Report About Human Interest And Features

The Theory of Everything

Describe Report about Human Interestand also discuss the Features?

The movie Theory of Everything which released in the year 2014 on November 7^th was based on the traces of marriage of Stephen and Jane hawking, who get married quickly after it was known that Stephen was diagnosed with ALS (Adee, 2012). They were just 21 years old then and it was believed that Stephen would not survive no more than 2 years after he was diagnosed by. The movie is about the struggles of the couple and the challenges that they had to face to make it work. Stephen hawking is alive still now and is a world renown scientist and author too. The couple still had to struggle a lot as Stephen’s health deteriorated and Jane was forced to care for him as well as their three children.

It is really difficult to determine how much of the movie is true, as it is based on the memoir of Jane written by her in 2007 known as Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen (Anon, 2015). Even the chronicle is a reviewed account of her volume around their marital life known as Music to Move the Stars which was printed in 1999. The book expresses a more damaging account of their life collectively. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Stephen hawking and Felicity Jones as Jane Wilde (Desai, 2014). The lover of Jane known as Jonathan Hellyer was played onscreen baby Charlie Cox. Stephen’s professor who had helped him prove the theory Dennis Sciama was played by David Thewlis onscreen. Stephen’s father and mother Frank and Isobel hawking was played by Simon McBurney and Abigail Cruttenden respectively onscreen. The nurse with whom Stephen fell in love known as Elaine Mason was played onscreen by Maxine Peake.

Hawking had been a coxswain on the rowing team of Oxford College. A work of a coxswain does not involve rowing however adequately reins the stroke frequency and navigation. The rank befitted his less than sporty build. It was throughout his stretch on the rowing team that the initial symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) initiated to indicate, which is also called Lou Gehrig's disease (Dockterman, 2014). He had been confined to a wheelchair in front of the public eye due to a motor neuron disease known as the ALS. Since 1985 he has been speaking across a characteristic computer technique which he directs with his cheek and has to be taken care around the clock (Hacking, 2013). ALS, which is similarly identified as a motor-neuron syndrome and equally as Lou Gehrig's syndrome in the U.S. which is a neurodegenerative ailment. For each muscle is synchronized by motor neurons that happen to occur in the brain in the frontal lobe. These are measured electrically and are synoptically linked to motor neurons that exist in the lower region of brain (Fejfar, n.d.). The ailment triggers limitation of either upper motor neurons or lower motor neurons or both. One contraption that is stressed by this Stephen’s progression is that this is an extremely mutable syndrome in numerous means. Typically people be alive 2 to 3 years later finding. But that signifies that partially people live extensive, and there are individuals who have survived for a pretty long, long time like Stephen hawking.

The Real-Life Struggles of Stephen and Jane Hawking

On commenting about the ice bucket challenge he explained that it would not have been safe for him to participate in the challenge. As he had been suffering from pneumonia, therefore his two sons and a daughter had done it on behalf of him (Hacking, 2013). The movie had its world premiere at the Toronto international film festival in Canada. It had been publicised in the UK on 1^st January 2015. Within a month the film had earned 50 million pounds in its collective aggregate at the box office. The motion picture was able to earn a lot of accolades as well as accolades and recommendations followed by its release which ranges from the acknowledgement the film had earned as well as the acting skills of the two major characters (Hawking, 2009)..

The artistic liberties that have been taken by the director in the movie took it to a totally different level. Especially the scene where Stephen is drinking a cup of coffee and he just pours in the creamer and it starts spinning. This scene was not happening but it was being visualised in his head, as the creamer was turned clockwise and creating a circular revolution in the drink and all of a sudden it is spinning anti clockwise and the creamer starts disappearing until it remains as a small bobble that pops (Hermann, 2014). This gives Stephen to reverse the clock to the beginning of time. The theory of everything is good movie which invites the audience to the theatres with the tension that time is short and limited. But even though much like hawking the movie was not over. The end of the movie rewinds the life of hawking to the day he met his wife Jane which brings him to the conclusion that life was not a thought that when it will be over, but it is that what one still can achieve.

