of an Asian in the minds of a westerner as one who is vicious, extremely skilled in martial arts, uncivilized and dangerous. It forms a stereotypical image of Asians in our mind.

After Sara meets her father in a deli and she leaves and is walking somewhere, Nyssa make an appearance by falling down from the underside of a bridge with the help of huge drapes. She is clad in a red and black outfit, complete with a hood, a set of arrows and a bow and a dagger. She advances towards weapon less Sara with the dagger held in an ice pick grip(which as shown in many tv shows especially the detective ones is the most effective grip and offers the most penetration if you want to stab someone). She then suddenly lowers the knife and begins kissing Sara with Oriental music playing in the background (this sort of music is what we have been hegemonized to consider as oriental music as we can relate it to snake charmers). She introduces herself to Oliver as ‘Heir to the Demon’. Viewers who only watch the arrowverse shows believe that all Oriental and Islamic name people have somewhat similar attributes to what the Islamic characters on the show have. It will lead them to look at suspicion at any Muslim person they see while roaming on the roads.

In episode 12 climax Laurel collapses and we see a man in a beard he stuffs something into his pocket. Laurel returns to her apartment and collapses immediately after that. In episode 13 it is revealed that Laurel didn’t actually OD, but was poisoned by Tibetan Viper venom (Tibet is the rumoured location of the home of the League of Assassins i.e. Nanda Parbat). A snake from an Oriental land is shown to be the choice of venom, and an oriental snake is portrayed by the show as much more dangerous than other dangerous snakes. It is later discovered that Tibetan pit viper venom loses its potency the moment it leaves the fangs and hence is difficult to transport and the venom was procured from a species at a local zoo? Why was it a Tibetan pit viper when there are a host of more lethal snakes at the zoo? The Tibetan Pit Viper isn’t even among the most venomous viper’s let alone snakes? This is just to show that the Orient is a land of dangerous reptiles!

In episode 13 Dinah Lance is shown exciting her daughter’s room and heading for the water filter. The same man who was seen in Oliver Queen’s night club, the same bearded man who poisoned Laural makes an entry accompanied by extremely dramatic music and then puts a handkerchief around her face and makes her unconscious. The kidnapper has a beard, which builds the stereotype that all bearded men are evil.

A black hooded figure uses drapes to descend from a tall structure and engages in combat with the White canary and the Arrow. He is overpowered by Quentin Lance and when his hood is pulled off it is revealed that he is the same person who poisoned Laurel and kidnapped Dinah. Consumes a vial of something (assumed to be poison) and whispers an Islam prayer before being committing suicide. He utters the phrase ‘la ilaha ila lah”. This phrase represents one of the greatest oaths any Muslim, a believer of Islam, can make in being a Muslim, and is known as the declaration of faith.

Nyssa gets mad when Sara consumes the venom and Lance and Dinah rush to her side and kneel by her body. Then like a heartless beast tells her that her mourning parents can join her in eternity. She knocks Quentin Lance out and is moving to stab Dinah Lance with her dagger.

The people when they join the League of Assassins have to take up a Muslim name for example Sara has the name Ateya – Al Saher. Viewers then form the opinion that one with an American name like Sara Lance cant truly be a cold blooded killer like the League requires them to be, and upon taking a new name they can transform themselves into a killer. An image of any individual with a Muslim name will be associated with violence and cold blooded ruthlessness, if the show is consumed without people learning not to stereotype. It’s not only Arrow, but a lot of tv shows portray Muslims as villains, but here it says that American name not possible to be a villain, and Arabic name is needed to be ruthless.

Such things are the reasons that Muslims are detained at airports. Shah Rukh Khan has been detained thrice because of his surname. It shows us that popular culture has influenced Western countries so much that they are convinced that anyone who is Muslim is evil. If this is the state of the global icon, what must be the state of those regular normal Muslims when they go the America?

Going back to Said’s definition Orientalism provided a rationalization for European colonialism based on a self-serving history in which “the West” constructed “the East” as extremely different and inferior, and therefore in need of Western intervention or “rescue”. It shows us that the West needs to intervene in the East and rescue them.

Feminism

Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of equality of the sexes. The feminist movement led to writers of shows falling under pop culture to construct stronger female characters.

