Recession in India free essay sample

We have compiled the said report which helps in understanding what corrective steps were taken which helped the banks to emerge out of the turmoil. Financial Crisis The financial crisis of 2007 to the present is a crisis triggered by a liquidity shortfall in the United States banking system caused by the overvaluation of assets. It has resulted in the collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments and downturns in stock markets around the world. In many areas, the housing market has also suffered, resulting in numerous evictions, foreclosures and prolonged vacancies. It is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It contributed to the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in the trillions of U. S. dollars, substantial financial commitments incurred by governments, and a significant decline in economic activity. Many causes have been suggested, with varying weight assigned by experts. We will write a custom essay sample on Recession in India or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Both market-based and regulatory solutions have been implemented or are under consideration, while significant risks remain for the world economy over the 2010–2011 periods. The collapse of a global housing bubble, which peaked in the U. S. in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to real estate pricing to plummet thereafter, damaging financial institutions globally. Questions regarding bank solvency, declines in credit availability, and damaged investor confidence had an impact on global stock markets, where securities suffered large losses during late 2008 and early 2009. Economies worldwide slowed during this period as credit tightened and international trade declined. Critics argued that credit rating agencies and investors failed to accurately price the risk involved with mortgage-related financial products, and that governments did not adjust their regulatory practices to address 21st century financial markets. Governments and central banks responded with unprecedented fiscal stimulus, monetary policy expansion, and institutional bailouts. | Background and causes The immediate cause or trigger of the crisis was the bursting of the United States housing bubble which peaked in approximately 2005–2006. Already-rising default rates on subprime and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) began to increase quickly thereafter. An increase in loan packaging, marketing and incentives such as easy initial terms and a long-term trend of rising housing prices had encouraged borrowers to assume difficult mortgages in the belief they would be able to quickly refinance at more favorable terms. However, once interest rates began to rise and housing prices started to drop moderately in 2006–2007 in many parts of the U. S. , refinancing became more difficult. Defaults and foreclosure activity increased dramatically as easy initial terms expired, home prices failed to go up as anticipated, and ARM interest rates reset higher. Share in GDP of U. S. financial sector since 1860 Low interest rates and large inflows of foreign funds created easy credit conditions for a number of years prior to the crisis, fueling a housing construction boom and encouraging debt-financed consumption. The combination of easy credit and money inflow contributed to the United States housing bubble. Loans of various types (e. g. mortgage, credit card, and auto) were easy to obtain and consumers assumed an unprecedented debt load. As part of the housing and credit booms, the number of financial agreements called mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO), which derived their value from mortgage payments and housing prices, greatly increased. Such financial innovation enabled institutions and investors around the world to invest in the U. S. housing market. As housing prices declined, major global financial institutions that had borrowed and invested heavily in subprime MBS reported significant losses. Falling prices also resulted in homes worth less than the mortgage loan, providing a financial incentive to enter foreclosure. The ongoing foreclosure epidemic that began in late 2006 in the U. S. continues to drain wealth from consumers and erodes the financial strength of banking institutions. Defaults and losses on other loan types also increased significantly as the crisis expanded from the housing market to other parts of the economy. Total losses are estimated in the trillions of U. S. dollars globally. While the housing and credit bubbles built, a series of factors caused the financial system to both expand and become increasingly fragile, a process called financialization. Policymakers did not recognize the increasingly important role played by financial institutions such as investment banks and hedge funds, also known as the shadow banking system. Some experts believe these institutions had become as important as commercial (depository) banks in providing credit to the U. S. economy, but they were not subject to the same regulations. These institutions as well as certain regulated banks had also assumed significant debt burdens while providing the loans described above and did not have a financial cushion sufficient to absorb large loan defaults or MBS losses. These losses impacted the ability of financial institutions to lend, slowing economic activity. Concerns regarding the stability of key financial institutions drove central banks to provide funds to encourage lending and restore faith in the commercial paper markets, which are integral to funding business operations. Governments also bailed out key financial institutions and implemented economic stimulus programs, assuming significant additional financial commitments. The crises culminated on Sept. 15th 2008 with Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy. It has been reported that JP Morgan helped drive Lehman into bankruptcy and kicked off the credit crises by forcing it to give up billions in cash reserves on the afternoon of Friday September 13, 2008. Growth of the housing bubble Main article: United States housing bubble A graph showing the median and average sales prices of new homes sold in the United States between 1963 and 2008 (not adjusted for inflation) Between 1997 and 2006, the price of the typical American house increased by 124%. During the two decades ending in 2001, the national median home price ranged from 2. 9 to 3. 1 times median household income. This ratio rose to 4. 0 in 2004, and 4. 6 in 2006. This housing bubble resulted in quite a few homeowners refinancing their homes at lower interest rates, or financing consumer spending by taking out second mortgages secured by the price appreciation. In a Peabody Award winning program, NPR correspondents argued that a Giant Pool of Money (represented by $70 trillion in worldwide fixed income investments) sought higher yields than those offered by U. S. Treasury bonds early in the decade. Further, this pool of money had roughly doubled in size from 2000 to 2007, yet the supply of relatively safe, income generating investments had not grown as fast. Investment banks on Wall Street answered this demand with the MBS and CDO, which were assigned safe ratings by the credit rating agencies. In effect, Wall Street connected this pool of money to the mortgage market in the U. S. , with enormous fees accruing to those throughout the mortgage supply chain, from the mortgage broker selling the loans, to small banks that funded the brokers, to the giant investment banks behind them. By approximately 2003, the supply of mortgages originated at traditional lending standards had been exhausted. However, continued strong demand for MBS and CDO began to drive down lending standards, as long as mortgages could still be sold along the supply chain. Eventually, this speculative bubble proved unsustainable. The CDO in particular enabled financial institutions to obtain investor funds to finance subprime and other lending, extending or increasing the housing bubble and generating large fees. A CDO essentially places cash payments from multiple mortgages or other debt obligations into a single pool, from which the cash is allocated to specific securities in a priority sequence. Those securities obtaining cash first received investment-grade ratings from rating agencies. Lower priority securities received cash thereafter, with lower credit ratings but theoretically a higher rate of return on the amount invested. By September 2008, average U. S. housing prices had declined by over 20% from their mid-2006 peak. As prices declined, borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages could not refinance to avoid the higher payments associated with rising interest rates and began to default. During 2007, lenders began foreclosure proceedings on nearly 1. 3 million properties, a 79% increase over 2006. This increased to 2. 3 million in 2008, an 81% increase vs. 2007. By August 2008, 9. 2% of all U. S. mortgages outstanding were either delinquent or in foreclosure. By September 2009, this had risen to 14. 4%. Easy credit conditions Lower interest rates encourage borrowing. From 2000 to 2003, the Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate target from 6. 5% to 1. 0%. [31] This was done to soften the effects of the collapse of the dot-com bubble and of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and to combat the perceived risk of deflation. [32] U. S. current account or trade deficit Additional downward pressure on interest rates was created by the USAs high and rising current account (trade) deficit, which peaked along with the housing bubble in 2006. Ben Bernanke explained how trade deficits required the U. S. to borrow money from abroad, which bid up bond prices and lowered interest rates. Bernanke explained that between 1996 and 2004, the USA current account deficit increased by $650 billion, from 1. 5% to 5. 8% of GDP. Financing these deficits required the USA to borrow large sums from abroad, much of it from countries running trade surpluses, mainly the emerging economies in Asia and oil-exporting nations. The balance of payments identity requires that a country (such as the USA) running a current account deficit also have a capital account (investment) surplus of the same amount. Hence large and growing amounts of foreign funds (capital) flowed into the USA to finance its imports. This created demand for various types of financial assets, raising the prices of those assets while lowering interest rates. Foreign investors had these funds to lend, either because they had very high personal savings rates (as high as 40% in China), or because of high oil prices. Bernanke referred to this as a saving glut. A flood of funds (capital or liquidity) reached the USA financial markets. Foreign governments supplied funds by purchasing USA Treasury bonds and thus avoided much of the direct impact of the crisis. USA households, on the other hand, used funds borrowed from foreigners to finance consumption or to bid up the prices of housing and financial assets. Financial institutions invested foreign funds in mortgage-backed securities. The Fed then raised the Fed funds rate significantly between July 2004 and July 2006. This contributed to an increase in 1-year and 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) rates, making ARM interest rate resets more expensive for homeowners. This may have also contributed to the deflating of the housing bubble, as asset prices generally move inversely to interest rates and it became riskier to speculate in housing. USA housing and financial assets dramatically declined in value after the housing bubble burst. Sub-prime lending U. S. subprime lending expanded dramatically 2004-2006 The term subprime refers to the credit quality of particular borrowers, who have weakened credit histories and a greater risk of loan default than prime borrowers. The value of U. S. subprime mortgages was estimated at $1. 3 trillion as of March 2007, with over 7. 5 million first-lien subprime mortgages outstanding. In addition to easy credit conditions, there is evidence that both government and competitive pressures contributed to an increase in the amount of subprime lending during the years preceding the crisis. Major U. S. investment banks and government sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae played an important role in the expansion of higher-risk lending. Subprime mortgages remained below 10% of all mortgage originations until 2004, when they spiked to nearly 20% and remained there through the 2005-2006 peak of the United States housing bubble. A proximate event to this increase was the April 2004 decision by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to relax the net capital rule, which permitted the largest five investment banks to dramatically increase their financial leverage and aggressively expand their issuance of mortgage-backed securities. This applied additional competitive pressure to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which further expanded their riskier lending. Subprime mortgage payment delinquency rates remained in the 10-15% range from 1998 to 2006, then began to increase rapidly, rising to 25% by early 2008. Fannie Mae, the nations biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980s. A 2000 United States Department of the Treasury study of lending trends for 305 cities from 1993 to 1998 showed that $467 billion of mortgage credit poured out of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)-covered lenders into low and mid level income borrowers and neighborhoods. Nevertheless, only 25% of all sub-prime lending occurred at CRA-covered institutions, and a full 50% of sub-prime loans originated at institutions exempt from CRA. While the number of CRA sub-prime loans originated were less than non-CRA sub-prime loans originated, it is important to note that the CRA sub-prime loans were the more vulnerable during the downturn, to the detriment of both borrowers and lenders. For example, lending done under Community Reinvestment Act criteria, according to a quarterly report in October of 2008, constituted only 7 percent of the total mortgage lending by the Bank of America, but constituted 29 percent of its losses on mortgages. Economist Paul Krugman argued in January 2010 that the simultaneous growth of the residential and commercial real estate pricing bubbles undermines the case made by those who argue that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CRA or predatory lending were primary causes of the crisis. In other words, bubbles in both markets developed even though only the residential market was affected by these potential causes. Predatory lending Predatory lending refers to the practice of unscrupulous lenders, to ente r into unsafe or unsound secured loans for inappropriate purposes. A classic bait-and-switch method was used by Countrywide, advertising low interest rates for home refinancing. Such loans were written into extensively detailed contracts, and swapped for more expensive loan products on the day of closing. Whereas the advertisement might state that 1% or 1. 