Capital Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Capital Punishment - Essay Example After 2004, lethal injection (perceived by many as the least gruesome way of executing someone), hanging and beheading were the main methods used. Electrocution and the gas chamber are used in the United States only if the inmates wish to be executed by these methods. Stoning to death for sexual offences still occurs in some Islamic countries, notably Pakistan.2 From 1990 to 2003 Amnesty International reported a global average of 2,242 executions per year. In 2003 Amnesty reported 1,146 executions in 28 countries, 88% of them in just 5 countries: The People’s Republic of China 726, Iran 108, the U.S. 65, Vietnam 64 and Saudi Arabia 52.3 The figures reported by Amnesty in 2004 showed an increase over the previous year, totaling 3,797 executions in 25 countries, about 90% of them (3,400) in The People’s Republic of China, 230 in Iran, 64 in Vietnam, and 59 in Opposition to Capital Punishment began in Europe in the 1750s. Persons like Cesare Beccaria (Italian jurist), Voltaire (French philosopher), Jeremy Betham and Samuel Romilly (English law reformers) declared that Capital Punishment was inhumane and should be replaced by life imprisonment.5 Today, Capital Punishment has been abolished in the vast majority of democracies in Europe and Latin America, while it is still retained in most democracies in Asia, the U.S. and almost all totalitarian governments. In the U.S., the Supreme Court abolished it in 1972 on the grounds that it was being applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner which constituted cruel and unjust punishment (Furman v Georgia 1972).6 On July 2, 1976 in deciding the case Gregg v Georgia, the Supreme Court legalised capital punishment.7 Today following a four-year moratorium, Capital Punishment was reinstated in 1976. Today, it is followed in 36 States as well as by the Federal Government.8 Capital Punishment is a far better tool than life imprisonment primarily considering the saving of State and

Portrayal of Women Changed in Horror Films Since The 1920s

Portrayal of Women Changed in Horror Films Since The 1920s Portrayal of Women Changed in Horror Films Since The 1920s Introduction: Fear is the most powerful emotion in the human race and fear of the unknown is probably the most ancient. Youre dealing with stuff that everybody has felt; from being little babies were frightened of the dark, were frightened of the unknown. If youre making a horror film you get to play with the audiences feelings. The main purpose of horror films is to entertain, frighten and to invoke our repressed worst fears, in a terrifying and shocking way, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time. Horror films feature a wide range of styles, from the use of shadows and mise-en-scene within the early classic horrors films to the psychotic human serial killer and CGI monsters and aliens present in todays horror movies. The horror film genre is nearly as old as cinema, with the first silent short film directed by Georges Melies in 1896: Le Manoir du Diable. It only lasted for a few minutes and the audience adored it and it left them wanting more due to the way he made supernatural events the main aspect of this film. German filmmakers started to produce horror films and the first feature length vampire horror film was F.W Murnaus Nosferatu released in 1922. However it was down to the genius work of Robert Wiene director of The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari released in 1920 that lead the way for the serious horror films. In the early 1930s the Universal studios created the modern horror film genre and brought a series of successful gothic-horror including Dracula directed by Tod Browning and Frankenstein directed by James Whale and both were released in 1931 followed by numerous sequels. In the 1950s the horror film genre shifted from gothic to more modern horror. Aliens and monsters threatened to take ov er the world and humanity had to try and overcome the threats of these invasions. In the late fifties horror films became gorier which saw the remakes of traditional horror stories such as Edgar Allen Poes The Fall of the House of Usher The Raven which starred the iconic actor Vincent Price. The early 1960s took the audience much deeper into the world of horror films, with the release of Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho in 1960 which used a human as the monster and killer instead of a supernatural one to scare audiences. According to Prince (2004), the deeply disturbing admission, which undermines the audiences belief in rationality, with an existence where terms can be controlled or at the very up-most understood. With its savage attack on the audience and belief system, Psycho provided the path for modern horror and for our contemporary sense of the world. It seems that Monsters today are everywhere, and they can not be destroyed. (Prince, 2004.p. 4) The psychological aspects that this can cause on the viewers is it can allow them to find their Dark, unnatural, hidden self. (Skal, 1993, p.17).This is because: So much of our imaginative life in the twentieth century has been devoted to peeling back the masks and scabs of civilisation, to finding, cultivating and projecting nightmare images of the secret self (Skal, 1993, p.18) This means that changing and developing the monster into a psychotic killer, externalises the viewers fear as the murderer could be anyone they know, right down to the person sat next to them in the audience in the cinema or at home. It makes the film seem more realistic and that it could actually happen to them. Tudor 1989, uses key words to explain how the viewer is feeling and shows how they move from an external threat, monsters are not real, so this wont happen to me, to an internal threat, the killer seen as a human and could be anyone they know. This moves them from a sense of security to paranoia. In 1975 a young Steven Spielberg directed Jaws, which became the highest grossing film to that time period. In the late Seventies filmmakers started to produce disturbing and gory films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre directed by Tobe Hooper in 1974. This saw humans being ripped a part by other humans who have psychotic tendencies. Women seem to be portrayed within these horror films as merely sexual damsels in distress who usually get murdered within the first few minutes of the film. This is clearly demonstrated in the film Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1975 where a young drunken girl goes skinny dipping in the sea and gets eaten by the great white shark that haunts the waters of Amity Island. Scream shows a blonde, naive young girl (played by Drew Barrymore) who is home alone with no neighbouring houses near, wearing only a jumper and pyjama bottoms. The killer sees this as a weakness due to the girl being at her most vulnerable and uses it to ring and terrorise her. She is unaware of his intentions and talks back to him on the house phone until he tells her he wants to know her name so he can know who he is looking at! She is the perfect horror victim because she is defenceless and weak and the attack is unexpected. She continually screams at the top of her lungs for someone to rescue her when she is confronted by the killer, but who is she screaming to? No one is around her or within hearing distance of her cries for help, so they seem wasteful, useless and unnecessary even though in a situation where your life depended on it, It would seem necessary and practical that you scream helplessly for your life no matter if anyone could not hear or help you; it is a part of our survival techniques. This girl does not clearly demonstrate any survival techniques or skills. Instead it takes her a while to hang up the phone. When she eventually does she doesnt phone anyone she knows for help or comfort, like family or friends or even the emergency service who would be reliable sources of help and survival. Instead she chooses to scream and run around the house and garden where no one can hear her as a better option for survival, which it is not, as it ends abruptly with her hanging from a tree with her internal organs hanging out. The film/scene portrays women as being merely weak and incapable as she struggles to run for her life in order to get away from the killer. She falls over constantly and trips over her own feet. The character also portrays the image of the dumb blonde as well being stupid and incapable of looking after her self. Horror films rarely seem to feature women in a non- exploitative way. Even in modern movies such as Jennifers body directed by Karyn Kusama, released in 2009 and exploits women in a sexual manner, as it shows Megan Foxs character Jennifer as a loose sexual canon who is thirsty for men, but with a murderous twist. With all this in mind this dissertation intends to look at how the portrayal of women has changed in horror films and if it has at all. This dissertation intends to look at some of the films listed in this chapter to see if the portrayal of women in horror films has changed or developed over time from some of the first horror films to present day. In chapter one I intend to look at early