Catch Me if You Can Essay Example for Free

Catch Me if You Can Essay Theory q 325 Karla Pope Catch Me if You Can Catch Me if You Can is a movie based off the true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr, who mpersonated a Pan Am Air pilot, a pediatric doctor, and a lawyer, and accumulated over 2. 8 million dollars through these impersonations as well as check fraud all betore his nineteenth birthday. The movie starts ott as a game snow where the contestants question three men all dressed as airline pilots, one of them being the real Frank Abagnale Jr. Through a series of cut sceens, we see young Frank as a teenager living happily in a big house with his mother, a French woman named Paula Abagnale, and his American military veteran father, Frank Abagnale, Sr. This appiness was soon cracked, however, as the family runs into trouble with the IRS, forcing them to move out of their home and into a smaller apartment. Paula, dissatisfied with her new life, ends up cheating on her husband with his best friend and eventually filing for divorce. When she tries to get her son to choose between the two of them, he freaks out and runs away. While struggling to live on his own, Frank runs out of money, starting him down his path as one of the youngest con artists during his time. After getting turned down from the bank after trying to cash his very irst fake check, he decides to impersonate a Pan Am Air pilot, conning the company into giving him a uniform while forging his credentials and passport. After gaining too much publicity doing this, he ends up pretending to be a pediatric doctor in Georgia, where he falls in love with a girl named Brenda, who thinks hes a doctor as well as a lawyer from Harvard. He ends up resigning as a lawyer to protect his identity after a real Harvard graduate at the firm started poking around into his background. He eventually is forced to run again as he realizes that FBI Agent Carl Hanratty, who has been chasing after him this whole time, is onto him again, escaping to Europe where he is eventually found by Carl in France, printing his own checks. After spending about a year in Perpignan Prison, Carl got him deported back to America. After trying to escape upon learning that his father died, he was caught in front of his mothers new house and went to prison. Eventually, after helping Carl with a check fraud case, Frank is transferred from prison into FBI custody to work under Carls supervision. When he becomes bored, he tried to run again, but nevitably returns after a confrontation with Carl at the airport, continuing to help catch con men and check fraud with his experience. There are many theories in this movie, but the primary, main one that was obvious to me was Rational Choice theory. With Rational Choice theory is defined the view that crime is a function of a decision- making process in which the potential offender weighs the potential costs and benefits of an illegal act. . What this means is that the criminal (or would be criminal) is faced with a choice due to the set of circumstances that he is in and weighs the ros and cons of an act that he/she knows is wrong. In this movie, Frank is faced with many choices due to different circumstances that all lead back to his first act of desperation. When his parents try and force him to choose between them, he instead runs away, staying in a hotel as he tries to get himself together. When he runs out of money, he is kicked out, leaving him with a dilemma. How to get more money so he can live? There are many options open to him, but he chooses check fraud because not only does he see it as the easiest way to survive, but also the best way that he knows to get money. However, after his check is rejected, he turns instead to impersonating a Pan Am pilot after seeing one sign autographs to a small child outside the bank. After acquiring a uniform from the company by saying that he lost his, he forges his credentials and passports after he creates a fake, Pan Am Air salary check and successfully cashing it in. His need for money to survive on his own drives these decisions to act on these illegal activities, outweighing the cost ne will end up paying for committing them. Part of the Rational Choice Theory is whatever techniques the criminal learns and perfects to avoid detection from authorities. Franks first run in with authority is when FBI Agent Carl Hanratty tracks him through his forged Pan Am bills toa hotel he was staying at. In Frank and Carls first meeting, Frank impersonates a Secret Service agent named Barry Allen (after The Flash) when confronted by Carls gun, convincing the agent long enough in order for him to escape. After his close call, he retires to Georgia, where he impulsively convinces the hospital and town that he is a Harvard medical doctor after meeting a new, young nurse named Brenda, whom he ends up falling in love with. The branch that Frank as assigned to was chief doctor of the pediatric ward, where they dont do much work. The motivation behind this was to get closer to Brenda, whom he had an attraction to when he first met her. His growing love for Brenda outweighs the consequences that come with impersonating a doctor, as well as the potential lives hell endanger under his care. He also passes the bar exam to become a lawyer after Brenda introduces him to her parents as such. He eventually has to run again, however because both the firm and Carl are putting pressure on him. He assumes his pilot identity again. In the beginning of the film, with the game show, fake Frank 1 says that the reason he chose to pretend to be each of these professions was because he was young