Month: February 2014

After watching the TEDTalk, Gaming can make a better world: Jane McGonigal changed the way in which I looked at the notion of gaming. The idea that three billion hours were spent playing video games, a number so large it is hard for me to grasp just how much that is. I’ve always had the perspective that video games are fun but that it can consume so much time that can be spent doing something more useful. My mom never let my brother and I play video games growing up because she did not want us to get addicted. With that kind of perspective on video games and the way in which Jane explained that gamers could actually change the world. She described the feeling of reality not being as good as in the game world. Being anxious or depressed in reality is something that would occur in the game world.

She then discussed the four traits that all gamers have urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning. With the entire four trait you have a gamer that is “super-empowered hopeful individual” that are capable of changing the virtual world but not the real world. Jane then discusses the three games she has produced to get people inspired so to begin thinking of changing the real world.  After watching the TEDTalk it definitely changed the way I look at the notion of playing video games, but this idea that gaming can make a better world is also skeptical one in the sense that it depends on the video game one is playing. There are so many types of video games out there and any that one can lead a person to do things based on that. Jane mentions that playing video games allows us to escape from real world suffering but exactly how much of that escape is brought back to reality?

Spirituality to me is defined as the personal ability to find peace within you. Those that say that they are spiritual to me means that they believe are seeking truth with a higher power. Spirituality and religion differ in the way in which people seek to demonstrate their values and beliefs. Spirituality is associated with the realm of personal thought and experience in seeking a relationship with that higher power. Religion is the ability to share your beliefs with other individuals who believe on the religious beliefs as you do. The idea of religion is connected to the public realm, allowing you do attend mass and perform formal rituals with. Both areas allow you to question who you are and seek guidance from a higher power. I would consider myself and a spiritual person and someone who believes in religion.  I am a Catholic and go to mass at least once a week or more, the atmosphere of being surrounded by my peers who have similar beliefs allows us to continue in the path to follow God’s word. While I love being surrounded by my peers, I also enjoy being alone with my thoughts to really dive in to understand the word of God. How I personally find my place to be spiritual is when I am out in nature. An example of this is when I go hiking and reach my ending destination, I stop and take the time to soak in the beauty that surrounds me and take time to run through all of my thoughts.

Creativity can be defined in so many different ways.  Creativity to me is being able to express oneself in any type of outlet. Individuals all differ in the way in how the express their creativity. Creativity is an important aspect of life, because it is one way how we separate ourselves from others. It can be demonstrated by the way we dress, cook, write, draw, and paint.  Being able to be creative allows us to have an outlet so express our thoughts and emotions out on a palette so that others can see. Creativity is a way for us to lose ourselves with our work, to express anything we have been holding in and getting it out of our system. It comes in varies ways for everyone, some need to be inspired by something or someone to begin the creative process. Others just have the creative bug and produce something at any kind of expense. In the end, we all have the capability of expressing the creativity within.

“ Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Art that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. Then, and then only, does it come into existence.”- Oscar Wilde (Grey 71) The fact that the article began with a quote from Oscar Wilde set the tone for the rest of the article. It was almost as a wake up call, in the sense of setting the mind set of how we as individuals go through our daily activities seeing different images but never taking the moment to notice the beauty in all we see.  Grey explains this kind of looking, “necessary for survival.” (Grey 71) The only times we stop to look at something much deeper is when something grabs our attention, such as a person, object, or a nearby scene. Deeply seeing allows us to look within ourselves and experience something we might not experience everyday. “ The act of deeply seeing, we transcend the egoic boundaries between the self and the otherness of the world, momentarily merging with the thing seen.” (Grey 72) The whole act of deeply seeing is a moment in which we see something that captures our eyes and turns into inspirations. We then take the inspiration and turn it into something. As mentioned in the article, inspiration is what leads to an artist producing a piece of art. In order to draw, paint, or photograph the artist must be inspired by something in order to produce something that is meaningful to them. Even if someone doesn’t consider himself or herself as a typical artist, we are all artists in some way. Regardless of what someone is passionate about, the passion that we pursue has some back-story, and typically is driven from inspiration. Inspiration can come from anything and anyone, it is that moment that we stop and deeply see what is laid in front of us, and run with it.

