Author Archives: Michael Zelko

Bread and Roses

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The film Bread and Roses sends a clear message that you must fight for what you want. In fact it is revealed to the audience that the title of the movie is a symbol for this sentiment. In the 1800s workers went on strike demanding better pay and working conditions. Their argument was that while their jobs provided enough for bread (basic survival) they had come to America for the roses too (an enjoyable life). Those workers in the 1800s had to go through sacrifices to get their roses, and this theme is repeated throughout the film.  Nothing comes easy, there is always a struggle for health, safety, and money. Maya, the main character, comes to America to find work but immediately runs into trouble when her sister cannot pay the traffickers enough money.  Maya is forced to find a way out herself. Maya eventually finds work as a janitor but the hardship doesn’t end. The audience also learns later that Maya’s sister was forced to become a prostitute in order to make enough money to send to her family when she was a teenager. Many other characters are shown suffering under the janitor company management, and the only solution seems to be to organize. The filmmakers want us to know that even in America harsh working conditions are prevalent, and that even if the workers try their best to work hard the management will still fire them when they become too old. Success comes from determination and we should learn from this film that resistance against a powerful elite comes at a cost.

The other main character of the film, Sam, arrives to help the janitors organize. His message is relevant today with the many social movements going on in our country: that for change to happen the people in charge need to feel uncomfortable. This is the purpose of protests and civil disobedience, to convince those with power that their lives will be easier if they just give up some of their wealth. The finale of the film shows that eventually dreams can come true, however not everyone will be able to reach the goal. Maya is deported as she is convicted of robbing a store in order to get enough money to help her friend go to college. Sacrifices must be made so that others will receive the roses they dream of.

A Study of Determination

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The story of John Nash as portrayed in A Beautiful Mind was constructed to showcase the determination and perseverance of the tormented professor. The film covers the life of John Nash, a mathematics scholar, who developed one of the greatest advancements to game theory (the Nash Equilibrium) while also suffering from mental illness. It showcases the will power with which Nash essentially forces himself to ignore his hallucinations and focus on getting back into mainstream life. His wife also plays an important role by supporting him in his struggle. The story is certainly inspiring, even though I later learned that portions of Nash’s actual life are different from what was presented on film. Nevertheless, the story in the movie is what we should focus on, and we see from this story that determination and mental strength can lead to amazing results.

I knew nothing about Nash’s life before the film and so I thought the way the filmmakers depicted Nash’s descent into madness was done quite well. In the film, Nash is doing his best to be successful in life, when suddenly his work becomes very serious. It is only a great deal of time into the movie that the audience finds out that entire portions of the movie were merely Nash’s hallucinations. It all made for an interesting story. I did some research later and I did find out that some things were changed from the actual story. One of the most trivial was that in the film Nash goes mad in 1954 when in reality he started having mental issues in 1959. Why the filmmakers felt the need to change that one detail still confuses me. There are a series of other changes made to Nash’s life which made for a more compelling story and I understand why the changes were made. However, because of those changes I think it is important to focus solely on the story portrayed in the film and to consider how we can be more focused and determined in our lives.

Perfect Timing

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Watching the documentary, “The Professor: Tai Chi’s Journey West”, I realized that Tai Chi came to America at perhaps the perfect time. As was mentioned in the film, the 1960s and 1970s were quite a turbulent time filled with experimentation and questioning traditional western values. For many Americans, the new perspective which was provided by Tai Chi was exactly what the new times called for. “The Professor”, Cheng Man-Ching, also seems to have been the perfect teacher for the task of bring Tai Chi to America. Hearing the interviews of former students of Cheng Man-Ching shows that he had a way about him which completely mesmerized his students.

I have never tried Tai Chi, and never knew much about it until watching this film. To me Tai Chi seems more than a simple martial art, it has aspects which apply to everyday life and health. Tai Chi’s tenants to never be violent but to deflect and return violence acted against you is an interesting life philosophy. In a way it combines non-violence with a means of self-defense. Likewise it teaches you how to avoid brute strength which is costly and destructive, and to rather use your head to find a solution. The film gave a good representation of what Tai Chi is while also providing a history of its introduction to America.

Are You MAD Yet?

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With all the tension surrounding the North Korean nuclear program, this Friday Film certainly was topical. The movie this week was Dr. Strangelove, the story of how the world comes to an end through sabotage, mistakes, miscommunication, and possibly from one too many unfunny jokes. It is important to realize that humor (apparently) was very different in the 1960s, so setting that aside we should look to the message that the filmmakers were trying to convey. A general sends out his nuclear bomber planes without consulting anyone else. This leads to the uncomfortable position in which the American president tries to work with  his generals, the Russians, and the eponymous Dr. Strangelove to save the world from an accidental nuclear war. The resulting comedy is based around the ridiculous nature with which everyone attempts to resolve the situation. The general who started the attack has a crazy obsession with “bodily fluids”, the other American generals think that maybe war isn’t a terrible idea, the Russian leader is drunk at a party, and Dr. Strangelove (a former Nazi scientist) seems a little too excited about the destruction of the world. It seems as though humanity is destined to destroy itself by its own incompetence.

