Defining Motivation and Employee Satisfaction

The definition of motivation hinges around words like drive, inspiration, and impetus. It is about what makes a person interested in performing a certain task or engaging in a particular activity. Pepitone and Bruce (1998) defined motivation as the reason why individuals participated in certain endeavors. This view of motivation implies that motivation is essentially an emotional state.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Defining Motivation and Employee Satisfaction specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More While it is the more prevalent view, there is another way to look at it. This other way, proposed by O’Neil and Drillings (1994) sought to include aspects of cognition into the state of motivation of an individual. They contended that there is a thinking process to it, with clear decision making opportuinities. As such, they argued that motivation is not purely an emotional process but a composite process involving cognitive apects. The discussion of employee satisfaction reflects the thinking presented by Kermally (2004) that identified employee happiness as an important factor influencing their productivity. If employees are unhappy, they lose the motivation to apply themselves meanigfully to their work, which in the end, compromises the quality of their output. Kermally argued that employees perform tasks assigned to them on the basis of their interest in it, which always improved when they were happy with their work. As such, the purpose of this litererature review is to examine the common theories of motivation, to review aspects and the need for motivation, and to uncover the applications of motivation in conventional organizations. Motivation Theories Interest in motivation, as an area of study is not a modern concept, but one that attracted the attention of many leaders and philosophers from ancient times. The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu produced a work that has import ant lessons in the art of motivation because it describes tactics a commander can apply in various situations to maintain morale in his or her army. The emergence of motivation as a separate field of study came about because of specialization of disciplines that accompanied the advent of the modern era. Its current scope spans elements of behavioral psychology, social science, and management science, among others. Because of this interest in the subject, several scholars developed theories to explain motivation. Three theorists stand out because they presented nearly distinctive perspectives on motivation. They are; Abraham Maslow, Henry Herzberg, and David McClelland.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory Abraham Maslow is famous for his theory on the hierarchy of needs. He described a hierarchical sequence of needs that motivates individ uals to engage in particular activities in order to fulfill their most pressing prevailing needs. In Maslow’s hierarchy, the need in one level ceases to be a source of motivation once satisfied. Among the five levels that Maslow identified, physiological needs are the basest of them all. All human beings do their best to rid themselves of hunger and cold. There is a high degree of motivation to get food, clothing, and some form of shelter. The second class of needs is the desire for safety and security from harm. The elements that constitute this need are safety from the elements, personal danger, and want. The third tier of needs identified by Maslow was the need to belong. This is the desire to be part of a society. This need, the theory postulated, drives people to join various groups so that they get a sense of belonging. Maslow called the fourth level of needs, the esteem needs. It escalates from simply belonging to a group or society into being a significant part of it. At the third level, it is ok to belong, but at the fourth level, it is not enough. Self-actualization concludes the hierarchy of needs identified by Maslow. It transcends all other needs and seeks to answer the question of the whole purpose and meaning of life. A person at this level seeks to achieve inward significance in life, not just outwardly in society. Philanthropy is an often given example of an expression of this need. Maslow explained that all human beings are at a certain level of motivation at any one time and the key to getting the most out of them is to provide them with the opportunity to fulfill their most eager need. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory Henry Herzberg put forward a theory known as the motivation-hygiene theory. This theory explains that motivation stems from two issues. There are factors that motivate people to do certain things while there are certain factors which contribute to the demotivation of individuals. The things that contribute to wards the comfort of an individual in a given place are what he called the hygiene factors. These are the factors without which people in a given organization get demotivated. Motivational factors on the other hand refers to those factors that actually make them to want to do something. The theory contends that the factors are not mutually exclusive. This means that in any work environrment, there are motivators and demotivators at play.