Summary
The Hollywood movies that I am analysing are “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iow Jima”. These two films highlight the battle in 1945 in which the American Army Captured the Island of Iow Jima. “Flags of Our Fathers” interprets the American side of the Battle glorifying why it was right for the Americans to assault the island. Like most Hollywood films, Flags of Our Fathers is very patriotic and views the Japanese as the Country in the wrong and that the Americans were in the right. The film also highlights “the picture that changed the war”, the picture of American soldiers raising the flag in Iow Jima.
The second movie “Letters from Iow Jima” views the film from the side of the Japanese inhabitants of Iow Jima. This film, like Flags of Our Fathers, this films it patriotic and tries to prove the innocent of the Japanese People and highlights how barbaric the Americans were and that the were going to massacre everyone on the island and that they were only defending their homes and families.
Strengths
The strengths of These Hollywood movies about historic events are that they educate the viewers about the historical event. These movies also make the action scenes more heroic. They also give the view an insight of what life as a soldier was like in during different war times and in different countries. “Based on a true story”, this means that the films have to follower certain guide lines. Also these movies are easily accessible as they can be bought or rented from shop or they can be watch on the internet.
Weaknesses
Hollywood films are always patriotic and glorify countries and therefore, things aren’t always put into perspective. Also these film drift away from the truth sometimes and are misleading due to Artistic licensing. There is also negativity about the “based on a true story” as these films need to make the scenes more effective and therefore add drama to the storyline rather than following the truth to make the movies entertaining.
Example of when it can be used in a public service
Analysing movie can be used in a public services because many historic war events are made into Hollywood movies and other events that involve the Police and Fire Brigade such as” World Trade Centre”
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Personal Accounts/ Eyewitnesses
Summary
A Personal Account is a primary source that is taken from the event being recalled, for example eyewitnesses who were at the scene or event when it occurred. Other examples of primary sources are written statements or photographs taken from or at the time or date of the event.
An example of Personal accounts is two taken from eyewitnesses of the 9/11 Terrorist attacks on America Brian and Stanley.
Strengths
· The strengths of personal accounts are that they are from eyewitnesses of the event/disaster and therefore are most likely to be accurate and truthful.
· When the eyewitnesses recall what they witnessed, they show emotion so that the people who are recalling or studying the event feel the empathy for the witness.
· This is more effective because the people listening are able to imagine what it would have been like if they were and what emotions the survivors were experiencing during the time of the event.
· The accounts are usually detailed and the witnesses usually remember exact details of what they experienced such as what they seen, heard and smelt.
Weaknesses
· The weaknesses of personal accounts are that sometimes, the event was too distant to remember the exact details and therefore creates a risk of exaggeration in what they did in the event.
· The witness may have missed specific details because they were in shock or helping other people so they exaggerate to make the accounts more interesting so that people want to listen to their accounts/views and therefore are potentially unreliable.
· Also, the witness may add patriotism into the account to try and make themselves look like a national hero to gain popularity.
Conclusion
Overall, I think that personal accounts are a good source of information as the eyewitnesses are the only sources of what happened at the incident and they give people a view of what it was actually like during the event. The accounts are generally accurate and truthful.
Example of when it can be used in a Public Service
Personal Accounts/Eyewitnesses are used in the Police Force regularly. The police always need to know what happened and who done what so that they are able to make the correct arrests.
Official Records
Summary
Official records are documents/records are Original records, including official copies of outgoing correspondence, that document policy, operations and programs, property, financial transactions, and legal obligations.
“Official copy or original record having the legally recognized and enforceable quality of establishing a fact. Official records are kept for their full retention period”.
Strengths
The strengths of Official Records as a source of information are:
· They are very reliable as they have to be truthful
· Are usually recorded in detail and are verified by the Government.
· Most records can be viewed by the public for free.
· Similar copies can me made from the Official record.
· The official documents are legal.
Weaknesses
The weaknesses of Official Records as a source of information are:
· There is only one official copy and therefore it could be misplaced or ruined.
· Difficult to access as the documents are classified
· Its hard to get copies of this documents
· Fake documents can be made.
· Time it takes to find the documents
Use in a public Service
The police force would use official records as a source of information when a police officer writes up a report, that report becomes the official record.
Conclusion
Overall I think that official documents are a bad source of information as they are to difficult to access and therefore it is hard to use the source. Because they are so hard to access it can lead to people looking for them incorrectly and actually accessing fake copies.
Human Remains
Summary
I am analysing the source of Human remains as a sources of information to determine whether it is a reliable or unreliable source of information. Examining Human remains is where a Forensic Experts or a coroner, examine a dead body to discover the cause of death.
Strengths
· The strengths of human remain as a source of information is that examining human remains will determine the cause of death.
· The Forensic experts can recover important evidence from the human remains such as bones, dentals, hair, skin which still has DNA, Fingerprints, and Blood etc.
· Human remains can still be examined years after the death.
· They can determine who was at the scene at the time of death to gain eye witnesses or suspects.
· Even if the body had been cleaned by the murderer, the forensic experts can find traces of blood, DNA etc.
· Truthful as the sources they use are people DNA, Dentals etc. so they are facts.
Weaknesses
· The weaknesses of Human Remains as a source are that vital remains could be missing and therefore could ruin the research.
· Another weakness is that there are no eyewitness accounts or records of what actually happened and therefore becomes an opinion based source instead of a reliable one until evidence can be matched with a suspect.
