The wembley national stadium

The wembley national stadium   Introduction It was built to be the new ‘home of football; to be one of the largest and magnificent stadiums in the world and designed to be state-of-the-art with a seating capacity of 90,000. Designed by the World Stadium Team led by Mott MacDonald, the Wembley Stadium now stands as the most expensive stadium ever built, the longest single-span roof structure in the world (315m), second largest stadium in Europe and the tallest in the world (133m) with every seat under roof cover.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The concept was to build a state-of-the-art stadium, with none that can compare anywhere else in the world. The new stadium has a partly retractable roof which can be adjusted to allow sunlight to reach all parts of the pitch. During bad weather, the roof can be retracted in about 15 minutes to cover every seat (http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley/).  £120 million from the Lottery Fund was invested into the stadium with an additional loan of  £426 million through West Deutsche Landesbank. A fixed price contract was reached between the client and contractors. This made provision for a building cost of  £352 million and total project costs of  £757 million (Public Accounts Committee, 2004). However, like most iconic construction projects of national interest, the Wembley project was not spared its own share of controversies, accusations, rumours, anxieties and fascination. The Football Association (FA) must have imagined a spectacular 2006 FA Cup grand finale, the biggest UK soccer championship at Wembley National Stadium. Unfortunately, this important event had to be moved all the way to Wales! What was wrong? Wembley Stadiums extraordinarily ambitious re-development was utterly behind schedule.The project later opened in March 2007, almost a year behind schedule and  £70million over budget and has since then kept some of the finest construction lawyers in constant employment. The Wembley Stadium concept was definitely ambitious and the product stands now impressively. Even more breathe taking is the 133m arch which when lit up at night shinning gloriously, and can even be seen across London. Wembley has indeed become Englands new icon of football. The client for the project was the Football Association (FA) working through its subsidiary the Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL). The main contractor was Multiplex Constructions with Mott MacDonald being the Lead Designers. The project used two project advisors; Tropus at the initial stages (1997-2001) and Capita Symonds (2001-2006). The initial steel contractor was Cleveland Bridge Problems During The Project A litany of problems can be identified that bedevilled the construction of the Wembley Stadium mainly adversarial contracts, unreasonable risk allocation, cash-flow problems, design changes, poor performance, poor site management and litigations. These are presented in details below: Delays and indecisiveness even before the project begun: Plans for a new stadium were beset with delays, management problems and increasing costs since December 1996. The designs were revealed   in 1999 and the stadium should have been completed in 2003 but the work itself started only in September 2002 due to many political and financial problems. The project was finally rescheduled to complete in May 2006 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2119413.stm).   Design Problems: Multiplex argued that ‘Mott MacDonald`s design for the Wembley steel work was not fit for purpose and that the initial designs were not correct, constructible, co-ordinated and consistent. It further stated that Mott MacDonalds deficient design, failure to warn and/or take action is shown in many thousands of individual acts or omissions (Technology and Construction Court (TCC), 2006).   Scope Creep: The initial scope was to accommodate athletics, rugby and football in the same stadium. This later became very controversial and resulted in the removal of athletics from the scheme in 1999, because of the technical and commercial challenges of accommodating the three sports within the same stadium. In December 2001, the scope was further changed with the removal of a hotel from the project, the expansion of hospitality suites and considerable changes to the north side of the stadium bowl. This took the Mott Consortium 7-8 months to redesign. These changes increased the cost of the project especially in steel works (TCC, 2006). Procurement Issues: In the conclusions of Public Accounts Committee (Eighth Report of Session 2003-04), it stated that â€Å"Best procurement practice has not been followed on what is a high profile project Organisations responsible for managing projects should be expected to set out a formal procurement process, which treats all bidders equally to avoid giving any one a potential advantage over the others.† It further criticised Wembley National Stadium Limited for failing to follow a detailed and overt formal procurement process and having dialogue with Multiplex prior to starting the procurement process. A report by former Wembley project manager Tropus, said ‘the appointment was made with undue speed. The James Report also concluded that there had ‘been serious flaws in the procurement policies.'(James Report, 2002) Poor Communication: Apart from the major changes in the scope of the works, Multiplexlamented not given access to vital design information which made them underprice the steelwork. Mott on the other hand thought â€Å"Multiplex was aware of the state of design, having managed the design process and having been intimately involved in the design work.†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (Wembley Stadium into Injury Time, 2002) Poor Planning and organisation: A lot of decisions seem to have been made hastily. No wonder several changes had to be made at later stages. When it became a prime objective to finish the project in time for the FA Cup finale in May 2006, efficiency and cost effectiveness became secondary issues. In my opinion, a lot of problems could have been avoided if Multiplex did not have to rush the job to meet unrealistic deadlines. Multiplex claims that it has sustained significant losses as a result of a multitude of breaches of contract and/or acts of negligence by the consultant, which had far-reaching effects for Wembley (TCC, 2006; Baloch, 2008). Disputes and disagreements: Cleveland Bridge (CB), the steel contractor terminated their   contract   in 2004 because they did not believe they would be paid for materials and that there were seemingly insurmountable difficulties between them and Multiplex. A sustained input from a steelwork subcontractor could have greatly influenced the timely completion of the project but eventually CB had to be replaced with all attending problems of a new project team member. Health and Safety problems: In March 2006, a temporary roof support fell by over half resulting in the evacuation of all construction workers and delay of work. Another accident occurred January 2004 resulting in the death of one construction worker and the injury of another when a platform collapsed without warning, trapping the men underneath (http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley/) Poor Performance by Cleveland Bridge: Delays were caused by CB as not all the steel sent to China could be fabricated in time to comply with the programme. So the steel sent to China was often shipped back to England with   most not fabricated. Furthermore the steel sent to site was often missing crucial pieces (meaning it could not be erected) or else was untagged with the consequence that site staff could not identify the relevant pieces of steel (TCC, 2006). Poor Supervision by Sports England: The Government was less than happy with the level of supervision offered by Sport England. It stated that â€Å"Sport   Englands performance in monitoring the progress of the project has been lack, slovenly and supine.