Thanks Netflix

I have recently become more interested in documentaries over the past couple of years due to me paying 8 bucks a month to fuel my addiction to Netflix. The only documentaries I ever watched were the really boring ones they showed in school (except for one I thoroughly enjoyed in school last year was about J.D. Salinger-which is on Netflix). I got into documentaries because I didn't realize there were some on things other than animals or whatever they show on the Discovery channel. However, once I finished every season of The Office on Netflix, I started browsing their documentaries and found out there were indeed a wide variety of topics covered in documentaries. I found them so intriguing I would even let them impact my daily life. For example, over the summer I watched one called "Vegucated" and I went vegan for two weeks (I mean and then I ate some chicken fingers or something and completely ruined that) but just the fact that all of the information within a one hour film caused me to change my daily behavior, that's crazy. My favorite documentary on Netlfix is called "Alive Inside", and it's about giving Alzheimer patients in nursing home iPod shuffles with music from their time period, and their eyes just light up and they become vibrant. That documentary made me realize we all contain multitudes even when we age we still hold on to things that make us who we are and represent things we love, like jazz music for example. A short film completely changed my perspective. I think we underestimate how much power filmmakers have over us, especially within documentaries. I agree with Leeper that they can easily change public behavior. I do not however, believe that they are completely truthful and unbiased. I think all documentaries are biased, because a filmmaker chooses what he wants you to see or what he wants you to get out of a specific topic. I still think they're wonderful though. Thanks Netflix. Feel free to comment if you agree, if you've seen the films I mentioned, or documentaries on Netflix you think I should check out! Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

?Sex?

I thought the film we watched today about indie games was really interesting. I don't play video games, so I didn't even know that indie games were a thing. I just assumed that everyone played GTA or COD or whatever. I think it's just cool that all these different types of media whether it be the film industry or the video game industry have the small people who fight for creativity instead of just being ruled by single minded, close minded corporations.


Anyway, I was really interested in the discussion our class had today about sex. It seems like the moment that the word "sex" is, even mentioned, the whole room goes quiet, and people either get extremely uncomfortable, or make immature jokes about it. From what I've gathered, sex is a negative thing. My church never talked about sex as like this amazing gift that you get to share with someone you love one day. It was a thing that would only happen when you're married. Parents never wanted to talk about it. For example, have you ever seen like a movie or show or something when a kid asks their mom or dad where babies come from and the parents will immediately freeze up and ignore the question, or say "I'll tell you when you're older", or something else that is completely unhelpful in enlightening their kids as to what exactly sex is or what it means. And then there is the lovely public education system, where, in my first day of health class, my teacher began by waiting for everyone to quiet down, and once everyone was silent, he proceeded to scream "PENIS!!!" and had everyone either laughing or just extremely uncomfortable. He then went on to explain that sex was bad, and you will only end up pregnant or dead from herpes or something. So, all in all, church, parents, school, have all ingrained in me the fact that sex is BAD. And I think the sad outcome in this is that we turn to the media to seek enlightenment and what we find is porn, or that people are very accepting of premarital sex, and boys and girls start to define themselves by whether or not they still have their virginity, or we just find that sex is just a casual activity that people do when they're bored and horny, or we learn its the way to get attention and a way to feel loved. So we have this warped and twisted idea of what we think sex is. We do not see it as this beautiful holy thing where two people become one, because nobody wanted to tell us about it.

Vidya games?

Video games and religion are two things I would never in a million years put together. When I think of video games, I think of the popular ones that my friends play such as COD, Skyrim, GTA, etc. The only video game I actually know how to play, and play well, is Mario Kart. I was home over the weekend and hung out with one of my friends who was very excited that he had just gotten the newest COD game. I usually have no interest in video games because I don't like the violence and war. And it's not because I'm a girl or something, I just get bored moving my thumbs to run around and shoot stuff. It shocked me when I read that the video game industry made 5 billion more than the movie industry this past year. And my future is in movies! This was disappointing!

 

 

However now that Joel's dad found an incredible way to combine story and video game, that's reassuring. What I did not see coming was the religion aspect that he threw in with it. That was neat, and I feel like he is empowering Christians to enter territories that we may feel is off limits.

 



Essay Extra Credit Quiz 2

My favorite film we watched was Owl Married a Goose. I just found it so funny and so entertaining and actually kinda beautiful. Caroline Leaf vicariously explains through the owl the sacrifices one will make in the name of love. Also, I'm still so amazed by the creative techniques she uses such as sand or the scratch on film. I just really appreciate Caroline Leaf for blessing us with her talented brain to give us a beautiful message through a little owl who is out of breath all the time because he is hopelessly in love with a goose. Also, it may be far fetched but I think it can relate to our weekly readings in the sense that we are all caught up in trying to chase that goose. We all think the only way to succeed is by being just like the big Hollywood studios and trying to conform our ideas to what will make them money the way the owl tried to conform to the flock of geese. And by looking at the outcome of the owl it seems that it probably won't go that great, and we are going to end up drowning ourselves in regret. Also, the owl was just so funny.

