Artifact 1

Lewis, H. (1990). A Question of Values: Six Ways We Make the Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives. Axios Press.

Artifact 2

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.

Artifact 3

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.

Artifact 4

Sanders, C. R. (1989). Introduction: Body Alteration, Artistic Production, and the Social World of Tattooing. In Customizing the Body (Chap. 1). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Objectives-Remixing Culture

Objectives:

• Explore the psychological and emotional curiosity for and impact of horror art on individuals and society
• Analyze the unique aesthetic qualities of horror art
• Understand and utilize some basic principles of film and television analysis

Original Post:

Some people do not know why I really like the horror movies. Why is the horror movies interested a lot of people? I think the reason is unlike most of the love movies, I can guess what will happen and what the end of the story is; but you will never know what will happen in the next second in the horror movies. The horror movies do not like other movies that have an approach from beginning to the end. The reason that the horror movies are different from the others is because it is easy to make the unreal story real. Just like what Carroll said in his article “the pleasure derived from the horror fiction and the source of our interest in it resides, first and foremost, in the processes of discovery, proof, and confirmation that horror fiction often employ”(Carroll P277). Base on his opinion, he believes that the process of looking for horror moment is the most attractive part for us.

In Anthony’s article “Why do we watch horror films”? He says “Some people want to watch something that addresses their archetypal fears, while others just want to go along for the psychological ride.” In his article, he first tells us what the basic of horror is. “We put ourselves in situations to be scared because we want to understand what our population fears as a whole, according Paul J. Patterson, PhD, an assistant professor of English and co-director of Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Studies at Saint Joseph’s University.” Then he tells us the reason that people like to watch the horror films. Base on his articles, he believes that people like the horror movies is because horror films gives viewers a psychological ride. “In the real world, people simultaneously can experience happiness and sadness, exhilaration and anxiety…people enjoy excitement, even if it’s from a negative source, otherwise, things could be pretty dull…People who seek higher levels of arousal thoroughly enjoy the response — heightened feelings of awareness — their bodies have to intense experiences.” I really agree with the point he mention. In our lives, most of people never see a serial killer or something scared them and people are not familiar with fear. This is the best point that the horror movies create. I think we should not only enjoy the feeling that we can enjoy in our daily life but also some higher level of arousal thoroughly. High sensation-seekers enjoy levels of arousal higher than that of low sensation-seekers. This is typically caused by two things: testosterone and the body’s response to the neurotransmitter dopamine.  There is a horror movie “paranormal activity”, which talk about some scared events happened around people who live in a house. This movie is famous, because the place in the movie is just like where we live and we are familiar with it. Some things happen around people without any reason will scare people and this is what we want when we are watching the horror movies.

Another thing he points out in his article is the way to overcome the fear of the horror films. “By understanding that the films are acted out, and that all of the blood, guts, and gore are only special effects, you might be able to enjoy them a bit more. No one’s arm is being sawed off. It  is a special effect. People are not being maimed. These are actors.” This is a good way to help those people who are not enjoying in the horror movies to start to look at it. People should believe all the things that happen in the film is not true and all of these things are act by actors. Then people will not pay too much attention on those scared things and really enjoy the horror films.

Reflection:

In this week’s assignment I learned the meaning of several terms related to horror movie, such as “non-diegetic sound, diegetic sound, and mise-en-scene”. I also learn several ways can enhance the dramatic effects of a certain scene. For example, Buffy episode, when the girl gets her voice back and screams very loud and long. During this part, the girl’s voice break up all the monsters and just like a voice of victory(Buff Episode). This example told me about what is diegetic sound, it is the voice of the character herself and the sound source can be seen on the screen. During the time when I was doing the research of horror, I understand the reason why I enjoy watching horror movies. According to Carroll’s article, “The impossible being does disgust; but that disgust is part of an overall narrative address which is not only pleasurable, but whose potential pleasure depends on the confirmation of the existence of the monster as a being that violates, defies, or problematizes standing cultural classifications. Thus, we are attracted to and many of us seek out, horror fictions of this sort despite the fact that they provoke disgust” (284). Everyone want to find some exciting thing to do and people will feel excited when they are watching horror movies.

Like what I said in my post, people love horror movie is because people enjoy being scared in a controlled situation. Also, people may feel curious about something that never happen in the real world and they would like to have a similar experience through movie. That is why horror movies are so popular.

 Future:

In the future, I think I will use what I learn in class to analyze the film, such as to discuss the use of “non-diegetic sound, diegetic sound, and mise-en-scene” and how they enhance the dramatic effects of the film. During the horror film, I will not only enjoy the horror but also try to understand why the horror film make people sacred and think about if there is a better way for the director to express their feeling about horror.

Anthony, R. (2013. Oct 22). Why do we watch horror films? Medical Daily.Retrieved from http://www.medicaldaily.com/why-do-we-watch-horror-films-some-want-understand-archetypal-fears-while-others-crave-psychological

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.

This is my first time notice that there are two paintings in the library although I usually go to library. Each time when I walk though the painting, I do not pay any attention on it. However, this time, I stopped at those two pictures and looked at it really carefully. I do not want to miss any detail about those paintings. The first painting I saw was Development of Arts mural and I was really interested about this painting. The Mural consists of a tree and its branches break up the different periods of time. It contained different elements and told us about the development of arts. It showed us that in different period of time, the artists would use different ways to tell other people what they were thinking. I think this kind of painting is public art because everyone is allowed to see it. Student can go to library anytime they want and enjoy the paintings. Just like what Doss said in her article Public Art Controversy “public art is as diverse as the people who view it.” Thankfully, our campus has the pleasure of being able to display great pieces of art and the library is not the only place that we get to see the creations of great artists.