horror films and the portrayal of women within them. I will analyse Tod Brownings Dracula 1931, Rob Reiners 1990 Misery with the award winning Kathy Bates, Bride of Frankenstein, Murnaus 1922 Nosferatu and Robert Wienes 1920 The Cabinet of Dr.Calligari and explore the way in which women are portrayed and represented within these films. Then in chapter 2 go on to look at more recent films such as Alien, Scream, and Psycho and see whether or not any changes have taken place or if women are still portrayed in the same way. This dissertation intends to explore and find out about the role of which women where and are portrayed in within horror films. This dissertation seeks to developed the depiction of whether or not women were or are now being treated fairly within the film industry and If there are any changes in the portrayal of them and if not why not. Chapter 1: Early Portrayal of Women. A horror film in which isolated psychotic individuals (usually males) are pitted against one or more young people (usually females) whose looks, personalities, and/or promiscuities serve to trigger recollections of some past trauma in the killers mind (Hutchings, 2004, p. 194). The stylish, imaginative and eerie 1920 film The Cabinet of Calligari explores the mind of a madman, set against an evil doctor who falsely incarcerates a hero in a lunatic asylum. Robert Wienes clever framing means the audience is never quite clear who is mad and who is sane. Wienes distorted take on reality is a disturbing experience, heightened by the rugged and harsh asymmetry of the mise en scene. If viewers were to watch this film nowadays they might find the pace slow, with long takes and little cutting between scenes. This is because the diegetic world is entirely artificial. The film takes the audience on a twisted, dreamlike tale, where all the scenery and objects take on a menacing new shape. It is not reality, and the stylised performances reflect that. Nosferatu the first successful adaptation of Dracula is the first vampire movie, and presents Bram Stokers novel, Dracula. Murnau changed the main character name to Count Orlok. He did this because the studio could not obtain the rights to the original novel. The Count is grotesquely made-up, with long curling fingernails that can curl around the limbs of his helpless victims. Nosferatu gives us a far more frightening movie than any other of its time by using an early mastery of lights and shadows along with the stop motion special effects which created a very eerie and haunting film for its audience and for its time period. In both of these movies the female character is portrayed as merely a weak, dependent individual, who constantly runs for her life but in the direction that will lead her to the villain/ killer, and when she is confronted with what she was running from she faints. Instead of running in the opposite direction and trying to save her own life it is as if she just gives up. This is showing women as weak, unintelligent and incapable of looking after themselves. It seems that all they are capable of doing is running, screaming and falling down: In our culture men are taught the need for dominance and competence while women are taught warmth and expressiveness. The reciprocal stereotype thus develops that men are competent and assertive while women are submissive, and that women are warm and gentle while men are cold and rough (McKillip, DiMiceli, Luebke, 1977, p. 82). It seems that the female characters within these early classical films do not seem to be able to think critically and/or logically when it comes to trying to solve their problems, even when it comes to a matter of life or death. Its seems instead they rely on their emotions to guide them rather than their logic. They often choose to run into dark rooms and hide in places where the killer can easily find them or get to them. Even when there is a large group of people that could help them they seem to run in the opposite direction, which results in their ideas for salvation failing and makes them come across as damsels in distress who cannot think for themselves. In the early years of filmmaking, movies that were produced seemed to operate under a social value system to control and monitor womens sexuality. It seemed that the female roles were to be kept as virgins for men to use them for pleasure and to dominate them. They were merely there to serve the male desires. Feminists identif ied the way that women were portrayed in film as sexual objects, a concept called male gaze. The male gaze is in some aspects the power that men have over women. This is very much a male dominated profession, directors, camera person, and runners are mostly male. It seems that without knowing and meaning to be, they are being sexist. They do bring the male gaze by making assumptions about what the audience want to see which female directors may not do or may do differently. It can also be classed as a form of visual harassment where men can watch women and fantasise over them in private or in public. Women in early films used to wear tight fitting corset dresses which clinched them in at the waist giving then an hour glass figure, giving them curves in all the right places, whilst also lifting and bringing together their bust making their assets seem much bigger and thus drawing the main focus in on them. It allows the male viewers to fantasise about what lies under her clothing and what it would be like to be with and have a woman like that. The appearance of the female remains youthful, angelic, beautiful, thin, sexy, well-groomed, neat and nicely-dressed throughout the film even in the moments of their death or final struggle with the killer. They even seem to wake up looking beautiful, not a single hair out of place or a bit of their make-up smudged. They look and seem perfect, their clothes are not ripped or tarnished, and they do not sweat during strenuous activity. In the original 1933 version of King Kong, directed by Merian. C. Cooper and Ernest. B. Schoedsack. The character Ann Darrow, played by Fay Wray, Clearly shows the passive female who is constantly screaming to be rescued by her male associates. It seems she is incapable of escaping from the grasp of the monster; she has to call upon the assistance of the stronger male sex. She is symbolised as a sexual object throughout the film for the monster and heroic male characters when her white dress is ripped and torn by the monster, revealing more of her flesh. This allows men to fantasise over her and her body and imagine what is under what little is left of her garments. Tod Brownings 1931 classic, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi has a similar representation of women. Near the start a male character speaks about Dracula and his wives implying there is more than one and no one seems to be fazed by the comment as if it is something of the norm. Women within the film are heavily made up with make-up, especially around their eyes. Its seems they have tried to make their eyes more bigger looking to make them more eye catching to the opposite sex as it is a well known fact that men are attracted to and like women with big bright eyes. They even go to bed and sleep in full heavy make-up and their hair looks immaculate with not a single strand out of place. The way they lay in bed, in a vulnerable position, one arm above their head, their neck fully on show just invites a vampire to bite down on their sweet fragrant neck. It is no wonder that the role of victims go to Female characters if they leave themselves carelessly open and vulnerable to the killer. Fema le characters clothing is long and floating but fitting around the waist to bring attention to the chest and outline of their upper body. Their hair is kept out of their face so that their facial features can be seen and the vampire women have an eerie persona around them and a not to be trusted atmosphere with there large staring eyes. They do as they are told and instructed to do so by Dracula in order to please and satisfy him. There seems to be not a lot of camera focus or time given to female character roles, except showing them in distress, worry and being vulnerable. The main female role, Mina, is not even taken seriously. She tells her fiancÃÆ'Â © and his associates about a dream she had the previous night and how scared she was and still is. They tell her to forget it, saying it was not real. They do not seem to want to believe her or her thoughts and worries; they dont seem to be valued or cared about. She is then advised by her father, whilst in the middle of speaking t o Dracula that she is to go to her room and to bed immediately and then is said to be crazy by her fiancÃÆ'Â ©. Male characters always seem to interrupt a female character in mid-sentence or in mid-thought as just shown. All major professions in the film seem to be run by men, for example all the doctors are male with female nurses to assist them and the servants and maids are female showing them running around after people and keeping things tidy as if it was a womans job to do so. Women faint and scream at the slightest thing and go to the male characters for comfort, reassurance and safety. Mina screams to be rescued and saved by what has happened to her (being turned