After You

I absolutely loved the films we watched in class on Tuesday. "After You" by Cordingley was by far my favorite. I think it has been a bit repetitive because other students are saying it a lot- but the simplicity was truly beautiful. It was simple and refreshing because I've never seen a film like that, and yet I was extremely entertained...like probably just as entertained as I am when I watch Nemo. I like what Leeper said about how we are creating worlds for things to exist in, and how Hollywood is desperate to come off as independent and creative. It gives me and I'm sure gives other people quite a bit of confidence in being intentional in creating stories and worlds that we believe in, rather than trying to conform to what the "big people" in Hollywood and other parts of the industry are doing. I really enjoyed the other films as well. Feel free to comment or add to my thoughts if you agree (or I guess disagree)!

Animation is cool?

To be completely honest, I don't usually care much for animated films. I mean, I'll watch Finding Nemo every once in a while but they're not really my cup of tea.
However, Caroline Leaf blew my mind today.
This isn't going to be a super long post but I am just really appreciative that I got the chance to see some of her work. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone use sand or scratch film to achieve the effect she did in her work. Or maybe I have and I wasn't aware of it. Anyways, animation is cool. That was so cool. Who thinks of that stuff? Her creativity and the beauty in her stories blew me away, and I especially loved the music in Peter and the Wolfe. Also the Owl's heavy breathing in Owl Who Married a Goose just totally made my entire day. Thanks for sharing these films with us today professor Leeper!

Different conclusion to Sand Castle

I loved what Leeper said in class today after we watched the teddy bear film. I think it was called Ludivic? Anyways, I thought it was a cute film, but when he was explaining that it was a different take on drawing children into this reality in a very gentle way so they get their own chance to think about loss, I was very moved by it. I did not see it from that perspective but when he explained it like that it made a great deal of sense, and I just found it to be very beautiful.

The two films Tchou Tchou and Sand Castle were also wonderfully entertaining. I have so much respect for stop motion animators. I cannot comprehend their patience and talent. It is truly extraordinary. I did not pick up on the recurring theme of the garden and serpent until professor Leeper pointed it out but that was cool. I did not at all think about the story of Jesus while watching Tchou Tchou. However I did interpret a couple of things when watching sand castle. For example I interpreted the sand man who was creating all of the little creatures to be God, and I did consider them to be his friends, not his servants at first. I had a different take on the ending. Rather than their castle being destroyed by the storm, I had first interpreted it as God's kingdom, and that he was inviting them all inside to be protected.

That's probably not correct or what the artist intended but that's how I interpreted it. Let me know your thoughts!  :-)

Censorship is Ignorance

From reading the two articles I would have to agree with the logic of the first one. Why do we believe that sheltering people is doing them good? Especially children? Everyone for some reason believes that people are useless and stupid until they reach adulthood and it really annoys me. Children absorb everything around them. We cannot hide these things from them forever. If a kid sees people shooting each other on television, then yeah they probably might come away from it with negative connotations. If a child asks their parent about why people were shooting at each other, then that parent should take the opportunity to explain to them what violence is, rather than getting pissed off and asking them if the babysitter was letting them watch a bad television show. The second reading stated that "findings of the earlier report documented other areas in which television was having an impact, particularly on perceptions of reality, social relationships, health and education." Media is a form (arguably not the healthiest form) of education, and we as a technologically advanced society must recognize that. The first source mentions that television can introduce children to a wide array of controversial issues such as "abortion, teen pregnancy, sex education, contraception, homosexuality, premarital sex, nontraditional families, drug use, the Equal Rights Amendment, feminism, national defense, communism, prayer in public school, the teaching of evolution, etc." I'd just like to point out that these things do in fact exist in the world in which we live. The children in this world live among these things.

 I can understand why it is common to try to protect the innocent from the world but it won't make them stronger. If a parent does not want their child to watch it then they don't need to let them watch it. But they have to be aware that their kid will most not likely become a crazy gunman from watching a movie with guns, and that they could easily explain it to them. What do we consider the proper age to warn the youth about the dangers among the world? When do we decide the time is apt to take away their innocence? Censorship is manipulation. It is ignorance. We cannot shelter ourselves to the point where we are convinced that these things don't exist. Taking if off of the television doesn't mean those things are not still happening. (sorry this was more of a rant than it was a blog).

