Food

I choose documentaries as the main focus for my cultural impact paper because documentaries have always fascinated me. So I'm using my last blog to talk about what documentaries have done for me. I have used documentaries to learn and see new things and actually see them not just read about in book. And I even though I don’t know what part of film I want to go into yet, I have definitely consider documentaries partly because I know what an impact they can make on people's lives. Food Inc. is probably my favorite documentary and it made an impact on my life. I remember watching it for the first time and realizing there was so much about our food I didn’t know. I had always wanted to be a vegetarian but watching Food Inc. was when I said, yup I need to do this.

Speaking of food, the other day I was thinking back on the course so far and I just thought, Professor Leeper is like that parent who makes you try a new food, because parents are always like “You can’t say you don’t like it if you haven’t tried it.” And Professor Leeper shows us all these new thing and bring up new points on stuff I will admit I would be like hmm I didn’t think I would like that clip or genre but I guess I do. This class definitely made me realize there is more to media then the mainstream and I found it interesting.

The Beauty of Tragedy: Firefly

WARNING: This is a HUGE spoiler if you haven’t seen Firefly or Serenity, so if you plan on watching them don’t read this.

Going all the way back to tragedy I would like to talk about one of the most hauntingly beautiful tragedies I’ve seen. In the first episode Wash’s (the pilot of Serenity(the spaceship)) first lines  came from when he was playing with toy dinosaurs, it went like this:

Dino 1: Yes...Yes… This is fertile land and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land and we will call it… This Land

Dino 2: I think we should call it your grave!

Dino 1: Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

Dino 2: Ha ha ha, mine is an evil laugh, now die!

And in Wash’s last scene in Serenity (the movie that came a few years after the show ended), he was trying to land the ship safely will engine trouble and while they were still being chased. It seemed as if they wouldn’t make it, but they did and just when you think they’re safe a giant metal object/spear thing goes through the front of the ship and impales Wash.

So I find it almost poetic that one of his first lines was “curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!” and that was exactly how he died, in a sudden and unexpected way, being betrayed by the writer and creator Joss Whedon (who is now almost known for killing off many of his beloved characters).

Surrealism in Music Videos

This blog is about what I thought about some of the music videos we watched in class, my thoughts on music videos in general, and what I thought about music videos I found.

Southern California: While I was watching it I just kind of thought it was your typical music video with random stuff happening that had no purpose except it looks cool. But after we talked about it I thought, wow, who knew this video had so much meaning behind it.

Let Forever Be: I remember thinking I don’t know what I just watched but I liked it. Maybe because it was a kind of like a cheesy clique 80’s music video and maybe because it was kind of like a surrealism painting.

Both of these made me think a lot more about music videos like, do the ones we think are the most outlandish and crazy have the most meaning. So I started to look for music videos that would fit this description. Even though I love what one may call mainstream music, I figured I wouldn’t find the meaningful music videos there, so I looked at bands that are considered a little less mainstream and here's what I found.

This is Gospel: Even though the band’s lead singer is singing in the video unlike the videos we watched in class, I thought the video still had a sense of surrealism and I thought that surrealism lead to a deeper meaning. maybe I’m reading to much into it but my interpretation is that it’s about society telling us how we should live out life, but we can break free from it. (P.S. I have only started to listen to this band recently so I’m sorry if I got some of this wrong.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE381tbQa8

How I Met Your Mother

I have been waiting to be able to blog about HIMYM all semester and now that it was brought up in class here goes. Warning: I could write  83 million blogs about HIMYM so I will try to keep it short and sorry if it’s confusing. I LOVE HIMYM and it’s perfect in every way (except for the end but I like to pretend that never happened) because it is so much more than a quick and easy comedy, because the more you watch it the more you see and the better it gets (and I think the layout of the show and how it’s Ted in the future talking to his kids about the present is really unique).

It’s not just about sex and a quick laugh because they discuss deep and meaningful topics like the death of a parent, break-ups, losing a job, illness, life goals, and so much more.

Another huge part of it is also about relationship and not just romantic relationships but relationship with friends, family, and strangers.

They also created the most relatable character. You watch the show and learn about Ted’s life and live it with him. And now you identify with him and are rooting for him, you’ve invested your time just like Ted, but (dare I say it and SPOILER ALERT) only to have what you have been waiting for not be what you expected, just like how it was for Ted.

