Yesterday, we saw and analyzed some of the art pieces in the Johnson Museum with Professor Schwartz. We saw some of the more well-known pieces in the museum, and learned about how to view and understand art. One of the things that I found interesting was that in order to understand the meaning of an art piece, we have to first contextualize and think about what the artist was trying to say during the time when the piece was created. The time period in which the piece was made is especially important, because major events in that period of history can shed light on some of the meanings behind a particular work. However, the audience does not have to interpret a piece solely based on the artist’s experiences or the artist’s intention. Art can be understood differently by each person, and everyone’s individual experiences and knowledge can affect how they will interpret an artwork. I think that it’s important that each person develop their own perspectives and interpretations of an artwork, and that these differences in perspective allow each person to have their own experience at an art museum.
Author Archives: cw593
A Matrix of Mirrors
This is perhaps the third or fourth time I have watched The Matrix, yet the movie has not lost its appeal and is still quite fascinating. The Matrix reminds me of Black Mirror in some ways; both examine the darker aspects of modern/future technologies. The Matrix delves into the potential downfall of human society due to AI, while Black Mirror examines more futuristic tech that tend to be uncomfortably similar to modern tech. Moreover, The Matrix also explores the idea of reality, and our decisions to remain ignorant or become aware of our reality. While watching The Matrix, these themes reminded me of a specific Black Mirror episode that I watched a while ago called “Nosedive,” in which the protagonist, Lacie, is stuck in a seemingly perfect world based on people’s ratings of each other, but is jarringly exposed to the superficiality of this society. In this world, people’s personalities and humanness are leached away by a rating system that determines one’s rank in society. Similar to the world of The Matrix, these people are controlled by their tech. Although their world is colorful and aesthetic, it all seems to be quite uncomfortable and too perfect. Interactions between people are faked and the emotions and desires that make us human are suppressed. When Neo and Lacie are exposed to the realities of their worlds, it is a stark contrast to their previous, false realities. Neo’s real world is literally a darker place, there’s no sun, and humans are forced to live underground. At the end of “Nosedive,” we see Lacie in a dark, colorless prison cell, whereas before she was surrounded by pleasant, pastel colors. However, these characters’ awareness of their realities is liberating, but at the same time still not entirely free. Neo is seemingly liberated from his entrapment in the Matrix simulation, however he is still latched to his fate as the “One,” and not truly in full control of his life. Lacie is liberated from the system of ratings and the oppressive society she lives in; however, Lacie is still trapped by the physical walls of her prison, even if she is free to voice her own opinion and lets out all her suppressed emotions in an epic screaming match with her fellow inmate. While The Matrix and “Nosedive,” seem to suggest that freedom is possible, they also hint at the idea that there are constraints to freedom and that no one is truly free from their reality.
No Face, No Name
I had watched Spirited Away a long time ago as a kid, and I still remember how captivating the visuals and the story was. Back then I mostly enjoyed it for the story and did not really look into a deeper that the story conveyed, but watching it again made me notice more details that didn’t seem important before. When I watched this movie for the first time, No Face was confusing to me as a character because of its transition to a seemingly kind kami to a gluttonous and greedy one. After watching for the second time, I could see that No Face actually ties into the films overarching theme of identity and greed. After Chihiro helps unpollute the river spirit, gold pebbles are revealed to be among the murky depths of garbage, and there is a general rush to obtain gold. No Face sees how everyone acts toward someone who possesses gold, and so No Face lures the frog kami one night with a handful of gold and consumes the frog. After consuming the frog, the No Face finally has a voice (the frog’s voice), and even starts to act a bit like the frog: greedy and insatiable. I thought that this transition was quite interesting; before the No Face did not have a voice and lacked personality, but after devouring other beings, the No Face takes on the personality of the being it consumed. In addition, it seems as if the mask the No Face wears is simply becomes an outer shell or perhaps a piece of clothing. Before it ate other kami, the No Face had some facial expression through the mask, but after it ate the frog and some other staff, the face become devoid of expression and mainly communicated through the large mouth gaping from the center of its body. Perhaps the interactions between No Face and the staff are a reflection of current society’s avarice and selfishness. The No Face throws gold left and right, all the while gobbling down atrocious amounts of food and becoming larger and more monstrous, a stark contrast to its previous appearance as a simple, untalkative kami. However, the bath’s staff don’t see anything wrong with the current state of events and continue to bring it food, blinded by its generous showers of gold. Similarly, in the real world, many people are willing to go to great lengths for wealth, turning a blind eye to the type of entity providing them with their promised fortune.
