I'm getting reallllly sick of songs that put down women.
Songs that objectify, songs that embody patriarchy, songs that talk about wanting to "do her good"... it's reallllllly becoming annoying.
I never really liked those kinds of songs, but there were always a few that would get to me... a few that i just COULDNT help but like... songs that had/have a great beat or a great voice or something... but now even THOSE songs (for the most part) are bugging the hell out of me.
Honestly.
It's amazing how many women LOVE those songs...
... it's like.. come onnnn...
it's like... Jewish people liking songs about incinerating people...
or MLK liking songs about blasting African Americans, or songs about the KKK or something...
or Native Americans liking songs about colonization...
or Japanese people liking songs about taking people from their homes and shoving them into a camp...
i mean come onnn...
would it really matter if the song had a "good beat"? .. seriously..
There's plenty of "good beats" out there...
Why are we listening to songs that degrade us?
It doesn't matter whether they "have a negative affect" on the listener or anything...
It's just the mere fact that, there they are, singing about us, saying RUDE things about putting us down...... WHY would anyone want to listen to that?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Dear Earth, i'm sorry...
i don't know where it came from... but... i started thinking a lot about the Earth today.
I guess it began with my trip to the gas station. So, i was standing there pumping gas... and i started thinking about all the different types of fuel we were talking about in my Creative Minds class... Ethanol.. Biodiesel... Electricity.. Solar.. Wind.. yeah yeah yeah... and then i thought, ok, so say everyone suddenly decided that they want to purchase an electric car, or a plug in hybrid, or whatever... and then i though, well, what about all the cars that they ALREADY have?... that would be A LOT of trash. WAYYYY too much trash... and then, by building those new electric cars (or whichever they decide to buy), we'd be bringing in so much MORE material, MORE garbage... and so, the answer of course, can't be to merely go out and purchase a more eco-friendly vehicle... but then it's like.. okay... what's left to do? purchase a bicycle? walk? take public transportation?.... unless our culture decides to SLOW DOWN, those things won't really work out well for our culture.. we're too dependent on convenience for that.. and so... we would have to totally reconstruct our culture. yes. that's what we need.
This got me thinking about garbage.
It's ridiculous.
And i know, i know, i've learning about this sort of thing for a while now, but, i don't know, for some reason, it just CLICKED today... it's like... i could finally SEE it, i could finally PICTURE it. it's so sad.
Why are we doing this to our world? i mean, WHY would we go out and buy things that we know our world can't possibly sustain. It's makes no sense. And it's SO REAL; it's a wonder that we can't FEEL its realness.
It makes me so pissed off that our culture is driven by STUFF... by material possession. it HAS to stop. The world isn't going to suddenly start growing and growing in order to give us more space until we realize how stupid we're being by producing and consuming so much.
I just don't understand.
it's obvious that we produce more than the Earth can sustain.
and yet, we're not anything about it. i mean, yeah, SOME people are =) .. but not ALL...
What is it going to take to get everyone to just STOP?
i don't know the answer to that question.
But i DO know that i can try to stop...
i've already began limiting the amount of things that i buy... but i feel i need to take it a hundred steps further... put even MORE effort into it... the earth can't afford for me to just slowly ease into become more environmentally friendly.. it needs me to hurry the hell up.
I mark this day as the beginning of my journey to becoming more Earth friendly.
I guess it began with my trip to the gas station. So, i was standing there pumping gas... and i started thinking about all the different types of fuel we were talking about in my Creative Minds class... Ethanol.. Biodiesel... Electricity.. Solar.. Wind.. yeah yeah yeah... and then i thought, ok, so say everyone suddenly decided that they want to purchase an electric car, or a plug in hybrid, or whatever... and then i though, well, what about all the cars that they ALREADY have?... that would be A LOT of trash. WAYYYY too much trash... and then, by building those new electric cars (or whichever they decide to buy), we'd be bringing in so much MORE material, MORE garbage... and so, the answer of course, can't be to merely go out and purchase a more eco-friendly vehicle... but then it's like.. okay... what's left to do? purchase a bicycle? walk? take public transportation?.... unless our culture decides to SLOW DOWN, those things won't really work out well for our culture.. we're too dependent on convenience for that.. and so... we would have to totally reconstruct our culture. yes. that's what we need.
