Everything is a Remix

Interesting talk on remixing

Gold Tomato Soup by Bill Claps

Pulp Fiction

Genre Blending

McLuhan, Kpop, and Media Theory

Screen Play

The Graduate

MRS. ROBINSON

Oh. I guess this isn't the bathroom, is it?

BEN

It's down the hall.

They stand for a moment, loocking at each other.

MRS. ROBINSON

How are you, Benjamin?

BEN

Fine, thank you. The bathroom is down at the end of the hall.

Mrs. Robinson moves into the room and sits on the edge of the bed.

BEN

Look, Mrs. Robinson, I don't mean to be rude but -

Mrs. Robinson takes a cigarette from her purse and lights it.

MRS. ROBINSON

Is there an ashtray in here?

BEN

No.

MRS. ROBINSON

Oh - I forgot. The track star doesn't smoke.

She blows out the match and puts it down carefully on the bedspread. Ben picks up a wastebasket, walks over to the bed, picks up the match and puts it in the wastebasket.

MRS. ROBINSON

Is it a girl?

BEN

Is what a girl?

MRS. ROBINSON

Whatever it is you're upset about.

BEN

Oh - no. I'm just sort of disturbed about things.

MRS. ROBINSON

In general.

BEN

That's right.

There is a long pause.

MRS. ROBINSON

Benjamin, I want to ask you something.

BEN

What?

MRS. ROBINSON

Will you take me home?

BEN

What?

MRS. ROBINSON

My husband took the car. Will you drive me home?

Ben reaches into his pocket and hands Mrs. Robinson a set of car keys.

BEN

Here - you take it.

Mrs. Robinson looks at him.

BEN

Do you know how to work a foreign shift?

Mrs. Robinson shakes her head.

BEN

You don't?

MRS. ROBINSON

No.

(there is a pause)

BEN

Let's go.

She throws the keys to him. He catches them.



Characters
Props
Sets

Camera
Lights
Sound

Howl

Throughout our daily lives technology is more than drastically apparent. Our days are now spent tracking and recording our lives than we actually spend living them. Our phones are always by our sides and very few tasks aren’t somehow supplemented without some sort of “app”. 

As kids our generation was not so reliant on technology. Playing with actual toys instead of video game apps or having to rewind the vhs tape before watching it are all things kids of this generation are not going to experience half as much as we did if not at all. There is a separation between these two generations that will never be gapped, even my little sister who is only four years younger than me will not experience many of the traditions us “90’s kids” cherish.

Our generation experienced the gap between a semi digital and full digital world. I believe this will define us as a generation because we have experienced all the advancements in technology but are still able to relate back to a time when technology was not as prevalent. This allows us to view things in a subjective way and fully evaluate the need for all this technology. Personally I believe that technology is a great thing, especially at this school I believe lots of people would agree with that statement. But regardless of that fact I often finding myself wondering what life would be like if I never had a Facebook or the internet or a cell phone. Things would not be more difficult I would say but they would be drastically less accessible and less efficient. But who says that is a bad thing. I remember going to the library as a kid to do research for a school project. We would check out books to find facts, take notes and make posters. Now all you have to do is a quick google search and copy paste into a PowerPoint. I think that there is a lot of value in both of these methods. I still prefer to take hand written notes because the action of writing things down helps me remember them. 

In Class 9/10/13

A genre is a way to classify or categorize stories, wither it be movies, music, books etc. The plot, characters and other elements of the story go into the classification of a genre. The time period also very often plays a role in the type of genres that are created.

The effect of a genre may allow you to stereotype and limit yourself to separate genres. You may not have liked Sci-Fi movies but that doesn’t mean you are going to dislike all Sci-Fi movies.

These movies no longer can just be classified around just one genres, most movies now need two or three because movies can span over so many different genres.

Mystery as a genre has now transformed more into crime solving than mystery. 

Genre evolves with the time and the environment you are living in.

The genres have basic formulas that define the story, this formula is going to have different variables which will alter the movies and progress the genre forward. 

Literature is the object that genre is defining. Genre can be applied to literature as well as movies, music, and many others.

Li'l Abner

For my comic strip I chose to read Li’l Abner, this is a comic that as I was growing up my grandfather would always reference it. I never knew what it was until reading it for this class. I enjoyed reading this comic because very often you could understand the story at first glance. Like all people in this class I am very visual and my mind absorbes information much quicker and clearer when I have a physical image of it in my head. I could read the same sentences multiple times but I will not remember it half as well as I would if there was some sort of visual clue to help me take in the information.

I think comics are a really interesting way to do this, because often times people read to use their own imaginations. Stories are a great way to let your mind run with a story and the images that you create in your head may be drastically different from someone else reading the same story. But with comics the imagery is already there for you. One thing I experimented with while reading this text was to go through and entire page and try to understand the plot without reading the text that goes along with it. Often times I was able to comprehend the basic jist of the story, but sometimes the images were too vague to follow. Without reading the text in some places you could become totally lost in the story, and same with if you removed the images. The comics themselves are very reliant on the imagery. Comics seem to me to be a very dependent art form, without one the other suffers.