Moira Queen and Sara Lance are the prime faces for Feminism in this episode.

Moira Queen is a strong female character who is convinced to run against Sebastian Blood for mayor as every other candidate has been trounced. Campaign is about connecting with people. ”Wants to help rebuild the city, not pander to it.”

Her mayoral rival, Sebastian Blood tells her to “get out” as in get out of the election race, to which she responds “I can take care of myself” further reinforcing to the viewers that she despite being a female can be considered as equal to men in terms of courage, guts and determination.

Sara Lance leaves Starling City and goes away because the League Of Assassins is after her. She tells Nyssa to “do what you have to”, fully expecting to be stabbed. She shows strength over here and is willing to ‘honour her commitment to the league in one way or another.’ Later on in the episode Nyssa asks Sara whether she has come to a decision as the time is up and she says that she is ready to come provided Nyssa lets go of Mrs. Lance. Before feminism movements very few female characters would be shown in this manner as emotionally strong and willing to sacrifice themselves for others.

Sara also after freeing her mother collapses following which it is shown by a reaction in her eyes that she has consumed Tibetan Pit Viper venom. She chose to sacrifice herself so as to end the ordeal of her running from the League, re-joining it, the League harming members of her family to get to her.

Popular Culture

The show is extremely popular, as it is based on a vigilante and it falls under the category of popular culture. Pop or Popular culture is also known as culture of the masses. Television series nowadays are aired weekly and form a part of the everyday life of the larger number of people. The show seems to promote Islamophobia as is very evident from this episode.

 Earlier the culture of television show consumption would be considered as ‘inferior culture’, but is now popular among the Youth as it offers them to see a superhero on the small screen on a weekly basis. Hence due to watching this show on a regular basis, viewers will begin to form stereotypes and even see things that influence them and that some stereotypes are wrong.

Stereotype

It is considered as a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Mr.Lance is shown cooking and washing utensils in the flashback scenes of episode 13 thus bucking the stereotype of men don’t cook or contribute in the house work.

The two women who have a crush on the same guy can work together on the same team. Sara and Felicity break the stereotype of how two women who have a crush on the same guy can’t be friends or work cohesively.

Felicity breaks the stereotype of a hot girl being unable to have excellent hacking skills. In episode 12 she confesses to having hacked into a prison.

The stereotype that all people with Arabic names have some evil aura or connection is promoted heavily in this episode and this stereotype exists a lot in the real world as the show is a part of pop culture and is consumed by the masses.

Uplifting music is used as background for western characters and suspense building music oriental music is used for all characters from the Orient, enforces the stereotype that characters from people in shows and even in real life need to be viewed at with suspicion.

Hegemony

It is the leadership and dominance over another person or group by a person or a group.

Nyssa is the powerful figure in the league and everyone in the League accepts her dominance over themselves. She too is shown to be hegemonised as she accepts Ra’s Al- Ghul’s domination over her. Sara Lance by fleeing the League and not returning to the League displays an example of counter hegemony in this episode.

 Vigilantism

 A vigilante is a person who is not a member of law enforcement but who pursues and punishes persons suspected of law-breaking. Vigilantism is the methods, conduct and attitudes associated with vigilantes, especially militancy, bigotry, or suspiciousness. It is a cultural ideology that seems to condone or even advocate the use of violence in criminal justice.

In the show, The Arrow is a masked vigilante who takes the law into his own hands and delivers justice. The vigilante culture is seen in Starling City a what originally was only The Arrow has now become the White Canary (Sara Lance) and Roy Harper (who is seen in episode 12)

Misrepresentation of the Oriental Culture

Here I’ll focus solely on the phrase “La ilaha ila lah.” When watching the episode I thought that Islam actually promoted sacrifice of life in the name of God. The phrase literally means ”There is no deity but god.” People think that Islam condones suicide in the name of Allah, but it is a gross misrepresentation as in the qu’ran suicide is forbidden and is considered a sin. But popular culture paints the reverse image in our head.

 Bibliography

 1. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/purgatory

2. http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H014.htm

3. http://www.arabstereotypes.org/why-stereotypes/what-orientalism

4. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vigilantism

5. http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/30463

6. http://www.arabnews.com/node/251387

Best Original Song

There are 5 songs nominated here.