5% interest would be charged, the consumer would be put into an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) in which the interest charged would be greater than the amount of interest paid. This created negative amortization, which the credit consumer might not notice until long after the loan transaction had been consummated. Countrywide, sued by California Attorney General Jerry Brown for Unfair Business Practices and False Advertising was making high cost mortgages to homeowners with weak credit, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that allowed homeowners to make interest-only payments. . When housing prices decreased, homeowners in ARMs then had little incentive to pay their monthly payments, since their home equity had disappeared. This caused Countrywides financial condition to deteriorate, ultimately resulting in a decision by the Office of Thrift Supervision to seize the lender. Former employees from Ameriquest, which was United Statess leading wholesale lender,[60] described a system in which they were pushed to falsify mortgage documents and then sell the mortgages to Wall Street banks eager to make fast profits. [60] There is growing evidence that such mortgage frauds may be a cause of the crisis. [60] Deregulation Further information: Government policies and the subprime mortgage crisis Critics have argued that the regulatory framework did not keep pace with financial innovation, such as the increasing importance of the shadow banking system, derivatives and off-balance sheet financing. In other cases, laws were changed or enforcement weakened in parts of the financial system. Key examples include: * Jimmy Carters Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) phased out a number of restrictions on banks financial practices, broadened their lending powers, and raised the deposit insurance limit from $40,000 to $100,000 (raising the problem of moral hazard). Banks rushed into real estate lending, speculative lending, and other ventures just as the economy soured. * In October 1982, U. S. President Ronald Reagan signed into Law the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, which provided for adjustable-rate mortgage loans, began the process of banking deregulation, and contributed to the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s/early 1990s. * In November 1999, U. S. President Bill Clinton signed into Law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. This repeal has been criticized for reducing the separation between commercial banks (which traditionally had a conservative culture) and investment banks (which had a more risk-taking culture). In 2004, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission relaxed the net capital rule, which enabled investment banks to substantially increase the level of debt they were taking on, fueling the growth in mortgage-backed securities supporting subprime mortgages. The SEC has conceded that self-regulation of investment banks contributed to the crisis. * Financial institutions in the shadow banking system are not subject to the same regulation as d epository banks, allowing them to assume additional debt obligations relative to their financial cushion or capital base. This was the case despite the Long-Term Capital Management debacle in 1998, where a highly-leveraged shadow institution failed with systemic implications. * Regulators and accounting standard-setters allowed depository banks such as Citigroup to move significant amounts of assets and liabilities off-balance sheet into complex legal entities called structured investment vehicles, masking the weakness of the capital base of the firm or degree of leverage or risk taken. One news agency estimated that the top four U. S. banks will have to return between $500 billion and $1 trillion to their balance sheets during 2009. This increased uncertainty during the crisis regarding the financial position of the major banks. Off-balance sheet entities were also used by Enron as part of the scandal that brought down that company in 2001. * As early as 1997, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan fought to keep the derivatives market unregulated. With the advice of the Presidents Working Group on Financial Markets, the U. S. Congress and President allowed the self-regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market when they enacted the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Derivatives such as credit default swaps (CDS) can be used to hedge or speculate against particular credit risks. The volume of CDS outstanding increased 100-fold from 1998 to 2008, with estimates of the debt covered by CDS contracts, as of November 2008, ranging from US$33 to $47 trillion. Total over-the-counter (OTC) derivative notional value rose to $683 trillion by June 2008. Warren Buffett famously referred to derivatives as financial weapons of mass destruction in early 2003. Increased debt burden or over-leveraging Leverage ratios of investment banks increased significantly 2003-2007 U. S. households and financial institutions became increasingly indebted or overleveraged during the years preceding the crisis. This increased their vulnerability to the collapse of the housing bubble and worsened the ensuing economic downturn. Key statistics include: * Free cash used by consumers from home equity extraction doubled from $627 billion in 2001 to $1,428 billion in 2005 as the housing bubble built, a total of nearly $5 trillion dollars over the period, contributing to economic growth worldwide. U. S. home mortgage debt relative to GDP increased from an average of 46% during the 1990s to 73% during 2008, reaching $10. 5 trillion. * USA household debt as a percentage of annual disposable personal income was 127% at the end of 2007, versus 77% in 1990. * In 1981, U. S. rivate debt was 123% of GDP; by the third quarter of 2008, it was 290%. * From 2004-07, the top five U. S. investment banks each significantly increased their financial leverage (see diagram), which increased their vulnerability to a financial shock. These five institutions reported over $4. 1 trillion in debt for fiscal year 2007, about 30% of USA nominal GDP for 2007. Lehman Brothers was liquidated, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch were sold at fir e-sale prices, and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley became commercial banks, subjecting themselves to more stringent regulation. With the exception of Lehman, these companies required or received government support. * Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two U. S. Government sponsored enterprises, owned or guaranteed nearly $5 trillion in mortgage obligations at the time they were placed into conservatorship by the U. S. government in September 2008. These seven entities were highly leveraged and had $9 trillion in debt or guarantee obligations, an enormous concentration of risk; yet they were not subject to the same regulation as depository banks. Boom and collapse of the shadow banking system In a June 2008 speech, President and CEO of the New York Federal Reserve Bank Timothy Geithner  Ã¢â‚¬â€ who in 2009 became Secretary of the United States Treasury  Ã¢â‚¬â€ placed significant blame for the freezing of credit markets on a run on the entities in the parallel banking system, also called the shadow banking system. These entities became critical to the credit markets underpinning the financial system, but were not subject to the same regulatory controls. Further, these entities were vulnerable because of maturity mismatch, meaning that they borrowed short-term in liquid markets to purchase long-term, illiquid and risky assets. This meant that disruptions in credit markets would make them subject to rapid deleveraging, selling their long-term assets at depressed prices. He described the significance of these entities: In early 2007, asset-backed commercial paper conduits, in structured investment vehicles, in auction-rate preferred securities, tender option bonds and variable rate demand notes, had a combined asset size of roughly $2. trillion. Assets financed overnight in triparty repo grew to $2. 5 trillion. Assets held in hedge funds grew to roughly $1. 8 trillion. The combined balance sheets of the then five major investment banks totaled $4 trillion. In comparison, the total assets of the top five bank holding companies in the United States at that point were just over $6 trillion, and total assets of the entire banking system we re about $10 trillion. The combined effect of these factors was a financial system vulnerable to self-reinforcing asset price and credit cycles. Paul Krugman, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Economics, described the run on the shadow banking system as the core of what happened to cause the crisis. He referred to this lack of controls as malign neglect and argued that regulation should have been imposed on all banking-like activity. Financial markets impacts Impacts on financial institutions 2007 bank run on Northern Rock, a UK bank The International Monetary Fund estimated that large U. S. and European banks lost more than $1 trillion on toxic assets and from bad loans from January 2007 to September 2009. These losses are expected to top $2. 8 trillion from 2007-10. U. S. banks losses were forecast to hit $1 trillion and European bank losses will reach $1. 6 trillion. The IMF estimated that U. S. banks were about 60 percent through their losses, but British and eurozone banks only 40 percent. One of the first victims was Northern Rock, a medium-sized British bank. The highly leveraged nature of its business led the bank to request security from the Bank of England. This in turn led to investor panic and a bank run in mid-September 2007. Calls by Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable to nationalise the institution were initially ignored; in February 2008, however, the British government (having failed to find a private sector buyer) relented, and the bank was taken into public hands. Northern Rocks problems proved to be an early indication of the troubles that would soon befall other banks and financial institutions. Initially the companies affected were those directly involved in home construction and mortgage lending such as Northern Rock and Countrywide Financial, as they could no longer obtain financing through the credit markets. Over 100 mortgage lenders went bankrupt during 2007 and 2008. Concerns that investment bank Bear Stearns would collapse in March 2008 resulted in its fire-sale to JP Morgan Chase. The crisis hit its peak in September and October 2008. Several major institutions either failed, were acquired under duress, or were subject to government takeover. These included Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and AIG. Credit markets and the shadow banking system TED spread and components during 2008 During September 2008, the crisis hit its most critical stage. There was the equivalent of a bank run on the money market mutual funds, which frequently invest in commercial paper issued by corporations to fund their operations and payrolls. Withdrawals from money markets were $144. 5 billion during one week, versus $7. 1 billion the week prior. This interrupted the ability of corporations to rollover (replace) their short-term debt. The U. S. government responded by extending insurance for money market accounts analogous to bank deposit insurance via a temporary guarantee and with Federal Reserve programs to purchase commercial paper. The TED spread, an indicator of perceived credit risk in the general economy, spiked up in July 2007, remained volatile for a year, then spiked even higher in September 2008, reaching a record 4. 65% on October 10, 2008. In a dramatic meeting on September 18, 2008, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke met with key legislators to propose a $700 billion emergency bailout. Bernanke reportedly told them: If we dont do this, we may not have an economy on Monday. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which implemented the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), was signed into law on October 3, 2008. Economist Paul Krugman and U. S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner explain the credit crisis via the implosion of the shadow banking system, which had grown to nearly equal the importance of the traditional commercial banking sector as described above. Without the ability to obtain investor funds in exchange for most types of mortgage-backed securities or asset-backed commercial paper, investment banks and other entities in the shadow banking system could not provide funds to mortgage firms and other corporations. This meant that nearly one-third of the U. S. lending mechanism was frozen and continued to be frozen into June 2009. According to the Brookings Institution, the traditional banking system does not have the capital to close this gap as of June 2009: It would take a number of years of strong profits to generate sufficient capital to support that additional lending volume. The authors also indicate that some forms of securitization are likely to vanish forever, having been an artifact of excessively loose credit conditions. While traditional banks have raised their lending standards, it was the collapse of the shadow banking system that is the primary cause of the reduction in funds available for borrowing. Global effects A number of commentators have suggested that if the liquidity crisis continues, there could be an extended recession or worse. The continuing development of the crisis has prompted in some quarters fears of a global economic collapse although there are now many cauti ously optimistic forecasters in addition to some prominent sources who remain negative. The financial crisis is likely to yield the biggest banking shakeout since the savings-and-loan meltdown. Investment bank UBS stated on October 6 that 2008 would see a clear global recession, with recovery unlikely for at least two years. Three days later UBS economists announced that the beginning of the end of the crisis had begun, with the world starting to make the necessary actions to fix the crisis: capital injection by governments; injection made systemically; interest rate cuts to help borrowers. The United Kingdom had started systemic injection, and the worlds central banks were now cutting interest rates. UBS emphasized the United States needed to implement systemic injection. UBS further emphasized that this fixes only the financial crisis, but that in economic terms the worst is still to come. UBS quantified their expected recession durations on October 16: the Eurozones would last two quarters, the United States would last three quarters, and the United Kingdoms would last four quarters. The economic crisis in Iceland involved all three of the countrys major banks. Relative to the size of its economy, Iceland’s banking collapse is the largest suffered by any country in economic history. At the end of October UBS revised its outlook downwards: the forthcoming recession would be the worst since the Reagan recession of 1981 and 1982 with negative 2009 growth for the U. S. , Eurozone, UK; very limited recovery in 2010; but not as bad as the Great Depression. The Brookings Institution reported in June 2009 that U. S. consumption accounted for more than a third of the growth in global consumption between 2000 and 2007. The US economy has been spending too much and borrowing too much for years and the rest of the world depended on the U. S. consumer as a source of global demand. With a recession in the U. S. and the increased savings rate of U. S. consumers, declines in growth elsewhere have been dramatic. For the first quarter of 2009, the annualized rate of decline in GDP was 14. 4% in Germany, 15. 2% in Japan, 7. 4% in the UK, 18% in Latvia, 9. 8% in the Euro area and 21. 5% for Mexico. Some developing countries that had seen strong economic growth saw significant slowd owns. For example, growth forecasts in Cambodia show a fall from more than 10% in 2007 to close to zero in 2009, and Kenya may achieve only 3-4% growth in 2009, down from 7% in 2007. According to the research by the Overseas Development Institute, reductions in growth can be attributed to falls in trade, commodity prices, investment and remittances sent from migrant workers (which reached a record $251 billion in 2007, but have fallen in many countries since). The has stark implications and has led to a dramatic rise in the number of households living below the poverty line, be it 300,000 in Bangladesh or 230,000 in Ghana. By March 2009, the Arab world had lost $3 trillion due to the crisis. In April 2009, unemployment in the Arab world is said to be a time bomb. In May 2009, the United Nations reported a drop in foreign investment in Middle-Eastern economies due to a slower rise in demand for oil. In June 2009, the World Bank predicted a tough year for Arab states. In September 2009, Arab banks reported losses of nearly $4 billion since the onset of the global financial crisis. U. S. economic effects Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of approximately 6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, versus activity in the year-ago periods. The U. S. unemployment rate increased to 10. 1% by October 2009, the highest rate since 1983 and roughly twice the pre-crisis rate. The average hours per work week declined to 33, the lowest level since the government began collecting the data in 1964. Effects of Recession on India There is, at least in some quarters, dismay that India has been hit by the crisis. This dismay stems from two arguments. The Indian banking system has had no direct exposure to the sub-prime mortgage assets or to the failed institutions. It has very limited off-balance sheet activities or securitized assets. In fact, our banks continue to remain safe and healthy. So, the enigma is how can India be caught up in a crisis when it has nothing much to do with any of the maladies that are at the core of the crisis. The second reason for dismay is that Indias recent growth has been driven predominantly by domestic consumption and domestic investment. External demand, as measured by merchandize exports, accounts for less than 15 per cent of our GDP. The question then is, even if there is a global downturn, why should India be affected when its dependence on external demand is so limited? The answer to the above frequently-asked questions lies in globalization. First, Indias integration into the world economy over the last decade has been remarkably rapid. Integration into the world implies more than just exports. Going by the common measure of globalization, Indias two-way trade (merchandize exports plus imports), as a proportion of GDP, grew from 21. 2 per cent in 1997-98, the year of the Asian crisis, to 34. 7 per cent in 2007-08. Second, Indias financial integration with the world has been as deep as Indias trade globalization, if not deeper. If we take an expanded measure of globalization, that is the ratio of total external transactions (gross current account flows plus gross capital flows) to GDP, this ratio has more than doubled from 46. 8 per cent in 1997-98 to 117. 