Kathryn Bigelow Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kathryn Bigelow - Movie Review Example The first film, titled â€Å"The Loveless†, was directed in 1982 proved to be a debutorial success few others have achieved in their careers. Further along her career, she continued to produce box office hits. She directed and produced blockbusters including ‘Blue Steel’, of 1989, ‘Hurt Locker’ 2008, and her most recent movie, which she produced and directed, ‘Zero Dark Thirty†, 2012. All three movies will be discussed within this paper. Sean Redmond and Deborah Jermyn in the book â€Å"The Cinema of Kathryn Bigelow Hollywood Transgressor† have mentioned that Kathryn Bigelow is an auteur, meaning she has a distinct style, which reflects in her movies. Despite the fact that some critics claim that Bigelow does not have a distinct style owing to the fact that she has produced and directed a wide range of movies. They claim that Bigelow’s expertise lies in the fact that she refuses to be categorized. However, even so, this is true about Bigelow’s movies that they are mostly feminist, supporting the women strength. For instance, in the movie Blue Steel, released in 1989, the main character is a female. Played by James Lee Curtis, the character of Megan Turner is that of a rookie cop, who kills a criminal on her first night on duty. Things don’t go as smooth after that since she gets suspended by her superiors because of lack of evidence in her favor, and is accused of murder. Later in the movi e, when she gets her badge back for a spcial case, she bravely struggles, and at last successfully brings the criminal, her own ex-boyfriend, Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver) to justice, with a lot of hard work. In this film, Bigelow shows Megan as a very strong female, a very determinant police officer, reflecting Bigelow’s own feminist views. Megan’s character defies the ordinary and takes assertive decisions that go against the traditional view of femininity. Being a strong supporter of female independence, Bigelow’s personal views do indeed come out in the movie Blue Steel. This depiction of strong females and a reversal of gender roles is not merely a coincidence restricted to Blue Steel. Kathryn Bigelow’s latest movie, Zero Dark Thirty hit the box office in 2012. Turning out to be an amazing hit, the movie not only became very popular, but also served to reflect the Feminist views of its Producer/Director – Kathryn Bigelow, to a great extent. Zero Dark Thirty is a brilliantly directed fictionalized account about the search for Osama bin Laden, that started since the fateful attack of 9/11 on the World Trade Center in New York – an event that c hanged the lives of many. The movie revolves around the very same incident. Although the film is about three Central intelligence agency officers working together, the director Bigelow only shows one character very closely, who is Maya (Jessica Chastain), a female. Putting the female character in the lead role speaks of Bigelow’s determinacy to see women in a league apart and above that of men. In the film, Maya helps carry out cruel and violent interrogations of detainees – in a manner unlike that of a lady. She is a very strong and powerful character. According to Kathryn Bigelow’s own words, â€Å"the Film is obviously about a woman†. These words were spoken in a speech that has been hailed by critics as one of an overtly feminist view,

British Airways Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

British Airways - Research Paper Example In short, rather than merely changing the organization, the changes that occurred to British Airways between the years 1981 – 1983 can be referred to as a change in culture. As such, the preceding analysis will analyze the means by which the culture of British airways prior to this re-emergence was fundamentally different from the new culture that developed between the years 1981 – 1983 and has definitively succeeded in defining and differentiating British Airways as a premier global airline. In seeking to define the culture that existed prior to the turnaround which will be discussed, it is necessary to understand that low levels of customer service, bad experiences, a self-perpetuating image of low quality and poor service, bloated payrolls, and ineffective governmental regulation/management were partly to blame for many of the cultural breakdowns which ultimately led to the loss of profitability which was experienced during the 1970s. As stated by Lord King, British Airways was faced with the position of losing 250,000,000 pounds over two years; in effect, the airline was hemorrhaging money (Miller, 1995). Ultimately, part of the degeneracy of the previous culture can be blamed upon the government control and bureaucratic oversight that was exhibited since the conclusion of the Second World War. As the case study defines, to unique entities came to oversee and direct British Airways after the war; these were the BEA and the BOAC. These operated in such a way to create a de facto state run airline that was not focused upon profitability or long-term sustainability. Moreover, the split board of oversight made decision making difficult if not impossible; leading to a situation in which two distinct leadership operations controlled the development of the airline. For instance, the BEA was set up shortly after the close of the Second World War to develop the infrastructure of the European air service route. As such, it had little interest in operati ons control with regards to the development of profitability and sustainment for an airline carrier. Likewise, the BOAC, as the author of the case study indicates, was more interested in flying the British flag and it was in developing business and satisfying consumers. This of course ultimately led to a situation in which not only was money being perennially lost but more row was poor and the overall productivity level never exceeded 59% during the 2 decades since the conclusion of the war (Leahey & Cotter, 1990). Yes, nearly all of these cultural issues began to fade into obscurity nearly as soon as Lord King came to be appointed chairman of British Airways. Coming from a background of business entrepreneurship and business development, King approached situation from a no-nonsense point of view. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, King identified that a culture of development must necessarily be put into place in order for British Airways to experience any type of rebirth. As a function of this, King immediately froze wages, reduced staff by 20%, closed eight engineering bases, closed 16 routes that were deemed extraneous and ultimately a profitable, and stated that the worst was not yet behind the airline (Tushman & O’Reilly, 1996). At face value, each of these decisions may be