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Defining Motivation and Employee Satisfaction specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The actual state of motivation is therefore the result of the relative strength of these two factors. Doing away with one set of factors does not render the other factors inoperable . This means that dealing with demotivators does not automatically lead to motivation. It only averts demotivation. Adair (2006) held the view that Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theo ries were too individualistic and did not take into account external factors. He said that they made it look as if each person is fully responsible for their state of motivation, disregarding the role of environmental factors. In this case, the two theorists concentrated on the intrinsic elelments of motivation to the point that they appered to diregard the extrinsic elements. McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory David McClelland developed the achievement motivation theory. This theory pins motivation to personality. It postulates that what motivates individuals is unique to them and normally comes from their subjective experiences in life. According to McClelland’s theory, as someone participates in various activities, they learn to associate the processes and outcomes with certain feelings. Accordingly, the potential for the process to elicit the desired feelings act as a motivator for that particular individual. The person becomes predisposed to high motivatio n towards participating in the activities that elicit feelings of pleasure and achievement, while they avoid activities that at some point in their experience led to disappointment and pain. This behavioral view of motivation also assumes that behavior is an acquired aspect of life. McClelland’s argument appears to be in support of an individually based motivation plan. His theory discounts group motivation theories and exercises. Other Theories The three theories cover different aspects of motivation from different viewpoints, and present a general overview of the major ways of looking at motivation. However, they are not the only theories of repute in the study of motivation. For instance, Kurt Lewin’s personality theory of motivation provided the basis for the development of McClelland’s achievement motivation theory. The job satisfaction theory developed by Hackman, Lawler, and Oldham is another important theory that looks at job satisfaction as a key compon ent of motivating individuals. This theory takes into account Kermally’s (2004) concern that happiness is a key aspect of motivation at the workplace.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another significant group of theories referred to as the expectancy theories also occupy an important place in the theories of motivation. Various scholars developed these theories but they are associated more with Vroom, Porter, and Hackman. What they have in common is that what someone expects out of a process is the real reason why they remain motivated to participate in the process. Finally, Douglas McGregor proposed two sets of assumptions about human nature and called them theory X and Theory Y. Each of them represents the disposition of a leader. Theory X leaders assume that on average people are lazy and require threatns in order to for them to work. On the other hand, theory Y leaders assume that people generally love to work and only require encouragement. Motivation Review Indeed, the development of theories in the field of motivation remains an ongoing effort. New views emerge discounting or affirming established theories. Each theory has an important place in the develo pment of the understanding of how to motivate individuals to achieve job satisfaction. In some cases, the theories have undergone much transformation losing their original thrust. Dye, Mills, and Weatherbee, (2005) identify Maslow as one such theorist. Despite very clear articulation of his theory, it has undergone stretching in every imaginable way to cover as much ground as possible in the application of motivation in both academic and non-academic circles. They also point out that some theorists such as Maslow have received undue attention, not because of merit but because of the fame. One of the consequences of this situation is that the theory stands unchallenged and practitioners simply assume that since it is widely quoted, then it must be true. This is not necessarily a problem if the theory makes possible the attainment of desired results, but it robs the adherents of the benefit of a wider selection and understanding. The Need for Motivation The performance of an individua l directly correlates to the degree of congruence between the person’s skills, capacity and talent, and the job in question. Organizations find it necessary to find ways of motivating their employees to ensure they attain a healthy bottom line. In addition, business growth and continuity in the face of ever-increasing global competition calls for the retaining of highly motivated employees. Globalization has made it important for employers to ensure that they continue receiving the best possible output from their employees because competition is no longer localized . Employers know that there is an increase in work performance that is the result of a high level of organizational motivation. Organizational motivation is the overall effect of the individual motivation levels of the staff. The working conditions in a particular institution may lead to the development of resentment and the emergence of a pool of difficult employees. The only way to ensure this does not choke an o rganization is to ensure every employee remains motivated. Another reason for taking an interest in organizational motivation by employers is social dynamics brought about by an increase in the number of women in all levels of corporate and organizational leadership. With this increase, there is a realization that the motivational requirements of women differ in some ways from that of men, therefore requires more research. On a general scale, men are more competitive and combative in their approach to issues. On the other hand, women are more collaborative in their approach making them uniquely qualified to fill leadership positions in business because they have a natural flair for teamwork. Types of Motivation There is general agreement that there are two sources of motivation for any individual. When the source of motivation is from within a person, the motivation is intrinsic and when it is from a secondary source, it is extrinsic. Adair’s (2006) fifty-fifty rule is a way of looking at these two sources of motivation. He contends that in as much as an individual is responsible for their own intrinsic motivation, no one really operates in isolation and some degree of external