and needed money, and that, instead of actually trying to legally go through the training to BE a pilot, doctor, or lawyer was because it seemed easier than to go through all that trouble. Another theory that I see present in this movie is Social Control Theory. Social Control Theory is when people commit illegal acts when the bindings of the society they live in are either weakened or broken. When we see Frank when he was ounger, he was in a good school living in a big house with his American veteran father and French mother. His father was a part of the rotary club and was inducted as a lifetime member, giving him great status in the community. However, he had problems with the IRS, and was denied a business loan. This led them to give up their house and move into a much smaller apartment. While this isnt considered illegal, Paula, Franks mother cheated on her husband, Frank Sr. , with his best friend and eventually filed for a divorce so she could marry his friend. This was largely due to the fact that she was used to living a larger life with Frank Sr. nd when they were forced to move because of money problems, she grew dissatisfied. When Frank Jr. finds out about the divorce, they try to get him to choose between two of them, he freaked out and ran away. This led to the decisions he would make in the future as his need for money to survive increased. Some other elements of this, mainly the self-control portion, is also seen in this movie. There is a scene when he is pretending to be a doctor in Georgia when a little boy with an injured leg is brought in. Since he hasnt the first clue as to how to fix the childs leg, he talks his interns into oing it by using the language he heard off of a medical tv show before running off and throwing up in the sink of the bathroom. It was clear that he knew his boundaries in this role and, instead of making it worse and possibly endangering the childs life, he had the people under him that actually had training in this fix the boys leg. One thing that I could also see in the film was a form of Social Learning Theory. Social learning theory is when a criminal learns their trade by watching more experienced peoples actions. In one instance, his father was taking him to the bank and stopped by a tuxedo store. Even though the store was closed, his father managed to con the lady into opening the shop for them so that he could buy his son a suit to make him look presentable by presenting the woman with a necklace he had found outside in the parking lot. Frank tried to use this same technique later, the first attempt, trying to cash his first forged check, was unsuccessful, but his second, tricking a flight while pretending to be a Pan Am pilot, was successful. Another element of this theory is when he decided to impersonate a Pan Am pilot. He studied as much as he could about the paychecks a pilot received, how much they make, even anaging to get a hold of an expired FFA license from a former pilot he was interviewing for a school article and the check template for their pay checks . Elements of Neutralization Theory techniques are also in this movie. Neutralization Theory states that a criminal must learn and master techniques that enable them to neutralize conventional values and attitudes, which enables them to drift back and forth between illegitimate and conventional behavior. Some of the elements of this theory include respect and admiration for honest, civilian people such as baseball layers, priests, teachers, or in this case, fathers. Frank was always trying to make his father proud throughout the movie, sending him letters of his glamorized accomplishments, meeting his father for lunch in his pilot uniform, even giving his father an expensive car with the money he had earned. Another person he looked up to was Carl Hanratty himself. He called Carl every Christmas, seeming to look up to him as a father fgure, even though Carl was trying to apprehend him. He even placed his complete trust in Carl when the agent finally caught up to him and placed im under arrest. Another element of Neutralization Theory is when criminals of this nature conform to the same social obligations as the rest of society. Frank can be seen hosting a party at the house he lived in with many, many young, privileged people over, socializing with most all of them. There are also some small incidents of Social Reaction (Labeling) Theory in this movie. Social Reaction Theory explains criminal careers in terms of stigma-producing encounters. One such encounter is after Frank quits being both a doctor and a lawyer and goes back to impersonating a Pan Am pilot. He does a follow up interview with the former air pilot, and in this he learn that the press has found out about him and wrote about him in the paper. When he finds out they call him the Airway Man, the James Bond of the Sky, he goes out and watches one of the Bond movies in the theater. After this, he is inspired to go out and get an exact replica of the suit, even doing and almost exact impersonation of Bond in the film. This seems to boost his ego extremely high. In the end, however, he is caught by Carl in his mothers hometown in France and is convinced to turn himself in. He spends a few years in Perpignan Prison before Carl comes to get him. He is sick due to the living conditions, and fakes a faint in order to get out of the Jail cell and tries to escape. He is caught, however, and taken back to the USA, where, after two more attempted escapes, one where he is caught and the other when Carl confronts him but refuses to catch him, comes and works at the FBI in the check fraud unit under Carls supervision.

