This is a medical law problem question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

This is a medical law problem question - Essay Example She breached that duty of care by acting in a manner inconsistent with the reasonable standard of care which caused Paulo to suffer injury as a result of her breach of the duty of care. She knows that it is mandatory to obtain the valid consent of the patient before any medical or surgical treatment is performed on the patient. Hence, she must also be made liable for the damages, together with the doctor for the injury sustained by Paulo. The hospital also has a vicarious liability for the tort of battery and negligence committed by their doctor and nurse. As their employers, the hospital can be sued in the event their employees cannot compensate Paulo for the damage caused to him. Under the law, Paulo has the right to sue the hospital, and in return, the hospital has the obligation to compensate Paulo for the unsafe medical practice committed against him. Paulo should also file a case for negligence and damages against Doc Torr for his failure to warn him of the risks and side-effec ts of the surgical treatment before the actual operation. Clearly, there was a breach of duty on the part of the doctor for failure to inform his patient that there is a 0.5% possibility that he will lose his voice. Such material fact should be made known to the patient since the doctor knows that the patient is an opera singer by profession. Paulo has the right to request for his health record, â€Å"which consists of information relating to the physical or mental health or condition of an individual made by a health professional in connection to his care†( BMA Ethics). Before a medical practitioner examines and/or treats a patient, a valid consent must be given by the patient. If the said doctor proceeds with the examination without obtaining consent from the patient, whether express or implied, and done against that person’s will and without any statutory authority to do so, that surgeon may incur civil liability for violation of the tort of trespass against the per son and criminal liability in accordance with the provisions of Offences Against the Person Act of 1861. The truth is that most cases covered by this area are brought about due to negligence as the cause of action in the tort or damage committed by the doctor. However, in order for the action to prosper, the claimant must show proof that a valid consent from the patient to allow the medical treatment was absent. In this case, no valid consent was obtained by Dr. Torr from his patient Paulo. Thus, the doctor is liable for negligence. The term â€Å"consent† was best described in the case of Cardozo J, Schoelendorff v New York Hospital which provides: â€Å"Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body.1† While in the case of F V West Berkshire Health Authority, Lord Goff has stated that: â€Å"Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body†. 2 In the case at bar, Paulo is an adult who has the capacity to give consent to the medical treatment that will be done to his own body. The requirement of consent to treatment reflects the basic right to self-determination. The act of Doc Torr makes him liable for two things: 1.) Failure to obtain a valid consent from his client; and 2.)Non-disclosure of the vital information of inherent risk

Pathophysiology of diverticulitis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pathophysiology of diverticulitis - Essay Example The exact pathogenesis of diverticulitis is yet unknown (Hobson and Roberts, 2004). An insight into the structural changes in the diverticular disease has been found through studies on various postmortem and surgical specimens (Sheth et al, 2008). Initially, gastroenterologists proposed that a fecolith obstructing an abscessed diverticulum led to diverticulitis. However, in 1976, Sethbhakdi reported that studies on resected sigmoid diverticulitis specimens failed to support fecolith based pathogenesis theory. Infact, according to the author, these studies found perforation of the fundus of the diverticulum associated with pericolic or peridiverticular inflammmation in the resected specimens (Sethbhakdi, 1976). Also, 30 percent of the specimens showed no features of inflammation, but showed thickening of the intestinal wall (Sethbhakdi, 1976). The thickened and contracted colon part is known as mychosis. Mychosis was initially thought to be due to muscular hypertrophy. But now, it is understood to be due to elastin deposition and shortening of the bowel. Elastin deposition is thought to be due to increased uptake of a specific substance called proline from the Western diets (Sheth et al, 2008). ... Smaller perforations get covered by the pericolic fat. However, larger perforations can lead to other complications like abscess formation, rupture of intestine, fistula formation and peritonitis (Crowe et al, 2011). Fistulas can occur with other adjacent organs or with skin. The most common fistulas in men are colorectal fistulas. Fistulas are uncommon in women (Crowe et al, 2011). In population from the Western countries, the diverticula, especially in the colonic regions are "pseudo diverticula" because, the diverticula involve only the mucosal layer and submucosal layer and not the muscular and serosal layers (Sheth et al, 2008). There is whopping evidence that such pseudodiverticuli occur because of diets that are low in fibre. Among Asian population, the diverticuli are true diverticula (Sheth et al, 2008). They