motivation plays a significant role. However, the role and influence of extrinsic and intrinsic factors still elicits dispute. Maslow and Herzberg seemed to subscribe to the mainly-intrinsic view of motivation. Theory X and theory Y on the other hand present a situation where all employees are either hardworking or lazy, and therefore may require external motivation to get the job done. Approaches to Motivation in Organizations Organizations use several approaches to motivate staff. The methods may use negative motivation like the instillation of fear or positive motivation using aspect such as money, promotion, or recognition (Adair, 2006). One of the key challenges in the state of research in the area of motivation is that there is a lot more research on what motivates individu als compared to what motivates groups. This puts at risk the efficacy of methods that organizations use to motivate their staff. Positive results of the application of the methods at the individual level are not proof that they will be equally effective when applied at the group level. Many organizations use various models of performance appraisal to gauge the effectiveness of each employee in performing assigned duties. The popular version of this approach is a quarterly based system where an employee evaluates their performance against benchmarks set at the beginning of the quarter and compares their self-assessment with that of their immediate superior. Depending on the outcome, the company grants promotions and other incentives. However, dependence on performance alone may fail to identify and reward strategic actions an employee undertakes because the results are still out of view. Balance is critical for successful performance appraisal. Bruce (2002) identified three critical factors that all employers need to have in mind regarding employee motivation. The first factor is that while motivation depends on the individual employees, there are certain things in the hands of the employer which they can do something about to boost employee morale. They include the conditions of work, nature of assignments, remuneration and work benefits. Secondly, it is the employer’s responsibility to define perfomance, and to communicate what it means to individual employees. Otherwise, there may be sincere wasted effort as a result of different views between an employer and the employees regarding what constitutes exemplary perfomance. The third ingredient is explicit communication regarding expectations at all times. Bruce (2002) contended that the clearer the communcation of the expectations to an employee, the greater the likelihood of them meeting and exceeding those expectations. Conclusion In conclusion, the literature reviewed potrays motivation and employee satifaction as parts of the same coin. The area is evidenced by the development of multiple theories which means that there is still a desire to explore the area more and arrive at a unified view of the field. The literature also shows that the theories are in use in various organizations, informing their reward systems. These reward systems use the theories as the philosophical bedrock on which their reward schemes rest. The impact of these theories and their application is a very significant fact in organizational development. References Adair, J. (2006). Leadership and motivation. London: Kogan Page. Boyatzis, R. (2008). Competencies in the 21st century. Journal of Management Developement , 27 (1), 5-12. Bruce, A. (2002). How to motivate every employee. Blacklick OH: Mcgraw-Hill Trade. Chopra, S. (2002). Motivation in management. New Delhi: Sarup Sons. Dell, T., Michael, G. (1993). Motivating at work: Empowering employees to give their best. Melno Park CA: Course Technology Cri sp. Dye, K., Mills, A. J., Weatherbee, T. (2005). Maslow: Man interrupted: Reading management theory in context. In D. Lamond, Management Theory (pp. 1375-1380). Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. Gagliardi, G., Tzu, S. (2005). The art of war plus the art of management: STrategy for leadership. Seattle, WA: Science of Strategy: Clearbridge Publishing. Hopkins, M. M., Bilimora, D. (2008). Social and emotional competencies predicting success for male and female executives. Journal of Management Developement , 27 (1), 13-35. Kermally, S. (2004). Developing and managing talent. London: Thorogood Publishing. Lauby, S. (2005). Motivating employees: Information lifeline. Fort Lauderdale, FL: American Society for Training and Development. Minor, J. B. (2006). Organizational behavoir: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Armonk NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc. O’Neil, H. F., Drillings, M. (1994). Motivation: Theory and research (Illustrated ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Routledge. P epitone, J. S., Bruce, A. (1998). Motivating employees. Blacklick OH: McGraw-Hill Professional Book Group. Motivation and Employee Satisfaction This essay on Defining Motivation and Employee Satisfaction was written and submitted by user Ayaan Bruce to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Meaning of La Nuit in French S

The Meaning of La Nuit in French S La nuit, meaning night or dark(ness), is pronounced nwee. It is a frequently used French  intransitive noun that most often describes that part of the day when its dark, but its quite common, too, to hear it used figuratively, as a symbol of something dark or fearsome. Expressions Given that night is an unavoidable fact of our lives every single day, its natural that la nuit is used in so many idiomatic expressions. Here are a few: Bonne nuit.  - Good night.Il fait nuit. - Its dark.Passer une bonne nuit - to have a good nights sleepUne nuit blanche /  une nuit dinsomnie - a sleepless nightUne nuit bleue - a night of terror / a night of bomb attacksUne nuità ©e - an overnight stayLa nuit porte conseil. - Lets sleep on it.La nuit tous les chats sont gris. (proverb) - All cats are grey in the dark.La nuit tombe.  - Its getting dark.Rentrer avant la nuit  - return before dark / nightfall la nuit tombante, la tombà ©e de la nuit  - at dusk,  at nightfallSe perdre dans la nuit des temps  - to be lost in the mists of timeCest le jour et la nuit  !  - Its like night and day!Une nuit à ©toilà ©e  - a starry nightFaire sa nuit  - sleep through the nightLa nuit de noces  - the wedding nightToute la nuit  - all night longToutes les nuits - every nightLa nuit de la Saint-Sylvestre  - night of New Years EvePayer sa nuit  - to pay for the nightAnimaux  de nuit  - noc turnal animalsPharmacie de nuit - all-night pharmacy, 24-hour pharmacyTravailler de nuit - to work the night shift, to work nights Parts of the Day (le Jour) Lets make the tour of one 24-hour period, beginning in the middle of the night, when  il fait nuit noire,  its pitch-black. Chaque jour (every day) as the sun starts to come up, the day begins to go  through the following stages:   laube (f) - the dawnle matin - the morningla matinà ©e - all morning, the morningla journà ©e - all day long, the day, the daytimele midi - noon, 12 p.m.laprà ¨s-midi (m) - the afternoonle crà ©puscule - dusk, nightfallle soir - the evening, nightla soirà ©e - all evening, eveningla veille  de - the eve ofla nuit - the nightle minuit - midnight, 12 a.m.le lendemain - the next day

Discuss at least two theories which hold that a mental state is Essay

Discuss at least two theories which hold that a mental state is nothing more than some sort of physical state - Essay Example There are two important movements that provide an answer to these questions, i.e. behaviorism and identity theory. It is in my contention that despite the enigma of the human mind, behaviorism and the identity theory, both attempt to offer a rational explanation for the nature and identity of mental phenomena. Behaviorism Behaviorism is generally regarded as the view that reduces mental states to the physical states of the body, specifically to that of the body’s behaviors. Thus, â€Å"behaviorists have argued that mental states and processes are really nothing more than behavior or dispositions† (Heil, 1993, p.174). A behavior is understood here as an external physical movement of the body, and thus includes verbal behavior, but excludes brain activities. Moreover, behavior is either actual or dispositional. Accordingly, all mental states are believed to be behavioral dispositions, which may or may not be actualized. As such, even if there is no actual behavior that co rresponds to a mental expression, the claim of behaviorism holds because it necessarily has a corresponding behavioral disposition. So to have a mental state is thus to behave or to be disposed to behave in a certain way. For instance, to be in pain is to exhibit behaviors such as crying, wincing, saying â€Å"ouch,† etc. ... Expressions containing mental terms such as â€Å"I desire to finish school†, â€Å"I am in pain†, and â€Å"I believe that it is going to rain,† are accordingly, logically equivalent to, or reducible to some expressions containing only behavioral terms such as â€Å"I will attend my classes regularly,† â€Å"I am inclined to cry,† and â€Å"I will bring my umbrella when I get out of the house.† In short, in this view, mental terms are defined in terms of behaviors. It is this notion of behaviorism that will be of concern to us. Logical behaviorism is often attributed to the view of the mind that Gilbert Ryle (1965) advanced as an alternative to Cartesian dualism, which he refers to as the ghost-in-the machine doctrine. Ryle argues that this doctrine commits a fallacy called the category mistake, i.e. when one wrongly takes something as belonging to a certain category that it does not belong to. The famous example given by Ryle is when someon e understands the word â€Å"university† as referring to a particular entity in the very same way that the words â€Å"buildings†, â€Å"members of the faculty†, â€Å"students†, and the like, refer to particular entities. In the same way, so argues Ryle, Descartes mistakes the word â€Å"mind† as belonging to the same category as the word â€Å"body†, and hence believes that the word â€Å"mind† refers to an entity of some kind in the same way that the word â€Å"body† does. Though â€Å"mind† and â€Å"body† refer to different kinds of entities, the fact that they do refer to entities puts them in the same category. Logical behaviorism, as noted above, is the view that mental states are nothing but behaviors. This view lends itself to two

Terrorism Part 2 ( 15 minute presentation) Essay

Terrorism Part 2 ( 15 minute presentation) - Essay Example This country has Islam as the dominant religion. The president of Egypt by then was known as President Sadat. He was perceived by the terror group as a person who was unable to restore the Islamic Sharia law and therefore, considered a failure. Previously government of Egypt had made promise to the people that those laws would be implemented. Contrary to their agreement, the government did not implement those laws. Instead, the government continued to empower women by implementing laws to protect their civil rights therefore going against the Islam norms where in women are considered inferior to men. The second cause for the formation of Al-Jihad is the formation of Israel as an independent country. Israel is a Jewish state, which was carved out of Palestine, with the help of the Americans and other European countries. In addition, Israel as a country had always been at loggerheads with Egypt concerning the borders. In contrast, Israel is a Jewish state while Palestine is a Muslin state. The group viewed it as an enemy of the Muslim and Arabic nations. Other Islamic terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida also seconded this view. Consequently the group Al-Jihad, decided to engage in terror activities in order to force the Egyptian government to take action. They first thought of assassinating the President of Egypt, President Sadat. On October 6, 1981, the group managed to conduct their first terror activity, which was the assassination of Egypt’s president. They then carried out terror activities by trying to capture some towns in Egypt to be under their administration. However, they were not well equipped to do this and as a result, their efforts were frustrated. It is important to note that Al-Jihad was initially formed by combining two militant groups; one based in Cairo led by Farraj and another from upper Egypt, which was led by Karam Zuhdi. The succeeding president of Egypt president Mubarak used

