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Film analysis Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita
Film analysis: Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita
Introduction
The movie Lolita by Stanley Kubrick is based on Vladimir Nabokov’s controversially 1955 novel. The story revolves around a middle-aged man (Humbert), who has a peculiar obsession for a flowering gorgeous girl (Lolita).
On the on-set of the movie, satin drapes grace the scene, and a feminine leg that seems to belong to a young girl is befittingly brought forth. The left hand of a mature man wearing a wedding ring is brought into the picture. The man is observed to be fondling her feet, with his right hand meticulously painting her toenails with lustrous enamel. This evidently a behavior foreshadow of the fathomless intense affection that Humbert (the man painting the girl’s toes) develops for Lolita (the young girl) as the movie progresses. Humbert is immediately captivated by Lolita’s outstanding physique and unique beauty during their very first encounter. His fondness for Lolita is undisputed when he opts to rent a house he had no intention of moving into in the first place, because, he despised the land lady Charlotte, Lolita’s mother. Moreover, Humbert’s obsession for Lolita is palpable in the instance where, he decides to marry her mother as opposed to the other alternative, that is, he would be compelled to move far away from Lolita. Key to note also, is the joy he displays when his wife dies unexpectedly in a tragic car accident.
The rousing piano music that prevails over the opening scene sets the mood for romance, intrigue and catastrophe which is noted throughout the movie.
The disorganized interior of the grotesque mansion that belongs to Quilty, a renowned writer who leads a care-free fast life and had an eye for the good things that life has to offer is brought into view. Quilty has a liking of extravagant orgies and pretty girls. In this scenario a behavior foreshadows is used to portray Quilty’s degenerate nature and to justify his death at the hands of Humbert. Quilty is depicted as a very shallow minded person, who is egocentric and manipulative. He takes advantage of the little girl Lolita whom he is aware has had some sort of infatuation on him for the longest time. He coaxes her to run away with him and eventually breaks up with her, then kicks her out in the streets.
Musical instruments are displayed in this scene; they include the harp and the piano which fills part of the room. Humbert is seen stroke the harp as he struggles to make his way around the congested and disorganized room. This is object foreshadow of the piano recitals that Humbert uses in the movie as a strategy to hinder Lolita from socializing with her male peers. Disappointingly, she uses the very excuse of going to piano recitals to sneak off and see Quincy whom is feels deep affection for. The mock piano recital that Quilty gives to Humbert later on in the scene, further emphasizes this object foreshadow.
The fact that Quilty is spotted for the first time laying on the floor like a corpse, is in itself foreshadow of his fate at the end of the movie where he dies at the hands of Humbert. Having a personal vendetta against Quilty for ‘defiling’ the only girl that he loves, Humbert decides to revenge. He drives into Quilty’s house and after a brief casual conversation, shot at him severally until he succumbed to his injuries.
The instance when Humbert pulls out a gun with the intention of using it on Quilty in the movie is also a foreshadow. The gun initially belongs to his late wife (Charllote) who got it from her late husband. Her husband had purchased the gun with the intention of committing suicide because he did not wish to see his wife watch him suffer from his terminal illness. Fortunately he did not get to use it, because, he was hospitalized before he got a chance too. Upon his demise, his wife, Lolita’s mother, repossessed the gun and kept it safely in the confines of her bedroom. When Charlotte re-married, this time to Humbert, in confidentiality she showed him the gun, swearing to use it on herself if he ever broke her heart. No sooner had Charllote died in a car accident, than Humbert took ownership of the gun, which he conveniently uses to end Quilty’s life.
The marble statues at the beginning of the scene are objects foreshadows that signify Quilty’s line of work. Quilty is not only a writer but he also an artist. His area of specialty is art that deals with nudity. Towards the end of the movie, Lolita confides in her step-father Humbert and reveals that Quilty threw her out of his house because she refused to participate in the nude art. This is one of the infuriating factors that force Humbert to resort to revenge as the only form of justice.
The voice impersonations that Quilty uses in the first scene are also a foreshadow of the voice impersonations he uses, first to disguise himself as a German Psychologist from Lolita’s school in an effort to hoax Humbert that it was in his best interest and hers, to let Lolita play a lead role as an actress in the school play. Quilty also impersonates himself as a police officer, accusing Humbert of being a pedophile. Quilty is seen to successfully use this talent foreshadow to his advantage in the movie.
The note that Quilty gives to Humbert terming it as a death sentence is depicted to be poetic. This is an insight into professor Humbert’s prowess in poetry which is evident as the story unfolds. In his narration, Humbert states that he has been called upon to a lectureship at Beardsley College in Ohio .His posting is inspired by some English translations he has made of French poetry which has become very popular in America.
In the event of Clare Quilty’s death, a young innocent lady’s portrait with a bullet hole through its torso hangs over his lifeless body. This is a foreshadow of the irreconcilable life of Lolita and the abuse she goes through at the hands of both Humbert her supposed step –father and Clare Quilty her supposed lover. Both men can be rightfully considered to be pedophiles since they are both much older that Lolita who is still a teenager. Humbert imposes his love on Lolita by being overwhelmingly possessive of her, this greatly restricts her from enjoying her teenage years ,thus, making her very rebellious to the extent that she runs off with a manipulative, delinquent so as to get freedom from her rather obsessive guardian. On the other hand, opportunistic Quilty Clare takes advantage of the situation and uses this opportune time to gratify his selfish desires. The end result is that the once, sassy, attractive innocent girl ends up living in deplorable conditions and is stuck in a loveless marriage to a pauper.
