Physical Impacts of Alcohol Abuse

Physical Impacts of Alcohol Abuse Alcohol use and abuse can affect the liver, central nervous system and the kidneys. The result of the constant use of alcohol can be noted and examined in patients using numerous methods. These methods utilize the body’s reaction towards alcohol using biochemical markers like ÃŽ ³-glutamyl tranferase (GGT), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Although biochemical markers can easily tell the clinician about the use and abuse of alcohol, genetic markers may also contribute to the dependence of alcohol. Alcohol use and abuse is associated with multiple illnesses such as cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis. Alcohol consumption has many negative effects that increase with age, ranging from short term reactions like dehydration and ethanol poisoning to chronic reactions like liver failure and alcoholic fatty liver disease. The result of alcohol consumption is reactive changes in the body such as an increase of enzymatic activity and concentration as well as the decrease of enzymatic activity and concentration due to tissue destruction. The enzyme ÃŽ ³-glutamyl tranferase (GGT) activity is one of the most sensitive tests for alcohol use. The enzymes activity rises when there is acute hepatocellular damage present commonly is patients with alcoholic liver disease (G. Bbosa, D. Kyegombe, W. Anokbonggo, A. Lubega, A. Mugisha and J. Ogwal-Okeng, 2014). GGT is such a sensitive marker that the levels will also be increased even if no hepatic or biliary damage is present in the patient suffering from alcoholism. GGT levels increase drastically in the serum of patients abusing alcohol chronically, an increase of 2-3 times the normal value is most commonly present (S. Kavitha, V. Venkatraman and K. Jeyaprakash, 2013). GGT serum levels can also be raised in patients with digestive disorders and mostly only indicates alcoholism in patients who abuse the substance excessively. High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are more commonly decreased in older patients suffering from alcoholism than in younger patients and are used rather as a confirmation marker than an initial indicator. The HDL-C levels in the serum will be decreased in the patients presenting with alcohol abuse (S. Kavitha, V. Venkatraman and K. Jeyaprakash, 2013). The enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (AST) can be used to indicate alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis, but proves difficult to provide accurate results in the absence of liver damage. The enzyme is also found in multiple other organs like the brain and the kidneys and is more likely to be used as a confirmation of liver disease than a definitive diagnosis (D. Adler, 2013). The levels of AST in the patients’ serum will be increased up to 4 times the normal ranges in cases of liver damage. The increased AST levels, when indicating alcoholic liver disease, is most likely due to cellular necrosis due to excessive alcohol consumption. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is overly produced in patients with hepatic injury and in alcoholic patients (M. Hyder, M. Hasan and A. Mohieldein, 2013). The disadvantage of this test in that the levels only significantly increases if severe hepatic damage is already present, but the major advantage is that ALT is only present in the liver (R. Van Dyke, 2012). ALT will be increased 4-6X in cases of alcoholic cirrhosis and 7-10X in cases of alcoholism with alcoholic liver disease. The ratio of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) can also indicate alcoholic liver disease with a ratio greater than 2:1 with respect to AST:ALT. This result is mostly due to low ALT levels in the serum because of hepatic necrosis, pyridoxal-5’-phosphate deficiency or mitochondrial AST leakage (M. Adak, A. Thakur and K. Adhikari, 2012). The ratio is mostly used as an affirmative test as the ratio only rises above 2 in severe cases of alcoholic liver disease. Sialic acid Genetic predispositions to alcoholism have not been completely identified, but studies have indicated genes that may be responsible. These genes are known as the Mpdz, the Kcnj9 and the GABRA2 genes. Although these genes are used theoretical markers rather than actual indicator to alcohol dependence there is a correlation between the severity of the withdrawal symptoms and the risk of alcohol dependence (K. Buck, L. Milner, D. Denmark, S. Grant and L. Kozell, 2012). The GABRA2 gene is located on chromosome 4p12 and regulates the production of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) which acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2014). Alcohol can affect the signalling pathway of the GABA system if a variation is present in the GABRA2 gene increasing the pleasure derived from the consumption of alcohol above normal levels which can greatly increase the risk of alcoholism in the persons who have this variation (D. Dick and A. Agrawal, 2008). Alcoholism poses a