Friction, Work, And Kinetic Energy Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Friction, Work, And Kinetic Energy - Lab Report Example Static friction is denoted as Fstatic. An inequality has been modified; Fstatic ≠¤ ms N where i ms is the coefficient of static friction and N is the normal force exerted by a surface on the object. The normal force is defined as the perpendicular component of the force exerted by the surface. In this experiment, the normal force is equal to the weight of the object because it’s on a horizontal surface Exertion of enough force to move the box requires that the same or more force be applied to keep the box moving to the desired direction to prevent loss of equilibrium which will cause it to stop moving. The friction acting on the box while it is moving is called kinetic friction (Hugh and Roger 2008). In order to slide the box with a constant velocity, a force equivalent to the force of kinetic friction must be applied. Static and kinetic friction depends on the surfaces of the box and the floor and on how hard the box and floor is pressed together. Kinetic friction is modeled with Fkinetic =  µk N where  µk is the coefficient of kinetic friction. In general, this coefficient is less than that for static friction. The mass of the container was measured and recorded. Motion detector was connected to the PC with a USB cable. Kinetic friction icon on the desktop was double clicked to open the program for data collection and analysis A plastic ball was placed on the track and the track leveled by adjusting the track’s feet for the ball to stay in rest. The Motion Detector was placed on the track and positioned so that it could detect the motion of the block as it was sliding towards the detector. No, the kinetic friction does not depend on speed. It only depends on the surfaces in contact. From the data collected during the experiment, it is evident that the speed/velocity of the sliding block does not affect the coefficient of the kinetic

Blending Elements Modern And Traditional Fairy Tales English Literature Essay

Blending Elements Modern And Traditional Fairy Tales English Literature Essay Once upon a time, a young girls father took on a new wife after the death of her mother. Along with the stepmother came two daughters. The three of them together had a strong disgust for the young girl. They took away her beautiful clothes, replaced them with old dirty ones, and put her to work. She was repeatedly covered in cinder dust from cleaning the hearth; this led to the stepmother and stepsisters naming her Cinderella. Upon an invitation to a royal three-day feast, the stepmother made it clear that Cinderella was not clean or presentable enough to attend. Cinderella prayed at her dead mothers grave to be blessed with silver and gold. Before the royal feast, Cinderella prayed once more at her mothers grave. As she prayed, a bird bestowed Cinderella a dress of silver and gold and gold slippers. In her new attire, Cinderella preceded to the royal feast where the charming young prince was wooed by her beauty and grace for all three nights. However, each night before the prince ha d the chance to get her name, Cinderella would disappear. As Cinderella was running away on the last night of the feast, her slipper became stuck on a staircase and her slipper was left behind (Grimm 98-102). This may not be the introduction of Cinderella that you have encountered before and you may think that it is missing the fairy godmother and the infamous pumpkin carriage. It is actually an introduction from the real tale of Cinderella, written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s. Most individuals have been acquainted with the Disney light and happy versions of Grimms Folk Tales. This has transformed readers expectations for a fairy tale. As you read the next part of the true tale of Cinderella, you will begin to see the changes made in the Disney versions. After he realizes that Cinderella has left her shoe, the prince proclaims he will have no other bride than the one whose foot fits in the slipper. The first stepsister tries the shoe on and it does not fit. Therefore, to make it fit she cuts off her big toe and goes away with the prince to be his bride. As the prince discovers the blood dripping from the shoe, he returns the stepsister and reopens his search for a bride. Next, the second stepsister tries on the shoe and the shoe does not fit. To make the shoe fit, she cuts off part of her heel and goes away with the prince. As he discovers the blood, he returns to searching for his bride. After requesting to see all of the daughters in stepsisters family and against the wishes of the stepmother, the prince insists that the dirty and not fit to be seen daughter also has a chance to try on the shoe. Happily, the shoe fits Cinderella and she rides away with the prince. At the time of the wedding between the prince and Cinderella, the st epsisters enter and leave the church only for their eyes to be plucked out by birds. One eye each was plucked out upon their entrance and their other eyes were plucked out as they left the wedding. The stepsisters were punished with blindness for the rest of their lives (Grimm 104-106). In this Grimms tale, the reader is left with stepsisters missing parts of their limbs and eventually missing their eyes. Disney broadcasts the stepsisters struggle to make the shoe fit in a more child-approved presentation. The transformation between Grimms tales and Disney stories are based on a viewing audience and more importantly a time period, and a difference between traditional and modern. In Neil Gaimans Coraline, he returns to a more grotesque and gothic appeal for his modern fairy tale and in doing