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

1) What struck you most in the film?
What struck me the most in the movie was that the first characters that we meet aren't the two shooters. The director decides to show us in the first place a normal day in all these teenager's lifes, one apparently normal day that will have an unexpected and tragic end for most of them.

2) What also impressed you?
After seeing the movie twice I latterly realized that the director gives us a lot of clues about what is going to happen and who are going to be the victims depending on the colors of their clothes (i.e.: the two "angels" are wearing yellow shirts / the jock's sweater is red like the color of blood and has a white cross on it, looking like a target). These little details and choices are very well thought out and I find it impressive to show the character's destiny's this way.

3) Did you find anything more particularly upsetting?
I think that the school's climate is a bit exaggerated, the hypocresy that the school's students represent is very schematical and I find it a bit upsetting that the director critisices a lot of people who actually died during this tragedy. For example the characters of the three bulimic girls Brittany, Jordan and Nicole are taken to the extreme of the group they represent, they are pictured as the "silly girls" who only think about boys and archieving the perfect body through a physical and mental disorder such as anorexia is.

4) What did you find very disturbing?
I find the scene in the shower between the two shooters very disturbing because none of them were gay taking into account that they had neonazi ideologies. I know that this is a mirrored scene that shows the truth about the own director's sexuality but I personally think that he should have stick to the truth.

5) What was most shocking?
What shocked me the most was the delivery of the guns to Alex's house, the delivery man didn't ask for any documentation and what was the most shocking about this scene for me is that the mailman was talking to Alex as if he already knew him which could mean that it wasn't the first time he ordered guns online. The lack of gun control in the United States is amazing. 

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

7) What's more, what does the film director make clear about the two killers?

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

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

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

POST 13: THE US GUN CULTURE

Steve SACK, on www.startribune.com,

Gun Lobby and Congress (2010)

In this first cartoon we can see on the bottom left two men who represent the Congress and the Gun Lobby (written in their briefcases). On the top right of the cartoon we can see the Congress, and down its stairs a trail of blood that goes right until both of the men's feet. The man representing the Gun Lobby has a bag with the dollar sign on it and a bubble speach above his head that makes us understand that he might be negociating something with the other man (i.e: "where were we, before we were so rudely interrupted). The interruption that he refers to is probably related with someone who doesn't share the Gun Lobby's opinion, and it implicitly makes us understand that this man used violence related with guns to make his vision and opinion rule. The cartoonist crtisices the power of guns in the US legislation, but also the profits that these lobbies make out of guns and promoting violence against others.

Dave GRANDLUND, on www.davegranlund.com, 

Second Amendment and NRA (2013)

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 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 abour firearm-related bills since 1934, and it has directly lobbied for and against legislation since 1975. Initially founded to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA continues to teach firearm competency andsafety. 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. The NRA has several charitable subsidiaries, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) is its lobbying arm, which manages its political action committee.

In this second cartoon we can see two different cases in which there are two different representations of the understanding of the Second Ammendment of the American Cobstitution who gives right to the Americans to bear arms and keep them. There are two visions in this cartoon of the Second Ammendment: the Founding Fathers vision and the NRA vision, all this through the cartoonist's point of view, of course. The fisrt one is represented by the statue of an 18th Century American who bears a rifle on his hand and looks proudly towards him. This man is in a defensive position that would lead us to understand that he is bearing the gun only in self-defense. This could also represent the British colonialism and how Britain invaded the native american's territory using violence and later on legalize that violence. But this is not the heavier  vision of this Second Ammendment, the vision of the NRA according to the cartoonist's opinion is the most stricking one. On the left side of the cartoon we can see a military with too many fire-guns on him. I believe it's a parody of how american men have evolved to the point of not having a gun for self-defense, but owning too many guns just because the law allows you to have them. 

POST 11: Individual document on Spaces & Exchanges.

CRASH (2004)

Crash 's poster.

Crash 's trailer.

Crash is a 2004 american drama film written and directed by Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby 's director). This movie focuses on the relationship of the citizens of Los Angeles, a city with a high cultural exchange since white, black and latino people all co-habitate the city. The main issues of the movie are racism and prejudice against others, violence and murder.

