As this is my last post, I want to touch upon the various lessons I have learned throughout my personal project.
- Art and nonviolence thrive in a symbiotic relationship. Throughout this semester, I learned about nonviolent action not only through my own project but also through others. I believe in order for there to be wider support for nonviolence, we have to view creative writing and other artistic pursuits as effective mechanisms for nonviolence. Many of the nonviolent cases that we have learned about would not have been a success without artistic pursuits, which bolster my project.
- Writing a screenplay is difficult. I have been exposed to journalistic and other forms of creative writing in the past, but I have never endeavored to write a screenplay. It can be challenging, because not only are you writing a narrative, you are writing the production and reception of your narrative. At times, it was difficult to continue revising my vision and message to fit the confines of an acceptable screenplay, but it was worth it. Soulforce is still a work in progress, but I am proud of the work I have done thus far.
- There is still a lot of work yet to be done. By diving into my project and constructing and intimately knowing my characters, I acknowledge that there are people in the world who face challenges similar to those faced by my characters. Our world has a long way to go, but I believe peaceful noncooperation can change the world.
Moving forward, I will attempt to turn my screenplay into a film. I will edit the script during the break to reflect my continued dedication to this project and the lessons of this class. I am grateful that I chose this project, it certainly has been worthwhile.
I am really excited to hear that you plan to put the different parts of your project together into an actual film as a final part of the project. Last year I wrote a screenplay for my Film Class and it was really difficult. I think that it is a really unique experience to try that style of writing and I am glad that you have learned a lot so far from the process. Screenplays are definitely an interesting medium to work with because not only are you writing a narrative but it has to be transformable to a 2-D screen image. Good luck! I look forward to seeing the final product.
Hey Lia! I totally agree that art and nonviolence have a strong relationship. As you said in your post we do need to view art and creative writing as key nonviolent mechanisms because they are so powerful. We see a lot of oppressive governments around the world trying to suppress creativity among their people today. I believe that these governments are fearful of creativity because it gives people a voice and power that would make them too challenging to control. I admire your bravery of taking on such a challenging topic for your project. I can only imagine how time-consuming writing a screenplay can be, let alone turning it into a film. It is also really cool that you try to capture real challenges that real people face, in your narrative. I would recommend collaborating with some film/ media studies students to get different ideas for your film. Goodluck!
Hey Lia! It has been so interesting to hear how your screenplay has evolved and your process in writing. I think your final post was really creative instating what you have learned throughout the project. I totally agree that art and nonviolence feed off each other, and I think that relationship was overlooked. I also like how you went over the process of your writing and acknowledged the difficulties that arose. I am so excited to see the final product in the form of a film.