A Comparison of Othello and the Movie O Essay -- Movie Film comparison

A Comparison of Othello and the Movie O When Shakespeare composed the tragedy Othello televisions were not. Along with no televisions, life in the late 1500s had many different qualities than it does today. This time period had no war on drugs and no high school shootings. Peer pressure was not an issue. The audiences of Othello in the 1500s did not face the circumstances that we, American high school students, face today. With these significant differences in daily life, come the attempts of movie creators to help prevent our modern day tragedies. The movie "O", released on August 31, 2001, is a retelling of Shakespeare's Othello set in a college prepatory school. This movie, shelved over two years due to the epidemic of high school shootings in the late 1990s, is an attempt to take in hand these disasters caused by peer pressure and jealousy (Kurnit). "O" is an effective restoration of Shakespeare's Othello in this day and age as it addresses issues that are imperative and dangerous to its audience. Jealousy is a dominating factor in both the modern day and Shakespearean Othello. In Othello, the jealousy develops from Iago, who thinks he has been overlooked as his flag officer and as Othello's loyal best friend. In "O", Hugo is jealous of his father's relationship with Odin. Hugo's father, Duke, is also the basketball coach of the team both Odin and Hugo play for. Odin is the team captain and receives the "most valuable player" award which he shares with his "go-to guy," Mike--not Hugo. Hugo believes that he is the M.V.P. of the Hawks and is filled with jealousy when his father gives the award to Odin and says, "I'm very proud to say this publicly, I love him like my own son" ("O"). I've ... ...ence more reasoning to the jealousy of the characters and the actions they take. With the changed setting come many differences: drugs and alcohol, peer pressure, violence, and different sources for jealousy and hatred. These issues are the dilemmas we, as teenagers in this new millennium, are faced with day to day. "O" addresses these new era evils without abandoning the original themes and major issues of Shakespeare's Othello. The audience can relate to a story written down hundreds of years ago and benefit from it. Works Cited Hartnett, Josh. Interview following "O". 23 March 2010 Kurnit, Scott. "O" movie review. www.romanticmovies.about.com 20 March 2010 List of School Shootings. www.abcnews.com 20 March 2010 Nelson, Tim Blake. Interview folloing "O". 23 March 2010 "O". dvd. Dir. Tim Blake Nelson, Lions Gate Films, 2001 Â  

Moral Philosophy Essay

Hare uses the â€Å"indirect† version of utilitarianism. Hare believes that individuals can deliberate at the intuitive level. In dire situations where there is no time to evaluate decisions on a critical level, intuition maybe used to commit most acts. Direct utilitarianism follows a rigid rules approach to utilitarianism. Hare’s approach implies that certain acts done intuitively will become moral because the decision was made on a gut level instinct instead of simply following a set of rules. Hare attempts to distinguish his theories from â€Å"crude† or direct utilitarianism. However, it would seem that he does not remove the problems of direct utilitarianism, but he manages to create new ones. â€Å"An act (for act utilitarians) or rule (for rule utilitarians) is right if and only if the act or rule maximizes the utility of all persons (or sentient beings). † 1 Following the direct utilitarianism approach, there is no flexibility for human emotion or consequences. In addition, there is no true definition of what is right for all persons. An example would be a decision by a surgeon in an emergency room to save the life of an elderly priest or that of a young man that was in a terrible car accident. By the direct utilitarianism approach, the surgeon would have to ascertain what would be best for all persons. Such a decision would realistically be made deliberation and gut instinct. The direct utilitarianism approach does not answer what is best for everyone in this type of circumstance. The problem with Hare’s approach is one can prove virtually any moral dilemma with custom tailored and non-realistic circumstances where gut instinct would be used as the determining factor for the situation. There are no set guidelines for defining what is moral for these extenuating circumstances. Hare in general often speaks about conflicting desires, and he seems to adhere to Plato’s notion that being good coincides with being informed. What Hare fails to address is that some individuals might desire to do evil. Hare presumes that the individual is going to conform to the standards of society and use deliberation to not commit heinous and horrific acts. With the direct utilitarianism approach, individuals will act for the good of everyone thus more likely to conform to moral restrictions placed upon them by society. Hare’s approach states that individuals will follow gut instinct to do what is moral but at the same time Hare’s approach calls for individuals to follow deliberation when making some decisions. For the individual that is a sociopath, Hare’s response would be that the sociopath would â€Å"condemn those desires at a critical level†. 2 With the assumption of individual conformity to the group’s standard, Hare is contracting his gut instinct part of the decision making progress. Hare argues that direct utilitarianism cannot accommodate political rights because the government is an institutional set of rules and regulations. Direct utilitarianism assumes that the government knows what is best for the majority. Hare’s approach would require the individual to deliberate as to follow the rules set forth by the government. Using Hare’s approach it would be ethical for an individual to refuse to pay taxes or speed on the highway because there would’ve been a deliberation and analysis based on the critical level of thinking. Hare’s approach is more direct utilitarianism on the political issues because the individual will most likely make a choice that is inherently good for everyone to avoid negative consequences such as a speeding ticket or imprisonment. Each decision or choice that the individual makes results in some type of consequence. Hare’s approach to indirect utilitarianism does not address consequences. The direct utilitarianism addresses consequences because the individual is going to follow rules that are set forth for the good of the whole. Direct utilitarianism requires conformity to societal standards to maximize individual happiness. Hare’s approach requires that the individual deliberate and make a decision. Yet, the other part of his approach requires the individual to follow gut instinct while conforming to good of the whole to make an ethical decision. Instead of refuting the direct utilitarianism approach, Hare is supporting the notion that we all have a set of rules that we inherently follow. To strictly follow Hare’s approach to indirect utilitarianism, society would be in total chaos because virtually any circumstance can be manipulated to appear as though the individual was following instinct and thus making a moral decision. There are no overall guidelines for extenuating circumstances with Hare’s approach to indirect utilitarianism. Hare creates more chaos in trying to refute the direct utilitarianism approach instead of providing solid arguments for the nature of human beings and ethical decisions.