The second feature is about a young hero named teddy who saved a strangers life just moments after being born. Jess Evans and Mike Houlston are the proud parents of this young hero who had to donate their tragic baby boy’s organs in order to save a strangers life (Gregory, 2015). The tiny body of the boy was strong enough to cling to his life only for a matter of minutes but he will be a hero for his parents forever as well as an inspiration to millions of people who find themselves suffering from agony on losing a child. It is incredibly rare for babies at such tender age to donate organs but the feat that teddy achieved will be a mile stone in the medical research as it will encourage a lot of other parents who have given birth to new born in the hospital who often die, but they can be potential organ donors who can save the life of other seriously ill patients (Gregory, 2015). It is astonishing for the parents jess and mike that their little hero has helped someone else in just a life span of 100 minutes and also helped the doctors realise that donation from small babies is possible and there will be many parents who would like to remember their babies as heroes, however short their lifespan might be.   

The Challenges They Faced

Originally being childhood sweethearts the parent duo had been able to rekindle relationship in their 20’s and had decided they were ready to spend their lives together and start a family together. Jess had a three year old daughter from her previous relationship were gracefully accepted by mike. As soon as they had returned from their honeymoon from Amsterdam, where they got engaged (Gregory, 2015). They soon found out that Jess was pregnant. They had been very about the fact that they were having twins that they were not able to stop themselves from announcing it to their friends as well as in their social network profiles. They even had put up the photo of their twin sacks up on Facebook. But soon their happiness was surrounded by grief in the early weeks of pregnancy when they heard that one of their babies was not well (Disabilities, Disabilities and Prevention, 2015). Jess Evans and Mike Houlston knew from the very beginning that their baby boy could not survive, but as very determined parents they wanted their baby boy to have a true meaning. It had been twelve weeks into their pregnancy, that Jess received the terrible news that one of the twins she was about to have was dreadfully ill (Zazzle Media, 2015). The condition of teddy had been so severe that he hardly would have a day or two to live after being born. Though they were battling such a huge setback and tragedy of their own they tried to make use of their humanity in order to save and help others in need. Therefore they started to explore whether they could by any chance make donate their baby’s organs to someone in need of help.

The condition their baby was not clear to them at first as the doctors had been tiptoeing around the cause of their baby’s ill health and that he was not going to live. The baby, Teddy had anencephaly which is a rare fatal condition which prevents the normal development of the brain as well as the skull. It is a form of neural tube defect (NTD). It generally happens during the first months of pregnancy, usually even before the woman knows that she is pregnant. The formation of the neural tube occurs. It helps in the formation of the baby’s skull and brain as well as spinal cord and backbone. Anencephaly occurs when the upper part of the neural tube doesn’t closes all the way (Zazzle Media, 2015). This results in the deformation of the baby where the front part of the brain, where the thinking and co-ordinating part is missing. The remaining parts of the brain are also not covered by bones or skin. They usually die right after birth. It had been a soul destroying moment for Jess when she was told that one of her babies would not survive. The doctors even offered them solution of aborting teddy many a times but it had been never been considered by the parents. They said that even if they could have spent ten minutes of their time with their child it would be one of the most precious thing for them to have (Gregory, 2015).

The Memoir of Jane and Its Impact on the Movie

Jess herself had been very strongly intent towards donation of organs since she had been a child. It made her and her husband more determined that they would not let his life go in vain. Most of the new-borns born in hospital have the potential to donate organs which could save the lives of other seriously ill patients. But Jess and Mike soon found out that it is very unusual and rare occurrence, but still they fought tirelessly against all odds to make it happen. A specialist nurse was assigned to them just before a few days ahead of giving birth to the twins so that the plan could be put to action. Soon after Jess gave birth to Noah and Teddy a day after Easter Monday (Gregory, 2015). It had been a day filled with heart break and hope. Teddy died at the age of 100 minutes, and surgery to donate his kidneys which had measured 3.8 cm and also the valves of his heart. Kidneys become fully functional at around 37 weeks when the new born is in the womb. His donation of kidneys was able to save the life of a patient with renal failure (Gregory, 2015). The family had even setup a twitter account on Teddy’s name. The contribution of Teddy has helped to trigger changes in the NHS policy which will make it easier for the babies who die early to donate. It has been seen that 7000 people are on the waiting list for organ donations and three people die every day waiting for a donor. Even 40% of the families refuse to go ahead when they are asked about donations. This act of courage by Teddy’s parents will help to relive the public attitudes which might be able to bring an end to this senseless waste of life. They have also started fund raising for a charity, To Wish Upon a Star, which helps in the bereavement services for the parents who lose their babies or children (Disabilities, Disabilities and Prevention, 2015).    

