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the end of an era I hope you al enjoyed my crazy experience this semester and I hope you all do well in the future

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Week 16 : Final Reflection

As we wrap the semester, I feel so overwhelmed. Mostly, because I feel that I grasped so much information I am afraid that I will not remember it all. But this course allowed me to be a true student, ask questions when I am lost, speak to my colleagues an have them review my work. Most of all I was exposed to new information that I never expected. I know it is cheesy to say that things are not always what they seem, but this class taught me that is truly correct, I mean I learned that video games are much more, the origin of myths, film theory, and most importantly how to connect it all in a classroom setting. I think that being under Professor Wexler for the third course, has allowed me to be afraid but still put myself out there. This course allowed me to understand how to apply things to a classroom setting efficiently. I truly did enjoy my time in this class and will take what I learned forward.

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Week 16 

The end is here my friends, below I have copied my final paper for this course and how I viewed the movie, Babel

World Film Essay

When studying film, it is much more than grabbing some popcorn, getting into comfy clothes, kicking back and hitting play. I believe that most assume that studying film just means watching, while that may be true, it is important to look at central elements of the film. Some of these elements may be, historical context, the culture it is showcasing, and even the economic point of the film. I strongly believe that by looking at these key elements, that it makes it easier to depict film as influential or simply for a view or two. Aside from this I shall also refer to the class notes in connection, specifically with neoliberalism and other things in film. 

The movie I decided to focus on is that of the 2006 movie titled, Babel that was directed by Alejandro Gonzalez. The reason I chose this film is because it centers around different stories being told, with that being said I felt that due to this the film can be applied to various groups of people and therefore can be more relatable. The film went on to be a box office hit and even won a multide of awards, but how did it get this popular? Let us proceed to a deep dive and focus on certain aspects of the film

As I had mentioned, the film centers around four different stories with different characters, and therefore various plot points. The situation in Morocco, where the boy shoots at the American citizen and it is deemed as a terrorist attack significantly demonstrates racism, as well as tying it to past and future racism moments. While I do not move past what the young boy did by playing around, the immediate reactions of it been deemed a terrorist’s attack, gives a head to the political and racial climate at the time between the United States and other countries. This type of racism is under institutional racism, as I previously mentioned since it was an immediate hunt for who armed the American, this film in terms of this part of the film, centers the racial and political strains that are at play.              The situation in Mexico, with the nanny Amelia, taking the children without Richard’s approval and then at the end being deported aligns again with the political/racial environment at the time. For when I was watching I felt for Amelia, because of another situation that was completely out of her control, she had to stay extra for the kids, and attend to their needs. It tore me because I could tell that there might be some viewers who would not care if Amelia got deported because her previous actions were worthy of this. I suppose this follows along with what we were discussing in class of how much of our internal racism is then projected onto things we watch, such as film. I believe that much of one’s own individual racism is beforehand lead through the industrial racism. I would not say that Amelia was great and her choices but I do also think that not being flagged by industrial racism, I am able to see past this and distinguish between her actions and understand that deportation is still cruel of a punishment. Yet when readings comments on the movie, I read some quite outstanding ones in which some showcased or I should say displayed their blatant racism in terms of what happens to Amelia in the end. 

I would mention the scenes in Japan, but here I felt that the movie took a slight change. Beforehand the first two stories had more of a racial undertone, whereas the events in Japan felt more sympathetic to the characters. While I felt that the main focus of the movie, was the racial undertones. The film reminded me of a puzzle, with the different geographical locations and characters, it eases like a puzzle we the viewers had to connect. In the end in a global context, I felt that the film’s main focus was of giving us a glimpse of different cultures, and although the characters were of different races and came from different families, small events ended up bringing them together. The film is meant to show how the smallest of things, can change drastically. It breaks down sociopolitical barriers to expose how much more intertwined human relationships can be aside from race, gender, ethnicity, class, etc. 

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Week 15: Babel in terms of Film Theory 

Hello friends, we are almost done with the semester, how scary which means you will not be hearing from me as much. Today I will write about the 2006 movie titled, Babel and its connection to film theory. The film centers around different groups of people who are all magically intertwined together, based on unlikely events. The form in which it was presented gives a sense of fragmentation. By the story being delivered into parts instead of a steady flow connecting, it forces the reader to truly think of each part as its own and what it is trying to say within each segment. While the film is set in three different areas geographically, it is essentially an American-produced film, which means the industrial racism that was being implied was coming from an American team who is producing the movie. The events with Susan and how she gets shot and immediately is deemed a terrorist attack is this heavy industrial racism idea that we discussed in class. Instead of investigating what is going on, there is an immediate assumption. While the fragments of the film make us more focused it is also difficult to theorize what the director truly intended.