so he blends elements that should be perceived as normal, those that align with modern fairy tales, and other elements that read as grim, unsettling, and in the same way align with Grimms tales. In Coraline, written in 2002, Neil Gaiman introduces Coraline as a young girl who is striving for more attention from her parents. Although it is not apparent, a reader envisions that Coraline is disappointed with her parents and she is possibly wishing for better parents. She is at home (in her flat) and her parents are always working. Also, in this house (two more flats) live a crazy old man, who believes that his mice have the ability to talk, and two old long-forgotten actresses. Bored, Coraline finds a door in the drawing room that when opened leads to a wall of red bricks during the day and at night to her other house. Once through the door, a corridor leads her to a house and parents that look just like hers. The carpet beneath her feet was the same carpet they had in her flat. The wallpaper was the same wallpaper they had. The picture hanging in the hall was the same that they had hanging in their hallway at home, (Gaiman 27). Convinced she was still in her home and that the corridor led her nowhere except back to where she started, Coraline began to pay close attention to those things that were different. Describing a picture that shows a boy staring at bubbles, Coraline defines something uncanny. But now the expression on his face was different-he was looking at the bubbles as if she was planning to do something very nasty indeed to them. And there was something peculiar about his eyes (Gaiman 27). Aside from the boys expression, the uncanny also rests in that the parents in this other house want her, in an unsettling way. They want to spend time with her, play games with her, give her whatever food she wants, and want her to stay with them forever. They want to completely indulge her. Coraline is alarmed by the new mothers strange behaviors, especially since they are so different from her real mothers. As the story progresses, Coraline learns that her parents are missing and this other mother is responsible for their absence. Coraline begins a game with the other mother to find her real parents and other lost souls she encounters along the way. If Coraline wins, she is to get her parents back. If the other mother wins, Coraline must stay with her forever. She resents thinking that this other set of parents were in any way similar to hers and Coraline enters a struggle to outwit the other mother and win her parents back. Comparing to a traditional fairy tale such as Cinderella, both Coraline and Cinderella are in distressed situation. Instead of having an evil stepmother and stepsisters, Coraline has parents that appear to ignore her. However, the fairy tale element prevails when Coraline and Cinderella are both presented with an opportunity to fix their situation. Cinderella is given new attire and Coraline is given a passageway to a new life. Typical of a fairy tale, the main character is exposed to a struggle and to have a happy ending must overcome the situation. To start off with a struggle, both Cinderella and Coraline are assigned seemingly bad parental influence in their lives. Cinderella has a dead mother, an absent father, and a wicked stepmother. Coraline has both a mother and father but they read as very absent in regards to that they ignore her and pay very little attention to her needs and wants. To overcome the struggle in this other life, Coraline finds a creature that is somewhat willing to lend a hand. She finds a black cat, who insists that he does not have a name nor does he need one, and he attempts to help Coraline win the game against her other mother. His most courageous efforts are displayed when he distracts and attacks the other mother as Coraline runs through the corridor to escape back to her real house. The black cat in Coraline is symbolic of the help that Cinderella receives in order to meet the prince. Without her fairy godmother in the Disney version or the prayers and birds in Grimms version, Cinderella would ha ve never made it to the royal feast and or eventually ended up with prince. Gaiman details several elements of modern fairy tales in Coraline. The first element that comes to mind is the child aspect found in several other Grimms tales. Coraline is presented as a young girl slowly gaining her intelligence and independence. By reading her dialogue and actions, she appears to be very bright and witty for her age. At the end of the story, this aspect gives more credit to the main character for surviving their given struggle. In Cinderella, the main character is presented as a young girl, however, she seems powerless in her decision not to stand up or rebel against her stepmother and stepsisters. Through her actions, Coraline appears to be very brave for her age. Also in need of mention, Cinderella appears to be brave when she decides to attend the royal feast against her stepmothers wishes. This entails the aspect of courageous efforts of young children in fairy tales. The second element includes the aspect of characters being put to a test. Coraline is setup with a game against her other mother and she must outwit her in order to see her parents again. Looking at the Disney version of Cinderella, Cinderella must make it back before midnight and if she does not her carriage will turn into a pumpkin and the prince will discover her real identity. The third element is the result of characters living happily ever after. Not to ruin the ending if you have not read Coraline, but Coraline eventually gets to sleep in her real bed in her real house with real parents. The most important aspect of this element is that the main character, the protagonist, is given the happy ending and that antagonist character is in some way punished or left unhappy. In Coraline, the other mother is left Coraline-less and loses the game. In the Disney version of Cinderella, the stepmother is left without a connection to royalty and the stepsisters are left prince-less. While Gaiman includes