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The Hagia Sophia was a former Greek Orthodox basilica church, and later became a mosque, and now is a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. It is definitely a architectural beauty. The name means "holy wisdom". It contains two floors centered on a giant nave and has a dome ceiling, with smaller domes that tower above. From 537-1453 it served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral, except between the dates 1204-1261, where it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 1453-1931. It was then opened as a museum in 1935. There are many original parts of this structure, although it has gone through two fires. The first fire occurred in year 404, when rioters burned the church down in protest. The church took 10 years to be re-built. It was burned down again about 100 years later by the Nica Riots. The church was again rebuilt, but then in 1346 the church faced some damage due to an earthquake (Hagia Sophia: Facts, History & Architecture). The Dome of the Rock is a edifice that is located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. According to Jewish belief, Abraham offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. It has also survived earthquakes. The inscriptions on the inside of the dome glorify and praise Islam as the true revelation of the faiths of Judaism and Christianity. The building is not considered a mosque, but a "scared site". It "enshrines" the rock from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. The Dome of the Rock was the first domed shrine to be built, and is considered a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. It's significance stems from religious traditions regarding the rock, also known as the Foundation Stone, which is considered the "heart" of the structure (About Dome of ... ...as crossed boundaries and tested the limits of arts, and has inspired art to tell stories. Technology has definitely changed the way we view art from prehistoric times to now. For example digital art. Modern technology has transformed from more traditional art such as paintings, sculpting, or drawing, and allows artists to use digital technologies in the production of their pieces. Graphic designers are now able to create images through programs through the computer that can't be done by a simple piece of paper. 3D art looks more detailed, and art can often be flawless with the use of technology and computers. So to summarize what I just said, there are many different factors in the evolution of art throughout the years. Cultural change, new materials being used, values, technology, religion, belief systems, increased freedom have contributed to the change of art.

Self Awareness and Opportunity Awareness

I have undertaken 5 classes to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses on various topics associated with employability and careers. The classes use a variety of tests and other methods to analyse me in order to produce reports on each topic. This report will summarise these topics and my conclusions from the classes, as well as reflecting on the exercises and how I found the results and their consequences. Employability Skills Employability skills are one of the most important skills a person can learn. It is one thing having the necessary qualifications for a job, but if you don't have the employability skills required, you will not succeed. From Class 1 on â€Å"Employability Strengths and Weaknesses† I found out that my main strengths were my organisation and work skills. For organisation, the class discovered that my main strengths were setting and reaching targets, prioritising tasks and meeting deadlines. These points are all related and vital at University and also at a job in â€Å"the real world†. Without being able to set targets and accomplish them, nothing would ever get done and in life targets need to be set and reached in order to progress. They can be used to monitor you and see improvement, which is a large benefit. My main weakness in my organisation category is my motivation. Sometimes I can't get motivated into doing a piece of work, but once I start and get flowing, I do it till it's finished. Its one of the areas that I have improved on, but there is still room to develop. For work skills, the class confirmed that I am good at using and applying financial information which I gained and developed at college studying maths and business studies which could open up different types of careers, associated with computing also. My weakness in work is teamwork, but only with something academical. I have no problems team working in a sport or socially, but would often prefer to complete a piece of work individually rather than in a group of people as I get more control in the content. The skill that is my main weakness is my adaptability. My strength in this area is the ability to learn from experiences and develop new strategies for tasks that I experience. My weaknesses in this skill are finding creative solutions to problems and I think this is because overall I am not a particularly creative person. Another weakness in this area is that I am not resilient to change and the exercise states that most of us have this as a weakness but its something that is always going to happen and we need to accept change and thrive upon it. Another possible weakness in this area is transferring skills from one situation to another. The test results for this class state that people often have many skills that they have attained from every day life that they do not realise and these skills can be transferred into University or the work place. To improve in this area I have completed the exercises that are contained within this class and this will help me to identify improvements that can be made so that I can turn weaknesses into strengths to maximise my chances of getting a successful career. For this class, I found that I had done most of the activities before gaining similar results so I didn't actually learn much about myself, rather confirming the thoughts that I previously had. The most beneficial part of this class was getting a summary of each individual area of employability that related to me. It showed a graph as an overview of the skills and then described them in detail, which was really helpful as it stated what I am good at and what needs further work on. Occupational Interests Class 2's