into a vampire by Dracula) and cries to show her vulnerability and inability to cope and look after herself in strenuous situations. Women are looked upon as being ditzy, crazed, vulnerable, and unable to look after themselves and needing to be cared for, everything is ok because Im here spoken by Minas fiancÃÆ'à ‚ © in Dracula. This statement shows Minas fiancÃÆ'Â © to believe everything will be alright because everything will be stable and safe when a male figure is around because they are the main source of protection, security and without them women would not be able to cope or be able to live. Its as if women are under a spell or some power as they are attracted to Dracula, sending out the message to the audience that men have a hold and power on women within the film. At the end of the film when Dracula is being killed, Mina is sexualised as she starts to hold and caress her body showing she feels Draculas pain which is giving the male viewers a chance to fantasise over her. James Whales 1935 sequel The Bride of Frankenstein portrays women as either servants or sat around an open fire sewing, which is a stereotypical view of women. They wear long floating floor length dresses that nowadays look as if they are something you would wear to a special occasion not everyday just lounging around the house. This shows that a womans appearance in early horror films was very important. The dress is fitted around the waist and chest area and their hair is swept up out of their face to allow their facial features and expressions to be seen. Women are also seen to do what is right by their man in order to please them; they wont leave their mans side unless they are told to do so by him. They are also represented as being clumsy, careless and unaware and seeming to not have a clue of what is going on around them. For example this can be seen when a young women is faced with Frankenstein the monster and walks backwards off a small cliff resulting in her being vulnerabl e to the monster and having to scream to be rescued by a male passer by. This gives the message that women are incapable of looking after themselves and need to look to a man for protection. The Bride of Frankenstein is very clumsy in appearance; she falls over her own feet and sometimes over nothing. Her balance is very off so she seems unstable and needs to be supported by men and her facial expression is vague. This film portrays women as clumsy, vague individuals who just would not be able to function properly without the help and supervision of a man. This chapter has argued that women had no real main part or position within early horror films, only to be there to act as the main prize for the male leading role that happens to save her life and at the same time look good and give the male audience something alluring to look at. Chapter 2: The new view? Female characters do seem now to be receiving a more positive representation and women can be routinely seen to defeat male villains and showing strength and intelligence, moving from victim to heroine. It seems that women are coming into their own and showing that they are as strong as men and are not just sexual objects tshat they once used to be perceived as, through more strong assertive roles in films such as Ridley Scotts phenomenal and classic film, Alien, released in 1979. This film reverses the traditional role of women from the passive and powerless heroine who is constantly screaming for her life in order to be rescued by the dominant male figure, to an active and more powerful feminine character. The role of the main character Ripley, who happens to be a female despite having a male associated name, is an authority figure on board the ship, whose main task is to guide her seven crew members to a nearby planet to answer an SOS. All the terror and action unfolds around her and she ends up being the only survivor, out-living all the male characters. The male characters are represented as being weak and naÃÆ'Â ¯ve which is shown by the mistakes they make and the failures to properly do their duties and tasks which consequently results in their brutal deaths. As with women in early horror movies these males deaths occur comparatively early in the film. Ripley is the only one who outlives what is trying to kill her and her crew due to the fact that she makes the best judgements and thinks about her actions and plans out her escape. Due to the early deaths of Ripleys crew members, most of the main action of the film is based on and happening around her, making Sigourney Weavers character, Ripley the star and hero of the film as she is the only survivor at the end, along with her cat. The somewhat passive, fearful, and dependent female role figure is continuing to slowly disappear from our screens within horror films with a few exceptions: or has it? Wome n are still being shown as merely an object of desire that needs to be saved and protected by a male figure. This dissertation argues that the role of Ripley is still a female sex icon for the male audience, she seems to be placed there to fulfil the male sexual needs to have a half naked, toned female body strolling around on screen in order for them to enjoy the film more. Has mens taste in women changed? To some extent it may have. There is a media generated image now which sells the idea of healthy toned sexuality. This is partially replacing the previous curved and voluptuous body. Take Marilyn Monroe for instance. She use to drive men wild with her size 12/14 curves, however nowadays some men just dont find this attractive. It seems that men prefer to see slimmer women in films because it allows them to look at and fantasise over another womans body that is maybe different to the one that they have in their own life, be it their wife or girlfriend. This could be why women are concerned with their physicality because it also allows the female audience members to dream and fantasise about the perfect body, which they too could have. The old horror films looked at female and male relationships and it seems that in nowadays horror films there is a new way of seeing these relationships but is it a new way? At the end of the film Ripley strips down to her underwear and wears a tight fitting top with no bra. Her compromising moves and her hot sweaty and toned body gives the male viewers something interesting to look at and fantasise over. It seems to comply with and fulfil all male audiences requirements; it has aliens, fighting, guns, bloodshed and, of course, the hot female who gets semi naked. So has the role of women actually changed or have male expectations of female behaviour changed? Do men find sexually aggressive women attractive in our world? Do men secretly love to be dominated by the opposite sex or does it make them feel inferior? Or is this a tru thful picture of the sexualised feminist role model of our age? According to Lehmann womens lives were dominated by their sexual reproductive functions (Lehmann, p.9) (http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/p/freud_women.htm. 20th November 2009) FrFeud believed that women envied men for having a penis; penis envy. He suggests that during the phallic stage (aged 3-5) girls distance themselves from their mother; as they blame her for the lack of a penis and due to this devote their affections to their father. (Budd, Susan .2005. P.142-143) This could explain why the writer wants Ripley to surround herself mostly with a ship full of a male based crew because the writer wants to show the envy women have over men. What the male crew members have and what Ripley is missing and also other females, women may start to become to see it as a disability. Perhaps it is because Ripley starts to realise that because of this disability, she is still able to be one of them and like them if not better. This could be argued that it is proven at the end of the film by outliving all the other male crewmembers. In a paper entitled The psychical consequences of the anatomic distinction between the sexes written in 1925, Freud wrote that: Women oppose change, receive passively, and add nothing of their own. (Freud, 1925) (http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/p/freud_women.htm. 20th November 2009) (Budd, Susan .2005. P.142) The slasher film genre involves a repressed male killer who stalks and brutally murders his victims in a graphic and random manner. The unfortunate victim tends to be a teenager or young adult who lives in the middle of nowhere away from any type of civilisation, meaning there is no one around them or there for them to call upon when they need help. These types of films tend to begin with the murder of a young helpless woman and ends with the heroic female character surviving by managing to out smarten the killer after having some sort of life- depending struggle and being psychologically victimised for an extended amount of time by the killer, forcing her into an uncontrollable stage of paranoia and terror. However usually the killer doesnt die or someone else takes over from where the last killer left off resulting in several sequels. The director has a tendency to introduce at the beginning of the film the main heroic female character as being resourceful and determined even thoug h throughout