What Makes a Successful Situation Comedy

Introduction A situation comedy is a comic television series composed of episodes or scenes involving similar group of characters dealing with an issue, abnormal situation and many other scenes that may arise1. The short form of situation comedy is sitcom. This is usually accompanied by jokes as part of a conversation. A successful situation comedy is one that has high frequency of laughter.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What Makes a Successful Situation Comedy? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The frequency can be three to four times in a minute. Therefore, situation comedies make us fulfill our desires to be happy. It is also concerned with the way we often lose the desire to be happy and lose our direction because of unreasonable fears and desires that are misled. They show how the central conflict of human life is played out by between people. Situation comedies give its audience several kinds of satisfacti ons2. Several ingredients make a successful situation comedy. These important components must all be present in any situation comedy that can be termed as successful. The ingredients are character creation, titles themes, situations and locations, pace, irregular expressions and epilogue. The strength or clarity of these ingredients may vary from one comedy to another3. These ingredients can be discussed as follows: Character creation This is the most important factor in a successful situation comedy. Development of the way in which a given character behaves and relates with other characters and their environment is called character creation (characterization)4. In a situation comedy, there are many, several facets of characterization. This comprise of: An individual character Each character is given different attributes describing their past and present behavior. In a situation comedy, the future behavior of a character is not clearly developed. However, the knowledge of the future attributes of the character is very important in order for one to guess what is to come next. This knowledge may vary on the level of â€Å"most probable† to â€Å"most unlikely.† It is important to develop a list of attributes of the characters, but one should be cautious enough not to exaggerate. In this case, people are not interested in the internal personality of a character but the external persona.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this kind of comedy, the author briefly highlights character even if the author has a thorough knowledge of the character. It is also necessary to consider a favourable character in this kind of comedy for instance Tony Hancock whose background was briefly highlighted in the comedy Hancock’s Half Hour.5 It is not mandatory for characters in this kind of comedy to fit best into situations concerned appropriately. Thi s is because the outcome may be funnier due to the misfit of the character into the situation. For instance, the 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam was sometimes understood being the property of the council, but in many occasions a private landlord was in-charge6. The relationship of a character with other characters A successful situation comedy deals with more than one character operating in any environment. The presence of more than one character is the main vehicle to cause humour. This enables one to see how a character interacts with another character and the response of other characters. This response of other characters may be verbal or through action7. Status A successful situation comedy must also have varying status. These statuses may be imaginary or real. There may also be state of conflict and its resolution. Insults There is usually a tendency of those characters who seek status to be rude, insulting or unpleasant. However, this may not be the case in all situation comed ies that are successful. Each one of the audience during a successful situation comedy will try to identify with at least some part of these characters, their behavior or problems they pass through, even though such behaviors may be considered awkward in real life situations. The insults in this kind of comedy will always come out spontaneous and amusing. The insults may also result into a nervous laugh8. Responding to insults The manner in which a character responds to insults determines the quality of a situation comedy. In a successful sitcom, the receiver does not take the insult as a personal affront. For instance, a receiver of an insult may respond by hitting the issuer like in the comedy Fawlty Towers series Sybil was overwhelmed by the diatribes of Basil.9Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What Makes a Successful Situation Comedy? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another important ingredient under charact erization is the temperament characters. This is where the author tells of how the character behaves most of the time. It does not describe the character’s intelligence, beliefs, social position, physical attributes and such like things. The temperament characteristics of a given character may be ranked as strong, medium or weak. In a situation comedy, one needs to ensure that the specific character posses a mixture of attributes with varying degrees10. For instance in the case of a strong attributes we can talk of a character who is childish, grasping, talkative, and unscrupulous. While, in the case of weakness, we can talk of a character that is resigned, secretive, touchy, and talkative. This method should be able to produce characters suitable for a particular situation. A situation comedy dominated by characters of almost the same character will not be interesting to the audience11. For instance in the comedy Hancock’s Half Hour there is only one Sid type and one Hancock type. The comedy should have at least one strong type, more than two weak types, and a few normal types of characters. The laughter usually comes from the antics of the strong types as