NELSON MANDELA Essay -- essays research papers

Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela is an African American leader who fought for the rights of his people. Through trials and tribulations he stood his ground and kept on fighting. Nelson was a born leader and utilized his talents at an early age. When he was younger he used to take care of his family and make sure everything went right through all the injustice that society bestowed onto his people. Throughout his life Nelson Mandela watched as his people were mistreated and with this in mind he decided to join the African National Congress in 1942. Nelson got involved with the {ANC} in a big way. He became one of the youth leaders on the National Executive Council. Nelson along with the other members of the {ANC} were making great strides towards justice and equal and liberal rights when Mandela was imprisoned for 6 months on the conviction of contravening the Suppression of the Communist Act. While in confinement Mandela started a practiced in Johannesburg. In the late fifties Mandela’s attention turned to the struggles of his people which involved exploitation of labor, pass laws, and the nascent Bantustent policy, and the segregation of open univers ities. Policies that wouldn’t let blacks go to the same universities as whites because it was a threat to the system grew and Mandela started to take action. In the process of trying to correct all the wrong doings that was happening to his people Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression, he was banned, arrested and ...

The Visit (play) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The story opens with the town of Guellen (which literally means â€Å"excrement†) preparing for the arrival of famed millionairess Claire Zachanassian. The town is in a state of disrepair, and the residents are suffering considerable hardship and poverty. They hope that Claire, a native of the small town, will provide them with much-needed funds. Alfred Ill, the owner of Guellen's general store and the most popular man in town, was Claire's lover when they were young, and agrees with the Mayor that the task of convincing her to make a donation should fall to him.As the town gathers at the railway station to prepare for Claire's arrival, they are met with an unexpected surprise when Claire steps off of an earlier train. She is grand, grotesque, and fantastic, and is accompanied by two henchmen, her husband, a butler, and two eunuchs, along with a coffin, a caged black panther, and various pieces of luggage. She begins a flirtatious exchange with Ill, and they promptly revisit t heir old haunts: Petersen's Barn and Konrad's Village Wood. Ill finds her as delightful as ever, though they are both now in their sixties and significantly overweight. Claire draws Ill's attention to her prosthetic leg and artificial hand.After settling into the Golden Apostle Hotel, Claire joins the rest of the town, who have gathered outside for a homecoming celebration. A band plays, gymnasts perform, and the Mayor gives a speech. Claire takes the opportunity to announce that she will make a donation of one million dollars, half for the town and half to be shared among the families. The townspeople are overjoyed, but their happiness is dampened when Claire's Butler steps forward to reveal her condition. The Butler was once the Lord Chief Justice of Guellen, and had overseen the paternity suit that Claire had brought against Ill in 1910.In the suit, Ill had produced two false witnesses (who have since been transformed into Claire's eunuchs), and the court had ruled in his favor. Ill went on to marry Matilda, who owned the general store, and Claire moved to Hamburg and became a prostitute. She declares to the townspeople that she has come to Guellen to prove that justice can, indeed, be bought. Her donation is conditional on Ill's death. When the Mayor refuses, the town cheers in support, but Claire states rather ominously, â€Å"I'll wait.