The 1980s were a very challenging time for New York City, the town became a very dangerous city because of a cocaine and crack epidemic. By walking the streets of New York City after dusk, you were putting your life in danger. Walking the streets you could encounter a homeless person looking for money, drug addict looking for his next fix or a gang member looking for you wallet. This led up to crack vials in the streets and a spike in crime rate. Times were changing in New York City including the political figures right as the new decade began. As the city was going through changes, I will explain the financial, political and social changes that were affecting New York City for the better and for the worse. Also, I will compare these times to the times portrayed in New Jack City.
New York City was going through financial changes that were impacting
the city negatively. Planned shrinkage was a idea that was created by
Roger Starr and it caused the poor neighborhoods to rot, while the
rich neighborhoods became even better. The average rent in The Bronx
was $195 a month, compared to Manhattan’s $239 a month. Queens had a
average rent of $237, where Staten Island had rent that was $229 a
month. Finally, Brooklyn had a median rent value of $198 a month.
This shows that the richer neighborhoods had a higher rent average
then the neighborhood that were going through changes. In the 1980s
the median average of income was $21,350 for a average family living
in New York City. The prices today are much different then it was
back in the late 1980s. For instance, the cost of a new home was
$149,800, a first-class stamp was $0.25, the cost of a gallon of
regular gas was $1.16, the cost of a dozen eggs was $1.00 and finally
the cost of a gallon of Milk was $2.78.
The social trends in New Jack City compared heavily to the trends
that ,were bursting onto the scene in New York City in the late 1980s.
Hip-Hop was the fresh music that was being played in the clubs and on
boom-boxes across New York City parks. This wave of music led to the
many changes in the clothing styles. For instance, most people that
got caught up in the hip-hop craze started to wear very big and baggy
clothing. To go along with giant gold chains and jewelry. Also, the
mobile telephone of the times were extremely big and had a long
antenna and people used to carry them with them. If you were into
hip-hop and wore the clothing, you would find yourself on a basketball
court with your crew. Basketball was always a popular sport but it
was its peak in the late 1980s. Although, these changes were good it
wasn’t close to the other changes that affected New York City
negatively. Unfortunately, one of the biggest changes in the social
trends in New York City were drugs and gangs. Crack became the
hottest drug on the street and the gangs started to sell it. This led
to a lot of violence on the streets of New York. Drugs, gangs and
violence were all apart of New York City and it’s due to the changes
to the city politically.
“"The city came through a huge economic and cultural binge in the
'80s," said Felix Rohatyn, the Lazard Freres investment banker who was
the chief architect of New York's financial rescue a decade
earlier”(The New Yorker). “The Bonfire of the Vanities' was truly
written in New York. The embers are still glowing, but the fires are
certainly banked." In 1980, when Democrats squeezed into Madison
Square Garden, New York was poised on the springboard of tremendous
growth. Delegates heard [Jimmy Carter] accept his party's nomination
for a second term and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy acknowledge defeat. Mayor
Edward I. Koch was at the height of his popularity and was beginning
to dream about running for governor(The New York Times). The
lieutenant governor, who would later defeat Koch in a primary, was
barely known beyond Queens.” These statements show the political
times of New York City in the 1980s. The changes since 1980, from the
terrible effects of AIDS, homelessness and crack to the remarkable
boons that have come with new immigration, the rebuilding of
burned-out neighborhoods and the improbable improvement of the
subways, will alter the visits of convention goers in ways incidental
and profound”(The New York Times)
New Jack City was based in New York City in 1989 and the movie is
about a gang, Cash Money Brothers, and its leader Nino Brown. Soon
after they start getting into the drug business, they begin making a
million a week. After the cops catch wind of the business that this
gang is doing, they send out Scotty and Nick to go undercover. Scotty
is a cop who is looking to get inside the gang so he can take them
down. When he is trying to get in the gang, his attempt fails
miserably. Scotty wants to get revenge for Nino killing his mother no
matter what it takes. There are many people that aren't undercover
cops that still want to take Nino down themselves. This compares to
life in New York City in the late 1980s and early 1990’s. New York
City had a rise in drugs and gang violence in that time period. As
well, as the rise in undercover cops going undercover to bust these
gangs wide open. New York City was still a very scary place at night
in these areas. The movie is filmed in New York City, so the actually
scenes really show how New York was in that time. The scenes that were
filmed at night showed a very gloomy city. The characters in the movie
show how the gangs were back in that time and how scary New York was.
The movie shows the typical good cop and bad gangs feud but it changes
when the cop become revengeful. People were scared to live in a poor
neighborhood in the late 1980s. They show how cops and gang members
acted with each other, some good cops and some dirty cops. Overall, I
believe that New York City was depicted perfectly in the movie because
of the rise in drugs and gang violence. It was safe to walk the
streets of New York at night and still isn't to this day. Gang
violence has been lower in today’s world compared to what it was back
in the late 1980s. “First-time director Mario Van Peebles - a TV
actor who also plays the movie's top cop - focuses his camera
primarily on Nino and his impeccably well- dressed gang. And, in doing
so, he camps up their scenes needlessly with bright, primary colors
and skewed camera angles, kind of like the old BatmanTV show. Of the
latter, [Wesley Snipes] is the stand-out, a Spike Lee veteran who
comes across like Arsenio's evil twin brother. Ultra-cool rapper Ice
T, who did the themes for both Colors and New Jack City, has a more
understated impact as his opposite number, a dreadlocked cop”(Rob
Salem, Toronto Star).
After watching New Jack City and doing research of the times it
became very clear to me that the movie is very realistic to New York
City in the late 1980s. The 1980s led to rise of crack, cocaine, drug
dealers, and gang violence. The ending of the movie has a statement
that says: “Although this is a fictional story, there are Nino Browns
in every major city in America. If we don’t confront the problem
realistically -- with empty slogans and promises -- then drugs will
continue to destroy our county.” This statement hold true because it
was written at the time where crime rate was very high in New York and
it was becoming a very unsafe to live. Nino Brown compares to all
gang leaders of today because of the fear he puts into the Citizens of
New York City. His character is very realistic because of the
ruthless heart he has and he will kill anyone who tries to bring him
down. New York City was changing for the worse because some of the
neighborhoods started to become poorer and poorer. This was easier
for drug dealers to take control of the neighborhoods and create
gangs. New Jack City was completely realistic to New York in every
way from the social trends that were bursting on the scene, the
political messages that were sent and even the way that the working
class was represented.
The characters in New Jack City all adapted to the social trends that
were happening in the city at the time. The characters in the movie
would all play basketball while listening to the hip-hop music. They
all wore the big and baggy clothing, along with heavy gold jewelry.
They would also all go to clubs and dance to the hip-hip music. Some
of the characters in the movie would be apart of gangs and drugs.
The working class citizens were depicted as the police officers that
were trying to take the gangs down. They all adapted to the trends
that New York City was adapted to. The lower class were shown as the
people living in the city that the drug lords took over. The gangs
treated the, as peons and they feed them. This movie compared the
life in New York City very well because they really resembled the way
the lives of New Yorkers lived. Nothing about the trends were
farfetched between the comparisons.
The financial and political times in New York City combined heavily
because of how the were connected two connected. In New Jack City,
these times were shown exactly how it was in New York City. The
working class was actually shown, only in a few scenes. The Movie
mainly surrounded the lower class citizens. They all lived in heavily
dirty and poor areas because of the amount of drugs and gangs that
lived in the neighborhood. The gangs would feed the poor citizens
because the gangs would act as the upper class citizens and tried to
control the neighborhood. At the time in New York City, one of the
gang members says “ The rich get richer and the poor don’t get a
fucking thing”. This shows how the richer neighborhoods always got
built up as the poor neighborhood became worse and worse. This was
the effect of Roger Starr’s idea of Planned Shrinkage and it was a
epidemic among New York City residents.