serious health threat to the medical community causing many serious complications in a healthy lifestyle. Testing for GGT is seen as the most sensitive test, but has the one drawback of having quite a bit of interferences, which can be cancelled out if brought into the equation. ALT and AST tests the livers general homeostasis and should rather be handled as a complimentary test along with a test such as GGT in order to confirm a diagnosis. Genetic markers for alcohol abuse have not been fully discovered as of yet, although a variation in GABRA2 is known to increase the risk of alcohol dependence due to its effects on the GABA pathway when alcohol is consumed. References: G. Bbosa, D. Kyegombe, W. Anokbonggo, A. Lubega, A. Mugisha and J. Ogwal-Okeng. (2014). Chronic Alcohol Consumption Affects Serum Enzymes Levels in the HIV-Infected Patients on Stavudine (d4T)/Lamivudine (3TC)/Nevirapine (NVP) Treatment Regimen. Pharmacology Pharmacy. 1 (5), 181-194. M. Adak, A. Thakur and K. Adhikari. (2012). Study of Biochemical Markers in Alcoholic Liver Disease: Hospital-Based Case Control Study. Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences. 3 (3), 987-995. S. Kavitha, V. Venkatraman and K. Jeyaprakash. (2013). Biochemical Markers and Age Onset Involved In Heavy Alcoholism.  Asian Journal of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Research. 4 (1), 80-87. D. Adler. (2013). The Difficulty of using a Biological Marker for Alcohol Use: A Recent Historical Overview.  Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal. 1 (1), 1-8. K. Buck, L. Milner, D. Denmark, S. Grant and L. Kozell. (2012). Discovering genes Involved in Alcohol Dependence and other Alcohol responses Role of Animal Models.  Alcohol Research: Current Reviews. 367-374. U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2014).  GABRA2.  Available: http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/GABRA2. Last accessed 02 September 2014. D. Dick and A. Agrawal. (2008). The Genetics of Alcohol and Other Drug Dependence.  Alcohol Research Health. 31 (2), 111-118. R. Van Dyke. (2012). Liver Tests: Use and Interpretation.  Open Michigan. 1 (1), 1-60. M. Hyder, M. Hasan and A. Mohieldein. (2013). Comparative Levels of ALT, AST, ALP and GGT in Liver associated Diseases.  European Journal of Experimental Biology. 3 (2), 280-284.

Robotics in the Medical Field Essay -- Robotic Surgery, Technology Ad

The medical field has revolutionized the health and well being of society. Throughout the decades, the medical field has been through sweeping changes that leave society astonished. It seems like each year that passes by, there is a new technological advancement that modernizes the medical field. Not only do these advancements modernize medicine, but they in return aid doctors, nurses, and specialists by improving their effectiveness within the field. About ten years ago, the da Vinci Surgical System was introduced to hospitals and the medical field, in general because the FDA had finally approved the system within the United States (Dunkin). The da Vinci Surgical System, also known basically as robotic surgery, introduced the use of a surgical robot, which is operated by the doctor himself using a controlled manipulator (Declan et al.). Prior to the invention of robot-assisted surgeries, most surgeons simply did a typical laparoscopic surgery on a patient. Laparoscopic surgery is â €Å"a type of surgery performed through several small incisions, rather than one (or more) large ones as in standard "open" surgery† (Schmitz). Through the development of superior technology, such as the surgical robot; it brought about changes that effected doctors, patients, and the medical world. A robot-assisted surgery demonstrates how far America and the whole world have come in means of technology within a particular working field. The necessity for a more superior technology within hospital settings are best supported by the development of the da Vinci Surgical System. In 1991, when the surgical system was introduced to the globe, many acknowledged that this system improved three different aspects of regular laparoscopic surgery: it gave doctor... ...y within a medical setting has stepped away from the shadows and into a brighter future with the development of the da Vinci Surgical System in the medical world. Before the surgical robot, doctors or surgeons would have had to make several incisions to their patient’s body, which would cause the patients recovery to be elongated and possibly painful. The da Vinci Surgical System allows surgeons to make smaller, less visible incisions to the patient’s body and have a better precision during the procedure. Throughout several years, surgeons relied on their typical laparoscopic surgery to be able to provide patients with the procedures that required them to make large incisions through the patient’s abdomen. Nowadays, surgeons and their patients can have a sigh of relief because the surgical robot provides surgeons with the precision that they long strived for.

