Jurassic park

Jurassic Park was published in 1990 (science fiction novel by Micheal Crichton) and was adapted into a blockbuster film in 1993 by director Steven Spielberg. The book has one sequel, The Lost World, in 1995, which was also adapted by Spielberg into a film in 1997.

The narrative begins by slowly tying together a series of incidents involving strange animal attacks in Costa Rica and on Isla Nublar, the main setting for the story. After paleontologist Alan Grant and his paleobotanist graduate student Ellie Sattler enter the sequence of queried experts they are abruptly whisked away by billionaire John Hammond for a weekend visit to a "zoological preserve" he has established on an island 120 miles west off the coast of Costa Rica.

Recent events have spooked Hammond's considerable investors and, to placate them, he means for Grant and Sattler to act as fresh consultants. They stand in counterbalance to a well-known mathematician and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm and a lawyer representing the investors, Donald Gennaro. Both are pessimistic, but Malcolm, having been consulted before the park's creation, is emphatic in his prediction that the park will collapse, as it is an unsustainably simple structure bluntly forced upon a complex system.

I was in primary school then and I had completely no idea what dinosaurs were until I watched this film. I enjoyed the entire film and I was convinced that dinosaurs were huge and horrible creatures that existed and still exist. Despite being fascinated by the movie, I had recurring nightmares that dinosaurs would come through my window and bite off one of my limbs. (That’s what happened in the movie.) Well, looking back on it, it does seem quite silly now.

I think the powerful effect theory applies to this movie. The mass media is extremely influential and I as the audience am passive. Has anyone in this world ever seen a dinosaur before? Maybe the fossil. But what about the colour, texture of skin and behaviour? Naturally, with the aid of high technologies, consumers are highly influenced and convinced that dinosaurs look and behave as potrayed in the film. Are you convinced?

Same Sex Marriages

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_marh.htm

I just ended my communications project discussion. During the discussion, we happened to come across the above website. How we got into that website is still a mystery. The article is about same sex marriage in Netherlands. Anyway, after that we had a minor argument if homosexuality is nature or nurture According to one of my group mates, from a religious point of view, homosexual/bisexual relationships are unacceptable. However, we should condemn only the act and not the person. He also argued that it is the process of nurturing that makes a person gay/lesbian. Media influence has also got to share part of the responsibility.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_gayanimal.html

http://www.lifeandlibertyministries.com/archives/000200.php

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521864461

In my opinion, homosexuality is nature. From the above articles, we can see that homosexuality not only occurs in humans, but there are also animals that are homosexual. The media can influence us humans, but does it have the same impact on the animals? How different can we be from the animals?

The next question we ponder on is why same sex marriages are legalized in the Netherlands and not in Singapore. Homosexuality is now becoming more accepted by many countries. However, there’re still countries that are unable to accept such practice. In Singapore, same sex marriage is not permitted although we are greatly influenced by the outside world. In my opinion, it is probably due our culture.

http://www.gmax.co.za/look/07/04-singapore.html

Despite of our culture, the above article shows that Singapore is slowly opening up to homosexuals. In the article, PM Goh(at that point in time) reveals that the Singapore government employs gays and even in sensitive jobs. I agree with the idea. We employ a person rather then his/her sexual orientation. Singapore has no natural resources except for its people (human resource). If we do not accept and continue to ostracize this group of people, then we are going to lose valuable manpower. Many of us do not realize there are actually lots of talents in this group and this is may not be beneficial to our country. Apart from the economic point of view,media publish that more countries are now opening to the gay/les community, could culture imperialism be another factor that results in the decision the PM Goh made?

Teenage Violence

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1556148/Teenage-violence-Life-at-the-sharp-end.html#continue

I was researching for my writing on the other module when I came across this article. It was about a teenager fatally stabbed in Beckenham. Click on the above link for story and details. Also mentioned in the article was the increasing number of teenagers charged for criminal offences in London. From several articles, I realized that many countries and not only London are facing the same problem.

So who and what are the culprits that make and shape our violent youths? Well, according to Alan Gordon, the vice-president of the Police Federation, one of the reasons is that the young people are fed a diet of increasingly violent films and video games.

I agree with him. Violence in the media is easily accessible to youths nowadays especially with the aid of technology such as the Internet. It can also occur in cartoons, NEWS, and even in family programs. Sometimes even on sporting channels. I still remember when I was younger and even until today, footballers sometimes still do engage in fist fights. Very often, we have let what we would never let in through out doors through TV screens.

I did a browse through the psychology websites; psychological research has showed three major effects of viewing violence on screen. Firstly, one will become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others. He/She will also be more fearful of the world around them. Lastly, he/she will more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways towards others.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hBkj-Bi6dzGMMrid_jOE2PHFsw4g
So how can we stop this? From the above link, we can see that the Brazilian government has imposed a ban on a popular game (counter strike). In Singapore, I feel, the government has played a part in counteracting the influence on media by practicing censorship and introducing the movie rating (eg. NC16, M18, R21). In my opinion, I think parents and guardians do play an important part too. At an early age, the media influences how the young think and act in various ways. As they grow, these media influence becomes even more powerful. The media influence on the young is not also desirable and parents and guardians need to counteract to this influence by monitoring what are exposed to their children.

Army Daze

http://www.freewebs.com/kayla_ixora69/armydaze.html

Army Daze is a Singapore film and a comedy based on NS (National Service) experience by group of enlistees in the SAF. National Service is an integral part of every Singaporean male’s journey towards manhood. Through ARMY DAZE, we salute Singaporean boys as they don uniforms and begin their march into maturity whilst celebrating how the sons of diverse circumstances come under one camp and become brothers; where the boundaries of race, age and social status become blurred into friendship, laughter and love. Watch how this five men bond, tortured by instructors who spout meaningless classical-Hokkien proverbs and how these five friends learn how to camouflage themselves, shoot M16s, and throw grenades with, sometimes disastrous, sometimes moving, but always hilarious results.

I still vividly remember when I had watched this movie. I was still in primary school!! And I thought it was quite a nice comedy that illustrated the Characteristics of a group (interaction, interdependence, shared behavioural standards and collective identity) and the maintenance roles. It also showed very briefly on Bruce Tuckman’s Five-stage model (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning)

Having gone through national service in the defence force, I feel that army is unlike what all the army movies I have watched. All the movies portrayed army as a collectivist society. I agree that teamwork and interpersonal sensitivity is the key to all missions. However, at the end of the day, who doesn’t look forward to social recognition, promotions and pay increments? I feel that I can hardly rely on anyone in the army with exception of a couple of my close friends. Everyone creates the perception of being kind and helpful on the outside but the sad truth is he was concerned only for his own welfare. Well guys, what are your views and experiences?