Comparing Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now :: Movie Film comparison compare contrast

Comparing Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now   Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad and "Apocalypse Now" a movie directed by Francis Coppola are two works that parallel one another but at the same time reflect their own era in time and their creator's own personal feelings and prejudices. "Apocalypse Now" was released in 1979 after two years in the making, as Coppola's modern interpretation to Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness (Harris). Conrad's book is an excellent example of the advances writers and philosophers made in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This advance deals with civilized humanity's ability to be prepared for and know the unknown. (Johnson) Comparatively, Copolla's movie does the same in the late 1970's. "Apocalypse Now" dares to breach the edges of soldier sanity in a stressful and protested Vietnam War. One of the many similarities between Heart of Darkness and "Apocalypse Now" is race. Joseph Conrad and Francis Coppola both use white men as the characters that have dominance (Bradley). The white men not only dominate their respective crews, but also the peoples native to the country the white men are visiting. The character Conrad uses, Marlow, and Coppola uses his character, Willard, both look at the natives as though white men are the civilized culture and the native people are the savage culture (Franklin). Both works also reflect the theory that "civilized" white men that go into an uncivilized land become savage and do not return to white civilization. An example of this that is in the book is MarlowÕs appointment with the doctor. The doctor measures Marlow's skull to compare its size at the present time to the size of his skull upon his return from the Congo. The thought is that a civilized manÕs skull is a different size than a savage's skull. When Marlow asks the do ctor how what the results of this test have been in the past, the doctor comments that there are none because no civilized person has ever returned from the Congo. An example of this in the movie is when Willard faces his own personality of whether or not to complete his soldierly mission of killing Kurtz or to abort it. If he completes the mission he is still civil, if he does not, the Vietnam jungle has conquered him. The first soldier that is sent to kill Kurtz did not kill Kurtz, but in fact became one of his followers.

Metabical Case Essay

Metabical is revolutionary product and forecasted to be the first FDA approved prescriptive drug for overweight individuals with weight-loss goals. The previous prescriptive drugs have a negative side effects that out weighed its positives. Metabical, on the other hand, did not display as many negative effects in its trail runs and thus was being strongly endorsed by the medical community. The current weight-loss drugs can be classified as prescriptive drugs or over the counter remedies. OTC drugs were not as a popular among overweight individuals due to lack of regulation and safety concerns. OTC drugs lost out to diet plans, exercise plans and meal replacement/ weight management products, as they were safer options. The only drug that was approved by the FDA for over-weight individuals was Alli. Alli used to block the body’s absorption of fat, leading to weight loss. However, it had a lot of side effects, which could cause dangerous medical situations. Metabical, on the other hand, was a dual layer, controlled release formulation. It acted as an appetite suppressant and also had a fat blocker and calorie absorption agent. The over-all product was far superior in achieving weight-loss, over its competitors, for over weight indiciduals but not for obese and severely obsess individuals. Therefore, Merabical was aunique product, which was focuses towards a particular segment of the market, the over weight segment. It was the first of its kind and had that advantage. There were other products, but they were not as popular in the market segment Metabical was targeting. It was pictured as a low-risk, high returns drug and had built good support in the medical community, who were needed to prescribe this drug. 2. What are the pros & cons of the forecasting methods presented by Printup? If you had to estimate demand for this product, how would you go about it? What would your demand (unit) forecast look like for the first 5 years? Answer: In her first approach forecasted demand by looking at the number of overweight individuals in the United States and narrowing down that population to those who were actively trying to lose weight. She felt those potential users should be narrowed to the 15% of those who were comfortable  with weight-loss drugs. The second approach specifically addressed consumer interest in a prescription weight-loss drug for the overweight and 12% were ready to go to their health care provider to request a prescription. The third approach was the target market. Even though Metabical would be attractive to all overweight individuals, Printup established a primary target for the purpose of developing a communications strategy. The ideal Metabical consumer was found to be overweight females, age 35 to 65, who were college-educated. All those three methods seem well-structured and provide the reasonable ways to project the demand for Metabical. However, the problem was method one and three were based on assumptions. Before making any recommendations, she must explore and analyse the assumptions to see if it’s true. She must also guarantee that the three models must be achievable before proceeding in with the new product. Focus not only on the ideal target market, statistics says more males would be interested in weight loss products, therefore it would be better if Printup could expand the target market. I would probably recommend to go for the third forecast as dataonly focused on our targeted market. In five year there would be about 50% of targeted population captured in this market. 3. What considerations should be taken into account when making decisions about the package count? What package size would you recommend? Answer:   Printup said that the standards for prescription drug dosing rang from one week supply to a three month supply. The 12 week pricing tag would be too much for some targeted individuals financially. They must have a breakeven/ balance for the pricing and the 12 week supply of the weight loss drug. (ie. You will be able to achieve optimal weight loss within 12 weeks of the drug, however paying for 12 weeks of the product is out of some people’s wage.) In the case, Printup decided that the design of the packaging should be â€Å"blister† style package, which will allow patients to see each pill and keep track of the dosing. So I think the best strategy is the 4 week to 6 week package that could allow patients to refill once or twice.

