David Clarkson, March 31, 2016, Big Fish
Big Fish was probably my favorite movie that we have watched to this point, and it even left me feeling a little emotion at the end. It was a film unpacking the story of an extremely interesting man, somebody we would not completely understand until the end of the movie. His son, Ed Bloom doesn't feel like he knows who his father is, and sees the stories that his father has told him as some type of fantasy that his father is completely making up. As the film progresses, we start to learn about the type of man that his father was, and Ed is surprised when he finally understands his father's character. Above all, Ed's father was a man who loved his wife and son more than anything else in the entire world. He worked incredibly hard to take care of them, and even though he was not always home with them, he loved them more than Ed ever imagined. Secondly, he was an honest and hardworking man who took care of the people that were apart of his life, outside his direct family. In these relationships he was always able to stay true and faithful to his wife, despite various temptations. Lastly, he was a man who was able to transform even the most rudimentary moments of his life into stories that could entertain any amount of people. The film comes full circle when Ed realizes that his father truly was the man who he had always said he was, and understand that the stories he told him were out of love. In the final chapter of his fathers life, Ed tells him one of these incredible stories about how his last moments on earth were spent with all his friends and family. Through this story we understand that Ed has come full circle with who his father was. It was a story that enabled his father to rest in peace.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
From story to myth
C.S Lewis writes, "In the enjoyment of a great myth we come nearest to experiencing as a concrete what can otherwise be understood only as an abstraction. . . . It is only while receiving the myth as a story that you experience the principle concretely." After reading this quote I thought of my Uncle Buddy. He was the sister of my grandma who I never really got to know, and through his stories I was able experience something that feels concrete about who I am and where I came from. His stories brought to life the history of my family, and it feels important to have experienced his stories. Some of my family members who I never knew still live on as myth and I have no doubt that this has shaped who I am.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Generation of Film
David Clarkson, March 30, 2016, Generation of Film
Is studying film as academically beneficial as studying writing? This is one question that has been on my mind during this course. Clearly, we live in a generation that is immersed in media and becoming increasingly immersed in media. This immersion has begun to spread to the classroom setting as well through classes, such as this Religion and the Movies Writing Intensive. A class of this nature seems perfectly reasonable and understandable in terms of the academic benefits that can be had for our generation. But, the question remains, are studying films and TV shows as insightful as the old school method of studying writings and books? I believe there are definitely insightful benefits to be learned through studying film, especially since it has become such an intrinsic part of everyday life. But, I do not think that we learn as much as we do when we are reading when we are watching film. The main reason I have for this though is that when you are reading, you have to stay more focused on what you are doing, because you focus is paramount to the understanding of the text. But, when you are watching any form of media outlet, I think there is a tendency to relax and enjoy, since it does not require as much focus as reading. That being said, I think studying film and media is becoming increasingly important, not because of its academic benefit compared to other outlets, but because it is becoming more and more relevant to our everyday life. In today's world you can go virtually nowhere without consuming media, therefore it is important that we understand how to analyze and understand the media we will inevitably consume.
Is studying film as academically beneficial as studying writing? This is one question that has been on my mind during this course. Clearly, we live in a generation that is immersed in media and becoming increasingly immersed in media. This immersion has begun to spread to the classroom setting as well through classes, such as this Religion and the Movies Writing Intensive. A class of this nature seems perfectly reasonable and understandable in terms of the academic benefits that can be had for our generation. But, the question remains, are studying films and TV shows as insightful as the old school method of studying writings and books? I believe there are definitely insightful benefits to be learned through studying film, especially since it has become such an intrinsic part of everyday life. But, I do not think that we learn as much as we do when we are reading when we are watching film. The main reason I have for this though is that when you are reading, you have to stay more focused on what you are doing, because you focus is paramount to the understanding of the text. But, when you are watching any form of media outlet, I think there is a tendency to relax and enjoy, since it does not require as much focus as reading. That being said, I think studying film and media is becoming increasingly important, not because of its academic benefit compared to other outlets, but because it is becoming more and more relevant to our everyday life. In today's world you can go virtually nowhere without consuming media, therefore it is important that we understand how to analyze and understand the media we will inevitably consume.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Exploring Film Technique
Bunny to me, displayed the idea of wrestling with death. I really liked what Tylor said during class, comparing the idea of the gentiles. as described by Paul, being drawn to truth, to the moth being drawn to the light. Now this is interesting comparison to be made in context of what the consensus view was of the meaning of the film, being the idea of death and union. The bunny was led to death by the moth, although the bunny knew how much time it had left. It seemed afraid, hence why it attacked the moth. In the end though, the bunny was united with her husband in death. To me this makes me view the moth as the Holy Spirit, all be it I am biased because I originally thought the moth was a bird, my point still stands. The Holy Spirit leading the bunny beyond life and uniting her with God and her husband in Paradise.
