I NOW WALK... INTO THE WILD

These words on the screen are the words Christopher McCandless wrote in his diary when he reached the area in Alaska where he would die four months later. The camera shows Chris from above walking on the snow and then goes like a bird flying from the sky coming down to the ground, showing images of the landscape: mountains, meadows, and forests full of snow; an eagle flying, wild animals running, Chris hunting… and nothing else: isolation, emptiness, purity, loneliness are words that come to mind, perfectly complemented by the music of Eddie Vedder: the sound of wind from the movie is substituted by the arpeggios of an electric guitar backing Vedder’s voice: the stripped-down arrangements of the song match the images as well as the words to the lyrics: words on a new life alone, a life in which one’s best friend is his own soul: a life in a time and place where the most important thing is to feel oneself and understand what is really life about.

INTO THE WILD: THE MYTH OF FREEDOM AND THE GOOD SAVAGE OR THE ANTI-HERO

The movie tells the story of a man who decided to break free from society and his own life. The notions of Progress and Myth are seen in a different way than in other movies. The main character is against progress and chooses to come back to a natural state and have a better life; this is his idea of progress, opposite to what most people think. The protagonist is like the "Good Savage" from the myth, trying to live and survive in the wilderness, surrounded only by nature, an anti-hero compared to the stereotypes of glory and success. If there is a clear notion in this film is about freedom.
It seems the main character is an idealistic young man who, probably by chance, decides to get lost when on holiday and live the dream of a free life. It seems his car gets broken in a flood and so he starts hiking and meets some people on his way to Alaska who think he must be crazy and ask him if he really knows what he is doing or not, because he says he wants to  to live in the open air.

MYTHS AND HEROES : Worksheet

Here is the link to my worksheet.

FREE POST

 

 

 

Happiness is a feeling that takes little to get but very hard to keep, and it's also something that many never achieve.

 

Actually it's the best thing in life, because otherwise, why would we live? To suffer?

 

Happiness consists of three things: having always something to do, having someone to love and something to expect. Never getting locked inside oneself and get isolated from the rest of the world, because there will always be someone who wants you to be happy.

 

It's posible to be happy with just a 'hello', with a smile, with a look, watching a view, watching someone else grow up and get by, Little things but big at the same time.

 

Life goes on and realising about that makes you happy too, and there can be people who make you live life happily.

 

Sometimes you get sad, you are sorry and you want everything to stop, but you can't do anything to stop the time. Happiness, however, can be the strength that helps you take the best in every situation and make things go on.

 



'THE HELP': or how Power will leave you for someone better.

 

 

 

 

The issue of power is shown from different points of view in this movie. Power here is shown very clearly as something that not everybody can have at the same time, like a force that passes from one person to another when people don't do the right things:

-From the point of view of racist white people in Southern towns of the USA (Hilly, e.g.), they have a lot of power on black people, treating them nearly as slaves, telling lies about them (such as that the black people carry a lot of deseases and so they can't use the same toilets as white people) or deciding if their black servants can continue working or not, with no social security.

-The power of non-racist white people in the same environment, such as Skeeter, the young journalist who writes the book telling all the truth about racism in her town but changing the names of real people, and this is the beginning of the end of the problem,
a bit like the Horse of Troy.

-The power of the Media and Literature, and the people related to them, such as the journalist's editor, who is a very powerful and sophisticated woman who knows that polemic books make a lot of noise. When the book is published, people around the nation get to know the reality in Southern cities in the USA, which is not very different to the nineteenth century, when having slaves in the Southern states was legal.

- The power of surprise, in cases such as when Minny, the black maid, gives a cake cooked with her faeces to Hilly, the evil young housewive, or when Skeeter lets a mistake in Hilly's advertisement and so her garden is ruined with toilet pots.

- The power of gossip in small towns. Like a monster that destroys everything it has protected before, gossip makes the servants don't want to work for Celia, or makes Skeeter's mother dismiss her daughter's black nanny, Constantine, but gossip is also what makes racist white people keep their mouths shut and a low profile when the book becomes famous.

-The power of black people and, generally, of opressed people: let's not forget that the current President of the USA, is black, and the movie is a homage not only for him but for all the black people who suffered terribly in United States due to racism.

- The power of the spectator, and the power of cinema itself. This does not appear in the film, it is implied, but this movie is one of those films that make people talk about it and support it against racism.

'Redacted', or the abuse of power

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the movie deals with issues such as abuse of power, lack of commitment from the powerful towards the unprotected and censorship; a proof of this is that Brian de Palma was not allowed to tell the real story on which the film is based due to legal restrictions and had to make an adaptation of it.