I belive that this movie illustrates very well the notion spaces and exchanges because it talks about the exchange of culture and understanding of other in a very concrete space: the city of Los Angeles. This movie shows how people run away from the cultural and physical differences that we have because of simple fear of the unknown. All the characters realize at the end of the movie that they've lived all their lives prejudiced against these differences (cultural, ethnic...), and in fact these people that we think so very different from ourselves are just the same as us: human beings with the same problems as us. It also shows the live in this city from various view points of the social scale.

POST 7: THE IDEA OF PROGRESS: QUANTITY VS. QUALITY.

As we have studied in class, progress could be defined as a forward movement, an increase in a specific field. This is related to quantity in terms of progress. The other definition that we gave was a gradual betterment, a progressive improvement of society, this is the definition for a quality progress.
To illustrate this notion I chose to focus on today's problems and issues of society, I will be focusing my presentation on the Arctic zone.

This document is a chart showing the advantages of the Northwest Passage. This passage is a navigable route likely for trading situated in the Arctic Ocean. This passage would mainly allow bigger trading ships, that don't fit on the other trading passages (Panama, Suez and Malacca). The problem of this area is sovereignty: Canadians say that this area is legitimately theirs, whereas the USA and Russia and other European countries think that it's an international strait and transit passage. First of all we should compare the distance ridden between the comercial ports through different navigable passages for trading. Let's take the example of a cargo ship travelling from Barcelona to Hong Kong, through the actual transit passages they run between 20 000 km and 25 000, but from the Northwest Passage the travelling distance is reduced to 18 000 km reducing also the time merchandises spend in the boat. This passage could be andvantageous, not only for a faster trading, but also for environement.


The second document I chose is an article from The Wall Street Journal, written by Zac Unger on 2013.
Here, he talks about his personal experience investigating about polar bears. As many know, polar bears's living conditions and habitats have been destroyed because of global warming and humankind dammages to our planet. But what we don't possibly know is that there are 19 different colonies of polar bears. Most of them haven't been studied by scientifics enough to know what is going to happen with them, but the one who are under scientific control are actually better than we think. Polar bears don't actually need ice all the time because in summer they have a kind of active hibernation, during which they feed themselves little and wander around with no goal. Even if there are some populations of polar bears that are under control, we have to ask ourselves to what extent does globalization affect these creature's future, that could be uncertain.

To conclude we can say that technological and economic progressis always starving for growth, but we care little about the quality of this progress to our planet and wildlife living in it.

POST 4: My own choice of a book dealing with the "Myths and Heroes" notion.

I'm going to speak about The Catcher in the Rye, a novel written by american author J.D. Salinger in 1951. The novel is mostly set in NYC and Pennsylvania. The narrator is a sixteen boy called Holden Caulfield, and the story begins the day he decides to run away from his boarding school and go back home, to NY, by his own feet. During his journey he discovers the "underground" life of New York as he sort of loses his mind slowly. The novel was at first destinated to adults, but it has become a classic for teenagers too. Holden Caulfield has been since then the most iconic figure of teenage rebellion, he embodies hate, love and naivety. 

Let's give a quick definition of the notion we're working on: "Myths & Heroes". A myth could be defined as an idea or story that is believed by many people but that is not true. And a hero is the protagonist of a story, the principal male or female character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation. 

In this particular novel we won't be talking about a hero, but an anti-hero. The anti-hero is a leading character in a film, book, or play who lacks some or all the traditional heroic qualities, such as altruism, idealism, courage, nobility, fortitude, and moral goodness.

Holden is the perfect exemple of the anti-hero because even if he has high expectations about life and others, he is a bit of a depressive person. He's a very negative person who always sees that glass half empty, he doesn't look forward to finishing his studies and changes school often because he is unable to focus on his duty as a teenager student. He is also very naive, mostly because of his little sister's influence on his life. Holden believes everything that he is told, this is illustrated in the elevator incident. Even if he isn't the perfect prototype of hero, Holden is a caring person, he believes in love and has a bit of a romantic attitude.
This novel illustrates the myth of the "teenage rebellion". It is believed and has been psychologically studied that teenagers have to go through a process of rebellion against their elders in order to develop an independent identity. In his journey home, Holdes goes through this process. He faces his parents and his teachers and discovers the undergroud world of NYC on his own. He learns independance but remind us tha,t in the end we still need our parents to take care of us. 