they try to interact with other characters. In most cases, the author tries to develop strong characters that experience frustrating, childish, pointless, off-beam, and depressing relationships. The type of speech and mannerism portrayed by a character also determines the quality of a situation comedy. The characters rarely laugh regardless of how hilariously they are found by the audience. This means that, in a good situation comedy, the characters will find no true enjoyment in the situations they face. In this case, you will find that the situation under consideration is one that the audience will have no difficulty dealing with but one character will be portrayed as being unable to deal with12. The character leading to inappropriate, stupid, delayed, or no action will misunderstand the nat ure of the problem. Things will always become worse before they are better in the sense that the character does not learn from experiences. This means that the character does not carry new life experiences forward to the next. Therefore, the audience is found laughing most of the time because they are able to predict accurately how worse the situation will become from simple beginnings of situations.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Title themes The choice of the title in a situation comedy determines how successful it will be. The title should represent something that is obvious and clear in the very first episode. In the comedy, Hancock’s Half Hour, it is clear from the title that whatever is under discussion is about time. Another ingredient of a successful comedy is the theme of the comedy. The theme describes well what the comedy is all about. For a situation comedy, designed to have many series the theme should be able to support a good number of humorous situations. If it cannot achieve such then, the theme might best fit a single comedy play. The description of the theme has little to tell about the humor of the work. A successful situation comedy cannot be made up of a theme that hints at improbable characters in situations that are unlikely. Situations Choice of situations also makes a good situation comedy. Situations are which characters face. Each situation stands for some kind of problem. T hese problems may be tough or trivial. Regardless of the situations, they create the need for taking a specific action. The characters take the best action possible to that situation even if it means ignoring the situations then that would mean that it is the best solution at that time. It is necessary for these situations to be funny13. In a situation comedy, situations are made funny when one of the characters is made to respond to them in a way that will seem inappropriate to the audience. The situation element snowballs and the characters become more and more troubled when the first action taken is inappropriate. This causes the characters to remain in trouble for most of the time or the rest of the episode. The author exploits several situations within an episode. Each situation in this case involves a subset of character. Multiple situations are made to start and end at different times in an episode. The author plays some elements of a situation as sequences of dreams, flash-f orwards or flashbacks. For instance in the comedy Fawlty Towers, the last page of this comedy shows that the problems that Basil faced cropped from the fact that he under stood in his mind that the pianist in the concert was the important guest14. However, it later turned to be the roll musician and the pink-haired rock. These attributes in the hotel clientele were unacceptable according to Basil. Then Sybil overrides Basil even though he wants to refuse a booking. The stress on Basil increased until he went pop. In a situation comedy, very few situations go deeper than the above. Locations Choice of location is critical to any situation comedy. A location is where characters are put. A successful situation comedy is set within four walls of the sitting room. This can be seen in the case of the palaces of the Sultan of Brunei. There should be a reason for changing characters from one location to another. Economic use of the location can be seen in Fawlty Towers. In this comedy, an e pisode kicks with the Sybil lobbing with Basil. The audience knows very little about the other part of the hotel. The audience only knows about the exterior in this case. The audiences can occasional see Sybil and Basil’s room, but they cannot exactly pinpoint the location of the room. Successful situation comedies have interior sets. When an interior set turns into an exterior set, then the audience can only view events in the absence of dialogue. The only thing that can be heard in an exterior situation is background music and some sound effects. Pace Every successful situation comedy must operate at a considerable pace. Pace is a recipe for generating a substantial number of laughs in a successful comedy15. It is not easy to create humor in the event of prolonged silence and idleness (characters sitting about doing nothing) of the characters. For there to exist laughs in the comedy there must be something is in progress or that is being said. Pace implies speed, but it is important to spread evenly the available elements of humor through the entire period of each humor. A successful situation comedy does not need humor to be bunched at the beginning or at the end16. Such a scenario does not hold the attention of the audience. A successful sitcom will always have same pace in all its episodes. Any consideration of a serious series idea must stand up well to the question on whether such sidesplitting material can be produced in three hours in the case of the six half hour episodes of the orthodox British format. Hancock proved himself as master of comic timing, instinctively knowing how long a pause should take there to be a maximum effect. Irregular expressions The dialogue lines spoken by improbable characters working their way through difficult situations is not the