Making Dreams Come True Essay Example for Free

Making Dreams Come True Essay As a child, did you ever wish upon a star? Did you ever dream of being a prince or princess in a magnificent castle? Or dream of being able to fly high above the tallest buildings? I know I did, I had many dreams. Many children dream of magical places they want to go, people they want to be, and things they want to feel. The Walt Disney Company has strived to make these dreams of children a reality. Whether it is getting to meet a princess, or getting a new pair of shoes, The Walt Disney Company wants to make every child feel special. The founders, Walt and Roy Disney, originally strived to create animations of fantasy worlds filled with scenes that would make anyone feel warmth. They continued their works by creating physical worlds of excitement; ones that children and their parents could enjoy together. Past and present, Disney also has helped out the community in numerous ways. Today The Walt Disney Company is still making dreams come true. On December 5, 1901, the creator and backbone of Disney, for many years, was born. Walter Elias Disney was most famous for his contribution to the entertainment world in the twentieth century. He went on to become very well known for his motion pictures. Walt Disney created many short films and full length animations; he also was the mind behind the world famous Disney theme parks. Throughout his career, he won 26 Oscars, 37 other awards, and 41 nominations. Walt still holds the record for the most awards ever (Walt). Although Walt Disney is most famously associated with Disney, he was not the only one in on the business. Roy Oliver Disney was Walter Disney’s older brother. Roy was born on June 24, 1893 in Chicago, Illinois. He co-founded Disney along with his brother and served as the chief executive officer of Disney for most of his life. He contributed to all the work that was done with Disney up until his death in 1971. Unlike Walt, Roy was alive to see the opening of Walt Disney World three months before he passed away (Roy). The Walt Disney Company started in a small Los Angeles office in 1923 by the Disney brothers. Their first real production was The Alice Comedies. The Alice Comedies grew popularity quick, and The Disney Company began to flourish. Five years later, the most famous Mickey Mouse was born; Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck and other Disney characters soon followed. Then in 1937 Disney’s first animated movie was produced; Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was pure success worldwide. Over the next few years, Disney decided to expand his ever-growing company, so he moved to Burbank to build a new studio. There, during the 1940s and 1950s, he along with his team created some of the classic Disney animations including Bambi, Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan (History). Mickey Mouse has a long history; he celebrated his 80th birthday in 2008. Oswald the lucky rabbit was the original character. He starred in a black and white short film cartoon, where he had long black ears, a round pudgy belly, big goofy feet, and a huge but thin smile. He wore high white shorts, with white shoes and white gloves. Walters’s idea of Oswald came after The Alice Comedies series, but was influenced by them. The design came from Alice’s husband Charles Mintz. Walt later decided he wanted to give Oswald a makeover, so he decided to turn him into a mouse. At first he named this mouse Mortimer, but the name did not last. To this day, no one really knows the reason the mouse’s name was changed, but the most popular story is that Walter’s wife did not really care for the name. I am sure Disney was happy that he changed the name, seeing what success would come from the new revised character. After much debate, the character was created and named Mickey Mouse (Suddath). Mickey’s first couple appearances were not a success. All doubts were put to rest when Steamboat Willie hit the big screen, starring Mickey Mouse. The film was the first animation with synchronized sound effects and music. Mickey Mouse’s career had begun, and it was just the beginning. A little over ten years later, animator Fred Moore had an idea to make over Mickey once again; this was another brilliant idea in my eyes. Mickey was originally designed out of circles, therefore limiting his movements. The new Mickey was hoped to move more freely across the screen. Moore also proposed the idea of making a cuter Mickey. As a result, he gave him a pear-shaped body, eyes with pupils and a cute shortened noise. The new Mickey first appeared in one of the earliest and well-known classics, Fantasia; and for the first time, he appeared in color. Mickey continued to appear in short films throughout the years (Suddath). Today Mickey is not as popular in animated films, but I would not hesitate to say he is still alive in the Disney atmosphere. Mickey and Minnie are still recognized worldwide today. After the initial years of getting the Disney Company started, a lot of progress happened very quickly. In 1937 Disney made history by making the first full length animated motion picture; it was titled Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The famous film was written based on the tale Snow White by Brothers Grimm (Snow). To follow were many Disney classics that children still enjoy watching today. Some of my favorites include Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and The Beauty and the Beast. Disney has created 96 animations and is still created them today. Of those 96 movies, 45 of them are considered classics (The Walt Disney Company). Many of these Disney characters are the focus of two main theme parks that Disney created for everyone to enjoy first hand. To many children and even adults, the Disney parks are magical places. Nothing says it better than their slogan, â€Å"Where all dreams come true. † This is exactly what Walt Disney wanted; he wanted to create a place of magic for both children and their parents. Disneyland is located in Anaheim, California and Disneyworld is located in Orlando, Florida; they are the two amusement parks in the United States. There are also four other parks around the world, along with a Disney cruise line (Walt Disney). Disneyland was the first of the two to be created; it was the only park that Walt Disney himself actually got to witness being built and finished. Construction of the park was started on July 17, 1954, and was opened exactly one year later. Disneyland was a hit from the beginning, opening day was said to be a disaster because it was so overcrowded. The original park cost a massive 17 million dollars to complete. In the 1990s The Disney Company decided to expand the park. It was transformed into a park along with a resort. Along with the Disney Resort, Disneys California Adventure Park, Downtown Disney, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel were created. Inside of Disneyland, there are a handful of mini lands, or at least this is how I see them. I would describe these as brief, but nonetheless powerful and exciting places that are seen around the world or in Disney productions, all composed inside one theme park. One that I particularly remember is the Haunted Mansion which is found in the New Orleans section of the park. The Haunted Mansion was constructed to look like an old southern plantation; inside it, it was created into a haunted adventure. These marvelous attractions draw many guests from around the world every year. As of 2007, Disneyland had been visited by over 14,800,000 people (Disneyland). In 1959 Walt Disney thought about creating another theme park. His main concern was the location because most of the people who came to Disneyland were from the west; which was a downfall because at the time most people lived in the east. Therefore, he wanted to open the Disney experience up to the whole nation by creating a new park closer to those on the east coast. The process of just getting approved for a large piece of land took many years. He had been denied numerous times. Finally, Orlando, Florida was chosen as a site for the new park. Sadly, Walt died in 1966, five years before the park was ever opened. Along with Walt Disney World, Epcot was created in 1982. Epcot is known today as the community of tomorrow. Like Disneyland, Walt Disney World also contains a resort and other parks within. Walt Disney World has not only become the most popular Disney Park, but the most popular entertainment attraction in the United States. On average, 40 million people visit each year. (Walt Disney World). Disney does not only vision to give children an experience of a lifetime through movies and theme parks, but through more heartfelt ways such as giving to charities. In 2008, Disney donated 209 million dollars to charities around the world, hoping to make wishes come true among families. They also have a program for volunteers called VoluntEARS. The company has been serving the community for over 26 years. In those years, the members have helped in 42 countries and contributed 5,000,000 hours of volunteer work. Most recently, in honor of Disney’s 55th anniversary, they are running a deal to promote community service. Disney is offering a free ticket to their park if anyone donates a day to a participating Disney organization (The Walt Disney Company – Corporate). Disney has a long history and it is still striving to create magic every day. Children still enjoy watching the same Disney classics that children watched over 50 years ago. Although Disney’s first few movies are still popular today, new animations are still being made, and are still becoming great hits. Disneyland and Walt Disney World are still magical places that will surely bring a smile to a child’s face. But most importantly, Disney is continuing to fulfill dreams through their community service; these dream come trues are truly magical.