Warhol: the Flatness of Fame

THANK YOU all for being here this brisk March afternoon. I’d like to thank the GRAM for the invitation to speak in conjunction with such a wonderful exhibition, and especially Jean Boot for all of her diligent coordination on my behalf. (There are 3 parts to my presentation. First, a virtual tutorial on the process of screen-printing; secondly, a discussion of the formal and conceptual potential inherent to printmaking, and the way in which Warhol expertly exploited that potential. Finally, I will conclude with an actual demonstration of screen-printing in the Museum’s basement studio. In coming weeks, you’ll have an opportunity to hear much more about the cultural-historical context for Andy Warhol’s work from two exceptional area scholars, beginning next Friday evening with a lecture by my colleague at GV, Dr. Kirsten Strom, and on _______ Susan Eberle of Kendall College of Art & Design. As Jean indicated in her introduction, I teach drawing and printmak ing at GVSU. In other words, I’m approaching Warhol’s work very much as a studio artist. As a printmaker in particular, I’m predisposed to note the large degree (great extent? to which the innate characteristics of the medium – in this case screen-printing – enable and inform the meaning of Warhol’s work. At the outset of each printmaking course I teach at Grand Valley, I provide students a brief overview of the social history of the print; I divulge its rich heritage in the service of dispensing and preserving our (collected cultural discourse, from†¦) verbal and pictorial languages, knowledge and history, cultural discourse, from ancient scripture to textile design to political critique. In addition I cite the formal qualities specific to the print – multiplicity, mutability, and its recombinant capabilities. I open with this background as a means of framing the work students will produce in the course. I’d like to provide a similar overview here, as a means of framing the work of Warhol, which is so richly informed by the native characteristics of his processes. As the expression goes: the medium is the message; form and content are inseparable. First I offer a brief tutorial on the process of screen-print, in the hopes of providing a bit of context and a richer appreciation for the images/discussion to follow. â€Å"With silk-screening, you pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across so that the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. †) The Imagery Warhol screen-printed images onto canvas in the early 1960s, and he began simultaneously to translate this technique to printing on paper. His subjects related directly to his paintings of the same period: James Cagney, the Race Riots, and Ambulance Disasters. These works on paper were printed in monochromatic tones and screened in a method that retained the graininess and immediacy of the mass media images on which they were based. Warhol considered these works to be unique drawings. Changes in the ink saturation and/or in the composition during the printing process created variations in each work. Screen-printing was ideally suited to Warhol in two distinct ways: First – technically, it allows him to harvest images from a vast bounty of sources. Secondly – he fittingly adapted a â€Å"low culture†, commercial process for the production of images chronicling life in celebrity-crazed, consumer-driven, Post-War America. One of the well-known strategies of Pop Artists – Warhol and Lichtenstein, among them – was their appropriation of the visual characteristics of mechanical reproduction (which you can see clearly here in Lichtenstein’s Ben Day dots pattern. Warhol went further than borrowing the language, employing the means of commercial printing itself. As of the 1930s, screen-printing was a widely-practiced process for the printing of posters, t-shirts, and other graphics in the US. In other words, Warhol chose this medium for its associations with the culture of advertising and shopping/consumerism. I want everybody to think alike. Russia is doing it under government. It’s happening here all by itself. I don’t think art should be only for the select few. I think it should be for the mass of American people. † But how exactly does one represent â€Å"the mass of American people†? Through it’s proxies: (A) Through the objects of its consumption : Campbell’s cans, Coke bottles, Brillo pads and Mobil Gas (B) Through the media icons it reveres, and (C) Through the images of anonymous tragic figures Disaster and death were not his primary concerns, but rather the anonymous victims of history – the masses. D and D evoke this mass subject, for in a society of spectacle this subject often appears only in stories and images of mass death. â€Å"I want to be a machine†: The History of the Print as a means/tool for social and political critique) Although screen-printing as Warhol practiced it is primarily a 20th century advent, the tradition of the print as a vehicle for disseminating ideas and information (as the vox populi) is centuries old. Among the earliest surviving printed artifacts in Western civilization are these two contradictory images: a Holy Picture on the left, and playing cards on the right. Each dates from the mid-15th century, each is the product of the same â€Å"technological innovation†, the wood block (and in the eyes of the Catholic church, working at cross purposes with one another! ) Many of the most widely reproduced and well-known prints in the Western world are images of cultural unrest and political and social critique. These are a few examples: Francisco Goya, 18th C Spanish printmaker William Hogarth, 18th C English printmaker Honore Daumier, 19th C French printmaker