aim was to help me identify the nature of occupation that was suitable for me and to learn about why it is important to recognise career preferences for choosing an occupation. The test that I completed in this section didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know. The main point that the test found out was that I am not very artistic, which I have known for a long time and anyone else that knows me will know this also. For the other 5 areas, it found that my interests were divided across the board. Apparently this will lead to a â€Å"conflict† in terms of career choice as â€Å"it may prove difficult to find a career area that satisfies all of my interests†. It implied that my answers may have been incorrect, but I feel this is because the questions were too general and could only be answered with a â€Å"yes† or a â€Å"no†. As this was the case, I answered â€Å"yes† for most questions as I felt that it was either correct or partially so. Due to the format of the questions, I felt the summary of answers was irrelevant and conclusions could not be formed from the questions asked. An improvement to the questions could have been to answer on a scale of 1 to 10 and make conclusions based on the scale; this would have given a more in-depth summary on career interests which would have made it more relevant to each person, rather than general answers. Learning Style & Team Working The aim of class 3 was to identify my role when working in a team and my strengths and weaknesses of team working and my learning style when working alone and in a team. Although I participated in the Belbin method of identifying team roles before, it was in the first week that I was at University and my role has changed over this time as I have became more involved in groups and grown as a person. After completing the test as part of the class, the team role that best suited me was â€Å"Team Worker†. The main points of this role are that I support members in their strengths and improve communications between members and help create team spirit within the group. Qualities in this role contain humility, flexibility, popularity and good listening skills, all of which I believe to have. Weaknesses are a lack of decisiveness and toughness and distaste for friction. When I originally did the Belbin test, I didn't rate it highly and didn't pay much attention to the role it gave me. After completing it this time, I agree with the entire summary and believe the method to be informative and helpful in deciding roles for members within a group in order to get the best out of the team members. Employment Opportunities The main employment opportunity that I have in the near future is the year long industrial placement that takes place after my current year. The industrial placement will refine my employability skills in the workplace and also teach me new skills that will increase my knowledge and level of work ready for the final year and progressing from there onwards. Experience in industry for a year will also increase my job prospects once I leave University, as many jobs now require that people have at least 1 year's experience, but to get experience you need a job. It's a cycle that is hard to enter but the industrial placement joins the cycle and gets that valuable experience required. My current employment is working in a high street electrical store. Working with them has improved my communication and team working skills as I work as part of a small team which requires constant communication for us to function efficiently. As part of a team, we get assigned roles and each role in the team is vital for the running of the store. I took this job mainly to fund myself at University but it has taught me skills that I can transfer into my work and for future jobs and career opportunities. Career Decisions The aim of class 4 was to identify my own decision making style and find out and use two methods of improving the quality of my decision making. Also this class helped to prepare to take appropriate action to progress to career plans. I am a mixture of decision making types, including rational, intuitive and â€Å"please everyone†. I discovered that I tend to collect information about the possibilities and weigh up the pros and cons of each outcome to base my decision upon. Other times, I tend to know intuitively which decision to make. I can often not explain or justify these reasons for choosing a particular decision, but I'm drawn towards it. I also like to please as many people as I can when making a decision. If I have no preference on a decision, or would be pleased with a number of outcomes, I would choose the most popular vote to prevent conflict and make the most people happy. The test on Career Decision Making stated that I have a good idea of where I am heading in career terms and that I may have a good record of successful decisions and a strong idea of what career I wish to enter. I agree with this summary of my career progress but was unsure that the test would come to this justification. In the test, there were only 3 options per question and only 12 questions in total so I was sceptical whether it would come to an accurate decision given the lack of depth of the questions, but seeing as though it proved accurate for me, I cannot fault the process too much. Conclusion These classes have enhanced my knowledge of myself and the current skills that I obtain, and also the skills that I need further development on. Some of the classes have exercises that I have experienced before and weren't particularly useful as they told me nothing new, but they confirmed the results that previous tests had found. Other classes and exercises were new that I hadn't done before showed me my learning style which I hadn't previously known and I found out which team role I belong in, which has changed from the last time I did the exercise 14 months ago. One improvement that could have been made to the course was if there were practical classes, roughly once every 2 weeks that we could attend and get a better idea of what was happening and receive any help if we required it and a physical class would have been easier to keep up to date with the certificate than it all being online. Overall I think that these classes, and exercises within then, have been worthwhile as I ha ve learnt which skills I posses and am good at, and also which skills I need to work on to improve my employability.