† This ultimately resulted in supply team missing the focal point of the project right from the beginning and before long, a lot was out of hand (Wembley Stadium into Injury Time, 2002). Poor Stakeholder management: In a statement by The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, it blamed some of the problems encountered on the project on poor stakeholder management. It said, â€Å"the project had been undermined by the ‘fundamental failure to include all representatives at the outset in planning the redevelopment† (www.publications.parliament.uk). The resignation of Ken Bates in 2001 as chairman of WNSL gives a further hint. He cited a lack of support from the board and that he had been undermined by senior figures within both the government and the FA. He remarkably said, Even Jesus Christ only had one Pontius Pilate I had a whole team of them. (www.forbes.com). The Problems Encountered: The Role Of Project Management Project Management (PM) is the â€Å". . . application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to achieve project requirements.† (PMBoK, 2004). This same theme runs through other standards for PM including BS6079 and ISO 10006. Suffice it for now to say that PM is the managerial responsibility and actions involved in completing a project on time, in budget and to the specified quality standards, in accordance with the traditional performance criteria. The role of PM in the Wembley project will now be appraised under some of the key knowledge areas identified in the PMBoK. Project Scope Management This involves developing a scope statement that will define the boundaries of the project and verify the amount of work to be done. PM uses such tools as brainstorming, fast diagrams, Value Management workshops to define the project. This is because if you have the wrong definition, you may come up with the right solution—to the wrong problem!(Lewis, 2007). If scope definition is not holistically carried out, major changes such as those experienced on Wembley may occur later and cause delays, cost variations leading to claims and litigations. This, I believe, was the ‘akiles heel of this iconic project. Where change becomes inevitable, PM should manage them to protect the project from the effects of scope creep. Wembley failed in this area resulting in the considerable cost and time overruns. Lewis (2007) rightly said, â€Å"I have become convinced that projects seldom fail at the end. Rather, they fail at the definition stage.† Project Time Management PM adorns itself with yet another accolade of being able to effectively estimate time frame for projects realistically and defining work packages and milestone to achieve this target. It employs one of its popular tools of Critical Path Method and scheduling in this respect. Many softwares including Primavera and MS Project have also been developed to helped in the management of time. Kaming (1997), Elinwa (2001) and Aibini (2006) however reveal that the occurrence of time overruns is high and that overruns can occur of projects irrespective of its size. Wembley was no exception. Some of the disputes, changes, cash flow problems, design problems etc. that caused resulted in the project being delivered in 10 months late and the subsequent changing of the FA Cup finals to Wales could have been avoided through effective project time management. PM should have helped to come out with a realistic duration for the project. Project Cost Management This involves estimating the cost of all resources and such things as travel and other support details. After this is done, costs are budgeted and tracked to keep the project within that budget (Rad, 2002). This is very important in PM as the first question most clients ask is ‘how much will it cost? It is the duty of the PM to realistically determine what it will cost to achieve a particular scope. The tough question then arises. Was Wembleys initial cost of  £445million realistic? Why did cost rise astronomically to  £757million at completion? The project even had to be stalled ‘into injury time just to seek additional funding. Why couldnt PM prevent this? Much of the blame lies squarely on PMs failure to realistically estimate cost at conception. Project Communications Management â€Å"This is the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and disposition of project information.† (PMBoK, 2004). Multiplexclaims it was not given access to vital design information and that this led to increased steelwork costs. Mott MacDonald on the other hand dismisses this saying, â€Å"Multiplex was aware of the state of design, having managed the design process and having been intimately involved in the design work† (TCC, 2006). PM is supposed to create a smooth communication interface between all parties to forestall these misunderstandings. Project Procurement Management This helps in selecting the most appropriate contractors and suppliers, administers the contract as well as form the best working relationships between all parties to achieve project goals. The Public Accounts Committee (2003-04), stated that â€Å"Best procurement practice has not been followed on what is a high profile project† PM should have also salvaged the problem between Mott, Cleveland and Multiplex before it got out of hand, resulting in Cleveland walking away from the project with its attending problems. More also, it is known that competitive tendering and cost as a selection criteria has produced poor results in construction over the years and PM should have helped in designing the best procurement approach to prevent the problems (Egan, 1998). The contract used for the project was fixed cost method in which the client cleverly shirks risk to the contractor. This form of contract invariably results in creating an adversarial environment with where each party   involved focuses their attentions on the needs and risks of their businesses as opposed to those of the project (Morriss, P. and Hollis, A., 2005).This may well be another area that grossly affected the results on Wembley and effective PM should have prevented this. Stakeholder Management: Freeman and McVea (2001) describe this function as â€Å"looking out from the firm or project and identifying, and investing in all the relationships that will ensure long-term success.