Kathe Kollwitz, early 20th C German printmaker Jose Guadalupe Posada, late 19th C Mexican printmaker â€Å"All of what I have to say is right there on the surface – Remarks such as this one are at times misconstrued as superficiality – a dismissal of content – suggesting to some that Warhol’s choice of imagery was indiscriminate. Especially today, Warhol is often mischaracterized through his studied, stoic affect – as an artist who felt nothing more for his work than for the contents of his local grocery store. I would argue that Warhol’s imagery is anything but indiscriminate, and is instead engaged in the popular tradition/rich heritage of the print as a means of social and political critique, especially obvious in the years between 1962 and 1980, from the â€Å"Death and Dying† series to the â€Å"Endangered Species† series. (Over this prolific period, Warhol’s ouvre included references to the Civil Rights movement, the death penalty, and of course the Cold War. Even the artists’ early celebrity portraits are shrouded with both private and public tragedy: Marilyn, Elvis, Liz Taylor, JFK and Jackie O†¦ ) To me, Warhol’s deadpan cynicism has always seemed a calculated critique of the turbulent social and political climate. It’s an ironic persona reflected in his works – an expression of apathy intended to induce the appropriate response from his viewers: shock and bewilderment that any artist, could produce images of graphic violence and human trauma with such apparent passivity. Multiplicity – The first of three formal qualities innate to printmaking â€Å"I like boring things. † â€Å"I don’t want it to be essentially the same – I want it to be exactly the same. Because the more you look at the same exact thing, the more the meaning goes away and the better and emptier you feel. † Such statements suggest a strategic, pre-emptive embrace of the very compulsive repetition that a consumerist society demands of us all. If you can’t beat it, Warhol implies, join it. More: if you enter it totally, you might expose it; you might reveal its enforced automatism through your own excessive example. These remarks reposition the role of repetition in Warhol. Here repetition is both a draining of significance and a defending against effect. This is one function of repetition in our psychic lives: we recall traumatic events in order to place them into a psychic economy. Yet the Warhol repetitions are not restorative in this way; they are not about a neutralization of trauma, for his repetitions not only reproduce traumatic effects, but sometimes produce them as well. Repetition in Warhol is neither a simple representation of the world nor a superficial image. His repetition serves to filter traumatic reality, but it does so in a way that points to this reality nonetheless. Ultimately I would suggest that Warhol’s use of the multiple functions as a form of potent cultural critique, whether it emphasizes the horror, or whether it desensitizes us to the violence in many of his images. Mutability – (â€Å"With silk-screening, you pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across so that the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It was all so simple – quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it. †) The screen-printing technique affords artists the latitude for simple yet dramatic changes, from impression to impression. With little trouble, one can shift color, and even scale. The image can be altered through adjustments to the matrix (or stencil, in this case), or during the printing process itself, through the irregular application of ink. When I originally conceived of this talk, I intended to speak primarily to this one formal aspect of Warhol’s prints: his exploitation of the process to produce deliberate imperfections that (reflect the true disposition of his subjects) (inform the meaning behind his images. ) (further enable the content of his work. ) contribute to the flatness of his subjects – thus emphasizing their artificiality. Purposefully crude printing and mis-registration disrupt the pictorial illusion, drawing attention to the flatness of each image that, in a metaphorical sense, speaks to the nature of fame. Warhol’s arbitrary colors suggest the un-reality and artifice of each subject. These aren’t real people, but products, and you can have them anyway you want them. We construct reality the way we desire it to be – the lips are larger, more red, the hair is more golden; they remain young and beautiful forever. Marilyn image that disintegrates and fades out. Elvis that overlaps. – (silver screen/motion Recombinant Potential – The screenprint is among the most versatile of print techniques in regards to substrate. In other words, one can print on a diverse array of surfaces, including paper, wood, glass, plastics, textiles. The exhibition here at the GRAM demonstrates Warhol’s affinity for the aesthetic of the print on canvas – a practice that effectively elevated screen-print – a low-art technology of commerce – to the privileged status of painting. Their visual translation into the language of screen-printing homogenizes every subject; the queen, a skull, a shoe, a can, Marilyn, all become part of the same glossy, colorful language. In addition to one’s ability to print on a wide spectrum of surfaces, screen-printing allows an image to be â€Å"saved† (one may simply store and re-use the stencil or matrix in a later situation. Thus we see Warhol’s â€Å"vocabulary† (lexicon? ) of celebrities and other iconic images juxtaposed in shifting circumstances – being exercised in a language of signs. These (printed signs) juxtapositions can homogenize even the most horrific of images, emphasizing our mediated relationship