elements of modern fairy tales, he also includes several elements of Grimms tales. He explicitly includes these elements in Coraline. The first element, which is somewhat unsettling, is the association with pale or white skin. This wife brought two daughters into the house with her. They were white and fair of face but wicked and black at the heart (Grimm 98). This is Grimms first description of Cinderellas stepmother and stepsisters. This shows an arbitrary association with the idea of pureness and the color white. An outside appearance of pure does not imply pure at heart. A woman stood in the kitchen with her back to Coraline. She looked a little like Coralines mother. Onlyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Only her skin was white as paper (Gaiman 27). Here, Gaiman allows the first description of the other mother to be of her very white skin color. Evilness is presented with a white appearance in both Cinderella and Coraline. The second element is the aspect of blindness. As Coraline, enters the other house she walks into the kitchen and is presented with her other mother. And then she turned around. Her eyes were big black buttons (Gaiman 28). Coraline sees this other mother for the first time with no eyes. Through reading Coraline, a reader can perceive that the other mother can physically see but the black buttons are symbolic of blindness. On a china plate on the kitchen table was a spool of black cotton, and long silver needle, and beside them two large black buttons, (Gaiman 45). When Coraline is asked about her eyes being sewn over with buttons, she immediately refuses and does not the like the dark and intense glows from her other parents. In Cinderella, the stepsisters are punished for their evil actions toward Cinderella as they are leaving the wedding. Afterwards when they were coming out, the eldest on the left and the youngest on the right, the birds came and pecked out both their other yes: so for their wickedness and falsehood they were punished with blindness for the rest of their lives (Grimm 106). Neil Gaimans takes on Coraline with an additional element of individuality in a gothic approach. This is not a typical element of neither traditional nor modern fairy tales. The most grotesque element in Coraline is the idea of sewing ones eyes over with a black button. With this idea, Gaiman takes the element of blindness one-step further. When Coraline first sees her other mother, she believes she looks just like her real mother but is stunned by her black button eyes. When Coraline sees the black thread and black button on the table in her other house, she is very disturbed. Moreover, while she is locked up in a mirror cabinet, Coraline encounters three children who have lost their souls. It is too dark where she is locked up to see their eyes but a reader could assume their eyes have been replaced with black buttons as well. Here, Gaiman may have wanted to encourage readers to draw a parallel with eyes are the windows to the soul. Symbolically, by threading buttons for eyes, ones soul is taken away. This is a deeper parallel for a reader to notice. It is also something that is a little advanced for a fairy tale. The second element, one that is a little arbitrary, is the idea of removing ones limbs. Disney protects the minds of children by representing the stepsisters struggle to fit the shoe as a simple squeezing real hard to make it fit. Whereas in Grimms version, The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, stifled the pain, and went out again to the prince (Grimm 104). For the second stepsister trying on the shoe, The girl cut off her heel, forced into the shoe, stifled her pain, and went out to the prince (Grimm 105). Disney has placed a child-filter on the tale. When Coraline successfully closes the heavy door to the corridor, she is relieved that she has escaped from her other mother. However, she is woken up on her first night back at her real house by noises outside her room. These noises are so disturbing that they draw her from her bed. As she gets up and looks in the hallway, it becomes clear to her what was making the noises. It was the other mothers right hand (Gaima n 147). However, there is not much correlation between the removing of the limbs in Cinderella and Coraline, its more of the grotesque aspect of it appearing in a childrens story. A toe, a heel, and a hand all being removed from a persons body. Gaiman removed himself from the appropriate for the viewing of small children and resorted to Grimms nature of scaring children. Gaiman removed a typical Disney-filter. Neil Gaiman also uses additional describing elements to add to Coralines grim nature. In a 2010 Coraline classroom study guide entitled Identity and the Uncanny, author Peter Gutierrez described Gaimans work as a dark, intensely psychological, modern fairy tale. Coralines other mother eats beetles and wants her to play with rats, two activities that can easily be described as unsettling. In addition, Gaiman removes the Disney castle aspect. Coralines parents do not even own a whole house; they live in a flat of a house, particularly a creepy one. First, the gothic appearance of Coralines house should be notes, with its outside staircase, its cellar and attic, its dark corridors and, most strangely, the door in the drawing-room that seemingly leads nowhere: behind it there is a brick wall (Rudd 160). In most Disney fairy tales, the main character is perceived as beautiful, charming, and sometimes enchanting. Neil Gaiman strays away from these perceptions and portrays Coraline as a loner. School is not in session and none of her friends live around or near her. She enjoys tea with the old women that live above her flat and likes to explore by herself. She does not appear to be social and loved by everyone. Coralines loneliness is exhibited in her action of writing for her mother MST on the first line of a paper and on the second line writes I. The I has clearly been dropped or lowered from the word MIST. In an essay written for Childrens Literature in Education, author David Rudd