How far I’ll go (Moana)

Can’t stop this feeling (Trolls)

The Empty Chair (Jim: The James Foley Story)

City of Stars (La La Land)

Audition- The Fools who Dream (La La Land)

The front runners are Audition- The Fools who dream and City of Stars. The other 3 songs performers should just feel privileged to be nominated alongside La La Land and get a chance to perform on the stage at the Dolby Theatre.

How far I’ll go from Moana is melodious and would win in a year where songs from musicals were banned.

Can’t stop this feeling is a song that makes you want to get up and dance.

The Empty Chair like Audition-The Fools who Dream is a song for the soul.

In a year dominated by a musical(La La Land) most other films would actually look forward to this category as it is one where the musical slacks off as most musicals are from Broadway and have songs which are not original. That is not the case with La La Land in which every single song has been written purely for this film(a reason to award it Best Picture?). If the rule for a limit to the number of songs from a film that can be nominated for Best Original Song had not existed La La Land would have gotten 5 nominations here and broken the record of most nominations for a film on a single night.

City of Stars is the frontrunner as La La Land’s entire promotional campaign and even their trailer features this song being played in the background. Also they have swept the awards season and every time La La Land is announced as a winner the tune of City of Stars is playing in the background amidst all the applause. When the audience leaves the theatre also, City of Stars is a song that they are humming, even though Audition- The Fools who Dream comes along much later than City of Stars. City of Stars is the first thing people think off when someone mentions La La Land and the people who are voting too will remember this song and vote for it.

Audition-The Fools who Dream is the soul of the movie. It’s a tribute to everyone who dares to dream, no matter how foolish it seems to others(I relate to this song on so many levels) and its lyrics are fabulous, “a bit of madness is key, to give us new colours to see.” If I was a voter, this is the song that I’d be backing. It’s just so spectacular.

 Its rendition is, what according to me will win Emma Stone an Oscar for Best Actress in a Lead Role.

Favourite: City of Stars

Potential Spoiler: Audition- The Fools who Dream

Best Animated Film

Nominees

My Life as a Zucchini

The Red Turtle

Kubo and the Two Strings

Moana

Zootopia

It’s a battle between Zootopia and Kubo and the Two Strings. I am not including Moana as Disney seems to be backing Zootopia for the Award. Which is good as Disney backing two films would lead to the votes getting split between Zootopia and Moana and play right into Kubo and the Two Strings hand under the preferential ballot system.

To the other nominees, My Life as a Zucchini and The Red Turtle. Thank you for playing.

 Zootopia is the film that directly attacks the Trump regime. It shows us how we can be different and still live together in harmony. Zootopia gives the message that there should be equal opportunity for all. There also are a few lines that show audiences the way the world currently is as Judy’s mom tells her, “it’s great to have dreams as long as you don’t believe in them too much.” Also life is not a cartoon where things magically come true. That line also makes sense. We see issues of discrimination as a Fox is refused service at an Elephant store. Zootopia appeals to kids as it has very bright and colourful scenes and will  impart a good message to them.

 Kubo has gotten buzz as it is a stop motion animation which the academy has recognised as it has nominated 2 stop motion films ( along with My Life as a Zucchini) in this category. One message I got from this film was a line by Kubo when he is battling The Moon King,” Everything good is in memories, we hold them deep and they can’t be taken from us. ”

Also Kubo won the BAFTA Award which has prevented Zootopia from waltzing into the Oscars as the favourite.

The Academy would want to back a film that promotes diversity and this makes Zootopia a front runner. Also with the current political situation I’d say Zootopia wins.

Favourite: Zootopia

Potential Spoiler: Kubo and the Two Strings

What can we expect from Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars?

When one is awaiting the Oscars, people think about the film that will win and what’s more important is the host. This year there were major delays in announcing the Producers and that resulted in the host being announced late. The Producers have seemingly struck gold by announcing Jimmy Kimmel as the host as he is someone who has talk show experience, award hosting experience (he has hosted the Emmy’s twice. The 2016 Emmy’s led to him generating buzz for landing the Oscar’s hosting gig) and hosts a post Oscar Special show after the Oscars. What’s different is that this time he'll actually be hosting the real show inside the Dolby Theatre itself.