4 per cent in 2007-08. Importantly, the Indian corporate sectors access to external funding has markedly increased in the last five years. Some numbers will help illustrate the point. In the five-year period 2003-08, the share of investment in Indias GDP rose by 11 percentage points. Corporate savings financed roughly half of this, but a significant portion of the balance financing came from external sources. While funds were available domestically, they were expensive relative to foreign funding. On the other hand, in a global market awash with liquidity and on the promise of Indias growth potential, foreign investors were willing to take risks and provide funds at a lower cost. Last year (2007/08), for example, India received capital inflows amounting to over 9 per cent of GDP as against a current account deficit in the balance of payments of just 1. 5 per cent of GDP. These capital flows, in excess of the current account deficit, evidence the importance of external financing and the depth of Indias financial integration. So, the reason India has been hit by the crisis, despite mitigating factors, is clearly Indias rapid and growing integration into the global economy. The contagion of the crisis has spread to India through all the channels – the financial channel, the real channel, and importantly, as happens in all financial crises, the confidence channel. Indias financial markets equity markets, money markets, forex markets and credit markets had all come under pressure from a number of directions. First, as a consequence of the global liquidity squeeze, Indian banks and corporates found their overseas financing drying up, forcing corporates to shift their credit demand to the domestic banking sector. Also, in their frantic search for substitute financing, corporates withdrew their investments from domestic money market mutual funds putting redemption pressure on the mutual funds and down the line on non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) where the MFs had invested a significant portion of their funds. This substitution of overseas financing by domestic financing brought both money markets and credit markets under pressure. Second, the forex market came under pressure because of reversal of capital flows as part of the global deleveraging process. Simultaneously, corporates were converting the funds raised locally into foreign currency to meet their external obligations. Both these factors put downward pressure on the rupee. Third, the Reserve Banks intervention in the forex market to manage the volatility in the rupee further added to liquidity tightening. The transmission of the global cues to the domestic economy has been quite straight forward – through the slump in demand for exports. The United States, European Union and the Middle East, which account for three quarters of Indias goods and services trade are in a synchronized down turn. Service export growth is also likely to slow in the near term as the recession deepens and financial services firms – traditionally large users of outsourcing services – are restructured. Remittances from migrant workers too are likely to slow as the Middle East adjusts to lower crude prices and advanced economies go into a recession. Beyond the financial and real channels of transmission as above, the crisis also spread through the confidence channel. In sharp contrast to global financial markets, which went into a seizure on account of a crisis of confidence, Indian financial markets continued to function in an orderly manner. Nevertheless, the tightened global liquidity situation in the period immediately following the Lehman failure in mid-September 2008, coming as it did on top of a turn in the credit cycle, increased the risk aversion of the financial system and made banks cautious about lending. The purport of the above explanation is to show how, despite not being part of the financial sector problem, India has been affected by the crisis through the pernicious feedback loops between external shocks and domestic vulnerabilities by way of the financial, real and confidence channels. Effect on Banks The actual effect of recession was only realised in February 2008 in Banking Industry. Before this there were lot of questions and queries regarding whether the U. S. recession will have any impact on India or Indian banking sector. In Feb 2008, the markets suddenly crashed the actual picture came in front. The effects which came across the banking sector are as follow * Credit Card and loan settlements. As soon as the impact of recession was realized by the banking sector, the Indian banking system came into the mode of consolidation. Each and every bank started reviewing their NPA’s and the amount of lending they have done which is yet to be recovered. Bank concentrated more on retail loans and Credit Card payments. The first priority for bank was to recover such amount which was unpaid from their customers. The banks hired external agencies for calling up clients and requesting them to settle their respective dues. This in turn created a panic in the customers mind. The banks in order to recover their dues and make the process fast provided attractive offers to its customers. For e. g. By settling the entire amount by cash there were discounts which were given amounting to about 5% of the entire due amount. * Call money market. In the initial stages of recession there was lot of demand for short term cash amongst the bank as the bank needed to fulfil the requirement of CRR and SLR. The money which was lended by the bank were taking time to recover and therefore there was a sudden requirement of short term money. The interest rate which were use to be at 5-6% grow up to 14-15% for a time period of 11-15 days. These requirements by few banks were enchased fully by other banks which were low on lending. The banks like ING Vysya bank, Yes Bank, IDBI Bank were amongst the few who were lending through call money market to other banks. * Fixed Deposit Rates Before recession hit the market FD rates were at a sky high level. Lot of private sector banks as well as public sector banks were offering interest rates in long term period upto 11-12%. When the recession kicked in the money demand for long term had almost finished. This was because of the reason that banks were in the mode of consolidation and did not want to lend further till the time most of the money was recovered. The bank deposit rates came down to a level of 6-7% as there was ample liquidity in the banking sector because of funds being not given ahead as loans. * Private banks became unpopular. During recession looking at the bankruptcy of foreign banks there was panic in the mind of investors even in india. There were lot of question that were raised whether the private sector banks who take exposure in foreign securities are safe in investing or not. During this period only there was a news which came for ICICI Bank. ICICI Bank had taken direct exposures in securities which issued by Lehman Brothers and Merill Lynch. In fact even few of public sector banks had taken similar exposures but since public sector banks were backed up by the government, there was a comfort factor amongst the investors. If we look at what happened with ICICI Bank, the liquidity was ample and it was just a few percentage of exposure that has gone as bad debt but other private marked players like HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank encashed on these opportunities and placed their canopies next to each and every branch and ATM of ICICI Bank. There was a lot of panic which was created within the investors and they wanted to park their funds in a safer bank. Many of them shifted to nationalized banks and others were diverted to other private banks. This not only hampered the image of ICICI Bank but also created a bad image of Indian Private Banks. They were much difficulties which were faced by these banks to get additional deposits from investors and even retain theri clients who were shifting toward nationalised banks. * Diversifying and churning of funds. While the recession was impacting the country and the banking system there were informations that were given to the investors that the government insures on Rs. 1 lakh for any particular individual. This was misinterpreted by lot of investors in what they believed was with respect to one particular bank. With these being public diversification started. Each investor to safeguard his/her money started opening many accounts in different banks and keeping the funds equal in all. There was a lot of churning which happened from private sector banks to public sector banks as there were lot of uncertainity about funds being saved in a private sector bank. Investor created portfolios in different nationalised banks because of which private sector banks faced decline in their interest earnings as well as corpus and faced losses. After a while this myth was broken by RBI governor that the government only ensures Rs. lakh in totality no matter how many banks an investor has. * Lending Choked. The banks private sector as well as public sector were uncertain with what more negative impact were forthcoming. This resulted in, banks not at all lending to retail and corporate which were related to infrastructure or real estate. The cycle of churning of funds had suddenly stopped. Many projects which were about to start or were half way completed we re forced to put their projects on hold as no additional funds were being provided. This created commotion in real estate market which resulted in decline of prices. Even on retail side many of the housing loans were rejected which propelled the negativity more. Even for Large Cap companies the banks were demanding additional securities in cash apart from normal tangible assets. Even for processing loans for investors who had excellent credit history, the banks put ahead lot of extra conditions and terms. This further created panic and investors postponed their financial goals and loans were not applied for. After a while many loan divisions of banks were shut down and the employees were shifted to other departments were asked to leave. This even further increased the liquidity with banks. * Banks Investment Primary earning for any bank is through lending. Loans were not being processed and since the banks were uncertain of what more negative impact will come the banks were desperately looking out for other avenues to make money. The most safest option available with banks was to invest in G-Secs (Government of India Securities). Many banks started heavily into govt. Securities and bonds. These securities were traded quite highly at that period. Other sources including were through reverse repo and short term lending to different banks. During this time period much more focus was given to income from wealth management as markets has been corrected and banks insisted on educating the investors to park their funds in the equity market. Though the banks were heavily investing in G-Secs and other bonds it was not enough for their survival. Sooner or later the banks had to lend where they make the maximum profit. * Unemployment During the time of recession many jobs were lost in all the sectors. The similar effect was seen in banking but it was not in totality but few departments specific. The maximum hits were taken by two divisions which suffered most during the recession time. The first being the Wealth management division of banks. Though the feeling was correct that the markets have come down and valuations are excellent, it was very difficult convincing the investors. This resulted in many job losses in wealth management department of all the banks as revenue was expected which was not possible to generate. The next division which suffered was the loan division. The lay off’s happened more as the departments closed down and were not functional at all. Most of the bank had outsourced the servicing part as it was cheaper compared to keeping the existing team operational. Close to 1100 jobs were lost in the matter of 3 months in the entire banking sector. There were lot of apprehensions in the mind of new jonnies and soon working for a retail bank became unpopular. * Nationalised Banks popularity During all these events the only player in banking who were waiting to claw back the market shares were the nationalised bank. There was enough panic in retail investor’s regarding their funds being safe and sound, which the nationalised banks encashed fully. Maximum number of promotional activities and advertisement were given by them in the news paper and new channels. Even the investors responded to them equally and more than willingly because the backing up of the government was more than enough to provide a relief factor. Even in terms of employment, soon the nationalised banks became very popular and the people who were asked to leave from private banks where looking out for safe options to enter again. They were not willing to take any more risk. With this the bank got best of the aggressive talent in cheap prices. What corrective measures were taken? Decrease in CRR and repo rates. RBI again cuts repo rates CRR to inject additional liquidity of Rs 20,000 crore January 2, 2009: On a review of current global and domestic macroeconomic situation, the Reserve Bank has decided to take the following further measures: Repo Rate To reduce the repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 100 basis points from 6. 5 per cent t o 5. 5 per cent with immediate effect. Reverse Repo Rate To reduce the reverse repo rate under the LAF by 100 basis points from 5. 0 per cent to 4. 0 per cent with immediate effect. Cash Reserve Ratio To reduce the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks by 50 basis points from 5. 5 per cent to 5. 0 per cent from the fortnight beginning January 17, 2009. The reduction in the CRR will inject additional liquidity of around Rs. 20,000 crore to the financial system. It is expected that the reduction in the policy interest rates and the CRR will further enable banks to provide credit for productive purposes at appropriate interest rates. The Reserve Bank on its part would continue to maintain a comfortable liquidity position in the system. Background to announcement of present monetary stimulus by RBI: The global financial situation continues to be uncertain. Since the official recognition of recession in the US, the UK, the Euro area and Japan, the downside risks to the global economy have increased. Concomitantly, the policy initiatives in the advanced economies are geared towards managing the recession and defusing potentially deflationary trends. The US has reduced the Federal Funds Rate to 0 0. 25 per cent. Several other advanced and emerging economies such as Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and China too have reduced their policy rates. India’s financial sector has remained resilient even in the face of global financial turmoil that is so deep and pervasive. Our financial markets continue to function in an orderly manner. India’s growth trajectory has, however, been impacted both by the financial crisis and the follow-on global economic downturn. This impact has turned out to be deeper and wider than earlier anticipated. Concurrently, because of global developments coupled with supply and demand management measures at home, inflation is on the decline. Reflecting these developments, the Reserve Bank has adjusted its policy stance from demand management to arresting the moderation in growth. In particular, the aim of these measures was to augment domestic and forex liquidity and to ensure that credit continues to flow to productive sectors of the economy. Notably, since mid-September 2008, the Reserve Bank has reduced the repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) from 9. 0 per cent to 6. 5 per cent, reduced the reverse repo rate under the LAF from 6. 0 per cent to 5. 0 per cent and the cash reserve ratio from 9. 0 per cent to 5. per cent How it helped? With these measures of RBI there was ample liquidity which was created in the market which forced the bank to lend out to companies as the funds in the banks were lying ideal and making no money for the bank. This actually started the lending process of the banks. * Role of fiscal stimulus package by government. There is a relationship between budget deficits and the hea lth of the economy, but is certainly not a perfect one. There can be massive budget deficits when the economy is doing quite well the past few years of the United States being a prime example. That being said, government budgets tend to go from surplus to deficit (or existing deficits become larger) as the economy goes sour. This typically happens as follows: 1. The economy goes into recession, costing many workers their jobs, and at the same time causing corporate profits to decline. This causes less income tax revenue to flow to the government, along with less corporate income tax revenue. Occasionally the flow of income to the government will still grow, but at a slower rate than inflation, meaning that flow of tax revenue has fallen in real terms. 