Inspiration comes in it’s own unique process. As human we are all different in many ways, and how we are inspired is no exception. “ Inspiration is the most mysterious step in the creative process.” (Grey 81) This idea of inspiration I believe helps contribute in finding one’s spirituality.  Finding something that inspires you allows you to look within side yourself and allows you to find peace within yourself.  “ Spirit brings vision to the artist via the imagination, the multidimensional media center of our minds.” (Grey 82)  In the article Grey discusses that art is a matter of inspiration that an artist achieves through a vision of spirit. While this mainly focuses on the painting, there are many forms in which a individual can express their inspiration and find that spirit within themselves.

In the first article, Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared, discusses the idea that people are actually not afraid but excited about a horror film. The second theory presented was that people are willing to endure terror for the sense of relief at the end of the movie. The two theories were then proved to be wrong by a study done by Eduardo Andrade and Joel Cohen. Andrade and Cohen argued that individuals are “happy to be unhappy.” They mentioned they idea that individuals can experience both negative and positive emotions simultaneously. This idea of both positive and negative emotions occurring simultaneously is shown by the idea of people actually enjoying being scared and not just the relief when the threat in a horror film is removed.

The idea that individuals can experience positive and negative emotions simultaneously, I found very interesting.  Carroll mentions, “ To a large extent, the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity.” I believe that this idea of horror films being driven explicitly by curiosity fits well with the idea expressed in this article with people experiencing both positive and negative emotions. Horror films take you through an emotional rollercoaster from thinking the characters on the film will make it alive, to then doubting the idea that the characters could be caught by the monster. In a horror film there is never enough time to return back to a calming state, because soon enough something will happen that will put you to the edge of your seats.

In the second article, Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them discusses the many theories of why some people enjoy horror films while others don’t.  One theory is the excitation transfer process, the appeal of the feeling after the movie. This theory is support by the works of Glenn Sparks, Ph.D, a professor and associate head at Purdue University. Sparks’ research found that people who have finished watching a horror film had an increase in their heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.  After the film is over the physiological arousal lingers, leading to a positive experience, which will cause emotions to be intensified, but the same can occur when a bad experience occurs. Another theory is gender socialization, that more males enjoy scary movies. This could be in part to the idea that men are socialized to be more brave and enjoy more threatening things, or that men derive social gratification for not letting a scary film get to them.  In one study it was found that men liked to watch a scary movie with a female who was scared and vice versa for females, who preferred to watch a scary film with a male who wasn’t scared.

These two articles both discuss the many reasons why individuals like to watch horror films.  The common thread between the two articles is the emotional rush individuals get when they watch a horror film.  Carroll supports this idea as well, “ The artistic presentation of normally aversive events and objects can give rise to pleasure or can compel our interests.”  (Carroll 276) This provides the idea that horror films spark some type of interest that intrigues an audience to follow the plot of a horror film. In other words as an audience we are curious as to the ways a horror film will try and scare their audience. Another idea is that the audience likes to follow the storyline of a horror film, as the first article mentioned people endure a horror film for the sense of relief at the end. As Carroll mentioned “Horror stories are often protracted series of discoveries: first the reader learns of the monster’s existence, then some characters do, then some more characters do and so on; the drama of iterated disclosure.” (Carroll 279)  As the plot continues on a horror film, the more suspenseful the film becomes and regardless of hoe scary the “monsters” may be the idea of knowing what could occur next in the film is sometimes a reassuring aspect. The more you get captured into the plot of a movie the more involved you are to any moment in the film that may cause some emotion during it. The film doesn’t even have to be a horror film to cause you to jump in the middle of the film. An example of this is last night my friends and I went and watched, The Life of Walter Mitty, at first we didn’t know what to expect from the movie, but it did a good job at grabbing the attention of the audience. There was one point in the film that Walter is in the ocean and is being screamed by some workers from a boat that help is on the way and to be careful because there are sharks.  We as an audience we warned about a shark making an appearance, but we all jumped in fear when all you saw were the sharp teeth of the shark going after Walter. That small moment in the film was enough to raise of heartbeat, but it didn’t take away from the film in any way. Though certain points in a film scare an individual whether they see it coming or not the idea of it not being real causes a sense of relief, but also allows for an imaginary escape when watching a film that may scare you.