Overall, watching this movie a second time was just as enjoyable as the first time I watched it. The animation, soundtrack, and story are awesome! I really love Studio Ghibli films, and I look forward to watching more in the future.
Its Us vs. Them
Us, is filled with symbolism and metaphors; the movie made it glaringly clear that there was a deeper meaning behind the story by using various recurring motifs such the colors red and white, rabbits, and scissors, but there was an underlying ambiguity that made it difficult to pin down what ideas the movie is trying to convey to the audience. However, it is obvious that there is an overarching theme about identity (after all, the movie is titled “Us”). When the movie reveals that Red is actually the human Adelaide, and that the Adelaide on the surface is actually the tethered Adelaide from underground, it forces us to retract our previous notions of “good” and “bad” and re-evaluate the characters. Throughout the movie, Adelaide is seen as the protagonist, protecting her family against the doppelganger villains. However, when we learn that she is actually a tethered, this overturns our previous perspective of Adelaide. Before the switch, tethered Adelaide was forced to live underground, eating raw rabbits and unable to see the light of day, while surface Adelaide could go to carnivals and live a normal life. It is understandable that one would want to seek a better life for oneself, and so tethered Adelaide kidnaps surface Adelaide and forgets her previous life underground. However, the real Adelaide becomes Red, and like her tethered counterpart, seeks to give not only herself but also the other tethered a better life by staging an uprising and un-tethering themselves from their surface counterparts. During the scene when Adelaide kills Red, she lets out a disturbingly primal growl that is similar to the language of the tethered, which is a subtle hint that she is actually a tethered. That brief moment when she reveals her tethered side shows that she is not much different from Red, and that Red is not much different from Adelaide. Even though the tethered are portrayed as the “others,” violent monsters that are vastly different from humans, Adelaide’s human characteristics and Red’s tethered characteristics suggest otherwise. Throughout the film, there is seemingly a clear cut line between the good (humans) and the bad (tethered), but through both Adelaides, it seems that they are actually one and the same, that both tethered and humans are us.
Seeing Stars (and Saturn)
Yesterday, we went to Fuertes Observatory to do some stargazing. Although it was quite cloudy during the day, the sky was clearer expected, so we could actually see lots of stars when standing on the balcony area. I thought it was really nice because it is usually really difficult to see stars at night back home due to light pollution. We had some fun trying to guess constellations and perhaps made a few up along the way. After spending some time on the porch (my neck was quite sore from looking up for so long!) we went inside and got to take a look through the main telescope. We were able to see Saturn through the main telescope, which was pretty cool. I expected it to be blurry, but I could actually see the rings of Saturn pretty clearly. One of the astronomy club students explained the mechanisms behind the telescope, which I thought were pretty interesting. Basically, there is a clockdrive that contains two spinning components that are connected to weights, which are gradually lowered over time. This keeps the telescope calibrated with the rotation of the earth, and lets us view the same object for a long period of time. The mechanism is powered by a hand-crank, which as to be re-calibrated every 90 minutes. I was also surprised to learn that the telescope is 102 years old, and that it is still in great working condition. This was a pretty cool experience and a nice break from academics.
Communicating Science and Religion
During this week’s Table Talk, Andy and Catherine Crouch discussed the relationships between religion and science. While often considered as two separate entities–an investigation of the physical world and musings of the spiritual–science and religion actually aren’t quite as isolated as we perceive. As a physicist, Catherine had some interesting points to make about the intersection between science and physics. When observed at the macro scale, physics and religion rarely converge. However, when one looks at the quantum scale, on the level of atoms and subatomic particles, the line between science and religion blurs. Another point that I thought was interesting from this talk was that the conflict between science and religion is largely over, but the lack of communication between scientists and theologians to the public is what causes public misunderstanding about the conflicts between science and religion. The public’s perception of the apparent dichotomy between science and religions often stems from lack of knowledge and education about the subject. This proves that communication and journalism is quite an important part of educating people about these issues, and other similar topics. Overall, I thought this discussion was sometimes a bit difficult to understand, but people brought up some interesting topics for discussion.
