Postmodernism, Hyperreality and the Hegemony of Spectacle in New Hollywood Essay

After the screening of The Matrix on its first release, a dear cousin of mine, film connoisseur and avid fan of classical movies, spontaneously made the following comment: â€Å"This is an entirely new cinema to me! † If anything, The Matrix is a clear marker of cultural change. A film with state-of-the-art production values like this is bound to elicit in us the belated realization of how slow our response has been to the cultural products of an entirely transformed film industry, that of New Hollywood. My cousin’s casual and unwitting remark reflects the embarrassment felt by both professional critic and layman alike in coping with contemporary movies, especially when we still tend to approach New Hollywood products with the standards of the Old Hollywood cinema. Because of our adherence to tradition, we still tend to look for those classical values of â€Å"development†, â€Å"coherence† and â€Å"unity† in narratives only to find with disappointment that narrative plots become thinner, that characters are reduced to one-dimensional stereotypes and that action is carried through by loosely-linked sequences, built around spectacular stunts, dazzling stars and special effects. Narrative complexity is sacrificed on the altar of spectacle† (Buckland 166) as today’s blockbusters turn out to be nothing but calculated exercises in profit-making, all high-concept, high-gloss and pure show. Similar cries of warning about the loss of narrative integrity to cinematic spectacle have been voiced at different periods, usually at times of crisis or change in the history of the American cinema. One could cite, for example, Bazin’s disdain at the â€Å"displacement of classicism† by the baroque style, marking the end of the pure phase of classical cinema. His coined term, â€Å"superwestern, †designates the â€Å"emergence of a new kind of western† (Kramer 290), that, according to Bazin, â€Å"would be ashamed to be just itself, and looks for some additional interest to justify its existence—an aesthetic, sociological, moral, psychological, political, or erotic interest† (150-1). Similarly, in 1957 Manny Farber, taking his cue from Bazin’s superwestern, laments the â€Å"disappearance of this [classical] roduction system and the closing of action-oriented neighborhood theaters in the 1950s†. He claims that directors like Howard Hawks â€Å"who had flourished in ‘a factory of unpretentious picture-making’ were pushed towards artistic self-consciousness, thematic seriousness, and big-budget spectacle â€Å"(Kramer 293, emphasis added). A decade later, Pauline Kael too expresses her fears at the disintegration of filmic narrative which she attributes to the abrasion of traditional film production in general. She laments not only the emphasis on â€Å"technique† â€Å"purely visual content,† and â€Å"open-ended, elaborate interpretations† of the experimental and innovative art film of the New American Cinema, but as Kramer puts it, she was equally critical of the experiences facilitated by Hollywood’s mainstream releases. The lack of concern for coherent storytelling on the part of producers and directors in charge of the volatile and overblown process of filmmaking was matched by the audience’s enthusiastic response to spectacular attractions and shock effects, irrespective of their degree of narrative motivation. 296) Voices of dissatisfaction were heard at another major turn in the history of Hollywood, that is in the late 1970s, when the â€Å"unprecedented box-office success of Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977), signaled Hollywood’s aesthetic, cultural and industrial re-orientation towards movies with more emphasis on special effects and cin ematic spectacle† (Kramer 301). Unlike the classical movies produced on the assembly line under the studio regime (films that respected narrative integrity and refined story ideas into the classical three-act of exposition, complication and resolution), the products of New Hollywood, says critic Richard Schickel, seem â€Å"to have lost or abandoned the art of narrative†¦. [Filmmakers] are generally not refining stories at all, they are spicing up ‘concepts’ (as they like to call them), refining gimmicks, making sure there are no complexities to fur our tongue when it comes time to spread the word of mouth†(3). Contemporary cinema has come to depend so much on shrewd marketing and advertising strategies that its pictures, as Mark Crispin Miller points out, â€Å"like TV ads, †¦ aspire to a total ‘look’ and seem more designed than directed† (49). The difficulty that critics nowadays face with films like The Matrix and the new situation in Hollywood, is not only unlike the layman’s inability to assess â€Å"any recent Hollywood film as a discreet textual artifact that is either ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than the artifact produced under the studio regime,† Cook and Bernink note (99). It has also to do with regarding â€Å"the textual form of recent Hollywood as expressive of changed production circumstances that lead to a different kind of textual artifact†(ibid. ). In other words, as we move on in our globalized, high-tech age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to regard any single movie as a self-contained, autonomous