Disney Corporation Through The Eyes Of A Marxist

Disney Corporation Through The Eyes Of A Marxist The Walt Disney Corporation has just about dipped its fingers within everything consumer based. To give you a picture of just how much Disney is involved in our society, here is exactly where Disney has its foot in the door. From Walt Disney studios (who owns Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films); to Walt Disney studios Home Entertainment; to Disney Theatrical Productions (who is one of the largest producers of Broadway musicals, including Disney Live Family Entertainment and Disney on Ice); to the music within their motion pictures (including Walt Disney Records, Hollywood Records, and Lyric Street Records) (8). That is all only within the Walt Disney Studios department of the Disney Corporation. There is also the Disney theme parks and resorts. Since its first park, Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California opened, the Parks and Resorts department has grown to encompass the world-class Disney Cruise Line, eight Disney Vacation Club resorts (with more than 100,000 members), Adventures by Disney (immersive Disney-guided travel around the world), and five resort locations (encompassing 11 theme parks, including some owned or co-owned by independent entities) on three continents (8). There are also the Disney consumer products, which extend the Disney brand to merchandise ranging from apparel, toys, home dà ©cor and books and magazines to interactive games, foods and beverages, stationery, electronics and fine art. [Disneys publishing company,] Disney Publishing Worldwide is the worlds largest publisher of childrens books and magazines, reaching more than 100 million readers each month in 75 countries. Disneys imprints include Disney Libri, Hyperion Books for Children, Jump at the Sun, Disney Press, and Disney Editions (8). Disneys official shopping source is disneystore.com. The Disney stores retail chain is owned and operated by an unaffiliated third party in Japan under a license agreement with The Walt Disney Company. [However,] Disney owns and operates the Disney Store chain in North America and Europe. (8) There are also the various media networks that Disney owns or is majorly affiliated with. From broadcast, to cable, to radio, to publishing and internet business, Disney is tuned into everything. Their keys networks are Disney-ABC Television Group, ESPN Inc., Walt Disney Internet Group, and ABC owned television stations. (8) The Disney-ABC Television Group is home to the ABC Television Network, the Disney Channel, ABC Family, SOAPnet, AE Television, and the Radio Disney Network. When it comes to ESPN, however, with its six domestic cable television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, and ESPNU) along with ESPN International; ESPN Radio; ESPN.com; ESPN The Magazine; ESPN Enterprises; ESPN Zones (their restaurants); ESPN360.com; ESPN Mobile Wireless; ESPN On Demand; ESPN Interactive; and ESPN PPV; the Disney-ABC Television Group only owns 80%, whereas a separate company (The Hearst Corporation) owns the other 20%.(8) So, who is at the top of this money making consumer machine? His name is Robert A. Iger, and in 2008 alone he grossed $51,072,580 (3). A merchandise hostess intern makes about $6.50 per hour. A research specialist, PhotoPass photographer, and guest relations hostess makes an average of $10.00 per hour. Managers make about $29.00 per hour, whereas a ride show technician makes about $23.00 per hour. (4) Why is it that there is such a gap in pay between employees and employers? What would Karl Marx think? With all of the profit the Disney accrues annually from its vast consumerism, the distribution of its profit amongst its employees is greatly skewed. Marx would say that Disney is exploiting its employees and the Disney has far too much excess profit. He would argue that Disney pays its customer service employees close to minimum wage when they are more than capable to be paying their workers a lot more. Disney also pays its managers and supervisors a little more than who they oversee so they will still stick up for their bosses and keep the repression of the workers stable. Also, those who earn the minimum paid work may also be keeping themselves down by working these jobs because they think they too may climb the ladder to success (class reading The Origin and Context of Karl Marxs Thought). If we were to classify people into Marxs two social classes, he would describe the top Disney executives as the bourgeoisie, and the laborers (their maintenance team, retail clerks, park ride o perators, restaurant employees, etc.) are the proletariat. Alienation can be observed on both sides of the spectrum, whether were looking at the top executives or the laborers of Disney. In this quote from The Holy Family, Marx says that the bourgeoisie and proletarians are equally alienated, but experience their alienation in different ways. The propertied class and the class of the proletariat present the same human self-estrangement. But the former class feels at ease and strengthened in this self-estrangement, it recognizes estrangement as its own power and has in it the semblance of a human existence. The class of the proletariat feels annihilated in estrangement; it sees in it its own powerlessness and the reality of an inhuman existence (Engels Marx, 1845). This may be seen that as the Disney executives are alienated, they feel strengthened by this with their own power, whereas the Disney laborers feel their alienation as a form of powerlessness. Marx may also believe that Disney laborers are alienated for many other reasons. He would say that they are operating things that they, in turn, would never own themselves. For example, employees who work at the theme parks will never experience what it is like to be at the park for