A Joint Venture Company - 4118 Words

From the point of view of a general manager in a JVC there are many things to take into account during the day-to-day management. It is likely to be different from normal organization since employees are formed by people from different countries which have different tradition while at the same time the manager has to face possible divergent requirements from the patent companies. Some issues could happen during the short to long run and may have huge impact on the JVC. Therefore solutions and suggestions will be given in order to minimise the impact they have on the long-term survival of the JVC. 2 Employee performance challenges 2.1 Culture differences The creation of a joint venture company (JVC) is to combine forces from two or†¦show more content†¦2.1.1 Building the team Tuckman (1965) suggested that there are 4 stages of development that a team will go through which are forming, storming, norming and performing. The first stage forming is when people come together to get to know each other and try to avoid conflict at the same time. During this stage there should be no obvious issues for the manager because people are just trying to get to know each other and trying to learn what to do next. On the other hand the situation on the following stages could be more challenging. During the storming stage employee will start to have conflict with each other. These conflicts could be caused by differences in culture and working style in previous company where employee may find hard to adopt. If the problems were not fix properly then it is possible that the team can stay together any longer. The third stage is when team members had overcome all the conflicts and members started to bind together where they will be supportive and respect each other. The gener al manager should be alerted at all times even at this stage because may be people compromise only due to the fear of losing their job. They will then reluctant to share ideas that might improve the performance because it might just create another possible conflict. 2.1.2 Employee relation Good employee

Troy Has The Internal Clashes - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1422 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Fences Essay Did you like this example? In Fences by August Wilson, Troy has the internal clashes of managing wild conditions. Racial isolation and bad form for him and his family play a major effect on his life causing a great deal of challenges for the family. In such a significant number of ways Fences is such a customary story, to the point that its capacity originates from the manners by which normal individuals hear and see it. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Troy Has The Internal Clashes" essay for you Create order There is no uncertainty however that the illustration of the fence wins, working its way crosswise over work, family, fellowship and the passionate torment of carrying on with an actual existence truly reliant on junk for survival. This is the thing that Wilson expounded on in his Fences of the 1950s. Everything considered, in any case, it doesnt take a great deal to put a portion of these pieces together once more to make its very own distinction story sorts of wall, wooden, social, monetary. Be that as it may, at that point or now, this story is still about the conventional fizzling of a man who cant make sense of how to escape the container that encompasses him and who along these lines winds up pulling others inside his own fenced in inconveniences and torments. Being a dark man wasnt simple at that point and it is difficult today. August Wilsons Fences was centered around the life of Troy Maxson, an African American man stacked with sharpness towards the world because of the cards he was overseen in life amidst the 1950s. In the play Troy was raised by an inhumane and cruel father, when he expected to twist up a Major League Baseball player he was dismissed because of his race. Troy even served time in prison since he was crushed and required money so he burglarized a bank and ended up killing a man. Troys life was unquestionably not straightforward. In the play Troy and his youngster Cory were encouraged to build a fence around their home by Rose. Normally discovering that divider are used in one of two diverse courses: to keep things outside or to keep things inside. In the play when Cory and Troy fight, Troy indicates Cory out of the house saying, Cory: Tell Mama Ill be back for my things. Troy: Theyll be on the opposite side of that fence. (Henderson) It is in this explicit section that Troy uses the fence physically to address the separating line among Cory and him, yet more expressly the energetic impediment hes put among him and his family. Troy grew up with a brutal father which makes his aggregate energetic carelessness towards his family predictable. In case the man that raised you trained you keep your energetic screen up even with your family, you would in all probability treat your family a comparable way that Troy treated his; with complete eager negligence and expulsion. The fence filling in as impediment could similarly symbolize Troy endeavoring to shield himself from feeling too significantly towards things which could end up astounding him or starting at now have. Regardless of being advanced as the principal black truck driver at his activity, he cant overlook how race shielded him from accomplishing baseball notoriety. Nonetheless, Troy can assemble a reasonable life for his family. Troy is a solid character; however his own shortcomings wind up devastating what he should esteem most, his family. All through the play, there is center around building a fence around the Maxson home; this fence turns into a similitude for Troy and different individuals from his family. While the play is set around building a literal fence, the true focus is on the metaphorical fence for each character (OReilly). For example, when Troy ended up enthusiastic about turning into a Major League Baseball player he endured extraordinary frustration when he was rejected due to his race. It was this life exercise that strengthened Troys childhood of enthusiastic negligence towards things he could develop to either need, love, or feel energetic about like his family and companions. Troys reasoning in building the fence was that in the event that you dont grow an enthusiastic connection