text. On the contrary, as Eileen Meehan contends, it has become imperative to look upon any New Hollywood mainstream release â€Å"always and simultaneously as text and commodity, intertext and product line† (31). In order to revise our critical standards and respond effectively to the new status of the contemporary Hollywood movie, we need to grasp the dramatic changes that the American film industry has undergone in the post-classical period, which started right after World War II and culminated to a point of radical transformation in the post-1975 period, which has eventually come to best warrant the term New Hollywood. These changes have been lucidly described in a number of historiographic studies (Ray 1985, Balio 1985, 1990, Schatz 1983, 1993, Gomery 1986, Bernardoni 1991, Corrigan 1991, Hillier 1992, Wasko 1994, Kramer 1998, Neale and Smith 1998, Cook and Bernink 1999) which collectively shed ample light on the completely new situation defining New Hollywood. What has drastically changed is both the ways movies are made and the ways in which Hollywood has been doing business. After the government’s dismantling of the â€Å"vertically-integrated† studio system, the industry turned to producing and selling motion pictures on a film-by-film basis, resulting in the shift of power from studio heads to deal-makers (agents), in the rise of independent producers/directors, and in a more competitive and fragmented movie marketplace (Schatz 9). To the rise of TV and the emergence of other competing media technologies (VCRs, Cable and Satellite TV) Hollywood responded with a re-orientation towards blockbuster movies, â€Å"these high-cost, high-tech, high-stakes, multi-purpose entertainment machines that breed music videos and soundtrack albums, TV series and videocassettes, video games and theme park rides, novelizations and comic books† (Schatz 9). Despite the â€Å"increasingly fragmented but ever more expanding entertainment industry – with its demographics and target audiences, its diversified multimedia conglomerates, its global(ized) markets and new delivery systems†, the calculated blockbuster, as New Hollywood’s feature film, remains the driving force of the industry (ibid. ). This is testified by the monumental success of the blockbuster at the box-office. Schatz cites Variety’s commissioned study of the industry’s all-time commercial hits, in which only 2 movies of the classical period appear to have reached the top, whereas â€Å"90 of the top 100 hits have been produced since 1970, and all of the top 20 since Jaws in 1975†(9). The big-budget, all-star, spectacular hits of the late fifties and early sixties (such as The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Cleopatra, or Dr. Zhivago) have some sizable profits to show for (all in the vicinity of $25-to $50 million). By the standards of their age, they were considered colossal box-office successes; however, by today’s standards they seem quite puny contestants to the post-75 era of super-blockbusters which generate record-setting grosses, well beyond the $100 million barrier (always in constant dollars). And such a figure applies only to theatrical rentals, which accounts just for a percentage of the total revenue of a movie which also finds outlets in ancillary markets. he industry’s spectacular growth and expansion (its horizontal integration) is to a great extent owing to the take-over of the majors (Paramount, Fox, Columbia, MCA/Universal) by huge media empires (Warner/Time Communications, Murdoch’s News Corporations, Sony, Matsushita, respectively) forming multimedia conglomerates with diverse interests in the domestic and the global market, with holdings in movies, TV production, cable, records, book and magazine publications, video games, theme parks, consumer electron ics (both software and hardware). These huge corporations provide financial muscle for the multi-million production budgets of the blockbusters (since the production costs have themselves sky-rocketed), but also market muscle for promotion. Marketing and advertising strategies have been the key to the unprecedented success of the New Hollywood movie since Jaws: through pre-selling, usually cashing in on the popularity of a novel published prior to production, a movie becomes a media â€Å"event† by heavy advertising on prime-time TV and the press, as well as by the massive simultaneous release in thousands of mall-based multiplex theaters. Calculated blockbuster productions are carefully designed to ensure the greatest potential profit not only through extended theatrical rental (sequels, re-issues, remakes, director’s cut), but also though capitalization in ancillary markets: soon the movie will come out on videocassette, audio-cassette, novel, computer game, and the increasingly popular since the mid-nineties, DVD, let alone an extended market career through by-products ranging from the CD movie soundtrack to T-shirts and toys, which contribute to the impressive surge in profits. It becomes obvious thus why contemporary movies cannot be conceived of as individual entities and cannot be separately examined from their economic intertext that renders them part (or rather the driving belt) of a larger entertainment machine and advertising campaign. Expensive blockbusters, which in the early days of the post-classical