leisure, unless its a free ticket every once in a while from corporate. Even then, the ticket has restrictions for certain days and seasons. Also, he would say that the Disney laborers inevitably lose control of their lives and selves, in not having any control of their work. They would never become autonomous, self-realized human beings except in how the bourgeois want the workers to be realized (class reading The Origin and Context of Karl Marxs Thought). Within the corporations hiring practices, Disney is not very open to negotiations. They just pitch a package to you, which the prospective cast member can either accept or decline. Marx would probably use this modern day analogy, if he could, that Disney is a 750 pound gorilla in the marketplace and that they know it and arent afraid to use it. For its customers Disney is a place of Imagination, magic, fantasy, romance, adventure, inspiration, family, and so much more. These are the feelings we encounter when we experience anything Disney as a society. Disneys goal for its consumers is to be seen as the happiest place (and products) on earth. The Walt Disney Corporation has been a powerful force in creating childhood culture around the world. Disneys massive success is based on images of innocence, magic, and fun. Its animated films in particular are praised as wholesome family entertainment endorsed by teachers and parents, and immensely popular with children (Feng Sun, 2001). Childrens imaginations have been the product of Disney for many generations now. Its become the ultimate form of fantasy, one that never needs to be questioned. Marx would say that we, as a society, are fools. He would argue that Disneys bourgeois philosophy has clouded our minds to see our world as they want us to see it. The messages of innocence are really messages of passivity, domesticity, and frailty for woman; while messages of adventure and fun really have underlying tones of power, violence, and a false notions of hope in the eyes of our little boys. In a sense, the Disney Corporation perpetuates the ideas of achieving the traditional American dream, while these executives know full well that the society they wish to see has been lost to time for quite a while now. Marx would describe the societal image of Disney as a secular opiate for the people (7). He would argue by saying that this state and this society produce[d Disney], which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world (7). This meaning that the aspects to which Disney is fantasy ridden is opposite from what our society is. Disney has become an escape for us. He would go on by explaining that Disney is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality (7). Meaning that Disney is our imagination come to life. Disney is everything we wish could be within our world in regards to fantasy, and its everything they wish our value system would be. So who else could possibly shed some light on this subject but Max Weber? He would argue with Marx, saying that his thoughts of social stratification do not apply to Disney because there are many other jobs that are affiliated with Disney, but not of Disney, like independent contractors that are virtually ambiguous to the Disney executives. Weber would most likely believe that what Disney is doing is efficient and fair because what theyve been doing is the most effective for them. In the social world, Disney is all about family. They have been trying to uphold and instill the values of the past within virtually all of their consumer products. For Weber, this has a hint of value rationality. He would think that Disney executives utilize this bottom line thinking. They have weighed the costs and benefits of their choices and have gone with whatever brings them the most profit (Phillips). However, Weber would explain that the Disney executives would not apply to his traditional rationality approach because aspects of their corporation are continually changing. From the switch to digital animation from analog animation; updating their amusement park rides to fit todays technology; and even answering to the calls of society to finally create an animated film featuring an African American princess. Theyre not sticking with what theyve always known. Disney is constantly innovating to keep up with technology. Socially, however, Weber would agree with Marx by saying that Disney is sticking to its traditional roots by trying to uphold what they view as good moral values (class reading on Weber). Weber would also argue with Marx about how our society works. Marx says that we are all under control by the bourgeoisie: seeing our society in the ways they want us to view it. Disney wants us to see our society through the messages they imbed in their products. Weber would say that our society should be value free and to just let the chips fall where they may (Phillips). Disney is just doing what it wants to do: it is up to us to determine what way we perceive their messages. Weber would also say that Disney is a business bureaucracy: its goal is to maximize its profit. He would describe Disney within his ideas of social stratification: a combination of class, status, and party (class reading on Weber). These three are independent, yet linked (Phillips). Disney has class in the form of having an exorbitant amount of money; status in the way that virtually everyone knows of Disney, and its usually a good notion; and party in the way the Disney has tremendous power within the market and media (class reading on Weber). Within certain aspects of Disney, Marx and Weber share similar ideologies and in others they are on completely separate pages. Both theorists serve valid, rational points. There is no bias within this research: all ideas of Disney are objective and may not be what the theorists may view. All inquiries are based on their prior ideologies.