In conclusion, when movies try to compare to the actual lives in New
York City, they usually tend to go overboard and show too much. In
New Jack City, the comparison was on point and they showed the
citizens of New York City living just as they did in the late 1980s.
From the changes in the economy to the change in politics, as well as
the new social changes that were bursting on the scene, New Jack City
made each and every one of those as realistic as can be. From
hip-hop, to chains, to basketball, and then to drugs, this was all
becoming popular on the streets of New York. If someone had no idea
what New York City was like in the late 1980s, they could watch New
Jack City and get a feel of what certain areas were like. Gang
violence is still a problem that the city has to fix and it is not
farfetched as it is shown in the movie. As dangerous as the streets
looking in New Jack City, it was just as dangerous as the streets of
New York City in the late 1980s.
GOTTLIEB, MARTIN. "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Then and Now; New York City, a
Decade Older, Has a Great Many New Wrinkles." The New York Times 12
June 1992. Print.
"Per Capita Personal Income by State." Infoplease: Encyclopedia,
Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free Online
Reference, Research & Homework Help. — Infoplease.com. Web.
"$alaries in the City." New York Magazine. Web.
Goldman, John J. "New York Comeback Has Come and Gone Convention:." 11
July 1992. Print
"1990s Flashback-Economy / Prices ." 1990s Flashback 1990 - 1999. Web
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Blog 19: Reflection on Archives Essay
To start off, I never knew what the LaGuardia Archives was and I never knew how much interesting items they had there. Working with them allowed me to find enough information on “planned shrinkage” to write my essay. I never heard of Roger Starr or “planned shrinkage” before this paper and after reading the interview with him, I got a good sense of who Roger Starr was and what his ideas were. The archives allowed me to get a good idea of what “planned shrinkage” actually was. After the interview with Roger Starr, I learned mostly everything I needed to know about the idea, with a little more research I completely learned everything I needed to know about it, and I was able to work on my project from day one. That interview with Roger Starr was the introduction to the archives room for me and it started me off right for my paper. Also, the items that the instructor showed us gave the class a good representation of how the archives worked and why the archives are useful for doing research on anything that revolves around New York City. I found the archives project essay more difficult to write compared to the major research essay, because I couldn’t find a large amount of information on Roger Starr and his idea of planned shrinkage. Although, the paper was shorter than the research essay it still lacked the information that would’ve helped me write a longer paper. I would also blame myself for not doing a hardcore amount of research and if I did I believe that I could have found a lot more information for the essay. Overall, the paper allowed me to become more acquainted with the LaGuardia Archives room and now I found a good place to collect my information for future project instead of just looking up the information on the internet.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Blog 18: Report on major research paper
While researching for New Jack City, I found it difficult to find information on the financial and political aspects of the last 1980s in New York City. The social trends were easy to find because growing up the same trends were still going on. Going to the library I couldn't find any books that had exact data. Looking up news articles was the best way that I found information. The internet also gave me the best data but I was limited but I limited the search because I didn't want to have my main sources from the web. Class discussions help me out a lot with topic sentences, introductions and conclusions, downshifting, and sentence variety because of the way that I `would make every sentence a run-on sentence. The class helped me out making my introduction and conclusions more direct instead of rambling on. Overall, I found enough information from articles instead of just getting my information straight from the internet.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Blog 17: Minority Report, Oedipus, and free will
Free will is just an illusion to some person because they don’t believe that they are able to be free and do whatever they want. In the article “Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report”, having free will is thought to require two things: alternate possibilities and self-control. The idea of free will could cause threat to free will. In the movie John Anderson was told he was going to kill Leo Crow. John still ends up holding up a gun to him debating to kill him or not. Even though he knew he was going to kill him, he still chose to be in the position to kill him. He had the chance to not kill him and he still put his freedom in danger. This shows that you can both be safe with free will and still have your freedom in danger. Even though they can stop you from committing the crime, you cannot be completely free. Oedipus deals with the same issue of free will because he is trying to find out who he is. Little did Oedipus know, he fate was already set for him because of mainly his pride and stubbornness. He defeated the Sphinx with the puzzles and ended up marrying his mother. It is hard to believe in both fate and free will because if you fate is already set then what is the point of free will.
Blog 16: Report on New Jack City
New Jack City was based in New York City in 1989 and the movie is about a gang, Cash Money Brothers, and its leader Nino Brown. Soon after they start getting into the drug business, they begin making a million a week. After the cops catch wind of the business that this gang is doing, they send out Scotty and Nick to go undercover. Scotty is a cop who is looking to get inside the gang so he can take them down. When he is trying to get in the gang, his attempt fails miserably. Scotty wants to get revenge for Nino killing his mother no matter what it takes. There are many people that aren't undercover cops that still want to take Nino down themselves. This compares to life in New York City in the late 1980s and early 1990’s. New York City had a rise in drugs and gang violence in that time period. As well, as the rise in undercover cops going undercover to bust these gangs wide open. New York City was still a very scary place at night in these areas. The movie is filmed in New York City, so the actually scenes really show how New York was in that time. The scenes that were filmed at night showed a very gloomy city. The characters in the movie show how the gangs were back in that time and how scary New York was. The movie shows the typical good cop and bad gangs feud but it changes when the cop become revengeful. People were scared to live in a poor neighborhood in the late 1980s. They show how cops and gang members acted with each other, some good cops and some dirty cops. Overall, I believe that New York City was depicted perfectly in the movie because of the rise in drugs and gang violence. It was safe to walk the streets of New York at night and still isn't to this day. Gang violence has been lower in today’s world compared to what it was back in the late 1980s.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Blog 15: Minority Report response
Minority Report is a movie that really challenges the idea of freedom and safety in society and which one should be top priority. I believe that society should worry about security above all because I rather know I’m safe even if it affects my freedom. In class we talked about the Patriot Act and I am 100% on board with it because I have nothing to hide and if it is going to keep me safe then that is fine with me. Especially in the world we live in today, safety should top priority because of how much fear we live in. After 9/11 the whole world changed and our freedom took a hit because of the threat of more attacks on our country. Reading our e-mails and listening to our phone conversations does sound extremely but if you have nothing to hide then why should one worry. If it is going possibly save lives then I agree with the policy. I understand how someone would argue that the price of security is too high because freedom is the basis of our country. However, this is a scary place right now and freedom should take a back seat right now if it benefits the country. Minority Report goes to the extreme to show the differences in safety and freedom. The retina scans and invading spiders can compare to the way that the government tap our phones and e-mails. The government is only listening for a “trigger” word and as long as you don’t say or write one of those words then your freedom is still there. In a very sensitive world, even joking about bombs or terrorists will get you in trouble. I agree with this because there is a point where a joke goes too far and will trigger the government to look into it. The idea that you can live in a world with complete freedom with or without the Patriot Act is just ridiculous. In the article “Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report”, having free will is thought to require two things: alternate possibilities and self-control. The idea of free will could cause threat to free will. In the movie John Anderson was told he was going to kill Leo Crow. John still ends up holding up a gun to him debating to kill him or not. Even though he knew he was going to kill him, he still chose to be in the position to kill him. He had the chance to not kill him and he still put his freedom in danger. This shows that you can be safe with free will and still have your freedom in danger.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Research Essay
New York City in the 1970s was known as one of the most dangerous cities in America because of the rise of crime. The 1970s brought a new wave of excitement to the city with nightclubs and the rise in drugs in certain areas. This areas became outcasts to the nicer cities. These areas started to become worse and worse due to the idea that Roger Starr came up with. This plan was called “planned shrinkage” and it caused major problems for New York. This plan was very controversial and Roger was just as controversial. This plan basically stole money from the poor and gave it to the rich, a real anti-robin hood act. As more neighborhoods turned rotten, the crime level would rise. This almost ruined New York City’s reputation forever. The economy in the 1970s did not help the families that were affected by the “planned shrinkage” in the New York. By doing research from the Archives in LaGuardia, I found some interesting information about planned shrinkage and Roger Starr. I will explain what “planned shrinkage” is who Roger Starr is and how it almost ruined New York City forever.