This show wasn’t just 1 or 2 seasons either. This masterpiece of storytelling took planning from day one and ran all the way through to their 9th seasons. If you have watch every season (multiple times like I have) you can see just how much planning went into it all and if you only watch 1 or 2 episodes here or there you won’t be able to enjoy it as much.

Essay Quiz 2

Last Thursday we watched Geri’s Game in class which went along with the Pixar readings perfectly (obviously). In class we talked about how this was one of the first time Pixar projects where they worked on creating a believable human (and cloths too). And in the Technology and the Evolution of Storytelling reading John Lasseter said “It’s not the technology that entertains people, it’s what you do with the technology.” which is so true. I know I wasn’t paying attention to Geri’s skin or cloths I was just enjoying the story, which shows that storytelling really is the most important thing as mentioned in the Pixar’s Storytelling reading. John Lasseter also said “I always viewed the technology as simply a tool”. And that's exactly how Pixar uses it, technology is a tool to improve your art, but if it’s all about the technology that will apart obvious. Over the past twenty years Pixar has made leaps and bounds in animation. But it is only when you put images of their past a present works together that you realize how far they have come.

Even though Geri is an old man and Riley is a little girl you can still see how different they are and how far Pixar has come.

Females in Filmmaking

The films we watched in class on Thursday show just how important it is to have everyone's views in the film world as well. That is because woman can share things in such a way with the world that man never could (which we saw in the films we watched in class like in Un Jour and the unique interpretation on relationships) and man can share things from a point of view woman never could, it goes both ways. It is just like what we talked about with christian movies and how if christians what to share christian movies they can’t be the only ones watching them because all you are doing is “preaching to the choir” and that is pointless. And, that is why we need everyone in the conversation, so man and woman can learn from each other’s view and become better people from our new understandings.  

Now let’s talk about The Stain, that was weird and creepy and messed up. It was basically something you’d watch on Halloween and definitely not something you’d watch on your own. But with that being my view of it, I guess it did a good job of showing its point of how family structure isn’t simple.

Different Styles

Peter and the Wolf: I’ve never seen animations with sand before and I was just amazed at how beautiful it was. And I thought the soundtrack when with the style of animation really well because they were both really unique.

The Owl Who Married a Goose: Although I wasn’t really a fan of the story I loved the animation, it was even more beautiful than the last one. I mean from the clunkiness of Peter and the Wolf to the design of feathers on the birds in this piece you can just tell Caroline Leaf was getting more comfortable with her style. Also, the sounds of the birds breathing was really weird but at times it was rhythmic and sounded like music but at other time it didn’t and it was just a little off putting.

The Street: The story was awfly sad and in all honesty I hated it but the animation made the it a bit softer.

Two Sisters: It felt really eery (the sounds didn’t help) and In the beginning it felt like you didn’t know what was really happening in the story. And it almost seemed like Marie wanted Violet (I think that’s what their names where) to stay for her own reasons and not just to protect Violet for the outside world.

(The last film we watch were the bathtub broke the ceiling of the apartment): Even though this one was in the same style as The Street it seemed radically different and more animated probably because their were more colors (so it didn’t seem so gloomy) and simply how the characters and everything were drawn. I also thought it was funny that the boat the woman had was the Titanic.

The Man Who Painted Trees

Both stories had such beautiful topics that were just so human, you could really connect on a deep level.

Tout Rien: The music when so well with the story and animation. It escalated quickly and became very dark, but then, it kind of became happy again when they realized what they had done was wrong and they felt bad about it.

The Man Who Planted Trees: In the reading this was sounded interesting, so I was hopeful for this film, and then it started out slow and honestly I thought a little boring, then it got a little creepy and weird when talking about the land between cities where people went crazy. But slowly more color was being added (making the animation so much prettier) and the story started to pick up. (I also thought another turning point in the film was when the man started raising bees instead off sheep, because it showed that he was really going to be dedicated to the trees now.) It really had a nice lesson about how the future it’s just yours and it isn’t just about you and how there are whole other generations not even born yet to think about. Also the message that people can do a lot!

(P.S: lol :) this whole time I thought the title was The Man Who Painted Trees, but in a way it's kind of true because he painted the landscape with an entire forest, and how cool is that, like just think YOU can do that!.)

Thoughts on Yuri Norstein's Films

Hedgehog in the Fog: I thought it was beautifully animated especially I loved the tree it looked so real. (I loved how realistic the tree looked). I felt as if the path of the story journey where you don’t know you are going and you are skeptical but it’s a nice little adventure, much like the journey the Hedgehog himself took.