Purpose :: essays papers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and understand the different ways technology can enhance physical education. The use of technology has a great influence on the strategies and teaching methods used by physical educators. Method/Results One way is to use electronic pedometers. Electronic pedometers allow students to determine the distance they walked ran or used other locomotor skills to move. Pedometers are widely used in fitness evaluations. With the use of these digital electronic pedometers, students can understand how far they have moved using the various locomotor skills done in physical education. It also allows students to determine the various distances for each activity they have completed in Physical education class. That technology can enhance physical education is with the use of hearth rate monitors. Students will learn how to wear, use and gather data form the heart rate monitor. With the use of heart rate monitors students will become knowledgeable of how and where they should be with their level of fitness against the fitness level of other students. â€Å"Heart monitors provide a way to measure improvements in fitness levels, below maximum effort, and recovery. â€Å"Online technology for physical education keeps students and teachers up to date with the latest developments in the use of technology in physical education†. (Siedentop, 2004, p.274) The internet also gives students different ways to interact in physical education; they can look up spots, games, and fun things to do when they are not in the classroom. It is important that students continue to participate in physical activity even when they are not in school. The computer revolutionized the way we live, work, and go to school. The use of a computer is very important to the physical education teacher. The greatest value of computers may reside in the ability to provide improved support to classroom instruction, and the variety of software programs that can be used in conjunction with physical education. Some programs are available to track grading, student fitness performance. Technology is such a big resource to physical education, and the reason that we need to have these forms of technology in physical education, is due to the fact that the nation is staggering through life with the worst health problems that it has ever faced. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in America. Lack of exercise is considered to be one of the major risk factors for heart disease. Conclusion Adopting a physical lifestyle early in life increases the likelihood that young children will learn to move and become more physically fit.

