The Tellings of a GT Freshman
EARLY FILM whats to be gained from it???
Movies are a very popular interest among people today. There are movies made to entertain every age group and personality type. Today a lot goes into making movies. There are extreme special effects, twisted plots, make-up artists, costumes, well-trained actors and actresses, and entire crews of people that pull the whole thing together. But it all had to start somewhere. That somewhere was a place where movies were mere minutes long, without color, sound, or special effects, the sets were small and the make-up and costumes were at the bottom of the priority list. It might sound really boring to a person who is used to the way movies are today, but if examined properly there is a lot to be gained from early films and they are actually very interesting. When the first movies came out they were limited and the topic of the film had to simple and suitable for a wide variety of people. They themes usually dealt with popular interests of the time period and a lot can be learned from examining these themes. For instance there were many early films that focused on women and placed them in unusual often "forbidden" types of story lines. Film alone was fascinating, but the controversy that would come out of certain films was intriguing in its own way. Movies have become extremely important due to the controversial issues they cover and I feel they have had a major impact on society by educating them in a sense and also by bringing forth sensitive issues that might otherwise have gone ignored. There is also a lot to be said for the creativeness that early movies were created with. Because they were so short the entire story had to be told in mere minutes and often without the use of words but with actions alone. There was also a lack of technology and any special effect had to be created using the simplest means possible. Looking at all of these things it is obvious that there is much to be gained from early films; a sense of the social climate during that time period, knowledge about the people and interests, and above all an appreciation for technology and the time it takes to develop and improve it.
cheryl
goldsleger
utopia
Last Saturday I went the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia where there was a exhibition of works by Cheryl Goldsleger an artist from Georgia. Her works focus on and are inspired on the work of women architects. Her artwork was created on many different types of media and she used a variety of different architecture styles from various time periods throughout history. The Museum had cleared out all of its regular works to display only Cheryl’s work for just over a month. Although all of her work is focused around architecture the way she uses mixed medias and different viewpoints makes each piece unique and beautiful. Her work comes in many different sizes as well. In her smaller works the detail is incredible and her use of texture and lines makes every piece have a unique feel and meaning. My personal favorite piece was a series of five blocks that were designed to recreate a building from the 18th century. Each block contained an new level of the building so that you were able to dissect the building floor by floor. Her entire exhibit was amazing and devoted to representing women and the greater good of society. To add to that last comment each separate work was based on a building that was home to a social reform group or a building donated to underprivileged people. Overall her work was very inspiring and I recommend you check it out.
A BIT MORE SPECIFIC
I have decided that the topic of my next paper will be on gay "marriages" or what are better known as civil unions. There are many differences between an actual marriage and a civil union, but the start of civil unions being allowed between gay people brings us all one step closer to acceptance. My visual text will specifically be a website created for helping gay couples plan there civil union, where to have it, where to honeymoon, and of course how to decorate for such an occasion. The website is www.gayweddings.com I hope you take time to check it out and find it interesting!
PAPER TOPIC?????
I have not yet chosen my specific visual text that I plan to use for my second paper, however I have chosen a topic that I will be focusing on. In light of coming out week here at Tech and my personal feelings on sexuality I am going to choose a visual text related to gay rights. I feel this issue is a major one in today's society, and it becomes more and more important as we are trying to grow as people and as a society. I feel that being gay is a choice and one of the freedoms we Americans have. I had been thinking of choosing a visual text related to gay rights but I did not make my final decision until my little sister said something that really interested me. One day Rachel (8 years old) and I were talking and the word gay came up in our conversation. The gay we were using was geared towards meaning "lame" or "stupid" but Rachel being so young questioned my usage. She informed me that there were three meanings for the word gay (happy, stupid, and two boys or two girls dating). After informing me of this she proceeded to ask me how I meant to use the word. I was so shocked that she knew what it meant to be gay in a sexual context. I don't think I was introduced to the concept of homosexuality until well into my middle school days, and here she is eight years old talking about it. I realized that the issue of homosexuality had changed a lot, become more open, and I knew that I wanted to focus on this topic. I look forward to writing this paper and when I do choose my visual text which I plan to do this weekend I will be sure to post it up so you can have a look at it.
I have been thinking a great deal about pictures, and the effect they have on people, and have come to the conclusion that pictures are wonderful things. For the most part pictures are used to capture a moment in time, and in theory make it last forever. I often look at my own pictures and recall moments from my life, reliving them with my visual aid. I can understand how it can be seen that pictures make people lazy. Because we rely on pictures to retain our memories and as long as we have them there is no need to actually store the memories into our own minds. So in some ways it can be seen that pictures impair our memory. However, I personally think pictures are a great way to help keep a record of events. Having the most terrible memory ever (only short-term, extremely short-term) might make me a bit bias in my opinion but that's what I got stuck with. I take pictures of all sorts of things, family, friends, scenery, and neat things I see. When I look back on my pictures I am flooded with not only memories, but feelings associated with them as well. A great example is a picture I have of my little sister making what I call "the wolf man face". It's just a funny face I taught her to make when she was two that always made me crack up laughing. Over the years she stopped making the face and one day while I was digging through my pictures, my memories, I came across one of her making that face. I couldn't help but laugh. I had completely forgotten that she used to make that face. The face though wasn't the only thing I remembered, I remembered numerous things relating to that face; teaching her to make it, making her show my mom (who wasn't impressed), adding a growl to go along with the face, and even taking the picture itself. For me there are a great deal of pictures that I find have the exact same effect on me. I'm not sure what it would be like to not have pictures. I am sure I would still have all of my major memories stored in my brain, but the smaller (not less important) memories, like "the wolf man face" might just slip my mind. I guess I am spoiled not having to remember everything for myself but I am very grateful that there are pictures to assist me.
