Blog #10

My research paper explores the idea of technology and the pros and cons of it in society and our world today. My analysis used a lot of scientific evidence relating to environmental issues. This is a quote I used in my essay stating that ““If we can do our business in a smaller part of the planet — through smarter, greener and more efficient technologies — then nature can have the rest.” (“Technology As Our Planet’s Best Last Hope”). This article gave me a whole new outlook on environmental change and completely turned around the way I thought about solving our problems. This source was very helpful to me because it gave me a lot of information about the talk and stigma around this topic that I was otherwise unaware of. It introduced me to new ideas on how to go about helping the Earth and that the best way is to stop using it. This article gave me a solid direction to focus my first argument on and ultimately helped with my conclusion as well. This source was key to my “so what” conclusion because originally I had no idea which direction I wanted to go in but after reading this I truly believed that, even though technology and human inventions are what began to destroy the Earth in the first place, they are also what is going to save it and us in the end.

Works Cited

Fred Pearce. “Technology as our Planet’s Last Best Hope”. The Guardian. Monday 15 July 2013 15.38 BST. Last modified on Friday 20 June 2014 06.10 BST. November 25, 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jul/15/technology-planet-ecological-modernism-environmental

Technology in Wall-E Analysis

My question on this topic is whether the benefits of technology are worth the de-huminizing effects it has on us as a species. We can see this SO  clearly in Wall-E, which is why I can talk about it so easily. We see it in Wall-E as we realize how human he is and more prominently when we enter the Axiom and see the enormous contrast between him and the human “robots”.  I say this because they may as well be robots with screens constantly in their faces, ignoring everything that makes them human. Yet it is technology which saved them from themselves and killing their world and, ultimately, brings them back to it. So where is the line? Where’s the line that we must know not to cross in order to not become slaves to what we create?

Wall-E and Technology

Are the dehumanizing affects of technology worth its efficiency and survival advantages for our future?

Blog-like post: http://www.moviesaboutgladiators.com/2012/09/wall-e-using-technology-to-explore-the-dangers-of-technology/

Academic-Scholarly post: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10457097.2013.784576

Both of these posts highlight many things I agree with and want to focus on in my presentation and essay. The first one is easier to read but has less evidence and credibility. The second one has a surplus of information and support for its points but is very long and dense. Both of these sources are great to use, it just depends on what the audience is willing to read.

The first source isn’t extremely credible because it doesn’t have any supporting evidence or links to sources but it is a sort of blogging website that this guy does numerous reviews on movies and brings related information/issues into the reviews. I know the second source is credible because it has copy-write stamps, publishing dates and sources, citation procedures and a journal stamp that it is from.

These sources are going to help me answer my question because, not only do they talk about Wall-E and technology in the movie, they bring in a lot of outside information and relates the topic to our world and our future as the human race.

Blog #7- Wall-E and Humanity

What makes us human? Other than the fact that we have opposable thumbs and stand up right… etc. Emotions. But other animals have emotions in a different, instinctual way. It has to be more specific than that. In John Lloyd’s article in NewStatesman on what it means to be human, he notices how “Porcupines do not look up at the night sky and wonder what all the sparkly bits are; weasels don’t worry about what other weasels think of them; lobsters really don’t enjoy pub quizzes.” What Makes Us Human

Curiosity. We are curious creatures. Now to dive deeper, why are we curious?

The movie Wall-E clearly shows a great example of how longing drives curiosity which, in turn, launches the movie into action. Without the longing for something more than what he has, Wall-E would be just like any other machine and do what it is programmed to do. But Wall-E shows us an incredibly young and curious human side that captures our hearts and makes us root for him throughout the film. His humanity is especially highlighted when he enters the Axiom and we see all of the humans behaving like robots. The human do not long for anything and have completely transitioned into the land of machine. They do not long to seek their purpose, or anything for that matter. Maybe food…

Humanity is doomed without the longing for something and the motivation to go get it. Wall-E represents the core of what it means to be human because he longs for someone to share his life with.