POST 6: An art exhibition review.

Today I want to tell you about the "Pop Art Myths" art exhibition. It was on the Thyssen Bornemisza museum in Madrid from june the 10th until september the 14th, 2014. The museum is situated in one of the most artistic districts of the capital at Paseo del Prado,8 , a hundred meters away from the Prado Museum and a few minutes away from the city centre by walk. For additional information go check out the museum's official website. 

This exhibition is about pop art, the late 50's and 60's liberating art movement, and its most famous and iconic artistic figures. Pop artists accepted and promoted the new culture of technology and consumerism. They believed that every image could be recycled and every object could become art. 
The exhibition is separated in six different parts: emblems; myths; portraits;  landscapes, interioirs and still lifes ; urban erotism and history paintings. In every of these sections we find multiple artworks from renowned artists such as Wolf Vostell, Andy Wharhol, Roy Lichtenstein and many others. This exhibition wants to group every pop artist of the time, from the British pop artists like Peter Blake, to the huge and worldwidely famous American artist Andy Wharhol. The exhibition is separated in diffrent small rooms in the lower level of the Thyssen Museum.

  Brillo Soap Pads, Andy Warhol                                                                         (1964), Mugrabi Collection

  Cleopatra, Mimmo Rotella (1963),                                                      private collection.

 Marilyn Idol, Wolf Vostell (1962),                                                    Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwing Wien, Vienna

 Still Life #34, Tom Wesselmann (1963), Mugrabi Collection

Black Light Self-Portrait, Andy Warhol (1986), Collection Würth

   Monica Sitting Cross-Legged, Tom Wesselmann  (1986-1990), Colección Carmen Thyssen‐Bornemisza

       

 Group Hug, Juan Genovés (1976), Museo                                                                    Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid

This was the first exhibition about Pop Art in Madrid since 1992. The curator of the exhibition Paloma Alarcó wants to show a 21st Century vision of the 20th Century artistic trend. It features more than 100 artworks from British, classic American and European artists.

This venue is just extraordinary, each of the seven different rooms of it it's full of life and color. Pop art represents the old and the new, the beauty but also banality. There are multiple paintings,collages but also sculptures such as the Brillo Soap Pads by Andy Warhol, or The Electric EAT by Robert Indiana. I believe that Pop Art is just about being creative but also clever, you have to captivate the eye of the viewer.

Moonwalk, Andy Warhol (1987), The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.

As a senior year student in the French Lycée of Madrid, I'm not  an art expert at all. Indeed, I love art in its very form. Since a very young age I've been ebsessed with photography and visual arts, so I never miss an art exhibition if I can. As we have seen there are a lot of well known artists and their most iconic artworks in this exhibitions. Still, I have the feeling that we can point out a very important character in various of these master pieces, Marilyn Monroe.  Her pictures have been taken by Warhol multiple times, but also by the German Wolf Vostell in 1963. Vostell mixes the collage and decollage techniques in a canvas in which  he alienates multiple images of her face repeated in rows. Basically, I would like to emphasize the fact that Marilyn Monroe is the face of pop art. She is the most iconic figure of the 20th century pop culture, her pictures were spread all around the world and she became one of the most popular sex symbols in the 1950's. As mentioned before, Warhol also uses her face and pictures to make his own kind of art.

Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol (1964)

Nevertheless, I feel that Vostell's collage is more unique and original. He took a lot of different images and stick them side to side to create a visual accumulation of Monroe's face, on the contrary of Warhol's work. The latter only picked a picture of Marilyn and randomly changed the colours. I personally find much more interesting Wolf Vostell's Marilyn Idol than any other Pop Art work on Marilyn. In addition to this, the size also plays an important role on the finished impression of the work. It is a pretty big canvas (157cm x 122cm), so for a standard height person (1'60) it's almost as tall as yourself and pretty impressive. Yet, it seems to me that for colour, he works with the cubist palette, giving a huge importance to brown and earthy colours. This is a great idea to renew art, take the same tools as the latest avant-guarde movement but give them a different use to create something new and unique.

 The cubist colour range palette. 