“Planned shrinkage is a public policy, practiced most notably in the 1970s in New York City, of withdrawing essential city services (such as police patrols, garbage removal, street repairs, and fire services) from neighborhoods suffering from urban decay, crime, and poverty so that neighborhoods may be claimed by outside interests for new development. After the mid-20th-century boom in highways, suburbs, and urban dispersal, civic leaders felt that urban decline was a natural and inevitable process, and they sought to plan the manner in which cities would shrink in such a way that population loss would be greatest in the areas with the poorest non-white residents.” This policy was not accepted at all by society and the social outlook was grim. There was huge public outcry because of the people that were dying because of this. This was unnecessary deaths that were happening because they wanted to save money. This is what tainted New York City’s reputation and people started to think that we were evil people and tourists would be afraid to come over here.
On the economy side of “planned shrinkage“ actually is a little bit brighter because it actually helped the city create better cities but t the loss of people lives. This plan was used to clean up the areas that were dirty and that had high crime rate. This was used to get the minorities out of the cities and to get more “rich white” people in. It’s all about the money and this did get them a lot of money and helped other cities adapt the policy but they project was too big for New York City.
Roger Starr, an outspoken thinker on urban affairs who blended a lifetime of intellectual analysis with hands-on public service and whose often provocative vision of his native New York City influenced public policy debates for decades. He was one person that was not afraid to speak his mind and had no problem causing controversy. Aside from controversial, his beliefs were very passionate and he tired to help the economy as much as possible, no matter what it did to the people of New York.
In conclusion, no matter how controversial Roger Starr was, nothing was worse than his idea ”planned shrinkage”. I believe that this could’ve destroyed New York City forever. Making people move from place to place because of the way they lived in just wrong. I understand that it could help the economy a little bit but that is too big of a risk to take. If you want to make a new neighborhood, reducing the amount of police, EMT, and firefighters isn’t the solution. That will only cause more mayhem to the city. Crime would skyrocket in those areas and people will end of getting hurt. This plan cannot be justified no matter how much money can be saved by using this. Over time you might be able to reduce the amount of bad neighborhoods there are but that will only cause that others to get worse. People might say that it was appropriate for the time and I can agree with that statement on some terms. Because eventually it got New York back on stable ground New York City is not as dangerous as it used to be but the change in new York culture also played a big role in the clean-up. “Planned shrinkage” would not be able to work in today’s world because of how much New York is growing and the diversity is everywhere now. This will cut back on the amount of bad neighborhoods without any idea of planned shrinkage.
“Planned shrinkage is a public policy, practiced most notably in the 1970s in New York City, of withdrawing essential city services (such as police patrols, garbage removal, street repairs, and fire services) from neighborhoods suffering from urban decay, crime, and poverty so that neighborhoods may be claimed by outside interests for new development. After the mid-20th-century boom in highways, suburbs, and urban dispersal, civic leaders felt that urban decline was a natural and inevitable process, and they sought to plan the manner in which cities would shrink in such a way that population loss would be greatest in the areas with the poorest non-white residents.” This policy was not accepted at all by society and the social outlook was grim. There was huge public outcry because of the people that were dying because of this. This was unnecessary deaths that were happening because they wanted to save money. This is what tainted New York City’s reputation and people started to think that we were evil people and tourists would be afraid to come over here.
On the economy side of “planned shrinkage“ actually is a little bit brighter because it actually helped the city create better cities but t the loss of people lives. This plan was used to clean up the areas that were dirty and that had high crime rate. This was used to get the minorities out of the cities and to get more “rich white” people in. It’s all about the money and this did get them a lot of money and helped other cities adapt the policy but they project was too big for New York City.
Roger Starr, an outspoken thinker on urban affairs who blended a lifetime of intellectual analysis with hands-on public service and whose often provocative vision of his native New York City influenced public policy debates for decades. He was one person that was not afraid to speak his mind and had no problem causing controversy. Aside from controversial, his beliefs were very passionate and he tired to help the economy as much as possible, no matter what it did to the people of New York.
In conclusion, no matter how controversial Roger Starr was, nothing was worse than his idea ”planned shrinkage”. I believe that this could’ve destroyed New York City forever. Making people move from place to place because of the way they lived in just wrong. I understand that it could help the economy a little bit but that is too big of a risk to take. If you want to make a new neighborhood, reducing the amount of police, EMT, and firefighters isn’t the solution. That will only cause more mayhem to the city. Crime would skyrocket in those areas and people will end of getting hurt. This plan cannot be justified no matter how much money can be saved by using this. Over time you might be able to reduce the amount of bad neighborhoods there are but that will only cause that others to get worse. People might say that it was appropriate for the time and I can agree with that statement on some terms. Because eventually it got New York back on stable ground New York City is not as dangerous as it used to be but the change in new York culture also played a big role in the clean-up. “Planned shrinkage” would not be able to work in today’s world because of how much New York is growing and the diversity is everywhere now. This will cut back on the amount of bad neighborhoods without any idea of planned shrinkage.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Special Activity: MOMI
- I learned what an ADR was.
- The different type of costumes.
- A Brooklyn artist invented the strobe light exhibit.
- How different music can change a scene.
- The different kind of costumes.
- The old video games were interesting.
One of the most interesting things at the museum was the strobe effect because of how good it showed off the effect. An artist in Brooklyn invented it. It really showed how the light really changes your vision. The next thing I found really interesting was how the cameras shooting a baseball game was used. It shows how many different things are being viewed and how everything is being watched. There are a lot of people on this job, so everyone must be on their toes. Lastly, the final exhibit was on video games and I found it very interesting because of my love for video games. I already knew most of the information that was given but found it pretty cool to see the old systems in a museum. Overall, no matter how short my tour was I still found it very interesting. I will definitely visit the museum again.
- The different type of costumes.
- A Brooklyn artist invented the strobe light exhibit.
- How different music can change a scene.
- The different kind of costumes.
- The old video games were interesting.
One of the most interesting things at the museum was the strobe effect because of how good it showed off the effect. An artist in Brooklyn invented it. It really showed how the light really changes your vision. The next thing I found really interesting was how the cameras shooting a baseball game was used. It shows how many different things are being viewed and how everything is being watched. There are a lot of people on this job, so everyone must be on their toes. Lastly, the final exhibit was on video games and I found it very interesting because of my love for video games. I already knew most of the information that was given but found it pretty cool to see the old systems in a museum. Overall, no matter how short my tour was I still found it very interesting. I will definitely visit the museum again.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Blog 12: Gattaca response
The idea of a “superhuman” is going to become a huge debates within the next 100 years. Annas’ claim is that “death is just a series of preventable diseases”. This tries to control the population and make a race of super humans. This compares to the way Hitler tried to run Germany with the Nazis. He wanted to have the perfect races of “blonde hair and blue eyed” Germans. I do not believe that creating an immortal human race will ever become a possibility because of how controversial this topic is. Abortion and cloning are the two biggest controversial topics when deal with humans because people do not want doctors to control the population.
The movie Gattaca, the topic of the immortal human was brought up because of the era the movie took place in. People that had health problems were classified as “others”. In today’s society people that are different than the average human is considered an “other”. Super humans will be known as “others” once it starts. Once they take over the population they will not be known as “others” anymore. This movie and essay brings up a religion debate because of the idea of human life. If people are controlling the human race, God becomes irrelevant. People would completely stop believing in religion and all theories would become useless. As a catholic human being, I am 100 percent against the idea of superhumans. When it my time to die, I believe that God had a plan for me and I understand that it would be my time to go.