He’s a robot. I’ll just let that sink in…

Prospective Topic

I am analyzing the movie Wall-E for my paper. I am very interested in the technology vs humanity themes and what it means to be human. I want to explore how technology can become more human than us if we decide to shut off our core instincts and values. I’d like to explore the value of longing and the motivation it gives us to live and find purpose in life. Longing, want and need are all very human qualities that Wall-E possesses more than the humans in the movie. Humanity is hard to talk about because everyone is different but Wall-E explores the idea of everyone being the same through shutting off what makes them human. Wall-E seems so different because he is more human than everyone else. I want to write about this theme because it goes beyond the movie and has to do with all of life.

Big Fish- Mama Fish

I chose to talk about the mother (Sandra) in Big Fish because the biggest theme of the film is the father-son relationship. She is an interesting character to analyze because she is often overlooked, yet she is the one who brings father and son (Edward and Will) together. She was a sort of median between them when they didn’t talk and finally when she brings them together she still has to be the middle man but in a different sort of way. She has a very sweet, calm presence to her that easily reacts well to Edward’s big personality.

I think she feels very conflicted because she loves Edward but also wants to see and talk to Will more. She wants them to be able to get along and be a family again but she feels a bit helpless because they are both very opinionated and passionate about their views.

The Hunger Games vs Reality

Hi Blog.

I am writing a review of The Hunger Games from the perspective of a young adult/teenager worried about his/her future. The audience is the older generation/ the world and the reason for my review is to draw attention to the parallels between The Hunger Games and our reality today. The audience to whom I will be pleading humanity’s survival is the older generation and people today who can still help to stop our future from going down that path. There are parts of the world that are starving and sick like District 12 and then there are countries like the US and most of Europe that have much more like the Capital.

One of my peers in my english class kindly gave me this link for reference and help with my review: http://qz.com/155385/the-hunger-games-is-hardly-our-future-its-already-here/

I have been playing with the ideas in this article, which are already very similar to my original ones.

Ultimately the reason people should watch The Hunger Games is to get an extreme perspective on what could happen/ is already happening in our society today, and to ask ourselves what we can do to help secure our world and species for future generations.

Advertisement Analysis

Link to Poster: Wall-E

This advertisement for the Pixar movie Wall-E portrays the child-like attitude and adorable vulnerability of the robot Wall-E. He looks to the sky in a child-like position as if he were a toddler staring in awe at the stars, which gives the impression of curiosity and innocence. This ad is geared towards making families and parents know that it is safe to see with children. The creators of the ad assume that their audience won’t be frightened by the robot, which is also why they made his eyes almost drooping and more vulnerable. The only consequences it tells us more about the Wall-E’s character rather than the movie which has some scenes that could be frightening to some children.

Overall I think this picture does a good job in portraying Wall-E’s curiosity and innocence and letting the audience know that it is appropriate for children.

Bias In Reviews

Bias plays a part in not only films, but film reviews. Every critique is going to have their own personal bias depending on their socioeconomic backgrounds and experiences in their lives and how that relates to the films. For example: being from Oakland, my view on the film Fruitvale Station might be radically different from someone who lives in New York because I am more directly related to the incident. That ‘s just one example. Some people have extremely strong opinions on controversial films and are not afraid to voice them in public newspapers, magazines or social media. It can be very easy to spot bias in reviews and maybe even figure out where a writer is coming from based on how they critique a film. Same goes with many different forms of writing for the public. Even broadcasts like Fox news has bias, we just have to realize that and decide what we agree with and want to listen to.

Week #1

This week was pretty insane and overwhelming so I’ll do my best to remember specifics…

I knew I would like this class 10 minutes into the first day. I even dropped my other english classes early because I knew I had to get into this one. First of all the class is called “writing about film”, which is pretty self explanatory. Not only is the content interesting (as well as the other students in the class) but my teacher, Tami, is probably the main reason I got hooked so quickly. She’s a graduate student so not a professor yet but honestly teaches better than most of them because she can relate to a student’s experience directly and therefore knows how best to teach. I also love the whole style of the class. We watch or read something, write about it, and the discuss it. It makes working interactive and keeps everyone engaged. I also love hearing what everyone else has to say about certain topics that I feel strongly about as well. I’m pretty excited to hear all the responses to the Blackfish movie. I usually analyze most things I see or read because of acting training but I like how this class makes me get specific with it.

Looking forward to more interesting classes and discussions!