2. Because many workers have lost their jobs, there is increased use of government programs, such as unemployment insurance. Government spending rises as more individuals are calling on government services to help them out through tough times. 3. To help push the economy out of recession and to help those who have lost their jobs, governments often create new social programs during times of recession and depression. FDRs New Deal of the 1930s is a prime example of this. Government spending then rises, not just because of increased use of existing programs, but through the creation of new programs. Because of factors one, the government receives less money from taxpayers, while factors two and three, the government spends more money. Money starts flowing out of the government faster than it comes in, causing the governments budget to go into deficit. * How it helped? With the government spending more the government securities started declining in performance. As more and more securities were being issued the interest rate on securities started rising which has a direct impact on the gsec return. This again closed one more avenue of investment for banks as they were investing heavily into them instead of lending it out to corporate. This in all diverted the funds of the bank to the needful and thus started the lending process again. Future outlook In India there is evidence of economic activity slowing down. Real GDP growth has moderated in the first half of 2008 / 09. The services sector too, which has been our prime growth engine for the last five years, is slowing, mainly in construction, transport and communication, trade, hotels and restaurants sub-sectors. For the first time in seven years, exports have declined in absolute terms for three months in a row during October-December 2008. Recent data indicate that the demand for bank credit is slackening despite comfortable liquidity in the system. Higher input costs and dampened demand have dented corporate margins while the uncertainty surrounding the crisis has affected business confidence. The index of industrial production has shown negative growth for two recent months and investment demand is decelerating. All these factors suggest that growth moderation may be steeper and more extended than earlier projected. There are also several structural factors that have come to India’s aid. First, notwithstanding the everity and multiplicity of the adverse shocks, India’s financial markets have shown admirable resilience. This is in large part because India’s banking system remains sound, healthy, well capitalized and prudently regulated. Second, our comfortable reserve position provides confidence to overseas investors. Third, since a large majority of Indians do not participate in equity and asset markets, the negative impact of the wealth loss effect that is plaguing the advanced economies should be quite muted. Consequently, consumption demand should hold up well. Fourth, because of India’s mandated priority sector lending, institutional credit for agriculture will be unaffected by the credit squeeze. The farm loan waiver package implemented by the government should further insulate the agriculture sector from the crisis. Finally, over the years, India has built an extensive network of social safety-net programmes, including the flagship rural employment guarantee programme, which should protect the poor and the returning migrant workers from the extreme impact of the global crisis. RBI’s policy stance Going forward, the Reserve Bank’s policy stance will continue to be to maintain comfortable rupee and forex liquidity positions. There are indications that pressures on mutual funds have eased and that NBFCs too are making the necessary adjustments to balance their assets and liabilities. Despite the contraction in export demand, we will be able to manage our balance of payments. It is the Reserve Bank’s expectation that commercial banks will take the signal from the policy rates reduction to adjust their deposit and lending rates in order to keep credit flowing to productive sectors. In particular, the special refinance windows opened by the Reserve Bank for the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector, housing sector and export sector should see credit flowing to these sectors. Also the SPV set up for extending assistance to NBFCs should enable NBFC lending to pick up steam once again. The government’s fiscal stimulus should be able to supplement these efforts from both supply and demand sides. What Industry experts think? Mentioned below is what the senior experts in banking think of how the banking sector survived the crisis. 1). Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta (Vice President) Wealth management division- North and east region ING VYSYA BANK LTD. â€Å"The banking sector is very strong in India. Especially with the help of a governing body like RBI monitoring all the banks in Indian. † â€Å" I would say that step’s that were taken by the RBI in terms of rate cuts made so much liquidity in banking system that they were compelled to lend out to corporate. The recession gets more dangerous if the spending cycle by the people of the country or the lending cycles by the banks are put on a hold. † 2). Mr. Manavjeet Awasty (Senior Vice President) CITI BANK LTD- North â€Å"The ratio’s that the banks need to maintain because of RBI like CRR and SLR are the life savers for any banking firm. During financial crisis the condition of bankruptcy comes only when liquidity is crunched. The ratio’s which are maintained makes sure that enough liquidity is available in the system. † When the turnaround comes Over the last five years, India clocked an unprecedented 9% growth, driven largely by domestic consumption and investment even as the share of net exports has been rising. This was no accident or happenstance. True, the benign global environment, easy liquidity and low interest rates helped, but at the heart of India’s growth were a growing entrepreneurial spirit, rise in productivity and increasing savings. These fundamental strengths continue to be in place. Nevertheless, the global crisis will dent India’s growth trajectory as investments and exports slow. Clearly, there is a period of painful adjustment ahead of us. However, once the global economy begins to recover, India’s turn around will be sharper and swifter, backed by our strong fundamentals and the untapped growth potential. Meanwhile, the challenge for the government and the RBI is to manage the adjustment with as little pain as possible. Conclusion To conclude, we would say that the Indian banking sector is very strong in terms of its maintaining the said regulations and to follow the rule implied by its governing body which is RBI. The necessary steps were taken during the financial crisis which helped the banking sector to emerge out of the crisis without any major disturbance.

The New World essays

The New World essays Environment of The New World Environment is defined as all the external factors that influence life, including light and food supply. Some of the greatest nations to be influenced by their environments are those of the first civilizations of the New World, the Americas. The New World to me is considered North and South America, focusing on the United States later in history. This Continents environment varies extremely: from hot to cold, mountain highs to valleys low. Exactly when the first inhabitants of the New World occurred is unknown exactly. Estimates gather it occurred around fifteen thousand years ago by Homo sapiens. The New World found by what they say, Christopher Columbus, is like finding a river in the Desert. North and South America have incredible resources to utilize, followed by very encouraging weather. The Americas to me represent the fruit of the planet, as far as their environment goes. They have land that is very habitable to hunt, fish, build and explore. The land is also very maneuverable for the most part and creates great conditions for trade. The first settlers of North America, Americans were hunters and gatherers. These nomadic people lived close to their food supply. If they were promising farmers is unknown, but there is evidence of squash and legumes. Farming on these soils is very feasible, due to the weather conditions and nice climate. The first real civilization appeared in the Yucatan Peninsula, early as 5000 B.C. Teotihuacn is considered Americas first Metropolis, its thirty miles northeast of Mexico City. The greatness of this city is rivaled to that of Rome in sophistication and size. The Architecture is amazing and very well organized and planned. Huge Pyramid like buildings was created by the people there. The city inhabiting as many as one hundred and fifty thousand people, making it rather large for a nomadic time. This area is now known as Centra...

The Case for Beta Readers

The Case for Beta Readers More authors are beta-ing their books than ever before. But many writers are asking the question, Why should I use beta readers? This question is usually followed To answer those questions, Id like to share some examples of how authors are utilizing betas as a key component of their authorial career. Market Feedback When you run a beta read, you receive the story feedback you need to help you spot problems and polish your story to fit your target market. Authors who have a beta-ready manuscript, give clear instructions, and engage with their readers, end up getting great feedback that they can incorporate into their edits, branding, and career development. Its the same idea as the test-screenings that are common in Hollywood, getting reactions from readers before you publish gives you a better chance of producing a bestseller. Building Your Brand   Beta readers in your target audience know what that audience wants and likes. Learning what your beta readers do and dont enjoy in your work gives you valuable insight into how to promote your books, target your ads, and develop your brand in a way that best speaks to your potential fans. Building Community A key part of building a fan base is making your readers feel like they are part of a community beyond themselves. The process of inviting a group of your most dedicated fans to give early feedback on a book ties them to you, but more importantly ties them to each other and lets them know their love of your work is something they share with other people. Building Buzz Thousands of books are published a month. Hundreds of reviews are written. Dozens of launch ads flash before readers eyes. The thing that reliably cuts through all that noise is personal recommendation. People talk about projects they helped with. Your beta readers are a part of your launch story, and they will share that story, building excitement for and awareness of your book. Selling Copies Smart authors not only develop strong groups of beta readers who make substantive comments on their book and help them produce better work, they thank them in their books. Those readers are often the first people in line when those books go on sale. They want to see what they helped create. Many leave reviews, especially if you encourage it. Who doesnt want an eager audience who has already read the book bumping your numbers on launch day and leaving honest reviews? My partner Andrew and I built BetaBooks, the first reader management software for professional authors. Since our launch in summer 2016, we have helped more than one thousand authors beta their books. BetaBooks lets authors privately share their book with their trusted readers, track their progress, collect feedback, and collate and sort that feedback for easy editorial passes. This saves authors time, making what used to be an organizational headache easy and fun. If you are looking for a better way to organize your betas, visit  BetaBooks.co  to try out our free demo tier and use the coupon code hopeclark to get 10 percent off when you upgrade to one of our paid plans. If you have any questions or want to tell us about your betas, get in touch at  hello@betabooks.co

DELACROIX Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DELACROIX - Essay Example In London, Delacroix studied various works of English painters who he greatly admired and inspired some of his later works (Villarreal par. 25). The trip to London brought Delacroix closer to mimicking the works and colorful style of Reuben’s paintings. Such influence of English paintings and artwork was evident in his later work in 1930, July 28: Liberty Leading the People. The painting Liberty Leading the people commemorated the recent French revolution as this canvas was a reflection of the artist’s change of style. Delacroix fascination for the work of English painters started early in his career pushing him to visit London. Various elements of artistic migration are evident in Eugene Delacroixs works especially after a visit to England. Most of Delacroixs works between 1820 and 1830 were greatly influenced by the English painting particularly after visiting London in 1825. Delacroix visited England accompanied by his artistic English friends Thales Fielding and Richard Parkes. Even early before 1830 and before the visit to England, Delacroix had great interest in English paintings especially the use of watercolors and oil techniques evident in English landscape paintings. The artist’s friendship with English friends greatly influenced the love and interest in English works. Delacroix’s works when during the time he was in England show great influence from the English painter, Sir Thomas Lawrence. Most of the artist’s works depend on his interpretation of the British portraits according to his understanding and personality. One of Delacroix’s most outstanding works during the period he was in London was the portrait of Louis-Auguste (Baron) Schwiter in 1826. The painting is similar to most English portraits from the time by trying to capture schwiters character as he is posing and standing in a park. Delacroix does not portray a relaxed attitude of Schwiter but chooses to emphasize on

Educational benefits of Television on Children Essay

Educational benefits of Television on Children - Essay Example However, despite this distinction, the American Pediatric Association has nevertheless discouraged television viewing by pre-school children for more than two hours a day, and has recommended no television at all for children below two years of age. This research seeks to determine the beneficial effects of educational television programs for infants, toddlers, and young children of pre-school age, and to understand the factors that positively contribute to these benefits. Introduction Television is the most influential of the popular media (Schneider & Fisch, 2001:29). Television has the power to engage people through its entertaining programming, and has proven a powerful tool to inform, influence, and educate. This had led Boyer (1991:140) to comment: â€Å"Television, next to parents, is the child’s most influential teacher.† The problem for many is that this works both ways: considerable data proves that televisions can exert both positive and negative influence on children. There has been tremendous research that has gone to proving that television is capable of programming children to consumerism, violence and sex. Many of the ill effects of TV viewing on children are unintentional offshoots of programs intended to entertain a wider segment of the viewing audience, targeting particularly adults. However, there is a narrower market segment which intentionally focuses on commercial broadcasting for the purpose of educating young children. The most successful of these programs is Sesame Street, begun more than 30 years ago by Joan Ganz Cooney, which had been adopted in many countries worldwide. Numerous research studies have shown that children of preschool age have significantly benefitted from exposure to Sesame Street, and these beneficial effects have endured over several years (Fish & Truglio, 2000, in Schneider & Fisch, 2001). Other successful shows produced by Children’s Television Workshop (CTW), the producers of Sesame Street, are 3-2-1 Contact, Square One TV, and Cro. Other producers have created Bill Nye, the Science Guy; Beakman’s World; and Magic School Bus (Schneider & Fisch, 2001:30). Reservations about the educational benefits for toddlers Most academic studies conducted on children targeted the 3-to-5-year-old age group, thus the educational effect of television on this age group is well documented. Very few studies have been made, however, on the below-3-year-old audience routinely exposed to educational television. Among TV shows dedicated to the 0-to-3-year-old age group are Sesame Street and Teletubbies, and the videos Baby Einstein and Baby Bach. The lack of conclusive data has spawned a debate about whether toddlers are even cognitively prepared to understand and learn from educational programs aired on television (or video recordings). According to Fisch (2004:45), the lack of readiness of toddlers to comprehend TV programs is supported by the recommendation by the American Academy o f Pediatrics (AAP) for television shows to be completely avoided for children below 2 years old.