Spring Phenology and Climate Change

As spring arrives we notice the changing of seasons by the weather, but also by a host of natural events. Depending on where you live, the crocuses may poke through the snow, the killdeer may be back, or the cherry trees may bloom. There is an orderly sequence of events that seem to occur, with various spring flowers appearing in order, red maple buds bursting into new leaves, or the old lilac by the barn scenting the air. This seasonal cycle of natural phenomena is called phenology. Global climate change appears to be interfering with the phenology of many species, at the very heart of species interactions. What Is Phenology? In temperate regions like the northern half of the United States, there is comparatively little biological activity in winter. Most plants are dormant, and so are the insects feeding on them. In turn, animals that rely on these insects  such as bats and birds are hibernating or spending the cold months in more southerly locations. Ectotherms like reptiles and amphibians, which take their body warmth from their environment, also have active phases tied to the seasons. This long winter period constrains all the growing, breeding, and dispersing activities that plants and animals do to a short favorable window. That’s what makes spring so vibrant, with plants flowering and putting on new growth, insects emerging and breeding, and birds flying back to take advantage of this short-lived bounty. The onsets of each of these activities add up to so many phenological markers. What Triggers Phenological Events? Different organisms respond to different cues to initiate seasonal activities. Many plants will start growing leaves again after a set period of dormancy, which very roughly dictates the leaf-out window. Cue that more precisely determine when the buds break can be soil temperature, air temperature, or water availability. Similarly, temperature cues can promote the beginning of insect activity. Day length itself can be the operative trigger for some seasonal events. It is only when there are a sufficient number of daylight hours that reproductive hormones will be produced in many bird species. Why Are Scientists Concerned with Phenology? The most energy-demanding period in the life of most animals is when they reproduce. For that reason, it is to their advantage to coincide breeding (and for many, the raising of young) during a period when food is most abundant. Caterpillars should hatch just as the young tender leaves of oak tree emerge, before they harden and become less nutritious. Breeding songbirds need to time the hatching of their young just during that peak in caterpillar activity, so they can take advantage of this rich source of protein to feed their offspring. Many species have evolved to exploit peaks in resource availability, so all these seemingly independent phenological events are indeed part of a complex web of precise interactions. Disruptions in seasonal events can have profound effects on ecosystems. How Is Climate Change Affecting Phenology? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in a 2007 report, estimated that spring arrived earlier by 2.3 to 5.2 days per decade in the previous 30 years. Among hundreds of observed changes, the leafing out of ginkgo trees in Japan, the flowering of lilacs, and the arrival of warblers have all shifted earlier in the year. The problem is that not all these shifts happen at the same rate, if at all. For example: Winter moths have been timed to hatch just when the young oak leaves burst from their buds. With climate change, both have been happening earlier in the year, but significantly more so for the winter moth hatch. The young emerging caterpillars then starve and die.Some North American migratory songbirds have advanced their arrival data. However, at least one of the main tree species they forage on has shifted its leafing out even earlier. Birds might then be missing the peak in availability of insects that are found on these trees and provide the energy and protein needed by the birds at the beginning of their nesting season. These types of misalignment of important events in nature are called phenological mismatches. There is much research underway currently to recognize where these mismatches might be occurring.