Blog 1 Banksy Image S2

A picture is worth a thousand words says the old adage. There are some artists who even have the ability to capture much more than words, stirring emotions and ideas with their work. One such artist is the anonymous Banksy. One of his pieces, featuring a dove wearing a bullet proof vest with crosshairs on it, is a prime example of his ability to create rousing works of art. To better understand the image one must first look at its most basic form. The image itself is an image of a white dove, holding a branch with green leaves in its mouth. The dove is wearing a dark gray bullet proof vest. Over both the dove and the vest are red crosshairs, resembling what is seen through a scope. The meaning of the colors is also paramount in order to understand the true message behind the image. The dove, a symbol of peace, is bright white, representing purity and innocence. The green of the branch could represent life and a new beginning where peace and hope could be planted and cultivated. The striking dark gray of the vest is in contrast to the white purity of the dove, almost tainting it with a more sinister objective. The red of the crosshairs can represent rage and violence, while the crosshairs themselves could tell of intelligence and calculations as it takes a calm and level head to fire at a moving target accurately. All of these parts come together to try and make a cohesive image. The image itself though is not the end of the story of this work of art, the back round and stetting of the image are also key. The back round is simple in that it consists of nothing but a light gray back round. This color choice of a back round is profound in that the gray of the bullet proof vest is darker, a conscious point to use a darker color than the world surround the image. The physical setting of the image is also important as at the end of the wing tip of the dove is a square imperfection in the perfectly smooth wall. This imperfection brings reality back into the foreground of the image.

            When all of these elements of the image are compounded there can be many different political and social messages to be found. One message that seems to be a possible could be that the white dove represents peace carrying green life and prosperity but it is a peace that must be guarded from hatred and violence that has become smarter and more deadly. A peace that has to use means that are darker than the world around it as the back round is a lighter shade of gray than the bullet proof vest. If this peace has darkness is it then truly peace? The dove also has its wings out spread, in flight, bringing peace to the world in the mist of opposition. The sad thing is while this ideal is beautiful; reality, taken form in the square imperfection in the wall, clips the wings of the dove, reminding everyone that peace is an idea that is imperfect and flawed in reality.

            Banksy is an artist that will forever be remembered for his varied work and anonymity. Each of his pieces was created to debates over the political and social message behind the work. The unorthodox style and raw but calculated images spring forth ideas and emotions that lead to discussion and change. Banksy has created an image that is worth more than a thousand words. He has created an image where thoughts and emotions collide.  

Blog 2 The Machine Stops Claim S2

Bob Mondello wrote a stirring piece entitled, “Our Media, Ourselves: Are We headed For A Matrix?” In this article we can see that Mondello makes many claims, one of which is his belief that the as we as humans advance technologically in society we become fearful of the possibility that we will lose our identity and thus our humanity. If the objects that help us define who we are become smaller and more compressed in the digital age, will that hold true for our identity as well? Mondello makes an argument that holds a truth that is not beautiful or desirable but truth none the less. Fearful thoughts of Mondello’s such as, “… the media in people’s lives are supplanting the people in people’s lives, and about what’s getting lost as the world goes digital – all those cool album covers we had as kids, the stacks of paperback sci-fi novels, the toy soldiers. Won’t the next generation be isolated without them – cut off like Vashti, starring at screens all day?” are not uncommon of the older generation when viewing the children of the modern age. But is this fear warranted? Is this really what could become of humanity, a generation of Vashtis?

For some the answer is a resounding false. Liz Reeder commented, “I don’t see the difference between a record and an mp3, a hard copy book or an ebook other. I’m pretty sure the content is the same, and the art is still art. It’s just a lot more efficient and organized, now.” Mike McIntosh also believes in a different idea than Mondello, saying he prefers, “… an evolution toward simplicity (not sterility or isolation) where the greatest value is placed on our emotional and relational connections (which takes up no space) and the quality of our ideas.” There is a tragic flaw to these arguments though that sadly removes the physical human element from the equation. What is art but its medium, its depth, its emotion? If all viewed from the same screen the art is the same, pixels on a screen, not a human manifestation of emotions or thought. Also Ms. Reeder fails to see that humanity by nature is not completely organized and efficient, it is possible to imagine yet physically impossible to obtain. Mr. McIntosh also forgets that the body and mind cannot and should not be separated. If one believes that ideas, and emotional relationships are all that matter then we are becoming dangerously close to a world such that personifies E.M. Forster’s, The Machine Stops. At the end of the story, as the Machine is dying, the narrator shares these insights.

