4/21

Beckett on Film. This is the first time I have seen these films. I liked watching them because they are different, a cross between experimental and narrative, but some of them were disturbing. Act without Words is successful with causing the viewers, or at least me, to being frustrated. I can only watch it so much until the absurdity becomes too much. I began to think about why I can only take so much of these types of films. Am I only capable of enjoying certain types of films based upon my past experience with watching films with my family? My interests and disinterests stem from my childhood experiences. Would a child enjoy experimental films more if they grew up watching them?

4/14

Being a film major, I already have already seen various films from different time periods and styles. Even though I have seen so many films, this was my first experience with Charlie Chaplin. I never thought about the serious issues Keaton and Chaplin tackle through their comedic performances. I have never compared the two either. I began to think about the ways comedic movies have changed from the past to the present. It seems that there is a bigger emphasis on one-liners and crude humor now. The silent films required expressive movement to portray the emotions and story, so the actors had to focus on their body than their words like today’s actors. In some ways, I believe that actors in earlier decades had more wit that many of today’s actors because of the lack of voice. Famous comedians today gain their fame from making jokes on stage and moving up to television or film. Some of the most famous comedians like Robin Williams or Billy Crystal have distinct voices which gave them their popularity. They would most likely not be in the same position if they lived 80 years ago. There are so many actors who would never have been in movies without sound because they have little or no expression.
The downfall with sound is the lack of emphasis on movement and personality. Many of the actors and actresses today have little or no character in their expressions because they are more focused on the words they say than how they say them. If sound was taken away from most of the popular Hollywood movies today, they would be boring.

Spoken Word Poet/SLAM poet (4/15)

There was another spoken word poet who came in the past which was my first time to see that type of a performance. Now that I have seen another poet in a similar category, I can compare the two. The last man spoke more about social issues and some of the music industry today while the recent poet used humor as a basis for most of his pieces. There were only two poems that I can recall which were more serious. One of them sounded very personal because it was about a failed relationship he had with a past girlfriend who did not feel the same for him as he felt for her. Many of the metaphors he used were ones that I would never think about using in my writing which made it so interesting to listen to. He used his size and food for a majority of his humor which made me think about our culture. Because the media portrays obesity as something to make fun of, people are used to laughing at “fat jokes” or obese people. The poet used his weight to make the audience laugh most of the time. We feel like an outcast if we do not laugh with society, so we naturally join the audience. This is also why we feel the need to make fun of ourselves. If we describe ourselves as perfect, we will be an outcast. Americans feel the needs to discuss self-issues to fit in with the rest of the imperfect crowds who do not fit society’s standards usually created by the media.

The Buddhism Convocation (4/15)

I have always wondered about the eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, etc. Growing up in a reasonably conservative Christian environment, I was sheltered from a majority of the other religions. We studied them in high school but not in detail. I only knew a few Jewish and Catholic people who went to my school, so that was my closest experience to any non-Protestant religions. All of the popular religious groups I ever noticed were usually affiliated with the Presbyterian or Methodist church.
When I first walked in they were chanting a prayer which sounded so unique. There was a wooden display with a paper and light inside with a Buddhist prayer written in a specific type of Japanese dialect. Apparently, there are many different sects of Buddhism which may speak different dialects and use different formats or ceremonies of meetings. I thought it was unique that there is not one specific hold day like Sunday in the Christian religions, and the religion is so open to a variety of people. The speaker, who was a transgender, shared her story about growing up in a conservative Christian household and dealing with her inner battles about who she was. The people in this group welcomed and accepted her with open arms and did not preach to her about sins and hell. The question and answer forum which followed helped explain some questions I had like the language spoken and the various forms of the religion. It sounds like the Christian religion in that there are many forms with one common base. I would be interested in exploring the religion further.

Irish Folk Singers (4/16)

I loved the two men’s performance! It reminded me of hearing my dad playing his Irish folk tapes in his side room of our house. My father lived in Ireland for about 6 months before he married and always has a story about some incident which happened to him from driving his motorcycle across the countryside to meeting and staying with families. He also told me about the varying accents across the country which the two singers brought up. I could tell the Cork accent as soon as I sat down to listen. I had never seen an Irish act in person, so I thoroughly enjoyed their performance. I also learned about the Irish festival in Northern Louisiana which I never knew existed. The performance was proof of the tradition of stories being told through songs. Many of the popular songs in America are about one relationship or sexual desires while their songs had history, romance, and comedy. The two men expressed the emotions of the song through movement and facial expressions to portray the meaning of the song. I would love to see more acts from people from other countries. It also would have been nice to have a conversation with them about their tours and experiences.

4/7

I realize that I have been growing up during a time where Music Videos are seen almost as often as films which attract teenagers and other people in my generation. I look at music videos as a combination of experimental films and short television shows. This is a way to sell experimental films as a form of popular culture. It reminds about our topic on consumer culture. We, as a country, base ourselves on our economic structure, capitalism. Everything is competition and has a price. Even art is a part of the structure, and music videos are a prime example of the music industry combining using art as a form of business. The artists compete for the “top spot” on MTV shows like TRL (Total Request Live) and shows on VH1. One way bands compete for the number one spot is through music videos. Every band or music artist is trying to either use a unique and controversial idea which no one has used before or they use sex and love to tell stories in a video. Madonna is a common example of a controversial film where she also uses her sexuality to sell the videos. Many of the rap artists today rely solely of sexuality to sell their music. This represents how music videos have evolved from seeing the artists dance, to unusual and controversial visual representations, to half-naked women dancing around in a bar. There are still many artists who use symbolism and artistic representations for their music videos, but there are fewer of these videos than the others.

4/1-Classical Hollywood Cinema

The first film that came to my mind when we were discussing the Classical Hollywood Cinema was the movie Casablanca. I remember discussing it in film history. It was one of the earlier and prime examples of Classical Hollywood Cinema because it follows the rules of continuity editing like the 180 degree line, star system, mise-en-scene, and plot. I believe that there is a current rise of independent films because the public is looking for new storylines and film techniques with fewer predictable endings. The beginning of film genres created expectation for the audience. People went to see romantic comedies with Cary Grant or film noirs/suspense films to see the femme fatale.