period were the exception and now, as Schatz states, have become the rule, â€Å"are the central output of modern Hollywood. But what, aside from costs, are their dominant characteristics? How are they able to attract, engage and entertain millions of people? asks Warren Buckland (166). The blockbuster syndrome has also changed the movies’ mode of address. Designed around a main idea, what is called â€Å"high concept†, a blockbuster becomes increasingly plot-driven, increasingly visceral, kinetic, fast-paced, increasingly reliant on special effects, increasingly â€Å"fantastic† (and thus apolitical), and increasingly targeted at younger audiences. And significantly enough, the lack of complex characters or plot [as for example] in Star Wars opens the film to other possibilities, notably its amalgamation of genre conventions and its elaborate play of cinematic references. But while these movies enjoy a great popularity among younger audiences, as their huge box-office success indicates, the loss of narrative integrity to spectacle, and the sense of escapism and triviality usually associated with high-gloss, star glamour and dumb show, has driven most academics or old-cinema cinephiles to summarily shun or dismiss blockbusters as merely calculated exercises in shameless profiteering. Warren Buckland thinks that these arguments about the loss of narrative potential in the contemporary feature film are overstated and attempts to reverse the â€Å"unhelpful and hostile evaluative stance† (167) of the critics towards the blockbuster. Focusing on a typical action-adventure blockbuster, Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Arc heproposes adopting an analytical and descriptive approach to these films, an approach dubbed by Bordwell and Thompson â€Å"historical oetics. † Part of the argument he makes is that â€Å"historical poetics† can account for the popularity of movies with such a broad appeal (and allows us to take them seriously as aesthetic, cultural objects) â€Å"especially because movies are examined in terms of their individuality, including their response to their historical moment, in which style and composition respond to the historical questions posed in the culture in which the film is made† (168-169). In other words, the issue is not so much about the so-called death of narrative—because narrative is still alive and well—but the emergence of a new kind of narrative, whose meaning is conveyed not through traditional narration but by emphasis on spectacle and the visual impact of the pictures which provide additional narrative pleasure and have changed the patterns of viewer response. Thus Buckland’s concluding remark that â€Å"it is perhaps time to stop condemning the New Hollywood blockbuster and to start, instead, to understand it,† carries more merit than we have been ready to admit. My intention in this essay is to extend the argument about the narrative/ spectacle issue in the direction suggested by Buckland, but within a wider, cultural perspective. The supremacy of the visual and the spectacular over traditional narration in the textual form of contemporary movies is not only expressive of the changed production values and the text’s signifying practices; it is also reflective of the changed cultural patterns and lifestyle habits in postmodernity. Classical cinema favored traditional storytelling because it provided a univocal interpretation of life and reflected a uniformity in entertainment habits: cinema was the predominant form of entertainment, as â€Å"the movies attracted 83 cents of every U. S. dollar spent on recreation† (Ray 26). Its nineties counterpart, with its emphasis on the sensational and the spectacular, on episodic action and generic diversification, is a postmodern cinema entertaining the possibility of multiple signification and the hyperreality of the visual, subject to an increasing commodified experience. As Anne Friedberg puts it, â€Å"today the culture industry takes on different forms: Domestic electronics (fax, modems, cable television) follow the interactive model of dialogic telephone communications. The personal computer turns the home user into a desktop publisher, the microwave turns every cook into an instant gourmet, the Walkman transforms each listener into a radio programmer. Both production and reception have been individualized; the culture industry no longer speaks in a univocal, monolithic voice. 189) This proliferation of entertainment venues offered to the individual points to a general malaise often regarded as the central feature of postmodernism, what Featherstone terms â€Å"the fragmentation and overproduction of culture—the key-feature of consumer culture† (76). As Jameson says, â€Å"in postmodern culture, ‘culture’ itself has become a product in its own right; the market has become a substitute for itself and fully as much a commodity as any of the items it includes within itself† (1991 x). In the â€Å"cultural logics of late capitalism,† Jameson’s code-phrase for postmodernity, what is commodified is not simply the image, which has acquired central role in contemporary culture but lived experience itself. As Guy Debord diagnoses in The Society of the Spectacle, â€Å"everything that was lived directly has moved away into a representation (1983 np). Baudrillard, as Friedberg notes, also