involve all the layers of the intestine and they are mainly seen in the proximal colonic region, unlike pseudo diverticuli which are seen in the distal colon, mainly th e sigmoid colon (Sheth et al, 2008). Decreased dietary fiber leads to low-volume stools which alter the motility of colon, causing increased luminal pressures. Such high pressures occur when the sigmoid colon undergoes a process called segmentation during smooth muscle contraction. Segmentation leads to distinct compartments of the sigmoid colon. When the stool volume is low, segmentation is exaggerated and the elevated intrasegmental pressures are transmitted across the colonic wall leading to the development of diverticula (Sheth et al, 2008). Typically diverticuli occur at weak points in the intestinal wall like points where vasa recti penetrate the smooth muscle of the intestine (Sheth et al,

Select a publicly traded U.S. corporation for which you have a common Essay

Select a publicly traded U.S. corporation for which you have a common interest - Essay Example egic business decisions, the company has been able to trade in over 186 million bids, with a sum of over $840 million items being sold with an average of around 800, 000 bids per day. (Schonfeld, 2005) As a result of internet technology a lot of business sprung up, among them being Electronic commerce. The online business started to pick up in the early 1990s, and by around 2000 the business was fully embraced across the globe. Recently, e-commerce industry has experienced an immense development, mostly due to the growth of internet users across the world. More and more people are shifting their attention towards the new shopping model of doing online shopping. (Schonfeld, 2005) E-Bay incorporation provides an online platform for sellers and buyers to interact and trade in various categories of goods and services. There are three segments in eBay namely; payments, marketplaces and GSI Commerce. Since access to e-commerce is universal, and the physical assets to start up this form of business are commercially available, barriers to entry into the industry is quite lower. Now what matters here is the network externalities effect. For instance, it is extremely difficult for a competitor to acquire a bigger share of the users in market where there is relatively huge network externalities. Nonetheless, eBay has managed to secure its position among the top e-commerce websites in the world. However, just like any other industry eBay is subject to competition from companies like Yahoo and Amazon. These companies normally employ tactics such as lowering of price of their services in order to gain competitive advantage. At the moment eBay is focusing its markets abroad. It is now operating in eight of the top ten countries, by e-commerce market size outside the American nation. For example, eBay controls over 80% of e-commerce market in Asia, while it is reported to be gaining users , 45% faster in Europe continent more than in U.S.A. It is also experiencing a 135% growth

The China-Faced Doll Essay Example for Free

The China-Faced Doll Essay It seemed so harmless, just another one of its kind. Everyone was captivated by its innocent grin and other charming characteristics. If only everyone knew the truth. Everyday I feel the pain of my losses, living the consequences of a crackpots corrupted mind. My story begins nigh on one hundred years ago, when I was unborn but the crackpot was not. Although various stones have been left unturned, my research of the matter has proved fairly successful and has led me to believe many a thing that may seem improbable. The maniac that I speak of is a man, a man with an intention, an unethical intention! For the past century, people have rumoured theories as regards the mans life, his immoralities, and his disturbing suicide. Only now do I understand the reality. The man had a gift for art, and made his wealth and local fame in his unique production of china-faced dolls. During the course of his life he became more and more reserved, keeping himself to himself and his friends far away. These friends, therefore, and all people, lost interest in him and he became somewhat of a loner. Through this deficiency of companions he developed a grudge against mankind, and gradually a hate for all living things. He turned his malevolence to his work, and made a new doll, the One Doll. Into this doll he poured his spite and malice, his decadent mind. To this doll he gave a life. Eventually, loneliness was said to have destroyed him, and as the tax collector was visiting his house one damp morn, he found, to his absolute horror, the doll-maker, knife in hand, throat slit from ear to ear and surrounded by hundreds of china smiles. One of these beaming jaws was particularly wide, the nearest one to the slain and the only one without sleek, jet-black hair. Instead its fiery red curls threw the rooms light off the walls. The lonesome man left no will, and as a result the entire estate was re-collected by the government, and the dolls were sold off to the highest bidding member of the public. All that is except for the red-head who was considered scary and ugly, and was buried along with all the other useless items in a desolate field, which there were plenty of back then. Any events, regarding the man, his death and his dolls materialised after his death still remains a mystery to me. Although I could give an educated guess, I wont as it could be misleading and bring a false dimension to my tale.

Is Psychology Reductionist and Is This a Bad Thing?

