POST 14: Elephant, a Gus Van Sant movie (2003)

Elephant : 




                                     

   
1) What struck you most in the film?

- What struck me is the fact  that teenagers of our age can commit such a crime and be passive as if it was a game.

2) What also impressed you?

- What is also impressed si that both  are not at all check or control and can buy weapons on the Internet without  any check or concerns from their parents.

3) Did you find anything more particularly upsetting?

- I find more particulary upsetting when the deliverer delivered weapons to the house and that the parents or relatives do not appear in all the movie. They are delivered to themselfes.

4) What did you find very disturbing?

- I find very disturbing the idea of killing people in general. In addition to this, both have a great deal of luck and they lead a quiet life.

5) What was most shocking?

- I think that the most shocking is the insecurity and the unconsciousness. They returned into their
high school armed and nobody intervened.

6) What does the film  suggest about the two school shooters?

- The film sugests that  they are not known  compared with other characters and that they have no friends or experience. They live in their world.
However, it does not mean that they have a bad

7) What's more, what does the film director make clear about the two killers?
- The film director shows us that they do not feel at ease in their own life, they are a little lost and that is why they kiss each other. Furthermore, they undergo many mockeries by them classmates.

8) What kind of approach to the school shooting itself did Gus Van Sant opt for?

- Gus Van Sant did a very poetic but also realistic approach of the school shooting. The figure of Benny is very poetic he is like a real angel, his steps, his figure,everything in him is not real. However he shows persons with real problems, like the three girls with bulimia or the guys in the meeting to talk about gay people, that makes the shooting very real.

9) Moreover, what's the main consequence of the realistic treatment he uses? What about the 'poetic' touches he instills throughout the film

- This realistic treatment, we immerce in this mood of serenity and then, horror, fear and mutilation. In the middle of the higher tension scene, we can see a sky with some clouds on it that can give calm and serenity. The piano scene, can give a poetic vision of one of the killers.

10) As a conclusion, what must we admit about the way in which the killing and the killers are perceived by the film viewers? 

- As a conclusion we must admit that the killers are shown as victims of the society , surffering bullying because of high school Young guys , and actually they really need help, they can't being forget and marginalize by the others because this can create a tragedy. Maybe his aim wasn't to denounce the act of the killers, but to criticize the fact that in the United States, it is too easy to get yourself some weapons. But anyways their act is inconceivable.

Post 13

Post 13: 

                                       

                          Steve SACK, on www.startribune.com, Gun Lobby and Congress (2010)

-Definition of Founding Fathers of the United States : 

The Founding Fathers of the United States are the individuals of the Thirteen British Colonies in North America who led the American Revolution against the authority of the British Crown and established the United States of America. The term is also used more narrowly, referring specifically to those who either signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 or who were delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and took part in drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States. A further subset includes those who signed the Continental Association or the Articles of Confederation. During much of the 19th century, they were referred to as either the "Founders" or the "Fathers".

     The first document is a cartoon by Steve Sack who is an American cartoonist who won a 2013            Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. 

     There are two caracters in front of the Capitol. One represent the Gun Lobby saying ´Now, where were we, before we were so rudely interrupte` and the other one the congress and the Gun Lobby is giving to the congress a bag which represents money.They are both smiling,which is very caricatural.The blood in the stair can symbolize the fact that they have been shooting in the congress. Steve Sack criticizes the access to guns, and the violence caused. And of  course the government which is more interrested by the money, the congress toward the gun  culture in the United States. 

                    

         Dave GRANDLUND, on www.davegranlund.com, Second Amendment and             NRA (2013)

-Definition of The second amendment : 

The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms and was adopted on December 15, 1791, as part of the first ten amendments contained in the Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the right belongs to individuals, while also ruling that the right is not unlimited and does not prohibit all regulation of either firearms or similar devices. State and local governments are limited to the same extent as the federal government from infringing this right per the incorporation of the Bill of Rights.

The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state.

-Definition of National Rifle Association:

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun rights. Founded in 1871, the group has informed its members about firearm-related bills since 1934, and it has directly lobbied for and against legislation since 1975. It is also the oldest continuously operating civil rights organization in the United States.

Founded to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA continues to teach firearm competency andsafety. It instructs civilians and law enforcement, youths and adults, in various programs. The organization also publishes several magazines and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. Membership surpassed 5 million in May 2013.

Observers and lawmakers see the NRA as one of the top three most influential lobbying groups in Washington. Over its history the organization has influenced legislation, participated in or initiated lawsuits, and endorsed or opposed various candidates.

    In this cartoon there are two parts. On the left, a statue which represent the second             amendment we can see a soldier holding a gun and one the left a "parody" of this statue       with a member of the National Rifle Association who have many guns and who is standing   on munition.This cartoon criticize the fact that the second amendment (as we cann see in    the definition) have giving to the population of USA the right to bear arms and not to protect  themselfs anymore because this right have become danger. It also criticize the NRA which    had taking profit and made a buisness of gun´s culture. 