Labeling people as “others” gives you the power to judge them in a negative way. Labeling other religion allows your religion to force its beliefs on the “other” religion. My belief is that a human race cannot be immortal because humans look at everything as a business. If people all become healthy there would be less reason to have hospitals and doctors. The more sick people there are means the more money that everyone is making. As cruel as it sounds, it is still the truth. Diseases do come and go but once one disease leaves and is treatable, another new and deadly one comes in effect. As much money as people make in the medical business, the idea of immortal humans will be banish for a long time.
The movie Gattaca, the topic of the immortal human was brought up because of the era the movie took place in. People that had health problems were classified as “others”. In today’s society people that are different than the average human is considered an “other”. Super humans will be known as “others” once it starts. Once they take over the population they will not be known as “others” anymore. This movie and essay brings up a religion debate because of the idea of human life. If people are controlling the human race, God becomes irrelevant. People would completely stop believing in religion and all theories would become useless. As a catholic human being, I am 100 percent against the idea of superhumans. When it my time to die, I believe that God had a plan for me and I understand that it would be my time to go.
Labeling people as “others” gives you the power to judge them in a negative way. Labeling other religion allows your religion to force its beliefs on the “other” religion. My belief is that a human race cannot be immortal because humans look at everything as a business. If people all become healthy there would be less reason to have hospitals and doctors. The more sick people there are means the more money that everyone is making. As cruel as it sounds, it is still the truth. Diseases do come and go but once one disease leaves and is treatable, another new and deadly one comes in effect. As much money as people make in the medical business, the idea of immortal humans will be banish for a long time.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Research Paper
Edward Southwick
Professor Vasileiou
HUC 130-2684
Due: April 24, 2011
The Broken Connection Between Violence on T.V and in Society
The invention of the television has changed the world forever. Many people say that the television is the greatest invention of our time. Although, it is not as beneficial as other inventions, it did have the greatest impact on human society. As technology advances, so does the television programming. Now you can watch your favorite show on your computer or even on your handheld device. So, people all over the world can tune into the same thing and catch up on the current events. Over the decades people have tuned into their television and have watched presidential debates unfold, famous car chases, and even famous legal trials evolve before their eyes. This can prove why television is one of the most controversial inventions of our time. One major debate of the content on television today is the amount of violence that is shown. Some people say that the violence on television influences children to become more violent. They say that kids of our generation look up to the action heroes on television and in movies today. If the kids want to be like their role models, then parents are led to believe that they are going to bully and commit acts of violence. Obviously, a debate has two sides and this is where I come in because I do not believe that violence on television and violence in society are connected.
In 1936, the first set was created in London and later about 200 hundred television sets are in use world-wide. The introduction of coaxial cable, which is a pure copper or copper-coated wire surrounded by insulation and an aluminum covering. These cables were and are used to transmit television, telephone, and data signals. The first experimental coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia in 1936. The first regular installation connected Minneapolis and Stevens Point, WI in 1941. The population of these cities was just starting to boom and hadn’t reached its peak yet. For instance the population of Minneapolis was 492,370 and even now the population is much less. New York and Philadelphia had a population count of 13,479,142 and 1,931,33, respectively. As you can see that although some of these numbers are large, the towns were still getting over the great depression and trying to get back to the way it was 15 years prior.
When they started to show live programming, this is what would change the world forever. One of the first popular shows was "Howdy Doody," a children's series, premieres live on NBC in December as a one-hour Saturday program. Symbolic of the first generation nurtured on TV, the show remains on the air until 1960. As for the first live talk show it was, "The Ed Sullivan Show" (originally "Toast of the Town") makes its debut in June. Sponsored by Lincoln-Mercury, the show becomes one of TV's longest-running and most successful variety series. The show airs on CBS into 1971, spurring the advancement of scores of show business careers. This allowed families to see who the new and upcoming stars were. The late night was dominated "The Tonight Show," featuring comedian Steve Allen. Finally, the first Western show debuts in 1959. NBC's Sunday night hit "Bonanza" makes its debut. It becomes the highest-rated program of the 1960s and is on the air 14 years.
Most of these shows had role models that anyone in the family can look up too. In the 1940s, everyone looked up to Howdy Doody because it was the first children show of its time. Then came the 1950’s and everybody loved Lucy. She was the biggest role models for women of that time. Later in the 1970s the biggest role model of them all came and he was known as the “Fonz”. Everyone wanted to be him because of how cool he was. He wasn’t afraid of anyone and had no problem getting into a scuffle to prove it. Everyone wanted to know the “Fonz” and wanted to dress just like him. Role models aren’t the same in today’s world because of how many people messed up and the amount of coverage there is when that one person actually messes up. Honestly, do you think there is someone out there that has Charlie sheen as their role model? Although, if there is then I think there is a bigger problem with society than just violence. The media coverage of Charlie Sheen is ridiculous because they just over-do it and anything he coughs there is a news segment on it. I am a big fan of his but would I consider him a role-model? Hell no. The media is using him to their advantage to show kids that if you drink and do drugs, that this is what you are going to become. Again I believe that this is completely unfair.
Slasher movies became popular in the 1970s with the rise in popularity in serial killers like Michael, Freddy, and Jason. These characters are all still popular today because of how great the movies are and even with the remakes. These movies became cult films because of how many became fans of the slasher film genre. The rise in criticism is that most of these films have a tendency of showing violence towards women: “Gail Harris summed up slasher film as “short on plot and long on brutality and violence, much of it sexual, and almost all of it directed at women (Torr 54)”. People believe that these movies are the reason why children become so violent due to all the blood and gore that is in these movies. Action movies are much different today because of how much killing is now involved. These movies are known as action-revenge films and these pose a threat to the teenagers because of how big the stars are that are in it. For instance, Dirty Harry was played by Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis played John McClane in Die Hard. People say that these movies proclaim a message that basically says “killing is good as long as you get the bad guy”. I do not see it that way, I believe that on television killing is correct if you get the bad guy because in real life things are completely different. In a movie you have 2 hours to get your point across and everyone loves a shoot-out scene but this isn’t going to cause kids to go out and have their own shoot-outs: “It would have been grand if I could have waited for Beam to say, “Okay kill him now,” as my cue to move. Bit that only happens on the TV, where they also play a musical warning before you die. -Walter Mosley (Leonard 132)”. If these incidents do happen then it isn’t because they watched Die Hard, there must be other issues that caused them to do it. Superhero movies such as Batman, Superman, and Spiderman are much different today because of the dark side they show. When these comics first came out there was a more comical side to the stories, but now the movies showing more of the drama side. They do this to show the full effects of the characters and to show that these heroes might not be completely the heroes that the children thought they were.
Television has shown many controversial things by now but one of the highly controversial things was the infamous car chase involving a white bronco. On June 17, 1994, highly talented football player O.J Simpson was charged with the murders of his ex wife and her husband. Instead of turning himself in, he got caught up in a car chase. It was covered by the three major news networks, CNN, ABC, and NBC. It was seen by millions of people because of the timing of the chase. After being caught by the police, he was eventually sent to trail and it became extremely famous because how public the trail was. It caught the nation by storm and everyday everyone would tune into it. The trial was covered in 2,237 news segments from 1994 through 1997. It is known as the “biggest story that was ever told” referring to the murder and trail.
Kitty Genovese, was a New York City woman who was stabbed to death near her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York on March 13, 1964. This death became famous because of the thirty-eight witnesses that didn’t do anything. They just turned their back and acted like they didn’t hear a word: “the Kew Gardens slaying baffles him (Chief Inspector Frederick M. Lussen)- not because it is a murder, but because the “good people” failed to call the police (Rosenthal 38)”. This effect is known as the bystander effect. The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present.
There was one major non-violence incident where television had changed the views of people compared to the radio. It was a presidential election that came down to John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This became extremely popular because of how the two sides were torn. If you were listening to the debate on the radio you were led to believe that Nixon won. By watching it on television you saw that Kennedy truly won the debate. This was the first debate that was broadcasted live on television. This changed the way the world looks at the presidential debates forever. Now you can follow the campaigns online and have live up to the minute news on what the candidates are doing.