only source of humor in a situation comedy but, a combination of it with other elements. Most of the giggling in a situation comedy may arise from the gestures made by characters, verbal tics, and facial expressions, unexpected noises off together with other things to do with the manner in which dialogue is delivered or the physical action. These are called irregular expressions. They include breeding, double take, hypochondria, and phobias, jumping the gun, malapropism, and mispronunciation, noises off, quick thinking, silly laughs, speech impediments, slow dawning, and tics. Breeding comprises such elements as ‘one of this’, ‘Yah,’ ‘Yah’ plus many other high level vocalizations achieved by mispronouncing some English like ‘ou’ sounds like ‘doubt’, ‘about’ will become ‘a bite,’ and ‘clout’ becomes ‘clite’ and so on. People with breeding wear their clothes in a funny way like rolling up sleeves. Double take is a kind of quick dawning that is very useful in a situation comedy. A hypochondrium is where people are worried of some aspects of their health , with a substantial reason. This may result into amusement because of doing it at different times. Watching another person removes our own fears. Phobias represent fear of doing something in a character. This may be fear of insects, flying, darkness, boarding a speedy vehicle, and elevators. These result into nervous laughter when watched. Incorrect anticipation of what someone is going to say is known as jumping the gun. This may happen in such a way that you rush to say something or attempt unsuccessfully to act in a certain manner before it is necessary or the right time reaches. This makes a situation comedy to be more interesting. Malapropism is the use of muddled speech. It is used in characters that are intended to appear to be drunk. It can also be used on characters that have a high status and their status needs to be lowered17. Mispronunciation can be used to lower self-esteem of a character. This is used when the author wants to convey a good education. When used in the right situation noises off can be used to cause laughing. Noises off may be in the form of revving of engines, shouts, the crash of a falling crockery, tires screeching, footsteps, bed room sounds, announcements from public address systems, barking doors, closing and opening of distant doors, foghorn of a ship, blaring Hi-fi, and many other sounds. Silly laughs can be interesting and infectious. Hasty and not well thought kind of thinking can be referred to as quick thinking. A quick thinker can in most cases find himself or herself making a silly mistake that can stir up laughter. Slow dawning is displayed by varying facial expressions. It is mainly used when some event or fact is familiar to the audience. The act of doing things out of conscious when one is talking is known as tics18. These things may include rubbing the nose, scratching the nose, twitching, pulling the ears, looking at the ceiling while rolling the eyeball, or jangling key or money. Depending on the characterâ₠¬â„¢s social background, pictures can be expressed in term of words and phrases such as ‘yeah,’ ‘I say’ and so on. In Hancock’s Half Hour, a marvelous talent for facial comedy was displayed by Hancock on the TV screen through the rolling of his eyes, lip sucking, concentrated increasing his brow, puffing of cheeks, suggested the magnitude of internal wrangling. Conclusion This discussion has touched on many issues as far as production of very successful situation comedy is concerned. It is good to understand that although, in the section under pace, it was noted that prolonged silence and inactivity would not introduce the aspect of fun to the audience, there are several situations in comedies, which have chuckled their way through such. This discussion has also focused more on Hancock’s half hour and Fawlty Tower to draw various aspects. The main reason here is that the two contained everything that makes a comedy successful. Such things incl uded a superb contained location, character mix, wide appeal for audience, easy to follow situations, enough humor, pathos, status, pace, slapstick, human interactions that can be recognized, caricature, and life struggles that have no resolutions. These make a series of episodes more interesting and one can be able to watch them more than one time. The title of Fawlty Towers comedy set out the objective of a situation comedy. This was achieved through identifying what makes a situation comedy very successful. Therefore, the way a comedy has been successful done before is just a road map of how one might approach it in later days. Bibliography Asplin, Richard. Gagged – A Thriller With Jokes. London: Arrow books, 2004. Goddard, P. ‘Hancock’s Half Hour: A Watershed in British Television Comedy’, in John Corner (ed.), Popular Television in Britain. BFI, 1991, pp. 75 – 87. Lewisohn, M. Radio Times’ Guide to TV Comedy. 2nd Ed. Revised. London: BBC Consumer Publishing, 2003. McCann, G. Fawlty Towers. London: Hodder Stoughton, 2007. . Footnotes 1 Goddard, P. ‘Hancock’s Half Hour: A Watershed in British Television Comedy’, in John Corner (ed.), Popular Television in Britain. BFI, 1991, p. 75. 2 Ibid., p. 76 3 Ibid., p.77. 4 Lewisohn, Mark â€Å"Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy†. (London: BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003), p. 30. 5 Ibid., 33 6 Ibid., p.37. 7 Ibid., p.38 8 Ibid., p.41. 9 Peter Goddard, ‘Hancock’s Half Hour: A Watershed in British Television Comedy’, in John Corner (ed.), Popular Television in Britain. BFI, 1991, p. 82. 10 Ibid., p.83. 11 Ibid., 87. 12 Asplin, Richard. Gagged – A Thriller With Jokes.( London: Arrow books, 2004), p. 69. 13 Ibid., p.72. 14 Ibid., p.74. 15 McCann, Graham. Fawlty Towers. (London: Hodder Stoughton, 2007), p.46. 16 Ibid., p.49. 17 Ibid., p. 52. 18 Ibid., p. 54. This essay on What Makes a Successful Situation Comedy? was written and submitted by user Tomas Carlson 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.