This got me thinking about garbage.
It's ridiculous.
And i know, i know, i've learning about this sort of thing for a while now, but, i don't know, for some reason, it just CLICKED today... it's like... i could finally SEE it, i could finally PICTURE it. it's so sad.
Why are we doing this to our world? i mean, WHY would we go out and buy things that we know our world can't possibly sustain. It's makes no sense. And it's SO REAL; it's a wonder that we can't FEEL its realness.
It makes me so pissed off that our culture is driven by STUFF... by material possession. it HAS to stop. The world isn't going to suddenly start growing and growing in order to give us more space until we realize how stupid we're being by producing and consuming so much.
I just don't understand.
it's obvious that we produce more than the Earth can sustain.
and yet, we're not anything about it. i mean, yeah, SOME people are =) .. but not ALL...
What is it going to take to get everyone to just STOP?
i don't know the answer to that question.
But i DO know that i can try to stop...
i've already began limiting the amount of things that i buy... but i feel i need to take it a hundred steps further... put even MORE effort into it... the earth can't afford for me to just slowly ease into become more environmentally friendly.. it needs me to hurry the hell up.
I mark this day as the beginning of my journey to becoming more Earth friendly.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
"Suicide Medicine"
So, i just got home... While i was driving in the car, my ipod decided to shufle upon Rocky V's "Suicide Medicine" (i forgot how to spell his last name).. and, it reminded me of my mom because she had to go to the hospital recently, and they gave her some meds... on one of the bottles it said "if this medication upsets your stomach, take it crackers, bread, or a small meal" and automatically i thought: THAT ROCKY V song!... it's part of the lyrics to the song, but i never knew that they actually do put that on medicine bottles... i thought the words were just part of the song.. ( i don't take pills that often, so yeah)...but anyway, the songs says :
"If this medication upsets your stomach,
take it with crackers, bread, or a small meal
We understand it won't do shit towards a cure
But if you buy this, I promise you're gonna like
the way it makes you feel"
Prior to knowing that medication bottles actually have a sticker that states the first two lines, i sort of just interpreted the song as only talking about literal suicide, or about hard core (illegal) drugs or something.. but... NOW that i've gained more knowledge about medication bottles and their stickers and what those stickers might say, i get a totally new interpretation: perhaps the song is talking about our culture's love of medicine/pills as a cure... this constant consumption of drugs to "feel better;" drugs that get the virus or what not and punch it's lights out (contrary to the belief of balance found in Chinese medicine... it's like, rather than, give your body a little kick to punch out the bad guys, why not balance your body and give it the strength to fight ALL the bad guys on its own?... it's like comparing steriods and exercise/weight lifting... which is better? i'd like to say the latter)... anywayyyyy... my point it is, i got this COMPLETELY different message once i had a bit more knowldge about the subject... and it got me thinking: this is just a song here. a simple line (or 2) in a SONG. and by gaining more knowlege about something as trivial as medicine bottle stickers, i suddenly was able to develop a WHOLE new interpretation... if this can happen for LYRICS to a SONG.. imagine what it can do to OTHER THINGS...
i gained a new outlook on the phrase "Knowledge is power." ... it really is.
Say i'm reading a book... and there's like... hmm, idk, maybe 5 or 6 words i don't understand, or say, a paragraph or 2... but i just skip over them; i never realized how much you could possibly be CHEATING yourself by skipping over little things you dont understand... what if there was a phrase i didnt understand in the book i was reading (similar to how i didn't understand the phrase in the Rocky V song), and the understanding of that phrase would give me the key to unlock a totally new idea... a totally new understanding of the world.. a new worldview.. a new ideology.... it's crazy what big of a difference something as small as a word or phrase can make.