talks about â€Å"the same phenomenon—representation of the thing replacing the thing—and extends it into a mise-en- abime of the ‘hyperreal,’ where signs refer only to signs. Hyperreality is not just an inverted relation of sign and signifier, but one of receding reference, a deterrence operation in the signifying chain†(178). A part in this process of the commodification of the sign and the derealization of the real has been played by media technologies, especially electronics, as Vivian Sobchack points out: The postmodern and electronic â€Å"instant† †¦ constitutes a form of absolute presence (one abstracted from the continuity that gives meaning to the system past/present/future) and changes the nature of the space it occupies. Without the temporal emphases of historical consciousness and personal history, space becomes abstract, ungrounded, flat—a site for play and display rather than an invested situation in which action â€Å"counts† rather than computes. Such a superficial space can no longer hold the spectator/ user’s interest, but has to stimulate it constantly in the same way a video game does. Its flatness—a function of its lack of temporal thickness and bodily investment—has to attract spectator interest at the surface. †¦ In an important sense, electronic space disembodies.

Leadership models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Leadership models - Essay Example Leadership Models or theories have been a central part of organizational management for many years. These help to make or break the workforce, and hence, the business. In this paper, four leadership models will be discussed thoroughly first. They will then be compared for any similarities and differences. Finally, their concentration on contemporary leadership issues and challenges will be analyzed, along with their implications for organizations today.The term 'leadership style' defines the "leadership model'. Style of leadership has been explained as how a person takes his team forward to achieve goals. This is the simplest definition of a layman. Good leadership is what makes effective management (Murugun, pg. 329). A model which defines this is, then, a 'Leadership Model'.Leadership has many functions that bring the team closer to their goals to carry out .The significance of leadership is reflected in the following functions: providing inspiration to employees, securing cooperat ion in the team, creating confidence among individuals, providing a conducive environment for employees, implementing changes, maintaining discipline among the members, representing them, and setting goals. (Murugun, pg.328)There are many factors that affect how a manager exerts leadership. The most important and the first one that comes to mind is his personality. The Leadership model largely depends on the nature of a manager. Moreover, the experiences of a manager also define his leadership style. He may lead in a certain way because his practices and situations in the past expect him to go forward in that manner. In addition to that, it is also based on the beliefs and values of the leader. He will also manage and lead his team according to the organization's environment, culture and needs. To get to the point, there are a number of leadership models, defined by a number of individuals. For example, Likert's leadership theories describe four kinds of leadership styles: Exploitative authoritative, Benevolent authoritative, Consultative and Participative styles (Likert 1967). Or , for example, Goleman's, Boyatzis' and McKee's (2004) six emotional leadership models: The Visionary Leader, the Coaching Leader, the Affiliative Leader, the Democratic Leader, the Pace-setting Leader and the Commanding Leader. But in this paper, we will only go over the four most common ones. The Charismatic Model adopts the Charismatic Style of Leadership, which is a style taken up by a leader who has a personality so charming and "charismatic" that he uses this to take the team forward. According to Max Weber, the term 'charisma' is used in the sense of an 'extraordinary quality' possessed by persons or objects, and is thought to give these persons a unique, magical power (Bendix 1977, pg.299). This leader is like an organizational hero who the subordinates look up to and follow strongly. They focus on making their team very different than the others. The charismatic model will only work with the kind of charismatic leader described above. The model sounds almost too good to be true, or practical. Which is the case, it is good but also not practical. The benefits of this model are apparent. Only by using pleasant phrases and appealing words and gestures, the leader can make the team get closer to his and their goals. Furthermore, he can make them believe and this belief is what fuels motivation. It could increase productivity of the workers and create a decorous, respectable environment. However, this doesn't always lead to successful results or achievement of goals, depending on the kind of team and the morale of its members. An "organizational hero" is more appreciated when the spirits of the individuals are low than when they are extremely self-confident. Moreover, according to Weber, a charismatic leader might not always be positive, for example, Adolf Hitler. In such situations this style is perceived as unethical by some because control is exercised on