Essay on Social Conventions in Jane Eyre and Hedda Gabler

Social Conventions in Jane Eyre and Hedda Gabler   Ã‚  Ã‚   Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre and Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler were written within fifty years of each other in the late 1800s. Both Jane and Hedda exist within the same social contexts. They are women of the middle class in European cultures. The fact Jane is penniless through much of the novel does not exclude her from the middle class. Jane and Hedda's experiences, education and values all belong to the middle class. Therefore it should be no surprise their words echo. In detail and outcome their stories are different. However, it is the constraints of the same social conventions which drive their different destinies. It is the same confusion of social convention with morality and spirituality that pains both their existences. Confusing social convention with legal, moral, and religious codes of conduct is a phenomena not confined to the 19th century. It is this same confusion that created Jim Crow Laws, anti-gay legislation and fuels the fire of the abortion rights debate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Social conventions of the 1800's did not allow women of the middle class to live independently. With few exceptions women moved from father's household to husband's household. It was the father's prerogative to arrange a suitable marriage. In truth there might be a carefully selected few to choose from, but any unauthorized selection would hold severe consequences for both men and women.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jane Eyre's mother was disowned because she chose to marry an "unapproved" man. Jane would suffer because of this transgression, which occurred before she was even born. After being orphaned, Jane lives with her Aunt Reed. She is continually reminded she is a dependent and is unloved by her r... ...ton: Prentice Hall, 1992.    Ellis, Kate and Kaplan, Ann. Nineteenth Century Women at the Movies: Adapting Classic Women’s Fiction to Film. Bowling Green, OH: Popular, 1999    Jane Eyre. Dir. Christy Cabanne. Perf. Virginia Bruce, Colin Clive, and Beryl Mercer. 1934.    Jane Eyre. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsborough, and Anna Paquin. 1996    Jane Eyre. Dir. Julian Aymes. Perf. Timothy Dalton, Zelah Clarke. 1983    Jane Eyre. Dir. Robert Stevenson. Perf. Joan Fontaine, Orson Welles, and Margaret O’Brien. 1944    Peters, Joan D. â€Å"Finding a Voice: Towards a Woman’s Discourse in Dialogue in the Narration of Jane Eyre.† Studies in the Novel. 23 no 2. (1991): 217-36.    Zonana, Joyce. â€Å"The Sultan and the Slave: Feminist Orientalism and the Structure of Jane Eyre.† Signs. 18 no 3. (1993): 592-617