 

University of Chicago Press Journals. (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 13, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

 

Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 14, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/

I decided to look closely at the 32:20-32:46 section in the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At this point in the episode one of the blonde characters had just left her room and was now walking outside. During this walk there was digetic sound, you could hear the characters footsteps as she walked along the grass. You then hear the sound of her tripping over the sidewalk then of her picking up all of her books that she dropped when she had tripped. You can also hear the noises that the books are making as they are being stacked onto one another. While she is picking up her books, she hears a clicking noise and begins to slowly turn her head; at that moment suspenseful music begins to play representing non-digetic sound.  The music starts slowly but as the character realizes what she sees and that she is in danger the music gets louder and more suspenseful.  The mise en scene of this section of the episode first indicates that it is night out. When the character is initially walking on the grass you can tell she is in some type of hurry and has a look of concern on her face that she looks behind her twice, the second time causing her to trip. As she is picking up her books the camera has all the focus her but in the blurry distance you see the gentlemen monsters. At the moment that she begins to hear the clicking noise behind her she has a very stunned look on her face. As she then begins to turn her head the camera is zoomed to where you can only see her face, as she recognizes that the monsters see her she grabs her things in a hurry, and at this moment the camera shifts blurring her out and focuses on the smiling gentlemen monsters.

I decided to choose this specific scene to demonstrate mise en scene, digetic sound, and non-digetic sound because I felt that is demonstrated each section appropriately in such a short scene. These examples demonstrated what the main point to the episode was, which was that these said gentlemen were monsters and were a danger to all. The most interesting part on this scene was that the blonde character did not initially scream, even though watching the other initial encounters of people with the gentlemen they had all screamed or produced a small gasp knowing that no one would be capable of hearing them. All three components were needed to fulfill the aesthetic of horror to the video. The sounds of her footsteps during the night gave a very eerie tone to the scene, as the audience you almost suspected something bad was going to happen to her. As the suspenseful music played as the character turned her head you knew that the gentlemen would see her and that the goose chase would begin for her heart. The way in which the camera angles focused on one character at a time added to the idea of horror and suspense as the audience knew what was about to occur before the character knew about her surroundings.

As a sit this morning at my coffee table next to the window watching as the snow trickles down to I try to reflect on how I dress and customize myself.   Right now at home I’m wearing an Oregon sweatshirt, black yoga pants, long gray polka dot socks, and slippers all just to keep myself warm. During the weeks of school I typically wear one of my blue jeans, with a nice sweater with a scarf usually, I always wear some type of boot that I own either knee high, ankle boots, or UGG boots. I typically wear my hair down, it’s the one feature that most know me by. I always wear makeup when at school; it’s become a habit of mine over the years really. As for accessories, I always have to wear earrings even though at most times no one can tell I’m wearing them because my curly hair gets in the way. Another piece of jewelry that rarely comes off is a butterfly ring that was given to me from my mom for my fifteenth birthday. In my culture turning fifteen is a major stepping-stone; the ring is a constant reminder of my culture and how important it is to me.

I make the choices I do, first to feel comfortable in my own skin. It has taken me time to accept my body and be happy with myself. What I wear is just another way to express myself; I love color so you’ll always see me with a pop of color. I don’t wear clothing that is too revealing, I was once in that stage in high school where I thought that showing skin was a good idea. I thought that I needed to impress people, but as I have gotten older I realize there is no need for that and the only person to dress for is myself. I try to look presentable everyday especially since I work in an office setting I never want to walk-in looking unprepared. As for wearing makeup, I feel the most comfortable with it. When I was younger I had skin issues and was always self-conscious about it, so when I was allowed to wear makeup I used it so I would be happy at looking myself in the mirror. Over the years I have changed the way in which a dress, it wasn’t until high school that I began to wear my hair down. Before then I hated my curly hair because I didn’t look like every other girl. I always had it up but in high school that was when I realized that it was fine to not look like everyone else and that my curly hair made me unique.  I also wear contacts, all through elementary I wore glasses and I hated it so once I was old enough I got contacts. To this day I still wear contacts everyday, I never liked how I looked in glasses and I hated that I needed to wear them. It wasn’t until this year actually that I started to feel more comfortable wearing them in public.