† At concept stage, this is used to collect views of all interested parties, especially those of end users who usually hold vital information that may be critical to the design, function and success of a project. If this was effectively done, it would have prevented the acrimony that grew between some of the contractors and would have saved the project from unnecessary delays and increased cost of replacing Cleveland Bridge. It would have helped to produce the best fitting design as well as sort out the fact that athletics, football and rugby in the same venue would present a lot of technical and functional difficulties at the design stage saving the project from about 8 months of redesign. Site Management: Chan (1997) showed that out of 8 group factors that caused delays in construction projects, poor site management and supervision was amongst the top five. The accusations and counter-accusations during the hearing at the Technology and Construction Court between Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge gives us yet another glimpse into an area of failure of PM on Wembley. The site was poorly managed as it was littered with random pieces of steel that had been delivered in the wrong order and a significant quantity of steel was sitting on trailers adjacent to the site or around the perimeter. This had the potential of disrupting flow of activities and even causing accidents (TCC, 2006). The Actions And Measures That Should Have Been Taken The influential Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) reports called for new approaches to construction- one in which client leadership is key and where there is greater collaborative working between firms within the construction supply chain. Egan summarised five key drivers of change namely committed leadership; a focus on the customer; integrated processes and teams; a quality driven agenda; and a commitment to people. Some of the necessary actions and measures that should have been taken is now presented below: Key Client Leadership: The new Terminal Five at Heathrow is a widely acclaimed example of current construction best practice. The approach was unique and tailored to the very needs of the project i.e. the client took a level of ownership of project thus creating a clear vision for how it wanted the project delivered and also staying close enough to the project from inception to completion (Brady, 2008). Latham (1994) recommended that â€Å"the client should be at the core of the construction process† because â€Å"clients [essentially] drive best practice.† Egan (1998). The Client in the Wembley Stadium project was the Football Association and thus should have: 1. stayed close enough to the project, monitoring it and to make sure things dont go out of hand; 2. ensured that major changes to the scope of works was frozen at a particular point on the project or avoided altogether. These changes often result in dispute, delays and extra expense; 3. made sure that adequate funding was secured for the project before it even begun and that the estimation of both time and cost were realistically carried out; 4. come out with clear, concise, realistic and unambiguous objectives at the conception of the project involving all necessary stakeholders so that major changes, such as those that were experienced, could be avoided; 5. shared in risk of development/construction rather than cleverly shoving it to contractors. The â€Å"Heathrow Method†: Terminal 5 was an audacious development project that involved more than 60 contractors and 16 major projects. British Airways Authority (BAA) adopted a unique approach to the project to make sure it is completed both on time and within budget. It used â€Å"an innovative form of cost-reimbursable contract the ‘T5 Agreement under which BAA holds all the risks associated with the project rather than transferring the risks to external suppliers and guarantees a level of proï ¬ t for suppliers.† (Brady, 2008). The Agreement included an incentive payment for contractors that achieved a certain level of performance. It decided to reimburse the costs of delivery and to reward exceptional performance and punish mediocre and poor performance only in terms of proï ¬ tability. This created some sort of win-win environment for all parties and motivated the contractors to focus their attention   on the needs of the project and collectively so lve problems rather than concentrate on their own business risks and interests. These are the fundamental reasons why T5 achieved the laudable success of staying within budget and cost at completion. Cleveland would not have walked out of the job if it was given firm assurance of re-imbursement of cost incurred. The contracts should have been designed with an approach that offered incentives to all, for improvement in cost, time or quality and not in an adversarial environment associated with fixed cost contracts. Integrating the Supply chain: Both Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) underscored the importance of using integrated teams to realise project goals. The T5 approach used by BAA combined two main principles: the client always bears the risk; and partners are worth more than suppliers. ‘It provides an appropriate environment for integrated team working [†¦] to enable suppliers to work effectively and focus on meeting the projects objectives not only in relation to the traditional time, budget, and quality measures but also in relation to safety and environmental targets (Brady, 2008). ‘By doing that you take away negativity, allow space for innovation and create any opportunity for people to perform at levels they havent been allowed to before (Mylius, 2005). Involvement of end users: End users often hold vital information as they are usually in a better position to comment on the detailed requirements for a building than senior management who may not even be the occupants of the building when it is completed. After all, the users have first hand experience of what makes a building successful or otherwise (Menches, 2008). By the use of such methods as   focus groups, value management workshops and major surveys, the issue of athletics, rugby and football in the same venue could have been resolved even before any detailed design and thus eliminating the extensive delays and cost implications it had on the project (Barrett, P., and Stanley, C., 1999). Use of a Project bank: In an attempt to integrate project teams in an atmosphere of trust, collaboration and openness, the National Audit Office (NAO) of the UK suggested the   use of a project bank account. To ensure better construction, it said, ‘suppliers [require] greater certainty that they will be paid on time to re-enforce the trust that should exist between all parties for collaborative working to operate effectively. This was