The world is a completely different place ever since the television was invented because of how many people view the world differently now. If television is causing any harm it’s not because of violence, it’s because it is making children much lazier. Children don’t go out and play as much as they used to before television was invented. Now all they want to do is watching movies or play video games. Although, people like to say that the rise in violence is caused by T.V, when it is really caused by the rise in population. Every year the population goes higher and higher and people are put in this urban areas that end up getting a bad reputation. This is where the violence statistics get their spike because that speaks for America in general. Most movies now days that have violence in it is movies about the U.S Military. This is one area of violence that is not completely farfetched and might have influences on kids. This are role models that kids should look up too but should also be aware that the movies might stretch from the truth a little. Children always want to be heroes and they will reenact their heroes as much as possible and the military is a lot different than it was back in the day.
In conclusion, society has been messed up enough that blaming television of the violence in society would not be fair. We live in a world that everything is mishandled and everyone is very sensitive. The violence on television and in movies is completely farfetched and if that has influenced anybody it becomes a more personal issue. Believing what is on television isn’t their fault, it’s your fault for believing it. You are the one that is buying into what they are selling. If you can’t tell the difference between what is real and fake, let alone what is right and wrong then that is completely on you. Parents can hide their kids from television all they want but that is going to just hurt them because eventually they are going to face the harsh reality of society and they are not going to be ready. As much as television is “bad” for you, it can still provide you with life lessons that can help you deal with society. Although, certain music and the internet can contribute to the violence in society, it is unfair to single television out. If kids are referring to these rappers that write about killing and drugs as artists then that as to speak for itself. There is a major difference in watching something on T.V and taking someone’s words literally and that is the number one problem with America currently.
Works Cited
http://www.high-techproductions.com/historyoftelevision.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_murder_case#The_low-speed_chase
Torr, James D. Violence in Film and Television. San Deigo, California: Szumski, Bonnie, 1974.
Leonard, John. Smoke and Mirrors. New York, NY: The New Press, 1994.
Rosenthal, A.M. Thirty-Eight Witnesses. New York: The New York Times, 1964.
Professor Vasileiou
HUC 130-2684
Due: April 24, 2011
The Broken Connection Between Violence on T.V and in Society
The invention of the television has changed the world forever. Many people say that the television is the greatest invention of our time. Although, it is not as beneficial as other inventions, it did have the greatest impact on human society. As technology advances, so does the television programming. Now you can watch your favorite show on your computer or even on your handheld device. So, people all over the world can tune into the same thing and catch up on the current events. Over the decades people have tuned into their television and have watched presidential debates unfold, famous car chases, and even famous legal trials evolve before their eyes. This can prove why television is one of the most controversial inventions of our time. One major debate of the content on television today is the amount of violence that is shown. Some people say that the violence on television influences children to become more violent. They say that kids of our generation look up to the action heroes on television and in movies today. If the kids want to be like their role models, then parents are led to believe that they are going to bully and commit acts of violence. Obviously, a debate has two sides and this is where I come in because I do not believe that violence on television and violence in society are connected.
In 1936, the first set was created in London and later about 200 hundred television sets are in use world-wide. The introduction of coaxial cable, which is a pure copper or copper-coated wire surrounded by insulation and an aluminum covering. These cables were and are used to transmit television, telephone, and data signals. The first experimental coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia in 1936. The first regular installation connected Minneapolis and Stevens Point, WI in 1941. The population of these cities was just starting to boom and hadn’t reached its peak yet. For instance the population of Minneapolis was 492,370 and even now the population is much less. New York and Philadelphia had a population count of 13,479,142 and 1,931,33, respectively. As you can see that although some of these numbers are large, the towns were still getting over the great depression and trying to get back to the way it was 15 years prior.
When they started to show live programming, this is what would change the world forever. One of the first popular shows was "Howdy Doody," a children's series, premieres live on NBC in December as a one-hour Saturday program. Symbolic of the first generation nurtured on TV, the show remains on the air until 1960. As for the first live talk show it was, "The Ed Sullivan Show" (originally "Toast of the Town") makes its debut in June. Sponsored by Lincoln-Mercury, the show becomes one of TV's longest-running and most successful variety series. The show airs on CBS into 1971, spurring the advancement of scores of show business careers. This allowed families to see who the new and upcoming stars were. The late night was dominated "The Tonight Show," featuring comedian Steve Allen. Finally, the first Western show debuts in 1959. NBC's Sunday night hit "Bonanza" makes its debut. It becomes the highest-rated program of the 1960s and is on the air 14 years.
Most of these shows had role models that anyone in the family can look up too. In the 1940s, everyone looked up to Howdy Doody because it was the first children show of its time. Then came the 1950’s and everybody loved Lucy. She was the biggest role models for women of that time. Later in the 1970s the biggest role model of them all came and he was known as the “Fonz”. Everyone wanted to be him because of how cool he was. He wasn’t afraid of anyone and had no problem getting into a scuffle to prove it. Everyone wanted to know the “Fonz” and wanted to dress just like him. Role models aren’t the same in today’s world because of how many people messed up and the amount of coverage there is when that one person actually messes up. Honestly, do you think there is someone out there that has Charlie sheen as their role model? Although, if there is then I think there is a bigger problem with society than just violence. The media coverage of Charlie Sheen is ridiculous because they just over-do it and anything he coughs there is a news segment on it. I am a big fan of his but would I consider him a role-model? Hell no. The media is using him to their advantage to show kids that if you drink and do drugs, that this is what you are going to become. Again I believe that this is completely unfair.
Slasher movies became popular in the 1970s with the rise in popularity in serial killers like Michael, Freddy, and Jason. These characters are all still popular today because of how great the movies are and even with the remakes. These movies became cult films because of how many became fans of the slasher film genre. The rise in criticism is that most of these films have a tendency of showing violence towards women: “Gail Harris summed up slasher film as “short on plot and long on brutality and violence, much of it sexual, and almost all of it directed at women (Torr 54)”. People believe that these movies are the reason why children become so violent due to all the blood and gore that is in these movies. Action movies are much different today because of how much killing is now involved. These movies are known as action-revenge films and these pose a threat to the teenagers because of how big the stars are that are in it. For instance, Dirty Harry was played by Clint Eastwood and Bruce Willis played John McClane in Die Hard. People say that these movies proclaim a message that basically says “killing is good as long as you get the bad guy”. I do not see it that way, I believe that on television killing is correct if you get the bad guy because in real life things are completely different. In a movie you have 2 hours to get your point across and everyone loves a shoot-out scene but this isn’t going to cause kids to go out and have their own shoot-outs: “It would have been grand if I could have waited for Beam to say, “Okay kill him now,” as my cue to move. Bit that only happens on the TV, where they also play a musical warning before you die. -Walter Mosley (Leonard 132)”. If these incidents do happen then it isn’t because they watched Die Hard, there must be other issues that caused them to do it. Superhero movies such as Batman, Superman, and Spiderman are much different today because of the dark side they show. When these comics first came out there was a more comical side to the stories, but now the movies showing more of the drama side. They do this to show the full effects of the characters and to show that these heroes might not be completely the heroes that the children thought they were.
Television has shown many controversial things by now but one of the highly controversial things was the infamous car chase involving a white bronco. On June 17, 1994, highly talented football player O.J Simpson was charged with the murders of his ex wife and her husband. Instead of turning himself in, he got caught up in a car chase. It was covered by the three major news networks, CNN, ABC, and NBC. It was seen by millions of people because of the timing of the chase. After being caught by the police, he was eventually sent to trail and it became extremely famous because how public the trail was. It caught the nation by storm and everyday everyone would tune into it. The trial was covered in 2,237 news segments from 1994 through 1997. It is known as the “biggest story that was ever told” referring to the murder and trail.