celebrity endorsements Essay Example

celebrity endorsements Essay Example celebrity endorsements Essay celebrity endorsements Essay Do celebrity endorsements work? Celebrity endorsement, this is when a Brand uses a celebrity to help sell there product, service or charity. This may be in adverts, creating a line, or in the case of charity attending different events, fundraising or being a face of a charity. There are both advantages and disadvantages of using celebrity endorsements, for many brands it is about them being noticed, and catching the attention of there market and many brands think that by using a celebrity known in society it will help entice the consumers in. One of the main points that have become noticeable is the way different genders see n advert and the gender of the celebrity in the advert. There is some evidence that women may be more favorably disposed toward celebrity endorsers than men. Lake, Reece, Rifon, (2010 page p30-32) Lake et al (2010) showed in their study that men look at the more noticeable aspects of the advert where as the women look at it in a broader view and pick up different cues. In one study done by (Peetz, Park and Spencer, 2004) the results showed that male athletes were known 4 times greater than women athletes are known, this may prove that for Brands advertising portswear they may be more inclined to use a male campaigner. Although (Ohainian, 1991) stated in her study that gender it was not an issue, it was the perceptions of the celebritys attractiveness, trustworthiness or expertise. In recent years though some of the sporting celebritys have been putting their brands under strain due to the celebrity being in the media for bad reasons that may harm the brand. For example Tiger Woods was dropped by Nike due to the car crash and sex scandal Lake et al, (2010), this was spread throughout the media all over the world. Another negative according to Patel (2009), is that Brands could fall into the celebrity trap which is hard to get out of, once a celebrity is known as the brands face it is hard to change the public perception that they are linked together. Finally a celebrity may be used to endorse one brand but themselves use a different brand for example Catherine Zeta Jones was used as an endorser for Sainsburys but was seen shopping in Tescos which may give the general public an unsurety about shopping at Sainsburys Saurbh Katyal (2010) However there are some positives that come out of elebrity endorsement, firstly as Lake et al say by the help of celebritys endorsement they will increase the awareness of the brand as having someone the consumer knows on the campaign it will help catch there attention, and make them more interested in finding out about the product. Also having a celebrity will help differentiate it from one brand to the other for example David Beckham advertises for Adidas and Roger Federer for Nike. The two are sporting brands with different celebritys, which differentiate them. A further positive could be that the value that is ssociated with the celebrity is carried through to the brand/ product. Through this the brand can become established and through having the celebrity endorsement Dutch team in which they scanned 24 womens brains whilst they looked at different pairs of shoes, both with celebrities and non-celebritys modeling the shoes, and it was noticed that part of the brain became very active when a celebrity was modeling them. (BBC, 2010). As stated above it shows that women do pay more attention to celebrity endorsed ads. Celebrity endorsements can also attract the younger markets, s youths often look up to celebrities as role models and if they see a celebrity advertising a product they may be more inclined to buy it, for example if David Beckham is advertising his new Adidas football boots, they will most probably want them because he looked up to by young people. Using ethnographic analysis, found that young admirers consider celebrity idols as their idealized self-images. (Caughey 1978, 1985, 1994). Finally a celebrity can help revive a immobile brand by flushing new life into the brand for example when Gary Lineker starter advertising for Walkers or David Beckham for Brylcreem. Both Brands picked up sales significantly mainly because of the celebrity involved. Today as social media is become such a phenomenon it is becoming easier for celebrities to endorse products. As Hampp (2011) says celebrities such as Kim Kardashian are being paid to Tweet and Facebook about the endorsements, so now more marketers are bringing in social media to their contracts. Today when using a celebrity it is becoming more and more asked about how many followers they have and their popularity (Klout) scores. They have even gone to the extreme of creating a new measurement tool called FanDNA, this ompiles of data from the top actors, musicians, athletes and models, it works by rating them and setting there appeal to different groups. It also matches them with the brands that will work best for them. (Hampp, 2011). Although there are many negatives involved in celebrity endorsing, from looking at the information, there are more positive outcomes than negatives. The companys can get more out of having celebrity endorsing products as they bring in the consumers and therefore the people who give them the capital to continue to work. Some celebritys have bought a new light to the brands and made them reinvent themselves.

