Ottoman and Safavid Empires Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ottoman and Safavid Empires - Essay Example Powerbase The solid powerbase is an important factor that legitimized the rule of the Ottoman and Safavid empires. They owed much of their power to the empire created by the Mongols previously as well as the political institutions that allowed for the achievement of the "military patronage state" wherein government functioned like a great military family that serve as protector of the country and its culture. The Ottoman Empire is the greater beneficiary of these Mongol legacies. Nonetheless, what can be seen here is that the prevailing political environment was already stable, systematic and influential. All it took was strong leadership to take advantage of all the policy network available as well as the existence of an effective bureaucracy that has been established long before. This last factor is particularly helpful in the case of weak Sultan who is incapable of protecting his subjects by himself. The bureaucracy assumed great powers and centralized authority that a weak leader could rule just effectively, taking authority and power from the many branches of his government (Karpat 2002, 400) Holy Mandate Another important legitimizing force for the powerbase of the Ottoman and the Safavid empires was religion - the Islamic values and laws. ... The Safavids also benefited from religion in this manner. In fact, Islam is their primary claim to authority. The primary authority of the Safavid rulers was based on the claim that the they were descendants of the seventh imam, and therefore were quasi-divine persons (Lapidus 2002, 445). Unlike the Ottomans, who benefitted in combining religious and secular approach in governance, the Safavids went as far as establishing a religious establishment that eventually used to eliminate opposition to the government and the ruler. For this purpose, Shah Ismail founded Shi'ism built up the ranks of the Shi'i ulama, which ruthlessly suppressed rivals of the state and the religious order. Shah Ismail successfully made his subjects think that he and his heirs, being descendants, of the Seventh Imam, Muza al-Kazim, were his reincarnations on earth (The Empire of the Heartlands reference 64). This cemented the authority of the Shah, becoming the head both of the state and of religion, being the T welfth Imam, in the flesh. In addition, the Safavid rulers also carefully cultivated historic images of previous glorious Persian past such as manuscript illuminations, architecture, and court literature of Iranian kings of kings (Khoury and Kostiner 1990, 36). This recall of past glory and Persian forms of monarchy strengthened the religious authority of the Safavid leaders so that they were able to consolidate power and maintain it without significant opposition from the people. In the 13th century, for example, the leadership encouraged the theory that the Safavid founder Husain married the daughter of Yazdigird III, the last Sassanian king, effectively linking the house of Ali to the Iranian monarchical tradition (Empires of the Heartland reference, 47). The Ottomans also organized

Film Studies (Realism) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Film Studies (Realism) - Essay Example Before I refer to the film of my choice which is deemed a visual translation of Brechtian thought into celluloid it's important to give due recognition to the man behind the magic and the very definition of critical realism. When you begin to delve deeper into what realism is about you can begin to comprehend that it actually attempts to explore the relationship between consciousness (thinking and, as consciousness is embodied, feeling) and consciousness of the social conditions (our social being, as Marx put it) shaping our consciousness. Moreover the theme that remains predominant all throughout a movie that makes it Brechtian or subject to critical realism is its reflexive quality that shines through each frame. Especially not in a narrow stylistic sense, but in the sense that it explores the relation between consciousness and its material ground. What is perhaps important is that the goal of a critical, dynamic and a realistic movie remains that it spins and kick starts the think ing mind to connect webs that pull consciousness and the social being closer together. Magnolia-released in 1999, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is a movie that beautifully narrates about all the things important to us. Two parallel stories are in motion that dramatizes men about to die; who in spite being different are both estranged from a grown child and their attempts at making contact with their children seems to fail miserably. What remains consistent throughout this movie is the choice in its three forms-the present, the past and the future, made by different age groups and how we come to either succumb to one over the other, or sometimes completely negate logic and take a different route. Earl Partridge's son is charismatic, Jimmy Gator's daughter on the other hand is a on drugs. The story progresses with a nurse's intervention in Earl's life who helps him in reaching out to his son. In an almost similar fashion through outside interception an upright officer meets Jimmy's daughter, bringing more calm and piece in her life. In all these variations and r ole reversals, Earl's young wife, with two whiz kids-one grown and battling with life, the other wonderfully young and pressured are shown to be coming to term with their own ghosts and problems, in various permutations and combinations. Another common component that sustains itself, throughout in the characters, is the emptiness that gnaws at them. We also find in the same breath a common thread in the two distinct characters-that of regret. The thought that drives the movie is real and critical to each frame, the way the movie takes shape because it talks about what most of us have to face up to everyday. It doesn't seem like an alien concept, which one cannot relate to. What it does achieve is, connect. An awesome plot where two lives, share the same transitions and the same conflicts. It is reminiscent of how things usually take shape, for people depending on the choices they make in life-completely real in all its reel magic. Although many lives seem to be woven into the movie, they seem like voices from the field of life. The film actually begins with a narrator and then moves into three lives, based on the rather debatable them of coincidence. From there on, we meet