So how realistic is this? Spectacularly realistic. There have been multiple examples of how people around the world treat nuclear weapons with little to no concern. It is scary to learn about the number of nukes which have rolled off ships or been accidentally been deployed. In 1958 the US Air Force lost a bomb off the coast of Georgia, they looked for it for years but still have never found it. In 1961 the Air Force did it again in North Carolina, accidentally dropping two nuclear bombs into a swamp. They found both, but one was so deep in the swamp they left it and just bought all the land around it. To this day there are soldiers guarding a bit of swamp so that no one can try and dig it up. During the Cuban missile crisis a Russian submarine mistakenly thought it was under attack so they armed their nuclear weapons. Nuclear war almost started because some Russians heard a weird noise. Then there was the time a US airmen dropped a wrench on an ICBM and almost blew-up most of Arkansas. Even today it was reported that at the North Korean nuclear test site satellites took photos of people playing volleyball. So rather than the image we have of war, grave faces contemplating the fate of the world, World War Three could start while our president eats “the best” chocolate cake and the North Koreans play volleyball.

So are we destined to destroy ourselves in some  morbid comedy? Probably not, despite all the accidents the fail-safes have proved effective. The truly insane thing about all this is that humanity has the capability to destroy itself. It is such a strange concept to kill everything imaginable, and governments really do seem to love.  This is exemplified in the character Dr. Strangelove, he takes a great interest in the idea of a world-wide nuclear war. So we must be responsible with our new power, but remember no to love it too much.

Why is it Called Thunderdome?

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My first question after watching Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome was why is this film even called Thunderdome. The “Thunderdome” is a cage fight which lasts maybe a quarter of the movie, and it wasn’t discussed before or after that scene. Arguably, the movie could more accurately called Mad Max: Underground Pigs, or even Mad Max: Airplanes since there were multiple scenes which featured an airplane prominently.  It seems like some movie executive liked the word “Thunderdome” and made that the title. The content of the movie was about as logical and thought-out as the title. The plot gets a little lost halfway through the film and society has REALLY taken a weird turn considering its only been like 30 years since the start of the apocalypse. Apparently the moment law and order break down, humanity’s first course of action will be to start wearing headdresses and covering our cars in cow hide. So should anyone watch this movie? Yes.

Thunderdome isn’t a good movie, but nevertheless it serves a purpose as a representation of the culture of the 1980s. Some of the things which we label as flaws in the movie were put into the film intentionally. Therefore, they shouldn’t be seen as flaws, but rather indications of how culture has changes over the last 30 years since this movie was made. Now I know that the 1980s aren’t some mysterious era which has been obscured by the mists of time. Nevertheless, old media from the past is a good way to see the feelings, emotions, and values o the people during that time. Thunderdome, or really any 1980s movies (there are better ones), should be watched to view a culture which is different from our own. We can learn from the experience and maybe understand how our present culture has come to be.

On Gattaca: Life is What You Make of It

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My mother has always told me that life is what you make of it. People don’t start out with the same opportunities, but if you work hard enough you might make it to the top. This is a very American sentiment, its really just the classic “American Dream” story we’ve all heard before. The film Gattaca explores how this great “Dream” would change in a society where opportunities are manufactured through genetic engineering. Vincent is the main character who was born without any genetic modification, and is therefore considered a risky investment for any possible employers. Nevertheless Vincent passionately wants to go to space and is willing to try anything to get there. He eventually assumes a new identity and pretends to be someone with a great genetic profile. He defies the odds and achieves his goals. In the film, Vincent becomes the best worker in the space program through determination and sheer force of will. Near the end of the film Vincent meets his younger brother Anton, one of those genetically modified super humans. Anton asks Vincent how he is able to beat all these other people who on paper should be so much stronger or smarter. Vincent explains that as a kid he never saved any energy in reserve, he always gave it everything he had.

As an audience we look up to Vincent as a hero for the common man. He has no special genetic ability, rather he has what we all could posses, a never give up attitude. There is a hope for us all that we too can strive for excellence and even get what we want despite not having an advantage at the start. This dream has permeated throughout American thought and is seen as a cornerstone of what it means to be American. Of course everything is more fair, and much more desirable, if we provide everyone with the same opportunities, that way everyone can reach their full potential. Unfortunately, the current political situation in America seems to disregard equality so all that we are left with is Gattaca and our hero Vincent. So what should we take away from the film? We need to put all the energy we have into achieving what we want and making America a better place for everyone. We can still progress and get what we deserve even if the government sets up arbitrary disadvantages or takes away our opportunities. America is home to this great Dream, and we can work hard and work together to make things right.