The Effects Of Globalisation On Education

The Effects Of Globalisation On Education In this modern era, the term Globalisation is used, accepted and treated famously in most part of the world. Even though the word may not be a particularly sophisticated or attractive word, but there are massive numbers of debates happening around the world relating to the globalisation issue. According to Giddens (1999, p. 7), I have not been to a single country recently where globalisation is not being intensively discussed. Referring to his comment on the popularity of the term globalisation that is made in 1999, I think I could imagine and assume logically of how famous the term would be now. Hence, in this essay, I will discuss the effects of globalisation on education in which specifically focusing on the question whether globalisation really helps to improve education or it actually hinders the true meaning of education. To answer this question, this essay will be divided into a few sections starting from a brief explanation of globalisations and educations background follow b y the effects of education and conclusion. In this essay I will first point out the effects of globalisation on education both positively and negatively not only for industrialised countries but also for underdeveloped countries around the world. This essay also will show the variation of my point of view as I have different perceptions for each aspect. 1. What is globalisation and education? Globalisation has actually existed since long time ago. Based on the Human Development Reports 1990 2000 by Peace Child International, globalisation has existed since the sixteenth century when Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands started to colonise other countries around the world by conquering, occupying and exploiting them in order to gain profit for themselves (2002, p. 42). However, even when those colonial empires broke down during the twentieth century, the inequality and injustice of colonialism have set the stage for the on-going disparities in the world today. The globalisation that is happening today is actually interrelated with the colonisation that happened before. Some people also said that globalisation is the incarnation of colonisation. The globalisation happening now is very different from the colonial era because, as HDR 1999 explains, it is shaped by new actors, new rules, new markets and new tools each of which creates opportunities but also new challenges (Peace Child International, 2002, p. 42). As the new globalisation is one of the most debated issues nowadays, it is mentioned and discussed everywhere by nations leaders, educators, bloggers, businessman, reporters and even by blue collar workers and any people on the streets. Remarkably, for being so widely used, it is hardly to find a precisely agreed definition. Globalisation as defined in Collins English Dictionary is a trend towards the existence of a single world market dominated by multinational companies (2008). Another brief definition of globalisation that brings similar meaning suggests by Porter (1999, in Mortimore, 2001, p. 230), which is the process by which the peoples and nations of the world are increasingly drawn together into a single entity. Both definitions mentioned above show that globalisation is something that attracts people and nations towards something that is new and in trend. However, these two are among the sources that define globalisation as positive and as general as they are. In fact, ther e are still a lot more definitions of globalisation being discussed around the world. This is because different definitions would come from different point of views. As being mentioned before of how famous the term is, it would not be a surprise if the meaning of the term is hardly to be determined (Giddens, 1999). Fortunately, apart from the general definitions mentioned previously, there is one definition of globalisation that attracts me and helps me to understand the term better. The definition is taken from Waks (2006, as cited in Parjanadze, 2009, p. 84). Waks defines globalisation as: The process whereby market exchange relationships and multimedia telecommunications capabilities spread from the core of economically and technologically developed nations to other regions of the world, facilitating the flow of goods, services, and people across national borders, this process being stimulated by, while in turn reinforcing, an image of the world as a unified whole and humanity, despite its cultural diversity and continuing differentiation, as a single global society, while also generating resistance and violent opposition from those excluded from this imagined global society (2006, as cited in Parjanadze, 2009, p. 84). On the other hand, according to Collins English Dictionary, education is defined as the way of gaining knowledge and understanding which is through the process of learning (2008). Collins English Dictionary also defines education as the system of teaching people at school or university (2008). In general, when we hear or come to think of the word education, automatically it reminds us of our school, teachers, friends and other memories that happened and related to our learning phase. Globalisation: Threats or Opportunities for education? As mentioned before, the term globalisation has been defined to a variety of interpretations by different people. Similarly, the judgement of the effects of globalisation has been made differently too. Some people may think that globalisation is like a new wave of modernisation that helps everyone to live a better life. On the other hand, there are also people who aware that not everything from globalisation will benefit them. Though globalisation may simply mean global interconnectedness, but it includes a number of intertwined and complex technological, economic, environmental, cultural and political processes. Hence, there is no definite agreement about the nature of the phenomenon because the perceptions on the effects of globalisation may vary from person to person depending on their worldview and personal experience. According to Parjanadze (2009, p. 79), The concepts of globalisation, nation state and education are closely intertwined. Hence, both globalisation and education will actually affecting each other whether be it positively or negatively. So, I have come to a good question, Does globalisation really helps to improve education or it actually hinders the true meaning of education? The effects of globalisation on education: Smaller globe of education Throughout the globalisation era, globalisation has somehow helped to change the whole worlds perceptions of education. Once, it was not only difficult to get an opportunity to study abroad, but it was close to impossible for one to get out from their village to learn something out of their communitys and societys norm. Our great ancestors, they were educated at home where they learned basic living skills as a preparation for them to live their life well. Years after years, as the world has transformed dynamically, schools and other learning centres are built in order to cater for a better education purpose. Now, not only there are massive numbers of education centres, but also we have been exposed to a lot easier and conducive ways to learn something whether be it new or old knowledge. If once, it was close to impossible for one to earn knowledge because of lack of exposure and location, fortunately now globalisation has helped to reverse the situation. Now everyone can learn is one of my teacher famous phrases when he would like to lift our spirit in learning something new. He used to use that phrase repeatedly to show how everyone will get the opportunity to earn knowledge easily, to appreciate the chances that we have nowadays compare to our parents and ancestors times. To explain this further, the aspects that will be enlightened in order to show the effect of globalisation on education are in term of the revolution of technology as well as the shortcut of education. I chose to emphasis on these two aspects as I find both are important aspects and they are closely related to each other in defining globalisation as well as in presenting of how they have affected education. 4.1 The revolution of technology As the result of globalisation, the world nowadays has faced the dramatic revolution of technology. In the shortest amount of time, lots of high technology or also known as high tech stuff and services are being invented and developed. High tech means the most  advanced technology currently obtainable, the technology that is at the cutting edge. The introduction of computers, television, internets, radios, notebooks, e-books, email and a lot more high tech stuff has made learning process more convenient. The invention and evolvement of the high tech stuff and services are especially useful for educators. It is easier for the educators to teach, transfer and share the knowledge with their learners not only in their specific classroom, but with any learners in the world. The emergence of this leads to the smaller globe of education where everyone from any part of the world could access the knowledge provided from another part of the world easily. Based on Giddens who points out that instantaneous electronic communication is not just a way in which news or information is conveyed more quickly (1999, p. 11). Giddens further adds that the existence of the electronic communication modifies and gives a lot of impacts to both rich and poor peoples life. As result of instantaneous communication, education is now can be easily accessible and transferrable as the famous saying goes education is now at the tips of everyones fingers. This is supported by Abdul Razak (2011, p. 62) in which he mentions that The emergence of technology-mediated learning has revolutionised the teaching and learning process. According to him, the technology-mediated learning by using the high tech stuff has helped in the distribution of information and knowledge to millions around the world (2011). On the other hand, although Abdul Razak agrees that with the help of technology has enhanced the learning processes, he also disagrees as he feels that when people rely too much on technology throughout their learning process, the downside of it is that the person will eventually lose the true essence of learning which is via interactive communication with the knowledge source as well as with other learners. This is because, when learning via technology medium such as websites, emails or any virtual learning system, the interaction between people/society/community will be cut off as the learning process will be more personalised between the learners and the technology medium only. The idea of how lack of interaction can be a downside for a person has been anticipated long time ago by a well-known psychologist named Fromm (Abdul Razak, 2011, p.62). The idea is: Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment in which must bring him the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions (Fromm, 1995, as cited in Abdul Razak, 2011, p. 62). Referring to Abdul Razak disagreements point and Fromms idea on modern mans alienation, I admit that their points are true. With tremendous developments in network access worldwide and progress in communication and information technologies generally, to learn from distance is like a current phenomenon being practised around the world. Programmes that support students to learn from far are becoming one of the main ways to offer educational opportunities to students. In my opinion, this kind of learning programme would be great for adult learners who would like to work and study at the same time. However, if it were to use by younger students, it would affect their social skills as it reduce their opportunity to mix and interact with the real society rather than just being a technologys kingdom citizen. This kind of people who love to spend time on internet has been labelled as netizen which means an active participant in the online community of the Internet (http://www.merriam-webster .com/dictionary/netizen). 4.2 The shortcut for education In spite of the disadvantages mentioned above, I would personally prefer to look at how globalisation has revolved the technology which then leads to a few more steps in helping us to earn more knowledge conveniently. It is true that we cannot neglect or abandon the fact that globalisation is mostly benefited the rich or industrialised countries only. This is because there is a famous Malay old saying that is not to always critic the lacks but to appreciate the goodness we have in the racks. Looking at the bright side, there are still noble steps that has been done with the help of technology that comes as the result of globalisation. One of the noble steps that I would like to emphasis is something that I personally symbolises it as the shortcut of education. It is basically about how globalisation eases the journey of education. With the advancement of technology, as being mentioned before, it has helped people around the world to study conveniently. As the world has become smaller and almost borderless, apart from being able to learn from distance and to be able to communicate with the person from other places, globalisation has also helped to ease the journey of the education. Globalisation is like a shortcut towards the finding of ways to education or knowledge. It is said as to ease the journey of education because nowadays it is easier for educators as well as for students to go to anywhere in order to share and to search for education. A lot of foreign universities are offering more interesting and skilful courses locally and internationally. According to Abdul Razak (2011, p. 63), Along with the wave of globalisation, western universities realised that a great opportunity was available in the third world countries, particularly in Asia and Africa, which were once the colonies of the west, to open campuses there. Referring to his point, it is true that in most third world countries, especially Asian countries, there are a lot of universities being established as the branches of some big universities from the western countries. Vice versa, there are also branches of Asian universities being opened in western countries. For instance, the Lim Kok Wing University in Cyberjaya in Malaysia has opened its branch located in London, in the United Kingdom. Abdul Razak further adds that a lot of foreign universities and colleges sell and promote their education, their degrees as well as diplomas to the third world countries local students. This is because by doing that, they are generating huge amount of profit for their educational enterprise (2011, p. 63). As the western universities offer courses to generate profit, the charge for each course is tremendously high. This causes students who are from the lower income family, especially in third world countries suffer and find it difficult to get a tertiary education. 5 The effects of globalisation on education: Education as a tool of commodity As globalisation has helped the enhancement of technology for communications throughout the whole world, it has eventually altered and changed the way educators educate. Paralleling with the technology enhancement and economic revolution, educations nowadays serve more for preparation for work rather than for individual holistic values. Hence, schools, colleges and universities have started to work hard in promoting the courses that are needed for the current job demands. For example in Britain and Northern Ireland, courses and programs were restructured and more new courses are introduced in order to upsurge the marketing for courses such as MBAs and distance learning programme (Smith, 2002). The distance learning programme are being promoted to target those who already in work but would like to further study usually for the upgrading of salary or position purposes. On top of that, the current demand in the labour market has raised the awareness of how important a degree would be in order to confirm them a safe position in their work field. This is because, the perception that people have on the current economy plays a major impact on how they view the effect of globalization on education. Regardless of the higher costs that they have to pay, students still find that it is necessary to stay in school and to further study in higher education in order to gain as many accreditation as they can before entering the job market. As mentions by Wolf (2002, in Smith, 2002), At a certain point in what had been a steady, slow expansion, large numbers of people started to feel they really had better get a degree, because not doing so would be such a bad move. The first wave set off another and so on. Looking at this phenomenon, it is assumed that in the next coming years, the enrolment numbers to higher education will increase as they believe that not having a degree in current economical demands will be an obstacle to their success (Smith, 2002). Another form of how education has been change into commodification is the privatisation and corporatisation of schools and national policies. Nowadays, education field has become an arena where corporations and universities from around the world compete with each other for students in order to sustain and extend their funding (Smith, 2002). Students and parents are acknowledged and treated as customers when they are given choices to choose which school has promoted their qualities the best and which learning experiences brands sounds more promising. This kind of promotion is related to the labour market demands mentioned previously too. As parents and students both want to get the best educations to promise a better job future, they seem not to be bothered by this kind of selling the learning experience trend. The real danger is that unthinking adoption of the private sector model prevents the development of an approach to management in the public services in general or to the social services in particular based on their distinctive purposes, conditions and tasks (Stewart, 1992, as cited in Smith, 2002). Referring to Stewarts comment, he believes that by implementing such business strategies on promoting education has come to resemble a private, rather than for public good. This is because, by adopting standardised teaching models and striving for specified outcomes achievement, less emphasis is put on community and equity. More emphasis is put on individual enhancement and the need to fulfil influential customers as well as to satisfy customers (Smith, 2002). Hence, in this case, does commodification help education or does it hinder education? In my opinion, it is true that it does not look noble when we see the current phenomenon of selling education. However, I believe that to survive in this revolutionary world, we have to keep moving forward as this is the only that we can do in order to make sure that we are not being left behind. I view this as if we are running on the treadmill. Once the button start is pushed, we need to keep on running whether be it to run slowly or to keep with the pace set to keep us from falling down. It is true too that after a while, we will feel tired and that is when we started to feel to stop running or to just walk on the treadmill. Same goes with globalisation and especially towards the idea of commodification. To look at the bright side, when education is changed into commodification, at least it raises the awareness among youngsters that they need to keep moving, to keep catching the opportunities in order to achieve their aims. As the effect of globalisation too that it triggers them to be more competitive in their study as well as in their working field in future. Thus, I think, despite the negative impacts of commodification mentioned around, we can still gain something beneficial from them. 6 The effects of globalisation on education: English as a dominant language, English as a lingua franca According to Kelly (2004) through globalisation, English has achieved the status to be declared as a lingua franca. Based on the British Councils report (as cited in Kelly, 2004), The speakers of English as a second language probably outnumber those who speak it as a first language, and around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language. English has been declared as a dominant language, as a lingua franca, for it has about two billion people in at least 75 countries who speaks in it .Furthermore, English is the most common language to be used as a medium of communication for scientific, technological, and academic field as well as for international trade information.   On top of that, the establishment of foreign universities and the revolution of technology have helped the people in developing and underdeveloped countries to learn and master the English language effectively. The trend of learning and mastering of English has been an inevitable thing in most of the non-English-spoken countries. For example, from my point of view as a Malaysian student, I could see that Malaysian has been benefited a lot as the result of globalisation as well as colonisation. Malaysia, as a developing country, was once being labelled as underdeveloped. However, after being colonialized by a few countries, the education system in Malaysia has undergone a lot of changes. Like in any places, some changes are effectively implemented while some are not. The most obvious example of positive effect that Malaysian has gained is the exposure and opportunity to learn English as our second language. In 2003, in order to meet the challenges of globalisation, the government has taken a brilliant step in introducing the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. Unfortunately, even though the programme has been implemented successfully, the Malaysian government decided to revert to the teaching by using Bahasa Melayu again by the year 2012. This is because the programme had been criticized by the Malay linguist and political activist (Abdul Razak, 2011, p. 63). Besides the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English programme, I think the decision of teaching English as a second language in the curriculum alone has made a big impact on Malaysia educations future. As English is a dominant language in the world, by acquiring and mastering it proficiently would be a great point that could elevate a persons educational level higher from others. This will help them to portray a good professional image when applying for a job. Conclusion In analysing the impact of globalization on education, I find that globalisation seems to be a pretty beneficial movement in terms of education, although there are still several obstacles in its way. Looking at how to find the origin and the definition of the term globalisation as well as to identify the effects of globalisation on education, it is undeniable that globalisation is a challenging concept to perceive. As Parjanadze (2009, p. 86) says that globalisation is difficult to perceive because globalisation is based on notions of time and space and a shift in the dimensions cause reinterpretation and re-structuring of the reality around us. As previously I have mentioned how I see commodification as something like treadmill, it is the same with the whole idea of globalisation. Despite the valid points made regarding how the advancement of technology and the commodification of education hinder the true essence of education, we should not totally reject the globalisation of the wo rld. This is because in my opinion, it is apparent that the revolution of technology has given and still giving us a lot of conveniences especially in term of communication, transportation and entertainment. Technology has particularly help to create a smaller globe of education which then leads to a lot more advantages. Thus, it is essential for each of us to understand that throughout the process of globalisation, we need to be able to accept, to adapt and keep on track with the current pace of the revolution in order to make sure that we will be left behind.