I'm not saying that having a bigger vocabulary or a larger understanding of common idioms makes you any "smarter" (whatever that is) or "better".. it DOES, however, help open more doors to UNDERSTANDING things... Thus, i have a new goal: INCREASE MY VOCABULARY! include idioms common to my culture as well as others...
... if you think about it... it's kinda like... all the disciplines within schools, and outside of schools (i.e. math, history, science, art, language, mechanics, dance, etc.) can metaphorically be seen as LANGUAGES... they're LANGUAGES to understand the world... they each provide their own perspective; their own view of the world.... of course, in the larger picture, we view our world and our reality through the lenses of our cultural constructs... but... all these disciplines can be seen as lenses as well... and sure... they all somehow contain a reflection of our cultural constructs, but in many ways, they also reflect the cultural constructs of societies OTHER than our own... i mean, America isn't the only country that has these disciplines...
It's like... everything began as an idea, and so, by immersing ourselves into all these subjects/disciplines, we're, in a way, attempting to understand those ideas (of which were, of course, created by PEOPLE.).... ideas ideas ideas. that's all everything really is... and how everything began... i understand that "everything" is a heavily loaded word.. it's so finite... but.. i'm just using it to try and get the point that i mean an unimaginable amount of things....
ideas. even 1+1=2 was an idea.
if we take all these disciplines and attempt to view the world through them and by them, we become more understanding people... we begin to see how OTHERS, not just ourselves, view the world... and so... learning all these subjects doesnt just make you a mathmatician, or scientist, or historian, or artist, or whatnot, it makes you a person more understanding of other's views.
=)
"A brain that never stops ticking,
sometimes an on-off switch would sure come in handy
A mind that's constantly cutting up and dissecting,
looking for answers, committing murders along the way"
"If this medication upsets your stomach,
take it with crackers, bread, or a small meal
We understand it won't do shit towards a cure
But if you buy this, I promise you're gonna like
the way it makes you feel"
Prior to knowing that medication bottles actually have a sticker that states the first two lines, i sort of just interpreted the song as only talking about literal suicide, or about hard core (illegal) drugs or something.. but... NOW that i've gained more knowledge about medication bottles and their stickers and what those stickers might say, i get a totally new interpretation: perhaps the song is talking about our culture's love of medicine/pills as a cure... this constant consumption of drugs to "feel better;" drugs that get the virus or what not and punch it's lights out (contrary to the belief of balance found in Chinese medicine... it's like, rather than, give your body a little kick to punch out the bad guys, why not balance your body and give it the strength to fight ALL the bad guys on its own?... it's like comparing steriods and exercise/weight lifting... which is better? i'd like to say the latter)... anywayyyyy... my point it is, i got this COMPLETELY different message once i had a bit more knowldge about the subject... and it got me thinking: this is just a song here. a simple line (or 2) in a SONG. and by gaining more knowlege about something as trivial as medicine bottle stickers, i suddenly was able to develop a WHOLE new interpretation... if this can happen for LYRICS to a SONG.. imagine what it can do to OTHER THINGS...
i gained a new outlook on the phrase "Knowledge is power." ... it really is.
Say i'm reading a book... and there's like... hmm, idk, maybe 5 or 6 words i don't understand, or say, a paragraph or 2... but i just skip over them; i never realized how much you could possibly be CHEATING yourself by skipping over little things you dont understand... what if there was a phrase i didnt understand in the book i was reading (similar to how i didn't understand the phrase in the Rocky V song), and the understanding of that phrase would give me the key to unlock a totally new idea... a totally new understanding of the world.. a new worldview.. a new ideology.... it's crazy what big of a difference something as small as a word or phrase can make.
I'm not saying that having a bigger vocabulary or a larger understanding of common idioms makes you any "smarter" (whatever that is) or "better".. it DOES, however, help open more doors to UNDERSTANDING things... Thus, i have a new goal: INCREASE MY VOCABULARY! include idioms common to my culture as well as others...