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Week 14 : Parasite- Neoliberalism 

For this week we were tasked to choose between the film Parasite or Babel and connect it to neoliberalism. I decided for this blog post to choose the film, Parasite. The film Parasite has served as an allegory to the inequality of class, and the lack of social mobility. The first notion of class, is how Ki-Woo is diminished when he himself confesses that he was not able to attend university, so he, therefore, forges one. Perhaps if we had a stronger grasp on who to accept into colleges like Harvey suggested we could get rid of the nepotism babies who rely on their parent's names and those who rely on their parent's money to get them an acceptance to attend University. Ki-Woo designs this whole plan to get his family to work for the Parks all while hiding the family connection and in a short matter, they are not automatically rich but have evolved a tad. By the way, in which the film is presented is entirely in relation to what is pre neoliberalism, the film is considered left views heavy. In short that we are drawn to create a different outcome for the family in contrast to the Park family which seems to have it all. The film centers more on social hierarchy due to what they could be and what they are, predestined by social matters.

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Week 13

Happy thanksgiving friends, I hope you all had a great week off.

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Neoliberalism Week 12

Hello friends, today I will be writing about Neoliberalism, well specifically neoliberal education in connection to that of David Harvey. Neoliberalism in education is meant to be the rule of all rules. Meaning that it was suggested to redesign what was already in place. Harvey writes a lot to do with neoliberalism in connection with what that meant for the market, globally. If one were to apply Harvey's views or discussion on neoliberalism in terms of public education, he is suggesting that public schools are in fact insufficient. Meaning that they need to regulate how they accept students and what they provide. It deals with the student being pushed to be in a bigger competitive game, to engage more in critical thinking. I would say that this might be difficult to fully indulge in all public schools, but I can see Harvey's ideas being more implanted in Universities/colleges.

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Digital Media Presentation

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Video Game Literacy 

Hello, friends today we are going to be discussing video games in specific narratives. I was really interested in class with our discussion of video games and how I had previously viewed them. In class I mentioned how I would view video games as a hobby, something to pass the time but never truly thinking that they could or be anything more. However, we then discussed how video games can have a narrative and can be effective for students to have in the classroom. We were asked to present an example of what this can look like, i chose to discuss the video game named, League of Legend, where a group must be formed and work together towards one common goal. The player associates themselves from one of the characters, whom all have certain traits, that help with particular situations. In class my professor mentioned well, James Paul Gee had said that the video game player does have a particular knowledge of the game in terms of what is to come, however it is up to the gamer and the narratorlogy provided to continue with the game and improve.

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New Media in Classroom

Hello, everyone for this week we were talking about new media in classroom settings. Which as a college student I do not think that I experienced media in classrooms until the end of college, at least staying in the classroom versus going to the computer lab. About last year I worked as a teacher for kindergarten students and it was the first time where I was able to see how much technology younger students were being exposed to. I mean these children are 5 or 6 and they're exposed to doing some work on their iPad. While I am not against technology in the classroom, I feel that it then becomes a problem with parenting. because I noticed that some of these kids would go absolutely l feral if they were to take away the iPad, and many would cling to it for dear life, willing to fight to hold onto it. I do believe that technology in the classroom can be important, especially for diverse students but I also do feel that kindergarten students do not need it. I feel that many parents do have their children their phones or iPad in order to distract them or keep them quiet but then in turn they become addicted and instead see this technology as something that they deserve to have versus as a gift.

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Creation Myths

Creation Myths part two

Hello folks for week 8 I was tasked to write about creation myths, specifically one that I did not choose for our projects. 

The one that I chose to write about was that of, From Chaos to King Zeus, from Hesiod’s Theogony which is a Greek creation myth. As we know, creation myths focus on creation birth stories, essentially the dawn of time, the start of the world. The Big Bang of the culture’s story. The story is almost told at first in the form of a poem, written by Hesiod a famous greek poet just like Homer. The myth centers around the beginning of the greek gods and Kronos, who was exceptionally nervous about his kids becoming more powerful than him, which ultimately Zeus throws him off. I think what makes this myth or any centered around the Greek gods so popular, is how it is so similar to a regular family, maybe ignore the incest, but any family is not perfect and has its flaws. Not to mention these myths center a God to almost every single thing on earth. In addition, it is like superheroes, the Greek Gods provide this escape that I do not think any other myth could have executed as well as greek mythology. 