The Tale of Tales: Leeper said that we should be able to understand it and shocker I didn’t, but he also said take what you can and enjoy what it is (and that made just made me think of the Hedgehog because that's what he did on his adventure). And even though I don’t understand it I still am able to like some parts for example the lit doorway, the cloth blowing in the wind, the train, the couples dancing and the story behind it. Something that I thought was, of course confusing, but also interesting was the some scenes and subjects repeated themselves two or three times. A few things I wish I understood are, why was the bull jumping rope and when the wolf took the glowing paper why did it turn into a baby?  

The Battle of Cryogenics (church history stuff) and The Vixen and Hare (the hare was trying to get his house back from the fox) were also shown but they didn’t capture my attention as much as the other two did.

Thoughts on Co Hoedeman's Films

Tchou Tchou (the one with the blocks): I thought it was unique to the story and really cool that in the end the kids turned something that was evil or bad into something good and something that could be enjoyed by all.

Ludovic: Visting Grandpa (the teddy bear): I thought it was absolutely adorable and really well done. And I enjoyed seeing some of the behind the scenes of it and I liked how kid friendly his explanation of the process was.

The Sand Castle: It was so beautiful done and the idea of it is so original. I liked that you and watch the end and then you are able to think of what comes next.

Charles and Francois: The thought of trading heads with someone it an idea I had never really explore to that length before.

The Box: This one made me smile because I always love films where people interact with animations.

Through all these films you can see just how creative and unique Co Hoedeman ideas are, how much he enjoys making films for kids by using objects that kids would relate with (ex: blocks, sand, and teddy bears), and how he simply loves what he does which you can see it films like Tchou Tchou or The Sand Castle because you just know those had to have taken forever but he still did it.

Creativity is Key

I kind of foreshadowed this in my post on Tuesday class, but I think this quote goes better with what (I got from Thursday’s class).

“The creative adult is the child who survived” -Ursula K. Le Guin

I would have to say this quote goes perfectly with the clip ‘Duel’ we watched, and I just wanted to talk about it a little more because there were some interesting points made about it in class. I absolutely loved it because I was a kid who hated reading with a passion. I could really related to the feeling of going along in the system and being spit out at the other end just like everyone else because when I was younger I wanted to go to college, but the thing is I didn’t even know why. And I remember in high school when everyone was trying to figure out what to do next with their life, never once did I think to myself I want to be a doctor or accountant. I knew I wanted to do something creative, but I had this internal struggle thinking that I would “be wasting my potential.” Then, I thought screw what society thinks I going to do what I want to do. So, I think if I saw this when I was younger I would have realized sooner that, I don’t have to follow the same path as everyone else.

Children are the Future

At some point in class on Tuesday it was said children are the theologists and philosophers of the world and think that is so true! I’m mean they’re always asking questions (I know I would always ask questions about everything because I was just so curious). It is the children who grow up with an idea who grow up and become people like Steve Jobs, Marie Curie, or Albert Einstein. And children can teach us what is truly valuable about the world and life because: they enjoy the simple things in life like who an apple is red or a person can just walk into a room (like what G. K. Chesterton talked about in ‘What I Learned in the Nursery’), they aren’t worried about impressing anyone (that’s why they never like getting clothes as gifts), they are so creative toward the way they attack life and they are so positive about it too. Which are just a few things we can learn from them.

I also read the extra-credit reading ‘The Mighty Animator, Frédéric Back’ and I really like how that he metioned his family so much He talked about how he would take a break from bigger projects to spend more time with his wife, and he said even though his kids weren’t animators they still did stuff with art. Clearly, he made an impacted them just as much as they made an impact on him and his works.

Art is Powerful

Art is so powerful it can leave you disoriented for days and make you question everything you know but you can still enjoy it (just like my friends after we watched the movie Lucy). I love art and think everyone needs it. Though personally, I believe art is more important than the “biography” part of it all because looking at it to learn about the creator, you learn more from actions than word. Hearing Pope John Paul II’s “Letter to Artists” was really cool because I know I have heard of it but I don’t remember if I’ve actually read it before, but anyways I liked it,why exactly, I don't know I guess it was comforting. :)

I thought it was ironic how in the beginning of class we talked about how Christians are Narcissus because we look at our own work and we don’t look at anything “secular.” But, we spent the end of class looking at nothing but images depicting Christian themes. Which in my opinion were all very basic because their wasn’t a lot of meaning behind them, they just depicted other stories and images I have seen before. I would have much rather been shown a simple landscape or a cubism piece and then been asked “How do you see God in this?” Or even comparing pieces from the same artist, for example, Francisco de Goya and been asked how (even as someone who wasn’t Christian) he could paint something with major Christian intent such as Christ Crucified and then create something as disgusting and Godless as Saturn Devouring His Son (which is my least favorite painting ever! and I hate it so much I'm not even going to put in on this post).