to something, it cant hurt you, and he remained by logic till his passing. The fence additionally wound up emblematic of the obstruction Troy needed. Troy needs to manage numerous racial limits for an incredible duration. Despite the fact that he gets an advancement at work when he goes up against them on the shade of the truck drivers, Troy cant give up to the job that race has played in his life. He is reluctant to see that while things may not be immaculate, a few things have changed. Troy additionally sees the fence as an approach to keep somebody from taking what is his. He even undermines passing on the off chance that he crosses the fence. In the showdown, Troy says, Alright . . . Mr. Death. . . Im gonna take and build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side (2.2) Troy makes one more fence when he has an unsanctioned romance. The issue makes a limit with Rose and further extends the break among Troy and Cory. Disregarding all that Troy has continued through his life, the limits he makes inside his family keep him from really having the capacity to carry on with an upbeat life. Roses currently makes a fence that avoids Troy as much as possible. As it were, Troys unfaithfulness gave Rose an approach to get back her very own bit character. After Troys affair, Rose finds her strength in the church (OReilly) She enables Troy to remain, and when his paramour kicks the bucket amid labor, Rose brings up his tyke as her own. Be that as it may, she keeps on avoiding Troy as much as possible. In spite of the fact that she cant keep her family entire, she makes that best of her circumstance. When preparing for Troys funeral, it is Rose who forgiveness for Troy and to remember his good qualities (Overview). lan Nadel trusts that Wilson is putting forth a substantially more political articulation with the similitude of a fence. He sets up his contention with the attestation that. the idea of a fence is inextricable from the idea of property (Nadel). He proceeds in this vein, connecting property to people, connecting people as a type of property to the times of slaveholding. He at that point says that one of the human beliefs of opportunity was in possession; responsibility for. He expresses that in past occasions, Race or skin color was just such a fence. It served to separate blacks from humans, denying blacks the properties of humans and giving to humans property rights over blacks The boundaries were less clear, the fences less sturdy (Nadel). Nadel trusts that lawfully, the Dred Scott choice and the Fugitive Slave Law chose that property rights were all inclusive while human rights were neighborhood. The Mason Dixon line came about because of the Missouri Compromise and was disregarding the fifth change. Along these lines, Nadel states that, these laws and decisions mandated that the humanity of blacks be treated as a metaphor, while their non-humanity-their condition as property-be treated as literal (Nadel). The fence at that point, in August Wilsons Fences, as per Nadel, was the contradicting states of mind held towards blacks amid these occasions, that their opportunity was, not literal but figurative and that. Taking everything into account, Fences is a perfect work of art about an all-encompassing analogy about a Black family. A Black family endeavoring to discover a place for themselves in the late fifties and mid-sixties It is a play about Troy Maxson, who assembles such a significant number of wall around himself that he prevails with regards to estranging himself from everybody he thinks about and from the world that is quickly changing around him. Wilson demonstrates this all the more explicitly by Troys breaking down association with his child, Cory, and his better half, Rose. As Bono stated, Some people build fences to keep people outand other people build fences to keep people in (Wilson, 61 Troy Maxson manufactured them to disconnect himself and to keep out his loved ones the most. Despite the fact that Troy had the propensity for devastating his family in the state of better himself through his outer inconveniences. He did everything through the integrity of heart, in the best goal for his family. Not in the poetical of hurting him.

Schema Of Practitioners And Children With Schemas

this assignment is to introduce and familiarise schemas to practitioners and parents in the early years. Practice guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage makes clear the vital link between schemas and child development and states practitioners should inspire young children as they explore certain patterns of thought or movement , occasionally referred to as schemas ( Louis, S practice guidance for the EYFS,2008 as cited by nursery world ,2011, www.nurseryworld.co.uk.,oct 2014) This assignment is going to show research into certain questions about schemas which will familiarise parents and practitioners making them more knowledgeable about certain aspects of schemas. This research is going to be carried out by using†¦show more content†¦The Coordination’s lead to a high level and a more dominant schema (Athey, 1990). Piaget (1962 citied by nursery world, 2011, www.nurseryworld.co.uk, Oct 14) described schemas as ‘cognitive structures’ in wh ich he understood that children learn through repetition and by repeating again and again they extended the ability to gather and remember information in which they developed knowledge understanding of simple concepts and the world around them. Children may display these patterns in whichever toy or resource they use, they tend to learn best if they are interested in what they are playing with and how they play needs to make sense to them. Not all children are observed to be in a particular schema, some children display more than one schema at a time. There also maybe times when a child’s schema is visible and other times when it is not. The most common schemas which are observed in children are: †¢ Trajectory – moving in or representing straight lines, arches or curves or the movement of objects through the air. †¢ Connecting and disconnecting – connecting themselves to objects and objects to each other and disconnecting, like using sellotape and tying things to each other. †¢ Enclosure – enclosing oneself, an object or space by enclosing themselves with bricks around them. †¢ Enveloping – enveloping or covering oneself, an object or

Managing Diversity Through Human Resource Management free essay sample