Is Psychology Reductionist and Is This a Bad Thing? Reductionism can be defined as a theory that reduces every complicated phenomena into a number of simple psychological components or principles and then identifies or explains these phenomena merely in terms of those fundamental parts (Sloane, 1945; Peele, 1981; Ausubel, 1982; Barendregt Rappard, 2004; Vul, 2011). For instance, in psychological studies reductionism tend to oversimplify all cognitive processes, human behaviour or social activity into more basic component, and so disregard the complexities of human mind. The reductionist approach has led to several vital discoveries in scientific studies as they compromise simpler explanation for a complicated phenomenon and, the effects of one variable can be solely isolated and tested, in order to discover causal relationships. For example, in order to develop an understanding of stress the nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system needs to be studied (Minton, 1994). Rose (1997, as cited in Nagel, 1998) introduced few types of reductionism; philosophical reductionism, which implies that if all science is unitary psychology should easily merge into other sciences, thencomplex psychological behaviour needs to be broken down to physical laws (Jessor, 1958). Methodological reductionism; for instance, in order to find out about the nature of memory and specifically deduce something related to the structure of long-term memory, (Hulme, Maughan Brown, 1991) conducted a study based in a laboratory, giving participants a list of familiar and unfamiliar words to remember.Based on the findings a generalisation of how human long-term memory functions may be made. However, these kinds of researches in psychology are at the reductionist level. Currently the type of reductionism that is of most interest in psychology claims that all behaviours should be reducible to biology (Oppenheim Putnam, 1958; Peele, 1981), meaning that most mental phenomena (consciousness) are equated with biological phenomena. In this essay the idea of reductionism will be analysed through psychological research and a conclusion can then be made based upon evidence to decide whether psychology is a reductionist or not. Reductionism tends to be applicable when explaining behaviour in basic terms, with the more focused sciences at the top and general sciences at the bottom. Behaviours can be explained at different levels, ranging from molecular (physics), followed by the intracellular (biochemistry) then parts of individual’s (physiology), people’s behaviour (psychology) and finally the behaviour of groups (sociology).For instance, mental disorders may be explained by neurotransmitters (physiology) or in terms of the mind (unconsciousness) and in terms of social systems (dysfunctional family). However, when explaining behaviour all level of explanations needs to be taken into account. For example, by taking physiological explanation into account schizophrenia is caused by excess levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine located in the brain (Howes Kapur, 2009; Jentsch, Robert Roth, 1991). The evidence for the involvement of dopamine comes from drugs, such as amphetamines (when taken by people without psychiatric disorder) cause behaviour that resembles the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (Angrist, Rotrosen Gershon, 1980). The drug has the effect of increasing dopamine levels in the brain. However, one problem with this dopamine hypothesis is that not every patient with schizophrenia who takes drugs to reduce dopamine levels has their symptoms reduced, and also everyone who takes drugs that increases levels of dopamine may not show the symptoms. This clearly shows that individual differences are difficult to explain by reductionists, mainly because despite being in its smallest constituent, behaviour is oversimplified. This suggests that dopamine cannot be the only explanation, as every human being is uniqueand therefore all respond differently. So, reductionist explanation is limiting, because the same symptoms or behaviour in two persons may be caused by different factors, such as environmental or biological factors (Walker Diforio, 1997). However, The best solution is probably the diathesis stress model, which combines all approaches together. The diathesis-stress model indicates that physiological explanations tend to offer a predisposition to mental illnesses. Also, an alternative explanation is that a stressful life event causes the onset of mental disorders (Walker Diforio, 1997; Eberhart, Auerbach, Bigda-Peyton Abela, 2011). The individual may have a predisposition to the disorder but only people who experience stressors will develop the disorder. The diathesis stress model can be applied to the cognitive and biological explanation, suggesting that people may have vulnerability for mental illness but the disorder only manifests itself when triggered by life events or when a person misinterprets other people’s behaviour. Although physiological explanation can be seen as reductionist and simplistic, they do offer explanations of mental disorders behaviour. Understanding what is going on in abnormal behaviour by relating it to healthy behavioural processes is undeniably reductionist, but sometimes reductionism helps psychology to devise treatment strategies for mental illnesses. They are not intended to provide exhaustive explanations for why these symptoms exist. They do however; offer some kind of insight into what it might feel like to experience such disorders. For instance, offering anti-depressants to treat patients suffering from depression may seem like an optimum solution but the underlying cause may be disregarded, such as unconscious mental process or personal experience. However, physiological reductionism attempts to consider a more humane tactic to treat certain mental illness, as the individual with mental illness are not to be blamed and the patients have essentially no control or choic e in the matter. Nevertheless, most of these theories are merely reductionist-oriented explanation. In addition, there is some evidence proposing that mental disorders are inherited or at least there is a significant genetic component (Petronis, 2004). Family, twin and adaption studies have been used to investigate this genetic explanation. If the cause of mental disorders were entirely genetic, then the concordance rate between MZ twins would be 100% (Evans Martin, 2008). However, Evans Martin (2008) research have notfound100% concordance so it clearly shows that other factors must be involved in the onset of certain disorders. It is impossible to isolate the effects of genes (nature) from nurture (shared environment) when studying behaviour. Therefore, studies that indicate the concordance rates for disorders