The show consists of an opening video, followed by a talk performance, or a song, or a mix of both by the hosts. With Jimmy Kimmel one can expect a talk with him poking fun at the nominees, the nominated films of the year. Making a joke with relevance to the situation in the world.

At the Emmy’s (which was 2 months prior to the U.S. Elections) he called Melania Trump “Malaria.” Also at the Emmy’s he commented about how in Hollywood the one thing valued more than diversity is congratulating each other about how they value diversity. Expect a similar sort of dig as the Oscars as 7 of the 20 acting nominations and 1 out of the 5 nominated directors are of colour.  Like previous hosts he could switch from diversity and poke fun at Meryl Streep (previous hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin explained the tedious process of counting Oscar votes and then spoke about how Meryl Streep is always nominated)

The travel ban will be an issue to which Kimmel can comment about as Iranian film director, Asghar Farhadi who has directed The Salesman which is nominee for Best Foreign Language film has refused to travel for the ceremony. So expect a jibe on the immigration ban on particular countries.

Also something to watch out for will be Jimmy Kimmel’s interaction with Matt Damon (nominated as a Producer for Manchester by the Sea)

Best Actress Nominee Natalie Portman play first lady Jackie Kennedy and one would have been expecting Jimmy Kimmel to take a jibe at Melania Trump through that but Natalie Portman won’t be attending the show as she is in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

All in all it should be much better than Chris Rock’s gig last year as Jimmy Kimmel with his late night show has regular interactions with the actors and is on friendly terms with most of them and they won’t mind a jibe or a joke on them. Unlike Chris Rock he will actually interact with the audience and make jokes. In the Emmy’s in 2016 there were two shows who were pre show frontrunners and Kimmel said that if the show does not have a dragon or a white bronco they can leave. At the Oscar’s there is one front runner so we can be sure to expect a La La Land taunt (personally I’m hoping Jimmy Kimmel welcomes us to the 89^th Academy Awards also known as La La Land appreciation night) Kimmel also spoke about how in addition to making us laugh and cry and certain moments shows even make us masturbate(G.O.T.) Even at the end the Maggie Smith taunts didn’t feel forced and he ended the monologue and made the audience actually want more. They weren’t waiting for it to end.

 Similar to Ellen’s gig at the 86^th Academy Awards? Jimmy Kimmel can certainly pull it off.

Oscar Openings

I have watched the Oscars for the last 8 years and find that the openings play a huge role in telling us how the show will be. A good opening makes up for a drab show as with a good opening the viewers and tweeters wont rip you apart before the first award of the night has been presented. Yes by the end every host gets ripped apart as it is tough to keep the attention of the room for 3 and a half hours.

In order from Worst to Best openings

8. 83^rd Academy Awards

Hosts: James Franco and Anne Hathaway

No comment. This one was just disgusting and everything felt forced.

7. 85^th Academy Awards

Host: Seth Macfarlane

He started off well by poking fun at the Academy for failing to nominate Ben Affleck in the Director’s category for Argo(Ben Affleck had swept the Director Awards at every single show on the Awards circuit) The time travel joke was when things began to go downhill. He aired a pre-recorded performance of a terribly sexist song aimed as a tribute to all the actresses who went topless on screen  called “we saw your boobs.” The audience were stony faced and were holding their heads in disbelief. Jennifer Lawrence seemed thrilled as the song stated that her boobs hadn’t been seen at all.

6. 88^th Academy Awards

Host: Chris Rock

This was Chris Rock’s second stint as Oscar host and many saw him as the Academy’s response to the Oscars so white controversy that took place a year earlier. That year too all the 20 acting nominations were white. He immediately started off by commenting about how he saw Black actors on the opening montage. Following that he labelled the Oscar’s as the “White people’s choice awards” and said if hosts were nominated he wouldn’t have been the host. His suggestion for having black nominations annually was, to combine the male and female acting categories as it isn't track and field where the men and women need to be separated and instead have a black actor's category. He then wasn’t really interacting with the audience and ended up having what many called ‘a speech.’ Also constant usage if “you know” after everything he said. At the end we wanted him to stop and progress onto the awards.