 

I think another subjects in this film are the lack of communication (as we can see when the soldiers shoot the car with the pregnant woman inside without understanding it's on its way to Hospital) and how people get mad and lose contact with reality when they follow an idea with no clear aim in sight (it seems the Americans didn't know what they were doing in Irak).

 

An interesting thing about the name of the movie is that 'redacting' something in this context means 'editing' the information which is told in a piece of news; how truth seems to change when you tell things in a way or another.

 

SYNOPSIS

 

This film is about the real-life rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers with shocking images that will leave some viewers in tears.

Inspired by one of the most serious crimes committed by American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, it spares the audience no brutality to get its message across.

Made in a deliberately episodic form, Redacted tells various stories about the war in Iraq, ostensibly from different viewpoints. One film portion by a French filmmaker tells the story of U.S. soldiers watching over checkpoints. In another episode, a superior soldier makes a casual mistake dealing with garbage that was set out in a road and is blown to bits. It's all leading to the pivotal rape and murder of the pretty girl who is discovered by the soldiers on a raid of an Iraqi house in order to find evidence. One night, the drunken and mostly morally lost U.S. soldiers discuss going back for the "skank" whom they saw in the house they raided. One soldier straps a camera to his helmet, and the footage of the girl's rape is secured.

The rest of the film mostly deals with measures taken by the army against the criminals. A final scene has a soldier from the criminals' unit confessing to his friends a war story that he will never forget: the plundering and murder of the Iraqi girl.

 

POST 4: MADtv iRack Video

This video is clearly related to the Notion of Progress. Some people think progress is just about technology and machines, but it's more about attitudes than any other thing. In this sketch we face the idea that a Brand can be more important than its products, and how people will be invited to buy anything just because it's from this or that fashionable Brand.

Positive use of technology in education

                                            POSITIVE IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzi2RIt8_nk

 

In this video we can find some information on how new technologies are good for children's education :although it's just an advertisement on amplyfing systems I think it exposes the hints of modern education in a clear way. The video stressed technology is the future for the education system and quotes Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach when she said teachers will not be replaced by technology but teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by those ones who do.

 

According to the video (quite right in my opinión) the following reasons should silent the critics on the use of technology on education:

 

1. Students love it

 The fact is that, due to the 'cool' factor or to a genuine interest in technology, most kids are interested in using technology in a way or another, which makes them more easily attracted to learning and less pressured by the old claim of 'learning can't be fun'

2. It engages the four components of learning:

- active engagement

- participation in groups

- frequency in reaction

- feedback and connection to the world experts

Technology

3. Professional Development:

If the kids are improving their knowledge on something that's growing all around the world in the future they'll have better chances to become leaders in their respective fields of work, whenever they are linked to technology  in a way or another

4. Makes life easier for teachers

Whether on lessons, meetings or administrative work, technology can save a lot of time to teachers

5. Improves test scores: each student can learn at their own pace and this makes possible the convergence of different learning styles

6. Helps students with low attention spans:

the range of activities covered by technology in the learning process  can positively help students making them keep their interest in more intense way

7. Learn from the experts:

Internet gives access to many expert and free resources that could only consulted in the past when travelling to the right place.

8. Encourages completion of homework

Since kids are attracted to technology, it's becoming easier for them to complete their homework even within school hours, removing a lot of frustrations

9. Saves money

Technology needs an investment, but it's worth as soon as teachers and students can take advantage of it after just a few months. It can even imply the hiring of more selected teachers for different sectors of learning in the classroom

10. Removes obstacles

People who have trouble with hearing, or even with their eyesight or other discapabilities can benefit from improvements in this fields thanks to technology.

 

This video regards tablets, video games, digital video and Ipads as the main sources of new technology in the classroom, being personal computers and the internet the existing tools so far.





 

 

 

 



POST 2 : Videos

When Technology is too much or... missing

Video 1 

Description : This video is structured around two main narrative voices and a character illustrating what the voice-over says while a singer often simply repeats what's just been said.

The setting is a Christian home and church, so this particular context is particularly meaningful. We can notice on various occasions that the main character is addicted to high-tech products, mostly smartphones. He is shown as a family man unable to communicate with his wife, except through texting. He is also shown as a church-goer incapable of attending worship  without all his phones vibrating all the time, marking him look like he's full of the holy spirit.