POST 7; THE IDEA OF PROGRESS: QUANTITY vs. QUALITY

At the beginning of the year we studied the quality and the quantity of the idea of progress, here is both documents which I chose to raise this subject: 

Productivist farming 

Organic farming 

We can see that both documents involve a caricature. The first document concerns the Productivist farming  and it is illustrated by a man who wears a mask or a uniform to put chemicals on plantations while a small  animal asks him ironically if he keeps his mask to eat these products. We can at once associated this cartoon with progress and the idea of quantity, because productivst farming is made to have more quantity of vegetables and products, even if there are limits and consequences.

The second document is ironic too, because we see two children who try to sell some lemon juice, and to sell it more quickly they put a leaf where they claim that the product is an organic lemonade. So we can understand  that  the organic products are faster sold because they are better for the health and for our  planet (Even if they put more time to be produced).

We have then two paradoxical caricatures, one which  makes walk the economy and the quantity, whereas the other one touches the environment, the health and the quality. 

We can then associate them with the idea of  progress and the fact of puting first the economic property and the quantity of products before the health and the quality.

Post 4: A film dealing with the 'MYTHS AND HEROES' notion

MYTHS AND HEROES 

TAKEN

Taken is a 2008 English-language French action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel, written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Holly Valence, Katie Cassidy, Xander Berkeley, Olivier Rabourdin, Gérard Watkins and Famke Janssen.

Kim is 17 and the pride and joy of her father Bryan Mills. Bryan is a retired agent who left the Central Intelligence Agency to be near Kim in California. Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. Kim manages to convince her

reluctant father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When the girls arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris. Using this information an Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnaps the girls. Kim barely has time to call her father and give him information. Her father gets to speak  briefly to one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free. The kidnapper wishes him "good luck," so Bryan Mills travels to Paris to search for his daughter and her friend.

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                                                Taken - Official Trailer

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uPJVJBm9TPA

I think that in this movie the notion 'Myths and Heroes' is very present even if it is not about a traditional hero. And exactly it is one of the reasons for which I chose this movie and not an other one.

During all the film we can see that Bryan mills is a heroe because he is the main character and in more he has to save his daughter in few hours and arrive to find her. He has noble qualities, in the face of danger and adversity, he displays courage and the will for self sacrifice. 

Post 6: An art exhibition review

                                               ART EXIHIBTIIN REVIEW 
Pop Art Myths


   

 Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997)Woman in Bath

1) Today we are going to inform you and to speak about an incredible and very original temporary exhibition called 'Pop Art  Myths'. The latter took place on the Musueum Thyssen-Bournmisza, in Madrid. Unfortunately, it lasted only from June 10th till September 14th, 2014.
But do not worry especially because from now on you can visit it from your home on the link joined :

http://pdigital.museothyssen.org/index.html?revista=108575115&pagina=-13895

2) The exhibition took place on the museum Thyssen of Madrid,  only for 4 months.

Featuring more than 100work ranging from pioneering British Pop Art to the classic American version and its expansion into Europe, the exhibition aims to trace the shared sources of international Pop art and to undertake a revision of the myths that have traditionally defined the movement.
In this exhibition there are a lot of artists like Andy Warhol, Peter Blake or Richard Lindner.


3) As we were able to see it the Pop Art Ñyths is very complicate and complex. Every author has his think and his point of view and it is a very good way to express itself. This exhibition can have a lots of effects on the viewer, for instance the identification, the fact of appreciating or estimating the picture for one or of various reasons or even the indifference. The indifference because many people are not interested in the art or do not understand it and we

4) The emergence of Pop Art in the late 1950s and early 1960s was one of the most liberating moments in the history of art. Its explicit endorsement of the new culture of technology and consumerism demolished the heroic.

As a student of 'terminal L' (last year at the high school) and after one and a half years in literary class I think to be able to answer the wanted questions which will be 

influence by my literary route which has allowed me to acquir a lot of knowledge. 

My prefere work was the one of  'Cleopatra' which was made in 1963 by 'Mimo Rotella' who was as an Italian artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. 

As we can see it on the right, it is a board very special because we can see the old part of the character and the history thanks to an effect.
We almost have the impression to be on its time. In other words, on the 69 BC. 
Besides, we can notice that that looks like an index card or an announcement stuck.