Appearance and Reality in the School for Scandal Essay

The School for Scandal is a dramatic play written by Richard Sheridan. In this essay i’m going to discussed Appearance and Reality . There’s a characters who represent the false appearances and the really appearances. The School for Scandal’s member are the trust appearance and they distant reality. There’s a dramatic element like the disguise of Sir Oliver in his trial test on Joseph and Charles. We have the two brothers, Joseph Surface and Charles Surface. The dramatic tool used to know the good brother. And also the dramatic irony in the scene screen (the culmination of the play). The School for Scandal is formed by hypocritical characters. On the one hand Lady Sneerwell (young widow. She is attracted to Charles Surface and plots with Joseph Surface to break up Charles and Maria) , Lady Teazle (Young wife of Sir Peter. She and her husband have their little spats), Joseph Surface (Who pretends to be an honorable gentlemen but It is the bad brother. ) and Mrs Candour (A professedly kindhearted woman who speaks well of everyone in such a way as to ruin their reputations in the process. ). They are the appearance. On another hand we have the real characters. Sir Peter (Husband of Lady Teazle)and Sir Oliver Surface (Charles and Joseph’s uncle) and Charles Surface (really the good brother). Mrs. Candour and her love of gossip make her one of the most scandalous pupils of all; her true sentiment is seen only through the false accounts of others which she delivers to any listening ear, often using metaphors of money. If a scandal were to take place, she could risk losing it all, whether reputation or wealth. This can be seen as foreshadowing the fate of Joseph; he took such care to secure his financial success, and one scandal ruined it all. The object of Joseph’s financial success, Maria, who possesses neither a â€Å"screen† nor an interest in spreading lies, is greatly affected by the change in Lady Teazle, as it consequently means that her unwilling role in the scheme is over. Charles Surface has a reputation as a scoundrel. But beneath his flawed veneer, he is a decent fellow. Joseph Surface has a reputation as an upright man. But beneath his flawless veneer, he is a villain. Joseph Surface is appearance and Charles Surface is reality. Joseph is the bad brother and Charles is the good brother. Joseph lies because he wants the fortune of Maria and he wants to marry Maria for economical interest. Sir Peter and Sir Oliver want to discover the truth about the two brother, Charles and Joseph. (the reality). There’s a dramatic tool here. The disguise. Sir Oliver disguises and he makes a trial to Charles (for he known as Mr. Premium) and Joseph (for he known as Mr. Stanley) to know who is the good brother. In the scene screen, Joseph seizes upon Lady Teazle’s discontent with Sir Peter to mount a subtle argument that seeks to rationalize and justify adultery. Once the deception of hiding Lady Teazle behind the screen is in place, Sheridan fully exploits its potential for ironic double meanings and double dealings. The School For Scandal draws a humorous picture of an unfortunate reality; that many people will do anything to further elevate their characters, even if it means hurting friends and family. The characters of the play are willing to construct elaborate â€Å"screens† of sentiment in order to deceive those around them and increase their own wealth.

Digitizing Accounts Payable Documents Essay

When accounting files are sent to the archives at the end of the year, the portion taken up by the accounts payable documents usually exceeds that of all other documents combined. For some companies with high accounts payable files, it is a major expense to remove all the paperwork, box it up and identify it, and ship it off to a warehouse, from which it must be recalled occasionally for various tasks. Digitizing the documents is a means of avoiding the expense of archiving. Digitizing a document means that it is laid on a scanner that converts the document image into an electronic image stored in the computer database, which can be recalled by anyone with access to the database. To digitize a document, there should be a high-speed scanner available that is linked to a computer network. Documents are fed into the scanner and assigned one or more index numbers or codes, so that it will be easy to recall the correct documents from storage. For example, a document can be indexed by its purchase order number, date, or supplier number. A combination of several indexes is the best approach, since one can still recall a document, even if one does not remember the first index number. The document images are usually stored on an optical disk since it can hold enormous amounts of storage space (and digitized documents take up a lot of computer storage space). There will probably be many optical disks to provide a sufficient amount of storage, so the disks are usually stored in a â€Å"jukebox,† which gives the user access to all the data on all the storage disks. Users can then call up the images from any terminal that is linked to the network where the information is stored. There are additional advantages to using digitization of documents. Besides the reduced archiving costs, it is also possible to nearly eliminate the time needed to access documents. With a traditional archiving system, older documents must be requested from a warehousing facility that may require several days to deliver. Even in-house documents may require several minutes to an hour to locate. If customer service is important, and that service is linked to providing rapid access to data, then digitizing documents allows a company to instantly satisfy customer requests for documents by searching the computer fi les for them, no matter how old the documents may be. Another advantage to using digitization is that it avoids having to take out and replace files. Whenever someone removes a file and later returns it, there is a risk that the fi le will be misplaced. Every time a file is misplaced, it will be time-consuming to find it again. By accessing documents through a computer network, there is no need to take out or replace the document—it is always sitting in the same storage location in the computer, and cannot be lost. Yet another advantage is that multiple users can access the same file at the same time. Since it is a digital image, there is no reason why the computer cannot potentially distribute a copy of the digital document to everyone who asks for it, even if they all do so at the same time. Reference link: http://classof1. com/homework-help/accounting-homework-help

