When I see this week’s topic “ Art, Technology and Games”, I have lots of words to say about games. Because I have many friends like play games, they always play that all day without rest, just like addicted to it. So I think people who like playing games are crazy. However, in the video from TED talk by Jane McGonigal, she is game designer, she believes that people spend 3 billion hours a week on playing games is not enough, we need spend 21 billion hours on playing games every week, that is motivate people to face difficulties and try to solve these problems. However, I do not agree with her opinion, because I cannot see this spirituality from my friends, they are also game players, but they are lazy and crazy! So, I do not believe playing games can bring a good future for them. My question is “What types of games can not make people addicted playing games?“

1.How do you define “spirituality”?

In my opinion, spirituality is means concern with things of the spirit. That is usually used for describe people’s belief, such as people have the spirit of perseverance, positive enterprising spirit, and so on. Otherwise, that is also can be used to describe people’s personal value. For example, some people put the focus on family life, such as some housewives. So in their view, the spiritual pillar of the family is that they all have, so this also is their personal value. Thus, this is my idea about the spirituality.

2.Does spirituality differ from religion?

I think spirituality is different from religion, because in my opinion, although spirituality is a kind of belief, there is no rule that you must strictly follow one and only one thought that prevails, you can create your own spirituality. Because different people have different backgrounds and they are raised in different areas, so they must be different with each other, which are why they have different religions. However, spirituality is not totally same with the religion, because people’s spirit is can be same, no matter where are they come from, such as two people, they are both have the spirit of perseverance, many people have this spirit, so that is the most different between spirituality and religion.

3.How do you define “creativity”?

In my opinion, creativity is means people have abilities to create something. I think creativity is shows your own works, which should be different from others. If you want to create you have to get rid of all conditionings, otherwise, your creativity will be nothing but copying. I always think about a question, what would I do differently if I had the time and energy to tap into my creativity? Because I think everyone has his/her inherent ability of creativity can be found, so we need to exercise ourselves more, think more and get more creation.

4.What is the source of creativity?

I think our life is have a lot of material can support people to create more things. A lot of artists’ creative inspiration is derived from the life around. However, in general, the most simple, that people don’t notice things can give people a lot of inspiration to create new things. So people should learn from the things around to find the different parts, and combine with their own ideas, it is a good way to exercise people’s creativity. Thus, I think the best source of creativity is from people’s life.

In my opinion, artists often have a lot of inspiration, they will take inspiration in their works, make their work more spirituality. Their inspiration is usually based on what happened around and see people or things, they observed the angle is not the same with us, what we see is usually very plain, but they often think of the deeper meaning, which is why artists have more inspiration than we do. In the article “Deeply Seeing”, the author, Grey states, “artists need to be able to see on each level in order to bring technical beauty, archetypal beauty, and spiritual beauty to their work” (P.73). That means artists always want to bring spiritual things from their life to their works, such as beauty things. They want to through this to make their works more spiritual and let more people like their works. Otherwise, he mentions “Inspiration means access to spirit. Spirit brings vision to the artist via the imagination, the multidimensional media center of our minds” (Grey, P82). The author points out that artists’ spirit is come from some images and from lots of social media. So that tell us everything happens in our side is can be a good idea or a inspiration for artists. I think that is true, because my painting teacher always tell me that when you see an apple, you should know which part of the apple is shaded, and which part of apple is brighter than other side, when you know that you can draw the apple well. I always remember that words, because I think even artists have more inspirations than us, but they are still learning from the beginning, from the students to a good artist. Thus, when people become sensitive about the things happened around them, they will have more inspirations, and they will become more creative.

Citation:

Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp. 205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.

Article 1:

In the article “You Asked: Is Scaring Myself Healthy?” the author Heid, Markham states that, a scare movie can bring more treats than tricks for most people. He provides lots of examples to support his opinions, for example, he says, “When you’re freaked out, your body also starts pumping out a bonding chemical called oxytocin–the same hormone. This can make a frightful experience a fantastic way to solidify friendships and other social relationships”. The author believes that people who is scared by horrible games or movies is good for their body, it also good for their social relationships while they play some horrible games with friends. So, Heid claims that people scared by horrible games or movies is good for their healthy. In the article “Why Horror?” Carroll states, “The disclosure of the existence of the horrific being and of its properties is the central source of pleasure in the genre”. That means the author believes that when people face to some horrible things, they are not only feel scared, but also feel happy. Because they’re subconscious is to enjoy the feeling of fear. Thus, from this two articles, I believe that to some extent, scary games or movies is good for people’s healthy and their emotions.

Sources:

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge.