Northfork was interesting, the center of it to me was on the orphan boy. The unwanted boy, the one who needed love more than most. Think about the wording, the unwanted orphan, that is a hard line to say. An orphan is already a child given up by his parents, not necessarily willingly, but nonetheless that has certain effects on a child. Then to say that the child already given up his own parents, is unwanted. This idea of the unwanted boy is portrayed with a double exposure shot, giving a view of both the boy and a buffalo, the unwanted animal of the Midwest. Then there is the son and father clearing out the homes. The father takes the very symbolic leap of faith. Jumping to the other side of the house that is split in two, that has weather going on, only in the middle of the gap between the two sides. Jumping to the other side of what though? The other side of belief? or is that too general or broad? Also what did the snow in between mean? Perhaps becoming white as snow and truly considering himself free from whatever might be in his past. I am curious as to what that leap of faith was towards.
Paris, Texas now that movie was intriguing. The father was desperate for reunion it appeared. To find reconciliation with his family, in particular his wife. He wanted to have back what he had lost. This is shown by the beginning shot, he is in a place where most people would be lost, but walks with purpose. The shot we paused on was great because it showed he had a rugged past, when considering the back drop of the big, rugged mountain. Compared to his brother who had a good life with his wife, depicted by the gentle sloped mountain behind him. The scene when the man and his wife were reunited at first is interesting, the view points of each were curious. He thought she lived this good, all be it reckless, life. Yet she looked back and really her life was dull, because she is just looking at plywood. He on the other hand is living in the darkness of the past and not willing to go into the future with her yet. Still needing to hide from her behind the phone. Those shots were very interesting and gave insight on what was going on.
The pink floyd film was representative of a man's past. A lot of reference to the women in his life hurting him, as well as him feeling oppressed by the school system and government. His oppression, really his feeling of all students oppression was portrayed by the school being like a factory, making them all look alike and doing the same thing. The abuse he took from many women in his life was portrayed by a variety of symbols in the cartoon part, whether it was a flower, female legs, an actual women, or another being. The figure was usually in one way or another attacking the main character in the particular scene. This films symbolism was clear in representation of the things he felt hurt him and made him build this "wall" to keep people out of his head and knowing the true him.
Northfork was interesting, the center of it to me was on the orphan boy. The unwanted boy, the one who needed love more than most. Think about the wording, the unwanted orphan, that is a hard line to say. An orphan is already a child given up by his parents, not necessarily willingly, but nonetheless that has certain effects on a child. Then to say that the child already given up his own parents, is unwanted. This idea of the unwanted boy is portrayed with a double exposure shot, giving a view of both the boy and a buffalo, the unwanted animal of the Midwest. Then there is the son and father clearing out the homes. The father takes the very symbolic leap of faith. Jumping to the other side of the house that is split in two, that has weather going on, only in the middle of the gap between the two sides. Jumping to the other side of what though? The other side of belief? or is that too general or broad? Also what did the snow in between mean? Perhaps becoming white as snow and truly considering himself free from whatever might be in his past. I am curious as to what that leap of faith was towards.
Paris, Texas now that movie was intriguing. The father was desperate for reunion it appeared. To find reconciliation with his family, in particular his wife. He wanted to have back what he had lost. This is shown by the beginning shot, he is in a place where most people would be lost, but walks with purpose. The shot we paused on was great because it showed he had a rugged past, when considering the back drop of the big, rugged mountain. Compared to his brother who had a good life with his wife, depicted by the gentle sloped mountain behind him. The scene when the man and his wife were reunited at first is interesting, the view points of each were curious. He thought she lived this good, all be it reckless, life. Yet she looked back and really her life was dull, because she is just looking at plywood. He on the other hand is living in the darkness of the past and not willing to go into the future with her yet. Still needing to hide from her behind the phone. Those shots were very interesting and gave insight on what was going on.
The pink floyd film was representative of a man's past. A lot of reference to the women in his life hurting him, as well as him feeling oppressed by the school system and government. His oppression, really his feeling of all students oppression was portrayed by the school being like a factory, making them all look alike and doing the same thing. The abuse he took from many women in his life was portrayed by a variety of symbols in the cartoon part, whether it was a flower, female legs, an actual women, or another being. The figure was usually in one way or another attacking the main character in the particular scene. This films symbolism was clear in representation of the things he felt hurt him and made him build this "wall" to keep people out of his head and knowing the true him.
