SOCIETY AND SEXUALITY

The film Circumstance directed by Maryam Keshavarz drew me in not only because of the plot, but because of the controversy surrounding the production of the film itself. During class I looked up information to find out more about the movie. I discovered that the film had actually been filmed in Lebanon rather than in Iran. This was of course due to the very harsh laws created by the Iranian government that targets homosexuals and takes away many of their rights. This effectively makes it illegal to be gay in Iran. Filming the movie there was out of the question. This probably only drove the films creators even harder to make sure their message was heard. Even though the culture in Sindu's book is different than my own I still feel as though the issues with tradition that the main character has are universal.   

PRIVILEGE

Cosmopolis really gives us a window into the mind of someone who privileged to the point that they have trained themselves operate unyielding from on their own terms and time. He does what he wants, gets whatever he wants and does it when he wants. The book addresses this effectively, but the movie does it even better. After playing Edward Cullen in the Twilight series, Robert Pattinson was in a position of new found success and fortune. He was living a lavish lifestyle at the time and probably felt as though he could be with any women he wanted, so he was a perfect fit for his role in Cosmopolis. I think absence of a middle class being represented in this book and the movie is because Eric Packer is representing extremes of privilege. The audience experiences privilege in the story on a enormous scale which I think will better for an audience to reflect it on their own lives. Using an ultra rich person to display privilege that we all have in varying degrees is an interesting choice. An audience would be more engaged hearing about Eric Parker as a character and his privilege than how a middle class person is privileged because we can separate ourselves from him and his lifestyle because it is not our own. The title of the film sort of reminds me of a 1920's expressionist film called Metropolis about factory workers and how they work under an evil elite society that controls the city.  

WONDERFUL THEME PARK

For my theme park I would totally go down the virtual reality route. The actual facility would have lots of obstacles and sorts of things to climb and descend. There would be different rooms for certain values that would be tested through simulated situations that the user would have to solve. Situations could include difficult situations where ones character is tested when they have to make a choice. The experience would immerse the user into the character and their reality. They would have a deeper emotional connection experiencing the values and could help them in the future with their own decision making.  The experience and circumstances would be the identical for each person.  At the end of their experience they would be given a score on how they performed with each situation and value. This would be rigged to give generic positive feedback, so that no one is unsatisfied with their experience. They of course would not know this. The host of this virtual journey would be William Moulton Marston and he would appear as the caretaker of the place. We would gain insight into what he wanted WonderWoman to be and what she means to everyone now. 

TRUE GRIT AND AMERICA

My Dad owns a copy of True Grit and I remember seeing it around the house. Im not sure when, but I remember seeing it in the kitchen. Then it got moved to the bottom of the stairs. Then to the top of the stairs and was placed on some home goods magazines. Then the top of the stairs and finally ended up in the guest bedroom with all the other books on the bookshelf. I don't think it was my dad moving it rather it was my mom moving it inch by inch as she did things around the house.

True Grit means absolute unyielding dedication toward a goal. When my Mom wants something done she often does it herself. Often not trusting others to do things for her because she thinks she can do everything perfectly. When I was a kid the tree in our front yard dried up and died. My mom simply tied a rope around the tree and yanked it out with her car. This turned into a quite an event for all the neighborhood kids who cheered her on.  

The 1969 version of True Grit directed by Henry Hathaway had some fantastic moments showing what it means to have true grit. In the final scene when John Wayne's character tells his partner not to shoot as Mattie rides on her horse below, his partner ends up shooting this almost gets them killed by revealing that they are there and exposing them to gunfire. This shows how his partner does not have true grit meanwhile Mattie remained composed calm and collected under stress.

There is another book about what it means to have true grit that came out recently simply called Grit by Angela Duckworth.  I looked into what this book is about and came back with the impression that it takes a closer look at what it means to have true grit. The Author, Angela Duckworth did a Ted Talk where she talked in detail about what she believed it means to have true grit.

 ANGELA LEE DUCKWORTH TED TALK CLIP 

WEEK 1

Reading was fantastic when I was a kid. When we made trips to the library I always gravitated toward the non-fiction section.  Books about airplanes, insects and space were my go to. Children's books with illustrations did not satisfy me.  The non-fiction book series Eye-Witness was my absolute favorite. Every library at least had a few editions.

A rather negative experience I had reading reading in fourth grade when we got assigned a reading textbook. It resembled a math textbook was about 2 inches thick and full of fictitious stories about talking animals and tall tales. Of course when I was bored in class I looked ahead and looked at all of the pictures for the stories in one sitting.  This made me have misconceptions for what the stories were about and made the experience less exciting.  

One of my better experiences reading was in Elementary school I was assigned Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. The story is about the son of a police officer that happens to be stationed at Alcatraz prison in the 1930's. I was drawn into it was because the characters and the setting were based on reality.  I really feel the same way about movies as well. For example I really don't think Wes Anderson's new upcoming animated claymation movie Isle of Dogs is going to captivate me as much as his last live action movie The Grand Budapest Hotel did.  Even when there is a compelling story being told I have trouble connecting on an emotional level if the world is too far removed from our own.