Cataleya From The Film Columbiana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cataleya From The Film Columbiana - Essay Example Fifteen years later, as a ground up young woman, she receives extensive training on fighting and defence tactics. She eventually t6racks them down and kills all of them, including their leader Sandoval. Cataleya exemplifies several of Campbell’s characteristics of a hero. Campbell states that a hero is somebody who something has been taken from him or her. To Cataleya, her parents, who meant everything to her, were brutally murdered and this was the basis of her revenge mission. A hero, according to Campbell (1988) performs a courageous act, either physical or spiritual. Cataleya, choosing to avenge her parents’ murder showed her act of courage. Despite the various discouragements from a number of people, she was determined to accomplish her mission. The revenge mission was not an easy one. Cataleya remained strong regardless of the challenges she met. At one point, when pursuing the murderers, she felt like giving up but remained strong and committed. Lord Luis Sandova l was a much-respected man in the drug world, and nobody ever thought of going against him. The police themselves had been unable to arrest him. However, Cataleya single handed killed him and his team. A hero's journey usually consists of a departure, a fulfilment, and a return. Cataleya left her home and went to her uncle in Chicago. She fulfilled her mission of revenge and returned to her home to live in peace. A hero also has to achieve something, and to her, the murder of Lord Luis Sandoval was her achievement.

Class Sizes in Highschool Should Be Smaller Essay

Class Sizes in Highschool Should Be Smaller - Essay Example In a smaller classroom, students are less anxious because the environment allows for ample time for them to understand the lesson, ask some questions, and get a complete explanation of the required work. Furthermore, if there were fewer students in a class, tasks such as presentations would become easier for students, who would likely feel more comfortable presenting to a smaller peer group. For these reasons, it is important that class sizes are kept to a maximum of twenty. Smaller classrooms are a must because an effective learning environment must have adequate resources available. In an average classroom there are less than 30 textbooks available. When the number of students in a class exceeds the number of available books, then not everyone has access to an important tool for learning. When a lesson is taught, having a book to follow from keeps the student engaged in the material. Without this item, it is easier for students to get distracted and lose interest in the subject. As well as this fact, students learn at different speeds. If two or three students are sharing a book, it will be difficult for all the students to progress at the same rate. Some students will be left behind, while others will not be able to read the entire page. Of course, there is also the problem of completing homework assignments without a text book. Students are given assignments, class projects, and homework regularly. If a student does not have a textbook, then it makes it so much harder to get any work done. With a larger number of students and limited books on the library shelves, an environment not conducive to learning is created. Another reason why smaller classrooms should be encouraged is that students are less likely to become... This report approves that some students may click their pens, listen to music loud enough for others to hear, or perform a repetitive movement such as tapping their feet against the ground. Additionally, some students may get out of their seats to receive help from their peers or teacher, or they may leave the room for various reasons. These little noises, in conjunction with visual interruptions, can draw a student’s attention away from their work and reduce their concentration. Many students may become frustrated with the noise and feel overwhelmed because they cannot concentrate and complete their assignments. This is very detrimental and unfair to the majority of students. With fewer people in the classroom, the distractions would be reduced. This allows an individual to remain focused and calm, which would result in a more productive education. This essay makes a conclusion that classroom sizes needs to be reduced because of different learning styles, a lack of sufficient resources, and the possibility of distractions. A student’s one-on-one time with their teacher is essential, and the loss of this is detrimental to that student’s learning capabilities. Not every student learns at the same pace, so it is essential that all students are given a fair opportunity to learn. Because of a lack of resources available to students, it is easy to understand why students and teachers are stressed. Furthermore, with the constant distractions of noise and movements, the ideal learning environment suffers greatly. With the general population in Ontario growing and thus classroom sizes on the rise, our education system becomes condensed and the students suffer as a result. It is time to prioritize students’ education by reducing the number of students in each class.