This brought up many questions for me about comics in general and the creators of them. If it is just one person would they consider themselves an artist or an author? If there is an author and an artist how do they work in unison to ensure that the comic will be composed in the most ideal manner? Do the authors/artists create the plot then draw the images and then come up with the text or vice versa? I wonder what the process these artists go through is like? When you are creating a piece of work that is so heavily dependent on another medium of information one must be more dominant to guide the other along. Unless Al Capp would draw and write the text simultaneously. I feel like illustrating and writing comics would be a difficult task because you need to balance the two so it is clear wither you like reading them or just browsing them.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a literary work for many different reasons but in my opinion it is because it is such a multi dimensional text. There are different levels that this story can be read on. It has a basic entertaining story, one that any reader would enjoy.  But this is not why we love to study The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald has a way of bringing you into the story that most authors strive for. His way of describing the characters are relatable and engage you in the reading on a more personal level. The combination of the readers connection to the characters and the vivid imaging of the twenties lifestyle sets us up to take the journey along with Nick, our narrator.

            Fitzgerald’s creation of Nick was for the reader to trust the narrator, without this the different characters and situations would read more and an illusion than a accurate representation of what Nick’s experience was. This is because the nineteen twenties as a generation were all about illusions, people were more focused on others perceptions of themselves rather than who they really were. This theme is carried out throughout the text when we see examples like, the character of Tom Buchanan. Everyone perceives Tom as this powerful great man because he has a good job, and a family that he provides for. When in reality he is dishonest and cheats on his wife, seemingly without guilt.
            Every character in this story has something that they are hiding, but the biggest illusion of all is Jay Gatsby. He is portrayed as this rich and successful man but he is really a mystery to all those around him. But Gatsby is putting up this illusion of himself to attract Daisy, his long lost love and Tom Buchanan’s wife. There are so many false perceptions and secrets in this story that having a reliable source such as Nick helps us keep reality and fantasy separate. The concept of illusions is one of the backbones to The Great Gatsby as well as the nineteenth twenties. Fitzgerald’s writing style allows us to immerse ourselves in this idea while still keeping our grasp on reality.

Look at first level observations
where emphasis in the work

Wizard of Oz vs. The Hunger Games

There are many different parallels between The Hunger Games and The Wizard of Oz. They are both stories about great journeys that the female protagonists undergo. I feel like both of these stories are coming of age journeys for these girls, they have been thrown into situations that are extremely abnormal circumstances and force them out of their comfort zones and to grow up.

         The settings of the stories both start out very similar, they are at their homes, which are both dreary and depressing settings. Dorothy’s home in The Wizard of Oz is constantly described as gray and depressing. Katniss’s home in The Hunger Games is full of starving people controlled by a higher power. The people are unable to overthrow this power and are struggling to stay alive. This is much like the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz; they have been controlled by the Wicked Witch of the East and celebrate when Dorothy kills her with her flying house. The people in the separate cities are also another similarity in the two stories. Both Katniss and Dorothy have never seen anything like them before. The life that they live is very different from the girls. They both look to the girls as a higher figure and admire them; Dorothy as the good witch that saved them and Katniss as the girl on fire.

         Although Katniss’s journey is much scarier and dangerous than Dorothy’s, Dorothy is still going on a journey that makes her grow up a lot. In the beginning of the story she wanted to run away from home and once she is in Oz there is nothing she wants more than to go home. She starts out very immature and realizes throughout her journey that she should not take those things for granted. Katniss on the other hand is not immature; she has had to take care of her sister after her father passed because her mother would not. This hardened Katniss to life because she had to grow up a lot quicker but in the process she lost her sensitivity and feelings. Through Katniss’s journey she learns to tap into those skills for the benefit of herself in the games as well as her love for Peta. Both of the girls develop in several ways that really help them mature into women. 

I feel that going into this I grew up with the Wizard of Oz but I have not seen it since I was much younger. It was my Grandfathers favorite movie so every time we would visit him we would watch the movie together. Since I have gotten older our visits are not as frequent as they once were so I have not seen the movie for probably 5-6 years. A lot has changed in those years which in turn has drastically altered my impression of this movie. When I was younger I remember someone admiring Dorothy. Now that I have seen it again I question everything about her character. She seems foolish and childish, it is not a character that I would like my daughters idolizing. Katniss in the Hunger Games is a character I would like my daughters to idolize, she is a strong, confident and brave young woman. She is responsible as well as caring. I was somewhat shocked about my change in opinion of the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy's character, I never expected this character I grew up loving to have so many qualities I did not admire. 

My defining characteristics of a reader is that when I am reading I look for qualities and behaviors that I admire and ones that I dislike. Reading for me is having a view of the world without an tight emotional connection that may alter my view. I feel like in the real world I can be judgmental of people because I have an innate reaction to their behavior and their history. In reading I have to put all these judgements away because I don't have the ability to do that. This allows for me to learn from the characters without having the true emotional connection as to why I feel this way.