What I got from "What I Learned in the Nursery"

“These tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green.” -G. K. Chesterton What I Learned in the Nursery

At first I didn’t really grasp what Chesterton was saying, but this sentence made me see the whole story clearly. Fairy tales give us that feeling we first felt when we learned something new and wonderful about the world. Then, at the very end Chesterton talks about forgetting and how; “We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality and positivism only means that for certain dead levels of our life we forget that we have forgotten. All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful instant we remember that we forget.” Saying it is in like fairytales and “spirit and art and ecstasy” that we find our true self and remember who we truly are. I think these are beautiful thoughts about fairy tales and I believe there is some truth behind it. Fairy tales allow one to be delights by the world in a new way for a moment, just like when we experienced it the first time. And in those moments we remember what we have forgotten (aka the simple joys in life).  

Blessing vs. Converting

Ok I think I’m starting to understand now. Prof. Leeper refers storytelling to a conversation and if storytelling is done right I guess it can be a conversation. If you tell a story right (like a good conversation) it will allow the view to think and allowing them to think is how they can make connections to your story. But if you don’t do this and you are telling the view what to think in the story it becomes more of a lesson. And I see this reflected in a study, it was done on blessing and converting, (it’s pretty straight forward) one missionary group went out and blessed people while the other group tried to convert people. In the end, they found the blessing group had 50 times more conversions than the actual converting group. Showing us just how important LISTENING is in a story and you show be on your viewers levee, like a peer and not try to be their teacher.

I really liked the clips we watched in class because (I could relate to the artist because he did want to do just one thing, I liked the charcoal drawing because they were beautiful but also represented coming to terms with the past and moving forward)

I also kind of liked the puppet clip we watched at the end, although it was kind of creepy, it was cool seeing the puppeteers behind them because (fun fact about me: I have worked with strange puppets in theater and) I know if the puppeteer is see you have to act as if the puppet is an extension of you and it was really cool to watch that.

For more info on the Blessing and Converting study here are the websites I used:

https://livewithauthenticity.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/blessers-vs-converters/

http://globalopps.org/tmbriefs/past/march2012.html

Fun with Fairy Tales

“Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” -G.K. Chesterton

I was excited that we started talking about G.K. Chesterton because this is one of my favorite quotes and it goes with talking about fairy tales. I really liked the looking at the Gospel as a fairy tale the most out of fairy tale, tragedy, and comedy mainly because I love stories and fairy tales have just enough sadness and happiness in them (much like the clips we watched in class).

Class on Tuesday it seemed like the majority of what we talked about was how all stories have a deeper meaning, and as storytellers we need to embrace this, but I just don’t believe that because as artist aren’t we supposed to questions things? This all made me think of a painting I had done because (at my high school the seniors in art got to paint a ceiling tile). I painted it because this image has meaning to me and if anyone else looks at it they can interpret it how they want (and that's exactly what I want, for people to see different things in it, it doesn’t really have a designated meaning or “extra level."

How do you tell when you’re “understanding the extra level” turns into symbol spotting and over analyzing? And how do you know what the author was actually intending if anything?

Good Readers vs. Bad Readers

In class we talked about Good Readers vs. Bad Readers and I thought that topic was really interesting, so I decided to look at how I “read”.

I’m typically a “bad reader” there are some case where I’m “good reader” and it’s all thanks to Netflix, because I can watch my favorite t.v. shows on repeat forever. Which allows me to notice and understand thing I might have missed the first few times I watch it.

But, more times than not I'm a “bad reader”. For example, with “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I can still remember the first time I watched it, I was about 8 and it was Christmas Eve. My parents were flipping through the channels when they found that it had already started,so we began watching at the scene right before the one we played in class. At the end I would have to say 8 year old me enjoyed it and the scene we watched in class actually became my favorite one. But watching it in class on Thursday and seeing all the bible symbolism cliques, that kind of ruined it for me. Cause you know what, I liked being a “bad reader” and being able to simply sit down to watch the movie as a nice Christmas story (and I am going to miss that).  I was robbed of that, now I will forever see the underlying connections to the bible.