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Genesis Collab Project 

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Myths in our Moment 

Myths are defined as traditional stories, concerning early history or explaining some natural or social phenomenon. For myself, I typically think of Greek and or Roman myths. To quote our reading for the week, "Rather, myths are literary truths told about mysteries and necessities that always have and always will condition the human experience." I have always felt that myths are an escape, to get heavily indulged in other cultural experiences or fragments of history, I would have never thought about.

I have always been fascinated by greek myth, it just has something over me and I do not know exactly what it is. I think it is interesting how the reading tells us that we psychologically are more gravitated toward certain mythology, and how we see certain characters and their actions.

The myth of Hercules always caught my eye, initially due to the Disney movie made about it, but then in reading several different myths of the story, it continues to lure me in. Many of the Greek/ Roman mythology myths are the first ones that we are truly exposed to. I would like to think that it is because of the longevity that the meaning behind these stories tells. More or less because they do not just revolve around men but women as well. I feel that the initial allure with myths like these is that the truth behind them will never be known, they're is no real-life person that we are basing this off, it is unique on its own. Myths based on Greek and Roman characters, sort of center around the creation of man and earth itself which is why I also think they are so influential.

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Short Essay Title

The Dual Side of Melville and Hemingway 

Literature is complex and as much as writers want their piece to be the most influential work written, the truth is most literature can be seen through other works. Whether they are directly related or completely opposite, comparing two separate works often makes it easier to understand the writer’s words. For the context of this work of mine, I wish to compare two short stories, one written by Herman Melville titled, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” and the second written by Ernest Hemingway, “A Clean, Well-lighted Place.” Though the two pieces are quite different, as I mentioned previously literature is always connected through one way or another.

In Herman Melville’s piece, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” was published in December of 1853. Herman Melville was a poet during the American Renaissance Period, he came from a wealthy lifestyle not needing to work as much. Which is ironic considering that in the piece is narrated by a lawyer who yes works hard but at times works far less than those beneath him or her. The whole deal with Bartleby is the famous line of, “I would prefer not to,” how it amazes the lawyer that he simply does not want to complete the task. In part I think this story is slightly influenced by Melville’s personal life. I do not believe he hated the idea of work, but obviously he enjoyed just having the luxury life and being able to pursue other things. As I mentioned Melville was known for association with the romantic period as well, in which the focus was the free expression of the writer. The resistance of Bartleby ends up becoming a theme in the story, just how at first, he appears to be a great worker, the lawyer admiring him and his work ethic to then being surprised of this act. Another theme is self-interest, for the lawyer still helps out Bartleby, perhaps thinking that if he does this, he will go back to the worker he once was, but then leaves him deboned. Ultimately the boss decides to help Bartleby simply because he had said ‘prefer’ instead of just saying no. Later we get this reference back to Bartleby and a previous job that he used to have and that is why he acts the way he does. I do not know if the author seeks to justify why certain people act a certain way. It is nice to have answers and we can long wonder if Bartleby was truly lazy or a response from a previous job. That is the question that glooms over the reader. 

In similar notes, Hemingway’s piece also suggests that life has no true meaning, that we go through life doing things but in the end, it does not matter for we are alone. There are different men in tube stories, but the oldest one is the one who insists on this notion of nothingness, sure little things might bring joy but in the end, there is nothing. Personally, the connection between both pieces is quite obvious, there is this notion that one can simply do nothing.  Perhaps it is the meaning that no matter what you are to do in life, in the end, it truly does not matter at all. Why? Because it is just that, it is the end. Hemingway is famous for his prose style, often having these simple sentences, which are quite clear in this story, tying to the idea that there does not need to be much to convey the meaning. As I mentioned I personally do not enjoy thinking that life is not worth anything but both these pieces highlight the idea of not placing so much emphasis on little things in life or even the greater ones like marriage or work, because in the end on your death bed or another critical situation, are those things going to matter to one? The individual writers do not have lots in common, and you could argue that their pieces respectively do not work together, but one cannot argue the idea of nothing and a sensation of emptiness in both works. By reading both through the lens of the idea of nothing we realize that for Bartleby work is not everything and for the old man sometimes the sacrifices made are not worth it in the end. 

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My ole friend Hemingway 

WELCOME!

It is now week six if you have continued to follow my blog. For this week I am going to focus on Hemingway's short story titled, "A Clean, Well Lightened Place," and just what it means.