Free Essays on Aviation Finance

In the past few years, we have been able to see the near demise of some of the world’s largest airlines. However at the other end of the table sit such sound companies as Jet Blue and Southwest. The mere existence of such companies proves that airline carriers can be viable business entities. Troubled airlines such as United Airlines and American Airlines can see brighter skies in the future, by minimizing costs and maximizing revenues. Nevertheless, lowering costs and raising revenues cannot effectively fix the struggling airlines problems if the airlines are not able to operate in a free market environment. The airline industry is a service industry. The airlines are in the business of transporting people and their belongings as well as products. The major characteristics of the industry include the following: capital intensive, high cash flows, labor intensive, highly unionized, and seasonal. These characteristics are the cause of the industry’s then profit margin. In fact â€Å"airlines, through the years, have earned a net profit between one and two percent, compared to an average of above five percent for U.S. industry’s as a whole†. Due to the industry’s thin profit margin, it comes as no surprise that the history of airlines has been a rocky one. The airline industry has been for the most part profitable for the last sixty years. However a thin profit margin has been a major problem throughout the industry’s history. The majority of the airlines are unable to profitably deal with extreme economic events such as depression, recession, war, and of course the September 11 attacks. Furthermore they are unable to profitably deal with changes in the industry such as, the government deregulation that occurred in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The results of such events are larger than average declines in profit compared to higher profit margin industries. This fact can be seen in the annual reports publish... Free Essays on Aviation Finance Free Essays on Aviation Finance In the past few years, we have been able to see the near demise of some of the world’s largest airlines. However at the other end of the table sit such sound companies as Jet Blue and Southwest. The mere existence of such companies proves that airline carriers can be viable business entities. Troubled airlines such as United Airlines and American Airlines can see brighter skies in the future, by minimizing costs and maximizing revenues. Nevertheless, lowering costs and raising revenues cannot effectively fix the struggling airlines problems if the airlines are not able to operate in a free market environment. The airline industry is a service industry. The airlines are in the business of transporting people and their belongings as well as products. The major characteristics of the industry include the following: capital intensive, high cash flows, labor intensive, highly unionized, and seasonal. These characteristics are the cause of the industry’s then profit margin. In fact â€Å"airlines, through the years, have earned a net profit between one and two percent, compared to an average of above five percent for U.S. industry’s as a whole†. Due to the industry’s thin profit margin, it comes as no surprise that the history of airlines has been a rocky one. The airline industry has been for the most part profitable for the last sixty years. However a thin profit margin has been a major problem throughout the industry’s history. The majority of the airlines are unable to profitably deal with extreme economic events such as depression, recession, war, and of course the September 11 attacks. Furthermore they are unable to profitably deal with changes in the industry such as, the government deregulation that occurred in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The results of such events are larger than average declines in profit compared to higher profit margin industries. This fact can be seen in the annual reports publish...