For the moment, the Thyssen Museum hasn't scheduled any other venue on Pop Art or anything related to it, but it's always a good idea to go to the museum yourself and check out the actual and next venues. 

POST 2: Chris/Alexander & the myth of the noble/good savage in Sean Penn's Into the Wild movie

"The Noble Savage", illustration from Victor Hugo's novel Bug-Jargal

Emile Hirsh as Alexander Supertramp in Sean Penn's movie "Into The Wild".

The noble savage is a literary character who embodies the concept of an idealized indigene who has not been corrupted by civilization and symbolizes goodness.

This term first appeared in the 17th century, so the term was created on a colonial context. The meaning of this myth slightly evolved through the 18th and 19th centuries because of the different litterary movements that appeared, like Romanticism and Primitivism, but never actually lost its original meaning. The term "savage" meant in the 17th century "wild beast" or person; in other words he myth of the "noble/good savage" represents a person who hasn´t been used to society's material conforts and knows how to live in the wild without dammaging it, or himself. 

Chris McCandless, the main character of Sean Penn's movie "Into The Wild", hates society and thinks it has corrupted the human being by uprooting him from its natural state of life. He is a bit of a misanthropist, his goal in the movie is living in the wild without any material conforts that technological and social progress has given us. He gives no importance to "things", this is illustrated in the diner scene at the begining of the movie. His parents want to buy him a new car because he graduated from college. He refuses the offer saying that his car is still running and he doesn't need a new one. He also decides to break away from society because of the way his family was. In the voice-over monologue's from his sister Carine, we learn that they had a difficult childhood. Their parents fought very often, and after his graduation from high school, Chris accidentally discovered that his sister and him were both "bastard children". In addition to that, Chris also loves adventure since a very young age. He thinks that by living in nature he will clean his soul that has been "corrupted" by society for a long time. For him nature brings the human being to its purest state.
We can say that Chris embodies the myth of the good savage because he prefears living in the wild on his own than in society, and while he is in the wild he adopts a traditional way of life, in other words he hunts to eat and  marks his way (i.e: when he leaves his beanie on top of a branch), not to get lost. He lives in harmony with nature.

By breaking away from society Chris wants to find the natural state of the human being. He wants to purify himself from society's poison. He is craving for his greatest adventure in order to conclude a "spiritual revolution". In the first inner monologue that we hear, Chris is yearning to "kill the false being within".Once he is in Alaska he fails to grasp a couple of basic truths about living close to nature. First of all we can say that his idealism towards living in the wild fooled him and made him think that he would always have food. In the begining of the movie we can see that he does fine, he always has a squirrel of something to eat. But then, when he is stuck in the riverbank of the Magic Bus because of the strong current of the river, we can see his desperation for food after days of rain. He then goes with his instincts and tries to find edible plants because he is very hungry. He forgets that you always have to check twice and confirm with a book that the plant that you're eating is edible. Sadly Chris didn't do it and found himself poisoned by a plant that looked very similar to another one, that was perhaps edible. 

He is more a romantic than a good savage. HE clearly is a misanthropis, he prefears nature than people. He leaves all the persons he meet on the roand, even Ron that asked him to adopt him as a grand-child because he lost his son. Even if he claims not to need material conforts he is grateful to find shelter in the Magic Bus, and even manages to make himself a shower head when he could simply clean himself on the river like indigenes did. Chris dies because of his instinctive behaviour under the pressure of not having any food. He didn't took the time to ckeck if the plant he was eating was poisonous or not. You have to learn to control your instincts when you are alone in the wild or you will end up dead.

I don't think that once you've lived in society you can go back to a state of nature. First of all, we have been born in a time in which technological progress has hugely evolved, we have a certain number of material conforts that sadly we hardly can't live without. Let's take the example of a shower or just a simple cover, we have been used since we were born to have these kind of material conforts and not only basic ones such as these two. I hardly think that we could go back to a state of nature after all that we have progressed. Not only our way of life but actually everything, how we think, what we eat, everything has changed since the beggining of human existance. Maybe you could possibly go back to that state of nature but only if you don't accept these material conforts since childhood, which is actually very difficult or even impossible. It's not advisable to do it, or if you really want to you must perfectly know what you're doing and don't let yourself go by your instincts. 

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