What Changes and what Stays the Same in America Taking a look at epic Essay

What Changes and what Stays the Same in America Taking a look at epic western films - Essay Example By this I mean to say that American society has undergone a vast amount of change since times immemorial and comparing one time period to another, especially through films set in that time, can help to give us a proper picture of the social status that different kinds of people had, and also help us understand their roles in society with respect to politics; the acceptance of their historical background, as well as their personal gender and identity and how they perceive the same. In this paper, we will be focusing on the Native American Indians and their diminishing face in contemporary American society. The objective of this paper is to understand the changes that American society has undergone over the last couple of decades by taking a look at epic western films and answering questions that are crucial to the existence of society such as the topics of politics, race, gender and sexuality, as well as the historical identity of Native Americans. The idea of race is a very harping issue, especially in the western society in the western world – the western genre of films, movies like Brokeback Mountain and Dances with Wolves for example, do not talk about the inclusion people belonging to different races. These films only address the â€Å"fantasies of the master race: the white hero's Indianness evokes the figure and fantasy not of the human and humane Indian but of the American Adam† (Pratts, Armando Jose) this statement merely encompasses the fact that most western American films only focus on the light skinned Americans, forgetting that there could be westerners belonging to a different racial background. This leads to a sort of lack of diversity among the community and also gives a very unclear picture to the rest of the world regarding the kind of people that live in west native Indian community. The idea of class on the other hand is portrayed wonderfully. In the film Dances With Wolves too, the hero is portrayed as a white Indian and thus gives the audience an image of the ‘perfect American’ hero rather than what the actual situation in the western Indian community is like. (Horner, Joy) Renowned Native American author Sherman Alexie makes an attempt to ans wer questions regarding Native Americans and race as is not easily portrayed in contemporary film and music today. He talks about the Buffalo Soldiers, or the all African-American regiment that fought during the American Civil war – also hailing from a western American Indian society. Such communities are given little or no representation at all today in art despite being a part of the community and that is the fundamental issue in the portrayal of western society and how it is incorrect for the rest of the world that looks at a cowboy as a young white man, with a southern accent. In Dances With Wolves, the idea of race is portrayed excellently as Colonel Dunbar manages to adapt himself to the life of a Buffalo Soldier, and even fall in love with one of their kin – thus the name ‘Dances With Wolves’ as he manages to adopt the lifestyle of a black western man. Next, we touch upon the aspect of gender and sexuality as seen in the two films and understood in terms of western society. Sexuality is a very daunting issue world over today; it is very difficult for people to understand the social construct of gender as opposed to sexuality because of the fact that they have been created by society. The director talks about â€Å"a story that had never been told before, of two aging men who bear up under their drab, empty, unbearably lonely lives as long as they can just escape a time or two a year to Brokeback Mountain, where, as teenaged boys herding sheep, they

Relevance of Standard Costing & Variance Analysis Essay

Relevance of Standard Costing & Variance Analysis - Essay Example The standard cost is a predetermined unit cost i.e. the price and standard amount of each resource to be utilized in manufacturing a product and providing a service. A variance is the difference of actual cost incurred and expected standard cost. The variance analysis involves breakup of total variance to explain how much variance is caused by difference in use of resources from the standard usage quantity and how much variance is caused by the difference in prices of resources from the standard costs (Scarlett, 2008, p.96). The standard costing can be advantageous only if the cost standards are carefully established and prudently used. The use of standards solely for placing blame can have negative impact on management and employees. The major advantages include better management planning, promotes economy by making the employees understand importance of cost reduction, setting selling price, management control, highlights variances in management by exception and simplify the invent ories’ costs reducing clerical costs (Weygandt, Kimmel & Kieso, 2009, p.495). Standard costing system was developed in accordance with the traditional manufacturing environment which has changed drastically in recent competitive environment. The critics of standard costing and variance analysis site the following reasons for its declining relevance: Changing Cost Structure: Provided that the standard costing is suited to the control of variable and direct costs but not fixed and indirect costs, the usefulness of standard costing has been questioned because the in recent times the overhead costs have become the relevant factory costs whereas the importance of direct labour costs has diminished. Inconsistency with JIT (Just-in-Time) Philosophy: JIT is an inventory system which works towards keeping zero inventories and reducing handling, warehousing and financing costs and time associated with tracking stocks and movements (Ajami & Goddard, 2006, p.357). This system has been wi dely adopted by American and European firms in the last decade. Although critics of standard costing and variance analysis assert that if performance of purchasing department is evaluated on the basis of purchase price variance then the purchase managers will be motivated to obtain materials at the lowest possible costs which can result in selection of many suppliers on the basis of lowest price, large quantity purchases resulting in larger inventories, low quality goods and indifference towards attainment of on-time delivery. This contradicts the JIT philosophy. Overemphasis on the importance of Direct Labour: The fact that direct labour has lost its importance in modern manufacturing and is a small proportion of the total factory costs, makes the standard costing irrelevant because most of the overhead costs are allocated to the cost centres on the basis of direct labour hours. To reduce their allocated costs the managers try to reduce the direct labour hours which diverts the att ention from controlling the rising overhead costs. This is not an inadequacy of standard costing rather a faulty application of it to rely on volume variances to control short term costs and performance evaluation. Inconsistent with Continuous Improvement Philosophy: The