celebrity endorsements Essay Example

celebrity endorsements Essay Example celebrity endorsements Essay celebrity endorsements Essay Do celebrity endorsements work? Celebrity endorsement, this is when a Brand uses a celebrity to help sell there product, service or charity. This may be in adverts, creating a line, or in the case of charity attending different events, fundraising or being a face of a charity. There are both advantages and disadvantages of using celebrity endorsements, for many brands it is about them being noticed, and catching the attention of there market and many brands think that by using a celebrity known in society it will help entice the consumers in. One of the main points that have become noticeable is the way different genders see n advert and the gender of the celebrity in the advert. There is some evidence that women may be more favorably disposed toward celebrity endorsers than men. Lake, Reece, Rifon, (2010 page p30-32) Lake et al (2010) showed in their study that men look at the more noticeable aspects of the advert where as the women look at it in a broader view and pick up different cues. In one study done by (Peetz, Park and Spencer, 2004) the results showed that male athletes were known 4 times greater than women athletes are known, this may prove that for Brands advertising portswear they may be more inclined to use a male campaigner. Although (Ohainian, 1991) stated in her study that gender it was not an issue, it was the perceptions of the celebritys attractiveness, trustworthiness or expertise. In recent years though some of the sporting celebritys have been putting their brands under strain due to the celebrity being in the media for bad reasons that may harm the brand. For example Tiger Woods was dropped by Nike due to the car crash and sex scandal Lake et al, (2010), this was spread throughout the media all over the world. Another negative according to Patel (2009), is that Brands could fall into the celebrity trap which is hard to get out of, once a celebrity is known as the brands face it is hard to change the public perception that they are linked together. Finally a celebrity may be used to endorse one brand but themselves use a different brand for example Catherine Zeta Jones was used as an endorser for Sainsburys but was seen shopping in Tescos which may give the general public an unsurety about shopping at Sainsburys Saurbh Katyal (2010) However there are some positives that come out of elebrity endorsement, firstly as Lake et al say by the help of celebritys endorsement they will increase the awareness of the brand as having someone the consumer knows on the campaign it will help catch there attention, and make them more interested in finding out about the product. Also having a celebrity will help differentiate it from one brand to the other for example David Beckham advertises for Adidas and Roger Federer for Nike. The two are sporting brands with different celebritys, which differentiate them. A further positive could be that the value that is ssociated with the celebrity is carried through to the brand/ product. Through this the brand can become established and through having the celebrity endorsement Dutch team in which they scanned 24 womens brains whilst they looked at different pairs of shoes, both with celebrities and non-celebritys modeling the shoes, and it was noticed that part of the brain became very active when a celebrity was modeling them. (BBC, 2010). As stated above it shows that women do pay more attention to celebrity endorsed ads. Celebrity endorsements can also attract the younger markets, s youths often look up to celebrities as role models and if they see a celebrity advertising a product they may be more inclined to buy it, for example if David Beckham is advertising his new Adidas football boots, they will most probably want them because he looked up to by young people. Using ethnographic analysis, found that young admirers consider celebrity idols as their idealized self-images. (Caughey 1978, 1985, 1994). Finally a celebrity can