I was grew up in China and my father owns an art gallery. When I was young, I usually went to the gallery and played with those artists. So art was a big part of my life, when I looked at some public art, I would consider what is the meaning of the art. I really agree with Doss idea “public art was a form of civic improvement and could help generate a shared sense of civic and national identity”(Doss 4). This opinion really explain why we need public art and what does the public art mean to people. This kind of art allow people to remember the civic of that area and people will never forget how hard their ancestors work. There was a big bull sculpture in Shenzhen. In China the bull represent the pioneer of that city and the sculpture is to remind people to work as those pioneers – hardworking and never give up. The public art allows you to see what members of your community are able to create with their own thoughtful thinking. Doss also brings up, “Public art is seen as a solution to the problem of placelessness, especially in its ability to remedy social alienation and generate a sense of civic and community identity”(Doss 5). In 1950s, the biggest problem in Jiangxi, the middle part in China, was corruption. The government did not work for the citizen but for money. At that time, all the young people want to become a member of government so that they do not need to work hard. However, after several years, president Mao found out this problems and gave some reification actions. In 1960, there was a cat sculpture built in front of the government building. ( In Chinese culture, those people who work for money are mice. The cat tells the people who work for the government should not be the mouse because there is a cat in front of the building and the cat will eat the mouse anytime.)

In my opinion, public art is not only a beautiful picture but also have a huge impact on building a community. The public art shows in various aspects relate to the development of civilization and the diversity of human culture. People will be influenced by the public art. Just as Doss said, “as an instrument of public conversation, public art can become a catalyst for civic and national revitalization. Often because it is controversial, public art can play a central role in shaping and directing community identity” (Page 10). I believe that the public art has more to offer than what people would expect.

Reference

Doss, E. (2006, October). Public art controversy: Cultural expression and civic debate. Retrieved from http://www.americansforthearts.org/pdf/networks/pan/doss_controversy.pdf

Key words:

1. Creativity
2. Belief
3. Imagination
4. Version
5. Love
6. Patience
7. Talent
8. Quiet
9. Passion
10. Freedom

In the presentation “Law That Choke Creativity”, I am touched by the three stories that the speaker Lawrence Lessig talked about. In the first one, he showed that “the culture moved from this read-write to read-only existence” (Lessig, TED). He told us the negative results how these advanced machine block human creativity. In the second one, he stated that “common sense revolts at the idea” (Lessig, TED). This is true in most of our daily life, that our creativity is limited by some traditional rules or regulation, thus some novel thoughts may face pressure when bring out. He also indicated that “we cannot make our kids passive again, and we can only make them, quote, “pirates” (Lessig, TED).  I think remix is a better way for us to be more creative since we can be motived by multiple ways or methods. However, I am not sure if advanced technology will replace the human minds and slow down our speed of creativity, but I do think that remix can make us in a better life if we can make through it by using our mind efficiently.

1.Correctly identify the primary thesis of  “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins”

In Beverly Jones’s article she mention “Computer Graphics: Effects of origins” is that how past art patterns influence the evolution of the formation of computer graphics, and how computer graphics and current art combines to influence the history and cultural bases of computer graphics. She says “It is a premise of this paper that old cultural patterns do not die. They may fade or become more evident: that is, they may be de-emphasized or emphasized”(Jones 51). This shows that there might be some difference between modern art and past but there inside meaning will not be changed. All of the arts still have their main ideas in it. The only difference between the nowadays and the past is the way the artists show their meaning.

2.Identify one of the three historical examples Jones provides as an illustration of her thesis.

One of the historical examples is “in the 1940s analog computers were used to generate the earliest computer graphics and display them on oscilloscopes”.  Obviously, the technology in the past influence current technology a lot. In the past, for computer graphics, “these graphics were phase forms presented as events rather than as static images.” That is totally different with current technology of computer graphics. However, it affects our current technology a lot. Because of those technologies in the past developed, so we can have totally different technology working for us now.

3.Provide a compelling and accurate illustration of Jones’ thesis at work in today’s culture.

I think the most compelling and accurate illustration of Jones’ thesis at work in current culture is that the artist can use the high-technology to express their ideas, they have more ways to create their works than the past. Before the computer graph coming out, the art project can only be expressed in paper, sculpture form, and the raw materials are always derived from oil. Thus, traditional art work may increase the dependence on our un-renewable energy resources. I found an interesting example of modern art that has the similar meaning as Jones’ thesis, which is computer animation. “The image is created by means of 3D computer graphics, though 2D computer graphics are still widely used for low bandwidth and faster real-time rendering needs (Science Daily). This technique is identical to how the illusion of movement is achieved with television and motion pictures. Currently, computer animation is essentially another form of art works in today’s culture. It follows the energy consideration of traditional art, also it can produce more mobile and vivid aspects into art project, and bring audience a new version of art world.

Computer Animation. Science Daily.2013  http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/c/computer_animation.htm

Jones, B. J. (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins. LEONARDO: Digital Image –Digital Cinema Supplemental Issue, pp. 21-30.