We al love a piece that tackles the meaning of life and if life has any purpose at all. Overall, after reading the piece I get the sense that this was the very intention of Hemingway, to allude that life had no true meaning. However, characters in stories are the ones tasked to give life to a piece, to have meaning. The older waiter in the story is who gives me the sense that life has no true meaning. Especially when they state, "It was all a nothing and man was a nothing too." I suppose that is open into interpretation, because I feel that if one were to live their live of what they consider meaningful then their life would be fulfilled. Whereas if one were to believe that they missed out on life then perhaps they would not think the same. Truly there is no true plot in the story, which is what makes it effective, with their being nothing that means that there is nothing. This simple story is classic for Hemingway in prose written style. What I most admire about the piece, is how it gives us something and at the same time goes back to the idea of this nothingness or 'nada.' There is also this whole mention of the word nada, in association with religion which depending on the reader can be a touchy subject area. Personally I believe connecting, the idea of nothing to religion can of course controversial, for religion gives something for others to hold on. Yet, I find it fitting, because the constant ties to the idea of nothing do just that, we as humans hold onto things so tightly, whether it is physical items or the concept of things and yet after death what are we to hold onto?

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Week 5: Bartleby, I Would Prefer Not To 

For this week we are focusing into Herman Melville and his short story, "Bartleby, the Scrivener."

In the beginning of this work we know that Bartleby is a scrivener and the strangest the narrator has ever heard of. The focus is on Bartleby's " I would prefer not to. " I remember reading this once early on in my undergrad, unknown why to myself in the moment of why there was such heavy focus on this part. I would like to think that Bartleby got fed up with Wall Street, or maybe at first he was crazed with the idea of being there and working in that environment like most men were. In truth I think about it like jobs that most of us have had in our lives, we start right, everything is new and everything seems wonderful. Those are usually the most shaky jobs, meaning that everything is presented as if the work environment and expectations are going to be a breeze, and then things switched up to the point where overworking yourself, means that they then expect you to do more work for the same pay. Or in other cases of something similar, it could have been that the job is not what Bartleby wanted anymore, a phase in his life where perhaps there was no work aspirations, although we need money to live. Many thin Bartleby is just a low life but I think that with his line it means something different. Bartleby is every overachiever's worst dream, to be a burnout person. I know that from personal experience and with my peers reading this that at times we do overwork ourselves and then wonder what would happen if I simply said "no" or even asked why I was being asked to do something that was not in my job requirements. While yes, we can focus on the character of Bartleby and tie in what he has to do with the line and in the story but I would like to believe that with this line, ht author poses a question to establishments, whether it is a work or education, etc. The main idea I get from reading this line is that of the Nike reverse card, instead of the "just do it". narrative, we do less and preserve our energy for other tasks in our lives.

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Week Four

Hello my lovely friends, I hope you shall find yourselves well.

Just as last week, my focus will be on two poets and their respective poems. You all are free to share your own thoughts about the poems, I like reading other's thoughts to give me a new perspective.

First Poet: Walt Whitman

I am not too familiar, with him in terms of my own exploration. Walt Whitman, is often referred to as the father of free verse. Although we may regard his work highly now it was quite controversial at the moment, of it being written published. His work broke certain boundaries present.

Poem: I Hear America Singing

This poem in itself is s vision, a dream if one could refer it to that way, when considering that of what was going on in America at the time that it was written. It does include one enjambment, in the lines 10-11 in which it brings a certain level of insecurity and unsureness to the poem itself and what it is meant to reflect. I always do suggest that it is nice to see the other side or a different perspective to the ideas of the poem presented. This is not a typical poem for it does not have a meter or a rhyme scheme. Many might not even consider this true poetry for it does not follow conventional "rules" and I suppose that is a question with anything related to free verse. I would like to think that powerful written work with emotion and vision will hold true, whether or not it holds any correlation to rules.

Poet two : Matthew Arnold

Most influential during the Victorian Age, not the most influential of the time yet he was aware of where he might have stood in the light of other great poets during this specific time.

Dover Beach, is perhaps his most fine or well known work. The idea or talk of faith and its crisis is the main center, which I feel was quite repetitive during this era. This idea of losing faith or it having decreased in importance in society makes sense when you take in regard human advances, there is other matters for others to focus on. The idea of faith and nature or the natural environment are interlocked, question humans and their relationship with nature. It it implies that we as humans are in fact small when we take into regard everything in nature. The piece uses alliteration and symbols to get across these connections, and is yet again considered an odd poem for it does not follow a specific form, once again being free verse.