This week I watched The Matrix for the first time, and I am so glad that I was finally able to see this classic movie. Not only were some of the visuals incredible, especially considering the movie is 20 years old, but the plot was very complex and well thought through. What stood out to me the most was one particular scene where Morpheus said that reality is whatever your senses perceive it to be. In a literal sense, he is right. Everything that we know of the world, and of reality, is based off of what we have sensed through our senses, and there is no way to confirm that the reality that we are sensing is the same as someone else’s. For instance, although everyone may be able to see an object, feel it, maybe even taste it, and we can come to a consensus of what that object may look, feel or taste like, how do we know that the image that each of us have in our mind of that object is the same? Take a coloured object for example. Physically that object absorbs and reflects certain wavelengths of light that fall in the visible spectrum, and we are able to perceive those wavelengths with our eyes, but what is to say that two different people do not perceive the same wavelength of light as two different colours, but nonetheless each call the colour they are “seeing” red? This idea of reality also reminded me of the saying, “if a tree falls down in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?” As a teacher once highlighted to me, the tree may make sound waves as it crashes to the forest floor, but they said that sound is dependent on someone hearing those waves, and thus if there is no one around the tree does not actually make a sound. Overall, I found this movie’s concept of reality to be very thought provoking, and I enjoyed talking about many of the implications of reality with my friends afterwards.
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Environmental Awareness in Spirited Away
This Friday I watched the animated movie Spirited Away for the second time, but because I first saw it a number of years ago I remembered very little about the plot. Overall, I thought the movie was really interesting as it incorporated many different themes throughout the story which made it a pleasure to watch. One thing in particular that stood out to me, both when I first watched it and now, was the scene of the supposed stink-spirit coming for a bath. I don’t know what a stink spirit is supposed to look like, but this character was a unit of a spirit that was dripping with sludge and reeked of something awful. However, after getting into the bath and being thoroughly washed off, the main character, Sen (Chihiro) thought she felt a thorn in his side. This actually turned out to be the handle of a bicycle, and has the bathhouse staff pulled it out, they removed an absurd amount of garbage and pollution to reveal a majestic river spirit. This was an really eye-opening way to symbolize the impact that pollution is having on our freshwater ecosystems, and show how once-beautiful rivers and streams are being destroyed by pollution and littering. Unfortunately though, unlike in the film, our polluted rivers can’t be fixed so easily, and much more effort is needed if we are to preserve the remaining streams and waterways we have. I thought that this scene was really important, not only for character development, but also to show the effects of pollution in a new way so that people may become more aware of the environment. Hopefully this scene makes people think more about how they could be contributing to environmental destruction like it did for me, and challenges them to try and become more active in preserving our ecosystem.
Making the Most of Cornell’s Opportunities
During the mini-seminar with Jeff Godowski, I learned more about the sort of events that people are interested in participating in as a part of Rose House. I found this to be really interesting because I have never really thought about how they choose which events to hold; I simply just thought that the GRF’s would each choose something that they are passionate about and hold an event that involves that.
As this seminar went on, it came to no surprise to me that most people were interested in attending events that were focused on career-development or intellectual inquiry. This could be for a number of reasons, but I think this is largely because people come to Cornell to learn and pursue their interests so it makes sense that most people want to attend intellectually interesting events. I am a transfer student, and I don’t believe that my previous institution had nearly as many opportunities for career development or academic inquiry a Cornell does, and now that I am here I want to make the most out of every opportunity I can, because I am grateful to even have these opportunities. So few people can say they were able to come to a world-renowned institution where they can learn from amazing professors or take advantage of opportunities for career development, and so while I am here I plan to make the most of it.
Sane in an Insane World
Last week I watched the horror movie Housebound, and it was nothing like I expected. At first it starts out as most supernatural thrillers do, but towards the middle it became apparent that not everything was as it seemed. One thing that stood out to me was the transformation of the main character’s belief in the supernatural. Kylie is portrayed as an individual with a history of substance abuse and potential mental health issues who is placed on house arrest after a failed robbery. At first she is very skeptic of any supernatural beings in her house, but after a series of mysterious events she is convinced the house is haunted. Just as quickly though, she changes her belief that these disturbances are due to a person living in the walls who is playing games with them. Even though the audience knows that she is right about the person in the walls, because of her situation, the psychologist and police think that she is crazy, and they dismiss her claims. This reminded me of my experience volunteering in a psychiatry ward at a hospital. Despite their reasons for being admitted or their actual mental state, many of the patients there were labelled as crazy or delusional because of where they were. At first this may seem appropriate, and for many their clinical diagnosis is accurate, but for some people I was not so sure. It sometimes seemed that a lot of their behavior or beliefs were not taken seriously, and were simply passed off as a product of their mental health issues. Similar to Kylie’s situation, what if they were telling the truth and no one believed them because everyone thought they were crazy? Without going into details, I remember one patient who thought that they were being followed and were on constantly edge, but the hospital staff said that was just because they were diagnosed as delusional and paranoid. Yet, what if this patient had a legitimate concern? Would anyone believe them? I think these are important questions to ask, and I thought this film did a great job of highlighting this issue of mental health, and the dichotomy between sanity and insanity. For instance, everyone believes that they are sane, but can anyone ever be truly sure? How do we know we are not insane living in an insane world, where those who are sane are demonized and ostracized?