the film she finds her friends and relatives dead. This could almost be the plot summary of what happens in the 1996 teen horror Scream directed by Wes Craven and released in 1996. The main character that just so happens to be female but has a male associated name, Sidney watches as one by one her high school classmates and friends start to be killed off in a sadistic manner. This links in with Ripley in Alien. They both have male associated names and watch whilst the people they care for and those around them are killed and they are left to try and defend for themselves. However, even though Sidney is the only one who outlives the killer(s) and ends up in all the Scream sequels she is still portrayed as a slightly weak female who requires help and comfort from the friends she still has and from those who have not already been mutilated. Where as Ripley relies on her own knowledge and survival skills to save her self from death. Rob Reiners 1990 Misery, starring the award winning Kathy Bates, shows Kathys character, Annie Wilkes, as a very caring and kind women at the start of the film as she rescues a novelist called Paul Sheldon by pulling him free out if his car in the middle of a blizzard storm. As she is a nurse she nurses him back to health by re-setting his legs as he has a compound fracture of the tibular in both legs and the fibular in the right leg is fractured as well. He also has a dislocated arm which she manipulates back into place. Se shaves him, feeds and waters him and also baths him, which shows her taking on the mother role of wanting to take care of and look after him as if he was an incapable child and not a grown man. The audience also learns at the beginning of the film that she is a fanatic fan of this author and that the blizzard prevented her from taking him to the hospital as it has caused road blockages. She starts to become slightly scary when she tells Paul that she would follow him to his hotel where he was staying and stare up at his window and wonder what he would be doing and that is how she found him in his un-conscious state in his car down the side of an embankment. The audience then start to learn that Annie has a very sort temper when she reads his new novel and is upset by the profound language he has used and starts shouting and ordering him to change it but then snaps back into being all nice and apologies, making the audience think nothing else about it. However as an audience when we start to realise that she is very unstable when she informs him that no one knows that he is there with her as she hasnt informed anyone like she says she has and that the roads and telephone are not blocked and that he better hope that nothing happens to her because if she dies then so will he as he will have no one to look after him. Again this is showing her unstable and psychotic side. As the film goes on we realise she is living her life through one of the c haracters within his novels and eventually the film ends with her killing the sheriff who becomes suspicious of Annie and investigates her house and eventually finds Sheldon. Annie kills the sheriff by shooting him and then plans on killing herself and Paul so they can live together in peace without anyone trying to find them and interfering in their lives. However it doesnt end with a happy ending for Annie as she and Paul get in a fight to the bitter death which results in Paul hitting her over the head with his type-writer that Annie bought for him and surprisingly doesnt kill her or knock her out. She attacks him and they end up in a locked fight on the floor leaving the audience in suspense on who is going to win. Eventually Paul manages to grab one of Annies large ornaments that just happen to be lying near by and smash it into her head which eventually kills her leaving him to get free. Misery portrays women as weak, unstable; reliable on men as Annie, who throughout the film always asks for reassurance from Paul along the lines of Am I doing it right? Other women in the film such as the sheriffs wife, works for her husband and does what he tells her, its as if it is expected of women to do what ever is told of them from a male character, as if it is the male characters who hold all the authority. They are also portrayed as being crazy, unsuitable and able of being on their own and looking after themselves. This is shown in the film when the audience become aware of the fact that Annies husband left her (however later on in the film we are lead to believe she may have killed him) which could be because he didnt want to be with her anymore and she couldnt deal with the fact of being on her own not through a choice of her own but that of a mans. Annie becomes suicidal and starts telling Paul she is thinking of killing herself when she gets depressed because of the rain or other reasons or factors that are out of her control, which makes her seem as a cont rol freak who needs to be in control of everything and have things going her way otherwise she is unable to cope and becomes unstable. So let us return to the question of whether the portrayal of women has changed. It may be thought that the role of women within horror films has somewhat developed and changed. There still are movies that wish to show the female sex as weak and insignificant figures within society. This can be seen in the Scream films which show the main female and so-called heroic character screaming to be rescued and looking for comfort by male companions or from those around her. Are the female character roles in films slipping back into the old way of how they were portrayed? Is this a reaction against the up-front controlling woman that was emerging in films such as Alien. Are men reasserting their status? It has been found that men tend to reduce women in television and film to three basic categories: homemaker, professional and sexual object. It has also been found that men tend to fell threatened when certain subgroups, of women, such as feminists or female athletes, express non-stereotypic behaviour in the media. These two subgroups of women in particular can threaten mens economic success and physical strength. ( DeWal, Altermatt Thompson, 2

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION FOR MUSIC TECHNOLOGY :: essays research papers

The technology learning process can help teachers manage information in their daily work more effectively. Word processing software allows text-based documents to be entered, edited, formatted, and printed. This is a helpful tool for creating recital programs, handouts, and tests. Database software stores and retrieves records for instrument inventories, class lists, and attendance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Electronic musical instruments may be defined as those that generate sound electronically rather than acoustically. Two examples are synthesizers and digital pianos. These instruments generally have three components: a controller, modifier capabilities, and a sound generator which may be separate units or self-contained like the digital piano.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Music teachers need to know how MIDI connections are made among instruments, how to use MIDI in the classroom, and how to connect MIDI instruments with computers. They need to understand how to create layered and split keyboard sounds for performances. They also need to be able to choose and edit sounds from stored libraries and create using sounds using electronic instrument. Students can use electronic instruments as musical crayons creating simple complex musical pieces while gaining dexterity and technique. They can learn musical processes with keyboards and have fun at the same time. Electronic instruments can also be used in performance to enhance traditional and electronical-acoustics ensembles. A musical performance consists of a series of sounds played in time with appropriate tempo and dynamic changes. MIDI data, however, consists of a stream of information of note events generated by the electronic controller device. This information can be stored in the order played allowing the MIDI sequenced performance to be played at a later time. A device or computer, A hardware sequencer is a device dedicated to MIDI sequencing, and workstation is electronic keyboards that have built-in sequence capabilities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today, MIDI sequences are capable of storing large amounts of data. They are designed to emulate a multi-track tape recorder, a familiar metaphor for most musicians. A musician may record different musical parts onto separate tracks of the MIDI sequencer. Each track of the sequence may be assigned compositions. Unlike the tape recorder the MIDI sequencer gives musicians powerful and intuitive editing tools permitting changes and corrections without re-recording.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many software applications available to support music education. Those specifically designed to assist instruction are called Computer Assisted Instructional software or CAI. Commercially available CAI software programs are designed to help students learn music theory and music history, develop eat-training skills, and drill and test knowledge in a variety of areas.