Kubrick has endeavored to skillfully optimize the use of foreshadow in his movie to make the entire story credible and plausible. The exquisite and generous use of foreshadow in this movie, triggers understanding of every specific aspect of the story hence, facilities suspense, excitement and most importantly, total acceptance by the audience.
Economic depressions have many effects on the economy of a country
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Honeywell
Economic depressions have many effects on the economy of a country, one of which is employee layoffs due to decreasing revenues. Companies and businesses can also deal with the recession through furloughs, which involves employees taking a periodic leave of absence, which is unpaid. As the economy begins to improve, the company can then rehire the workers. However, furloughs have a detrimental effect on employee morale. Those laid off temporarily usually feel that they are not valued or that they are not as crucial as their colleagues who stay on. They may not be willing to come back to the company later. In addition to this, those who remain working face the uncertainty of whether they too will be sent on unpaid leave, which will affect their performance.
Furloughs will have a lower impact on turnover rates as compared to layoffs. A recession usually affects every part of the economy; hence, it is unlikely that the employees will find work elsewhere. However, management needs to be very clear when implementing the furloughs. Honeywell chose to carry out employee performance reviews to decide who would stay on and who would be sent on leave. Such a situation may suggest that those on a temporary leave of absence do not do a good job or as not as useful in the company, and this would lead to anger and bitterness. The company should make it clear that it has no choice but to send some of its employees on unpaid leave for a period, but only because of the current economic conditions. Management should then start implementing furloughs on non-essential employees while ensuring that the process is fair. If the process is handled well, the employees will be willing to come back to work at a later time. This will result in a lower turnover rate compared to layoffs, and the company also gets to retain its best employees.
Economic Decisions Essay
Economic Decisions
There are a wide range of factors that impact making economic decisions by individuals, businesses and government. Individuals mainly have to make decisions based on their personal income. Businesses usually make decisions to increase the total revenue of the business. Governments make decisions to stabilise the economy and make decisions in order to gain the most votes/supporters to win the election.
Individual consumers usually make decisions to satisfy their basic needs and wants. This level of satisfaction is adjusted to their level of disposal income, the accumulation of past savings, level of education and type of work. Individuals that are professional have higher levels of qualifications and education will earn a higher potential income. This can be seen in the life cycle consumption hypothesis where we spend more than we earn at the beginning and end of our lives, and have a period where we can accumulate our savings for later in life. When our level of income increases, individuals can spend more money on goods and services. This leads to higher standards of living as they have immediate satisfaction. In order to continue of have basic goods/services when a person retires and stop full time work, employers need to contribute about 9% of the employee’s income towards their superannuation. Individuals also make economic decisions based on incentives from the government like tax incentives making employees likely to put more savings into their superannuation.
Businesses make decisions in order to maximise profits. These decisions are made and will directly impact consumers. Some things that may affect their decisions include: the pricing of resources, demand from consumers and the highest price their product can sell for. If the price of that resource is increasing, they would have to increase the prices of the goods in order to maintain their maximum profits. The decisions made are also dependent on the most efficient employment of resources for production often the cheaper one of labour or capital. Businesses often make decisions like choosing to make more of a product that leaves another opportunity cost as a risk based on the current demand of consumers. If they maintain an adequate supply of the goods that is in high demand, they would make more sales. Their decisions are also dependent on how much power/control they have over the market for their industry. If they have the majority of the control over the market, they will have more power in adjusting the standard price. If there is more competition, prices are more likely to be more competitive hence go lower which will better for consumers. Businesses also have to take in account the current state of the economy. For example, if the economy is experiencing rising inflation, the value of money goes down, demand/prices of goods go up and businesses are more likely to sell less because consumers buy less goods/services for the same amount of money.
The economic decisions made by government are dependent upon the government’s policies to gain the most votes to win the election. Individuals are taxed according to the level of income they earn. If the government supports the lower class, they are more inclined to tax the rich to a greater extent for the redistribution of income to the community. Economic decisions are made according to the government budget where they allocate specific amounts of money that is appropriate to each sector. If the government needs more money to spend, they would increase the tax. The taxes are used to pay off the country’s debt and finance basic services to the community such as healthcare, law and order, education and defence. In Australia, The Reserve Bank of Australia (an Independent Government Agency) makes decisions to stabilise economic activity by regulating the amount of money in the economy in order to control total demand. The Federal government may reduce interest rates for example if it believes unemployment is on the rising to increase economic activity. Reducing the interest rate makes credit cheaper as we are more inclined to spend and invest money, businesses sell more and hence economies speed up.
Finally, there are many factors that affect the decisions we make in an economy. For individual consumers, this is dependent of spending, work, level of education and retirement. Businesses make decisions to maximise profits/productivity by efficiently allocating resources to the most highly valued/demanded goods and make prices which is dependent on industry competition. Governments make decisions to stabilise the economy, redistribute income to the community for basic services, and gain the most supporters for the election. Furthermore, these three layers of the economy interact with each other. If the Government increases the interest rate, it leads to businesses selling less; businesses will put prices up, and consumers pay higher prices for the same products.