help revive a immobile brand by flushing new life into the brand for example when Gary Lineker starter advertising for Walkers or David Beckham for Brylcreem. Both Brands picked up sales significantly mainly because of the celebrity involved. Today as social media is become such a phenomenon it is becoming easier for celebrities to endorse products. As Hampp (2011) says celebrities such as Kim Kardashian are being paid to Tweet and Facebook about the endorsements, so now more marketers are bringing in social media to their contracts. Today when using a celebrity it is becoming more and more asked about how many followers they have and their popularity (Klout) scores. They have even gone to the extreme of creating a new measurement tool called FanDNA, this ompiles of data from the top actors, musicians, athletes and models, it works by rating them and setting there appeal to different groups. It also matches them with the brands that will work best for them. (Hampp, 2011). Although there are many negatives involved in celebrity endorsing, from looking at the information, there are more positive outcomes than negatives. The companys can get more out of having celebrity endorsing products as they bring in the consumers and therefore the people who give them the capital to continue to work. Some celebritys have bought a new light to the brands and made them reinvent themselves.

An explanation of various marketing terms

An explanation of various marketing terms is the use of consumer-direct channels to reach and deliver goods and services to customers without using marketing middlemen.†Direct Marketing† is the use of consumer-direct channels to reach and deliver goods and services to customers without using marketing middlemen. Direct marketing implies marketing to the consumers directly without secondary media such as TV commercials. Direct Marketing includes the distribution of fliers, displaying signs such as â€Å"weekly specials† inside the store. It is used to target customers who cannot resist a good deal or bargain. Some Direct marketers use their customer database to contact them for special offers. They tailor their marketing offers and communications to the needs of individual buyers. Direct Marketing is generally used by small to medium size companies that do not have the budget for expensive commercial. There are many forms of direct marketing. The major types are as follows: Direct mail – the adverti ser contact prospective customers by sending some form of advertisement through the mail. Music and book clubs, magazine clearing house, and credit card companies make use of direct mail. Catalogue marketing – companies mail catalogues to consumers and to businesses or make them available at retail stores, and consumers make their purchase from the catalogues. For example, Sears and Canadian Tire’s catalogue shopping. Catalogue retailers appear well suited to operating on the internet as they has the systems and distribution experience required for such an undertaking. Telemarketing – using the telephone and call centers to sell directly to prospects and existing consumers. Companies use call centers for Inbound (receiving calls from customers) and outbound (initiating calls to prospects and customers) telemarketing. Direct marketing has been a major growth area in retailing. Its advantages related particularly to its ability to direct the marketing effort to th ose consumers who are most likely to respond positively. It also offers products and services in a way that is most convenient for the consumer. 2. _____ consist(s) of a collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade. â€Å"Sales promotions† consist of a collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade. Sales promotion as tools and techniques used to stimulate demand, encourage purchase or sales of a product or services, reward royal customers and attract switchers from competitors,. Advertising provides information on a product or promote a brand. Sale promotion offers reasons to buy now. Here are a few examples of sales promotions: Coupons delivered in the newspaper offering discount on your favourite coffee. An e-mail from Amazon.ca offers free shippi ng on your next purchase over $35. Sales promotion uses different mix of promotional tools designed to stimulate customers to buy a product. There are two categories of sales promotion tools: The consumer promotions tools – aimed at consumers directly such as; price discount or same price for the twice the amount of the product, discount coupons, cash refund from the manufacturer, patronage rewards such as doubling the amount of air miles, sweepstakes such as possible chance to win a trip to Disneyland and free gift, getting something from the purchase.