“Remember the number 99”
This week I took part in Ithaca’s Pack Mobile event where we went to a local church to help pack meals for starving children in Africa. This event was totally different than what I expected, and I was surprised at the number of people from all over Ithaca who came and helped out as well. Basically, everybody was loading rice, soy, and an essential vitamin mixture into plastic bags that were sealed and packaged, ready to be shipped off. These bags could be used as an entire meal for people who are starving, and live in places with a severe food shortage. I was amazed at how productive we were, and we were told that we made enough meals to feed 99 children for an entire year. This was honestly incredible to think about how just a few hours of service could help to feed nearly a hundred children for a year. Afterwards the organization also showed us a short clip of some of the children they have previously helped out, and the impact that these meals had was huge. In one instance, a child was so emaciated and weak that he could barely walk, but after being given access to proper food and nutrition through this program, he was able to run around with his friends and attend school. One of the biggest things I took away from this night though, was that each bag only cost 25c. This made me realize just how fortunate we are to live in a country with constant access to food and water. Sometimes I find it easy to think about what I don’t have in life, rather than the things I do have, and I often take many things for granted like being able to eat multiple meals a day. Learning about the lives of other children less fortunate than me has inspired me to appreciate the small things in my life more, because there are many people out there who would really appreciate even a 25c bag of nutritious food.
The Power of a Whistle
This week as a part of Friday Films, I watched three short documentaries on Women in Myanmar, specifically about the sexual harassment and discrimination that many of them face on a daily basis. All three were eye-opening, but I was most surprised and shocked by the first film “Whistle for Help”, which showed how volunteers are combating the rampant sexual harassment taking place on crowded buses by passing out whistles. The documentary outlined how the buses in Myanmar are always very crowded, and often middle-age men will get aroused by young girls on the bus and will actually take out their penis and assault them in public. What is even more astonishing is that for a long time nobody was speaking out about this issue or doing anything to stop the perpetrators. What surprised me the most was that these were not just isolated instances that happened to a couple of girls, but rather it was a cultural phenomenon where men thought it was acceptable to abuse and harass women in public. In light of this, I found it inspiring that a small group of women decided that enough was enough, and so they started a campaign stop this behavior, and it quickly grew into a huge movement. What is even more impressive was they did this in a society that is run by a military dictatorship that does not appreciate changes to the status quo, so many of the leaders and volunteers were potentially risking their freedom to advocate for change. Despite this looming threat, the women pushed forward against the odds to fight for their rights, and the safety of future generations of girls riding the bus. This just shows how a small group of determined people can bring about significant changes to society.
“Anything is possible when you sound Caucasian on the phone” – Savanna Tomlinson
This week, as part of Frida Films I watched Sorry to Bother You. This was likely one of the most bizzare films I have seen for a long time, with what seems like a relatively normal plot-line twisting and turning out of control in the latter half of the film. Of the many themes in this film, the theme of race, and the additional obstacles that African-Americans face in the workforce stood out to me the most. Specifically, in the film Cassius is a black man working as a telemarketer that sells to predominantly white clients, and at first Cassius was barely making any sales being himself over the phone. However, when he put on his “white voice” he suddenly became one of the companies best-selling employees. This shows that Cassius had to hide his blackness and conform to societies white standards in order to be successful in the workforce. As the film went on, Cassius even started using his “white voice” at social gatherings in an effort to be more accepted by his white colleagues. Further, Cassius’ white higher-ups at the Power Caller party only valued his “black side” when it benefited them, such as asking him to entertain them with “gangster stories” or his ability to rap. This is an example of white people only being interested in particular aspects (often stereotypical ones) of another races culture when it suits them (ie for their own entertainment) and disregarding them when it does not. As a white male I certainly do not have much experience on this issue, but for me this film clearly highlighted how our society attempts to white-wash other cultures, and even though the film takes place in an alternate-version of America, there are many similarities between their society and our own.