endorsed by the Specialist Contractors who indicated that ‘payments for the project delivery team should be protected and secure, which would, in turn, significantly reduce disputes and, more importantly, will encourage closer working relationships between all parties. (Parliamentary Newsletter, Issue 3, Spring/Summer 2006). Best Project Management Practice: At the execution level, much of the problems that occurred on the project could have been avoided or its impact attenuated if best project management practice was adopted by all especially Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge. Problems of poor site management practice, poor or incorrect fabrication of steel, design change management and communication could have been arrested with proper planning, organisation and control. Careful Monitoring: Projects rarely stay on track in terms of time and cost. the more likely occurrence is that projects will be behind schedule yet over budget at any point in time. Good project management carefully and critically appraises all factors that a likely to push a project off schedule (Office of Government Commerce, 2005). Monitoring progress carefully and instigating timely corrective actions by both WNSL, Multiplex as well as the FA, would have helped identify the likely impact of any problems so that action can be taken to get the project back on track. Conclusion Experience is a great asset to professionals practicing in any discipline, whether that experience comes from success or failure and whoever fails to learn from his mistakes is doomed to repeat them. Some of the key lessons on Wembley Stadium is thus now summarised below:   Adequate time and effort needs to be invested in the strategic planning phase of every project to come out with clear, realistic, and unambiguous project objectives;   Project team must engage effectively with users and other external stakeholders especially at the concept stage of any scheme to save the project from major changes with its attending problems;   Construction procurement must move away from competitive tendering and cost as the selection criteria and develop procedures that use performance and team partnering and capability;   Contracts must be designed to provide incentive to all for cost and time improvement and also forge a ‘win-win environment between clients and supply chain members;   Enough resources have to be made available for the project based on realistic estimates;   Clients must assume central roles in projects for they essentially drive best practice;   Continual change in project requirements and scope can be very detrimental for the project;   Dysfunctional relationships and fragmentation can turn a perfect project scheme into a complete chaos and thus project teams must operate as a cohesive unit, with clear allocation of roles and responsibilities. Finally, it is evident, at least from the Wembley Stadium project that a poor knowledge and a lack awareness of the fundamental project management skills by the client can lead to failure as clients essentially drive best practice. An effective and successful outcome of project management on any project in most cases will only be achieved if both the client and the contractor or project management organisations are effective in the skills of project management. A poor client organisation, in terms of project management, may well drive a good project manager and his team into poor performance. Agreeably, it may not be a panacea due to many circumstances and occurrences that may well be out of its control. However, Project Management stands the chance of producing laudable results if the construction industry stopped treating it casually and unprofessionally but rigorously apply the great worth of knowledge and experience its gathered over the past years, through both its success and failure stories. References 1. Aibinu, A.A et al (2006), Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, volume 132, Issue 7, pp. 667-677 (July 2006) 2. Barrett, P., Stanley, C., (1999), Better Construction Briefing, Blackwell Science Ltd 3. Brady, Tim(2008)Learning to Deliver a Mega-project: The case of Heathrow Terminal 5. New Challenges to Managing Organisations in Project Business. St Petersberg State University,St Petersburg, Russia,pp.137-158. 4. Briefing Team, Published by Construction Excellence, 2004. 5. Carter, P., (2002) EnglishNationalStadiumReview, FinalReport, A report submitted to the HouseofCommons. 6. Chan, D.W.M., and Kumaraswamy, M.M, (1997) A comparative study of causes of time overruns in Hong Kong construction projects, International Journal of Project Management Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 55-63, 1997. 7. Design and Build Projects, www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley 8. Egan, J. (1998) Rethinking Construction, Construction Task Force Report for Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, HMSO, London. 9. Elinwa A.U.,et al (2001), Time-Overrun Factors in Nigerian Construction Industry, Journal of Construction Engineering Management, Vol 127, Issue 5, pp. 419-425 (Sept/Oct 2001) 10. Evan, M., (2005), Overdue and over budget, over and over again, The Economist. 11. GovernmentResponse totheSixthReportfromthe Culture,MediaandSportSelectCommittee Session2001-2002, Wembley National Stadium Into Injury time. 12. House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, Eighth Report of Session 2003-04, The English national stadium project at Wembley 13. James Report, Cited in Wembley Stadium Into Injury Time(2002), Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 14. Kaming, P.F., et al (1997) Factors influencing construction time and cost overruns on high-rise projects in Indonesia, Construction Management and Economics, 15: 1, 83 — 94 15. Latham, M. (1994) Constructing the Team, Final Report of the Government/Industry Review of Procurement and Contractual Arrangements in the UK Construction Industry, HMSO, London. 16. Lewis J.P., (2007) Fundamentals of project management (3rd Edition), AMAKOM Books 17. Menches, C.L., et al (2008) Impact of preconstruction planning and project characteristics on performance in the US electrical construction industry, Construction Management and Economics, 26: 8, 855-869. 18. Morriss, P. and Hollis, A., (2005), Matching Contract Style to your business, Contract Conference Paper, Snowden Consulting Group. 19. Mylius, A. (2005) ‘A game of two halves Supply Management, 6 October 2005. 20. Office of Government Commerce, (2005), Common Causes of Construction Failure, Best Practice Guide. 21. Project Management Institute, (2004)A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK),(2004 Edition). 22. Rad, P.F., (2002), Project Estimation and Cost Management, Management Concept Inc. 23. The Heathrow Terminal 5 Project, www.airport-technology.com/projects/heathrow5 24. The Judgement, (2006) Technology and Construction Court, EWHC 1341TCC 25. The Wembley Blame Game, www.forbes.com 26. UK Government, Parliamentary Newsletter, Issue 3, Spring/Summer 2006.