Finality of arbitral awards under Islamic or sharia law Dissertation

Finality of arbitral awards under Islamic or sharia law - Dissertation Example Islamic countries ‘too often have impermissibly interfered with international arbitration cases.’4 Many different cultural, political, and geographical factors have constituted the foundation of the Islamic legal system, and pure knowledge of the law does not suffice to understand the Islamic jurisdictional system.5 While international arbitration as a contemporary legal system is relatively new to Arab nations, arbitration per se in the Islamic world dates back to 622 A.D. ... Jarrar8 called the finality of arbitration as arbitrary, and the principle that the results of arbitration are binding and final is a myth. This is not to say, however, that the teachings of Sharia are directly contradictory to the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. It is actually to the greater interest of Islamic countries which issue Sukuk bonds to streamline arbitration proceedings to reduce the perceived risks investors assume when investing in these Sharia-based financial instruments. Arbitration is invaluable for the average investor to pursue claims in any dispute, including Islamic finance, because arbitration is usually less costly and therefore favourable to individual investors. Added to these is the absence of uniformity among remedies and the complexities of navigating conflicts of law issues makes litigation an unfavourable means of obtaining relief. Therefore, it is to the advantage of Islamic financial institutions, in particular, and Islamic business in general to enhance systematic procedures that affirm and enforce arbitral awards, both domestic and international. 1.2 Conventions influencing the enforcement of arbitral awards in Islamic member states As of January 1, 2009, 143 out of a total of 192 member States have adopted the New York Convention of 1958, among whom are all the major players in the Sukuk bonds market, namely Malaysia (1985), Bahrain (1988), Qatar (2003) and the UAE (2006). This is because Sukuk issuances have come to be accepted globally, and its compliance with arbitration is most useful in the resolution of international disputes arising out of the terms of the Sukuk contracts. Increasingly, the Gulf States have over the years acceded to the Convention, including Kuwait

What Were the Reasons for the 1905 Revolution in Russia Research Paper

What Were the Reasons for the 1905 Revolution in Russia - Research Paper Example Some 90% of the Russia people were non-landlords, and those who made up the noble class were even fewer in number. Yet these noblemen and landlords held all of the rights to political power, determination and the best parts of the land. The common people were seen as superstitious and ignorant serfs who only understood force and brutal oppression. Though Czar Alexander the II (1855-1881) attempted at reform, as seen in his Emancipation Edict of March 3, 1861, which abolished serfdom and guaranteed the right to own land, the liberty of the peasants was still out of reach. The annual sums of the government to be paid in exchange for 'ownership' of the land were oftentimes greater than the dues that the peasants had formerly paid to the serfs. Furthermore, the land of the village communities designated to the people was most likely infertile because the nobles were allowed to only give the worst parts of their estates to the people and the village communities kept village land as collec tive property, which meant that no private ownership on the part of the actual farmers was possible. With the formation of an intellectual class, industrialization which concentrated the population and revolutionary societies that could now see the discrepancy between other democratic nations, people became more aware of what kind of living standards they should be entitled to. Nicholas II (1894-1917) only fanned the flame of discontent with his dictatorial and imprudent ruling style and his German wife, Princess Alexandra, who was more than eager to guard the full autocratic power for her husband. A revolution was the only way to alter the social. Of many immediate events that spurred the revolution on, the Bloody Sunday massacre of January 22. Workers on strike, along with their families, had started out marching towards the palace as a quiet hymn singing procession. Women and children were placed at the front of the demonstrating throng in hopes of deterring violence, but after a few warning shots, Czar's soldiers shot directly at the crowd and as a result, an estimate of 1000 people died. Not only did the event demonstrate the government's ruthless indiscriminate approach in the shooting, killing the strong along with the physically weak, it also displayed the fact that protest alone can never help bring about a paradigm shift within the political structure. As shown in the film Battleship Potempkin, many of the protestors were vets from the Russo-Japanese war, who had lost limbs and became crippled for the tsar. The treatment they receive in return for such a thankless service, displayed in the shooting, sparked further d isillusionment among the mass of fighting men. It is believed that this event capsized the remaining faith the people had in the government and triggered the revolution of 1905. The massacre could not have happened in Russia, however, considering the sheer vastness of the country, without the rapid growth of a proletariat class in the industrial towns, which began in the Russian Industrialization initiated by Alexander II's.

The Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs Essay Example for Free

The Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs Essay One of the two friends were killed, the other managed to escape† (Versii). Thirteen more murders followed, often with multiple bodies found in the same day. Two victims were found every day from July 14 through the 16 (â€Å"Lowlifes planned 40 murders†) The three suspects were arrested on July 23, 2007. Igor Suprunyuck attempted to sell a mobile phone they had stolen from one of their victims at the local pawn shop. When that phone was turned on to show that it worked, its location was tracked by law enforcement agents. Igor Suprunyuck and Viktor Sayenko were arrested in the pawn shop (Katsman). Alexander Hanzha was arrested at home, reportedly managing to flush other stolen phones down the toilet. The phones were recovered, but all the information on them was lost (GlavRed). They were charged with 29 separate incidents, including 21 murders and 8 more attacks where the victims survived. Suprunyuck was charged with 27 of the cases, Sayenko was charged with 25, and Hanzha with counts of armed robbery (Kommersant). Ally three confessed quickly, Suprunyuck later withdrew his confession. Suprunyuck’s original defense awyer dropped out of the case after reportedly being disappointed at failing to have a plea of insanity accepted by his client (Segodyna). â€Å"On February 11, 2009, the court in Dnepropetrovsk found Igor Suprunyuck and Viktor Sayenko guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Alexander Hanzha, who was found guilty of robbery and sentenced to nine years in prison (Olinikova). Hanzha said of Suprunyuck and Sayenko: â€Å"If I had know n the atrocities that they were capable of commiting, I would have not gone near them at gunpoint (â€Å"Dnepropetrovsk serial killers sentenced to life imprisonment†). The parents of Igor Suprunyuck and Viktor Sayenko repeated their belief in the innocence of their sons. The parents of Suprunyuck and Sayenko also argued that the sentence of Alexander Hanzha had been too lenient (Segondnya). From what i’ve read, the murderers didn’t have a specific motive. â€Å"Local media reported that the killers had a plan to get rich from the murder videos that they recorded. One of the suspects’ girlfriends reported that they were planning to make forty videos of separate murders. This was corroborated by the suspects’ former classmates, who claimed that he often heard Suprunyuck was in contact with an unknown â€Å"rich foreign website creator† who ordered forty snuff videos, and would pay a large sum of money once they were made† (â€Å"Lowlifes planned 40 murders†). Regional security chief, Ivan Stupak, rejected the claim that the murders had been committed to make internet snuff videos, saying that no evidence had come to the light during the investigation that supported the claim (Segodnya). Detective Bogdan Vlasenko stated: â€Å"We think they were doing it as a hobby, to have a collection of memories when they get old (Segodnya). Deputy interior minister, Nikolay Kupyanskiy, commented â€Å"For these young men, murder was like entertainment or hunting (â€Å"Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs captured! †). â€Å"At the trial, it emerged that Suprunyuck had collected newspaper cuttings about the case† (Segodnya). â€Å"Some of the photographs of the crimes had captions added, including â€Å"The weak must die. The strongest will conquer (Segodnya). The suspects’ mobile phones and personal computers contained multiple video recordings of the murders taking place. One full video was leaked on the internet, showing the murder of 48-year-old Sergei Yatzenko. He is seen lying on his back in a wooded area, and is struck repeatedly in the face with a hammer held inside a plastic bag. One of the attackers stabs Yatzenko in the eye with a screwdriver, and also stabs him in the abdomen with the screwdriver. Yatzenko is then struck with the hammer in order to ensure that he is dead. The attack lasts over four minutes, during which the victim lapses in and out of consciousness. One of the murderers can be smiling towards the camera during the video† (â€Å"Shocking Murder Video Makes Rounds on the Internet†). Personally i’ve seen the video and I wish I could take back every minute of it. The suspects were also found in possession of multiple photographs showing them attending funerals of the victims. They can be seen smiling and â€Å"flipping off† the coffins and gravestones (â€Å"Killers captured death of victims on video (with television news video)†). The photographic and video evidence was shown in court on October 29, 2008, as part of a larger presentation of over 300 photographs and two videos (Leontieva). In conclusion, my opinion on the murders is that they were horrible. There had to be something mentally wrong with them. No one can do something like that and not have any kind of sympathy, without something being wrong with them. The Dnepropetrovsk Maniac murders were definitely some of the worst killings in the last 100 years.