How Current Issues Affect Our Economy Essay

It has been a common notion that current issues affect a country’s economy. Particularly, in the U. S. , issues such as election, war, and immigration are often pointed out to cause the economy to rise or fall. Also, there is a speculation tying up the economy with the prices of stocks, in that the rise in the prices indicates an improving economy and vice versa. Although existing studies have not established a sure claim that current issues truly affect the economy (Socioeconomic Foundation Website), we can point out reasons how such issues can make the economy rise or fall. First, let us consider how elections can improve or pull down our economy. As what we may hear during election periods, the success of our economy is somehow dependent on whoever wins. On the one hand, if the incumbent government stays in power, the economy, with all its budget appropriations, would be sustained. Therefore, there is a tendency that our economy could maintain its present status and there would be no fear of decline. On the other hand, if a new regime takes over, a new set of budget will be proposed, and there could be an economic recession, which could eventually lead to some losses. In the same way, war can affect the economy in two ways. It can have positive implications, as well as negative ones. On the positive side, involvement in war could make a country more powerful and prominent. In addition, it promises future alliances, which assure us of additional areas for investment. As such, the country’s power and territory widens, and this leads to developing trust of other nations on the country’s stability. This development of trust to the U. S. power could later mean more investments and alliances. On the negative side, involvement in war could also imply a lot of drawbacks. For instance, recipient countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan receive a funding of USD 1. 3 billion for their infrastructure, community action, and other local projects. As such, involvement in war could lead to economic slur or upsurge. Aside from election and involvement in war, immigration is another issue affecting the US economy. As Croddy & Hayes (2007) note, the issue of illegal or unauthorized immigration has existed for the last thirty years. Illegal immigrants include all people who have been overstaying in the country, and those without proper documentation. While some of them may have jobs to support themselves and their family, a lot of these people do not have a livelihood and literally rely on what the US government can provide. Specifically, the government spends for their children’s education in public schools, medical benefits, and other projects that they benefit from such as infrastructure, telecommunication, etc. Similarly, these people contribute in depleting the country’s natural resources, and utilize energy, water, and air. Another issue that may be affecting the U. S. economy is the problem with HIV victims. As the fight against AIDS continues, the government keeps on spending a lot of money to discover the cure for the said disease. This also implies that as the cure for AIDS has not been found, the government will continue its effort to allocate some of its budget to inventions and researches. References Croddy, Marshall and Hayes, Bill.â€Å"Current Issues of Immigration, 2007. † 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2008 . â€Å"Key Aspects of Socionomic Theory. † Socioeconomic Foundation. Retrieved 5 February 2008 . Lancaster, Carol. â€Å"U. S. Foreign Economic Aid in 2008: Winners and Losers in President Bush’s Proposed Budget. † Retrieved 4 February 2008 .