BSN & MSN Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

BSN & MSN Program - Essay Example Moreover, the curricula designed for the bachelors degree programs in nursing are quite different from the curricula designed for the masters programs in the same field even though they may be offered in the same institution. This paper analyzes and compares the nursing degree curricula that are used for undergraduate programs as well as for the masters programs in nursing within a university college. Moreover, the paper will evaluate the curricula programs and education outcomes postulated by these designed curricula with an aim of establishing how the undergraduate programs and the postgraduate masters programs in nursing profession build on each other. II. Difference in Outcome and Content The BSN as well as MSN programs have competitive provisions that are all geared towards the production of holistic and competitive nursing professionals. There is little notable difference though between the curricula content and the outcome as shown by the nursing regulatory and management bodi es. The visionary track of a nursing education follows through the levels of a generalist, an advanced generalist that is later followed by specialization programs. The generalist nursing education is what is offered at an undergraduate level while the advanced generalists refers to what is offered at the masters level programs. ... include ‘scholarship for evidence based practice’ ‘liberal education for baccalaureate generalist nursing practice’, and‘basic organizational and systems leadership for quality care and patient safety’ (Anon, 2008). ‘Information management and application of patient care technology, healthcare policy, finance, and regulatory environments’, ‘inter professional communication and collaboration for improving patient health outcomes’ and ‘clinical prevention and population health’(Anon, 2008). Moreover, ‘professionalism and professional values and baccalaureate generalist nursing practice’ (Anon, 2008) form part of these essentials. The major notable difference between these essentials for the undergraduate programs in the contents and the outcomes expected from the courses offered. On the other hand, the masters programs in nursing education equally run on stipulated essentials, which define the el ements of the adopted curricula not based of such factors as intended practice settings, focus or major. Masters programs differ in regard to the undergraduates in that they employ programs which are different in content in order to have variations in outcomes. The outcomes for masters programs are professionals who besides practicing can address available gaps in the field. The masters essentials are ‘background for practice from sciences and humanities’, ‘organizational and systems leadership’, ‘quality improvement and safety’ and ‘translating and integrating scholarship into practice’(Anon, 2011). Moreover, ‘informatics and healthcare technologies’, ‘health policy and advocacy’, ‘inter professional collaboration for improving patient and population health outcomes’, ‘clinical prevention and population health for

Human Cognition and the Brain Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Cognition and the Brain - Case Study Example Phineas P. Gage was a railroad employee who went through a serious brain damage when metal pierced through his head, destroying the frontal lobe areas of his mind. This brain damage was expected to impose severe impacts on his feelings, attitudes and behaviors, transforming him in a wild and unstable level, so intense so that his friends even mentioned that he was not even the person he once was prior to the accident. At the time that this happened to the medical world, Gage's situation resulted to developments in the medical belief of the operations and portions of the human brain concerning the human feelings and behaviors. Gage's situation is mentioned as among the initial proof recommending that serious injury to the frontal lobes of the human brain could change elements of attitudes and behavior and will have an impact on the communicative abilities. Prior to this case the frontal lobes were commonly perceived to possess very minimal responsibilities in attitudes (Fleischman, 2004). With respect to current medical research, a serious injury to the brain especially in the frontal area by an object that has dimensions of more than an inch in diameter and has a weight of more than ten pounds, would definitely make living impossible for the person, since this would mean a lethal destruction to essential brain parts, which include the superior sagittal sinus. Nonetheless, Gage was able to make it through the serious accident and added miseries because of an infection developed. Gage was eventually discovered to have exhibited radical shifts in attitudes and perceptions. Gage's situation is mentioned as among the initial proof recommending that serious injury to the frontal lobes of the brain could change elements of human behavior and have an adverse impact in the proper communication between people. Prior to this situation the frontal lobes were generally perceived to have very minimal responsibilities in human attitudes. Medical expert Antonio Damasio has studied thoroughly on the case of Gage, and including other people he has devoted his time which, in his own opinion, had the same brain damages. In an idea he pertained to as the somatic marker theory, Damasio recommends a connection between the frontal lobes, human behavior and logical choices of a person. He views Gage's situation as having an essential responsibility in the field of nerve science, stating that Gage's case was the essential foundation of the field of the scientific foundations of human attitudes. While researches by Hanna Damasio and his assistants recommended a serious damage to the frontal lobes, a recent research by Ratiu and his assistants formulated on a scan of Gage's head implies that the degree of Gage's brain damage must have been not so serious at all as what is known today (Bradberry, 2005). It is normally recommended that Gage's situation hastened the improvement of a medical procedure called frontal lobotomy, currently a rare medical operation that results to an erratic behavioral response and attitude developments. Nevertheless, past research investigation does not look very positive to validate this hypothesis. It looks like that perception of Gage's brain d