Ethnic History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethnic History - Essay Example For purposes of this brief response, this student will attempt to show the ways in which individuals from a Muslim background engage with and understand their ethnic history. Although the topics which will be represented will further help to shed a level of understanding on many of the ways in which current levels of trust and suspicion continue to exist with regards to the relations that individuals from an Islamic background and/or from the Middle East or North Africa share with regards to an interpretation of their own history. Firstly, when one begins to discuss an ethnic history, it is a means of understanding that necessarily divides groups into â€Å"us† vs. â€Å"them†. Such a construct is not necessarily bad; rather, it is just another way of seeking to provide a level of understanding for why the world has developed in the unique way that it is has. This â€Å"us† versus â€Å"them† attitude is especially useful in situations in which a colonizer of entity has been present. This is of course very much the case when it comes to many of the Islamic regions within North Africa and throughout the Middle East. In this way, trying to understand the way that a type of shared ethnic history has developed would not be complete without first trying to understand that indelible imprint that the period of European colonization and control affected on the collective ethnic memories of the subjugated people throughout the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere in the Islamic Maghreb ( Leong et al 2013). After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire soon after the end of the First World War, European powers quickly exerted their influence throughout the remnants of the power vacuum that existed. What was unique about this situation as compared to what occurred elsewhere throughout Africa and Southeast Asia during the same period was the fact that many of these Islamic lands had recently transitioned away from the grip of the

FM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

FM - Essay Example Practicing managers are interested in this subject because among the most crucial decisions of the firm are those which relate to finance, and an understanding of the theory of financial management provides them with conceptual and analytical insights to make those decisions skillfully1. Financial management, as an academic discipline, is concerned with decision-making in regard to the size and composition of assets and the level and structure of financing. To make wise decisions a clear understanding of the objectives, which are sought to be achieved, is necessary. The objective provides a framework for optimum financial, decision-making. In other words, they are concerned with designed a method of operating the internal investment and financing of a firm. These all are done in a systematic way if financial management is studied 2. Financial management is related to profit maximization as a decision criterion. According to profit maximization goal, actions that increase profits should be undertaken and those that decrease profits are to be avoided. In specific operational terms, as applicable financial management, the profit maximization criterion implies that the investment, financing and other decisions of the problem should be oriented to the maximization of profits. Though in our specific proble... In specific operational terms, as applicable financial management, the profit maximization criterion implies that the investment, financing and other decisions of the problem should be oriented to the maximization of profits. Though in our specific problem, financial goal is set up in such a way that of not operating at a loss, financial management is needed at all as the main objective of financial management is profit maximization. Workings for setting up financial goal: Fixed cost: Refurbishment cost 3: 8000 Building fixed overheads: 2000 per month 2000 6 months=12000 for 6 months So total fixed cost= 8000+12000 =20000 Fluctuation of Personnel Contingent 4 100 150 200 250 300 Cost of Goods sold 5 108000 162000 216000 270000 324000 Advanced stock Purchased for 2 weeks 3600 5400 7200 9000 10800 Total variable Cost 6 111600 167400 223200 279000 334800 Total revenue: Spend of customers/ Revenue of the store 7 150000 225000 300000 375000 450000 Total cash inflow Considering Fluctuations: 3000 8 153000 228000 303000 378000 453000 Total cash inflow Considering Fluctuations: 4000: 154000 229000 304000 379000 454000 Net cash inflow (Considering starting Cash as 3000) 9 21400 40600 59800 79000 98200 Remark 10 So to operate the store at not operating loss the minimum financial goal have to be 153000 for six months. Requirement 2: Tools to analyze a project: Ratios provide very useful tools for the manager to assess the organization by making two basic types of comparisons. First, the analyst can compare a present ratio with past (or expected) ratios for the organization to determine if there has been an improvement or

A True Story of Crime and Punishment Essay Example for Free

