Change Is Defined and Used in Different

¶ … change is defined and used in different contexts, particularly ion the realm of history, sociology, and personal development. This paper will discuss how various collections of materials and documents that discuss the nature of change affects an individual's life and the people around one's environment. For this paper, the collection of materials that will be tackled regarding the role, process, conditions, and effects of change are of different media forms, such as newspaper and magazine articles, visual illustrations, novel, poetry, movie, documentary, and Internet text. These collections of material discuss the process of change in a historical, cultural, personal, and social perspective. The first form of material in the collection the researcher has gathered for this paper is a novel entitled "Princess," and written by Jean P. Sasson. The novel tackles the role of women in Saudi Arabia, wherein the author narrates the story of an Arabian princess, referred to as "Sultana." One of the main points of the novel is Sultana's illustration of a woman's life in Saudi Arabia, wherein women are seen as objects, and are often subjected to cruel treatments, such as sex exploitation and forced marriages. Although the novel speaks of the negative treatment of women in Saudi Arabia, the novel is also an implication of Sultana's liberation from the severe treatment and hold of the Arabs over their women. The novel "Princess" becomes an important vehicle for change, most especially to Arab women. In this example, positive change is illustrated, since it tells the readers of the transition of "Sultana" from being a subordinated woman to a stronger one (because of her strength to narrate and expose the cruelty of the Arabs to their women). Although the novel was a personal story of an Arab woman, her story also explains change in the social and historical level, that is, the social problem of women subordination and cruelty and the history of woman abuse in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Another example of a media that discusses the concept of change is the movie "Shallow Hal," starring Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow. The story is about Hal, a man who is judgmental to women, and often judges a woman's character through her physical attributes. In the course of the movie, a radical change happened in Hal's life, when his outlook about women changed when a 'guru' in a chance situation hypnotized him. Although he was changed to become a better person (by being a more rational and non-judgmental person in treating women), the movie portrays change in a somewhat negative manner, since "Shallow Hal" tells the audience that a woman can be accepted by Hal (and the society in general) if she fits in society's category of 'thinness.' Thus, personal change in the movie is illustrated in a negative way for the audience, although the effect of that change in the movie had a positive effect for both main characters in the movie (Jack Black as "Hal" and Paltrow).