Black Swan English Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Black Swan English - Research Paper Example It is not only Natalie Portman’s acting that grabs the audience. The film is a virtual acting tour de force with all of the actors turning in spectacular performances. Barbara Hershey as Nina’s mothering has managed her role with aplomb. She does not fall into the temptation of taking over the stereotype of the pushy mother with her own issues to resolve, who sees in her own daughter’s success, the success she could not have. There is enough rawness and originality in the character of Barbara Hershey to make us believe that we are seeing that character for the first time. Mila Kunis is darkly and richly sensual. A scene between Nina and Lily is suggestive of lesbian sex, but it is well-crafted and artistically-executed. Winona Ryder’s role was perhaps a satire of her own career – the has-been ingenue, the doted upon pet that is now no more. If there is one thing that is disappointing about the acting in the movie, it is in the character of Vincent C assel, who plays the director with lascivious designs on Nina. In contrast to the textured characters played by the female characters, Cassel’s Thomas Leroy is two-dimensional. The cinematography was dark and gritty, with enough claustrophobia to mimic Nina’s transformation. As she finds herself being smothered further and further by the â€Å"Black Swan† inside of her, we experience the same sense of terrifying asphyxiation through clever cinematography and deft use of lighting. The musical score also helped to convey the sense of darkness and increasing despair, although in parts, the use of the Swan Lake music was a bit too heavy-handed in parts: one feels as if he or she is being manipulated to feel something, to react in a particular way. The editing of the movie is flawless, and one can see the expertise of the director as he recreates through visuals the complex relationship webs between the characters. There is Nina and Lily, dancing rivals locked in a c omplicated friendship with sexual undertones. There the relationship between Nina and her mother, a relationship where both are prisoners: the mother, by regrets and unattained dreams of the past, and the daughter, by the relentless ambition of her mother that she has come to appropriate as her own. And then of course, there is Nina and Thomas, mentor and mentee, young ingenue and manipulative professor, Pygmalion and his Galatea, dance partners, lovers. The movie was also replete with cinematic metaphors: the rash that begins small and then grows and festers on Nina’s body until it becomes the beginnings of black feathers as a metaphor for transformation, the pink-cupcake-and-doily theme in Nina’s room as a metaphor for the her child-like innocence and fragility, but some people might say, forced infantilization by her mother who demanded that she remain breathlessly feminine. And then of course, there is dance as a metaphor, the graceful (and sometimes graceless) neg otiations and dynamics of human beings within relationships, tiptoeing and smoothly sailing sometimes, but at other times, spinning with frenetic movement and a raw, primal violence that consumes the partner and ultimately the dancer herself. It

Leadership of Steve Jobs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Leadership of Steve Jobs - Essay Example The researcher states that over the years it has been found that the business world has faced significant turbulent events. The stock market went through topsy-turvy situations. The cold war ended but the new issue of global terrorism has raised its ugly heads. Energy prices have increased. Economic power has been shifted towards the emerging economies like India and China. Due to the increase in the raw material prices profit margins have lowered. With his visionary leadership style, Steve Jobs was able to predict the hyper-competition and turbulent nature of the industry. The situational leadership style of Steve Jobs made the Apple one of the most successful business organizations in the world. His leadership style has provided Apple the similar outlook of a Canopy tree in the Rainforest. Under his leadership, the organization was able to dodge different difficulties and absorbed considerable sunlight of success and recognition. Innovative and entrepreneurial mindset are the impor tant characteristics of the leaders. Innovations like iPhone, iPod, and iPad have made the business leadership style of Steve Jobs immortal in the minds of global followers. All these products are the indicators of his supreme innovative capacity. Leadership skills of Steve Jobs can be analyzed with the help of L.E.A.D.S. model which represent Learning, Executing, Analyzing, Designing and Strategizing. Steve Jobs made Apple a learning-based innovative organization. He always encouraged its followers to innovate and learn continuously. Under his leadership style learning rate of the organization was always higher than the rate of change in the industry. Due to his leadership of continuous learning, the organization has succeeded to change itself according to the needs of the hour. Very often his leadership style forced the whole industry to change. His leadership style gave significant focus towards strategic learning.