5. 84^th Academy Awards

Host: Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal returned for the 8^th time to host the Oscars for the 9^th time and he got good reviews as frankly, anything would be better than last year’s debacle. He has a small monologue where he spoke about how the Oscar results breed resentments for a lifetime and used the film names like War Horse (as a name to call him as it was his 9^th time as host)following which he performed and introduces each best picture nominee in a comical manner. His opening video parodied how he was reluctant to host the show and was persuaded to do so. It was a silent opening video akin to The Artist which was nominated for best film and was the frontrunner. His song poked fun at Martin Scorcese whose film Hugo marked a departure from the gangster films that are synonymous with his name and urged him to treat the sequel to Hugo in a gangster way “coz he’s Marty.” The 6 minutes continuously made references to how things have changed as he called the Dolby Theatre which a year earlier was the Kodak Theatre as the Chapter 11 Theatre( the venue of his hosting gigs in the 90s). He even said,  "9 is the new 5", as only 5 films were nominated fro Best Film in each of his 8 previous stints. Also his song always starts with “It’s a wonderful night for Oscar.. Oscar Oscar.. Who will win?” following which he jokingly asked the audience, ”you didn’t think I wasn’t gonna do that now did you?”

4. 82^nd Academy Awards

Hosts : Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin

They started off well with Alec listing out all of Steve’s achievements as introducing him and Steve just with a casual flick of his hand said, “This is Alec Baldwin.” The next was the traditional joke at serial nominee Meryl Streep as they explained how the voting takes places and how the votes are tabulated but no matter what they nominate Meryl Streep. They gave her recognition for most nominations as an actress, Steve Martin said he likes to think of it as Most Losses. They then poked fun at Helen Mirren mispronouncing Dame as Damn. Sandra Bullock who had received a lot of love all throughout the Awards season was next and the question asked “was who does not love her”, to which Alec Baldwin replied, ”we’ll find out tonight.” The usage of 3D glasses to spot Director of Avatar James Cameron, and the usage of bug spray to get rid of the floating woodsprites(seeds of the tree of souls), the mix up between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and grumpy George Clooney and Alec Baldwin’s silent stares were some more memorable parts of the opening

3. 81^st Academy Awards

Host: Hugh Jackman

He poked fun at the recession. In addition to introducing the nominated films (as is the norm with a musical performance) he also spoke about comedies and billion dollar blockbusters like The Dark Knight) not getting nominations. His musical sets as well reflected the recession and his performance was magnificent as like Billy Crystal he was interacting with the nominees in between verses for each film. The audience gave him a standing ovation and it was this performance that made me watch the Oscars again as this was my 1^st impression of the Oscars (and it is said that the 1^st impression is the last impression)

2. 86^th Academy Awards

Hosted: Ellen Degeneres

She started off brilliantly with a serious face thanking everyone for their prayers as they were experiencing a lot of rain which had to make them install a roof over the Red Carpet. She made a joke about nominee June Squibb’s old age and spoke a little loudly like one would to a person who is hard of hearing (but as a talk show host she would be able to pull such stuff off as she interacts with Hollywood stars regularly and is a universally loved figure, which is evident as she managed to call the entire crowd as racists and got away with it as the room burst into laughter). Next up was Ellen commenting on why Meryl Streep cannot afford to be nominated again. Jennifer Lawrence had a fall while accepting Best Actress the year earlier, and Ellen started talking about it saying “its so embarrassing when people talk about something that happened like that.” Post that Ellen spoke about how no one needed to know what happened when Jennifer Lawrence was getting out of the car, then she turned and with a slight smile announced that she fell while getting out of the car.

1.  87^th Academy Awards

Host: Neil Patrick Harris

He just spoke 1 line welcoming us to the Oscar’s where they honour Hollywood’s best and whitest.. sorry brightest, following which he performed a memorable opening number paying tribute to the theme of the year “Moving Pictures.”(A song was expected as he has made a name for himself hosting the Tony’s) The song first spoke about how people are tweeting and how no one is bitter yet cause no one has lost, in a first the publicists were given a mention as they are he ones who make sure  film generates enough buzz in the right places to help it receive a nomination. There was a brilliant shadow performance of singing in the rain(helped evoke nostalgia). Like the name of the song suggests, many films like argo, fargo, Indiana Jones, Godfather, Sting, Ghost, Field of Dreams, Frozen, Wizard of Oz and Star Wars just to name a few. In a cameo Jack Black acknowledged how the only screens we watch are the ones in our jeans.