One of the strongest values we hold as a family is being a hard worker. My parents have worked since they were little, since they had to provide for their family. During the week you would never see my parents dresses up, they were always in the work clothes. Usually their old tshirts and jeans, my dad worked in the woods cutting down trees so he would always come home covered in debris and dirt. Now he works as a construction worker and he always comes home with something all over his clothes. That’s how we know he was as at work. On the weekends my parents would dress in their nicer clothes. Weekends were when as a family we would go out. Saturday night we always went to church so we always would dress up for that, my mom always made sure that my brother and I looked nice.

Most of my friends dress as any other students.  None of them have tattoos, but they all have ear piercings. One of my coworkers has tattoos on both of his arms, and he has always expressed how he will eventually want a sleeve. I find it quite interesting since you won’t necessarily think of him having tattoos. How my peers dress or any body adornment is in some way difficult to determine just what their beliefs and values are. While what you wear is another way to express yourself there is also so much more to what you wear and what body adornment you may or may not have that defines you.

Even though I put thought into what I wear, and how I wear things I am constantly thinking of how people perceive me. For me it’s difficult not to care, I’ve always had people criticizing me about how I look and such. So I know what it is like to be judged and categorized by what you wear, based on appearance alone. I’m not saying that I don’t do the same to others but I try not too because I know the feeling.

Person #1 was a male with medium length black hair. He had some stubble as facial hair and he was also had black gauges. He was wearing a black, gray, and purple flannel shirt with a black graphic t-shirt, with blue jeans that on the bottom you could see were torn and ratted. He did though, have nice gray boot like shoes. He was sitting at a table with his Mac laptop with a textbook. The Mac book had stickers on it, including the state of Oregon with a red heart in the middle, a I love beer, and a anchor like design sticker.  From my own assumptions I would think that he is in his early twenties.  I believe that the values and beliefs of person #1 are strong, even though is appearance looked a little grungy he was taking time to what it looked like to me, homework or studying. I could tell from that small moment that he cared about his classes; he looked tired so he might not have gotten much sleep the night before. Since it’s midterms I could see how tired and stressed he appeared to be at the moment, health wise it looked as if he could get more sleep but we’re students we don’t run on much sleep to begin with.

Person #2 was a female with brunette hair with curling iron waves.  She was wearing a teal blazer with a white blouse, jeans, and black heals.  She has make up on, foundation, blush, mascara, eye liner, and eye shadow.  Accessory wise I could tell she was wearing earrings, she was though was a fairly large fashionable ring on her right index finger.  She was conducting what it looked like interviews, once one interview was over she pulled out a tablet from her nice beige purse, she then made a phone call on her iphone as well before starting the next interview.  She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and from the looks of it was not a student.  You could tell she was very well put together in the sense of wearing a blazer but pairing it with jeans and heels gave her the laid back kind of vibe. It also seemed she would be one who is outgoing by the seems of her big fashionable ring that screamed for attention.

Person #3 was a male with brown hair on the shorter side. He has a good sculpted beard and also wore black glasses. He was wearing a jean long sleeve topped by a dress sweater with the collar of the jean shirt sticking out. On top of that he wore a black north face rain jacket. On the bottom he wore grayish khaki jeans with nice oxford style shoes with navy polka dot socks. He also wore a very nice looking watch.  From the way he dresses it would appear that he is in his mid-twenties. He seems to care much about how he presents himself to others, so what he wears is something he must put work into.  By the look of his outfit I believe that himself and his family are fairly wealthy, I say this due to the quality of his watch and shoes.

From just appearance it is hard for me to generalize their values and beliefs, in order to determine what those are to someone, I have to get to know them in order to do so.  As described in the reading “ People use appearance to place each other into categories, which aid in the anticipation and interpretation of behavior, and to make decisions about how best to coordinate social activities. “ (Sanders 1)  It is easier to make assumptions about someone based on their appearance than how values and beliefs are demonstrated.  Assumptions that can be made based on appearance can be whether the person is happy or sad, if they can be taken seriously or not, are they stuck up or easy going just to name a few things that can be assumed by someone’s appearance.