Language acquisition Essay

Contemporary researchers, who are interested in the language teaching, ELT publishing, second language acquisition and the theory of language in general while referring the process of a mother tongue influence on a foreign language teaching, usually apply the terms: ‘Language Interference’, ‘Cross-Linguistic Influence’, or ‘Transfer’. All of the terms imply that the language produced by foreign learners is that all the languages of the world have similarities which make a foreign language more familiar to a learner. Thus, while learning a foreign language students try to look for similarities with their mother tongue. These similarities in many cases depend on individual perceptions and in this way can be deceptive. Modern scientists suggest that the idea that the language produced by foreign learners can never be pure, it is unavoidably influenced by learners’ mother tongue. Sometimes mother tongue affects learning a foreign language so much, that the foreign language becomes distorted. So, the foreign language learnt should be better termed an ‘inter-language’ and, as Nicholls, D points out in the article What is learner English? , â€Å"it [the foreign language learnt] will always be a blend of the foreign language and the mother tongue. † (Nicholls 2002). As it was already mentioned above, the similarities found between a mother tongue and the foreign language a hindrance and a help, causing positive and negative transfer. (Nicholls 2002). Positive transfer is found in correct ‘guesses’, and the prompts, which help a learner to get the things right. Though positive transfer is a rich area of study, it is not in the scope of the study of the paper. Further the paper will discuss the negative transfer or the language interference that causes the learner errors in the process of a foreign language acquisition. In the sphere of contemporary education, the English language produced by learners is referred as ‘learner English’. An opposing term to ‘learner English’ is ‘Non-learner English’, the meaning of those is closely connected with the notions: ‘Standard English’ and ‘correct variant of English’. So, following the ideas of scientists, the English produced by learners will always be ‘foreign’. In order to make the further research more clear, it is necessary to define the main terms of the theory. First of all, the theory of language interference operates with the notions: first language and foreign language. Walters K. and Brody M. in their article What’s language got to do with it? define first language as the first language acquired by a person since his/her birth or childhood. If a person learns two or more languages in his/her infancy, then the person is considered to have two or more first languages. (Walters and Brody 2005) In this way, the term ‘First Language’ is very close to the terms ‘Native Language’ and ‘Mother Tongue’. However, the notion of mother tongue presupposes that the person learns the languages from infancy in the home. (Walters and Brody 2005) All in all, native language, as well mother tongue, and first language are learnt by a child mostly unconsciously and involuntary. A child may learn his/her mother tongue even if no special attempts at teaching are made. Also, the first language serves as a spoken medium of communication and â€Å"is largely achieved from random exposure. † (Encyclopedia Britannica 2004). In contrast to the first language, foreign language is taught purposefully. It is not necessarily acquired in one’s childhood or in one’s home. Walters K. and Brody M. write about a foreign language: it is â€Å"learned or used by a person for limited and/or specific purposes such as business transactions or reading. A foreign language is not learned with the in-tent of using it extensively in daily life. † (Walters and Brody 2005) So, another difference is found out. The first language is used in a person’s everyday life, whereas the spheres of usage of a foreign language are limited by place and by time. In other words, students speak or think in a foreign language during their lessons and at their classroom. When the lesson of a foreign language is over, students naturally go back to their mother tongue. This feature, certainly, gives more advantages to students’ mother tongue and encourages them to use their native language in a wider range, more ‘extensively’. The last not only fosters better development of a mother tongue in comparison with that of a foreign language, but also it puts the mother tongue in a dominating position over the foreign language. However, the notion of foreign language should not be confused with the notion of second language.

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