The main cause of dissatisfaction and de-motivation, but still, with all the management diversity and equality; globally, women earn 20% to 30% less than man. Implementation of HR diversity policies Many researchers reached to the conclusion that many organizations try to Manage Diversity and has it in their goals and objectives, but unfortunately, few organizations succeeded in implementing the process efficiently. Developing a framework of HR diversity management Diversity culture should be emphasized in organizational vision, mission and business strategy and the HRM strategy.Effective diversity management requires a culture of inclusion that creates a work environment nurturing teamwork, participation and cohesiveness. Strong emphasis has been put on management philosophy that is committed to EEO, AA and appreciating and making use of diversity at the strategic level. Measuring Diversity would be in the initiation phase, followed by periodic audits to identify the areas that need improvement. One affective tool for this step is benchmarking. We will write a custom essay sample on Managing Diversity Through Human Resource Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 1.Recruitment and selection: Human resource professionals and line managers who recruit and interview job seekers in a multicultural workforce need to be aware of the ways in which the interviewers’ beliefs, attitudes, and stereotypes influence interview behavior. 2. Training Development: Awareness training builds a common understanding of the value of diversity, assisting in building social cohesion so that it improves individual and organizational outcomes. Critical to the success of education and training is the important step of linking training to the strategic objectives of the organization. Professional development and career planning is another area where discrimination is visible and needs careful attention while designing diversity management policies. If the HR practices concerning career progression do not effectively reflect diversity issues, diverse employees would have negative perceptions of the whole process. 3. Performance Appraisal: Including non-traditional managers on the appraisal panels can help to create objective criteria and fair performance appraisal practices.When conducting appraisals, the language of appraisal should focus on the individual’s performance and not on the personality or race. Hence, the aim should be to make the appraisal as culturally neutral as possible. 4. Pay: Empirical evidence suggests that the compensation structure, the wage determinants and the benefit schemes should be designed not only on common principles but also considering individuals in terms of their ability, knowledge and skill. An individual-driven remuneration system facilitates individual lifestyles and further promotes diversity.To implement HR diversity practices, scholars also placed strong emphases on educating employees to understand diversity principles and accept their responsibilities, developing identity-based networking groups and targeting communications to different affinity group members. Conclusion As a conclusion, this document mainly stresses on the implications of HR diversity management in the world. Despite the fact that all organizations are aware of the benefits behind managing diversity; few were able to implement it in the most efficient way.Most organizations believe in its benefits and set it as a rule in their mission statement, goals and ob jectives. Unfortunately, research has proven that the implication in recruitment, training development, performance appraisal and pay are still biased. In my opinion, the implementation would be the hardest part and the main role will be in the hands of the HR manager because he has to create an organizational culture that accepts and believes in the benefits of this approach. The benefits highlighted should be on an individual, team, organizational and societal level.

The Evolution of the Language of Cinema free essay sample

As far as Bazin’s essay â€Å"The Evolution of the Language of Cinema† might be used as a formal test of categorisation—notwithstanding the problematics inherent in his oversimplification of the realist and expressionist methodology—initial viewing of Jules et Jim seems to present a dichotomous structure. Certainly, a number of Bazin’s criteria for realism are met: camera movement; long-takes; composition-in-depth. and deep focus; a certain ambiguity of meaning. Similarly, several of Bazin’s criteria for expressionism also can be found: there is spatial and temporal discontinuity; editing is used for artistic effect; reality is augmented to create a world only vaguely like our own, and so on. The dichotomy though is only apparent. The over-all effect created by Truffaut shows Jules et Jim belonging more comfortably in the expressionistic domain; and, as we shall discover, devices which would normally—at least according to Bazin—deliver the effect of realism are utilised by Truffaut as tools of expressionism. We will write a custom essay sample on The Evolution of the Language of Cinema or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In our analysis of Jules et Jim, rather than examine fleetingly the whole gamut of expressionistic techniques, we shall instead explore in some detail the more important methods, paying particular attention to temporal and spatial distortions, editing and montage, special visual effects, and finally discover the manner in which Bazin’s archetypal techniques of realism—long-takes and composition-in-depth. —are recast. Certainly one of the most striking features of Jules et Jim is temporal distortion. Truffaut utilises this effect by various means and for various purposes. In the first two minutes of the film, time is condensed in two ways: by the third person narrative, which encapsulates the film’s exposition in the most laconic of terms, describing the meeting and developing friendship of Jules and Jim, and also by the selective images which largely avoid redunant description of the aural narrative, but instead seek to interpret and compliment. Accordingly, when the narrator tells us that Jules is a foreigner in Paris; that he wants to go to an art student’s ball; and that Jim gets him a ticket and costume, the image we are offered is a simple one of the two playing dominoes. This image, incidentally, becomes