To cap it off when the host finally introduced the nominees for Best Picture, the choreography for the characters of various moves moving in out and of the light seamlessly and then all falling in line behind the host was just spectacular and after the song, I was amazed as Moving Pictures are truly wonderful and should be appreciated and that is possible as the song will stay stuck in your head.(Its been 2 years and it is still stuck in my head)

And for the 89^th Oscar’s. Where will Jimmy Kimmel feature in this list. I feel he can better Ellen’s gig.

A Century of Sketches

Why do you do all these drawings? What is it for? Don’t you get bored? To answer these questions many people have asked me when I show them a sketch I made. I draw to pass my time, it is for me to be creative, and about the boredom?

Heath Ledger as The Joker

 

Well, I started drawing only due to me feeling bored in the vacation post my S.S.C. exams.  What made me think of wanting to draw? As many people go for a vacation, or read a book, or learn a sport (I did those things too). The part in Titanic where Jack goes and explains his drawings to Rose the morning after he saved her from drowning and the part where he is sketching her with the Heart of the Ocean are what motivated me(the Titanic Piano Instrumental theme would play in my head during the initial few drawings) to draw. The first drawing was of Captain America on 7th April, 2013.

Then later on when I had a few drawings completed, I made a Facebook album called Sketches and started posting them there. Few people liked it, some told me to stop as I was wasting paper! Some even said that the kid’s section drawings in the newspapers were better. I didn’t bother, I was bored, I wanted to draw stuff and post it online, it was my account, my paper, my pencil so I just carried on. It was in the 12^th standard Diwali vacation that I began to make sketches that I was proud off like.....

 You post so often. How do you draw so fast?
How do I draw so fast? I don't draw fast! I do about 5-10 drawings during the few months in which there are no posts and then I post them on consecutive days or after a couple of days. My drawings do not happen in 1 day. They take a lot of time.

                                                     

                                                                    

                                                    

The Swan Queen

 

 

Itachi Uchiha

 

 Post the 12^th, Diwali vacations, I started drawing 2 characters in one piece of paper, a sort of evolution as I felt drawing only portraits of 1 character was boring.

Belle and The Beast

 

People asked me how do I choose what to draw? Firstly its people/characters that I like. My first sketch was of Captain America, and then I drew Roger Federer, Willy Wonka and Jack Sparrow.

Then as I got hooked onto T.V. shows I started sketching characters like Moriarty, Hannibal, The Penguin and Fish Moony . I had a Batman Villains sequence as well as I made Ra’s Al Ghul, Catwoman, The Riddler, Bane and The Joker (recently in 2017 I added Poison Ivy and The Two-Face to that list)

The Penguin

 

Jim Carrey as The Riddler

 

Following that I started drawing iconic scenes of Disney Renaissance era (Belle and the Beast dancing, Aladin and Jasmine on the magic carpet ride, Ariel on the rock beneath the sea, Mulan, Pocohontas, The Genie, Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene, Hakuna Matata)

Ariel on the rock

 

Hakuna Matata

 

Lady and the Tramp Spaghetti scene

 

 

 There have also been multiple characters that I haven’t been able to draw and have had to abandon the attempt like The Scarecrow, The Na’vi from Avatar and Iron Man just to name a few.

Out of the 99 uploaded till now only 3 have some sort of colour in them, the rest are purely pencil shading work. Why? In school I would always love pencil shading work, and would get good marks in the drawing subject in school as well, but, the pencil shading and the still-life assignment got me good reviews. Also it was because I would never like to carry a bulky box of crayons or paints to school. Also pencil work is easy to correct and can be rubbed easily unlike paint.

Some people ever since I started numbering the sketches starting from no.94 began asking me which one was my favourite one. I don’t really have a favourite one as it wouldn’t have been uploaded if it wasn’t a favourite. But I decided to look back and I loved The Joker, Fa Mulan, The Swan Queen.
 