Leadership and Ethics Paper

The movie entitled Coach Carter have shown more than just the simple approach on presenting leadership as a way by which the situations are treated by someone who is expert in a certain field of leading the people. As for this movie, the focus was on the way a coach was able to face the challenges of helping his team see more than just winning the games. Coach Carter, an alumni and an MVP player of the basketball team of the Richmond High School, was able to recreate the motivation of his team players through giving a different approach to his young players. His lengthened thought of the future for his team players have particularly helped him in taking greater steps in making a change in his procedures of the assistance that he is giving them towards   a certain future that would lead them to lives beyond what they have in the basketball courts. From this particular movie, it could be observed that â€Å"leadership† is certainly a factor that brings definite change to groups and organizations. The lessons that are presented through this film certainly awakens the corporate leaders in becoming more aware of the fact that their responsibilities does not simply involve them commanding and directing their people. The corporate world is certainly involving a number of great changes that are involving motivational procedures for the sake of the organizational future as well as individual development goals of the organization. Through the pattern that has been shown through the movie Coach Carter, this particular paper shall be completed in an aim of presenting the possibility of creating effective changes within the organization through the effective use of leadership procedures to be able to meet the challenges of future needs for the corporation that the said leaders are working for. The Role of Communication in Leadership As primarily shown in the movie â€Å"Coach Carter†, it could be observed that communication has been the key factor that has mainly assisted the coach in making it possible for the whole team to understand the aspect that he is making them see. This is indeed also an important factor that needs consideration in application for the sake of organizational growth. The act of constantly communicating with the people around the environment that an individual deals with certainly places an impact on the ways by which the organizational members are able to relate to each other with regards the plans, the procedures of the progressive advancements for the organization. Hence, from this point, it could be observed that there are at least five major points behind the importance of communication within organizational operations. The said points of communication are as follows: (a)Communicating for the sake of passing information There is a need for constant passing of information especially for organizational members. The idea is that the regular way of people communicating with each other would indeed keep the organization unified and intact for the sake of continuous business progress. (b)Communicating for organizational update on progress Whatever the company deals with, the members should know of all of them. This is for the sake of the establishment of trust among the employees as well as the organization’s administration section. It is through the application of regular communication that the progress reports could be utilized to motivate the other members of the organization. (c) Communication for motivational purposes As mentioned earlier, there is a specific need for the people of the organization to take specific steps in being able to perform well for the sake of organization’s progress. To be able to come to a meeting point between the administrators and the employees, it is then necessary to take advantage of communication. Through the open line of communication that exists between the two said parties, it is then obvious that the changes could be given chances of being fulfilled as both sides of opinions are already able to relate to each other’s needs and expectations form the organization as well as form each other. (d)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Communication for the sake of advancement as an organization It is necessary that there exists an open line of communication between all the people making up the organization because of the fact that much of the progress procedures would rely on the ways that govern the ways by which the said people are able to connect with each other through speaking with each other. Their unity, their connection with each other towards progressive efforts relies on their capabilities to talk to each other and support each other through the use of communication. (e)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Communication for the sake of implying law To be able to keep the whole organization at the right track, there is a necessity for the administration to imply the laws of business within the operational engagements of the employees as this would particularly identify the limitations and the capabilities as well as the benefits that the company has further provided for the employees. Communicating to the employees on why the said set rules are necessary to be followed by the people working within the organization shall then make it easier for them to cope up with the organization’s rules and thus keep a clear track of the changes that they need to face as they are staying with the said organization. From the discussion of the five-point reasons of why communication in the continuing process of a particular organization’s growth, it could be noted that the price that keeping the communication lines open pays is much essential for any organizational progress procedures. Constant attention given to the procedures of communication shall indeed bring forth fine results for the whole team or group that works their way on towards advancements. The five importance of communication certainly identifies one of the key roles of leaders then. In the movie Coach Carter, the coach never failed in helping his team understand why he’s doing to them what they actually do.   Hence, although they were not able to understand the reasoning that he presented to them as to why he aims to make them more motivated in learning their lessons as they are completely serious about their plays, they were able to take the gist of the methodologies he used to motivate them later on. The Constant Need for Change It is necessary that every organization take changes every now and then. The fact is that change is the primary reason why several organizations are able to spot the different aspects of possible progress that the organization could be undergoing in the near future. However, to be able to make change, a fine leader should be ready to face the challenges of the new venture that the organization tries to engage into. As based from the movie Coach Carter, it is indeed obvious that the change that he intended to make among his teams created problems with regards the reaction of the people. This particular situation in the movie actually presents the change that goes beyond the norms. Normally, people are not that open to change. However, through the use of transformational leadership, a person who aims to implicate the changes within the organization certainly is given a fine chance of showing that he can face the impending challenges that may hinder him from keeping up with the needed changes. It could be observed then that the leaders are indeed expected to have the capabilities of transforming the opinions of people to be able to coincide with the thoughts and the practices that they ought to imply within the organization. To be able to understand the