Semiconductors and Silicon
During yesterday’s dinner with Tasnuva, we discussed her current job and some of her career interests. It was quite helpful to listen to her talk about the decisions she made about her education and career, and she had some good advice for us as undergrads. One of our fellow Rose Scholars was a communications major, and she noted how important it is to be a great communicator not only in academia but also in industry. She told us that being likable as an important factor in the hiring process, and that that presenting ourselves as a likable person (even if it differs from how we usually act) is important during the hiring process. Although this advice seems a bit obvious, I think that we often overlook this when searching for internships. We tend to focus on perfecting our resume and having many technical skills and noteworthy experiences, so much so that we often forget that we should also present ourselves as friendly human-beings. I totally agree with her sentiment because recruiters and interviewers are not only looking for an outstanding students but also people that will be able to get along with co-workers and be a team-player.
We also talked about her education, career, and life in Silicon Valley, which was interesting. She told us about how her schooling in the UK was quite rigid, and there wasn’t much room to take extra classes, which reminded me that I should not only take my required major courses but also fun classes that can teach me some useful skills. Tasnuva also mentioned how she took a year off between undergrad and grad school and took up a job in a bank, which is totally unrelated to her major and career interests (she majored in materials science and engineering). However, she made this decision so she could save up money for grad school, and also mentioned how she learned a lot about managing personal finances. I thought this was a really well-planned decision. This showed that finding a job opportunity in a field unrelated to person’s major is fine because it can still be a learning experience. In addition, we also asked Tasnuva about her life in Silicon Valley, and it was really interesting to hear how the company culture can differ drastically. The working pace of a company can be determined by the age of their technology, and by their customer demographic. Some companies are more customer oriented. Because of the time zone difference of international customers, the employees often had to work odd and long hours, from 12-16 hours a day. Other companies who work in older industries and place importance on 9-5 culture will prioritize working normal hours over accommodating their customer’s time zone. This really shows that choosing a workplace that suits your life and your priorities is quite important, especially in Silicon Valley.
By the end of the dinner, I felt that I had gathered a lot of information about making academic and career decisions from Tasnuva. She gave us some very useful advice and overall I think I learned quite a bit from this talk.
Self Defense Workshop
I learned quite a few self defense techniques today with Kyaw Thein. She taught us some basic self defense moves, such as how to escape if someone grabs your wrist, or if someone presses you against a wall. Besides teaching us how to protect ourselves physically, she also told us the importance of balance and awareness of our surroundings. For example, we should stand in shoulder-width wide stance, even when we are standing idly and not being attacked. This prevents us from being caught off-guard and losing our balance. Although we are accustomed to listening to music and walking around with our headphones, it is potentially dangerous, so when walking in unfamiliar places or at night, it is better to take out our headphones and stay alert.
This workshop showed that self defense isn’t hard, and a large part of it is simply using your eyes and ears and making sure that you know where you are and where to find help. A lot of what she taught us are easy to learn, which shows that self defense can be learned by various people, regardless of age or gender.
Cashing In
Sorry to Bother You is a comedic and satirical film that explores various topics such as capitalism, corporate power, racism, friendship, and ethics. The beginning of the film introduces the protagonist, Cassius “Cash” Green, and his girlfriend, Detroit. Detroit has a job as an artist, and Cash lands a job as a telemarketer at Regal View. Their house needs to be repaired, Cash owes his uncle rent money, and his uncle also owes money. Clearly not financially well-off, Cash works hard to pay off his debts; however, he learns that he must use his “white-voice” to make sales. As Cash perfects his telemarketer spiel and his white-voice, he starts to rise up the ranks and eventually gets promoted to Power Caller, a position of utmost prestige in the company. His attire, interactions with friends, and even his housing, changes. Cash’s clothes transition from bland office wear to polished suits, there is a clear distance between him and his friends, and his new housing is modern, neat, white. Cash’s obviously dubbed white voice, paired with his visual and behavioral changes, suggest that the pursuit of monetary success often requires changing oneself to fit society’s standards and expectations, even at the expense of one’s friendships and morals. This standard of success is embodied by Steve Lift, CEO of the Worry Free, who, in order to make more money, resorts to forcibly turning humans into half horse half human creatures, equisapiens. This bizarre and quite unrealistic turn in the movie clearly shows that people can go to great lengths for money, despite the possible repercussions. Moreover, the strange acceptance of the equisapien and labeling as a scientific achievement by the general public indicates that the powerful and influential can often commit morally corrupt acts in order to satisfy their own personal aims, often at the expense of others.
The film Sorry to Bother You flashes the Regal View slogan “Stick to the Script” in the background of scenes while simultaneously veering sharply away from a typical movie script. The quirkiness and craziness of Sorry to Bother You draws attention to societal issues while at the same time entertaining the audience with its uniqueness and gradual divergence from a seemingly tame social commentary to disconcerting sci-fi.