to the trauma depicted. T his homogenization leaves space for interpretation – it can be argued that Warhol has intentionally treated the car crash and the Campbell soup as equal – not as references to the actual world. Alternately, it might be argued that the images are intended to shock a complacent consumer culture back to reality through conspicuously violent juxtapositions. By positioning such horrorific images in the proximity of the celebrity portrait, in the â€Å"low art† language of the advertisement, Warhol critiques a consumer culture lulled into apathy since the War by the numbing effects of Television, advertising, glossy celebrity tabloids, and the veritable glut of shiny new objects available for purchase on every store shelf. I’d like to congratulate the GRAM on a wonderful exhibit. Curator Richard Axsiom has done a marvelous job of pulling together a broad spectrum of Warhol’s strongest/most resonant images†¦and I’d like to invite you all downstairs/to the museum’s studio for screen-printing demonstration. THE IMAGERY: Celebrities or anonymous – these are images to represent the â€Å"masses†. Art should be for the pubic, but how do you represent the â€Å"public body†? – through the icons they look to, or the anonymous Marilyn image that disintegrates and fades out. Elvis that overlaps. – (silver screen/motion Warhol’s remark that all of what he has to say is right there on the surface is misinterpreted as mistaken as superficiality – a dismissal of content – argued that it supports indiscriminate images and passivity. I would argue that Warhol’s imagery is anything but indiscriminate, and is engaged in the long history of the print as a means of social critique. I want everybody to think alike. Russia is doing under government. It’s happening here all by itself. I don’t think art should be only for the select few. I think it should be for the mass of American people. How does one represent â€Å"the mass of American people†? Through it’s proxies, through its object of consumption, soup cans, Coke bottles. Media icons stand it for the body of the masses. Disaster and death were not his primary concerns, but rather the anonymous victims of history – the masses. D and D evoke this mass subject, for in a society of spectacle this subject often appears only in stories and images of mass death. Celebrity and anonymity represent the mass subject. Enter into/immerse himself in the language of pop culture. With silk-screening, you pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across so that the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It was all so simple – quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it. † Warhol hand-printed unique silkscreen images on canvas in the e arly 1960s, and he began simultaneously to translate this technique to printing on paper. He experiments with subjects that directly relate to his paintings of the same period, as in Cagney, Race Riot, and the Ambulance Disaster. These works on paper were printed in monochromatic tones and screened in a method that retained the graininess and immediacy of the mass media images on which they were based. Warhol considered these works to be unique drawings. Changes in the ink saturation and/or in the composition during the printing process created variations in each work. Popular impressions of Pop reduced to candy – it was almost too effective in its critique, ceased to function as a critique – irony and sardonic qualities become eye candy only – another commodified visual confection. The profound flatness of images such as the soup cans – these images exaggerate the lack of roundness – these are cylindrical objects – void of their substance/their mass. Warhol Prints Not to overlook the obvious Flatness Repetition Imperfection Juxtaposition The multiple, mutable, recombinant image – Warhol’s prints are responding/exploiting each of the inherent potentials of the print. Reality as a mediated phenomenon is the subject of Warhol. Private fantasy and public reality is a primary concern of Warhol’s brand of Pop.

Prejudice in the Film American History X - 1422 Words

Prejudice, a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or personal experience. The amount of prejudice differs from person to person, but no one is free from it. In the film, American History X, Derek is a great example of how prejudice someone can be. Derek agrees with the white power movement because he feels victimized and threatened by everyone who is not white, but in prison he learns his stereotypes are full of holes; from the film I learned there is no reason to hate one another based on race or stereotypes. Life is too short to live a life based on hate. Throughout the film, American History X, Derek feels victimized and threatened as a white American. He blames gangs, blacks, immigrants and even his mentor Cameron for all of Americas problems. For instance, in one of the scenes in the film, both whites and blacks were playing basketball on the local basketball court. After an argument with one of the blacks, Derek decides whoever wins the game keeps the court and who ever loses leaves for good. â€Å" If you win, we will walk outta here, but if we win, no bitching, no fighting, right here in front of everybody you pack up your shit and get your black asses outta here (American History X).