 

What kept me going for four years? Well I just enjoyed drawing, and then enjoyed getting appreciated. Will I continue after no.100? Absolutely, but not really soon.

What will no.100 be? A really big figure in the entertainment Industry is what I’m hoping to successfully pull off, but you never know, this one could join the list of ones I haven’t been able to pull off. I want to be able to pull it off. I hope I can.

Cheers

-Reubyn RF

 

The Reason for India's poor performance in Global Sports

(This article is from a newsletter which was for the Introduction to Journalism course's 2nd Internal Assessment. The newsletter was worked on by a team of 5 and people consisted of 4 articles. This one was written by me and edited by our group Editor)

The 119-member Indian Contingent, won 2 medals in the recently concluded Rio Olympics and have won 17 individual medals in  24 Olympic Games contested. Inclusion of the medals from hockey takes India’s total medals at the Olympics to 28. There are countries that have poorer records at the quadrennial event, but if our population is taken into account, India has a shockingly low medals-per-person ratio! The country with the 2nd largest population in the world fail time and time again to finish among the top 50 countries at the Olympics.

So why does India fail at the biggest event in the world despite having such potential in talented athletes? Madhuli Kulkarni, a counsellor, trainer and writer in the field of sports and educational psychology answers it quite plainly, “Sports is never a priority for Indian parents.” Our culture is so focused on academic success that any success in sports is given less importance. A large chunk of talent is being diverted away from sports, due to this mind-set.

A famous Hindi quote sums this up nicely: “Kheloge kudoge to honge kharab, padhoge likhoge to banoge nawab” which can be translated as “If you study hard you will live like a king, but if you play sports you will ruin your life.” There is little support for those who display athletic prowess. We only notice them during the Olympics fortnight, if they qualify for it, and that attention is sustained post the Olympic fortnight only if they get a medal (Sakshi Malik) or come agonisingly close(Dipa Karmakar). Otherwise they fade into oblivion. For eg. Achanta Sharath Kamal who represented India in Table Tennis in Beijing 2008?) anyone remembers him?

P.V.Sindhu (Olympic Silver Medallist) is getting several cash rewards adding up to almost ₹10 crore for her outstanding performance. Her silver is the result of India’s long term investment in Badminton. It was the second medal in as many games for India in the sport. She deserves all the praise and the money but it makes one wonder if there’s a need for pro-activeness. What if this sort of money was invested in athletes before they win a medal? Wouldn’t we have more than a couple of medals?

All sports are equal, but some sports are more equal than others.

If sports are encouraged at all, it is usually popular sports like cricket. Other non-popular sports are dwarfed by cricket’s popularity. Media coverage is a factor in this as non-popular sports only get attention during the Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games. Cricket dominates the scene the rest of the time. A minor test series between India and Zimbabwe takes preference over something prestigious, such as the National Games. The cash rewards are higher for cricket tournament winners than for a winner in any other sport.

And even when a non-popular sport is encouraged, and an athlete displays prowess, there is little support for that athlete. The facilities are inadequate and most of the time athletes have to support themselves financially. Sometimes, they have to risk their lives like Indian luger (luge sled) Shiva Keshavan who slides down precarious mountain roads alongside vehicles or Dipa Karmakar with her Produnova or ‘Death’ vault. Due to this many talented individuals give up sports. There are those who qualify, but after qualifying they are made to travel in economy class(while ministers and their use up the business class seats allocated for the athletes) and have ill-fitting uniforms among other things. It makes a lot of sense to go for a more glamorous sport like cricket.

The successful nations offer citizens a chance to get a sporting and educational upbringing, so that they can survive in the world if they suffer a career terminating injury. These countries treat every sport equally. The lack of medals is the fault of the Indian system. The signs are bright as in this edition of the Olympics, India sent its largest ever contingent, but whilst getting there is no doubt commendable, the final hurdle of winning a medal needs to be crossed. One can’t expect miracles from the athletes, if they haven’t been backed. Along with cricket, other sports require adequate backing as no one sport should be given more importance than rest, if India is to succeed at the Olympics.

Long term investment is the key to solving this problem. With sincere investment in our athletes and a change in our thought processes we could improve. But will it happen or will we be “…just talk and talk till Tokyo 2020?”