An analytical response to comparing the original novel

Morally different ideas are introduced into the modern appropriation and in the same way, several core ideas pertaining to the 18th century lifestyle are lost. The modern interpretation In essence addresses modern day values through the use of the â€Å"Lice's Adventures In Wonderland† world, whilst retaining the plot line of the original text and presenting the story in a new textual form: film. In addition, both texts sustain features that are of the satirical and ‘literary nonsense' genres. Set In the 18th century, the Ideas surrounding the evolving self of Alice are ransomed, particularly through the visual textual form of film.Lewis Carroll incorporates the value of one's identity, and the way ‘Alice' distorts, changes and questions her identity. This exploration of the power of transformation Is fuelled by the recurring theme of deception, questioning what Is real, and what Is a dream. The characters In Wonderland' continually ask Alice who she Is. As a resul t, she questions her identity, and the novel becomes a journey of her exploring who she is, and deciding whether or not this reality is one that she likes.This questioning f identity Is particularly seen by the poetic and deceptive nature of the language ‘cat' uses In the novel. ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? † â€Å"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to†, said the Cat. â€Å"l don't much care where†, said Alice. â€Å"Then it doesn't matter which way you go,† said the Cat. Through the use of low modality from Alice, and very much high modality from the characters of Wonderland such as ‘car, Carroll demonstrates the vulnerability of Alice, and how this vulnerability deteriorates throughout the novel as she becomes ere of herself.Due to the novel first being published in the late sass's, Carroll is very much exploring an idea which was not seen very often in his time, that of society being for ced to abide by the strict standards of being ‘prim and proper', and thus falling Into mainstream society. Carroll, however, throughout the novel discusses ideas of Alice going against what society would expect of her, and this is seen in many occasions of her evading orders of her elders. One such example would be her Interaction with the ‘Red Queen', an antagonist In the novel, but nevertheless an adult.Through the use of shifts In language forms, Carroll demonstrates who Is holding power in a conversation. In particular, this is seen in one of Lice's final their interaction, where the Red Queen is dominant, giving orders to Alice in high modality, and in the end, where the Red Queen is speaking in short, truncated sentences, such as â€Å"Off with her head! â€Å", and â€Å"Never again! â€Å". Symbolism through the use of language is further transformed through the motif of a â€Å"White rabbit in a red waistcoat†.This rabbit is always Just out of Lice's reach, and is very much reflecting memories of her father, who passed away when she was young. Much like her, he had a quirky sense to him, and Alice echoes his words when she says, â€Å"The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible. † The use of the rabbit being represented as wearing the same clothing as her father once had, and that within the story she is trying to follow the rabbit, is symbolic of Alice finding herself, and shaping her identity to become more like her father.It is through the use of various literary techniques such as symbolism and poetic language that Carroll uses the context of ‘Lice's Adventures in Wonderland' to reflect the power of transformation, ND how it changes Alice over the course of the novel. This same exploration of one's identity is seen within the modern appropriation of the text: ‘Alice in Wonderland', a film directed by Tim Burton. The same idea of one's changing identity is transformed by the change i n context, from an 18th century novel, to a 21st century film adaptation.Burton explores the same themes through the use of ‘Alice', the protagonist of the film, saturating social values of being ‘prim and proper', and going against her peers and elders, who simply want her to marry off to omen her parents chose and not allow her to do what she wants in order to be happy. One of her friends' in the film says, mirror life will be as happy as mine! You shall marry Hams, it is decided. † Alice, of course, does not accept this from the very start, and this is conveyed through the use of shaking camera shots, and close ups of Alice showing her looking off into the distance, showing her complete disinterest.Alice makes a comment to her mother, later in this scene, saying, â€Å"What if proper was wearing a codfish on your head? Would you wear it? † Alice is rejecting society expectations, and so her solution to finding herself is running away from expectations of her and falling down a rabbit hole. Burton transforms the characters of Wonderland to frame Lice's changing self, when the paradoxical character of the Mad Hatter, who is one of the only characters who is concurrent with Alice in his views.The Mad Hatter and Alice share the core idea of not living their lives for society, and this is seen before the climax of the movie, where the Mad Hatter says, Mimi cannot live your life to serve others. â€Å"†¦ â€Å"When you step out to fight, you will step out alone. Through the use of makeup artistry and computer generated imagery, the Mad Hatter is visually depicted with strange features such as bright orange hair, a pale white face and abnormally large eyeballs.He