In The Age of The Image, Stephen Apkon makes an important point about the immediacy of news in the media in our time because of the internet and inexpensive video recording equipment. He makes in important point that in our culture we have a hard time believing in the occurrence of an event unless we see it with our own eyes, and with the invention and evolution of media it makes it easier for news to reach the eyes of millions and billions of viewers. Not only are our values shaping the way media is presented anymore, but the presentation of media now has influence on the development of those values.

The manipulation of the way a video is presented to its viewer has a dramatic effect on what each individual is going to take away from its message. Apkon talks about the immediate reaction to the Invisible Children videos exploiting the horrifying acts of Joseph Kony. Apkon mentions that through the immediacy of today’s media it is easy to spread any kind of awareness of a particular event if it captivates its viewers.

While researching a bit more about Children of Men for my paper last week I came upon an interview with Cuaron that I found interesting.  In the interview Cuaron talks about  about the biblical references, and the transition from book to film. Children of Men was derived from the book by P. D. James, but in the book Kee was not a character.  In the interview Cuaron stated that they made Kee African American because “as far as we know, human life sprang out of Africa.” I found this very interesting. In class we talked about how the movie had many biblical references but this completely goes against that notion.

Here is the link:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=128363

In the book Stephen Arpkon writes about a guy who showed a tape of police brutality to the media after getting ignored by the police: “So he took the footage to the KTLA television station, which broadcast the whole tape and turned it into a focal point for years of frustration between the African Americans of Los Angeles and what they considered the routinely heavy-handed tactics of the police” (page 107). This shows how powerful the media can be compared to the police. It is through the media that word gets out and public opinion arises. We see politics and oppression from the media. This example above is similar to Spike Lee’s film showing police brutality and bringing up race. The police did not do justice for killing the black man but the media and the public rose up to the occasion. This is significant because times are changing and the media is becoming a powerful force.

The  scene with the french people on the streets and the one algerian man that sits on the step after the attacks shows prejudice and stereotyping. This scene is after the many shootings of cops and people by the FLN. The people on the streets see this lone man of color and harass him: “where are you headed?” “I’m sure it’s him” “Murderer.” I like this scene because it really shows what the french thought about the Algerians. They alienated them and thought they were all the same. It was just some guy going about his day and keeping to himself but he got harassed. This scene shows a shift in the thinking of the French after the bombing and unrest in society. There is fear in the French for their lives and want the Algerians taken care of.

Watching and hearing Justin Simien talk about his film brought up stereotyping in my mind.  I noticed many examples of how he cleverly used satire to show stereotypes. For example, residence life is stereotyped by Armstrong/Parker House residents are all black. How does that happen with random housing? They are their own community and do not like the white kids coming into there dining hall. At their dining hall, they eat fried chicken for lunch, which is a big stereotype.  This puts all the black people on campus together which is a large stereotype on campus’s. It is saying that black kids hang out with only black kids. In addition, Coco seems invisible to guys at school because she is black on a mainly white campus. Although she is attractive, no boys are looking at her or talking to her. She gets ignored, this is a stereotype that white men see past black women. This gets to the point of race as well as the clever jokes that bring up the black stereotype like in Coco’s blog.

There is also a burden of how they are expected to act, you see it through many of the characters. This relates to do the right thing because Spike Lee uses racial stereotyping a lot in his film.  For example, the music choice and clothing that black people wear compared to the asians.

There is a connection in both films because the stereotyping is explosive. There is an us verses them feel in them, that the whites have a more of belonging but there is a fight for belonging by both sides. There brings up a race conversation which makes an impact on society and opens up others to ‘talk’, or tweet, etc. about it. There is much energy and emotion of the film even after its viewing.

This past week I was sick with the flu and could hardly leave my bed for about two days. During which I watched a lot of netflix, particularly the show Parks and Rec. While watching I couldn’t help but notice the use of thirds. Often when two characters were conversing the camera would show one’s shoulder and back of their head and the other character’s face, who usually talking, would be right on the third line. I never really realized this while watching any show. But now that I am aware of the use of thirds I see it every where in just about every show I’ve seen recently. This technique does make the layout of the scene and the characters very clear.