Kitty Genovese, was a New York City woman who was stabbed to death near her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York on March 13, 1964. This death became famous because of the thirty-eight witnesses that didn’t do anything. They just turned their back and acted like they didn’t hear a word: “the Kew Gardens slaying baffles him (Chief Inspector Frederick M. Lussen)- not because it is a murder, but because the “good people” failed to call the police (Rosenthal 38)”. This effect is known as the bystander effect. The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present.
There was one major non-violence incident where television had changed the views of people compared to the radio. It was a presidential election that came down to John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This became extremely popular because of how the two sides were torn. If you were listening to the debate on the radio you were led to believe that Nixon won. By watching it on television you saw that Kennedy truly won the debate. This was the first debate that was broadcasted live on television. This changed the way the world looks at the presidential debates forever. Now you can follow the campaigns online and have live up to the minute news on what the candidates are doing.
The world is a completely different place ever since the television was invented because of how many people view the world differently now. If television is causing any harm it’s not because of violence, it’s because it is making children much lazier. Children don’t go out and play as much as they used to before television was invented. Now all they want to do is watching movies or play video games. Although, people like to say that the rise in violence is caused by T.V, when it is really caused by the rise in population. Every year the population goes higher and higher and people are put in this urban areas that end up getting a bad reputation. This is where the violence statistics get their spike because that speaks for America in general. Most movies now days that have violence in it is movies about the U.S Military. This is one area of violence that is not completely farfetched and might have influences on kids. This are role models that kids should look up too but should also be aware that the movies might stretch from the truth a little. Children always want to be heroes and they will reenact their heroes as much as possible and the military is a lot different than it was back in the day.
In conclusion, society has been messed up enough that blaming television of the violence in society would not be fair. We live in a world that everything is mishandled and everyone is very sensitive. The violence on television and in movies is completely farfetched and if that has influenced anybody it becomes a more personal issue. Believing what is on television isn’t their fault, it’s your fault for believing it. You are the one that is buying into what they are selling. If you can’t tell the difference between what is real and fake, let alone what is right and wrong then that is completely on you. Parents can hide their kids from television all they want but that is going to just hurt them because eventually they are going to face the harsh reality of society and they are not going to be ready. As much as television is “bad” for you, it can still provide you with life lessons that can help you deal with society. Although, certain music and the internet can contribute to the violence in society, it is unfair to single television out. If kids are referring to these rappers that write about killing and drugs as artists then that as to speak for itself. There is a major difference in watching something on T.V and taking someone’s words literally and that is the number one problem with America currently.
Works Cited
http://www.high-techproductions.com/historyoftelevision.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_murder_case#The_low-speed_chase
Torr, James D. Violence in Film and Television. San Deigo, California: Szumski, Bonnie, 1974.
Leonard, John. Smoke and Mirrors. New York, NY: The New Press, 1994.
Rosenthal, A.M. Thirty-Eight Witnesses. New York: The New York Times, 1964.
Blog 11: The Concept of the Other
The topic of straight and gay is always a big debate of right and wrong. I do not believe that being gay is wrong. It just happens to be “my other”. Many people take offense to people that are openly gay and they think that is disgusting and wrong. People who believe that are just sick and rude people. It is my “other” because I am not attracted to the same sex and I am attracted to the opposite sex. I believe that they should be treated just has fairly as any other human being but that will never be the case. For some reason the world believe that if a gay couple gets married, the world explodes, or world war III starts. There will always be people who will bash gay, and they are the same people that will bash any other race. I have a strong voice on this because my uncle was openly gay and I didn’t love him any less compared to my other uncles. This is America for Christ’s sake; just let people live their lives no matter what their race, sexual orientation, height, weight, religion, etc. People used to love us for the freedom we provided. Things are starting to change and if we don’t go back to our roots soon, we are just going to become more hated then we already are.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Blog 10: Reflection
Eng101 has been far my most interesting class that I have taken at LaGuardia. It has shown me that there is a lot more to a story than what meets the eye. For instance, my favorite part to this semester was watching the matrix and writing an essay about it. I found it very interesting to analyze to the movie in a mythological sense. It allowed me to look deeper in the movie and I found a lot more symbols that I would never find on my own if I were to watch it alone. The other thematic concepts were all very interesting to me because it allowed me to think critically and reflect on my life. Many of these stories had concepts that happen in everyday life. As for the writing concepts have helped me improve my writing. Although, I learned most of the concepts before this class, using them in contexts of movies and stories have helped me understand them even better. I have yet to go to the LaGuardia achieves to get information so that would be something I would like to get more information on.
Ever since I started to use blogger for writ g I found it easier to write more to the public. I consider myself to be a realistic writer unless I’m writing about fiction and I’m also not afraid to speak my mind when deal with certain topic. I am also now not afraid to write something and post it on the Internet. Blogger has help me with my work because if I’m struggling with one of my entries, it allows me to look at my classmates work to get a feel of where they are coming from. Looking back on my past blog entries, I find that I have can put a lot of information in a blog entry but I repeat myself way too much. Having a lot of information can make an entry very long and I consider it my best strength. However, even though I put a lot of information in there, I have trouble with making longer paragraphs without repeating myself over and over. As for my strongest blog entry, I would say it would have to be the “Symbolism in the Matrix” essay. I found this extremely easy for me to do because of how much knowledge I had of the matrix before I even watched the movie in class. Once I started to write about all the symbols, themes, and metaphors, a whole different bunch of ideas started to flow in my head. Prior knowledge of the Matrix helped me form and shape that essay into gold, in my opinion. On the contrary, my weakest piece of writing was something that I believed in. You would think that since I had prior knowledge of the matrix and wrote something well, that something that I believed would be good too. That was not the case, our third blog was “My Childish Beliefs” and I really did not do well on it. In my opinion, I really half-assed it and I did not put any information into as well. By the end of the semester I am going to go back and re-do that blog entry and have it as one of my bests. Aside from pointing out my strengths and weaknesses, blogger has allowed me to interact with my writing, as well as other people’s writing. I look forward to continuing to use blogger long after the semester is over, to keep interacting with others and gaining many more strengths.
Ever since I started to use blogger for writ g I found it easier to write more to the public. I consider myself to be a realistic writer unless I’m writing about fiction and I’m also not afraid to speak my mind when deal with certain topic. I am also now not afraid to write something and post it on the Internet. Blogger has help me with my work because if I’m struggling with one of my entries, it allows me to look at my classmates work to get a feel of where they are coming from. Looking back on my past blog entries, I find that I have can put a lot of information in a blog entry but I repeat myself way too much. Having a lot of information can make an entry very long and I consider it my best strength. However, even though I put a lot of information in there, I have trouble with making longer paragraphs without repeating myself over and over. As for my strongest blog entry, I would say it would have to be the “Symbolism in the Matrix” essay. I found this extremely easy for me to do because of how much knowledge I had of the matrix before I even watched the movie in class. Once I started to write about all the symbols, themes, and metaphors, a whole different bunch of ideas started to flow in my head. Prior knowledge of the Matrix helped me form and shape that essay into gold, in my opinion. On the contrary, my weakest piece of writing was something that I believed in. You would think that since I had prior knowledge of the matrix and wrote something well, that something that I believed would be good too. That was not the case, our third blog was “My Childish Beliefs” and I really did not do well on it. In my opinion, I really half-assed it and I did not put any information into as well. By the end of the semester I am going to go back and re-do that blog entry and have it as one of my bests. Aside from pointing out my strengths and weaknesses, blogger has allowed me to interact with my writing, as well as other people’s writing. I look forward to continuing to use blogger long after the semester is over, to keep interacting with others and gaining many more strengths.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Blog 8: Ignorance, Bliss, and Knowledge in Oedipus the King and The Matrix.