Anne Boleyn-Her Life and Downfall

Anne Boleyn's life and conflicts- historical background and the presentation in the film â€Å"the other Boleyn girl† What caused her downfall? Gliederung: | Titel | | 1. 0 | Introduction | | 2. 0 | Anne's life | | 2. 1 | Youth and education | | 2. 2 | At the court | | 2. 3 | Queen of England | | 2. 4 | Downfall and Execution | | 3. 0 | Film â€Å"The other Boleyn Girl† | | 3. 1 | Plot | | 3. 2 | Analysis | | . 3 | Special Feature: The birth order | | 3. 4 | Cast and crew | | 3. 5 | Settings: Location and release | | 3. 6 | Scene analysis | | 3. 7 | Comparison grid | | 3. 8. | My personal review | | 4. 0 | Relationships | | 4. 1. 1 | Anne and Mary: In the film | | 4. 1. 2 | Anne and Mary: In reality | | 4. 2. 1 | Anne and Henry: In the film | | 4. 2. 2 | Anne and Henry: In reality | | . 3. 1 | Henry and Mary: In the film | | 4. 3. 2 | Henry and Mary: In reality | | 5. 0 | Conclusion of Anne's conflict:What caused her downfall? | | Anne Boleyn: Introduction: Once there w as a time between 1499 and 1507, somewhere in England , a girl was born. This girl was thought to be so insignificant and small, that nobody bothered to record the date, place or details of her birth. It was not until she was twelve that something at all was recorded about her. However, this girl was named Anne Boleyn, and even though she started small and powerless and destitute, she became one of the greatest influences on King Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn was one of the first non-royal women to become Queen of England, which caused quite a turmoil in those times. She was also the mother of Elizabeth I, one of the greatest monarchs in the history of England and of the world itself and a co-founder of the new English Church. In my opinion history is written by winners. Like any visionary Anne Boleyn lived on the success – as long she was successful. But also like all visionaries, she moved her life on thin ice. What she wanted to achieve and achieved, was not backed up by experience or role models. So far, there were always a risk, and ultimately she failed. Of course after her failure, her opponents tried to reinterpret her successes as the result of devilish machinations. In the end she was not the winner. Instead, she became the devilish witch who enchanted the king to disunite the English church. In the following I am going to consider Anne's life, always trying to understand why such a brilliant and well educated woman had to die so early. So the question I am asking here is,what caused her downfall? For that I will regard her life and the different relationships she had. So, I decided to do my paper on Anne Boleyn, because for me, she was an intelligent woman who â€Å"became one of the principal figures in a hideous melodrama, a corrupt and involute series of intrigues,in which the mores of her contemporaries are now difficult to assess† (S. 15, Hester W. Chapman, Anne Boleyn, London, 1974). It was not really her fault, that she, or possibly Henry VIII could not produce a male heir. I think Anne was neither a saint nor a devil,but she was a human being like everyone else with virtues and faults. That's probably why I admire her so much and tend to dislike critics who usually only see her faults. She was a modern woman in her own time and I bet if she lived in the 21st century she would have fit right in. 2. 0 Anne's Biography: 2. 1 Youth and Education: The tradition says, that Anne Boleyn was born in the Henver castle in the Weald of Kent. (Eric Ives, The life and death of Anne Boleyn, London, 2004). Nevertheless most historians believe that Anne was born at the Blickling residence, because it was their location around 1500. Assuming, that Anne was born around 1500, the historians could be right with their presumption, but if you start with a birth date around 1507, one would assume Henver Castle may well be the birthplace. (The Encyclopedia Britannica and the Dictionary of National Biography give the date of Anne's birth, as do several other historians, as 1507. ) Anne Boleyn was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard and Anne was the maternal niece of the Duke of Norfolk. Anne's education began very early. Just with a few years Anne and her siblings had to learn what it means how to behave in the society. Their daily schedule was very well structured, so that there was not many time to play or doing nothing. Their daily practice includes learning several languages, for instance French, Italian and Latin, practicing dancing and playing instruments. â€Å"Music was the most important accomplishment, comprising the practice of lute, harp, ciol and virginals† (Hester W. Chapman, Anne Boleyn, London, 1974, p. 1) It was very important to the parents that Anne got a good education, so that she will get a good and hopefully noble husband. And Anne did well in her education. Her French was fluent at just a very early age. When Henry VIII's younger sister Mary Tudor got married to king Louis XII of France, Anne was allowed to accompany the young princess as a lady-in-waiting. The great change, made in October 1514, was a big step for her education. Meanw hile her sister Mary Boleyn, who was close to her sister in age, was educated at the Court of the Hapsburg Archduchess Margaret in Brussels. After a while Mary is sent to the french court, as well, so that both sisters became ladies-in-waiting. The sisters were taught impeccable manners and elegance, but music, poetry and dance, as well. (Wyatt, Extracts from the Life of the Virtous, Christian and Renowned Quenn Anne Boleyn, p. 2 ) During her early years in France Anne Boleyn acquired elegance and the sophistication of the French court. She also acquired her taste for beautiful and elegant clothes. Anne Boleyn returned to England after 7 years, which gave her a grand advantage in front of all the English ladies-in-waiting and mistresses. There she could impress with her new witty, intelligent and ambitious behavior. 2. 2 At Henry VIII's court (1522-1533): Hier fehlt eine Seite von ihrer Biografie. Die musst du nicht korrigieren :)!! 3. 0 Film: 3. 1 Plot: The romantic-drama movie â€Å"the other Boleyn Girl† portrays the famous era in England history during the reign of Henry VIII. The King desperately tries to get a male heir and not being terrified from divorce or execution, he plays with several lives to fulfill his wishes. At the same time there are the two Boleyn sisters, who reveals for the favor of the king. The Boleyn sisters were firstly important when Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk and his brother in law and at the same time father of Anne and Mary Boleyn, plan to install Anne in the court and life of Henry VIII of England, because his own wife Katherine of Aragon fails to give England a male heir. The intention of the plan is easy: Becoming the King's mistress and potential mother of his son would further their own political ambitions. At first Anne refuses because she knows being a mistress can damage her reputation, but then she agrees to the plan. Meanwhile Anne's younger sister, Mary Boleyn marries William Carey, although he had asked for Anne's hand. Her father thought Anne could marry somebody of noble and offered Mary as a substitute. While visiting the Boleyn residence, Henry is injured in a hunting accident, which was indirectly caused by Anne, and is nursed by Mary. While being in Mary's care, Henry gets fascinated by her and invites her to his court. After some reluctance, Mary and William agree, because they know what is expected of her. Anne and Mary become Queen Katherine's new mistresses and Henry sends William away on an assignment for the royal court. Separated from her husband, Mary finds herself falling in love with Henry. Meanwhile Anne secretly marries the nobleman Henry Percy, who was already engaged to Mary Talbot. Anne is exiled to France in disgrace, because Mary tells their father and uncle to rescue the life and reputation of her sister. The men confront Anne, who argues that â€Å"what has been done before God can't be undone and that the marriage has been consummated†. Nevertheless the marriage is annulled and she is exiled to France in disgrace. Feeling that Mary betrayed her to increase her own status, Anne vows revenge. Mary becomes pregnant and of course the status of the family improves abruptly. However, Lady Elizabeth warns her family that favors of the king can be easily taken away, but nobody is listening to her. Thomas Boleyn becomes Earl of Wiltshire and George becomes Viscount Rochford and he against his will, George has to marry Jane Parker. When Mary is bedridden, her uncle Norfolk recalls Anne to England to keep Henry's attention to the Boleyns. With big successes Anne ensnares Henry and shows him that she is finally grown up. Henry so is fascinated by her, that he agrees to her request which includes that Henry is not allowed to neither see or speak to Mary or his own wive. Anne even gets Henry to break from the Roman Catholic Church when the Pope refuses to annul his marriage to Queen Katherine so that Henry can marry Anne. Finally Henry agrees with Anne's demands, breaks from the Roman Catholic Church. After that a new church is needed, so he declares himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, and gets Thomas Wolsey to annul his marriage to Katherine. The scandal of Anne's brief marriage to Henry Percy threatens her upcoming marriage to Henry until Mary, the only one Henry really trusts, returns to court and lies on Anne's wish, by telling the king that the marriage with Percy was not consummated. Being married to the King of England and pregnant, Anne needs every help which she can get, so her sister Mary is re-ordered to the court. Anne and Mary reach kind of a reconciliation and Mary stays with her sister at court trying to support her. Meanwhile Mary meets William Stafford, a brave soldier in the English army, and the two fall deeply in love. Although Anne gives birth to a healthy daughter called Elizabeth, Henry is mad at Anne's failure to deliver a son and legitimate male heir to the throne. For Anne's slowly decaying psyche his secret meetings with Jane Seymour are not helpful. After she loses a son after birth, a hysterical Anne begs her brother George to impregnate her since her own husband will not lie with her. First he is shocked, but knowing the fact, how important this son is for his sister, he agrees. When he accepts to help his sister, Mary runs away, because she is disgusted by them. However, George is not strong enough to make it and begins to cry before the siblings sleep with each other. So Anne decides that they should not sleep with each other. Nevertheless, George's wife, Jane, witnesses enough of their try to reports what she has seen and both Anne and George are arrested. Despite a lack of evidence, the two are found guilty and condemned to death for adultery, incest and treason. Mary returns to court to bed for her siblings' lives. Arriving too late to save her brother's life, who was already executed, she begs Henry to spare her sister, referring to Anne as part of herself. The king calms and tells her he would never harm any part of her. Believing that Henry would spared her sister, Mary leaves to see her sister. The two sisters embrace each other and truly reconcile with one another. Before she leaves, Anne asks Mary to promise to take care of Elizabeth if anything should happen to her. Mary watches from the crowd as Anne makes her final speech, waiting for the execution to be cancelled as Henry promised. A letter from Henry is given to Mary, which reveals he has decided not to stop the execution and save Anne. It also tells Mary that she was only spared because of his respect for her and warns her never to come to court again. Horrified, she watches as her sister is beheaded. Mary then fulfills her last promise to Anne and leaves court with the toddler Elizabeth. The closing captions reveal that Thomas Boleyn, disgraced and alone, died two years after Anne and George's executions. Elizabeth Boleyn died a year after her husband while The Duke of Norfolk was later imprisoned in the tower. The next three generations of his family – son, grandson and great-grandson were all executed for treason. True to her word, Elizabeth Boleyn never saw or spoke to her husband and brother again. Henry's break from the Roman Catholic Church changed the face of England forever. Meanwhile, Mary married William Stafford and lived happily with him and their children away from the royal court for the rest of her life. The captions also reveal that Henry should not have been concerned about leaving England with a strong heir because, in fact, he did: An heir who would rule England for forty-five years and transform it into one of the most powerful nations in Europe. However, it was not the son he desired, but the strong red-haired girl Anne gave him: Queen Elizabeth I. 3. 