situation better, it could be noted that the leaders are to have the necessary characteristics that they need to apply in dealing with the situations that they are usually faced with in their position as group motivators. There are necessary points that need to be considered in this particular situation. The said points are as follows: (A)People-focused leadership It is necessary that leaders are able to take into consideration several strategies that are able to meet the needs of the people that they serve. Certainly, it could be noted that the responsibilities of the leaders are primarily people-centered. The profit and everything else comes in a secondary state as leadership is primarily created to be able to direct people towards the progressive state of the organization. (B)Ethical Based policing It is always essential to carry into consideration the ethical measures of the procedures that are being adapted by organizational leaders. It is only through the ways by which the people are able to get the satisfaction that they need that the leadership of one particular person could be considered successful. Hence, the ethical standards that are set for business policing should constantly be observed by the business leaders as they are expected to have a closer observation of the intensity of the application of ethics within the system of business operations. (C)Giving personal assistance to people who are concerned in the change â€Å"Empathy† is one of the primary characteristics that fine leaders should posses. It is then necessary that the leaders of any organization have this particular attitude towards others especially when dealing with critical and complicated issues within the relational aspects of employees and the administration as well. (D)Personal Concern for the employee’s needs and expectations The individual’s that make up an organization are people who have their own needs and expectations from the company. If one particular leader is able to know and thus provide that particular need, it is then possible to have a more personal-focused system within the organization that could lead to a more progressive future for the entire business. Conclusion The movie of Coach Carter certainly redefines the responsibility and the normal approach of leadership within several organizations in the society. The constant implication of the fact that leadership is a profession, a career that requires strength and courage in implementing necessary rules within certain organizational settings, has been actually presented within the plot of the said movie. Hence, this particularly means that the changes that organizations are required to meet every now and then requires an amply amount of patience and courage from the leaders. Aside from that, it also requires sturdiness when it comes to decision making on the part of the leaders. The policy of â€Å"what must be implemented must be implemented† should always be carried on through by the leaders with an ample scaling of the ethical values that are involved within the situation. Yes, the fact that leadership is not an easy challenge that needs to be conscientiously met identifies the qualities and the attitudes that leaders or aspiring organizational head personnel should posses. Hence, a leader is then supposed to face the said challenges in full courage and knowledge of the strategies that need to be applied in particular situations that they are to meet. References: Maxwell, John C. (2001). Developing the leader within you. Thomas Nelson Publishers. Quinn, Robert E. (1996). Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series). Jossey-Bass Stephen R. Covey. (2006). The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness: Miniature Edition. Running Press Book Publishers; Miniature edition. The Coach Carter Movie. (2005). http://www.coachcarter.com/movie.htm. (June 9, 2

Pakistan Automobile Industry Essay

Automobile market is one of the largest segments in world trade. In a fast globalized world, this industry is facing huge challenges like cutting cost, upgrading models, improving fuel efficiency and enhancing customers comfort without compromising quality. I categories automobile industry of Pakistan in different phases. In first phase, automotive assembling of Bedford truck followed by ford perfect, ford Cortina and Dodge Dart started in 1950s in Pakistan. By the end on the 1970’s the assembling of vehicles came to a freeze due to the low quality value of locally produce vehicle parts but continued the assembling of Bed Ford trucks. By the end of 70s practically all assembling ceased in Pakistan. In 1983, second phase of automobile assembling started with the introduction of Suzuki FX 800 CC car. And with in six years Pak. Suzuki changed the model of FX 800 CC with Mehran 800 CC. Pak. Suzuki there after introduced Khyber 1000 CC and Margalla 1300 CC in 1992. But in more than ten years, level of participation in development was not significant. From 1993, Pak automobile industry moves toward development when Indus motors company Ltd. Karachi introduced Toyota Corolla and Honda atlas cars Ltd. , Lahore introduced Honda Civic having 1300 CC engine capacity. Smaller cars also introduced by Indus motors, Pak Suzuki and Deewan Farooq motors in 2000. I. e. Cuore 850 CC, Cultus 1000 CC, Santro hundai 1000 CC. Automobile industry in Pakistan can be broadly divided into following segments: †¢ Cars & Light Commercial Vehicles. †¢ Trucks and Buses. †¢ Tractors. †¢ Vendor Industry. It is the industry which operates under franchises and technical cooperation agreements with Japanese, European and Korean manufacturers. †¢ Two and Three Wheelers Public companies that are traded on Pakistani stock exchanges. Automobile assembler †¢ Ghandhara Industries †¢ Ghandhara Nissan †¢ Hinopak Motors †¢ Hyundai Motors. †¢ Indus Motors Company †¢ Master Motors †¢ Millat Tractors †¢ Pak Suzuki †¢ Sigma Motors †¢ Volvo Pakistan Limited †¢ Al-Ghazi Tractors †¢ Atlas Honda †¢ Dewan Farooque Motors (BMW Pakistan) †¢ Ghani Automobile Industries Pakistan Automobile industry at Present: The automobile industry has been strugglers ever since its creation. Although long time has past since its establishment, it has not been able to make a mark among the very stars of the automotive world. Although it has tried and made significant advancement towards the production of locally produced vehicles transfer of new technology has become a major weakness of the industry. Another reason for the low progress of the industry is due to the high cost of fuel in Pakistan. People have made adjustments to their vehicle by changing their fuel preferences from petrol to CNG, just to get by in their lives. The Pakistani industry has so far being unable to adopt the GLOBALLY GREEN notion and safety standards. Most cars in the country rely on dual fuel systems. Moreover Pakistani industry is still relying on car models which have long been stopped producing in other super power countries. Pak Suzuki has gained almost complete monopoly in the segment of producing small cars and faces almost no competition at all. The government policies and regulation of the state bank of Pakistan too contribute a great deal of being a wall between the Pakistani automobile industry and its success. By increasing the interest rate on car financing the industry has suffered a huge shift towards downfall. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: Increasing Demand for Cars: In Pakistan context there are 9 cars in 1,000 persons which is one of the lowest in the emerging economies which itself speaks of high potential of growth in the auto sector and more so in the car production. Rising per capita income with changing demographic distribution and an anticipated influx of 30 to 40 million young people in the economically active workforce in the next few years provides a stimulus to the industry to expand and grow. Resale of Local Assembled Cars: Resale of locally assembled cars is better due to availability of spare parts and after sales services and warranty Used imported cars have been selling below their cost at the showrooms for the last six months but consumers are not inclined to buy because of their low re-sale value and problems in parts availability. Quality of local cars Initially when the import of cars was liberalized the quality of local assembled cars was unsatisfactory so the people of high income level group started buying imported cars and the sales of the local assembled cars started decreasing so the local assemblers started enhancing the quality of their vehicles so we can say that the quality of local cars is becoming the strength of the auto industry. OEM: The local OEM of Pakistan is well equipped with enough advance technology and skilled labor to produce parts according to the desired quality of any foreign company. CNG kit The advantage of buying local assembled cars is that they comes with factory fitted CNG kits at the times when the prices of fuel rising at higher pace internationally. Mechanics: For local assembled cars mechanics are readily available in market and much cheaper so the buyer has not to worry about any problem that can occur in the car in long term whereas the availability for imported cars is a bigger issue for the owners and if somehow they are able to find one then the mechanics charges much higher than actually it should be charged. Weakness: WTO—Deletion program: THE World Trade Organization (WTO) has rejected Pakistan’s request for the extension of the deletion program which enabled it to lay down the condition of the local content requirement (LCR). Under LCR, the automobile and other engineering industry was required to use locally manufactured parts and accessories in terms of government’s deletion policy. The condition of the LCR was an aberration to the Clause 5. 2 of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMs), Article III–-National Treatment under the GATT, 1994. WTO’s decision for not extending its deletion program / LCR condition has varied impact on Pakistan’s vendor industry, automobile assemblers, car users and the government. Input Cost In Pakistan as the inflation is increasing so as the input costs and for manufacturers it is becoming harder to produce at lower cost. Increasing cost of energy and its unreliable and inconsistent supply adds up the cost of manufacturing and wastage of resources. It is estimated that by the year 2012, auto industry consumption of electricity will cross 500 – 600 MW from around 250 – 300 MW, as of now. Protection level: Before the TBS was introduced the auto industry was well protected by the government but now as the import of CKD and CBU is liberalized the protection level to industry by government is decreased. Lack of skilled manpower for modern machinery In Pakistan conventional machines are not able to meet the precision manufacturing and the available labor is not familiar with modern technology it caused by lack of coordination and linkages with Government/Semi Government Supporting Bodies and Technical Training Institutes. Scarcity of raw material especially steel Through previous years the world prices are rising and causing costly inputs and Pakistan has left with scarce Steel and Iron left, so manufacturers are facing difficulties in producing cars with low prices. Opportunities: Import German technology and skills EDB wanted to build a Pakistan-German automotive supply network, providing opportunities to Pakistani automotive vendor enterprises to benefit from the German know-how and technology to improve quality, productivity, developing and marketing of value-added products. Foreign Investment and setup production facilities China National Heavy Duty Truck Corporation (CNHDTC), one of the largest heavy duty truck manufacturers in China, has shown interest for investment in the automobile sector of Pakistan. The study is required to attract players from Germany as well as from other countries to develop business with the Pakistani counterparts. Baggase Fuel As the fuel prices are rising in world Pakistan should switch to Ethanol Fuel as Brazil is using. Ethanol Fuel is produced by Molasses. Pakistan is one of the country which produces good quantity of molasses but the engines of the local cars do not support ethanol so Pakistan should acquire the Technology to produce ethanol compatible cars. In Brazil they use 90% Ethanol and 10% petroleum whereas Pakistani cars with default engines can afford only 3% Ethanol. Global spare part market The annual gross sales turnover of the auto industry, at present, stands at Rs210 billion while export of auto parts are estimated at $35 million. As such, the increase in production turnover is projected to increase by 185 per cent while the exports of auto parts would make quantum jump. Threats: WTO—Parts indigenization Smuggling of auto parts The auto industry is generally faced by multiplicity of taxes; the presumptive tax regime has led to increase in prices of imported inputs and the finished goods. Component manufacturers are struggling to compete with under-invoicing, miss declaration and smuggling. Import of used parts is still continuing at a large scale. Smuggling, under-invoicing and dumping of auto parts. Competition from import cars Auto industry is facing a threat from the import of cars which is already liberalized further it is said that government will cut about 15% of duties till 2011 Fuel prices According to the authorities the fuel prices which currently are Rs 68. 8 and are going to increase by more Rs. 6 by the end of 3-Jun-08. Decreasing tariff structure: For localized parts of CKD cars, the tariff would reduce from 50 per cent to 45 per cent in 2008-09 and further to 35 per cent in the next two years. The tariff for CKD non-localized parts would be reduced from 35 per cent to 32. 5 per cent in 2007-08 and would keep on decline by 2. 5 per cent every year to 25 per cent in 2010-11. The rate for CBU cars up to 1500cc, the tariff would be reduced from 50 per cent to zero next year (2007-08) and to be kept at that level thereafter. For CBU cars between 1500-1800cc, the current rate of 65 per cent would be reduced at the rate of five per cent annually to 50 per cent by 2010-11. For CBU cars exceeding 1800cc, the applicable rate of 75 per cent would be reduced at the rate of five per cent per annum to 50 per cent in 2010-11. For LCVs, the tariff on CKD kits would be reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent at the rate of one per cent every year. However, the tariff for CBU LCVs, the rate would be reduced from 60 per cent to 50 per cent in a phased manner by 2010-11. For two-wheelers, the tariff on CKD kits would be reduced from existing 30 per cent to 20 per cent in phased manner to 2010-1. Similarly, the tariff on CBU two wheelers would reduce to 60 per cent by 2010-11 from existing rate of 90 per cent. For localised CKD parts of tractors and heavy commercial vehicles, the existing tariff of 35 per cent has been proposed to be reduced to 25 per cent in 2010-11. For prime movers (up to 280 HP) the tariff for CKD would be reduced from 10 per cent to five per cent next year and then kept at that level onwards. Similarly, the tariff for CBUs would be reduced to 25 per cent next year and then kept at that level for the next five years. The tariff for prime movers (above 280HP) and would remain unchanged, while it would be reduced for trucks from 10 to five per cent and from 30 to 25 per cent next year.