must be treated with caution, to avoid impractical cause and effect links. Furthermore, Bandura (1965) claimed that social learning has an influential role on children’s aggressive behaviour. However, biological explanations of aggression have stressed factors that have nothing to do with social learning butmore to do with biological influences, such as the role of hormonal mechanisms. For example, high levels of testosterone have shown to be associatedwith aggressive behaviour (Archer, 1991). These findings emphasise that aggressive behaviour cannot be purely base on a learned behaviour. Also, this explanation neglects to take into account various approaches to explain certain behaviour and therefore being a reductionist.Additionally, there are significant methodological problems in these experimental researches, as research usually does not equate to real world, which could then lead to falsification of the findings. Also, using the social learning theory (Bandura, 1965) to isolatecertain behaviour into various chunks may not provide a full underst anding of how behaviour functions as a whole. This suggests that reductionism may be appropriate for simpler systems rather than a complex human behaviour. However, Morley and Hall (2003) argue that genetic vulnerability associated with anti-social behaviour only inadequately predict an increased risk of aggressive behaviour in an individual than the general population.Other factors (such as environmental influences) determine whether aggressive behaviour is displayed in a particular situation. Similarly, (Hines and Malley-Morrison, 2005)claim that some people are more likely to commit anti-social behaviour as a result of their genotype. Alternatively, suggesting that genetic influences are probabilistic rather than reductionist. Twin researchers also assume that MZ and DZ twins raised in the same environment experience the same experience with their co-twin, therefore any greater similarity between MZ twins must be due to the greater genetic similarity. However, Evans and Martin (2003) suggest that parents, teachers and peers treat MZ twins more similarity than DZ twins; therefore greater similarity in terms of aggressive behaviour may also be due to the greater similarity of their experiences. In this respect, various approaches needs to be considered to explain behaviour, as using simple explanations may be inappropriate. Having said that reductionism can be appropriate for some levels of explanation, it makes more sense to use cellular biology to explain living cells, rather than psychology.But if all animals and humans are made of atoms, then their behaviours can be reduced to a physical level. Researches believe that the two types of units including the physical brain and physical mind interact with each other (Pandya, 2011). Also suggesting that the mind can have an influence on physiology. For example, Martin, Martin, Rai, Richardson and Royall (2001) found that same level of serotonin was altered in the brain of depressed patients who received psychotherapy and those who received drug as a treatment. On the other hand the multi-store model (MSM), which was proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) uses mechanistic, computer analogies to explain cognitive processes such as attention, memory and problem solving. This model is using reductionism to explain how memory functions, as the brain is equated with acomputer system. This model plays a restricted role in understanding evolution or memory, as it describes memory at a reductionist-level. Also, research associated with memory often involves memorising a list of nonsense words to measure the capacity or the duration of long-term and short-term memory, and the findings often offer an erroneous explanation of memory in general (Hulme Maughan Brown, 1991).Researches have found limited evidence for long-term memory. The finding to such studies should not be generalised, as the key variable is oversimplified.However, some research have found evidence for long-term memory, Bahrick, Bahrick and Wittlinger (1975) investigated recall of high school yearbooks photos to find out the duration of long term memory, they found 90% accuracy of long term memory, mainly because the information was meaningful to the participants. In addition, reductionism overlooked the notion of emotion, mostly because it is difficult to determinehow someone is feelingbylooking at neurotransmitters located in the brain. Nevertheless, studies have found that certain hormones such as noradrenalineleads to better memory performance in an individual (Stegeren, 2008). This yield to the conclusion that perhaps there may be an association between biology and behaviour (emotion). However, while it is possibleto observe how human brain responds to certain sounds by looking into a scanner, the scanner cannot reveal how the person feels when they hear a particular sound. For instance, (Schmidt and Trainor, 2001) found that certain section of the brain associated with happiness is stimulated while listening to a particular sound, however this does not mean that the person is happy. In this respect, using reductionism may not be an unacceptable way of assessing feelings. There are many arguments against the idea of reductionism in psychological studies. A prime example of these disagreements involves the discussions of nature versus nurture that whether environmental factors have any involvement in shaping behaviour. Ecological influences can shape behaviour throughout the lifespan even if that person was born with certain genes associated with mental disorders; environmental factors such as family and society play a major role in shaping any further behaviour. The diathesis stress models places an importance on the interaction between the person and their environment, suggesting the biological predisposition to any mental disorders is dormant until stress in the environment makes it active. The diathesis stress model brings together unrelated causal factors into a unified model. The flexibility of the model is that individual differences can account for various contributing factors of mental illnesses (Patten, 2013; Sloane, 1945). This means that the model can explain most instances of mental disorders. The source of stress could be genetic, or perhaps disrupted and inconsistent parenting and communication within family. All the factors above have been suggested as having a causal role in the development of mental disorders, although none of them alone is sufficient to cause the disorder. For example, it seems as though schizophrenia is a complex disorder reflecting problems with genetics and birth, as well as with more general problems living in a busy society. However, such factors do feed into the diathesis stress model described. Alongside with