“…beautiful naked man was dying, strangled in the garments that he had woven...And heavenly it had been so long as man could shed it at will and life by the essences that his soul, and the essence, equally divine, that is his body. The sin against the body – it was for that they wept in chief; centuries of wrong against the muscles and the nerves, and those five portals by which we can alone apprehend – glozing it over with talk of evolution, until the body was white pap, the home of ideas as colourless, last sloshy stirrings of a spirit that had grasped the stars.”

Mondello’s idea that our society is fearful of losing its identity makes a sound argument when looking at what the advances in technology have done thus far to the world. Technology reduces needs and experience. This reduction extends to humanity as a physical presence. While many can attempt it so far it has been impossible to capture humanity on a screen.  Should we be afraid? Yes, if only for the fact that your reading this on a screen right now.

Blog 3 Learning Outcomes S2

A person is exposed to three thousand advertisements a day, according Jean Kilbourne and her documentary, Killing us Softly. The statement may seem fictional at a glance, but the reality is there advertising is everywhere: on our shoes, our clothes, our pencils, backpacks, notebooks, televisions, phones, computers. The advertisements litter our word all in the hopes that we will be influenced enough to by their products. The truth is that advertisements account for only a small portion of the grand scope of mass media. The claim can be made that mass media is inescapable. The reality is that if one lives in America or anywhere in the modern world, exposure to mass media can not be avoided. Mass media can come in many mediums, this due to the hope that many variants of the same thing will be more effective in reaching a broader audience.  An example of this can be made readily available by looking at “The Onion” The Onion is company that spoofs news coverage and reporting all in the name of comedy. While the premise is a one note song, the different pitches of that note are numerous. The Onion has many variants such as: The Onion News Network on television, The Onion on Facebook, The Onion on Twitter, The Onion Newspaper, The Onion website, as well as the subset AV club, Onion Sports Network and their separate marketing. All of these are under the same umbrella, yet each is a different medium of mass media in the hopes that the product will be consumed by as many customers as possible.

Some may believe that it is possible to avoid mass media or ignore its effects on their lives. Humans are social creatures and the truth of this matter can be simply put by John Donne, who penned the famous line, “No man is an island” in his work "Meditation XVII,"  It is not possible to completely  detach oneself from the world and thus from mass media. Media continues to pervade all of society and will not cease for any one man, any one island.

The claim that mass media is inescapable is one that is relevant to Learning Outcome One: Examine different forms of communication within media. Areas to be considered include- advertising, news coverage, opinion, blogs, and mobile media.  The claim takes into account the varying ways in which media is spread and how it is virtually impossible to remove yourself from it. There are simply too many avenues and mediums in which mass media exists and is able to spread its message, whether that be ideas, advertisements, or morals.  As long as electricity exists, computers are running, satellites are floating up above, phone wires drape across the landscape, airplanes are flying, then mass media will not only exist, but flourish and thrive in a world that can not seem to escape is influence.

Disclaimer: Formatting

These blogs are in very simple formatting that does not separate quotes as this site does not allow for quotes to work in the desired format, thus they are simply in the text. My apologies for the inconvenience.

Blog 3 Crash

For a moment all I could do was feel the pounding. Like a funeral procession, it beat slow and powerful. Every beat was a hammer against my hollow body. Nothing truly existed outside of the sensation for what felt like innumerable lifetimes. My taste came back to me like the slow ebb of the tide. Metallic mint. An unusual but not surprising mix; nothing surprises me right now. A gooey object falls from my mouth held agape. It took the mint away. I hold out for as long as possible, but whatever is trickling over my eye is too much. I wipe the stream away with a hand that screams for stillness. The view is incredible and fleeting as it is blurred once again with the red stream. A crumpled white sack sits before my eye smeared in red as vivid as a sunset over an ocean of shattered glass and crunched steel. Flashes of blue intermingle with the red destruction. Back and forth the colors dance, and it is only now that I begin to hear their shrieking music. The whine is almost unbearable, and yet there is a comfort to its obnoxiousness. I can finally release to the enveloping pain that is ripping apart my body. It all dims into the blackness of the pain. I smile a bloody, broken smile. It’s going to be ok.