Comments on Comedy

“Don’t take life too seriously. Nobody ever makes it out alive, anyways.” -Van Wilder

I thought this quote really goes with this theme we’ve got going, that the most meaningful comedy comes from the tragedy of life.

In class on Tuesday we discussed Buechner’s view on the Abraham and Sarah story how God was laughing with them. I would have to say I agree with his view and I actually really like to look at the story that way because imaging God laughing makes him seem soft and kind. I find it comforting to think that God laughs too. And why wouldn’t he I mean humans can laugh at the mess ups, the limits, and the flaws of our lives which is a beautiful thing.

I like Pleasantville clip because of it’s surprisingly deep symbolism (I know if I had watched it on my own I would have missed a lot of it) and the overall look was really cool.

I thought the Lunch Date was cute and funny. I really liked that the story was made even more shocking with the factors of race, class, and how the homeless man who had nothing was not only willing to share the salad he bought but he even buy the woman a cup of coffee.

I still enjoy comedy more, but this class has allowed me see the role tragedy plays.  

Thoughts on Tragedy

To start getting my 20 blog post out of the way here is what I thought and took away from class on Tuesday. Professor Leeper shared the quote "A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure." (Ecclesiastes 7:1-4) and said how you are a fool to be happy all the time and I disagree. Yes, there are some sad parts to life but you have the ability to move past and still find joy. Being happy doesn't make you a fool or ignorant or anything like that it means despite knowing the bad you can still see the good in any situation. Just ask yourself this have you ever heard anyone say frustration is the best medicine NO! Laughter is the best medicine :)

I thought “Small Hands” was eerily beautiful and sad at the same time. Once that short film ended Professor Leeper asked if it provided answers. And to answer that question no, but it doesn’t need to, instead it provided (in my opinion) comfort.

I know that we said the Fridge was similar to the good samaritan story, but I don’t really see it. If I’m right and the “good samaritan” was the person looking out the window watching this I really don’t think they were all that “good” because they should have called for the fireman sooner or came out and helped in person.

Watching the German short film I was definitely confused. So after class I talked to Professor and he the man who was talking was the one looking directly at the camera in the opening scene and that everyone from the opening scene was in various other scenes (which I definitely did not notice). And he said the man was trying to get forgiveness in a way, by taking communion and he was going against a societal norm when he drank so much wine. But I found it weird in a different way, I found it weird that 1)a catholic (I assume from the church) would be sending Jews to their death when christianity came from judaism and 2)I thought he was drinking all the wine simply because he wanted to get drunk and forget what he had done.

And on that note here a pun that I hope brightens your day.

Emma Fried

Hi everyone, my name is Emma Fried (pronounced freed) I’m from Stoughton, Wisconsin, I am a freshman here at Huntington University, and I am majoring in film production. The idea of going into to film just kind of hit me one day, but looking back I don't know why it hadn’t occurred to me sooner. Some factors that probably played a role in this are: I grew up watching classic 80’s movies (Back to the Future is my favorite but they’re all pretty good), Disney, and Pixar(I’m still obsessed with them today(you can never be too old :D) and can not pick favorites). I have been in/watched theater productions ever since I can remember. And I just really like hearing stories. Although I don’t have much experience that’s never stopped me from doing anything before.

But hey, there’s more to me then just my major. (Now I’ve made the fun facts about me into bullet point because it didn’t really work as a paragraph and this why you readers can pick how many you want to read.)

-In high school some of my favorite activities were tennis, student council, environmental club, and of course theater.

-My friends and I like to watch netflix, play blindfolded jenga, and rock climbing.

-I’m a vegetarian.

-I have a dog named Sasha, and a cat named Zoe.

-In my free time I love to paint, typically landscapes but sometimes surrealism.

-My favorite tv show of all time is How I Met Your Mother :), but I also really like Warehouse 13 and Once Upon a Time.

-My favorite color is green.

-I love oldies music and Billy Joel is my absolute favorite.

-My favorite food is mac and cheese.

-My favorite dessert is ice cream.

It also looks like people are commenting on what we watched in class on Thursday so heres my thoughts: I really liked the two films by the one guys who used projector (I don’t remember his name sorry) because they really made me think of surrealist paintings, in particular painting by René Magritte (who is one of my favorites).