the biological explanation schizophrenia should also be treated at the level of experience. However, further research is sorely needed in the area of reductionism in psychology, as most of these explanations are inconsistentbecause in psychology human behaviour cannot be explained entirely in terms of one single factor, such as physiology, genetic, culture, ethnicity or cultural factors. Therefore, the all these factors should not be disregarded as most people suffering from mental illness may have distinct personality traits, specific genotype or abnormal brain structure, which makes them more vulnerable to develop certain type of mental disorder.Furthermore, reductionist theory fails to explain realism in psychology, as it only view a series of components rather than the whole, which can lead to inadequate explanations of the reality. Perhaps acknowledging all phases of explanations such as physiological, ecological or emotional could lead to a better understanding of the reality.Finally, the reductionist approach has been criticised by many, nonetheless the fact that stu dying the brain allows a deeper understanding to the cause of most behaviour cannot be ignored. Word count: 2200

Psycho-Analysis in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay examples -- Mary

Psycho-Analysis in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Sigmund Freud's studies in psychoanalysis are uncannily fore-grounded in the late romantic period. The works of William Wordsworth, Percy B. Shelley, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley, all function as poetic preludes to Freud's 18th century field. Particularly, it is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that creates a fictional rendering for psychoanalyst. In Frankenstein, Victor's rejection of the Monster metaphorically represents the ego's rejection of the unconscious. Following from this metaphorical paradigm, Freud's theories on narcissism, the libido theory, the doppelganger, neurosis, and the Oedipus-complex all resonate in the pages of Frankenstein. After a brief introduction to narcissism and the libido theory, a psychoanalytic character study of Victor and the monster will be preformed. Finally, the romantic works of Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Wordsworth will further demonstrate the Freudian phenomenon. Freud declares that mankind has suffered three major blows, the "destruction of the narcissistic illusion" (Freud, "One of the Difficulties of Psycho-Analysis," 5), that permanently destabilized how individuals envisioned themselves in relation to the exterior world. These three blows were: The Cosmological, where the Copernican Revolution dislodged mankind from the center of the universe. Secondly, The Biological, where Darwin reunited man and beast as equals, and the third, Freud's own contribution, The Psychological, where mankind cannot trust his own thoughts: "What is in your mind is not identical with what you are conscious of; whether something is going on in your mind and whether you hear of it, are two different things" (Freud, "One of the Difficulties to Psycho-Analys... ...rate mankind's departure from narcissism and its multiple complexities. However, as Freud would agree, the fact that the workings of psychoanalysis existed long before its publishing is metaphorically exalted in the Romantic era. Works Cited Bennett, Betty T. & Charles E. Robinson, ed. Frankenstein. By Mary Shelley. Boston: Oxford University Press, 1990. Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures to Psycho-Analysis. Ed. James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1965. —"One of the Difficulties of Psycho-Analysis." 1917. —" Some Character Types of Psycho-Analytic Work." 1915. —"The Uncanny." 1919. Shelley, Percy B. "On Love." Romanticism: An Anthology. Wu, Duncan, ed. Malden: Blackwell, 1998. 849-850. Wordsworth, William. [from The Prelude] "Crossing the Alps." Romanticism: An Anthology. Wu, Duncan, ed. Malden: Blackwell, 1998. 389-392. Psycho-Analysis in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Essay examples -- Mary Psycho-Analysis in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Sigmund Freud's studies in psychoanalysis are uncannily fore-grounded in the late romantic period. The works of William Wordsworth, Percy B. Shelley, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley, all function as poetic preludes to Freud's 18th century field. Particularly, it is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that creates a fictional rendering for psychoanalyst. In Frankenstein, Victor's rejection of the Monster metaphorically represents the ego's rejection of the unconscious. Following from this metaphorical paradigm, Freud's theories on narcissism, the libido theory, the doppelganger, neurosis, and the Oedipus-complex all resonate in the pages of Frankenstein. After a brief introduction to narcissism and the libido theory, a psychoanalytic character study of Victor and the monster will be preformed. Finally, the romantic works of Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Wordsworth will further demonstrate the Freudian phenomenon. Freud declares that mankind has suffered three major blows, the "destruction of the narcissistic illusion" (Freud, "One of the Difficulties of Psycho-Analysis," 5), that permanently destabilized how individuals envisioned themselves in relation to the exterior world. These three blows were: The Cosmological, where the Copernican Revolution dislodged mankind from the center of the universe. Secondly, The Biological, where Darwin reunited man and beast as equals, and the third, Freud's own contribution, The Psychological, where mankind cannot trust his own thoughts: "What is in your mind is not identical with what you are conscious of; whether something is going on in your mind and whether you hear of it, are two different things" (Freud, "One of the Difficulties to Psycho-Analys... ...rate mankind's departure from narcissism and its multiple complexities. However, as Freud would agree, the fact that the workings of psychoanalysis existed long before its publishing is metaphorically exalted in the Romantic era. Works Cited Bennett, Betty T. & Charles E. Robinson, ed. Frankenstein. By Mary Shelley. Boston: Oxford University Press, 1990. Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures to Psycho-Analysis. Ed. James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1965. —"One of the Difficulties of Psycho-Analysis." 1917. —" Some Character Types of Psycho-Analytic Work." 1915. —"The Uncanny." 1919. Shelley, Percy B. "On Love." Romanticism: An Anthology. Wu, Duncan, ed. Malden: Blackwell, 1998. 849-850. Wordsworth, William. [from The Prelude] "Crossing the Alps." Romanticism: An Anthology. Wu, Duncan, ed. Malden: Blackwell, 1998. 389-392.