Actually, Mimo Rotella expressed himself on this matter and said : "To tear away the posters of walls is the only compensation, the unique way to protest against a company which lost the taste of the change and the fabulous transformations. I stick posters, then I tear away them: so are born new, unpredictable forms. This protest made me abandon the easel painting. "

The picture and the intentions of the author seem to me very original, furthermore he calls back the history of a myth and a heroine of tragedy (cleopatra).  By her suicide, she becomes again a noble and proud queen, who prefers to face the death with dignity rather than to live in the dishonor.
With her jewels and her royal attires, she gets ready to join her lover in the death and to catch Octave at his own game. Shakespeare, as the writers of his time, is inspired by antique authors and also presents a conceited, jealous, seductive, malefic and poisonous Cleopatra. But at the time of dying, it is the big ruler who is described; she is proud, brave and loving because she will join her lover Antoine who waits for her. The tragic end of these old lovers can also be a wink of eye of the author in the change of the political life of his time.The queen of Egypt and its triumvir represent the end of an antique order exceededand swept by a New World. Octave represents a new face of Rome and the Elizabethan timeoffers a new face of England in search of legitimacy.

Besides the story, Mimo Rotella emphasizes the character, because it is the center of the picture and 
behind her there are two men who seem to protect her. We have the impression that it is the character who refers to the strength and the power thanks to her physical appareance and her position. 

In conclusion, it is my picture preferred with regard to history, it is a work which tells something, with regard to originality and its esthetic side.

POST 2: Chris/Alexander & the myth of the noble/good savage.

                                  Chris/Alexander Supertramp from the movie Into the wild.

A representation of the myth of the noble/good savage.

- A detailed explanation/definition of the myth of the noble/good savage : 

The term "noble savage" is an idea people had: Without civilization, humans are essentially good; it is civilization that makes them act in bad ways. The idea started in the 17th century and developed in the 18th century. One of the first to express it was Shaftesbury.

He told the would-be author “to search for that simplicity of manners, and innocence of behaviour, which has been often known among mere savages; ere they were corrupted by our commerce”. His counter to the doctrine of original sin, born amid the optimistic atmosphere of Renaissance humanism, was taken up by another author who lived at the same time, the essayist Richard Steele, who attributed the corruption of contemporary manners to false education.

In the eighteenth-century cult of "Primitivism" the noble savage, uncorrupted by the influences of civilization, was considered more worthy, more authentically noble than the contemporary product of civilized training. Although the phrase noble savage first appeared in Dryden's The conquest of Granada (1672), the idealized picture of "nature's gentleman" was an aspect of eighteenth-century sentimentalism, among other forces at work.

a) Alexander Supertramp is a nature lover.  At the beginning of the film we can already see that he leads a different and quiet life. He is a model child, studious, crazy about books, literature and very kind with his sister. However, when he goes to the restaurant with his family, they have a delicate conversation because he refuses the car which they want to offer him for his graduation by asserting several times that he not wind nothing and needs anything... Besides, before leaving anything and leaving his life he gives all his money to an association. Later in the movie, he goes to a bar with Steve, he talks to him about Alaska and about peaceful life he can have there. We undertand that he prefers the nature because it is better and so different from our society, our obligations and all the problems we have... He wants to make party of another category and not to follow the fondament of the company as a robot or a submitted one.
We can then say that he represents the myth of the noble/good savage because he inks and he is sure to be better and happier alone in the wild. He thus wants to return to the first nature of the man.

b) By going in Alaska Chris hopes to live a peaceful life with animals and the beauty of nature. He is longing for being far from quit his problems, the consumer society, his family and especially his father who enormously hearts him. In addition to this, he is a great adventurer who moves back in front of nothing.

c) The problem is one arrived in Alaska, he realizes that the life there is not also easy as that. It's very cold and he finds itself completely alone. Even if he founds a bus to shelter, the living conditions are not the same that those whom he had before. For instance, it is very difficult for him to hunt animals than to cook them and eat them, he loses then a lot of weight and he does the constat thanks to a belt. He is often not clean and has to wash itself in a very distant rivers. Moreover, it is very difficult to light of the fire and he meets the boredom. Then, he tries to take care by doing many things and by speaking to himself. At the end of the movie, before dying, we understand that Chris regrets infinitely because he writes : " life is better when it's shared". The solitude made him thus sad.

d) Perosonally I think that we can say that Alexander Supertramp/Chris is a good savage and romantic at the same time. On the one hand, he is a good savage because he is craving about nature and being alone, he recalls the people of former days who believed that was enough few for being happy. On the other hand, he is romantic and adores literature which follows him everywhere in the movie. Besides, he often writes and was very delicate with the girl who met him and who try to have something with him.

e) I think that the fact of going back to a state of nature when one has lived in society is imposible. We can even see it in the movie because Chris regrets at the end. The main was always intended to live in community and in society. His desires and his needs do not allow him to live wherever and especially after living in the comfort and development. There are people who try to live the same life as Chris but they fail and give up. Others, go on holidays and isolate themselves some time. In my opinion it is the best decision to set and it is the only thing which really makes us good. We have no animal instinct and we can never live really as them.

THE IDEA OF PROGRESS

                                        

    As an introduction to the idea of progress, we have accessed to this worksheet on

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YGTSlPRE6_XTu-O7xAiBYW5IGkaOw6w6nHxRrd1WOBs/edit