This is an interview of the world renowned author of the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown. He is very famous for his fictional action adventure backed novels, though there are many authors in this category. Da Vinci code was the novel which set him up on the epitome of fictional writers (https://www.onlinecollege.org, 2010). It was highly controversial one as though said to be fictional, still it had set some serious facts in the story which made a whole community of Christian faith to be told a whole new story about their beliefs. The Da Vinci code is the story of a renowned Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon, who was summoned to the Louvre museum in order to examine series of cryptic symbols which had relation to Da Vinci’s artwork. While he tries to decrypt the code, he was able to uncover one of the greatest mysteries of all time. All the history, ancient documents, artwork and the secret rituals depicted in the book are so accurate that it made on to be an actual story.

The Cast and Characters of the Film

Dan Brown depicts in the interview, that one of the most astonishing aspect of the book the Da Vinci code was the realization that one of the history’s greatest secrets is not such a big secret after all. The clues of this secrets were to be found in the things we see every day around us (BookBrowse.com, 2015). When he was asked about the authors that he likes to read about in his free time, he clearly depicted that he seldom reads fiction himself as his novels require much of factual knowledge for research. But still his favourite fictional authors are Ludlum and stein back for the plot intricacies and descriptions. Shakespeare is also appreciated by Dan for his wordplay.

 The book which had most influenced Dan was Doomsday conspiracy written by Sydney Sheldon. He found it on the beach, while he was vacationing on Tahiti and this lead to the first novel he ever wrote in 1996 known as Digital fortress (BookBrowse.com, 2015).

Some of the favourite books of Dan brown are ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck which he thinks that is the best book to be written which provides an effective description. ‘Kane and Abel’ for the ultimate description of good narration. Plum Island for its mastery in substance and wry humour (Articles.latimes.com, 1987). Then Ludlum’s ‘Bourne series’ which is good for its complexity and smartness, even though it moves at lightning speed. ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by William Shakespeare for its witty dialogues. Some books like ‘Codes Ciphers and other cryptic and Clandestine Communication’, ‘Puzzle palaces’ also helped him to write his novels.

This feature is about why one can’t rely on the confidence or consistency of one’s sources in journalism. How would a reporter know that their sources are telling the truth? In the downfall of the story on a campus rape in the November issue of the rolling stones, when the reporter became too reliant on the unchallenged gullible word of the victim (Rolland, 2006). The reporter Sean Woods had to face the most dreaded situation a reporter faces when his source no longer stood by her story of frat boys committing a horrible rape. This feature which had been published in the November issue of the rolling stones, had broken all records of readership. It had also caused a national uproar and the facts of it are hard to deny. The story involves the allegations made by a young woman who was lured by her date to the fraternity house who had been gang raped on broken glass by seven young initials (Frost, 2001).

The Artistic Liberties Taken by the Director

The story had been so hyped due to the reason of the culture that the female students had to face in campuses all around the country. It had been made an emblematic story by the reporter as the crime was further established to be defensive and almost dismissive by the university authorities. But the reporter was taken in by the teenage attention seeker as he failed to use the elementary techniques of investigative journalism. Another reason the magazine had been taken in because of the ideology of the reporter about the general behaviour of rich, entitled male undergraduates of the universities (Feldstein, 2007). The reporter Sabrina Erdely of the rolling stones further failed to verify the crucial facts such as whether the alleged rapists actually existed or the victim’s claims to the friends who were present in the occasion. Erdely was also charged of misattributing the dialogues as well as unfairly depriving the targets of her investigation (Ettema and Glasser, 2007).