The One Scene That Sealed Titanic’s Fate Essay

Titanic is thought to be one of the most iconic films to ever hit theaters. According to the film industry, the film by James Cameron falls into the realm of an epic romance/disaster genre. Released in 1997, Titanic was an international box office sensation, due to the director providing equal importance to history, fiction, and romance. The film is set in April of 1912, where Jack Dawson played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Rose DeWitt Bukater played by Gloria Stuart and Kate Winslet share a love story that cannot be broken. The movie also gives a historical overview of what happened that dreadful night. This critical analysis of the film Titanic provides an overview that the innovative mode of storytelling (flash back and other techniques) can portray both a love story and the historical background while using a dissolve editing method, in which â€Å"the end of one shot gradually merges into the beginning of the next. The effect is produced by superimposing a fade-out onto a fade-in o f equal length of imposing one scene over another† (Petrie and Boggs 160). This editing effect was used at the beginning of the movie, in which at 21:03, the wreckage of the Titanic is seamlessly and effortlessly transformed into the beautiful masterpiece of a ship that it once was. This effect is also used when Jack and Rose are standing together â€Å"flying† on the edge of the Titanic, later to be transformed back into the ship wreck. This scene brings the audience back into the present and shocks them back into the harsh reality that the scene was merely a memory from Rose, and no longer the reality (Titanic1997). The editing in Titanic is truly remarkable, bringing the audience from the future into the past, shocking the audience by showing both first-class and lower-class struggles, and showing not only the love story between Rose and Jack, but the life and death of the Titanic and the two thousand people aboard. Through the use of other film techniques such as editing and camera work, set design, imagery and color, James Cameron created one of the most influential and moving works of art the film world has seen. The editing style and technique brings new life to the cinematography world, and â€Å"rejects the norms of modern Hollywood style† (Butka). In all film elements, visual effects, cinematography, color palette, editing, sound design, and music, contributes to the film as a whole. Cameron, â€Å"who has been pushing the boundaries of the Hollywood classical cinema since The Terminator, finally reached a career high point with Titanic’s synthesis of compelling storytelli ng and dexterous style and technique† (Butka) Visual effects, color, imagery, and set design play an important role in all forms of movie and television. These elements are the core foundation of the overall feeling that the audience experiences when watching a particular film. One particular element of film that impacts the story line is the setting of the scenery. Setting may â€Å"often seem unobtrusive or be taken for granted, it is an essential ingredient in any story and makes an important contribution to the theme of total effect of the film† (Petrie and Boggs 82). The setting of a film should be carefully analyzed because of the effects it has on the interrelationships of the characters, plot, and overall general feeling that the movie brings out in its audience. In Titanic, the setting plays a major role in the fact that the first class citizens were held to a higher standard that the lower class citizens. This set the mood for the rest of the film and sets up the segregation that separates Jack and Rose. The col ors also provide a strict divide between the upper and lower classes aboard the Titanic. The royalty wore brighter, more vibrant colors, as well as more flashy materials, whereas the lower class wore much more torn clothing, all of which were dark and dirty colors. These elements ultimately set the tone for the rest of the movie, and would be a constant struggle for Rose and Jack to keep their bond strong. James Cameron put an emphasis on the difference between these classes in order to give the audience the sense of segregation. James Cameron is a critically acclaimed film director known for some of the biggest box-office hits of all time. A science-fiction fan as a child, Cameron â€Å"went on to produce and direct films including The Terminator, Aliens and Avatar. He has received numerous Academy Awards and nominations for his often large-scale, expensive productions† (Biography Editors). His most noted work, 1997’s Titanic, became the first film â€Å"to earn more than $1 billion and landed 14 Academy Award nominations. Cameron took home three Oscars himself for the project: Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture† (Biography Editors). To re-create one of the greatest disasters at sea in history, â€Å"James Cameron had a special studio built in Mexico, which featured a 17-million-gallon water tank and the 775-foot replica of the Titanic,† this proved to help the film be a successful blockbuster hit (Biography Editors). James Cameron’s techniques used in Titani c became immensely popular as the film became popular. Cameron’s own â€Å"documentary urge was so intense, that he created new diving and photographic equipment – at an extraordinary expense for his studio – to achieve textural authenticity by recording and presenting the eighty-five-year-old wreck of his subject. The film, then, like so many other fictional films, says the ultimate compliment to the documentary form: Cameron uses the real thing to inform his reel thing† (Petrie and Boggs 468). The main purpose behind editing a film is to keep the film in continuous motion, regardless if the time periods switch rapidly, much like in Titanic, where Rose goes from being a seventeen year old girl, to a one-hundred year old woman explaining the history of the Titanic as she remembers it. The editing techniques that were used were ultimately used to shock the audience through â€Å"sudden, jarring cuts between the third- and first-class, [which] build the antithesis between the classes and accentuate the conflicts. Some of the examples include: the cut between the steer get berthing space when Jack and Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) first arrive on the ship and Cal’s private promenade deck; the cut between Rose and Jack dancing in the steerage party scene and the first-class smoking lounge (which is such an abrupt