In the article by Gopnik, “ The Big Debate: Can Food Be Serious Art” goes back and forth describing the concept that food is art as well as food is not art. To every con in the debate there is a pro describing why food can be considered art. Some of Gopnik’s reasoning that food is not considered art are there is no left over once it is gone, only a few can experience fine food, it doesn’t go beyond the basic sensory pleasures. On the other side of the debate the reasoning behind the idea that food is art is equivalent to food being capable of expressing culture, ethnicity, history, and politics. The counter argument that fine food can only be experienced by only a few is that the same can be said about some of the most famous works of art. An example of this from the article, “ Fewer than 8,000 of their contemporaries ever heard most of what Bach or Mozart wrote.” (Gopnik 2009)

Two aspects that both Gopnik and Tefler mention in both of their articles is the idea that food cannot go beyond the sense of smell and taste. As Tefler writes, “Food and drink can sometimes constitute works of art of a kind peculiar to themselves, appealing mostly to the senses of taste and smell. “ (Tefler 17)Both Gopnik and Tefler on one side hold sides that food does not serve a purpose more than satisfying the senses. Gopniks other side of the argument claims that food serves the purpose of having the ability to talk about history, culture, ethnicity, and politics. This idea of food reaching all different parts of the world also goes along with the video of fast food. Even though the fast food video mentions all of the chemicals that can be found in fast food, it also introduces one of the biggest fast food chain restaurants, McDonalds. McDonalds being one of the biggest fast food franchises has reached many different places in the world. In a way globalization has been conquered with this fast food, as Gopnik explains food can talk about culture, and in this day fast food restaurants and chains play such a role in today’s culture and how many think of food, regardless if they agree with it or not.

Another point of food as art from both articles is the role food plays to all individuals. As Tefler mentions, food serves the purpose of relieving hunger and providing nourishment. Another opinion from the article claims. “Nothing useful deserves to count as work of art.”(Tefler 18) Gopnik supports this idea in which he discusses that food is too functional and cannot serve as serious art. In the counterargument it is described that paintings, photos, and videos all serve their own functional purposes.  Both sides of this argument both describe the idea of food and its function to all individuals. Where food does serve the purpose of relieving hunger and providing nourishment, it can also serve the purpose as mentioned above to history, culture, and ethnicity just to mention a few. The functional reasons to video, photo, and paintings also serve to talk about history, culture, and ethnicity as well. The only difference between the two aspects is that for the most part individuals can spend hours just sitting there and eat their food and be social with their family and friends. As Gopnik mentions while a “meal is just one thing after another” (Gopnik 2009) also talks about how in order for individuals to stay in their seat when watching a movie or at a concert there must be some type of narrative or plot to grab the attention of the audience in order to keep them in their seats.

One aspect that is interesting that Gopnik makes in his article is that “Food never manages to be descriptive or critical.” (Gopnick 2009) He then proposes the question that no other art form threatens its audience as cooking does.  While Tefler expresses another idea of how food corresponds to society. It is expressed that, “Food does not represent anything else, as most literature and visual art does. Representational arts-painting and literature- as telling us something about the world and ourselves.” (Tefler 24) In both aspects of the purpose of food and how it challenges an individual differs. In one idea it is claimed that food threatens its audience more than a dance or painting in that an individual can turn away in disgust, but with food it balances the enjoyment, disgust, satisfaction, excess and a bit of fear as well. This idea that food can or cannot represent anything is something that is up to the individual and the way in which they see the world to begin with.

After reading both articles I have concluded that food is art, just like a painting, photo, or video is. All aspects have the ability to bring everyone closer, to learn about different cultures, politics, ethnicities, and history all in one.

Gopnik, B. (2009, Sept 23). “The Big Debate: Can Food Be Serious Art?” The Washington Post. Retrieved form http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092203137.html

Tefler, E. (2002). Food as Art. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.