Heid, M. (2014). You Asked: Is Scaring Myself Healthy?. Time.Com, 1. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=25520ebeda874db4a7c047dda51035db%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4101&bdata=JmxvZ2luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=99130742

Article 2:

In the article “Why do people like Horror Movies”, the author Radwan states that people like watching scary movies is because that make them feel good. The author says that the reason why people enjoy being scared is because in that horror movies, they are not in danger, the heroes in the movies are in the danger, so they are totally safe. So, they can boost their self-esteem from the scary movies. In addition, Radwan claims that some people like watching horror movies is because they want to prove they are brave. That is kind of challenge for themselves. Thus, the author believes that people love horror movies is not just because they like, there are many factors lead them to watch scary movies. Otherwise, in the article “Why Horror?” the author Carroll illustrates that horror story “engages its audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation”. That means people like horror movies and stories is because they want to know what is horror, why some people feel scared and the main reason is because they want to confirm that they are not being scaring by the horror things, they want to prove they are brave, and make them become more confidence. Therefore, from this two article, I learned that people like to watch horror movies is not only because of love, there are many other reasons, I think the main reason is that they want to through watching horror movies to prove their abilities, to prove that they brave than others.

Sources:

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge.

Radwan, M.F. Why do people like Horror Movies. Retrieved from http://www.2knowmyself.com/why_do_people_like_horror_movies

Non-diegetic example: in the Hush Buffy the vampire episode, when the guy kissing the girl in the classroom at 1:30 in the video, the girl said “..that’s strange…”, and then there has some strange sounds and music happened at that time, but that cannot seen, just can be heard, so I think that is a kind of non-diegetic sound. And this kind of sound is a little creepy and wired. But this kind of music is link to the next plot, because in the next plot, there is a girl appeared in Buffy’s dream, So I think this is a good connection in that story. Thus, from this kind of non-diegetic sounds is good to make the plot become horrible, and attracts audience’s interests.

Diegetic sound example: I think in this video, the diegetic sounds is appears in the 2:20 in the video, when the girl went out from the classroom, she saw a girl standing over the end of the lobby, and singing a song, at that moment, I guess that girl is a ghost, because this is a similar plot in lots of horror movies. The little girl wearing red clothes and standing there, just like she wearing the ‘Blood’ clothes, that’s makes me scared, so I think when the diegetic sounds appears in the horror movies, people can see the frames and pictures. I think that is more horrible that non-diegetic sounds.

Mise-en-scene example: I think the mise-en-scene is happened in the 44:15 in the video, because the frame is move from the Buffy and that guy fight with ghost to Buffy with that girl walking in the campus, so I think this is a sign for audiences that the plot is moving to a new story. But I think that is moving too fast, because I think that after the fight, Buffy and that man maybe have a talk, but the video plot is just move to another plot. However, this is also a good transition of the plot. But this is not make me feel scared.

If someone ask me what is my favorite cloth or what kind of shoes style I like, I think it is not a simple question, and I cannot answer that immediately. Because I think people’s aesthetic vision is constantly changing with age, like the style of dress would be changed all the time, especially for girls. Although my style of dress will always change, but I also have my own values, such as most of the clothes in my closet are black, because I think black clothes is relatively simple, I was a very nasty troublesome person, so I like wearing clothes with a simple color. Otherwise, I believe that black clothes can be applied to various occasions, very convenient and very practical, and the black clothes seemed more formal. Compared to black, I do not like those red or bright yellow color, it may be because I think that light-colored clothes are easy to get others’ attention. But I’m not like a social person, and I’m not good at talking to people on the road, so to some extent, a black dress is also very easy to ‘hide’ yourself. However, although I like wearing black color clothes, I also change the style of my dress all the time. When I was in middle school, I like all kind of clothes with flowers. I think most of the girls in that age will love this type of clothes, because that is pretty cute! In addition, When I was in high school, I like to wear school uniforms, because in China, high school student are very busy, basically they do not have enough time to rest, they have to constantly doing exercises, in order to be admitted to a good university. So there is no time for me to choose clothes, school uniforms are the most convenient choice at that period.

In my family, my parents have totally different opinions on their dress. My mom like to wearing kind of simple clothes, that is similar with me. Most of clothes she have are just three kind of colors, they are black, white, and grey. And she does not like to wear dresses; because she think dresses are not convenient for her to do housework. So she rarely wears skirts at home, unless go out with her friends. In addition, my mother does not like to buy expensive clothes to wear, because she believes that $200 clothes quality is not much better that $20 clothes, so she prefers to buy the cheaper one. However, my father is prefer light-colored clothes, although he is over 45 years old, he still likes wearing pink, blue, and other light colors clothes. Because he is a businessman, he always says that he wears those color of clothes can give a good impression for his business partners. Otherwise, his character is very lively, which is why he likes bright clothes. Thus, from my parents dress style, I know that my mother is a quiet person, it is similar with me, and her dress can expresses her value and beliefs. But my father is an active person just like his dress. So, their personalities are complementary, which is why they can live together.

In my peer community, they are like to wear confortable clothes, like T-shirts and shorts just like their characters. Because in the United States, students are wearing very casual, they usually wearing short-shorts or pants, this is because they all love sports, so they do not like to wear jeans everyday, because that is not suitable for fitness, so they are usually choose comfortable clothes. In fact, they are not care about the dress, but the their bodies. However, in my core community, girls are like to attend the weekend parties, then they will dress up, at that time, they will look very mature. But in the campus they will restore their original comfortable dress, they said this dress more suitable for students. So I think they can arrange a good time to learn and play. They are enjoying the play when playing, but in the learning time, they are very serious. So, I think in my peer community, their dress is good to express their value and beliefs.