Desire to be "Grown-Up"

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
-C.S. Lewis

I connected very strongly with this quote. My childhood was short-lived. I'm not going to tell some dramatic story or say that it was stolen from me. It was just short-lived. When I was 8 I stopped caring about toys, bedtimes, blue's clues, etc. I stopped caring about what I assumed were childish things. I wanted to be old. I wanted to prove that I was capable of being old because I wanted to do fun adult things. I wanted my own house. I wanted to be able to drive. I wanted to go to college. I wanted to be a fancy boss lady person. I had no desire to be a little kid that nobody listened to. I recognized at a young age that people spoke for me. That people assumed they were experts on when I was hungry, when I felt sleepy, when I wanted to come inside from playing with my friends. There were no questions, just assumptions. I was never "seen as an equal." I had had enough of it. This didn't mean that I didn't enjoy childish things, to this day I still enjoy childish things. I changed, as Lewis said "A tree grows because it adds rings. A train doesn't grow by leaving one station behind and puffing on to the next." Me attempting to be an adult does not mean I grew . I find it interesting that we believe we are growing just because time is passing and we are aging. I had never seen it from that perspective. My physical growth had little to do with my mental/spiritual growth. I find it strange that now that I am in college, having finally achieved the age I've always desired to be, I find myself longing for the days when I did care about toys, bedtimes, and what time blue's clues would be on. I am no longer eager to grow up but very appreciative of my youth I am currently wrestling. I still long for someone to read me bedtime stories. I wonder if I am the person God created me to be, or if I am still on the way to the person he intended. I also wonder what age we deem appropriate to wonder whether or not we have reached the person we were created to be.

Art or the Artist?

In class on Tuesday we discussed the topics of artists and beauty.

I am Christian but I was raised in a great, big, beautiful, stain-glassed windows Catholic church until I was 13. A few things in my life changed, and I began attending a tiny, cinderblock wall, lovely little Christian church at the end of 7th grade. I first started going to youth group there with a friend of mine and soon my entire family began to attend every Sunday morning. I totally understood what professor Leeper meant when he was talking about the masterpieces of architecture that some Catholic churches are. It seems like the beauty of church would draw people in more than the message they came to receive would. The beauty is seen in the church more than it is in Him. I just found that to be an interesting thought.

"Art questions us. It enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." I loved this. Art does indeed do all of those things. It made me question a couple of things though. Professor Leeper was talking about how if you were to ask an artist whether they would rather you get to know them by reading a biography of them or getting to know them through their art, they would always choose their art. 

This causes me to wonder whether it is the ART that questions and enables us, or the ARTIST that questions and enables us. I can see it from both ways, I'd just love to hear what the rest of you guys think.

Tuesday got me thinking

I have been thinking about a few of the things from class on Tuesday. One thing I found most interesting was professor Leeper's beautiful explanation of what G.K. Chesterton said about giving thanks through acts of humility and restraint, and by being obedient to who created us. I really don't know what to say about it other than I completely agreed with it and intend to put it into my own practice. I appreciate when literature can make me respond like that.

Another thing I found moving was the concept of loving before being loveable. I thought that this went along with what professor Leeper said about how our culture says "Know me! I'm special!" as if we have original ideas, which is not possible because every idea comes from the influence of other ideas. We watched in class an example of two separate films that had the similar message of loving someone before they are lovable. We see this in the Beauty and the Beast when Bell falls in love with him as the angry controlling beast before he transforms into the handsome prince. We also see this message in Man Bought a House when the mouse interprets the attempts to exterminate her as a way of showing his love for her, and she is shocked because she sees herself as unlovable. These stories both contain the same idea but are told in different ways which corresponds to what professor Leeper said about taking the old ideas and intertwining them with our own individual experiences and uniqueness, and create an "original" sort of story.

Thoughts on World of Glory

I was not able to focus in any of my other classes today because my mind was still stuck replaying the images "World of Glory" professor Leeper had us watch today. One of the specific images my mind kept playing over and over was the beginning scene where the man was watching the people be driven around to their deaths, and how he turned and looked over his shoulder at the camera. It made me think of the Tony Campolo quote about us not giving a shit when he tells us that 30,000 kids died last night. I felt like I was the man standing there watching the people be loaded into the truck, and watching them die, and not giving a shit. The man goes on to show us his family, home, profession, etc. How could any of us have the slightest interest in seeing what this guy does for a living or seeing where he sleeps at night, after just having watched him be a bystander to those poor naked wretches in the truck? We are that same man. We are bystanders to people all over the world who go to sleep hungry and don't wake up the next morning. We do not care, we only want to show the world our nice possessions or our prestigious jobs. We are truly the poor naked wretches. I think this goes along with what professor Leeper was saying about tragedy.  Tragedy is something that has to be set in motion. Some of you may or may not agree, this is just the way I interpreted the film.

BriannaDatta

Hello everyone! My name is Brianna Datta but I prefer "Bri". I am a freshman at Huntington this year and my major is in film production. I came all the way from Fort Lame (Fort Wayne) which is about forty minutes from here. I am shy but I actually really do enjoy talking to and meeting people! I enjoy watching movies and reading books. I hope I don't come across as basic but I love anything and everything written by John Green or J.K. Rowling. I spent my summer being a waitress at a place where old people like to eat breakfast (Bob Evans), and binge watching "The Office" and "Orange Is The New Black" on Netflix, along with a bunch of other random movies. I really like coffee and my dog (whom I miss very much). I had always assumed I was going to go into the medical field like my parents wanted me to, but I realized I had a passion for movies and storytelling, and I am grateful God has led me here to be educated alongside you wonderful people. I don't know what else to say about myself so please enjoy this photo of me and Harry Potter.