Ignorance is one of the major concepts in both Oedipus the King and The Matrix because of the prophecies that the two stories tell. “Ignorance is bliss” is one line that could sum up both stories because of how the characters do not know what is real or not. Oedipus is very knowledgeable but is also very ignorant because he cannot realize what he has done before. He does not realize that he has married his mother and killed his father. This led to Oedipus ripping his eyes out and forever knowing the truth. This shows that knowing the truth can be more harmful than not knowing. As for the Matrix, the quote “Ignorance is bliss” is stated in the movie because Cypher wanted out of the Matrix and to have a rich lifestyle even if he had no recollection of what has happened. Also, when Neo is giving the decision to either take the blue pill or the red pill, he is left with a series of choices. By taking the red pill, he would wake up in a world that is different from his own. By taking the blue pill, he wakes up with the world exactly as he knows it, continuing his life without having to change his beliefs or his actions. This would change Neo’s life forever because he would gain so much more knowledge. Both stories provide a character that is an Oracle that provides prophecies for the main characters and allows them to let them believe what they want.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Essay: Symbolism in The Matrix
The Matrix explores and goes deeply into Christian mythology. There are a lot of other illusions and references in the movie, but none as important then Christian mythology. Without getting into any other form of religion or mythology, I will show you the three major examples on why Christian mythology is depicted as the greatest set of illusions. The first illusion of Christian mythology is that Morpheus represents as a father figure to Neo, and Trinity are the three people who are going to save the Matrix, and a set of three people is a major symbol in the bible. Lastly, the most important illusion is the character Neo is known as a savior because he is also known as “The One”. All of these illusions are shown in some form in the bible at one time of another and how these characters represent some of the high power in Christian lore.
In the matrix the person that teaches and mentors Neo, is Morpheus. He acts and is treated as a father figure to everyone but in a stronger sense he shows it more to Neo. He believes that Neo will be “the one” and he will come to save the matrix no matter how much it takes. He acts as the “Godly” figure to the characters because of the father figure role he plays. In the bible God is the father of all humans and teaches everyone the way of life. Once Jesus was born he passed his teaching down to him so that Jesus can carry out his beliefs and way of life to people on Earth. This is same illusion that Morpheus teaches his the people of the matrix before Neo arrived. Once Neo arrived he then taught Neo everything he need to learn about the matrix and the way of life inside the matrix. He teaches Neo this incase anything would happen to him that Neo would be able to carry out his teaches to anyone in the future. Although, Morpheus would be able to teach Neo everything he knows, it would be up to Neo to fulfill his prophecy. Even from the beginning of the movie, Neo trusts Morpheus right away. Morpheus says, “I can guide you, but you must do exactly what I say”. This compares to the way Jesus was taught by God, and the way Jesus would trust his father.
The second illusion would be the way that Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity represent the Holy Trinity. As Neo is represented as Jesus Christ and Morpheus as God, Trinity is the last piece and is shown as The Holy Spirit. Her name Trinity is a major example because she is the last piece of the holy three. Also, the religious meaning to Trinity is “three in one“ as they are all one. If one was missing they would all be missing the last piece to the puzzle in order to save the matrix. She has an impact on both Neo and Morpheus in several ways. Also, Trinity has a relationship that is deep with both major characters. Her relationship with Morpheus is similar to a father-daughter relationship because of how much of Morpheus is a father-like character. Her relationship with Neo is on a much stronger level because of the prophecy that the oracle gave to her. The oracle told her that she would fall in love with a “dead man” and that this “dead man” would become the one. She, as compared to the holy spirit, is the reason why Neo was about to live. The bond that these three share is one of the main reasons why they are compared to the Holy Trinity.
The final and most important symbol of Christian mythology in the matrix is the significance of Neo being resembled as Jesus Christ. Neo is known as “The One” and a “savior” to the people inside of the matrix. As the bible says, Jesus gave up his life for the lives of others. There are two situations where Neo had to sacrifice himself for the greater good of others. There was a time where Morpheus was being held in the matrix and they were going to let him die because they thought it would be impossible to save him. Neo then stepped up and said that he would save him no matter the cost. The other moment where Neo becomes a savor is when he is fighting Agent Smith, who is the “Satan” character of the movie. Agent Smith ends up killing him and Neo ends up being dead for 72 seconds, in comparison to Jesus being dead for 72 hours. Neo is then resurrected by a kiss from Trinity, the “holy spirit”. After Neo is resurrected he is able to become the savor that he is destined to become. Neo also has to become the savoir on his own in a certain way. Morpheus was going to help Neo in every way possible, but only Neo was going to be able to carry out the prophecy alone. These are major symbols that show Neo as a Jesus Christ figure because of the trails and tribulations that he put through in order to be “the one”.
As there are many other minor illusions that is tied into Christianity, the three major ones all deal with Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity in some way. This shows that those three really are illusions of the “Holy Trinity” inside the matrix. Either it’s the way Morpheus in the father figure of the three, how Trinity is the last piece of the puzzle because of the relationships she shares with Neo and Morpheus, or how Neo is the “savior” or the Jesus Christ of the Matrix. These are the major things I have learned as a child growing up going to Catholics schools. The importance of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit and how important they are in leading a good life. The way that the trio deals with the matrix is the way that the holy spirit deals with the way of living in humans.
My information came from: http://www.ehow.com/how_2291847_find-christian-symbolism-matrix.html
In the matrix the person that teaches and mentors Neo, is Morpheus. He acts and is treated as a father figure to everyone but in a stronger sense he shows it more to Neo. He believes that Neo will be “the one” and he will come to save the matrix no matter how much it takes. He acts as the “Godly” figure to the characters because of the father figure role he plays. In the bible God is the father of all humans and teaches everyone the way of life. Once Jesus was born he passed his teaching down to him so that Jesus can carry out his beliefs and way of life to people on Earth. This is same illusion that Morpheus teaches his the people of the matrix before Neo arrived. Once Neo arrived he then taught Neo everything he need to learn about the matrix and the way of life inside the matrix. He teaches Neo this incase anything would happen to him that Neo would be able to carry out his teaches to anyone in the future. Although, Morpheus would be able to teach Neo everything he knows, it would be up to Neo to fulfill his prophecy. Even from the beginning of the movie, Neo trusts Morpheus right away. Morpheus says, “I can guide you, but you must do exactly what I say”. This compares to the way Jesus was taught by God, and the way Jesus would trust his father.
The second illusion would be the way that Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity represent the Holy Trinity. As Neo is represented as Jesus Christ and Morpheus as God, Trinity is the last piece and is shown as The Holy Spirit. Her name Trinity is a major example because she is the last piece of the holy three. Also, the religious meaning to Trinity is “three in one“ as they are all one. If one was missing they would all be missing the last piece to the puzzle in order to save the matrix. She has an impact on both Neo and Morpheus in several ways. Also, Trinity has a relationship that is deep with both major characters. Her relationship with Morpheus is similar to a father-daughter relationship because of how much of Morpheus is a father-like character. Her relationship with Neo is on a much stronger level because of the prophecy that the oracle gave to her. The oracle told her that she would fall in love with a “dead man” and that this “dead man” would become the one. She, as compared to the holy spirit, is the reason why Neo was about to live. The bond that these three share is one of the main reasons why they are compared to the Holy Trinity.
The final and most important symbol of Christian mythology in the matrix is the significance of Neo being resembled as Jesus Christ. Neo is known as “The One” and a “savior” to the people inside of the matrix. As the bible says, Jesus gave up his life for the lives of others. There are two situations where Neo had to sacrifice himself for the greater good of others. There was a time where Morpheus was being held in the matrix and they were going to let him die because they thought it would be impossible to save him. Neo then stepped up and said that he would save him no matter the cost. The other moment where Neo becomes a savor is when he is fighting Agent Smith, who is the “Satan” character of the movie. Agent Smith ends up killing him and Neo ends up being dead for 72 seconds, in comparison to Jesus being dead for 72 hours. Neo is then resurrected by a kiss from Trinity, the “holy spirit”. After Neo is resurrected he is able to become the savor that he is destined to become. Neo also has to become the savoir on his own in a certain way. Morpheus was going to help Neo in every way possible, but only Neo was going to be able to carry out the prophecy alone. These are major symbols that show Neo as a Jesus Christ figure because of the trails and tribulations that he put through in order to be “the one”.