a leitmotif in the film, supporting the theme of friendship and is touchingly varied much later when Jules plays instead with his daughter. Next, the narrator tells us that their friendship grows; the ball takes place; that Jules has tender eyes. The overlaid image though is of Jules and Jim hunting for a costume. It is interesting to note here that Truffaut not only condenses time, as already described, but creates a temporal duality, for the narrator has reached a moment subsequent to the ball, whilst we still watch the two friends costume hunting. This is the first instance of dual time lines, but it is often repeated. Simply stated, the audio narrative—and on other occasions the dialogue of the character—provides a temporal foundation that allows great visual freedom. The expressionistic effect of this temporal condensation and duality combined with the third person narrative is to produce a story book quality, as if we are presented not with real life but with a real story. This quality is underlined by the frequent story telling of the characters’. More precisely, the initial style created by this method has a simplistic quality much like a children’s story: the narration avoids hyperbole and treats exposition as bare-bones plot. Like a child having a story read to him, Truffaut provides us with the filmatic equivalent—though an equivalent which in many ways has greater potential—and we are allowed to look at the pictures, even when the story—narration—has advanced beyond their range. As well as temporal condensing and duality, Truffaut also makes use of temporal displacement. An early example of this occurs when Jules and Jim meet up with the anonymous anarchist’s girlfriend. The sequence begins with the girl running out of the frame to the left. The camera pans and we see her running away in a shot composed with shallow depth of field, with Jules and Jim out of focus in the distance. Another cut, this time bringing us in front of the girl. Again the camera pans, this time as the girl approaches. Another cut brings us in front of Jules and Jim. We begin to see the establishment of a pattern of shots in this sequence: cutting, panning, cutting, moving ahead, panning and so on. The rhythm produced by the combination of camera movement and editing reinforces the temporal rhythm; but when the girl finally links arms with Jules and Jim and they set off running, the next cut not only brings us spatially ahead of the figures, as the rhythm caused us to anticipate, but temporally ahead: the scene has suddenly changed, with buildings becoming a fence and bushes. To reinforce the visual cues regarding the discontiguous time, the thread of causality is now shown to be broken: we now see and hear the three inexplicably laughing. Temporal displacement continues: the next cut shows the three seated in a carriage, though the laughter—on the soundtrack only—from the previous shot continues. Once again, the effect of this temporal tampering is to create a simple story-book world in which only the essentials are included. Truffaut though makes other use of temporal distortion. In the slide viewing scene, for example, when Albert shows Jules and Jim a picture of the bewitching statue, the slow rhythm established by Albert manually changing slides one by one is suddenly broken when we jump rapidly from one slide to the next, with the time taken to change slides cut. The realism of the moment is similarly broken. This disruption shocks us and our suspension of disbelief is briefly forfeit. At once we are aware that this is a film we watch. A work of art. At the same time the film screen—upon which the film art (Jules et Jim) is displayed—presents us with the slide screen—upon which the photographic art (the slide) is displayed—which itself shows a sculpted work of art (the statue). This is an early example of the film’s preoccupation with art and film in particular, which becomes sometimes almost self-reflexive. Another example of this reverie for art which profits from temporal manipulation occurs when Jules shows Jim photographs of his old girl friends. We see the photographs passed, yet the close ups to which we cut show Jim’s hands conspicuous by there absence. Indeed, the pictures are framed entirely in darkness, as works of art which exist in an entirely different temporal and spatial plane. Elsewhere, Truffaut presents old film footage in what seems a glorification of the medium’s ability to immortalise. The art theme aside, the temporal jump we witness with the slide show also serves to underline the importance of the moment. Truffaut, throughout Jules et Jim, uses various techniques—montage, freeze frame, rapid zoom etc. —to draw our attention to significant â€Å"hot spots. † Like a sudden cymbal crash in a romantic musical passage, these techniques demand our attention. Even when Truffaut maintains temporal continuity, we might still witness the unexpected: Certainly there is no lack of causality when Jules and Jim voyage to the Adriatic in search of the statue they saw on the slide. But it is the suddenness of their arrival that takes our breath away: from a close-up of the statue’s lips we cut to Jules and Jim on that far away island. And if this seems an unlikely hunt, we should recall the context is a stylised world, a story book world, an expressionistic world where wonderful and strange things do indeed come to pass. To turn now from temporal to spatial distortion: an early example of this takes place when Catherine, Jules and Jim race across the bridge. The main purpose of this scene is character exposition, showing Catherine’s willingness to cheat—she is already cheating her femininity by dressing as a man—in order to attain her goals. When we see the three of them at the beginning of the bridge, bending to a starting position, with Catherine’s subsequent darting ahead of time, there is a sudden cut which reveals the figures now displaced. The race no longer starts at the beginning of the bridge but at least a third of the way down. And so we see a sympathy between the film—the form that Truffaut creates—and the characters in the film: where Catherine cheats in the race by changing the time of the start, the film itself cheats in the race by changing the place of the start. We shall later examine another example of this sympathy of form for content, but it should be noted with this minor example that it produces something which is