2 Analysis: In the following I will discuss some aspects in more detail, but not all, because most things as the plot or the individual relationships already occurred in the other texts. As the title of a film is always found at the beginning, I'll start with the consideration of it. The most special part of the title is that its meaning changes during the film. The term the ‘other' Boleyn girl is very vague and so the viewer has a 50:50 chance to guess who of the Boleyn sisters is meant by this term. In one of the first scenes, Mary's wedding, the audience gets to know who is the ‘other' of the sisters and it is Anne, because she says to her sister shortly before the ceremony that Mary is younger than her and more beautiful than Anne, as well. Moreover, Mary is married before her sister. That leads Anne to the conclusion that she is just the ‘other' Boleyn Girl. But during the film the owner of this term changes because soon after Mary got pregnant and Anne returned from France, the king has directed his attention to Anne. So Mary is sent away and becomes just the ‘other' Boleyn girl. But regarding the whole film it is obvious, that mainly Mary is meant by this description. That matches with the author's opinion towards the sisters. For Gregory it is too bad that most people have forgotten Mary Boleyn, just because she was pushed away through the other Boleyn girl. That was the reason why she wrote the novel from Mary's angle, as well. (http://www. philippagregory. com/work/tudor/the-other-boleyn-girl/philippas-quest-for-the-truth-about-mary-boleyn/). Nevertheless the film makers considered Natalie Portman and that means Anne as the first leading actress. Now I am going to describe the opening credits and how it is relevant for the whole. The film starts with a little race of the siblings when they were young. At the beginning Mary is first and Anne second, followed by their brother George. Then with a ploy that Anne cannot run so fast, Mary slowed her pace and Anne overtakes her sister and becomes first in the race. This little incident perfectly shows the history of the sisters' power relations. First Mary is the one who gets all the attention of Henry VIII, but that changes during the film when Anne appears at court and attracts all the attention. If you look at the two aspects again, one can easily see that it's actually all about Henry. If he feels attracted to Mary, Anne is the ‘other' Boleyn girl and after Anne appears again in his life, Mary takes over this term. That leads me to the film's theme. The main theme in the film is definitely power corruption. Both, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn have such a drive for power that it becomes destructive for them in the end. The king would do anything, even murder, for getting a male heir and his wife Anne is not better. She even ruins the life of her siblings just to get what she wants. It is amazing enough that she really tries to become Queen of England and achieves it, as well. In a way both ultimately failed because Anne was executed for her not customizable lust for power and crazy ways and the king failed in producing a male heir. So actually he produced one and Jane Seymour gave birth to him in the end, but it was not the long-awaited successor. This part was already reserved for little Elizabeth, Anne's daughter. Blessed with all the good qualities of her family she ruled England to a whole new era and becomes the most important Queen of England in the entire history. 3. Special Feature: The birth order of the siblings: The most significant aspect of the comparison between the reality and the film would definitely be the order of birth. We can never really be sure about the real birth order, but through the years a number of different sources were found from which we can define the approximate dates of birth of the sisters. The parents of the siblings marrie d in 1500, so the two could not be born before that date. (Vgl. David Starkey, Six Wives, The Queens of Henry VIII, Random, 2003. ) Later historians tried to establish her birth date, but they always varied from the earliest possible date: 1500 (Vgl. Gregorio Leti(1630-1701), 1693. Historia overo Vita di Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra. ) to 1507 (Vgl. :William Camden (1551-1623), The history of the princess Elizabeth, Flower-de-luce, 1675). It is handed, that Anne Boleyn had to be nearly thirty when she was executed in 1536 (Vgl. ) which would support the 1507 date, and when her body was exhumed in the Victorian period the archaeologists then thought she had been between twenty five and thirty at the time of her death. (Alison Weir, S. 167, The six wives of Henry VIII,1991, Groove Press), which would suggest a birth date of 1511. So we have a range of possible birth dates for Anne, in the eleven years from 1500 to 1511. We have no date of birth for Mary Boleyn at all, but since she was married in 1520, she would have been sexually mature at that age, so she could not have been born after 1508 (vgl. S. 40 ;Mary Boleyn-the true Story of Henry VIII's favorite mistress, Josephine Wilkinson, 2009). So the specific birth dates of the siblings are unknown, as is the order of their births. We only know that all three Boleyn siblings were close in age. (http://englishhistory. net/tudor/monarchs/boleyn. html). 3. 4 Cast and Crew: One of the leading role, Anne Boleyn, is played by Natalie Portman who was attracted to the role describing Anne as â€Å"strong yet she can be vulnerable and she's ambitious and calculating and will step on people but also feels remorse for it. â€Å"One month before filming began, Portman started taking daily classes to master the English accent under dialect coach Jill McCulloch. Ironically, Anne spoke with a French accent because she was raised in France. (http://www. girl. com. au/natalie-portman-the-other-boleyn-girl-interview. htm). Anne's sister Mary Boleyn is the other leading role and played by Scarlett Johansson. For the young actress the film was a big hurdle, because for her it is â€Å"such a melodramatic tale†. (http://www. dailymail. co. uk/debate/columnists/article-403137/Scarletts-Royal-scandal. html) The third leading role is taken by Eric Bana, who plays Henry VIII of England. For Bana this role was a great offer, because he describes the character of Henry as â€Å"a man who was somewhat juvenile, and driven by passion and greed†, and that he interpreted the character as â€Å"this man who was involved in an incredibly intricate, complicated situation, largely through his own doing† (http://www. ilmmonthly. com/paul_fischer_exclusive/bana_takes_on_kings_and_icons. html) Other characters (http://www. fandango. com/theotherboleyngirl_v353424/castandcrew): Jim Sturgess as George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford Kristin Scott Thomas as Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire and Ormond Mark Rylance as Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire David Morrissey as Thomas Howard, 3 rd Duke of Norfolk Benedict Cumberbatch as William Carey Oliver Coleman as Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland Ana Torrent as Katherine of Aragon Eddie Redmayne as William Stafford Juno Temple as Jane Parker Iain Mitchell as Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex Corinne Galloway as Jane Seymour Bill Wallis as Archbishop Cranmer Crew: The film â€Å"The other Boleyn Girl† was directed by newcomer Justin Chadwick and the screenplay was adapted by Peter Morgan from the 2001 bestselling-novel â€Å"The other Boleyn Girl† by Philippa Gregory. Historical circumstances – by Gregory told in detail over 600 pages – can be reduced by screenwriter Peter Morgan on several obvious scenes. Even though, it reveals how women have been abused, but at the same time possessed of more power than many men had. http://www. cineman. de/movie/2008/TheOtherBoleynGirl/review. html) 3. 5 Settings: Most of the shooting took place in Kent, England, although the real Hever Castle was not used, which was the original household of the Boleyns from 1505-1539. For the Tower of London the Baron's Hall at Penshurst Place and the Knole House in Sevenoaks were used in some scenes, The home of the Bol eyns was represented by Great Chalfield Manor in Wiltshire, and other scenes were filmed at locations in Derbyshire, including Cave Dale, Haddon Hall, Dovedale and North Lees Hall near Hathersage. http://www. visitpeakdistrict. com/be-inspired/boleyn-girl. aspx). The world premiere was at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival held on February 7-17, 2008, but the film was released in theaters on February 29, 2008. The combined worldwide gross of the film was $75,598,644 more than double the film's $35 million budget. (http://www. boxofficemojo. com/movies/? page=intl&id=otherboleyngirl. htm) 3. 6 Comparison grid: The film | The reality | -Historical fiction | -Reality | Emotional | -Neutral and objective | â€Å"loose, airy fantasy-novel mentality † | Serious historical events | William Carey just disappears | William Carey dies of the sweat fiver | Characters and relationships are decorated and filled | Real behavior and characteristics of the characters are just assuma ble | Boleyn lineage: badge of honor (why? ) | Personal pride and historical importance | Mens' will: sexiness and power | Not handed | Incest relationship with George B. Inappropriate relationships with others, too | The spending time of the sisters in France is not mentioned | The time in France was very important for the education of the sisters | Anne is the older sister | The birth order is not proven | Mary is presented as a shy country girl | Mary is a lively girl | Mary had just an affair with the king | Mary had several affairs with some kings | Anne: not interested in religion | Supporter of the religious reforms | Anne's accusations seem to be right | It is proven hat they were wrong | Kind of â€Å"soap opera† | Real history | 3. 7 Scene analysis of the banquet scene: In the banquet scene from â€Å"The other Boleyn girl† the audience is introduced into the English court. To begin, I am going to present the plot of the scene. It is the first evening at cour t, so Anne and her siblings are going to the court's banquet. First Mary is nervous and unconfident but talking to her friend Stafford helps her to relax. Anne is still mad at her sister and family for deciding Mary to be the king's new mistress. It would not be Anne, if she would sulk for a long time. After a while, she has already chosen someone new to bewitch and enchant. So she tries to find a way back to be admired and for the admirer she picks no one else than the already engaged Henry Percy. They both flirt with each other. Meanwhile she is dancing with her brother, who has his own little problems. Jane Parker, a sneaky, insane and very loyal lady-in-waiting of Katharina of Aragon, has her eye on him. The problem is that he feels exactly the opposite. The harmon dance and flirty scene gets interrupted, when the king appears on the scene. He paves his way to Mary, just to tell her that he is expecting her tonight. Mary becomes pale and seems to be depressed. Moreover, Anne has observed the scene. Being hurt and mad by the behavior of the king and her sister she suddenly has no more desire to flirt with Henry Percy. In the banquet scene you can group the different persons. First, there are Mary and Stafford, who are talking to each other. Then there are Anne and her brother where one must add Anne flirting Henry Percy, flirting with Anne, and George observing Jane Parker. Of course you cannot forget the majesty, the king, but he is presented as a sole ruler without anyone around him, but guardianship. Less important and without text, you can notice Sir Thomas Boleyn, the father of the siblings, the Duke of Norfolk, their uncle and of course Mary's husband, William Carey. Now I am going to present the scene's function. One the one hand there is the obvious aim of introducing the court's world to the audience but the actual intention of this scene is definitely to show all the different relationships. This scene includes many prospects, as well, so that the audience can imagine for themselves what will further happen. First, there are Mary and Stafford. They will marry later in the film and move to the countryside again. Then there are Anne and Henry Percy. They will marry, as well, but in contrast to her sister's marriage this one will be annulled by Anne's father and Anne gets exiled for that. Then there is George, who will marry, as well, but different to his sisters, he is forced to that act by his family and the choice fell on none other than Jane Parker, the only woman he loathes. Now I will place the scene in the overall context. Being showed after half an hour, you cannot really say that it is at the beginning, but nevertheless it is the opening scene for the second part of the film, the time at the English court. As you can imagine, this scene is followed by the first night of Mary and Henry. Furthermore the balance of power will change soon, when Henry loses interest in Mary and turns himself to the ‘other' Boleyn Girl, Anne. Now I am going to present the cinematography of the scene. It starts with a close up of Mary Boleyn, whose face shows a curious expression and glides into a tracking movement which changes into a medium shot, because Mary walks deeper into the room and finally disappears in the crowd. The camera angle changes into a high angle camera to give the audience an impression of the whole banquet. Simultaneously it still tracks Mary. Then there is a close up of Sir Thomas Boleyn, because Mary meets him during her way through the crowd. She implies a bow and goes out of the shot, leaving a desperate Thomas in the picture. Turning into a medium shot, because Mary paused, the camera reverse-angel shot to show what Mary sees, and that are her siblings who talk to each other. Then there is a fast change of medium shots between Anne and George and Jane Parker, The siblings are talking about her, so the shot shows her as well, to give the audience an impression of her. Turning away from Jane, the shot changes to Mary again, whose finally stopped her way and is found by Stafford. The shot changes from medium to close on an eye-level shot, because there are too many dancing people around them. Talking about Anne and her flirting with Henry Percy the camera tracks Anne and shows close-ups of her smiling and Henry's fascinated face. The scene gets interrupted by a knock which announces the king's entry. It starts with a long shot, which changes into a medium, because the king walks towards the camera. Between the shot a close up of Anne's bewildered face is shown. Then the laughing Mary and her friend Stafford are shown in a close up. The laughing stops right away, when Mary discovers the king. After telling her the word â€Å"tonight† he walks away again and Mary's scared face is shown in a extreme close up. The camera changes again to show the audience Anne's reaction of this act. She seems composed, but with her behavior and her body language, which is shown in the medium shot, the audience gets to know that she is totally upset inwardly and leaves the stage. Then it changes to a close up of Mary's husband and her uncle. Both of them react completely differently. The Duke is proud that his plan starts to work and smiles but William Carey drinks the rest of his wine with one gulp and seems to be very desperate. The last shot is a close up of the satisfied face of the king. As he walks out of the shot the audience can notice a completely anxious and scared Mary. Her face is the last shot of the scene. The scene, like the whole film, uses an actually normal language. Of course, there is no colloquial language but also no real ancient language. To sum up, you can say that I have chosen this scene because I think that it is a good scene to get a good overview of all the different relationships. 