Hollywoods Influence in the Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hollywoods Influence in the Middle East - Essay Example Hollywood films in particular continue to remain a popular form of entertainment worldwide. Hollywood relies on best standards of production and animation techniques while dishing out the films. The fan-following of Hollywood stars spans far beyond the American boundaries. Middle East is certainly no exception. Though the region of Middle East has long been in the mainline media for all the wrong reasons, and at times, the acrimony towards West has found its place in an opposition towards Hollywood movies as well. But the fact that the craze for Hollywood never diminished, indicates towards the quality and Hollywood movies. At times film critics also accuse some of the latest films of depicting excessive violence in the films, thus affecting the tender minds of the film watchers. Some part of the Middle East in particular has had the misfortune of remaining under violence for the last couple of decades. Therefore, depiction of such violence on the screen invites the accusation of glorifying the violent methods. But it is equally true that filmmakers too want to 'sell' thei r products, and they'll try all legal means to market their movies in the best possible manner. Being contemporary in their depiction of the society is one such tried and tested method. Hollywood filmmakers are known to be obsessive researchers as well. They study a set of circumstances, situations and analyze the situation to arrive at some conclusion. At times this kind of inquisitive research leads to interesting findings as well. For example, Hollywood film director James Cameron stumbled upon the idea of making a film on a tomb found near Jerusalem in 1980 uncovered by Israeli construction workers. During the research, James Cameron came to the conclusion1 that the tomb actually belonged to Jesus and his family. This has generated a healthy debate amongst the historians and archeologists, and the final word is yet to come. Leon Trotsky (1973), a key figure in the famous Bolshevik revolution in Russia once said that cinema is a weapon, which cries out to be used (pp 32). This observation underlines the importance that films in general and Hollywood in the society. Though the Middle Eastern culture and society has not traditionally been as open as some of the Western nations, but the influence of western culture brought in by the films is quite perceptible. Be it the use of modern equipment, fancy cars, rugged bikes or the relationship amongst young people, the western influence is quite clear. Hollywood movies have certainly helped in shaping the attitude of the masses in general towards such things. Today we are living in an era of consumerism and globalization. Companies and organizations try their best to influence the buying behavior of the consumers. Globalization has resulted in bringing the world community closer to each other. This has resulted in some sort of uniformity in the marketing communi cation efforts as well. One of the major areas in marketing is consumer behavior. Middle East has traditionally been known as a potential market with most of the oil rich countries having good amount of money to spend on essential consumer items and other luxuries. Teams of marketing people from Western nations try out all avenues to reach the potential customer. Hollywood movies are one such very potent element in this marketing strategy. When the screen displays all the features of a product, the movie watchers tend to think about it, and as soon as they find it in the

Federal Estate Tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Federal Estate Tax - Essay Example Through the history of mankind, there have been several social issues which fail to attain the justified attention in sociological research, despite the fact that nobody gravely questions their implication for society, and the inheritance of private wealth from one generation to the following forms one such crucial sociological issue in the modern time. An awareness of the fact that about 550 billion dollars, which is more than 4% of the American GNP, are transferred per annum in the United States also suggests why the bequest of wealth and the Federal Estate Tax forms some central topics of sociological scholarship. "Estate taxation, one of the crucial areas of conflict in the regulation of the transfer of property, has become a topic of substantial political debate in the United States in recent years, and this has also prompted scholarly interest in the issue... One of the more interesting questions about the estate tax is why it is such a controversial tax..." (Beckert, 522) In f act, a sociological analysis of the Federal Estate Tax provides the most effective conclusion on why the arguments against the death tax have a superior point against those in favor of it in the essential controversial debate of the day, and there are important research evidences suggesting that the death tax has several limitations from the sociological point of view. Commendable researches on the topic of the Federal Estate Tax have concluded on the various arguments for and against the law which ultimately point out that it creates several issues to the taxpayers and that the limitations of the law concerning the economy and the environment far surpass the latent advantages of the law. The strong protest against the death tax in the current circumstances has been the result of several economic, sociological, and political considerations which prove significant to the entire system of the society. The economic perspective on the question argues that the Federal Estate Tax holds back the accumulation of capital and the growth of the economy. Important economic assessments on the topic conclude that the estate tax proves to be most detrimental to the economic growth of the federation. The taxes on the transference of property reduce the capital value of the property and diminish the finds intended for the preservation of labor. Taxes such as the Fe deral Estate Tax are unthrifty taxes which may enhance the revenue of the government, but rarely contribute to the good of the people affected, and they prevent the distribution of the national capital in the way most beneficial to the community. "For the general prosperity there cannot be too much facility given to the conveyance and exchange of all kinds of property, as it is by such means that capital of every species is likely to find its way into the hands of those who will best employ it in increasing the productions of the country." (Ricardo, 108) Therefore, the economic arguments against the Federal Estate Tax substantiate the sociological arguments against the same. The fact that there have been significant moves in the Congress to permanently repeal the federal estate tax also point to the limitations of the tax. Though there are ongoing debates on the repeal of the death tax, it is often assessed at a higher rate on the accumulated savings of deceased persons