change of atmosphere and energy that it comes as quite a cinematic shock to the viewers); the cut between the flooding in the steerage with rats on the run and the pro priety of a first-class corridor that does not even hint at the impending tragedy† (Butka). Throughout the movie, the film consists of scenes mainly from the Jack and Rose era, however in the beginning of the film, the director made use of flashback technique to unearth the romantic story of the lovers in the film. To be specific, the plot moves from present condition (say, 1996) to past (say, 1912) and to present (1996). In the opening scene, the director portrays the effort of Brock Lovett (say, a treasure hunter) to unearth the secret behind a necklace sunk with RMS Titanic in 1912. Gradually, the director portrays the love affair between Rose and Jack. In the end, Rose drops the necklace into the Ocean and returns. The film ends with a fictional reunion between the lovers. Dissolves are very important to the film, â€Å"particularly those between different time periods, and even fades are used occasionally to mark important points in the film (e.g., when Rose finishes her story)’ (Butka) Cameron also uses â€Å"establishing shots regularly, thus preserving a locale orientation for the viewers: not only do we always know exactly where we are, but these establishing shots also help us grasp the ship’s enormous dimensions† (Butka). Even in the period section of the film, â€Å"there is a separation between two distinct photographic styles: â€Å"In the first part, the camerawork is rather polite, graceful and even eloquent. [Carpenter] was trying to reinforce the opulence and beauty of the time with lighting,† (Butka). This eloquent style gives a feeling of tranquility and perfection to the first class shipmates, providing deep segregation to the boat, thus bringing about the conflict of Jack and Rose’s love. This camera and editing style let the audience feel the same way that the characters were feeling, eloquent and fashionable. When looking at the color of the first class section of the boat, â€Å"there is also use of amber, a color Ca meron has not used before; in addition, the first-class sections of the ship are even more colorful, which is undeniably helped by the exquisite costuming† (Butka). In the second part of the film, the camera work and editing becomes much more violent and choppy, showing the struggle the passengers endured as the ship hit the iceberg and ultimately began to sink. The camerawork â€Å"quickly loses that polite edge and segues into this very kinetic, sometimes violent movement. It’s jarring and bumpy, which suggests the panic of the situation. This is a point that Cameron, Carpenter, and Muro worked on together; later in the film, initial smooth and refined camera movements transform into â€Å"less elegant and more nervous. There’s a lot more handheld work and Steadicam, and its rough† (Butka). The overall production of the Titanic came at quite a cost but was a tremendous success, to say the least. Titanic’s production was a â€Å"famously difficult and complex one, a shoot on an almost unprecedented scale which featured tough technical challenges and which was overseen by a director who knew exactly what he wanted and who demanded the utmost from everyone until he got it, but it was a tough journey to get there† (Braund). Production of the film began in 1995, when â€Å"Cameron shot footage of the real wreck of the RMS Titanic. He envisioned the love story as a means to engage the audience with the real-life tragedy. A shooting took place on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh — which aided Cameron in filming the real wreck — for the modern scenes, and a reconstruction of the ship was built at Playas de Rosarito, Baja California. Cameron also used scale models and computer-generated imagery to recreate the sinking. At the time†, the pict ure became the most expensive film ever made, costing approximately US$200 million with funding from Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox (Butka). â€Å"Principal photography for Titanic began in July 1996 at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. In September 1996, the production moved to the newly built Fox Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, where a full-scale RMS Titanic had been constructed (Marsh). Special effects played an important role in how the movie filmed. Many critics were skeptical about how Cameron would portray such a disastrous scene, including the deaths of all of the people aboard the ship. Cameron then went on to say that †the people were all computer graphics. The way we did it was, we had people act out all of those individual behaviors in what we call a ’motion capture environment.’ So, a steward pouring tea for a lady seated on a deck chair – that was all acted out and then that motion file was used to drive and animate those figures. The end result is like you said: We pull back down the full length of Titanic, and you see 350 people all over the decks, doing all those different things. The same technique was used for the sinking when you see hundreds of people on the ship jumping off or rolling down the decks† (Ebert). Cameron also did not want to cut corners in regards to the props and sets used. In addition to the life-size model of the Titanic, Cameron also had â€Å"construction crews build two huge water tanks. One was 90 foot deep and over 800 foot wide in which the model could slowly sink into 17 million gallons of water fed directly from the Pacific Ocean. The second tank was 30 foot deep. It contained 5 million gallons of water and housed the elegant first class dining saloon and the three story Grand Staircase† (Titanic and Co). One of the most impressive interior sets was the recreation of the famed Grand Staircase— the most famous room Titanic contained. Additionally, the Staircase, â€Å"as mentioned by one of the film crew personnel, ended up acting almost as a character in the film, due to it being the location of several pivotal scenes, including the ending scene. Interestingly, the staircase presented in the film is slightly larger than the one on the real ship. The reason for this was because people in 1912 were shorter than they are today. As a result, the staircase was scaled up to make the actors look smaller† (IMDB). For the exterior shots of the ship sinking, the almost â€Å"full-scale ship was placed in a 3 foot deep, 17 million gallon tank and tilted using a crane. For the interior shots of the sinking ship, the sets