3. 8 My own review: As far as I can see, the makers of the film did very well by adapting the novel written by Philippa Gregory. So, one can say that it is not their fault that the novel is more like a romantic drama, which consists mostly of sexual and emotional relationships. Every relationship goes through ups and downs and the entire movie consists of them. It presents how different relationships are established to each other and stand in the way of another. For me, the several relationships were implemented well and you could follow the course of the individual relationships very easily. What I dislike about the film is, that people who have no foreknowledge can not understand the film right away. There are too many names or incidents which stay unexplained. For example, the missing introducing of Stafford and the lack of explaining the family's rejection towards him. Or the fate of Mary's husband. I know it because I read the novel but most of the viewers can only guess that he died. One could assume that they skipped them because they are not important for the main plot but for me a good film somehow brings in all the details and guides the audience, so that it does not lose the track. All in all, one can say that the film is actually made very well because we still have to remember that this is fiction and made to be entertaining and keep the readers interest. As far as I can see one of the things that is most enjoyable about historical fiction is learning about characters and events we think we know and getting a completely different angle. Novelists have always had artistic license and should be allowed to interpret things in ways that entertain. If you want straight facts you shouldn't expect to get it from a work of fiction like this novel and the resulting film. That is what I learned through the work with the film and the novel. Having said that, Gregory knows her history and I for one trust her interpretations. It's also her right as a novelist to either stick rigidly to known facts or play with it as much as she likes. So I cannot criticize that the facts are actually totally different. I just can compare them. Peter Morgan, for his part, did his job very well by adapting the novel, because he neither changed the weight of the informations Gregory wanted to give her audience nor changed the period of the novel. The only thing he changed, and what could be criticized is the point of view. In the novel the story was told from Mary's point of view, but the film was more about everyone in the plot to get ahead using the sisters. To sum up, I can tell you that the film has succeeded really well and has remained the spirit of Gregory's novel. It is and remains a historical fiction so we have to look at it that way. 4. 0 Relationships: 4. 1 Anne and Mary: 4. 1. 1 in the film: Like we already concluded, the whole film is made on a very emotional level. The relationships of the different characters are definitely in the center of the film. Especially Mary's and Anne's. In the following I'm going to describe and analyze the totally different characters. On the one hand you can say, that there are characteristics, which do not change in the whole film, but on the other hand particularly Anne's behavior towards her sister changes from acceptance to jealousy, from love to hate. Of course, Mary is not so naive so that she does not customize her behavior but in the end you can notice that Mary still loves her sister and never stopped it. But let's start at the beginning. Mary's wedding with William Carey is the first incident which caused a breach in the relationship. For that you have to know, that in the film the birth order is arranged like this: George is the oldest, then comes Anne as the oldest sister and Mary was the last of the three surviving Boleyn children. So of course it is an insult and a humiliation for Anne that her younger sister is marrying before she is married. What Anne does not know, is that it was the aim of her father that his favorite daughter Anne marries somebody of noble. Through his eyes the viewer gets to know a lot of characteristics. To the father, Anne is smarter and stronger than her sister. Whereas Mary is the one with the friendly and uncomplicated behavior. For those days, she had all the properties a good and honest wife had to have. With her open-minded and naive ways, it is obvious that Mary loves Anne more than Anne loves her sister. Anne is always driven by jealousy because Mary is definitely the prettier one of them. The relationship gets another little break when Mary becomes Henry's mistress after Anne tried so hard to get his attention. Like the incident with Mary's marriage, it is so humiliating for Anne. Being at the Court just as ‘the other Boleyn Girl', is something which Anne can not accept. She focusses on other things and without the knowledge of her family she marries Henry Percy. Doing an inappropriate act like this, takes consequences with it. Anne is sent to France because her sister Mary betrayed her by telling their father about the marriage. Not because she wanted to be mean but more for trying to rescue the life and reputation of her beloved sister. The whole power relations changes in the middle of the film, where Mary gets pregnant and Anne's exile in France ends, so that she could come back to court to entertain the king and always remembering him of Mary. From that moment everything changes for Anne. With her new education she knows, how to act. She becomes provocative in a very amusing way, which pleasant the king. Mary is not longer necessary and the relationship of the two sister breaks totally when Henry does not take any note of his own son. When Anne becomes the Queen of England and Mary's presence at court is not longer important, she is sent to the countryside. Now and then she is re-ordered to court when Anne needs her help and each time she comes without being mean. She is always there to help. On the day of Anne's execution she even goes to Henry to beg for her sister's life. That shows, that Mary loved her sister until the end. After Anne's execution, Mary takes her niece Elizabeth with her to countryside to raise her so that she could fulfill Anne's last wish. Their relationship, how it is presented in the film, is the perfect one to show us, that it does not matter what you are doing to your sister or brother, you are always forgive them. Mary's whole life was taken by Anne and nevertheless she still stands there at Anne's execution to give her hope and take her fear away. 4. 1. 2 In reality: It is obvious, that the film just created this whole relationship's ups and downs. There are not any proven documents which include all this. (†¦ In reality of course everything is different. Like it is always. There was not this close relationship like it was presented in the film. For most historians Mary Boleyn was not such an important person in Anne's life. Phillipa Gregory, the author of the novel â€Å"the other Boleyn Girl† has a different opin ion. (Vgl: Seite meiner Facharbeit) Nevertheless, there are not so many facts about the relationship of the sisters but you can probably say that their relationship was not something spectacular because they did not spend so much time together. When Anne was at the french Court together with Mary Tudor, her sister still lived with her family. She moved to the court alone and then after several years (? ) Anne appeared there, too. I do not think that there was the whole rivalry like it was presented in the novel and in the film. That's probably because they never really shared the King. When Mary was his mistress, Anne was not even interested in him, but more in increasing her french education. After the liason Henry dropped Mary and searched for a new mistress. We do not know, if there were one or even more than one mistresses between Mary and Anne, so their paths have never really crossed (Vgl. ). After Anne became Queen of England nobody took care of Mary anymore. And that increases when Mary married her love Stafford. Knowing the fact, that it was forbidden for Mary coming to the court again, we can definitely say that she never returned. Not to convince Henry of Anne's innocence and virginity and not for her execution. That was just made up in the film ( ). Surprisingly, some characteristics stayed almost the same. From what we know, or I should say, from what we assume, Mary was the prettier sister of them but Anne could compete against her with her uniquely french education upon fashion and flirtation. She was a cultivated musician, singer and dancer. ((http://englishhistory. net/tudor/monarchs/boleyn. html). I can imagine, that their relationship was probably really close when they were young. The age difference was very small, so they were apparently educated together. Another instance could be that their family status in the society and at the court was not so high. The Boleyns were not destituted or poor, but not a member of the bourgeois society at all. (Vgl: S. 4 The life and death of Anne Boleyn, Eriv Ives, 2004). Knowing this fact, we can assume, that the children lived closely together in one house without having so much staff. Nevertheless, you can not say that Anne and Mary were best friends. But it is possible and assumable as well, because it is handed that Anne was the only person of the Boleyns who still loved Mary after all her liasons. Erlauterung: Mary had a not really confirmed affair with King Francis I of France and several others in France; the unauthorized marriage to William Stafford) From what I've gathered from various history books, Mary Boleyn was certainly not the enlightened 21st century woman that Gregory made her out to be. Mary was political ly simple and selfish. You could actually say, that there was a role reversal. In the reality Anne is the solicitous and protective one, whereas Mary takes over the part of the care-free and still fun-seeing sister. 4. 2 Henry and Anne: 4. 2. 1 in the film: Actually you have to split the relationships in the one between the King and his mistress Anne and the one between a husband and his wife. But I will regard the relationships as one to show who combining this two relationships ultimately leads to their fail. But let's start at the beginning. Henry first meets Anne at a visit in her father's house. There he is more disinclined because in his opinion she is too emancipated. On the chase he tries to be brave and had an accident which was caused by Anne. With her male behavior she reaches the opposite of what she actually wanted to get. All in all, her overtures ended when Mary is sent to the court to be Henry's mistress. After her secret marriage with Henry Percy, Anne was sent to France to learn how to behave as a young unmarried woman. Being back at court, Henry gets to know a whole new side of Anne. Now she learned how to use her strong emancipation, so that Henry is fascinated of her fresh, all new ambitious and strong kind. She acts as a very well behaved and educated woman. So you can really say, that she enchantes him in a fascinating way. Being the King of England, Henry can gets whatever he wants and is allowed to rule above everything. But Anne wants to be free and denies him. So I think, for the first time in his life, Henry had to chase after a woman so hard, but in the end he did not win Anne as mistress which was his actual aim, but as wife, which is actually hard to believe for those days. One can hardly imagine that a man who is so powerful and always seems so incorruptible, was so crazy after a woman that he separated a whole nation from the catholic church just to marry her just to sleep with her. I think there was never any kind of love, but more envy and desire and maybe a kind of affection. 4. 2. 2 in reality Anne is first noticed at the English court and from Henry when she played a part of Perseverance in the Shrove Tuesday pageant of 1522. (compare Anne Boleyn, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,London, 1885). Henry fell passionately in love with Anne, and expected her to become his mistress. But rebellious Anne refused, which started a chain of events which ended in England's break with the Roman Catholic Church. Throughout history, people always have wondered why Anne held out for so many years before marrying Henry. It must have been a challenge, as Henry was King of England and very powerful. What made Anne behave so differently? There are several possible explanations. One involves Anne's love for Henry Percy. Another factor in Anne's refusal to become Henry's mistress was her sister Mary's involvement with the King. But Henry ended the affair when Mary became pregnant. All in all, Mary did not benefit noticeably from her relationship with Henry VIII. This undoubtedly was a factor in Anne's decision to withhold her favors from the King. Henry was determined to divorce Catherine and marry Anne. Catherine refused to give him a divorce, and the Catholic Church would not support Henry's position. So Henry founded the English Church. I doubt that there were a greater declaration of love in the entire world history. After achieving their goals, Henry and Anne expected to be happy. Unfortunately, this did not happen. They were both tired and edgy from the stresses of the past several years. In addition, Henry started losing interest in Anne shortly after he fully attained her favors. Henry also finally realized how much his marriage to Anne had cost him. A number of good people, including friends and associates of Henry's, had lost their lives due to loyalty and treason issues stemming from the English church's break from Rome. After a