† The violent game came to an end and the black gang was kicked out. Instead of kicking each other off the court, they should have shared at least half. However, Derek felt the black people dont deserve to play on the same ground as the whites. Derek claims his fathersShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Movie American History X 1586 Words   |  7 PagesIn the movie, â€Å"American History X†, the plot surrounds the life of two brothers who are involved with the D.O.C. a well-known white supremacist group in Venice Beach. Danny Vinyard is a high school student who admires his older brother, Derek, a former skinhead. Through the incarceration of his brother Derek, Danny becomes more affiliated with the skinheads and is mentioned at times as being th e resemblance of his elder brother. The movie begins with flashbacks of Derek’s incarceration, and everythingRead MoreAnalysis Of The Film American History X1537 Words   |  7 Pagesonly a taste of the violence presented within the film American HIstory X (Tony Kaye). In his work, Kaye explores the origins of racism through the minds of Derek (Edward Norton) and his brother, Danny (Edward Furlong); however, the film tells the story of far more than these two brothers. It tells the story of all those who have ever overcame their prejudice feelings through the process of introspection and their proximity to those they are prejudice towards. While the situations and character transformationsRead MoreCharacters Filled with Hatred in Movie American History X Essay674 Words   |  3 PagesAmerican History X is an invigorating movie that takes its viewers on a journey in a well thought and unsuspecting plot. The main character is consumed with hatred for every race excluding whit e Protestants. When he encounters desocialization/resocialization in a prison, he changes his thoughts and beliefs, and they follow him even after he leaves the prison. Groupthink and deviance are both displayed in this movie thoroughly. While groupthink is accepted in society and portrayed as the norm, devianceRead MoreFilm Review of American History X1110 Words   |  5 PagesThe film American History X is rated by the users of IMDB.com (Internet Movie DataBase) as one of the 50 best films ever made. It is a crime/drama, a very violent film; not for the faint-hearted. American History X was released in 1998, and it is directed by Tony Kaye. Casting: -Edward Norton (Derek Vinyard) -Edward Furlong (Daniel Vinyard) -Avery Brooks (Dr. Bob Sweeney) -Stacy Keach (Cameron Alexander) -Beverly DAngelo (Doris Vinyard) -Jennifer Lien (Davina Vinyard) Read MoreStereotypes, Conformity, And Discrimination1742 Words   |  7 PagesPrejudices and Discrimination in American History X Abstract Stereotyping, prejudice, conformity, and discrimination are well portrayed in the movie American History X. The negative attitude held by Derek towards to black people is greatly influenced and learned from his father who was a racist. Derek also transfers these prejudice attitudes towards his younger brother Danny as he grows up seeing the racism practiced in his family and his brother. Although these attitudes are based on propagandaRead MorePrejudice, comformity and stereotyping in American History X2585 Words   |  11 PagesIntroduction To The Topic American History X is a great film that portrays prejudice, stereotyping and conformity. Prejudice is negative attitudes toward others based on their gender, religion, race, or membership in a particular group. Prejudice involves beliefs and emotions that can turn into hatred. Having an opinion or idea about a member of a group without really knowing that individual is a part of prejudice. Some people make judgments about a whole group of people without knowing very muchRead MoreCultural Exploration Of A Sightseeing Tour1707 Words   |  7 Pagesexploration from the comfort of my home, and gain new perspectives from various readings, discussions, films. In addition, the course also encouraged me to step outside my â€Å"cultural comfort zone† through different exploratory projects. It would be difficult to explore the ever-expanding multitude of cultures that exist (and will exist) in one, six-week course; however, many of the assigned readings and films provided a solid foundation to begin my exploration. When reading Takaki’s A Different Mirror, IRead MoreRacism in American History X1021 Words   |  5 PagesRacism in American History X â€Å"Get the fuck out of my house!† exclaims Derek as he pulls down his wife-beater to reveal a swastika tattoo, â€Å"See this? That means not welcome.† American History X, directed by Tony Kaye, is a movie about the transformation of Derek Vinyard: a young neo-Nazi skinhead. Derek’s father, Dennis Vinyard, was a middle-class fireman who disagreed with many of the ideological changes–such as affirmative â€Å"black† action–happening in America at the time. His father died whileRead MoreRacial Discrimination : American History X, Remember The Titans And The Blind Side Showed1864 Words   |  8 Pagescolor by violence, the unawareness, and their behavior. The three films I had an analyst on American History X, Remember the Titans and The Blind Side showed, everyone is constantly fighting to be better than their neighbor, and the skin-color stratification is just another excuse to look down on them. Four causes that standout in these films mainly in this area which is stereotype, superiority, unfamiliarity, and education. Many Americans think of racism as something of the past, something back whenRead MoreAnalysis Of Raoul Peck s French Cinema 1491 Words   |  6 Pagesin the film industry with his cinematic adaptations of reality. From taxi driver, to Minister of culture, to honorary award winning director, Raoul Peck has experienced the world in ways few will ever have the chance to. Just as he thought his life would revolve around international affairs at the United Nations, he created a bigger platform to spread the news about foreign relations. His documentaries and films have been about real people and he believes film can try and save our histories, our memories