The paragraph above uses the writing technique of sensory detail and diction. The piece describes a car crash in all the detail and sensations that would conceivably fit into a single paragraph. Sensory details are a literary technique that can greatly improve a description and help the author to truly show and not tell, when describing an event or place. A car crash is a wealth of sensory details, as your entire body is affected by the event. The sensory details are separated in this particular paragraph in order to try and help the reader focus on each one and not be overwhelmed by all that truly is happening in the scene. A specific example of sensory details is shown when describing the heartbeat in the very beginning. By never directly calling the sensation a heartbeat the reader is forced to imagine the pulse, hard and slow, as if a methodical hammer against their body. This type of sensory detail impacts the audience as it throws them into the scene whether they want to or not. The detail of the passage is what makes it real to the reader. A car crash is something we have all seen; we can fill in the very basics of what it is. To simply say that the first sensation was his heartbeat does not do the character of the scene any justice to what was really being felt. The character did not feel a heartbeat, but a hammer, even if the audience knows that in reality it was his heart and not a hammer pounding into him. Sensory detail is a powerful tool in which when done correctly can help authors transport their readers into the world of the passage and all that it entails, the beauty and the pain.

Word Count:297

Blog 2 Learning Outcome 2

The text that was used in this blog post comes from the second act, fourth scene, lines 175-195 of the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. In this part of the scene Romeo is speaking to the nurse in order to deliver a message to Juliet saying that if she goes to Friar Lawrence that afternoon they will be married.

This particular passage of Romeo and Juliet can be found to be difficult for the layman to read and understand as it is ripe with outdated words and those that have changed meaning since they were first penned. The second learning outcome is exquisitely displayed in this passage as it demonstrates how language can change so drastically over time. The second learning outcome is unique in the fact that it is a constant in languages all over the world. Change comes from the use and lack thereof of in the day to day language. A prime example comes from the 179^th line. “What wilt thou tell her, Nurse? Thou dost not mark me.” This quote uses words such as thou and dost that are no longer used in the modern day to day language. While widely used in their time period the words have changed to “you” and “does” respectively. Another example of how the English language from the time of Shakespeare to the present is in the 195^th line of the scene when Romeo says “Farewell. Be trusty, and I’ll quit thy pains.” This sentence would not make perfect sense today as the word “quit” has changed meanings. Today it means to stop or give up on something, while in Shakespeare’s day it was meant in this instance “to reward”. The words may change with spelling, pronunciation and meaning, but the one constant in the equation is that languages are malleable and forever changing. This is the basis of the second learning outcome where in this passage of Romeo and Juliet it is easily visible.

Word Count:266

Blog 1 Learning Outcome 1

The piece, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, written by Horace Miner, is a prime example of the first learning outcome. The purpose of this writing is to show Americans at the time the piece was published, their ethnocentrism, and the inherent quirks and faults of their own society. Miner accomplishes this purpose by describing the content of the American way of life in the context of a tribal setting. By changing the way the content is presented Miner effectively shapes his audience into feeling superior to the Nacirema tribe, effectively gearing his purpose to fit his audience though the means in which he describes and structures his content. An example of this can be found when Miner describes the “holy-mouth-men” or dentists. “The practitioners have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of these objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client.” By describing the dentist in such a manner it is possible for the reader to see the practice in that society as being very uncivilized, thus supporting Miner’s overall purpose.

Another quote from the piece that further supports the purpose is found when Miner describes Playboy. “A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hyper-mammary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee.” This description of an American vice, as something lewd and crude is accurate, but when viewed in “another” culture it further degrades the civility of it in the eyes of the audience.

Miner is very skilled at changing his content and structure in order to better serve his purpose and audience. The piece is written in such a way that the average American would believe they are culturally superior. When effectively utilized, the first learning outcome can create a very persuasive writing by serving the author’s purpose and connecting to the audience.

Word Count: 336