Finally, he is depicted as a computer geek whose life has become extremely complicated instead of having been simplified.

 

 

Interpretation : Basically, this video means that high technology has become a religion for many people, even Christians who are not supposed to be materialistic. 

=> Then, in a christian lifestyle, quite a few church goers and believers tend to focus more on materialistic issues rather than spiritual ones. 

=> We can add that technology reigns supreme for many people who revere it as a God enlightening his followers. 

The question is, is this a real progress for mankind ?

Video 2 

Description : Two people are stuck on an elevator in a place that seems literally empty.

The man looks annoyed. He might be an office worker walking to his job.The woman claims that she is already late, so for her, this is the last straw. At one point, she's about to cry and asks for a phone. 

In short, they both look helpless and even hopeless.

 

 

Interpretation :  We can relate this situation to a fairly common one in real life : getting stuck on/in an elevator. The difference is, however, that in this situation, people have the right to fell panicky whereas on an escalator, there is no reason whatsoever to be panic. 

This video points out the increasing dependence of human beings on technology. If it goes missing, it is as if a crutch had been taken away from, so these two people cannot even climb the stairs which would be the normal thing to do. We could think  that technological progress makes humans lazy or at least less prone to taking initiatives by themselves.

POST 1 : A Fanatic Geek by Chappatte

A Fanatic Geek : By Chappatte 

This is a cartoon published in the International Herald Tribune.

The cartoonist is Patrick Chappatte, known simply as Chappatte, who was born in 1967 in Karachi, Pakistan.

He is a Lebanese-Swiss cartoonist who draws for Le Temps, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Sunday edition) and the International Herald Tribune.

We have no clue as to the publication date but as the Cannes  International Film Festival is an annual event which usually takes place in May, we can guess that this cartoon was published in or around May, some time in the last few years since it deals with a current issue.

Indeed, the scene takes place in Cannes, in the south of France and the cartoon tackles a highly-debated topic, namely the spread of illegal downloading over the last ten years or so.

We see a number of artists climbing up the glamorous staircase of the Cannes Film Festival Palace, treading the well-known red carpet.

A crowd of fans are cheering and asking for autographs while the paparazzi are taking photographs. 

In the background, we can notice two stars waving at the crowd.

Meanwhile, a teenager wearing a tee-shirt printed with an Internet symbol (“@”) to portray him as a computer geek is getting an autograph from a famous actor or film director who seems to be in a bad mood/bad-tempered. 

The latter must be annoyed by what the teen just told him, namely that he loves his movies and has pirated them all, which means that the kid has downloaded lots of movies illegally. 

The actor/film director is escorted by a woman, probably an actress, who looks proud, arrogant, disdainful and haughty. 

On the other hand, the teenager seems to be delighted, even overjoyed.

What obviously catches the eye are these three characters drawn in the foreground, right in the middle of the cartoon,. 

 

The message of the cartoon drawn by Chappatte is put across mainly through the balloon in which the teenager’s words sound like an accusation/denunciation/criticism of illegal downloading from the Internet.

The boy claims that he loves the actor’s or director’s films, which is a nice thing to say, but what he adds suggests that he does not care at all about artists’ copyrights. 

Therefore, the cartoonist means that the Internet enables people to illegally download any film or music they want without respecting authors’ rights.

The actor/film director has a surly face, which is perfectly understandable because the kid’s illegal downloading habits are a violation of his author’s rights and deprive him of a lot of money. 

Thus, the cartoonist’s goal is to criticize this widespread practice by using humor. 

This teenager is probably representative of his generation insofar as most young people download music or movies illegally nowadays. 

He seems to consider this as normal and legitimate though it is not legal. He seems carefree and enthusiastic about what new technologies enable him to do.

 

We may approve of the cartoonist’s criticism of illegal downloading and indirectly of copyright infringement but we must admit that the Internet has allowed millions of people to have access to culture and knowledge which did not use to be at everybody’s disposal before the digital age.

Besides, the outrageously high price of CDs and DVDs before illegal downloading almost put an end to the music and film industry partly explains why so many people have resorted to illegal downloading, not to mention the fact that all these cultural goods are easily available on countless Web sites. 

 

Finally, it seems really difficult and even maybe useless to crack down on illegal downloading as Internet users will always find ways to circumvent the law.

That’s why artists and the show-biz industry must find new ways to make money out of their art. The huge increase in rock concert attendance, for instance, is one of the ways in which musicians can make up for the loss of a large part of their income due to the prevalence of illegal downloading.

Source : letsdreaminenglish2