 

Great Depression Nutrition

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Last week I went to the Rose Cafe presented by Jane Ziegelman. She covered the development of nutrition science in America during the Great Depression and how our very own Flora Rose helped in the effort. The Great Depression posed an immense challenge to millions of Americans as they were faced with a new reality of hunger. Most of those people had never suffered like that before, and had generally looked down upon the bread lines of charities. But as unemployment and food insecurity swept the nation, home economists began creating solutions to the problem of undernourishment.

Flora Rose specialized in food science and had helped feed the people of Belgium after World War I. During the Great Depression she focused on producing a food which would aid Americans in getting the necessary vitamins and nutrients which their diets now lacked. Rose’s creation was a series of fortified cereals which could be used for everything, from regular breakfast cereal to an ingredient in a casserole. A theme among all home economists of the time was to eat foods which had mild flavors; basically very bland and boring food. People thought that the most healthy food was the worst tasting, and surprisingly this is a theme which started in America at its very inception and has continued on to the present day. Also, it was during the Great Depression that milk became wildly known was a ‘super food’ which provided every vitamin and mineral the body needed. This is why almost any recipe from that time include milk as an ingredient even if milk really shouldn’t be included.

In addition to her role as a food innovator, Flora Rose and other home economists worked as mediators to the public about new scientific knowledge about food. They explained what vitamins were, and how they worked. The government got involved by establishing a Federal Bureau of Home Economics, and they even started a radio program in which a character named “Aunt Sammy” addressed the questions and concerns regarding how to stay healthy for a little money as possible. The idea that eating scientifically was the best grew during this time, and it even became a patriotic thing to do so that you saved resources for the rest of the country.

The Great Depression changed the way Americans ate drastically, and has had effects to this day. Fortified foods have become commonplace today, just check the ingredients list of any loaf of bread, bottle of milk, or box of cereal. Flora Rose, Cornell, and home economists were an integral part of that modernization of food.

Is the Matrix bad?

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What is real? The film The Matrix delves into this question as it is revealed that the protagonist, Neo, lives in a giant computer simulation. He is brought into the real world by Morpheus in order to fight against the machines which have subjugated humanity and forced everyone to live in the Matrix program. Neo struggles to accept that what was “reality” was in fact an illusion. In the end he defeats the machines by fully recognizing that the Matrix is merely a computer program. After this realization, he no longer sees the objects in the Matrix as things but rather as they really are, computer code. Humanity wins, reality is restored to its proper place. However, a different question is raised by the film which seems to be left unaddressed. Why was Neo’s fight to bring back reality so important?  Basically, we all assume that living in reality is better than a simulation. In the film, one of the villains is a human named Cypher who has been “unplugged” from the Matrix and now lives in reality. Nevertheless, he is willing to betray his friends and destroy the last human resistance against the machines just to be returned to the Matrix and have all of his previous memories erased. He doesn’t care whether or not the food he eats is real, he simply wants to be happy.

So why do we value reality over fantasy, why is Cypher such an evil villain and Neo the hero? Agent Smith tells Morpheus that the first version of the Matrix provided an idyllic life for humanity, without any wars, diseases, or problems. This sounds like a utopia but Agent Smith informs us that this original Matrix program was rejected by humanity as people couldn’t accept that it was real. The machines were forced to produce a “more real” version of the Matrix which included all the things which make life difficult. People gave up a perfect life for something that felt like reality. And Neo chose the red pill so that he could find out the truth and leave the Matrix. We constantly strive to find things that are genuine and natural. I think the reason for this is free will. In a fantasy world like the Matrix we are required to live under the whim of others. Our happiness in a simulation is not our own, it is given to us by the controller of our world. Reality, therefore, is synonymous with freedom and we shouldn’t give up our free will in order to be happy. Neo is the hero because he is fighting for our right to chose our own destiny, he is fighting for our freedom.

Freedom of Choice

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In the film “They Call Me Muslim,” two Muslim women were followed as they struggled to balance their personal beliefs with the public expectations imposed upon them. In France a young girl was faced with the decision to remove her headscarf or be expelled from school. In Iran a mother was forced to remain in her apartment in order to retain her freedom to dress as she pleased. It was clear that neither situation was a desirable one to undergo, the girl from France even admitted that if given the chance she would gladly move to another country which was more accepting of the hijab. These two women are faced with the same problem that the government is attempting to enforce personal ethics on its citizens. Ironically, the girl in France and the woman in Iran are suffering under the exact opposite conditions, one wants to keep her hijab and the other wants to go out uncovered. The solution to both of these problems is to accept that everyone has the right to decide their own personal ethics such as what is appropriate to wear. Governments and laws are necessary to enforce rules which protect citizens from harm and provide a healthy place to live. However, by overstepping its boundaries, governments can have a stifling effect on its citizens.