· If the human remains are found years after the incident, then it’s harder to recall the event
· The costs of the experts
· The time it takes for the experts to examine and find leads.
Conclusion
Overall I thing that Human Remains is a good source of information as experts can determine the time of death, the cause of death etc. experts can also place people at the scene of death at the correct time. Although it takes a lot of time for the expert to get all their result correct and piece the puzzles, if they get the results correct then it is worth it.
Photographs
Summary
The source of information I am analysing is photography. Photographs can be taken from past times or present and allow the people to get a view of what was happening during the image.
Strengths
· The strengths of using photographs as evidence are that the viewer is able to get an insight of what was happening during the time of the event captured.
· The photographs are 100% truthful and can also capture specific events.
· Photographs can be photo copied
· They can also be enlarged so that the researcher can get more of an insight of the photograph
· Photographs entitle people to picture what was happening during the historic events that are captured
· They can capture important evidence such as a murder or a burglar in a crime scene.
weaknesses
· The weaknesses of photographs as a source of information are that the photo can only show what happening through a picture and therefore could miss vital information.
· Also the photo only shows the event from the photographer’s point of view.
· Another weakness is that the photograph could get lost or damaged.
· also you can only make out what’s happening in the photo and therefore it becomes opinion based.
Use in a Public Service
Photographs are still currently used by the Police Force to capture suspects meeting up with drug dealers or coming out of crime scenes etc. they use these photograph as evidence when questioning suspect to try to gain answers from them.
Conclusion
I think that overall photos are a good source of information and a bad source of information as pictures from the past do not show enough information of what is actually happening during the captured event to get an idea of what is happening and the viewer can only determine what is happening through what the photographer ha captured.
However photographs do give an insight of what is happening and even capture people at a and can catch historic events. Also more recent and up to date cameras show the time of the photograph taken and therefore can be used to place murders or burglars at a crime scene at the right time.
Therefore I think that photographs are a good source but also a bad source of information.
Paintings and Drawings
Summary
The source of information and I am reviewing is Paintings and Drawings. Paintings and drawings are pictures illustrated by an artist. The focus of the picture can be anything. Paintings are usually used when looking into events from the past. Drawings are used to describe something.
Strengths
The strengths of paintings and drawings as a source of information are:
· They give people and view of events of the past or something they didn’t attend
· The paintings/drawings can be of any historic theme or event.
· Drawings are used to give people an insight of someone or something, for example, if the police are looking for a suspect, a witness can describe what he looks like and even draw a picture to determine what he looks like help the police find the suspect.
Weaknesses
The weaknesses of paintings and Drawings as a source of information are:
· The paintings can get lost or damaged
· The paintings do not show enough of what is happening at the event.
· Some drawings are changed slightly to make them attractive.
· The drawings of suspect are not always accurate and could therefore mislead the police.
Use in a public Service
The police still use drawings as a source of information. When a eye witness is describing a criminal to the police, the police get an artist in to draw a ruff sketch of the suspect based on the facts described by the witness. An example is the Madeline McCann case. When Madeline McCann went missing the police received many calls about leads on suspicious people and had around 20 different sketches of different suspects.
Conclusion
Overall I think that paintings and drawings are a bad source of information as they don’t give enough information on what is actually happening. Also the painting can be touched up or have stuff added to make them stand out. Although the drawings can help police officer to get a view of events or suspects, they can be misleading and therefore are unreliable.
Internet
Summary
The source of information I am analysing is the Internet. The internet can find any article or information about anything from history to daily events and gives a range of different sources.
Strengths
The strengths of the internet as a source of information are:
· Range of sources are massive
· Can find information on almost anything
· Easy to access the internet
· The sources are sometimes referenced
· Good quality of information
· Daily newspapers can be accessed online
· News websites with updates by the minute
· Historic events can be accessed.
Weaknesses
The weaknesses of the internet as a source of information are:
· Cost to run the internet
· There is no limit to what can be out on the internet
· Fake or scam websites
· Can be misleading
· The required information can be hard to find
· Have to look at different websites/ sources
Use in a public service
The fire brigade would use the internet to find out locations of schools, community halls, fates etc.in which they go and speak to children or the community about fire safety.
Conclusion
To conclude, I think that the internet is a reliable source of information overall as it is easily accessible and offers a range of sources that are potentially reliable and gives a good quality of information. All though the internet can be misleading, if you have an idea of what you are researching, than the internet is a good source of information to use.
CD Rom
Summary
The source of information I am analysing is CD Roms. I will analyse the weaknesses and strengths of the source.
A CD Rom is a memory disk which data can be uploaded onto once.
Strengths
The strengths of CD Roms as a source of information are:
· They are easy to access
· The information on the CD Rom will only be about the subject required
· Cheap to buy
Weaknesses
The Weaknesses of CD Roms as a source of information are:
· Difficult to find the required CD Rom
· The data can only be uploaded once and therefore cannot be updated
· The cost of them
· The time it takes to get the correct rom
· Need a computer to access it
· Flimsy and could break easily or data could be damaged
Use in a public service
The police force would use CD Roms if they are looking at past cases in which data such as interviews would have been recorded onto the CD roms.
Conclusion
Overall I think that CD Roms are a bad source of information as they cannont be updated and it hard to get hold of the correct CD Rom.
Currently, work is at Merit/Distinction level.
ReplyDeleteYou must aim to finish the AO by Friday 2nd December.