Practised journalists often have a feeling about an untruth. The feeling result from a source’s tears or smiles, their sincere approach of dialogue, assistance, reductions, and that subtle quality we call genuineness. The most cautious journalists, though, do not hand out the headdress of genuineness based on character alone. Even if reporters do not forensically investigate their edifice of belief in these terms, they have also executed checks for inconsistency, trustworthiness of statement, and bias (Böhmke, 2015). They have thought really hard about the essential credibility of an accusation and pursued validation for stories that go contrary to the way the world usually works. Investigative reporting is an intrinsically antagonistic business. If the target is significant and well resourced, if the risks are great, there will be substantial, corresponding, and influenced blowback (Berkowitz, 2007). The better the influence of a piece, the harsher the screams of resentment, the harsher the letters from lawyers and the greater sanctimony from inspecting critics. When that kind of ardour arrives, it is far better to have forensically examined the facts of your story yourself before magazine than to have your challengers do so afterwards.

References

Articles.latimes.com, (1987). Articles about Human Interest - latimes. [online] Available at: https://articles.latimes.com/keyword/human-interest [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

BookBrowse.com, (2015). Dan Brown author interview. [online] Available at: https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=226 [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Disabilities, N., Disabilities, D. and Prevention, C. (2015). Facts about Anencephaly | Birth Defects | NCBDDD | CDC. [online] Cdc.gov. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/anencephaly.html [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Gregory, A. (2015). Youngest organ donor saves adult life just moments after being born. [online] mirror. Available at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/teddys-story-youngest-ever-organ-5565854 [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

https://www.onlinecollege.org, O. (2010). 50 Famous Author Interviews That Shouldn't Be Missed - OnlineCollege.org. [online] OnlineCollege.org. Available at: https://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/03/28/50-famous-author-interviews-that-shouldnt-be-missed/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Zazzle Media, (2015). The Power Of The Human Interest Story - Zazzle Media. [online] Available at: https://www.zazzlemedia.co.uk/blog/human-interest-story/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Berkowitz, D. (2007). Professional views, community news: Investigative reporting in small US dailies.Journalism, 8(5), pp.551-558.

Böhmke, H. (2015). When Sources Lie: Why You Can’t Rely on Confidence or Consistency. [online] Global Investigative Journalism Network. Available at: https://gijn.org/2015/05/29/when-sources-lie-why-you-cant-rely-on-confidence-or-consistency/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Ettema, J. and Glasser, T. (2007). An international symposium on investigative journalism: Introduction. Journalism, 8(5), pp.491-494.

Feldstein, M. (2007). Dummies and ventriloquists: Models of how sources set the investigative agenda.Journalism, 8(5), pp.499-509.

Frost, C. (2001). Investigative Reporting: A Study in Technique;Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice. Journalism, 2(3), pp.369-372.

Rolland, A. (2006). COMMERCIAL NEWS CRITERIA AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM.Journalism Studies, 7(6), pp.940-963.

 Adee, S. (2012). Stephen Hawking: man and myth. New Scientist, 215(2877), p.51.

Anon, (2015). [online] Available at: https://www.reddit.com/comments/2ero5a [Accessed 6 Aug. 2015].

Desai, A. (2014). Stephen Hawking, A Sufferer Of ALS, Sort Of Took The Ice Bucket Challenge, But Why Did He Delay?. [online] The Inquisitr News. Available at: https://www.inquisitr.com/1563753/stephen-hawking-a-sufferer-of-als-himself-sort-of-took-the-ice-bucket-challenge-but-why-did-he-delay/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2015].

Dockterman, E. (2014). The True Story Behind The Theory of Everything. [online] TIME.com. Available at: https://time.com/3571702/theory-of-everything-true-story/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2015].

Fejfar, A. (n.d.). Stephen Hawking is Trashed. SSRN Electronic Journal.

Hacking, I. (2013). Hawking Incorporated: Stephen Hawking and the Anthropology of the Knowing Subject. Common Knowledge, 19(3), pp.553-554.

Hawking incorporated: Stephen Hawking and the anthropology of the knowing subject. (2012). Choice Reviews Online, 50(04), pp.50-2121-50-2121.

Hawking, S. (2009). Dr Stephen Hawking's disability advice. ANS, 16(03), pp.99-100.

Hermann, A. (2014). Ethnographic journalism. Journalism.

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking : A review. (2013). Phys. Today.