... if you think about it... it's kinda like... all the disciplines within schools, and outside of schools (i.e. math, history, science, art, language, mechanics, dance, etc.) can metaphorically be seen as LANGUAGES... they're LANGUAGES to understand the world... they each provide their own perspective; their own view of the world.... of course, in the larger picture, we view our world and our reality through the lenses of our cultural constructs... but... all these disciplines can be seen as lenses as well... and sure... they all somehow contain a reflection of our cultural constructs, but in many ways, they also reflect the cultural constructs of societies OTHER than our own... i mean, America isn't the only country that has these disciplines...
It's like... everything began as an idea, and so, by immersing ourselves into all these subjects/disciplines, we're, in a way, attempting to understand those ideas (of which were, of course, created by PEOPLE.).... ideas ideas ideas. that's all everything really is... and how everything began... i understand that "everything" is a heavily loaded word.. it's so finite... but.. i'm just using it to try and get the point that i mean an unimaginable amount of things....
ideas. even 1+1=2 was an idea.
if we take all these disciplines and attempt to view the world through them and by them, we become more understanding people... we begin to see how OTHERS, not just ourselves, view the world... and so... learning all these subjects doesnt just make you a mathmatician, or scientist, or historian, or artist, or whatnot, it makes you a person more understanding of other's views.
=)
"A brain that never stops ticking,
sometimes an on-off switch would sure come in handy
A mind that's constantly cutting up and dissecting,
looking for answers, committing murders along the way"
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Creative.
I had to finish these sentences for class yesterday:
Creativity is...
I learn best...
I want to change...
Other than the middle question, the other 2 had me stumped for a while. I know they were just suppose to be simple little questions that show a little about yourself... but... i took them them a lot more seriously than that. I mean, what IS creativity? can it even be defined? then again, can ANYTHING be defined?... "Creativity", i think, is a word that i could continue to define for the rest of my life.
Creativity is being able to see/interpret things for/as more than their literal definition and the way in which they first appear... it's being able to think independently and be YOU (not what "they" want you to be)... it's being able to create (both ideas and literally tangible things).. it's being able to think critically and really submerge yourself into the things that make life... it's being able to imagine... being able to realize that life is more than what meets the eye (in a literal sense).. it's a lot of things...
and as for what i want to change..
i want to change our educational system... and i want to begin to do so by providing our children (students) with some of the opportunities that I feel our society often robs them of, such as the capability of becoming independent thinkers and creating a more personal development of aesthetics and values. I want kids to LIKE learning... and UNDERSTAND why they should... i want learning to seem like a GIFT to them, because it IS. i want it to be more than just standarized tests and A's and B's and C's... and memorization.. and days spent staring at the clock.. i want them to be able to REALLY EXPERIENCE what it's like to learn and expand their minds. I have sooooo much respect for elementary/middle/high school teachers who DO try and do that... and i have respect for those who honesty try their best to attempt it... but those teachers who really don't give a damn are the ones that reallllly push my buttons. i mean, honestly, WHY are you trying to ruin these kids lives? (well, their educational lives)... *sigh*...
<3
Creativity is...
I learn best...
I want to change...
Other than the middle question, the other 2 had me stumped for a while. I know they were just suppose to be simple little questions that show a little about yourself... but... i took them them a lot more seriously than that. I mean, what IS creativity? can it even be defined? then again, can ANYTHING be defined?... "Creativity", i think, is a word that i could continue to define for the rest of my life.
Creativity is being able to see/interpret things for/as more than their literal definition and the way in which they first appear... it's being able to think independently and be YOU (not what "they" want you to be)... it's being able to create (both ideas and literally tangible things).. it's being able to think critically and really submerge yourself into the things that make life... it's being able to imagine... being able to realize that life is more than what meets the eye (in a literal sense).. it's a lot of things...
and as for what i want to change..
i want to change our educational system... and i want to begin to do so by providing our children (students) with some of the opportunities that I feel our society often robs them of, such as the capability of becoming independent thinkers and creating a more personal development of aesthetics and values. I want kids to LIKE learning... and UNDERSTAND why they should... i want learning to seem like a GIFT to them, because it IS. i want it to be more than just standarized tests and A's and B's and C's... and memorization.. and days spent staring at the clock.. i want them to be able to REALLY EXPERIENCE what it's like to learn and expand their minds. I have sooooo much respect for elementary/middle/high school teachers who DO try and do that... and i have respect for those who honesty try their best to attempt it... but those teachers who really don't give a damn are the ones that reallllly push my buttons. i mean, honestly, WHY are you trying to ruin these kids lives? (well, their educational lives)... *sigh*...