comments on Gaimans portrayal of Coralines seclusion, Coraline is clearly the lonely I which, punning on the word above, is not missed (i.e. she is overlooked). But is she refusing to be contained by the mist or would she like to be part of it, having the mist descent and embrace, or envelop her? (160). G aiman does not describe Coraline as beautiful, intelligent, nice, or loving. She only appears to love her parents when they are taken away from her. Her character is simply read as lonely and somewhat annoying to her parents. This is not a typical main character for modern fairy tales. However, this is what classifies Coraline as an even more modern fairy tale because it reaches out to children that are lonely and that are not as blessed as some other children. Gaiman attempts small advances at creating a new genre of fairy tales. A recurrent theme in Neil Gaimans work, from Sandman to Stardust, is the way in which the magical, archetypal and mythological rub shoulders with our everyday reality. In fantasy stories there are often physical portals or membranes through which a protagonist must travel to reach an alternate world, (Gutierrez 5). Neil Gaiman has experience is morphing stories to have a grotesque appeal. For example, Neil Gaiman wrote a book titled The Graveyard Book, a modern spin on Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book. Instead of a young boy left in the jungle to be raised by animals, a young boy is left parentless and is raised by the inhabitants of a graveyard. Mrs. Owens, a ghost in the graveyard exclaims, Of course its a baby and the question is what is to be done with it? (Gaiman and McKean 4). Here, Gaiman just removes the aspect of a jungle and replaces it with a haunted graveyard. He has swapped talking animals for ghosts and other non-real beings. After Mrs. Owens agrees to look after the baby, another inhabitant of the graveyard responds with his opinion, I do. For good or for evil-and I firmly believe for good-Mrs. Owens and her husband have taken this child under their protection. It is going to take more than just a couple good-hearted souls to raise the child. It will take a graveyard (Gaiman and McKean 15). Aside from creating unique and grotesque fairy tales, Gaiman does not stray too far off the beaten path with the way the story ends. Coraline has a very happy ending, and she survives her struggle. David Rudd also writes Neil Gaimans Coraline fits centrally within this tradition, invoking the fairy tale at the outset with its epigraph from G.K. Chesterton: Fairly tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. In both Coraline and Cinderella, we get a happy ending regardless of any association of if the story is true or not. To explain the epigraph, these stories tell us that fairy tales are not intended for us to believe in fire-breathing dragons, fairy godmothers, or other realms but they are intended to teach readers that we can overcome anything if we try hard enough. Aside from the grim and unsettling, Gaiman includes this epigraph to suggest a moral to the story. Gaiman wrote Coraline to be grotesque and gothic, to have traditional and modern fairy tale elements, and to teach readers triumph. Gaiman could easily write his own epigraph: Look to Cinderella to teach you that wishes can come true and look to Coraline to teach you to be careful what you wish for.

Japanimation Essay examples -- Japanese Animation Art Artistic Essays

Japanimation Japanimation (Japanese animation) is becoming one of Japan's most popular exports to the world; it has become a growing phenomenon in the US. Anime has attracted hordes of fans in many countries; the artistic detail, and the intriguing and the outrageous storylines are causing fans to be addicted. College fan clubs, societies, and the Internet have popularized anime (derived from a French word, but is used in Japan to describe animation) to the point of conventions being held all over the world. Anime ratings range from â€Å"G† to â€Å"NC-17.† These ratings only exist when they are imported into the US, as in Japan their rating system is different. The Japanese air shows on television that contains a lot of violence and nudity in it. On American television, extreme violence and nudity is prohibited for children, especially if the show is animated. Some animes are cute and are made specifically for children; then there are animes that are for teenagers that have romanc e, love, and everyday situations that teenagers go through. The most gruesome kind of anime consists of bloodshed, violence, nudity, sex, and bad language. Ding said, "Well first of all, when you have Saturday morning cartoons on channel twenty and fifty, people thirst for good animation and something different. Anime is just that, Americans have never seen or even thought of extreme violence, nudity, or cussing in cartoons. Since the Japanese don't think that nudity in cartoons is lewd, no one in Japan cares if they see someone naked popping up on the screen" (G. Ding, personal communication, November 2, 2000). Borshansky stated, "American cartoon culture finally got tired of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. They wanted some depth to cartoons, compelling... ...ory of Anime. (1996). Retrieve April 20, 2003 from the World Wide Web. http://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.5/articles/patten1.5.html O'Connell, M. Japanese Manga and Animation: A Brief History of Animation. (2000). Retrieve April 20, 2003 from the World Wide Web. http://www.uncc.edu/~medomoto/3209/anime/anime_history.html Simmons, M. (2000, November). Pokemon: The first movie. Animerica, 7, 7-11. The Right Stuf International Inc. The right stuf - An introduction to anime. (1996). Retrieved April 20, 2003 from the World Wide Web. http://www.rightstuf.com/resource/globalhistory.shtml History of Japanese anime. The origins of anime. (No date). Retrieved November 2, 2000 from the World Wide Web. http://www.mvhs.net/~animetq/frames.html Pokemon Information. March 18, 2004 from the World Wide Web. http://mcel.pacificu.edu/as/students/pokemon/info.html