is established as an eccentric and peculiar character and through the close relationship that the Mad Hatter and Alice develop, a link between his peculiarity and Lice's different views on society are made. To keep ‘Alice in Wonderland' true to its original text, â₠¬ËœLice's Adventures in Wonderland' the crucial difference of context is evident in the change of textual form, ND thus the use of literal imagery is transformed to convey characters, values and themes true to the original text. Society has greatly transformed. In both texts, the protagonists are women who show great courage.In ‘Lice's Adventures in Wonderland', Alice is a young girl undergoing puberty, and is dealing with the struggles of growing as a person physically and emotionally. Similarly, in the film adaptation, Alice is being prepared for an arranged marriage, based upon financial security and social class. What accompanies this exploration are themes of patriarchy and struggles of women in the context of Carol's time. The first of such explorations occurs in chapter two of the novel where Alice has her first conversation with ‘mouse'. â€Å"OÃ'Ëœ est. ma chatty†?Are her first words, and this French phrase means, â€Å"where is my cat†. The phrase itself is only an opening sentence to further dialogue, but the use of French language, only spoken by Alice throughout the novel, is a way of Carroll saturating the ideals of young girls in the Victorian era taking French lessons. The exploration of the value of women in the novel is reflective of the context in which it was written in, and this is seen from ultimate French references and puns interlaced into the story by Carroll. In the Victorian era, young girls growing up were pre-destined to live lives of obedience and purity.Besides Alice, the Queen of Hearts is the only other significant female character. The Queen of Hearts is portrayed with short, truncated sentences with high modality and no respect for others, and this portrayal is reflective of the Victorian era: A woman with too much power bringing about a chaotic dyspepsia. It is evident that through the exploration of themes involving power and gender trudges, that Carroll has taken a satirical point of view for the novel, and through this point of view, Carroll explores the values that underpin the context of this novel: the Victorian era.The film ‘Alice in Wonderland' opens with a scene involving Lice's father being criticized for his opinion, and then Alice walking into the room, interrupting the conversation, due to a nightmare. This opening scene sets the entire motion of the film, where the responder follows Lice's Journey of acceptance, and her attempts to discover her identity, and find the courage to overcome such threats. The opening of the film actually follows the Journey of two females: Alice and her mother.They converse with other women who are all in pursuit of a man in possession of good fortune, as a result of society's emphasis and pressure upon the importance of wealth. During 18th century England, socially profitable marriages were widely accepted as â€Å"normal†. This opening scene of the film is an example of Tim Burtons direct inter-textual references betwee n the novel and the 21st century film. It is through this opening scene that Burton foreshadows the coming chase for identity ND acceptance as both a young adult, and as a woman.In the lead up to the climax of the film: Lice's fight with the Jawbreakers, Alice in distress says, â€Å"From the day I fell down that hole, Eve been told what I have to do, and who I have to be. â€Å"†¦ â€Å"L made this place, this is MY dream†. Despite Alice directly referring to the world of Wonderland' as a dream, Burton is providing a psychoanalytical perspective of Lice's thoughts through the film as a whole. Alice is proclaiming that ever since she fell down that hole' she's been told what to do. This sentence directly matches with the coming agitated due to Alice not wanting to wear her corset or stockings. No corset? And your stockings†¦? † This insecurity as a woman is paired with Lice's constant battle of identity. The battle Alice faces is to find a place in society a s a woman, and this is portrayed by Burton through the use of cinematic techniques and makeup artistry. Alice is constantly portrayed from high angle oblique shots, which give the connotation of Alice being small, in comparison to her surroundings. Alice is also portrayed in the same blue dress, which quickly gets dirtied and blackened up until she fights the ‘Jawbreakers – a dragon-like creature, where she is suited in a suit of armor.The effect of having Lice's dress stay the same, and only get blackened, is reflective of how much, like her dress, she wants to change who she is as a woman, but society doesn't allow her. Within Wonderland, a projection of Lice's subconscious, as opposed to being bound as to what to wear by her mother, there simply is no way to change except by force, when the Red Queen orders her a clean dress of a different kind, much like her mother does in the opening scene of the film.The theme of growing up as a young lady pressured by these socia l ideals, and instead rebelling in the real world and in Wonderland', is a contrast to the original novel by Lewis Carroll, and this is very much reflective of the 21st century culture of acceptance. Equality amongst all people, man or woman, is an idea that has only emerged in the 20th-21st centuries, from a developing post-modern society. This emerging idea is representative in the character of Alice, and her struggles