<3
Sunday, November 8, 2009
ignorance.
One of my biggest fears has got to be: ignorance.
i want to be educated. is that too much to ask for?
This quarter has, so far, not been intellectually engaging, and it's making it really difficult for me to get through it.
i feel drained.
i feel like a sponge.... and someone's just constantly squeezing the "good stuff" out of me.
I lack in creativity.
My imagination is beginning to starve.
I've been thrown facts in the form of bricks... leaving me to chisel each one out in order to disect it.. and i wish the facts would've been thrown to me as a heap of mud... because atleast then i'd have some sort of moisture, some sort of substance... something to sink my hands into and actually FEEL... something moldable that i could take and form my own creation with.
I.
just.
want.
this.
to.
be.
over.
I've had too much going on.. i left no time for MYSELF..
Crystal without "me" time is, as i've come to find, HORRIBLE.
and it needs to end.
Pale.
that's what it's like.
and i want so bad for the rays of sun to cover me in their warmth and
give me some COLOR!
i want to be educated. is that too much to ask for?
This quarter has, so far, not been intellectually engaging, and it's making it really difficult for me to get through it.
i feel drained.
i feel like a sponge.... and someone's just constantly squeezing the "good stuff" out of me.
I lack in creativity.
My imagination is beginning to starve.
I've been thrown facts in the form of bricks... leaving me to chisel each one out in order to disect it.. and i wish the facts would've been thrown to me as a heap of mud... because atleast then i'd have some sort of moisture, some sort of substance... something to sink my hands into and actually FEEL... something moldable that i could take and form my own creation with.
I.
just.
want.
this.
to.
be.
over.
I've had too much going on.. i left no time for MYSELF..
Crystal without "me" time is, as i've come to find, HORRIBLE.
and it needs to end.
Pale.
that's what it's like.
and i want so bad for the rays of sun to cover me in their warmth and
give me some COLOR!
I Am Waiting by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and i am waiting for someone
to really discover America
and wait
and i am waiting
for the discovery
of a new symbolic western frontier
and i am waiting
for the american eagle
to really spread its wings
and straighten up and fly right
and i am waiting
for the age of anxiety
to drop dead
and i am waiting
for the war to be fought
which will make the world safe
for anarchy
and i am waiting
for the final withering away
of all governments
and i am perpetually awaiting
a rebirth of wonder
I am waitn for the Second Coming
and i am waiting
for a religious revival
to sweep thru the state of Arizona
and i am waiting
for the Grapes of Wrath to be stored
and i am waiting for them to prove
that God is really America
and i am seriously waiting
for Billy Graham and Elvis Presley
to exchange roles
seriously
and i am waiting
to see God on television
pied onto church altars
if only they can find
the right channel
to tune in on
and i am waiting
for the Last Supper to be served again
with a strange new appetizer
andi am perpetually awaiting
a rebirth of wonder
I am waiting for my number to be called
and i am waiting
for the living end
and i am waiting
for dad to come home
his pockets full
of irradiated silver dollars
and i am waiting
for the atomic tests to end
and i am waiting happily
for things to get much worse
before they improve
and i wam waiting
for the Salvation Army to take over
and i am waiting
for the human crowd
to wander off a cliff somewhere
clutching its atomic umbrella
and i am waiting
for Ike to act
and i am waiting
for the meek to be blessed
and inherit the earth
without taxes
and i am waiting
for forests and animals
to reclaim the earth as theirs
and i am waiting
for a way to be devised
to destroy all nationalisms
without killing anybody
and i am waiting
for linnets and planets to fall like rain
and i am waiting for lovers and weepers
to lie down together again
in a new rebirth of wonder
I am waiting for the Great Divide to be crossed
and i am anxiously waiting
for the secret of eternal life to be discovered
by an obscure general practitioner
and save me forever from certain death
and i am waiting
for the storms of life
to be over
and i am waiting
to set sail for happiness
and i am waiting
for a reconstructed Mayflower
to reach America
with its picture story and tv rights
sold in advance to the natives
and i am waiting
for the lost music to sound again
in the Lost Continent
in a new rebirth of wonder................