In a way, both France and Iran desire to be a Utopia. France imagines itself to be a country of secular perfection, where liberalism is applied everywhere and to everyone. Iran wants to be the best Islamic country in the world, where sharia law is applied to everyone. Both states assume that by enforcing their rules, either secularism or sharia law, that they will produce harmony and peace. The film “They Call Me Muslim” is evidence that this is not the case, that the world is diverse and individuals have greatly varying opinions. The girl from France was not forced to wear her hijab, she chose to herself. And the woman in Iran does not feel compelled to wear a hijab as she thinks that seeing a woman’s hair isn’t a problem. These personal beliefs go against the popular assumptions held by the cultures in which they live. I believe that it is important to allow varying personal beliefs to exist within a culture. This strengthens that culture and provides a diverse set of outlooks on any given societal problem. Banning a hijab or making it mandatory is counterproductive to society and leads to unhappiness. The government should focus on public issues, and the individual can handle their own personal ethical questions.

Love is Art

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We constantly strive to portray the abstractions of our lives as physical things. We desire to control everything around ourselves to remain safe and secure. And is there any better way to exert control than to take what was once invisible, merely a concept, and create a tangible thing which can be studied and dissected? Science takes a falling apple and produces physics, history takes an event suspended in time and creates a book, William Shakespeare experiences love and creates art. Art is humanity’s attempt to study and evaluate emotions by making physical representations of what we all experience. Therefore, it follows that in order to make great art the artist must understand great emotions as well.

Shakespeare in Love is a film which tries to show this to its audience. Shakespeare is not a man who imagines what his characters are feeling as he writes, rather Shakespeare knows exactly what Romeo and Juliet are going through. There is a bet in the film that no one can accurately portray love in a play, however Shakespeare has faced love and loss. With his experiences and a significant talent to convert feelings into words, he wins the bet by writing Romeo and Juliet. This speaks to the necessity for artists to go out and experience life to fully understand their subject emotions. And it becomes easy to understand why some of the greatest artists of history often had troubled lives, since they had to deal with hardship in life they could easily portray hardship on the canvas, or on paper, or in song.

Art was somewhat of a mystery to me, I never took a particular interest in it. But now I see art’s importance to society. It is how we understand ourselves and our interactions with others. Art is love, happiness, sadness, loneliness, and every other emotion you can think of. Shakespeare in Love is a not just a film about Shakespeare’s tragic love life, but a story of Shakespeare “in love” as an integral part of his artwork.

The Realization of Women’s Education

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I’m surprised the history of the Cornell College of Human Ecology isn’t promulgated more than it is currently. Education is often the key to progress and success in this world; Ezra knew it when he started an institution with a mandate to teach anyone in any study. Therefore, the College of Home Economics (as the College of Human Ecology was called originally) was the realization of Cornell’s message. The story of Martha van Rensselaer and Flora Rose is the epitome of this University’s purpose, and should be used as a great example of how women took up their rightful place in the world of college education.

For the first Rose Cafe of the Spring Semester Eileen Keating, the University Records Manager and the archivist for
the College of Human Ecology, gave a talk on how the college was founded. In the early 1900s the Agriculture College at Cornell was developing ways to help farmers be more productive in their work. It soon became apparent that farmers’ wives could receive the same type of help, however a woman was needed to run the new Home Ecology Department. Martha van Rensselaer was called in to fill this role and she soon brought on Flora Rose to help make the department function successfully. They started a bulletin to learn about women’s needs on the farm and quickly began offering classes on how to ease the workload that farmers’ wives felt on a daily basis. These early classes were some of the first offered to women at Cornell University, and importantly started something which was of great importance to the women’s suffrage and women’s rights movement. Women could now begin to get higher education, and use that knowledge to better themselves and others. The Home Economics Department eventually grew into a school within the Agriculture College, and finally a College in its own right in 1925. Martha van Rensselaer and Flora Rose persevered in opening up the opportunity of higher education for women at a time when this was severely limited. This is an amazing success story which for some reason is mostly forgotten here on campus.

I suppose that for some people when they hear “Home Economics” they relive bad memories of high school classes. However, I think it is important to realize that Martha van Rensselaer’s work in creating the College of Home Economics was just the first step in the door toward women’s equality in higher education. Everything, including social movements, must start somewhere. Cornell should be proud of Martha van Rensselaer’s and Flora Rose’s contributions to American history.