with being a woman, which is finally overcome with her final scene of slaying theJawbreakers, where Alice has truly shown courage when faced with the largest threat of all: a fire-breathing monster. From the early 18th century until the current 21st century, the value of religion and spirituality has greatly transformed. In the late 18th century, a high amount of value was placed into the beliefs of Catholicism and Christianity. This was also the beginning of a time where society was starting to question religious ideas and teachings, and disorder and confusion was beginning to form. This confusion and exploration is discussed within ‘Lice's Adventures in Wonderland' and similarly,Lice's exploration and wonder in the film adaptation is one of remembering her past self who visited Wonderland, and being presented with new ideas, and questioning values from the real world. The role of religion included providing education, spirituality and cultural acceptance in the Victorian era, and elements of Catholicism are seen throughout the novel. The first of such references is seen in Lice's conversation with the Cheshire cat where she asks, â€Å"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? â€Å"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to†, said the Cat. L don't much care where†, said Alice. â€Å"Then it doesn't matter which way you go,† said the Cat. This phrase with the Cheshire cat is reflective of Carol's emotional state, as he was an Anglican all his life, but in the stage of his life where he began starting his own family, he began questioning the morals and ideals of the Anglican church, much like Alice, who is unsure where to go and is forgetting her past. â€Å"l knew who I was this morning, but Eve changed a few times since then. Opportunities to rebel against society and more importantly to rebel against ones century. It is as a result of society's overall view that Carroll incorporates ambiguous ideas of religion and desperate hope to find order from chaos through the use of complex wordplay relating to core religious values. In contrast to the 18th century novel ‘Lice's Adventures in Wonderland', the film adaptation by Tim Burton discusses religion/supernatural values and themes in a post-modern light, much like the context in which it was written.The idea of chaos being created from the fear of the unknown is an idea set by the fragmented ideas of religious values/imagery. The main example of magic/supernatural happenings is established when Alice falls d own a seemingly small rabbit hole she barely fits into. The size of this large tunnel is then shown to be much larger than once thought, and Burton uses the technique of a long-shot camera angle, and computer generated imagery to give the illusion Alice is falling down a hole kilometers deep: a feat unachievable by a rabbit.The reader is then plunged into a world where gravity shifts upside down, where pianos play themselves, cakes cause Alice to grow meters taller, and to shrink to Just a few inches tall. The same themes that underpin the alee of religion are essentially there, with the figure of a morphing cat helping Alice on her way. The key difference is the context the film was created in: the 21st century.The film was created in a time where in a post-modern society, expressing religious values was Just as discriminatory as putting down another religion, so any references to a specific religion are eliminated from the film adaptation. This, however, does not stop Burton from exploring the idea of the supernatural world, and Lice's world of Wonderland' is reflective of the character of Alice pondering on the value she holds in the supernatural world.The responder is met with the harsh reality that Alice keeps convincing herself, â€Å"This is my dream, I can do what I want†¦ I'm going to wake up soon, and you'll be gone†¦ â€Å". This idea of assurance in the supernatural world is twisted through the use of scarring from a creature in Wonderland' carrying across to the real world, when Alice climbs out of the hole into the real-world, a prime example of post-modern techniques such as textual ambiguity changing the way in which a value is explored, but retaining the same moral value as the original text.It is through the change in textual form that Burton explores the same themes and values held in the original text ‘Lice's Adventures in Wonderland' but with a change in context – a post-modern perspective of chaos in the area of r eligion: not knowing what the future may hold. The film adaptation ‘Alice in Wonderland' cleverly depicts many themes and motifs that pertain towards the context of the original novel: 18th century England.The film achieves this through a similar plot line belonging to ‘Lice's Adventures in Wonderland'. In essence, it is the core values of religion, gender and identity that are transformed into the modern and cultures view on society, whilst retaining the original setting. Contextually, the texts are considerably different and although this is the case, the film adaptation is an effective appropriation of ‘Lice's Adventures in Wonderland'.It is important to emphasis the target 21st century audience and the value of this film, when placed in this genre. Through stylistic features relevant to the religious/supernatural imagery that remain to be of importance in a modern day society. The high cultured language used by Carroll within his novels is lost in this modern a ppropriation, however this is done in favor of effectively depicting the struggles and successes of the 18th century woman.