were enclosed in a 5 million gallon tank and again tilted in the water using a crane. This was the method used for the Grand Staircase. However, to make the destru ction of the Grand Staircase more dramatic, Cameron and his team dropped 90,000 gallons of water onto it. Because the Staircase would be destroyed, there would be only one attempt to get it right. Unexpectedly, the massive volume of water ripped the Staircase from its steel-reinforced foundations, collapsing certain sections of it† (IMDB). This destruction of the stair case was relatively dramatic and saddening to the characters and audience because it had become such a vital work of art in the movie. These stairs were much more than just stairs; they were the place in which Jack fell in love with Rose, the place Rose and Jack embraced in their final kiss in the final scene; a true masterpiece that had become one of the characters, gone in an instant. Roger Ebert became â€Å"film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. He is the only film critic with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named honorary life member of the Directors’ Guild of America. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Screenwriters’ Guild, and honorary degrees from the American Film Institute and the University of Colorado at Boulder† (Ebert). He then went on to interview James Cameron on his success and struggles with the making of the Titanic. The footage of the sunken ship was mainly real footage of the actual sunken Titanic. James Cameron believed that in order for the movie to have a more authentic feel, that he should take actual film himself with his own camera. Cameron wasn’t content to buy footage from documentaries about the search for the Titanic; he shot the film’s undersea footage himself, new for this film: †It’s all our own. I made the dives and operated the camera and we lit it and every thing† (Ebert) Cameron then went on to explain the struggles that appeared when creating the interior of the Titanic. â€Å"It’s consistent with what Titanic looks like† Cameron mentioned. â€Å"We couldn’t explore the whole interior of the ship. We could only get a glimpse into some areas. We went down some corridors to the D-deck level and saw a lot of the remaining hand-carved woodwork, the wall-paneling, and the beautiful ornate carved doors. A lot of it is still there. It’s very, very cold, which helps preserve things. There are marine organisms that will eat wood, but in certain areas the wood was covered with white-leaded paint that protected Titanic† (Ebert). As morbid as it sounds, it was important to display the fear and anguish on the faces of the people trapped on and inside the sinking vessel. Even though this was a Romeo and Juliet type of love story, the overwhelming message was to portray the absolute disaster the Titanic was and to show the terror on the faces of those involved. Cameron goes on to say that many died in terror, you know, when you look at the numbers, if you were a third class male on Titanic you stood a 1-in-10 chance of survival. If you were a first class female, it was virtually a 100 percent survival rate. It broke down along lines of gender and class. If you were a first-class male, you stood about a 50-50 chance of survival. And the crew took it hardest.† Of the 1,500 who died, 600 or 700 of them were crew members. The people who stayed in the dynamo room and the engine room, to keep the lights on so that the evacuation would not become panicked – who stayed till the end and missed their opportun ity to leave the ship – that’s something you’d see less of today† (Ebert). This just goes to show that Cameron felt very passionate about the way he needed to portray this type of despair in his movie, and in order to do that he needed have the film crew work extremely hard in order to portray that same anguish. †That was our most dangerous work,† Cameron said. †The stunt team worked for weeks in advance, videotaping each one of those stunts and rehearsing it and showing me the tapes. It was all intensely pre-planned and the set was made about 50 percent out of rubber at that point, all padded up. But there’s always an X-factor. We had 6,000 stunt person days on this film – the equivalent of one man doing stunts seven days a week for 16 years. But it was all happening at once. We did have a guy break his leg, which I hated. I don’t think anybody should get hurt for a film. So I decided to do more of it with computer graphics† (Ebert). This made it more apparent that special effects had to be made more in order to keep the cast and crew safe. Therefore, the scene in which the Titanic is actually sinking was almost entirely CGI when the camera was sweeping over the boat in a birds eye view. Cameron goes on to talk about the importance of human nature and how the story of Titanic is iconic not because of the class struggles, but once tragedy strikes, we are all on the same level fighting for survival. Cameron goes on to state that the â€Å"great lesson of Titanic for us, going into the 21st century,† he said, † is that the inconceivable can happen. Those people lived in a time of certainty; they felt they had mastered everything – mastered nature and mastered themselves. But they had mastered neither. A thousand years from now Titanic will still be one of the great stories. Certainly, there have been greater human tragedies during this century, but there’s something poetically perfect about Titanic, because of the laying low of the wealthy and the beautiful people who thought life would be infinite and perfect for them.† What would you have done? Anyone seeing this movie, I said, will have to ask them this question: Would I have fought t o get on a lifeboat? Would I have pushed a woman or a child out of the way? Or would I have sat down in the lounge and called for a brandy, like Guggenheim, and faced the inevitable with grace† (Ebert)? In conclusion, Titanic taught the general public that the human race is not invincible and that nature does not care whether you are rich or poor, perfect or imperfect, or nothing at all. Through the masterful works of camera angles, visual imagery, editing, and specific scenery, director and writer James Cameron was able to recreate the tragedy of the unsinkable Titanic through the camera lens. Cameron was able to display the struggles of love, life, death, and historical understanding through the eyes of Jack and Rose, and through the magic of filmmaking, teach an incredible lesson that will live on through eternity.