_Lawrence Ferlinghetti
............. (look up the rest, i'm tired of typing)
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and i am waiting for someone
to really discover America
and wait
and i am waiting
for the discovery
of a new symbolic western frontier
and i am waiting
for the american eagle
to really spread its wings
and straighten up and fly right
and i am waiting
for the age of anxiety
to drop dead
and i am waiting
for the war to be fought
which will make the world safe
for anarchy
and i am waiting
for the final withering away
of all governments
and i am perpetually awaiting
a rebirth of wonder
I am waitn for the Second Coming
and i am waiting
for a religious revival
to sweep thru the state of Arizona
and i am waiting
for the Grapes of Wrath to be stored
and i am waiting for them to prove
that God is really America
and i am seriously waiting
for Billy Graham and Elvis Presley
to exchange roles
seriously
and i am waiting
to see God on television
pied onto church altars
if only they can find
the right channel
to tune in on
and i am waiting
for the Last Supper to be served again
with a strange new appetizer
andi am perpetually awaiting
a rebirth of wonder
I am waiting for my number to be called
and i am waiting
for the living end
and i am waiting
for dad to come home
his pockets full
of irradiated silver dollars
and i am waiting
for the atomic tests to end
and i am waiting happily
for things to get much worse
before they improve
and i wam waiting
for the Salvation Army to take over
and i am waiting
for the human crowd
to wander off a cliff somewhere
clutching its atomic umbrella
and i am waiting
for Ike to act
and i am waiting
for the meek to be blessed
and inherit the earth
without taxes
and i am waiting
for forests and animals
to reclaim the earth as theirs
and i am waiting
for a way to be devised
to destroy all nationalisms
without killing anybody
and i am waiting
for linnets and planets to fall like rain
and i am waiting for lovers and weepers
to lie down together again
in a new rebirth of wonder
I am waiting for the Great Divide to be crossed
and i am anxiously waiting
for the secret of eternal life to be discovered
by an obscure general practitioner
and save me forever from certain death
and i am waiting
for the storms of life
to be over
and i am waiting
to set sail for happiness
and i am waiting
for a reconstructed Mayflower
to reach America
with its picture story and tv rights
sold in advance to the natives
and i am waiting
for the lost music to sound again
in the Lost Continent
in a new rebirth of wonder................
_Lawrence Ferlinghetti
............. (look up the rest, i'm tired of typing)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Movies.
most movies in a nutshell:
1) we get the opening image. the "before" picture. the image that tells where we are... what's going on.. who we're dealing with
2) we get the opening hook. the theme introduced. we get more of a feel as to what sort of character we're dealing with.
3)now comes the catalyst... an incident which finally gets the movie going.. usually something is mentioned .. we get some sort of "news" as to what's going on
4) the setting starts to develop. we get images upon images of what the "ordinary world" looks like for the main characters
5)we're hit with a mini crisis. We learn what the movie is about. our character realizes what he/she must do.. he/she figures our his/her goal.
6) we reach the point of no return. our character starts out on his/her journey to his/her goal.
7) the "B" story begins... a "B" story is added to take our mind off the main goal, to slow things down... sometimes the "B" story is a romance.. or, as found in many recent movies, a "bromance"
8) there's a moment of testing for our main character.. the main character fails.. heshe goes toward his/her goal and FAILS.. tested and fails (this is usually mirrored again in the climax, except, in the climax, he/she succeeds)... OR we get our first indication of love if there's a romance involved
9)we reach the mid point.. the turning point..for the first time, our character does something completely out of character
10) we reach the big pit.. something is lost.. almost everything that can go wrong goes wrong.. although not EVERYTHING is lost, NEARLY everything is
11) we reach rockbottom.. our character is helpless.. it's worse than the big pit.. our character is alone.. isolated... everything is gone.. and then he/she reaches an epiphany in which he/she realizes what he/she must do to achieve his/her goal
12) climax to finale. our protagonist and antagonist face off to get to the goal.. our character is tested and he/she succeeds.