Visuals in Film
David Clarkson, March 27, 2016, Visuals In Film
When we watched the abundance of films to understand the importance of visual effects in film, I was taken back by the amount of detail and depth that the visual aspects of film were able to portray. The first film we watched was in cartoon form, but the visual and audio effects allowed such a simple story and picture to portray a deep theme. The widow is living a stressed life after the death of her beloved husband. Though we were given no information on how he died, when he died, or how she feels about it, we can infer from her facial expressions, mood and anxiety that she is more than depressed about it. Her pain is further inflicted when a fly is buzzing all around her house as she is trying to bake herself dinner. Despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to purge the fly, the fly proceeds to ruin the dinner she is baking, as it spills her mix everywhere. Infuriated, the widow throws the fly and the dismantled mix into her oven, as she plans to bake the fly to death to suppress her depression and struggle. After a while, the oven begins to shake, and she cautiously moves towards it to see what is going on. She opens the oven and finds something that she had not been searching for, but needed all along. The oven transforms into a portal to what the viewers can safely assume is heaven, where she will be able to be re-united with her long lost lover, and leave the anxieties of the world behind. Sure enough the fly is the one leading her home. The same fly that we were so frustrated with in the beginning is the one who cared most for the widow all along. The simple visual and audio effects of this cartoon effectively attached the viewers to this story line, as it goes from frustration to happiness
When we watched the abundance of films to understand the importance of visual effects in film, I was taken back by the amount of detail and depth that the visual aspects of film were able to portray. The first film we watched was in cartoon form, but the visual and audio effects allowed such a simple story and picture to portray a deep theme. The widow is living a stressed life after the death of her beloved husband. Though we were given no information on how he died, when he died, or how she feels about it, we can infer from her facial expressions, mood and anxiety that she is more than depressed about it. Her pain is further inflicted when a fly is buzzing all around her house as she is trying to bake herself dinner. Despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to purge the fly, the fly proceeds to ruin the dinner she is baking, as it spills her mix everywhere. Infuriated, the widow throws the fly and the dismantled mix into her oven, as she plans to bake the fly to death to suppress her depression and struggle. After a while, the oven begins to shake, and she cautiously moves towards it to see what is going on. She opens the oven and finds something that she had not been searching for, but needed all along. The oven transforms into a portal to what the viewers can safely assume is heaven, where she will be able to be re-united with her long lost lover, and leave the anxieties of the world behind. Sure enough the fly is the one leading her home. The same fly that we were so frustrated with in the beginning is the one who cared most for the widow all along. The simple visual and audio effects of this cartoon effectively attached the viewers to this story line, as it goes from frustration to happiness
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Passionate Inwardness
Passionate Inwardness
March 26, 2016
Outside Reading: Soren Kierkegaard/Fear and Trembling
Soren Kierkegaard inquires why Abraham is considered the father of faith rather than a murderer, concluding that “either Abraham was every minute a murderer, or we are confronted by a paradox which is higher than all mediation.”(128) By an act of faith, Abraham leaped over the wall of rationality and into the absurd. It is this leap of faith, which Abraham took when he sacrificed Isaac, that draws the individual out of the ethical submergence into the universal and into a religious mode of existence. To Kierkegaard, “faith begins precisely where thinking leaves off.”(106) The consequence of this leap is that it undermined reason, placing complete emphasis on faith in the Christian life. This divorce between faith and reason is what makes the leap of faith a leap into the absurd. However, Kierkegaard failed to understand that the true Biblical view of faith is not a oblivious leap into darkness but a rational step into the light. In subjecting the role of reason, as the brother of faith, Kierkegaard transforms faith into an irrational leap in the unknown.
Kierkegaard’s lamentations over the superficiality of Christianity in his day may be sympathized with. The church in Denmark had reduced faith to mere intellectual and doctrinal assent. As religious history scholar, Belden Lane, observes, “Christianity in his day had been safely reduced to an idea stored in the dusty pages of Scripture.”(80) Kierkegaard called on people to set their Bibles aside and beginning living out their faith. Life was not meant to be factually observed and footnoted in pages but lived out and experienced. To Kierkegaard, the Christian life is the highest life and faith is the highest passion a person can attain. Each individual must work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. The religious life is inherently paradoxical, demanding a rejection of passivity and passionate inwardness. Only when separated from the crowd can the individual’s faith be proved genuine.
Virtue of Absurdity
Virtue of Absurdity
March 26, 2016
Outside Reading: Soren Kierkegaard/Fear and Trembling
In his work, Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard asks if there is “such a thing as a teleological suspension of the ethical?”(75) By this, he wants to know whether their is a higher law - a particular - that transcends the universal ethical. Kierkegaard finds his answer in the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22.
Kierkegaard emphasized the deep agony and distress that Abraham must have felt as he made the three day trip to Mount Moriah and woke up early on the fourth day to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. All of Abraham’s hope was set on God’s promise to provide for him an heir through whom all the nations in the world would be blessed. But now all was lost. God had asked him to sacrifice the seed of promise. Dread is the element so often missed by commentators of Abraham’s story. In obeying the absolute call of God, Abraham rose above the universal ethical standard, jumping into the transcendent realm of faith. “By virtue of the absurd…he believed that God would not require Isaac.”(75-76) Abraham’s faith persisted in the midst of absurd circumstances. Thus, paradox was the “substance of Abraham’s life.”(71)
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