What I found very intriguing in Oliver Stone’s film, JFK, was the use of repetition in the film that Pat Dowell mentions in his article, “Last Year at Nuremberg: The Cinematic Strategies of JFK”.  The author writes:

“Back and to the left,” the prosecutor and the filmmaker tell us again,  “Back and to the left. Back and to the left.” A hypnotic refrain on the sound track, a grainy slow motion image disolving into pink and green and white blobs on the screen. The courtroom audience groans in agony– at the graphic detail hitherto spared them, at the confirmation of their worst fears about a government cover-up, at Garrison’s ceaseless invasion of Kennedy’s final moments (Dowell, 8).

This use of repetition, although for a very short time, is one of the few moments in Garrisons speech where there is a lack of both diegetic sound and music from the soundtrack. Except now it the only noise that is present in the film is Garrison’s voice repeating the phrase “back and to the left”, and the grainy film of Kennedy’s last moments running. This repetition of the phrase is so powerful in the film because it is one of the very few moments where the people were forced to see the truth, and were forced to confront the reality of what happened to their President. The moment is so intense that offscreen the viewers were even groaning during our Tuesday viewing of the film.

In all, I thought it was a very good strategy for the film maker to choose a very minimal use in sound as well as minimal cuts to certain shots in this moment because in my personal opinion this seemed to be “the moment of truth” to the audience in the courtroom, regardless of the verdict.

While watching this movie, I thought it was really unique and creative how Oliver Stone structured the film. While focusing on Jim Garrison’s case, Stone strategically plays real life footage from the 60’s that really added a sense of realism to the move. The movie was almost filmed like a documentary with real footage and opinions expressed from  those in the movie. I thought it was also interesting how Stone filmed scenes with his own actors and added black and white filters to make the scene seem as though it was real life footage. In the movie, Stone successfully was able to point out the discrepancy’s in the assassination case. Although Garrison was not able to convict Claw Shaw, he made it obvious that the story of Lee Harvey Oswald held water and that there must have been more than one gunman.

In Justin Simien’s presentation regarding his film “Dear White People,” he remarked on the role that satire played in furthering the message of his film. It was interesting to hear his beliefs regarding the use of satire in addressing social issues. In the informal question and answer session, it was discussed how satire is an important tool, one that can make volatile topics such as race more accessible to a wider audience.

This notion is backed up by a few historical parallels that I wanted to point out. An interesting anecdote that relates to the force of satire can be seen in the  decline of dueling in the 19th and 20th centuries. Dueling was a means of settling disputes in England and Continental Europe. It also existed in the early days of the United States. It was based on a code of honor, and revolved around a participant’s desire to “gain satisfaction” and restore one’s honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one’s life. However, this practice began an irreversible decline by around the time of the civil war. This decline occurred, not because of legislation, but because of public opinion. Cartoons and news articles began to mock the unnecessarily violent practice.

Benjamin Franklin denounced the activity as unnecessarily violent and George Washington encouraged his officers to abstain from dueling. As the historian William Oliver Stevens put it: “Solemn gentlemen went to the field of honor only to be laughed at by the younger generation; that was more than any custom, no matter how sanctified by tradition, could endure.”

Satirists of the time furthered these critiques of dueling in their literary works. Political cartoons enjoyed poking fun at the activity by depicting pictures of lavishly dressed men wielding oversized pistols as they carried out an elaborate ritual to fight for their honor. This seemed to contrast the masculine nature of the activity with the excessive, almost feminine, theatrics with which it was associated.

I thought that this anecdote related to Justin Simien’s usage of satire to address to topic of racism in modern society. Its sensible that humor can be an effective vehicle with which to highlight absurdities in the world around us. Similarly, satirical portraits of Hitler in Nazi Germany were also used to undermine the absurdities of his beliefs. This served unify those who disagreed with his inhuman political ideologies.

The idea of a ‘post racial society’ is contested by many. America and other countries straddle an ambiguous and uncomfortable line; a line where legislation asserts equality for all while social beliefs and practices continue contradict what is professed to be a societal colorblindness. By confronting these issues more directly, a satirical critique allows an audience to witness the absurdity of certain view points.