13) we are given a final image.. the closing image.. the "after" picture to contrast with the "before" picture that we were given during the opening image.
THE END.
so, i'm taking intro to film.. and now, when i watch movies, i can see this play out time after time after time.. with nearly every movie... it's like you can predict what will happen next... it sort of ruins the entertainment part if you think about it TOO much.. but yeah... if most movies follow this outline.. it's really almost like .. every movie is the same.. in some way. Yet, they're not. they're completely different.
and so, this leads me to believe that.. the most important person of the movie making process is... the screenwriter. it is, afterall, the screenwriter that comes up with/creates/develops the story.. it is the screenwriter who gives birth to the characters we come to love.. it is the screenwriter who brings to life the lines and quotes we come to love and repeat... it is the screenwriter who is able to take an idea and begin the process of making a visual representation of it for all of us to see... it is the screenwriter who presents the story in such a way that we're able to either relate to it or merely be entertained by it. horray to the screenwriters. horray for their ability to make movies worthwhile.
<3
1) we get the opening image. the "before" picture. the image that tells where we are... what's going on.. who we're dealing with
2) we get the opening hook. the theme introduced. we get more of a feel as to what sort of character we're dealing with.
3)now comes the catalyst... an incident which finally gets the movie going.. usually something is mentioned .. we get some sort of "news" as to what's going on
4) the setting starts to develop. we get images upon images of what the "ordinary world" looks like for the main characters
5)we're hit with a mini crisis. We learn what the movie is about. our character realizes what he/she must do.. he/she figures our his/her goal.
6) we reach the point of no return. our character starts out on his/her journey to his/her goal.
7) the "B" story begins... a "B" story is added to take our mind off the main goal, to slow things down... sometimes the "B" story is a romance.. or, as found in many recent movies, a "bromance"
8) there's a moment of testing for our main character.. the main character fails.. heshe goes toward his/her goal and FAILS.. tested and fails (this is usually mirrored again in the climax, except, in the climax, he/she succeeds)... OR we get our first indication of love if there's a romance involved
9)we reach the mid point.. the turning point..for the first time, our character does something completely out of character
10) we reach the big pit.. something is lost.. almost everything that can go wrong goes wrong.. although not EVERYTHING is lost, NEARLY everything is
11) we reach rockbottom.. our character is helpless.. it's worse than the big pit.. our character is alone.. isolated... everything is gone.. and then he/she reaches an epiphany in which he/she realizes what he/she must do to achieve his/her goal
12) climax to finale. our protagonist and antagonist face off to get to the goal.. our character is tested and he/she succeeds.
13) we are given a final image.. the closing image.. the "after" picture to contrast with the "before" picture that we were given during the opening image.
THE END.
so, i'm taking intro to film.. and now, when i watch movies, i can see this play out time after time after time.. with nearly every movie... it's like you can predict what will happen next... it sort of ruins the entertainment part if you think about it TOO much.. but yeah... if most movies follow this outline.. it's really almost like .. every movie is the same.. in some way. Yet, they're not. they're completely different.
and so, this leads me to believe that.. the most important person of the movie making process is... the screenwriter. it is, afterall, the screenwriter that comes up with/creates/develops the story.. it is the screenwriter who gives birth to the characters we come to love.. it is the screenwriter who brings to life the lines and quotes we come to love and repeat... it is the screenwriter who is able to take an idea and begin the process of making a visual representation of it for all of us to see... it is the screenwriter who presents the story in such a way that we're able to either relate to it or merely be entertained by it. horray to the screenwriters. horray for their ability to make movies worthwhile.
<3
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