All in all, my value and belief is simple and comfortable, my dress is easy to express my value and belief. So I think that if you want to know others, watching their dress is a good way to know their first. From people’s dress can know their value and beliefs, maybe that is not totally correct, but it is the most direct and fastest way to know someone you want to know, besides talking with that person.

The first person I saw was in the Knight Library, he was very tall and handsome, he stood in the print room and scan his books, he is wearing a green T-shirt and jeans, when I see him I feel that I’m living in the summer, probably because the heat in the library is higher, so he just wore little clothes. I think he’s wearing is represents the traditional American students wearing style. I think his value should be casual, clean, and he studied in the library, so I think he is also like to learn, and must be a good student.

The second person I saw was an Asian girl, I saw her stood in front of Duck Store. The reason why I noticed her was because that day was very cold, I was wearing a thick coat, but she was wearing a miniskirt, and silk stockings, and she has very thick makeup. She looked very tall, the clothes she wearing were all famous brand, and there is a Mercedes key in her left hand, and she hold a cigarette on her right hand. I think she is very rich, but her value is not good. I feel that kind of wearing style is not like a student. So I think her value has some problem, and her behavior is not positive and not healthy.

The third person I saw was on the street. That was a teenage boy; he looked like 15 years old. His head with big headphones, he was listening music while dancing with the music, sometimes he also followed the music singing, he looked pretty enjoy listening music. I think his value is positive and healthy, because he looked very happy and his behavior is positive.

In the article “Can Food Be Art?” the author Andrea Borghini from three aspects to show that why food and art are close and they cannot be separate. First, he states that art can be saved for years or even centuries, but the food is consumables, it cannot be saved for a long time. When people finish eating, food does not exist. So, food is hard to be shared and preserved by people. However, the author also claims that art is through analyzing some experiences to make it be accepted by people, it does not depend on time period. So, even food is saved with short time, it still can be remembered by some people, because of its taste. It is Just like people listening music, some people who are really like music also can remember a short music. Second, Borghini points out that eating food is similar with see artworks. When you appreciate art, they might change some of your views, just like eating different flavors, that will break your taste, give you a lot of new flavors. That’s why food is related with art. Third, the author says hat different food have different meanings. Borghini gives some points to show that food is contain several meanings, such as chocolate, different people bring chocolate do not have the same meaning. The chocolate does not have any meanings, but the people who are carry it is the key point, so to some extent, the key meaning is from people, not from the food. It is like artworks, the painting is not having specific meaning if no one to explain the story, and share the experience about that painting. Therefore, food and art is similar, they are both need external effects to make them special.

After read this article, I think Borghini’s ideas are more specific to explain why food can be art. When I read the article “What is Art for”, I just know some general concept about art, because in that article Dissanayake states that art is important, it included “all of human history, all human societies, it is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological or emotional effects”(p.15). When I read the article, I do not think that art contains food. In my opinion, art is can be regarded as cultural, history, and society. These aspects always are mentioned with artworks. Otherwise, from the article “What is Art for?” I also learned that art is “as normal as natural as language, sex, sociability, aggression, or any of the other characteristics of human nature”(Dissanayake, p.15). So, art is also related with human’s language and human’s natural. Thus, from this article, I cannot know that food is also a form of art; I still think art is high standard for people, not everything can be regarded as art. In addition, Dissanayake mentions three theories of art. First is the man-centered concern, which was developed in the medieval times. Second, modernism, which was developed in the 19th century. Third, postmodernism, it means art is interpretation. The author list three different periods to explain the art meaning to let people aware of the importance of the art.

However, after I read the article “Is Food Art?” I changed my mind, because in this article, Telfer mentions, “if the distinction between craft and art is based on the degree of creativeness, some cookery can still qualify as an art”(p.16). This sentence is to support that cookery is also an art craft, it also support that food can be another form of art. The reason why the author thinks that food is also can be regard as art is that she believes that food is contains people’s emotions. In here article, she says, “cooking can in one sense be an expression of emotion, a cook can cook as an act of love, as we have seen, or out of the joy of living”(p.26). Before I read this article I do not believe that food is include people’s love and emotions, because I think that is always appear in the TV shows and other cooking programs. However, after read this article, I totally changed my mind. Due to Telfer in her article “Is Food Art?” points out lots of examples to support that cooking is contains human’s emotions and love, that makes me remember my mother always cook food for me, those food are all including my mother’s love. Otherwise, the writer also want through this article to let people know more things about art, and tell the readers food is an important part of art, and they are close.

Citations:

Borghini, A. Philosophy Expert. Can Food Be Art? Retrieved from: http://philosophy.about.com/od/Philosophical-Theories-Ideas/a/Can-Food-Be-Art.htm

Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote adresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

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.