AN ALTERNATIVE FOR PRISON Essays - Criminology, Penology

AN ALTERNATIVE FOR PRISON Essays - Criminology, Penology AN ALTERNATIVE FOR PRISON America's prisons have been called "graduate schools for crime." It stands to reason: Take a group of people, strip them of possessions and privacy, expose them to constant threats of violence, overcrowd their cell- block, deprive them of meaningful work, and the result is an embittered underclass more intent on getting even with society than contributing to it. Prisons take the nonviolent offender and make him live by violence. They take the nonviolent offender and make him a hardened killer. America has to wake up and realize that the current structure of our penal system is failing terribly. The government has to devise new ways to punish the guilty, and still manage to keep American citizens satisfied that our prison system is still effective. Americans pay a great deal for prisons to fail so badly. Like all big government solutions, they are expensive. In the course of my studies dealing with the criminal justice system, I have learned that the government spends approximately eighty-thousand dollars to build one cell, and $28,000 per year to keep a prisoner locked up. That's about the same as the cost of sending a student to Harvard. Because of overcrowding, it is estimated that more than ten-billion dollars in construction is needed to create sufficient space for just the current prison population. The plain truth is that the very nature of prison, no matter how humane society attempts to make it, produces an environment that is inevitably devastating to its residents. Even if their release is delayed by longer sentences, those residents inevitably return to damage the community, and we are paying top dollar to make this possible. Why should tax payers be forced to pay amounts to keep nonviolent criminals sitting in prison cells where they become bitter and more likely to repeat their offenses when they are released? Instead, why not put them to work outside prison where they could pay back the victims of their crimes? The government should initiate work programs; where the criminal is given a job and must relinquish his or her earnings to the victim of their crime until the mental and physical damages of their victims are sufficed. A court will determine how much money the criminal will have to pay for his restitution costs, and what job the criminal will have to do to pay back that restitution. The most obvious benefit of this approach is that it takes care of the victim, the forgotten person in the current system. Those who experience property crime deserve more than just the satisfaction of seeing the offender go to prison. Daniel Van Ness, president of Justice Fellowship, has said: All the legal systems which helped form western law emphasize the need for offenders to settle with victims. The offense was seen as primarily a violation against the victim. While the common welfare had been violated and the community therefore had an interest and responsibility in seeing that the wrong was addressed and the offender punished, the offense was not considered primarily a crime against the state as it is today. (76) Restitution offers the criminal a means to restore himself-to undergo a real change of character. Mere imprisonment cannot do this; nothing can destroy a man's soul more surely than living without useful work and purpose. Feodor Dostoevsky, a prisoner for ten years during czarist repression, wrote, "If one wanted to crush, to annihilate a man utterly, to inflict on him the most terrible of punishments...one need only give him work on a completely useless and irrational character" (77). This is exactly what goes on in the "make work" approach of our prisons and it is one of the contributing factors to prison violence. To quote Jack Kemp, author of Crime and Punishment in Modern America: The idea that a burglar should return stolen goods, pay for damage to the house he broke into and pay his victims for the time lost from work to appear at a trial meets with universal support from the American people. There is, of course, a reason that the concept of restitution appeals to America's sense of justice. Restitution also provides an alternative to imprisonment for nonviolent criminals, reducing the need for taxpayers to continue building prisons. (54) Working with the purpose of paying back someone that has been wronged allows a criminal to understand and deal with the real consequences of his actions. Restitution would be far less expensive than the current system. Experience shows that the cost per prisoner can be as low as ten percent of that of incarceration, depending on the degree of supervision necessary. Removing nonviolent offenders from prison would also

Free Essays on Spread Of Islam

Islam, a major world religion, began in the desserts of Arabia in 632 AD. Mohammed was the prophet or messenger of Allah who guided the people toward Islam. Mohammed dedicated his whole life to spread the word of Allah and guide people towards heaven. However many of us wonders today how did Islam spread it’s empire through out Asia and Africa from the desserts of Middle East? As we take a look at the history, we see many methods were used in order to spread such an extensive empire. A brief chronology of Islamic Empire: In 570 ad the prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca of the Hashim clan, belonging to the tribe of Quraish. His father’s name is Abdullah and his mother’s name is Amina. Mohammed’s father died before he was born and at the age of six he lost his mother. After the death of his father, his grand father Adbul Muttalib and his uncle Abu Talib raised him. At the age of twenty Mohammed began to work for a widow named Khadijah as a merchant actively engaged with trading caravans to the north. Later in time Mohammed married Khadijah. When Mohammed was forty years old the most important event of Islam took place in the cave of Mount Hira where Mohammed used to meditate. The angel Gabriel ordered Mohammed, â€Å"Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created, created man from a clot of blood†. This event was the birth of Islam. In the beginning Mohammed revealed his experience with his family and friends. Beside his family Abu-Bakkar his father-in-law was the first person to join the religion of Islam. During the next three years Mohammed delivered the message of Allah to the people of Mecca. Unfortunately most of the people didn’t want to abandon paganism and embrace Islam as their faith. After Mohammed had preached publicly for more than a decade in Mecca he and his followers were forced to leave. Mohammed and his followers moved to a city name medina. Thi... Free Essays on Spread Of Islam Free Essays on Spread Of Islam Islam, a major world religion, began in the desserts of Arabia in 632 AD. Mohammed was the prophet or messenger of Allah who guided the people toward Islam. Mohammed dedicated his whole life to spread the word of Allah and guide people towards heaven. However many of us wonders today how did Islam spread it’s empire through out Asia and Africa from the desserts of Middle East? As we take a look at the history, we see many methods were used in order to spread such an extensive empire. A brief chronology of Islamic Empire: In 570 ad the prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca of the Hashim clan, belonging to the tribe of Quraish. His father’s name is Abdullah and his mother’s name is Amina. Mohammed’s father died before he was born and at the age of six he lost his mother. After the death of his father, his grand father Adbul Muttalib and his uncle Abu Talib raised him. At the age of twenty Mohammed began to work for a widow named Khadijah as a merchant actively engaged with trading caravans to the north. Later in time Mohammed married Khadijah. When Mohammed was forty years old the most important event of Islam took place in the cave of Mount Hira where Mohammed used to meditate. The angel Gabriel ordered Mohammed, â€Å"Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created, created man from a clot of blood†. This event was the birth of Islam. In the beginning Mohammed revealed his experience with his family and friends. Beside his family Abu-Bakkar his father-in-law was the first person to join the religion of Islam. During the next three years Mohammed delivered the message of Allah to the people of Mecca. Unfortunately most of the people didn’t want to abandon paganism and embrace Islam as their faith. After Mohammed had preached publicly for more than a decade in Mecca he and his followers were forced to leave. Mohammed and his followers moved to a city name medina. Thi...