not limited by realism, for it creates two realities: the one in the film and the other of the film. The next technique we shall examine is editing and montage. Like temporal and spatial distortion, this, according to Bazin, is a fundamental component of expressionism. It should come as no surprise then—at least from the standpoint of this thesis—that it forms an integral part of Jules et Jim. Indeed, it might be said to be the most important—numerically at least— stylistic device in the film. Truffaut make many and varied use of editing and montage. We shall examine first the way in which montage creates a narrative effect similar to, though in the absence of, the third person narrative1. One characteristic example is the dress burning episode. The sequence begins with a long-take, composed in depth, with little activity. Jim moves Catherine’s bicycle and does other bits of business. The pace then is deliberately slow. Catherine takes a pile of letters and says she wishes to burn lies. From the moment the words are blurted, the montage sequence proper begins. In contrast to the plodding long-take, we now cut rapidly from one brief shot to another, constantly changing angles; and in the space of twenty-four seconds we see twenty separate shots. The short shots are hand held, and the additional movement of the camera augments the excitement created by the fast paced montage. But nothing has actually happened. Catherine is still simply setting light to the papers on the floor. It is the montage which, like the now absent narrator, warns us that something will happen. Once the dress is alight, the danger is no longer potential but actual. The short shots continue with rapid pans and tilts, the montage serving now to intensify our impression of danger. But because the danger was first suggested and then maintained by a stylistic device, and since it comes from what must be an omniscient source and portrays a symbolic action—Catherine burning lies—we begin to realise that this montage speaks of a more ominous and far reaching danger than the one we see: the danger Catherine must face when stripped of her protective pretence, when she must finally confront absolute truth which fails to conform to her idealised image. The danger of burning lies then, the narrative of montage tells us, is the danger of absolute truth. Another important example of montage as narrative occurs when Catherine throws herself off the bridge in mock suicide. Again we see rapid cutting, with five shots—this time static—in the space of only two seconds. There is also a brief temporal displacement, as the fourth shot begins prior to the conclusion of the third. Since this sequence comes one third of the way into the film, our fluency in the stylistic language of Jules et Jim has reached a point sufficient to grant immediately comprehension. Perhaps we are unsure of the specifics, but we understand that this is at least a key moment and that foreshadowing is the likely translation. Truffaut also uses similar â€Å"visible† editing as an associative device. The most striking example begins with the slide show, which we examined as an example of temporal discontiguity. The static and rapidly changing front and side shots of the statue in the slide sequence is repeated when Jules and Jim finally study the actual statue. After a peculiar and ominous tilt and extremely rapid zoom into the shower rail above Jules and Jim, we are finally presented with Catherine. The same short takes and rapidly changing front and side shots which describe the statue are again employed here. Besides fashioning a thematic link, the montage here also continues the ominousness begun at the conclusion of the previous shower scene. At this point, and for some time to come, Catherine is clearly defined as an objet d’art. Note also how she presents herself on the patio at the sea-side house, first serious then smiling, as a model in varied poses. This demonstrates another instance of sympathy of form for content: since Catherine presents herself as a model, the film, in sympathy, treats her as one, with each pose held in a freeze frame: each pose rendered a framed picture. Catherine then, as that objet d’art, is to be admired and praised and glorified. It is only when Jules and Jim begin to know her that she becomes a Queen, and must then, in addition, be obeyed. Catherines car tumbling over the broken bridge offers our final example of associative montage. Using an almost identical method: static shots, rapid cuts, varied angles, this scene is linked through montage to the very early episode when Catherine jumped from the Parisian bridge. Because of their great separation in time—though as we have seen, time as a stream of causality is far from overflowing its banks in this world where there seems little physical evidence of the characters ageing—the connection of these two events both in relation to the mise-en-scene and montage makes a final allusion to the â€Å"whirlpool† quality of life. This â€Å"whirlpool† interpretation is, of course, Catherine’s and finds expression in her song which, characteristically, is about herself and which all three men, Jules and Jim and Albert, believe is written from their point of view! The whirlpool analogy suggests an existence which turns and repeats past events in slight variation—a view which the content and form of the film seems to uphold. To sum up: the above examples of what we have called narrative montage in essence allude to aspects of character, future events or information which exists not entirely in the mise-en-scene or dialogue alone, and offers further evidence of the expressionistic tendency of Jules et Jim. Special visual effects are clearly an affirmation of Bazin’s â€Å"faith in the image† of expressionism. One particularly moving example of this occurs at the garden party when Catherine is first introduced. After some interesting shots of feet which describe the sexual motivations of Jim: â€Å"Jim’s foot stayed near Catherines. She moved hers away first†; and the more heart centred nature of Jules: â€Å"Jules was happy and moved his feet away†; the picture fades to black with the exception of a rectangular frame which isolate Jules and Catherine. This continues the art and photographic glorification theme, but more particularly is a foreshadowing of their marriage. A very similar effect is created when Jules and Jim look out of the cabin window into the night. â€Å"Listen to that mole cricket. It’s like a mole,† Jules comments. The night scene then fades entirely to black. The next shot fills only the top right corner of the screen—the rest remaining black. It shows the hill on which Jules lives. The darkness with light at one end suggests a tunnel-like view. The juxtaposition of the shot and the previous comment suggests a mole tunnel. The house on the hill becomes a mole hill. The implication then is that Jules has burrowed his way into seclusion and security—and away from the light and excitement and danger which Catherine craves. 