As there are many other minor illusions that is tied into Christianity, the three major ones all deal with Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity in some way. This shows that those three really are illusions of the “Holy Trinity” inside the matrix. Either it’s the way Morpheus in the father figure of the three, how Trinity is the last piece of the puzzle because of the relationships she shares with Neo and Morpheus, or how Neo is the “savior” or the Jesus Christ of the Matrix. These are the major things I have learned as a child growing up going to Catholics schools. The importance of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit and how important they are in leading a good life. The way that the trio deals with the matrix is the way that the holy spirit deals with the way of living in humans.
My information came from: http://www.ehow.com/how_2291847_find-christian-symbolism-matrix.html
Blog 6: The idea of the prison house of language
The Allegory of the Cave tells a story about people in caves that are unable to grasp the sense of sight due to the lack of light. They have no idea what true sight is and they only believe what they know. They wont believe anything because it is what they grew up to learn. It is the same thing with religion, in my case because I grew up going to a catholic school for 14 years and I wont believe anything else because this is what I learned as a child. I wont say I wont listen to anything else that someone would argue with, but this is what I know so this is only knowledge of religion I know.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Blog 5: The Allegory of the Cave
In the story "The Allegory of the Cave", Plato writes about two men, Socrates and Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon a story about people that have been chained down in caves. The people inside the cave has never seen the outside world, the only thing they have seen the shadows on the rocks. The shadows are caused by the little bit of lit and the fire inside the cave. No one knows what is outside the cave, so Socrates tells Glaucon that the people inside the cave should be brought outside to the light. Socrates explains his curiosity about the people ideas of what is outside of the cave and what they would do if they saw the outside world. He wonders if the people would be terrified about what is outside or would they be brace enough to walk around and live. Then, a prisoner escapes from the cave and he slowly makes his way out but then he is blinded by the light. After he starts to see the world for what it is he realizes that the story that he knows is wrong. He then heads back to the cave to tell everyone what he saw. In the end, the people in the cave will not listen to him because they do not want to believe anything else. They are blinded by the truth and they will only believe what they know.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Blog 4: The Allegory of the Cave through History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_abduction
Plato used shadows as an illusion for the people live in the cave. They never knew that the shadows were just real thing because they never saw sunlight. A lot of people, including me, believe in the existence of aliens. It will be a debate that will live on forever and would only be proven if aliens happened to come in contact with a completely sane human. Whenever someone claims seeing a UFO or being taken by one, they are automatically label “insane” or “on drugs”. “On September 21, Betty telephoned Pease Air Force Base to report their UFO encounter, though, for fear of being labeled insane, she withheld some of the details.” This is taken of the case of Betty and Barney Hill, an American married couple who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials on September 19–20, 1961. Normally, when a person would read this story, they would automatically called it fake or that the person was lying. Not me, I truly believe these stories 100%. There have been many other stories but the other famous one is the Jimmy Carter UFO incident. No matter how much someone tries to prove me wrong, I will always believe that there is other life out there and I also believe that the government might know it too. That is one thing I can’t prove but I believe that they are holding back information for our safety. If people knew for certain that there where life forms out there, people would do anything in their power to try to get video of it. There have been plenty of UFO sighting to honestly believe that someone has to be telling the truth. The same illusion of aliens tie into the illusion that there is reason to believe that there is alien traces at Area 51. Lastly, as Plato used the illusion of the shadows, humans love to believe the unbelievable and since those shadows happened to turn out to living things, why can’t our “shadows” turn out to become extraterrestrials living things.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Blog 3: My childish beliefs.
- Santa (the kid inside me still believes it)
- Easter Bunny (was told by my aunt)
-Washing machine was a monster (started to do my own laundry)
-Boogyman (oh please I got older)
-Monsters under my bed/closet (actually looked)
-Different ideas of Heaven (iffy subject)
-Aliens (still believe it)
-Chuckie was real (got older, geez what was I thinking)
-Freddy (got older, and got a dream catcher!)
-Jason (never killed me, so there’s that)
-My uncle was God (he shaved his beard and I got older)
-Tooth fairy (parents told me, cheap bastards)
-Bloody Mary (tested it out)
-Candyman (got older, stopped watching the movie)
-Clowns were deadly (they still are)
-Mr. Met was a killer (got older but still hate him)
-Chuckie cheese mouse was disgusting (still is, I mean come on he’s a rat that likes to hug children)
-Vampires (still believing)
-My sister was famous (got older and was told)
-Leprechauns were killers (got older, plus the luck of the Irish will save me)
-Church was a scary place (church got better lighting)
I started to believe most of these things because I always watched horror movies as a child. Over time I just realized that none of these things were true. Just getting older changed my mind on these things. I still get scared watching the horror movies but at least I know that they aren’t real. In addition there are some things that i will always believe are true no matter how much proof someone might have.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Blog 2: The Allegory of the Cave
The Allegory of the Cave is about people who lived in caves but they knew nothing about the world outside of the cave. They only saw shadow and had no idea who or what the shadow were. As Socrates said, "Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?" This shows how the people in the caves saw the shadows and if they ever saw the light, they don't know what anything looks like and they wouldn't know what they are looking at.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Public and Private Self
There are some people that I know, who know both my public and private self. Having both a private and public self allows me to act accordingly to new people and still have a private life. Very few people know my private life because I tend to keep secrets about myself from other people. On the other hand, people tend to see my public side a lot more and I assume they enjoy that side other then my private one because people always say how much I can be. It always good to have both because a private side allows you to have some “you” time and that will always help me calm down if I am stressed about something.
My private self is usually very private and I only act that way around 5 people who I care about a lot. There are some aspects that I do not share to anyone. I have had a bad experience with telling someone a secret; there are some people that you cannot trust. As for my private self I am usually more laid back. I usually help people with their problems in a serious manner. I tend to make a lot of dirty/political jokes when I’m with certain people. As funny as I can be, if there’s a time where I need to be serious and mature, I am the first person to act in that manner. I think in the world we live in, we need to be more serious about certain manner. There has been only one time where I have let everyone into my private life and showed my true colors to a room full of people. Right after my father passed away, people where asking me “Why wasn’t I upset?” and I gave excuses why I wasn’t acted upset. Then the time came for the funeral and I was asked the same question about ten times in ten minutes. In a room full of people I explained why I wasn’t showing how upset I was and told them how different I really am, compared to the person they knew and loved.
My public self is a far cry from my private self. When I’m going out with friends to a bar or club I act very wild and crazy. I change the way I act because when going out you are always meeting new people and you want to put on a good impression. When meeting someone knew I usually tell some funny jokes, but not dirty, and make some intelligent observations. You do not want to offend someone with a joke or statement so I keep the dirty and political jokes for my private life. No matter how crazy or wild I get, when push comes to shove and there a time where I will have to act mature, I will be that person with others. There are times when the people I am with are acting immature and wild, and people get ticked off that I’m telling them to relax or calm down. That is more of the mature side to my public self and it taps into my private self. As you can see my private and public self come together because of how mature and serious I can act.
In conclusion, there are many differences to my private and public self, as there are many similarities also. I do not find any problems with having both these sides. I love both sides of myself because it allows me to be myself and I don’t have to act different for anybody else. As long as I don’t tell my secrets to anyone and allow any into my private self then I have no problems with it. I find it more helpful to have two different sides because it allows you to still be yourself but act differently around other people without people calling you fake.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Draft for Blog 1
My name is Edward Southwick, but most people call me Eddy. This is my second year in LaGuardia and my first time take ENG 101. I am currently in the computer technology field.I come from Jackson Heights and i have lived there my whole life. I enjoy listening to music, watching movies, and playing sports. Blogging has something that I just got recently in to and hopefully this will allow me to get to know my classmates better.
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