† Ill feels generally confident about his status in the town.However, as time passes, he begins to feel troubled about their growing discontent, and then increasingly fearful as he begins to notice the proliferation of new yellow  shoes on the feet of the townsmen, and the fact that everyone seems to be purchasing especially expensive items on credit. He goes to see the Policeman to demand that he arrest Claire for having threatened his life, but the Policeman tells him that the threat is nonsense. Ill then turns to the Mayor, who echoes similar sentiments. Both figures are armed, because Claire's black panther ha s escaped from his cage and is prowling about the town.This only feeds Ill's fear, since â€Å"my black panther† was Claire's pet name for him in their youth. He runs to see the Priest, but the Priest seems to be turning away from him as well, as he effectively ignores Ill's fears and instead draws attention to the magnificent new church bell. Slowly, the standard of living in the town rises, even though the townspeople continue to assure Ill that he is safe. Claire then receives the news that her black panther has been killed, and she has a funeral song played in its memory. In an effort to escape, Ill heads to the railway station, but finds that, strangely, the entire town is gathered there. They ask him where he is going, and he says that he is planning to move to Australia.They wish him well, again assuring him that he has nothing to fear in Guellen, but Ill grows increasingly nervous nonetheless. The train arrives, but he decides not to board, believing that someone will stop him anyway. Paralyzed, he collapses in the crowd, crying, â€Å"I'm lost!† After some time passes and Claire weds a new husband in the Guellen Cathedral, the Doctor and the Schoolmaster go to see her and explain that the townspeople have run up considerable debts since her arrival. The Schoolmaster appeals to her sense of humanity and begs her to abandon her desire for vengeance and help the town out of the goodness of her heart. She reveals to them that she already actually owns all of properties in the town, and that she is the reason the businesses have been shut down and caused stagnation and poverty for the citizens.The Doctor and the Schoolmaster are aghast at this revelation. In the meantime, Ill has been pacing the room above the general store, his terror growing as the townspeople buy more and more expensive products on credit. News reporters, having received word of Claire's imminent wedding, are everywhere, and they enter the store to get the scoop on Ill, ha ving heard that he was Claire's lover back in the day. The Schoolmaster, drunk, tries to inform the press about Claire's cruel proposal, but the townspeople stop him. Finally Ill descends the stairs, surprised at the hubbub, but  quiet. The reporters clear the room when they hear that Claire has just divorced the man she has just married, and has found a new lover.After the confusion has cleared, the Schoolmaster and Ill have an honest discussion. The Schoolmaster explains that he is certain that Ill will be killed, and admits that he will ultimately join the ranks of the murderers. Ill calmly states that he has accepted his guilt, and acknowledges that the town's suffering is his fault. The Schoolmaster leaves, and Ill is confronted by the Mayor, who asks whether Ill will accept the town's judgment at that evening's meeting. Ill says that he will. The Mayor then suggests that Ill make things easier on everyone and shoot himself, but Ill refuses, insisting that the town must go th rough the process of actually judging and then killing him.Ill goes for a ride in his son's newly-purchased car, accompanied by his wife, Matilda, and his daughter, both of whom are wearing new outfits. As they drive through Konrad's Village Wood, Ill says that he is going to go for a walk through the woods before heading to the town meeting. His family continues on to the movie theater. In the woods, Ill comes across Claire, who is walking with her newest husband. She asks her husband to leave so that she and Ill can speak privately. They reminisce about the past, and make plans for the future. Claire tells Ill that she plans to take his body away in the coffin to a mausoleum in Capri that overlooks the Mediterranean.She also tells Ill that she has never stopped loving him, but that over time her love has grown into something monstrous. The town meeting is flooded with press, and the town publicly announces their acceptance of Claire's donation. They then go through the formality o f a vote, which is unanimous, and the Mayor states that they have Ill to thank for their new-found wealth. The press is then ushered out of the auditorium to enjoy refreshments. The doors are locked, and the lights are dimmed. The Priest crosses Ill, and he is killed by the townsmen. Just as a reporter reappears in the auditorium, the Doctor announces that Ill has died from a heart attack.The reporters gather, and declare that Ill has died from joy. Claire examines the corpse, gives the Mayor his check, and leaves the town with Ill's body in the coffin that she brought with her when she arrived in Guellen. Claire boards the train at the railway station, and the visit comes to an end.

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