A True Story of Crime and Punishment Essay A true story of how a man was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, May God Have Mercy exposes the imperfections in the criminal justice system and how it led to the death of an innocent man. Roger Colemans case became the main story on nightly newscasts and prominent television shows such as Larry King Live, Nightline, Good Morning America, and the Today Show. Many crucial, yet harmful decisions were made that ultimately resulted in an innocent mans execution at the death house in Greensville, Virginia. The police, the prosecutor, and the Judge can all be held responsible for Colemans death. However, the reason Roger Coleman was not acquitted of the murder of Wanda McCoy in the first place and thus in a position to be executed was because his original lawyers, Steve Arey and Terry Jordan, did not provide him with adequate representation, as required by the Constitution of the United States of America. Steve Arey and Terry Jordan were young, inexperienced lawyers who should have never even been considered for a capital case. Judge Persin, the presiding Judge in the case, however, decided on these two gentlemen because other more experienced lawyers refused to take the case because of the huge financial sacrifice it would require. Albeit public speculation that Judge Persins previous profession as a prosecutor had led him to heavily favor the prosecution, his decision stood. The two prosecutors who Arey and Jordan would be opposed by were Mickey McGlothlin and Tom Scott. Both prosecutors had far more experience than the defense lawyers, but that didnt stop Judge Persin from appointing Arey and Jordan to the case. It was an obvious mismatch, intentional or not, and was just the beginning of many problems that would arise for the defendants case. The murder of Wanda McCoy took place in Grundy, a small town in Virginia. The year was 1981, and Brad McCoy, Wandas husband, arrived home from work to find his wife dead, the apparent victim of a brutal rape and murder. The police investigated the crime scene, recorded witness reports, and searched for suspects. When they identified their prime suspect, Roger Coleman, the police made the arrest. Due to the negative public opinion that had generated following the arrest, Coleman demanded that his lawyers file for a change of venue with the court. Since Grundy was such a small town, it would  be very difficult to pick an impartial jury to give Coleman a fair trial. Every person in the town had to have read or seen something on the murder. The fact that the police provided supposed conclusive evidence against Roger Coleman and made it public, many of Grundys residents wanted to see Coleman sentenced to death. Steve Arey had been preparing the case to present to Judge Persin, but at the last minute, he notified Terry Jordan that he would not be able to attend due to a prior engagement. Areys lack of respect for Coleman and the case in general left Terry Jordan with a crucial decisionwhether to seek a continuance or to argue the motion himself. He chose to present the case himself. The defenses decision to argue the motion was a terrible decision. Not only should Jordan have sought a continuance because he was not prepared to argue the case, but neither of the defense lawyers had done any research or made any effort to obtain evidence to support their case for a change of venue, except for a couple of newspaper clippings and a picture of the hanging-tree sign. The prosecution, on the other hand, had gotten approximately fifty affidavits from members of the town claiming that they did not have any biased feelings about the case. As expected, Judge Persin denied the change of venue request, a nd effectively set the tone for Roger Colemans trial. The beginning of every trial begins with opening statements, which provide the jury with a preview of the evidence they will provide and what it will effectively show. A lawyers opening statement is probably the most important part of the entire trial, and usually puts the jurors leaning favorably towards the side with the more convincing performance. Like any other criminal case, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. They are required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime. Mickey McGlothlin presented an organized and persuasive opening statement that gave the jury the impression that Roger Coleman was guilty based on the significant amount of evidence against him. The defenses opening statement should have attacked the evidence that the state provided, and also attacked McGlothlins credibility. The defenses  opening statement should have consisted of a description of the friendly relationship that existed between Roger Coleman and the McCoys. It also should have also included Colemans alibiPhilip VanDykeand the fact that VanDykes time card reinforces the time that he said he was with Coleman and the time that he clocked into his job. Arey and Jordan also had an opportunity to smear McGlothlins credibility by referring to evidence that he failed to mention in his opening argumentthe pry mark on the door, the broken fingernails on the victim but no