2 Other interpretations are possible—and indeed likely; the point is that from such stylistic devices comes the ambiguity of Jules et Jim, not from Bazin’s composition-in-depth. We have, of course, examined only a few of the expressionistic techniques and examples which fill Jules et Jim like a myriad of brush strokes on canvas. We turn now though to the long-take and composition-in-depth, traditionally the devices of realism. Firstly, the greatest number of long-takes and the most important compositions in depth occur, notably, as the film developes. This fact alone is enough to suggest that their purpose is something other than affecting realism. Even if we borrow an interpretation that agrees such scenes do lend realism, the question remains: how real a world is it that displays only sparodic reality? It seems clear that their purpose is not so much for realism per se, but to create a number of effects: to demonstrate a harmony with the almost pastoral scenes; to provide a change in mood and tone, for the film slips ever more into a sombre, pensive, meditative and tragic state; as a sypathetic response to the character with special emphasis on their situations. When Jules and Catherine and Jim are reunited in the cabin after the war, we see a number of longish takes composed in depth, sometimes intercut with shot and reverse shots. The effect, despite the occasional cuts, is of smoothly passing time. But the realism of temporal continuity and spatial depth is used not as an end in itself, but as a means of intensifying and demonstrating the discomfort they now feel together. The dialogue itself confirms this as they make strained small talk about time. After so many short-takes, the long-take now has the effect of time slowed down, with every awkward moment stretched out and made more awkward. Further, Jules and Jim have changed. Jules no longer smokes; Jim does. Jules takes a drink; Jim does not. Jules has a new interest in biology; Jules does not. Most of all, Jules has a wife . . . Just as temporal continuity becomes an expressionistic device here, enhancing reality in sympathy with emotions of the characters, rather than simply displaying it, so too does the spatial realism. Its realistic effect is indeed manifest, but Truffaut, by executing rapid pans from one character to another, intensifies their individual dialogues. Thus, when Jules says, â€Å"So you won the war, you louse,† the subsequent rapid pan to Jim emphasises the chasm that now separates them. Their opposition, though the war is over, to some degree remains still. When Jim pointedly responds, â€Å"Yes, but I’d rather have won this,† we pan again rapidly to Jules and his daughter and then to Catherine. Also, the triangle, already graphically displayed at the sea-side house when they each stand at the sun drenched windows, is again graphically drawn, though here in a less concrete medium: the triangle is etched in three-dimensional space by the rapid movement of the camera. It is the speed of the movement that not only serves to demonstrate their distance from each other, but also to draw our attention to that movement and thus make the line it draws graphically clear. In another episode at the cabin, a sequence of long-takes provides a number of interesting effects, least of which is realism. It begins with Catherine endlessly listing wines. At the same time Jules talks about a shell falling down steps. Catherine rises, moves to the door and says, â€Å"Catch me. † Jim obeys. None of these events, besides Jim’s compliance, have any causal rapport. The fact that this all occurs in a long-take underlines the breakdown in causality, the strangeness of it all, for nothing clearly can have been cut. After the pointless chase, another long-take begins. It adds to the tranquillity of the night and the sombreness of the darkness. After almost three minutes there is a cut: a break. The break occurs because Catherine was both literally and metaphorically left behind. During her walk with Jim she has paused while he continued. The spatial distance is an expression of temporal distance: she has reached a happy moment in the history she recounts and is briefly lost in the pleasant moment of the past. It is the moment when â€Å"Jules wrote wonderful love letters. † The break between Catherine and Jim and between Catherine and the present—Jules—is made concrete by the break in the long-take. There is no other purpose, for as they come together and the walk in the present continues, the long-take is resumed. As we have seen then, not only is the overall effect of Jules et Jim expressionistic, but most of the specific devices are intended to maintain that effect. Truffaut’s aim in Jules et Jim is not so much Bazin’s much aclaimed true to life realism, which exhorts the banishment of such dainty devices as symbolism and the metaphors created by montage, but an expressionism redolent of literature which extols such devices. He creates a world distorted by personal emotion, using the language of image in the quintessential terms of expressionism: to express feelings rather than to represent stark reality. He creates a simplified, stylised world by temporal manipulation; directs our interpretation by the subtle subtext of narrative and associative montage; makes delicate points by special visual effects. But above all he treats the characters and situations of Jules et Jim with a sympathy which is demonstrated in the relationship between form and content. Sources Cited Truffaut, Francois Jules et Jim 1962 Notes: 1 By referring to montage as narrative I mean any additional message, inference or even association which his imbued in the montage itself. I realise that this interpretation stretches credulity to the breaking point. In its defence I can only mention that it did not actually break and still remains in one piece.