A campaign for the City Bike Company Essay

The City Bike Company started in the United States as a sharing program. It situated in New York dealing with bicycles which are of high quality. Interestingly, it is the biggest bike sharing program in the country and even the whole world. The company was selected to advance and operate the system using a new technology. In that reason the company has a great opportunity hence enlarging its operation system in the City. Basically, it spent millions of dollars to lead a certain sponsorship for around six good years. This actually portrays how the company has made a rigid foundation to success its’ operation. The system was opened officially to the people with around 300 stations as well as 6,000 bicycles in 2013. Fortunately, last year’s number of subscribers was roughly 93,000 while the Citi Bike riders took an average of 34,000. This was done in every day of that year. (Staub, 2014).Ladies and gentleman, our company has come to culmination, and now you have the power to change the working landscape of City Bike Company. As we advertise time and time again, if you choose the products of our company, there are several things will be done to you fully as you continue to enjoy. For that reason, we ensure that your needs are our needs. Therefore, we are ready to meet them day in and day out across this land. First of all, we plan on proposing new legislation of investing more incentive dollars in our company, not only to meet the needs of today, but to reduce the price of our bicycles hence developing minds for the future. Also, such new funding would be used to buy quality materials and retain our mission and vision. In addition, we intend to fund for building and renovating new companies of the same. Our dear customers, the company has created a strategy plan setting aside US$ 20.4 million for the discount and printing free magazine ads showing the products and the relating prices. This awesome target starts in the mid of the year 2015. To accomplish this, I request all of you to remain patient in this company since there are more and fabulous things the board of directors have for you. No more price increases, instead it will reduce. At the same time, the discount will be attached of 40 % of the fixed price. As I see this creates wonderful smile to most of our customers and even to the prospective customers. Eventually, the list of bicycle sharing systems has increased in the world and even in United States. Therefore, we have stiff competition that is behind us ready to make their sales. The statistics depicts that by August 2014; more than 600 cities worldwide had a bike sharing program of the same type of ours. That is up from 535 systems, in 49 countries; in April 2013. Actually, this is incredible sharp increase from 2011, when it was 375 schemes operating 236,000 bicycles. Precisely, adoption outside the continent Europe sharply increased over that duration of time, up from one system that is, in Washington D.C to around 143, having more than half percent of the world fleet in Asia (Steves, 2014). It should be noted that the City Bike Company is the most and famous company that produces quality bicycles in the world. Furthermore, it offers quality and recommendable services to the customers as most of you are aware of it. Kindly let us stick to our culture which is in our beloved company. Finally, ladies and gentlemen keep in mind that there is only boss one in the business who has the power to sack and employ the manager. Do you know the boss is you as customer because you are able to determine where you are money will go to? I implore you to support our company together. I really appreciate you excellent turn up and being tolerant until now while listening our strategy plan. See you there. Thank you. Reference Staub, M. (2014). Best bike rides New York City: Great recreational rides in the five boroughs. Steves, R. (2014). Europe Through the Back Door 2015 : The Travel Skills Handbook. Avalon Travel Publishing. Source document

Negative Effects On The Juvenile Justice System - 964 Words

Negative Effects of Adolescents in Prisons According to the article â€Å"Adolescents in Grown-Up Jails†, arresting young people and locking them up with adults in prisons causes more damage to a child than actually helping them become functional citizens in the long run. The article goes on about how â€Å"confining young people to adult jails and prisons are both counterproductive and inhumane† (New York Times, 2012). The article states how children whom are locked away â€Å"are more likely to be raped, battered or driven to suicide than young people who are handled through the juvenile justice system† ( New York Times, 2012). It is important that juveniles are handled through the juvenile justice system because of its focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment. The juvenile justice system is better suited to lessen the likelihood of abuse, child recidivism and lessen the negative effects associated with being in jail or prison. When young people are locked away in solitary confinement they return home often traumatized and become incapable of becoming a functional citizen (New York Times, 2012). This causes the likelihood to commit or recommit violent crimes and end up back in jail or prison (Beauchamp, 2013). In this case, juveniles should not be a part of the adult criminal justice system, especially solitary confinement for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, youth are different than adults. According to an article conducted by the Human Rights Watch and the AmericanShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Restorative Justice On Juvenile Recidivism1407 Words   |  6 PagesCurrent research available on the effects of restorative justice on juvenile recidivism range from meta-analyses of multiple studies to individual program studies. According to Bradshaw and Roseborough (2005), â€Å"The use of meta-analytic methods provides a useful means for summarizing diverse research findings across restorative justice studies and synthesizing these findings in an objective manner.† (p. 19). Four meta-analytic studies reveal an overall reduction in juvenile recidivism (Bradshaw and RoseboroughRead MoreFetal Alcohol Disorder Research Paper1227 Words   |  5 PagesFetal alcohol spectrum disorder (known as FASD), is a term which encompasses a wide variety of negative health consequences as a result of exposure to alcohol while in th e womb (Williams, 2006). This exposure has the potential to cause severe, permanent brain damage leading to cognitive and behavioural deficiencies throughout childhood and adolescence (Brown et al., 2015). 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In the 1980s the first shock incarceration programs or boot camp was introduced for the adult’s correctional system. Since than it have rapidly grown, and widely adopted across the fields of corrections and juvenile justice. The attraction towards the shock incarceration program originated from the instinctive belief that military methods promote honorable behavior. However, for others, it is the effect of hopelessnessRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Juvenile Justice Summary1582 Words   |  7 PagesMedina’s text, â€Å"Why the U.S. juvenile justice system needs serious reform,† she presents three main claims. The main claim is that the juvenile justice system is inhumane. The secondary claim is that the system is ineffective. Lastly, the third claim is that the system is expensive. In her first claim, in which she states that the system is inhumane. That stands for â€Å"Without compassion for misery and suffering; cruel.† She carries reasons why the juv enile justice system is cruel. The first exampleRead MoreEssay on Restorative Action for Juvenile Justice Centers1039 Words   |  5 Pages Juvenile justice is the area of criminal law for a person not old enough to be held responsible for their criminal actions (â€Å"Juvenile Justice†). In most states this kind of categorization is determined by age, set at eighteen years old. In general, juvenile law is governed by state law and most states have an individual juvenile code set in place that contributes to the number of youth in detention centers today (â€Å"Juvenile Justice†). Despite the lowest youth crime rates in twenty years, according