scratches on Coleman, and that the substance found on the victim was soil, not coal dust, which had been on Colemans clothes. The defense counsel didnt refer to any of those facts. No scientific evidence was brought up, and it failed to respond to McGlothins statement that there was evidence that Coleman had in fact admitted to committing the crime. The opening statement was a complete disappointment for Coleman. It started to raise questions inside of Coleman of whether his own defense lawyers thought he was guilty and therefore were not putting the time or effort in to prove his innocence. In either case, his defense lawyers had presented a completely inadequate opening statement, and it left the jury with the feeling that Roger Coleman was guilty. In addition to failing to present a solid and influential opening argument, another major problem with the defense counsel was their extreme lack of preparation for the trial (their own witnesses and the states witnesses). Before the Coleman case, Terry Jordan had never tried a murder case, a rape case, any case involving blood or hair analysis or a criminal case of any kind that lasted more than one day (112). Being from Grundy, Jordan should have interviewed most if not all of the local witnesses, but that did not happen. He did not interview all of police officers that were investigating the crime nor did he interview Dr. McDonald, who was the first one to examine Wanda McCoys body and who estimated her time of death. He did not interview Hezzie McCoy, Dr. Oxley (the doctor who performed the autopsy), or even Elmer Gist, who was the states blood and hair expert. In fact, Jordan cross-examination of Elmer Gist was solely based on Gists report about hair comparisons and one on blood analysis. He had not read anything about blood or hair analysis, because if he had, he would have been more capable of performing an effective cross-examination of the states most crucial  witness. Terry Jordan also failed to carefully examine the physical locations that could have led to Colemans innocence and acquittal. He never actually went inside the house where the murder took place, nor did he examine the door to see if there was any evidence of forced entry. He never examined the bathhouse where Coleman said his pants got wet from, and he did not go to the mine where Roger worked. The route that Coleman supposedly took that night was never gone over to see how long it took and to see if there was time for him to commit the crime given the stops that he made prior to the murder. Jordan did not look for other witnesses who the state had not identified, and he did not ever ask for VanDykes time card, an essential piece of evidence. No photographs were taken at any point, making everything that was presented in court non-visual. Visuals would have made the defenses case much stronger. Steve Arey had interviewed most of the same witnesses that Jordan interviewed, along with a couple other defense-alibi witnesses. The state was heavily favored in the case to begin with because of their experience in criminal cases, as opposed to the defense counsels lack of experience in such cases. As expected, Judge Persin ruled in favor of the state and Roger Coleman was sentenced to death. Many criminal cases are appealed after their conclusion, and this case was no different. The defense has thirty days to file a Notice of Appeal with the Court. The defense prepared their appeal and mailed it to the Court. However, the attorney generals office told the defense that they had filed the appeal one day late and that it would not be accepted. This was another huge mistake by the defense. Although a legal technicality should not be the cause for an innocent mans evidence to be withheld, the law specifically stated that a Notice of Appeal must be filed within thirty days of the Judge signing the order that rejected all of the defenses arguments. The defense had missed a crucial deadline and Roger Coleman would b e punished because of it. The defense would not be able to get the Court to listen to their case again and this would eventually lead to Colemans death. The fact remains that neither Terry Jordan nor Steve Arey conducted a thorough enough investigation to really present a strong case to oppose the prosecution. Roger Coleman was never really given a fair trial, and it ultimately led to his conviction and death. His lawyers failed to use the evidence that was available to get their client acquitted. Their inexperience and lack of motivation resulted in an innocent mans death. There were many opportunities for the defense counsel to question witnesses, to seek experts opinions on the forensic evidence, and to insert new evidence to support Roger Colemans case, but they did not do so. Jordan and Arey should have never been appointed as Colemans counsel, and that alone made Colemans chances of acquittal slim to none. Roger Coleman was never given a fair chance, even later on in the process before he was executed, however, his defense lawyers performed well below the standards that a man on trial for his life deserves. Their terrible mista kes and decisions led to the death of an innocent man.